Cascade Bible Church

Timothy and Epapfroditus

Our Greatest Example: Christ

Citizens, Worthy of the Gospel

Joy in the Midst of Suffering

Partnership,Assurance, and Affection

Letter of Joy

Paul concluded his message regarding spiritual gifts - emphasizing his words with fourteen commands. In all of their SERVICES, as they assembled together as a church, they each wanted to make a special contribution to the body. In contrast to their past selfish habits, Paul commanded them to make it their spiritual aim to always love each other with edification. He required that they be in SUBJECTION to each other in three specific areas- -1- recognition - tongues speaking must be interpreted and limited -they were to practice self-control when there was no interpreter-- -2- revelation - prophesying had to be overseen and restricted by other prophets -they were to practice self-control when God gave a revelation to a prophet who was seated-- and -3- restriction - women in church services were not permitted to speak -they were to practice self-control by subjecting themselves to the men, and by asking any questions they may have with their husbands at home-. In SUMMARY, Paul challenged them to elevate God and His Word above themselves- God guides us as our only authority- God grants us prophets who are spiritual and recognize His true words- God gifts individual believers -elevating prophecy over tongues-- and God's goal in the church assembled is a self-controlled harmony and orderly teamwork -avoiding selfishness and chaos-.

Spiritual Gifts: Church Guidelines

Paul now goes back to the root of the PROBLEM when he gives them three commands regarding their behavior in church- -1- Wake Up - they needed to recognize that they were thinking like children- -2- Back Up - they needed to stop speaking with wicked words- and --3- Grow Up - they needed to start thinking like spiritually mature adults. Paul pointed out -the Biblical PRINCIPLE that the gift of tongues was given as a signal - a foreign language used to get the attention of Jewish unbelievers, but it became a rejected language. The sign was unnecessary for believers, while being unavoidable for unbelievers. The PRACTICE of the whole church was really wrong. Paul gave them two hypothetical options to make his point- -1 - if they could all speak in tongues, the ungifted or unbeliever would think they were crazy- -2 - if they could all prophesy, the ungifted or unbeliever would experience conviction, have his sins condemned, and his deepest secrets made conspicuous. That man would fall down before God in great reverence and submission, reporting that God was really in your midst.

Spiritual Gifts: Tongues' Purpose

After explaining the superiority of the gift of prophesying over the gift of tongues -14-1-12-, Paul then emphasized the inferiority of speaking in an unknown language -14-13-19-. He commanded the Corinthian believers to DEPEND on God - Pray- Being mindful that they should never speak in a language without proper interpretation, because the result would be mindless and unfruitful. They were to DECIDE how to answer the question, -Therefore, what shall I do- with this dilemma- The answer is- -1- Always pray with your spirit -breath- and with your mind -brain-- and -2- Always sing with your spirit -breath- and with your mind -brain-. Otherwise, you will end up in a quandary, when the ungifted -ignorant- cannot understand and be edified by your message. Even though Paul's experience was using the gift of tongues more than any of them, his sincere DESIRE was to expose a church to as little as five understandable words that would instruct them, rather than ten thousand unknown words that carried no meaning.

Spiritual Gifts: Tongues Inferior

Once Paul had rebuked the Corinthian church for abusing the gifts -Ch.12-, and established the preeminence of love -Ch.13-, he then explained the superiority of prophesying over speaking in tongues -Ch.14-. PRIORITIES in the church at Corinth were to include both love and spiritual gifts - but especially that of speaking God's prophesy when appropriate. Paul was writing because some PROBLEMS had arisen- -1- the contrast between tongues and prophecy - elevating tongues and neglecting prophesying- and -2- the confusion resulting from tongues -they were unclear and unprofitable. Paul challenged their PRACTICES as he explained that tongues -sounds- needed to have meaning -or else they came across as barbarians-. He only expected one thing in their assemblies - that they would love each other by seeking to edify.

Spiritual Gifts: Prophecy Superior

Once Paul had clarified that spiritual gifts without God's love are useless -13-1-3-, and -that genuine love is supernaturally sacrificial -13-4-7-, he then exalted love as being forever superior to all of the gifts -13-8-13-. The CONTEXT compares -the perfect- -love- and the -in part- -gifts-. Paul's proclamation reveals that whereas love never fails, all spiritual gifts will come to an end. His explanation shows how spiritual gifts are only shared individually --in part-, but love -maturity- is shared universally, superceding the gifts and making them unnecessary. Paul CONTRASTS these two truths with an illustration between the immature and the mature - the gifts functioned like a child, but love is like a mature man. He continues his instruction distinguishing between present limitations -seeing dimly- knowing in part- and future connections -seeing face to face- knowing fully-. In CONCLUSION Paul summarized by exalting three lasting virtues -faith, hope, love-, but showing the total superiority of love.

Spiritual Gifts: Love Exalted

Paul continues his rebuke to the church at Corinth for their misuse of the spiritual gifts. He explains what real love looks like with a general DESCRIPTION focuses on two areas- -1- a negative look describing how love holds back - it is always patient- and -2- a positive look describing how loves always gives out - it is kind. Paul then goes into greater detail regarding these two areas with thirteen DISTINCTIONS to explain some specifics about Godly love. In the negative realm of being patient you will never find love coveting, boasting, being proud or rude. It will never be selfish, touchy, resentful or gloating over others. In the positive realm of being kind you will always find love being joyful, loyal, faithful, confident and steadfast in its dealings with others.

Spiritual Gifts: Love Described

Paul now arrives at the pure heart of Christian service within the church - it is God's love. He demonstrates in three areas how spiritual gifts are useless without real sacrificial devotion- First, one could use amazing WORDS such as perfectly speaking an unknown tongue, or even a hypothetical heavenly tongue, but it would only result in an ecstatic show and an empty sign without genuine love - the end result would be as useless as a loud irritating noise- Second, one could also WOW people with an exciting sermon including amazing prophecy, revealing secret knowledge and having unshakable faith - but without genuine love it would be empty service, and all of one's public efforts would have the end result of being worthless- Finally, one could perform impressing WORKS involving extreme sacrifice such as giving all of one's own possessions, and even delivering one's own body to be burned, but it too would be empty service without genuine love - the end result would be of no account, absolute zero.

Spiritual Gifts: Love Required

We saw the Holy Spirit distribute the gifts -vv.1-11-, then unite the body -vv.12-26-, and now Paul explains the interaction of those individual parts as one spiritually balanced whole. These PERSONS involved are natural human beings with supernatural endowments - with Christ as the head who leads, each believer is on the team with a special role to serve. The PERFORMANCE of this team shows great diversity- it involves the foundational structure of apostles and prophets- the helpful service of teachers, workers of miracles, gifts of healings, and helps- and the meaningful signs of tongues and the interpretation of tongues. Yet each of those on this team are completely dependent upon one another in the unique balance of God. As they worked together we recognize the ultimate goal of God was PERFECTION. They were to be striving to highlight the greater gifts, and at the same time surpassing them with a far better approach - expanding the external visible actions into internal sacrificial devotion.

Spiritual Gifts: Individual Members

In 1 Corin.12-1-11 the Holy Spirit was distributing spiritual gifts to the church, now we see Him uniting the church. He took the many members and BAPTIZED them into one body. Paul used the example of the human body to explain the spiritual body of the church. His explanation revealed two ways that the Holy Spirit was involved- -1- -Baptism- is the identification of each member with the whole -connected in their position-- and -2- -Drinking- is the irrigation of each member with the indwelling Holy Spirit -united in their practice-. This relationship brought BALANCE to the body - an association that eliminated its divisions and appreciated its distinctions. God gave out assignments - His authority avoided atrocities. The Holy Spirit created the perfect BLEND of body interdependence -all parts critical-, each being indispensable -all parts essential-, and interconnected -all parts cared for-.

Spiritual Gifts: One Body

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