1 Corinthians 12
Daily Bread
1 Corinthians 12
Spiritual Gifts
1 Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this. 2 You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. 3 So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.
4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
Observation:
Paul begins his most extensive teaching on the topic of “spiritual gifts”, which will continue from chapters 12-14. It is widely known that the Corinthian church experienced an explosion of spiritual gifts and especially some of the extraordinary ones like: speaking in tongues, prophecy and miracles. Paul’s teaching in these chapters is the most extensive in the New Testament on Spiritual Gifts. See also Ephesians 4 and Romans 12.
Importantly Paul clarifies several misconceptions about the type and use of the gifts. Each person is a given a different gift, but all of them are used to build up the body of Christ. God supplies different gifts to meet the different needs in the church. When all of the gifts are used together in the body of Christ, the Church is functioning effectively and it becomes the hands and feet of Jesus to the world.
Although Paul lists several of the spiritual gifts like wisdom, knowledge, prophesy, miracles, speaking in tongues; they are not an exhaustive list. Also Paul makes clear that some gifts are not more important than others. In v.22 he says some of the ones that seem weakest or least important, should be given as much respect as the seemingly more important ones. As we understand and discern our gifts by learning about them and trying them out, God will show which part in the body you are designed for.
Application:
This is one of the most under-taught parts of the bible in my opinion. So often the North American church is led by mainly paid pastors and staff. While it is necessary to pay some of the leadership, so much of the leadership and potential of a church is sitting in its pews. Leaders are not paid to provide religious goods and services to members. One of the most important jobs of any church leader is to equip the members of the body to discover and deploy their spiritual gifts in positions of service in the church.
Spiritual gift inventories can be helpful to get a start in the discovery process, but there is no substitute for trial and error. A great place to start is to go with where you heart is leading you. Is there an area of the church you are drawn to? Maybe it is children or youth ministry? Maybe it is a ministry to the poor, or a healing ministry? Maybe you have a gift of teaching or leading? The only way to find out is to volunteer and try it and see if God blesses it and it bears fruit?
There is no way to estimate the potential in a local church until the majority of its members are in a meaningful place of ministry where they are passionate and gifted and equipped to serve in. A lot of churches overly rely on paid staff. Though necessary, they are not a substitute for the body of Christ to reach its full potential as a biblically functioning church.
One of the surest ways to grow in maturity in your Christian faith is to discover your spiritual gift(s) and put it to use. You will find the extremely joyful and fulfilling benefit of serving the Lord and contributing to the growth of the church. The satisfaction in finding and using your gifts is unmatched by things offered in the world, because you are doing something you were called to do when you were called by Christ to His bride, the church.
Prayer: God thank you for sending the gift of Your Holy Spirit to each of us who make up the body of Christ. Fan into flame these gifts to be deployed in each local church so that churches can function the way you have intended them to. Help each believer to discover their gift and the joy of serving you for the greatest purpose to reach all people with the Good News of Jesus Christ. In His Name we pray, Amen.
1 Corinthians 12
Spiritual Gifts
1 Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this. 2 You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. 3 So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.
4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. 9 The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
Observation:
Paul begins his most extensive teaching on the topic of “spiritual gifts”, which will continue from chapters 12-14. It is widely known that the Corinthian church experienced an explosion of spiritual gifts and especially some of the extraordinary ones like: speaking in tongues, prophecy and miracles. Paul’s teaching in these chapters is the most extensive in the New Testament on Spiritual Gifts. See also Ephesians 4 and Romans 12.
Importantly Paul clarifies several misconceptions about the type and use of the gifts. Each person is a given a different gift, but all of them are used to build up the body of Christ. God supplies different gifts to meet the different needs in the church. When all of the gifts are used together in the body of Christ, the Church is functioning effectively and it becomes the hands and feet of Jesus to the world.
Although Paul lists several of the spiritual gifts like wisdom, knowledge, prophesy, miracles, speaking in tongues; they are not an exhaustive list. Also Paul makes clear that some gifts are not more important than others. In v.22 he says some of the ones that seem weakest or least important, should be given as much respect as the seemingly more important ones. As we understand and discern our gifts by learning about them and trying them out, God will show which part in the body you are designed for.
Application:
This is one of the most under-taught parts of the bible in my opinion. So often the North American church is led by mainly paid pastors and staff. While it is necessary to pay some of the leadership, so much of the leadership and potential of a church is sitting in its pews. Leaders are not paid to provide religious goods and services to members. One of the most important jobs of any church leader is to equip the members of the body to discover and deploy their spiritual gifts in positions of service in the church.
Spiritual gift inventories can be helpful to get a start in the discovery process, but there is no substitute for trial and error. A great place to start is to go with where you heart is leading you. Is there an area of the church you are drawn to? Maybe it is children or youth ministry? Maybe it is a ministry to the poor, or a healing ministry? Maybe you have a gift of teaching or leading? The only way to find out is to volunteer and try it and see if God blesses it and it bears fruit?
There is no way to estimate the potential in a local church until the majority of its members are in a meaningful place of ministry where they are passionate and gifted and equipped to serve in. A lot of churches overly rely on paid staff. Though necessary, they are not a substitute for the body of Christ to reach its full potential as a biblically functioning church.
One of the surest ways to grow in maturity in your Christian faith is to discover your spiritual gift(s) and put it to use. You will find the extremely joyful and fulfilling benefit of serving the Lord and contributing to the growth of the church. The satisfaction in finding and using your gifts is unmatched by things offered in the world, because you are doing something you were called to do when you were called by Christ to His bride, the church.
Prayer: God thank you for sending the gift of Your Holy Spirit to each of us who make up the body of Christ. Fan into flame these gifts to be deployed in each local church so that churches can function the way you have intended them to. Help each believer to discover their gift and the joy of serving you for the greatest purpose to reach all people with the Good News of Jesus Christ. In His Name we pray, Amen.
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