Today’s Reading, 1 Corinthians 12-14
Focal Scripture: 1 Corinthians 14:12 “So also you — since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in building up the church.”
Appropriately applying spiritual gifts is very important. Each gift is personal and each gift is uniquely applied to the life of a believer. For instance, God has given me the gift of prophecy (not telling of future events) to build up the church. That means I have a strong conviction to teach the scriptures as they are written. Even if it makes myself or others uncomfortable. That doesn’t mean I have the right to be a jerk while explaining truth. It does mean that I am compelled to give everyone the whole council of God. This is often unpopular and can put me at odds with other believers. Especially, in student ministry where the trend is to give fluff messages that don’t challenge young adults.
In today’s reading Paul is explaining the gifts of prophecy and speaking in tongues. Before we go any further we must explain what we mean by both of these gifts. Prophecy with the apostles was foretelling. It was an explanation of things to come that the infant church needed to hear. It was new teaching and explanation of Old Testament scriptures with future application. Tongues in this context is a known language. Believers were given the ability to speak other languages so everyone could hear the truth about the gospel. When these people spoke there should be an interpreter present. However, the people thought tongues were more important because of it being out front. It was more showy than prophecy. It built the individual up, not the church as a whole. Paul wanted to emphasize that spiritual gifts are for the betterment of the church not the individual.
I want to speak directly to believers today. Do you know what your spiritual gift is that the Lord has given you? If you do, is your goal to hoard that gift for yourself, or to make the church better? If you are a believer you have been given a gift and how you use that gift will have an eternal impact on you and the church. If you are not using your gift you are causing damage and pain to yourself and other believers because you are uniquely created to serve the church to make Jesus known.
I want to emphasize here that our gifts are not given to us so we can get a pat on the back or high fives from others. Our gifts have been given to us so Jesus can be the focus. If you attend a church that makes certain gifts more important than others you need to ask some very difficult questions to the pastors and leadership. For instance, the way tongues is used and taught today in most Holiness/ Pentecostal churches does not line up with the biblical model. It is not an unknown language. It is also not another baptism. The most dangerous teaching is saying that everyone must speak in tongues, which is in direct violation of these passages.
Gifts are intended to use our natural abilities with Gods divine blessing upon our lives. Then we are to use those skills to teach other believers how to know Jesus better, have a deeper faith, and tell the world about who he is and how he changes lives.
So examine yourself today, to see if your gifts bring you glory or the church. If it is yourself it’s time to seek the Lord and see how he wants you to change, so the church can grow. It is always about his kingdom not our own.
Tomorrow, I plan on reading 1 Corinthians 15-16
