In Christianity, God does not give spiritual gifts to some and leave the rest. He gives spiritual gifts to everyone through His Holy Spirit, for His glory and for the benefit of others. Spiritual gifts are meant for stewardship by serving God and serving others.
In our culture, Christianity is often presented as a religion of supernatural healing (from diseases, chronic illnesses) and miracles (prosperity, prevention of death, dreams and visions, tongues). It is also seen as religion of prophecy about the end times. All of these gifts are seen as the necessary manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. In this passage, we learn how the ministry of the Holy Spirit is not mainly about tongues, prophecy and supernatural healings, but of Spiritual transformation in our lives through the ordinary means which God appointed.
Corporate Worship exists primarily to honor God, to remember His promises, to praise Him for who He is and for what He has done for us. So if the worship is all about Him and not about us, then we’re required to do so in a way that He has commanded us to worship Him, not the way we think He should be worshiped. In this passage, the Apostle Paul confronts disorderly worship practices in the church, and gives us instructions on how to worship God decently and in order.
The gift of tongues was a supernatural gift given by the Holy Spirit to God’s chosen servants to speak in foreign human languages for the sake of preaching the gospel. The gift of prophecy on the other hand was a word of God spoken by a prophet under the divine authority of God to His people. The Corinthian church misused both of these gifts for their own popularity and brought chaos and confusion in the public worship of God. In this passage, we learn the how the gift of tongues and prophecy were used in the early church and the practical way Paul commands to handle these gifts in the church.
The gift of tongues in the Bible always referred to foreign human languages. God’s servants and His apostles were given special authority and power through the Holy Spirit to speak in foreign languages which they have not learned, for the sake of advancing the gospel in other parts of the world. In the Corinthian church, people were misusing this gift of tongues to elevate themselves as super spiritual Christians appearing to have high status in God’s sight than those who don’t speak in tongues. In this passage, we see how the apostle Paul handles this tension and discrimination in the church and the solution he provides.
Spiritual gifts are primarily given to Christians for the benefit and the edification of the church, so that the church might be blessed with all the necessary resources through the gifts of God’s people. But it is possible for Christians to boast about themselves and their gifts and not serve others through their gifts. It is possible to make the gifts an end in themselves and not have a greater purpose. In this passage, we learn that spiritual gifts only serve to strengthen others and love people because the gifts are temporary but Love is not.
The gift of tongues in scripture were foreign human languages given to God’s people to preach the gospel in a way that people understand in their own native languages. Are we to still pursue this gift of tongues or have they been ceased? What are its uses? Whom is it directed to, God or people? Listen to the sermon to find out.
The office of a Prophet in the Old Testament was to primarily bring the message of God to His people. Sometimes the message would come in the form of a rebuke (a warning to bring judgement if people refuse to repent of their sins), or an encouragement to persevere because God promises to be with them to deliver from oppression. Either ways, there is an element of prediction about the future. So, does the gift of prophecy still exists today in the same form? or God’s message has been completed with the 66 books of the Bible and therefore we don’t need this gift? Listen to the sermon to find out.
Are miracles still applicable today? What is the use of spiritual gifts in the life of the church? Have all the spiritual gifts ceased after the Apostles died? In this passage, the Apostle Paul explains the importance and the purpose of Spiritual gifts and how they are to be exercised in the context of a local church.