1 Corinthians 12:1–31

1 Corinthians chapter 12 and we'll work through the entire chapter. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions. This is where every day you and I, we get together. We have a little bit of coffee. We get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2022, we'll make it from the book of Acts and hopefully we'll get to the book of Philemon. Let's have some coffee.

We'll pray and we'll get into God's word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. What a blessing it is to come to your word, to hear from you. Lord, we pray that you would teach us this morning. We pray that we would walk in your ways. We pray that we would know who you are, that your spirit would be with us in Jesus's name. Amen.

All right. We are at first Corinthians chapter 12. I am going to be honest with you. I lost my glasses. So bear with me as I try to read the little text here. First Corinthians chapter 12. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.

For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit. To another, the word of knowledge through the same Spirit. To another, faith by the same Spirit. To another, gifts of healing by the same Spirit. to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact, the body is not one member, but many. If the foot should say, Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?

If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as he pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now, indeed, there are many members, yet one body.

And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the hand to the feet, I have no need of you. No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary, and those members of the body which we think to be less honourable, on these we bestow greater honour, and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty. But our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having been given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schisms in the body, but that the member should have the same care for one another.

And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ and members individually. And God has appointed these in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers. After that, miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have the gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? but earnestly desire the best gift, and yet I show you a more excellent way."

Well, we need to ask ourselves, A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to this, right? A, what is this about? Well, this is about different people in the church being given different gifts.

This is about discerning the work of the Holy Spirit versus false works. This is where it starts off with is, you know, somebody can't say, oh, Jesus is a curse, Jesus is anathema, and be of the Holy Spirit. That doesn't make sense. Nor is somebody able to say Jesus is Lord and mean it sincerely deep down in their soul, unless the Holy Spirit had provoked that person to say that. And so discerning whether something is in line with what the scriptures have said and discerning whether somebody is truly of the Spirit. This is where it's first getting at here in verses one and two.

And then in verses four and following we have this long portion where Paul is saying that there is a unity to the church that happens because the Holy Spirit is the one who gives gifts And he gives them to different people in different churches in different measures and in different ways. It's actually one of the things that I will have some arguments with some of my Pentecostal friends about when they'll say, if you don't speak in tongues, then obviously you're not of the Holy Spirit. And I would say, whoa, whoa, whoa, not everybody in Corinth was given the gift of tongues. Not everybody was given the gift of interpretation and this is just talking about the first century church not to even mention the fact that I believe those gifts have stopped because we're no longer in the apostolic age.

So let's actually let's go ahead and get there for a second because Paul's going to bring this up in the next chapter. Chapter 12 and 13 should really be put together because he's telling us that there's all these different varying gifts, but the best gift that the Holy Spirit gives is love, and all these other gifts will cease, they'll fade away, they'll end, but love will continue on forever. And so The point here in chapter 12, whether you're a cessationist or a continuationist, and I'm a cessationist, this is what I think the Bible teaches. I think this is what the confessions also teach. The point is, is that there's division in the church, right?

People are arguing with each other. People are saying, well, you know, I have this gift and this person has that gift. And my gift is better than their gift. Or they're thinking, well, I don't have that gift, so I must not be a part of this church. And Paul's saying, no, hold on, that's not how this works, right? What's the imagery that he gives? The imagery that he gives is of a body. And the illustration is that the body has many different parts. The illustration I like to typically give is, have you ever stubbed your pinky toe? If you have stubbed your pinky toe walking through the middle of the night, you'll realize really quickly how important that little tiny toe is in your body.

I have a friend who was working on a table saw one time and cut his middle finger. And you might not think that your middle finger is that important, but he's missing his middle finger. And it took him a long time to figure out how to use his hand without his middle finger. And his stub on his finger was really sensitive. But even more than that, now when he types emails and stuff, he misses a key. Every once in a while, there's a mess up. And you could tell that's the keystroke that would happen with your left middle finger.

And every part of your body is important. This is why you don't just go to the doctor and have them take off parts of your body. No, because your entire body is important. And likewise in the church, everybody's important. And it's one body. Christ is the head. Christ is preeminent. Christ is most important. Jesus is the one who's controlling everything. He's the one who receives all the glory. But the rest of the body is important.

Even those members who wouldn't be presentable. He's talking about kind of like private parts here, right? The parts that you need to cover up if somebody was to walk into the room while you were in the shower, right? Even those parts that we would think are unpresentable, we show them extra care, right? We cover them up with extra clothes and we make sure that they are well taken care of. And this is what he's saying, even with the body of Christ, that there are people who we might think, ah, you know, that guy, he kind of has these different quirky things about him, or she's kind of weird in these areas.

I don't know, maybe you're one of those people. Maybe this is the moment in which you need to recognize that the Holy Spirit is caring for you. That you are valuable to the Holy Spirit. That He has endowed you with gifts. He's created you in such a way that you are able to exercise your gifts for the church. Now you might say, Brian, I thought you were a cessationist. What do you mean by gifts?

I don't think the miraculous gifts continue on anymore. I haven't met anyone yet who spontaneously speaks in foreign languages they haven't studied. But I do know people who have been gifted by the Holy Spirit an ability in their minds to learn new languages. and are valuable translators and are valuable in going into foreign missions. And so I'm not going to say that the Holy Spirit doesn't work anymore, that God doesn't create us in ways in which we are naturally apt towards work.

There are some people who have been given a different disposition. to be able to care for people who are in extreme need. He's given people who are gifted in administration. I desperately need those type of people because I mess up with administration all the time. He gives people who are good at speaking.

He gives people who are good at hearing, at listening, And just because someone might be good at listening, but they can't speak well, doesn't mean they're not a member of the body. And just because somebody might be able to work hard with their hands, earn money and help others, but they can't speak well, doesn't mean that they aren't valuable to the body.

No, we're all members of that one body. And so this is a call to love, a call to unity. And these gifts that he gives aren't, I don't think that they are a comprehensive list. But notice the order in them. First as apostles, then as the prophets, then as the teachers, then it continues down the line of those different ministries that the Holy Spirit has given. And that foundation has been laid firm. It's solidified. This is one of Paul's earliest letters. And so as he's writing to the Corinthians, he's saying, you know, you were once Gone. You're following after idols, but now all of us have been baptized into Christ. We've all drank of that same spirit. We're all saved in the same way. And so pursue the greater gift, but earnestly desire the best gift. And yet I will show you a more excellent way. And now he's going to start chapter 13. I'm excited about tomorrow. Let's go ahead and pray.

Father, we thank you so much that you have given us your spirit. and that you value each and every member of your body. We are a corporate united whole. And we are individually members of your body, beloved by you, both as a church and as members. God, we pray that you would please teach us to be thankful for the gifts you have given us, to be content with what you have given us, and to live with love toward one another. Thank you. that you have given us Jesus Christ and have united us to him. In Jesus's name. Amen. Well, may that great shepherd of the sheep guard your soul. May you rejoice in the work of Jesus Christ. May you have fellowship with the Holy Spirit. And may you walk with joy today. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.

Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.