1 Corinthians 14vv1-25 - handout

 

TWO PRINCIPLES FOR USING SPIRITUAL GIFTS IN THE CHURCH

IN THE MORE EXCELLENT WAY OF LOVE (12:31):

Intelligibility for Edification

 

(Isaiah 28:7-13 p711)

1 Corinthians 14:1-25 (p1154)

 

What are your hopes / aims when you come to church?

(What would you look for if you had to choose a different church?)

 

Church life in Corinth: divisions, selfishness, status etc.

Public worship – chapters 11-14

 

What are these gifts? Do they continue today? Should we expect them?

Tongues / languages (Acts 2:4) – interpretation / translation?

Prophecy – Old Testament and New Testament? – not adding to the Bible!

 

Imagine discovering one half of a correspondence over problems with the bassoon section - and the prominence of tongues in 1 Corithians

 

Why Paul prefers prophecy over (uninterpreted / untranslated)  tongues in public worship – v5-6, 18-19:

 

(1) The principle of intelligibility (v9, 19): speak what can be understood – useful instruction – even to some extent by the uninitiated person off the street (v16, 23-25) – engaging spirit and mind (v14-15)

 

(2) For the sake of an underlying aim: edification = building others up in the body in Christ (v4-5, 12, 17) – their strengthening, encouragement and comfort (v3) not puffing me up etc…

 

How do these principles affect how we think of church life and how we can contribute to it (rather than just what we might get out of it)?

1 Corinthians 13 - handout

1 Corinthians 13 (page 1153)

(John 15:9-17)

THE PRE-EMINENT WAY OF LOVE (12:31b):

The Proper Pattern of Christian Spirituality and Community

 

·       “Love” 10x

·       Do we sometimes have a sentimental or superficial view of love which owes more to Hollywood that to Holy Scripture?

·       Not a passage the brides in Corinth would have chosen for their weddings!

·       The passage serves as a corrective: Christian love in contrast to the Corinthians’ very unloving competition and boasting etc. about spirituals gifts, knowledge etc. (cf. 8:1-3)

 

(1) The priority of love (vv1-3): Christian love is essential - spiritual gifts without love are just noise (v1); without love we are nothing (v2) and gain nothing (v3)

 

·       The greatest commandments (Mark 12:28-33)

 

(2) The properties and practice of Christian love (vv4-7): what love is and is not, does and does not do

 

·       15 qualities / actions that characterise love

·       7 tell us what love is / does

·       8 tell us what it is not / does not do

 

(3) The permanence of love: love abides when other gifts pass away (vv8-13)

 

·       Jesus – self-sacrificial love (cf. God is love 1 John 4:7-12)

 

·       So…? 14:1, pursue love

 

  

Consider the liver!

Jesus said “Consider the Lilies”, “think about the flowers”. Paul might have said “Consider the Liver”, “think about your internal organs” (1 Corinthians 12:12-31). The liver isn’t visible to us. It’s not one of the flashy up-front high-profile parts of the body like the hands or the eyes. Most of us probably don’t give our livers a second thought. And the liver isn’t one of the glamorous hero organs like the brain or the heart. Probably no one ever wrote a poem about the liver. But nevertheless the liver is essential.

 
I’m no doctor, but I think it’s safe to say that you would be in big trouble if you didn’t have a liver. Paul could have said, “without the liver, where would the filtering of the blood be?”

Many of the really indispensable parts of the body are ones which are mostly invisible to us and which, when all is going well, we don’t need to think about. You can live without a hand, but not without a liver.

So, even if our role in the church, our gifts, aren’t much thought or spoken about, if no one ever thanks us, and what we do might seem mundane or unexciting, it might be essential. We need the admin, and planning, and communications, and the finances and the cleaning and the looking after the buildings and the churchyard, and all the other activities I’ve missed out, as well as the more up front activities.

1 Corinthians 12v12-end - a handout

 

1 Corinthians 12:12-end (page 1153)

(Exodus 18:13-end)

 

BODY TALK

 

Chapters 11-14 focus on church worship

 

Issues in the church in Corinth: knowledge / wisdom / status / divisions / disputes / party spirit / elevating human leaders – and more!

 

12:1-11 – Many spiritual gifts, given by one Spirit, for the common good (not for showing off / feeling superior / gaining status)

 

12:12-31 – The church as the body of Christ:

One body, many parts

mutual interdependence

 

The body is one (v12) not one part (v14)

 

Unity… - You are one so…

 

Diversity…

 

(1) Don’t exclude yourself from the body: others need you (vv15-16)

 

(2) Don’t exclude others from the body: you need others (vv21)

 

-          The seemingly weaker parts (v22)

-          The parts we think less honourable / unpresentable (v23f)

 

Various roles / offices / gifts (v28ff)

 

The most excellent gift we should most desire (12:31ff)