Sunday Rewind 1.14.07

The Church at Corinth needed a lot of help. They continually struggled to put away the tendencies of their pagan past. The issue this week is spiritual gifts. Paul received word that because people were exalting individual gifts, two things were happening. First, some of those with "better" gifts were becoming conceited. Second, some without those "better" gifts were pretending to have them.

Paul addresses the subject in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. His instructions can be summarized as follows:

• Spiritual gifts are just that...gifts of God's grace. Although there are a variety of gifts, because they all come from God, they all have equal value.
• Every believer is given gifts at God's discretion. Some may receive more than others, but no one is left out.
• The gifts are given for a purpose...the common good.

Understood this way, spiritual gifts are a wonderful thing. They give us the ability to live out the transforming truths of the gospel by:

• enabling us to move from hearing a sermon about compassion, to giving a cup of cold water in Jesus' name,
• enabling us to move from hearing a sermon about evangelism, to telling our friends about Jesus,
• enabling us to move from hearing a sermon about discipleship, to starting a Bible Study in our home, and
• enabling us to move from hearing a sermon about spiritual gifts, to using them for the common good.