Seek the Good of Others

July 27, 2014 Background Scripture: 1 Corinthians 14:13 – 26 Lesson Passage: 1 Corinthians 14:13 – 26 The Holy Ghost provides many gifts to the body of Christ by giving those gifts to the individual members of the body. This should be evident within local churches where born-again people have joined themselves together for the sake of the gospel. This “should be” evident within our local churches but it is not always so. Spiritual gifts are there to build up the body by building up the individual members. We are not forced to use these gifts but we feel the unction or movement of the Holy Ghost within us urging us to exercise those gifts when they are needed the most. It is unfortunate but we don’t always seek the Lord’s desire for us but instead we ask the Lord to fulfill what we desire of Him. When spiritual gifts are not used to build up the body, then the body suffers from that lack. The greatest gifts are those that benefit other people rather than the person who has the gift. When the individual members are exercising their gifts to benefit others and being benefitted by the free exercise of gifts by the other members, then the local church walks in obedience to God. It is a constant refrain within the New Testament writings that Christians should seek to help others. It is evident, because of these writings, that salvation does not take away our selfishness. We are encouraged to grow in grace by serving others. We have been given spiritual gifts to equip us for greater service than was previously possible. So where is the problem? Christians are consumed too often with self-serving activities. We sometimes employ the spiritual gifts we have received to benefit ourselves and minimize the use of those gifts we have that will build up others. It was because of a similar attitude within the church at Corinth that Paul addressed the issue of speaking in tongues during gatherings of the congregation. It seems obvious today that some of the Corinthians felt enthusiastic about having the gift of speaking in tongues and esteemed it above the other spiritual gifts. They were freely exercising the gift within the congregation while they met. The problem with this was threefold. First, in the absence of a person with the gift to interpret the tongues, the congregation could hear the speaker but not understand what was being said. The speaker might have felt good because of the presence of the gift within him but the congregation was not being helped by listening and not understanding. The second problem would occur if a stranger came in among them while members were speaking in tongues with no interpreter. The stranger would think that they were unlearned foreigners rather than purveyors of the gospel. The third problem appears to have been that those with the gift of speaking in tongues felt that they were superior because of it. Paul did not instruct the church to cease allowing the display of this gift but rather ensure that someone was present who could interpret the tongues that the congregation could benefit from the revelation knowledge being made available by the Spirit of God. If no interpreter was present, then Paul’s instruction was for the speaker to keep silent so that no confusion would result. Paul boasted about the gift of speaking in tongues because he had it himself. On the other hand, he encouraged them to seek to build up each other by exercising the gift of prophesy which needed no interpreter for the congregation to benefit. Robert C. Hudson July 5, 2014