Communauté et discipulat

Ignorance is Not Bliss (1 Cor. 12:1~11)

2019.03.24P. Park

Ignorance is Not Bliss: Let us not be ignorant of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit makes us spiritual by the confession that Jesus is Lord, and gives gifts through which we love and strengthen the body of Christ.

Do not be ignorant of the Holy Spirit (1-3절)

Paul says, "I do not want you to be uninformed," and the King James Version says "ignorant." Many in the church ignore the Spirit and relegate him to mysticism, which is a kind of betrayal, like Cypher's betrayal of Morpheus in The Matrix. Paul wrote to correct the Corinthians' worship in chapters 11 to 14. Some people, carried away by tongues and prophecy, were showing off and dividing the church. With great power comes great responsibility, so Paul reminds them what makes a person truly spiritual.

The Spirit's role: Jesus is Lord (1-3절)

The Spirit does not merely hand out exciting powers to flaunt. He defines the heart of a believer. Someone who once worshipped mute idols and even cursed Jesus' name can now declare publicly that Jesus is Lord, and this is possible only through the Holy Spirit. Before the Spirit bestows any gift, he leads people to faith in the lordship of Jesus. That confession is a spiritual revelation, not merely a human one. It sets us apart from our former godless spirituality and makes us spiritual.

The Spirit's work: gifts, service, activities (4-6절)

Verses 4 to 6 speak of varieties of gifts, service and activities, each anchored in the same Spirit, the same Lord and the same God. This is a Trinitarian structure, with Jesus as the Lord in the middle. So spiritual gifts are from God, and the work of the Spirit is the work of God. They convey God's power, and without God they are powerless. We serve as Jesus did, who "came not to be served, but to serve" (Mark 10:45). Service, teaching, preaching and healing are all spiritual gifts.

Gifts serve the Great Commission (7-11절)

The Spirit apportions gifts "as he wills": who, when, where and what are all his decision, for his work, glory and power. Using the gifts continues the Great Commission. Through them we engage people until they want to be baptized, then teach them to observe all Jesus commanded. Verse 7 says the manifestation of the Spirit is "for the common good." It is not mainly for the one who receives it, as with a six-year-old son who opens everyone's presents. The gifts exist to build up the whole body of Christ.

The power of the Spirit is like the wind

Manifestation means something that clearly shows or embodies an idea. John 3:8 likens the Spirit to the wind: you cannot see it, but you see its effects. Wind is ordinary air with power, and a believer is an ordinary human with God's power, strong enough to change what is around us. Each gift reveals the power of God, Jesus the Lord and the Holy Spirit. The passage lists nine gifts: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues and interpretation of tongues. Five New Testament passages list 20 gifts in all, but Paul never tried to make a complete list. In 1 Corinthians he was correcting misuse, not teaching systematically.

Love and strengthen: the heart of the gifts

1 Corinthians 13, the famous chapter on love, sits between two chapters on spiritual gifts. Without love, tongues, prophecy, faith and sacrifice make us a noisy gong and nothing. Not everyone has every gift, because the Spirit gives as he wills, but we are to pursue love first (14:1). Love is the driver, motivator and purpose of the gifts, as God so loved the world that he gave his Son. Remember two words: love and strengthen. If the Spirit does not manifest through us, people around us will not even know we are Christians. Anyone who cannot yet say "Jesus is Lord" should ask the Holy Spirit to come.

Apply to Life

  • Let us not ignore the Holy Spirit, and let us seek to understand his role, work and power.
  • Let us confess that Jesus is Lord, knowing that the Holy Spirit makes this confession possible.
  • Let us use our gifts not to show off but to serve the common good and build up the body of Christ.
  • Let us put love first in every gift and act of service, so that we love and strengthen the body of Christ.
  • Let us show God to the people around us at work, at school and everywhere through the Spirit's manifestation in us.

This summary was made automatically from the sermon's captions and may differ from the sermon.

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