A Beautiful Mess 1 Corinthians 12:1-31 Disorder in Public Worship Part 3 of 3 The Use of Spiritual Gifts

Introduction A Beautiful Mess Chapter 1:7 – they did not lack any Spiritual Gift Questions: People in the church were saying things that were worrying and yet claimed they were words from God. How can you tell if they were or not? Were there some gifts that are more important than others? Were there certain gifts that you had to have in order to be a Christian?

Summary The Spirit of God can only glorify Jesus A Beautiful Mess The Spirit of God can only glorify Jesus Yes there are different gifts, but they all come from the same source – God! They are all given through the Holy Spirit for the common good. Please notice the theme of the Trinity. Another theme is the sovereignty of God. Paul uses the human body to illustrate his point.

2 tests Negatively, no one can say Jesus be cursed. A Beautiful Mess Negatively, no one can say Jesus be cursed. Positively, only someone gifted by the Holy Spirit can say Jesus is Lord. Check out the content. If Jesus is not glorified then the answer is no. Check the character of the person. If Jesus is not being glorified in their lives, then the answer is again no.

Some Gifts more important than others? A Beautiful Mess Different gifts, all from the same Spirit. Different services, all from the Lord Jesus. Different works, all from God the Father. It is not about the differences. What is important - they all come from God. So no gift is greater than any other.

Lists 2 Dangers We think that this is the only list A Beautiful Mess 2 Dangers We think that this is the only list We have a tendency to rank the gifts according to their position on the list

Need to understand A Beautiful Mess All believers have spiritual gifts. Now to each one… They are given for the common good. Different gifts are given to different people. Not everyone has the same gift. 6 times in 5 verses we see that they are the work of the Holy Spirit.

The Body One body but many parts. A Beautiful Mess One body but many parts. In great diversity there is great unity!

Verses 15-20 A Beautiful Mess Paul speaks to those church members who feel they have no role to play, that they are not important. He says to them, you are important, you are significant. You belong to the body whether you feel like it or not. The body needs you; it cannot be a healthy body without you.

Verses 21-26 A Beautiful Mess Paul turns his attention to those who think they are the important ones, those believers who look down on those they consider to have lesser gifts then them. He says to them, you need these people you consider to be weaker or less important than yourselves. In fact they are indispensable!

Verses 27-31 Now you! You are part of the body of Christ A Beautiful Mess Now you! You are part of the body of Christ No one can claim to be the church on their own No one is excluded. God has placed you here

Now you! A Beautiful Mess Are you aware of what God wants you to do, why He has placed you here at Northside? If you have some idea, are you doing it? If not, why not? Do you feel that you don’t have a very important role to play here

Verse 31 A Beautiful Mess As a church we long for everyone to know their Spiritual Gifts so that they can use them to build up God’s church here at Northside. “The way we use the gifts is more important than the specific gifts”.