You Are Different! Series

YOU ARE DIFFERENT!

I Corinthians 12:1-6

S: Spiritual Gifts

C: Variety of Gifts

Th: Live the Difference

Pr: What life-change is to take place? WE ARE TO REJOICE IN OUR DIFFERENCES.

?: Inductive

KW: Issues

TS: We will find in our study of I Corinthians 12:1-6 three issues that Paul discusses as he begins the subject of spiritual gifts.

The _____ issue is…

I. DUMBNESS (1-2)

II. DOMINION (3)

III. DIVERSITY (4-6)

PA: How is the change to be observed?

• We are to realize and rejoice in our differences.

• We are to grow in our understanding.

• We are to apply what we know, and fulfill our mission.

Version: ESV

RMBC 05 September 04 AM

INTRODUCTION:

1. Have you ever come across someone that had a hard time getting it right?

ILL Notebook: Stupid (X)

Two friends rented a boat and went fishing in a lake. The first day, they caught 30 fish. As they were preparing to go into shore, one man said to the other, "Let’s mark this spot so we can come here again tomorrow."

The next day, when they were driving to rent the boat, the same guy said, "Did you mark that spot?"

His friend replied, "Yeah, I put a big ’X’ on the bottom of the boat."

The first one said, "That was dumb! What if we don’t get the same boat today?"

Some people do have trouble getting it right, don’t they?

As we have been studying the first letter to the Corinthians, we have discovered that they had trouble in understanding the true nature of the church.

They very much treated the church as a human organization, something that found its source in themselves.

But this was a great misunderstanding on their part.

For as John MacArthur has said, “It (the church) is a supernatural organism, created, established, empowered, and led by the Lord Himself.”

Because these people were not Spirit led, when it came to how the church ought to work, they kept messing it up.

For example…

2. The Corinthians did not have it right when it came to worship.

This was a church that needed help, because they were not God-centered.

Instead, they were self-centered.

And because of their own snobbishness, they were characterized by division.

They were failing to show the love and unity that are to characterize brothers and sisters in Christ.

As we noted in our study in I Corinthians 11…

3. They had been struggling with issues of authority.

In fact, they were being careless with issues of both authority and equality.

They were striving with the issues of headship.

They were ignoring cultural sensitivities that were hurting their ability to communicate the good news.

And, they were failing to understand and apply the fact that God was in charge of their lives.

As we also studied in I Corinthians 11 that…

4. They had been acting selfishly during the agape meal.

When the Corinthians were meeting together for the Lord’s Supper, they were doing it in an unworthy manner.

Those that were better off financially were arriving first.

Instead of waiting for one another, they were going ahead and eating the meal, while those that arrived later were left with nothing to eat.

Their focus was on themselves, not on Jesus, as it should have been.

Now, when we come to I Corinthians 12, we discover that their worship services were a mess.

For…

5. They had been favoring certain gifts of the Spirit over others.

They were experiencing the Spirit, but this doesn’t mean they were Spirit led.

In fact, their practice was irresponsible.

Their worship was chaotic.

With a fanatical emphasis on the spectacular, they were clearly misusing the gifts.

In particular, the spiritual gift of tongues was being used in such a way, that there was confusion instead of clarity.

There was an unintelligible communication that fed an ungodly attitude of superiority.

Those that were claiming to speak the language of angels were claiming a spiritual superiority.

But what Paul is going to discuss is that there are no superior gifts, and thus, there are no superior people in the church.

What is to be valued are those that are engaged in kingdom work by virtue of their use of their spiritual gifts.

So…

6. We will find in our study of I Corinthians 12:1-6 three issues that Paul discusses as he begins the subject of spiritual gifts.

OUR STUDY:

I. The first issue is DUMBNESS (1-2).

[1] Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. [2] You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.

ILL Notebook: Ignorant (ignoramuses)

One day our professor was discussing a particularly complicated concept. A pre-med student rudely interrupted to ask "Why do we have to study this stuff?"