1 Corinthians 14:1-12

Two aforementioned realities are again made very clear at the beginning of chapter 14. First, God has given gifts to His Church, and His people should earnestly desire those gifts. God gives these gifts to be used so that the Church can be built up (1 Corinthians 14:3, 5). It should not surprise us that God wants to build us into mature believers who together act as salt and light in this world around us (Matthew 5:13-16). It is through His people that God makes His glory and salvation known to those who are lost. God sends His Spirit to empower and gift us to that end. Why would we not want gifts that He has made available for the benefit of all our brothers and sisters in Christ? Second, gifts are to be used through the vehicle of love (1 Corinthians 14:1). The greatest misconceptions concerning grace gifts come from seeing them abused or used wrongly. Many pastors and theologians opt to sweep chapters 12-14 under the rug and declare there is no point or purpose in these gifts any longer. It is not that they despise God’s Word, but more that they fear the mess that some of these gifts will bring. The believers in Corinth are eager for spiritual manifestations of the gifts in their gathered services (v. 12). They are praying and singing in tongues, interrupting the order of the service, and causing unbelievers to think Christians are completely out of their minds. Many churches today follow these same practices. Both the believers in Corinth and the modern proponents of the gifts who act in these ways miss the point of the gifts God gives. Love for the person sitting on your right and left in church is the key to rightly using the gifts as God directs. Grace gifts in a gathered service should only build up everyone present. Unbelievers should be convicted of sin and drawn to repentance and faith in Christ through the use of our gifts. Likewise, believers should be consoled, encouraged, and built up through their use.