Sunday School Lesson for July 27, 2014: Seek the Good of Others (1 Corinthians 14:13-26)

Philippians 2:5
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

1 Corinthians 14:1
Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.

I’ve learned a lot in the several weeks about the church in Corinth. The topical teaching in I Corinthians is so in depth that this book serves as foundational instruction for a number of different themes within the study of Christianity. However, there is an overarching theme to the book of I Corinthians that I’ve previously overlooked. The Corinthians were a church divided. That division threatened to destroy; to completely destroy the fellowship of this body of believers. Paul’s desire in penning this letter was to prevent this fellowship, this church from breaking up.

Paul was addressing a church that was severely broken, and that not in a good, spiritual way. I’ve used the analogy that: the Corinthian church could be compared to a car that breaks down during a long road trip. You’re traveling with your family on a long trip and suddenly it breaks down. You don’t abandon the car (if possible). Duct tape and bailing wire are required to get you, your family and your car safely to a place where the car can be fully and correctly repaired. Your goal is to get safely to a mechanic. You won’t be driving the speed limit, probably something well below, and you won’t, with duct tape and bailing wire holding your car together, try to make it to your planned destination… unless it’s closer than the closest repair shop. In essence, the chief priority is to save the car, not to completely ruin it by trying to get it to your destination in spite of its dire need for repair.

Philippians 2:3
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,

1 Corinthians 14:2
For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit.

          It is this vein that Paul proffers this passage on the use of the gifts of tongues and prophecy within the confines of the local assembly during worship. I believe that Paul was confronted with written evidence and firsthand accounts of behavior in the church that was so completely counter to what would be considered normal, expected behavior in church, that he was moved to take strong measures to correct a lot of abhorrent behavior. How was that being demonstrated in the use of spiritual gifts? It was being demonstrated by the spiritual gifts being used in a prideful, contentious, competitive manner between factions of the believers against one another. Some of the believers had become so high minded, they were ‘using’ their ‘gifts’ to somehow demonstrate that they were more spiritual than some of their less esteemed brothers and sisters.

1 Corinthians 14:27
If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret.

1 Corinthians 14:29
Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.

          The verses above indicate that there was error in the way that both the gifts of tongues and the gifts of prophecy were being used in a contentious manner that did not edify the congregation at large. So then, Paul is not trying to eliminate spiritual gifts from worship, but rather, it seems his intent is to establish guidelines for a church in dire trouble.

1 Corinthians 14:5
I would like every one of you to speak in tongues…

1 Corinthians 14:18
I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.

Jude 1:20
But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,

          Paul makes it clear that he doesn’t have any issue with the gift of tongues. After all, when one speaks in tongues, he edifies himself. He builds himself up in faith. He strengthens his spirit (! Cor. 14:4). For those of us who are called ‘charismatics’, it is this principle that encourages us. We want to build ourselves up in faith. However, there have to be boundaries set within the corporate worship environment. The gift of tongues should not be ‘lorded’ over others. Loud, insistent, seemingly disordered ‘praying in the Spirit’ can disrupt a service or ‘invade’ the personal atmosphere of a fellow worshipper.

          People sometimes come to church with the weight of the world on their shoulders. They don’t come to be spiritually assaulted, not even if your only intent was just to show off your ‘spiritual gifts’. Church should always be an oasis of healing in the spiritual and emotional desert that life can sometimes surround us with. In the corporate church environment, we should be mindful of the spiritual wellbeing of those we worship with. With that in mind, pray silently. Or rather, pray in tongues silently. You will still be speaking to yourself and to God. You will still be building yourself up in the faith.

1 Corinthians 14:39
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.

1 Corinthians 14:28
If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.

          In regards to our corporate worship experience, the key ingredient should be LOVE. That’s not so hard to figure out is it. If people who visit our congregations are impressed by the Love that is expressed in our warmth and genuine concern for one another, then we can be the magnet of hope that is so needed in these last days. We need to be a magnet to the lost and the weak, to the fatherless and the widows, to the sick and the wounded. That is the great task that we, the Church, are commissioned with.

1 Corinthians 13:4-5
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Mark 16:15
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

Mark 16:17
And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

Selah

.wb

See the video at http://youtu.be/82mQdYRuLlI?list=UUUg4PiFZaHV3h4tK084kxgQ