Hey everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the daily Bible podcast. December 2nd, 2024. Uh, perhaps the most controversial addition to the daily Bible podcast ever. And pastor I was not here, but that's okay. That's okay. We're going to dive into it anyways. It shouldn't be too controversial. I don't believe, but, uh, It does involve some passages that have caused a lot of questions, a lot of division in the church. Ironically, as we'll see here in a moment. Um, but yeah. It's Monday, hopefully you're enjoying your Monday. I guess it's cyber Monday today, which is, uh, Yeah, you can do more online shopping, I guess if you didn't do enough on Friday and Saturday and Sunday now you've got cyber Monday. I think tomorrow's giving Tuesday, Wednesday is wacky Wednesday, Thursdays. Terrific Thursday. Uh, Friday is fun. Friday. Saturday is super sad. Who knows. Right. Cyber Monday. There you go. Hopefully you can go out and get some, some good deals on some things on, on cyber Monday. Maybe finish up some Christmas shopping, even if you were ambitious this weekend and got quite a bit done, but I'm glad you're opening up your Bible and tuning in for the podcast. Again today we're in first Corinthians 12 through 14, and like I said, this is a controversial passage because it deals with the subject of spiritual gifts. Now let me show my cards at the very beginning. We are as a church, uh, what we would call cessationists cessationists or cessationism is the belief that there are certain gifts, the sign gifts in particular, the miraculous sign gifts. That have ceased in are no longer in operation as a normative part of the church. Okay. So that would include gifts of healing. Gifts of prophecy gives us speaking in tongues, casting out demons, so forth and so on. These are. Uh, the, the miraculous gifts that we believe were provided for the apostles during the era of the, the rapid expansion of the church, which as we're reading first Corinthians, it's important for us to know in the chronological plan is helpful for this. That this is still in that early stage of the church as the church is still growing and going, and churches are being planted and the gospel is still something that is very new. And so that those going with the gospel message we're given by God, through the spirit, the ability to do some miraculous things in order that the message in the messenger should be validated by those that they were going to preach to. So when Paul shows up in Corinth and begins to call these people to faith and repentance in a gospel that they'd never heard of before, and they're able to see the miraculous gifts. They're able to witness these miraculous things or have heard about speaking in tongues in how these known languages were used to communicate the gospel in such a rapid way. Uh, that caused them to stop and say, I'm going to pay attention to what this one has to say. And in paying attention to what he has to say, they hear the gospel and that is where they are left to say, okay, am I going to repent and believer or no? So that's our doctrine on cessationism of the gifts. We don't believe that is in operation anymore today because what we stand up and we do is we say, here's God's word, believe in God's word. And we have the Bible in codified form in a book form. And we can point to this and say, this is what God says. We're not standing up by ourselves saying. I'm telling you something that God says. Uh, extemporaneously the way that the apostles did in the early church did, I'm saying, look, here it is. You can put your eyes on the page. You can read, this is God's word. There's the authority within the word of God. So getting into that. What I think makes it so ironic and tragic that so much divisiveness has come from a passage like this is because if you read first Corinthians 12, And really all of it. First Corinthians 12, 13 and 14, which is our text for the day. All of it is, is really mostly about unity. Uh, the purpose of the spiritual gifts were for the unity of the body, the common good of the body. That's how he puts it in verse seven. He says to each, so. Who has the spiritual gift will each Christian does every believer does. To each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. All of these, he goes on in verse 11, you list some, some gifts above that. Some of those would be the miraculous gifts, the gifts of healing, right. Uh, the gifts of tongues, the. The these things, he says, all of these things. Are empowered by one in the same spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills. Uh, people have the gifts they do because the spirit gives those gifts to them for the common good for the unity of the body. And this is where he goes with the metaphor after this and the metaphor here again is on the emphasis on unity. The body has many members, but it's one body. So, yes, he's going to talk about the varieties. There are varieties of gifts. There are varieties of manifestations of the spirit within a person, but. All of it works together for the good of one. Body and that's, that's so integral to our understanding of this conversation. When, when you think about employing your giftedness in the church, it's important that you understand that, that you're doing that, not so that you can say, well, this is God gave me this gift, so I need to express this because it's about me and my expression of this gift. Now God gave you that gift to be used for the good of the body as a whole. And so maybe you find yourself in a situation where, uh, you may have the spiritual gift of playing the oboe. Well, we don't have an oboe right now up on stage. And so because of that, maybe it's not the season for you to play the oboe in, in sense of the corporate good of the body, but maybe, you know what, maybe you also have to give to serving. And so in the gift of serving, you're going to serve on our hospitality team and you're going to use spiritual giftedness in that regard to serve the body of Christ. Christ for the good of the body for the unity of the body. And listen, we need people of all kinds of different skills and talents. And let me put it this way. We need available people. One of the things that we talk about, uh, in, in ministry circles is we want people that are fat. And what that means is we want people who are faithful available and teachable in that middle one available is what we're talking about here. Uh, so often we will find ourselves in a church where maybe we've served in one role at a past church, and we really love that role, but we come to a new church and either somebody else is in that role or maybe that ministry isn't in operation at the moment. And so we're left there to say, well, I, I, I'm not going to serve because my role is not available. My gift is, is not available to be used. And that's where I would say that availability comes in and the availability is the availability, the mindset that says. Look, put me wherever I'm needed. I'll do whatever I need to do. You need me to clean toilets before the service? Because they had a, uh, a basketball game in the gym last week and the bathrooms are messy. Sure. I'll do it. I'll let me give me a brush. I'm going for it. You need somebody to run the camera in the back. Okay. Yeah, that's me. I'm in, let me do it. You need somebody to stack chairs? To tear down, to set up, to drive a trailer. Uh, yeah, I will do all of those things. You may have never taken a spiritual inventory test that says I'm a trailer driver, but if you've got a truck and you've got a tow hitch and you've got the availability, you know what, you're, you're going to use your spiritual giftedness of being able to tow a trailer. And you're going to use that for the common good of the body of Christ. See, that's why you're not going to find. Us ever giving you a spiritual inventory list here at the church saying, Hey, take this test. Take this inventory. Uh, assessment. And this is going to tell you what your gifting is, and there's multiple reasons why. Uh, one of the main reasons, why is it pigeonholes people? Such that people walk away and go, well, these are my gifts. I'm good at this, this and this. And then when they're asked to do something, that's outside that, that tri unity of their giftedness, they're going to say no, that's not my area of giftedness. Okay, well, but can you do it? Can you, can you volunteer with kids? Can you teach kids? The Bible will, but that's not my gift. Okay. I didn't ask if your inventory told you that was your giftedness. Can you do it? Uh, technically yeah, I can. Okay. So now it's a matter of, are you willing to do it for the good of the body of Christ? That's what spiritual giftedness is all about. And so when he says in verse 18, Chapter 12, 12 as it is. God arranged the members of the body, each one of them as he chose. I love that verse because that means that God has put you here at the local body at compass Bible church in north Texas, to use your giftedness for the good of the body of Christ. What does that look like for you? How are you serving? Where are you serving? If you're saying I'm not serving because my role is taken or I don't have a ministry to fit that. Eh, that that's not, those are, those objections are not valid. Uh, you need to be involved in the church and serving the church and, and just as a sidebar, are there seasons to. To sit out of serving. Yeah. I mean, maybe you've got a health crisis going on or you've just got something unique going on to where it's like, okay. I, I, it's hard for me to be involved right now. Okay. I get that. But I would also say when, when you're, you're able to, to get back involved when you're able to. To smile at somebody and hand them a bulletin as they walk in the church. Uh, walk in the door to church on Sunday morning, get back involved and get serving. Um, yeah. God wants you to do this. It's part of what it looks like. It's part of the reason why he's got you at the body of Christ and got you at church. So. Um, yeah, I I'm, I'm Kevin Strong on that because I really feel that that's true. Um, and yeah, it's, it's not about, well, my spiritual gift inventory list identified these guests. If you've taken one of those in the past, and it's proved helpful to you in some regard. Great. Um, I'm happy for you, but realize that. A spiritual gift is any talent that you have that can be used for the glory of God, in the good of the body of Christ. Let me say that again, a spiritual gift is any talent or ability that you have that can be used for the glory of God in the good of the body of Christ. And so if you can check those two boxes, then again, driving a truck with a trailer towed behind it, that's a spiritual gift. And you can use that for the glory of God and the good of the body of Christ. All right. That's first Corinthians chapter 12. If you're coming for more answers on other specifics, then maybe you're going to have to wait until we preach that. Or maybe next year, or you can write in a question to podcast@compassntx.org, and we will answer it on the air if, uh, if we feel like it's a good question, that would benefit a lot of people. Otherwise we'll just. Shoot you a response individually at least. And get your question answered. Uh, chapter 13 coming off of this, he talks about love again, I think appropriate. Hey. Uh, don't be divisive over these things. Let's love each other and we're going to love the way that he describes it here. Uh, with a love that's patient and kind that does not envy or boast. You know, this. You may have had it read at your wedding. Uh, it's, it's oftentimes right at weddings, it was written to the local church. Right. And so we would say, man, if it's written to the local church, how much more you should it be true of a husband and wife, but, but really the focus here is for the local church. And then he goes on, he says, look, love, never ends. Any shifts here in the end of chapter 13, to talk about some eschatological things and times things. And he says, here's what to expect in the end. There are things that are going to pass away. Tongues will cease. Knowledge will pass away. For window and part and prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When the perfect comes. That is Jesus when Jesus returns. So. There's a lot of people here that think, well, when the, the perfect is the Bible. Okay. Now I think it's, it's broader than that. I think it's, or I guess more specific, perhaps, depending on how you look at it. I think he's talking about when Christ comes back, then we're going to know in full, and then he has this thing here. He says, we see in a mirror dimly right now in verse 12, but then we're going to see face to face. We know in part right now, then we will know. And. As we have been fully known. So faith in hope and love those three exist right now. But the greatest is love. Why? Because eventually we're not going to have to have faith or hope anymore because that will be realized when the perfect comes love is what's going to abide. And that's why in first Corinthians 13, he focuses so much on. Making sure that we are loving. Alright. Chapter 14, let's get to the controversial stuff. Prophecy and tongues. Ah, man, prophecy and tongues. We are called to pursue love and early earnestly desire, spiritual gifts in the beginning. And especially that you might prophesy why pursue prophecy? Why desire that because prophecies for the good of the whole church, he goes on and speaks a lot about tongues here. And, and when we're talking about tongues, we're talking about a known language and existing language that is interpreted by somebody who understands or knows that language. So he goes on to say, look, The one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men, but to God, some people say, look, see, it's an ecstatic utterance. It's a private prayer language for no one understands him, but he unders mystery utters mysteries in the spirit. No, I think what he's referring to here is when somebody stands up and speaks in a tongue. A foreign language. And there's no one there to interpret it. Well, then it is just between him and God, because everybody in the room that's listening to that person say that. Th th they don't understand what they're saying. There's no one there to interpret the one who speaks in a tongue verse four builds himself up. If again, no one is there to interpret. But the one who prophesies builds up the church, because it's about the church body. It's not just about the individual speaking in tongues. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets notice. That if someone interprets then it's, it's on par with prophecy. Why? Because it's going to benefit everybody. Remember why were spiritual gifts given first Corinthians 12 for the common good spiritual gifts are not about the individual practice of them. They are about the common good, the building up of the body of Christ. And so this idea of a private prayer language. Makes it individual when it was intended for the body intended corporately there that the church might be built up. So his discussion of tongues here in the beginning of chapter 14, compared to prophecies, he seemed prophecy is good because it's clear. It's understandable by those that are gathered in the church. And the tongues on the other hand, unless someone is there to interpret the tongue who knows the language that's being spoken. It's not going to be any good for anyone, but the one speaking in God. For six. He goes on. He says, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how am I going to benefit you? Unless I bring you some revelation, knowledge or prophecy you're teaching. In other words, unless someone is able to interpret this. He says he goes on. He says, so with yourselves, If with your tongue, you other speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said again? It has to be interpreted. For you will be speaking into the air. There are doubtless many notice here, many different, what does he say? What's the word. There are many different verse. Uh, 10 languages in the world. He's talking about that in context with tongues and none is without meaning other, in other words, If, if someone is speaking in tongues, an interpreter can be found because there are many different languages and none is without meaning. But if no one is there, if no one is there to interpret it, it's not going to be beneficial to the body of Christ to the whole church. And therefore don't do it as the implication that prophecy is better than that. For 16. Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say amen to your Thanksgiving when he doesn't know what you're saying? So he's talking about even then the outsiders coming in there. And he says that if, unless there's someone there to interpret, it's not good for the building up of the church. It's not going to be good for the body of Christ as a whole. And again, first Corinthians chapter 12. That's what our purpose is with spiritual gifts. Um, He goes on in verses 20 through, uh, the, the end of well through 25 here. And he talks about the difference between tongues and prophecy. Some more. He says, tongues are assigned to unbelievers. Uh, some have suggested this may be in the form of, of God's judgment against them. Um, others have said that, no, this is again a, the miraculous and it's a sign for unbelievers because they're hearing it in their own language or they're, they're hearing interpreted in, they're seeing the miraculous. Uh, but he says prophecy is, is for believers. Um, and the prophecies. Being for believers because it's, it's understandable. It's clear it's plain. And even those on the outside can hear the prophecy and even come to faith as well. So here. In chapter 14, he. Tongues and prophesied fine. They both have a place. But only in so much as. Uh, there, the tongues are going to be interpreted again, tongues known language and, and that is what's key here. That's, what's important in, uh, in first Corinthians chapter two, chapter 14, the first one through 25 there. Okay. After this, he goes on to order we worship here. He says in verse, uh, 26, let all things be done for building up again. Uh, verse 33 for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. Okay. So. Excuse me. Now let's get to it. Uh, verse 34. Verse 33 and 34 as an alternate because of the saints. Women should keep silent in churches for, they're not permitted to speak, but should be in submission. Alright. Alright. If it hasn't been controversial enough, if you're still with me and I haven't offended you yet. Uh, well, maybe this will. Now what's he talking about here? He's not seeing women have to walk into the doors of church and be silent the whole time I elsewhere. He said, it's okay for women to pray in prophecy, right? During that season of the church that was acceptable during that time. So what's he saying here? And what he's saying here is he's saying this, he's saying, uh, when. What was going on? Most likely in the Corinthian church was that there were women that were disrupting the service that were objecting to the things that were being said by the preacher, by the pastor. By the one speaking. And that disruption was what he's speaking against here. He's saying that's not right. It's usurping the created order. Remember the order of the husband. Who is the head of the wife? Um, It's usurping the created order there. And so this is wrong. This is out of place. The wife shouldn't speak up and shout down the pastor as he's preaching. Uh, or even sitting in her seat and grumble against the pastor as he's preaching, because that's not good. That's not helpful. That's bad for the what for the unity of the body of Christ. Remember, have I stressed that enough? First Corinthians 12 through 14. What's the theme? The theme is the unity, the good of the body of Christ, the common good of the body of Christ. And so here, he's saying, let them, instead of ask their husbands or talk to their husbands when they get home and if there's valid concerns, okay. Then, then those might be addressed in other ways, but that's, what's going on here. Paul's not saying two ladies. Hey lady, sit down and be quiet. He simply saying that the public. Preaching of the word. That's not the format. That's not the place to, to grumble or raise your objections or anything like that. Now you might sit there and you might say, okay, but what if the pastor is preaching? Heresy? Okay. Yeah, you might, at some point, Stan decide in the middle of a church service and hopefully not at our church service at any point, but you might decide to. Uh, in the middle of a church service, this is, this is so erroneous. I cannot continue to sit here and be listening to this. Okay. If that happens to you at some point in time in your life, then calmly and quietly without a show, stand up and excuse yourself. You can leave. You can choose to walk out. Um, Again, not making a big harrumph and show and everything else, but you can choose to walk out now. Uh, there, there are times when more radical, uh, actions may be necessary, but, but those are the exceptions to the rule. Um, I listened as your, your senior pastor. I get it. I'm going to preach things from time to time and you may not agree with that. And I'm talking to both men and women at this point. And I may preach something that, that you're sitting out there and going, okay, well, that's a, maybe a second tier issue and I don't agree with his take on that. Great, awesome. Uh, you don't have to, but I would say this, I would say. I would need you to still sit and, and listen quietly, um, and not sit in your seat and grumble and not sit in your seat and complain and not sit in your seat and make little comments under your breath about the sermon. Uh, Y because of the, the good of the body of Christ, you are being divisive and disruptive to the good of the body of Christ. So, um, again, you don't have to agree with me. I'm not saying that I'm saying that's not the format to vocally object to anything being said from the pulpit you're saying, does that actually happen? Yeah, it actually does happen. Um, but I'm just saying that that's not the right place. That's not the right time that. That's a selfish move. And a divisive move. If it's, if it's being done there, especially on second tier or even tertiary third tier issues. Um, we can agree to disagree. And if, if you get to the point where there's enough disagreement there, that you're like, Hey, you know, I find that I'm disagreeing with things more often than not. Then, then I'll be. Totally honest with you. I'm okay with you moving on. Look, I love you. And I don't want to lose anybody from the church. I'm not saying that at all, but I also want you to be at a place where you can worship and be in agreement. And to the extent that you're not tempted to be divisive or disruptive to the unity of the body of Christ, go find a group of Christians that that will be true for, for you. And you can, you can settle in there. I'm not addressing a specific situation here. I know it may sound like that. I'm really not. I'm talking about this because of this passage in first Corinthians 12 through 14. So, um, we love our church body and I love you guys. And, and it's a joy to preach to you guys. And I love doing it weekend and week out. And it's awesome that, uh, that you're part of our church family. So, um, please hear me say that I'm not, I'm not addressing a given situation. You guys may be sitting there going, oh man, I wonder what happened. Nothing happened. This is not a fodder for gossip. This is just me going over and talking through some things and kind of saying, okay, how do we understand this in today's context? That's it. That's all I'm driving out there. All right. I'm sure that created questions. So remember podcast@compassntx.org podcasts@compassntx.org. And we would love to answer those questions. Let me pray. And then we'll be done. God, I thank you for your word. I thank you for the truth of it. And I thank you for just the, the unity that we can have as a body of believers saying we're after the common good. And I pray that that would be true of our church. I pray that you'd protect us in that regard, and I pray that we would see growth as a result. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. All right. I'll keep her in your Bibles and tune in again tomorrow for another edition of the daily Bible podcast by.