Priorities

In chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians, Paul addresses the subject of spiritual gifts, namely the gift of tongues and prophecy, and then to close out the chapter he talks about the need for orderly worship. Where does one begin when it comes to discussing these subjects? With 40 verses here open for dissection, which one or ones do I choose? To make it easy I picked the one in the very middle; verse 20. (I hope that’s not how you do your individual Bible study, but for the sake of time and keyboard strokes I’m choosing this one to discuss today.)

Here are Paul’s words in verse 20: “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.” (ESV) In today’s vernacular he is saying, “When it comes to spiritual gifts, you need to grow up! If you are going to act like children in anything do it toward evil, not in spiritual things!” I love how Eugene Peterson’s The Message translates this thought: “To be perfectly frank, I’m getting exasperated with your infantile thinking. How long before you grow up and use your head—your adult head? It’s all right to have a childlike unfamiliarity with evil; a simple no is all that’s needed there. But there’s far more to saying yes to something. Only mature and well-exercised intelligence can save you from falling into gullibility.” Yes, that is a mouthful, but I love how he eloquently expounds on the idea. Many times throughout 1 Corinthians Paul addresses the subject of their maturity; mostly their lack of it.

What were they doing in Corinth that merited Paul’s correction? As with many of us at times, I believe that the church was looking more at the gifts themselves than the Gift Giver. They were also misdirected on the priorities of the gifts. While there was nothing wrong with the manifestations of the Holy Spirit and their use in worship and corporate gatherings, Paul wanted them to know that they should be used for the edification of the entire church, not just certain parts and, according to verses 26-40, they needed to be used in a decent and orderly fashion.

One of the things I’ve always appreciated about our worship services here at Northside, is that we always strive not to make it about the “show.” I want to be careful here as I word this, but our Sunday morning services should always be pointing toward Jesus. It should never be about how rocking the music is, (Although it does rock!) or how well Dave or Brandon bring the message, (And they do bring it!) it should always be about meeting Jesus; First and foremost.

If on Sunday mornings, we come away from here feeling that the worship was great and the preaching was fantastic that’s awesome. But if we didn’t come face to face with our Savior, we missed something.

The Church in Corinth was doing all the right things; and some pretty amazing things. But they had priority issues; doing all the right things really doesn’t matter if you aren’t doing them correctly or going in the right direction. We should always make sure that when it comes to our worship gatherings, all roads point to Jesus; even in the smallest details.

See you Sunday!

Jimmy