Where Did You Get That?

Good morning.

We’re continuing to discuss 1 Corinthians 12 in a practical way. Paul started this part of the letter interestingly. “You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led (V2).”  Whoever we are as humans, we are led by a spirit. Some demon spirit is going to make it its business to influence us if we’re not led by the Holy Spirit. This chapter focuses on how Christians are led by the Holy Spirit of God.

Paul used the human body to illustrate the fact that the Holy Spirit leads individuals in order to bring direction and order in the church. Every part in the body of Christ needs to be led by the Holy Spirit to serve every other part to accomplish God’s purposes collectively. Note that Paul does not give a manual with loads of advice on how to make the body work. The body, i.e. the church, should be led by the Holy Spirit and not by doctrine and liturgy, and He does this leading by means of various gifts.

The first gift I want to look at is the Word of Wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to do the right thing at the right time to accomplish the right outcome. Sometimes we’re stuck in a tight spot and are not sure how to handle a person or a situation. The Lord knew people are difficult to work with and that they can be complicated, which is why He made His services available. Jesus acted in this gift many times in His ministry. E.g. when the scribes and Pharisees brought Him the woman caught in adultery, He resolved the situation by simply saying: “He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her (John 8:7).” Wise, wasn’t it?

On another occasion we read that the Pharisees sent their disciples to Jesus asking: “‘Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?’ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, ‘Whose likeness and inscription is this?’ They said, ‘Caesar's.’ Then he said to them, ‘Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's’ (Matthew 22:17-20).” Here Jesus received both a word of knowledge and a word of wisdom from the Holy Spirit. Mark recorded the conclusion of this occasion as follows: “And they marvelled at him.” When the Lord reveals His amazing power through us, people will be astonished and will start looking for Him, which is why the Lord made these gifts available to us.

Jesus doesn’t want us to be learned and equipped by human standards. He wants us to be led by the Holy Spirit. In order to receive a word of wisdom from the Holy Spirit, we simply need to depend on Him, trusting Him for it. If we know we’re going to be in a situation, it would be wise to pray it through beforehand, asking the Lord to give you the wisdom you’ll need. If caught in a situation unawares, a call for help inwardly where the Holy Spirit resides usually solves the problem, providing you’re used to listening for His voice. Sometimes you’ll just hear His wisdom coming from your own mouth and be astonished yourself as He freely gives you this word without you even asking.

Lord, I want to be led by the Holy Spirit.

We’ll continue next time.

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