Teaching on Lord's Supper and Spiritual Gifts

[Note: At the request of several students, this blog entry does not have pictures of the class, but reproductions of some of the charts on spiritual gifts used today. The students wanted them posted online, so they could find them when needed in the future. I will include extra pictures of the students tomorrow, the Lord willing.]

Today was the hardest day of this effort. Even after a good night’s sleep, I awoke still exhausted as the schedule is extremely taxing. The students were also very tired as this is our fourth day of classes. The studies are demanding as we get into some depth which demands constant concentration. So, I appreciate these good men for spending their time and effort in these studies.

We spent over two hours dealing with 1^st Corinthians 11, the vast majority dealing with the Lord’s Supper. Many of these men came from various denominational backgrounds, so they have practices from those backgrounds that have affected their thinking. We spent more time than I had anticipated on questions referring to some of those practices. We emphasized that Paul clearly says the Lord’s Supper was to be partaken in the assembly of the saints. We also dealt with a refutation of some who want to make the container a third element in the Lord’s Supper that signifies the new covenant and demand that all drink from one container. Instead, Paul teaches that the “cup” it the contents, that is, the fruit of the vine.

In the remaining part of the morning session, we needed to complete the twelfth chapter, so we shortened the morning break. We covered the different spiritual gifts by first defining them. We then noted the fact that they were to be used for the good of the entire body (church), not the good of the individual given the gift. It is obvious that the Corinthians sought the gift of tongues above the other gifts, but Paul corrects them for that misunderstanding and lists it last in the order given.

After lunch, we covered 1^st Corinthians 13-14 to complete Paul’s teaching with concern to spiritual gifts. We studied at length the cessation of spiritual gifts that occurred when the complete revelation was given. We also cover the practical regulations of the spiritual gifts (especially in contrast of tongues and prophecy) as shown in chapter fourteen. We concluded the afternoon session with noting the principle of doing all things decently and in order, showing how this principle should guide us in our services today as well. 

It was a packed half-day of study and we ended later than normal, but we were able to fully cover the material and answer the questions the students had. I had promised them to start that the material was not difficult to understand if they would keep focused on the points step by step. At the end of the session, all of the students said the points from the text were very clear and they were surprised at how easy it really was to understand. So, it was a very tiring day, but a very productive one as well!