Prayer
I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. (Psalm 89:1).
Heavenly Father, may You fill our hearts with heavenly joy that we might sing together in one voice declaring Your endless mercies
Today’s Hymn
Words: Isaac Watts, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707-1709. Music: St. Cross, John B. Dykes, in Hymns Ancient and Modern, 1861.
’TWAS ON THAT DARK, DOLEFUL NIGHT
Click here for tune.
‘Twas on that dark, that doleful night
When powers of earth and hell arose
Against the Son of God’s delight,
And friends betrayed Him to His foes:
Before the mournful scene began,
He took the bread, and blessed, and brake:
What love through all His actions ran!
What wondrous words of grace He spake!
“This is My body, broke for sin;
Receive and eat the living food:”
Then took the cup, and blessed the wine;
“‘Tis the new cov’nant in My blood.”
For us His flesh with nails was torn,
He bore the scourge, He felt the thorn;
And justice poured upon His head
Its heavy vengeance in our stead.
For us His vital blood was spilt,
To buy the pardon of our guilt,
When, for black crimes of biggest size,
He gave His soul a sacrifice.
“Do this,” He cried, “till time shall end,
In memory of your dying Friend;
Meet at My table, and record
The love of your departed Lord.”
Jesus, Thy feast we celebrate,
We show Thy death, we sing Thy Name,
Till Thou return, and we shall eat
The marriage supper of the Lamb.
Thought Provoker
Think of your church like a human body. Every person that makes up your local church is a different part of that body. Ask your family to name the various parts of the body – like the head, hands, mouth, and feet. Then ask them to think about the various people in your church and see if they can identify which part of the body God has placed them in. Some will be the mouthpiece, others the feet, and still others the head. In a real sense your church is the local body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord wonderfully gives each of those He saves a spiritual gift. A spiritual gift is a divine enabling for a particular ministry within the church. God has bestowed each in your family who has been saved by the grace of God with a spiritual gift for service within the body of Christ. Today, we are going to look at some of the gifts that God has given His church from 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. From today’s passage, ask God to show you how He has gifted you for His service.
Dad’s Study
Paul does not want you to be ignorant with respect to spiritual gifts (verse 1). What is a spiritual gift? A spiritual gift is not a talent or human skill. By God’s common grace He gives talents to the saved and unsaved alike. Some of the strongest atheists have been graced with beautiful voices or the hands of an artist. Spiritual gifts are special capacities bestowed on believers to equip them to minister supernaturally to each other. There are a variety of gifts (verse 4) that are to be used for a variety of ministries (verse 5).
Read verses 8-11 and list together the gifts of the Spirit.
The gifts of the Spirit can be catalogued in three categories:
1. Speaking Gifts
a. Word of wisdom (verse 8). This is a speaking gift. Wisdom is the skillful ability to apply God’s truth to life’s situations. This is a gift that can be helpful in Biblical counseling, shepherding the flock of God, or Bible teaching.
b. Word of knowledge (verse 8). This is the God-given ability to perceive and understand the truths of God’s Word. This is a special ability to study and discover the deeper truth of Scripture. This gift should be present in Bible teachers and pastors. It is also a great benefit in Biblical counseling and church leadership.
c. Gift of prophecy (verse 10). Prophecy means to speak forth, to publicly declare the Word of God. Although the office of prophet (speaking new revelation) has passed away, the gift of prophecy (i.e. the public declaring of God’s written Word) is still active today. This is the gift of preaching. This is the gift of the evangelist and pastor.
2. Serving Gifts
a. Gift of faith (verse 9). Those with the gift of faith have the God-given ability to trust the promises of God’s Word even when the circumstances seem contrary. Can you name some of the saints in God’s Word who were gifted with faith? This gift is a blessed gift for every ministry including church leaders and missionaries!
b. Gift of discernment of spirits. Those with this gift have the God-given ability to tell truth from error (1 John 4:1). False teaching floods the church daily. Those with the gift of discernment are like the antennas of the churches. They can sense error even when it is mixed with truth. This gift is a great blessing for a pastor or elder.
3. Sign Gifts
a. Gift of healing (verse 9). The sign gifts were the temporary gifts that God bestowed upon the early New Testament church for authenticating the apostles’ message of God’s Word. Our God is a miraculous God. He still heals the sick according to His sovereign purpose. If any are sick today God directs His church to call for the elders to come and pray (James 5:14).
b. Gift of Miracles (verse 10). This gift was the gift of performing miracles. A miracle is the supernatural intervention into the natural laws of God. Can you name some of the miracles that God enabled His saints to perform in the Bible? When the revelation of God stopped the miraculous gifts stopped. B.B. Warfield correctly wrote, These miraculous gifts were part of the credentials of the apostles, as authoritative agents of God in founding the church. Their function confined them distinctly to the apostolic church, and they necessarily passed away with it.
c. Gift of tongues and of interpretation (verse 11). This is the God-given ability to speak in various languages. This was meant to be a sign gift to the unbelieving Jews. We will see how this gift was to be properly exercised when we read 1 Cor. 14.
How do we receive a spiritual gift?
Are we to seek out a gift on our own?
No. Paul concludes by reminding us that spiritual gifts are sovereignly bestowed by God as He wills (verse 10).
Click here for Matthew Henry’s Commentary.
Truth in Practice
Dad’s, you can explain the concept of spiritual gifts in the simplest of terms to your youngest child even if you just let them know that there are talking gifts and doing gifts. Help them understand that God wants all Christians to take their gift and serve each other. This is how the church is built up!
Discuss with you family how you believe God has gifted each of you who profess faith in Christ.
Thank those in your church who are faithful servants with God’s gifts.
Ask God to show how He has gift each of you as you faithfully serve Him.
Thank God today for His salvation and gift of service!
Catechism
Question 75
Q. What is Baptism?
A. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, instituted by Jesus Christ (Mat. 28:19) to be to the person baptised a sign of his fellowship with him, in his death, and burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:3; Col. 2:12), of his being ingrafted into him (Gal. 3:27), of remission of sins (Mark 1:4; Acts 22:16), and of his giving up himself to God through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4, 5).
