DR. GORDON HUGENBERGER
STUDY QUESTIONS FOR FEBRUARY 16, 2003
1 Corinthians 12:1-3
By the Holy Spirit


NOTE:
Although this is the third Sunday of the month, rather than the last, we are planning to have a special evangelistic emphasis in the morning services, including an opportunity to hear Mrs. Virginia Viola share her testimony and special music performed by the Salvation Army Staff Band of Bermuda. Please pray that the Lord would bless and use each of the elements of this service to encourage many to put their faith in Christ.

MAIN POINT:
According to 1 Corinthians 12:3, "no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy
Spirit." In John 3 this work of the Spirit is called being "born again." We need to be born again in order to confess Jesus as Lord not because there is a lack of evidence for Jesus' claims, including the evidence of prophesy, his miracles, and his resurrection. It is rather because, apart from the work of Spirit, we are spiritually blind - both to our own sin and desperate need for the Savior, as well as to Jesus' as the only adequate remedy for that need (His identity as the Lord). Most important, we need the Holy Spirit in order to confess "Jesus is Lord" because this confession does not refer merely to some liturgical formula we can mindlessly repeat at a worship service on Sundays. It is rather a solemn declaration of our acknowledgement of who is in charge of the universe and of our lives. Jesus promised His disciples in Matthew 10:17-39 that when they are arrested, brought before governors and kings, tortured, and threatened with death, they should not worry about what to say because the Holy Spirit will enable them to bear faithful witness to Jesus.

STUDY QUESTIONS:

1. How anxious are you feeling about the recent threats of terrorism and the possibility of war? What other more personal problems are you facing that are making you worry or be afraid? What do you do to deal with these worries and fears? Do those things help to feel more at peace and less fearful or fretful?



2. How can such stressful and painful situations in life be of benefit to believers? Why do you suppose that the Christian Church often has experienced periods of growth during persecution, times of social upheaval, unrest, and trouble (such as among the soldiers of both armies during the Civil War, or during the 1960's and early 70's which produced the Jesus Movement, etc.)?



3. In 1 Corinthians 12:1 why does Paul begin "I do not want you to be ignorant"? How would you receive a letter that included a comment like this?



4. Paul describes the idols of the pagan past of his readers as "mute" idols. The inability of an idol to speak is clearly an embarrassing deficiency, and from Paul's perspective is nothing more than a reflection of the inability to speak of the false god that is represented by the idol (or do anything else, for that matter). What makes a god, which cannot say anything, attractive to human beings?



5. Many people seem to imagine that the Christians they know are Christians only because this is what they were taught (they were brainwashed by their family, culture, etc.). If they had grown up in a Buddhist home, however, then they would had become Buddhists rather than Christians. If they had grown up in a Hindu home, they would be Hindus. And so on. How would Paul respond to this frequent claim?



6. What was Paul's own religious background? Have you prayed for the conversion of Osama bin Laden? How was the conversion of Paul just as unexpected and miraculous as would be the conversion of bin Laden? How was the conversion of the Corinthians similarly miraculous? [Hint: See 1 Timothy 1:15-17; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and 12:2; ].



7. Thoughtful Christians have offered more than a dozen different explanations for Paul's comment, "no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus be cursed'" in 1 Corinthians 12:3. One suggestion, for example, is that this refers to something that some members of the church at Corinth might have said in an emotional outburst or an ecstatic frenzy during a worship service. What makes this suggestion unlikely? Another suggestion is that this is something that perhaps demoniacs were saying during worship? Based, however, on what is recorded in the Gospels of the speech of demoniacs, what makes this suggestion unlikely?



8. A better interpretation of the problem may come from the realization that the problems Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 are not limited to the context of a worship service, unlike, perhaps, what is said in 1 Corinthians 14. In what circumstances could Christians feel pressured or tempted to curse Jesus? [Hint: See both Job 2:9-10 and Acts 26:11, for two different possible circumstances].



9. If some day, God forbid, the mushroom cloud of a nuclear bomb appears on the horizon, it is likely that human beings will respond by saying one of two things. Either they will curse God (abjuring the name of Jesus in blasphemy) or, with the help of the Holy Spirit, they will confess "Jesus is Lord" even in this. Although it refers to a less catastrophic circumstance, Jesus' promise in Luke 12:4-12 that the Holy Spirit will teach Christians facing martyrdom what to say is perhaps applicable. How is Stephen a good example of Jesus' promise in Luke 12:4-12 and of Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 12:3, "no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit? [Hint: Note that in Acts 7 Stephen directs his prayers to the "Lord" Jesus, in the hearing of his persecutors].



10. When in your life, when you might have been tempted to curse Jesus instead, has the Spirit helped you to confess that "Jesus is Lord"?