I invite you to turn in the Scriptures tonight to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. 1 Corinthians chapter 14, as we continue to make our way through this book and our study in this book, and tonight we come to, is a challenging section of Scripture, but as I work through it, I realize Paul's point is very straightforward and plain for us and so helpful for the church today. 1 Corinthians 14, 12, 20 in your pew Bibles. We'll read together the first 19 verses. This is the word of the Lord. Pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men, but to God, for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. the one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself but the one who prophesies builds up the church now i want you all to speak in tongues but even more to prophesy the one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues unless someone interprets so that the church may be built up now brothers if i come to you speaking in tongues how will i benefit you unless i bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching if even lifeless instruments such as the flute or the harp do not give distinct notes how will anyone know what is played and if the bugle gives an indistinct sound who will get ready for battle so with yourselves if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible how will anyone know what is said for you will be speaking into the air. There are doubtless many different languages in the world, but none is without meaning. But if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful what am i to do i will pray with my spirit but i will pray with my mind also i will sing with my spirit but i will sing with my mind also i will sing praise with my spirit but i will sing with my mind also otherwise if you give thanks with your spirit how can anyone in the position of an outsider say amen to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying for you may be giving thanks well enough but the other person is not being built up i thank god that i speak in tongues more than all of you nevertheless in church i would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10 000 words in a tongue may the lord bless the hearing of his word you'll notice over and over in that section that paul's great goal here in the church and to emphasize to the church is that little phrase that the saints would be built up you can sort of get that there in the issue of tongues in verse 19 the emphasis when he says i would rather speak five words with understanding that i may teach others than 10,000 words in a tongue my goal in the church says paul is for the building up of the body he's been working to get here i realized this week how important this is for the life of the church he has been really building to get here and his entire point is to say that what we do in the life of the church as members of the body of christ and the motivations behind our actions are not meant and should never be about us but should be done with a denial of ourselves this is all over the new testament for the edification of the body god gave you gifts and you should use those gifts for the exalting of christ and edifying his body the church the problem that we've been looking at in corinth is that we're all incredibly selfish and we look at the church and almost universally we hear people say today well i don't like this and and the church doesn't do this and it's not the needs that I've determined are best for me. It has nothing to do with the marks of a true church, by the way. It's what I've determined for me and what I like and what I don't like. And my involvement is conditioned upon how I feel. I don't like this or I don't like that. That's how we approach church. And it looks nothing like the way that the Lord calls us to approach the church. Paul has presented to us a theology of gifts. He has explained how the body functions, how God fits together every member of the body and every member is vital to the whole, the whole being fit together by God himself. God fits together this body and gives members gifts to use in the body. And that everything Paul has led up to should be controlled by love, controlled by that great pursuit of love. God taught us this. We understand love. 1 Thessalonians said, God taught you love. He taught you love as we understand the love shown to us in the cross of Christ. We look at him sacrificially denying himself, taking up his cross and dying for us. He laid down his life. He loved us. And that is the excellent way, the best way, that should drive all of our actions in the church. Love. Love. Love that is sacrificial. And looking to the interests of others and never being a stumbling block. And the way that he was, what he was really doing here in chapter 13 was reprioritizing the life of the church and motivating the church in Corinth, saying that the excellent way of love should be your chief pursuit. And then everything else will be controlled by that, will go well. Why? Love's permanent. Love continues into eternity. love goes right on into eternity these other gifts are temporary when you exercise love and you demonstrate love you're doing something that has eternal value and he said that he said knowledge and prophecy they will be brought to an end when the perfect comes we looked at that when jesus comes and the state of glory and when there's things that are now perfect when that state comes of perfection then you will no longer need prophecy you will no longer need knowledge and and then he said something really powerful last time that led into our text tonight he said tongues using a different verb will just stop knowledge and prophecy will pass away when the perfect comes but he offset tongues and he said tongues will stop like a battery runs out paul knew it was soon to run out the universal witness of the church is that tongues died when the apostles died we looked at that last time now this was the issue we're back to it this is the final his final answer to it the issue went something like this back in chapter 7 he they had they wrote to him about certain struggles they were having in the church and i i put it together in my own i realize this is this is somewhat a guess here but putting the data together this seems to be close paul we know tongues is a gift of the spirit we know at pentecost it was known languages but we're confused as to what's happening in corinth there's all this ecstatic speech going on it's dominated the life of the church so that everyone's interested in it and caught up in it we come to worship and things have become chaotic things have become confusing is that what tongues is meant to be what do you understand with regard paul to this issue of tongue speaking it's taken the cake here in corinth this gift now i believe he gets to that answer tonight he said last time tongues will stop they will cease they will just be done but what he does at this point is explain its place because it is still in operation at this time explain its place in the life of the church in corinth he explains then its place its purpose and its proper use its place its purpose and its proper use the key to understanding is is to appreciate that what they were doing when they came together for worship and this section is on worship they came together and there was massive confusion in the worship services why because their practices were being borrowed from the known pagan practices of of corinth the city of corinth i mean this is so relevant for today this is just unreal how relevant this is for today this section is god's great concern that worship should have order and should promote and here it is tonight if you're taking notes this is the real big one worship should have order and it should promote understanding the exact opposite was happening in corinth if you traveled to first century corinth we've looked at this somewhat there were a variety of different temples and in these mystery religions you had a host of what the old testament called diviners or soothsayers who claimed to be in contact with the gods of the culture here was the link they claimed in the use of what was known as ecstasy through ecstatic speech to be able to commune with the gods in the language of the gods they claim to have direct lines of communication by the way almost every pagan religion has some kind of form of glossolalia or tongue speaking it was not just a pentecost phenomenon although the pentecost phenomenon was known languages but it was all confused and mingled up with the pagan practice of glossalia so the expression of ecstatic state or ecstatic speech took all sorts of different forms in the first century you had people gnashing their flesh at times you had people dancing in nude in a frenzy you had people speaking in ecstatic utterance they even called and here's here's something fascinating they even called this religion experience religious experience eros not the word for love that paul chose eros is the word that has a sexual connotation paul chose the word for agape which is sacrificial love for what's going on in the church the worship services were chaotic the worship services were wild and so you had prophets and prophetesses that claim to speak in tongues and they get up and they did they weren't doing anything of what the new testament phenomenon and design of tongues should have been as known languages they were doing gibberish they were doing ecstatic speech out of control stuff and i've always thought that our understanding of tongues has to be controlled by acts 2 i don't think paul's presenting something different in first corinthians 14 from acts 2 in his understanding of tongue speaking remember what happened at pentecost suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind and it filled the entire house where they were sitting and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of then these are the apostles and they were filled with the holy spirit and began to speak in other tongues no languages as the spirit gave them utterance now they there were dwelling in jerusalem jews devout men from every nation under heaven and the sound of a multitude came together and they were bewildered why because each one was hearing them speak in his own language this would be like pastor gordon speaking dutch tonight and i can't speak dutch and if somebody didn't speak dutch in the church and i started doing that somebody would have to get up and interpret for the ones that didn't understand dutch this is what it was whatever was happening in corinth was a severe departure from this the design would be that someone would be given the gift to speak in the language and the gift of interpreters would be given and the other person then would understand. The other people in the congregation would understand it. That was the goal. That's why you needed interpreters. It wasn't da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da. I don't know what tongue sounds like, but I've heard people try to do that. That's gibberish. That has no profit to you. And I've heard that in churches, by the way. I've heard that. So they thought that the super spiritual people were doing this heavenly language and communicating with the gods. And Paul is regulating this whole thing. Paul is regulating this whole thing. He's not condemning the gift, even though he knows the battery will stop soon. But he's correcting the manner in which the gift is being used by explaining the intention with which God gave it. So in chapter 14, in the first five verses, he explains its place in the church. notice what the first thing he says is pursue love and then earnestly desire spiritual gifts and this is a real shot it's a dig especially that you may prophesy for one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to god for no one understands him this is a big emphasis but he utters mysteries in the spirit on the other hand the one who prophesies speaks to people for their up-building and encouragement and consolation. I said earlier, I thought this would be a hard section. I think it's really simple. I want you in the life of the church to pursue love. Actively go after love. Sacrificially love one another. But I know you're so wrapped up in what you think are the super excellent gifts, especially tongues. okay, here's then what you should know. If you want to earnestly desire something, if you really want something in the life of the church, here's what you should want. Here's where your value should be. Here's where all your emphasis should be. Here's what you should really want to see happen in the church. You know what it is? It's not tongues, it's prophecy. And then he says, if you're speaking in tongues, you may be communicating truth that's revealed. but only God understands that if no one else understands you what good is that what good is it if no one understands what you're saying because there's no interpreter only God understands it you may be speaking mysteries you may be speaking the truth but what good is it if only God understands it it's not designed for you off in the corner all gifts are designed chapter 12 for the common good of the body. You've taken your gift and you've made yourself a star. That's never the intention. You're performing it then without love because your aim is not the up-building of the church. Don't miss what he says in verse 4. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself. But the one who prophesies builds up the church. I want you all to speak in tongues. I wish you all were given the gift that the apostles were given to speak in tongues. But even more, I wish you were all given the gift to prophesy. You're not, but I wish you were. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, there it is, so that the church may be built up. Now, I believe Paul has Numbers 11 on his mind. Remember that? The Lord came down in a cloud and spoke to him and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the 70 elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it. Now two men remained in the camp, one Eldad and the other Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent. In other words, they didn't get the training. And they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. And Joshua, the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, My Lord, Moses, stop them. And Moses said to them, Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit on them. I wish everyone could preach the gospel. That's what you all should be after. Paul says, I wish everyone could so clearly communicate the truth. And that just goes to show that all the ecstasy and whatever they had borrowed from the culture was wrecking the design of the gift of tongues that was supposed to be for the common good. And I have to say that if that's true and you accept this, it really does judge the Pentecostal practice of introducing into the church a bunch of people speaking in what nobody else understands a heavenly language as disruptive, as arrogant, as unloving, and as unsalting to the common good of the body. They were even so arrogant to say that if you didn't speak with tongues, some of them, you weren't saved. I walked into a church years ago and saw this. Pastor asked everyone to pray and then chaos started. and all of it was gibberish. And I was freaked out. I was really scared. I had never heard anything like that in my life because it was unknown. Does the Lord value that? That's not the intention of tongues. You had the apostles taking the gospel message to the ends of the earth. You say, what was the good of tongues? It was a help to those apostles when they took the message out to the ends of the earth in the Acts model there as it went out from Jerusalem into the ends of the earth. And all of those different languages they came across, the Spirit came upon them and gave them to speak in those languages. And as you had a mixture of different languages, interpreters were needed. And this is why Paul's saying the far more superior gift is prophecy. You say, what is that? Well, whether it was a special gift of the early church or whether we understand it as just the preaching that we enjoy today, it doesn't matter. Paul is saying something really clear here. Prophecy is the clear making known of the Word of God. Clear, simple, plain, teaching and preaching the Word of God. That's what you all should desire. What a condemnation of Rome. You get nervous when I do that. I know you do. Because we can't condemn anyone. What a condemnation of Rome. It's sad in the days before the Reformation that services and readings were in the language that people could not understand. And that common people weren't even allowed to have a Bible. And that the great gift of the Reformation, and we owe a lot to our Reformed heritage, we shouldn't be embarrassed about it. The great gift that God used the Reformation for was to hand you back the Bible in your own language so that you can read it. And that preaching services were then reinstituted and the common preaching of God's Word, Lectio Continua, that means through books of the Bible, was brought back and a Reformation ignited. Paul says that's what we should be after. That is something far greater than somebody who's speaking in tongues that no one understands. God gave that gift alongside the gift, the gift of interpreting for that reason. What has been the great struggle in the church of our day? Well, are we so far off from this? Where's the least interest today? What is it like fighting to get people to do? To come listen to the preaching of God's Word. Is that really valued today? You get a little more than an hour a week of prophesying. A little bit more when it comes to 30, 40, 50, 60, minute sermons paul says that's what that's what god wants for you it pleased god to save you that way and we've dumped in most cases the evening service and it's just become a dwindling down to nothing that's what you should desire that's why boys and girls this is the center of our worship that's why this pulpit is the center of our worship that's why prophesying preaching the word of God is the center of what we do that's why we have this conviction it's not just something that we dreamed up it's something that God knows and has determined is best for you and God said it everywhere in the new testament God said he gave preachers and he gave us one specific mission and mandate you preach that word in season and out of season and you don't stop wherever you see the church diminishing you see preached preaching diminishing and interest and practices that no longer edify the body you understand that wherever you see the church diminishing you see preaching diminishing and instead replacement of interest and practices that no longer edify the body but promote spectator worship you're worshiping right now did you know that you're not spectators You're worshiping by paying attention and giving your hearts to receive God's bread. You know what William Perkins used to say? It used to bother me so much, I hated repeating it. A true preacher is one in a thousand. A true preacher is one in a thousand. You should pray that the Lord of the harvest raises up preachers and value those training preachers. now paul drives home that everything in the church should promote understanding verse six now brothers if i come speaking in tongues how will it benefit you unless i bring some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching answer it doesn't then he gives a powerful example if even lifeless instruments such as the flute or the harp do not give distinct notes how will anyone know what is played and if the bugle gives an indistinct sound who will get ready for battle i find it so fascinating he chose to use musical instrumentation right here don't you of all things right in the middle of this in the context of worship that's the sacred cow is you don't touch that one well let's look at it this whole section is on worship we have all of our problems on worship it may not be tongues but it has been music he has singing even on his mind he mentions it in verse 15 i will sing with understanding and worship this is his emphasis tongues and music went hand in hand both were being abused in the church we know for a fact that in corinth there contained one of the ancient music music halls serving over 20 000 people now stay with me on this and you'll get the big picture what was god's judgment at babel the judgment was confusion of languages and at pentecost the holy spirit reversed that and blessed to the ends of the earth the gospel a sign of god's favor in the church is clarity understanding unity simpleness of heart whenever worship is corrupted in history you had interjected confusion i'll give you an example moses is up on the mountain receiving the law joshua had been told to wait for moses he's halfway up the mountain both of them began to descend and what happens joshua hears noise in the camp what is it he said to moses there's the noise of war in the camp joshua is a military commander he knows the noise of war joshua hears this roar can't figure out what it is says it sounds like the noise of war but it's not the noise of the shot of victory nor the noise of the cry of defeat but the sound of singing i hear how do you compare the sound of the noise of war with singing how do you confuse those things joshua hears israel singing and it's nothing like he's ever heard before well why because they've made a golden calf and the new testament says first corinthians 10 which was on paul's mind they sat down and they rose up to play eros that's not the word used there but it's all sorts of sexual connotation this was going on in paul's day let me explain maybe you've been curious about ephesians 4 do not be drunk with wine which is dissipation but be filled with the spirit speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your heart to the lord why in the world is he speaking of drunkenness and singing has it all come together yet they had their feasts at the lord's table and confused the lord's table with the love feasts and they were getting drunk. The pagan religions would get so drunk they would lose control. And their worship services included massive amounts of food and alcohol, the love feasts, and the whole religious experience would abandon them to sensuality. What was believed is that the more out of control you are, the more you communed with the deity. Paul says this is going on in Corinth. they were unrestrained it had no order it's going to deal with that it had no thought it was full of endless repetition their emotions were dominated by this stuff and it runs together there's a reason pentecostals speak of being drunk in the spirit there's a reason you get holy laughter there's a reason you get wacko stuff like that it's an ecstatic experience that has nothing to do with the Lord, but there's communing going on with demons. Now, Paul's being intentional here. When you guys use instruments, certain instruments make known sounds for certain things, a trumpet for battle. When you use the harp and the flute, you make distinctions and sounds to help you, don't you? How will you know what is piped or played if you don't have that. Or if it's just a bunch of noise or of no benefit. When I sing, I want to understand, says Paul. Verse 15. I sing with understanding. Now this is, I believe, in the context of worship. They know this. Nothing they were doing in worship was anymore for the edification of the church. I'm going to make a side point here. I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers and I am not at all trying to start any fights or anything. But I want you to think about this for a minute. If Paul believed that all musical instrumentation was wrong, here was his moment. I mean, here's the moment right here. Here was the golden moment. And think of how effective it would have been. You guys are making tongues gibberish. That's not what tongues are. You have no right to do that with tongues. It's a known language. and now you're using instruments and you should never use instruments. I'm going to do that. If we look closely, he's actually speaking positively about the use of instruments. That when we use them, we have known sounds that help us. Certain instruments direct and signal us. And he uses a couple instruments borrowed, I believe, from the Psalms. The goal with all singing is full understanding, which I believe is the fulfillment of all Old Testament shadowy music. I don't think it's a mistake to say speaking here in the context of worship. That's what 14's all dealing with. He's not condemning use. He's condemning abuse. But I digress. If anyone wants to argue on that point, I'm going to be just like Paul and say we have no such custom in the churches. Hey, when we all get to heaven and are accomplished on the organ, we'll all enjoy it, right? And when the professors play the harp in heaven, we'll really enjoy it, won't we? They know I love them. His point is, all music should be sung in a way that is not full of discord. Whatever side we take on the instrument issue, it should not be full of discord. And so it is with tongues. Think of this terrible scenario, by the way. Verse 11. If someone comes in and does not know the meaning of a language, and I speak in gibberish, a tongue, I'm a foreigner to him. He's a foreigner to me. If someone comes in and looks at what we're doing and they don't understand it, paying attention, not paying attention, whether we sing or mumble. Paul was so concerned about how others would be edified. He was so concerned about that. It's a terrible thing when somebody looks in church members are mumbling the words. He checked his conscience to make sure that he would never wound somebody else. And everything he did was for the eye of edification of the body and growth of the body and help for the body and love for the body. That was his whole drive. The history of the church has shown us that the great struggle of church life is just balance. I mean that, just balance. You have people flopping from extreme to extreme to extreme to extreme in history. Either 1 Corinthians 7, total abrogation of all marital relationships or the abuse of it. You see? Extreme, extreme, extreme, extreme. We're not balanced. Why can't we be balanced? Give us a balanced life that first and foremost considers others. It's a great principle that are our actions causing confusion to others. What good is Christianity if we're constantly wounding others paul says here's how it should work the gift's not wrong in a short time paul knows it'll cease but its abuse is wrong they should pray that when someone uses it there's an interpreter it's all about understanding if i sing and i pray and all this and how will anyone be able to say amen if they don't understand. If they don't understand what's going on. This is his whole point here. They have to understand. And I guess that means it's okay for some of you every now and then to say amen. Okay? Okay. Amen. Paul says to close tonight, I thank God I speak with tongues more than you all and God gave me this gift. But it would not be in love if I'm off in a corner. That gift is designed for the body. and because my aim as an apostle my sole aim is the edification of christ's body the greater gift is prophecy the greater gift is communicating god's truth so that you all have the plain understanding of it and we've got to be really good about that today we need a whole bunch of young preachers coming up who are not overly heady but are clear and plain and free to preach. Loosen them up. I'd rather teach just like we're doing now than speak 10,000 words in a tongue. It was necessary for the initial spread of the gospel, but this is a far more desired way. So I close tonight saying this passage checks our motivations in all aspects of church life and it shows that love, our involvement in the kingdom is not about ultimately our correctness our gifts, our knowledge, our understanding, but that God gives us gifts to be a benefit to somebody else. God gives you a gift, and that gift is not for you ultimately. It's for the neighbor next to you. God gives you a gift to be a blessing to somebody else. God didn't give all this understanding, all this knowledge, all these gifts for just you, but to help your brothers and sisters. The Lord loves that attitude of the heart because it's a lot like Jesus who denied Himself. Who stooped to wash our feet. Who could have pointed out a million, billion things when He was here and put us in the ground, but love covers a multitude of what? Sin. We ought to show that same kind of love and concern and that kind of understanding be promoted to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let's pray to Him tonight. Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You that You care so much to make things clear for us. Thank You that You want Your Gospel and Your Word clearly delivered. And at times, Lord, we have so messed things up by not being balanced and because we all emphasize the wrong things and value the wrong things, that if we're really honest, it's all about us. And what an important section of Scripture to regulate us in the body. We need that. May we all excel then, we pray, in building up the church. That's our prayer tonight. Would we all strive to excel in building up the church, denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following you, Lord Jesus. Give us the strength to do it. We can't do it ourselves. And in all things, we err in many ways. Thank you for being long-suffering and patient with us. May we be long-suffering and patient with one another as we've received that from you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.