What We Believe Series
o How the Holy Spirit Gifts Us – Part 13 Read 1st Co. 12:4-11; Acts 2:3-8
April 27, 2008
Message
o I don’t know about you but I think a $1,000 is quite a bit to pay for a parking spot. That’s what a lady paid for a parking meter in South Africa. She reached into her purse and she took out an 1890 gold Kruger and she stuck it in the parking meter. She didn’t get any extra time. She just lost $1,000.
I thought how in the world you would ever be in a position that you would have, in your pocket, among your other change, a $1,000 coin. Well, she had more than one of these and rather than put them in a safe place, she just tossed them in her coin drawer with all of her other coins and she reached in and grabbed a handful, stuck them in her purse, reached in her purse, stuck the gold coin into the parking meter and paid a $1,000 to park her car.
That’s what happens when you treat the sacred as common. When you allow that which is really important, the spiritual gift the Holy Spirit has given you, to be last over every other thing in our life.
o That is what happens when we allow God’s word and Jesus church to become second place in our lives
o It’s so easy to allow that which is really significant to become so common to us that we stop remembering just how significant it really is.
o The next thing you know were not praying, were not serving, there is no fire for Jesus, no passion for the ministry
o Then when that happens instead of serving were complaining
o We have every reason not to be involved and passionate for Jesus, but are any of them supported by the Bible?
o We have been in a series about What Christians believe
o What do Christians believe about God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit
o We have learned that when we become a Christian we immediately receive at least one spiritual gift to fulfill God’s purpose for our life and ministry
o The health of the church is measured by whether Christians are serving in their area of spiritual giftedness
o Are you? Will you?
o Currently we are in the last and the most controversial; prophecy and speaking in tongues
o As I indicated this has been the center of abuse and misuse for two thousand years
o Great irony is that the church is built on the unity of the Spirit, and for some strange reason this seems to divide Christians
o We should all study the scripture and take these messages to heart
o But if at the end of this message we still do not agree I implore you not to allow our differences to damage the unity that we have in Christ
o Do you agree?
o Before I begin teaching I want to speak to those of you who are guests here today
o Before I talk about the tongues and interpretation I want to address a question that often comes up
o It is a question pastors normally get
o The question is ‘are these sign manifestation gifts, like speaking in tongues and prophecy for today’s church?
o Today, evangelicals seem to have made peace with the charismatic movement, embracing many of its practices and agreeing to disagree on others.
o Today people lift their hands even in the most conservative of evangelical churches.
o Despite this evolution, many questions remain about the meaning of speaking in tongues and prophecy.
o Some in the 1960-1970 period advocated that these sign gifts ceased when the New Testament scrolls came out, or by the death of the last apostle – a view called Cessationism
o These gifts were only given to authenticate Jesus and the Apostles teaching and ministry
o So they say now that the Bible is complete tongues, prophecy, healing and miracles are silent and not necessary
o They point to 1 Co. 13:8-10 to support their point
o “Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. Now we know so little, even with our special gifts, and the preaching of those most gifted is still so poor. But when we have been made perfect and complete, then the need for these inadequate special gifts will come to an end, and they will disappear.”
o Cessationists say the say the word perfect in 1 Co. 13:8 refers to the completed scriptures
o Yet if that is true then why did Paul in these perfect scriptures say ‘be eager to prophesy and do not forbid speaking in tongues’
o Why did Paul in 1 Co. 14 write to ‘eagerly desire spiritual gifts especially the gift of prophecy’
o The word perfect that Paul speaks about is not referring to the completed scriptures but rather to the 2nd coming of Jesus - 1st John 3:2
o Paul was saying that love never fails, in other words it has an eternal purpose
o But spiritual gifts do not have an eternal purpose
o When Jesus returns the gifts will no longer be needed
o That is because every gift is linked in some way to building up the church to maturity—and they continue on until the church is perfected at the second coming of Jesus
o When that perfection is achieved, the gifts will have served their purposes and will be rendered obsolete. But this will not happen to love.
o All that do say I cannot find good Biblical evidence for the position of Cessationism, that is certain gifts ceasing with the completed scriptures
o Furthermore the early church fathers write about the gift of tongues and prophecy into the 2nd and 3rd century
o Justin Martyr who lived from AD 100-165 wrote "For the prophetical gifts remain with us, even to the present time… Now it is possible to see amongst us women and men who possess gifts of the Spirit of God."
o Tertullian, an author and early church leader wrote shortly after A.D. 200: "The Creator promised the gift of His Spirit in the latter days; and… Christ has in these last days appeared as the dispenser of spiritual gifts." Tertullian specifically mentioned the gift of tongues and quoted I Corinthians 12:8-11 and Isaiah 28:11 as applicable in his day.
o Gift of Prophecy: is the divine enablement to speak the truth in love, reproving, correcting, rebuking and exhorting the church or others through the word of God
o Paul’s admonition to Timothy (2 Timothy 3:16)
o In the Old Testament times when the scriptures were incomplete a prophet received a clear word from God
o In (Duet. 18:18) God indicated that he would be put His words into the mouth of his spokes person or prophet
o So in Is. We have a statement ‘then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah 38:5 (NIV) “Go and tell Hezekiah, ’this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life.”
o Now in the NT there are some who speak and write God’s words
o They are called Apostles; they are the NT counterpart of OT prophets
o The apostle Peter makes a direct connection between the OT prophet and the NT apostles (2nd Peter 3:2)
o With the completion of the Bible the office of the prophet and that NT apostle is complete, but not the gift
o The gift of apostle; that is being a pioneer and starting new works where others have not carries on
o The gift of prophecy similarly carries on in a word of encouragement or exhortation for a person or the faith community
o Now the gift of prophecy is primarily seen through the spiritual gift of preaching today
o The evidences of the gift of prophecy are:
o A strong desire to preach God’s truth to a person or the faith community
o A person who is not afraid to speak out publicly or take strong stands
o A person who gives challenges whereby the faith community is convinced and convicted because it is based on scripture
o A person with a strong personality but a humble heart
o A person who has a broken heart for people who are not living according to God’s truths
o A person who has a strong desire to see others hear and live the truth to the glory of God –this is the prophetic aspect
o The gift may be used in a public as well as a private setting
o Several years ago a business man shared with me the struggles he was having with his business and life
o While in prayer the Spirit of God revealed to me the sin in this man’s life
o I stopped praying and looked directly at him
o I said you are the problem
o You refuse to pray with your wife and ask for God’s direction
o At that point he looked up at me and wept
o He repented of his ways and began praying with his wife (1st Samuel 12:23 TLB)
o Perhaps while praying God prompts you to encourage someone through the scripture
o This is an overwhelming conviction and you share with them, preferably not just by email
o The purpose of prophecy is to strengthen, encourage and comfort Christians, sometimes convicting unbelievers of their need for Jesus
o It is critical to remember that a word of prophecy should be tested by the word of God
o If you think you have a word for the church it is critical that you work with leaders first to ensure that you have the right spirit and are not self promoting
o That is what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote ‘the Spirit of prophets are subject to the control of prophets’
o A revelation or prophetic message that is truly from God will bring hope and not division to the local church
o In other words if your causing dissension in the church that is not prophecy-that is dissension- and all division is a work of the flesh
o So the gift of prophecy finds its primary expression through preaching but also through one on one or in small groups
o Gift of tongues: is the divine enablement to speak or pray in a language unknown to the speaker, bringing praise and glory to God
o Glossalia, speaking in tongues, others know it as spiritual language has two applications according to the Bible
o Paul wrote ‘If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love I have become a noisy gong or a clanging symbol
o The first application is the tongues of men
o We find this in Acts 2 in the early church
o Look at what happened there Acts 2:3-8
o So the first purpose of the gift in the early church was the translation of the message (by the hearer who heard it in his own tongue) for the evangelism of unbelievers
o This was truly a miracle that took place
o They were able to validate the gospel of Jesus Christ, the message the Apostle Peter was to speak in a language unknown to the speaker but known to the hearers who were present
o This supports what the Apostle Paul said when he wrote ‘1 Corinthians 14:22 (NIV). Tongues then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers.
o In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit appears as tongues of fire and rests on each one of them
o Notice there is no mention of an interpreter present
o These were undoubtedly spoken languages and there was no ecstatic utterance
o That is known as the Day of Pentecost or the birth of the Christian church
o Some who heard the message or people speaking in tongues asked ‘have they had too much wine.’
o Three points about speaking in tongues:
1. People who speak in tongues are rational. Peter defends those speaking in tongues by saying ‘no they have not had too much wine – it is only 9:00 AM,’ in other words they are completely in control. People speaking in tongues, as the Apostle Peter clarified, are people with total control of their faculties. The Apostle Paul would not have told them to choose to remain silent if there is no interpreter present, unless they were rational.
2. Speaking in tongues is not a status symbol. A Christian who prays in tongues is no more or no less spiritual than one who doesn’t
3. The Apostle Paul never intended for the gift to be divisive. The Apostle Paul was simply correcting abuses in the Corinthian church.
And that brings me to Paul’s message on tongues
o In 1st Corinthians 14 we have something vastly different than Acts
o I believe there is a smaller and more informal atmosphere where these gifts may have been exercised, not necessarily in a larger context like this
o In Acts they spoke in a language or tongue that was known to others
o In the Co. Church neither the speaker nor the hearer understood the language and that is why Paul says to stay silent unless an interpreter is present
o It appears that this language was not any human language known to them
o So first there is the tongues of men – like Acts
o Second there is the tongues of angels – some form of heavenly prayer language
o ‘1 Co. 12:28’ indicates there are different types of tongues
o Three usages that are for today
1. to speak in a language unknown to them but known to the hearer
o Jesus, in speaking of the Holy Spirit said John 3:8 (NIV) the wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
o Friends of mine attended a Pentecostal church for about five years
o In that church most spoke the spiritual language of tongues
o They, by their own admission, did not receive this gift
o They had a daughter who at 20 went on a short term mission in the Philippine Islands
o She also did not have this gift
o She began to share a simple gospel story with a group of people
o A man began to interpret as she did not know the local language and the people could not speak nor understand English
o After starting the story the young woman began to speak in their dialect
o The man stopped interpreting
o He immediately began to praise God that someone could speak the gospel in their dialect
2. Tongues of angels (Personal edification)
o The second example Paul uses is the tongues of angels
o The tongues of angels then is a private prayer language that is endowed upon a person to pray to God in a heavenly language
o The Apostle Paul wrote that he preferred prophecy over tongues?
o Why did he make that distinction?
o Paul simply concluded that speaking in tongues was edifying to the speaker because they were the only ones who understood it. So he says the church is not built up with the gift unless there is an interpreter present.
o He wrote the gift of prophecy or prophetic preaching builds up the entire church
o These verses seem to indicate that the primary purpose is to be in ones own private prayer life (Ruth Grahams friend)
3. The Public context – message to the church or small group
o So what was Paul’s concern in writing this chapter?
o His main concern was order in the local church
o There appears to be pandemonium going on, whereby there are a lot of people speaking in tongues without interpretation
o So here he says 1 Corinthians 14:9 (NIV) So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air.
o In Acts, tongues could be understood. In Corinth, tongues were unintelligible without interpretation. This is quite a crucial difference, isn’t it? Does this not suggest that something different was going on?
o Paul wrote “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. But I would rather speak 5 understandable words than 10000 words in a tongue
o Now Paul says if there is not interpreter were out of order and should use that gift in the private prayer or in a small group where there is an interpreter present
o Well you think pastor, how can you say that?
o Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 14:27-28 (NIV) If anyone speaks in a tongue, two--or at the most three--should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.
o So he says only one should speak in a tongue at a time; therefore there is a high probability that Paul was saying this should occur in a small group situation with an interpreter
o It appears that Paul was appealing to the Corinthian church to exercise prophecy and not tongues in the public setting because their spiritual language was not understood by the speaker nor hearers
o So that is why he says if an unbeliever comes in and everyone is speaking in unknown languages without a translator that unbeliever will think your out of your mind
o I do not say there is always abuse, of course not, but in Corinth there was
o Example: Seminary student in a small Pentecostal church
o Knew Hebrew language fluently
o Quoted Psalm 23 in Hebrew
o Someone stood up to interpret
o The interpretation was anything but Psalm 23
o That is why I believe we need to be careful and have guidelines
o Now if the Apostle Paul took the time to answer the Corinthians questions and gave them guidelines, let me ask you, should we not follow the same guidelines?
Guidelines and conclusion
o So what do we do with all this?
o Here is what I strongly recommend for Calvary based on the word of God
1. That those who believe they have a prophetic word for the church pray about it first and run it by the spiritual leaders of our church
2. That those who have the spiritual gifts of tongues use that gift in their personal prayer closet
3. That the gift of tongues be alternately used in a small group setting, like a home group. It can be used there if the group is open to that. There the Christian can follow scriptural guidelines and pray for an interpreter or where no interpreter is present to remain silent with that prayer language. Where there is no interpreter present you can share in our common English dialect how God has spoken to you in prayer or through the Bible. This sharing can then help the group to pray together for the common good of a person, the small group or the church at large
o In one sense none of us will completely understand these difficult texts until we get to heaven. The Apostle Peter even acknowledged that ‘some things Paul writes are difficult to understand.’
o So as I conclude I believe it is no coincidence that the gifts of the Spirit are in 1 Co. chapter 12 and 14. Now chapter 13, the meat between these two pieces of bread is the chapter on love. There Paul wrote “1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NIV) If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
