November 24, 2002 1 Corinthians 14:1-5
“Speak clearly”
INTRODUCTION
Getting the right message to the right person is necessary in order for the right communication to happen. There was a man who lived in upstate New York and he was getting tired of the cold weather, so he decided to go to Florida. His wife was on a business trip at the time so he called her to let her know what he was doing and to tell her not to go back to New York but to meet him in Florida. When he arrived he sent her an e-mail to let her know he was there, but he got a few letters wrong in the address and instead of going to his wife the e-mail went to a little old lady in Iowa, who was a pastors wife. And whose husband had died the day before.
The little old lady turned on her computer – read the e-mail, screamed and fainted right on the spot. Her family and friends who were there came in saw her on the floor – and when they read the screen they understood why she fainted. This is what it said: “Dearest darling just wanted you to know I arrived safely. Looking forward to you being with me, tomorrow. Signed, your husband – PS, it sure is hot down here…”
Over the last two months, we have been dealing with spiritual gifts and their function of unifying the church. This morning, we are entering into chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians. This chapter deals with the communication that goes on inside the walls of the church and what it is supposed to consist of. At Corinth, that communication consisted primarily of tongues speaking, and so this chapter deals primarily with the spiritual gift of being able to speak in tongues. I’ll explain what I believe that is in just a minute. The gift of tongues is (or can be) very divisive. The gifts are given to unify the church, but this gift has served to divide the church. Part of that is because the gift has been abused more than any other, especially over the last century. There are some portions of the Bible that quite frankly, I would like to skip over. That would be convenient. Why don’t we just deal with things that are easily understood and that there is agreement in the church over. Unity is what we want, right? So why bring up something that is divisive? Two reasons. The first and most important reason for us to deal with it is because God included it in the Bible. We’re not bringing up the subject; God already did that. Anything that He included in the Bible is worthy of our attention and is important for us to understand. The second reason is that there are churches and Christians all around us who do speak in tongues. You have friends that do. Some of this tongues-speaking is genuine, and some is counterfeit. I want you to be able to recognize what is true and what is false. And I want you to help others be able to recognize the true and false too. With all the new people that are coming in our doors, it probably won’t be long before we have someone come in who wants to speak in tongues. We need to know what the Bible has to say about it so that we will know how to properly respond.
My purpose as we go through this chapter over the next month is not to bash other preachers or denominations that do or do not practice tongues. I’ve never done that before. I’m not going to start now. I know who our enemy is, and it is not the church down the street or in the next town or across the country. To the extent that they are teaching the Word of God, we are working together.
This morning, we begin with verses 1-5 of 1 Corinthians 14. In this passage, Paul, the writer of 1 Corinthians deals with two of the spiritual gifts and contrasts their usefulness within the context of the worship service. That is something that we need to understand. Everything that Paul is getting ready to say in this chapter has specific application to when the church body gets together to worship. The two gifts he focuses on are the gift of prophecy and the gift of tongues. I am aware that there may be some here who have no idea what spiritual gifts, prophecy or tongues are. Let me quickly give you a definition. Spiritual gifts are abilities that God gives to individuals to empower them for specific functions within the church. The gift of prophecy is the ability given by God to reveal and tell God’s message in a timely and understandable way to bring correction, repentance and edification. Or more simply, a prophet proclaims what God tells him to people. He gets a message from God through visions, direct communication or through the written Word, and He proclaims it. The gift of tongues is the ability given by God to speak in a language that you did not learn. Tongues were never used to proclaim a new revelation from God. That was the prophet’s job. The first time that this gift was given and exercised was on the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2. There, it enabled Jewish men to speak “the wonders of God” in Egyptian, Chinese, Arabic and a multitude of other languages that they had never been taught. That was the beginning.
On that day, prophecy and tongues were in their proper balance and used under the authority of God’s Holy Spirit. Jesus received glory, the people were unified, and man’s greatest need – his need for salvation – was met in the lives of thousands. But almost from that day to this, the gift of tongues has been abused. It has become more about a person’s personal spiritual experience than about being used by God to minister to people, so much so “that people have elevated spiritual experiences like this above the Word of God” – Dan Erickson. One pastor (Dan Erickson) told of a conversation that he had with another student while in college. That student said that he did not need to study the Bible because he had a direct line of communication with God through tongues. During my college days, a friend and I were having a discussion on the subject of tongues. I tried to point out what the Bible had to say about the proper exercise of the gift and that the Bible contradicted some of her experience. She said, “I don’t care what the Bible has to say! I know what I saw!” This friend of mine had put her experience above the revealed truth in the Bible. If you are not taking notes right now, I want you to get out a slip of paper and a pen because I want you to write something down in a minute. Our understanding of tongues or any other part of life is not about our experience. It is about the Bible. Here’s what I want you to write down. Never interpret the Bible by your experience; always interpret your experience by the Bible. If you don’t get anything else I have to say here today, but you get that, you will have gotten enough. You see, both people who believe in the legitimacy of the gift of tongues and those who don’t will come to this chapter of the Bible and others like it and interpret it to make it fit what they have experienced and what they believe. That’s wrong! Your experience may cause you to re-think your interpretation of a passage in the Bible that was unclear to you. But don’t let your experience cause you to doubt or differ with what the Bible says when the Bible is clear.
In the passage before us today, it is clarity that is Paul’s main goal. God’s got a message to share, and the clearest, most direct way for Him to do that is through the ministry of prophecy. So of all the things that we could disagree about in the first five verses of this chapter – and there are many of them – by the time that we get done, one thing should be clear to us all. The ministry of prophecy is greater than the ministry of tongues within the confines of the church worship service. Paul gives us at least 4 reasons why.
The gift of prophecy is greater than the gift of tongues because…
1. Prophecy is easily understood. (vs. 2)
In our world of many languages and even more dialects and accents, it is easy to be misunderstood. Some companies discovered this when they started marketing their products in overseas markets.
• When Gerber first started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as here in the USA--with the cute baby on the label. Later they found out that in Africa, since most people can not read companies routinely put pictures on the label of what is inside.
• When Coca-Cola first shipped to China, they named the product something that when pronounced sounded like "Coca-Cola." The only problem was that the characters used meant, "Bite the Wax Tadpole." They later changed to a set of characters that mean "Happiness In The Mouth."
• When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, they translated their slogan, "Pepsi Brings You Back to Life" pretty literally. The slogan in Chinese really meant, "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave."
• Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."
• The Chevy Nova never sold well in Spanish speaking countries. In Spanish, "No Va" means "It Does Not Go".
These companies wanted the people to understand the message that they were trying to convey because they wanted to sell their product. They wanted to make a profit. We want people to understand our message too, but we have a different motivation. Our motivation is love. When you love people, you tell them the message that they need to hear. Sometimes, it’s good news like the good news that God loves you. Sometimes though, it’s bad news like the bad news that without God’s forgiveness, every person will spend an eternity suffering in hell. It’s not pleasant to tell people news like that. You don’t pass along news like that because you expect people to like you for it. You tell them news like that because you love them.
Paul’s dealing with the gift of tongues follows immediately after the chapter on love. There’s a reason for that. He wanted them and us to know that as we exercise the gift of tongues as well as the other gifts, we have to make sure that we are motivated by love not pride, boasting, envy, rudeness (more than one talking at a time [vs. 27]) or self-seeking and that our exercise of the gifts causes love to grow and be expressed.
In verse 1, Paul says that we are to seek after two different things. First, we are to follow the way of love. The word translated “follow” there “Dioko (to pursue) means to follow, hunt, or chase after with intensity. [The word is] translated ‘persecute’ in 2 Cor 4:9.” – MacArthur Think of what some of you will be doing next week. You will be hunting for deer. You’ll go to where you likely would find them, you’ll track them, you’ll wait patiently for them to come around, and then when you have one in your sights, you will shoot it to make it your own. You put up with cold, lack of sleep, hunger, boredom, aching muscles all for the thrill of capturing that prized possession. That is the same kind of determination and anticipation that we are to have in our desire to have God’s kind of love as a part of our lives.
Then, once we have love as our focus and goal, then we can seek after spiritual gifts. It is right and good that we desire that all the spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit has given and empowered should be manifested and present in the body of the church. But love has got to be the motivating factor behind all of them. Otherwise, they become a source of division rather than a motivation for unity.
Paul said that the gift that we should most desire to be manifested in the church worship service is the gift of prophecy. Though speaking in tongues was and is an equally valid gift from the Holy Spirit, it does not promote understanding of the message. The goal of the gifts of the Spirit is to magnify Jesus, to unify people, and to meet needs. If I or someone else cannot understand what you are saying, then none of these goals can be accomplished.
On the other hand,“…the ability to speak in a plain, clear, instructive manner, so as to edify the church and convince sinners, [is] a more valuable endowment than …the power of speaking foreign languages” because it is more useful for communicating God’s truth within the context of the church service. – Barnes’ Notes, p. 259 When I speak God’s truth in simple English, you can understand me. You still may not respond to what I have to say, but at least you have understanding which gives you the option to respond.
So Paul says that we should seek the gift of prophecy in order that we might communicate God’s truth in understandable terms so that people can have a chance to respond. You may say, ”Well, what does this have to do with me? I don’t have the gift of prophecy, and I don’t foresee that happening anytime in the near future.” You’re right. Not everyone has the gift of prophecy, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t pass along God’s message. When the prophet Jonah came to Nineveh, not everyone heard Jonah speak directly to them. But those who heard passed on the words of the prophet to others who passed them to others until all the Ninevites got the message and responded to it.
God may never give you the gift of prophecy, but if you are willing, God can enable you to function as a prophet as you simply tell people the truth of what God has said.
2. Prophecy is beneficial to the individual. (vs. 3)
Up to this point in my life, my understanding of the gift of prophecy has been in a rather negative light. If you look at the role of the prophets in the Old Testament, they were always the party-poopers. They went around condemning people, pronouncing judgment, pointing out sin – generally taking the fun out of life. But something happened this week that caused me to re-think how I viewed prophets and the gift of prophecy.
I have established the habit of memorizing the portion of Scripture that I am working on any given week. Let me encourage you to do the same. Last week, I memorized chapter 13. This week, I memorized verses 1-5 of chapter 14. As I was working on verse 3, I was hit with the realization that Paul says that when used properly, prophecy will strengthen, encourage and comfort. All of those sound like positive effects. Those are the kind of things that would draw people in rather than pushing them away. But that didn’t sound to me like what normally happened when the prophets were around.
Turn with me to Luke 3. [read vs. through ] John the Baptist was a prophet. He told people what they needed to hear, and he told them in easy to understand, direct terms. That was one of the characteristics of prophets. They were very direct regardless of who they were talking to. That’s why they got themselves into so much trouble. But if you look at John’s words, they do not sound very strengthening, encouraging or comforting. They sound pushy, judgmental, confrontational, convicting. How can Paul say that the prophet is supposed to have a positive effect on people when so many seemingly negative words are coming out of their mouths?
In order to answer my own question, let me follow it with another one. The opposite of these things listed here in vs. 3 would be weakness, discouragement and discomfort. What is it that creates weakness, discouragement and discomfort in a church? SIN!! The best way to strengthen, encourage and comfort is to get rid of the sin. And the best person to help me to do that would be the person who calls sin what it is and doesn’t try to sugarcoat it or beat around the bush about it. When Nathan the prophet came before King David, he pointed his bony finger in David’s face and accused him of murder and adultery. When Jonah came to the city of Nineveh, he told them that if they did not repent, they were going to be destroyed. Not pleasant words, but words that resulted in repentance and therefore, strengthening, encouragement and comfort.
In order for that to happen, we have to tell people the words that they need to hear in language that they can understand. Some of the language that we use as Christians is almost like a foreign language to unchurched or unsaved people. We may be telling the truth, but what we are saying does not communicate what the people really need to hear. At church one morning, the teacher was about to start her 4-year-olds’ Sunday school class when a little boy showed up without any identification. The teacher managed to get his first name, but couldn’t find out his last name. "Brian, what’s your daddy’s name?" she asked. "Daddy," he replied. She tried again, "Brian, what’s your mommy’s name?" "Mommy," he answered. Suddenly she realized exactly how she could get the answer she needed. "Brian, what does your daddy call your mommy?" His face lit up. With a grin and a deep voice, he replied, "Hey, Babe." – (Susan Boatright, Savannah, GA) In each instance, little Brian communicated the truth, but it was not in a form that was helpful. He kept beating around the bush. If we are not careful, we will do the same things. We don’t want to sound condemning or judgmental, but if we are going to be of help to people, we need to call sin what it is and help them find the way out of it.
3. Prophecy is focused on others. (vs. 4)
Many obstacles stand in the way of accurate communication. There was an elderly man and his hard of hearing wife travelling from Memphis to Nashville. The trip was progressing along fine until they began having car trouble. Pulling into the nearest gas station the mechanic struck up a converstation with the old man. "Where are you headed?" Asked the mechanic. "Nashville." replied the man. "What did he say? What did he say?" asked the impatient and virtually deaf wife. "He asked where we were going and I told him, Nashville." "Where are you coming from?" Inquired the mechanic. "Memphis." replied the old man. "What did he say? What did he say?" again squawked the old woman. "He asked where we were from and I told him Memphis." "Memphis," sighed the mechanic. "I once knew an old lady from Memphis that was the meanest, rudest, ugliest, old bag that there ever was. She’s the reason I moved here." "What did he say?" squealed the woman. "He said he thinks he knows your sister."
In this case, poor hearing stood in the way of accurate and meaningful communication between a husband and his wife. It was probably a good thing in this case. But for us, the thing that stands in the way of our accurately communicating the truth of God in simple and understandable ways is our own pride and self-interest. The Corinthians were more interested in looking spiritual in front of people and edifying themselves than they were interested in seeing real change happen in people’s lives. I could get up here every Sunday morning and impress you with all my biblical knowledge and my mastery of Greek and Hebrew. I could use big theological words that you would have to use a dictionary to look up. And when you walked out, you might say something like this: “Preacher, I didn’t understand a word you said, but it sure sounded good.” I would look good, but it wouldn’t have benefited you in any way.
4. Prophecy is direct. (vs. 5)
Just because Paul says that he wished that everyone had a particular gift does not mean that it will happen or even that it is a good idea. In 1 Cor. 7:7, he says, “I wish that all men were as I am.” Do you know what he was talking about? He was talking about the gift of celibacy – the gift that enables a person to be satisfied with never getting married. If that wish of Paul’s came true, the human race would cease to exist at the end of that one generation. Paul himself wrote in ch. 12 that not everyone has the same gift. “All do not speak with tongues do they?” (12:30) So he’s not trying to imply that everyone should speak in tongues or even desire it.
But neither is Paul trying to discourage the use of tongues. But he is trying to get them to see that there is something more valuable and worthwhile for the church than tongues. Turn with me to Mat 23:23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. The Pharisees were so meticulous with their tithing that they would make sure to bring a tenth of even the spices in their homes to the Lord. Was Jesus telling them to stop tithing? No, that was important for them just as it is important for us. But they had gotten things out of sequence. Jesus got onto the Pharisees about being so careful about their tithing and yet so careless about how they treated people. He told them to get their focus where it belonged but to keep on with their practice of tithing. Here in our passage, Paul wanted the Corinthians to get things back in focus and quit putting so much emphasis on one particular gift.
The greater value of prophecy was in its greater usefulness within the context of the church. (i.e. a million dollars may have greater value than a flare gun, but which one would you rather have if you had been shipwrecked and were stranded on a desert island?) The greater value of prophecy was in its directness.
Let me say something to you and see if you receive any benefit from it. [read John 3:16 from the Greek Bible to illustrate the necessity for an interpreter] Please raise your hand if you understood what I just said. Please raise your hand if you received any strengthening, encouragement or comfort from what I just said. Let me try it one more time. [read John 3:16 in English] Did you understand this time? Did you receive encouragement this time? You see, in order for tongues to be of benefit to the congregation, there must be an interpretation. And that is its only weakness.
The gift of tongues requires a middle man in order for it to be useful to the church. Look at the end of verse 5. A middle man can sometimes cause confusion or delay in the delivery of the message. One wife tells the story of when her husband, Michael, and she were at a restaurant with his boss, a rather stern older man. When Michael began a story, which she was sure he had told before, she gave him a kick under the table. There was no response, so she gave him another poke. Still the story went on. Suddenly he stopped, grinned and said, "Oh, but I’ve told you this one before, haven’t I?" They all chuckled and changed the subject. Later, on the dance floor, she asked her husband why it had taken him so long to get my message. "What do you mean?" he replied. "I cut the story off as soon as you kicked me." "But I kicked you twice and it still took you awhile to stop!" Suddenly they both realized what had happened. Sheepishly they returned to their table. The boss smiled and said, "Don’t worry. After the second one I figured it wasn’t for me, so I passed it along!" - http://www.cybersalt.org/cleanlaugh
The person who communicates God’s truth directly to people has the greatest potential of seeing real changes happen in their lives. That is what God wants – changed lives. For thousands of years, God sent prophets to communicate His message. As direct as they were, they were still middle men between God and His people. So when the time was right, God Himself became a man and stepped foot on earth so that he could once and for all, in terms that no one could possibly misunderstand communicate that He loves mankind. How could anyone miss the meaning of the message that God spoke when He allowed Himself to be nailed to a tree for you and me?
CONCLUSION
As we will see in the coming weeks, “Paul [makes] it clear in Chapter 14 that being able to speak in tongues is not the ultimate spiritual experience. Yes, it is one of the spiritual gifts, but only one. It is foolish for Christians who speak in tongues to think that somehow they are superior to Christians who don’t speak in tongues, just as it is foolish for those who don’t speak in tongues to think they are better than those who do. Did you catch that? Don’t think because you speak in tongues, or because you don’t speak in tongues, that you are better than another Christian. To do so demonstrates not only a lack of humility, but a lack of clear thinking. If that has been your attitude in the past, I suggest you repent and ask not only God’s forgiveness, but forgiveness from brothers and sisters you may have offended… as a Christian, it is what the Bible teaches, not what I say; not what another pastor says; not even what you think, but the Bible which is our authority… focus on what is important. I don’t know whether or not you should speak in tongues, but I do know that each of us should be filled with the Spirit. That is a clear command from the Lord. Asking God to fill us with the power of His Spirit and committing ourselves to follow Him each day is far more important than whether or not we speak in tongues or have any other spiritual gift.” – Dan Erickson
You may not have been gifted with the gift of prophecy or the ability to speak in spiritual tongues, but you have been gifted to speak with a physical tongue. When you use that physical gift of God to declare God’s truth in clear, simple, understandable language, then God can use you to strengthen, encourage and comfort the other parts of the body of Christ. God can use you to change lives.
INVITATION
This morning in my prayer time, I prayed for all the churches and pastors in our association as well some other churches in the area. And then I prayed for our president. As I was combining those two things together, I began to wonder what it would be like to have the President in the congregation. Would it be tempting to soften the message a little bit and call sin something other than it was? A pastor of the past faced this very dilemna.
A famous Methodist evangelist named Peter Cartwright was known for his uncompromising preaching. However, one day when the President of the United States, Andrew Jackson, came to Cartwright’s church, the elders warned the Pastor not to offend the President. When Cartwright got up to speak, the first words out of his mouth were, "I understand that President Andrew Jackson is here this morning. I have been requested to be very guarded in my remarks. Let me say this: "Andrew Jackson will go to hell if doesn’t repent of his sin!" The entire congregation gasped with shock at Cartwright’s boldness. How could this young preacher dare to offend the tough old general in public, they wondered. After the service, everyone wondered how the President would respond to Cartwright. When Andrew Jackson met the preacher at the door he looked at him in the eye and said, "Sir, If I had a regiment of men like you, I could conquer the world!"
Can I be equally direct with you? If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, then when you die, you will go to hell where you will suffer an eternity in torment. If you are living with known sin in your life, then you are weak, discouraged and in discomfort, and the only way for you to change is for you to confess your sin to God, repent of it and seek His forgiveness. If you are not using your gifts to clearly communicate God’s message to people, then you are sinning and preventing people from coming into a relationship with God. But let me just as direct to tell you that God loves you, and all of your sin can be washed away today if you will simply come to God and ask for His forgiveness.
