December 8, 2002 1 Corinthians 14:6-20
“I recognize that!” (pt. 2)
INTRODUCTION
There was an art contest held in a local school one Christmas season a few years ago in East Texas. One of the prize winners was a picture drawn by a nine year old boy showing three men, offering gifts to the baby Jesus in his manger. What made the picture unique is how the three gift presenters arrived – there was a fire truck on the side of the picture. The principal asked the boy about his decision to draw the truck, and the boy, in his heavy East Texas accent, was quick to reply: “Well, the Bible says the wise men came from a-far.”
A couple of weeks ago, I told you about some companies that made some major communication errors when they began to market their products in overseas markets. After a woman sued McDonalds because she wasn’t warned her coffee was hot, it seems that companies are changing their instruction manuals and product warning labels to cover themsleves from product liability and to make sure that there is no possibility for a misunderstanding. Listen to a few of these:
On a bar of Dial soap- Directions: Use like regular soap;
Swanson frozen dinners- Suggestion: Defrost before eating;
Marks and Spencer bread pudding- Product will be hot after heating;
Rowenta Iron- Caution, do not iron clothes on body;
On a string of Chinese made Christmas lights- For indoor or outdoor use only;
Sainsbury peanuts warn- May contain peanuts;
On a swedish made chain saw- Do not stop chain with hand- call you stumpy for the rest of your life;
On a blanket from Taiwan- Not to be used as protection from a tornado;
On a motorcycle helmet mounted mirror- Remember, objects in the mirror are actually behind you;
New Zealand insect spray- This product not tested on animals;
On the bottle top of a flavored milk drink- After opening, keep upright.
As important as it is for companies to accurately and completely communicate with their customers, it is even more important that we accurately and completely communicate with each other. Without it, we can accomplish nothing, and we will be divided. Do you remember the tower of babble? What caused them to be unable to complete the tower and separate from one another? It was the confusion of the languages and that they could no longer speak so that the other person could understand them. Understanding is important. It is important for husbands and wives, parents and children, managers and employees, and it is especially important in churches where the greatest message of all is to be communicated.
Sometimes, that message is garbled because we are not speaking in terms that everyone can understand. People don’t recognize the words that we are using, and that prevents God’s power from working in people’s lives. Last week, we looked at three things that are prevented from happening when there is no recognition of words and no understanding of them.
1. Without recognition, there can be no profit. (vs. 6)
2. Without recognition, there can be no response. (vs. 7-9)
3. Without recognition, there can be no relationship. (vs. 10-12)
This week, we are going to look at three more results to communication that makes no sense to the hearers. As we go through this passage, ask yourself this question: Am I willing to change what I say or change the way that I say it in order to accurately communicate what I’m trying to say to the people that really need to hear?
4. Without recognition, there can be no wholeness. (vs. 13-15)
Paul is not trying to discourage the genuine use of the gift of tongues. But rather, he is trying to get them to use it properly. One of the clearest requirements was that whatever was spoken in tongues had to be interpreted. That means that if there was no one to interpret, then the tongues-speaker was to remain quiet. The only way he could be absolutely sure that an interpreter was present was if he – the speaker – also had the ability to interpret what he had spoken in a tongue.
A Preacher’s Prayer: “Lord, fill my mouth with worthwhile stuff, and nudge me when I’ve said enough.” My prayer every day as I study these passages is not that I will know the truth but that I will know how to communicate it to you in understandable, interesting and convincing ways. Do you know how frustrating it is to have truth bottled up inside of you and not be able to get it out? I know that many of you pray for me. I thank you for that. Do you want to know how you can pray for me? Pray that I will understand and act out in my own life the Scripture that I am studying that week. But also pray that I will know the language that I will need to use in order to effectively communicate that message to you and the people around you. The reason that I use humor and stories and examples is not so that I can entertain you. I consider each of these to be a different language that someone out there can understand better than some other language, so I include them in order to increase the chances that all of you will be able to understand and act on the message. Pray that I will know what language I need in order to reach your heart.
Verse 14 begins a contrast between rational thought and the spiritual exercise of the gift of tongues. Is it the way that God intended that when you experience this gift that your mind is put on standby? That sounds like new-age mysticism where the mind is disengaged from normal involvement. I don’t know about you, but whenever I disengage my mind, I get myself into a lot of trouble.
One dad was excited and nervous about the birth of his first child. When the anticipated day arrived, the father-to-be drove his wife quickly to the hospital, speeding past the admitting entrance. "Bill, that’s where we’re supposed to go," Betty said.
"No, Honey," Bill said. "I saw a sign that said DELIVERIES IN THE REAR." - The Delivery of a Child, Citation: Robin Greenspan, Chester, Massachusetts, Christian Reader, "Lite Fare." It is easy to put the mind in neutral when the spirit is so excited.
But that is exactly what the Christians at Corinth were doing. They were allowing their emotions to take complete control of their bodies and letting go of all rational thought. And in so doing, they were following the practices of the pagan people around them. “…the practice of ecstatic utterances was common in many of the pagan Graeco-Roman religions of Paul’s day…Devotees of a god would drink and dance themselves into frenzies until they went into semiconsciousness or even unconsciousness – an experience they considered to be the highest form of communion with the divine. They believed that in such drunkenness their spirits left their bodies and communed directly with the god or gods…The ecstatic speaking that often accompanied such experiences was thought to be the languages of the gods." - MacArthur
“pray in a tongue” – The first question that we have to ask ourselves about this is if the circumstances of the prayer were a corporate setting or was it a personal private encounter with God. It seems that he is talking about a corporate setting here because he later speaks of the need for someone else to be edified by what is being said. This could only happen if there was someone else present.
“unfruitful” – My own thinking would say that it means no benefit, no understanding, no tangible results. There would be no result for the mind if I do not understand the words that are coming out of my own mouth, but more importantly, there would be no profit for those who hear.
Probably all of you have had or known teachers that were obvious geniuses. They had a ton of knowledge but not an ounce of teaching skill. That teacher’s mind is “unfruitful” for you because the sweetness inside can’t make it out onto the branches where you can grab hold of it and bite into it.
When Paul says, “I will,” it seems that he is making a conscious choice to include his mind in whatever spiritual experience it was that he was having. God has no desire for us to disengage our minds in any exercise of the spiritual gifts but rather allow God to our spirits and our minds to communicate His message.
“Love the Lord your God with all your…” “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Rom. 12:2)
God wants our minds, not just our spirits. Some of you, in your Christmas shopping, may have gotten into the spirit of Christmas a little bit too much. You saw one thing that your wife would like and another thing that your kids would like and another and another and another. Some of the deals were just too good to pass up. Everybody else’s cart looked so full, and yours didn’t, so you got caught up in the frenzy of it all, put your mind in neutral, and pulled out your credit card. And you ended up buying a lot more than you should have. Once your mind catches up with your spirit, you may very well regret having not put your whole being into this experience.
I fear that in some churches, they get so caught up in the spirit of worship and spiritual experience that they put their minds in neutral. They don’t weigh what is being said, and they are there to make themselves feel good rather than to let their thinking be changed. Paul commended the church at Thessalonica because they searched the Scriptures to see if what Paul had preached to them was accurate. They involved their minds in the process.
But there is also the possibility of going to the other extreme and making an equally bad mistake. Jesus told the woman at the well that true worshipers “Worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23) We, as Baptists are real good at using our minds. We think things through, we study God’s Word, our songs are theologically accurate. But how much of our spirit do we put into our worship of God on Sunday morning or any other time of the week? When you sang this morning, did you sing with your spirit as well as your mind, or did you just concentrate on the words and making sure that you hit the right note and that you didn’t make an idiot of yourself? Sometimes, I am guilty of not even having my mind or spirit in gear when I sing. I’ve sung the songs so many times, that I can sing them and my mind be somewhere completely different. When Jesus died on the cross, He didn’t just purchase one part of us. He purchased all of us. He expects all of us to be a sacrifice to Him – our complete self – and He expects all of us to be involved in worship and service toward him.
5. Without recognition, there can be no agreement. (vs. 16-17)
A man called his neighbor to help him move a couch that had become stuck in the doorway. They pushed and pulled until they were exhausted, but the couch wouldn’t budge. "Forget it," the man finally said. "We’ll never get this in." The neighbor looked at him quizzically and said, "In?" These men were one in spirit with each other. They both wanted to move the couch. But they were not one in mind. They didn’t know what way to move it, and so the couch remained stuck in the position that it had been in.
We celebrated Thanksgiving Day a little over a week ago, do dealing with the gift of tongues is very appropriate for this time of year. Praise and thanks were the focus of tongues. Look at verse 16. It wasn’t about delivering a message from God to men. That was the prophet’s job. It was about communication with God. Look back at verse 2. It says there that the tongues-speaker speaks “not to men but to God.” In Acts 2, the record of the beginning of tongues, it says there that those who spoke in tongues were speaking the “wonders of God.” They were declaring praise and thanks to God. They weren’t evangelizing through tongues. That happened in the clear message that Peter delivered. The benefit that men might receive from it is as they listen in on the conversation, and they receive encouragement from hearing the praise and thanks. But if there is no understanding, there can be no spiritual agreement and no benefit to the hearer.
What would be the purpose of praying to God in an unknown language whether that language is human or angelic? One language is no more holy than another. God doesn’t understand one over another. One of the difficulties of translating one language to another is that some things just can’t be accurately, completely or as picturesquely expressed. If the point of tongues is praise, then there may be times that human language just will not do.
Verse 17 – You may be benefiting and performing what is proper in giving thanks, but it can’t be educational or uplifting for the other guy.
I know that some of you do not feel comfortable praying out loud in a setting where there are other people around. You may not even feel comfortable being in a small group where several people are praying out loud. That’s fine. But I enjoy that kind of setting. There is something unifying and powerful about it to me. And I especially enjoy it when people that aren’t actively using their voices to pray join in agreement with the person that is praying by saying things like, “Amen” or “Yes, Lord” or even “Hallelujah”. When I am delivering the message on Sunday mornings, and people might yell out an “Amen”, it encourages me. It lets me know that you understood what I said and that you are in agreement with me. It empowers me and lets me know that I am on the right track and that something that God has said through me has impacted you. Without understanding, none of that can happen. There can be no agreement.
6. Without recognition, there can be no maturing. (vs. 18-20)
In these verses, I think Paul is talking about two different aspects of communication. He’s talking about how many words we use and what kind of words we use. Both factors are important.
Paul spoke in tongues. He was thankful for the opportunity. He participated in it often – more so than any of them. It’s almost as if he is getting on to them because they were having comparisons among themselves about who spoke in tongues the most.
Within the context of the church service, quantity of words is not important. Understanding of words is the judge of worthiness. Five words of understanding are more valuable than 10,000 words that are beyond my grasp.
“Although murioi can mean ten thousand, the largest number for which Greek had a specific word, it was commonly used to indicate an inestimable number…indicate a completely immeasurable figure.” - MacArthur
Quantity is not the issue. That’s the way that children think. If you offer five pennies in exchange for a dime, they’ll take it every time. As adults, we recognize that 5 diamonds have much more value than 10,000 pennies ($100).
It does not matter how many words you say if people do not understand. It doesn’t matter how loud you say them either. (i.e. When Ben is trying to communicate something that I don’t understand, he’ll simply turn up the volume. Garbled words said louder don’t produce communication. They just produce a headache.)
But even those five words have to be good words. A man decided to join a monastery and one of the rules of the group was that you were only allowed to speak two words every ten years. At the end of ten years he said, "Bad food!" Ten more years went by and he said, "Hard bed!" Finally, on his 30th anniversary with the brothers, he thundered, "I quit!" And the priest in charge responded, "You might as well. All you’ve ever done is complain."
Instead of that, try using words that will benefit people. Words like, “I care about you.” “You are important to me.” “I forgive you.” People can understand words like that. You might have to repeat yourself because of the shock that the words create, but you will be delivering a message that can change someone’s life. You don’t have to use a lot of words, but you do have to use the right kind of words if you want to help people.
When dealing with cute cuddly babies, the temptation is to communicate to them with the same sweet cooing sounds that they make. Mike and Terry recently became grandparents, and even more recently, they found out that they will soon be enjoying a new granddaughter. You haven’t seen Mike until you’ve seen him with his granddaughter. He becomes just as cute and cuddly as a big teddy bear, making all those baby sounds over her. As parents or grandparents are bent over the crib making those baby sounds, everyone is enthralled by the moment. It is cute; it is comforting; it is sweet and it promotes good feelings in everyone. But it is no profit to the baby in helping is to grow up. In fact, if that kind of communication is all that the baby ever hears, then it will never learn to communicate like an adult.
Paul was comparing the gift of tongues, at least as it was being exercised in the church at Corinth, with baby talk – a lot of unintelligible sounds that no one understood and that profited no one. He says that he could come to them and talk baby talk with them, and when everyone left, they would have emotional and spiritual warm fuzzies. Everyone would have the idea that a great spiritual experience had happened on that day. Everyone would be comforted and feel all warm and sweet inside. But no one would have matured. No one would have grown.
In some churches, the point of the message is to make everybody feel good. The pastors speak the same language as the people, and everybody leaves feeling good about themselves. If you came here today expecting to only hear words that comforted you, I’m going to have to disappoint you. My job is not to comfort you. My job is to help you grow up – to make you more like Jesus. That happens by speaking in clear, direct adult language to you. That language is not always comfortable, but it is always profitable.
CONCLUSION
I can identify with the teaching of this chapter probably more than the rest of you. That is not because I speak in tongues more than you do. Quite honestly, I have never spoken in tongues. But you see, this chapter is not primarily about tongues. It is about communication. Communication is speaking a message to people in words that they can understand and that will bring a desired response in them. And sometimes, I feel like that bugler spoken of in verse 8. The instrument that I play is my vocal chords, and the tune that I play is the words that make up the message each Sunday morning. And like that bugler who can’t seem to get the notes just right to give people a clear call to action, I feel that there are many times that I fail to communicate clearly what you are supposed to do in response to the truth that you have heard that day.
Are you having a hard time communicating like I am? You’ve tried communicating with kindness, gifts, logic. When those didn’t work, you tried sarcasm, anger – even the silent treatment. But nothing seems to change. Nobody ever grows up. Maybe it’s time that you changed the language that you’re using.
Are there some people that you have been trying to communicate with? Maybe you should pray a prayer like this, “God, help me to know how to communicate with that person!”
