1 – Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.
2 – For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them;they utter mysteries by the Spirit.
3 – But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.
4 – Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.
5 – I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy.The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues—unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.
6 – Now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction?
7 – Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as the pipe or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes?
8 – Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?
9 – 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.
10 – Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning.
11 – If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker is a foreigner to me.
12 – So it is with you. Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit,try to excel in those that build up the church.
13 – For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say.
14 – For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.
15 – So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding.
16 – Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer, say “Amen”to your thanksgiving—since they do not know what you are saying?
17 – You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified.
18 – I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
19 – But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.
20 – Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children.In regard to evil be infants,but in your thinking be adults.
21 – In the Law it is written: “With other tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.”
22 – Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy,however, is not for unbelievers but for believers.
23 – So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?
24 – But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all,
25 – as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”
26 – What then shall we say, brothers and sisters?When you come together, each of you has a hymn,or a word of instruction,a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.
27 – If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret.
28 – If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.
29 – Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.
30 – And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop.
31 – For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.
32 – The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.
33 – For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.
34 – Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak,but must be in submission,as the law says.
35 – If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.
36 – Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached?
37 – If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit,let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command.
38 – But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored.
39 – Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy,and do not forbid speaking in tongues.
40 – But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
It never ceases to amaze me how things I see or read—end up being useful in sermons. For example, several years ago I came across this cartoon in Christianity Today. It shows a senior pastor assigning preaching topics to his associate. The older shepherd says, “I’ll preach on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s and Easter. You can have ‘The Role of Women in the Church,’ ‘Speaking in Tongues,’ and Stewardship.” As you can tell, the young associate looks a bit stressed.
The cartoon made me grin way back when I first read it—because there are indeed hot button issues that many pastors want to avoid if at all possible—and passing them off to a subordinate gave me a chuckle—not that I would ever do something like that—then again? But I thought this cartoon would end at a grin as I turned the page—I never imagined it could actually wind up in a sermon—but today it does—because in this morning’s text Paul deals with two of these hot button issues:
- Speaking in tongues—and
- Women speaking in worship.
Sadly—hot button issues can be divisive in churches—so I want you to know I’ve been praying a lot this week that God would instruct us as we seek to rightly divide this text—and also keep our unity—our sweet, sweet spirit—intact. My prayer is always that we would each be so sensitive to our Lord’s Spirit in each of us—that we would be of one mind.
Well, the context of this passage shows that Paul must have had the same concern for unity—because before he gets to these hot button issues he reminds the church at Corinth of the importance of agape—selfless love. And this bleeds over into today’s reading where he admonishes his readers then and now to always: “Follow the way of LOVE!” By the way, the word translated “follow” here has the idea of “pursuit with persistence.” It indicates an action that never ends. In other words, Paul is saying we have to continually pursue love—especially when it comes to the hot button issues of church life. This constant “love pursuit” is a CORE BELIEF. If you agree with the importance of AGAPE LOVE in everything we do—say “AMEN!” Great! Let’s proceed.
(1) Hot button issue #1 – Speaking of tongues—what’s the deal here?
To answer this question—to deal with this hot button issue in the right way—we need to remember that in the Bible there are TWO KINDS of speaking in tongues. First, there is speaking in KNOWN tongues and the best example of this is what happened on Pentecost Sunday. Take your Bibles and turn to Acts 2—beginning with verse 4: “And they — the disciples — were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit GAVE them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men out of every nation under Heaven.” Now, skip down to verse 6 where it says, “And when they heard this the crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE.” These travelers from other nations were amazed because the disciples, whom they thought of as ignorant Galileans, were able to speak their language—not gibberish—understandable language. And this gift from God that enabled these men and women to speak in KNOWN tongues was an important gift for them to have at that time—because there were people present in Jerusalem that day from all over the Roman Empire. Very, very few were bi-lingual back then and almost no one was multi-lingual. So in order for God to communicate His truth immediately and swiftly for all to hear, this gift was essential. The cool thing is at Pentecost they didn’t just hear the Gospel spoken by the disciples in their own general language. No—the Greek here is “dialektos” which means they heard it in their own specific dialects. I love this because it shows that when God does something, He doesn’t do it halfway!
I also want you to notice the REACTION of those who heard the disciples use this gift. Those people who were present saw the manifestation of this gift as a SIGN—a VALIDATION of the fact that these men and women were sent from God—because these uneducated Galileans were suddenly fluent in the most complex of languages, even to the point of getting the accents correct. And, as Peter pointed out, this event also fulfilled the prophetic utterance of Joel through whom God said that, “In the last days, I will pour out My Spirit on all people—both men and women—and they will prophesy.” (Acts 2:17-18) It will help with our second hot button issue if we remember there were WOMEN there prophesying at Pentecost—not just men. Acts 1 says that when the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost they were, “…all joined together constantly in prayer—along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.”
Moving on—incidents where believers spoke in KNOWN tongues are also found in Acts 10 where Peter led Cornelius to faith in Jesus—and in Acts 19 where some of the disciples of John became Christians. To me it seems as if this particular “tongue gift” was sometimes seen as a validation of conversion in the early days of the church—and I say “sometimes” because the Bible records that it didn’t always happen. I mean, there is no mention of the Ehiopian eunuch speaking in tongues in Acts 8—nor is the gift of speaking in known tongues mentioned at the end of Acts chapter 2, when three thousand people became believers. We don’t see this form of tongues these days—and haven’t for many hundreds of years. I think it’s because we don’t need it anymore. I mean, we have a complete Bible now to use in teaching others of God’s love. We have the mediums of TV and radio and the Internet to spread the Gospel quickly.
I DO think we see a FORM of this gift being used by Christians like Wycliffe Bible translators—believers who work to translate the Bible into the dialects of people who have never heard the message that Peter and his fellow disciples proclaimed at Pentecost. I also think that each of us should ask God to gift us with the ability and insight that will enable us to verbalize our faith with people around us in “language” or terms that they can understand. I mean—I wish I knew what words to use in speaking with my Jewish neighbors or my Buddhist barber that would help them to understand God’s love in sending Jesus. Perhaps you have someone in your realm of influence whom you want to witness to—but you don’t know what to say or how to say it. I remember Sue telling me many years ago of one of our women in Ladies’ Bible Study praying,
“God give the a ‘tongue’ to speak to my neighbors of Your love.” And, we should all pray like this—for God’s power to enable us to share His love in “languages”—that our neighbors and co-workers and family members understand. After all, this is the ultimate purpose of any spiritual gift—to enable believers to proclaim the truth of God’s love in sending Jesus.
Okay—that’s speaking in KNOWN tongues. In today’s text Paul refers to something different—speaking in UNKNOWN tongues. Here’s a definition of this form of tongues: it is unintelligible speech—primarily used as a private prayer language for devotional practices. It is also called “glossolalia.” And at the onset of our discussion I have to point out that one of the reasons “glossolalia” has been a hot button issue—is because many Christians have based their beliefs on this form of speaking in tongues on EXPERIENCE—and not on the teachings of Scripture. You see, even though personal opinions based on experience are often very sincere, they also tend to be very flawed. I’m reminded of that classic poem John Godfrey Sacks once wrote entitled, “The Blind Men and the Elephant.” The first stanza goes like this:
“It was six men of Industan to learning much inclined, who went to see the elephant,
though all of them were blind, that each by observation might satisfy his mind.”
The poem goes on to share the experiences of the six blind men. The first fell against the elephant’s SIDE and said in his opinion the animal was like a WALL. The second felt the TUSK and said an elephant was like a SPEAR. The third grabbed the TRUNK and pronounced that his experience taught him that an elephant was like a SNAKE. A fourth felt the LEG and said an elephant was like a TREE—a fifth an EAR and said it was like a FAN. The last felt the TAIL and said that it was like a ROPE. And then the final stanza says,
“And so these men of Industan disputed loud and long, each in his own opinion
exceeding stiff and strong, though each was partly in the right and all were in the wrong.”
Now—I’m sure we would all agree that the best source of accurate information about an elephant is not the sincere, but flawed experience of these six blind men. No—to find the facts about elephants a person would go to a zoo and see one and then find an encyclopedia so they could read what has been written by elephant experts. Well, over the years many Christians—in all sincerity have “disputed loud and long” over their opinions about unknown tongues—opinions that much of the time were based on experience and not Biblical facts. And like these six blind men they may have been partly right but you see when it comes to absolute truth, to be partly in the right is to be completely wrong. The way to be right—correct—when it comes to understanding the issues like speaking in unknown tongues—and all hot button issues—is to refer to God’s “encyclopedia,” the Bible. You see, our feelings—our experiences—may change, but this Book does not. It is absolute truth that we can absolutely trust. Another thing we should note is this. A Christian walk that is ONLY based on EXPERIENCE or emotions is an incomplete Christian walk. We must worship God with our MINDS as well as our HEARTS. I think this is what Paul was trying to get the Corinthians to understand in 1st Corinthians 14:15 when he said, “I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind!” I remember hearing someone at a C. S. Lewis Institute say, “If you long to know the mind of God, you must learn to use your own.” and this is so true.
Well, when we look to the Scripture the first thing we discover is that…the gift of tongues is not mentioned in the Bible as OFTEN as many would lead you to believe. Many of those who advocate speaking in tongues would have us to think that throughout the Bible we are admonished to seek this gift. But this is simply not so. In fact, the only place in all of Scripture where unknown tongue speaking is mentioned is in 1st Corinthians. This gift is never referred to in any of the epistles of Paul. It is not mentioned in his pastoral letters. It is not mentioned in the book of Hebrews. It’s not in the Gospels—the book of Acts—it’s in the general Epistles of John or Peter or Jude. It’s not even in the book of Revelation. And—don’t get me wrong—Paul had a great deal to say about the Holy Spirit but other than his first letter to the church at Corinth, he never writes about speaking in unknown tongues. In fact, what we call glossolalia is not mentioned as being practiced in any other church in the New Testament—not Macedonia, Achia, Judea, Philippi, Ephesus, Samaria, Asia, Rome, or any other place. It is seen ONLY in the church at Corinth—a troubled congregation that Paul called “carnal” and described as being full of immature “babes” in Christ—a group of people who had come from a background of paganism and idol worship. You should also know that Christianity is not the only faith system to embrace “ecstatic utterances” or speaking in unknown tongues. Glossolalia is also practiced by Muslims, Buddhists, Confucianists—and some cult groups.
Okay—before we go any further, let’s review some of the popular misconceptions about unknown tongues that are NOT supported by Scripture.
a. Here’s the first. Some say that all TRUE Christians speak in tongues.
People who advocate this viewpoint teach that there is something they refer to as a “2nd blessing” of the Holy Spirit that all Christians should and must seek in order to be “complete.” They also believe that the evidence that this has happened—that an individual has received this 2nd blessing—is their ability to speak in tongues. Well, as I reminded you a couple weeks back, there is no such thing as a “2nd Blessing of the Holy Spirit.” That’s not in the Bible. God’s Word tells us that the Person of God’s Holy Spirit comes into the life of any individual the moment that they accept Christ as Savior. This is the GIFT that Jesus promised in John 14 when He said, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of Truth.” 1st Corinthians 12:13 says that as Christians, “We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” The reason I re-state this is to point out that it is not in line with Scripture to teach that all believers speak in tongues—even though all believers are filled with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist was full of the Holy Spirit—but nothing in the Bible ever says that he had this gift. In any case 1st Corinthians 12:30 clearly says that all Christians do NOT have the gift of tongues.
b. Another popular misconception is that speaking in tongues is something that the speaker cannot control—that people with this gift cannot help themselves.
Some believe that, like an epileptic fit, a person speaking in tongues cannot stop once he starts. But this is not true, otherwise 1st Corinthians 14:27 would not say that if people speak in unknown tongues in the church, they should do so one at a time—and should remain silent unless an interpreter is present.
c. I have also heard people say that speaking in tongues is something you can and should LEARN to do.
As Pastor Kevin pointed out, there are even seminars held for the purpose of TEACHING Christians how to do this. But this is also not in line with Scripture. As I said a few weeks back the Bible teaches that spiritual gifts are just that, GIFTS—not GETS. They aren’t abilities you GET for yourself. No—they are gifts bestowed by God’s Holy Spirit. 1st Corinthians 12:11 says that, “He gives them to each one, just as HE determines.” So, we don’t have to study or train to GET this or any spiritual gift. The Bible promises that the Holy Spirit matches us with our needed gift or gifts without any effort on our part. And it is always the perfect fit. Another thing you need to know is that the Bible teaches that one DIFFERENCE between the two types of speaking in tongues is that “glossolalia” is an address to God and not men. In 1st Corinthians 14:4 it plainly says, “Anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God.” People who speak in unknown tongues often say exactly the opposite. They claim to have received a word from the Lord in the form of these ecstatic utterances.
So—one reason that Satan has such success at dividing churches over this issue—is that many believers base their opinions on their own experience instead of Scripture. But another reason TONGUES is such a hot button issue—stems from the fact that people who embrace it have a problem with PRIDE. You see, any spiritual gift will be abused if pride or selfishness is involved. And this is what was going on in the church at Corinth. Many of the most immature members of this local church wanted to be in the spotlight. They wanted to have spiritual gifts that made them seen so they would be popular and admired. In 1st Corinthians 13:31 Paul alludes to this when he sarcastically criticizes their immaturity by saying, “You are eagerly desiring the ‘greater’ gifts.”
Now, we know that Paul does not mean that some gifts are GREATER than others because he has just said that all gifts and talents are equally important to the body of Christ. Look back at his words in chapter 12 verses 22 and 23. He compares the church to a body with each Christian a part of the body and he says, “Those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor.” Then in verse 25 he says, “There should be no division in the body but its parts should have EQUAL concern for each other.” In other words, Paul has just told them and us that each spiritual gift is important in the body of Christ—not just the more visible ones.
And the Corinthians needed this God-given guidance because pride was a serious issue for many of them. This is why Paul was reminding them that the only valid motive for exercising any spiritual gift is to edify the church—not self.
Turn to 1st Corinthians 14 with me and let’s look at the verses that show the childish selfishness and pride of the Corinthian Christians. In verse 4 Paul says that they were using this gift to edify self. In verse 20 he told them to stop thinking like children. In essence he corrected them saying, “GROW UP!” But his harshest criticism is in verse 36 where he sarcastically asked them, “Did the word of God originate with you?” In other words, “Are you pride-fully writing your own Bible here?” And they were—I mean, they were authoritatively using this gift in an almost competitive way. They were trying to “out-tongue” each other—so Paul gave strict guidelines for the use of this spiritual gift. And by the way—this is the only spiritual gift with Scriptural guidelines to prevent it from being abused. Here they are: Paul says there should never be more than three speaking in unknown tongues and one at a time and only if an interpreter was present.
Now—you can probably infer from my comments, I am skeptical about the practice of the gift of unknown tongues today. I tend to believe that this was a temporary gift that ended with the apostolic age—a gift that has long ago ceased to be given by God. And, I am not alone in this mindset. Charles Swindoll and John McArthur and Charles Ryrie and other respected Christian leaders are skeptical of speaking in unknown tongues as well. Others believe it was a practice the Corinthians brought into their worship from their experience in paganism—and one that Paul tactfully dealt with in this 14th chapter. And to be honest, I don’t understand the need this gift.
I mean, why we would need the gift of a gibberish prayer language—even in the privacy of our own homes? Psalm 139 says that before a word is on our tongues God knows it completely and that He perceives our thoughts from afar. So why would this gift be necessary? This is one issue we may have to wait for eternity to completely understand.
But—the fact is we are all susceptible to pride. We want to be in the spotlight. And anytime we use this or ANY spiritual gift in order to be SEEN or ADMIRED—we have slipped into sin. It’s never about us. It’s always about Jesus! He must increase—we must decrease. Wayne Robinson, who served as editor-in-chief of publications in the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association, was an enthusiastic tongues-speaker at one time. He wrote a book in which he criticized the seeking of this gift saying, “In the past few years, I have become more and more convinced that the test, not only of tongues but of any religious experience—should be this: Does it turn a person inward to self-concern and selfish interests, or does it open him up to others and to their needs.”
Paul refers to the same principle by saying since speaking in tongues is so susceptible to pride he prefers the gift of prophecy. Look at his reasoning: “Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.”
He also prefers prophesy because a prideful use of tongues—can push people away from Christ instead of to Him. Look at verses 23-25 again: “If the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!’”
Okay—enough about speaking of speaking in tongues. Let’s get to Paul’s other HOT BUTTON issue—women who speak in worship.
(2) So—what about that? What does Paul say about speaking women?
Look at verses 34 and following where he writes, “Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something—they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.”
Okay—is Paul saying women should never speak in church—never be behind the pulpit—never teach the Bible in mixed groups? Well, that would not make sense because a few chapters ago Paul says women should prophesy and pray out loud in church. He also gave a woman named Phoebe the job of taking the Book of Romans to the church in Rome—which included the responsibility of teaching it to that church. So—how do you reconcile these texts?
Some say, “Well, you don’t reconcile them. They just contradict each other.” But that doesn’t work for me because I believe in the authority of Scripture so that’s not an option. The Bible DOESN’T contradict itself when it is RIGHTLY DIVIDED. Others say that in these other passages—1st Corinthians 11 and Romans 16—that Paul was not referring to the church but to being in a small group setting. The problem with THAT line of thought is the fact that being in church was different in the early church than it is in our day. They didn’t have auditoriums or buildings like we do. I mean, ALL churches were house churches. All churches were small group settings.
In any case, you can disagree with me but I believe that Paul is addressing a particular situation here in chapter 14. Think of it. At this point in time, women in the church were able to learn and I said, this was a revolutionary thing in the culture. So what probably was going on here is that women were doing something they hadn’t been able to do before Jesus came—namely ASK QUESTIONS. In their eagerness to learn they were raising their hands so much that that were disrupting the learning experience for everybody. Imagine how disruptive it would be to you if all through my sermons, half the people in this room were turning to somebody else saying, “What does Mark mean by that?” It would be a lot harder to follow my sermons than it already is. If that kind of disorder were going on, it would be impossible. So I think Paul is saying, “Women must stop disrupting and ask these questions at home.”
Okay—what does Paul mean when he says that, “They must be silent as the Law says?” This is especially hard to understand because nowhere in the Old Testament is there a law or a writing that says, “Women must be silent.” Most likely Paul is referring to the general Old Testament teaching that worshipers and learners should be silent and submissive before God—that this is the appropriate posture of learning. It’s like Psalm 46 where God says, “Be still—and know that I am God.”
But I think the MAIN thing Paul is saying both here—and in his discussion about the practice of unknown tongues is that God is a God of order. As he puts it in verse 33, “…God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” This is why he told the tongue speakers to take turns—and only three never more. This is why he says women should be silent and ask their questions at home. It’s why he says in verses 29 and 30, “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. or you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.”
Remember this people. Wherever you find confusion in worship, God is not the author of it. He authors peace. He likes orderliness. If you question this then consider the planetary motion above your head. Look at it. Study it through a powerful telescope. Next, check the tiny world of microscopic creatures—or a snowflake under a magnifying glass—or a butterfly wing. Is there order? Why, the planets are so orderly in their arrangement they correct our expensive timepieces! Why do the leaves change color and fall—every fall? Stand on some mountainside and check out the scenery. Is it orderly? Live in a forest for all four seasons. Will you see order in nature or confusion? The answer to these questions is obvious. God is the Author of order—and He inspired Paul to include this guideline in His Word because He speaks to us in worship in an orderly way—because in this way the church body is edified.
And God wants His body—local churches like ours to be built up—to be edified—to be healthy so they can be powerful tools in telling this lost world about His great love. You know, I remember going on a retreat with our singles back in the early ‘90’s—and I noticed they had a custom. Whenever one single said something that could hurt their fellowship—the rest of the group would lovingly yell, “Edify! Edify!” Then the offending single would apologize and the meeting would continue. They had this unwritten rule to always speak and act in ways that BUILT UP the fellowship. We should all embrace that unwritten rule—ESPECIALLY when we deal with hot button issues. In fact, let’s practice. Everyone turn to someone and lovingly say, “EDIFY!” “EDIFY!” At the next business meeting if things get hot what are we going to say? “EDIFY!” When you see people arguing about who should be our next president what are you going to say? “EDIFY!” When you hear me saying my grandkids are the cutest and smartest on the planet what are you going to say? “AMEN!”—-just kidding—-say “EDIFY!”
Let us pray.