When it comes to the confusion and controversy over spiritual gifts today, we need to be careful not to impose our questions and issues onto what Paul writes here. When we read 1 Corinthians 14 we’re reading someone else’s letter, a letter which is trying to correct serious problems in this church. Paul is not so much teaching about the nature and continuing use of the gifts of prophecy and tongues, but rather is teaching general principles that ultimately apply to all our spiritual gifts about how they should be used in our Christian gatherings: corporately as the church, in smaller groups and even in 1-2-1 settings.
We’ve seen in chapters 12-13 Paul correcting the wrong views of spiritual gifts. There are divisions in the church, because of pride. In the early days of the church, when the church was being established by the apostles, when the New Testament was being written, the Holy Spirit often worked in miraculous ways. Those who had been given what appeared to be more impressive or miraculous gifts seemed to think they were better than others in the church.
Imagine the scene, you’re in church on Sunday morning – then suddenly someone falls down and starts speaking excitedly and loudly in a strange language. Everyone is going to stop to notice it…and there’s something in human nature which makes us marvel at the miraculous. Some people thought that this was a sign of them being a very spiritual and mature church. They said unless you are able to speak in tongues you aren’t as good a Christian. However, Paul warns them that they are behaving childishly, spoiling their worship of God and witness for God. In fact, Paul is worried that their behaviour and fascination with these spectacular spiritual gifts shows that they are behaving more like they used to in their pagan religions when they dabbled with evil, than as Christians.
All this disorder was bad for the health of the church and was bad for God’s reputation in the world. We represent God as His ambassadors to the world. The world looks at the church and makes conclusions about God and the gospel. The problem was Corinth looked on at the church and saw it in a mess, that looked like the crazy cults of their day. But “God is not a God of confusion” (v.33) – their disordered worship damaged their witness.
God’s desire for the church is that it represents Him to the world, as it grows up and reaches out.
(1) God Wants the Church to Grow-Up Strong & Healthy (14:1-20, 26-32):
It’s interesting how Paul says a number a times that he wants the Corinthians to grow up: “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature” (v.20). He says how they’re thinking about and using their spiritual gifts is not evidence of maturity but immaturity. They’re behaving like selfish children, rather than as responsible adults. Rather than seeking the most spectacular gifts for themselves to look good, Paul encourages them to seek the gifts that are most useful for helping the church to grow up strong and healthy: “strive to excel in building up the church” (v.12)…“let all things be done for building up” (v.26).
How do we grow up? It’s as God’s Spirit works through God’s Word: “the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2). God’s Word gives us life, it feeds and sustains us, it teaches and guides us, it helps us to grow and serve God more effectively. A baby grows up into an adult by being fed food, and so it is how a young Christian grows up into a mature Christian as God works through the Bible: as we read it, as we think about it, as we pray about it, as we hear it being taught, as we discuss it with each other, as we live according to it, as we share it with others.
In those early days of the church, when the New Testament was mostly not yet written, God spoke His Word to the church through both the gift of tongues and prophecy. However, these two gifts were not equally valuable for the church to be built up and grow strong. That’s because they were not equally intelligible to the church. Listen to Paul’s instruction: “earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. [WHY?] For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands him…on the other hand the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding, and encouragement and comfort” (v.1b-3). Clearly and intelligibly sharing God’s word encourages God’s people, it builds-up or helps to grow God’s people, and it comforts God’s people when they’re hurting. BUT Tongues is like a coded message…it’s useless unless you know how to decode it. During World War Two both sides could intercept each-other’s messages, but they could not READ what the coded messages said. A great turning point in the war was the capture of a German Enigma machine from a submarine which let the British read German messages for the first time as they had the decoding machine. Paul uses a series of examples to show that unless tongues is interpreted then it is useless for the church. In v.7-8 he talks about musical instruments: I am totally useless when it comes to music…I cannot play anything properly. I can make lots of noise on a guitar or piano, but I cannot play a tune: tongues is like that unless it is later interpreted. I don’t know many words in Romanian. You could say something very kind and encouraging to me today, but unless someone interprets it will not bless and help me “if with your tongue you speak words that are not intelligible, how you anyone know what is said? … if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me” (v.9-11). That’s why even though it looks impressive and special it’s not the best gift to desire in the church.
Instead, Paul contrasts tongues with prophecy: “the one who prophesies builds up the church” (v.4)… “the one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up” (v.5). Now don’t misunderstand Paul. He’s not saying tongues is useless. Paul speaks in tongues (it’s a great gift for a missionary who goes to foreign countries where he doesn’t naturally know the language and the Spirit gives him the words to communicate the gospel to people)…but he says the focus when we come together as the church should be on serving and building-up one another and that is best done through prophecy than tongues: “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue” (v.18-19).
With this in mind, Paul orders the church to change the way they behave when they gather together. Rather than selfishly showing off and seeking the gift of tongues, they must “let all things be done for building up”- everyone must not only be willing to use their gifts but also be self-controlled to not use them if not appropriate. If there was no one able to interpret the gift of tongues then they were to remain silent (v.26-32), because it could do no good for the church.
That’s what Paul was saying to the Corinthians, but what does God want you to do with this teaching in 21st century Romania? Forget for a minute the question of whether the Holy Spirit still gives gifts of tongues and prophecy – that’s controversial in the wider church. I don’t think there are prophets any longer today – Hebrews 1 says that God has already spoken through the prophets and has spoken His final and full words in Jesus His Son, whose gave the Holy Spirit to the apostles to finish writing the Bible. But I do think that God continues to speak to us through His Word – He doesn’t give us NEW WORDS (to add to our Bibles), but His Spirit helps us see how THESE WORDS already written in our Bibles apply to OUR LIVES and NEW SITUATIONS TODAY. The key principle is that we need to seek to bless and build up other Christians by speaking clearly and intelligibly to them about what God has said in His Word. Some people have particular gifts for preaching and teaching in churches, in Sunday school classes or youth groups. But all of us should seek to speak God’s truth into one another’s lives: to give each other Godly biblical advice, to comfort each other with God’s promises, to challenge each other to live holy lives and work hard for God, to point out sin. We can do this on Facebook, in e-mail, in letters, or in person. We don’t have to be in church to do this. But as you get older you’ll start to be the older people in your church, you’ll be the leaders, you’ll be the people that younger people look up to. And you need to be able to speak and share God’s Word with them in a way that will help them to grow up and serve Christ in the world. One of the most important things for the church to work well is our ability to understand and share God’s Word together.
(2) God Wants the Church to Reach the Lost (14:21-25):
In our times, many Christian writers are reminding us that the church is the only organisation that exists for the sake of those who are not its members. The mission of the church is to reach the lost in the world. Everything the church does needs to remember our calling to be missionaries, locally and globally.
The church is always sending a message to the world – the question is what message are we sending? Is it something that witnesses well to Christ, or something that dishonours Christ?
The Corinthians by focusing on having their wild spiritual gifts parties had forgotten that the church is not just there for them to have special experiences…it is there to reach the lost. Some would like to sit in church enjoying speaking in tongues all day, while never going out on mission to their neighbours. They have forgotten that first of all Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit comes to make us missionaries: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes…and you will be my witnesses, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7-8). Our spiritual gifts are to help us serve God’s mission in the world – we are part of the body of Christ, His hands and feet on earth going and working in His name to see people brought into His kingdom. The Corinthians were sending mixed and unhelpful messages by their misbehaviour with spiritual gifts. By over-emphasising the gift of speaking in unknown tongues, they were failing to communicate the good news about Jesus to the world in a way it could be understood as saving good news.
Paul says two things about tongues:
(a) It’s a sign of judgement for unbelievers: “tongues are not a sign for believers but for unbelievers” (v.22).
(b) It doesn’t help communicate God’s word to unbelievers: “if the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?” (v.23).
Firstly, Paul quotes from Isaiah 28 in v.21 to show that when God sends people speaking strange foreign languages it is not a sign of good news but bad news. If you were an Israelite living in the Old Testament then God was warning that you would know He was displeased at your sin and was sending judgement upon you when you heard foreigners speaking in their foreign languages. This was what happened when Israel was invaded by her enemies and taken off into exile. Tongues are a sign of judgement on unbelievers – they don’t communicate the good news of how to be saved and made right with God.
Secondly, Paul points out that if non-Christians visit your church and hear everyone speaking in strange languages then that is going to look weird. They’re going to think the Christians have gone mad and not take seriously the gospel. Remember what happened in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost when the 120 Christians began speaking in tongues many in Jerusalem thought that they were drunk – although many of the international visitors heard in their own languages praises to God - it was only after that Peter began to preach the intelligible good news about Jesus which resulted not in awe or confusion but in salvation (cf. Romans 10:11-14). Rather than lead the non-Christian to worship, it will lead them to mock God. Instead Paul says that when the church gathers together they should focus on prophecy (preaching and teaching!) – that is clearly speaking God’s Word in a way that unbelievers can hear, understand and respond in worship: “if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you” (v.25).
Preaching, teaching, speaking, sharing God’s Word in simple and understandable ways is the way Christians grow in faith and the way non-Christians come to faith. God saves people as they hear the gospel, understand the gospel, are convicted of their sin, and place their trust in Jesus. This requires us to be able to clearly share the gospel with people.
A truly Spirit-filled church is not defined by the presence of incredible miraculous spiritual gifts ... it’s where the people are growing in their love for Jesus and their concern for reaching lost people with the gospel of Jesus.
When you think about the Holy Spirit remember that He’s come to equip and enable you to be a missionary right here where you are: in your family, with your friends, in your school, college, university, in your workplace. You are called to represent God, which is both a great privilege and a great responsibility. Thankfully you don’t have to do it alone or in your own strength, as God’s Holy Spirit is alive inside of you to help and enable you to do it with Him in His strength and power!
Conclusion:
So as you think about the Holy Spirit and His gifts remember that He has given you all gifts for a reason. These gifts are so the church can grow up strong and healthy, which it needs to be to serve God’s mission in the world. Just as it’s difficult to do heavy lifting unless you do some weight exercises to build up muscles, so the church cannot carry or accomplish the big task of telling the whole world about Jesus unless we are all exercising our gifts.
