My first experience of what Christians call “speaking in tongues” was in a large worship service in San Diego where Pastor John Wimber was preaching. Wimber was known far and wide for his healing ministry. Suddenly, in the middle of the worship service, it seemed like the entire congregation began singing in tongues. I stood and watched prayerfully and with great fascination. The words they were singing were not the words of any recognizable human language. In a way, it sounded like babbling. But it was beautiful babbling as they all sang together in a heavenly harmony. It felt like waves washing over the entire auditorium.
My next experience of tongues came during my time at Princeton Seminary. During my first year in seminary, I visited several churches. In an Assemblies of God church in Princeton I witnessed speaking in tongues once again. This time one person in the congregation spoke in tongues. Again, it sounded like babble. But this time it was followed by another person in the congregation standing up and offering an interpretation or explanation in English of what the tongues speaker had said in their unrecognizable, perhaps heavenly, language.
Also, while at seminary, I met a fellow student who told me of his experience with praying in tongues and how it met deep emotional needs in his life. I have no doubt that his experience of this private prayer language served as a benefit to him.
My final experience with tongues came during our time in Ireland. While there an American missionary visited us who was convinced that all Christians should speak in tongues. (Note: this was not Paul’s position. Paul treats tongues as one spiritual gift among many, a gift that some Christians have and others presumably don’t, just as some are gifted preachers, but others aren’t.) At any rate, this missionary prayed over me and witnessed me speaking in tongues. However, I should add that speaking in tongues has not played a major role in my life since then. My own experience of it is not that of ecstatic speech but something completely under the control of the speaker.
I share all of this just by way of introduction to what I imagine many of you will find to be a very strange passage in 1 Corinthians. So, let’s take a look at what Paul has to say about the spiritual gifts of both tongues and prophecy. Listen for God’s word to you from 1 Corinthians 14:1-25. Paul writes…
Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. 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. But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. 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,[c] unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.
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? 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? Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? 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. Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning. 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. So it is with you. Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.
For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 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. 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? You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified.
I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.
Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. 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.”
Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. 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? 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!”
Introduction
Paul begins this section of his letter by tying it to what has gone before. Last week we looked at 1 Corinthians 13 which is the love chapter of the Bible. We saw how 1 Corinthians 13 was connected to 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul talks extensively about spiritual gifts. All gifts and talents in the church need to be exercised in love. Paul reiterates that point at the beginning of chapter 14. He urges the Corinthians and us to “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.”
Apparently, the some of the Christians in Corinth were claiming that possession of the gift of speaking in tongues demonstrated that they were the only full recipients of the Holy Spirit of God and that they were, therefore, somehow spiritually superior to other Christians with different gifts.
Paul counteracts this notion by affirming that he speaks in tongues more than all the Corinthians, but that he prefers prophecy over tongues. Paul says in verse 5, “The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.” The implication here is that tongues plus interpretation equals prophecy.
Paul tells us he prefers prophecy over tongues for two reasons. First, because prophecy is not, like tongues, incomprehensible without interpretation. Unlike tongues, prophecy is clear to all who hear it right from the get-go.
Secondly, Paul prefers prophecy over tongues because prophecy is not, like tongues, of value only to the individual. (Remember my friend at Princeton who used tongues as a private prayer language to communicate with God. I don’t think he ever used it in a public worship service or had someone else interpret what he was saying.) Prophecy is not like tongues in that way. Prophecy is not primarily for the individual. Rather, it is for the whole church.
Because Paul prefers prophecy over tongues, I would like us to spend most of our time today looking at prophecy. I want to talk with you about The Purpose of Prophecy, The Nature of Prophecy, and The Results of Prophecy. Then at the end I would like to suggest three applications from this passage to the whole of corporate worship in the church.
The Purpose of Prophecy
In 1 Corinthians 14:3, Paul gives us three purposes of prophecy. The first purpose of prophecy is strengthening, or what is sometimes called edification. I will say more about this at the end of the message. But literally this word means “to build up”. This means that any purported word of prophecy that undermines or shakes the faith of a Christian is to be disregarded. True prophecy always strengthens, always edifies, always builds up.
The second purpose of prophecy is encouragement. The word that is used here is the same word that Jesus uses to refer to the Holy Spirit. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Paraclete. A paraclete is one who comes alongside someone else, puts their arm around them and encourages them. Prophecy should always encourage. As I have said before, one of my greatest desires for our worship services and for my preaching in particular is that our services and the preaching of the Scriptures in this place would lift you up. There is so much preaching in the world today that does not do that. In fact, there is a whole style of preaching popular in the southern United States where preachers rake their congregation over the coals every Sunday. Some people in those situations don’t feel like they have been to church unless they have been made to feel guilty. Well, as we will see in a moment, conviction is one result of preaching or prophecy, but it is not the only result and certainly should not be the end result. The purpose of preaching, the purpose of prophecy, is to lift up, to encourage, to come alongside and bolster the listener.
The third purpose of preaching that Paul mentions in verse 5 is comfort. Literally, this word means to whisper in one’s ear. There is a lovely scene in C. S. Lewis’s children’s story, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, where the main characters of the story, including three children from our world, are traveling on an ancient boat across a great sea in the land of Narnia, a land of talking beasts. During part of their adventure, they go through a very dark place and amidst the darkness, everyone aboard ship starts to have nightmares. Little Lucy, the most faithful character in all the stories, calls out to Aslan, the Christ-figure of the story, for help. Aslan sends an albatross who flies around Lucy whispering in her ear the beautiful words:“Courage dear heart.”
Perhaps those are the same words you most need to hear today: “Courage dear heart.” Something like that is what, I believe, the Holy Spirit wants to whisper to us through every sermon, every prophecy, every bit of preaching or teaching in the church.
The Nature of Prophecy
Now, let’s look at the nature of prophecy. What is prophecy exactly. Paul tells us in verse 6.
First, prophecy is based upon revelation from God. Sometimes the way this works is that a particular gifted individual in the church is given a message direct from God for a particular person or for the church as a whole—a bit of divine guidance if you will. I would not put such divine guidance on the same level as Holy Scripture. In fact, any guidance so received should always be weighed in the balance with Scripture. If it agrees with Scripture, pay attention to it. If not, then disregard the prophecy.
Secondly, prophecy may bring some special knowledge. Two weeks ago, I spoke with you about the gift of knowledge in 1 Corinthians 12. Sometimes gifted people in the church are given supernatural knowledge about a person or a situation that they could not have come up with on their own.
But then thirdly, prophecy consists of forthtelling the truth. Sometimes prophecy includes foretelling the future. We see this often in Scripture. But more often than not, prophecy is all about forthtelling the truth about God. Prophecy is not the same as preaching. But it has similarities to preaching and preaching may include prophecy. I have experienced this more than once, as I imagine many preachers have. I prepare my message. I write out everything I feel God wants me to say, but then God leads me to say a word I had not prepared. And I have had people say to me, it was like you were reading my mind as you were preaching. Well, that wasn’t me. It was from God.
Fourth, prophecy goes on to teaching. One New Testament scholar has said, “Apparently prophecy in these early churches functioned in a role filled now mainly by preaching.” So, while prophecy is slightly different from preaching and teaching, there is overlap.
I like this definition from Michael Green. He defines prophecy as “a word from the Lord through a member of his body inspired by his Spirit and is given to build up the rest of the body.”
One thing I like about this definition is that it discourages one person privately saying to another: “God told me to tell you…” I have seen a lot of nonsense shared under the cover of those words.
Here is one thing I can tell you with confidence. The one thing all of us can “prophesy” with confidence to another person is: “God told me to tell you he loves you.”
The Results of Prophecy
Now let’s look at the results of prophecy. Paul tells us about four results in verses 24 and 25. First, prophecy brings conviction of sin. That is a negative result in a way. We all need to hear the bad news of our sin before we understand the good news of God’s love and forgiveness.
Secondly, prophecy brings people under judgment. There is something cutting about prophecy, but it is a good cutting like that of a loving doctor’s scalpel. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
That leads right to the third result of prophecy Paul talks about. Paul says prophecy reveals the secrets of the heart. That is that aspect of prophecy I mentioned a few moments ago. It gives people listening to a prophet or preacher the sense that he or she has been reading their email. Prophecy reveals the secrets of the heart.
Then, fourth, prophecy brings people to their knees before God. And that is the best place in the world to be, between the paws of Aslan, the Lion of Judah, as C. S. Lewis put it in another one of his children’s stories. Prophecy has this effect upon believers, and Paul says, even on unbelievers.
It would be my hope and dream that in every one of our worship services there would be people who before that Sunday considered themselves outsiders, and that something in the service, something in the preaching, would bring them inside. William Temple once said, “The church is the only society in the world which exists for the benefit of non-members.” That’s true, and we need to be sure we never forget it. If the church is not making disciples of irreligious people, then everything we are doing here is a waste of time.
Three Principles of Worship
So finally, let me say just a few words briefly about three overall principles of worship I glean from this passage.
First, worship should be edifying. Edification is the key word in this passage. The word appears some seven times in this chapter. Like I said earlier, every worship service ought to build people up, not tear them down.
Second, worship should be intelligible. Our worship services should be intelligible not only to Christians, but to non-Christians as well. We should judge every worship service not simply by whether it pleases us who are on the inside but also by whether it is helpful and intelligible to those on the outside. Paul tells us that like musical instruments and human languages, worship must be understandable to be effective. Far too often, sadly, Christians speak in a language that those outside the church do not understand. I call it Christianese. We need to translate all of our Christianese into language that outsiders understand.
Thirdly, and finally, worship should engage the mind and the spirit. We need to allow the Holy Spirit of God to stretch and renew our minds and spirits through prayer, singing, thanksgiving, instruction, and, yes, through thinking. The church should not be a place where we check our brains at the door.
In closing, allow me to share the story of something I experienced many years ago. I was a young Christian, really still a seeker in many ways, seeking answers to many questions I had about the faith. The summer I turned 19 I went on a four-week trip to the British Isles by myself. A friend told me that when I was in Oxford, I needed to visit a church called St. Aldate’s. So, when I was in Oxford, I found the church and attended a service on Sunday morning. As I walked up to this ancient stone building, darkened by the soot of the city, I suddenly heard emanating from the inside the sound of drums. When I got inside, I experienced a worship service like nothing I had ever experienced before… drums, guitars, piano, and contemporary praise songs I had never heard. So, there I was, in the middle of a group of a few hundred people I had never met before, singing songs I had never heard before, and suddenly, I was so moved by it all in my spirit that I started to weep…and I mean weep uncontrollably, embarrassingly. Well, I finally dried up in time for the sermon by Dr. Michael Green. It was the most intellectually stimulating sermon I had ever heard up to that point in my life. I still remember the passage of Scripture he preached on… 2 Peter 1:3-10. For the first time in my life, I was experiencing worship that engaged all of me: spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, intellectually. And I determined at that moment that was the kind of worship I wanted to engage in for the rest of my life—worship of our Triune God with all my heart, all my mind, all my soul, and all my strength…
What about you? Is that what you want for your life?
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