Prophecy, Tongues, and Orderly Worship 1 Corinthians 14 For further study: June 20th, 2021 Nate Busenitz has a helpful series of posts on tongues and prophecy at https://thecripplegate.com/series-guide/ 1. Prophesy ______more than the gift of tongues. (14:1-5) Strange Fire conference messages: https://www.gty.org/library/strangefire Book – Spiritual Gifts: What They Are and Why They Matter by Thomas Schreiner

2. Only what is ______edifies. (14:6-19)

3. Prophesy is preferred because it is more ______

for nonbelievers and believers. (14:20-25)

4. Aim for ______, edifying ______in worship. (14:26-40)

Prophecy, Tongues, and Orderly Worship 1 Corinthians 14 June 20th, 2021 Big idea: All things should be done to edify in the worship service, which is why prophesy is preferred to the gift of tongues. Intro Order and freedom working together in many areas of life Traffic laws when driving a car Order – speed limits, lanes – some in which you can pass and some in which you can’t pass, turn signals, one-way streets, yielding on a roundabout, navigating a diverging diamond. Driving would be chaotic and unsafe without rules. Freedom – within those rules, you can go where you want, when you want, listening to your music, podcast, or nothing at all; you can be alone or with a minivan full; you can drive a jacked-up truck or an economy car; at the speed limit or below Avoiding tyranny or chaos Likewise, order and freedom must be in balance in cooperate worship. Regulative principle: The worship we offer to God should be determined by God through His word Typically spelled out as singing, praying, preaching, ordinances of baptism and communion. Order but freedom How many songs? What type? What musical style? Who prays? How long? How many prayers? How many sermons? (churches in Russia often have 3 or more) How long? What tools help communicate? One man described attending a church in Zambia. As the service began, men on stage started to play bongos, and the whole room danced where they stood. Joyful shouts of praise broke out around me as the rhythm progressed. Then I heard the most beautiful congregational singing I’ve ever experienced to this day. The voices rang out in near-perfect unison, and the sweet words directed my eyes to the cross. After singing, someone led us in prayer, and we heard the Word of God preached. It was a worshipful experience. (Tripp Lee) But the simplicity of order can help avoid things that are distractions, even if they are enjoyable, and things that are unnecessarily uncomfortable. One author described visiting a church in which the people were instructed at one point to stand up and give the person on their right a backrub and then turn to the person on your left and say, “I love you.” At that point some of you might turn all the way around and walk out! One way to think of it is that God’s Word requires believers to gather for worship, so those planning the worship service shouldn’t require people to do things in the worship service that God doesn’t require. This passage gets at the issues of order and freedom in worship, specifically as it relates to the use and misuse of the gift of tongues. This will be faster paced, less detail because it builds on the last two messages and is best taken all together. It means I might not hit every nuanced question you have in the passage, but I hope it helps us get the big idea. 1. Prophesy edifies more than the gift of tongues. (14:1-5) a. Natural extension of ch 13 on love, picks back up where chapter 12 left off. i. 1 Cor. 12:31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way. b. It’s the Spirit who distributes gifts as He wills, and yet the Corinthians appear to be clamoring over gifts that they saw as showy, flashy, more important - especially tongues. i. And yet Paul says they are actually pursuing the wrong goal and the wrong gift! ii. The goal should be love. iii. And then, if they desire any gift, it ought to be prophecy, not tongues. c. With no one there to understand or interpret (i.e. no native speaker of the foreign language or someone with the gift of interpreting), then really only God is the one who can understand. d. But prophesying has a benefit for all who are hearing – they are edified, exhorted, and consoled. i. Edification is the key term in this chapter, showing up 7 times. ii. It means to build up, like constructing a building that is to be sound and solid and secure. iii. The one who prophesies edifies the church (v. 4b) 1. The truth builds up. 2. That’s why we place such an emphasis on reading, praying, and teaching the at our worship services. The Bible is the prophetic Word given to God’s people. I don’t believe direct revelation is continuing (as discussed last week), but I believe God has given us His living Word and it is what He uses to edify us. 3. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. a. We want people built up to be like , to follow Jesus, to know Jesus. e. Without someone who can understand, supernaturally speaking a foreign language only “edifies” the speaker. i. Surely it’s exciting for him or her, but the goal in the gathering for worship was to edify the body, and the way they were using tongues was not accomplishing that. f. Paul clarifies that he isn’t “anti-tongues” – It was a legitimate gift and in effect at the time of writing 1 Corinthians. i. States as a “wish” not in a way that claims to know better than the Spirit who should have what gift that they would all be able to speak in tongues. ii. But if the goal is edifying the body, he comes back again to the priority of prophecy. iii. Stephen Um - They were prioritizing the impressive over the intelligible. The problem was that the “impressive” was not making a good impression; it was actually doing the very opposite. 2. Only what is understood edifies. (14:6-19) a. If Paul came and spoke but they couldn’t understand, would it have profited them? (v. 6) b. Musical instruments only are helpful if they play distinct, orderly sounds (v. 7) i. If you’ve ever had a child learn an instrument, you know the beginning stages are rough because they can’t play a distinct orderly sound. c. A military bugle must be understood to direct the army (v. 8) i. Bugles would be used to communicate to an army – to prepare for battle, to march, to attack, retreat. ii. So also a human language that isn’t understood is just speaking into the air (v. 9) d. Every language has meaning, but it must be understood to communicate (vv. 10-11) i. Human sounds apart from a shared understanding of their meanings were worthless. ii. Languages are fascinating. Several years ago, there was a young woman in our body who was from Eritrea near Ethiopia. The language of Eritrea was unique and ancient with its own letters. It was fascinating to watch it written and hear it spoken, but it was a mystery to me. iii. There is a turning point when you are learning a language when it moves from apparently random noises or indecipherable scribbles on a page to something that carries meaning. 1. But the point of this is that it has meaning – any kind of language has meaning. 2. The meaning must be understood for the purpose of the communication to be accomplished. e. So, if they desire to abound for the edification of the church, they should strive for understandability. (vv. 12-14) f. What is the outcome then? (vv. 15-17) i. Engage the affections/the emotions but also the mind! 1. John 4:24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." ii. If it isn’t understandable because no one speaks the language, the person supernaturally speaking it might be excited about the experience, but others won’t understand and be able to say “amen!” 1. I might say, “slava bogu” at the end of a worship song that encouraged my heart, but unless you know Russian you wouldn’t be able to say “amen” because you don’t know what I just said. g. Why does he thank God that he speaks in tongues more than all of them? (vv. 18-19) i. Bible Knowledge Commentary – Paul’s concern to harness the enthusiasm for the gift of tongues in Corinth was not motivated by sour grapes. When it came to the gift of tongues, he could outtalk them all! Paul was not primarily interested in self-fulfillment ii. His emphasis is on what happens “in the church” – in the gathering of the church – not out in the community in evangelism with people of different languages, which was what tongues was for. 3. Prophesy is preferred because it is more helpful for nonbelievers and believers. (14:20-25) a. We are called as believers to think maturely about all topics, including the use of spiritual gifts in the body. i. Anytime we try to misuse spiritual gifts to make ourselves the focus of attention, we are guilty of immature behavior ii. Could this be true of the preacher who lives for the positive feedback, the hostess who serves to hear the praise of her food and spotless home, the musician who plays not to lead in worship but to be seen and recognized as talented? iii. Mature thinking prioritizes truth over emotions, the Word of God over experience b. Mature thinking with tongues considers the initial purpose of the gift of tongues – it was a warning sign to the Jewish people. (v. 21) i. He quotes from Isaiah 28:11-12. ii. 20 years before Isaiah spoke this, the northern kingdom of Israel had been taken into captivity. He was warning the southern kingdom that the same thing would happen to them. iii. They had been warned when they entered the land that if they failed to follow the Lord, He would remove them from the land by people speaking a language they didn’t understand. 1. Deuteronomy 28:49 "The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand, iv. That seems to be the connection Paul is making. c. However, it’s also a sign that God was no longer working only through one nation and one favored people but through the church that was made up of all nations. i. That’s what happens in the second instance of tongues speaking in Acts when it is done by Gentiles in Acts 10. ii. Acts 10:44-46 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. 45 All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. 46 For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. iii. Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. iv. Romans 11:25-26 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery-- so that you will not be wise in your own estimation-- that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, v. Of course, the door of the gospel is always open for Jew and Gentile alike, but Paul, himself a devoted Jew along with all the other apostles, looked ahead one day to a large-scale return of the Jewish people to their Messiah. d. Although tongues was for unbelievers, they were using it in such a way that it would have been confusing for unbelievers and would have had the opposite effect! (v. 23) i. That makes sense if they are just speaking things in other languages that no one understands, no one else speaks, no one is interpreting, and it wasn’t orderly – of course someone who comes in would be confused! e. However, if an unbeliever comes in and someone speaks an insightful, understandable prophecy then they are convicted. 4. Aim for orderly, edifying participation in worship. (14:26-40) a. For the second time in this section, Paul draws a conclusion with the phrase, “What is the outcome then?” (also in v. 15) b. He describes the way in which the gathering of the church should be orderly rather than chaotic, edifying rather than self-focused, and participatory – involving a variety of people and gifts. c. Regulative principle – worshipping God in the way He has told us to worship Him. i. We see elements of that here that can help us understand what we are to do when we gather. ii. We sing (each one has a psalm) 1. Col. 3:16 … teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs… 2. I think this passage in 1 Corinthians supports “special music” as well where someone ministers to the body with a solo song, although the main music ought to be participatory. iii. We teach the word (teaching, revelation – all point us to this in the revealed Word of God) iv. At the time of 1 Corinthians, the gift of tongues was still active and so – assuming there were people there who could interpret – it was appropriate for some with the gift to speak in a language understood by them. v. We pray 1. Acts 2:42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. vi. We take communion 1. :23ff d. We try to involve a variety of different people in the services throughout the morning, especially as you include Sunday school. i. Examples of participation on an average Sunday 1. Worship service – music leaders, worship leader (Tom or Brad) speaking, preaching, closing prayer by board member, all of us sing together with every voice participating 2. SS – interaction and discussion to hear from a variety of people, teaching carried out by men and women to groups of kids, mixed, women’s abf’s 3. Fellowship before and after the service with opportunities to edify ii. Occasionally – special music, testimony (esp. at baptism), updates (like Aaron), missionary update iii. Churches in Russia – common to share a poem, also common to have 3 or more sermons e. How do we take this portion about women remaining silent? (vv. 34-35) i. Context: 1. Gathering of the local church for worship, not every situation 2. Specifically – giving and passing judgment on prophecy – points to the unique responsibility of pastors and elders to oversee the teaching 3. Kevin DeYoung - Just as the command for the tongue speaker to keep silent does not forbid him from ever saying anything in church (14: 28), so the command for women to be silent does not assume that in all situations women cannot speak. The explicit situation in which women must be silent is where prophecies are being evaluated. Such evaluation would have involved teaching and the exercise of authority (over other prophets), two activities Paul consistently denies to women. 4. 1 Timothy 2:12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. ii. Tom Schreiner – We shouldn’t write a new Mishnah on the topic in which we give detailed lists about what is and isn’t prohibited in the local church. 1. Preaching/Teaching the Word in the gathering of the local church is clearly in mind from 1 Tim. 2 and 1 Cor 14. 2. Also, it’s clear from scripture that many women had a ministry that involved speaking. a. 1 Corinthians 11 – women were prophesying, just with head coverings. b. 1 Kings 22 – Huldah the prophetess addressed the leaders of Israel c. Acts 18:26 - Priscilla and Aquilla instructed more accurately in the truth d. Titus 2 – women are encouraged to teach other women and children. 5. How should we apply all this, especially when some of the gifts are not longer active today? a. Aim to edify when you gather for church b. Aim to be understood when you teach i. Not just in teaching – use any of the gifts in a way that is meaningful and understandable to those being served. ii. Stephen Um - Or consider the gift of hospitality: it is possible to abuse the gift of hospitality by only being hospitable to the people whom one is comfortable having around or to feed an ego. This will not negate the given gift, but it will essentially make it useless. iii. In essence if we are more concerned about feeling like we are welcoming (according to our own standards) than whether or not our guests feel welcomed (in ways that they can comprehend), we are missing the point. The problem is not with the gift itself, but with our use of it. c. Aim for nonbelievers and believers i. Encouraged by Randy’s perspective when sharing a few weeks ago d. Aim for order but involve a variety of people and gifts 6/20/2021

Regulative principle: The worship we offer to God should be determined by God through His word

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2 Timothy 3:16‐17 All Scripture is 1. Prophesy inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for edifies more correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the than the gift of man of God may be adequate, tongues. (14:1‐5) equipped for every good work.

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2. Only what is John 4:24 "God is spirit, and those who worship understood Him must worship in edifies. (14:6‐19) spirit and truth."

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3. Prophesy is preferred Deuteronomy 28:49 "The LORD will bring a nation because it is more against you from afar, from helpful for the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation nonbelievers and whose language you shall not believers. (14:20‐25) understand,

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Acts 10:44‐46 While Peter was Acts 10:44‐46 because the gift still speaking these words, the of the Holy Spirit had been Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the poured out on the Gentiles message. 45 All the circumcised also. 46 For they were believers who came with Peter hearing them speaking with were amazed, tongues and exalting God.

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Galatians 3:28 There is 4. Aim for orderly, neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor edifying participation free man, there is neither in worship. (14:26‐40) male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

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Colossians 3:16 … teaching Acts 2:42 They were and admonishing one continually devoting another with psalms and themselves to the apostles' hymns and spiritual songs… teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

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1 Timothy 2:12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.

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