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 Bible 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 Jesus, 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.