The Elephant in the Room
Notes
Transcript
So, I was getting to know a pastor once. We had lunch, talked about life and ministry. Then I invited him to jump in my car and drive around his town to pray for his ministry and for people’s hearts to change, for revival and repentance in the community.
I started the car, started driving down the main street, and volunteered to start praying. I opened my mouth, and as soon as I started praying, I heard these sounds next to me. Startled, I looked over, and he was chanting in syllables that made no sense to me.
I wasn’t sure what to do, so I kept praying and he kept chanting. When I was done with what I wanted to tell God, I stopped, and he started praying in English. I kept driving around town, past the catholic churches, past the schools, past the businesses. When he finished, I prayed and he started chanting.
I had never experienced that before. And truthfully, it was rather distracting for me.
He came from a charismatic background and he probably would have claimed to be praying in tongues. I’m not here to say whether he was or not.
Everyone I have told that story to has had a different reaction. Some people, they are not phased. Others are freaked out. Some people might immediately run through the Biblical proof why he was not speaking in tongues. Others might be encouraged to hear about a man of God with such a close relationship to the Holy Spirit.
We live in a changing world, as America is becoming more and more pagan. While all parts of the Bible are applicable at all times, 1 Corinthians 12-14 will become especially important, as we try to live faithfully in a society that is against God. The Gifts of the Spirit help in that life. All the gifts of the Spirit.
In March, we began 1 Corinthians 14, discussing the prophet, he is tasked with strengthening, encouraging, and comforting the people of God in the Christian life.
Today, I am going to take my life in my hands and speak about Tongues.
Let’s read the passage:
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.
Will you pray with me?
I have a lot of ground to cover, and not much time, so hang on. Today, we will be talking about the Why, What, and how?
Why are we talking about this?
What are we talking about?
How will we respond to what we are talking about?
Why Are We Talking About This?
Why Are We Talking About This?
First, why are we talking about this?
In today’s world, there are two major distinctions in the church. I am not talking about denominations. The distinctions I am referring to run across and throughout all denominations, wreaking havoc in a church’s unity.
This is cessationism and continuationism
Cessationism is the belief that certain gifts of the Spirit, called Sign Gifts, ceased after the time of the apostles.
Those sign gifts are normally defined as speaking in tongues, prophesy, and healing.
Continuationism is the belief that those Sign gifts have not ceased.
Now, if you have studied these issues yourself, you know that there are many subdivisions In these groups, including Third-wave pentecostalism and full cessationists, at the two extremes. But, I am not going to dive into the subgroups. The main two distinctions will suffice for today.
Churches like ours have historically been Cessationist. But, I use that term “historically” very loosely.
Cessationism was not taught during the early church. In fact, it was not seen for 1500 years until the Protestant Reformation. So, we have 1500 years without cessationism and 500 years with it.
During the Protestant Reformation, as many people were beginning to read the Bible for themselves, they were noticing the thing that the Roman Catholic Church was doing at that time that were explicitly against the Bible. They were noticing ways that the Roman Catholic Church was trying to gain wealth through mandate religious rituals, like indulgences where you could buy forgiveness for sins.
People were leaving the Roman Catholic Church in droves. So, the Roman Catholic Church began to claim miracles in order to prove that they possessed the Spirit of God. Some of the most crazy of these miracles where statues of saints that were crying blood because the amount of people who had turned away from the faith. It was soon proven that the blood tears were actually cherry juice.
The protestant reformers, like John Calvin, reacted against the hyper-spiritual claims of the Catholic Church. They said that they did not want anything that smelt like the Papacy. So, they claimed that all sign gifts had ceased, so that no false gifts would be accepted.
That teaching persisted for the next 250 years, through the settlement of the New World, and a few revivals here in the US and in England. The main preachers, Jonathan Edwards, Whitefield, and almost Wesley, all claimed to be cessationist. When they spoke about it, they always referred vaguely, almost fearfully, to the excesses of the Roman Catholic Church.
In the 1800s, into the early 1900s, cessationism ceased to be as much a hot topic. Missionaries were being sent around the world. Wonders were being seen in third world countries.
But then, liberalism started to enter the church. Good solid churches began to put down roots in the Bible against those liberal churches, reviving a lot of the teachings of the Reformation, including cessationism. In the mid-1900s, several churches reacted against cessationist doctrine, for many reasons, and embraced continuationism, saying that the Bible doesn’t teach the ceasing of gifts.
The Continuationist and the Cessationists kept reacting against each other. The Cessationists becoming more and more against the things of the Spirit, so that many churches don’t even speak of the Holy Spirit and they look with dismay on anything that is emotional.
The Continuationist becoming more and more embracing the things of the Spirit, so that many churches don’t even open the Bible anymore, but focus only on the outpouring of the Spirit, even when it is clearly against the Bible.
The problem with the divisions in the church today, in speaking of the sign gifts, is that the doctrines are reactive.
Whenever anyone creates a doctrine as a reaction against something, a monster is created. The Bible is not a reaction. It is truth to be studied and believed. When we react against something, we will unintentionally, or intentionally, ignore truth that is very similar to the beliefs we are reacting against.
I realize that I am speaking to people who sit on both sides of the issue. I ask that you hear me out and see what the words of the Bible say, instead of what you might have been taught by a reaction.
Why are we talking about it? Because the Bible talks about it.
What Are We Talking About?
What Are We Talking About?
Second, what are we talking about?
In a phrase: speaking in tongues.
Sign Gift
Sign Gift
As I said, this is what is known as a sign gift. Theologians created this classification, because they thought healing, prophecy, and speaking in tongues were more miraculous than wisdom and faith and other gifts of the Spirit.
But, I shouldn’t rag on the theologians too much. Paul himself calls speaking in tongues and prophecy signs:
Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers.
Scripturally, there is a role for miraculous signs and gifts. They were a huge part of Jesus’ ministry. And for a specific purpose. Jesus didn’t do them just on a whim.
In John 5, the Pharisees begin to question Jesus’ authority to teach and his very identity. Jesus told the Pharisees that five things testify about him. First, his own Word. Second, John the Baptist. The fourth is God. The fifth is Scripture. The third thing is found in John 5:36
“I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me.
His miracles were designed to testify to who he was. Everything that he did had been prophesied about. So anyone who saw what he did and knew what Scripture said, could have the confidence that Jesus was in fact the Messiah to come to save the world from their sins.
Sign gifts: something that is done to prove, to point the way, to something else.
The author of Hebrews speaks of sign gifts.
We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
The gifts of the Spirit testify to our salvation. They testify to the truth of the Word of God.
If you think of the Apostles, going throughout Asia Minor, preaching the Gospel, it was accompanied by signs and wonders, to give proof to the truth they were preaching.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
The gifts of the Spirit testify to our salvation. They testify to the truth of the Word of God.
With this perspective, there is an interesting ebb and flow to gifts throughout church history. Where the truth of God’s Word and the Gospel are doubted, signs and miracles have increased. Where the truth of His Word and the Gospel are accepted, signs and miracles have ebbed.
Which is why we hear so many accounts in third world countries, where the Bible has never been seen, of an increase of God’s gifts, but here in the US, but to recent times, the gifts have not been normative. I believe that might be changing as our society becomes more pagan and the truth of God’s Word and the Gospel are actively rejected.
Speaking in Tongues is a sign gift.
Produced by the Spirit
Produced by the Spirit
It is a sign gift produced by the Spirit.
This is pretty self-explanatory. It is listed as one of the gifts that the Spirit gives.
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.
I have to point this out, because one of the reactive theologies against cessationism is the belief that 1) everyone who has the Holy Spirit will speak in tongues.
Paul disproves this multiple times, one of which is
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.
And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
The wording and syntax that is used are rather in the face statements against everyone having these gifts, but only those whom the Spirit has granted that gift.
Another reactive theology is 2) speaking in tongues can be taught.
Many churches who teach that everyone who has the Spirit speaks in tongues will have teaching sessions about how to speak in tongues.
The problem with this is that the gifts of the Spirit are not taught, they are given. They are granted by a loving God to individuals for his glory and the building up of his church.
I think about Simon the Sorcerer. He heard about Jesus from Philip, believed, became saved, and then followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the miracles and signs he saw. Peter and John come to town, and they explain the Gospel more fully to people, pray for them to receive the Spirit. Simon sees the Spirit being given by the laying on of hands and asks to pay them to teach him how to do this.
Peter looks at him and says:
Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.
The gifts of God, including speaking in tongues, is not something to be taught or acquired, it is a gift that is given for the glory of God and the building of his church.
Anyone who is speaking in tongues because they have been taught to unfortunately are not actually speaking in tongues. God can use it to encourage an individual, because he sees the heart. But, that is not the spiritual gift that Paul is talking about in 1 Cor 14.
So, what then is speaking in tongues?
Speaking in tongues is a sign gift produced by the Spirit.
For Praise and Prayer to God
For Praise and Prayer to God
It is a sign gift produced by the Spirit for praise and prayer to God.
There is a reactive theology by the cessationists that speaking in tongues is used for evangelism. God grants someone the ability to speak in a language that they haven’t spoken before. And, we have some recorded events of that happening in missionary stories.
However, Biblically speaking, speaking in tongues is never mentioned alongside evangelism.
The first mention of speaking in tongues is Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is given alongside wind and fire.
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?
(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
So, on the one hand, you have the Christians who have just experienced something that they have never experienced before, the indwelling of God, the Holy Spirit, this deep joy overwhelms them, and they erupt from their soul, shouting the wonders of God, in a language that is not theirs.
The people hear these praises in their own languages.
And then, Peter stands up and preaches the Gospel in Aramaic, the language that all of them know. He did not speak in tongues in order to preach.
The other instances of speaking in tongues in Acts is immediately after salvation, with the eruption of praise to God. It was not in evangelism.
It is interesting that Paul confesses that he speaks in tongues.
I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
However, we never see him use that gift in his missionary trips. There were certain times this would have been useful, like in Lystra, but it didn’t happen.
In 1 Cor 14, Paul continually equates speaking in tongues with praying and praising God.
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.
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.
If this gift is not for evangelism, it also is not for prophesy, for the same proofs as I have given.
Well, Pastor, are you saying that speaking in tongues is just babbling nonsense to God?
No. I am not saying that.
Incidentally, language is defined as a system of communication. There are over 6500 languages in the world. Many of them sound like babbling to me, but are a system of communication.
I am speaking of a communication with God, which 1 Cor 14 demands is happening.
Pastor, are you speaking of a heavenly language?
No, because according to 1 Cor 13, speaking in tongues is going to cease in eternity.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
So, it can’t be a heavenly language.
I believe it is tied to Rom 8 26-27
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
In cultures, where the truth of God’s Word and the Gospel are not accepted, God allows them to speak the words of the Spirit, either through praise or prayer, in a way that is miraculous as a sign.
But, also, individually, during times of great distress, when an individuals faith in the truth of God’s Word or the Gospel is shaken, God can grant the gift of speaking the words of the Spirit in a way that solidifies their faith, miraculously, which can result in a depth of praise from the innermost parts of our being as seen in Acts.
Remember gifts of the Spirit are not one and done things. God grants them and takes them away. There are for moments of his glory and the edification of his church.
It is a sign gift produced by the Spirit for praise and prayer to God.
Which can be put into intelligible words
Which can be put into intelligible words
It is a sign gift produced by the Spirit for praise and prayer to God which can be put into intelligible words.
The benefit is in the translation.
Paul says
For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say.
The word for interpret is not normally translated “interpret.” It actually leans more toward “put into words.”
Josephus is trying to describe the wonders of Herod’s palace and he says that they are impossible to put into words. Same word.
Philo is commenting on Aaron’s role as Moses’ mouthpiece. He is to put into words what Moses found overwhelming or difficult. Same word.
When someone is praying, overwhelmed with emotion, not knowing what to pray, so that the Spirit is interceding on his behalf, he is to pray that he can put all those emotions into words, for the benefit of his mind and for the building up of the church.
As we read earlier:
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?
“Being spiritual occurs when the Holy Spirit controls both the spirit and the mind. If only the mind is active, everything remains at a theoretical level; if only the heart is active, the door lies open to self-deception and credulity. If both are open to the Holy Spirit, the result can build up the community and bear the fruit of love for the other.”
Why are we talking about it? Because the Bible talks about it.
What are we talking about?
Speaking in tongues, which is a sign gift produced by the Spirit for praise and prayer to God which can be put into intelligible words.
How Will We Respond?
How Will We Respond?
In the next 30 seconds, I have to wrap this sermon up with an application. But, it is going to take a few minutes longer than 30 seconds.
Tongues are for private
Tongues are for private
First, tongues are for our private devotional times. That is how God designed it, unless they are able to be put into intelligible words.
Paul says obliquely:
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.
Later in the letter, Paul will write:
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. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.
Tongues are for our private devotional times, if God gives the gift. It is not for a prayer ride through a town with a friend.
Which brings us to the next point:
Edification is for public
Edification is for public
God has designed our time together as a church for mutual edification. It is for each one of us to seek to build up the people around us.
As Paul says:
So it is with you. Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.
We are to interact with others in a way that they can understand and say: “That’s right! I agree! I want to live in that way!”
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?
When we come to gather with the church and our focus is on “What can I get out of this!” We have the wrong focus. We are to be looking “What can I do to build up the person next to me.”
There are some days, we stagger into church having been through a blender of a week. We come and we feel like we are missing body parts, our emotions are all over the place. We come for encouragement. By his grace, he gives it. But, even in that state, we are able to be a blessing to others. Through his grace to us, as he ministers to us, we are able to turn around, in our brokenness, and lift up someone else around us.
The Corinthians were always self-focused. Paul is pushing them to be others-focused.
God has designed our time together as a church for mutual edification.
Finally:
Praising God is for everywhere
Praising God is for everywhere
Whether at home or in public, God is to be praised.
He has given us gifts to lift us up to him, to encourage his church, and to share our faith. He has given us tools to use, both publically and privately.
When we realize everything that he has done to equip for every day life, that we might glorify him with our actions and words, that we might share the amazing truths of his Gospel...
When we realize everything that he has done to equip us for every day life, we will overflow with praise to God. And we will spend our time praising him, instead of being nervous about what we will have to do, because we know that he has equipped us for it.
Even when we do not know how to praise, he has equipped us for that too.
Well, we have talked about the why, what, and how. And, I’ve preached way too long.
As always, if I have said anything that you don’t understand, make an appointment, and we can talk, exploring Scripture to find the answer.