Speaking in Tongues: What is it?

I. Introduction

Maybe, like me, you have wondered what speaking in tongues is. There are some who believe that it is some secret prayer language....some believe it is like a spiritual language of the angels. It usually happens in pentecostal-type worship services....a person is worshipping and then all of a sudden they start speaking in what sounds like gibberish. If you’ve never experienced it before, when you do, you probably wonder what in the world is going on. It can seem a bit bazaar, startling…and even scary. In fact, there are some who believe that you cannot even go to heaven unless you have spoken in tongues.

So what is really going on here? Is it really some supernatural language....or is it something else? What does the Bible really say about Speaking in Tongues?

That’s what we are going to figure out this morning...

a. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:27-30

I’m going to ask you to stand with me, if you are able, as we read from God’s Holy, Perfect, Sufficient and inerrant Word.

<Pray>

Thank you, and you may be seated.

II. Major Points

Where Did it Start?

What is the Purpose?

III. Point #1: Where Did it Start?

Explanation

So in this text, what we see is a list of First Century gifts that people have in the church.

1 Corinthians 12:28 NASB95

And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.

So this list mentions several things....Being an Apostle…being a teacher....and a few others, but very LAST, we see speaking in diversities or different tongues.

Now the Greek word for “tongues” is “glowsah”…which means literally “the organ of speech...”....so this word can mean the literal tongue....but since it says “speaking in diversity of different” tongues, it is clear that it is referring to different languages.

So whatever this gift of being able to speak other languages is, it is clear that it was considered to be a special gift from God to the early church.

Now the question still remains: what is it and is what you see in other churches accurate? Well the Bible is actually VERY specific about what speaking in tongues looks like....and it also tells us some other things about speaking in tongues...for one, where it started....For instance…let’s flip over to the book of Acts chapter 2.....Acts is the book of how the church began and was instituted on earth after the departing of our Lord Jesus....you’ll remember that Jesus promised us that He would be leaving but that He would be sending “the paraklete” or “the helper”…the one who comes along side....This discourse shows us that moment, which takes place during a gathering the disciples during a very important festival called the Festival of Pentecost…Remember Jesus had already gone....He had already risen from the dead and ascended into Heaven....so now is the moment…while they are all together, that the paraklete comes....

Acts 2:1–13 (NASB95)

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.

And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.

Now let’s pause there just for a moment....This was not a physical or visual thing as many people believe…this was simply the presence of God (which is represented as fire) resting on each person there....the passage does not say it “was” fire....it says “as of fire”....OF, emphasizing that this is OF fire, and fire representing God....so the presence of God was in the room resting on each one there, and that allowed what was about to take place to take place.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

So let me pause again....all of the people had the presence of God rest on them, and then they were “filled with the Holy Spirit”....Some people refer to this as a baptism of the Holy Spirit....folks, I want you to understand that the Bible says we are Baptized by the holy spirit only happens ONCE, and it occurs at the moment we are saved. That is what was happening here....these first charter members of the church of Jesus recieved their spiritual baptism and arrival of the Holy Spirit....and that is what happens to YOU when you get saved. Paul wrote to the Church at Ephesus in Ephesians 4:4-6

Ephesians 4:4–6 (NASB95)

There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;

one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

So understand that this is a one-time thing that many people have misinterpreted over the years.

So let’s look back again: And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

So this power from the Holy Spirit, the paraklete, as He had finally arrived to help the church after Jesus left, caused these people to speak in different languages and it was the Holy Spirit that was telling them what to say....which is what “as the Spirit was giving them utterance” means.

So I have heard people argue that speaking in tongues is their spiritual “prayer language”....they pray in nonsenical words nobody around them understands, and then call it their special way of communicating with God....this verse calls that nonsense....it says that it isn’t a nonsensical language, but that God told them what to say.

Illustration

Now, church, I want very badly to be respectful to my friends who believe that speaking in tongues is a gift for today…but I have to tell you that what I have witnessed of speaking in tongues is total nonsense. People falling out on the floor, running up and down the aisles screaming....they are uttering nonsensical sounds…they are crying....they are very emotional....and they are the victims of what I believe to be mass hysteria.

There is a recorded instance of an epidemic of the “dancing plague” that happened in Europe during the Medieval period....thousands of people heard about it and over night many of them began getting sick and dancing uncontrollably....many of them got so “sick” that they ended up dying.

It turns out....the entire thing was phony. People were convinced that they had it in their minds…and onc ethey heard about the symptoms, they began to develop them in their own minds....mind manipulation is a powerful thing my friends....you see your family and friends falling out being “slayen” in the spirit....talking nonsensical words....and the highly emotional moment and music lead you to experience the same thing....and in your mind, you believe it to be totally real.

Application

Folks, my point to you....with all due respect to people who believe it is a gift for today and that it is very real, is that the nonsensical way it happens in many churche stoday is totally not real and it is nothing but gibberish....it is mind manipulation....mass hysteria....and it worst of all, it is heretical....because it does not even remotely resemble what speaking in tongues looks like in God’s Word....to get to what it looks like, we need to establish its purpose....to know what it is, we need to know what it’s for....so....

IV. Point #2: What is the Purpose?

Explanation

So let’s go back to our Scripture and keep reading in Acts 2…so let’s hop back in a verse 5....

Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.

So a couple of things here…first of all, it says that there were people living there from ALL over the earth....in addition to Jews who had moved there for whatever reason, remember WHY everybody is there in Jerusalem to start with: for the Festival of Pentecost....

So now, the disciples have a tremendous witnessing opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus with thousands of Jewish people…so we have an evangelistic opportunity here....awesome!....buuuuut......we also have a huge problem:

So many people had come from all over the Roman Empire to be there for that Festival....and guess what they brought with them?.....their languages. So all of sudden, what could have been a HUGE gospel---has turned into a chaotic mess....imgine the streets packed with people who can’t communicate with one another.....people couldn’t ask for directions....they couldn’t get help finding food or water or a place to stay the night with their families.....just utter chaos!....so on the surface, it seems that this huge witnessing opportunity was going to go to waste....and then....something happened...

And when this sound [that sound being people talking in OTHER languages] occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language.

Now think here....if you heard somebody speaking in another language.....you’d likely be confused.....frustrated....not know what to do....but…that’s not what happened at all....instead, they heard people speaking in different languages, but somehow, supernatually, they could understand them even though they did not speak those languages.

And that, church, is one of the most important things I want you to remember about this message today if you don’t reember anything else, I want you to see the BIBLICAL design of speaking in tongues: one person speaks in one langauge and then another person who does not understand that language hears that message in THEIR language.

An example would be if I spoke Spanish.....and Brother Aaron only spoke French.....but I walked up to Aaron and started telling him about Jesus in Spanish....but Aaron HEARS the message in French, so he is miraculously able to understand me even though we speak seperate languages....that’s speaking in tongues....let’s read on in verse 7:

They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

“And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?

“Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,

Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.”

And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.”

Illustration

You know, using language isn’t something distinct to the New Testament....Listen to what happened one time way back in Genesis Chapter 11:

Genesis 11:1–9 NASB95

Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.

You see, in that case, God used language as a punishment....in this one, He used it as a tool.....and all of that brings me to my real conclusions this morning:

Application

Listen guys....and again, I am trying to be as respectful to our friends in the Church of God and what we call the Pentecostal or Charismatic Movements....I am not telling you they aren’t Christians or that they aren’t saved or anything like that....I believe that a lot of people were raised in this tradition and genuinely believe that what they are doing is right....

But when you see people falling out and yelling nonsense in church....folks that is NOT speaking in tongues....and let me tell you why really quickly with this brief list:

Speaking in tongues is ALWAYS for a purpose. - You see in this case, God used this miracle so that people could hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be saved even though the people spoke different languages. That is a purpose.

Speaking in tongues is ALWAYS a tool of the Holy Spirit. - If the Holy Spirit wanted a message delivered, it could happen through speaking in tongues from a person speaking one language to a person in another.

Speaking in tongues is ALWAYS about God; not us. - The Bible says that these people were sharing “as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance....” Therefore it can’t be some “prayer language” between you and God or anything like that....it is about HIM…and how HE wants a message delivered.

Speaking in tongues is ALWAYS in a REAL, existing language. - It’s not a prayer language; it’s not the language of the angels; it’s not some mysterious language that you get to experience to prove you have the Holy Spirit in you. It is a special situation where one person understands another person through the power of teh Holy Spirit when they couldn’t have on their own.

So everybody remember this....and I say this with all due respect: But when you see a person whooping and hollering nonsensical words in church in the middle of worship…let me ask you:

Did that serve a purpose? - No. No one understood it, what we call and interpreter…the person speaking it doesn’t even know what they’re saying. It was, by definition - gibberish. It’s chaotic....and the Bible says we serve a God of order…If somebody stood up in this church while I was preaching and started speakign gibberish, I guarantee you I’d shut them down quicker than they could get good and started....because this is GOD’S house…not theirs…not mine....and God’s house is orderly.

Is that sort of behavior serving the Lord as a tool? - Definitely not. What did it do for Him? It didn’t praise Him because the person saying it had no idea what they were saying. That’s not a praise....it’s gibberish. It’s pagan babbling.

Is that sort of behavior about God? - Nope. How does it point to God? The best I can tell is it points to the person doing it. Look at me! Look at me! I’m special! I can speak in tongues! I have the blessing! I have the blessing! Look at me! Look at me!

Is that sort of behavior a real language? - Do you know they have had linguistic specialists study videos of people behaving in this way and all of them agreed that there isn;t the remotest chance that any of the sounds made by these folks even resembles a known language, ancient or from the present.

Now....is it still around today? I haven’t found conclusive evidence in my Bible to tell me en emphatic “no”....but I would simply ask: would it serve a purpose today? God can still do miracles....but the situation would have to be very very specific....perhaps a missionary in a far away land has experienced it, I’ve heard of such a thing before. So....I’d say…maybe....but not every Sunday in a chaotic fashion like so mnay other churches have. That’s Biblical and it’s not purposeful.

So Folks, let me end with these thoughts: Be careful what you listen to. This sort of teaching is rampant in a lot of churches. Rampant. It all comes from a very me-centered theology. About ME having the power and ME being able to do certain special things....and we know, because the Bible tells us, that this life isn’t about ME and YOU....it’s about HIM....and the power that HE has....See this type of bad theology is a total distraction from the Gospel....folks…where is Jesus in this? How does speaking in tongues honor Him? How does it help us to spread the Gospel? How does it help us get sanctified and discipled? Answer: it doesn’t. It’s a distraction…and it’s just bad theology when the Bible is SO clear about what it is and what it is supposed to be....May we guard our hearts, and only open them and our minds to solid Biblical teaching.