Sermon Tone Analysis

Are Tongues For Today?

What Are The Biblical Guidelines For Speaking In Tongues?

We are in the midst of a short series of messages entitled:  “Are Tongues For Today?”  I believe that God has impressed upon me that it is time to bring this teaching to the Sunday morning crowd.

In this short series of messages, we are answering three questions, “Are tongues for Today?”  “Why do I speak in tongues?” and, “What are the Biblical guidelines for speaking in tongues?”

In the first message, we dealt with the question, “Are Tongues For Today?”  In that message, we removed the Biblical obstacles to believing that tongues are for today and covered a verse that contains an inference that tongues are still for today.

Last week, we dealt with the question, “Why do I speak in tongues?”

I gave ten Biblically related reasons why I speak in tongues.

Today we come to the last message in this short series, and I will entertain the question, “What are the Biblical guidelines for speaking in tongues?”

What I started to do in 1997 and continue to do today is develop a */fresh Biblical theology/* of the baptism in the Holy Ghost and spiritual manifestations, which includes tongues.

I have trademarked the word “Biblecostal”™ which was was first used on October 16th, 1998, in an attempt to keep from being theologically categorized and lumped in with people who are different from us—*not* because of any sense of superiority or pride, but for the sake of clarity in teaching.

There are two seemingly opposite poles of theological teaching.

I refer to them as Pentecostal and Fundamental or Conservative Evangelical, with the latter having its roots in Fundamentalism.

I want to state for the record that I object to the terms and the stereotypes attached to the terms Pentecostal, Fundamental, and Evangelical, as they are currently being used.

In a manner of speaking,

 

·        We are all Pentecostal, because the Church was born on the Great Day of Pentecost.

·        We are all Fundamental, if we believe in the fundamentals of the Bible.

·        We are all Evangelicals, if we believe in the Evangel, i.e. the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, these names are commonly used in America with some sense of meaning.

So, I will reluctantly use them as they are currently used.

\\ If you want to study the distinctives of “BiblecostalismÔ, get a copy of my paper:  “Towards A BiblecostalÔ Theology And Hermeneutic 3.”  There has been one update since I wrote that and the update is captured in this statement, */“In the NT, the baptism in the Holy Ghost is always accompanied by inspired speech, and that inspired speech tends to be tongues and~/or prophecy.”/*

“One of the distinctive characteristics of BiblecostalismÔ is that we hold to some of the beliefs of both Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism simultaneously, because they are Biblical.

Like the Bible and the post-postmodern world in which we live, it is *no* longer inconceivable to hold to two beliefs or positions that */seem/* to be antithetical.

It is now possible to be both~/and, rather than either~/or.”[1]

We are *not* going to be discussing the broader perspectives that have to do with “Biblecostalism,” but the narrower perspective of tongues or “spiritual language.”

Remember, I have already done a great deal of this teaching in various venues to defend the manifestation of tongues.

I will *not* be doing that today.

I will be basically discussing guidelines for using tongues in the church assembly.

To begin this sermon, I need to make some disclaimers.

*/First, because this is a very controversial subject, I do not need—nor am I trying—to make anyone agree with me./*

Tongues are *not* salvific; therefore differences of opinion are healthy and often good.

*/Secondly, I am not trying to make anyone speak in tongues./*

Again since speaking in tongues is *not* salvific, I feel *no* need to put pressure upon anyone to speak in tongues.

Any emotion that you will see in me, concerning the subject, has to do with enthusiasm concerning the Biblical purpose of tongues and wanting to share something wonderful with you, not pressure to make anyone speak in tongues.

*/Thirdly, I want the same courtesy that I am giving./*

I am *not* trying to make anyone speak in tongues and no *one* should try to keep me from speaking in tongues, as long as it is in keeping with the guidelines given in the Bible.

*/Fourthly,/*/ *my understanding of these things comes from much, much study of Acts 2, 8, 10, 19, 1 Corinthians 12-14, and the surrounding passages.*/*

*I have been studying these things for most of my 43 years of Christianity.

I have been intensely studying these things over the last six plus years.

In addition to my study of this topic, I have read through the Bible over 30 times, and I continue both my study of these things and to read through the Bible once a year.

\\        */Fifthly, our church will be a church where both those who speak in tongues and those who don’t will attend./*

We will practice tolerance, acceptance, and love for those who believe differently and worship differently from us, as long as those beliefs and behaviors are *not* obviously anti-biblical, divisive, or destructive.

/(But, because of the amount of distortion, bias, and strong feelings concerning tongues, I am going to first cover what tongues are not, before I deal with the Biblical guidelines for speaking in tongues.

*Remember that I am covering one manifestation or tool on my spiritual tool belt!*)/

 

·        Speaking in tongues is *not* a status symbol.

This is one of the ugly things about speaking in tongues.

There are still those in the church, as there was in the church at Corinth, who view and portray speaking in tongues as some type of rite of initiation to the status of super-spiritual or superior.

This creates the “haves” and the “have nots.”

Anyone who has *not* spoken in tongues feels inferior or like a second-class Christian.

I want to state again, succinctly and forthrightly, that I will *not* tolerate that kind of attitude or behavior in our church.

*/We are all equally important as members of the body of Christ./*

·        Speaking in tongues is *not* a substitute for spiritual growth.

Speaking in tongues does *not* take away the need to grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Speaking in tongues does *not* take away the need to read the Word of God, pray, gather together for fellowship and service, witness, build up the saints, or obey Jesus Christ.

·        Speaking in tongues does *not* render one sinless.

Those who speak in tongues still sin.

Those who speak in tongues still must keep short accounts with God through repentance.

·        Speaking in tongues is a spiritual tool for enhanced communication with the Father, which comes along with the baptism in the Holy Ghost.

Everyone who is saved is given a coupon for a red phone.

Many people don’t know it and many of those who know it don’t want it!

/(With these short disclaimers, let’s begin to set out the Biblical guidelines for speaking in tongues, especially in the church service.)/

Now, in the Bible, I believe there are two different kinds of tongues:  */known human languages/* and */unknown preconceptual languages/*.

I am indebted to one of my mentors and one of the men on my personal board of accountability, Jack Hayford, because my view has been greatly impacted by his teaching in the book /The Beauty Of Spiritual Language/.

\\ Nevertheless, “After much study, consideration, and reconsideration, I believe the manifestation of tongues in Acts is speaking in known, human languages that were *not* learned, through the power of the Holy Spirit, at the coming of the Holy Spirit to different people groups in keeping with Acts 1:8.”[2]

In Acts 2, 8, 10, and 19 there were multiple transactions of the Holy Spirit, i.e. the baptism in the Holy Ghost, the filling of the Holy Ghost, being born of the Holy Ghost, etc., but right now I am pointing out the advent of the Holy Spirit to different people groups.

It says in Acts 2 that the Jewish proselytes from various ethnicities heard the 120 praising God in their own languages, when they were speaking in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

So, these were */known human languages/* that were *not* known by the speakers, but known by the hearers, that accompanied the advent of the Holy Spirit to the Jews in Jerusalem and Judea, in Acts 2; the mixed Jewish heritage of the Samaritans in Samaria, in Acts 8; and the Gentiles near and far, in Acts 10 and 19.

“*/It seems that once this function was fulfilled, the nature of tongues changed./*

The transition may have been underway in Acts 19:1-7, because there is *no* statement of understanding, interpretation, or explanation of the tongues that occurred there.”[3]

Whereas, “The tongues in 1 Corinthians are transrational[4], precognitive, or preconceptual language.

The prefix ‘trans’ means beyond.

These post-Acts tongues are *not* “irrational,” but ‘transrational,’ i.e. they are beyond the rational, beyond the mind.

*/The Spirit is a higher faculty for communicating with God than the mind!/  *These tongues are precognitive, which means that they flow out of our spirits before they have been processed cognitively or through our minds.

These tongues are preconceptual, which means they have *not* been processed in the mind and therefore have *not* been assigned to certain concepts.

So, the two kinds of tongues are */known human languages/* and */unknown preconceptual language/*.

This may have been what Paul was discussing in

 

1 Corinthians 13:1, “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”

The tongues of men seems clear enough, but what are the tongues of angels.

Could this be precognitive tongues?

Some think so.

·        Some call these tongues *angelic language*, because it is the languages of angels.

·        Some call these tongues *heavenly language*, because angels speak human languages on earth—but may speak their angelic languages in the heavens.

*/Now, in addition to the fact that I believe there are two kinds of tongues, I also believe there are two kinds of preconceptual tongues./*

If this is *not* true then Paul’s writings seem to make no sense.

There are times when Paul talks as if only certain believers can speak in tongues, and then he turns around and exhorts and wishes that all believers would speak in tongues.

*/This makes no sense unless there are two kinds of tongues, i.e. the grace of tongues and the gift of tongues.

The grace of tongues is a hotline to heaven that usually doesn’t receive a message back from God, except, “I hear you and I am here for you!”

The gift of tongues is a hotline to heaven that receives a message that is to be given to the local church./*

One example of the two different uses of tongues is seen in

 

1 Corinthians 14:5 (NASB-U), “Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy; and greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying.”

First of all, we see Paul’s wish or desire for the Corinthians.

His wish is that they all spoke in tongues.

Now, since the gift of tongues is *not* available to all believers (1 Cor.

12:30), what is Paul talking about?

But, Paul makes sense, if we understand that Paul is *not* talking about the */gift of tongues/*, but the */grace of tongues/*.

This verse is often overlooked by conservatives, because of the statement which follows—but the context must be kept in mind.

His greater wish is that the Corinthians would prophesy, but the context is in the worship service.

That is what Paul is discussing.

So, Paul wanted all of the Corinthians to speak in tongues, i.e. */unknown, preconceptual language, in private/*, but in the worship service prophecy is better—with one exception:  when the tongues are interpreted.

When the tongues are interpreted, they are equivalent to prophecy.

*/I believe Paul is discussing the gift of tongues, when used in the worship service, but the grace of tongues when used privately!!!  /*A similar thing can be noted in 1 Corinthians 14:18-19.