Prophesy and Tongues

What’s your highest goal?

Keep that question in mind as we move along. We will come back to goals.

What/Who is your highest priority?

What or who is number one in your priorities? If you choose self over God you might confuse or change the order of what is intended in worship. By that, i mean your life is an act of worship toward God.

Some believers put certain things in the wrong order.

We should have an order of PRIORITIES in our homes.

God

Spouse

Children

Work

Church

Everything else

In the church there is also a set of priorities that begins with God and our worship of Him.

The first thing we should have as a priority in any instance is God. God is always number 1.

There is a difference between priorities and goals though. In the passage we are about to read, Paul talks about goals.

Per the Cambridge Dictionary:

Priority

something that is very important and must be dealt with before other things:

God is priority number 1.

What about goals though?

Goals: a purpose, or something that you want to achieve:

Do you have goals in your Christian walk?

Traditions and Biases

Why or Why not?

Let’s talk about goals. This is what Paul is talking about here.

Goal number 1, Love.

Read with me verse one of chapter 14.

1 Corinthians 14:1 NLT

1 Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives—especially the ability to prophesy.

We started with priorities , goals, and traditions and biases, but the subject today is tongues and prophesy.

What is your highest goal in life?

It should be love. I was convicted by that as I prepared this message. I thought about it on Monday as I was having a bad day and was sick and fussed at my wife. I decided that on Tuesday I would be more loving and agreeable. I was better than Monday, but not much. I still grumbled and was a little grumpy. I even had my grandkids and daughter sent to bed early.

There was a reason don’t look at me like I am a horrible grandpa or dad.

I had a list of priorities and goals for the day. I accomplished most of them. My first priority was God, I slipped a little there because if I had not, my first goal would have been achieved too, Love. I wasn’t unloving, but I wasn’t as loving as I would like to have been.

I came here today to preach a message. I am also here to prophesy.

Can I get a huh?

Most people don’t understand that prophesy is not just telling the future, it is also proclaiming the gospel using scripture.

Any time I open the word, the Bible, and proclaim what it says, I am prophesying.

From the Bible Hub:

Biblical prophecy encompasses declarations, revelations, and predictions given by God through chosen individuals (often called prophets) for the instruction, correction, and comfort of His people.

As stated in 2 Peter 1:21, “For no prophecy was ever brought about through human initiative, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Prophets in Scripture did not speak merely to foretell the future; they proclaimed messages of covenant faithfulness, moral direction, and hope, grounded in the divine authority of God Himself.

When Tom and I speak, we prophesy, but we don’t tell the future. We speak to declare the Word to you.

My first goal is and should be love.

Jesus said of the disciples, John 13:35

John 13:35 ESV

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Love is my goal, but it also shows something else, I love God and am a disciple of Jesus. Love. You should go back and read chapter 13 today if you get a chance.

My second goal is to prophesy.

What should be my goal in the gifts of the Spirit?

Should I speak in tongues. That is the one that I hear the most from some of my more pentecostal friends.

If you are filled with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, you will speak in tongues.

True or False?

If you said true, please come and show me that passage in the bible. I say that not to challenge you, but to tell you, it’s not in there. In fact there are words that say just the opposite.

Are tongues a valid gift of the Holy Spirit?

The answer is, yes, but that gift is not above others.

Where we see this presented is in traditions and biases. You may hear Tom and I both talk about traditions and how we don’t like them. There are some good tradition and those we keep, but there are some, like speaking in tongues as evidence of salvation, that are just not true and we need to stop.

So what does Paul say about tongues?

Let’s keep reading.

1 Corinthians 14:2 ESV

2 For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.

This refers to 2 things. 1. another language and 2. a spiritual language.

Explain…

Tongues falls somewhere near the bottom. It is not useless, but it is not most important.

1 Corinthians 14:3 ESV

3 On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.

1 Corinthians 14:4 ESV

4 The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

1 Corinthians 14:5–9 NLT

5 I wish you could all speak in tongues, but even more I wish you could all prophesy. For prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues, unless someone interprets what you are saying so that the whole church will be strengthened. 6 Dear brothers and sisters, if I should come to you speaking in an unknown language, how would that help you? But if I bring you a revelation or some special knowledge or prophecy or teaching, that will be helpful. 7 Even lifeless instruments like the flute or the harp must play the notes clearly, or no one will recognize the melody. 8 And if the bugler doesn’t sound a clear call, how will the soldiers know they are being called to battle? 9 It’s the same for you. If you speak to people in words they don’t understand, how will they know what you are saying? You might as well be talking into empty space.

1 Corinthians 14:10 NLT

10 There are many different languages in the world, and every language has meaning.

1 Corinthians 14:11 NLT

11 But if I don’t understand a language, I will be a foreigner to someone who speaks it, and the one who speaks it will be a foreigner to me.

1 Corinthians 14:12 NLT

12 And the same is true for you. Since you are so eager to have the special abilities the Spirit gives, seek those that will strengthen the whole church.

Go back to verse 4. What does that say?

If I focus on tongues it is a focus on me. If I focus on prophesy I build up the church, the Body of Christ.

What is more important?

1 Corinthians 14:13–25 NLT

13 So anyone who speaks in tongues should pray also for the ability to interpret what has been said. 14 For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don’t understand what I am saying. 15 Well then, what shall I do? I will pray in the spirit, and I will also pray in words I understand. I will sing in the spirit, and I will also sing in words I understand. 16 For if you praise God only in the spirit, how can those who don’t understand you praise God along with you? How can they join you in giving thanks when they don’t understand what you are saying? 17 You will be giving thanks very well, but it won’t strengthen the people who hear you. 18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you. 19 But in a church meeting I would rather speak five understandable words to help others than ten thousand words in an unknown language. 20 Dear brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your understanding of these things. Be innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but be mature in understanding matters of this kind. 21 It is written in the Scriptures: “I will speak to my own people through strange languages and through the lips of foreigners. But even then, they will not listen to me,” says the Lord. 22 So you see that speaking in tongues is a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is for the benefit of believers, not unbelievers. 23 Even so, if unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come into your church meeting and hear everyone speaking in an unknown language, they will think you are crazy. 24 But if all of you are prophesying, and unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin and judged by what you say. 25 As they listen, their secret thoughts will be exposed, and they will fall to their knees and worship God, declaring, “God is truly here among you.”

Priority 1 God

Goal 1 Love

Goal 2 Prophesy