Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Corinthians 14:20-26

When Unbelievers Come to Church

 

Brothers, stop thinking like children.

In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.

In the Law it is written:

“Through men of strange tongues

and through the lips of foreigners

I will speak to this people,

but even then they will not listen to me,”

says the Lord.

Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers.

So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?

But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare.

So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

What then shall we say, brothers?

When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.

All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.

The test of any act of worship is, *does it make us know the presence of God*?

Joseph Twitchell tells how he went to visit Horace Bushnell when Bushnell was an old man.

At night Bushnell took him out for a walk on the hillside.

As they walked in the dark, suddenly Bushnell said, “Let us kneel and pray,” and they did.

Twitchell, telling of it afterwards, said, “I was afraid to stretch out my hand in the darkness in case I should touch God.”

When we feel as near to God as that, we have really and truly shared in an act of worship.[1]

As a community of faith, we want always to ensure that anyone wishing to join us in worship is not only welcome, but that as they share in our service the presence of God is made known to them.

There will always be people joining in worship at this church who are not members of the congregation.

Among those joining the services will be some who are exploring the Faith—both those who wonder what makes us tick and those who are themselves ardent inquirers after truth.

We are responsible to ensure that when we gather to worship that both we who are pledged to mutually share this Faith as a church and those sharing our service as guests know that God is present.

Jesus presents a startling truth in saying to Nicodemus, Flesh gives birth to flesh [*John 3:6*].

That which is of the flesh can give rise only to that associated with the flesh.

The remainder of the statement our Lord presents provides the obverse of that truth, namely that the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

Every motive is born either in the realm of the flesh or in the realm of the spirit.

Efforts to worship which are born of the flesh can give only that which the flesh is capable of providing.

The flesh of necessity can only seek that which excites the emotions.

The Spirit, on the other hand, is driven to seek that which exalts Christ.

Herein lies the difference between worship which glorifies God and worship which exalts man.

At the conclusion of worship, every worshipper should be able to say with conviction that God was exalted.

Whether one “feels” as though he or she has worshipped is of less importance than to have been in the presence of the Living God.

Those seeking God will find Him; those seeking excitement will have pursued a mirage which leaves them thirsting for more.

Tragically, contemporary worship often excites the flesh, but fails to honour God.

People “feel” good at the conclusion of their exercise, but we must wonder if God is glorified through the efforts exerted.

Swaying and swooning is no more evidence of worship than is laughing or babbling gibberish.

Similarly, sitting stoically and silent is not necessarily evidence of worship.

It is time that we again understood worship and sought to honour God through biblically sound worship.

I iterate that worship is the spontaneous response of the heart of the creature in the presence of the Creator.

As God reveals Himself to those who will worship, worshippers will find themselves marvelling at His glory, wondering at His mercy, and rejoicing in His grace.

Those who worship will experience awe before the majesty of the Living God and they will find themselves fascinated by His might and power.

Worship results as God reveals His attributes to His people and as they reflect upon what He has revealed.

All such worship is dependent upon the revelation of God’s character through His Word and results as His people respond to this self-revelation.

Without a biblical foundation, man naturally gravitates toward that which excites the emotions and seeks to substitute excitement for awe.

I am seeking to stress in the message this day the need for thoughtful preparation for worship.

I am endeavouring to have us understand the need to organise ourselves to worship, while yet permitting ourselves to be surprised by God.

Therefore, I encourage each member of the congregation to always bear in mind that the conduct of our services of worship will either result in glory to God through revealing His presence to outsiders or will result in dishonour to His Name as we exalt the flesh and entertain one another.

The Church at Worship must Seek to Build Believers.

Though not strictly part of the text, this issue underlies the text.

Paul begins the chapter with the following statement.

Everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.

He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.

I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy.

He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.

Now, brothers, 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 flute 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 he is a foreigner to me.

So it is with you.

Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church [*1 Corinthians 14:3-12*].

Whatever else we may say concerning worship, we must recognise that we are each responsible to build one another through the mutual exercise of those gifts and ministries which strengthen, encourage and comfort others.

That which merely startles, entertains and confounds is of no lasting value in building up the Body of Christ.

The thrust of this text is that we are to aspire to so invest our gifts in one another that together we reflect the wholeness of Christ the Lord.

Unfortunately, there have been throughout the history of the Faith individuals and groups which emphasise individuality and even a sort of collective individualism which can never build up believers.

One glaring weakness which condemns the charismatic movement is the emphasis upon self—self-fulfilment, self-awareness, and even self-worship.

Essentially, this contemporary worship movement (including related phenomena such as the Vineyard movement, laughing revivals, Word Faith and similar phenomena) emphasises the exaltation of the “self” with the result that the Body of Christ is divided into multiple enclaves of self-seeking individuals.

The emphasis upon emotional fulfilment as worship ensures that the movement must ultimately dethrone God through exalting the individual.

I wish to be neither cruel nor controversial, but I must issue an urgently needed note of caution.

I am not condemning those believers who are of a charismatic persuasion, but I am cautioning all such fellow saints to guard themselves lest they fall unawares into a trap which leads them away from the very thing they profess to seek—exaltation of Christ the Lord.

We, also, are susceptible to the very danger of which I warn, which is precisely why I address this matter to the congregation at this time.

As we come together to worship, the focus of each worshipper must be outward.

We are to consider how to strengthen, how to encourage and how to comfort one another.

Certainly, we are to endeavour to be aware of God’s presence and to respond to the revelation of His glorious person, but we must not neglect the aspect of building others.

We dare not focus on how we feel nor self-fulfilment as the primary purpose of worship.

Perhaps you will recall the response of Isaiah when God revealed Himself to the prophet.

Listen again to the setting.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.

And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke [*Isaiah 6:1-4*].

There can be no question but that Isaiah here describes an awe-inspiring scene.

How would we respond should God draw back the curtain separating time from eternity and permit us to see Him seated in majesty on His eternal throne?

Would we shout for joy and find ourselves lost in a glorious trance which left us at peace and filled with joy?

That wasn’t the experience Isaiah had.

/ “Woe to me!” I cried.

“I am ruined!

For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty”/ [*Isaiah 6:5*].

John, worshipping while in exile on Patmos, turned and saw the Risen Christ.

He fell at His feet as though dead [cf.