The Sign Gifts (1 Cor 14:1-12)

Announcements

Bible Study & Prayer at 7pm on Wednesday. We’ll be working through Psalm 27. It is a good time of Bible Study and group prayer together, we’d love to have you join us if you’re available on Wednesday at 7pm.

This Saturday at 10:30am, we’ll have a community outreach ministry to Chester Hill. This is the third time that we’ve tried to go door-to-door in that community, hopefully, this time, the weather will hold out and we’ll be able to. We could use some help, please talk with Natalie if you can do so.

On June 26th right after the Sunday AM worship service, we’ll have a cookout in the field across the street—the service will be in the building, but the meal will be outside. We’ll have canopies for everyone to sit under, but let me encourage you to bring lawn chairs with you or blankets to sit on. Our chairs cannot go in the field because the legs will sink into the ground (and it won’t be very comfortable or safe for anyone).

On July 3rd, right after Sunday AM worship, we’ll have a quarterly business meeting.

If you plan to help with children’s ministry, I do have the paperwork you need to fill out for your background checks. We can also help you schedule your fingerprinting. It doesn’t matter if you’ve done this before or if you’ve done this dozens of times, it is a legal requirement in the state of Pennsylvania, so you need to get this done before you can help with children’s ministry or Vacation Bible School next year. Please see me after church to get the paperwork.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the LORD through your giving. To help you with your giving, we have three ways for you to do so: (1) in-person giving can be done at the offering box at the front of the room—if you give cash and you’d like a receipt for your gift, please place it in an envelope with your name on it; if you give a check, please write it to Grace & Peace. If you’d prefer to give with a debit or credit card or through ACH transfers, you can do that either by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) by visiting us online at www.gapb.church and selecting giving in the menu bar. Everything that you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Ps 52)

Our Call to Worship is Psalm 52, which links to David’s flight from Saul. David had convinced Ahimelech, the priest into providing sustenance to him and his men. This causes Saul to denounce the priest and massacre the community. Doeg was the informer who told Saul about David and Ahimelech. The psalm takes David, who trusted in the Lord and contrasts his faith with the lack of fait in a treacherous man who followed sin. Please stand and read with me Psalm 52—I’ll read the odd-numbered verses; please join me in reading the even-numbered verses.

Psalm 52 ESV

To the choirmaster. A Maskil of David, when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.” 1 Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all the day. 2 Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit. 3 You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right. Selah 4 You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. 5 But God will break you down forever; he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah 6 The righteous shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying, 7 “See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge in his own destruction!” 8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever. 9 I will thank you forever, because you have done it. I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly.

Congregational Singing

To God be the Glory (19)

Creation Sings (29)

We Will Glorify (97)

Scripture Reading (1 Cor 1:18-31)

Our Scripture Reading this morning is 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, which is the first chapter of the book that I’m preaching out of this morning. In this section of the book, Paul makes the point that the preaching of Jesus crucified seems like foolishness to those who don’t believe, but for those who do, it is the very power of God. He continues in the text to speak about how some people seek out miracles (or the results of sign gifts) and some people seek out human philosophy, but the reality is that the power and wisdom of God is found in Jesus Christ. You’ll notice the idea of miracles being presented as something that is sought for but misses the point in 1 Corinthians 1. Our text in 1 Corinthians 14 will build on that idea. Natalie, can you read 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 for us?

1 Corinthians 1:18–31 ESV

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Sermon

Introduction

If you have your Bible this morning, please turn it to 1 Corinthians 14:1-12.

You’ll notice that the title for this morning’s sermon is The Sign Gifts, which is vague enough to cause you to wonder what exactly we’re talking about today. So, let me explain what the sign gifts are before we dig into Scripture. The sign gifts are a collection of spiritual gifts that were utilized in the first century and in the Old Testament for very specific reasons. This would include speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, spontaneous healings, and miracles. All of which, you’ll notice, are gifts that we don’t try to use in our local church (and there’s a reason for this).

Note that I’m making the assertion that these were gifts utilized for very specific reasons in the first century and before, which goes against what certain churches that we would call charismatic or pentecostal believe. Pentecostal and charismatic churches believe that these sign gifts are still used today, which is why you see some churches still trying to speak in tongues; and they believe in these gifts so strongly, that despite Scripture’s teaching that not everyone will use these gifts, they make it a point to teach that if you truly believe, you will speak in tongues.

At our church, we take what’s called the cessationist position, which is just a fancy word meaning that we believe these sign gifts have ceased to be used in the same way that they were used in the Bible. Again, because these gifts were utilized for a very specific purpose in the early church and once that purpose was complete, they weren’t used again—this is seen even in the New Testament; we see the sign gifts prevalent early in the New Testament but as you continue in the New Testament, the frequency of sign gifts lowers and eventually ends completely.

In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul is writing during a time in which speaking in tongues and the sign gifts are still active. And thus, he’s writing with the understanding that some people may still participate in these sign gifts. He’s writing 1 Corinthians to a group of Christians who desperately want to speak in tongues and do miracles and spontaneously heal people. In doing so, he admits that during that time, people could still be using these sign gifts but he essentially writes that the sign gifts aren’t nearly as important in the everyday life of the church as the people assumed and still assume they were and supposedly are.

Let me start before we read 1 Corinthians 14:1-12 together with making this statement abundantly clear—the sign gifts (the miracles, spontaneous healings, and speaking in tongues) were utilized in the first century and before as a means to prove the message was genuinely from God. Or in other words, the sign gifts were used before or after a prophet, preacher, and even Jesus proclaimed a message. The sign gifts were for the express purpose of definitively proving that the message was indeed from God. When the Bible was completed—both the Old and New Testaments, the need for sign gifts ceased because the message of God was complete—consider Hebrews 1:1-2 “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” And what He has spoken to us through His Son is written down and recorded for us through the Word of God.

Or in other words, the sign gifts were gifts used by the Holy Spirit through people to authenticate and show the authority of the words that were being spoken. People were to believe these prophets, apostles, and preachers because the signs proved the words were just as authoritative as the rest of God’s Words from the Old Testament. Which is essentially what people are trying to claim when they use semblances of these sign gifts today—they’re trying to convince people that they are genuinely hearing from God and that the words they speak are just as authoritative as God’s Words. And if you truly believe that God’s Word is sufficient—that all of our questions and needs can be answered through and in Scripture, which is a doctrine that we learn in 2 Peter 1:2-3, 1 Timothy 3:16-17, Jude 1:3, Galatians 1:8, and Psalm 19 then you really have to question why people would insist the sign gifts are still active today.

Even Paul, in 1 Corinthians 14:1-12 though he admits at that time the sign gifts were still being used, points out that the sign gifts aren’t a necessity anymore and that the sign gifts were fading. You’ll notice that his area of focus in this passage concerns speaking in tongues, but I would argue that his point in 1 Corinthians 14 applies to all the sign gifts and not just speaking in tongues.

Let’s read 1 Corinthians 14:1-12.

1 Corinthians 14:1–12 ESV

1 Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 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. 3 On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. 4 The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. 5 Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up. 6 Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? 7 If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? 8 And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? 9 So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. 10 There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, 11 but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. 12 So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

As we study this passage together, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) Pursue Love and Earnestly Desire Spiritual Gifts (1-5) and (2) Strive to Build Up the Church (6-12). The first section brings the previous two chapters into a comprehensive statement of what Paul is stating—spiritual gifts are good, but loving people is still better. So, the best way is to utilize your spiritual gifts to love one another. The second section points to the issue of utilizing gifts that people can’t understand and explains that if people can’t understand what we’re doing within the church, it does far more harm than it does good. Both sections are tied together with the idea of utilizing the gift of speaking in tongues, but it speaks heavily of the original purposes of all the sign gifts and encourages those who want these sorts of gifts to reconsider their use and pursue love to build up the church. This sermon should help us develop a biblical understanding of these sign gifts and it should encourage us to seek other ways to serve the Lord.

Prayer for Illumination

Pursue Love and Earnestly Desire Spiritual Gifts (1-5)

Paul starts this text by making the statement, “pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” And we really have to stop here because there are a couple of questions that you might have.

By making the statement, “pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts,” Paul shows us the connection between chs. 12-13 and now ch. 14.

He introduced the concept of spiritual gifts in ch. 12 and he explains that these were gifts given by the Holy Spirit for the common good of the church. The purpose of spiritual gifts is to build up the local church of God.

In ch. 13, he explains how love supersedes the spiritual gifts in that whereas spiritual gifts may or may not be used, Christians are to love one another with a love that’s described in ch. 13—the same love that God has for us.

In connecting these two chapters, Paul essentially tells us that the crux of his argument is found in ch. 14. In other words, he introduced spiritual gifts in ch. 12 and he expressed the need for love in ch. 13 as a foundation for ch. 14.

And the foundation is that the spiritual gifts are worth desiring and Christians are to actively pursue love for God and love for one another.

Christians are to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, “especially that you may prophesy.” Now, the question that you may have is what exactly does he mean “especially that you may prophesy?”

We have to stop and figure out what exactly Scripture means when it uses the word prophesy because we have a modern-day idea of what the word means that isn’t always what the Bible means by the word.

Our modern-day assumption is that every time the Bible uses the word prophesy, it refers to foretelling the future. The Bible does use the word prophesy with that meaning on occasion, that’s how we have prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the New Testament Messiah and we have prophecies in the Old and New Testaments concerning the eschaton. So, there is a sense of the word prophesy that refers to the foretelling of the future, but that isn’t the only meaning of the word in Scripture.

In fact, the idea of prophesying referring to the foretelling of the future is actually the second meaning of the word. The first and primary meaning of the word is to deliver a message concerning proper behavior and righteous living; we might call it a subset of preaching.

Christians are to pursue love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, particularly that of preaching right behavior and righteous living. He isn’t telling them that they are to pursue foretelling the future, but rather that they ought to pursue what’s typically referred to as forthtelling—the idea of making public the Word of God.

And then Paul continues by contrasting the gift of prophesying, which again, is a subset of proclaiming the Word of God (making it public). with that of speaking in tongues. Vv. 2-4 says, “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. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.”

Paul admits that at that moment in church history, the speaking of tongues was still a legitimate gift being utilized in the early church, but note that he places some limits on the use of speaking in tongues.

Paul makes it clear that speaking in tongues really only benefits the person speaking in tongues and the reasoning for that is found in v. 9, that someone speaking in tongues speaks unintelligibly—people don’t understand what’s being spoken except the person doing the speaking.

So, the person speaking in tongues might benefit himself, but no one else understands what’s being spoken, as v. 2 says, the “one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him.”

This idea of intelligibility being necessary within the church is built on in 1 Cor 14:23 “23 Therefore if the whole church gathers together and all the people speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are insane?”

He contrasts the lack of intelligibility while speaking in tongues with the gift of prophesying, which again is a subset of preaching. Those that speak in tongues only benefit themselves, whereas the one who preaches or proclaims “speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.”

Or put differently, he’s trying to get the Corinthians to understand that there is little value in speaking in tongues within the body of Christ because of the lack of understanding.

In fact, he discourages speaking in tongues without an interpreter. 1 Cor 14:27-28 “27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, it must be by two or at the most three, and each one in turn, and one is to interpret; 28 but if there is no interpreter, he is to keep silent in church; and have him speak to himself and to God.”

The mindset that speaking in tongues ought to only be used with an interpreter because without an interpreter no one can understand the tongues is important to remember considering the purpose of spiritual gifts.

V. 5 reiterates how important intelligibility within the local church is. “Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.”

Notice that last phrase, “so that the church may be built up.” That phrase sounds an awful lot like 1 Corinthians 12:7 “7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

It really causes us to reconsider all the sign gifts again in light of the need for spiritual gifts to be used for the common good of the whole church.

There is no argument that the sign gifts in their original use fulfilled the purpose of being good for the whole church. The original purpose again, was to confirm the message of God in a time in which the message of God hadn’t been written, but if we genuinely believe that the Word of God is God’s Word, that it has been completed, and that it is sufficient to meet all our needs; why would we need to sign gifts to continue confirming God’s Word?

John MacArthur, “And so when people come along today, particularly charismatic people, and they say there are miracles going on, they will also say . . . that God is still revealing Himself today. And many of them get visions and revelations and words from God and so forth, and that is consistent. Even they recognize that miracles are a corroboration of God’s revelation. But if we believe that the Word of God is finished and complete and closed and the revelation is over with and God has said what He has said and nothing is to be added to it, then there is no reason for a continuing normal flow of constant miracles to be happening because God is not revealing His Word anymore. It’s done.” (John MacArthur, “The Temporary Sign Gifts, Part 1,” https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/1856/the-temporary-sign-gifts-part-1)

Note, that this doesn’t mean that God doesn’t perform miracles and that God cannot heal. It means that the primary use for the sign gifts were fulfilled when the canon was completed, thus the ordinary use of sign gifts by Christians to give additional revelation from God is unnecessary.

Did you catch what I just said? The use of sign gifts by Christians to give additional revelation from God is unnecessary. Sign gifts were utilized to validate revelation from God, thus because God’s Word is complete, the use of sign gifts by Christians to give additional revelation is unnecessary.

Because God’s Word is complete, the need for sign gifts has waned—including the speaking in tongues, miracles, spontaneous healings, and others.

Paul doesn’t stop with just stating that speaking in tongues is not worthwhile without an interpreter. He actually continues in that mindset through vv. 6-12. And he really emphasizes the fact that true learning and growth within a church requires intelligibility. What is being taught and spoken within a church needs to be easily understood. Let’s re-read vv. 6-12.

Strive to Build up the Church (6-12)

1 Corinthians 14:6–12 ESV

6 Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? 7 If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? 8 And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? 9 So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. 10 There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, 11 but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. 12 So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

Paul again, points out the issue when it comes to speaking in tongues concerning whether others will understand what is being spoken. “If I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?”

He then continues with an example or an illustration of what he means. He speaks of musical instruments in vv. 7-8, “If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?”

For some of you who might be a little tone deaf or lack in the ability to play an instrument or sing, this illustration might be lost on you, but the idea is that when an instrument is played or when a vocalist sings, there are certain notes that are supposed to be played or sung. When the wrong notes are sung or played it’s clear that its incorrect and shouldn’t be like that. People wouldn’t understand what’s being sung or played.

For those that might be a little tone deaf or lack in the ability to play or sing, it might be useful to use a different illustration. Think of when you read a book—if the book isn’t in your language, what’s the likelihood that you would understand the book? Or maybe it might help if you think in terms of driving a car. In the US, we drive on the right side of the road and our vehicles are set up with the driver sitting on the left side of the car. In many other countries, it’s the exact opposite and it takes a bit of adjustment to be able to drive well when you’re so used to how things are in the United States. Now, try to apply the way you drive to flying an airplane. What’s the likelihood that you could get into an airplane and actually fly an airplane? Even with your knowledge of how cars work, it’s very unlikely that you would fly a plane well.

Because you don’t understand how planes function and what the controls are and what needs to happen for the plane to fly smoothly and efficiently.

Which I know is a silly illustration, but it speaks volumes of how silly it would be to think that God would want His people to worship Him in such a way that no one could understand what was being spoken.

Paul’s illustrates the need of intelligibility within the local church because if someone doesn’t understand what is being spoken they won’t understand what the church is supposed to be and who God is. Vv. 9-12 state this plainly as Paul wraps up this part of Scripture by explaining what happens within the local church when people are utilizing sign gifts (particularly the gift of speaking in tongues) and unbelievers or outsiders come into the church. “So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air.”

Paul’s whole point when it comes to speaking in tongues or the sign gifts in general, is that the sign gifts don’t have any value to unbelievers or outsiders that might come to visit in the church.

And again, the reason for this statement is found in the fact that when someone speaks in tongues, no one else will understand what is being spoken.

He likens it to someone who speaks into the air or someone who speaks but the words just sort of dissipate without anyone understanding or knowing what was being spoken.

There’s something else of note in v. 10 that tells us something about what exactly speaking in tongues is. “There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me.”

In our modern-day world, there are plenty of people that try to make the claim that their babbling is speaking in tongues. By babbling, I mean that they will literally babble like a baby and claim they’re speaking in the gift of tongues.

There are plenty of people in the more charismatic or Pentecostal circles that teach that you can learn to speak in tongues and there are literally videos and books that teach you that you start by speaking like little baby words and you speed it up as fast as you can humanly speak it. And you just need to keep speaking it faster and it’ll turn into the gift of tongues. They claim as you do this, you’ll eventually start speaking the supernatural language of angels.

But v. 10 tells us that speaking in tongues is to speak “many different languages in the world.” When you look at the two primary passages in which speaking in tongues is seen clearly, they aren’t some unusual language that no one has ever heard.

Acts 2:4-6 “4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with different tongues, as the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak out. 5 Now there were Jews residing in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together and they were bewildered, because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language.” By the way, the reason why they spoke in tongues here was to validate the message of God—that the Holy Spirit has indeed come upon the apostles and the other Jewish believers.

In Acts 10:9-29, Peter has a vision involving clean and unclean animals in which he’s told by God to not call unclean what God has called clean. The meaning of the vision is then given when Peter speaks with a centurion named Cornelius who wasn’t Jewish and Cornelius pulls Peter into his home to speak with the Gentile believers within his home and in v. 34 of Acts 10, we’re told “Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” Peter preaches the Gospel and “while Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.” And the Gentiles spoke in the tongues of other languages extolling God. Again, it’s not some made up language, it isn’t a supposed angelic language, they’re speaking other known languages to validate the message of God—that the Holy Spirit has indeed come upon the Gentile believers in addition to the Jews.

The gift of tongues is the gift of speaking other known languages on earth that you previously didn’t know in such a way that those who spoke those languages could understand what you were saying even though you, yourself are still speaking your native language.

And there are many different languages that could be spoken and they all mean something when they’re spoken in the proper context, but if you don’t know the meaning of the language, “[you] will be a foreigner to the speak and the speaker a foreigner to [you].” Again, notice the need for intelligibility—if no one understands what’s being spoken than it really doesn’t matter if you have this gift.

In fact, in v. 12 he confronts them again with the purpose of the spiritual gifts, “So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.”

Paul’s last statement here concerns all the spiritual gifts. That again, all the spiritual gifts are given by the Holy Spirit to build up the church and if you so desire a spiritual gift, you ought to strive in building up the church.

Which really makes you consider all the sign gifts especially—the speaking in tongues, the miracles, the spontaneous healings and such all had the specific purpose of confirming the message or Word of God when they were used in the first-century and prior, but what are their purposes today?

If their specific purpose was to confirm the message or Word of God, which we believe it is; and that message or Word of God is now written or recorded in our Bibles, which we believe it is; and we believe that our Bibles are sufficient to meet every need, which according to 2 Peter 1:2-3 it is, why would we still be in need of miracles, spontaneous healings, speaking in tongues, and other sign gifts?

Would these sign gifts be necessary to build up the church still? Or would they have ceased when their purpose—to confirm the message or Word of God was no longer needed at the completion of the New Testament canon?

Do we still need these sorts or gifts or do we have what these gifts were trying to validate? Going back to the introduction, at our church, we believe that these gifts have ceased—we take a cessationist position. Why? Because we believe these gifts were only needed to validate the message of God, which is now found in the Bible.

Instead of looking for and expecting miracles, spontaneous healings, speaking in tongues, and other sign gifts, why wouldn’t we just read the Word of God, which we already know to be God’s Word affirmed throughout the past 2,000 years?

It seems then, that if the Word of God is complete, like we believe it is, these sign gifts have served their purpose; and for people to seek to use them anyways, does nothing to build up the church of God, which was and is the purpose of every spiritual gift. Which now brings us to our application. And I want to give application in two ways: (1) I want to give you application concerning what we ought to do about those that claim to still use these gifts; and (2) I want to give you application specific to this passage.

Application

As I’ve mentioned a handful of times this morning, there are still people that claim to practice these sorts of gifts and many of these people happen to be high-profile—a lot of people know them or have seen them. The position that we take at our church completely contradicts their position. And of course, we think we’re right and they think they’re right, so, what should we do?

Realize first and foremost, that more than likely, you’re not going to convince people to change their positions if they’re the ones teaching these positions. To try and convince someone like Jesse Duplantis, Todd White, or Benny Hinn that what they’re doing is wrong or sinful would be completely pointless—I’m fairly positive that they’ve all heard the truth multiple times, they just don’t care. Rather, look at this as an opportunity to learn how to be discerning.

In our modern-day world, there are thousands and thousands of books being written, blogs being posted, articles being published, and podcasts being recorded that all claim to be biblical (many of them will utilize supposed miracles, spontaneous healings, and other sign gifts as proof that what they’re doing is right).

Don’t just believe them because they claim to be right—those pushing the LGBTQ agenda, transgenderism, and even the abortion agenda all claim to be right. Muslims, Buddhists, and all the other world religions claim to be right, you wouldn’t just believe what they’re saying would you?

So, why would you just accept someone who claims to be a Christian who preaches or teaches something? There were plenty of people in Scripture who claimed to be Christians and were condemned because of their false teaching.

And yet, Christians today seem to think that if someone claims to be a good Christian and they have a TV show or a radio show or that they’ve written books, that they should read, listen, and watch without any amount of discernment—let me remind you that Oprah also has a TV show, George Noory is on the radio, and more books than not are completely incorrect in their assessments.

Be discerning in what you’re letting into your mind. Stop listening to false teaching, stop watching these charlatans who use tricks to deceive people, and stop reading lies perpetrated by people who co-opt Christianity and the Bible in order to make money. You might hear that and think, how do I figure out what’s false? There’s a short-term application to this and a long-term application to this:

Short-term, you need to ask. Don’t hesitate to ask a trusted spiritual leader in your life (and let me be clear on that, don’t hesitate to ask a trusted spiritual leader who teaches and preaches the truth and isn’t afraid to make it clear when someone isn’t teaching the truth).

Someone who genuinely will want to help you, will warn you against false teaching, but they won’t know that you need the warning unless you ask them about it.

Someone who genuinely wants to help you, won’t let you continue listening to false teaching; but if they don’t know that you’re listening to false teaching, they can’t help you.

In addition, there are some people online that can help with figuring out who is teaching false things. For example, Justin Peters has a YouTube page in which he calls out false teachers almost weekly; he calls them out by name and explains biblically why they’re false teachers—I would recommend him.

Short-term, ask for help discerning who the good teachers are and who the false teachers are. And when someone can show you biblically why someone is a false teacher, then reject the false teacher—even if they can supposedly do miracles and spontaneously heal people and speak in tongues.

Long-term, you need to read and study the Bible enough that you actually know what it teaches so that when you hear false teaching, you know its false.

Note that I’m not calling this a long-term application because it’s something that you should wait a long time before you do it. You should already be reading and studying Scripture.

But it does take some time before you get to the point where you can hear when something is false teaching because of your study of Scripture. It takes time to develop discernment.

And until you understand Scripture well enough that your understanding of God, Scripture, and Christianity is matured, you need to keep reading and studying Scripture with the intent of doing so.

Only then will you be able to hear when something is false and know why it’s false according to Scripture.

Long-term, keep reading and keep studying the Bible so that you learn what is true and can recognize what is false.

Our first application is this: you need to develop discernment and the only way that you can do this is through long-term reading and studying of Scripture. Until then, ask for help discerning what is biblical and unbiblical.

Now, our application for this section of Scripture might surprise you. I think you can tell that because of my position concerning sign gifts and because of the church’s position concerning sign gifts, I’m not going to tell you to go and try and perform miracles, spontaneous healings, and speaking in tongues. However, it’s clear that even in this passage concerning gifts in which we don’t believe are still occuring, Paul’s application remains the same.

In the first section, Pursue Love and Earnestly Desire Spiritual Gifts (1-5) we read just briefly about the difference between speaking in tongues and what Paul calls prophesying, which we learned that sometimes refers to telling what will happen in the future, but more often speak of a subset of preaching. Oddly enough, though Paul spends the majority of this section speaking about prophesying and tongues, the actual point is found in v. 1, “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts.”

The application is found in v. 1. Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts.

The pursuit of love is really something that he emphasizes in 1 Corinthians 13, which we aren’t going to repeat this morning for sake of time, but let me encourage you to at least look at your life today and your relationships today and ask yourself if your love is defined by God’s definition of αγαπη in 1 Cor 13, or by your definition of what you think love is. Pursuing love involves your idea of love conforming to God’s definition of love and much of that conforming is done by simply asking if your love fits the idea of love in 1 Corinthians 13.

Desiring spiritual gifts isn’t something that we really do, but rather a state of mind. Someone reading 1 Corinthians 12-14 may get the impression that Paul is really warning against people wanting spiritual gifts; and that impression stems from him essentially tearing down their idea of spiritual gifts to rebuild their idea of the gifts. But Paul wants them to know that the people should still want spiritual gifts even if they’ve just now realized their idea of spiritual gifts was incorrect.

The first application from the text is simple: you need to pursue love and desire spiritual gifts. Pursue the type of love that is defined in 1 Corinthians 13 and desire to have and use your spiritual gifts. Now, Why should you desire these gifts? That’s where the last application comes in.

In the second section, Strive to Build up the Church (6-12) Paul spends a significant amount of time discussing why speaking in tongues isn’t as beneficial to the local church as people who want the gift seem to think it is. He compares someone who speaks in tongues to a lifeless instrument because no one can understand what the person is saying. He emphasizes this idea that edification requires intelligibility—people have to understand in order to grow. And he concludes this idea with the command to “strive to excel in building up the church.”

In this section, Paul spends a considerable amount of time trying to get the Corinthian people to understand a simple concept—if people don’t understand what is being spoken in the local church, then it isn’t helpful, it’s worthless.

Of course, that idea applies heavily towards the concept of speaking in tongues, but it really applies to everything that we do in the local church—I’m sure you’ve realized by now that I try to explain everything that we do as frequently as possible. The reason for that is found in 1 Corinthians 14, I want people to understand why we do what we do.

This applies absolutely to speaking in tongues, but it also applies to why we do the Lord’s Supper the way we do, why we baptize with immersion, why we sing together, and why we spend a considerable amount of time studying Scripture every service.

People need to understand in order to grow—it is an example of what it means to “strive . . . in building up the church.”

Now consider your own spiritual gifts and consider how you personally serve. Are you striving to build up the church?

If you aren’t, why are you sinning? The Bible tells us to “strive to excel in building up the church.” If you aren’t striving to build up the church, you’re disobeying a direct command.

And the only proper response to hearing this would be to repent and seek to build up the church.

The second application from this text is also simple: you need to strive to build up the church. You do this by pursuing love, desiring spiritual gifts, and by using those gifts for the common good of the church.

Put Simply, 1 Corinthians 14:1-12 teaches us to (1) pursue love, (2) desire spiritual gifts, and (3) strive to build up the church. Of course, building up the church requires us to pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, so the three ideas are really tied together. Learn to love like 1 Corinthians 13 teaches, desire spiritual gifts according to 1 Corinthians 12-14, and then in love, use your spiritual gifts to build up the church.

In addition, 1 Corinthians 14:1-12 reminds us subtly to be careful about who we listen to, who we watch, and who we read. Learn to be discerning so you don’t get tricked by someone who claims to speak on behalf of God when they don’t actually speak on God’s behalf.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

Beautiful Savior (All My Days) (193)