Practice spiritual gifts according to 'the way of love'

November 11, 2002

BaptistWay Bible Study for Texas lesson for November 17

Practice spiritual gifts according to 'the way of love'
__

_1 Corinthians 14:1-25
___¹Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. ²For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. ³But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. ⁴He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. ⁵I 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.
___⁶Now, 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? ... ¹²So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church.
___¹³For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says. ¹⁴For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. ¹⁵So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. ¹⁶If you are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say "Amen" to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? ¹⁷You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified.
___¹⁸I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. ¹⁹But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue.
___²⁰Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. ²¹In 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.
___²²Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. ²³So 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? ²⁴But 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, ²⁵and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"

___By Marv Knox
___Years ago, a visiting revival preacher bombarded our little church with big words. Unfortunately, we had a hard time understanding him. When he finally got to his invitation, we all just sat there, confused.
___My dad, the pastor, cared for our church. So, he approached the preacher. He explained we were typical small-town Texas folks who didn't know the words he was using. He pleaded with the preacher to simplify his language so our members and guests could understand his sermons.
___The guest preacher's reply stunned my dad: "If I can wrap my tongue around a word and spit it out, I'm going to use it."
___All week, he kept right on "spitting out" his fancy words, right over our heads. Not long ago, I asked Daddy how many people made spiritual decisions that week. "I don't recall for sure. Not very many at all," he said. "But I do remember the size of the 'love offering' they gave him." It was the smallest he'd ever seen. The revival preacher sought to impress, but he only confused. He refused to offer us loving, helpful sermons, and our folks responded in kind.
___While this preacher wasn't guilty of abusing glossolalia--"speaking in tongues"--as the Apostle Paul describes it in this week's Scripture passage, he clearly violated the spirit of Paul's teaching. He sought to use language to impress others and glorify himself, rather than to edify others and glorify God.
___Context: Gifts & love
___Throughout this powerful letter, Paul urges the church to move past its unloving behavior, from choosing "sides" (chapters 1-3), to practicing sexual immorality (chapters 5 and 6), to filing lawsuits (chapter 6), to causing "weaker" Christians to stumble (chapter 8), to making a mockery of the Lord's Supper (chapter 11), to abusing spiritual gifts (chapters 12-14). Paul exhorts the church to see a better way, a loving way.
___Paul's sense of ethics commands Christians to rise above what's-in-it-for-me. Actions and possibilities must be evaluated for their impact far beyond the individual who undertakes them. We're admonished to see the full range of consequences of any action and to make choices based upon the welfare of the whole community. As we learned last week, this is an ethic of love. It asks: "What would love demand?" Consequently, it is selfless, other-oriented.
___This week's passage concludes a section in which Paul explores the appropriate use of spiritual gifts. Utilizing logic that is consistent with his ethic of love (chapter 13), he calls upon Christians to exercise spiritual gifts based upon the extent to which they can or will bless others. He advocates exercising the gift of prophecy over the gift of tongues.
___Tongues vs. prophecy
___Talking about speaking in tongues makes most Baptists nervous. For one thing, glossolalia relates to the Holy Spirit, who is the most mysterious person of the Trinity. Second, almost everyone knows at least one church that divided over this spiritual gift. Third, the practice itself, almost by definition, is mysterious, since it involves "unknown" language. And fourth, all these factors combine to make it unfamiliar, perhaps even frightening. Relatively few of us would feel comfortable in the presence of someone uttering something unintelligible in the midst of worship.
___But we can't go to Paul to banish speaking in tongues. He tells us glossolalia is an act of speaking to God (v. 2). Tongues-speaking "edifies" the Christian who practices it (v. 4). He wishes all recipients of his letter would speak in tongues (v. 5). Paul confirms it has a place in worship, as long as it is interpreted for all the worshippers (vv. 13-17). He expresses thanks to God that he himself speaks in tongues (v. 18) and speaks in tongues more than all his readers (v. 18). He also confirms speaking in tongues is a "sign" from God (v. 22).
___Glossolalia is a spiritual gift, and Paul practiced it.
___However, if we "follow the way of love" (v. 1), we ought to desire the gift of prophecy more intensely than the gift of speaking in tongues. Christians often define prophesying as predicting the future. While future forecasting may be an element of prophecy, it's only a part. Prophesying is preaching, teaching and explaining God's message. It involves helping the church know and understand the gospel as well as helping evaluate how that gospel impacts the will and actions of the church.
___Paul contrasts speaking in tongues with prophecy because these practices illustrate the point he's been making: When you're trying to decide what to do or how to act or which part of the gospel to emphasize, do the loving thing. And you will know what is most loving when you evaluate who benefits the most. Tongues-speaking only serves the individual, while prophesying edifies or enriches all who hear--the whole congregation.
___"Paul's emphasis is clear," Raymond Brown notes. "'Tongue-talk' is addressed to God, who alone understands it. But it is precisely because other persons cannot understand it that Paul places meager value upon it. A person who proclaims revelations through the guidance of the Holy Spirit engages in a witness that has value for others."
___Noise vs. knowledge
___Paul affirms the superiority of sharing knowledge and biblical understanding to self-indulgent tongues-speaking.
___First, he compares tongues-speakers in worship to musical instruments that do not give a "distinct" sound (vv. 7-9). Have you been to the very first "concert" of a children's band? Quite often, you can't even tell what song they're trying to play. Their music is, in Paul's terminology, "indistinct." The difference is that with young musicians, we at least hope they will improve. But with uninterpreted tongues-speaking, the speaker may as well shout "into the air" (v. 9).
___Second, Paul advocates faith that thinks (vv. 13-19). "In church, I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue," he says. That's a ratio of 1 to 2,000. Paul's comparison speaks powerfully to the importance of clear presentation of the gospel. If we love others and want them to come to know Jesus, we'll present it to them in a way they may understand.
___Love equals clarity
___This passage particularly reveals Paul's nature as both a pastor and an evangelist. He's concerned about spiritual harmony and the essential unity of the church. But he's also concerned about the welfare of unbelievers or "outsiders" (vv. 22-25). Paul's ethic of love demands that we consider the strength of the church and the welfare of other Christians as we decide about such churchly practices as worship and ministry. It also commands that we care deeply for unbelievers and take care to help them understand that the gospel is good news for them.
___Beyond the specific occurrence of glossolalia, Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 14 apply to how we conduct our lives and practice church together. For example:
___ We don't have to "speak in tongues" for our language to be unintelligible to non-Christians. Have you ever heard of "the language of Zion"? It's the kind of God-talk common in our churches but foreign to outsiders. Words and phrases like "saved," "profession of faith" and "let Jesus in your heart" (not to mention "propitiation," "atonement" and "surrendered your heart to God") not only are meaningless to unbelievers, but they also can drive them away in confusion.
___If we want to be loving in our concern for them, we'll be thoughtful enough to think first about how we sound. We will keep it simple, concisely explaining the difference our relationship with God through Jesus has made in our lives.
___ When I read Paul's demand that faith be presented intelligibly, I can't help but thank God for the many ways the Baptist General Convention of Texas is training people to share their faith. In our eight universities, we're teaching 4,573 young people who are preparing for the ministry. At Hispanic Baptist Theological School, Logsdon School of Theology and Truett Seminary, we're training the next generation of pastors and church staff members. And through the Texas Baptist Laity Institute, we're helping church lay leaders make the gospel plain in churches across the state.
___ This passage also offers comfort and counsel to both sides in the so-called "worship wars." Paul affirms that worship should be intelligible and should resonate with the spiritual yearnings of people who come together to seek and to praise God. Paul also insists the gospel should be presented so that unbelievers find it understandable and compelling. Both groups appeal to one or the other of these exhortations. But above all, Paul appeals to love--an element often missing when the worship wars wage.
___Loving simplicity
___The big-word preacher never knew what he missed when he refused to preach sermons our church members could understand. Sadly, we all lost because of his selfish arrogance. Contrast his behavior with that of Billy Graham, who visited Texas a few weeks ago. Even the local media remarked about the simplicity of his messages. Normal people who attended his crusade remarked at his loving presentation. Hundreds of thousands of people attended those meetings. Thousands of them asked Jesus to become their Savior. And in heaven, Paul must've said, "That's what I'm talking about."
___Marv Knox is editor of the Baptist Standard

Questions for thought and discussion
___ Have you ever heard someone speak in tongues? What was your reaction?
___ How might Christians provide the proper setting for speaking in tongues? Can you envision a scenario in which it might be edifying to the church today? What would have to happen for this to be so?
___ Discuss illustrations of times when prophesying made a positive impact on your church or a worship service you attended. What are common aspects of of prophesying that build up the congregation?
___ Can you think of some ways to test the "do the loving thing" principle the Apostle Paul suggested for the church? How can we determine which actions are more loving within the church?
___ Paul strongly advocates intelligible speech. How can we talk more intelligibly and intelligently about the gospel story?
___ If you could ask God for one spiritual gift, what would it be? Why?
___ Think of one person who needs to hear the gospel clearly. Pledge to proclaim it.

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