1 Corinthians Chapter 14 Verse 9
• Study until it lays flat for you…and then correct, rebuke, exhort and teach…we have so much heated debate and what the world calls “hate” because we have a church generation that fights with perspectives that they have heard and been taught rather than studied and understood in context.
1 Corinthians Chapter 14 Verses 10 – 19
• It’s not about the words. It’s not about the sounds. They are just a vehicle, a by-product. Praying in tongues is a connection between your heart of hearts in the spirit to God. And so, the words aren’t a language of man and truly the sounds mean nothing. For the one praying in tongues, the understanding of the language is unfruitful. It’s not the point. The point is the powerful pulse of prayer coursing through the spirit of the one simply there, in the moment, with the Lord.
• Paul says that he speaks in tongues more than anyone else he knows, more than anyone in the church of Corinth, and yet we never have an account of him doing so. Not in Ephesus, not in Rome, not in Philippi or anywhere in the Region of Galatia. Why? Because he does not speak in tongues while ministering to men but while ministering to God, in his private devotions with the Lord. He says, “yet in church…” You can’t deny this statement…
• His main point is the exercising of tongues ought to be a language unto God and yet that is edifying to others…or it’s not acceptable in the church. I love this, let the reason why you excel in the body of Christ be equal to the amount that you encourage the body of Christ…and I think that is entirely spot on.
• Paul’s conclusion? If I praise God to the confusion of man then how is it that God is pleased. Just glance at verse 33, “For God is not confusion, but peace.” Five words of understanding and encouragement are worth more than 10,000 utterances in the spirit, when others are involved. That is major.
1 Corinthians Chapter 14 Verse 20
• Paul says do not be children in understanding…be childlike in malice…the things of the flesh…but in understanding…grow to maturity. How does one either become, remain or regress to being a child when it comes to understanding? The same way the church there in Corinth did and was. By following their selfish desire to edify themselves. Simple self-centeredness…that is the very definition of immaturity. Oddly enough, it’s also the reward of immaturity…self-centeredness. It’s like this viscous cycle that leaves entirely dissatisfied and ultimately alone…
• One cannot stay a little self-centered. It’s like an oil spill, a bald spot, a spore of mold, a cell of cancer…if it is not addressed then it spreads. Each of us every day have this quite formidable opponent of our strength and growth. Those that walk in the Spirit know it, hate even their own elements of self-centeredness and the bald spot ain’t growing.
• But, (and I hope this is not you), there are many that at the cost of their own happiness and satisfaction and often at the cost of their relationships…even their marriages, serve self-centeredness and through that have become quite the quiet expert in malice of heart. The word means evil, not ashamed to break the law…it means depravity…your heart is a crumb of what it could be if you’d surrender to the Lord…and you’ve gotten used to it. That’s crumby.
1 Corinthians Chapter 14 Verses 21 – 25
• Most all Bible commentators agree that what we just read is one of the hardest passages in the New Testament to understand because verse 21 Paul says one thing and seemingly says another thing in verses 22 – 24. There are only a couple of times in the Pauline letters that I really wish that Paul was available for a quick call…HA! But he’s not. So, the only way I can take this as one congruent thought is to accept that tongues is a negative sign to unbelievers…
• Paul quotes Isaiah 28 (also this thought is in Deuteronomy 28) saying, “With the tongues of other lips I will speak to this people; and yet for all that, they will not hear me.” Who were the other lips in Isaiah 28? The Assyrians. The enemies of Israel and Israel’s captors…and so the tongues of the other lips were a sign of defeat to the people of God. Certainly not pleasant at all. And so, the manifestation of tongues is most often (if not always) a complete turn-off and freaker-outer (wow, that sounds intelligent) of those who do not belong to the Lord. They will think we are out of our minds…entirely understandable.
• But prophecy, the word of God having the ability to speak right to the heart of a person, that brings unbelievers into the fold…that creates believers out of unbelievers! Truly that is what I keep in the fore front of my mind during sermon prep and delivery. Like an ace in the hole…that whether the points are crisp or the jokes are funny (which, of course we know they always are!), it is the Word of God being taught and the Word of God has this supernatural power to transform the heart of a person…and so when things go really well and folks are super complementary, “Hey, it’s God’s Word.” And then when things don’t go super well and everyone scurries on out after the service, I just say still to myself, “Hey, it’s God’s Word!”
1 Corinthians Chapter 14 Verses 26 - 31
• I love this! This is so educational! So clear! First, if it doesn’t edify then it doesn’t fly! So simple! In the church, in the Body of Christ, the corporate gathering of the believers, if it doesn’t edify…it shouldn’t be. Simple as that. And then Paul makes one of the most clarifying statements in the history of history. If anyone has a tongue to speak, let them do it in turn. This statement by Paul declares that we have control over the outward expression of the gift of tongues. We may receive the gift of tongues however Paul instructs in the circumstance of too many in number or no interpreter to edify the church, even though the gift has been received, the transmission from the Spirit is coming through, keep silent and speak to yourself and to God!
• This is huge! Someone says, “God made me do it! I can’t help myself!” Our God is a God of order, self-control and holiness. I don’t buy it…not because I’m skeptical of the tongue…but because the Holy Spirit tells us right here…there is no possession as it were…as the Spirit moves on our hearts, our free will remains entirely intact.
• So, if there will be a public speaking in tongues, in the gathered corporate body of the church, it will be two people, and at most, three, each in turn, never over one another, and one must interpret. If not, let them keep silent and minister to God in their hearts. And it’s the same for prophecy. No speaking over each other. Order is center stage because without order there is no edification. These are the clarifying gifts of God to me personally. It’s like one of those certs commercials where they just exhale and its so refreshing! HA!
1 Corinthians Chapter 14 Verses 32 – 33
• This is HUGE! The prophets are subject to the prophets! Which means, if there is a prophecy given…the speaking forth by divine inspiration, then what is spoken will align with the what has already been spoken. Beware…new revelation…private interpretation…these are both things that are forbidden in the Bible, why? Because they are not of God…and their design is to pull you away from the Word of God. As it was in the Garden so remains the primary strategy of the serpent.
1 Corinthians Chapter 14 Verses 34 - 35
• Let’s pray. HA!!!! Should have brought my pulpit chocolate! HA! Let me explain this and then let me lay out a challenge. First, what is Paul saying here? We can be sure that you cannot take this one verse and run with it? Why? Because we already know from Chapter 11, Paul already has spoken of and made allowances for women praying and prophesying in the church. There is a word here that is huge and that word is “your.”
• Ok, so either this is specific to the women in Corinth or this is specific to wives. Either way, it is believed that church services were held in similar fashion to synagogue services in the early church. Which was women sat together and men sat together and the belief is that it was such a circus that the women would call out to their husbands during services to, (as context would lead us to think), ask a question about what was being taught.
• Also, this word for speak is “laleo” which can be translated, to argue…which truly it is shameful to openly argue in church for anyone…and that fits in context with what Paul writes next…
• So, now the challenge. What’s the big problem? This is an interesting challenge. If I was told not to speak in church, that I was to remain silent, yes that would peeve me…but what in me would be peeved? My flesh…my pride… So, let’s just say you go to a church where everything is wonderful. Good Bible teaching, the Holy Spirit is moving, people are getting saved, you love it there and its amazing and then one day you talk in church and the pastor whips his Bible out and points to this verse and asks you not to speak again during church…would you leave? Hmmmmm. Let me get my chocolate before you answer that! HA!
• When we are challenged by what we read in the Word of God, ask yourself, what part of me is offended…the flesh or the spirit…then go from there…
1 Corinthians Chapter 14 Verses 36 – 38
• I love this. The Word of God is the Word of God, not the word of man…so if you want to argue it, you better be God. After writing this chapter to correct them, this entire letter for that matter, Paul is essentially saying, you want to argue it…nope. You ought to be teachable, not contentious. But, hey, if someone wants to argue, let them argue with themselves…Paul’s not in…he’s ok with them being ignorant!
1 Corinthians Chapter 14 Verses 39 – 40
• This is the final rule that captures the entire essence of his instruction! Let all things be done decently and in order. You ever think of someone just as a “decent human being?” Just someone that is nice, joyful, helpful…splendid…? The definition of decency is Jesus Christ Himself. We Christians somehow get so far away from just being like Jesus…being transformed from the inside out into the image of a decent human being…and in our flesh we rebel against order.
• Henry Adams once said, “Chaos is the law of nature.” That is what we become by our own nature…waking up one day to a question of, “How did I ever get here?” With such sadness. Not God’s desire or plan for you. His desire for you is for hope, life and life abundant…Another Henry, Henry Miller once wrote, “The world is not to be put in order.” It’s not everything around you that needs to be fixed…, he continues, “The world is order. It is for us to put ourselves in unison with this order.” And so, for me and my house, let all things be done with decency and in order.