More Gifts for the Church

Good morning.

I'm surprised to see so many people today.

I honestly expected it to be very empty with the storm,

but I'm glad to see so many people.

Welcome to Watermark Church.

My name is Eric.

I'm one of the guys on staff here at the church,

and I'm so grateful to be here with you today.

If you've been here for the past few weeks,

you'll know that we've been going through the book of 1 Corinthians,

and we've been looking in chapter 12 at spiritual gifts,

and why God gives gifts to the church

and what he expects us to do with those gifts.

And then the past couple weeks,

we've been looking at 1 Corinthians chapter 13,

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

talking about love and seeing that actually the passage about love

also connects to spiritual gifts

and how we are supposed to use them within the context of the church.

Today we're moving on to chapter 14,

and what we're going to see is that, again, with gifts,

God gives gifts to us so that we can build up the church

and encourage one another.

That one of the big things God wants us to do

when we come together as a church

is to encourage one another and build one another up,

and that he gives us gifts to help us as we do that.

And the first thing that we need to see is that God wants us

to love one another by building one another up.

If you were paying attention during the scripture reading,

you'll notice that this passage is specifically about two spiritual gifts.

You have tongues, and you have prophecy.

And it seems that in the church in Corinth,

there was a spiritual popularity contest going on,

and everyone wanted to speak in tongues

because that's what all the cool kids did.

And if you spoke in tongues,

you were seen as a better, more mature Christian.

If you didn't speak in tongues,

and you had one of those other second-rate gifts,

then you yourself were a second-rate Christian.

And Paul is saying that is not the case.

He's actually saying tongues is a great gift,

but it's not one that should be used in the context of the gathered church.

Because when we use spiritual gifts,

we have to be aware of our context.

And in the context of the church,

God wants us to build one another up,

and tongues, although they build ourselves up,

don't build up one another.

Prophecy, however, builds up others.

You can think about it this way.

Imagine we went on a Habitat for Humanity building trip.

And we're heading to the trip,

and you have your bag packed,

and you have a little hammer and nails in there.

And I am super excited

because I have brought an amazing and powerful tool with me,

a jackhammer.

And we get to the building site,

and you have your little puny hammer and nails,

but I am walking around showing off my jackhammer.

And it is big, and it is powerful.

I find somewhere to set it up,

and I go to work.

And a crowd gathers around

because I'm big, and I'm making lots of noise,

and they want to see what's going on.

And everyone is paying attention to me

because I have this big and powerful and amazing tool.

But there's a problem.

We're at a Habitat for Humanity building site.

Our goal is to build a house.

The foundations are already laid.

There's no need to dig up the ground.

In the context that we're in,

even though my tool may be more powerful,

may be more expensive,

may be cooler,

may get more attention,

your hammer and nails are a way better tool

for this context than my jackhammer.

There are contexts where the jackhammer

will be a better tool,

but in this context of a Habitat for Humanity building trip,

the hammer and nails are the tools that you need

because they are the tools

that will help you build the house.

And Paul is saying in the same way,

when we come together as a church,

God wants us to build up one another.

And tongues is a great gift.

It's a powerful gift.

It's a gift that gets attention on us,

but it's not a gift that builds up the church.

And God wants us to be people

who when we come together,

build one another up and encourage one another.

And so in the context of the church,

prophecy, he's saying,

is the better gift

because prophecy builds up more than tongues.

And, you know, the past few weeks,

we've been talking, like I said,

a lot about the issue of gifts in the church.

And if it feels repetitive,

that's because Paul was a little bit repetitive

on this topic.

And Paul, I think, was repetitive on this topic

because he saw it as vitally important

in the life of the church.

He said, God gives us gifts

because he expects us to use them properly.

And if we don't understand

how we're supposed to use them,

then we're not going to use them in the proper way.

And we're not going to accomplish

the proper tasks with them

that God wants us to accomplish.

So let's take a minute

and think about where we are personally

in terms of spiritual gifts.

Do you know whether you have any spiritual gifts?

Do you know what they are?

If you don't,

I would encourage you to get involved

in some ministries

and try out different things

and see what comes up.

If you have a bulletin today,

we have this little insert.

You can check it out.

It has a list of all the different ministries

in Watermark

and all the different ministry needs

that we have

and spiritual gifts that go along with them.

And so my encouragement to you is

if you know what spiritual gifts you have

and you would say,

I'm not really using them

to build up the church right now,

check out the list.

Find out where you can get plugged in

and find a way that you can get involved

in helping to build up the church.

And if you would say,

I have no clue what spiritual gifts I have,

check out the list.

Find something that seems interesting to you.

Try it out

and see whether you discover

that you have some spiritual gifts

that you never actually knew you had beforehand.

And ultimately,

as Paul has already said

in chapter 12 of Corinthians,

the spiritual gifts that we have

don't make us better or worse Christians.

God's the one who gives out spiritual gifts.

The thing that makes us more or less mature

is how we use the gifts once we have them.

Are we using them to draw attention to ourselves?

Are we using them to build up the body?

Are we using them to make ourselves look greater?

Are we using them to make God look greater?

And that's the point

that Paul is trying to get at here.

Prophecy is a great gift in the church.

Prophecy, delivering messages from God

to the church to challenge people

and equip people and lead them towards God

is a great gift for the church

because it builds everyone up.

where tongues,

speaking to God in unknown languages

that even we ourselves can't understand,

it's great, it's powerful,

it's amazing to have this direct communication with God,

but if I'm up here speaking in tongues,

none of you have any clue what's going on.

And so in the context of the church,

a gift that comes in clear language

is essential

because clear communication

is essential for building up the church.

And that's the second thing I want us to see today

is that clear communication

is essential

to building one another up

in the context of the gathered church.

And, you know,

if I wanted to come up and encourage you,

say I wanted to encourage Christina,

and I walked up to her

and I said,

would she be encouraged?

Probably not.

She would say,

what the heck is going on, Eric?

And I would say,

well, that was me saying,

hi, Christina,

I hope you're having a great day.

God loves you in my language.

But if she can't understand it,

it makes no difference to her

and doesn't build her up.

And so that's sort of what Paul is getting here

is that in these two gifts

that relate to communication,

tongues don't build others up

because even if you're saying

amazing, great spiritual truths in tongues,

they can't be understood

by the rest of the church.

He talks about instruments,

a flute or a harp,

and says, you know,

if I just get up on an instrument

and I start banging around

and playing it

with no rhythm or rhyme or anything,

no one's going to have any clue

what I'm playing.

If we're in an army

and the army needs to be assembled

and the bugler comes out

and starts playing the bugle

to gather us together

but doesn't play anything distinct,

no one's going to know

that we're supposed to get ready for battle.

Everyone's going to think

he's practicing

or trying to figure out

how it works.

In the same way,

when we communicate with each other

within the context of the church,

we need to communicate in a way

that can be understood

by one another

so that the ideas

that we're trying to communicate

can be properly communicated

and understood.

And he's not saying tongues are bad.

He actually says tongues are a good thing.

He says he himself speaks in tongues.

He says he wishes that everyone

in the church

could speak in tongues.

He says tongues build us up

and he's not saying this in a bad way

like a prideful building yourself up

but it's more of a devotional building up,

the way that you would be built up spiritually

when you read your Bible

or when you pray.

He says tongues are a great thing

but it's all about the context.

Tongues are an amazing gift

for growing closer to God

in your personal devotions,

he's telling them.

But when you're gathered together

as a church,

that's not the right context

because in the context of the church,

clear communication is essential.

Just like the jackhammer

on the Habitat for Humanity site.

It's a great and powerful tool

but when it's used in the wrong context,

it's not going to accomplish

the job that needs to be done.

He also talks about interpreters of tongues.

He says if you have the gift of tongues,

you should pray that you could interpret.

And he says if you have an interpreter,

then it's okay to speak in tongues in church

because this message

is no longer direct between you and God

but actually between you and God

and the rest of the congregation

through the interpreter.

He doesn't want them to get the wrong idea

and swing the pendulum too far

and say tongues are evil,

we need to stay away.

He wants to help them see

this is a good gift

but it's a powerful tool

that needs to be used carefully

and in the right way.

And he believes so strongly

in this power of clear communication

that he says

he would rather speak

one simple sentence

in clear plain language

than 10,000 words in a tongue.

I'm kind of a nerd

and so I wondered

if someone says 10,000 words,

how long will it take them to do that?

So I googled average speaking pace

and discovered that to speak,

that the average person

speaks about 150 words per minute

which means that if you're speaking

10,000 words,

that's speaking for a little bit

over an hour.

It's like a long sermon basically.

And Paul says,

I would rather get up here

and speak five words

that everyone can understand

than 10,000 words,

a one hour long sermon

in tongues.

Picture this scenario with me.

I know it's far-fetched.

It would never happen.

But if the Apostle Paul

was alive today

and Tobin calls him up

and says,

hey, Paul,

we want you to come to Watermark.

We want you to be

our guest speaker for a Sunday.

Because you're the Apostle Paul,

we're going to change the schedule

for the service a little bit.

We're going to have you

preach for an hour.

It's a long sermon for us.

And we know that you have

this great gift of tongues

and we want to see

and experience it.

So if you could come up here

and preach for an hour

in tongues,

we would love that, Paul.

And Paul says,

I'll come preach.

Okay.

And he gets here

and we start service.

The band plays a couple songs.

Maybe we take communion.

And we have the scripture reading

and Paul gets up front

and he steps up

and he says,

Watermark,

Jesus died for you.

Drops the mic

because he's from the first century

and doesn't know what to do with it

and walks off the stage.

And the band sort of

looks at each other

and is like,

are we supposed to go back up

for the closing song right now?

I guess so.

And so they come back up

and sort of hesitantly

play through the last song

and then Jeremy looks over at Tobin

and he's like,

are we done?

I think.

And Tobin comes up

and does an awkward

closing benediction

because everyone's really confused.

And as soon as the service ends,

Tobin makes a beeline for Paul

and he's like,

Paul,

what happened?

We had talked about this.

You were supposed to preach

for an hour

and you took like 10 seconds

and you were supposed to preach

in tongues

and I didn't hear any of that.

What's going on?

And Paul says to Tobin,

look,

the five words that I said

have more meaning

and application

for your life

than anything

that anyone here

would have gotten out of it

if I had stood up there

for an hour

and spoken in tongues.

Because clear communication

is essential

in the life of the church.

There was a German theologian

named Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

He lived around the time

of World War II.

He wrote a lot about community.

He has a book called

Life Together.

If you want to read about community,

it's an excellent book

to look up.

And he has a quote

in that book

about this topic.

He says,

God has willed

that we should seek

and find

his living word

in the witness

of a brother

or sister

in the mouth of man.

That God wants us

to communicate

his truth

to one another.

Therefore,

the Christian needs

another Christian

who speaks

God's words

to him.

He needs him

again and again

when he becomes

uncertain

and discouraged

for by himself

he cannot help himself

without belying

the truth.

There are times

where each of us

become discouraged

and disheartened

and we need someone else

to come up

and speak God's truth

to us

because when we hear it

from someone else

we can understand it

and believe it

in a way that we can't

just telling it

to ourselves.

He continues

and he says,

the Christ

in his own heart

is weaker

than the Christ

in the word

of his brother.

His own heart

is uncertain.

His brother's

is sure.

Let me read that again.

The Christ

in his own heart

is weaker

than the Christ

in the word

of his brother.

His own heart

is uncertain.

His brother's

is sure.

This has been true

in my life

many, many times

where I'm having

trouble obeying God.

I'm having trouble

trusting that God's

promises are true

and I know

these truths

from the Bible.

I know how God

promises me

that I'll have

fullness of joy

in him

and that he'll

give me strength

to fight against

temptation

and I repeat

them to myself

over and over

and over

and I still

feel trapped.

I still feel

helpless

and then I pick

up the phone

and call

or message

Alfie

or Jeremy

or Chris

or Edmund

and I just say,

hey guys,

this is going on

and they say

the exact same

thing to me

that I've been

saying to myself

the whole time

but for some

reason when I

hear it from

them

it makes a

difference

that it never

made when I

heard it from

myself.

When they say,

hey look,

God is with you

in this.

God's going to

give you the

strength to

overcome this

temptation.

That has a

power to it

that no amount

of self-will

can conjure up

within myself.

The Christ

in the word

of my brother

is stronger

than the Christ

in my own

heart in those

moments and

that's why

God has given

us this

community

of the church.

That's why

God has us

come together.

That's why

Paul encourages

us to build

one another

up when we

come together.

The last line

of Bonhoeffer's

quote,

he says,

this is the

goal of all

Christian community.

They meet

one another

as bringers

of the message

of salvation.

That when we

come together

it's not just

supposed to be

me or Tobin

or Chris

or Alfie

or Graham

standing up here

on stage

and speaking

to you.

But that

actually each

and every

one of us

is supposed

to come

together

and share

God's words

with one

another

and share

this message

of salvation

among ourselves.

That the church

is an incredibly

powerful tool

created by God

to transform

the lives

of his people.

To bring us

into community

with one another

so that as we

come together

we are pointing

each other

back towards him.

And Paul

in this passage

in 1 Corinthians

14 is saying

that is absolutely

true.

And that's why

it is so

essential

that when we

come together

as a church

we communicate

with each other

in language

that is clear

and understandable

to one another.

So that when

we share this

message of salvation

with one another

it can be comprehended

and applied

by the others

in the church

and it can make

a difference

in our day-to-day lives.

the core

reason that

the church

exists

is to worship

God

and to meet

one another

as bringers

of the message

of salvation.

And so

I want us

to take a minute

to think about

this issue

of clear

communication.

You know

do we feel

like we

are doing

a good job

of communicating

clearly

this message

of salvation

with one another?

On a couple levels.

One

are we actually

opening our mouths

to talk to one another

and share this message?

Or are we just

assuming they already

know it

so they don't need

us to repeat it

so no worries.

And if we do

open our mouths

to share this message

of salvation

with one another

are we sharing it

in a way

that is

comprehensible

to them?

Like I know

I've been around

the church

for a long time

and I know

this isn't

quite exactly

the same issue

as speaking

in tongues

but it does

have to do

with being

understandable.

I know

that when

you've been

in the church

for a long

time

there are

lots of

big church

words

that you

learn

and it's

very easy

to have

these church

words

just become

the content

of our

conversations

about God

or in the church

and so

we have

these big

words

like

atonement

and justification

and sanctification

and propitiation

that most people

in the church

don't know

and nobody

outside the church

knows

and yet

people who have

been in the church

a long time

like to throw

these big words

into conversations

and it leaves

other people

behind a lot

of the time

because if you're

talking to a new

Christian

they have no clue

or a non-Christian

they have no clue

what's going on

when you use

these words

and I know

personally

I've done this

before

and that's

probably why

I'm aware

of it

so I'm not

just saying

you guys

do this

but it's

actually

something

I've done

too

but are we

able to

communicate

the gospel

in a way

that someone

who's never

heard of Christ

before

can understand

are we

that clear

in our

communication

because

sometimes

when I

use big

words

it's because

I don't

actually

understand

the concept

but I

want to

sound like

I do

or sometimes

it's because

I just want

the other

person to

think

wow

he's so

smart

he knows

all these

big words

it's super

embarrassing

when they

ask me

to define

them

and I'm

like

I think

it means

this

but we

need to

be clear

in our

communication

we need

to

actually

open

our

mouths

to

speak

to

one

another

and

when we

do

that

we

need

to

do

it

in

such

a way

that

we

can

understand

one

another

so

are you

opening

your

mouth

to

share

this

message

of

salvation

with

those

around

you

in

the

church

and

outside

of

it

and

if

you

are

doing

it

in

such

a

way

that

they

can

understand

it

simply

the

third

thing

that we

need

to see

from

this

passage

is

that

true

love

within

the

body

of

the

church

is

a

light

to

outsiders

true

love

within

the body

of the

church

is

a

light

to

outsiders

in

verse

22

Paul

says

tongues

are

a

sign

not

for

believers

but

for

unbelievers

it

makes

it

sound

like

tongues

are

supposed

to

be

something

that

makes

non-christians

see how

great

God

is

and

that

leads

them

to

faith

but

in

the

context

of

this

passage

what's

actually

going

on

is

he's

quoted

an

Old

Testament

passage

in

the

verse

before

this

by

people

of

strange

tongues

and

by

the

lips

of

foreigners

will

I

speak

to

this

people

and

even

then

they

will

not

listen

to

me

says

the

Lord

and

that's

from

Isaiah

and

basically

what

happened

is

God

communicated

very

clearly

with

his

people

and

said

you

need

to

turn

and

follow

me

or

judgment

is

coming

and

they

said

that's

too

simple

of a

message

we're

not

interested

in

listening

to

it

because

it's

too

childish

and

so

he

said

okay

I'm

going

to

send

in

foreign

armies

to

attack

you

and

invade

you

and

they're

going

to

say

the

same

thing

in

their

language

and

you

won't

be

able

to

understand

it

even

though

it's

super

complex

and

so

the

foreign

armies

come

in

and

they

take

over

Israel

and

it's

actually

a

sign

of

judgment

not

of

salvation

and

so

Paul

is

paralleling

that

an

amazing

way

for

judgment

so

when

he

says

tongues

are

a sign

for

unbelievers

that

actually

parallels

what he

says

later

in

the

passage

if

the

whole

church

comes

together

and

all

speak

in

tongues

and

any

outsider

or

unbeliever

enters

will

they

not

say

that

you're

out

of

your

minds

if

all

of

us

right

at

this

moment

started

speaking

in

tongues

and

someone

who

had

never

heard

of

Jesus

before

walked

and

they

saw

what

was

going

on

in

here

they

would

be

like

this

is

a

crazy

place

I

need

to

leave

before

I

become

crazy

like

the

rest

of

them

and

even

though

they

had

seen

God

working

powerfully

in

and

among

us

they

wouldn't

know

that

that's

what

they

were

seeing

they

would

think

that

they

were

seeing

insanity

and

society

has

special

places

for

insane

people

that

are

places

that

salt

and

light

to

non

Christians

we

are

supposed

to

get

together

and

interact

with

one

another

in

such

a

way

that

it

makes

the

gospel

beautiful

to

non

Christians

and

when

we

get

together

if

all

we're

doing

is

speaking

in

tongues

with

no

interpretation

and

a

non

Christian

walks

in

I'm

out of

here

and

even

though

they've

seen

God's

powerful

work

it's

a

sign

that

points

towards

judgment

not

towards

there's

something

else

interesting

in what

Paul's

saying

here

though

and

that's

the

fact

that

he

expects

non

Christians

to

be

present

when

the

church

is

gathered

together

it's

something

that

at least

on

staff

we try

to be

aware

of

here

at

Watermark

that

every

time

we

get

together

on

a

Sunday

morning

there

are

non

Christians

in

our

presence

like

right

now

at

this

moment

there

are

multiple

non

Christians

in

this

room

is

pretty

obvious

to

you

but

I'm

guessing

for

a lot

of

people

in

this

room

it's

something

that

we

don't

really

think

about

that

much

and

Paul

is

saying

that

if

you

are

a

Christian

when

you

come

together

as

the

church

that

our

interaction

with

one

another

within

the

church

is

something

that

will

point

the

non

Christians

among

us

either

towards

Christ

or

away

from

Christ

but

God

wants

it

to

be

something

that

points

them

towards

Christ

there

have

been

many

times

where

I've

been

in

churches

or

community

groups

and

heard

someone

say

something

and

just

cringe

because

I was

so

thankful

that

I

don't

have

a

non

Christian

friend

here

right

now

and

I

hope

that

everyone

here

is

Christians

because

if

I

was

a

non

Christian

and

I

heard

that

I

would

not

be

feeling

very

good

about

coming

back

don't

get me

wrong

the

gospel

itself

the

message

of

the

gospel

that

we

are

messed

up

people

who

need

rescuing

and

salvation

from

God

in

itself

is

offensive

but

also

Christians

a lot

of

times

have

a

tendency

to

be

offensive

ourselves

and

add

on

top

of

that

I'm

not

saying

we

should

water

down

the

message

of

the

gospel

but

I'm

saying

that

when

we

get

together

we

should

present

it

and

we

love

you

and

we

care

about

you

and

we

want

you

to

become

a

part

of

our

family

and

we

understand

what

it's

like

to

not

be

a

Christian

and

so

you

know

the

church

when

we

get

together

like

I

said

point

people

towards

God

or

away

from

God

and

Paul

says

the

reason

that

prophecy

is

so

powerful

within

the

church

is

because

if

a

non

Christian

comes

in

and

they

hear

the

church

speaking

in

tongues

they're

out

of

here

this

crazy

people

but

if

they

hear

us

prophesying

to

one

another

then

they

hear

us

sharing

the

message

of

salvation

with

one

another

they

hear

us

calling

out

sin

in

each

other's

lives

they

hear

us

reminding

one

another

of

the

fact

that

God

forgives

our

sins

and

the

fact that

we have

messed up

again

and again

and again

that we

have a

God

who

loves

us

and it

shows

them

something

beautiful

and

different

about

the

church

and it

shows

them

something

that

we

have

that

hopefully

they

want

and it

points them

towards

Christ

you know

the

real

tension

that

Paul is

talking

about

in this

passage

on the

surface

it looks

like

prophecy

versus

tongues

but in

reality

it's

something

deeper

than

that

it's

love

for one

another

and building

one

another

up

versus

building

ourselves

up

and he's

saying

the world

is all

about

building

yourself

up

if we

get

together

and all

we're

focused

on

is

building

ourselves

up

and any

non-Christian

walks in

here

they're

going to

see

nothing

different

about

us

nothing

unique

about

us

nothing

that

sets

us

apart

and

nothing

that

points

them

towards

God

but if

we get

together

and we

love

one

another

and we

invest

in

building

one

another

up

and a

non-Christian

walks in

here

they're

going to

see

something

different

and

something

beautiful

something

that they

want

something

that makes

them have

to say

God

is here

among

these

people

and

something

that

makes

Christianity

and the

idea

of a

relationship

with

God

beautiful

so that

they'll

actually

listen

when they

hear

the

gospel

and so

the way

that we

interact

with one

another

generally

within