Built Up, Not Puffed Up (I Corinthians 14:1-25)

1 Corinthians 14, starting in verse 1.

Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy.

For the person who speaks in another tongue is not speaking to people, but to God, since no one understands him.

He speaks mysteries in the Spirit.

On the other hand, the person who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and consolation.

The person who speaks in another tongue builds himself up, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

I wish all of you spoke in other tongues, but even more that you prophesied.

The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be built up.

So now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in other tongues, how will I benefit you unless I speak to you with a revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?

Even lifeless instruments that produce sounds, whether flute or harp, if they don't make a distinction in the notes, how will what is played on the flute per heart be recognized?

In fact, if the bugle makes an unclear sound, who will prepare for battle?

In the same way, unless you use your tongue in intelligible speech, how will what is spoken be known?

For you'll be speaking into the air.

There are doubtless many kinds of languages in the world.

None is without meaning.

Therefore, if I don't know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.

So also you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in building up the church.

Therefore the person who speaks in another tongue should pray that he could should interpret.

For if I pray in another tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.

What then?

I will pray with my spirit, and I will pray with my understanding.

I will sing praise with my spirit, and I will sing praise with my understanding.

Otherwise, if you pray with the spirit, how will the outsider say amen at your giving of thanks, since he doesn't know what you're saying?

For you may very well be giving thanks, but the other person's not being built up.

I thank God that I speak in other tongues more than all of you, yet in the church I would rather speak five words with understanding, in order to teach others also, than ten thousand words in another tongue.

Brothers and sisters, don't be childish in your thinking, but in infants, but be infants in regard to evil and adult in your thinking.

It's written in the law, I will speak to this people by people of other tongues and by lips of foreigners, and even then they won't listen to me, says the Lord.

Speaking in other tongues, then is intended as a sign not for believers, but for unbelievers.

Well prophesy is not for prophecy is not for unbelievers, but for believers.

If therefore the whole church assembles together and all are speaking in other tongues, and the people who are outsiders or unbelievers come in, will they not say you're out of your minds?

If all are prophesying and some unbeliever or outsider comes in, he's convicted by all and is called to account by all.

The secrets of his heart will be revealed, and as a result, he'll fall face down and worship God, proclaiming, God is really among you.

And Lord, as we study your word, I ask that you would be glorified.

Please fill me with your spirit to teach rightly and to rightly divide your word.

Please fill the hearers with your spirit to discern what is of you.

I ask that this would all be done for your glory and for the building above your church.

In your name.

Amen.

Go ahead and have a seat.

As we are going through the book of 1 Corinthians, just a quick refresher in this.

We have a church that is in a very well-off urban area.

There's two ports, there's lots of money flowing through, lots of culture going through.

This kind of a melting pot of cultures in that.

Lots of idolatry with that.

Lots of wisdom, lots of knowledge in all of this culture built together.

And one of the big issues that they keep running into at this church is schisms between what team you're on, whether that's Team Paul, Team Apollos, Team Peter, or also to use these different things in their new relationship with Jesus for their own benefit, for the benefit of themselves, to build themselves up and to build primacy for themselves as if the church was a ladder to be climbed into a higher echelon of spirituality.

And so Paul keeps coming back to this same idea that it's not about you, it's about Jesus, and therefore about all of us, and about the body being built up.

And he uses that imagery of the body throughout this passage, throughout this entire book, of a body with Jesus as the head and all the people being different body parts that function together and work together with different gifts and abilities and everything, all for the serving of the whole.

And then we saw in the last chapter, in chapter 13, that this is all motivated by love.

That the uh the love of uh the body and the love of the Lord is what fuels this through the work of the Holy Spirit.

So the Holy Spirit defines what love is and how that love binds us together in that.

And in this chapter, he is going to do a little bit of a transition into a second metaphor, and that metaphor is that of edification, depending on your passage, uh your translation, or building up.

And that word is an idea of building up a building.

And that word, whether in the noun or the verb form, is used five times in this passage alone.

And it's this idea of taking a building and building it into structural integrity.

So we had the picture for a long time here of a body interconnected, working together, feeding one another.

Here we have this picture of a body, of a of a building that's being built up and for the purpose of structural integrity.

And a lot of times in these days, you I mean, their buildings looked a little different than our buildings, right?

It's not not quite the same.

They didn't have the little terracotta tiles on all of their buildings, like you might around here, or the the stucco that is when we left California, stucco left too.

It was weird how that worked.

The weird siding on every building that was here.

We we moved and we were like, hey, look, there's brick.

What's that do?

And turns out lots of different buildings with that, but as in the these times in the first century, you have a lot more of a simple house and building with walls, foundation, walls, and then a potentially a roof area that you could also use and be on and uh entertain on or eat on or rest on.

So it was a much more important to have a structural integrity to that than to have an open floor plan in how all these different things.

So they were less concerned about shiplap and more concerned about their house not falling over.

So I do not have experience in building houses, not to totally embarrass my wife.

She does, by the way.

She helped uh her dad build their house growing up, so she's amazing.

But uh what I do have experience in is I was a I worked for a big retail company in Arkansas and in Florida, and I managed stores, but then I was also a part of and eventually leading their new store setup team.

So you have a new store that needs to be put into a location, and you have an empty room that has to turn into a store in 17 days.

Wow.

So, 17 days, you have about 50 volunteers, you have a team of experienced people, you have seven trucks a day for the first three days, you have to have all of the fixturing done in the first four days, you have to have all of the normal product up within the first seven days, and then have an entire six-month seasonal part done in the next seven days so that you can be ready to go, grand opening, day 17.

It was banana, 7 a.m.

to 7 p.m., 17 days straight, and you're jumping back and forth between labor in unloading trucks, and then uh lots of small thinking in putting together fixtures and such.

So, uh, and what ended up happening towards the end there is that my district manager would show up, we would all be there, and he would have his files of how this is all gonna go, and he would basically shove it into my chest, say good luck, and walk off and drive away.

So I'm left with 50 volunteers, and I would say 20 experienced people that are part of the store setup team who have years of interpersonal drama, and all the trucks rolling in, and all the fun, all the fun with that.

Why on earth am I telling you this?

Because the first thing that would happen is all the fixtures would come in on the first trucks and be put in a pile.

And we have to build everything, we have to build, and that's not only just the big side commuters, but also the little things with the little brackets and the divider glass and all these different things.

And the goal was to have a fully functioning and healthy store by day 17.

But all these people in their individual departments, their goal was to have their department done as quickly as possible and to be able to be done, right?

And work okay.

So part of the making sure this works is having to go around and find the hoarders who took all of these fixtures because they said I might need these, bring them over to their area and drop them off.

And you go, okay, number one, you don't need that much.

Number two, they do, and so therefore, you gotta we gotta expand our goals beyond just the little thing into the health of the whole thing, so the whole place could be built up and be fully functioning towards again.

So, their goal wasn't bad.

They wanted their department to be built and built correctly and be built quickly and efficiently.

That's good, but that's not the ultimate goal.

The ultimate goal is having everything being built up.

This will make sense later, or else it won't.

So, starting in verse 1, Paul says, continuing from verse from chapter 13, pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy.

So, he's saying, pursue love as the goal.

That's something that's not going to expire.

There's no end date to love, and that should be the motivation for all that we do.

It's sacrificial love with concern for the other.

And desire spiritual gifts.

There's not what there's the church here is doing is not bad that they want to have these gifts and utilize these gifts.

That's not a bad thing.

He says, do it under the auspice of love, but then especially that you may prophesy.

So, love, spiritual gifts, but particularly that you may prophesy.

Now, who is here when we went through Romans for roughly 3,500 weeks?

Okay.

Do you remember back then when we seemed to have, we talked about these divisions back and forth to where there was the Jewish side and the gentile side, we had the legalism on one side, we had the licentiousness on the other, and the difficulties in here.

Here in the Church of Corinth, in this specific thing, it seems like you have teen prophecy and teen tongues.

And they're trying to figure out how that all works together, how they can exercise those gifts and do those gifts, all within a limited amount of time.

So, time is the zero-sum game here.

There's no, you can't, with a church body and a church meeting place, you can't just sit there and be like, well, we're just gonna just keep rolling until the end of the day.

Obviously, it doesn't work that way.

And so they're babbling back and forth on what's important and what has the most primacy, because that is how it seems the Church of Corinth is wired, whether it's by their leader or by their knowledge, or hereby their gifting.

So, Paul is weighing in here about, especially that you may prophesy.

For the person who speaks in another tongue is not speaking to people but to God.

Since no one understands him, he speaks mysteries in the spirit.

On the other hand, the person who speaks prophecies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and consolation.

The person who speaks in another tongue builds himself up, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

Little bit of groundwork here.

What on earth are we seeing here?

First of all, just the plain facts here of what it says here.

The one who is speaking another tongue isn't speaking to people but to God.

In contrast, the person who's speaking prophecies in verse 3 is speaking to people.

The person speaking a tongue is speaking to God.

No one can understand them, and they're speaking mysteries in the spirit to God.

Here, the person who's speaking in prophecies is doing so for the strengthening, encouragement, and consolation of others.

So Paul is addressing here the big question, team tongues, team prophecy, but the question under the question that he's really addressing here is what is this for?

What's the purpose?

And the purpose is to build up the church, to edify.

So if the building is built with structural integrity and health.

And here he is saying prophecy has primacy over tongues.

And we'll see why in a minute.

But first we have to do a little bit of definition here, because uh this is a bit odd that we're tongues and prophecy.

I was telling uh Chris, because he's not here, of course, that we're going to practice tongues today.

Got a little pale.

We're not gonna do that.

Uh no, uh that that that that's that that's not our tribe.

But with that, tongues.

We see a few different manifestations in scripture of how this works.

You see in Acts chapter 2, people are speaking, the Holy Spirit falls upon the apostles and the disciples in Jerusalem, and then they are speaking other tongues, and there's a huge group of multicultural people who are hearing their own languages, the marvelous works of God in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention Acts 2 · chapter mention

So in that side, you have people speaking actual languages for the purpose of declaring the glory of God to people who don't know him for the most part.

So, on the other side, you have what seems to be somebody speaking in a tongue that they don't understand, that is not otherwise intelligible, that is aimed and directed toward the Lord, speaking to God, mysteries in the spirit between that person and the Lord.

So it's, I see in Scripture both clear languages that that person doesn't otherwise speak for the purpose of evangelism and declaring the glory of God, and then over here, an individual speaking mysteries and in the spirit to the Lord in something that is not otherwise intelligible.

Prophecy here, we see in verse four, no, in verse three, for strengthening, which is that word, building up, edification, encouragement, consolation.

Prophecy is an interesting one because we define, we tend to make it, want to make it clean and neat and simple.

Same with tongue.

We want to say it's this because it's not something we're comfortable with, or it's this.

And same with prophecy.

Whoever is the person teaching that week gives you a definition of prophecy that's suspiciously aligned with their own personalities.

So the best I can do with this in terms of prophecy is there is an aspect of prediction and forthelling.

We see that in Acts 11, 27 through 28.

There are prophets and a man named Agabas who predicts that there will be a famine coming.

And so as a result, the church gathers money and sends it to the saints so that they can survive the famine.

He's going to do the same thing in 2110 with Paul to tell the same guy to tell Paul, when you get to Jerusalem, you're going to be bound and imprisoned.

So prophecy incorporates an aspect of speaking forward things that have not yet happened.

There is also the aspect of encouragement.

We see that in Acts 15, 32, the prophet strengthened and encouraged the believers.

We see in Acts or in 1 Corinthians 14, 31, this chapter, that it brings about encouragement.

There is also an aspect of rebuke and conviction.

And so we see in Acts 13, number one, Paul is named among the prophets and teachers in that area.

And there's a false teacher named Elimas, or Bar Jesus, both of those.

And Paul, filled with the Spirit, straight up tells this guy that you are poisoned by bitterness and iniquity.

He straight up confronts him on this thing to bring about repentance.

So why am I telling you guys this?

Because what we really want to do is have an easy answer.

Things don't always have an easy answer.

We want the spiritual gifts excel spreadsheet with everything in its cells so that we know it, we understand it, we've mastered it, and we can move on.

It doesn't always work that way, and I'll explain why in a minute.

So prophecy here has aspects and manifestations of forthelling into the future.

It has aspects of encouragement, it has aspects of rebuke.

All of those different things.

And ultimately, what this is, is bringing about information that is prompted by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of building up the church, whether by encouraging or pointing out that which is faulty or all of the above.

So it's important to see it in that sense and not just in the little box that we have here.

So here it's for strengthening, for building up, encouragement, consolation for the building up of the church, so that the foundation is solid, so that the walls are good of this church house that we're talking about.

So, verse 4, the person speaks in another tongue, builds himself up.

The one who prophesies builds up the church.

Verse 5, I wish all of you spoke in other tongues, but even more that you prophesied.

Notice here he doesn't say, I wish you guys would stop speaking in tongues.

He's like, look, I wish you all would do that, but even more that you would prophesy.

The person who prophesies in verse 5 is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be built up.

And this is the crucial thing here.

He's not forbidding speaking in tongues.

In fact, later in this chapter in verse 39, he tells them, do not forbid to speak in tongues.

However, he's saying this is not what's the most important thing within the church body.

The preference is for somebody to be able to prophesy why.

Not for the manifestation of someone's gifts, but rather that the church may be built up in verse 5.

And this is the crucial thing to understand what Paul is trying to explain here, and in part to us as well.

The goal is not, I have my gift and I must use it.

I must manifest it.

I have a right, I have to do this, this is my part, this is my thing, this is my body part, and darn it, I'm gonna do it.

The goal is the edification of the church.

That may involve that, and it may involve other avenues for that to happen, which we will see in a bit.

But ultimately, here we see the person speaking in tongues is speaking to God, not to the church, unless there's an interpretation, which we'll get to next week.

I get to point on that.

But they're speaking to the Lord.

We can do that at home, right?

It doesn't have to be here.

But the I the problem is if we are the focus, we would say, no, I have to do this, because this is what I do and this is who I am, and I have to be free to be me and manifest myself in this way.

And be like, really not about you.

And in prophecy, in the same way, it's for others and for the edification of the church.

So the goal there is to be building up the whole church body.

So if you if you have somebody who is purporting to prophesy, that is not building up the church body, it's a little bit of a problem as well, because that defeats the whole purpose of the gift.

Here's the challenge in teaching these things.

Being candid here.

As a whole, big broad brush stereotype, you have two big camps of churches.

Camps who uh churches who don't function in this way at all, so they go, why are we learning this?

And churches who exercise these things, not according to scripture.

So who am I talking to here?

That's kind of the weird thing about going through this passage, is like, what's the point?

There is a point, but the goal here is to understand the we build up the church, we build up the body.

Gifts are for the purpose of the body being uh better equipped, better strong, strengthened, and full with better integrity here.

So, continuing on in verse six the importance of understanding, because the understanding part here is crucial.

So, now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in other tongues, how will I benefit?

At you, unless I speak to you with a revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching.

So we've already seen here that somebody speaking in tongues is speaking to God and in something that is not otherwise intelligible unless there is a translation.

So if someone comes at me and is speaking in tongues, I'd be like, okay?

I mean, there's really it's really difficult to know what to do with that unless there is understanding attached to that.

Verse 7, even lifeless instruments that produce sounds, whether flute or harp, if they don't make a distinction in the notes, how will what is played on the flute or harp be recognized?

So the first imagery here is the idea of musical instruments.

If they're not played with distinction of the notes intelligibly, how will you know what's being played?

We tested this out this morning in practice.

We didn't want to do it during actual worship to actually uh hijack everything.

And so Tom was very gracious in uh in demonstrating what it's like when uh a flute decides to play without a distinction of notes necessarily akin to what is happening.

Our fearless worship leader was less amused than I was, but handled it with immense grace until the finger symbols came out.

But music follows general guidelines structures.

You can there's an argument to be had with there, but ultimately it is intelligible even within that.

I remember in college, um in jazz history class, there was a uh once we hit Ornette Coleman in free jazz, I'm like, what is this?

Because it sounded to me like a car accident.

Played out in musical form.

Some people love it, and that's great, but for me, I'm just like, what is this?

And it did not bless me.

It actually caused great stress in me.

What's like was not a fan.

So I guess I'm not cultured.

So continuing on in verse 8, in fact, if a bugle makes an unclear sound, who will prepare for battle?

This is the next aspect of you have an instrument that is communicating something, it's communicating battle plans and communicating orders.

And if it's not doing what it's supposed to, the result is chaos.

So on one side, with an instrument, if it's not doing something in a way that can be understood, the result is often chaos.

In here, if an instrument is used for orders of a military and it's not done in a structured way that can be understood, it the result is chaos.

And that's not the goal here.

I would have a hard time seeing an army where the guy with the bugle just takes like a six solo and is like, you're welcome.

And that going well for him.

I can't picture that going well.

So it's ultimately they have a job to do, and the job is communication.

And that's what's important here.

That's what Paul is saying thus far.

Hey, tongues are not bad, but that's not the primacy here.

It's better to prophesy because that's done in a way that can be understood.

Verse 9, in the same way, unless you use your tongue for intelligible speech, how will what will be spoken be known?

For you will be speaking, speaking into the air.

So, if you're not using your tongue for intelligible speech, you're not speaking the same language as somebody else, how will what was be spoken be known?

Verse 10 There are doubtless many kinds of languages in the world.

None is without meaning.

Therefore, if I don't know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker will be a foreigner to mean.

Imagery one of the body.

If the body can't communicate body parts, that's a problem.

If they like your arm and your torso can't actually communicate, that ain't gonna go well for you.

If they can't speak the same neurological language, that's not going to produce the function of a healthy body.

And here, if the people building cannot communicate, no work gets done.

I think there was a story about that back in Genesis.

Tower Bell.

Where they're building, they're gonna make a name for themselves, they have their great city, they're gonna build it up to the heavens, and all God had to do at that moment was go whoop and scramble their languages, and then they all wandered off.

Because they couldn't communicate and therefore they couldn't be productive.

And that's what's the one of the big focuses here is it's all well and good if we want to express ourselves in our communication, but if it cannot be understood by the other person, it doesn't edify.

The building can't be built up, it can't be done.

And there is the temptation to say, but I really want to use my gift, I really want to do this, and that is not necessarily bad because the Lord gifts us in different ways, and if it's fueled by the Holy Spirit, I understand that, but it can be like the people who are hoarding the fixtures in the store setup.

Yeah, they want their they want their department to be good, and they want it to be really, really good and really uh efficient and professional, and that's good, but we're building a bigger place than just one thing.

And also, surely we could exercise this gift elsewhere.

It doesn't have to be here.

And that's what I see Paul speaking here is like, look, your gift is good, that's not a bad thing, exercising it is good.

Read the room, the context, of if it can't be understood, then do that in a different setting and be continuous.

You can speak to God anywhere, and that's okay.

That's why he is giving primacy here to prophecy, because that is a body gift speaking to others in the same language for that purpose.

So there's nothing as anti-body or built-up imagery than being a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker being a foreigner to me.

You can't understand one another.

And verse 12.

So also you, since you're zealous for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in building up the church.

Hey, you're zealous for spiritual gifts.

That's good.

He doesn't say, stop it.

Don't be zealous for this.

Rather, harness that zeal for the building up of others.

That seems to be a thread that runs through this whole book, right?

Take that zeal that you have rather than pouring it into what is just burning within you for your moment, and take that zeal and push it into what is good for the whole, what is good for the body.

So verse 13.

Therefore, the person who speaks in another tongue should pray, he can interpret.

We'll get to that next week in greater detail.

I'm trying not to teach next week's sermon this week.

So, continuing in verse 14, if I pray in another tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.

What then?

I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with my understanding.

I will sing praise with my spirit, and I'll sing praises with my understanding.

Pause there for a moment.

Those are not mutually exclusive.

The prayer and praise can be done in the spirit, to God, unhindered, and with understanding.

That's okay.

You can have it both ways.

Otherwise, in verse 16, if you praise with the spirit, how will the outsider say amen at your giving of thanks since he doesn't know what you're saying?

Amen is an interesting one.

In our 21st century culture at this point in time, amen is basically how we say, all done in prayer.

But throughout scripture, we see amen is an agreement and saying of, I agree with this.

I am in agreement and I stand with this in unity with that.

So that's why we don't always want to, we want to be a little careful of what we're amening here.

But it's how will they say, hey, amen, yes, if they don't know what you're saying.

That would be really odd to imagine being in a situation where someone speaks a different language than you.

Uh let's say a church service.

You sit in a church service in a different country where someone speaks a different language than English, and the preacher is preaching, and you go, Amen.

And then everyone's like, who invited this guy?

What's the deal with that?

It makes no sense.

And that is what he is saying would happen if there's no interpretation of tongues or if there is no clear prophetic utterance.

Understanding is greater than expression for the purpose of building up.

That is the big phrase to keep to keep track of for this passage.

Understanding for all is greater than personal expression for the purpose of building everybody up.

So verses 18 through 19.

I thank God I speak in other tongues more than all of you.

Yet in the church, I would rather speak five words with my understanding in order to teach others also, than 10,000 words in another language.

I mean, he it it at first glance it kind of looks like a humble brag there.

Like, well, praise the Lord, I speak more tongues than all of you, but I'd rather do it.

But what I see him saying here is not, I'm he he's not uh criticizing that gift.

He's like, look, I do it too.

I do it with all with all of, I do it more than all of you, really.

But in the church setting, I would rather speak five words with understanding than 10,000 words in another language.

Why?

In order to teach others also.

So we're hitting that big point over and over and over and over again, but ultimately the the point of the church body is to bless and glorify everybody, to elevate everybody, to build up, to uh have that be healthy all the way around.

Imagine a house, simple house, four walls on a roof, where one wall is like super sturdy and perfectly structurally sound, and three walls will crumble if you look at it wrong.

What's gonna happen?

It's it's that's a technical term, I'm pretty sure.

There's enough engineers in the room that can confirm that the technical term is and that is spiritually the same thing.

It's all well and good if I have this built up and it's looking good with that, but it's not really doing much for anybody else.

So big big picture here.

Verse 20.

We're getting to the big picture around in the corner.

Brothers and sisters, don't be childish in your thinking, but be infants in regards to evil and adult in your thinking.

He calls them carnal, he calls them infants earlier in this book.

He's like, look, I wish I could give you meat, but you still need milk.

And here he's like, hey guys, grow up in your thinking.

But in infants, but be infants in regard to evil, an adult in your thinking.

The goal as we grow up as humans is to grow in maturity and to start thinking of others.

I think before we had children, it was much easier if I was sick to be like, I'm dying.

I think I'm dying.

Lay there being like, am I dying?

I'm pretty sure I'm dying.

If you have kids and you're sick, it's like, well, this is gonna not be cool.

But we still have to do the job.

It's amazing how being adult in one thinking is also thinking of others as a result and not just your own desires and needs.

So, verse 21, it's written in the law, I'll speak to this people by people of other tongues and the lips of foreigners, and even then they won't listen to me, says the Lord.

And then we get to the fun part, 22 through 25, where it gets, if we don't if we if we don't handle it with care, it gets kind of weird.

So, speaking in other tongues then is intended as a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers.

Since the prophecy is not for unbelievers, but for believers.

If therefore the whole church assembles together and all are speaking in other tongues, and people who are outsiders or unbelievers come in, will they not say you're out of your minds?

But if all are prophesying and some unbeliever or outsider comes in, he's convicted by all and is called to account by all.

The secret of his hearts will be revealed, and as a result, he'll fall face down and worship God, proclaiming, God really is among you.

That seems a bit contradictory.

So that's why we need to pull this apart a little bit.

First he says speaking in other tongues is intended as a sign not for believers but for unbelievers.

And then later, he says, uh, if people, if unbelievers hear you speaking in tongues, they'll say you're crazy.

And then in verse 22, he says, prophecy is not for unbelievers, but for believers.

And then in verse 25, we see that if an unbeliever hears you prophesying, they'll be convicted and will fall down in worship, and you're like How does this, how does this?

Here's what I'll say.

I gave you definitions at the beginning.

Tongues and prophecy.

They were very broad.

One involved declaring the wonderful works of God to the unbeliever in a language that they know.

Another one involves speaking to the Lord mysteries in the spirit that cannot be known.

Prophecy involves forth telling, telling things you could not otherwise know, telling things about the future.

It also involves encouragement and consolation, and it also involves correction and rebuke.

If we take these gifts and we look at them through a tiny lens of this means this and only this, this gets really confusing.

I don't think that's how these gifts are used in scripture in these specific Excel spreadsheet, cell definitions.

This only means this, this means this, this means this.

I'm rather seeing in a greater goal and context.

So here's what I'm saying.

Speaking in other tongues is intended as a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers.

We see in Acts 2 a clear demonstration of tongues being spoken as a language for unbelievers to hear the wonderful works of God and be brought to repentance.

Very clear cut in Acts 2.

Tongues being used as a sign for unbelievers there.

Right?

And then prophecy is not for unbelievers, but for believers.

If prophecy involves exhortation, encouragement, correction, there needs to be a buy-in there.

You need to have be a part of the body in order to receive that from another body part, right?

Well, I'll put it this way, I work in in my job, I oversee a bunch of merchandisers, I do retail personnel management stuff.

I also interface with a lot of major uh retail corporations.

It's super interesting.

No.

But if somebody in another company starts telling me something and telling me what to do in my job, I tend to kind of be like, thanks for that.

But I'm not going to do anything you said because you have no idea what you're talking about.

In the same way, if a person's not a part of the body of Christ, exhortation and encouragement and conviction may not land if you're not under the authority of Christ.

So that's why it's intended for believers, because how do you build up a part, how do you build up a house if you're not a part of the house?

I guess is the way I'm putting it.

Continuing forward, if therefore the whole church assembles together and all are speaking in other tongues and people who are outsiders or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you're out of your minds?

So imagine a situation where somebody is speaking on this side, mysteries to the Lord.

Something that is not understood, something that is not intelligible.

And that's all happening, imagine walking into that room and being like, what is going on here?

This is this is madness.

Somebody who is, if there's no interpretation.

However, if all are prophesying and an unbeliever or outsider comes in, he's convicted by all and is called to account by all.

So he hears clearly and plainly something that convicts by the feeling of the Holy Spirit, because that's what the Holy Spirit does.

He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment in the Gospel of John.

He's convicted by all and called to account by all, and the secrets of his heart will be revealed, and as a result, he will fall face down and worship God, proclaiming, God really is among you.

So, on one side, exhortation, encouragement, building up may not be that beneficial for unbelievers if there's no buy-in with that.

However, if you are through the Spirit imparting something to them, a word of knowledge, a word of wisdom, either something about them that you would not otherwise know, or something that hits their very need in that moment divinely by the work of the Holy Spirit.

They'll be convicted and glorify God as a result.

So, in that sense, prophecy is a sign for unbelievers because they can understand your language.

They understand what you're talking about at that point.

So that's what I see here in this passage is the goal and the importance is understanding.

I am not aware of a situation where somebody was speaking in tongues, where it was speaking to the Lord in a prayer language, the wonderful works of God, an unbeliever coming in and going, I need Jesus.

Maybe that happens, maybe it does, but as a whole, it would be kind of one of those, like, based on what?

What did how does that happen?

However, if the Lord is speaking through somebody to that person directly in a language they know and understand, in that context, they can be brought to either conviction, to encouragement, to bring about glory to God and bring about repentance.

On the other side here, if somebody is speaking, as we saw in Acts 2, in tongues, in an intelligible language that's not their own, that a person understands and hears the marvelous works of God, as we saw in Acts 2, that may bring about repentance, which is awesome.

And for the church body, it brings about exhortation and conviction for one another.

Because we bought into the head being Christ as we're looking to elevate the whole body.

But the key of this, the goal of this is edification, is the other being built up, not just yourself.

So that that's what we that's our big takeaway is don't hoard fixtures.

Looking at the uh looking at the store setup thing.

It's okay to do what the Lord's gifted you in and to do well, that's good.

Also think about everybody involved too and how it benefits others.

And the example we have is Jesus, because Jesus being God and yet taking the likeness of humanity and coming as a man and suffering despite being sinless and being crucified is not for his own benefit.

It is for us and for the purpose of.

Our salvation.

And that is the goal here.

Absolutely.

That is the goal.

And to be conformed to his image and to be transformed to his image.

And that involves thinking of others.

So this passage is an interesting one because it's basically the conceptual stuff that leads to the application stuff next week.

So it's a two-parter.

It's like one of those things where they had a movie and unnecessarily split it into two different movies.

We necessarily did that because otherwise it would be a long day with that, but ultimately we did part one, and it's leading to a dun dun dun, stay tuned.

And then you come back and you get the application part of that next week.

Something that's very, very important, though, to remember.

In 1 Thessalonians 5.2, Paul says, don't despise prophecies.

And then he says, test all things.

So I've been very clear that prophecy here is edifying one another, speaking to one another, encouraging one another, convicting one another.

All of that needs to be tested against the word of God.

Always, always, always, no matter who it is speaking, no matter who it is giving it, that needs to be put under and submitted to the Word of God because that gets really, really messy otherwise.

Prophecies that are kind of forth telling, those are really easy because you just wait and see what happens, and if it doesn't happen, it clearly wasn't true.

Things that are your somebody is speaking into your life.

Be careful, be wise, and yet be willing, if that makes sense, to take it to the Lord and get wise counsel on that as well.

Because we do we do function as a body, but we're not Jesus.

Turns out.

And so sometimes we we don't do things right.

And ultimately, so therefore, don't despise these things, whether it's tongues, whether it's prophecy, don't uh reject it all right.

Basically, if if someone's been hurt, the temptation is to reject it outright.

I don't want anything to do with all these different things, and I want to stay away.

That's not the right answer, but at the same time, just being open to everything is really unwise as well.

The goal here is to build up the whole body, to have a house that's functioning and solid, good foundation, solid walls built for the glorification of the Lord.

And then just in conclusion, just asking, what would build up a building and what would tear it down?

What do we do that builds up?

What do we do that tears down?

And so we may look, we might look for the easy answers, especially in this day and age.

We want to say, well, if something's encouraging, it builds up, and if something is discouraging, it builds down.

That is fiction.

Sometimes things are encouraging that are cancer to our souls.

Sometimes things are discouraging that are soul crushing and don't bring about health.

It's more complicated than that.

So weigh all things with that, but also ultimately here, prioritizing others, building up others is the key here, and that will function in the way that the Lord intended that.

Doing so with understanding, not with I need to express myself here, this is my expression, but rather submitting to the Lord in that and doing it by his spirit.

Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you for today.

I thank you that you are good, that you are righteous and holy, and I thank you that you are our head, and that we can look to you and look to your example.

I I thank you that you have set that example of setting yourself aside and loving us to the point of giving up your rights and responsibilities and freedoms, your expression, and submitting yourself to the point of death, even death on the cross, even in your innocence, taking our guilt upon you.

I ask, Lord, that we would do the same for one another for your glory, that we would uh lay down our lives for one another, that we would lay down our rights for one another, that we would seek the well being of others and not just our own.

Lord, you are wise beyond all knowing and understanding, beyond all comprehension.

Help us to stick close to you and keep our eyes on you, the author and finisher of our faith.

In your name.

Amen.