1 Cor 14:1-39 | Aug 23, 2026 | Will Rutt

Morning.

Couldn't agree more with what Caleb said at the end that we can sing, I trust in God.

My Savior reigns.

He will never fail.

And we trust him because of what he's already done on the cross and in the resurrection.

And I'm just I'm thankful for the time that we have together to be able to sing that together with each other.

Because when we sing that bridge, I don't know if I don't know if you change the words of the songs as you sing, like I do, but that bridge, I sought the Lord, and he heard, and he answered.

And a lot of us have a story where you'd go, I sought the Lord, and he heard, and he didn't answer.

Or maybe he didn't answer the way you're asking.

He said no.

Maybe you have that story or one of those stories I do.

And it's it's good for my heart to sing it with you guys.

And the way of kind of changed it, just singing it there is I sought the Lord and he heard, he didn't answer.

Yet still I trust him.

Yet still I trust him.

Because he may say no to what I ask, but what he has said yes to is a redemption that he accomplished on the cross when he said, It is finished, and then rose again.

And we sing that together.

We come to worship.

God has plans for his church, and that's what we get to see in 1 Corinthians 14.

We get to see God's heart for his church, and the church, what happens in the gathering of the saints.

This is what 1 Corinthians 14 is about.

It's about tongues and it's about prophecy.

And so get ready, because we're going to get into it.

But I don't want us to miss what it's actually about.

And I hope that there's going to come a point this morning where we go, okay, I see that 1 Corinthians 14, yeah, it's about tongues.

Yeah, it's about prophecy.

Yes, I have a biblical sort of framework for understanding these, but I want us to see what 1 Corinthians 14 is actually about in a deeper way, because I think it's really going to be instructive and helpful for us as we gather as a body each week.

We know what God wants to do here.

That's what 1 Corinthians 14 is about, and we're going to see that.

So let's pray again, joining our hearts together.

Father, we understand this morning that if any good thing happens, it's going to be because you do it.

I'm convinced of that.

So we're asking you to do it.

Use what we have to do, what we can't.

We open our hearts to you, asking you to be our teacher.

That truth would be clear and understood in our hearts.

That our minds and hearts would be united, it would work together, that you would bring conviction, and that conviction would lead to worship.

In your name of pray.

Amen.

We're going to jump right into chapter 14.

We know that chapters 11 through 14 are all about the gathered worship service.

Okay, chapter 11, head coverings in communion, chapters 12 and 14 about spiritual gifts with love in the middle, and that's actually how chapter 14 kicks off.

Chapter 14, verse 1.

Pursue love.

Yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

Okay, so we're he wants the church to desire something, spiritual gifts.

But he also wants the church to pursue something.

What does he say?

Pursue what?

Love.

Pursue love.

Pursue it.

When a giftedness without love can actually be pretty pretty dangerous in a church.

I just tried to think a little bit about what happens when a gifted person uses their spiritual gift without love.

Where does that lead?

When a gifted speaker speaks and love is absent, where does that lead?

Manipulation.

When love is absent from a gifted leader, that leads to narcissism.

When love is absent from a gifted evangelist, it leads to a person who's more driven by numbers than souls.

When love is absent from a gifted teacher, then the person is going to be more interested in giving a good talk than helping people.

When love is absent from a gifted servant, gifted servants become embittered helpers.

When love is absent from gifted givers, givers become lobbyists.

I'll give to you.

By the way, when gifted pastors operate without love, they become bulldozers.

And as we're just going into chapter 14, it was a helpful reminder to me.

Pursue love.

He said, he was speaking to pastors, and he goes, Hey, nobody will care that you're godly if you're gifted.

And he was saying that as an indictment to the church.

If you're gifted enough, people will kind of uh giftedness will cover a multitude of sins, so to speak.

And that cannot be the case in the church.

Pursue love.

I was convicted by this, but I'll come back to that later.

But I know we started with prayer, but this was convicting enough, and I'll tell you why later, uh, that I wanted to re pray this over us again, that we would pursue love, that we would be marked by love.

We will be marked by love.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another.

And I just want to pray that that would be true of this body of Christ here.

Father, we need, I mean, this verse says to desire spiritual gifts, but to pursue love.

We don't want to employ our gifts in the absence of love.

That would be an ugly church.

We don't want that.

Let us be known by our love.

In your name I pray.

Amen.

Um, with love on our minds, want to remind you, some of us weren't here when we rolled out some ways to employ our gifts in love.

We have one body, Christ's body, that's who we are.

We have one body repairs.

That's a that's a team who said, Hey, put me in.

I want to be able to meet the needs of the body by just joining a repair team.

So when there's needs, those needs get met in terms of repairs, especially for our singles, for our widows, who just want to look out for each other.

That's what love does.

Pursue that.

One body cooks.

If there's uh a time that we can provide meals, that's what that team is for.

One body visits.

One of the greatest ministries that we can give each other is the ministry of presence.

That's what that is.

That's a team who says, hey, if there's a chance to visit, put me in.

I'm ready to go.

That's what love does.

One body gives, that's a fund that you can give to that is specifically for meeting needs in the body.

We just rolled it out.

Um I'm thankful that we have um close to$2,000 in there now, and that fund is you can just click on give, and it's the one body gives that is for meeting needs in the body.

And I'm just really I'm thankful for that's what love does.

So just wanted to uh flag that up if you weren't here when we said those things.

So thankful for the responsiveness this church has had to those things.

All right, let's go to verse two and five, two through five.

We're gonna get into the meaty stuff.

We're gonna get into the whole tongues and prophecy, all the questions, and uh it's probably gonna be true that I'm not gonna answer whatever question you have about tongues and prophecy.

Part of that is I want to keep the main thing the main thing, but it if you do have questions that don't get answered here, please send them in, and Adam and I will talk about them in the podcast.

So do care about your questions and do want to think about those things, whatever you have on your mind.

All right, verse two.

For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God.

For no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries.

But the one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.

One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but one who prophesies edifies the church.

Now I wish you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy.

And greater is the one who prophesies than the one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets.

Here's why.

So that the church may receive edifying.

Prophecy and tongues.

The entire chapter is a contrast, it's a comparison and contrast between the two.

So let's let's think about this and try to get a biblical understanding of what tongues is and what prophecy is.

Okay?

That's what this chapter.

Ultimately, it's not about these things, but it's kind of about these things.

Prophecy and tongues.

Tongues is the God-given ability to speak in a language unknown to the speaker and sometimes unknown to the hearer.

Okay, it's the God-given ability to speak in a language unknown to the speaker.

So we see tongues in five different chapters in the Bible, two different books, Acts and 1 Corinthians.

Okay, tongues is uh we see it in Acts 2, we see it in Acts 2 in Acts 10, we see it in Acts 19, we see it in 1 Corinthians 12 and 1 Corinthians 14.

Okay, this is where we can read about tongues happening in the Bible.

We know that in some times, like Acts 2, when the apostles are proclaiming the gospel at Pentecost, that they are speaking, and the people are hearing them in their own native dialect.

In that case, we have them speaking in a language that they don't know, and that but the hearer, they understand it.

They don't need a sort of a third-party interpreter.

What's he saying?

Okay?

That's Acts 2.

It doesn't say if there was an interpreter needed in Acts 10 and 19, but in 1 Corinthians 14, we're absolutely dealing with tongues that are unknown both to the speaker and to the hearer.

And so what there's really a third gift that he brings up in the chapter, and that is someone who has the gift of interpretation.

His tongues is the God-given ability to speak in a language unknown to the speaker, and sometimes unknown to the hearer.

What is prophecy?

Prophecy is the God-given ability to say things by God's prompting that could not otherwise be said.

We're going to see this verse in context in a second, uh, but I want you to go to verse 24 with me, because I want you to see where I got that from.

He says, But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all.

And watch, this is what happens through prophecy.

The secrets of his heart are disclosed.

So he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.

Okay, so what whatever prophecy is, and there's lots of different thoughts.

Is prophecy preaching or is it something else?

Here's what I think from that verse.

It's the ability to say something by God's prompting that you would not otherwise say.

When we think prophecy, we tend to think future telling.

And it can be that.

That happens actually in the book of Acts, that kind of prophecy.

But I think what's the predominant use of prophecy isn't so much future telling, but just truth telling.

It's to be able to say true things by God's prompting that you wouldn't otherwise say.

To be able to, what he says, disclose the secrets of a person's heart.

It's just to say true things by God's prompting that wouldn't otherwise be said.

So this is we got prophecy, we got tongues, and uh so they're different.

They are similar in some ways, they are similar in that they're both speaking gifts, and they're both similar in that they are for the purpose of edification.

But the direction of that edification is is different between the two.

Okay, I just want to make sure that we this is kind of foundational to understanding tongues and prophecy.

So I want to read the two uh the those verses again so we can see the direction.

Uh we're gonna see, just so you can kind of look for it, tongues is vertical between the believer and God, and prophecy is horizontal from the believer to the believer.

Let's we just want to read these verses again so we can see.

For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God.

Okay, do you see the direction there?

It's vertical.

For no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries.

Okay, so that's vertical.

Verse 3 but one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.

So prophecy goes horizontal.

Okay?

Prophecy horizontal to men, tongues vertical to God.

Which one's better?

Well, in verse 5 it says, now I wish you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy.

Greater is the one who prophesies than the one who speaks in tongues.

Uh so the value, they're similar in that they both have value.

Uh, but one has more value.

Which one has more value?

Prophecy.

Why does prophecy have more value in the church?

Because it edifies the church.

So I said that this chapter, it's about prophecy, it's about tongues, but it's really about something else.

And this is what it's about it's about the edification of the church.

I want to show us that so you can just make sure I'm not just making stuff up here.

Okay?

Let's go to verse 5.

We're gonna read a couple different verses throughout the chapter.

Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy.

And greater is the one who prophesies than the one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying.

This is God's heart for the church to be edified.

Verse 6.

But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, what will I profit you?

That's like, how will I build you up?

Unless I speak to you either by way of revelation or knowledge.

Or okay, go to verse 12.

So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church.

Go to verse 17.

For you're giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified.

That's that's in tongues.

I think, God, I speak in tongues more than you all.

However, in the church, I desire to speak five more five words with my mind, so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words with a tongue.

Go to verse 26.

What is the outcome then, brethren?

When you assemble, okay, so we're talking about the church gathering.

Each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation.

Let all things be done for edification.

If you have a kid and kids right now, and uh they say, What'd you guys talk about in church today?

Here's what Paul talked about in 1 Corinthians 14.

The edification of the church.

What is edification?

Well, actually, I think ESV doesn't use that word, it just defines the word, it translates the word.

Builds up.

God's heart.

God's heart is for the building up of the church.

In what way?

You don't need to turn there, but I do want to read Ephesians 4, because Ephesians 4 helps uh give some concrete thoughts and language to if God's heart is for the building up of the church, what is it building towards?

Are we trying to, is it building towards more buildings?

Is it building towards greater impact?

Is it what is it building towards?

What is God's heart for in terms of the edification of the church?

Ephesians 4.

Talking about spiritual gifts, says this.

Go to verse 11.

Sorry, I told you not to turn.

Now I'm just like waiting for you to turn.

He gave some as apostles and some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers.

Here's why, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.

Here's what he's building to, verse 13.

Until we all attain the unity of faith, the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature, which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

This is what God's heart for in this church is.

To build this church up into the measure of the stature, which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

This is what he wants to.

This is what he wants to do in our church.

He wants to grow Christ-like maturity.

We as a body of Christ, we grow in conformity and in proportion to our head, Jesus Christ.

So that when we're talking about like building up the church, I just want to make sure we're really clear on what God's heart for that is.

God's heart for the church is Christ-like maturity.

God's heart for the church is to fill the seats.

Christ-like maturity.

God's heart is for global impact?

Well, yeah.

But how's that gonna happen?

We just can't skip the steps here.

Christ-like maturity.

That his church would pursue love, and that love would express itself in patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

This is God's heart for the church.

Christ-like maturity.

Christ-like maturity is a beautiful thing, and it glorifies God.

We got to have um this is a cool time yesterday.

We invited people who came to our power-up club to our house yesterday, and uh just for a little kind of thing, little party.

And we invited some of the people who helped host, we had Bev Norman there, and we invited some of the um the students who helped who came and did the club.

And what I got to see yesterday in our students in in Bev, so we got like everyone from kids through prime timers at our house yesterday.

I got to see Christ-like maturity of two high schoolers who could have been doing lots of different things on a Saturday night, running around my yard nonstop with the same level of energy and enthusiasm and intentionality as happens during the club just in my front yard last night.

And that and um one of the one of the moms who we were talking to, she goes, How old are they?

And here's what I just know was behind that question.

What's happening here?

Are they getting paid right now?

I literally thought, I thought you can make a business out of this, like power-up club birthday parties.

Like, just get what's going on right now?

How old are they?

Senior in high school?

What?

Christ-like maturity.

This is how God wants to build up his church.

God's heart is for the building up of the church.

This is what 1 Corinthians 14 is about.

And the whole chapter is him making a case as to why prophecy is better than tongues for building up the church in Christ-like maturity.

That's what that's that's what the chapter is about.

Now, um, why did they need this?

Why did they need to hear that prophecy is better than tongues in terms of building up the church, edifying a church towards Christ like maturity?

Uh, a couple reasons.

One, because for them, it appears that tongues was a way to kind of spiritually flex a little bit.

Look how awesome I speak in tongues.

It was a way to flex.

And it was that the way he talked.

Talks about tongues being, we'll see it later, but he talks about praying in his spirit and it being vertical, that the church gathering had been so much about, well, the I that we keep bringing out.

The I, the I.

And this is, I think, where nobody here has came to church ready to flex with how you're gonna speak in tongues here.

But I do think that a lot of us came thinking, okay, what am I gonna get?

What am I gonna hear?

How am I going to be encouraged?

How is this going to be life-giving for me?

And they kind of had me, me, me, me, me, me on their mind in the church.

And Paul's going, hey, God's heart is for the church to be built up towards Christ-like maturity.

And they needed to hear how prophecy is gonna be better than tongues for that.

And I think we need we need it for the same reason.

We need to hear why prophecy was helpful in terms of building up the church and why it was better than tongues.

And I do think this is instructive for us.

The the 1 Corinthians 14, there is no shortage of debates about and thoughts and opinions and theologies around these.

Sandhurst has historically upheld, we we upheld the belief that the sign gifts, like miracles, tongues, healings, that those were given by God to saints in the time of the apostles to authenticate the message.

And now God, and now they ceased with the time of the apostles as the normative way that God gifts his people.

Okay, I know that was kind of like a technical sentence, but we've upheld the belief that this is no longer the normative way that God gifts his people.

However, all of us here believe Psalm 115.

And that is this our God is in the heavens.

He does, do we know this verse?

Whatever he pleases.

Psalm 115.3.

Our God is in the heavens, he does whatever he pleases.

All of us agree with Psalm 77, 14.

You are the God who performs miracles.

You display your power among the peoples.

So to say what I said that we have uh taken the position that these gifts were given to authenticate the gospel message and have ceased as the normative way that God gives his people is not to say that we deny miracles.

In fact, we are a church who seeks and prays for miracles on a weekly basis.

And because there is no greater miracle, no greater miracle than the miracle of God taking a heart that is dead in sin, and by the power of his Holy Spirit through the proclamation of the gospel, making that heart go.

New life, salvation by grace through faith in Jesus.

This is the greatest miracle that we can that is a greater miracle than tongues, prophecy, it's it's a greater miracle than any healing we could ever see.

This, these are the kinds of miracles.

So I want you to hear me.

We believe God works miracles.

And we're praying for it.

And we're not gonna put God in a box.

So, prophecy in tongues.

Here's the whole chapter.

Prophecy is greater than tongues because prophecy edifies the church.

And what we're gonna see as we go through is prophecy is greater than tongues because prophecy edifies the church, and the church is edified when here's what we're gonna see.

All right, 1 Corinthians 14.

Let's go.

I I hope this is as helpful for you as it has been for me.

1 Corinthians 14, verse 6.

1 Corinthians 14:6

But now, brethren, I come to you, if I come to you speaking in tongues, what will I profit you unless I speak to you either by way of revelation or of knowledge or of prophecy or of teaching?

Yet even lifeless things, either flute or harp, and producing a sound, if they do not produce a distinction in the tones, how will it be known what is played on the flute or the harp?

So you give two instruments, he's gonna throw in a third.

For if the bugle produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for battle?

So also you, unless you utter by the tongue speech that is clear, how will it be known what is spoken?

For you will be speaking into the air.

There are perhaps a great many kinds of languages in the world, and no kind is without meaning.

Meaning, if then I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be to the one who speaks a barbarian, and the one who speaks will be a barbarian to me.

So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church.

Okay, so prophecy is greater than tongues because prophecy edifies the church, and the church is edified when well, look what did he just say?

He said, when you are speaking in tongues, you're producing indistinct sounds, and nobody knows what you're saying.

And he says, and when you do that, you are to one another barbarians.

Maybe your Bible says foreigners.

But I think the word barbarian is kind of interesting because uh onomonopoeia.

Remember that when we were kids?

You just love onomonopeia.

Boom, smack.

This word barbarian is like onomonopoeia in in the sense that it was a Greek word, barbarian.

It's it's a person who sounds like barbar bar.

That's that's literally a barbarian is someone who sounds like that.

Barbar barbar barbar barber barbar bar.

And it's going when you're speaking in tongues, you may be speaking, you are speaking to God, but to one another, you're just bar, bar, barbar, barbar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar.

And that doesn't edify the church because the church is edified when truth, this is so simple, when truth is understood.

When truth is understood.

This in each of the things that we're gonna see about prophecy and why it's greater than tongues in terms of edifying the church, I think we're gonna hopefully feel a sense of ownership and responsibility and a sense of inability and therefore dependence.

Okay?

For all of us, when we first heard the gospel, the gospel sounded like bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar to us.

And earlier in the book, Paul said, the gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing.

Bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar.

But what edifies the church is when God allows what was bar, bar, bar, bar to sink into our hearts where we go, I feel like I've never heard this before.

I get it now.

Maybe you have that moment.

When I was in sixth grade, I had understood the gospel like this.

This is the part that made sense to me.

This is the part that didn't sound like bar, bar, bar, bar, bar to me.

Uh, that Jesus died on the cross to save me from my sins.

I understood that.

But the whole resurrection stuff sounded a little bit like bar, bar, bar, bar, bar.

Like, I know it's important that he rose.

Just don't ask me why.

But that's that's next week with how will be taking us through 1 Corinthians 15 next week.

But in in uh sixth grade, I was actually on a college retreat that I was just happy, I was just lucky to be to be on that retreat.

My dad was speaking.

And in teaching Romans 6, the resurrection, the new life went from bar, bar, bar, bar bar bar.

Whoa, what?

Whoa, what?

What shall we say?

Like, um, what am I trying to say?

I'm saying the truth was understood.

And the church is edified when truth is understood.

And it's the work of the Holy Spirit to make words that are bar bar sink into our hearts.

So in sixth grade, I memorized Romans 6.

What shall we say then?

Should we continue in sin so the grace may increase?

May it never be.

How shall we have died to sin?

Continue to live in it.

What sixth grader memorizes Romans 6?

There's an answer.

The one whom God gave, made truth clear to.

So for any of us in here, if you're a teacher, equipping class, um, life group, one of our kids' ministry teachers, student ministry, here's a responsibility that I want to exhort us to to work hard to make truth clear.

And like to work hard at it.

Uh, well, they're just kids.

They're kids who need the gospel.

Work hard to make it clear.

And and then do it dependence in dependence on the Lord, going, God, as clear as I can be, it's only gonna be bar, bar, bar, bar, bar until you give understanding and make truth understood in their hearts.

So the church is edified when the truth is understood.

That gives responsibility to be clear, it gives dependence on the Lord.

I can't do what must be done to open their hearts.

God only you can.

Would you do it?

Would you do it?

Church is edified when truth is understood.

He's gonna make the same point in the next few verses, uh, but with a special little um emphasis that I found convicting.

Uh verse 13, we're gonna read through 19.

Therefore, let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret.

For if I pray in a tongue, my mo my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

This this is why some people will understand pr tongues as a prayer language based on that verse.

Verse 13.

Therefore, let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret.

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

What is the outcome then?

I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the mind also.

I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the mind also.

Otherwise, if you bless it in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the ungifted say the amen at the giving of thanks?

Since he does not know what you're saying, because it's just bar, bar, bar, bar.

For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified.

And God's heart is for the edification of his church.

Christ like maturity, verse 18.

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

However, in the church, I desire to speak five words with my mind, so that it may instruct others also, rather than 10,000 words in a tongue.

So prophecy is better because it joins two things.

And what are the two things that he repeatedly said?

It joins the spirit and the mind.

And some of us in here are very heady, and some of us have our feely, and the body is built.

Christ-like maturity happens when worshipers can worship, as Jesus said, in spirit and in truth.

Some of us, I think Christ-like maturity would go, Lord, I need the truth to sink into my spirit.

Some of us need to go, Lord, I need this to become more grounded in conviction.

And that will lead to Christ-like maturity.

The church is edified when truth is understood, when the spirit and the mind are equally engaged.

And here's the next one.

Verse 20.

We're gonna read through verse 25.

Brethren, do not be children in your thinking, yet in evil be infants.

Infants and evil, man, that we don't have time to talk about it, but that's that builds the church.

But in your thinking be mature.

And the law it is written, by men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers, I will speak to this people.

And even so, they will not listen to me.

That is re referring to judgment.

God prophesying judgment on the people in Isaiah 28.

Verse 22.

So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers.

But prophecy is for a sign, not to the unbelievers, but to those who believe.

Therefore, if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say you are mad?

And that happened in Acts 2, didn't it?

They were like, Are you all drunk?

And he's like, No, it's too early for that.

So what he said.

But it was it was the Spirit, obviously.

Verse 24, but if all prophesy and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, this is this is crucial here.

If all prophesy and an unbeliever or ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring, God is certainly among you.

Prophecy is better because it brings the secrets of our heart, it discloses them in a way that tongues couldn't do, and leads people to say, God is certainly among you.

The church is built in Christ-like maturity when conviction leads to worship.

The word that he says, He is convicted, he is called to account, the secrets of his heart are disclosed.

Where does that lead?

That can lead in a couple different directions at this point.

Okay?

But this is, have you ever been in uh like here in the Bible taught um maybe at church on the Sunday, and felt like he's talking to me right now?

How does he know?

I promised last I was at one of the prayer day things, and I was like, I think that boy's talking to me right now.

You have that sense?

Here's what I believe is happening in that prophecy.

That God, unbeknownst to the speaker, is disclosing the secrets of your heart, bringing conviction, calling them to account.

And then that now you have options.

But the church is built when that conviction, calling to account the secret, disclosing the secrets of the heart, then leads to what?

What does he say?

Fall on your face and worship.

The church is built when conviction leads to worship.

But conviction doesn't always lead to worship.

Conviction of sin, when I see my sin, it may lead to worship.

But we all know very well it can also lead to pity.

And then just kind of giving up detachment.

And talk about pursuing love.

Some of us, maybe you can relate, go, I've heard so much about this whole love thing.

I've heard all the sermons about husbands, love your wives.

Um, but I come to church and I hear all this pursue love stuff, and I just understand who I'm called to be, Christ-like maturity.

I understand who I am, and I'm done trying.

But this is not what prophecy and conviction is intended to do.

The conviction is a real good gift of the Holy Spirit, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, in terms of our the conviction of sin, is to make us do this.

To to turn our eyes to Jesus and worship.

This is the point, this is why prophecy is better than tongues, and this is when the church grows, when the Holy Spirit brings conviction, and then uh in the upper room we talked about this, the Holy Spirit then testifies of Jesus, saying, His grace is sufficient for those who are in Christ, no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

So um with I experienced conviction yesterday, and it was just it's just good, it's just unpleasant.

You know, um, we were, like I said, having the people who came to our power-up club over to our house.

And I'm always thinking about like, why are we doing this?

Why are we doing this?

Why are we doing this?

Like, I'm always thinking about why.

And so I'm just trying to answer myself, and I'm like, okay, we are doing this because we don't want um power-up clubs to just be an event thing.

We want it to be a ministry thing.

If it's a ministry thing, it's a life thing.

We want a strategic of a strategic sort of um attempt to advance the gospel.

I'm like coming up with all these things.

I'm like, well, why am I doing this?

Why am I doing this?

And then I'm uh just in my mind I'm thinking about 1 Corinthians 14, and I just went back to chapter 14, verse 1, which says what?

Chapter 14, verse 1 says, make sure that you make strategic attempts to advance the gospel after the event, because if you don't, you're probably slacking.

Um, but that's me.

1 Corinthians 14 1 says, pursue love.

I was convicted about that yesterday.

And uh hope, and I believe it happened.

That the conviction of the Holy Spirit led me back to God.

I don't want to be a person who's just always trying to make something happen.

How about I just show love Christ-like maturity?

And then I think yesterday my heart was actually really full and just being able to be set free a little bit from trying to make sure it's uh meets some criteria of what I would call success, and just be able to sit and talk and show love and let love be enough because you know what?

That's Christ-like maturity.

I was convicted by that yesterday.

Conviction is a gift that of the Holy Spirit to turn our eyes to Jesus, the grace that is sufficient because of Jesus to say, you are forgiven.

And the grace of God and the gospel to say, not only are you forgiven, that God has poured forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba Father, so I have all that God is in me.

I have everything I need for life and for godliness.

And so anytime in the service, when you kind of feel the conviction of who God has called you to be, versus, and then you kind of look in the mirror and be like, uh.

And you sense in yourself self-pity or detachment.

Here we go again.

Just kind of being confronted with everything I'm supposed to be that I'm not.

Let the Holy Spirit turn your eyes and remember why the pedestal is under that cross.

We preach Christ the crucified.

It is finished.

When Jesus said that, we are declaring and we are believing that somehow in some way he took my sin.

And his righteousness is credited to my account, and I have everything I need.

This is the gift of the Spirit and how the church is edified through prophecy in a way that it's not in tongues.

Hope that conviction will lead to worship.

And just real practically with that, I know that it's good then that when we teach, how do we usually end with a song?

And I know that that can kind of feel like a little bit of like checkout time, get my kids out of the kids' ministry so I can kind of be first in the line, beat the lunch line, whatever.

Um, I know they can feel in us, but man, I and I I get that.

But it's actually a great practice for us to, at the end of every service, to go the service.

This is we're not just Doing this because we don't know a better way to end.

We're doing this because the conviction of God's Spirit is intended to point us back to the cross, the empty tomb, and fall on our face and worship and go, God is certainly at work here.

I long for that.

I long for that.

To be part of a church where we go, God is certainly among us.

This is how the church is built.

So up to this point, he's been making this case for why tongue for why prophecy is better than tongues.

And if I've said that backwards now, I apologize.

But prophecy is better than tongues in terms of edifying the church.

And now he's going to give instructions for how tongues and prophecy should be exercised in the church.

He's going to give instructions.

And here's what's a little bit weird about the instructions is we gotta you you kind of infer the problems that are needing to be corrected based on the instructions that he gives.

And it's gonna give us a little bit of a window into what this Corinthian church was like.

And in one word, it's chaos.

And the instruction that he's going to give in one word is order.

And the purpose of the order is for the edification of the church, the building up of the church, and in one particular way, and that is gonna be this the highlighting of the word of God to a group of people who did not have the New Testament.

Let's see.

We're gonna get a little window into uh this is kind of like the what they might have on the I'm new of their website.

Verse 26.

What is the outcome then, brethren?

When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation.

Let all things be done for edification.

If anyone speaks in a tongue, here are the instructions.

It should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn and one must interpret.

But if there's no one to interpret, he must keep silent in the church, and let him speak to himself and to God.

There it is again, vertical.

Okay, so here's some instructions.

Uh when it comes to speaking tongues in the church, here's what he says: two and at the most three in turn, and um and if there's and there must be an interpreter.

If there's not an interpreter, what do the what do the people need to do?

Be silent.

So if you've been part of a church or if you've seen things on YouTube that was not that, then that was outside of biblical instruction.

That's not how it's supposed to be.

It does give us a window into what was must be happening.

If he says two at the most three in turn with an interpreter, you kind of get a sense of what it would be like to walk into the church in Corinth.

And a bunch of bar, bar, bar, bar, bar happening at the same time without interpretation, and it's chaos.

And here's what he says unless there's an interpreter, you need to keep silent.

Why?

Why?

Because the order is going to give undivided attention to the word of God coming from a person in a church that did not have the New Testament written.

There's other instructions.

Now he talked about instructions for tongues, now he's going to talk about instructions for prophecy.

Verse 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment.

But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent.

For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted.

And the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.

For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

So the instruction for prophecy is similar to the instruction for tongues.

And that is two at the most three in turn while the others are passing judgment.

And it's always good for us to be evaluating whenever somebody is sharing truth from here or anywhere to go.

Is this true?

Is that true?

Okay?

But two at the most three in turn.

And if one is talking, then the others must keep silent.

He says the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets.

In other words, you can't just say, oh, I couldn't help myself.

No.

You can help yourself.

And here's why.

Order that he says would lead to the learning and exhortation of all.

Trying to give an order that would give undivided attention to the Word of God in a time when they did not have the New Testament.

So we got a picture of what it'd be like to walk into their church service.

Lots of bar, bar, bar, and lots of people trying to prophesy.

It just sounds.

It reminds me honestly of the any like uh movie or commercial that's trying to show a family having a happy family dinner.

And it's like everybody's talking at the same time and passing stuff at the same time, and it looks like loving, but I just imagine being there, it's like everybody's talking, nobody's listening or eating.

There's just all these patches, just chaos.

That's kind of what the church would have been like here, according to the instructions.

He gives one other piece of instruction.

It might be a little bit jarring at first, but when we see the flow of thought, then I think we can be um not as jarred.

Okay, verse 34.

The women are to keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the law also says.

If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.

Was it from you that the word of God first went forth, or has it come to you only?

Um, okay, so at first it's like, what in the world?

Women are supposed to be silent?

Okay, two reasons why that is uh why women are not supposed to be silent in the church.

Reason number one, uh, 1 Corinthians 11, for as hard as that whole head covering chapter was, here's what it was.

It was giving instructions for how women were to pray and prophesy in the church.

And they were supposed to do it with a head covering.

So if 1 Corinthians 11 is telling us how it should happen, then 1 Corinthians 14 cannot simultaneously then be saying, no words, no peep.

Okay?

So uh 1 Corinthians 11 says how women are to pray and prophesy.

Second reason why that he can't be saying women aren't allowed to like just say anything in church is because that would be applying a different logic to women than was applied to those speaking tongues and those uh prophesying.

That in all in with both and tongues and prophecy, part of the instruction is one should be happening at a time, and the rest should what?

Keep silent.

Keep silent.

So it gives us a window into what's happening in the church in terms of lots of lots of tongues happening at the same time, lots of prophecy happening at the same time, and it would seem that lots of um objecting and questioning happening at during the church service, and he's going, hey, just like uh the the tongues and prophecies should be silent during while one person is talking, hey, ladies, save your questions and objections till the end of the service and ask your husband at home.

Okay, so uh I think the the New Testament, well, we can read about like Philip, he had four daughters who were prophetesses, and uh there's just there's good reason to see in the New Testament that women aren't supposed to come in and just shut their mouths the whole time.

That's not what he's saying.

The point is order for the upholding of the word of God for a church who didn't have the New Testament so that the church can be edified.

Okay, so um I know that was a lot.

Where does this leave us?

I don't want to miss what he says twice, and that is desire earnestly that you may prophesy.

So I want to go back to what is prophecy and and how can that happen here?

Okay, I I believe prophecy is saying things by God's prompting that you wouldn't otherwise say, but I want you to ask us to caution us uh not to try to make things up.

Okay, if you go back to verse three, this this is this is our guide for prophecy in the church.

Verse three but one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and comfort.

Edific to build up or encouragement and comfort.

Here's what prophecy can be like here.

It can be trying to be sensitive to God's spirit and say, How can I speak exhortation?

How can I speak encouragement?

How can I speak comfort here and now?

Please don't take stabs in the dark about what might be happening in somebody's life.

That I had that happened a few weeks ago.

Somebody comes to me, I feel like I have a word of knowledge for you.

And it was annoyingly wrong.

It's just and I was like, really?

Just kind of taking a stab in the dark about what was um about something I was struggling with.

I was like, nope, don't do that.

But to to be sensitive to God's spirit, God, would you help me to give encouragement and comfort by your prompting and and let that be building up the church in Christ's likeness?

So that's one.

Uh the second thing, where does all this leave us?

To be a church that makes ourselves part of an edifying church and to lean on the Lord for it.

To come to church going, Lord, this isn't just a vertical.

You want to build your church in Christ's likeness.

And part of what that's gonna incorporate is truth being understood.

So, so here's our prayer.

Church, here's here's our prayer.

Whenever somebody starts speaking, in whatever environment you're in, that you would go, Lord, I understand that the person on the stage is not the main teacher.

Teach me, Lord.

Give me a Romans 6 sort of moment, Lord.

Teach me, because the church is gonna be edified when truth is understood.

That's gonna happen by the Holy Spirit.

He's the main teacher.

We're gonna combine our hearts and our minds and depend on the Lord for it.

That's what we're gonna do with this.

Say, Lord, I don't want to be all heart and no head.

Don't want to be no head, no heart.

Lord, I want to worship in spirit and in truth.

Help me, Lord.

And we're gonna let conviction turn to worship.

This is what we do with 1 Corinthians 14.

Is it about tongues and prophecy?

Yeah.

Is it deeper than that?

It's about the building of the body, a Christ-like maturity.

Let's let the Holy Spirit perform these things in us and be diligent in our own worship for it.

So stand with me.

The conviction of our sin by the Holy Spirit would turn us back to the cross.

Let's sing together.