Good morning. You guys can open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. We are going to continue with this very difficult chapter, I'm going to say. Certainly, probably the most difficult one in this epistle. And we know last week, Pastor John kicked us off with the first five verses. So I want to always start with a little bit of a review. He brought some good things to our attention. I don't want to forget those things as we continue to study a larger portion today. We're going to do a larger portion. We originally were going to break this up in six. We're going to do it in four now. But if we look at this passage, There's a word that keeps sticking out as the most important in regards to spiritual gifts, and that word is what? What is that word? Huh? No, in regards to spiritual gifts. What is that important word that keeps sticking out, an important word that we need to keep in mind? Huh? No, that's important too. I guess I'm thinking of a different word. Edify. Edification, right? Edify means to build up. Some of your versions might have build up in place of edify. And if anyone still struggles with what that means, I'm going to say that to be edified or built up means that I am strengthened and encouraged and motivated to be more like Jesus and live this Christian life. Live this Christian life the way that He has called me to live this Christian life. That's what it means to be edified. And I would say that every time I am edified, I am more equipped than I was before that moment. Alright? At any given moment. Okay? I think that's an important concept. And the goal should be, every time we come to church, every time we wake up, is to be better than we were the next day. More in tune with God than we were the day before or the moment before. Okay? Let me actually pray now, because the review is going to be a little bit longer. So let me just pray now, and then I'll continue. Father, I do ask and pray for your strength this morning. I have no ability, Lord, in myself, so we are relying totally on your spirit to teach us, to help us, Father, to be with my mouth, Lord God, to be with our minds as we understand your word so that we can be more equipped to be better vessels for your glory. So I pray that you would do that and trust that you will in Jesus' name. Amen. Several things I want to just remind us of what John pointed out. He said first in the beginning that pursue and to desire something are two different words, right? To pursue carries a meaning of chasing after, and though they oftentimes go together, but desire is different, more like the word zealous, I would say. And I would say that to pursue is a stronger or more active word than to earnestly desire. And then he had mentioned He used the examples of helps and teaching, that as believers we know that we're all equipped with different spiritual gifts, but let's just say if we don't have the gift of helps, Pastor Johnson, it doesn't mean that we shouldn't desire to help, right? If we don't have the gift of teaching, not everyone has the gift of teaching, and yet at some level We should all desire to be able to teach accurately if the opportunity arises. There's always that trickle-down effect, right? There's always a time where we are going to be able to do any one of those spiritual gifts, even though we don't have the actual spiritual gift. Do you understand? So I think that's an important thing, and I really appreciate what he said. And this was actually in my heart a year ago, or over a year ago, before we even started this book. I knew we were going to get to this point, is that We certainly do not want to bash tongues, and that Paul is not bashing tongues in this chapter, okay? Yes, we know that I disagree with the way tongues is performed in other churches that have a different persuasion than we do, okay? I definitely disagree with that. I don't think it's right, and I still believe that way, but we do not wanna be unbalanced and then all of a sudden think that Tongues is just a horrible thing. It was legitimately a true spiritual gift. Paul would never bash something that was of the Lord, right? He would never do such a thing, right? So he does not want to bash tongues. But the tone of this passage is most certainly corrective in nature. So I believe he's trying to have them have the right understanding of how it's supposed to be. So again, as I was looking through this chapter, the last verse is a good verse that brings everything together so that we can have understanding. 1 Corinthians chapter 14. Verse 40 says, but all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner, because we serve a God that is a God of order. And that's a good verse that we can come back to to help us in our understanding as we go through this. So I believe that this section in Scripture is not so much about not doing, but rather doing correctly and doing what is most profitable. Pastor John mentioned again that sometimes it is about you, right? And he said that if there was ever a time that, was there ever a time that you spoke to God, and sir, if I'm ever misquoting you, please just step in, that it only benefited you. And we all know that. We all have times when we pray, it's just us by ourself in whatever moment that the only one that's being benefited is us, right? And concerning verse five, John paraphrased by saying, as far as what he thought Paul was trying to say, he said, I would love for you to have that constant relationship with God that only has to do with yourself. But that is not only what matters, because within the church, within the congregation of the church, when we come together, it's not just about you, it's about others as well. And we need to keep that in mind when we come together. And this is why I believe He wants them to desire prophecy above tongues. I do not believe that he's talking to them as individuals, but to them corporately as a whole body together. And what is better and more fruitful for the congregation is the proclamation of the word. Prophecy has to do with the proclamation of the word. So when you come together, you are no longer alone, but are speaking to men whenever you speak. Therefore, it must make sense and build up as every gift should. Right? And then... John spoke about being spiritually selfish, and I'm going to say in the positive sense, because there's a negative sense and a positive sense, right? The right sense, right? And spiritually selfish puts us in the best position to help and love others. So I would say the more in tune that I am with God, the better I am going to be to help my brothers and sisters, right? The better I am as a Christian when I'm by myself, when no one sees and only God sees, the better I am going to be when I'm together with you guys. And I think that's very important. So because tongues has to do with speaking, And speaking has to do with communication. The question you have to ask yourself is, are you being effective? Communication is always to be effective, right? Communication implies two-sidedness. It implies two-sidedness. It involves the giving, right? The receiving with the goal of mutual understanding. Right? That is the whole purpose of communication. If those things are not there, really you haven't communicated anything. Right? So again, I believe the reason for him saying greater is the man who prophecies is because that is more helpful for the church as a whole when they come together. He is not saying that a man who has been gifted with prophecy is greater than the man who has been gifted with tongues because that would fly in the face of everything he just said. It is the Spirit that appoints and gives gifts to each individual as He pleases. Right? So he's going to continue to talk on the importance of using our gifts for the edification of the body. And we're going to do today verses 6 to 19, but I'm just going to read verses 6 to 11. Right? Because I believe it's kind of breaking up here in two portions. All right? So let's read 1 Corinthians chapter 14. I'm going to read verses 6 to 19. And it says this, but now brethren, 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 in 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 on the harp? For if the bugle or trumpet 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. If then I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be to one who speaks a barbarian, and the one who speaks will be a barbarian to me. So let's first look here, number one, at what edification looks like, and I believe he says that in verse six. But now, brethren, 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? And I've said before that I believe edification can be summed up as being strengthened, encouraged, and motivated to be more like Jesus and live this Christian life the way He has called me to live it. Right? And we had said that edification is the key word in understanding all of this, right? The key word. Edification profits the church, okay? Edification profits the church. And one might ask, what things determine whether or not I have profited or not? And I think that's a question maybe we need to ask ourselves. I had to ask myself this. And whether or not one believes tongues is some kind of ecstatic gibberish or a real human language, guess what? It is still all gibberish if no one understands. I only understand English. I can understand maybe a little bit of any other language, but if I don't know the meaning of the language, it is going to be Greek. That's the trade. It's all Greek to me, right? It's going to be gibberish. And if no one has understanding, No one will profit unless it reveals truth and can be understood and can be taught. Amen? So very simply, if I start speaking in a language that none of you understands, all it would do is just irritate you. Because you're here to come and learn something and be edified and know what the other person is saying, especially if it's bringing honor and glory to the Lord. If we can't understand what we're saying, it doesn't make any sense when we're together as a body. Right? And then he goes on in verse 7, he says, yet even lifeless things, he's going to give, I'm sorry, number 2, he's going to give several illustrations. And I like this because as a teacher, sometimes the hardest thing for me to do is come up with an illustration. of what the scripture is talking about, but a lot of times the illustration is in the scripture themselves, so it kind of eliminates that kind of stress as a teacher to want to get an illustration. So here Paul gives several illustrations. Verse 7 says, Yet even lifeless things, either flute or harp in 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 on the harp? And I don't know what kind of musicians are here, but if you understand music, In a musical piece, any musical piece, instruments play different roles. Especially if you guys are familiar with the Baroque period, or the Classical period, or the Romantic period in music. A lot of our music today, that was foundational in the way that we do music now. Those periods, brilliant composers, in the Baroque period, brilliant composers in the Classical period, which was Haydn and like Mozart, and then Beethoven started that Romantic period, right? And oftentimes, a certain sound communicates something in the movement of the piece, whether it's happiness, sadness, or whatever, right? And certain instruments fit the role better than others, right? The flute has a softer sound than, say, the trumpet, okay? Different instruments communicate different things. Music itself is intelligible. It's not unintelligible, if that's even a word. It's intelligible. Verse 8 says, for if the bugle produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for battle? Again, now just using this example, it is speaking of something that is very crucial to the situation. Namely, the trumpet in this context is extremely important and lives could be at stake, right? When the trumpet blew, you knew that it would prepare you for something that was going to happen, whether going to battle or maybe even retreating, right? So it was very crucial. It communicated something in battle. So now after giving an illustration with instruments, he's now going to go back to them. He says this in verse 9. 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. Now, first thing, when I just think of speaking in the air, and sometimes I'll say this, when I'm praying and when we are praying, whether we're by myself or when we're praying together, we'll say, praise God, we are not just speaking in the air, we're speaking to a living, holy God who hears us, right? It's of use. So again, I can go down the road of trying to understand the distinction between the singular use of the word tongue and the plural. But I do not have to. So whether or not it is gibberish, which I don't think it is, or another language, if no one knows what I'm saying, it's all gibberish and useless to those who I'm speaking to. And also, though he is speaking to the congregation as a whole here, each individual can only speak one language at once, and that could be the use of the singular rather than the plural, okay? In other words, none of us here can speak two languages at once. Then you might be saying, you know, maybe people, especially if you've grown up in a house where you might have two languages, let's just take the word, you've heard that word, Spanglish, right? I speak Spanglish, right? It's not a different language. Spanglish means that you're saying some words in English and some words in Spanish in a phrase, okay? But you can't speak them both at the same time, right? So whoever is going to legitimately have this gift, they can only speak one language at a time. And if you are not clear, using his example, it'll be as if you were speaking into the air. In other words, it's absolutely useless because no one knows what you're saying. Then he says this in verse 10, there are perhaps a great many kinds of languages in the world, and no kind is without 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. So let's just stop here. Because in every single time when we're seeing that word tongue or tongues, even in other chapters, it's the word glossé in the Greek. Here, it's a different word for languages. And some people, that can bring confusion to a lot of people. So let's look at this. So, the word used for languages in these verses is the Greek word phone, where we get our word phone from, right? And it means voice or sound. Now, though, when we speak in whatever language that we speak, there is a voice and there's sound involved. But voice and sound is different than language, right? It's different than language. And interestingly enough, it is the same word used in verses 7 and 8 for sound in reference to the sound of each instrument. I didn't know that. I knew it was a different word here in languages, but looking back and going there, it's the same exact word. So I think that sound or voice is actually the better translation. There are a few versions that say that. But I understand why they would say language as well. But voice is clearly different than language. Everyone has a different voice, right? No one has the same voice. There might be some people that have a similar voice, but everyone has a unique voice that is unique to them. The sound of my voice is the sound of my voice regardless of what language I'm speaking. It's still the voice of Mike. When I hear someone's voice, I know who is speaking. If I hear someone's voice that's not in this room, oh, I know that this person is here. They've arrived. It communicated something to me. Secondly, the word for without meaning in verse 10 is aphonos, okay? Very similar, which means mute. Well, actually, the opposite. It means mute, speechless, or silent. Now, no sound or voice is mute or silent, right? You have sound and you have silence. Two complete opposite things, right? So no sound or voice is mute or silent. So if I don't make any intelligible sense, I essentially am like a barbarian, which really just means an uncivilized foreigner to the person and so is he to me. Understand? Make any sense? Then in verse 12, he says, so also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, which is a good thing, right? He says, seek to abound for the edification of the church. In other words, what I believe Paul's saying here is, put that zeal under true knowledge and wisdom. One of the most dangerous things, and maybe there's a better word to put there, but one of the most dangerous things is zeal without knowledge. Many people have, especially if you're a new believer and you get so excited and you have a zeal to want to go serve the Lord and do things, but you first need to know what the Lord is actually saying, what the Lord actually commands us, right? So zeal without knowledge is not good. Proverbs 19 verse 2, dumb. Would you like to read that? And whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way. All right. I also put it in the Holman Christian Standard. I actually believe it communicates it better. It says, even zeal is not good without knowledge, and the one who acts hastily sins. So we want our zeal is good, right? It's great when you see someone who is zealous, but we want that zealous to be based off the knowledge of God, right? We shouldn't separate those two. It's important for them to be together. And we have already seen in this whole entire epistle that Paul at times speaks sarcastically. And because of that, and Pastor John mentioned this a little bit last week, and he doesn't think so, he says, because of that, many think that he is speaking this way at times in this chapter. And again, if I look at that, I can understand and see it both ways. But I would say right here and right now at this place, there's not a hint of sarcasm anywhere, I don't believe. I see Paul speaking truly as a concerned and loving father to this church. He cares for them and wants them to be right. And I believe Paul is saying, if I can just kind of maybe paraphrase what I think he is saying, he says, I know you are zealous with the things that come from God. That's a good thing. I want you to be that way. I'm glad for this and you should be, but I want it to be based on the truth. I want it to be based on the truth, because He knows that it will manifest in all the gifts given to different individuals, and if and when they are used properly, the gifts of the Spirit. All will benefit everyone. Those gifts will benefit everyone. So even though I don't have a whole bunch of different gifts, I know someone of my brothers and sisters do. And their giftedness benefits me. Understand? And it's the same for all of us. Therefore, he tells them something that should be on their minds always. In verse 12, he says, since you are zealous, right? You are, the verb for you are in the Greek is an indicative verb. He says, since you are zealous, indicative, he says, seek, the word for seek is imperative. He says, seek to abound for the edification of the church. And again, remember that we should always be attentive to the imperatives that God gives us in his word. But we must always look at them in light of the indicatives, who we are as the children of God. He says, you are zealous, and your zeal is good. And I'm not trying to take that zeal away from you. But with that zeal, I am commanding you, Paul says. With that zeal, I am commanding you to do something. And commands are very strong words, we know that. So if Paul is commanding this, It's because who is commanding this? God is, right? He is a mouthpiece for God. As an apostle, he must speak truthfully on behalf of the Lord. He says, your zeal should be towards how you can benefit your brothers and sisters. And going back to what Pastor John said concerning the things that benefit us. Those times where only I am being benefited, and we all have those times, Those times prepare me for those future times where I can and should benefit others. Right? That is the calling that He has given to each and every one of us. My actions should benefit every one of you guys, not just me. And the result is beautiful. The result is God being honored and the church As a whole, not as individuals, and the church looking more and more like the Christ who died for them. That is the purpose of our existence, is it not? So we saw that, we saw what edification looks like. We saw some illustrations for our help in understanding this. And all this because Paul has a goal in mind. So number three, the goal of God's gifts is to achieve something. Let's look at verses 13 to 19. He says, therefore, let one who speaks in the 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 in the spirit only, How will the one who fills the place of the ungifted say the amen at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying? For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified. 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 I may instruct others also, rather than 10,000 words in a tongue. So I believe Paul is killing two birds with one stone here. That is, he's gonna try to achieve two important things. And the first thing is really what he has already been saying, right? When you come together as a body, corporally, make it your aim to always bring edification to the body. And again, if everything is rooted and grounded in love, this will be the result, okay? So this is extremely important. Edification won't happen if others don't understand what I'm saying. The one who fills the place of the ungifted here in verse, what verse is that? Verse 16. is not saying that there are believers who have no spiritual gifts. There's no such thing as a believer, a true saint, that has no spiritual gifts. So I believe it could mean one who is unlearned in whatever thing that has been shown to you. It could mean a lay person in the church. or it could mean an outsider who may be among you at that time. Whatever it is, and this probably could mean some other things as well, whatever it is, they can only say amen if they understand and have clarity concerning the things that you just said, right? Again, John talked about prayer individually and corporately, right? In both senses. In both senses, prayer is always to our who? Our Father, right? Jesus gave it. He said, this is how you are to pray. Our Father in heaven, right? But in the corporate sense, my prayers, though they are still to the Father, are under the umbrella of our Father, rather than my father. When I'm praying by myself, it is my father. And I might say my father when we're corporately together, but understand, when we are together, it is truly our father, right? We are praying together as a body. And when that happens, our prayers should make sense and encourage those who I'm praying with. They can only give thanks if they understand. They can only be built up if they understand what I'm saying. Therefore, he would rather say a little with great clarity than a lot with none. Again, we talked about, I think John brought up Darlene, right? Last week, didn't you bring up Darlene? If you are in prayer, it always starts, everyone has their own seats. whoever comes to prayer on Sunday morning. And pastor always starts, right? And we go around the table and we end with Pastor John, right? And Darlene always sits next to Pastor John. And I don't think there's ever a time, ever, when Darlene prays that the first thing that she says, Lord, I thank you so much for these prayers. They mean so much to me. They build me up. Do you think she would say that if she had no clue what we were saying? In other words, when I'm praying corporately, Sometimes I struggle getting the words out, and you just trust in God. But I need to make sense of what I'm saying. I want people to understand and amen the things that I'm saying in my heart. So things have to make sense. It's just so important. And then, he says, the second thing. He says, pray that you may interpret. And then he uses himself as an object lesson in verse 14. But I do not think that what he says in verse 14 implies necessarily that he does this, though it may be, right? says, where 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. So I lean towards the notion, and I may be wrong, that he is saying, look, if I was to do what you are doing, remember, they were doing things, they were abusing the gift, they were not using it properly. So I lean towards a notion that he is saying, look, if I was to do what you are doing, and that is mindlessly speaking whatever language or gibberish that they may be speaking at the time, the emotional part of my being, that's what it means by the spirit here, it's not the Holy Spirit, okay? The emotional part of my being is praying, but my mind is not engaged at all. It's unproductive, or barren, as the word means. So he is saying, have I really gained anything except an emotional high which may feel good nonetheless? And there is an importance to that as well. We don't want to just diminish that. So he's saying, have I really gained anything except an emotional high which may feel good nonetheless, and may even have its own place, which I believe it does. But what have I really gained? If it does not lead to me wanting to hear from Him in His Word, and that is how we hear from Him, If it does not lead me to this, with the goal of obeying it, and me praying in accordance to it, then what have I really accomplished for both myself or anyone else? You think about when we pray. There are people I know that will say, well, I don't bother getting to the Word, I have my relationship with God, I just pray and communicate to Him. Well, if you have no clue what God has said to you, how are you gonna know what to say back to Him? And that there's many people that pray. There's many other religions that pray, that they believe that God exists. That doesn't make sense. God has communicated to us. Communication is two-sided, right? Our prayers must be prayers that are based according to his word. That is so important. So B, the second thing he wants to achieve is that they would individually always have their minds engaged. That they would always have their minds engaged. Luke chapter 10, verse 27 says, and he answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. Now I would say that mindless worship is not true worship, whether I am by myself or whether or not I'm with people or not. Even if I struggle, I want to say this, even if I struggle, which I do oftentimes, even if I struggle to get the words out of my heart, the words of my heart out of my mouth when I'm praying to God, when I'm by myself, my mind is still very much engaged, very much engaged. I know he knows what I need and what I'm trying to express, even though I'm still frustrated because I want to express it better, right? And yet I know that he knows what I need and what I'm trying to express, and I take extreme and great comfort from that. And as frustrated as it can be to not be able to express perfectly what I'm saying, I know in my mind that He knows. And I know in my mind that He knows and I take great comfort in it. I know I just said that, I'm saying it again. Isaiah 26.3 says you will keep Him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because He trusts you. We said to trust God. means to trust him at his word, what we know of him in his word, right? That is so important. If my mind is on him, it is on what I know of him, and I don't know of him unless I'm in his word. Romans 12, two. says, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So I'm gonna say a transformation, which has to do with us conforming to Him, cannot happen if our minds are not engaged. Think of, for a second, the singing part of our worship. Think of the singing part of our worship. I would say that there's no honor in just singing without paying attention to the words that we are singing. There's no honor given to the Lord if you're just singing because you like the tone or the music that's being played. Those words are important, are even more important. I don't, I like it, I don't like it when the music's too loud. Because the music shouldn't be what's elevated, but the unity of the voices of God's children speaking with clarity the wonderful things of the Lord, giving praise and honor to Him. You know, I think of, there used to be a time, on occasion, Pastor John will, after we've sung a hymn or something, he'll read the words. Say, this is what you just sung. Pay attention to these words. The words mean something. Inspired the writer to say these biblical words that we are affirming and confessing to him. That's the whole reason for a confession of faith or a statement of faith. That we are confessing this truth to our Lord. It's so important. So I believe there's no honor in just singing without paying attention to the words that you are singing unto the Lord. And I'll say this. John said last week, I do not know what it's like to speak in tongues, okay? I cannot even understand. I would say I cannot even understand speaking in an unintelligible language and being edified. I can't wrap my mind around that. I don't understand it. But I'm gonna leave the door open just for now until God shows me more clearly, maybe in the other way. But what I will say and what I believe Paul is saying is that it has no part in the gathering of the church together because there should be mutual upbuilding of each other when we come together, right? There should be mutual upbuilding every time we come together. And this will only happen when we understand each other and we go out of our way to make sure that we are understood. And even if there is a place for unintelligible and emotional worship without any understanding for individuals, it can only be a very small place. Because our whole belief system starts with the truth, and we understand the truth first in our minds. before we can have that in our hearts, right? It all starts in our mind. We believe something. We believe something about God, the knowledge that he has given us in our mind. And then we believe it with all of our being, our hearts, right? But our minds must always be engaged, okay? All the time. And that's a precious thing. So, the importance of love, the importance of building up one another, and the importance of having our minds engaged. And that's what I got. Any questions, comments? No? All right. Lenny has the honor of taking the baton next week. And John will close us. So let's close in a word of prayer. We have a little time if you want a fellowship, but let's make sure we get into church on time. Father, again, I thank you so much for your word. Hope and trust, Lord God, that it was communicated effectively. And, well, I do trust, Lord. I trust that you are exactly who you are. You're powerful. You're bigger than all of us. You will always accomplish your will with your people. We thank you, Lord God, for the salvation that we all share together here. We thank you that we have many different backgrounds here. We are a true family. You have brought us together. We have the same father. We thank you so much for that. Help us to honor you in the things that we do. Help us to always seek to help each other and be a vessel that can be used to help build one another up, Father. So again, I thank you for the opportunity to serve you, and thank you for the privilege always to just be a mouthpiece for you. And I pray, Lord God, that you would continue to be honored as we go worship you in the sanctuary. And we thank you and praise you. In Jesus' name, amen.