We are in the book of First Corinthians, so if you have your
Bible, you can open up there to 1st Corinthians chapter 14,
chapter 14. We're continuing this teaching
on spiritual gifts and the issue of spiritual gifts within the
church, the right teaching on spiritual gifts within the
church as well. Now the Corinthians are getting
it wrong in many ways. They're exploiting the gifts as
reasons for self glory rather than God's glory and the good of
those around them. And so that's kind of been the
key component here. In chapter 12, Paul showed us
that the gifts come from the same spirits and that they're
given for the common good of the body.
That was kind of the main point, if you will, of chapter 12, that
the gifts come from the same Spirit and they are given for
the common good of the body. In chapter 13, Paul reminded the
Corinthians that love is greater than any gift, and without love
as the foundation of the gift, the reason you use the gift,
then these gifts are worthless. OK, so without love, the gifts
become worthless. Why?
Because you prioritize yourself rather than God, rather than His
people. So that was kind of the main
point of chapter 13. And now what happens is Paul
moves into chapter 14 and applies this teaching to the
gathered worship of the church. So when they're coming together
for Lord's Day worship as we are now, they they're, they're miss
applying the gifts here as well. And so Paul's going to begin to
teach on those things, particularly how how these gifts
should show up in worship. And so this pattern, if you
will, kind of follows what Paul's been doing all along
throughout the book of Corinthians.
There's a concern that's raised, there's an issue that's raised.
He provides, you know, sound teaching on that thing,
doctrinal fidelity on whatever the issue might be.
Then he goes into, you know, something they should remember
something that should think about something they should do
something to that effect. And then he just straight up
applies it, right? He, he, he goes on to show from
that point how it is that they're misunderstanding it.
How does their miss applying it? How does they need to be
corrected? OK, so chapter 14 is going to
get a lot more corrective in nature than what you've seen in
12 and 13, though there has been some of that.
So just want to bring your awareness to that kind of set
the context for what Paul's doing here in Chapter 14.
So what we know about the Corinthians so far is that they
are a zealous, zealous for dramatic spiritual experiences,
right? They they want something that's
over the top. They want something that proves
their spirituality outwardly, right?
That shows that some sign, which is why sign gifts have been so
important to them, some measure of godliness that's perceived,
that can be seen as something greater than what other people
experience. What we also know about the
Corinthians is they are previously, as all of us are, I
suppose, a Pagan people, but their area of the world is
filled with idol worship. It's filled with men and women
who previously worshipped idols, previously practiced really
ecstatic experiences as in relation to to false spirits, to
demons. Even Paul brings that up, you
know, the worship of demons earlier on in the book.
And so they're they're they're zealous for these drat dramatic
spiritual experiences, especially speaking in tongues.
But but call Paul corrects them here and he says that the true
measure of spirituality is not how exciting the gift appears,
but how much it builds up the church.
That's what he's going to get into.
It's not the measure of spirituality is not how exciting
your gift might be, right? Some of us have a gift that's
not perceived as exciting, maybe to us or to others.
But when you employ the gift right in a way that honors the
Lord and is good for his people, well, that's exciting.
That's doubly exciting, right, because we're honoring the Lord
with gift. We're honoring His people with
the gift, and so we're building up the church, and that's the
measure of spiritualities. How much does your gift, how
much does your exercise of the gift actually build up the
church? All right, so Paul's getting
into those things here in First Corinthians 14.
If you're able to, would you please stand and honor the
reading of God's Word this morning?
Again, we're in chapter 14. I'm going to read one through
12. One through 12 will be our text
today. Verse one, pursue love and
earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may
prophecy. For one who speaks in a tongue
speaks not to men, but to God, for no one understands him, but
he utters mysteries in the Spirit.
On the other hand, the one who prophesized speaks to people for
their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one
who prophesized builds up the church.
Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to
prophecy. The one who prophesizes greater
than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone
interprets so that the church may be built up.
Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I
benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or
prophecy or teaching? If even lifeless instruments
such as the flute or the harp do not give distinct notes, how
will anyone know what is played? And if the bugle gives an
indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?
So with yourselves. If with your tongue you utter
speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is
said? For you will be speaking into
the air. There are doubtless many
different languages in the world, and none is without
meaning. But if I do not know the meaning
of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and
the speaker a foreigner to me. So with yourself, since you are
eager for manifestation of the spirits, strive to excel in
building up the church. This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before
you now and we ask Lord, that you would use chapter 14 verses
one through 12 in a way that would encourage us to use our
gifts and the service of love for God and love for his people.
That our gifts would be used in such a way that they would build
up the body of Christ, that they would build up the church.
Father, we are really powerless one to create a gift in
ourselves. We know that gifts come from
your spirits. And Lord, when we receive a
gift, the temptation comes for us to use the gift on ourselves,
to think inwardly. And Father, your word in chapter
13 calls us to love. It calls us to using the gift in
a way that would honor you and, and build up your church.
And so, Lord, would you help us in that.
And now as we come to 14, this point of building up the church
is being hammered home even further by the apostle Paul.
And we ask, Lord, that you would open our hearts and minds to
receive this word with humility, Father, to consider this word,
maybe to consider this word in light of our own gifts.
Lord, we thank you that your Spirit is with us, that your
word is living and active, that it's sharper than a double edged
sword, and it's meant for our growth and our maturity in
Christ likeness. And so we ask for your help this
morning. It's in the name of Christ, I
pray. Amen.
You may be seated.
Well, it's football season and football season brings about
marching band season as well. Now, if you think of A1 band
nerd. So if you think of a middle
school marching band that's gathered right now, middle
school, everyone's eager but new, right?
So middle school marching band gathers up for some of their
first practices and each musician's holding this
beautiful instruments. They've got excitement and joy,
but instead of playing the same song, they just begin blasting
different notes at the same time into the air.
The trumpets are blaring, the drums are pounding out random
beats, woodwinds are howling, right?
But the result isn't music. It's noise.
It's not music, it's noise. That's what Paul says.
The Corinthians Lord's Day gathering is like that.
It's not music, it's noise. Everyone is excited, everyone's
active, but no one is being built up.
No one's being encouraged or edified or strengthened in their
walk with the Lord. Their worship gathering had
become a confusing noise rather than a clear encouragement.
All right, here in First Corinthians 14, Paul calls us to
remember this truth. And if you're taking notes, you
can write this down. Use your spiritual gifts to
glorify God and build up the church.
It's very simple today. All right.
Use your spiritual gifts to glorify God and build up the
church. That's the point of the passage.
Paul's going to reveal this. He's going to build it out over
the course of what I'm calling 4 Standards for using your
spiritual gifts. There ought to be there ought to
be standards or rules or guides to how we exercise spiritual
gifts, and Paul raises those in this passage.
The first one we come to is the priority of love, and I'll begin
on that in a moment, but I'll go ahead and read these so you know
where we're headed. The second is the purpose of
gifts. The third is the problem of
confusion. And the 4th is the principle of
edification. So the first priority that we
see is the priority of love in verse one.
I'm going to read it again. Pursue love and earnestly desire
the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophecy.
Now Paul begins yet again. That's not going to work well
later for communion. I'll need a refill, guys.
My fault. Trish is used to that sort of
behavior. So Paul's got to reinforce this
point of love as he anchors everything in love, right?
He's coming out of chapter 12 out of 13.
It's a continuation of thought here.
Chapters and verse numbers were added for our benefit, for our
help. But this was originally just a
letter, right? Just straight through.
And so chapter 14, verse one, he's anchoring everything in
love. Pursue love and earnestly desire
the spiritual gifts, right? The Corinthians were obsessed
with spiritual gifts outside of the pursuit of love.
But Paul says chase love above all else.
Pursue it, right? Hunt it down.
That's that's the word. Pursue is a very strong verb.
It means to run after it, right? Sometimes as husbands, we use
the language of pursuing our wives, right?
And in the dating phase, I pursued Patricia, right?
It's this idea of hunting down love is not an optional add on.
And Paul wants to make that clear, right?
He's, he's further clarifying. Love is not some optional add
on. It's to be the foundation.
It's to be not only the foundation, but it becomes the
motivation for why you pursue anything else.
Love is not an optional add on to Christian maturity.
It, it's one of the primary marks of Christian maturity.
It's it's the atmosphere in which all ministry must breathe.
Right. All ministry breathes, should
breathe, ought to breathe in this atmosphere of love.
It's it's to be behind everything we do.
It's to be obvious in everything that we give ourselves to.
It's to be obvious in the way that we exercise the gifts that
the Lord's given us. So Paul makes it clear that
spiritual gifts are good. All right, I don't want you
hearing me say spiritual gifts are good.
I don't want you to hear Paul saying spiritual gifts are good.
He's saying spiritual gifts are good.
And he's saying not only are they good, but you should desire
them. But they may.
They must always be governed by love, All right, must be
governed by love. Love is the greatest gift of the
Spirit because it reflects as we've seen in chapter 13, the
very character of God reflects who he is in just in and out all
all of his being is love. Remember first John the Apostle
there describes describes God as God is love, right?
Chapter 13 made it clear to us that tongues and prophecy and
knowledge have an expiration date.
But love endures forever. Love endures forever goes on.
And so if you exercise a gift without love, all right, if
you're exercising your spiritual gift, maybe it's leadership, all
right. Anybody ever been to church with
unloving leaders? I'll raise my hand at that.
All right? Maybe you work with unloving
leaders. Maybe you have in your home
unloving leaders. All right?
An unloving leader is no leader at all, right?
They're just someone typically small, and there's a perception
of themselves demanding that everyone think they're big.
All right, so it's an unloving thing to lead without love.
But you can apply that to any other spiritual gift,
administration, tongues, prophecy, healing, acts of
service, you know, all these various gifts.
Without love, they're meaningless.
Without love, they're the, they're the clanging symbol,
right? Or the noisy gong, right?
They're, they're, they're beating these things for the
sake of being noticed, not for the sake of being a blessing,
not for the sake of serving God and serving his people.
So if you're exercising your gift without love, then you
cannot truly call that a spiritual gift.
That's a fleshly gift. You've made it about yourself,
right? So Matthew Henry common comments
on this passage. He says without love, the
greatest gifts are nothing. He's just restating what Paul
has said in First Corinthians 13.
One through 3. Love must be the spring, he goes
on. It must be the regulator and the
end of all that we do. It's the spring, right?
Not like the spring and you know, some sort of electronic,
right, It's the spring and that it gives life, right?
Spring like water that's giving a life to all around us.
The spring, it's what bubbles up inside of you, but it's also the
regulator, meaning it's, it's what makes you discern your
motivations. It's what makes you discern your
actions and your words. And it's the regulator for all
that you do it make sure that it's done in love.
And then it's also the end of all that we do, meaning we
operate in love. We carry out the gifts of God
that he's given to us in love because we want others to know
what the love of God, right? That's the end of it.
The end motivator of all of it is love.
One, we want you to know that God loves you so dearly that
he's gifted people around you to minister to you in your time of
need because he loves you, right?
Because you're valuable to Him. And two, we want you to know the
love of the body, right? We want people to know that we
do dearly love them. So those are two of the great
motivations. Love ensures that spiritual
gifts are used not for self glory, but for service, right?
I want to use these gifts in service. 1st Corinthians 13, one
through 3, without love, tongues, prophecy, knowledge,
even martyrdom, right? Even giving your life to be
burned, those things are worthless.
John 1334 through 35 makes it clear to us, as Christ is
explaining there, that love is the mark of true discipleship.
He said the world will know that you are my disciples by your
love for one another, all right? By the love that you have for
one another. So if you think of a man in his
home, right, a man in his home may be strong, he may be wise,
he may be skilled, right? But if he doesn't show love, if,
if love isn't the foundation and the motivation of all that he
does, then all those gifts all the way that God, that God has
wired him in good ways, all those things fall flat, right?
Because a wife and a child would rather have a man in their home
who loves them faithfully than one who is able to dazzle them
with their abilities but neglect their hearts, right?
The same is true in the church, but the same is true in the
church. So we must ask ourselves, am I
known more for my giftedness or for my love?
Am I known more for what I contribute and how amazingly
talented the Lord has made me, or for my love?
Another question. When I serve in the church.
Now these are introspective, right?
I'm writing these for myself, sharing them with you.
But when I serve in the church, do I ask, will this make me look
good? Or will this help someone else
grow? Will this build up the body of
Christ? Love must always come 1st.
I don't want to belabor the point because I think we've done
a good job looking at that the last couple of weeks.
But Paul begins here, and so it's worth noting.
Then he goes on to clarify what the gifts are for.
And that's the second thing we come to is the purpose of gifts
in verses 2 through 5. For one who speaks in a tongue
speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands him but
the others. Mysteries in the spirits.
On the other hand, the one who prophesized speaks to people for
their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one
who prophesized builds up the church.
Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to
prophecy. The one who prophesizes greater
than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone
interprets so that the church may be built up.
So Paul goes into a comparison here of tongues and prophecy,
tongues obviously being the one that the Corinthians prize, all
right? That's why he's belaboring that
point. That's why he's going deeper and
deeper in this. That's why he's continued to
bring it up from, sorry, chapter 12 and 13 to now in 14, all
right? But he's going to highlight it
against prophecies to show what the gifts are meant to
accomplish, to show why they exist, right?
So he goes into this. The two things he brings up as
one tongues without interpretation.
All right. The speaker may be sincere, but
no one else understands what he's saying, all right.
No one else understands it. Paul says no one understands
him. He utters mysteries in the
spirits. Now that might feel spiritual,
might even sound spiritual, but we know that it isn't because no
one is edified, no one is strengthened by this.
Now, before we go further, I want to clarify again.
I've tried to do this throughout, but I want to
clarify again what Paul means by tongues.
That one uses the plural tongues here and Acts 2 and elsewhere in
the New Testament, mostly Acts 2.
You see it elsewhere in in Acts, I should say, and then you see
it again here in First Corinthians 12 through 14.
But tongues are always known human languages.
All right, so if you wanted a definition of biblical tongues,
you may write this down. Tongues are always known human
languages, miraculously spoken by someone who did not naturally
know them. Tongues are always known human
languages, miraculously or supernaturally spoken by someone
who did not naturally know them. OK, now tongues were a were
specifically, I should say, a sign to unbelievers that God was
at work and that the gospel was for the nation's.
That's what Acts 2 reveals to us as the Holy Spirit falls on the
day of Pentecost and the apostles go out proclaiming in
other tongues the mysteries of God and the good news of the
gospel of Jesus Christ and everyone around them who have
gathered from all nations, Many nations have gathered in
Jerusalem. 4 Pentecost. Everyone hears them speaking in
their own tongue, and they begin to question, how do I hear him
in my own tongue? Aren't these men, you know?
And it goes off the name where these men are from.
So we see there the miraculous nature of this, that which Acts
reveals for us. And verses 2 and 4, Paul uses
the singular a tongue. Now Paul's using the singular a
tongue to refer to the the Pagan kind of counterfeit gibberish
that exists within the Corinthian church.
He sarcastically marks its selfishness as some kind of self
edification. Right again in verse 2, If I
have, oops, sorry, that's 13 for one who speaks in a tongue
speaks not to men, but to God. For no one understands him, but
he utters mysteries in the spirit.
And verse 4, the one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself,
but the one who prophecies builds up the church.
So Paul's speaking sarcastically, right?
The one who speaks in a tongue that no one understands is
really only serving to build up himself.
All right. And the building up of self in
the Scriptures is, is rarely a positive thing, right?
It's about building up the church, which is why he says he
builds up himself. But the one who prophesized
builds up the church. He speaks in a way that is
edifying for the church. Right.
So this illicit building up of self comes from pride induced
emotion, which only produces more pride, right?
It becomes more and more about the speakers, more and more
about their gift of tongues. What we often see in charismatic
circles today, this ecstatic, unintelligible, you know,
syllables without meaning, is not the same gift that Paul
describes. In fact, it's exactly the
opposite of what Paul's describing here because his
whole point is that true tongues had meaning and could edify,
could be, could edify if interpreted right.
So unintelligible gibberish brings the very confusion that
Paul condemns, and he's going to go on further into chapter 14
and condemn this sort of behavior.
And we'll look at that more so next week.
But for now, what I want you to understand is that whenever God
gave the gift of tongues, when he gave the gift of languages,
maybe that's a more clear term because tongues is so
misrepresented today. When he gave the gift of
languages, he also gave the gift of interpretation, right?
It was followed by interpretation so that the sign
would also be edifying to those around.
Never was the gift to be used without such translation or
interpretation, so that the church would always be edified.
And that's why Paul elevates prophecy here.
Prophecy communicates clearly and strengthens the church.
So a definition of prophecy. Prophecy is speaking God's truth
in a way that is clear and intelligible.
It strengthens, encourage, and consoles the church, all right.
Prophecy is speaking God's truth in a way that is clear and
intelligible, all right. Paul is not dismissing tongues
altogether, and so I'm not dismissing tongues altogether
either. He acknowledges its place,
right? It was a tool.
It was used as a tool for gospel proclamation to the nation's.
But he insists that prophecy is greater because it builds up
others. Now notice the end of verse 5.
So that the church may be built up, right, So that the church
may be built up. And that phrase is really the
heart of this passage. The phrase is the heart of what
Paul is teaching here. John MacArthur notes this.
He says the purpose of spiritual gifts is not to produce personal
ecstasy, but to promote, sorry, but to promote corporate
edification. All right.
So spiritual gifts are not one way you might say this.
Spiritual gifts are not private toys for personal enjoyment.
We've talked about this a few weeks ago.
It was Brother Dan who helped kind of use this illustration.
But gifts are tools. They're not, they're not toys
meant to be used on yourself. They're, yeah, toys meant to be
used on theirself. They're tools to be used for
building up the church, right. So quite literally, you might
imagine, maybe figuratively, I guess, that the Lord has given
some of you a hammer. He's given some of you a saw.
He's given some of you the ability to pour concrete.
He's given some of you the ability to paint.
Right? Why?
For the building up of the church, right?
The gifts are used to build the church, not, you know, now we're
speaking figuratively, not not just physically.
Romans 12/4 through six points out that gifts differ, which we
saw in First Corinthians 12 as well, but they all belong to 1
body, which First Corinthians 12 also pointed out, right?
So the gifts differ, but they're all for what?
They're all for the body. They're all meant to be used for
the edification of the body. Now Ephesians 411 and 12 tells
us that Christ gave gifts to the Church to equip the Saints, to
build up the body, and to bring unity of the faith.
Right. So the gifts are for what?
Equipping the Saints, helping them mature, helping them grow,
helping them come to see Christ more fully.
It's also to build up the body to strengthen their walk.
It's to keep them in Ephesians 4.
It's literally to keep them from following every wind of cunning
doctrine or to fall into the deceitful schemes of man.
And all of that is to bring unity and talks about there with
each part working properly. So it brings unity of the faith.
So if you think of a construction crew that's
building a house, each worker has a tool in his hand.
But instead of building the house, say they go over to the
side and they use the tools to play games by themselves, right?
That that house would never get built, right?
Gifts must be used to build, not to entertain.
It must be used to build, not to entertain.
So we must ask ourselves, when I come to church, am I focused on
what I can get or in what I can give?
When I come to church, when I focus on what I might receive,
do I have a consumer mindset? Or am I focused on what I can
give to others, what I can contribute to the body to help
build it up? All right.
Do you evaluate Sunday worship based on how blessed you felt
when you left, or on whether you helped bless others?
Right. Maybe it's a smile, maybe it's a
hug or a handshake. Maybe it's a moment of prayer
with someone, all right? Maybe it's just singing loudly
in the body, right? Just just being a part of the
corporate worship, singing loudly so that others are
edified by your singing. That doesn't mean you have to
sing good. I sing loudly down here and I
don't sing good at all, right? I want to contribute.
I want to contribute to the noise that's being made, right?
To the sound that goes forward. I want to bless others, all
right, by leading and singing next.
What we see is that when our gifts are not used with clarity,
they become confusing and they create a confusion that brings
us to #3 the problem of confusion.
Look at verses 6 through 9 again.
Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, he's
talking about the right gift of tongues.
How will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or
knowledge or prophecy or teaching?
If even lifeless instruments such as the flute or the harp do
not have distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played?
And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get
ready for battle? So with yourselves, if your
tongue. If with your tongue you utter
speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is
said? For you will be speaking into
the air. All right.
So even an apostle, the apostle Paul, even an apostle who spoke
in tongues, did not benefit a congregation spiritually unless
it was through interpretation. His utterance was clarified
through interpretation so that the revelation and knowledge
could be understandably preached and taught.
So any private gift of any private use of this gift is
excluded for several reasons #1 it's a sign to unbelievers.
And we'll see more on that in the coming weeks.
But in verse 22 of chapter 14, Paul says thus tongues are
assigned not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy
is assigned not for unbelievers but for believers.
Secondly, private use of the gift is excluded because it must
have a translator to have any meaning even to the speaker.
So one who could speak in biblical tongues, right?
The use of another language did not know what he was saying,
right? It was the Spirit who was giving
utterance. And then #3 Another reason
against its private use is that it must be used to edify the
church. It's not used as personal
edification. It's used to edify the church.
So Paul gives everyday examples to clarify what he's trying to
say. He says a flute or harp playing
random notes or bugle that gives an unclear sound.
Without clear signal, music signals.
Music becomes noise and soldiers don't know when to charge,
right? The bugle sound is indistinct.
So Paul's point is simple, that unintelligible speech in worship
is like an instrument that's out of tune.
It may produce sound, but not meaning.
All right. Anybody ever picked up a guitar
or something and you know a little bit of how to play, but
like the first strum of it? I know like G&C&A and all the
all the basic old worship songs, but even when it's out of tune,
like my untrained ear can tell it's out of tune.
It's like that sounds real rough.
So it may produce sound, but there's no meaning to that
sound. You can't say, well, that's AG
chord because you can't hear the G chord in it.
The word he uses here for unintelligible literally means
without meaning. You're speaking in a way without
meaning all. Right.
So how much more than musical sounds?
That's not Paul's primary concern here, right?
His primary concern is not how the instruments are being used
in worship. No, that that's a side point.
So the main point, the main point is how much more the
musical sounds. Should human speech make sense,
especially when it deals with the things of God?
All right. Should make a lot of sense.
It should be clear to the listeners what we're saying.
It should be clear that it's prophecy and not tongues.
Right. And, and this can happen even
when I've probably been guilty of this, I'm sure, but even when
preachers study and study and study and you know, they have
those hours of study and they go into the pulpit with notes and
they're forgetting the hours of study that they will that it
took to get to that place. And they just leave the
congregation behind because they're going to begin to
proclaim all these things that don't make a ton of sense,
right? Even that would be bad prophecy,
right? Speaking in an unintelligible
way, God is a God of clarity. We're going to see in later in
14 that he's a God of order, that he revealed himself in
words that we can understand, which again is the primary use
of tongues, by the way, is to reveal the mysteries of God so
that people who speak another language can understand it.
All right. That's how God reveal reveals
himself. It's not in random syllables.
It's not unintelligible speech. You think about Jesus and his
ministry. He spoke in ways that were
ordinary, right? Where ordinary people could
grasp. His band of disciples were
made-up of tax collectors and fishermen and tradesmen.
Uneducated normal people, right? So to introduce confusion into
the worship service is to misrepresent the God of order
and peace and clarity. It's to misrepresent what he
what he wants because confusion and worship contradicts God's
nature. John MacArthur comments here.
He said if words are not understood, they cannot edify.
Confusion in the church is never the work of the spirits. 1st
Corinthians 1433 God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.
Nehemiah 88. Love this verse here in Nehemiah
where we see Ezra stands up and reads the law, says he reads the
law clearly, and then he gave the sense of its meaning.
He explained it to his listeners so that the people understood.
That's prophecy, right? That's speaking in a way that is
edifying to the body. So think about being on an
airplane. The pilot makes an
announcements, announcement in a language and no one understands,
right? All the passengers perceive that
he's speaking with some urgency, but we have no idea what he's
saying. There's no clarity to what he's
saying, so no one knows what to do.
Well, that's the danger of confusion in Lord's Day worship.
Lot of urgency, a lot of excitement, a lot of, you know,
potentially running around and jumping up and down and those
sort of things. But no clarity, right?
No order, no peace, and therefore no understanding.
So we must ask, am I aiming for clarity when I teach, right.
And you may think, well, I'm not a teacher.
God hasn't called me to teach. Well, maybe your father, maybe
your mother, God's called you to teach.
He's, he's called you to literally instruct your
children, right? And so aiming for clarity with
your children is important when they come and ask a question.
All right, I find it most helpful to either sit down in
the chair or to get on my knee, to take a knee, right, And to
get eye level and to explain the answer to whatever the question
is, to be thorough in that explanation.
Maybe they're asking for clarity for the 20th time.
Your job is to patiently take a knee and explain it yet again,
right? That's discipleship.
That's part of how we nurture our children, how we raise them
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
And we're called to that, right? Even when it's frustrating, even
when it's difficult, if we don't know the answer, it's OK to tell
the children I don't know the answer to that question, let me
get back to you and then to get back with them.
All right? That's far better than saying
because I said so or because, you know, that's just what we
believe, right? You are raising children who are
curious and they're going to want no answers to questions.
And one day they're going to realize if you're not answering
questions that you're not answering questions, that you're
not explaining these things, that you're not seeking to teach
them. And they're going to go to
college and they're going to meet someone who's willing to
explain those things from a worldly perspective.
And they're going to run to it because that person has answers.
It wasn't because I said so or because that's what we believe,
right? So it's important for us to know
even as teachers, whether it's as a parents or a teacher in the
church or whatever, that we want to have clarity when we teach
all. Right we.
Want to have clarity when we encourage others, All right, we
want to be clear and what we're encouraging them in.
I saw your interaction with your child the other day and I want
you to know it encouraged me. I was strengthened by the way
that you interacted with your child.
You know something to that effect or I heard you got a
promotion at work and the bets tied to you know, your high
character and your values and the kind of man you're trying to
be in your job. Like I, I praise you for that.
I'm I'm grateful to the Lord for his provision right to being
clear and how we encourage others when you pray, right, We
don't want to pray in a way that we're just trying to come up
with all the biblical words we can think of and one prayer,
right. I've been guilty of praying that
way, especially in my youth, right?
Just trying to think of all the words, what were, what did I
read today, what verses, blah, blah, blah.
You know, just trying to run through that in prayer.
I want to pray in ways that are meaningful and clear, right?
Ask God clearly for things, but do it in a way that's edifying
to those around you. Another way to think about the
sort of clarity and and not wanting to to cause confusion
right But to be clear is do I use words that edify?
I use words of Edifier to hide behind spiritual jargon that no
one really understands, including yourself.
Ask questions. You know something said that
you're not, you don't understand, but not and act like
you agree, like ask questions. OK, I'm I'm new to this.
What does that mean? Right?
Just be honest. Let let people teach, be
encouraged in that way, right. So what principle then should
govern how we use our gifts? The gifts are meant to build up
the church. What principle should govern
that? So what we talked about love, I
think Paul brings another principle into this and that's
the principle of edification. All right, the principle of
edification in verses 10 through 12.
There are doubtless many different languages in the
world, and none is without meaning.
But if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a
foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker a foreigner to me.
So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of
the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the Church all.
Right. So Paul concludes with the
statement, Since you're eager for manifestations of the
Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.
Now he's commending their eagerness.
Your eagerness is good, right? It's good to be eager to see the
spirit at work among you. This is a good thing.
And so he's commending that. What he's not commending is
their aim. He's letting them know like
you've got, you've got great motivation.
Your eagerness is good, but your aim is off.
Like you're, you're aiming at the the totally wrong target
here. And the goal is not display, but
edification, all right? It's not to display ourselves,
it's to edify those around us. So the purpose of every language
is to communicate. It's not to impress.
Now, there are impressive languages, right?
As you go to try to learn another language, you think,
man, this is impressive. Language is impressive, but
that's not the goal of language. Language's goal is to
communicate. It's not to confuse, as the
Corinthians had been doing with their counterfeits.
That was clearly the point in the first instance of tongues
when each heard the apostle speak in his own language there
in Acts 2, right? The goal was communication.
So this section makes an undeniable case for the fact
that the true gift of tongues were never some unintelligible
gibberish, but was human language that was to be
translated for others, right? So Paul acknowledges that every
language has meaning, but in the context of corporate worship,
meaning must be communicated, right?
We must know clearly what's being said.
Without understanding, the gifts become useless and become about
building your own platform, right?
Therefore, the one goal must be to strive to excel and building
up the church, right? That's what he says.
Since you're eager for manifestations of the Spirit,
strive. Redirect your eagerness, right?
You're aiming at the wrong target.
Redirect the eagerness. Strive then to excel in building
up the church, right? This is the guiding principle
for all spiritual gifts to build up the church.
Hopefully that's become abundantly clear in the last few
weeks as we've looked at spiritual gifts.
So God gives gifts to individuals, but they are never
for those individuals. They are for the body of Christ
and the glory of God. That's not to say God doesn't
use the gift in a way that helps you mature, right?
He gives you in some way and you begin to exercise that gift in
the body. He's going to use that the ways
you, the ways you do it right, the ways you do it wrong.
He's going to use those things to grow you and mature you.
So in that way, the gift is for you.
I don't mean totally that it's not, but the purpose of the gift
is for the edification of the body of Christ, right?
It's for building up the church. The spirits work right is always
aimed at unity and growth and maturity and peace, All right?
We, we see those things when the spirits at work among us,
MacArthur writes. Again, the only proper measure
of any ministry is not did it feel good, but did it build up
the body, right? It's not about how great it
felt, although using the gift in the right way, building up the
body of Christ often fills you with great joy, right?
So it's, but it's not tied to like whatever made you the most
emotional in your use of that gift, right?
It's, it's tied to, am I using it to build up the body And then
the emotion of praise or the emotion of joy or the emotion of
sadness as you exercise this gift of love for one another,
right? And in times of difficulty,
right, those things come after the gifts are being used in the
right way. So Matthew Henry says the best
gift is that which does the most good.
The best gift is that which does the most good.
So thinking of your spiritual gift, how can you use it for the
most good? That's the question.
How can I use this gift to edify the body of Christ?
And you think again about a construction project.
Each worker's job is different. One pours the foundation,
another frames the walls, another wires the electrical.
But if each one asks, how will this help build the house, then
the result is beautiful, right? How can I do my job in a way
that best helps build the house? Well, then you get beautiful
home building, right? That that's true also in the
church. And so we must ask ourselves,
how can I use my gifts to build up the church today?
All right, Perhaps it's offering encouragement to someone who's
struggling. Maybe it's praying for someone
and it's serving in a quiet yet meaningful way.
All right, or some other thing. Many spiritual gifts.
All of these are spirit filled though, when they're done in
love, when they're done for the edification of the body of
Christ. So Paul's message is simple yet
profound. Use your spiritual gifts to
glorify God and build up the church.
Well, if you remember in this passage, he's showing us that
love must guide them, right? Edification must shape them,
clarity must govern them, and the body of Christ must benefit
from them. Who's our greatest example of
all of that? Jesus Christ.
All right, as we looked at Jesus Christ, he's the perfect model.
He did not come to impress us with displays of power, though
he did some impressive works. He came, he says, to serve.
He taught with clarity. He spoke so clearly that
children could understand him. He healed with compassion and
ultimately he gave his life for his people that they may be
reconciled to God. His whole ministry was for our
salvation. His whole ministry was for our
edification and our growth in godliness.
It was to His life was used to establish the church and to
build up the church, and it's still the same today as He
stands before the Father and intercedes for us.
He's offered His Spirit to us who regenerates us as we're
filled with the Spirit. We're baptized in the Spirit, so
to speak. We're raised a new life and the
Spirit of God intercedes for us as well.
The Spirit of God helps us put to death evil deeds.
Like if you want to know about the work of the Spirit in your
life. If you're unclear, you think,
man, I'm hearing all these things about the Spirit.
If you're unclear about the work of the Spirit, I encourage you
to read Romans, particularly chapters 6-7 and eight, or
become so clear. The work and the role of the
Spirit in our life is to help us walk by the Spirit and no longer
walk by the flesh and what all that means for us.
So Church, I encourage you, I implore you, let's follow the
example of Christ today. Let's use our spiritual gifts to
glorify our Father in heaven and to build up the Church of
Christ. What?
Whatever your gift, whether it's teaching or serving, whether
it's encouraging or giving, whether it's leadership or
administration, whatever it may be, use it with love and implore
it with clarity. And always have your eye on how
can I use this gift to edify those around me?
Amen. Would you pray with me?
Heavenly Father, we thank you today for your word.
God, we thank you for your kindness and giving it to us,
for teaching us, for helping us to understand your words
clearly, faithfully. And Father, I pray as we've
looked at this passage on spiritual gifts and we have the
encouragement in the beginning to pursue love, we have the
encouragement throughout and at the end to to edify the body of
Christ in the use of our gifts. Father, would you give us a deep
conviction there? But I asked first that you would
reveal to us what are our gifts? What?
What are my gifts? How is it that you've wired me?
What gifts have you given me to serve your body and Lord?
When that becomes clear to us, would you give us the boldness
to go serve? Give us the strength to serve.
Give us the the joy to serve, to build up the body of Christ, to
edify it and strengthen it, to help others grow and mature even
as we are growing and maturing. Lord, would you forgive us?
Or we've maybe looked down on the gifts that you've given us.
Forgive us where we maybe have praised and prized other gifts
that are not our own. Maybe we've been guilty of
coveting another's gift. Father, would you forgive us of
those things? Help us to see the value and
what You have called us to be, that we might yet again glorify
You and build up the body of Christ Jesus and Father, We
thank You for the perfect example that we have in Christ.
He came not to be served, but to serve and to give us a life as a
ransom for many. The Father.
We know that by His death and resurrection, that
reconciliation with God has been one, and that for all who call
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, they will be saved.
And so, Father, I ask you now to save those among us today who
may not know you, who maybe you're walking in the rebellion.
They're going their own way. They're seeking to build their
own Kingdom, to edify themselves.
Lord, would you convict them today?
Would you draw them to yourself by your Spirit?
Let nothing hinder them from coming?
Would you save them from their sins?
Give them new life in Christ Jesus?
Help them to walk by the Spirit from this day forward.
I'm going to give you a moment now to pray there in your seat
to respond to the Lord how He's leading you.
Heavenly Father, we praise you today for your work among us.
We thank you for Christ, and we thank you for your Spirit, which
helps us to see your word clearly, to understand it, to
live it out. We thank You that we have not
gathered in vain today, but that you have been among us from the
first word to the last. In a moment, you're working in
US through corporate worship week in and week out, and we
praise you for your kindness, your love toward us.
We thank you for your word today.
It's in the name of Christ I pray.
Amen.