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This morning we were considering together the wonderful entity that is the body of Christ. And scripture was reminding each one of us that membership of the body of Christ is an integral part of our salvation. We no more merit being in the body of Christ than we merit the forgiveness of our sins. Membership of the body of Christ is given us by the grand mercies of God and the saving work of our blessed Lord. But this afternoon, we must give ourselves to some hard, rigorous thinking. As the Holy Spirit invites us to think with him through the practical implications of our being members of the body of Christ. And I'm encouraged by the advice given us, indeed the command given us by the Holy Spirit in chapter fourteen of First Corinthians. We shall come across it later in detail, to the effect that he expects us believers in Christ to be simple babies when it comes to malice. But when it comes to intellect, we are to be grown up men and women. We are to love the Lord our God, says the ancient scripture, with all our heart, of course, and strength and might, but we are to love the Lord our God with all our intellect. It is a false idea that to be spiritually minded, one must go easy on the intellect. Is God the Holy Spirit, of course, involved in our creation physically, that gave us intellects to use. Our intellectual capacity varies between one and another, just like our beauty does, but I won't en- en- enlarge upon that theme. But what intellect we have, we are responsible to use for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit urges us, when it comes to intellect, be adult. And nowhere more do we need to use our intellects than here, where it comes to the question of thinking through our actual use of the gifts that God has given us. Now, this session has to be shorter than our first one, and therefore I shall not read, uh, in the beginning a passage of scripture. I'm delighted to see you have all your Bibles open in front of you. It's a good practical thing to do, because in my experience at this hour of the day, just listening to somebody speak is quite a feat of energy, do you see? And actually having to turn the pages of a Bible is one thing you can do to keep yourself awake, you see? And having to read it to mark the place. If you need to do anything else to keep yourself awake, such as stand up, for instance, or anything like that, so long as it is not illegal, I give you permission to do it. In chapter twelve, therefore, we were being told that every member of the body is necessary. We must not say of any member, I have no need of you. Every gift is necessary. That is true of the human body physically. Every member is necessary for the complete health and activity of the body. So it is with the body of Christ. But at the end of chapter twelve, Paul indicates the sheer practical fact that some members, some gifts are more important than others, are greater than others. That also is true of the human body. You could cut off my foot, and I could get along, hobbling along the best I could without it. You cut out my eyes, I should find life more difficult. You cut out my heart or my brain, and I should go fut. Some members are greater than others. So it is in the body of Christ. And Paul indicates, therefore, that we are to seek the greater gifts. And he will tell us in a moment what it is that makes them greater. How do you measure comparative greatness? But before he does that, he says at the end of chapter twelve and verse thirty one, desire earnestly the greater gifts and a still more excellent way I show unto you. So before he turns to discussing what he means by greater, he introduces the chapter thirteen to tell us of this more excellent way. We shall not consider it in detail now, we shall reserve that chapter to our third session. What we can pick out at once, its motive. For now, in seeking gift and in the exercise of gift, there is only one acceptable motive, and that is love. And by love, Paul makes it evident that love is not love of myself. It is love of my fellow Christians, fellow members of the body. If my quest for gift is genuine, then love will drive it. And my question to myself will be, how will this gift benefit others? And when it comes to the use of gift in the church, in the meetings of the church. This must predominate, says the Holy Spirit. The use of gift in the church is altogether banned by the Holy Spirit, unless it be motivated by love of the others. Now it is true, says Paul at the beginning of verse fourteen, that gift and the use of it can edify the user. You'll say. Says, if I speak in a tongue, you say, I myself am edified. There's nothing wrong in that. But if you're talking about activity in the church, then my own edification is not the motivation acceptable. The only use of gift in the church that is acceptable to God is that which is motivated by the other person, love for the other person. You'll see, I don't need the gift of evangelist to believe the gospel and be saved. The only reason why I would need the gift of evangelist is so that God might use me to the salvation of others. I don't need to be a teacher in order to profit from the study of scripture. The only reason I need the gift of teacher is God that would use me to teach others. Here, the motivation that controls us must invariably be love, that is love of others. And so now we go on to chapter fourteen to see the Holy Spirit work out the logic of love in our use of gifts in the church. Follow after love, he says in ver- chapter fourteen verse one, but desire earnestly spiritual gifts, rather that you may prophesy. Why rather prophesy? He goes on to explain. For he that speaketh in a tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God. You say, but that's a preferable thing to do, surely. Come, come, come, Miss Electra. Do be careful. Surely it's more important to speak to God than to other people. Oh, but wait a minute. Look for the rest of the verse. He that speaks in a tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God, for no one understands what the man is saying, that is, but in the spirit he speaketh mystery. But he that prophesies speaketh unto men edification and comfort and consolation. And I point out to you that God needs none of those three things. God doesn't need edification and comfort and consolation. By definition, he doesn't. My fellow brethren and sisters do. I am to remember that in the church. Why the preference for prophecy and speaking forth the word of God? Because it brings edification, comfort, and, uh, it consolation to the other members of the church. That's why it's greater. It is not our preference, it's God's command. Seek the greater gifts. To emphasize the point he's making, Paul adds in verse four, he that speaketh in a tongue edifies himself, but he that prophesies edifieth the church. And given the option, the choice, which would you choose? To edify yourself? Or to edify the church? Mm-hmm. Love doesn't hesitate to answer that one. It must be to edify the church. If you came to my study, but then you're not invited necessarily every Monday and Tuesday to come. And you should catch me by myself. You should hear the sermons I preach. Oh, they're marvelous sermons. But I'm preaching to myself. I'm saying, Gooding, do this, do you see that? Uh, oh, how wonderful that verse of scripture is. And I might be inclined to dance for joy. Do you see, and and if you say, well, Gooding, we heard you muttering up there, up there in your study. What on earth were you doing? I was saying I was preaching a bit. To whom? To myself. You say, Gooding, are you feeling well? Because I'm edifying myself, you know. I not to do that kind of thing in the church. I must be aiming to edify other. And to teach the word, let an old, old teacher te- tell you. To teach the word just to show off how much knowledge you've got is contrary to the basic principle of true Christianity. Love says I must teach to edify others, not because I enjoy it. And so he says, verse five, using a Hebrew idiom, I would have you all speak with tongues, but rather. That's a Hebrew expression for expressing a preference for one thing beyond another. A is all right, but B is better. And what is the better thing? Rather that he should prophesy. And greater is he that prophesies than he that speaketh with tongues, except he translate, that the church may receive edification. But now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you? What good will it do you? Uh, uh, uh, unless I speak to you either by way of revelation or of knowledge or of prophesying or of teaching. Unless I convey these spiritual benefits here listed, then I'm not profiting you, and I mustn't do it. Edification, conveying an understandable message must be the rule. This is not I giving my preference. It is the Holy Spirit expressing his lordship in the church to tell us how we must use the gifts he has given us. But if I must thus convey a revelation or knowledge or prophesying or teaching. What are the practical guidelines for so doing? Says Paul in verse seven, um even things without life giving a voice, whether pipe or harp, if they give not a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain voice, who shall prepare himself for war? So also you, unless you utter by the tongue speech easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air. Now Paul is going to talk about our speaking. A message that we convey by speaking. And so first he concentrates our attention on what you might call the transmitter and the rules that apply to the transmitter. And then he will turn to the rules that apply to the receiver. If the radio Aaron, or whatever it is, or the BBC or someone, is going to convey a message, then the message must come clear out of the, out of the transmitter, yes? But not only must it come clear out of the transmitter, it must be intelligible to the receiver. Both things are important. So now the rules relating to the transmitter, the one from whom the message comes. He says, you know, even things without life that give out a sound, might be a pipe or a harp. If they give not a distinction in the sounds, how should it be known what is piped or harped? We can take an example from, uh, the military, can we not? For communication in the ancient world, before we had computers and all this kind of stuff, the army used bugles. In the thrust and pandemonium of a battle, a man's voice could scarce be heard. They would use a trumpet to indicate advance or retreat. You'll say. But though they were just sounds, in a sense, they weren't just mumbo jumbo sounds. They had to convey a very distinct message. You see, sound isn't language. Language is a very carefully ordered, systematic series of sounds, so organized as to carry a message. And the trumpeter had to be an expert at his job, for if the sound coming out of the bugle was all confused and mumbo jumbo, the army wouldn't know whether it meant retreat or advance. Even that little ditty that we used to mimic as schoolboys, come to the cookhouse door, boys, come to the cookhouse door. A simple enough message, very well received, very often, you'll see. It had to be a very recognizable tune. Couldn't be any old tune, or noise, or the creaking of a barn door at random. It had to be a very careful transmission of a deliberate system of sounds devised to convey a message. And when soldiers gather around a fallen comrade and play the last post, that is not unintelligible procession of sounds. Everyone knows what it means when that solemn farewell is sounded. When it comes to speaking in the church, then it must, from the transmitter's point of view, be carefully arranged, deliberate conveying of a message. Otherwise, it does no good. But the transmitter could be in order, and transmitting a very carefully arranged message that other people would understand. But then the receptor has to be capable of taking in the received message. Suppose you come to my church, my good brother, and you stand out to exhort us, and you speak in impeccable Japanese. It's quite clear to any Japanese present what you are saying. Beautiful language, but I'd have you give you advance warning, we're not Japanese in my church. We don't understand Japanese. And it's no good you're getting up and speaking beautiful Japanese, so well ordered and crystal clear, if we don't understand Japanese. For the message to come home must not only be well ordered language, it must be a language understood by the recipients. So argues Paul. So argues the Holy Spirit through him. If you love your brethren, says the Holy Spirit, pray listen. This is what is required in speaking in the church. Oh, I haven't forgotten what Paul says in this same epistle, chapters one and two. When I came unto you, I didn't come with, uh, uh, artistic rhetoric. No. You see, the Greeks liked rhetoricians and orators. Not having the TV, for which perhaps they were grateful, eh, to say they wanted entertainment, and they would gather in the great amphitheaters, sitting on stone seats for a whole day long, listening to a success of orators holding forth in their typically Greek sophisticated oratory. They could convince you of anything. In the morning, one speaker would convince you that this was black. In the afternoon, he would show his cleverness by convincing you that this was white, do you see? Got the Greeks confused, and even more the Romans, but they loved the sound of it, do you see? The wonderful rhetoric. Oh. That's why some Christians admired old Apollos, you know. When Apollos got up to preach, he was an orator. Like one woman used to say in my, uh, to my hearing, oh, the preacher was marvelous. He said Mesopotamia so beautifully. Yes, well, I didn't, I didn't come with that kind of oratory, says Paul. Read his epistles, and you'll find the syntax, according to Greek rules, is rather broken. He's not talking about polished rhetoric, but his message is clear. And if he preached to you, you'd understand what he was getting at before he'd finished. The message of the cross, the message of divine wisdom to those that are, uh, growing up in Christ. So then the transmitter must be clear, and the message it, uh, it emits must be understandable by the audience. So he sums up again his conclusion in verse twelve. So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that you may abound unto the edifying of the church. So let the one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may translate. Now I, I'm not aware what translations you are using and whether your translation uses the verb translate or whether it uses the verb interpret. In English, the word translate and the word interpret can some by- sometimes be used in the same sense. When one is speaking in a foreign language and you don't know the, uh, to a foreign audience and you don't know their language, then they will provide you with what they call an interpreter. Now, he's a man that is there to translate, really, what you say. Though, in my experience, some interpreters, when they don't know what you say, make up their own interpretation. You'll see, uh, and that can be great fun sometimes for the interpreter. But, uh, in that sense, the word interpreter means a translator. What is the Holy Spirit here saying? The one that speaks in the tongue must have a what? I judge, you may agree, nonetheless, respectfully, I submit my judgment to you. I think what the Holy Spirit means here is he must have a translator. Sometimes I'm told that when someone speaks in a tongue and there is an interpreter, if he's asked has he understood the message and then translated it, he could say no. He's now speaking a message which he feels the Holy Spirit has given him. That's not translation, is it? It's another message. How do you know it was true to the original message? Well, you can't, of course. Therefore, if the business of speaking in tongues is to be effective, I judge that what Paul here says is that there must be a translator who understands what is said and translates it. Why is that necessary? Verse fourteen: for if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. We notice the distinction that the Holy Spirit makes between a man's spirit praying. Notice it's my spirit, says Paul. If I pray in a tongue, my spirit, not the Holy Spirit. Notice that, please. If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays. It's my spirit doing it. But my mind, my intellect is unfruitful. Now, what should we draw from that? Should we say, ah, well, yes, it's good to speak with the understanding and the intellect, but, um, wouldn't it be far better to speak with one's spirit? Oh, but wait a minute, the Holy Spirit says the opposite. Do say, what is it then? I will pray with the Spirit, of course, but in addition and also and as well, I will pray with the understanding also. I will sing with the Spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. For if I don't, notice that, else, if I don't speak both with my spirit and with my understanding, then you'll see, if I bless with the spirit, verse sixteen, how shall he that filleth the place of the unlearned say the amen at my giving of thanks, seeing he knows not what you say? Now, saying the amen at the end of a prayer in public, saying the amen to some- to what someone else has said, is of course a serious business. It's just not a a reflex action. It means that you are in agreement with what he says. Saying the amen before God is a serious thing. It is a delightful thing. Uh, uh, preachers that I've known, uh, wish there were more of it. Uh-huh. You say, how'd you know that? Well, I am one. But saying amen, because it means I approve, before God I approve of this, demands that you understand what has been said. If the man has spoken in a tongue and you don't know what he has said, how shall you say the amen? You wouldn't know what you were saying amen to. Ah, says somebody, yes, but you're forgetting this, that if I stand there and I pray in my spirit in an unknown tongue, unknown to the audience, that is, they will be edified. No, they won't, says the Holy Spirit. And this we need to face. No good saying, ah, well, the Spirit was so present that some kind of osmosis, though the people didn't understand, they were edified. No, no, no, says the Spirit. Verse seventeen, for thou verily gavest thanks well, but the other person is not edified. And if love dictates that what we say and do must be for the edification of others. Then I must not speak in church in a language that the others do not understand. I must not pray in a language that the others do not understand, because they will not be edified by it. Now, some gifts, Paul has said, are greater than others. What kind of greatness, and what is the difference? What is the proportionate difference? Paul says, I thank God I speak with tongues more than you all. Howbeit in the church, I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue. Five words in the language they know is worth more than ten thousand words in a language they don't know. And this is the Apostle Paul, who tells you he spoke with tongues more than all. Here is practical spiritual sense, and love is practical. We must get our proportions right, therefore. And so he comes to verse twenty: Brethren, be not children in intellect. Howbeit in malice be babes, but in mind, in intellect, be grown up adults. Intellect without spirit, of course, is barren indeed, but spirit without intellect is not an advantage in the church. And these I say again. I say it, my dear brothers and sisters, because I am an academic by profession. And I fear that you will say, as you hear me say these things, well, he would say that, wouldn't he? I therefore remind us all that these are the words and commands and assessments of the Holy Spirit, who is the giver of gifts. May not children in mind, howbeit in malice, be babes, but in mind be men. And in this particular, for in the verses that follow, Paul and I ask them to think through the spiritual tactics, to understand what the point of gifts is, and to use gifts intelligently according to their basic intention. Now, I know that there can be some overlap in the use of gifts. A teacher is not necessarily evangelist, but in teaching the word, very often a teacher is expounding the gospel. It might need an evangelist's approach and methods of communication to get that message really through to the hearts and minds of a congregation. That is true, but there can be so- some overlap. But you see, uh, uh, in the law it is written, says Paul, by men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers will I speak unto this people, and not even thus will they hear me, saith the Lord. And Paul is quoting from the Old Testament, the Old Testament's observation on the use of different languages. And God is speaking to Israel in the time of their apostasy and saying, I will speak to you by the lips of foreigners, strange languages. In the context, he's referring to the Assyrians. And the Assyrians came o- up with their foreign language that Jews couldn't understand, and they were breathing down the necks of the Israelites in their cities. God's judgment upon Israel. He had evidence by the babble of foreign tongues that they heard around them. Meant to be a warning to Israel. Even so, says God, in spite of it, they'll not repent. And Paul draws the analogy. These foreign tongues, therefore, are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to the unbelieving. Prophesying is over a sign, not to the unbelieving, but to them that believe. Taking it in its double historical context, it was to apostate Israel that God brought up the Assyrians to speak in their foreign tongues, a warning that judgment was near. And when on the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up with his fellow believers, speaking in different tongues that they had never themselves learned, but members of the great crowd that stood around them, they found that they were their tongues of their birth countries. So here one heard an apostle may be speaking in Parthian, though it was evident the apostle didn't know Parthian himself, he's speaking in Parthian, and they understood. And similarly with the other languages. Then Peter stood fir- forth to explain this phenomenon. He said, this is what is prophesied by Joel, that in the last days I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, says the Lord. And then going on to speak of what would happen subsequently, he said, the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and notable day of the Lord should come. You notice the reference to the coming judgment. And Israel stood before him on the day of Pentecost. It was a solemn occasion. They had murdered the very Christ of God. You could not imagine a bigger feat of rebellion than what Israel officially through her rulers had done. What must inevitably be the result? Peter picks up the warning of the prophet. There shall come the great and notable day of the Lord. As a warning, therefore, the believers are, uh, are, uh, uh, uh, empowered to speak in these foreign languages. It was a mercy, and yet a warning. A mercy to these Jews from all these different countries who spoke these different languages. A miracle that they could see in front of their eyes and realize was a miracle. This is a miracle of God speaking to us. And they heard the apostles and others speaking the wonderful works of God. And when Peter explained it, this is the Holy Spirit poured out by the Lord Jesus, whom you crucified. Many in Israel were pierced to the very heart. What a solemn occasion it was to stand there in a crowd, knowing that fifty days before you had shouted in this very city center, away with him, crucify him. Now to have evidence in front of your very eyes that the one you crucified was the Christ of God. God has made him whom you crucified both Lord and Christ. And they cried out, being convicted of their sin, being convicted that Jesus was in fact the Messiah. They cried out, what shall we do? And Peter told them what they would do. They would repent and show evidence of their repentance by being baptized in the name of Jesus. Publicly, they had shouted for his condemnation. Now, if they did repent publicly, they would be baptized in the name of Jesus to show their repentance was genuine. But Peter was warning them, quoting from Joel, that they better start repenting, because the day of the Lord was coming, when God would deal with a nation and a world that had crucified his dear son. Signs, uh, tongues therefore a sign. Even so, said the prophet, they will not repent. And we know what happened to the rulers in Israel. Thousands of ordinary folks and some of the priests got converted, but the rulers maintained their opposition to Christ. And forty years later, God allowed their t- their city of Jerusalem to be destroyed. So tongues are assigned to unbelievers, says Paul. Prophecy assigned to believers. And so he imagines something happening of a day when the church has met for, uh, the meeting of the church for edification and comfort and consolation and so forth. And a stray Greek walking down the city sees this place where the Christians meet and perhaps overhears their singing and wonders what these curious people do inside these doors, decides to go in and see. Well, he's Greek himself, speaks Greek, and he knows all the folks present there, the Christians, they're Greeks too, they speak Greek. And when he gets in, however, they're not speaking Greek. Speaking a lot of what sound like curious foreign languages or something. And then he perceives that a lot of them don't understand themselves what is being said. And he concludes what? He says they are bonkers. Word in Greek is a very serious word. It can mean to be out of your mind, or it can mean demon possessed. For in Greek mysticism, a sign of being possessed by a god was that you went out of your mind temporarily. Don't, don't, says the Holy Spirit, please don't. If he comes out in and you're prophesying, not just it's going to rain tomorrow or something like that, but a word from God. Perhaps an interpretation of scripture, but not just as mere theory or theology, but coming with the living power of the living Holy Spirit home to the heart. If he comes in and you're prophesying, being smitten in heart and understanding what the Holy Spirit is saying to him, he will confess that God is among you of a truth. Oh, says Paul, I plead with you. Do be grown up in your intellect. Think through with God what the purpose of his gifts are, and use those gifts intelligently. For the purpose for which they were given. And the overall purpose, therefore, is that all may be edified. One of the practical instructions given to preachers is that they should never overstep the time allotted to them. I must obey my managers. The rest of the, this chapter is given over to very practical implications for the ordering of speaking in the church. But it seems to me that their meaning is self-evident. I have emphasized what I think is the major point of this passage of scripture. It is that in seeking and exercising gift in the church, we must be motivated by love, and not love of the self, but love of the others. We must therefore give special attention to this, that what we say must itself be clear and must be in a language that is understood by the people who listen. The same ruling applies to our praying, as well as to our preaching and our teaching. Yes, we are to pray in the spirit. God save us from dry as dust, mere theological theorizing. We are dependent upon the spirit. Let us be moved in spirit ourselves, but let us be sure that in the church it is not just the spirit, but the spirit using the intellect, the mind of those who he directs to speak. And now, lest I should be misunderstood, I have freely used the word intellect. I mean it simply in its older sense. I'm not implying that only those that are called intellectuals these days, and when people call you an intellectual, they're not necessarily meaning it as a compliment, are they? I am not talking about specialized academic intellectuals or something. I'm talking about the brain. I thought intellect was a better, uh, word to use, you'll see, than brain. Of course, you've got brains, and you thereby have intellects. It's using what brains, what thinking powers God has given us. I'm not going to insult you, but on one day, so the Old Testament says, God used a donkey to speak to Balaam. And instead of its usual hee-haw, could mean anything, couldn't it? The donkey was empowered to speak a language that Balaam understood. It was only a short language, a short message, but Balaam got the point. I had better speak five words in a known language, says Paul, than ten thousand in a language people do not understand. So may God bless his word to our hearts. Shall we pray? And now, Father, as we have read thy word and sought to understand the Holy Spirit's teaching, now in all humility we bow before thee. Forgive if we have said aught amiss, or with wrong emphasis. Be crees- be pleased in thy kind perseverance to teach us ever more fully. Grant us powers to understand ever more clearly the wonderful gifts thou has given to thy people. Help us to use the gift thou has given us, whatever it be, to the glory of the Savior and to the edification of the church. So bless our study, we pray, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.