What About Tongues?

Series: -- Preacher: Date: January 27, 2002 Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 14:1-12

Last Thursday Sue and I spent most of my day off watching the movie, Gettysburg, which is based on Michael Sharra’s historical novel, Killer Angels. I had read the book and wanted to see how good a job the film did at portraying the central characters of that crucial conflict that took place about an hour north of here in July of 1863. One thing that interested me about the book-and the film-was the way it allowed you to see into the thoughts of the generals of both armies…a perspective that revealed this pivotal three-day conflict to be as much a battle of the minds as any thing else. Leaders in both armies constantly changed troop movements and artillery placement based on information they gleaned from spies or scouts.

Lee’s sources told him that the WEAK POINT in the Union lines was a small rise of ground along the Emmitsburg Road known as Cemetery Ridge. So, he ordered General Picket’s brigade of 5,000 men to attack at this WEAK POINT in an attempt to DIVIDE the Union forces so he could more easily defeat them. But due to the fact that the ground the Union troops occupied was HIGH ground, and that in order to attack this point the Confederate soldiers had to march over nearly a mile of open fields, which made them easy targets for Union artillery or rifle fire…well, because of these two factors, the assault failed so horribly that only one in three of Pickett’s 5,000 men returned to fight again.

Well, as you no doubt know, the Bible teaches that you and I have an enemy-an adversary-with whom we wage a CONSTANT battle. This is why Ephesians 6:11 instructs us to, …Put on the full armor of God so that we can take our stand against [our adversary,] the devil’s schemes.

Now, I think it is prudent for any Christian to understand that just like those civil war generals, the devil is constantly evaluating our strengths and weaknesses. He looks for the weak points of our battle lines, those places where our fellowship is weakest, and that is where he attacks. This is an ingenious strategy because when it works, which unfortunately it often does, Christians divide and fight each other, and in doing so, we in essence, do satan’s job for him.

Over the years satan has found several weak points in the church. For example….one vulnerable area has been the issue of which denomination is the best. Thousands of churches have stopped furthering the Kingdom of God in order to argue over this popular, but divisive, topic. As I told you a few months ago other churches have been divided over worship style preferences as they debated hotly which was better…choirs or praise bands…hymns or praise choruses…things like that. Another topic over which church members have battled is their facilities. I have heard of churches that were very nearly destroyed over trivial issues like whether to have pews or chairs in their sanctuary or whether or not to install air conditioning. I remember reading of a church business meeting that went on for hours-during which time Christian brothers and sisters battled over whether or not to purchase a CHANDELIER. Finally one irate deacon rose and said, I’m against this for two reasons. First of all, we can’t afford it…and second of all, even if we could I don’t think any one here can play it!

Well, church infighting really is nothing to laugh at because it has done horrible damage over the years to Christian relationships and church mission efforts…and, one of the most destructive topics over which believers have fought concerns the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues. I do not think any of the major denominations have been unaffected by this particular issue.

Now, I’m not sure why I felt led to deal with this topic here at Redland. I mean, to my knowledge we have had no disagreements of this nature around here, but I do know that for some time now I have felt the Spirit’s nudge to address this topic. Perhaps God sees a need for us to strengthen OUR lines at this point for some reason. But in any case, He is the Commanding General of this army and I have learned-sometimes the hard way-that it is always best to do what the General commands! I also want to point out at the onset of this message that I do not come to this matter with a hostile spirit. It is not my purpose to condemn or put down anyone. I just feel led to proclaim, as clearly as I can, what I understand the Scriptures to say concerning this issue.

Well, let’s get to it. Now, I think the best way to frame the information I want to share with you this morning is to ask ourselves why the devil is so successful at using this particular issue to divide a local church. And I think the answer is two-fold. The first reason this tactic works so well. The first reason this is such a DIVISIVE topic is that…

1. …over the years many Christians have based their beliefs on the subject of tongues on EXPERIENCE and not on the teachings of Scripture.

You see, even though personal opinions based on experience are often very sincere, they also tend to be very flawed. John Godfrey Sacks once wrote a poem entitled, The Blind Men and the Elephant. The first stanza goes like this:

It was six men of Industan to learning much inclined, who went to see the elephant, though all of them were blind, that each by observation might satisfy his mind.

The poem goes on to share the experiences of the six blind men. The first fell against the elephant’s SIDE and said in his opinion the animal was like a WALL. The second felt the TUSK and said an elephant was like a SPEAR. The third grabbed the TRUNK and pronounced that his experience taught him that an elephant was like a SNAKE. A fourth felt the LEG and said an elephant was like a TREE…a fifth an EAR and said it was like a FAN. The last felt the TAIL and said that it was like a ROPE. And then the final stanza says,

And so these men of Industan disputed loud and long, each in his own opinion

exceeding stiff and strong, though each was partly in the right and all were in the wrong.

Now, I’m sure we would all agree that the best source of accurate information about an elephant is not the sincere, but flawed experience of these six blind men. No, to find the facts about elephants a person would go to a zoo and see one and then find an encyclopedia so they could read what has been written by elephant experts. Well, over the years many Christians-in all sincerity have disputed loud and long over their opinions about tongues, opinions that much of the time were based on experience and not biblical facts. And like these six blind men they may have been partly right but you see when it comes to absolute truth, to be partly in the right is to be wrong. The way to be right…correct…when it comes to understanding the issue of speaking in tongues, is to refer to God’s encyclopedia…the Bible. Our feelings-our experiences-may change, but this book does not. It is absolute truth that we can absolutely trust.

Another thing we should note is this. A Christian walk that is ONLY based on EXPERIENCE or emotions is an incomplete Christian walk. We must worship and serve God with our MINDS and well as our HEARTS. I think this is what Paul was trying to get the Corinthians to understand in I Corinthians 14:15 when he said, I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind! This weekend at the C. S. Lewis Institute we saw a quote on a huge poster that said, If you long to know the mind of God, you must learn to use your own. and this is so true.

If you brought your Bibles, get them, because I want us to use our minds this morning to study what it has to say on this subject. After all II Timothy 3:16 says that, All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.

A. And you know…when we look to the Scripture the first thing we discover is that…the gift of tongues is not mentioned in the Bible as OFTEN as many would lead you to believe.

Many of those who advocate speaking in tongues would have us to think that throughout the Bible we are admonished to seek this gift. But this is simply not so. The Old Testament says nothing about this gift and in the New Testament it is mentioned in only three books…Mark, Acts, and 1 Corinthians. Aside from 1 Corinthians, this gift is never referred to in any of the epistles of Paul. It is not mentioned in his pastoral letters. It is not mentioned in the book of Hebrews. Now, don’t get me wrong. Paul had a great deal to say about the Holy Spirit but other than his first letter to the church at Corinth, he never mentions tongues. It is also not discussed in the general Epistles of John and Peter and Jude and is not to be found in the book of Revelation.

So, the gift of tongues IS mentioned in Scripture but not as OFTEN as some say it is.

B. A second thing we should know is that the Bible teaches there are TWO forms of this gift.

The Greek word, glossa in the New Testament is used to refer to the first type…the gift of speaking in KNOWN tongues or languages…like Greek or Aramaic or Latin—but a language you would not normally know how to speak. The second type is described by the Greek word, glossalalia and it refers to the gift of speaking in unknown languages. By the way, I want to point out that this particular Greek word, glossalalia does not appear in the Bible. But, the practice of speaking in tongues in this sense SEEMS to be what Paul is describing in his first letter to the Corinthians…and we’ll get to that in a moment. Before we do that, as I promised, I want us to take a quick run-through of the times that we find speaking in tongues discussed in the Bible.

  • So…turn with me to the first time we find it…in Mark 16:17 .

Here Jesus describes the future and says that as we fulfill His Great Commission, those who believe shall,

…drive out demons and speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands, and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them….

Now, most Bibles have a preface to the last 12 verses of Mark’s gospel that says,

The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20 .

Check your Bible and you will find something like that…and what this statement means is that most reputable conservative biblical scholars don’t see these 12 verses as being a part of the Bible.

They believe, as I do, that it was something some scribe added on his own since it is not a part of the original Greek text. But you know even if it IS part of scripture-I want you to note that it says, NEW tongues…not UNKNOWN tongues. The Greek here refers to known HUMAN LANGUAGE-but languages that were NEW to those speaking them.

I also want you to notice that apart from this somewhat spurious ending to the book of Mark, the four gospels are completely silent on the subject of tongues. Jesus taught much concerning the Holy Spirit, but the Bible never records that He ever participated in this activity nor did He command others to do so.

  • So…actually the first time this gift shows up is on Pentecost Sunday which we read of in Acts chapter 2.

Take your Bibles and turn there and let’s read, beginning with verse 4,

And they – the disciples – were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit GAVE them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. Now, skip down to verse 6, And when they heard this the crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE. These travelers from other nations were amazed because the disciples, whom they thought of as ignorant Galileans, were able to speak their language-not gibberish—understandable language.

So this was the gift of KNOWN tongues and it was an important gift for them to have at that time because there were people present in Jerusalem that day from all over the Roman Empire.

Very, very few were bi-lingual back then and almost no one was multi-lingual. So in order for God to communicate His truth immediately and swiftly for all to hear, this gift was essential. Please note. They didn’t just hear the Gospel spoken by the disciples in their own general language. No, the Greek here is dialektos which means they heard it in their own specific dialects. I love this because it shows that when God does something, He doesn’t do it halfway!

I also want you to notice the REACTION of those who heard the disciples use this gift.

Those people who were present saw the manifestation of this gift as a SIGN-a VALIDATION of the fact that these men were sent from God, because these uneducated Galileans were suddenly fluent in the most complex of languages, even to the point of getting the accents correct. And, as Peter pointed out, this event also fulfilled the prophetic utterance of Joel through whom God said that,

In the last days, I will pour out My Spirit on all people…both men and women…and they will prophesy. (Acts 2:17-18 )

Okay, let’s move on in our study.

2. Speaking in KNOWN tongues is mentioned two other times in Acts:

  • One is in Acts 10:44-46, which tells of the conversion of the Roman Centurion, Cornelius.I believe this too was KNOWN tongues because in Acts 10:46 it says Peter was able to understand what Cornelius said and later in 11:15 when he explained the event to the members of the church in Jerusalem, he said that what had happened was the same thing that had happened at Pentecost. By the way, this marked a startling development in the Christian mission for it showed the Jewish Christians that God’s redemptive plan included the Gentiles as well. God knew that these skeptical Hebrews needed a convincing sign that the salvation Jesus offered was not just for them and Cornelius’ experience provided exactly that.
  • And then, the FINAL time we read of tongues is in Acts 19:1-6, which tells of the conversion of some of the disciples of John the Baptist. Most scholars agree with me that this too was an instance of speaking in KNOWN languages as a way to verify to the disciples that they had indeed become Christians. Luke, who God used to write the book of Acts, was a physician and as such was very precise in his writing. He used the exact same Greek words here as he did in other parts of his book where he described what had happened at Pentecost and with Cornelius. If the experience was different, then he would certainly have made sure to describe it that way. I also want you to see that the Bible records that speaking in known tongues was not always present at conversion. There is no mention of the Ethiopian eunuch speaking in tongues in Acts 8, nor is the gift of tongues mentioned at the end of Acts chapter 2, when three thousand people became believers. Now, I don’t know if God gives this particular gift any more. He could-that is His business and not mine.

But, it seems that we don’t need this kind of jump start gift to fulfill the Great Commission any longer. I mean we have a complete Bible now to use in teaching others of God’s love. We have the mediums of TV and radio and the Internet to spread the gospel quickly.

I DO think we see a FORM of this gift being used by Christians like the Machlans and other Wycliffe Bible translators—Christians who work to translate the Bible into the dialects of people who have never heard the message that Peter and his fellow disciples proclaimed at Pentecost. I also think that each of us should ask God to gift us with the ability and insight that will enable us to verbalize our faith with people around us in language or terms that they can understand. I mean, I wish I knew what words to use in speaking with my Jewish neighbors that would help them to understand God’s love in sending Jesus. Perhaps you have someone in your realm of influence whom you want to witness to but you don’t know what to say or how to say it.

Sue came home from the Tuesday Women’s Bible study one day recently and commented that in their own study of Acts 2, Cathy Sternfeld had prayed, God give me a ‘tongue’ to speak to my neighbors of Your love. And, we should all pray like this—for God’s power to enable us to share His love in languages that our neighbors and co-workers and family members understand.

After all, this is the ultimate purpose of any spiritual gift, to enable believers to proclaim the truth of God’s love in sending Jesus.

In any case I want you to note that so far all we have seen mentioned in Scripture is the spiritual gift of speaking in KNOWN tongues.

This is because the only place in all of the Bible that we read of the gift of UNKNOWN tongues is in the book of 1st Corinthians. By the way the Bible says nothing about this gift being manifest in any other church listed in the New Testament, not Macedoia, Achia, Judea, Philippi, Ephesus, Samaria, Asia, Rome, or any other place. It is seen ONLY in the church at Corinth, a congregation by the way that Paul called carnal and described as being full of immature babes in Christ….a group of people who had come from a background of paganism and idol worship.

You should also know that Christianity is not the only faith system to embrace ecstatic utterances or speaking in unknown tongues. Glossilalia is also practiced by Muslims, Buddhists, Confusianists…and some cult groups.

C. Now…go ahead and turn to I Corinthians 14 ….but before we look at this text let me lead you in reviewing some of the popular misconceptions about tongues that are not supported by Scripture.

A. For example, some say that all TRUE Christians speak in tongues.

People who advocate this viewpoint teach that there is something they refer to as a 2nd blessing of the Holy Spirit that all Christians should and must seek in order to be complete. They also believe that the evidence that this has happened-that an individual has received this 2nd blessing-is their ability to speak in tongues. The truth is the Bible teaches that the Person of God’s Holy Spirit comes into the life of any individual the moment that they accept Christ as Savior. This is the GIFT that Jesus promised in John 14 when He said,

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of Truth.

Several other New Testament texts clearly state this fact. I Corinthians 12:13 says that as Christians, We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. In Romans 8:9 Paul pointedly states, If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

So, once you become a Christian, you never need more of the Holy Spirit. True, all Christians struggle to give Christ control over more areas of our lives-to truly make Him LORD of all our thoughts, deeds, and actions, but it is not in line with Scripture to say that any Christian needs a 2nd blessing of the Holy Spirit because all Christians have already received the Holy Spirit.

W. A. Criswell says the Holy Spirit, …is already a universal gift of God to all believers. We need not seek it, pray for it, try to achieve it, or receive it. We already have it. John Stott says, Water-baptism is the initiatory Christian rite because Spirit-baptism is the initiatory Christian experience.

And, this means then that it is also not in line with Scripture to teach that all believers speak in tongues…even though all believers are filled with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist was full of the Holy Spirit but nothing in the Bible ever says that he had this gift.

In any case I Corinthians 12:30 clearly says that all Christians do NOT have the gift of tongues.

B. Another popular misconception is that speaking in tongues is something that the speaker cannot control…that people with this gift cannot help themselves.

Some believe that, like an epileptic fit, a person speaking in tongues cannot stop once he starts. But this is not true, otherwise I Corinthians 14:27 would not say that if people speak in unknown tongues in the church, they should do so one at a time and should remain silent unless an interpreter is present.

C. I have also heard people say that speaking in tongues is something you can and should learn to do.

There are even seminars held for the purpose of TEACHING Christians how to do this. But this is also not in line with Scripture. The Bible teaches that spiritual gifts are just that, GIFTS….not GETS. They aren’t abilities you GET for yourself. No, they are gifts bestowed by God’s Holy Spirit. I Corinthians 12:11 says that, …He gives them to each one, just as HE determines. So, we don’t have to study or train to GET this or any spiritual gift. The Bible promises that the Holy Spirit matches us with our needed gift or gifts without any effort on our part. And it is always the perfect fit.

Another thing you need to know is that the Bible teaches that one DIFFERENCE between the two types of speaking in tongues is that glossilalia is an address to God and not men. In I Corinthians 14 Paul speaks of it as a sort of prayer language. The gift of speaking in KNOWN tongues is something God gave to help people speak FOR Him to other people as Peter and his fellow disciples did at Pentecost. But the gift of UNKNOWN tongues described in 1 Corinthians, is a type of speech that is addressed to God…not other people. I Corinthians 14:4 says, Anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God.

So, to summarize, one reason that satan has such success at dividing churches over this issue is that many believers base their opinions on their own experience instead of Scripture.

They either don’t know the truth or they ignore it so they are easily tempted to buy into a lie.

3. But…the other reason this issue is so divisive is because, like the Corinthians, so many of us have a problem with PRIDE.

You see, any spiritual gift will be abused if pride or selfishness is involved. And this is what was going on in the church at Corinth. Many of the most immature members of this local church wanted to be in the spotlight. They wanted to have spiritual gifts that made them seen so they would be popular and admired. In I Corinthians 13:31 Paul alludes to this when he sarcastically criticizes their immaturity by saying, You are eagerly desiring the ‘greater’ gifts.

This is why Paul was reminding them of the only valid motive for exercising any spiritual gift, which is to edify not self, but the church. Turn to I Corinthians 14 with me and let’s look at the verses that show the childish selfishness and pride of the Corinthian Christians. In verse 4 Paul says that they were using this gift to edify self. In verse 20 he told them to stop thinking like children. In essence he corrected them saying, GROW UP! But his harshest criticism is in verse 36 where he sarcastically asked them, Did the word of God originate with you? In other words, Are you pridefully writing your own Bible here?

Also, they were using this gift in an almost competitive way, such that Paul had to give these strict guidelines for its use and, by the way, this is the only spiritual gift with scriptural guidelines to prevent it from being abused. Why this guideline in verses 27 and 28? Why does Paul say that there should never be more than three speaking in unknown tongues and one at a time and only if an interpreter was present? Because otherwise it was not edifying. Using the gift in this way was confusing and did not build up the body.

And as Paul says in verse 33, …God is not a God of confusion but of peace. Remember this people. Wherever you find confusion in worship, God is not the author of it. He authors peace. He likes orderliness. If you question this then consider the planetary motion above your head. Look at it. Study it through a powerful telescope. Next, check the tiny world of microscopic creatures…or a snowflake under a magnifying glass…or a butterfly wing. Is there order? Why, the planets are so orderly in their arrangement they correct our expensive timepieces! Stand on some mountainside and check out the scenery. Is it orderly? Live in a forest for all four seasons. Will you see order in nature or confusion? The answer to these questions is obvious. God is the Author of order…and He inspired Paul to include this guideline in His Word because He speaks to us in worship in an orderly way.

Now…you can probably infer from my comments, that I am skeptical about the practice of the gift of unknown tongues.

This is due my study of the Bible and to the fact that I have never heard or read of this gift being practiced according to the guidelines of Scripture. But to be honest, I don’t understand everything about this gift. I mean, why we would need the gift of a gibberish prayer language-even in the privacy of our own homes? Psalm 139 says that before a word is on our tongues God knows it completely and that He perceives our thoughts from afar. And, I am not alone in this mindset. Charles Swindoll and John McArthur are skeptical also. Charles Ryrie and other respected Christans believe the gift of tongues was a temporary one and that it ended with the apostolic age. Others believe it was a practice the Corinthians brought into their worship from their experience in paganism…and one that Paul tactfully dealt with in this 14th chapter. But I honestly don’t know and in verse 39 Paul does say, Do not forbid speaking in tongues. So, this is one thing we may have to wait for eternity to completely understand.

I do want us to realize though that the reason this gift is so potentially divisive is that just like those Corinthians, you and I are susceptible to pride. We want to be in the spotlight. I remember an incident from my youth ministry days in which our youth choir was putting together a musical/drama entitled, The Pledge. After the first rehearsal in which we blocked things out, two of my teens came to me and said they were not happy with the way things were set up. I asked why and they told me that they were upset because they were not in the front row where they could be seen by others.

I was appalled at their immaturity, but you know, many of us as grownups are just as pridefully self-centered. We want to be seen. We want to be noticed. Wayne Robinson, who served as editor-in-chief of publications in the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association, was an enthusiastic tongues-speaker at one time. He once wrote a book in which he decried the seeking of this gift saying, In the past few years, I have become more and more convinced that the test, not only of tongues but of any religious experience…should be this….does it turn a person inward to self-concern and selfish interests, or does it open him up to others and to their needs.

And, this may be another reason God led me to speak on this issue today, for, as you know in the coming months we will send out four mission trip teams, to Missouri, New Hampshire, Mexico, and Kenya. And it will be very possible for selfish pride to get in the way of their success. satan no doubt sees this as a potential weak point. I mean someone might childishly brag, I went to Kenya…or Mexico… This kind of self-edification could severely damage our body if it were to spread. As we go on mission we must remember that each of us will play an equally vital part in these endeavors. Some will go. Others will give so that others can go. Some will stay and pray but all of us will be important to the success of these efforts. And in humility we need to understand this. Remember in I Peter 5:5 it says that, God gives GRACE to the humble… And this grace-driven body will need all the grace we can get in the next few months. As Peter writes we must, Humble ourselves therefore, under God’s mighty hand….for our enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Let us pray…

Father God,

I ask that You would help us to strengthen our lines, to deepen our relationship with You and with each other, so that our body will remain healthy and strong ready to serve as Your flesh in this world. Help us to be humble…help us to see the need to understand Your word and live by it. Give us the languages we will need to communicate Your grace with our grace-needing world. I pray all this in Jesus’ name…AMEN

We sing a closing hymn to give you an opportunity to respond to our worship. If you are not a Christian…I hope you won’t leave without asking how to become one. I would love to tell you how you can come into a personal relationship with the Giver of all gifts. And, if you are a Christian and need to come forward to rededicate your life to God or to pray or to join our church family…now is the time to do so as we stand and sing

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