1 Corinthians 14:1

Follow after love and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy. For he that speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God. For no man understands him; howbeit he in the Spirit speaks mysteries. But he that prophesies speaks unto men for edification, exhortation, and comfort. He that speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself, while he that prophesies edifies the church.

I would that you all spoke with tongues, but rather that you prophesy. For greater is he that prophesies than he that speaks with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edification. Now, brethren, if I come unto you and speak with tongues, what shall I profit you except I shall speak to you either by revelation, knowledge, prophesying, or doctrine?

Even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to battle? So likewise you, except you utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? For you shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices or languages in the world, and none of them is without signification.

Therefore, if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaks a barbarian, and he that speaks shall be to me a barbarian. Even so you, for as much as you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that you may excel to the edifying of the church.

Lord, that is our hope and our desire as we come to your word this morning, that we would be challenged, exhorted, encouraged, and comforted by what you have given to us. Lord, by your Spirit today, would you use your word in such a way that we would know you more fully, that we would comprehend your nature and your will.

Lord, transform us more and more into the image of Your Son, that our life would be a portrayal of Your character. Teach us, we pray, we ask in Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed, saying, Amen. You can be seated.

In our last four or so studies in 1 Corinthians, we are in chapter 13, which establishes very clearly for us what love is, what it looks like, and how it is to be described or evidenced in the life of the believer, or at least in Christian love. The opening words of chapter 14 state that we are to follow after or pursue that kind of love. The Corinthians were given to pursuing spiritual gifts; that was their aim, their target, if you will. They had wrongly assumed that spiritual gifts were tangible evidence of spiritual power or tangible evidence of spiritual maturity.

They believed that if you had gifts—most specifically, the gift that they seemed to address as being very important was the gift of tongues—then you were essentially spiritually mature. They were coveting gifts and wanting what other people had, envying the positions and giftedness of others. Paul makes it very clear at the end of chapter 12 that desiring spiritual gifts is a good thing, and he emphasizes that again here in chapter 14. However, he tells the church at Corinth that there is a more excellent way.

Chapter 13 serves as a parenthetical break from chapters 12 and 14, where Paul addresses what this more excellent way is and identifies that love is the true evidence of spiritual maturity and growing Christian character. If we are to be known to this world as followers of Jesus Christ, then the dominating characteristic of our lives should be the love described in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. They will know that you are My disciples, not by your spiritual gifts or your powerful doctrine, but by the love that you have for one another.

Now, biblical love is certainly different from what is exalted as love in American culture in the 21st century.

Chapter 13 is incredibly helpful in helping us to grasp what that looks like. In chapter 12, verse 31, Paul said to earnestly desire the most useful gifts. Yet, he shows us a more excellent way, which is given to us in chapter 13. Now, we return to the subject of spiritual gifts, and he gives a very similar exhortation to what he did at the end of chapter 12.

He starts with the concept that we are to pursue or seek after, eagerly and earnestly, love. We want to lay hold of it as if we were running a race, with love as the finish line. We should grab hold of love and pursue it. At the same time, we should desire spiritual gifts in our lives and in our church. The exact same Greek word, "zoloo," is used in chapter 12, verse 31, to say that we should earnestly desire the most useful gifts. It is used again in chapter 14, verse 1, where we are told to desire spiritual gifts.

As we pursue love and desire that it overflows from our lives to evidence that we are followers of Jesus Christ, we should also desire that spiritual gifts be evident in our daily lives and in our fellowship as a church. Supremely, we are told to seek to lay hold of what is stated at the end of verse 1: "Follow after love, desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy."

As we step into chapter 14 and consider the 40 verses before us, it is incredibly important to recognize the context to which Paul is speaking. He is saying that, in the context of the gathering together of the body of Christ—the corporate fellowship of the body of Christ—prophecy should be esteemed above the gift of tongues. He will focus on these two gifts: prophecy and tongues.

We know that Paul is addressing specific problems, abuses, or misuses of gifts in the church at Corinth. The church at Corinth was actually seeking to lay hold of tongues speech in the context of the corporate body. Paul is saying, "No, instead, you should seek for prophecy." He will clearly explain why that is.

Why should prophecy excel above tongues in the corporate gathering of the body of Christ? As we go through this passage over the next couple of weeks, keep in mind that these discussions deal with the corporate gathering of the body of Christ. When the church gathers together as a whole, the primary desire is edification; therefore, prophecy is important, while tongues hold lesser value.

For some who grew up in a more Pentecostal or charismatic background, this distinction can be problematic. We must step back and return to the established truth that our life as a church should be directed, first and foremost, by the Word of God. This is the standard upon which we build our lives and the measure by which we assess our Christian walk. The Bible informs our experience, not the other way around.

It is essential to remember that the context is how we are to function as a body when we gather together, as Paul begins to uncover these truths for us. Prophecy, he states, is to be sought after when we pursue spiritual gifts, and it should be something we supremely seek as we gather as one.

This brings us to the immediate question: what is prophecy in the biblical sense in the New Testament? We need to establish an agreed-upon definition for prophecy in the New Testament. Some commentators, when reading books or commentaries on 1 Corinthians 12-14, suggest that prophecy is the same as preaching. However, a closer examination of chapters 12 and 14 of 1 Corinthians reveals that there is indeed a difference between prophecy and preaching.

If prophecy and preaching were the same, Paul would essentially be telling the church at Corinth that every single one of them should desire to be preachers. Clearly, that is not what he is calling them to, as not everyone is called to that position. We saw this at the end of chapter 12; not everybody has that gift or calling. Therefore, we should recognize, as a first step, that prophecy and preaching are different. However, preaching should involve...

Something of a prophetic dimension exists when an individual is preaching God's word. Oftentimes, there is a prophetic aspect to that, and we will see how that plays out as we go through this passage. Some commentators see no difference between prophecy and preaching, but clearly, Paul is not calling all the church at Corinth to be preachers.

Secondly, when defining what prophecy is in the New Testament, we should recognize that some Christians wrongly assume that the spiritual gift of prophecy is the same as the Old Testament office of a prophet, and it is not. A person who has or uses the gift of prophecy is not the same as an Old Testament prophet like Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Amos, and so forth.

What are the differences? I have met people in the body of Christ who have boldly proclaimed to me, "I am a prophet." I am always a little concerned, or leery, when I meet individuals who tell me that they are a prophet. Most of the time, people who have said to me, "I am a prophet," in the very next breath tell me, "Thus saith the Lord for you." It is as if they have something to say to me, and they want to use their prophetic position to talk to me. Without a doubt, every single time someone has told me, "I'm a prophet, and I have a word of the Lord for you," their word has not come to pass.

If we really want to go by Old Testament standards, we could refer back to the book of Deuteronomy. Perhaps we should keep a basket of big rocks around so that any time such a person comes to the surface, we could deal with them in Old Testament methods. If you've read Deuteronomy, you know exactly what I'm talking about, and probably we don't want to do that.

Individuals who tend to say, "I am a prophet," also carry a certain hyper-spiritual sense and are generally very arrogant when I have met them. They do not follow the example of the prophets of the Old Testament, who showed quite a bit of humility in their lives and the way in which they presented their messages. Jeremiah, for instance, came to many points of humility in his ministry.

Where he didn't any longer want to speak forth God's word, it was because it was a very heavy and powerful thing that God had tasked him with. Old Testament prophets were called and ordained by God for their specific work. They were empowered at certain times and in certain ways by God's Spirit to accomplish their given task, but their empowering from the Lord was not constant, nor was it always under their control.

What do I mean by that? Well, if you read through the Book of Daniel, you'll see that there were times when Daniel would have these visions that he himself could not control. God would give him a vision, and in the vision, God would provide him with an interpretation or an understanding. Sometimes, he didn't fully understand what the vision was; he was just called to write it or to speak it, being told that it would make sense in the future. So, these individuals were empowered by God at certain times in certain ways, but it was not always constant, nor was it always under their control.

In contrast, as we go through this passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, we see that the spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet. This means that the New Testament gift of prophecy allows the person who possesses it to have control over their spirit to deal with these matters, unlike the Old Testament prophets who were called and ordained by God for their work.

Now, Old Testament prophets did, at times, speak things that were predictive; they foretold what was going to happen in the future. When we think of a prophet, we generally think in that sense. We say that a person who is a prophet is someone who tells the future. However, that's not the whole story. Most of what Old Testament prophets spoke was not so much foretelling in a predictive way as it was foretelling in a didactic way. Didactic prophecy is intended to teach, particularly to provide moral instruction to the people. It reveals God's nature and God's will.

Many times, the Old Testament prophets were not predicting the future. They were telling the people about God's character, stating that He is holy and that they are sinful. They called and exhorted them to turn from their ways to follow the Lord, warning that if they did not, certain consequences would come upon them. Therefore, most of what Old Testament prophets said was not predictive.

It was didactic. Just about every time you meet a prophet today, they generally say, "I'm predicting the future." Nine times out of ten, their predictions are wrong. Therefore, if we were in the Old Testament, they would be dead. It is kind of hard to get a life insurance policy as a prophet in the Old Testament.

Old Testament prophets were, in a sense, God's mouthpiece to His people. This is evidenced by the fact that they would often use the phrase, "thus saith the Lord." The phrase "thus saith the Lord" is seen 415 times in the Bible, and it is never used in the New Testament. That should at least be instructive to us that prophecy, the New Testament gift of prophecy, is not the same as the Old Testament office of a prophet. The New Testament person who functions as a prophet is not revealing unrevealed truth and saying, "thus saith the Lord." In fact, they are more often bringing to light what has already been revealed in a way that is exhortive, an encouragement, and an edification to the body of Christ.

Old Testament prophets spoke in many ways as the mouthpiece of God, as God gave them direct, special revelation. Much of what they did, said, or wrote became Scripture. Jesus told us that in the last days, that is, after He ascended into heaven, the last days began. In the last days, many false prophets would arise and they would deceive many.

The problem is that there are still people who stand up today and say, "I am a prophet in the Old Testament sense." They claim to be a mouthpiece for God and bring words to people that are totally separate from the Scriptures, which cannot be substantiated by the Scriptures. People lay hold of those things, and therefore, you have the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or you have Islam, which teaches, "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His prophet." That Old Testament prophetic office was done away with. All of the prophets were until John the Baptist; he is the last of the Old Testament prophets.

Something clearly changes after that point. The New Testament prophet is similar in some sense, especially in that God, by His Spirit, empowers an individual with the gift of prophecy, primarily for the edification, exhortation, or comfort of God's people, using what has already been revealed. The words that they speak are in line with God's previous revelation. Therefore, it's really easy to judge whether or not a person is speaking on behalf of the Lord in a way that is encouraging and exhortative. If it is not in line with this, then we simply say, "Well, sorry." If it doesn't fit, cast it aside. It must be in line with God's Word. Amen?

God, by His Word, brings to light a word for His people in a given situation or circumstance. Individuals observe the gift of prophecy being utilized in their lives when they speak God's revealed Word to a given people for their edification, exhortation, or comfort. Now, this often happens when the Word of God is being preached, but preaching is not always 100% prophecy.

How does it happen when the Word of God is being preached? Rarely does a week go by that I do not have at least one person come up after the service and say, "You were speaking directly to me today." Or, it happens that someone comes up and says to me, "Did my spouse talk to you? Did they tell you I was coming today? Did they tell you what's going on so you would say this?" I've had this happen repeatedly. Anyone who preaches God's Word will have people come up. Maybe it's their first time visiting; a friend brought them here today, and they come up and say, "What you were saying today, my friend talked to you. They emailed you, didn't they, before I got here? That's why you shared what you shared."

No, I didn't share it because you're here. God spoke it to you, utilizing the gift of prophecy through the preacher. So that does happen. But it's God's revealed Word, already revealed, being spoken in a way that encourages, exhorts, or comforts God's people. It's not new revelation. It's not me standing up here saying, "Thus saith the Lord." But it is something that takes place within the body of Christ for mutual edification.

We ought not to despise prophecy. Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 20, says, "Despise not prophesying." Don't disregard it. If God speaks to you in the context of a message that is being given, pay attention to what He is saying. Observe what it is that He has spoken.

The context of what Paul is saying in the remainder of this chapter is the setting of corporate public worship. When the body of Christ gathers together, he essentially states that tongues should take a lesser position than prophecy. It appears that at the church in Corinth, when they gathered, multiple people would begin to speak forth in tongues in unintelligible languages. This may have been moved by the Spirit of God, or it could have been individuals utilizing a gift that God had given them in their own flesh, not keeping it under control. It may also have been inauthentic. Regardless, there were multiple people in the context of the body of Christ gathered, speaking forth in tongues at the same time. It was not being done decently or in order. Paul emphasizes at the end of this chapter that it must be done decently and in order if it is to be done. Therefore, he states that tongues should be set aside in favor of prophecy.

Before anyone gets upset about this, we need to recognize a few things. First, Paul has already stated in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 28, that tongues take a lesser position in the listing of gifts. In 1 Corinthians 12, 28, God has set some in the church. Follow the progression: first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and what? Diversities of tongues. The last one he mentions in this progression is diversities of tongues.

It is interesting that the first position he gives is the apostolic position, authority, and gift, which Paul himself held. Yet, the church in Corinth had cast him aside and spoken ill of him, while they exalted those who spoke in tongues. Paul points out that they have it backward. He clearly states that tongues take a lesser position in the rank of the listing of gifts.

Secondly, Paul is addressing an obvious misuse and abuse of the gift of tongues in the church at Corinth, which is still present today in some churches in our town, in our nation, and in the world. When I was about 10 years old, my family began looking for a different church. We lived here in Escondido and had been going to a church in Vista. It was a distance to travel on Sunday mornings, so we started to visit different churches in search of another one.

One morning, we happened upon a church—I won't tell you which church it is here in town—where, at a certain point in the worship service, maybe a dozen or so people began to speak out in unintelligible languages, apparently the gift of tongues, all at the same time. As a 10-year-old, I was rather freaked out. That's a good word. I was just thinking, what in the world is happening here? I remember after that saying to my mom, "I don't want to go there again." So, these things still take place.

Now, there is a question of whether or not it's a genuine use of a gift that God has given or if it's manufactured. That's not for us to judge; God is the judge of such things. What we can judge is that this is not done decently and in order. As a general rule—though this is not a blanket statement—you will find in many churches that exalt the spiritual gift of tongues, they give lesser place to the Word of God. Therefore, you often end up having immature Christians who may have a lot of experience but lack a good grasp of the Word of God. They allow themselves to function in experience without any sort of direction from what God has given to us. This is very dangerous and leads people into all kinds of weird places. If that's what you're looking for, there are other churches that offer that, but it's not going to happen here.

Essentially, anybody in the church at Corinth could stand up and mumble some sort of gibberish, which was thought to be a true use of the gift of tongues by those who gathered there. There was no interpretation given, and it was repeated over and over again. Paul says this is not the way it ought to be. You need to recognize that prophecy should take a higher place in your fellowship than the gift of tongues. This does not mean that they should cast aside the gift of tongues; he doesn't say that. Paul is not...

Discounting the practice of tongues by the Christian only seeks to diminish the place of priority that it was given in the church at Corinth or in other churches today. The practice is perfectly fine; however, the place of priority is questionable.

On the other hand, prophecy is much easier to test for genuineness compared to tongues. It is very hard to judge whether a person is genuinely using the gift of tongues or just manufacturing it, or if it is simply a part of their emotional experience coming out. In contrast, it is relatively easy to evaluate a prophetic announcement. If it is not in line with God's Word, we can cast it aside.

Let's consider specifically what Paul says. Look at verse 2: "He that speaks in an unknown tongue or with unintelligible speech speaks not unto men but unto God." Tongues are not spoken to man but to God. I have been in a number of gatherings where, in a smaller setting, someone apparently speaks forth a tongue, and then an interpretation is given. The interpretation often begins with "thus saith the Lord," which is more from God to man. Yet, it doesn't fit with the pattern of the Scriptures that we see here.

When someone speaks forth in an unknown tongue, primarily what we see is that they are speaking from man to God. They are not speaking from man to man or from God to man; they are speaking in an unintelligible language. It is something that they themselves do not understand. They do not comprehend what they are saying when they are speaking in tongues.

Now, some of you have never had any experience with tongues and may be thinking this is far out. It is indeed an awesome thing that God does by His Spirit, and when it is done genuinely, it is not something that we comprehend or understand with our intelligence. The only way we will comprehend what is being said is if God, by His Spirit, divinely gives us the gift of interpretation.

Other than that, our understanding does not really work in the context of the gift of tongues. Therefore, you cannot be speaking in tongues and just walk up to someone standing in front of you and start speaking in tongues to them, expecting them to perfectly track with you.

The person speaking in tongues is not speaking unto men; they are speaking unto God. We have to recognize the truth of that statement. Why is it that they are not speaking to men? They are speaking to God because no man understands Him. This is clear. If someone stands up today and begins speaking in tongues, probably everyone in this room will not have a clue what they are saying unless they are speaking in an earthly language that someone else in the fellowship knows, which could be possible. They are speaking unto God because no man understands Him; howbeit, in the Spirit, they speak mysteries.

A mystery, in the biblical sense, is something that we cannot know apart from revelation. The interpretation of a tongue can be given, and we can understand what it means if God provides an interpretation and reveals it. However, in large part, something spoken in tongues is spoken unto God by the Spirit of God in the life of the believer who has the gift of tongues.

Prophecy, on the other hand, speaks unto men. He that prophesies speaks unto men for their edification, their exhortation, and their comfort. While our understanding is darkened in relation to the gift of tongues, the gift of prophecy brings enlightenment to those who are gathered together. A person who speaks prophetically is speaking in a language that those gathered together know, and with the authority of God's revealed word, they are speaking to bring edification, which is the building up of the body, exhortation, which is calling people to walk in a way they haven't been walking before, and comfort. We perfectly understand what that means.

Paul is not diminishing the power or the importance of the gift of tongues or the practice of it by believers. He is simply saying that the place of priority given to it in the fellowship is not as it ought to be at Corinth. In verse 4, he states that he who speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself. We just saw in verse 3 that one who speaks with prophecy is edifying the body of Christ, but the person who speaks with tongues experiences a self-edification. Notice that Paul does not say that this is bad, wrong, or sinful. There are some Christians...

Who think that if we are edified, or if we experience joy, or if we experience happiness, or if we're uplifted, then there's something wrong? That's not the case. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. This means that our joy is not mutually exclusive from His glory.

There is a way in which the person speaking in tongues experiences edification, a building up. They experience joy as they are communing with God in a way that you may not be able to do in a normal sense. There is a certain joy, a certain pleasure from communing with God in this spiritual language, speaking in tongues. However, if we're honest, we'll recognize that this is something that is felt only by the person speaking in tongues.

He that speaks with an unknown tongue edifies himself, but he that prophesies edifies the church. Notice the repeated use of the word "edification." When we gather together as the corporate body of Christ, we are gathering to use our gifts mutually to glorify God, to edify the body, and to prepare us to go out to evangelize the lost.

Our focus when we gather together is not that we would edify ourselves, but that what we do would bring edification to the whole of the body. If love edifies, as we saw in 1 Corinthians 8:1, and if love does not seek its own, as we saw in 1 Corinthians 13, then when we gather together as the church of God and love is that which drives us, we should be seeking to edify one another and not coming here just to see what we can get for ourselves.

That's why we do not believe that the gathering together of the church is a place for consumerism in the sense that we just come here to consume children's ministry, to consume good music, or to consume a really cool talk. We are gathering together to be mutually encouraged in our worship of the Lord, to be built up so that we can effectively do what God has called us to do. The church is not just a consumer; this is not just some other retail space where you shop around trying to find the best worship band.

And yet, American Christianity...

Has fallen into that to the point where you could rightly call it consumeranity and not Christianity. We shop from church to church and say, "Well, this church doesn't emphasize tongues; I don't like it." Or, "This church's preacher's not as good as that church; I don't like it." Or, "This church's children's ministry isn't as great as that church's."

Listen, if this church doesn't have as good a children's ministry as the other church down the road, perhaps it's God's call for you to use your gifts to help it be better than that one. We're not just here to be built up and feel fluffy when we leave. We're here to spend and be spent for one another to build up the whole body of Christ. Therefore, it is a wrong focus that says, "Well, the gift of tongues ought to be supreme because it makes me feel good."

Now notice what Paul says. Again, he's not saying to get rid of the gift of tongues. In verse 5, he expresses, "I wish or I would that you all spoke with tongues." What does that imply? Not all speak with tongues, which is a problem for some in the charismatic and Pentecostal community. Some churches say you're not a Christian if you don't speak in tongues. Others say you do not have the Spirit of God if you don't speak with tongues. Paul states that not all speak with tongues, and he is speaking about Christians.

He expresses his desire that you all would speak with tongues. Why? Apparently, Paul spoke with tongues, as we will see as we go through this passage. He says, "I speak in tongues more than all of you." Paul knew the goodness of the gift of tongues, but he also recognized the danger of exalting it to the forefront. He states, "I wish that you all did speak with tongues, but rather," notice there's a two-fold desire that Paul has here, "I desire that you speak with tongues, but rather that you prophesy."

Why? "For greater is he that prophesies than he that speaks with tongues." When he says the one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks with tongues, he's not saying that the one who prophesies is more spiritual. He's simply saying that the one who prophesies, in the context of the body of Christ, is more helpful. That is how that individual is greater, because they are building up the body. One caveat he gives.

He says, except the one who speaks in tongues interprets. Why? The end goal is that the church may receive edification. The focus of the corporate gathering of the body of Christ is the glorification of God and the building up of the body of Christ. From there, the built-up believers go from this place to use their gifts to evangelize the lost.

In verse 6, he says, "Now, brethren, if I came unto you and spoke with tongues, what shall it profit you except I shall speak to you either by revelation, knowledge, prophesying, or doctrine?" Notice that Paul is speaking to them corporately. He addresses them as brethren, indicating that he is not questioning whether or not they are saved. Even though they were out of order, they were not out of fellowship.

He continues, "Brethren, if I come to you and I speak with tongues, if I just come to your fellowship and I stand up at the pulpit and I just begin to go on, and then I just leave and go, 'Well, that was great,' it's unhelpful. It's not going to build you up. It does not profit you." He emphasizes that it will only profit them if he speaks by revelation, knowledge, prophesying, or doctrine.

What is the difference between these four? Revelation refers to the insights Paul received directly from the Lord as an apostle, which he delivered to the church. In 1 Corinthians 11, speaking about communion, he said, "I received of the Lord that which I also delivered to you." He then spoke about communion. In 1 Corinthians 15, he states, "I delivered unto you first of all that which I received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures." The gospel that Paul preached was not something he was taught by men; he tells us in Galatians 1, verses 11 and 12, that he received it by revelation from God. Thus, Paul spoke things that were revealed to him directly from God.

Furthermore, Paul talks about knowledge. He may be identifying the gift of the Spirit called the word of knowledge here, but he is probably speaking more simply about the fact that he had a knowledge and understanding of God's word that he would bring to the church, which would be helpful to them.

Furthermore, prophesying involves using God's word to bring edification, exhortation, and comfort. It is about speaking God's word to a given people for their upbuilding, along with doctrine and instructive teaching. Revelation, knowledge, prophesying, and doctrine are just examples of what Paul says he would choose to use to express in the corporate body to build up the body of Christ.

He then gives a helpful illustration. He says that if he came to them, he would want to speak in ways that they would understand. Even things without life-giving sound, whether pipe or harp, must give distinction in sounds; otherwise, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for battle?

We understand this idea of musical instruments. Musical instruments are only truly helpful and beautiful when they are all playing the same piece of music, in the same tempo, and in the same key, creating a great symphony of sound. At the beginning, when the whole symphony starts by tuning, all you hear is a cacophony of noise, which is unhelpful. However, when there is one conductor, the Lord Jesus Christ, leading the body of Christ in unity and concert together, it is edifying for the body of Christ.

In the same fashion, in the first century and even before that, armies would use the trumpet to sound calls to advance, retreat, wake up, and more. If the sound was not specified, who would understand what it was? It would just be a note, and one might wonder, "What was that? I don't know." We recognize that these things need to have a cohesive direction to help us understand and grasp what is being done and said.

My son loves to pick up his guitar. His grandparents got him a little guitar a year or so ago, and he enjoys playing it and singing. Ninety-nine percent of what he plays and sings is indistinguishable. For a two-and-a-half-year-old, it's cute. The immaturity displayed in just hitting the strings is endearing, and it is certainly cute for a child of his age.

We don't take the two-and-a-half-year-old, as cute as he is, and put him up here to lead worship. It would be unhelpful. It would be cute, and I would video it and put it on YouTube. Paul says in verse 19, which we will see next week, "Yet in the church, I would rather speak five words with my understanding that I might teach others also than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue." That's phenomenal—five versus 10,000. Good morning, how are you? I'd rather speak five words with understanding than 10,000 words in a tongue, he says.

So what's the application? In verse 9, he states, "So likewise you, except you utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? For you shall speak into the air." There may be so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. There are lots of different voices and languages. For most of us, we understand one, perhaps two, maybe three for some. I've known some people in my life who speak four or five languages, and I bow in their presence because it's phenomenal. I can hardly speak English.

But there are thousands of languages. We recognize that there are so many different languages, and when we come in contact with people who speak another language and they don't speak our language, we might pick out a word here or there and think, "Man, what is that?" They are to us a barbarian. The Greek word "barbaros" was used by the Greeks and Romans to describe a foreigner who spoke with a different tongue. They would just say, "I don't understand what they're saying because it's barbar, barbar, barbar, barbar, barbar."

Therefore, if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaks a barbarian, and he shall be unto me a barbarian. Even so, you, here's the application: as much as you are zealous for spiritual gifts—the exact same word used in verse 1, "desire spiritual gifts," and the same word used in verse 31 of chapter 12, "earnestly desire spiritual gifts"—he says, "Listen, church, you desire spiritual gifts; that's great, but seek more so that you would excel to the edification of the church."

The focus in the corporate gathering is the building up of the church and not our self-exaltation or self-gratification.

And so, when we gather together, our desire is that we would be able to easily understand what is being said. We want to comprehend in a way that enables us to glorify God, benefit one another, and share with the lost. Amen?

Let's stand and pray. Amen.

Father, I pray that you would help us to bring our experiences and our understanding to Your Word, allowing Your Word to inform us. We want to be steadfast in following You as You have revealed Yourself to us. So God, teach us these things. Transform our minds and renew us, that we would be able to glorify You better, edify one another more fully, and be a great representation of Your love to a lost and dying world. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you.