Mindful Ministry | 1 Corinthians 14:13–25

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Amen. Maybe seated. Well, good morning and uh welcome. We're glad you're here. Good to see you. Welcome to life. Uh let me add my welcome that's already been extended to you through Aaron. My name is Andrew. I'm one of the pastors here at Life. And we have uh this privilege to serve you today, and we are going to draw our attention again to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. So if you would grab your Bible, let's turn there, 1 Corinthians chapter 14, and we want you to lay eyes on the text. We want to see it plain and clear. This is God's word, not mine. This isn't, I don't have a word for you. My job is to deliver the word that's already been recorded and delivered to us from God through faithful men. Preserved on these pages, gathered together in this 66 books, that we have full assurance that these are God's words for us today. And my job is to help as best I can with the help of the Spirit make sense of them. And so, 1 Corinthians 14 is where we are. We're going to read in just a few minutes, verses 13 through verse 25. And if you're new with us, thanks for coming. We are in a series through the book of 1 Corinthians. This is a letter written by a real man named Paul. He was an apostle, which is a messenger and an authority figure in the first century when the church was getting established, and he wrote this letter to a real church that he loved in an attempt to help them deal with some problems, deal with some immaturity, deal with some brokenness that was flooding into their gatherings as a church. And so as a church, we go back to study these words because in them lie and are uh contained what we need to be to be everything that God has called us to be. And so we believe that, we trust that, and so we study that. I hope you have your Bible and maybe some notes open, and uh you'll engage with this this morning. Uh have you ever said, or maybe if you are a parent, you've heard it said something like, I wasn't thinking, right? I just I wasn't thinking. And my answer to that is usually I know, I could tell, right? Uh it's like when when one of my kids, especially my son, and um, he's not here right now, so I can use him as an illustration. I know many of you are graciously sympathetic to my children. Thank you for being that way, because I use them too much, but my son will do something pretty dumb and he'll say, I didn't mean to. And I'm like, I know, if you meant to do that, you'd probably be in jail, right? But the fact that you didn't mean to do that means that you weren't thinking. You weren't thinking. You weren't thinking about the repercussions or the effect that that action was going to have. I wasn't thinking. Yesterday I grabbed my keys, I was determined to go get something out of my truck. I went out into the uh front yard to or in the in the driveway to get my thing, whatever it was, and uh came back in, hung my keys up, walked back to my room, and realized I didn't even get the thing that I went out to get for. Like I'm at that age, right? I I came out here for something, I don't know what I came out here for. I forget, never mind what was going on. I wasn't thinking. Sometimes uh at the end of a Sunday, especially after services are over, and uh Sunday night is a is a is kind of a turn your brain off kind of night for me. Just turn it off. I want to not think. Sometimes Angel will ask me a question, I'll be like, hey babe, it's Sunday night. I don't want to think today, right? I just don't want to think. I wasn't thinking, I don't want to think, shut our brains off, let it recon let it reconfigure, let it refresh, just shut it off. Listen, that is okay in some instances, but Paul in our text today is going to help us see that that's not okay in the gathering of the church. There is never, according to Paul, a justification for us to say, in church, I just don't want to think. I just want to experience. I just want to shut my brain off. I don't want to, I don't want to know, I don't want to hear, I don't want to think, don't go too deep, don't get, don't get me. I just want to experience. And that's the problem. So in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul is addressing problems in Corinth concerning spiritual gifts. And the problem that we saw already up to this point was there's about five problems he's going to address. With spiritual gifts, in verse 1, he says, you're unloving. You're not loving others with your spiritual gifts. So they were unloving, and they were unloving because in verses two through four he says, you're unedifying. You're not loving others with your spiritual gift because you're not building each other up. So it was unedifying, and it was unedifying, verses five through 13, because it was unintelligible. You're pursuing this gift of languages that nobody understands what you're saying, and it's unedifying because it's unintelligible. So it's unloving because it's unedifying, and it's unedifying because it's unintelligible, and it's unintelligible, which makes it, what we're gonna cover today, unintelligent. Like you're not using your brains, you're just shutting your brains off, and you're just going after the experience. You're just going after uh the thing that you think is the manifestation of the spirit, but it's exhibition. It's it's not edifying, it's not spirit-led, it's not spirit empowering, it's not building up the church, it's unloving, unedifying, unintelligent, or unintelligible, and now we're gonna see it's unintelligent. So today we're gonna deal with that. In their worship and in their ministry, they were turning their minds off. Somebody says, How was church? They're like, I wasn't thinking. I just was it was good. I had it, I feel good. I just wasn't thinking. What'd you learn? I don't know, I wasn't thinking. And that's what they were doing in Corinth. They were just wanting to turn their minds off and speak in this gift of tongues that was unintelligible, and it was unintelligible, which made it unintelligent and unintelligent. And because it was unintelligent, it wasn't, it wasn't engaging the mind. The problem was is it wasn't accomplishing the purpose. So they thought that this gift, this this language gift of speaking in a different language made them more spiritual, that it made them more mature. However, Paul's point today in our text is that turning your mind off in worship or ministry is not a spiritually mature thing to do. So the reality is that my mind is a must for our unified and effective church ministry when we come together and our use of gifts. So we're gonna read that. I want you to see that. Notice the amount of times he uses mind or something about thinking and then applies the effect that that has on the church gathering. Okay, so 1 Corinthians 14, look at it in verse 13. I'm gonna read through verse 25. You follow along silently. I'll read aloud. These are God's words for us today. May they come to bear on us as he intends them to. Verse 13. Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also. I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say amen to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church, I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue. Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking, be mature. In the law it is written, By people of strange tongues and by lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even they will not listen to me, says the Lord. Thus tongues are a sign not for believers, but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers, but for believers. If therefore the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy and an unbeliever, our outsider, enters, he is convicted by all. He is called to account by all. The secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. I think you can see as you read that, there are those references to the mind that rise to the surface. It is clear that Paul has in his mind the intention to get across that the worship and the gathering and the ministry of the church should not just be about the spirit, small s spirit of personal experience, but should be an intelligent or a mind-engaging activity so that it reaches maximum impact. So that's the big idea that's gonna sit over the top of this text today that we're gonna unpack for the next few minutes. Maximum impact in the church with my spiritual gift demands engagement of the mind. Maximum impact in order for us when we come together as a church, whether in this room or in small group settings or in studies or in some other uh representation or expression of the church, maximum impact in those gatherings with my spiritual gift demands engagement of the mind. It's not just about personal, emotional experience, it's about engagement of the intellect. So Christian worship is never mindless spirituality. We're never trying to get to a state of mindlessness, we're never trying to get to a state of nirvana, we're never trying to get to a state of meditation where we empty the mind. No, it's different than that. It is spirit-powered understanding. The Bible tells us to be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Clearly, salvation and the work of the Spirit is intending to do something not just in what we feel or in what we experience, but in what we know and how we think. So Christian maturity always involves renewed thinking. So Paul's concern in this passage is that the church must be built up. And spiritual gifts are not given, again, we're gonna beat this drum again this week, again and again. It's not given to showcase spirituality, but to strengthen the body of Christ. And that cannot happen if the mind is disengaged. So what I think Paul's doing here is he's showing us what happens when our minds are not engaged when we come together to worship. When all we are after is the experience, when all we are after is the personal manifestation of some experience, when that's our pursuit, when that's our passion, when that's our priority, some things happen that we need to avoid. Okay, so what happens when our minds are not engaged? And Paul answers this by showing a cascading consequence of mindless spirituality. Okay, you with me? Thumbs up? All right, good. Several of you are good, awesome. Thumbs up. That was the wrong finger, sir. Don't throw that finger at me. No, I'm just kidding. No, I didn't see that. That was a joke. Paul answers by showing the cascading consequences of mindless spirituality, and there's five of them I want to show you today. So we gotta work quick because this is a four-hour sermon that I'm gonna punch into about two hours, okay? So you're all right. When the mind is not engaged, number one, I want you to see my worship becomes unfruitful. When my mind is not engaged, my worship, prayer, and singing. I love that Paul references singing. Some people are like, I don't really like the singing part of the service. Well, Paul did. He did it, he was a part of it. So he says, by show, again, showing us the the prayer and singing element, he shows us the effect of unintelligence and mindlessness and what it has on our prayers and singing. The Corinthians were turning off their minds and just enjoying the experience, and it was not productive. So he starts, look at verse 13. Therefore, remember, whenever there's a therefore, you gotta see wherefore it's therefore. Like, why is that therefore there? Well, it's always a bridge word connecting us back to what was just said. And what it was just said is that the purpose of spiritual gifts is the building up of the church, not the experience of the individual. In Corinth, the gift of tongues was the wow factor gift that everyone wanted, but Paul was trying to show them the more excellent way. So, therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. The person who speaks in a language other than the language of the people gathered should pray that he can interpret the words. Couple things to think about there. Praying and asking God for the ability to speak and interpret reminds us that this is a miraculous spirit-empowered ability. This isn't a pamphlet that you hand out to teach you how to do it. This is spirit-empowered, undeniable, verifiable miracle. Pray that this happens. However, here's what Paul is saying. He should not be satisfied with the solo experience of speaking in the miraculous gift of tongues. Now, listen, don't hang a bunch of hats on that right now, or don't put a bunch on that. He's gonna explain what tongues is in a second. But right now he's just saying, listen, if if hypothetically you are gonna speak in tongues, here's what you need to pray. Pray that you can actually translate that into the English or the language of the people gathered, because they're not helped by it. Look at look at uh verse 14. For if I pray in a tongue, now again, this is not an imperative teaching us that praying in a tongue is a thing that we must strive for or a thing at all. He's not saying that. Pray in tongues. That's not what he's saying. He is speaking hypothetically, because nowhere in scripture do we have teaching that we should pray in a different language. Nowhere in scripture do we have any teaching that tells us we should seek and strive to pray in a different unknown language or some angelic language. I don't have time to develop this all the way, but suffice it to say that nowhere in scripture do we have indication that there is a secret unknown angelic language and that we are expected to pray in that language. It's just not scriptural. So here he's not saying, uh uh, giving us a command when you pray in the tongue. No, he's saying, if I were, here's what I'm praying for. Verse 14 for if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. That's our word. This is the spirit of Paul, not the Holy Spirit. And this is the key to this section. If I don't even know what I am praying or saying, my spirit may be having some experience, but it's unfruitful for my own benefit because my mind is not engaged. This is not good. The word unfruitful means unproductive, ineffective, yielding no benefit. There's no benefit to that. There's no benefit to me if I were to even pray in this tongue that you're kind of talking about and and not know what I'm saying. It's unfruitful. It doesn't bear any fruit in my life. Worship that does not communicate truth then produces no fruit in the gathered church. Look at it in verse 15. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit. Okay, fine, I'll pray with my spirit. My spirit's involved in my prayers, but here's what I'd rather do. I'm going to pray with my mind also. I will sing praises with my spirit. Listen, we're not afraid of the emotional side of you being involved in worship. We're all for that. And he's like, I will sing praises with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also, so that truth is accurately communicated. So Paul concludes that I would rather uh than this hypothetical thing uh to pray and sing, uh rather in a language that my mind can benefit from. The real value of my worship. So the point Paul is making is this that in our worship gatherings and in our ministry to one another, we should seek to engage the mind. Make the words understandable, explain what needs to be explained, engage our minds so that the worship and ministry is fruitful, that it's productive, that we sing a song like we just sang, or saying, Yes, I see the connection from that song to this scripture, and I'm saying, Amen to that. I'm agreeing with that, it's fruitful. Therefore, fruitfulness, according to Paul, is connected to the full engagement of both the spirit and the mind. The spirit does not bypass the mind, he illumines the mind. John 4 24, God Christ told us that God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. That's mind engagement, that's full body, that's everything. Colossians 3.16 says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. So Christian worship is truth saturated. Paul is using first person here, and he is softening the blow to them by using himself as the example. Faithfulness to this idea produces fruitfulness. Something produced. He doesn't want us to miss out on the production of church activity by turning our minds off. Fruitfulness then is the why behind our worship and ministry. The why behind the what is always important, isn't it? Why are we doing this? Why are we going here? Why am I at this park? Why am I doing why why am I parenting again? Right? Like the answer to that question is a big deal. If you don't know the why behind the what, then listen, we've got issues. We have to be asking, why are we doing this? And we're gathering together. The why behind the what informs our purpose. So why do I have this gifting? Why am I ministering in this way? Paul wants the church to not just be about the experience, he wants the experience to be intelligent as well so that it accomplishes the full intended production. You understand that? So production. He wants the mind to be engaged. He doesn't want you to turn your mind off and say, I just am about the experience. I want to speak in this gift so that I can have this personal experience. No, he says that's unfruitful. That doesn't benefit anybody because nobody knows what you're saying. That's not that's not what we're after here. So when the mind is disengaged, worship and ministry loses its fruitfulness. Prayer and singing has no value. It may be sincere, it may be emotional, it may even be passionate, but it produces no spiritual fruit because truth is not understood. So Paul's concern is not only personal worship, but the church gathers for something greater than individual expression. It gathers for mutual edification. So Paul now moves from the problem of unfruitful worship. Now I want you to see the problem of unhelpful ministry. So when the mind is not engaged, first, my worship becomes unfruitful, and second, my ministry becomes unhelpful. So Paul moves from personal worship to corporate ministry, okay? You following? When mindless inness invades the church, not only is worship of singing and prayer not productive, ministry is not helpful. So he's like, listen, if if if you speak in a tongue and nobody knows what you're saying, here's what's gonna happen. Verse 16. Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, meaning if you give thanks and nobody understands what you're saying, this is what's gonna happen if you don't engage the mind and the spirit in your expressions of gratitude. So if in some unknown uh language that nobody in the gathering knows, you're speaking some foreign language, then listen, here's what's gonna happen. How can anyone in the position of an outsider say amen to your thanksgiving when he doesn't know what you're saying? So, how can a person who is not gifted in this way or does not participate in this activity or speaking or understand the language that you're talking about, how can they say amen? Now what's amen? Well, amen is a word that in the uh early church uh was a word they would use to affirm the prayer or the word spoken. Here's what it means: it means yes, that's true. So if you're new to church and you think this is really weird, every once in a while the pastor says amen and everybody says, Amen. What is that? That's weird, right? That's tongue talking. I don't know what's going on. Here's all that means. Yes, that's true. I agree. Amen? Amen. Okay, that's it. I agree. It's not it's not some boot bolstering of my confidence because I know you're listening. It's I agree with that. Amen. When we're singing, we yell out, amen. I agree with that. Jesus, Jesus. No one has a higher name, no one more holy. Amen. That's what that is, okay? But if the words are unintelligible, the congregation cannot say amen. Listen, if I get up here and I speak in a language that nobody here knows, I speak in Russian. Now, somebody here might know Russian, so just humor me for a second. And I get up here and I I give this whole loud, passionate display of words in Russian, and then at the end of my monologue in Russian, I say, Amen. That's what you should do. You're like, I'm not willing to put my stamp of agreement on that. I don't know what you just said. Right now, I could have been waxing eloquent with theological depth and accuracy. I could have been elevating the name of Jesus, but you have no idea what I just said. So you're like, no way, I'm not amen in that. You could have been calling us a bunch of morons, or you could have been blaspheming the name of Jesus, or you could have been saying something unbiblical, so I'm not saying amen to that. That's what he's saying. Ministry then becomes a spectator spirituality instead of shared edification. The answer is understood as he can't agree with you. So if you're worshiping in some kind of mindless speaking that is unintelligible and therefore unintelligent, because the mind is not engaged, the person listening and observing cannot agree with what you are saying because they do not understand what you are saying. This is not good. For verse 17, you may be giving thanks well enough, but the Person is not being here. It is not being what? Built up. Not being edified. It's not helpful. The word built up is the dominant metaphor in the chapter. The church is a building under construction. Every spiritual gift then should be uh placing another brick in the wall of spiritual discipleship. That's the purpose laid out all throughout scripture for our gathering and for our spiritual giftedness. Now you may be giving thanks, he says. You may be having a personal experience. He you may be. I don't think Paul's saying private tongue prayers is for your personal benefit. I think he's just, again, going into the illustration. Sure, maybe, maybe you're having a good personal experience, but it's not productive. Therefore, it's not the purpose that you have been gifted for. It's unhelpful. This activity then that you are all after and pining for is undermining the very purpose of spiritual gifts, which is to have an incredible uh uh is not to have an incredible personal experience, but to build up the body gathered as a church. That's helpful. What's helpful is clear, understandable ministry that builds one another up. So the benefit will be lost, the purpose will be missed if your mind and their mind is not engaged in the ministry. Spiritual gifts are tools for construction. Tools are meant to be used for building, tools left in the truck are not effective at building the building. And when the mind is disengaged, the building stops rising because nobody knows to amen, agree, or be helped by that. You will be giving thanks, possibly, with your spirit, but not with your mind, and their mind will not be engaged. And remember, verse 12, he reminds us when you come together, be eager for the manifestations of the spirit, strive to excel in the building up of the church. Okay, so here it is. If our ministry does not build others up, something's wrong. If we have some personal experience, but we're not encouraging one another, and that doesn't even isn't only even expressed in just uh tongues, that can be expressed in songs that don't make sense, teaching and preaching that is not uh uh uh achievable or understandable, which hopefully you don't get often here, but maybe you do. That's what he's saying. Listen, if it doesn't build others up, then something deeper is wrong. It means our priorities have shifted. So instead of valuing what strengthens the church, we begin to value what impresses the church. Do you see the difference? Instead of valuing the thing that actually strengthens my brother, I'm going after the thing that impresses my brother. And that's where we get to the third point that really, when the mind is not engaged, here's what happens: my priorities become misguided. So Paul now reveals a misplaced value system in Corinth. The reason they were being unfruitful and unproductive in their worship and ministry was because their priorities were misguided. Now look what he says in verse 18. This is interesting. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. So he's thankful. So the purpose of the claim is not uh to boast, but to assure the Corinthians that Paul values the gift. The reason why Paul is concerned with the Corinthians speaking in tongues is not because he is jealous that he can't do it. He's not just being this like apostolic killjoy, like, oh Paul, you're just jealous that we have more of this than you have. He's like, No, I I do it more than you. No, I regularly am involved in this gifting on my missionary journeys. In fact, that's what I believe tongues, as we're gonna see in a minute, is is a missional gift that Paul was glad that he had so that while on his missionary journeys, he could preach the gospel to unbelievers and confirm the presence of the Spirit. So his issue is not jealousy that he doesn't have it, his concern is that their priorities were all jacked up. And he says that in verse 19. Nevertheless, in church, so so in church, so as opposed to outside of church on the missionary journeys, while I'm blazing a trail for the gospel, I'm I'm preaching in a tongue and I'm thankful I have that gift. But in church, in the gathering of the people that already believe and already know Christ and understand the language, I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue. You're like, a five words to instruct others? Sounds kind of nice. Are we gonna get a sermon like that pretty soon? No, no, never. 10,000 was the largest Greek numerical expression used rhetorically. But in the church, where his goal was different than on the mission field, he would rather be clear and direct so that his words would have maximum impact on the believers. It was not his goal to have a personal experience while with the gathered church in order to impress them about how amazing Paul is. He spoke in a language, I don't know what he said, but it was impressive. He's like, no, I'd rather, I'd rather speak five words that you know than 10,000 that you don't. Clarity in the priority then is the understood in the understood words. That's what he's saying. I my priority is understood words that will produce building up of everyone else and not the personal experience of the individual. So Paul prioritized instruction. That's the word he uses. It's the word catecho, where we get our English word catechism. It means to teach. He said, I'd rather catechize you, I'd rather teach you. I would rather give you truth that's clear than impress you with messages that aren't clear. So he says the church must prioritize clarity over spectacle. That's why Paul told Timothy, preach the word. Be clear, preach the word, faithful in preaching the word. Acts chapter 2, verse 42 says that after the church was established in Jerusalem, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. They were being instructed, they were being told clearly. You might understand that clarity, clarity saves lives. A couple weeks ago, now we were in the ER late at night. My daughter had had a sick issue, she was dehydrated and vomiting, and you don't want to hear about it, I promise. But uh still scarred in my brain from a little bit of that night. And we were there till four in the morning, and the doctor came in and he was kind and he was gracious and he was clear and he spoke English. And he said, Here's what's going on, here's what you need. He was calm, he had great bedside manner, and we are thankful for that. Because if he spoke came in and spoke a different language and then said, Good luck, go get it done, we would have been like, I don't know what what do you what what huh? Right? Can I get a translation here? Listen, clarity saves lives. And so he's saying, Listen, prioritize clarity. We don't have the liberty to have personal priorities in church. We don't have personal agendas. You can have personal priorities about where you get your coffee or where you eat your lunch or where you sit on your uh on your couch or what sport you want to watch, what you're prioritizing. But in church, God has already given us the priorities, and the priorities are different than the priorities that we have personally. Church is not a selfish uh agenda prioritized uh personally gathering. This is a for the good of each other, right? This is for the good of one another. And so what was happening was they were saying, I want to impress you with my abilities. I don't want to serve you with my gifts. I want you to be in awe of what God is doing in me, not helped by what God is doing through me. And that was a uh a jacked up priorities. They were misguided, and he that's why he's like, listen, I would rather, I would rather, I would rather prioritize five clear words than 10,000 unclear words, even if you are more impressed with the 10,000 clear words. Unclear. Whatever, you know what I'm talking about. So here's what it is: when we get self-absorbed and become all about our personal experience, our priorities in ministry of the church gathered becomes misguided. Let's just take this idea of tongues out, because the Paul's point is this when church becomes about your personal experience, church becomes a problem. Church becomes unaffective, it becomes unfruitful, it becomes unhelpful. When you're like, I want my small group to be my small group, I want it my way, I want serving teams to do what I do. I wish they would sing my favorite song and do it with my favorite way. Listen, all of those preferences aren't bad. Those are personal, but the end game of the church gathered is not for your personal enjoyment and personal experience. These are arenas like small groups and teams and studies and worship services. These are arenas for you to use your gifting for the building up of other people in the church that God brings your way. And as long as we become consumers or remain consumers of the church and glory hogs, we will take away the benefit of the gathering together. And what they were doing, he's using tongues as an example, is they were elevating the personal experience and the manifestation of impressive gifting rather than benefiting other people. Church became about them. So their priorities were whacked out. You see that? Let me show you what one man smarter than me said about this. I think this is helpful. Tom Schreiner. I don't I don't want to put quotes up on the screen that aren't helpful, but I think this helps. He says this we see from this text that spiritual experience is not self-authenticating. You understand what he means by that? It's you having some experience doesn't give you the sense of like, oh good, I'm real. That's he said, that's not what this is about. One cannot defend a spiritual practice in church simply because we find it enthralling or exciting, or enjoyable, or happy, or fun. Another way to put it is that spiritual maturity is not self-absorbed. The real mark of spiritual growth is concern for others, such that believers should pursue what will edify others. The emphasis on the mind and understanding is remarkable. According to Paul, edification comes with instruction and via the mind. So when the church is gathered, then attention must be given not to just to form, but especially to content. Form without content, experience without understanding does not build others up. Paul prefers prophecy and teaching, since both of these gifts communicate truth. Growth in the church derives from truth. Thus the church must strive to hear the truth when assembled. Amen? Amen. When we meet our gifting, when we meet together, our gifting is for the benefit of each other. It is the use of our gifting that benefits one another. So the question is, is our gift being used for mutual benefit or personal benefit? Like Merritt's take one man's point on this. He says, one thing that chapter 14 should tell us is that we all need to get a lot of spiritual gifts out of the closet and into the pews so the church can be truly edified. Gifts are never for self-edification or self-absorption. Remember who the gift is for. Remember who the gift is for. On Christmas morning, if you just started handing out gifts without following the names that are put on the gifts, you are gonna have anarchy in your home. Are you not? You're like, oh, I'm sorry, that wasn't your gift, that was his gift, and she really liked that gift, but it was actually his gift, and now we've gotta fight. Listen, you always need to remember who the gift is for. The gift is not for you, the gift is for others. So misguided priorities do not appear out of nowhere. They are a product of immature thinking. The Corinthians were fascinated by the spectacular, flashy, wow factor gifts because they were thinking like spiritual children. And that gets us to point number four. When the mind is not engaged, here's what happens: my thinking becomes immature. So Paul now addresses the mindset. So listen, my worship is unfruitful, my ministry is unhelpful, because my priorities are all messed up, and that's because my thinking is immature. So Paul addresses this, and we're gonna see that their problem was that they were thinking like immature children. They had misguided priorities because they were acting like infinite infants when they should have been acting more mature. Look at it in verse 20. Brothers, beloved, brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking. Grow up. Be infants at evil, but in your thinking be mature. But believers are called not to think with the immaturity of a child, but with the discernment of an adult. The Corinthians were fascinated with the spectacular, flashy thing, like children. In regards to evil and sin, he's like, no, stay, stay immature in that. Never become an experienced, wise person when it comes to evil things. Stay innocent, stay pure, stay, stay, stay pure in those things. Do not become familiar with sin. But in your thinking about spiritual gifts, become mature. Act like a mature thinker. Listen, children are easily impressed and easily misled, aren't they? The Corinthians were acting this way in pursuing the flashy gift. Children can be selfish. Me, my, mine. There are more people in the world than just you. We say to our kids, right? Listen, there's more people at this house that need to eat. You just filled your plate up and you're never gonna eat half of that. But it's me, my, mine. But adults hopefully are more interested in the good of others and thinking about others and understanding things a little more clearly. And in this passage, especially, Paul urges the Corinthians to be mature in how they think about and exercise spiritual gifts. Now, Paul shows more specifically how they were thinking immaturely. They were not understanding the true purpose behind the gift that they were all longing for. He's like, okay, you're acting like a child because you want tongues. Let's just take that as an example. Self-exorbed, self-exalting. Let me help you understand something about tongues. That's what he's gonna do. Let me help you understand what God sees when tongues was used in the Old Testament and throughout church history and the history of his people. Look at verse 21. In the law it is written. Okay, so now he's gonna go, Old Testament. By people of strange tongues, and by the lips of foreigners, will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord. So what Paul is doing is he is referencing something in the Old Testament to make a point about the foolishness of prioritizing the gift of tongues. He quotes Isaiah when the prophet is applying a covenant made to Israel. It's a description of judgment. And in Isaiah 28, the people of the northern kingdom of Israel were rejecting the message of the prophets. You can read it later, verses 9 through 13. They were mocking the message of the prophets of the Old Testament. They were calling it baby talk or talk for babies. It was like they were saying, it is annoying, it's elementary. Just listen to this. I don't have time to turn there, but in Isaiah 28, 10, he says, for this is what they're saying. This is what the northern tribe is saying against the prophets. It is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little. That was mockery. In Hebrew, here's what it says: Savlasov, Savlasov, Kavlakov, Kavlakov, Zir sham, Zir sham. That's tongues, by the way, right? That was it. That's Hebrew. Okay, what they're saying is this is just child talk. It's like you prophets stand up and all you do is talk child talk. And we're not gonna listen to that. They were mocking the word of the Lord delivered by the prophets. So God promised that because they refused to hear the word of the Lord from the prophets, that they would be judged by an invasion. The sign that would they say they would see of the judgment was that there would be foreign languages spoken in their streets. So his point was this: when you go out into the streets and you don't understand what most of the people are saying, mark it down. You are invaded, the judgment of God has come. So he's saying that the Assyrian army would, uh who doesn't speak the language of the nation of Israel, will invade them and God will speak through them. And this will be an indictment against them, and that judgment from God is here. This happened, by the way, in 721 BC when the Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom and took them into captivity. So his point is simple. Tongues is negative. In Corinth, you thought it was very mature and spiritual to speak in tongues, just like they were down the street at the pagan worship gathering. But intelligible speech is not a sign of God's approval. It's always been established as a sign of God's disapproval. It's a warning of imminent judgment. When you cannot understand what's going on, that ought to be a clue that something isn't right here. Yet you, Corinthians, in your immaturity, have reversed it and made unintelligible speech a mark of spirituality. That's the immature thing to do. You're doing that because it's fun, it's flashy, and you're following the flashy jewel in the river to your own doom. Verse 21 then is a slap in the face of the Corinthians. They were thinking that they were way up here in spiritual maturity because they were speaking in unintelligible tongues, but Paul is saying that the real gift isn't like that at all. Because your speech is marked by unintelligible speech, wake up. Something's not right. Grow up, listen to the example of the Old Testament scripture. And then in verse 22, he says, Therefore, tongues, thus tongues, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers. While prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. Okay, track my mind here, track the thinking here. You want to know what tongues is? It's a sign. There is a biblical gift of tongues. He is not forbidding the speaking in tongues because there is a bona fide real spiritual gift. However, the Corinthians in their childishness were misusing it. It is to be respected when it's clearly understood and applied. And he says, what the accurate application of tongues is, is that it's a sign to unbelievers and skeptics. Now I so wish I had time to do this, but in Acts chapter 2, Acts chapter 10, and in Acts chapter 19, we see when the gift of tongues was coming into the church, that it was happening. Remember, day of Pentecost, the apostles have the Spirit of God fall on them like Jesus promised it would, and all of a sudden the apostles begin speaking in a foreign language, understood by the foreigners that had gathered in Jerusalem. Remember, they said, These guys are drunk. They're like speaking gibberish. What's happening here? Other people were astonished, saying, How is he, how are they, Galileans speaking our language? Did they know our language? How is this possible? Well, what was happening was that the Spirit of God had descended and was affirming to them the message I'm about to preach is real and it is legit. And the unbelieving Jews gathered there were like, wait, we better listen to this guy because something crazy is happening here. There's a miracle happening, and then all throughout Acts chapter 2, Peter stands up and preaches one of the best sermons recorded in Scripture, and thousands of them get saved. Why? Because the Spirit gave a sign that this message was real and legit, and people from different nations and different tongues understood, and the Jews listened, and many of them got saved. Peter and Cornelius in Acts chapter 10, same thing. Cornelius in Italian got saved and spoke in tongues. And when Peter reported that back to the Jerusalem church, the Jewish people, they said, This can't be so, Italians can't get saved. And they said, Who am I deny? The Spirit of God descended upon them, and they spoke in an unknown tongue, and the Jewish Christians said, This must be legit. It was a sign for the skeptics and the unbelievers that it actually happened, and it was used on the mission field. So what is described in these verses is verifiable miracle stuff, and it's the missionary gifting that they had, verifying the message and delivering the message to people who didn't speak their language. So tongues and acts functioned as historical authentication signs rather than a universal Christian experience. And the only instance we see of its use is on the mission field. But in the church, listen, let's let's get back to it. In the church, the spiritually mature are people who speak in the known language. That's why he's like, listen, on the mission field, I'm glad I speak in tongues more than you because I'm seeing the Spirit of God save people through that. But when I gather in the church, we're not gonna have some crazy ecstatic experiences of people flopping around, running around speaking in unknown tongues. That's not the proper use of tongues. This was given as a sign on the forefronts of mission, as the gospel is taking root in the lives of people, not the mission, not the church gathered together. You see the problem? So clearly the Corinthians thought that their use of speaking in languages was a mark of their spiritual maturity. But Paul is making the point that the mark of spiritual maturity is marked by using spiritual gifts, not for selfish reasons, but for the benefit of the church. So Paul regularly points out the immaturity of the Corinthians and he does it here again. So when the church, or I think the principle to take away from this is that the church people act like little children when they use their gifts for personal reasons. When they long for and prioritize gifts that are flashy and selfish. When church life becomes all about me and mine and my look at me, applaud me, be impressed with me, I want that for me. Then we are acting like spiritual infants in the church. And we must stop acting like spiritual infants and making everything in church about our personal feelings, our personal preferences, or our personal experiences. That's his point. Do you see that? We good? So listen, listen, my my my worship and my gathering and my ministry must be characterized not by some personal flashy experience like speaking in tongues or like having a mic in my hand so everybody applauds me. It must be characterized by how can I use the thing that God has given me for the benefit of the people that I'm called to serve. Selfish pursuit of self exalting gifts is something that is ridiculously immature. Okay? I got one more point. I promise you this is going to be tight. But here's what happens when the mind is not engaged, my worship becomes unfruitful. My ministry becomes unhelpful. My priorities become misguided. My thinking becomes immature. And lastly, my mission becomes ineffective. So now Paul considers, lastly, the impact on unbelievers. He provides a hypothetical situation that happens potentially a lot in churches. What happens when an unbeliever, and if you're if you're here today and you're you say, I'm not sure I'm a believer in this, we're glad you're here. We want you to come and feel welcome here. And he says, when that happens, when a person who doesn't know Jesus, hasn't accepted the gospel, who has no relationship with Jesus, who is new to the gatherings of the church walks into your services, what are they going to see? Look at it in verse 23. It's so good. If therefore the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, these these languages that were meant to be used on the mission field, on the forefronts of missions, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say, you are out of your minds? Like you got to chuckle at that a little bit. Somebody comes in and everybody's all doing something different, and you're like, these people are crazy. Listen, if they come to if you come to our church and you think these people are crazy, we're sorry. We're sorry if you're new. He says that's what's gonna happen if everybody's speaking in all kinds of different languages. If when the church comes together and worship or small groups and everyone is speaking in some foreign language and there's confusion and there's disorder and there's uncontrollable, ecstatic expressions that aren't spirit-led, by the way, then when the unbeliever comes to the gathering, they hear and they will think this church is crazy. It's weird to them that they have no idea what is being said nor what is happening, so they naturally put off to Christ by the service. Instead of drawing people to Christ, the church appears irrational out of their mind. And by the way, we can look weird in many ways, other than just speaking in tongues when we do something like that. Like, amen, right? New people are like, I don't know what that word means. That's weird. These people are out of their mind. Now you know it means I agree, right? Okay. 24. But if all prophesy and an unbeliever or outside enters, if everybody speaks clearly, prophesies clearly, led of the Spirit to speak truth of God's word, and anchored in God's word, truths to one another, here's what happens: He is convicted by all, and he is called to account by all. The word convict means to expose a rebuke of guilt. It's the moral and spiritual awareness that God is holy, I am not, I stand guilty before him. So when an unbeliever comes and hears the gospel and the words of the Bible clearly articulated, they would say, I am wrong, they are right, I'm a sinner, he is righteous, he is holy, and begins to feel the conviction of the spirit and cut to the heart as they were in Acts chapter 2, and then verse 25, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, meaning that there's a revelation of the secrets of his heart. Motives and desires and guilt and private sins interfere, suppressed shame. The unbeliever suddenly, through the clarity of the message delivered, realizes the terrifying and liberating reality that God sees everything. Have you been there? Like the word of God so clearly comes to you, and you're like, I am convicted, and I am aware of my brokenness, I am aware of his holiness, I am aware that there is no one holy like him, and there's no one as sinful as I am. And you're like the man, the tax collector at the back of the temple, as recorded by Jesus, beating his chest, saying, I am unworthy. Have mercy on me. That's that's what's going on here. And as a result, because the message is clear, because everybody is for the benefit of one another, verse 25, and so he falling on his face, he will worship God and declares, God is really among you. God is in that place. I'm not sure that I fully understand everything they were saying, but I understand enough to know this. God is holy. I am not. That is a place where God is. I need some of that. And they become worshipers of God. That God is really among you. This is the hope and prayer that we have. Illustration, and I'm done. When I was 13, I was an unbeliever, unsaved, didn't know Jesus, lost in my sin. I went to summer camp. A little plug for summer camp. Lives get changed at summer camp. Converge 26. Get your kid there. I was there, Flagstaff, Arizona. I remember where I was. I was walking on a sidewalk. A guy came up to me named Josh. Walking beside me, he came, he was a Christian. He was just led of the Spirit to say something to me. And he didn't walk up to me and say, Shigabalaga debaga dabaga. Because I would have said, bro, you're crazy. I don't want whatever you got. You know what he said to me in English? Clear and simple? Andrew, do you love God? That's an easy question. Yeah, I love God. Everybody loves God. The answer to that question is easy. I grew up in Sunday school, yes. And then he asked me a question that forever changed my life. Are you a Christian? At that moment, you know what happened? The conviction and exposing of my heart happened. It fell on my face less than 24 hours later and called upon the name of Jesus to save me. And from that moment, 1996, 13 years old, I was forever changed and my entire eternity has been altered. Because in a clear known language, he said about 15 words to me that the Spirit used to convict me, expose my heart, and bring me to salvation. That's our prayer and our hope for you is that the word would be clear. That's our heart here, people. But you know what happens when we get to the point where we want to be impressive with ourselves and get the applause of everybody else? That's what Paul's saying here is that that doesn't do anything. That doesn't accomplish anything. Run from that. Make it clear. Because if not, our mission of reaching the nations with the gospel to make worshipers out of them becomes ineffective. And when people come to our gatherings, they're gonna say, those people are cuckoo. I'm going to the ball game. And may that not be true of us. Amen. When the mind is disengaged, worship becomes empty, ministry becomes ineffective, priorities become distorted, maturity is stunted, and the mission of the church is weakened. This is the power of what we're gathered together. Listen, I'm out of time. I want that land right there on us. We're not going to do the truth of life today, but I pray that you'll say, I want to get my mind engaged. I want to get my mind engaged because maximum impact in the church with my gift demands engagement of the mind. May that be our pursuit. May that be our hope. May that be our prayer. That we would have maximum impact with the gifting God has given us. Let's pray together. Well, Father, thank you again for your word. Oh, there's so many depths to go in this passage. There's so many there's so many veins of truth that we could walk down. And I pray that you would help us understand and apply the truths you've laid out for us here. Where I was unclear, make it clear. Where there was confusion, bring clarity, Lord. Bring understanding. But help us most of all to be a people who I think the big intent of Paul. Stop making my worship and my ministry about me. Maybe walk off the stage or leave service hopeful that we made maximum impact on the people we served rather than received maximum applause from the people who watched us. May that be our heart. I pray that we get this clear. We love you. In Jesus' name. Amen.