Now would you take your Bible and turn with me,
please, to the book that we've been studying
now for several months. That is 1 Corinthians.
Today we're going to look at the first few verses
of chapter 14. We are coming to the conclusion
of the book. We anticipate, though, taking a
break after chapter 14 so that we can speak about
some of the... the reasons for the season that
we are observing together. We will finish Chapter
14, the Lord willing, today and next week. Today,
the first 12 verses of this chapter will be our
text. Will you follow along, please, in your
copy of God's Word as I read from mine, which
is the New International Version? Follow the
way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts,
especially... the gift of prophecy. For anyone
who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men
but to God. Indeed, no one understands him. He
utters mysteries with his spirit. But everyone
who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening,
encouragement, and comfort. He who speaks in
a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies
edifies the church. I would like every one of
you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have
you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than
he who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets,
so that the church may be edified. Now, brothers,
if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good
will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation
or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction,
even in the case of lifeless things that make
sounds? such as a flute or harp, how will anyone
know what tune is being played unless there is
a distinction in the notes? Again, if the trumpet
does not sound a clear call, who will get ready
for battle? So it is with you. Unless you speak
intelligible words with your tongue, how will
anyone know what you are saying? You will just
be speaking into the air. Undoubtedly, there
are all sorts of languages in the world. yet
none of them is without meaning. If then I do
not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying,
I am a foreigner to the speaker, and he is a
foreigner to me. So it is with you. Since you
are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel
in gifts that build up the church. It is a fact.
that all of us live according to a set of priorities.
And so the important thing is that our priorities
be right ones. Right priorities honor God, and
God honors right priorities. A number of years
ago, a man named George Hatch raised a large
family. You might say he hatched them, I suppose.
of seven boys and five girls in the sand hills
of northwestern Nebraska. One Sunday morning,
a neighbor rushed over to help the Hatches get
the new mown hay into the barn. There was a storm
coming in the west. Let's get your hay up before
the storm hits, exclaimed the neighbor. Thank
you for your kind offer, said Mr. Hatch, but
this is Sunday, and I am going to take my family
to church. But you'll lose your hay, pleaded
the neighbor. Yet, George Hatch went to church
with his family, and the rainstorm did spoil
the hay. Later, the neighbor saw him and said,
You see, I told you that you would lose your
hay. Yes, replied Mr. Hatch, I lost my hay, but
I saved my family. As a result of the right priorities
of George Hatch, Still today, in the third and
fourth generations, he has grandchildren and
great -grandchildren who are involved in full
-time service for the glory of Jesus Christ.
Right priorities honor God, and God honors right
priorities. The problem with the church at Corinth
was that they had their priorities. They had
wrong priorities. For they were emphasizing what
is the least of the gifts and were de -emphasizing
the most important of the gifts, as Paul saw
it. That is what he says in the text that is
before us today. He wants them to understand
that as a church, they need to establish right
priorities in their ministry. Their priorities
were wrong. Emphasizing tongues, they lost sight
of the importance of the gift of prophecy. They
made the mistake of seeking after those things
that were sensational and overtly supernatural
and not emphasizing those things that were not
that way. The apostle points out three priorities
that they should have as a church. And may I
say to you that these are three priorities that
we must have as a church if we are going to be
in the will of God. And there are three priorities
that we need to have individually because we
are the church. The first priority is the priority
of love. You see that in the first part of verse
1. Priority number two, not necessarily in that
order, but as we're taking them and as they are
in the text. is the priority of prophecy. He
says, desire, eagerly desire spiritual gifts,
especially the gift of prophecy. Now, in a general
sense, what that means is preaching. The second
priority he mentions is the priority of the preaching
of the word of God. And then priority number
three is found beginning in verse three. and
on down through the rest of our text, it is the
priority of the edification of the church, the
building up of the church. Now let's look at
those three priorities that God in his word sets
before us as a local body of people. Priority
number one is the priority of love. May I remind
you that this is not mere human affection. This
is agape. This is God's love. It is the love
that sacrifices for the object of its compassion,
even though that object, that person, may not
respond positively. It is a love that costs something
to give. It's the kind of love that God showed
to us in the sending of His Son 2 ,000 years
ago. When I think of Bethlehem and all of the
narrative of the Christmas story, I get kind
of sentimental. Are you that way? I really enjoy
Christmas. I get a lot out of it. I enjoy thinking
about the shepherds and the wise men and the
stable scene and all that's involved with it.
It's a sentimental thing. Far beyond that is
something that is inherent in it, and that is
it is a picture of the love of God. For it is
God the Son coming into human history, incarnating
himself in perfect human flesh and with a perfect
human nature so that he could be our sin bearer.
What a marvelous thing that is. Folks, that is
the same kind of love that God wants us to express
for others. That night there was no room for
him in the end. It says he came to his own. things,
and his own people received him not. They rejected
him. His love was not received, but it was expressed.
It was given. The deed of salvation was accomplished
on the cross for all who receive it. And so it
is with our love. As we express it to others,
it makes no difference if they receive it or
reject it. The important thing is that we express
the love of God. And that's why he says that
we are to follow the way of love. This kind of
love is the love that gives unselfishly. It is
the kind of love which when rebuked will simply
give a quiet response and not an angry retort.
It's the kind of love that suffers long with
some particular burden. It's the kind of love
that has no place for the skeptical suspicious
spirit, or for the critical, gossiping tongue.
It is the kind of love that rejoices when truth
and right prevail and is grieved when iniquity
prevails. We are to follow after this kind of
love. That means to pursue it with persistence.
And it means to never stop pursuing it. to continually
follow after this kind of love. Last week, at
the conclusion of the message, I encouraged you
to think of at least one person whom God could
love through you these last seven days. It would
sure be interesting this morning to take the
time to have some of you share how God answered
that prayer. and some of the ways in which God's
love is expressed to others. I also know something
else about some of us this last week, and that
is that we fail to express the love of God all
the time. Now, how do I know that? Well, I wasn't
following you around. I don't have spies, angel
spies, that tell me what you're doing. I know
you failed because I failed. and I failed and
you failed for the same reason, we still have
sin that affects us. There are times when you
and I fall completely short of expressing God's
kind of love. There are times when we are impatient
and we do not suffer long. There are times when
we are critical, when we should have been quiet.
We have not perfectly followed after love, but
let me share something with you. That is not
as important as the fact that you nonetheless
continue to pursue love. When he says follow
after love, the thought in mind is to set love
out there as your goal. Like an athlete who gets
onto the course and he sees the goal line down
there. Despite any pain or obstacles, he makes
for that goal line. He expends his energy to
get there. What the apostle is saying, in essence
here, is to set love out there as your goal.
Perfect, God -like, agape. And even though you
may fall as you head toward that goal, that is,
you may sin. Confess your sin, claim God's forgiveness,
get up and go on. Never stop pursuing love as
your goal. Though you fail once or you fail a
hundred times, it makes no difference. Get up
and go on. There are some of us that like to
grovel just a little bit in our defeats. It might
even be a little bit of self -pity, and we tend
to roll around in that and feel sorry for ourselves,
shameful. We ought, when we know we've failed,
to immediately confess the sin involved, to make
it right with others if that's necessary, and
then go on and pursue love. Never give up. Following
after love. Even if that other person at the
office resists your kindness, be kind anyway.
Even if your roommate will not respond to your
patience by being patient back to you, nonetheless,
be patient. Love doesn't give up. It goes on
and pursues at every church. And every Christian
needs this kind of love. You see, in every church,
there are 110 ,000 reasons why we might be hurt
or why we might criticize or why we might be
offended. Do you know why that is? Because we're
all still sinners. Redeemed sinners. Hopefully,
if we've trusted Jesus Christ, we are. But we
still have sin, and we still make mistakes, and
we do stupid things. That's why it's so important
that every church set as its priority love. It's
true in your small church that you attend. It's
true in your growth group. You need to set love
as a goal for each of you and pursue it with
diligence and not give up. You need to set love
as a goal in your family. Even though your husband
may be cantankerous and mean and bitter toward
you, love him back. Even though your wife may
reject your faith and turn her back on you, love
her. Love does not excuse sin. Now, don't misunderstand
that. Love does not gloss over sin and say, well,
I'll just ignore that. God doesn't do that. What
does love do? Love deals with sin. It's honest
with it. It faces it head on. And it does it
with kindness, patience, and persistence. Who
can you love today? It may be that there are
some husbands and wives here who need to kiss
and make up after church. There may be some kids
who need to be talked to on the way home from
church, and mom and dad may need to say, kids,
we lost our cool before we got to church today,
and mom and I are sorry. We want you to forgive
us. We weren't loving you the way we ought to
love you. There may be some kids who need to
say, folks, I was primping too long in the bathroom,
and I'm sorry I made us late today. I want you
to forgive me for doing that. You know what that
is? That's love in action. And that's setting
love as a priority. Brothers, let us not love
in word only, but in deed and in truth. Speaking
the truth one to another in love. I remind you
that Jesus said, By this shall all men know you
are my disciples, if you have, what? Love one
for another. Not if you tithe. Not if you go
to church on Wednesday night. Not if you're a
good guy. Not if you excel in your work. But
if you have love one for another. That is the
mark of Christlikeness. I'm not against those
other things. But the point is, the mark of being
like Jesus is loving. Priority number one. And
then priority number two, as Paul expresses in
our text, is the priority of prophecy. He says
you'd eagerly desire spiritual gifts. Now he
says especially desire the gift of prophecy.
Now the gift of prophecy in that early church
was the uttering of words received directly from
God. They had no New Testament to go to for direction
and instruction, and therefore... until the New
Testament was completed, there were prophets
in the church, those who had that office. And
their responsibility was to speak a word from
God directly to the point of whatever the issue
was. That was inspired preaching in the literal
sense. It was a word directly received from God.
There's no preaching like that today, quite like
that. Because the prophets and the apostles were
part of the foundation of the church. And we're
far beyond the foundation now. We're up on a
steeple somewhere, I think. They were part of
the foundation of the church. We have the New
Testament now before us. It gives us instruction
and direction. And so prophecy, the gift of prophecy
today, in a more general sense, is the ability
to see a situation or an issue. to be burdened
about it, and then to go to God's Word and find
out what God's Word says and deliver the message
with power and with force and to the point. I
think we can legitimately say in a general sense
that prophecy is the preaching of God's Word
today. And what the apostle is really saying
here is give priority in your church to the preaching
of God's Word. That's a priority, frankly, that
we have here at Grace Church, the preaching of
God's Word. Not just here in our worship services,
but in our small churches and in our growth groups.
It is the preaching of the Word of God that we
want to emphasize. That is so important. I know
many of you share that priority with us. Let
me explain something else. The preaching of God's
word is not always done by me standing here like
this talking to you. Sometimes the preaching
of God's word is done through a soloist who gets
up to sing. Sometimes the proclamation of God's
word comes through the choir back here as they
sing the word of God. It's not so much the emphasis
upon the person who's doing it that's in view
here as it is what is being done. The proclamation,
the preaching of the Word of God. And especially
there's an emphasis on the last part of that,
the preaching of the Bible. That's what people
are hungry for, I'm convinced. That's what I'm
hungry for when I go to hear preaching. I want
to hear the Word of God. When I hear singing,
I want to hear singing that honors the Word of
God, that is consistent with what the Word of
God says. It edifies, it builds me up, and we'll
talk about that in a moment. That's our third
priority. The priority of preaching the Word
of God. I know a preacher who literally preached
a series of messages on the cartoon character
of Peanuts and Charlie Brown. I suppose that's
what he spent his time studying. I don't know.
But I do know this. When you preach peanuts,
that's what you produce, is peanuts. When you
preach the Word of God, you produce Christians.
And that's why we emphasize priority number two,
the preaching of the Word of God. There's no
substitute for it. None at all. And then there's
a third priority that we see in our text. It
is the priority of edification. I don't want
the word edification to scare you. The word means
to build a house. It's where we get our word
edifice. To edify means to build up another person,
to strengthen another person. The third priority
in the ministry of a church should be the building
up of its members, the strengthening of its members.
It is a sad thing that there are some churches
that one can go to and one goes away feeling
worse than when he went to church. There's been
no strengthening, no encouragement, no comfort.
And I want you to notice that that's why he says,
that we ought to emphasize the preaching of God's
Word so that there might be strengthening, notice
that in verse 3, and encouragement and comfort.
The word strengthening, as it is in the NIV,
or edification, as it is in the King James Version,
is this word we're talking about. Through the
ministry of God's Word, people are built up spiritually.
I believe that we see that illustrated in what
happened in the early church in Acts chapter
6. After that explosion of the church, after
the day of Pentecost, the administration of some
of the ministries got to be a burden to the apostles.
And therefore, by God's direction, they selected
some men who would serve to care for those kinds
of tasks. The administration of the ministry.
So that they, the apostle, could give themselves
to what? The word of God and prayer. Remember
that? It wasn't that they were above doing the
other things, but it was that in their ministry,
their priority was the preaching of God's word
and prayer. I look upon prayer and the word of
God as the brick and the mortar of the building
up of a church. You do not build a church through
hamburgers, and balloons and buses. You don't
build a church by inviting in sensational superstars
in the Christian world and featuring them. It's
possible to build a crowd that way, but to build
a church is something entirely different. The
building up of the church comes through the ministry
of the Word of God and prayer. The Word of God
being the brick. Prayer being the mortar that
sets the brick in place, and brick after brick,
tier after tier, the church goes on and is built
that way. The body is edified that way. Now the
specific problem in Corinth was that they were
emphasizing tongues, one of the sensational gifts.
Paul makes it clear in our text that tongues
do not edify. Now, I would like to say this about
the gift of tongues, and that day it was a legitimate
gift for them. And it seems clear from the New
Testament record that the gift of tongues was
the ability to speak a foreign language that
had not been previously studied. You would go
to church, a person would stand up and speak
in some dialect or some language, and then another
would stand up and interpret what that individual
said. Now there was a reason that gift was given
when it was. We'll talk about that next week.
But that's what the gift of tongues was in the
early church. It was not the speaking of monosyllabic
words or, if I may use the word in a kind sense,
gibberish. But it was the speaking of a language
that had not been studied. And it was important
for the church that that be... interpreted so
that the whole church could be edified. The individual
who spoke would be edified because he would sense
himself being used by God, but unless what he
said was translated or interpreted, the whole
church couldn't be edified. Imagine going to
church as someone getting up in a language that
you did not know and speaking. You might marvel
at the gift that was being expressed, but as
far as being edified, there would be none of
that for you. unless it was interpreted, and
that's what Paul says. He says, in essence, tongues
do not edify you. In fact, he says in verse 11
that tongues made the members of the body foreigners
to one another if they weren't interpreted. The
word foreigner is kind of interesting. It means
barbarian. Strangers, I think it is, in the King
James, is barbarians. You become barbarians one
to another. The etymology of that word is interesting.
There was a time in Greece when if you went to
Athens, you did not speak any language but the
Greek language. If you spoke another language,
you were outcast in the city. It made you a barbarian.
They originated that word at that time. They
mocked the people who spoke something else besides
Greek. by saying, oh, they just talk like bar,
bar, bar, bar, bar. And that word became barbarian,
and that's the word Paul uses here. He said,
when you come together, and there are those who
speak in tongues, and the gift is abused like
you're doing it, you are strangers to one another.
The church isn't edified, it's not united, it's
divided. And so he says, emphasize the preaching
of the word. because it results in edification
of the body. I want you to notice a couple of
other words he uses that are important. In verse
3, everyone who prophesies speaks to men for
their strengthening, that's our word, edification,
encouragement, and comfort. The preaching of
the word does all three things. It strengthens
individuals. It builds them up. We've talked
about that. And then it encourages people. The
word here is parakaleo. It comes from paraclete.
Remember Jesus said after he would go away, he
would send the comforter to be with him. That's
the word paraclete. It means one who is called
alongside to be a helper. He said, I will send
the Holy Spirit and he will come alongside you
and be your assistant, your enabler. Paul says
that when the Word of God is preached, the result
is that it enables us in the Christian life.
It helps us go on. It helps us carry our burdens.
Let's face it. There's not a person here today
who's not bearing some kind of a burden. Every
person you meet every day of the year is bearing
some kind of a burden. If we were to take time
this morning and allow some of the people right
here in this congregation at this moment to express
the burdens on their hearts, there would be a
lot of us in tears with some of the problems
and the heartaches that people right in this
room at this moment are experiencing. One of
the great things about preaching the Bible is
that it results in us being encouraged. We get
strength through it. It is an unhappy thing when
one goes to a church where the Word of God is
not preached and goes away feeling drained and
empty as though he received nothing. I hope in
coming to Grace Church that never happens to
you. If it does, something's wrong somewhere.
Because through the preaching of the Word of
God, we are to receive. help. We are to be enabled
to go on for God. And then he uses another word,
the word comfort, as it's translated here. It's
the word consolation in the King James. This
is the only time in the New Testament when this
word is used in a noun form. But it is used as
a verb back in John chapter 11. Some of you remember
what John chapter 11 is all about. It records
there the death of Lazarus, Jesus' dear friend.
Jesus came on the scene four days after Lazarus
had died and been buried. And in the course of
the narrative there, twice this verb is used.
And what it means is, to comfort in distress.
There are some of you today who are beyond the
point of being troubled or burdened. you are
deeply in distress. And it may be through the
loss of a loved one. It may be through the separation
of yourself from your marriage partner. It may
be that you have a child that is away, a prodigal,
and you are deeply distressed. One of the things
that happens is the Word of God is emphasized.
In a church and in our lives is that we receive
comfort for our distress. It may be unexplainable,
but it happens. There is within us, through the
preaching of the Word of God, a comfort that
comes to the distress that we feel. That's why
the preaching of the Word is so important. Preaching
brings blessing to the whole church. Again, the
apostle says, if one speaks in tongues among
you and it is not interpreted, it's as though
you went to a symphony concert and all the symphony
did was to warm up. It never got around to playing
the music. Notice he says that, verse 7, even
in the case of lifeless things that make sounds,
such as the flute or harp. How will anyone know
what tune's being played unless there's a distinction
in the notes? Same thing was true when the gift
of tongues was exercised in the church there
improperly. There was a lot of noise, but it
didn't amount to anything. He says, furthermore,
if the trumpet doesn't sound a clear call, what
soldier is going to get ready to fight? Now in
this day of... We don't talk about buglers. But
there was a time when the bugler was the most
important man in the whole company, at least
to the commanding officer. The bugler was the
one who sounded the cry to all the troops and
told them what to do. They depended upon the
tune that he played to know whether to advance
or fall back or to whatever. Now, suppose the
bugler got up and just played whatever he wanted
to. Played some Dixieland jazz. Well, can you
imagine what the soldiers are going to do? They
would be lost. He says, that's what it's like
when you come together and there's a gift of
tongues abused. He said, what profit is there
in that? And so he tells them that they need
to come together and emphasize three things.
Love. preaching of the word, and the building
up of the body. If you look down through the
text, beginning in verse 3 through verse 12,
you will notice four or five times the word edify
used, or some form of it. Is that a concern to
you? I hope it is to every member of our church,
that we're all concerned about our church being
built up. I want to be careful that there's nothing
in my lifestyle that would cause my church to
be harmed in its ministry. That's why we're concerned
about the way that we live. We want to bring
glory to God and build up our church, to live
the kind of lives that bring a good testimony
to our church rather than detract from its witness.
in the community. All of us have heard people
say, if that's what a Christian's like, I don't
want to be one. I hope that I live so that no
one can ever say that about me. It may be today
that as we think about this matter of building
up the church, that you need to consider some
things. You may need to consider your lifestyle.
The way that you're living, the things that you
do, the way that you talk, the attitudes that
you project, are they critical attitudes, degrading
other people, cutting them down? Or the attitudes
you project, are the attitudes that you project
the kind that are positive and which build up?
Not dishonest, but they build up, they encourage.
Where are you involved in a church? Are you involved
in a Bible teaching, Christ -honoring church?
That's where God would have you to be, where
the Word of God is preached. Do you belong to
that kind of a church? What are you doing in
the church? Are you contributing so that the
church is built up, so that it grows? Anything
that God mentions a lot. We better take note
of. And not only in this text is the Lord concerned
about that, but back in chapter 3, he talked
about the building up of the church. Paul says,
I've laid the foundation. Now others are building
on it, but let them take heed how they build.
In chapter 8, he says, oh, you all have knowledge,
and knowledge makes you proud. And he says, if
you had love, it would cause you to be built
up as a church. He goes on to explain as to how
they ought to build up one another. So at least
three times on separate occasions in this book,
the building up of the church is on the mind
of God. It ought to be on my mind, too, and yours.
Priority of love, the priority of the preaching
of the Word of God, the priority of building
up and strengthening and encouraging other people.
But there's only been one person in the history
of the world that's ever lived perfectly that
way with those priorities. And that's Jesus Christ.
And that's really the point. Because just as
Jesus Christ was born into the world 2 ,000 years
ago, he desires to be born through us today.
Paul said to the Galatians, my children, I labor
for you, desiring that Jesus Christ be formed
in you. You see, he wants your life and mine
to reflect his likeness, that others may see
Jesus in us. May that be true this week as we
follow the priorities that God gives us in his
word. Let's pray together. Now, as we bow our
heads and we think and meditate. and allow the
Spirit of God to search our hearts. Is there
some decision that you need to make this morning?
Maybe you need to plan to make some apologies
to family members after church, or maybe you
need to decide today that you're going to change
your lifestyle, some of the places that you've
gone, some of the things that you've done, because
you want the body to be built up, not destroyed.
You want God to be glorified and not disgraced.
It may be that you've never trusted Christ as
your Savior. Your first priority today must be
the welfare of your soul. You see, my friend,
we are all here today bound for eternity. Some
of us are going to spend eternity in heaven.
I hope all of us. It may be that your eternal
destination as of this moment is not heaven,
but it's hell. And your priority today must be
to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior. We'd
love to talk with you about that and show you
how simple it is to trust Him. God, I pray that
as we have our invitation and moment, that if
there are decisions that need to be indicated
publicly, that you'll give us the courage and
the faith to do that today. Forgive us for establishing
wrong priorities so many times. Help us to have
right priorities. I pray for that one here today
who is lost. headed for separation from God for
all of eternity. As we close this service, that
one or those two or those several would open
their heart and trust Christ as their own Lord
and Savior. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
We're going to close by singing. Together, a
verse or two of the hymn that Mark is playing
is number 445, Have Thine Own Way. That's really
what priorities are all about, isn't it? It's
letting the Lord have His way. And as we sing
this invitation hymn, if there is a need for
you to come today, if the Spirit of God is within
you, compelling you to come, we encourage you
to do so. It may be in a step of rededication
of life, or it may be to come to profess your
faith in the Lord for the first time, to publicly
say, I am trusting Christ today. As the Spirit
of God directs you, respond. Let's stand together
and sing.