Untangling Tongues – No. 4 in the series on Kingdom power.
1 Cor 14
Spiritual Gifts – tools for the task of mission. Not something that we might enjoy for ourselves, but necessities for the challenge, task & opportunities that God has placed before us as His church.
They are not rewards. They are not merit badges. They are not indicators of Spiritual maturity. They are GIFTS given by the grace & goodness of God.
Tonight we shall look at the most controversial of the gifts – that of tongues & their interpretation. I shall do this by asking three simple questions.
What is it? [What is the nature of this gift?]
What is it for? [What is the purpose & value of this gift?]
Who is it for? {Incorporating ‘how do we get it’]
Firstly, What is it?
Here I have attempted at a definition that goes like this.
“The gift of tongues is the ability to speak to God in a language the speaker has not learnt and does not understand.”
If you look at 1 Cor. 12:28 you will see that it speaks of various gifts God has given to his church and ends with – well let me read it to you.
“And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.”
The NIV often puts in the margin the word “languages” and I suggest that tongues is a language the speaker has not learned. The Youth Bible, the New Century Version has languages in the text and tongues in the margin. From my research – languages is actually a better translation.
1 Cor 13:1 Paul speaks of languages that are sometimes human & sometimes heavenly. Tongues of men & angels.
So it’s a language with words & phrases, with grammar & syntax. It’s not what the New English Bible calls “tongues of ecstasy.” Ecstatic utterances. That brings to mind an emotional babbling resulting from a highly charged atmosphere. A sort of emotional gibberish – someone speaking out something uncontrollably. That is not the gift of tongues as I understand it.
The gift of tongues is a language. The speaker is complete control as they speak. As you look here at 1 Cor 14:27 & 28 you meet Paul telling the Corinthians and us how to control the tongues.
1 Cor. 14:27-28
If anyone speaks in a tongue, two--or at the most three--should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. [28] If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.
In other words it is a very ordered and controlled thing. And so if you have the gift of tongues you know just like when you are praying and the telephone rings – you can stop praying, say “I’ll be back in a minute Lord,” go and answer the phone and then come back to your prayer.
And the same is with tongues. It is not an uncontrolable babbling – it is a controlled expression of prayer & praise that is God given. Many Christians actually call it their prayer language.
I was speaking to a colleague who was sharing an experience that had happened at a recent Alpha course. The course had gotten to the Holy Spirit components and on leaving the meeting a couple who were attending the course offered to take another member of the course home. On the way they started chatting about tongues and how confused they were. At that the young man, the passenger in their car leaned forward and said, “I don’t know why you are so uneasy about tongues – they are just like this.” At that he started to speak in tongues.
This shocked the couple, the husband of which asked if the lad knew what he had just said. “No he replied.”
Well, said the husband, I am from Iranian upbringing and you have just spoken in broad Irainian.”
To which the lad asked, “What have I just said?” To which the man said, “you have just said ‘the Lord is worthy. He alone is God. He alone is worthy to be praised.”
Tongues are a language – an expression of praise & worship.
It reminds me of that Penticost experience in Acts. People from all nations gathering together hear the apostles praising in their own language.
Acts 2:6
When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
And then the explanation is given by Peter. The early Church in Acts 2 on the day of penticost did not preach the gospel in tongues. They praised God in tongues and Peter preached the gospel in Aramaic or Greek or Hebrew or whatever language that could understand.
So it is a language of prayer. A language of praise that is under the control of the speaker. So you know if you have the gift of tongues you can choose to pray in English or another tongue.
It is not the key to holiness. It is not the peak of Spiritual achievement. It is not an experience or gift that will transform your Christian life and take you out of Spiritual warfare & battles. It will not solve all your problems. But it is a genuine & valuable gift – one of the whole spectrum of gifts that God gives to His Church.
Secondly - What is it for? What is it’s value?
In my jottings as I was preparing this message I started with four positives for the gift. As I explored them further I now have six. If I had another week I may have found more.
1: It enables a Christian to speak to God in prayer in a new way.
1 Cor. 14:2
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.
Tongues opens up for may a new dimension of prayer.
Romans 8:26
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
So the Spirit intercedes through us in tongues and gives a new intimacy in prayer. Sometimes whilst on your knees or walking or however you pray – you find yourself at that point when you don’t know how to pray or move things on in your prayer. You are at the ‘Groan’ point. And when you hit that point God sometimes gives to you the words to express those groanings and longings – and that gift of words may come in a tongue.
This is not to say that praying in tongues is the only form of Spiritually directed praying, or Spirit prompted prayer – but it is a form that God sometimes in His goodness gives.
2: It enables a Christian to praise God at a new depth.
This is what was happening at Penticost. They heard the Apostles praising God in their own language.
Cornelius – when the Spirit of God comes upon him and his relatives and friends in Acts 10 we read:
Acts 10:46
For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.
There are times when you run out of words. When you’ve said, “Lord you’re great. Lord you’re wonderful. Lord you’re fantastic. Lord you’re brilliant.” And you feel if only I knew more words that I could use to praise God. God gives you those words.
Often this happens in worship. We are singing together, worshipping and lifting the name of Jesus higher and God leads us naturally on into a tongue of praise & worship.
I’m told that the average person has a vocabulary of 5000 words. Winston Churchill’s vocabulary was nearer 15,000. But how many words can we find to praise God – yet we never have enough. Tongues enable us to praise God in a new way.
3: Tongues are a means of personal edification & encouragement.
1 Cor. 14:4
He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.
It’s a means of keeping fit Spiritually. It’s a Spiritual exercise programme or workout if you like. Pauls whole emphasis in 1 Cor 14 is that he would rather you spoke a word of Prophesy which is far more valuable in public worship because people can hear and understand and respond to it. But he doesn’t deny the place & value of tongues in private prayer & worship.
1 Cor. 14:5
I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.
1 Cor. 14:18 - 19
I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. [19] But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.
Pauls purpose there is to correct abuse. Clearly in this Church in Corinth they were all speaking in tongues and chaos was the order of the day and nobody was able to understand what was being said. Paul writes to correct this. He says, “you have a misunderstanding about the use of tongues. I don’t want to forbid their use [1 Cor. 14:39] but I want you to see it in the correct light.
Some of us here this evening have come across this gift and seen it abused and misused and therefore we are in danger of rejecting it altogether.
Rob Warner in his recent book on the HS writes, “the trouble was that the misuses I met seemed to confirm my instinctive prejudice against this gift and I was inclined to write off tongues altogether. That though is like finding one cracked egg in you shopping and vowing never to buy any shopping from a supermarket ever again.”
Paul forbids the use of uninterpreted tongues in public worship yet recognises it’s value when interpretation is added or in personal edification and encouragement.
David Watson writes, “the gift is primarily for Spiritual refreshment.”
4: Tongues are a powerful weapon in Spiritual Warfare.
In that general daily battle we have with the powers of darkness as we come to God with our prayers or those specific situations where deliverance and ministry is involved. It is a tremendous release to find yourself in a situation where you don’t know what to pray so you pray in the tongue that God gives to you.
Many of you may be familiar with the stories if Jackie Pullinger and her work in Hong Kong and the breakthrough that came in the Spiritual Warfare when she began to use this gift. [Walled city. Triad Gangs. Drugs & prostitution] She writes in her book ‘Chasing the dragon’, “by the clock I prayed for 15 minutes a day in the language of the Spirit and after about 6 weeks of this I began to lead people to Jesus. Gangsters fell to their knees sobing in the streets, women were healed, heroine addicts were set free and I knew it had nothing at all to do with me.”
Jackie experienced a breakthrough in that Spiritual battlefield.
5: Tongues are a sign.
Paul tell us that it is a sign to unbelievers.
1 Cor. 14:22
Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers.
The background of this is Isaiah 28 when Israel had rejected the ministry & message of the prophets. They had spoken in plain & clear language and were not being heard so God in way of punishment says that he is now going to speak to them in a strange and unwelcome tongue. And these tongues came to them because they were unbelieving in that sense. They were a sign of God’s judgement, a token of the fact that he was willing to reach beyond the boarders of Israel and he was not happy with His people – so he gave them a sign of His unhappiness by not speaking to them as clearly as He did.
At Pentecost the tongues were a sign to the unbelievers present there of the presence and power of God.
Tongues are a sign that God is around. That God’s presence is there – so be aware and take note. In that way they are a sign to unbelievers that this God that they have been disregarding or pushing out of your life is real – be careful.
Nicky Gumble the international instigator of the Alpha iniciative write in one of his books about a girl called Penny who whilst praying with another girl ran out of words to pray and then started to pray in tongues and the girl began to laugh as she was being prayed for. “You are praying for me in Russian,” said the girl to Penny. “What have I been praying,” Penny enquired. The girl who understood Russian sai, “you have been praying the same thing over and over again, ‘my dear child, my dear child.”
It’s a sign to unbelievers of Gods challenge, God’s truth and God’s judgement.
6: Tongues are the equivalent to prophesy when accompanied by an interpretation.
The gift of interpretation is clearly related to the gift of tongues and is vital when we come to public worship. Paul says that in verse 28.
1 Cor. 14:28
If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.
The gift of interpretation is that ability to pass on the sense of what has been said in that unknown tongue for the benefit of the congregation. It is not a translation but an interpretation. Some are given this gift that when someone is speaking in a tongue they are burdened with an understanding of what is being said. Not word for word always – but the sense of what is being said is stirred within them and they are drawn to share that with the congregation.
Interpretation may be given by the one who gave the tongue;
1 Cor. 14:13
For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says.
But normally God uses different people which brings us back to the fact that we need each other. Our dependence upon each other is shown as one speaks in a tongue and another interprets. Sometimes more than one will add to the interpretation to clarify what God is saying to us.
So often the interpreter does not always understand the words that are being said [unlike the meeting with Anton & Misha where Anton interpreted] but puts across the meaning and sense of its content.
Both of these gifts require faith for in my experience with these and the gifts of prophesy, you don’t get it all in one go. Sometimes you get a sentence or first phrase and as you stand up to share that God gives you the rest. This is not easy and puts your faith truly to the test.
Therefore in the public expression of tongues the need for this gift of interpretation is also needed. If you have the gift of tongues, use it daily in your prayers and praise times. In the public I believe God anoints and brings a tongue which needs interpretation and as with prophesy needs testing using the gifts of wisdom, discernment and knowledge.
Finally, who is it for?
Do all speak in tongues? Asks Paul in 1 Cor. 12:30
Clearly he implies and suggests the answer NO. Tongues is one gift amongst many distributed to the Church. Later in verse 5 of chapter 14 he writes, “I want you all to speak in tongues.”
Now this has led to great discussion. Bridge & Phypers book on Spiritual gifts called ‘Spiritual Gifts and the Church’ is helpful here. They write,
“with Paul we naturally wish that all Christians should share this precious gift of God’s prayer language which the Spirit has given to us. We suggest that all should be open to the exercise of the gift and should ask God for it. But in our experience we know that many Spirit filled Christians do not enjoy the gift. Nor so far as we can see is their sensitivity in prayer or effectiveness in service in anyway impaired there by. Christians should never become hung up on this gift overestimating it’s value and importance on the one hand or on the other hand becoming distressed at the lack of it.”
I find that helpful. I can understand Paul saying, “I would like every one of you to have the gift of tongues,” just as I could hear him say the same about discernment or healing or” – the list could go on. Paul says in a sense, I would love it if it could be that way but know that it isn’t, for God gives the gifts as he sees fit for his church to be complete.
Michael Green writes, “we should neither reject speaking in tongues or regard it as the be-all & end-all of Spirituality. It is clear that not all Christians have this gift and therefore is not a sealing mark of the blessing of the Holy Spirit. It may not be given even as we ask for it, I myself have asked God for it and have not received it, yet he has given me other gifts and these it is my duty to exercise to the full.”
If you have this gift then praise God for it and use it to his praise & glory. If you do not have this gift then ask God for it. If you receive it – praise God for it and use it to his Glory. If you do not receive it don’t worry, God has other gifts for you.
In my own experience in this area I was resistant to the gift because I knew it was controversial. It always seemed to me, a rational western being, that it lacked any real use or point. But that is because our mindset is geared to humanistic thinking rather than biblical thinking.
I came to the point of recognising that if the Apostle Paul appreciated it and valued it for what it was also recognising how it could be abused and misunderstood. Paul, of a far greater intellect than I, stated that he thanked God that he spoke in tongues more than anyone, therefore how could I not allow myself to be open to receiving this gift too. To reject the gift is in someway is to reject the giver.
Let me reiterate. It is not a short cut to Spiritual Power or maturity. It is not part of the fruit of the Spirit that is to be seen in the lives of all Christians. It is a genuine gift of the Spirit. Not a reward – a gift that we all need to be open to receive if God in his goodness sees it right to give it to us.
Nicky Gumble author of the Alpha course:-
Like all the gifts of God, we have to co-operate with his Spirit. God does not force his gifts on us. When I first became a Christian I read somewhere that the gifts of the Spirit went out in the apostolic age (ie, the first century). They were not for today. When I heard about speaking in tongues I decided to confirm that they were not for today, so I prayed for the gift and then kept my mouth firmly shut! I didn’t start praying in tongues and felt that this proved that the gifts had gone out with the apostles.
One day two friends of mine, who had just been filled with the Spirit and received the gift of tongues, came round to see me. I told them quite firmly that the gifts of the Spirit had gone out with the apostolic age, but I could see the difference it had made to them. There was a new radiance about them, and there still is years later. I decided to ask the people who had prayed for them to pray for me to be filled with the Spirit and to receive the gift of tongues. As they did I experienced the power of the Holy Spirit. They explained to me that if I wanted to receive the gift of tongues I had to cooperate with the Spirit of God and open my mouth and start to speak to God in any language but English or another known to me. As I did, I received the gift of tongues also.
