By Pastor Lynn Sawyer Parks

1 Corinthians 14:1-12

Today, we are concluding the sermon that began 2 weeks ago talking about the Greatest Gift. We’ve explored how we all are part of the Body of Christ and our congregation is part of the world wide Body of Christ. As members of the Body of Christ, God gives us spiritual gifts that contribute to the health and well being of the whole Body. We’ve learned about love and many of the different attributes of love. Love is the greatest of the spiritual gifts and gives energy to the Body. It helps the Body function well and take care of itself. Today, in chapter 14, Paul focuses in on 2 gifts, tongues and prophecy which are gifts of communication. You’ll remember that we’ve talked about how the Corinthian people were competitive and there was divisiveness among them.

We didn’t talk about chapter 11 of this letter, but in that chapter, the divisiveness was playing out in how the people came together to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Back then they would have a meal together and, during the meal, or after it, would share the bread and cup of the Lord. That’s a little different from how we do it today. But in this fellowship in Corinth, some would bring their own food for the meal and eat it themselves without sharing, some were getting drunk, and some, who were poor, had nothing to eat. Paul calls them out for this because this is not what the Lord’s Supper is about. It’s not about some being shamed and others hoarding for themselves. It’s about remembering Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and his example of servanthood when he washed his disciples’ feet, honoring them with his service and telling them that they should do the same. It’s about remembering that it is Christ who makes us one body of believers and we are to have concern for one another just as Christ does.

I wanted to point out this problem with their celebration of the Lord’s Supper because it’s just one thing that’s happening when they come together for worship but it shows the underlying problem which is their lack of concern for one another. They seem to be much more self-centered than Christ-centered. In chapter 14, Paul describes how their self-centeredness is manifesting in how they use spiritual gifts and how it affects the atmosphere of their worship services. I don’t know exactly what a worship service looked like in first century Corinth, but it was probably different in some important ways from what our service is like today. It probably took place in someone’s home, which might have given it more of an informal atmosphere. If we read all of chapter 14, we get the idea that it was chaotic. Paul writes in verse 26 that when they come together each one has something to say, be it a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, a message in tongues or an interpretation. That’s a lot of talking going on. If everyone here today took 10 minutes to share what God has been speaking to them or something they’ve been reading, or a testimony, we would be here a while. And if we were trying to outdo each other, it would be even worse. I get the sense from reading this that these people were talking over one another. So you would have 1 person over here singing a song and another over there praying in tongues and another in the back prophesying all at the same time.

That’s chaos and it’s doing them no good. This why Paul writes in verse 33 that God is not a God of disorder but of peace. All their speaking was failing to build up the church. They need a peaceful, orderly atmosphere in order to learn and grow. I understand that people have different learning styles and some people need to fidget with something in order to concentrate. Some people need to move around in order to concentrate. But no one learns if they aren’t sure who to listen to because 3 or 4 people are all talking at the same time. Paul has to address this carefully because he doesn’t want them to stop exercising spiritual gifts. He says in verse 1 to pursue love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts. But he wants them to also understand that there is a way of using the gifts that is best for the whole assembly of believers and they should think about that, rather than focusing on using the gifts solely for one’s own benefit.

He focuses on tongues and prophecy because it seems that these are the 2 that people were not using well. Paul writes that praying in tongues is great for building oneself up spiritually. It’s a way of communicating from the spirit, praying from one’s spirit rather than from the mind only. But it doesn’t benefit the rest of the fellowship if no one can understand what is being said, unless it is also interpreted. He doesn’t want them to just speak in tongues so they can claim they have this great gift. He wants them to know what it is the Spirit wants to communicate. In Acts 2, when the disciples first experienced speaking in tongues, it benefited those listening because they could hear the gospel in their own languages. There is a purpose to speaking in tongues beyond just having a spiritual experience for oneself.

Paul tells the Corinthians that, for their corporate worship experience, it is better to prophesy. If they prophesy, they will tell forth a message from God in the common language and everyone can understand it. Then each one can be encouraged, or learn something, or be comforted, or receive correction and all will be built up. If someone who is not a believer or is not familiar with the fellowship were to come into their worship service and hear a message of prophecy, they would be able to understand it and benefit from it. Love wants others to benefit from the practice of spiritual gifts. They are to pursue love first and then exercise the spiritual gifts in ways that build up the whole body of Christ.
Communication is tricky even though it seems straightforward. We use a word and think everyone understands what we mean. But each person listening has their own unique filters for understanding what is being said. We have filters of our own experience and knowledge, our emotions, how we are feeling physically, our expectations, and so on. My mom and I got into an argument when she was here in December because she said something and I reacted negatively to what she said because I interpreted her meaning in the wrong way. I used the wrong filter in listening to her. I had to come back to her later and say, “okay I think you were meaning to say this, but I was hearing that.” Then we were able to talk about it and resolve it. Miscommunication and misunderstanding is easy and accurate communication is hard. Love will do the hard work to communicate well.

The lesson I did with the children this morning illustrates how love needs to be the motivation for how we use our spiritual gifts and how we communicate. I could tell all these children and youth that I love them and to show my love, I’m going to give each one of them a book, but it’s not going to do them any good if the book is in Japanese and none of them can read it. That’s not communicating love to them. It would probably confuse them, or disappoint them, or make them feel like the butt of a joke. Love wouldn’t do that.

In our own fellowship, communication is complex, for one reason because so many of us speak more than one language. Including English, there are more than 10 languages represented among us. If we were all speaking our non-English languages and someone came in here for the first time, they would have no idea what they had walked into. We speak English in our services because it’s the common language we all have. We try to include other languages in scripture reading and song, because we love each other and we want people to have the opportunity to sing and read or hear scripture in their heart language. We celebrate the diversity of language as a gift that enriches our fellowship. Yet we primarily speak English because we want to understand each other. Language is a tool to help us build relationships with each other, to learn together and to build up our fellowship. It’s not that one language is better than all the others. It’s simply a matter of which language do we all hold in common that can help us grow together. Paul is encouraging the Corinthians to speak of spiritual things, using the common language, so that all can benefit.
But language alone isn’t all there is to communication. In verse 6, when Paul addresses the issue of speaking in tongues without benefit of interpretation, he uses himself as an example. In doing this, he avoids pointing the finger at any particular person or group within the Corinthian fellowship. This is love. Paul wants to be heard by all on this subject so he uses himself as an example. He points the finger at himself. He says if he comes to them speaking in tongues, how is that useful or advantageous to them? But if he comes and speaks in the common language and offers a revelation or instruction, then they can learn and be built up. He’s being sensitive that he not single anyone out. Better that everyone know he’s pointing the finger at himself, then have someone take offense because they think he’s pointing the finger at them.
One of the best pieces of advice my husband ever gave me was when I was preparing my first sermon. I asked him to read it over because something just didn’t sound right about it and I couldn’t put my finger on it. He read through it and said, “Change all the ‘you’s’ to ‘I’s’.” That totally changed the tone of the sermon and I’ve never forgotten that advice. I try to be very careful of how I use the word “you” in a sermon because it can make it sound like I am talking down to you and separating myself from you. Love seeks to include, not alienate. Sometimes we can be insensitive in how we communicate with others and it can be alienating. Paul’s trying not to do that with the Corinthians.

Love will seek understanding. Paul uses the example of musical instruments. He says when an instrument is played but there is no distinction in the notes, nobody will know what song is being played. If I were to go over to the drums and just start banging with no clear rhythm, and you can’t play melody on the drums, nobody would have any idea what song I would be trying to play. It would just be noise. We talked about that last week, that if I speak with great eloquence and knowledge, but don’t have love, I’m just making noise. He’s saying the same thing here. Having and using spiritual gifts is great, but without love, we are just making noise. It’s not helping those in the church to grow. It’s not building up the Body of Christ so that we can minister to the world.

Paul uses the example of a trumpet. The trumpets were used to sound alarms. There would be a clear signal given by the trumpets that would let the soldiers know what they were supposed to do. Vandy and I watched “The Sound of Music” a while back and the father had a whistle that he used to call his children. Each child had their own tune and were expected to come when he whistled for them. The armies back then did the same thing. Paul says if the trumpet doesn’t play a clear tune, who will get ready for the battle? No one will know what to do. Communication needs to be clear and understandable so people know what to do.

One of the easiest ways to find out if clear communication has happened is to ask the other person what did they hear you say. Or repeat back to someone what you’ve just heard them say and make sure you got it right. Another way is to ask the person to say more about what they mean. I do this if I’m not sure I’m understanding all the person is saying. There are all kinds of methods that can be used to enhance communication, but what motivates us to use them is love. I love the person in front of me, I want to understand them well, I want us to have a good and healthy relationship, so I will persist in seeking to understand them.

Clarity in communication is so important. It affects every relationship we have. In Bryan Loritts’ book “Insider Outsider” that I referenced last week, he talks about the communication pyramid in which there are 5 levels of communication: 1) cliché; 2) facts; 3) opinions; 4) feelings; 5) and transparency. Transparency is the deepest level of communication and cliché is the shallowest. He points out that if someone is going through something, they don’t need their friend coming at them with clichés, or facts or even opinions. That’s not helpful. (p. 29) That’s why when we are with someone who is grieving, we say “I’m so sorry”. We express feelings. Or we stay quiet and let them express their feelings to us. This is why trite sayings like “God wanted another angel” do no good and offer no comfort to a grieving person. It’s not deep enough. The problem is we don’t know what to do with feelings all the time. We hear anger and we shut down or run away. We hear passion about something and get uncomfortable or maybe feel we have to calm that person down. It takes intentionality to listen for the emotions of others, to press in and find out if we are hearing accurately, and to stick with the conversation to build a good relationship with someone else. Love will stick with it.

We communicate through tone of voice, facial expressions, body language and any of these can be misinterpreted by someone else. How we react to the emotions of another is also influenced by our past experiences. If our past experience is that anger means everyone shuts down and goes their own way, then when someone expresses anger to us our default response could be to shut ourselves off from them. They might be confused by this because their past experience with anger is that each one presents their side and you hash it out together. How would we know those dynamics if we never push ourselves to get past our reactions and seek understanding?

It takes intentionality and courage to go to another person and share our emotions, to ask for deeper conversation in order to build good relationships. These are skills that most of us have to learn and practice. I know this wasn’t something I picked up growing up and it wasn’t taught in school. I’m still trying to learn skills to help me communicate better and build better relationships. And if we’ve had a few experiences of reaching out and trying to build deeper communication with others and been rejected, or been hurt, it’s easy to put up a wall and not try anymore. Paul is encouraging the Corinthians to put into practice those things that build up the body of Christ, to communicate with each other in ways that everyone can understand with the purpose of everyone being encouraged, comforted, learning something, growing stronger. We want the same thing here. It’s hard work but we have to encourage each other to keep at it.

Part of our commitment to clarity is a commitment to understand ourselves better and to seek to grow in emotional health so we can relate well with each other. We are the Body of Christ and the Body needs to be emotionally healthy because emotional health and spiritual health go together. We are to each be growing in ways that help our fellowship grow. Paul says in verse 12 to excel in those gifts that build up the church. We are committed to growing spiritually because we want our church to be strong and healthy. We want our church to be strong and healthy because we want our communities to also be healthy places and in order for that to happen, churches need to be contributing actively to the health of the community. We are to be about revealing Christ to the world. How can we do that if we can’t communicate well?
As we end this 3 part sermon, we commit ourselves to love well, in healthy and life giving ways. We commit ourselves to growing spiritually and emotionally. We commit ourselves to seek what is good for others and not just what is good for ourselves. We commit ourselves to seek spiritual gifts that will build up our church. We want Christ to be revealed to us and to the world around us.