Spiritual Gifts: Bodybuilding Tools

0:56I was developing a dad bod. So after a long internal battle, I finally broke down and joined Camp Gladiator this past December. And if you're unfamiliar with Camp Gladiator, it's an outdoor fitness program that runs on a five-week cycle. There's quite a bit of running, there's quite a bit of core work, neither of which I wanted to do. So I've been a couple of times before with Kendra, my wife, who's been doing Camp Gladiator for about 18 months and has already worked out 250 times.

1:28I have done nothing 250. 50 times in the last 18 months. So I joined and start going, and let me tell you, that first month was really confusing. My trainer is talking about AMRAPs and Imams and Plyo-squats and plank jacks. It was like a foreign language. I needed an interpreter. I could have gone to every workout, but unless someone interpreted for me, I wouldn't have benefited at all. In fact, I probably would have quit going. I would have thought to myself, well, these crazy people seem to enjoy whatever that was, but I couldn't understand it. And so I guess it's not for me.

2:12Well, thankfully, my trainer and other folks at camp patiently explained all the vocabulary and demonstrated all the movements and how to do them properly. They made sure that I understood what was going on so I wouldn't be left out. Now that I'm three months in, I'm still finishing last, but at least I understand what I'm supposed to be doing. Friends, today we're covering 1 Corinthians 14, verses 1 through 25, where Paul is going to continue to teach us how to use our spiritual gifts in the church. Now, this is a tough chapter, but if we're willing to do the hard work of understanding the context and use the clearer passages in the Bible to help us understand, Those that are less clear, the more difficult passages, then it's going to yield great fruit for us. And if this is your first time listening to one of our sermons here at New Life, I hope it encourages you that we don't skip over the harder passages of the Bible to understand, but we work hard to understand them because we work from the foundational presupposition that all scripture is breathed out by God, it's inspired by Him, and it's profitable so that every one of us will be complete and equipped for every good work.

3:40Last week we learned that no matter how spiritually gifted we are, we are nothing and we gain nothing if we don't use our gifts in love. But love alone is not enough to build up the body of Christ. Love is necessary, but it's not sufficient if we want to grow into mature followers of Jesus Christ. And so, for that to happen, we have to hear and understand the Word of God. And that's what we're going to learn today: that the body of Christ is built by hearing and understanding the Word of God. So, let's jump into our text now in 1 Corinthians 14.

4:22Paul begins this passage by exhorting the Corinthians to pursue love and earnestly desire the Spiritual gifts. I want you to notice the word and. It's not either or as though we have to choose between loving each other or pursuing the spiritual gifts. Paul says that we can and we must do both of those things. It's possible to love someone, to really want to help them, but if you lack the gifts necessary to meet their needs, then love is not going to be enough.

5:00And as we learned last week, even if you're supremely gifted, if you don't have love for others, you'll become nothing more than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And so, in the church, we need both love and giftedness. And Paul says here that of all the spiritual gifts, we should especially desire to prophesy. Now, what does it mean? What does Paul mean when he uses this word, prophesy? A lot of people see that word and they immediately think about predicting the future.

5:38And it is true that sometimes prophets foretold what was going to happen in the future. But every time when the prophets were speaking, what they were doing was delivering the word of God to the people of God, whether that word was about the past or the present or the future. Michael Green, the biblical commentator, defined prophecy in this way. A word from the Lord through a member of his body, that is one of his people, inspired by his spirit and given to build up the rest of the body.

6:19So think of the Old Testament prophets. They were certainly prophesying because they were given a word from the Lord, and then they faithfully delivered that word to God's people to encourage them, warn them, discipline them, or instruct them. And consider preachers and teachers in the church today. What are we doing? We are delivering the word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, to build up the rest of the church body. So Paul explains that we should desire spiritual gifts, especially that we may prophesy. And why is that?

7:00Well, it's because in verse 2, as we see, anyone who speaks in a tongue, and remember we define that term as an unlearned foreign language, anyone who speaks in a tongue isn't speaking to men, but to God. And that's because when someone interprets those unlearned foreign language for us or for others, the only one who understands them is God himself. Unless that word is interpreted, no one else can understand. It. Now, on the other hand, according to verse 3, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.

7:41In verse 3, we see for the first time in the passage this idea of building up. And Paul is going to use that phrase or one similar to it no less than seven different times in this passage. He mentions upbuilding in verse 3 and building up the church in verses 4 and 5. And he teaches that the only way to achieve the goal of building up the church is to speak the word of God in a language that hearers can actually understand.

8:12Now listen, Paul is not against speaking in tongues. He thanks God that he has the gift of speaking in tongues in verse 18, and then right here in verse 5, he says he wishes that all of them could speak in tongues because it's personally beneficial. But friends, Paul is clear that prophecy, speaking the Word of God to the people of God, is greater because unless someone can interpret those unlearned foreign languages, the church can't be built up. It would be just like my experience when I joined Camp Gladiator. Hearing people say these strange words but having no idea what they mean. Having someone interpret those words was the only way that my physical body was going to be built up.

9:01And in the same way, having someone interpret those unlearned foreign languages is the only way the spiritual body of the church can be built up. And that is Paul's primary concern, building up the body of Christ. Friends, that's the mindset that we all have to adopt, but it is so difficult for us as Americans to adopt that mindset. For years now, the primary attitude towards the church has been, where can I go that my preferences will be met?

9:38Where can I go where I can use my spiritual gifts in the way that I want to use them? In other words, we're coming with this attitude where we want to be built up and we want to be served instead of wanting to build others up and wanting to serve them any way we can. And that's the idea that Paul is driving to in the next section, verses 6 through 12. As we come into verse 6, it should be fairly obvious by now that the Corinthians really valued the gift of speaking in tongues. Paul has been referencing that spiritual gift for three chapters now. Now remember, Paul's opening statement of chapter 12 was this, now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

10:30But the way that some people were using their gifts, especially the gift of speaking in tongues, revealed that they were uninformed because they were using their gifts in a selfish way, not in the way that the Holy Spirit intended to build up the church. And so in this section, Paul uses the analogy of musical instruments to make his point that comprehensible content is the only way to build up the church. He wants us to envision going to a concert where you can't discern what the musicians are playing. Is that going to be a good experience? No, of course not. You wouldn't be able to understand or to enjoy the music. He invites us then to imagine a military bugler making these random noises. Who's going to get ready for battle if the soldiers can't understand the notes?

11:26And in the same way, he says in verses 9 and 10, if we don't speak in worship in a way that people can understand, we're just speaking into the air. There are lots of languages, Paul says, and they all have different meanings. But if you don't know the meaning, then the speaker and the listener are going to be foreigners to one another. They can't communicate with or learn from each other. And that takes us to verse 12, which is really Paul's main point of the passage. Take a look at verse 12.

12:01He says, so with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. The Corinthians were eager for spiritual gifts, and Paul is not against that. He continues to press the point that eagerly desiring spiritual gifts is a good thing. But look carefully at what he says. He says, Strive to excel in building up the church. The word strive means to work hard, to exert great effort motivated by desire.

12:47And the word excel means to be exceptionally good at an activity or subject. And so think for a moment about people who are great at what they do, truly exceptional at what they do. Teachers, doctors, artists, athletes, musicians, lawyers. Friends, there's no question that in order to be great, you have to be gifted. In order to be great, you have to be gifted, because without a certain level of gifting, you just can't attain the highest levels of any profession. But gifting alone won't make you. Make you great. That's Malcolm Gladwell's point in his book, Outliers, which I really enjoyed. He's making the point that you have to be gifted and you have to strive. You have to work really hard. You've got to expend incredible effort if you really want to become great.

13:50And so, my point is: this: those who are blessed with any spiritual gift, like the ones mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 or Romans 14 or in 1 Peter, prophecy, teaching, service, exhortation, contributing, leadership, mercy, or any of the other gifts, anyone who is blessed by God with a spiritual gift must work hard to become great at using their spiritual gift to build up the body of Christ. Look at what Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4.

14:29He said, Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Paul told Timothy to practice using his spiritual gifts, to immerse himself in them. And we have to do the same thing with our gifts. Otherwise, Ungifted people have to step in and meet the need that you should have met, which means the church is not going to be built up as it should.

15:11Or you're going to be using a gift that you haven't worked hard to become exceptionally good at for the benefit of the church. And so the church is not going to be built up as it should be. And so, church, we must know our spiritual gifts. And yes, I recommend studying the scripture. Yes, I recommend praying about that. Those spiritual gifts tests that are out there, they can be helpful. But the number one way to discover your spiritual gifts is in the body of Christ, is allowing other believers to tell you how they have benefited from the Spirit working through you. We've got to know our spiritual gifts so that we can strive to excel in building up the church.

15:57And that takes us to verse 13. In verse 13, Paul begins with the word therefore, which is our clue to know that Paul is tying all of these sections together. He's going to draw a conclusion from everything that he's already written. Because building up the church is the purpose of the spiritual gifts, we must strive to excel at using ours. And that means that those who speak in tongues, he says, must pray for the ability to interpret them. Because without... Interpretation, no one, neither the speaker nor any human hearers, can understand what's being said. Paul notes in this section that your spirit may be praying, but your mind is unfruitful. And Paul is not okay with that. Look at verse 15.

16:49What 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.

17:19Friends, so many churches pit the spirit against the mind, which leads them to do what we talked about last week, which is overemphasizing certain gifts. That's how you end up with one church overemphasizing signs and getting branded charismaniacs, and you have another church overemphasizing knowledge and getting branded the frozen chosen. What a helpful corrective that Paul offers here. Look again at what he says. I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also. I will sing praise with my mind. My spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.

18:05Church, Paul does not pit the mind against the spirit or the spirit against the mind. He's not okay turning off either his spirit or his mind in worship. But many believers do that very thing. They either turn off their minds and engage in practices that are unhelpful at best, or blatantly disobedient to Scripture at worst, or they turn off their spirits and make worship into a dry intellectual discipline. Paul teaches us not to do either one of those things, but to live out the teaching of Jesus in John 4:24. Look at this verse: God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship how? In spirit and in truth.

19:01Spirit and truth, not one or the other. So, since the goal is building up the body of Christ with our spiritual gifts, we must use them in a way that does that. That's why Paul ends this section by thanking God that He speaks in tongues more than any of them. But then He says immediately that He would rather speak five words with His mind than 10,000 words in an uninterpreted language and a tongue. That benefits no one in the church.

19:34And so to this point, Paul is focused on building up the body of Christ, the church, followers of Jesus. But we have to understand that in our gatherings, we often have non-Christians among us as well, those who have not yet started following Jesus. And Paul turns his attention to these people in verses 20 through 25. So let's pick up here in verse 20. He says, Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking, be mature.

20:12Now, at first glance, it seems like this verse has nothing to do with the rest of the text. But what Paul is doing here is he's telling them they need to grow into maturity. See, children have many redeeming qualities. Jesus even uses them to illustrate the nature of God-honoring faith. But they're also immature in many ways. And one of those ways that they're immature is that children are often self-focused. They're most often concerned with themselves and what they want. They think of themselves first, their desires, their feelings, what they want to do. And Paul is comparing the Corinthians to children who aren't considering the needs of other people around them because they're using their Gifts in a self-centered way.

21:04Paul then goes on in verse 21 to quote Isaiah 28, 11 and 12. And this quotation also seems really random unless you understand the context. See, back in Isaiah chapter 28, the people of Israel are refusing to listen to the prophecies of Isaiah, where he is calling them to repent of their sin to avoid judgment from God. And since God's people refuse to listen, God tells them through Isaiah that he's going to speak to them through people of strange tongues. That is, God is going to send the Assyrians, who spoke a completely different language, to defeat and exile them for their disobedience to God. And even then, God said through Isaiah that the people would refuse to listen, although every word that Isaiah spoke would come true in 722 BC.

22:02Now, what in the world are these verses about? Why are they here in 1 Corinthians 14? Well, let's make the connection. Right after this in verse 22, Paul says that tongues are a sign not for believers, but for unbelievers. Why? Look at verse 23. If therefore the whole church comes together, and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say you are out of your minds? Okay, so back in Isaiah 28, the people refused to listen to God's word through Isaiah, so Isaiah said that a people of strange tongues would come and conquer them. So he is connecting tongues and unbelief and the judgment of God.

22:59Paul's making that connection here. He's saying that if outsiders or unbelievers come to worship and they can't understand the tongues that are being spoken, the languages that are being spoken, they're going to think that Christians are crazy and they have nothing to offer. So Paul's point is this. Believers shouldn't be acting like immature children, selfishly using their spiritual gifts in a way that causes unbelievers to reject God's word and as a result, experience his judgment. That's why if tongues are used in worship, they have to be interpreted for the sake of everyone there, but especially for the non-Christians.

23:44But prophecy? In verse 24, Paul says that if all prophesy, that is, declare the word of God to the people of God, and an outsider comes in or an unbeliever enters, they can understand the meaning of those words. They can come under conviction for sin, even secret sin that is only known to God. And the result, hopefully, will be that they fall on their faces and worship God. And isn't this what we see in the rest of Scripture about the Word of God, about its power? Look at Hebrews chapter 4 on your screen.

24:22For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. When the word of God is clearly spoken, everyone hears the truth. About God and his perfect holiness that is revealed in his law, about our sin and rebellion against him, the consequences of which is death, about Christ and His perfect life of obedience, along with His sacrificial death on the cross in our place for our sins, and of His resurrection from the dead, and about our need to repent or acknowledge and turn from our sin, and to believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ so that we may be forgiven and declared. Righteous and adopted into the family of God.

25:36Friends, everyone must hear the truth, but everyone must also understand the truth so that as Christians we can grow, or as non-Christians, so that we can be led to repentance and faith in Christ the Savior. That's why we must either prophesy or we must only speak in languages that can be interpreted when we gather for worship, so that everyone can benefit from what's going on. Now, you might be sitting here today thinking, Alan, I've never spoken in an unlearned language before.

26:22Me neither. You might even be thinking, not only have I never spoken in an unlearned language before, I've never seen anyone do it, and I've never heard of anyone who has. Well, friends, here's the good news. We don't need first-hand experience with tongues to understand and apply Paul's main point today. We don't even have to agree on whether the Holy Spirit still gives people the gift of speaking in tongues or interpreting tongues to understand and apply Paul's main point today. Today. Because the main point of this passage is that the body of Christ is built up by hearing and understanding the Word of God. So, if anything we do is getting in the way of people hearing and understanding the Word of God, we have to remove that barrier. The Word of God, the truth that we have sinned against Him and that we need a Savior because we cannot save ourselves through any amount of religious effort, but can only be saved by the person and work of Christ, that message is already an obstacle. That message is already a stumbling block to those who don't yet believe. So, when we gather for worship, we want to be sure that both believers and unbelievers understand what's going on so that believers can be built up and so that unbelievers can be pointed to Jesus, the Savior that they need.

28:01So, church, when we gather, let's make sure that we all use our gifts to ensure that the Word of God goes forth clearly because the body of Christ is built by hearing and understanding the Word of God. Let's pray, Father, we thank you for every Word that has been preserved for us in Scripture. We believe, as your word tells us, that everything in the Word of God is profitable, it's useful, so that we can be complete and equipped for every good work.

28:57And so, God, this morning we acknowledge that sometimes when we gather for worship, we do things and we say things that are incomprehensible to outsiders. We don't expend enough effort to make sure that everyone can understand what's going on and these things that we're talking about, so that if they reject the Word of God and the Savior Jesus that the Word points to, it's because the message is offensive. It's not because the message is incomprehensible. God, we acknowledge as well that none of us has always and fully done what verse 12 commands us to do, and that's to strive to excel in building up the church with our spiritual gifts.

30:01There are a lot of us who are sitting on the sidelines. We might attend worship services once in a while. We might watch them once in a while in this season. We might be a part of a local church, but we're not working hard to know our spiritual gifts and then to develop them so that we can bless others in the body of Christ. We've neglected the gifts that you've given to us. And God, for that we are sorry.

30:39We ask you to help us to know our gifts and to put them into practice, to immerse ourselves in them, not so that we personally will benefit and will be built up, but so that others in the body of Christ will benefit and be built up. Because when all of us are trying to build up everyone else in the body of Christ, there's going to be no lack. There's going to be no one left out. And so, God, we pray that our church and every other church would take this perspective and that we would see growth and maturity come because we are gladly developing the spiritual gifts that you have given to us.

31:30Especially those that help the Word of God be clearly heard and clearly understood. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.