The Gifts: Tongues
Wednesday Evening Bible Study
March 15, 2000
Introduction
Last week Jim Hesterly came and taught on the Gift of Tongues. I want to expand on a couple of ideas.
I think there’s a lot about tongues that can be a little misunderstood or scary. I can understand why.
I was given one of those daily calendar things for pastors that has a different cartoon for each day of the year. It’s filled with cartoons that probably only pastors would get. On March 6, there’s a cartoon of a Senior Pastor sitting with his younger Associate Pastor, and they’re splitting up the year’s preaching responsibilities. The Senior Pastor says,
"I’ll preach on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and Easter. You can have "The Role of Women in the Church", "Tongues-Speaking for Today", "Biblical Inerrancy", and our special "Fund Drive Sunday".
I find it amusing that some pastors would feel so threatened about this subject. But then again, I guess I’ve been there too. Hey, if it’s in the Bible, what are we afraid of?
Tongues
Have tongues ceased to exist?
Some people claim it has. We’ll look into that more on Sunday night when we look at 1Cor. 13.
Benefits of tongues (review)
1. Praying well
(1 Cor 14:14 KJV) For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.
We don’t always know how to pray.
(Rom 8:26 KJV) Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
This may not be specifically talking about tongues, but the principle applies in that the Holy Spirit knows a whole lot better how to pray than we do.
Sometimes we may not know what to pray for, sometimes we know what to pray for but we just don’t know how to express it.
Savonarola, the fifteenth century Italian reformer, said, "When prayer reaches its ultimate, words are impossible". I think that it’s at times like this when tongues can be of a benefit.
2. Praising well
(1 Cor 14:15-17 KJV) What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. {16} Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? {17} For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.
Tongues may be a way of expressing our praise and thanks to the Lord.
3. Building your spirit up
Tongues builds up the individual.
(1 Cor 14:4 KJV) He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.
Jim Hesterly used the illustration of taking vitamins. We may not notice the full benefit of taking vitamins until we’ve stopped taking them for awhile. Praying in tongues is a way to build yourself up.
I think this is what Jude may have been referring to when he wrote,
(Jude 1:20 KJV) But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
Paul used the term "praying in the spirit" to refer to praying with tongues. It’s possible Jude meant the same thing.
4. Building up the church
(when there is interpretation!)
(1 Cor 14:11-13 KJV) Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. {12} Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. {13} Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.
If there is an interpretation, then the church can receive edification as well as the person who is speaking in a tongue
"Helping" along the gift.
For years, Pentecostal churches have embraced the practice of "helping" people to start them speaking in tongues.
Sometimes a person was encouraged to speak a certain phrase like "Abba", or sometimes they would physically manipulate your jaw to get you to start speaking. Some have suggested saying the word "glory" over and over and over again until your tongue gets tired and the words becomes a bunch of gibberish.
For years, some of us have struggled about whether or not this was a legitimate thing to do. After all, we don’t seem to read about the apostles needing and "help" on the day of Pentecost. It doesn’t even seem as if they were expecting anything like the gift of tongues. It just happened. For years Pastor Chuck has taught us these things.
But Pastor Chuck has changed his view on this and shared it the church during his last series of teachings on the Holy Spirit. He now sees that the "helping" along of the gift as a possible thing that helps a person release their faith to receive the gift.
(Mat 9:20-22 KJV) And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: {21} For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. {22} But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
It wasn’t the hem of Jesus’ garment that brought the woman’s healing, it was her faith. But she had told herself that if she could just touch the hem, then she would be healed. When she touched Jesus’ garment, she released her faith and received her healing.
It could be that this "helping" along of the gift, for some, might be the things that helps them receive the gift of tongues.
Pastor Chuck told a story of a woman in his church who had been learning about the gift of tongues and had greatly desired to receive the gift. She had been reading in Acts 2 about the day of Pentecost, with the apostles waiting on the Lord, and the sound of the mighty rushing wind. That evening she went into her dining room and told the Lord she was just going to wait on Him to receive the gift. As she was praying, she heard what sounded like a wind blowing through the house, and she got all excited and started speaking in tongues. She later found out that it was the furnace in her house turning on. Yet she still had received a legitimate gift of tongues. The sound of the furnace bumped her faith and she had been able to receive.
Some of this can almost sound kind of "hoaky" or superstitious to some of us more sophisticated people. That’s okay. God understands. He isn’t going to force anything on you, and neither are we. But it’s probably no more "hoaky" than the woman touching Jesus’ garment and becoming healed.
Love and tongues
(1 Cor 13:1-3 NASB) If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. {2} And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. {3} And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
The examples Paul is using in the first two verses have to do with spiritual gifts. Paul isn’t saying that the use of the gifts is fake. He is saying that a person could exercise one of these spiritual gifts and not do it in love.
And when that happens, the gift is worthless.
We need to be careful that we don’t fall in love with the gifts for the sake of the gifts. The gifts are really nothing to the Lord. They don’t impress Him one bit.
It’s not uncommon for a person to begin to see God working in their life in a real, powerful way, and not get excited. Sometimes we can get downright evangelistic about spiritual gifts. I remember when I was first baptized in the Holy Spirit and received the gift of tongues, there was a couple of us at our Baptist church who were probably downright obnoxious about it. Those who didn’t understand spiritual gifts ended up feeling left out or somehow inferior. And we made sure they felt that way if they didn’t. For us, there were two kinds of Christians, those who "had" and those that "didn’t".
That’s not love.
Be careful that when God begins to move in your life, and you begin to experience the "zeal of the Lord", that you learn to temper your zeal.
Illustration
God’s power is kind of like propane. When He baptizes you with His Spirit, it’s like God gives you the equivalent of a twenty pound tank filled with gas. For some of us, we open the valve and then light a match and see what happens. But God’s desire is that we learn to regulate the flow by hooking up the tank to a valve and something useful like a gas barbecue or a camping lantern.
The gas is the power of the Holy Spirit. Love is the regulating valve that holds back the pressure and keeps it from blowing up the barbecue. The barbecue is your spiritual gift.
We’ll look more at how love operates on Sunday night when we look at 1Corinthians 13.
Growing in and using your gifts
I’ve heard several people express that in their personal experience, when they received the gift of tongues, they only received a sound or two, perhaps two words. They felt kind of silly to be only speaking one or two words, but they were encouraged to keep doing it. For one, after six months, a floodgate opened and many more words came. For the other, it wasn’t until a year went by that they began to receive more words to pray.
I’ve heard Mike McIntosh teach that for some folks, the gift of tongues can come at a pace similar to a baby learning to talk. A baby will only learn to say "Dada" or "Momma" at first. More words come later.
Peter writes,
2Pe 3:18
But grow in grace, and [in] the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him [be] glory both now and for ever. Amen.The word "grace" is charis, the root of the word for gifts, charismata. In fact the basic idea of the word charismata is "a work of grace".
Would it be too much of a stretch to think that as we are "growing" in "grace", that perhaps this might include growing in our gifts as well? I think it’s possible.
In the same vein, not only is it important that we continue to grow in our gifts, but we simply need to keep using them
1Ti 4:14
Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.neglect
– ameleo – to be careless of, to neglect2Ti 1:6
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.stir up
– anazopureo – to kindle up, inflame one's mind, strength, zeal(1 Pet 4:10-11 NLT) God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God's generosity can flow through you. {11} Are you called to be a speaker? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Are you called to help others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then God will be given glory in everything through Jesus Christ. All glory and power belong to him forever and ever. Amen.
Speaking out in the service
Not all that receive a gift of tongues are going to be asked by God to speak out in tongues in a service.
(1 Cor 14:27-28 KJV) If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. {28} But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.
If God leads for some to speak out in tongues during a service, there still needs to be a limit. Not all are going to be speaking out in tongues, just as not all are going to be able to speak out and prophecy.
Don’t feel the pressure that if you receive the gift of tongues, that now you’re going to have to embarrass yourself and speak out in front of others.
About interpretation
How do I know if there is someone with interpretation?
By speaking out and seeing if there is an interpretation. I believe it’s also possible that even though you were bold enough to speak out, the other person with the interpretation may not be quite bold enough yet to speak out their portion. I believe we’ve already seen this at work in our fellowship. We’ve had instances where a person has spoken out in tongues, and I believe there was an interpretation but it was not spoken out, perhaps because the interpreter didn’t know what to do with it.
We’re all growing in our gifts here. Be patient with each other.
Even if there isn’t interpretation, or if you aren’t let to speak out in tongues, you may do what Paul instructs and quietly speak in tongues, or sing in tongues.
Singing in tongues
(1 Cor 14:15 KJV) What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
Some of the most beautiful worship I’ve ever heard has been in tongues.
Is it okay to sing in tongues at church?
Yes.
While we’re waiting on the Lord, God could put something on your heart.
While we’re all singing together, there may be times when the regular words just won’t do, it’s okay to quietly sing to the Lord in tongues.
There are going to be times when I or Dave are leading and we’ll just play through a chorus over and over a few times without singing the words, this might be a time to sing to the Lord with your tongue. It’s okay to quietly sing and worship Him this way.