ONE LANGUAGE, ONE
UNDERSTANDING
A. One of the gifts of the spirit given to the early Church
was the gift of languages.
1. The gift to
speak in an unlearned language different from their native language.
2. The gift of
languages was first displayed in the early Church in Acts chapter 2.
3. Some members
of the Church begin thinking that this gift was
the most
important gift.
4. Even today
some Churches seem to think that this gift is the evidence of having
the Holy
Spirit.
5. The word
"tongue" is the Greek word glossa which means a specific language
not acquired
naturally.
B. The Apostle Paul
sets the ground work for utilizing the gift of tongues (languages)
in public.
1. Obviously this
is a gift that is Holy Spirit controlled.
2. Paul says that
you should pray that you will be able to interpret what you are
saying.
3. How can you
know what you are saying if you can not interpret?
V:14. " For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but
my mind is unfruitful."
A. If I used by gift
to pray and I don't understand what I am saying, then
I am not fruitful
to myself.
1. Here is the
misunderstanding of the use of the gift.
2. It is not us
that is controlling the conversation, but the Holy Spirit.
3. It is the
Spirit speaking through us to a particular person or group
of people who do not speak our language.
4. We think the
words of God as a witness and the Holy Spirit controls our
speech in the
language of the hearer.
B. The only way the
mind can be unfruitful is if I don't have an understand
of the language
that I am speaking.
V:15. " So what
shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind;
I will sing with my
spirit, but I will also sing with my mind."
A. To be fruitful I
must pray in the language that I know and others around me know.
1. To be fruitful,
I must talk in a language that I know and others know.
2. To be fruitful,
I must sing in a language that I know and others know.
B. If we all know the
same language, why speak in an unknown language?
1. To whose benefit
is an unknown language?
2. If no one knows
what I am saying, who is being edified?
V:16. " If you
are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those
who do not understand say "Amen" to your thanksgiving, since he does
not know what you are saying?"
A. If we are exercising
the gift of language of the spirit and some outsider comes in
who do not know
the language, how will the outsider be brought to Christ?
1. When we abuse
the gift to puff ourselves up, there is no gain.
2. It is possible
to drive the unbeliever away from Christ when we abuse our
gifts.
B. God did not gives
us the gift of language to make ourselves look good before
others.
1. God does not
give us gifts so that we may boast.
2. God does not
give us gifts for a display of our abilities.
C. We are given gifts
so that the body may be built up.
1. God did not
give us gifts to lift ourselves up.
2. God did not
give us gifts to impress others.
3. God gave us
gifts so that others may be drawn to Christ.
V:17. " You may be giving thanks well enough, but the
other man is not edified."
A. Our praise and worship should be in a
language that every one can understand.
1. If we praise
God in an unknown language, who would know that we are actually
praising God?
2. Our language
of praise must be common for all to be edified.
B. If I speak French and you don't know French,
will you be edified?
1. If my native
language is English and someone who speaks only French
comes to me,
the gift of language becomes a useful tool to witness for
Christ.
2. Every believer
has gifts, but not always the same gifts.
3. Any gift we
have should be held in reserve until the time comes that it
can be useful to edify the body of
Christ.
4. Any gift can
become disruptive if it is not used appropriately.
V:18. " I thank
God that I speak in tongues more than all of you."
A. The Apostle Paul
journeyed to many different cities and countries,
preaching the
Gospel of Jesus Christ in the languages of
the people.
1. Paul spoke
many languages.
2. Paul only
spoke in the language of the people in front of him.
B. Because Paul was
commission by God to preach the Gospel to the
Gentiles, he was
gifted to preach in different languages.
1. The native
language from country to country was different.
2. Paul spoke the
native language of each country.
C. Paul gave thanks
to God for his gift of languages.
1. Paul glorified
God with his gifts.
2. Paul edified
the body with his gifts.
V:19. " But in
the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others
than ten thousand
words in a tongue."
A. Paul did not boast
in his language skills.
1. He boasted in
preaching the Gospel in whatever language necessary for
hearers to
understand Christ Jesus.
2. Someone with a
large vocabulary who cannot communicate is of no use
to anyone.
B. The Gospel must be
preached in the language of the people for God to get
the Glory.
1. We must be able
to adapt our gifts to the person we are witnessing to.
2. Gifts that are
not uses out of love for the hearer will not be effective.
V:20. " Brothers, stop thinking like children. In
regard to evil be infants, but in your
thinking be adults."
A. It is children
that like to show off their talents for the sake of themselves.
1. Children like
attention for their edification.
2. Children like
the praise of those around them.
B. Mature Christians
should not seek the praise of man, but seek to give
God praise.
1. Mature
Christian should not seek to display their gifts as a sign of their
spirituality.
2. Mature
Christians should seek every opportunity to use their gifts to
draw others to
Christ.
V:21. " In the Law it is written: "Through men of
strange tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will
speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me," says the Lord."
A. We have to be
careful of what voice we listen to.
1. The voice of
the flesh says take every opportunity to edify ourselves.
2. The voice of
the Spirit says take every opportunity to edify the
body of
Christ.
B. If I speak with an
unknown language , I must be careful that I speak
for Christ and
not for myself.
1. If I speak with
an unknown language, I must be careful that body of Christ
is edified and
not the flesh of men.
2. We all have
gifts, but not all gifts should be used at all times.
V:22. " Tongues,
then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy,
however, is for
believers, not for unbelievers."
A. God gave us the
gift of languages so that we can communicate with none
believers who
speak a different language.
1. All gifts are
to be used to draw unbelievers to Christ.
2. If I speak to
an unbeliever who only speak French, I need the gift
speaking
French to witness to him/her.
3. If I and the
unbeliever speak English, I don't need to use my gift of speaking
French.
4. If a group of
believers all speak the same language, why speak a different
language?
B. If we all speak
English, and I speak English words that you don't understand,
am I
communicating with you?
1. For example:
The ambience of the situation produced a calming effect on my
inter man.
a. This is
English, but do you have any idea what I said or what I meant by the
statement?
b. It may
sound good, but I don't understand it.
2. When we
witness for Jesus, we must speak the language of the unbeliever.
C. Prophecy which is
proclaiming or teaching the Word must done in the language of
the believers so that they my be enlighten,
encouraged and built up.
1. Any gift used
for selfish reasons will be ineffective.
2. Every gift of
God must be used with love for the brethren.
V:23. " So if
the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and
some who do not
understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you
are out of your
mind?"
A. We are all in the
body of Christ and must be unified with the Word of God in a
language we can
all understand.
1. God did not
gives us gifts to display as some trophy we have won, but to use
them in love so
that body is built up.
2. As an example,
during one of our revivals, a visiting Pastor brought his ministers
with him who
prayed in some unknown language (tongue).
a. After the
message people come up to the altar for prayer.
b. The
visiting Pastor's ministers came and laid hands on us and prayed in this
unknown
language.
c. I had no
idea what they were saying, so I was not enlighten, uplifted or
encouraged.
d. I didn't
know if they were praying for me or against me.
e. Since I
didn't know the language, I was not sure they were praying to my
Jesus.
f. They did
not bring an interpreter, so they disregarded God's command. V:28
B. God makes His Word
plain to us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
1. The Holy
Spirit interprets the Word of God as we study.
V:24,25 " But if an unbeliever or someone who
does not understand comes in while
everybody is
prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be
judged by all, and
the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and
worship God,
exclaiming, "God is really among you!"
A. The better gift
is to teach the Word in the common language of the people.
1. An unbeliever
will not be impressed of convicted by our gift of language
that he does understand.
2. Love is the
key that should guide our use of gifts.
B. Preaching the
Word is for unbelievers.
1. Teaching the
Word is for believers,
2. Preaching
gets us into the Church.
3. Teaching
keeps us growing in the Church.
V:26. " What then shall we say, brothers? When you come
together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of
instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the
strengthening of the church."
A. We must keep our
focus on the purpose of teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
1. Jesus laid
down His life to save the souls of all sinners.
2. The believers
mission is given in the great commission Jesus gave His disciples.
Matthew
28:19-20
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded
you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
B. If we teach in an unknown language that people can't
understand, are we fulfilling
the great commission ?
1. Do we edify
ourselves when we display our gifts for the purpose of show
when we speak
in a language that is uncommon to the church.
2. Our job at all
times is to speak a plain language so that the body is built up.
Rev. M. Mitchell
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