SPIRITUAL GIFTS - VII

Various Passages
Bob Bonner
March 10, 1996

The wise nineteenth-century preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon once observed, "It is not likely we should all see eye to eye. You cannot make a dozen watches all tick to the same time, much less make a dozen men all think the same thoughts."

This is particularly true as it regards the subject of supernatural spiritual sign gifts. You may not see eye to eye with a friend or relative concerning these gifts, but still you are both members of Christ's body, brothers and sisters in the faith. [HE GAVE GIFTS, Swindoll, p.59]

Next week we will return to our study of the book of Romans, but at this point, I'd like to point out an interesting observation from Romans 12. As you know, if you have been here for the last two months, we have taken a hiatus from our study of the book of Romans at 12:6-8. Those verses speak about spiritual gifts and since many of you have never heard about spiritual gifts, it was necessary to expose you to them and why they are so important and to encourage you to discover and use your gifts. 

Yet, as we have noted before, the discussions surrounding spiritual gifts have been in the past most often divisive in churches. These discussions have been volatile in nature and left one group feeling more elitist or spiritual than the other. I won't be surprised someday when we all meet up with the Apostle Paul to find out that he realized the potential for confusion and conflict over this subject of spiritual gifts and that's why he may have written what he did just following these verses on gifts, in Romans 12:9-18. These verses balance out the discussion on gifts relative to our relationships with each other in the church. 

Romans 12:9-18 instruct us as to how to get along with each other. This morning, I would simply like to begin by reading these verses, so as to establish what our loving attitudes are to be toward each other, even in those areas in which we find that we don't agree. Then next week we will come back and look more closely at these verses. So, please read along with me, as I read these verses, paying particular attention to the attitudes you are to have toward someone with whom you may have a difference of opinion.

Paul writes, "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men."

It is with this desire, "to be at peace with all men" or "all persons" that I offer up to you and to the Lord this morning, this final message on gifts. It is my desire, as we look at the gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues, to find a place of middle ground where we can all agree and find room for some various interpretations concerning this subject. 

It will not be my point this morning, to teach what my exact convictions are concerning this subject, but to present a little understanding of this subject from the two predominantly different views of this gifts, both of which intellectually and with integrity be ascribed to. Maybe at a later date, when I preach through 1 Corinthians, I will expose you to just one side of this argument, what I understand was Paul's intent of chapters 12-14. 

But for now, I do not believe that God wants us to choose sides and define with whom we will fellowship over our understanding versus their understanding of these gifts. For me, I do not struggle with fellowshipping with others who view these gifts differently than I do. To reject them or to refuse to worship with them because they have reached different conclusions in this area would be wrong and would violate what we just read about not being "haughty in mind," refusing to "cling to what is good" and "showing preference to one another". I believe that God is teaching us to trust and respect one another's views which are different in some of these non-essential areas. He is teaching us to accept one another and that we don't need to all agree exactly here in order to be used by God to reach this community for Jesus Christ. 

Preparing this message has been a very real struggle for me. To be true to what I believe and to be fair and to try to present without criticism what others believe.  Some of you may think when we are finished that I was too soft. Others may think that I am equivocating. If so, then at this point, I will remind you of what I said in the very beginning of this series: it was not my purpose in this series to teach you everything there is to know about spiritual gifts, but merely to introduce you to the subject and to encourage you, with an open mind to research more about spiritual gifts on your own. For now, I am trying to be as honest and fair as possible to set a foundation upon which you can seek the Lord's leading as you search to know and use your spiritual gifts to His honor and glory.

Last week we looked at what are sign gifts, what was their purpose and to whom they were directed. In addition we looked at two of the four sign gifts. We looked at the supernatural gift of "effecting miracles" and the supernatural spiritual "gifts of healing". This morning, we want to look at the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues and the interpretation of those tongues. And then, to close this morning, we want to look at what you can do to discover with what giftings the Lord has blessed you.

Let's begin with the gift of tongues. We want to try to understand what it is and learn just a little as to how it was intended to function in the life of the body.

There are predominantly three schools of thought concerning what the gift of tongues is and how it is to be used. 

Some teach that "tongues" is simply the ability to speak different known languages, without ever having been trained, educated or exposed to those languages.

Others say that tongues are a special mysterious spiritual prayer language which has no reference whatsoever to an earthly language. They believe it to be a language whereby one's spirit speaks to God's spirit in mysteries that even the one praying in this spiritual prayer language does not understand.

Some teach that tongues actually refers to both: there was one kind of spiritual gift of tongues spoken in Acts 2 and another kind of spiritual gift of tongues referred to in I Corinthians 14:1-2,14.

These are the three predominant views. What's interesting is that the more I speak with those who hold differing views than I do, the more I discover that those who hold to what was once held as a Pentecostal view, don't fully agree with each other as to the limits or understanding of these gifts. So, to gain a consensus on this has been difficult to say the least.

So, what does the scripture say about this gift? Which, if any of these views, is correct? Is there anything that the scripture clearly teaches to which we can all agree or give room for various interpretations? Yes, there is quite a bit to which we can all agree. And, even as the charismatic theologians progress in their study of these gifts, they are coming up with restrictions to the use and operation of these gifts that previously were never taught in those circles, but are now being done so. We will look at some of those as well.

The church's first experience with the miracle of tongues came at the birth of the church. The scene was Jerusalem, following the mournful darkness that enshrouded Christ's trials and His crucifixion, followed by His glorious resurrection and later His awesome ascension into heaven. Left in the wake of these events were Jesus' followers, who were given the enormous task of being his witnesses even to the remotest part of the earth. But they were not alone or ill equipped. God had a plan and would shortly equip them with everything they needed by way of various spiritual gifts. He told them not to do anything until the Holy Spirit came and then He would lead and direct their ministries.

Just a few days later, the Jewish holiday of Pentecost arrived. Jews from all over the world, speaking a smorgasbord of languages, had gathered together to celebrate this feast. The city hummed with the excitement and activity of millions of people.

In the midst of it all, was a certain house that had an upstairs room. In the quiet of that room, with the hubbub of the city going on all around them, the remnant of Christ's followers met together to pray and wait for the promised Holy Spirit to come. It was the ideal moment---with the world at their door---the perfect ingredients for the rapid dissemination of the gospel from Jerusalem to the uttermost part of the earth. God looked at His waiting people and said, "Now!". Look with me as I read about this unique occasion in Acts 2:2. Luke writes, "And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because they were each one hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and marveled, saying, "Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? "And how is it that we each hear {them} in our own language to which we were born? "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs-- we hear them in our {own} tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God."

Without ever having learned a foreign language, these followers of Jesus suddenly were given the ability to speak a foreign language to those of that foreign language, so that the Jewish foreigners (whether born Jews or Jewish proselytes) could hear the gospel. These disciples left the upper room, went out into the cosmopolitan streets and starting preaching about Jesus to the Jewish foreigners in their own language. They didn't just start preaching Parthinian, or Arabic or Cretian into the open air with the hope that some Parthinian or Arab or Cretan would hear them. They spoke knowing full well that there were Parthian there. They deliberately and directly spoke to them so that they would hear the gospel. These "tongues" were known languages that everybody could understand or have an interpreter aid them in understanding.

Hence, from this, and the other examples of "speaking in tongues" in the book of Acts, which is, by the way, the only place that we have living examples of tongues being practiced verses a person's explanation of what tongues might be, we can make this observation about tongues. "Tongues is the ability to speak in a known language and dialect that has never been studied or learned, with the goal of rapidly disseminating the will of God."

Here, it might be good to remind you of what we saw last week, that according to Paul teaching in 1 Corinthians 14:20-21, this gift is called a sign gift because it, like other sign gifts, were signs to convince the Old Testament Jewish believers that what they were witnessing was not only from God and could be trusted, but it also was in fulfillment of the judgment God prophesied in Isaiah 28:11 against the nation of Israel. Namely, that for a temporary period of time, God would do something never done before in the history of Israel, and that was that he would put the nation of Israel up on the shelf, so to speak, because of their turning their backs upon God, and He would use another instrument to preach the gospel to the world. That instrument, for the first time, would be designed to not only be made of up gentiles, but would equally include and use gentiles or non-Jewish believers in Jesus. This instrument, the book of Ephesians teaches us is the mystery known as the church.

For a few decades after Pentecost, this gift remained a vital part of the church, but apparently, this aspect of the gift has faded from the scene. Is it permanently gone? I don't believe so, and here is why. According to 1 Corinthians 13, this gift will cease in its entirety one day. And that time will be, according to 13:10, when "the perfect comes." 

But what is "the perfect?"  The term "perfect" that is used here is the same term used in James 1:2, which refers to a finished state of completion or maturity. Some have said that "the perfect" refers to the completion or the finished state of the word of God. In other words, when the Bible was complete with the book of Revelation the gift of tongues would cease. And that argument makes some sense.

Others have said that "the perfect" refers to when Jesus, the perfect one, comes again. That too makes some sense. However, I, personally don't believe either of those views are correct, even though for a time I held both of them myself. The reason I no longer believe that either of those views are the correct interpretation of that term is that the context of chapter 13 does not encourage or support either of those subject matters. Chapter 13 does not talk about Christ second coming or the rapture; neither does it talk about the writing of the scriptures. To me, both of those views require reading something into the text to make the text understandable, rather than allowing the text to speak for itself and the context to determine what "the perfect" is. 

To me, the context of the entire chapter is the theme of love. Something that the Corinthians were not practicing even in the use of their spiritual gifts (not unlike much of the church in the past 20 years dealing with this issue). Instead, the Corinthians were each boasting of their individual importance and worth based upon their spiritual giftings. They were putting others down because they didn't have certain gifts. Some were claiming that they were more spiritual than others because they had the gift of tongues and others didn't. These are the very same things that our own past generation has faced. That's why Paul says in 13:1-3, "Look you guys, `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. 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. 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."

Love, not emotional sentimentality, but real love as described in the scripture, is the vehicle through which the gospel is to be spread. I believe that "the perfect" here in 1 Corinthians 13:10 refers to the coming of maturity of the believers in that they will unconditionally love others. But, according to Philippians 1:6, that state won't take place until we are with the Lord. Hence, until that happens, the gifts of speaking in tongues and interpreting tongues is said to continue. So, tongues, as described in Acts 2 is still potentially alive today, and is to be encouraged in its use if it is practiced within the guidelines that Paul lays out for us in 1 Corinthians 12-14.

What are some of those guidelines? Well, let's look at just three of them, found in 1 Corinthians 14:26-28.

Verse 26 reads, "What is {the outcome} then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification."

Bottom line, Paul says, that other than its purpose being a unique sign gift to the Jews, as we saw last week in verses 20-22, the gift of tongues, when used, is not to be used to parade someone's spirituality or to demonstrate someone's authority over somebody else, but it is to be used with the purpose of building up the saints. It is not something to be used for private edification or self-glorification, but something to be used to encourage others. For instance: the gift of tongues could be used for evangelism or to lead worship, to teach, to exhort, to give direction, to give leadership or wisdom. Before the scriptures were complete, the gift of tongues was an avenue through which God would communicate to others a new revelation. Like all the other gifts, its purpose was to be directed outward to the rest of the body.

A second guideline is given in verse 27a, which states, "If anyone speaks in a tongue, {it should be} by two or at the most three, and {each} in turn,..." Apparently, when the church gathered together for worship, people were spontaneously popping up and speaking their minds, using their gift of tongues, one right on top of each other. I'm not sure, but maybe people were trying to show their spirituality by using their gift, and it became a "can you top this" environment. I don't know for sure. But what was evident is that there was no order. No one checked in with those responsible to lead the worship and everybody was doing their thing, resulting in chaos. Hence, the guideline is that when this gift was to be expressed, it was to be used in an orderly fashion. People were not to just spontaneously do their thing. Paul re-emphasizes the importance of this in verses 39-40. He says, "Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues. But let all things be done properly and in an orderly manner." In other words, do not say people cannot use their gift of tongues at all, or ever, or call it a thing of Satan and never allow someone to use their gift. But instead, do it in a proper and orderly fashion.

So far, we see that these guidelines are very practical and make sense. So does the third guideline, found in verses 27b-28. Paul says,"...and let one interpret; but if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God." In other words, the gift of tongues is to be used only when there is someone with the gift of interpretation to interpret for those who don’t know the language. Furthermore, we can add here that the exercise of the gift of tongues was never something that was uncontrollable. The Spirit doesn't just come over someone, take control of their body and they are forced to speak. If that were true, Paul would never have told the person to keep silent without an interpreter. You don't just speak in tongues and hope that there is an interpreter around. If you don't know if there is an interpreter and in an orderly fashion with the leadership prepared the interpreter to interpret, one keeps his thoughts to himself and God.

While we are speaking about interpretation of tongues, we should probably give a definition of the gift, even though it is probably very obvious after reading these verses. The spiritual gift of interpretation of Tongues is the supernatural ability to translate or interpret a foreign language into the language of the listener, without ever having learned that foreign language. 

To be honest with you, as I understand those guidelines as spelled out in 1 Corinthians 14, I have not witnessed the use of this gift in my life time. That is not to say that I won't in the future, but I haven't yet. I have not been in a setting where unbelieving Jews are present, and along with them believers of a different native language who required someone to speak in their language if they were going to understand the message. I have been in bilingual services where someone has either grown up learning two languages or went to school to learn that language, but I have never witnessed someone who just suddenly by the spirit of God, was able to speak a new language that previously was unknown by them. Again, that doesn't mean I won't in the future, I just have not as of yet.

"But what about the tongues that Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 14:1-2, those ‘prayer tongues?’” Good question. I thought you would never ask?! Let's look at those verses. Paul writes, "Pursue love, [that has been his message throughout this gifts conflict that has hit the church] Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual {gifts,} but especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God; for no one understands, but in {his} spirit he speaks mysteries." Verse 4, "One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church." 

From the start, one cannot help but notice that there is something very different here concerning tongues and what Paul has been previously talking about. This is where most of the controversy with tongues over the years has been focused. Primarily speaking, Paul states that this person who speaks in this kind of tongue does not speak to people, it is not for the purpose of building up others, it is not for speaking to men, "but to God." What does one call it when we as individuals speak to God? We call it prayer.

In discussing this with Dennis Webber, I asked him, "Dennis, do you call this a spiritual gift in the same sense as the other gifts that Paul has mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12? He said no, because those giftings were something that were used to build up the body. So, then I asked him, do you see this as a legitimate spiritual happening and if so what is it and what would you call it? 

What he explained to me, from his theological perspective, was first, this is more of a "blessing" from God that enhances one's own personal worship of the Lord than it is a spiritual gift. It involves no one else, nor does it require an interpreter. He further described it as something that his spirit, apart from his mind, does. In other words, it is a mystery to him as to what he is actually communicating to God, but he is communicating mysteries to God's spirit. This goes along with his understanding of verse 14 in which Paul states, "For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful." 

Whether you or I agree with this interpretation of that verse is not the issue here today. The issue is that it is a reasonable, logical and legitimate interpretation of that verse. Hence, I accept and will honor Dennis and those who hold that view, even though at this point in my trying to understand these verses, that is not my understanding of that verse. I see it differently in light of its historical and literary context.

Hence, Dennis and other brothers and sisters in Christ believe that praying in tongues is a legitimate practice, but it is not a spiritual gifting as defined by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12. Now, I suspect that there may be other charismatic believers who don't fully agree with Dennis or you if you share Dennis' view, but that is not the point. The point is, this is a legitimate interpretation of this verse, whether or not it matches your interpretation or mine. And furthermore, if you pray in tongues and it enhances your worship of the Lord, you won't find me belittling you. But just like in other areas of controversy, I would encourage you to use wisdom, common sense and sensitivity to those others around you as to when and where you practice this form of personal worship. Don't demand that others do what you do or don't do. If, like in any other practice of worship, brings confusion or distraction to someone else's worship, then as Paul encouraged us elsewhere, keep silent but pray to yourself.

Remember the point behind 1 Corinthians 13. The true test of our Christianity is not tongues or whether or not we pray in tongues. The true test of our Christianity is whether we can love others when it is difficult. And for many in the past, loving is most difficult when it comes to the controversial issues, like tongues. Choosing to love others in spite of our differences is the key to a life-giving church. 

With our remaining time this morning, I want to help those of you who are still wondering about what your supernatural gifts are. Here are several suggestions:

If this is your first exposure to the subject of spiritual gifts, don't stop here, even if you know what your gifts are. Keep on studying what the scriptures say about gifts. Even if you know what your gifts are, the Lord may show you other ways in which your gifts can be used.

Secondly, ask God to reveal to you what your gifts are and how He would have you to use them.

Listen to what someone else wrote concerning this. He said, "Since your spiritual gift is the key channel through which the love of Christ in you will flow through you to others, the Holy Spirit will burden your heart to love people according to your gifts. For example, you may walk into a crowded class on Sunday morning, and you may be overwhelmed with a sense that these people are like sheep without a shepherd and need to be taught well (pastor/teacher), or you may have a keen eye out for those on the periphery of the group who seem to be hurting or lonely (mercy), or you may be looking immediately for any non-believers or new people to the group (evangelist), or you may feel like the meeting needs to be run more efficiently because everyone seems to be wasting time (leadership), or you may look at how tired and discouraged people look and want to encourage them (exhortation), and so forth. In thinking and praying through this, picture yourself entering a room of people, and ask God to show you how you are burdened to love them." [SPIRITUAL GIFTS, Dorman Followwill, p.18]

Allow me to illustrate the third suggestion, before I even give it to you. As some of you know, in my youth I was a competitive swimmer, but not always. I didn't just show up at a pool one day and say to the coach, "Coach Stewart, I'm a back-stroker and a freestyle sprinter." I didn't have a clue as to what my abilities were or even if I had any. All I knew was that I liked the water and swimming, so I thought I would give it a try. The first day, the coach told all of us novices to jump in the pool. Then he proceeded to tell us to race to the other end, doing a particular stroke. First, it was free style. "No problem," I thought, and took off down the pool. Then he said, "Okay, breast stroke." "Sure", I figured anybody could do that. But at the end of 25 yards, I noticed that all though I could do the stroke, I wasn't too good at it. Then, the coach said, "Do the butterfly." "The butterfly? What was that?" I had never seen the butterfly and neither had some other guys. So, the coach had an Olympic swimmer demonstrate it for us. I thought, Wow! That looks graceful and fun. I can do that. So when the coach blew the whistle, I took off and almost drowned! That was definitely not my stroke. But then, he came to the backstroke. When he said go, I was down the pool faster than everybody else, except the one Olympic contender that we had on our team, but still, I wasn't too far behind. Guess what my job was on the team from that point on? I was the official back-stroker for all the relays and individual races.

Here's the point. You will never uncover your spiritual gift by simply studying the scriptures or praying about it. You must get off the pool deck of life and into the pool and start trying out. Hence, be ready and willing to try out many different ministry opportunities. That will enable you to discover your gifts.

Fourth, have wiser believers who understand spiritual gifts observe your ministries of service to affirm your giftedness. Don't do this by yourself. I have known several men who have invested 4 years of study in seminary because they thought they had the gift of preaching and teaching, but no one ever critiqued them. They were encouraged to go to seminary and into the ministry simply because they loved the Lord and not many others around them did. Although that is important, that is not all there is to going into ministry or knowing your giftedness. If you truly have a spiritual gift, other spiritual leaders will recognize it as you attempt to use your gifts. Other Christians will tell you or others how their faith was encouraged because of your giftedness.

Finally, honestly assess what you love to do in the ministry. One way to do this is to use one of the many spiritual gifts surveys that are out today. They have several questions in them, and as you view your life and things that you seem to do well and like, these surveys will point out. Sometimes they are a very helpful instrument in giving you a clue as to what your gifts are not as well as are. I have had several copies of one such survey made up and sitting on the information table this morning. If you would like a copy of one, pick one up. If we happen to run out of them, please call the office and we will make up more. If you are married, please share one.

I am absolutely convinced that God wants you to know what your spiritual gift is more than you probably do. He is not in the business of playing hide or seek with your spiritual gift. If you desire to know what it is and to use it, seek Him out and He will show it to you. When you discover it, be faithful to persevere in using it.

Heavenly Father, you have placed in each believer in this room a precious spiritual gift. Help them to discover what it is and to use it confidently, knowing that it is Your Spirit that produces the results. Cause us to work in harmony with our gifts to build up the body of Christ. Forgive us for our jealousy toward others gifts and ministries. Forgive us for those times in the past that we have been critical of others views of the gifts that did not agree with ours. Lord, may your love be obvious to anyone who sees us working together for your names sake, regardless if we agree about the more controversial gifts. Lord, it is our ultimate goal in all that we do, including the using of our gifts to be faithful to you in call those around us to worship and follow Jesus Christ. Lord, when you come, may you not find one believer in this room sitting on his spiritual talent, refusing to sacrificially use his or her giftedness because they have never taken seriously your call of him or her to invest their time in using his\her giftedness for you. May we all hear from your lips, when that time comes, "Well done, though good and faithful servant." Amen.

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