Bringing a Habitat for Humanity Mentality to Church - 1 Corinthians 14:1-25

Sermon Series: Confused?

I want you to start off this morning by thinking about Habitat for Humanity. What does Habitat for Humanity do? They build houses. And who, primarily, do they depend upon to get those houses built? Most of the actual physical labor of building the houses is done by volunteers. Perhaps some of you have actually volunteered time working on a habitat for humanity house. But even if you have not, most of us understand the concept – an individual (or team of individuals) voluntarily gives of his time and energy to build something up for the good of another individual. An individual works to build up a physical house for another individual or family to live in and enjoy.

Now I want you to think about the mentality of an individual who signs up to help work on a Habitat House for a day or for a weekend. When they get up on the day they are scheduled to work, are they thinking about all the ways that participating in a Habitat for Humanity project is going to benefit them? Are they thinking about how others can serve their needs while they are on site? Are they thinking about what they are going to gain as a result of their participation? Probably not. I would imagine that most individuals wake up thinking about what they are going to do that day to help build up another individual or family as they labor to physically build a home for them. The individual probably understands that the work of the volunteers won’t all be the same - some will do plumbing, some will do brick work, some will do electrical work, and some may simply measure and mark to make cutting and nailing go quicker and easier. If he has expertise in a certain area of construction, then he is probably thinking about how he can use his expertise as a volunteer.  On the other hand, he may have little to no experience in construction and no idea what he can do to help, and yet he will simply go with a willingness to be used however he may be needed. That’s a pretty cool mentality for starting your day – the mentality that says, “Today I am going to serve others to help encourage them by physically laboring to build up a home for them.”

Unfortunately, that’s a mentality that very few of us start our days with. Most of us probably start each day with a very self-centered mentality. Now please hear me well on this - I am not attempting to be judgmental. What I am trying to do is make an honest observation about the way that our culture has conditioned many of us. You see, we live in a culture that teaches us to be consumers. We are conditioned to ask questions like, “Where can I get the most for my money?” “What is the most enjoyable activity that I can participate in this weekend?” “Where can I get the best education?” “What job is going to provide me with the best pay and the best benefits?” “What brand of clothing is trendy?” “What kind of phone is cool?” Advertisers and marketers have known for a long time that people are typically great lovers of themselves and that if they can get us to focus on our own wants and desires they can convince us to spend out money on their products. So we are constantly being hammered with television commercials, radio ads, and email and Facebook advertisements trying to get us to think about ourselves and what we think we might want or need. They want us to shop at their stores, attend their schools, eat at their restaurants, etc. because they offer that which they claim will satisfy us and delight our hearts more than all the other places.

And if this is how we are taught to think about the stores we shop at, the schools we attend, the jobs we take, and the restaurants we eat at, then it seems logical that this would be the way we think about the church we attend. As a result many of us wake up on Sunday mornings and prepare to attend church asking the question, “What is in this for me?” And for some of us the answer is knowledge, for some it’s fellowship, for some it’s moral achievement, and for some it might be the potential of acquiring a spouse. But is that the way we are to think about church? Are we supposed to approach church with a consumerist mindset? In chapter 12 Paul began to address the misuse and abuse of some in the church at Corinth regarding their use of the spiritual gift of tongues in the church. In chapter 12 Paul corrected their misunderstanding, reminding the Corinthians that God never intended for there to be uniformity in the local church. In order for the church to be effective in carrying out God’s mission and helping one another to become more like Jesus there had to be a variety of manifestations of the Spirit within the church. So the variety of manifestations of the Spirit present in one church wasn’t an accident, nor was it a sign of spiritual immaturity within the church – it was both God’s design and God’s working. God had designed that both the church collectively as well as the individuals of the church would be built up by a variety of manifestations of the Spirit. Then Paul interrupted the argument that he was making about the misuse and abuse of the gifts of tongues within the church in order to speak to the church at Corinth about the context in which their manifestations of the Spirit were to be used. Paul wrote that while the individuals who made up the church of Corinth may have possessed knowledge and may have had the ability to speak in tongues, their lives were not characterized by love. Paul reminded them that to possess manifestations of the Spirit without also possessing love was of no benefit. God was a God of love (see 1 John 4:16), which meant that His Spirit which was residing in the hearts and lives of those who had placed their faith in Jesus was also characterized by love. And if His Spirit was truly residing in them then their lives had to be first and foremost characterized not by knowledge or speaking in tongues, but by unconditional and sacrificial love. The lives of many in the church at Corinth had not demonstrated this love though. Instead they had been characterized by things like envy, arrogance, and insisting on their own ways. So having encouraged the individuals who made up the church at Corinth to live out their lives manifesting God's Spirit of love, Paul resumed his argument in chapter 14 by adding clarity to one way in which God's love was to be manifested in their corporate times of worship.

Verse 1 of chapter 14 begins with a command to all who were a part of the church at Corinth, “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” This was an important command for the church at Corinth (as it is for our present day churches). Paul’s command was given in the present tense, which in the Greek communicated an on-going action. In other words, those who made up the church at Corinth weren’t to be pursuing love only on this particular occasion, Paul was giving them a command to always be pursuing love. Some who were a part of the church at Corinth had not been doing that. They had been seeking their own interests and loving themselves (being boastful and arrogant). But Paul was not giving them a command to always be loving themselves – he began chapter 14 by commanding them to love one another.

Allow me to insert an additional note here. While this was Paul’s command to those who made up the church of Corinth, this is also God’s inspired word to all of His people. So don’t skim over this command as if it has no significance for either you or me because we are not a part of the church of Corinth. Rather, understand that this is God’s word to all of those who are believers in Christ. We all must be continually pursuing love for God and for others and continually striving to put that love on display in our lives.

In addition to continually pursuing love, Paul also commanded those who made up the church at Corinth to “earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” They weren’t to desire one spiritual gift (i.e. the gift of tongues) – rather Paul commanded them to earnestly desire all of the manifestations of the Spirit. As we have already seen in chapter 12, all of the manifestations of the Spirit had important roles to play. However, within the context of public worship, it was particularly the manifestations of the Spirit that were intelligible which were useful for building up the others who were a part of the church. So as we continue to work our way through chapter 14 it will be important for us to note that Paul’s emphasis is not going to be on prophecy as much as it is on intelligibility within the public worship time. And with that in mind, it is best for us to understand Paul’s on-going use of prophecy in chapter 14 as an example of those gifts which were intelligible and useful for communicating clearly to all who made up the church. Let’s move on now to look at verses 2-7.

“For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.” In these verses Paul drew out some of the differences between speaking in tongues and the intelligible gifts of the Spirit. Now we have to be careful here not to carry into this chapter presuppositions that we might already have. It is important to point out first of all that Paul doesn’t bash the gift of tongues. Paul actually says some pretty amazing things about the gift of tongues. One who speaks in tongues is speaking to God; one who speaks in tongues is uttering things ‘of’ God and ‘to’ God that are true and are at the same time mysteries because they are unintelligible to the one speaking (and any who might hear him); and one who speaks in tongues builds up himself. Those aren’t bad things that Paul was condemning - it is just a manifestation of the Spirit that is not helpful for the building up of others. On the other hand, when an individual spoke with an intelligible gift (such as the gift of prophesy) he was speaking to others in a way which they understood. As a result his words could become a source of upbuilding, encouragement, and consolation to those who heard him.

Earlier in his letter Paul had written, “This ‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up” (8:1). In 14:1 Paul had commanded them to pursue love. If ‘love’ builds up (according to 8:1), and they were to pursue ‘love,’ then they needed to be striving to build others up. Additionally, as they were pursuing love they were also to be earnestly desiring the spiritual gifts – but if they were going to do that while also loving others well (which meant building others up) they would need to desire the spiritual gifts that would build others up. And Paul wrote in these verses that it was the intelligible gifts which were good for upbuilding, encouragement, and consolation to others. If we are paying close attention it is going to be impossible to miss the value that Paul placed in this chapter (and even in these particular verses) on the building up of the church. In verse 4 he wrote, “the one who prophesies builds up the church” and in verse 5 he wrote, “so that the church may be built up.” Paul was exhorting the church to see greater value in the intelligible gifts of the Spirit because they were the ones that could be used to love others, in that when used in their public worship services they were useful for building others up. This is also why Paul ended chapter 12 with the words, “but earnestly desire the higher gifts” (vs. 31). The “higher gifts” for Paul were the manifestations of the Spirit which were intelligible because they were useful for building up brothers and sisters in Christ. Verse 5 helps us to understand that Paul did not see a problem with the gift of tongues – in fact he said that he wanted everyone to have the ability to speak in tongues. But even more than wanting them to have the ability to speak in tongues Paul wanted them to possess an intelligible gift so that their gifts could be used to build up others in love.

In the verses that follow it continued to be clear that Paul placed a high value on the church and on the significance of the public worship time. He wouldn’t argue that personal growth through personal Bible study and prayer weren’t important to an individual’s spiritual growth, but he would make the case that the public worship time just wasn’t about that. As one commentator wrote, “the edifying of oneself is not a bad thing; it simply is not the point of gathered worship.” When the church at Corinth gathered together (and when our modern day churches gather together) the emphasis had to be on the building up of others.

In verses 6-12 Paul sought to further emphasize the need for intelligibility in the public gatherings of the church at Corinth. He began by asking them the question, “If I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?” His point was that while many of them so highly valued the gift of tongues, if he were to spend time with them as a church and were to only speak in tongues, then his time with them would not benefit them at all. The only way that his time with them would be beneficial to them was if they were able to hear an intelligible word from him. He then built on his point with a couple of illustrations. Instruments have to play distinct and recognizable notes if one was to be able to identify the song being played. If you have ever heard an orchestra playing a piece together it can be a very moving experience. But the sound they create when playing a piece of orchestration together is vastly different from the sound you hear when each of the musicians is tuning their instrument and practicing different parts just prior to the concert. Then the sound they create is a chaotic mess. Likewise, Paul wrote that the watchman keeping watch over a city would have to play a discernible battle cry on the bugle if an enemy was approaching. Otherwise the men of the city and the soldiers would not know to take up arms and prepare to defend the city. The third illustration he used dealt with the speaking of different languages. In that illustration Paul pointed out that each language has a meaning, and those who speak the language know its meaning. But the meaning is lost upon those who do not know the language because the language does not make sense to them. Paul used these illustrations to make his point that if one spoke in tongues (without an interpretation) then no one would be able to understand what he was saying. So Paul challenged them in verse 12, “So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church."

Paul’s emphasis in chapter 14 was becoming clearer and clearer. First, public worship gatherings have a purpose of building up the church. Second, as those who have the Spirit of God dwelling in us, one of our main objectives should be to love others! Loving others consists of building others up and helping them grow to be more like Christ. So we ought to be asking God to give to us manifestations of the Spirit that He can use to help those who are a part of our church to grow. Are you praying that right now? When you come to times of public worship are you asking God how He can use you to help others grow? Is it your desire that God would use you in the life of another on Sunday morning – or are you asking what it is that you are going to get from the church and how you are going to be served?

In verses 13-19 Paul just continued to build on the need for intelligibility during public worship times. One distinction worth noting is that he does not mention ‘prophecy’ specifically in these verses. This is further evidence that Paul’s concern wasn’t for prophecy instead of tongues, but rather for intelligibility during the public times of worship. In fact, in verse 13, Paul seems to make an allowance for tongues as long as it can be interpreted and others built up by it. Still, the emphasis in these verses was intelligibility and the building up of the church. In these particular verses he spoke of the inability of prayer and praise to build up others in the church if the prayer and praise were not discernible. Verse 14 is an interesting one. In it Paul wrote, “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful.” From this verse we can discern that Paul didn’t think that intelligibility was necessary for an individual’s personal benefit. One praying in a tongue could benefit personally from drawing close to God in prayer and praise, even if he or she did not understand what he or she was saying. But that wasn’t true corporately as Paul articulated in verses 15-17. The church was not built up by another individual drawing close to God through prayer and praise in tongues. So Paul said that those who made up the church, during their public worship times, should resolve to pray and praise with their minds (i.e. intelligible words). Then Paul threw in some very surprising words in verses 18-19, “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.” In verse 18 the reader discovered that Paul, himself, possessed the spiritual manifestation of speaking in tongues. In fact, Paul actually believed that he spoke in tongues more than any of those in the church of Corinth who possessed that spiritual manifestation. But while he possessed that gift, he also said that in church he would rather speak just five intelligible words which would build others up than he would an infinite amount of words that would benefit him, but not others. In Greek, the word for “ten thousand” was the largest number. It didn’t always mean a literal ten thousand, but was often used the same way that we use the word infinity.

I don’t know that we fully grasp what Paul was getting at in verse 19. He had earlier taught that speaking in tongues was beneficial to the one who possessed the gift because it drew that individual close to God in prayer and praise (even if that individual did not understand what he was saying). So to speak an infinite number of words in tongues would be to personally draw near to God in prayer and praise for a long and extended amount of time. And yet Paul said that during corporate worship his preference would be to speak just five intelligible words because that would be of greater benefit to those who made up the church. That is an amazing statement! That is a statement from one who truly loves others and values the church as a whole! There is nothing self-centered in that statement. Paul’s love for the church came out in tremendous fashion when he said that in times of public worship he wanted God to use him – even if it was just a little (i.e. five words) – to build up others, not himself. Again, we have to ask ourselves the question, “Do we love those who make up our church in this way? Would we prefer that in our public worship times God use us just a little to build up others or would we prefer that God personally draw us close to Himself for longer, extended periods of time?”

Intelligible words were important for the building up of other believers in Christ during times of public worship, but Paul also taught in verses 20-25 that they were important for the non-believers in Christ who might be attending the worship services as well. In verse 20 Paul encouraged the church at Corinth to do a better job of thinking through these issues. Many of the mistakes which they were making were the result of them not thinking well through certain issues. So Paul encouraged them, “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.” Many in the church at Corinth had valued manifestations of the Spirit over love for one another. Paul had argued in chapter 13 that love was of much greater significance. Many in the church at Corinth also thought that speaking in tongues was to be highly valued in their public worship gatherings, but Paul had argued that it was not because it failed to build up other believers and failed to help lead non-believers to faith in Jesus. And while Paul’s arguments up to this point have been fairly simple to understand, in verses 21-25 it gets a little more difficult. In verse 21 Paul remembers back to something that the prophet Isaiah had written hundreds of years earlier, “In the Law it is written, ‘By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.’” In the context of Isaiah 28 God was declaring that He was going to use foreigners (i.e. individuals who spoke a different language) to speak to sinful Israel, and yet Israel still would not repent of their sin and turn back to Him. That context is important for the right application of this verse to Paul’s current context. Let’s look at the following verses to understand why. Verse 22 said, “Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers.” The understanding of this verse really comes down to understanding the Greek word translated in this verse as ‘for.’ It isn’t the usual Greek word for “for” (i.e. gar) but another word (i.e. eis) which is more often translated into the English words “into,” “to,” or “unto.” The idea which this word is communicating in this context is that of “resulting in.” So let’s look again at verse 22 and try to articulate the meaning of the verse more than a literal translation to help us with our understanding – “Thus tongues are a sign not unto (i.e. resulting in) believers but unto (i.e. resulting in) unbelievers, while prophecy (i.e. intelligible language) is a sign not unto (i.e. resulting in) unbelievers but unto (i.e. resulting in) believers.” Does that make more sense now? What Paul was beginning to articulate is that God uses intelligible language to communicate the Gospel and to draw unbelievers to repentance and faith. God doesn’t use unintelligible language to draw others to repentance and faith in Him. God spoke to Israel through foreigners speaking in strange tongues but they did not repent and turn back to God. And so there is no reason for believers in Christ to believe that filling their public worship times with speaking in tongues will draw unbelievers to repentance and faith. In fact Paul said in verse 23, “If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?” Paul said just try to have a worship service which consists of nothing but strange tongues no one has ever heard and which no one understands. Then bring some in who aren’t believers in Christ. Paul said, they aren’t going to respond by saying, “Wow!!! These people are clearly filled with the Spirit of God! And furthermore, I’m beginning to understand that I am a sinner and that I need to repent of my sin and place my faith in Jesus!” No! Paul said they are going to look at all of you and say, “These people are crazy!” On the other hand Paul said in verses 24-25, “But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.” God uses intelligible words to speak into the hearts of individuals. God uses intelligible words to convict people of their sin, to expose the secrets of their hearts, and to draw them to repentance and faith. It is through the intelligible words that we declare that people recognize the presence of God among us, because it is through our intelligible words that God speaks into hearts revealing their sin and their need for a Savior. It is not unintelligible words, but intelligible ones that God uses to bring sinners to faith in Christ.

In the church today we still see evidence that we don’t always think clearly through things. We say things or recite verses like John 13:34-45 which says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Or 1 John 4:7-8, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” And yet most of us still live our lives only really loving ourselves and loving others only when it is convenient or easy. If we would think through these words and hear Jesus saying to love others just as He has loved us we would know that He calls us to costly, sacrificial love. But we don’t really give much thought to the nature of our love and choose to love cheaply.

So let’s conclude our examination of the text this week with this question, “What was your reason for coming to church today?” Maybe some of you came this morning solely because you were hoping to continue to grow in your understanding of the Bible and felt like you could learn something as we continue to study the NT book of 1 Corinthians. Maybe some of you came this morning solely because you enjoy being around other believers in Christ. Maybe some of you came this morning solely because you feel isolated at work, in your neighborhood, or at school, and the church is a place where you feel like you fit in because there are other people who believe like you do. Maybe some of you came this morning solely because you grew up being told that “good Christians” have to go to church, so you felt obligated to come. Or maybe some of you came this morning for some other reason: you have a problem that you are looking for an answer to; there is a single guy or girl that attends church that you are hoping to get to know better; etc. I’m not sure what your reason for coming to church today was, but I would imagine that when many of us got up this morning and decided to attend church that some kind of “self interest” was considered. But “self-interest” and personal growth can’t be the primary reason for being a part of corporate worship. As one commentator articulated it he wrote, “The point of everything in corporate worship is not personal experience in the Spirit, but building up the church itself . . . The building up of the community is the basic reason for corporate settings of worship; they should probably not be turned into a corporate gathering for a thousand individual experiences of worship.” We are called to love! Love means building others up! So when we come together for corporate worship we need to strive to bring a Habitat for Humanity mentality to our public worship times. We need to come asking, “God, how will you use me today – in this service – to build up my brothers and sisters in Christ?” Maybe you’ll come knowing the manifestation of the Spirit that God has given to you and you’ll contribute what seems like much. Maybe you’ll come not really knowing how God will use you but you’ll come with a willingness to be used. And perhaps all you’ll have to contribute is ten small words to a visitor like, “I’m glad you’re here today. It’s good to see you.” But God can use those words and those demonstrations of love to reflect His glory and His love, and to encourage their hearts. We have to leave the consumerist mindset behind when it comes to being a part of corporate worship – we have to stop looking primariely at what’s cool, what’s trendy, and how much we can be entertained – and choose to approach our corporate worship times with a mentality of serving others.