Homerton Baptist Church
Morning Service (260308)

      • 1 Corinthians 14:13–25ESV

  • Hymn 194 - O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness

      • Psalm 80:8–13ESV

      • Hebrews 11:1ESV

  • Hymn 19a - THE HEAVENS DECLARE GOD'S GLORY

      • Ruth 2:14–23ESV

      • John 7:40–8:11ESV

      • Ruth 2ESV

  • Hymn 291 - Christ triumphant, ever reigning

      • 1 Corinthians 14:13–25ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 14:13–25ESV

  • Psalm 80:8–13 ESV
    8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. 9 You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land. 10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. 11 It sent out its branches to the sea and its shoots to the River. 12 Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? 13 The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.
    1 Corinthians 14:13–25 ESV
    13 Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. 15 What 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. 16 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? 17 For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. 18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue. 20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 21 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.” 22 Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. 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? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, 25 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.
    Introduction
    As Paul is teaching about how we should worship he has spoken of the supremacy of love. Love to God and to one another. God must be the supreme object of our worship. His love for us demands this. We have neither right nor justification to decide how we ought to worship. God directs us to how we must worship and we must always be obedient to him.
    Paul has dealt with a number of problems in the Corinthian church. In the section today he is challenging their understanding and maturity. They are acting like unthinking immature children.
    Slide

    1. Use Your Mind v13-19

    Slide

    a. Interpretation v13

    Slide
    1 Corinthians 14:13 ESV
    13 Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret.
    However, we should realize the setting that Paul describes is not the privacy of one’s house but a public worship service. In this setting, the spoken word must always be lucid and instructive; otherwise the speaker ought to remain silent. Kistemaker, S.
    1 Corinthians 14:28 ESV
    28 But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.
    The tongue-speaker usually has full control of his senses and thus is able to either begin or stop at any time. Neither the speaker nor the listener is edified by unintelligible speech. Kistemaker, S.
    Slide

    b. Spirit and Mind v14-15

    i. Praying

    1 Corinthians 14:14 ESV
    14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful.
    In private prayer, only the human spirit communicates with God. But Paul rejects such praying in public worship. He says that the mind is unproductive, because it does not edify others. Kistemaker, S. J.,
    How do the spirit and the mind function? The human mind, which has the capacity to think and understand, is intimately linked to the human spirit. When the Holy Spirit controls both the spirit and the mind, a person usually flourishes and prospers. But when the human spirit is not governed by the Holy Spirit, the mind remains spiritually idle and the result is sterility. Kistemaker, S. J.,
    The spirit and the mind must work together in the exercise of prayer to utter intelligible words. They must edify the church members who listen to these words. Thus, Paul urges the Corinthians to pray in a language that is known to everyone present in the worship service. He tells the Corinthians that both the spirit and the mind must pray effectively for the benefit of the church. Kistemaker, S. J.,
    Indeed, praying calls for an intense concentration of the mind: we praise God, confess our sins, thank him for blessings received, and humbly petition him to fill our needs. To pray without engaging one’s mind is useless, says Paul. Hence, speaking in tongues without the use of the mind results in a failure to communicate with those who listen. In verse 14, Paul clearly states that if the mind is unfruitful, there is no intelligibility, no understanding, and no edification. Kistemaker, S. J.,
    Slide

    ii. Praise v15

    1 Corinthians 14:15 ESV
    15 What 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.
    By writing the future tense in verse 15, Paul expresses his own will and determination, that is, “I shall certainly pray with my mind, and I shall indeed sing with my mind.” Among the aspects of worship (see v. 26) are both prayer and praise. The first one usually consists of petitions and the second one is the joyful response to blessings received. Kistemaker, S. J.,
    Paul deliberately places praise next to prayer. He reasons that for his spirit to pray effectively, he must use his mind. And when his spirit wants to sing joyful praises to God, Paul must do so with full understanding of the words and music. Kistemaker, S. J.,
    Matthew 6:5 ESV
    5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
    The setting obviously is a worship service during which the members of the congregation participate in prayer and in singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (see Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). When one sings praises to God, he or she should pay close attention to the words and the tune, or one’s singing may result in nonsense and dissonance. As the spirit and the mind work together in praying, so they ought to be in tandem when singing. Kistemaker, S. J.,
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    c. Understanding v16-17

    1 Corinthians 14:16–17 ESV
    16 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? 17 For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up.
    People cannot assent to what they do not understand, because when we assent to something it implies that we affirm it. Therefore, it is impossible to join in prayers uttered in an unknown tongue. Hodge, C.
    Such blind, emotional worship, if it can be called such, is far removed from the intelligent service that the apostle demands. Hodge, C. (
    The Scriptures recognize no unintelligent worship of God or any spiritual edification disconnected from the truth—whether that edification be sought by sounds or signs, whether by prayers or sacraments. Hodge, C.
    Slide

    d. Thanksgiving v18-19

    1 Corinthians 14:18–19 ESV
    18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
    The church is the place where God’s people worship, where they praise God communally, and where they hear the gospel. In church, they are edified through the teaching and preaching of God’s Word and are subsequently strengthened in their faith. Speaking in uninterpreted tongues does not contribute to the edification of the people and so Paul discourages the practice. Kistemaker, S. J
    Paul would rather speak five words teaching others the gospel of Christ than ten thousand words that are unintelligible to the Corinthians. In effect, Paul rules out the possibility that he will ever publicly speak in a tongue, especially in a worship service.
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    2. Be Mature v20-25

    1 Corinthians 14:20–25 ESV
    20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 21 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.” 22 Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. 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? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, 25 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.
    Slide

    a. Grow Up! v20

    Slide
    1 Corinthians 14:20 ESV
    20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
    “Do not be children in your thinking, but be babes in regard to evil.” The negative command comes first, which in the Greek shows that the Corinthians persistently demonstrated childish ways in their thinking. Some of them possibly flaunted their gift of tongues and demeaned others who lacked this gift. Paul now tells them to stop doing so and to act like adults. He undoubtedly has in mind the words God conveyed to Jeremiah, who wrote about the people of his day: Kistemaker, S. J
    Jeremiah 4:22 ESV
    22 “For my people are foolish; they know me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are ‘wise’—in doing evil! But how to do good they know not.”
    Slide
    The Corinthians were more interested in entertainment than in education. They preferred the spectacular of tongue-speaking to the specifics of doctrinal issues. Spiritually, they pretended to be adults but in performance they were children. Kistemaker, S. J
    Matthew 10:16 ESV
    16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
    Slide

    b. Strange Tongues v21-22

    Slide
    1 Corinthians 14:21–22 ESV
    21 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.” 22 Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers.
    Isaiah 28:10–11 ESV
    10 For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.” 11 For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the Lord will speak to this people,
    [of the 17 Old testament quotations in 1 Corinthians 6 are from Isaiah]
    a. Historical setting. Paul takes the words from Isaiah’s prophecy from the middle of a section that depicts Isaiah being ridiculed by intoxicated priests and prophets. These drunken clerics mock him by asking whether he is trying to explain his message to small children. They say that Isaiah’s message is, “Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule” (Isa. 28:10, 13). In Hebrew, these lines sound like baby talk: Kistemaker, S.
    The Israelites scorned Isaiah, who came to them with God’s word expressed in simple and clear Hebrew. Now God would come to them with Assyrian armed forces, whose soldiers would speak to them in a foreign language (contrast 2 Kings 18:26, where Assyrian officials addressed the people of Jerusalem in the Hebrew tongue). God pronounced a curse on them because of their unbelief. He told them that they would be exiled to Assyria, where they would hear unintelligible speech (compare Deut. 28:49; see also Isa. 33:19; Jer. 5:15). Nevertheless, they refused to believe his word—“they would not listen.”
    The Assyrian armies occupied portions of Judah, but they failed to conquer Jerusalem1. In 701 BC, under King Sennacherib, the Assyrians captured 46 of Judah’s fortified cities and laid siege to Jerusalem2—yet the city itself remained unconquered
    By tongues, however, we are not to understand the gift of tongues, but, as verse 21 requires, foreign languages—that is, languages unknown to the hearers. The meaning, therefore, is that when a people are disobedient, God sends them teachers whom they cannot understand; when they are obedient, he sends them prophets speaking their own language. This is the natural conclusion from the premises contained in verse 21. When the Hebrews were disobedient, God sent foreigners among them; when they were obedient, he sent them prophets. Hodge, C.
    Hence it follows that unintelligible teachers are for the unbelieving; those who can be understood are for the believing. Hodge, C
    Slide

    b. Tongues and Prophecy v23-25

    Slide
    1 Corinthians 14:23–25 ESV
    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? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, 25 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.
    Slide

    i. Judgement v23

    1 Corinthians 14:23 ESV
    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?
    Slide

    ii. Blessing v24

    1 Corinthians 14:24 ESV
    24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all,
    Slide

    iii. Conversion v25

    1 Corinthians 14:25 ESV
    25 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.
    Slide
    “And thus falling on his face he will worship God.” Here is a picture of complete submission to God Almighty: a prostrate sinner lying facedown before his God. This means that he now repudiates all other gods and acknowledges only Jesus as his sovereign Lord. Prostrate posture also depicts a person’s unworthiness when God himself is present (see 1 Kings 18:39). Kistemaker, S. J
    Conclusion
    In today’s confused world, faithful preaching of the Word is the indispensable prerequisite for providing competent direction. It is God’s Word that convicts people of sin, brings them to repentance, and leads them to a saving knowledge of Christ. Therefore, preachers and teachers of the Scriptures must declare God’s full revelation in Christ. They must boldly proclaim the doctrines of heaven and hell, forgiveness and condemnation, sin and salvation. And wherever the Scriptures are faithfully preached, worshipers can sincerely say: God is truly among us. Kistemaker, S. J.,

      • Psalm 80:8–13ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 14:13ESV

      • Matthew 6:5ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 14:20ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 14:21–22ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 14:23–25ESV

  • Hymn 732 - Lord, be my vision, supreme in my heart
  • Doxology 1145 Chorus

      • 2 Peter 3:18ESV

Homerton Baptist Church
pastor@homerton.church
0756 612 9969
http://www.homerton.church
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