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1 Corinthians 14: Spiritual Gifts and the Character of God
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We live in a world full of bombarding struggles—illness, pain, loss, and grief. Whether we're personally struggling or watching those around us suffer, our prayer lists keep growing. Beyond our individual lives, we see wars, climate change, and injustice in the world around us. Yet amidst all this chaos, God has a word of peace for us today.
We're working through 1 Corinthians as a church community. Today we're looking at 1 Corinthians 14, which focuses on two specific spiritual gifts: prophecy and tongues with interpretation. This is our fourth sermon on spiritual gifts in this series.
To clarify these gifts:
The church in Corinth was misusing these gifts. People were bringing tongues publicly with no interpretation, creating chaos. They were competing to look spiritual rather than edifying the church. Paul addresses this disorder in 1 Corinthians 14.
For God is not a God of disorder, but a God of peace.
This is the summary. This is the main message we need to hear today.
From the very beginning, God has been speaking order and peace into disorder. In Genesis, the earth was formless and empty, covered in darkness. But God spoke: "Let there be light." He spoke again, separating waters from land, creating order. God kept speaking until there was the Garden of Eden—a paradise of perfect peace where humanity and God lived in harmony.
But then humans sinned and rebelled. Chaos descended on the earth. As we read through Genesis, we see chaos spiraling worse and worse. Yet God is not a distant God.
God did not stay in the heavenly realms, abandoning creation to its mess. Instead, throughout the Bible, God speaks into the world's chaos again and again. God gave His people a law—a way of order and peace. When they followed God's way, there was peace. When they turned away, chaos erupted. This cycle repeats through the Old Testament.
But God never abandoned His people. Time and time again, He poured out His Spirit on prophets who spoke warnings and words of judgment—words that sound harsh but were meant to bring ultimate peace. They showed God's people where they were going wrong, so they could return to God and find peace.
Then came Jesus. God did not just speak into the chaos; God entered into it. Jesus is fully God, yet He chose to come to earth as a human being. He experienced the same chaos we experience—pain, grief, loss. And as He walked this earth, He spoke words of peace into the chaotic lives of those around Him. He brought healing. He brought order.
Jesus reflected God's nature perfectly. His disciples were terrified in a storm, surrounded by chaos—waves and wind threatening them. But Jesus spoke into the chaos: "Be still." And immediately, the storm was still. When God speaks into chaos, He brings order and peace.
God is still speaking into chaos today. All who have chosen to follow Jesus have been filled with His Holy Spirit and given spiritual gifts. These gifts are God's way of speaking peace and order into our lives and the lives of those around us.
When we speak words of prophecy, we have the incredible privilege of speaking words of peace and order into the chaos of those around us. This is not a small thing. When we gather together as Christ's body on a Sunday, we reflect the very nature of God to each other and to the world. This is why it mattered so much to Paul that the church in Corinth would use these gifts correctly.
Paul makes it clear: these gifts are for strengthening, encouraging, and comforting the church. They are for edifying—building up—the church, not for individual self-edification alone.
When we bring words of prophecy or tongues with interpretation, we build up the church. We speak words of order and peace into the chaotic lives of those around us. That is a privilege. That is an incredible gift.
The church in Corinth was getting this wrong. When someone brought a tongue without interpretation, it was meaningless—like playing a musical instrument without distinction between the notes. It blessed no one. Prophecy and tongues with interpretation are gifts, but only if they can be understood.
Paul wants us to speak in tongues frequently in our personal lives—it builds us up, edifies us, gives us an amazing experience with God. But when done publicly, interpretation is essential. Why? Because we don't gather for one person. We gather for us—for the church.
When Joe brought a tongue this morning, she felt built up. But we were all blessed when Pip interpreted it, because we could understand it and receive the encouragement.
Paul also addresses how these gifts function as signs. Tongues without interpretation can confirm unbelief—if people don't understand what's happening, it highlights their distance from God. But prophecy that can be understood can lead people to God. It's simple logic.
This is what we want: unbelievers coming into our gatherings, hearing words of prophecy and interpreted tongues, and concluding, "God is really among you." I know this happens. I know it's happened recently.
Paul writes:
I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding. I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding.
Being a Christian requires both. Does God want us to have supernatural, incredible spiritual encounters with Him? Yes. Absolutely. Yes. We see this throughout the Bible—Moses on the mountain, Jesus transfigured before His disciples. God wants us to have moments of tangible mountaintop encounters with Him.
But God also wants our feet firmly planted on the ground. God is not about escaping the chaos of this world. God chose to come and live on this earth. God is not about fleeing the chaos, but speaking into it. He wants the same for us.
We're not to stay permanently on the mountaintop. He wants us to be active in this world, to love our neighbor. He wants us to engage our brains. Being a Christian is not anti-intellectual. We worship God with our thinking, our reasoning, our intellect. The Christian faith is one steeped in logic and reason—there is a leap of faith, yes, but it's faith grounded in understanding.
When we have both—spiritual encounter and intelligent understanding—God is glorified. When we bring tongues with interpretation, when we have that spiritual praise followed by intelligible words, God speaks powerfully. Words are powerful only when they can be understood.
If you're in a chaotic moment right now—confused, struggling with sadness or loss, unsure what God is doing or even if He exists—God is not a distant God. God is not a God of disorder, but a God of peace. He wants to speak into your chaotic world today.
Yet sometimes we long for God to speak and feel only silence. This is why 1 Corinthians 13 matters. Paul reminds us that prophecy will pass away. Right now, we prophesy in part. It's an incredible gift, but we only see partially. But a day is coming when we will see face to face.
Jesus didn't just speak into the chaos or enter into it. He took on the fullness of the chaos on the cross. He died, and then He rose again to new life—the first of all those who will rise. All chaos will be stilled. God is not a God of disorder, but a God of peace, bringing peace to this earth.
The Bible promises a new heavens and a new earth—a new paradise of peace for all who believe in Him.
Let's take a moment of stillness. Just close your eyes and sit in silence and receive peace.
