I Corinthians 14:1  Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.
2  For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.
3  But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
4  He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.
5  I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.

In chapter 13 the apostle Paul emphasized the priority of charity. He was directed to continue on that vein with the command to follow after charity. Christians are not vengeful people. True Christians must operate under the love of God. The reason that true Christians seek to speak the truth is because they love others and want them to know the truth. A true Christian cannot sit back and watch another person persist in going to Hell. A true Christian cannot sit back and let false teaching dominate.
Jesus did not silence the Pharisees but He certainly exposed their false teachings on many occasions. The love of God motivates true saints to want others to know the truth. No one comes back from hell for another opportunity to get it right. We have this short life to choose to know the Lord, or to reject Him. The Scriptures are the only Truth. We need to believe what God has declared if we want to know His peace and blessing.
The charity we are to follow after is closely related to the love that God has for the world. That love sent Jesus Christ into this world to lay down His life for mankind. Jesus Christ did not come because the world was crying out for help. The world was not seeking after God then, nor are they now. The love of God steps in the path of man to warn him and also to invite him to turn to the true God and be saved. The love of God also steps into the path of the saved to shine the light on truth. The saints in Corinth were saved people, but they were carnal. They were pursuing things that were unbiblical. They needed to change course.
Paul encouraged the saints to desire spiritual gifts, and he urged them to be prepared to prophesy. The Greek word for “prophesy” here speaks of “forth-telling”. It is not “fore-telling”, but proclaiming that which has already been declared. Preaching is a very important gift of God. Preaching is intended to strongly urge the hearer to follow the message being preached. There are many frauds out there who preach as well. They want people to follow their lies. They are being trained in the art of deception. Many are quite good at it. They know how to read the crowd and they know how to say the things that will trigger an emotional response.
The apostle Paul was a great preacher, not because he was an eloquent speaker, but rather because he spoke the truth with great conviction and clarity.
In verse 2 he warned of the emptiness of their pursuit of tongues. Corinth was a city that had Greek influence. There were not many other languages spoken there. There was no benefit to trying to pursue the gift of tongues there. Keep in mind, we have already noted that tongues were human languages. They were not vain babblings. The devil is good at helping people get into a trance state where they will babble and exalt evil and mock at truth. He is also good at getting one of his servants to speak the truth and deceive people by causing them to drop their guard and then he can feed the lies into them. True saints will have a sense that something is not right.
Paul stated that a person who is speaking in an unknown tongue is speaking to God, not to men. If a Frenchman would come and start speaking to me, I would not understand what he was saying. I do not speak French. It is an unknown tongue to me. The person might be a good evangelist, but I would not know what he was saying. God would understand that man, but he would be of no help to non-French speaking people, unless there was a translator. That is just one example of many.
In verse 3 we see that the person who prophesies/preaches, as we noted from verse 1, speaks for the purpose of edification, exhortation and comfort. Edification has to do with “building up.” It is not talking about flattery. It is talking about strengthening the saints with truth. Exhortation has to do with encouraging the saints to follow that which is right and true. Comfort has to do with consoling those who need it. The apostle Paul was doing all three of those in this letter.
In verse 4 Paul warned that the person who comes into the assembly and starts to speak in an unknown tongue is building up himself. He may be quite proud of his abilities. He may be seeking to impress the people with his abilities, but his abilities are not needed there. No one understands him. However, a sound Bible preacher is always a benefit to others. He preaches with godly conviction. He is lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ. The true saints will be greatly helped as they hear the truth proclaimed to them. The lost will be convicted of their need to be saved. Some might even get saved!
In verse 5 Paul pointed out that he was not discrediting those who had the ability to speak in another language. There is a need for evangelists who can reach out to people of different languages. If you are fluent in some other language, there is definitely a need to reach different people groups with the Gospel.
Even if you can speak in a another language, it is important to be able to preach in that language. A few days ago I mentioned that I was raised in a home that treasured the German language. I could speak it quite well as a young person, that is in regard to the secular use of the language. A number of years ago I had the privilege of ministering in an area where there were quite a few German speaking people. I wanted to help them to know the Gospel and respond in obedience to the Gospel. I was not familiar with Biblical terminology in the German language. I could not share the Gospel in German. I either needed to learn how to communicate that important message in German, or I would need to find an interpreter who could relay in German that which I was saying in English.
God guided me and I picked up a good German/English dictionary and a good German Bible, and I spent some time studying those books to become familiar with preaching the Gospel in German. I was not very fluent in speaking the language at first, but over time with disciplined study, I became better to where I could speak to the German people about the Gospel without needing to look at my notes all the time.
It is important to be able to communicate well with those God leads across our path. The goal is not to draw people to ourselves, but rather to be able to point them to the Lord. As mentioned, preaching is something that needs to be done with conviction. Preaching is not dependent upon consensus, it is declarative. It is done with boldness.
I was invited to speak at an early Remembrance Day event this past week. I prayed and asked God to guide me in my preparations. He gave me a text and at that service, I followed what God had given me. My wife overheard some discussion on the service later on. One of the people in attendance noted that I had used the Bible in my message. She was then quiet for a moment and then stated that she thought she liked that. It was unusual to her, but if a godly preacher is invited to conduct a service, he needs to preach from God’s Word. That is his calling.
Biblical preaching must be done to persuade the hearers to carefully consider what is being said and receiving it as Truth. If a person is not fluent in the language, it could be a hindrance to the hearers. God is able to intervene in the ministry of someone who is obediently serving Him. He does expect us to do our best to communicate His truth to others. The goal should always be to exalt His name.
Any godly preacher is going to desire to make his Lord and Saviour known to others. He is not interested in making his own name known. He desires to see people trust in the true God for their salvation. That is what Paul did and that is what God directed him to encourage others to do as well.
Pastor Bartel