I Corinthians 14:20  Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
21  In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.
22  Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.

Tulsi Gabbard, a Hindu woman is nominated as the next Director of National Intelligence in the United States. She has been very vocal in claiming that we are all children of God. That may sound nice to some, but it is a lie. Man was created by God. Adam chose to defy God and became a sinner. All of Adam’s descendants are born as lost sinners. As such we are separated from God. We are not all His children. Only those who turn to God in repentance and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, become children of God.

Romans 8:12  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

The apostle Paul was addressing the children of God in Corinth. By extension, this letter is addressed to all those who are children of God, according to the Biblical definition. When it comes to understanding, God does not want us to be children. In Ephesians 4, Paul talked about being children tossed about by every wind of doctrine. Children lack discernment. Children need to be warned not to accept candy from a stranger. We are living in a time where parents need to be much more aware of where their children are and who they are spending time with. Pedophilia is on the rise. Children need good training. That is lacking in many places today. Our public schools know that children are very impressionable. These schools are actively working to be the ones who will train the nation’s children. Public schools were never needed but too many parents were more concerned about getting ahead than raising their children. Many adults do not see the danger of the public school system. Many people do not see the steady erosion of morality that has taken place over the years. Most professing Christians do not see the corruption that has taken place in their churches. The frog in the water pot is certainly being played out right before our eyes.
God directed Paul to remind the saints that in understanding, we should not be children. The Holy Spirit is in every true child of God. He wants to guide true saints into truth. The saints in Corinth were not listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They had a distorted view of the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul was giving them the facts. Interestingly, in spite of the fact that we have the truth, the Charismatics have ignored or even rejected the truth and chosen to allow their corrupt imaginations to develop a false doctrine. We can look back to Adam and see that even with a mind that was free from sin, he could still make a bad choice. He had the ability to choose to obey God, but he chose not to do that. We learn that man is quite easily swayed. We need godly understanding to see what evil is. We cannot allow the world to tell us what is evil. Their view is corrupt.
Malice is “ill will, desire to injure.” The apostle Paul was not trying to hurt the saints in Corinth. He was seeking to stop them from hurting each other with their many wrong thoughts and actions. God does not want any person to be surprised when they meet Him. Many will be because they chose not to believe the truth. God has given us His Word so that we can know the truth. He does not expect us to manipulate His Word for our own advantage. A good local church is important to help spiritual children to grow into spiritual adulthood.
In verse 21 we see what God says about tongues. God used tongues to rebuke the nation of Israel for their rebellion against Him. He sent the Assyrians against the north and the Babylonians against the south. We are told that in spite of God’s rebuke against them, they did not hear Him. Israel went into captivity for seventy years and at the end of that time, they had not learned the needed lesson. Israel never had its independence after that. They went back and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem under the direction of Nehemiah. They rebuilt the Temple under the direction of Ezra and the encouragement of other men like Haggai.
God gave Nebuchadnezzar a dream where He laid out the four world empires. The Babylonians were the first one. The Medo/Persians were the second. The Greek empire was the third and the Roman empire was the fourth. In 1948, the Balfour declaration gave Israel “permission” to go back to their homeland. The world is still trying to tell Israel how they should govern themselves. No other nation would accept this interference, however Israel is subject to this because they have still rejected the true God.
In verse 22 we see that tongues was for a sign, not to born again Christians, but to those who do not believe. In the context, it was to the unbelieving Jews. We know that Peter and other saved Jews, did not believe that Gentiles could be saved as Jews were. In Acts 10 Peter was directed by the Holy Spirit to go to see Cornelius and his household. Peter needed to be prepared to obey this command. He was given a vision in preparation for this event. He obeyed God’s command and went to Caesarea to preach the Gospel to Cornelius’ household. God had been working in their hearts and they repented and were saved through the preaching of the Gospel. Peter and the Jews that travelled with him needed to be shown that Gentiles are saved the same way that Jews are. Thus God gave Cornelius the ability to speak in tongues at that point. Peter mentioned that it was the tongues speaking that convinced him and his Jewish friends to accept the salvation of Cornelius and his family. We are not told what language Cornelius spoke. We know it was not some “unknown” tongue.
In our text, the apostle Paul spoke further of the importance of prophesying. We mentioned before that the Greek word translated as “prophesying” here refers to preaching. Preaching is good for those who believe. We know that preaching is important for all, but the unbelievers will often look at preaching as foolishness. We see the proper place of preaching here. It is a benefit to those that believe. This tells us that the preacher needs to be teaching the hearers the doctrines of God’s Word. The apostle Paul stated that he gave the saints the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).
That is still needed today. Most churches are just social clubs. They ignore sound doctrine but they have much activity. There are groups for every age and there is a constant plan for activities. The churches keep the people quite busy. There is not much time for sound Bible Study. Thus most professing Christians are quite doctrinally anemic. Paul stated that prophesying is for those that believe. That is what we need. That is what we need to train ourselves to appreciate. That is how we gain in understanding.
Pastor Bartel