I Corinthians 14:6  Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?
7  And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?
8  For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?
9  So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.
10  There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.
11  Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.
12  Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.

The saints in Corinth were carnal. They fought over leadership. They ignored open sin in their church. They took one another to court. They abused the blessing of marriage. They misunderstood the purpose of the interim sign gifts. They exalted things that were never meant to be exalted, and they devalued the God and Saviour they should have exalted.
As we have noted before, tongues was never given to man as a blessing. It was a judgment upon the wickedness of man. It was God’s way to stop the rebellion of Nimrod to accomplish his goals. It was God’s way of getting humanity to spread out and fill the earth. God used tongues as a judgment against the nation of Israel when He sent a nation with stammering tongue to punish Israel for her rebellion against God. God used tongues in Acts 2 to make His glorious name known to the unbelieving Jews who were gathered at Jerusalem for Pentecost. He used tongues among unbelieving Jews to prove that salvation was the same for all people. In all occasions, tongues were human languages. The church in Corinth missed the facts and developed a view of tongues that could not be supported by the Bible.
The apostle Paul was chosen by God to correct this false teaching. Sadly, in our time and for a long time, groups have taken Paul’s letter to the Corinthians out of context and corrupted it to support all kinds of distortions, including tongues.
The gift of tongues was an interim gift that was coming to an end. Paul pointed out that speaking in tongues in the church in Corinth would be unprofitable. There was no need for him to speak in some foreign language. Paul could speak Hebrew and Greek. He was called to be the apostle to the Gentiles. He would speak to them in Greek. On occasion, he would speak in Hebrew when addressing Jews. There was no need for him to speak in an unknown language in the church in Corinth. Tongues was never designed by God to be elevated to some higher level of spirituality. In the New Testament era, it was one of God’s ways to show His faithfulness. Tongues as a gift was on its way out during the time of the apostle Paul. The Corinthians needed to understand this and they needed to be busy proclaiming the truth. As we noted, prophesying in this context was the proclamation of the truth. It was Biblical preaching.
In verse 7 God directed Paul to use the illustration of musical instruments. Some people have witnessed a young child going up to a piano and starting to randomly plonk at the keys. The child might assume they are doing something wonderful. If adults praise the child for that, it will encourage the child to do more of that. No one gets any blessing from that noise. If the child has an interest in music, then the wise adults would seek to teach the child how to actually play a good tune.
God spoke of a person using an instrument in an undisciplined manner. It is not playing a known tune. What is the benefit of this.
There are so many churches that are making noise with their various instruments. What they classify as “worship” music is a noise that pleases the devil, but not God. It would be similar to what the nation of Israel was doing while Moses was meeting with God in Mount Sinai. Joshua identified it as “noise”. It was not exalting God.
In verse 8 Paul spoke of the trumpet sound that needs to warn of danger. Last year the nation of Israel was caught off guard. The enemy was allowed to come in and slaughter over 1,000 people and take others hostage. There were warnings given prior to October 7, but they were ignored.
There are things happening now across the world and in particular in Israel, but many are not paying attention.
Paul was speaking of a trumpet that gives an uncertain sound. If someone just takes that trumpet and starts to make noise, but it is not a proper sound, who will respond properly to it. Someone might go and take that trumpet away because it is just making noise. A musical instrument needs to make a distinct sound. If used in an orchestra, it needs to blend in with the sounds made by other instruments. At times that instrument will be the featured instrument. The sound needs to be such that the hearers can understand what is being communicated.
In verse 9 Paul related that back to preaching and teaching. If he were to come in, babbling some indiscernible noise, who is going to prepare for anything. Lost people would assume he was having problems. The saints would not be blessed by it.
Today, the devil has convinced certain groups that this noise is a blessing from “God”. He knows what he is doing. He is using this to keep people away from the truth. He is a liar and he has convinced many to be impressed with all this activity. The Bible is used only as a reference book and only those parts that fit with the lie are used. However, when the Bible is taken as the Word of God, the lies are readily exposed.
In verse 10 Paul noted that there are many languages in the world. Each one is important to the people who know it. The important thing in any country is to be able to communicate the truth to the people of that nation. Thus, an evangelist that is called to that nation will be wise to learn that language well. The people may understand English, but they still prefer to hear things in their own language. The goal of the evangelist is to make the truth known to the people. Thus he will study the language and learn how to communicate the truth to the people in the language they know.
In verse 11 we see that if I speak a language that others do not know, they will look at me as if there is something wrong with me. God’s gifts are designed to benefit people. The gift of tongues had its place. With the completion of the Word of God, there was no further need for this gift, and God stopped it. Those who want to go back to the book of Corinthians and follow that which God told Paul to correct, are wrong.
Those who know the truth are not exercising the charity that God wants His children to function under. God’s people have the love of God in them and we see God exercising that love through the apostle Paul in Corinth. Those since that time, who are saved, have that same love of God in them. Their desire is to exalt God, not man.
In verse 12 we are reminded that the saints should be coming together in the local church for edification. They should be coming together to be strengthened in the faith. That is done through the faithful preaching and teaching of the Word of God. It is through “rightly dividing the Word of Truth.” That is what benefits the saints and is also a blessing to the lost.
Pastor Bartel