Prophesy!

I want to begin our service today by telling you the story of Sir Michael Costa. He was an Italian who immigrated to England and became one of the great orchestral conductors of the 19th century. It is said that one day he was conducting a rehearsal in which the orchestra was joined by a great choir. Midway through the session the piccolo player stopped playing. It seemed innocent enough – after all who would miss the tiny piccolo amidst the great mass of instruments blazing away? All of a sudden Sir Michael stopped the entire orchestra and choir. “Stop! Stop! Where’s the piccolo? What’s happened to the piccolo?” We may sometimes feel like that piccolo player – that we don’t have much to offer, that if we stopped our ministry no one would notice anyway. Yet the Great Conductor notices, and needs us to complete his orchestral masterpiece! Last week, I left you off in our conversation at the beach by saying that “God brings the best out of you…” I truly believe that God does bring the best out of us. It’s when we get in our way, do the worst things about us come up and flare and cause us embarrassment. God, our Father, He brings out the best from us when we submit to His will for our lives. The way God brings out our very best from us is by taking our everyday life and offering it to God by fixing our attention on Him as we embrace what God is doing for us (Romans 12:1-2).  What you need to understand is that the world pulls us back and down, but God, he raises us up beyond ourselves. We’re going to read from a long passage from the Apostle Paul where we’re going to understand exactly how God is bringing the best out of us and how He develops maturity in you and me. The title of my sermon this morning is: Prophesy!

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. ¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. ² For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. ³ On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their up building and encouragement and consolation. ⁴ The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. ⁵ Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.   ⁶ Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? ⁷ If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? ⁸ And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? ⁹ So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. ¹⁰ There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, ¹¹ but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. ¹² So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.   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. (1 Corinthians 13:8-14:19 ESV)  

I know we just read the better part of two chapters here and therefore, there’s a lot to absorb. I’m not going to get into speaking in tongues today. I know Paul writes a lot about tongues; but long story short: “tongues” don’t mean anything unless people understand it. Moreover, if there is no understanding, then it’s just gibberish. That’s in the Bible. It’s good to have, but if it doesn’t build up, encourage, or console, then tongues don’t mean anything or add any value to loving people in our lives. You see, speaking in tongues, doesn’t matter to changing the world. What he says is useful is that we all become prophets, able to prophesy, that is to speak with the authority of God for the purposes of God. So let me tell you to start focusing on the last verse that we read first. “Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.”  

How many of you are following the elections this year? I’m sure in one way or another, whether you’re actively following or not, you’re hearing the stories of disparagement, allegations, and/or unhanded comments from one political candidate or another. Regardless, of which person you’re voting for or leaning toward, I want you to see their speeches and their rhetoric in light of the statement that the Apostle Paul made at the end: Five words of instruction are better than ten thousand words in tongue. Let me translate that to you. If you’re one of those people who have a lot to say and seem to be saying a lot of it without having any impact around that which you’re talking about, then your words are pretty worthless. If your words are pretty worthless, then so He’s talking about the worth of words. How useful is a lecture if you’re feeling discouraged? How helpful are essays of hope, when you’re sad? This is the point. Some of us, especially us Christians who know the Bible, who know the ways of God, we sometimes say things that’s all meaningless, so why do we say them? Better to say nothing. Or maybe just five words that say, “hey, what can I do?” How can I encourage you? What is God doing here?   If you’re serious about God bringing the best out of people, then we need to be a part of that work. It is our job to say to people, “hey, what can I do?” but more importantly, “how can I encourage you/them?” This is the fundamental question that we have to be asking ourselves and other people every single day in every single thing we do. If we’re not asking this question, or if we’re skipping this question by asking, how can others help me? instead, then we’re going to be in for a surprise. There’s another question that we need to be asking in all circumstances and that question that we need to ask is “What is God doing here?” These questions, they’re all five words, and they all do more for a situation, circumstance, for a person, than any well written sermon that I can ever deliver or opt-ed piece somebody can write.

I want to divert our attention a moment to Acts 27 where Paul is going exactly where he wanted to go – to Rome. Unfortunately, he wasn’t going there the way he probably thought he was going to go. No red carpet. No fanfare, not even on his own terms. He was going on a prison ship in the middle of winter, the absolutely the worst time to go sailing across the Mediterranean because it’s hurricane season. He says to the centurion and ship owner and pilot that there will be trouble and Paul prophesizes three times!   These questions always take us back to people, and how people need to be loved in the name of Jesus. Let’s go back to chapter 13, verse 8-9. “Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.” The world starts and ends with the love of God manifesting itself everywhere in our lives. We come to church because of love. We live our lives outside of church because of love. Nothing else in life matters as much as how we keep love from ending in our lives because Jesus lives in our lives.

It doesn’t matter who becomes president of the United States. Whether or not Britain exits from the EU. What matters is how we respond to people in the United States, Britain, Afghanistan, Russia, Brazil, Nigeria, China, etc, when there are things in our power that we can do. We don’t just watch the news on the 24 hour cycle and sigh. No, not at all. We respond with love. The love of God that never ends because it is the only thing that will survive after disaster. It is the only thing that can rebuild after turmoil. This is why we have a church. This is why we believe and this is why we follow Jesus, because we believe that God’s love changes us for the best and that best changes everything else.

Let’s go to chapter 14, verse 1. The Apostle writes, “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” The title of the sermon today is “prophesy.” Prophesying changes everything. Prophesying is not predicting the future, although it can mean that in some cases. Prophesying is speaking forth into the lives of others by the power of God.   The will of God for you is to manifest His grace visibly in your life. His will may not be riches, fame, power, although if it is, then that’s fantastic. But all those things are secondary and tertiary. It is not blessings for your life that He wills you to live. God wills you to live and have life for His glory and His purposes. God’s will for our lives is that in everything that we do on a daily basis, that we do in prophesy. We speak to build people up and encourage people and console them—that is a long way to say, to love people with everything within us to love.

If you believe your spiritual gift does anything besides build up, encourage, and console, that is, if you believe that your spiritual gift does something other than love people the best that you can, then you need to ask God for spiritual gifts by way of the Holy Spirit. Just like it is in the first century as it is today, speaking into the lives of other people are the most important. When Paul is talking in verse 5, he’s talking about the church, as in the community of believers. You speak to build up people in the community of believers, that is the reason you have been gifted with the Holy Spirit of God. We love people until it is time for Jesus to sit on His throne here and complete things as the omega. We prophesy in striving to excel in building up the church. Here’s my question and challenge to all of you: are we doing this?

Let me wrap it up here in verse 16. Prophesying results in “Amen.” “Amen” means, “I agree”. When you are talking to someone, or even in the presence of someone, about things that are extremely precious to you, or painful to you, or frightening to you, and they give you no feedback that signals a sharing of your values or your hurt or your fear, there is no possibility of a natural and healthy relationship. Now that is the way many prayer meetings happen, and it’s the way much preaching happens. And it is unnatural and unhealthy. And I fear we have come to accept it as normal. It’s not normal, so we need Amen in our daily lives through our prophetic words in the lives of the very people we interact with.

When we prophesy, that is to do and say things that build up, console, and encourage, we are saying, “yes God, make it happen…” The power of the word, “Amen” is so meaningful in this way. We say Amen to show that we’re taking the power of God and trusting it binds that which Jesus bound when he walked this earth, died for us, and was resurrected for us in love. All that Christ does, will happen and unfold in the power of God’s love in our lives, through the manifestation of His Holy Spirit where we are everything single moment. Let’s pray, and I want everybody to say, “Amen” at the conclusion.