Sermon Tone Analysis

A customer comes into a pet store looking for a dog:

Customer: “How much for this dog?”

Owner: “$5000”

Customer: “Is not that too much?”

Owner: “Is not the dog wonderful?”

Customer: “Yes, the dog may be too wonderful but is he faithful also?”

Owner: “Yes sir!

He has been faithful, I have sold him seven times and he has always been back within 12 hours!”

A dog thinks: “My owners feed me, love me, provide me with a nice house, and take good care of me...

They must be gods!

A cat thinks: “My owners feed me, love me, provide me with a nice house and take good care of me...

I must be a god!”

Historical/Cultural Context -

Paul preached the gospel in Corinth in the early 50s AD during his second missionary journey (Acts 18:1–18).

When opposition grew fierce there, the Lord Jesus spoke to him in a vision assuring him that he had ‘many people’ in the city (Acts 18:10).

With this encouragement, Paul stayed on for eighteen months, ‘teaching them the word of God’ (Acts 18:11).

God used Paul’s ministry to bring about the birth and establishment of the church in Corinth.

Biblical Text -

-[Prayer]-

Life Principle - Orderly Churches Submit To God, Become Purveyors Of Peace, & See People Saved By Faith In Grace.

Life Point- When Things Are Done In Order, People Come To Salvation Through Jesus

Exegetical -

Homiletical -

We now come to the chapter where Paul sets in order the church.

Remember that the church of Corinth was, for lack of a better term, a hot mess.

They would come together and as someone was trying to teach, preach, or share something in scripture or share a revelation they would all start speaking in tongues and this was all going on at the same time.

This is where people would come in, and if they are anything like me, they would say they were nuts and turn right around.

It would be the same as if while I am preaching, right in the middle of it someone stands up and speaks in tongues with no interpreter present and sits down.

Then a person on the other side of the church and then everyone is standing and hollering.

We get a group on the left that wants to teach something they found interesting a group in the center speaking in tongues and a group on the right wanting to sing songs.

So when the pastor, i.e. me, tries to bring order everyone ignores me and get louder.

This kind of chaos and insubordination in spiritual matters is what was happening at this church.

In Chapter 13 Paul says love is a better way and now in 14 he shows that love is reckless, it is not wild, it is not chaos.

Love is doing things decently and in order.

So now we come to chapter 14 for instruction.

Paul opens up telling them not to take the things he is about to say in a heart of malice but be like babes in their hearts when it comes to malice or evil, but be a mature person when it comes to understanding what Paul is about to say.

In other words, don’t take what I am about to tell you in a bad spirit, but understand my rebuke and correction is to help you.

Now put it in practice.

Paul now quotes a passage from Isaiah.

This passage does two things.

1) It confirms that God is behind true Biblical tongues 2) The passage is a warning that people still won’t listen to God.

Paul is trying to say, hey listen up.

You don’t want to be the person who is not putting into practice what I am about to tell you through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Don’t be that guy, don’t be the stubborn mule who finds himself in a place you don’t want to be because your pig headed and stubborn!

Because as we all know, once you become a Christian you lose your stubborn pride right?

Of course not.

Paul is about to deal with 2 things 1) The nature of tongues and 2) the efficacy of prophecy

1) Tongues is not for the believer, but the unbeliever.

Why would Paul say this?

Because if we look at the book of Acts when tongues came we find 120 people all speaking in unknown languages the praises of God and everyone heard in their own language.

That is definitely a sign to the unbeliever that God is doing something amongst His people.

We know that previously Paul had stated prophecy is better because people can understand it and that tongues is a lesser gift unless it is accompanied by the interpretation of tongues.

Why?