When 5 Words Do More Than 10,000
1 Corinthians 14:12b-20  +  February 8, 2004

	A few years ago a newspaper reporter was assigned to the Oakland Raiders’ football camp. He had just come from the historic monument of Jack London, the author of White Fang, The Call of the Wild, and other literary works. He read a sample of the author’s prose to quarterback Ken Stabler: “I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.” After reading this to the quarterback the reported asked, “What does that mean to you?” 

Stabler replied, “Throw deep.” 

Sometimes words can overwhelm us to the point of disinterest. Like a long, boring sermon (I heard they actually have those at some churches) or the voice racing through fine print details at the end of a car dealership commercial. We tune out. And if we’re asked what the words mean, like Ken Stabler we come up with our own spin, which proves the words made no impact on us at all.

In today’s portion of God’s Word from 1 Corinthians the apostle Paul offers God-given advice to a congregation having trouble with words. However, the problem was much more serious than just saying too much of the right thing or even just a little of the wrong thing. And the solution offers much more to them, and to us, than just a few options for better communication. When 5 Words Do More Than 10,000 both we and those with whom we communicate are strengthened in our faith’s foundation and made much more sturdy as we endure the stormy difficulties of this world.

Tongues          Certain members of the Corinthian congregation had received the spiritual gift of being able to speak in tongues or languages. The Holy Spirit miraculously endowed them with an understanding of a recognizable foreign language they hadn’t previously studied. It’s the same spiritual gift that the Holy Spirit unveiled on Pentecost when the multi-ethnic crowd said of the disciples, “How is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues” (Acts 2:8,11)! In a time when the written New Testament Scriptures containing the words and works of Jesus Christ were not yet complete, the gift of speaking in tongues was valuable. Its miraculous nature validated that a person had been approved by God and the message they shared about Jesus Christ was accurate. It also allowed the gospel to be proclaimed more rapidly throughout the world. Once the New Testament was completed around AD 150, however, the gift of speaking in tongues diminished. Church father St. John Chrysostom wrote in the fourth century that tongues “used to occur but now no longer take place.” But what about your friend at work or the TV preacher who say they can speak in tongues today?

Understanding          Don’t be fooled. Most of today’s tongue speakers babble an unrecognizable gibberish, not a known foreign language, and therefore they fall right into the same dilemma as some of the tongue speakers in the Corinthian congregation. “How can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say ‘Amen’ to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying?” Paul complains to anyone who speaks in any kind of language that the listener doesn’t know. As a matter of fact, Paul continues, when someone prays or sings in a tongue they are personally exercising their spirit but disengaging their mind. “If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind, I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.” The whole point is not just to enjoy the emotion and euphoria but to engage the mind. To understand and be understood.

	Interpretation          One solution to this Corinthian problem was the spiritual gift of interpreting tongues. Similar to the gift of being able to speak a recognizable language previously not studied, the gift of interpretation allowed a Christian to hear a recognizable language previously not studied, and translate it into the local language. Sometimes the tongue speaker was endowed with this skill so that they could do both – speak in a tongue and interpret what they were saying, which prompts Paul to write, “Anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says.” But there was an even better solution.

	Prophecy          Paul says, “I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in tongue.” Speaking intelligible words means communicating so that people understand. In the early church some received this gift and it was called “prophecy,” a word that generally means “announcing” and can sometimes refer to a specific kind of announcing that predicts or foretells the future. Paul uses the word in its general sense of announcing when he writes earlier in this chapter, “Everyone who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and comfort. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. He who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues” (14:3-5).

	Strengthening          One of my favorite proverbial sayings is this, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” God’s goal for his children interacting with others isn’t to just give them a fish – to deal with them so that they go away. It’s for us to make a difference in their lives – to teach them to fish. If my son asks me for help solving an algebraic formula, I can help him complete his assignment by giving him the answer or I can help him advance in his education by giving him the support he needs to come up with the answer himself. Then I’m making a difference. 

“Brothers, stop thinking like children,” Paul scolds us. We want life, more than anything else, to be easy. We long for the good ol’ days of childhood. Care free. Spontaneous. Uncomplicated. Naïve to concerns and responsibilities handled by other people. That’s a good thing, Paul writes, when it comes to evil. Be naïve to it. Don’t complicate it by getting too interested or involved in sin. Don’t take it on as a personal responsibility. Leave it alone. Sad to say, we’ve done just that when it has come to our responsibility as adults and as Christians. We’ve disengaged, drifted, daydreamed like a little kid lying on the grass looking up into the clouds without a concern in the world. When we’re not concerned about our Christian faith then we’re not concerned about the needs of others and we just do what comes easy like speaking in tongues even though others don’t understand. It feels good and it doesn’t complicate my life so I’m doing it my way. All the while my way isn’t God’s way. Not the way of love. Not the way of Jesus. Jesus didn’t bark at the crowd on the shore of Galilee because nobody could hear him but made their problem his problem and got into a boat out in the water. Jesus makes our problems his problems. Jesus makes my guilt his guilt. He lived that way and died that way. But now, risen from the dad, Jesus makes his will my will. Jesus makes his power my power. Jesus makes his holiness my holiness. His love my love. “In your thinking be adults,” Paul concludes. That means paying attention to responsibility and planning and work like Jesus, noticing the needs of others like Jesus, making the effort to change and speak their language so that others can benefit in a way that helps them. 

“Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church.” This portion of the Bible about speaking in tongues doesn’t belong in some dusty book in an old library as a historical occurrence from ancient times. It belongs on the front page of today’s newspaper and on the screen saver of your computer. It embodies the entire message of the Epiphany season. Your Savior makes himself known to you in a way that you understand. He cures crippled people so to show he has compassion on you when you are helpless and hopeless. He forgives prostitutes to show he has mercy on you for a guilty past and forgets about it with his love. He makes simple fishermen into missionaries and Bible writers and martyrs of the church to show how he creates greatness out of the most humble circumstances. He relates to you the way you need it most. And he now calls you to relate to others. To speak their language. To help them – their way – to understand.

Jesus uses the witness of simple, everyday words and behavior from simple, everyday people like the disciples and Isaiah and you. Nothing fancy. Nothing that makes breaking news. Nothing super involved. Just short and sweet and simple and sincere. That’s When 5 Words Do More Than 10,000. Amen.