Jordan Byrd
Ordered – You worship because Jesus was clearly communicated to you.
A week ago, I was looking at someone’s social media page. While looking, I got distracted with something else, so I put my phone in my pocket. When I checked my phone later, I noticed that I did the equivalent of this [random clacking sound on a keyboard]. I had somehow typed an unintelligible message of letters that also got posted to this person’s page. If anyone read that message, they might have wondered what I was trying to communicate.
When communication is unclear, It’s just sounds, words, and symbols to us. Sounds, words, and symbols that may have meaning, but aren’t known to us. When communication is unclear, we struggle to know what to do with it: we struggle to know how to respond. We might dismiss it. We might think the person communicating is crazy, and never seek further clarification.
For me, one of the funniest moments of parenting young children has been trying to communicate on their level. Recently, I was trying to talk to one of my kids about treating their siblings well, and during the conversation, I said something like, “How would you feel if you were mistreated by someone?” And I could see the internal wheels spinning – trying to make sense of what I said. And I asked, “Do you know what I’m talking about?” And the response was a question about what “mistreat” meant. From my perspective, I was communicating clearly. but from a kid’s limited vocabulary, what I said was not clear at all. It was just sounds coming out of my mouth. So, I had to break down the idea further, and use other words and examples to explain what “mistreat” means.
This scenario can easily describe where Jesus followers find themselves in relation to people who don’t yet believe in Jesus. Especially for those of us who’ve followed Jesus for a while now. Where, we assume people just know – people just know who Jesus is, they just don’t want to believe. And while it could be true, that some people have had Jesus clearly communicated to them, and just refuse to respond in belief for some reason. There are also a lot of people who are not necessarily anti-Jesus. They just simply have not fully grasped who he is, and what it means to follow him.
If we’ve followed Jesus for some time, we can easily forget that, at one time, we too were like this there was a time, where Jesus did not fully make sense to us too. But, somewhere along the line, someone, or multiple people, used other words, or examples, or sharing from their own life of following Jesus, that helped Jesus to be more clearly understood by us. And it’s understanding that communication, that enabled us to respond in belief that Jesus is God, and respond in following his way of life, and respond in ongoing worship of him as Lord – as THE authority over all things. You worship because Jesus was clearly communicated to you.
First Corinthians 14 presents a similar situation. As the apostle Paul writes to the followers of Jesus in Corinth, in chapter 14, he highlights that importance of clearly communicating the word of God revealed in Jesus. And, while this chapter is filled with many mysterious references for us today, we won’t nearly be able to address all of them as fully as we’d like with our time. But, my aim for our time together, is to help highlight an overarching point that Paul makes about God being understandably known through the word of Jesus and his Spirit. My goal is to emphasize how important it is for followers of Jesus to clearly communicate Jesus to those who have not yet believed.
What we encounter in Paul’s review of the Corinthians’ worship gathering, in chapter 14, is that their worship was being done in a way that excluded some people from hearing God’s word in an understandable manner. Some were declaring God’s word in languages not understood by all who were present. One of Paul's main points in this chapter, is that followers of Jesus are called to communicate God’s word to others in an understandable manner – in a manner so that all present can understand God’s word. And when done, God’s presence – the presence of Jesus’ Spirit – is accessible and understood to everyone present. Paul summarizes this reality in 14:25 where he says, “...they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!” Paul instructs the Corinthian church that clear communication makes it possible to respond in worship to the God revealed in Jesus. You worship because Jesus was clearly communicated to you. The invited question we’re asked to ponder is: how are we helping others to clearly understand Jesus?
Throughout Paul’s letter of 1 Corinthians, he has been addressing divisions in the church. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been reflecting on Paul’s words to the Corinthian church regarding gifts of the Spirit. The gifts are important, but they’re ordered and directed by the love of Jesus – which Mitch helped us reflect through last week. Without love, the gifts are useless. They are like a loud, obnoxious noise, without love. And in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul highlights an actual situation where the gifts are utilized without love. Specifically, Paul zeros-in on the gifts of tongues and prophecy in the Corinthian’s worship.
The earliest example of a phenomenon of speaking in tongues, that is, supernaturally communicating in a different language, is what we find in Acts 2:1-11, When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
The context of this passage is God’s Spirit speaking through the first disciples of Jesus, so that non-Jews could hear God’s word in their native language, so that the God revealed in Jesus could be communicated more clearly to them, and comprehended more clearly by them.
In Acts 2, specifically, we encounter God initiating his disciple’s commission to makes disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). God’s Spirit making it possible to make disciples of the nations before ever going to the nations. But, we see this is not normative, as the disciples begin to spread across Israel, the Roman empire, and to the ends of the earth with the message of Jesus. There are a couple other times in Acts that non-Jewish believers speak in a foreign tongue (Acts 10:46 and Acts 19:6). Each of these instances were also in the context of Jesus being shared with unbelievers. So, a commonality of this phenomenon in Acts is that Jesus is made known in a familiar tongue to the converted unbeliever. In Acts, the this seems to uniquely happen at the spontaneous prompting of the Holy Spirit, and for the purpose of validating the message of Jesus to the convert. The writings of Paul in 1 Corinthians are the only other place in Christian Scripture, that we encounter this phenomenon of speaking in tongues by the Holy Spirit.
What stands out about the phenomenon of speaking in tongues in Christian Scripture is that it doesn’t appear often. And study of church history past the writings of the scriptures reveal even further, that speaking in tongues is not referenced much either. What seems to bear out from this is that the supernatural form of speaking in tongues was a form of jump-starting clear communication of the good news of Jesus to the nations. And once Jesus’ disciples began spreading the good news of Jesus across the nations, speaking in tongues became less needed. Or, God’s Spirit shifts from supernatural speaking abilities, to supernatural interpretation abilities.
If we pan out to see the broader work that God is doing throughout human history as a whole, the supernatural ability to speak and hear the good news of Jesus in a clear and understandable way in one’s native tongue — was part of God’s way of paving the way for all people of the world to know and understand him through the life and message of Jesus. We see that people of all backgrounds and languages come to worship because Jesus was clearly communicated to them by the gifting help of God’s spirit. They worship because Jesus was clearly communicated to them in a way they could understand. One such example of the good news of Jesus spreading to the nations is the existence of the church in Corinth. The church in Corinth is evidence that the message of Jesus had been spread and communicated beyond Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and now had started to go to the ends of the earth (as Jesus called his disciples to do in Acts 1:8).
I have neighbors who immigrated from another country. Recently, there was an instance of conversation, where we met an impasse at communicating. We were talking about a coming-of-age custom that they were celebrating for one of their kids, and there wasn’t a direct English translation for the custom. Even though there wasn’t a clear English translation, my neighbors still tried to explain the custom in other ways, so that I could understand. Without a translation, or further explanation, there was nothing further I could do with the initial conversation. It’s not that there wasn’t meaning behind what they were saying or describing. I just didn’t have the understanding of their native language or culture to fully understand what they were communicating at first. So, they had to find other ways to communicate it to me. This same reality is in the background of the church in Corinth.
The worship of Jesus followers flows-out of the instruction for worship in the Hebrew Scriptures and culture. My boys play with Legos all of the time. They have many Lego sets, but hardly any of them exist in their original construction. They have taken the foundational pieces from one set, and added pieces from other sets onto them, to create a whole new creation. This is kind of how Christian worship took shape. It was built upon the foundation of Hebrew Scriptures and customs, with Hebrew as the language of communication. But, once God reveals himself in Jesus, whom was born into a quasi-Hebrew/Roman culture, during the Roman empire, with remnants of Koine Greek as the common language of communication that time Jesus’ followers then incorporated the Greek language to speak about the life of God revealed in Jesus and that language shaped how they worshiped. So Christian worship is shaped from a hybrid Hebrew/Greek form of language. With this, there becomes a sense of what language best communicates the message and life of Jesus?
What happens when this message moves beyond a culture that is rooted in the Hebrew language? What happens when this message moves beyond a culture that is rooted in the common Greek spoken in Israel, during Jesus time? What happens when this message moves to an area with differing dialects? What happens when this message moves beyond a culture rooted in Koine Greek, like English in the United States, or Spanish in Mexico, or Somali in Somalia?
Philip Blosser, Charles Sullivan, Dale Coulter, and James Lik-ou-dis make the argument that this is what is happening in the background of 1 Corinthians 14, when we encounter the references to speaking in tongues. That the tongues of Corinth is reference to a foreign sacred language that only select people in the Corinthian church fully understood. There was essentially, insider-oriented, religious language happening being used in worship. So, in a worship gathering, some might read from the Hebrew scriptures, for example (what we think of as the Old Testament in our Bibles), or speak a word of encouragement or admonition in Hebrew; and only those who knew Hebrew would know what was being read or said. Everybody who didn’t know Hebrew, would be clueless to what was being read or said; and it was of not benefit for them to gain a better understanding of the God revealed in Jesus, because they had no idea what was being said or read. For those familiar with the Roman Catholic church, a more modern example of this might be like when mass use to only be spoken in Latin. English speakers in the United States were expected to be edified from a language they don’t normally speak and many didn’t understand.
With this insight about 1 Corinthians 14, it helps connect many of the connections that Paul gives throughout this chapter. It helps explain why there would be various languages (sacred languages and local dialects) spoken during a worship gathering. I think we see a glimpse of this by the wording Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 14:2, when he references uttering mysteries by the Spirit, when speaking in a foreign language. Paul describes the mysteries of God as what God made known in Jesus as Christ or Messiah. We see this connection in Paul’s writing in Colossian 1:27, God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. In 1 Corinthians 4:1, Paul references that this mystery is what the Hebrew scripture writers longed to be revealed in the Messiah or Christ, This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. The Hebrew scriptures were the scriptures of the early Jesus followers. What we have as the New Testament was still being written. So, the Hebrew scriptures would have been highly valued as being more sacred for use during worship. The Hebrew scriptures were the treasure trove of the mysteries of God foretold in Jesus. Which is true. But, if someone cannot understand the language of Hebrew, they are of no use. They are just a bunch of noises strung together.
So, this perspective of 1 Corinthians 14 also helps explain why translators would be needed during a worship gathering like this. This perspective helps explain why Paul emphasizes speaking in a way that everyone understands what is being said, compared to just one or a few people understanding the truth of what is being said. This perspective helps explain why an unbeliever would find the gathering useless, since insider language was being used during worship.
This perspective also partly helps explain why the women referenced toward the end of the chapter are encouraged to seek further explanation about what is being said. All women might partly be referenced here, because they might have been generally less educated than men at that time. But this section also seems to be directed mainly toward wives, as Paul, elsewhere does not forbid women from speaking in worship by praying and prophesying (1 Corinthians 11:5). There seems to be a more nuanced cultural dynamic going on here. And it seems to pertain to what was the customary protocol of respecting one’s husband in public. And during this time, asking clarification to something unknown, while in public, was considered disrespectful. A possibly parallel might be how, in our day, if a husband or wife disagree with what the other said in public, it’s more dignifying of the other spouse, to point out the disagreement in private, rather than shame your spouse in public. Ultimately, the point seems to be an encouragement to seek understanding about God and God’s word in a respectful manner.
We were watching the women’s gymnastics of the summer Olympics this week, and one of the vignette segments was on the top Brazilian female gymnast. So, her answers to questions were all in Portuguese. Eventually, one of my kids said, “What is she saying?!” For me, I could read the subtitles, but my kid, who doesn’t read yet, did not benefit from that translation. Instead my kid needed an even further explanation, to know what was being said.
In response to the segregated language in use during worship, Paul does not forbid the language from being used. As long as it is interpreted. As long as it can be made understandable to all who are present for worship. Paul is saying that a prophetic word in a foreign language is acceptable, as long as it can be communicated clearly to everyone who is present. Paul backs up his argument by highlighting that, clearly communicating about Jesus is what can lead to even an unbeliever coming to repentance of living apart from God, and establishing belief in Jesus (1 Corinthians 14:25). When God’s word is clearly communicated, it enables us to be more aware of God’s presence among us. When God’s word is clearly communicated, we’re able to more clearly see what our life lacks, and the abundant life that Jesus has for us. We’re able to take steps of faith toward further belief in Jesus. We’re able to more fully worship.
We’re able to worship today, because Jesus was clearly communicated to us over and over and over again. You worship because Jesus was clearly communicated to you. How are you helping others to experience the same?
How might this passage intersect with our lives today? We, like the Corinthian church, still deal with insider language being used in worship, or even in our day-to-day conversations with people about our faith in Jesus. The term “Christian-ese” has been mockingy used to describe this kind of insider language. And there’s a tension to hold here. Because the churchy, Jesus-y, holy language that we use is not useless. Because it has been useful to us, and our journey of coming to better understand the God revealed in Jesus. But, just because it was helpful for us, does not mean that it will be what is helpful for someone else.
We cannot assume that people will be gripped by Jesus, the way we were told about Jesus. We are faced with the same challenge as the Corinthian church to consider others, and serve their needs (needs that aren’t our own), We don’t necessarily need the message of Jesus explained any better. But new and unexplored ways of communicating about Jesus are what will likely be needed for others to understand the message of Jesus clearly. And, relying on God’s Spirit to supernaturally help us to do so.
We get a glimpse of this practice in the gospel of John, where the gospel opens by saying, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). The term “word” here, referenced an impersonal form knowledge in the Greek language and philosophy. This gospel is written to a Greek understanding audience. The gospel has the challenge of taking a Greek philosophical term and bending and stretching it to describe what has happened through the life of Jesus. So, the gospel writer says that this impersonal knowledge became flesh, became a person. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). To a Greek audience, this would be captivating. “You mean Jesus brings that knowledge into human existence?!” “It’s not just impersonal, but now a personal reality?!” The reality is, something new happened when Jesus came into the picture. And simply using the old categories would not clearly or fully communicate what Jesus has made possible in taking on human life. God’s Spirit helped the gospel writer communicate this in an understandable way.
So too, we are called to do this similar work in our day and age. We’re called to make Jesus understandable to the language and philosophical terminology of our age. Speaking of love, but including the self-sacrificial manner that Jesus loved. That kind of love is drastically different than what is celebrated and spoken of in our culture, even though it’s the same word. But the meaning is drastically earth-shatteringly different.
And while you may be thinking, I’m not skilled to talk and speak about Jesus how you just did. Ok. Maybe not. But, in your way of life, you can communicate the same reality. That you can communicate the self-sacrificial love of Jesus, by how you live that way. And you can say, in your own simple way, that you love that way, because Jesus loves that way.
Either way is clearly communicating Jesus. And we do so – trusting God’s Spirit to supernaturally help us to do so. You worship because Jesus was clearly communicated to you, in a way you needed to more fully understand. You worship because Jesus was clearly communicated to you. How are you helping others to experience the same?
Today, if you’re still don’t clearly understand the God revealed in Jesus, know that God wants you to know him. Know that God is always at work to make himself known to you. Know that God’s Spirit is constantly arranging opportunities for you to hear more about him in a way that you can understand. If you’re seeking God, don’t stop seeking. And please know that I’m open, or another trusted follower of Jesus, whom you know, is probably open to helping you get answers to what you don’t understand about the God revealed in Jesus.
If you’ve already come to know the God revealed in Jesus, how might God be calling you to help those in your life, come to understand him more clearly? How might God be calling you to stretch your imagination of how to more clearly communicate Jesus to others? How might God be calling you to more faithfully live into the way of Jesus, and be prepared to give the courageous explanation, that Jesus is the reason for why you do what you do. How might God be calling you to trust his Spirit to help you clearly communicate Jesus to others?
You worship because Jesus was clearly communicated to you. How is God’s Spirit calling you to clearly communicate the God revealed in Jesus to those who don’t yet believe?