Tongues of Fire

Pentecost and the Feast of First Harvest

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg.

The Holy Gospel according to St. John, chapter 7, verses 37 -39. On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood out and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Now this he had said about the spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Brothers and sisters, today is Pentecost.

Pentecost Sunday. 50 days since the sacrifice of the Passover lamb. And if you know your Old Testament, then you know that, well, Pentecost is an official Old Testament feast. One of the required feasts.

It was the feast of the first harvest. And so in Typhon's shadow, the feast of the first harvest shows us that when the church has its big, grand opening to let the world know that it's ready for business, the business of forgiving sinners, the Holy Spirit descends and the great harvest of souls begins.

Not just the souls of Jews, but also the souls of Gentiles around the world as the Gospel spreads the good news of the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ. Sinners being called to repentance. And so it is fitting, it is fitting that on the day that the church has its grand opening, that the Holy Spirit is the one who cuts the ribbon and all kinds of amazing things happen.

The Gift of Tongues in Acts 2

Now, in our day, we live in a day where in the visible church there are a group of people, they are known as Pentecostals, or they are known as Charismatics. And they, well, this is a big day for them as well, but unfortunately, as we're going to see as we do a careful study in our text today, that some of their teachings as it regards to the gift of tongues do not comport with Scripture.

And so today we're going to spend a wee bit of time looking at our second reading from Acts 2, verse 1 and following regarding the gift of tongues and what Scripture reveals what it is. We're going to do a cross-reference today.

We're going to be in 1 Corinthians 14 if you want to mark it so that you're ready to get there and jump along. We're going to be doing a lot of biblical work today, but let me frame what we're going to be doing in our study by looking at what Jesus said in our Gospel text.

And here are these words again. Jesus said,. And what we're going to do at the back end of the sermon today is we're going to take a note, note how these rivers of living water are flowing on the day of Pentecost.

In fact, there's rivers of living water flowing all over this text on the Feast of Pentecost. So keep that in mind, kind of tuck it away, begin to see if you can note where these rivers of living water are flowing on the Feast of Pentecost.

And with that, let's return to our second reading, Acts 2, verse 1, where we read the account and historical narrative of what happened on the day that the church began its business, if you would. It says, When it arrived, they, that's the disciples and the apostles, were all together in one place.

I love the fact that one of the translations says they were all in one accord, which means that all of them drove a Honda. It's a terrible joke, but I had to pass it along anyway, right? So they were all together in one accord, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting, and divided tongues of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other, let me use the Greek word here for a minute, glosa. Glosa. What is that? What are glosa? Tongues. Well, we're going to pay attention to the text very carefully, because the text explicitly tells us what glosa are.

So, they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Who's giving the ability for them to do these utterances? Not themselves, the Holy Spirit. Now, important to note here, this is not a heavenly language.

These people are not speaking the tongues of angels. They are speaking human languages. And we'll see this in the text. Verse 5. Now, there were dwelling in Jerusalem at the time, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven, and at this sound the multitude came together.

So you'll notice they heard the sound of the rushing wind. The Spirit was not moving silently in this case. And so they came to find out what was going on, and at this moment, as the multitude came together, they were bewildered, because each one was listen, hearing them speak in his own language.

Different word. What are glosa? Glosa is a supernatural ability given by the Holy Spirit to speak a language, a human language, that you have not studied. Now, I know a few human languages, so if I had the gift of tongues, this would be this miraculous ability if I were to travel to the interior of the African continent, and God somehow miraculously gave me the ability to proclaim the gospel in Swahili.

I assure you, I have no clue how to speak any Swahili. This is what this is talking about. So, they were hearing them speak in their own languages. They were amazed, and they were astonished, saying, are not all of these who are speaking Galileans?

Now, Galileans, just so you know, are not known for their academic prowess. Just saying. So, Galileans speaking my language? Who knew? They didn't even go to grammar school. That's kind of the dig here, right?

So, how is it that we hear each of us in our own native language there it is again, Parthenians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers. Remember that from civics class?

Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians. We hear them telling in our own tongues what?

The mighty works.

Of God.

So, you'll notice here that this gift of the Holy Spirit is given, and we're going to see this explicitly in our cross reference, is given for the purpose of it being a sign to unbelievers. Think of it this way.

Do you remember that whole Tower of Babel incident? I mean, coming off the ark after the flood, all of the humans that came after that, they all spoke one language, and they were given one task. The one task was replenish the earth.

What did they all do? They clumped together. Clumping was not the thing they were told to do. They were told to spread out. So God assisted them in the spreading out duty, and broke up the clump by breaking up the languages.

And we, to this day, still have many, many, many, many, many different languages that humans speak. And this is a result of God's doing. Keep in mind, if evolution were true, we would all be speaking one language.

Evolutionists cannot come up with an explanation as to why we have all of these different languages. The answer is simple. God told us that he confused everything. So here Pentecost is this temporary suspending of the curse of Babel.

And all of this is a sign to the nations that the church is now in business. The church has gone from being exclusive in Israel to now being universal. Let me use that offensive word, Catholic. You hear that word, you go, Catholic.

I didn't say Roman Catholic. I said Catholic. Universal. The gospel's for everybody, everywhere. It's for all nations to come and repent, be forgiven, and live eternally because of what Christ has done for us.

Spiritual Gifts and the Purpose of Prophecy

So this is the sign. Now, let's do a little cross-reference work today, because in the Pentecostal movement, and if you know anybody who's a Pentecostal, or you've actually ever been taught by Pentecostals, then you know exactly what I'm saying is true.

And that is that there is a lot of pressure put on everyday Christians for them to speak in tongues. And they make the claim that tongues is for everybody. And so there you are thinking, okay, well, if God wants me to speak in tongues, how do I do it?

And so they put a lot of pressure on you and they say things like, well, you've got to turn your brain off and then just let it flow. Maybe start with words like ga-ga-goo-goo. I'm not making that up, by the way.

And just start speaking and it'll start flowing. No, that's not how that works. And then you sit there and say, wait a second, Scripture says some things about this that not everybody has the gift of tongues.

And they'll say, well, not everybody can speak in foreign languages, but every Christian can somehow speak in the tongues of angels and pray to God. And they say that tongues is a quote-unquote prayer language.

But it's not. We're going to look at some cross-references. So let me give you a little bit of context here, just remind you of what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 at the very end of that chapter.

Because the discussion in the epistle to the Corinthians the discussion in the epistle to the Corinthians is about the right use of God's gifts. And you're going to note in chapter 12, Paul makes a very important case regarding God giving spiritual gifts.

And the reason they are given is for the building up of the body of Christ. Tongues is a little bit different. And that God gives different gifts. Now, could you imagine what a horrifying sight it would be if you were to go into a room and you were to see, rather than a body, a bunch of left ears all lined up in a row.

It seems kind of like a weird thing. What happened here? A whole bunch of people lost their left ears. The one thing you wouldn't say if you saw a room full of left ears is, oh look, there's a human body.

You would think this is a horror show. What's going on here? That's not a body, but what is that? The whole point of the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives, He gives different gifts. Some He gives the gift of teaching.

Some He gives the gift of administrating. Some He gives the gift of hospitality and helps. And all of these gifts are given differently so that we, together, make up the body of Christ. Now, let me rat on myself here.

My wife will be the first person to tell you, my husband does not have the gift of administration. It's true. That's not my gift. I know somebody who has that gift. Dwayne Cleven. In fact, he has that gift so strong that he dreams in Excel spreadsheets.

You know this is true. But here's the thing. I need Dwayne as much as Dwayne needs me. And we need you as much as I need you. We are a body. And we all have different gifts. That's the idea. And so Paul then, at the tail end of chapter 12, he says this.

He says these important words. Verse 27. You are all the body of Christ and individually we're members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and there it is.

See there? Dwayne, you're right here in this text. And various kinds of languages. And then he asks these questions. And we've noted this before. Each of these questions is constructed very uniquely in the Greek.

Sorry. Faux pas. They're constructed very interestingly in the Greek in that there's an untranslated particle in each of these questions. And that untranslated particle is me, which means that each of the questions must be answered in the negative.

So, first question is me pantas apostoloi? Are all apostles? Answer, no. Are all prophets? No. In fact, let's kind of do this back and forth a little bit. I'll ask the question and we'll make this interactive and you can give the answer.

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all speak with tongues? Ask the average Pentecostal and they'll say, yes.

The answer is, no. And so, let's take a look then at 1 Corinthians 14. And here's the way they do it. They basically claim that there's different kinds of tongues. There's language tongues of human languages and then there's angelic tongues.

And that every Christian should be speaking in these angelic languages. This is what they say. But the text we just read says not all speak in tongues. And so, you're going to remember this about the church at Corinth.

The church at Corinth had some challenges. Some challenges. For instance, well, there was a fellow who was sleeping with his father's wife. That's a challenge. And no one was disciplining him. That's a problem.

Then you had people eating meat sacrificed to idols in a way that was hurting the faith of other people. That's a problem. And then you think about, well, in 1 Corinthians 11 you had people, the rich people in the congregation were keeping the poor people from the Lord's Supper and to make sure that the poor people wouldn't have the Lord's Supper they drank all the wine and were getting drunk.

That's a problem. I'm just saying. So, in a similar way, here's the other thing that was happening at the church at Corinth. The people who had the gift of tongues legitimately were given the ability to proclaim the wonders of God in human languages.

They were practicing this gift in church. And nobody was interpreting. And this is a problem. So the Apostle Paul is correcting this problem. Here's what it says. 1 Corinthians 14 1. Pursue love. You can do a whole sermon on that.

Pursue love. Track it down. Hunt it. When you get it, grab onto it. Don't let it go. Earnestly desire spiritual gifts. Should we be afraid of spiritual gifts? No, not at all. Desire them. Especially that you may, what?

Prophesy. Now, in case you don't understand what that means if you want to know what prophecy looks like, today it has come to be known as, well, something akin to going and seeing an astrologer or something.

It's like getting your fortune told. I'm going to the prophet to find out what my future is. No. You want to know what prophecy looks like? Read the Old Testament. Read Isaiah. Read Jeremiah. How about Amos or Malachi, the Italian prophet, right?

And when you read these prophets what do you find out that the big bulk of what the prophets did was? They taught. And over and again they all had the same message. Want to know what their message was?

Repent! Repent! Israel, you've gone into idolatry. You're engaging in sexual immorality. Repent! Return to God and he will forgive you. This is the recurring theme of the prophets. These poor men, were they thanked, given the keys to the city?

No. Many of them were killed for proclaiming this message of repentance. But that's really the message. And there was a little bit of pieces of it where they would tell them what God had revealed regarding the future.

That is a small aspect of prophecy. But think of it this way. Each and every one of us we all have a message from God. You sit there, we do? Yes. If you're not sure, take that pew Bible out and consider that to be a big message from God.

And the other thing, are you ready for this? We actually know the future. God has told us what's coming. What do we confess in the Creed? We confess that Jesus is going to return and judge the living and the dead.

And his kingdom will have no end. We have a glimpse of what's coming in the future in the prophetic writings and when we teach and proclaim repentance, the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ, let people know Jesus is returning to judge us all.

Repent of your sins. We're behaving and acting prophetically. We're proclaiming a word from God. And that's what prophecy is. This is why Peter says to those who teach, teach as those who have the very oracles of God.

Because we do. We do. So, especially that you may prophesy. 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. Now he's talking about those who have the gift and are practicing it with no one to translate.

And we know this from the rest of the context here. So imagine I had the gift of tongues and I decided I'm going to break into Swahili right here. Y 'all look at me like, what? Huh? He says this on the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their up-building and encouragement and consolation.

The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. And so you're going to notice that 1 Corinthians 14 is this protracted argument, a long one, about let's put tongues in its proper place and understand what it's for.

And it's good that you desire spiritual gifts, but let's put some structure around this one and focus on building up the church. So the one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more I want you to prophesy.

The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues. Unless, of course, someone interprets. And the word there for interpret, another important thing. People say, well see it says interpret, it doesn't say translate.

No, that doesn't work. In Acts chapter 9 verse 36, let me read this to you. It says, there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which translated means Dorcas. The same Greek word for interpret is the same Greek word as translate.

In fact, the primary meaning of this word is translate. So literally you can translate this word as the one, unless someone translates, so that the church may be built up. You see, tongues were not given for the building up of the church.

It's a sign gift, and we'll talk about that in a second. Now brothers, if I come to you speaking in other languages, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?

Does it sound like he's arguing for tongues? Or arguing that it's not given for the purpose of building up the church? So even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes.

How will anyone know what is played? Let me translate that for you. If I were to play the piano for you, none of you would be singing along. You kind of get it, right? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?

So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you'll be speaking into the air. Now this is an important thing here. You're going to note that the scripture reveals that when you receive the gift of tongues, you don't necessarily also receive the gift to translate them.

So the people who are proclaiming the wonders of God in Swahili may not actually know what they're saying. It requires a translation. So that's kind of fascinating. So tongues and the interpretation are two different gifts.

Sometimes they stay together and sometimes they're split apart. So you'll note how he's arguing then here. So you're going to be speaking into the air if nobody knows what you're saying. There are doubtless many different languages in the world and none is without meaning.

But if I don't know the meaning of the language, I'll be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker will be a foreigner to me. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

Is tongues a gift given for the purpose of building up the church? No. Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret, that he may translate. So if God has given you this miraculous ability to speak in a human language that you do not know and you don't know what you're saying, it explicitly says pray that you may translate.

Ask God to help you so that you're going to be built up and so that you can build others up. For if I pray in a tongue, verse 14, my spirit prays, but my mind's unfruitful. What am I to do? I'll pray with my spirit, but I'm going to pray with my mind also.

I'll sing praise with my spirit, but I'm going to sing praise with my mind also. 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're saying?

For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person's not being built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church, I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10 ,000 words in a tongue.

And you can see the flow of this argument. He's not arguing for the church to practice tongues in church. He's arguing the exact opposite of it. Brothers, he says this, don't be children in your thinking.

Let me translate that. Grow up. That's what he's saying. Grow up. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. And this next verse makes it perfectly clear what Paul is talking about. He's not talking about the supernatural ability to pray in an angelic language.

He is explicitly talking about the ability to speak a human language you don't know. And the reason I know this is because this next verse is lifted straight out of the Old Testament. The cross-reference, if you want to look it up, is Isaiah 28 verse 11, where the prophet Isaiah talks about the gift of tongues.

Yeah, Isaiah actually wrote about it. He says this, in the Torah it is written, by people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.

Isaiah 28 is a prophecy regarding the day of Pentecost. And it's fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. And what did they do? They spoke in foreign languages. And the text itself is talking about foreign languages.

Paul's talking about foreign languages, not angelic languages. Then he says this, thus tongues are a sign. Tongues is a sign gift. And listen who it's for. It is a sign not for believers, but for unbelievers.

And is this not what we see happening in Acts chapter 2? The gift of tongues was given and it was a sign for the unbelievers. That's its purpose. While prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers, but for believers.

If therefore the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues and an outsider or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you're out of your mind? They will. They're going to think, these people have mentally left the rails.

But if all prophesy and an unbeliever or outsider enters, and he's convicted by all and he's called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed. And so falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.

Note the content then of what this is talking about prophecy does. Prophecy convicts people of their sin. Prophecy calls people to repent of their wickedness. Prophecy placards Christ and Him crucified for our sins.

This is why people would fall on their face and worship God. Where true prophecy were taking place. You see it? Now, a little bit of a note here. The reason for that is quite simple. A little cross reference you can tuck away.

Revelation 19 .10. Revelation 19 .10 explicitly says this that the spirit of prophecy, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. A true prophet filled with the spirit points people to Jesus, not himself.

Points people to Jesus. Calls them to repent, to be forgiven of all of their sins. That's the point. So we continue verse 26. So what then brothers? When you come together each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation let all things be done for building up.

So what Paul's going to do now to correct the error of those who are abusing the gift of tongues at the church of Corinth he's going to put structure in place. Structure. Where there was chaos there's now order.

It says let all things be done for building up. What's done in church is for the building up of the body of Christ. So if anyone speaks in another language let there be only two or at the most three. Each are to take turns and let someone translate.

If there is no one to translate let each one of them keep silent in the church and speak to himself and God. So if someone were to be among us today and say I have the gift of tongues and I would like to give you a word from God as pastor I would say who's going to translate that?

Well I don't have a translator. I don't have the gift of interpretation. You need to sit down and be quiet. I can't let you speak here. Because somebody who does that are they pointing you to Jesus or themselves?

They're pointing you to themselves. They're manifesting a gift for the purpose of boosting their view in other people. Other people's eyes as being spiritual. But really Paul says they're being childish.

So if there's no one to interpret let each one of them keep silent in church. Speak to himself and God. Let two or three prophets speak and let others weigh what is said. If a revelation is made to another sitting there let the first be silent.

For you can all prophesy one by one so that all may learn and be encouraged. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but a God of peace. And this is where history helps us out a lot.

If you've ever read that late 1st century document called the Didache Some actually argue that Matthew was the author of it although we don't have sure certain proof of that. But the Didache tells us that in the early church, and this comports well with 1st Corinthians, before the New Testament was finished.

So there's the Apostle Paul out there preaching and teaching and proclaiming Christ. And people being brought to penitence and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. Them being baptized washed, forgiven, absolved.

And now we've got a church and the church gathers together and what Bible do they have? They only have the Old Testament. But they need the New Testament as well. But what's going on at the moment? The New Testament is still being written.

So to fill in the gap, God gave the gift of prophecy and people had the gift of prophecy by the laying on of hands of the Apostles which made it so that Christ's sheep would be fed and we had New Testament doctrine through these prophets until the New Testament's finished.

And then we find that with the death of the Apostles, this gift of prophecy drops off to be expected. In fact, Daniel himself in his prophecy of the 70 weeks talks about the time after the Messiah that prophecy would be sealed.

And so it is. So here we've got the church is still having prophets and Paul puts order in place and then he says this, in all the churches of the saints, and this is an important thing, there's order being put in place here the women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but they should be in submission as the Torah also says.

If there's anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached?

If anyone thinks that he's a prophet or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. And so you're going to note here then, along with this order that God has revealed through the Apostle Paul, how the gifts are to be used, what the purpose of tongues is, and how prophecy is to be used and the order put around it, along with this came the very explicit command that women are not to be pastors.

They're not to exercise authority over men in the church. That's what Christ has commanded. And note what I just read. If anyone thinks he's spiritual, then he needs to acknowledge that what I'm writing is a command of the Lord.

Paul's not giving his opinion. He's saying what he is saying, because God has commanded it. Christ wants order in his church, and there's certain ways in which things are to be done in his church. So there's our quick look at the cross-reference, and I think you all can see the gist of what's going on here.

Is Paul saying that we can all have a prayer language and that we can all speak in tongues? No. Not at all. He says that tongues is a human language, and if you have that gift, it's not to be exercised in the church unless somebody can translate what you're saying, because everything done in church is done for the upbuilding of the body of Christ.

Rivers of Living Water at Pentecost

And so with that, we then return to Acts 2. We'll pick up at verse 11 again. As they're hearing the mighty works of God, it says this, we hear them telling in our own languages, the mighty works of God.

Now remember the question I asked at the beginning, based upon our gospel text. Jesus says, the one who believes in him, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. So I want you to think of this.

There they are. The Holy Spirit has come and tongues of fire have fallen on them and they are miraculously proclaiming the wonders and the works of God in other languages. Is that a river of living water flowing from their heart?

Indeed it is. And it goes on. We're all amazed and perplexed. They were amazed and perplexed saying to one another, what does this mean? Others mocked saying, well they're filled with new wine. So Peter standing with the eleven lifted up his voice and he addressed the men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give ear to my words.

These people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it's only the third hour of the day. I have to over again note that people who drink too much have difficulty with their primary language. They don't miraculously speak in others.

I'm just saying. That kind of spirit leads to slurring of speech, not multiple languages. This is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. In the last days it shall be that God declares, I'll pour out my spirit on all flesh.

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions and your old men dream dreams. Even on my male servants and female servants and in those days I'll pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy.

And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs in the earth below. Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness. The moon to blood before the day of the Lord comes that great and magnificent day.

Now wait a second. I seem to remember that when Jesus was crucified the sun was darkened. That's what he's referring to. And then listen to these important words. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.