One of the things I love about our church is that we are a non-denominational, community church. We have people from just about every faith background come through our doors and many become part of our spiritual family – Baptist, Church of Christ, Lutheran, Bible Church, Catholic, Methodist, Assembly of God and even a few Mormons. We are also a charismatic church which means we believe in the present operation of all the spiritual gifts and we believe in the present operation of miracles.
Many of our visitors and members have a faith background that spoke little about the Holy Spirit, or spiritual gifts (especially the “miraculous” gifts) , and consigned miracles to the “Bible age”… which means “not now.” One of the gifts of the Spirit that some of our folks have the most difficult time understanding is the gift of tongues. Initially they think the whole idea is weird and they just don’t see the point. However, in his letter to the Corinthians Paul commanded the church to exercise the gift of tongues along with all the other gifts because each were needed to build up the body of Christ. It is also the singular gift that is meant to build up the one speaking or praying in tongues.
I believe the Holy Spirit prompted me to write this blog, and a few others, concerning the gift of tongues. I haven’t written on the subject in a while, so I am assuming that someone needs to receive some explanation of what this strange gift is all about. So…let’s begin trying to make sense of this unusual gift.
Our first encounter with this gift is on the Day of Pentecost. Luke tells us, “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 them speaking in his own language” (Acts 2:1-6).
The background to this text is that the followers of Jesus had gathered in Jerusalem after his resurrection and his return to the Father in heaven. They were gathered together and praying, What were they praying about? We are not explicitly told, but Jesus had commanded his followers to wait in Jerusalem until they received power from the Holy Spirit to be his witnesses to the world (Acts 1:8). Jesus also told them that the experience of receiving power would be a moment when they were baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5). I assume they were praying for God to fulfill those promises.
In this particular episode, we are told that after the Spirit had fallen on them they began to go out into the Temple courts, speaking in tongues as the Holy Spirit enabled them. From the context we can tell that they were preaching in native languages to the Jews who had gathered in Jerusalem for the feast day from nations around the known world. The leaders were unlearned Galileans and yet they were declaring the wonderful works of God in languages they had not known previous to that moment. In the first century, nearly everyone spoke Greek to some extent because it was the international language of the day. But each person also had a native tongue and dialect that was not spoken widely. They were hearing the followers of Jesus preach in their native dialects and they were astonished.
The gift of tongues exercised on that day, was the gift to speak in human languages unknown to the speaker before that moment. That miraculous experience prompted many who were there that day to believe in Jesus. When he was preached after the miracle, we are told that at least 3000 responded to the preaching that day and became followers of Jesus.
It is easy to grasp the value of his manifestation of tongues in evangelizing nations. But does the Holy Spirit still operate in this way today? The answer is “Yes.” I have a friend Dana who was trying to evangelize two young muslims on a college campus several years ago. He and another friend had been trying to build a relationship with the two muslims and so invited them to lunch. Before they ate, Dana’s friend asked if he could pray for the meal. The two young muslim men agreed. For some reason, Dana’s friend felt prompted to pray for the meal in tongues. When he had finished, one of the muslim men asked where he had learned to speak that language. Dana’s friend explained that he was not sure what he was praying but felt the Holy Spirit spoke through him. The muslim who had asked, told Dana and his friend that the prayer was offered in the language of his grandfather’s village back home. Both muslim men gave their lives to Jesus that day.
I have another good friend who makes regular visits to Peru for preaching and healing services. On one of his trips, he told me that an older Peruvian woman had received the “gift of tongues” at the meeting. As she began to pray, she had no understanding of what she was saying, but she was declaring the works of God in perfect English. We could relate any number of stories that illustrate the current manifestation of tongues as languages of men never studied by the one speaking. Sometimes the Holy Spirit gives them understanding of what they are saying, but typically they are unaware until someone who speaks the language tells them what they have declared.
The first manifestation of tongues we encounter in scripture then is the declaration of the gospel or the wonderful works of God in human tongues or languages. However, in the the book of Acts and 1 Corinthians, it becomes evident that another form of tongues is the verbalization of a spiritual language that is not a language spoken on earth but in heaven. Paul begins 1 Corinthians 13 by saying, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angles, but do not have love…I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” Although he is beginning his great chapter on love, he suggests that believers might speak in the tongues of men or of angels…a spiritual language. Paul has much to say about that form or manifestation of the gift of tongues in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 and Romans 12. We will begin to look at that expression of tongues in next week’s blog.
Blessings until then.
