Chaos or Harmony



1 Corinthians 14:6-12
6Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? 7If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? 8And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? 9So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. 10There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, 11but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. 12So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

Starting in the 5th grade, I joined “band” and began to learn how to play the flute. I’ll admit right up front that I chose the flute because it came in the smallest case and looked like it wouldn’t be too bad to carry back and forth to school. (I still have the flute today - although playing it hasn't happened in decades!) In the end, I actually enjoyed the experience, which carried on into High School, where I gave up my career in the band for other interests – like boys and the guitar. I still remember the cacophony of sound that a bunch of students can make with musical instruments when no one is controlling the room. Everyone just felt compelled to make noise with their instrument. It wasn’t music. It was just noise. And I see the same thing even now among musicians. You hand them an instrument and they’re going to play it – for themselves – without a thought to the rest of the people in the room. But then someone stands in front of the group and brings all of that sound together into something amazing. All the noise becomes organized into discernible melody and harmonies appear that add depth and richness. And of course, if the instruments are left in their cases, there is silence. Nothing happens.

Paul uses the brilliant analogy of musical instruments to make his point about the usage of Spiritual Gifts. Here he specifically deals with the misuse of the gift of tongues. If tongues are used in a congregational setting, without interpretation present, then it is like a flutist just blowing away merely for the sake of hearing those notes, in no particular order or purpose. It quickly becomes annoying! The same is true if the gift of tongues is misused. When hearing someone speak in an unknown tongue, and the people in the room don’t know what is being said, of what use is it? There is no place in the church for showing off one’s gifts for the purpose of self-aggrandizement. If gifts do not edify they do not matter.

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