Being A Sign

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

BEING A SIGN

1 Cor 14:22-25

22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. 23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24 But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, 25 and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"

NIV

This does sound a little confusing in that first we are told that tongues are a sign for the unbelievers, but then we are told that if an unbeliever does come into the church and hears people speaking in tongues, they will think the people are crazy. What kind of sign is that? Then we are told that prophecy is more profitable as far as a sign to the unbeliever because he will be convicted of his sin. We would think that speaking in tongues is surely a sign of the miraculous power of God and His work among His people. However, whether we speak in tongues or words of prophecy, that should not be the only reason an unbeliever would say, “God is really among you”. What if, like it was among the Corinthians, there is total chaos, with everyone speaking over everyone else, with no order, or proper mutual respect. Still, there is another truth we should take note of in that this is a church in Greece, and not in Israel where the Apostles came from. This is a church that will go beyond the life of the Apostles and with this church being so filled with the Spirit and His gifts, specifically tongues, interpretation, and prophecy, it gives us this clue that the Spirit continues to be poured out upon people and we should see the evidences in the church and would still be a sign to those who do not believe that God is among us. We think that we the church might have taken on too many of the ways of humanistic methods of “Good works” to show we are Christians. Some churches do things in and for the community in an effort to show them, God is at work among them. However, we do not find that type of evangelism in the word of God. How is the power of God revealed if we do the same kind of things any human organization could do and even does? It would seem right to us to believe the power of God is revealed through His miraculous divine power being expressed in us, therefore being a sign to the unbeliever. Yes, love will always be at the forefront of our attitudes and behaviors toward both the believer and the unbeliever. Yet, it is difficult to always see love in action, and again, unbelievers are capable of expressing some form of love. We see evidence of that when at weddings of those who may know about God, and perhaps have some form of faith, yet would by all accounts, not be considered believers, or born again, bible token, Spirit-filled believers exhibiting all the power of God in their lives, quote the love chapter 13. They still look to love as the basis of a good marriage. But the miraculous power of God as the Spirit moves among His people and empowers them with many gifts that would be a sign to the world that God exists and is among His people. Let us not keep that Spirit at bay, holding him back from what He is intended to do, empowering the people of God to be a sign to unbelievers.