Author: Rev. Lek Aik Wee

The Lord seeks order in the church. He is not the author of confusion. When a meeting of God’s people degenerates into a state of pandemonium and disorder, surely it is not in order and God is surely not approving of it. The responsibility is therefore upon the church to practice orderly behaviour during public meetings. Whether on the matter concerning the interpretation of a foreign language or proclamation of prophecy, there is a place for the orderly use of these gifts so that the congregation can benefit.

William MacDonald observed well, “a prophet received direct communications from the Lord and revealed them to the church. But it is possible that after giving this revelation, he might go on to preach to the people. So the apostle lays down the rule that if a prophet is speaking and anything is revealed to another prophet sitting in the audience, then the first is required to stop speaking to make way for the one who has received the latest revelation. The reason, as suggested, is that the longer the first man talks, the more apt he is to speak by his own power rather than by inspiration. In continued speech there is always the danger of shifting from God’s words to one’s own words. Revelation is superior to anything else.”

The prophetic gift is considered and the counsel given is not more than two or three prophets are to speak during one service. And it is imperative that those given the gift to distinguish truth and error, this gift of discernment, must seek to ascertain if indeed the message is of God – 1 John 4:1 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” Also, our Lord Jesus tells us the the indwelling Holy Spirit will help believers ascertain the truth – John 15:26 “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:” By such a procedure, a false prophet is to be exposed.

The counsel for edifying church service is to ensure that anyone speaking in a foreign language has an interpreter. It should be limited to at most three languages. I recall attending a meeting with English as the main language with a Mandarin translator interpreting after each sentence. And there is another at the back of the meeting hall interpreting the message into Bahasa Indonesian. It is true that the message of the main speaker was slowed down by the Mandarin translation for the sake of the Chinese speaking folks. Also, the third interpreter could be heard also, there was some degree of distraction for those listening message in English. However, for the sake of others, it did not bother those present.

The guilding principle for the exercise spiritual gifts is that it seeks to build up the body. It must be out of love. Therefore, in the sharing of a psalm, in the propounding of a doctrine, in the speaking of a foreign language, a prophetic message, in the interpretation of God’s Word, the body of God’s people is strenghtened.

The church in Corinth has an undue focus on those who speak in foreign languages so that the focus was on the display of the gift of speaking in foreign languages. When the Word of God and Christ is not the centre and focus in the church, such skewing would be costly to the spiritual well-being of the church especially when there are newcomers and unbelievers coming to the church.