Sermon for March 6th (Praying in the Spirit)

What does it mean to speak in tongues? I’d bet you that most people don’t have a clue. But what is distressing is that a great number of Christians don’t know either. Why is that a problem? Because it is written about, in several places, in the Bible! That’s right! Our Bible. Not some OTHER church’s Bible, it’s written about in every single Bible out there. And yet, speaking in tongues has gotten a really bad rap in many mainline Christian denominations. When I hear people talk about speaking in tongues, it’s often done in hushed tones as if they don’t want anybody to know that they are involved in any such thing or even thinking about it. Lutherans often give off the impression that they are too “cultivated and realistic” in their Christianity than to give speaking in tongues too much thought. We leave it to those wild and crazy Pentacostals (who, by the way, own the fastest growing Christian denomination in the world).

My goal today is to do two things: First, to help you see that speaking in tongues is NOT some abnormal spiritual gift. It is no worse than any other gift of God spoken about in the Bible such as hospitality, evangelism, prayer or artistic ability. Second, I want to impress upon you all that speaking in tongues in no better than any other spiritual gift. You are NOT saved by speaking in tongues and it does not PROVE that you are a Christian any more than a Christian is proved by their ability to evangelize, but, just as true, speaking in tongues is not a “weird” gift . . . it should be considered normal for the Christian life. In fact, this spiritual gift is part of our armor, the protection that God provides for us to fight the Devil’s schemes. So, we should not only know about it, we should desire to do it.

Paul says as much in the 14th chapter of his first letter to the Corinthian church. He points out, “I would like every one of you to speak in tongues.” Now, were you all aware of that!? That Saint Paul wants you speak in tongues? Does that surprise you?

Speaking in tongues can mean one of two things based on what we read in the Bible. First, it means speaking in a language that someone else understands but you do not, another earthly language you might say. This happened most famously at Pentecost according to the book of Acts (2), “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. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.” In other words, the Holy Spirit might give the ability to communicate the gospel message to someone in a language you cannot speak. This would be a sign for an unbeliever, according to Saint Paul, that God was truly real and active in this world. You can’t fake speaking another language that you don’t know.

A second understanding of speaking in tongues is to speak in a language that perhaps only God understands. Paul says it this way in Romans, “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express”. In 1st Corinthians 14, Paul writes that “anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.”

I was not always comfortable with the concept of speaking in tongues. In fact, it’s only been in the last several years as I became more and more focused on prayer and healing prayer that I really encountered people who would talk about this with me. I knew that speaking in tongues was somewhere in the Bible but, honestly, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you where. It was like this mysterious activity that I didn’t think good little Lutheran boys like me messed around with. But someone asked me once if I had what they called a “personal prayer language”. What was that? I asked. Well, they explained, do you sometimes pray to God in a way that no one else would understand if they were sitting right there in the room. When you are praying about something very difficult or heart-wrenching, do you sometimes feel like you don’t have the words to say and wish you could keep going and just keep praying anyway knowing that God understands? I thought about it and, yes, there were times where I prayed and just couldn’t express myself with words, but I still wanted to pray and (sometimes) I did. But was that speaking in tongues? That wasn’t THAT big of a deal was it?

They encouraged me to try it out some time. The next time I got to a difficult prayer where I was just so sad, or so happy or so confused that I didn’t know what to say, they encouraged me to stop worrying about saying the right words and keep praying anyway. So, when I got back to my office, and the door was closed, and I knew that nobody was listening except for God. I started praying. I asked God to help me to trust him enough to feel silly. I asked God to keep me faithful to His Word and not rest on my own understanding. And then I took the risk and just started making what I would call sounds. Just sorta babbling. I wondered if I was just making them up at first and, who knows, maybe I was, I don’t know, but, as I continued, it was just so freeing to express the feelings I was feeling to God without worrying about saying just the right thing.

I don’t always know what to say to God. Sometimes I’m so grateful that a simple thank-you just doesn’t seem to cut it. Sometimes I get the feeling that I need some extra strength but I don’t know for what. So, I trust what the scripture says, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Nowadays, when I don’t know what to pray, I let the Spirit pray for me.

“Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Prayer is a necessary part of this armor. There is too much that our humanity just cannot bear in this world. We are welcoming today a group from Lutheran church of Hope in Des Moines who we joined for a mission trip to El Paso Texas two weeks ago. While El Paso is the safest city in the country, just across the border is the most dangerous city in the world in Juarez, Mexico where they average 8 murders a day. 8 murders a day! Where can you start in praying for something like that? What do you say? How can you express the feelings of fear, anger, frustration and even hope in a situation like that?

What about when you are in love with someone who is dying, whether it is from cancer or some other dreaded disease, you see them suffering and you wish that they could just go to be with God, but you cannot imagine a moment of your life without them. What words can you say to pray about that? When we come up against some great evil, against hopeless situations, against a God who is hidden in the suffering of this world, it is a great comfort when you can trust the Holy Spirit to pray for you, to ask God for those things that only God knows you need. Sometimes, it is the only armor, the only defense, the only weapon that you have against despair. Speaking in tongues is a wonderful spiritual comfort at times like this

God equips us all to pray in his Spirit, to speak in tongues, as part of our armor, but that doesn’t mean that we all have the GIFT of speaking in tongues though. Do you understand the difference? We all have Christian responsibilities, but we may not have gifts in those areas. For instance, there is a gift of evangelism. Some people love to share Christ’s love with others and are successfully leading people to faith while others aren’t doing that much; but everyone is called to defend their faith before others even if they don’t feel they have a “gift” for it. We are all called to pray as well, whether or not we feel like we are “gifted” pray-ers; however, some will pray much more often and find that their prayers often bear much fruit—that is the gift of prayer. If you try to speak in tongues this week and find yourself wanting to speak in tongues all the time, you may have a gift for it. Let me know.

This is the last week of the Armor of God series. Next week, we will send Jeffrey, our little mannequin here, back home. But please don’t forget what you have learned. This armor is something that we have all been given to defend ourselves and our church against the Devil and His schemes. But there are two roads that we can take when we use these things. A glory road and the road to the cross.

Speaking in tongues is a wonderful and normal part of the Christian life, but it is no better than any other gift; in fact, Paul says, “I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy.” What does he mean by that? He explains, “Anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him, he utters mysteries with his spirit. But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement, and comfort.” Prophesy means to speak God’s truth to people. In one book I read, it said that someone with the gift of prophecy can “serve as the vehicle for a divine message regarding a concrete situation.” Remember that spiritual gifts are meant to strengthen the community above all else and not just to simply comfort ourselves. So, in other words, while speaking in tongues often doesn’t make sense to people (unless they can interpret), prophesy is a gift that make God’s will very clear to people and that is what’s most desired. Because speaking in tongues is such a different experience for most of us, those who have this gift can become prideful towards those who don’t have it. But the apostle Paul says that God’s glory is much more important than our glory.

We must follow the cross road and not the glory road. For instance, the breastplate of righteousness is meant to protect us from ourselves. We live a righteous life to keep us from sin, but we put on Christ’s righteousness to keep us from being self-righteous before God. We aren’t doing the right thing to make us look good, but to be a good witness to God’s glory. The sword of the spirit, the Word of God, the Bible, is a weapon to use against the Devil as he attacks us to accuse and condemn . . . it is not meant to use as a weapon against those whom you disagree with in the church or community. When we put on God’s armor and when we speak in tongues, we must remember that these are gifts from God for the upbuilding of the church, not for our own glory. They do not bring us glory, they are meant to bring God glory. God’s armor protects us on our road to the cross.

There is a story in the Bible, about a time when Jesus walked up a mountainside with three of his disciples and his clothes turned shining white, whiter than lighting, and God’s glory shone all around them. The disciples wanted to stay up there on that mountain, where they saw God’s glory, forever. But Jesus said that they had to leave, to go the path of suffering to Jerusalem where he would be crucified. By the time I see most of you again, we will have begun Lent, a time of repentance. We will focus on Jesus’ road to the cross and on how we are called to suffer with him in our lives by carrying our own crosses. If you can remember nothing else about the armor of God, about speaking in tongues, rember this: Putting on the full armor of God, praying in the spirit, these things do not keep you from suffering in your life or from experiencing persecution, they give you the protection and strength to follow God’s call through suffering so that you might carry the cross in your life. God is calling you into a world full of temptations and suffering, but when you put your trust in Him, in His protection and in His gifts—in your daily life and even in your prayer life—you are not walking alone. You are living under the power of God himself. The Armor of God is yours. It is a gift of God.