1 Corinthians 14: Prophecy Builds Up, Discernment Protects

Introduction

"Zeal without knowledge is not good." Pastor Mike, of Birmingham City Church, opens the second-to-last message of the church's series on the gifts of the Spirit with Proverbs 19:2 ("It is not good to have zeal without knowledge"). This morning, he warns, he is not only preaching: he is teaching. Passion and emotion are good, and God uses them, but they must be anchored in knowledge. Jesus asks us to love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength "and with all your mind" (Luke 10:27).

He quotes a maxim that sums up the balance he is after: biblical teaching without practice disappoints, and practice without solid teaching is dangerous. "God did not come only to make us smarter. He came so that we would change the world."

Today's topic is one of the most contested gifts: prophecy and the discerning of spirits, two gifts that "go hand in hand." Next week will be devoted to tongues and their interpretation.

Message Outline

1. What Prophecy Is Not

As a child on the school playground, the pastor saw a boy from his school holding court with a crumpled newspaper page: the horoscope of Mystic Meg, a famous fortune-teller on British television. The boy predicted the next kiss on the playground and charged 50 pence for a personal horoscope.
The church has its own clichés too: the prophet who arrives with an entourage, "the congregation parts like the Red Sea," with a strange hairstyle and thick-rimmed glasses. For Pastor Mike, prophecy is one of the most abused gifts, in the church as well as outside it.
Our culture, obsessed with proof, is also fascinated by the supernatural. At a women's conference of about a thousand participants, posters announced tarot and psychic readings in the same place. Desperate people, after a bereavement, a separation or financial difficulties, turn to those who say: "I have an answer for you."

2. Speaking What Is Coming, and Speaking What Is

Biblical prophecy sometimes announces the future, but it is also God speaking into what is happening right now.
The Hebrew word for prophet, nabi, makes the pastor think of navigation: "To know where you are going, you have to know where you are." The word means a spokesperson for God, inspired by the Spirit.
The theologian Stanley Horton describes the gift of prophecy as a word from the Lord that touches sensitive spots, reveals hidden things and leads to conviction and worship, while encouraging and stimulating action.
Paul adds the decisive note: "Follow after love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy" (1 Corinthians 14:1). The one who prophesies speaks to people to build them up, exhort them and console them (verse 3). Paul does not say this gift is holier than the others, but he sets it apart.

3. Love, the Motivation for Prophecy

1 Corinthians was a letter, not a book cut into chapters. Chapters 12, 13 and 14 flow together: the gifts, then love, then prophecy. The motivation for all the gifts, and for prophecy in particular, must be love.
Our definition of love is too narrow: pink hearts and rainbows. A prophetic word in church often contains "a dove, a waterfall or a rainbow." That is not wrong, but love always seeks the good of the person it is aimed at, and that sometimes requires a hard truth.
"Prophecy convicts, but it does not condemn. It can discipline, but it does not punish." Conviction and discipline correct for the good of the person. Condemnation and punishment express our anger at what they have done.
The pastor's illustration: when doing the grocery shopping online, his wife removes from the basket the packet of crisps he slipped in. She is not punishing him: she knows he spends money at the gym to get back in shape.

4. Old Testament Prophets, New Testament Prophets, the Gift of Prophecy

In the Old Testament, God speaks through chosen vessels: Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Jonah. Their stories are often painful. Elijah triumphs over the prophets of Baal, then wants to die in the next chapter: "He just needed a nap and a takeaway meal."
At the end of the Old Testament, God stops speaking: four hundred years of silence, "like when your spouse stops answering your messages." Then God no longer speaks through a man: he comes himself in Jesus. At the cross, the temple veil is torn. At Pentecost, Peter quotes Joel: the Spirit is poured out on all flesh, men, women, servants.
"Don't you know that you are a temple of God, and that God's Spirit lives in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16). "With your bad back, your tired knees and your bad temper, the Spirit lives in you." There is now only one mediator, Jesus.
The ministry of prophet still exists, but it is set within the church. According to Ephesians 4:11-12, it serves to equip the saints for the work of service. "Run from anyone who claims to hear God for you if you give them money." Peter rebuked Simon the magician, who wanted to buy with money the power to give the Spirit (Acts 8). "God works in relationship, not in transaction."
This ministry is recognized and confirmed by the community. "Beware of an apostle or prophet who is accountable to no one."
The gift of prophecy, on the other hand, is an ability given by the Spirit, available to every believer, generally for a specific moment and situation. "We can all operate in the gift of prophecy. All of us, without exception."

5. What Prophecy Does, and Its Safeguards

It gives direction: Agabus announces a famine (Acts 11:28), and the church sets apart Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:2). Around the age of twenty, Pastor Mike received, in front of his whole church, a word from a pastor visiting from Australia: he would be like Peter, he would go all out for God, and then he would crash. At eleven, in a small church in Kentucky, a pastor had pointed at him: God would call him to ministry, but he would run away like Jonah. Both words proved true.
That second pastor later saw his ministry collapse in scandal. God uses fallible people: "He did use Balaam's donkey." When the gift is right, it always comes from God. Do not put your faith in a man or a woman.
It encourages: Judas and Silas strengthen the brothers (Acts 15:32). It convicts, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves (Hebrews 12:6). It confirms a calling, like the prophecies recalled to Timothy. It exalts: spontaneous praise, when the team starts to sing a new song, can be prophetic, like the song of Mary.
Just as the church protects children with strict rules, prophecy needs safeguards. It always agrees with Scripture and never contradicts the revealed Word. It builds up instead of tearing down. It never serves a personal interest.
A former national leader of his movement told him that, as a young pastor, his superior called him: "God told me you must leave your church." He refused and was hung up on. After a night of fasting and prayer, he called back to refuse again, was hung up on again, and thought he was disobeying God. A regional leader finally told him, laughing, that he was the fourteenth person to receive that same call: the superior had a church to fill. "See how people's identity, calling and faith can be destroyed when 'God said' is used to serve a personal interest."

6. Test Every Prophecy

Whether the word comes from a prophet recognized for forty years or from a believer who thinks they are exercising the gift of prophecy, the instruction is the same: test it. "Don't despise prophesies. Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:20-22). Test the spirits (1 John 4:1).
Three filters: the Holy Spirit, by bringing it in prayer; the Word, with which it must agree; the community of believers.
"You don't need to be in the water to be a fish, but it helps." Not abandoning the assemblies (Hebrews 10:24-25) does not only mean attending the service: you have to be the church, woven into relationships. "My job is not to know everyone. My job is to make sure everyone is known." Those who walk with you in the valley will be able to tell you whether a word is good for you.

7. The Discerning of Spirits

The Greek word diakrisis means going to the heart of things. What looks holy on the surface can hide something that is not right. Since the Spirit lives in us, we have an inner barometer, and the gift of discernment is added to it at certain moments.
A piano illustration: you do not need to have studied music to hear a wrong note. "If our natural ears can hear when the music sounds off, how much more when a spiritual word does not ring true."
Three spirits are at work. The Holy Spirit, Creator and not created. Evil spirits, because Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). The slave girl at Philippi proclaimed that Paul announced the way of salvation, and Paul drove out the spirit (Acts 16:16-18): the content seemed right, but one had to look at the source and the fruit. The enemy uses "99% truth and 1% falsehood," and it is that 1% that makes people stumble.
Finally, the human spirit: "The heart is deceitful above all things" (Jeremiah 17:9). We know how to convince ourselves that God approves of what we want. Nathan, a recognized prophet, first tells David to build the house of God, then the Lord corrects him that very night (2 Samuel 7). Jeremiah 23:16 warns against those who announce the visions of their own heart.
Every prophet will eventually be wrong one day. Hence the language to adopt: "I think God may be saying this," never "God told me." A young adult from his former church told him that God was telling her to leave, then three months later that God was telling her to come back.
The discerning of spirits does not only evaluate prophecy: it protects the church from deception. The first task of pastors and elders is to equip the saints and watch over the church, acknowledging their own mistakes, and always in the language of love.

Key Takeaways

Prophecy is not limited to predicting the future: it is also God speaking in the present to build up, exhort and console.
Its motivation is love. It can convict and discipline, never condemn or punish.
The ministry of prophet is entrusted to a few and confirmed by the church, but every believer can receive the gift of prophecy.
Every prophecy is tested: by the Holy Spirit, by the Word and by the community.
The discerning of spirits goes to the heart of things and protects the church, including from our own desires disguised as words from God.

Personal Application

Do you earnestly desire the gift of prophecy as Paul urges, or do you leave it to a few "special" people?
When you have to tell someone a hard truth, are you seeking their good or expressing your anger?
Is there a word you received that you have never brought in prayer, measured against Scripture or submitted to brothers and sisters who know you?
In the way you speak, do you ever say "God told me" to back up something you already wanted?
Who in your church knows you well enough to help you discern in the valley as well as on the mountaintops?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What is prophecy according to the Bible?

For Pastor Mike, prophecy is not limited to predicting the future. It sometimes announces what is coming, but it is also God speaking into what is happening right now. According to 1 Corinthians 14:3, the one who prophesies speaks to people to build them up, exhort them and console them, and the motivation is always love.

Can all Christians prophesy?

Yes. Pastor Mike distinguishes between the ministry of prophet, recognized and confirmed by the church and entrusted to a small number, and the gift of prophecy, available to every believer. Since Pentecost, the Spirit has been poured out on all flesh (Joel 2, Acts 2), and everyone can receive a message from God for a specific moment.

How do you test a prophecy?

The Bible asks us not to despise prophecies but to test everything (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21). Pastor Mike proposes three filters: bring it before the Holy Spirit in prayer, check that it agrees with the Word, and submit it to the community of believers who know you.