THE GIFT OF TONGUES

 

In 1906 a small group of holiness believers in Los Angeles California received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. That event led to the Pentecostal revival that quickly spread worldwide.

That was the culmination of 100 years of preparation leading up to this during which time people became interested in, and started to use the term “Baptism in the Holy Spirit.”

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Famous preachers like Charles Finney and D.L.Moody had been writing and preaching about it and the great Welsh revival of 1904-5 had awakened great interest in revival all around the world.

The outpouring of the Spirit in Los Angeles was characterised by speaking in tongues and from then on, the early Pentecostals taught that speaking in tongues was the initial evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit baptism.

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This became the foundational doctrine of the Pentecostal Movement but it is sad and significant that these days there are lots of people in Pentecostal churches who do not have the gift of tongues and in lots of Pentecostal churches today it’s not high on their list of priorities to teach about the baptism of the Holy Spirit or the gift of tongues.

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However, the mainstream denominations, having resisted the Pentecostal movement for many years, became drawn into this subject with the start of Charismatic Movement in 1960 when Dennis Bennett an Episcopalian (Anglican type) priest in Van Nuys California received the baptism of the Spirit with speaking in tongues. As a result of that, over sixty members, including his wife and family and prominent personalities as well as teenagers and young people in his church of over two thousand people also received the fulness of the Spirit and spoke in tongues.

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In the end he could no longer keep it a secret so on Sunday morning 3 April 1960 two weeks before Easter, he announced to the congregation in the three morning services that he and his wife and others in the church had received the baptism with speaking in tongues. The result of this was a relatively small number of people opposed what was happening and Rev Bennett for the sake of peace, resigned.  This is described in his bestselling book “9 o’clock in the Morning” which is a modern Christian classic and well worth reading.  

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News of what happened very quickly hit the headlines. There was an article about it in the national weekly magazine: NEWSWEEK published on July 4th 1960. This was followed by a report in the prestigious national and international monthly magazine: TIME on August 15th.  The news had spread across the nation and had gone international!

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Dennis and his wife went on to be very involved in spreading the message in all denominations across America and other parts of the world, and that day in April 1960 is still remembered as the beginning of the Charismatic Movement.

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Very interestingly in those early days it was the gift of tongues that everyone was fascinated by and wanted to receive. As time went by there was less emphasis on speaking in tongues among Charismatics and they certainly did not necessarily subscribe to the doctrine that tongues are the initial evidence of receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

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So, this is the question: Is tongues the initial evidence of having been baptised in the Spirit?

I am going to be bold and say: “Yes and even if it isn’t the INITIAL evidence it is certainly evidence that a person has received the baptism.” 

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On the day of Pentecost 120 people including Mary the mother of Jesus, who had been waiting for the Spirit to come as Jesus had instructed them to do (Acts 1:4-5), ALL spoke in tongues (Acts 2:4) as the Sprit gave them utterance. Then if you look at the other times people received the Spirit in the book of Acts they always spoke in tongues.

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The only time it’s not mentioned is in Samaria (Acts 8) but Simon the magician saw something happen when Peter and John laid hands on people to receive the Spirit so it is obvious that they did! Simon even offered to pay money for the gift and was rebuked very severely by Peter.

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We know that the baptism of the Spirit is not about tongues – it’s all about empowering us to be witnesses for Jesus but interestingly on the Day of Pentecost the tongues were a witness that something extraordinary was happening and peoples’ interest was aroused and so because of that, Peter then preached the gospel from that point!

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At the end of that sermon Peter said that if the people would repent and be baptised that they too would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (2:38)

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Now someone may say: “I believe I have received the Holy Spirit, but I don’t speak in tongues.” 

My answer to that is “GREAT. - If you have received the baptism - ALL THE GIFTS are available to you, so I encourage you to ask for that gift because it is a very wonderful and helpful ability to have. It enables us to pray and worship in the Spirit.”

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I don’t know about you, but I very quickly run out of words in worship: I can say, “Thank You, Praise You, I bless You, I adore You, I glorify Your holy name but there’s very few other words in English to say…   Tongues give me the ability to pray and praise in an unlimited way - without ceasing.

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Furthermore, the gift is a wonderful aid to prayer. There are times we do not know how to pray (see Acts 8:26) and so praying in tongues really enables us to go deep in spiritual warfare or intercession.

In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul is encouraging the people to seek the other gifts of the Spirit such as prophecy but he also says why tongues are so valuable:  Read 14:1-5

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1. When we pray in tongues we speak to God (14:2) – I don’t know what I’m saying but it’s a direct communication from my spirit to God by the Holy Spirit.

2. Those who pray in tongues utter mysteries by the Spirit (14:2) – things deep inside of us are expressed to God – those deep anxieties and worries, those unspoken, subconscious and unconscious thoughts are expressed to God - and that is very releasing.

3. We Edify ourselves (14:4) – by praying in tongues - we are building ourselves up in our faith and walk with God

4. By praying in tongues my spirit prays (v14) which is even greater than my mind praying. So Paul says, “I will pray with my spirit and I will also pray with the understanding.”

5. He also says we can sing in the Spirit and this is a wonderful thing to do in worship with others.

 

Paul does make the point that if we speak in tongues in public – we should pray to be able to interpret those words so they are a blessing to others – so that the whole church is built up - but at the same time he shows us how tongues are such a wonderful gift for us personally.

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Paul says in 14:18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you! He obviously valued the gift of tongues very highly for his own personal prayer life.

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It was only fairly recently that I stopped to imagine and think through how Paul wrote his letters. I Corinthians is from Paul and Sosthenes. We know Paul dictated his letters but did he do it all in one afternoon? I don’t think so.

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We also know he is writing in response to reports and information that have come to him about the situation in the church and also questions that they themselves have sent him.

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I think that Paul spent days, maybe weeks preparing to write.  He had discussions with Sosthenes, they prayed together, they prayed in the Spirit and then they took days writing to the church and what came out of all that preparation and prayer and speaking in tongues was God’s word into that situation and it has continued to speak to countless people for the past two thousand years!

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Paul said, “I would like every one of you to speak in tongues.” (14:5)

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So what is our conclusion?

1. For those of us who have the gift of tongues the challenge is to value the gift highly for what it is and use it more and more.

2. For those who do not speak in tongues I encourage you to ask for it. Very often people are shy about the gift.  They are afraid they are just making up “gobbledygook” – but if you ask for the Holy Spirit Jesus promised this:

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:11

       3. It’s time for Pentecostals and Charismatics to teach all that has been said above and encourage others to seek after the fulness of the Spirit for themselves.

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I was a teenager in the 1960’s - the Charismatic movement was happening and people in our BAPTIST church were listening to tapes and reading books about it. 

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I prayed to receive the baptism for a long time and eventually I was prayed for by a guy called Tim who was the leader of a house church in London and nothing happened at the time so one afternoon on my way home from school I phoned him in my frustration and he said, “Are you thirsty?” and initially I thought he meant was I thirsty for a drink, I finally understood that he meant thirsty for the Spirit - so I prayed to be more thirsty.

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Soon after that, I was at studying at school one morning in a room on my own and I heard a phrase that sounded like tongues so I decided to say those words out loud and as soon as I did, hundreds more words followed and I was speaking fluently in tongues! It was wonderful - and here I am nearly 60 years later still doing it!

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I have prayed for a good number of people to receive the Spirit over the years and it’s nearly always the same. Although they want the gift of tongues people’s minds get in the way, or they are scared that they will make it up. I reassure them with the words of Jesus in Luke 11.

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I encourage them to ask for it themselves. Having asked Jesus to fill them with the Holy Spirit very often I watch and their lips start moving so I encourage them to speak praises.

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I tell them that very often just a phrase or a sentence will come to them and trusting that it is the real thing they must speak it because it’s speaking in tongues – so they have to put their voice to it - and when they do, the gift flows.

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So those who have the gift – will you use it more?

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Those who do not have the gift yet - will you seek the Giver not the gift? Seek Jesus the baptiser in the Holy Spirit.

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And those of us who have opportunity – leading a youth group or a Bible study or just sharing with an individual etc. – will we be more bold - in proclaiming:

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“The promise is for you and for your children.”

Acts 2:39

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