Tongues Are For A Sign

The key to this passage is what comes immediately before it:

1 Corinthians 14:18-19: I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all; however, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.

In the church tells you that the location or the kind of audience is crucial to what is appropriate for tongues. We already learned that the gift of tongues is not appropriate when the church is assembled together. This passage shows us the support for that position. Six verses make three points:

1 - the rebuke of immaturity (20)
2 - the reason for the rebuke (21-22)
3 - the result of proper actions (23-25)