First Corinthians 14 was written as an apostolic corrective
to a congregation worshipping together selfishly. We saw in our
study of verses 1-25 (Discovery Paper 4533)
that the church in Corinth struggled with unity and common purpose
when they gathered together for services of worship and praise.
Paul told them to grow up. There was immaturity at work among
them. There was an inability to agree on consistent priorities
in their public worship services. The central theme in Paul's
counsel was the priority of spiritual edification in worship,
of clear communication through the prophetic proclamation of truth.
Paul said that if there was going to be speaking in tongues, it
had to be interpreted. The apostle was convinced that a commitment
to edification in worship would result in public meetings that
were meaningful to believers and also understandable to those
who were not yet Christians.
So if the central theme of verses 1-25 was edification, then the
focus of verses 26-40 is the necessity of order in worship. That
word "order" appears twice in verses 26-40. In verse
33 Paul says, "God is not a God of confusion [disorder] but
of peace...." In verse 40 he says, "But let all things
be done properly and in an orderly manner." Now we know from
earlier studies in this letter that the church was having special
problems with disorder in their community worship. Back in 11:17-18,
when Paul was writing to them about disorder that he had been
informed of in their love feasts and their celebration of the
Lord's Supper, he said: "But in giving this instruction,
I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better
but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together
as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part,
I believe it."
The section that flows out of that, 11:19-14:40, tells us that
these believers were using their spiritual gifts to please themselves,
not to help their brothers and sisters. So the key word in Corinth
was not "edification" but "exhibition." They
were showing off in worship. Someone who is convinced that their
own sensitivities and desires in worship are more legitimate than
their brother's will be unaccepting of him, perhaps even condescending
toward him. Someone who believes that their own contribution to
the worship service is more important than their sister's will
be impatient until she finishes, or tempted to disdain her participation
completely. The disorderliness in Corinth resulted from a high
degree of individualized worship expectations in their services.
The result, Paul says, is carnal confusion, not edifying order.
Paul's response is to offer some guidelines for orderly regulation
of worship based on self-control. He assumes that the Holy Spirit
is resident in these people, and one of the fruits of the Spirit
is self-control. He also assumes that agape, the supernatural
love of God, will be at work, that they'll be concerned with other
people's needs ahead of their own needs.
PARTICIPATING IN WORSHIP
Let's read the opening exhortation in verse 26. This is a picture of worship in the early church, and it speaks of this issue of order.
What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
Listen to the paraphrase of that verse from Eugene Peterson's
paraphrase of the New Testament, The Message:
"So here's what I want you to do. When you gather together for worship, each one of you be prepared with something that will be useful for all: Sing a hymn, teach a lesson, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight." (1)
That makes it clearer that this listing is not to be seen as an
exhaustive order of service or some sort of liturgical formula
that we should build on. Paul doesn't list prophecy, which he
mentions later on in the chapter. This verse gives us sample contributions
that might be offered in a given service. Other elements of early
Christian worship are listed in a number of places. One is at
the end of Acts 2, right after the birth of the church at Pentecost,
where the early life of the church in Jerusalem is described.
Among the things they did when they got together were sitting
under apostolic instruction, enjoying fellowship, observing the
Lord's Supper, praying, sharing finances, having love feasts,
holding worship services, and doing evangelism.
What Paul is emphasizing here in verse 26 is that the Corinthians
come to worship prepared, anticipating, ready to participate spontaneously
and informally. We saw this in verse 16, where Paul expected some
hearty "Amen!"s to explode out of the congregation,
acknowledging agreement, participating in what was being said
or offered in the service.
Let's look more closely at the list in verse 26. It says that
they were called to participate by singing a psalm. In Ephesians
5 Paul also mentions singing of hymns (humnos) and spiritual
songs. In our worship in this church, we sing some texts that
are based on the Psalms, the Old-Testament hymnbook of the Jewish
people. We sing newly composed hymns of praise, worship, and adoration
of the Lord. And we sing spiritual songs that speak of experience,
feeling, the subjective side of our relationship with the Lord.
Paul goes on to mention a teaching, perhaps a doctrinal instruction
that would be shared in the service.
He mentions a revelation. A revelation is truth communicated directly
from God. God communicated in that way with the Biblical writers,
and before the New-Testament canon of Scripture was completed,
God spoke words of revelation to individuals in the early church.
Paul mentions personal revelations several different times in
his writings. But now God has completed the revelation, and we
have it in our Bible. He reveals himself to us through the enscripturated
word. Thinking back through the years, in our services of worship,
body life, or other fellowship gatherings, men and women have
stood with their Bibles to share an insight that the Lord gave
them, something he had recently taught them. It may clarify things
doctrinally, or offer real personal application for our lives
from the life of that individual.
The last thing Paul mentions is tongues and interpretation of
tongues. We talked about that at length in the last message. But
because of abuse in the church in Corinth, these gifts will call
for regulation, which is going to follow.
Now Paul makes the point in the last statement in verse 26 that
all of this exciting participation has to be purposeful. "Let
all things be done for edification." Everything ought to
be offered with the concern that people be built up spiritually,
not to show off or benefit the person who is offering the expression
of worship.
It struck me that we keep coming to church here on Sunday morning
because we expect that there will be spiritual impact in our lives.
We will be challenged, encouraged, strengthened, and reminded
of things that we need to hear as we face into the week ahead.
And for those of us who participate in leading and planning the
worship service, it ought to be our desire that everything we
do benefit the hearers-uplift spirits, encourage hearts, give
minds understanding. Our corporate worship ought to grow out of
an attitude of expectancy that God is going to meet us here, that
he is going to reveal himself to us, and that he is going to be
at work in us preparing us for the week ahead. We talked in the
last message about the beautiful effect of edification: It stabilizes
us; it either provides foundations underneath us or shores up
shaky walls in our lives. Edification is at the heart of worship.
Eugene Peterson, in his book Reversed Thunder, talks about
what happens to us if worship is not at the center of our life:
"Failure to worship consigns us to a life of spasms and jerks, at the mercy of every advertisement, every seduction, every siren. Without worship we live manipulated and manipulating lives. We move in either frightened panic or deluded lethargy as we are in turn alarmed by specters and soothed by placebos. If there is no center, there is no circumference. People who do not worship are swept into a vast restlessness epidemic in the world, with no steady direction and no sustaining purpose." (2)
THREE LIMITS ON THE GIFT OF TONGUES
Now Paul warns us in verses 27-35 of three potential areas of disorder in our public worship. He is going to temper the spontaneity he has just described in verse 26. He is going to regulate the expression of tongues, the gift of prophesying, and the participation of women in public worship. And because tongues seemed to be the most problematic, he begins there. Look at verses 27-28:
If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and let one interpret; but if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God.
Now we saw in the last message as we went through the first
section of chapter 14 that the spiritual gift of tongues is the
ability to speak in an unlearned foreign language. It would be
understood by those who knew the language, but not by the person
who was speaking it. Tongues is an expression of praise and worship
expressed to God, not to men. But it's a gift to be expressed
publicly, and the announced Biblical purpose of tongues is to
be a sign to unbelievers, a pre-evangelistic tool to arrest attention.
When it's used this way, it does edify the one who speaks, but
that can't be the end purpose of the expression of the gift. And
it wasn't intended to edify the church, Paul said, but it can
edify the church if it's interpreted and if it's expressed in
the presence of a nonbeliever who speaks the language.
There are only three simple limits that Paul puts on the expression
of this gift in verses 27-28. Only two or three people may speak
in tongues in any given service. They may speak only one at a
time. And there must be an interpretation; if not, they shouldn't
speak. Remember, we saw the problem in verse 23 that if many people
are talking in tongues and a nonbeliever comes into the service,
he or she will think they're mad. Paul says they don't want to
confuse the nonbeliever. They want to make it easier for the person
to understand the message of the gospel.
It's also clear in these two verses that tongues is not the result
of an irresistible impulse of the Holy Spirit. Anybody with the
gift of tongues can choose not to exercise the gift if the circumstances
require it.
After I preached the last message, many people asked me what the
place of the gift of tongues is in the church today. Our sovereign
Lord is absolutely free to do whatever he wants in using this
gift for the purposes defined in his word. I had never seen or
heard of this Biblical use of the gift of tongues until just a
couple of years ago. Mark Verber told us a story in a men's study
about a church that he was familiar with. It wasn't a charismatic
or Pentecostal church, but there was a lot of spontaneity and
freedom in the worship. At one point somebody stood and spoke
in a language that nobody there understood whatsoever. Someone
stood to interpret the message of worship and praise that had
been given, but there was really no response at that time in the
service. But after the service, a visitor who was a non-Christian
African national made a beeline for the person who had spoken
in the tongue and said, "You were speaking my language!"
He understood the message that was given. I don't know if he became
a Christian or not, but to me that would clearly be the Biblical
use of the gift of tongues in a public setting.
THREE LIMITS ON THE GIFT OF PROPHECY
Next Paul speaks of the ordering of prophecy in worship in verses 29-33:
And let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment. But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, let the first keep silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted; and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets; for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
Now again, by way of review, we saw last week that if we understand
the spiritual gift of prophesying in the broadest sense, it is
very close to what we would call teaching or preaching today.
That's a good definition of the word as it's used in different
settings in the New Testament. Remember, Paul's concern in this
chapter is that God be able to speak to his people through the
ministry of the word in public worship.
The Old-Testament prophets spoke the word of God by direct revelation
to his people. Their primary ministry was forth-telling, not foretelling.
There were elements of prediction, but the bulk of the writing
the prophets did was telling forth the message that God wanted
the nation Israel to hear. And each generation of prophetic spokesmen
built on the prior written message. Often, they quoted the writings
of earlier prophets in their own writing, building Scripture on
Scripture.
Now, prophetic ministry in the early church in the first century
was built on three things. First, it was built was the Old Testament.
That was their Bible, and prophecy had to come from that or line
up with that. Second, it was built on the teaching of the apostles,
in their letters that were being circulated, and in person as
they traveled around from church to church. And third, it was
based on direct revelation from God, as I said earlier, until
the New-Testament revelation was complete.
Ephesians 4:11 tells us that God has given prophets to his church.
My conviction is that this ministry today belongs to those who
stand before the word of God and cause it to shine. There ought
to be a transparency in prophetic ministry, so that those to whom
it ministers see through the prophet to the message of the word.
But Paul has to place limits on the expression of this good gift
as well, because of the presence of self-absorbed, ego-driven
prophets in that church. Again, there are just three simple constraints.
First, there are to be no more than two or three prophetic messages
in any given meeting, and obviously they must be offered one after
the other, not all at the same time. Second, each message has
to be evaluated, because preaching needs examination. Third, prophets
have to be submissive to one another out of reverence for the
Lord himself. Self-control can be exercised as with the gift of
tongues. Nobody needs to dominate a worship service.
This apostolic counsel is very close to Paul's encouragement to
the Thessalonian church. First Thessalonians 5:16-22 is wrapped
around the prophetic ministry. (When you hear these pithy commands,
think about how you come to worship. Is this what carries you
through the service?) "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing;
in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ
Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances.
But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;
abstain from every form of evil."
In both 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul says they
are to evaluate or examine prophetic messages. The reason for
that is to determine whether the speaker really is speaking the
word of God, whether he or she is empowered by the Spirit of God.
A good question out of verse 29 in our passage is who the "others"
are: "...Let the others pass judgment." Are they fellow
prophets who have the responsibility to evaluate the prophetic
word, or is it others in the body? In 1 Thessalonians 5 it's everybody;
all of us are to examine closely what we're told from the platform.
Wayne Grudem teaches New Testament at Trinity Seminary, and he
has written a book on prophesying. He comments on this passage
in 1 Corinthians 14. He believes that everybody in the church
is supposed to evaluate the ministry of prophecy.
"Certainly when prophecy is taken to include Spirit-filled preaching, it seems clear that the ordinary lay person is often in a better position to determine how well or accurately the preacher has communicated than are fellow preachers, who are absorbed in the fine points of theology or technique of the message." (3)
I got a chuckle out of this because I think it is so true. We
elders and pastors do that to one another too often. Last week
two good brothers in the body at PBC e-mailed me about my last
message on tongues and prophecy, and they asked good, thoughtful
questions about how I got to certain points regarding interpretation.
It was a stimulating dialogue. I had think through how I did get
there, and it even had great effect in terms of preparing to preach
this message. So I am grateful for that helpful interaction and
evaluation.
Verses 30-33 are a summary of how prophets are to relate to one
another. They don't have to give their message; they can defer
to one another. If the Holy Spirit is really in charge of the
worship services, there will be no competition or contradiction
between the messages. The speakers will have self-control as a
fruit of the Spirit.
I was blessed last week in our Sunday morning service by the mutual
submission that Mike Benkert, Brian Wo, Kirk Bunnell, and I enjoyed
in our leadership of the services here. The four of us were at
peace with the Lord and at peace with one another. We had a great
time of prayer together before worship last Sunday morning. I've
had the same sense this morning as well. A variety of people have
given leadership in drama, music, Scripture-reading, hosting,
giving testimony, and preaching. There has been a wonderful sense
of being a team, cooperating, and submitting to one another for
the good of the whole.
I saw this principle violated in Pakistan last year at a pastors'
conference I was part of. Craig Duncan was part of the team from
PBC, and he taught a session each day on the centrality of prayer
in the pastor's life. After one of the sessions the leader of
the meeting invited the pastors to respond to Craig's message
in spontaneous prayer. We had a twenty-minute prayer time. At
one point a lady started praying with great fervor and volume,
and, as it turned out, without any terminal facility whatsoever.
She prayed on and on. I was sitting on the platform, and I watched
people start to squirm and get uncomfortable. Finally the leader
of the meeting got up and came to the microphone, and with great
sensitivity, gently said, "While our sister finishes her
prayer, let's sing a closing hymn together." And we sort
of sang over this very insensitive woman who was doing her thing
with the Lord but didn't really care about the good of the whole.
WOMEN FORBIDDEN TO SPEAK OUT OF TURN
The next two verses can seem a bit intrusive, because they talk about the ordering of women in worship. Look at verses 34-35:
Let the women keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but let them subject themselves, just as the Law also says. And if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.
Now, why does Paul seem to interrupt his discussion of these
two spiritual gifts to silence women? To begin with, we must interpret
these two verses in the context of 11:2-16, where he already addressed
women's praying and prophesying in the church. Let's read 11:5-6:
"But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying
or prophesying, disgraces her head; for she is one and the same
with her whose head is shaved. For if a woman does not cover her
head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful
for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her
cover her head." As we saw when we studied that passage (Discovery Paper 4528), Paul expected women
to have vocal participation in the services by praying and prophesying.
But he insisted that they recognize God's moral order of leadership
in the home and the church, and to demonstrate their submission
to the headship of their husbands and of elders in the church
by covering their heads in worship.
The problem in both chapter 11 and chapter 14 is with married
women who had experienced incredible freedom in Christ but were
taking their freedom too far. Not wearing a veil in public was
as culturally outrageous as wearing short hair like a prostitute.
At the end of the section in chapter 11, the issue was argumentativeness
or contentiousness. The women were saying, "Don't we have
the freedom in Christ to defend our position?" The problem
in chapter 11 and here in chapter 14 was that their husbands were
being shamed because they were exercising their freedom in a selfish
manner.
But if women were free to express themselves in worship, why does
Paul tell them twice that they aren't to speak (verses 34, 35)?
The answer lies in the vocabulary that Paul has chosen. The Greek
word for "talk" speaks of the most normal kind of conversation,
even inconsequential talk.
Literally it can be interpreted "chatter." Paul is saying
that the women should not chatter during the worship services.
Some of the wives (not all of them) were interrupting the worship
with inappropriate talkativeness, perhaps asking questions or
talking with other people sitting around them. What Paul suggests
in verse 35 is that they might have been discussing things in
church that were more appropriately discussed with their husbands
at home. Perhaps some of the Corinthian wives needed to learn
that lengthy discussion or theological debate did not belong in
the worship service. An unwillingness to do what was right in
this would shame their husbands as much as an uncovered head.
I tried to think of an example of that in my experience here at
PBC. The closest I could come was an incident that took place
a few years ago when I was teaching on marriage in the Couples'
Class. It was quite an interactive and discussion-oriented class.
But at one point a lady stood up, with her husband sitting there,
and basically complained about his leadership. I don't remember
what the issue was, but I remember how embarrassing it was for
that poor man to hear his wife publicly criticize him as a spiritual
leader in their relationship. Her complaint was a legitimate issue
that needed to be dealt with, but not in that public setting.
SUBMISSION TO GOD BRINGS ORDER
Now, what is going to bring order out of disorder in our worship services? In verses 36-38 Paul says simply to be submissive to Jesus and to the word of God, and that will bring order.
Was it from you that the word of God first went forth? Or has it come to you only?
If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord's commandment. But if anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.
There are three simple spiritual principles here. First, no
one church can claim special revelation or privilege. There was
a tendency among some in Corinth to think that they had unique
revelation and special gifts that nobody else had. Paul's tone
is quite sarcastic. It echoes Job's sarcasm when he was responding
to his counselors who were trying to give him theological reasons
for his suffering. Job 12:1:
"Truly then you are the people,
And with you wisdom will die."
The reality in Corinth was that worship was out of control. Spontaneity
had turned into chaos and self-indulgence. It was not in line
with apostolic tradition or teaching. Their own institutional
arrogance had blinded them to their selfishness and lovelessness.
Their worship services were driven by personal pride, not humility
before the Lord. The word of God was not controlling their understanding
of worship.
That can happen to our church. We can become institutionally arrogant
about how and why we do things in worship. We've spent the summer
as a pastoral staff taking a break from our staff Bible study
and working through Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book Life Together
(4 ) on the nature of community in the church. Bonhoeffer
has a lot to say about corporate worship. We spent an hour and
a half on Tuesday talking about singing and music in corporate
worship. We've been challenged in our traditions by this thoughtful
Lutheran pastor writing in 1935. Looking at church from a confessional
perspective (members must confess the denominational creed), which
is very different from ours historically, he has forced us to
examine our own biases, challenging whatever uniqueness we feel
that we have as a church.
That brings us to the second principle: No spiritual gift or insight
is above apostolic authority. The point Paul is making is that
if we are spiritually mature, then we will submit ourselves to
the command of the Lord as it relates to our corporate worship
life. Truly spiritual people always recognize the ultimate authority
of Scripture. They don't try to universalize their own experience.
The Holy Spirit of God will never operate contrary to the written
word of God.
Ray Stedman wrote an article entitled True Worship in which
he talks about the dangers of ignoring these two principles in
examining worship life:
"Corporate worship, like individual worship, can easily drift into external expressions without heartfelt participation. The motive for worship may subtly shift from the praise of God to gaining the attention or approval of others. Hymns may be mouthed with no comprehension of what is being sung. Rituals may be observed mechanically, or Biblical phrases chanted in a formal or routine manner. Frigid formalism requiring bodily stillness and solemn, expressionless faces, harshness and authoritarianism from leaders, guilt-appeal-centered offerings, showmanship, attempts to program the Holy Spirit, use of exalted titles, claiming of special access to God-all these vitiate worship and reveal it as fleshly and unspiritual.
Many passages of Scripture describe God's revulsion at that type of hypocrisy. He is not honored but rather insulted by such phoniness. Such worship becomes a pathetic charade in which people often try to get God to pay attention to them or to do something for them. It's destructive and deadening and will soon result in a terrible drain of spiritual vitality from an individual or a congregation.
But authentic worship breaks down personal antagonisms, eliminates selfish ambition, produces genuine humility and thankfulness, and links heart to heart, building the church up in love." (5)
That's the result of submission to Jesus Christ as the Lord of
worship and submission to his word as defining worship for us.
The third principle is, simply put, to ignore the person who ignores
the first two principles. Don't pay attention to anybody who wants
to introduce non-Biblical innovation into the worship life of
the church.
ORDER REFLECTS GOD'S CHARACTER
Paul closes this section in verses 39-40 with a summary exhortation to order in our public worship. He calls the Corinthians "brethren," or brothers and sisters, for the fourth time in this chapter. This is a word of correction, but he's part of them and in this with them.
Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues. But let all things be done properly and in an orderly manner.
This is the consistent message throughout the entire chapter:
Make prophesying, the ministry of the word, the priority. Proclamation
ought to be the most important ministry in our worship. It will
build people up, comfort them, strengthen them.
But he adds, "Don't discourage the true Biblical gift of
tongues." Who knows when a nonbeliever might show up who
would be receptive to such a miraculous, arresting sign of God's
presence? God is sovereign over his gifts. He has the right to
give and exercise any of the gifts as he wills. So what right
do we have to forbid him to express himself through that Biblical
gift of tongues?
Finally, everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way,
because God is not a God of disorder but a God of peace. Order
in worship reflects the character of God. It speaks of structure
and of limiting freedom. I tend to resist rules and regulations.
But this chapter makes clear that it is neither unscriptural nor
ungodly to be limited. Rather, God-defined order and discipline
bring greater freedom. As we grow in our corporate worship of
this God of peace, there is an overflow into all of life. Meaningful
worship is life-changing.
Here is the conclusion of Ray Stedman's article True Worship:
"The sign that true worship is being achieved is a maturing congregation. Personal witness is widespread. Loving service to those who hurt should be increasing. Friction among members should be decreasing. Appreciation for benefits and public thanksgiving should be often manifest. Moral standards are held in high regard, but deviations are not coldly treated, and the steps of discipline given in Matthew 18 are lovingly followed. The exposition of the word of God lies at the heart of every ministry, and the exercise of spiritual gifts is continually encouraged. When these things are happening, a congregation has clearly become the household of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth, a people belonging to God. And remember that the Father is seeking such to worship him. In true worship, something happens to the worshipers. Minds are cleared, perceptions come into focus, spirits are renewed, truth breaks out in new clarity. That's what sends us out to tell the good news to those who long for hope or peace or freedom from guilt." (6)
Notes:
1. Eugene H. Peterson, The Message, © 1993, 1994
by Eugene H. Peterson. NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. P. 362.
2. Eugene H. Peterson, Reversed Thunder, © 1988, Harper
& Row, San Francisco, CA. P. 59.
3. Wayne Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy in I Corinthians,
University Press of America, Washington, D. C., 1982. P. 58.
4. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, translated by John
W. Doberstein, © 1954, Harper & Row, Publishers, New
York and Evanston.
5. Ray C. Stedman, True Worship, © 1992.
6. Ibid.
The Scripture quotations in this message are all taken from New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
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