1 Corinthians 14:26-40, Called to be Orderly

Theological Proposition/Focus: God is a God of order and expects his people to be orderly.

Homiletical Proposition/Application: We need to be orderly in our worship in order that the church might be edified through worship.

Introduction: 1 Cor. 14:40 as memory verse

Image: Order reduces distraction - why checklists matter.

Every time I fly the airplane, as I pull up to the runway I pull off to the side and pull out the before take-off checklist. I run through every item on that checklist and then pull up for take-off. Why? Because there are some things that are so important that doing it in an orderly fashion is non-negotiable. Last time I checked I have over 700 landings but that doesn't mean I am going to sacrifice safety by just winging it. There are times when being orderly really matters.

Setting the Stage:

Last week we saw the importance of clarity as we looked at 1 Corinthians 14:1-25. Today we are going to expand on the idea of clarity by looking at what it means to worship in an orderly fashion. We begin by looking at order within our priorities and we will see that the priority is edification. That is

Body

Ministry of the church must make edification the priority (14:26).

Paul begins verse 26 with a call. Anyone should feel free to participate in worship. However, there are some principles of participation that Paul seeks to highlight.

Some background on the early church may help us understand what is being said here.

The New Testament churches did not have buildings but rather met in houses.

As I study these churches I am convinced that most of the meetings probably occurred in smaller pockets scattered throughout the cities. That is, I think likely the churches met in what we might really describe as in-home small groups. These small groups likely had smaller numbers of people, say 50. Perhaps on occasions the small groups would all get together to hear a speaker.

Why does this matter? Because when we read through verses 26 through 40 I am not sure we should be thinking about the verses as applied to a sanctuary filled with 200 people.

Instead I think it is more appropriate to apply the verses to a Sunday School class or a homegroup. My first subpoint is going to emphasize that when we gather we need to build each other up.

When gathered together the church should build each other up.

The text uses the phrase "when you come together." I want to take a few minutes to explore this concept.

First of all, the phrase ὅταν συνέρχησθε which the NIV translates as "when you come together" is what is known as an indefinite temporal clause.

The Greek ὅταν plus a subjunctive verb carries the meaning of "whenever." Paul is going to argue for building up or edification and as he prepares to do so he provides a temporal marker that really indicates future contingency.

but in all cases we should make it a priority to build up the body.

How does this affect us? Well, I think we are doing very well in this area and have historically done so but we should always exercise vigilance. For example, gathering together for an event or activity that does not have some level of intentional building up the body is probably not appropriate.

Image: Doing softball right - thankfully we do not intentionally exclude individuals.

For example, suppose we decide that we are going to gather together for softball and exclude anyone who is not an all star because we want to whip our opponents. This would be a bad way of doing things. Also, I love our softball team and one of the best parts about our team is that we do nothing like this.

The point, everything we do should have an aim of building up the body.

There are a variety of means through which the church can be edified.

Paul mentions several actions that can be taken when groups gather together.

A revelation - now the the Bible is complete we are not receiving new revelation, but we are receiving revelation from Scripture today.

That is, the Bible still teaches and reveals aspects of our life that we need to change. What I mean, we are not receiving new revelation but the old revelation we have in Scripture is still revelatory today.

Image: The importance of intentionality. - the liturgy of retail

Next time you walk into a clothing store in the mall I want you to pay attention to the liturgy. I mean it, everything from the images on the windows to the smells, the music, the organization. Everything it intentionally structured to get you to walk out with a purchase. Marketing is big business and there is a liturgy about marketing that is completely intentional and completely structured. Here is the thing, the store cannot force you to make a purchase but they can set you up to make the purchase. We need to adopt this type of intentionality in our own lives. We cannot force each other to grow spiritually but we can be intentional in everything we do so that others are set-up to grow spiritually.

Careful attention to orderly worship ensures that edification is the priority (14:27-33).

Remember, context matters. The church in Corinth had a problem with individuals prioritizing tongues and other highly visible miraculous gifts. Paul's point here is not that every church should have people speaking in tongues. Paul's point is that steps need to be taken to ensure that the exercise of gifts is done in a manner that ensures edification.

First Paul presents an argument that

The number of voices should not distract from the message (27-28).

There are actually three restrictions given in verses 27 and 28.

Speaking should be done one-at-a-time.

Again, the manner in which speaking occurs should not be a distraction. Multiple speakers all speaking at once is a distraction and so Paul puts a strict rule in place. One at a time.

Speaking needs to be intelligible.

This really gets at my next subpoint.

Public teaching should be in a manner accessible to the general congregation (27-28).

Everything about verses 27-28 is a reminder that we should pay attention to the accessibility of teaching. Being orderly means that we speak clearly, speak one at a time, speak in a language that can be understood and if a translator is needed we provide the translator. Care needs to be taken to ensure that all teaching is done in a manner that makes it accessible to the audience.

Verses 29-33 are a reminder that

Deference and accountability are key aspects of orderly worship (29-33).

Within the church of Corinth there were, it appears, gifted individuals who would receive revelations from God. In our church today we have the complete Word of God and have no need for further revelation but we can learn from several principles and apply them to our church.

Five principles from within the text help us understand how we should behave in times of worship and study.

Just like tongues we see a limitation here. We need to understand something. People fatigue and if we have 20 people come into the building and each speak for 2 minutes it will feel exhausting and after about the third person you will stop listening.

This is why we try hard to only have three announcements on any given Sunday. Our brains are simply not capable of remembering more than just a few items. I am not a fan of all day-conference where dozens of speakers come in and fill a day. It usually sounds exciting and after the event you realize you are walking away with nothing.

Everything that is said should be carefully evaluated.

You should take anything said by anyone and compare it with Scripture. Check to see if what you are being told is actually true.

Speakers should show deference to each other.

We no longer have prophets so we are not in a position where one speaker will receive a revelation in the middle of another speakers presentation. However, I have been at conferences where a speaker will run long or services where a speaker runs long. This sort of behavior is rude, shows a lack of organization, and in my opinion takes away from the edification of the group. I don't think we should allow it.

No individual speaker is the final authority.

I cannot emphasize this enough. the Bible is the final authority.

Image: Our Home Group Rule: Monitor

Within our homegroup we have established a rule that is intended to capture an important concept related to this part of the passage. We call this rule the monitor rule. Here is what the rule states

Monitor the amount that you talk and compare that with others. If you have spoken a lot then try to encourage someone else to speak.

The idea her is deference. Make room for the ideas of others. Now, our leaders are our leaders and we expect them to lead us but when others are talking we try to be considerate of the ideas, challenges, and thoughts of everyone in the group.

MTR: Ask yourself, am I willing to defer to others and work to ensure that our worship (which includes instruction) is edifying to others?

How:

Monitor

Monitor the amount that you talk and compare that with others. If you have spoken a lot then try to encourage someone else to speak.

Be self aware

Be conscious about how you are personally affecting the environment through your words, actions, and non-verbal communication.

No Cross Talk

Be considerate of others as they are sharing - no side conversations.

Edification takes priority even over my ideas(14:34-39).

The church provides a powerful platform for presentation of truth and we must treat this platform with a great deal of respect and honor.

There are times when it is not appropriate to speak (34-35).

I think that 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 is one of the most mis-used and mis-understood passages.

Before I go any further I want to note that 1 Cor. 11:5 indicates women were speaking publicly in church and Paul does not criticize the speaking but rather gives some instruction on head coverings!

Look at verse 34b and 35. The point is that actions in a church the upset God's structure for a family are disgraceful, that is they are a distraction.

Let me restate my point. The passage does not keep a woman from speaking in church. The passage does tell us that a wife should not publicly question, judge, evaluate her husband. Practically what does this mean? It means that even if I say something off or forget something or have my facts twisted in my story, Emily is not to question that publicly. In other words, I think the list of people to whom this passage applies is actually a very short list. Unfortunately, I have seen pastor's wives who publicly question, evaluate, comment on their husband's sermons. This is where we encounter the problem.

Someone might have some really good ideas but those ideas are subject to the authority of Scripture (36-38).

Paul has spoken with some pretty strong words and probably a pretty strong stance for the church in Corinth and his words in verses 36-38 reveal that he expected a little bit of push-back and opposition. To this push-back and opposition Paul reminds the Corinthians that he is speaking with authority. Today our authority is the Bible and so the best ideas must be tested against Scripture. And when I say tested against Scripture I do not mean individual proof texts. No our ideas must be tested against the whole Bible.

Image: Read your Bible so you can test ideas.

This means that you all have a great responsibility. You all should be in your Bible and you should be testing and evaluating what I say. I do my best to research and study as I teach but I am not the absolute authority. Test what I say and in order to do that you are going to need to be in your Bible!

Desire to worship in a way that edifies the church (39-40).

One last time, at the time when this was written both tongues and prophecy were active in the church.

He has also come down hard on tongues and given how hard he came down he wants to make sure that people in the church don't take a legalistic attitude and forbid tongues.

Remember, legalism is not the implementation of rules, legalism is the insistence on rules that you yourself cannot even follow so you make a bunch of exceptions. Paul summarizes his words. Make sure that what you are doing is decent and orderly.