Click, Clack, Chaos
Notes
Transcript
I want to do an experiment. Brook, would you play a song on your guitar? As you play your song, I am going to play another song. And then, Roxie, could you sing a third?
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.
What did that sound like?
Was it uplifting?
Thanks for humoring me.
Every week, I prepare an order of service, listing what is going to happen, and who is going to do it, with the mics listed. And we mostly follow it, with some deviance.
We do this because we want to do things in order. We don’t want chaos.
In our passage today, Paul writes about order versus chaos.
What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.
Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.
Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.
Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
In this passage, we see that God is a God of order and we are to reflect that as his people.
A side note: I am going to be covering the whole passage today. However, the sticky verses, 34-35, I am not going to touch. Next week, we are going to focus specifically on them.
Will you pray with me?
1. God Is a God of Order
1. God Is a God of Order
The Corinthians had messed up worship services. Their pride, their self-focus, their hypocrisy, their ungodliness, corrupted their time together. So much so, that their worship times together were chaos. To rebuild what a worship service is supposed to be, Paul calls the Corinthians to look back on their God.
Paul says simply:
For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.
This simple statement squishes the entire message of the Bible.
A. God is not of disorder
A. God is not of disorder
Let’s travel all the way back to the beginning.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
There was chaos in the beginning of time. The earth was formless, it was without order.
So, God created light, and he ordered it, separating light from darkness, night from day.
He separated the waters of the earth from the waters above the earth. He gathered them together and made land. Order.
On and on he goes, creating time and a calendar, reproductive plants and animals, each reproducing according to its kind. Order.
Finally, he created Adam and Eve, telling them to rule over the creation. Order. He gave them rules to follow. Order.
Well, Adam and Eve sinned. They broke the order and introduced chaos into the world.
James says something very interesting:
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
Where there is disorder, it is a sign of ungodliness and of the enemy’s work.
Fast forward through the Bible.
God saves the people of Israel from Egypt. They are camped next to Mount Sinai. God gives Moses the Law. The 10 commandments and the rituals. Order.
Incidentally, we see chaos in our world, and so many people want to bring those 10 commandments back into the public square, because we realize that it is of order.
Well, as God is giving Moses order for the Israelites, the Israelites are in chaos.
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
So, Moses’s brother creates for them a golden calf, and the people say: “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt!”
So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
The revelry is so great that it sounds like a battle in the camp.
God is the God of order, not disorder.
We could go into the detail of Noah’s ark, or the tabernacle, or the temple. We could talk about the detail in the NT on the leadership of a church and the requirements for the leaders. Order
God is not of disorder.
B. God is of peace
B. God is of peace
Did you notice the verse:
For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.
Paul is saying that the opposite of disorder that he is concerned about is peace. Yes, order is the opposite of disorder, but even greater, in the economy of God, the opposite of disorder is peace.
Peace. Harmony.
In the big story of the Bible, we are living in the chaos of sin, and God steps in to bring peace.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Jesus died on the cross to bring peace in our relationship with God.
For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Not only does he bring peace into our relationship with him, but God brings peace into our relationships with each other.
In Paul’s day, there were two groups of people who were at each other’s throats. You had the Jews, who were followers of the Law, and then you had the Gentiles, who were not followers of the Law. Each group despised the other.
But God.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
When we live according to God’s order, peace comes.
Remember that verse in James about disorder?
He continues to stop describing the sign of ungodliness, and starts describing the sign of godliness:
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
Disorder on one side. Peace on the other.
For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.
If that is our God, what does it look like to reflect it in our lives?
2. Our Services Should Be in Order
2. Our Services Should Be in Order
Our services should be in order. We should not be known as church that majors on chaos.
Paul writes:
But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
Why? Because it reflects who God is.
The way we interact with each other, the way we do things, tells others who God is.
So, we do things in a fitting and orderly way, because
For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.
It’s amazing, when things are done in order, peace happens.
Take discipline in a home. When a house has rules, and those rules are followed, children tend to have better relationships with their siblings.
Think about a school, when a school has rules, and those rules are followed, students tend to have better relationships with their peers.
When a church has structure, and everyone is following that structure, peace happens. No one person is favored. Doctrinal squabbles don’t happen. We are centered around following Christ, as he has called us to.
Paul writes:
What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.
Chaos tears a church down. Order builds up, it brings peace.
Some denominations take this to an extreme. One as their Book of Order, which is longer than the Bible. However, they desired peace, for the sake of imitating God, so they created order.
Paul in our passage, points to three illustrations of the order that must come into the worship services of those who follow Christ.
First, he speaks to those speaking in tongues.
If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.
There is an order to be followed. Not too many were to speak in tongues, and only if an interpreter was present.
If no interpreter, the person was to keep silent.
Some might say, but the Spirit is moving me!
The thing is, God is a God of order. If the Spirit was moving, he would move according to the order of God, not according to chaos. If there is chaos, God is not there.
Second, Paul speaks to those who prophesy. These regulations sound very similar to the speaking in tongues, which should cause us to see that the order of a service is deeply rooted across the board.
Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.
Again, an order to be followed. Not too many would speak. They were not to talk over each other. Taking turns, showing deference.
Just as with speaking in tongues, there was an aspect of humility. The speaker in tongues could speak unless someone could interpret, or put into intelligible words what was being said.
Here, the prophets are subject to others “weighing carefully what is said.”
The word is to evaluate or judge.
Do you remember the Berean church in Acts?
Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
In the early church, at the time that Paul is writing, there was a portion of the service where people would evaluate what was being said. They would open their copy of the Scriptures and critique whether the prophet was actually speaking of God or not. The source of the message. They would critique whether the message was in agreement with the rest of Scripture, the content of the message. They would critique whether the result of the message was correct, the application of the message.
This was a very important part of the service, because they did not want anyone who said: thus, says the Lord, to be left alone, to not be under some sort of authority.
I appreciate the people who attend our church. I can see people looking up Scripture, taking notes. I have conversations with others during the week about the sermon. I know that if I ever mis-speak, the deacons will call me out.
I know many of you have conversations on the ride home or around the dinner table about the message.
It is important to have the humility to be under authority. That is part of the order of the church.
The third illustration is found in verses 34-35, when Paul turns to the ladies at Corinth and tells them to be quiet. Those verses have been taken out of context and skewed to teach some unBiblical stuff on both sides of the aisle.
We’ll be talking next week about that.
We as Calvary Bible Church try to do things in order, to promote peace.
We want there to flexibility to allow God to move, so that people can praise him. That’s why we have a time for special music, so that people can use the giftings that God has given.
We have a schedule for this, again to promote order. We welcome anyone to volunteer for this time. Even if you can’t sing or play an instrument, you can read a poem, or a portion of Scripture. Goodness, you can create a painting and show it. Anything which would direct us to the God who has given that gift.
We also allow flexibility during our prayer and praise time. Anyone can share what God has done in their lives, so that we can rejoice together. Then afterwards, we have a time of prayer, so that everyone can take part in praying for those needs and praising God for his works. After that time, we have one person close us in prayer, bringing us together as God’s people. Order for the sake of peace.
Some of our favorite services are testimony Sundays and hymn sings. Even in those services, there is order.
Our God is a God of order. Therefore our services should be in order.
Our Lives Should Be in Order
Our Lives Should Be in Order
Not to transition quickly from who we are as the body of Christ. But, just as our church needs to be in order, so our lives need to be in order.
Paul writes:
Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored.
A church is made up of individual people. The individual people create the culture of a church.
If the individuals want to to follow God, the church will.
If the individuals do not want to follow God, the church won’t.
I know that is overly-simplified. There is a dance between the group and the individual, and positive peer-pressure plays into this.
But, think about the Corinthian church.
They were idolatrous and adulterous. They were selfish, egocentric jerks, who thought they could use spirituality as a way to climb the social ladder.
They cared more about being right than about loving the hurting person before them.
They were so stuck in their sinful mindset, that they thought they were above clear teaching from God.
We have the spirit of God, we don’t need to listen to you Paul.
And so many churches, so many individuals say this. We have the spirit of God, I don’t need to listen to the Bible. I’m good.
Paul says that if anyone ignores the command of God, they themselves will be ignored.
The pride to think that we could ignore the Word of God. Or as the Corinthians acted, that the Word of God came from them, instead of the Creator of the universe.
But, I really shouldn’t be pointing fingers at everyone else.
I have a certain order to my sermon prep.
I work detailed through the text, in English and the original. I ask what the main point of the passage is. I create a working outline. Then, I pull up commentaries and sermons. Do a bunch of research about cultural background, etc.
However, before I start that studying and commentary work, after I have created a working outline, I ask myself a simple but hard question:
What do I need to learn from this passage. I call it my heart check.
My pastor when I was in high school called it: plowing your own heart first.
As I was preparing this passage, I wrote:
“Many times I act like I am above the morality of God, that there are exceptions for me. But, there are not.”
So, if I could rewrite these few verses:
1 Corinthians 14:36–38 (NIV)
Or did the word of God originate with you, Peter? Or are you the only people it has reached? Peter, If you think you are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, you better acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. But if you ignore this, Peter, you yourself will be ignored.
And boy, God pointed things out in my life that week that needed to change.
It truly is amazing how many times we can open Scripture, nod our heads in agreement, close the Bible, and walk away completely forgetting it, or even worse, rationalizing how it doesn’t apply to us.
James writes it this way:
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
I’ve had conversations with people, pointing them to Scripture. They read it, they process it, they walk away.
If you ignore it, you yourselves will be ignored. Pushed to the side.
If we heed the words of God, James tells us:
But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
Our lives should be in order.
We should be seeking God, studying his word, for ourselves, for our own sake, and asking God: What do I need to repent of, what do I need to change? How does my life need to rearrange so that I can show others who you are, your character in me?
And when we feel that bony finger of conviction, we don’t ignore it, we change.
My challenge for you this week: Read the Bible every day and ask God: What would have me do differently. If you want help with that, just let me know.
Our God is a God of order. Therefore our services should be in order. Therefore our lives should be in order.