If You Would Be Spiritual

Our goal is to proclaim and protect the gospel.

We talked about that in a series of messages just over a year ago.

Protect is an interesting idea - how do you protect the gospel?

One way is you raise up a generation to know the gospel message.

In our children’s area, we’ve upgraded our Wednesday kids to do that.

If a child starts Wednesday kids in the nursery, by the time they leave the children’s area after the 5th grade

They will know the gospel and why they either should believe or do believe.

We are also making another upgrade on September 10th.

We want all children kindergarten and older to participate in the full worship service - including the preaching.

Ms. Hannah will have a Kid’s Worship guide that will follow along with the message.

I’ll make sure as I preach that I include the children as well.

I know your kids will be wiggly - but two things - first, that’s a sign of life for the church.

We are so grateful for the number of dedicated young families the Lord has brought to us.

And two - they can’t be any more distracting than all of the people going in and out every Sunday anyway.

And second - you know your kids hear lots of things that they pick up and often shock you with.

It is our prayer that they will pick up the gospel while they worship.

That they see dad and mom worship - and other kids and other families

And that on the ride home, they ask questions about what Pastor Randy said.

So you can explain and your kids will hear Jesus from your lips.

I suspect you might be a little “not sure” about this.

We are asking you to give it through September - and if it simply will not work - then we’ll meet with Parents and figure out how to best disciple our children during worship.

We are doing one other thing to protect the gospel.

In the old western movies, when the cowboys were under attack, they would circle the wagons.

It was a way to be organized to provide the best defense for the group.

That’s the idea behind the new by-laws - we live in a world that our ancestors who gave us this country and this church would not recognize.

We need organize ourselves in a manner that will keep all of our members as spiritually safe as possible in this new wild-wild west we find ourselves in.

At 5 pm today, we’ll have our first town hall to give you a chance to ask questions about the proposed by-laws.

There are updated copies in the gathering area that you will want to pick up as you leave.

The Deacons and Staff will be there to answer any questions you might have and we look forward to seeing you then.

With that - let’s move on.

If we want to be spiritual, there are three things we need to know

Paul uses the word spiritual 15 times in 1 Corinthians

And he defines what he means by spiritual in 1 Corinthians 2:13 “And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.”

A spiritual person is taught by the Spirit

But again, how do you know that something is Spiritual?

I had the most wonderful Sunday School teacher once - such a kind and gentle woman.

She told us a story one Sunday broken hearted.

She didn’t want us to make the same mistake as did and end up carrying the burden she carried all of her life because of her sin.

When she was little, her daddy taught her that good Christians - spiritual people - didn’t go to the movies on Sunday.

And she was very obedient until she became a teenager in high school.

Some girl friends wanted to go see some movie and my teacher wanted to go

And against her better judgement, she went.

As she was going in to the theater, a lost friend walked by and talked to my teacher for a few seconds.

It was a quick, chance meeting - the friend went on her way and my teacher went in to see the movie.

But her lost friend, as far as my teacher knew, never became a Christian.

And my teacher believed with all of her heart that it was because she disobeyed her dad and went to the movie on a Sunday.

Is that what it means to be spiritual?

There were times when most small towns in the South closed on Wednesday at noon

So the bankers could play golf and then everyone could go to Church on Wednesday evening.

Most everything was closed on Sunday mornings until about 1 o’clock in the afternoon

So everyone could go to church.

Is that what it means to be spiritual?

And heaven help you if you did yard work or - God forbid - cut your grass on Sunday.

Is that what it means to be spiritual?

Are you more spiritual if you are somber in worship?

Are you more spiritual if you lift your hands or speak in tongues or use the King James Bible?

Are you more spiritual if you wear a tie, are you more spiritual in jeans and a t-shirt?

Are you more spiritual if your church owns a coffee shop?

How do we know if we are spiritual?

Our text today is 1 Corinthians 14:20-40.

As you are looking that up, let me remind you that this scripture comes to us in context.

This is a church that has all kinds of problems

From sexual immorality to narcissism and everything in between it seems

This church was liberated - if you want to use that term

To enjoy every thing life might offer

And if you questioned their spirituality, they would show you proof.

They spoke in tongues.

Angel language.

Ecstatic utterances.

It was the mark and seal of their spirituality.

When they gathered to worship, the whole place erupted in people speaking in tongues.

All at once

All over the room

All at the same time

And as far as they were concerned, that proved that they were right with God.

As you might guess, Paul had something to say about that.

Hear now the word of the Lord from 1 Corinthians 14:20-40

1 Corinthians 14:20–40 ESV

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, 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, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done decently and in order.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

If we want to be spiritual - if we are taught by the Holy Spirit - there are three things we should know.

First, look at the end of verse 26:

Let all things be done for building up

Verse 20 starts a new section in Paul’s argument and he starts by scolding them.

“Stop thinking like children and grow up,” he says

And then he immediately quotes scripture.

Now I don’t want to make too much of this one thing he did but let’s think about what he just did.

Paul tells them to be mature and then immediately goes to scripture for his point.

That’s got to mean something.

Is Paul telling us by the way he is making his argument that mature people

When they are faced with whatever - turn to the scripture to find their guidance?

That’s not the purpose of this section but that is exactly what Paul is doing.

He’s quoting from Isaiah 28:11-12.

And in a nutshell what’s happening is this:

The Lord says the same thing in Isaiah 28 as Jesus said in Matthew 11:28

Matthew 11:28 ESV

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Different words - same idea.

That’s what God was telling His people.

You need to rest in me - you need to trust me to deliver you.

But God’s people were countering with, “God helps those who help themselves.”

That’s how everyone thinks - it’s not Bible though.

It’s actually from Greek mythology.

That would be other gods, people.

So, when you say, “God helps those who help themselves”

Well, that’s idol worship.

Back to Isaiah - God’s people refused to believe

God allowed the Assyrians to over run them - people of strange tongues

And that was God’s people’s sign.

You refused to believe - you are under judgment.

Paul says in verse 22 that tongues are a sign to unbelievers

They don’t understand what they are - they don’t understand where they come from.

They don’t understand they are under judgment.

And - it’s implied pretty strongly here - that’s not what you and I want for unbelievers.

The Corinthian church with all of their problems - thought as long as they spoke in tongues they were a-ok with God.

It was their seal of approval - see how spiritual we are!

We’re doing this church thing right - look at us.

But it wasn’t spiritual - it wasn’t spiritual at all

Because you are working so hard to prove how spiritual you are - you are condemning unbelievers to eternal separation from God.

That’s not what we want

We don’t want to tear people down

We want to build people up.

Look at 1 Corinthians 14:24-25 “But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.”

But if we preach Jesus

If everyone in this house from the least to the greatest, from the poorest to the richest and everything in between

If we all - every one of us - with one heart and one mind - if we all speak Jesus - look what Paul says will happen.

The Spirit will convict unbelievers of their sin.

“He is called to account by all” means that since we are all preaching the same Jesus - the unbeliever hears the same thing from us all

The love of Jesus that will wash away a sinners sin and guilt and shame.

The secrets of his heart will be revealed to him - His eyes will be opened.

He’ll know that he needs a Savior - He’ll hear the message of a Lord who came to save him

And he’ll repent - falling on his face to worship.

Then, when he is saved, he will declare - Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.

That’s what we want.

That’s what every one of those ping-pong balls represent.

That process happened to every last person who has a ball in that vase.

They heard, they were convicted, they repented and were forgiven and made new

And they became a part of this body of Christ.

Because our goal is to build up.

That is a proper spiritual goal - to build up.

Not to show off

Not to prove how great we are.

To build up

To everyone who will listen, Jesus changed me and He’ll change you too.

First, we build up.

The next thing we need to know if we want to be spiritual is

God is not a God of confusion, but of peace

When you come to church - this church - on Sunday, what do you come looking for?

Are you looking for a hymn?

Are you looking for the latest song from K-Love?

Are you looking to see if the temperature is right today?

That the service is too long?

That the preacher preaches something you want to hear?

In verse 26, 1 Corinthians 14:26 “What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation...”

Everybody is coming to church with something.

Not to hear Jesus preached or even to sing Jesus

But they came to church - every one of them - with something they wanted to share in order to show how spiritual they were.

And like a bunch of children, it’s like someone said, on your mark, get set, go

They’d all start doing their thing - all at the same time.

It was madness.

Everyone was doing what they “felt like they were called to do” with absolutely no regard for anyone else.

Their worship was about them.

And it was pandemonium.

So Paul tells them - one or two people can speak in tongues - if they have an interpreter.

If they don’t, hush.

Two or three people can prophesy - preach more of less

And everyone else is to sit and “weigh what is said.”

If someone has a “God just spoke to me moment,” they couldn’t just blurt it out.

The person speaking would finish, and then the person could speak.

1 Corinthians 14:31 “For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged,”

You hear the goal of worship - that all may learn and all may be encouraged.

But the next line is my one of my favorites and I’ve used it repeatedly in the church.

1 Corinthians 14:32 “and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.”

I can’t help myself.

Paul says, Yes, Yes you can.

And for emphasis he said 1 Corinthians 14:33 “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.

What the Corinthians were doing was emulating their culture.

At the cultic temples, the priests would all work themselves up into a frenzy.

Their inhibitions were pealed away, they would do all sorts of things in front of everybody

And the worshippers would get all worked up into a frenzy and they would do all kinds of things.

I keep getting the image of a rave back in the 90’s in my mind.

A crowd of people, jumping and cheering and shouting and dancing and having a party

Where everything is absolute pandemonium - where everyone is worshipping something whether they know it or not.

It’s a danger.

I went to a leadership conference once where the big event was one evening the band would play secular music.

It was a good band - and it was good music - but it confused me.

I went to this leadership conference to learn how to lead people to Jesus better.

And all day long we talked about that

But in the evening, we brought the world in

I went to escape the world - not immerse myself in it.

But the organizers saw no problem with it because it brought more people in

But was it right?

How you worship - listen - how we worship says something about the character of the God you worship.

Whipping people up in an emotional frenzy might be good for a minute

They escape the cares of the world for a minute

They feel good for a minute

But I promise, that wears off fast

And the funk falls right back in your chest.

The problem sticks to you tighter than glue.

But hearing that there is a God who is bigger than all of your problems

And who truly, truly cares for you and has since the foundation of the world.

That has staying power.

That can change your life .

I think each of us has some soul searching to do in the face of what Paul is teaching us.

We aren’t disordered in our worship

But we do have to ask ourselves, what is it we are coming to this room every Sunday to see?

it wouldn’t harm us one bit to start reciting a verse to ourselves every - well maybe start on Saturday night.

The end of John 12:21 “So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.””

We wish to see Jesus.

What would happen if we put everything else aside and said, “We wish to see Jesus?”

So Paul is teaching us to be spiritual we need to know three things.

First, let all things be done for building up the body

Second, God is not a God of confusion but of peace,

And finally, number 3

All things should be done decently and in order

Verses 34 and 35 have caused a lot of consternation.

The commentaries have all kinds of things to say because they appear to be contradictory to what Paul has taught earlier in his letter.

1 Corinthians 14:34-35 “the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.”

But earlier, in 1 Corinthians 11:5 “but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.”

So in chapter 14 he says a woman should keep silent but in chapter 11 he says a woman can pray or prophesy.

Can she or can’t she - and I think the answer is, it depends.

We know from our earlier studies that the women in this church were having a problem.

They couldn’t understand why they couldn’t do anything that a man could do.

You remember the head covering chapter right?

We remember that the entire issue revolved around authority and how God established the family.

The man and the woman have equal value before God

Both are created in the image of God and both are saved by the same grace and mercy of the Lord.

But they have differing roles.

In this church, the women were obviously disruptive in worship - Paul doesn’t elaborate so we don’t know what they were doing.

But Paul says, “Stop it.”

The women who are saying whatever it is they are saying during worship - they must “stop it.”

Whatever they were doing, Paul did not allow in any church he was in.

Whatever it was - it was indecent and did not reflect the peaceful character of God.

Paul ends with a couple of pretty fiery sentences directed at everybody.

In verse 38 he says, if anyone ignores what I’m teaching, then ignore them.

What I am saying is from God - if someone won’t accept it, don’t accept them.

And then finally 1 Corinthians 14:40 “But all things should be done decently and in order.”

Because our worship reflects the character of the God we are worshipping.

And our God is a God of peace and morality and order.

There are a lot of churches doing a lot of things and before we think of where we should worship or how we should worship here

We need to ask a question Jesus asked the crowds about John the Baptist

“What did you go out into the wilderness to see?”

What are you going out of your way every week to see?

All of us could be doing something else.

A lot of times we do something else.

But some of us really go out of our way to be here.

Some make real sacrifices to be here.

What are you coming to the First Baptist Church of Gray to see?

What is there here that is attractive to your soul?

Is there something here that is attractive to your soul?

I can tell you what is attractive to me - This church, this body of Christ, wants to see Jesus.

I can honestly say, I don’t care what anyone wants save that.

We want to see Jesus.

Let us pray.

Communion

The more I study 1 Corinthians, the more I’m seeing.

Next week, we’re going to hear Paul say something in a special way he does when he absolutely wants us to remember it.

You can see it in 1 Corinthians 11:23 “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you...”

12 simple words but they say so much.

“For I received...”

This didn’t originate with me.

I didn’t make this up.

This was important enough to remember that someone else took the time to tell it to me.

And they told me not to forget.

“For I received from the Lord...”

It wasn’t just anybody that told me this.

The Lord told me.

The one who changed me from a murderer to a resuscitator.

The one who taught me to give life rather than take life.

The one who now owns my soul

“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you...”

The lesson the Lord taught me wasn’t given to just me

It was given to me so that I would give it to someone else.

And because the Lord changed me and taught me how to give other people life

I’m telling you now - this is how you live.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Who are we proclaiming this message to?

Brothers and sisters, we are proclaiming it to one another.

We are saying, “Take heart, I believe like you do.

“I’ll stand with you - we’ll stand together

“Through good days and hard times - we’ll stand

“Because our Lord and savior Jesus Christ will return one day.

And He is our hope.

“What is our only hope in life and death?

That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ.

Will you pray with me?

Directions

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Mention Annette Offering - Checks made out to Aletha Story - memo to Annette

Ushers at the door

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