Proper Order In Church
All things to be done in an orderly fashion
Preaching Themes: Character, Discipline
A 2010 study found that self-control can be contagious. The study, conducted in a laboratory setting, found that watching or even thinking about someone with good self-control makes others more likely to show the same restraint. The study also found the opposite to be true. A person with poor self-control can influence others to act negatively. The effect is so strong that flashing a picture of another person for only 10 milliseconds changed the behavior of study volunteers. People tend to mimic the behavior of those around them, and bad habits tend to spread through social networks. The study is the first to show self-control is contagious regardless of the behavior modeled. The lead author of the study, Michelle vanDellen from the University of Georgia, said, “The take-home message of this study is that picking social influences that are positive can improve your self-control.” She added, “And by exhibiting self-control, you’re helping others around you to do the same.”
—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell
Paul commands preaching (2 Tim 4:1–3), singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Col 3:16), the public reading of Scripture (2 Tim 4:13), and the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11:25). Some have attempted to make 1 Cor 14 the gold standard for what a church service should be like, but doing so often causes “what must be” to be obscured by “what may be.”
14:29 Paul limits prophets to three as well (compare 14:27). Another prophet must judge (not audibly or publicly). Paul says elsewhere that all listeners are to evaluate the message of prophets (1 Thess 5:20–21). Judging messages keeps the people aware of the possibility of false teaching creeping in, and it also keeps listeners in a state of concentration.
Paul applies to public worship his teaching about the importance of intelligibility and order. He provides guidelines for the use of tongues (14:17–28) and prophecy (14:29–32) during worship and commands that women remain silent in church (14:33–35). The meaning of this instruction about women is widely debated, and the issues involved in its interpretation are complex. From a literary perspective, note that the same verb directed at women to “be silent” is previously used for specific situations where those with the gifts of tongues or prophecy may also need to “be silent” (14:28, 30). Perhaps there were certain situations where women were disrupting the worship with their questions. There are textual, linguistic, rhetorical, and cultural challenges facing interpreters of 14:33–35.