Keep It In Order

INTRODUCTION

Good morning and welcome again to First Christian Church. We are so glad that you are with us this morning to worship our Lord and Savior. I want to invite you to turn in your Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and we will pick up in verse 26 today. If you do not have a Bible, there should be one in the pew in front of you or the verses will be on screen as well.

Not long ago, Morgan took a look at my closet and immediately said we had to fix this. I had a system in place, maybe chaotic to those who just glanced at it, of where different style and color shirts would go. But in fairness, it looked like it was not any type of organized system. Morgan looked at it and had to get to work.

I don’t know if it is because she is a teacher or because God has gifted her this way, but she is organized and good at organizing. So, she got to work that night and in just a few minutes it was organized by color and shirt style. Why am I sharing with you that my closet is now organized? Because we know it to be true that organization makes things better. Order helps us to function better and get to things easier.

Today we are going to look at a passage from 1 Corinthians 14 that speaks to the order of not only the church but the Sunday service. Would you join me in prayer this morning?

PRAY

An Order To Worship

Let’s go ahead and look at 1 Corinthians 14:26-33 to start with.

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. 27 If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. 28 But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 30 If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, 32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. 33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.

1 Corinthians 14:26–33.

Paul’s reason for writing these words is to provide order and structure to the worship service. These verses are also a guide for the function of speaking in tongues. If a tongue were to be spoken, then it needs to be done in an orderly way. We looked and spoke about this topic a few weeks ago.

Paul also says that “all things be done for building up.” When we come together to worship, all that is done should be for the building up of the church. The music, the message, the fellowship, and the teaching all should be focused on building up the church. When that doesn’t happen, when things get out of order, then problems arise.

Worship needs to be held to a proper order. Not only is there order, but there has to be a willingness from other believers to allow some to go ahead of them in worship. As believers, there has to be a willingness to set aside our pride and desire to see God be glorified through others.

Why have the order? Why have a purpose in our services? Listen to what 1 John 4 says:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

1 John 4:1.

When we have order to our time together, we cannot only hear what is being said, but also have time to discern what is being said. This may seem foreign to us, because we do not typically, in this church, have disorder on a Sundy morning. We have a structure and plan to our worship. The most “disorderly” thing that may happen is a microphone not work or the screens mess up. But just this week I saw a brief clip from a church here in America that had mulitiple people on stage, with microphones, speaking in tongues, while some sang, others where speaking english, and people where blowing shofar’s which are horns. Just watching the few moments I did was disorienting. Your mind can’t focus on one thing or one person speaking.

The indication from the church at Corinth is that something similar was happening when they came together to worship. Many were speaking in tongues, people were teaching, and other things were happening which was causing confusion. Paul addresses that confusion by saying that God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. That peace should reflect in our service. Chaos and confusion does not edify the church. Chaos and confusion does not reflect the God that we love and we serve. When we look to the world around us, chaos and confusion is only a product of sin.

This same idea must apply not only to our worship, but all things that pertain to God. God does not cause confusion, but peace. When we read our bible, study scripture, and worship God, it should not be from a place of confusion. It should bring about peace, because it comes from God. What is our test of spiritual things? We should see what fruit it bears!

What About Women?

The following passages are what we may call controversial. Look at 1 Corinthians 14:33:

For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, 34 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. 35 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.

1 Corinthians 14:33–35.

I wonder if you can guess why these verses have been controversial over the years? What role do women play in service? Should they speak in church? Are we in sin because the women in this church talked when they crossed the threshold? Throughout church history these verses have been often abused and at the same time often ignored. These are hard verses, and because of that people may purposely steer away from them. Not us this morning.

So, what is Paul saying here? Remember these verses are being written to actual people. Paul was not just sitting around coming up with topics to write about, he is responding to issues and teaching that needed to be corrected or learned. So, these words are meant to mean something. Just because they are hard, sound difficult, or require some study and nuance to work through, doesn’t mean we just avoid it.

So put these verses in context. Paul is writing to correct the disorder in the service that was taking place. That would lead us to believe that something in the service that was disorderly was involving the women of the church. If there is a problem, you have to evaluate it and find what that problem is. For the church here at Corinth, it was clear that the women were contributing to this disorderly worship. So, what is Paul’s answer? The women should be silent in the service. I 100% believe that if there were men doing the same thing, Paul would have written with instructions for what they are to do.

The order that Paul described in the worship service also involved more than just someone speaking from the platform. Paul is speaking to those who lead the service, who direct it, and who come forward to share a message from the word of God. The role of pastor/elder in the church is reserved for men. And this is a universal role, not just a rule for the Corinthian church. Verse 33 says, “As in all the churches of the saints,” this rule that women cannot usurp the God given role for men in the church is a universal rule for the church.

In 1 Timothy 3, we see the description for the role of pastor/elder:

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

1 Timothy 3:1–7.

This leadership role is reserved for men. In no way are we saying that this is a sexist statement; we are not diminishing women, we are acknowledging what God has set in place. When we get this out of order, and we start ignoring the requirements for what leadership looks like, not just bending the rules of gender, but many other requirements, it creates disorder in our church. Just as allowing disorder in the worship service creates chaos and confusion, allowing disorder in our leadership does the same.

This is not an attack on women as much as it should be a charge and challenge to us as men. We do not get to be passive members of the body. We are not to be lazy in our spiritual walk and allow others to lead where God has not called them to do so. Men, we are to be the leaders of our body. We set the tone and the bar for what it means to follow Christ. While the world may minimize and diminish the idea of a biblical masculinity, the church should be a beacon for what the word of God says. Hear how Wayne Grudem and John Piper explain it their work, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism:

The differentiation of roles for men and women in ministry is rooted not in women’s incompetence to receive or transmit truth, but in the primary responsibility of men in God’s order to lead and teach.

John Piper; Wayne Grudem

Men, this also means we have to be students of the Word. Where does Paul direct the wives to go with their questions? Their husbands! Yes, that means you. You do not have to be a seminary student or an ordained pastor to be able to meet your wife in the Word. Single men, you should be in the Word now to be prepared for when that day comes. Ladies, encourage your husband to be doing this. Men, take the charge and lead your family in the Word. Our ultimate authority is the Scripture, and that means we must be serious with our knowledge of it.

We should want to have these things in the proper order. We do not want chaos and disorder in our church or our family, and when we abide in the Word and let it speak to our hearts we find that order. Let Christ be the head of the church, just like scripture tells us He is, and men love your wives as Christ loved the Church. Just as we seek to have order in our Sunday morning gathering, we want to have that same order in our families.

Test It To See

I said earlier that this passage is not intended to suppress women. Paul is not making women second class citizens in the church. But this teaching will rub against us even today. It isn’t culturally what we hear. And even in large portions of the church it is not acknowledged. But Paul anticipated that the Corinthian church would have those that pushed back against this idea. Knowing this, he wraps this part up with these words:

Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? 37 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. 38 If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. 39 So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But all things should be done decently and in order.

1 Corinthians 14:36–40.

Paul quickly speaks to a biblical arrogance that could come up. This thinking that one church is on its own, somehow a special case that the Word does not apply to or that has their own version of what God is saying. He nips that in the bud with this rhetorical question, “Was it form you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached?” Who are we to think like this? We are not the ones writing the word and it is not just for us, it is for the body as a whole. The Word of God, the entirety of scripture, is profitable for the Church and has been through the history of the church and that will not change. We do not get to alter, deny, or ignore any portion of scripture to fit our own needs, wants or desires.

In fact, Paul says that if someone is claiming to be a prophet or even spiritual, they should be able to acknowledge what Paul has said as true. To deny this truth of scripture is to deny truth in general and that person should not be acknowledged. Why does any of this matter? Because it all should be done decently and in order. The worship service, our study, our leadership should fall in line with what scripture describes it should be.

But why is this so? Look at what Paul says in verse 23 of chapter 14:

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? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, 25 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.

1 Corinthians 14:23–25.

Our testimony to the people around us should impact how we conduct ourselves. Paul is telling us that if an unbeliever or an outsider were to enter our service and the service is chaotic, how would they not assume we are out of our minds. But when it is ordered, and the word is proclaimed, not only does it edify the body but it preaches the gospel to the one who has not heard it. This builds us up as the body while also proclaiming the goodness of God to the world.

So, what is our take away as the church. We should seek to be ordered, according to scripture, in all that we do. Pushing away from the chaotic and disorderly in order to pursue the peace of God and proclaim the good news of God to the world.

What is that good news? The Gospel.