Good order

Pray

We’re almost through chapter 12-14 in 1 Corinthians - some of the most interesting, most debated, and exciting chapters in the the NT

We have learnt much

Recap

1 - Anyone who can truly say ‘Jesus is Lord’ has the fullness of the Holy Spirit living in them.

‘Jesus is Lord’ is shorthand for the good news, the gospel of Jesus.

Believing that Jesus, the Son of God, gave up the glory of Heaven to become a man,

to live the perfect life we could not,

he suffered and died at the hands of humanity - people like you and me,

he then rose again to new life

offering his perfect life in-exchange for ours,

taking the punishment of God for our sin,

so long as we truely repent and believe,

2 - Anything done to build up the local church is a work of the HS in our lives.

Whether that is service, works, miraculous gifts - it is all a free offering, or manifestation of the HS so that no one can boast - but all glory goes to God.

3 - We should seek to always build up the local church not ourselves.

We gather each week to build up others - that ought to be our motivation.

4 - Love is essential.

If it’s done selfishly it is nothing.

Now Paul in this section by thinking about what this should all look like in practice.

And the big picture here is that the gathered church should demonstrate:

1 - Collaborative Good Order that Builds Up

building up others has of course been a main point of Paul in this letter over recent chapters.

but let’s think about those other 2 issues in turn:

Collaborative and Good order.

1a - Firstly Collaborative,

1 Corinthians 14:26 NIV

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.

we’ve mentioned this a little over the last few weeks, but put simply again, church is not something you attend,

or somewhere you go to get what you want,

or somewhere you are a spectator.

No- church is us.

It’s not a building, or an event - it is a people, a family.

We have paid staff who take the lead on initiatives, and push things forward,

but not as if we are special - no, we simply are freed from other work to focus more fully on what we ALL are seeking to do - which is build one another up and tell others of Jesus .

We have elders who take responsibility for protecting sound doctrines and theology, and oversea our faith and care - but none of this changes that we are ALL required to make up the church.

We are one body.

We have much to give thanks for at GC in this area.

Every service has approximately 22 people rotared to serve in one way or another.

And then outside of rotas, there are all the conversations after and before the service where some minister to one another.

There are home groups where we share life and faith in more depth,

there are occasional interviews and testimonies,

teams that organise evangelistic events, and socials, and discipleship events.

Most of us do indeed gather as a family to build one another up.

Even at Youth groups (i Hope) - we should attend with an attitude of love and service towards building up others

The HS is very much at work in the life of our church in building up others selflessly for the glory of God week in and week out.

there is much to give thanks for.

There are also some ways we could build up each other more - as v26 suggests,

Perhaps if we come across a new song that you think may be good for us as a church to sing, you could recommend it to one of the music leaders, or to Jeab who overseas the music teams.

We can think about the wording and style to see if we agree it’s beneficial, so don’t be afraid to get involved

Or, We often would like to do more short interviews of testimonies, but it’s hard to find people to do them

so perhaps if you’re asked you’ll be willing as a result of thelse chapters on Corinthians

,

or perhaps if you have an idea, or have a relevant testimony of story that is helpful for us as a church you might suggest it to one of the staff?

And finally, if you’re not on a rota yet, or you have more capacity to build others up, then let me share with you some of the needs coming up on our rotas...

In the morning service, we need stewards, singers, musicians and Sunday school helpers.

and

In the afternoon, we need stewards, PA and Sunday school teachers

- perhaps you’d even be willing to love your church family by service at the other service occasionally?

We also need more help at Friday night youth groups

It sounds mundane - but these are essential parts of our church body - and we can all love each other by getting involved.

But outside of the specifics

- I’d really encourage us all to think of church as being what we are together - not something you do, or attend.

We need each part of our body to get stuck in and build up others not ourselevs.

So we grow in faith and grow in number as we share the good news of Jesus to more and more people.

So, that’s collaborative,

but collaborative doesn’t mean a random free for all that turns into chaos,

or some individuals monopolising services

or their opinions being dominant over others becasue they argue the best.

No Paul expects church gatherings to maintain and display

1b - Good Order

1 Corinthians 14:27–33 NIV

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.

We’ve covered at length last week and the in chapter 12 the whole area of tongues and prophesy, and even covered these verses last week as part of that passage - so we wont talk further about those today.

But it’s the principal I’d like us to see here.

Whatever our church gatherings contain - Paul’s governing principle is one of good order.

It’s not chaotic, or argumentative, or oneupmanship, or look at me - I’m amazing,

as it seemed to be in Corinth,

no,

it’s controlled and organised.

people are in complete control of their actions and voices.

They are respectful of each other, they take things in turn.

Paul also expects complete humility before each other, even after a prophet, in their context, has spoken,

he expects there to be enough respect and humility for others to discuss the prophesy and even reject it without chaos or anger.

So we can’t be offending if we don’t always get our way, or have our suggestions taken up,

or things are done differently to how we would do it.

After all - what is important is the truth about God, not the importance of individuals.

Becasue it is the truth that will build up.

And this principle, says Paul,

it is based on the nature of God himself.

1 Corinthians 14:33 NIV

For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.

No one wants a God who is chaotic, disorganised, confused.

So, Why would we want a church like that

- and how could a church like that honour, glorify and worship a God who is characterised by peace and order.

Of course God’s ultimate peace and order is seen in his desire to save for himself a people who do glorify him, and church or repentant believers.

In our chaos and sin, in our darkness and death - our rebelion against God,

he brings complete peace and order.

He does not chaotically bring about the forgiveness of sins, and he does not desire to have us as enemies,

but as we discussed at the beginning,

he brings ‘order’ to our sin by justifying us in Christ Jesus,

and he brings ‘peace’ to our chaos and lostness - by saving us as his holy people to glorify him.

Of course as a church we wont yet perfectly reflect what we will all one day be - when Christ returns - as the book of revelation describes - when all nations gather together to sing in perfect order ‘Holy, Holy, Holy in the Lord God almighty’,

but we can seek to glorify Him in orderly gatherings and lives as best we can as empowered by the HS.

If you’re not a believer here today - perhaps the thought of some peace and order in your own life will be enough to convince you to join us, and accept Jesus as Lord and saviour in your own life.

So that’s collaborative good order to build up.

Let us now move onto the what at first seems a much more controversial section of our reading:

2 - Marital Good Order

1 Corinthians 14:34–35 NIV

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.

Seems straight forward - let’s close in prayer!

I nicked that joke from another sermon i listened too on this passage.

This is a classic biblical example of why context of a passage is so important.

You may have heard of the person who liked to open the Bible randomly and point blindly to verses for God’s guidance. So one time he ended up pointing to a verse that said, “Judas hanged himself”, and tried again and ended up on the verse where Jesus said, “Go and do likewise”!

Context is essential.

So first off, the wider context of this book is that Paul does expect women to speak in a visible upfront role in the church gathering,

1 Corinthians 11:5 NIV

But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved.

So here, Paul has to have something specific in mind -

The other context of Corinthians is that we know Paul is responding to letter they have sent him, asking about various situations in their church.

A letter we don’t have,

but it seems very lilkey that his statement here is specifically relating to an issue they have asked him about,

presumably around the areas of spiritual gifts and prophesy - hense it’s inclusion here in this section.

In other words the Corinthians would have read those 2 verse and understood the context - which we don’t.

There are very slight clues to help us though.

Somehow there seems to be an issue that involves wives disturbing the good order of the gathered church

by asking questions that should have been kept for discussion at home with their husbands.

And in some way they are undermining their submission to their husbands - according to the law - Paul says.

The law is most Likely a referecene to the consequences God put in place after the fall of mankind in Genesis.

Genesis 3:16 NIV

To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

Here then are a couple of possible scenarios of what Paul is addressing.

- Wives might have been questioning and undermining their husbands’ prophecies – and so embarrassing them in front of the church.

- Or, maybe wives were asking other men (other than their husbands) personal questions that again demonstrated a lack of submission or respect for their husbands - or even demonstrated a lack of modestly before others.

But To be honest - it’s impossible to know.

but we are reminded of the godly principles we saw in chapter 11 and God’s law and created intentions for men and women to be equal but have different roles in the church and family.

Perhaps some ways in which we might want to be careful in this area today would be that

- Wives should not engage in intimate/overly personal conversation with other men without their husband’s (The reverse is also of course true!)

- Wives should also not intentionally undermine their husbands in front of others

- It also means husbands should not think headship equals unrivalled dictatorship. Paul certainly expect husbands and wives to be willing to discuss disagreements or personal matter at home. And not ignore the situation entirely!

That sort of mutual respect and acceptance of God’s design for marriages protects both marriages and good order in the church,

and as we saw in chapter 11 - glorifies Jesus who models both headship over the church and submission to the father - as the perfect example of all these things.

And the final point of good order is

3 - Biblical Good Order

1 Corinthians 14:36–38 NIV

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.

You would be excused for not spotting the significance of a phrase tucked into Paul’s statement here but it is important.

Paul’s general point is that a true prophet at that time would know that what he has been saying in these chapters is true and right, but he says something more..

‘let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command.’

That is a significant statement. It demonstrates to us that Paul understood that part of his special calling as an apostle at that time was to bring the very commands of the Lord.

He writes with the authority of God.

It’s not ok in other words to read the letters of Paul, or the other apostles for that matter, and just dismiss them in exchange for our own opinion.

The church must sit under the word and authority of God - the bible.

It’s a powerful way for Paul to close the big picture of these chapters.

We are the church - and we therefore gather to build one another up in love by the power of the Spirit.

It’s not ok to dismiss this - and instead seek the individualistic/consumeristic culture of our day.

We are not consumers or customers,

the church, (and nor is Jesus) is not a service provider where we have rights and expectations of what will be done for us.

We are the church - and our authority is the Word of God, recorded by the apostles - and made alive in us by the HS.

And the way in which we measure a churches faithfulness (our faithfulness) is by our acceptance and teaching of the Bible as our authority. That is a church in good order!

Otherwise v38 - they will be ignored - he means by God. Ignore my loving word that leads to salvation, and God will ignore you!

But What a gracious God we have,

who does reveal his truth to us in his word by His Spirit.

We are saved from darkness into the dazzling light of the Lord Jesus, empowered by His Holy Spirit and directed through his Word.

The words of John 14 capture this challenge and reassurance perfectly for us.

John 14:23–27 NIV

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Pray