1 Corinthians 14

Sometimes when you do a deep dive into the Bible like we’ve been doing the past couple of months, you come across passages that remind you just how different the world was back then to the world we know today…passages that can seem hard to connect with because the situations they address are so specific to the time in which they were written.

That’s certainly the case today as we find ourselves in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, which deals with some particular problems that were happening in the church of Corinth…problems that the average Christian church of the 21st century would find it hard to identify with.

It comes from the truth that we’ve already spoken about in previous weeks that many of the people in the Corinthian church came to faith in Christ out of pagan religions that were common in Corinth…and it’s clear that these religions put a lot of value on ecstatic or emotional experiences.

One of these pagan religions was the cult of the Greek god Apollo…in fact here’s a picture (SLIDE) of the ruins of Apollo’s temple in Corinth, built in about 540 B.C.

The cult of Apollo that would meet in this temple put a lot of emphasis on emotional experience in worship. Apollo was known as a god of healing and prophecy, and as part of the worship in his temple there would have been incense and chanting and people falling into ecstatic trances…and in those trances they would often blurt out or even shout out words considered to be prophetic…words that some thought were direct from the gods or even Apollo himself.

Thing is…some of the people who then became Christians in Corinth have brought that same kind of experience into their Christian worship, and to be honest it’s causing all kinds of issues.

In the middle of their worship services…people are falling into similar ecstatic trances and shouting out in the middle of them while worship is going on.

Some of them are shouting out in foreign languages…or unknown languages that some think are the “tongues of angels” that Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 13.

Whatever it is…it’s a mess. It’s chaos.

That’s what Paul is addressing here in chapter 14, and again…it may be hard for you and I to connect with what Paul is saying because the experience he’s describing is so alien to you and to me.

Although, if I’m honest, I have been to worship services in some churches that had elements like what was happening in Corinth, but in the modern Christian world those tend to be the exception not the rule.

So the question is…how do you and I still glean from difficult and seemingly alien passages like 1 Corinthians 14 something that is helpful for our Christian walk and our church life together?

Well, to do that I think it’s helpful for us, at the same time, to step back and take a wider look at this chapter…but then also to dig in and examine in detail some of what Paul is saying here. When we do that…I think we find some incredibly important and helpful nuggets of wisdom for us to glean from this otherwise difficult chapter.

First of all…let’s step back and take a wider look. Let’s get a good 30,000 foot view of the text we’re studying.

The first thing we might notice if we do that…is that this chapter really finishes up a little mini-section of Paul’s letter that began back in chapter 12 when he started talking about spiritual gifts.

Remember…one of Paul’s key themes in this letter is unity. He’s examining the Corinthian churches unhealthy attitudes that have led them to split into different camps. And one of the clear symptoms of that disunity is a sense of superiority that some of them feel.

Paul wants to level the playing field with this section from chapter 12 through chapter 14.

He’s telling them that no Christian is above another. We are all part of the body of Christ and we are all important to the work that the church is doing.

Again…that metaphor he uses of the body is so powerful and effective—we are all parts of the body working together, and no one part is better than another.

So here in chapter 14 what Paul is doing is addressing a very specific outgrowth of that disunity…and outgrowth that’s affecting their worship life together.

Because some of Corinthians clearly believe that these ecstatic utterances in strange languages are a sign of superior spirituality.

And because they think their spiritual gift of tongues is more important than the other gifts…they feel free to just interrupt times of worship constantly.

Try to imagine what that would be like.

You’re in a worship service, maybe singing a nice hymn or listening to someone read a teaching of Jesus...and all of a sudden the person next to you stands up and starts shouting in a strange language...drowning out everything else that’s going on.

And nobody stops them, because they mistakenly believe that this is the most spiritual thing that can happen…this is the height of spiritual maturity.

And this goes on…all the time.

Paul says, “no.”

Pretty emphatically, in fact.

And right at the start of chapter 14 he puts to rest any notion that those who do these things are somehow more spiritual than others.

And he does so right out of chapter 13, where he spends a good portion of time making the argument that the greatest gift of all…is love.

And love…does not cause disunity in the church, and it does not cause chaos in worship.

Love…binds us together and builds us up…but what you’re doing, Paul says, further divides and disrupts your life together.

(SLIDE)

“Follow the way of love,” he writes, “and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.”

There are a couple of things really worth noting here in verses 1-4.

First of all, Paul doesn’t criticize those who claim to have a gift of speaking in tongues. But he puts that gift in context…that it’s more of an experience of prayer…speaking to God.

But it’s prophecy, he says, that is a word for the church.

Now it’s important to note that Paul isn’t talking about prophecy in the way a lot of people understand it.

We hear the word “prophecy” and we think of someone telling the future.

But it means so much more than that.

Prophecy is really a word that comes from God…to the people…through a person.

In a lot of the Old Testament books especially it sometimes had a word about what was going to happen in the future, but it was more about what the people needed to hear in that moment. A word of prophecy was a timely instruction from God meant to correct, edify, encourage, and teach.

So prophecy…which in our understanding today includes the preaching of a sermon…speaks to the people for their strengthening, comfort, refining, and growth.

Paul says…that’s what you should pursue in your time together.

In other words…when you gather for worship…seek those gifts that are going to unite you and encourage you and edify you.

Prophecy, he says, is a gift worth pursuing.

It doesn’t make the person who prophesies more important. This isn’t about building up the ego of someone who brings a word of prophecy.

It’s about building up the body of Christ.

That’s what happens in worship…the church is being built up.

Or at least that’s what should be happening.

You know…we may not have controversies in most churches today about speaking in tongues and ecstatic trances and the like…but I think what Paul is saying here still resonates with us in significant ways.

Because in many churches…worship still divides more than it unites.

[THORNAPPLE—“WORSHIP IDOL”]

Paul is very clear here in chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians—worship should unite us, not divide us.

And he’s really echoing Jesus’ words that we heard from John chapter 4.

Again…it’s about a divide in worship. The Samaritans worshipped on a mountain, likely Mount Gerizim.

In fact, here’s a picture of the temple ruins that still exist today on that mountain (SLIDE).

But the Jewish folks in Jesus’ time only worshipped at the temple in Jerusalem, and believed any other worship site was illegitimate.

Again…divided over worship.

And in response to that Jesus says (SLIDE)

“Woman believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Jesus is pointing out that in light of the new covenant he initiates with his death and resurrection, where we worship is no longer an issue.

Because worship isn’t about a place or a building…it’s about the presence of God in our midst wherever we might be.

God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.

Paul would 100% agree.

And he would say that worship that is rooted in the Spirit and rooted in truth will not descend into chaos.

(SLIDE)

“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.”

Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.

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

I know Paul is speaking specifically about worship here, but I think his words apply to the whole of our life together in the church.

God is not a god of disorder but of peace.

When the Spirit of God is truly at work in a church…the work that church is doing just gels, it fits together, it forms a unified whole that is endowed with a supernatural peace and power.

And that’s what brings growth and impact and fruitfulness.

The body of Christ…united in worship and work…can make a real difference in the world. I believe that with all my heart.

In that light, let me offer one additional thought on what Paul is saying here in chapter 14, because he makes an interesting observation about one of the specific effects of the disorder that’s happening in their worship.

He says in verse 23:

“So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?”

I love that in this conversation he’s having about worship, Paul turns their attention to the people outside of the church.

He’s basically saying, “All this chaos that’s happening in your worship services…do you ever stop to think how that looks to someone who isn’t a Christian? What if someone who doesn’t follow Jesus comes into your midst…they’re going to run so fast in the opposite direction because it looks like you’re all completely out of your mind.”

There’s a good word here for us, and it’s a word about hospitality.

Paul is stressing the importance of making sure what you do in your church is accessible to all.

Understandable to all.

Someone coming in off the street, he says, should have no trouble understanding what’s happening in your church service.

That’s a particular passion of mine, in fact.

I do believe worship is primarily for the church. It’s a place where we seek to glorify God and grow in our life together as Christians.

But it’s also a place where people who are not yet Christians have an opportunity to encounter God and meet Christ for the first time.

And what that asks of us to always have a posture of hospitality towards others when we gather for worship.

It’s the motto of this congregation, isn’t it? “Here let no one be a stranger.”

It’s one of the things that first caught my attention when I started learning about Gilfillan Memorial Church.

And I think it’s going to be even more important for us in the coming years, because more and more people in our culture are not growing up in the church.

They find Christianity hard to understand and difficult to accept.

And one prayer I would hope we make central in the coming months and years is that we learn even more and more what it means to “let no one be a stranger.”

To let the Spirit of God make us even more welcoming, to make our worship service a place where people are coming to faith and deepening their relationship with Christ.

Paul says that when the Spirit of God is active in our midst during worship, people who are not yet Christians will fall to their knees in conviction and worship, exclaiming “God is really among you!”

Isn’t that the desire of our hearts?

That people who meet us…will sense that they have actually met with Christ himself?

Let’s make that our prayer as we continue to learn what it means to worship…in Spirit and in truth.

Let us pray.