•I Corinthians 14:26-33a
•Order over Chaos
•Corinth
26 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. 33a For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.
(I Corinthians 14:26-33a, ESV)
Main Points
• Paul shows how corporate worship should be
• There should be order with the purpose of building up the congregation
• We see the wisdom in recognizing God is a God of order, and His people can and should be no different
Application Points
• Order over Chaos
– The whole chapter has been pointing to what’s been said in these few verses
– We have seen how the selfish view of corporate worship leads to anarchy
– Not “How did I glorify God today?”
– Instead “Did I get what I wanted out of the service?”
– “Did anyone meet my needs?”
– Which thought process do we often possess?
– In all and every one of the cases above we find something that is beating in the background of the text
– Humility
– In humbling ourselves we capable of overcome the often selfish urges we encounter
– That this is for the glory of God humbles us to seek Him and His ways
Application Points
• Order over Chaos (2)
– When it comes to congregational worship it is no different than our personal devotion to God
– It also leads to the corporate understanding of order
– In humility we are able to know when to speak and when to be silent
– While there may be encouragement and truth to it, it can also be the case that the encouragement and truth ceases to be spoken
– “Isn’t the Spirit with me?”
– “Isn’t true spirituality spontaneous and utterly in the Holy Spirit?”
– “If I am stifled the Spirit is stifled!”
– The same Spirit in you is the same Spirit in everyone else
– That we could stifle the Spirit by being concise is somewhat absurd
Application Points
• Order over Chaos (3)
– God is aware of our time
– There were servants and slaves, husbands and wives, workers, people who had commitments the same way we do today
– They needed order as much as we do
– Taking in mind our finiteness and being humble about it can help us in our services to not allow the service to be one which is unfruitful
– As a teacher within the congregation it can be hard to know when to stop a sermon J
– I know that time is important
– I also know that it isn’t about me, what I want, but about others
– I seek God’s wisdom to know when to end, when to continue, how much or how little to say
– If we can understand this foundation on humility and love, then it is possible for us to talk about the elephant in the room
– Does the Spirit still speak through prophets, does the gift of tongues continue even today?
Application Points
• Order over Chaos (4)
– There are those who would say, “No.”
– They will point to a particular miracle that occurred and say, “Well I don’t see others performing this miracle therefore the gifts have ceased.”
– All because a particular miracle is mentioned it does not mean that the individual could continue doing said miracle
– In Acts 20 when Eutychus falls asleep at the window, falling three stories down and dying
– Do we ever encounter another story of Paul reviving someone from the dead? No.
Application Points
• Order over Chaos (5)
– Does this mean it never happened again? No.
– Does this mean Paul was always able to heal those who died around him? No.
– It means the probability increased for Paul that such a miracle could take place
– There were signs and wonders
– It didn’t mean every single prayer, every single event, every single attempt, came to fruition
– We see the probability increase based upon the faithfulness of the individual
– Imagine if there were a prophet who is gifted
– We should not assume every time the prophet spoke what he spoke was prophetic
– The reason why God would heal some and others is up to God
– The real question from this is would we encounter more miraculous events if we attempted and believed?
– Does God expect us to be involved by being faithful?
Application Points
• Order over Chaos (6)
– Another argument from the cessationist is that the canon was closed and so we do not need any other kind of prophecy
– I could very easily argue that the Scriptures are sufficient for our understanding of who God is and who we are
– I can say that the Scriptures are essential for our understanding and our foundations
– We still need to teachers who teach We still need various gifts such as giving, helping, and praying
– It may be necessary for the Spirit to move within some in order for them to be reminded of a particular Scripture
– It would seem silly of us to read anything extra-Biblical
– Why read Tertullian? Augustine? Athanasius? Calvin? Luther? Zwingli? Wesley? Spurgeon? Piper, Macarthur, Sproul etc.?
– If you have the Scriptures then that would be sufficient
– Yet we do need preachers, teachers, and we do need wisdom
Application Points
• Order over Chaos (7)
– We must then ask what do we do with the spiritual gifts?
– It comes down to two things
– Church leadership and the congregation
– We have leaders to give recommendations and potentially change systems and formats and the order of service for the benefit of the whole
– It requires the congregation as a whole in order to sift what we should be doing
– If we should seek these gifts out…let us do so for the glory of God
– Let us do so in humility
– Let us do so for the betterment of each other rather than ourselves
– Our God is such a God as this
– He is not One of Chaos…but of purpose and meaning
– Let us continue to seek order within the congregation not in order to constrain the Spirit
– But in order for us to be concise
– In order for us to honor God who brings order even to a chaotic people such as us
•Application Points
•The Gospel of Christ
–Origins
–Where we began
–Fall
–What went wrong
–Redemption
–How it is fixed
–Glorification
–Where it at leads
