WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:05.620 G'day everyone. There's some tricky things here 00:00:05.620 --> 00:00:10.060 to understand, aren't there? So let's pray, let's 00:00:10.060 --> 00:00:13.300 ask God for help as we dig into this tricky but 00:00:13.300 --> 00:00:17.620 important passage. Heavenly Father, we thank 00:00:17.620 --> 00:00:20.620 you that you're a speaking God. We thank you 00:00:20.620 --> 00:00:24.059 that your word is life -giving. And we pray, 00:00:24.100 --> 00:00:26.519 Father, that as we look at it now, that you would 00:00:26.519 --> 00:00:29.730 give us clarity and understanding. about the 00:00:29.730 --> 00:00:32.450 things that you are saying to us. We ask this 00:00:32.450 --> 00:00:36.950 in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, well, let's 00:00:36.950 --> 00:00:42.289 do a fun little exercise. Word association games. 00:00:42.890 --> 00:00:45.929 Do you know those ones? Word association games. 00:00:46.189 --> 00:00:49.329 So you say something, the first similar thing 00:00:49.329 --> 00:00:52.570 that pops into your head. So if I were to say 00:00:52.570 --> 00:00:57.049 cow, you might say milk. Some men would probably 00:00:57.049 --> 00:01:01.509 say steak. You know, beef. And really, you know, 00:01:01.549 --> 00:01:03.649 you get some deep revelations about yourself, 00:01:03.770 --> 00:01:05.829 don't you, when you have these word association 00:01:05.829 --> 00:01:10.129 games. You know, we now know who's lactose intolerant. 00:01:10.569 --> 00:01:14.549 So let's warm up. Call them out. You know, if 00:01:14.549 --> 00:01:20.950 I said Jesus, what words come to mind? All right, 00:01:21.010 --> 00:01:23.049 cool. We just understood everyone's theology 00:01:23.049 --> 00:01:25.890 pretty well now. Excellent. No, that was good. 00:01:26.109 --> 00:01:35.930 Church. Good, yeah. Mission. Tom Cruise, yeah, 00:01:35.989 --> 00:01:45.569 yeah, cool. What about spiritual? It's a trickier 00:01:45.569 --> 00:01:51.129 one, isn't it? For some people, it might be sort 00:01:51.129 --> 00:01:54.250 of like spiritual thinking, mystical, supernatural, 00:01:54.670 --> 00:02:00.659 experience, personal. The word I doubt that you 00:02:00.659 --> 00:02:02.900 came up with or jumped into your mind when I 00:02:02.900 --> 00:02:09.479 said spiritual was construction, building, intelligible, 00:02:09.659 --> 00:02:14.840 ordered. But today I want to show you that's 00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:19.060 part of what being spiritual is about. See, as 00:02:19.060 --> 00:02:22.219 we've seen in 1 Corinthians 12 to 13 so far, 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:23.580 as we've been working through these passages, 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:27.340 we've seen that true spirituality is God's spirit 00:02:27.340 --> 00:02:30.699 at work. But it's very different to what most 00:02:30.699 --> 00:02:33.180 people think it is. They're playing that word 00:02:33.180 --> 00:02:36.520 association game. It doesn't usually match up 00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:38.919 with what they're thinking. We saw in 1 Corinthians 00:02:38.919 --> 00:02:41.840 12 that belonging to the body of Christ, submitting 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:45.060 to Jesus, serving and depending on one another 00:02:45.060 --> 00:02:47.560 as the body of Christ, that is what being spiritual 00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:51.259 is about. We saw in 1 Corinthians 13 that pursuing 00:02:51.259 --> 00:02:54.479 Christ -like love is the heart of being spiritual. 00:02:55.080 --> 00:02:57.500 If you don't have love, you don't have anything. 00:02:57.639 --> 00:03:01.159 The Spirit's not really at work. And 1 Corinthians 00:03:01.159 --> 00:03:05.300 14, again, what is spiritual is not what you 00:03:05.300 --> 00:03:07.280 would expect. Here's the big thing we're going 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:12.139 to see today. Building the body of Christ is 00:03:12.139 --> 00:03:16.919 crucial to being spiritual. That's what spirituality 00:03:16.919 --> 00:03:19.900 is about. Building the body of Christ is crucial 00:03:19.900 --> 00:03:24.909 to being spiritual. And there's three aspects 00:03:24.909 --> 00:03:26.590 that we're going to look at as to what building 00:03:26.590 --> 00:03:29.669 the body of Christ is all about. Here's what 00:03:29.669 --> 00:03:32.610 spiritual people will do. Spiritual people will 00:03:32.610 --> 00:03:36.310 strive to build the church, not themselves. They'll 00:03:36.310 --> 00:03:38.110 strive to build the church, build the body of 00:03:38.110 --> 00:03:41.990 Christ. Spiritual people will speak intelligible 00:03:41.990 --> 00:03:46.689 words because they build the church. And spiritual 00:03:46.689 --> 00:03:51.169 people will seek ordered gatherings, ordered 00:03:51.169 --> 00:03:54.460 gatherings. Because again, that builds the church. 00:03:55.620 --> 00:03:58.439 Now, before we begin, it is worth mentioning, 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:04.280 this chapter sparks a lot of debates. Because 00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:06.979 everyone's here trying to define what do tongues 00:04:06.979 --> 00:04:10.979 and prophecy mean? Are tongues and prophecy around 00:04:10.979 --> 00:04:14.400 today? Did they cease when the apostolic foundation 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:19.160 was laid? There's so much ink that's been poured 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:21.819 over this. And I don't want to get bogged down 00:04:21.819 --> 00:04:24.699 in the debates. Now, we've got to remember the 00:04:24.699 --> 00:04:26.740 Corinthians didn't have the full New Testament 00:04:26.740 --> 00:04:30.120 as we do. We're in a different situation to them. 00:04:31.379 --> 00:04:34.560 But whatever your view on this stuff, can I just 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:36.959 say there's some things that all Christians should 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:41.139 agree on, actually one key thing, and that is 00:04:41.139 --> 00:04:46.480 that Scripture is sufficient. God's Word is sufficient. 00:04:46.620 --> 00:04:49.740 It's all that we need. Look with me at verses 00:04:49.740 --> 00:04:53.759 36 to 38. Paul himself makes that point. He says, 00:05:16.990 --> 00:05:20.009 If you're a Christian, the Bible is God's word, 00:05:20.189 --> 00:05:23.430 isn't it? It's the ultimate authority. It's all 00:05:23.430 --> 00:05:27.410 we need. And when there's disagreement, it needs 00:05:27.410 --> 00:05:31.269 to drive us back to the Bible, back to the Lord's 00:05:31.269 --> 00:05:35.050 command. If we can't answer all our questions, 00:05:35.389 --> 00:05:39.069 I mean, that's okay. But what we can do is distill 00:05:39.069 --> 00:05:42.810 principles and work out what it looks like to 00:05:42.810 --> 00:05:45.709 be spiritual people by going back to the Bible. 00:05:46.699 --> 00:05:48.759 And that's what we're going to do this morning. 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:54.899 The way forward is to go back to the Bible. So 00:05:54.899 --> 00:05:58.660 let's start with our first point. Spiritual people 00:05:58.660 --> 00:06:02.560 strive to build the church. If you've got a Bible 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:04.120 there, it'd be great to have it open in front 00:06:04.120 --> 00:06:06.600 of you. And we're going to look at verses one 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:10.939 to five. Have a look there what it says. Follow 00:06:10.939 --> 00:06:16.060 the way of love or pursue love. And eagerly desire, 00:06:16.339 --> 00:06:18.120 and the word gifts isn't actually there in the 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:22.360 original, eagerly desire the spirituals, especially 00:06:22.360 --> 00:06:26.579 prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does 00:06:26.579 --> 00:06:29.259 not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one 00:06:29.259 --> 00:06:31.220 understands them. They are the mysteries by the 00:06:31.220 --> 00:06:34.540 Spirit. But the one who prophesies speaks to 00:06:34.540 --> 00:06:37.579 people for their strengthening, encouraging, 00:06:37.819 --> 00:06:41.759 and comfort. Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:45.269 themselves. but the one who prophesies edifies 00:06:45.269 --> 00:06:48.649 or builds the church. I would like every one 00:06:48.649 --> 00:06:51.430 of you to speak in tongues, but I'd rather have 00:06:51.430 --> 00:06:54.769 you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater 00:06:54.769 --> 00:06:57.589 than the one who speaks in tongues unless someone 00:06:57.589 --> 00:07:01.410 interprets so that the church may be edified. 00:07:02.730 --> 00:07:06.089 So the big thing here Paul's saying is, I want 00:07:06.089 --> 00:07:09.050 you to desire, I want you to prioritise prophecy 00:07:09.050 --> 00:07:14.170 over tongues because it builds the church. And 00:07:14.170 --> 00:07:17.449 we've got to go, well, what is prophecy? Now, 00:07:17.470 --> 00:07:19.370 there's some clues here that really help us out. 00:07:20.310 --> 00:07:24.189 He says in verse 3 that it strengthens, it edifies 00:07:24.189 --> 00:07:27.930 and comforts the church. We see later in the 00:07:27.930 --> 00:07:30.829 chapter that prophecy convicts unbelievers. It 00:07:30.829 --> 00:07:35.170 exposes them and even converts them. And then 00:07:35.170 --> 00:07:37.329 we see that throughout the passage, prophecy 00:07:37.329 --> 00:07:40.509 is at various points synonymous with instruction, 00:07:40.870 --> 00:07:43.649 with knowledge. It's not at the same level as 00:07:43.649 --> 00:07:48.089 scripture because it must be weighed. So it's 00:07:48.089 --> 00:07:52.269 a bit like a Venn diagram. You know a Venn diagram? 00:07:52.550 --> 00:07:54.689 We've got here the gospel, or you could say Bible 00:07:54.689 --> 00:07:57.910 or preaching, and then prophecy. And a Venn diagram's 00:07:57.910 --> 00:07:59.649 where, you know, they kind of overlap, but they're 00:07:59.649 --> 00:08:02.750 not fully overlapped. That's what we've kind 00:08:02.750 --> 00:08:05.670 of got here with prophecy. It's not scripture. 00:08:06.810 --> 00:08:09.269 It's not the gospel, but, gee, there's a fair 00:08:09.269 --> 00:08:15.850 bit of overlap. So what is it then? Well, I think 00:08:15.850 --> 00:08:20.009 perhaps the idea here is that prophecy is people 00:08:20.009 --> 00:08:24.069 applying the gospel to the people around them. 00:08:25.410 --> 00:08:30.230 Have you ever had that experience? Someone says, 00:08:30.810 --> 00:08:34.049 just what you needed to hear by telling you the 00:08:34.049 --> 00:08:38.049 gospel. You've been wrestling for months with 00:08:38.049 --> 00:08:41.129 guilt and doubt and you're sitting there in a 00:08:41.129 --> 00:08:44.169 growth group and someone says, do you know, when 00:08:44.169 --> 00:08:48.649 I'm feeling guilty, I remember Christ died for 00:08:48.649 --> 00:08:53.149 all our sins and I just hang on to that all and 00:08:53.149 --> 00:08:55.809 I focus on that all and gee, it gives me great 00:08:55.809 --> 00:09:02.639 comfort. And you go, oh. So good. Or you've got 00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:07.879 a secret sin that you keep indulging in and you're 00:09:07.879 --> 00:09:10.519 at church and the preacher's preaching the sermon 00:09:10.519 --> 00:09:13.379 and without knowing that this is something going 00:09:13.379 --> 00:09:18.720 on in your life, he calls you out on it. That's, 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:22.379 I think, prophecies about. Or maybe you're suffering 00:09:22.379 --> 00:09:25.740 horribly. You're at morning tea, you know, and 00:09:25.740 --> 00:09:27.399 you're going around and you want to be polite. 00:09:27.559 --> 00:09:30.960 So you do the whole smile thing, you know. Oh, 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:34.259 yeah, I'm going okay. Inwardly, it's all agony. 00:09:35.580 --> 00:09:39.179 And someone talks to you and they just speak 00:09:39.179 --> 00:09:42.639 sweet gospel truth. They just say those gospel 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:45.399 truths. And they're not meaning to. They're just 00:09:45.399 --> 00:09:50.019 talking. But those words just soothe the wounds 00:09:50.019 --> 00:09:53.840 that you're going through. That's what I think 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:59.539 Paul means here by prophecy. It's applying the 00:09:59.539 --> 00:10:03.159 gospel to each other. Now maybe there was more 00:10:03.159 --> 00:10:06.159 to it and in our day and age we have less of 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:08.740 that. We don't need a new revelation. We've got 00:10:08.740 --> 00:10:11.620 the Bible, don't we? But we need to be applying 00:10:11.620 --> 00:10:16.720 that word to one another. And what a loving and 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:22.090 beneficial thing that can be. And it's something 00:10:22.090 --> 00:10:26.110 that all God's people can do, can't they? See, 00:10:26.169 --> 00:10:29.750 the key is not to discern, oh, do I have the 00:10:29.750 --> 00:10:33.830 gift of prophecy? It's to get on with lovingly 00:10:33.830 --> 00:10:38.049 building up the church. That's what you're meant 00:10:38.049 --> 00:10:39.610 to be doing. That's what we're meant to be doing. 00:10:39.710 --> 00:10:43.629 I love how the ESV translated in verse 12. Here's 00:10:43.629 --> 00:10:47.309 what it says. So with yourselves, since you are 00:10:47.309 --> 00:10:50.859 eager for manifestations of the Spirit. Strive 00:10:50.859 --> 00:10:55.840 to excel in building up the church. Do you see 00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:59.919 what he's saying? Do you want to have a spiritual 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:04.379 experience? Like I mean it, do you want to have 00:11:04.379 --> 00:11:09.879 a spiritual experience? Build up the church. 00:11:11.500 --> 00:11:15.059 That's a spiritual experience. Build up the church. 00:11:15.080 --> 00:11:19.580 How? Point people to the comfort, the joy, the 00:11:19.580 --> 00:11:25.340 grace of the Lord Jesus. That's the mindset that 00:11:25.340 --> 00:11:27.860 Christians should have every time they come to 00:11:27.860 --> 00:11:32.440 church. We should look around and go, is there 00:11:32.440 --> 00:11:35.120 someone over there who I can meet with and have 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:37.419 a one -to -one with because they're really struggling? 00:11:38.539 --> 00:11:42.899 Is there someone who's sad or lonely that maybe 00:11:42.899 --> 00:11:45.940 I could just go talk to this morning? and encourage 00:11:45.940 --> 00:11:50.580 them by pointing them to Jesus? Is there someone 00:11:50.580 --> 00:11:54.019 I can go and say, wow, I'm so thankful to God 00:11:54.019 --> 00:11:57.840 for the great ministry you're doing here? That's 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:01.679 building the church, isn't it? Being spiritual 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:06.600 is about construction. It's about building up 00:12:06.600 --> 00:12:12.039 one another. It's about growing the church. But 00:12:12.039 --> 00:12:15.470 in order to do that, There's some spiritual engineering 00:12:15.470 --> 00:12:17.970 principles that we need to have in place. So 00:12:17.970 --> 00:12:20.289 all the engineers, this is your time to shine, 00:12:20.450 --> 00:12:24.669 okay? Here's our next point. Spiritual people 00:12:24.669 --> 00:12:26.950 strive to build the church, but how are they 00:12:26.950 --> 00:12:31.590 going to do it? Well, we speak intelligible words. 00:12:32.190 --> 00:12:37.309 We speak intelligible words. Now, Paul uses the 00:12:37.309 --> 00:12:41.360 metaphors of musical instruments. You can't really 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:44.220 play in a band if you don't know what each notes 00:12:44.220 --> 00:12:46.139 are and you've got to understand all of that. 00:12:46.259 --> 00:12:49.659 The bugle in the war, you can't know when to 00:12:49.659 --> 00:12:52.360 retreat or when to attack if you don't have distinctive 00:12:52.360 --> 00:12:57.100 sounds. And even different human languages. How 00:12:57.100 --> 00:12:59.460 can I understand you and you understand me if 00:12:59.460 --> 00:13:02.039 we don't have distinctive sounds and we understand 00:13:02.039 --> 00:13:07.159 what those sounds mean? We can't get understandable 00:13:07.159 --> 00:13:09.980 meaning. if we don't have distinctive communication. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:15.259 And it's the same in church. And it's not just 00:13:15.259 --> 00:13:17.840 for the Christian, it's the same for the outsider 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:23.679 as well. Look with me at verses 20 to 25. Paul 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:26.019 says there, brothers and sisters, stop thinking 00:13:26.019 --> 00:13:29.419 like children. In regard to evil, be infants. 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:30.919 You know, that's where you want to be childish 00:13:30.919 --> 00:13:33.139 when it comes to evil. But in your thinking, 00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:35.740 be adults. And here's what it looks like to think 00:13:35.740 --> 00:13:38.120 like an adult. In the law, it is written with 00:13:38.120 --> 00:13:40.100 other tongues and through the lips of foreigners, 00:13:40.340 --> 00:13:43.679 I will speak to this people, but even then they 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:46.419 will not listen to me, says the Lord. That was 00:13:46.419 --> 00:13:51.240 our Isaiah 28 reading. Tongues then are a sign 00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:55.419 not for believers, but for unbelievers. Prophecy, 00:13:55.419 --> 00:13:57.980 however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. 00:13:58.700 --> 00:14:00.919 So if the whole church comes together and everyone 00:14:00.919 --> 00:14:03.360 speaks in tongues and inquirers or unbelievers 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:06.120 come in, will they not say that you are out of 00:14:06.120 --> 00:14:09.820 your mind? You're crazy. But if an unbeliever 00:14:09.820 --> 00:14:13.259 or an inquirer comes in while everyone's prophesying, 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:16.279 They're convicted of sin and are brought under 00:14:16.279 --> 00:14:18.980 judgment by all as the secrets of their hearts 00:14:18.980 --> 00:14:21.960 are laid bare. So they'll fall down and worship 00:14:21.960 --> 00:14:28.100 God, exclaiming, God is really among you. Now, 00:14:28.179 --> 00:14:30.720 I remember reading this passage for years and 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:35.759 going, huh? What is he talking about? They're 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:37.940 a sign not for believers, but for unbelievers. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:40.740 And then someone said something that just made 00:14:40.740 --> 00:14:45.409 the whole thing click for me. Not all signs are 00:14:45.409 --> 00:14:50.830 positive. Not all signs are positive. This is 00:14:50.830 --> 00:14:55.549 a negative sign. The tongues are a sign, a negative 00:14:55.549 --> 00:15:00.850 sign for unbelievers. They're a sign of defeat 00:15:00.850 --> 00:15:08.110 and exclusion. In my teens, I read a book, Tomorrow 00:15:08.110 --> 00:15:11.429 When The War Began. Anyone else read John Marsden? 00:15:11.529 --> 00:15:14.360 Yeah. I think I had to read it, so I didn't enjoy 00:15:14.360 --> 00:15:16.620 it as much. That's what happens with school books. 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:20.019 But, you know, it's all about these teenagers. 00:15:20.019 --> 00:15:22.679 They're returning from a camping trip and they 00:15:22.679 --> 00:15:25.860 find that Australia has been invaded by some 00:15:25.860 --> 00:15:30.759 nearby country. Now, imagine that you were them. 00:15:31.559 --> 00:15:34.379 You've come back from this camping trip and you 00:15:34.379 --> 00:15:36.440 look around and there's foreigners everywhere. 00:15:36.679 --> 00:15:40.460 They've invaded your country, your home. And 00:15:40.460 --> 00:15:45.179 they're all speaking in their own tongue. You've 00:15:45.179 --> 00:15:49.539 got no idea what they're saying. You can't understand 00:15:49.539 --> 00:15:56.559 what's going on. That's a sign. That's a sign 00:15:56.559 --> 00:16:00.200 that your people have been defeated. That's a 00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:06.519 sign that you're on the outer. That's what unintelligible 00:16:06.519 --> 00:16:11.200 words signify in the church. It was a sign of 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:14.860 judgment to Israel and Judah, and it's a sign 00:16:14.860 --> 00:16:17.240 of judgment when anyone comes into church and 00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:20.240 they don't understand what's going on. They feel 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:23.480 left out. They feel so left out they go, you 00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:27.980 guys are crazy. What are you doing? But if at 00:16:27.980 --> 00:16:31.340 church the gospel is preached, prayed about, 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:38.450 sung about, Applied, it's clear, it's understandable. 00:16:39.929 --> 00:16:45.350 That's powerful, isn't it? That convicts believers 00:16:45.350 --> 00:16:50.649 and unbelievers of their sin. That even takes 00:16:50.649 --> 00:16:54.389 unbelievers so that they go from sceptics to 00:16:54.389 --> 00:16:59.769 worshippers of Jesus. Wow, I didn't think I was 00:16:59.769 --> 00:17:03.340 a sinner. I didn't think that Jesus is Lord and 00:17:03.340 --> 00:17:07.400 Saviour and the God of the universe. But that's 00:17:07.400 --> 00:17:10.480 what happens when the gospel is applied to people. 00:17:12.019 --> 00:17:15.660 And if you're not yet a believer, I hope that 00:17:15.660 --> 00:17:17.680 you will have that experience here at Northern 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:19.779 Hope, and I hope that you'll keep coming until 00:17:19.779 --> 00:17:23.339 you do, until you see how glorious Jesus is. 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:30.960 But this gospel power is muted. if no one understands 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:37.559 what is said. Go to a charismatic or a Pentecostal 00:17:37.559 --> 00:17:43.559 church. Watch them speak in tongues. If there's 00:17:43.559 --> 00:17:50.420 no translation, how can that help you? That's 00:17:50.420 --> 00:17:54.339 not a sign of spiritual maturity or depth. It's 00:17:54.339 --> 00:17:58.119 actually the opposite, isn't it? Go to a Catholic 00:17:58.119 --> 00:18:03.250 church. Where the service is in Latin. Oh, that 00:18:03.250 --> 00:18:09.309 feels very spiritual, doesn't it? Sacred. No. 00:18:10.309 --> 00:18:12.750 That's going right against what Paul says. It's 00:18:12.750 --> 00:18:17.849 not intelligible. Gospel words clearly spoken 00:18:17.849 --> 00:18:20.849 so that people understand them, that is spiritual. 00:18:21.670 --> 00:18:25.230 Because spirituality is about truth. It's about 00:18:25.230 --> 00:18:31.009 the truth of the Lord Jesus. And that's why it's 00:18:31.009 --> 00:18:35.250 so crucial here. When we're preaching from the 00:18:35.250 --> 00:18:39.549 front, leading a service, praying, whatever we're 00:18:39.549 --> 00:18:42.490 doing from the front, singing songs, what have 00:18:42.490 --> 00:18:46.490 we got to do? Let's make sure we don't use Christianese. 00:18:47.789 --> 00:18:49.809 I'm glad we're all here and we're speaking in 00:18:49.809 --> 00:18:52.049 a language we can understand, but sometimes we 00:18:52.049 --> 00:18:54.589 can make it confusing for people. So if we're 00:18:54.589 --> 00:18:56.390 going to use Christianese, hey, guys, let me 00:18:56.390 --> 00:18:58.509 tell you about propitiation, you know, we explain 00:18:58.509 --> 00:19:04.059 it. Don't we? We want to make our services as 00:19:04.059 --> 00:19:07.200 intelligible and clear and understandable as 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:11.240 we possibly can. There's a great rule that I 00:19:11.240 --> 00:19:14.400 heard someone say once. It's the 90 -13 rule. 00:19:14.920 --> 00:19:19.740 Have you heard that one? The 90 -13 rule in church, 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:22.740 that 90 % of what is said should be understood 00:19:22.740 --> 00:19:29.670 by a 13 -year -old. That's being clear. That's 00:19:29.670 --> 00:19:32.670 when the spirit is at work through the gospel. 00:19:34.849 --> 00:19:37.710 But being clear is not all that we need to do. 00:19:38.369 --> 00:19:40.369 Here's the next thing we need to do. Here's our 00:19:40.369 --> 00:19:45.630 next engineering principle. Seek ordered gatherings. 00:19:47.150 --> 00:19:51.170 Seek ordered gatherings. It goes so against what 00:19:51.170 --> 00:19:53.609 people think of spirituality today, isn't it? 00:19:53.869 --> 00:19:57.049 It's not this transcendent, chaotic experience. 00:19:58.949 --> 00:20:13.950 And we see this in verse 33. This is how God's 00:20:13.950 --> 00:20:18.950 people do it. They reflect their God. Now, why 00:20:18.950 --> 00:20:22.670 does he say God's a God of order? Well, think 00:20:22.670 --> 00:20:25.950 back to Genesis 1. Do you remember Genesis 1? 00:20:27.369 --> 00:20:30.569 In the beginning, God created the heavens and 00:20:30.569 --> 00:20:34.150 the earth. The earth was without form and void, 00:20:34.309 --> 00:20:37.289 and darkness was over the face of the deep. That 00:20:37.289 --> 00:20:41.630 is chaos. There's no form. It's void. It's everywhere. 00:20:41.829 --> 00:20:46.430 It's dark. It's chaotic. And the Spirit of God 00:20:46.430 --> 00:20:48.809 was hovering over the face of the waters, and 00:20:48.809 --> 00:20:56.210 God said, let there be. And we have God. making 00:20:56.210 --> 00:21:00.430 light we have God making everything God brought 00:21:00.430 --> 00:21:07.109 chaos into order that's what God does actually 00:21:07.109 --> 00:21:09.950 it's so intense when you read Genesis 1 isn't 00:21:09.950 --> 00:21:13.089 it he made everything in a seven -day structure 00:21:13.089 --> 00:21:16.329 and it's all with a backdrop you know the the 00:21:16.329 --> 00:21:19.529 backdrop is the sky and the waters and the other 00:21:19.529 --> 00:21:21.730 they're all made and then he fills them like 00:21:21.730 --> 00:21:26.099 there's such a structure to how God does it He's 00:21:26.099 --> 00:21:31.180 ordered. And we also see the word. It's his word 00:21:31.180 --> 00:21:33.339 that creates order. The spirit's there hovering 00:21:33.339 --> 00:21:37.480 over the waters. It's the word and the spirit 00:21:37.480 --> 00:21:43.480 working together to create order. Now, let's 00:21:43.480 --> 00:21:47.740 imagine a church service where everyone's talking 00:21:47.740 --> 00:21:52.160 at once, where it's more like preschool than 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:55.650 church. Everyone's talking at once. No one's 00:21:55.650 --> 00:21:58.190 taking turns. They're talking over each other. 00:21:59.369 --> 00:22:02.670 Ask yourself, does that reflect the God of peace? 00:22:05.130 --> 00:22:09.390 No. Because it can't build anyone up, can it? 00:22:10.069 --> 00:22:15.490 When it's just chaotic like that. So Paul exhorts 00:22:15.490 --> 00:22:17.869 the Corinthians and asks and he says, you want 00:22:17.869 --> 00:22:23.849 to be spiritual? Be ordered. Speak one at a time. 00:22:25.269 --> 00:22:27.650 And if there's tongues, make sure you've got 00:22:27.650 --> 00:22:31.589 an interpreter. And cap the speakers at two to 00:22:31.589 --> 00:22:33.849 three so that you don't overwhelm everybody. 00:22:34.569 --> 00:22:37.529 You know, like you get to speaker number 27 and 00:22:37.529 --> 00:22:42.089 you're going, okay, can I go home yet? And he 00:22:42.089 --> 00:22:45.349 says, weigh what is said. And then we get that 00:22:45.349 --> 00:22:48.390 controversial bit that the women need to remain 00:22:48.390 --> 00:22:52.849 silent in church. Now, what's he mean by that? 00:22:52.950 --> 00:22:57.430 We need to be careful here. He can't mean that 00:22:57.430 --> 00:23:00.609 women be totally silent in church. You know, 00:23:00.609 --> 00:23:03.750 Paul's not there going, okay, Bethany spoke. 00:23:04.589 --> 00:23:08.849 That's it. You're in trouble. Actually, Paul 00:23:08.849 --> 00:23:11.450 says earlier in chapter 11 that women are to 00:23:11.450 --> 00:23:14.970 pray and prophesy in church. So it can't be saying 00:23:14.970 --> 00:23:19.970 women can't say a word, literally. What's going 00:23:19.970 --> 00:23:23.650 on in the context? Well, he's just been talking 00:23:23.650 --> 00:23:28.329 about weighing up the prophecies. That's what 00:23:28.329 --> 00:23:30.970 he's talking about here. They're not to be a 00:23:30.970 --> 00:23:35.349 part of that weighing up process. So he's not 00:23:35.349 --> 00:23:39.430 devaluing them. He's actually trying to point 00:23:39.430 --> 00:23:42.349 everyone back to how things were meant to be 00:23:42.349 --> 00:23:45.369 in Genesis 1. See, do you remember in Genesis? 00:23:46.029 --> 00:23:48.069 Man and woman, they're both created in God's 00:23:48.069 --> 00:23:51.509 image. They're of equal value. They've got different 00:23:51.509 --> 00:23:55.029 roles, but they're of equal value. That's something 00:23:55.029 --> 00:23:57.710 our society gets so messed up, doesn't it? We 00:23:57.710 --> 00:24:00.190 think your worth, your value is dependent on 00:24:00.190 --> 00:24:02.589 what your role is. If I've got more power than 00:24:02.589 --> 00:24:06.470 you, I must be more valuable than you. And Paul's 00:24:06.470 --> 00:24:10.009 saying, no, it doesn't work like that. They have 00:24:10.009 --> 00:24:12.890 equal value. They're both in God's image. Jesus 00:24:12.890 --> 00:24:16.779 died for men and women equally. But there's different 00:24:16.779 --> 00:24:20.119 roles. There's hierarchy in families. And the 00:24:20.119 --> 00:24:22.720 church is a church family, and it must reflect 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:26.279 that to support other families of believers. 00:24:27.339 --> 00:24:30.400 So think back to Genesis. Here we've got the 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:34.420 hierarchy of authority, not value, in Genesis 00:24:34.420 --> 00:24:37.200 1 and 2. Here's how God did it. He said, you 00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:40.680 know, God made the man and the woman from the 00:24:40.680 --> 00:24:43.279 man and gave them authority over the animals, 00:24:43.460 --> 00:24:45.799 right? And that's why they go around naming all 00:24:45.799 --> 00:24:49.619 the animals. But then what happens when the serpent 00:24:49.619 --> 00:24:54.980 comes? It all gets flipped, doesn't it? The serpent, 00:24:54.980 --> 00:25:00.299 who is an animal, then leads the woman, and the 00:25:00.299 --> 00:25:04.119 woman then leads the man. And then what happens? 00:25:04.579 --> 00:25:06.619 Where's God in that? Well, he's just not even 00:25:06.619 --> 00:25:08.940 in the picture because they don't want to listen 00:25:08.940 --> 00:25:10.460 to him. They're listening to the serpent now. 00:25:11.779 --> 00:25:14.700 Everything gets flipped. And it becomes chaotic. 00:25:17.980 --> 00:25:22.819 So what's this mean for us? You know, what do 00:25:22.819 --> 00:25:25.460 we do understand with this? Well, Laura's gone 00:25:25.460 --> 00:25:27.799 on holiday today with Jake on the Gold Coast, 00:25:27.880 --> 00:25:32.180 so I can't use her as a sermon prop today. But 00:25:32.180 --> 00:25:33.940 imagine she was here, if she was sitting right 00:25:33.940 --> 00:25:37.160 here up the front, and if throughout my sermon 00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:41.940 today she yelled, oh, that is so wrong, or, oh. 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:45.460 I don't think he meant to say that, you know. 00:25:46.839 --> 00:25:49.559 That would undermine my sermon, wouldn't it? 00:25:51.140 --> 00:25:54.079 Or if people were talking about my sermon after 00:25:54.079 --> 00:25:58.500 church and she was going there, you know, yeah, 00:25:58.559 --> 00:26:02.460 I don't think you really nailed that one. That 00:26:02.460 --> 00:26:06.240 would undermine my leadership, undermine my example, 00:26:06.599 --> 00:26:10.920 undermine everything. That would not build up 00:26:10.920 --> 00:26:14.349 the church. which is what Paul's getting at here, 00:26:14.490 --> 00:26:19.529 that would undermine the building of the church. 00:26:19.690 --> 00:26:22.730 It would kind of divide things and cause chaos. 00:26:25.630 --> 00:26:29.509 Paul is saying that men and women are equally 00:26:29.509 --> 00:26:34.430 valuable, but there are different roles. And 00:26:34.430 --> 00:26:37.190 that's why he says for the women to ask their 00:26:37.190 --> 00:26:39.269 husbands at home, if it's single, it's different, 00:26:39.369 --> 00:26:42.599 but if you're married, Ask your husband at home 00:26:42.599 --> 00:26:45.519 because he's saying we want to promote order. 00:26:46.660 --> 00:26:49.339 We want to promote order that men be men and 00:26:49.339 --> 00:26:54.880 lead as men should. Now, how's this play out 00:26:54.880 --> 00:26:57.180 for us as a church? Well, actually, before I 00:26:57.180 --> 00:26:58.859 get to that, can I just say, if that is something 00:26:58.859 --> 00:27:00.960 that's a struggle for you, I get this is hard. 00:27:01.980 --> 00:27:05.839 Please come and have a chat with me. I get it's 00:27:05.839 --> 00:27:09.099 hard and it's hard because men so often suck 00:27:09.099 --> 00:27:13.519 at leading properly. So if this is a struggle, 00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:17.319 please come and talk to me about it. It can be 00:27:17.319 --> 00:27:21.920 awful, but please come and have a chat. Don't 00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:26.420 just let it simmer. But how does this play out 00:27:26.420 --> 00:27:30.740 for us as a church family? Well, a lot of this, 00:27:30.819 --> 00:27:35.680 I think, we do do well. We talk one at a time. 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:38.940 There's the odd little heckling that Trevor used 00:27:38.940 --> 00:27:42.140 to do and I do. But most of the time we're one 00:27:42.140 --> 00:27:44.420 at a time and our services are sharp. We haven't 00:27:44.420 --> 00:27:48.099 got 27 preachers, which is great, all at once. 00:27:49.940 --> 00:27:52.339 But there's a subtle yet important challenge 00:27:52.339 --> 00:27:54.940 here to husbands and wives that I think we do 00:27:54.940 --> 00:27:59.759 need to take on board. Husbands, are you growing 00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:03.220 in your love and understanding of God's word? 00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:10.180 Because you can't lead your wife well. If you're 00:28:10.180 --> 00:28:14.019 not. You can't lead others if you can't lead 00:28:14.019 --> 00:28:17.599 yourself. You can't answer your wife's questions 00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:20.200 if you haven't done some thinking on your own. 00:28:20.259 --> 00:28:21.819 Now, not that you get it right all the time or 00:28:21.819 --> 00:28:24.960 know all the answers, but it's a good thing to 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:28.619 be a person who's deep in their spiritual maturity. 00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:34.880 Because as a husband, what's your job? It's to 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:39.589 build up your wife, isn't it? As Ephesians 5 00:28:39.589 --> 00:28:42.589 says, it's to present her before Christ, blameless 00:28:42.589 --> 00:28:47.410 on the day that he returns. So build up your 00:28:47.410 --> 00:28:53.369 wife. Husbands, are you emotionally safe? If 00:28:53.369 --> 00:28:55.269 your wife comes and asks you something about 00:28:55.269 --> 00:28:57.710 Christianity, do you go, oh, I don't know, you 00:28:57.710 --> 00:29:02.309 know, I'm busy right now? Can you be emotionally 00:29:02.309 --> 00:29:06.750 safe with her and talk with her calmly? Can you 00:29:06.750 --> 00:29:12.569 lead her well? And wives, are you respecting 00:29:12.569 --> 00:29:17.210 your husbands? If you're both at church, what 00:29:17.210 --> 00:29:21.269 happens on the car ride home? Do you ever ask 00:29:21.269 --> 00:29:24.170 your husband questions or discuss the sermon? 00:29:24.190 --> 00:29:25.990 Hey, sweetheart, what did you think about today's 00:29:25.990 --> 00:29:28.029 sermon? I know Brendan's hair needs work, but 00:29:28.029 --> 00:29:30.910 what did you think about what he was saying? 00:29:31.089 --> 00:29:36.150 I didn't understand that bit. Are you raising 00:29:36.150 --> 00:29:39.670 things? Are you talking to him? Letting him have 00:29:39.670 --> 00:29:43.210 the opportunity to lead you like that. Are you 00:29:43.210 --> 00:29:45.349 doing things in your marriage where you're undermining 00:29:45.349 --> 00:29:50.069 his leadership? Stepping in where you really 00:29:50.069 --> 00:29:57.490 need to hold back. All right, well, let's recap. 00:29:58.549 --> 00:30:02.130 Let's recap where we've been. We asked today, 00:30:02.369 --> 00:30:07.099 what is being spiritual about? We saw in the 00:30:07.099 --> 00:30:09.240 last few weeks it's about belonging to the Lord 00:30:09.240 --> 00:30:12.359 Jesus. It's about love. Today we saw it's about 00:30:12.359 --> 00:30:15.019 construction. It's about building. It's about 00:30:15.019 --> 00:30:19.619 growth, both reinforcing what exists and adding 00:30:19.619 --> 00:30:22.700 to it by bringing new people in. We're not just 00:30:22.700 --> 00:30:26.079 building up. We're building out. Spiritual people 00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:28.920 strive to build the church, build up, build out. 00:30:29.339 --> 00:30:32.819 Spiritual people speak intelligible words. They 00:30:32.819 --> 00:30:36.240 speak clearly. The truth, the gospel truth, clearly. 00:30:36.819 --> 00:30:42.259 And we seek ordered gatherings. What is spiritual 00:30:42.259 --> 00:30:45.119 being about? Next time you play word association, 00:30:45.559 --> 00:30:48.920 one word that should jump into your head. No, 00:30:48.920 --> 00:30:52.019 it's not there. Well, there you go. Here's the 00:30:52.019 --> 00:30:55.240 big idea. Building the body of Christ is crucial 00:30:55.240 --> 00:30:59.599 to being spiritual. That's what being spiritual 00:30:59.599 --> 00:31:04.329 is about. It's about building. Or putting it 00:31:04.329 --> 00:31:07.430 another way, it's all about being centred on 00:31:07.430 --> 00:31:12.609 the love and lordship of Jesus. It's making Christ 00:31:12.609 --> 00:31:16.230 clear to people. It's removing obstacles that 00:31:16.230 --> 00:31:20.009 mute, distort or dishonour Christ because that's 00:31:20.009 --> 00:31:23.329 what builds the church, isn't it? That's when 00:31:23.329 --> 00:31:28.349 the spirit is at work. So Christians who are 00:31:28.349 --> 00:31:34.740 here today, are you being spiritual? Are you 00:31:34.740 --> 00:31:38.660 here on Sunday speaking to one another, serving 00:31:38.660 --> 00:31:41.900 one another? Have you signed up to a growth group 00:31:41.900 --> 00:31:43.819 so that you can do that throughout the week? 00:31:44.380 --> 00:31:48.700 Are you inviting non -Christians to church? These 00:31:48.700 --> 00:31:52.920 are spiritual things to be doing. And if you're 00:31:52.920 --> 00:31:57.059 not yet a Christian, have you seen the glory 00:31:57.059 --> 00:32:02.119 of Jesus? Have you seen how great it is to know 00:32:02.119 --> 00:32:05.700 him and love him? Please keep coming until you 00:32:05.700 --> 00:32:09.380 do. It will change not only your life but your 00:32:09.380 --> 00:32:15.039 eternity if you do. But let me close with this. 00:32:16.980 --> 00:32:20.599 Imagine if every regular, when we walk through 00:32:20.599 --> 00:32:24.180 that door each Sunday morning, imagine if they 00:32:24.180 --> 00:32:27.140 came to church with their construction radar 00:32:27.140 --> 00:32:33.410 on. Scanning the room for opportunities. Who 00:32:33.410 --> 00:32:37.009 could I build up this week? What way could I 00:32:37.009 --> 00:32:40.609 serve someone else this week? Or serve today, 00:32:40.849 --> 00:32:45.930 just even informally? Who could I invite? Is 00:32:45.930 --> 00:32:48.410 there a new person I could talk to today? I know 00:32:48.410 --> 00:32:49.789 I want to talk to my friends, but I'll get to 00:32:49.789 --> 00:32:51.890 them. I'm going to talk to that new person who's 00:32:51.890 --> 00:32:56.430 sitting on their own. Imagine if we all came 00:32:56.430 --> 00:33:01.349 to church with that construction radar on. Jen 00:33:01.349 --> 00:33:04.990 would be happy. Rosters would be easier to fill. 00:33:06.650 --> 00:33:11.190 Less people would slip through the cracks. There'd 00:33:11.190 --> 00:33:15.269 be a magnetic love about how we do church, wouldn't 00:33:15.269 --> 00:33:20.630 there? I think we've got a lot of that. But let's 00:33:20.630 --> 00:33:25.069 pray for more of it. Let's all strive to do that 00:33:25.069 --> 00:33:28.690 because that's the sort of church I want to go 00:33:28.690 --> 00:33:33.089 to and actually that's the sort of church that 00:33:33.089 --> 00:33:38.910 can have a huge impact on any city. Let's pray. 00:33:41.869 --> 00:33:44.109 Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for the 00:33:44.109 --> 00:33:48.009 Lord Jesus. We thank you for the message of the 00:33:48.009 --> 00:33:52.680 cross that all our sins All our sins have been 00:33:52.680 --> 00:33:56.880 paid for by him. We thank you that through his 00:33:56.880 --> 00:34:02.460 mighty resurrection, Jesus is Lord of all. Father, 00:34:02.539 --> 00:34:06.059 we know the truth of the gospel is what builds 00:34:06.059 --> 00:34:09.800 your church. And we ask, Father, that you would 00:34:09.800 --> 00:34:13.739 help us to share that good news every week here 00:34:13.739 --> 00:34:17.420 from the pulpit, in the conversations we have. 00:34:18.059 --> 00:34:20.840 in the way we pray, in the way we sing, in all 00:34:20.840 --> 00:34:25.179 that we do, please may it be centred on the lordship 00:34:25.179 --> 00:34:29.460 and love of the Lord Jesus. And please, Father, 00:34:29.500 --> 00:34:34.039 help us to be a spiritual church because we are 00:34:34.039 --> 00:34:39.559 striving to build the body of Christ. Help us 00:34:39.559 --> 00:34:42.000 with these things, Father. We can't do it on 00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:46.059 our own. We need your help. We bring these things 00:34:46.059 --> 00:34:49.530 before you now. In Jesus' name, amen.