what we've learned in this book. I know I've
asked this question before, but some of you are
rule, some of you really like rules. Who really,
really likes rules? Yeah. Who does not like rules?
Okay. Some of you are like, I don't want you
to make me do anything. I'm not raising my hand.
That's kind of how you are right now. And if
that's how you are, it's because you don't, you
don't like rules. I was reading this week, How
many guys ever heard the term the Victorian era?
Victorian era, you've heard of that? And that
was between like 1837 to 1901. And it had, one
of the things that's interesting, I was reading
about it, that particular time in English history,
our team just came back from Wales, right? Queen
Victoria and all that. There were numerous rules
for social etiquette, for manners. and a lot
of them seem very old fashioned today. There
was a guy who wrote a manual of social and business
forums that was published in 1875, kind of at
the height of that time, and it outlined various
practices for social etiquette. Like, if you
can get me to eat with my mouth closed, I'm doing
pretty good, right? Like, that's kind of where
I'm at. You're like, that's disgusting. Okay.
But yeah, this particular book kind of took some
of those things that were common at that time,
including things about hygiene and greeting and
conversation. Here's some of the things that
are in that book, and I think you'll think this
is funny, on bowing. This is something about
bowing, okay? This is a quote from this book.
A gentleman should not bow from a window to a
lady on the street, though he may bow slightly
from the street upon being recognized by a lady
in a window. Such recognition should however
generally be avoided as gossip is likely to attach
and do importance to it to it when seen by others
Who's gossiping about people bowing and wind
ice weird, okay for okay small talk Here's one
no topic of absorbing interests may be admitted
to polite conversation. It might lead to discussion
That's a weird rule. Here's one about marriage.
Anyone with bright red hair and a floored complexion
should marry someone with jet black hair. The
very corpulent, which means fat, the very corpulent
should marry the thin and spare, and the body
wiry cold -blooded should marry the round -featured
warm -hearted emotional type. Speaking of well
-rounded, I accidentally... Trimmed my beard
too short time you guys noticed. Okay, it was
an accident this morning I usually do an eight
and it went to a one and it was bad and Zeke
on the way here He's like don't worry dad. It
looks fine. Your cheeks are a little bit bigger,
but it's fine He's getting a spanking when he
gets home so So here's one about street etiquette.
When crossing the pavement, a lady should raise
her dress with the right hand a little about
the ankle. To raise the dress with both hands
is vulgar and can only be excused when the mud
is very deep. Okay, so yeah, some kind of, I
was not made for that time. These kind of rules
seem kind of old fashioned and funny. In 1 Corinthians
chapter 12 to 14 especially, and really the whole
book, Paul's writing and he's, He's answering
questions that they've asked, but he's also calling
them out on things that they are doing that was
wrong. I was talking to somebody this week and
kind of thinking out loud together, and I said,
could you imagine trying to pastor a church,
which is what Paul had done, he started the church,
and there are people there that were trying to
pastor the church, and not having the full written
New Testament, right? And in Corinth, having
a bunch of people that get saved, come to know
Christ as Savior, but came out of a very pagan
background, where even the way that they worship
these pagan deities was through sexual practices
and temples. There's all kinds of crazy morality
in the culture, and there's no word of God in
the sense of written Word of God, there's the
Old Testament, but a lot of the New Testament
hasn't been written yet. Can you imagine trying
to pastor those kinds of people, brand new people
that, yeah, they get saved and they're transformed,
but who agrees? There would be a lot to change.
There'd be a lot for them to deal with. And so
Paul... God in his great wisdom had the apostle
Paul be a missionary and go all over the place
and pastor and start churches and then leave
those churches and then have to instruct those
churches even though he's gone. And because he
did that, now we have a record of what the Holy
Spirit through Paul taught, and not just Paul,
James and Peter and these other ones, to kind
of set in order how we ought to do what we're
doing here. Who's grateful for that? I'm so glad
that I don't have to make up the rules, that
I don't have to make up, hey, how should we do
church like God wrote it down in a book. And
that's what we're seeing in 1 Corinthians, really
when we get to chapter 14 and chapter 12, Paul's
correcting this Corinthian church about how they're
approaching specifically spiritual gifts. especially
with how those things were being expressed in
the context of when they assemble together. And
two major issues seem to come up. First, they
were preferring the sign gifts or the showy gifts
to the point that they were creating chaos when
they assembled and even counterfeiting these
gifts in a way that created all kinds of confusion.
Second, they were doing that and they were doing
it without love. They were doing it to be seen
and not to minister. They're doing it to get
their own egos promoted and not necessarily to
be a benefit to the church. And so last week
we covered 1 Corinthians 14, one to 19, and heard
from the apostle Paul that the church was to
prefer prophecy. Go back to chapter four, in
chapter 14, just a little bit above where I.
I'm gonna ask you to go to 14 .1. He says, follow
after charity. Charity is love. That's chapter
13, what he just described is love. And saying,
faith, hope, and love these three, but the greatest
of these is love. Our love will be in the end.
Love will remain. In the end of all times, we'll
see as we're seeing. Faith won't have to be anymore,
because we'll see God. Who's excited about that?
We'll see Jesus. We won't have to hope for eternity.
We'll be in eternity. It's gonna be an amazing
thing for those of us who know Christ Jesus.
And faith and hope will not remain, but love
will remain. That'll be so amazing. And who's
tired of sin? Man, I'm tired of my sin. So. Paul
says in chapter 40 verse 1 you you need to desire
the spiritual gifts at these time at this time
Gifts of prophecy gifts of tongues. We're gonna
talk about this today They're still operating
and what Paul's saying is if you're gonna prefer
one of these sign gifts prefer prophecy He says
it's because Prophecy edifies the whole congregation
and the reason it does is because it's intelligible
and it's rational when they would prophesy when
The word would come from God to men who spake,
thus saith the Lord. They did it in a way that
everybody in the room could understand. And in
that way, the word of God coming through that
person builds up other people. Legitimate tongues
could be interpreted, and in that way they became
prophecy while counterfeit and uninterpreted
tongues didn't lead to any understanding and
therefore did not edify. And in today's text,
he goes on to describe how these two gifts of
the Spirit were to be exercised when they came
together. The rules that Paul gave to the church
here are not mere etiquette or like dealing with
social norms like the Victorian ones that I read
before. Here he gives them rules on how to see
these gifts, how these gifts were to be expressed
when they came together. And so in learning this,
we can learn principles that apply to us today
and how we should worship together. So to put
this in one sentence, to put the rest of the
sermon in a sentence, here's what I would say.
The way that we should participate in corporate
worship in principle can be seen in how Paul
commanded the Corinthian church to regulate two
spiritual gifts when they came together. There's
two spiritual gifts that are talked about here,
prophecy and tongues, and he gave them rules
about how to He gave them order. When these things
happen in church, this is how they're to be done,
okay? So the first one, set of regulations, number
one is regulations for tongues. Now there was
a lot of chaos in their church and when it came
to their services, as we have said, counterfeit
tongues were being used in the form of gibberish
languages with no meaning. As we looked at last
week, there are times where in the King James
translation that we're using today, verse two,
for he that speaketh in an unknown tongue, you
see the word unknown is supplied there by the
translators, the word tongue in the singular.
I believe in almost every case in chapter 14,
except down in verse nine, the word tongue there
in the singular is speaking of counterfeit. at
least uninterpreted tongue. You can't have multiple
gibberishes. There's gibberish and then there's
no languages. There are tongues that are languages.
If you're looking back in Acts chapter two, when
they spake in tongues, they spake in languages
that each of these people knew. We went back
last week and read in Acts chapter two, all the
different nations that the people came from when
they heard. the tongue, and so it was a sign,
and we're gonna see that today, it was a sign
of God doing something. And so here he uses tongues
to talk about legitimate, tongues plural, to
talk about legitimate, the legitimate sign, and
the word tongue to describe, this unknown tongue
to describe the counterfeit. When we get to verse
20, Paul gives them both thinking and instruction
on how to exercise that spiritual gift that was
still in that day when they came together. First,
he says, you need to be mature. So if you're
following along in my way too many point outline,
the maturity, maturity was prioritized. Look
at verse 20. He says, brethren, be not children
in understanding, how be it in malice, be ye
children, but in understanding, be men. He's
basically saying, don't be gullible like kids
are gullible. How many of you guys have ever
noticed kids can be gullible? I remember a kid
asked me back in the day when I had braces on,
he said, what are those shiny thing in your teeth?
I'm like, oh, those will grow on your teeth when
you become a teenager. And they were like, I
gotta go talk to mom, right? Kids tend to believe,
have you noticed that? Kids are gullible. And
what he's saying is, hey, you don't be gullible
when it comes to this exercising of tongues,
this is in the context. Don't be children in
understanding, how be it in malice, be ye children.
The Bible says to the pure, all things are pure.
Don't be good at malice. Don't be mature in malice.
Who thinks that's a good idea? Anybody know somebody
that's just good at being angry and kind of evil?
Yeah, don't be like that is what he's saying.
In understanding, be men. If you were to go back
through this particular passage, the word understanding
comes up over and over and over and over again.
In one sense, that is the distinguishing difference
between prophecy, which can be understood, and
tongues that are legitimate, which could be understood,
and translated, right? When they're translated
into a language you can understand, that could
be understood. When they're not translated or
they're counterfeit, you can't understand them.
And so what Paul's saying is, hey, let's prioritize
understanding in church. Let's be mature. Let's
not be gullible. Let's not be infantile in your
perception of the exercise of this gift. If you're
going to be immature in something, be immature
in malice, khakiya, badness, depravity, malignity,
trouble. He says, be underdeveloped in badness.
Be developed in understanding. To discern maturely
how the gifts of tongues are to be exercised,
you must know its purpose. And so that's what
he says in verse 21. The next part, tongue's
purpose. He says in verse 21, in the law it is
written, with men of other tongues and other
lips will I speak unto this people. And yet for
all that will they not hear me, for all that
they will not hear me, saith the Lord. Now this
passage, verse 21 is a quote from the prophet
Isaiah. The term here that's used law, was used
by Jews to express the whole of scriptures at
times, scriptures, law, prophets, the hagiographia.
And they used it to distinguish these sacred
writings from the words of the scribes. Basically,
there's the word that came from God, and then
there's the commentary. And so when he's saying
this law, he's talking about, you're saying,
well, Isaiah is not part of the law. It could
have included that. That's what I'm trying to
say. Here, he quotes Isaiah 28, 11. Here's what
Isaiah 28, 11 says. For with stammering lips
and another tongue will he speak to this people
to whom he said, this is the rest wherewith you
may cause the weary to rest. And this is the
refreshing yet they would not hear. So the immediate
context of Isaiah, which Paul's quoting from
that immediate context. is essentially saying
since the drunkards would not listen to God's
prophet, he responded to them by predicting their
subservience to Assyrian taskmasters who would
give them instructions in a foreign language.
So when you're reading Isaiah, he's essentially
saying there's gonna be some people coming and
speaking languages that you understand and they're
gonna come and take you over. The New Testament
here then divulges. An additional meaning of
this verse that anticipate God's use of the miraculous
gifts of tongues as a credential of his New Testament
messengers. Like foreign tongues in the instance
of Assyria taking over Jerusalem would indicate
God's judgment on unbelieving Israel, so would
tongues in the New Testament be a sign of judgment
of those unbelieving, especially the Jews who
had rejected their Messiah. This is in a corporate
way. So this is what he says in verse 22. He
says, right after that, he quotes Isaiah. He
says, wherefore, see this prophecy, this is what's
gonna happen. Tongues are for a sign, not to
them that believe, but to them that believe not.
But prophesying served not for them that believe
not, but for them which believe. What he's saying
is that when tongues were spoken and interpreted
that was in a sense prophecy, doing it in that
format was indicating that God was doing something
among the nations and not through the nation
of Israel because of their unbelief at some level.
It's highlighting the unbelief of the Jews. The
prophecy that came as revelation from God was
for the belief of Jews and Gentiles alike. Faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God,
that's prophecy. So with that in mind, Paul says,
hey, you need to prefer prophecy, you need to
prefer understanding, you need to be mature and
identify the counterfeit gift and understand
that gift, the gift of tongues really is God's
rejection of those unbelieving Jews. So what
should be prioritized? Well, understanding should
be prioritized. He goes on to say in verse 23,
if therefore the whole church can be come together
into one place and all speak with tongues, and
there come in those that are unlearned and believers,
will they not say that ye are mad? The word mad
here means crazy, not angry. It's saying, if
everybody's standing and everybody's saying,
using this gift of tongues, which. He had already
said not everybody has the gift, which means
that if everybody's doing it, some people are
doing it without the gift, which means it's counterfeit.
He says, if everybody stands up and does it all
at one time, the random guest that comes to your
service is gonna be like, this is crazy. This
is weird. I don't understand what's going on
here. This is chaos. This is not for me. See
you later, right? Verse 24, but. If all prophesy,
if all are saying things that are understandable,
right, and there come in one that believeth not
or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he
is judged of all, and thus are the secrets of
his heart made manifest. And so this is what
we want to have happen in our church service,
right? We want people to hear the word of God
and realize I'm a sinner. I don't do things right.
There's a gap between what I ought to be and
what I am. There's a savior who loves me and
died for me and paid for my sins. And if I would
confess what I am and who I am and turn to him,
man, God is here among you. That's what I need.
This is where I need to be. Who thinks that it's
an awesome thing? That's what we want. He says
in verse 25, and thus are the secrets of his
heart made manifest, and so falling down on his
face, he will worship God and report that God
is in you of a truth. This is related to verse
20 where he told him to be mature, to be men
in understanding. Several words are translated,
understood, understandeth, understanding throughout
chapter 14. Verse nine. Eosmos, which means easily
understandable. Aku is to hear or perceive. Edo
and to know in verse 16. Verse 14 is Nus, which
means mind or meaning or understanding. Freyn
in verse 20. Literally the word there in verse
20 means the mid -drift or the diaphragm, the
parts of the heart, the mind, the faculty of
perceiving or judging. The concept is addressed
without using the word in the text like saying
amen. And that's when we say amen to what you're
saying. In verse 23, Paul says, if everyone's
trying to speak in tongues, all of them people
who are unbelieving or unlearned will think you're
crazy. But if you speak of the word of God understandably,
which is what happens with prophecy at that time,
then there's a chance for understanding. And
that understanding can lead to belief and belief
can lead to repentance and repentance can lead
to worship. Who's going for that? We're going
for that, right? So that's where he gives these
regulations. He goes on in verse 26 and says,
hey, if you're gonna do this tongues the legitimate
way, here's how it's gonna be seen as legitimate.
And here's how it's not gonna create chaos. Verse
26, he talks about two or three at most. Two
and three at most. He says in verse 26, how is
it then, brethren, when you come together, every
one of you hath the Psalm, hath the doctrine,
hath the tongue, hath the revelation, hath an
interpretation, let all things done unto Edify.
Do you see what it says there? Let all things
done unto what? What is it? Let all things be
done unto Edify. Actually, in your Bible, go
down to the end. Verse 40, let all things be
done what? Decently and in order. In Paul's mind,
for it to be edifying, it has to be done decently
and in order. That make sense? So he says, verse
27, if any man speak in an unknown tongue, let
it be by two or at most by three. I believe here,
he's talking about legitimate tongue, because
it's only one guy, and only one guy can speak
one tongue at a time. That's kind of the point.
If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it
be by two or at least by three. and that by course
and let one interpret it. The scripture is forbidding
chaos here. He's asking for what happens in corporate
worship to be done decently and in order, and
this is the sum of it. All of it done with the
purpose of edification, which means it must be
able to be understood. So when the tongues were
operational, back when that was still happening
before they ceased. Instead of everyone speaking
in tongues in a chaotic way at the same time
without interpretation, they were to do it one
at a time. Here he says two or three at most.
And then he says, and when it happens, make sure
you interpret. Make sure you interpret. So we
see letter E always interpreted. And he says
verse 28. But if there be no interpreter, let
him keep silence in the church and let him speak
to himself and to God. If it wasn't interpreted
or it could not be interpreted, this is unacceptable
to be displayed for worship. That's what he was
saying. Now there are some today of a charismatic
or Pentecostal persuasion who want to make the
case that speaking in tongues is a heavenly language
unspoken on earth except by the Holy Spirit.
This in my view is not supported by the text.
This text says that every time tongues is exhibited,
it needed to be two or at most three and always
interpreted. When tongues were in operation,
this would make it so that counterfeit tongues
would be easily identified and understanding
would be prioritized. This is not the practice
of how so -called tongues are hailed today in
churches that believe that signed gifts continue.
at least not all of them. Certainly God is able
to do anything he wants that is within his nature
and according to his word. There is further application
for us that I'll give at the end, but I want
to say for us today, I believe that tongues have
ceased and the progress of revelation has led
us to a pause in those gifts. If those gifts
did come again by God's spirit, his word in this
text should be heeded. What is clear in scripture
always informs what is more difficult to understand.
And what is clear to understand is that if it's
done, it better be interpreted. It better actually
be, and by the way, if you're saying you get
it from God, God doesn't lie. So if one person
interprets it, another person interprets it,
they better say the same thing. Well, God says
we want to build a building. God says we shouldn't
build a building. Well somebody is lying or mixed
up. So that's the idea. There needs to be two
or three at most that do it and there needs to
be interpreter. The gift of tongues was not the
only gift being regulated in this text. Here's
the second one, prophecy. Prophecy. Now the regulations
here start with a similar regulation. When we
talk about prophecy here, it's similar to the
legitimate gift of tongues in the sense that
the content of what was being said and authentic
expression of it were coming from God. It was
a revelation from God when it was legitimate.
Tongues when they were interpreted and understood
then were prophetic in the sense that we say,
thus saith the Lord. That's what prophecy is,
what God speaks and how God speaks through people.
The difference between tongues and prophecy is
that tongues came in another language unknown
to this speaker and interpreted by someone else
into a prophetic truth. Prophecy was a revelation
from God easy to be understood as the scripture
says in one's own language. So it makes sense
that it would have similar regulations and all
those are pretty straightforward. The first one
being two or three at most, same regulation.
Look at verse 29. He says, let the prophets speak
two or three and let another. Again, similarly
to tongues, he's saying this doesn't need to
be chaotic in its expression, one at a time.
And then he says this, this is kind of a very
similar thing. Verse 30, defer to the person
hearing from the Lord. The second thing, defer
to the person hearing from the Lord. He says
in verse 30, if anything be revealed to another
that sits by, let the first hold his peace. So
what he's saying is, If in the midst of explaining
a revelation received, someone is receiving a
revelation from God, meaning there are multiple
people that are saying, I'm getting a message
from God that I'm speaking. Peter said, holy
men of old speak as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost. If that was a legitimate thing that was
happening and someone's explaining what was said
and then somebody else receives one, he says,
let them go first, why? That all may be comforted.
And then he says in verse 32, that is confirmed
by others with that gift. Look at verse 32. He
says in verse 32, and the spirit of the prophets
are subjects to the prophets for God is not the
author of confusion, but of peace as in all the
churches of the saints. In the Old Testament
law, whenever you brought a word against somebody,
whenever you had a testimony that's like in a
court of law, it would have been in court because
it would have been among the elders of the nation.
But whenever you, whatever you said had to be
confirmed by two or three witnesses, how many
of you guys ever heard that before in Bible study?
That if you're gonna accuse somebody, there better
be two or three witnesses that a single person
couldn't accuse another one without that. Here,
you have that same principle. If there's a prophecy
that's being said, hey, this is what God is saying
through us, this is in a miraculous way, than
the first century before they had the fulfilled
word of God. Does that make sense? If in the
service somebody said, this is what God's saying,
there need to be other people that would have
that same gift that would confirm, yes, this
is what God has said. And he says, the reason
why is because God's not the author of confusion.
Because someone could claim that they were hearing
from God when they weren't. The prophecy was
to be confirmed by two others, confirmed by others
who had exhibited the same gift. So in verse
29, he says, let the prophet speak two or three
and let the other judge. Combined with verse
32, we understand that the spirit of God would
confirm in the hearts and minds of the other
prophets in the church, whether something being
said was genuine, a genuine word from the Holy
Spirit. We're comforted then in verse 33 that
God doesn't want there to be confusion. Is that
person's prophecy genuine? Is what he's saying
from God? That's why it needs to be affirmed.
Without the affirmation and confirmation, confusion
would reign. Who would agree that if, this is
why I'm so glad we have the word of God written
today. Because if I get up and say, hey, God
told me this is what we need to do. And then
somebody else got up that you love and who. This
is what God told me to do. Who agrees there would
be confusion, right? Who's really speaking on
God's behalf? Now you know who's speaking on
God's behalf because God wrote a book. It's pretty
amazing. Here's another regulation led by men,
led by men. He says in verse 34, let your women
keep silence in the churches for it is not permitted
under them to speak, but they are commanded to
be under obedience. as also saith the law. And
if they will learn anything, let them ask their
husbands at home, for it's a shame for women
to speak in the church. What came the word of
God out from you or came it unto you only? One
commentator explained it this way, and I affirm
this interpretation. The principle of women not
speaking in church services is universal. This
applies to all the churches, not just locally,
geographically, or culturally. The context in
this verse concerns prophecy. but includes the
general theme of the chapter, which is tongues.
What he's saying is, he's giving them this instruction,
and he's saying if someone gets up and says this
is what the word of God says, this is a prophecy
from God, he says the other prophets need to
affirm that, but essentially what he's saying
is, especially in context, don't let the women
be correcting what the men have said. Let the
other men. that our prophets correct what's being
said. Does that make sense? The context in this
verse concerns prophecy, but includes the general
theme of the chapter, which is tongues, rather
than leading there to be submissive as God's
word makes clear. It is not coincidental that
many modern churches that have tongues speaking
and claim gifts of healings and miracles also
permit women to lead worship, preach and teach.
Women may be gifted teachers, but they are not
permitting. they're not permitted by God to speak
in the churches. The fact for them to do is shameful,
he says here, meaning disgraceful. This is not
unclear, this is very clear in scripture. This
does not mean that as we leave today, all the
women need to be like. Okay, it's talking about
speaking in an authoritative way, so I love hearing
the ladies talk, it's great. That's a weird way
of saying it. The point is in an authoritative
way teaching in the church. Back in 1 Corinthians
11, we learned from Paul that men and women are
equal in personal worth and intellect and spirituality.
We also learned that there's an order to the
universe that God has set up where men are given
authority and responsibility to lead. The pattern
is the Godhead where the spirit submits to the
son and the son submits to the father. There's
order in creation. The purpose of women as the
helper He says it's literally the helper and
it's an expression that God describes as himself.
Can I ask you a question? Is the Son inferior
to the Father? Trust me, is the Son any less
God than God the Father? Is the Holy Spirit any
less God than God the Son or God the Father?
No, but the Son submits to the Father and the
Spirit submits to the Son. They are not. of different
worth or different in roles. That's all that's
being said here. All these things point to this
regulation being clear. This regulation does
not mean that women can't talk in the building
or in this gathering. Apparently, certain women
were out of order and disruptively asking questions
publicly in the chaotic service. And if you look
at the context here, who understands that you
can ask a question in a way that's not really
submissive? Who do you think you are saying that
prophecy, right? I think that's a little bit
what's going on here. The men are called to lead,
other men are called to be the one to step in
where another man is out of line in the context
of giving a prophecy. So, are these clear? Pretty
clear. Regulations for tongues, regulations for
prophecy. Now let's talk about those things summarized.
Here he says, What I'm telling you is not just
my opinion, this is what Paul says, this is a
commandment from the Lord. A commandment from
the Lord. Look at verse 37. If any man thinks
himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him
acknowledge that the things that I write unto
you are the commandments of the Lord. Hey, you
think you're spiritual? If you got the Holy Spirit
in you and you think you're spiritual, you need
to figure out that I'm telling you what the Holy
Spirit told me to do, right? So if you disagree
with me, Paul's saying, then you disagree with
the Holy Spirit, which means you're not very
spiritual. Is Paul confident? He's confident
in the Lord, right? But if any man be ignorant,
let him be ignorant. You know what he's saying?
I'm not gonna waste my time arguing whether or
not... What I'm saying is from God, it's from
God. This is coming from God through me is what
he's saying. If someone wants to be rebellious
and fight this, if they're ignorant, let them
be ignorant. Essentially he's saying, I'm confident
that this is from the Lord and that those who
fight it will show themselves to be ignorant
of what God is really saying and doing. Then
he summarizes it like this. Prophecy is prioritized
over tongues. Verse 29, wherefore brethren covet
to prophesy. What is he saying? What are we trying
to do? We're trying to edify. If we're trying
to edify, then people need to understand. So
let's prioritize the gifts that prioritize understanding.
But he says, forbid not to speak with tongues.
If that's what God's doing in the midst of us,
then let's do it in the legitimate way. And that's
why he says, in summary, verse 40, let all things
be done decently and in... As you worship the
Lord together, prefer each other by preferring
the Lord first and doing things in a way that
limits confusion and exhibition and enhances
edifying and understanding. Does that make sense?
That's what he's saying. Now, I can't believe
I got through all that. Maybe you've been listening
today. And you're like, Ben, that seems like
it really applies to that first century church
when those gifts were still operational. But
if there is no new revelation or no new prophecy
coming today, and if tongues have ceased, why
are you giving us a sermon on the regulations
for prophecy and tongues being used? Why are
you doing that? Well, One reason is that last
week we finished verse 19 and this week we went
to verse 20. And we're just gonna teach every
verse as we go through it. That's what we're
gonna do. Could I be wrong? 100%. I could be.
So you need to be good Bereans. You need to study
the Bible and come, let every man be convinced
in his own mind. But. While I admit that we are
talking about things that are not directly relevant
in the way it would be for the Corinthian church,
and that was the original audience, there are
some things about this text that we can draw
from that do impact us directly. So here's four
principles for our church today. Number one,
we come together to understand God's word. We
come together to understand God's word. God's
word can be understood. And here's the good news.
We have it. We have it. We have the revelation
from God. We have the point of that revelation
is the point of their revelation. The delivery
in the moment may be different, but the target
is still the same. God has revealed his truth
to us and he wants us to understand it. You can
understand this. Study to show yourself approved
unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth. We can understand
it. One of the goals of my preaching is to act
as a model for you of how to study the scriptures
and to show you that the word of God is understandable.
And why does God want this to be understood?
Why does God want us to understand his word?
Is it simply to stop at knowing it? No, he wants
us to. There's a word, starts with O. He wants
us to obey it. He wants us to do it. I come that
they might have life and that more abundantly.
Your word brings life. Your word brings light.
You can understand it. You can hear it and listen
to it and obey it. That's the whole point. So
we come together to understand it. And here's
the other thing. Number two, we come together
to be edified, to be built up. Look back at verse
26. How is it brethren, when you come together,
every one of you has a psalm, a doctrine, a tongue,
a revelation, interpretation. He says, let all
of these things be done to the use of edifying.
Let's say that phrase together. Let all things
be done unto, one more time. Let all things be
done unto edifying. When we come together to
understand God's word, the goal is to be built
up, to be edified together. We wanna be different.
Do you wanna be different? I wanna be different.
I wanna be changed. I wanna be transformed by
our coming together. The word of God does that.
The body of Christ helps with that. We come together
to be edified, we come together to be built up.
Number three, we come together to worship God.
We come together to worship God. He says in verse
24, but if all prophecy and there come in one
that believeth not or one unlearned, he is convinced
of all, he is judged of all, and thus the secret
of his heart made manifest. And so, what does
he say? Falling down on his Face he will What
worship God and report that God is in you of
truth When they were doing those counterfeit
Tongues or when they were like when they were
trying to make it about chaos and disorder and
about themselves What they're trying to get is
for people to recognize them and that that is
not the point of coming together When these people
sing up here, we're trying to lead you to sing.
We're not necessarily performing in the sense
that, I mean, who agrees it's good for us to
be on key? Right? And we didn't play polka today,
right? Because most of you aren't listening to
polka. But ultimately, you're not the audience,
and they're not the audience. Point to the audience.
Yeah, yeah, he's the audience. We're wanting
to worship him. and we want him to be lifted
up. And you know what, you know what is like
one of the most important things about worship?
Like, if I disobeyed God rebelliously all week
long, and then I try to come in here and lift
up holy hands, That is dumb. God doesn't need
you to sing and your heart be far from him. He
wants it to be the fruit of our lips that is
an expression of what's happened in here, right?
And so the singing time is a time of worship,
but you know what else is a time of worship?
When we say, hey, if you need to do business
with God and repent, I'm not saying this is the
only place that it can happen, but I think there's
something interesting. What do you do when you
come? You kneel. Your face is down. There's a
humility that says, God, I just heard something
preached, and there's a gap between what your
word says and where I'm at. And so I'm confessing
that I'm not everything I need to be, and I need
you to help me be what you want me to be. Cleanse
me. Make me what I ought to be. I'm a sinner
and I need you. Your word has revealed what's
going on in my heart. And now I'm realizing,
yes, God is here because His word has been expressed
and His people have come together. And we're
saying, I'm not what I need to be, but the Holy
Spirit can make me what I'm not and help me to
be what I ought to be. Does that make sense?
That's worship too. It's not just what happens
when we sing, it's what happens when we respond.
And you don't have to come here to do it. You
can do it in your chair, but man, that's what
we want. And by the way, the first and fundamental
way that happens if you've never been saved is
to recognize your own sinfulness and to get saved.
To recognize that Jesus died for your sin. Not
just one or two little, the fact that you're
a sinner on your way to hell, God died for that.
His son died for that so you can be saved. You
can't worship him right if you have any knowledge
of what he did for you. And then number four,
we come together to love each other and not ourselves.
Your life isn't about you. My life is not about
me. This church assembles not because of Gene
Milione or Dave Schafer or Mike Spanner, Ben
Jennings or anybody else. We don't come here
because of us. Life is not about us. Our life
is about the Lord. And 1 Corinthians 13 says,
hey, love is gonna remain. You know what that
means? I'm gonna put others ahead of myself.
He says in verse 28, but if there be no interpreter,
let him keep silence in the church and let him
speak himself and to God. Here we see a submission
to authority that points to this truth. There's
a time to speak. and there's a time to be silent.
There's a time to speak and there's a time to
be silent. Over the years, if you don't know
me, one of the things you'll find out about,
I'm a PK, I'm a preacher's kid, my dad's a pastor.
And over the years, I've talked to my dad and...
various times, started when I was a teenager
and even being a pastor, I referred to this area
of the building as a stage. This is the stage,
right? And my dad's kinda grumpy sometimes. And
he's like, son, that's not the stage, that's
the platform. I'm like, what do you mean? And
he basically says some rendition of this. A stage
is where people perform. A stage is where actors
act. That's not what's going on up here. What
needs to happen up here is that the word of God
is proclaimed and that what's being said here
matches what's going on in here. What's being
sung is not sung. as a performance for a congregation,
it's an offering of worship for an audience of
one, right? And I rolled my eyes. Dad, that's
not what I'm saying when I call it a stage. And
if you call it a stage, I'm not gonna get mad
at you. The older I get, the more I have seen
problems in churches that have come as people
have desired attention and recognition by being
in the limelight through a performance. While
we want to preach and sing and play our instruments
and communicate with clarity and beauty and excellence,
we don't want to do this to bring ourselves glory
or notoriety or celebrity. We ought to do what
we do on this platform. to love God, to love
each other, and not to love ourselves. Jesus
said this, greater love has no man than this,
but that a man lay down his life for his friends.
And the one who deserves all the glory and honor
and all of the notoriety and celebrity when he
had the most understanding of his own identity,
got down and washed his disciples feet, and then
got up and was falsely accused and whipped and
beaten and crucified, nailed to a cross. And
while he was hanging on the cross, he said, father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do.
He said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? I'm forgiven because he was forsaken. I'm
accepted because he was condemned. I'm alive
and well, his spirit lives within me because
he died and rose again. Because he lives, we
can live also. Are you thankful for the love
of God? God so loved the world that he gave his
only begotten son that whosoever believes in
him should not perish.