Well, good morning. It's good to see you guys.
We'll welcome you today. You have your Bible.
You can open the 1st Corinthians 14, First Corinthians 14 for the
last time. All right, we're going to finish
out chapter 14 today. Then we'll move into a new issue
within the Corinthian church concerning the resurrection and
really, really looking forward to those, to chapter 15 and the
text there. But our assignment today is
chapter 14. And so that's where we'll be.
We'll be in verses 26 through 40 this morning.
We've been walking through chapters 12 through 14.
If you've been here, you're kind of aware of this at this point.
If you're new today, what I want you to understand is that Paul
the apostle Paul is correcting. He's correcting A gifted but
chaotic church. What he tells us in chapter 12
is that the Spirit gives gifts, spiritual gifts for the common
good, meaning it's for the building up of the congregation.
It's that's for their edification, right?
And so each believer is gifted with a spiritual gift to be used
for the edification of the church.
In chapter 13, he shows them that love is the more excellent
way, that love should be the foundation of the operation of
these gifts, that that love is the important matter.
It's the thing that should be on their mind.
And he's correcting their behavior because they haven't
been operating in love. They've been operating with with
selfishness and divisiveness, holding one gift or some gifts
higher than other gifts and giving more prominent time to
those with those more excellent gifts as they deemed them and
not paying attention to the lesser gifts, so to speak.
So in chapter 12 and chapter 13, you have this idea of the body
of Christ and each person being gifted in certain ways, and some
might be small, some might be large, but none of us can say to
one another that we have no need of you.
We all need one another. And so love is the more
excellent way in chapter 13. Therefore, in chapter 14, what
it gets to is that worship services, the collection of the
church, the gathered church, as we come together for worship,
these services must be edifying and understandable or decent and
in order. They must be peaceable.
They must promote God's peace, the peace of the Lord that
dwells among the Saints through our unity in Christ or unity
with one another. Paul elsewhere calls it the bond
of the spirit of peace, and that's what he's after here in
chapter 14. And so we have our final
instructions on this bond of the spirit of peace, how our
services should be decent and in order.
Now, Corinth had zeal, all right.
We can't fault them for not having zeal.
Corinth had a lot of zeal, and zeal is a good thing.
You know, in my own sons, I understand that God has wired
them with testosterone, which means they're going to be
zealous in some ways. They're going to be aggressive
in nature. And this is good and right.
It's according to God's design. But that needs to be channelled
with self-control, right? Needs to be channelled with
parameters, guardrails that help them exercise aggression and
zeal in the right direction. And that's sort of what Paul's
after here is Corinth is a church that's full of zeal, but
they're without order, all right?
They're, they're lacking order. They have noise, a lot of noise,
but no clarity. All right.
And so no one's being edified. There's spontaneity, which in
some circles, even circles I grew up in, was held in high
regard. The more spontaneous the
service, the more spiritual it must be.
And yet Paul says that spontaneity without submission
is disorder, that it that it lacks clarity.
So Paul with the with the shepherd's hook, so to speak,
right? He's like a shepherd with a
shepherd's shepherd staff with a hook.
He's got Apostolic authority and he is shepherding, shepherding
them back to the character of God himself.
And that that's the point of chapter 14.
He wants to show them what the character of God is and how the
character of God should be present in our services, which
he tells us in our, our, in our text, that God is not a God of
confusion, but of peace. All right.
God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.
And so he's correcting them. He's bringing them back.
He's trying to rein in the zealousness.
He's trying to point it in the right directions.
And so I think you'll see that as we walk through this passage
today. Again, First Corinthians 1426
through 40, if you would please stand in honor of the reading of
God's Word. When I'm finished reading, I'll
say this is the word of the Lord and you can join in response.
Thanks be to God. All right, so First Corinthians
chapter 14, verse 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.
If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or three, or
two, or at most 3, and each in turn, and let someone
interprets. But if there's no one to
interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to
himself and to God. But two or three prophets speak,
and let the others way would have said, If a revelation is
made to another sitting there, let the first be silent.
For you can all prophecy 1 by 1, so that all may learn, and all
be encouraged. And the spirits of prophets are
subjects subject to prophets. For God is not a God of
confusion, but of peace. As in all the churches of the
Saints, the women should keep silent in the churches they are
not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the
Law also says. If there's anything they desire
to learn, let them ask their husbands at home.
For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
Or was it from you that the word of God came?
Or are you the only ones it has reached?
If anyone thinks that he is a prophet or spiritual, he should
acknowledge that the things I'm writing to you are a command of
the Lord. If anyone does not recognize
this, he is not recognized. So my brothers earnestly desire
to prophecy and do not forbid speaking in tongues, but all
things should be done decently and in order.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God, let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, and we come
before it today. And it's our hope to humble
ourselves before your words, to submit ourselves to it.
And so we ask that Your Spirit would help us to do precisely
that, although that we would hold Your word in such high
regard that we revoke the opinions and the wisdom of man,
and we long for the wisdom of God, the truths of your Word.
Lord, I thank you that this people here at New Life
Community Church are a hungry people, and they hunger and
thirst for righteousness. And so you have been faithful to
fill them. And Lord, here we are yet again
in pursuit of truth, in pursuit of your word, and we know that
we will find you faithful to fill us.
So, Lord, would you do that today?
Would you open our hearts and our minds to to hear and to
understand Your Word, to know it, to believe it, Lord, that we
would also put these things into practice and bear the fruit of
Your Word in every area of our life.
It's in the name of Christ I ask these things, Amen, that you may
be seated. My title for the sermon today
comes from the text. God is not a God of confusion.
The text says He's not a God of confusion, but of peace.
So I want you to imagine for a moment inviting an unchurched
neighbor to church this morning. Or maybe you really did.
If. If so, good on you and welcome
to your friend. And one kind of service.
Say that five people speak all at once.
No one explains what is happening.
And your friend leaves saying, well, that was loud, but I
haven't learned anything. I didn't gain anything from
that. Imagine another kind of service,
really, the kind we aim for each week, where God's word is read
and it's it's explained. The prayers are clear songs
teach or rehearse scriptural truths.
And so your friend leaves saying, I understood those
things. I was helped today.
Which gathering best reflects a God of peace?
I think we would all agree it's the latter because God is a God
of peace and order. Here's the main point.
If you're taking notes, you can write this down.
Because God is a God of peace and order.
Spirit filled worship must be intelligible, orderly, and
submissive to God's Word. Spirit filled worship must be
intelligible, orderly, and submissive to God's Word.
This morning, the first point we'll come to is order for
edification. We'll see that in verses 26
through 33 A Secondly, we'll see submission in the assembly and
verses 33 B through 35. And then finally, we'll see
biblical authority and peace in verses 36 through 40.
Along the way, I do hope to answer questions that I assume a
congregation may have as we walk through the passage.
So let's begin. Number one, order for
edification, verses 26 through 33.
A. In verse 26, Paul writes, what
then, brothers, when you come together, each one has a hymn, a
lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.
Let all these things be done for building up.
So Paul lays out the agenda, right?
He, he, he lays out that it is the building up of the
congregation which must set the agenda for our worship services
now to be done in a way that would build up the congregation
now. Paul assumes abroad
participation, right? He said.
Each one has, each one has a hymn or a lesson, a revelation,
a tongue or an interpretation, right?
The, the problem is not the gifts.
I want to reiterate that the problem is not the gifts.
The problem is aimlessness in the gifts.
They've, they've got no clarity. They've got no direction on
where they're going with it. Everyone's participating, all
right? Everyone's kind of doing their
own thing. They're highlighting their own
gifts. And so there's an aimlessness
about what they're doing. And Paul's seeking to provide a
target, right? The target is the bull's eye on
the target is these things must be done to build up the church.
And so if you're missing the mark, right, you're not hitting
the bull's eye, then you have aimlessness.
He gives the controlling purpose of that, right?
It's the bull's eye for building up.
Literally what that means is edification.
It means a strengthening, it means a really a building in a
sense. It's laying foundations.
It's, you may think of building a house as a good analogy,
right? You lay a foundation, you put up
walls, you put on the roof. All right, you, you then go back
into the house and you begin to build out the rooms.
You begin to construct what their purposes are, what they're
for, right? I suspect that none of you have
a bedroom in your kitchen, right?
You're not using the kitchen as a place to sleep.
You're using the kitchen as a place to host, all right, The
kitchens used as a place to prepare meals.
It would be weird for there to be a bedroom in your kitchen
unless you're remodeling like, and that's just where you have
to sleep for a little while. But under normal circumstances,
that would be strange. Well, this is what you have.
You have a house that's in disorder here in Corinth.
All right. And you may want to underline,
if you're comfortable writing in your Bibles, that idea of for
building up, let all things be done for building up.
This is the litmus test for churches.
It's the litmus test for everything that we do in
gathered worship is how does this song we're going to sing
build up the congregation? How does this sermon we're going
to preach build up the congregation?
How does this prayer we pray build up the congregation?
How does the Lord's Supper practice each week build up the
congregation? How does baptism on weeks we
have baptisms? How do they build up the
congregation, right? It becomes the litmus test for
everything that we're doing before an element makes it into
our liturgy, whether there be songs or testimonies or prayers
or exhortations. The question has to be, will
this build up the body? The question cannot be, is it
exciting? Is it going to create a great
worship experience for everyone? The question must be, how is it
going to edify the church? All right, so that's where we
want to be is how is it going to edify the church?
And verse 27, Paul says if any speak in a tongue, let there be
only two or three or two or at most 3 and each in turn and let
someone interpret. So here Paul provides a
regulation of tongues, right? He's saying clarity is more
important than novelty. Clarity matters more than all of
you speaking in tongues. All this 3 guardrails here as he
addresses regulations for tongues.
The first guardrail is number 2, or at most 3.
The second is sequence, each in turn, not all at the same time,
each in turn, and 3rd is interpretation.
The third guardrail is interpretation.
Interpretation. Let there be an interpretation,
and if there's not, let him keep quiet.
Let him remain silent, right? In chapter 14, Paul has stressed
that uninterpreted tongues are unintelligible to the church and
therefore they are useless for building up the body of Christ.
They're not helpful. All right?
Remember, in context, tongues are languages.
We saw that in chapter chapter 14, verses 10 and 11.
So whatever your view of their continuance today, the principle
here must stand those guardrails, must stand the
number, the sequence, the interpretation, those things
must be present in a local worship service for these things
to be practiced. There should be no speech in a
worship service without understanding.
In verse 28, Paul continues, But if there's no one to interpret,
let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and
to God. So Paul states a rule now for
worship. Silence must exist where there
is no interpretation or it cannot be explained what the one
speaking in tongues is saying. He should not say anything, He
should remain quiet, right? This is the first of three keep
silent commands that you see in the passage this morning.
Paul is telling the Corinthians that it is better to refrain
than to fill the room with sound that does not edify.
He's already said that it's better to speak 5 words of
prophecy than to utter 10,000 words of a tongue that no one
can understand, right? Why?
Because prophecy builds up the church when we open our Bibles
and we say, thus says the Lord, this is an edifying thing.
It brings comfort, it brings peace, it brings healing.
It's helpful to the soul, right? It calls sinners out of the
darkness and into marvelous light there.
So there's redemption in the spoken word of God.
It also strengthens Christians, right?
It helps us along our way. It sanctifies us.
But we can become more Christ like, more godly, right?
Learning how to follow him in the right way.
So these people, Paul is saying, these people must resist the
urge to say something merely to participate.
All right, so I don't want to be left.
Outlet me. Let me offer something.
Well, they must resist the urge. Spear filled worship is not
measured by how many speak, but by how much the church
understands and benefits. All right.
It's not measured by how many are speaking.
It's measured by how many are edified, right?
Is this an edifying worship service?
That's again the litmus test here in verse 29.
He says let two or three prophets speak and let others
weigh what is said. So here we see that prophecy
must be weighed. This was the practice of the
other church. You couldn't just stand up and
say, thus says the Lord, and everybody has to take it for
granted. No, you say it and all the other
prophets in the room, all the other leaders weigh what's being
said, right? And again, Paul provides a two
or three limit here, right? It's not that everyone should
stand up and speak. There's a two or three limit.
When Paul instructs the Corinthians to weigh the
prophets, he's teaching them that they must discern or test
their speech. They must see by which spirit
they're speaking. Is it from the Spirit of God or
is it from the spirit of another world?
The church must never receive speech uncritically.
Must never receive speech uncritically.
When I ask you to open your Bibles at the beginning of a
sermon, it's not a style choice. We don't have somebody walking
around taking pictures with open Bibles in your laps.
We're not looking for style points.
What we're what we're trying to establish is an obedience
choice. When we come to God's place of
worship and we gather with the Saints, it must be obvious that
we have gone to God's Word, right?
That we've opened our Bibles and we've spoken from what God has
said to us the way that he's revealed to us.
It also helps you to be discerning in what we say right
as you read the words. Is what Kyle says, is what
Jasper says, is what one of the other elders or other teachers
we put up here, is what they're saying true?
Right. If it's not true, then let us be
found liars, all right, let us be repentant, but let us be
found liars in God's house. We don't want to utter things
that are untrue, all right? We want you to be discerning of
what we say. We want you to test what we say
because God requires you to be this kind of a Christian.
It requires you to understand in this way.
In verse 30, Paul writes, if a revelation is made to another
sitting there, let the first be silence, right?
So Paul commands deference in real time.
Even truly gifted speakers in Corinth must yield the spirits.
Work then includes self restraint or self-control, which
is one of the fruit of the Spirit.
In a service of or in service of clarity.
We ought to be restrained people, right?
And the leaders in Corinth were being required to model this
yieldedness to one another. Right, if something better
serves the moment scripture to read, prayer to pray, truth to
clarify, then they were being asked to yield.
So what are the goals of orderly gathered worship services?
What's the goal of it? Paul tells us plainly in verse
31. For you can all prophecy 1 by 1
so that all may learn and all be encouraged to learn and
encouraged right. The result of order is learning
and encouragement. It's the result of order in a
worship services that all are learning, all are being
encouraged. What this means is that the head
and the heart are working together, right An orderly
worship service like expositional preaching, walking
verse by verse through the text instructs the mind.
It impacts the heart and it invites the will of the man
right. So if people leave saying I felt
a lot, but I did not learn God's Word, then we fell that this
verse, we've grown a lot in this area.
I can remember in our very first membership class nearly 11 years
ago at this point, I can remember uttering these words to
the people in the membership class.
What we want for you here is that when you leave this place
on Sunday mornings, we want you to sit in your car with your
hands on the steering wheel and to think to yourself, man, that
was amazing. What a great experience.
How foolish, how foolish was I. But I praise God for His grace
and growing us up. Praise God for His grace and
leading us. If people leave saying I felt a
lot but did not learn God's word, then we have failed Paul's
instruction here. They'd be learning and
encouraged. If they learned but we're not
encouraged, then we've also failed this verse.
There should be learning with encouragement.
In verse 32, Paul says in the spirits of prophets are subject
to prophets. So any claims of being carried
away by the spirit are corrected here.
Any claims of I just couldn't control myself any any claims of
you know, that was a word of the Lord and yet it's not aligning
with the scriptures. Those things are being corrected
here. The spirits of the prophets are
subject to prophets that the Spirit of God is not going to
get his people in such a frenzy that they lack self-control.
This is contrary to the holy laughter and whole body shakes
experienced and praised often in charismatic circles today.
These things are not decent and in order.
Authentic spirituality must be governed.
It must be governed by the word of the Lord.
Now, we're not saying that God kills personality or that He
kills zeal or any of those things.
Remember, we're saying that God channels these things in right
directions so that the body is being built up, right?
So the body is matured. They're governed, not
uncontrolled, right? They must be governed by the
Lord, right? I couldn't help myself.
It's not a justification for your children and home when they
haul off and hit their brother. And so it shouldn't be a
justification for hauling off and doing whatever we want in a
worship service apart from the Spirit of God, right?
It's not a, it's not a justification for disorder in
worship. And finally, in verse 33, A for
God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.
So why are all these things happening?
Well, Paul shows that our theology must undergird our
liturgy. Our theology must undergird our
liturgy. Confusion means instability.
It means there's disorder, right?
We don't want confusion in a worship service.
We want peace. And when we see that God is not
a God of confusion, he's not a God of disorder, He's not an
instable God. How many of you would want to
worship an instable God? Not me.
I don't want a God of peace. I want a God of order.
I want a God who this is decent and a God who's sovereign in
power, of course, but a God who's governing all things for
his glory. That's, that's what we want, all
right? And so peace means wholeness
means harmony. There's a togetherness, right?
The whole body is working together.
There's harmony among the body. There's harmony in the worship
service, not just in the singing.
Our liturgy must mirror God's life.
Our liturgy must mirror his heart.
Our liturgy must mirror who he is.
You can write this down if you'd like.
Doctrine shapes doxology. Doctrine must shape doxology.
What we understand about God, doctrine, right?
The things that God has revealed to us about himself, that thing
must shape doxology. There's no greater example.
Well, there's several great examples.
One of my favorite examples, let me word it that way, is in
Romans Chapter 11, when Paul comes to the end of chapters one
through 11 before launching into a new conversation where he's
just expounded on thoroughly salvation, rebellion,
sanctification. He's expanded on these things so
thoroughly At the end of that, he's just concludes it all with
praise, with doxology. All right.
And that is, it's instructive to us that the doctrine of Romans
one through 11 should lead us to praise like Paul does at the end
of the chapter there. It should lead us to want to
praise him, not question him, should lead us to want to praise
Him and not doubt him. Doctrine shapes doxology.
Who God is determines how we worship him.
It must determine how we worship him.
So maybe some of the questions that you would have from this
part of the text is does each one has?
When Paul says each one has, does that mean that everyone
must speak weekly? All the introverts are here or
hoping for a no right now. All right, no, it doesn't mean
that everyone must speak weekly. Weekly.
What it does, though, is it affirms widespread gifting, all
right? It's not about one man standing
in the pulpit week after week after week after week, being the
sole man of God, the one who hears from the Lord, and
everyone else must walk in tow with him.
It affirms widespread gifting. A plurality of elders A plow
out, a plurality of gifted men who can teach God's Word.
It doesn't give us guaranteed airtime, right?
Often each week, really, the elders are yielding to one of
the other elders to stand up and proclaim the word of God.
All right, So we're not guaranteeing that every elder
gets airtime even the aim is edification.
The aim is that the church would be strengthened.
And so that controls access to the microphone that determines
who should speak and when they should speak.
Another question that may come are the two or three, whether
it's in tongues or in prophecy, are those hard caps for all
time? Well, the principle is timeless.
Yes, limited intelligible, curated participation is what
Paul is showing here. All right.
Must be used for the edification of the church.
Second point, we come to submission and the Assembly.
All right. Verses 33, B through 35.
Let me read it again because it's been a moment since we
first read it. As in all the churches of the
Saints, the women should keep silent in the churches, for they
are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the
law also says. If there's anything they desire
to learn, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is
shameful for a woman to speak in church.
All right, so as you may suspect already, this is a hotly
contested paragraph. All right, so let's go through
it carefully. Let's go through it in context,
and let's allow Scripture to interpret Scripture where we
need it to. All right, so in verse 33 B,
Paul lays out a universal norm as in all the churches of the
Saints. This is what we call a
transcultural proclamation, right?
This is for all the churches of the Saints both present in the
world that Paul's writing in and present in the world today and
throughout history from us back to them and in the future.
This is transcultural, as in all the churches of the Saints.
So what he's saying is I want you Corinthians, and I want us
today to understand that what follows is not a Corinth only
rule, right, which is often the argument.
This is a cultural thing only. Now this is not a Corinth only
rule. When Paul says, as in all the
churches of the Saints, he's negating the cultural arguments
and God's peace and order are for all churches at all times.
Amen. One of you agrees.
Good off to a good start. Verse 34 reveals A situational
silence and also role clarity. Situational silence and role
clarity. Look at 34 again.
The women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not
permitted to speak, but should be in submission as the law also
says. Maybe that's why I didn't get
any Amen from the ladies a moment ago.
It's not saying you can't say Amen, all right.
And if you can't say Amen, say Ouch as our dear passed on,
Brother Vodi Baulkham says so. We've already heard two keep
silent commands, one in verse 28, one in verse 30 concerning
tongues and prophecy. This is the third in context
here, the speaking being restricted is not all forms of
vocal participation because that would contradict what we looked
at in Chapter 11 verse 5, which was some time ago.
I totally understand that was last fall right?
And so we'll get to it in a moment.
But there what we see is that women pray and prophecy by by
joining the church in prayers, singing and agreeing with God's
word as it's being taught. The the restriction then is
placed on authoritative governing speech in the
assembled church, especially that weighing and judging the
testing of the prophets. It's also being applied to the
exercise of teaching authority. All right, now this is in line.
This is where we have to let Scripture interpret Scripture.
This is in line with what Paul teaches in first Timothy 2:11
and 12:00 where he writes, let a woman learn quietly with all
submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach
or to exercise authority over a man.
Rather she is to remain quiet. So immediately after those
verses, we get First Timothy 3:00, which gives us the
requirements for elders just to be a man who's been chosen by
God, set apart by the Spirit. There's a he has a desire to
serve as an elder. He's a husband of one wife, all
right. He's above reproach.
He's self controlled. There's a litany of things there
that he is to be all right, but it is a him.
It is a he. Pronouns matter here.
Let a woman learn quietly with all submissivists.
I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a
man. Rather, she is to remain quiet.
So that's First Timothy 2:11 and 12:00 here.
What we have is very similar wording.
The women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not
permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the law
also says. We'll get to that in a moment.
No, we'll get to it now. Sorry.
As the law also says, refers to the creation order.
All right, He's he's, he's bringing this, he's grounding
the argument in creation. So again, I think that verse 33
B is plenty to say that the cultural argument doesn't stand
as in all the churches of the Saints.
That's plenty, right? But just in case that's not
plenty, he also grounds it in the creation order, Genesis 2,
where you have the man created. He's to work and keep the Garden
of Eden. He is then brought to this
realization that he's alone. God says it's not good for this
man to be alone. And so he creates a woman for
him who's to be a helper fit for him.
So she's to help in these things, but not the lead in
these things, right? And Paul grounds the argument in
First Timothy 2 in the very same verses Genesis chapter 2, Paul
uses the creation order to found his teachings on Mel headship as
well in First Corinthians 11, which we have looked at but also
in Ephesians 5. All right, so I wrestled with
this text this week mainly working to harmonize.
I wasn't I wasn't upset about what it said.
I think our church believes this well.
But I wrestled with this text mainly working to harmonize with
First Corinthians 11 because there a woman is instructed to
pray and prophecy and here she's being told to keep silent.
So what? What's going on?
Why the differences? And here are the 2 main
conclusions that I think we're able to draw from Scripture.
The 1st is different kinds of speech in the same gathered
setting. All right, different kinds of
speech in the same gathered setting.
So First Corinthians 11 fives assumes that women pray and
prophecy. They may offer Spirit empowered
speech, but that's to be under visible submission, which was a
head covering. There again, you can hold the
the that the head covering is merely her husband.
My belief is that it's also a cloth of some sort.
All right, that there's a covering.
All right, we looked at that. If you're interested in that
teaching, you can go back and find it on in our sermons.
But she should do so under visible submission and subject
to testing. All right, she's subject to
testing. As I mentioned earlier, this
passage restricts, restricts women from authoritative
speaking that governs the assembly, right, especially the
weighing and judging of prophecies and any teaching over
the gathered church. So verse 29, but also first
Timothy 211 through 12 as a cross reference there.
You also want to note the three Keep Silent commands, 2830 and
34. All are situational and they're
meant to preserve order. They're not blanket gags on all
speech. Again, here, the silence is
about governing and deciding speech.
It's about weighing and testing speech.
It's not about congregational participation, such as singing,
praying, confessing or testifying, or even offering an
Amen. The second thing that we see are
different settings. I think I've kind of made that
point, but I want to make it more clearly.
In First Corinthians 11/2 through 16, Paul addresses the
propriety for men and women in general Christian gatherings or
smaller home settings, right? Churches would often meet house
to house, and there you might see women pray, you might see
them prophecy with appropriate signs of authority.
In First Corinthians 1426 or 40, he's addressing the church, and
we know that because he says when you have come together as a
church in 1118, but also in 1423.
So the official assembly of the church, Sunday worship under
elders where authoritative speech is regulated, including a
prohibit, including prohibiting women speaking in the
authoritative sense. So then the question becomes
what's allowed and what's not allowed, right?
What's allowed and what's not allowed?
Well, allowable things that are allowable and gathered worship
would be congregational singing, singing some sort of a meaning
responsive prayers. Sorry, congregational praying, a
meaning responsive prayers, those sort of things.
Secondly, congregational singing and public scripture result
responses, right? All the Saints are instructed to
sing. An elder might get up.
We kind of do this in our call to worship where we're saying
something together, right? We're declaring some things
together and it's often led by, it's always led by qualified
men, but we say those things together.
Another thing that would be allowable testimony and
Thanksgiving, right? The testimony, Thanksgiving,
these things are non authoritative.
They're curated for edification. We've seen this a few times even
in our members meetings. We see them often in home groups
where a woman will testify to the things that the Lord's doing
in her life. She'll give thanks for the
things that the Lord's doing in her life.
She'll even share things that the Lord taught her as she was
going through the study in Home group, right?
This is allowed in the Apostolic era.
Women could offer a prophetic revelation 11/5.
We see that in a way that did not place them in the judges
seat all. Right.
And that honored roll order with a covering as the sign, all
right. So things that would not be
allowed in the stated assembly, authoritative teaching or
expounding of Scripture to the mixed congregation, we would not
permit. Paul is not permitting a woman
to stand up and preach. There are no such thing in
Scripture as lady preachers. All right, it does exist in our
world, but the Scriptures do not affirm this.
Secondly, the formal weighing judging of prophecies or
doctrine in the assembly they're they're told to ask at home.
Right. That sort of formal weighing and
judging evaluates it. It governs the act, and that
belongs to the male leadership or the elders of the church.
Also, you see, disruptive interrogation.
One thing here that some commentators pointed out as I
was walking through this is that the women, like everyone else,
were confused by what was going on.
And so they're asking questions. What in the world is taking
place? What's going on here?
What's happening? You know, And so disruptive
interrogation that that shifts the learner into a governing
role, right? And so, Paul says, they should
ask their husbands at home. They should pursue understanding
without destabilizing the order of worship.
So men and women are equal in dignity.
We affirm this wholeheartedly. They're equal in value, but
they're distinct in their roles. God has given men and women
different roles, distinct from one another, complementary of
one another. God's does not design is not a
demotion, even though the third way feminism would have you
believe it is, and even first wave for that matter.
It's not a demotion, it's wisdom.
God is laying out wisdom here. God's peace and edification are
advanced when gifts flourish within the lanes that God
assigns to us. Right?
His peace and his edification. His wisdom advances when gifts
are allowed to flourish within the lanes that God assigns to
us. So since revelatory prophecy has
ceased with the Apostolic foundation, the abiding
principle is this. Women fully and vigorously
participate in all the non authoritative elements of
worship and ministry, singing, praying with the body,
scripture, memory, recitation, testimonies, discipling women
and children, and 1000 other great works.
God does not, he's not bound women to some sort of box,
though. He's unleashed women into the
roles that he's designed them for, right?
And that's a good thing for the body of Christ.
The whole body is built up in this way.
So authoritative preaching and Speaking of the gathered church
that belongs those formal doctrinal proclamations that
remains the responsibility of qualified men and elders.
So in summary, 11/5 affirms women's meaningful non
authoritative participation, whereas 1434 and 35 guards the
assemblies governing speech, the weighing and authoritative
teaching so that the church displays the God of peace decent
and in order, as verse 40 will show us.
So therefore, Paul says women are to pursue understanding
without disrupting the order right in verse 35.
If there's anything they desire to learn, let them ask their
husbands at home. British shameful for a woman to
speak in church. All right.
Paul says women are to pursue understanding without disrupting
the order. Shameful in this setting.
When Paul says this is shameful, shameful in the setting means
that it's out of place. It's out of place, right?
And so therefore it becomes shameful.
It'd be like if a man wore, you know, his swimming trunks to his
wedding. It's out of place, all right?
It's not decent and in order. I know that's a silly analogy,
but it's the best I had on the fly.
Brothers and sisters, I'm sorry. It could have been much worse.
It's shameful. Right.
Because it's out of place with the honor and order of the
gathered church, Paul commends eager learning.
Questions are good, sisters. They're good and right.
But Paul urges that they be channeled in ways that do not
destabilize the worship service. Let them ask their husbands at
home. All right, So men, there's a
charge here for us, is there not?
I mean, you can read it and say, yeah, women should keep silent.
That's not the charge for husbands.
The charge for husbands is let them ask their husbands at home,
which says a certain thing about what husbands should be men.
We see that we must be men of learning.
We must be men of understanding, such that we can adequately
teach our wives and children God's Word.
We should always be willing to receive their questions and work
toward biblical answers. But we have to be men of
learning to do this. In Ephesians 5, you're quite
literally charged with the washing of your wife with the
water of the word. Well, what that means is you're
to be a primary resource of her growth and godliness, Learning
the Word of God in such a way that you can apply it to your
wife's life all right. Learning the word of God in such
a way that you can, he says there to nourish and cherish
your wife as you apply these things.
All right, So it's not some domineering.
I'm the head of the house. I have, you know, all the
answers you need to submit to everything I say.
That's really stupid. It's really foolish behavior.
But that's often what ignorant men do.
And I don't mean ignorant in the sense of stupid.
I mean ignorant in the sense of unknowing men that that's often
where they go with that verse. And then that becomes another
kind of patriarchy that really is evil, another kind of
headship that is evil. Right.
But what we're told is that we're to be the kind of man who
nourish and cherish our wives, who love them as Christ loves
the church. And so we're able to wash them
with the water of the Word, meaning we know the Word of God.
Our hearts and our souls have been washed by the Word of God.
Our minds have been renewed by the Spirit of God, according to
Romans 12/2, right? We're not following the ways of
the world. And we're seeking to help our
wives walk in line with the Word of God.
All right, we're learning how to do that in the right ways.
So that's Ephesians 5 and Ephesians 6.
Just a few verses later, Paul continues to harp on what godly
headship looks like in the home. In Ephesians 6, we're charged
with raising our children with the discipline and instruction
of the Lord. All right, so discipline is
often one of those ones we we find easy to get right.
All right, it's easy to be an authoritative kind of
disciplinarian in your home. Maybe you're wired that way,
maybe you're raised that way, so it just comes real natural for
you. Well, that that's a part of it
and it's a part of it that can be grossly taken out of context
if you're not also understanding that you're to raise them with
the instruction of the Lord, right?
We have to raise our children in the instruction of the Lord,
which means we are to be a primary resource of their
exposure to the law as we lay down right discipline.
But we're also an exposure, their primary place of exposure
to the gospel as we apply grace and mercy, as we show them
Christ. And in all of those things
working together, you become a primary resource of their growth
and godliness as well. You become the head of your home
in a way that your wife and children flourish under your
rule, under your leadership. I think we also find application
for the church in this text as well.
We must reserve authoritative, authoritative teaching and the
formal weighing of doctrine in the in the assembly to qualified
men and elders. That's one of the applications
here. Another application is that we
must maximize women's robust participation within scriptures,
design of them, congregational singing, Scripture reading where
appropriate, and corporate prayer, inappropriate settings,
maybe home groups, small groups, those sort of things.
Our Home group would practice this just by going around the
room reading a verse at a time of the Scripture that we're
studying. So men and women and children
who are present are participating in Scripture
reading testimonies. It's another way that women
should have robust participation, sharing, telling
of what the Lord's done in their life all.
Right. Mom did this just several weeks
ago as she told of the great work of the Lord in her life
prior to her baptism. All right, This is a great way
to maximize a woman's robust participation in the General
Assembly discipling women and children.
Titus 2 is very clear and it's call for women to be involved,
not the primary involvement, but hugely involved in the
discipling of other women and in children.
Older women are to teach, to train younger women how to love
their husbands and children. Well, all right, that's
discipleship. That's taking doctrine and
applying it to life, right? God has saved us.
God loves us. God's given us this gift of
being women, right? We're to be wives and mothers.
God's called us to this task. And so how do we carry the love
of God, the grace of God, the mercy of God, the wisdom of God
into our home, right? That often takes older women
sitting down with younger women and saying here's how we walk
this out. Here's how we obey these
commands. Leadership and ministries that
are fitting to Titus 2 is also a lap every good work in the home
right. Like I said, 1000 other good
works, 1/3 application is there ought to be clear avenues for
questions, clear avenues for learning with questions, whether
that's classes, whether it's elders making themselves
available during the week, whether it's home discussions so
that no one is left unheard. All right, we want there to be
questions, clear avenues for that.
And so finally, because Paul lays this out as a transcultural
norm, our practice as a church is to be honoring, protective
and proactive in cultivating the gifts of men and women and to
disciple them in their God-given roles according to their divine
nature and design so that we can glorify him in the church, at
our homes and in the culture. Amen.
Hopefully we can all agree on that being our task #3 Biblical
authority and peace. 36 through 40 Biblical authority and peace.
In verse 36, Corinth learns that they are not the standard.
Another hard hitting comment from Paul.
Or was it from you Corinth, that the word of God came?
Are you the authority or are you the only ones that the word of
God has reached? You can hear the sarcasm in
Paul's questions. They're two cutting questions,
and questions have a way of exposing things that need to be
exposed here. It's exposing Corinthian pride,
right? Churches receive the word.
Corinth as a church has received the word.
Churches do not invent the word, and Corinth is not the inventor
of God's Word. Brothers and sisters, we do not
discover worship, rather we receive worship from God.
God is the one who creates us for worship.
We become new creations in Christ Jesus.
Old things passed away, all things becoming new, walking in
the reconciliation with God. All of this is laid out in 2nd
Corinthians 5. And we become Proclaimers of
that reconciliation. We become ambassadors for this
message of reconciliation. Why?
Because we received it from God. We didn't create it.
We didn't discover it ourselves. God, in his great mercy, with
great love and great grace, saved us from the pit of hell
and made us worshippers. All right.
And so we become Proclaimers of worship and verse 37, we have
the recognition test. We might call it all right.
If anyone thinks that he is a prophet or spiritual, he should
acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of
the Lord. Paul saying, look, you should
recognize this if you're a prophet, if you're spiritual,
this will bear witness with you as being true.
You should recognize this. You should acknowledge the
things that I'm writing to you as a command of the Lord.
So to be spiritual, all right, sometimes we wonder what does it
mean to be spiritual? To be spiritual means that we
submit to Apostolic doctrine. We submit to God's Word in full.
Paul's pin carries the Lord's command, he says This is a
command of the Lord. Any leader who dismisses
biblical instructions for worship, however gifted they
might be, they are disqualifying themselves from spiritual
credibility. They're no longer above
reproach. Right.
And so we must submit to biblical authority if we're
going to have order and peace in our worship services, we must
submit. We must acknowledge this.
We must not think that we are a prophet of some other kind, that
we're higher than Paul, that we're higher than God's word.
And so therefore we don't have to submit.
No, if we think that we're spiritual, we must acknowledge
the things that are being written here as being truth from
God. And so we submit to them.
Glad heartedly all. Right.
We lay ourselves down at them, we humble ourselves before them,
and we trust that God's Word is right.
We have a warning in verse 38 for anyone who won't do that.
It's a stark warning. If anyone does not recognize
this, if he doesn't acknowledge these things as true, then he is
not recognized. It's a grave warning there.
So when a person refuses to recognize Apostolic authority
when a first, when a person refuses to recognize, in other
words, the authority of the scriptures that leads to their
non recognition, they they should not be recognized.
Their authority has no weight. It has no meaning any longer,
and so the church, both locally and universally, the church must
not platform those who are unsubmissive to God's Word all.
Right. What are ways that we can
platform those who are unsubmissive to God's Word?
We may find a kernel of truth in something they've said on a
social media reel and share it. You're platforming men and women
often who are unsubmissive to God's Word.
And so we must weigh the things they say.
Now, that could be really hard when someone has hours and hours
of podcasts, hours and hours of sermons or teaching, you know,
books and books of things they've written.
But we must be discerning brothers and sisters, even of
the people we would platform on social media.
As careless as that might seem, it's important.
Right. In the church, elders must guard
the pulpit, elders must guard the Mike.
Authority is always accountable to the Word of God.
Authority does not stand on its own right, that the only
authority we have is the authority that's been given to
us by God as we humble ourselves before Him.
If someone will not submit themselves to God's Word, then
Paul is saying they should not be recognized by the church.
So therefore the church cannot approve them.
Rather the church must rebuke them.
The church must pray for their submission to God and his word
to seek their reconciliation with the Lord.
And verse 39, Paul teaches A balanced zeal.
So my brothers earnestly desire to prophecy and do not forbid
speaking in tongues in the Apostolic era.
Both gifts are both gifts had a regulated place, earnestly
desire prophecy, do not forbid speaking in tongues.
Paul refuses both extremes, right?
We're not going to be chaotic. The church should not be
enraptured in chaos. But we're also not going to
allow for prohibition, all right.
We should do these things in the right way.
So legitimate languages, the gift of tongues, these were
limited in purpose and very likely in duration, but as long
as it was still active in the early church, they were not to
be hindered. They should be done in the right
way, decent and in order. But prophecy was the most
desirable gift to be exercised because of its ability to edify,
because of its ability to exhort, because of its ability
to comfort with the truth. And so we ought to still desire
the ends of revelatory gifts, which is intelligible
proclamation that builds up the body of Christ.
So that means we maximize expositional preaching, we
maximize Scripture, rich singing and prayers.
We maximize the ordinances that Christ has given to the church,
baptism and the Lord's Supper, right?
Because these things are the kinds of things that edify,
exhort, and comfort us with the truth of God's Word.
And then in verse 40, Paul provides the summary principle.
But all things should be done decently and in order or read
the word decently, we ought to think of fittingly.
They, they fit well, right? They, they fit the purpose.
What's the purpose? Edification.
They're becoming right decently means becomingly means it's
attractive. It's good for us.
It's obvious that it's good. Right order.
I will read the word order. We ought to think of arranged in
sequence, right? The things are arranged.
They're they're meant to build. They're they're meant to edify.
They're meant to strengthen. They're done with purpose.
Beauty and structure belong together, right?
Beauty and structure belong together.
Order is not cold. Order is lovely when it reflects
the God of peace. Order is not cold.
It is lovely when it reflects the God of peace.
So there's a checklist maybe that we could run through for
application on this. Number one would be
intelligibility. All right.
Do we have intelligible worship services, plain explanations,
clear scripture readings, understandable prayers, so on
and so forth? Secondly, limits in sequence.
Is it one voice at a time? Is it curated participation?
Are there intentional transitions, those sort of
things? Can everybody follow along?
Is there a clear limit, a clear sequence?
Thirdly, weighing an oversight. Elders test teaching.
The congregation becomes Bereans right.
Weighing the word of God against the word of God.
Weighing the spoken word of God against the Word of God.
Right. Role clarity Another checklist.
Qualified men bear the load of authoritative teaching.
Women's gifts flourish in biblically fitted lanes or the
roles clear in a church. And then finally Apostolic
submission, right? Or biblical submission.
What does the Scripture require is our question, Not what do we
prefer? What do the Scriptures require
of us? Right.
So who weighs teaching today? I hope this has been plain, but
I want to make it more plain by answering the question outright.
Who weighs teaching today? Elders first must weigh the
teaching of God's Word, then a word saturated congregation
weighs the teaching of God's Word.
And we do those things under confessional standards.
All right. Confessional standards include
things like the New Hampshire Confession of Faith, which is
our church's confession of faith.
Another really helpful 11 I use very, very often is the 1689
London Baptist Confession of Faith.
And another one that I find very helpful is the Baptist Catechism
with has questions and answers in it.
Those documents serve as guardrails.
They are not authoritative, but they serve as guardrails as we
strive to align ourselves with God's Word as the primary, all
sufficient and infallible, infallible authority in our
lives. OK, so who weighs the teaching
elders then? The congregation under
confessional standards? What does decently and or and
and in order? Yeah, that was tough.
What does decently and in order feel like?
Well, it's warmth without whirlwinds, right?
It's the difference between sitting in a hurricane and
sitting in a calm, peaceful spring day.
All right? It's reverence without rigidity.
It's it's clarity without quenching the Spirit.
Church order and worship is not about fussiness, it's about
love. Order and worship is about love.
When we plan our services, when we limit them, when we sequence
them for understanding, what we're communicating is that we
love the Saints that Jesus has purchased with his blood.
We love them. And submission and worship is
not about power plays. It's about peace.
The peace of God ruling among the people gladly under his
word. The God of peace has made peace
by his blood on the cross. And if you're outside of Christ
today, you're not. You're an unbeliever.
You haven't submitted yourself to the Lord.
Then your life is no doubt noisy and your heart is disoriented.
It's disordered. And so I implore you to come to
Christ today to lay your sins at His feet, to find forgiveness in
Him, to understand that Christ alone can reconcile you to the
Father, and to also understand that He will give you His
spirits who produces self-control and peace, among
many other things. So let's commit together that
everything we do is for building up.
Everything we do is for building up the body.
Nothing we do is to be without understanding.
Everything should be under Scripture always and for all
time, because God is not a God of confusion, but a God of
peace. And so we want to promote the
peace of God in the lives of His people and in the lives of those
who have yet come to him. Brothers and sisters, remember
that spirit filled worship must be intelligible, orderly, and
submissive to God's Word. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this word that we've studied
this morning. And Lord, I just want to ask
that you would make this church a living picture of all that
we've seen in chapters 12 through 14, but especially of
what we've seen today in verse 26 through 40.
May all that we do, the intelligible, may all that we do
be orderly. May all that we do be
submissive. May all that we do be joyfully
alive in the Spirit. And Father, I pray that there's
a church, but I also want to pray that for the members here
that their lives too would be intelligible, orderly,
submissive, and joyfully alive in your spirit.
Father, we understand from chapter 12 that you've gifted
everyone for the purpose of edifying the church.
And so therefore, everyone has a responsibility before you to
walk in step with you, to have their lives governed by you as
their Lord, to submit to you, to humble themselves before you.
And if they'll do that as Christians who have an
individual relationship with the Father, then what we'll see is a
church corporately where individuals walk together in
unity is we'll see true unity. We'll experience peace.
We'll understand that God is not a God of confusion, but a God of
peace. And so, Lord, would you do those
things here among us? Would you continue to sanctify
us, continue to strengthen us, Lord, even as this Word has been
pressed upon us this morning? Would you help us to respond in
faith to it? Help us not to have hearts of
rebellion any longer, but help us to submit to Your Word by the
power of Your Spirit? Would you reveal to us those
areas where we are unsubmissive? And God would you lead us in
Christ likeness and Father, it is my prayer of that, if there's
anyone here who is not yet a believer, that you would draw
them to yourself, that you would save them by calling them out of
darkness and in the marvel marvelous light.
Or that they would see the error of their ways clearly.
That they would see that they have no Lord but themselves,
their own desires. Let them see, Lord, that they
are not in fellowship with the God of heaven and earth.
Rather, they've rebelled against Him willingly, even gladly at
times. And Father, would you bring them
to their knees this morning in repentance?
Would you convict them of their sin?
And would you reveal Christ to them, the only one who's able to
save us? Would you grant them new life
today? I'm going to be a moment now to
pray there in your seat, not to seek the Lord.
Maybe you need to confess sins. Maybe you need to examine these
scriptures and see where the Lord's calling you to believe
them today. Whatever it is, you have a
moment now to pray, just you and the Father.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your grace this morning.
We thank you for calling us. We thank you for equipping us,
for molding and shaping us. We thank you, God, that as the
Word testifies over and over again, you are always faithful
and steadfast in love. Not only does that say something
about your character, it says something about ours.
We are not always faithful. We are not steadfast in love,
and so we need you daily. But God, we thank you that you
never leave us. You never forsake us.
You remain faithful and steadfast in love even when
we're found not doing so. And so, Lord, we thank you that
you have dealt with us yet again today in faithfulness and love.
We thank you for Christ, who has died to save us from our sins,
and He's the one who makes the way to you possible.
We praise you for that. It's in the name of Christ I
pray. Amen.