Disorderly Worship: Part 1
The Church of Corinth; Struggling to be in the world but not of the world • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 44:55
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Disorder Opening:
We are diving back into our Study of first Corinthians 14, as Paul compares the use of tongues and prophecy in a Corinthian context. As we have seen and discussed at length, Paul is concerned, because the current the ends have begun to value the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues to a divisive degree. Define for us last week, speaking in tongues as a gift of the Holy Spirit Weibo, whereby a person speaks an unknown earthly language, proclaiming a revelation from the Lord that requires that person, or another person to interpret. Paul will make his point in chapter 14 that edification of the body of Christ is the goal of the church gathering and when someone speaks in tongues without interpretation, the church is NOT edified and instead it leads to confusion.
Therefore, in uninterpreted tongues, the church at Corinth was not benefiting spiritually and therefore its worship of the Lord Jesus was disorderly. We can probably all agree that it is a benefit for us as we gather each week to have order in our worship. We serve a God who does not operate in chaos, but an order in as elders we believe that God has instructed the Church to be orderly and it's worship. Notice how in our passages today Paul connects church order in the church with the edification of its members.
1 Corinthians 14:4 (NASB95)4 One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church.
12 So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church.
26 What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
33 for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
40 But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.
Now when we talk about order, we are not speaking specifically about conduct. Instead, order in worship has to do with far more than behavior. Yes our conduct in worship gatherings should be orderly for the sake of honoring Christ and why we come together. But order is more than conduct.
Every element of the worship gathering should have intentionality, sending a message of cohesion and purpose so that no time is wasted. Our corporate worship should be punctual, structured, thematic, and focused on the central figure-Christ. All of this aids us in our spiritual growth because chaos only brings confusion.
The next two sermons are going to be about Paul’s exhortation about how uninterpreted tongues were not edifying the body because it created DISORDER. From his message to the church, we will look at the importance of an orderly worship gathering.
1.Components of Beneficial Worship (vs 13-19)
1.Components of Beneficial Worship (vs 13-19)
Paul makes a fascinating statement about worship in verses 13 through 18 that I think should help us understand the necessary components of individual worship of the Lord. In other words, when you come to church, what processes go into healthy worship of the Lord? What is effective worship as we might call it and how do we reach a proper worship we're about we're not wasting our time but instead cleaning spiritual blessings from our time with the Lord.
Paul answers this question in his discussion about tongues. Remember that he is against people speaking in tongues in the church gathering when those languages were not interpreted. His point is that revelation is given, but its given in another language. Those listening cannot understand that language and therefore they are confused.
The reason there is confusion because worship requires both human spirit and human mind to be engaged. Let’s look at these components for a moment.
Man’s Spirit
I firmly believe that man is composed of body and soul. The word spirit is used interchangeably for soul in Scripture so therefore man consists of body and spirit/soul. Both the body and spirit of a man makes up the whole man and that whole man was corrupted by sin. Therefore, when a person comes to Christ, the soul/spirit is renewed instantaneously but his body still possess indwelling sin that leads to a lifelong battle of fighting against sin. that renewal happen because man’s spirit is given the gift of the Holy Spirit to live within him. At death, when that renewed person enters heaven in his spirit form, he awaits the final work of Christ and one day will receive that new body to go with a renewed soul/spirit. To state it most simple, the spirit/soul is the spiritual connection to God facilitated by the Holy Spirit within, which is renewed at recreation when a person is saved by Christ. The saving of the body comes later.
16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,
11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. 14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
Man’s Mind
Man’s mind is in a constant state of change when he comes to faith in Christ. Before Christ, man’s mind is corrupted with sin but after salvation, the mind of a regenerated man is ever-changing by the word of God and by His Spirit.
Romans 12:2 (NASB95)
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
This person’s worldview is changing. Their vocabulary is changing. Their disciplines are changing. This is the because the spirit/soul of the person has already been made new. The mind follows.
Now when a regenerated person comes to worship the Lord, Paul makes the case that both the spirit of the person(led by Holy Spirit) and their mind must be engaged. There must be a spiritual connection being to the Lord and which is aided by the Holy Spirit of God but it also must include the mind. When we miss this on either level, our worship is imbalanced.
One one hand a person can focus on the Spirit alone. The Charismatics want to say that the spirit of the man, controlled by the Holy Spirit is disconnected to the mind. They make this point with tongue speaking as they enter this euphoric, emotional trance where they are uncontrolled by their human faculties and the Spirit has taken over. This argues their point when start barking, dancing, and convulsing as if a demon wants to come out of them. They have disconnected from the fact that their entire inner man, both spirit and man is connected and being informed by truth with their mind being changed by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit
The other swing of the pendulum that is unhealthy is the extreme focus on doctrine and knowledge that worship is stuffy and cold. Its goal is the elevated mind and intellect but that truth is never applied to person for the sake of growth and change. Its all just filling up the tank of biblical data.
The sweet spot is when the mind is engaged with the work of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 14:13–19 (NASB95)
13 Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. 16 Otherwise if you bless in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the ungifted say the “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying? 17 For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified. 18 I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all; 19 however, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.
Paul calls for the need to understand that which tongues produces in the Corinthian context. v. Paul states in v 13 that hypothetically if he prayed in a tongue, but could not understand that language that was being spoken because of the supernatural gifting, then his mind is not engaged. He is not blessed because he has no idea what he was praying.
v.15 praying with mind and spirit is engaging both aspects of the regenerated person so that both faculties are one with what the Lord is doing in you and therefore you are blessed. This verse destroys the argument for ecstatic utterances that we may see from Charismatics because what they are doing is mindless. Their mind is not engaged at because words are not spoken, thoughts and doctrines from God are not being contemplated and the Spirit is not bringing conviction and blessing when the word is not proclaimed in the church.
This is Paul’s point here that not engaging the mind in worship is disorderly worship. In v 14 he states that not engaging the mind in praying in tongues was not edifying to the one praying. It personally did not edify the person in their faith in Christ. Secondly, not engaging the mind. In v 16 he also brings the hypothetical scenario to the one in attendance who also cannot engage the mind in worship because they do not know the tongue that was spoken and therefore they do not “say Amen at your giving thanks.” The observant worshipper is not edified, only confused.
Now for any guests here, I would invite you to go back to the last two sermons to get the background to all that we are learning today, but briefly, I am arguing that the gift of tongues has ceased its operation in the church. At one time, the church was given this gift as a sign of God’s power and authentication of the message he delivered in the tongue or through prophecy. That time has passed with the apostles and prophets in the early church.
But the application for us today is still powerful when we consider order in our worship. A sad trend in my era of youth group worship music was the repetition of lines of praise over and over and over again. This was designed that way for the sake of seeking and reaching an emotional response to the simple lines and phrases directed at God. This may sound innocent and not a danger to the church, but that wave of music stemmed from pentecostal theology of the Holy Spirit who need to fill the place, come upon them, or manifest his presence.
Scott Aniol comments on the typical response of Evangelicals that influence by such theology. He writes,
“Our church’s worship is pretty formal, but I prefer Holy Spirit-led worship.”
Such was a comment I overheard once by a young evangelical describing his church’s worship service, illustrating a very common perception by many evangelicals today—if the Holy Spirit actively works in worship, the results will be something extraordinary, an experience “quenched” by too much form and order.
But this expectation appears in more than just worship. If you were to ask the average Christian today what our expectation should be regarding how the Holy Spirit works, I believe most Christians would answer something like this: If the Holy Spirit is actively working, his work will be evidenced by some sort of extraordinary experience—intense feelings, inner promptings, miraculous gifts, or even visible manifestations.”
He is correct that many Christians are looking for that emotional connection with Holy Spirit and leave defeated because they have been convinced that is the work of the Spirit fits only that template. I mentioned last week about the damage done by emotionalism in youth camps in the 80’s that have lead to adults in 2000’s wanting the same emotionalism. If you go back to the 1800’s in upstate NY, you will have heard of revivalist Charles Finney. Finney was known for large outdoor revivals that poked and proded the emotions in his fiery preaching. He is also called the Father of the Altar call as he called people to repent of their sins and come forward to respond in faith. That led to a movement throughout churches today with 25 minutes altar calls. I again do not want to downplay the work of the Spirit of God on human hearts but if you remove the altar call and ask people to respond privately, in their seats as the Lord leads, people would call the worship gathering a dud, by these standards.
The challenge for us as elders is to order our worship to engage the mind and be faithful to the work of teh Holy Spirit. We do not lead you to an icy cold presentation of biblical data nor to a spontaneous disorderly longing for external emotional stimuli with repetitive mood music playing in the background. The truth of God engages the mind and the Spirit of God within does a great work of change.
2. Challenges of Corporate Worship (vs.20-25)
2. Challenges of Corporate Worship (vs.20-25)
20 Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature. 21 In the Law it is written, “By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to Me,” says the Lord. 22 So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe. 23 Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; 25 the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.
v 20-21 Paul identifies a challenge in the Corinthian church when both believers and unbelievers attend. In relation to tongue speaking, he has already stated that those who do not understand the language, are unable to comprehend. Therefore interpretation of the revelation from God in an unknown language was key.
But now he identifies the greater challenge. The greater challenge is that when unbelievers come to the gathering, the interpreted tongue proclaiming revelation from God is still not comprehended by unbelievers. Paul calls tongue speaking a sign to unbelievers.
Why is it a sign and what is it a sign of? Signs communicate and point to something. Signs are not the thing. Our RCC sign only direct soemone to come in and worship. For Paul, he is making the connection that tongues are a SIGN to unbelievers. His explanation of that directs our attention back to the OT as he quotes from Isaiah 28
11 Indeed, He will speak to this people Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue,
When we look back to the context of Isaiah, we see the prophet calling Judah, the northern tribe of Israel, which is often referred to as Ephriam to repentance. Because they have not repented of their rebellion against God, the Lord is going to send invaders to capture them and take them back to their lands. The Jews mock such a warning. Look with me at Isaiah 28:5-8
5 In that day the Lord of hosts will become a beautiful crown And a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people; 6 A spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment, A strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate. 7 And these also reel with wine and stagger from strong drink: The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, They are confused by wine, they stagger from strong drink; They reel while having visions, They totter when rendering judgment. 8 For all the tables are full of filthy vomit, without a single clean place.
This doesn’t set up a pretty picture for God’s people. This scene look more like something we might see at a late night bar, not from those whom God had set his love upon. The religious leaders are getting in on the action, setting a horrible model of holiness, making decisions for the people which being hammered from alcohol. Now v 10-11 is the prophet quoting these rebellious people.
Isaiah 28:9–10 (NASB95)
9 “To whom would He teach knowledge, And to whom would He interpret the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just taken from the breast? 10 “For He says, ‘Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.’ ”
These scoffing words are directed at Isaiah prophetic ministry but the people are not receiving his words from the Lord. Instead, they mock him as giving them words meant for babes, infants, not mature adults in the faith. Isaiah’s rebuttal is looking forward to foreign invasion when the lips of strangers will speak words unknown to them because they are foreign invaders taking them captive.
Paul uses this prophecy to teach about tongues. They sound unintelligle because they are not understood without interpretation. They are therefore a sign or picture for unbelievers because they model what unbelievers hear with their ears and mind when they reject God. This is an amazing picture into what Paul already stated in 1 Cor 2:14
14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
Now connect with me “foolishness” with “observable madness” in what Paul says in 1 Cor 14:23
23 Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad?
So tongues, which were revelation from God that require the interpretation so the hearer could be built up in the faith, are a picture of the inner workings of an unbeliever when it comes to the Spiritual things of God. The unbeliever hears any words of God and thinks its madness and foolishness unless the SPIRIT OF GOD is HIS INTERPRETER.
This is the challenge of the church throughout history. We always have both believers and unbelievers who attend the gathering. Let me say that when the church gathers, it is not to bring unbelievers in so that they can hear the word of God. That is not the purpose that we gather. This doesn not mean unbelievers are kicked out or unwelcome. But when they come, unless the Spirit of God opens their mind to understand spiritual truths, they sit there graciously thinking we are all lunatics. They are probably sitting there wondering why they are wasting their time. This is because the Spirit has not awakened them to appreciate the words spoken, the order provided.
Instead, the church gathers and has an ordered worship so that believers can be edified in their faith. In that edification, we all grow in our faith and confidence in Christ and then in obedience we go out from this gathering and we “make disciples of all nations.” This is where the church excels when it is bringing into the gathering “New disciples” who have forsaken their old way of life and put their faith in Christ.
Paul explains then in v 24-25 that prophecy, which needed no interpretation brought about a different effect for the unbeliever. It revelatory effect brought about a change in the hearts of all who heard as it has done in all of us today as we read the completed revelation from the Lord, the Bible. Of course, not every unbeliever experiences this effect when sitting under the word of God as its described in 24-25, but that is its purpose.
So getting back to the challenges for the church and order in our gathering, we focus on the word of God as the center of our order. The challenge is that we know at any given point that believers and unbelievers will gather with us in our midst and so we order the gathering with the one thing that can truly change hearts- the words of Christ. We no longer prophecy or speak in tongues, but Paul’s words remind us that order in the worship gathering is necessary and that order should focus on the Holy Spirit’s work through the word of God.