Ordained Order

Transcript

Family, would you take a moment to pray with me before we begin? Father, we pray for your help. We pray now that you would give us the help of the Holy Spirit to illuminate the text. Speak to us, O Lord, until your church is built, so that we might render to you the glory and praise that is due your name. We confess we can’t do this on our own, and so we posture ourselves in deep dependence. Meet us this morning, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Well, family, as you can see, there’s a lot to unpack this morning. Not only is it a long passage, but it is also one of the most challenging and controversial sections of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. And because of that, before we dive into the text, I want to start with a few principles of approach when dealing with what is often referred to as the supernatural gifts.

Approaching the Supernatural Gifts

The first thing I want you to keep in mind is that there are many faithful Christians who have different perspectives when it comes to these supernatural gifts. And so we need to approach passages like this with some measure of Christian charity. Because there are so many perspectives, it’s important for us to define some terms and to explain some positions so that we can have clarity. So my aim this morning is to practice both charity and clarity. Second, I’m going to approach preaching this text a little bit different than usual. Rather than going line by line, I’m going to just bounce around a bit in our chapter to pull out what I think are the big ideas of the text. And so I’ll be avoiding some landmines and some rabbit trails with this particular text. And lastly, by way of context, it’s important to understand that this chapter doesn’t stand alone.

It’s part of a larger unit that starts all the way back in chapter 12, where Paul first begins this conversation concerning spiritual gifts. Paul, over the last two chapters, has been building the case for gifts and for love. And this morning, Paul will offer a bit of a corrective for the church because the Christians in Corinth were all over the place in terms of how they understood and practiced these gifts, especially when it came to the worship service. Sadly, there were many in the church who were misusing these gifts, whose motives were self-centered, self-serving, and prideful, which affected the worship service and created a lot of disorder and a lot of distraction. I mentioned earlier in the beginning of our sermon series that the Corinthians were absolutely obsessed with words and wisdom. The more gifted you were with speech and knowledge, the more significant you were in terms of your social status.

And Paul, being a good pastor, identified the issue quite quickly, which is why at the very beginning of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he says, When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He does this so that their faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. So, given the church’s preoccupation with speech and knowledge, it’s no wonder that there were some major issues surrounding these two gifts, tongues and prophecy, because both of these gifts center on speech and knowledge. I mean, if you were seeking to have the greatest social status in the Christian community by way of speech and knowledge, what would be more impressive than speaking in a mysterious heavenly language

or possessing prophetic knowledge? So, this passage is all about Paul offering a corrective in terms of the disorder that was happening in the church. Now, this morning I’ve chosen not to break up the text into these little sections, but instead I’m going to try to present this as one cohesive train of thought, because I think it might be better for us as we move along. So, please do have your Bibles open, because we’re going to be bouncing all around this chapter. So, that being said, I do want to begin where Paul begins in verse 1, where he says right out of the gate, pursue love. Because before we can even begin to touch on the subject of these supernatural gifts, Paul wants to make sure that our focus is dead set on love. Because love is the ecosystem in which these gifts are meant to function.

Remember what Andre preached in chapter 13, verse 1 and 2? He said,

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

— 1 Corinthians 13

(ESV)

So, when it comes to our worship services and how our gifts are to be used, love must be the driving force and the chief expression. If gifts are misused for building up our personal pride, our platforms, or our positions in the church, they will be useless, ineffective, and maybe even harmful. Now, the word pursue that Paul uses here is a word that’s often used to describe hunting. Just as a hunter pursues its prey with both strategy and intensity,

Paul is calling us to chase after love with the same kind of strategy and intensity. And as we pursue love, we are to eagerly desire gifts, but not for self-serving purposes, but rather for building up the church, because gifts are simply tools by which love for one another is effected and enacted. Now, what are these supernatural gifts that Paul says we are to eagerly desire? First Corinthians chapter 12, verses 7 through 11, gives us a bit of a breakdown of these gifts. Paul writes,

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom. To another, the utterance of knowledge. To another, faith. Gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, various kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues.

— 1 Corinthians 12

(ESV)

So, those would be the kinds of gifts that Paul says we are to be eagerly desirous for.

Two Views on Spiritual Gifts

But it’s important to understand that this list is not exhaustive. Whatever gifts the Holy Spirit gives us as a church, we should be eager to use to build up the church. Now, we are 2,000 years separated from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. So, what are we to make specifically of these supernatural gifts that Paul makes reference to in our passage? Well, Christians have historically held different views on this issue, and that’s okay. There’s room for godly charity here. But basically, you have two views concerning these supernatural gifts. Either they don’t exist, or they do exist. Those are the two views, in case you get it twisted. So, on one side, you have what’s called continuationism. The name is kind of self-explanatory. Which is the belief that these miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit continue to be available and operational in the church today, just as they were in the early church.

Continuationists argue that there’s no clear biblical passage that says these gifts have ceased or stopped. And that these gifts continue to be used to empower believers today for ministry and build up the church. Okay, does that make sense? But on the other side, you have what’s called cessationism. A position that believes that these miraculous gifts have ceased. They’ve stopped. And they say that they stopped at the end of the apostolic age. Though some would say that they ceased when the canon of scripture was completed. Most cessationists believe that these gifts were given as a means to validate the apostles and the early church. But once the foundation was laid, the gifts were no longer necessary for the church. Okay, so those are the two views. Again, there are godly people on both sides. So take, for example, John Piper, who is a continuationist. And R.C. Sproul, who is a cessationist.

Both of these men are godly. Both dedicated to the truth of scripture. Both have had effective and fruitful ministry. Both have radically shaped my theology and my Christian life in profound ways. So godly men on both sides. Or take John MacArthur and Jack Hayford. John MacArthur, a cessationist, he spoke highly of Jack Hayford, a Pentecostal continuationist. Saying, Jack Hayford is a model of diligence, faithfulness to the Lord, and enduring loyalty to the church. So again, godly and biblically faithful men on both sides. And all would support each other’s ministries. And I bring this to your attention because some Christians can become very critical of other Christians who don’t land in the same place with these issues. And we’ve got to be careful not to do that. This is what you might call a non-essential. For me, I sit in the continuationist camp. You might call me a cautious continuationist.

In other words, I do believe that the supernatural gifts exist today. Especially the gift of healing and prophecy because I’ve witnessed and experienced both of these in the church. In fact, if you’ve been a member here over the last ten years, which there’s only a few of us. Y’all are still holding on. But if you’ve been a member in this church for that long, you’ve seen the Lord miraculously heal. I mean, there have been three specific members in our congregation over the last ten years who’ve had severe cancer. The elders met with them and anointed them with oil and prayed in faith for healing. And God healed them from cancer. Praise be to God alone. So I can’t deny what I’ve seen and experienced even in this church. Now maybe you don’t view that as miraculous healing or as the gift of healing. But I would.

I don’t know what else you would call that. So, I mentioned that I’m cautious. But when I say that I’m cautious, that doesn’t mean that I’m suspicious. Okay? And that’s an important distinction. What I mean is that I’m desirous, but I’m discerning. And I’m discerning for the same reason. Experience in the church. I have seen the Lord do wonderful and powerful things, supernatural things in this church. But I’m discerning because I’ve also had first-hand experience of the abuses of gifts in a former church that looked a lot like the church in Corinth. And so, that being said, I do think it’s important to offer just some high-level framework for how different people understand and interpret these spiritual gifts. Particularly the gifts that are mentioned in our text this morning, tongues and prophecy. So, let’s start with tongues. Again, there’s many different perspectives on what speaking in tongues actually means.

Some believe that the gift of tongues is a known human language spoken under the influence of the Holy Spirit. So, just say, for example, you have an English speaker who, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, suddenly starts speaking Russian. Even though he’s never spoken that language before. And that happens so that the Russian-speaking Christians in the assembly might hear in their own language what’s being communicated. And as a result, they are built up. So, that’s one interpretation of tongues. Others believe that tongues is an angelic language. And that it’s something that is not understood by anyone. That it’s a mystery. And then some interpret the gift of tongues as a private prayer language that exists exclusively between God and a believer. I think I could make a biblical case for all of these views. I mean, we see glimpses of these views throughout Scripture.

You see some of this in Acts 2. Especially verse 4. And then in our text this morning. Chapter 14, verse 2. Chapter 14, verse 28. My point is, there is a lot of different positions of how people interpret this. All of which can be argued from Scripture. But family, my goal this morning isn’t to try to persuade you of which interpretation I think is correct or better. My concern, and I believe Paul’s concern in this passage. Is that whatever view you hold, the primary focus of the gift must be love and clarity. And it must be used for the building up of the church. Now, I do think it’s important to address a perspective that’s common in some Pentecostal and charismatic circles. And that is the idea that all Christians should speak in tongues. And that all tongues are the evidence of salvation and the indwelling Holy Spirit.

And the reason why I bring this to your attention is because that view is not a biblical view. And it is exceedingly dangerous. Paul easily debunks this directly in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 30. When he asks this rhetorical question, do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Well, the implied answer is no. Not everyone will have the gift of tongues. But more importantly, the evidence of salvation and the indwelling Holy Spirit isn’t found in speaking in tongues. It’s found in a changed life. It’s found in the person who once lived under the passions of their flesh but now exhibits the fruit of the Spirit. Many of you know that I was saved in a very charismatic church. And having only been a Christian for like a year or so, I was told by the leadership of that church that because I didn’t speak in tongues,

they couldn’t affirm my salvation or that I had the Holy Spirit. For well over a year, family, I was very confused in terms of my standing with God. I often felt like a second-class Christian, especially when I would see everybody else speaking in tongues. Because I didn’t do it, I felt like my salvation wasn’t legitimate. I don’t think those people realize how harmful and how dangerous it is to say things like that. Listen, the Bible is clear. Anyone who confesses with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and turns from their sins will be saved. You don’t need tongues to prove it. Trusting, turning, and obeying Jesus is the proof. And listen, if you’re here this morning and you’re not a Christian but you desire to be saved from the penalty of sin, all you need to do is turn from your sins and trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior and He will save you.

No tongues needed. Family, this is why it’s so important to get this right. Misunderstanding the gifts or making these gifts more than what they were made for can lead to unnecessary pain and confusion in the church. Which is why Paul goes to such lengths to bring clarity and order because he desires to eliminate harm and confusion. Let’s look at the gift of prophecy. With this gift, there’s also a variety of interpretations. And listen, there are so many that it would take up the whole service to try and explain them all. Theologian Daniel Aiken puts it this way. There is neither enough time nor space to categorize and investigate all the various definitions that have been posited for this gift. But at minimum, I define at least the major part of this gift this way. The spiritual ability to proclaim God’s truth in such an authoritative and powerful fashion that lives are changed,

Understanding Tongues and Prophecy

the lost are saved, and believers are motivated for greater service and maturity. Amen. Amen to that. But if we were to kind of narrow down our focus and use only the text that we’re sitting under this morning to describe prophecy, I think we could quite easily and accurately define it like this. Prophecy is speaking a word from God for the purpose of strengthening, encouraging, comforting, and evangelizing the lost. And I think we see that definition clearly laid out in various parts of our text. So for example, look at verse 3. The one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. That’s comfort. Look at verse 31.

Paul even goes on to say that prophecy has a unique role in convicting and revealing the hearts of unbelievers. Look at verse 24 and 25. But if all prophesy and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all. He is called to account by all. The secrets of his heart are disclosed and so falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. So in these verses, you see the ministry of prophecy clearly laid out as strengthening, encouraging, comforting, and evangelizing the lost. Now, when trying to define prophecy, I think it’s important to understand the difference between Old Testament prophecy and New Testament prophecy. Because I think this makes some people a bit confused. Old Testament prophecy, which came through prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, folks like these, along with others, spoke as mouthpiece for God. Meaning their words carried a defined authority and were without error.

So to reject the words of a true Old Testament prophecy was to reject God himself. Because they were meant to speak for God. This is why you often heard Old Testament prophets beginning their messages by saying, Thus says the Lord. They spoke with an authority that was unquestionable and absolute. And the messages of Old Testament prophecy were primarily about calling God’s people back to faithfulness, or warning of judgment, or foretelling future events concerning God’s redemptive plan. Namely, the coming of Jesus, the Messiah. So that’s Old Testament prophecy. New Testament prophecy, on the other hand, doesn’t carry the same level of divine authority. This is why Paul tells us in this section to take those prophetic messages and test them and let them be evaluated by the congregation. In fact, you see that in verse 29. It says, Let two or three prophets speak and let the others, meaning the congregation, weigh what is said.

So you might say that Old Testament prophecy is capital P prophecy. Meaning it’s infallible. It’s the word of God. While New Testament prophecy is lowercase p prophecy, which is subject to be tested. And the very means of testing it, family, would be the Scriptures. Okay? Another thing to keep in mind, and this is pretty important for our text. When Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians, they didn’t have the New Testament. They had some of the Old Testament Scriptures. But the New Testament Scriptures were still being written, which made prophecy a bit more crucial during this period of time. But today, family, we have the completed Scriptures. We have the very perfect words of God at our fingertips. And family, this is massive. Because the Scriptures are sufficient to give us everything we need to know about God and how to live godly lives. Paul himself affirms the sufficiency of Scripture when he writes in 2 Timothy 3, verses 15-17.

The sacred writings, meaning the Old and New Testament, are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God, that means divinely inspired, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man or woman of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Family, what Paul says here about Scripture and what it accomplishes sounds a lot like what Paul is describing in our text concerning the outcome of prophecy. God’s Word accomplishes the same purposes as New Testament prophecy, but with one crucial difference. It’s without error, and it’s divinely inspired. A couple of years ago, a few of our pastors attended a Holy Spirit conference here in Portland. And one of the speakers got up on stage and said, I don’t have a word from the Lord, so I’m just going to sit here until the Lord gives me a word.

Family, that’s crazy. Because we have the Bible, we always have a word. We don’t have to sit around and wait for some new revelation that we would have to test against Scripture anyway. Just open your Bible and read it out loud. You see, I think the problem with this is that so many people tend to place prophecy or the sufficiency of prophecy over and against the sufficiency of Scripture. But we ought not do that. When the Scripture is read, people are transformed. When Scripture is listened to or when it’s preached or taught, people are supernaturally changed. Dead people come alive. Saints are encouraged. Christians are convicted of sin. And we are strengthened in ways that no prophecy alone can do. Again, prophecy is good, Paul tells us, to desire it. It would be infinitely better to hear from Scripture, to be built up and strengthened by the eternal, unchanging, trustworthy Word of God.

Brothers and sisters, this is why your pastors work so hard to try and persuade you from the Scriptures, that every single one of you has a role to play in this church when it comes to encouraging one another with the Scriptures. This is that word work that we’ve talked about before. All of us as members need to be preoccupied with pushing God’s Word into one another’s lives to build up the church. Yes, this can happen through prophecy, but it happens most comprehensively and most authoritatively through the Scriptures. So let’s use the Scriptures to strengthen, encourage, comfort, and evangelize. If God graciously gives us a prophetic Word that corresponds with His divinely inspired Word, then speak it. Speak it to your brothers and sisters, that they might be encouraged and built up for the good of the church and for the glory of God. Some of you already know this story, but about six years ago, I was at the lowest point in my Christian life.

I had just gone through, I think, the greatest betrayal of my life, and it came from my pastor. It crushed me spiritually and emotionally. I was devastated. It just so happened that two days after that betrayal, I was unfortunately scheduled to preach at a pastor’s conference in Southern California. So I was completely spiritually empty and depressed. The last thing I was trying to do was get up in a pulpit and preach to other pastors to try and offer them encouragement. It needed to work the other way around. I was scheduled to preach at 9 a.m., and so I woke up at like 4 in the morning, tried to get ready, but I was an emotional wreck. And at 7 a.m., I received a text message from a pastor friend, Shilin, asking me, just this, are you okay? And the first thing that came to my mind was, oh man, how did he find out already?

Everybody knows. Because at this point, it was only six or seven of us that knew what was happening. We hadn’t even had a chance to communicate this to the congregation yet. So I quickly called him, like in a panic. And he told me, he said, brother, I don’t know what’s going on with you, but the Lord woke me up in the middle of the night and pressed upon my heart to pray for you. So I woke up my wife, and we prayed for you. And after I shared a little bit about what was happening in the life of our church, he began to encourage me with the truths of Scripture to build me up with God’s Word. His encouragement gave me just enough strength to preach to these pastors, though I was broken. But listen, family, that’s not all that happened. Throughout the day, at this conference, and if you think I’m fronting, you can ask Samuel Nagel, who was there.

Kate Ballera was there. So you know I’m telling you the truth. Pastors that I didn’t even know, various different ones, began approaching me with what I can only describe as prophetic words. One pastor approached me and said, hey, you don’t know me, and I know this might sound a bit strange to you, but the Lord put it on my heart to remind you that no matter what you’re going through, no matter what circumstances are happening in your church right now, the Lord is near. He’s working all things together for your good, and He will preserve your church. Family, God preserved the church. How did this man know anything about what was going on? Now, what this man said to me was essentially Scripture. It was true. But what this man said to me had never been more truer for me than when he said it to me at that specific moment.

I needed it. Now, family, you could chalk that up to coincidence. Feel free to do that. But for me, on that specific day, I’m persuaded that God was giving prophetic insight into the deeps of my heart to other pastors to help build me up when I needed it most. And I think this is close to what Paul is talking about here in chapter 14, where God places unique, spontaneous insight into the hearts of his people to use words to build up, encourage, and comfort the church. This is why Paul emphasizes that prophecy is superior to tongues, because prophecy uses intelligible words, words that are clear, coherent, words that need to be understood in the moment. It would have done me no good to have a bunch of these pastors come up to me and just pray in tongues over me. I desperately needed to hear God’s words that day.

Clarity Over Chaos

Paul makes this point a priority in verses one through five. He says,

Pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men, but to God. For no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now, I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues unless someone interprets so that the church may be built up.

— 1 Corinthians 14

(ESV)

Paul’s point is clear. There is a priority in terms of spiritual gifts, and the priority is determined by its clarity and intelligibility.

Paul further goes on to illustrate this in verses seven through nine. He says, If even lifeless instruments, such as a flute or a harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. Paul uses these two examples to further drive this point of priority of clarity. If you blow into a flute or you pluck on one harp string, yes, it will make a sound. But it’s only when a musician plays the appropriate notes that a song can be heard. And the purpose of a bugle in battle is to alert soldiers when to strike. But if the sound is unclear or it’s muted, the soldiers won’t know what to do or when to strike.

In the same way, if someone speaks in a tongue, it might make a noise. But the words which are necessary for understanding will not be intelligible. Though the person speaking in tongues might be excited about the gift. If no one understands what’s being said, only the speaker is built up. In other words, beyond the personal satisfaction of showcasing the gift of tongues, it is functionally useless unless there is an interpreter. To make this even more clear, Paul adds in verses 10 and 11, There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning. But if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker a foreigner to me. The whole purpose of speech gifts is to communicate truth. The kind of truth that builds up the church. But for that to happen, there must be coherent communication.

Because if no one understands what’s being spoken, it’s impossible to build that person up with truth. There must be clarity. This is why Paul says in verse 12, In other words, Paul seeks to reorient their motives. He’s clear, it’s not that desiring gifts is a bad thing. It’s desiring them for the wrong reasons that it’s bad. And you see, this was the whole problem in the church. They were using their gifts to build themselves up. But by design, they don’t work to build up when they’re not others oriented. So no one will benefit from the unique gifts that God has given you personally, unless you use it for other people. And if you don’t use your gifts for other people, not only will the church be missing out on the unique blessings that you give to the church with your gifts, some in the church will be neglected.

Because that gift is not being exercised the way God has intended it to be exercised. So strive and excel in using your gifts, the ones that God has given you, to build up the church. Now I do want to be clear here. Just because prophecy is to be prioritized over tongues, because it’s intelligible, it doesn’t mean that tongues are useless. Paul says in verse 18, I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. He says in verse 39,

So Paul doesn’t denigrate tongues. He himself spoke in tongues. He encourages it. But Paul is preoccupied with that which is most effective for building up others. This is why he says in verse 19, Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, coherent words, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue. Again, Paul’s reason for addressing these issues is because these gifts were being misused for personal gain rather than for others, and it ended up creating dysfunction and disorder in the worship service. But it wasn’t just the use, or the personal use of gifts for personal gain that was creating dysfunction. It was that there was disorder in how those gifts were being used in the context of the worship service that added to the dysfunction. So while Paul makes it very clear that clarity and intelligibility are necessary for building up the church,

you can’t have clarity without exercising order and restraint. You understand that? You can’t have clarity without exercising order and restraint. We see this in verses 27 and 28. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or three at most, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in the church, and speak to himself and to God. So there you see order and restraint. I mean, just imagine the chaos that would exist in a worship service if everyone started speaking in this unknown tongue all at the same time. No one would hear anything clearly. And even if you had an interpreter, it would be so confusing that no one would even begin to know what tongue was being interpreted. It would be complete chaos. And the reason Paul brings this up is because chaos always obstructs clarity.

And again, clarity is essential for building up the body. So when we gather together for worship, Paul instructs that tongues should be limited only to a few people, and that there must be an interpreter. But if there’s no interpreter, that person should remain silent, exercising restraint. Okay? But it’s not just tongues that need order and restraint. Prophecy does as well. Paul gives similar instruction in verse 29. He says,

And just as tongues without interpretation would lead to chaos, having too many people prophesying would lead to chaos. Because it would be difficult to weigh what’s being said. And again, to weigh a prophecy means to discern whether what’s being prophesied aligns with Scripture and is true. So even if prophecy is spoken in an understandable language, it still requires discernment and order. Multiple people are speaking so that no one can be evaluated, no prophecy can be evaluated, confusion can occur. So for the sake of order in worship, prophecy is also limited and restrained to ensure clarity. Now, the fact that Paul encourages order and restraint means that these supernatural gifts can be controlled. And I mention this because sometimes in our, you know, hyper charismatic circles, there is this common misconception that supernatural gifts are uncontrollable. That when the Spirit moves, people lose a sense of agency or control and they just kind of disrupt and blurt things out.

So you often see this in these hyper charismatic circles. But being uncontrolled, brothers and sisters, leads to chaos. And again, chaos obstructs clarity. And Paul debunks the idea of losing a sense of agency in verse 32. He says, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. In other words, if the Spirit moves, the person with the gift retains control over it. And if restraint is required in the worship service, as Paul suggests, then we must have the ability to control the gifts. And Paul’s point is that we are to control the gifts in a way that promotes clarity and order in the church. And finally, Paul emphasizes order and restraint when it comes to the women in the church. And this, I think, brings us to one of the most challenging parts of the passage, where Paul talks about women being silent in the church.

Women’s Role in Worship

And so I’m just going to read this section, and then we’re going to unpack it a little bit, okay? Paul writes,

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, for they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

— 1 Corinthians 14

(ESV)

All right. I know this passage can cause a lot of confusion. And unfortunately, this section of Scripture has been used in harmful ways in an attempt to silence women in the church. Which is very sad. And I think absolutely wrong. This is one of those verses where people interpret the text without considering the context. So in light of the context,

I’m just going to try to help us see what Paul is actually saying here. First, we need to recognize that Paul is not prohibiting women from speaking in church altogether. And we know this because in 1 Corinthians 11.5, Paul encourages women to pray and to prophesy in the worship service. So clearly, women are allowed and even encouraged to use their speaking gifts in the church. So to take this text out of context and make it a proof text to promote the complete silence of women in the church would be unfaithful to the text. So then what’s going on here? Well, given the context of disorder and dysfunction in the Corinthian church, where you had multiple people speaking in tongues without interpretation, where Paul instructs them to be silent, where you had multiple people prophesying, where it was creating confusion over weighing these prophetic words because so many prophecies were happening,

it’s likely that some of the wives were publicly challenging or scrutinizing their husbands’ prophecies during the service. And Paul wants them to exercise restraint to avoid being shameful. David Garland, in his commentary, explains it this way, and I think he’s right. He says, the situation that best fits the adjective shameful is one in which wives defy convention by publicly embarrassing their husbands through their speaking. In the context, it is likely that Paul imagines a wife joining in the process of weighing what is being said during the congregational scrutiny of prophecy. They either raise questions or contradict their husbands or other senior male relatives. By doing so, they compromise their husbands’ authority over them and appear to undermine the good order of the household. So, it seems from the context that Paul was aiming to preserve order, both the order of the worship service and God’s creation order in terms of men

being the head of the household and wives submitting to their husbands. But nothing in this text indicates silencing women from using their speaking gifts in the church. We need to recognize the unique roles that God gives both men and women in the church. And while we affirm that the office of elder or pastor, we use those interchangeably, is exclusively reserved for men, given God’s creation order, we also want to provide every opportunity for women to use their speaking gifts in the church because, family, we need them. The whole church can’t be built up and encouraged if women aren’t allowed to use their gifts that God has given them for the building up of the church. You think about Ephesians 4, 11 and 12. And he gave apostles and prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for the building up of the body of Christ.

God gives the gift of pastors to the church to equip all the saints, both men and women, for ministry. And what is that ministry? Building up the church. And Paul makes it clear in our text that building up the church requires clarity concerning God’s Word. Now, I do want to be clear. Encouraging women to use their gifts in the church doesn’t mean that we violate God’s creation order or the unique complementarian roles that are exclusive to men and women in the church. We can affirm male elders. We can affirm complementarianism while still fanning the flame of women using their speaking gifts in service to the church. And, family, we try to do this as best as we can at Trinity Church. So we make room for women to use their speech gifts in the worship service to read scripture, to pray, to encourage, and to lead in song.

I mean, you just heard Carly reading God’s scripture and how encouraging was it for you to hear Carly read it so effectively? I was built up. Okay, so we make room for these gifts while we limit the office of pastor and the unique role of a pastor to qualified and called men. In some reformed circles, this makes people feel very uncomfortable because they think, whoa, that’s way too much, man. Other circles make people feel very frustrated because they think, man, that’s not enough. But we don’t make our decisions based on circles, denominations, or tribes, but on the scriptures. And Paul makes it clear that everyone in the church, including women, should use their gifts to build up the church as long as there’s order and restraint when appropriate. Kevin DeYoung says this in his book on men and women in the church. He says, as a general rule,

I believe most complementarian pastors could do a better job finding biblically allowable ways to use women in the church gatherings to pray, to relate a story of God’s grace, or to share an encouraging word and having seen some complementarian churches and how they silence women in the worship service, I would say amen to that. We don’t want to tear down what God has intended to build up. We want to be mindful of God’s order and then respond appropriately. So I hope this offers some clarity concerning this very controversial and confusing passage. And listen, if you’re hung up on any of that and you feel like you need more clarity, I do want to just make this available to you. You can come and speak to any one of the pastors. We would love to talk this through. We know it can be very confusing. But to summarize Paul’s argument

in this entire chapter, Paul writes in verse 1, earnestly desire the spiritual gifts. In verse 12, he says, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. Verse 33, for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. Verse 19, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue. And verse 40, but all things should be done decently and in order. Paul’s argument is clear. Our desire for gifts is a good thing, but our desire should be governed by love. Gifts, as good as they might be, are simply tools for building up the church. But in order to build up the church, the tool requires clarity and order. And family, I think we do this well at Trinity Church. And my prayer for us is that this template

Living It Out

that Paul lays out would continue to be the template for Trinity Church as we strive to do all things decently and in order for building up the church. Now, I’ve given a whole lot of commentary on this passage this morning, so I do want to close with just a few encouragements that I think we can kind of pull out of this text. And the first is by way of reminder. Family, we need the Spirit. We need the Spirit. The Christian life, in every possible way, is utterly dependent on the Holy Spirit. We need Him, not just in our personal lives, we need Him in our congregational lives. God, in His grace, has given us the Holy Spirit because we can’t live the Christian life without Him. Do you believe that? If so, how often are you asking the Holy Spirit to help you, to guide you, and to control you?

Family, without the Holy Spirit, we are hopeless, which is why Jesus said He would send the Helper to begin with, because we need help. We need the Spirit, family, and we need the Spirit’s gifts. Can I ask you this morning, are you using your gifts in the church? And not just the supernatural gifts. Are you using any of your gifts in the church? God distributes gifts uniquely and purposefully to each and every one of us, for this specific church, so that everyone in the church might flourish and be built up. He didn’t make any mistakes when He gave you your gift. They are meant to build up the body. Are you using your gifts for that purpose? Listen, family, your gifts are yours. They belong to you. You possess them, but they’re not for you. Your gifts are for your brothers and sisters to build them up.

Let me ask you this question. Do you truly love your brothers and sisters in this church? Do you desire their good and spiritual growth? Or are you indifferent towards them? Now that might sound harsh, but sometimes our actions or our inactions reveal a complete indifference towards members in our church that we are called to love. Which really begs the question, is your life here characterized by inaction? Meaning, are you loving this church by serving the church? If there is inaction, brothers and sisters, you need to start serving the church. And if you’re looking for an area to serve, you can ask any one of our deacons. In fact, if you’re a deacon, could you please stand up just for a second? Look around. Ask any of these people, how can I serve? And they will point you in the right direction. Okay, you can be seated.

Do you not know what kind of gift you have? You know what might be a good resource? Ask the people around you, what do you think my gifts are? They most certainly will be able to tell what your gifts are because they have been the recipient of them. Are you seeking to love your brothers and sisters by serving them in the church? I just want to make this very practical. Are you seeking to love your brothers and sisters in the church by maybe giving up the privilege of sitting in the sanctuary once a month because you feel like there’s a great need in the children’s ministry or insecurity? I know all of you would rather sit under the preaching of the word and be around your brothers and sisters and singing songs. But family love should compel you to do what you don’t necessarily want to do

for the sake of building up others who desperately need to be built up. And then just another practical way to love some of the folks in our congregation. Love looks like showing up early on a Sunday morning to encourage someone. Love looks like praying before you even walk into the church, asking God, Lord, would you give me words to speak to someone who so desperately needs encouragement today? Family, every single Sunday there are members who walk through those doors who barely made it. And my guess is that many of them had struggled all week and probably debated whether they should even show up because they were spiritually depleted. In love, might you ask the Lord to give you some insight into someone’s life so that you could build them up? You don’t know how many people are silently suffering on a Sunday morning who show up just so completely spiritually dry.

What if you began praying before you arrived to church that God would give you insight to offer comfort and encouragement to those who are hurting? Here’s another practical one and this is just so relevant. You know how many new moms and dads we have in this sanctuary? It’s beautiful. We hear kids crying all the time and that’s a good thing. Might love compel some of you who don’t have little children to get up and go to one of these new moms or new dads and say, hey, can I take your baby for a second? I can walk the baby out in the foyer and bounce the baby around a bit. I know you need to be refreshed from God’s Word. I know you barely get any time to concentrate and focus on the Word. Let me help. Love might compel some of us to do that.

It’s a very practical way to serve the brothers and sisters in this church. Listen, we are not consumers in this church. We have come to build one another up and if everyone, every single person participates in that process, if everyone seeks to strengthen, encourage, and comfort one another, then I promise you will be built up by someone else in the church. So let’s be actively participant in the process of God’s wonderful design for the church, deeply dependent on the Spirit to work through us and to encourage one another to build up this body and let love be the driving force behind everything we do. Amen? This is what it means to be a church family. We don’t come here to pretend to play church. This is real church. So let’s do that. Let’s pray. Our Father and our God, we do thank you that you have not left us on our own,

but you have given us the Holy Spirit to help us and you have given us gifts to equip us and to build us up. And so we pray, O Lord and God, that you would help us to use every gift that you have given us in service to the church and we pray as we use those gifts that we would do that governed by love and clarity and order. We need your help to do that very thing. We pray these things in Christ’s name. Amen.