Real, Old-Fashioned Church: Becoming A Festival pt. 5
March 1/2, 2003 1 Corinthians 14:26-33
Intro:
We have spent the past four weeks talking about worship, and about our vision for worship depicted by the idea of a festival. I¡¦ve been excited to see the Spirit of God moving in our midst, drawing us back to a place of seeking to meet with God and focus on Him in worship, bringing us back to the point of recognizing that worship is about expressing our love for God and hearing again His love for us.
Today I want to take a step back in time, to real, old-fashioned church.
o Let¡¦s step back in time before modern, rythmic music with drums and bass and guitars, and chorus¡¦ that are repeated numerous times.
o Stepping back from that we enter a time when the church sang hymns accompanied by the organ.
And by the way, do you know the difference between the two? A young Christian went to his local church usually, but one weekend attended a small town church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was. "Well," said the young man, "It was good. They did something different however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs." "Hymns," said his wife, "what are those?"
"Oh, they¡¦re okay. They¡¦re sort of like regular songs, only different," said the young man.
"Well, what¡¦s the difference? Asked his wife.
The young man said, "Well it¡¦s like this: If I were to say to you, ¡¥Martha, the cows are in the corn,¡¦ well that would be a regular song. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you: ¡¥Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry. Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth. Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by, To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth. For the way of the animals who can explain? There in their heads is no shadow of sense, Harkenest they in God¡¦s sun or his rain Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced. Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebelious delight, Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed. Then goaded by minions of darkness and night They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed. So look to that bright shining day by and by, Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn. Where no vicious animal makes my soul cry, and I no longer see those foul cows in the corn. AMEN!
"Then, if I were to do only verses one, two, and four and do a key change on the last verse, well that would be a hymn."...
An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church.
He came home and his wife asked him how it was.
"Well," said the farmer, "it was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns."
"Praise choruses?" said his wife, "What are those?"
"Oh they¡¦re okay. They¡¦re sort of like hymns, only different," said the farmer.
"Well, what¡¦s the difference?" asked the wife.
The farmer said, "Well it¡¦s like this - If I were to say to you: ¡¥Martha, the cows are in the corn,¡¦ well that would be a hymn. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you: ¡¥Martha, Martha, Martha, Oh, Martha, Martha, MARTHA MARTHA, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows, the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, the CORN, CORN, CORN¡¦!!! ¡¥Oh, Oh, Ooooooooh, yes, it¡¦s true, the whole herd is in the awesome corn, yes, it¡¦s true, the whole herd is in the awesome corn, --- weeell, it¡¦s true, the whole herd is in the awesome corn!!! Alleluia! - That would be a praise chorus."...
o You might think that there are no steps prior to hymns with the organ ¡V after all, wasn¡¦t that how Jesus worshipped??? But in fact, I want to step back even further than that; we find a time where a worship service began early Sunday morning with singing and praying for at least an hour, then a pastor preached for AT LEAST an hour and a half (anything less would have been viewed as a sign of great laziness), then everyone had a break while they ate the lunch they had brought with them and then regathered for the rest of the afternoon, when all the people took turns talking about the message and how it applied to them.
o We could step back further, to a revolutionary time when Charles Wesley re-wrote many of the words to the songs that were sung in the bars and turned them into hymns.
o Or even further to where worship consisted mostly of chants. Or further back to where the entire service was conducted in Latin, which no one except the priest understood.
o But I want to step back even further than this, to the first century, to the first generation of Christians. We find out a little about how they worshipped in Paul¡¦s first letter to the church at Corinth.
Context:
You might think that the NT doesn¡¦t tell us specifically how to worship ¡V you can be sure that if there was a passage of Scripture that said, ¡§begin at 9:30 with a call to worship, followed by some singing, then have an offering, some prayer, some teaching, followed by one last song and then a benediction,¡¨ you can be sure that virtually every Christian church would follow those instructions. But we don¡¦t have anything that specific. We do, however, have more guidance than we might think. I want to look at that guidance today in 1 Corinthians 14:26-33, and see how well we are doing.
This passage is the last part of the section Paul began back in chapter 12, where he was teaching about spiritual gifts. The first part of the conversation gives way to the love chapter ¡V 1 Corinthians 13 ¡V which I consider the main point of the entire book ¡V and then Paul resumes his discussion of spiritual gifts with a focus on two gifts that the church at Corinth was seeing in their worship service on a regular basis, the gift of tongues and the gift of prophecy. That brings us to vs. 26 (READ).
Background:
It is clear from the rest of the letter to the Corinthians that they had some pretty substantial problems, which Paul was not shy about addressing. As I read the book, it seems that many of these problems stemmed from individual believers exercising their freedom in a way that was extremelly detrimental to others. People seem primarily concerned with themselves and with doing things their way, and not at all concerned for building up one another. There doesn¡¦t seem to be much cooperation, much understanding of the interdependence of the people of God, or much care about even the basic needs of each other as well as their spiritual needs. Put simply, I don¡¦t read about a whole lot of love. It seems more like chaos, like selfishness, like pride.
The immediate problem in chapter 14 appears to be that people showed up for church and chaos erupted. It seems that everyone was speaking in tongues or singing their own song or constantly interrupting someone trying to speak or teach with an idea or maybe a question, and the result was mass confusion which made visitors think that most of these people were completely insane.
So Paul comes to this point and says, basically, let me tell you how to have a worship service. Let¡¦s have a look at what he says:
Vs. 26
¡§When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.¡¨
The first thing I notice is that Paul says, ¡§everyone has¡K¡¨. The picture that paints for me is one of complete involvement ¡V the people that come for worship were participators, not spectators. Everyone came with something.
Then Paul lists essentially four things:
1. a hymn: pretty straightforward, easy to understand ¡V these were songs (likely from the book of psalms), probably accompanied by instruments (see vs. 7). These would also have likely included prayers ¡V even today that is a blurry line since many of our songs are actually prayers just set to music.
2. a word of instruction: again, fairly simple to understand. There was teaching.
3. a revelation ¡V which is basically a prophetic word by one of the people present. This is the gift Paul has spent most of chapter 14 talking about, asserting that this is a more edifying gift than the gift of tongues for the simple reason that others would be able to hear and understand. Let me quote Gordon Fee¡¦s commentary to help us understand what Paul means: ¡§by prophecy of course, as the full evidence of this chapter makes clear, he does not mean a prepared sermon, but the spontaneous word given to God¡¦s people for the edification of the whole. Most churches would have to be radically reconstructed in terms of their self-understanding for such to take place.¡¨ (NICNT, p. 660).
4. a tongue which is interpreted. By ¡§a tongue,¡¨ Paul simply means an individual speaking in a language they have not learned. Paul believes this is a spiritual gift, one he earlier says ¡§I would like every one of you to speak in tongues¡¨ (vs. 5), while still making his main point that what is more important is building up the entire church. Speaking in a tongue that no one else around you understands does not do that! There may be times, Paul says, when a person might speak in a tongue that they haven¡¦t learned, and there may be another person present with a spiritual gift of interpretation. If this is the case, the entire body can be built up because the interpreter can tell everyone else what God is saying to the church through the tongue. If there is no interpreter, Paul is clear, you should exercise this gift on your own in private.
I love how Paul begins in a very affirming way. Sure it was chaos, but Paul found a way (here at least), to affirm the positive. He says, ¡§all of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.¡¨ And then he proceeds in the next several verses to describe how this can and should be done.
But just before looking at that procedure, I take note of this. As Baptists, we have been historically proud of our strong belief in Scripture. We assert that it is our sole and authoritative guide to faith and practice. And we work hard to understand Scripture and apply it to how we live and how we worship. In this verse, Paul says ¡§ALL of these must be done for the strengthening of the body.¡¨ But as I look at our worship services, I really see us only doing the first two. Only half of the things Paul says must be done for the strengthening of the body generally happen in our services.
It doesn¡¦t really surprise me that these are the two we miss out on. The first two are faily safe ¡V hymns and prayers are us addressing God, a word of instruction is generally one of us addressing the rest. A prophetic word, or an interpreted tongue, are not quite so safe „³ they are God speaking to us.
But isn¡¦t that one of the main reasons we come to worship ¡V to meet with God and hear Him speak to us? To be encouraged and strengthened by having met with Him and encountered Him and had opportunity to respond to Him? Isn¡¦t worship about coming into God¡¦s presence and being changed by meeting God and hearing Him speak?
If we had time to walk carefully through all of chapters 12-14, we would see clearly that Paul¡¦s main concern is the building up of the church ¡V the edification of believers. That is his main point in chapter 12 about gifts, that is what the love chapter (13) is all about, and even here in 14 as Paul compares prophecy and tongues he concludes prophecy is preferable because it builds up those who hear. And that is still the main point in verse 26: ¡§All of these must be done for the strengthening of the body.¡¨ When God speaks, His children will be strengthened, built up in faith, encouraged. And that is what we mean when we say that God longs to meet us in worship, when we talk about how He longs to speak to us.
Vs. 27-31
In verses 27-31, Paul gives the Corinthians really specific instructions about how they should handle these public gifts of prophecy and tongues. He limits the number to 2 or 3, and then puts restrictions on both. For tongues, he says there must be an interpreter. For prophecy, he says people should give the word and everyone else should ¡§weigh carefully what is said,¡¨ and they should happen one at a time. Vs 31 repeats the main theme, the building up and instructing of the people of God.
Vs. 32-33
Paul wraps up this discussion by making a theological point: this should not get chaotic or out of control. Chaos and disorder are not characteristic of God ¡V ¡§33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.¡¨ Obviously that was the situation Paul is trying to correct in Corinth ¡V a situation of disorder. I can¡¦t help but wonder what Paul¡¦s message would be to us today, where we perhaps have the opposite problem. Let me again quote Gordon Fee (NICNT, p. 698):
By and large the history of the church points to the fact that in worship we do not greatly trust the diversity of the body. Edification must always be the rule, and that carries with it orderliness so that all may learn and all be encouraged. But it is no great credit to the historical church that in opting for ¡§order¡¨ it also opted for a silencing of the ministry of the many. That, it would seem, is at least the minimal point of the paragraph.
The most important word in this paragraph is the final one¡K confusion and disorder is simply not in keeping with the character of God. On the other hand, v. 26 makes it clear that the ¡§peace¡¨ and ¡§order¡¨ of v. 33 do not necessarily mean somber ritual, as though God were really something of a ¡§stuffed shirt.¡¨ If our understanding of God¡¦s character is revealed in our worship, then it must be admitted that God is not often thought of in terms of allowing spontaneity or joy.
So what is Steve trying to say??
I¡¦m confident that by this point, many of you are wondering what I am actually trying to say about what these verses mean for us in our vision of worship. Let me make it clear. My desire for us in worship is to experience all that God desires for us. I pray that every week prior to every service. I ask for all God has for us, and I ask for His power to remove anything that might hold us back. So if God desires to give us as a church gifts of prophecy or tongues for the building up of each other, then I want that to be part of our services also. I understand this passage of Scripture to be saying that God does want this for us ¡V and if you still aren¡¦t convinced, let me read you verse 39-40: ¡§39Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.¡¨
I want to be clear about two other things. First, I do not believe that these gifts are for every believer or that they are necessary proofs of the Spirit¡¦s presence in your life. The proof of the Spirit¡¦s presence in your life is not measured in ¡§supernatural¡¨ demonstrations but in the daily character of your life ¡V love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Second, these gifts do not elevate a believer or make them somehow ¡§super-spiritual¡¨ or more holy or more important than someone with a gift of helps or administration. I believe Scripture is clear on both points.
Let me also point out that these gifts are present in our church right now. I know many of you pray in tongues in private, in keeping with Paul¡¦s instructions here. We also have people through whom God speaks in a way consistent with how Paul describes ¡§prophecy¡¨ in this chapter ¡V and in fact, many of our elders meetings are spent seeking God in prayer and ¡§weighing carefully what is said.¡¨ It happens in other places as well ¡V small groups, other prayer times, and as individuals meet to talk and pray. And if, and I use the word ¡§if¡¨ deliberately ¡V if God wants us to experience those things as part of our services then I for one do not want to miss out. I use the word ¡§if¡¨ because I also will not allow us to manufacture these things or force them or push them. The Scripture is clear that the purpose of these gifts is to edify the body.
So. Can we experiment a bit? We are going to approach the communion table with a time of quiet and preparation, as we usually do. I¡¦d like us to take a few moments to pray and ask God to give us all that He desires to give us. And then I¡¦d like us to be open to God speaking to us in one of these new ways, and I¡¦d like each of you to be open to God using you as His ¡§mouth-piece¡¨ so to speak. I¡¦ll give some more instructions a little later on; we¡¦ve seen God¡¦s desire that ¡§everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.¡¨ As we prepare for communion, I invite you to reflect on these words of Jesus in Matt. 6: ¡§But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well,¡¨ and to concentrate on seeking God.
As you are praying quietly, would those serving please join me around the table.
