Worship: Order or Chaos?

Sovereign Grace Family Church

2 views

March 31, 2019

00:05: If you have your Bibles, you can open them with me to the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians.
00:27: We're going to look at verses 26 to the first half of 33 because the second half of 33 moves on into the next section.
00:41: So we're going to look at a particular section of this text today.
00:47: 1 Corinthians chapter 14, beginning at verse 26.
00:53: What then, brothers, when you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.
01:06: Let all things be done for building up.
01:09: If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at the most three and each in turn.
01:16: Let someone interpret.
01:18: But there is no one to interpret.
01:20: Let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.
01:27: Let two or three prophets speak.
01:30: Let the others weigh what is said.
01:32: If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent.
01:38: For you can all prophesy one by one so that all may learn and all be encouraged.
01:46: And the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.
01:51: For God is not the God of confusion, but of peace.
01:58: Let us pray.
02:00: Father in heaven, I thank you for the opportunity to preach your word again.
02:07: And Father, I pray as I always do, that I would decrease and Christ would increase, that I would be kept from error, that I would shrink, Lord, so that the Holy Spirit may in himself advance and abound in the hearts of men.
02:26: That you would use the words that are preached, mix them with faith and Lord, use them to draw those who know you closer to you, whether it be, Lord, in the need for communion, whether it be in the need for confession, whether it need for contrition, whatever the need be, Lord, may those who are yours draw closer to you.
02:52: And Lord, for those who are not yours, as we talked about last week, Father, the many who come in who are not yet believers, Lord, children in this room, Father, who have not yet bowed the knee to Jesus Christ, visitors that have not yet known Christ, Lord, those who are false converts, who have made a profession with their mouths, but have yet to bow their knee.
03:22: Father, whatever and however you see fit to apply this text and this sermon to their hearts, I pray that you would do so according to your will and Lord, that I would preach as a dying man to dying people with the conviction and urgency of the message.
03:41: And I pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
03:45: The title of today's message is Worship, Order or Chaos.
04:01: For several weeks, we've been examining 1 Corinthians 14.
04:05: We've looked at verses 1 to 25, and we have noted that the focus of this section is what happens now.
04:13: It's what happens in the assembly.
04:17: Paul actually began dealing with the assembly back in chapter 11.
04:22: He made a distinction between whether or not men and women should dress alike with their head coverings.
04:26: He made a distinction for how we ought to serve and share in communion.
04:30: He made a distinction about how the gifts are to operate.
04:33: And he made a distinction, most of all, as saying that love is the greatest of the fruits of the spirit.
04:41: And if we don't operate in that, then it doesn't matter at all.
04:44: But this chapter, chapter 14, particularly focuses on how we are to behave in church.
04:53: How we are to behave in the assembly.
04:58: And I have an important question.
05:00: This is sort of the thesis question.
05:03: Normally you have a thesis statement, but this is more of the interrogative thesis.
05:07: Do we realize that God cares how we behave in worship? Do we realize that God actually cares how we behave in the assembly? I think that's lost on many people.
05:34: They think so long as what they do is sincere, that it is acceptable.
05:41: But sincerity alone is not the standard for truth.
05:45: And sincerity alone is not the standard for what we do here, because you can be sincerely wrong.
05:53: God cares so much about how we conduct ourselves in worship that there are entire books devoted to how the church is to operate.
06:01: In fact, I want to point your attention just before we get to the message in 1 Corinthians 14, I just want to point your attention very quickly to a passage in 1 Timothy.
06:09: If you'd like to hold your place and move over just a few books to the right, I want to show you something that just when I saw it and was reading it, it just jumped off the page.
06:20: 1 Timothy chapter 3.
06:25: Remember, Paul is writing to Timothy, his spiritual protege, his son in the faith.
06:30: And he's right.
06:30: He's just got done declaring how the elders and deacons ought to behave and how they ought to be chosen.
06:37: And he says this, verse 14 of chapter 3, 1 Timothy 3, 14.
06:42: I hope to come to you soon, but I'm writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
07:05: This passage reminds us that there is actually a standard for how we're supposed to behave while we're here.
07:11: And what amazes me is how radical that is today to say that.
07:17: So many people have taken a cavalier approach to worship and they think it's about freedom.
07:23: I can't worship unless I have freedom.
07:26: It's not about freedom.
07:30: You say, well, Pastor, you're being a legalist.
07:32: No, Paul's not a legalist, but he says here it's about knowing how to behave.
07:39: And he is the one saying that this is an expectation, not me.
07:45: In fact, why is there an expectation? I want to just just keep pointing to first Timothy just for a second, because why is there a expectation? Because of two reasons right here in this text, he says, because of what the church is.
07:56: It's the household of God and it's the pillar and buttress of the truth.
08:01: You ever think about the fact that the assembly is the household of God and by household there, don't for a second think that what I mean is this building.
08:08: I've said that enough times.
08:09: I don't need to repeat it.
08:10: It's not the walls.
08:11: It's not the mortar.
08:12: It's not the bricks.
08:13: It's not the concrete.
08:14: It's the household, meaning it is us.
08:18: When we gather together for the assembly, this community is a family.
08:23: And in that family, we have a function.
08:26: And the function, according to this text, is to be a pillar and buttress of the truth.
08:31: A pillar is something that upholds something else and a buttress is something that supports that pillar.
08:37: It's a pillar and support of the truth.
08:40: The church functions to uphold and support the truth.
08:43: The world's not going to do it.
08:45: The world's going to tear the truth down, break the truth down, chew it up and spit it out.
08:50: But the church is here to stand for the truth.
08:56: And the primary body of truth belongs to the scriptures.
09:00: This is where the primary body of truth is.
09:02: In fact, this is pictured in the placement of the pulpit.
09:09: In fact, in ancient, when I say ancient, I mean post-Reformation, but older than where we are now, the pulpit was designed to show its importance.
09:25: It was usually a large structure that a man didn't just stand behind, but he went up into.
09:31: That's why we talk about being in the pulpit or filling the pulpit.
09:35: This doesn't make any sense if this is a pulpit.
09:37: This is more of a lectern.
09:39: I mean, it's our pulpit, so I appreciate it.
09:40: And I love my pulpit.
09:42: But a pulpit was a thing you walked upstairs and you went into and it was it was encircled.
09:47: The man made him look very small because the pulpit was big.
09:54: This week, I did a funeral and I walked into the church that I was preaching at and there was no pulpit.
10:05: And that's not a sin.
10:07: So I'm not calling that church out for sin, but I had a little stool and a little table and a microphone.
10:20: I said, please move the table and get me something I can lean against.
10:24: Give me something I can stand behind and see my notes, please.
10:34: So there's a sense of importance of what's here.
10:36: The whole reason for the pulpits uphold the word of God, the man of God enters the pulpit.
10:41: He stands behind the word of God.
10:42: He preaches the word of God.
10:44: And it's the church.
10:45: It's a symbol of what the church is.
10:46: The church is the pillar and the support of that truth.
10:50: It's in the center.
10:51: It's not off in the corner.
10:53: It's right here.
10:56: It's the focus.
10:58: And as a church, we have a job to accomplish.
11:00: We are here to uphold and support the truth.
11:02: We're not here to have our opinions affirmed.
11:05: We're not here to have our flesh satisfied.
11:07: We are here because we are commanded to come together for the sake of the truth.
11:12: Therefore, having said that as my introduction, we can be certain that this cannot be a community of chaos.
11:22: Because truth is not exalted in a community of chaos.
11:29: The church must be a community of order.
11:32: Therefore, my title order or chaos? Question mark.
11:36: I think, you know, the answer.
11:38: So let's go back to first Corinthians 14.
11:40: Now, that was my I wanted to use that text to sort of drive us home.
11:43: What we're doing.
11:44: We are who we are.
11:45: We're the pillar and support of the truth.
11:48: We we stand and lift it up and hold it high.
11:51: And we do so orderly, not chaotically.
11:56: And remember, Paul's been dealing with the wrong way to assemble again.
11:59: I said all the way back to chapter 11.
12:01: In chapter 11, he says, when you come together, it's not for the good, but it's for the bad.
12:06: Which means that there was actually a way that they were assembling in Corinth that it would have been better if they just not met at all.
12:14: So when you come together, it's not for the better, it's for the worse, be better if you didn't even come, be better if you didn't say that's the way you're going to do it.
12:21: If that's the way you're going to have your worship, your assembly, it'd be better if you didn't do it.
12:27: Wrong hearts, wrong attitudes, wrong motivations, all those things was wrong.
12:32: Paul's been addressing that for chapters.
12:33: And I've been addressing that for over the last several months.
12:39: The Corinthian community had divulged into a assembly of chaos.
12:48: And Paul's saying that's not right.
12:49: There's a right way to behave and there's a wrong way to behave.
12:52: We ought to know the way to behave.
12:55: You say, Pastor, you're harping on the word behave.
12:59: Well, maybe write that down because that may be the focus of today.
13:03: How do we behave while we're here? That's the focus.
13:08: Because the church ought to behave with order, not chaos.
13:11: And over the next three weeks, which is amazing because it just so happens I'm going to do three weeks and then on Easter Sunday, I'm going to be 1 Corinthians 15.
13:19: It's going to land right there.
13:21: Praise God.
13:24: I'm glad God worked it out that way where I could do that.
13:27: But for the next three weeks, I'm going to be here.
13:29: 1 Corinthians 14, 26 to 40.
13:32: We're going to look at the fact that there should be order and not chaos in worship.
13:36: That's today.
13:37: Next week, we're going to look and say there's to be order and not chaos when it regards gender, because he talks about that in 1 Corinthians 14.
13:44: And then the third thing is there should be order, not chaos regarding authority, because he talks about that in the last part.
13:49: You want to read ahead, you'll see.
13:51: He talks about worship.
13:53: He talks about the distinction of men and women.
13:55: He talks about the distinction of authority in the church.
13:57: That's the three things we're going to look at the next three weeks, because that is what the text has brought us to.
14:03: So today we're going to look at worship, and I have five observations about orderly worship that I want us to see verses 26 to 33.
14:11: Five observations about orderly worship.
14:13: I'm going to put them up on the screen for you.
14:15: Number one is the assumption of worship.
14:17: Look at verse 26.
14:19: The assumption of worship.
14:21: When you come together.
14:25: By the way, he begins with the phrase, what then, brothers, which basically is saying based on everything I said from verses 1 to 25, what's the conclusion? The conclusion is this.
14:34: When you come together.
14:37: Just stop right there.
14:41: When he says, when you come together, that is the assumption that you will come together.
14:47: Usually my first point is my longest, this is probably going to be my shortest.
14:50: Because I just wanted to point out the fact that when he says when, he does not say if.
14:56: He doesn't say if you come together, come together like this.
14:59: He says when you come together, you come together like this.
15:02: I think about that for like fasting.
15:04: Should we fast? Well, Jesus said when you fast, do it this way.
15:09: He didn't say if you fast.
15:11: He says when you fast.
15:15: And here he says when you assemble, when you come together.
15:19: It's not an option.
15:21: And I don't mean to belabor this point, but I think it needs to be made.
15:26: Almost the entire New Testament is written about what happens in the church.
15:29: And those who say the church is unnecessary or doesn't matter are simply abandoning the Scriptures.
15:34: I hate it when I hear some knucklehead say, well, I don't think the Bible says we have to be a part of the church.
15:40: I say, I don't think you can read the Bible and not think it explains it.
15:43: It expects you to be a part of the church.
15:47: If you need chapter and verse, I mean, we can go to Hebrews 10, we can go to 1 Corinthians, the whole book.
15:53: I mean, there's an assumption.
15:55: It's written to the church of Rome, the church of Corinth, the church of Ephesus, the church of Colossae, the church of Philippi, the church of Galatia.
16:01: I go on and on and on.
16:02: The seven churches in Revelation.
16:06: There's only a couple books that are written to individuals.
16:09: And Paul appeals to the fact that they're a part of the church as to why he's writing to them.
16:15: The idea that the church is a non-issue in the Bible is ridiculous.
16:25: If somebody ever tells you, I don't think you need to be a part of a church to be a Christian, ask them simply this, upon what scriptural basis do you make that claim? I don't have to prove you have to be a part of the church.
16:36: You have to prove you're not supposed to be.
16:39: Because the overwhelming evidence is on the other side.
16:42: Upon what scriptural basis do you find for not being a part of the local assembly? Now, regarding our order, I would say this, because that's the subject for today, order and worship.
16:54: Regarding order, we actually have to gather before we can have order.
16:59: So this is an assumption.
17:03: That's why I call it the assumption in worship, is that we're actually going to come together and assemble.
17:08: Number two, as I said, that would be a short point.
17:10: Number two, the preparation for participation in worship.
17:16: The preparation for participation in worship.
17:22: Look with me again at verse 26.
17:23: What then, brothers, when you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.
17:29: Stop right there.
17:30: This list is unique in Scripture.
17:33: This is the only place that I could find that these elements are all listed together this way.
17:44: And I think the reason why is because this is what was active in the Corinthian assembly.
17:49: And so Paul is addressing them with what they do.
17:51: But I don't think it's an exhaustive list.
17:53: That's my point.
17:54: I don't think these are the only things that can happen in worship.
17:56: I think these were the things that were happening in the Corinthian assembly.
17:59: So he's putting them down.
18:01: But I don't think that we can say this is all that's supposed to happen in worship, is these five things.
18:05: I think that would be wrong to say.
18:07: But very quickly, though, let's look at them, just see what they are.
18:09: The first one, in the ESV, it says a hymn.
18:12: That's actually, it's an okay translation.
18:15: I don't really care for that as a translation because the Greek word is psalm.
18:19: The King James Bible says psalm.
18:20: It's the psalmon, it's the Greek.
18:22: And so it's really saying someone comes with a psalm.
18:25: It could be that this is referencing music and likely is.
18:30: It can also mean that someone has brought a prayer because psalms are not only singing, psalms are praying.
18:35: In fact, if you think about what singing is, it really is a form of prayer.
18:39: And singing and praying are very similar in how they function.
18:42: So to say that it's a song or a prayer, either one could be the case.
18:47: But the point is someone has brought one in to share or brought one in to lead.
18:51: And so someone's come prepared for that.
18:55: The second thing is a lesson.
18:58: Didacane is the word here.
19:00: It means a doctrine or a lesson or a teaching.
19:03: Somebody is gifted to teach and they brought a teaching into the church.
19:09: It might be how you describe the Sunday school teacher.
19:13: It might be how you describe even what the pastor does in preaching.
19:17: The third thing is a revelation, apocalupsin.
19:21: Apocalupsin, you know where that word comes from, apocalypse, or where we get the word apocalypse.
19:25: That word means to uncover, reveal, disclose a revelation from God.
19:29: This is what the prophets were doing in that time.
19:32: The prophets were the ones who were giving the apocalupsin.
19:36: They were giving the revelation from God.
19:38: Remember at this point in the history of the church, there is no New Testament.
19:42: There is the Old Testament.
19:44: This is very early in the church history.
19:47: Paul is writing a portion of the New Testament.
19:49: It's what we're reading.
19:50: And so he's saying that some of you have the gift of prophecy and are able to speak truth that's revealed from God.
19:57: And so this is a gift that's happening in the church there.
20:00: And then of course tongues here is the ability to speak in a language that the person does not know.
20:05: The interpretation is to be able to interpret a language that one has not studied.
20:09: We've talked about that over the last several months, kind of given an overview.
20:12: I don't want to have to go back through it.
20:14: But as I said, this is just a list of things that are happening.
20:17: And I want you to understand, everything in this list is good and profitable.
20:21: Everything in this list is good and profitable.
20:24: The issue is not that they were being done.
20:26: The issue was that they were being done out of order.
20:29: That's right.
20:31: Paul's not saying you shouldn't bring a lesson.
20:32: You shouldn't bring a hymn.
20:33: You shouldn't bring a revelation.
20:35: What he's saying is when you do these things, there is an order to be done.
20:39: John MacArthur says this.
20:41: He said, it's likely a cacophony of noise was what you heard when you went into the Corinthian assembly.
20:48: Because you had people who were singing over one another.
20:50: You had people who were revelating over one another.
20:52: You had people who were tongue speaking over one another.
20:55: It was a madhouse.
20:56: And no wonder why the apostles said, if this is what's happening, the unbelievers are going to come in and think you're crazy.
21:03: Because there's no order.
21:11: So in relation to this, I want to make this as an application of that.
21:16: When we come to worship, we ought to come prepared for worship.
21:23: Prepared for what we're going to do.
21:27: We come to contribute the way God has gifted us to contribute.
21:31: And we make preparations for that.
21:35: And by preparation, I don't mean you just laid out your church clothes.
21:40: Do you think about the fact that you're coming today to worship the living God? Do you think about that before you leave the house? Do you think about that before you go to bed on Saturday night? Or do you just get here when you get here and invest as little interest as you can while you're here and leave as fast as you can once it's over? I heard a quote recently, it was a good quote from a friend of mine who's a pastor up in Ferndina.
22:13: He said, preparation for the Lord's Day begins on Saturday.
22:19: I would go in one better.
22:20: I'd say preparation for the Lord's Day begins the Lord's Day before you start getting ready.
22:24: All week, looking forward to this time of assembly.
22:28: It's the most important part of our week.
22:30: From a spiritual perspective, it's the part that we look forward to.
22:34: So I ask you, SGFC, do you come prepared for worship? Or is this just a haphazard thing that just happens to happen at a certain time in your life? I love it when I get emails from people that say, Pastor, I can't come.
22:56: You say, well, that's a dumb thing to be happy about.
22:59: No, what I mean by that is those are people who were preparing to come and something happened, and they wanted me to know I'm not going to be there, and I was going to be there, and my heart was set to be there, but I've had a death, or work has been a necessity that's called me away.
23:15: Something, Pastor, thank you, and I love you, but I can't be there.
23:19: That's good to know because they were preparing to be here.
23:22: They didn't wake up Sunday morning, wipe the crust out of their eyes and say, I think I'll go to church today.
23:29: They prepared for participation, and they knew they were going to participate.
23:33: And only some emergency is what drove them away.
23:40: Do we prepare for worship? Because for all the negative that can be said about the Corinthian church, they came ready.
23:49: They came prepared for participation.
23:55: Number three, the motivation in worship, the motivation in worship.
24:02: We're still in verse 26, by the way.
24:03: All these points I'm sort of drawing out of verse 26 because he says, when you come together, that's the assumption.
24:08: Each one has this and that.
24:09: That's the preparation.
24:11: And then he says, let all things be done for building up.
24:17: The motivation for using our gifts within the assembly is to build up others.
24:24: To build up the church.
24:26: The word here, oikodomain.
24:30: Oikodomain in the Greek literally is a word for construction.
24:34: It means to build a house.
24:37: Oikos is the word for house.
24:39: And to oikodomain is to build up the house or also could mean to build the family.
24:46: Paul is concerned that the Corinthians are not concerned with each other.
24:49: Hear that again.
24:50: Paul is concerned that the Corinthians are not concerned with each other.
24:57: They want to put themselves first.
25:01: They excel in pride.
25:03: They lack in love.
25:05: I mean, just read 1 Corinthians.
25:06: You know that's what it's about.
25:07: They excel in pride.
25:09: I am of Paul.
25:10: I am of Paulus.
25:11: I am of Peter.
25:11: I'm going to eat what I want.
25:12: I'm going to do what I want.
25:13: I'm going to act how I want.
25:14: It doesn't matter who's around.
25:15: I'm going to be what I'm going to be and I'm going to be how I'm going to be because it's all about me.
25:22: They excelled in that.
25:28: It would be logical to assume that each one brought their gifts for the wrong reason.
25:31: They may have brought the songs to perform.
25:33: They may have brought their lessons to be admired.
25:34: They may have brought the revelations and tongues to be exalted.
25:43: But Paul says we should come together to build the house.
25:50: So that's a good question for us, right? That's the question of that section.
25:54: Are we being used of God to build up his body or are we here to exalt ourselves, receive recognition and advance our own agenda? Is what we're doing here about the building up of the body? That has to be the motivation.
26:18: Now I want to clarify something because as you're creating an outline, sometimes the outline can be misunderstood.
26:25: I said it's the motivation in worship.
26:27: I didn't say it's the motivation for worship.
26:29: The motivation for worship is love of God.
26:31: Just to be clear, I was creating an outline and I thought about it.
26:35: I said I don't want you to think that anything would trump our motivation for coming and loving God.
26:41: But when we're in worship, the assembly, we're supposed to be building each other up and that should be a motivation that goes alongside that.
26:49: We come to glorify God and to build up the body.
26:53: I just want to clarify, just in case somebody comes to me later and says, wait a minute, Pastor, you don't have to say it.
26:58: I know.
27:01: But it was just to clarify that.
27:05: Number four is probably going to be our longest point.
27:07: Hopefully not, but it won't be too long.
27:09: But this is the one that is going to involve the most amount of text because the first three points came from verse 26.
27:16: This is going to take verses 27 to 32.
27:22: Paul says, If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at the most three, and each in turn let someone interpret.
27:28: But if there is no one to interpret, let each keep silent in the church and speak to himself and to God.
27:33: Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.
27:36: And if a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent.
27:40: For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and be encouraged.
27:45: And the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.
27:48: This is the heart of this particular portion of the text.
27:52: Because while building up is our motivation, being organized is our priority.
28:02: Because if there is disorder in worship, it stops being worship.
28:11: I want that to sink in.
28:16: I've told this story before, but if you've never heard all my stories at least once, then you just haven't been here long enough.
28:22: So it's okay.
28:24: But I remember years ago, I was talking to a person from a Pentecostal church.
28:31: And I was talking about the disorder that was often accompanying worship.
28:37: And it was very disorderly.
28:39: It was people running to and fro, falling down, barking, things like that.
28:43: I mean, it was really just very disorderly.
28:46: Laughing maniacally.
28:49: And I asked, I said, what do you do with the text that says all things are to be done decently in order? And that's verse 40.
28:58: And this person said to me, well, that's the way we keep order.
29:03: My response was simple, then words don't matter.
29:08: If you can call chaos order, you can call love hate, you can call light dark, you can call anything you want.
29:13: Because if that's what you're doing, you're just going to play fast and loose with the meaning of words.
29:18: It doesn't mean anything.
29:20: Order is not chaos.
29:23: And chaos is not order.
29:24: You're not keeping order in the midst of chaos.
29:27: You're not walking into the middle of the tornado and putting together a car from all the pieces that are flying around.
29:35: That's not happening.
29:36: You may think that's what you're doing, but you're really just getting whacked in the face with the fender of a 57 Chevy.
29:43: Because that's what's happening.
29:44: You're getting hit in the face with a fender of a car.
29:46: You ain't putting it together.
29:47: I know that's a weird analogy.
29:50: I only use that analogy because I think about the same thing when it comes to evolution.
29:53: Here's a right turn.
29:54: People talk about evolution all the time.
29:55: I say the idea that the world could evolve out of chaos is the idea that a tornado can hit a junkyard and produce a 57 Chevy.
30:04: It's ridiculous.
30:05: And that's the same thing in this, right? Order out of chaos is ridiculous.
30:09: If you're saying that's order, it's not order.
30:13: So sorry to take you on a weird right turn there and whack myself, but you understand now hopefully what I'm trying to say.
30:21: When we read verses 27 to 32, we notice three things.
30:26: All things are to be done in turn.
30:28: That's verses 27, 30, and 31.
30:30: All things are to be done with understanding.
30:32: That's verse 28.
30:33: And all things are to be evaluated for accuracy.
30:39: That's verses 29, 32.
30:40: I'll say it again because I kind of went fast.
30:42: They're to be done in turn.
30:44: They're to be done with understanding.
30:47: They're to be done with an evaluation for their accuracy.
30:52: In short, they're to be done in order.
30:56: And a quick aside.
30:57: This passage by itself disqualifies much of the charismatic movement as being absolutely illegitimate.
31:05: I'm not saying they're not believers, but I'm saying their worship is illegitimate.
31:10: You say, well that's offensive.
31:11: Well let me ask you this.
31:12: Paul limits speaking in tongues to two or three at the most.
31:17: If I go into a church where everybody is speaking in tongues, is that a movement of God? Or is that selfish ambition and pride on display? The answer is obvious.
31:25: Paul limits what's being done to be interpreted.
31:28: And if it's not interpreted, you're to keep silent.
31:30: Which means this, by the way.
31:32: It means the gift that God gives you is under your control.
31:38: It's not just blah, blah, blah.
31:39: I can't control it, Pastor.
31:41: Yes, you can.
31:42: The phrase, the spirit of prophets are subject to prophets.
31:45: That doesn't mean that one prophet ministers another.
31:48: What that subject literally means is his spirit is under his control.
31:52: He doesn't just go out and blah, blah, blah.
31:55: It's not as if he falls into a trance.
31:59: See, this is the problem as we bring pagan thinking into Christian living.
32:03: Because the pagans have trances.
32:06: The pagans have automatic writing.
32:08: Paul didn't sit down with a pen in his hand and start going...
32:11: And they put a piece of paper in front of him.
32:13: And then we ended up with Romans.
32:15: By the way, if you're listening to the recording, you have no idea what I'm doing.
32:22: They call that automatic writing.
32:25: People go into trances and just start.
32:26: And they put a piece of paper in front of them and they end up with something.
32:29: Usually it's a bunch of gibberish nonsense.
32:31: That's not how the Bible was written.
32:33: We can prove that.
32:34: We believe in verbal plenary inspiration.
32:38: Which means God inspired the words and inspired all the words.
32:43: It's verbal plenary interpretation.
32:46: He inspired the words, he inspired all the words.
32:47: But he did not do so at the expense of the style and the understanding of the author.
32:54: Paul writes with writing and he uses grammar that John doesn't use.
33:00: And the writer of Hebrews writes at a level that the other writers do not do.
33:05: And so we know that God uses the means of men to accomplish the writing of Scripture.
33:11: And yet he still superintends that.
33:14: That's what we call inspiration.
33:16: The same thing happens in worship.
33:19: God gives a gift, but it's not a spontaneous, uncontrollable belch.
33:30: So Paul limits them.
33:31: Two or three at the most are to speak in tongues.
33:33: If there's no interpreter, shut up! Because you can shut up.
33:41: Because you're not out of control.
33:43: If you're out of control, you're not under the power of the Spirit.
33:48: Paul limits the prophets to being examined.
33:53: Why? Because of what I said a few weeks ago.
33:55: Because if they were wrong, they're false prophets.
33:59: And I hate this.
34:00: People today say, you shouldn't examine what the man of God says.
34:02: Touch not God's anointed.
34:04: Boy, if there's a passage of Scripture that's been ripped out of its context, stomped on, spit on and put back.
34:10: It's touch not God's anointed.
34:12: Benny Hinn ain't God's anointed.
34:15: He's a false prophet.
34:17: I say it with no fear at all.
34:21: And we can make a list.
34:23: And those who use that dangerous, misunderstood passage to mean we can't question anything that's said.
34:32: You can question anything I say from the pulpit.
34:33: And if it's not from the Word of God, you call me to repentance.
34:37: If what I'm saying disagrees with the Word of God, I am wrong.
34:41: And I am subject to being corrected.
34:44: That's what the elders do.
34:47: I've stood right there and said I made a mistake.
34:51: Forgive me.
34:59: A man of God cannot be an unteachable man.
35:04: Cannot but subject himself to correction.
35:13: Paul sets a limit in worship.
35:16: And some people immediately respond, and boy have I heard this.
35:20: Pastor, you can't limit the Spirit.
35:23: That's a false statement because that's what Paul is exactly doing.
35:27: He's limiting the way we express ourselves in worship.
35:32: He's binding the natural human tendency to overindulgence.
35:38: Because that's the natural human desire.
35:41: Is to take what good God gives you and overindulge to the point of the ridiculous.
35:53: And Paul's point, I really think in verses 27 to 32, is the Spirit is not out there inspiring unbridled spontaneity.
36:02: Some people argue, well I can't worship correctly unless I have a spontaneous act.
36:09: Because if you tell me I can't be spontaneous in worship, you're quenching the Spirit.
36:13: Well, they demand the freedom to express themselves in any way they desire in worship, so long as they can say it's of the Spirit.
36:19: But this is the exact opposite of what Paul is saying here.
36:22: He is saying that worship, and hear this again, worship is not a uncoordinated collection of elements.
36:31: Worship is not a collection of uncoordinated elements.
36:36: It's not just a haphazard smattering of all kinds of different things.
36:46: And let me say this.
36:49: I'm not advocating dead formalism.
36:52: Just in case you leave today, I may tend towards high church, which I know is to the chagrin of some.
37:00: I do tend towards, maybe a little bit more towards organs and robes than some of you.
37:07: But I don't appeal for my preference.
37:12: I know that's not who we are.
37:14: Why would I demand my preference? It's not my place to do that.
37:19: And I lead you to God's worship, not mine.
37:22: If you worship the way I want you to worship, then we're not worried about Him, aren't we? Because oftentimes those things do lead to a dead formalism.
37:31: Paul is not advocating for dead formalism, but he's also warning against the dangers of charismatic chaos.
37:38: See, that's the two extremes.
37:40: You have a dead formalism, and you have charismatic chaos.
37:44: And we operate in the Spirit, but that does not mean that we operate out of control.
37:48: The idea that the Spirit inspires chaos in worship is one of the worst misunderstandings people have about His nature.
37:55: The Holy Spirit of God is God, and He's not the author of chaos.
38:02: Therefore, we get to verse 33 in our fifth point.
38:06: Last point, verse 33, the manifestation in worship.
38:11: And I would say the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in worship.
38:13: What do we see when the Holy Spirit is active in worship? Right here, verse 33, the first half of it says, God is not a God of confusion, but a God of peace.
38:29: That phrase is so powerful.
38:32: Because in worship, God is not manifesting Himself in chaos.
38:37: He's manifesting Himself in order.
38:41: I tell you, I say this in some churches.
38:42: I get run out of town.
38:43: I get hit with a shoe on the way out.
38:47: But I just want to, just for a second, mention what these two words mean.
38:50: Because it's interesting to me that I don't normally compare confusion and peace.
38:57: I normally compare confusion and order, right? But the author here, Paul, he's using two words, important words that mean something.
39:10: And words mean something.
39:11: So we should understand what these words mean.
39:12: The word confusion here means instability or a state of disorder or tumult.
39:19: Confusion.
39:20: It's not just confusion in the mind.
39:23: It's confusion in the actions.
39:25: It's confused behavior.
39:26: It's haphazard.
39:28: It's smattering.
39:29: It's all of those things.
39:30: It's not orderly.
39:32: And therefore, he says, God doesn't author that.
39:35: But He does author peace.
39:37: And what's peace? Peace is tranquility.
39:40: It's exemption from havoc.
39:42: And in this sense, peace is Paul's antonym for confusion.
39:45: Because confusion in worship is tumultuous, disorderly, unstable, and irreverent.
39:50: And peace in worship is tranquil, harmonious, secure, and reverent.
39:56: That's the difference.
40:02: Peace in this passage carries the idea of wholeness.
40:09: Confusion and chaos is broken and scattered.
40:13: Peace is whole and complete and unified.
40:17: And this is how the Spirit of God manifests Himself to His people.
40:20: They will be gathered together in worship.
40:23: And their worship will be orderly.
40:25: Their gifts will be expressed with self-control.
40:28: And the entire church will be edified as a result.
40:33: Corporate worship is not a haphazard smattering of uncoordinated elements.
40:38: Corporate worship is the organized, strategic, and systematized gathering of God's people.
40:44: And if anybody argues and says, well, if you do that, you're limiting the Spirit.
40:48: And you're limiting freedom.
40:49: I respond with this, and I quote myself.
40:52: Because I want to say it this way.
40:56: The Spirit you suggest is authoring your unlimited freedom as the very same One who inspired this text, which goes out of its way to place a limit on your freedom.
41:04: You're saying the Spirit wants to give you unlimited freedom.
41:07: I'm telling you this text absolutely limits your freedom in worship.
41:10: Because it ain't about you.
41:14: That's the point.
41:15: So if you come in here and say, the Spirit of God has given me complete freedom.
41:18: I'm going to say, not in the Word of God that He wrote.
41:25: He says, do it His way and not your way.
41:31: Worship is not about the freedom to do what you want.
41:33: It's about the responsibility to do what God wants.
41:36: How hard is that to understand? That it's not about what we want.
41:40: It's about what God wants.
41:42: And if we're not doing what God wants, if we're focused on what we want, then we're not focused on Him.
41:48: What we do in corporate worship is so important.
42:03: But it must be about Him.
42:08: We have entire passages devoted to corporate worship like this one.
42:14: And as Paul said to Timothy, we ought to know how to behave in the household of God.
42:22: God has not called us to chaos in any shape or form in worship.
42:27: We're not called to laugh maniacally.
42:31: We're not called to bark uncontrollably.
42:34: We're not called to run around the sanctuary dizzily.
42:39: And yet, we see all those things in modern worship services.
42:50: Such chaos is naturally bound in the heart of men, but it does not proceed from the heart of God.
43:02: I want to finish with this thought.
43:06: I draw to a close.
43:09: And by the way, when a pastor says that, don't get too excited.
43:11: It's never the end.
43:14: But I am drawing to a close.
43:20: We worship in an orderly way because we worship an orderly God.
43:29: We see order in the way God creates.
43:36: There was an order of creation.
43:38: You go back to Genesis chapter 1.
43:40: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
43:42: The earth was formless and void.
43:44: Darkness was over the face of the deep.
43:46: And the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.
43:48: And God said, let there be light.
43:52: And He started the process that took Him seven days before He would rest.
43:58: And He went through the process of an orderly creation.
44:02: Where He established the world on its foundations.
44:05: And He built the world and the universe out of nothing but the word of His mouth.
44:10: And He created everything in its place and in its order.
44:13: And He went down the line.
44:15: And you can follow the orderly arrangement of that worship.
44:18: And now when we see the world, we see the Bible tell us, The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament above His handiwork.
44:26: The handiwork there.
44:27: The word handiwork means His orderly arrangement.
44:30: That which He set in order.
44:32: It's why science works.
44:36: The reason why we can do science is because God created the world that obeys natural laws.
44:43: Water is always going to boil at 212 degrees.
44:47: It's always going to freeze at 32 degrees.
44:49: Unless you're in Europe.
44:51: And then it'll be Celsius.
44:58: It's always going to behave this way.
45:02: Because God designed it to do that.
45:05: God is the orderer of creation.
45:09: And in creation we see the handiwork of His order.
45:12: The fingerprint of His order.
45:16: If the world was chaos.
45:20: And there is chaos in the world because of sin.
45:22: Let me clear that up.
45:23: But if the world itself was full of chaos, we'd have a reason to question the orderliness of God.
45:27: But when we look at the baby as He's born.
45:30: And that beautiful new baby.
45:31: And we see His heart pumping.
45:33: We see His skin is nice and red from the blood moving through His body.
45:38: And all that blood is taking that oxygen throughout His body that He needs in His first breath.
45:43: As He comes out of the womb.
45:44: And He breathes in.
45:46: And He begins His new life outside of the womb.
45:49: And now we look at Him.
45:50: And I tell you if you can look at the face of a baby and not believe that God is a God of order.
45:58: I don't understand why we would ever question that.
46:02: But God does not only show His order in creation.
46:06: He shows His order in salvation.
46:09: Did you know salvation has an orderly arrangement? If you go over to...
46:16: You don't have to go there, but it's in your mind.
46:18: In Romans chapter 8.
46:20: For whom He foreknew, He did also predestine to be conformed to the image of His Son.
46:25: For whom He predestined, He called.
46:28: And whom He called, He justified.
46:30: And whom He justified, He glorified.
46:33: We call that the golden chain of redemption.
46:36: Because that's the order that God saves us in.
46:41: And it's orderly.
46:42: It's not haphazardly.
46:44: Now you may have been saved in a chaotic situation.
46:47: But God from eternity past knew how and when He was going to bring that about.
46:51: And He did it in order.
46:52: Because God is a God of order.
46:55: God saves us in an orderly way.
46:57: Our sins are as scarlet.
46:59: He takes our sins.
47:00: He places them on His Son.
47:01: Who hung on a tree and died.
47:03: And our sins held in there as if they were in the shape of the nails themselves.
47:06: And our sin held the Savior to the tree.
47:09: And He died on that tree for our sins.
47:14: And in the greatest orderly arrangement of all, God took from our ledger book all of our sins.
47:19: And He lifted all of our sins out of our ledger book.
47:21: And He applied them to the ledger book of Christ.
47:24: He took all of Christ's righteous goodness out of His ledger book.
47:28: And He applied it to our ledger book.
47:29: And like a person who does finances, He's able to take from one account and move to another account.
47:36: And take from this account and move to this account.
47:38: In that great transactional order, God brought about our redemption.
47:46: And if you're here today and you don't know Christ, you still have a ledger book filled with sin.
47:51: And I tell you, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved.
47:55: If you take up your cross and follow Him, you will never be disappointed.
47:58: And all of the sins in your ledger book will be transferred to His.
48:01: All of His righteousness transferred to yours.
48:03: And you will stand before God, having been forgiven of sin and righteous in Him.
48:10: There's order in that.
48:12: There's order in creation.
48:15: There's order in salvation.
48:17: How dare we ever think there should not be order in worship? For our God is a God of order.
48:28: And if our worship be not orderly, it be not of God.
48:34: Let us pray.
48:38: Father, I thank You for Your Word.
48:40: I thank You for this opportunity to worship You in spirit and in truth and in a way that is orderly.
48:46: And I thank You for the opportunity, Lord, to preach Your Word.
48:48: I pray now that the Word of God that we mix with faith, that the gospel that's been presented will be reached in the hearts of those who are here who may not be believers, Lord.
48:58: That it would reach down into their hearts.
49:00: That it would convict and convert and draw them to You.
49:03: God, use this time to encourage and uplift and up-build the believer.
49:10: To convict and convert and confront the unbeliever.
49:16: All to Your glory.
49:18: All for Your Son.
49:20: All by Your Spirit.
49:22: Amen.