Local Church: Reception to the Fellowship; Priesthood of Believers — Bruce Rodgers

Our Father, we do thank Thee for the Lord Jesus. We thank Thee for the wonder that we are brought into such close relationship with Himself. And by Thy gracious Spirit, we have the privilege of dwelling with Christ and Christ dwelling in us.

We marvel that even while we are still imperfect, while sin still resides within us and so often deceives us and leads us astray, yet Thou art with us and always faithful to us. And so we pray that we may learn more of what this hymn speaks about and to be true vessels and instruments of the grace of our Lord Jesus.

We look to Thee to bless our coming together. We pray for each one that is here this evening that Thou might, as Thou dost know our hearts, our needs, our circumstances, that we might enjoy Thy presence and be able to receive something from Thee through Thy Word tonight.

We ask Thee for this and seek Thy blessing in our Savior's worthy name. Amen. Let's turn together, first of all, to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. 1 Corinthians chapter 14. Now last night at the latter part of the meeting, I started speaking a little bit about the subject of fellowship, what fellowship is, who our fellowship is with, and some of the principles of fellowship and so on that flow from that, and of receiving people into an existing assembly and the terms of receiving and so on.

Now it's always a little bit awkward finishing up something at the beginning of the next meeting. So there's just a couple of aspects of it that I wanted to touch on before I get into the main part of the meeting tonight.

The Unlearned Person in the Assembly

And what I'm going to look at first is something that's referred to in this chapter. It would seem almost incidentally, but it's called the room of the unlearned. And then there's the reference to the unlearned twice again in the chapter.

Now this is something that if you are not in fellowship here and you happen to come in just to see what the assembly is all about, and if you happen to come in on a Sunday morning when the breaking of bread is taking place, you would be, you know, shown to a seat that would be called what we would call maybe the seat of the observer.

When I was growing up, we used an expression called the back seat, because it was usually at the back of the hall. And that doesn't tell you very much of any spiritual significance, the back seat. So perhaps to call it the seat of the observer, someone who is watching, observing, to get an idea of what is going on and what these people believe would be a more appropriate sense.

But here in this chapter, and I'll just have to give you the overall context of the chapter, because a lot of it won't make sense to you unless you know what it's talking about. The Apostle Paul is actually correcting a number of errors in the assembly in Corinth.

And one of those errors had to do with their fascination with some of the supernatural spiritual gifts that were given at the beginning of the church age. You see, when the gospel was started, and of course, even when the Lord Jesus was here teaching, there were miracles, mighty miracles, healing the sick, raising the dead.

Those are pretty amazing. And I would love if that were true today. It would seem like it would be a tremendous advantage for the Christian faith, for Christians to have this gift of being able to walk into hospitals and empty the hospital.

What a powerful evidence of supernatural power with us. God established a witness through these sign gifts. They're called sign gifts. They give an evidence, and it was to confirm that this is from God.

And the sign gifts were especially connected to the nation of Israel. And that is mentioned as well in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And so, one of those sign gifts related to speaking, the gift of speaking in tongues.

Now, what does tongues mean? Well, it's really talking about languages. The ability to speak in a language you have never learned, miraculously. An amazing miracle again. And it might logically seem like this would be a gift for evangelism, to spread the gospel throughout the world and to be able to head out from Canada or the US and go anywhere in the world, and you could speak in their language.

That'd be pretty amazing. Unfortunately, today missionaries have to spend a lot of time learning the language. And incidentally, even those churches which are known as being charismatic churches who believe that these gifts are still with us and should be revived and exercised, they have to learn languages too when they go to other lands.

And so, what is today being paraded as a gift of tongues is not really the biblical gift at all. It's an unfortunate imitation, if I might call it that, to be kind. It is not a supernatural gift. Whenever it is used in the New Testament, it always refers to a genuine language that is another language.

And so, really, as the apostle Paul is saying here, throughout this whole chapter, he's really saying this gift is not for the church. This gift is not for gatherings of the church, of the assembly. It's actually assigned to unbelievers.

He says, so if I come to you speaking in another language, what am I going to benefit you? Unless it gets interpreted. And so, he's speaking about either the uselessness or very limited usefulness of this gift being used in assembly gatherings.

Now, at that time, it was still a genuine gift. But from my understanding of church history and so on, it came to an end about the time when the Jewish temple was destroyed in AD 70, within that first generation.

And so, the emphasis that he's giving all through the chapter is that whatever you do in the assembly, in the public gatherings of the assembly, it must be beneficial. It must be useful for others who are there, even if it's praying.

You might say, well, I'm just praying to the Lord. Well, if you are speaking publicly, if you are speaking out loud, you're not only speaking to the Lord, you are representing the company in speaking to the Lord.

And so, all our participation should be helpful, beneficial, or the word that is used here is edifying. And so, then he just almost incidentally, he mentions this here in verse 15. He says, what is it then?

I will pray with the spirit, I will pray with the understanding also, I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also, else when thou shalt bless with the spirit. Now, he's speaking to someone who is a speaker of tongues.

How shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understands not what thou sayest? For thou verily give us thanks well, but the other is not edified. Now, again, he mentions in verse 21, he says, I want you to be understanding, to be wise.

He says, in the law, it is written with men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people, and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore, tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.

But prophesying serves not for them that believe not, but for them who believe. If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers, will they not say that you are mad?

But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced or convicted by all. He is judged by all, and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest. And so falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is in you of a truth.

So one of the things that does distinguish the way we practice assembly gatherings and so on from many churches is that we don't just automatically bring someone into the company, and they're automatically part of the company just by virtue of being there.

And it's anyone can visit an assembly, you're perfectly welcome to visit an assembly, but it doesn't mean you're automatically a member of the assembly just because you visit here. And so we make a distinction between those who are members of the assembly and the privileges and the responsibilities that members of the assembly share in comparison to someone who just comes and visits.

And this is one of these incidental references in the New Testament that touch on this distinction. Now, so what does this all mean? Well, I'm just going to explain one more detail about the speaking in tongues here from verse 21 down, just so that you have this clear in your mind.

When Paul says that tongues are for a sign in verse 22, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not, what does he mean by that? Well, again, if you just looked at that in isolation, you might get the idea that this would be a sign to convince an unbeliever that this is God speaking, a miraculous sign, and that they would say, well, I better listen.

These are people from God. He says it's actually the opposite. If somebody just wanders in and hears all these people and they're talking in different languages that nobody knows, he might listen for a half hour or, I don't know, depends how much endurance he has, he might listen for a whole hour and then walk out and say, these guys are crazy.

What are they doing? What benefit is it to have all these different languages being taught that nobody knows? But he says if somebody comes in and people are preaching the word of God, they will be convicted.

God will speak through his word and they will, as he says, they will fall down on their face and they will say, God is in you of a truth. Well, then what does he mean? Tongues are for a sign, not to those that believe, but those that believe not, and then he says prophesying is not for them that believe not, but for them that believe, and yet the example he gives seems it's an unbeliever who is convicted by the preaching in a true language.

I just want to point out when he says a sign for unbelievers, it's not positive. It's negative. It is actually a sign of coming judgment, and if you take, if you go back to the Old Testament where these verses are quoted from, you will understand it more clearly.

The context from which these verses are quoted from the Old Testament is this. God has been speaking to his people, Israel, through the prophets. They have refused to listen. They have gone into idolatry.

They are worshiping idols instead of God. They are committing wickedness and God has warned them and warned them and warned them generation after generation. Finally, he says, okay, I'll speak to you with men of other lips and other tongues, and in that context, it's the enemy armies of the nations that God uses to judge his people who are coming in with swords to kill them, to take them away captive.

That is the context from which this is drawn, and so even though at Pentecost, there was this wonderful display of supernatural power, and it was in one sense a positive sign of the coming of the Spirit and the gift of tongues being flowed out, but at the same time to the nation of Israel, it should have been a major warning sign.

They have just crucified the Son of God. Fifty days later, there's this sign from heaven of their languages being spoken in the middle of Jerusalem. God's judgment is going to fall, and as I said, it appears from the historical records, the little that we have of that time period, that this gift of tongues ceased shortly after Jerusalem was finally destroyed in AD 70, the temple destroyed and Jewish people somewhat dispersed.

In other words, it was a sign of judgment coming, but in keeping with the grace of God, it was a sign given graciously. Instead of the sword coming on them instantaneously, there are people who are pleading with them to repent, and so Paul is really saying that sign is not a sign of blessing.

It's a sign of God's judgment. When I come to you talking in a different language, I am not coming to bless you. I am coming in judgment, whereas prophesying as proclaiming the Word of God in an understandable language brings blessing to both unsaved and to saved.

So then when he says, to them that believe not, he's not talking about merely those who are just not yet believers, but those who will never become believers who reject the Word of God. So I hope I've taken too much time to explain this, but sometimes it's important to catch the right understanding in a passage, and in the middle of that, he has just mentioned this, he that occupies the room of the unlearned, and then he mentions the unlearned as well as the unbelievers.

It seems obvious from my reading of the passage that the church, the assembly, gathered together is distinct from both of these other two groups of unbelievers or those who are the unlearned. Now what does the word unlearned mean?

Well, it just means in natural use, it just means someone who's not educated, but this is not talking about your university degree or high school degree, this is talking about your knowledge of God. And it is saying that not everybody is automatically knowledgeable, they understand what the Word of God is teaching, the truth of God, and so on.

Historical Practice of the Observer’s Seat

And so I hate to take more time, but I remember back in 2003, I was, I'm not sure even what my subject was that night, but I was at an assembly not too far from where I live, and a man came in who was a Christian from Egypt, and he lived in southern Ontario, and he was involved in a mission going back to Egypt to try to evangelize.

And he happened to come into this little community of Arnstein, and he wasn't even sure if he was welcome to come to one of our meetings because he'd heard that we had a closed fellowship. And so I assured him that, no, anybody's welcome to come and listen to the ministry and so on.

But then he wanted to know, what is this about your closed fellowship and what does that mean? And so when I explained to him about it, he sort of took a bit of offense at it, and he says, well, I'm a Christian.

I should have the right, if I come to visit your church, I should have the right to break bread and to worship the Lord here. And so anyway, we had quite an interesting discussion. But at the end of it all, as we were talking about this idea of the seat of the observer and so on, he said, you know, actually, now that I think about it, on one of my trips back to Egypt, we did a tour of an ancient Christian church from about the third century.

And the guide who was showing us all the different, you know, things about the building and the kind of services that were done, he pointed out the seat of the unlearned. And so it was a physical location of those who were not part of the congregation of the assembly members, but they were there, and there was a special little section of the building that was for them.

Reception to the Fellowship of the Assembly

So I thought that's kind of nice to have a little bit of historical confirmation that the early believers did practice this thing, which we still do today. Now that really relates to another topic that is somewhat on the periphery of that, and that is that when we talk about the idea of receiving a reception, is reception to the breaking of bread, or is it to the fellowship of the assembly?

In other words, is the breaking of bread service, is it supposed to be open to the public so that anybody who would say they're a Christian can just simply come in and break bread with us? There are many churches who would practice this, and there are some assemblies that are very closely related to how we function, who practice what we call an open table.

And they would believe, and it's based upon their understanding, their appreciation of the fact that there is such a thing as the church, which is his body. And the church which is his body, as it's described in the New Testament, starting in Matthew chapter 16, and mentioned a few other places, refers to every Christian in the world.

All believers are part of the church which is the body of Christ, the body and bride of Christ. Now I'm grateful to know that there's a day coming when we will all be together in his presence, and there won't be any divisions.

There won't be any distinctions between this kind of a Christian and that kind of a Christian. We will all be perfectly united together. We will share together the wonder of our relationship with Christ, and we will genuinely be one in all, in every way.

I really look forward to that. It's a wonderful reality. Unfortunately, in our public testimony here in this world, we have become hopelessly divided. And there is every kind of Christian and every kind of Christian church and shade of belief existing.

So what are we supposed to do? That's really the question that hangs over us. What are we supposed to do to try to portray the true principles of the New Testament? There's basically two ways of doing it.

One is to just say, we are all Christians. We're all one in Christ. So therefore, let us gather together on the basis of that. And therefore, anyone who is a member of the body of Christ can automatically have the right to participate with us in the breaking of bread or in our church.

That's one way of trying to resolve this and get back to the original. The other way is to function, to look at the New Testament, and to seek to follow the teaching that is given to us in the New Testament, and to seek to cultivate that and develop that, to teach the believers that, and to function together according to what is called in Acts 2, the Apostle's Doctrine.

That's the choice that we make as believers who gather together in his name. And I'm happy to continue that way while recognizing that this has become a stumbling block or an offense to many Christians.

I have at times seen Christians come in to visit and they say, well, we'd like to break bread with you this morning. But they belong to some other church association, and they do not accept the same teachings that we accept.

And so what should we do? Well, the New Testament actually teaches that we receive to the fellowship of the assembly. We don't receive just to one particular function of the assembly. We receive to the fellowship of the assembly.

The breaking of bread, and I don't have time tonight to go into this. I may have an opportunity Friday night to develop it a little bit. But the breaking of bread, if you think about it, what are we actually doing?

There's a loaf that is opened up, it is passed around, and everyone takes a piece from the same loaf. That is expressing fellowship. We share the same loaf. And it is actually intended not just as an individual worship of the Lord that you could do by yourself Sunday morning if you couldn't make it to meeting.

Well, you could just, you know, get a piece of bread at home and a little glass of wine or grape juice or something, and you could just remember the Lord by yourself and it would mean exactly the same thing.

No, it wouldn't. It is intended to be a collective act. It is a collective act, although we participate individually as we share it together. And so it's not only, the symbolism is not only that the body of Christ on the cross was wounded and put to death for us, and by that we come into life.

But as 1 Corinthians 10 says, we being many are one bread, one loaf. And so it actually expresses a unity of life that we have become sharers of. And so it's a very precious expression of fellowship together.

And so that's, again, something that I'm just going to have to leave because I've already taken too much time to look at that. I want to think now in really in this fellowship that an assembly is supposed to express.

One of the ideas of fellowship is partnership. Another is participation. We are participating together in the activities and functions of the assembly. So what are some of these? Well, there is what is called priesthood, a New Testament concept that flows from the Old Testament, which is very strongly emphasized in the Old Testament.

The Priesthood of All Believers

Let's go to 1 Peter chapter 2, and we'll read about it. 1 Peter chapter 2, at the end of chapter 1, he talks about being born again. And then in chapter 2, verse 4, he is speaking about the Lord, and he says, to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed by men, but chosen of God and precious, ye also as lively or living stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Drop down to verse 9, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar or a special people, that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

The Old Testament, there was a clear distinction between the average Israelite and the priests. The priests were restricted to one family, and the genealogy, the descendants of that one family, the family of Aaron, the tribe of Levi from which Aaron belonged, they had the privilege of serving around the tabernacle and then around the temple.

So there was one tribe out of the nation of Israel that were given privileged access to the presence of God. Now that wasn't God's original plan. God's original plan was that there would be a firstborn son out of every family who would be a priest.

Every family was intended to have a connection to the worship of God, but because of their failure at Mount Sinai when they turned to worship of idols and the tribe of Levi stood for God, God took away that privilege from the firstborn of each family and gave it to a tribe instead.

But God's real purpose, his real will, was that the whole nation would be a nation of priests. What is priesthood? Priesthood is the highest privilege given to a creature to have immediate access into God's presence and to stand in an intercessory relationship to the rest of the world around.

In other words, you're like a go-between in a sense between God and the people. Israel failed miserably, but it's obvious when you come to the New Testament that God has not given up his desire to have a people of whom there's not just a select group who are a special class of priests, but that all believers are priests.

Isn't it unfortunate that even in Christian churches, those that are called Christian, there has arisen the same old system? A privileged class of priests who are between the people and God. That's not what God intended.

Everyone who is his, male or female, is a priest in the family of God and have that immediate access to God and the access to worship before him. Now in the New Testament, when it comes to the public gatherings, there are differences made between male and female.

And again, it's not very popular today, but it's the Word of God. And so there's a special reason for this distinction when it comes to the public gatherings of a church or assembly. The men have the responsibility of the public participation, the public leading in prayer, and the public teaching of the Word of God.

Holy and Royal Priesthood in Public Worship

But in this passage, there are two aspects of the priesthood that I just want to draw from. In verse five, it's called a holy priesthood. And then in verse nine, it's called a royal priesthood. Now that isn't two kinds of priests, some holy and some royal.

It is really just looking at it Godward and manward. Godward, we're called holy priests. And we're offering up spiritual sacrifices. Now what would those spiritual sacrifices be? I don't have time to go into all of it, but it is our worship of God, basically.

And as a royal priest, it is coming out from the presence of God and revealing his glory to people around us. And so I would include all the spiritual gifts that are given to us in the New Testament, whether it's teaching, exhorting, evangelizing, whether it's some of the other serving gifts.

These are all ways in which we reflect the character of God. We display his glory. Why is it called royal? Royal kind of links you with a king, doesn't it? Well, it's because the Lord is the king. And although this is not on display in the world today, there's a day coming when he's coming back to reign as king.

And when he comes, we're reigning with him. And this is taught in Revelation several times through the book of Revelation, kings and priests, kings and priests, kings and priests, access to God and ruling the world with God.

And so it's a very great privilege. Let's go back to the chapter that we were already in, 1 Corinthians chapter 14, and we will just pick up some details here that are really quite obvious. They're on the surface, but that indicate that the public ministry and activity in an assembly was never intended to be restricted just to one person.

Now, in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, and I think I already read in verse 15 and 16 and so on, where it talks about praying, singing, giving thanks, and then come over to verse 26. He says, how is it then brethren, when you come together, every one of you has a psalm, has a doctrine, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation, let all things be done unto edifying.

Now, I've already made comments that there are certain gifts that were given at the beginning of the church, which have passed away because their purpose has ended. But today in the public gatherings of an assembly, there are still going to be these activities going on.

There's going to be singing, there's going to be praying, giving of thanks. There is going to be someone getting up and maybe reading a psalm, or maybe singing it. A psalm here could be the songbook that they used.

And then he talks about teaching, doctrine. Other passages talk about exhorting, encouraging, and so on and so on. Now, is that what you are familiar with? Does that ring a bell in the way you function?

See, I have grown up used to this, and so it would be very strange for me to walk into a church and to find just one man at the front doing all the teaching, all the preaching, and basically controlling everything that goes on.

And often what is called a worship service in many churches is almost more of an entertainment session than actually spiritual worship. Very often when people come and they observe the breaking of bread, I have heard this over and over again of people who come.

They say it is so Christ-centered because as we remember him in his death, as we think about his sufferings, as we appreciate who he is, our hearts are drawn to present worship to him, both in song and in praise.

And it's implied here very obviously in 1 Corinthians 14 that a number of people could do this as the Spirit of God would lead them. And so again, if you're looking for the kind of church gathering that is according to what the Lord has desired, he doesn't want the worship of his people restricted and restrained, or the serving gifts, the teaching gifts, and so on to be just in one man or just two men or so on.

Women’s Silence, Headship, and the Order of Creation

It is intended to be spread among the people of God and that he says all of you could speak one by one and edify one another and so on. And so that's very obvious just right on the surface. Now at the end of the chapter it mentions, verse 34, let your women keep silence in the churches for it is not permitted to them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law.

If they will learn anything, it is let them ask their husbands at home for it is a church. What, came the word of God out from you or came it unto you only? If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.

But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, forbid not to speak with tongues, let all things be done decently and in order. Now the same teaching is basically given in first Timothy chapter two.

And so again today in the culture that we are in, this is looked at as being very demeaning, insulting to women and a denial of equality. And so it is difficult for many people, even Christians, to say well what should we do?

Or was this just a problem in Corinth because some of the women weren't keeping quiet, they were talking all the time and so Paul thought he needed to put some restriction on them. No, this is emphasized very clearly, not just in Corinth, also in first Timothy chapter two relating to another assembly, that this is a divine ordinance that is supposed to be part of our witness, part of our testimony.

Why? I'll be touching on this again Friday night under the topic of headship. God placed Adam as head over the creation. He placed him in that role before he created Eve. He created Eve to be his companion and to rule with him over everything else, but to be personally in subjection to him.

And then when sin came into the world, Satan used the one who was under authority to usurp that authority and to lead him into transgression. First Timothy chapter two touches on both of those things and we get the implication that as long as we are in this world, until the Lord comes back, there is going to be this witness to the creation of man to rule for God.

God has given to us as human beings the responsibility and the dignity of being his representatives in the visible realm. That's what it means to be made in the image and the likeness of God and God has not abandoned that.

And in the fact that God brought his son into the world and he became a man has restored man's headship. Christ is a man. He's not an elephant or a sheep or some other animal in the creation of God. He's a man.

It is a man who's going to rule the universe forever. A man who is God. And so our dignity, our headship has been recovered in Christ. At the same time, while we are still here in this world, a fallen world, we as Christians are to bear witness to the sad reality we have fallen.

We have rebelled and as a consequence there is a curse imposed upon the creation and we bear that witness in this way of a silent, of the women being silent as representing the fall for all of us, not just for women.

And so even though it may seem unfair and at times I genuinely feel sorry for sisters who have to listen to brethren stumble around and waste time teaching when they could do a better job. It takes a lot of grace I'm sure for some sisters.

I would believe that in the coming kingdom there are many sisters who will be above brethren in the kingdom of God. It's only today that there is this kind of distinction made. In the kingdom to come there will not be two kinds of roles in that same way.

Spiritual Preparation for Assembly Service

And so it's part of the present witness that a local assembly is intended to convey both of headship and of the failure of submission to Christ. Now I want to just suggest then that when we come to these, you know, the public gatherings of the assembly, how should we be thinking about it?

You know, I'm afraid that all of us and I mean I grew up in an assembly. As somebody, I remember somebody saying when they were telling their conversion they were born and raised in the gospel hall. Well I don't think they were literally born in the hall or that wasn't where they got their raising but you get the idea.

As long as I can remember I was brought to meetings. So I have I've been surrounded by this atmosphere of assembly, meetings, of people praying, of people singing, of people teaching the word of God. And it's very easy just to get on the I human level.

And you can begin to take it very casually. It can become commonplace. We can become that, you know, you think about anything and everything all the rest of the week and then you just kind of throw on your spiritual hat when you drop in through the door and now I'm a Christian in the assembly and I should get up and pray or I should give out a hymn.

If we are not spiritual through the week, we're not going to be spiritual here either. Although I would have to say there are times that I have come to a meeting cold in heart, just really not spiritually minded at all.

And the Lord has graciously warmed me up and brought me close to himself again just for being here. So if you don't feel like coming, don't stay home. That's when you need to come most of all. But how much better to be in fellowship with the Lord day by day, spend time in his presence, cultivate his closeness, and so that when you come you bring something of his presence with you.

And your coming together will be an enlivening, encouraging, building up influence. And so we really should come prepared to serve in his presence and this is really what we need to grasp. We are called to serve him.

And I remember as a young Christian, I used to get somewhat depressed at times. I would get moody and I would clam up. I would stay quiet for sometimes weeks at a time. And there's one older preacher who visited us fairly frequently.

And one time he had noticed that I hadn't been taking any part. I'd just been sitting there very quietly. And he finally kind of pulled me aside. And he didn't hassle me. He didn't, you know, what's going on with you, what's wrong and, you know, something wrong in your life or whatever.

He just said, he said, many years ago, I made a choice that I would serve the Lord despite my emotions. Some of us are controlled too much by our emotions, how I'm feeling. I'm tired. Well, if you're too tired, you probably won't make it to meeting or you won't do anything when you get here.