1 Corinthians 14:26-33a

February 17, 2019

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

Download the bulletin.

Download the Kid’s Korner.

The sermon starts at 17:25 in the audio file.

Or, Ways That Worship Gets Out of Order

My dad always said that his favorite verse in the Bible was 1 Corinthians 14:38. He only read the King James Version; the NASB wasn’t on our church’s radar and the ESV hadn’t been translated yet. The NIV existed, but only compromisers read it. Our church was KJV only, and the KJV was the only translation we read and memorized in my house growing up.

So my dad’s favorite Bible verse was 1 Corinthians 14:38 in the KJV which says, “If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.” I think this enabled my dad to avoid dealing with people he thought were ignorant (and there were a lot of them, “I can’t talk to that guy, he’s ignorant”), and it also enabled him to avoid dealing with people who thought he was ignorant (“Let me be, I’m just ignorant”). He envisioned a mutual society organized around the principle of leaving each other alone (and thinking that many of those others are ignorant).

It turns out that’s not what verse 38 means, and it’s not actually a good translation at all. It’s also a much more serious threat, and one that protects the order and edification of the church, not the isolation of any particular curmudgeonly member.

We’ve come to the last section about relationships in the body of Christ, the variety and the purpose of spiritual gifts, and the concern for corporate worship. Halfway through this section (14:26-40) Paul gives a theological reason for orderly worship, that God is not a God of confusion (verse 33), and at the very end he gives a final application, that all things should be done decently and in order (verse 40). The majority of chapter 14 has been about speaking gifts, specifically tongues and prophecy, and it’s interesting that here Paul says that the best way to build up the body may require you to hold your tongue.

Silence isn’t a spiritual gift, but it could benefit the body. Plato once compared controlling one’s tongue to controlling a spirited horse (Laws 701C). Plutarch referred to the “fence of teeth in front of the tongue” as a principle of proper speech (Moralia 15.89, see Thiselton). Solomon said “when words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent” (Proverbs 10:19). Even in church there is a time to speak, and a time to keep your mouth shut (a contextual application of Ecclesiastes 3:7).

The last part of chapter 14 has two parts, and each part includes two ways (for a total of four) that worship gets out of order. Worship can get out of order with things that belong in worship such as with tongues and with prophecy, and worship can get out of order with things that don’t belong in worship such as with women talking and with “super” spiritual people who won’t listen to the apostles. We’ll consider the first two problems in this message.

What Belongs in Worship (verses 26-33a)

A new paragraph starts as Paul addresses the Corinthians again and summarizes the first 25 verses of the chapter. What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. Paul began talking about when you come together halfway through chapter 11, and this is the last time he refers to their corporate time together in 1 Corinthians.

Even though he says each one he doesn’t mean that each and every member of the body brings a piece for the liturgy, but that different persons who are differently gifted each have something to build up the body. A hymn is probably a “psalm” (NAS, in Greek ψαλμὸν compared to ὕμνοις as in Ephesians 5:19) to read or sing for everyone or to have everyone sing. A lesson is “teaching” (NAS) or a “word of instruction” (NIV), something we’d an[...]