[Transcript]
Church leaders face a regular weekly challenge, whether they recognize it or not. Some churches handle this well, but many tend to lean too far in one direction or the other. The challenge revolves around balancing spontaneity and order. Some accuse their pastors of “programming” the Holy Spirit out of the gathering. The converse accusation is that pastors allow too much disorder by overemphasizing spontaneous expressions of worship. Churches in between have discovered a sweet spot of order and spontaneity. However, even that sweet spot lies on a spectrum of people’s preferences.
We just examined Paul’s teachings on intelligible worship. The second half of chapter fourteen offers practical guidance. This passage provides the most detailed insight into how Paul instructed his church plants to conduct their gatherings. It’s quite different from how many of us have experienced local church worship services. Paul told them to meet in a way that allowed for spontaneous moments while keeping chaos at bay through an ordered liturgy.
Everyone Has Something
“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.” – 1 Corinthians 14:26
Something is different already. When was the last time you attended church and everyone arrived prepared to contribute to the worship? Most pastors would think they were in a parallel reality. Clearly, the situation is different. The Corinthians gathered in smaller groups across the city, making it easier for everyone to take part. If your church has grown to more than thirty people in any service, having everyone contribute becomes more challenging.
But even in Corinth, everyone contributing something was excessive. This stemmed from the gift envy we noted in chapter twelve. Everyone wanted to use their gifts for the wrong reasons. Therefore, the admonition at the end of verse twenty-six – “let all things be done for building up” – was a direct swipe at those improper motives. If everything was to be done for the building up of the church, then everything needed to be done in some kind of order so that all could benefit.
My church experience has been far more on the side of planned and programmed. Perhaps too planned and programmed. As a worship pastor, I’ve been accused on both sides of this issue. I’ve had people accuse me of being too ordered, and others accuse me of losing control of what was happening on the platform. I guess that makes me feel like I’m in a middle position, not too much, not too little. I’ve always come to the worship gathering with a plan of order, but held on to it loosely. I want to respect people’s time, but also respect the Holy Spirit. There’s always a tension between those two things. The Holy Spirit is going to win every time, just so you know. But I’m constantly weighing things out in the moment. What people see when I lead is the duck on the pond. Beneath the surface, there’s a lot of motion. I have to judge and weigh the thoughts that enter my mind, as I sing and play. Is it from the Lord? Is it from me? If I took a moment to say that, how should I say it? I’d say in the 30 or so minutes that we sing, I engage in this judging and weighing multiple times. Sometimes the thoughts are “intrusive”; others are triggered by song lyrics or by the Psalm reading. Sometimes I come to the platform with thoughts that have been with me all morning.
The bottom line for me is if something passes the test, I’ll speak it to the church. So I remain very open-handed about spontaneity. But it’s going to happen within the established order of things. Not at a random moment in the middle of the sermon or during someone else’s time on the platform. It’ll be while I’m up there. I’ve been in a handful of gatherings where the structure was so loose that you’d have to be prepared for anything at any moment. While there’s a small part of me that appreciates that kind of freedom, I know that it’s not healthy if that’s the way things are always done. Also, it’s unbiblical, as we are finding out in this passage.
Order does not have to quench the Holy Spirit. On the contrary, Paul’s suggested order is something that will prevent quenching. All of the negative behaviors related to gifts of the Spirit do exactly that. When we use the gifts of the Spirit chaotically, instead of pleasing the Holy Spirit, we grieve Him. He desires to make Jesus Christ crystal clear to everyone present. The Corinthians were drawing more attention to themselves than anyone else.
Who’s In Control?
“and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” – 1 Corinthians 14:32-33
The phrase, “the devil made me do it,” comes to mind. While that’s clearly not what we’re dealing with, it does seem that some of the Corinthians were falling back on a similar sentiment. “I can’t help myself.” It’s a common reason given when questions are asked about speaking in tongues or prophetic utterances. That rationale is what leads to the chaos that Paul addressed here.
In these gatherings, where maybe twenty or thirty people cram into a small room in a modest home, Paul gave specific instructions. At most, three people may speak in tongues, each one at a time, and someone else should interpret. At most, three prophets should speak, and the other prophets should evaluate what they are saying. These are in addition to the ministry of the elders who teach the Scriptures. So, with all the songs, testimonies, tongues, interpretations, prophetic words, and the elders’ preaching, someone must be in charge.
It’s often suggested that the Holy Spirit is the one who leads our gatherings. While there’s definitely truth to that statement, the implication from those who claim this is often that the people are relinquishing all control to the Spirit. However, that isn’t what Paul is teaching here. If the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, then Paul is firmly placing control in the hands of the believers. The order (or lack thereof) of our worship gatherings is entirely in the hands of the people. Paul doesn’t accept the excuse of, “I couldn’t help myself.” His reply is, “Yes, you can.” Each believer controls their gifts. A better way to put it is that our gatherings should be led by Spirit-led men and women. If the believers leading the gathering are being guided by the Holy Spirit personally, then the entire gathering will be Spirit-led.
Personally, this is how I try to conduct myself each week. I don’t show up at church wondering how the service is going to go today. I know how it will go. We have a liturgy that we’ve chosen to follow, and that’s what I expect each week. Some people will call that a kind of dead worship, but I don’t believe that for a second. Paul gave the Corinthians a liturgy to follow. We wouldn’t call it dead at all. In fact, what Paul prescribed is way beyond what many of the people I know would be comfortable with.
I know I keep saying liturgy. Liturgy simply means order, or form. Every church has one. The liturgy of our church is a brief welcome (invocation), two songs, a psalm reading with some pastoral thoughts, two more songs, preaching, response time, offering, announcements, and closing prayer (benediction). That’s our liturgy. The way we call some churches liturgical is a false category. All churches are liturgical. Some churches are creedal, employing historical creeds, and some aren’t. Some churches are strictly bound to their liturgy, others hold it more loosely. But at the end of the day, every church has a liturgy. Why? Because the Lord wants us to be orderly as we worship.
Point of Order
“If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.” – 1 Corinthians 14:35
This brief section addressing women presents a contextual challenge. Did we not learn in chapter eleven that women can prophesy when they cover their heads? How should we interpret verses 34-36 in light of chapter eleven? Can they speak or not? The good news is that there is no contradiction. Chapter eleven’s teachings remain valid despite what Paul is saying here.
The context of this passage is orderly worship. From what we see in verse thirty-five, it appears that the women were causing disruptions during the preaching with questions or their own personal observations. Women may prophesy within the guidelines that have been established: with their head covered, and within the limits of two or three prophets. It seems that, as prophetesses, they could participate in judging the prophetic messages, but once that time was over, they should remain silent and speak with their husbands at home if they had questions or comments.
Some try to argue against Paul’s prohibition using a cultural argument. They claim it wasn’t culturally acceptable for women to be so vocal, so they should remain silent. However, the cultural argument doesn’t stand up because Paul made his appeal to the Law.
“Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says.” – 1 Corinthians 14:34 (NKJV)
The next objection would be if we are no longer under the law, but under grace, why does this even matter? The matter of being under the law versus under grace is a false flag. Yes, we are under grace, but as new creations, the law of the Lord will find fulfillment in us as Christ lives through us. If Paul taught that because of the law, women should not disrupt the gathering and remain silent, then as believers, that aspect of the law will be expressed in us as Christ lives through us.
But let’s be fair. Because the Lord prescribes order, men who disrupt the gathering are equally wrong. No one should be a disruptive influence in our worship. A spirit of disruption comes from chaos. Those who practice chaos are not filled with the Spirit, and possibly may not even be born again.
I have to admit, I prefer loud, rambunctious, lively worship. If I could have things completely my way, we’d probably lose people at our church. I don’t enjoy deadness, or at least what I perceive as deadness. However, there have been a few times when I’ve had to ask a person or a family to stop what they’re doing. One morning at my former church, we were having a perfectly normal worship time, then a small family who visited that morning all pulled out their tambourines and played them vigorously through our first song. At that time, we would do our first song, then do a greeting time. During that greeting time, I had to ask that family to stop playing their tambourines. Our church just wasn’t a tambourines in the pews kind of church and it was disruptive to everyone else. They took their tambourines and went home immediately. I hated that they responded that way, but it was a kind of worship that our church simply wasn’t going to be ok with.
Am I ok with that personally? Yeah. Am I ok with that as a musician? Only if they know how to play those things in rhythm with the band. Am I ok with that as the guy who is shepherding the whole congregation through our worship time? No. I’m sure they found a church where they could worship with their tambourines freely. I hope they did. But at the end of the day, disruption and chaos are not welcome in the Lord’s house. As Spirit-filled believers, it is our responsibility to shepherd the order of things, ensuring that regardless of how much spontaneity we allow/prefer, that order is maintained according to what Paul has set forth as guidelines for our gatherings.
However, even with all his exhortations to keep things in order, Paul understood the tendency to throw the baby out with the bathwater. In our efforts to be organized, we should not prohibit tongues and prophecy. Earnestly desire to prophesy, do not forbid tongues, and keep everything in proper order. To some, that may still seem too loosey-goosey, but the call for order is not at the expense of all the in-the-moment movements of the Holy Spirit. Spontaneity is still within bounds for an orderly gathering.
“Let all things be done decently and in order.” – 1 Corinthians 14:40 (NKJV)
Ongoing Discussion
“If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 14:37
By saying this, Paul is essentially stating, “If you don’t agree with me, you are disqualified to lead.” In fact, that’s almost exactly what he said in verse thirty-eight. He declared that his teaching is directly from the Lord, making it Scripture to be obeyed. How, then, do we navigate disagreements on interpretation? Across the landscape of the Church, there are major differences in how to interpret what Paul taught. Who’s right? How do we agree to disagree when Paul concludes his lecture with such a statement?
Since this is a command from the Lord, then we should take seriously what has been said and apply ourselves to understand. How should we respond to fellow believers who don’t adhere to the instructions given for order in our gatherings? Should we consider a gathering where these instructions aren’t followed a true worship gathering? Is everything that is called worship truly worship?
We have long since reached a point where it is our responsibility, guided by the Word and Spirit, to call out wrong practices. Local churches that neglect Paul’s teachings in this chapter should be held accountable. This includes churches that have programmed the Holy Spirit out of their liturgy and those whose liturgy is basically show up and show out.
How do we hold entire congregations accountable? Start with the leaders. Talk to them. Humbly ask why things are done the way they are. Share your convictions and see how they respond. Then decide whether to stay or find a different church where things are done more biblically.
