God Is Not a God of Confusion

Reading:  1 Corinthians 14:26-33
    
    Paul begins to reach some conclusions and practicalities about worship in this section.  Since there is a focus on understanding and edification, some things follow.  “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 Cor 14:26).  All the brothers have a unique gift to bring to worship and all should be celebrated and given audience.  Yet because the focus remains on “building up,” certain practical rules are in order.

     “If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at the most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret.  But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God”(1 Cor 14:27-28).  Too many tongues would create confusion.  Tongues without interpretation would create confusion.  Paul regulates this with each person speaking, one at a time, and only if there is an interpreter.  “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.  If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent”(1 Cor 14:29-30).  There is respect here for those who would speak for God and also respect for the Spirit revealing something during the service.  Paul has no difficulty telling them that there are times to speak and times to be silent.

     “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace”(1 Cor 14:33).  Paul summarizes worship rules by reminding us about God.  God’s will does not contradict itself.  God does not tell us things in order to confuse us.  Our worship services should reflect this:  orderly, thoughtful, geared toward building up through proper understanding of God’s message.  We should leave our worship service with deeper understanding—rather than confused—because this is the will of God. 

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One Thing to Think About:  Does it bother me to think that there are times I should be silent and listen rather than speaking?

One Thing to Pray For:  The peace that comes from understanding God’s will
 

Worship with Spirit and Mind

Reading:  1 Corinthians 14:13-25
    
    As he discusses the superiority of prophecy to tongues, Paul distinguishes between our minds and our spirits.  “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful.  What am I to do?  I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also”(1 Cor 14:14-15).  My spirit is my inner man, which aspires to worship God.  My mind, meanwhile, is my intelligence and understanding.  Tongues were evidently a remarkable spiritual experience, but not always understood by self and others.  Paul wants us to worship with spirit and mind.

    The implications are important.   “Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of outsider say ‘Amen’ to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying?”(1 Cor 14:16).  Others cannot benefit when neither we nor they understand.  Paul also pictures a time when “outsiders or unbelievers” join our worship service.  If all they hear is unintelligible tongues, “will they not say that you are out of your minds?”(1 Cor 14:23).  “But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you”(1 Cor 14:24-25).  Such a person can be transformed by words from God and confirm God’s reality and presence—but only if he understands the message.

    Proper worship does involve our feelings—our spirit—but it also involves thoughtful, intelligent understanding of spiritual truth.  As we gather together to worship, it is important that we take time to articulate God’s message clearly so that others may benefit.  Perhaps that means that we use less flowery language, jargon, or complicated arguments.  Perhaps it means updating our songs or Bible versions so that outsiders come face to face with biblical truth.  However we achieve it, the goal is for us—and others—to worship with both spirit and mind.

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One Thing to Think About:  How can I be childlike in evil while mature in my thinking (v. 20)?

One Thing to Pray For:  The conviction that comes from hearing God’s word (v. 24-25)
 

Build Up the Church

Reading:  1 Corinthians 14:1-12
    
    For some reason, the Corinthians seem inordinately focused on the gift of speaking in tongues.  “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy”(1 Cor 14:1).  Prophecy is superior to tongues because “one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit” while “the one who prophesies speaks o people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation”(1 Cor 14:2, 3).  The whole issue here is understanding; when someone speaks in a tongue, they are speaking a foreign language.  As interesting as that phenomenon would be, it does little good.  Prophecy, meanwhile, speaks directly to people in intelligible ways and draws them closer to God by their understanding.  

    Paul then tries several metaphors to reinforce the point—musical instruments giving indistinct notes (v. 7), or an indistinct bugler attempting to summon an army (v. 8).  “There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me”(1 Cor 14:10-11).  We gain some insight into the nature of the gift of tongues here.  It appears to have been actual human languages that the speaker had not learned (see Acts 2:4-11).  All of these languages have meaning, but if I speak Vietnamese to a group of English speakers, there is little benefit.  “So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church”(1 Cor 14:12).  Here is the principle that guides our worship and interaction:  am I actually helping Christ’s church to be built up?

    Worship is a confusing topic for many in our world.  American churches strive to make worship appealing and exciting.  Did you enjoy the service?  Did it move you?  Did you “get anything out of it”?  Paul’s perspective is jarringly different.  His questions:  Did you understand what was said?  Do you leave encouraged and built up by hearing from God?  Rather than focusing on cool experiences and fleeting emotions, our goal in worship should be to clearly hear God’s word so that his people are built up.

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One Thing to Think About:  What is my focus when I gather to worship God with others?

One Thing to Pray For:  A deeper understanding of God’s word
 

Love Never Ends

Reading:  1 Corinthians 13:8-13
    
    Throughout this letter, Paul has been frustrated with the Corinthians’ tendency to focus on other things (their groups, their knowledge, their gifts) than loving their brothers.  Even when God blesses them with impressive spiritual gifts, love remains more important.  “Love never ends.  As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away”(1 Cor 13:8-10).  Love is better than spiritual gifts because it “never ends” while prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will all pass away.  These gifts are both temporary and partial; they will become obsolete by a superior knowledge “when the perfect comes.”

    There is a great deal of debate about what “the perfect” here means; some believe it refers to Jesus’ return, others to the completion of revelation of God’s word to man.  I believe there are valid cases for both of these interpretations, but I lean toward this describing the return of Jesus because of the promise of seeing “face to face” and “then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known”(1 Cor 13:12).  Regardless of your interpretation, Paul’s point is that spiritual gifts reflect a childlike state (1 Cor 13:11) that will be replaced by something far greater.  Why would we fixate on the partial, temporary gifts and neglect the surpassing permanence of love?  “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love”(1 Cor 13:13).

    We may not have the spiritual gifts the Corinthians enjoyed—prophecy and miracle-working and tongue-speaking and healing—yet we can easily share in their tendency to concentrate on our own gifts and neglect our need to love our brother.  As we grow in love, we latch onto something permanent.  Even when our gifts diminish because of age or lose importance because of our circumstances, love never fails.  Societal trends come and go, nations rise and fall, but “love never ends.”

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One Thing to Think About:  Do I ever focus so much on myself that I neglect my responsibility to my brothers?

One Thing to Pray For:  Growth in my love for others
 

The More Excellent Way

Reading:  1 Corinthians 13:1-7
    
    As the Corinthians clash and divide over the spiritual gifts they have received, Paul proposes to “show you a still more excellent way”(1 Cor 12:31).  Just as with knowledge (1 Cor 8:1), so spiritual gifts are not the most important part of following Jesus.  “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal”(1 Cor 13:1).  Speaking with tongues is useless without love.  Prophecy and miraculous knowledge and tremendous faith and amazing acts of self-sacrifice are nothing without love (v. 2-3).  The Christian life is never simply an intellectual matter, nor is it a matter of huge, dramatic gestures of faith.  It is about showing love, consistently and quietly, in everyday interactions.

    So Paul spells out what love looks like not by describing a series of emotions, but by the way it acts toward others.  “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude”(1 Cor 13:4).  Love does not view others as threats or rivals.  It is not easily frustrated or unkind.  When we love people, we let go of selfishness and learn to forgive their slights (v. 5).  We do not give up on the people we love simply because they are sometimes difficult or hurtful.  “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”(1 Cor 13:7).  Love is tender and tough all at once.

     We have a similar problem to the Corinthians:  we get sidetracked from the key issues in our relationships with others.  We get a little too excited about whatever matters to us (knowledge, gifts, accomplishments, respect, attention).  Meanwhile, we think that since we don’t actively hate people that we know what love is.  Paul challenges us here that love is constantly proven in our interactions with others.  Our patience, kindness, compassion, and mercy must be continually demonstrated.  This is “a still more excellent way” to live.

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One Thing to Think About:  Are there some people I struggle to love?  Why?

One Thing to Pray For:  A sincere desire to do what is best for others