By Pastor Dave Farmer

Topic #21 An Out Of Control Church - Part 1

The Final section of 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 is about protecting the primary function of the Church:  EDIFICATION.

I.          Protecting The Primary Function Of A Church

1 Corinthians 14:26 Expanded Translation

What then is to be done about it, brethren? Whenever you [plural] assemble together [during the pre-canon period], each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue,  has an interpretation [of the foreign language];  All things must be done for the purpose of edification [the spiritual strengthening of the church]. 

Condemnation not commendation

   The transition from the five arguments into this final section of the chapter takes place in verse 26 with Paul's usual formula for bringing his thoughts to a conclusion, "Τί οὖν ἐστιν."  which means " What then is to be done?" 

   Paul begins to set in order the things that are out of control.  He is laying down the law, the rules that will regulate the church's corporate worship.  He will regulate how certain members use the gift of tongues [verses 27-28] and the gift of prophecy [29-33].  He will regulate out-of-control women in the church [34-35].  Finally, he will examine their response to Bible teaching [36-40].

   The verse opens with a question that presupposes a problem that needs to be confronted, yet what church would not want this kind of problem?  The Corinthian congregation was filled with gifted people who wanted to participate. They all wanted to serve.  I think we would all agree that this is praiseworthy.  So what is wrong?  In this section, verses 26-35, he will rebuke them, declaring "God is not the author of confusion."  He will state the principle that should be the goal of every church, "All things must be done decently and in order."  So again, what is wrong? 

   First, each one has a psalm.  There is nothing wrong with singing when it is the right kind of song. That is a great song if it is doctrinal or has Biblical lyrics, affirms some truth, and encourages us to trust and walk with God.  Secondly, there is teaching, which is paramount to a thriving church. Thirdly, there is a revelation, which is the function of the temporary gift of prophecy.  The will of God is revealed to them through this Gift of the Spirit.  How could that be bad?  Fourthly, there is the gift of tongues, which was temporary but not at the time of writing.   It was an amazing gift.  You can communicate in any foreign language the Holy Spirit gives without knowing the language.  What missionary organization wouldn't want people with that ability? Lastly, an interpretation was necessary to translate the language of the tongue into the vernacular of the people.  None of these actions are wrong, but the sin of pride that motivated them destroyed their spiritual value and impact.

   This final context addresses the central problem in worship at Corinth. Their spiritual worship was in a chaotic and disorganized state.  The adjective HEKASTOS helps us out, for it has a distributive sense where everyone is doing something at the same time. There is no coordination.  There is no order of service. There are five wonderful activities in the church ministry, but everyone is competing to be heard.  Did you notice that all five gifts have one thing in common: they are all communication gifts? They are public speaking gifts, and everyone wants to speak.

   The crucial matter for Paul is protecting the church's most important responsibility when it gathers together for worship, and that is to bring edification to the Body of Christ.   As we have insisted throughout this study, edification is the spiritual strengthening of the believer through the teaching of the Word of God. From the first verse, where he stated his preference for the gift of prophecy over the gift of tongues, and then through the five arguments, his goal has been to demonstrate the importance of the believer's edification.

   In the first argument, he explains how Bible teaching produces greater results.

1 Corinthians 14:3

However, the one who is prophesying [during the pre-canon period] communicates to the people in the congregation resulting in edification, exhortation, and comfort [encouragement].

   Prophecy provides triple the benefits: edification, exhortation, and comfort.

1 Corinthians 14:6

 "...How will I benefit you (believers in the congregation)?" ) unless I speak [during the pre-canon period] to all your advantage either with a revelation, or with knowledge, or with a prophecy, or with a doctrine."

   This is a statement on the true purpose of worship.

1 Corinthians 14:12 

So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church.

   In the second argument, Paul concludes that if the congregation cannot understand the language, then no one is edified.

1 Corinthians 14:17 

 For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified.

   In the third argument, Paul gives his expert opinion, reminding the Corinthians that he had both spiritual gifts, the gift of tongues and the gift of prophecy.  However, he would rather speak five words in the vernacular of the people than ten thousand words in a tongue [foreign language]. Why?  "...So that I may instruct others..." 1 Corinthians 14:19

   In the fourth argument, Paul applies Scripture to correct the problem at Corinth, for they are spiritually immature and need spiritual strengthening:

1 Corinthians 14:20 

Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.

   In the fifth argument, the two hypothetical churches indicate that the church without Bible teaching will leave a bad impression on the unsaved and will have an unsatisfactory result in the church's ministry.  This leads to the picture of the church in our final section, "The Out Of Control Church." Again, Paul repeats the principle and for the sixth time says, "Let all things be done for edification."

   Out of this problem at Corinth has come a passage of Scripture that gives us a clear and lucid presentation of the true purpose for assembling worship.  We also have the direct teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ regarding worshiping God in John 4:24 when He spoke about true worshippers:

John 4:24 

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in the sphere of the Spirit [filling of the Holy Spirit] and in the sphere of truth [knowing and thinking Bible doctrine].

   All aspects of worship are to be based on accurate doctrinal thinking.  In the Communion service, the believer concentrates on the truths which reveal the Lord Jesus Christ's Person and saving Work. The memorial of the bread and cup are ritual without meaning until the believers understand the symbols. Real worship occurs when we can think about the meaning and significance of the elements.  Music that praises God does so through the doctrines contained in the lyrics.  Here comes Santa Clause, a great children's song at Christmas, but it has no spiritual value. The greatest area of worship occurs during the teaching of the Word and when we concentrate on that teaching.   This is what Jesus meant: worship takes place in the sphere of the truth.  We have substituted this awesome, powerful, God-glorifying centerpiece of worship with all sorts of practices that titillate the emotions but contribute nothing to building a mature spiritual life.  

   We now say, “We must be relevant, follow a list of legalistic instructions, or have some whipped up emotional service, rather than worship centered in "What saith the Lord?"  What an utter failure the contemporary church is from the standpoint of this passage.  It is pitiful.

Concentrate on Edification

   How do we fulfill the imperative of this passage?  What are we commanded to do?  All things must be done for the purpose of edification!  Nothing, absolutely nothing, we do as a church has more spiritual value than fulfilling this principle. There are many ways a church can forfeit the blessing of God, but this has to be considered the most significant failure--to deprive their members of those blessings that come through spiritual maturity.

   Since edification is the key to a successful ministry before God and the spiritual strengthening of believers comes through the teaching of the Word of God by divinely authorized and gifted pastor-teachers [Ephesians 4:11-13], two issues emerge.

The Congregation's View Of Worship.

   What is the reason you go to church?  Some come to church out of duty.  Sunday is the Lord's Day, and Christians attend church on Sunday.  Well, do you have a better reason? 

It is a Social Exercise.

   Some come to church, as they go to the opera, the movies, or some outdoor event. Entertainment is a false substitute for worship.  We all philosophize, or should I say psychologize, that God makes humans social creatures, and so they desire to be in a group with others.  This is natural and normal. It is also true. However, no matter how you cut it, God did not establish the church to solve the problem of loneliness.  This is man’s view.

   In one of the episodes of the TV show The West Wing, a candidate running for political office was asked about his church attendance.  He said he hadn't gone in years.  His chief of staff said, "You need to start going, or we will never get the Evangelical vote."   The false substitute of social acceptability in place of real worship.  This was the same motivation that Jesus revealed in Matthew 23 regarding the Pharisees, "They come to be seen of men."  The motivation of pride has a thousand faces.

   Karl Marc, the great communist philosopher, said: "Religion is the opiate of the people."  Many Christians are proving him right.  Worship is a spiritual drug soothing jangled nerves or lifting them out of the doldrums of life.  Attending church is like going to therapy.  Someone said that the time of the week that the least thought occurs is 11:00 Sunday morning. They would rather have their emotions stirred but not their minds.  "I work hard all week, and I go to church to relax" is the attitude.  They want a soothing performance.  The church is therapeutic.  The church is an emotional kick.  They want the message to be a massage.  What is your role as a member of the congregation?  

Is it a spiritual exercise?

   Does your view of worship line up with what God says worship should be?   Is it first and foremost to learn from the teaching of the Word of God how to live your life so that you might please, honor, and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.  Is your worship at church transforming you into the likeness of the Lord?

Romans 8:29 

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

2 Corinthians 3:18 

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

   Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be" Luke 12:34. Our Lord taught that what we value [treasure] is where our heart [commitment] is. The commitment to assemble for worship on the Lord's day is the most important, urgent, vital, spiritually valuable action a believer can take throughout their lifetime. 

Hebrews 10:25 

not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

   This passage was written as a warning that "we must not forsake our own assembling together [for worship on the Lord's Day] as is the HABIT of some." In other words, we are to develop a habit of worship.  How else can you be edified?  It comes through a consistent, disciplined effort to establish the habit of worship.    

The Congregation's View  Of The Role Of The Pastor

   Along with not knowing why we gather together on the Lord's day, we have turned the role of the pastor into an asinine number of mundane activities.  What we have done to the role of the pastor is unthinkable.

1.         Do Nothing Image Of The Pastor:

   "I think the pastor is to preach, win the lost, and visit the sick; he can do it in no time if he works at it."  Most people are unaware of the pastor's labors as he drills down into the Word of God or faces the pressures of the ministry. Some think this way, "He is the highest-paid wage earner in the community for calling on a few sick people, an evangelistic house call from time to time, or a few sermons a week.  It shouldn't take too much time because he is a professional."

2.         Temporary Image Of The Pastor

   He is not a permanent member of the church.  Pastors come and go, so he better adjust to us rather than our change for him, "Come weal or woe, my status is quo."  This attitude is resistant to change.  Disrespect for the office of the Pastor comes in many forms. The assumption that a pastor will not be long in the same pulpit thwarts his efforts and plans to lead the church. 

3.         He Works For Us Image

   One pastor said, "I was told to mow or go."  People have the idea he is a "kept man."  I once heard a church member say, "We are giving him a house to live in, and if the church pays the utilities, the lights better be off."

4.         The Telepathic Image

   People think he has the gift of mental telepathy.  If you are sick and he doesn't call, he must not care. So when you tell them you didn't know, they are twice as offended.  

5.         Truant Officer Of The Church Image

   His job is to know who is missing from the congregation on any given Sunday morning and inquire during the week to discover why they were absent.  If he does not know, he is greeted with, "Did you miss me last Sunday?"  If he says yes, the reply is, "Why didn't you call."  Or he is accused of not caring.

6.         Official Prayer Of The Church

   He is called upon to pray on every occasion, from the opening of Little League to the buying of a new home.

7.         He Is Reverend Mr. Visitall

   He is to sit down and chat with everyone.  He is the social director of the church.  He is to visit the sick, visitors to the church, and the needy, including everyone outside the church who needs advice, attention, comfort, and evangelism.   

8.         He Is The Showman Of The Church

   The congregation comes to church to observe the show.  Instead of gathering to worship, they gather to gaze.  They don't come to worship; they come to be entertained.

   We have denigrated the role of the pastor by creating false images of his ministry which are unbiblical.  What does the Scripture say?  God has called him to teach the Word of God so that you can be spiritually strengthened, that is edified.  Regardless of the man who fills the role of pastor-teacher, it is a noble calling created 2000 years ago and has in its tradition the greatest names in literature and history.

Colossians 1:28 

We proclaim Him, admonishing every man [person] and teaching every man with all wisdom [divine wisdom from doctrinal teaching] so that we may present every man [person] complete [spiritually mature] in Christ.

   The failure to understand the Christian way of life has led many into carnality.  The Old Sin Nature controls them, 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, pride and arrogance motivate their service and worship, 1 Corinthians 13:1-3;  the fruit of which was the chaotic state of the church at Corinth.  

May you all walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Colossians 1:10