WEBVTT 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:09.519 Hello and welcome to the Sermon Podcast of Mission Hills Church, located in San Marcos, California. 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:11.279 Thank you so much for listening. 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:15.359 We pray that this message blesses you and your walk with Jesus. 00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:23.199 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verses 1 through 40. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:31.359 Pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:36.799 For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men, but to God. 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:41.840 For no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the spirit. 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:49.840 On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:57.840 The one who speaks in a tongue builds himself up, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. 00:00:58.079 --> 00:01:03.200 Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:12.079 The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up. 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:23.120 Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:32.959 If even lifeless instruments such as the flute or the harp do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:38.879 And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for the battle? 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:48.640 So with yourselves, if your tongue, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:51.920 For you will be speaking into the air. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:56.879 There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning. 00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:04.640 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. 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:13.280 So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:20.080 Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:24.800 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:26.400 What am I to do? 00:02:26.639 --> 00:02:30.719 I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also. 00:02:31.199 --> 00:02:35.599 I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:46.479 Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say amen to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:52.639 For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:56.560 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:03:06.560 Nevertheless, in church, I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue. 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:15.199 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking, be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:27.680 In the law it is written, by people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord. 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:37.039 Thus tongues are a sign not for believers, but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers, but for believers. 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:47.280 If therefore the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say you are out of your minds? 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:54.319 But if all prophesy and an unbeliever or an outsider enters, he is convicted by all. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:42.240 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:57.040 If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent, for you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be encouraged, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. 00:04:57.279 --> 00:05:01.199 But God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:13.040 As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but they should be in submission, as the law also says. 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:21.279 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. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:26.240 Or was it from you that the word of God came? 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:29.040 Or are you the only one it has reached? 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:37.199 If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:41.279 If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:47.680 So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:51.199 But all things should be done decently and in order. 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:52.720 This is the word of the Lord. 00:05:53.040 --> 00:06:02.480 Well, before we get to the text itself, um, sometimes when you preach through the Bible, sometimes what can happen is you lose the forest through the trees. 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:14.399 As you preach different texts, every different text is addressing some various issue or topic or story, and we can sometimes miss the big picture of the Bible, the big story of the Bible. 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:25.199 And one of the things that I want to be sure of this morning is that you hear the big story, the big picture of the Bible, especially if you are a visitor or a guest with us. 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:31.519 And this big picture or big story of the Bible is summed up in one really short word: Gospel. 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:38.639 The gospel is the short, big picture of the story of the Bible. 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:41.040 And the gospel is basically this. 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:50.639 For those of you who are guests with us or visiting with us, or maybe you don't know the Bible this that well, it's basically this: Jesus died on a cross. 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:59.040 He died on a cross to secure the forgiveness of all of your sins, past, present, and future. 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:14.800 He was buried in a tomb three days later, he rose from the dead, and his resurrection secured for you right relationship with God, that you can stand before God and enter into a right relationship with God. 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:18.240 A relationship of love and intimacy and joy. 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:22.560 All of this secured by Jesus' death and resurrection. 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:35.120 And we believe as Christians that what it means to be a Christian is to place our faith in Jesus, in his death for our sins and his resurrection from the dead to restore us to God. 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:37.759 That's what it means to be a Christian. 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:58.480 And it's my heartfelt prayer and the prayer of many in this church that if you don't have that relationship with God, if you are estranged or distant or have a broken relationship with God, that this morning would be the day that you place your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that you come to Him and you place your trust in what Jesus has done for you. 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:03.439 If that is something that you want to do this morning, we have these connection cards here. 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:07.759 And there's a little box on the left-hand side that says faith in Christ. 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:13.519 And just put your name, contact information, because we want to reach out to you and follow up with you about that. 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:24.160 And if you want to place your faith in Jesus today, after the service, we're gonna pray with you and lead you in a prayer of what that means to begin a relationship with God through faith in Jesus. 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:29.519 If you're here this morning and you are a follower of Jesus, here's what the gospel means for you. 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:32.159 It is a regular reminder. 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:38.080 Jesus' death on the cross to forgive your sins and his resurrection from the dead. 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:43.120 It is a regular reminder of this very simple but profound truth. 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:53.840 God is not distant from your troubles, from your sorrows, from your hardships, from your failures, from your sins. 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:58.879 But that through the cross of Jesus, God has drawn near to you. 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:06.320 And ultimately the resurrection of Jesus, here's what it speaks to all of you who are believers here today. 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:15.519 It speaks that that hardship, that sorrow, that trouble, that heartache, that failure, that sin in your life, it doesn't have the last word. 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:21.519 Death never has the last word in God's kingdom, but life does through Jesus Christ. 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:22.240 Amen? 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:23.039 Amen. 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:25.919 All right, let's jump into our text this morning. 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:33.919 That big story, the gospel, it shapes everything else that's said inside the Bible, including our passage this morning. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:45.840 And this passage, I don't know if you felt or sensed the irony of having Dawn read a passage that says women are not supposed to speak in church. 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:46.960 Did anybody feel that? 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:50.559 Like, okay. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:54.720 I just want to acknowledge that that freaked some of us out. 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:58.320 Now, some of you, that just made you feel uncomfortable. 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:02.080 Maybe you've read this passage before and you're just like, oh, I just hope I never read that again. 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:02.559 That's weird. 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:03.840 I don't know what to do with it. 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:08.240 Others of you, it just confirms what you already believe about the Bible. 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:15.120 The Bible is misogynistic, it's patriarchal, it has a kind of a hatred towards women and mistreats women. 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:23.519 It's a tool or an instrument of oppression, it's a book that causes great offense when we read passages like this. 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:34.159 Well, my modest hope this morning, my modest hope is to help show us what these verses mean in their context. 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:35.840 In their context. 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:42.320 Now, there are a lot of very fascinating, very interesting things in 1 Corinthians 14. 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:46.000 Things which we could spend a long time talking about. 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:47.919 Things like the gift of tongues. 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:48.799 What is that? 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:49.840 What's going on? 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:50.879 How does that work? 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:52.559 Should we still do it? 00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:55.200 Anybody ever wondered that before? 00:10:56.480 --> 00:10:57.679 The gift of prophecy. 00:10:57.919 --> 00:10:59.039 What is that? 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:00.399 What's prophecy? 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:01.440 How does it work? 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:03.600 Does that still happen today? 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:06.480 Very, very interesting questions. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:09.600 But I'm not going to answer them today. 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:15.279 If you want more information about that, please reach out to me. 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:17.200 I'd love to correspond with you about that. 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:24.159 But what we're going to focus our attention on are these verses in verse 33, 34, and 35 that speak about women. 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:28.000 And what we're going to do is we're actually going to read the whole text together. 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:34.240 We're going to work through the whole text to help us understand what on earth the Apostle Paul is talking about here. 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:37.360 And I want to do this for one, or maybe a couple reasons. 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:47.360 One is to help us all become good students of Scripture, to learn how to read Scripture for ourselves, because when you read through the Bible, you're going to come across strange passages in the Bible. 00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:50.399 How many of you have read the Bible and come across something and you're like, what was that? 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:50.799 Yeah. 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:52.799 These are what are called stumbling blocks. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:55.440 You trip up on it and you're like, I don't know what's going on here. 00:11:55.600 --> 00:11:59.519 And so I want to help us as a church to become good students of the Bible. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:09.759 When you face a stumbling block, a strange passage in the Bible that you don't know what to do with, there's a way to engage it that helps bring greater understanding and clarity. 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:14.559 It doesn't solve every problem or every challenge, but it does solve a lot of them. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:16.480 So I want to help us do that. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:30.480 But I also want to speak to these verses because I think right now in the culture that we live in, verses like this, passages like this are reasons why non-believers, non-Christians look at the Bible and they think, this is ridiculous. 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:33.440 Why would we ever sign up for this? 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:43.679 And I want to help set explain these verses so they make sense to a world that is looking at us and wondering, why do you guys think and believe and practice the things that you do? 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:50.240 So, with that being said, let's jump into the broader context of 1 Corinthians 14. 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:54.080 We need to kind of set some of the context so we understand these passages. 00:12:54.240 --> 00:13:01.039 If you remember broadly, the the the book, the book or the letter that Paul wrote to the Corinthians is in five basic sections. 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:10.000 And we're in the fourth section of this letter that starts in chapter 11 and goes all the way to chapter 14, this chapter that we're in today. 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:17.600 And what the Apostle Paul's addressing is addressing issues that have come up in the gathered worship of God's people. 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:24.559 So this text is kind of what is set within this broader context. 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:39.200 And one of the major themes that we've seen so far as we've walked through 1 Corinthians is that Paul is addressing in the church in Corinth issues of spiritual immaturity and spiritual pride. 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:43.919 Look with me, if you flip back in your Bibles, back to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:49.840 If you look with me, the Apostle Paul says it very, very clearly in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 1. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:59.519 He says this, but I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as what? 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:02.159 Infants in Christ. 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:08.320 These people, they've been Christians for some time now, but they are going through something called arrested development. 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:10.080 They're not growing up in their faith. 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:11.200 They're not maturing. 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:16.240 They're still acting as if they're more like non-Christians than they are like Christians. 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:19.039 They're immature in their faith. 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:28.240 And that immaturity is seen specifically in the pride that is afflicting and affecting the whole church. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:33.360 Look with me in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 6. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:51.440 Paul says this I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against the other. 00:14:53.120 --> 00:15:07.519 There were several Christians in the church that were puffed up, they were full of hot air, they were boasting, they were proud, they were arrogant, and it was causing all kinds of issues in the church, and issues that we've seen in every section of this letter so far. 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:13.360 So spiritual immaturity and spiritual pride were afflicting the church in Corinth. 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:20.480 And this, we've seen this in how it shows up in the gathered worship of God's people in Corinth. 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:24.639 We've seen how it's affected the use of head coverings in chapter 11. 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:27.519 A very fascinating and strange passage in chapter 11. 00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:34.480 If you want to go back and listen to how spiritual pride was showing up in that, you can go back and listen to that message on July 19th. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:44.399 Showing up at the Lord's table, what we preached on last week, spiritual pride and elitism that was causing the poor to be excluded from the celebration of communion. 00:15:44.960 --> 00:16:00.480 The use of spiritual gifts in chapters 12 and 13 and 14, in particular, the gift of tongues, that the church in Corinth had privileged the gift of tongues, saying that if you had the gift of tongues, that you were the most mature Christian. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:13.679 And so it was a way they kind of, in the worship services of the church, there were lots of people using the gift of tongues as a way of kind of showing off and demonstrating how spiritual they really were. 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:21.120 And the Apostle Paul is going to warn them in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 that this use of the gift of tongues is an improper use. 00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:24.480 And not only that, but it's not the most important gift. 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:29.759 In fact, he places it at the bottom of all the gifts in terms of significance. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:38.879 And so Paul, in light of all of this, comes to chapter 13, the chapter right before this. 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:49.120 And he's telling the church in your gathered worship, what is to prevail is not competition, is not performance, is not pride, but love. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:53.120 Love is the mark of spiritual maturity. 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:57.200 Love is the mark of the gathered worship of God's people. 00:16:57.519 --> 00:16:59.120 This is what you ought to have. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:07.039 And he'll say things like this, look, you can pray in the tongues of men and angels, but you if you have not love, you're what? 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:10.000 You're nothing, you're just making noise. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:16.720 Love is the primary gift that Paul is after for the gathered worship of God's people. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:18.720 This is what it looks like to be mature. 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:31.759 And we're going to see how that insight is going to show up in chapter 14 as he returns in chapter 14 to the gifts of prophecy and tongues specifically. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:38.960 Now, in chapter 14, we get a sense of what's going on here as you read through the entire text. 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:49.440 Basically, what's going on in Corinth is that their worship gatherings had turned into chaotic, disordered, disordered rivalries in the worship. 00:17:49.759 --> 00:18:02.640 Spiritual gifts were being used and twisted into forms of performance, gestures of superior status, and in particular, superior spiritual status. 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:09.920 What was going on in the worship services is everybody or many people were speaking in tongues all at once. 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:17.839 Then there were other people, prophets, who were speaking on behalf of God, and what they were saying wasn't being tested or weighed. 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:24.559 And what that basically meant was some people were showing up and saying, God told me such and such and such, but nobody was testing it and weighing it. 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:28.799 And so they could have been speaking for God, but they could have just been speaking for themselves. 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:33.359 And people were getting confused, it was disorganized, it was chaotic. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:52.880 And all of this was rooted in spiritual pride because everybody was attempting to outdo one another, to show, to prove to one another how spiritual I am by how well or how fluently or how loudly I speak in tongues or how great my prophecy is. 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:56.559 And it was causing chaos in the worship services. 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:01.119 Tongues being spoken all at once, interrupting one another. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:08.640 Prophecy was left unchecked and untested, claiming something was from God, even at times when it wasn't. 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:11.839 And Paul is very concerned about this. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:22.480 And so he writes chapter 14, and he's going to give an illustration of what's going on in Corinth to help them understand it. 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:26.240 We see it in chapter 14, beginning in verse 6. 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:35.920 He says this, Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:44.720 If even lifeless instruments such as the flute or the harp do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:49.359 And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:52.160 So, with yourselves. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:59.839 If with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? 00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:04.000 You will be speaking into the air. 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:07.519 So Paul gives this illustration of musical instruments. 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:11.200 And something like this is going on in Corinth. 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:16.559 How many of you have ever been to some kind of symphony or orchestra performance? 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:20.400 And how many of you have shown up early to that performance? 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:24.960 And what do you hear when you show up early to the orchestra performance? 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:27.920 They're warming up, and what does it sound like? 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:29.599 Awful. 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:31.920 It's terrible, right? 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:36.079 You're wondering, what did I get myself into if this is what they sound like? 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:38.880 But all they're doing is warming up their instruments, right? 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:43.519 And they're all playing different notes at different times, and it's totally chaotic. 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:46.799 This is what the worship in Corinth was like. 00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:49.279 It was like the warm-up of an orchestra. 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:58.880 They weren't playing distinct notes, they weren't playing in order, there was no organization to it, so instead of sounding like a symphony, they sounded like a total mess. 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:09.759 And Paul wants the worship of the church to sound more like a symphony than he does a chaotic and disordered mess. 00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:17.839 The effect of this, the effect of this was twofold in the church as they gathered in worship. 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:21.599 Confusion and barriers to faith. 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:23.519 Those are the two effects that are happening. 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:32.480 People were confused about what was going on, and it was creating barriers for outsiders to come to faith in the Lord Jesus. 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:34.880 Look with me at verse 9. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:36.880 This is what Paul says. 00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:47.119 So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:50.559 How will anyone you won't know what's going on? 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:58.079 He goes on to say that if you give thanks in a tongue but nobody understands what you're saying, they can't say amen to that. 00:21:58.240 --> 00:21:59.759 They can't agree with what you're giving. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.440 Thanks for because they don't know, they don't understand what's going on. 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:05.599 It's incredibly confusing. 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:10.319 And so these worship services were causing great confusion in the church. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:26.960 But not only that, when outsiders, unbelievers, non-Christians would come to the gathered worship of God's people, because of the chaos, because of the confusion, it was turning people away from the Christian faith. 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:31.759 The Apostle Paul says it this way in verse 24 and 25. 00:22:35.599 --> 00:22:36.799 Look with me here. 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:45.839 He says, But if I all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all and he is called to account by all. 00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:54.720 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. 00:22:54.960 --> 00:22:58.160 Here he's speaking specifically about the gift of prophecy. 00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:08.960 And he's saying that if you're speaking in an intelligible way, in an understandable and organized way, a person will hear it and be struck by the presence of God. 00:23:09.119 --> 00:23:12.079 The secrets of his heart will be disclosed. 00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:22.079 That intelligibility, that understandability of the gospel will be directed toward their heart and they will come to what Paul calls conviction. 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:29.359 They will feel that pierce of their heart that God is real and he is among this people. 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:32.000 And he says, and they will fall on their face. 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:42.559 Paul's concern is that instead of that happening, people are being turned away because they have no idea what's going on in the worship of the church. 00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:46.559 And so Paul is going to give them counsel. 00:23:46.799 --> 00:23:50.880 He's going to tell the church in Corinth, here's what I want you to do in light of this. 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:53.200 Here's how I want you to conduct yourselves. 00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:58.720 I want you to conduct yourselves in two basic ways: orderly and decently. 00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:03.359 Orderly, your worship needs to be orderly and it needs to be decent. 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:07.599 Look with me at verse 40 of chapter 14. 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:09.119 Paul says it very clearly. 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:11.839 But all things should be done what? 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:15.200 Decently and in order. 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:18.880 These are his basic conditions of worship. 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:27.839 And he explains actually what this decent and orderly worship ought to look like there starting in verse 26. 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:35.039 What then, brothers, when you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:38.000 Let all things be done for building up. 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:45.839 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be only two, or at most three, and each in turn. 00:24:46.559 --> 00:24:49.759 And let someone interpret so you can understand what's going on. 00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:56.480 But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. 00:24:56.880 --> 00:25:05.200 Let two or three prophets speak, so another, again, the same basic principle, two or three speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:13.920 He continues, verse 30, if a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. 00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:28.799 Instead of competing with one another to be heard, instead of interrupting one another in worship, wait, be patient, listen to one another, interpret things, seek to weigh things and test things. 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:34.640 This is what orderly and decent worship looks like for the Apostle Paul. 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:46.240 So this is the broader context that leads us into our text in question in verses 33 through 35. 00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:55.759 So, what I want to do moving forward is I want to look at some key words in our text, some key words that show up here and how they are used. 00:25:55.920 --> 00:26:08.319 Because it's really important how a word is used, is to the best way to figure out the meaning of a word is to look at how it's used in the closest context around it. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:22.799 And what we're going to discover is that there are four words, four words in verses 33 through 35 that show up right beforehand, in starting in verse 26, leading to verse 32. 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:28.960 Four words that are critical to understand when we look at verses 33 through 35. 00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:32.160 So let me read verses 33 through 35 real quick. 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:44.000 God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the church, for they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission. 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:55.519 For as the law also says, and if there is anyone anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. 00:26:55.759 --> 00:26:58.880 Okay, four words in that text that I want to draw our attention to. 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:01.119 The first is the word speak. 00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:04.000 I do not permit a woman to speak. 00:27:04.559 --> 00:27:08.000 The second is let the women be silent. 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:11.119 Speak, be silent there in verse 28. 00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:15.200 The next word is the word submit in verse 32. 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:20.319 And the last word is found there in verse 31, the word learn. 00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:24.240 So speak, be silent, submit, and learn. 00:27:24.480 --> 00:27:26.079 Four key words. 00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:39.920 But I want to go right back in our context to the previous few verses because we're going to see the Apostle Paul actually use these four words in a different context as he's addressing the entire church. 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:49.599 Starting in verse 26, when you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation, let all things be done for the building up. 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:51.839 If any, speak in a tongue. 00:27:52.000 --> 00:28:02.640 And what he's referencing is what he's just talked about, starting in verse 1 and all the way leading up to verse 25, that their speech was disruptive, interruptive speech. 00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:05.680 That's the kind of speech he's talking about. 00:28:06.400 --> 00:28:18.960 If this kind of speaking is going on in the church, this disruptive, interruptive, prideful, arrogant, competitive speech, rivalries happening, if that's the kind of speech that's happening, it needs to stop. 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:20.880 That's what he's talking about. 00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:25.680 Second is the word be silent there in verse 28. 00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:35.359 We can see in the context, if there is one to and no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in the church and speak to himself and to God. 00:28:35.519 --> 00:28:38.799 Let two or three prophets speak and let the others weigh what is said. 00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:43.359 If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first do what? 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:45.200 Be silent. 00:28:46.640 --> 00:28:52.880 The silence here in the context is orderly and patient listening. 00:28:53.599 --> 00:29:07.839 In other words, you're not fighting for platform time, you're not jocking for and competing to be heard with your tongue or your prophecy, but you're being silent and patiently waiting for another to speak and to be finished. 00:29:09.039 --> 00:29:11.440 The third word, submit. 00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:23.279 Notice there what he says that in verse 34, they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission. 00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:31.680 And it doesn't, interestingly here in the original language, that be in submission, it has no object that it's referencing. 00:29:32.079 --> 00:29:36.160 In other words, it doesn't necessarily reference the husband being in submission to the husband. 00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:37.680 There's other texts that talk about that. 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:44.400 But here, being in submission actually refers back to what he said in verse 32. 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:46.960 Look up there with me at verse 32. 00:29:47.119 --> 00:29:50.079 And the spirits of the prophets are what? 00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:55.359 Subject to or submitted to the prophets. 00:29:55.519 --> 00:29:58.160 It's the same word in the original language. 00:29:58.400 --> 00:30:03.519 In other words, in worship, everyone who's speaking is to be subject to one another. 00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:14.079 You can't just speak of your own authority. 00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:18.400 In other words, you have to be subject to the order of the service itself. 00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:23.599 What Paul said, let two or three speak, let two or in tongues, or let two or three speak in prophecy. 00:30:23.759 --> 00:30:29.839 You have to be subject to that order and subject to the testing of what has been said. 00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:36.000 You can't just say whatever you want and expect that people are going to think that that's from God. 00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:39.200 It has to be weighed, it has to be tested. 00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:42.319 The last word is the word learn. 00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:45.119 There in verse 31. 00:30:47.119 --> 00:30:58.000 He says, I wish you could all prophesy one by one so that all may learn and all be encouraged, that all would learn and be encouraged. 00:30:58.480 --> 00:31:05.680 That the learning is a form of encouragement, or to use his word that he uses five different times in this text, to be built up. 00:31:05.839 --> 00:31:11.519 Okay, so those four words speak, be silent, submit, and learn. 00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:18.480 Now, already in this text, we're beginning to see some things come very clear. 00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:25.839 Paul is not prohibiting all speech, but a certain kind of speech. 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:27.039 Do you see that? 00:31:27.359 --> 00:31:32.640 He's not saying women should never talk in church, ever, ever, ever. 00:31:33.359 --> 00:31:34.480 That's not what he's saying. 00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:38.720 He's saying there's a specific kind of speech that I am prohibiting. 00:31:40.160 --> 00:31:48.480 In other words, Paul is not saying, contrary to some who hate texts like this, that Paul is just saying the women should shut up and go home. 00:31:48.720 --> 00:31:50.559 That's not what he's saying. 00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:56.960 He's saying there's a certain kind of speech that I'm not allowing them to use in the church. 00:31:59.920 --> 00:32:10.640 He is telling them, I want you to be subject to the order of the church so that the worship is orderly, orderly, and decent. 00:32:11.359 --> 00:32:16.319 So, with that in mind, we also need to notice a couple other things. 00:32:17.359 --> 00:32:27.920 If Paul here were saying women should never speak in the church ever, ever, ever, he would be baldly contradicting himself. 00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:31.759 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 4. 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:36.799 He says that in worship women pray and prophesy. 00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:39.759 Praying is praying in tongues. 00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.559 So we know that Paul is affirming when they are in worship, they are doing this. 00:32:44.720 --> 00:32:46.799 They are praying and they are prophesying. 00:32:47.039 --> 00:32:54.000 And then he comes here and says, actually, just kidding, you ladies who are talking, you need to be quiet. 00:32:54.720 --> 00:32:57.359 He's you'd just be a bald contradiction. 00:32:57.599 --> 00:33:03.200 Not only that, but we need to pay close attention to the language in 1 Corinthians 14. 00:33:03.440 --> 00:33:08.400 Paul uses the language, inclusive language, or language that means all. 00:33:08.559 --> 00:33:10.559 All are included in what he's saying. 00:33:10.720 --> 00:33:13.759 So look with me in verse 5 of chapter 14. 00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:18.160 Now I want what? 00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:22.480 All of you to speak in tongues. 00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:24.720 I want everyone in the church. 00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:28.319 Does he mean by all, I actually meant just the men? 00:33:29.279 --> 00:33:34.640 Or does he mean everybody, men and women included? 00:33:34.960 --> 00:33:42.720 He uses this language again for us in verse 31. 00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:47.359 He says this, so that all may learn and all be encouraged. 00:33:47.519 --> 00:33:48.559 Is what Paul's saying here? 00:33:48.640 --> 00:33:52.720 Well, actually, I just want the men to learn and the men to be encouraged at church. 00:33:53.039 --> 00:33:56.480 Or is he saying, I want everybody? 00:33:56.720 --> 00:33:58.559 Paul is using inclusive language. 00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:08.719 Even the word that we have translated in the ESV as brothers, it's the Greek word that actually doesn't mean just specifically male brothers, but it means brothers and sisters. 00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:10.320 It includes everybody. 00:34:10.559 --> 00:34:12.800 So Paul is using inclusive language. 00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:14.159 He's speaking to everyone. 00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:20.079 So when he's talking about if you're speaking in tongues or you're prophesying, that includes what? 00:34:21.360 --> 00:34:22.239 What genders? 00:34:22.400 --> 00:34:26.480 There's only two of them: men and women. 00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:28.239 They're both included. 00:34:28.639 --> 00:34:41.360 So what Paul is not doing is prohibiting all speech from women because he's just spent almost all of chapter 14 talking about what both men and women are speaking in church. 00:34:42.400 --> 00:34:42.719 Okay. 00:34:43.440 --> 00:34:45.519 Last little bit of his argument. 00:34:45.920 --> 00:34:49.440 And then we'll try to walk away with a few takeaways. 00:34:50.480 --> 00:34:53.599 Two final words that I want to pay attention to in our text. 00:34:53.840 --> 00:34:59.519 The words women and men that he uses, starting in verse 33 and ending in verse 35. 00:34:59.599 --> 00:35:01.760 He uses men and women several different times. 00:35:01.920 --> 00:35:04.880 Now, in the original language, this is a good translation. 00:35:05.280 --> 00:35:07.519 These are the words that are used, men and women. 00:35:07.760 --> 00:35:10.719 But these words have a kind of flexible meaning. 00:35:10.800 --> 00:35:15.760 They can mean men and women, but they can also mean husbands and wives. 00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:16.719 You all with me on that? 00:35:16.800 --> 00:35:17.840 Does that make sense? 00:35:18.079 --> 00:35:21.360 And how do we know how Paul is using it? 00:35:21.840 --> 00:35:24.239 Well, look at verse 35. 00:35:25.440 --> 00:35:31.920 He says this if there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. 00:35:32.320 --> 00:35:34.079 That word in the Greek is actually men. 00:35:34.239 --> 00:35:35.840 Let them ask their men. 00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:45.679 Ladies, if someone is described as your man and he's not your husband, you think that would be a little odd, right? 00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:47.599 Their men, right? 00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:50.719 In other words, their husbands, and let them ask them where? 00:35:51.519 --> 00:35:52.480 At home. 00:35:52.719 --> 00:35:57.039 So these are married men and women that he is addressing here. 00:35:58.480 --> 00:36:07.440 In other words, Paul's addressing something specific to the context between husbands and wives that was happening in the worship service. 00:36:07.599 --> 00:36:14.960 A certain kind of speech, a certain kind of conduct that was disruptive to the life of the church, and Paul calls it out. 00:36:16.079 --> 00:36:18.079 So let's put it together. 00:36:18.559 --> 00:36:20.480 It basically looks like this. 00:36:21.199 --> 00:36:34.559 Some of the wives in the church were interrupting their husbands, whether innocently or more likely through spiritual pride, signaling their spiritual status. 00:36:35.199 --> 00:36:40.639 And it was not only distracting in the worship service, it was disgraceful. 00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:43.519 Look at what Paul says there in verse 35. 00:36:43.679 --> 00:36:46.960 It is shameful for a woman to speak in church. 00:36:47.199 --> 00:36:49.519 It was embarrassing their husbands. 00:36:49.760 --> 00:36:56.960 In other words, what's going on here is likely this is connected to the specifically to the gift of prophecy. 00:36:57.039 --> 00:37:00.960 And some of the husbands were speaking up in the worship service, prophesying. 00:37:01.119 --> 00:37:03.119 And you know what the wife was doing? 00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:05.679 Correcting him in public. 00:37:06.320 --> 00:37:09.519 Husbands, I how would that make you feel? 00:37:10.639 --> 00:37:13.199 How much do you love it when your wife corrects you in public? 00:37:13.440 --> 00:37:14.639 All of you are like, I love it. 00:37:14.719 --> 00:37:15.360 It's the best. 00:37:15.519 --> 00:37:22.400 Honey, if you could do that all the time, that just, you know, I actually, that's actually one of the love languages. 00:37:22.639 --> 00:37:25.760 It's the sixth love language, being corrected in public. 00:37:26.719 --> 00:37:28.159 No, what's happening right? 00:37:28.480 --> 00:37:29.840 And this is true for all of us. 00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:33.039 If you get called out in public, how does that make you feel? 00:37:33.280 --> 00:37:34.559 Good or bad? 00:37:34.880 --> 00:37:35.519 Bad. 00:37:35.840 --> 00:37:42.719 And what's going on in these worship services is some of these wives were calling out their husbands in public. 00:37:42.800 --> 00:37:47.760 And Paul is saying, look, if that's gonna happen, where do you need to do it? 00:37:48.159 --> 00:37:49.599 Do it at home. 00:37:50.079 --> 00:37:52.559 Go home and have that conversation. 00:37:52.800 --> 00:37:57.039 Don't make it a disruption or a distraction in the worship of the church. 00:37:57.199 --> 00:37:58.159 Y'all with me on this? 00:37:58.480 --> 00:37:59.199 This making sense? 00:37:59.360 --> 00:38:00.320 You tracking? 00:38:03.280 --> 00:38:06.480 It's to use a different word, it's indecent. 00:38:07.280 --> 00:38:10.480 It's not showing the proper decorum, right? 00:38:10.719 --> 00:38:13.920 That this is not the way to treat a spouse in public. 00:38:15.119 --> 00:38:26.719 And so Paul says, look, you wives, if you have a concern about something your husband's saying and you want to understand it, go home and ask there. 00:38:27.440 --> 00:38:28.400 Does that make sense? 00:38:28.960 --> 00:38:29.280 Okay. 00:38:29.760 --> 00:38:40.960