Flash or Function | S2E7

This week on Deeper at Life, the pastors continue unpacking Sunday’s message from in 1 Corinthians 14:1–12. Paul challenges the church to think differently about spiritual gifts, not as a way to elevate ourselves, but as a way to strengthen the body of Christ.

In this episode, we dive deeper into what it means for our gifts to be functional rather than flashy. The conversation explores why love must direct the way we use our spiritual gifts, how clarity builds up the church while confusion tears it down, and why the goal of every gift is the edification of others.

Whether you’ve been part of Life Church for years or you’re just getting familiar with our community, this episode helps connect the theology of spiritual gifts with practical, everyday ministry. Join us as we talk about how every believer has a role to play in building up the church.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:15

We're back in our verse by verse study through First Corinthians, titled Judy and the Broken. This week we covered chapter 14, verses 1 through 12. Flash or function. Are we doing things for flash or function? Are we using our spiritual gifts for flash or function? Are we building up? So what if we're gonna set the set the table right there?

SPEAKER_00 0:34

And uh yeah, I talked about driving for show, putting for dough, right? So try to try to use that to help us understand. You guys understood it. Yeah, yeah, I got in trouble a little bit, but uh try not to use only men related uh illustrations, but I think the Mustang illustration was super good, man.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Like on full display in our world. That's right. So much. Yeah, from back in the day to now, to it doesn't change.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Yeah, yeah. We got we got the stickers that make us look like we're better than we are, and then you go press the gas and nothing's there, you know, no power's there. That's the having the form of godliness, but denying the power of it. You know, we look like we're godly, but we don't have the power of God. And that's those are two different things, you know. So yeah, I think um just there's a lot of things in this text. And listen, I'm I've said this on Sunday, not gonna lie, chapter 14 is it is a difficult, it's a difficult chapter. Um, and and here's when I say it's difficult. It's difficult because people come down on different views, on different sides of some of the things found in chapter 14. So it's it's difficult in that way because smart men, like like I'm with we're talking John Piper, Wayne Grudem, John MacArthur, and any number of, you know, so the Baptist brains and minds, those guys are smart and they have studied the Bible. Um, they have spent their lives studying scripture. And in a lot of ways, some of these things in this chapter they come down on different sides of, and they believe a little bit different on some of these things. So I I I read them, I try to, I try to let them inform me, but at the end of the day, I I gotta come to some conclusions on myself for myself. And these are some of the things that I've come to. But here's the thing that I would say is that the point that Paul is making, the main thing Paul is trying to get across to the Corinthian church, and that the Spirit is trying to get across through the Apostle Paul for us today, is clear. And that is what are you after? Flash, the flashy gift that brings you a lot of attention or the function of effective ministry with your gift. And then he takes prophesying and tongues, and he contrasts them as examples of the point. One is very much about selfish flash, and one is about effective function in helping edify the church. And he uses those as just representatives of all ministry and all tongues. And he's basically, for example, tongues and prophecy, those are two that we need to talk about. So then he gives certain uh a limited amount of words regarding tongues and prophecy that doesn't necessarily give us a full theology of tongues and prophecy, but he's using those to make a point, which is the flash or function. So again, we may come down on different views of certain things that that he says on the peripheral things, but on the main point, pretty much everybody agrees who's a good theologian, a good Bible person. This is what he's trying to say. Order in the church, flash, uh function over flash, make sure that you are serving for the good of the church, not the elevation of self, which is a good point.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Yeah, and this is why I think it's a benefit of doing expository preaching over topical preaching. Because with topical preaching, you're just picking a topic and yours, you're going at that. So if someone's is, you know, doing topical preaching in 1 Corinthians 14, they're probably gonna be focusing more on tongues versus prophecy. Yeah, whereas with expository preaching, you're taking the main message of the text and making that the main message of the preaching. And that thing is so important for us to do 100%.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

You got to get in in this context so that you don't put overemphasis on the things that shouldn't be overemphasized. I was listening to somebody unpack this idea of tongues this week on a video, and they used one verse out of 1 Corinthians 14 to prove their point. The problem with that is you're taking that one verse out of 1 Corinthians 14 and you're making a point or proving a theological stance with that one verse separated from, divorced from the context, which his point wasn't it was a it was a secondary or a third or fourth point he's trying to make, but that wasn't the main point. The main point was to say stop making that your your desire and your ambition to do those things. And so expository preaching is what protects us, it hedges us in to make sure that we don't overemphasize the wrong things and that we emphasize the right things.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

So you started off straight away by saying that uh these these disagreements or these differences in this passage, for example, are not divisive things that are not top tier. Yeah. And so even though that is what you said, like what are what are the biggest disagreements? Let's dive deeper into the whole theological that you didn't.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

And I would say, here's what I would say. I would say they are they are a level of divisive, they are naturally just because minimum and that way. Um, but also some of the division comes in because this is a very practical chapter, meaning it is going to inform how we operate in our worship services. So we are not a Pentecostal charismatic church. We're not. So therefore, we would disagree with the Pentecostal charismatic use of tongues in their worship services. That's a big deal to us. We're not going to go that route. We're not going to allow that to happen in our church. We believe there needs to be a decency and an orderliness to our worship services, which we're going to get into in a couple weeks. So, so it is divisive in that way, right? But where I would say it's not divisive, so I wouldn't say it's not important. I just would say it's not top-tier doctrine in that I think we could say that a person can get saved and be saved that's part of a church that believes different about the operation of tongues in their church. We would believe that. In fact, we have people in our church who were saved, who got saved in a Pentecostal charismatic church. Now they kind of were like, wait, we're not sure that this is right. And they wanted to wrestle with these things and we want to wrestle with them uh together. You know, so it even like uh, so there's a there's a guy that I read sometimes, his name is Sand Storm. He's a pastor in Oklahoma, um, and he is a very conservative. He's got reformed theology, uh, very big on the gospel, preacher of the gospel, teacher of the gospel. In a lot of ways, he is a very good expositor of the word. He believes in expository preaching, and yet he believes in the full functioning of the spiritual gifts in his church. Now, he does it. I actually read how he explains they do it in their church, which it, if you're gonna be full-on charismatic, that's the way to do it, where he follows the first Corinthians 14 way. Um, but he believes in the full functioning of those sins. I disagree with him on those sins. But I believe he loves Jesus, he's a messenger for the Lord. Uh, I'm not, I do not think he's preaching a false gospel. I think he's discipling his people well, and he just believes different on this. And so functionally, practically, we probably would not want him to come and lead our worship service because we'd be like, hey, there's some differences we're gonna have on that. He wouldn't be preaching first Corinthians 14. He wouldn't be preaching first Corinthians 14, you know. Um, and I think that's just that's just the we we respect you, we just disagree on this issue. We don't think you're a false teacher, we think you're wrong on this, but you know, in the end, let's figure this out, let's wrestle with this together because because Paul never made this. And so the issue comes down to this. What what operation does tongues have in the church life together? So tongues can be understood in multiple different ways. Some would say, well, it's an angelic language, which means it's uh it's a language unique to heaven that God gives people on earth the ability to speak, to prove the manifestation of his spirit or the presence of his spirit, and then somebody else he gives the ability to interpret that message for a word to the church. That would be one way people would articulate that. Okay, so it's an angelic language, it's a heavenly language. Another use of that angelic heavenly language would be for prayer. So this idea that if I pray in the tongues or only God knows what I'm saying, well, that means that must be a prayer language because God understands that language, right? Um, and this idea that when I don't know what to say, the Spirit of God gives me the ability to speak in a word, in a, in a, in a language that is a heavenly language, and there's just an there's a there's a personal experiential uh uh thing that I that happens when I pray in that unknown tongue. So that is one way to view that. The other way to view that is where we would view it is uh it is a it is an actual language. It is a it is an earthly language. Somebody on earth speaks this language, and God gives you the ability to speak that language for the benefit of the people who speak that language, but don't speak your language. So let's say, guy, uh I'm in I'm in uh India in a tribe, and I am unable to speak the language of those people, and nobody believes on Jesus and is saved in that tribe. And no interpreter, I'd the the view would be God gives them the ability to speak in that language so that they can bring the gospel into that tribe and help them understand scripture, right? That's the belief uh there that is there. So then the question comes down to okay, well, do we still have that ability? Or did that ability, or that gift, not ability, let's call it a gift, did that miraculous gift stop being a thing that functions today? That's probably where conservative theology, biblical theology disagrees on. So we would believe that tongues was absolutely very prominent and present during the apostolic age. We absolutely believe that it was there. It was there in the time of Corinth because the gospel was still taking root, it was still spreading, it was still moving, there were still many people who spoke different languages that didn't know Jesus and were not saved. So it was very prominent. And the word in chapter 13, when he says tongues shall cease, I think his idea is that tongues will will fade away. Now, I do not believe that tongues is um absolutely impossible or not present today. I just think it's present on the fringes of missions work. That's where I think it's present. That that would be my stance is that when there's when there's a when there's a people, because but we think we're so sheltered here in America that we're like, we all, of course, everybody knows English. Everybody should know English, it's the best language, or everybody should have the gospel. But I have a friend who's bringing Bibles to the Andes Mountains in Chile and Peru. For the very first time, the Bible has been translated into the language of the people, and there's still tribes that don't have it. And he's bringing the Bible into those, into those tribes. So that's just down there in South America. There's places in India, there's places in Africa, there's places in in Brazil, in the in the Amazon, where there's no presence of the gospel that we can really totally speak of. And so if God chooses in those instances to allow a person to be able to speak a language that they don't know, that's my belief. I'm not dying on that hill. Somebody says change your belief or you die, I'll probably be like, okay, I don't believe that anymore. I shouldn't say that. I just believe that that I that's what I best understand this to be. Okay. That's one issue that's at play. The other side of that is that no, it's done, it's gone, it's done away with, it's no longer present. I'm not ready to say no, never. I'm just willing to say um I'm very cautious and highly skeptical, is what I am, unless it is so undeniable that God is working in that area. Now, we have people in our church who fall on different sides of that, and I'm okay with that because functionally and practically, we do not believe the gift of tongues is operational in our church right now, in our church worship services. We believe it is gone in this instance because the gospel has taken root. We don't need it, the Bible is in hand, the church is established, the language is there, people who are saved speak that language. We're not on the front front fringes of missions work. So that's one dispute that we wrestle with. The other one is this, though, and this is the one I felt especially hard in our study of this chapter was what about prophecy? So is prophecy a gift that died or ceased or was stopped at some point in the at the end of the apostolic age, when the apostles, when the last apostle died? Is that something that happened? And what is prophecy? So it appears to me this. This is I've wrestled and wrestled and and stressed over this all week of just trying to study this out because men disagree on this. Some would say this idea of prophecy in chapter 14 is preaching. I don't believe that. I don't believe it's preaching. I used to. The more I study it, the less I believe that it's preaching. I think preaching is more like the gift of teaching. Um, I think prophecy is different than the Old Testament office of a prophet, where they would they would be given a revelation and then declare that. I think it's a little bit different than that. And what they declared was infallible, meaning that if it didn't come to pass, they were killed because they were a false prophet, because they claimed to be speaking on behalf of God and what they said wasn't true. So that seems to be different than the New Testament gift of prophecy. There seems to be a nuance here. Um, mostly because he tells everybody to uh to earnestly desire to prophesy. He tells uh women that they're gonna prophesy in the church, which that was a big deal. So it can't be preaching to the whole church. He tells us at Thessalonians to test the prophecies, to make sure that they're true. So it appears that even amongst the church people, there could be a fallibility to the prophecy. Um, when Jesus was being was being smacked in front of Caiaphas, they said to him, Prophesy to us, who hit you? Well, that seems to be different than the Old Testament prophetic word. That was more that did God reveal to you what we needed to hear what uh who hit you. Um Agabus is a story in Acts, as well as Acts chapter 20, where some prophecy was given through uh in chapter 20, Paul's uh friends and the pastors of Ephesus, and they were moved by the Spirit and prophesied to him, Don't go to Jerusalem because you're gonna get arrested there. And so, anyways, there's just there's there's a long line of evidence that seems the prophecy of the New Testament was different than this like prophet Jeremiah standing up and saying, Thus saith the Lord, right? There was more of a this should be present, this should be common, this should be tested, this should be true, this should this should serve us in the ministry of upbuilding, encouragement, and consolation. So I feel like, and and I agree with Wayne Grudum on this, I agree mostly with John Piper on this, that this is something that is and should be present among the church. And how it manifests itself is that sense that the Spirit of God told me, I need to tell you this. Now, sometimes that can be wrong because it's interpreted wrong by the by the deliverer, or it's received wrong by the hearer, or applied wrong by the hearer. But it is not wrong in that it was given by the Lord. It's just sometimes we are limited in our ability to understand the application of it. But if I'm led of the spirit to say, hey, Chuck, I just want you to know, God laid on my heart last night to tell you whatever. I think that is an encouraging, upbuilding, and consoling word that the Spirit of God gifts the church to explain. So the division lies on is this an office of prophet that's infallible? And if that's the case, then then when the Bible came, that was no longer needed. But if it's not that, then it appears that it's an ongoing thing. And because I interpret chapter 13 that prophecy will pass away when the perfect comes, and the perfect is the glorified state of the believer, then I think that prophecy is still active until the glorified state of the believer. Therefore, we should all long to be led by the Spirit to speak words of upbuilding, encouragement, and consolation to one another, led by the Spirit of God.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

Listen, I love how you broke that down because like all my life, and I've had people in my small group say this is the exact same thing. I've never heard the emphasis on prophecy in this chapter. It's always made in tongues. Yeah. And Paul is even saying, this is the lesser thing. Yeah. It's greater that you prophesy. Yeah. Yeah, I would say all you speak in tongues, but more so that you would prophesy because it edifies the entire church. So having this understanding that yes, the upbuilding, encouragement, and consolation is something that we all should be doing. And then being sensitive to the spirit in that, that's another way of not grieving the spirit. If God has laid something on my heart to tell Don I refuse to do that, now I am preventing an encouraging, upbuilding, and consolidating a message that can go to him.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

Yeah, 100%. And here's the point, right? Like, even if you come down and say, I disagree with you, I think tongues and prophecy and knowledge has ceased, and we no longer have those gifts in the in the New Testament church. Great. Okay. I can we can have a fun conversation about that. It'd be great. But we can't deny that the point Paul is making is what you just said. What he's saying is stop seeking position and gifts that elevate you. Seek the ones that better serve the church. Prophecy being the example of the better service of the church than the gift of an unknown tongue. Right. So we can't deny that. We as a church strive for those things. So yeah. Anyways, I that was a little monologue. I'm like trying to unpack that again.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

But I think we need that like we need that understanding with this because the emphasis oftentimes goes too much to tongues other than does privacy. And that's the thing that builds up the church.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

Yeah, and I think that, you know, again, I I look for, I like these opportunities to just try to speak clarity into this. Um, I want to to wrestle with these things. I I am not, obviously, like I've said before, there are men smarter, more educated, more studied than I am on these things. But based upon my study, I want that to be clear. I don't want anybody to leave here thinking, oh, wait, that now are we gonna speak in tongues next Sunday? No, we're not. We we're very cautious, like I said, highly skeptical, very cautious. Uh, but we are not afraid of the presence of the Spirit of God. Like I said on Sunday, we don't look at him as the ghost in the attic. We welcome him into a front row seat to say, show yourself, make yourself known. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

Yeah. Yeah. I think, I mean, if one thing's clear, like what he's trying to say is is clear. I think we've gotten clarity and we've talked about that. I mean, I feel like almost every week, a desk point of what the fig idea is out of the text, and that's been super cool. I I hope for our our people to see, like, yeah, there's these disagreements where there's these things, but this is this is clear. Yeah, this is clear the look strength is them we're supposed to build up. Yeah.

unknown 20:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:51

Uh you did say when you miss church soul and church misses your contribution.

unknown 20:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

That's that was super cool. So can you unfact that? I know we just we talked, we're talking finishing up our service getting your point number one, but that was good.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Yeah, so if if if I choose serving others over self, because that's God's plan for the church, then um we uh have a contribution to make, an expected contribution to make. Like there is a role that we play in the body that's vital. And and and your contribution is necessary. It's and when I say contribution, hear me. I'm talking about money. Like we use the word a contribution. I made a contribution to the church. I gave a check. That's one giftedness, generosity. We're all supposed to call are called to live in in a level of generosity, some are just uniquely gifted in it. We're all called to be prophetic in our encouragement and consolation to one another. Some are just more more effective in it, more, more gifted in it, right? But when you when you miss church, you're not the only one who misses out because you are a contributor to. This body. It's like, and I said, it's not, it's not like going to the movies, right? Going to the movies. If you miss a movie, you're the only one that misses out. Nobody knows if you're not there. Nobody's like, hey, that seat's open. I think that's Chuck C. He's missing the movie. Nobody does that. Because they're not there for the people in the audience. They're there for the selfish experience in a good way, the self-experience of watching the entertaining show on screen. That is not church. Church is when I come and I look over there and I see, oh, that person's missing. I miss them. I wonder where they are. I love talking to them. They encourage me. They console me. We are lesser without them. And we need them. And the person who misses sometimes thinks, well, nobody misses me. Or, you know, I'm I don't really need to go to church today. He's talking about chapter 14 again. All that is is like, I've already seen this movie. I don't need to go to church today. That's treating it that way. So when you miss church, you're not the only one who misses out. The whole church misses out because you're a vital part. And we love that. We love looking out across the room and seeing, oh, there are the Hutchins and there are the Gordons and there are the Phillips and there, oh, there's Chuck. And look, they're here and they're here. And man, thank God they're here because they're encouragement. They're faithful and they console and they serve and they upbuild and there's a value they bring. And sometimes that's not expressed enough, but it needs to be felt more that you make a contribution to this team or this fifth body when you're present.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

Which is why one of our pillars is being build as in community. Yes. Like you not only benefit the people that you're there, but they benefit you as well. And one of the things that I absolutely love when we were walking through just certain preaching meetings, we were talking about in Ephesians chapter four a long time ago. And it says in verse 16 that the whole body being joined and held together by each joint, which is equipped when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Yeah. And this is just such a beautiful understanding of how we are built in community because some people will say, Well, I can't go to church because I'm not working properly. Well, how do you work properly? Yeah. The body builds you up in. That's right. So, therefore, regardless of the state that you're in, the purpose of you being built in community is not only to be built up, but also to build up others. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 24:11

What an encouragement. I mean, yeah, Colossians 2, chapter chapter 2, verse 2 says we're in it together in love. United in love with others is such an encouragement because you never like I think of when you isolate yourself, you're putting God in a box. Yeah, don't put God in a box. You might be struggling with an unbelievable amount of stuff, and you might still come to church to be an encouragement to somebody else. Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Like, that's like mind-blowing to me. Well, and sometimes the most encouragement comes from the most intense struggle. It's not I I might still be able to be a blessing to somebody because but I'm struggling. No, sometimes the struggle is the pathway to encouragement. Yes. Like I'm I you I'm there too.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

When I realize that somebody else is struggling with something I'm struggling with, that is such an encouragement because now I realize I'm not alone. And how are you dealing with that? Yes. Now I know who I can call. But the only way you get that is when you know and are known, when you live in some sort of community, and that's so vital for your spiritual growth.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

I feel like one of our constant prayer requests in our small group is just parenting. Yeah. Because we all come in there, we're all like, man, we're all struggling. And it is encouraging like to know that I'm not the only one going to have this parenting struggle. So yeah, for sure. So that is uh super cool.

unknown 25:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

All right. Next, you talked about clarity over confusion.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

But we got kind of already touched on that with being clear in the text, but um Yeah, I think that I think that's like if you look at verses six through 11, right? He's talking about um the necessity of intelligible speech. So again, it's it there this is a tough though. One of the things that made this passage tough, I think, was that he he be he kind of goes around in different ways to touch on the same the same thing again and again and again and again and again. So he's like, look, if you want to if you want to serve, serve with intelligible speech because unintelligible speech doesn't help. So there's a there's a huge principle there, that's surface over self for sure, but there's also an application that we make to clarity over confusion, where if if I am elevating self in the pursuit of the gift of tongues because it makes me look more prominent, but I'm only in that increasing confusion, confusion doesn't change lives. Clarity does. It's clarity that's going to change. He's gonna hit on this again, and we're gonna cover some of it next week in verses 13 through 25. But clarity does not increase the impact, confusion, tongues does not increase the impact of the word of God. Clarity does. So people would he would he's like later, I would rather speak uh what is it, five words in a known tongue than 10,000 in an unknown tongue. Why? Because clarity increases the possibility for God's word to impact people's lives over confusion. So what does that say to us? Well, here's a low-hanging fruit uh application, I think, is sometimes people, especially those like learning a lot and in seminary or reading a lot of things, they like to use big words because the bigger the word I use, the more impressive I sound. The problem with that is that that's basically tongues to the people listening. Because they're like, what does that mean? Like, like I just want to talk to you guys today about the hyperstatic union. And they're like, what union? Hyperstatic? I got static on my hair or what? What are we talking about here? Well, we just and a lot of times we do that because we, well, we just learned about that word in seminary. So I just want to tell you I know that word. That's one of the reasons why it's it's almost silly sometimes for me when I say, now the Greek word here is this, you know, because it's like, who cares what the Greek word is? Now, there's value in understanding sometimes the application of the Greek word because it adds a little bit of elaborate uh or color to the story or to the point. But the point I'm trying to make is that is that our goal is not to take the truths of God and put them out of reach on the top shelf. Our goal is to take those truths and put them on the bottom shelf. We don't want to dumb them down so that they're unoffensive or that they're not life-changing. No, we just want to make sure they're understandable. Like Paul said, pray that I speak clearly. That's my call. I want to preach the gospel clearly so that people can understand it and be transformed by it. Right. So that I think is Yeah, no, you're so right.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

And I love the analogy of seminary because I can relate. Like I was that guy. Uh, I had to do a paper on the epistemology of secular humanism. It's just basically how non-believers learn what they learn. Yeah, and it was just like I felt so hectic in it. Yeah, I was like, yes, I'm doing this paper. You know what epistemology is? It's like no one's understanding. Yeah, but it does not edify anybody but myself. That's right. Because it just puffed me up with pride, puffed me up with arrogance. Yeah. And it's like, well, how can you explain this to a five-year? That's right, to my daughter who is 15. I need to be able to put this down as low-hanging fruit so that they could be edified as well.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

Yeah, I think another application to this, let me just bring this principle to apply on our church. Let's say uh the point let's we agree the point of singing in our worship services is so that there's a corporate element to that, meaning that we are all singing. And we're not an audience listening to singers. We are all the singers singing to the audience of one who is God. We have one person sitting in the audience. That's God. Now we are speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, but we're doing it for the glory of God. And there it are some people that are on stage that have an ability that we don't all have to lead us. And that's that's old, that's established in the Old Testament. There were lead worshipers that sang and played instruments to lead the people in a procession of worship, right? But let's say that that person on stage has the ability to go on these impressive runs. They go up an octave, they hit harmony, they're all over the place, and they're just like that, right? Like that's beautiful. But they're just going off. Well, listen, as soon as that happens, I stop singing because I can't do that. I can sing the melody when you lead me in the melody, but I can't do that. I can't follow you on that run. And what you just did is you told me you want to impress me with your ability to hit that note rather than lead me in singing to honor that God.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

And that is a difference. So I can't follow you. I don't know how to hit that note. So I just stopped worshiping because you were impressive. And I in my head say, Good job, you've impressed me. Now let's get back to singing today. Let's get back to it. Now that can happen in theological talk, that could happen in singing, that can happen in different contexts where we leave the people we're trying to serve with and for behind for the purpose of saying, look at me, how impressive I am. It's the drum solo. The drum solo has no place in the church. The guitar solo has no place in the church because all we do is think, good job, buddy. Right. Now can we get back to doing this together? You know, that's the point.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

So yeah, two points here. So I often said seminary, I'd think I'm the nobody. I'm just trying to tell people about the somebody because I'm like, you guys are all saying big words and know way more about the Bible than me. So that that was a funny point. Then the second thing is you said that the power of the God's word isn't in complexity, but it's in clarity. So going to the point of the worship service, why, or Howard, some different ways, why or how? Um that the church service or the church falls into that impressive, they want to be more impressive than understandable. Yeah. And where does that show up? Like outside of that was a great example of the worship in a service. Yeah, but but where else? I mean, teaching, um, I was serving, I mean, where could that come? And yeah, I guess how do we apply like to address it? Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

Yeah, I think any time, I mean, I've I think singing, uh, theological talk, I think cathol Catholic churches that used to do all their masses in Latin, same thing. That was you, you one of the you know one of the things that led, and we're gonna talk about this this week, so but just a little sneak peek, one of the things that led to the Protestant Reformation was the word of God getting into the language of the people. Because then the word of God could come to bear on the mind, which transformed the hearts. That was one of the things. It went from Latin to whatever language was the the vulcate, the the the language of the people, right? So um I think that that is manifested probably in um in the way we talk to one another. Like we're just trying to we're trying to encourage maybe in our pro in our encouragement, consolation, and upbuilding, if we call that the prophetic gift, we say things and it's like, what? What what does that do with anything? Right, and it just makes you think, okay, that guy's impressive because he knows a lot of Bible, but that didn't help me and that doesn't encourage me. So um serving, I'm sure there's any time, any time in any representation or any manifestation of the spirit in the church when you are doing it for your impressiveness. That's the last point. I'm gonna jump ahead, but that's the exhibition. I just want to put myself on exhibition. I'm gonna exhibit my gift. That's a problem. So I there's probably a lot of no, I would agree. And I think you summed it up well.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

Anything that we do within the church that clubs ourselves up, yes, yeah, 100% rooted in pride. Because again, going back to Paul's overall point, does this build up the church? Yeah, does it edify the the believers? Does this continue to encourage, upbuild, and consult?

SPEAKER_00 33:34

If not, you're looking at yourself in all of it. Yes. I think too, I think um, I mean, if you say generosity, um, you know, the the the the old test check that I put it. Yeah, Sarek. Okay, uh I just I gave to that. I gave most of that. Well, now you just you just you just got the you just got the reward for your active service. It's the making sure you put your change in the pot and make sure it hits the bottom so it clangs real loud. Yeah, yeah, so everybody hears, right? Or the the the the woman who put the two mites in that Christ was like, that woman gave more than any of them gave. Why? Because it was it was out of a heart of worship to truly benefit what she thought was the right thing to do, right? So I think there's that generosity. See the big check I got. I'm I'm one of the biggest givers. You should recognize me. Um, did you hear the song I sang? Um, did you um did you see what I did? Any of that, any of that? Did you see what I did? I do a lot around here, even, even the gift of discernment, right? If you have discernment, you should have enough discernment to know there are times not to say something or not to gossip about that, right? Well, I just have the gift of discernment. My determinant is Chuck looks silly. What? You know, or that person is this. So utilizing your gift of discernment to say that the right thing at the right time. Because remember, a word fitly spoken, a word spoken at the right time. I'm gonna quote it from the King James because it's better. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. Yeah. What does that mean? It's like a well-painted picture, is an appropriate picture and it accomplishes the intended purpose. That's discernment. So if you're just, if you're just expressing words out of discernment to show people how discerning you are, show enough discernment to control that and speak it at the right time in the right place.

SPEAKER_02 35:21

That's good. I feel like the heart of this point is when you were talking about the top shelf. Like your job is not to have this top shelf thing, is to make it understandable. And what's cool about that is that because of your teaching on a Sunday morning or whoever's, right? If it's biblical teaching, to understand these very challenging texts, divorce, uh, sex, tongues now, spiritual gifts has forced us, well, me especially, to admire the word of God more, yeah, to then love Jesus more, not admire your skill delivering the and making me understand.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

Which is the I used to referee basketball, and um, that's a fun sport to it. It's so great. I used to referee basketball, and uh, and it was so fun because it was uh it was an adrenaline rush because it is intense to referee basketball. You know, baseball's fun. I love baseball, I love all the other sports, but refereeing basketball is the best. And here's here's our goal every time we referee get the rule book right, don't be noticed, get off the court, and nobody's talking about us. So that to me was what I what I loved about that was that was so representative of what I tried to do every Sunday. I try to get up, get the word right, speak it right, apply it right, get off the stage and be forgotten. So that everybody's like, wow, the word, the word is clear. So if you, if you as a referee of a basketball game were being talked about or remembered, you made yourself too prominent. You blew your whistle too much, you made yourself too known, the game got out of out of control. The best games were when nobody was talking about you, you walked off, and I'm like, cool, nothing to talk about here. The game, the the right team won, the right fouls were called, the right situation took place. Coaches are, you know, coaches are never happy, but they're like mostly like, okay, we can live with that. That's the goal of preaching and teaching is get it right, get off the stage, be forgotten. Everybody walks away saying, the word of God is amazing. Thank you, God, for giving us that.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

Yeah, no, and and and I love how thinking about what we've been in in First Corinthians and how Paul is making sure that all of this threat is still going together. Because I'm thinking back at 1 Corinthians uh four, where he says, it's a very small thing that your opinion of me, your examination of me, your judgment that's already made. And it's like we get too puffed up with the gifts and ability that God has given us, forgetting that he's the one that gave us. Sure, sure. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 37:48

That's good. And our final point edification over exhibition. Uh, we talked about a lot of things. You said we were not built up by grace to impress through spiritual exhibition, but to improve through spiritual edification. So that was cool. Also, one thing I'm gonna want to talk about when you were talking about expository preaching and just the fact that we go verse by verse, that is so incredible, was like to self-evaluate ourselves on our spiritual gifts. Like we just did that last week in in chapter 13. Yeah, like we were just doing that, and now Paul still continues now giving us this contrast, yeah. So I don't know, because we've already kind of talked about some of this stuff. Well, you want to take it.

SPEAKER_00 38:22

I want to take it with verse 12, because I think if you wanna if you want to walk away with uh what's the point Paul's making, verse 12 is it. Amen. Yeah. So with yourselves, so so can with you guys, because you're so eager, or since you are eager for the manifestation of the spirit, and he's he's like, that's a good thing. It's a great thing. We want you to be eager for the manifestations of the spirit, but since you are so eager, here's what you should be eager for striving to excel in building up the church. That's the point he's making. He's not making a point that prophecy has ceased or continues, or tongues has ceased, or continued. His point is verse 12. So this is a hermeneutics. And again, there's my big word, right? So here's my advice on how to study the Bible in your own time. Look for the big points, look for the verses that summarize it. So that's a good indicator that he's about to summarize a point. So here's my point. With you, my point is it's look, take tongues and prophecy aside. Let's take, let's take uh singing and cleaning toilets, right? Or I don't know, whatever. It means he could have taken any two spiritual gifts, service and leadership, and said, Let me contrast those to prove a point. He took tongues and prophecy, and he took those because those were two that were were prominent in the church, people were trying to like uh uh and have ambition for because they were prominent. So he took those as clear examples. But his point wasn't this is what I want you to know about tongues, and this is what I want you to know about prophecy. His point is with yourself, since you are eager for manifestations of the spirit, strive to excel in the building of the church. Later, his point is engaging the mind is vitally important for transformation. And lastly, in the last part of the chapter, he's gonna talk about how orderly, orderly worship in the worship services is what God wants, not confusion and not craziness and not running around the building, speaking in tongues, falling on the ground, acting like, you know, whatever, holy laughter, all of the crazy things that the the extreme Pentecostal charismatic movement has made normal. He's like, that is not what we're after. And we're after order, we're after control, we're after things that honor the Lord. So he even gives, if you're gonna speak in tongues, we're gonna talk about it, he gives you a criteria to follow. If you're gonna prophesy, a criteria to follow. So in in studying the Bible, look for the big point and don't get all caught up in the other things that he's using to make his point. It's fun to do, it's fun to do. We should be good students of the Bible to understand what he's getting at, but don't miss the big point because you got so captivated by the secondary point.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

I love how in our preaching meetings, uh, one of the things to constantly bring us back to is this one question. If this text was not here, where'd we miss? Yeah. And I think that's an extreme truth that we need to understand. Like if this text is not here, how do we actually build up the church? Yeah, how do we edify one another? How do we seek to use these gifts for the building up encouragement and consolation of that body?

SPEAKER_02 41:26

Yeah, but I think something so cool that Paul does often, and he does it right here in verse 12, is he takes a negative. So he's talked about the things that may be happening, you might be doing all these negative things, and then he goes positive. Yeah. So with yourself that you are eager now, do this.

SPEAKER_00 41:41

Yep, yep. So and that's where I think it's it's you know, there's overlap. Like I said, all three points had a ton of overlap this week, but um, the the point was service um and uh clarity for the purpose of edification, those built on each other. Um, exhibition and self and confusion were the were the contrasts. You can do it for self, you can do it in confusion, and you can do it for an exhibition of your ability, or you can do it for service, for clarity, for the purpose of edification. And he summarizes it there in verse 12. So again, look for the sows, the so that's the therefores in your Bible, and then pay careful attention to those because those are the application that Paul or the writers of the epistles especially are making.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

Thank you for your humbleness in that calling them henaclauses.

SPEAKER_00 42:31

Yeah. But you just take so in your recognition, you use the word, you use the word to impress us.

SPEAKER_02 42:39

I don't know. Well, and I think these texts have been so sobering. Right in the edification part, you said Ephesians uh chapter four, verse 29, that no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as good for building. Like what a text that's gonna hit your gut every day of your life. No, um, and that's what we just constantly see. We are constantly seeing week after we build up, build up, build up.

SPEAKER_00 43:01

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, it's good. Here's so many, so many verses. And that's the other thing I was thinking about too. And I I think I said this on Sunday was you don't really ever see the manifestations of the gifts associated with any sort of self-edification or self-exaltation. It's always connected to the get the edification of the body. So, so there's never a justification to say I should be recognized, I should be appreciated, I should be applauded, they should give me more. It's always uh and and this is a temptation for all of us. Listen, all of us have had this. I had so many days and still do, still have to fight the temptation of they should, they should invite me to preach at that event. They should ask me to speak at that event. I'm I could do that. Why haven't they asked me? Why haven't they elevated me? Why haven't when I was younger and and and maybe just a staff member at a church, it was I could do this like to a fault. And I just regret those so much because I missed, I think, the benefit of serving the body because I was so interested in. Putting myself in a position where I had a more prominent role. And I just am like, like, God spare me from the pride and the selfishness that that is. And even if you're like, I don't want to talk in front of people, there's still a level of they should recognize what I do or I'm a attitude. And we just gotta, we gotta call that what it is, and we've gotta get rid of that because that's not benefiting the church to the extent we want to benefit the church.

SPEAKER_02 44:22

Yeah, well, ultimately that's just such a trick of the enemy because the actual win is being able when you serve someone to see the transformation in their life that God has done is so much better than wanting to be elevated yourself because you're oppressive. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

Yeah. I'm reminded of 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 6 and 7, where it says, Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he will exalt you. Casting your anxieties on him because he cares for you. It's like we have a loving and good father who when he gives us a gift, he knows not only is it going to build the body, but it's for our sanctification, our discipleship. Yeah. And in due times, he's gonna put us in those positions. Proverbs tells us that you know, your gifts will make room for you. Now when we want, like it's his uh priority on how he uses those people in those places. Yes, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 45:14

That's good. I don't know if you want to close this out. I feel like we already answered all three.

SPEAKER_00 45:18

Yeah, I just think I just think that the the truth to life, uh, there's a couple points to make there. Um if if uh spiritual gifts, the talk of spiritual gifts is connected to grace, which it is, theological words, shameless plug, charisma, charismata, that's the word. It's a grace gift. Charis is grace, right? Grace gift. So that means your spiritual gift, whatever it is, comes as uh through by way of God's grace, which means it is closely related to the coming of salvation because we are saved by grace. So there's not a I don't know if I'm saved, but I need a gift or I need to serve in order to get saved. That that doesn't happen. Salvation is the most important thing to be to be right and settled, and that's settled by grace. And when the grace that saves comes into your life, it also is the grace that gifts and the grace that equips you to do service. So the biggest question if you are not a follower of Jesus, if you're not saved, is uh get saved, trust Christ, let the grace of God bring new life. And then with that new life, he brings the gifting of the Spirit. But then the second point I think that I wanted to say is that to use and or misuse your gift. And here's here's the point is that a non-use of your gift is the same thing as a misuse of your gift. And not using your gift oftentimes is just another form of self-preservation, self-exaltation, or pride because I don't want to serve because I can't do it at that level. I can't be what they are, I don't sing as good as that person, I don't hold doors as good as that person, that person's already doing it. So I don't have a role to play in this body. And that is a self-preserving pride that I just want to encourage you. You have a gift that God has given you to steward. You do not have the authority to take, even if it's one talent, uh, one measure of giftedness and bury it and claim, well, I was just afraid of using it because you're you're just God and I didn't want to do it poorly. That's the story of the unjust stewards, right? The the the talents that they were given. No, use that, deploy that, use that for the glory of God. And the measure of gifting, do it by faith. Give by faith, serve by faith, love by faith, prophesy by faith, uh, mentor people by faith. Don't misuse it by not using it. And then I think that we're gonna see next week, again, this coming Sunday, but spiritual giftedness also has a ministry that is outside the church. We have predominantly been talking about the effects of ministry within the body, but clearly he turns in verse 20 through 25 and says, But also the people who are without the church are served by your giftedness. So I then look at my giftedness, my spiritual gifts, and say, How does this serve the unbeliever? Now that's a missional call that we are to live on, and we'll see that next week. So yeah, love directs spiritual gifts towards strengthening the church rather than exalting the gifted. That's the point we're trying to make because I think that's what Paul's trying to make in this text.

SPEAKER_02 48:27

That's great.

SPEAKER_00 48:29

All right, let's pray, Father, thank you again for your word, the power of it, the transforming effect that it has on our lives. Um, thank you for giving us minds to understand and the Spirit of God to indwell us, to lead us to truth. Um, help us to be a people here at Life Church in Las Vegas to be a people who uh value the edification of the body over the exaltation of self. And uh may that be true of the churches that maybe uh people go to who are listening to this, that they would be better at not just seeking the prominent role, but the productive uh functioning of their gift in the church. And we want to honor you in this way. You have given us this gift, you have called us to serve the church in this way. So help us to use this as you saw uh have called us to use it. And thank you for dying for us that we might have eternal life, that we might know the hope of salvation and and and be gifted to serve in this way. Uh, thank you for this again, this way to serve the church. We love you in Jesus' name. Amen.