Directives for Orderly Worship in this Disorderly Century,

 

Read 1 Corinthians 14

We come to the most beneficial words in all of Paul’s letters, perhaps in the entire Bible. Two straightforward verses that we should heed beginning with verse 34.

Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

Some of you are wondering how I’m going to handle this one without alienating half the congregation. In some manuscripts, these verses follow those at the end of the chapter.

Which is?

But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

In Paul’s time, it would have been appropriate—fitting and orderly—for the man to be the one to speak in the assembly. He would speak for the entire family. That was the culture and disrupting this culture—surely more of Hebraic roots than Hellenistic ones—was not beneficial to worship.

Historically, the world has known a male dominated culture for most of our recorded history. In some cases, Paul helps us out by saying “ I say” or “It is not I but the Lord who says” but not in this case.

Today, if the women didn’t speak up, we might forget half of what we should remember. Paul’s statement was surely based on the culture of the day and his desire to have orderly worship and not an eternal edict.

This don’t speak in the gatherings of believers is from Paul. For all that he did that will transcend the ages, this directive will and generally has passed. It is not in the Levitical law nor the Hebrew commentaries that accompanied it, but has its roots in Genesis 3. For Paul, that would have been the same as the law.

Yes, the man is the head of the family. He leads and provides. That’s his role. The best way to do that is to lead his family to God through belief in Christ. In so doing, he has provided the real sustenance of life.

He also needs to have a job and provide for the physical needs of the family. I have met with young ladies that needed help with a bill and noticed someone sitting in the car. I asked who it was. The answer was my husband or my fiancé of 7 years or my live-in boyfriend.

This is why they call me the mean guy. After making sure that the man in the vehicle was not tending to 3 young babies—who would be welcome as well—I would tell the young lady to go tell the head of the family to get himself in here.

Half the time I see the car drive off instead of the young man manning up for a conversation.

As far as the women go, how can they be excluded from full participation. The Gentiles had been brought into those who God claims as his own. How could the women be excluded. We all belong to God and the desire of his heart is to have an eternal relationship with him.

It’s like the vision that Peter had about unclean foods. Yes, the foods had been previously proscribed, but what God had made clean was clean. Realize that was not the end of the story. People were also being made clean by God, in our context, the Gentiles.

For Paul, this was the natural extension of the relationship defined in Genesis. To him, it was the law. Even the law that we know in the Torah has been surpassed by Christ.

Women will not be prohibited from speaking in the assembly of believers, but there will be restrictions. You know what I am talking about. You have seen the railroad tracks memes. None of these multiple lines of thought in the same sentence stuff will be allowed. That one will be enforced with the same measure that we prohibit dry humor in the sermon.

So, is there nothing for us in this chapter? Not exactly. We are still to be orderly in our worship.

But I want to be spontaneous in my worship!

For years, I have said that the best way to be spontaneous in worship is to be prepared for worship. This is not a popular mindset, especially in a last-minute culture.

But I don’t depart from it. Preparation produces fruit. Preparation, individual thinking that precedes group thinking, front-end analysis, and the like are some things that I have put before you in various venues and they don’t fit the last-minute, immediate gratification culture of this modern century. We want to show up and see what happens.

But we want the Spirit to lead us in our worship!  Fine. Which spirit?

The spirit of the world or the Spirit of God?

Why the Spirit of God, of course.

Then why prepare to have the spirit of the world lead you?  Why just come as you are out of the world? Why bring the very things that we are not to conform to into worship?

I thought come as you are was a modern mantra for the church. It is when we call the unbelieving world to know God or the disconnected to come home, but the believer should prepare for worship.

The faithful prepare for worship.

I just want the Spirit to move me during worship.

The Spirit will do what the Spirit will do, but why not put out the welcome mat? Why not invite the Spirit that lives within you to lead you in worship?

That’s exactly what I want!

Then prepare for worship.

I like to cruise. I enjoy disconnecting from the world during these few days as much as is possible. I enjoy not being able to see land in any direction. I enjoy fantastic sunrises and sunsets at sea.

But I prepare to go on a cruise. It’s simple time, space, and logistics. I budget. I schedule.  plan a route. I pack. I pack the stuff that I forgot to pack. I find a hotel near the port. I reserve my parking. I plan. I prepare.

Then I go. For all my preparatory efforts, there are always some last-minute changes, enroute detours, or stops of opportunity, but I am not Forrest Gumping this. It’s an orderly thing. We can be spontaneous along the way, but I am prepared when I travel and cruise.

Paul tells the Corinthians not to Forrest Gump this thing called worship.

People were talking in tongues, and nobody knew what anyone was saying. The Corinthians seemed to value this gift of tongues above the others, but these gifts added nothing of value to the worship experience.

They were just side conversations that all could hear.  Paul’s remedy was that if there was someone to speak in tongues, there also should be someone to interpret. It is the prophecy—the message from God—and not the gift being displayed that is most important.

Then he comes back to this stumbling block business. Don’t look for the word stumbling block in the text, but that’s what he is talking about. If a non-believer or an inquirer were to visit the service when tongues were spoken without interpretation, they would think we were all a bunch of maniacs.

If you have the gift of tongues, that’s great. Use it at home. If it’s just you and God, then use the special language he gave you and talk with him to your heart’s content.

If it is for the edification of the body, then someone must be present to interpret. 

Tongues are not an issue for us. As far as I know, our worship has never been disrupted in this way. So, once again, is there nothing here for us?

Be orderly in our worship. A sense of peace not disorder, should prevail in worship.

What’s that mean?

It doesn’t mean that you won’t be challenged in the message or by the word of God itself. OK, so what does it mean?

You have been given the scriptures in advance. We are going through Paul’s letters to the church in Corinth and we are 14 chapters into the first one. Read your chapter.

Study your chapter.

Anything else?

Leave the things of the world that are governing so much of your lives behind. This is time just for you and God shared in the company of believers.

Come in reverence. This worship is to be real. God has called us friend, but he is also holy, almighty, and sovereign God. Come in reverence.

Park your hats and caps on the rack outside.  That’s reverent head covering culture for this age in an age that changes culture more often than we change our socks.

Empty your bladders before you park in a pew.

Pastors and elders, pray for the worship that will come from the assembly of believers in this place. This isn’t the short prayer that we have before the service. This is before you even get to the church building.

Pastors and elders, be prepared to pray in any situation or circumstance.

Choir, technically the leading choir, practice so that you may lead.

Congregation, follow the leading choir and sing!

Parents, teach your children reverence, respect, and a hunger for the things of God. Also, make sure you teach your children to pick up their candy wrappers and coloring sheets and remind their parents to take their bulletins with them and not store them in the hymnals for future generations.

Leave the extended conversations for later. The hymns are for all to sing or make a joyful sound unto the Lord. The occasional remark won’t hurt us, but we are people who like to talk, so be wise that one remark doesn’t lead to something that distracts us from the worship of holy God.

It is good that we like each other so much, but we are vulnerable here to taking our eyes off Jesus and returning to the trials and tribulations of the world in our conversations instead of being engulfed in the wonder of worship in the assembly.

Practice ahead of time not having to check your phones for this short time we are gathered.

Stop the concurrent activities. This is worship. Do we want to perpetuate the world's ways, or can we set aside time exclusively for God and show him that we love him?

Make your restroom break before the service. Hey! You already said that. That one got some people’s attention. Besides, do you know how hard it is for me to sneak out during the service.

There are probably more, but some of you are thinking that just tell the women they can’t talk would have been easier than all of this.

I will have these regulations posted on the website by this afternoon, or not!

We are not people looking for more rules though there is nothing wrong with the rules, guidelines, or suggestions in themselves, but we are people who desire order in worship. We desire passion and peace in our worship and those two need not be a dichotomy.

Instead of posting Directives for Orderly Worship in this Disorderly Century, let’s just examine ourselves each day and see if we are preparing ourselves to worship the Lord.

Everything we do every day is our worship. Our lives are a living sacrifice and our reasonable acts of worship and service, and we have much latitude in how we live.

But when we gather, our worship should be orderly. What we do should not distract from the worship experience of others.

If you want to raise your hands in worship and it bothers someone, that’s on them.

If you think your pewmates are off key during the hymn and it bothers you, then you can sit somewhere else or just get over it if it is a joyful sound made unto the Lord.

But when you can’t leave the conversation for another time or think your fingernails can’t wait another hour to be clipped, that’s disrupting worship.

So, am I posting a list of rules for orderly conduct or not?  No!

Then how do we get there?

Parents, lead your children in the way they should go.

Elders, lead the members of this body in the way they should go.

Let the word of God judge the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Here it is in a nutshell: Everyone should examine themselves and see if they are prepared to worship or if they are just Forrest Gumping the thing.

It’s not so much a plan as a state of readiness to worship.

Prepare for worship. Come to glorify God in your worship. Don’t be a stumbling block for others' worship.

We don’t need rules. We need reverence.

We need reverence!

Don’t worry about being spontaneous. Be genuine in your worship.

If we are genuine, some will be broken and some will be singing victory songs. Some may visit both places in the same servce.

With preparation and reverence, orderly worship will be an easy thing. So easy, we can even be spontaneous in our reverence.

How do we get there?

Be humbled but overjoyed when we come to worship together.

Realize that we were once sinners but have been redeemed and we come because we belong to the One who redeemed us.

Realize that we were formed from the earth—the humus—but it was the breath of God that brought us life and we come to worship him.

We are in the world, but we are of God not of the world. We are foreigners in the world but we are not strangers here in the presence of God and fellow believers.

We come anticipating a reunion with an eternal friend but in awe of who that friend is. We come to worship holy God.

We don’t need rules for worship. We need reverence. Then we might expect our worship to be held in spirit and in truth and it will be genuine.

Amen.