We used to run an After School Club. -excitable kids want to play with the toys, run off steam, tell us all about their days and what was going on in their lives. Sometimes this was very chaotic and we had to work hard to get some peace and quiet in which they could listen.
Could church life get a bit like that too? Everyone learning to use their gifts, excited, wanting to be heard.
In the noise and chaos
Is God glorified and honoured?
Is God’s word heard?
Are we encouraged and built up?
The imagery seems very appropriate for Corinth. So this section on gifts and worship closes with the important message that all is to be done in order and with decency (v40) so that all will learn and be encouraged.
Use of gifts generally including Tongues
What this meant for the Corinthian Church was that each person was to come ready to use their gifts, to share and contribute in the life of the church (v26) There could be two or three Tongue speakers and there should be interpretation. If no-one was able to interpret and you had the gift, then you were to keep silent and pray to God in your heart (v 27-28).
Prophecy
Prophets were to prophesy 1 by 1 but again it’s limited to two or three and just as tongues were to be interpreted, so prophecy was to be discerned. They weren’t all to talk at once. When one was talking the others were to be silent (v 29-33). This would mean that they were not out of control. Instead, they showed self-control and awareness of others. It was not just about them using their gift to show off -there would be times to stop, give way, listen.
Discernment is important because it means that we are checking the truthfulness of the message and also checking the truthfulness of the speaker’s character and motives in line with 1 Corinthians 12. This doesn’t just apply to spontaneous utterances. Personally I try to share my preaching notes in advances with others on the preaching team, elders and others in the church (especially if I am about to touch on something controversial).
Men and women together in the church
Wives were e to keep silent and speak with their husbands to learn at home (v 34-40). We may want to pause and think carefully about this, especially as it is open to misunderstanding and has been the source of both controversy and unhelpful practices. Some, have made the error, especially the old Brethren movement of putting these words with 1 Corinthians 11 and ending up with women wearing head coverings in church and remaining silent, not participating at all.
The mistake was to join the dots wrongly, to take a bit from one place and stitch it together somewhere else. The result of this is that you crush the force of 1 Corinthians 11 that women are to be participating, praying, prophesying, speaking up in church life. This happens within the context of everything else Paul has to say. In brief:
- Paul’s concern is primarily for marriage as a portrayal of Christ’s relationship to the church -this means mutual submission with husbands as spiritual heads un the home (Ephesians 5:22-32)
- That the home is reflected in the assembly/church (spiritual household) – and this means men and women leading and speaking (see Romans 16) but within the context of male elders (see 1 Timothy and Titus).
However, here, something else seems to be in mind. It’s clearly not the leading, speaking, praying, prophesying bit that Paul has in mind.
The consensus view is that in the cultural context, men and women would sit separately. Note in Greek the same word can mean women or wives -and here the focus seems to be on wives and husbands not men and women generally.
Possibilities
- Note the sense of chaos/disorder in Corinth. If women and men sat separately it’s possible that there is calling, shouting out across the room.
- Suggestion that some of the questions were aimed at undermining the speaker -would be seen as unseemly especially if it was a wife to husband.
- The pagan oracles usually prophesied in response to personal questions such as will I have a son or daughter and will I have good fortune? This meant looking outside of the family for affirmation and personalising the nature of the prophecy instead of listening to what God has to say to all
So, the question for each of us is this: is your aim genuinely to learn, love and encourage? If so, then think about the right way to do that. In Corinth the context meant that the best way to do this was to save up those questions until an appropriate point such as back in your own home. This also means that it is important that churches build in space for questions and discussion whether as part of a main gathering or in other contexts such as small groups.
- What does this mean for us?
I want to come back to that big question-about our church life and how we individually interact with each other. Do we give space and time for God to speak to us so that we are all built up? This does mean that I should not hold back from using my gifts. There are lots of reasons why I might find myself holding back.
- Out of humility when I don’t think I’ve much to offer.
- Out of fear that others will criticise and put me down.
- Out of fear that I will be seen as showing off.
- Out of uncertainty when we’re not exactly sure what the gift is.
However, by me holding back, it may be that we are all missing out on something beautiful and good.
At the same time, I must also take time to listen to, enjoy and be built up by others’ gifts. Practically this is why we have plural leaders and preachers and why we give space for spontaneous use of gifts in church worship.
On a note from personal testimony, I was first given the opportunity to preach by a little church in Bradford. We should be grateful to a small Gospel Hall with just 20 people being willing to take that risk and put up with a young 20 year old’s failings. It enabled me to discover, test and start to develop a gift and a potential future calling.
I went to Rochester after University. I kind of thought I’d walk into the preaching team (as you do when you’re 22). I didn’t. I wasn’t given the opportunity to preach for several more years. At first, I resented it. I wasn’t the best of church members! But if I and we look back with thanks to that little church in Bradford, we should also look back in thanks to the church in Rochester too. You see, I needed to be silent for a time and not try to use a gift just because it had been available to me at another point.
Why?
1. God wanted to teach me things – I needed to hear him and that meant I needed to shut up!
2. There were others who God was calling and equipping and growing in those gifts
3. Those were the right people at that time that the people in that Congregation would hear God speak through
4. God had other gifts he wanted me to learn to use for his glory -so that others would hear him speak who would not have heard through me preaching
So, if God gives you the opportunity to share your gift then bring it. But, if at times you are not able to use a gift because maybe there isn’t an outlet for it, others are already covering it or maybe personal circumstances such as work, health, family, language constrain you, then take time to see what God is doing and hear what God is doing. Also, use all the other gifts he has given through you.
Conclusion
Our prayer should be that as we grow together and use our gifts in worship then not only will we be encouraged as we hear God speak but that this will be a church where God’s name is glorified.
Faithroots 