As you step into the room, you’re greeted by a cacophony of noise. Everyone is talking, but no one is listening. For a moment, you think you’ve stepped into the New York Stock Exchange—but it isn’t that loud, lively place. It’s a church meeting in Corinth.
Obviously, the church in Corinth was anything but boring. It was bustling with activity. But, to maintain order, Paul needed to lay down some rules. He instructed that the primary principle of all activities in the church should be corporate edification. For “when you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you” (1 Corinthians 14:26). And it must be done in an orderly manner because “God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the meetings of God’s holy people” (1 Corinthians 14:33).
Bible teacher Ray Stedman summarized it this way, “When the church comes together, it can be built up in marvelous ways. It can be such a strengthening thing to meet together, to encourage one another in our faith, to share in the exercise of spiritual gifts, to be taught by the mind of God, by the Spirit of God, through the Word of God, and to be comforted in times of trial and testing and pressure. This is the purpose for the church getting together. But whatever you do, do not let it become an endlessly confusing ministry, misrepresentative of the character of God, who is a God of order and decency.”
It’s exciting to attend a church that conforms to God’s instructions. So, brothers and sisters in Jesus, let’s play our part.
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Acts 12:1-25
More:
Read Philippians 2:1-4 for more of Paul’s teaching on the kind of attitude believers should have when they come together.
Next:
What rules help your church family to function well? In what ways can you participate in the strengthening of one another?
roxanne robbins on October 27, 2011 at 11:00 am
I like Stedman’s suggestion of measuring a church’s health by the way it reflects God character and is respectively orderly and edifying.
g15 on October 27, 2011 at 11:32 am
Yes. It is important to be fitting and orderly (vs. 40) but let’s not neglect or ignore the verse before which says “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. (1 Corinthians 14:39 NIV)”. In the first verse of 1 Corinthians 14 Paul says to eagerly desire the spiritual gifts especially prophecy. We need to encourage more prophetic ministry in the church. I think some people take fitting and orderly to mean we can’t say much.
poh fang chia on October 27, 2011 at 11:45 am
Thank you for that reminder, g15. It’s so easy to swing to either extremes, isn’t it? May God help each one of us to exercise our gifts for the edification of others, and to acknowledge and respect the different gifts in others.
bearpair on October 28, 2011 at 6:54 pm
Great clarity, Poh Fang, to what can easily become burdened & overworked. With Ray Stedman’s help, you have said what needs to be said, so ’nuff said!” Thanks!