New Page 1

by Rusty Entrekin
There were two major elements of a first century church gathering. The first was the Lord's Supper, which was eaten as a joyous fellowship meal. The second, which we will consider here, was the time in which believers encouraged one another with their spiritual gifts and singing. Not many people are aware of it, but the Bible does tell us how to conduct a church meeting! Not only that, but through lack of understanding, ignorance, or just plain neglect, most churches do not obey these biblical instructions! They are found in I Corinthians 14:26-40. Beginning in verse 26 we read, "What shall we say, brothers? When you come together everyone has a psalm, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation."

There is a very important word in this verse that is usually ignored. It is the word everyone. The verse does not say, "When you come together, the minister of music has a song, and the pastor has a word of instruction." Instead, it tells us that everyone comes with the potential to contribute something. Since this is the case, shouldn't we give everyone the opportunity to do so? This verse makes it startlingly clear that God does not intend for pastors to be the only people who are allowed to bring a word of instruction during church, or ministers of music the only ones who introduce songs to sing! As the apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 1:16, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." "Speak to one another, " Paul also wrote in Ephesians 4:19-20, "with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

In the above verses, notice the emphasis on teaching one another, and singing to one another. Returning to I Corinthians 14:26, note that the Apostle wrote "When you come together, each one has a ...word of instruction..." There is an abundance of wisdom in everything that the Lord has ordained, and this is no exception to the rule. When a church leader seldom allows anyone other than himself to teach, his church will suffer in several different ways. Since it is impossible for one man to meet the teaching needs of everyone in his congregation, many will go spiritually hungry. And since the church leader will seldom receive teaching from others, he will go spiritually hungry. Is there a church leader on earth who is so mature that he does not need to hear the teaching of others in church?

"But brother," I can imagine someone objecting, "we allow others with the gift of teaching to teach in Sunday School, not in church." My reply is, "That's good- at least the members of your church have some outlet for teaching one another - but it's not good enough. Paul could not be talking about Sunday School meetings in this passage; Sunday School did not even exist in Paul's time! He is talking about church meetings. In fact, Paul uses the word "church" seven times in this chapter!"

Five Guidelines for Church Meetings

In 14:26, Paul gives us examples of various contributions each believer may make to the meeting. In the verses that follow, he tells us how to incorporate them into it. As we read this passage, notice that the apostle does not give us an "order of worship." Instead, he gives us principles and guidelines to follow which infuse freedom, spontaneity, and creativity into church meetings!

The first guideline he gives, in the last half of verse 26, is that "all of these must be done for the edification of the church." Whatever is spoken in the meeting must edify, or strengthen, the church. Usually this entails speaking a positive and uplifting word, but a church may also be edified by a challenging word that produces sorrow and repentance.

The second guideline that our Lord gives us is "If anyone speaks in a tongue, two- or at the most three- should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God." (vs. 27). Unfortunately, because tongues is one of the more spectacular gifts, in modern times we have just as great a tendency to get off balance with it as the Corinthians did in their day. Paul's instructions are often ignored in several different ways. In some churches people speak publicly in tongues without an interpreter. In others, nearly everyone speaks in tongues at once, just like the Corinthians did before Paul corrected them. Needless to say, this causes outsiders to think that they are mentally unbalanced! At other extreme, in many churches speaking in tongues is not permitted at all, despite the fact that Paul makes allowance for it here, and despite the instruction he gave later inverse 39: "Do not forbid speaking in tongues." Why would the Lord have given us this gift if he did not want us to use it?

Paul's third guideline is "Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said." (vs. 29). A prophecy, according to Vine, is "the speaking forth of the mind and counsel of God." Thus, prophecy is not limited to "foretelling;" it is more completely described as "forthtelling." Vine describes a prophet as having three primary characteristics: 1) the Spirit of God rests on him, 2) he has immediate intercourse with God, and 3) he is one from whom a message from God springs forth or is secretly disclosed. Prophecy should not be forbidden; two or three prophets should be permitted to speak in a church gathering. As Steve Atkerson points out in the above article, teaching and prophecy are not the same thing. He qualifies this, however, by pointing out that the spiritual gifts can overlap. A song, for instance, could teach doctrine, and an interpretation of a message in tongues could take the form of a prophecy.

Likewise, a prophecy could take the form of a teaching. A good example of this is the prophecy given by King Lemuel's mother to her son in Proverbs 31: 1-31. Verse one refers to the passage as an oracle (lit., "burden," a term often used in the O.T. to indicate a weighty message given by God), but it is written simply in the form of a mother teaching her son. Of course, the King's mother probably expressed this prophetically inspired teaching to her son in private. Likewise, in New Testament times, although women may have prophesied in church, they probably would not have shared this kind of prophecy - which takes the form of a teaching - in a meeting, since Paul forbade women to teach in church (1 Timothy 2:12). If a message primarily takes the form of a particular spiritual gift, then we should abide by the scriptural commandments concerning that gift.

It is important to recognize that the gifts can overlap, because ideally, every spiritual gift expressed through public speaking in a church meeting should be prophetic, as the apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4:10 and 11: "Each one should use whatever spiritual gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God..." Every word that is spoken in a church meeting should be prompted by the Spirit of God and delivered with an awareness of this. Note also that we are commanded to use whatever spiritual gift God has given us "to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace..." Spiritual gifts are not so much gifts to us as they are gifts to the body of Christ. Because of this, it would be wrong for us not to serve others with our gifts! The beauty of a scriptural church meeting is that it gives us the opportunity to do this.

Returning to the subject of prophecy, Paul tells those who are listening when a prophecy is being given to carefully weigh what is being said. Even when "thus saith the Lord" is attached to a message, we should not accept it unquestionably. God expects us to discern His Word from that which is not His, because false teaching and false prophecy are a real possibility. In verse 30 we read the fourth guideline: "... and if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop." There are several observations that we can draw from this verse. The first is that most church meetings should be more participatory than they are. Unfortunately, in many of our modern churches, if someone attempted to follow the spirit of this verse by saying, "I'd like to add something to that," he would be promptly escorted out the door by the deacons. God never meant for us to be as stuffy and formal as we are!

The second is that there should be spontaneity in our meetings. Preparation is good, but no meeting should ever be planned so that we do not permit the Holy Spirit to surprise us! We must allow Him room to sovereignly lead. Spontaneity and the freedom for anyone to speak add an air of excitement and expectancy to worship. The Lord never intended that church meetings be a boring experience! The word which is translated "revelation" here means "an unveiling of secrets given by the Spirit." There are several forms that a revelation may take. Sometimes, the Spirit gives a sudden understanding of a Bible passage or a scriptural principle to someone who is sitting by in a church meeting, who shares it to complement a message that is being spoken. A revelation may also take the form of a "word of knowledge," as mentioned in chapter 12, verse 8. This is when the Holy Spirit reveals information to someone that was previously unknown to him. A "word of wisdom," which is mentioned in the same verse, can also fall under the category of a revelation (as well as under the category of a teaching). Here the Holy Spirit reveals a wise principle or course of action to us that we may not have been aware of. Certain forms of prophecy, especially the "thus saith the Lord" kind, can also be considered revelatory.

Following this, Paul shares an important principle: "For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged." (vs. 31) The principle that is evident here is that one person's gift cannot meet the needs of everyone. If we want everyone to be instructed and encouraged, then everyone must be allowed to participate in his proper turn. If someone speaks out of turn, however, then those who are more spiritually mature have every right to ask him to be quiet, and to restore order to the service as quickly and discreetly as possible. Speaking out of turn is speaking when the Holy Spirit has not led, and includes being disruptive, domineering, disorderly, long winded, and teaching falsehoods. Related to this, the apostle next teaches us that God gives no one an uncontrollable urge to speak. "The spirits of the prophets are subject to the control of the prophets." (vs. 32) If a person disturbs an otherwise orderly church meeting, claiming he cannot help himself, then the urge to do so does not come from God. As Paul continues in verse 33, "For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace."

Paul's fifth guideline for meetings is "As in all the churches of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be submissive, 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." (vs. 33-35). Due to considerations of space, we will confine our comments regarding this to only a few observations. The greek word laleo, which is translated "speak" here, can also mean informal "talk." Its meaning must be judged by the context in which it is used. Likewise, the greek word sigao, which is translated "remain silent" here, can also mean "be quiet." If this is the meaning Paul intended that these words have (I stress the "if," for although I am convinced of this interpretation, it is not without some misgivings), then he was not forbidding women to utter a sound, but rather forbidding them to disrupt a meeting through questioning and idle talk. Even those who (unscripturally, I think) allow women to teach in church should agree that no church meeting should be interrupted by unruly talk or inappropriate questions.

Paul's sixth guideline for church gatherings needs no explanation: "But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way." (vs. 40). That is the last of Paul's guidelines concerning church meetings. From them, it is obvious that church meetings should be participatory, and that everyone should be allowed to contribute freely and spontaneously to them. Since this is so different from the way that we normally hold church meetings today, many will undoubtably find 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 tempting to ignore. But God does not give us that option! Instead, the apostle Paul tells us that what he is writing is "the Lord's command"! "Did the Word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command. If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored." (vs. 36). If we were to disregard the apostles' words, then wouldn't the words Jesus spoke to the Pharisees also ring true of us? "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?" (Mat. 15:3). Shouldn't we make every effort to carry out Paul's instructions when we come together, since this is the Lord's command?