Matt Chandler - A Gospel Reminder

If you have your Bibles, go ahead and grab those; we’re going to be in 1 Corinthians 14 again. We’re going to land the plane on our six-week series on the gifts, 1 Corinthians 12 through 14. I am going to dive a little bit into 15 for five verses, and I’ll explain why momentarily. But before we dive into that, I just want to honor my sister, Kathleen. So do me a favor, Kathleen, will you stand for me? I know you’ll hate this, but you’re not going to be able to harm me. Kathleen has been faithfully serving and holding babies in our church for 27 years, and this weekend is her last, as she is moving. So, Kathleen, I just want to say this in front of everyone: when I see the fruit of grace in my children’s lives, I know one of the first people that prayed it into them is you, when you held them in your arms in that nursery. There isn’t anyone my age who has been here long at all that doesn’t have you as part of their testimony. All this stuff we’ve been talking about for the last six weeks, you have faithfully embodied for 27 years. So when I honor you, sister, I tell you the fruit and the ripple effect of your faithfulness will echo farther than most of us can fathom. Jesus sees you; He loves you. Sister, I love you. Thank you. Thank you, Kathleen! Twenty-seven years—Wladimir, incredible! Thank you, and God bless you, sis. So I want to summarize the last six weeks with a simple statement: we’ve been reading about what these three chapters are about. Well, they’re about this: let me put it on the screen for us. We must never lose sight of the purpose behind the gifts of the Spirit in the first place: the building up of the whole church through the Spirit-empowered ministry of the whole church. Thus, the church is not built up by a select few, 'über-gifted' individuals. Instead, the church is built up and matured when all of us use our God-given gifts for the glory of God where we are. To be a spectator is not an option. Are you tracking with me? God has called us all into the middle of the arena, gifted us with His grace, and called us to give of that gift for the building up of the body. So no one gets to look at their gift and say, «Well, because I don’t have that gift, I guess I don’t matter.» Because you do matter! The text has over and over again said you have been gifted by God’s grace for the building up of the body. Some of that is the gift of administration and hospitality. It’s not always the pizzazz gifts that everybody wants, but God has gifted you, and you don’t get to say, «Because I have not been made, I’m not part of the body.» Right? That was Paul’s argument in his body illustration. The hand cannot say to the foot; the foot cannot say to the hand. We all just play our parts. And so that’s what we’ve been covering. No individual receives all gifts, so we need each other in the body of Christ. I’ve said pretty consistently throughout this series that if you are bored in your Christian faith, you are doing it wrong. No one is a spectator; everyone is a participant. In our little Western model, what ends up happening is that everybody has become spectators of a show, and that doesn’t get us where God is leading us. Alright, so with that said, I want to dive in. By the way, when I was leaving yesterday, one of the members said, «You’re glad to have that one behind you.» And then I thought to myself, «You are unaware of some of the text that’s in next week’s sermon!» Right? I know you’re like, «Whoa, tongues is over!» I’ve still got «women should remain silent in all the churches.» But, ladies, be careful—we’ll get there, alright? Just breathe! It’s not bad news; it’s good news! Alright, and so what I want to do now is Paul is going to begin to summarize these three chapters, and he’s going to move into 15 to do that. So what I want us to look at is how we then take all these things that we’ve learned and what we are to think about in our experience at the Village Church, as those who belong to the community of faith here. So let me give you my outline. I want you to see this or hear this before we dive into the text so you can see Paul’s argument: 1. Paul is arguing for order; 2. He is arguing for authority; and 3. He is arguing for clarity. That’s the flow of Paul’s argument starting in verse 26 through 15:5. So let’s look at this together. What then, brothers? (And let me start this way—ladies, when the Bible says «brothers, ” he’s talking to you too. In the same way, fellas, when he says the „Bride of Christ, ” he’s talking to you.) So what then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two, or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in the church.