Episode Transcript
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You may be seated. Please turn
your attention to First Corinthians, chapter fourteen.
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I'll be preaching the end of this
chapter this morning. This is versus
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twenty six through forty. As we
continue, I'm working through this book,
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this letter. Remember the setting of
this letter as you turn their First Corinthians
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Fourteen, Verse Twenty Six on the
Apostle Paul had planted this church in Corinth
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but had received word that some of
the things that he had said and emphasized
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and preached and taught we're being undone, some on purpose, some of course,
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by the schemes of the devil,
perhaps some by accident, just that
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regular old fleshly nature in us that
tends to tends to disorder and to sin.
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And he speaks to them, he
spakes to the Corinthians and a whole
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host of matters and speech and gives
them encouragement, helps them to see themselves
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again in light of Christ and who
he is, to apply that word to
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their life together. And so we
come to the another section of this morning.
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As Paul's been dealing with spiritual gifts, our unity in the body of
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Christ. He continues that and finishes
this section, this portion of his word
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in chapter fourteen. We begin in
Verse Twenty Six. First Corinthians Fourteen,
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verse Twenty Six. What then,
brothers, when you come together, each
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one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue or an
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interpretation. Let all things be done
for building up. If any speak in
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a tongue, let there be only
two or at most three, and each
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in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to
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interpret, let each of them keep
silent in Church and speak to himself and
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to God. Let two or three
prophets speak and let others way what is
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said. If a revelation is made
to another sitting there, let the first
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be silent, for you can all
prophesy one by one, so that all
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may learn and be encouraged. And
the spirits of the prophets are subject to
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the Prophets for God. It's not
a god of confusion, but of peace,
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as in all the churches of the
saints, the women should keep silent
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in the churches, for they are
not permitted to speak, but should be
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in submission, as the law also
says. If there is anything they desire
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to learn, let them ask their
husbands at home, for it is shameful
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for a woman to speak in church? Or was it from you will,
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or was it from you that the
word of God came? Or are you
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the only ones that is reached?
If anyone thinks that he is a prophet
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or spiritual he should acknowledge the things
that I am writing to you are command,
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a command of the Lord. If
anyone does not recognize this, he
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is not recognized. So my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy and do not
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forbid speaking in tongues, but all
things should be done decently and in order.
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Amen, may God bless his word
to us. Well, Paul begins
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this section with a question. Right, he says. What then, brothers?
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Why does he say this? Well, as I mentioned before, he
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says this after dealing for several chapters
with various commands and instructions about how they
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are to act and in worship.
And that question then, and all that
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he's been saying about how God has
put us together into something that we could
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call a body, a body with
different members, a body with different gifts.
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How is that body supposed to work? We comes now to some final
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applications and, based on what he
said about God's spiritual gifts in his church
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and the body of Christ and the
love that holds us all together. He
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gives us some specific applications of how
that is to play out and he reminds
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us something about the character of God
and how that applies in our worship and
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in the life of our church.
And before we look at some of those
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specific applications, we had to take
a second just remember that details matter,
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that what we do in our lives
as Christians, whether we consider them a
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small detail or a big thing,
they matter to God. Our relationship to
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God is to a particular God.
Our relationship to God is to one who
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is is not some abstract power,
not some vague spiritual force. Our relationship
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to God is to the Triune God, who is a certain way. He
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is as he says. He are
not a god of confusion, but a
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god of peace, and we could
say, of course, many other things
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about him. And as we worship
him, it is right for us to
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ask what does he want, what
does he like? Not only is God
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a not only as God have a
particular characteristics, in a particular will and
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these kind of things, but he
also is sovereign over us. Right,
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we did not form this body he
formed it. He we are not the
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head of the body. He is
the head of the body. He is
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sovereign over us, are our catechism, as we were talking about in our
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Sunday school last week, teaches us
that he also has a propriety in us,
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which means to say he has an
ownership of us. Propriety there is
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used like the word proprietorship right,
a sense of owning. God has purchased
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us, the Scriptures say, with
the blood of Christ, the blood of
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his own son. And so,
for all these reasons and or God gets
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to say what we do and what
we don't do, how we worship,
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how we organize ourselves, how we
relate to one another and to him.
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The gods, the false gods,
the idols, it doesn't really matter.
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They're all made up anyway. There
are unmet creatures of our own imaginations,
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our own idolatry, and, as
you see, there are all kinds of
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things and activities that people do in
relation to tell idols. But to God
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it's different. God calls us together
in a certain way, God orders us
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in a certain way, gives us
particular sacraments, he gives us particular books
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of the Bible, why? Because
he reveals himself to us, he wants
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us to know him, to love
him, and so, as God reveals
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himself to us, scripture teaches us
how we ought to govern ourselves, and
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that includes in worship. Now,
some of those things are expressly set down
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in scripture. Right, preach,
pray, sing. Some of those things
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are mentioned here. Some of those
things we've Sung about this morning. Other
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things are given to us, we
understand by good and necessary consequence reasonable deductions
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from the commandments of God. There
are also circumstances in our government and in
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our worship, circumstances that are common. Our Confession says to human actions and
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societies meant to our be are to
be ordered according to certain things. Those
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include the light of nature and natural
law, a Christian prudence and the general
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rules of the word. And we
see the Apostle Paul doing that kind of
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practical application work here in our chapter, and it's very helpful to us not
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only to see the way he's thinking
and working but of course to receive the
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specific applications he gives as well.
All that to say, we ought to
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begin with a passage like this,
or anything any other similar passage, with
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a spirit of humility, spirit of
submission, a spirit of listening to the
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Lord and what he desires for us, and one of the things that he
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desires. One of the principles that's
mentioned here and has been mentioned in several
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of the chapters preceding this, is
that everything ought to be done for building
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up. And what a great thing. How often we find ourselves in our
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society, in various places, whether
that's at home or at work, particular
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relationships, where we find that people
are often tearing down us and others,
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where it's a competition, in a
race to the top, sharp elbows,
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all the time, people using their
gifts and their talents not to build others
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up but to tear them down,
to claw their way to first place.
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The church is different, Paul says
it should be different. The order that
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God has made, the beautiful body
that he's putting together, is one in
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which all the parts of the body
are working together for the strength of the
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body and the health of the body. We're not just a bunch of marbles
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in a bowl, sort of resting
next to one another. We are woven
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into a tapestry of grace. We
are woven together into something that is greater
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than all the parts, a beautiful
picture of God's work in us, and
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a stronger a stronger thing as well. Right, when you take two or
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three chords and you tie them together, that's a chord that is not easily
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broken, the scripture saying. We
know that also from the light of nature.
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Right, it's stronger, it's more
resilient, it doesn't give up as
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easy. And so this is what
God has done. All right, we
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don't just gather ourselves together hoping to
be strong, hoping that we will be
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able to put something together that will
withstand the changing times or the the sin
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in our lives or the schemes of
the devil got we are here because of
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what God has put together, and
he's put it together to build each and
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every one of us up. And
as he gives us these gifts, he
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says, this is verse Twenty Six. Let all things be done for building
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up. Take your word, take
your gift, Take Your Song, take
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your prayer, take your confession and
bring it into the church and let it
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be for the building up of your
brothers and sisters in Christ. This is
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not a show, it's not a
performance, it's a building up and it's
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the worship of God. It reminds
us of why we're here. It reminds
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us of what God is doing.
It reminds us of the Gospel, of
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the good news that the church does
not exist because we have forced it or
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willed it into existence, but the
church exists because of what God has done,
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what God has willed and what God
has brought together. He did that
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by the work of his very own
son, who died for the church,
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who gave him very life for his
bride. Let us love him, thank
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him, hold fast to him and
seek him in every way. That good
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news that God gives to us in
Christ, this people, that he has
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made us, this bride, that
he has clothed and purified and prepared.
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This is the Gospel Basis for why
we are here today. It's the Gospel,
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it's the good news on the power
by which we come and we think
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about every aspect of our life together
as a family, as a church,
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as a body, as a bride
well, but that principle in mind and
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the reason and the purposes and the
particular nature of God in our hearts.
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Paul gives us some specific applications which
are very much tied to all of these
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things. The first one is this
principle which we touched on last time,
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is that worship should understandable. Right. He says, as he has mentioned
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previously, if anyone speaks in a
tongue there needs to be interpretation. We
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don't conduct our services in Latin.
That's not because Latin is a bad language.
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It's a wonderful language and we'd all
do well to learn it. But
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we reject, reject untranslated Latin services
because we don't know Latin, because we
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know English and because God wants to
be understood, because the scriptures say if
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there is a tongue that is spoken, let it be interpreted. We must
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be able to hear God's word.
It needs to be understandable to us.
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Now the end and these and untranslated
language does not build up it because,
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Paul said in the last chapter,
it's like a noisy gong or a or,
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in the earlier in this chapter,
a clanging symbol. It's not a
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help to us. Notice lesson revelation, teaching. These are all appropriate and
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commanded, but what language we speak
is not. This is an example of
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the circumstances of worship. There's this
principle, right, this prince. First
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you have the the element of worship, say teaching, for example, or
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prayer. You have the principle which
says it needs to be done for building
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up, and then you have a
circumstance which is well, what language do
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we say it in? There's no
particular preference on no biblical preference for Latin
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or Spanish or English or any other
language. But how do we choose which
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Huo's based on the principles of God's
word, Christian prudence in the light of
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nature? We look around and we
say, what do most of people here
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speak? Okay, we'll do that. And if you're struggling to speak that
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language, what can we do to
make that understandable? What can we do
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to translate it and make the worship
of God and the word of God accessible?
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These are the things that we think
about and how we apply God's will
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for us in his desire to understand
him and to know him. The understandability
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or the importance of us being able
to know God's Word is emphasized when he
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talks about prophecy. He says in
Verse Twenty Nine, let two or three
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prophets speak and let the others way. What is said when some Bundy speaks
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in church. When the word of
God is expounded on and applied, we're
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not supposed to just let it go
in in one ear and out the other,
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or bounce off of us like a
rubber ball of a wall. We're
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supposed to weigh it, to think
about it, to hold it in our
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heart. It's to compare it with
the scriptures. It is to be not
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only understood but taken in wide thought
about and, of course, lived.
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This reminds us that just because we
don't have a speaking role in church doesn't
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mean we don't have a role.
All of us come to worship. You
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do and I do. When we
join together to worship God and we come
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around his word, we are all
changed by it and we are all required
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to respond to it in our own
ways, according to our own callings and
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gifts. A second application Paul gives
to us, which we ought to think
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about and apply in our services as
well and our worship and church life,
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is a pretty simple one, but
important. He says people should not be
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speaking at the same time. Right, it seems like kind of a no
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brainer, and yet it happens sometimes. We should not speak at the same
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time and the number of people should
be limited Paul when he says two or
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three prophets is not a hard number. He's not saying only two prophets or
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only three prophets, but he's giving
a range and he calls us to be
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thoughtful about this and maybe keep it
on the smaller side. Presumably you could
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have more people if the words were
shorter. Pastors and Ordination Services should maybe
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take note of this. That so
it depends. We have to be thoughtful
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about this thing, but it's important
that we need to pay attention to people's
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attention spans, how long we can
sider in a chair for what we're used
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to and and these kinds of things. These considerations are not beyond what God
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cares about. Again, he wants
us to understand him and to know him,
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and if we order our services in
such a way that makes that extremely
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difficult or impossible, Paul says that
is something that ought to be corrected.
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That leads to a third application Paul
mentions, which is something like this.
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We could put it as no interrupting
because it is meant to be heard.
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That applies to the languages that we
use. It applies to the number of
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people and the amount of words that
are said. And also applies to speaking
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over one another and that kind of
thing. The service and the word of
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God must be heard. Now,
in the early church, when the services
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were often held in private homes,
you can imagine why this might have been
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difficult. If you've ever had a
large group gathering in your home, you
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know that kids tend to play,
there are people preparing food, other people
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maybe around the corner in another room, catching up in a hallway. This
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happens in our church plants sometimes.
When we start at churches and small were
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we smart start our small groups and
homes and you know there's a lot of
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things going on. It's a very
practical thing to remind everyone that when it's
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time for teaching, when it's time
for the word of God, when it's
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time for worship, that we ought
to be careful and to make sure that
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one another can be heard. So
this is something that we still is very
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practical today. Yes, of course
we need to be patient with one another
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if a baby's upset or somebody's chatting
in the echoing foyer. You know,
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we deal with these things as they
come. We don't need to be overly
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stiff or overly formal. And occasional
a men or Hollelujah. These are good
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things. We ought to praise the
Lord, but it does mean that on
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our interactions we need to show the
kind of love and honor and respect for
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the word. Why does Paul say
this? So that we may all be
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encouraged. If you don't get the
encouraging message, it's pretty hard to be
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encouraged. And so this is the
reason why, if we have a particularly
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noisy child, we take them out. If we need to have a side
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conversation for some reason, we we
exceit the worship service, not because we
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don't like each other or love each
other, but because we love each other,
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because we honor and respect of the
word and we desire that interruptions on
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not take precedence over the word of
God and the things that we do here,
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while still being patient and knowing that
we have to be patient with one
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another. God is not the author
of confusion, but the author peace,
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he says, and so the things
that we do in our worship ought to
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tend toward that end. He talks
about this in relation to other people who
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come into the service. Remember this
from last time when we have when we
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bring our family members and our friends
and visitors come, do we want them
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to come and be confused? Do
we want them to come and miss out
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on encouragement and blessing, or do
we want them to hear the word of
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God and to see that not only
from the hear that, not only in
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the words that are said, but
in the way that we act and the
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way that we conduct ourselves? This
brings us to the final application that Paul
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mentions. He a final application he
Paul Mentions for public worship is directed in
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particular to the women of the church. Paul tells us that when the women,
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tells the women that when the church
comes together, as in all the
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churches, women should remain quiet and
submit themselves to what they hear. Now
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this, of course, applies to
men as well. Paul has just been
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emphasizing that silence and not interrupting,
being submissive in these sorts of things are
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important. We also know from the
proverbs and many other places that being submissive
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and learning and quietness are virtues.
They are how we learn, how we
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grow. They are to be a
commended and sought after. This, of
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course, is not a mindless silence, as we've talked about before, as
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we sang earlier my soul, weights
and silence for the Lord and expectation of
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hope and promises mentioned there. Our
my our silence is that of trusting,
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of waiting, of faithfulness. Our
silence and worship is wigh, thinking and
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receiving. So, along with the
men in the church, the women also
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are to remain silent into way what
is said. They are to listen and
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to be submissive to their teachers,
taking their questions home, not interrupting and
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thereby bringing embarrassment and shame on themselves
and the whole body. There is a
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remaining question, though, which is
why does Paul make this special emphasis to
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the women? Right, if this
applies both to men and women? Why?
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Why does he speak to women in
particular? Why does he address them?
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Well, he doesn't say exactly here
why that is, and so we
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have to think, based on context, based on other passages, why that
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might be. I'm some people supposed
that it was because of these the busyness
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in these early homes when women might
have been most likely to be disruptive as
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they worked in service and preparation of
food and hospitality. I don't think this
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is right, or at least a
primary explanation, because it doesn't account for
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all the churches, not all,
which were meeting in this way, also
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in this situation, that the women
would be ignoring the teaching or unable to
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receive it because of busyness and not
not having questions about it, as he
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says. So it doesn't quite fit. I don't think quite fit what he's
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saying. They're a more likely possible
reason is that at the time there was
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a feminist movement called the new women, and these new women were in some
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ways responding to a problem in their
society in which women were not treated well,
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in which men were given all kinds
of passes for deviant behavior and abusive
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things. But the way that they
were responding was not in seeking good and
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godly freedom for themselves or their their
natural rights as women and people made in
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the image of God, but they
were seeking to be just like the men
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and having right to act in deviant
and bad ways. These women at the
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time, in Corinth and in other
places we're seeking to show themselves just as
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capable at good things, like learning
and and growing in other ways, but
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also in bad things, in in
sexual deviance, in in being rude and
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being clamorous and other things. It's, of course, wonderful to have women
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in the body of Christ who are
students of scripture, pay attention to details,
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who can pray and seeing and prophesy, as Paul has commanded them to
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do. We see this not only
in his commands but in other places as
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well. What is not wonderful,
however, is to have the the kind
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of rebelliousness that these new women were
showing, to have a rebelliousness in particularly
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in relation to the offices of the
church, which are for qualified men and
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not for women. May Have.
Paul may have in mind, in particular,
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the pastor or the wives of pastors
or elders or people who are working
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in ordained offices, and then their
wives asserting authority over them, acting not
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as allies and helpers but seeking to
embarrass those who are in there called offices.
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This like this. The conclusion for
this comes from another pot passage,
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and first Timothy, where Paul says
I'm he does not permit a woman to
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speak, but she used to remain
silent, and he specifies that by saying
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not exercise authority over a man.
This prefers to church offices in particular,
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and that brings us to some careful
applications using this passage. In other words,
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to say that women must stay silent
at all times is a and abuse
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of God's word. Why? Because
it requires us, that view requires us
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to reject the clear commands that he
has made when he requires men and women
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to speak in worship even, and
another places as well. Where do we
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see that? We see that here
in First Corinthians Eleven, for example,
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where he talks about women prophesying and
praying. He talks about it in Colossians
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three hundred and sixteen, where he
speaks to all the church, men and
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women, and he says to let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
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to teach one another, singing psalms
hymns and spiritual songs, making melody
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in your heart to the Lord.
We are to teach. Men and women
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are to teach. In other words, men and women are to encourage one
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another and speak the word of God. Men and women are to sing and
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to pray, and these things are
sometimes done speaking out loud in worship even,
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as we have all done by the
Lord's command here today. These commands
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to that I'm mentioning are not for
men only, and we have examples in
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the scriptures of this happening, in
people, both men and women, being
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obedient to these commands. Therefore,
since we have the command to both men
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and women to fullheartedly do these things, we must fullheartedly reject the silencing of
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women in all ways and all places
on the basis of this command, because
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to do Huso is to reject the
other clear commands and examples of the Lord.
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So, to put it in a
provocative way, does the Bible allow
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women to speak in worship? Know, the Bible commands it. So then,
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what is Paul saying here right if
he says so clearly to not speak,
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what does he mean when he says
in another place to speak, in
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another place not to speak? I
think you're left only with one viable option,
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one option we have to throw out
right away, is that the Bible
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contradicts himself itself. We've just read
that God is not an author of confusion,
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but it got an author of peace. We've been reading how God desires
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himself to be known and understood so
that we might come together, so that
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we might know Christ, so that
we might worship him. God is not
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of speaking out of both sides of
his mouth. Nor is Paul and so
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we can easily reject that. Happily, there is another, another and a
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better, easier answer, and it
is this that when Paul speaks about women
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not or when Paul writes about women
not speaking in Church, he has,
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UN very in mind a very particular
type of speaking. It's not a blanket
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statement which would exclude the other things
in which he's commanded, but it's a
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particular kind and it's that of speaking
as one who exercises authority in the church,
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in other words, it's acting like
a pastor or an elder or Deacon.
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This is what he commands women not
to do. Now, this order
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in which the offices of the church
are for qualified men is something that he
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doesn't explain here and describe and give
arguments for. I'm not in depth anyway,
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but he assumes it and it is
explicit in other places, particularly in
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the pastoral pistles, where Paul speaks
to Titus and Timothy and tells them here's
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how the churches are to be ordered, and he gives qualifications for the offices
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which do not are not all our
let me put it this way, because
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qualifications for the offices, which include
the the the officers be men there.
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He says that these officers, ordained
officers, must meet various qualifications and one
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of them is being male. In
addition to these qualification lists, he says
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explicitly in this context of Church order, that he doesn't permit, as I
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mentioned before, women to exercise authority
over men. So, like the requirement
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not to remain or to remain silent, this is not a blanket statement.
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Women can, of course, exercise
authority and all kinds of positions and do,
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but not in church offices. Now, the scripture is so clear and
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so plain on this. We could
stop there and just say, well,
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this is how the Lord has ordered
things, and I think this is I
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will give a reason why in a
moment, but I just want to remind
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us of something. I didn't know
what Oler has was going to say about
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the moon earlier, but it's a
it's a good example. Right. They're
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all kinds of ways in which God
orders both creation and the church, some
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of which we understand very well and
some which we don't understand at all,
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and it's okay. It's okay not
to understand everything that the Lord commands and
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to understand his reasons for it.
Do you know why the Moon rises exactly
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when it does. Can you explain
why and how can you personally predict exactly
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when it's coming to come again and
not look it up? Maybe one of
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us in here, but probably not
most of us. And yet we can
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stand there at the base of the
ring cons and we can look up and
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marvel at the goodness of God.
We can rest in the peace of his
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order and then the lack of confusion
that in the way that he has placed
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thing in this in this world.
It's a good thing, even when we
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don't understand it all, and that
applies in the church as well. Kids,
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you know this all the time right
you're constantly getting rules and things that
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you don't understand. Why does it
have to be why does the dishwasher have
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to be loaded this way and not
that way? Why do I have to
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do this tour in the morning and
not at night? Why do I have
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to go at school at this time
and not at this time? All of
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these things, and yet what do
you do? You submit to your parents
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and you listen to them because you
know that they are they're doing what is
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best for you, as best they
can anyway, and the same is truth.
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Is God, only better unlike me, a father who fails in many
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ways. God is our perfect and
heavenly father who never fails and who orders
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everything perfectly in every way. It's
okay for us, as Christian simply to
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say yes, Dad. It's really
okay now. Doesn't mean that we don't
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strive to understand the deeper things.
As children who are trying to grow up
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into maturity, that's a good thing
to do, to understand the reasons why,
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to get behind the logic and the
theology. God wants us to understand
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those things. But when we don't
remember that, it's okay to say yes
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dad, yes, father, thy
will be done on earth as it is
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in heaven. With that being said, we can now ask why does God
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command it this way? Why does
God command that it is men who hold
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ordained offices? This is a deep
question and a hard one to answer,
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but I think one reason the Lord
commands it is that it's consistent with God's
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almost universal representation of himself as a
male and in particular in the form of
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his son Jesus. This aspect of
God's representation is carried on through the apostles,
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who in turn required of those who
follow them in the offices of Pastor
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and elder and Deacon. This,
of course, does not make women in
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the church any less important or useful. Indeed, the women were not called
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to be apostles or elders. We
see them in the scriptures using their gifts
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in so many were important ways,
and they are listed and identified in the
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scriptures. They are called cold laborers
by Paul, along with Paul, what
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an honor and a privilege that would
be. The first instances of human evangelism,
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the prophetic, the speaking of the
word of God, was done by
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women, those wonderful women who spoke, who saw the resurrection of the Lord
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and went and told the disciples at
the command of God, women who are
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instrumental in training future pastors like Apollos
and Timothy. For this reason, are
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hymnal rightfully include Psalms and and him
tunes written by women. When I prepare
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for teaching, I'm not afraid to
listen or read books and commentaries written by
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women, and here at Covenant we
allow women to participate in anything that is
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not restricted to an ordained person.
I emphasize this because, in our zeal
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to keep the Lord's commands regarding his
offices, like Pharisees. Sometimes we can
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go beyond the limit that the Lord
has said, and this, according both
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00:34:39.519 --> 00:34:43.800
to scripture and our confession, is
something that we ought not to do.
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We should never add to or take
away from what the Lord has said.
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In other words, if Jesus doesn't
make gender a qualification for using a certain
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type of spiritual gift, neither should
we. Prophesying, praying, singing,
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teaching, hospitality, evangelism, encouragement, serving administration, all of these and
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more, in the exercise of these
gifts are open to both men and women.
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It's fine if men and women gravitate
towards this or that thing, but
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we must be careful not to purposefully
or accidentally put boundaries around people where the
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Lord has given freedom. That is
important in our obedience to him. This
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is a core principle, I might
add, of presbyterianism and the reformation in
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general, and it preserves the the
offices and the worship and the sacraments and
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all these other things that we believe
are so important. We must not put
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boundaries where the Lord has robbed freedom. We must not add to what the
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Lord has said. In the flip
side of this is equally true, just
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as important. We must not give
freedom, allow ourselves freedom where the Lord
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puts boundaries God, because God has
clearly made gender one of the qualifications for
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holding office, and so we must
respect that. Now I know and you
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know that the world will and does
deride us for this. They will throw
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up all kinds of things and arguments
about this or that and and say why
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we're so horrible for believing this,
for saying yes father on this issue,
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and they may whine and say it
doesn't make sense and it's not fair,
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but it really we have to remember
that our decisions about what we do and
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what we don't do aren't based on
a popularity mead and we don't have a
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temperature over here. We're sort of
gage how our culture is thinking and then
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align ourselves with that. Right.
The way we make our decisions about what
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we do and worship and church,
government and all of our body life and
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our personal lives is on what the
Lord says. Come what May. We
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simply respect the order God has made
and, of course, try to understand
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it better and better. When we
don't, we end up in all kinds
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of trouble, just like in the
natural world. If you decide to go
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against God's order and you see the
moon rising, you say, well,
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it's daytime. To me, you're
going to have trouble, and in the
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church as well, if we go
against God's order and we reject the things
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he has done, if we if
we creed is unholy or profane the things
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he is called Holy, we're going
to end up in trouble, like we
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talked about with the Lord Supper,
like we talked about with a spiritual gifts,
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like we talked about with preaching and
speaking and the ministry in the Church
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and all these other issues Paul has
been up Britain bringing up into our attention.
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00:37:50.880 --> 00:37:54.760
And so, likewise, here we
have clear instructions to in scripture and
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we must submit ourselves to them,
remembering that we do so because the Lord
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is building up, because the Lord
is good, because the Lord has is
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a god of peace and not confusion, and it's on the basis of that
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order, that that good order,
that Paul gives instructions here. He wants
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women to respect the offices of the
Church and, of course men as well,
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and not to try and undo those
rules by speaking as those with authority.
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Of course, men also are to
respect this order, whether they are
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ordained or not, they must respect
the officers of the Church and give honor
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where it is due. All,
of course, under an in the Lord.
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We are all to be good learners, we are all to be silent
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at times, submissive and ordering ourselves
in the church life so that it may
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be built up according to the word
of God. To bring things to a
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00:38:57.360 --> 00:39:01.719
close, then, one of the
things is that this passage emphasizes in all
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these different applications is that the speaking
and the listening as it happens, both
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informal services like this and around the
edges, during fellowship times and Sunday schools
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and things like that, all the
speaking and all the listening that goes on,
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we are we and our will is
not at the center of that.
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00:39:24.760 --> 00:39:30.679
We are not a toastmasters group coming
together to just improve our speaking ability.
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We're also not a bunch of friends
around a fire pit or a game table
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just gaping for fun these both these
things are fine to do, but they
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aren't the center of what church life
is. The center of what church life
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is all about is God speaking into
the world. Even as he spoke at
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00:39:52.280 --> 00:39:57.079
creation when he said let there be
light, and there was light, he
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00:39:57.119 --> 00:40:00.679
again speaks into the world a saving
word, the word of Christ, and
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creates something new, a new body
that is ordered according to his good pleasure.
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That's what we come to, that's
what we are here for and why
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we are here, and so we
come to open our minds, our hearts
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and sometimes our mouths, and prayer
and singing and teaching and these kinds of
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00:40:21.480 --> 00:40:27.119
things based on that. The good
news that just as at the beginning,
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when the Lord spoke and didn't spoke
and took what was disordered and confusing and
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created order and peace, so also
he has done so in the church.
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I think it's fair to say that
if we were to identify two or three
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core values of a church, of
a good church, one of them ought
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to be good order, living and
striving for things. As he says here
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at the end, all things should
be done decently and in good order.
484
00:41:01.480 --> 00:41:06.639
You remember, back in First Corinthian
seven, Paul speaks about a marriage and
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00:41:06.719 --> 00:41:08.599
singleness and these kinds of issues,
and he says, I say this for
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00:41:08.679 --> 00:41:13.400
your own benefit, not to lay
any restraint on you, but to promote
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00:41:13.440 --> 00:41:21.199
good order and get this secure your
undivided devotion to God. Isn't that amazing
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00:41:21.239 --> 00:41:30.519
that he pairs good order and this
fantastic piety right. The definition of a
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00:41:30.599 --> 00:41:37.159
pious and a godly life, undivided
devotion to the Lord. The one supports
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00:41:37.199 --> 00:41:43.920
the other, the one leads to
the other. Paul similarly says in Colossians
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00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:46.920
too. Five he says to the
Colossians, I though I'm absent in body,
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00:41:46.960 --> 00:41:52.639
I'm with you in spirit, rejoicing
to see your good order and your
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00:41:52.679 --> 00:41:57.360
firmness and the firmness of your faith
in Christ. Paul looks at the Colossians
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00:41:57.440 --> 00:42:05.559
and he's he's really happy. He
rejoices when he sees their firmness of faith
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00:42:05.599 --> 00:42:10.119
and their good order. Why would
that be so important to him? Why
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00:42:10.159 --> 00:42:15.960
would it make his heart sing when
he sees not only their firmness of faith
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00:42:15.159 --> 00:42:22.880
but their good order? Because God
is not an author of confusion. And
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00:42:22.920 --> 00:42:27.639
when we are dwelling in God and
when we are being changed by God and
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00:42:27.679 --> 00:42:31.320
when we are being sanctified by him
according to the Work of Christ in the
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00:42:31.360 --> 00:42:37.519
Gospel, he is ordering us,
our affections, our lives, our worship,
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00:42:37.519 --> 00:42:42.760
our offices, our minds, our
doctrine, all of it. He
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00:42:42.840 --> 00:42:46.119
is ordering it, not just for
the sake of being a neat wreaker of
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00:42:46.159 --> 00:42:52.920
being obsessive about putting things in their
proper place, but putting things in their
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00:42:52.920 --> 00:42:58.360
proper place so that they can reach
their proper ends. And what is our
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00:42:58.360 --> 00:43:06.960
proper end? What is our highest
and undivided devotion to God? That's why
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00:43:07.000 --> 00:43:10.840
good order matters, that's why thinking
about these things in the details of our
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00:43:10.880 --> 00:43:19.559
worship and our government matters. That's
why God emphasizes these things. And so
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00:43:19.639 --> 00:43:25.159
if we see failings in ourselves in
these matters, if we see hard hearts
509
00:43:25.199 --> 00:43:32.119
and unsubmissive hearts, if we find
in ourselves difficulties and to order our church
510
00:43:32.119 --> 00:43:38.400
life here at covenant in these ways, it's okay in this sense that,
511
00:43:38.559 --> 00:43:44.400
because God is who he is and
because he's promised to do what he's promised
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00:43:44.440 --> 00:43:50.199
to do in Christ, and because
his Holy Spirit is in us, the
513
00:43:50.280 --> 00:43:54.199
Lord and Giver of Life, as
we confessed earlier, bringing about this body,
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00:43:54.199 --> 00:43:59.719
creating this church, we can go
to him, we can listen to
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00:43:59.760 --> 00:44:02.119
him, we can submit to him, we can wait on him and know
516
00:44:02.199 --> 00:44:07.159
that the God who is not an
author of confusion but of peace, he
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00:44:07.199 --> 00:44:10.199
will work in us, he will
grow in us and he will bring these
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00:44:10.239 --> 00:44:17.000
things about us. So beloved.
Let's learn to put our faith in him
519
00:44:17.039 --> 00:44:20.400
and the things that he has done, the things that he is doing,
520
00:44:20.440 --> 00:44:23.440
in the things that he has promised
to do. Let's pray
