Paul loves to reflect on order when talking about church services in 1 Corinthians 14. That subject continues to be in play all the way to the end of the chapter. What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things…
Tag: 1 Corinthians 14
Should My Church Service Be Seeker-Sensitive?
It ends up that a seeker-sensitive model of the church has been practiced since the very beginning of the church, even though it looked nothing like our seeker-sensitive models today. Paul’s idea of being seeker-sensitive was that we don’t come across as raving mad in our supernatural practices at church and also that we prophesy…
Prophecy Builds, Encourages & Consoles
While comparing tongues and prophecy in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul shows us that while tongues need interpretation to be beneficial to the body of Christ, prophecy is naturally beneficial to the body because it builds up the church (1 Cor 14:3-4, 17), encourages (1 Cor 14:3, 31) and consoles (1 Cor 14:3). This is all important…
Should I Speak in Tongues at Church?
Right from the get-go of 1 Corinthians 14 we’ve got this understanding of a hierarchy within the gifts: Paul wants us to desire the gift of prophecy over the gift of tongues. However, it’s important to understand his reasoning for this as he is not actually downplaying the importance of tongues or trying to belittle…
Early Church Services
Everyone today loves to fight about the right way to “do church.” Every last variant of a church service seems up for grabs to debate. We argue about, songs, instrumentation, liturgy, communion, traditions, on-stage symbolism, message presentation, lighting, Bible translation, appropriate practice of spiritual gifts, acceptable clothing and the list goes on. Everyone thinks they…
