March 22, 2026 – How Jesus Builds the Church | 1 Corinthians 14:1–40 Baptist Bible Church, Sparta MI

Yesterday we got to enjoy Truett's first birthday party.

Had a lot of fun.

Imagine, though, with me, if I were to have come home from the birthday party, and imagine I told Liz, you know, that birthday party was kind of disappointing.

And she'd say, What do you mean?

And imagine I said, you know, they they had these donuts, but they didn't have my favorite flavor of donut.

And the colors, you know, they weren't really the colors I like.

They weren't like my favorite colors.

And to top it all off, nobody gave me a present.

Imagine I was complaining to Liz like this.

You can just imagine Liz's response, can't you?

What's wrong with you?

What's the matter with you?

The party wasn't for you.

It's not about you.

The party was for truets.

We can imagine this humorous scenario, but my challenge this morning as we open up 1 Corinthians chapter 14 is how often do we carry this same mindset into church?

1 Corinthians 14 · chapter mention

How often do we have that same kind of a mindset that church is about me, meeting my preferences, making me happy?

When really what we should be asking, the question we really ought to be asking is who is church ultimately for?

Did church today make God happy?

That's the question, isn't it?

Is God happy?

Is God pleased with church and with my role in it, with how I participated in it, with what I did today?

Was God honored and pleased?

I think that's a good question, don't you think?

And I think sometimes we just need a little bit of a mental reset to say, hold on, wait a second.

It wasn't about me.

It's not about me.

Is God happy?

Was God pleased?

That's the question.

And in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, Paul tells us in this chapter how to make church about God and not about me.

1 Corinthians 14 · chapter mention

How do we make church about God and not about me?

And we're gonna be a little ambitious today, as you can see.

We've got 40 verses, but the reason I want to hit all of chapter 40 is that this is the big idea of chapter 40.

It all relates to this one single concept, this one big idea.

So we're gonna we're gonna go our way through the text today.

Keep up with me, get your running pants on, uh, because we're gonna be running through the text.

Uh, but the question we need to ask this morning, how how does God want to build his church?

How do we do church today in a way that makes God happy?

Let's pray and then we'll dig into the text together.

Father, thanks for today, thankful for this opportunity we have now to open up your word.

Father, help us.

Help me as I preach, help me to preach with clarity in a way that uh better uh explains the text, helps people to better understand the text, uh, acknowledging that it's your word that's most important this morning.

And so I pray that you'd work through your word.

It's your word that changes us, helps us to grow, and so help us to approach your word with open ears and open hearts today.

It's in Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

First Corinthians chapter 14.

1 Corinthians 14 · chapter mention

Let's begin with reading the first five verses today.

First Corinthians chapter 14, beginning in verse 1.

1 Corinthians 14 · chapter mention

Pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.

For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands him.

But he utters mysteries in the Spirit.

On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.

The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy.

The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.

So I want us to, I want us to, we're gonna get into the whole tongues thing.

That's that's the context of 1 Corinthians chapter 14, and we're gonna we're gonna wrap our minds around what Paul's talking about here.

1 Corinthians 14 · chapter mention

But before we get into those weeds, let's take a step back and understand.

There's a phrase that's repeated three times in these first five verses that helps us understand what a church service that honors and pleases the Lord looks like and what it's meant to accomplish.

Did you catch the phrase that was repeated three times here in the text?

What does God want happening in his church?

He wants it built, he wants it built up, he wants the church built up.

This is the design and desire for the church, which of course shouldn't surprise us this morning because do you remember in Matthew chapter 16 what Jesus told his disciples he was going to do?

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

I will build my church, build my church.

So this should come as no surprise to us that Paul is using the same language to say when the church is gathered together, this is what should be happening.

It should be being built up.

This is a church service that honors the Lord, a church service that contributes to this goal.

However, before we can even go any further than that, we do have to pause and ask the question: what does a built-up church look like?

What does that mean?

Because depending on who you ask today, you could get a lot of different answers.

What does a built-up church actually look like?

For many people today, a built church means a church that is growing numerically, more people, more money, more land, more building.

That's a built-up church.

That's a growing church, that's a thriving church.

If it's growing numerically, more money, more people, more land, more building.

That's, if you ask anybody today, that's generally you might get that kind of an answer.

That's a built-up church.

But the question is, is this the kind of building up that God has in mind?

Is it?

Well, if we go to Ephesians chapter 4, I promise we will be back to 1 Corinthians to get through all these verses shortly, but we do need to hop over to Ephesians chapter 4, because it does us no good if we're not understanding what God means when he says he wants his church built up.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

So what does he mean when he says that?

Well, I want us to notice in Ephesians 4 three characteristics of a built-up church.

Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11.

Ephesians 4:11

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up.

Thank you, Ron.

For building up the body of Christ.

Okay, so here we go.

Built up church.

Here's what God has in mind.

Look in verse 13.

Until we all attain to the unity of the faith.

Unity of the faith.

There's characteristic number one, unity of the faith.

Meaning, are we growing in our unity in the content of what we are believing?

A built-up church is week by week, month by month, year by year, growing in a unified understanding of what we are called to believe.

So that makes sense, doesn't it?

We should come to church and we should be learning and growing, and our faith, what we're believing, should be shaped by what's happening here.

That's number one, growing in a unity in what we believe.

Number two, what does he say?

And of the not and of the knowledge of the Son of God.

The knowledge of the Son of God.

So knowing Jesus.

A built-up church is a church where you are regularly growing and knowing Jesus more.

You are regularly growing, this means growing closer to Jesus.

Growing closer to him, knowing him more.

This is part of what a built-up church looks like.

We should be knowing Jesus more every week.

And if we're not, we're not being built.

We have to know Jesus better.

Do you know Jesus this morning?

Do you know him?

Okay.

A couple people do.

Glad.

Do you want to know him more?

Oh, okay.

May a couple more people.

I hope, I hope you I hope you're here because you want to know Jesus more.

I hope that's you.

And if it isn't, may the Lord do a work in your heart.

We love Jesus.

We love him.

We want to know him more.

Come on, church.

Let's get fired up this morning.

We want to build up, we want to be built in growing and knowing Jesus.

How about number three?

Third characteristic.

To the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

In other words, third characteristic: Christ-likeness.

These are terms of measurement.

And Paul's point is: are you growing?

Are you becoming more like Jesus?

So are you growing in what you and how and what you know you need to believe?

Are you growing in knowing Jesus?

And are you growing to become more like Jesus?

See how all of these kind of all relate to each other?

They're all related concepts.

They're just separated into three different categories here.

But this is this is what a built-up church looks like.

Notice Paul doesn't say your church should hit these benchmarks on this timeline for attendance numbers.

Did you hear me?

Maybe you're here this morning and looking around and saying, man, I wish we had a few more people here.

Maybe that's you.

I mean, of all of us, like my livelihood depends on that the most, doesn't it?

If we're just being like really honest about it.

Okay?

If anybody should want more people here, more the most, it should be me.

But I'm here to tell you, this is what I want.

I want you to become more like Jesus.

That would give that brings me the most joy.

Boy, by the way, I love when you tell me.

I love, that fires me up.

And you say, here's how God is working in my heart, here's how God is changing me.

It doesn't have to do anything with me, by the way.

I love to hear that.

This is because this is what this is what we're supposed to be doing.

This is a built-up church.

Now, by now, now.

If we're becoming more like Jesus, does that mean that we are that we are growing in doing the mission that Jesus left us with?

Does that mean that?

Yeah, yeah.

So making disciples should be the outflow of this.

It should come from that.

Does loving your neighbor, does that qualify under the broad category of becoming more like Jesus?

Does that fit into that?

Yeah, okay.

So we can see like churches planting churches.

Like that would be awesome.

I'd love to get to a stage where we can like seriously talk about planting a church.

But not because we like did all the church growth movement garbage just to get as many people here that already know Jesus.

Let's like make more disciples, and then let's get serious about like planting a church that's gonna do that as well.

Let's do it God's way, in other words.

Let's be, let's, let's build up our church God's way.

This is a built-up church.

Okay, are we are we all clear on that?

To start off.

Okay, okay, I can keep going, but we hey, like I said, we gotta we gotta keep moving.

This is the kind of building that God is in the business of doing.

So how then does God accomplish this in the context of the local church?

That's 1 Corinthians chapter 14.

1 Corinthians 14 · chapter mention

How God accomplishes that in the context of the local church.

And why does Paul say in verses 1 through 5 that prophecy is better than tongues for accomplishing this?

So remember, 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14, all about the spiritual gifts.

So this is where this is being framed, is in this discussion of spiritual gifts.

Let's go to verse 6.

Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?

If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played?

And if the bugle, bugle instrument, not bugle chip, gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?

So, first I'll give I'll give you the blank and then we'll talk about it.

Jesus builds his church through the clear communication of his word, not confusion.

Paul writes in verses 6 through 8 that tongues without revelation is of no benefit.

It's of no benefit to this goal of building up the church.

And he explains by utilizing these two different illustrations, these two metaphors.

So think in your mind, he talks about the instruments of the flute and the harp, not giving distinct notes.

Just imagine in your mind the difference between like a middle school band concert and like the New York Philharmonic.

Okay?

Just imagine, like, there's a pretty clear difference, isn't there?

In one context, and this is speaking as a former middle school band person, so I've got lully way to say this, okay?

Uh when when instruments are not necessarily playing all together, and and when different people are playing different notes at different times, what's the result?

A confusing mess, isn't it?

It's like, what am I supposed to be listening to here?

Or if you were to just say, everybody get your instrument and play whatever note you want, however loud you want, ready, set, go.

We'd all do what?

It would be a confusing mess of sounds that nobody would understand.

The second illustration is the bugle.

And he says that the bugle, if it's not giving a distinct sound, doesn't help get people ready for battle.

So this was a reference to the bugles that were used to give specific signals and directions in battle.

This is how military, this was military technology from back in the day.

You'd use an instrument in order to give specific commands, because you couldn't just call somebody up on your cell phone or use the radio.

You had to use other means.

So the instrument communicated something through a specific note, a specific sound.

And when it was played in that specific way, it was giving a command to the other half of the army across the battlefield to give them an instruction.

So in both of these contexts, clarity is key to understanding.

Hearing with clarity is key to understanding.

Why do these illustrations fit Paul's point with regards to tongues?

Well, let's read the next several verses to find out.

Verse 9.

So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said?

For you will be speaking into the air.

There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning.

But if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker a foreigner to me.

So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret.

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

What am I to do?

Will I pray with my spirit, or I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also, I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.

Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider outsider say amen or I agree to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying?

For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up.

I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.

Nevertheless, in church, I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.

All right.

What's Paul saying with all this?

Well, if you remember, we defined what a uh the gift of tongues was.

We spent some time, not going to go over all that again, because you can just listen to that sermon on the podcast if you missed it.

But if you recall, the gift of speaking in tongues was the divine ability to speak in a foreign known language, an actual language that was a foreign language, but was unknown to you, the speaker.

The divine ability and power to do that.

We see an example of that in Acts chapter 2, where the apostles received the gift of tongues.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

They immediately began to speak in tongues, and everybody from all the different regions of the world heard the gospel in their own language.

It was, in other words, it was intelligible language to people that knew the language.

So Paul's point is the problem of what was happening in Corinth is you had these people with the gift of tongues, and they were going up as part of the service, they would deliver some kind of message with the gift of tongues.

But what was the problem?

Nobody understood it.

So if I came up here and gave you the sermon in Spanish today, guess who would profit from that?

Nobody here.

It would be a really a pointless waste of time.

And this is Paul's point.

Is you're using these, these are amazing gifts.

This is amazing, amazing manifestation of the power of God that you're able to do that.

That's cool.

But is it building anybody up?

And the answer was no.

It wasn't building anyone up.

So then why does Paul say prophecy is better?

Why does he say prophecy is better?

Because prophecy was the transmission of new revelation.

Remember, we talked about this too.

The transmission of newly given revelation, but it was spoken in a language the people could understand.

So that's why Paul says, I'd rather just give you five words in a language that you can understand with your own mind than to utter 10,000 words in a tongue that you don't understand.

It's better because it's intelligible, it's understandable, it clearly communicates.

Now, when we think about what this has to do with today, remember that prophecy and preaching are similar.

Whereas prophecy is the transmission of God's word as it's newly revealed.

Remember again, the prophets of the Old Testament, the word of the Lord came to.

This is newly revealed word of God.

Preaching and teaching is the interpretation of God's word already revealed.

So when you come on Sunday, you're not getting anything new.

You're getting old, very old.

But just explained, studied and explained.

In both cases, the word of God is communicated in a clear and understandable way to the hearers.

At least that's my goal.

Okay, sometimes it's a single, maybe a double once in a while.

But the point is that the church is built up, when it gathers together, it is built up through what?

The word of God.

It's the word of God.

It's this that does the building.

This does the building.

So when we get together, if our purpose is to build up ourselves and our church, then this is where we go to.

We must gather together to hear this, clearly communicate it.

That's the goal.

That's the goal.

This is why, by the way, God's word is often referred to as milk or food.

A very common illustration.

It's referred to as milk, it's referred to as food.

It's the nourishment we need as Christians to grow.

It's what we need.

God's word, therefore, shapes the content of your belief.

It grows you closer to Jesus and produces Christ likeness in you.

But you have to be receiving it in a clear way.

So Jesus not only Builds his church through the clear communication of the word, he also reaches the lost through his clear communication of his word.

Look with me in verse 20.

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking.

Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

In the law it is written, By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people.

And even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.

So what is going on here?

Well, Paul in verse 20 is essentially saying, like, you need to grow in your knowledge, you need to grow in understanding.

Right now, you're not understanding this gift of tongues.

You need to grow in understanding.

Verse 21, he goes to the Old Testament and gives a quote from Isaiah chapter 28.

Isaiah 28 · chapter mention

And in Isaiah chapter 28, Isaiah records how the priests and the prophets of Israel in his time had mocked his prophecy.

Isaiah 28 · chapter mention

His clear communication of the word was being mocked.

In fact, they said, it's funny because he uses this word children in verse 20, but in Isaiah, the religious leaders, the king, the government, the people, they said he was being childish.

His messages were childish.

So there's kind of even a play on words here to what Paul is doing in 1 Corinthians 14.

So they rejected it.

They rejected God's clear communication of his word.

Now God responds to this rejecting of Isaiah's prophecies.

He responds to the prophet Isaiah and pronounces a judgment on the people.

And the judgment was, okay, you're not going to listen to my clearly communicated word.

Pretty soon, you're going to be in a, you're going to be surrounded with a language you don't understand.

Now what's he talking about?

He's talking about the Assyrian invasion and conquest of Israel.

And his point was, because you've rejected my I have spoken clearly to you, but you've just chosen to reject my word.

And because of that, you're going to be conquered and you're going to be surrounded by people and you're going to be living in a land where you don't understand the language.

It'll be a foreign language to you.

So in this sense, it was a sign of judgment on unbelieving Israel.

You with me so far?

Alright, I'm trying to do that clear clarity thing.

Okay, so I want to make sure we're clear.

Verse 22.

Thus, tongues are a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for belie unbelievers, but for believers.

If therefore the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?

But if all prophesy and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all.

He is called to account by all.

The secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.

This is amazing.

Paul's point is, you Corinthians, you so highly value and cherish this gift of tongues, and you think you're gonna do this miraculous thing, the speaking in a foreign language, and he says, outsiders, instead of outsiders coming in and saying, Whoa, that's amazing! This is from God, what are they gonna say?

You're crazy! These people are cuckoo! And leave.

And what will be the intent, what will be the ultimate effect of that?

The unbeliever who comes in will then leave, remaining condemned in their sins.

Because instead of hearing the clear word of God explained, instead of coming in and hearing a clear, the clear gospel, the clear explanation that they are in their sin, that they need to be made right with God, that they that they are dead in their sin, they need to be made alive, that they are blind, they need to be given their sight, instead of hearing that the only way these things happen is through Jesus, and because of what Jesus did on the cross, and that the only way to receive that is by placing your full faith and trust in Jesus to save you.

You can't do it.

You can't do it.

It's not your works.

You need the righteousness of Jesus applied to your account, and it's only by faith and receiving Jesus.

And instead of hearing that kind of a message, they hear blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Paul says it's a it's a sign of judgment for unbelievers.

In other words, you are participating, the church, you are participating in judgments of unbelievers.

Church, is that our mission?

No! We're called to reach the lost.

How?

With the clear communication of the word of God.

It's Romans chapter 10.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

How will they believe unless some unless they can hear?

And how will they hear unless someone is telling them?

Proclaiming.

It's Romans 1.

It's the gospel is the power of God for salvation.

Paul doesn't say in Romans 1, the gift of tongues, miraculous works.

The gospel is the power for salvation.

So do you see the beauty of what Paul is doing here?

How do we grow?

How do we build?

Whether it's us growing and being built up into Christ, or it's us reaching our community, what are we called to make the central focus, aim, goal of how we accomplish it?

The word of God.

The word of God.

It's the word.

This is what works.

This is what works.

Sorry, I'm behind on my slides here.

You see the gift of prophecy versus the gift of tongues there.

The gift of prophecy, clear communication of the word of God that builds the church and reaches the lost.

The gift of tongues, communication of the word of God in a foreign language that confused both believers and unbelievers.

But the point is what?

Clear communication of the word.

That's how God builds his church.

That's how God builds his church.

So for us as a church, this should be the lens.

Really, we evaluate everything, isn't it?

This should be the lens.

How are we doing this in our church and what we do?

How are we doing this on Sunday morning?

How are we doing this in what we're trying to accomplish as a church?

And is God's word, the clear communication of God's word, the central focus of that and how we're trying to accomplish it?

It's really the lens.

It's the lens.

Another way to say it, here we've got the food pyramid.

Speaking of food, okay, this one, you guys know this was the old one.

I'm not trying to get political today, but this was the old one.

And this is the new one they just came out with.

I like the new one because look what look what's at the very top.

Oh yeah.

Okay, but the concept is what?

Like, this is the stuff that you should be focusing on adding to your diet, because that's what contributes to health growing.

This is what's good and healthy.

Focus on the meat.

This this word of God is what should be our consistent diet for us as we seek to grow.

It should be the word of God.

All right.

Last point.

The foundation for everything the church does when it gathers for worship.

Let all things be done for building up.

This is our goal.

Okay, so verses 26 through 40.

Let's go through this as quick as we can.

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 most, 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 church and speak to himself and to God.

Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.

If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent.

For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged.

And the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets.

For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.

Okay, quick essential summary of this.

Clarity is the key.

Clear communication is the key.

That's Paul's point here.

Anything that's confusing or garbled or anything like that is not helpful for building up.

Because if we believe it's the word of God that builds, then our goal should be let's with as much clarity as we can, let's understand it.

Let's understand what it says.

So let's not make things more confusing, let's make them clear.

And so Paul is essentially saying, do things in an orderly way, because that's what communicates clarity.

He says there at the end, by the way, in verse 33, that this is based off of the nature of God Himself.

This is just flows right out of God's own character.

God is a God of confusion.

I mean, it's amazing.

It's amazing.

From the smallest like molecule all the way up to the universe, we see God's order and design, don't we?

We see that God is a God of order and a God of design, a God who does things with purpose and communicates with clarity.

And so if this is the very nature and character of God, then it makes sense that we as the church, we should be communicating Him in a way that is clear and contributes to the understanding.

Okay, the second one here, the second application, uh, there's a lot of different views on this.

Okay, let's read it.

Second half of verse 33.

As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission as the law also says.

If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

All right, ladies, you heard it.

Okay, now nobody is allowed to speak anymore.

And we're out of time, 1131, time to go.

You all ready to go home, right?

All right, all right.

Just kidding.

Uh at first glance, this passage seems to come out kind of out of left field, doesn't it?

Like, what in the world?

Like we were talking about tongues and prophecy and all of a sudden, we're talking about like women not speaking in church.

What's going on here?

Okay.

Well, we we have to first understand there is there's one wrong way to interpret a passage like this, and that's through the cultural argument.

Uh, some people would say that Paul was simply a product of his time, and of his in his time, women were kind of relegated to like second-class citizens, and so since that is the framework Paul was operating from, that's why he wrote this, which therefore means that today we can kind of just ignore it.

That's just like it's not really applicable to today and our 21st century sensibilities.

The problem with that kind of view or approach is it's the exact same argument the LGBTQ movement makes.

Paul was speaking out of a Jewish community that, you know, they were really kind of uh, you know, homophobes about homosexuality and gay marriage.

And since that was his culture, we can just ignore everything he says about homosexuality.

So the point I raise in saying that is that that's a dangerous method of interpretation.

That's danger.

Danger, Will Robinson, right there.

Uh, because ultimately what that does is it places you in the position of authority of determining what is and isn't cultural and not cultural and what applies to today and what doesn't.

So for the Bible-believing Christian who believes in the authority of Scripture and the entire full inspiration of scripture, that everything in here is ultimately from God, that argument is simply not satisfactory.

So then, what are we to make of this passage?

Well, we have to interpret it in light of the context.

So this is where we're going to see all of this really comes together.

Chapter 14 is all about what?

The formal prophesying slash preaching of the word of God when the church is gathered.

And the challenge is what?

To communicate it with clarity for the church to be built up.

This is the larger context of chapter 14.

In the more immediate context of verses 26 through 33, we essentially have the rules and regulations for how God's word is meant to be communicated, again, in this setting.

Rules and regulations.

Speak one at a time.

If somebody's speaking in tongues, they can only speak if they have an interpreter.

Why?

Because we want the word of God clearly communicated so that the church can be built up.

All of these passages, all of all of this context helps us to understand Paul's point here.

And what his point is in these verses.

It's interesting.

The command to keep silent is the third time in chapter 14 that Paul has issued that command already.

And we actually just read the other one in 28.

Uh, if no, if somebody can speak in tongues, but there's nobody to interpret, what is that person meant to do?

Keep silent, keep silent.

Now, is Paul's point.

You're not allowed to ever speak in church if you have the gift of tongues.

No, no.

He's talking about a situational example.

It's situational.

If you can speak with tongues and there's nobody to interpret in that situation, be quiet.

It's not helpful.

Okay, his point here is, and this flows into what we would say would be the headship, the male headship, both in the home and in the church.

And in this context, what I believe Paul is doing is saying when it comes to the formal proclaiming and preaching of the word of God when the church is gathered, God has designed men to do that.

That's a role and responsibility for men.

It's why we would believe that pastors are meant to be men pastors, male pastors.

And that matches up with other passages of scripture where Paul even more explicitly states that.

So it's situational.

It does not necessarily mean, does it, for sure does not mean, because we already know, Paul already mentions how women are involved in ministry in a lot of different ways that he speaks of specifically in the New Testament.

We see women very involved in the ministry of the church, the building up of the church.

So this is not meant to relegate women to second-class citizens in the context of the church.

That's not Paul's intention or point or what he's trying to do.

He's giving specific instructions to how the communicating of the Word of God is meant to take place in the context of the local church when it is gathered.

So that's my quick summary.

Quick summary of what's going on here.

Let's wrap it up in verses 36 through 40.

Or was it from you that the Word of God came?

Or are you the only ones it has reached?

If anyone thinks that he is a prophet or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.

If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.

So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy and do not forbid speaking in tongues.

But all things should be done decently and in order.

And there's really the summary of chapter 14.

All things in the church done decently and in order, so that what?

So that the word of God can be communicated clearly, because it is through the word of God that we are built up as a church and that we can reach the lost with the gospel.

Clear communication of God's word.

Do you trust God's word this morning to do this?

Do you trust it to do it?

When you come to church on Sundays, I would challenge you to embrace this mindset.

What are just a couple of practical application takeaways we could take from the text this morning?

Number one, I would say if we believe that the preaching and teaching of the Word of God is what grows and changes us and builds us up, I would say, number one, one sermon isn't enough.

One sermon isn't enough.

It is the regular intake of the Word of God as it is taught over a long period of time that grows you.

You can probably look back and think about like maybe two or three sermons that were like huge, transformative, like life-changing sermon, and I'm sure we have, but but there's a lot of other sermons in there that just little by little have helped us to be built up and grow up.

You eat one meal and you don't grow a foot, right?

But you but as you gradually, as you gradually are nourished, your body grows.

Some have said, I don't remember 99% of the meals I've eaten, but they have kept me alive.

It's a good way to think about the word.

Secondly, if the preaching and teaching of the word of God is what grows and changes you, come on Sundays with a heart that is receptive.

Come ready to hear, come ready to listen, come with a humility within your own heart, a readiness to say, Lord, what do you have for me today?

Lord, I'm ready to hear from you.

What do you have for me today?

Come with that mindset and approach and attitude when you come on Sundays.

And finally, our final practical application if the preaching and teaching of the Word of God is what grows and changes you, the more the better.

The more the better.

So let me just say, make Sunday a priority.

Make being here important.

I want to be here on a regular basis.

I would just I would challenge you.

There's more avenues than just the Sunday morning service to partake in this.

We've got our Sunday school hour, the hour before, where we're digging into the Word together.

There's more opportunities.

We've got our discipleship ministry where you can dig into the word one-on-one with somebody else.

Do a Bible study with one-on-one, life on life, grow together in the word.

These are other avenues that we as believers can be intentional about getting more of God's word into our diet so that we can continue to grow.

And so, could I just challenge you this morning?

The more the better.

The more the better.

Hey, don't go on the Bible diet.

Don't do it.

None of you here need to lose weight on the Bible diet.

The more the better.

The more the better.

You should have the Thanksgiving meal attitude when it comes to the word.

I want a heaping plates.

It's not enough.

I'm hungry for your word, God.

That should be our attitude that we're really trying to embrace and say, Lord, every avenue, every opportunity.

And so I would just encourage you.

Hey, we're uh we're trying to offer you the word here.

Uh partake.

Partake.

Partake.

Father, thank you for today.

Thank you for this opportunity we've had to be here and to open up your word, to dig into 40 verses.

It was a Thanksgiving feast this morning in your word, as we really uh sought to cover a lot of ground today.

Uh, but Father, we we uh I hope are coming away with the challenge and the application of wanting to grow, wanting to be built up, wanting to become more like Jesus, and understanding that you have told us how that works, and it's through your word, through clearly understanding it, learning it, growing in it.

And so, Father, help us, help us as a church, help us each individually this morning to embrace this attitude, to want, to hunger for you in your word, to want to grow in you, in your word, and uh and to reach the lost through your word.

Uh, and I pray that as we do that, that we would just grow into healthy, healthy believers who have grown fat on the riches of your word.

It's in Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.