Hi Church!
Who is the author of confusion? Do you know? Satan is. He loves to cause chaos, blur lines, and create uncertainty; especially in relation to who God is and what God has said and done.
Paul makes it clear, God is not the author of confusion (I Cor. 14:33). God is the author of clarity, order, and design. For example, when the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, which were without form and void, the result was a well-ordered and beautiful creation that operates/functions with amazing engineering. We see the order in every area of God’s handiwork. The same should be true in the church. The church is meant to function like a body, the body of Christ- with great beauty.
The church at Corinth was clearly out of order, and their services reflected what some of our school classrooms look like at times – filled with Disorder, Disrespect and Disgrace. Childish. The Corinthian church members were speaking, singing and praying over top of one another in the name of the Holy Spirit. No one was learning or benefiting from it. As we learned last Sunday, they were saying and doing some strange things. If you had attended a service, you would have described it as a crazy church. That is how Paul described it.
Yet, “ignorantly” (I Cor. 14:38) they saw themselves as the “spiritual church“. Paul went so far as to ask them, “Did the word of God come originally from you? Or was it only you that it reached? Ouch. Paul is calling them out. They thought they had a special revelation from God, equating their message to God’s inspired word. Paul says, “no“! And he answers his own question, “if anyone thinks himself a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord.” I Cor. 14:37
Paul, not them, was the author of God’s truth. Paul set them straight and in doing so he gave us some great insight as to what a church meeting/service should entail.
Plan to join us on Sunday, as we learn the ingredients to a well-ordered/beautiful church meeting/service. In preparation, I encourage you to read I Corinthians 14:26-40.
In God’s Good Grip,
Pastor Mike