The following teaching was presented at the Friday night prayer and praise service held at Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia on October 12, 1984. The speaker is the Rev. John W. Howe, Rector of the Parish. His title is Preparation for Worship, and the scripture reference is 1 Corinthians 14, verses 26-40.

Let's look at the scripture I asked you to do a little homework and that was to read again what I trust is a very familiar passage to most of you 1 Corinthians 12-14 and I want to make just a couple of comments and I really have to admit that you're not going to hear anything new tonight. I've said this, and I've said this, and I've said this, but we need to be reminded from time to time, and I want to come back to the same passage again. Just very quickly, 1 Corinthians 12 has as its message that there are different gifts for different Christians.

Different gifts for different Christians. The gifts of God's Spirit are for the purpose of equipping us to serve, to make us better able to minister to the Lord, to each other, and to others outside the body of Christ. That's the purpose of God's gifts.

And He does not stamp us out with a little cookie cutter so that we all look alike. He wants us to be different. he revels in differentness the Archbishop of Cape Town says God loves fruit salad different kinds of people that's the theme of 1 Corinthians 12 and he has not created you to be a carbon copy of me aren't you glad and he has not created me to be a carbon copy of you and I'm even gladder and there are two things that we may not say if we would be faithful.

First is in verse 14 and 15. The body does not consist of one member, but many. He's comparing the body of Christ to a physical human body.

If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. We may not say, we may not say that because I don't have your gift, becauseI don't have your ministry, because I don't do what you do, we may not say, therefore I'm not a part in the body. You know, oh, if only I had his gift.

Oh、 if only I were like her. But I'm not. I'm nobody.

I have nothing to offer. You now, I'm not part of the body. I'm not really part of what's happening.

We may not say that. That's forbidden. Drop down to verse 21.

The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. We may not say, I'm not part of the body. And we may not say, you're not part of the body.

I don't need you. I've got it all. I've got enough gifts all by myself.

I don't need you. Thank you very much. We may not say that.

That is forbidden. if we would be faithful. Different gifts for different Christians.

Could I put it to you this way, that it is not God's will that any one of us have all the gifts. Do you know that? A lot of people would teach you that the more mature you get, the more gifts of the Holy Spirit you ought to have until eventually you've got them all.

That is not true. It is not God's will that you or I or any other individual have all the gifts. It is not His will.

He gives different gifts to different Christians so that we need each other. So that we are dependent upon each other. And we may not say, I have no need of you, you have no need of me.

We may not say that. That's the theme of 1 Corinthians 12. 1 Corinthians 13 is the most famous chapter in the whole Bible.

It's the most quoted. It's carved into granite. It's woven into samplers.

People quote it out of context constantly. I'm interested that it really is almost an interruption. It's almost a parenthetical comment.

Look at how you could read the end of chapter 12 and the beginning of chapter 14. You could read that as an unbroken thought. He's asking a series of rhetorical questions.

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers?

Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? The answer is no. No, no, no, no, no. No, we don't all do all those things.

Some are prophets and some are teachers and some speak in tongues and some work miracles and so on. Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues?

No. Do all interpret? No. But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And without pause, you could pick up at verse 2 in chapter 14.

For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but God, for no one understands him and he utters mysteries in the Spirit and so on. Verse 1 of chapter 14 is make love your aim and desire the spiritual gifts. It's exactly the same thought that he ended 12 with.

Different gifts for different Christians. Desire the gifts. Especially the highest ones.

Desire the gifts. Pursue them. God wants to give good gifts to his kids.

Now it's as if he interrupts himself and he says, I can't go any farther talking about the gifts without reminding you about the fruit. The fruit of the Spirit. The character traits of Jesus.

Chief of which is love. And if it's different gifts for different Christians, it's all the fruit for all the Christians. Got it?

The fruit of the Spirit is what? Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, patience, right? So on.

The fruit of the Spirit is the character of Christ. You read Galatians 5 where that passage occurs and look at it as a description. Jesus is love.

Jesus is joy. Jesus is peace. Jesus is long-suffering.

Jesus' patience and so on that's describing his character we're to have different gifts but we're all to have his character different gifts for different Christians all the fruit of the spirit for all the Christians and it's as if Paul is saying now listen the subject is gifts but I can't go any farther talking about gifts without reminding you that the context in which the gifts are to be exercised is that of love that's what 1 Corinthians 13 is about and I wonder how many millions of people have quoted you know if I speak with the tongues of men and angels but have not love I'm just a clanging cymbal and they have no idea what they're talking about Paul is saying if I have gifts of tongues that I can speak with supernatural languages like the angelic host that's a pretty good gift if I understand all mysteries, if I have the gift of knowledge, of wisdom, if I have power to move mountains, if I can heal the sick, if I can do miracles, and I don't have love, it profits zero. It's a reminder. The context in which the gifts are to be exercised is that of love.

That's what 13 is about. And then we come to 14. And it begins, as we've seen, with a more detailed discussion of the gift of tongues in particular, and with it interpretation, and the gift of prophecy, speaking out God's Word in the midst of the congregation, or speaking it to another member of the body of Christ.

I'll leave you to read that at your leisure. I want to pick up with verse 26. This is the real point tonight.

In the light of all that I've just very quickly summarized, What then, brethren? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.

Context is love. Not showing off. Not one-upsmanship.

I've got a better message than you do. I've got a better tongue than you do. Let it be done for edification.

The purpose is love. Purpose is building each other up. Purpose is serving each other.

Purpose is ministering to each other. If anyone does speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, not all at the same time, interrupting each other. Let one interpret.

In the public meeting, now we're not talking about private singing in the Spirit or praying in tongues, but we're talking about giving out a message in tongues. let it be accompanied by an interpretation. And if there's no one to interpret, let each of them keep silence 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 by, 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 prophets. That is a very important statement. If you see somebody carrying on totally out of control and he tells you the Spirit of God has come upon me and is impelling me to do this, that is not the Spirit of God.

That is a good counterfeit. A genuine gift of God, God gives it to us and we still exercise our will over it. The Spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet.

but you do not get out of control. When it's of God, it is decently and in order. And we're going to come to that very phrase at the end of the chapter.

For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silence in the churches. I'm going to be in trouble before the evening's over here.

But I'm going to pursue. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate even as the law says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

What? Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached?

If anyone thinks that he is a prophet or spiritual, he should acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. So my brethren, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues, but all things should be done decently and in order.

I want to make three comments about that passage and commend it to you again for study and as a reminder. First of all, there's a command here that we come prepared. that we come prepared.

What then, brethren? When you come together, come prepared. It says each one of us should have something to offer.

Now notice, that's a very careful way of putting it. Something to offer. It doesn't necessarily mean that each and every single one of us will every single time offer what we have, but will come prepared to offer it.

we'll come ready to share a word of testimony or a word of witness we'll come prepared to sing a hymn to lead off into a song of praise we'll come prepared to give a little thanksgiving we'll come prepared to share something that God has done in our lives by way of answering prayer or meeting our needs we'll come prepared maybe God has opened up a scripture to you as you've studied it and prayed about it this week. And he's given you a wonderful new insight, or maybe he's just kind of underscored something that you've known all along, but suddenly it's hit you in a new way. And you're prepared to offer that.

Now, I don't know how many of you really prepare yourself, but I suspect that it's awfully easy in the press of business and, you know, hurrying home and getting the kids fed and running around and we're exhausted by Friday evening and so on. It's really easy not to prepare. I know some folks really do prepare, and I just want to commend that to you.

Here are some ways that you might do it. This could also apply to Sunday morning, but I'm thinking especially about this service. A lot of us have begun to fast on Fridays.

It's a good discipline. Begin to fast and really wait upon God. And ask him, whether you're fasting or not, ask him during the day and even during the week as we're anticipating, Lord, is there something that you have for me to share?

What's on your mind, Lord? Do you know that the folks whom God has used most consistently among us in offering prophecy, as I've chatted with them about it, I ask questions. I'm very curious.

I want to know how this stuff works. and I've asked them and virtually to a person it's not a matter of arriving here cold and suddenly getting switched on in the middle of the service. It's a matter of having been in prayer and waiting upon the Lord all week long and especially as Friday evening approaches and beginning to have a sense that maybe the Lord would have me speak a word about whatever.

See? And then we get into the service, and there's a hymn, or there's a testimony, or somebody prays, leads in prayer, and sure enough, that's exactly in line with what I began to sense was bubbling up inside. God confirms that.

And so I offer it. Person after person, whom God has used in a powerful way, has shared that as their experience. I want you to know that almost never do I compare notes with Karen before a service.

Almost never. That's not good or bad, we just don't. And I am amazed at how often when she gives a prophecy, it is absolutely right on the subject that God had given me to speak about that night. So much so that we've been accused on occasion of really setting the thing up.

You know, I tell them, here's what I'm going to speak about, see if you can get a good prophecy. Never, never, never. Okay?

Now, it might be that you begin to sense that God is giving you a word, you know, and then as the service begins to unfold, you sense, boy, that is really not the word for tonight. Okay? Okay, hang on to it.

Hang on to it. The time will come. That's why I chose the phrase, I come prepared to offer something.

I'm prepared to offer. And let God lead us and let him put the bits and pieces together. And if it's of him, he'll confirm it.

He'll fit it together in a wonderful way. How many know what I'm talking about? You've seen it.

You know what I'm talking about. But we've got to prepare ourselves. Come prepared.

That doesn't mean come demanding I'm going to have my say tonight. It means I come prepared humbly to offer it. And I'm very interested in the language here about verse 28.

But if there is no one to interpret, let them keep silence. Verse 29, Let two or three prophets speak and let the others weigh what is said. You go back into the Old Testament and there is an incredibly high standard.

It says, if a prophet presumes to speak in the name of the Lord, and it is not 100% true, he's in big trouble. That's not what it says in the New Testament. It says we offer our prophecy in a kind of a humble way, and if it's of God, we expect that others will confirm it.

Let the other prophets weigh what is said. And that's why so often when somebody does do that, others will say, I confirm that. or they'll add to it or slightly shape it in a little bit different direction or it will be filled out as God speaks to us because we're a body.

We need each other. I don't have the final word. I'll offer it and you'll correct it a little bit and it'll be not shut up John you dope but you'll add to it and it'll be filled out.

Do you see what I'm saying? We went away on vestry retreat a few weeks ago and I was really astonished in the middle of the morning as our time unfolded I began to have a sense that God was saying I want you to wash each other's feet and I've only done that once before ever and most of the vestry had never done it before and if you've never done it let me tell you it is a very humiliating experience wonderfully humiliating both for the washer and the washee. And I'm not sure which is worse.

But all morning long, I had that sense that God was saying, I want you to wash each other's feet. And as we came toward the conclusion of our time together, I said, I don't know what to do with this except to share it with you. I think that the Lord is saying that.

Do you know five people said God has been saying the same thing to me? He confirms His Word, you see? He confirms His Word.

I come prepared to offer. I'd suggest, again, and please don't take this as a, well, it is a rebuke, but it's not a strong one. Take it as an encouragement.

Part of being prepared is getting here on time. Do you know the whole first section of our service is a time of worshiping, of praising God. It says the Lord is enthroned on the praises of His people.

And if you drift in 20 minutes after it started, not only have you not come up to speed, but you're slowing everybody else down. Now, of course, there are reasons why some people will be light, and better light than never. But if it's possible to be there, get there on time even ahead of time.

Clear your mind out and focus on the Lord. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. look full in His wonderful face, and let the things of this distracting day get out of the way so God can begin at the very outset to do what He wants among us.

And if there's an opportunity, now sometimes there's not going to be an opportunity for spontaneous testimonies. We've become a very large group. If we're meeting with 20, there can be all kinds of spontaneity.

If we're meeting with 400 or 500 people, sometimes it needs a little more structure. become prepared if there is an opportunity maybe it's right for you to share something if we're worshipping and we start singing in the spirit or there's a lull in the prayers why do you have to wait for us to start the song? you start it do you follow what I'm saying?

come prepared that's the first thing second thing this very difficult word about women some churches still take that absolutely literally and forbid in their public worship meetings a woman to speak at all I'm going to share with you my own opinion on the subject I think, and I can't prove it I think that what Paul is doing here is responding to a very particular situation in the first century in which it was absolutely scandalous as far as either the Jews or the Romans were concerned for women even to come into that kind of a meeting. Nobody had ever done it. They didn't do that, either in pagan society or in Jewish assembly.

It was for men only. And so while that sounds like a terrific put-down to women, in fact, the background is that the Christian church is radical in opening up its worship and including the women in it. But the problem is, you sort of have to read between the lines, the problem is that some of these sisters who have never before been in a meeting of any kind, a political meeting or a worship meeting with a bunch of men, they're sitting there and they're saying to each other, What's going on?

Why is he doing that? Hey, Mabel, what's going on over there? And Paul said it is simply a very practical word of instruction.

If she has a question, let her ask her husband at home. she's never been exposed to this before she does need to be brought up to speed but let it not be in the midst of the service is a great distraction ok now I'm pretty sure I'm right about that because of other passages which talk about prophetesses in the church and talk about women as true yoke fellows in the ministry with Paul and the fact that they shared all of the ministry with him ok it's not that it was restricted to men prophetess in the church, where do you speak except in church? So I'm pretty sure I'm on solid ground, but nevertheless there is a principle that I want to draw out of this.

And that is that the women are not supposed to dominate. And all over the world, it's not Turo, it's not the Episcopal Church USA, it is all over the world. The time when Christian men act most gentlemanly and step back and allow the ladies to go first is public worship.

It's not the ladies' fault that they dominate. It's the men's fault. And I want to encourage the gentlemen again.

Gentlemen, come prepared. Okay? We talked about this last year.

We talk about it again and again and again. I don't know, it's partly probably because of different psychology. We're made differently.

We have a different, women are more feeling, and men hold their feelings in and all kinds of things like that. And it's probably partly because a lot of the women have more opportunity to be involved in prayer and praise meetings, and folks that have gone to Edna's for years have been trained in sharing in a public worship service, and some of the guys have not, and we're just more reticent. But the point is, if the men lead, the women will follow.

If the men don't lead, the women will, and eventually will lose the men. That is not good or bad. That is simply the way it is.

That is true. Dennis Bennett, what did he call it, Jim? He called it the half-Pauline rule, the semi-Pauline rule.

Dennis Bennett came up with this one, That if a woman offers a testimony or leads in prayer or offers a prophecy, another woman may not speak until a man has spoken. That was the half-Pauline rule. I don't want to do that, but I really want to encourage the guys.

Gentlemen, take the lead. Take the lead. Weren't those wonderful testimonies tonight?

Praise God for them. That's not a put down of women. I want the women to be active, but I don't want them to dominate.

And the third thing is the last line, decently and in order. I've already alluded to this. We're talking about the gifts of the Spirit.

We're talking about opening worship up. Talking about allowing the Spirit of God to really take the worship service and do with it what he wants to. And I just want to say that there is absolutely no need, in fact, no room, for wild hysteria.

I'm interested in the most charismatic meetings that I have ever been in, where God has been most dramatically at work, were the meetings that Catherine Kuhlman used to have, and anybody started behaving in some wild, uncontrolled way, the usher is immediately out with that person. We don't need it. And if it begins to get out of control, it's not of God.

There's no need for fleshly ostentation. We don't need to do that. But we do need to come with the expectancy that God would speak to us and through us and He'd weave the bits and pieces together and make a lovely tapestry of praise and blessing and joy that he'd fill this house with himself he'd enliven our worship and in the process we would be literally blessed out of our socks this concludes Mr. Howe's teaching