As I read and study First Corinthians and am preaching messages through the entirety of Paul’s letter for the third time, the text jumps to life for me all the more! I am deeply moved by the centrality of Jesus in First Corinthians. Yes, it’s about church life and gifts and sin and theology — but it is letter primarily about the Supremacy of Jesus as Lord of our lives and Lord of HIS church. There have been times in my life when I have tried to deny my sin and avoid dealing with it. I am sure I have some company in this approach to life. I have also had heavy times when I have felt saddled with my sin and almost in despair. For some reason, I find myself very aware of my sinful habits and tendencies as I read First Corinthians, but in my meditations and study, I keep again and again meeting this JESUS who is behind the text and over my life and the church. And, I hear a gracious invitation to live fully into what he has for me, for the church and for the world which longs for the coming Savior.
Here are some things that the GRACIOUS ONE is highlighting for me. I hope you might find these reflections helpful for you as well.
1. Be Community – Community means common unity. The Corinthian call to community is a call for a group of people to fall on their faces before Jesus and surrender their “agendas” and biases in favor gathering in and around Jesus and be graciously ruled by him. This call to community is a call to be family and to hang in there with each other through thick and thin — to hold each other tightly, to let go of each other only with the greatest of struggle and sacrifice. It’s a call to exhibit tenderness and nurture. Though we have all done and lived less than our best, we are saved to do and live the best God has for us. This is a pathway we must help create in our common life together. That means living beyond backbiting, gossip, suspicion and narrow-mindedness. It also means trusting Jesus, and loving each other. This is Christian community – not a thing to be revered and worshiped in and of itself, but rather a gathering of those falling in front of Jesus and living as he directs us.
2. Be Real – When Paul hits hard at the shortcomings of the Corinthian church and its individual members, he does so with great clarity and force. The idea is that we really face ourselves and own who we are. Not only must we own our genius, but also we must own our deviousness and the ways that we subvert healthy community – from the pastor to elders to members to new friends in our church. We need to share our struggles about being community with each other and take some time to ask “how are we doing here?” and, “are current practices among us helpful or less than helpful?”
3. Be Broken/Mending People – Sinful indulgence is referred to by Paul when he lists a nightmarish gallery of evil which pretty much captures all of us at some point. Just as we might stand there condemned, Paul speaks with the very voice of Jesus saying, “these things you once were…but no longer” … We belong to Christ. We are bought with a price, the Apostle tells us. We are precious and important and in Jesus we are becoming something . Our abject failure is our qualification to enter into a new humanity in Jesus Christ. So,we are FREE to be BROKEN PEOPLE, but never free to say, “that’s just who I am”. We are free to be broken in order that JESUS might MEND us. This mysterious dual reality is something we must weigh and learn to embrace.
4. Keep a Level Playing Field – In Corinthians we are reminded that it doesn’t matter who we think we are; how smart, how rich, how spiritual, how church experienced, how visibly holy — NONE OF THAT MEANS JACK! Belonging to Jesus the Crucified One who is now the Risen One for us humans and for our Salvation is the only thing that matters. The age-old and sickly “caste system” that has been attendant to many a Christian community must become a thing of the past. We are all equal in Christ. New convert? Equal. Five time elder and Bible Scholar? Equal. Parolee? Equal. Corinthians reminds us to keep a big, inclusive and level playing field with a clear view to the Cross. The only spiritual hierarchy in the church is: The Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), the Angelic Hosts of Heaven. Every created person and thing is equal after that.
5. Love Jesus and Yourself enough to constantly examine your life – I save my largest take away from this time through First Corinthians for last. The capstone learning for me in this series is: Love Jesus and yourself enough to examine your life. Here’s what I mean. When you read scripture, ask, “God what are you pointing out for me to do?” And, then we do that thing. If it is confess and flee from a sin. Yep, that’s what we do. If I come to the Lord’s table and have a wicked and impure heart toward someone, particularly someone in the very same room as me, I need to go make that right or I make a mockery of the Lord’s body and blood sacrificed on the cross for me. When I read of the resurrection in Chapter 15, do I acknowledge this is a reality for me…and do I leave fearlessly and lovingly realizing that I have nothing and no one to fear but the sin that holds me back in my journey?
The Corinthian challenge would seem a Herculean challenge “were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing. You ask who this might be? Christ Jesus it is he. Lord of Hosts his name, from age to age the same. On earth there is no equal.” Thank you, Dr. Luther, for these lovely words. Thank God for the reality that Herculean Challenges become glorious victories in Christ as we walk a bit at a time with him. In Latin America, if you ask someone if they are learning something – academically or as a habit, they often answer “poco a poco”. Literally: “A bit and bit”. So, take the challenge a bit and a bit and see what all those bits add up to in a lifetime of devotion.
Much Love,
Randy Rowland