To the Word

An Answered Prayer

2009-05-23T20:29:00.006-05:00

My family lives so far out in the country that the closest thing resembling a town is a collection of buildings five or six miles down the road. We typically pass through town several times a week, more often than not on our way to one of the larger towns up or down the highway. What you might call downtown consists of a volunteer fire station, convenience center, community building, ball park, two church buildings, and a few houses and trailers. A couple of the houses have burned nearly down, and some of the nearby yards combine the casual mess of rural life—rusted car bodies; shabby outbuildings; discarded stoves and refrigerators—with cramped, in-town lots. As an unincorporated town, there’s no local codes enforcement, so houses and yards run the spectrum from well-kept to thoroughly shabby.

Lately I’d been noticing a dog tied up just off the side of the road: a big yellow dog on a very short leash—too short to reach beyond the bare spot he’d worn in front of the trailer. The last couple of times I’d been in town I couldn’t help but notice the dog’s eyes: sad, hopeless, even. Sometimes when I passed he was pulling against his chain, apparently trying to find a more comfortable position in the dirt. Most of the time he was simply lying there, chin on his front paws, eyes nearly closed. Always he was listless, sad-looking, alone. Driving through town last week I found myself whispering a prayer that God wouldn’t allow the poor fellow to keep on suffering.

This week, on the way through town I noticed the dog had gotten loose and was galloping, with obvious relish, around a neighbor’s yard. For a moment I thought he might gallop right into the middle of the road, but he stayed in the grass, clearly glad to be free. I went on to the highway and took care of some business nearby.

On my way back through town I came upon a rather unusual sight for this road: a traffic jam. More precisely it was a slow-moving line consisting of two cars and a pickup truck with a lawnmower trailer. It didn’t take long to find the slowdown’s source: the big yellow dog. He was bouncing along the side of the road, and the drivers were trying to give him room. Just as I came around a curve and up to the line of cars, the dog galloped across our lane of traffic and right into the path of a Buick coming the other way. The car’s front bumper caught the dog solidly on the head and sent him spinning backwards into the path of the pickup truck, which didn’t have time to swerve. The car directly in front of me blocked my view of the dog. I held my head and prayed he was still alive.

The Buick pulled up beside me and the driver opened her window. She was an older woman with an even older-looking man beside her and a poodle-sized dog in the seat behind. The woman’s hand was over her mouth, and tears had begun welling up in her eyes.

“The dog ran right out in front of you.” I told her. “There was nothing you could have done.” The car in front of me had driven on so that I could now see what kind of shape the poor animal was in.

The dog was struggling to rise up off the ground. The flesh of his lower jaw hung from the bone, and both his front paws were already covered with blood. He wagged his tail over and over as he struggled without success to stand. “It doesn’t look like he’s going to make it,” I said. “It wasn’t your fault.” The woman closed the window, and the Buick slowly drove on down the road.

I moved my car up closer and parked it to shield the dog from oncoming traffic. The driver of the pickup truck had parked up ahead, and he and a couple of neighbors were coming over to see about the dog. One man walked quickly, ahead of the others, and called the dog by name, “Biscuit!” No response. It wasn’t particularly hot, but the dog was panting in the sunlight. His eyes were open wide with emotion as unmistakable in a dog as in a human: terror.

“Somebody ought to put him down,” the man said. He said he had a gun back in his trailer, but nobody there wanted to shoot someone else’s dog. The dog’s owner, someone explained, had gone out and wasn’t answering her cell phone. “Her husband’s on oxygen and can’t leave the house,” another neighbor said.

A truck passed in the other lane and Biscuit struggled again to stand up. He had managed by now to pull himself into a sitting position but still wasn’t able to stand. He sat there now without a sound. The skin was torn away on one back leg, apparently from when the pickup truck’s trailer had run over him.

“He’s going to have to go to the vet if he’s going to make it,” someone said.

“I could take him,” I said, “but I’d have to put him in the trunk of my car. Does anybody have a truck?” The man who knew the dog by name went back up the road to see what he could do.

I stood between the wounded dog and the sun, rubbed his back and talked to him as soothingly as I could. After a few minutes a couple of men came and used an old sheet to load Biscuit into the back of a pickup truck and carry him a hundred yards or so to a shady spot in front of his owner’s trailer. I got back into my car and drove up behind. The owner’s husband was already at the door, in his wheelchair, talking with the men about what to do. I drove on, praying softly for Biscuit’s healing and that those taking care of him would show wisdom and compassion.

Then, just outside of town it hit me: Maybe God had already answered my prayer. Last week I had asked God not to allow the dog to keep suffering; could this be his answer?

I came into town again a few hours later. Nobody answered the door at Biscuit’s house. A woman across the road told me his owner had taken him to the veterinarian to be put down. The owners, she went on to say, had been trying to give him away—he needed a family with children and lots of room to run around—but nobody would take him.

Was Biscuit’s death God’s answer to my prayer for ending his suffering? Yes, I believe it was—at least as far as I’m able to understand God’s will. That’s not to say God caused the dog to be wounded and die for my benefit. We humans are on shaky ground whenever we assign specific motives to the intricacies of God’s workings. An individual Christian, for example, may have prayed for opportunities to serve others and later found the events of 9-11 provided a direct answer. Does that mean God destroyed the World Trade Center so a Christian in New York City could hand out bottled water to firefighters? Of course not. But God does use painful events, from the trivial to the most enormous, for answering prayers and serving his purposes.

And not only do I believe God answered my prayer that day, but I think my seeing Biscuit’s injury as it happened was God’s way of reminding me that he had. As I drove through the countryside toward home, I thanked the Lord through tears for both. And in the quiet of driving down a country road, alone with God, I was reminded of a few other truths as well.

First, God hears and answers the prayers of his children—including me. I understand this fact doctrinally, of course, but sometimes it’s a blessing to be reminded deep down. God’s attention to his children is something I now know not only in my head, but in my heart.

Second, sometimes answered prayers hurt more than the unanswered ones do. Biscuit’s sadness while tied up was painful to see on those occasions when I drove past, but most of the time I gave no though to his situation; his suffering and death however, have been a painful memory ever since. Needless to say, those same events were far more difficult for Biscuit himself. In the short term, at least, the end of Biscuit’s suffering was much more painful than his earlier plight. But one day’s intense suffering may have saved him from years of unremitting hopelessness. It’s not the outcome I would have chosen—I prefer happily ever afters. But there’s a reason we love happy endings in our stories: we don’t always get them in a world full of sin and death.

Thus it is that in a fallen world blessings sometimes come only at the cost of pain and suffering. Often the best outcome involves blood and tears. On a small scale, God’s answer to a prayer for healing may come through the suffering of surgery or other painful treatment. On a grand scale, prayers for the downfall of an oppressive regime may be answered through warfare, as when Nazism and Japanese imperialism were broken through the horrors of World War II. At its extreme, redemption in a fallen world comes at the highest imaginable price: the perfect Lamb of God’s bloody death for the sins of the world.

And so we live in a world where the beauty of creation is stained with sickness and death. The greatest triumph grows up from a seedbed of pain, and every life is sustained only through taking the lives of other creatures. Even God’s most merciful answers to prayer often involve pain and suffering. Biscuit no longer experiences the despair of being tethered and alone—thanks to being slammed in the head by a Buick. A young woman no longer suffers with liver disease—thanks to the death of a transplant donor. Are these the results of answered prayers? Yes, they are. Does God enjoy answering prayers through the suffering of others? No, I don’t believe he does. These kinds of situations are by no means a function of God’s callousness or some perverse, cosmic sense of humor. Rather they are a result of our own sin. Death and suffering came into the world through the sin of human beings long ago, and we’ve been living with the consequences ever since.

But praise God that one day those consequences will be destroyed through the life, death, and resurrection of the Son of Man. The Word of God promises that a new heaven and new earth are coming; in that new creation will be no tears, no pain, no death, but only the glorious reality of God and his Kingdom (Rev. 21). Despite all our sin and suffering, the beauty of God’s creation still shines through in this world. And sometimes God answers our prayers in a way that reminds us how much more beautiful and complete that one will be.

© Copyright 2009, A. Milton Stanley

Update: One of my sons points out that he's seen the son of Biscuit's owner visiting with the dog and that, although he was tied up at the time, Biscuit looked pretty happy. Also, the owner's son has been in school most of the days I've been driving through town. Those are good points. I certainly don't want to suggest that Biscuit's owners mistreated him in any way or that they did anything less than their very best in taking care of him. The thoughts here are my own reflections and not an evaluation of anyone else's character or performance.

The Glory of Resurrection

2007-03-29T17:05:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 15:35-58
Given Sunday morning, March 11, 2007
Buena Vista, Virginia, Milton Stanley

We’re coming to the end of 1 Corinthians, and the Apostle Paul has saved the best for last. At the very beginning of this letter he wrote of Jesus Christ crucified. Now he concludes with Christ’s resurrection—and ours. In writing clear of both Christ’s and our resurrection, the Apostle was running counter to the wisdom of his day. Earlier he called the crucifixion of Christ “a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” [1]. And if the crucifixion was folly to Gentiles, then resurrection was doubly foolish. But it is the heart of Christians’ faith and hope. At the beginning of the “resurrection section,” Paul goes to some length to explain that the resurrection of Jesus actually happened. Here he spends even more time describing when and how Christians will be resurrected. He also shows why the coming resurrection is Christians’ hope not only for the future, but for today.

The questions Paul quotes in v. 35 indicate that some of the Christians doubted a bodily resurrection. Considering what Paul said at the beginning of the letter about worldly wisdom, that kind of doubt is what we would expect from those saturated in Corinthian culture. Let’s remember that Corinth was at the heart of Greek civilization—between Athens and Sparta on major land and sea routes. The Corinthians were saturated with Greek thinking, and resurrection of the dead had no place in Greeks thought. Sure, some religious groups, such as Mithraism and the mysteries, believed in an immortality of the spirit. But immortality of the body was considered ridiculous. Paul’s experiences with the Athenians (Acts 17) gives a good picture of how sophisticated Greeks viewed the idea of resurrection—as silly and supersitious.

So these questions in v. 35 are apparently those raised by some of the worldly-wise Greek Christians. They seem reasonable enough: How are the dead raised, and what kind of body will they have? After all, resurrection of the body is not easy to understand. You may have heard the hypothetical question about a man who drowns at sea [2]. The elements of his body are eaten by fish and become part of the bodies of those fish. Later, fishermen come along and catch the fish, and the elements that once were in the drowned man’s body enter the bodies of many other men. If there’s a resurrection, whose body will get those elements? Haven’t you wondered those kinds of things yourself? I certainly have. But Paul doesn’t have much patience for those kinds of questions: “You fools!” he says. The questioners, it seems, were asking not frp, a desire for knowledge, but from doubt.

People today still doubt the resurrection, even in the church. Like sophisticated Greeks of the first century, many Christians today claim a belief in the resurrection of the body when in fact they believe in the immortality of the soul. But the two beliefs are different, and those differences are important. Immortality of the soul means that our souls or spirits break free from our bodies at death and float up to be with God. That’s pretty much the same as some Greek philosophers taught in New Testament times. But it’s not a Christian picture. How many times have you been at a funeral and heard a preacher say, “Well, the departed is with the Lord now.” That’s an appealing thought for those who’ve just lost a loved one. It would be nice to think my mother has been in the heavenly throne room since 1999. But that’s not the picture we see in God’s Word. Hhere in 1 Corinthians 15 and in 1 Thessalonians 4, we learn that Christians will be taken up to heaven at the end of time. And it won’t just be our souls. We’ll have new bodies.

Paul describes that resurrection in some detail here at the end of 1 Corinthians 15. He compares our earthly and resurrection bodies to a seed and the plant that springs forth from it. The seed has to die for a new growth to spring forth. Unless the Lord returns first, these earthly bodies have to die in order for us to inherit our heavenly bodies. These bodies have a sort of earthly glory, but not the kind suited for heaven. But our heavenly bodies will be glorious indeed.

You notice we still haven’t answered the question: how can rot and decay turn into glory? The simple but complete answer is that God does it! He created the world out of nothing and mankind out of dust. If he wants to, rest assured he can create heavenly bodies out of the dust and decay of this earth [3]. Our bodies will be sown as perishable, subject to decay, but they will be raised as imperishable bodies, immune to rot and wear (v. 42). When we are raised for heaven we’ll have bodies, but heavenly ones. At the end of time we’ll not dissolve into the cosmic mind or evaporate into Nirvana. We will have individual, bodily existence forever. As we see elsewhere in the New Testament, that existence will be in the very presence of God.

As Paul continues with the seed analogy, please notice that our bodies will sown in dishonor but raised in glory (v. 43). This description is important. Why will our bodies be sown in dishonor? Because they will have died! Remember that human beings were not created to die, but that death entered the world when Adam and Eve sinned. As every human being shares in the sin of the first man, so every one of us shares in his death. Every death, therefore, is a testimony of sin and dishonor. But one day we will have bodies untouched by sin but full of glory. Our bodies will be sown in weakness but raised in power (v. 43). These bodies here wear out, grow sick, and die. But our heavenly bodies will never grow weak or decay.

Christians will be sown as natural bodies but raised as spiritual bodies (vv. 44-50). In death all humans identify with Adam, but in resurrection Christians identify with Christ [4]. Christ came to earth in weakness to suffer, die, and be resurrected so that we might be forgiven and saved for the Kingdom of God. He came down to share our weakness so that we may rise up to share in his strength [5]. In our baptism, Christians become one with Christ (1 Cor. 6). And when we are one with him, we have to take the bad with the good. Yes, on the cross Jesus paid the price for our sin, but he invites us to suffer and die, too (Lk. 9:23-24). Some Corinthians seem to have forgotten this fact [6]. They wanted the glory of spiritual wisdom and power. Perhaps because they expected to slough off their bodies one day, they believed they could indulge their appetites today. But Christians are called to identify not only with Christ’s glory, but with his weakness in the body and his dishonor on the cross. And if we’re willing to be one with Christ through thick and thin, then one day we’ll be given bodies fit for heaven.

Paul describes the transformation from one to another as a mystery (vv. 51-53). Here we have a small glimpse of when and how we will receive our new bodies. Not all Christians will die, but all will be changed (v. 51). When? At the end of time, when the last trumped sounds (v. 52). At that point the dead in Christ will rise from the dead, and all Christians, living and dead, will be changed instantly from mortal to immortal bodies—even the Corinthians who thought they’d already arrived [7]. The word Paul uses here for “change” can also mean “exchange” or “trade-up” [8]. What a thought, that we’ll trade in our weak, decayed or decaying bodies for bodies that will never decay or die—bodies specially designed for life in heaven. And when we receive those new bodies, we will be lifted up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4).

Some Christians are concerned about the time between death and resurrection. It’s hard for some of us not to know where our loved ones who have died are doing. I’ve heard people say they can’t accept, for example, that their dead loved one is in the dark, or in the wet ground. I’ve had people ask me if their loved ones might be frightened in the grave. Whenever someone asks me this type of question, I tell them what the Bible says about the time between death and resurrection—nothing! For reasons that only God knows, he has decided not to tell us what awaits us in that period of time. Apparently we don’t need to know. But let me ask you a question: Don’t you think the one who makes us out of dust can take care of us in the grave? If we trust him for our eternity and for our now, don’t you think we can trust him with our in-between? Whatever may happen to us in the grave, we know that the Resurrection makes our future glorious and our present much better than it would be without that hope.

The resurrection is hope and triumph for Christians, and its glory enlightens our present. Notice how Paul ends this section? “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” Notice the emphasis on work? After so many words on what could be called theoretical or future reality, Paul brings it down to the practical work at hand. Knowing the truth about the resurrection enlightens our minds and gives us power to do God’s work with abundance and steadfastness. As someone has said, “False doctrine leads to passivity,” while “true doctrine inspires diligent service” [9]. False doctrine can give us a thousand reasons not to do God’s work, but true teaching from the Word will inspire us abundantly. How?

First of all, when we see clearly what God has in store for his own children, then we lose our fear of death. Do you know what I’m talking about? During my youth I spent years running from God and terrified of death. In the daytime I was able to keep my mind turned away from the emptiness and lostness of my soul with a thousand diversions: television, music, friends, food, family. But every night around 4:40 a.m. I awoke in the silence of the darkness and faced the terror of near death and judgment really were. I sometimes lay in bed till dawn considering the many ways I might die, no matter how far-fetched: rabies, tornado, house fire, plane crash. But a steadfast hope in a risen savior frees us from fear. As the author of Hebrews wrote:

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. (Heb 2:14-15)

Christians are no longer slaves to fear of death. Do you know how much energy it takes to run from God and deny our fear of death? Facing up to death with hope of the resurrection frees up huge amounts of energy in our lives. Like Paul, we can confidently say, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting” (vv. 54b-55). Now that’s motivation.

Through the resurrection of Jesus we are also freed from the power of sin. Notice the connection in v. 56: “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” Death comes as a result of sin, and sin from violating God’s law. Here on earth we have victory over sin through Jesus Christ, but we still struggle in the flesh to overcome it (re. 1 Cor. 7). But when our earthly bodies are transformed to heavenly bodies, we won’t struggle anymore to overcome sin in the flesh. We’ll be ready for heaven in the presence of God.

The hope of resurrection also frees Christians for purposeful service. The coming resurrection of the dead is a landmark of the Christian walk. If you’ve ever practiced orienteering or land navigation, you know the value of a landmark. If you take a bearing and simply try walking in a straight, it doesn’t take much error to end up far away from your intended target. But if you shoot an azimuth and find a landmark—a tree, a hill, a building—then you can walk confidently in that direction without swerving to the right or left. The landmark keeps you focused. In the same way, the glory of the coming resurrection through Christ Jesus is a landmark for discipleship. Our work is not in vain, no matter how painful or frustrating life on earth may be. That’s because we’re headed for glory.

Steadfast service is a whole lot easier when we know the rewards are not all in the here and now. The Christian walk is a long haul, not a sprint. The burdens of discipleship are far, far easier to bear when we know what’s been done for us (Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected) and what’s still in store (our sharing that resurrection in glory).

So, Christians, be encouraged. Jesus Christ has done the great work of salvation for us. He has joined us in weakness so that we might join him in glory. Like Jesus, we will suffer on this earth. But oh, what glory is in store!

PRAYER
INVITATION

REFERENCES
1. Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version.
2. Constable, Thomas. Notes on 1 Corinthians, 2004 ed. Online commentary at www.soniclight.com. Pp 171-2.
3. Deffinbaugh, Bob. “A Refresher Course in the Resurrection of the Dead (1 Cor. 15).” Online study at www.bible.org.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Findlayson, Bryan. “Victory Though Jesus Christ.” Online study at http://www.lectionarystudies.com/sunday8ce.html.
8. Deffinbaugh. See also Danker, Frederick William. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. Chicago: University Press, 2000, p. 46.
9. Deffinbaugh.

(c) Copyright 2007, A. Milton Stanley

United in Mind and Judgment

2007-03-12T15:23:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 1:10-17
Preached Sunday morning, July 9, 2006,
Lexington Church of Christ, Milton Stanley

First Corinthians is rich in timeless truth, but it’s also especially timely for the church today. The first-century Corinthian Christians were facing many of the same problems as Christians in our own culture and time. As was his custom, Paul began his letter to this church by reminding them of the great things God has done for them. We saw last time how, even with their many problems, Christians are saints gifted by God for good work. But in this epistle, Paul quickly turns to the Corinthians’ problems, because they are many and severe.

The first trouble is factionalism. It’s a sin very easy to fall into and the root of many more. Factionalism is particularly destructive in the church because it arises from pride. We’re not talking about the pride of feeling good for a job well done but of the sense of being superior to others. It’s especially important to recognize pride if we’re trying to do Bible things in Bible ways. Pride causes factions, even if the factions consider themselves anti-faction! Pride is a constant temptation of Christians who care about doing things right. Fortunately, the cure for pride does not involve doing things right!

Division has a certain allure. When the Apostle Paul wrote this letter, the Corinthians had begun forming cliques around certain teachers. We don’t know if the names Paul gives here are those of the actual factions or if he is merely using them as examples. In any case, dividing the church into parties was as sinful then as it is today. The danger of division is inherent in Protestantism. When each congregation is independent of every other, it becomes too easy for birds of a feather to flock together. And I’m not talking about simply the division between Christian and non-Christian. Romans 14 has a lot to say about differences of opinion among brothers and sisters in Christ. But even today, Christians form competing factions and congregations over issues that should be matters of individual conscience. We see these factions in our own midst not only among the denominations, but among conservatives and liberals, mainstream and “antis” in Churches of Christ.

During the last century, Churches of Christ formed factions around the so-called “editor bishops” of various brotherhood papers: David Lipscomb, Austin McGary, Foy Wallace Jr., etc. A hundred years ago you could tell where a man stood by whether he read Lipscomb’s Gospel Advocate or McGary’s Firm Foundation. In the same we have the New Wineskins and Seek the Old Paths. factions. There's nothing wrong with publications themselves. It's simply that many Christians choose to use them as rallying points for their own selfishness and pride. One writer has called factionalism focusing around prominent preachers and writers “a vicarious ego trip” [1]. No Christian is exempt from the temptation of forming into these factions. It’s a way of puffing ourselves up by hitching our wagons to various doctrinal hotshots. Unfortunately, when our pride becomes more important than our risen Savior, we’re practicing a form of idolatry [2].

Factions, with their foundations of pride, are dangerous places to be. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” [3]. Factionalism threatens to destroy fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And as the Apostle John reminded us, if we do not have loving fellowship with our brother, we cannot love God (1 John 4).

There is, however a cure for division, and it’s right here in Paul’s appeal to the Corinthians. The cure lies not in who wins—conservative, liberal, whatever. The cure for factionalism is found in the name of Jesus Christ [4]. Let’s be very careful here. We won’t have unity in the church simply by calling it by the right name. Of course, the church should not take on factional names; that’s a sinful, proud approach. But simply saying “Church of Christ” doesn’t put us above the fray, even if we write “church” with a little “c.” It sickens me how much pride some Christians take in the name Church of Christ—and I’m not talking about the good kind. The unity of the church must come from more than words. Togetherness must rise from the hearts of Christians [5].

The Christian community is not a place for rivalry but unity. When you think about it, God exists in a community of Father, Son, and Spirit. God calls the church to testify to the world what true community can be [6]. If this church truly cares about Christian unity, we need to be very careful in how we approach denominations, lest the cure we present becomes worse than the ailment. We must proclaim the truth, but let us choose our battles carefully.

Unity in Christ is more important than having our way. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be willing to stand up for God’s way. Clear sin needs to be called sin clearly. But a dash of humility is always in order. For example, I for one am convinced that the Lord’s Supper should be celebrated with one cup of fermented wine. That’s the way every Church of Christ celebrated the supper until around the 1860s. Our practice of using little individual cups of unfermented juice is an innovation of the nineteenth century. Well, you may ask, why am I not preaching at a one-cup, fermented, congregation? Simple. Because breaking fellowship over what kind of cups to use for the Lord’s Supper is absurd. It reminds me of a factional Church of Christ known by the other congregations in town as the “One Cup With a Handle Church of Christ.” I’m willing not to have my way on this matter in order to stay in fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

But how can we tell what’s actually worth dividing over and what’s merely a matter of choice or pride? Well, let’s begin with Jesus’ call for his disciples to take up our crosses daily and follow him (Luke 9:23). If we do that, then we may begin to see the main idea emerging here in Paul’s letter. And what is that main idea? The cross of Jesus Christ. Paul came to preach so that the cross of Christ would not be made empty (v. 17). The power of the church is found in the cross of Jesus Christ. That is where Jesus paid the price for our sin. It is where we gained access to the presence of God. And it is where Christians’ site should always be focused.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb. 12:1-2)

Jesus Christ crucified is at the heart of Christian unity and the supernatural power we proclaim.

In service to a crucified and risen savior Christians find unity as well as answers to the tough questions of faith. We don’t please God by insisting on our way, by playing the big shot or puffing ourselves up. Some of the Corinthians were doing those kinds of things, to the harm of themselves and the church. Christian discipleship is an exercise in service, in sacrifice, and in humility. It is the discipline of following the one who has already accomplished the great work of salvation for us. When we begin to follow Christ in sacrifice and service, we walk in the power and wisdom of God.

The power of the cross is why God entrusted his work to the church. God did not entrust the work of proclaiming the gospels to the wisest, the most educated, or the religious professionals. Through the power of Jesus Christ, the most important tasks of the Kingdom are entrusted to the most ordinary men—but men who deny themselves so that Christ may be proclaimed. Unity in the church comes from dying to ourselves and focusing our energies and attention on our Savior. Unity comes from actually caring about unity with God. If our goal is simply to get along with one another, whatever the cost, then we will drift away from God and, eventually, each other too. But if our goal is pleasing God and proclaiming Christ, then we will get along with one another, too.

The Corinthians had been enriched in all wisdom and knowledge (1:5). So have we. This congregation harbors many talents, much knowledge, and much skill. But what matters most comes not from what we have but from what Christ has given us; looking at ourselves, but at the cross of Christ.

PRAYER
INVITATION

NOTES
1. Piper, John. “Christian Unity and the Cross: 1 Corinthians 1:10-17.” Online sermon text and notes at http://www.desiringgod.org.
2. Loader, William. “First Thoughts on Year A Epistle Passages from the Lectionary. Epiphany 3. Online notes at http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/home.html.
3. James 4:6. Bible quotations are from the English Standard Version.
4. Verse 10. See Stedman, Ray. “Behind Divisions.” Online sermon text at http://www.pbc.org.
5. Chrysostom, John. “Homily III.” Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. XII. Online copy at http://www.ccel.org.
6. Neuchterlein, Paul. “Epiphany 3A.” Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary. http://girardianlectionary.net/year_a/epiphany3a.html.

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

Decently and In Order

2007-03-07T15:21:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 14:26-40
Sunday morning, February 4, 2007
Buena Vista, Virginia, Milton Stanley

Because we’ve been away from 1 Corinthians for several weeks, let’s review what we’ve learned so far in this letter. When we study this week’s passage about prophecy and speaking in tongues, let’s remember that the Corinthian Christians seem to have been infatuated with speaking in tongues. And can you blame them? Wouldn’t you be fascinated with the Spirit-given ability to speak in a language you had never learned? But they were even more infatuated with something else: themselves. They were proud of their Spiritual power, their worldly wisdom. Their pride and knowledge had puffed them up, but the Corinthians were worldly, and so they were in fact small children in the Kingdom of God.

Remember that the Corinthians were a church with a number of problems. In Churches of Christ we strive for the simplicity of the first-century church. Certainly the early church didn’t have all the centuries of trivial additions and harmful tradition that we fight against today. Yet the church of the first century was far from pure of error. The Corinthians were split into factions, prone to bringing lawsuits against one another, plagued with sexual sin, disorderly in the worship, and confused about gender roles—much like the North American church today.

The immediate context of this letter is Paul’s discussion in chapters twelve through fourteen about prophecy and tongues. At the beginning chapter 14 we saw that prophecy is superior to tongues because it edifies believers and convicts the lost. Prophecy does not necessarily involve predicting the future but rather is proclaiming the deep truths from God. It’s not exactly the same as preaching today, but that’s the closest equivalent we now have. In the passage we’re looking at this morning, Paul wants to make sure the Christian assemblies in Corinth are proper and orderly in three areas: prophecy, tongues, and women. The overall theme is expressed in verse 26: “Let all things be done for building up” [1].

Building up, or edification—let everything done in the church be for building up the Kingdom of God. OK, that’s simple enough. But here’s a question. Why does Paul describe the purpose of the assembly as edification of each other rather than worship of God? No one would argue that building up is important, but isn’t worshiping God more important than serving each other? Well, if we’ll take a moment to see what’s being said here, not only will we better understand Paul’s message to the Corinthians, but we’ll gain an insight into interpreting all the Bible.

First of all, it’s understood—to Paul, the Corinthians, and Christians today—that the assembly is where Christians gather to worship God. Remember that 1 Cor. 14:25 mentions worshiping God in the assembly. And here’s the point that helps us understand not only this passage but many other passages in the Bible: Paul is addressing an immediate concern in both verses 25 and 26. It should be clear from Paul’s emphasis on edification that the Corinthians were not doing a very good job of building one another up! So that’s what Paul reminds them to do: edify. Paul is not trying to write a theological monograph here. He’s trying to help Christians in a specific place solve a specific problem. Remembering that truth helps us interpret Scripture. It also helps us see how the truths for the Corinthian congregation are truths ones still benefit the church today.

The focus of these verses reminds us of our two main emphases and obligations in the Kingdom of God. First is the obligation to love and worship God. Jesus told us loving God with all our being is the first and greatest commandment (Mt. 22:36-38). Of course, Jesus was quoting a Word given by God on Sinai (Dt. 6:5). Paul echoes that emphasis in verse 25 when he mentions unbelievers falling down and worshiping God. Second is our obligation to love and edify one another. Jesus called loving our neighbor the second great commandment (Mt. 22:39-40). That commandment, too, goes all the way back to Sinai (Lev. 19:18). Paul reminds the Corinthians of that commandment when he tells them that their worship must edify one another. We’ll look at a few particulars of that edification in a moment. First, though, let’s face perhaps the most controversial element of this chapter in our day.

In verses 34 and 35 Paul declares that “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.” That’s clear enough what he says. The more difficult question is, what does Paul actually mean? What exactly does keeping silent involve? Before we try to answer that question we need to acknowledge up front that our North American culture is very unwell right now on matters of gender. That cultural sickness affects everyone’s judgment in one way or another, whatever our position on these types of matters may be. Let us then, approach the text humbly as well as faithfully. Let’s remember that cultural biases are just as real in our day as they were in Paul’s. Some of what Paul has to say may be directed strictly to first-century Corinthians, while much of what he tells them should be shaping our behavior as well. The challenge is telling the difference.

For example, when Paul says that the women should “keep silent,” is he using a figure of speech or idiom? Consider our own day. When we tell someone to “Be quiet,” what exactly do we mean? Depending on the context, that simple little sentence could literally mean, “Stop talking so much,” “Stop talking so loudly,” “Stop talking about a certain topic,” or “Stop talking at all.” How literally, then, do we take “keep silent” in 1 Cor. 14:34? Should women be allowed to preach and teach in the church? To say “Amen” at the end of a prayer? To speak before and after services as they’re entering or leaving the building? To lead prayer in the assembly? To sing in church? To shuffle in the pew?

Christians have interpreted these two verses in a wide range of ways through the years. Some simply take the passage literally—that women are simply not to talk at all during worship services. Some limit the silence to judging prophecies as in verse 29. Some think the command is for women to worship in an orderly way and stop chattering to one another during the assembly [2]. Others think the instructions here are purely cultural and have no bearing on Christians today. With so many widely varying interpretations, how can we be sure which is correct?

To arrive at a valid interpretation, we must look at passages like this one with the logic of God’s Kingdom. We must be thoroughly familiar with the values of the Kingdom as revealed in the Word and the church. As a first step, we must look at the rest of Scripture and the practice of the church. And what do we find when we look at the contexts of 1 Corinthians in particular, the New Testament in general, and the history of the church?

Well, we know that Christian women did prophesy in the first-century. First Corinthians 11 suggests that women prophesied and prayed in the assembly, and we read unambiguously in Acts 21 that Phillip’s daughters were prophetesses. As Acts 2:8-9 tells us, God declares that “even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.” Yet we also know that men and women have different roles in the church. The same chapter in 1 Corinthians that suggests women used to pray and prophesy tells us without any doubt that the male is head of the female (1 Cor. 11). What’s more, Paul tells Timothy that he does not allow a woman to teach or have authority over a man (see 1 Tim. 2:8-15). We also know from history that the church made it through its first nineteen centuries without women preachers or elders.

Beyond these general principles, I’m not sure we can say much more about exactly what Paul meant. There’s a name, by the way, for the view that men and women have different roles in the church: complementarianism, from the idea that men and women’s roles are different but complementary. That is not a popular view today in many circles. Modernity has produced what is known as the egalitarian view—that men’s and women’s roles are equal. But because women’s authority has typically been exercised in the private sphere of the family while men’s has been in the public spheres of business and politics, the egalitarian view is based on an underlying devaluation of femininity. Some will say it is unjust that women are not allowed to be preachers. One could equally as respond that it’s unfair that men are not allowed to be mothers. You might say that one is physically possible while the other is not. But simply because something is possible doesn’t make it acceptable to god.

Keeping a couple of principles in mind can help us better understand the complementarian view. First, even though our roles are different in the church, in a more important sense men’s and women’s natures are the same. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We all stand in need of a Savior. All Christians are accepted as living members of the Body of Christ, in which there is no male and female, for we are all one in Christ (Gal. 3:28). What’s more, the pattern of men and women being essentially the same but functionally different reflects an important characteristic of God. In John’s gospel we see that Jesus and the Father are essentially one (Jn. 1:1; 10:30), yet Jesus was subject to the Father (Jn. 12:49-50) [3]. Jesus was sent not exalt himself, but to deny himself all the way to the cross. Christians are to do the same (Lk. 9:23), and that applies to men as much as to women.

The concept of denying ourselves lies at the heart of Paul’s admonition for worship to be done decently and in order (1 Cor. 14:40). Worship is not about expressing ourselves or satisfying our own needs. It’s about glorifying God and edifying one another. In this section Paul gives a list of activities that should be done in a proper and orderly manner. Not all Christians should be speaking in tongues at once (v. 27). Believers should speak in tongues only if there is an interpreter (28). Christians should consider, distinguish, or weigh what is said (29), and those prophesying should take turns (30-31). To those of us used to a single sermon at the worship service, Paul’s instructions for two or three to prophesy at one meeting may seem a little unusual. But keep in mind that the Corinthian church was plagued by big-shot syndrome. Paul is simply telling the Corinthians not to allow anyone to monopolize the meetings by talking on and on. At the same time, no one can honestly say he couldn’t stop talking because he was swept away by the Holy Spirit (v. 32).

Notice, too, that there’s nothing in this passage about Christian worship being buttoned-down and solemn. Worship should be orderly, but not hung-up! There’s nothing wrong with becoming excited, laughing, or generally showing emotion in church. In fact, the glimpses of Christian worship we find in the New Testament are far from buttoned-down. The disciples at Pentecost were so emotional that some folks thought they were drunk. Paul wanted men to lift up holy hands in worship (1 Tim. 2:8). Even in this chapter, we have a picture of folks falling on their faces to worship God (14:25). So let’s be sure not to write too much into the words of this chapter. Simply put, Christian worship should be orderly, rather than wild and chaotic, because God is not the Lord of confusion, but of peace (v. 33). In that way, the worship assembly should reflect the character of the Kingdom of God.

Before they received this letter from Paul, the Corinthians may not have realized how unlike the Kingdom their assemblies really were. Pride, it seems, had damaged relationships, reputations, and even their worship gatherings [4]. But a well-ordered assembly not only allows Christians to worship more freely, it is a reminder of God’s own order. He is, after all, the one who orders the sun, moon, stars, oceans, and all life. He is the creator and sustainer of heaven and earth. And he loves us. The old order all around us, where sin spoils everything, is passing away. And this world order is being replaced by the new order of the Kingdom of God. When the church gathers together, we are called to reflect and proclaim the order of that new Kingdom.

And that’s good news—not only that each of us individually can be saved, but that God is renewing all creation (2 Pe. 3:13; Rev. 21:1). So when we gather for worship, let’s remember the one who lived and died for us and for all creation. Let’s die to ourselves, and in the process, truly live.

PRAYER
INVITATION

NOTES
[1] Unless otherwise noted, all Biblical quotations are from the English Standard Version of the Bible.
[2] Ray Stedman. “When You Come Together.” Sermon text online at www.pbc.org.
[3] Wayne A. Grudem."Wives Like Sarah, and the Husbands Who Honor Them: 1 Peter 3:1-7." In Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism, ed. Wayne Grudem and John Piper, 194-208, 499-503. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1991. Book on-line at http://www.bible.org/docs/splife/chrhome/manwoman/chap10.htm.
[4] David J. Hoke. “Doing Church: The Place of Order in Worship.” What’s a Church to Do? Studies in First Corinthians, 34. Sermon text online at http://www.horizonsnet.org/sermons/1cor34.html.

(c) Copyright 2007, A. Milton Stanley

Spiritual Gifts and the Great Commission

2007-03-07T15:18:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 14:1-25
Preached Sunday morning, December 10, 2006
Lexington Church of Christ, Milton Stanley

In our journey through 1 Corinthians, we are still in a part of the letter dealing with spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12-14). But even though the immediate topic at hand is speaking in tongues, Paul throughout this section manages to turn the discussion to larger issues. In chapt. 12, for example, the Apostle used the topic of spiritual gifts to teach a lesson on the unity of the body. In chapt. 13, he reminds Christians of the centrality of love. Here, in chapt. 14, we learn about the superiority of prophecy over speaking in tongues.

By way of reminder, let's look back over the teaching in this section so far. Some Christians in Corinth apparently had the gift of tongues and had let the gift go to their heads. Spiritual gifts, given by God to edify the church, had instead become the subject of pride and one-upsmanship. The result was further divisions in the body. Paul reminded the Corinthians that the gift is not more important than the giver, God's Holy Spirit. That Spirit is love, not simply the sentimental kind, but love that changes thoughts and actions. In chapt. 14 we see how love looks in practice. And if we look carefully, we will find powerful implications for discipleship and evangelism. I urge you to carefully consider the text of this morning's lesson with me today.

The first lesson we learn here is that the gift of prophecy is superior to the gift of speaking in unknown tongues. Paul makes that point repeatedly in this chapter. In verse 1 he urges Christians to desire the gift of prophecy, and in v. 5 he tells them that he himself wishes it for them. The rest of the chapter then shows why prophecy is superior to tongues.

At this point you may well be asking why it really matters which is superior, because we don't have these miraculous gifts today in the church, right? Well, looking back through biblical history we see that miraculous gifts come upon God's servants differently in different generations. The first two centuries of the church were a time when these miraculous gifts were seen in force, but once churches began to have copies of the New Testament, these gifts began to fade from the scene. When it comes to tongues, that situation should be easy enough for us to accept. Paul speaks well here of the gift of tongues, but clearly sees prophecy as having a more important role to play in the congregation. And what is that role?

Do you see the answer in v. 3? Prophecy is given to the church for edification, exhortation, and comfort. Edification is a term meaning to build up. So prophecy is given to build up the church. Exhortation means to stir up to action. Therefore prophecy is intended to urge us on to good works. The word used for comfort here means to console the depressed and grieving. All of these qualities of prophecy, Paul reminds the Corinthians in vv. 4 & 5, are to build up the church. And while the church no longer has miraculous prophecy as in the days of Paul, we still have ways to edify, exhort, and comfort the church. The primary way the church brings that kind of edification about today is through preaching the Word of God.

God is not giving us new revelations as in the days of Paul, but today preaching takes the role prophecy played in the days of the New Testament. In fact, some modern versions of 1 Corinthians 14 translate the Greek word in this chapter not as prophecy but as preaching, proclaiming, or instruction [1]. In any case, today preaching the Word of God plays the role in the church once accomplished by prophecy.

There is an even bigger principle involved here than prophecy itself. That principle is this: prophecy is superior to tongues not for what it is, but for what it does. Let's look again at v. 3: "the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation" [2]. These results are far more important than someone flexing his spiritual muscles through the exercise of a spiritual gift. Prophecy is important for what it does. Speaking in unknown tongues is not as useful to the church because it doesn't build up the body. Unless someone in the assembly has the gift to interpret tongues, the tongues-speaker is only making noise as far as the rest of the congregation is concerned. As Paul says, it's better to speak a few words that minds can understand than ten thousand words that have no meaning to the hearers. Tongues are a vehicle for the Spirit to work, but it may not be a good way to edify the church. The lesson here, then, is that the vehicle for the Spirit's working is not as important as the results. Edification is more important than spiritual razzle-dazzle. The Lord wants the church to be edified, built up, through prophecy, preaching, or whatever means. And do you notice here that the prophecy, the building up, is directed inward, to the saints? This is not preaching or prophecy to the lost, but to the saints in the assembly. So the Apostle gives priority here not to reaching out to the lost, but to building up the saints.

On the other hand, let's look at vv. 24 and 25: "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." Did you catch that? Prophecy is directed to the assembly of Christians, but in the process, it may lead to conversion of the unbeliever! Remember the purpose of prophecy: edification, exhortation, and comfort. Not only do those qualities build the church, those are the qualities of God's Word that convert the lost. So even when we direct our attentions to building up the saints, the lost may still come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ.

This teaching in 1 Cor. 14 helps put the Great Commission of Mt. 28:19-20 in context. First Corinthians is directed to a group of Christians much like those in our own culture today: sophisticated, worldly wise, exposed to ideas from all over the world. And have you noticed, as we’ve made our way through the letter, that Paul never tells the Corinthians to go out and try to convert sinners? That’s right. The message is not to convert sinners, but to convert themselves. The Christians in Corinth need to come together in unity. And in the process, sinners might be saved. The Corinthians enjoyed speaking it tongues—but in doing so, they ran the risk of looking crazy to unbelievers. But if they were doing what they should—building up one anther—then visitors to their assemblies might be saved.

So Paul doesn’t tell the Corinthians to go out and try to convert the lost. Yes, he does say that tongues are for the benefit unbelievers, but he also says they are not as important as prophecy, which is for the benefit of believers. As we’ll see, it’s not that unbelievers aren’t important; it’s simply that the edification, the building up, of believers is more important.

Do we have the same emphasis in the church today? Do we keep the emphasis where it belongs? Remember, 1 Corinthians is written not only to Christians in Corinth, but to us as well (1 Cor. 1:2). Have we made building up the church a priority over bringing in the lost?

If we’ve read our marching orders, of course, we know that we need to do both. We call those marching orders The Great Commission. Let’s have a look at that Commission, from Jesus’ words in Mt. 28:19&20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

That’s the church’s mission in relation to humanity: to baptize new disciples and teach them to be obedient to everything Jesus commanded. In other words, we are to bring in the lost and build up the saved. That’s the two-fold message of the Great Commission.

The problem is, we Christians naturally prefer the semi-Great Commission! And what is the“semi-Great Commission? Simply this. Left to our own devices, we will naturally gravitate to fulfilling only one of the “folds” of our two-fold mission. Christians are commissioned to bring in the lost and build up the saved, but if we're not careful, we'll favor one over the other. The problem is that following only half of the Great Commission is like buying half a horse. Can you imagine wanting to save money so badly that you buy only half a horse? In a way, it makes sense. We put the harness on the front of the horse, and it’s the back end that gives us most of the trouble. So let’s save money and buy only the front end! The problem is that half a horse won’t pull a load. And pretty soon, it stinks!

Sad to say, all too often a congregation wants to follow only half of the Great Commission. In fact, most congregations lean one way or another. Either they focus too little effort on saving the lost or too little on building up the saints. This kind of whop-sided work is as natural as gravity.

Some congregations, for example, are good at going and making disciples. They baptize soul after soul. But if they don’t build up those disciples, teaching them to follow Jesus, then pretty soon the congregation becomes arrogant. Discipleship becomes simply a matter of “We’re in, but you’re out. You’re lost, but we’re on God's good side.” Congregations that turn too much attention outward always become numbers-oriented. Why always? Because if a church doesn’t care to build up the saved, then they don’t really love the ones that are being saved. Baptism becomes not a way to build disciples, but to build attendance. And if we aren’t building up souls, teaching them to obey Jesus’ commands, then we’re not really making disciples.

And that stinks.

Some congregations are good at teaching one another. The members work hard on being better and better Christians, more and more obedient to Jesus Christ. They may develop a very comfortable fellowship, and they may work hard on keeping it that way. But all their attention is focused inward, on their own behavior, and there is no evangelism. Those congregations become smug, thinking they are better than the lost. Church becomes “our thing,” a little mafia. The problem is, if a church isn’t going out to the lost and baptizing the lost into Christ, then they don’t really love them.

And that stinks.

But when congregations fulfill both aspects of the Great Commission—to baptize new Christians and edify the saints, then we are following our marching orders. And here’s the wonderful lesson we learn from 1 Cor. 14: when congregations truly edify one another by the Word of God, the lost are saved. That’s right. As Paul says in 1 Cor. 14:24-25, when edification abounds in the assembly, the lost may well end up worshiping God. That’s why building up the saints is more important than impressing the lost. I can hear it now: “Milton says we don’t need to evangelize.” No. If we don’t seek the lost, then we have only half a horse. But if we edify one another, the lost will see the Holy Spirit among us and glorify God.

There’s another important lesson in these verses of 1 Cor. 14. Evangelism and discipleship are done by congregations. We need to ground new Christians in the Word to build them up. But where does that take place? In the assembly of believers. Yes, it’s important that Christians pray and study the Bible on our own, but where does the building up of Christians take place? In the assembly. There's no way around this process; it's part of the enculturation into the Kingdom.

Imagine if football teams worked the way some congregations try to do church. Let’s say the Oakland Raiders draft a rookie quarterback, fresh from college. Does Art Shell go to that quarterback and say, “Welcome to the NFL! Here’s the play book, now go back to your house and practice patterns in your front yard!” No. They take that young man and throw him into practice with the rest of the team. Sure, there’s an orientation for rookies, but the real learning comes when the rookie starts hanging with the big boys, when he learns what it means to scramble and pass and get hit by a 350-pound defensive tackle in the National Football League. Football is a team activity.

So is discipleship. It’s significant that the only time winning the lost is mentioned in 1 Corinthians is in the context of the spiritual power of a whole congregation. A whole congregation! Conversion is not primarily the job for the preacher or the brother with lots of notches in the cover of his Bible. It’s a congregational mission!

Are we edifying each other in such a way that the lost see us and want to praise God? Do we spend more time building each other up or tearing each other down? The way we build up the church is through edifying, exhorting, and comforting one another. Edification doesn’t arise out of pride, bragging or big dog syndrome; not from criticizing our brothers and sisters when they’re not around; not with blaming the preacher or anyone else for our problems; not with grudges and the silent treatment.

But with love. When a congregation begins to love so that our words and our works are sincere, then we can begin to build the Lord’s church like he intends. That’s what the Corinthian church needed, and that’s what this church needs. We already have the gifts to do it. Remember how 1 Corinthians begins?

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 1:4-8).

“In every way enriched in him . . . not lacking in any spiritual gift.” Remember, too, that Paul is not talking here strictly to the Corinthians, but also to “all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours” (1 Cor. 1:2).

So if we already have those gifts, how do we use them effectively? By trying harder? No. God’s Word seldom if ever calls us to work harder. The only way we can learn to use God’s gifts to his glory is through repentance: through admitting our own weakness and God’s power in the Holy Spirit. Repentance, remember, is not simply turning from our sins at conversion. It’s the process of conversion that goes on throughout the life of Christians as we learn more and more to observe everything Jesus commands. It’s turning to his wisdom, his power, his strength. It’s remembering the message Paul preached day-in and day-out for eighteen months in Corinth: Jesus Christ and him crucified.

PRAYER
INVITATION

NOTES
1. See, for example, the New English Bible, the New Testament in the Language of Today, the New Testament: An American Translation, the Twentieth Century New Testament, and The Message.
2. Scripture quotations here are from the English Standard Version.

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

A Still More Excellent Way

2007-03-07T15:13:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 13
Preached Sunday morning, November 19, 2006
Lexington Church of Christ, Milton Stanley

In this section of 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul is dealing with pride among the Corinthian Christians. Throughout the letter we can find hints of the various ways they were proud of themselves. In chapter 12 it was their spiritual gifts. The first century church was blessed with miraculous gifts such as prophecy and speaking in tongues, but they were far too proud of these powers they had simply been given by God.

Pride is one of the easiest sins for Christians to fall into, and one of the toughest to overcome. For one thing, the standard antidote for pride doesn’t work for Christians. I’m talking about the “You really ain’t nothing special” argument. Yes, Christians really are something special. We’ve been adopted into the royal family and given God’s own Spirit. Some of what the Corinthians were proud of was clearly evil (such as sexual sin). Others were good in and of themselves. Knowledge is good, but the Corinthians used knowledge as an occasion for puffing up and dividing. Prophecy is good but must be kept disciplined and in order. Tongues are good but should be used for building up, not showing off. Paul therefore counters their pride with a little perspective. In response to their pride in knowledge, Paul gives them Jesus Christ crucified. Here, when they are puffed up over their gifts, Paul reminds them of the ultimate gift from God: not spiritual performance, but love.

Paul’s solutions to the Corinthians’ problems are by no means unique. Whenever the church is in trouble, a little perspective and a little love usually do the trick. But if we look carefully at this chapter, we may find that neither of those two qualities are what we would naturally expect. First of all, love is more than a sentiment or emotion. Love is the big picture because, rightly understood, it summarizes the Word of God. As Paul told the Galatians, “ the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”’ [1]. Or, as he told the Romans,

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Rom. 13:8-10)

We can focus all our attention on strictly following all the hundreds of instructions in the Bible and still miss the point of discipleship. We can focus on obedience and still run the risk of being lost, or we can love God and each other and so truly fulfill the law.

When a lawyer asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was, our Savior pointed to love:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Mt. 27:37-40)

Jesus’ words were nothing new. God had revealed these same truths to the Israelites through Moses more than a thousand years earlier (Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18). God has always called his people to love more than anything else.

With our modern-day understanding of what love is, this exaltation of love may not make a lot of sense. Why is love the foundation of discipleship? What about repentance? What about right doctrine? What about godly actions? Well, in God’s eyes, it seems, loving hearts are more important than either words or actions. That’s the whole thrust 1 Cor. 13:1-3; without love, all the good and even miraculous works we may do are worth nothing. Paul’s strong words in these verses bring to mind Jesus’ teaching in Mt. 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” [2]. And what is that will? To love God and our neighbors. Did we prophesy, cast out demons, do mighty works? God really doesn’t care what we do if our hearts are empty of love.

Jesus explained what love in action looks like in his parable of the sheep and goats (Mt. 25:31-46). For every soul it will one day be fire or feast, depending on how we put love into action: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, healing the sick, visiting the oppressed. As Jesus showed us in Mt. 7, it’s love in our hearts, not our grand works, that he cares about. But as he reminds us in Mt. 25, love does take action in good works.

Love is not simply a friendly feeling or a pleasing emotion. It’s the heart of the Word–in the sense of both Scripture and Savior. In other words, it’s about as important as you can get—so important, in fact that the Apostle John was so bold as to say, “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8). In our culture, of course, “love” is a frivolous word. We associate love with desire, sexuality, and especially sentimentality. But if we’re paying attention to what the Bible says, particularly here in 1 Corinthians 13, we find a radically different idea of what love really is.

Love is much, much more than a sentimental emotion. It’s more than “Kumbaya” Christianity or “Precious Moments” faith. In fact, real love is not at all sentimental. Sentimentalism makes love out to be about niceness rather than gentleness, acceptance rather than kindness, cowardice rather than patience. Sentimentalism is deadly to the church. It means looking not for service and truth to God, but for a good-vibe feeling, for everybody to just be happy and get along. But who says discipleship will make us feel good and happy? Do you think Paul felt good and happy being flogged? Was Jesus all warm and cozy while he hung bleeding on the cross? Love takes action, and sometimes that action isn’t very pretty. At the same time, love is not all will and work, either. Love will warm our hearts. Notice how many of Paul’s descriptions of love involve peacefulness? If we really love our neighbor as ourselves, we’ll have peace like nothing else could give us: not cheap and fragile but deep, world-changing peace.

As Jesus told his disciples, by our love the world will know we belong to God (Jn. 13:35). God’s love is an identifying characteristic of Christians. Everybody, saint or sinner, can have warm sentiments. Radical jihadists get along with one another and feel warmly toward their friends and family. Gangsters can be very affectionate toward their own. But not everyone has the Holy Spirit of God. It is the Spirit Christians each receive at our baptism (re. Acts 2:38) and the Spirit of God among us when we gather (Mt. 18:20; Jn 14:17). Love is fruit of that Spirit (Gal. 5:22). Christians don’t receive God’s love just by acting patient, kind, etc. Yes, we do need to act like we love one another. But love doesn’t come into our hearts through pretending. That’s hypocrisy. Love is a gift from God, and it wells up from the heart to energize us for good works.

At this point, a reasonable question is how Christians can cultivate love in our hearts and in our midst. Of course, acting loving isn’t enough, but it may be the first step in priming the pump, getting the habit of love going. If we are truly the church, we have the loving Spirit of God among us. But we may simply be out of the habit of letting that light of that Spirit shine. So we must begin by giving up old habits and begin acting loving. Love rises up from the heart and enlightens our actions, but sometimes we have to stop blocking the flow.

Second, let’s remember that love is the first fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). We can’t force our hearts to love any more than we can force a piece of fruit to grow. Love’s the greatest fruit the Spirit grows in our hearts. The Corinthians seem to have been distracted by the razzle-dazzle of miraculous gifts. But they needed to learn that love trumped the gifts of prophecy or tongues or any other gift of the Spirit. We don’t talk much of the Holy Spirit in Churches of Christ. Maybe that’s because other Christians group think about the Spirit entirely too much. But let’s not let the excess of others lead us to neglect the Holy Spirit. As the Corinthians Christians needed to remember, God doesn’t give the church his Spirit just so we ourselves can be saved, or to give us power in spiritual manifestations. The Church has been given the Spirit not only to protect and build us up, but to serve God and our neighbor.

Putting God’s love into practice is not automatic. It’s something we have to learn and practice. There’s no shortcut to discipleship. Paul’s words here about love are really a description of Christian maturity. And there’s no secret to it. Maturity arises from the same kinds of things we do from the very first steps of discipleship: studying the Scriptures alone and in the community of faith, worshiping God in the assembly, giving up selfish and sinful practices, beginning to do good for others. Those may be boring activities, but they bring about very unboring results: joy, peace, patience, kindness, and most importantly, love.

Love is the preeminent quality of God himself. Therefore when the world looks at a loving church, they don’t merely see a bunch of flawed disciples. In a very real sense, when the world looks at a church that loves, they see God. And what they see has the power to change the church and the world. Therefore, let us pursue love. That’s what the Apostle calls us to do. And as our Lord Jesus told us, what we pursue, we’ll find (Mt. 7:7). Christians, let’s pray to live what we proclaim. Visitors, there’s still time to join the quest.

PRAYER
INVITATION

NOTES
1. Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version of the Bible.
2. Loader, William. “First Thoughts on Year C Epistle Passages from the Lectionary: Epiphany 4.” Online study at http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/CEpEpiphany4.htm.

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

One Body, One Spirit

2006-12-20T19:49:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 12
Preached Sunday morning, November 12, 2006
Lexington Church of Christ, Milton Stanley

Here in chapter 12 we enter a new section in 1 Corinthians. The Apostle Paul begins writing about spiritual gifts, especially the gift of miraculously speaking in unknown tongues or languages. And as Paul does with all the topics he discusses with the factional congregation at Corinth, he addresses the topic with an eye to unity in the body of Christ. As we’ve seen throughout our study, the Corinthian Christians had trouble with divisions over favorite teachers, over sexuality, over suing one another, over idolatry, and, worst of all, over the Lord’s Supper. Some of the very issues that should have brought Christians together were the subject of contention. Sad to say, these topics are at times the subject of contention today.

Paul begins this section with a reference to "spirituals," a term usually thought in this case to refer to spiritual gifts but one equally as descriptive of spiritual persons. Paul reminds the Corinthians that not all spirituality is necessarily good: "You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led" [1]. In other words, we can be led by false spirits or by the Holy Spirit, and each has its various fruits. The words here about either cursing or affirming the lordship of Jesus are not a formula but a guide. They remind us that true spiritual gifts are received and exercised under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Paul goes on to make some important points about these gifts: where they come from, what they’re given for, and how each gift and each member fit into the body of Christ.

In verses 7-11 we learn that spiritual gifts are given by the Holy Spirit as the Spirit chooses. The gifts Paul describes here wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, and interpretations are more than merely natural abilities. God certainly intends us to use our natural abilities, but what we see here is much more than what comes to us naturally. They are gifts from God to his people, with supernatural power, for the common good of the church. They may not be razzle-dazzle displays, but they are more than we would have available without our faith.

Looking back over the history of the church, it seems that miraculous gifts dwindled and went away from the church around the end of the second century, about the time the New Testament took shape. We should not be surprised that miraculous gifts passed from the scene, because the Holy Spirit blows where it will (Jn. 3:8), and throughout the history of God’s people, miraculous gifts have waxed and waned. But simply because we don’t enjoy a profusion of miraculous gifts today doesn’t mean God has quit gifting is people. Again, our gifts today may not have the razzle-dazzle of first-century gifts, but they are nevertheless real and powerful. We may not feel much different at our baptism, but we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).

Spiritual power is much more than natural ability. Of course, if we refuse to acknowledge we have that power, neither we nor anyone else will see it in our lives. At the end of 1 Corinthians 2, the Apostle refers to all Christians as spiritual, as having received the Holy Spirit. But many of the Corinthians were walking in the flesh rather than the Spirit [2]. If, like the Corinthians, we live according to the spirits of the world around us, we are not accessing or manifesting the power of God’s spiritual gifts. Paul wanted all Christians to walk spiritually. When we do, we can accomplish God’s work with God’s power.

Notice in today’s passage that spiritual gifts are given to every Christian [3]. As Paul tells the Corinthians, To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. . . . All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills (1 Cor. 12:7, 11). Every Christian is gifted by God for the good of the church. As we’ll see, we’re gifted not to hold onto the gifts, but to exercise them.

The Spirit gives gifts as he wills not necessarily as we would like. We may not particularly desire the gifts or roles God gives us. Moses didn’t want to be a prophet; Saul didn’t want to be king. God may equip us to do work we would rather not do. But all Christians are called to do the Lord’s work with his power and his authority. And if the power is not our own, then we have no reason to be proud of it [4]. It’s important to remember, however, that although spiritual power comes from God, it is a power he has entrusted to his people.

And when we are given this incredible power from God, we are equipped to serve the body in the way God has prepared us. Paul says,

To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. (1 Cor. 12:8-10)

The gifts mentioned here are not an exhaustive list, but merely examples. How do we know? We know because Paul lists spiritual gifts elsewhere (e.g. Rom. 12, Eph. 4), and the lists are not identical. In fact, spiritual gifts are as different as the needs of the church. They also cover widely different functions, from speaking knowledge to working miracles.

The length to which Paul goes in writing to the Corinthians about spiritual gifts suggests that they were having trouble with this very topic. For one thing, it seems many of the Corinthian Christians didn’t appreciate one another’s gifts. Reading between the lines of Paul’s letter here, it seems the Corinthians assigned too much value to speaking in tongues. So Paul goes on to remind them that every gift is given to serve the body. What good would a body be that were nothing but eyes? Nothing but hands? Nothing but feet or heads? Each member has a function in the body.

God has given his people a variety of gifts and wants all those gifts used. The temptation for every Christian is to play up the importance of our own at the expense of the gifts God has given others. I know a retired pipefitter, a man who faught with the Marines in World War II. God has blessed this brother with an ability to see all of life in light of the cross. Even in his eighties, he continues to be a help to many brothers and sisters in Christ and even to unbelievers. He knows the Bible and sees life in the light of the Word. But he's not much of a public speaker. Although he often has spiritual insights to offer, it may take him a while to get those ideas out of his mouth. One of the preachers at this brother's congregation didn't have much patience with this older brother, and showed it during mid-week Bible study whenever this brother stuttered and struggled to get his ideas across. Other members of the congregation, in turn, didn't have much respect for the preacher, because as an adult he had never done any work other than preach and live off the contributions of the saints. The congregation had been blessed with gifts from God, but the members needed to appreciate not only their own, but each others' gifts.

Each gift is given to the church for edification. We may have the role of facilities maintenance, cooking, or greeting visitors. We may be writers, musicians, teachers, scholars, or administrators. We may be gifted in nurturing children, encouraging, helping, or serving where needed. Each one of us is gifted in different ways, and we must never despise a fellow child of God for being gifted differently, or for using them in ways other than we think they should. The Apostle Paul addressed this very issue in his letter to Christians in Rome when he wrote, "Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand" (Rom. 14:4). We have each been gifted by God and charged to be fruitful for the Kingdom. And as someone said long ago, not one of us has been given the gift of fruit inspector.

Christians often ask, "How do I know what gifts God has given me?" That's a good question, because if we understand our gifts we better understand our mission. People have come up with ways for helping Christians discover their gifts. In my office I have a "Spiritual Gifts Inventory," and I'll be happy to let you take it and see what it says about your life. But it isn't necessary to take any kind of test to find out what our gifts are. The church has plenty of work before us. The best way to discover our gifts is to jump into that work! The more we involve ourselves in the work of the church, the more our gifts begin to emerge and manifest themselves. So if you see something that needs to be done: do it! That's where we discover our gifts.

And when each member is doing the work God has given him or her to do, then all parts of the church are working together for the common good (vv. 7, 11). The Corinthian Christians were treating spiritual gifts as they had teachers: as the subject of positioning for prestige, of one-upsmanship [10]. They failed to see that the gifts were given for all, and that the gifts themselves are not more important than the giver [11]. But if Christians do use our gifts for God, we will have unity in the Body of Christ. The exhortation here is that there be no division in the body, but that Christians care for one another (vv. 25-27). Spiritual gifts are given for the unity of the body, but the Corinthians' focus on the gifts themselves and personal power had led to disunity [12]. They were supposed to be depending on one another, but instead they were trying to outdo each other with their spiritual gifts [13].

Unfortunately, spiritual gifts can still be a point of division in the church. Christians argue over whether or not today God gives spiritual gifts outside the Bible while others argue over the relative values of the gifts. The foot wishes everyone would help carry some of the load, while the eyes wish they didn't have to do all the spotting. The fact is, though, God gives each member gifts for the good of the whole body. And as we'll see in the next chapter, he also gave us love to appreciate the gifts he's given every other member.

Whether we want to admit it or not, we Christians are bound together as a body just as organic and interdependent as a physical body. When one Christian suffers, we all suffer; when one is honored, we're all honored. On the one hand, this is a picture of how the church should be. On the other hand it's a picture of how the church is, whether we act like it or not. One member's sickness is the church's sickness. The sin of one member is the sin of the body. Coldness between members of the church is like a numb, unconscious body. Does this congregation need to wake up out of numbness and unconsciousness? I pray we begin to act like, not a collection of parts, but a body and a healthy one!

So every Christian is gifted by God. You have the power, I have the power to benefit the church, to do the wonderous work God has set before us for the common good of the whole body. And we are a body. When one of us suffers, we all suffer. But we all benefit when one obeys.

And here's a final thought. The Body of Christ is the only place we can really be who God created each one of us to be. We live in a culture of self-sufficiency and individualism. We may want a relationship with God, but perhaps only with our own personal Jesus. But God does not call us to have a generic relationship with Christ where he and I are on equal terms. God calls us into a relationship in which we are one part of something much bigger than ourselves, and in which Christ is the head over all. That's the church the only place to be in fellowship with Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Head, the one one who died and then rose alive to win our forgiveness and equip us in power for whatever comes our way.

PRAYER
INVITATION

NOTES
1. 1 Cor. 12:2. Scripture quotations are taken from the English Standard Version of the Bible.
2. Thomas Constable, Notes on 1 Corinthians, 2004 ed. Available online at www.soniclight.com, 126.
3. Bob Deffinbaugh, "Spirituality and Spiritual Gifts Part 2 (1 Cor. 12:4-11)," online study at www.bible.org.
4. Deffinbaugh.
5. Constable, 127.
6. William Loader, "First Thoughts on Year C Epistle Passages from the Lectionary: Epiphany," online study.
7. William Loader, "First Thoughts on Year A Epistle Passages from the Lectionary: Pentecost," online study.
8. Deffinbaugh.
9. Ibid.
10. Constable, 127.
11. Loader, "Epiphany."
12. Loader, "Pentecost."
13. Deffinbaugh

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

Holding Firmly to the Traditions

2006-12-20T14:36:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 11:2-16
Preached Sunday morning, October 29, 2006
Lexington Church of Christ, Milton Stanley

It’s encouraging to see the women of this congregation gathering together for food and fellowship as they did yesterday. You cannot have a strong church without spiritually strong women, working together. That’s an important truth to remember in the context of the passage we’re studying today, because the concepts of 1 Corinthians 11 are easily misunderstood in our own culture. In fact, quite a bit of the Apostle Paul’s language here about authority and head coverings is a little difficult to appreciate today. But at the heart of the passage we’re studying this morning is this truth: Christ is the head over every man, and man is head of the woman (v. 3). Man is the glory of God, and woman is the glory of man. These truths have consequences for worship: men must not cover their heads while praying or prophesying, but women must. Despite the way these verses are sometimes translated, the head covering is probably not so much a veil as what we would today refer to as a shawl [1].

The question facing Christians today in this passage is simple to ask but much more difficult to answer: are Paul’s instructions here primarily cultural, so that they would not apply to Christians today? Or is he speaking of eternal principles for Christian worship, so that we must obey the letter of his instruction? We can look to the history of the first century Roman empire to help us find answers. In Paul’s day, for example, it was considered scandalous for a woman to appear publicly without a head covering; to do so made her look like a prostitute [2]. But what about in a private home? Was a Christian woman allowed to appear bare-headed when the church met in the houses of members to pray and worship? In the first century, Roman men wore head coverings while praying, but Greeks worshiped bare-headed [3]. Although in later centuries Jewish men came to cover their heads in prayer, during the first century it seems they did not [4]. All of these historical details help us better to understand what Paul was referring to in the first century, but history will take us only so far in deciding how best to interpret this passage for today.

For example we won’t be able to answer certain questions strictly by looking at history and the New Testament. Knowing precisely how Paul’s words apply to us today hinges on understanding complex cultural practices that we simply don’t have adequate information to understand today. What, for example, do the angels in v. 10 have to do with head coverings? Is Paul speaking in this passage strictly of the assembly or also of Christian womens’ appearance in public? Given Paul’s instructions in 1 Cor. 14 about women keeping silent in the worship assemblies, why does he mention them praying and prophesying here? At least some of these issues are cultural, and we don’t fully understand them today.

But the underlying themes of the Apostle’s message are clear enough: traditions are important for the church; men and women are both under authority, and neither man nor woman is independent of the other. Let’s begin our study today by looking at this issue of tradition.

Paul begins this section by complimenting the Corinthian Christians on their faithfulness to Christian tradition: "Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you" [5]. It may seem a little strange for Paul to commend the Corinthian’s faithfulness to tradition when we consider that he immediately follows these words of praise with criticism for ways they are in fact not following Christian tradition. But, in general, they must be following the tradition. After all, Paul was with them for eighteen months teaching Jesus Christ and him crucified. More important for us today than precisely which traditions the Corinthians did or did not follow is Paul’s implicit statement of the importance of Christian tradition. In short, we learn here that traditions are important for the church, both at the beginning and end of today’s passage.

In our culture today, few men or women appreciate what a tradition really is. Literally, it is a practice handed down, from generation to generation. You can’t make up a new tradition; it takes generations of fellowship to create a real tradition, whether those generations are in a family or in a church.

For the church, traditions are dangerous matters. Once a belief or practice has been handed down for a few generations, the tradition has a way of taking on a life of its own. Once a particular practice has been in place for as long as anyone in the church can remember, we are inclined to feel it was handed down not only by men, but by God. The church today, for example, is struggling with innovations introduced not by God, but by Christians seventy-five or a hundred years ago. Our practice on head coverings is a good example. As much as we claim to follow only the Bible without the introduction of human tradition, if we’ve always been taught a particular doctrine or practice, we almost never give it up, even if it’s wrong. Once a teaching, however wrong, becomes a tradition in the church, it’s terribly difficult to get rid of it. So traditions can be very dangerous matters.

Right traditions, of course, are very good. As Paul told the Thessalonian Christians, "So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter" (2 Thess. 2:15). The lineage of a true Christian tradition shows its value: Jesus to the apostles to the church, either in spoken or scriptural teaching. The church practices this proper reliance on tradition all the time. Why, for example, do we celebrate the Lord’s Supper each week but not foot washing, even though Jesus seems to have commanded Christians to practice the latter (Jn. 13:15-17). Why do churches take a collection every week but not practice the holy kiss, even though the Apostle Paul commands Christians four times in the New Testament to greet each other in this way? The answer, is tradition. We look back over how Christians from the earliest days of the church have interpreted these biblical instructions in their day, and we gain insight into how we ought to interpret them today.

Without tradition, Christians become too confident in our own cleverness. Eccentric, goofy interpretations often arise when Christians do not listen to tradition. Tradition is learning not only from the wisest Christians of our own day, but from the wise and faithful Christians of past generations. It’s a wonderful relationship, really: tradition helps us interpret Scripture, and Scripture keeps tradition from straying too far from the truth. From this perspective, the Apostle Paul begins this section of instruction with a reminder of the importance of Christian tradition.

He then goes immediately to the heart of his instruction: "But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God" (11:3). He goes on to say in vv. 8-9 that man is not made for woman, but woman for man. That’s certainly not a politically correct saying in our day, but it is without a doubt biblically correct. In the very first book of the Bible we see that woman was created out of man to be his helper (Gen. 2:20-23). That’s Scripture, tradition, and truth.

Thus Paul instructs women to cover their heads as a symbol of authority: "That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels" (11:10). The word Paul uses here for "authority," by the way, is the same word often translated "right" in 1 Cor. 9. That word usage, by the way, reflects a problem of our own day. We want rights without submitting to authority men as well as women. But Paul writes that women are to cover their heads as a sign of male authority.

Our culture and even the church at times want to deny these different roles for men and women. We live today in a very, very sick time spiritually. The politically correct position is to say that men and women are equal with no real difference between them. We thus see a strange mixing of gender roles today. Some of these gender distinctions are indeed cultural, but many are intrinsic to the way God created men and women to function. In many cases, the distinction between cultural and intrinsic difference in role may not be clear. But here is one place where it is. Churches faithful to the Bible teach the distinction between men’s and women’s roles.

Regardless of what cynical voices may proclaim, these distinctions are not for the advantage of men. It’s much easier to roll with the tide of the day than to stand up for biblical manhood and womanhood. But being faithful to the Word is being faithful to the way God created things. The church’s mission on earth is to re-establish God’s order that was damaged by the fall of mankind. The Kingdom of God is an alternative society that calls its citizens to live a radically different lifestyle than the world around us. Yet some members aren’t willing even to change what they wear to conform to God’s instructions.

Yes, women in the church are essentially in the same state as men. As Paul himself told the Galatians, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28). All men and women have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All of us are unable to save ourselves. All of us must depend on the blood of the Savior for redemption. Spiritually men and women are in exactly the same boat.

But in the created order we have different roles thus the need for a symbol of authority. But how this truth out to be demonstrated in the church today is not necessarily easy to understand. Man is made in the image of God for God’s glory and adornment. Woman is created for man and placed in a subordinate position; we’ll see in 1 Cor. 14 that a woman is to keep silent in the Christian assembly. Thus congregations that conform their practices to New Testament teaching do not allow women to be preachers or teachers or men (1 Tim. 2). This teaching is hard for many to accept, because it runs totally contrary to our contemporary way of thinking. I don’t mean in any way to qualify or soften it. But there is another side to the issue.

Look at 1 Cor. 11:11-12: "Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God." So woman is created for man, but man is created through woman. That is a qualitative power women have that men do not: bearing and nursing children. I don’t know if God gave women this power to balance the authority of men or not. That might be a "fair" distribution of power and authority, but God is not fair. He is, however, just and loving, and his created order is good and perfect.

This teaching in 1 Cor. 11 about the different roles of men and women raises a broader question. How do we reconcile Paul’s teaching here with what he told the Galatians about their being "neither male nor female" in the Kingdom of God? A clue to the nature of men and women can be found in what the Scripture tells us about the nature of God. Let’s look at the relationship of Jesus, the Son of God, to the Father [6]. If we skip ahead in 1 Corinthians, we find these words:

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For God has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when it says, all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. (15:22-28)

Do you see the situation Paul describes here? Christ is in subjection to the Father, even as woman is in subjection to man. Yet Jesus and the Father are in essence one (John 1; 8:58; 17:21). In essence, the Father and Son are one, yet in function they are different. The analogy to men and women is simple: in essence we are the same, but in function different. And as we can see from Jesus’s subjection to the Father, there’s no shame in submission.

Now, all this theology still hasn’t answered a basic question raised by this text: should women wear hats in the worship assembly today? Well, I don’t know. Culturally, first-century women covered their heads in public and were instructed to cover them in their Christian assemblies, too. But more than social conventions are at stake here. Paul’s instructions in 1 Cor. 11 are about God’s created order. In that order, male authority should be demonstrated in some way. For the church today, the question of how to be faithful to this biblical teaching is not up to the preacher alone to decide. For submission to mean anything, it’s the women, not the men of the church, who must decide how best to submit to men. Let’s all, men and women, pray and meditate on this teaching to find the best way to do God’s will in this matter.

Whatever we decide, one thing is clear: Christian women should be women and men, men. Each has different roles, whether headship or support. Those who have served in the military may see the analogy here with officers and non-commissioned officers. The commissioned officers have the authority, but it’s the NCOs who keep things running. If you don’t think support roles are vital, see how long the military could function without NCOs.

One role officers or enlisted is not better; it’s just the roles we play. Once we get that matter settled, we can get down to what really matters. And what really matters? The answer is found in Paul’s original message to the Corinthians: Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:20). In that simple teaching is everything we need to know about submission: Jesus Christ to the Father, and us to God. The roles we play as men and women on this earth are for a short time in the context of eternity. But the roles Christians will one day lay in the Kingdom of God are forever.

PRAYER
INVITATION

NOTES
1. Thomas R. Schreiner, "Head Coverings, Prophecies, and the Trinity: 1 Corinthians 11:2-16," online study at www.bible.org.
2. Lawrence Richards, The Teacher’s Commentary. Wheaton: Victor Books, 1987, p. 867.
3. Norman Hillyer, "1 Corinthians" in The New Bible Commentary, rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970, p. 1065. See also Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 10. New York and Nashville: Abingdon, 1953, p. 125.
4. Interpreter’s Bible, 125.
5. 1 Cor. 11:2. Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotes here are from the English Standard Version.
6. The ideas on this subject come from Wayne A. Grudem, "Wives Like Sarah, and the Husbands Who Honor Them: 1 Peter 3:1-7." In Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism, ed. Wayne Grudem and John Piper, 194-208, 499-503. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1991. Book on-line. Available from http://www.bible.org/docs/splife/chrhome/manwoman/chap10.htm. Internet. Accessed 15 October 2006.

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

All to the Glory of God

2006-10-23T20:48:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 10:14-11:1
Preached Sunday morning, October 22, 2006
Lexington Church of Christ, Milton Stanley

In our study of 1 Corinthians we’ve now come to the conclusion of a long section on liberty and love. The Apostle Paul began this section in chapt. 8 with a discussion about meat sacrificed to idols. Sure, Paul says, idols are nothing, and it really means nothing if someone has sacrificed meat to one of these non-existent gods. But at the same time it would be better not to eat meat at all rather than to cause a less-informed Christian to think communing with idols is acceptable. In chapt. 9 Paul used himself as an example of denying one’s self for the sake of the gospel. At the beginning of chapt. 10 Paul warned the Corintinthians to beware lest they fall.

The section we’ll be looking at today has two main parts. In 10:14-22 the Apostle addresses the group we might call the liberated Christians, those who have thought the matter over logically and know that there is nothing really wrong with meat simply because it’s been sacrificed to an idol. To this group Paul talks about idol meats in the context of relationship to God and warns the group to flee from idolatry. In 10:33-11:1, Paul speaks primarily to the weaker brethren who think the meat itself is somehow contaminated. Here the argument is framed in terms of the consciences of the meat eaters and their fellow Christians. As the Word of God often does, Paul's words probably offended those on both sides of the argument. But Paul’s teaching offered a way through a controversy that was harming the church. The church today would do well to pay attention both to Paul’s method of handling the controversy and the underlying principles it reveals.

Notice how this part begins? “Therefore, my beloved, free from idolatry.” Let’s look at one point right off the bat: the surprising way Paul addresses the Corinthian Christians. Consider the way these Christians have treated Paul. They’ve questioned his apostolic authority and broken into factions (chapts. 1-4), they’ve arrogantly asserted their so-called wisdom (chapts. 1 &2), they’ve approved of sexual immorality (chapts. 5-7), and they’ve joined in feasts dedicated to false gods (chapts. 8-10). Yet the Apostle calls them “my beloved.” Let’s think about that for a minute. Even as he corrects them for their wrong attitudes, Paul is beginning to show them something about love that he will teach them more fully in chapt. 13. So as we look over this section, let’s remember Paul’s basic attitude toward his erring brethren.

Paul’s words here clearly tie back to chapt. 8. After going far afield, with discussions of the Exodus, sports, and Paul’s own apostleship, he comes back now with a simple warning: flee from idolatry. There’s irony in Paul’s words in v. 15: “I speak as to wise [or sensible] men.” As we saw earlier in the letter, many of the Corinthians thought they were wise when in fact they had a lot to learn. Well, if they think they’re wise, let’s see if they can understand this teaching. Paul is speaking primarily to the intellectually strong group here, the ones who understand the emptiness of idolatry. The problem is that they may know doctrine, but they’ve missed the heart of the matter when it comes to eating meat sacrificed to idols.

And what is the heart of the matter? Communion. Communion is a term we avoid in Churches of Christ, but it's the word Paul uses in verses 16 to talk of the body and blood of the Lord's Supper. Communion is at the heart of table fellowship in the name of a god. The question is, With whom will he have fellowship, Christ or demons? In the Old Testament the Israelites learned that meals were a special way to commune either with false gods or the one true God (i.e. Dt. 32:21; Is. 65:11). As Jesus himself remind us, you can't serve two masters (Mt. 6:24). The problem with eating at feasts dedicated to idols was not the meat itself but the implied fellowship with false gods. Christians have a table of divine fellowship, and it has nothing to do with the pagan gods worshipped in Corinth. The Corinthian Christians appear to have known better than to keep idols of stone, wood, or metal in their homes, but some were nevertheless at risk of practicing idolatry in their hearts and actions.

Just as we've been studying on Wednesday evening that true obedience begins in the heart, so on the other hand idolatry also begins there. The prophet Samuel revealed that truth a thousand years before Christ when he told King Saul, "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness as idolatry" (1 Sam. 15:23). The Apostle Paul also equated idolatry with the heart when he wrote to the Colossian Christians about "sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry" (Col. 3:5) [3].

Are you confident that this congregation would never commit idolatry? Well, before becoming too smug, bear in mind that following the Exodus, the whole nation of Israel fell into idolatry. They had God himself visibly in their presence day and night, and only two men out of hundreds of thousands resisted the allure of disobedience and idolatry. Before we begin patting ourselves on the back for not having physical idols in our lives, consider the temptations to set up idols in our hearts.

False gods have not gone away; they only go by different names. None of us bow down to statues of Aphrodite, but are you guilty of logging onto a computer and looking at pornography on the Internet? Do you allow yourself to be titillated by images on movies and television? We no longer worship the Olympian gods, but how many of us have made idols of our favorite entertainers or sports stars? We don't offer burnt offerings to Mammon, but has our infatuation with earning, spending, and hoarding money become idols in our hearts? Do we place love for our biological families before love for God and his church? If we have, that is idolatry.

Do we think of ourselves more as Americans than as Christians? That too is idolatry. Down the street from this congregation a church has placed a flag pole in front of their building. Two flags fly on the pole: the Christian flag (whatever that's supposed to be) and the American flag. Which one holds the place of honor on top of the pole? The American flag. What does that say about a church's priorities? And don't think idolatry of the nation is a denominational problem. In a congregation where my family used to worship, Independence Day fell one year on a Sunday. One of the songs that day was "America," and as we began to sing, one of the older sisters, an elder's wife, jumped to her feet. Most of the congregation followed. How strange that our congregation had no trouble sitting on our backsides for "Stand Up for Jesus," "Holy, Holy, Holy," or other songs of praise to Jehovah, but we felt the need to stand at attention for a patriotic hymn.

We can even commit idolatry in the name of the church. Human beings, every one of us, have been created in the image of God (Gen 1:26-28). Yet we are always tempted get the image backward: to view God as no more than a super-human, someone created in our image. As someone has said, "Satan is the master counterfeiter" with the ability to make evil look good to eyes untrained in spiritual discernment [4]. Trying to reshape God in our own image is idolatry of a very serious nature, especially as we can fall into it without even knowing we're doing so. That's all the more reason to know who God really is as revealed in Scripture.

Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, Christians choose every day between the tables of demons and the table of the Lord. It's very sobering to read about the Corinthians, because the so-called stronger brothers don't seem to have been aware the danger they faced from communing with demons. They didn't realize the choice before them, but they were choosing nevertheless. So are we.

In the next section of today's passage (10:23-30), Paul reminds the Corinthians that "all things are lawful." Here Paul repeats what he told them in 6:12-13. In the earlier case Paul used the example of food in making his case against sexual morality. Here he refers to food in making a case against idolatry. In both cases he urges Christians to flee temptation. In this section Paul specifically addresses the weaker brethren who believe there's a problem with eating the meat itself. Paul tells them the problem is not with the food but with the effect. The food itself is fine, as Paul reminded Timothy: “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer” (1 Tim. 4:4-5). The problem with these idol feasts is not the food but the danger of making a weak brother stumble back into idolatry.

Christians are not to avoid going out and associating with non-Christians (1 Cor. 5:10). And when we do, Paul tells those of weaker consciences, simply don't ask if the meat you're eating has been sacrificed to an idol. It won't hurt you even if it has been. However, if someone brings up the fact that it has, then he or she probably has a problem or wouldn't have mentioned it [5]. In that case, it's better to do without so that no one could reasonably think that a Christian supports the worship of pagan gods. Although Christians were entitled to eat the meat, it was better not to eat it than to cause others to think that a Christian supported the worship of false gods.

What about today? The particulars are different, but what kinds of privileges should Christians renounce today in order to glorify God and distance ourselves from idolatry? Perhaps our use of alcohol or tobacco cast a poor light on our commitment to Christ. Perhaps it's R-rated movies and other dirty entertainment. Perhaps we are showing off our money in conspicuous ways---jewelry, fancy cars, expensive watches---while allowing our brothers and sisters in Christ to suffer. Yes, some of these things are not bad in and of themselves, and if everyone had a fully understanding mind we wouldn't have to give some of them up. But what privileges and pleasures are you willing to give up for the sake of someone else's soul?

The irony in the case of the Corinthians is that the stronger brothers are right; there's nothing really wrong with meat sacrificed to idols. But in this case, being right is not as important as being loving [6]. What good is it for one set of Christians to be right in their privileges while another group falls into hell? The brothers with superior knowledge need to add superior sacrifice to their lives for the sake of their brethren. How can we have communion with our brothers and sisters if our lives drive them away from Jesus Christ? Right relationships---with God and one another---are as important as right doctrine. And both are the gospel [7]. That's not to say truth is not important; we must never compromise the truth simply to get along. But if we say we have the truth and don't have communion with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we've missed something of first importance.

But if we are willing to sacrifice our privilege and pleasures for the sake of the Kingdom, then we bring glory to God. Somehow Christians in our culture have come to view discipleship as self-fulfillment. Preachers are sometimes guilty of presenting the gospel in those terms: "become a Christian and your life will be full of fun, happiness, and prosperity!" Wrong. Christian discipleship is not about self-fulfillment; it's about self-sacrifice (Lk. 9:23; Rom. 12:1). We may have entered the Kingdom looking for self-fulfillment, but there comes a time for Christians to grow up and begin honoring God not by what we take but by what we give up.

Paul reminds the Corinthians that activities as ordinary as eating and drinking have the potential to bring glory to God. If Christians eat and drink in ways that not only fill their bellies, but take into account the souls of others, then they bring glory go God in the simple act of taking part in a meal. What about today? If eating glorifies God, what else can? How about loving our families and spending time with them? How about working our jobs honorably without whining or complaining. How about doing the everyday work of the Kingdom: visiting the sick, calling the hurting, sending cards and notes of fellowship. Those last activities are especially important, and it's good to see the congregation making and organized effort to visit and call other members. In taking part in that kind of service, you have a credibility that I cannot. It's easy to say the preacher is just visiting and calling because it's his job, but when we help one another beyond what is expected of us, we give glory to God.

Christians glorify God in large and small ways when we give up some part of our money, our time, and our pleasure to help those who cannot repay us. It's one thing to do good when we expect to be patted on the back. It's another when we serve those who cannot repay us, any more than we can repay Jesus Christ for buying our salvation on the cross.

What have you done today to glorify God? What have we as a congregation done? Have we worshiped God not only in five acts of worship, but in spirit and in truth? Have we glorified God by proclaiming the truth in love? Have we done the work of the Kingdom without falling prey to the idols of arrogance and self-importance? If so, then we have forsaken the idols that threaten to rule our hearts, and we have glorified God.

We in twenty-first century North America live in a culture of self-indulgence. We have a level of prosperity unequaled in any other place or time on earth. We have more things and more privilege than any other culture I've ever heard of. Yet all around us, hundreds of times a day, we are bombarded with advertising persuading us to covet more, to buy more, and to indulge our every whim. The Devil is such a proficient sneak that most Christians today seem to be as unaware of the dangers of idolatry as the first-century Corinthians were. Can we learn from their mistakes before it's too late?

Flee from idolatry. That means we worship the only true God. It means we don't seek our own advantage but rather pursue advantage for our brothers and sisters in Christ for the glory of God. It means denying our own benefits and privileges, taking up our crosses daily, and following Jesus Christ.

PRAYER
INVITATION

NOTES
1. Bob Deffinbaugh. “Table Talk (1 Cor. 10:14-33). Online study at www.bible.org.
2. Ibid.
3. Unless otherwise noted, quotes are from the English Standard Version of the Bible.
4. Tucker, Dannette. “Idols and Idolatry Today.” Online article at http://www.titus2menandwomen.org/Articles/DanetteTucker/Idols/PrinterFriendly.shtml
5. Deffinbaugh
6. Lawrence Richards. The Teacher’s Commentary. Victor Books, 1987. P. 851.
7. Ibid.

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

So That We Would Not Crave Evil

2006-10-21T09:13:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Preached Sunday morning, October 15, 2006
Lexington Church of Christ, Milton Stanley

Over the past thirty-five years ago I've noticed an interesting phenomenon about marriage. As the number of divorces has exploded in this country, the extravagance of weddings has grown in similar proportion. Weddings have become grander and grander productions while marriages have become bigger and bigger wrecks. That trend goes to show it's not the wedding but the work that determines the quality of a marriage. Marriages, in fact, are very much like the race described by the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 9:24-27. It's not how well you start that wins the race; it's how well you run. That's the lesson Paul was trying to teach the Corinthians in the first century, and it's a lesson we need to understand today. And taking our time working through 1 Corinthians on Lord's Day mornings is a good reminder that some races require endurance.

We are still in a long section (1 Cor. 8-10) on denying ourselves for the sake of our fellow Christians. In chapt. 8 Paul warned the Corinthians against eathing meat that had been sacrificed to idols. In chapt. 9 Paul explained how he himself chose to give up his own privileges--finances and a family--for the sake of his fellow Christians. Chapt. 10 is a conclusion of that section. Unlike the original writings of the New Testament, modern editions of the Bible contain chapters and verses. Those chapters headings can make this section of the epistle appear to be several different sets of teaching, but they are all one. For managability, we're looking at chapts. 8-10 in four different sermons, but there is only one main idea running through all three chapters. But our modern practice of dividing the Bible into chapters and verses can be misleading. Modern man has taken a knife to the Word, too often slicing verses here and there and using them totally out of context. Christians today need to learn, like the prophet Ezekiel, to swallow not bits and peaces of the Word, but the whole thing. So let's see how Paul's words in 1 Cor. 10:1-13 fit into the big picture of 1 Corinthians.

Paul begins here to summarize his argument. Writing to Christians in the first century A.D., the Apostle brings to mind the wandering of the people of Israel some 1400 years earlier. The Israelites had been delivered from slavery in Egypt and were on their way to the promised land. But during their wanderings in the wilderness, Israel committed sin and paid the price. Their misadventures were a lesson to the first-century church, and they’re still a lesson for the church today.

These first five verses contain some points that are hard to understand. What, for example, does the Apostle mean in v. 2 when he talks about the Israelites being “baptized into Moses”? And what about v. 4, where we hear of a rock following the Israelites through the desert, and it turns out the rock is Christ? Well, to understand what Paul it helps to lay aside our modern literalist glasses for a moment. Paul is simply reminding us of the blessings God gave to the Israelites in the desert. When the Egyptian army pursued the Israelites in the desert, God miraculously parted the sea to allow the Israelites (but not the Egyptians) to pass. That's the baptism Paul is talking about here. And while the Israelites traveled through the desert, God miraculousy provided food and water to his people. The Apostle is pointing out that the living water that nourished the Israelites was in reality Christ, who was already ministering to his people some 1200 to 1400 years before his incarnation.

The Israelites started well, but they didn't run well at all. In telling of the ancient Israelites, Paul is reminding the Corinthians of the blessings they have received in Christ Jesus, "the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Heb 13:8) [1]. Even when Paul talks about ancient history, before the birth of Christ, the Savior is always at the center of his teaching. Jesus Christ is always the center of the story, whether the topic is history, doctrine, or practice. Christ is the source of life and nourishment for the Christian---not idols, not wisdom, not pleasure. Idols and all they represent are nothing, but Jesus Christ is the solid rock of our salvation and our nourishment in the faith. He is the source of living water for our souls. And he is savior by virtue of the blood that flowed from his body sacrificed for our sake on the cross. Thus any talk of discipleship is also a call to sacrifice among Christians.

In verses 6-12 Paul tells the Corinthians that the misadventures of the Israelites happened "so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved" [2]. Israel learned the hard way that simply starting well is not enough. On the way from Egypt to the Promised Land they grumbled against the Lord's servant, they worshipped idols, practiced immorality, and they did not trust in the Lord's protecion. As a result the Lord caused the people to wander in the wilderness forty years, and only two men out of the hundreds of thousands who left Egpyt were allowed to enter the Promised Land. The story of an entire generation of Israelites rejected by the Lord is especially sad because they knew the blessings God had given them. They had been delivered from their oppressors. They had been nourished with food and water from God. They were off to such a good start. Yet they reveled in idolatry and immorality. They chose fellowship with idols over fellowship with God. That's a key point of salvation--fellowship. Salvation is not simply our individual souls going to heaven and hell after we die; it's also a relationship with God here and now as God's covenant people. That relationship is meant to be a living one--either "intact and growing or dead" [3].

So the mistakes of the Israelites under the Old Covenant are examples for the Christians who come after them in the New. Do you notice the examples given here of the mistakes the Israelites made? In v. 7 Paul mentions they were idolaters, and thus brings to mind his words on that subject in 1 Cor. 8. Next, he mentions their immorality (v. 7), thus looking back to his warnings to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 5. The Israelites also grumbled (v. 10) in ways similar to how the Corinthians were grumbling against Paul (1 Cor. 1 & 2). Grumbling, immorality and idolatry are temptations for God's people in everay age. Today those temptations wear different clothes, but they are still very much among us. We may call our idols by different names--health, money, career, country--but they are idols all the same. We can still practice immorality the old fashioned way, or choose from a variety of new methods via the Internet. We have ample opportunity to be armchair quarterbacks and grumble against the Lord's servants. But let him who stands take heed lest he fall.

The Israelites were off to such a good start. They enjoyed a baptism of deliverance and feasts provided by the Lord himself. The parallels between those experiences and Christian baptism and the Lord's Supper should be as obvious today as they doubtless were for the Corinthians. Starting well doesn't get the job done [4]. God doesn't lavish his blessings on us so we can rest--at least not on this earth--but so we can run. With the privileges of God's blessings come the responsibility of being God's people [5].

Are we listening? This church is great at starting (we've been doing it for years), yet for decades we've been doing a pathetic job of running. We know how to become Christians--how to get people in the water and feed them the Lord's Supper--but we don't know how to be Christians, how to run.

What can we do to change that? How can we run the race as God intends for us to run? By not craving evil as the Israelites did. Righteousness is not only a matter of what we do but of what we crave. What we crave, after all, is what we sooner or later reach for. So if we want to change our lives we have to change our cravings. And how do we do that? By taking in the truth of God's Word. The process works like this: what we believe makes us secure determines what we value. What we value determines what we make our goals and strive for. And what we strive for determines what we do. If we believe that the things of the flesh--money, pleasure, power--make us secure, that that is what we will crave. In that case we have to change our beliefs. And the way to change our beliefs is through submitting to the Word of God.

Changing our beliefs and desires through the Word of God is a key to the escape from temptation mentioned in 1 Cor. 10:13. This is one of the most strangely ambivalent passages in the New Testament: "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." The good news of that passage is that, even when we're tempted, we don't have to sin but have a way out. The hard news is that God although God gives us a way out, he leaves it up to us to take it. We still have a part to play, and there's no getting around the hard work of actually resisting the allure of temptation.

Christians are not saved by good works, but we certainly are saved to good works. We are saved by grace through Jesus Christ. Paul made this clear in the early chapters of this epistle when he reminded the Corinthians that "I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2). Christ and Christ alone saves us. His death paid the bill that we owe God for our sins. Jesus' blood washes our sins. In baptism we join Jesus Christ in both his death and resurrection. We are saved by grace, yet we are saved not to stay the same but to grow in service. Righteous living is evidence of our salvation. As the Apostle John reminded Christians,

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 Jn 2:28-3:3)

If we call ourselves Christians and our lives aren't demonstrating righteous and faithful living, then what are our lives really saying?

Well, if our lives are not characterized by righteousness, what do we do? Quite simply, we need new cravings. Remember how it goes? Beliefs affect values, values affect desires, and desires affect actions. The only cure for unrighteous living is the transforming power of the Word and the Spirit. We are nurted by the Word in Scripture, in prayer, and fellowship, and in feast. And our lives will change if we meditate on this truth: We were bought with a price (1 Cor 6:20; 7:23).

So once again, as Paul addresses practical problems in the Corinthian church, Jesus Christ is behind, under, over, and at the center of the message. Idols are nothing, but Christ is the solid rock who nourishes and refreshes his people with living water (Jn 4:10-12). He's also our Lord crucified to save us and to lead us to lives of service and sacrifice.

Do we think we're something? If we are, it is only because of what Christ has given us. On our own we are as week as the Israelites. We have life only through the nourishing grace of Jesus Christ. But I must warn you; life in Christ is death: death to the idolatry of the familiar; death to the idolatry greed and financial security, death to the pleasures of comfortable slavery, death ot having things and status and cool. It's following God through the desert, with nothing more than the food and drink he gives us new each day.

What more could we want? As someone has said, if we have Christ and everything in the world, we don't have any more than if we have Christ and nothing else. And if we do have Christ, our lives will show it.

PRAYER
INVITATION

NOTES
1. Unless otherwise noted, all biblical quotations here are from the English Standard Version.
2. NASB.
3. William Loader. “First Thoughts on Year B Epistle Passages from the Lectionary—Lent 3: 14 March. 1 Corinthians 10:1-13.” Online notes at http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/CEpLent3.htm.
4. Katherine Grieb. “Limited-Time Offer.” The Christian Century, March 9, 2004, p. 30. Available online at www.religion-online.org.
5. J. Hampton Keathley III. “The Peril of Abusing Spiritual Privileges (1 Corinthians 10:1-13." Online study at www.bible.org.

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

Slave to All

2006-10-21T09:11:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 9
Preached Sunday morning, October 8, 2006
Lexington Church of Christ, Milton Stanley

This chapter is the middle of a section in which the Apostle Paul is instructing the Corinthians on giving up their rights or privileges. In chapt. 8 he urged Christians not to eat meat if it causes a brother in Christ to fall away. In the last verse of that chapter Paul said he would rather eat no meat at all than to enjoy meat and call a brother to fall away. Now, this whole chapter is an elaboration of how Paul is doing that very sort of thing and more in his own life [1]. Chapt. 10, as we'll begin to see next week, contains more practical advice on how Christians should deny ourselves---because the Kingdom of God is not about rights but about indentured service.

First, let's make sure we understand one of the words Paul uses over and over in this section. The word translated "right" or "rights" in many translations can be very misleading to twenty-first century Christians in our culture. The word Paul originally wrote in Greek is ἐξουσία, a word having more to do with privilege and authority than what we usually associate with the word "right." Εξουσία refers to the perogative that goes with power. In fact, it is the same word Paul used in Eph. 6:12 to refer to heavenly powers when he told the Ephesians that "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers (ἐξουσία) over this present darkness" [2]. In other words, "right" is not something we're entitled to simply because we're breathing. It has to do with power and privilege. In that sense, the King James Version is more accurate than most recent versions when it translates ἐξουσία as "power."

Why does it matter how we translate that one word? Well, it matters because in our culture, rights are gods. In our country, laws and public morality is based not on what we owe others (duties) but on what others owe us (rights). It's hard to imagine a more corrosive environment for developing true Christian discipleship than a culture that teaches everyone to stand up for their rights. Standing up for his rights is precisely what Paul refuses to do, and it's a lesson he tries to teach the Corinthians. They needed to learn that lesson, and so does the church today. The heart of the Gospel is Jesus emptying himself of his power and rights. If we are to follow Jesus, we must do the same. So let's look at what Paul has to say on this matter, and let's consider its implications for Christians today.

The Apostle has just told the Corinthians that they should be willing to give up their own privileges for the sake of the souls of their fellow Christians. Now, Paul goes on to demonstrate that he has already done that very thing himself. Paul is not in the apostle business for his own benefit. He begins here by asking the Corinthians if he isn't entitled to the privilege of making his living by the gospel. In light of what he has just written in chapt. 8, Paul's words in 1 Cor. 10:4 are a sort of pun: "Do we not have the right to eat and drink?" Paul let's the Corinthians know just what he has given up for the privilege of proclaiming the gospel. He has not insisted that the church provide for his needs. What's more, he has forsaken having a wife and family for the sake of his apostolic ministry. Rather than taking the church's money and resources, Paul chooses to work in his trade as a tentmaker (Acts 18:3) and pay his own way.

Paul then goes on to demonstrate that the choice is his and not the way it necessarily is supposed to be. In verses 7-12, Paul gives a string of analogies to show why the church should be willing to support Paul materially. A soldier doesn't have to pay his own way. Workers among the vineyard, flocks, fields, and threshing floor are entitled to some of the food they help produce. Those who work in the temple and at the alter are entitled to receive some of the sacrifice. Paul even goes so far to compare himself to an ox, who is allowed to eat some of the grain it treads! He also uses the familiar less-to-more argument: If he sows spiritual blessings among the Corinthians, should he at least be entitled to a little physical support? If the Corinthians support other teachers financially, how much more should they support Paul, who brought the gospel to them and preached among them for eighteen months (Acts 18)? But Paul saves his strongest argument for last. In verse 14, Paul shares the words of Jesus himself: "In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel." However you look at it, Paul is entitled to make his living from preaching.

But he will have none of it. His preaching, Paul tells the Corinthians, is not for money, but out of compulsion (v. 16). Paul's reward is not money or material support, but the privilege of presenting the gospel without charge (v. 18). He would rather work as a tentmaker than demand what by every right is due him. In this way Paul is following his calling to deny himself, take up his cross and follow Christ. Does he have to spell it out any more clearly? It's the same calling for the Corinthians, and for us.

There's a word for someone who works without pay. The word is "slave." Paul has made himself a slave, willingly, to everyone in order to win more for the Kingdom (v. 19). Paul becomes all things to all men so that by all means some might be saved (v. 22). He gives it all he has, like an athlete preparing for a big event. And if glory in athletic competition is worth the effort that athletes both then and now were willing to put into their sport, how much more is the eternal rewards of heaven worth any sacrifice we must make today?

The final verse in 1 Cor. 9 is the subject of a great deal of interpretation. It's also the source of worry for many Christians. If the Apostle Paul runs the risk of being lost, considering all he did for the gospel, what hope to Christians like you and me possibly have? Well, Paul shows elsewhere that he is not concerned about being lost from the Kingdom (1 Cor. 3:15). But he does not want to bring shame on his Lord by failing in his apostolic ministry. Paul was willing to give all he had to reward the reward that comes from faithful service to God.

So this chapter is not so much about paying ministers as it is an example of the call to deny ourselves. Yet I will admit that the issue of paying ministers is one close to my heart. Some religious groups teach that Christians ought not to pay their preachers, and from a purely worldly standpoint there is logic behind that position. All kinds of wickedness, or example, can enter a church when it begins dividing itself between "clergy" and the rest of the congregation. In such an environment, ministers can all too easily begin to think of themselves as superior to ordinary Christians, and members can become lazy from expecting the preacher to do their ministry for them. The world--and many Christians--is quick to accuse paid preachers of greed: "He's only in it for the money." Refusing to take money for preaching demonstrates sincerity and credibility. For that very reason I refused to accept any pay in my first preaching job, and I later struggled with the issue when considering whether or not to go into full-time ministry.

But the Lord Jesus Christ intendes for evangelists to be paid. I recently spoke with a woman from another religious group about my work with the Church of Christ. She told me how her father did the same work I do in the church yet maintains a full-time job as a business executive. This young woman was polite and gentle, but it was clear that she considered her father to be doing a better work by virtue of his not accepting pay for preaching. "That's commendable that he's chosen that course," I told her. "Especially since, as you're aware, Paul told Christians in 1 Cor. 9 that a preacher ought to be paid." I could tell by the look on her face that she had not been aware.

Now, all this talk from a preacher about paying the preacher may sound very self-serving to you: "Here's another preacher preaching about money." Well, to my knowledge this is the first time I've ever spoken to this congregation about giving money and paying the preacher. I'm not preaching this passage because it's an issue to me. That's one of the reasons I preach and teach books more than topics, so that I don't just preach my own pet topics. If I did, by the way, I might preach 1 Cor. 9:14 every other week. We're on this topic because it's a part of the book we're studying. And there it is in 1 Cor. 9:14: "So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel."

But that is precisely the kind of support Paul renounced. Many preachers through the centuries have followed Paul's lead in renouncing their claim to financial support. But Jesus' instructions come down to full-support for full-time service. That is precisely the kind of service I've committed to and long to do. It's what I pray to be able to do one day in Lexington. I came to Rockbridge County in June 2005, and the church paid my full salary through early this year. But the congregation doesn't give enough money each week to pay me enough to meet my family's basic needs of food, housing, and health care. For most of this year I've been receiving about half my original salary. Last fall I spent months begging our sister congregations for financial support, and a few came through in heartwarming ways. Earlier this year I worked full-time as a third-shift grocery stocker at Wal-Mart, and right now I'm working part-time teaching English at Southern Virginia University. I'm praying that one day the congregation will support me in full-time work, and I praise God that other members of this congregation are committed to the same. I pray that each one of us will make the sacrifices to employ a full-time evangelist.

Again, the main point of 1 Cor. 9 is not paying ministers but renouncing privilege. Paul introduces the topic of paying preachers not so that he be paid (v. 15), but to let the Corinthians know what he's renouncing for their sakes. He's given up having a wife, children, and even a home. Can the Corinthians at least give up a little meat? In denying himself, Paul is following Christ, who took the form of a servant and became obedient all the way to the point of death on a cross (Phil. 2:8). Jesus calls all his disciples to take up our crosses, too (Lk. 9:23). Paul answered the call in everything he did. Whenever Paul writes to Christians, he has the cross clearly in mind for himself and the church. If we long to be close to Christ, there is no other way than through the cross---the cross where Jesus paid the price for our sins, and the cross he calls us to carry.

The call to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Jesus is something that each of us puts into practice in different ways. It may be working a second job for the privilege of proclaiming the gospel. It may be joining the saints in the worship assembly even when we're tired and hurting. It's being diligent in the studying the Word and lifting up others regularly in prayer before God. It's service to the Kingdom and to our friends and neighbors, including the lost. IN all those ways we follow Jesus Christ, who gave up his glory in heaven to come down to earth to teach stone-hearted human beings, to be misunderstood and slandered, to be beaten and killed, to be a slave to all. And in that suffering and humiliation Jesus ushered in the Kingdom. That Kingdom is salvation, yes, for those who call upon his name in faith, repentance, and obedience. But it's much more than individual salvation. The Kingdom is the redemption of all creation. It's putting this messed up world right; it's every knee in heaven and on earth bending to acknowledge the lordship of God the Son.

So ultimately 1 Cor. 9 is not so much about Paul as about Jesus, our ultimate example of denial. But even more than he is our example, Jesus is our Savior. He became like us in the flesh, he endured every temptation that we do, yet he did not sin. And even more than Jesus is our Savior, he is our King. Christians eagerly await the day when "every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:10-11). That day is coming, and when it does, will we be ready for it? Are we in the habit of trying to be our own lords or of acknowledging Jesus as the only true Lord? Is bending the knee a comfortable posture for our souls? Are we skilled and bowing under the weight of the cross, or in bowing up in pride about our "rights"? When the Lord returns, will we bow our knee in joy or by force? We are answering those questions every day, and whether or not we deny ourselves in a thousand ways large and small make the difference.

PRAYER
INVITATION

NOTES
1. Thomas Constable. Notes on 1 Corithians, 2004 ed. Online commentary at www.soniclight.com.
2. Quotations here are from the English Standard Version of the Bible.

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

But Love Builds Up

2006-10-21T09:08:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 8
Preached Sunday morning, October 1, 2006
Lexington Church of Christ, Milton Stanley

In our study of 1 Corinthians we now move from problems of human sexuality into another major section of the letter. A serious question facing the Corinthian Christians was whether or not it was permissible to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols. That question may not seem relevant to Christians today, but I hope that we will come to see just how timely the issue really is. Once again, the trouble in Corinth comes from those who believe they have superior knowledge. Maybe they did. But as much as that group may have knowm about things, they still had a lot to learn about how to get along in the Kingdom of God. Paul’s answer to this group is more than simply a lesson in getting along: it is a vital reminder of how Christians ought to value God and one another.

Let’s begin with a little historical context. In first-century Corinth, all meat was probably tainted by the stain of idol worship. Corinth was a large, cosmopolitan city with its share of pagan temples. Animal sacrifices were made in these temples, and the leftover meat was then sold in markets and restaurants. If a Christian wanted to eat a good piece of meat, he was forced either to buy meat that had been sacrificed or actually to eat in a temple restaurant. More knowledgeable Christians understood that pagan gods were nothing, and that sacrifices to false gods were meaningless. As a consequence, they had no problem attending pagan temples to simply enjoy a good meal.

Other Christians, however, had trouble watching their brothers and sisters in Christ sit down to eat food sacrificed to idols. These Christians had grown up in a pagan environment hearing about the false gods as if they were real. For Gentile Christians, their fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers had worshipped these false gods, and they were real in the minds of many young converts. So when they saw their fellow Christians eating meat sacrificed to idols, they naturally assumed that their brothers and sisters in Christ were worshipping those idols. And, their reasoning went, if other Christians worshipped idols, why shouldn’t they?

What was the Apostle to do? The knowledgeable Christians are right in their assessment, but their actions are causing their brothers and sisters in Christ to fall away from the faith. Paul begins by disarming the haughtiness of those who knew better. He begins by writing what “we all know,” that “All of us possess knowledge” [1]. Whatever the in-the-know Christians may have thought about their own private insights, knowledge for God’s people is public, for all to see. In Proverbs 8, Wisdom is represented as a woman proclaiming her truth on the street [2]. Paul goes on to say that “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” Thus he is back once again to the theme that opens this epistle: the Kingdom of God is not about the wisdom of our minds, but about the foolishness of the cross. So from his opening words Paul is implicitly putting the emphasis where it belongs: on Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a sacrifice for the church. Already, at the beginning of his argument, the Apostle is setting the standard regarding what really matters. Yes, those eating this meat have knowlege, but if they had love they wouldn’t be eating pagan offerings. If eating such meat makes other Christians stumble away from serving the only God, then it would be better not to eat meat at all.

That’s because discipleship is not about exercising one’s rights; it’s about serving in a Kingdom. And in that Kingdom every servant matters, from the wisest, most mature to the weakest, most frail [3]. That principle is by no means limited to Corinth or to the idea of eating meat sacrificed to idols. Anything that makes a brother fall away from God is something we ought to sacrifice for the good of that brother.

Now, let’s be very clear about something. Paul is talking about not making a fellow Christian fall away from the faith. He didn’t say anything about simply giving offense or hurting other peoples’ feelings. Both the Apostle and the Savior made it clear that sometimes being a faithful Christian will give offense and hurt people’s feelings [4]. The very act of preaching the truth ought to hurt people’s feelings if they’ve been living a life of sin. That’s how Christians come to repent, by hearing the truth. Most people in the world--and some in the church itself--will hate us for telling the truth (Jn. 15). Living like a Christian will offend the lost. Jesus gave so much offense that sinners killed him. So let’s be clear that we aren’t called to stop doing something simply because it might hurt somebody’s feelings, either inside or outside the church. If we begin limiting ourselves in that way, pretty soon we find ourselves practicing a “lowest common denominator” discipleship in which we’re afraid to do much of anything for fear we’ll hurt someone’s feelings [5]. As we discussed this morning in our Bible study, Christians aren’t called to play it safe.

I speak from experience on this matter. When I was a very young Christian early in my college years, I somehow developed the notion that the little alligator on the front of those expensive, preppy golf shirts was somehow the very mark of Satan himself. I literally could not understand how a man could be a Christian and wear such a mark of worldly materialism. You can imagine, then, how I felt when one of our young minsters began wearing shirts—and even a belt—with that little alligator on them. Now even then I was not one to gossip behind someone’s back, so I went in person to Scott and asked him to stop dishonoring God by wearing those worldy alligators. He listened patiently to my case, and then explained to me why he would not stop wearing them. It seems that when he had just finished school and was preparing to come to work at our church, he had spent most of his money on his education and had very few nice clothes to wear. On the day he went back to his parents’ house before coming to his new congregation, he was surprised to find waiting for him a dozen full sets of clothes—shirts, pants, and belts. It seems a neighbor had wanted Scott to have them before he went to his new church and had made sure they were waiting for him. To that young minister, those clothes were not the mark of Satan—they were a bountiful gift from God. He hoped I wouldn’t continue to be offended, but he wasn’t about to despise God’s gift in an effort to please to one immature little brother.

No, Christians are not called to limit our behavior to please the whims of every immature brother or sister in Christ. But we are called to give up our own privileges before allowing another Christian to be lost. That’s the bigger message in the story of meat sacrificed to idols. Our knowledge of what we’re allowed to do is not as important as keeping our fellow Christians in mind for what we ought to do.

Discipleship is never a matter of entitlement or superiority. Even if we have a knowledge of God beyond that of our brothers and sisters, we need to remember that getting our doctrine right is only one wing of discipleship. Someone has said, "Where getting it right is foremost, people usually get relationships wrong" [5]. Relationships are the other wing of discipleship. Discipleship is not merely a matter of being right but doing right to God and our brothers and sisters [6]. We have duties not only to God but to each other. Remember Jesus' summary of the law in Mt. 22:37-40?

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. [7]

The law and the prophets, the will of God, is summed up in loving not only God but our fellow human beings. Putting faith into practice requires that we take into account our duties to each.

That's why Paul's emphasis in this letter is on love rather than shame. We love others because God first loved us. We give in to others because Christ gave up his place in heaven for us. Heart discipleship, as we're studying in the Sermon on the Mount, arises from gratitude for the bountious gifts of God's grace. Those who appreciate what they have received are the ones most willing to give. An appreciative discipleship is a giving discipleship. And at this point we've arrived at a bigger picture of this passage.

That bigger picture is that true discipleship recognizes the Savior. The Corinthians are faced with a very practical issue: is it permissible to eat food that has been sacrificed to idols? Now that sounds like a simple question that requires simple, practical answer of yes or no. But the Apostle doesn't look at this through the eyes of practicality; he looks at it through the eyes of Christ. He takes the opportunity to remind his brothers and sisters in Christ of the love of the only true God. Paul reminds the Corinthians that, as Jesus told his disciples (Jn. 17:21), the Savior and the Father are one [8]. The Apostle calls on the Corinthians to sacrifice for their brothers and sisters as Christ has sacrificed his very life for the church. That's denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Jesus (Mt. 16:24). In chapt. 9 Paul will show how he puts these instructions in practice in his own life by not insisting on his own privileges.

That's the way for the Apostle, that's they way for us, as it was the way for Christ. Jesus of all men did not demand what he had coming to him. Rather,

though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phi. 2:6-8)

Even so-called practical issues are for Christians a reminder of Jesus Christ crucified. He gave up his glory in the presence of the Father to be born into the realm of darkness on the earth in order to suffer and die a death that we, not he, deserved. And in so doing he saved his church and began ushering in his pure and holy Kingdom.

In chapters 10 & 11 we'll begin to see what the feast of that Kingdom looks like. It's not a meal of food sacrificed to appease a false god. No, not at all. In the real Kingdom feast the only true God sacrificed himself to feed his people. Wow. Doesn't that make you want to serve him?

PRAYER
INVITATION

NOTES
1. Chrysostom, John. "Homily XX." Sermon text available online at www.ccel.org.
2. Deffinbaugh, Bob. "The Great Divorce—Separating ‘Truth from Love' (1 Cor. 8:1-13). Online study at www.bible.org.
3. Wright, N.T. "One God, One Lord, One People: Incarnational Christology for a Church in a Pagan Environment." Ex Auditu 7. Available online at http://www.northpark.edu/sem/exauditu/papers/wright.html.
4. Loader, William. "First Thoughts on Year B Epistle Passages from the Lectionary." Available online at http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/BEpEpiphany4.htm.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Quotations here are from the English Standard Version.
8. Wright.

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

Free from Concern

2006-10-21T09:05:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 7:25-40
Preached Sunday morning, September 24, 2006
Lexington Church of Christ, Milton Stanley

In our study of 1 Corinthians we now enter our third and final message from chapter 7. We've already seen that the Corinthian Christians suffered from two wrong views about sexuality: first, that fornication and prostitution are permissible; and second, that all sexual activity, even in marriage, is wrong. Paul showed that both extremes were incorrect. Sex is a good thing, within the limits of marriage. The Apostle prefers singleness for Christians, but they do not sin to marry. Once Christians are married, however, they must stay that way—particularly if the Christian's husband or wife is an unbeliever. If the unbeliever wants to leave the Christian, then the believer should not try to stop him or her. In general, however, a Christian should stay in whatever circumstances he is called. We have been bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23); that is a glorious truth we should remember even when we consider the most earthly and ordinary choices before us. Paul reminds Christians of this great truth repeatedly: we have been bought with a price, through Jesus' sacrifice of his own life on the cross. Thus Jesus Christ crucified is not merely the subject of Paul's preaching (1 Cor. 2:2); he is the always at the center of the Apostle's thinking. Would that he were the at center of ours, too.

In 1 Cor. 7:25-40 Paul again tells Christians that it's good to remain as we are, whether married or single. Yes, Christians are permitted to marry or not marry, and a widow may remarry as long as she marries another Christian. When Christians do have a husband or wife, however, our minds and hearts become anchored in a special way to the day-to-day concerns of the world. Paul sincerely wants believers to be free from worry and anxiety about a world that is passing away (v. 32). Married Christians must take a certain amount of attention from the Lord's work to fulfill their earthly duties. Doing so is not a sinning; it’s simply the way things work. When we take on earthly responsibilities, we are obligated to fulfill them. That principle applies to more than marriage, by the way, which is why Christians must be careful of what we take upon ourselves. Whatever our earthly obligations, all Christians must concern ourselves first of all with the Kingdom of God.

In verse 28, Paul reminds the Corinthians that “those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that” [1]. Most congregational ministers face this issue every day. Churches expect their ministers to devote long hours to Kingdom work, yet they usually expect them also to be married and have families. Giving due attention to both family and church is not an easy task. I for one can't imagine being effective in ministry without a Christian wife. Much of the work we do in the church, Carolyn and I do together. If my wife were not a Christian, I simply couldn't do a lot of what I do now for the church. A fellow minister once told me about being brought in to preach with a new congregation. As he walked out of the meeting where he had been offered the opportunity to preach for the congregation, one of the elders asked my friend if his wife might be able to lead a women's Bible study. "Oh," this preacher said, "my wife is not a Christian. In fact, she's an alcoholic and spends quite a bit of time in rehab." The elders asked the man if he would come back into the room and discuss the matter further. "No," he said. "I'm kidding. My wife is a Christian, and she doesn't even drink. But next time you might want to ask those kinds of questions before you hire a preacher." As any preacher knows, having a wife and children takes time from Kingdom work. But a believing spouse helps bridge the gap between our two sets of obligations.

The same is true for every Christian, of course. Marriage and family take time from Kingdom work, but being married to a Christian makes the task easier. If you are married to an unbeliever, don't expect to spend as much time serving in this building. You must never let your husband or wife keep you from worship, from the Lord's Supper, praise, fellowship, and growth in the Word. But a large part of your service will be winning your spouse to faith and obedience in the Lord: "For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?” (1 Cor. 7:16).

And all of us, married or single, need to remember what Jesus said about balancing faith and family:

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Mt. 10:37-39)

As families continue to be under assault by the culture around us, Christians need to remember that families are important, and that God himself ordained them. But in some religious circles the family has taken such an important place that it comes close to idolatry. As important as the family is, our focus needs to be first of all on the cross—on Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2).

The family is the most important of our earthly commitments. But it's not where our first obligation lies. Jesus told us, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Mt. 6:33). Our first citizenship is to the Kingdom of God. First and foremost we are not husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, grandparents, as important as those roles may be. We are not primarily what we do for a living: teacher, skilled craftsman, salesman, manager, nurse, student. We are not first of all Americans. Christians are first of all disciples and servants of the King.

God’s Kingdom is fundamentally different from the world around us. The Kingdom has a different mission: first to worship and glorify God (1 Cor. 6:20; Rom. 15:6-9), and second, to go into the world and make disciples (Mt. 28:19-20). The Kingdom has different rules of operation: the first are last and the last are first (Mt. 20:16). A man who would save his life must lose it (Mt. 16:26). A true leader must be a servant of all (Mk. 9:35). The Kingdom has a different wisdom: “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). And finally, the Kingdom offers very different rewards—ultimate rewards—from the world.

So for Christians our first obligation is to the Kingdom of God. But Kingdom work is no excuse for neglect our earthly obligations. Christians are not Eastern ascetics who believe our earthly existence is unreal. We are not called to be detached emotionally from the world and the everyday affairs of it. In fact, we sin if we neglect our families. Jesus blasted the scribes and Pharisees for giving money to the Temple while neglecting their earthly parents (Mk. 7:9-13). Paul told Timothy, “if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim. 5:8). So Christians are called to provide and care for our families.

And in practice, isn’t that where we worry most: in caring for our families? Sometimes people quote Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 as being “don’t worry.” But in fact, Jesus’ teaching on worry was that we should not worry about our own food, clothes, and health. Families bring a whole new collection of worries into a believer’s life: for the health and safety of children and for their souls’ development. There are legitimate concerns for Christians—and all the more reason to pray without ceasing (1 Ths. 5:17).

The challenge for the faithful is to rightly balance our commitments to family and to God. We must give proper care and attention to our families, but we must not make them idols. Marriage, after all, is only temporary, even if we’re blessed with a marriage that lasts most of a lifetime. Some religious groups teach it’s eternal; that idea has a certain appeal if you have a happy marriage. But Jesus specifically said it’s not true: “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (Mt. 22:30). The form of this world is passing away (1 Cor. 7:31). We have to live in it, but if our highest value is our families, then we’ve invested in something that will soon be gone. A family can be a wonderful shelter and rest by the ocean of eternity. But the tide is coming in and one day will sweep this old world away.

The Apostle hoped that all Christians could provide undistracted service to the Lord. That’s challenging to do for every believer. Single Christians have to make a point of it, those with spouses have to work even harder, and those with children harder still. Yet how could we better spend our resources than honoring and worshiping God?

Here’s a reminder: All of this advice in 1 Corinthians 7 is simply foolishness if we don’t live it by faith. We can simply follow the letter of Paul’s instructions and become Pharisees, clean on the outside but dirty at the heart. As we’ve seen, Paul’s thinking, even on what we call practical matters, always begins with Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2). It’s Jesus’ sacrifice Paul reminds the Corinthians—and us—to remember (1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23). “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel” (2 Ti 2:8).

PRAYER
INVITATION

NOTE
1. All Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version of the Bible.

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

Remaining As We Are

2006-09-23T16:44:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 7:12-24
Preached Sunday morning, September 17, 2006
Lexington Church of Christ, Milton Stanley

In our study of 1 Corinthians, we are in what might be called a practical section of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthian Christians. Paul is addressing specific problems in the church, and then, as now, many of those problems had to do with human sexuality. As we’ve seen, there appears to have been two factions with conflicting but equally wrong ideas about sexual practice: one group approved of prostitution and fornication while another taught that all sexual activity is bad. This week’s passage is part of a larger section where Paul says no to both factions. Sex is good, Paul tells them, within proper bounds—the bounds of marriage as established by God. This week we will see how the Apostle expands his explanation a little. He begins with practical questions but ends with a profound truth.

Last week, in our study of 1 Cor. 7:1-11, we saw how God has created marriage. His plan goes back to his instructions in Genesis 2:24 in which God establishes marriage as one man, one woman, one lifetime. When people really believe that image, that God intends for men and women to marry only once, and for life, we begin to take our marriages more seriously. We also discussed—although Paul does not deal explicitly with the subject in 1 Cor. 7—that the marriage of a Christian man and woman is an image of Christ and the church. In this week’s passage the Apostle reminds us of wider implications in a specific circumstance: what if a Christian is married to a non-believer? Should that Christian remain married? The answer Paul gives is a simple one: don’t try to change your station in life.

Our lesson text today begins with the topic of marriages between Christians and unbelievers. While the idea of divorce and remarriage is only one part of this passage, it is the one that has been the focus of a great deal of heat in recent years. What this passage does or does not say about divorce and remarriage is currently the focus of a great deal of debate and even division in Churches of Christ. For that reason, it makes sense to take a few minutes and examine the debate.

Basically there are four positions in the church regarding divorce and remarriage. Three of those positions have at least some support from the New Testament. Before we begin looking at those positions, however, let’s remember that this topic has been the focus of serious division in many churches, including this one. Let’s then approach the Word with faith, discipline, peace, and a willingness to sacrifice anything for the Kingdom of God.

Generally speaking, those who look to the New Testament for determining God’s will on divorce and remarriage rely on different “ruling texts” to determine what is permitted and prohibited by God.

The most restrictive text is the words of Jesus in Mark 10:11-12: “So he told them, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.’” Some Christians interpret that passage in its simplest form: those who have been divorced commit adultery if they remarry. Period. There are Christians who still hold to that principle, although it is a minority view.

What we might call the middle position takes its cue from Jesus’ words in Matthew’s Gospel, either Mt. 5:31-32 or 19:3-9. In Mt. 19:9, Jesus says, “Now I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another commits adultery” (italics added). Matthew includes words Mark does not record: except for immorality. Christians disagree on what exactly immorality involves in this case. Most Churches of Christ, however, interpret it to mean adultery. By this reasoning, if a man or woman cheats on his or her spouse, then the offended spouse has grounds for remarrying after a divorce. This is the position most of us in this congregation hold.

The third, more permissive position, is found in this chapter of 1 Corinthians. Here Paul talks about marriages in which one spouse is a Christian and the other is not. The Apostle tells Christian spouses to remain married to unbelievers as long as the unbelieving spouse wants to stay married. Then Paul says in 7:15, “But if the unbeliever wants a divorce, let it take place. In these circumstances the brother or sister is not bound” (italics added). A growing number of Christians look to this verse, particularly in light of Paul’s later words in 7:27-28, as a ruling text on divorce and remarriage. According to this position, a Christian may remarry after a divorce, even if it was not on the grounds of adultery, provided the other spouse was not a Christian.

A fourth view, also increasingly found in churches today, puts no restrictions on remarriage after divorce. There is no reasonable support for this view, however, in the New Testament.

So what are Christians who hold to the authority of the Scriptures to do? As much as we may cherish our own position on this matter, how are we to determine which is truly most faithful and obedient? Typically, when the New Testament is ambiguous on a certain item of doctrine and practice, we can look to church history for help in interpreting the text. The church has done this, for example, in developing our doctrines of baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and praising God without using instrumental music. As we look back at the early centuries of the church, we see that our doctrines on these matters are in line with both the New Testament and church history.

So what about divorce and remarriage? What does history tell us about this matter? Before I tell you, I want to say that I for one was very surprised with what I found. Looking back to the earliest generations of the church after the New Testament, we find that Christians were instructed not to remarry after a divorce regardless of the reasons for the divorce. In other words, Christians, at least in the second century and after, held that Jesus’ teaching in Mark were the ruling text for divorce and remarriage. In fact, it was not until the sixteenth century that a Roman Catholic theologian named Erasmus first proposed that Jesus’ words in Mt. 5 and Mt. 19 allow a Christian to remarry if a divorce was on the grounds of adultery.

So history, it seems, gives little support to the position most of us hold on the issue divorce and remarriage. In fact, the position that most of us hold to be traditional goes back only about a quarter of the way to New Testament times.

At this point we’ve gone far afield from the text we’re supposed to be looking at today. The topic of divorce and remarriage is an important one, and one that each congregation must address. What’s more, every Christian must be aware of Scriptural teaching on this matter, and each of us is answerable to God. So, you may ask, why this big explanation? Why not simply come out and tell you which position you ought to take? Well, the preacher’s job is not do think for you, but to present the Word that helps you learn to think with the mind of Jesus Christ. If this congregation, all of us, will commit our lives to God and allow his Word to transform us, then we will come to a right knowledge and practice on divorce and remarriage.

So, now that we’ve made a side trip across the very hot sands of divorce and remarriage, lets look at the broader message of this passage. As we saw earlier, God’s plan for marriage is one man, one woman, one lifetime. Most Christians agree that God provides for remarriage in certain circumstances; we argue mostly about exactly what those circumstances are. But the main point in our text today is not remarriage. In our culture today too much time is spend on how to divorce and remarry than on keeping marriages together in the first place. Paul’s message to the Corinthians is that it’s better to stay together, and he gives at least one reason why. First, however, let’s work through another difficult verse.

In studying this passage, many people have trouble understanding verse 14: “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified because of the wife, and the unbelieving wife because of her husband. Otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.” To understand this verse, it helps to remember that Paul wrote in a less literal time. He’s not saying that a spouse or child of a Christian can be saved by having a Christian family member. He’s simply saying that having a non-Christian parent doesn’t make a child dirty or spiritually defiled. In other words, a Christian may not use the welfare of his or her children to divorce an unbelieving spouse.

In fact, there may be an eternal benefit in staying with an unbelieving spouse: the Christian may be a vehicle for saving that person’s soul (7:16). I hope Paul’s words here are an encouragement to our brothers and sisters in this congregation who are married to unbelievers. God may use you to save their souls.

The next thing Paul says shines light on an even bigger picture. His words here go beyond marriage to illuminate life in the Kingdom of God. And what he has to say has the potential to rock our whole world. In verse 17, Paul tells the Corinthians to stay in the position in which they were called. Initially he is writing about marriage. A Christian is not to spend time looking for a way out, even if he or she is married to a non-Christian. Don’t you think the church would be better off if more Christians followed Paul’s instructions? How much better would Christian marriages be if we spent more time looking for ways to stay together than to break apart? Christians are called to stay in the marriages in which they find themselves.

In the following verses, Paul expands his instructions on staying as we were called to include circumcision and slavery. Both of these conditions were issues in Corinth. Circumcision is used in 7:18 as a symbol for Jewishness. Some Jews in the first century were ashamed of their ethnicity and tried to hide it; Paul tells them to be content with being Jewish. Being a slave was considered shameful, not on the grounds of a lack of freedom, but because slaves usually had little or no status in the Roman world. So despite a Christian’s marital status, ethnicity, or social class, we are called to stay as we are. By extension, the list doesn’t end with those three but can be applied to nearly any condition in life. Paul urges Christians not to work on changing our worldly relationships because ultimately they are not important. Our status in the world has no meaning compared to our citizenship in the Kingdom of God. How strong would the church be if Christians really believed and followed that principle?

Instead, we approach the issue backward. We care more about improving our position in the world than about growing in the Kingdom of God. We try to “get ahead” by earthly standards while stagnating in our discipleship. We take the attitude of, “Well, I’ve been baptized. I’m saved. Now I can devote my attention to getting a promotion and earning more money.” Do you see how completely backward that attitude is? Our attention should not be on our place in the world but on growing in the Kingdom. As Paul told the Romans, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2). Pau; also told the Corinthians, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:17-18). While we are not to care about getting ahead in the world, we are called to grow in discipleship and in the Spirit.

Caring more about our social status than our spiritual status is worldliness. It’s investing time and energy in something that will pass away—it’s investing eternal capital in a big, fine house that is already on fire when we pay for it. Worldliness is a waste of our limited time and resources on this planet. Did you see this week’s Time magazine? The cover story is titled, “Does God want you to be rich?” If Christians have any doubt as to the answer, we should remember Paul’s words about earthly status here in 1 Cor. 7. And these verses are by no means the only ones on the subject. Jesus himself told his disciples, “Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys” (Lk 12:33). Things of this world are a waste of time, because they’re already passing away. But the Kingdom of God endures forever.

So let’s stay as we are in the world and focus our minds on Kingdom business! Of course, Paul’s words here are not an absolute prohibition about caring for worldly matters (as we’ll see next week). Concentrating on the Kingdom is no excuse for abuse. It’s acceptable for slaves to seek their freedom. It’s permissible for Christians to marry. The church should help the poor in the church and not allow them to continue suffering. In all cases we are called to give up our sin, and sometimes that involves taking up new work, as Paul did when he became an apostle.

But we should ask ourselves some hard questions on how we’re using our earthly resources. Are we investing as much on our eternal future as we are on our earthly retirement? Are we spending as much on our spiritual home as on our earthly dwelling? Are we entertaining strangers in the name of Jesus Christ as much as we’re entertaining ourselves? As we think on these questions, it helps to keep a vital truth in mind.

Let’s look at verse 23: “You were bought with a price.” In the Bible, repetition is key to what’s important. Paul has already reminded the Corinthians of this vitally important fact (1 Cor. 6:20), and now he tells them again: You were bought with a price. The Apostle has been writing about practical matters, issues of faith in practice. Now he goes back to the heart of Christian discipleship: “You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.” He’s not talking here about physical slavery. “Men” here is a symbol for worldliness, and Paul does not want Christians to be enslaved by the world.

Paul’s instructions here bring to mind something similar he told the Romans:

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. (Rom. 6:16-18)

Remember from our study of Romans that we have a choice of whose slave we will be. We really don’t have a choice of not being a slave. As the Apostle Peter said, “Whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved” (2 Peter 2:19). Will we be overcome by the world or the Word? Will we serve the King of Heaven or Prince of this world? Each one of us here is a slave of one or the other domain. One is eternal; the other will be destroyed.

In those simple words, “You were bought with a price,” Paul reminds the Corinthian of what saves Christians from a perishing world. It’s not their wisdom, their obedience, nor anything they could do for themselves. What saves Christians is the grace of Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected. We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). The consequences of our sin is eternal death (Rom. 6:23). But Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and died on the cross to pay the price for our sin (Heb. 4:15). We are washed clean by the blood of Christ and saved through faith in him (Rom. 3:24-25). In baptism we join Christ in his death and resurrection, to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:3-6). Our old lives have been crucified with Christ, and we have been given new lives in Christ (Gal. 2:20). We are new indeed creations (2 Cor. 5:17). Everything is new (2 Cor. 5:17). That’s why even in the most practical discussions, Paul always reminded Christians of Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2). “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor. 1:18)

If we truly remember the cross and how we came to be saved, then every aspect of our lives will be changed: no more looking for reasons to get the upper hand over others; no using doctrine as an excuse to bite and devour one another; no mining Scripture for excuses to sin. Instead, we will humble ourselves, glorify God in our lives and love one another with pure and faithful hearts. We will spend our lives wisely on the only truths that really matter.

PRAYER
INVITATION

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

Our Bodies Are Not Our Own

2006-09-13T06:23:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 7:1-12
Preached Sunday morning, September 10, 2006
Lexington Church of Christ, Milton Stanley

In chapters 5 and 6 of 1 Corinthians we saw some of the problems the Corinthian Christians had with sexual immorality. The Apostle Paul taught the Corinthians and us that in sexual union, two become one flesh. We were reminded that the church is the Body of Christ and that there is no place for sexual immorality there. We saw that immorality, even of a personal or private nature, pollutes the whole body.

In chapter 7 we encounter the other side of sexuality--that is, we see that there is a place for its proper expression. Paul is correcting misunderstanding among the Corinthians here. Just as some thought that any sexual activity was permissible, others seem to have gone to the other extreme and thought that celibacy, even in marriage, was the way to go. It's understandable that people would go to such extremes in Corinth, a city where sexual immorality was considered worship by pagan religions. Some Christians apparently wanted to do away with sex altogether.

But, like other bodily functions, sex has its place. In explaining this idea to the Corinthians, Paul once again answers theologically, with Christ in mind. And once again, his teaching is supremely practical. It's ironic that these worldly Corinthians are receiving advice on sex and marriage from a single man, but Paul writes with wisdom and with the Word of the Lord. It's also ironic today that many people think preachers are somehow out of touch when we try to help people look at sexual issues from a biblical perspective. Let me tell you, preachers who have been ministering much time at all have heard just about every kind of sexual problem from members. And if a preacher is worth much at all, then like Paul he'll help Christians to look at sexuality and sin through the light of the Word of God.

So Paul's answer to the Corinthians' problem is both theological and practical. Sex in marriage is good, he says. And, as we'll study later in this letter, marriage is an image and symbol of Christ and the church.

The Corinthians were drawn to extremes when it came to sexuality: some believed visiting prostitutes was acceptable while others thought they ought not to visit even their own wives. Perhaps these attitudes were part of the factionalism we read about in earlier chapters. In any case, the Apostle sets them straight very simply. He' already reminded them of Gen. 2:24: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." So both sexuality and marriage go back to creation in the Garden of Eden. Sex was created by God and is not necessarily shameful or wrong. As we just saw in chapters 5 and 6, it can be shameful if done outside the bounds God created for its expression. Within those bounds, however, it's good.

We're given those bounds in 1 Cor. 7:2: "each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband." This is simply restating what Paul has already told the Corinthians and what God said in Gen. 2:24: one man and one woman in marriage. During certain periods of Old Testament history God permitted men to marry more than one woman. But the ideal has remained the same since the beginning: one man and one woman. It's a shame, really, that our culture today is so morally sick and confused that some persons would challenge that definition of marriage. For the lost and disobedient the matter is open to debate. But for Christians the matter should be resolved and the matter clear. A marriage consists of one man and one woman for the very simple reason that God created human beings to live that way.

So marriage is the proper place for sexual intimacy. In fact, it is the only proper place. Christians are not ignorant or naive for upholding and defending this standard. Many Christians know first-hand the damage and hurt that comes from disobeying God on this matter. Others know the joy of spending all their lives faithfully committed to one husband or one wife. The church has a fully mature view of marriage and sexuality. Paul does a lot to explain that view in this chapter. And here's his next point: sex is not only acceptable; sometimes it's necessary.

First, however, let's be clear that Paul prefers celibacy for Christians. Notice 1 Cor. 7:6-8. Paul would rather that all Christian could prosper as he did in singleness. As we'll see when we study verses 32-34, marriage and families take up our time and attention and complicate our discipleship. Could you imagine Paul trying to travel around the empire preaching with a wife and children? Preachers with families know something about that struggle: how much are we willing to allow our families to suffer for the work we've committed to do? So as Paul reminds us, some tasks in the church are better done by a single person.

Isn't it ironic that even though Paul wrote of the value of Christian singleness, there is a bias in some of our churches against the unmarried? Some congregations will not allow an unmarried man to preach, and many Christians are at least suspicious of those who remain unmarried throughout life. Yet both the Apostle Paul and Jesus himself were unmarried--and look at the ministries they had! So singleness is good. But the Bible is clear that singleness is by no means for everyone.

Why? Because sexual deprivation opens the door to Satan. Paul explains this principle in two circumstances: spouses depriving one another sexually, and singles burning with lust.

First, married couples are not to deprive one another of sex. Look at what the Apostle writes in verse 4 and the beginning of 5: "For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another." Did you catch that? In a marriage each partner does not have authority over his or her own body. As we'll see in chapter 11, in one sense the husband is head of the wife. But in matters of sexuality what we see is mutual submission: the husband considers his wife's needs and vice-versa. In other words, it works both ways!

Mutual submission--it's simple in principle but hard to put into practice. For example, I once knew a young man who confided in me that he had only slept with his wife once in the past twelve months. Not long afterwards, he had an affair with a woman at work. Looking in from the outside, we might be quick to judge this young man (and of course he was wrong in what he did). We could say that, because he committed adultery, his wife was the innocent party in their breakup. But in the months before their breakup, that wife's behavior toward her husband had been anything but innocent.

It is not an option for a Christian wife--or husband--to bargain with her body. Your bodies are not your own. In marriage, a Christian is required to put the needs and desires of the other spouse before one's own. Again, that works both ways. But by keeping each other satisfied sexually, you resist the devil.

A similar principle applies to single Christians--although not while they're still single. Let's look at verses 8 and 9: "To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. But if they cannot exercise self‑control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn." It's better to marry than to be consumed by lust. That's a pretty frank and realistic acknowledgment of human sexuality, don't you think? All of us need to pay attention to those instructions.

Singleness and lust is an especially critical topic in our North American culture today. In fact, it may be one of the most important moral issues facing our society. Here's why. In the past hundred and fifty years, nutrition has caused each generation to reach sexual maturity earlier and earlier. For example, in mid-nineteenth century America, girls on average reached sexual maturity at age seventeen. Today, the average age is pre-teen. Yet the age at which young people marry has not dropped correspondingly. In fact, young people are marrying later and later. What is the result? A wide gap between sexual maturity and marriage for most young people, and increasingly long years of sexual temptation.

In this situation of prolonged sexual temptation, two groups of Christians need to pay careful attention to Paul's words. First is our youth. The temptation our teenagers are under is enormous. In a million subtle and not-so-subtle ways, the world around urges our youth to give in to their sexual urges. Yet as Paul reminds us, marriage and marriage alone is the proper place for sex.

The other group who needs to hear this message are older Christians who try to help our youth uphold the biblical instructions to "flee immorality." It's good that we encourage our children and grandchildren not to engage in sex outside marriage. But in the process of saying, "Just wait," are we asking for more self-control out of our teenagers and young adults than we have ever shown in our own lives? The Apostle reminds us that "it's better to marry than to burn." That leaves older, married Christians no room to look down on the strong urges of young, single brothers and sisters. When we give young people advice on waiting to get married--finish school, settle down, pay off your car, get your finances in order--we seem to forget the power of sex in these decisions. The fact is, as we see in 1 Corinthians, sex is a valid reason for Christians to marry--provided we keep one very important fact squarely in mind.

That fact is this: Marriage is for life. Let's look at verses 10 and 11: "To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife." Pretty clear, isn't it? For Christians, the husband or wife we have is ours for life. Even if we separate, we are not free to remarry. This applies to both man and woman: we may not divorce our spouse. How could we, really? As we've seen already, our bodies are not our own; if we divorce, we would be losing our own bodies! That's the circumstances we enter into in marriage: we become one flesh, one body. Christians do not divorce one another.

As we'll see later in this letter, the husband and wife are an image and symbol of Christ and the church. Christ will never abandon his church. In fact, he gave his own perfect, sinless life to pay for the sins of the church. His own lifeblood washes us clean and opens the way for the church to be admitted to the heavenly banquet. Because Christ has purified the church, those of us who belong to Christ may enter heaven pure and spotless. Without our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ, the church would no longer be the church. Christian marriage proclaims this union of Christ and the church, which is why divorce among Christians is shameful and profoundly sad.

So that is the basic rule: Christian marriage is for life. As we'll see later in this chapter, there are circumstances and exceptions. But marriage as God created it is always one man, one woman, one lifetime.

If Christians really believe that truth going into a marriage, it becomes the pillar of a strong, happy lifetime together. When we became engaged as Christian teenagers, Carolyn and I knew what we were committing to: becoming one flesh, one body for life. We have spent the past twenty-five years building up that body. I suppose we have built up our individual bodies a little too much, but our commitment to the permanence of our marriage has made us take it seriously. Knowing that you're in for the long haul helps a couple to prosper. Not only are you forced to be more forgiving, but you're also less likely to give offense in the first place.

I once worked with a young man in his mid-twenties who simply couldn't see himself staying with one woman all his life. "Even if I wait till I'm thirty-five or forty to marry, that's still thirty-five or forty years with the same woman," he said doubtfully. I wanted to tell him I look forward to the prospect. There is a couple in the church where I used to minister who were grade-school sweethearts in Alabama. After more than seventy years together, they're both approaching the end of their earthly journey. I'm not sure I've ever met two people more in love. Oh, what a blessing when a man and woman marry--and live--as Christians.

One more point worth noting. You don't see anything in Paul's writing about waiting for The Right One. Somehow we've developed a romantic notion that there's One Right One out there somewhere and that if I only find him or her, my life will be complete. There's an appeal to that idea, but it's certainly not a biblical notion. In fact, the search for The Right One has probably led to more divorces than happy marriages. If we really believe God's Word, we can be blessed in our marriages if we choose well--not necessarily perfectly.

There's much more to say on this topic, but that's enough for this week. As we close, let's remember a couple of things. First, sexuality, like a river, is good as long as it stays within its bounds. Second, Marriage is an image of Jesus Christ and his church. As Paul reminded the Ephesian Christians:

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (Eph. 5:25-27)

That's an image not only of happiness in this life, but of heaven.

PRAYER
INVITATION

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

Bought With a Price—So Glorify God!

2006-09-08T11:33:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Preached Sunday morning, September 3, 2006
Lexington Church of Christ, Milton Stanley

In our study of 1 Corinthians we’ve entered the section of “body sins” among the Corinthian Christians. Two weeks ago we saw the problem with a man in the church committing adultery and incest—and the even bigger problem of the church approving of his actions. The church didn’t appreciate that they were a body with a need to keep evil out like a cancer. Last week we saw the issue of Christians cheating and suing one another. The Corinthians were fighting themselves, and a body which does that is sick, perhaps mortally ill. In this section, the Apostle Paul looks again at sexual sins among the Corinthians and relates it to the entire body of Christ at Corinth.

It should come as no surprise that Christians living in first-century Corinth had given in to sexual sins. In fact, first century Corinth was perhaps one of the few ancient cities to be as over-sexualized as Western civilization today. Corinth was a port city, with all the vices that go along with such a place. What’s more, the city was known the world over for its temple to Aphrodite, the goddess of fertility. In Aphrodite’s temple, sexual relations with temple prostitutes was considered worship. In the Greek world, the term “Corinthian girl” was slang for a prostitute, and to “Corinthianize” meant to commit sexual sin. The reason these issues were a problem for the Corinthians is that, like Christians today, the Corinthian Christians too often took their cues not from the Word but from the world.

Each church to whom Paul wrote had its own kinds of problems. The Galatians understood the need for holy living but tried to reintroduce the old law as bondage on Christians. The Corinthians understood freedom in Christ but thought that freedom gave them a license to sin. In this case Paul had a difficult task: teaching the Corinthians to turn away from sin without setting up a new dependance on the law. And the way the Apostle solved this problem sheds light on how we ought to live as Christians today. Let’s begin by looking first at the problem.

Quite simply, the Corinthian Christians had an overly permissive attitude toward sexual immorality. In verses 12 and 13, Paul seems to be quoting their excuses for committing these sins: “All things are lawful for me,” and “Food for the belly, and the belly for food.” By extension, the Corinthians are associating sexual appetite with the natural appetite for food. Just as we feed one appetite, they seem to be reasoning, we ought to satisfy the other. It’s only a physical thing. In visiting a prostitute, so the reasoning goes, one is simply feeding an appetite for sexual fulfillment.

Isn’t it amazing how easily Christians find reasons to sin, to live like the world around us? Today Christians still try to justify sexual sins such as watching sexually charged movies and viewing outright pornography. But as Jesus reminded us, even these transgressions of the mind are still sins in the eyes of God (Mt. 5:28).

So as soon as Paul begins quoting his opponents, he responds to their reasoning: “All things are lawful for me . . . but not all things are helpful.” “Food for the belly, and the belly for food. . .and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” Paul urges these sinners to “Flee from immorality” (1 Cor. 6:18). Yet he never comes out and quotes one of the many passages in the Old Testament forbidding immorality. Why not?

Paul, being a learned Jew of his day, found answers to questions about proper sexual behavior in the book of Leviticus. In fact, several passages in 1 Corinthians 6 echo similar topics and phrases in Leviticus 18 [1]. Keeping one’s body pure is part of living a holy life unto the Lord. But how can Christians have holiness without the rules of the old law? It’s tempting for Christians simply to go back to keeping the old law—in fact Christians have shown time and time again a desire to simply be told how to behave. We’d rather suck on the milk of spiritual infancy than eat the meat of maturity. But we need to grow up and accept the responsibility that comes with mature discipleship. Paul wants the Christians to maintain their freedom, but he also wants them to understand that freedom is not the same as doing as we please.

The Corinthians remind me of little children who discover the freedom adults have. This past year Carolyn and the boys and I had the privilege for the first time in our lives of moving into a brand new house. When we closed on the house it was pristine—the inside was clean and white and empty. Although our boys were too old to ask such things, I still remember the kind of questions five-year-olds ask: “Is this our house?” Yes. “Can we do anything we want to with it?” Well, yes, I suppose we can. “How about having mud ball fights in the kitchen!” Now let’s keep in mind, we have the freedom to have a mud ball fight in our house. But we would be fools to do such a thing. In fact, you might even say we would be sinning against our house to abuse and despise such a wonderful gift from God. It was a similar situation with the Corinthians. In mistaking freedom for doing as they please, they sinned against their own bodies. They needed not only to change their behavior, but to change the attitudes that got them into such a bad position.

That’s what Paul wants to help the Corinthians do—not only to behave themselves in their actions, but more importantly to have changed hearts. That’s what God wants, too. We can change our behavior and still be insincere, still have hearts turned away from God. But when our hearts are inclined toward God, then our behavior follows. Paul, then, is not only urging the Corinthians to give up sinful behavior, but sinful thinking as well. Let’s look at how he does that.

He begins in verse 14 by reminding Christians that we will one day be raised up with Christ at the Resurrection. Isn’t that an amazing approach? Here the Corinthian Christians are living in sexual sin, and Paul doesn’t threaten them with hell but rather reminds them of heaven. Even to these erring Christians, Paul offers hope. He’ll have more to say on the Resurrection in chapter 15, but right now he simply reminds them of the joyful gift of heaven that God has in store for Christians.

Then in verse 15 Paul reminds the Corinthian church that they are members of Christ. And as he’s already told them, Jesus Christ is himself our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). What place does sexual sin have in Christ’s body? None at all! Visiting a prostitute is totally incompatible with life in Christ.

Paul also reminds the Corinthians of what is really at stake in sexual intimacy. It’s much more than simply meeting a need of the body. Sexual union between a man and a woman is unique among human interactions. As we read in Gen. 2:24, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” In harlotry, a man becomes one flesh with a prostitute. Yet Christians are one body in Christ. So what will it be? Christ or sin? Paul urges the Corinthians to “flee fornication.” That’s more than simply avoiding it—that’s staying totally away from any temptation toward it.

Finally, the Apostle tells the Corinthians one more, grand truth: the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Now the full import of what Paul is saying here is lost in most twentieth and twenty-first century English translations. He doesn’t say “your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.” He says, “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.” Why would he phrase his statement that way, as if there is only one body? Quite simply, Paul has shifted here from talking about bodies to talking about the body, the church. In chapter 12 he will talk about the Christ’s body, the church, having many members. But here Paul simply reminds Christians that the church—that is the assembly of saints, not the building—is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

In the body of Christ there is no sense of “my body, my choice.” Individual Christian are members of Christ, and as such we have given up any claims on our own bodies. This applies, by the way, not only to issues like sexual immorality but to abortion and a host of other issues. What each individual Christian does with his or her body affects the whole body of the church. And of course, if sexual sin pollutes the whole church, how much more does it harm the Christian committing the sin? Every individual Christian is part of something larger than ourselves. We are members of the body of Christ. There is no such thing as a “private” sin. Whether we’re talking about adultery, fornication, lust, or pornography, the sins we commit in private weaken and pollute the whole body of Christ. In even our most secret sins we harm our fellow Christians and bring dishonor to Christ.

Despite the warnings against sexual transgression, this section ends on a positive note. Let’s look at verse 20 where it says, “you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body.” The church was bought with a very high price. All of us have sinned and fall short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23), and we deserve death for our sin (Rom. 6:23). Jesus, on the other hand, never sinned and so never deserved to die (Heb. 4:15). Yet he allowed himself to be killed on the cross to pay the price for our sin (1 Jn. 2:2). In believing in Christ, repenting of our sins, and being baptized into Christ, Christians have been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:11). Therefore our calling is not to weaken the body, but to glorify God in our bodies (1 Cor. 6:20).

Glorifying God—that’s the highest purpose for the Lord’s church, and that’s where this passage takes us. Rather than simply ordering the Corinthians to stop misbehaving, Paul has reminded the Corinthians of their highest purpose, to give him glory in everything we do. It’s a reminder to us as well.

PRAYER
INVITATION

END NOTE
1. Mark Gravrock, “Why Won’t Paul Just Say No? Purity and Sex in 1 Corinthians 6,” Word & World, 16.4 (F 1996): 444-55.

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

Preparing Ourselves to Judge Angels

2006-08-27T16:54:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 6:1-11
Preached Sunday morning, August 27, 2006
Lexington Church of Christ, Milton Stanley

After spending several weeks examining the overall problems of factionalism and poor leadership in the Corinthian church, we’ve begun looking at some of the specific sins of the Corinthian Christians. Last week we read about a particularly bad case of sexual immorality, and next week we’ll look at another of its manifestations. But right here in the middle of Paul’s discussions of immorality we have a section on lawsuits among believers. In one sense, the discussion of lawsuits seems like an interruption from the theme of immorality. Why does Paul include that subject here?

For one thing, Christians taking other Christians to court is a serious offense. Along with the sins of immorality, suing one another is a terrible testimony to the world. And, like the situation we studied last week, lawsuits among believers is a failure not only of those directly involved, but of the whole church to address the problem in-house. The fact that one Christian dares to sue another in public law courts shows just how much sin has taken root in the church.

Paul’s response to the situation is, first of all, a slap in the face of the Corinthians’ arrogance. They are a proud people, big-city sophisticates puffed up with a sense of their own knowledge and worldy wisdom. The Apostle uses fairly harsh language to show them the absurdity of their sin. And at the same time he reveals a profound image of the church in showing all Christians what our testimony should be, who our testimony should be, and how we ought to live our lives as the church.

The Apostle begins by emphasizing the shame that falls upon all the church when one Christian sues another. Notice the strong choice of words: “Do you dare...,” “Do you not know...” Ten times in his letter to the Corinthian, and six times in this chapter, Paul uses the phrase, “Do you not know...” That question is a challenge to the so-called wisdom the worldly, fleshly Corinthians believed they possessed [1]. It also reminds them what a serious offense suing one another really is.

Why is it such a serious offense? Because one day Christians will judge the world, and angels. This is the “how much more” argument sometimes used by Jesus. If Christians will judge angels in heaven and the whole world, how much more should we be able to arbitrate earthly disputes among one another today. God is preparing his church to one day judge the world. How will we ever be ready if we are unable to resolve trivial matters now? The Corinthians presumed to judge Paul (4:3-5), but they cannot even resolve their own problems. In the mean time, the world around sees Christians bickering and fighting. Naturally, the world will see their conflict and conclude: That’s who Christians are.

And so the whole church is already defeated simply by the fact that two Christians are fighting each other. Two believers who are supposed to be united in Christ can’t keep from fighting on matters of personal property and so are divided against one another. Even Satan knows better than to do that (Mt. 12:24-27). How much more should the church be able to handle its own disputes? Even the least qualified Christian ought to be better able to judge these disputes than anyone outside (1 Cor. 6:4). As Paul reminded the Corinthian Christians earlier in the letter, “the foolishness of God is wiser than men” (1:25). And even if the Christian never obtains justice, it’s better to be cheated than to fight it out in a public way that brings shame upon the church.

It’s always a defeat when the saints of God fight each other in court. Now we should not take Paul’s words here as a total prohibition against going to court. Paul himself appeared in Roman court several times to defend himself against charges arising from his proclamation of the gospel. What the Apostle is speaking against here is Christians taking their grievances to open court. The church should not air its dirty laundry in front of the world simply for the selfish benefit of a few.

A family member of mine once worked at a small business owned by a rather disfunctional family. For some reason this family was divided into factions with the dad and his sons on one side and the mother and daughters on the other. After the father died, the whole community came to learn just how disfunctional this family really was. The mother and daughters sued the sons over the conditions of the old man’s will. Flesh and blood, immediate family, dragged each other to court and began speaking to one another through lawyers. What a shame that a family was split over money and worldly business. How much more shame falls on the family of God when we fight one another in court.

Exercising good judgement in disputes requires wisdom. When should Christians turn the other cheek and when should we take action? When is it time to encourage a wayward brother, and when is it time to throw him out of the assembly? The church needs the deep-down wisdom of the Word and the Spirit to help us in these situations (Deut. 6:6; Ps. 119:11). Once we’re in the heat of conflict, it may well be too late to discover the wisdom God has in store for us. We have to take in the wisdom of God before we need it so that its principles and values shape us when we do. We do know one principle from the Word that Christians in the U.S.A. need to keep in mind: there are no rights in the Kingdom of God.

That truth may be hard for Americans to swallow. We want both our rights and our salvation. But that’s not the way it works in the Kingdom of God. We’re so fond of our rights that we may not realize the that whole idea of rights is not a biblical concept. Yes, the word “rights” has crept into some twentieth and twenty-first century translations, but you won’t find it in the words of Jesus, Paul, or the other apostles. God is certainly concerned with qualities like justice and mercy and righteousness. He wants his people to be concerned about those things, too. But rights simply don’t enter the picture. Rights are all about what others owe us. Discipleship is about what we owe others—especially God.

I read recently about a row at a church business meeting. Some issue had caused a division among members of the congregation, and at one point a man stood up. “All I want is my rights!” he said with indignation. “I just want my rights!” After seeing the one brother’s impassioned plea, an older saint made this reply: “Your rights, brother, is that what you want, your rights? Why the Lord Jesus didn't come to get his rights. He came to get his wrongs, and he got them” [2].

Wrongs are what we sign on to as the church. Some folks have the mistaken idea that the church is a self-improvement society: a place to get my life on track, a way to live more “abundantly,” a means of getting what’s coming to me. But the church is not here to improve our lot in the world. In fact, after we have become Christians, we may find ourselves sicker, poorer, more heavily oppressed, at least in the short term. Many Christians have found that after their baptism the Devil runs away for a short time but that he soon returns with a powerful counterattack. Let’s not forget that the devil pulls the strings in this world (Jn 12:31; 14:30: 16:11). When you’re lost, the Devil wants to keep you happy. But when you’re saved, you can be sure he’ll come after you (1 Pe. 5:8). The Bible makes it clear that we should expect trouble for the simple fact that we are Christians: “Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in XI will be persecuted” (2 Ti 3:12). And God won’t always bail us out of trouble this side of the Resurrection. Sometimes it really is true that “no good deed will go unpunished.”

Yet it is the way Jesus told us to live. We are to go the extra mile, turn the other cheek, deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Jesus (Lk 9:23). So for Christians it is often better to be hurt than to hurt the cause of Christ. We are on a mission to proclaim the Kingdom and to glorify God. We have orders from the King to do right. But for Christians there are no “rights” in the Kingdom of God

There’s no place for wrongs, either. Paul begins this section by blistering those bringing the lawsuits against other Christians. Their selfishness caused them to fight over money, power, and standing. As the Apostle tells them, it would be better to be hurt than to damage the testimony of the church (1 Cor. 6:7). That is, however, only one side of the problem.

The other side is those doing things to be sued about. Some of those in the Corinthian church were defrauding and doing wrong to their fellow Christians (6:8). They were numbered among the Christians but were living like pagans, sinners. They were called Christians but were committing theft, adultery, idolatry, and other sins. Now, in verse 8, Paul turns his fire on them. If his words to the whole church are harsh in this chapter, his words to these wrongdoers are absolutely withering: there is no inheritance for you. He’s addressing the “Lord, Lord!” folks, those who call on the name of Jesus but don’t do the will of the Father to turn away from sin (Mt. 7:21).

Christians are saved by faith, not worthy behavior, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for obedience. A Christian may still sin on occasion, but if he simply goes on sinning as he did before he was saved, then clearly there is no true repentance in his life. And if there is no repentance, there is no salvation, no place in the Kingdom. To be Christians, we have to have a new mind toward sin. We have to renounce it, give it up, abandon following the spirit of sin and live by the Spirit of God. Paul gives a few examples of the kinds of behaviors Christians must abandon: both homosexual and heterosexual immorality, idolatry, adultery, thieving, drunkenness, greed, and speaking ill of others. If we’re honest with ourselves, everyone of us has been guilty of at least one of those sins. As Christians, we should be in the life-long process of repentance, of ridding our lives of every vestige of sin. We sometimes fail in our efforts to live holy lives—and some of us fall more often than others. But if there is no repentance in our lives, if we simply go on sinning, then we have no redemption and no inheritance. That’s the bad news—what we’ve done.

The good news is what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. As Paul told the Corinthians, "you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (6:11). That's what we receive when we are joined to Christ in the church. Those words about washing and sanctification recall our baptism into Christ, where we joined with Christ in his death and resurrection to eternal life (Rom 6:3-4). We've just seen the need for repentance—for taking on the mind of Christ and giving up a mind committed to sin. And of course, without a life-changing faith in Jesus Christ, all our actions are worthless. Thus Paul ends this section with a reminder of the wonderful grace with which God has blessed his people, and of the new life we have in Jesus Christ our Lord.

PRAYER
INVITATION

END NOTES
1. Bob Deffinbaugh, "Courting Sin (1 Cor. 6:1-11)," online study at www.bible.org.
2. Ray C. Stedman, "The Wrong Way to Right Wrongs," online sermon text at www.pbc.org.

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

Deliver Such a One to Satan

2006-08-27T16:53:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 5
Preached Sunday morning, August 20, 2006
Lexington Church of Christ, Milton Stanley

Up until this point in 1 Corinthians we have been looking primarily at factionalism and Christian leadership. We’ve seen that faithful leaders in Christ don’t operate on their own power but on God’s. Faithful leaders don’t build personal followings or puff themselves up. Faithful leaders are butlers and underlings who give glory to God.

Now, in chapter five, we see what happens to a congregation without good leadership. In short, that church falls into sin—and not only the individual sinners suffer, but the whole congregation. In the case of the Corinthians, Paul begins by addressing three types of sin: incest (ch. 5), lawsuits (6:1-11), and prostitution (6:12-20) [1. Notice that two of these deal directly with sexual immorality—as we might expect in a city known for its temple to the goddess of fertility.

This chapter begins with an example of both incest and adultery—a rather extreme example both for the first-century Christians and for those in our own day and time. What does such an unlikely case have to do with the church today? Simply this: the worst danger in this incident is not so much from the man as from the church. The congregation in Corinth had become lax toward sin, and as a result the church was rotting from the inside. So this chapter shows us how to take sin seriously, and it gives us a glimpse of how church discipline should work.

As we see here, there is a time, place, and context for Christians to judge sin—and we must! What was happening in Corinth was a sin so gross that even the Gentiles wouldn’t do such thing. A man has taken up with his father’s wife (5:1). Literally, Paul says the man “has” his father’s wife—a verb signifying a continuous relationship. And rather than condemn such sinful behavior, the Corinthians are apparently proud of it (5:2-6). Someone has likened the maturity of a church to the quality of an automobile. Naturally, we’d rather drive a well-maintained car than a clunker. Some of you may have noticed I’ve stopping driving my old Honda and am using an equally old but less-warn Buick. I prefer the Honda, but that car had lots dents and rusty places, the clear coat had begun to peel off the hood, and the seats are stained and torn. When I drove through downtown Lexington I used to think how that thing just isn’t a “preacher’s car.” But the Buick, that’s a fine looking preacher’s car! Now what does all this car talk have to do with the Corinthian church? Simply this: spiritually speaking, the Corinthians were driving wreck of a church—and they were proud of it [2]! It seems they understood something about the freedom of God’s grace, but nothing of the duties it brings. One of the Corinthian Christians was committing a sin that even the pagans didn’t do, and the church was proud.

Does that sound anything like our day? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard those in various denominations talk about “unconditional love” or “unconditional acceptance” when it comes to sinners in their midst [3]. Let’s say someone calling himself a Christian practices a sinful behavior, and rather than simply calling the behavior sin, members of the person’s church talk about the sinner’s need for unconditional love and acceptance from other Christians. In our day that kind of thinking is prevalent on the issue of homosexual relationships, but we can find it in many other contexts. All the talk of unconditional love sounds very spiritual, and of course there is some truth to it. Far too many Christians cause their love for others to be dependent on the other person’s behavior—“What have you done for me lately?” Conditional love is especially harmful when parents use it on their children, and it can turn a family or a church into a favor exchange club. On the other hand, if we focus so much on unconditional love that we forget love’s stern side, then before long we allow the most sinful behaviors to go unchallenged. The example of the Corinthian church is a case in point. Yes, the Corinthians should love the man who is living with his father’s wife. But the man is under judgement (5:3), and now it’s time to take action.

Those of you who have been paying attention to this series on 1 Corinthians may ask, how does this talk of passing judgement jibe with Paul’s warning in 4:5 against judging other Christians? That’s something worth exploring. In our day, for example, the most often repeated words of Jesus may well be, “Judge not” (Mt. 7:1). Now those are the very words of the Lord, so we’d better give them some attention. But let’s be clear: if “Judge not” is all we know about judgement in the church, then before long we’ll be in as bad shape as the Corinthians. In 1 Cor. 4:3-5 Paul is warning the Corinthian Christians against judging the quality of another Christian’s work and the sincerity of his effort. Those are things only God knows. But here in ch. 5, the topic is clear sins—incest and adultery—that are already judged evil in God’s Word [4]. The issue is not so much judgement as obedience. If our church shies away from being obedient about matters that the Word of God has already judged, then one day we’ll be the ones debating whether or not to allow women or practicing homosexuals into the pulpit.

So what is a church to do with entrenched sin, when someone continues to sin and seems proud of it? The instructions here are clear—throw out the sinner. Now this chapter contains a passage that is much debated among interpreters: What exactly did Paul mean when he wrote for the Corinthians “to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh” (5:5)? Theories abound, from the idea that the man was to be physically killed to the concept of sin simply taking its toll on him through the years. There’s no way to be sure exactly what Paul had in mind in those words, although it hasn’t stopped many interpreters from arguing their case. People naturally like to spend time debating hard verses like these (and the Bible has plenty of them). To a degree, these efforts to better understand the Bible are good, and they help keep us reading and studying. On the other hand, it’s more fun to debate verses we can’t fully understand than to simply obey the ones we do. We can spend all day discussing what it means to deliver a Christian to Satan, but the action that needs to be taken is very plain in verses 2 and 13: kick the man out of the church!

We commonly call this kind of action disfellowshipping. It used to be much more common than it is today in the Lord’s church. When I preached in Tennessee I once spent part of an afternoon going through the congregation’s file on disfellowship letters. As many churches had done, after disfellowshipping a man or woman (usually for sexual sin), the elders of the congregation would send letters to nearby congregations explaining the reasons for disfellowshipping. These letters went back for years, but they rather abruptly stopped twenty or so years ago. That was about the time a woman out West won a lawsuit against the elders of her congregation for sending disfellowship letters regarding her refusal repent of sexual immoral behavior. At that church in Tennessee, as well as congregations all over the country, disfellowship letters soon became rare. It seems it doesn’t take much outside pressure for Christians to go soft on sin.

Ignoring sin is easy, but the church is called to confront it. In Mt. 18:15-21, Jesus spells out the process of how Christians are to do this in a series of escalating steps from individual confrontation through congregational actions. How much stronger the church would be if we followed that pattern—less gossip, less sin, more love and tough brotherhood. The church would never shrug off sin. Correction hurts, but it’s necessary, as Paul explains in his parable of the dough, to keep sin from multiplying and infecting the whole congregation.

Sometimes a Christian’s behavior deteriorates to the point where disfellowship is called for. The overall picture of that process is fairly simple: treat that person as an unbeliever. Now, while the procedure is clear enough, putting it into practice correctly can be tough. Unless the person causes serious disruptions, he or she should be allowed to continue attending worship assemblies. A tougher question is exactly what Paul means when he admonishes the Corinthians not to eat with a sinning brother (5:11). Some take this to refer to the Lord’s Supper while others see it as fellowship meals or even social eating. Certainly there are times when a brother’s sin is so pervasive that we need to stay away from that person entirely so we don’t fall into it with him.

But here is where we need to make an important distinction. Whenever the church is forced to expel a sinning brother, it must be done with a right attitude. There is never a place in the church for attitudes of superiority and aloofness. Neither Paul nor Jesus Christ himself treated sinners in such a way. It’s terrible to see Christians delighting in others’ sin. I’m talking about those in the church who love to tell about their brothers’ and sisters’ failures. Gossiping apparently gives them something to talk about and makes them feel superior. But those kind of people are rejecting God’s love. As we’ll see in 1 Cor. 13:6, “Love...does not rejoice in wrongdoing.” What should our attitude be when a sinner falls? Look at what Paul says in 5:2. We should mourn! It ought to break our hearts when a fellow Christian sins. We ought to be full of sorry.

Why are our attitudes on this matter so important? For one thing, if a sinner goes to the point where he needs to be disfellowshipped, the whole congregation has failed [5]. Disfellowship is an action of last resort, and a whole series of steps would have to fail before the situation deteriorates to that point. In every case where a Christian falls, the whole church suffers. Throwing out a brother or sister shows that all of us have failed to provoke that Christian to love and good works (Heb. 10:24). For another thing, sin is not usually isolated in a church. As we’ll see, the Corinthian living with his father’s wife is not the only Christian committing sexual sin. Sinful action arises from a sinful attitude, and the whole church at Corinth needed an attitude adjustment. Hearts right with God and mature obedience to Christ are the goals of discipleship (Mt. 28:19, 20). And to have those kind of hearts it’s simply fundamental to realize our own weakness in the face of God’s holiness. God’s nature is to forgive and restore those who repent (Ex. 34:6-7). Let’s not forget that the goal of church discipline is not punishment, but repentance (see 2 Cor. 7).

Let’s also keep in mind that Paul’s words here on judgement are limited to behavior among Christians. We are never called to judge the behavior of those outside the church. In a letter before 1 Corinthians (0 Corinthians?) Paul had told the church at Corinth not to associate with immoral people. But he doesn’t mean the lost. He’s talking about so-called brothers who practice, on and on, the kinds of sins described in 1 Cor. 5:11—sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, slander, drunkenness, swindling. Do any of those make you nervous? Notice that greed and bad-talking are right there with idolatry, sexual sin, and theft. Now why are Christians told to stay away from brothers who persist in their sins? For one thing, the sins may contaminate the church like yeast in dough. For another, there’s no help for a Christian who rejects the grace of God. The writer of Hebrews said,

For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they then fall away, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. (Heb 6:4-6)

Remember, it’s very easy to abuse the practice of disfellowshipping. Some of us here are familiar with such abuses. The church had better be very sure before it takes such a drastic step. But when the action is called for, we sin if we don’t do it.

Even so, Christians have to continue associating with sinners outside the church—even those whose sins we find especially bad. See the list in 1 Cor. 5:10? We have to do business with sexual sinners, greedy people, robbers, and idolaters. Those are precisely the kind of people Jesus sat down and ate with, and they’re the kind of people Jesus came to save. They’re the kind of people we need to invite into our assemblies and into our homes. I’m tired of hearing preachers and other Christians ranting and raving about how sinful the world is, as if they’re shocked by the latest sin reported on television. Complaining that the world is sinful is like complaining that afternoons are hot in the summer. That’s the way the world is.

Our task as Christians is not to expose gross sin in the world but in the church. That doesn’t mean we go on witch hunts on matters of opinion or performance. I went to school with a man whose wife was threatened with disfellowship because she wasn’t doing enough personal Bible studies in the evenings. Christians are not to judge one another’s’ performance or sincerity. We are not to judge the salvation of a brother who struggles with sin and falls, even if he falls over and over (Mt. 18:22). But when someone willfully, repeatedly, and shamelessly engages in behavior judged sinful in the Scriptures, he is already under judgement. The church simply needs to act.

As we’ll see tonight in our study of Psalm 58,. God takes sin and judgement seriously. God is holy and expects his people to be holy, too. The church is a holy nation, a royal priesthood (1 Pe. 2:9). Our task is not only to preach for convicting the world of sin, but to act as mediators between God and mankind. That’s why it’s critical for the church to always, always, always proclaim Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2). The cross is necessary because God takes sin seriously [6]. The cross is the place where Jesus paid the price for our sin. We didn’t pay it; Jesus did. In all this talk about the need for expelling evil, we need to keep something clear: Christians aren’t holy because we behave ourselves; we behave ourselves because we’ve been made holy. And the only way we’re made holy is by the blood of Jesus Christ.

That’s the glorious good news of salvation: Jesus Christ crucified. Because we all sin (Rom. 3:23), we fall short of God’s standard of holiness and glory, and we deserve only death. Yet God’s gift of grace through Jesus Christ is to all who really believe in Christ so that by faith we repent and take on Christ in baptism (Rom. 6:3-5, 23; Acts 2:38). Christ is our Passover lamb, sacrificed for our sins (1 Cor. 5:7). By living day by day in humility, by living lives of holiness and gratitude to the one who makes us holy, week keep the feast of joyful redemption. It’s a gift beyond measure. Let’s live like we believe it.

PRAYER
INVITATION

END NOTES
1. Thomas L. Constable, Notes on 1 Corinthians, 2004 ed., online commentary at www.soniclight.com, p. 44.
2. Bob Deffinbaugh, “Church Discipline: Taking Sin Seriously (1 Cor. 5:1-13), online study at www.bible.org.
3. See Deffinbaugh
4. See, for example, Lev. 18:8; 20:11; Deut. 22:30; Acts 15:20.
5. Deffinbaugh.
6. Ibid.

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

The Folly of Ignoring God’s Gift

2006-08-13T21:01:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 4:6-21
Preached Sunday morning, August 13, 2006
Lexington Church of Christ, Milton Stanley

Here in chapter 4 we come to the end of the opening section of 1 Corinthians. In his letters to churches, Paul begins by telling Christians who God is and what he’s done for the church. After laying that foundation, Paul moves on to exhorting Christians to practice godly behavior. That approach provokes gratitude and repentance, and it changed lives. As someone has said, “Right thinking precedes right conduct” [1]. In the next chapter, Paul will begin addressing issues of Christian behavior among the Corinthians. But first he has had to deal with a large, fundamental problem within the church: Christian leadership.

The Corinthian Christians are gifted from God, but as my great aunt Marie used to say, they’ve become too big for their britches. Last week we saw how the highest leaders in the church are merely underlings and butlers, and yet they are ultimately answerable to God, our only judge. As we’ll see in the following chapters, knowing how to judge rightly takes wisdom.

The Corinthians also have fallen into following personalities rather than God. The Christians and their leaders are arrogant. Paul reveals in this section that his examples of himself and Apollos are merely figures for the real culprits of division and arrogance. Paul doesn’t give the names of these Corinthian leaders, but he does show how their lives stack up to his own life and the lives of true leaders in the church. In the process Paul shows not only leaders but all Christians how to live: through faithfulness to the Word, by putting the Word into practice, and with the power it brings.

This section, in which Paul exhorts the Corinthians not to be arrogant, begins with an interesting exhortation: “that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written” (v. 6). That phrase, by the way, is a pillar of biblical interpretation and practice in Churches of Christ. Throughout the centuries the church has fallen into troubles and foolishness whenever Christians begin to go beyond what the Word of God teaches. Putting that exhortation into practice, without either doing things the Scriptures prohibit or prohibiting things the Scriptures allow, takes wisdom. Paul will deal with this issue in more detail in chapter 8.

In this context, however, the issue is not interpretation but arrogance. The Corinthian leaders are arrogant, and their worldly thinking has turned the church away from the simple gospel of Jesus Christ [2]. Paul has already reminded them that the gospel in its purest form is not eloquent or complicated. It’s simply Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2). Whatever else the Corinthian leaders were teaching apparently looked good by worldly standards, but they had forgotten this most important truth: Christ crucified. Although they were educated, wealthy, and gifted, the Corinthians had drifted from the heart of the gospel and needed to relearn the basics. Although they believed they’d arrived [3], they were still babies in Christ (1 Cor. 3:1). Their situation is similar to the Christians at Laodicea: “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17) . And so these worldly little babies think highly of their own abilities and poorly of Paul and Sosthenes. The real danger in that attitude is that depending on one’s own strength and abilities is a denial of grace [4]. That’s why arrogance is such a serious sin. Paul asks the Corinthians, how can you take credit for a gift (1 Cor. 4:7)? The Corinthians are sorely deceived in taking credit for God’s work in redeeming and empowering them.

What about us? What about the church in Lexington, Virginia? Do we depend on God’s grace or on our own strength? Do we try to grasp what we can reach or what God has in store for us?

Paul’s response to the Corinthians’ attitude is both sarcastic and scathing:

Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. [5]

A boy asked me in Bible school recently what Paul was getting at in that passage. Was he calling them kings because they were able to evangelize those Paul couldn’t reach? No, Paul was calling them kings because he was mocking their arrogance. In looking at Paul, by the way, it’s good to be reminded that Christian leaders can still have a sense of humor and a hard edge. Too often Christians are solemn about all the wrong things and lack the passion we should bring to the work of the gospel. If we bring passion and truth to bear on that work, some folks will get their feelings hurt. That’s the way it should be, because the Kingdom of God isn’t about being nice and making people feel good, it’s about redeeming sinners from the world and teaching them to live by the new rules of heaven. That hurts, especially when we think we’ve already arrived.

The Corinthians certainly thought they had. Paul mocks their attitudes: these little babies think they’re kings, that they’re rich, smart, and strong. But Paul saves the worst for last: they are held in honor. Need I remind you that taking a position of honor is exactly opposite of how Christians are called to live [6]? These worldly Corinthians seem to have forgotten. Let’s not forget in Lexington. During the twentieth century Churches of Christ steadily moved to the right side of the tracks, from being a collection of mostly rural congregations low on the socio-economic scale to being groups of relatively wealthy, respectable citizens. The desire among Christians to be accepted in the wider society is perfectly natural. It’s also perfectly deadly to our souls. Paul warns Christians here and elsewhere that the world will reject Christians who live their faith, “And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim 3:12).

Let’s not forget how foolish the gospel looks to the world at large. What kind of sense does it make that the very Word of God would take on flesh and become a human being? What kind of sense does it make that Jesus was both God and man at the same time? How can Jesus’ death on the cross pay the debt for our sin? How can baptism put us in union with Christ’s resurrection? As someone has said, “Grace isn't just amazing; it's ridiculous” [7]. It doesn’t make sense to the world, and sometimes it doesn’t even make sense to Christians. The Corinthians didn’t properly comprehend grace, or else they wouldn’t have been bragging about their own strength.

On the other hand, look at Paul and the other apostles. They were willing to give up comforts (v. 11) and willing to work with their hands (v. 12). As we’ll see in chapter 9, evangelists deserve to be paid and make their living from proclaiming the gospel. But Paul and his fellow workers had given up their privileges. Isn’t that what Jesus exhorted Christians to do (Mt. 5:38-42)? The apostles endured persecution (v. 12), and when they were slandered, they didn’t run after revenge but reconciliation (v. 13). They were willing to be less than nothing to the world (v. 13). All of these things—money, comfort, prestige—were nothing compared to the glory of God’s grace. They would rather do the work of God than have all the world has to offer.

What about us? Which one are you aiming for, the world or the will of God? Which ones are this church aiming for?

Paul concludes this section by discussing further the role of a Christian leader. He calls himself a father to the Corinthians. This is not a title but a role. Paul preached and taught in Corinth for a year and a half (Acts 18:11). Paul has led them to God and worked at building them up in Christ. At this point they’ve fallen pretty seriously away. But you notice Paul doesn’t simply reject them: “You worthless bunch of sinners! You’re no sons of mine!” No, what does he do? He expresses his love for them. He encourages them not with shame but with love (1 Cor. 4:14) [8]. Are we listening?

As a little boy grows by imitating his father, so the Corinthians were to grow by imitating Paul. That’s how it works, not only for Paul, but for any Christian leader. We lead the church not only with words but with our actions. What a responsibility! Although he proclaimed the very Word of God, Paul wasn’t a man of words alone. He put the Word into action. Many Christian leaders are ineffective because they preach a good word but don’t live it. And if we don’t really live the Word, we don’t really believe the Word (Jas. 2:17, 26).

But the Word came alive in Paul’s life, to change his heart and give him the proclamation that changes others. Paul had gifts we do not have today. But he did have something we can have: the power of the Word in action. After encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul never lived the same again. He found new ways to spend his money, his time. His purpose in life changed, too. And his life went from one of destroying the church to one of building it up. And he went to the ends of the earth and suffered agony to do it. Paul had the power of the Word in action. So do we when we really believe enough to live differently from the world. The Kingdom of God is not words alone, but the power of a new life, a new allegiance, a new citizenship.

Too often a church falls into saying the right words but not living the life. This church to a great extent has the right words of doctrine. But do we have the power that comes from believing? Do we show our faith is real by giving up money and personal pleasure to do the work of the Kingdom? Have we repented of being strong, respectable, important, and comfortable? Are we willing to move beyond the power of our own minds and wills to find the power of repentance and obedience?

These first four chapters of 1 Corinthians are a treasure chest of godly wisdom. They offer a precious glimpse of what God expects from Christians and how the church deals with its own shortcomings. But this letter is of little value if we look at it only historically. These Corinthians are more like us than we care to admit. If what you’ve read today doesn’t prick your heart, you probably need to take your pulse! Remember, Paul is not talking here to the Corinthians alone (1 Cor. 1:2). He’s talking to us.

And let’s remember this, too: the Corinthians’ greatest sin was the arrogance of neglecting God’s grace. And what, exactly, is grace? It’s a gift we don’t deserve. Grace is loving those who sin—and that’s all of us (Rom. 3:23). Grace is sending Jesus Christ, the Word of God, as a man (Jn. 1:14; Phil. 2:8). Grace is Jesus dying on a cross to pay the price of our sin (Eph. 2:16). Grace is allowing us to join him in faith and baptism (Rom. 6:4). Grace is the power that charges our lives (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 3:7).

Every day we are choosing to live either by grace or by our own power. And the one we choose will determine what kind of disciples we become, either like the Corinthians or like the apostles. Will we be babies pretending to be kings, or underlings in service to the King who shares with us the glory of his domain?

NOTES
1. Bob Deffinbaugh, "Follow the Leader (1 Cor. 4:1-21)," online study.
2. Deffinbaugh.
3. Ray C. Stedman, "A Father in Action," online sermon text.
4. Deffinbaugh.
5. 1 Cor. 4:8-10. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version of the Bible.
6. See, for example, Luke 14:10.
7. Jared Wilson, “The Scandal of Grace,” weblog post.
8. Stedman.

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

Servants and stewards of God's mysteries

2006-08-06T13:09:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Preached Sunday morning, August 6, 2006
Lexington Church of Christ

Last week, in chapter 3, we saw how the Corinthian Christians were troubled with strife and jealousy. Paul called them “fleshly” (3:3). He wanted them to grow up into the mind of Christ, but they were still babies (3:1-2). That’s what any Christians are when we think of a congregation as “our” church and so divide up and contend for control. Paul reminded the Corinthians that the church, the people, the assembly of believers, is the temple of God (3:17), and that God alone causes the church to grow, to be built up (3:6). That temple is built strong when we keep our focus on God. It’s built up when we become fools to our own wisdom (3:18) and proclaim not ourselves, but Jesus Christ and him crucified (2:2). Church leaders—evangelists and teachers—who would build on that foundation of Jesus Christ may use various materials: wood, straw, jewels or precious metals (3:11-12). Paul mentions those materials as metaphors for the quality of teaching and edification that leaders bring to the church.

Here in chapter 4 Paul continues his discussion of those who evangelize and teach the saints. What he reveals is not only a lesson for church leadership in every congregation, but an important encouragement for every Christian. Let’s remember what we’ve just learned in chapter 3: that as Christians, everything is ours in Christ (3:21-22). Yet if our minds are fleshly, then our thinking is futile (3:20). It’s ironic, really. A fleshly mind can look highly spiritual, but only when we cast worldly thinking aside do we really begin to have the mind of Christ. So let’s begin our study of 1 Cor. 4 with Paul’s example for preachers and teachers. Specifically Paul is speaking here about himself, Peter (Cephas), and Apollos, but the truths he reveals are valid not only for Christian leaders, but for all Christians.

Paul begins by telling how the Corinthians ought to view him, Peter, and Apollos. Now, in terms of Christian leadership, that’s pretty strong company. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, Peter had been one of his closest friends, and in the early days of the church, Peter often acted as spokesman for all the apostles. Paul, although he had not been a disciple before the Resurrection, had been a Pharisee, a diligent student of the Scriptures. What’s more, Paul had received a special vision and commission from the Lord, and he was the chief apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15; Rom. 11:13; 1 Tim 2:7). Apollos, although not one of the inspired apostles, was a Jew from Alexandria, a world-famous center of learning and scholarship. He was a fervent leader, eloquent speaker, and competent in the Scriptures (Acts 18:24-25). These three men were the best the church had to offer. And how should the church think of them? As servants and stewards of the mysteries of God (4:1-2).

Servants and stewards—let’s think about that for a minute, because the words Paul uses here are full of meaning. That first word, translated servant or minister, means a helper, a subordinate to a more important person. A word that captures the shades of meaning here might be underling. The next word, steward, means someone who takes care of something that belongs to someone else. The word literally means household manager. In our day, we might say butler. Ministers and stewards—underlings and butlers—do you see how those descriptions take the emphasis off of where the Corinthians had been putting it? The Corinthians had been formed rival groups in the name of each one of these teachers (without the consent or approval of those teachers). Each group no doubt considered themselves to share in the prestige of whichever leader they chose. So Paul has already told them that he and Apollos are nothing (3:7), and here he chooses words to describe their ministry that takes the emphasis off them and places it squarely on the One they’re working for.

That’s a lesson every servant ought to remember. There is no greater privilege than proclaiming the Word of God. That applies to the man who speak to millions through television, to the one who speaks to dozens from the pulpit, or the man or woman studying with a single friend in the home. All who preach and teach the Word of God are to a greater or lesser degree servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. And if we dare to take on that responsibility, it’s vital we remember whom we’re serving. It’s all too easy to consider evangelism “our” work, to fall into the dangerous trap of pride: “Look how many people I’ve led to Christ! Look how many I’ve baptized!” No matter how hard we work in the name of God, let’s never forget who does the real work. We present the Word, but God does the work in hearts. Our mission is to be worthy of the trust God has put in us as his underlings.

If churches are organized in line with examples in the New Testament, we can benefit from an arrangement that discourages some of the kinds of problems facing the Corinthians. For example, in Churches of Christ, we don’t call our preachers Father, Reverend, or Pastor. Jesus specifically cautioned us not to call earthly men father (Mt. 23:9), and no one in the Bible is called Reverend except God (Ps. 111:9). Pastor is the role of elders or overseers. A preacher may also be an elder, and preachers typically fill the teaching role of elders. But churches in the New Testament were never led by a single elder but by groups of elders. The books of Acts, 1 Timothy and Titus give us the best pictures of this arrangement. Even when a congregation is being led by a single evangelist, it must be working toward having elders (Titus 1:5). Of course, simply having the right organizational structure won’t save Christians from proud or arrogant hearts. Notice that Paul doesn’t take issue with the Corinthian’s leadership structure. He takes issue with their attitudes.

The Corinthians, it seems, had been taking issue with Paul. And see how Paul responded? He’s just told them that he puts a small value on himself, and now he does the same to their judgment against him: “But with me it’s a very small thing that I should be judged by you or any human court” (4:3). Notice that he didn’t say he ignores them. There are two mistakes Christians can make when dealing with our critics. The first is to ignore them completely (they might be right, after all). The second is to get too wrapped up in what they say [1]. Paul sets a good example for any Christian, especially those who teach and lead a congregation. If we don’t listen at all to our brothers and sisters in Christ, then we’re arrogant. We are part of one body, and the Holy Spirit is at work in the congregation in ways he’s not in us individually. If we don’t pay any attention to criticisms from our fellow Christians, then trouble will follow. But if we pay too much attention, it will tear us apart. In my office I have a framed quotation from Dr. Bill Cosby. It says, “I don’t know the secret of success, but the secret of failure is trying to please everybody.” I keep that as a reminder, because when we serve others it’s easy to begin craving their approval. That’s natural, but it’s not Christian. As Paul said, “If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” You can’t please everybody (sometimes, it seems, you can’t please anybody). So live to please God.

I read an example recently of an old preacher who helped a younger preacher learn this lesson. The elders had called the young man in and told him that he needed to understand a few things. This was their church, not his: “We were here before you came, and we are going to be here when you leave; therefore, we expect you to do what we want you to do and not what you think you ought to do.” The younger man asked what he should do, and here’s what the older preacher said:

"Well, I would call together the elders of the church and I would say to them, 'Brothers, I think you are suffering from two very serious theological errors: "'One, you think this is your church, but this is not your church. This is the Lord's church. All churches belong only to him; they do not belong to the people; they are not a democracy owned by the congregation. Jesus said, "On this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it," {cf, Matt 16:18}. So all of us are under the authority of the Lord of this church, and it is his job to tell us what he wants the church to be, and not our job to tell him what we think it ought to be.'"

"'The second error is that you think you hired me to work in this church, but you have not. I did not come on that basis. I have joined you to share the ministry with you. I appreciate the fact that you have set me aside, and given me support from the congregation so that I do not have to spend time earning a living, but can devote my full time to the ministry of teaching and preaching. If you will not accept those terms then I will have to look elsewhere. I cannot work on any other terms because that is what the New Testament says.' [2]

Any preacher or teacher must bring the Word of God to both the saints and the lost. A man who would preach must not shrink from bringing the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). That’s why I preach texts more than topics. Preaching through books of the Bible gives the preacher less opportunity to keep preaching his pet topics again and again. By preaching through books, over time, the church hears teachings from the whole Bible. And if any preacher is doing his job faithfully, bringing the whole counsel of God, he’ll step on everyone’s toes at one time or another. Often what we least want to hear is what we most need.

None of this is to say preachers or teachers should be above criticism. “Don’t judge” is one of the most abused ideas in churches today. There is a time to criticize, a time to judge. It’s not that the Corinthians should never judge. It’s just that they weren’t any good at it! They were still spiritual babies, and they didn’t have the mind for it. As we’ll see in 1 Corinthians and elsewhere, some thing Christians must judge: sexual immorality (1 Cor. 5:3), right and wrong (1 Cor. 6), truth (Acts 17:10-11; Gal. 2:4, 2 Tim. 2:15ff). But we mustn’t have an arrogant attitude about it. The Corinthians were in essence placing themselves above Paul. It’s their arrogance that Paul is speaking against, and he reminds them that he—and all of us—are ultimately subject to God alone, the only one who can see our hearts and will one day reveal their innermost secrets.

That’s a lesson for all Christians: that God alone is our judge (4:4). Now let’s look at something that has the potential to change our lives dramatically. Notice what Paul says in the second part of 4:3? Paul is an inspired apostle who can say he has the mind of Christ. And he doesn’t even judge himself! That’s humility. That’s faithfulness and trust in God’s wisdom. As Paul goes on to say, Christians are to examine ourselves (1 Cor. 11:28) and test ourselves (2 Cor. 13:5). But we are not to judge ourselves. That’s worth thinking about.

I meet so many Christians who do try to judge themselves—whether they’re really living good enough lives to be a Christian. And they’re eaten up by guilt. They may be blessed to know God’s standards of righteousness and have the courage to look at their own weaknesses. But then they jump to faulty conclusions: “I’m pathetic. I’m worthless. If I’m this bad, I can’t really be a Christian.” It’s a terrible trap, judging ourselves, because if we’re honest we’ll all find plenty to judge! When we do give in to self judgement, one of two things usually happens to us: either we go on the offensive and begin judging others as harshly as we judge ourselves, or we just sit down in quiet hopelessness.

But here’s something to remember. We’re not qualified to judge ourselves [3]. We can’t fathom the depths of our own hearts, let alone God’s. God is the only one qualified to judge us. In the right context, we can and should examine ourselves and do what we can to live like Christians. But it’s not our job to judge ourselves, especially when, through our Savior Jesus Christ, we’ve passed from judgement to life (Jn 5:24). We may feel inadequate to be a Christian. And, if God judged us simply by who we are and what we do, we would be. But when we begin thinking and feeling that way, it’s time to see with the eyes of faith. That’s when it’s time to look to the Word for our identity. And we’ve already seen in 1 Corinthians what that identity is.

Christians, those who call on the name of the Lord, have been given grace from God (1:4). Grace is a gift we don’t deserve. We receive the gift through faith, repentance, confession, and baptism. But even those actions on our part don’t cause us to deserve God’s blessings. Discipleship is not a transaction, as if we do something for God, and he blesses us as repayment. No. Grace is a gift from God, and nothing we do causes us to deserve it. So we can give up the idea right now that we ever deserve the blessings God offers.

So what are those blessings? Everything (1:5; 3:21-23). Everything. Everything is ours in Christ: forgiveness and sanctification (1:2), peace (1:3), knowledge and wisdom (1:4, 24), fellowship (1:9), power (1:18), salvation (1:18), righteousness (1:30), glory (2:7), truth (2:13), God’s own Spirit (3:16). God has enriched us in everything. And remember this: those gifts are not to individuals alone, but to the church, the body of Christ. We find those blessings in the community of saints—as messed up as we are, that’s where God blesses us with these gifts.

And there’s one more gift, perhaps the most precious of all: God is faithful toward us—this bunch of Christians here, as messed up in many ways as the Corinthians—he will “confirm us to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1:8). Whatever we feel, whatever we see when we look down into our own hearts, is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t count. The only thing that counts is what God has done, and he is faithful to keep and save weak, broken vessels like us. As Paul told the Corinthians, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Cor. 5:17). If we have put on Christ we have forgiveness, new life, new standing. And God is holding onto his own, because he is faithful (1 Cor. 1:9). Who are you to judge yourself when God has forgiven your sins through Jesus Christ?

This whole idea of judgment takes wisdom to grasp; it’s not an easy topic. It’s very easy to misunderstand, especially if we don’t have the mind of Christ. Why does Paul speak against judging in chapter 4 and then tell the Corinthians to judge in the very next chapter? Why does Paul tell them to be foolish in one place and wise in another? Why does he praise weakness and then tell them to be strong? To really understand the answers to these types of questions we have to know God and his commandments. And knowing God takes time and effort and a heart open to the Word. It takes obedience to God, and it takes getting our spiritual hands and feet dirty, so to speak, in worship, fellowship, and service with the church.

We need a strong sense of God’s holiness. There is no place in his Kingdom for wickedness. God does judge—and it’s a fearsome thing to be under his judgement. Hell is real. But knowing God also means knowing his mercy. He’s infinitely more holy than any of us, yet he looks upon us with more mercy than we show ourselves. He isn’t waiting for us to mess up so he can prove he’s better than we are. God is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and truth” (Ex. 34:6). And when we know him, there’s no greater joy than being his butler, his underling.

NOTES
1. Lewis Smedes, "Coping With Our Critics," online sermon text.
2. Ray C. Stedman, "The True Minister," online sermon text.
3. Smedes.

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

“But we have the mind of Christ”

2006-07-27T10:31:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 2
Preached Sunday morning, July 23, 2006,
Lexington Church of Christ, by Milton Stanley

One of the most frustrating situations in Christian ministry is trying to help fellow Christians in whose lives the gospel has never seemed to take hold. It’s a problem in nearly every congregation: how to motivate carnal or worldly Christians. Why do some men and women proclaim their belief and repentance and are baptized into Christ but then go on living like they’re still part of the world? As we continue to make our way through 1 Corinthians, this second chapter gives us part of the answer. It also shines light on how to make discipleship more real. Here’s a clue up front to the answer: weakness.

Did you notice Paul’s description of himself when he came to the Corinthian Christians? The answer is in verses 1-5. As the apostle Peter told us, there are some parts of Paul’s letters that are hard to understand (2 Pe. 3:15-16). Christians still discuss what some of Paul’s statements really mean. But how much plainer could these verses be at the beginning of chapter 2? When Paul came to the Corinthian Christians he didn’t impress them with the quality of his speaking skills (v. 1). He brought them a simple message (v. 2). He came to them in weakness, fear, and a lot of trembling (v. 3). What kind of picture is that of a Christian leader? A fool. A weakling. And he was proud of it.

Why is it that Jesus’ apostles, the first leaders of the church after the Lord himself, were all weaklings of one sort or another—and yet we want our leaders today to be strong? Why do want our elders and especially our preachers to speak well, look good, carry themselves confidently, have a firm handshake, be well educated, be sensible, drive a nice car? That’s not the picture Paul presents. He even brags about his foolishness and weakness.

That attidude isn’t sour grapes on Paul’s part. He wasn’t one of those men who never bothered to study and then went around saying knowledge isn’t important. No, Paul had been one of the Pharisees, a group of Jews who committed their lives to knowing and doing the Law of God. Paul had studied under Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), one of the most famous Pharisees of his day. Paul told the Galatians, “ I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers” (Gal. 1:14). Paul could probably quote Scripture from memory better than anyone we know. And we see from his sermons in Acts that Paul could use classical rhetoric when he wanted to. Yet he wanted to be known for his weakness.

Do you have any idea why Paul would brag about his weakness? Wouldn’t it be better to brag about his accomplishments? Wouldn’t the good things on his resume make a bigger impression on the Corinthians and cause them to pay more attention to his words? You would think so. It certainly makes sense. Yet Paul knows what he’s doing. He’s putting into practice here what he wrote about in the last chapter: the foolishness and weakness of God’s Kingdom. Paul is willing to count himself as nothing, because he has something much better to tell them than about himself.

Paul has the mind of Christ. There’s a wonderful, supernatural power in sharing in Christ’s mind, Christ’s heart. There’s power in that fellowship. And the wonderful news is that it’s available to every Christian. Of course, like Paul, we don’t find that strength by puffing ourselves up. Only when we confess our own weakness and quit making ourselves the message can we proclaim Christ not only in our words but in our lives. That’s true, healthy, godly, humility. That’s the kind of discipleship God wants of his people. That’s the way we ought to live.

And we shouldn’t expect anybody to praise us for living that way. There’s a great deal of misunderstanding about Christian discipleship. A lot of folks think that if they live like Christians, it will be a feather in their cap socially. Being in church becomes part of the good life: making good money, dressing well, being polite, going to church, volunteering for the United Way. In this scenario, being a Christian is part of showing the world we have our act together. But all that’s only a half-truth that neglects a very important fact: living like a Christian will expose our weakness and make us misunderstood by the world. If we really live like disciples of Christ, those around us will think we’re weak, naive, unrealistic. Some may even think we’re crazy or dangerous. Why would they think that?

Because the wisdom of Christ is not the wisdom of the powers-that-be. See verses 7-8: “But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” The wisdom of God looks like foolishness to the world. The world can’t understand the wisdom of God any more than we can speak ancient Anatolian or Hittite. It’s amazing that Christians want to be seen as respectable. It was the respectable folk who crucified the Lord of Glory (v. 8).

God calls Christians to live differently from the rest of the world, to take on the discipline of a Kingdom where the rules are different from the world around us. I struggle as a preacher to know how to motivate people to want to take on that discipline: to want to draw near to God, to become better disciples of Christ. If we already want to draw near, then the Word we proclaim will help us. But if you don’t have a heart’s desire to draw near to God, you won’t hear it. You’ll only notice how bald or fat I am, how I stumble over my words. Maybe you’ll listen only to find fault with something I inevitably say poorly. You’ll notice the clothes and the perfume of those around you. Or maybe you’re thinking only about how many minutes till the closing prayer and lunch with the family. In other words, if you don’t have the Spirit of God, then the Word is only words.

Christians, don’t be complacent on this matter. Yes, we receive the Holy Spirit at our baptism. But we can grieve that Spirit if we choose to let our hearts be shaped by the Lord of this world rather than the King of kings (Eph. 4:30; 6:12). Woe be unto us if we become complacent in hearing the Word of God. The Spirit comes only by faith (Gal. 3:2), and that faith is a whole lot more than an intellectual belief. It’s more than simply saying at some point, “Well, this gospel business may be right. I don’t want to go to hell, so I think I’ll be baptized to be on the safe side.” Don’t be one of those who goes to get baptized and only gets wet.

It’s faith that opens our lives to the Spirit of God. It’s faith and the Spirit that open our minds to the Scriptures. It’s faith that makes us want to do the things of God. It’s faith that saves us. You’ve heard Christians say, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). That’s how hearts change: the Word of Christ crucified. I used to simply preach “be baptized, stop doing these things and start doing these other things.” All that has its place, of course, but we’d better take care where we place our emphasis. We don’t need the Spirit of God to manipulate people to do what we want. We can use guilt and fear just fine to persuade folks to be baptized and come to church. But you can get in the water, attend every week, give up a thousand sinful practices and still be lost. That’s because if you have no faith, you have no Holy Spirit and therefore no hunger for righteousness, no joy, no hope. The only way we’ll have any of the blessings of salvation is through faith, and faith comes from this illogical word of Jesus Christ crucified.

I want all of us here to be changed, to be transformed by the Word of God. But bear in mind that the church isn’t called to preach a tame message, a polite salvation. A news magazine this past week ran a picture of a teenage boy wounded by a train bombing in India. One side of his body had taken the force of a bomb. His shoulder was badly injured, and blood had turned one of his sleeves from white to red. While that photograph is of a young man many miles away in a situation strange to us, it is in many ways a picture of souls all around us, of people in this room right here. Our souls, in varying degrees, have been wounded by the world around us: by what we’ve done, by what others have done to us. In many cases those wounds are filled with dirt and infection, with the pus and swelling of bitterness and unforgiveness. We try to live our lives as if those wounds weren’t there. We smile and say, “I’m fine” while infection oozes from our flesh. And nothing will heal our souls but the power of the Word.

Each Lord’s day I stand here and try to bring the word of life, of healing, of salvation through Jesus Christ. Sometimes I feel like I’m holdling a fire hose just spraying out the Word of God, the message of Jesus Christ and him crucified. And as poorly as I or any preacher proclaim that message, it has the power to change things. What can wash away my sin? Jesus Christ and him crucified. What can clean the damage and infection of my soul? Jesus Christ crucified. What can help me lay aside rage and anger, bitterness and resentment, spite and revenge? Christ crucified. The word of the cross is the power of our message, and it is the power to change lives.

Let’s look at 1 Cor. 2:12: “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.” Does that prospect excite you, encourage you, comfort you? If the Spirit of God is working in you, it should. If not, then all I know to do is keep aiming the hose! If we have received the Spirit of God, we have the power to do what we never could before. We can understand the Scripture (with effort, of course). We can better understand life, the world, ourselves and others. We have the wisdom to discern right choices.

So how do we develop this mind of Christ? Is it simply a matter of being baptized, receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit and then, “Whoo! I got all the answers now!” No. Having the mind of Christ, although it’s for all Christians, is not automatic. Look again at verse 12. It doesn’t say we have received the Spirit and so now we understand. It says we have received the Spirit “so that we might understand.” The Corinthians were Christians, but they still needed instruction to begin thinking and acting like they were. And they needed more than just facts. Paul, after all, knew the facts when he was still a Pharisee, and it didn’t help him until God broke into his life. And even after that, Paul spent years studying and growing in faith before he began writing the letters we still read today.

So we develop the mind of Christ first of all, like Paul, by receiving the revelation of God’s Word. If we have heard the Word proclaimed, it has to break into our lives to quicken our hearts toward God. That’s a gift from God through his Word. And once our hearts have been inclined toward God, we have to know the Word so much that it becomes part of us. Most of us here don’t study as much as we’d like. I don’t say that to shame anyone, but to encourage us. If the Scriptures aren’t a joy for you to read, then please pray that they will be. And then read them! Get to know the Word. Set aside time each day to read the Scriptures. If you have trouble understanding what you read, then get copies of the Bible on tape. Set quiet aside time not only to read the Bible, but to consider in prayer and meditation what it means. Get to know the Word, not so that God will love you more, but so that you will love him more.

And take time to worship God in the communion of saints. Worship is a duty that’s good for the soul. I sometimes hear worship taught as something we’d better do but without considering the blessings to us: “Don’t miss worship or you’ll lose your salvation.” That’s a fear approach, not a faith approach. It’s forcing behavior rather than encouraging faith. Prayer, Bible study, worship, obedience are not only commands, they’re blessings to those who participate in them. And yet why do so many Christians not participate in them with joyful hearts? Why do some of you not take advantage of these blessings? Simple. You still have a worldy mind, not the mind of Christ.

One more point to consider: If we have the mind of Christ, we’ll have the life of Christ. That’s a life of obedience and of joy. It’s also a life of persecution. As Paul told his spiritual son Timothy, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). That’s another side of the cross: not only did Christ die on the cross for our sins, he calls us to take up our crosses and follow him (Luke 9:23). In other words, Christ died to save us from our sins, not to save us from the cross [1].

If you have fought a successful battle to keep the Spirit from working in your heart, the idea of carrying a cross is foolishness. But if we have the mind of Christ, it’s pure joy.

NOTE
1. Piper, John. “The Present Power of Christ Crucified.” Online sermon text at www. desiringgod.org.

(c) 2006, A. Milton Stanley

The Word of the Cross

2006-07-19T20:39:00.000-05:00

1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Preached Sunday morning, July 16, 2006
By Milton Stanley

Long ago a poet wrote, “The sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds/Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.” How true, especially in the church. There may be something uglier than a proud Christian, but I don’t know what it is. By that meaure, the Corinthian Christians were pretty ugly. I’m sorry to say, there are many of the same kind of Christians in the Lord’s church today.

Pride is a sad condition. Second Timothy 3:2 includes pride among a long list of ugliness, including those who are abusive, disobedient, ungrateful, heartless, unholy, brutal, reckless, treacherous, and appearing godly but denying its power. James 4:6 says that "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Pretty strong words. But then, pride will tear a church to pieces. When pride rules, Christians become more concerned with jockying for position than with serving God and one another. We begin feathering our nest rather than welcoming the lost. We look down on sinners and feel superior while they go to hell. A proud church will at best stagnate; at worst, it will slide into hell alongside the lost.

What can we do about it? Pride, after all, is one of the hardest sins to lose. Many people try to fake humility, perhaps by putting themselves down in conversation. Of course, those folks may secretly be the proudest of all. If we really do begin to overcome our pride, then we run the risk of becoming proud of our humility! And of course, selfish pride in any form is 180 degrees opposed to real godliness.

The first-century Corinthians were a proud church, but the apostle Paul had a word for them that twenty-first century Christians would do well to hear. And I’ll tell you right up front what it is: the word of the cross.

This word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing (v. 18) and to the world (vv. 20-24). Compared to the cross, the best wisdom the world has to offer is foolishness. If that’s really true, have you stopped to think how much of life that reality impacts? Everything; not just what we commonly call worldly—drinkers, gamblers, sexual sinners. The world isn’t just the rich, the sophisticated, the highly educated. The word Paul uses here is kosmos, a Greek word meaning adornment, order, everything. Everything!

“The world” is most of our own lives, even for Christians: twelfth grade economics, eight grade physical science, sixth grade social studies, long division and multiplication and subtraction, cooking tips grandma gave you and dad’s instructions on how to change the oil in the car, how to drive a bargain when buying a car, tying your shoelaces, how to hold your knife and fork. Everything.

And the best we’ve learned from all that kind of instruction is foolishness. Oh sure, it’s all good as far as it goes. There’s no “biblical” way to do long division, to tune up a car. But the ways of the world (in other words, most of what the world thinks and does) has no place for the cross. The cross simply doesn’t fit into the picture of the great, wide, world as we go about our daily lives. And that makes the world foolish for what really matters: eternity, life, the King’s business.

The greatest dangers to the church are not so much blatant sins (which the Bible clearly describes) but worldly thinking, which creeps into the church in ways we least expect. And how does the world creep in? It comes into the church when we come to believe that the rules of the world apply to the Kingdom of God. The rules we learn in our everyday lives work OK for worldly things, but when it comes to the Kingdom, we have a whole new way of doing things. Worldy thinking is creeping into the church when we try to run it like a business. Worldy thinking is heaping doctrine on top of doctrine until we lose sight of the Word of God. In Churches of Christ, for example, we say we have no creed but the Bible. That’s a good approach, because when the church stands on the doctrines of men, we get in trouble. Of course, “no creed but the Bible” is easier said than done, especially when we approach the Word of God with worldly thinking.

Let me give you one, hypothetical example. In Mt. 19:9, Jesus says that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery. But remember that in Mt. 5:28 Jesus has said that if a man lusts in his heart for a woman, he’s already committed adultery. Therefore, following strict logic, if a wife finds a Playboy in her husband’s golf bag she has grounds for divorce because he’s committed adultery through his lust. Mature Christians, of course, understand that this scenario is bogus. However, by the strictest wisdom of the world, it makes logical sense. And unfortunately Christians sometimes use that same kind of worldly logic on other matters of doctrine.

Wisdom that works for the world, you see, doesn’t always work in the Kingdom. It’s simply using the wrong tool. It’s like trying to cut a 2 x 4 with a see-saw. It’s like trying to seal a box with recording tape. It’s like trying to cut your steak with a putty knife. The tools just don’t work. Kingdom rules are different at a most basic level. The first are last and the last first (Mt. 19:30). He who would lead must be a servant (Mk. 9:35). The humblest are the greatest (Mt. 18:4). Shame is honor (Heb. 12:2). Wealth and power are dangerous and deadly not so much to the weak as to the powerful. The Gospel is foolishness to all we've been taught! Our logic itself doesn't hold up.

Wait a minute. If our logic itself doesn't hold up, what leg do we have to stand on? If not logic, then what? Didn't God creat us in his image, and give us minds? Yes, he did. Well then if everything we've learned is foolishness, how can we believe? Belief, after all, is the first and most important step to salvation. Again, our minds are good as far as they go, but our wits can't save us. So what hope do we have?

The answer is here in 1 Corinthians 1, and it gives us no room to be proud of ourselves. Read verses 27-31. Did you notice these words: "but by his doing you are in Christ Jesus"? We're in Christ Jesus because we're called (v. 24), because we're chosen (v. 27). That's the biblical picture: what God has done for us.

Wait a minute. You say we shouldn't depend on the doctrines of men, but that's Calvinism! No, that's the Word of God. You find it here and elsewhere in the New Testament. When it comes to who does the choosing, Christians divide into two main groups. Calvinists say God does the choosing. Arminians say that man does the choosing. Which one is right? Neither. And both. How's that?

First, both approaches lead to pride. Whether we believe God rejected others and chose me, or simply believe we were smart enough to make the right choice, either doctrine can serve to puff us up. Of course, that pride is our own faults. But the doctrines themselves are flawed. Both doctrines, you see, are trying to explain God's purposes in worldy terms. And both ignore the big picture: the cross is foolishness to the world. Of course, the world is foolishness to the cross, too. So choose your foolishness. Do you want the foolishness of the world, so that you can have a logical answer to every question? Or do you want the foolishness of the cross, which is the power of God?

The fact is that worldly, ordinary thinking can't comprehend the cross. The New Testament clearly says: God alone chooses those who are saved. Yet the thrust of the whole Bible is that we must choose our own course. How can it be both? I have no idea.

And maybe that's the idea. When God's ways confound our minds, so that we can't answer the big questions logically, then we learn to depend not on our own wisdom, but on the power of the cross.

Look at what Paul tells the Corinthians: to us who are being saved, the word of the cross is the power of God. I spend a lot of times on sermons, but sometimes when I'm standing here telling the story of the cross, the story of the gospel, it hits me: This makes no sense. I haven't explained this idea of the cross well enough. The lost aren't going to understand any of this. Yet sometimes they do. Sinners repent, come forward in faith for baptism. You know what I've found in preaching? People like to hear well-crafted, well-delivered sermons. But there seems to be no correlation between good rhetoric and transformation of the heart. That's because real heart change doesn't depend on the preacher's words. It depends on the word of the cross, because the word of the cross has power.

OK, so what does it look like, this power of God in the cross? I'd like to offer three ideas: the cross behind us, the cross upon us, and the cross before us.

The cross behind us is the work God has already done for Christians. Christ was crucified to pay the debt of our sins and bring us into new life (Rom. 4:25). Romans 6:6 tells us: "We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin." So the cross set us free from sin. And how do we benefit from that freedom? Romans 6:4 tells us: "Therefore, through baptism we were buried with him into his death so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father's glory, we too may live an entirely new life." An entirely new life. The old one is gone, behind us, left behind at the cross, and now we live a new life in Christ. Isn't that encouraging? We don't have to keep reliving our past mistakes. Now we can live a new life with Christ. Of course that new life isn't all sweetness and light. It's hard work because of the next image of the cross: the cross upon us.

Christians are called to share in Christ's sufferings. As Jesus himself told us: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Lk. 9:23). Christians haven't been saved simply to kick back and celebrate (at least not yet). We certainly shouldn't be patting ourselves on the back for being wise enough to accept the gospel. We're saved to join the battle for souls, for the Kingdom! That means we have do deny ourselves, not insist on our own way. It means not having our own way at all, because we have something much better. And that much better is the cross before us.

The author of the book of Hebrews put it beautifully: Christians are to keep the cross in sight "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:2). When we focus on Christ and his cross, everything else begins to look different. Things that are big to the world---money, comfort, prestige---begin to look small. We ourselves begin to look very small, and Christ and his Kingdom grow in our mind to become all in all.

Wait a minute. There's only one cross. How can it be behind us, on us and in front of us at the same time? Now that's worldly thinking, isn't it? Jesus didn't come to make us better thinkers. He came to give us new minds. That's what repentance is, new minds, new ways of thinking. That's what we're learning here. The power of the cross is going back to square one in our "cosmos." It's learning a new way to think, a new way to count (our blessings) a new way to spell (hope), a new language of faith. A new way to walk, to talk, to love, to rejoice.

And the only way we can learn and live that new way is to keep our eyes on the cross of Jesus Christ.

Do we dare? Do we dare give up everything but Jesus Christ and him crucified? Living a cross-centered life is dangerous to our worldly way of thinking. But it opens our lives to the Kingdom, and the King.

(c) Copyright 2006, A. Milton Stanley

Back again

2006-07-18T12:38:00.000-05:00

Well, postings of my Romans sermons petered out almost a year ago. They were only minor rewrites, however, of a series I already posted in 2004. But I'm about to post something new, so let's begin with a new series on 1 Corinthians, already in progress.

Justified through faith

2005-07-23T11:45:00.000-05:00

Romans 4:1-8
Preached Sunday morning, July 17, 2005
Lexington Church of Christ

In the first three chapters of Romans, Paul pounds the idea home that every one of us, every man and woman, is guilty before God. Whether we are Jews convicted by the Law of Moses or Gentiles convicted by God’s imprint on our consciences, we have sinned. And sinning means being in darkness. In Chapter 3 we began to see the way out of that darkness. Now, in Chapter 4, that way comes clear. This chapter focuses on the patriarch Abraham, who was counted as righteous before God around 2000 years before the letter to the Romans was written. And as we learn here, the way Abraham was counted righteous in 2005 B.C. is the same way we may be counted righteous in A.D. 2005—through faith.

We see at the outset that Abraham had no grounds to boast of his righteousness, either before either man or God. If the letter to the Romans were a work of music, the idea of boasting would be the "melody line" of this section.[i] Bear in mind that Abraham was one of the most respected figures, not only among the Jews, but in all the ancient world. All through the Old Testament, the prophets spoke of Abraham. God had promised to bless Israel and the whole world through Abraham and his descendants. Indeed, during the first century tales of Abraham were told throughout the known world. By being a well know figure of the ancient past, Abraham was one of the Jews' biggest "claims to fame" in the first century. He was so well known, in fact, that even the Spartans in Greece claimed to be his descendants[ii]. If Paul, then, could show from the Old Testament that Abraham himself had no grounds to boast about his righteousness, then no one else would have any grounds to boast, either.[iii]

First-century Jewish rabbis taught that Abraham was saved by his obedience.[iv] Even the idea of faith in Abraham's life was interpreted as faithfulness, and thus was considered a good work. The common perception among Jews of the day was that justification before God was the result of good works, and thus justification was grounds for boasting. That idea, however, is mistaken. In reality, faith in God brings us justification, which bears fruit in our obedience.[v] The Jews, being fallen humans, preferred to think they had something to boast about—namely being direct descendants of Abraham. They had already boasted to Jesus about their relationship to the patriarch (Mt. 3:9, Jn. 8:33ff), and they kept detailed genealogies showing their descent from Abraham. In effect, they tried to rest on the laurels of their multi-great grandfather.

Should this kind of behavior surprise us? Many of us today, even if we aren't Jews, take pride in our genealogies. And it seems like everyone who traces the family tree back far enough sooner or later finds a king or prince or some such big shot in the family line. My mother's side of the family takes pride in our Italian ancestors—the Medici, princes of Florence. Several years ago while gathering family records I came across a family history written by my great-great-great-grandfather, who came to the United States from Scotland in the late 1700s. As I was copying his hand-written account, one of my aunts, from the Medici line, asked me to leave out the parts about my ancestors being buried in the potter's field, the poor folks cemetery, of Philadelphia. That little detail just didn't do much for our family reputation. We preferred the princes of Florence to the paupers of Philadelphia.

What's more, even as I was preparing this lesson, I felt a twinge of envy that, like today's Jews, I couldn't claim ancestry from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Much more snob appeal there than in Lorenzo de Medici. I'll admit that I sometimes feel the pull of snobbery in my own life, and I don't think I'm alone. Isn't it funny how a man will act the snob over something he has no control over—like who his great-grandpappy was? Snobbery is usually like that. Ironically, though, Christians can boast about something over which we have no control, you might say. We'll look further at that idea next week.

Yet even the illustrious Abraham was justified not through his good works, but through faith. Faith was the source of his righteousness. In verse 3, Paul uses the Jews' own scriptures to make this point when he quotes Gen. 15:6 — "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." That word for "reckoned" can be translated different ways: imputed, counted, credited to his account. All these choices depict the idea that Abraham's righteousness was something not earned, but given to him by God. If we have any doubts about verse 3, the next two verses reinforce the idea of unearned favor through faith. Faith was the source of Abraham's righteousness before the Law of Moses was instituted. We see also that faith was the source of righteousness in David under the Law of Moses. The implication, then, is that before, during, and after the Law, faith is the means by which a person becomes right with God.

I recently heard it put this way: "Faith itself is not righteousness....It is only the vehicle by which God's righteousness reaches us. However, it is the only vehicle by which it reaches us."[vi] This is the central message of Romans, and in fact of the whole gospel—that salvation is a gift from God that we access through faith. This knowledge also sheds light on the Old Testament. If Abraham and David—the two most prominent and blessed men of the Old Testament—were justified by faith and not works, then why should we think we can be?[vii]

Probably because we're geared toward performance. We prefer to earn what we have, not have it given to us. Some people may not have this problem—praise God if you don't. If you're like me, though, your natural response is something like, "Wait a minute. Are you telling me you're blessing me not because I'm good but because I'm bad? Are you saying I haven't done anything to deserve this justification, this condition of righteousness and eternal life?" We want a right standing with God, but it's painful to think we don't deserve it. We'd rather earn it. Isn't it a little insulting to be given something we don't deserve?

But that's grace. It's a gift, a blessing, willingly given by God to people who don't deserve it.

"But wait a minute!" the Pharisee in us exclaims. "Doesn't this idea of being counted righteous when we aren't fly in face of God's own teaching? After all, Proverbs 17:15 says, 'He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord.' So why would God do such a thing?"

The answer is that God loves us. He loves us better than we love ourselves, and he treats us better than we treat ourselves or each other. He gives us unearned righteousness because it is the only way we can be righteous once we've sinned, polluted ourselves, disqualified ourselves forever from holy fellowship with God. Only a perfect sacrifice could save us from the hell we chose by our own sin. That's why Jesus died to pay our sin debt. Now it's paid. And if we have faith in God, then "He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1:13, 14).

That's a wonderful place to be. If we have redemption, forgiveness, righteousness, then we don't have to keep trying to justify ourselves or to impress God. Sad to say, some Christians still try to do just that, to win God's approval by working hard. But it won't work. "You cannot earn the gift of love, but it is yours to take in faith in Christ, fresh every morning"[viii]. God loves us and counts us as righteous. Although God does want Christians to grow in righteous deeds, no amount of good work on our part will make us any more righteous or make God love us any more. That's worth spending some time thinking about in quiet contemplation.

It's worth thinking about because it's hard for many of us to accept, if we're honest with ourselves. How about you? Do you have trouble accepting the wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ? Are you too proud to accept it? I hope not, because it's absolutely essential for justification with God to accept that our righteousness comes only from God, by grace through faith. As someone once described the Christian life, "The Spirit of God makes us clean and whole and delivers us from drowning before we can swim a stroke."[ix]

This passage in Romans 4 ends with some happy thoughts:
Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not reckon his sin.

Another translation for "blessed" is "happy." I like those words, because nothing could be more blessed or happy than having our sins forgiven by God and being in fellowship with him. Next week, we'll look at Romans 5 and "unwrap the package" of those blessings.[x]

In the mean time, the point of this week's passage is what God credits us with. "What do you want credited to your account? Do you want God to credit you with what you are owed according to your works or do you want Him to credit you with righteousness for your faith."[xi] The choice is yours.

Endnotes

1. Bob Deffinbaugh,“The Basis and Benefits of Justification (Romans 3:27-5:1-21),” on-line study at www.bible.org.

2. First Maccabees 12:21

3. Hampton Keathley IV, “Justification by Faith: The Case of Abraham and David (Romans 4:1-8),” on-line study at www.bible.org. See also Bob Deffinbaugh, “Abraham: The Faith of Our Father (Romans 3:27-4:25),” on-line study at www.bible.org.

4. Thomas Constable, Notes on Romans. On-line commentary at www.soniclight.com, p. 42.

5. James P. Sweeney, Review of Where Is Boasting? Early Jewish Soteriology and Paul’s Response in Romans 1‑5, Review of Biblical Literature 4 (2004), on-line copy at www.bookreviews.org.

6. Constable, 43.

7. John Wesley, Wesley’s Notes on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, on-line copy at www.ccel.org.

8. Ray C. Stedman, “The Father of Faith,” on-line sermon text at www.pbc.org.

9. Richard Lischer, "Pick It Up, Read It," Christian Century, 17 Feb 1999, p. 179. On-line copy at www.religion-online.org.

10. Deffinbaugh, “Benefits and Bases.”

11. Keathley, p. 3.

Copyright 2005, A. Milton Stanley

God is Righteous and True

2005-07-23T11:42:00.000-05:00

Romans 3:1-8
Preached Sunday morning, July 10, 2005
Lexington Church of Christ

In our study of Romans we now move into Chapter 3. In the first two chapters, Paul showed how both Jew and Gentile have no excuse for disobeying God. We also saw in Chapter 2 that God is more concerned with character than with ceremony[1]. Here at the beginning of Chapter 3, Paul begins an imaginary dialogue with a Jew, as if to answer objections that his fellow Israelites in Rome might have[2]. This section is a pivotal point in the letter, because here Paul begins moving from his teaching on God’s condemnation to God’s grace.

And isn’t it about time? This is the third week we’ve looked at God’s wrath on unrighteousness—isn’t it time to move on to a happier subject? Well, I think it’s worthwhile from time to time to really look deeply into our own sin and God’s wrath, because most of the world, most of the time has existed under that wrath. A thorough knowledge of the sinfulness of each one of us—of all humanity—is necessary for a full appreciation of the Christian message. A recognition of our own sin, unrighteousness, fallenness (the bad news, in other words) is necessary for a full appreciation of the good news. Once we know the depths of what God wants to save us from, we can begin to appreciate how wonderfully gracious God is in offering salvation in the church through his Son Jesus Christ.

Still, normal people don’t really want to hear bad news. What’s more, we simply don’t like someone telling us how bad we are. That’s part of the reason we need to hear it—over and over. Left to our own “druthers” we prefer to ignore or deny our own sinfulness, despite those pangs of conscience that God gives to bring us back around.

The lost, those who have not embraced the grace of God, have a special, urgent need to hear about the condemnation of God upon unrighteousness. If they don’t, they have no hope of salvation. It’s up to Christians to raise our voices in truth to tell them, because certain elements in the world are shouting loudly for people not to face up to our sinfulness. In America right now we have a whole culture of psychological excuses for not taking responsibility for our sin. I don’t need to give you a lot of examples; listen to the radio or watch television. Did I do something wrong? Well, it’s my parents’ fault, or my spouse’s fault, or my friend’s fault, or society’s fault. In the past few decades there’s been an epidemic of apparently mature men and women refusing to take responsibility for their own actions. The number of divorces and lawsuits have exploded. We would rather not admit we are wrong, and it’s not hard to listen to the people telling us we’re not. There’s only one problem. If we don’t admit we’re wrong, we simply cannot take the step of repentance that begins to put us right with God.

Christians need to remember the judgment of God, too. If we’re not careful we can forget why we’re really here. When we gather on Sunday morning we’re in our best clothes and on our best behavior. We’re clean and polite, we smile at one another. We’re friendly people and we probably really do have fewer problems than those outside Christ. Like the Jews, we have the benefit of God’s oracles—the Scriptures. And we have the blessing of the New Covenant, the full revelation of God’s love and nature. Like the Jews in Jesus’ day, we’re also tempted to coast. We’re tempted to think that simply belonging to a holy congregation of God’s people makes us godly in our hearts. We’re tempted to believe that we’re good people because we’re nice, not because God’s son died to make us holy.

Christians need to make sure we don’t live up to the world’s unfair, cartoon picture of what Christians are all about. Christianity Today ran an article a few years ago about what the world thinks about us. According to a survey, most non-Christians think they know exactly what Christianity is all about—but most of them really don’t. Many people outside the church think our faith is simply a set of rules we’re supposed to follow to be good people. When I worked at one of the federal plants in Oak Ridge, one of my co-workers, a non-Christian, challenged me at lunch one day: “You think that because you’re a Christian that makes you better than the rest of us?”

“No,” I said. “I’m just as bad as anyone else. It’s not what I do that makes me good; it’s what Jesus does that makes me good in God’s eyes.” I don’t know that my friend understood what the gospel is at that point, but I believe he was coming to understand what the gospel isn’t. Christians should never forget what we are without the grace, the free gift, of Jesus Christ: evil, lost sinners.

Even when we own up to our own sin, however, we face another challenge to our faith: Do we really believe God is just in condemning us for our sin? So far in Romans, Paul has talked about all of us being without excuse if we sin. In a few verses he will tell us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The obvious question is, how can God hold us accountable for something everybody does? If everybody sins, then how can we help it if we sin? Would a loving God really condemn us for something we can’t help but do? And there’s another problem. Even if we acknowledge that God is just in condemning sinners, why does he give some of us a second chance in hearing the Gospel, while thousands never have the opportunity to hear the good news of salvation? As Paul anticipated with the Jews of his day, we are tempted to call God unrighteous.

But no. God is righteous and holy. That’s the central message of the entire Old Testament: that God is holy and loving. We must never let our limited understanding of the infinite God make us think his actions are ever unrighteous. If we have faith in God we must accept his holiness and truth. Once we have accepted these qualities of his nature, we see what a great gift he has given us in the Gospel, and how urgent our calling is to tell the good news to every human being on earth.

Here in Chapter 3, Paul anticipates a more subtle challenge to the faith. If our sinning makes God look good, then isn’t our sinning a good thing? If our sins show God’s justice, the argument goes, then God would be wrong to punish us for sinning. Doesn’t that make sense? To paraphrase Paul’s answer to that question: Absolutely not! If God is not righteous, then he could not judge the world. As Paul told the Galatians, “God is not mocked.” He is holy and loving, and if we expect to be in communion with him, we must be holy too. God may overlook circumcision, but he will not overlook sin (Rom 2:26-29). God is faithful and good and true, and a realization of his nature is the foundation of a redeeming, transforming faith.

Here is the beginning of the good news—the God who is faithful and true. God is faithful to the promises he has made to his people. Two thousand years before Christ, God told Abram, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves" (Gen. 12:1-3). Although God’s people have not been faithful to him through the centuries, God has been faithful to his people. And now, through Jesus Christ, the blessings of Abraham have come not only to Israel, but to us Gentiles as well (Gal. 3:14). God’s promises for his people have expanded in Christ to include eternal life, the Holy Spirit, the Kingdom of God itself, and communion with the Father.

Why would God do such a thing? Why would he continue to offer us these great gifts when humanity has abused and neglected God’s gifts through the centuries? Why did God choose Abraham and his spiritual descendants to bless? Because Abraham and his children deserved it? No. God reached out because of his love. He seeks us out, and he wants to give us blessings—salvation, fellowship, peace, joy. Those are gifts and not wages because we don’t deserve them, we haven’t earned them. And how do we know that God loves us? Because he sent his son to earth to redeem us!

So God loves and blesses us. But let’s not forget that he may also condemn. Simply because we enjoy God’s blessings at the moment is not proof that we will escape punishment. In the wilderness with Moses and the Israelites, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram all ate manna and enjoyed all the other blessings from God to his people (Num. 16). But because they rebelled, they fell under God’s wrath. God wants to bless us, but he gives us the freedom to either accept or reject those blessings. Accepting God’s grace is eternal life; rejecting it is wrath and destruction.

God calls us to righteous living. To live righteously we must repent, turn away from our sin and accept righteousness through the grace of God in Jesus Christ. That’s why Paul writes on and on about sin. In the first century the Romans, like Americans in our day, lived in an amoral society in which the culture did not acknowledge an absolute standard of right and wrong. God, though, has offered us a standard, both in the law of Moses and the law of conscience. None of us have held perfectly to it—which is why we need God’s grace. The standard of God’s righteousness is nevertheless good, because it forces us to choose where we will align ourselves: with his righteousness or with our own sinfulness? With rebellion or grace? With death or life?

The good news is that the bad news is not the last news. God wants to impute righteousness upon us—that means to give us credit for righteousness even though we haven’t earned it ourselves. We can’t redeem ourselves from sin, because we can’t pay a high enough price. But Jesus can. He is the only one to live without sin, and so he did not owe his life to pay for his own sin. Instead he gave up his life willingly to pay for our sin. He died with our sins upon him, and he rose from death with our life upon him. It’s not up to us—it’s up to Jesus to save us. There’s a wonderful freedom in knowing that truth: that I don’t have to keep trying to make myself good, but that God has made me good through the blood of Jesus Christ. I have new life as a gift from God.

If we have joined ourselves with Christ in faith and baptism, then we have a new life, a new Spirit, a new Kingdom. God has been so good to us. How are we responding to his goodness?

Endnotes
1. Constable, Thomas L. Notes on Romans, 2004 ed. On-line commentary at www.soniclight.com, p. 29.
2. Stedman, Ray C. From Guilt to Glory, Vol. 1 (Rom. 1-8). Waco: Word, 1978, p.56.

Copyright 2005, A. Milton Stanley

Got to Have, Got to Be, Got to Do

2005-07-03T21:32:00.000-05:00

Romans 2:12-16
Preached Sunday morning, July 3, 2005
Lexington Church of Christ

This week we’re continuing through Paul’s letter to the Romans. Last time, in chapter 1, we saw a picture of how disobedience produces every form of unrighteousness and how sin leads to darkness of mind. Paul had been writing primarily of moral shortcomings among Gentiles. Now, in Chapter 2, he begins looking at the shortcomings of the Jews as well. They seem to have felt that simply having the Law of the Lord somehow made them righteous, whether they followed it or not. Paul tells them differently. And in the process here of addressing both Jews and Gentiles, the apostle begins to deliver one of the most sobering and critically important messages in all the Bible.

First, we see that, while the Gentiles did not have the Law of Moses, they nevertheless have another image of God’s law—the law of conscience. In mature human beings, our consciences are those inner voices telling each of us what is right and wrong. Thus our own thoughts “accuse or even excuse” us (Rom 2:15). Because the Gentiles did not have the benefit of the Old Testament law, their consciences could not be as developed as those of the Jews. Yet every adult human being has some inkling of right and wrong down inside us. As C. S. Lewis pointed out in his book Mere Christianity, not every society agrees on the particular definitions and limits of marriage. But because all human beings have an inner sense of right and wrong, every society has agreed that the commitment inherent in marriage is necessary for a stable society. This passage in Romans simply reminds us that God holds each human being responsible for behaving righteously according to our own consciences—our best understanding of right and wrong. Paul will say more on this later.

In a sense, conscience is both a curse and a gift. The very fact that we know the difference between good and evil is a direct result of humanity’s first disobedience (Gen. 2:15-3:7). Yet now that we have the knowledge of good and evil, God uses our consciences to help bring us back to communion with him. Conscience is the voice of right and wrong, and that can be a good thing if we follow it. Human conscience is far from infallible, but if we really listen to it and follow its guide, we can come to righteous obedience to God. That’s good news.

There’s also very bad news, though. Although God gives each one of us the ability, through our consciences, to know the good, and to do it, in fact none of us follows it all the time (Rm. 3:23). God’s standard of righteousness is perfection. If we don’t live absolutely sinless lives, we have absolutely no place in the absolutely sinless Kingdom of God. So then, the bad news is that all have sinned, and the wages of sin is death (Rm. 3:23, 6:23). Conscience, then, can show us that we’re doing wrong, but once we’ve done wrong, it’s powerless to save us. That brings us back to the same, troubling message of Chapter 1—that we have no excuse for unrighteousness.

Yet in the knowledge of sin there is hope. In Christians, for example, our consciences guide us on the path of discipleship. Have you ever felt the tingling of conscience say you were going the wrong direction, and as a result you changed? Have you ever lain in bed at night unable to sleep because you knew you had been sinning? We’d better listen to that voice of conscience, Christians and sinners both. For Christians, our consciences can be an especially reliable guide, trained and shaped by the Word and Spirit of God.

In the lost person, conscience is part of the first step of conversion. Our internal sense of right and wrong allows us to see our need for God’s grace. When we sin, we ought to feel bad about it. When we feel bad enough, we begin to see the need for repentance. That’s why I don’t consider it my job as an evangelist necessarily to stand up and try to make people feel good. Sinning should make us feel bad—especially if we’re choosing sin and death over grace and life in Jesus Christ. As long as we haven’t repented of sin, we should be troubled at the deepest levels of our heart. We should never feel good when we sin. That’s why, I believe, the apostle James urged the recipients of his letter to “Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to dejection” (Jas. 4:9).

If we stop being dejected by our own unrighteousness, we’re in a very bad place. The more we resist the voice of right and wrong, the easier it becomes to sin. If we do it long enough, we eventually get to the point where we don’t recognize right and wrong anymore. That’s what Paul was saying about those who “became foolish in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Rom. 1:21). God have mercy on us if we ever get to that point.

Simply hearing the voice telling us what we ought to do isn’t enough, as Paul points out in Rom. 2:13. God expects us to demonstrate righteousness in our actions. The Jews in Paul’s day evidently believed that having the law did the trick—that being in the right church, so to speak, was all it took to be righteous. Of course, that’s not true. But do we Christians believe that simply attending the right church makes us righteous? Let’s not fall into the trap of thinking that the church makes us righteous by some kind of spiritual osmosis. It doesn’t. While we are redeemed only as members of the church, God expects each one of us to be righteous in our own hearts through faith and obedience in Christ Jesus.

The Jews had been proclaiming the law but not living it. There aren’t many things more ugly that those who know the truth but don’t choose to live it. We can excuse the innocent, but not the hypocrite. As Paul told the Romans, being a Jew on the outside is not enough (Rom. 2:25ff). Righteous actions are more important than rituals. God doesn’t want circumcision of the flesh, but of the soul (Rom. 2:28,29). Could we say the same thing for Christians? Immersion in water is not enough. God wants us also to be immersed in his will and his righteousness. We need to have not just the name of Christ but also his heart and his Spirit.

Paul reminds us here in verse 13 that our actions confirm our faith. Paul sounds a whole lot like the Apostle James who said, “What use is it, my brothers, for a man to say that he has faith if he does nothing? . . . Even so faith without works is dead” (Jas 2:14, 17). People who read the letters of Paul and James superficially sometimes say they disagree on the roles of faith and obedience in the lives of Christians. No, they don’t. Each apostle, in his own way, explains an important truth. Living our new life in Christ changes us—our souls, our minds, our actions. Our souls are made clean in an instant at baptism. Change in our behavior may move slowly, and it’s always incomplete while we are in these fleshly bodies. But God expects Christians to reflect the image of Christ in our actions. That’s because our actions are images of our hearts.

That’s where our consciences come back into the picture. That voice of right and wrong allows us to look at our actions as reflecting our hearts. How are we doing as Christians? Are my actions demonstrating a changed heart and a new life in Christ?

More seriously, for those outside Christ, are you listening to your own voice of conscience—the voice that says you are being disobedient to God? If so, you’d better heed its message. Eternal life and death lie in the decisions you make.

There is one more absolutely awe-inspiring idea in this passage from Romans. In 2:15 Paul writes that the thoughts of the Gentiles sometimes excuse them. God, it seems, makes allowances for innocent lack of knowledge about his law. But notice what Paul doesn’t say: that these Gentiles have thereby earned a ticket to heaven. On the contrary, “they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:21). All of us have sinned (Rom. 3:23), meaning we have violated God’s law even as we understand it. Therefore all stand under condemnation, apart from salvation, who do not call upon the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12, Rm. 10:13). That makes these verses in Romans Chapter 2 some of the most haunting in the Bible.

Every human being without the Gospel of Jesus Christ is lost. And it’s absolutely awful to think that some of our fellow human beings are dying without ever hearing that good news [1]. How could that be? How could God allow anyone to die without hearing the gospel? The answer we see here is that everyone has a chance to live righteously—and everyone blows it [2]. Some of us, for some reason, receive a second chance through hearing the gospel. And God has entrusted the spread of that gospel to us—to fallen human beings. Humans got us into sin and death, it seems, and God is leaving it up to human beings to get us out. I think that’s why Jesus Christ came to earth as a man.

So spreading the good news of salvation depends on us. As Paul tells the Romans, “But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher” (10:14). Eternal salvation depends on Christians spreading the word. Nothing is more important than the gospel. That’s why proclaiming it is of utmost importance. And that doesn’t simply mean proclaiming it from the pulpit. Telling the good news of Jesus Christ is the duty of every Christian everywhere—on the mission field, at the plant, at school, at the grocery story, on the golf course—everywhere. The gospel is the best we have to offer to the world, for it “is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith” (Rom. 1:16).

We need to commit to telling the good news. That means bringing the lost here to our worship services to hear the word preached. Better yet, it means telling them ourselves, each Christian here. If you are in Christ, please pray to have the courage, wisdom, and strength to proclaim the good news of Christ to the best of your ability. If you are outside of Christ, come to him to receive the greatest life—and the greatest life’s work—that ever was.

ENDNOTES

1. Norman Geisler,“Who Will be Saved, According to the Word of God?” From When Cultists Ask. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997. Accessed 28 September 2004.

2. Roy B. Zuck, “What About Those Who Haven’t Heard,” Kindred Spirit 18:4 (1994). Accessed 28 September 2004.

Copyright 2005, A. Milton Stanley

The Wrath of God on Unrighteousness

2005-07-01T19:30:00.000-05:00

Romans 1:18-25
Preached Sunday morning, June 26, 2005
Lexington Church of Christ

This week we’ll begin a series of Sunday morning lessons from Romans. Of all Paul’s letters, Romans is the most oriented toward doctrine. In it, Paul clearly states the gospel and its relationship to righteousness, both for Jews and Gentiles. The letter begins with prayers for blessings to the Roman Christians (Rm 1:8-12). Soon, though, Paul turns to doctrine, and when he does he turns first of all to the sin and wrath of God. Paul says that “God's wrath is being revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and wickedness of those who in their wickedness suppress the truth” (1:18).

We learn something here about the righteous God, the God who has prepared wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. We learn something about unrighteousness, too—that unrighteousness is against truth. Sin is not just action, it’s lies, too. At one time or another that describes every one of us—wanting our own ways of unrighteousness more than God’s righteousness and truth. So Paul is talking here about all of us, and it’s not a pretty picture. This talk about unrighteousness is a picture of willful disobedience, of darkness, of lies, and of God’s wrath against such wickedness.

Paul goes on to tell us something else of great importance: “what can be known about God is plain” (1:19). God created the world, and his hand has made its mark on all creation. At the most basic level, all of creation points to a creator. The mere existence of the world is evidence for the existence of God. But creation reveals more than that. Looking at the world around us, with its goodness and beauty and order and workings—of the sun and moon, the seasons, the tides, the stages of our lives—we see evidence of a God of goodness, of order, of beauty, of power and might. As Paul told the Romans, “since the creation of the world his invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been understood and observed by what he made” (1:20). God’s eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen in his creation, just as the Psalmist had said: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Ps. 19:1).

Paul makes an important distinction in his words here. Notice that in Rom. 1:19 he writes, “what can be known about God is plain.” Of course there are deep mysteries about God’s nature that we will never understand on this earth. He is God and we are not, so we cannot possibly understand all the depths of his mind and actions. Part of the arrogance of our age is to think we can figure out, scientifically, everything we need to know about all we need to know. Science is good as far as it goes, of course. There is nothing wrong with using the minds God gave us to figure out all we can about his creation. We just have to remember that there are depths of God’s love, wisdom, and power beyond our understanding. God himself reminded Job of this fact when he asked him, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding” (Job 38:4).

The fact that our own knowledge has limits, by the way, is why we need the Word of God. Truth that we ourselves can figure out, also known as empirical truth, will only take us so far. Some things we can know only because God reveals them to us. As we read in Ps. 19:7, “The law of the Lord is prefect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” So between those two, God’s creation and God’s revelation, we have been given all we need to know about God and life and salvation.

Why, then, is there any argument? Isn’t it obvious who God is and what we need to do as human beings? Why do so many people refuse to even recognize the truth of the gospel? Why do so many in the world around us consider the truth of Jesus Christ to be simply a matter of religious opinion, with no more basis in fact than, say, my preference for chocolate ice cream over vanilla?

Paul gives us the answer in Rm. 1:18 & 21. First of all, one result of wickedness, the sinfulness in which we all share, is that it suppresses the truth. Those who have given themselves over to wickedness “became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened” (1:21). So even though the truth is out there, plain to see, all of us to one degree or another have allowed our minds to be darkened by the wickedness within ourselves and all around us in the world. Before we became Christians our minds were darkened indeed. After we come to repentance, we still must struggle to overcome the darkness that presses all around us. We choose that darkness whenever we fall back into sin.

The world, as a whole, has always chosen darkness, ever since Adam and Eve sinned and were thrown out of the garden. Paul is talking about the whole world here—the overwhelming majority of human beings in all places, at all times. Elsewhere Paul calls the world “the domain of darkness” (Col. 1:13). It’s the world into which we are born, a world whose members make the choice of unrighteousness and lies over the truth and righteousness of God. But although human beings choose not to see, God has still made himself plain to the world.

Thus, as Paul says, they are without excuse (Rm. 1:20). Remember who he’s talking to here. He’s writing to Roman Christians in particular, but in a broader sense he’s speaking to us. All of us are without excuse. God has revealed his truth in creation and revelation, and we have all to one degree or another chosen darkness over light. It’s not that we couldn’t understand the truth, but that we wouldn’t understand the truth.

So we’ve all messed up. And what is the most natural thing for human beings to do when we’ve messed up? Deny it, of course. That’s the most natural, automatic response to our own failures—to deny it, especially when our character is threatened. Did you ever hear the story Bill Cosby used to tell about the so-called “honesty” of children? He told about walking into the kitchen one day and catching his two-year-old daughter with her hand in the cookie jar.

“What are you doing?” Cosby demanded.
“Nothing,” the two-year-old said, poker-faced.
“Nothing?” he exclaimed, “Then what were you doing climbing up on the counter with your hand in the cookie jar?”
“I’m getting a cookie for you,” the girl said sweetly.

If you’ve had a two-year-old you know this story rings true. As soon as little boys and girls can say the word “no” they learn how to use it to deny things that might get them in trouble. As we grow older we become more sophisticated in our denials. Such behavior may be cute in toddlers. But when we are mature, it’s sin, pure and simple, the fruit of darkened hearts.

That’s why it’s so critical for us to recognize our sin, to acknowledge our guilt. Later in his letter to the Romans Paul will address this issue head-on and point out that we are each personally responsible before God for our behavior. If we don’t recognize our own responsibility in sin, we can’t possibly repent. And repentance is essential to new life, to salvation.

To a great extent, repentance is unnatural. It’s a result of God’s grace in our lives, of his truth breaking through. Denial is much more natural. It’s what our hearts naturally fall back into—like our backsides onto a comfortable recliner. That, by the way, is why the world hates Jesus, because he is the truth, he is the light, and in him is no darkness at all (Jn 14:6, 1 Jn 1:5). The light of Jesus Christ exposes unrighteousness for what it is, and sinners cannot bear to see that. The world will accept Jesus if we tone him down—put him under a bushel basket, so to speak, so that he doesn’t show the world its own wickedness. But if Christians proclaim Jesus as he revealed himself, the world will hate him—and hate us for showing them the truth.

That hatred of the truth is the result of sin. Humanity traded the glory of God for shoddy counterfeits, cheap imitations our own hands had made—idols and images of men and animals. Paul tells us that because humanity made these bad choices, “God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Rm. 1:24, 25).

Why would a loving God do such a thing? Why would he allow humanity to go further and further down a road that leads to wrath and destruction? If he loves human beings, how could he “give them up” to such an awful path?

The answer lies way back at the beginning of the human race. God made human beings out of two ingredients: dirt and his own breath (Gen. 2:7). God created us “in his own image” (Gen. 1:27). An image is a representation of something: a statue is an image of a person or animal, a portrait is an image of a face, a photograph is an image of whatever is in the picture. Therefore God created us an image of him, to represent him on earth. In a sense God created us to be co-creators with him, to share in some mysterious way his nature. Throughout history God has allowed human beings to come to him with requests, and he has shown a tendency to let us have what we ask for. As a result, as the old saying goes, we’d better be careful what we ask for, because we just might get it. Sad to say, what mankind has asked for, has chased after, for most of our time on earth, has been unrighteousness. And as Paul points out here, if people have their minds made up to chase after sin, God won’t stop us.

There are, of course, consequences from that choice, as Paul goes on to explain: impurity and dishonor, homosexuality, degraded minds and bodies. “They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless” (Rm 1:29-31). In short, they allowed themselves to be filled with the Spirit of darkness rather than the Spirit of God. Or should I say, we allowed ourselves to be filled.

Some folks in the church will protest: “I read over that list, and I don’t do any of those bad things.” Some outside the church may go farther: “I don’t do any of those things, and I’m not even a Christian. But I’m a good person. I vote. I recycle. I exercise and eat right. I volunteer at the hospital, I give to the United Way, I love my family. I help my neighbors. I smile. I’m nice to waitresses at restaurants..” Some folks really do seem to have it all together, and it’s hard to argue when they say they’re nice people, even if they don’t acknowledge God. Of course, that’s a lie. As Paul tells us later in this letter, all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. If we try to get by as good folks without God, we fall for a form of the sin Paul describes in verse 25: worshiping the creature rather than the creator. In this case, it’s not idols, but ourselves that we’re worshiping. So no one is innocent.

For all who choose unrighteousness over truth—and that’s all of us to one degree or another—God’s wrath is reserved, for “those who do such things deserve to die” (Rm. 1:32).

Well, that’s where we stand before God—all of us, even nice folks—unrighteous, untruthful, worthy of death. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that even though we’ve made a mess of things ourselves, God has given us a way out. After laying down the bad news, with force, Paul goes on in the rest of the letter to the Romans to explain the good news, “the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith” (Rm. 1:16).

The good news is that even though we reject God with our sin, God does not reject us. He loves us so much that he sent his own son, Jesus, to live and work among us. Because Jesus was the truth, the world rejected him and killed him. And because Jesus died without any sin of his own, he was able to pay the price of sin (death) for all who receive him, who believe on his name. For those who believe and obey, we are given the privilege of becoming children of God. And if we join ourselves to Christ, we share not only in his death to unrighteousness, but his resurrection to new life.

That new life is something we don’t deserve. We deserve death. But God’s son, who is the source of all life, took death upon himself to give us eternal life. And eternal life is not something that comes only after we die. It’s something we can enjoy now—new life with the righteousness of God. As Paul told the Ephesians, “once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light.” (Eph. 5:8). That’s grace. That’s good news.

Copyright 2005, A. Milton Stanley

The power of weakness

2005-06-19T22:08:00.000-05:00

2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Preached Sunday morning, June 19, 2005
Lexington Church of Christ

At Lowe’s yesterday I talked to a retired Army command sergeant major from New Jersey. He told me proudly that he got his job at Lowe’s with only one reference on his application. Folks in this area of the country, he said, don’t like you to blow your own horn too much. Is that really true? Too bad the Christians in Corinth couldn’t have gotten by with so little. But without their stubbornness, I suppose we wouldn’t have much of the wisdom Paul wrote in Second Corinthians.

First a little background for today’s text. At the beginning of 2 Corinthians, Paul tells of his experiences in Asia (1:8,9). There, Paul writes, he was burdened beyond his abilities, to the breaking point, and God didn’t relieve his suffering. Why? God let Paul suffer so he could learn to rely not on his own strength, but on God’s strength. Wow. Think about that — the apostle Paul still learning lessons of discipleship.

Now, as he writes this letter, Paul is trying to help the Corinthians grow in the faith. But they’re resisting. They’re questioning Paul’s power and authority. Paul’s letters may be bold, some say, but when you actually see him, he’s of no account (10:10). So, to get through to these people, Paul is forced to boast of his qualifications as an apostle, even though he realizes that when he does he sounds like a madman (11:23). I’m a Hebrew, I’m an Israelite, I’ve been persecuted, Paul tells them (11:21-26). He has a long list of credentials, but his greatest is this: in Paul’s own personal weakness is the power of Jesus Christ.

Why does Paul spend so much time developing that idea? Why do the Corinthian Christians need to hear that message? Well, it seems the Corinthians fancied themselves as especially strong. In 1 Corinthians 1, which we looked at last week, we learned that the Corinthians thought themselves strong in worldly wisdom. In 2 Cor. 8-9 we have indications that they’re strong in cash. As a large, cosmopolitan port city, we know the Corinthians were strong in Mediterranean culture. Unfortunately, they were also strong in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:21). They seem to have spent too much time comparing themselves to other people rather than to God’s holiness (2 Cor. 10:17), and they were plagued by the presence of “super-apostles” teaching a different gospel (2 Cor. 11-12).

How did Paul deal with these problems? Well, as always, he proclaims Jesus Christ first and foremost. Paul also does something that he doesn’t often do: he holds himself up as an example of authority and power. As in the first letter, however, he lets the Corinthians know that true Christian strength comes through weakness, because in our weakness we learn to depend on God.

As we saw last week, God chose the weak to shame the wise (1 Cor. 1:27). Shame was an important word in Paul’s day. Our culture today is all about money and fame, but in the first century everything revolved around honor and shame. Certain actions produce honor, which you wanted to get as much as you could, and others produced shame, which you wanted to avoid at all costs. An utterly radical element of the Kingdom of God is that God turns everything upside down (and still does, by the way). In weakness is strength. In dependence is power. In dying to ourselves is eternal life. Earthly power, worldly strength, visual beauty have nothing to do with honor in the Kingdom of God. In fact, all those things can be an obstacle to true honor.

That’s why God may sometimes break us to help us learn to depend on him. Now this is not a boot camp thing — you know, breaking someone down to build them back stronger. No. This is about breaking Christians down to make us weaker! Have you ever experienced a situation like that — being broken down to learn dependance on God? Most of her life my mother was a very strong, independent woman, raised in the Church of Christ in North Carolina. But when she had heart bypass surgery, something changed in my mother. By her own testimony, her heart became softer. I believe that being forced to see how much she depended on others for her very life forced my mother to see her own weakness. I pray that God doesn’t have to put any of us under that kind of ordeal to break through to us.

But whatever form it takes, this breaking is a source of blessings to the Christians. Please read Mt. 5:3-11. Notice how all those blessings are upside-down from a worldly perspective? That’s because what Jesus is talking about is not simply a ticket to heaven for each Christian. When we become disciples of Christ we’re entering a new Kingdom that is already taking shape right here, right now. And the rules are like nothing else in the world around us.

Now here’s something to consider: In a practical sense, how does suffering and weakness really bless us? Well, first of all, when we finally admit our weakness, we don’t have to try to be strong enough for God. The effort to be strong enough to please God, by the way, may be one of the most harmful elements of Christian discipleship. What do I mean? These kinds of things: keeping our distance from other Christians by telling everyone “fine” when they ask how we’re doing; dressing well and grooming with great care to give the impression that all is right with us and our family; trying to act like we didn’t scream at each other getting ready for services this morning. All of that is dishonesty, retrograde motion. The more we become like Christ, the more we see where we fail — and admit it! And that’s not to draw attention to ourselves (“Oh, look how pathetic a disciple I am people!”) but to draw attention to the God who loves us anyway and can use even broken vessels like us. You see, God doesn’t accept us because we’re good or useful to him, but simply because he loves us. Let’s remember that.

The wonderful fact is, our weakness doesn’t have to discourage us, because we already have God’s power. As Paul told the Ephesians, God “has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). Jesus told us that when two or three are gathered in his name, he is with us (Mt. 18:20). That means we have his power with us—not simply in you, not in me, but in us, the church. That’s why gathering together is so important: not only that you yourself won’t be condemned, but so the church can be full of the power that God intends for us. I don’t know about you, but I want to be part of that and to help others be a part of it.

So we already have God’s power, but we still need to acknowledge it in order to put it into action. Doing that is really very simple — just back off trying to do things with our own power. It’s as simple as the words of “Jesus Loves Me”: “Little ones to him belong/They are weak, but he is strong.” Isn’t that encouraging? What? could it really be that simple? Well, yes, it’s very simple, although putting it into practice may not be easy if we’ve spent our whole lives trying to be the strong ones. So how can we learn to live like little children before our loving Father?

Looking over 2 Corinthians, we can find at least five clues. I’ve organized them here in a way to help us remember them; the first letter of each clue spells out what putting these ideas into practice will bring to God.

So how do we learn to find strength in weakness?

Paul begins 2 Corinthians (1:3-5) by Giving glory to God (we got that first letter in there three times!). That’s Paul’s practice in all his letters, by the way. He talks about himself only when he has to. He doesn’t write much about his own obedience, and he rarely talks about his own testimony. He does have a passion, however, for proclaiming the goodness and mercy of God. Can we do the same thing? Can we proclaim the love of God out of the overflow of a grateful heart?

Next, when we are suffering, we need to Look to the “eternal weight of glory” (4:15ff) that awaits Christians one day. When our own burdens weigh us down, we don’t have much energy left to glorify God. But as Paul reminds the Corinthians, “this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory.” There’s nothing like persecution and suffering to help us see the big picture—that we are weak but God is in control and will one day dry every tear. Can we learn to trust God in that way without having to endure serious, excruciating suffering? I think a better question is: Can we learn to trust God even with it?

Here’s another clue: Only Jesus (4:1-5). We are called to be faithful to God’s Word (in both senses), and to proclaim Jesus Christ as his slaves. It’s easy to become burdened with many side issues, but at the center of our hope, our mission, our good news and our life is Jesus Christ. He’s the master. Period. (And that’s a good thing, by the way).

Why? Because of what we Remember: Christ died for us (5:14-17). Our faith, our doctrine, our worship, our hope and strength and life all flow out of that fact, that Christ died for us. That’s why Paul determined when he was with the Corinthians to know nothing but “Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Meditating on that thought alone will change us in practice into what God has made us in fact: new creations.

Finally, we need to remember that Jesus Christ is “Yes” (2 Cor. 1:18-22). And what, exactly, does that mean? The Corinthians seem to have criticized Paul for his fickleness (“Yes he will, no he won’t”). And how does Paul respond? To paraphrase: “Fine. You can call me yes/no, but Jesus is always yes.” Which means that Jesus is always dependable, always trustworthy, always effective, always loving. We can depend on him — stake our very lives on his steadfast love. The sad fact is that the best Christians may let us down. Even worse, the church may hurt us and prove itself untrustworthy. But we can count on Jesus. And the more his church draws near to him, the more we can count on each other.

See what those letters spell? Glory. That’s what we bring God when we learn to trust him in our weakness.

All Christians are called to weakness before Almighty God. Some Christians are blessed with the ability to acknowledge this fact rather easily. Too often these are the Christians the rest of us look down upon, but they’re the ones Jesus blesses in Mt. 5:3-11. But most of us, I think, find it very hard to let go of our own little power and submit ourselves to the overwhelming power of God.

Letting go of our own strength is nothing more than what Jesus himself did,

who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:6-8).

As someone has said, the crucifixion isn’t simply Jesus getting what we deserve (although of course he did); it’s God the Father finally getting what he deserves. God deserves all of us, our whole lives. That’s what Jesus calls Christians to do— give up ourselves to find eternal life. And here’s the upside-down part: in doing so, we’ll be exalted, too.

Have you admitted your weakness? Or have you tried to convince others, maybe even yourself, that you’re strong enough for whatever comes your way? Can you fall at Jesus’ feet and acknowledge him as all your righteousness and strength? Please do, and be blessed.

Copyright 2005, A. Milton Stanley

Like Jesus on the cross

2005-06-12T14:41:00.000-05:00

Luke 23:32-38
Preached Sunday morning, June 12, 2005
Lexington Church of Christ

Can you relate to this story: Once the leaders of a particular congregation were very unfair and hurtful to my family. What’s worse, these men knew that Carolyn was angry, and they tried to tell people she was angry at me instead of at them. That’s the time I want to pray the Psalms. You know the ones? Passages like Psalm 58:6—“O God, break the teeth in their mouths!” or even Ps. 137:9, “Happy shall be the one who takes your little one and dashes them against the rock!”

In the midst of that painful situation, one of my Christian brothers told me it was time to forgive. I couldn’t believe he would say such a thing. “But these men did my family wrong,” I protested.

I don’t dispute that,” my friend said, “But sometimes you have to be Jesus on the cross.”

My friend’s words just about knocked me out of my chair, because I knew he was right. Jesus on the cross is first and foremost our savior, giving his life to pay the price for our sinfulness. But here’s the hard part—he’s also our example. Four times in the Gospels ( Mt. 10:38; 16:24; Mk.8:34; Lk. 9:23) we read Jesus’ words to his disciples: “Take up you cross and follow me.” And those words aren’t just for the twelve. They’re addressed to anyone who would follow Jesus. Wow. that’s tough. But should we expect anything less if we’re really going to be Jesus’ disciples? Do we really expect to enjoy all the blessings of Christ without sharing in his sufferings? Do we really expect to take up the cross with Jesus and never be nailed to it?

In the most important sense, the work on the cross belongs to Jesus alone; only he could die to save the world. In a day-to-day sense, however, Christians are called share in Christ’s suffering. The cross holds two very different but closely related qualities: suffering and forgiveness. The suffering is the hard part, of course, but here’s the wonderful news: if we share in Christ’s suffering, then we have forgiveness through his blood and share in his triumph over death (Eph. 1:7; Rom. 6:5). And that forgiveness, as we will see, is a key to some of the richest blessings we can ever have in this life: right relationship with God; improved relationships with family, friends, and co-workers, and power and energy for getting through life. Let’s consider Jesus on the cross, then, and discover how by extending forgiveness to his oppressors Jesus brightens the path of life for us today.

First, a little background. One thing we see over and over in the Bible is that human beings resist God. In fact, the more forcefully God reaches out to the world, the more violently we resist him. The Old Testament prophets, for example, always seemed to fight an uphill struggle against the sin of Israel. Jesus himself, the Truth and the Word, was killed by those who didn’t want to hear the message he proclaimed. And of course, the ones who killed Jesus—the Jews and the Romans—might as well have been us, because Jesus died for the sins we have committed.

Today the temptation is still strong to resist God. I don’t have to tell you all the thousands of ways the world resists and rejects the Lord; just read the paper or turn on the news for a few minutes, and we’ll be overwhelmed by the wickedness and darkness that abounds in the world. But how about the church? We’re still tempted to resist God’s truth. That resistance may take many forms: holding on to tradition at the expense of the Word; being overly confident of our own righteousness; or by giving in to bitterness, rage, or the lust for vengeance when someone has wronged us. That last one, by the way, is the temptation I believe Jesus faced on the cross.

There is a price, of course, for giving in to the temptation of resisting God. In the Old Testament we see how Israel gave in again and again to idolatry and injustice and how God had to chastise them to bring them to repentance. That chastisement was never pretty. In the New Testament we see that sin can result in sickness (1 Cor. 11:27-30; Jas. 5:13-16) or even death (Acts 5). We still suffer today if we insist on resisting God, if we hold onto sin. And there may be no more harmful sin to our bodies on earth than unforgiveness. It’s the source of all manner of sickness—both physical and spiritual.

You know, most of our trouble really is our fault. We may pretend we’re suffering for doing good, even for the gospel itself, but nine times out of ten our own sinfulness, our self-centeredness, caused our problems in the first place. You see this kind of attitude in some of our papers on all sides of the doctrinal spectrum; men will say people are rejecting them because they tell the truth. Well, in many cases they’re being rejected because they cause conflict. As much as we don’t want to admit it, most of our trouble is our own fault. And if we can face up to that fact, our lives will be a whole lot more peaceful.

But some times it really is the other guy’s fault. Sometimes we do everything right and people still hate us or mistreat us. And the more obedient we are to God, the more likely we are to face this kind of unjust opposition. Do you know of anything more infuriating than to be mistreated precisely because we did the right thing? That’s when we may be tempted to pray for the Lord to call down fire and brimstone!

I have a feeling Jesus was tempted in that way on the cross. Remember that in the desert, Satan left Jesus so he could come back at a more opportune time (Lk. 4:13). One of those opportune times came when Peter tried to keep Jesus away from the cross (Mk. 8:31-33). Another one, I think, came on the cross itself. How could Jesus not be tempted to set right the awful evil being done in crucifying the sinless son of God? And yet he didn’t give in to temptation. He was obedient even to the point of death.

How about us? How do we respond when we’re mistreated? The answer to that question, more than any other test I know, shows how much Christ has taken charge in us—either in an individual heart or in a congregation of the Lord’s church. It should always be a goal for believers and congregations to grow more and more like Christ, and this picture of Jesus on the cross shows us the direction we need to go.

As he was in the process of being killed, Jesus prayed forgiveness for his murderers. Why did he do that? Well, for one thing, it was a fulfillment of prophecy (Is. 53:12). I suspect it may also have been necessary to prevent God’s wrath from taking hold of the world right then—after all, had there ever been a greater wrong done in the history of the world? Most importantly, though, Jesus’ praying forgiveness on the crowd shows us in the flesh what God himself is really like. He loves. He forbears. He forgives. That’s what God’s love look like. And if his church bears his Holy Spirit, our lives need to look the same way.

Jehovah is a God of holiness and righteousness, but also of mercy. One of the central themes of the Old Testament is that the Lord is holy and righteous, and that the only way human beings can have a relationship with him is by being holy and righteous ourselves. At the same time, the Old Testament tells us that God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” That’s such an important message that we read it five times in the pages of the Hebrew scriptures (Ex. 34:6; Ps. 86:16; 103:9; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2). In the New Testament we see that truth expressed on the cross—forgiveness embodied in the flesh.

So Jesus is not merely our savior; he’s our example of forgiveness. He told us to forgive, even when we are treated unjustly (Mt. 6:14, 15; 18:21-35; Mk. 11:25; Lk. 6:37; 6:28) . We are to forgive over and over, even when we’ve been hurt so badly we can barely speak, even when we’re too tired and wounded to lift our heads.

I don’t want to give you the impression that I think it’s easy. In fact, forgiving may be the hardest act Christians are called to do. But if we can learn how, and put forgiveness into practice, then we will find tremendous blessings waiting for us.

So let’s be clear: what does it really mean to forgive? It means handing our anger, our bitterness, our thirst for vengeance over to God. Vengeance, we are told at least three time in the Scriptures, belongs to God (Dt. 32:35; Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30). As Jesus shows us, however, forgiveness involves another step. Not only do we turn over our bitterness to God, but we pray for blessings upon the very ones who have wronged us (Mt. 5:34; Lk. 5:27-35). And if God calls us to pray for and be at peace with our enemies, how much more for our own family, particularly the family of faith? And notice, too, that Jesus didn’t forgive only those who repented. He prayed forgiveness for those who were in the very act of doing evil.

That’s radical forgiveness. It’s also the kind of forgiveness that is tied to God’s forgiving us (Mt. 6:12-15).

Now, down to particulars. What does forgiveness look like in practice? Do I have to forgive terrorists who kill and maim innocent civilians? How about the elder in the church who tried to molest a young girl? What about the ex-husband who left his wife for another woman and now begs for forgiveness?

The answer is, yes, we must forgive. That doesn’t mean those who have wronged us don’t have to pay the consequences for their actions. The terrorist still has to go to jail, the elder faces church and legal discipline, and the ex-husband still has to pay child support. But as for the lingering, simmering, bitter wrath in the hearts of believers—we have to let that go.

But how? To a point we are called to forgive as an act of the will—we simply refuse to allow our own pain to cause the other person pain, either through direct attacks or through the poison of gossip. To an extent we have to “fake it till we make it,” which means acting toward that person as we believe Jesus would have us act. In many cases, simply behaving like we should helps us forgive in our hearts. And it is in the hears, after all, that Jesus calls us to forgive (Mt. 18:35).

But some wrongs we simply can’t “forgive and forget.” Some hurts are so painful that we may not be able to forgive without God’s help. In those cases we need to do what Jesus did: Go to the Father. When our anger and hurt won’t go away from our own efforts we need to take our bitterness before God and ask him to forgive and help us to forgive. I once carried in my heart a hurt so painful that I asked God every day to help me forgive. It took months, but it happened. We may not be able to forgive on our own, but through God all things are possible (Mk. 10:27).

And when we do finally forgive, our lives begin to change. To forgive is to put off a heavy burden of sin, and when we do that we open our lives to spiritual maturity, to living as God has made us as new creations in Jesus Christ. When we really forgive from our hearts, our Christian walk becomes more than a burden. It becomes a source of encouragement and joy. When we truly forgive, discipleship becomes more than a constant struggle to do the right thing, and doing God’s will becomes much easier (although I don’t think it every becomes easy). When we forgive we move beyond milk to the strong, nourishing meat of discipleship. When that happens we find that all the energy we were using for anger and bitterness and jealousy is now available to praise and honor God. We stop grieving the Holy Spirit through our unforgiveness and become more useful vehicles of God’s love and peace.

Forgiveness—this is hard teaching, but it is a path of blessing. When we forgive as God forgives us, we enter into a better relationship with God, we improve our relationships with others, and we find a peace and power that we could not imagine while we were slaves to unforgiveness. We find that the blood of Christ purifies our consciences “from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb. 9:14).

God’s forgiveness is based on his love for us, for “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Yes, Jesus Christ will one day come in overwhelming power and wrath to destroy sinful forces on the earth (1 Cor. 15:24). But in the mean time, he’s been showing us love and mercy over and over. And if the Lord of all creation can show mercy, how about us? When we fail to forgive, we are rejecting Christ’s forgiveness of us. But when we open our hearts to forgive, we are blessed with the fruits of his forgiveness of us.

Copyright 2005, A. Milton Stanley

It’s Not About Us

2005-03-04T05:30:00.000-05:00

Romans 16:25-27
Preached Sunday morning, February 20, 2005
Lexington Church of Christ

Friday morning, in my role as a volunteer police chaplain, I went to the scene of a house fire. When I arrived the police had blocked the road, the fire trucks had stretched hoses across the street, and the fire was just about out. Praise God no one was killed or injured in the fire. The woman whose house had burned, however, was hit doubly hard that day. As she was speaking to the fire investigator, she received news that her mother had just died in a nursing home. I ministered as best I could to this poor woman, then started back down the hill to my car.

As I walked toward the other side of the barricade, I came upon an older woman who lived across the street from the burned-out house. This woman was waiting for someone to move the police barricade so she could be on her way. Clearly she didn’t enjoy having to wait. Our discussion went something like this:

“I need somebody to move that police car so I can get to work,” she insisted, waving her arms angrily.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said. “Just let that officer over there know you need to get out, and I’m sure he’ll be happy to move the car.”

“Yea, right,” she scoffed. “There’s no reason for that car to be blocking the road.”

While I have little trouble dealing with angry people, this woman’s lack of perspective amazed me.

“Ma’am. You notice there’s been a house fire. The trucks and firefighters and hoses are all in the street. The police have to keep traffic from going through here.” My explanation only seemed to make her more fervent.

“But I live here, and I need to get to work!”

“I understand that, and the officer understands that. It’s nothing personal— It’s not about you.” With that I turned and walked back to my car.

These final three verses of the book of Romans are known as a doxology— words giving glory to God. They are also, in a sense, a summary of the entire book of Romans. In these few words all the major themes of the letter are touched on either explicitly or implicitly: our weakness, God’s righteous power, faith, obedience, and a Kingdom of the redeemed from all nations. In a sense, Paul is ending the letter where he began: with the focus on God.

This doxology is also a positive counter-balance for the warning Paul gives the Romans in verses 17-20 [1]. In those verses Paul cautions the Romans to “watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine the you have been taught.” These people serve not Christ, but their appetites. They flatter the naïve with smooth talk. And, Paul implies, they will suffer the fate reserved for Satan.

Paul does not end the letter on that negative note, however. As the letter ends the focus is on God, not men. It is a word of glory. For the next few minutes let’s go through that doxology together, and find the blessings within those words for Christians today.

This word of glory speaks first of strengthening the saints according to the gospel and preaching of Jesus Christ. These words reach all the way back to the beginning of the letter, Rom. 1:11, where Paul expresses his longing to bestow on the Romans a gift. He wanted to see them in person, but he has now imparted a gift to them from a distance, in this letter. That gift is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Notice what Paul calls it here: “my gospel.” People in the first century had different ideas of humility than we do today. Paul is making no effort at false humility, and he’s not being arrogant to call it “his” gospel [2]. Paul recognized that the world is made up of sinners “of which I am the foremost” (1 Tim. 1:15). And Paul knew the power of the gospel. He was obligated to speak that good news to everyone, including those in Rome: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:14-16). Paul says “my gospel” the same way he would say “my Lord” or “my God,” not through pride, but through obligation. That’s because he knew his message wasn’t about Paul. It was about the good news, and about the Savior at the center of that good news.

So Paul gives glory to God who can strengthen Christians “according to the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed.” Do you like that word, “mystery”? Most of us like mysteries in the sense of something to solve. Last night my family and I watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Now that man could solve a mystery. No mystery’s too obscure or difficult for Indiana Jones to solve—and find the treasure.

Of course, that kind of idea has nothing to do with what the New Testament means by mystery. In the Bible, a mystery is a “truth hidden in the mind of God and undiscoverable by human reason” [3]. In this case, the mystery is the inclusion of the Gentiles in the salvation of Israel (Rom. 11:25). This mystery is not something for us to figure out. It’s something we find only when God reveals it to us. In other words, it’s not about our cleverness; it’s about God’s revealed Word.

And notice: the Word is disclosed through the prophetic writings. Many things we can know by our own observation and intelligence, but the most important truths are known only through the Scriptures.

Friday night I met two astronomers at a special star-gazing night at my sons’ elementary school. We had a good discussion out in the school yard with telescopes and a clear night sky. After finding out that I’m a preacher, one of these astronomers remarked, in effect, that his religion was science. “Our church is out here,” he said.

I tried to think of something appropriate to say. “Well, you know the psalmist said, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God.’” And it was like a blanket fell over the conversation. We had hit an impasse between two ways of looking at the world, and at truth.

Some things are known only through the Word of God—such as why otherwise sharp minds become as dull as marbles when it comes to spiritual matters. We find the answer in Rom. 1:28: “And since they did not acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind.” Without honoring and thanking God, human beings become futile in their thinking, and darkened in their hearts. The most important truths are discovered only through the Scriptures. That’s because it’s not about our intelligence—relying on our own minds brings pride and darkness—it’s about the mind of God, who loves us and shares his righteousness with those who believe in him.

This mystery of salvation “has been made know to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God.” The faithful of all nations are now counted among the redeemed of Israel. In this letter Paul used a lot of ink explaining that God loves and chooses even the Gentiles. Jewish Christians apparently had a hard time with that idea. But for the Jews, the concept should have been nothing new. The book of Jonah, for example, shows that God cares for the Gentiles. Ezekiel 47 shows that foreigners can share in the inheritance of Israel, and Isaiah 56 proclaims that even the eunuch and foreigner is invited to worship God. There are many more examples from the Old Testament. Salvation is not limited to the Jews or Israelites. When Paul wrote his letter to the Romans the Jews knew they were God’s chosen people, and they did a pretty good job of following the rules he had laid out for them. Apparently that was a source of pride for the Jews, including many Jewish Christians. But it’s not about the Jews. It’s about a loving God who chooses to save.

Did you notice why this mystery of salvation has been revealed? The answer is in verse 27: “to bring about the obedience of faith.” The obedience of faith. These words go back to Rom. 1:5, where Paul declares his mission: “to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all nations, including you who were called to belong to Jesus Christ.” Obedience is for the sake of Jesus’ name. Obedience, then, is not about us. It’s about the name of Jesus Christ.

That’s because it’s an obedience of faith, not of pride [4]. It’s not about trusting ourselves or our intelligence or our will. One of the dangers of discipleship, in fact, is focusing on our obedience rather than on God’s love. Christians are righteous, but our righteousness is not our own. God “consigned all to disobedience so that he might have mercy on all” (Rom. 11:32). Our righteousness is God’s, imputed through the blood of Jesus Christ

Our obedience is of faith. It’s not intellect-centered, not emotions-centered, but faith-centered. That means our faith is obedience-oriented, action-oriented. Notice, too, that it is “obedience of faith,” not “faith of obedience.” Obedience in particular behaviors is not necessarily proof of our faith, and it’s certainly not the source of our faith. We can obey for the wrong reasons: faithless fear, for example, or pride. Real faith, however, will bring about obedience, as good ground brings forth a harvest.

That’s why the condition of our hearts is so important. Yes, we are still called to obey God even if we don’t feel like it. But obedience is nothing without faith. That’s why the concept of “the obedience of faith” is so important, and why, I think, the phrase serves as bookends to the whole letter. The whole book of Romans is about the obedience of faith—an obedience that arises from a heart made right with God. That’s why what’s in our heart is more important than what’s in our hands. To be Christian disciples we need more than changed actions; we need changed hearts. And how do we change our hearts?

We don’t. God changes our hearts, through the regenerating power of Jesus Christ. It’s not about our obedience; it’s about our faith. More importantly, it’s about the one we have faith in. It’s about the one who empowers us to be righteous, through faith in Jesus Christ, our hope and our salvation.

And that, by the way, is how the whole book of Romans ends: “to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ, Amen!” We’re back to the heart of the matter here. Paul began this letter with reference to the gospel and the Lord. Through the letter Paul taught about God’s righteousness and how we may share in that righteousness. Now he gives glory to the source of that righteousness.

To the “only wise God”—those words say so much. The Jews in the first century were suspicious of Gentiles not only because they were foreign, but because they worshiped false gods. They worshiped whole pantheons of them: Hermes and Athena and Nebo and a thousand others. The Jews, on the other hand, knew there is only one God, and his name is The Lord. They had learned that lesson over the centuries through hard experience. The Lord is the only God.

The Romans, both Jew and Gentile, lived at the hub of the known world: a city like New York, Paris and London all rolled into one. The Romans were the ultimate big city folk, and that made them prime candidates for the idolatry of the self. In giving glory to “the only wise God” Paul lays waste to any idolatrous claims the Romans might have to being the standard of wisdom. There is only one God, and he is the one who is wise. To him be the glory.

At its most basic meaning, glory is light. And here’s where the Jew in Paul comes out. He doesn’t describe God with any sophisticated words from the vocabulary of philosophy. Paul doesn’t describe God as omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. He doesn’t use any of the philosophical phrases that learned men glory in being able to throw around. That’s because it’s not about our glory; it’s about God’s glory.

It is a glory through Jesus Christ, the radiance of God’s glory (Heb. 1:3). Jesus’ life was lived to glorify God—in his obedience in life, and in his dying and rising again. Jesus shows us how to glorify God through the obedience of faith. And even that faith is not our doing; “it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8b).

So here in these last three verses of Romans we touch upon the whole message of the letter. That message is this: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (3:23), and we deserve death for that sin (6:23). We must repent of that old way of life (2:4) and be saved by grace through faith (14:16). That is a faith in Jesus who died on the cross for our sins, rose again, and now imputes God’s righteousness to us. We must be baptized to newness of life (6:3), offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God and be transformed in our hearts (12:1,2). We are to love one another (12:10; 14:15), proclaim the word of life (10:14-17), and give glory to the Father through Jesus Christ (16:27).

It’s not about us; it’s about God. But God is righteous, and he shares his righteousness with those who believe. To God be the glory.

ENDNOTES

1. Bob Deffinbaugh, “Watching Out for Wolves (Romans 16:17-27).” Online study at http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=2330 .

2. William Loader, “First Thoughts on Year B Epistle Passages from the Lectionary.” Online expository notes at http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/BEpAdvent4.htm .

3. Jack Cottrell, Romans, vol. 2. College Press NIV Commentary. Joplin, MO (College Press), 1998, p. 495.

4. James Squire, “The Mystery Has Been Revealed—In You and Me!.” Online study at http://www.crossings.org/theology/theolo364.htm .

Copyright 2005, A. Milton Stanley

Jesus, the woman, and the well in John 4

2005-02-24T00:54:00.001-05:00

Reading the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, do you get the feeling we've been there before? The theme of a man and woman meeting at a well is prominent one in the Old Testament. Consider:

1. Isaac and Rebekah (Gen. 24:10-61),
2. Jacob and Rachel (Gen. 29:1-20),
3. Moses and Zipporah (Ex. 2:15-21).

Each of these three scenes share the pattern of six common steps [1]:

1. A man of the covenant goes to a foreign land.
2. He meets a young woman at a well.
3. One of them draws water.
4. The young woman rushes home to announce the stranger's arrival.
5. A marriage betrothal is made, usually after a meal.
6. The marriage yields great fruit.

Notice that the scene with Jesus and the Samaritan woman follows this pattern perfectly through step four. But what, you may ask, does Jesus and the Samaritan woman have to do with marriage?

Only this. Jesus is the bridegroom, and the church is the betrothed of Christ. The church is made up not only of good, clean Jews, but of the most outcast of the Gentiles. In this scene the Samaritan woman is a type of the church. And who could be more symbolic of the breadth of Jesus' proposal than a Samaritan woman of questionable moral background?

ENDNOTE
1. For a treatment of these steps in the OT, see The Art of Biblical Narrative by Robert Alter.

Copyright 2005, A. Milton Stanley

Toward a Biblical Environmentalism

2005-02-13T14:46:00.000-05:00

These are some preliminary thoughts on biblical environmentalism. They come from a book outline I developed a couple of years ago and are still in skeletal form, without a great deal of elaboration or supporting documentation. I offer them here to stimulate discussion.

Life Context

Present rates of human impact on the environment are unsustainable. That simply means we are using resources—fresh water, tillable land, fish, rainforests—faster than they can be replenished. Pollution, global warming, destruction of habitats, extinctions, desertification—God's creation is being degraded and destroyed at an alarming rate, threatening not only the environment itself, but the future of humanity. At bottom, this unsustainable consumption of natural resources is fueled by greed: a relentless demand for products and services. For the most part those who consume the most natural resources give little thought to the impact their appetites have on the planet, either short- or long-term. In the words of Wendell Berry,

We are involved now in a profound failure of imagination. Most of us cannot imagine the wheat beyond the bread, or the farmer beyond the wheat, or the farm beyond the farmer, or the history beyond the farm. Most people cannot imagine the forest and the forest economy that produced their houses and furniture and paper; or the landscapes, the streams and the weather that fill their pitchers and bathtubs and swimming pools with water. Most people appear to assume that when they have paid their money for these things they have entirely met their obligations.

Americans, most of whom claim to be Christians, are some of the greatest offenders in this non-sustainable environmental selfishness.

Biblical Context

Evangelical Christians have so far done little to speak out for protecting God's creation, leaving environmentalism in the hands of less biblically grounded Christians, or those actively antagonistic to the Christian faith. On the one hand, Christians have a much higher calling than protecting the planet. Our primary purpose is a heavenly one—preparing ourselves and others for a right relationship with God here and through eternity. The Bible tells us that "The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever" (1 John 2:17).
On the other hand, we do have obligations to be good stewards of the earth. God created the world and takes pleasure in it (Psalm 104). He has left it up to humanity to rule over and care for all creation (Gen. 1:28). The Psalms tell us that creation is not only given for our use, but that all creation—animals, plants, hills and sky—is intended to praise and glorify the Lord (Psalm 148). When humanity, through greed and short-sightedness, weakens and damages the earth, we are guilty of wasting not only a precious resource, but of defacing a beautiful work of God.

God could have created the whole world instantly. But he took six full days, savoring each new element of his creation. At the end of each day, he looked at what he had made and saw that it was good. On the sixth day he created the first man and woman and put all creation under their control (Gen. 1:28).

Principles of Biblical Environmentalism

The Bible has little to say directly on the topic of environmental stewardship. Taking the Scriptures as a whole, however, we can find a great deal in the Word of God to illuminate the issue of environmental stewardship. Here, briefly, are thirteen relevant truths.

God created the world as something good (Gen. 1:31-2:1).
God gave humanity dominion over the planet (Gen 1:28).
Creation was subject to frustration at the fall of man and has been groaning ever since (Rom. 8:18-21).
Even after the fall, everything God created is good (I Tim 4:4).
God takes pleasure in His creation and actively sustains it (Psalm 104).
We are not to worship the sun, moon, stars, or any other part of God's creation (Deut. 4:19).
Rather all creation, including the celestial bodies, should actively praise God (Psalm 148).
God cares and provides for all living creatures (Gen. 1:30; 9:17; Mt. 10:29).
But man is more important than other created beings (Matt. 10:31).
Greed or covetousness, however, is a grave sin and a form of idolatry (Rom. 1:29; 7:8; Eph. 5:3; Col. 3:5 ).
Stewardship of God’s creation is for our own good, and God commanded it (Ex. 23:11; Lev. 25:7; Deut. 22:6-7).
One day, however, God will create a new earth, as well as a new heaven (2 Pe 3:13, Rev. 21:1).
The new heaven and earth will be eternal (Isaiah 66:22). When they finally do come, the old creation will be forgotten (Isaiah 65:17).

What do these principles point to? First, that human beings have dominion over the earth and are the most important species on the planet—a point typically neglected by non-Christian environmentalists. We should not feel shame in a reasonable exploiting of creation; we are, in fact, more entitled to the planet’s resources than the other animals. Dominion, however, is not a license from God for rapaciousness. Environmental depletion is a symptom of self-centeredness, greed, and covetousness (in other words, it is a consequence of the fall). On a collective scale, this greed manifests itself in the many symptoms of environmental degradation.

Addressing these symptoms will do little or nothing to correct the root problem: sin. The only means of overcoming that root problem is the grace of God through Jesus Christ. As Christians are transformed from worldly thinkers to Kingdom citizens, our hearts will be changed and our individual appetites become less covetous. In that respect, growth of the Kingdom will result in some lessening of environmental degradation. Jesus has told us, however, that the percentage of human beings living a life of true discipleship will always be relatively low (Mt. 7:13-14). We should not, then, expect a lessening of rapacious attitudes among Christians to have a significant effect on the environment. In fact, Jesus tells us that the calamities of a fallen world will continue to include such events as pestilence and famine (Lk 21:9-11).

That leaves Christians with the question: how should we approach environmental stewardship? Focusing too much attention on the symptoms of human depravity (environmental degradation) draws our minds away from the true source of the problem (sin) and the only hope of salvation (Jesus). Yet to focus strictly on individual salvation is to neglect the world-wide influence of both sin and the Kingdom of God. We must, I think, begin to look at the Kingdom of God as just that—not a collection of redeemed souls, but as a reign that ultimately will redeem not only human souls, but all creation.

Working out the details of a Kingdom view---well, that's the hard part. Any ideas?

The God of Encouragement, Endurance, and Hope

2005-02-12T06:12:00.000-05:00

Romans 15:5-13
Preached Sunday morning, January 30, 2005
New York Avenue Church of Christ

Here in chapter 15 we’re coming to the end of the main section of Romans. Chapters 1-3 deal with mankind’s need for God’s righteousness. Chapters 3-8 show that God has imputed his righteousness on those who have faith in Jesus Christ. Chapters 9-11 explain that God is righteous for giving us his righteousness through grace, and chapters 12-15:13 exhort Christians to practice righteousness in our lives [1]. This is also the ending of the “Christian liberty” section, running from Rom. 14:1 through 15:13 [2]. After this point, Paul begins to conclude the letter. We will conclude this series next week by looking at part of those concluding comments.

The section ends with two benedictions, one at the beginning of this week’s passage, and one at the end. In between, Paul reminds Christians that the Gentiles have now been accepted among God’s covenant people. We will focus today on the first benediction, in Rom. 15:5-7. It is a picture of how the church ought to be.

This benediction, or what some call a “pious wish” [3], begins with a wish for blessings from “the God of endurance and encouragement” (v. 5). Isn’t that an interesting title? The God of endurance and encouragement. We’re probably used to thinking of God as almighty, righteous, holy, maybe even Father. But the God of endurance? What does he endure? Us, of course—our weakness and failures and stubbornness and sin. Not only does he endure—he encourages us. We are broken, flawed, and sinful, but God still loves us. We’re fickle, but he’s steadfast. We provoke him, but he is patient. We are bad, but he makes us righteous. That, brothers and sisters, is an encouraging picture of God.

And notice that it is God who grants us the blessings that follow? He is the Father of all blessings, just as he is the Father of righteousness. God grants us good things. We do not create righteousness or harmony or glory. It is up to us, though, to accept and nurture God’s blessings. And what are the blessings Paul wishes for Christians here?

First, he wishes that Christians will “live in harmony with one another.” Literally, the meaning here is that Christians be of one mind, that Christians be unified in their thinking. And what a rich unity that is. Christian unity doesn’t mean uniformity. As we saw in chapter 14, unity doesn’t depend on making others do what we want. And it doesn’t mean we all do the same thing. Rom. 12:3-8 explains that we are one body with many members. That’s a wonderful picture, because it means we don’t all have to try to look or act exactly the same. God has created each one of us with talents and gifts to use for his purposes. Over the past few years we’ve completed some significant renovations to the building and office here. I’m glad we have men here with talents in those areas, because if the church had to depend on people like me, we wouldn’t have these new facilities. I can’t even hammer a nail straight, let alone enclose a carport. But the wonderful truth is that God doesn’t expect every one of us to be handy with power tools any more than he expects all of us to be handy with words. Yet together the church, with a variety of talents and gifts, can do all the work God has set out for us. That’s encouraging. That’s Christian unity.

And at the risk of stating the obvious, there is one more essential element of Christian unity and harmony. Paul wishes the Roman Christians to have unity and harmony “in accord with Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ—he is the key to real Christian unity. We are not called to have unity at any and all cost. One of the major Protestant denominations is now being threatened by wide-scale division over the issue of homosexuality. In the midst of this struggle, one of the denominational leaders recently proclaimed that no doctrinal issue was worth dividing the church over.

Oh yes, some are. Throughout the pages of the New Testament, we see that some issues are so important that those who don’t hold to them have no place among God’s people. Among those issues are belief in the need for repentance and the Lordship of Christ (1 Cor. 5:2-5; 16:22; Gal. 1:8-9; 2 John 10-11; Jude 4). So unity is not unity at all costs. Repentance from sin and the lordship of Jesus Christ are essential to being Christian. Real Christian unity has to come through Jesus Christ. He’s the one who makes our relationships real. Christian unity is a whole lot more than "Hi-howya-doin’" fellowship. Real Christian unity is where we bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2), share our possessions (Acts 2:44), and serve one another sacrificially, just as Jesus came to earth as a servant (Phil. 2:7-8; 2 Cor. 4:5). This is the heart of the matter for Christian fellowship—Jesus Christ, here in our midst, the one we should be seeking. Christian unity is all about Jesus.

Naturally, we’d like it to be about us. It’s so much easier to try to have Christian unity based on doing the right things—following the pattern of the New Testament, for example. There is certainly nothing wrong with trying to follow the teaching of the New Testament. The problem, however, arises when we begin to take pride in our ability to interpret and follow that teaching. When we go too far down that road, we begin to look the wrong way. Instead of looking to Jesus, we begin to say, “Look how well we’re doing!”

When I was a young Christian, a Sunday school teacher asked the class, “What’s the most important thing in the world.” One of the class members answered, “Our relationship with Jesus Christ.” And I sat there thinking, “Wrong. The most important thing is Jesus Christ himself, not our relationship.” And I was so proud of myself. I was looking at myself and my perceived superiority instead of looking at Christ. So although my doctrine was right, my heart was far off the mark. If we do look at Christ, however, then “together [we] may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 5).

Harmony with one another is a prerequisite for doing the work God has in store for us. And what is that work? It’s in verse 5—to glorify God as a body of believers. If you’re like me, you’ve struggled with understanding what it means to glorify God. Literally, to glorify means to give light to something. In the case of God, the idea of giving him glory is obviously a metaphor. How could we possibly give light to the source of all light [4]? I think in the context of worship, glorifying God means turning our eyes toward him—toward the source of life and light. We may choose to run from him or submit to his transforming grace. The first choice is darkness; the second is glory.

Glorifying God is inherent in our harmony with one another. Our harmony itself glorifies God. Jesus described this relationship when he said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another” (Jn. 13:35). Our lives are a testimony of Christ in the world. Again, Jesus said, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us” (Jn. 4:11-12).

We are also unified in a shared purpose. We each are who we are, with many different talents and passions. Yet every Christian has a common mission, a common goal. And what is that goal? To glorify God. When we are united in corporate worship, we glorify God through giving, prayer, song, proclamation of the Word, and by sharing the Lord’s supper. In this way we do something very special—we reflect the unity of God—Father, Son and Spirit. In worship we also prepare ourselves for our time in heaven, when we will for the first time worship God in perfect unity and harmony.

We also glorify God by welcoming one another. This reference in Rom. 15:7 to welcoming one another ties back to Rom. 14:1, where Christians are told to welcome the weak in faith. We are to welcome one another not to quarrel, but as Christ welcomed us. And how does Jesus welcome us? That’s a good question to ask, because the answer shows us how we are to welcome each other.

Christ, first, welcomes us with grace; he gives us better than we deserve. We are called to do the same, especially in the church. Do we truly welcome everyone, or do we secretly want only those who can “contribute” to the church, not only monetarily, but also with time, effort, and social pleasantness. Jesus welcomes us as we are, just as Christians are called to welcome the weak brother. We don’t have to make all our changes before we set foot in the assembly. It is a lifelong process to be welcomed by Christ. And it changes us.

Christ also welcomes us in our repentance. Repentance literally means “new mind.” In that sense Christians repent of their sins at baptism, yes, but we should be continuing to let our minds be changed by God throughout our lives. Jesus also welcomes us in our ignorance. We don’t have to know all their is to know about Christ or do all our growth into Christ at the front end. But we do have to commit to change—deep down in our hearts.

So what does all this point to, this unity, harmony and welcoming? In short, it is a call for us to become more like God.

Notice that we have another benediction or hope prayer in Rom. 15:13. And do you see the words Paul uses there? “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Notice the word hope—it is a way both of describing God himself and describing what new life in Christ looks like. I don’t think those similarities are there by accident.

Hope—I don’t know about you, but I could use a dose right now. The harder you look at the world, it seems, the more hopeless many things looks. The world, in fact, is a “hope sink” that works to suck real joy out of lives and makes us think of ourselves as small and insignificant. But real Christian hope is much more than simply the wish that things will go better. Hope is a condition of the Christian’s heart built on the joy and peace that comes from believing the Word of God (Rom. 15:13).

Yet it is still God who grants us joy and peace as a gift. That is a major theme of Romans, by the way—the gifts of God to us. It’s a major theme of my life right now, too. God is doing so much in my life. He’s making my heart more tender, and at times he’s given me an amazing calm amid the storms of life. Seeing how I’ve changed in that way through the influence of the Holy Spirit gives me hope.

I want you to have that kind of hope, too—hope that God is real and that what he has in store for us is better than all we can ask or imagine. You don’t have to go on the journey alone. God will help you find that kind of hope. Just stop running away and take a step toward the light.

REFERENCES
1. Thomas Constable, Notes on Romans, available online at www.soniclight.com, 152-53.
2. Jack Cottrell, Romans, vol. 2, College Press Commentary, 418.
3. Constable, 152.
4. John 1:4-9.

Copyright 2005, Milton Stanley

Liberty and Love

2005-01-27T14:34:00.000-05:00

Romans 14:1-4
Preached Sunday morning, January 23, 2005
New York Avenue Church of Christ

Yesterday a man I know told me about his grandfather, a Church of Christ minister in west Texas. His grandfather, he said, preached what my friend called “narrow-door Christianity.” That’s an interesting choice of words. Clearly my friend considered it much too narrow. But the phrase really interested me. In one sense, the entire Christian walk is “narrow-door.” In Mt. 7:13, for example, Jesus calls us to “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” The way of righteousness is narrow only in comparison to the way of sin, which is so wide and diverse. It’s also narrow because at some level every one of us prefers to run around in the wide open fields of sin rather than walk the path of faith and obedience. With that said, it’s important that we don’t try to make God’s narrow way any narrower than it already is!

Here in the fourteenth chapter of Romans we see that Paul is dealing with narrow door issues among the Christians in Rome. The particular points at issue are whether or not Christians should celebrate special days, drink wine, or eat meat. Clearly there were those among the Roman Christians who believed in taking the stricter approach. Under certain circumstances, these restrictions might be helpful for Christians. But some in Rome apparently thought that following the rules on these matters was necessary for making it through the gates of heaven. Paul knew they were not, but what was the best way to settle the dispute?

Today’s passage is part of a larger section on love and liberty in Romans 14 and 15. The message of Rom. 14:1-12 is essentially, “No judging.” Rom. 14:13-23 can be summarized as “No tripping.” Rom. 15:1-3 implores us to bear with the weaker brother, and Rom. 15:4-13 encourages Christians to praise God and be filled with joy and peace [1]. We’ll touch on all four of these sections here but focus on the first part–no judging.

One interesting point at the outset: Notice what Paul calls the doctrinally hardline here? Weak. They’re weak because they don’t understand Christian liberty. All of these things—days, meat, wine—really are not essential one way or another to Christian discipleship, regardless of what the weak Christians believe. But notice what Paul does. He doesn’t try to change anyone’s minds or practice. Siding with either party in this case would add the weight of Paul’s evangelistic authority to mere matters of preference. That would be a victory for legalism and a loss for both sides [2]. Paul also doesn’t take the soft, squishy road and suggest that both sides simply agree to disagree and celebrate diversity. No, he does something much more powerful. He takes the opportunity of a church disagreement to teach the Romans what love really looks like in practice.

First of all, Paul gives the church a lesson against “watchdog Christianity.” By that I mean Christians whose main focus is finding fault with other Christians. Preserving the purity of the gospel is important, but it’s also important not spend time on things God doesn’t seem to spend much time on. Is it possible for a Christian to be wrong on matters of faith and practice and still be saved? I certainly hope so, because if our salvation depends on being correct on every possible point of doctrine, I don’t think any Christian who ever lived would be saved. So if watching is not the focus of discipleship, what should it be? We’ll see later in chapter 14.

We also see that “sameness” is not a Christian ideal [3]. As one writer has noted, “Christians are not clones” [4]. Paul has already explained that the church is made of members with a diversity of talents (Rom. 12:4). At the same time, the church has no place for an “them & us” mentality in which those who follow a more strict code of personal morality look down their noses at the more free—or vice-versa [5]. The same thing could be said, by the way, for the terms being thrown around among our congregations today. In light of Rom. 14, “liberal” and “conservative” are political terms with no place in the church.

Beyond simply co-existing in the church, Christians are called to welcome those with whom we disagree—and not just so we can make them think like we do (Rom. 14:1). In fact, neither the strict or the free, the weak or the strong, are to pass judgment on the other: “Let not him who eats despise him who abstains, and let not him who abstains pass judgment on him who eats; for God has welcomed him” (v. 3). There are some pretty powerful implications for that idea when you think about it.

The essence of the issue is this: Don’t argue about debatable matters. Don’t make distinctions where God hasn’t. Look at verse 4: “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Master is able to make him stand.” Notice that who’s right doesn’t even enter the picture here? The focus is on God, who will make us stand faithful in him whether or not our doctrine is correct on every point.

Of course in trying to put these ideas into practice, an age-old problem arises: what issues are debatable and which essential? Are kitchens in the building an expediency or matter of salvation? What about drinking wine? Worshiping with instruments? Practicing homosexuality? Don’t look at me to answer those for you. The answers are in the Scriptures; that’s one reason it helps to know them.

What about issues that are not debatable? Are there some doctrines where being on the right side of the issue really is necessary? Most of us in the church of Christ are probably familiar with Jude 3, where Christians are called to “contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.” Some brethren try to include everything imaginable within “the faith once for all delivered:” smoking, instruments of worship, one cup or many, etc. But Jude was only talking about two things: “ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4).

Romans describes a few non-negotiables, too. To be Christian, it’s essential we understand that all human beings sin & fall short of glory of God (Rom. 3:23), and that we deserve death for that sin (Rom 6:23). We must repent of our old way of life (Rom. 2:4) to be saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 4:16). We are to be baptized into newness of life (Rom. 6:3), offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God, and be transformed by the renewing of our mind (Rom. 12:1, 2). We are to love one another (Rom. 12:10; 14:15) and boldly proclaim the word of life (Rom. 10:14-17).

Loving one another—that’s an important part of our call as Christians. We aren’t called to call others down, but to live purely ourselves, in the freedom of God’s grace. Through the centuries, legalism in a variety of forms has all too often dominated Christian teaching. As one preacher has said,“This is why many people will not touch the church with a 25-foot pole, even though they are fantastically interested in the gospel” [6].

The lesson on Christian responsibility in Rom. 14 is very clear. We are not responsible to each other, but to God. God gives us liberty. If we think we shouldn’t do something—smoke, eat fatty foods, drink wine, watch R-rated movies—then we are sinning if we do. If we think it’s OK to do all these things. . . well, then things are a little more complicated.

That’s because, in our freedom, our standard of obedience to God is actually higher, not lower, than that put forth by legalistic codes. We are bound, you see, by the standard of love. Look at what Paul says in verses 14-16:

I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for any one who thinks it unclean. If your brother is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. So do not let your good be spoken of as evil.

Sure it’s OK to eat meat. It’s even OK to drink wine. But it might not be a good idea to do either one. Paul sums up this line of thought in verse 21 when he says that “it is right not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother stumble.” That’s because “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (v. 23).

Do you see what Paul has done here? He tells those who understand Christian liberty not to take advantage of that liberty if it causes the weaker brother or sister to stumble; Jesus had already warned that drowning in the ocean would be better than to let that happen (Mk. 9:42). And Paul tells both weak and strong not to argue but to leave judgement to God. That’s the way not to uniformity, but to unity.

In the idea of unity we are coming very close to the underlying theme behind this section of Romans. Paul brings that theme out into the open in Rom. 15:5-7:

May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome one another, therefore, as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”

Harmony among Christians is more than just a way of getting along with each other. It is intimately connected with glorifying the one God who saves every member of his church.

Paul concludes this section with these words: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Rom. 15:13). God’s first concern is not with our behavior, but with our hearts. And what does he want for our hearts? Hope. Joy. Peace. Power.

That’s what the Kingdom of God is really about: “not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). In other words, focusing our attention on rules about food and drink and days is a waste of time. It distracts us from the real heart of our relationship with God and each other. Yes we, like Paul, have to go back to these issues from time to time, especially when we start thinking they’re more important than they really are. But we should stay there only long enough to move into the heart of the discipleship: righteousness, peace, joy.

So what can we take away from this discussion? What do Paul’s ideas look like in practice today? First, we need to remember that some matters really are essential for a healthy Christian discipleship. Most, I think, are not. The fact that we have no equivalent in the New Testament to the book of Leviticus supports this idea. Christians are saved to freedom—not license, but freedom. Our obligation in our daily lives is actually higher than the most stringent, legalistic codes of morality. We are obligated to put love into practice.

When we do put it into practice, that love will do two things. Those of us who think we know the higher standard of Christian behavior—in personal morality, worship, whatever—will back off and let God be the judge of those who disagree. Those of us who understand our freedom in Christ will back off from our insistence on exercising that freedom at the expense of our fellow Christians’ faith. And none of us should be arrogant or look down our noses at the ones on the other side.

“The Kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Righteousness, peace and joy—those are intangible conditions of the heart. How do we find those things? Following the rules on eating and drinking is something we know how to do. But how do we change our hearts?

We don’t. Changing our hearts is God’s job. Jesus Christ himself is our righteousness, our peace, our joy (1 Cor. 1:30). Our job is to seek him—in Scripture, in prayer and meditation, in worship, in service. If we do, we know we’ll find him (Mt. 7:7-8). And when we have Jesus Christ, we have it all.

ENDNOTES
1. Bob Deffinbaugh, “Love and Liberty: Liberties Love Won’t Take (Romans 14:1-23),” online study at www.bible.org.
2. Anders Nygren, Commentary on Romans. Philadelphia (Fortress): 1972, p. 444.
3. Nygren, 443.
4. Morris in Jack Cottrell, Romans, vol. 2. College Press NIV Commentary. Joplin, MO (College Press): 1998, p. 389.
5. Lawrence O. Richards, The Teacher’s Commentary. Wheaton, IL (Victor Books): 1987, p. 836.
6. Ray Stedman, “On Trying to Change Others,” online sermon text at www.pbc.org.

Copyright 2005, A. Milton Stanley

Love = Fulfillment

2005-01-14T18:19:00.000-05:00

Romans 13:8-10
Preached Sunday morning, January 16, 2005
New York Avenue Church of Christ

After laying a foundation of man’s sin and God’s grace, Paul begins Romans chapter 12 with an exhortation to give ourselves to God and let him transform us. In practice this transformation, we saw last time, is manifests itself in not being conceited. Every human being is truly equal before God in one important way. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Acknowledging that equality has certain consequences: we don’t think too highly of ourselves and we treat others well. Chapter 12 closes with exhortations to manifest this communion with our fellow human beings by not seeking revenge. We are supposed to bless our enemies, not curse them. We are only being arrogant when we try to play judge, jury, and executioner. God will take care of judgement.

Chapter 13 begins with a description of one arm of God’s judgement: civil government. Civil authority is “God’s servant for your good” (13:7). Therefore Christians are obligated to follow the directions of government—to obey the law and pay taxes. That’s the first seven verses of chapter 13. Then, in verses 8-10, Paul puts our obligations into a larger context. Christians are to “owe no one anything, except to love one another.” Now, let’s be clear what Paul means here. First, he’s not talking about financial debt. He isn’t talking about ordinary, everyday obligations at all. We know this, because he just got through telling us we have an obligation to obey the government. Paul is essentially cutting through all the particulars here to the rock-bottom obligation that motivates all our lesser obligations. That obligation, apparently a very simple one, is to love one another.

Love is our debt to one another. Is it really that simple? Why this emphasis on love? Another apostle, John, answered that question for us: “We love because [God] first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19). What’s more, God is love (1 Jn. 4:7). In loving one another, then, we have communion with God himself. “Beloved, let’s love one another, for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 Jn. 4:7). To love God, we have to love one another. In loving one another, we really love God (1 Jn. 4:21). Humanity sinned and fell forever away from God. Yet God’s love for us is the greatest there can be. He spared no expense in his efforts to bring all creation back into relationship with him. We can never completely repay that debt to God [1].

It’s good, then, that love is its own fulfillment. As Paul tells us here, “love is the fulfilling of the law.” Jesus said the same thing in slightly different words. When asked to name the most important law, Jesus told us to love God with all we have and love our neighbor as ourselves. “On these two commandments,” Jesus said, “hang all the law and the prophets” (Mt. 22:40). Notice Jesus’ choice of words here—the whole law of Moses and words of the prophets are supported by these two principles of love. Bear in mind that Jesus’ exhortations to love are not additional laws on top of the others. I once met a man who thought they were. He insisted that there were really twelve commandments: the ten in the Old Testament and these two of Jesus. But love is much more than additional commandments—it is the essence of the law, the underlying principle. What does every command of God ever given to man have in common with all the others? Love, for God and for each other.

For Paul, law essentially has to do with keeping sin in check. In a sense, law really is a collection of “Thou shalt nots” [2]. In our lives the law brings wrath (Rom. 4:15) and is powerless to overcome sin (Rom. 8:3). Love is something else. It is the power to obey the law, as well as the positive force behind all of God’s laws, the underlying reason for each particular law.

Focusing on the underlying truth of love, rather than the particular details of laws, is the sign of a mature relationship with God. Immature relationships require a long list of dos and don’ts, but a mature faith goes right to the heart of the matter: love. We can see this kind of relationship on an earthly level in dealing with children. Very small children need a long list of particular instructions to stay out of trouble: Don’t touch the hot stove. Don’t run with scissors. Don’t cross the street alone. As we mature, we learn principles of safety and no longer rely upon long lists of instructions. The same is true with love. It is the underlying force behind not only law, but obedience to law. In that sense love fulfills the law. If all Christians really lived as those who love one another, we would obey all God’s ordinances for us. And how much different the church would be! No dysfunctional families, no divorce. No alcoholism or substance abuse. No dissension and discord. No laziness in telling the good news to our neighbors. If we really put love into practice, the church would do powerful work in bringing souls to Christ, in equiping disciples, in being a shining light in a dark world.

One point of clarification might help here. In Rom. 10:4, we see that Christ is the end of the law for all who believe. So which is it that overcomes the law—Christ or love? The answer is—yes, both. Christ frees us from the necessity of obeying the law of Moses to attain salvation, and he embodies the love that fulfills the law’s requirements. That doesn’t mean we are saved by obeying the law perfectly through love. We are still saved only by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sin. Jesus did obey every jot and tittle of the law. He is the only man who ever lived who did not deserve punishment. Yet he suffered beating, flogging, humiliation, and execution, because he loves us.

Jesus’ death on the cross—beaten, torn, bleeding, suffering—illustrates something very important about love: It’s not always pretty, and it doesn’t always feel good. Being loving is not the same as being nice. These days it’s hard to stress this fact too much. Have you ever had to discipline a child because you loved the boy or girl? Parents who love their children have to punish their children from time to time for their own good. But have you ever known a child who was happy about it at the time? Love is not always comforting or comfortable, at least in the short term. Jesus’ crucifixion was certainly not pretty or nice. And his words and actions weren’t always nice. I doubt Peter enjoyed being called Satan (Mt. 16:23), and you would have had a hard time convincing the moneychangers that Jesus loved them as he was kicking over their tables and chasing them with a whip (Jn. 2:14, 15). But he did.

Frequently, in fact, the most loving action we can take will deeply offend the person we’re trying to help [3]. Sometimes we must speak the truth to those we love, even if it hurts both us and them to do so. How many times has someone tried to justify a terribly bad decision—adultery, debt, you name it—with these words: “Don’t I deserve to be happy?” But if we really love someone, they deserve to hear the truth of God’s Word, even if it makes them unhappy. We sometimes call that “tough love.”

Several years ago Ron, a good friend of mine, taught me something about how Christians can practice tough love. For years he has worked to help alcoholics and addicts come clean. As a recovering alcoholic himself, clean for many years, Ron knows what he’s talking about. One of the best ways to show love to an addict, Ron says, is to let him live with the consequences of his actions. Take for example, an alcoholic who has lost his license for drunk driving. A Christian, in an effort to show “nice” love, might say, “If there’s anything you need, just let me know.” And before long, the Christian has become that man’s personal taxi service. He’s lost his license for drunk driving, but he still gets to go anywhere he wants pretty much whenever he wants. That kind of “nice” love isn’t helping anyone. It’s better to let the man suffer the consequences for his actions—let him walk or ride a bike to the store. Maybe then he’ll face up to what got him there in the first plce and he’ll change his life. It may seem harsh not to help someone. I’m sure the alcoholic in this scenario wouldn’t appreciate being refused a ride. He might even rail at the Christian for such “un-Christian” actions. But in some cases not helping someone—particularly when they need to learn to help themselves—is simply the most loving thing we can do.

Christians are sometimes accused of being unloving when we proclaim the need for repentance from sin. But there is no way to enjoy the joy of God’s eternal kingdom without turning away from the life of sin and reaching out for new life in Jesus Christ. Christians, therefore, have to call sin sin. We have to proclaim the need for the lost to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. It’s the only way anyone can be saved. But do you think most people like to be told they need to change their entire orientation toward life? I don’t think so. But those outside Christ are sleeping in a burning building. They may not see the flames yet or smell the smoke. They may not even feel the heat. But if nobody wakes them and helps them come out of there, they’ll burn to death. And if Christians allow that to happen because we don’t want to offend anyone, then we really don’t have any idea of what love is about.

Christians may have faulty understanding of love for a variety of reasons. Maybe we don’t know the Scriptures well enough [4]. Maybe we know what they say but haven’t meditated enough on what they mean. Perhaps we’re still too conceited to care very much. In any case, we need to allow ourselves to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, and that comes from sacrificing our own comfort and smugness to be changed by God (Rom. 12:1,2). If we’re willing to be changed, we can be sure God will change us—but we shouldn’t expect the process to be very nice.

As Christians, we have to learn not only to give, but to receive love. One of my personal sins is that I want to do everything myself; I’m one of those folks who find it hard to receive help. Many of us do. And practically all of us find it hard to receive correction. We may have no trouble admitting in a general sense that we’re sinners, but when someone brings a particular sin to our attention, we bow up. A friend of mine once asked for advice on some troubles he was having in his life. After he talked a few minutes, I decided his main problem was that he was spending way too much time and energy feeling sorry for himself. At one point, while he was going on with his list of problems, I simply said to him, “Come on, you just need to get over it.” Suddenly he was silent. After a moment, my friend said, “Thank you. I needed to hear that.” Now, it’s possible that my words were spoken as much from impatience as love, but in any case that brother certainly knew how to receive loving help—even when it wasn’t nice or pretty.

So love isn’t always nice. It can be tough. Still, the word “love” is thrown around so loosely these days that it’s easy to think of love as simply soft and sentimental emotion. Many, many people have leaned on the idea that “all you need is love” as an excuse to do anything they want—all kinds of sin—as long as it’s done in the name of some vague conception of love. Here in Rom. 13:8-10, Paul warns against that kind of sloppy thinking. Even while he proclaims the supremacy of love as underlying law, Paul reminds us that the details of God’s law are still important: don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t commit adultery, don’t be greedy [5]. In the book of Romans Paul shows us both sides of the coin. In chapters 1-5 he made it clear that sinners are justified apart from the law. Beginning in chapter 6 he makes it clear that obedience to God is still important [6]. For Paul, love is an outpouring of our new nature, a reflection of our new life in Christ. By allowing our lives to be governed by God’s love, we will be obedient even in matters not specifically covered by the law [7].

Jesus had something similar to say. Even while proclaiming the superiority of Love in our hearts, Jesus makes it clear that our lives must be obedient in the details of our actions as well. In Lk. 11:42, for example, he told the Jewish religious leaders, “woe to you Pharisees! You tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God; these things you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” Let’s be clear. Our salvation doesn’t depend on getting every detail of our lives correct. Salvation comes to us by faith, through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. We don’t earn our new life; it’s given to us by God. But once we are new creations, God wants us to live that new life obediently.

God doesn’t want for his people to be hounded by a long list of commands [8]. He wants us to be guided in all things by love. But let’s not misunderstand. If we’re not following the particulars of Christian behavior—if we’re greedy, gossiping, slandering others, haughty, or ruthless, for example (Rom. 1:29-31)—then we’re not really being loving [9]. Love in our heart manifests itself in obedient action.

The reverse is not always true. External obedience to God’s instructions is not necessarily a sign of love [10]. There are a thousand reasons to behave ourselves that have nothing to do with love—fear; a desire to be popular, respected, to fit in, etc. But God wants more than just obedience in our actions. He wants us to have not only changed behavior, but changed hearts. He has given us new life and wants us to live like the new creations we are (Rom. 6:1-4).

In the sense that God wants to change our hearts, the Bible is not an “instruction manual.” God’s Word is not primarily intended to be a set of procedures or instructions, like a cookbook. No, it’s much more than that— not an instruction manual, but a Word of transformation.

Most of my adult life I’ve thought of Christian discipleship as two main things: knowing the facts of the Bible and behaving myself. Now I’m trying something different. I’m trying to learn what it means to be transformed, to be a new creation. I’m praying to do more than simply follow the instructions. I want to commune with God in a relationship of love, deep down in my heart. In everything I preach and teach I’m inviting you to build a loving relationship with Christ, too. And I pray that you’ll help me, that we’ll help each other, to press on toward that goal.

I’ve got a feeling there’s more to this love business than any of us can imagine. I commit my life to following wherever it leads me. Will you the same? Do we dare?

ENDNOTES

1. Jack Cottrell, Romans, vol. 2. College Press Commentary. Joplin, MO (College Press): 1998, p. 371.
2. Anders Nygren, Commentary on Romans. Philadelphia (Fortress): 1972, p. 434.
3. David Lipscomb & J. W. Shepherd, Commentary on Romans, 2nd ed. Nashville (Gospel Advocate): 1940, p. 238.
4. John Piper, "Loving One Another Fulfills the Law," online sermon text at www.desiringgod.org.
5. Ibid.
6. Cottrell, 2:370.
7. Raymond T. Stamm, Exegesis of Galatians. Interpreter's Bible, vol. 10. Nashville (Abingdon): 1953, p. 557.
8. Piper.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.

Copyright 2005, A. Milton Stanley