The Church and Chariots

1 Corinthians 5:1 It is actually reported that sexual immorality exists among you, the kind of immorality that is not permitted even among the Gentiles, so that someone is cohabiting with his father’s wife. 5:2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you have been deeply sorrowful instead and removed the one who did this from among you? 5:3 For even though I am absent physically, I am present in spirit. And I have already judged the one who did this, just as though I were present. 5:4 When you gather together in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, along with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5:5 turn this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. (NET)

Later in this chapter, the Apostle Paul lists several sins that would result in this level of judgment: For those claiming to be Christians, being sexually immoral, greedy, idolaters, verbally abusive, a drunkard, or swindler fits in this category (vs. 9-13).

What I had never noticed until now, is that this Corinthian church struggled with a host of sins:

• Divisions over personalities (Paul, Peter, Apollos, Christ)
• They were suing each other before the courts of unbelievers
• Some were getting drunk at church meetings
• Some did not believe in the resurrection
• Visiting prostitutes
• Partaking of "the table of demons”
  

Yet Paul doesn’t suggest that for any of these sins, was a person to receive excommunication or be "delivered over to Satan..." Rather, he reserves this judgment for someone who is sinning worse than the unbelievers!

This should cause a problem in the minds of those of us who are “black and white” in our thinking. (Some of us believe there are two sides to every story, “right and wrong”). Rather, Paul here acknowledges that some sins are different and more damaging and in need of stronger, more intense response than others.

It looks to me like this. Have you ever seen Ben Hur? There is a great chariot race in this movie. Four horses abreast pulling a chariot around a huge oval. There are 10 or so of these chariots in the race. These horses have to pull together. They have to be fast, coordinated, and cooperative. It is the team that does all these things the best that wins. If one or more of the horses is out of step or pulling slightly in a different direction, they will be significantly impaired in the process, but they will still get around the track.

But what might happen to this same chariot if one horse was attached facing the other direction and was pulling them backwards? You can imagine the difficulty.

So there appears to be a level of sinning that is tolerable, just because it is part of the human condition to be growing in grace and holiness. As long as the church is still going in the right direction and making progress, Paul doesn’t proclaim a need for separation of members.

Only when the sin is at the level of threatening to pull the whole organism in the wrong direction does he resort to this type of judgment.

Balance

"Obedience without passion is Phariseeism. Passion without obedience is sentimentalism." Anonymous

Great Faith

C. H. Spurgeon

"Little faith will get your soul to heaven. Great faith will bring heaven to your soul."

Praise for God's Glory

Father, we praise you today for your unrelenting pursuit of us.

We praise you for your unembarrassed love for us.

We praise you for your unconditional acceptance of us.

We praise you for your incomprehensible mercy toward us.

We praise you for your unmitigated understanding of us.

You know us better than we know ourselves, yet you pursue, love, accept, show mercy, and understand us.

As we remember these elements of your glory; as we behold, with unveiled faces, as in a mirror, Your glory, we are being transformed into that same image from one glory to the next, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

So that, as we praise you, we become more like you, multiplying the praise that transforms the lives of others, that in turn multiplies your glory even more.

In this way, may the whole earth be full of your glory!

In the Good name of Jesus Christ, your Son,

Amen.

Paul and the Matrushka

1 Corinthians 3:21 So then, no more boasting about mere mortals! For everything belongs to you, 3:22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. Everything belongs to you, 3:23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

This passage has always left me hanging. Like many of Paul’s instructions, this is hard for me to understand. I wonder, what does ‘all things belong to us, us to Christ, and Christ to God” have to do with boasting about mere mortals? What is the connection?

It would seem that understanding this one truth should prevent us from engaging in this one error.

Example: Don’t drink Clorox, because it will erode your insides and eventually kill you. Be kind to others because Christ is kind to you. Forgive others because you are forgiven. Don’t drink too much because you will become an alcoholic…you get the picture.

But don’t boast in men, because we all belong to God? It’s hard for me.

He says, no more boasting about mere mortals. What kind of boasting were they doing? What did it sound like?

“I belong to Paul!” “I belong to Apollos!”, etc. Maybe what they were doing was claiming ownership of certain of God’s blessings (in this case teachers and leaders) and disclaiming others.

Maybe they were saying: "Only certain of God’s possessions are my possessions." And that is an impossibility. If everything eventually belongs to Christ and Christ belongs to God, none can be “disowned” by us.

It is like having a favorite child. Having a favorite child is like saying "this one is more mine than that one." It’s not only unhealthy for relationships; it’s a flat out lie. All your children are your children, no matter what attitude you adopt.

Think of a Matrushka Doll. Like the one pictured above. Imagine that God is the big one, Christ is the next one, you are the third one, and the others represent "all things". When they are all placed inside one another, it makes a unified, whole, object. All things belong inside you, you belong inside Christ, Christ belongs inside God. Nice.

But if you decide that one of the "all things" is not yours and attempt to leave it out, the picture isn't quite so nice. You've created an unhealthy, negative, even impossible set of relationships.

The notion that you can own part of what God gives and not all of it is a conceit and boasting. It is a way of claiming a status higher than God Himself.

The notion that you can own part of what God gives and not all of it is a fantasy. It's all in your mind!

A prayer of praise

Psalm

86:8 None can compare to you among the gods, O Lord!

Your exploits are incomparable!

86:9 All the nations, whom you created,

will come and worship you, O Lord.

They will honor your name.

86:10 For you are great and do amazing things.

You alone are God.

Father, if we placed all the gods or objects of worship along side you, you out shine, out perform, and overwhelm the competition! Idols have eyes but can’t see, ears but can’t hear, mouths but can’t speak. You, on the other hand, not only see, but see perfectly. You not only hear, but hear everything. You not only speak, but speak truth.

What you have done and will do are without rival. You create life from lifelessness. Light from darkness. You make good come from evil.

There is no people group, (kingdom, country, dictatorship) that will not fall down before you in worship at some time in the future.

There is no system of thought (atheism, agnosticism, pantheism, polytheism,) or philosophy, that will not fall down before you and acknowledge that You alone are God.

Willingly or unwillingly, all will ultimately admit to your person and work as wholly different and exalted.

For you do great and amazing things! You make grace amazing. You make mercy amazing. You make love amazing. You make forgiveness amazing.

You have reached down; you have stooped low, to lift up unworthy sinners such as us. Yours is an amazing grace!

You alone are God!

These things I pray in the Name of your Dear Son, the Son of your amazing grace, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

"Pride and Prejudice"

Numbers 11

²⁶But two men had remained in the camp; the name of one was Eldad and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them (now they were among those who had been registered, but had not gone out to the tent), and they prophesied in the camp.
²⁷So a young man ran and told Moses and said, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp."
²⁸Then Joshua the son of Nun, the attendant of Moses from his youth, said, "Moses, my lord, restrain them."
²⁹But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD'S people were prophets, that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!"

The beauty of humility is once again manifest in the man, Moses. His attitude toward God, others, and himself was the most self-effacing attitude of anyone on the planet. Even though God had spoken to him and through him on many occasions and he had been the instrument of multiple miracles and other mighty works, Moses kept a clear eye on who he was and who God was. He never place himself above the status of a servant.

There is no room for pride and jealousy in God’s economy! It is God who does the work and we are His instruments. So why would we be offended at the gifts and ministries of others whom God is using to accomplish His purposes? And it is His purposes, not ours, that matter.

I am sometimes defensive when I see others who might be as gifted or more gifted than I am. I have always compared myself with others and usually unfavorably. When I hear of someone who is a “great teacher”, I wonder, ‘Is he better than me?’ When I hear of someone who is very funny, charming, kind, physically fit,…I wonder, ‘More than me?’

Why? Because I still believe, though I’ve been in Christ and studying His word for more than 25 years, that my worth is based on my abilities. And I also believe that someone who is better looking, smarter, funnier, more devoted to his family, (name it) is more loved by God and others and more valuable than I am.

Why not rejoice? Why not be excited to see others being used by God? Why not enjoy God's grace and beauty being expressed in others?

God does!