The Ancient Future Church

1 Corinthians 14:20-33a, 39-40

“Falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.”

Paul takes for granted that certain things will happen when outsiders and unbelievers enter an assembly of believers (what we often call church) who are prophesying or boldly speaking God’s truth. While speaking in tongues would be confusing to that person, clear proclamation will lead that outsider to conviction and accountability. So great is the power of the Word that men will fall to their knees and worship and declare they have encountered God among His people.

Why is it then such a temptation to us to soft pedal what it is that we believe? The trend is to remove all things difficult and potentially offensive including the cross. We sing positive lyrics to upbeat tunes in a pep rally environment. We come close to bait and switch saying Sunday is for visitors and Wednesday night is “real” church. We insiders know this secret (gnostic) info.

Have we no confidence in what we preach that it will actually produce conviction, mutual submission and worship/lying prostrate before the Lord God Almighty?

Two things are potentially at work in succumbing to this temptation and they aren’t unrelated.

First, we keep trying to build churches rather than make disciples. Building churches uses marketing and marketing is positive, always positive like Disney World and Chick-fil-A employees. Making disciples uses Truth which is sometimes comforting and sometimes challenging and sometimes both at the same time.

Second, in our sometimes neurotic insecurity we want and need the masses to affirm what we believe. Many years ago an Episcopal bishop named Spong admitted that he changed (revised) the Christian narrative in an effort to make it believable/credible to his daughter. We are uncomfortable with being out of the mainstream and certainly don’t want to be perceived as on the fringes or extreme. Add to this that the media suggests what we believe is the cause/root of much evil in the world. Clearly we’d rather not go it alone in that.

I, for one, believe a smaller more convicted Body of believers will lead to greater strength and influence (salt, light, leaven). And small may be better. I recall something about a mustard seed. Finally, you cannot change the world with opinions. God is expecting us to believe and believe boldly!

So answer me these things. Am I right about the trend? Am I right about the cause? Please, somebody weigh in!

Mark 9:30-41

“They were silent; for on the way they had discussed with one another who was the greatest.”

It is embarrassing isn’t to be caught thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought. And it should be. For in the great reversal of fortune that Jesus represents the last shall be first. Such thinking reduces all of our talk of greatness to just blathering.

Now the vast majority of us don’t go around exalting ourselves at every turn though most of us have probably experienced someone who does. No, most of us say it in more subtle ways, even in the way we order our lives.

Once, while in seminary, I was late to a committee meeting of some sort. When I arrived I made the appropriate apology and added “I didn’t mean to hold things up.” A woman retorted snidely that I should not be so narcissistic. The meeting was not delayed because of me. Ouch. Granted she was a whacked out leftist with whom I was at odds about almost everything theologically speaking. She took great pleasure in drawing blood from me especially in front of others. There was likely sin in her motives. But there was enough truth in what she said to suggest some needed introspection on my part. Thinking one is important doesn’t need to be grandiose in presentation.

All this is to say there is greatness in the Kingdom but it comes from service. And that service embraces those on the margins especially the children of first century Palestine. It is difficult for us in the United States to have any appreciation for the lack of regard for children in that day. We’ve moved in our day from gratitude for a roof over our head to entitlement, the right of each child to have a bedroom suite complete with cable and a flat screen TV. Regardless, we are meant to embrace those who have no chance of greatness and little chance of not being overlooked routinely.

So as Good Friday and the commemoration of the ultimate act of service draws near, we must be asking ourselves where are we embracing folks on the margin. For me, the process begins with remembering I have been caught thinking more highly of myself than I ought.

Congratulations to Judson Mallory and Jordan Erwin!!!

March 24, 2012, 5:00 pm, Newnan, Georgia

1 Corinthians 12:27-13:3

“And I will show you a still more excellent way.”

Gifts are usually pleasant. Often they are coveted. As much as I say I don’t want one or need another, I never turn a gift down.

Gifts, however, among Corinthian Christians were a problem. In particular, speaking in tongues was pitting one believer against another. People with that gift thought of themselves more highly than they ought. All others were flying coach while they enjoyed first class.

Paul has to remind the church that gifts come from God and at His discretion. They cannot be possessed or manipulated. He also reminds the people of Corinth that gifts are given for the common good. If they do not build up everyone then they benefit no one.

Then Paul’s argument reaches a new height with a rhetorical flourish. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angles, but have not love, I am noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” Faith, hope and love comprise the higher way and love towers even over the others. Without love, my gift is at best senseless sound and more likely incredibly annoying, even irritating to the ear.

This afternoon I will conduct a wedding rehearsal. Among the lessons for the service is a standard bearer, 1 Corinthians 13. This is so appropriate because surely we know about marriage what Paul teaches us about relating generally. Apart from love that seeks out and draws out the best in the other, there is 24/7 just a lot of grating noise. And all the gifts in the world, however sweet smelling or sweet tasting or spiritual spectacular, will not change that.

Mark 8:27-9:1

“Get behind me, Satan!”

I wonder how long those words haunted Peter. It is painful to hear you are on the wrong side of an argument especially with such a stinging rebuke.

Peter was classically trained. Might means right. This suffering, rejection and dying notion was novel to him. He could not imagine how the two could be reconciled. Since victory was the only option for the Messiah, particularly his Messiah, what seemed like defeat was not an option at all. Understood! After all, as already said, Peter was classically trained.

However, Jesus teaches us something radically at odds with conventional wisdom and classical training. Real power is exercised through sacrifice, through a willingness to suffer for the welfare of others. Might may subdue people for a season but grace/love communicated through sacrifice has the power to transform and transform eternally.

Let me trot out my well-worn example. Civil rights legislation, as just as it is to treat people equally and necessary as the legislation is among broken people, does NOT change people. It can be enforced under threat of great pain including incarceration and fines. It will not, however, make anyone appreciate the equality of another person. Only a transformed heart can do that. Only realizing that Jesus died for all equally regardless of color, gender or class will help me with that.

Mark 8:11-26

“And they discussed it with one another, saying, “We have no bread.””

Jesus is concerned about the leaven of Pharisees and Herod. Their character has the ability to increase hypocrisy and immorality among the people of God, even followers of Jesus. In response, the disciples concluded he, Jesus, is talking about bread as in that made by Wonder or Colonial or Nature’s Own.

First, a note of gratitude is in order. Thank you Jesus for working with such inept men! Reading Mark and observing such patience in you leads me to believe there may be room for me.

Second, why do they not get it? The Pharisees have just tried to trip him up yet again. One Herod has slaughtered the innocent. Another Herod has beheaded John to satisfy a meaningless oath. Pretty bad company, huh? Rather self-evident.

They are blind to things spiritual. Not only is multiplying bread and fish significant. So is the number of basketfuls of leftovers collected at the end of each miracle.

Is the blind man an object lesson? We gain sight in stages? We don’t see all at once!

Are we any more or less blind? I think not. We often overlook where God is at work. Perhaps not the sole source of challenges we face but certainly he is the only one who can turn challenges into greater dependence on God and more obedient Christ following.

What if He orchestrated the presence of every person you encountered yesterday? Can you recall their names? Even bothered to ponder what He was teaching you through the interaction?

In our hyper-rationalism we have concluded that God showing up or acting is not the norm but the exception to the rule. And yet Jesus said my Father is at work to this day (John 5:17). And likewise having been satisfied with the benefits of this world we are choked by its cares and preoccupations. We are numbed to activity from or in another realm.

Consequently we are no different than the first disciples. Often clueless beyond comprehension and yet loved beyond imagination.

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

“So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.”

The whole is more important than the parts. Discern the Body Paul says. Discern the Body.

There is a place for the church above its members. It is not the place to live out what our culture teaches us, every man for himself. Paul is deeply disturbed by the individual conduct which does not appreciate the whole. People begin to eat and drink the bread and wine before everyone has arrived. Consequently the early arrivers are full and drunk. The latecomers are both hungry and thirsty. Those without are humiliated. No one cared for them properly.

By their actions, the early arrivers are heaping judgment upon themselves. They profane the meal, the Lord’s Supper, by consuming it in a way that violates the Body. Should they be commended? Emphatically, Paul says “no.”

Imagine church, the public gathering or assembly, so small or at least so intimate, that we are aware when anyone is missing. Years ago I read that the Church at Corinth was likely 150 people or 3 house churches of 50. Now if 50 or even 150 people gather weekly, the members will know when someone is absent. Concern would be immediate and known to all. Care would not be farmed out to a privileged or professional class. It would be felt and administered by all. This is church as intended. It is bar by which all church life should be measured.

1 Corinthians 10:14-11:1

“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”

Bold isn’t it? “Be imitators of ME,” Paul says. Is he a legend in his own mind? No. Paul is keenly aware of his frailties. He doesn’t do the good he wants. He does the evil he’d rather not. Wretched man!

And yet he lives a life worth imitating. In what way? He does not “seek his own good.” I seek not “my own advantage. “

You really cannot escape this line of reasoning in Paul. The other is more important than the self. Paul is a great defender of truth. But he is willing to set aside any and all personal preference if the preference hinders him in reaching people where they are.

Eat food sacrificed to idols when it does not matter. Don’t eat food sacrificed to idols when it does matter. What matters is knowing Jesus in your heart, not food placed in your mouth. Kosher versus not Kosher? Who cares? What about religious traditions and teachings of men? Fine, but let them not be a line in the sand.

My sense is such barriers (manifest as denominational loyalty?) are being deconstructed. More and more pastors and lay folks alike are abandoning any interest in advancing what makes their brand distinctive in favor of seeing Jesus advanced in a person’s life. This Paul would affirm with zeal. If only we could live it without reservation.

1 Corinthians 9:16-27

“I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”

Essentially Paul is saying I am a Jew to the Jew and a Gentile to the Gentiles. For the weak I will become weak. Paul is willing to meet people where they are. He has been given a mission and cultural boundaries will not stand in the way. Conventional wisdom will not hinder the proclamation of life altering history changing Good News.

So Paul is willing to be white, black, Latino, Asian, whatever it takes. He is willing to be rich and just as willing to be poor. He is willing to American and likewise willing to be Iranian. Those categories will not deter him in his efforts to save some.

But before Paul is willing to meet us where we are, he must sacrifice something himself, his own need for identity apart from his part in God’s plan of salvation. “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more.” Hear it? Others are more important than Paul. The Other is more important than self. He is submitted fully to the cause.

Vivid is the image of a bishop strolling into a crusade filled with the world’s poorest. He was in a thousand dollar suit and polished $250 shoes. Now there is nothing wrong with either of those but this man so needed to make his identity known to that gathering that it made him oblivious to who was assembled, to the plight of the third world.

Paul, by example, is leading us elsewhere. An endeavor to save some, just some, makes all other things meaningless by comparison. First he wanted us to increase our margins. Now he wants us to sacrifice self. All this that we might cease our flight and move toward people equally created in the image of God.

Mark 6:30-46

“He saw a great throng, and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”

Note the contrast between Jesus and his disciples. Jesus is increasingly bearing the burdens of those around him. The disciples on the other hand are saying to Jesus, “Send the masses away. This is the wrong hour of the day, supper time, to be responsible for them.

Too often we say “Am I my brother’s keeper?” We want less not more responsibility for others. We find our calendar quite full without opening ourselves up to bearing others burdens whatever they are, emotional, spiritual and physical.

Jesus would have us say and do otherwise. He is moving toward people and their plight, not away from them. This is the image into which we are being transformed.

What would be required of most of us? We would necessarily increase the margins of our lives. Presently many of us arrive everywhere we go with only a minute to spare. We are margin-less. Outlook or Google Calendar won’t allow our lunch to go long even if our business partner or friend tells us he has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

It is nearly impossible to influence others without personal contact. It is certainly impossible to disciple without it. Programs don’t disciple people. People do. But here is where the culture presses in upon the church. Being with people is inefficient. Or in an effort to be efficient we meet with everyone once a quarter for fifteen minutes. We have just long enough to ask “How are you?” without any intention of enduring the response. So we don’t do relate or we do it in such a way as to make it a program and not real heartfelt interaction.

The church has to do better and resist a culture that wants it to be successful like a business. We must find the freedom of space to move toward people regardless of the time of day.