The Waking Dreamer: Body of Christ

Showing posts with label Body of Christ. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 01, 2026

A Gift for Kindness

Romans 12:1-8[1]

We human beings are complicated creatures. Of course that’s true physically, but that’s not what I’m talking about. We’re “complicated” in that we all have what may be called “character assets” and “character flaws.” In part, that’s due to the wide variety of life experiences we’ve had. Some have been wonderful beyond all imagining. Others may have surpassed our worst nightmares. All of it, both “good” and “not so good” has shaped us into the person we are today. Hopefully we can appreciate the person we are today and the way our experiences have shaped us. If we’re really lucky, we have people in our lives who know something of our life experiences, both the “good” and the “not so good,” and express their appreciation for the person we are today.

To some extent, I think you could say that we are all complicated “by design.” The Bible teaches that we are created “in the image of God” (Gen 1:26). Through the ages there have been different ideas about what that means. I would say that being created “in the image of God” refers to our capacity to relate to others with the kind of love that defines God’s very being. We all have a capacity for goodness. Whether we follow that instinct or not is the question! But if we keep reading the book of Genesis, we find that the story also points to the idea that we are all “fallen” creatures. Some people would say that means we’re all equally capable of the worst evil anyone has ever committed. I think that’s a bit harsh, with all due respect to John Calvin. I would say being “fallen” means that we all fall short of being the best version of ourselves at times.

It’s hard to admit that, even and especially to ourselves. We all fall short. We can talk about it as a point of Bible teaching easily enough. But that’s not what I’m talking about when I say it’s hard to “admit.” I mean really acknowledging that “I” fall short. All the time. And that’s true for all of us. We get so used to thinking that our own inner dialogue is “normal” and “true” that we have a hard time stepping outside the stories we tell ourselves. And that can make it hard for us to take a good look at how we’re actually treating people. When we do, we likely find that there’s room for improvement. At least that’s what I find when I’m able to get free enough from my own “self” to see myself and what I’m doing more clearly.

I think this is part of what St. Paul was getting at in our lesson from the book of Romans for today. He tells us that when we grasp the depth of God’s love and the extent of God’s grace, we will respond in humble and joyful worship—with everything we are and all that we do![2] Paul describes what it means to worship God with all of life by saying, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” (Rom. 12:2). I would say it’s fairly easy to recognize that the way things work in this world is broken somehow. But I think it’s much more difficult to recognize how we may not only be taking part in that brokenness. We also may be positively contributing to the broken way things work in this world! That can take more humility than we can muster up sometimes.

One of the not-so-easy-to-swallow truths of the Bible is that when we have a genuine encounter with God, it will lead us to the humble recognition that we share all the same problems that we see in everyone around us. I think that may be another way to talk about what it means to be “fallen” without making guilt the sole driving force in our religion. It’s the simple but never easy willingness to admit that I can fall into the same behaviors that other people do. And when we humbly recognize that, hopefully we can learn to be more patient, more gracious, more forgiving when the people in our lives fall short of their best selves. Just like we do.

But I think another side of this question has to do with the “gifts” that Paul talks about. He directs this toward the idea that we all have roles to play in the “body of Christ.” He says we’re given “gifts” by the Spirit to build up the church as the “body of Christ.” But I’d like to call attention to the fact that we have all been “gifted” by God in another way. I think this relates to our creation in the “image” of God as much as it relates to what God is doing through our gifts to build up the church. I think we can also speak about being created in the “image” of God as a kind of giftedness that we all share, not only with the family of faith, but also with the whole human family. I think we can say because we’re all created in the “image” of God then we’re all “gifted” in that way. I would venture to say that means there’s goodness in everyone you meet. Yes, sometimes that goodness is buried under layers of shame and fear and anger. Sometimes it may have been all but obliterated. But I would say that we are all “gifted” with God’s “image.” That means that, as well as having specific abilities for helping others, we’re all “gifted” with a certain innate goodness that comes from God.

When you look at people from that perspective, it changes the way you relate to them. When we can recognize and honor the goodness in others as well as the “giftedness” they offer us, we’re recognizing and honoring the fact that we all belong to one another in the “body of Christ” (Rom. 12:5). Again, while St. Paul was primarily talking about the church, I think there’s something to be said for applying to the whole human family this idea that we all belong to one another in the “body of Christ.” As beloved children of the one creator God, there is much to point us to the conclusion that we all belong to one another. When that’s the way we see the people around us, I think it becomes difficult not to be able to see the goodness in them. When we can see that goodness, it’s almost unavoidable that we will treat them with kindness and compassion.

This mindset changes the way we live, and in the process, it can change us. It reminds me again of St. Paul talking about letting “God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” I think this is a very practical way in which we can follow that instruction. Changing the way we think leads to a change in the way we act. Paul says that when we let ourselves be transformed into a new person, we’ll be able to discern God’s will for our life. What could be more consistent with the will of God than relating to everyone we meet in a way that expresses a “gift for kindness.” When we look at everyone we encounter as a beloved sister or brother, and recognize that all the goodness God has instilled in us is also present in them, we’re much more likely to find the “gift for kindness,” both in them and in ourselves.

[2] I like the way Gene Peterson translates Romans 12:1 in The Message translation: “So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.” On this idea that all of life is to be our “worship” of God, cf. Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans, 431, where he says, “The problem of ‘ethics’ is … identical with the problem of ‘dogmatics’: Soli Deo Gloria!”

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

One Whole Body

1 Corinthians 12:4-14, 24[1]

Today is the day that we celebrate the birth of the church. All those centuries ago, on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God swept through the group of Jesus’ disciples, empowering them to become bold witnesses for Christ. And the book of Acts tells the story of how they went out in the power of the Spirit to do unimaginable things in the name of the Lord Jesus. As they proclaimed the good news of Jesus Christ to any and all who would listen, thousands responded. And what began in a backwater corner of the Roman Empire became a thriving movement. The power of the Spirit working through the church of that day would eventually change their whole world, including the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

When we look at our churches today, it may seem like a stretch to think that the same Spirit is still working in and through us. Churches that were filled with people 50 years ago are now partly, or mostly, or in some cases completely empty.[2] When you look around, you might be forgiven for wondering whether the Spirit who we say we believe empowers us “to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace” has passed us by.[3] Although the Church is thriving in other places around the world, in this country it’s a very difficult time to be the church!

While there are a lot of people saying a lot of things in about what churches “need” to do to thrive, I would say the place to start is with our own hearts. I’ve said before it is my firm conviction that only as we carry out our work in the power the Spirit supplies can we hope to achieve any lasting results. That applies to this and every other church. It’s one of the foundational themes of the NT. Everything we do in our Christian lives is the result of what the Spirit of God is doing. Everything we do, from praying, to worshipping, to planting seeds of faith, to growing in service to God, to living lives of kindness and respect, to sharing the love of God, will thrive or not thrive to the extent that we rely on the Spirit of God.[4]

That’s why we have to start with our own hearts. It’s not going to be enough for us to work hard for the sake of the church. That still presupposes that whether or not this church thrives is in our hands. But as St. Paul once confessed, “In ourselves we are not able to claim anything for ourselves. The power to do what we do comes from God” (2 Cor 3:5, NIrV). If that was true for Paul, how much more is it true for us. We start by recognizing that none of us can “make” this church thrive by our own efforts. We must look to God diligently, consistently, faithfully, and sincerely to pour out the Spirit in and through us if we hope that what we do will have any lasting results.

In our Scripture lesson from 1 Corinthians, St. Paul says it this way: “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us” (1 Cor 12:4-6). Jesus promised, “I will build my church” (Mt 16:18), and the way he’s been doing that is through the presence and power of the Spirit working in the church. I believe we can trust that Jesus will keep his promise. I believe we can trust that the Spirit will continue working in and through us all. And I believe God will continue to supply us with what we need to carry out the ministry of the kingdom in this community.

With that in mind, we might wonder what we can do. Well, first and foremost, we can pray. Let me be clear about this: we don’t pray because it’s some kind of “magic wand” that will “miraculously” turn things around. We pray because that’s how we open our hearts to the work of God’s Spirit and align our lives with God’s kingdom. I invite you to join me in praying that God will pour out his Spirit and empower us to carry out his work in this community. I’ve been doing that since I came here. And one of the times I pray that prayer is on Sunday morning during worship. All I do is ask God to pour out his Spirit to help us thrive and to bring us the people we need to help us. Please join me in that prayer!

But St. Paul also knew that there was another dimension to a thriving church. He said it this way: “A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other” (1 Cor 12:7, NLT). Many of us probably don’t agree with that statement. We think that if anyone has a “spiritual gift” that can benefit the church, it must be someone else. But St. Paul makes it clear in this passage that he believes that the Spirit of God works through every part of the body of Christ. That means that there’s no one who’s contribution is “dispensable.” For this or any other church to thrive, it takes every one doing what God enables us to do. We can’t sit back and expect someone else to do it for us. It’s going to take all of us working together as one whole body of Christ if we want to thrive as a church.

Whether we see this time in which we’re all working so hard to live faithfully as the body of Christ as a crisis or an opportunity depends on our point of view. We can lament that our churches are nowhere near as full as they were ten or twenty or thirty years ago. And if we take that approach, we will likely continue to watch the church decline. Or we can take the opportunity to step up. Each and every one of us. I believe that if Christians in this culture truly opened their hearts to God’s Spirit and truly aligned their lives with God’s kingdom, it would revolutionize the church. It would revolutionize our world! I believe that if Christians in this culture would embrace the promise that the Spirit has given each and every one of us gifts to help the church thrive, we couldn’t contain all the people in our buildings. If that’s what we want to see, it’s going to take all of us working together as one whole body of Christ.

I realize that all this may sound too simple to make much of a difference. But in my experience, a simple shift in mindset is one of the most powerful ways to effect change. That’s what I’m asking you to do today. I’m asking you to shift your mindset and trust in the power of God to build up this church. We don’t have the power in ourselves to do what needs to be done for this church to thrive. Only God can do that. But God has always accomplished his work in through people like you and me. And that means we’re all called to step up. If we keep doing what we’ve always done, we’ll keep getting the same results. I’m asking you to step up in a new way. Pray for the people of this church. Reach out to ask someone you know how they’re doing. When the people of God open their hearts to the Spirit of God in prayer and turn to God by aligning their lives with the kingdom, great changes can happen. And not just in this community, but throughout the whole body of Christ. Let’s join together as one whole body of Christ to do unimaginable things in our time through the Spirit of God!

[2] Yonat Shimron, “Study: More Churches Closing than Opening,” Religion News Service 21 May 2021, accessed at: https://religionnews.com/2021/05/26/study-more-churches-closing-than-opening/. The report suggests that in 2019 about 4500 protestant churches closed, while only 3000 were started. This compares with 2014, when there were 3700 closures, but 4000 openings. For reference, there are about 320,000 to 350,000 protestant churches in the US.

[3] The Book of Confessions 2016, “A Brief Statement of Faith,” 11.4, p. 312.

[4] Cf. Henri J. M. Nouwen, A Cry for Mercy, 109: “The Holy Spirit, whom Jesus promised to his followers, is the great gift of God. Without the Spirit of Jesus we can do nothing, but in and through his Spirit we can live free, joyful, and courageous lives. We cannot pray, but the Spirit of Christ can pray in us. We cannot crete peace and joy, but the Spirit of Christ can fill us with a peace and joy that is not of this world. We cannot break through the many barriers that divide races, sexes, and nations, but the Spirit of Christ unites all people in the all-embracing love of God. The Spirit of Christ burns away our many fears and anxieties and sets us free to move wherever we are sent. This is the great liberation of Pentecost.”

Sunday, January 22, 2023

Building Together

1 Corinthians 3:1-11[1]

Anyone who has ever taken on a home renovation project knows that it’s rarely a job for one person alone. Most of us simply don’t have the skills to do everything that needs to be done once you started pulling up the linoleum and tearing down the sheetrock. There’s always something underneath the surface of things that winds up taking three times longer than you thought you’d need for the whole project! For me it was trying to turn a “Texas Lanai” into an indoor room. For those of you who don’t know what a “Lanai” is, it’s a kind of enclosed sunroom that actually sits on the ground. It was only after we had started the demolition that we discovered the concrete slab underneath was sloped toward the middle, like a drain. What a headache!

I think that we’re always involved in some form of “renovation” in the church.[2] The way things keep changing in society makes it a challenge just to keep up, let alone try to grow. These days it can feel like everything we do is vital to the survival of our church. That’s a lot of stress for anyone to take on. It’s a good thing that we in the Reformed tradition believe that ministry is something we all share together. I shudder to think what would happen if everything we did as a church was my responsibility. But even more importantly, it’s not even our responsibility together. Because, at the end of the day, building this or any other church isn’t something we do at all, it’s God’s work. We are all called to be partners in that work, but any growth that may come will be the result of what God is doing in and through us.

I think Paul was addressing shared ministry in our lesson from 1 Corinthians for today. As I mentioned last week, the Apostle Paul had founded the church at Corinth. After he had moved on, other teachers came and some of them were helpful, while others were not. A teacher named Apollos was one of the helpful ones. There were others who apparently thought they had more authority than Paul because they claimed to come from Cephas, or Peter. As a result, people in the church became confused about how they were supposed to live their lives together in Christian community. They were divided by their loyalties to different teachers, and the factions troubling the congregation. They seemed to be arguing among themselves about who was following Christ best!

But Paul redirected the conflict. He embraced Apollos as a partner in ministry, although we don’t know whether they ever actually met in person. But Apollos worked with Priscilla and Aquila, who had worked with Paul. For that reason Paul could embrace the ministry of Apollos among the Corinthians as a fellow-worker. And so he could say to them, “After all, what is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants who helped you to believe” (1 Cor 3:5, CEB). They were both equally serving the church by carrying out the role that had been “given to them by the Lord.” By embracing Apollos as a partner in ministry, Paul was modelling the kind of shared ministry he encouraged them to practice among themselves.

But Paul made it clear that the real basis for growth—any growth—in the church is the work of God. That’s why Paul could say that “I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow” (1 Cor 3:6 CEB). He was careful not to take any credit for the work that God had been doing through him and Apollos in the church at Corinth. He says, “neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but the only one who is anything is God who makes it grow” (1 Cor 3:7 CEB). It comes as no surprise then, when Paul addresses this issue later in 1 Corinthians, that he emphasizes that what matters is working “for the common good” of the body of Christ, the church (1 Cor 12:7). One facet of “shared ministry” is that we work together for the good of the Body of Christ.

Paul also emphasizes in that section of 1 Corinthians that the only way that will happen in any congregation is if everyone is working together. And so Paul teaches the people in Corinth that each member of the church has a “gift of the Spirit” with which to serve others (1 Cor 12:4-6 GNT). He says that “there are different kinds of spiritual gifts,” but they all come from the same Spirit. He says that there are “different ways of serving,” but it is the same Lord that we serve. He says that “we all have different abilities,” but it is the same God who works in and through all of us. Another facet of “shared ministry” is to recognize that we are all called by God to share in the work of this church by using the gifts that the Spirit has given us. I know some of you may be thinking “I don’t have any gifts that can be useful to the church.” But St. Paul the Apostle insists that you do. I think it’s just a matter of recognizing that what you can do for the church is your “gift of the Spirit”!

Paul went further and instructed the believers at Corinth that if they wanted to join in the work of building up the Body of Christ, they had to build on the right foundation, and they had to do it carefully. The foundation upon which to build up any church is Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor 3:11). After all, he is the only true head of this or any other church. And only as we align our designs with his purpose will this church thrive. A further facet of “shared ministry” is that we are all following Jesus Christ, who said “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18). The only “agenda” that will enable this or any other church to thrive is the one set by Jesus Christ.

We are all working to build up this church together. That’s important. The more people we have helping out, the more this church will thrive. Today we recognize that by installing new elders and deacons. But you don’t have to serve on a committee, a board, or even on the session to help with the work of building up our church. This church will grow as we all join together, doing what we can do to the best of our ability, recognizing that we are all “God’s coworkers,” using the gifts and talents God has given us to build this church. But ultimately the growth of this church is a bigger job than any one person can accomplish. At the end of the day, if this church grows, it will happen because Jesus is building his church. We will grow because God, who is able to do “far more than we could ever ask for or imagine” (Eph 3:20, NIrV), has given the growth!

[2] In fact, that’s the “motto” of the Reformed tradition: “the church reformed, always being reformed according to the word of God.”

Monday, January 10, 2022

And the Story Continues ...

And the Story Continues …

Luke 3:21-22[1]

One of the challenges of our day is that it’s so easy for many of us to feel disconnected. If you have children at home, you’re connected to other families through their activities. Those of us who have extended families nearby have a connection there. And we come to church looking for a way to feel connected. But the pandemic has thrown a great big wrench into all those connections. Just the simple fact that some of us choose to get vaccinated and some of us don’t has the effect of weakening our connection to one another. And now this new wave of cases may have us all feeling like we’re wading through “deep waters” (Isa 43:2).

Those who study what it means to thrive in this life tell us that we need a sense of belonging to something bigger than ourselves. These days it seems like all the options for having that sense of belonging are in question. Our national identity as a people has been fracturing for years. Even our connection to faith has been changing in recent decades, as people become less interested in maintaining any kind of religious heritage. These days, most folks don’t care about names like “Presbyterian” on the church sign, and many have given up on church altogether. When the main sources of our belonging to something bigger fail us, where do we turn?

I think our Gospel lesson for today can help us with that question. Yes, I’m talking about the story of Jesus’ baptism. It may seem strange that Jesus’ baptism has anything to do with this, but if we pay attention to the details, we might be surprised. I’ll share one hint at the outset: Luke’s version includes some important details that are different from the way we typically understand Jesus’ baptism. But that’s why it’s all the more important to pay attention to them.

First, Jesus’ baptism in Luke’s Gospel occurs as “all the people” were being baptized. It’s not entirely clear from the English translation, but in this version, Jesus’ baptism is framed as if Jesus were one of those standing in the line to be baptized by John. After Jesus was baptized, someone else stepped up for their turn. In other words, in response to John’s preaching about true repentance through daily acts of mercy and justice, the “people” came to be baptized. And Jesus took his place among them.

This may raise some eyebrows among us. The people who came to be baptized by John were coming to demonstrate their repentance. From that point of view, it may seem strange to us that Jesus needed to be baptized. While I wouldn’t say he needed to repent of any sins, I would say he needed to be baptized. The reason is that by doing so, Jesus identified with the Jewish people, even with all their failings. And he did that on purpose: Jesus redeemed the Jewish people by becoming one of them, and he redeems us all in the same way.

A second feature of Jesus’ baptism in Luke’s Gospel is that only Luke tells us that everything that followed happened “while Jesus was praying.” The “heavens opened,” the Spirit descended to him as a dove, and the voice from heaven all came to Jesus while he was praying. But that too seems to be an intentional detail in Luke’s Gospel. Although it may seem strange to us, Luke describes Jesus as coming to an understanding of his calling and purpose the way any person would. We might say that Luke tells us the story of Jesus’ baptism without a halo. In order to carry out all that he would do, he needed God’s confirmation. And so his baptism launches him into the work of God’s kingdom to which he had been called.

More than that, Luke emphasizes perhaps more so than the other Gospels that Jesus needed the power of the Spirit to carry out his ministry. We tend to assume that, since Jesus was both fully divine and fully human, he had all the knowledge and power he needed from the very beginning. But Luke tells the story more from the perspective of Jesus’ full humanity. Like one of the prophets of old, “the word of the LORD” came to him to commission him for his work. And the Spirit empowered him to carry out God’s saving purpose.

The gift of the Spirit to Jesus at his baptism not only launched his ministry, but it also set in motion everything that follows. And that means that what happened that day in the Jordan river was a part of God’s larger story of salvation. By taking his place among the people lined up to be baptized, Jesus was stepping into that story of salvation. By serving in the power of the same Spirit that had empowered the prophets of old, Jesus was stepping into that story. And when the Spirit came upon the church to empower them, the story continued.

If we look at the story of the church in the book of Acts, we see more indications of how the story of God’s salvation continued. When Luke refers to his “first book” as being about “all that Jesus began to do and to teach” (Acts 1:1), the implication is that with story of the church, the story of God’s saving work continued. And when Luke concludes Acts in a way that doesn’t really provide an “ending,” the effect is to declare that the story of God’s saving work would keep going. And so it is that each of us, in our own baptism, take our place in God’s ongoing story of salvation that began with Abraham and continued through the prophets and through Jesus and the early church, and still continues to this day. That’s the “something bigger” that we all belong to. That’s what keeps me going day after day, week after week, and year after year, even in times of crisis. As we all take our place in the Body of Christ, the story continues.

Monday, August 24, 2020

God's Work

God’s Work

Matthew 16:13-20[1]

Some of you know that I serve on the Board of Directors of the Omaha Presbyterian Seminary Foundation. Our mission is “to seek, develop and support excellence in Christian leadership through the PCUSA.” With that in mind, we sponsor programs to help pastors and churches thrive in the 13-state region that includes much of the Midwest and some of the mountain states. For example, when Christy Dempsey was our pastoral intern a couple of years ago, the Seminary Foundation paid for most of her salary. Another way we work is by providing scholarships to seminary students to help offset the high cost of their education. Every year at this time I have anywhere from 40 to 60 applications from students at PCUSA seminaries.

One thing I’ve noticed is the many different “answers” the applicants have for what the church needs to thrive in the 21st Century. Some of the answers are amusing in their youthful idealism. Others are really quite thoughtful. I find it ironical, however, that I’ve hardly ever read that the church needs to return to their dedication to faith, because ultimately whether the church thrives or not depends on God’s work among us. The music, technology, education, and community outreach are all important. But I think the fundamental answer is to be found elsewhere.

I believe that our Gospel lesson for today points us in the right direction. Unfortunately, many are drawn into the centuries-long debate between the Catholic and Protestant branches of the church about the “true” church. I think that misses the point. Regardless of whether you define the “rock” upon which the church is built as Peter himself, or Peter’s confession of faith, or something else altogether, it seems more important to me that Jesus said “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18). The bottom line here is that Jesus is the one who builds the church, not me, or you, or anybody else.

That reminds me of something St. Paul said about his ministry. The church at Corinth had become divided by their loyalties to different teachers. But Paul says that all those teachers were just workers in God’s field. One plants, another waters, and another one reaps the harvest. But whether or not there is a harvest at all depends on God as the one who “gives the growth” (1 Cor. 3:7). We can discuss policies and programs all day long until we’re blue in the face (something Presbyterians seem to be “good” at), but unless we look to God to give the growth, I would say we’re just spinning our wheels.

So how do we promote the vitality of this congregation by looking to Jesus to build his church? I think this introduces the second important dimension to what it takes to help churches thrive in our day and time. At its core, this kind of work is spiritual work. It’s not organizational, it’s not programmatic, it’s not marketing. It’s spiritual work. It’s true that those things are important. But at the end of the day, building the church requires that we do everything we do in the recognition that God is the one who gives the growth. That means that it is crucial for us to pay attention to our spiritual lives. In order to truly promote God’s work in this world, we have to align our hearts and minds and lives with God’s ways.

I think that’s something of what St. Paul was talking about when he urged the church at Rome to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Rom. 12:1). He called them to be “transformed” in their minds and hearts so that their lives might reflect “the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2). This is at heart a spiritual endeavor, one that we can undertake only by spiritual means. We Presbyterians have traditionally called them the “Great Ends of the Church.” But it’s simply a matter of making worship, service, and witness the core of our lives rather than something we do from time to time. Whenever the church engages in that spiritual work, we experience God’s work of transforming and renewing our life together.

In one sense, this spiritual work is not the calling of just one person, or even a few. It is the work of the whole body. Building up the church in our day and time is something that takes all gifts that God has given each and every one of us. It takes all of us giving the best we can give to be the body of Christ, to be a community defined by faith, hope, love, and witness. God builds the church in partnership with us.

In another sense, building the church isn’t something we do at all, it’s God’s work. When our lives are centered on the faith, hope, and love that define what it means to live in a relationship with God, we will grow. Perhaps not numerically, but we will grow. At the end of the day, however, we will grow because Jesus is building his church. We will grow because God has given the growth. We will grow as the result of God doing his work in and through each and every one of us.

Monday, January 28, 2019

Many Members, One Body

1 Corinthians 12:12-31[1]

Most of us typically like to spend our time with people with whom we have things in common. It’s a feature of life that is customary across all kinds of lines: race, religion, political affiliation, regional customs, and personal interests. This tendency is reflected in the saying, “birds of a feather flock together.” The history of that adage in the English language can be traced at least to the mid-16^th century. But almost 2000 years before that, the Greek philosopher Aristotle observed that “like cleaves to like.” It seems that our inclination to associate with those who are like us is one that has defined the human family for a very long time.

Unfortunately, in the church, that trait has led to the observation that Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week. Most of us prefer to go to church with people who look like us, who talk like us, who dress like us, who share our beliefs and values, and who practice the same lifestyles as we do. While this preference is understandable, it flies in the face of the biblical vision of what the church is meant to be. Despite the fact that the Bible can use the language of “chosen people” for a certain group, the intent of the church is clear from its founding on the day of Pentecost: it is to be a church of all nations, all races, all languages, all ethnic groups; in short, a church of all peoples.

As I mentioned last week, the church at Corinth was a church that was badly divided, not least by their differing views on spiritual gifts. And it would seem that they had a problem with people forming factions and cliques with others in the church who were like them. In fact, this problem showed up in their observance of the Lord’s Supper. It is likely that they shared a meal prior to the Lord’s Supper. But in the church at Corinth, this was not a time for the whole family of faith to gather and share their bonds of fellowship. At least not for them all. Paul chides them for the fact that the wealthy members of the congregation came early and enjoyed a feast, while those who were not so well off came later, very likely after work, and only had meager fare.

It’s hard to imagine a more blatant demonstration of the division in the church at Corinth than a meal at which some feasted and others were left to make do with bare necessities. And St. Paul tells them off quite plainly. He says, “it is not the Lord's supper that you eat” because they are despising the church as the body of Christ and “humiliating those who have nothing” (1 Cor. 11:20-22). In fact, he goes so far as to say that those who distort the Lord’s Supper in such a way “eat and drink judgment” on themselves (1 Cor. 11:29)! It is clear that Paul believed it should not be so among them!

The challenge was how to balance the differences between them with the unity they were meant to embody in Christ. As in any group, there were many differences among the church at Corinth: they came from different ethnic groups, they had different religious backgrounds, they practiced different customs, and they even represented different classes of society. While those differences affected their lives in practical ways outside the church, within the church, St. Paul insists that what united them in Christ was more significant. They had all received one and the same Spirit; they all placed their faith in one and the same Christ; they all belonged to one and the same body—regardless of what their lives outside the church may have looked like.

On the other hand, it’s not as if St. Paul was opposed to diversity in the church. In fact, he viewed the diversity among the members of the church at Corinth as a good thing. He recognizes that just as our bodies have many different parts, so it is a good thing for the church to have members who have different strengths and backgrounds. The members of the church are not all the same; in fact, they are not meant to be all the same. Difference is good; it can be healthy. It is necessary for our bodies to function properly, and it is necessary for the church to function properly. But that difference must never be allowed to invalidate the fact that all members of the body of Christ are one (1 Cor. 12:12-13).

Rather than granting different levels of honor to individuals in some kind of “spiritual” hierarchy within the church, Paul insists that all of the members are equally important. In fact, he says that, just as we show greater respect for “less respectable” parts of our own bodies, so also in the church “God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor” to members that might seem to be “inferior” to others (1 Cor. 12:23-24). I think St. Paul has already made it clear that he doesn’t believe that anyone in the body of Christ is “inferior” in any way.

I think St. Paul’s comments also make it clear that, as the body of Christ with all its different parts, the church’s purpose is to function together as one. He says that the way that God has “arranged” the members of the church is so that “there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another” (1 Cor. 12:25). While it may be a practical reality of life that people naturally associate with those who are like them, our lesson from St. Paul for today teaches us that this is not God’s purpose for the church. It is to be a church in which people from all races, nations, ethnic groups, political persuasions, and economic classes may join together as one. The fact that there are many different members in the church is a good thing. But while there are many members, we must always recognize that we are all part of the one body of Christ.

Monday, January 21, 2019

Called to Serve

1 Corinthians 12:1-11[1]

One of the preoccupations we have in this culture is with “reaching your highest potential.” It has taken different forms over the years, from “I’m Okay and You’re Okay,” to the “Feeling Good Handbook,” to “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” to the “Kaizen Method” of getting one percent better every day. I would say that all of these contributions have helped people in some way to improve their lives. I have personally benefited from some of them. And I applaud anyone who is trying to do what they can to effect personal growth. I think one of life’s most important tasks is to continue growing as a human being all of our lives.

But one thing that concerns me is that at the heart of many of these self-improvement methods is the belief that our identity, and perhaps even our worth, is measured by how much we achieve in life. That’s great if we have a nice list of accomplishments that we can use to bolster our ego. But if we think that we have somehow fallen short of our potential, or are lacking in terms of what we could have or should have done with our lives, it can be a big problem. When we measure ourselves by how well we perform what we do, we can wind up in a downward spiral of self-criticism. After all, no matter how much we may achieve in our lives, there’s someone out there who’s done more. Even when we’ve done the best we can, it’s easy to look at someone else’s “best” as “better.”

To some extent, our lesson from St. Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth for today addresses this problem. This was a church that lived literally at one of the major cultural crossroads of the ancient world. You could find just about any of the expressions of the human spirit in Corinth. It was a genuine melting pot for the various cultural currents in that day. More than that, the church at Corinth is a fascinating case study. They seem to have experienced all the “normal” challenges most churches still struggle with, and also some of the more “extreme” problems. Because of that fact, Paul’s letters provide pastoral advice that is still relevant today.

One of the challenges they dealt with in the church at Corinth was interpersonal rivalry. In fact, the struggle for power in that church was so intense that they actually had four different factions. One claimed loyalty to Paul, one to Peter, one to Apollos (a teacher who had spent some time there), and the last one claimed to belong to Christ. Perhaps the last group saw themselves as “above the fray” of all that dissension. But the reality was that they were a congregation badly divided by loyalties, by questions of morality, by the extent to which they believed they could or should interact with the culture in which they lived, and by the divergent lifestyles of their Greek and Jewish members.

One of the ways in which this rivalry apparently played out in the church at Corinth was in the area of spirituality. Some of the folks in the church were convinced that they were more “spiritual” than the others. And the way they measured their spirituality was by the particular “spiritual gifts” they had. Interestingly, the “gift” that found its way to the top of the totem pole was “speaking in tongues.” This was not the ability to understand other languages, but a kind of unintelligible prayer-speech that was uttered in a trance-like state. Why this particular gift was valued above all the others was probably due to a combination of false teachings they encountered and the religious environment in which they lived.

Again, the upshot of all this was that those who had this particular gift claimed to be at the top of the spiritual “food chain” in the church of Corinth. But St. Paul wouldn’t hear anything of it. In response, he emphasized clearly that there was no “hierarchy” in the area of spiritual gifts. He makes it clear that all spiritual gifts come from the same God, Father, Son and Spirit: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone” (1 Cor. 12:4-6). And rather than claiming “credit” for their spiritual gifts, Paul reminds them that they are the work of God, “who activates all of them in everyone” (1 Cor. 12:6).

But, perhaps equally important in our day is the message that St. Paul had about the availability of spiritual gifts. He makes it clear that these abilities are given to everyone in the church. In fact, he says that they are “allotted to each one individually as the Spirit chooses” (1 Cor 12:11). That doesn’t leave anyone out. St. Paul also makes clear the reason why the Spirit distributes these gifts to us all. He says plainly that they are intended “for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:7). The gifts God gives us are for the purpose of building up the body of Christ. That eliminates any kind of spiritual “hierarchies” or any kind of spiritual pride about certain gifts in comparison to others. Everyone in the church has a gift of the Spirit to share for the benefit of the whole body of Christ.

As I reflect on this Scripture, it occurs to me that the point of the Christian life isn’t any kind of “self-fulfillment.” In fact, it’s not about us at all; rather it’s about what the Spirit of God is doing through us. And the intention isn’t about being able to total up our accomplishments. The purpose of all this is to enable us to serve others. Whatever ability the Spirit has given you, it’s there for you to use “for the common good.” It’s a very specific means by which you can give yourself away in service to the body of Christ and the world at large. After all, that’s what Christ called us to do. He called us to serve. As we make use of the gifts we have from the Spirit, I think we reach our highest potential by serving others in love.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Quarreling over Opinions

Romans 14:1-12[1]

I don’t know about you guys, but when I take a look at our society, it seems to me that we’ve gotten really good at arguing with each other. I don’t mean that we have good and productive arguments by “fighting fairly.” It’s my impression that we’re quick to take offense, quick to get angry, and quick with a comeback that is demeaning or offensive. I guess I should really say that we’ve gotten really bad at arguing with each other! It seems that every significant issue facing our society at least potentially leads to a fight. In fact, as some have observed, our country may be more divided at this time than in any other part of our history--even the Civil War![2]

If you think that’s not the case, all you have to do is look at people’s opinions about the last two presidents. It seems there’s no middle ground: people despise one, insisting that he brought our country to ruin, and they respect the other, and think he took our the country in the right direction. But whichever side of that divide you’re on, all someone has to do to make your blood boil is mention a name and express an opinion different than yours. We’ve gotten to the point where we can’t even express different opinions without getting hostile toward one another.

I think part of the reason for this is fear. We’re more afraid now than perhaps ever before. We’re afraid because the things we used to count on for security in life seem to have evaporated. And we’re afraid because the forces that control our lives seem so much bigger than they once did. And all that fear converts into hostility. And as much of a “techie” as I am, I’m afraid social media like email and Facebook have only poured fuel on the fire. When you get on the internet, there’s a false feeling of anonymity that induces us to say things we’d never dream of saying in person. And so the divisiveness and the arguing continue, and they just make the hard feelings worse.

But in our lesson from St. Paul for today, the Apostle tells us that it ought not be so, especially in the Body of Christ. We might be tempted to think that the church in the days of the New Testament was much more spiritual, and didn’t have arguments like we do in our churches today. But that’s not the case. In fact, in just about every book of the New Testament the Apostles had to deal with some kind of dispute or another. But as St. Paul tells Timothy, “wrangling over words ... does no good but only ruins those who are listening” (2 Tim. 2:14). He goes on to tell Timothy to “have nothing to do with stupid and senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels” (2 Tim 2:23).

And so it should come as no surprise when St. Paul tells the Church at Rome that they are to avoid “quarreling over opinions.” But if you read between the lines, you might be surprised at the “opinions” about which he was urging them to practice tolerance. When he refers to some people having the faith to eat everything while the “weak” only eat vegetables, he’s referring to the way meat was processed and sold in that day.[3] A significant amount of the meat sold in the open-air market was left over from a sacrifice that was offered at a pagan temple that morning. So to eat meat in that context could be construed by some as participating in the worship of false gods! And yet others had a strong enough faith to recognize that all things come from God, and so they ate meat. And on an issue of this potential significance, Paul urges tolerance!

We might wonder how St. Paul could make such an apparently offensive compromise as to allow the eating of meat that had been used in the worship of a false god. To some in his day, he was essentially turning a blind eye to at least an indirect participation in idolatry.[4] How could he encourage behavior that some viewed as a violation of the command, “You shall have no other gods before me”? I think that at least part of the answer is that he realized that whether or not eating meat constituted the practice idolatry was a matter of interpretation, and therefore a matter of opinion. And St. Paul didn’t want the Body of Christ divided over matters of opinion. Rather, Paul urged that Christians take the attitude that, even when we disagree about significant issues, we all “belong to the Lord” (Rom. 14:8). And in case there is any doubt about whether we can all belong to the same Lord and disagree with one another, he makes it clear that we have no place passing judgment on other “servants of the Lord” (Rom. 14:4).[5]

So how do we translate this into our day and time, when we are debating matters like the Middle East, or gay marriage, or immigration policy. How are we who live together in the community of faith to relate to one another when we disagree over strongly held opinions? Part of the problem is that when we in the church are seen so visibly fighting with so much hostility toward one another, we invalidate the message of the Gospel in the eyes of those around us. It seems to me that in this community where we all “belong to the Lord,” we have to start with the conviction that our connection to one other in the Body of Christ supersedes all of our opinions.[6] Hopefully, we all seek to serve the Lord to the best of our ability. Ideally, we all strive to submit matters of conscience to God’s judgment.[7] It seems to me that means that there simply is no place for “quarreling over opinions” in the Body of Christ. Rather, this is a community in which mutual respect and love must always trump differences of opinion. [8]

[2] See Dave Bryan, “Jerry Brown: California, Country Facing ‘Regime Crisis’ Similar To The Civil War,” CBS Los Angeles 10 April 2010; accessed at http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/04/10/jerry-brown-gop-stalling-budget-reform/.

[3] Many scholars suggest that part of the problem here was an expulsion of the Jews from Rome which some ancient historians recount. After some years, the Jewish population began to trickle back into Rome. However, whatever accommodations there may have been before the expulsion for the proper processing of meat according to Jewish food laws would likely no longer have been in place. This would have created a crisis for Jewish Christians who felt obligated to follow those laws. See James D. G. Dunn, Romans 9-16, 801, 810-11; Robert Jewett, Romans: A Commentary, 838.

[4] Cf. B. B. Blue, “Food Offered to Idols and Jewish Food Laws,” in Dictionary of Paul and his letters, edited by G. F. Hawthorne, R. P. Martin & D. G. Reid, 306-310.

[5] Cf. Paul J. Achtemeier, Romans, 215, where he observes that “The danger of self-righteousness lies in its tendency to make one’s own convictions the measure of the validity of the convictions of all others.” He also says (p. 217) in connection with the temptation to “set oneself up as judge” in the place of God that “The danger of self-righteousness is therefore closely allied to the danger of self-idolatry.” Cf. also Edgar Krenz, “Relationships Count,” The Christian Century (Aug 28, 1996): 811. He says that St. Paul “is not a weak-kneed Christian who has no standards. But his concept of judgment is shaped by his knowledge of the judge. Christians are ultimately responsible to their Lord.” See further Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics 2.2:725: Christians holding different opinions cannot judge each other “Because both are servants, each serving the Lord with their better or less good faith, each finding in the Lord his own Judge and Saviour. They cannot exclude each other when God has accepted both and will judge their faithfulness or unfaithfulness by His mercy.” Cf. also Jewett, Romans, 843.

[6] Cf. Achtemeier, Romans, 216: “Paul does not take sides on whether the ‘weak’ or the ‘strong’ are more correct. He is intent rather on meeting the threat to Christian unity posed by the attempts of one of the groups to make its convictions about conduct the sole and exclusive measure of true and faithful response to God’s gift of his Son. The advice to both groups is the same: Respect the convictions of the other group.”

[7] Cf. Achtemeier, Romans, 218, where he points out that Paul urges both tolerance on differences of opinion as well as the intention to “do everything one does to the honor of God.”

[8] It would seem that Paul would endorse the maxim, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, charity.” On the history of this often-quoted phrase which is erroneously attributed to St. Augustine, see James J. O’Donnell, “A Common Quotation from ‘Augustine’?” accessed at http://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/augustine/ quote.html and Hans Rollman, “The Pre-History of a Restoration Movement Slogan,” in Restoration Quarterly 39.3, accessed at http://www.acu.edu/sponsored/restoration_quarterly/archives/1990s/vol_39_no_3_contents/ rollmann.html

The Waking Dreamer