No Fancy Recipes

"Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love."

- 1 Corinthians 16:13

Been discouraged about church lately?  Do you feel like it's three steps forward and two steps backward? We've all been there.

It's easy to get lost in the American business mentality of let's build it bigger and better. Healthy church - effective church - successful church....it's simply a matter of finding the right "model" or the right "recipe" and mixing it into the experience of church life.  We forget that church is not a business.  Church is ten times more complicated than any business.  The equilibrium in any church is subject to disruption from a variety of things and, settling things down is often much more complicated than a simple corporate announcement or a stern word from management.  Consequently, getting romantic about what we think church can be versus what it really is can set us up for a free fall into disillusionment, anger, anxiety and a host of other emotions.

But what are we to do?  

Each time I read the Corinthian letters four thoughts come to mind:

1. I am reading an apostle’s response to a dire situation.
     And, he was bringing his “A” game.
2. Considering their short timeline (50 -57 AD), how did they deteriorate in such a short amount of
      time?
3. Did everybody sit still for the reading of this letter?

4. Poor delivery boy! Did he have to do the Q and A after the reading? Not light work in the least. I can
     only imagine the banter that followed!

Paul spent approximately 2 years in Corinth.  I wonder how many lessons he taught?  How many conversations did he have with people, leaders and house churches?  When he taught them the gospel and nurtured them in the same, did he make it clear enough?  Several times he tags a theological reminder with "as you know" or with the question "do you not know?"  He says, "I delivered to you as of first importance..."  Paul taught them the gospel and nurtured them (1 Cor. 4:15-18).  Point?  They knew who they were in Christ and how they were supposed to live.   

Paul visited them on two other occasions and did more teaching and nurturing.  2 Corinthians 13 indicates that he is coming for a third visit which he isn't looking forward to in the least (2 Cor. 12:19-21).  

Interestingly, there is no indication in the letters that the church was evangelistic.  If they were teaching among themselves and behaving as the letters indicate, how in the world did their ministry leaders bring a credible word to the streets? 

Their assemblies were borderline chaotic.  If a guest were to happen in among them he might think they were crazy people (1 Corinthians 14).  Not a great testimony to the gospel.

They were ashamed of the gospel (1 Cor. 1-3) and the teaching of the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15 - too much Plato influence!). 

Some of them possessed miraculous expressions of the Holy Spirit (i.e., healings, tongues, miracles, etc…) The fact that they had the evidence (miracles) of the presence of the Holy Spirit did not convince them to live “in the Spirit…in sanctification" (1 Cor. 3:1-3, 16-17).

The fact that a powerful leader was among them for two years had not change their hearts completely.  A significant number of them had reverted to their pagan ways (2 Cor. 12:19-13:5).  What is more, he reminds them that the signs of a true apostle were worked among them with signs, wonders and mighty works (2 Cor. 12:12).  They witnessed some amazing feats of power from Paul's hands via the Holy Spirit and yet...hmm.

Their current ministry leaders (1 Cor. 16:13-16) were largely disregarded.  They were told to be “nice” to Timothy when he arrived (1 Cor. 4:16ff).  What's that all about?

If Chloe’s people had not tattled who knows what would have become of them (1 Cor. 1:10f.).

There is no "upward trajectory" in the picture.  It isn't romantic by any standard.  And yet, interestingly, Paul does not pull a new rabbit out of his ministry hat.  He does not bring up anything new per se.   He takes their "needs" and wraps theology around them – theology they were taught again and again.  Why?  Because that was his only recourse.  He knew more miracles wouldn’t lead them deeper into spiritual maturity.  Israel proved that.  Jesus called his generation adulterous for seeking miracles every fifteen minutes.  No, he calls them to move more into the realm of the Spirit.  Why?  Because they are the "church of God at Corinth, saints by calling" (1 Cor. 1:1-2).

As you have already guessed the point in all of this isn't simply to rag on the Corinthian church.  Not hardly.  It is an appeal for us to listen between the lines. Their letters provide us with some much needed insight into how we can regain our bearings on the other side disorientation of one kind or another. 

God’s people have always needed theological reflection and the stimulation that comes through theological reflection.  We make a mess of our lives and church in general when we put distance between ourselves and the Word.  It’s an historical fact.  For that reason Paul reacquaints them with how to think about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  And he asks the question at various turns, “You are still interested in that aren’t you?” Their baptism assumes it but doesn’t guarantee it (1 Cor. 10:1-2, 12; 2 Cor. 13:5).  

We need this same discipline in today's church.  We, too, can "lose ourselves" a hundred different ways the moment we stop thinking rightly about who God is and what it means to live together in the Spirit.  We simply think about "doing church" as our primary task instead of thinking about ourselves as the "church of God" and taking our cues from the latter.  When our life together becomes disoriented and governed by our subjective whims, it is easy for us to grow numb, disinterested, angry or discouraged about church.  We shift into "let's push on a button and fix whatever" mode instead of asking the question "who is us?"

We need to read the first 9 verses of First Corinthians.  It's all right there.  Paul invites the Corinthian church out of the trenches of daily life and takes them to 30,000 feet.  "Look at yourselves," he says.  "This is who you really are.  Don't you remember?"  Here is what he says:

  To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints   

  together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their    

  Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

  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 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. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son,  Jesus Christ our Lord.

The first nine verses are sewn into every syllable of 1:10 through the 16:24.  The "health pill" Paul offers them is reflection on and surrender to who they "already are" in Christ.  That was his appeal and hope for them (1 Cor. 16:13).  And, I bet it would do a world of good for us, too.  

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas

Sit Next to Me

“After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” – Luke 5:27-32

I recently stumbled across a very interesting story.    

A fifth grade teacher’s weekly exercise with her class was discovered recently and shared with the entire school where she teaches.   For several years it has been her practice to ask her students who they would most like to sit by.  Each week she also asks them who they think has been the best student citizen for the week.

She keeps all of the answers confidential and assures the students that she will do everything she can to fulfill their requests.  However, she makes no promises that they will actually get to sit by the person they chose. What she is really doing is looking for students who one week are the most popular but next week no one wants to sit by.  In short, she is reading the tea leaves of the classroom to find out who is the most vulnerable and on the verge of falling through the cracks.

When the administrator asked her when she started this exercise she replied, “After Columbine.”

Jesus had an eye for the margins.

He saw what others didn’t or wouldn’t.

He moved to the edge of society:  harlots, tax collectors, sick and diseased, sinners - whoever.  He interacted with people as persons. 

Every human being was in his eyes…human.

The polling data is in.  People are engaged as a “bump-and-run” experience every day.  People look past people every day.  They are a means to our consumerism. 

We are around lots of people but we don’t really “know” one another.

I cringe every time I hear about an attempted suicide or a suicide in particular.  Who knew them….really?  Was there no one to talk to? 

As children and teens move deeper into the world of the surreal in its many forms psychiatrists across the country are sounding the same alarm:  they are concerned about the dehumanizing effect all of it is creating in the lives of our young people. 

What an anonymous teacher did is definitely a step in the right direction. 

I wonder what that would look like for churches?  What would it look like for our assemblies, small groups and “congregating” throughout the week in the streets of daily life? 

To help our ailing world we have to be able to do this among ourselves…first.  Do we need to reimagine church?  Great!  Let’s do it.  Do we need to prioritize human need and the primary aims of the gospel above our heritage and comfort zones?  Great!  Let’s do it. 

A school teacher knows that being in a room together a “great class doth not make.”  The same goes for churches.   Our society is screaming for the “re-humanization” of humankind.

And that’s what church does…I think. 

Father, give us eyes for the margins.  Soften our hearts and reacquaint us with the compassion we need to engage people as persons made in your image.  Help us to rediscover the experience of “table” as disciples of the One who spread the first table.  Give us the stamina we need to fight the onslaught of cynicism and consumerism that daily attempts to fill our hearts and seal us off from people who need to encounter the hope of the gospel.  Thank you for so loving us in this way.  May we live in the power of that legacy. 

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas