The Ultimate Grace of God

I Corinthians 15: 1 – 11 (February 7, 2010)

1) The Text

15Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. 3For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

2) The Context

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 is an important passage because it is the earliest written account of Jesus' resurrection. Because Paul states that the account of resurrection appearances was passed on to him by others, it is earlier than its usage in 1 Corinthians (which is dated no later than 55 AD).1 In addition to being very early, the appearance tradition cited in 1 Corinthians refers to people that Paul knew and had talked to personally, such as Paul and James. So not only did Paul inherit an early tradition, he had the opportunity to discuss it with some of the witnesses cited within it. Thus, this passage constitutes the earliest surviving written tradition of Jesus’ resurrection appearances, pre-dating those in the canonical Gospels by decades, and it is attested by someone who had the opportunity to discuss it with at least some its sources.

Unlike the gospels, however, Paul does not cite the empty tomb as part of his proof. Perhaps he did not know the story, although we must assume he would have not been surprised. Nor does he mention the women, perhaps for the same reason. He mentions that Christ appeared to Peter and this may indicate that he thinks this appearance lies at the foundation (the rock) of the tradition, a view reflected elsewhere, but he does not stop there. He mentions others, including the twelve, James and the apostles. The list will have been part of the information he received; it uses categories which otherwise play no role in Paul's writings (like the 12) or which are understood differently (like the apostles).

3) Interpretation

Sometimes fear, confusion, and panic shakes our world and sends us adrift. Struggle and fear have always been part of the human condition. Paul understood the fear and disarray of life and moral failure and he spoke to it a couple of millennia ago and he speaks to it now. He saw a world where the purposes of God went one way and the lives of the people went another.

Paul said there is only one hope for you and for the world and that is the resurrection, the ultimate grace of God. He knew it because he'd experienced it. I don't know what you've done wrong in your life, but Paul was guilty of murder. He hunted down and destroyed believers in Christ until all of a sudden one day he met that Christ. And Jesus offered him grace, he who was least worthy to receive it, which is what makes it grace, and then Paul spent the rest of his life living into it that grace.

And so he wrote to friends in distress: Back to basics, friends. I give to you what I received, the most important thing, that Christ died for our sins, was buried and was raised on the third day and then appeared to one, to twelve, to many, many more including me, even me.

Believe this and live as if you do. Because if you do, you will receive the grace, which is life, you believe and you become it for others.
But the question becomes, how? How do we live what we believe? How can we challenge ourselves as a church and as individuals to live God's grace through the practice of Christ's hospitality?

We can begin anew, living the hospitality of Christ that invites God to come in and make us bigger, more gracious than we are. The hospitality of Christ brings life. It places us within the grace of God. It walks us in the way of humility. You receive it by believing it and living it. Try to live it, for example, by welcoming guests not usually invited to a family celebration or make a guest room available to the relative of a neighbor you have never met before.

As we go deeper into the practice of hospitality, we will see that it is not simple, not superficial. There is accountability, risk, self care, and responsibility on the guest's part. Hospitality requires forgiveness, repentance, reconciliation. This is not cheap grace we are talking about. It is about small deaths and little resurrections.

It is easy to fail sometimes to practice or receive the grace of God. We are perfectly capable of walking in the ruts of anger and resentment. Small kindnesses by neighbors can make us experience little resurrections - to glimpse how life could be by the grace and power of God. Why not be people who keep talking of God and pointing to Christ by the humble hospitality of our lives, and trusting the rest to God!

Then, with Paul we can say, "By the grace of God I am what I am, and God's grace has not been for nothing."

4) Thought Exercise

How have you experienced “little resurrections” recently?

How has your hospitality enabled others to experience “little resurrections”?

Love

I Corinthians 13: 1 – 13 (January 31, 2010)

1) The Text

13If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

2) The Context

In response to a letter, Paul has further instructed the Christians at Corinth about the gifts of the Spirit. It seems that they value the gift of tongues too highly. Three groups of gifted people are especially important – “apostles” (12:28, spreading the good news), “prophets” (telling new insights into the faith) and “teachers” (of the faith) – but now he says that the most important gift is love, the expression in the community of Christ’s love for us. The statements in vv. 1-3 are all on the same model. Whatever is spoken, if said without love, is like the clatter of pagan worship. (At the time, rabbis debated what language “angels” spoke.) Prophecy is important but without love of one’s fellows it is “nothing” (v. 2). Even helping others to the extent of self-denial is worthless without love.

In vv. 4-7, he tells his readers how their behavior contrasts with the qualities of this love: it is the reverse of their proud, contemptuous, divisive attitudes. “Truth” (v. 6) is integrity, ethical living. Love, he says, is different from God’s other gifts (v. 8); unlike them (“prophecies”, “tongues”, “knowledge”), it never ends: it is transcendent, continuing beyond this era, into the time when we will be one with Christ. In the present age, all that we do through the Spirit is “partial” (v. 10), incomplete, immature. Mirrors then, being polished metal, gave a fuzzy image, but in the age to come (“then”, v. 12) we will see God clearly. We will know him fully, as God knows Paul now. “Love” (v. 13) is the “greatest” because it will continue unchanged, while “faith” will become sight and “hope” will become certainty.

3) Interpretation

The passage commences by referring to tongues of men and angels. Some in the community do appear to have been carried away with speaking in tongues. Paul spends the next chapter addressing the problem. So his assertion that speaking in tongues is just a lot of noise if love does not have highest priority confronts a certain kind of religiosity. The same happens in the statements which follow. Prophecy, understanding mysteries, knowledge, faith to move mountains, all count for nothing if love is not present. Paul is attacking approaches to spirituality that have missed the point of what Christianity is about. He refuses the assumption that any of these things should be seen as the main thing. When Paul wants to identify the presence of God, these are not the prime location. The prime location is compassion.

Matthew gives us a picture of Jesus making a similar point when he declares: "Not every one who says, 'Lord, Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my father who is in heaven" (7:21) and continues by pointing out that in the end people will report their wonderful deeds, miracles, prophecy and the like, only to be told they have no real relationship with Jesus at all. Similarly in the parable of the sheep and the goats, Matthew reports that the sheep are those who exercised compassion in their lives. That is ultimately what counts.

In a similar sense Mark seems to have had to counter a triumphant kind of spirituality which focused mainly on Jesus' miracles. He does so by setting them within the context of Jesus' love and his willingness to go all the way, even to death, for people. John has something similar. His Jesus refuses those who believe in his name because of his miracles (2:23-25).

Not even apparent acts of generosity and bravery count for much if love is not the source (13:3). In 13:4-7 Paul gives us a timeless summary. It is not without its difficulties. Does love really believe or endure all things? Perhaps a better interpretation moves in the direction of saying that love is unrestrained in its willingness to do all these things. There are other dangers. If love becomes an ideal, then a set of guidelines, and then a set of rules, we are in danger of creating a series of "oughts.” This is why Paul speaks of the Spirit elsewhere as a fruit. Spirituality is about gardening: attending to the plant, the soil and the setting to enable the fruit to be born.

The second half of the passage seems only marginally related to love - until we get to the climax in 13:13. Paul wants to put other things in their place. Only love really endures (13:8). The point of 13:9-12 is to assert human vulnerability. We have not arrived - some at Corinth thought they had (4:7-8). So here in 1 Corinthians 13 Paul is trying to bring people down to earth to stop the arrogance. Paul does not need to pretend that he is in control, that he knows everything, that he is superior. It is OK to be a human being who still has a long way to go. In this way Paul is at least preparing the kind of soil in which love might have a chance to take root. It often can't get much of a start until we acknowledge our need of it.

4) Thought Exercise

What gifts has God’s love given you?

How can we use these gifts to extend and share God’s love?

The Body of Christ

I Corinthians 12: 12 – 31a (January 24, 2010)

1) The Text

12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; 24whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

27Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. 29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

2) The Context

In the previous passage, Paul has told the Christians at Corinth that spiritual gifts come through the Holy Spirit and are given by him, as he chooses, for the benefit of the whole community. Now he turns to the nature of the Church – using the analogy of the human body. Whatever our ethnic or social origins, “we were all baptized into one body” (v. 13), into the risen glorified body of Christ, and empowered by the same Holy Spirit acting in the Church. V. 14 is key: the body needs various members; so too the Church needs various spiritual gifts, each making its own contribution. In vv. 15-20, Paul makes the point that all members contribute in various ways to the welfare of the whole. Diversity is rooted in, and contributes to, unity. In vv. 21-25, he says that each member needs every other member, whether he or she be strong or weak (v. 22). Vv. 23-25 say that the instinct of modesty reveals part of God’s plan, e.g. by respecting our “less respectable members”, we make them equally respectable. This applies in the community as it does in the body. In this way, the community is peaceable, without “dissension”; each cares for others. When one suffers the whole community does (v. 26).

In vv. 27-28, Paul tells the Corinthian Christians that they are both one body and individually its members. Three groups with God-given and -appointed spiritual gifts are especially important: “apostles” chosen to continue spreading the good news; “prophets”, those with new insights into God’s plan; and those who teach the faith. He then lists some other gifts: some help the poor and needy; others are leaders, managers, in church affairs. The questions in vv. 29-30 must surely be answered no. Perhaps v. 31a suggests that all seek to grow in the use of the gifts, great or small, given to them.

3) Interpretation

Christ is a body with many members. We are often more familiar with the later use of the image in Colossians and Ephesians where Christ is the head and the church is the rest of the body. That is not what Paul is saying here. Here he states that Christ is the body.

In 12:13 Paul goes some way towards explaining what he means. By baptism (read: by faith) we entered Christ's body. So his body is like his risen life reaching out in communication. It is like a sphere of influence and life. The end of 12:13 uses an alternative image: we drink of the one Spirit. Behind this is the same idea: the Spirit is the active influence which brings Christ to us and us to Christ.

Paul challenges us to see ourselves as the embodiment of Christ in the world, not primarily as individuals but as local communities, yet belonging also to a larger whole. Our sense of identity lies not in the role we play, nor the status, nor the reward our role brings, but in the sense of oneness with the life of Christ which is the life of God - and ultimately the life of all that is. We are not asked as individuals to be Christ or Christs, let alone saviours of the world, although many suffer from this misconception and the burn out it produces. We are asked to be members of a body, of Christ, and to play our part - not more, not less.

Being a member of the body of Christ means an absolute, out-and-out conjoining of one with the other, a sister or brother in Christ. To exist in division, to see only difference and not the unity we are able to profess because of Christ, to demand conformity without celebration of difference, is to entertain the notion of dismemberment. We will find ourselves cut off from the very source of our life, our existence, and in a way, our ability to be most fully who we are.

Once again, we are reminded of our interconnectedness as a community of Christ. It is tempting to spiritualize Paul's words in this passage, but the call is to a far-reaching communal ethic and a need that transcends any and all differences that we try to put in place. While our tendency is to elevate certain spiritual gifts over others, Paul's words here are a deliberate claim of evenhandedness, even giftedness, when it comes to how and in what ways God chooses to work in and through our calls to faithful living.

4) Thought Exercise

To what extent are we able to live out fully our callings when we are not able to rely on and give support to others to live out theirs?

Is it not true that who we are called to be necessitates our fellow members of the body of Christ to embrace and embody their callings?

Varieties of Gifts, But the Same Spirit

I Corinthians 12: 1 - 11 (January 17, 2010)

1) The Text

12Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. 3Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. 4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

2) The Context

Corinth was a major port which also commanded the land route from the Peloponnesus peninsula to central Greece. An industrial and ship-building centre, it was also a centre for the arts. Its inhabitants came from far and wide. In this epistle, Paul answers two letters he has received concerning lack of harmony and internal strife in the Corinthian church, a church he had founded. Paul wrote this letter from Ephesus (now in Turkey), probably in 57 AD.

The letter may be divided into three sections: (1) A Call for Unity (1:10-4:21) [which assumes division in the community], (2). A Call for Community Discipline (5:1-6:20), and (3) Counsel regarding Contested Issues (7:1-15:58). The contested issues included sex and marriage (7:1-40), offering and eating idol meat (8:1-11:1), worship issues (12:1-14:40), and the resurrection of the dead (15:1-58).

Thus, Paul's focus on spiritual people and gifts comes right in the midst of his counsel on how to handle problems in worship that have arisen for the Corinthians.

3) Interpretation

It is interesting that Paul deals with problems about spiritual gifts by pointing to the Corinthians' previous involvement in other religions before they became Christians. Paul is confronting them with the possibility that their spiritual Christianity may be no better than their previous religious experience. Paul is suggesting that focus on spiritual gifts can amount to nothing more than being carried away and can achieve exactly the opposite of what Jesus stands for.

How could this be? Paul will go on to suggest that this occurs wherever the gift or experience becomes more important than the giver and the achievement more important than love. Paul will go on in 1 Corinthians 13 to explain that if love is not central, then all such claims to spiritual gifts and achievements and to special workings of the Spirit amount to nothing. He begins unpacking his challenge in 12:4. There is one Spirit. This means that among the various gifts (or claims to gifts) of the Spirit there needs to be coherence; otherwise something is wrong. That coherence is bound up with an understanding of unity and wholeness which flows from the fact that we are relating to the one Jesus and the one God (12:5-6).

This helps us see what matters most for Paul - or better, who matters most. For Paul, faith (faith in community) is about relationship, in which people matter most. It is not about sensational experiences or achievements. The real sign of the Spirit of God is not the ability to sustain spiritual "highs", but the presence of love and compassion in our lives. Particular gifts are subordinate to this purpose.

The gifts exist to bring into effect what is appropriate. The word, sumferon, in 12:8 means what is fitting or appropriate. NRSV translates: "common good". It certainly needs to fit what God sees as good and for Paul that means building people up in their faith and not putting blocks in the way of sharing God's love with others. That is the focus here.

Many parts but one body

Recent studies, attempting to identify the factors that make for lively, effective congregations, have found that a "motivated and mobilized laity" is the mark of a successful church. However, the "funnel" phenomenon exists in many churches. Management decisions are initiated and controlled by a single person. Initiative is therefore, stifled, and the potential for the congregation to maximize its effectiveness is limited.

Yet, too often, when power is moved from the minister, it falls into the hands of a church committee, parish council, eldership, or deacons. This can turn out to be a worse scenario. Some feel that the best committee is a committee of one. When power is centered with a group of lay-managers who determine and manage policy through a monthly debating society, then the life of a church is easily stifled.

God's desire for his church is that we understand and apply the diversity of spiritual abilities found within the membership. It is the Spirit's task to give to individual members of the congregation abilities that can be used within the group to enable each individual to grow in their relationship with God, to grow in fellowship one with another, and to reach out to God's broken world. We need to remember that from one God there is a diversity of gifts for the common good.

4) Thought Exercise

How can we maximize the diverse spiritual abilities found in our membership?

How can you make sure your gifts are known and utilized?

New Beginning

Luke 3: 15 – 17, 21-22 (January 10, 2010)

1) The Text

15As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

21Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

2) The Context

This small episode in Luke's gospel is the third in a group of six witnesses, or testimonies, to Jesus. This particular episode concerns the witness of Jesus' baptism. We see in Jesus' baptism the hope of redemption and in the words from heaven, the commissioning of God's servant messiah on our behalf.

People flock to John the Baptist, responding to his urging to start new, ethical lives as a way of preparing for Jesus (vv. 3-6). John has condemned those who seek his baptism with no intention of reforming their ways (v. 7). He has warned that being Jewish is no assurance of being part of the renewed Israel. Failure to respond to his call to repentance can lead to condemnation at the end of time.

With some important stylistic differences, all four Gospels tell the story of Jesus’ baptism by John: "When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased'" (Luke 3:21–22 = Mark 1:9–11= Matthew 3:13–17; John 1:29–34).

3) Interpretation

The baptism of Jesus celebrates both the uniqueness of Jesus and his role as a model for all who will be so baptized with the Spirit. Jesus' baptism inaugurated his public ministry. The second section of our text is the actual transition between the ministry of John and the work of Jesus. It is interesting that the actual baptism of Jesus is not recounted by Luke, who does not even tell us that John baptizes him. While the other Gospels focus on the baptism of Jesus directly, Luke is the only Gospel that places Jesus among the crowds of people responding to John’s preaching: "when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized." Whatever the reasons for this omission in Luke, the result is clearly a focus on the event after Jesus "had been baptized" (v. 21).

There is also significance in the fact that it was while Jesus was praying that heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended (v.21), a detail also unique to Luke’s Gospel. Luke later will tell us that Jesus often prayed, especially at important junctures in his ministry (5:16, 6:12, 9:18, 28-29, 11:1, 22:32, 41, 23:34, 46). For Luke, this communicates the direct relationship of Jesus’ life with the Father. It is in that context here of submission to God in prayer that heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit affirmed and empowered Jesus and His work in the world. There can be little doubt that Luke intends to draw a parallel between this event and the fact the early Christian community was gathered together in prayer when the Holy Spirit was given to the church (Acts 1:14). It is in submission to God that the power of the Holy Spirit comes.

Further, Luke is more concerned with emphasizing the newness that is coming into the world in the present as a result of the coming of Jesus. That suggests that heaven opening is really the inauguration, not only of Jesus ministry as the Christ, but also of a new way of God’s working in the world through the Holy Spirit active in the Church. This perspective is reinforced by Luke’s emphasis on the physical form of the dove that descended upon Jesus (v. 22), marking this as a revelatory event within history. In other words, it was the coming of Jesus and his unique role in opening heaven for the Spirit that provided the foundation, the grounding, the possibility, of the filling of the Holy Spirit in the church at Pentecost and throughout Acts.

As he has already done, and will continue to do, Luke is writing with a view to the church that is already rapidly growing as he writes his Gospel. He points to the coming of Jesus, his teachings, life, death, and resurrection, as the foundation of the church, as the beginning of a new work of God in the world, and calls us to participate in that newness, in that new beginning of the future by participating in the process of refining, of winnowing, and of allowing the Holy Spirit to enable us for being God’s people, the church, in the world now.

The second half of the pronouncement comes from the section of Isaiah that speaks of the servant of the Lord. While the first part of the heavenly pronouncement brought forth royal images of power and authority, the image evoked here is that of a servant to the nations, one who proclaims and brings justice. This dual role of Jesus as King yet as servant is an important faith confession for Luke. For Luke, the nature of the church is shaped by the nature of the one who called it into being. The descent of the Spirit marks the beginning of Jesus ministry, and defines that ministry both in terms of God’s work of power in the world (v. 16) evoking the imagery of a King, and the work of a servant who is bringing justice to the nations.

That same Spirit in the same two dimensions will also mark the beginning of the church as this new beginning makes it possible. As the Holy Spirit empowers Jesus for his task in the world, so the Holy Spirit empowers the Church for its task in the world. And that implies that the power of the King is really the power to serve.

4) Thought Exercise

What is the task for our church in the world?

How will you answer the call to serve in our church this year?