Author Archives: reveds

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About reveds

Occupation: Pastor, Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Lennox, SD Education: BS - Christian Education, Sterling College; MDiv. - Princeton Theological Seminary Family: Married, with Four children. Hobbies: Running (will someday run a marathon), Sci-Fi (especially Doctor Who and Sherlock), Theater, and anything else my kids will let me do.

A more excellent way…

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“And I will show you a still more excellent way…”
I Corinthians 12:31 (ESV)

I have to confess, in preparation for this morning’s men’s bible study I was convicted in my reading of I Corinthians 13:

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends…
1 Corinthians 13:4–8 (ESV)

Usually this passage is read in weddings, and it is a wonderful text for the wedding service.  If more couples would take these words to heart, we would find stronger and healthier marriages and families. 

The reality is, though, that this passage has nothing to do with marriage.  The letter to the Corinthian church was written to a broken and divided community.  They were divided over which pastor they liked, they tolerated overt and heinous sin openly practiced by members of the church, they were filled up with pride in their accomplishments and fighting over the importance of their giftedness in the Holy Spirit.  Most notably, the Corinthian church made a mockery of the Lord’s Supper by allowing the wealthy to gorge themselves on the meal, getting drunk on the wine of the table, while ignoring the needs of the poor and keeping them from the table.  This was a broken and divided church.

Paul gave counsel and correction on the issues that plagued the Corinthian church, addressing the particular problems they faced.  But in chapters 12-14, Paul addresses the heart of the matter.  The problem of the Corinthian church wasn’t necessarily poor theology, the problem was a lack of love.  The division and in-fighting of the church was a direct result of the lack of love the community shared.  They were tremendously gifted, but all of those gifts, without love, were meaningless.  Of all the gifts we could desire from the Holy Spirit, the greatest and most fundamental gift is that of love.

Every day it seems we hear of divisions and fighting within the church.  Competition between denominations, controversies that arise in national churches, arguments that ensue within local congregations; the problems of the Corinthian church are with us today.  I wonder, how many of these divisions are a result of our lack of love?

I know that I struggle with this daily.  It is easier for me to respond in the way of the world.  When somebody offends me, or questions my integrity, or says something to cut me down; my first inclination is to respond in kind.  But I hear the Spirit teaching me: Love is patient, kind, humble; it does not insist on its own way, is not irritable or resentful.  Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things.  Love never ends.

Have you been upset by someone in the church, or some decision made by your church recently.  Have you said to yourself, “I just won’t have anything to do with that person,” or “I’m just not going to participate in that event?”  Are we divided as a church, as the body of Christ, over the songs we sing on Sunday morning or the decision made by a particular committee, rather than, in love, “not insisting on our own way, bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things, and believing all things?”  John MacArthur wrote in his study on this passage, “It is tragic that in many churches, as in the one in ancient Corinth, the love that is basic to Christian character does not characterize the membership or the ministry.” 

I have been challenged by this passage today to be a more loving person.  Have you?  May we, regardless of where we may be, commit today, by the grace of God, to be a more loving church!

SDG

Purity and Graciousness

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“You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
I Peter 1:16 (ESV)

I was asked recently if a person can smoke and still be a Christian.  My answer was rooted in Paul’s response to the Corinthians, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful.  All things are lawful to me, but I will not be enslaved by anything” (1 Cor 6:12).  Yes, it is possible to be a Christian and smoke, but does it help your Christian walk?  Are you a slave to smoking and not to Christ?

I grew up under the teaching of Ephesians 2, that we as Christians are being built together as the temple of the Lord, the dwelling place of God in the Spirit.  Therefore, I ought to keep myself pure, so that the dwelling place of God will be clean.

Now there is nothing wrong with this teaching, but it does have its trappings:

Righteousness by Cleanliness
The unfortunate side of the teaching of Christian purity is that for many it becomes the heart of their religion.  The quest for goodness and clean living replaces a faith in the grace of God and a dependence on the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  “I am a good person.  I don’t smoke, drink, or chew, and I don’t date girls who do.”  This becomes the creed of the pure.  We keep ourselves from the socially unacceptable sins, but give a wink and a nod to those little things that no one else knows about.  At a person’s death, we may know nothing of their faith in God, but if they were a “good person,” then surely God owes them entrance into heaven.

The problem is, scripture teaches us that no one is righteous, no not one.  All our righteousness acts are like filthy rags in the sight of God.  Francis Chan, in his book, Crazy Love, says that “the literal interpretation of “filthy rags” in this verse is “menstrual garments” (think used tampons… and if you’re disgusted by the idea, you get Isaiah’s point).”  Our goodness can never be good enough.

Self-Righteousness
Another unfortunate aspect of the teaching of Christian purity is that too often it results in an air of self-righteousness.  We’ve learned to do what is right, to control our desires, and if and when we do sin, we know to ask forgiveness and make things right.  We’ve learned to deal with our sins, unlike those wretches who still struggle and can’t get their act together.  In short, we become the “Elder Brother” of the story of the Prodigal Son.  Rather than doing all we can to reach the lost, we complain about how lost the world around us has become.  Rather than rejoicing when the lost are found, we worry about what it cost to find them and bring them home. 

We forget that we were once the wretch, that we were once lost, and that we were once welcomed home.  We must remember that it was the same grace that claimed us, the same cross that saved us, the same Spirit that gave us life.  There is no difference in the fare.

So should we still teach our children to be pure, should we still strive for godliness in our lives?  Absolutely.  This is, I think, the purpose behind Paul’s letter to the Galatians.  Paul says that “for freedom Christ has set us free…” and then teaches that we are not slaves to the law, and neither should we be slaves to sin.  “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”  Instead, we are to bear one another’s burdens in a spirit of gentleness.

Simply because our sinfulness corrupts even our best efforts to live a life worthy of our calling does not mean that we should abandon all hope.  Rather we should still press onward, but we should do so with an abundance of grace.

A spirit of graciousness reminds us that we all in need of the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ. 

A spirit of graciousness reminds us that we all will stumble and need to be picked up now and again.

“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.  Keep watch over yourself, let you too be tempted.  Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6:1-2).

Grace and peace be with you!