Church Matters: Correcting the Corinthians (6)
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 12/14/2014
Let me start this morning by sharing a riddle with you.
There was a perfect man who met a perfect woman. After a perfect courtship, they had a perfect wedding. Their life together was, of course, perfect until, one snowy, stormy Christmas Eve this perfect couple drove along a winding road when and noticed someone at the roadside in distress. Being the perfect couple, they stopped to help. There stood Santa Claus with a huge bundle of toys. Not wanting to disappoint any children on the eve of Christmas, the perfect couple loaded Santa and his toys into their vehicle. Soon they were driving along delivering the toys. Until, the driving conditions deteriorated and the perfect couple and Santa Claus had a horrible accident. Only one of them survived.
Question: Who was the survivor?
Answer: Santa Clause, because everyone knows there’s no such thing as a perfect man or a perfect woman in the first place.
The truth is—there really is no such thing as a perfect man or woman. We all have flaws and faults. And because of that, there’s also no such thing as a perfect church. The last several weeks we’ve been studying the book of Corinthians which focuses on the not-so-perfect church in Corinth. Corinth was a corrupt city, filled with every kind of vice and worldly pleasure. Thus, some of the members of the church we guilty of sexual immorality, others were drunks, and still others used God’s grace to justify their perverted lifestyles. It was also a divided church, with at least four different groups competing for leadership. And it was a disgraced church; their worship services had turned into a discordant free-for-all lacking the reverence and respect that God deserves.
While we may not have all the same deficiencies the Corinthians had, we can certainly relate to some of their imperfections. But as we bring this series to a close, I want to focus on some encouragement and advice Paul offers. In chapters 12-13 Paul identifies three characteristics of an almost-perfect church.
First, Paul informs us that an almost-perfect church is a place of action.
• A PLACE OF ACTION
In response to another Corinthian question, Paul writes, “Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us… 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. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other” (1 Corinthians 12:1-7 NLT).
Paul wanted the church in Corinth to realize that God works in us, so that we can work for him. In other words, God gives every believer an assortment of gifts, talents, abilities and resources that He expects us to use. Each person has a different set of gifts, but what’s important is that we use them to serve God and help people.
In his popular seminars on leadership, management guru William Cohen often asks his audience if they can think of any organization which has all these attributes:
• The workers work very hard physically, even on weekends with very little complaint.
• The workers receive no salary or other compensation for their services.
• The work is dangerous and workers are frequently injured on the job.
• The work is strictly voluntary, yet the organization usually has more workers than they can assign jobs to.
• The workers are highly motivated to achieve the organization’s goal and usually have a very high moral.
The executives attending Cohen’s seminars are frequently stumped, thinking there is no organization like this on the earth. But Cohen knows of one such organization—a high school football team. The church ought to be another! Every member of the church ought to be engaged in using their abilities and gifts for service.
You’re familiar with the phrase use it or lose it, aren’t you? The residents of Segovia, Spain discovered the truth of this cliché the hard way. Unamuno, the Spanish philosopher, tells about the Roman aqueduct at Segovia. It was built in 109 A.D. For 1800 years, it carried cool water from the mountains to the hot and thirsty city. Nearly sixty generations drank from its flow. Then came another generation, a recent one, who said, “This aqueduct is so great a marvel that it ought to be preserved for our children, as a museum piece. So they decided to retire the aqueduct from service. They hired contractors to lay modern iron pipes. They gave the ancient bricks and mortar a rest. And the aqueduct began to fall apart. The sun beating on the dry mortar caused it to crumble. The bricks and stone sagged and threatened to fall. What ages of service could not destroy, idleness disintegrated.
What’s true for ancient aqueducts is also true of churches.
As we collectively use the gifts and talents God has given us in his service, the church remains a vibrant healthy body. But when we stop using our gifts, the church cracks and crumbles. Thus, the church should be a place of action.
Furthermore, Paul wants the Corinthian Church to a place of acceptance.
• A PLACE OF ACCEPTANCE
You may remember a few years ago when Snoopy, the lovable beagle in the Peanuts cartoon, had his left leg broken. Hundreds of fans wrote letters to Snoopy or sent sympathy cards. Snoopy himself philosophized about his plight one day while perched on top of his doghouse and looking at the huge white cast on his leg. "My body blames my foot for not being able to go places. My foot says it was my head’s fault, and my head blamed my eyes. My eyes say my feet are clumsy, and my right foot says not to blame him for what my left foot did." Snoopy looks out at his audience and confesses, "I just don’t say anything because I don’t want to get involved."
A similar situation plagued the Corinthians. Fortunately, Paul was willing to get involved. He writes:
“The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13 NLT).
Paul goes on to describe how silly it would be is the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” or if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye.” Finally, he concludes, “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27 NLT).
What Paul is saying is: Everyone needs a place to belong. A place that fits you like a favorite pair of jeans, that’s as welcoming as your much-loved and much-worn recliner at home. A place where people smile when you arrive and say, “See you soon!” when you leave.
The church ought to be that place.
I’m reminded of this sweet little old lady who waited in line at the post office every week just to buy two stamps. One day, as she got to the counter, the postal worker told her, “You know, you don’t have to wait in line to buys stamps. You can get them from the machine over there in books of twenty.” The little old lady responded, “Yes, but the machine doesn’t ask about my arthritis.”
People long to be connected. Everywhere you look, there are signs that people are hungering for fellowship, community, and a sense of family. Maybe there’s a pew here worn in the shape of your bottom. Maybe you’re as comfortable in your church family as you are in your favorite pajamas. On the other hand, maybe you’ve never felt like you really belong somewhere. Maybe you’ve never really felt accepted or known the blessing of being a part of something as special as the family of God!
In the Corinthian church, Paul reminded them that it didn’t matter whether they were Jew or Gentile, slave or free—they were all part of the body of Christ. Here, at Blooming Grove, it doesn’t matter if you’re black or white, tall or short, thin or fat, rich or poor, bearded or bare faced, you’ll find acceptance and a place to belong.
The Bible uses a lot of metaphors to describe the church, but the most persistent is that of family. In the New Testament, believers call each other brothers and sisters and, in his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul writes: “Now you…are not foreigners or strangers any longer, but are citizens together with God’s holy people. You belong to God’s family” (Ephesians 2:19 NCV). The Corinthian church was far from perfect. And so is ours. But every church ought to be a place of action, a place of acceptance, and finally it also ought to be a place of affection!
• A PLACE OF AFFECTION
As Paul closes chapter 12 and moves into chapter 13, he writes this: “But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all. If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing” (1 Corinthians 12:31-13:2 NLT).
In other words, without love, nothing else matters. A life without love is like a rainbow without colors or a sunset with no sun. As Leonardo Da Vinci put it, “A life without love, is no life at all.” I think Jesus would have agreed with Da Vinci.
Jesus was all about love. He commands his followers to love each other, to love our neighbors, and even to love our enemies. In fact, when asked which of God’s commands was the most important, Jesus answered, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40 NLT). More than anything else, Jesus urges us to love God and love people. These two commands summarize all of Scripture. They pulse through the Bible like a heartbeat.
It doesn’t matter how many degrees you earn or how many plaques decorate your wall if you don’t love God. It doesn’t matter how successful you are or how much money you make if you don’t love your neighbor. It doesn’t matter what you accomplish, accumulate, or achieve if you do it without love. Love is essential to a life well-lived.
It’s also essential to a hale and hearty church. Show me a church full of love, and I will show you a church full of life.
D.L. Moody told the story of a little boy who attended a Sunday school in Chicago. When his parents moved to another part of the city the little fellow still attended the same Sunday school, even though it meant a long, tiresome walk each way. A friend asked him why he walked so far and told him that there were plenty of other churches closer to his home that were just as good. "They may be as good for others, but not for me," was his reply. "Why not?" she asked. He answered, “Because at my church they really love a fellow.”
If every person who set foot in a church felt the same way, there would be fewer empty churches, and a smaller proportion of our population who never darken a church door. Let love be the hallmark of the church, and the world will soon be evangelized.
That’s my prayer for Blooming Grove. I want this church to be a place of love and affection. I want to be able to walk through those doors, I want you to be able to walk through those doors, and feel totally and completely loved. Only then will we be the kind of church God longs for us to be.
Conclusion:
Mavis Williams wrote a poem entitle The Perfect Church. She writes:
If you should find the perfect church Without one fault or smear,
For goodness sake! Don’t join that church; You’d spoil the atmosphere.
If you should find the perfect church Where all anxieties cease
Then pass it by, lest joining it You’d mar the masterpiece.
If you should find the perfect church Then don’t you ever dare,
To tread upon such holy ground; You’d be a misfit there.
But since no perfect church exists Made of imperfect men,
Then let’s cease looking for that church And love the church we’re in.
Like the church in Corinth, Blooming Grove may never be a perfect church—at least not on this side of eternity. But I think our church, like theirs, is more than capable of being a place of action, a place of acceptance, and a place of affection.
Invitation:
I want to encourage you today, if you’ve never been born again into God’s family, you can to do that today. On the other hand, maybe you’re already a born-again believer and you’ve been hanging out here at the Grove for a while, just sort of testing the waters—I want to invite you to become a part of our church family. If you think the Grove is a place of action, acceptance and affection—then I think this is the place for you. If I can help you walk through either of those decisions, then please come talk with me while we stand and sing.
