The human heart is never changed through laws. It is changed through grace’ (Rick Warren).
We were handing out some Christian magazines in the
area when a woman invited me into her home.
She claimed to be a Christian and she said that she was into the deeper
things of God. I am not sure what she
meant by deeper things, but I suspect it centered around speculations
concerning the end times. She couldn’t
find a church that taught these deeper things, so she went to no church. There also seemed to be some things about her
life that suggested that she did not take Christian morality very
seriously. She seemed to make up her own
rules about how she should live. There
are things in 1 Corinthians that would have been very relevant to her.
The church in Corinth was a mess. Behind that mess was the problem of
super-spirituality. They were impressed
with those travelling teachers that moved around the Roman world who promised
an elite wisdom. They were fascinated
with the idea of special spiritual experiences that would place them in an
exalted spiritual class. They all were
acting like they were better than each other.
In the process they just showed how immature they were. As the apostle Paul writes to correct their
super-spirituality we will see him show them what true spirituality looks like.
True spirituality embraces
other Christians
It is amazing how the apostle opens this letter. ‘To the church of God in Corinth, to those
sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be a holy people, together with all
those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and
ours’ (1 Cor. 1:2). They may be a mess,
but he does not write them off as Christians.
Unlike many super-spiritual Christians, he is not quick to question the
faith of imperfect believers.
The Corinthian Christians had divided around who their
favorite leader was. The apostle Paul
had planted the church, so some liked him.
Apollos had taken over from Paul, and he was a more impressive
communicator, so some favored him. There
were those who looked to Peter (or Cephas), who after all was the great leader
who had spoken on the day of Pentecost.
Then there were those who simply said ‘I follow Christ’. I wonder if they were the most
super-spiritual of all, thinking that they were uniquely following Jesus. ‘Our group is the best because we follow the
founder of the church in Corinth, the apostle Paul’. ‘Our group is the best because we follow
Apollos, who as you know is a far more dynamic preacher than Paul was.’ ‘Our group is the best because we follow
Peter, who was the apostle who speak on the day of Pentecost’. ‘No, you are all wrong, our group needs no
leader, we are the true church of Christ.’
This sort of factionalism often exists in our society between churches
as much as within churches.
There was no rivalry between Paul, Apollos and
Peter. Paul writes, ‘I planted the seed,
Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow (1 Cor. 3:6). He says they that have one purpose and that
they are co-workers. Super-spiritual churches
are quick to write off what God may be doing in other fellowships. We should want to co-operate and meet with
other churches. Leaders should never be
rivals. We should not think that we are
better Christians because we believe that we chose a better church than others.
True spirituality values love
over knowledge
One of the repeated words in this letter is
‘knowledge’. True knowledge is a good
thing. We study God’s Word to get to
know Him better, and to be guided in how to live for Him. But David Jackman warns that, ‘Knowledge
alone simply inflates its possessor, because it separates him out from those
who do not know … he will be tempted … to put others down.’[1] J. I. Packer explains that, ‘if we pursue
theological knowledge for its own sake, it is bound to go bad on us. It will make us proud and conceited.’[2] Paul writes that while knowledge puffs up,
love builds up (1 Cor. 8:1). Maturity is
not simply the learning of doctrine, for ‘if a head full of knowledge is not
governed by a heart full of love, all you have is a swollen head!’[3]
God’s word works within us (1 Thess. 2:13). It transforms us. If what you know about God does not cause you
to love His people then there is something wrong in the way that you know.
True spirituality goes deep
into the cross
Another repeated word in this letter is ‘wisdom’. Paul points out that their understanding of
wisdom is culturally conditioned. They
were impressed by the fine sounding teachings of the travelling philosophers
that went around the Roman world. But
they were embarrassed by the seeming foolishness of a faith centered on a
crucified messiah. Paul can sum up his
whole message by saying, ‘I preach Christ crucified’ (1 Cor. 1:23).
There is a liberal super-spirituality that wants to
move away from the cross. I heard one
outreach leader explain that he thought that the cross is bad public relations,
and explaining that they deliberately omitted the cross from his organization’s
logo. A chaplain wrote in his
university’s newspaper that the death and resurrection of Jesus are not the
crux of Christianity. But Paul says that
the cross is both the power and wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24).
Power is another of the buzz words that runs through
this letter. The power of God is most
clearly seen in a changed life. The
Christian died to their old self on the cross of Christ, and they have been
raised to new life. The cross turned some
like Paul from being a hater of the church into being a loving leader of God’s
people. When someone comes boasting
about a great spiritual experience, measure that by how it points to Jesus and
if it makes them more loving. When someone
comes with a ‘deep teaching’ remember that they only deep teaching that we want
is one that spells out the implications of what Jesus did at Calvary.
You never move beyond the cross. You only move deeper into it. The Christian is to live a cross
centered-life. Don’t get caught up in
speculations and debatable issues (2 Tim. 2:23 and Tit. 3:9). Rather think about how the cross should
impact our everyday lives. When Paul
teaches on marriage he thinks in terms of the cross and says that should love
their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her (Eph. 5:25).
When he speaks about the coming of the
future anti-Christ he tells the Thessalonians to hold fast to the teachings
that I have passed on to you, which must be the message of the cross (2 Thess.
2:15). When the apostle John wants to
define love, he points to Jesus on the cross (1 J. 3:16). True spirituality goes deep into the cross.
True spirituality puts love
over giftedness
Like many super-spiritual people, there were those in
Corinth who believed that they were better than others because they had more impressive
spiritual gifts. In particular there was
debate concerning the gift of tongues.
There were also those who looked down their noses at tongues-speakers,
and Paul has to tell them not to forbid speaking in tongues (1 Cor.
14:39).
While super-spiritual people often find it hard to
love those in the church fellowship, the apostle Paul speaks of our giftings in
terms of being a part of one body. Those
with seemingly impressive gifts should never look down on those with seemingly
humble gifts, as if they did not need them (1 Cor. 12:21) and we should value
those whose gifts seem humble and ordinary (1 Cor. 12:23). God gives us different giftings not so that
we can think that we are better than each other, but so that we can build each
other up (1 Cor. 12:7). One friend told
me about her brother who wouldn’t go to church for seven years because he could
not find one good enough for him.
However, there really is no place in the apostle Paul’s teaching for a
Christian who is not intimately involved in a local church body.
It is in the middle of addressing the issue of
spiritual gifts that we get Paul’s wonderful teaching on love (1 Cor. 13), for
no matter how great your gifting may be, if you have not love you are nothing.
True spirituality gets the
relationship between sin and grace
There was a man in the church of Corinth who was
sleeping with his step-mother, and yet some of the Corinthians were proud about
this (1 Cor. 5:2). They seem to think it
shows how free they are. Paul warns them
that people who live a lifestyle of unrepentant sin will not inherit the
kingdom of God (1 Cor. 5:10). If you
think that sin does not matter, then you are not really a Christian.
They are to discipline this man, in love. The hope is that he will come to his senses
and repent (1 Cor. 5:5). I am not sure
if it is this case that is being picked up in 2 Corinthians. But in that letter tells them that when a
person has repented, the Corinthians are to reaffirm their love for the person
and comfort them so that they will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow for
what they have done (2 Cor. 2:7).
Do you see that we are to treat the person who
stubbornly refuses to address their sin, completely differently from those who
have fallen and need to be restored?
Church will be messy.
Also, notice that he leaves judgement of the world to
God. ‘What business is it of mine to
judge those outside the church? (1 Cor. 5:12).
If someone wants to join us for our meetings yet there are not lived
under the rule of Christ, it is not our place to worry about that. We are not trying to get people simply to
conform to an outward morality. Indeed,
as they join us, the words that are spoken might actually convict them of their
need of Christ and they may come to worship Jesus (1 Cor. 14:25).
A lot of the problems for the Corinthians were based
around a belief that the body was unspiritual.
They thought that our bodies don’t matter, so what harm if you sleep
with a temple prostitute. But our bodies
are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19).
There were others who thought that their bodies were evil and so sought
to deny it of all pleasure, including refusing to sleep with their spouses (see
1 Cor. 7:1). Paul has no place for such
false spirituality that divorces itself from commitments to love.
True spirituality gets the now
and not yet
Some of these Corinthians were saying that there was
no resurrection of the dead for the Christian to look forward to (1 Cor.
15:12). If there is no resurrection of
the dead than everything we are going to receive in the Christian life, we will
receive in this life. But Paul teaches
that there is a wonderful resurrection body to look forward to when Jesus
returns.
True spirituality realizes the difference between the
now and the not yet of the Christian life. Now we are as forgiven as we will be
in heaven, for there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
(Rom. 8:1). Now we are as secure in
Jesus as we will be in heaven for Christ will sustain us to the end (1 Cor.
1:8). But now we have bodies that are
decaying, but when Christ returns we shall receive bodies that are imperishable
(1 Cor. 15:42).
You will hear super-spiritual teachers on television
and the internet that will tell you that it is never God’s will for you to pass
through times of sickness. That was not
Paul’s experience (e.g. Gal. 4:13). We
shall all die, if Christ does not come in our lifetime. Yes, there are times when God graciously
steps in and heals. But these are
first-fruits of what is to come. Truly spiritual
people are aware that in this life it will be hard. They seek to grow through these difficulties
(Rom. 5:1-5).
There was a young Australian coupe who had three
boys. But the wife was diagnosed with
cancer. They prayed for healing and did
have a reprieve, but then the cancer returned.
The wife explained to one of their friends, ‘I would have thought that
it would be best for Bruce [her husband] and the boys, that it would be better
if I was healed. But if I am not healed
I believe that God knows that must be best.’
Some super-spiritual people would criticize her for not believing she
will necessarily be healed, but I see true faith in her words.
A woman in Australia marveled at her neighbor who
struggled with crippling arthritis. She
wanted to know what was the secret to her neighbor’s ability to suffer
well. So, she started to go to that
neighbor’s church. She came to know
Christ in that place, as did her son, who incidentally happens to be a leading
Bible commentator. The Christian with
arthritis may not have known why she was suffering, but she suffered well, and
God used that for good.
Conclusion
Finally, we can learn something about true
spirituality by the way that the apostle Paul uses the word spiritual in this
letter. ‘Spiritual’ (along with wisdom,
knowledge and power) is the fourth buzz word that Paul uses again and again to
make his point.
In chapter 2, Paul talks about interpreting spiritual
truths to those who are spiritual (1 Cor. 2:13). This is in the context of his teaching on the
cross. True spirituality is seen in our
love for the message of Christ-crucified.
In chapter 3, he says that he can not address them as
spiritual people (1 Cor. 3:1). Because
there was jealousy and strife among them.
Truly spiritual people are humble and loving towards other Christians. They are not divisive, pushy and arrogant.
In chapter 14, he says that anyone who is spiritual
will acknowledge the things that he is writing are a command of the Lord (1
Cor. 14:37). The apostle Paul wrote was
aware that he was writing with apostolic authority. Truly spiritual people submit to the teaching
of the Bible. I once heard the wife of a
liberal minister say that she liked it when a preacher would close the Bible
before he spoke because it showed that he was enlightened. I have heard people downgrade Paul’s
authority by saying that we need to interpret Paul through Jesus not Jesus
through Paul. That assumes that they
disagree with each other. If the Holy
spirit inspired Pauls’ writings then the cannot disagree with what Jesus taught. We don’t understand the teaching of Paul or
Jesus if we cannot see that they are in harmony.
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