The Standard That Paul Set

 

I have been reading 2 Cor 12 & 13 today. There is a lot of correction for the Corinthian believers in the chapter. They had some serious issues at the church there and Paul had just spent several letters correcting them. In 12 and 13, he talks about the genuine test of faith - I have no idea what that is. However, he consistently says that the Corinthians should test themselves, and he talks about proof that He comes from God time and again. He talks for a long time on the struggles he has been through, the visions he has seen... He essentially sets a bar for the Corinthians and give them proof that they should be listening to him.

 

I negatively react to this type of preaching. If you start talking like this in a sermon, I automatically turn off, thinking you are insecure. But apparently there is a place for it in the Bible. And if there was a place for it in Paul's preaching, then there is a place for it in the preaching of today. What would that look like today?

 

Imagine if your church was planted by a humble average Joe pastor, but he left to plant another church and a younger, flashier pastor comes in and starts preaching and showing signs and wonders. Then the congregation begins thinking that the younger pastor is 1,000 times better than the founding pastor. Things are moving, ministries are starting all over the place... But there is a lot of sin in the church that isn't being dealt with. The older pastor returns for a visit and is grieved. He left a strong, small congregation. And while the congregation is larger than it was before, there are major issues with its foundations and sin abounds.

 

The congregation is surprised because they thought the older pastor would have been happy for the growth. At this point the older pastor starts reorganizing things and demonstrates that, he too, can do miracles and bring many people into the congregation; that keeping the congregation small wasn't out of weakness but out of choice for a holy and pure church.

 

This is where we would find Paul - the Corinthians thought he would be dazzled by the speaking in tongues and the many other miracles that were happening in their midst. But Paul was grieved because of the backbiting and bitterness, and lack of holiness that the church showed. He said that when he came, he would demonstrate the power of God, probably referring to miracles or speaking in tongues. And he said that he was grieved because many had lost their way.

Glory and Honor

God “Will Repay Each Person According To What They Have Done.” To Those Who By Persistence In Doing Good Seek Glory, Honor And Immortality, He Will Give Eternal Life. But For Those Who Are Self-Seeking And Who Reject The Truth And Follow Evil, There Will Be Wrath And Anger.  

-Romans 2:6-8

“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality” – to say I don’t hear this often is a bit of an understatement. I don’t think I’ve ever looked at this passage. I think at some level, my faith is strongly influenced by the Star Wars trilogy, for better or for worse. The good guys are not supposed to feel they are to be completely impartial. Glory and honor are a path to the dark side and to be avoided at all costs.

However, if our lives are here to glorify God, it means that at some level people will be praising our lives and by extension the God that called us to our lives. The early church was praised and everyone knew they worked miracles; however, it was still small because more people weren’t willing to pay the price of joining. But that doesn’t negate the fact that they knew where the life was. They knew without a doubt the early church spoke the truth.

Glory and honor. Stonings and shipwrecks. Overwhelming victory. Going hungry. Meeting with kings. Paul’s life was full of incredible duality; being honored and respected while being despised and persecuted. It’s something that is all over Romans and is potentially the defining aspect of the book.

Personally, I am much more comfortable with the persecution than the blessing; I am way more comfortable with correction than praise. My attitude has always been “nose to the grindstone – I’m just working for those words at the end of my life: well done, good and faithful servant” But the praises of God and others sometimes help to point in the right direction and get us through the hard times.

A couple days ago, I was on an airplane, near the back with many rows in front of me. I heard God tell me, “look at all those people. That’s the number you’ve given jobs to”. I started crying – it was a special moment; a moment I need to hold onto and keep.

 

Guidance of the Holy Spirit

 

Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithnia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas. Acts 16:6-10 (NLT)

 

Fascinating situation… Paul and Silas were sent on a missionary journey. They showed up in a location, and the Holy Spirit forbid them to go there. Now, I don’t know how this happened exactly but I believe it was spiritual in nature - the rest of Acts is pretty clear about physical barriers like “this wasn’t safe” or “our boat was destroyed” so I don’t think this was a situational impediment. Probably a check in the spirit or in prayer.

 

The other interesting thing is how loosely Luke (the author) plays around with the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus, using them almost interchangeably. This mirrors Acts 5 with Ananias and Saphira when it says in one place that they lied to the Holy Spirit, and in another they lied to God. It’s good indirect evidence for the trinity.

 

So here we have Paul and Silas sent by God to preach the gospel, stopped along the way from doing so. However, it wasn’t Satan impeding them but God. He gave an overall vision and then course correction along the way.

 

For me, this means I need to be ever more sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. When we are listening, we understand the course corrections immediately. We quickly understand that it’s God stopping us and we don’t automatically think it’s Satan. I wonder how often we pray for God to go against His own will!

Love is Having Difficult Conversations

Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. And do everything in love. -1 Corinthians 16:13-14

The thing that immediately hits me is that you need to be firm in your faith, courageous, and strong in order to love. It’s like the first part is preparing you for the second. Once you are grounded and strong, you can love more.

Love is risk. Love is having difficult conversations with people when they don’t want to hear it. Love is courageous because you don’t know if you’ll be loved back. You are sticking your emotions out there and don’t know if it will be returned.

As the boss, love is having those difficult conversations when the situation is small and before it gets out of hand and their job is on the line. I have to meet with a team member this week because he is showing too many signs of pride and isn’t getting along with the rest of the team. I don’t want to, but love is pointing out what I see now and giving him the opportunity to change rather than waiting for it to get bad enough to fire him.

As a ministry partner, love is standing in the gap and speaking the truth even when I don’t want to. To really show love, I have to stand up, against the other missionaries and on behalf of the Mozambicans. We have a train-wreck of a situation that’s about to happen with the school we are starting - there is a high possibility we’ll start in January with just 8 kids unless a massive shift happens in the core team’s thinking. I don’t want to fight the rest of the team, but in this situation, love looks like calling out the situation for what it is and fighting for the poorest before the problem metastasizes. Running away or staying silent is easy and it won’t work. What is difficult is prayerfully building relationships and finding what I can say to each person to make them realize the situation.

God, give me strength today. Teach me courage, for I want to show real love.

 

Faith

 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. -Hebrews 11:6

I think every big concept in Christianity can be simplified looking through the lenses of relationship. Many concepts that make no sense when looking doctrinally seem simple when applied to relationships. Jesus taught like that, constantly using imagery of fathers, sons, brides, bridegrooms, mothers etc. I think we in the west prefer Paul’s theology because it fits better with our way of thinking but the beauty of how Jesus taught is its universalness - it transcends culture because we all have fathers and mothers and brothers. Logic varies by location and mindset but there are always relationships, and in each other them God has baked in golden nuggets of truth.

“Without faith”... What would a relationship without faith look like? Where your spouse says something but because you don’t see it you don’t believe it? When they say “trust me” and you don’t? I would think you can make a corollary - “without faith, it’s impossible to please your spouse!”

You can just as easily tie trust in - trust is the unseen, the belief where faith is action based on that faith. When I say I’ll be home at 5:30, trust is Carla believing it and faith is her prepping dinner for then and telling the kids to wait by the gate. When she says she’ll pay the electric bill, trust is not worrying about it. If I don’t have trust, I still very much feel the weight of the unpaid electric bill until I have proof that it’s taken care of.

Faith gives us the ability to live in the future now. Like with the electric bill, I have the opportunity to live as if my concerns are already resolved and if God has already come through. Actually, thinking about this some of the more insane aspects of Pentecostal faith are starting to come into focus for me. The declaring something as if it already happened, for me, smacked of a lack of integrity and was used as such, saying you’re healed when you are clearly not. However, I can see the original sentiment before the doublespeak crept in.

What kind of things can I do today to show my faith in God? How can I act in complete confidence that God will do what He has promised?  

Lord, show me today my weaknesses and the places I don’t trust in you. Help my unbelief and guide me into a life of even more faith.

 

Galatians 6:1-3

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. - Galatians 6:1-3

I find these verses very interesting. We usually separate verse 1 from 2 and 3. “Share each other’s burdens” actually means helping one another out in their sins, not just lending a helping hand. And “importance” is said with the same backdrop.

What stops us from helping others, particularly those who have been struggling with the same sin for a long time? The same things Paul points to in verses 2 and 3, we don’t want to share the burden. They fell, it’s their job to get back up is the general sentiment. However, Paul is exhorting us; that is not how the body of Christ should work. We need to come alongside and raise them up. It’s not just their struggle; it’s ours. This is particularly important in dealing with believers with long-term addiction. If you’ve been using drugs for 15 years, you will rarely be changed overnight. Yes, it happens, but we should expect a long, dedicated fight for this person’s soul.

Verse 3 can be much more subtle. We don’t want to associate with "that kind of person;" we feel like it’s beneath us to do so; all the other members of the church don’t have this kind of problem, etc. What if the sins they have been overcome by is anger or gossip - social sins? Do we still have the same grace for them as other sins?

I can still remember one small group meeting where one of the guys admitted he was lazy. We had talked about sexual struggles and all these other problems but it felt like a whole new level when he confessed that. Because of the work ethic in Rolla, that was deeper and harder to deal with than sexual temptation! God still wanted to deal with it.