In the Middle?

  In the Middle Midst

Rick Warren’s Statement about the crucifixion has a bunch of Christians fired up in controversial responses.

What did he say?

If you’re looking for the real Jesus, not a caricature disfigured by partisan motivations, you’ll find him in the middle, not on either side.

I think he was right on target and off by a hundred miles, but this is what most of the so-called engaged Christians are talking about.

Who?  It’s sort of the equivalent of the Facebook warriors that emerge with each news story. You know, the Chinese balloon experts, the firearms experts, the gender and transgender experts, and whatever the topic of the day is experts.

I think the context here was probably political (right and left) or sexual orientation (straight or gay). What I think Warren was saying was that Jesus wasn’t choosing sides.

He referenced Jesus on the cross between two thieves.  That’s how the hubbub started.

The Saddleback pastor hit the mark but scored an 8 out of 10 in the bullseye. I suggest using the word "midst" instead of "middle."

Jesus is in our midst. He is among saints and sinners. There is no need to decide to whom he stands closer or closest. He is all around us.

We believe in God and that Jesus was God in the flesh. He walked this earth and still calls the crown of his creation to follow him.

How can you come for the sick if you won’t make some house calls? Jesus was in the midst of sinners because that was his mission.

He talked with sinners. He ate with sinners. He rebuked the self-righteous in the presence of sinners.

OBTW—all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Jesus came to heal the sick—the ultimate healing.

I also get the opposition to his statement because of the word “middle.”  Placing Jesus closer to one person or one group or cause, even if it’s the middle, just seems a bit off.

What do we do?  We are Cumberland Presbyterians, known for our grace. Known for calling whosoever to repent and believe. We are the frontier church that said the covered wagons are outrunning the word of God.

We are also a denomination considered to have a median theology. As that sounds, we are in the middle, and with good reason.

We teach, train, and make disciples from the center.  What’s that?  The undisputable stuff.

We believe in the Trinity:  Father, Son, and Spirit. It’s the second item in our Confession of Faith, but we had the good sense not to codify what each part of the Trinity does. God has three biblical manifestations: Father, Son, and Spirit. That’s the deal.

How each works is left to our biblical studies and the exhortations of someone standing behind or near a pulpit. We should have a heart to explore these.

We believe in God’s love for humankind, that he is always working—even though he modeled for us a Sabbath, and that mercy and grace are his trademarks.

We believe that God is love.

Now, we may vary somewhat in our baptisms. Immersion, pouring, and sprinkling are all just fine. We are not going to strain any gnats here.

We know that the Spirit of God is doing the work. The real victory in the water baptism is the believer's obedience to God.

We have a fair understanding of disputable matters. What are those?

These are the things on the periphery, not central to salvation, but we should explore them with abandon.

This brings us to James Hendrix. I loved James, and I love you guys, too, but James and I were kindred spirits. We like to explore the edges without fear of our beliefs being challenged.

I don’t advise this if you are early in your faith. Eat a lot of spiritual meat for a while before taking on these morsels.

Don’t ignore them. Just don’t make them central.  There is good stuff along the perimeter; we can dig into it without fear because we are grounded in what is central and essential.

Let's press on with what we know so well and explore with great expectations those we do not, bringing glory to God all the way.

Amen.

 

 

Give Him the Boot!

 Read 1 Corinthians 5

I love this quote. Courage is knowing this is probably going to hurt but doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. That’s why life is hard.

It is by Jeremy Goldberg, or at least, it is attributed to him. I don’t follow this guy, but this quote popped up in some search I was doing, so I checked him out. He seems to be a good person with good intentions: My mission is to make kindness cool, empathy popular, and compassion commonplace.

Why is the preacher delving into this secular stuff?  I thought you told us to trust God!

God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. We are to use our sound minds.

One of the things our Bibles tell us is to no longer conform to the patterns of this world but to be transformed by renewing our minds. I like to examine thinking and logic. I look for logical fallacies when I encounter a new thought or approach.

If it holds up through that, then I see how it aligns with scripture. If it doesn’t, I’m through with it for the most part. Sometimes, I feel the need to confront if it looks like it’s leading Christians to wickedness.

With my retirement from this pastorate on the near horizon, I have thought about what might be next for me in ordained ministry. Perhaps it will be a season for confronting this wickedness. If I believe it will produce a good return, then look out.

Back to my quote. Courage is knowing this is probably going to hurt but doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. That’s why life is hard.

What in life is hard?  Paying bills? That’s not a lot of fun, but it's not that difficult. Budgeting so we can pay our bills is more complex, and many succumb to stress or anxiety.

What in life is hard? Reading my Bible?  Reading is not that difficult. Surrendering to God, trusting him over our own understanding, and putting his words into practice is sometimes difficult.

What in life is hard? For some my age, remembering why I walked into this room can be challenging. I remember the law of cosine from high school. I never needed it once but I remember it. And for those who don’t know this law, it has nothing to do with getting mom or dad to sign a car loan with you.

But why am I in this room?

Let’s get down to the rat killing. This is difficult in local church bodies. Telling someone who is practicing wickedness without remorse the need to confess his or her sin and fix this.

That’s tough, especially when we anchor ourselves to the verses about not judging. But sometimes, something has to be said or done, not in condemnation but in love.

Somebody needs to say, “That dog don’t hunt,” and do it in love.

Locally, we have dealt with this once in this century when close family members displayed romantic practices in the worship service. This was the early service, so most were unaware. We love children coming into the church building; we just don’t want to conceive them there.

The session met and dealt with it and the family kept coming.

But somebody had to talk with them.

It was a challenging matter to address, but we did it and kept the believers in the body. Often, people converse with their feet and stop coming.

What exactly did Paul tell the church in Corinth to do?  Kick a guy out. Why?

He was sleeping with his father’s wife. Most think that this was his stepmother or possibly there was plural marriage, and this was a wife who was not mother to the man in question.

It could have been a trophy wife. In the spirit of full disclosure, I will tell you that I am a trophy husband. It’s a participation trophy, but a trophy nonetheless.

I will have to figure out how to take that one with me when it’s my time. You all don’t like my singing voice, but I’m doing the song.

…and my trophies at last I lay down.

Corinth was in Greece, but this was not an episode of Oedipus the King by Sophocles.

We are most likely talking about a stepmother. Paul noted that even the pagans don’t put up with that!

So, Paul told them to boot this guy out of the fellowship of believers. If he wants to be a pagan so much, give him what he wants and have nothing to do with him.

That doesn’t only mean that he can’t come to the worship service and Bible study. Don’t go to lunch with him. Don’t connect on social media. Don’t go over to his house.

How mean!

No!  Let’s go with how merciful. Why did Paul say to do this? Do this so that his soul might be saved on the Day of the Lord.

What?

Give him the boot so his flesh may be destroyed, and he will be saved.

What?

We need to understand the Greek word for flesh. It is sarx.  Here are the typical translations. This is from Strongs (4561).

- The physical body or human nature (e.g., John 1:14, "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us").

- Human nature in its frailty and susceptibility to sin (e.g., Romans 7:18, "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh").

- The sinful nature or the aspect of humanity that is opposed to the Spirit (e.g., Galatians 5:17, "For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit").

I want to give you all three if you want to dig down more, but I think in this case Paul is talking about what is opposed to the Spirit of God.

Why does it matter?

I think you will find that we all fall short. We give into our human nature.

But we do not all take up arms against the Lord. We don’t all oppose him.  Understand, I am talking Christians here.

Paul noted that he wasn’t going down the rabbit trails of what the pagans do. That’s between them and God.

Paul was writing to those who have declared JESUS IS LORD!

Paul was talking to those commissioned to make disciples, baptize, and teach.

Paul was talking to the body of Christ.

Paul was talking to those who should have spoken the truth in love to this man instead of boasting about it. Yes, it seems that the congregation was having a little lockerroom banter about this, bragging, if you will.

The ability to speak the truth in a spirit of love is one mark of growth and maturity in believers.

How does any of this apply to our lives?

·       We got through our chapter for the week. Let’s go with that.

·       Consider our sinful nature that rebels against God and wickedness, which actively fights against the Spirit of God. Now dig down.

·       When it is the sinful nature at work in our brothers and sisters, pray for them, encourage them, walk with them, challenge them, support them, have fellowship with them, and love them as your own.

·       When it is wickedness, stand firm in opposition. Be strong. Hold your ground.

The good news is that most of the time, we work on our own failings, pray for and encourage others as they do the same, and fellowship with others who are also failing—there are many of us.

But we don't give an inch when it is time to hold our ground. When we are up against wickedness, we might be mistaken for mean people, but we won’t budge

So, what do we do here?

Let’s scour the ranks of the congregation for wickedness and run it out of town. Let’s leave no stone unturned. Let’s be like Saul heading to Damascus.

Or not. Wickedness usually rears its head all by itself. We don’t need to launch a purge. We don’t need to be on a mission to kick people out of this congregation.

We all fall short. We are not all in league with the devil.  When wickedness comes, we hold our ground.

So, as far as wickedness goes, we don’t need to do anything most of the time? Are you letting us off that easily? Really?

Yes, we can kick people out of the body, but we have plenty to do working on ourselves most of the time. Do you remember commit, learn, and grow? We are working on ourselves, knowing that we will reach our destination because God said he would finish this work.

Does anyone remember make disciples, baptize, and teach? That’s what we do.

It is 2025, so I get a new quota for my military analogies.  Here it is.

We, the body of Christ, are the active duty forces. We are always on alert. We are growing nearer to God and making disciples while still working on ourselves.

We are also the reserve forces. We respond when called. We battle evil and wickedness when they try to penetrate our lines.

How do we discern the two? I’m going to use a phrase from a fairly well-known case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States regarding hard-core pornography. Potter White wrote in a concurring opinion, “I know it when I see it.”

 

As far as wickedness goes, if we stay tuned in, connected to, and engaged with the Spirit of God, we will know evil and wickedness when we see it.

Most of the time, we work on ourselves. Those within the family of faith should know fellowship and deny it entirely to those set against the Spirit of God—those who have declared war against God by their words and deeds.

Anything else aids and comforts the enemy. The common term for that is treason.

This whole chapter speaks of God’s mercy, even the expulsion and cold shoulder approach to the one allied with the enemy.

For those in the body, commit, learn, and grow in God’s grace as we make disciples, baptize, and teach.

Life can be tough, but it doesn’t have to consume us. We are on call to defend this body. We are always working on ourselves and sharing the good news with others.

Some of you might still want to do a purge. I get that, and I am willing to go along with it, well, with one condition. What condition?

For every person you want to kick out, bring in 12 more who are just as bad or worse. What? They will take over.

In a secular organization, you would be correct. But we have not had a chance to share the gospel with these new folks we call wicked.

We have not talked with them about the love of God that we know so well.

We have not read the Bible with them and dug deep for understanding that can be implemented.

If they hold fast to the flesh—to the point they are at war with God’s spirit—kick them out as well.

But let’s do what we are commissioned to do before giving them the boot.

Let me put it this way. If we are hunting down evil and wickedness so we can kick it out, how are we keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus?

We will stand and hold our ground when it’s time to fight evil in our midst, but that is not number one on our list of priorities.

·       Love God. Love one another.

·       Commit, learn, grow.

·       Make disciples, baptize, teach.

We are always ready to fight evil, but God gave us higher priorities for most of the time.

For today, eyes fixed on Jesus and growing in our discipleship will be enough.

Amen.

I don't even judge myself!

 Read 1 Corinthians 4

Paul said that he didn’t even judge himself.  That’s a statement right there!

I don’t even judge myself.

That’s Paul. Surely that’s not for us. Is it?

Realize that Paul explained that people are not qualified to judge others. Our human nature kicks in, and we condemn more than we discern.

You might be thinking, I get judged yearly on my performance evaluation. I hope not. I hope that it measures value. Judgment or discernment is involved in the evaluation process. We judge or assess the amount, number, or value of something.

We are not venturing any further into performance evaluations. Let’s focus on judging, specifically Paul's comment about not judging himself.

Among the tougher jobs that I had as a Marine officer was as a Summary Court. Yes, one individual can be assigned as the whole court.

In the court, I was the prosecutor, defendant’s counsel, clerk, and judge. I did get a Marine to serve as bailiff to get other witnesses, evidence, or coffee. It sounds easy enough—you do the whole thing.

You think it would be easy. You only have to sort things out for yourself. You are missing out if that’s what you believe. You don’t know the joy of objecting to your own questions. It does get you ready for marriage, though. So much for the rabbit trail.

The hardest part was getting the defendants to say something good about themselves. These young Marines knew they screwed up and were ready to pay the price. But as their legal counsel, you wanted to put their best side forward, even if you had to pull it out of them.

I say all of this to make a simple point. We are not prepared to judge another person. Our courts do the best they can, but what about the believer and his or her relationship with God? What about us?

Shouldn’t we judge ourselves? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a practice test? Don’t you want to know where you stand with the Lord?

Yes, you are forgiven, but what have you done with your life since you were forgiven and saved?  Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. I get that. It’s all him.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see where we stand before we stand before the Lord?

We can. We have a judge available to us all the time. It’s like an app. The word of God judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Paul didn’t need the approval of the Corinthians or Ephesians or even the Hebrew people.  God alone would judge him and if he wanted to know where he stood, he could consult God’s word, which Paul knew so well.

So today, I say:

·       Don’t be subject to what others think of you. That’s outside of your purview.

·       Don’t decide based on how others might react. Just do the right thing.

·       Do what your Master tells you to do. Its right there in black and white. Some of it might be in red.

·       Don’t judge yourself. Be receptive to what God’s word says about you, but don’t get wrapped up in others' judgment of you.

·       Don’t beat yourself up. None of you surprised God when you fell short. I might be the only one who surprised him with how far outside the lines I was coloring.

Do those and you will have a humble confidence. You will also have someone who is always upset with you.

Elsewhere, Paul noted that one should get along with everyone as much as possible. If one does not get along with someone, one should make sure it is not the Lord that one offends.

Let the word of God be your judge. Focus on practicing the Lord’s words, learning from him, and pouring yourself into your discipleship.

Amen.

We are not there yet, but will be...

 Read 1 Corinthians 4

Imagine walking into a worship service where the music is loud, voices of praise to God are louder, and hands are raised. Amens and hallelujahs abound.

People at this worship service are motivated to worship God. They are motivated.                   

We Cumberlands are just fine raising our hands or sitting on them.

We are balanced. By that, I mean that people are equally bored with the sermon and the hymn selections.

Sometimes, I wish we were as visibly excited about worshiping God as we are about our sports teams. Can’t we get motivated?

I like motivation. I like enthusiasm. I love getting pumped up about something.

But it is our commitment that gets us to the goal, our commitment to press on, and our commitment that gets us through the lows.

It is commitment that stays the course.

In the adult Sunday school class, we often ask when we were closest to God. The most common answer is in our lows, our trials, or our suffering.  That’s not my answer.

I feel closest to God when I am bringing glory to his name. When is that?

When I commit to take his yoke.

When I commit to learn from him.

When I commit to put his words into practice.

When I commit to this relationship: JESUS IS LORD.

Motivation is wonderful. Everyone should get a good Motofix now and then. One of the cool things about preaching is that you get to make up your own words. It’s in the dictionary.  Ok, it’s my dictionary on the computer, and it gives me the option to add to the dictionary.

Commitment gets you to the endzone.  I like my metaphors freshly out of season.

Commitment gets you to the finish line.

Commitment is essential to growth.

Let’s get to the letter. Paul was a writer. He wrote about half of the New Testament over just under 20 years.

I think that Paul got paid by the word. They were good words. His stuff is still on best-seller lists.

He was an apostle, a pharisee, a Hebrew, and a Roman citizen, but make no mistake: Paul had significant mastery of at least one language. He used it to communicate with believers far away.

Paul was excited to have planted this church. He saw many gifts in these people, but he also saw problems and difficulties of many sorts. There were lingering pagan practices, little communion among believers, and fellowship fell short.

There were things to work on, but Paul was in Ephesus.

Camps were being formed as to who followed whom.  These folks needed a visit or at least a good letter.  The letter would have to suffice for now.

You think Paul could have just uploaded a TED talk. I would have liked to have heard this TED talk. It might have contained a little hyperbole.

You Corinthians have finished the race in record time. You have received your Victor’s Crown and are reigning.

Wow! How I wish I had your insight and knowledge of God. If we, who are apostles, could only catch the idiom of what you are doing, we would have it made.

As it is, we still struggle. We often live at the poverty level. Sometimes we are well received, but we still get beaten and run out of town from time to time.

This is the race God has set us upon. Why?

So many may come to know the love of God through Christ Jesus. So some could be saved.

Paul challenged this body of believers to answer a simple question: Are you really there yet? Has everything been fulfilled already?

Are we on some sort of self-actualization high?

Are you really there, yet?

This is Paul’s style of saying the more you know, the more you need to know—the more you realize, we have miles to go.  There is a whole bunch beyond your immediate knowledge that applies when Jesus is your Lord.

The secular concept here is called the Dunning-Krueger Effect. It was first defined in this information age ad got a name at the turn of the last century, but I suspect a rose by any other name has always been with us.

How do you display confidence when you don’t know diddly? You act like you do know it all. You believe you have arrived at your destination and nothing is left to learn. Only after some epiphany can growth genuinely occur.

And that revelation often comes with a considerable humility price tag. Do you know what it’s like to know everything—or at least think that you do—only to discover you have miles and miles to go to comprehend mercy and grace?

When Paul noted that he and some who traveled with him were treated like the dregs of the earth, I don’t think he was complaining.

Remember back to Acts 9, God told Ananias that he would show Paul how much he would suffer for the name of the Lord. Paul knew the calling he had accepted.

Paul was not complaining. As we read more in this letter, we will see him explain that we all have our part in the body of Christ. We each have gifts, some the same, others not.

Paul flips what could have continued as division. You don’t have to choose between Paul and Apollos. The Lord gave both roles, tasks, gifts, and authority.

You need only follow Jesus. God alone will judge whether you used your gifts and talents well or capriciously. God alone will judge.

Paul noted that only God would judge him, not Romans, Greeks, or believers in Corinth.   

We should all do what God has called us and gifted us to do, but we must all realize that we are not there yet. We deceive ourselves when we think we are.

We may have arrived in some areas, or we are getting close.

Our beliefs may be solid, but on rare occasions, we may wrestle with doubt. Life can be tough, and times can be tougher than we thought we could handle. With God, we get through them, but we might struggle.

Perhaps we forgive easily, but is there a person or two that don’t make the forgiveness cut? In your mind, was their trespass unforgivable? Was it so much that you would mock God by disobeying him? He gave very stern warnings at the end of the Lord’s prayer.

Perhaps you are a prayer warrior. You pray without ceasing, but do your prayers spend nearly enough time on thanksgiving? Are we truly living a thankful life every day or just on occasion?

Do you listen? Can you wait patiently upon the Lord? Can we truly trust God?

Perhaps none of us are there yet.

Paul noted that he would instead work on this now via correspondence, hoping not to have to show up ready to chew out these new believers who were only slightly removed from paganism. He wanted it to be a joyful reunion when he returned to Corinth.

We will discuss this whole new creation business further, but for now, remember that you are still a work in progress. We don’t boast in ourselves that we have done so much.

We seek to humbly walk with our Lord, knowing with certainty that he will complete the work he began in us. We are not there yet but, on our way, and assured of our destination.

We will have ups and downs, highs and lows, but we must continually grow.

So, what does that look like?

·       Be encouraged but not satisfied.

·       Be confident but not complacent or boastful

·       Be self-correcting without feeling that it’s all on us.

·       Endure your trials and even suffering, knowing that God will use your circumstances for some sort of good.

Here’s one:  Walk humbly with your God who loves you more than you understand. Let’s keep going.

·       Be humble in your salvation.

·       Receive correction.

·       Do what God has called and equipped you to do.

·       Take his yoke.

·       Learn from him.

·       Put his words into practice

Those should sound familiar. Of course, there are other things to help us bring glory to God, but for now, let’s take our lesson from Paul’s letter and work on these things.

We do not do it because Paul will visit us if we don’t.

It is not because Paul will send us a letter. He already has. He sent this one to Corinth first.

We do it because we will all stand before God, and we want to hear "well done, good and faithful servant."

That’s not a conditional statement. We will all stand before God!

Let’s do our best to live humbly now, seek growth, and enjoy what God has in store for his faithful servants.

Let’s do our best to let the word of God judge the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

We know we are not there yet.  Today, I ask—it’s a big ask—to commit everything to the Lord.

Commit, learn, and grow, for we are not there yet, but we surely belong to him.

Commit.

Amen

You are a Temple

 Read 1 Corinthians 3

 A local farmer had a situation and asked if I could help. I said, maybe…

I’ve got this small load from cleaning out the stables but I have to use the trailer to move my mother-in-law’s classic white sofa across town right now. I just need a place to park my load. Could I use your fellowship hall?

So, beginning tomorrow, watch your step in the fellowship hall. But on a high note, the youth group might get a $20 donation for camp.

It will be fine.

There’s a group that wanted to do an art display in the church building. They wanted to feature artistic and educational material on the 247 genders.

The session will probably have to vote on that one.

We don’t have the vaulted ceiling of sanctuaries of old, so I was thinking of cutting a big hole one each side of the sanctuary and making two skylights. We will cut the holes in them this year and make some glass coverings for them next year.

We might get a little snow, hail, rain, leaves, or stray cotton bolls until we make the window coverings, but it will work out.

Some of you are wondering what this has to do with Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth. Others are thinking, are we going to do that show-of-hands thing about who read their chapter?

What is the connection?

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?  If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

So now, Tom says, DON’T DO DRUGS. That would be fitting.

Or, don’t eat so much processed food. Be careful choosing what you consume. Some junk is masquerading as food is out there, so look out.

How about what we see? Be careful, little eyes, what we see.

How many sets of eyes here are glued to your phone's screen for hours each day? Visual stimulation is powerful. I remember coming into the Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, California, after 10 days in the field.

I was in a group of about 100 Marine officers. We came into the theater and sat on a real seat for the first time in a couple of weeks. As we waited for the commanding officer of the training center to come to say a few words to us, a lance corporal turned on the two big-screen televisions. Instantly, the whole audience was immersed in MTV.

We sat there and were mesmerized by it. Marine officers typically do not spend their time with MTV and music videos, but we were glued to the images on the screens. Images are powerful.

If you have lived long enough, you have some imagery in your mind that will never go away. I hope it’s not all traumatic.  

An image of Jesus embracing you in heaven would be a good thing to have stuck in your mind.  Maybe the image of the cross would be a good one to protect from being deleted in your mind’s next update.

And what we hear is as powerful and sometimes more subtle than we realize.

Who wants a Coke? What kind?

Dr. Pepper.

We can argue for days over whether it’s soda or pop or a soft drink or something else but the Coca Cola Company already did a job on us decades ago. Who wants a Coke?

Our bodies are temples. God calls us out of the world, sets us apart, makes us holy, and then sends us back into the world to share his love and good news.

Our very being is to be a holy place. We need to be careful about what comes in to this holy place. Elsewhere, we will read to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. The same applies here.

And we must pay attention to what we hear, not just what’s up front and obvious but the background conversation or music. Is it wholesome? Is is beneficial?

And what we eat and drink and otherwise consume for whatever reason is on the list.

Our bodies are not our own. They were bought with a price. They are now God’s temples and we are to keep them holy.

Amen.

 

What are we eating? What are we making?

 Read 1 Corinthians 3

I recently discovered that the Apostle Paul and I have something in common—not just this whole Christ, love, and making disciples thing, but something else.

Neither Paul nor I know any Taylor Swift songs. I’m good with that. Just thought you should know.

During high school, I lived on a farm about 5 miles east of Mangum, Oklahoma. Last year, I attended my 50th alumni reunion. I was shocked to find out that I was the same age as old people.

It was good to see those old people. A fourth of us didn’t get the chance to grow old, and we are fewer now.

Back to those high school days. I lived with my family (I let them live there, too. I was generous like that.) in a granite house. The granite blocks that made up the house weighed between 300 and 400 pounds.

If the Soviet Army had invaded Oklahoma in the 1970s, we could have withstood all of their tanks and artillery. This house was built.

On a side note, granite might be the worst insulator in the world. This old place had a fireplace on each end and a couple of gas heaters. I don’t know how efficient the fireplaces were, but I was warm all winter.

That was mostly because I was the woodchopper.

So there was my granite house, our propane tank off to the side, our storm cellar (which my mother didn’t like to go in. I didn’t care much for it either, so I would go stand outside to watch the tornados go by) and wood lined up all across the south side of the house.

Oh, and there was this foundation. I don’t know what it was supposed to support. It was at least 75 years newer than the house.

It wasn’t a solid foundation. It was one of those that just outlined the area. I have always been inquisitive and a little creative, maybe., I would wonder what might have been. What changed?

Why had nobody built upon this foundation?

It was like I had social media in my head in the 70s. I had plenty of opinions and theories but not many facts.

Why had nobody built upon this foundation?

Paul wrote to the church in Corinth and asked:

Why had nobody built upon this foundation?

Paul noted that he gave them the only foundation that they needed. Why hadn’t they built on it? How could Paul say this?

The church still had divisions. I follow Paul. I follow Apollos. I follow Peter. Really? There was quarreling and jealousy. 

Paul noted that he fed them milk when he was with this church body. They couldn’t handle more. Now, he chastises them and adds, "It appears you are still on the milk."

How many people are we talking about here? The best guesses are between 40 and 150 people. That sounds like us.

It was as if Paul was scratching his head, staring at the foundation in the sand by the old farmhouse that I knew over half a century ago. There was so much potential, but human nature kicked in.

What foundation had Paul laid? What foundation are we discussing?

Christ.

Christ alone.

Nothing other than Christ.

God included everyone in salvation. Christ died for all, but the path to receiving salvation narrows. It is by Christ alone.

This whole one true God thing was new to the Gentiles. If they wanted a god, they just made one or one-click ordered one on Amazon. They mighty save five to fifteen percent if they subscribe.

This whole Son of God thing was a stumbling block to the Jews. Remember, the Synagogue didn’t want anything to do with Paul. Christ complicated their lives.

Christ revealed the magnitude of God’s love for all. For all!

Christ surpassed the Law—the law that had governed for so long.

Christ Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe.

He is the Good Shepherd.

He is full of mercy and grace, just like his Dad.

We know this, but have we done any better than Corinth? Comparing details is hard. Who joined? Who died? Who professed their faith?

OK, so why make the comparison?  To ask this question to our believers in 2025.

Has anyone built on this foundation?  What have we done with the good news of life in Jesus Christ?

The church in Corinth liked Bon Jovi. Whoa, I’m halfway there. Whoa, living on a prayer.

Paul was thinking we should be farther along by now.

In 2025, we will produce annual reports to make something tangible for our church bodies and help us understand what’s happening. Maybe it helps. Maybe it’s just a placebo.

Numbers are easy, sort of. But are we on milk or meat? Are we growing in grace? Are we hungry for the things of God?

Are we who believe still encumbered by the things of this world? I’m not talking about paying the mortgage or making sure the kids do their homework and update your phone before they go to bed.

Are we weighted down, laden, burdened by hate, anger, bitterness, self-righteousness, lust, greed, jealousy, coveting, excess comfort, and others I have not named?

The Jews and the Gentiles were alike in one way. They loved their comfort zones. The law for the Jews and false gods, idolatry, and so many unspiritual things for the Gentiles.

They knew these things. They were comfortable with these things. This whole Christ business disrupted comfort zones among Jews and Gentiles alike.

So I ask, what comfort zones we tolerate that Christ would abhor? What comfort zones do we have that would make us like the church in Laodicea?  What would make Christ want to vomit us out?

What are we holding on to that we should let go of or cast off?

Procrastinating. Plenty of high-priority things deserve high-priority effort in the here and now. 

Any procrastinators?

Fatalism. The whole, for what it’s worth, it just doesn’t matter, or it ain’t nothing but a thing sort of thinking is what we are talking about.

Any negative thinkers here?

There’s probably a level down from the fatalists. It’s the worrier. It’s always presuming the worst-case scenario. Let’s not sugarcoat it. It’s fear or fear-based

Are there any comfort lovers? Growth lies outside our comfort zones.  Our comfort zones should be labeled “Growing.” We are growing.

Here is a comfort zone example: When we don’t agree on something, we say, “Let’s just agree to disagree.”

Agree to disagree sounds good if we are talking politics. I would love a sabbatical from talking heads talking politics.

But what if we are discussing scripture, putting those words into practice, and disagreeing? What should we do? We are believers. We don’t want to offend others. So, we:

Agree to disagree

What if we took the iron sharpens iron approach and dug down, drilled down, or just started searching for answers? What if, instead of fearing disagreement or argument, our differences motivated us to search for the answers, the truth?

Then, we are not defending our positions against each other. We are exploring God’s word together.

Why can’t we take this approach to politics as well? Too many people don’t want to spend time searching God’s word for answers.

The truth is if we are searching God’s word, we have our political answers as well.

Let’s take our disagreements as opportunities to dig deeper into God’s word. When you hear something in the message that you don’t agree with or disagree with, don’t you already search the scriptures?

I got this far in the year without any Marine Corps analogies.  That’s too long. Marines as well as soldiers are often taught in their boot camps never to answer a question with, “I don’t know.”

But what if they don’t know?  The answer is, “I do not know, but I will find out.” The recruit now has a mission.

Being a Berean is the cure for this part of the comfort zone. Search the scriptures! Still not of one accord, don’t retreat keep searching.

The theme here is what we are holding onto that we should discard.

Let’s get blame in there. We are so quick to blame. Surely, some situations require community awareness and action, but does everything that happens immediately feed the blame mill?

I remember driving my mother to appointments, reunions, and other things that took us a few hours away.  That meant that somewhere along the way the traffic would be backed up.

We would creep along for a while, and then she would point out a vehicle a quarter mile ahead of us and say, "That’s the guy holding up traffic."

“You see him?”

“Yeah, the white truck. I see him, and he is doing a fine job. He is also holding up traffic for at least a mile in front of him.”

My mother would break out her index finger and shake it at me when I would point that stuff out.  

I think blame helps us construct our own understanding. The remedy for giving so much effort to our own understanding is trusting God.

You might realize that these letters by Paul are letters not lesson plans. There is more in this chapter. We caught some of it at the early service, but for now, here is your charge, your challenge for this week.  Ask yourself:

Am I subsisting on spiritual milk or meat?

Am I learning from my Master?

Am I growing in this incredible grace that I know?

Am I building upon this foundation, which is Christ alone?

Am I known as the Lord’s disciple by my love?

What happens if I genuinely profess Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead? You will be saved.

But what if I don’t do anything else? You will be saved, but you will be as one escaping a burning building.

What does that mean? Your salvation was always assured in the blood of Jesus, but you have little to show for the sum of your life experience.

You are saved from sin and death but missing the abundant part of abundant life.

You escaped the flames of hell with only the singed clothes on your back and missed so much life.

Two questions from this chapter to consider.

Are we consuming spiritual milk or meat?

What have we built upon the foundation which is Christ?

What are we eating? What are we making?

Amen.