Come, Lord Jesus

 

Read 1 Corinthians 16

We have been studying Paul’s course on church business that was first introduced in Corinth about two millennia ago. Not.

We have been navigating some complex instructions that Paul was contracted to produce for the church in Corinth. Not.

We have been auditing the short course on Big Church Matters. No, we have not.

We have been reading a letter. We have been reading other people's mail. Once upon a time, letters such as these were shared or forwarded to another recipient. That was the nature of the age.

I remember a time when you didn’t read other people’s mail. That was just rude.

Today, it’s all out there for anyone and everyone. Our information is everywhere.

I’m not worried about the NSA and CIA getting my information. I can hear the exasperated cry from Big Brother: Enough Already!

Twenty centuries ago, a letter was a big deal. Now, information on everything and everybody is all around us.  I like the meme that says, “Don’t post your rant online and end it with Mind Your Own Business. I’m on Season 3, Episode 4 of your business.”

But a letter in Paul’s time was a big deal, but it was also a letter. It contained greetings and salutations. It might include a blessing in the salutation or a prayer within the text.  It had instructions. It had admonishments and affirmations. And it had a closing. Paul had to wrap this one up, so we get the laundry list of closing remarks.

It would be great if the offering we talked about for God’s people in Jerusalem would be completed when I got there. I gave you a model.

If I came now, it would be an ever-so-short stay, and I want to stay longer with you. Perhaps, I can spend the winter with you. Paul doesn’t say it, but I can hear him thinking now.

Winter in southern Greece or in frozen Thessalonica… That’s a tough one.

In the meantime, be nice when Timothy comes. He is doing the work of an evangelist and of the church of which Christ is the head. Play nice.

Apollos has his own schedule and I don’t seem to be able to influence it much, but don’t count him out.

 I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus arrived because they have supplied what was lacking from you—some encouragement.

I am being very effective right now. The saints here have taken this gospel to heart. You know the deal about inertia—a body in motion tends to stay in motion—and this one is moving at a good clip. You know the military adage—reinforce success.

How about strike while the iron is hot. And the iron is hot here.

I’ll get to you, but my main effort is here in Asia now. I sometimes wonder if this was a little subtle motivation for the church in Corinth. These guys here in Ephesus and the surrounding churches are on fire and I am adding fuel.  Sometimes such statements make people angry. Sometimes, they motivate people to do better.

Or it could have been a statement of fact with no other motive than to explain Paul’s travel plans.

OBTW—everyone here sends their greetings to you.

Greet one another with a holy kiss.

I really do care for you guys. As you can see, I wrote this last part myself—no scribe.

This is a letter. We are reading other people’s mail. We shouldn’t be ashamed. God wants us reading the letters in the huge text he gave us.

But let us be discerning. The letter goes all over the place. It’s all about Christ. Kick that bum out of the assembly. Here’s how you do the Lord’s Supper. Gifts are great. We each have at least one gift and one or more roles to play in the body of Christ. Quit coveting gifts and use the one God gave you.

Put this front and center—love. It all comes down to love. What God did for us was always rooted in love. Our response must be built upon love. Desire love above all else.

But it’s a letter. As the centuries passed, chapters and verses were added, but it is still a letter, and Paul wrapped it up with what we call chapter 16.

Let’s be discerning. If a letter can go all over the place, why not our lives? In fact, letters go all over the place because our lives go all over the place.

In this time, we desire to recognize, analyze, and divide, put subheads on topics, and make things fit into our worldly thinking patterns. There must be a box for everything, and everything must fit in a box.

Let me tell you something. Life doesn’t fit well in boxes. That doesn’t mean we don’t try to make it fit.

Our work life and our home life.

Our worldly life and our church life.

Our eyes on ourselves life, and our look out for others life.

·       Business and personal.

·       Faith and secular.

·       Home and away.

·       Prudent and hold my beer.

We have life, and that life comes from God. Abundant life is from God. Eternal life is from God. It’s all from God.

There is no such thing as a professional life and a private life. It’s life. We have different work and social circles, but we have one life. Yes, we have things that we leave at the office. That office can be well furnished, a clipboard on a production floor, or the North 40. Yes, we don’t share everything with everyone, but this heart-mind-soul-spirit-body combination we walk around in knows life, and for all that it is composed of, it’s one life.

The fact that school, VBS, summer baseball, Sunday worship, night shifts, lock-ins, board meetings, paying taxes, earning money to pay those taxes, and Taco Tuesday are in different colors on our calendars doesn’t mean we live other lives.

Sometimes it seems like it, but it shouldn’t. We have one life for all contexts.

People know us in different contexts, some more than one, but it’s the same me. It’s the same you.

We have a life. It’s not a secular life and a faith life. It’s life, and it is from God. So, let’s take something from the organization of Paul’s letter. Love and logistics, gifts of the Spirit and gifts to the poor, sticking to the gospel and sticking the one rebelling against God out in the cold, travails and travel plans all have a place in Paul’s letter.

Everything we do must be governed by our relationship with the one who loves us most. That’s God.

Yes, we have something for 2025 even in this First Century closing to Paul’s letter. It’s all life and once you know your purpose in life, it’s all just grist for the mill. Everything somehow contributes to living out your purpose.

Until then, it might seem like you are living two or three or a dozen different lives. Once you start living know him and make him known, things change. You have one life with many aspects that contribute to your God-given purpose.

Paul had one last thought as he closed.

Get off the fence. Be blessed or be cursed. There is no sugar coating here. You either love the Lord or you do not. While we preach the gospel everywhere we go, we don’t make concessions to gain and maintain people.

You love the Lord or you don’t.

Come, Lord Jesus!  Maranatha!  Come, Lord Jesus, come!

To live is Christ. To die is gain. We get that. We are in this for the long haul—however long God intends for us to share his good news.

But we who love the Lord long for his return. We long for the reconciliation to be complete and our Master to bring order to this disorder that governs our lives too much.

We don’t long to be right in our argument. Others can just be wrong.

We don’t long for getting the car paid off. Though those days without a car payment would be nice.

We don’t live for who won or lost the election. Some results seem better than others to us.

We don’t long for the good old days. We love to reminisce but don’t want to turn back time.

For those who love the Lord, we do long for his return. That doesn’t mean we halt our discipleship. No, we fan the flames of the Spirit that lives within us and live a life worthy of the calling that we have received, but we do long for the Lord’s return.

Live loving or hating the Lord, but know he is coming. Live your life knowing that Jesus is coming and that sitting on the fence of discipleship, not of salvation, for salvation is assured to those who truly believe and profess—but sitting on the fence of discipleship is sitting on the wrong side.

There is no middle ground. It’s all about him. Quit carving out parts of your life that belong to the world.

There is one God, and he loves us.

We have one life with many facets, but it is one life.

So, quit carving out parts of your life and giving them to the world.

Live as if you loved the Lord with your whole being.

How will you know that you do? Your heart will continue to cry out: Come, Lord Jesus!

Amen.