What Matters

Audience of One (Galatians 1-2)

Am I now trying to win human approval, or God's approval?  Or am I trying to please people?  If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.  (Galatians 1:10)

To say Paul was strong of character and personality is a fierce understatement.  He could be scary stubborn.  He stood firm in the courage of his convictions.  The same determination that fueled his persecution of the church before his conversion was amplified even more as an apostle of Jesus Christ.  In any battle I would want Paul in my corner.  Even if it meant being friendless, Paul was determined to stay the course in preaching the gospel truth revealed to him.  His goal was to please God, not people.

I am a recovering people-pleaser.  I like people to like me.  Still today I can fall for the temptation of tailoring my words and actions to win the approval of others rather than God. But I cannot serve two masters.  If I am primarily driven by a need to please people then I cannot be the servant of Christ that I am called to be.  And so sometimes God will call me to say some hard things, to stand firm in my convictions, to correct - hopefully all with grace.  I will need to do these things and more if I am to please God rather than people.  In the end the only audience that counts is the Audience of One.

So Lord, this week as I seek to serve your with my life, help me to turn from any god other than you.  My my life - all of it - play for your glory alone.  In your power and strength I pray and live.

 

Generosity!

Generosity is sacrificial worship.  It is responding to the grace of God with our lives.  Listen is as we explore the liberating freedom of generous giving: Download Generosity!  Or you can read the manuscript here: Download Generosity

Thorns (2 Corinthians 10-13)

That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.  (2 Corinthians 12:10)

Christian Faith is full of paradoxes.  The Beatitudes (Matthew 5) are perhaps the most famous.  Paul gives another one here; when he is weak, then he is strong.  Over these four chapters Paul is defending himself against the 'super apostles' (11:5) who are competing with him for Corinthian attention.  Their presence and persuasive speech seems to have drawn the church at Corinth away from the gospel Paul had established them in.

Paul's defence of his authority does not focus on his miracle working power or the brilliance of his spoken rhetoric.  If anything he seems to play these down.  Rather, in a very forensic and detailed way Paul lists the full magnitude of his sufferings for the gospel.  These are the marks of discipleship her will boast in.  The most personal of these sufferings was the thorn in the flesh which tormented him and from which it seems God did not deliver him.

This thorn - this messenger from Satan (12:7) - became for Paul a grace from God.  God said to Paul, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'  (12:9)  Paul's thorn guarded his heart from the deadly sin of pride-filled self-reliance.

I have a thorn in the form of an ongoing and worrying health condition that requires anxiety-inducing check ups every six months.  I have asked God to take this thorn from me, but to this point it remains.  As I lived with it for a couple of years now this frailty in my flesh has become a measure of God's grace for me.  It reminds me of my total reliance on God for EVERYTHING, including the privilege of drawing breath.  This frailty, this thorn humbles me.  It drives me to my knees in supplication and thanksgiving.  In a small and far less significant way I an learning with Paul that when I am weak, then I am strong - as He is strong in me.

Show me the Money (2 Corinthians 7-9)

But just as you excel in everything - in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us - see that you also excel in this grace of giving.  (2 Corinthians 8:7)

Paul spent 3-4 years taking up a collection for the church in Jerusalem.  The collection was received from the churches he pioneered in places like Thessalonica, Philippi and Corinth.  He was ready for the barbs of those who accused him of only being interested in money, or worse, of misappropriating it (8:20-21).  Paul was unafraid of directly challenging them to give sacrificially to a cause.  2 Corinthians 8-9 could easily be entitled 'Show me the Money!'  

There are a couple of observations to make about Paul's collection.  First, it was primarly to alleviate poverty and hardship.  Our giving should reflect the same priority.  Second, Paul intended it to be sacrificial.  The Macedonian church gave until they hurt and Paul holds them up to the church at Corinth and to us as an example (8:1-5).  Third, sacrificial giving is an act of worship that is a response to the grace of God (8:9).  And last, sacrificial generosity is a joy-filled privilege that is an investment in the expansion of God's reign on earth (9:13).

I find Paul's direct speech about money challenging at two levels.  First, as a follower of Jesus his persuasive argument rattles my cage of comfortable consumerism.  How is God calling me and my family to give until it hurts?  Second, the way in which he unashamedly challenges those he leads to give sacrificially confronts me as a Pastor at Newlife.  Until now I have shied from such a challenge.  Over the next year or so I (and we) will be moved out of our comfort zone as we are stretched and challenged in mission.

Suffering Servants (2 Corinthians 4-6)

Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  (2 Corinthians 4:16-17)

Paul was pressed, perplexed, persecuted and struck down (4:8-9).  He endured troubles, hardships, distresses, beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard work, sleepless nights, hunger, bad reports, dishonor, sorrow, poverty and slander.  He, and those he ministered with, were suffering servants.  Enduring incredible hardships, he had an eternal perspective that understood that his suffering was a momentary precursor to resurrection glory (4:18).

I think it was Tertullian who said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.  Following the example of our Lord, the Suffering Servant, many have suffered to the point of death to stand firm in the faith.  Their example has moved and inspired others to consider the claims of Christ.  In the early years of the church Stephen, ten of the eleven apostles and other church leaders like Polycarp suffered barbaric deaths rather than deny the gospel.  Paul's words to Timothy were there witness: 'Everyone who wants to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.'  (2 Timothy 3:12)

Paul's claim and the witness of his life is a huge challenge to me.  Frankly, I suffer little, if any persecution.  Is this perhaps because I am failing in some significant ways to live the Godly life Paul speaks of?  Am I a quiet Christian who fails to take the risk of speaking the gospel both to power and to pagans?  These are confronting, but necessary questions to wrestle with.

Reading of Paul's suffering also reminds me of my responsibility to pray for those who suffer similar hardships today for the cause of the gospel.  In Iraq, Indonesia, Sudan, Vietnam, China and a host of other countries, countless Christian believers could tick off many if not most of Paul's list of sufferings.  So Lord, strengthen them in the time of trial; draw near to comfort.  May the witness of their lives be a sweet aroma to you and even those who persecute them.

Promises (2 Corinthians 1-3)

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ.  And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.  (2 Corinthians 1:20)

Promises are made to broken - so the common, if cynical thought is.  We are used to and even expect broken promises - from politicians, church leaders, husbands, wives, kids, mothers, fathers and friends.  We lower our expectations in an attempt to protect ourselves from crushing disappointment.  This makes Paul's claim all the more extraordinary.  Every promise of God is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

God's promise to rescue and redeem creation finds its "Yes" in Jesus.  God promise to make all things new finds its "Yes" in Jesus.  God's promise to destroy the power of sin and death finds its "Yes" in Jesus.  God's promise to preach good news to the poor, proclaim freedom to prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind and to release the oppressed finds its "Yes" in Jesus.  God's promise to put flesh on dry bones and a heart of flesh for a heart of stone finds its "Yes" in Jesus.  And the list goes on!

In the end Christ is God's First and Last Word to creation.  He is the Alpha and the Omega - the beginning and the end.  God has spoken to us fully and completely to us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Thank you God that I can say "Amen" to your "Yes" to me!

Resurrection Hope (1 Corinthians 15-16)

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.  (1 Corinthians 15:22-23)

Biblical faith presumes the reality of physical resurrection.  Paul writes to the Corinthian church where this core claim of the Christian faith is being questioned and challenged.  As it was then, so it is now.  Over the last two centuries in particular, critics both within and outside the church have marginalized physical resurrection as superstitious nonsense or primitive myth.  Accounts of Jesus resurrection are explained away as early church propaganda.  Even where belief in resurrection still holds, often it is the resurrection of disembodied spirit that has no connection or relationship with our earthly bodies.  Popular belief states that upon death our souls float off to heaven to join the other spirits there.

In contrast to all this, Paul passionately stakes a claim for physical resurrection.  Jesus is the first and he will gather up the last to be raised from the dead.  Jesus' resurrection body contained the marks of his suffering - there was continuity between his mortal and his resurrection life.  As it was for Him, so it will be for us.  This is a deep mystery, but a fundamental claim of the faith we hold.  This mysterious continuity between our mortal and resurrection bodies is a mark of Jesus' victory over death.  If Jesus truly conquered sin, the grave and death itself - the last enemy - then resurrection must involve physical life - that which death seeks to destroy.

A couple of years ago I read NT Wright's book, Surprised by Hope.  It is a wonderful, faith-building and cogent argument for the reality of physical resurrection.  When I read it, and with it texts such as this I was stunned at how much my view of what happens after we die was formed not by a biblical worldview, but by a strange amalgam of popular culture, lazy theology and wishful thinking.  Far better, richer and deeper are the promises God offers me and us in scripture!

Talking in Tongues (1 Corinthians 12-14)

But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in tongues.  (1 Corinthians 14:19)

The church I attended through University years was caught up in the charismatic renewal of the 1980's.  It was an exciting time.  Enlivened by the Spirit, we loved to worship, to sit under God's word and to pray.  People came to faith and sick people were prayed for and healed.  And people spoke in tongues.

I remember the first time I encountered this phenomenon.  Weird.  But over time, as my faith deepened so to did my desire for this and other gifts of the Holy Spirit.  And so I prayed for, and others rpayed for me that I might receive the gift of speaking in tongues.  And nothing happened.  Dissapointing.  I wondered why others received this gift and I didn't.  Even though my church taught a balanced and biblical view of the spiritual gifts I still struggled with feelings of inadequacy.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul puts the gift of speaking in tongues in its proper place.  For Paul, it is a gift of the Spirit he longs all to have, but (especially without interpretation) has its limits in edifying the church.  For Paul, there are far greater gifts.  Why then does this gift get the controversial focus in our day?  Perhaps because of its 'other wordly' or 'spooky' nature; I do not know.

Some months after first asking for this gift and after having not received it, I found myself in worship one Friday night.  As we sang praise to God, I noticed that I was singing and praying in a language I did not understand but which made my heart soar.  God by his grace had given me a new gift which continues to edify me to this day.

Enough!

'We live in a world where everything is amazing and nobody is happy.'  So said American humorist Louis C.K.  We live in a culture of mine and more - where enough is never enough and where we look to stuff to satisfy our spiritual hunger.  Jesus confronts our idolatry with a disconcerting story about a rich fool.  Listen in here: Download Enough!  Or read the transcript here: Download Enough

Mullet Theology (1 Corinthians 8-11)

Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if  a woman has long hair it is her glory?  For long hair is given to her as a covering.  (1 Corinthians 11:14-15)

For about 15 years I wore my mullet with pride.  Even when the fashion of short hair to the side and long at the back (the infamous mullet) faded, I defiantly held on to my long locks.  Just last week I was at Brisbane airport picking up friends and I saw a mullet to die for; hair half way down the man's back and almost shaved at the side and no shortage of glistening product.  It almost brought a tear to the eye.

Paul does not like mullets; in fact he does not like long hair of any description on any man.  Further, for Paul the page boy cut on a woman is an abomination  (11:5-6).  All this talk of hair and head covering seems just a little bizarre.  It also offers a very difficult, but vital interpretive challenge.

Paul argues that the appropriate length of a man or woman's hair is derived from nature; that it is  obvious.  Despite the passion and directness of his argument the church through different ages has ignored Paul's injunction.  This is an undeniable fact.  Men with long hair have preached and women with no head covering have prophesied. 

Consciously or not, in applying Paul's teaching to our context we have set aside the direct injunctions here and instead attempted, however successfully, to apply the principle.  The principle is maintaining propriety in worship - to make sure that communal worship is done in good order and in such a way it will not cause a stumbling block to weaker brothers and sisters.

All scripture has to be read AND interpreted in order that we hear the Word of God.  This is hard work, as it should be.  It is work that requires a healthy dose of humility, communal living and the work of the Spirit in our lives.  In the end, God is far more interested in the state of my heart than the length of my hair.  Bring on the mullet!