A child rushes into the house, dead set on getting to the
parent. Tears are streaming down the child’s fiery red cheeks and the child’s
eyes are dark with rage. “Pat said I was selfish and then took all of my gum!”
The child roars in rage and a great gnashing of small teeth can be heard. The
parent looks closely into the child’s eyes and asks, “Where did you get the gum?”
To which the child responds, “I got it from Loretta.” The parent senses something
is not quite right and presses further. “Did Loretta give you the gum?” The child’s eyes dim a bit and the child
begins to stutter. “I…well…Loretta she…gave it to….she had a whole bunch!” The
parent sits quietly waiting for the truth to come out. The child stomps little
feet with frustration and then confesses, “I took it from Loretta. But, Pat
took it from me!! It’s mine!” The parent leans back and quietly says, “Let’s go
get Loretta’s gum from Pat and give it back to Loretta, shall we?”
Many of us can remember scenes like this from our childhood.
Immaturity often leads small ones to think that once something is in their
possession, they own it—no matter where it came from. As we grow as human
beings, we are faced continually with challenges such as these, but with far greater
consequences. If our selfishness and immaturity go unchecked, strife, division
and mayhem can ensue.
The Apostle Paul had been in Corinth for several years helping
to build and grow a Christian church there. As an evangelist he was always
wanting to get things started, establish local leadership and press on into the
horizon to establish another and another church. His message was urgent, his preaching
was unvarnished and, more importantly, it was imbued with love. He pushed off from
the shore of the new Christian church in Corinth, but kept in touch with them. We
have two of his letters to them preserved as 1st and 2nd
Corinthians.
It is clear from his letters that he loves these Christians
in Corinth. What love had filled Paul’s life? It was the love of God through
Jesus Christ. In several of his letters, we can read the accounts of his
pre-Christian behavior, describing himself as having been a powerful and
loveless religious leader, bent on the destruction of those new Christians. But
then he became one of them. That day on the Damascus road he was struck down by
the weight and beauty of the pure, altruistic love of Christ Jesus. From that
point forward not only was Paul converted to the way of Christ, but he continued
to grow and mature as a Christian. For a lengthy time he sat under the steady
teaching of Aquilla and Pricilla, discipled and guided by folks who became his
trusted friends. The suffering and persecution he experienced as a Christian
also shaped him. There is little doubt that his skills as a religious leader
and scholar prior to knowing Christ were transformed as he worked with new
bodies of believers to help plant the Christian Church of Jesus Christ.
So, when he got word that members of the Corinthian church were
squabbling like children, he had to address it. It’s important for us to be
realistic about the situation, especially in relationship to maturity. In all
likelihood this church was a very young church with very young Christians. Not that
they were all youth, by any means. But in the timeline of the New Testament,
they had not been a religious organization for long at all. Think about this.
What kinds of growth, jostling and exploration might they have been doing as a relatively
newly gathered group of people trying to be like Christ together and toward the
world? It is easy to assume that the Corinthian church was a well-formed,
mature body of believers. But it was not. They were learning how to have appropriate
structures of governance and accountability. They were still experiencing the
power of the Holy Spirit in new and fresh ways. They were still learning how to
be loving. They were still immature.
Now immaturity is not necessarily a negative or bad thing.
Immaturity is quite like ignorance. Ignorance is simply a lack of knowledge
that does not indicate rebellion or stupidity. Both of these words have been
given varnishes of negativity over many years. But let’s go back to the example
of a child, as Paul did. When a child is born, it is completely and wholly dependent
upon her/his caregivers. A child can do very little for herself/himself. A
child cries because she/he is hungry or dirty. The child cannot gather food or
make a living. So, naturally, the parents or caregivers are, or should be,
focused on their every need. This is appropriate. But when the child begins to
grown physically and emotionally, a healthy parent will begin to teach and
guide that child so that she/he can begin to provide care for themselves and
others. This is the movement of maturity. It should happen and it can happen.
It is also true in the individual Christian and the life of
the Church. If appropriate teaching, guidance and accountability do not take
place, both the person and the Church get stunted in their growth and do not
become all that they can be in Christ. Eventually, if there is no continual growth,
both turn destructively self-centered. To this end, then, Paul wrote two very
direct letters to the church in Corinth. If we just took his directness as power-tripping
or authoritarianism, then these letters are unnecessarily harsh. But there was
something at the bedrock of Paul’s admonitions and confrontation. That was love.
Read 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13.
Paul wrote the “Love Chapter” out of love. But too often
this Scripture has taken on a humanistic reading. Beautifully read and sung at
weddings, if taken from a human perspective, it appears to be all on our
shoulders to “always” be loving and “never” failing. These are quite an impossible
task unto ourselves this side of heaven. However, if we read his great words from a Christ-perspective,
then we see that this is God’s love that is perfect and never-failing.
Can we be honest here? Who among us is always loving and
never fails in that love? If it is all up to me to be loving there is a
guarantee—I will fail you, myself and Jesus. But, if that love is God’s love that
comes in and takes over our lives individually and corporately, it will never
fail!
Let’s use an example. Let’s say that I go into a church
board meeting after a long day of hard work. My back hurts because I twisted it
the wrong way lifting my grandchildren two days prior. The pastor brings up a
heated issue that has been on that agenda for over two months and the church board
cannot see eye-to-eye. Perhaps on this night, one of the other board member’s comments
just hits me the wrong way and I lash out at him. Have I ceased to be loving?
Perhaps I have in that moment. I haven’t been patient, I haven’t been kind, I
haven’t been long-suffering. But then another member steps in with a good old
dose of pure love, confronts me gently for being rude and consoles the offended
party. In that moment it wasn’t the consoling board member who was just trying
to ease tensions, it was God’s love pouring out through him. The source of all
of our best behaviors is and can be God’s love!
I believe in the corporate nature of the Christian community.
This means that, as the Apostle Paul writes elsewhere, when one is weak the
other is strong. That strength is passed out among the believers by the Holy Spirit,
the guidance of the Father and the presence of Jesus Christ. So, when I am not as loving and mature as I
should be, another part of the body of Christ is. This enables all of us to
minister healing to each other, bring accountability to the table, distribute
forgiveness and encouragement every day. I may be the weak one on a particular day,
but then the next, by the help of God, I am the loving one. We make no excuses
except to say that we are maturing in Christ and need to grow in His great
love.
God’s love is always perfect and, greater still, it is eternal.
We can rejoice in this final truth—because God’s love never fails! I can
be renewed by it and we can be restored, resurrected and reborn every day as we
advance to the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ who will make all things
new! When we admit that we cannot love as we should, we can also rejoice, because
we can return to that vast and deep well of love that will never run dry. We
only need to humble ourselves and receive the love of God into those immature,
selfish and weak places.
So, dear brothers and sisters, let’s eagerly desire God’s
love!
Amen
M.R. Hyde
Copyright 2019
