riches

To meet someone in Bremen, IN with unmet physical needs is rare. The same is true for the entire county in which I reside -- for that matter, the majority of the adjoining counties are not in need. Relative to the entire United States, Michiana maintains strong church attendance and an evangelical moral compass by which young people are expected to adhere.

That said, churches are dying at an alarming rate. Attendance has not grown; it has been shuffled. Large churches are growing larger, providing services for the same individuals that have gone to church their entire lives or returned to a modernized church following a wayward season. While it is difficult to statistically identify conversion rates, transfer growth has reigned supreme.

It begs the question of whether the growing churches have targeted an already established demographic (albeit, more effectively) or legitimately communicate the Gospel of truth that transforms lives. I get the impression that the church in Corinth was growing numerically (I'll address this in another post) therefore carrying a sense of pride in their "riches." We also know that the church was marked by immaturity, sexual immorality, spiritual arrogance, and a tolerance of sin. Only the Galatians receive as strong a rebuke from their apostle.

Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have become kings -- and that without us! How I wish that you really had become kings so that we might be kings with you! For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.

I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.

Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. (1 Cor. 4:8-20, emphasis added)

Paul makes three comparative statements that distinguish between the way the Corinthians were operating and Christ's expectation for His church:

[Don't I feel all pastoral!]

1. The church boasted in their physical standing to the detriment of personal transformation. Scripture has much to say about those that equate physical comfort with spiritual favor, but we still struggle as a Christian community to discard this idea.
   
   Shortly before the last presidential election, my homeland was stricken by an excess of unemployment due to the fallout of the recreational vehicle industry. Having been the staple of the Michiana economy for years, panic broke out among the evangelical throng -- the sort of panic that identified the shaky foundation of its Christian faith. Presidential nominee Obama campaigned in the Republican stronghold to capitalize on the dire circumstances, becoming the first Democratic candidate to receive electoral votes from Indiana in 48 years.
   
   The evangelical community was willing to address every physical variable to preserve its riches, but did not repent. What could have been a prime opportunity for the church to minister to the spirtual poverty of its people was squandered for the wisdom of Dave Ramsey. If Michiana could once again boast in its financial stability, it would indicate that God was on their side.
   
   In contrast, Paul's life was not one to be loved by the world. For congregants to resign to the apostolic call, it requires a humility that cannot be satisfied by worldly riches. How many would drive by the church marquee promising weakness, dishonor, hunger, nakedness, abuse, or homelessness and walk into its doors? How many recognize this as the cross that Christ has asked us to bear as His people? Paul's words remind me of one of my favorite passages:
   

   You say, "I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing." But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover you shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
   
   Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. (Rev. 3:17-20)

   I don't want to be rich. I love Jesus and want Him to come into my home to heal me.
2. The church was led by subservient teachers rather than spiritual fathers. When Paul refers to "ten thousand guardians" in verse 15 (often translated "tutor" or "teacher"), the Greek term is paidagōgos: a slave that supervised and modeled proper morality for children of affluent families. [Lewis connoisseurs can consider "the Fox" in Till We Have Faces or Doctor Cornelius in Prince Caspian.] The paidagōgos lived with the child and served as teacher and disciplinarian, but was ultimately subservient to their student regarding authority.
   
   The spiritual climate Paul describes is one in which the Corinthians have many leaders, but none that have received position to speak into lives with authority (which I'll cover in the next post). Sin and boasting were tolerated because leadership modeled moral behavior, but did not hold people accountable to Christ's teachings.
   
   Meanwhile, a father is given all authority regarding the discipline of his own children. The reason that Christ commands us to make disciples is that we are expected to maintain a personal responsibility for our spiritual offspring. We should be able to ask our children to imitate us with a clear conscience, as Paul does with his children, assuming that they are imitating us as we are imitating Christ. Just as a father bears the image of his ancestors, the son should bear the image of his. If the church allows its congregants to assume any likeness it desires, even with the integrity of a moral leader, it welcomes corruption and disunity.
3. The church's image depended on its lofty words rather than the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. The dichotomy here is obvious, yet still we stand convicted. We can state our vision until we're blue in the face, but if we do not allow the Spirit to guide our actions, we will become disconnected from our theology. The unbelieving world does not need to hear more about our church or the standing we feel we've earned among our community. It needs to see that the God we serve has the power to transform lives, including my own. Which message are we promoting by the way our church operates?