men

This post is a mesh of current thoughts and others I published last spring upon studying 1 Corinthians 3.

She fidgeted with her hands as I awaited the answer to my question. Cautiously, she framed the thoughts that plagued her mind.

“I can’t live that way because I’m not strong like you. And you… you’re something supernatural.”

My head lowered with her response. Had another loved one missed the point? Why was it presumed that my faith was about something I had accomplished? Aside from God’s incredible grace in my life, my résumé was a absolute mess. Without the Holy Spirit’s intervention, I was angry, bitter, selfish, and weak. To believe that I had assembled this transformation with my own hands, she employed a dangerous lie. It frustrated me that Satan could twist her perception into what I had done.

I rebuked her, but it didn’t matter. She had already determined that a perfect man was better than an intangible God.

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I’m generally leery when men want to argue hard and fast rules about faith. When talking about an issue that God has already settled (through written or revealed word), there’s not much room for discussion if in fact you ascribe to His word as truth. However, many Christians prefer to develop their understanding of God through one another while engaging scripture as an afterthought.

This may paint me as a rebellious creature, but I want to vomit when the bulk of spiritual discussion is based on another man’s words. My disgust is less with the leaders than their followers (something I’ve officially dubbed “The Coldplay Principle"), but Christians can’t seem to stop talking about some dude. It’s Francis Chan this and Mark Driscoll that, or Rob Bell wrote about this and John Piper refuted with that. I wouldn’t mind having a cup of coffee with them, as I’m sure they’re fine individuals and have insights that would be valuable to my life. My beef is not with a particular pastor.

Rather, how often are they placed in the center of Christian conversation, and how often do these debates lead to a clearer understanding of Christ and communion within the Body? It’s inevitable that a leader will gain a certain prominence for their diligence, and this can be advantageous in spreading the Gospel. After all, Paul must have been an early church rock star as congregants crowded to hear his teaching.

This is a stale phenomenon: since God has designated “His people,” they have desired a tangible, human representative that could be honored. We all like to be the kid that tweets, “I know him personally!” as if Pastor X changed the landscape of Christianity. While our chief foreign missionary had every worldly reason to receive such acclaim, Paul had this to say:

Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly -- mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men?

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe -- as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future -- all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. (1 Cor. 3, emphasis added)

I would welcome an equally humble retraction from modern leaders. While we cannot prevent man from placing leadership on a pedestal, it would be awesome to be reminded that they are not the Story, and it would be liberating to hear it from them with the same repulsion that Paul demonstrates.

Paul suggests that such petty arguments and leader-worship are a sign of spiritual immaturity. What does that say about the church today? When our faith must assume a human face, we absorb their words as a substitute for the richness of scripture and the simplicity of the Gospel message. It’s totally vogue in the 21st century to say something fresh or present a new context through which to appreciate the mysteries of God, but we must remember that the foundation already laid is the Christ that saves and redeems our lives. Everything else is flammable material on the day of judgment.

I gain encouragement from the end of this chapter. We should be thankful that Christ has made all truth available to those that are filled with His Spirit. While He has given us the blessing of the Body to minister to one another and bring truth to light, He intends for us to mature so that we might receive Him without an intermediary. Christians that place leadership on a pedestal rob themselves of the greatest gift He has offered through His grace: intimacy with Himself.