foolish, but alive and well

I have not been called to the wisdom of this world, but to a God that's calling out to me. And even though the world may think I'm losing touch with reality, it would be crazy to choose this world over eternity. -- Mercy Me

Boy, do I feel crazy sometimes.

I've had this "old" song being overplayed in my head for a couple weeks now, and it has served as a constant reminder of Paul's words in 1 Corinthians. I love the way he wrote that book. There's all of this loving rebuke about church practice, marriage, and love that Christians enjoy diving into on a Sunday morning, but Paul doesn't write any of this until he offers the church an uncomfortable context:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Were is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. (1 Cor. 1:18-25)

Can we agree that Paul meant his epistle to be read in that manner? I can hear him now: "I'm going to tell you a bunch of stuff that is going to sound crazy, and the establishment is not going to accept it. Not only can they not accept it, but the wise are going to become frustrated that they can't understand why you do these things. Do them anyway!

"Be fools, dissociate from immoral "believers," honor God with your body, seek the good of others without regard to your own freedom, treat the unpresentable gifts with greater honor, subject every gift to love, bear the likeness of one from heaven..."

What?

I cherry-picked a bit, but you may understand my point. Paul's teaching on the church contains all sorts of foolishness that we have neglected. We like to honor our presentable leaders...a lot. We enjoy the sensuality of our bodies (until we commit the "real" sin). We should be able to do the things God has given us freedom over -- those that struggle need to deal with it. We should "love" the immoral brother enough to tolerate the corruption of his heart and worship alongside him.

What a mess we've made in our wisdom! There is no distinguishable difference between these attitudes and the ways of the world. We defend our practices to the death, because giving them up would make us one of the crazies.

Yes, that is correct.

I didn't become crazy overnight. I didn't seek to be crazy. I did little more than follow God's plan for my life, and the crazy found me. I make the large majority of my churched friends uncomfortable, and the rest are becoming crazy with me. We have to answer to our families and friends as if we have a clue what God is doing. They ask for signs and look for numerical proof of our success. They try to reason our practices through the filter of the world. I've got absolutely nothing to give them. They're given the same two choices that I was: be frustrated with the cloud separating them from the Spirit, or leap down the rabbit hole with no feasible return.

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FAMILY AND FRIENDS: So you're moving to Missouri. Do you have a team you're working with, or have family out there?

ME: Nope. He told me to go.

THEM: That's neat. Where is your church located? [That's weird.]

ME: That's kind of difficult to answer.

THEM: Can I visit? [I wonder what goes on there.]

ME: I'm not going to say that you can't. But everyone that gathers is committed to being in discipleship, and it may not be the best way to understand what we do.

THEM: If you have no place and it's hard to visit, how do you get lost people to come? [Unbelievers will never want to come.]

ME: We're not trying to get lost people to come.

THEM: That doesn't make sense. [That's not how we do things.]

ME: We don't feel that it makes sense to worship with people who don't know the God they're worshiping. We find communion in the Spirit when believers are of one heart and mind. I think using our gathering time as an evangelistic tool makes us unevenly yoked and divides God's interests with the world's.

THEM: If you're not bringing them to church with you, how does anyone get saved? [I love that our pastor brings people to Jesus.]

ME: We go to them and try to meet their spiritual needs.

THEM: I don't understand. [Is this some kind of cult?]

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After facing some rejection back in my home state, I was placed in a spiritual funk. Being crazy didn't seem worth it, and most of my friends stopped asking to hang out. But trying to reconcile my sanity with my ruined state has been impossible. When God transforms and the Spirit of God is present in your life, you have no choice but to cling to the foolishness of the Gospel.

This past month of obedient living has been the most alive I've felt since leaving St. Louis. It hasn't been void of doubts and fears, but there is rest and peace when the Spirit is working in me and through me. Every conversation seems to raise my spiritual antennae, and God is bringing people in my life that desire to be set apart. I'm thankful that He is providing a remnant to support me in my lonely place. I know that I cannot rely on mankind to be my inheritance, but I am sincerely blessed when God allows me to share in His work with others that are of great comfort and encouragement.

This is only the beginning, and acting in obedience will only get crazier. I spent my entire life gaining the world, only to lose it, so that I might walk in the foolishness I enjoyed as a child.

He's wanted me here all along.

We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor. 2:12-14)