Words for Worship

Ministry Today

Dear Corinthians

Last week we looked at

one of the earliest

Christian documents.

 

And that was

Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians

written about 20 years

after our lord’s death.

 

Today we move on

by 5 years or so.

 

On this occasion

we’ll spend some time

on Paul’s epistles to the Corinthians.

 

Now despite its ancient history,

Corinth was by Paul’s era

a roman colony

transplanted

onto the Greek landscape.

 

The closest we can think of

today

might be

the former colony of Hong Kong

or Gibraltar.

 

As a result,

the city was

a commercial hub

and cosmopolitan cultural centre.

 

Now Paul had sent 18 months there.

 

And its Church’s congregation

would appear

to have included

high ranking officials

as well as slaves

and a least one female entrepreneur.

 

May not surprisingly then

this church seemed

to have a problem

with divisions.  

 

Paul therefore

makes a point of mentioning

these conflicts openly.

 

Specifically he wants

to bring them back

to his doctrines.

 

He does that

by stating that

God has given him

the opportunity

to lay the foundation

and then let others

build upon it.

 

In fact, his letters

to Corinthian community

act as a warning

to get things back on track

or God will punish them.

 

And to assist them

literally to mend their ways,

he points out

a key Christian principle.

 

To read to us of this,

here is………

(

1 Cor. 12.12-20

 

Anthem

 

Throughout his letters to Corinth

then,

Paul presents the issues

that are troubling

its Christian church

and offers solutions

as how to fix them.

 

And as we have already seen,

he makes them aware

that they may have differences

but they remain part

of the unified community

that is the church.

 

But he goes further.

 

He goes on

to an even greater principle

for problem solving

and is to become

imitators of Jesus

and followers of  his way;

a way that is sign-posted

by our next reading.

 

Here to read to us is……………….

 

(1 Cor.  13.1-13)

 

HYMN…………………………………………

 

 

It about this time of year

that we become aware

of all

the annual summer sporting events

that are about to start.

 

Wimbledon and the tour de France

will soon herald in

other treats

culminating in Olympic Games.

 

That is

if Chinese get the flame

to Beijing safely.

 

But if history had been different,

it is entirely possible

we could have been

looking forward

not to the Olympics

but the Corinthians.

 

For in ancient times

there were four big sets of games;

there were the Delphic;

the Isthmian or Corinthian;

the Nemean,

and the Olympics.

 

Well whatever,

this shows that

when Paul was talking

to the Corinthians

he was aware

he was dealing with people

in a major metropolis

of cultures and activities and choice.

 

In fact, the very same

type of global internet-fired metropolis

that we all living in today.

 

And so the problems

that the small Christian church

faced back then

could well echo

the problems facing

the world Christian community now.

 

Similarly, Paul’s advice

as how to fix these difficulties

is likely to have relevance today.

 

For I suspect there is

rarely

anything new under the sun.

 

Take his image

of the church as a body –

how valuable

on so many levels

is that today!  

 

Now on the highest level,

ecumenical relations

between denominations

have made huge progress

over the last few decades.

 

This is remarkable

after so many centuries

of distrust and dispute.

 

And these developments

Have allowed

one writer to observe that

those who see the risen Christ

at work in the lives

of various Christians

and in diverse churches,

realize that the unity

of Christ's church

was never been lost

in the first place.

 

However, we cannot be complacent.

 

For if Christ’s church

is to have an impact

in the century ahead,

we need to forge ahead

with ever closer cooperation

in working

for a world thirsty

for Christ’s words and hands.

 

Because it is only together

as a global Christian entity

can we hope

to deal with global problems.

 

Problems like the undoubted moral vacuum

that is enveloping Britain

and its western neighbours.

 

Problems such as the vicious tribal

and sectarian violence

that engulfs Africa

and the Middle East.

 

Problems like the rampant

and exploitative commercialisation

of the Far East.

 

Let then Paul’s idea

of the body  

challenge all

to put Christ first

and denomination second.

 

Nevertheless, the body analogy

also has much

to teach us

closer to home.

 

For within

the local church scene

and even within

our own congregation

there is a wealth of talent,

wisdom

and above all willingness.

 

And it all these

we must not just accept

but welcome.

 

Because we need

each believer

to play a full part

in creating the acts of witness

that will then

turn into a spreading vineyard.

 

The very harvest field

for the richest wine  of all

and that is faith.

 

Finally, the Paul’s body concept

has a lesson for each of us

personally.

 

For who has not felt

that they wished

they had not

this personality facet

or this physical characteristic.

 

So too in our individual ministries

we say –

if only I was or had..

 

However, Paul reminds us

that if we

indeed

had different natures and abilities

we would no longer be

who we are.

 

Put another way,

our unique identities

are made up

of our gifts and vulnerabilities.

 

If it were not so

we would not be human.

 

Moreover, we would not be

that very special person

that Jesus has called,

equipped and commanded

to his service.

 

In fact, we would not be

that bodily question

whose only answer lies in divinity.

 

Let then one body in Christ

be our watchword

in everything.

 

The watchword that gives rise

to these wise words:

 

He has not hands but our hands

To do his work today:

He has no feet but our feet

To lead men to his way

He has no voice but our voice

To tell men how he died;

He has no help but our help

To lead them to his side.

 

Yet the application of Paul’s advice

in itself

to think of ourselves

as a body

does not bring advances

to his church,

to his congregations

or even to his individual believers.

 

For overarching this concept

is our motive

for working together

and working with inner harmony.

 

Because early man

invented language

so that he could

more effectively work

with his fellow creatures.

 

But most probably

that was for shear survival.  

 

In fact, humans cooperate together

for a vast range of reasons;

some laudable,

others not so.

 

But Paul when talking

to that multifarious group

that was the Corinthian Church

 was saying t

hey should have but one motive;

the same as we must have.

 

And that is love.

 

Since it is only in love

that we learn

the crucial qualities

noted by Willie Barclay

when he considered this passage.

 

He goes on to point out

that it is only in love

do we realise

that we need each other.

 

For it is love

that dispels

all sense of isolation

in the church.

 

In other words,

it is too easy

to become engrossed

in the specific task

we have been set

and forget the needs of the whole.

 

So too we can believe

we have the correct answer

and others are deluded.

 

Yet it is only when

we are challenged

by the views of others

is our understanding broadened

and enriched.

 

 

Worse still, is when

we disparage

another’s contribution or beliefs.

 

For then the body

is fighting even destroying itself

and certainly its fruits.

 

Let then Paul’s words

upon the body of Christ –

interpreted in love –

be a call to bodily health

and mutual cooperation.  

 

Let it be a call

to follow Christ

by not being distracted

by our differences.

 

Indeed let it be

a call to keep determinedly to his road,

his vision

and his certainty in the future.

 

Secondly, it is only in love

for each other

that we know

that we must respect each other.

 

There can be no hierarchies

or privileged positions

within the church of Christ.

 

All service must be given equal weight.

 

Moreover no theological position

or point of dogma

should be imposed

by threat upon another.

 

Because if one part of the body

seeks to dictate

then this neither shows

true love nor genuine health.

 

However when mutual respect

and understanding is on display

then we can ascribe

to the new motto

for the Royal Navy.

 

And that is the team that works!

 

Finally, love alone

allows us the one strength

over secular organisations

and that is we can sympathise

with each other.

 

We can and should pursue

the modernisation

of our church

to ensure its continuing relevance.

 

We can and should work hard

with traditions of the past

to give continuity of truth.

 

But if we are not a family

one to another

we are nothing.

 

On the other hand

when we sympathise

with each other in love

then we form a body of iron

that can never be broken.

 

 

The original Olympic Games

were first recorded

in 776 BC in Olympia,

Greece,

and were celebrated until AD 393.  

 

After that nothing

until Interest was shown

in reviving the games

by a Greek poet and newspaper editor

in 1833.

 

Yet it was not until 1859

that anything like

an international series of games

came about.

 

This athletics meeting

was noted in the London Review

, which stated that

"the Olympian Games,

discontinued for centuries,

have recently been revived!

 

Here is strange news indeed ...

the classical games of antiquity

were revived near Athens".

 

Since then the games

have gone from strength

to strength.

 

For at the 1896 games

there were only 241 participants

from 14 nations.

 

But in the last summer Olympiad

in Athens

there were nearly

11,100 competitors

from 202 countries.

 

Here then is inspiration for us;

inspiration of the ideals

of the past becoming

a reality once more;

inspiration

for the work of revival

for another ancient institution –

this time the church of Corinth.

 

The church which overcame

its differences

and answered

its age’s difficult questions.

 

The church which made

its diversity a strength

by melding all its members’

strengths and weaknesses

into a team that worked.

 

And all that is possible

again today

if we but heed Paul’s advice.

 

For then we do

we rebuild the body

with the sinews and bone

of hope, faith and service.

 

But we also never forget

the timeless church’s

life blood –

and that is everlasting

and ever reviving love.

 

Amen

 

Offering

 

HYMN