Last week we started the series hearing how faith in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is primary, and all else is secondary. That means there may be other things where we disagree - in fact working through 1 Corinthians in this series will likely touch on subjects where we hold different views - but in these we can hold quiet accord because we are together in our faith in Jesus.
This applies across churches. Not all churches agree on all things, and we take different decisions etc. Yet that doesn't mean we have to write each other off - they can still work as partners because we are about the same Jesus as Lord, Jesus who lived, was killed, but rose again. Yet while faith unities us, we should keep in mind that in the world it can prove divisive. In verse 18 Paul writes that for some faith in Christ is foolishness, while for others it is the power of God. Whether it is seen as stupidity or power is down to the openness of the receiver (note this means that as long as we present Jesus reasonably well, then whether Jesus is received by others is down to them!).
Some see it as stupidity because God's logic is perverse compared to the world and people's norms. The world loves appearances of power - be it physical power (big muscles, or big rockets), might in strength or numbers (loads if people, or many rockets!), or be it in the cleverness of thought and slick sounding arguments. These principles apply at all levels: international, national, groups of people and individuals.
But the logic of God - seen in Jesus - is none of that. It is totally different, and it confounds every culture. Paul certainly realised it confounded the two cultures that he saw around him. The Jewish culture wanted a sign - evidence of God's greatness changing things before their eyes; the Greek culture wanted wisdom - ways of thinking that took them to new levels of thinking. Yet both groups (Jewish and Greek) really wanted to see things based on their existing expectations and their own understanding. God doesn't give them that! Instead He sends Jesus, who doesn't overcome the Romans to restore the political/physical nation of Israel, and doesn't give a new layer of philosophy for the Greeks to work up to.
Instead Jesus does the opposite. In face of world power he lays down his life ... to the point where he is ridiculed and physically totally crushed. He dies a humiliating death. His body is laid in a tomb, life is over, now to be forgotten or at best consigned to history ... but the logic of God works different! Within 3 days He is alive! This means that all that worldly power is exhausted. It is as if Jesus said 'Bring it on!'. He has taken it all, and the worst it could do was lay him out in a tomb for just 3 days!
This means that all our bad, all the disastrous consequences of our bad decisions, our actions, the scrapes we get into, the desire to get 'one over' someone else, to physically beat up, to conquer, to lie/cheat/steal our way, to oppress, to play mind games ... all that is exhausted. And the blame, shame and guilt that goes with it. This is the perverse logic of God - He takes it all ... and we go free.
The worlds way is might, strength and conquest, alongside cleverness, argument and spin. God's way is to let Jesus be crushed, killed and laid in a tomb ... to be alive again in 3 days. So the world's way or God's way - which will you choose? The life, death and resurrection of Jesus can usefully inform all our morals & ethics - the way we live our lives:
- For example should we suffer hostile persecution (people attacking us for our faith), our response in the way of Jesus is to be non-violent (for violence is the way of the world). Remember Jesus laid down human power!
- For example in office politics (or oppression in any group), the way of Jesus is to not return with the same worldly tactics - but instead to work in line with who you are in Jesus
- For example in war: at the individual level the purest outworking of the way of Jesus is be pacifist, and churches will certainly want to advocate non-violent approaches. At the level of nation states the problem is harder and people will debate (factors like separation of church & state factor in among others).
- For example in sexual ethics: surely the way of Jesus suggests that there can not even be a hint of an uneven power dynamic at work in sexual expression or intimacy. His way was to freely & fully give of Himself, which rules out simply satisfying our self-desire and suggests a framework of giving and being utterly committed to the other person. What would it look like to hold these as the first & primary principles in deriving our understanding of sexual morality and ethics?
Your role in all this is to work these things out, while proclaiming this perverse wisdom of God out in the world. You may think that you are not qualified for this, but look at what Paul wrote to the Corinthians. In verse 26 he writes 'Think of what you were - not many of you were clever or influential'. He goes on to says that God chose the foolish, the weak, the lowly, the despised, even those who have made an utter mess of everything - He has used these to shame the wise. In other words no matter how low or messed you feel, God can still work through you! This is because it is not about you, it is about Jesus - who has lived, died and now is risen. It is His power through you. I think the Queen understood this throughout her life - though she had privilege and excellent education, it was only the power of God through her that would enable her to live and serve well.
So in chapter 2 Paul urges them to rely on God's power. So as with our key question for this month work out what it means to set your life on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Whether you are a world class athlete or just starting a bit of basic exercise you will be told to build your core - muscles in your upper body, your back and waist. This will give you power for your whole body, even for the basic tasks & movements in life. Likewise in faith build your core by setting your life on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Start your day laying your life before the Father, asking Jesus to raise you up, the Spirit to empower you for the day. Again this was an attitude and rhythm the Queen employed in her service to the country. It is a daily exercise to centre yourself on God, to live out the perverse logic of God ... a logic that confounds and overcomes the world.
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