Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
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Scratching
the Surface of 1 & 2 Corinthians
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I'm not hung up
on franchises.
I got it from
Paul in his letters to the Corinthians who got it from Jesus as recorded by the
Gospelers with special emphasis on His high priestly prayer in John 17.
Really, I can't find
anything in the book about Baptists, Catholics, Presbyterians, Episcopalians,
Lutherans, Methodists, or any other franchise of Christendom.
All I read about with increasing longing is
a Church made up of people who love Jesus by praying and trying to love
like Jesus rather than a bunch of little churches/franchises elevating
their traditions to something superior to the other ones yet often only
coincidental to Christianity by the book.
Candidly, when I
look at all of those little churches/franchises that are so peculiar and
anal about their distinguishing, uh, peculiarities and analities to distinguish
themselves from other little churches/franchises that are so peculiar
and anal about their distinguishing, uh, peculiarities and analities, I know
why Matthew included chapter 23 - and if the last few verses don't break your
heart, your heart can't be close to His - and why Jesus said, "This people
honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they
worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."
That's why Paul's
letters to the Corinthians are so challenging, convicting, and, he hopes for Christ's sake, converting.
Like all letters
including his own and these two, 1 & 2 Corinthians go all over the place
and cover lots of things in an overlapping and sometimes
hard-to-keep-up-catch-on kinda way.
Yet while I'm
just scratching the surface of 'em, there seems to be two dominant themes: (1) Love
Jesus enough to overcome your peculiar and anal distinctives so you can love
people who love Jesus enough to overcome their peculiar and anal distinctives;
and (2) Follow leaders who follow Jesus by the book.
Before scratching the surface of those themes in these letters, let's take a few more
moments to consider Paul's letter-writing style.
He draws in
readers with warm affirmations/affections: "Grace and peace to you from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ...I give thanks for your
faithfulness..."
Then after
drawing in the readers with warm affirmations/affections, he draws and quarters
'em: "I appeal to you...I demand your attention as women and men who say
they love Jesus to start acting like it...You are acting like people who do not
belong to the Lord."
I used his
letter-writing technique in teaching homiletics: "Get 'em relaxed even
laughing with some appropriate humor and storytelling so that you can stick in
the knife of truth and twist it before they know what hit 'em."
Getting back to
the two dominant themes of these letters, Paul pulls no punches after the
readers have dropped their guards.
Love, to Him as
reflected by him in these letters, is no sentimental, syrupy, superficial
facial expression akin to a beagle begging for some of your burger.
Love is an
attitude expected of people who really get it/Him; as he later wrote to the
Galatians: "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."
The word is agape; and it can be
defined so generally that almost anybody will nod with assent: praying and laboring for the highest
good for others regardless of who, what, where, when, or why without the need
or expectation for response, regard, or reward.
But definition is
not enough for Paul because it is never enough for his Lord Jesus.
Jesus said love
becomes real when we do what He says: "If you love Me, you will obey
Me!"
So Paul spells it
out with precision in 1 Corinthians 13.
It's not just a
bunch of sentimental, syrupy, and superficial sentences for blushing brides and
red-faced grooms.
Anybody who
actually reads it and gets it/Him discovers that chapter is a very stern
description of how to enflesh the most distinguishing personal and social ethic
of Christianity in all relationships that reflects our relationship with Him:
"As you do it to/for them, you do it to/for Me."
Take some time to
read a few translations/paraphrases of that chapter and you'll join me on
your/our knees in confession and repentance.
Paul expects that
kinda agape attitude
in action to be the guiding principle of all relationships as the best
reflection of our relationship with Him.
That's why he was
so appalled, aggravated, and antagonistic toward so-called Christians who hang
onto heroes that divide so-called Christians from each other instead of coming
together in/through/for the only real Hero of the faith.
That's why he was
so appalled, aggravated, and antagonistic toward any idolatry - distraction
from Christianity by the book - that divides, segregates, and separates people
who say they love Jesus from each other which
is the same thing as being divided, segregated, and separated from Him: "As
you do it to/for them, you do it to/for Me."
So thinking about
it some more, the second dominant theme of the letters is really an
amplification of the first: "Follow leaders who follow the Leader by the
book."
If we really
follow Jesus, we love like Jesus to love Jesus.
That's why Paul
could say, essentially, "Imitate me as I imitate Him and don't imitate me
if I'm not imitating Him."
Surely, Paul
often confesses his own fallings and failings as a Christian: "All have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
In other words,
no one is perfectly Christian.
Parenthetically,
if that were possible, there would be no need for Jesus to save everyone from
their sins.
So when Jesus prescribes
perfection, He is expecting people who love Him to want to obey Him perfectly even while knowing
no one will never not need Him to bridge the gap between human depravities and
divine perfections.
But note this
well!
Paul does not use
our limitations as an excuse for not praying and trying to improve; and he
knows God knows the difference between people who are really trying/praying to
improve and those who are posing for the Christmas and Easter parades.
I like how he
seems to sum it/Him all up at the end of 1 Corinthians 13 and 2 Corinthians:
"Faith, hope, love remain; these three virtues must characterize our
lives. The greatest of these is love...Aim at perfection and accept my
encouragement. So shall the God of love and peace be ever with you.
A handshake all round, please!"
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...to be continued...
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Blessings and Love!
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