To a church split and squabbling, Paul spoke of sharing the
grace they had received from Christ with one another. He hadn’t sidestepped the
issues that divided them, he talked of church discipline, he had been prepared
to tackle deep theological misunderstandings and perplexing moral issues. But at the heart of all this he called them
to show the love of Christ to each other.
In 1 Corinthians 16 Paul deals with a couple of practical
matters, a collection for the poor in Jerusalem, travel plans and personnel
issues, and he finishes the letter off by bring personal greetings, exhorting
his hearers, and a final statement and signature
in his own hand writing. If this was a TV series or a movie, you’d get the idea
that not everything has been bought to resolution, not all the conflict had
been resolved, that there is plenty of room for a sequel. And we know that Paul
continues to work with the Church at Corinth, wrestling with the difficulties
and issues they have. There is further
correspondence and another big letter, there are visits and arguments and
disagreements. The road to unity is one of continued compassion, conversatios and
commitment.
Let’s have a look at what Paul says in this passage and how
it speaks to us today.
He starts by looking at a collection for the poor. At the
council of Jerusalem recorded in Acts 15, one of the things that the gentile
had been asked to do was to remember the poor. So in what is called his third
Missionary trip, Paul’s raised a collection for the poor believers in Jerusalem.
Paul asked the churches in Asia Minor and Europe to give. It wasn’t just about
care for the poor but also as we see from passages like Galatians 2:10 it was a
way of showing the Jewish and gentile churches that they were family, they
belonged together, building unity across the social barrier of their time. Compassion and care can bridge even such
divides.
Paul starts with “now about” which tells us that he had been
in conversation with the church at Corinth about the collection before, and they
had written to him about it. Paul basically gives them some practical
instructions about how they are to put money aside for the collection and how
it was going to be taken to Jerusalem.
This is the first mention of the first day of the week and
systematic giving in the New Testament, so it’s worthwhile taking a minute to
explore it. Christians from an early time had set aside the first day of the
week Sunday, when Christ was raised, for public worship and the Lord ’s Supper.
Paul says that it’s a good time to set something aside for the collection for
the poor. Whether it was collected on the day or set aside at home is a moot
point. But the idea is that as they remembered what Christ had done for them
they were to set money aside for others. It helped the people see systematic
and regular giving and generosity as part of their worshipping life, there
response to God. Money in the New Testament church was given for the care of
the poor and for the support of those in ministry.
Paul outlined how the collection will be taken to Jerusalem.
Practically in a world where most of it was in coin, not electronic transfers,
or bumping phones, it had to have people accompany it for security. Getting people
to accompany also guarded his integrity. Churches and mission or aid groups
need to be scrupulously honest, and efficient, when it comes to handling money.
But also by having people go to
Jerusalem, it was not just about money but relationship. We can often think the
solution to poverty is to throw money at it, but the gospel calls us to go and
bring good news and embody that Good news. People often look for someone to
stand in solidarity with them as well as to help out.
Paul moves on to talk of travel plans. This is of some
interest to Bible historians as they try and work out where Paul was at
different times. It shows us that Paul wanted to spend time with the Church at
Corinth and intended to spend a whole winter with them. Paul is aware that for
the church to grow in their love of Christ and love for one another there is no
quick fix. He is willing to commit himself to them. Often when there are
difficulties and issues within a church it is easy for one side to simply leave
and go somewhere else, particularly when there is such an array of different
churches in a city and we live in a consumer society, where we can pick and
choose what is best for us. But Paul’s love for the church means he cannot
simply write them off, Christian community calls us to be committed to one
another, warts and all. In fact I tell people if they are looking for the
perfect church, if they find it, don’t join it because it will ruin it. The
gospel calls us because of Christ’s great love to show that love to one
another, forgiveness reconciliation, tolerance, patience, long suffering,
compassion these are some of the fruit of God’s Spirit working in us. They grow
as we commit ourselves to this imperfect rather ragged thing we call the
church.
Paul then moves on to personnel issues. This is helpful
because in this passage Paul shows us a lot about Christian leadership. The churches at Corinth you’ll remember were
impressed by appearance and status, up front ability and in the leaders Paul talks
about we see a different understanding.
He is concerned that Timothy will not be treated well,
Timothy we know was rather young and timid
and di not fit what the Corinthians thought a leader should be like. With
the last Now about in his letter Paul answers the Corinthians request that
Apollos be sent. We know from Acts that Apollos was a great orator and
obviously fitted the churches idea of a leader. Apollos was also one of the
leaders that a faction had formed round. There may have been some thought that
Paul wasn’t happy with him going to Corinth because of that issue. But Paul had
assured the Corinthians thatthere was no conflict between them, Paul had
planted and Apollos had watered, but it God who brings the growth. So now Paul
tells them that he had urged Apollos to go but Apollos did not see it was the right
time.
Then Paul speaks of a third group of leaders and in
particular Stephanus and his household, Fortunatus and Achaicus may have been
part of that household. It seems to fit the early church to have leaders from
amongst the free and slaves. These are the brothers who have been mentioned
before and are the ones who would have bought the letter from the church in Corinth
to Paul. Paul affirms their leadership, and the basis of Christian leadership,
that of faithful service. His affirmation echo Jesus words “if you want to be
great in God’s kingdom learn to be the servant of all.” The church then and now
can easily mistake giftedness and outward appearances and confidence as signs
of the Christian maturity needed to lead a diverse church. Yes we need people
to use the gifts God has given them, but the central need is people who have
matured in the faith and know that it is about love and serving others.
Paul finishes his letter off with a general exhortation, in
verse 13 and 14 where he uses metaphors of a city guard, a watchman to
encourage the church to stay strong in their faith. That it takes diligence and
courage to follow Jesus. Then he again points they to how that is to be worked
out in community, by doing everything out of Love. It takes courage and strength to do that.
This whole epistle is a reflection of that as Paul had had to say some very
harsh things, but always the motivation for that is love. It takes courage to
change how we treat each other. It takes courage to change our use of liberty
so it does not adversely affect other people. It takes courage to use our gifts
alongside others for the common good.
He brings some greetings from Pricilla and Aquila who had
ministered with him at Corinth. He brings the greetings of the churches in Asia
Minor. It is good to know that we are not alone in the faith that we are part
of a wider family of brothers and sisters who are on the same journey of
following Jesus.
He tells the church to greet one another with a holy Kiss.
Now relax we are not going to change the job description for our greeters or
start doing training sessions for people in Kissing. In saying this Paul is
asking that when they gather there is an expression of reconciliation and love.
It’s not the faux air kissing of Hollywood. Church services in our denomination
used to be very stayed and formal, you’d come to worship and it was like a
collection of individuals, but now we’ve rediscovered something of being the
body of Christ together and its highly appropriate that we greet each other and
welcome each other with warmth. Instead of being an intermission in our service
our greeting time I think is an important and essential part of being church
not just doing church. I hope it blossoms into hospitality and opportunities
for ministry.
Paul finishes by adding something in his own hand writing.
He would have used a trained scribe to write the body of the letter. The
original Christian rocker Larry Norman wrote a song about the music scene in
the early 1970’s. One of the lines says “the Beatles said all you need is love
and then they broke up”. Paul is not like that.
Despite his final warning and all the stuff that Paul had to
work through with the Church, this is the only letter we have from Paul that
finishes with such a warm expression of grace and personal love… The grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love to you all in Christ Jesus.” Within
a community, the road to unity is an on-going commitment to one another in
love. A love that is willing to keep talking and work through the difficult
issues together relying on and flowing out of the grace of God. May we continue
to Journey together in love by the grace of God may we be One, may we become
the vibrant, authentic, sustainable community, growing as followers of Jesus
and inspiring other to join us on that journey”, That we are have a vision to
be.
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