Love is the Key

Why would God put so many people on this earth? And why would He put them together only for them to live in disharmony and strife? At times relationships are such that its hard to imagine that anything good could come of them but when we experience the power of love and how it connects us together we then get a glimpse of why were were put on this earth.

In the community of Corinth, Paul saw the incredible life changing power of God's presence. People were living in oppressive and abusive relationships and God freed them by His Spirit putting them in relationships that restored their wholeness and recovered their humanity. You can understand then how sad Paul was to hear that some in the church community of Corinth were still promoting division and contention. If the Spirit is truly in them then the obvious sign is a continual attitude of love where people put each other first.

The reality is that there is no love if love is not evident in our behaviour toward each other. Paul heard from some in the Corinthian church community that people were putting themselves first - puffing up their own sense of pride in what God had done in them and ignoring those less fortunate around them. In fact, at the communal dinner where they celebrated the Lord's Supper, the less fortunate went overlooked as people gorged themselves on food. Paul pointed out that this is not in keeping with the Spirit of Christ and what he is all about. In fact, such behaviour put one in peril of bringing judgment on themselves.

The worst of it all was that when they were together for worship, there was such caios due to worshippers trying to "out do" each other that those inquiring about what they were all about were actually driven away. Rather than being an "accepting" community they were being an "alienating" community. What they were calling "the Spirit" among them was actually their own selfish desire to be acknowledged and recognized above others.

The only way to turn this around is a change in focus. Rather than the focus being on the "self" Paul reminded them that the focus should be on a crucified and resurrected Lord. It is this fact that brings signficance to everyone. In Christ, each person has renewed hope. The Spirit has come alive in them and they live in the hope of what is to come. Paul reminds them, "Who hopes for what he already has." If the end has come, then there is no need for hope but hope is the basis of faith and that hope gives significance to everything we do. Our activity now has the potential to be redeeming and so what we do is not in vain.

What an incredible opportunity God has given us to be a redeeming community where God's Spirit works through us to bring the message of Christ and His resurrection to those who have lost all hope. Paul encourages the Corinthians that if they want to exude excellence in the Spirit then love needs to permeate all they do - the prime expression of every relationship - the natural inclination of every action.

Digging Deeper

For a deeper treatment of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians click on Introduction to Corinthians by Roger Hahn. and Anthony Thiselton's commentary on First Corinthians.

Bondage versus Freedom

One of the incredible realities about our new life in Christ is that we are no longer in bondage to sin. Jesus has freed us from our bondage to sin taking advantage of the law and making the law death to us.

Being in bondage to such a life is described by Paul in his letter to the Romans as a vicious circle of trying to do good but not being able to because of sin undermining our very desire to be faithful to the laws of God. What is so incredible about this as well is that God knew this before we were born and set out a plan to free us from such a miserable state.

The other reality is that at times as followers of Christ, we continue to live the vicious circle of trying to maintain our relationship with Jesus by earning it rather than entering into it in the freedom that God has given us through Jesus. Paul declares in Romans that if we take this approach then the Spirit of Christ is not in us and we do not belong to Him.

As Christians we are not like followers of other religions who attempt to be good and so garner the acceptance of their god(s). Rather, as C.S. Lewis points out in his book Mere Christianity, we are those who believe that God does not love us because we are good but that He makes us good because he loves us.

What we find in Romans is Paul pointing out to the Roman believers that the moment they make their faith about what they do for God, they make it a faith of bondage rather than freedom. When we encounter Jesus and realize what He has done both for us and to us [Chapter 5 - the Second Adam] then we become the "new humanity" that God has desired that we be - in full relationship with the Father and dependance on the Spirit through our following Christ.

In the most practical and simplist way we can put it, God helps us be better human beings. By this, true humanity is humanity in full relationship with God. Anything other than this is no humanity at all. Bound up in the risen Jesus is our humanity now glorified and now at the right hand of the Father where He intercedes for us. In this, the Spirit draws us ever closer to Christ in anticipation of full redemption, transformation and glorified humanity for us as well in the future. For the time being, the Spirit is now working in our hearts and beginning to transform us from the inside out and so creating a new identity for us apart from sin.

When we look at each other as followers of Christ and if we truly see with the eyes of the Spirit, then we see each other in the true humanity that God has given us in Christ. By seeing each other this way, our relationships are not based on pedigree, family lineage, or nationality but on love - the love that the Father and the Son have for each other. It is this love that we were born out of and it will be this love that will restore us fully.

This coming week we will see how this reality plays itself out practically in the lives of believers as Paul speaks of love as the basis of the community of Christ - the body of believers and how as believers we should live in our communities carrying on the good news to those who do not know or yet understand.

Digger Deeper

There are two clips from two separate films that give a visual reference for what I've said in the blog. The first scene is found in the film As Good As It Gets and the second clip is found in The Shawshank Redemption. Think of other scenes that speak of this important truth that Paul speaks about in Romans - the reality of our humanity and its true identity in full relationship with the Father.