Epiphany Week 6

Psalm: Psalm 119:1-8 

Old Testament: Deuteronomy 30:15-20 

Gospel: Matthew 5:21-37 

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

We are still in the time of Epiphany week, or in some traditions “Ordinary Time.” Ordinary in this sense is like the ordinal serial numbers, (first, second) not ordinary meaning “normal.”  But our theme this week doesn’t necessarily have to do with the idea of Epiphany as we have discussed the last five weeks.  The last couple of weeks we haven’t focused on the 1 Corinthians passages, but this week it has a number of interesting things to discuss.

Historically, this passage, along with so many others in the New Testament, relieve us from thinking that the early Church, or the “New Testament Church,” was somehow perfect or at least better or more unified than we are today.  Paul is writing to a local church that is full of jealousy, quarreling, and immorality.  Even in the earliest church, maybe even before the word “Christian” was coined in Antioch, there was conflict.  If you remember Peter had a conflict with other Jewish believers concerning the following of the Old Testament Law.  But there was even conflict in the New Testament with both Peter and Judas betraying Jesus in their own ways, and then James and John trying to one-up the other disciples and ask to be on Jesus’ right and left in glory.  The early Church was made up of people just like it is today and unfortunately that means there is the potential for conflict and imperfections.  This historically reality, frees us to remember that the Church has never been perfect or full of much better people than us, but it has always found it’s holiness and glory because Christ is at the Head of his body.

Along this same line of thinking the church in Corinth also was struggling theologically in the teaching of the faith.  Both when Paul was there with the church, and now when he is writing them he desires to teach something deeper and develop their knowledge.  But he says they are stuck consuming milk like children rather than maturing to solid food.  Perhaps he wishes he could write them a deeper theological treatise concerning the incarnation or encourage them to spread the Gospel in Corinth and abroad.  Yet he is stuck once again to encouraging them not to quarrel and to live a moral life.  It is definitely hard for a local church to reach others and grow in the faith when it is struggling with conflict and disunity.

In some sense, I think the church today in many places is stuck where the Corinth church was.  We may not be struggling with conflict and division in the church, we may not even have open immorality within the pews…or we may.  But either way, we are stuck being feed milk sometimes for our whole Christian journey.  It is possible to go to church and a small group lesson every week and yet never move on to much substance in a whole range of categories: biblical knowledge, theology, Christian ethics, holy-living, morality, spiritually, and so many others.  Our churches so often don’t challenge us with new ideas or push us to grow in both in knowledge and in how we live.

This type of behavior is typical in many aspects of our lives because it is just easier to do and think what we always have and not really try to grow and stretch ourselves.  Yet, we in the church should desire to seek growth and actually push for it.  We can’t expect the church leaders to always drag us along unwillingly.  Especially if we want to move on to the solid food Paul is mentioning, then we should be asking for it and doing what we can to encourage and create it.  Growth is never going to happen when we are just passive.  This week may we seek to stretch ourselves and learn something new, or read the bible every day, or pray longer, or help someone in need, or call and encourage someone on the phone, or anything else you can think of to stretch yourself in Christlikeness.  We do these things not to earn our salvation of be more accepted by God, but we do it in response and a desire to follow Christ’s example.  Let us seek to follow Christ and grow in faith through the power of the Spirit.

Grace and Peace.