Brown's Daily Word 4-30-08

Good Morning,
Paul, loved to write letters to churches and to his friends. He wrote a letter to the Church in Corinth, a church which was imperfect like all our churches. There were church fights that were becoming courtroom battles, issues of sexual ethics, marriage issues, worship of idols, and serious disruptions of worship services, as well as arguments and divisions over leadership. Here was a broken church if ever there was one. The Corinthian believers were hurting, feeling pain and giving pain, confused about morality and ethics, and yet, in Chapter 1 Vs. 4, Paul begins his letter to them with “I always thank God for you . . .” WHY he is thankful? How could he be thankful for a dysfunctional church? It was “Because of God’s grace given in Christ Jesus.” The grace of Christ Jesus shines through the brokenness of the Church, His chosen. The words “church of God” appear only 3 times in the NT, once in Acts 20 and twice in Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth. The word church, (ekklesiai) simply referred to an assembly, not necessarily religious in nature, but Paul qualified the “ekklesiai” as “tou Theou” or “of God”. Two things distinguish the “assembly of God” from other assemblies: One, it was “sanctified in Christ Jesus” – cleansed or made worthy by Christ Jesus. It wasn’t of their own doing. Two, they were “called to be holy”, set apart, or special again, something they could not do for themselves. Only through Christ were they different, set apart, and worthy before God. They were being reminded that without Christ at the center of their lives and church they were worthless and no better than the pagans of Corinth. Paul reminded them that any value they had was because of Christ. Any gift they possessed was because of Christ. It is Christ Jesus that adds value and meaning to all. There is a tale told of a man who bought an old junk motorcycle at an auction. One day as he worked to clean it up, he opened the gas tank and on the inside of the cap he read, “to Elvis, from Priscilla.” Suddenly, his worthless motorcycle became a valuable collector’s item based on previous ownership. Paul wanted the Corinthian Christians (and us) to realize that our worth is found only in Christ. Yet, we like to think God needs our gifts and abilities, and that the church couldn’t survive without us. Insurance companies would like us to think we are worth many thousands or millions of dollars. The plain and simple fact is that without Christ, we are worth ZERO! Fred Craddock, a United Methogist professor and preacher,said, “We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking a $1,000 bill and laying it on the table. Here’s my life, Lord. I’m giving it all. But the reality for most of us is that God would send us to the bank and have us change the $1,000 into quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. Listen to the neighbor kid’s troubles instead of saying, “Get lost.” Go to the committee meeting. Give a cup of water to a shaky old man in a nursing home. Usually giving our life to Christ isn’t glorious. It’s done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory; it’s harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul. It’s called FAITHFULNESS!" I have been part of the church of our Lord Jesus, all of my life, by His grace. I have been blessed beyond belief. Praise the Lord for His church. “God, who has called you into fellowship with his son Christ Jesus our Lord, is faithful.” May the Lord grant us His grace and power so that might remain faithful to Him.
In His Faithfulness,
Brown

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither. C. S. Lewis