Growing up

Thoughts on the 1 Corinthians text for today from Pastor Tom...

“And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.  I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food.  Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh.  For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?”  (1 Corinthians 3:1-3)

If Lent has anything to do with repentance, change, or renewal, maybe another term for it would be “growing up.”  Nobody likes to be called a "baby." Yet, listen to the humiliating charge Paul levels at the Corinthian Christians: "Brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ." (I Cor. 3:1).  Why did Paul refer disparagingly to the Corinthians as infants?  Well, because they are quarreling over personalities and risking fragmentation and eventual disintegration.  Church members are pledging allegiance to Paul or Apollos or Cephas or Christ.  Why would they do that?  The Corinthians are fascinated with divine wisdom which they claim to have received from the Spirit of God.  Possessing this wisdom makes them "spiritual" people.  In their way of thinking, true wisdom reveals itself in the rhetorical skills of its exponents.  They boast in the wisdom of their favorite preachers and, by implication, in themselves.  While they consider themselves to be spiritual, many of them are not so sure about Paul: Neither his person nor his gospel of the Crucified are impressive by their standards.

But Paul had other criteria for authentic spiritual people. Anyone who receives his gospel of the Crucified is spiritual.  Where do the Corinthians stand?  On the one hand, the apostle allows they are spiritual, not lacking in any spiritual gift (1 Cor. 1:4-7).  On the other hand, though the Corinthians may be spiritual, their behavior reflects an unspiritual approach to the faith. Yes, they are acting like people of the flesh, like mere humans, rather than Spirit-filled folk. They are acting like infants rather than grown-ups in Christ.  One clear proof of their immature behavior is that they view Paul's teaching as baby food rather than solid meat.  It can only be baby food, because they have abandoned the true gospel for something that looks like solid food but has no nutritional value at all.

So it is also with their brand of wisdom.  If they would stop acting like "babies," they could appreciate his message for what it really is—solid food.  But “spiritual” people are simply behaving and thinking like unspiritual people—like unbelievers!  Indeed, they are acting like people of the flesh.  Their jealousy and strife over their pet preachers clearly demonstrate their misguided behavior (1 Cor. 3:3-4).  The Corinthians could not stomach Paul's deeper message of the cross, because they were not able to.  They tended to view the Christian life in terms of models taken from a sinful world.  So, they are acting exactly like those who do not have the Spirit!

            

           Childish behavior shows we cannot stomach solid food about a servant, Jesus, crucified in folly and weakness.  Yes, this gospel looks like baby food to us.  No wisdom, no power in it.  Surely, it is not hard to figure out why we act as we do. The world is too much with us.  We are people of flesh.  The problem is, we apply human standards to the Christian life.  We hold a false view of Jesus Christ.  We bypass the cross in favor of the glorious kingdom.  During Lent, we are called to grow up and adopt a more biblical view of spirituality—one that sees the cross life as the model for living in the Spirit.  Leaders have their place, but they are only servants.  The members are servants who must walk humbly with God and carry the cross of suffering and shame in order to be truly spiritual people.