Day 440 - All Things Belong to Us and We Belong to Christ

A Sermon given at First Presbyterian Church, Soddy Daisy, TN, Feb. 23, 2014

OT Lesson: Leviticus 19:1-18

Gospel Lesson: Matthew 5:38-48

Epistle Lesson: 1 Cor. 3: 10-23

The committee that selects the lectionary texts do not always make it easy for the pastor who uses it as a basis of sermons, but they do an interesting job of combining readings. Today they give us a challenging text of the Law in Leviticus, Jesus’ preaching on that text in the Sermon on the Mount and Paul continuing to chide the Corinthians. I have said Paul’s letters can be a very difficult to preach because he is always writing about the behavior of fellow Christians and seldom takes prisoners.  Putting these three texts together yields the ultimate “take-no-prisoners” message - yet why do I call the sermon “All things belong to us and we belong to Christ?”

I am also pretty sure many pastors have an unstated wondering, “What in the world do we do with these scriptures?” The key to them is wrapped up in verse 2 of Leviticus, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy”, in verse 45 and 48 of Matthew, “so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, and verse 21-23 of the Corinthians text, “For all things are yours, — all belong to you, and you all belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”

The Lord says “you shall be holy because I AM holy and then gives a series of commandments mostly about interpersonal behavior. Through the ages we have focused mostly on the commandments even though they don’t make us holy. The message is found at the outset, Lev. 19:2.

Frankly these commandments strike a little close to home: don’t harvest all your crop leave some for the alien and the poor, don’t be a slanderer, don’t put a stumbling block in front of the blind, don’t hate anyone or bear a grudge. And then Jesus pick up this Leviticus text with its demand for perfection: Love the folks who hate you. Walk the extra mile…no more an eye for an eye, something not really in the commandments anyway. This ancient dictum “an eye for an eye” was actually an enlightened way of the times to response to a wrong. It avoids the alternative of revenge in a blood feud between families of the parties. Jesus recalling this saying in the context of the Law because he would not satisfied with the law until he had shown its purpose is to make us holy.

It would be an interesting world if we were all perfect, if we lived as if everything was ours to give away, and we had no worry about what to keep. What if we all had such thick skin that insults just rolled off? We could read or listen to Matthew 5:38-48 and nod, how true, how true.

What we usually do; however, is read these verses and think something like this: “These are really a nice and lofty goals,” or, “It is great to have impossible ideals” and just go about business as usual. Jesus says if someone gives the worst insult by striking you on the cheek with the back of the hand, turn offer the other cheek. If someone takes you to court to sue you, give the guy suing you more than he asks for?  And what would happen if I loved my enemy and the folks who persecute me? Don’t the Corinthians think the opposite is more logical, “If I let people run over me what good is that going to be for me?” Is Jesus serious?

You can place great trust in people, even your own family, and you can pretty much count on it that sooner or later even the best meaning person is liable to hurt you. So we build walls and hold grudges and say an eye for an eye.

I don’t know how many or if any of your were cheated by the CPA who allegedly had the ponzi scheme, but I would not be surprised if you held a grudge if you were. It is hard not to.  When someone does something that hurts me, whether it be emotionally or physically, it takes a lot of effort to think positively about them. Don’t you agree?

 After all, it is a dog-eat-dog world out there. You’ll find people as conservative as Ayn Rand and liberal as Karl Marx say the same thing, that kind of Christian thinking is crazy and foolish. But didn’t Paul say foolish the whole point of Christ?

Interpersonal behavior has a big impact on behavior of larger social groups, such as nations and congregations. That is why we have these commandments. How many wars between nations are started over propaganda, national or religious insult, or perceived wrong? Perhaps we ought to step back and reconsider how Jesus and then Paul preached this idea.

First, it is impossible to deny that Jesus commends a standard of behavior of forbearance in all things. Given the opportunity to argue, make a derogatory comment, or get physical, he expects us to stop and think about what we are about to say. Jesus does not expect us to apply these commandments as legalisms as the Pharisees did. Jesus knows how well we apply the law rather than achieving its purpose. It is the difference of commanding one to do something opposed to recommending a behavior to live by.

Paul always intrigues me. He lived before the Gospels were written and the only evidence we have that Paul knew Jesus is his conversion experience on the road to Damascus. In spite of that, he uses some of the very things Jesus said in interesting ways.

Paul chastised the Corinthians over their unwillingness to exercise forbearance of their fellow Christians. He accused them of not asking, “What is my obligation as a Christian” before putting their mouth or body in motion. The Corinthians were so focused on their conviction that they were“ spiritually right” that they overlooked the demands for humility, of serving their fellow Christians, and to avoid lording their faith over others at all costs. What Paul really said is “You are so smart, you have forgotten how to act like Christians.”

Let me repeat a question. What was Paul’s greatest worry for a congregation? Do you remember? It was disunity and dissent. Paul spelled this out in almost all his letters that the congregation is the body of Christian believers. We walk in the world like a lighted billboard, “Look at me! I am a Christian! Don’t you want to come worship with me?”

Of course, what Christian in their right mind would not desire that goal? In spite of ourselves, somehow the wires in our brain always seem to get crossed when we listen to the words Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. Forgive our enemies, go the extra mile, don’t just overlook those who criticize our beliefs, offer them our help, don’t go hire an attorney to defend you in a suit, settle it and pay the fellow more than he asks. Forget that.

If you do not believe we get our wires crossed, answer this question. When we hear someone voice a distasteful religious or political belief, is our first instinct to be nice to them? Do we use posts on Facebook or news stories on TV to bash people for believing, or not believing it? More often than not, we take what we read and leap feet first into the fray swinging it like a sword at whomever the thing is about? “That person must be crazy, a moron or a mongrel to vote for that person or believe that politician.”

Some of the worst are letters on the internet editorial page of the Times Free Press where anonymity really lets people embarrass us all, and the stuff the film and musical performers spout looking for attention and money. You can read Christians condemning another Christian as an evil non- Christian because of some particular sin. Paul is turning over in his grave that some of those letters are from good Christian people. The fact is, if Paul had founded any congregation where I have been, I am absolutely certain I’d be reading a letter from him about something we said, or I’d be sitting in the pew listening to the letter read to me.

Paul and Jesus preach from the same book. Verses 45-48 of Matthew 5 say, “Do these things: love your enemies, go the extra mile, do not return evil for evil (45) so you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun shine on the evil and the righteous, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Here are the big guns (46,47)…“For if you love those who love you, what reward to do have? Do not even tax collectors do the same? And if you only greet your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing that others do? (Everybody does that.)  48 no, my beloved children (who Paul would say are still eating baby food), “Be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect.” Or as Moses quoted the Lord in Leviticus 19:2: “You shall be holy because I AM holy.” Do you see what Jesus meant when he told the Pharisees he had not come to replace the law but to fulfill it?

How can we use these teachings to help us here? We say, “We need a larger congregation to be more financially stable. We want more children and young people. We want draw people into our worship.” You are not alone.  I have heard that lament in virtually every church I’ve visited, been a member of, or preached at. Some grow and some do not but not for the usual excuses.

The problem is not the usual excuses, “Oh, people have lost the faith, the world has drawn them away. There just aren’t that many Christians anymore. Islam, Buddhism, or atheism and the world are luring people away.”

Paul gives us the bottom line. If we want to continue to grow in Christ we will build our temple with care. We must acknowledge what Paul said in 1 Cor. 3, our congregation is built on “the foundation is Jesus Christ” and what Jesus said in Matthew5:38-48. We must acknowledge what Paul states, “We, each of us, is God’s temple and God’s Spirit dwells in us." God’s Spirit calls true believers to worship through the work our faith. That is why we have these commandments, but they really are recommendations or recipes for being holy.

Right now in our wednesday night teen youth group we have kids asking questions like, “What is a Presbyterian, What is a Christian?”  Let’s always be sure we ask question, “When the teens look at us, Do they hear and see, ‘Oh Presbyterians and Christians are people like you.’”  If they see the essence of Christianity in our behavior towards people in our real everyday life and even at our dinner tables where we reflect not just forbearance but love for the people we disagree, those children’s parents are not far behind.

If you just picked up Leviticus 19 or 1 Corinthians and started reading in the middle, you’d miss that message. You might not appreciate that Paul knew the Corinthians were loyal Christians, but if you go to the first few verses you read in the salutation, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, I give thanks to my God always for the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind - so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

After we read that salutation and the whole letter, we realize the message is “sometimes Christians misbehave.” That ought to humble all of us.

Paul knew the Corinthians needed a little wakeup call. Jesus knew the religious Jews needed the same thing, he knows we need the same thing and he recommends the standard of Christian behavior to us. It is an interesting idea, maybe we ought to post Matthew 5:38-48 on out courthouse rather than the Ten Commandments, or at least read it regularly in our homes.

Paul, though, is ever focused on the congregation of believers. He says our congregation is a temple built of people who stand on the foundation of Christ. As we grow in faith striving to meet those lofty, unrealistic goals Jesus gave us, our congregation grows more powerful with the Spirit of God. As that happens, we become a brighter, more hospitable city on the hill.

It is going to make us a little uncomfortable at times, but isn’t that exactly what Jesus sermon does to you? Don’t you think Jesus knows and intends to shake us up to see how our old ways can become legalisms, a ball and chain to faith? Isn’t that exactly what Paul was trying to do with the Corinthians, make them uncomfortable with their childish behavior and foolish faith?

These passages mean change is required to grow in Christian Faith. We have to working in the world to reveal that Spirit our actions so folks can see it. These passages tell is how to chose life not death. Paul said, “For all things are yours, and you all belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”  Everything is yours to share.

Day 433 - Living in The City of God

A sermon delivered at First Presbyterian Church, Soddy Daisy, TN, Feb. 16, 2014

OT Reading: Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Gospel Reading: Matthew 5: 21-37

Epistle Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 *

As we move towards the Easter season this year we are following Paul struggling with the congregation in Corinth. In the last two weeks we learned the congregation did not accept that their faith required them to act as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, not the world. Their wisdom and pride convinced them spirituality was all they needed. This week Paul returns to the problem and explaining the Corinthians’ error in great detail in this letter to the congregation. It is an occasional letter as all Paul’s letters are, written to a specific group of people or a person about specific behavior or circumstance. Therefore, these letters have great teaching value on the practice of Christian behavior in our modern congregations; because when it comes to human nature, there is very little new under the sun.

This part of Paul’s letter reads like a "lecture" to the Corinthian congregation (and it is intended to be read to the entire congregation), though the Greek is full of painful irony and imagery as if chastising a misbehaving brat.

Paul came to Corinth and started this congregation among former slaves who now are self made men immersed in a Greek and Roman culture that prided itself on power, logic and knowledge, well-turned arguments, entertaining oratory and pride in its civil and commercial accomplishments.  It also had prominent Greek temples for the Greek gods and goddesses whose worship entailed exorbitant drunken feasts and widespread dehumanizing sexual indulgences involving temple prostitutes.

Paul had come to town preaching a Gospel alien to the values of these sophisticated folks. It is a foolish Gospel proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus changed the universe permanently, bringing the Kingdom of Heaven into a world torn with deceit, selfishness and egotism, and judging corrupt that world of the Jews and Greek-Romans and sentencing it to death. By the power of the Holy Spirit many Corinthians believed that alien Gospel and began a congregation. Realize these are true believers, people of faith, not infidels. It is a very important to remember we are talking about Christian members of a congregation.

Paul left Corinth to pursue his missionary work leaving Apollos and others to nurture the faith of the Corinthians. But the Corinthians have not separated that far from their old ways of thinking. They conclude the Holy Spirit imbues them with a faith that makes them a part of a special cult of Christian elite.

They partake the Lord’s Supper that imparts power. They believe their spirit makes them immune to the old religious life and begin visiting their temples and their prostitutes, and feasting with their old friends because they think they are protected as solid gold Christians. The ones who speak eloquently in tongues must be filled with the Holy Spirit far more than their fellow Christians who do not. What began as dissent and argument between small groups over their spirituality has spread throughout the congregation. They even doubt Paul’s spirituality. He is a poor speaker, has an unappealing appearance and earns a living with his hands.

They are so full of their wisdom that they have completely forgotten that you cannot believe the Gospel and act as a citizen of the world. Everyone has forgotten that a Christian lives in this Kingdom of Heaven that is breaking in and pushing aside the Kingdom of the World.

A faithful Christian who keeps one’s feet in the fish trap of the old ways is following them and leading others to death. Christian behavior goes hand-in-hand with faith. They are obligated to cede their own pride and individualism to the congregation so the great Church is empowered as the foundation for the emerging Kingdom of Heaven.

The words come to mind, "When I was an adult, I put away childish things."

I think the best way to put the OT, Gospel and Paul’s text into perspective is to go through Paul’s words in these 9 verses.

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

1 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.

As I said last week, his Greek grammar shows clearly he is speaking to everyone in the congregation, and now is recounting the situation when he first came to the Corinthians. He says, “When I first came I could not speak to you all as Christians because you all were not Christians! You were creatures of the world, living according to its rules, values and logic. You all thought highly of yourselves and worshiped in the temple of Aphrodite with her temple prostitutes, or condoned your fellows doing it. You loved and admired power.  I had to treat your interest in the Good News as if you were all babies beginning to learn how to eat.

Then he gets personal in v2:  “2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready.”

In other words, “Back when I began proclaiming the Good News to you, I took great effort to carefully explain to every one of you in simple words Christ crucified and resurrected brought the Kingdom of Heaven that you have entered along with the obligations of faith. I did this because even though you believed, you were immature babies that couldn’t understand otherwise. Sadly you are still immature, childish babies who don’t understand, even though you all are adults;

Paul’s irony is inescapable. He doesn’t use the positive word “baby” but a word that means a misbehaving child, an “imp.” Paul is going all out trying to get through their thick-headed logic to their heart. In order to make his point he continues, “3 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?

Paul is telling them their arguments and jealousy proves they ALL still live practicing the ways and values of the dying world. He heaps the worst allegation he can on these sophisticated Greeks, “You all are still behaving as unruly children just like you did when I met you and you didn’t have faith. Even now all you do is all argue about who is the better Christian. Am I not right?”

Paul refuses to let up, “4 For when one says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ and another, ‘I belong to Apollos,’ are you not merely being human?

This is a painful criticism to a group who say they have attained the spiritual level of “high Christianity.” Paul says, “You are professing allegiance to Apollos or me and that means you are simply still acting in the human ways of the world yet you say you have escaped to a higher spirituality in Christ.  Who do you think you are to claim the one who proclaimed the Good News to you is more important than Christ who is being proclaimed? Do every one of you not see how childish and worldly you are?”

Then in verse 5-7 Paul describes Apollos and his status in very clear terms that also is a slap at the Corinthians high view of their own status: “5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

These three verses are perhaps some of the more important words Paul writes to the Corinthians and to us. He tells them (in my words),  “Far be it for me or my associates in faith to stand before you all as anything but a servant or slave of God who has preached the Word to each of you according to the ability that the Lord gave to each of us.   I may have preached the Gospel to you, and Apollos may have nurtured you with instruction after I left, but we were only the ones who sowed and watered. Only God caused the Gospel to sprout in you all. Do you understand this means Apollos and I are really nothing but messengers, not gods. In the absence of God, our words are only seeds and water cast on soil. Only God can grow your spirit."

By now, not only has Paul completely disabused the Corinthians of any idea they have some special status as people of spirit, but also he has made it clear that they have made a mockery of their Christianity by using their great powers of knowledge and logic to twist the Kingdom of Heaven into an affirmation of their old worldly values.

Paul puts the entire message together for the Corinthians in the last two verses: “8 The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. 9 For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.”

Paul has come full circle. We all have a unity of purpose in the Kingdom of Heaven. We are all part of the body of Christ, each one of us bringing our own special gifts. He describes the basic role of minister – a servant or slave to the ruler. (paraphrase: ) “A minister, whether the planter or nurturer, is a laborer in the Kingdom of Heaven whose duty and ability are an essential part of the whole."

And finally this time he uses gentle irony to prod them because regardless of his anger, he loves his congregation: 

"You all will understand when you grow up into mature Christians that we are all God’s children laboring in His vineyard. We all are the Church and the Church is the foundation of Christ’s Kingdom of Heaven. We must live to honor Christ as citizens of the City of God (or Kingdom of Heaven), not the City of the World."

I included the Deuteronomy and Matthew reading to show how masterfully Paul has weaved a message in our Judeo-Christian heritage into a polished and magnified message about the blessing and obligation of the cross and resurrection. That message is our Christian righteousness allows our congregation and the fruits of its labor represent Christ in the world. We must live as servant and slave in the Kingdom of Heaven, not remain living in the world as immature brats.

Some say the Paul’s talk about Apollos and his role means this passage is in large part one for ministers. That is actually true. The word "minister" carries a sense of servant or slave in Greek.  The passage ought to humble a pastor because also it emphasizes the character of the minister as a servant or slave. Not a servant or slave to the congregation, though in fact it is that too, but a servant and slave to the ruler of the Kingdom of Heaven.

It is not just a message to unruly Corinthians but a message to all of us. We should all appreciate that as Christians we are all ministers in the City of God. Therefore, in every way this daunting passage applies to all of us, we may walk in the World but had better live in and cling to the values of in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Remember Paul, “You will understand when you grow up into mature Christians that we are all God’s children laboring in His vineyard. We all are the Church that is the foundation of Christ’s Kingdom of Heaven and we must live in unity as citizens of the City of God, not as citizens of the City of the World.

* A nice summary of the present scholarly perspective on how 1 Corinthians fits into the whole Corinthian correspondence and its interpretive strategies can be found in:

Holladay, Carl, A Critical Introduction to the New Testament, Chapter 13, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005, p303.

See Day 426 for commentary references

Day 432 - Lectionary Readings for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This blog entry reviews the scriptural passages from the Revised Common Lectionary for this coming Sunday. The readings all connect faith, duty and maturity leading towards the Epistle reading that is the focus of the sermon on Sunday.

The OT Reading

The OT reading is Deuteronomy 30:15-20.  In blessing the Israelites with the Law and the promised land, the Lord reminds them of the blessings of the law and the curses of sin. This is a two-way covenant. The righteous people of Abraham among you who follow the Law and have the desire and obligation of the heart to the Lord shall enjoy the love of God but those who turn away and lose that desire of righteousness in the heart have chosen death. The upshot of these blessing and curses as we shall see, is the sentence of death save for the lovingkindness of the Lord. The painful reality of these curses magnifies the power of the grace of the Lord through Jesus Christ, but still reminds us our labor is a consequence of our righteousness.

A Caution - Blessings and Curses

15  See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.

         Choose life or death, prosperity or adversity.  

The Blessings

16 If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.  

If you aspire to live and love as God loves his commandments will be in your heart and you will entertain the Lord's blessing.

The Curses

17 But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them,  18 I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.  19a I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. 

If your heart becomes hardened to the ways of the compassionate Lord, then the Lord's heart shall become hardened to you and you shall perish.

Choose Life

19b Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,  20 loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the LORD swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 

Choose to love the Lord and his ways so that you may inherit the promise made to your fathers Abraham (Abram) and Israel (Jacob).

The Gospel Reading

The Gospel reading comes from Matthew 5:21-37. This is one of the more powerful and troubling passages in the Sermon on the Mount. It has a decidedly Jewish cast to it, Jesus is preaching to Israel and he takes no prisoners concerning sin. It's message is blunt. All sin is equivalent and an anathema to God. The message is summarized in vv 34-37, The Lord has redeemed you but shall strive to do as God commands, and pray for the merciful judgment of a Just God.

 Concerning Anger

21  “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’  22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. 

The Law says all sin is equal, so even if you avoid all those sins you think are greater than others, such as murder, judgment, it is just as bad that you become angry with your fellow believer, or call someone a fool. You risk damnation because it is a sin against God.

 23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you,  24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.  

Therefore, when you are in worship prepared to make an offering and realize your fellow believer has a grudge against you for something you said or did, immediately stop what you are doing and seek out your aggrieved fellow Christian and make peace with them. Then come back to worship and give your gift. In this way you are placing the thing of highest importance first.

25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison.  26 Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. 

If you are being sued by one of your fellow Christians, immediately resolve the issue with them before you get to court, otherwise you are submitting to judgment by the world and will find it impossible to get relief until your sentence is complete. Would you rather be judged as God has judged you through Christ and forgiven as God forgave you through Christ, or would you rather be judged according to the way the world judges people?

 Concerning Adultery

27  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’  28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.  30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell. 

The Law says all sin is equal, so if you avoid those sins you think are greater than others, such as murder, judgment it is just as bad that you become angry with your fellow believer, or call someone a fool. You risk damnation. It is better to give up the things that tempt you to sin than pay the price for sinning because even to think the sin is as much a sin as the actual act. 

Concerning Divorce

31   “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’  32 But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. 

The Law says all sin is equal, even divorce though Moses permitted it. It is an act of judgment and if you cause your wife to remarry, or remarry yourself, you abet adultery.  Remember the Laws are equal. 

Concerning Oaths

33   “Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’  34 But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,  35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.  36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.  37 Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one. 

God commanded the Israelites not to swear falsely, but you shall not swear at all because you cannot make the thing you swear come about. If you swear by Heaven or the Lord, you are being foolish because you cannot swear on the Lord's behalf. Simply agree or disagree because if you go further you may walk into the trap of sin or anger, court suits and broken marriage as talked about before.

The Epistle Reading

In the passage from Paul's Epistle 1 Corinthians 3:1-9  Paul continues his "lecture" to the Corinthian congregation (and it is to the entire congregation), though it has the painful irony of chastising a misbehaving child.  We need to be fully aware of the earlier criticism by Paul of the Corinthians for their unchristian behavior ( see previous two sermons, Day 412  and Day 419) falling to the lure of wisdom and knowledge of the World strikes at the heart of Christian faith. They say they believe but act as if they do not. A Christian lives in the Kingdom of Heaven not in the Kingdom of the World. For the faithful person, one's actions cannot show a belief in one thing and a faith another. The words come to mind, "When I was an adult, I put away childish things."

The passage is a humble one for a pastor and congregant because also it emphasizes the character of the minister. The Greek world "minister" carries a sense of servant or slave.  Not servant or slave to the congregation, though in fact that too, but a servant and slave to the ruler of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

In the reformed faith we emphasize that all Christians are ministers, thus, this passage should be daunting to all.

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

1 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.

When I first came to you all I could not speak to you as Christians because you all were not! You were creatures of the world, living according to its rules, values and logic. I had to treat your interest in the Good News as if you all were children beginning to learn what it meant to be a Christian.

2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready,

 Back then, I endeavored with great effort to carefully explain to every one of you the obligations of faith and the ways of the Kingdom of Heaven that you have entered, because you were immature babies. Sadly you are still immature, childish babies even though you all are adults;

3 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?

You all still live practicing the ways and values of the World. You all still behave in the fashion you all did when you all were lost. You all argue arguing about your faith and who is the better Christian.

4 For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely human?

claiming the one who proclaimed to you is more important than the one proclaimed. Do you all, every one of you, not see how childish and worldly you are?

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each.

Far be it for me or my associates in faith to stand before every one of you as anything but a servant or slave who with my fellow friends have preached the Word to each of you according to the duties and strength the Lord gave us.

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

I may have preached the Gospel to you, and Apollos may have nurtured you with  instruction, but we were only seed and water. Only God caused the Gospel to sprout in you all.

7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

This means we are really nothing but messengers. In the absence of God, our words are only seeds cast on dry soil. Only God can make your spirit grow.

8 The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each.

A minister, whether the planter or nurturer is a laborer in the Kingdom of Heaven whose labor and duty are an essential part of the whole;

 9 For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

You all will understand when you are mature Christians that we are all God’s children laboring in His vineyard. We are the Church that is the foundation of His kingdom of Heaven and we ought to live that way.

From blessings and curses to the Israelites by Moses from God to the caution to the Corinthians by Paul from God, it seems that we get a common message polished, magnified and extended by the cross and resurrection. That message is your righteousness as a Cristian will be known by the fruits of your labor. You must live as a servant and slave in the Kingdom of Heaven, not remain living in the world as immature babies.