It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? 

1 Corinthians 5:1-2

Meditation

I have heard multiple times in my life “We need to get back to the church of the New Testament.” Now some people are referring to the teaching of the New Testament and I agree with that. However, when some people say this, what they are referring to is a nostalgic and idealized time. Everyone was super nice. Everyone shared without greed. No one gossiped and everyone sang “Kumbaya, my Lord. Kumbaya.” The only problem is this: we don’t see this in the New Testament. Sure, there are some moments where things are harmonious and peaceful (Acts 2:42-47), but more often than not church life was hard, and it’s still hard today.  It’s conflict, immorality, power struggles, and a bunch of other gross stuff. In other words: it’s human.

The term utopia was coined by Sir Thomas More in 1516 as the title of his book Utopia, which described an idealized society. The word comes from Greek roots for “not” (οὐ) and “place” (τόπος). It literally means “no place.” The church is not a Christian Utopia. If that’s your expectation, you are setting yourself up for some major disappointments. This is part of the reason why some people church hop and shop. They are looking for an organization God never promised and Bible never presented. Church is messy.

What does the Bible tell us about the early church? It unfortunately had sexual immorality, greed, backstabbing, gossip, betrayal, false teaching, hypocrisy, and more issues than a beach has sand. But it also had reconciliation, unconditional love, hope, joy, kindness, sacrificial friendships, and grace. The church is a mixed bag. The bride of Christ (the church) is beautiful, but that girl has a lot of big warts! 

Does this excuse immorality? Of course not. Should the church be held to a higher standard?  Absolutely. Am I claiming church hurt is illegitimate? No, it's a very real and painful thing. Yet God chose the messy church (not the idealized version) to be the hope of the world. 

The church is God's ordained vessel for taking the Gospel to the world. It is Plan "A," and there is no Plan "B." While it is right to have high expectations for the church, remember that it will always be imperfect on this side of heaven. Love the real church, not the idealized church.

Question for Reflection

Do you love the real church with all its imperfections and messiness, or the idealized church (a Christian Utopia)? Be honest and explain your answer.

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel.

Philippians 1:27

Meditation

If you have ever traveled abroad in a country with little to no tourists from the U.S.A., you know what it feels like to see someone from your homeland. Just a combination of their clothes and nonverbals makes you think “They are where I am from!” You smile at each other. You nod. It just feels like home. It’s because you are citizens of the same country. You probably watch some of the same shows, listen to some of the same music, and maybe even are both craving a double cheeseburger with bacon. A fellow citizen from your country is a slice of home.

In Philippians 1, Paul uses a Greek word he uses nowhere else in his writings. It’s the Greek word “politeuomai”. It’s translated in verse 27 as “conduct”. Politeuomai is a political word which literally translates to “behave as a citizen”. Paul is advising all Christians to behave like citizens of heaven.

Yesterday we talked about bad behavior in the body of Christ. Now let’s talk about good behavior. Brother and sisters in the church, you are citizens of heaven. Act like it. Too many people who claim to follow Christ are far too comfortable in this world. It’s so bad that when you look at most studies the beliefs and behaviors of Christians are no different from that of the world around us.    

What’s a winning strategy for living differently? Team up. This is why the church is so important. When you are in a foreign land, find other fellow citizens of heaven and journey together. As Paul says, “stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel.” 

The thing I miss the most when out of the United States is ice cubes. Most countries I have traveled to don’t serve ice. I love ice! Yes, a cold soda is great. But when I’m in Africa and  it’s 105 degrees fahrenheit with 100% humidity, I don’t want a lukewarm Pepsi. I want an ice cold soda. 

On multiple trips to Kenya I’ve been to one place repeatedly in Nairobi that serves ice made with filtered water. It’s my favorite place to go. I will spend two weeks in Kenya and not see another American, but I always see other Americans at that one restaurant with filtered ice. I don’t know them. I’ve never met them. But when I have a glass with ice and they have a glass with ice, we smile, lift our glasses in the air, and say “cheers”. Two foreigners who have never met, but united around a love for ice and have the same home. 

In a hard world where Christ followers are outsiders, the church is a place where I see you, you see me and we tip our glasses that are full of living water (John 4:10-14). It’s refreshing. It’s home. Don’t forget your home. Don’t get too comfortable in this world. Don’t forget that you are a stranger. Be a citizen of heaven, not earth.

Question for Reflection

In what ways are you too comfortable in this world and therefore conform to it?

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

1 Corinthians 12:12-26

Meditation

In 252 AD a 3rd-century Christian bishop and martyr named Cyprian of Carthage wrote:

“He cannot have God for his Father who does not have the Church for his mother.” That's just a fancy and colorful way of saying “Christianity is not a solo sport.”

Christianity is fundamentally communal. Life for a Christian is not “It’s just me and Jesus.” It’s also not “me and my favorite internet preacher.”  According to the Apostle Paul it’s more like “It’s me, Jesus and the church.”For early Christians, the idea of a privatized faith would have been foreign. 

That’s why Paul uses the metaphor of a body where all parts have a role and are important. Some parts don’t feel like they belong, but they do. Some snobby parts try to reject other parts because they don’t think the body needs the weaker parts, but the snobs are wrong. Paul says the “weaker” parts “are indispensable.” You need the church. The church needs you.     

Question for Reflection

How effectively do you currently participate in the life of the church? Where do you notice a disconnect or failure to fully engage with the church as a vital part of your life?

While they [the disciples] were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Matthew 26:26-29

Meditation

I remember when my wife and I bought our second condo in the early 2000s. It was perfect. Even the off-white cream colored carpets were spotless. That is until they were introduced to me. You see, I have always been a slurpee addict. A large wild cherry slurpee from 7-Eleven is my drug of choice. Yes, the corporate heads at 7-Eleven target marketed that frozen delight to third grade boys, but I don’t care. I love them.

Well, not only do I have the taste of a third grade boy in my beverage preferences. I am also as clumsy as one. When we moved into our new place we were not there for 48 hours before I dropped my slurpee on the spotless carpet. As you can guess, no amount of rubbing and scrubbing was getting that red out of the carpet. As a desperate last hope, we called some professional carpet cleaners. Of course they had the big fancy carpet shampooers. However, that wasn’t what made the difference. They added one solution to the carpet and then a second solution that when put together created a chemical reaction that removed the stain! A stain I had no power to remove came out with the right two elements.

Communion is two critical components (the body and blood of Christ) coming together to remind us of the stains God removed from our lives on the cross. If you are like me, I’ve rubbed and scrubbed my life to exhaustion only to still be stuck with my sin. What we couldn’t remove, God did with a cosmic chemical reaction in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. 

Also, communion is not just an individual act (just me and Jesus). It’s communal. When we participate together in the body and blood of Christ as a church, we acknowledge we all have stained lives and we can't take those stains out. We don’t hide those stains. We bring them forward together. We confess together our need for Christ’s forgiveness and offer our support to each other.     

Question for Reflection

Spend some time thinking about communion. When you think about it, what comes to mind? How does it make you feel? 

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:3-6

Meditation

My mom grew up in Michigan and was one of 17 kids. You heard that right, 17. All from the same mom and dad. All single births. My grandma Romaine was pregnant from her late teens until her early forties. Now here’s the ironic part. People expect that I then must have come from a large nuclear family. False. I am an only child. I tease my mom and tell her she got it perfect the first time so she could stop. She fires back “Trust me, one of you was enough.”

Now, like many kids who grew up as an only child, I have a bad case of only child syndrome. I am really big on my time, my stuff, and my way. I like to be alone. I don’t like to share. Then I started following Jesus at 16. I learned two new terms: “Christ’s” and “we”.

When it came to the term “Christ’s” I learned that my stuff really belonged to Christ. Everything down to my mind, body, actions, plans, and dreams were not my own. I 100% belonged to Jesus. 

If that wasn’t bad enough for an only child, then I learned the term “we”. I learned really quickly that not only did my stuff belong to Christ, but as I stewarded it, the Lord wanted me to share it for the benefit of my community (A.K.A. the church). 

This has been a slow and hard process. Even 30 years later I’m still working on it. For example, I recently thought “What if my baptism wasn’t my baptism. What if it was our baptism?” So when that 16 year old boy was baptized at First Christian Church of Florissant, the 600 plus people who were there that day were a part of it. I wasn’t just baptized into Christ, but I was also baptized into that church family. “What if when I take communion at church this week, it’s not my communion? Rather it’s “our communion.”

Whether you grew up an only child or not, far too many Christians have only child syndrome. They struggle to share. They view church involvement and ordinances (like baptism and communion) as “my time, my stuff, and my way.” When was the last time you showed up at church with the exclusive goal to share with others? 

Question for Reflection

Moving forward, how can you show up to the church and bless it more through sharing?