Sermons for the Month
Four on Corinthians (3)
DATE: February 27, 2000
SERVICE: Epiphany VIII
TEXT: 1 Corinthians 13“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN We now come to a more familiar topic: marriage. It will be easier for us to discuss this subject than some of the ones Paul dealt with in earlier chapters because not only is this something we are used to discussing in a church, but because we have a lot of strong views about marriage. Again we must understand Paul's words in the context of the Corinthian church. Their general confusion about sexuality seems to extend into this whole area of marriage. But here at least they know they are confused. They have written Paul asking advice. Paul directs his teaching to several groups. First there was the ascetic party which seemed to feel that all sexual relations, even between husband and wife, were wrong, or at least "less spiritual." Is sexual abstinence the Christian view? Then there are the widows and widowers--what do they do when it comes to expressing their sexuality now that their spouses are dead? There are other questions. Should Christian women divorce their husbands? Should a Christian remain married to a non-believer? What if the unbelieving spouse leaves the marriage? In general what change, if any, ought Christian conversion bring to one's marriage" Let's see how Paul answers these questions. What about those Christians who feel that sex in marriage is wrong? Good news! Quite simply, Paul says it is not good for a husband and wife to abstain from sexual relations. Abstinence could lead to immorality. Both husbands and wives have sexual rights within a marriage. If abstinence is allowed, it should be only by mutual consent for a limited period of time, and for the purpose of prayer. Widows and widowers? Remain single if you can but if not, it is better to marry than to let your passions lead to immorality. Christian couples should remain married. If separation does occur, do not remarry expect one's original spouse. Christians married to non-Christians? Remain married if your unbelieving spouse is willing. Who knows, he or she may someday convert. On the other hand, if your unbelieving spouse chooses to leave you, the prohibition against divorce does not apply. Christianity teaches that marriage is a promise to remain faithful for life. There is, of course, a difference here between different churches. Some do not admit divorce for any reason; others allow it reluctantly but for very special reasons. Some consider it an undefyable sacrament. Others like the Lutheran Church consider it a rite, that is a covenant of fidelity between a man and a woman. What we call "being in love" is a glorious state, and, in several ways, good for us. It helps to make us generous and courageous. It opens our eyes not only to the beauty of the beloved but to all beauty, and it subordinates our merely animal sexuality. In that sense, love is the greater conqueror of lust. No one in his or her senses would deny that being in love is far better than either common sensuality or cold self-centeredness. But, the most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of our own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs. Being in love is a good thing; but it is not the best thing. You can not make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling but it is still a feeling. No feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity or even to last at all. Feelings come and go. Paul on the other hand, thinks of love in a much different way. And for that we have to skip to chapter 13, the love chapter of 1st Corinthians. Poets and couples have praised 1st Corinthians 13 for almost 2000 years. It is one of those pieces of writing that we call 'inspired.' And indeed it was. Paul has crafted a magnificent set of verses here; a set I don't believe he even considered would be used at perhaps 95% of all weddings around the world. He says, Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. In Greek there are three principle kinds of love: eros--sexual--love, phila--family--love, and agape--sacrificial--love. Love, for Paul, is much more than just a feeling, it is a decision. Agape love continues when eros and phila give out. Mutually pledged agape love is what keeps a marriage together. Eros love may be what first attracts two people to each other, but it is agape love that sustains it. When eros love is the foundation of a marriage then divorce is almost inevitable. When agape love is the foundation of a marriage it is almost guaranteed to succeed. Paul in chapter 8 switches to whole new topic--eating food that has been sacrificed in pagan worship. At first, this does not sound all that significant. After all, how many dinner parties have you been to where the host bought the meat from the local temple butcher? As it turns out however, the root cause is not what kind of food is being consumed at the party but the harm that is being done to Christians who are being ridiculed by other Christians who think they know it all. Paul is not as concerned about the eating of idol-food as he is of the posture of superiority of those who are eating it over those who don't. I think you will agree that while eating food sacrificed to idols is no longer any big deal, the same bigotry that it represents is a problem. Just this last week, the bigotry of Protestant versus Catholic once again reared its ugly head in the political arena. When I was in South Africa, one of the most hotly contested issue whether to use the more popular African Christian music in the worship; it was obvious that often the issue was little more than a thinly veiled subterfuges for classism; even Bible study can create divisions between church people. No, Paul says, love is the operative term here. It is not what is the right thing to do but what is the loving thing to do. And speaking of rights, apparently, there were those in Corinth who were accusing Paul of not being a legitimate Apostle of Jesus. The argument ran like this: since you don't act like an Apostle, accept a salary like an apostle then he must be an apostle. And if he is not an apostle then we don't have to listen to what he says. Ergo, I can visit the temple prostitutes; I can eat meat sacrificed to idols; we can keep the worship service the way it is, we can continue in our secular ways. In short, we don't have to change. Paul responds this way: While every apostle has the right to be supported financially, to have a wife and travel with her, and to eat and drink whatever he wants, he has chosen to forego these rights so that no one could accuse him of following Jesus for the money. He wants everyone to understand that he is preaching the gospel completely and solely out of the call of God. If he accepts payment, this may obscure the reason why he preaches with the way he does--without compromise or without hesitation. And then Paul returns to idol food but not for the same reason as before. He returns to that subject because he sense in the issue an underlying assumption on the part of the Corinthians that has allowed them to act in what Paul considers an irresponsible manner. It seems that they were joyously indulging with a devil-may-care attitude because they had the idea that since they has been baptized and had received holy communion they were protected. They could do anything. Neither the devil nor God would bother them. Any kind of fornication, sexual immorality, defamation of Holy Commun ion was okay. Obvious, they are not going to change their behavior as long as they felt that way. So Paul must cut away their easy assumption of God's unending indulgence of them. He does so by recounting the history of Israel. Without going into detail, Paul simply says that kind of attitude will only result in the same kind of destruction as that suffered by Israel as they traveled the from Egypt to the promised land. In fact, this kind of attitude is just another form of idolatry. And that brings us to Chapter10: 14 "Have nothing to do with idolatry." You can't win that battle. Now idols are not much of an issue today. We don't see too many adding alcoves in their homes for the purpose of setting a stone up an effigy for our private worship. Herbert Schlossberg's book "Idols for Destruction" defines idolatry as any "substitution of what is created for the creator." But we all know that. Even Paul talked about the "love of money as the root of all evil." Notice it is not money itself that is the problem; it is the "love" of money that is the problem. We can easily see that many of our "loves" can become an idol: a sport, a political party, a denomination, nature, work, drugs, groups, even our children or spouse can become an idol when we put it ahead of God. What does Paul advise here? Flee. Don't let it happen? Don't become that self-absorbed. Remember, he tells them, "While all things may be permissible, not all things are helpful. The two problems--sexual immorality and idol-meat are not unconnected. For one thing, indulgence in both experiences is being justified by the same maxim: "Everything is permissible." Second, both are wrong for the same reason: they destroy the believer's unity with Christ--a unity that is meant to be exclusive. Third, the problem of idol-meat and the problem of sexual immorality are directly connected. Banquets at temples featuring meat offered to idols frequently ends up in orgies. Indulgence in one area can lead to indulgence in another. Fourth, Paul's advice in both situations is flee; get our of there; stay away. Next, week we will wrap up this series with an examination of three problems in Corinth: the worship service, Spiritual Gifts and the resurrection of the Body. See you next week. AMEN