BEING GOD'S SERVANTS (11 OF 52)
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9
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Being God's Servants (11 of 52)
Series: Lectionary, Year A
Christopher B. Harbin
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
We live in a hyper-partisan world. We divide ourselves into all sorts of categories of us versus them. We segregate ourselves by socioeconomic categories. We isolate ourselves by political association. We separate ourselves by educational attainment. We insulate ourselves from those whose experience, language, career, ethnicity, race, generation, music preference, lifestyle, or culture are not our own. Then we wonder why we have trouble getting along. We wonder why we are a nation at odds with itself. We wonder why denominations suffer schism, churches split, and families fall apart. As Christians, can we rise above our fractious nature to unite around our identity as servants of the Most High?
The church in Corinth was struggling with these same issues. They were divided over concerns of theology, but much more so from other aspects of life. Theology, doctrine, and claiming the leadership of specific people were byproducts of the other and deeper divisions that kept them apart. Their doctrinal concerns were secondary and a smokescreen to their cultural and social divisions. Their religious distinctions were attempts to make their social distinctions acceptable. They were a christening of their competing values to make them acceptable under the name of Christ.
Corinth was a church at odds over all sorts of issues. They clashed over spiritual gifts. They were at war over who was more spiritual. They celebrated social distinctions around the table of communion, the rich gorging themselves at the table while the poor were left standing with a most meager fare. They were enacting lawsuits against each other and claiming that grace allowed free reign of action without accountability. They argued over eating meat sacrificed to idols, while some could not afford to buy meat. They fought over who was most important, most spiritual, most worthy, most correct, ...
Series: Lectionary, Year A
Christopher B. Harbin
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
We live in a hyper-partisan world. We divide ourselves into all sorts of categories of us versus them. We segregate ourselves by socioeconomic categories. We isolate ourselves by political association. We separate ourselves by educational attainment. We insulate ourselves from those whose experience, language, career, ethnicity, race, generation, music preference, lifestyle, or culture are not our own. Then we wonder why we have trouble getting along. We wonder why we are a nation at odds with itself. We wonder why denominations suffer schism, churches split, and families fall apart. As Christians, can we rise above our fractious nature to unite around our identity as servants of the Most High?
The church in Corinth was struggling with these same issues. They were divided over concerns of theology, but much more so from other aspects of life. Theology, doctrine, and claiming the leadership of specific people were byproducts of the other and deeper divisions that kept them apart. Their doctrinal concerns were secondary and a smokescreen to their cultural and social divisions. Their religious distinctions were attempts to make their social distinctions acceptable. They were a christening of their competing values to make them acceptable under the name of Christ.
Corinth was a church at odds over all sorts of issues. They clashed over spiritual gifts. They were at war over who was more spiritual. They celebrated social distinctions around the table of communion, the rich gorging themselves at the table while the poor were left standing with a most meager fare. They were enacting lawsuits against each other and claiming that grace allowed free reign of action without accountability. They argued over eating meat sacrificed to idols, while some could not afford to buy meat. They fought over who was most important, most spiritual, most worthy, most correct, ...
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