I have been working on organizing and formatting the teaching material for the Pastor's Conference in Teculatan, Guatemala every chance I get. We are using material from Dr. David Platt, who is President of the IMB, on the Church, who we are, what we do, how we are led and where we are going. I pray it will be blessing. In the study there is one section, after a description of what the Church does, entitled, ''A Case Study: The Church in Antioch.'' We can read her story in the book of Acts. The Church in Antioch is in many ways a model church and case study for other churches on what to do. The church in Corinth, well let's say, it is not a case study in what to do. It is a case study in what not to do. If as church you want to know what to do you could ask a few questions...
- Question: What did Antioch do? Okay, then do that.
- Question: How did Antioch respond? Okay, respond that way.
- Question: What did Corinth do? Okay, don't do that. Do the opposite.
- Question: How did Corinth respond? Okay, don't respond that way. Respond in the opposite manner.
As we work our way through this letter the issues, concerns and problems continue to mount and will continue to do so. This church is a pastoral nightmare. This is the church, if you are the pastor, when people ask, ''What do you do?'' and you respond, ''Well, I am pastor at the church in Corinth,'' that they say, ''Bless your heart! I'll be praying for you.''
As if last week were not enough, with the incest of a man sleeping with his step-mother, and the embarrassment that caused the church it doesn't get any better this week. The Corinthian church had a new past-time, suing other believers. On top of that, if we have time, it created further embarrassment because certain believers in the church flaunted a rather skewed misunderstanding of what it meant to be free in Christ. This was especially true in its sexual ethics.
