"Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you." (2 Cor. 13:11)
“To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ -their Lord and ours: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:2-3).
Paul addresses issues related to corporate gathering in Corinthians. We are individual Christians, but as we come together, as Jim Altizer noted in a short clip on corporate worship he sent to me on facebook, we are not to behave as individuals. He notes, we should respond corporately as we come together.[a] As we come together, we are one in Christ.
In Ephesians 4:3-7 Paul tells the church, “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.”
The church of Corinth greatly struggled with becoming one. Paul writes to them in 1 Cor. 1:10, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
Perfectly united or perfectly joined together is the Greek word katartizo, Strongs # 2675 [/kat·ar·tid·zo/], which means to be completed, fit, equipped, arranged and put in order, making one what they ought to be.
And the word 'same' used here is the Greek word autos, Strongs # 846. According to Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, it means “he himself and no other” as referred to in Ephesians 2:14.
In Ephesians 2:14-15, Paul says, "For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace...”
It is our union with Christ that brings us in union with each other. In John 17:21 Jesus asks his Father, “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
Paul says in Ephesians 1:22-13, “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
Paul writes to the church in Corinth about those creating divisions by arguing over whose leadership they were following, “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for God's temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”
One article notes, “The church is God's temple, God's naos. And God's temple, says Paul, "is sacred." The congregation, in other words, is holy, set apart, reserved for God and His use. Of course she is sacred because in her God dwells, she is indwelt by the Spirit, and she is the body of Christ.” [1]
In the Corinthian church, part of the division had to do with who was performing baptism. People were developing sects which created divisions among the people and created discord. Paul tells the church they have nothing to brag about. He notes, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom form God -that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: 'Let those who boast boast in the Lord.'"
Paul challenged them that their meetings together were doing more harm than good (1 Cor. 11:17). In taking communion, they were getting drunk and eating large meals while others went hungry. He writes, “Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!”
Ironically, baptism and communion are sacraments given to the church designed to bring us into greater unity and oneness as the body of Christ. Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “In the two sacraments he [Jesus Christ] encounters us bodily and makes us partakers in the fellowship and communion of his Body, and thy are both closely linked to his word. Both proclaim the death of Christ for us (Rom. 6:3ff; I Cor. 11:26).” [2]
He goes on to write, “Baptism makes us members of the Body, and the Lord's Supper confers bodily fellowship and communion with the Body of the Lord whom we receive, and through it the bodily fellowship with the other members of his Body. Thus through the gift of his Body we become one body with him.” [3]
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”
Yet, as Paul notes, “Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did” (1 Corinthians 10:5-6). They failed to enter into the fullness of the promises of God and were sidetracked in the wilderness.
Dallas Willard notes that the main reason congregations fail to produce children of light, becoming the fullness of Christ, is that they become distracted. They focus on “things the New Testament says nothing about.” He writes that they devote their thoughts and effort on sermons, denominations, styles of music, board meetings, camps and programs. [4]
He writes that as we are vessels, or jars of clay as noted in 2 Corinthians 4:7, we are the means God uses to make “his light shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ.” [5]
And in this same way, he notes that we “might also apply this 'vessel' distinction to the practices, traditions, and groupings to which many congregations devote their attention and effort.” [6] We cannot mistake the vessel [program, style of worship, etc.] as the source of Life itself. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:5, “For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.”
Dallas Willard writes that the real treasure is “the real presence of Jesus Christ in our midst, living with increasing fullness in every essential dimension of the personality of the individual devoted to him as Savior and Teacher.”[7] Rather than focusing attention towards the avenue and means by which we connect people to God through prayer, styles of worship and programs, our focus needs to be on Him, the real treasure.
Paul writes, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power.” (1 Corinthians 2:2-5).
Dallas Willard notes, “apprentices of Jesus in such a church [one that focuses on Christ as the treasure] get their faces before God and ask him to show them how to immerse others in God. Even if the results look something like an existing program, it will be administered from very different hearts when it comes out of the church's life with God.” [8]
Sermons, programs, worship, etc. all are incredibly powerful 'vessels' when they are used by Christ to draw us into maturity in Him. However, they have no value on their own. They are merely the avenue God is choosing to use. Without the Spirit's power, they are empty.
I think what Dallas Willard is saying is that just as individual people can be distracted and led off course by putting their confidence in Jesus plus something else that is a very good, so can an entire church. As a church, we can put our confidence in sermons, programs, styles of worship, denomination strength, etc. as the source and not really be putting our full confidence in Christ only.
Besides struggling with distraction, the Corinth church also struggled with an incorrect view of grace. As a community, the body was embracing not only the sinner but also the sin. They were proud of being tolerant of others. Paul writes to them, “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man has his fathers 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)
As a community of believers rather, Paul notes that “you must not associate with any who claim to be fellow believers but are sexually immoral or greedy, idolaters or slanderers, drunkards or swindlers. With such persons do not even eat” (1 Corinthians 5:11).
We are to confront sin in the church (not sin in the world – 1 Cor. 5:10) rather than embrace it. In 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 Paul writes,
The other side of cheap grace, as Bonhoeffer notes, is trying to obtain our salvation and acceptance in the body of Christ by religious works. He notes, “Luther had taught that man cannot stand before God, however religious his works and ways may be, because at bottom he is always seeking his own interests. In the depth of his misery, Luther had grasped by faith the free and unconditional forgiveness of all his sins.” [10]
Bonhoeffer writes about the church that “We poured fourth unending streams of grace. But the call to follow Jesus in the narrow way was hardly ever heard.” He notes that cheap grace quenches the joy of discipleship, telling us that salvation has already been accomplished by the grace of God so we don't need to discipline ourselves. [11]
“One of these days we're gonna take off and fly, so let's make the most of our time as long as we're here” sings in the background.
Discipleship calls one to have a commitment to a disciplined life in Christ. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”
Ultimately, Paul was moving the church in Corinth towards a commitment to Christ in undivided devotion (1 Cor. 7:35), in doing all things to bring glory to God (1 Cor. 10:31). He wanted them to seek the good of others, so that others may be saved rather than devoting themselves to their own self interests (1 Cor. 10:33).
Paul said to them, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” He was calling them to the way of discipleship.
Bonhoeffer notes that Christianity without discipleship is Christianity without Christ. And from the other side, he notes, discipleship without Jesus Christ is following a path of our own choosing which does not bear fruit. The fruit of discipleship is that the disciples “think, not about their own way, their own sufferings and their own reward, but on the goal of their labours, which is the salvation of the church.” [12]
Dallas Willard writes that if a church spends most of its time on 'vessels' (sermons, programs, styles of worship, etc.), those who regularly attend will not progress in spiritual formation. Rather, he notes “The way to get as many people into heaven as you can is to get heaven into as many people as you can -this is, to follow the path of genuine spiritual transformation or full-throttle discipleship to Jesus Christ.” [13]
True spiritual community involving discipleship and leading to spiritual transformation requires us to ask of ourselves, 'Am I willing to move in whatever direction the Scriptures mandate and the Spirit leads?' 'Am I willing to risk giving up my cultural definition of church to try to define it biblically?' {inferences made from Larry Crabb's conclusions on his own life related to spiritual community} [14]
Each person in the body has been given a place as a disciple of Christ and provided gifts so they can contribute to building up the body of Christ. Paul writes, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”
We are to be unified as to Christ but diversified in how we use the gifts we have been given for the good of others. Paul writes, “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 as to form one body -whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free-and were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but many... Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
Whatever role we play within the body of Christ, when we are using our individual gifts for the common good of others, we are moving towards loving others. Paul writes the most excellent way that we are to follow as disciples of Christ, is the way of love (1 Corinthians 13).
Paul notes about the spiritual gifts (manifestations of the Spirit), we should follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts that will result in the strengthening, encouragement and comfort of others within the body of Christ (1 Cor. 14:1, 3). He tells the church in Corinth, “Since you are eager for the gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.”
Dallas Willard writes, “More important than whether the music is 'right' is whether the people on the worship team or the choir love each other. More important than having capable staff members is whether they love and respect each other. It's a strange through to some Christians that the most important thing about any meeting at church is not what is accomplished or decided but whether the participants treat each other with the love of Christ.”
In John 13: 34-35 Jesus says, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Love builds others up into the fullness of Christ (1 Cor. 8:1)
Maturity is marked by the way we love others, in both fully knowing others and in fully being known by them (1 Corinthians 13:11-12; 1 Corinthians 8:3). Loving others involves building relationships with them. It is in that place of knowing and being known that we become invested in the lives of others.
1 John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another. If any one of you has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in you? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."
When we stand back at an arm's length from others and drop some money in a bucket because we feel sorry for those who we hear are struggling, this may be love, but I don't believe it is the full measure mature love that Christ is looking for. Maybe we are giving so we can go on with our busy lives and not be bothered or feel guilty about our brother who has deep needs. It costs us much less to just give money in a bucket than investing our hearts, time and selves into people's lives.
Discipleship calls us to move beyond simply wanting people to show up for church, to support the budget and do nothing publicly immoral or disruptive, to entering people's lives and seeing what struggles they are having on the inside [15]
“It's gonna be worth it all!” sings in the background.
Spiritual community changes people's lives. It is when we open up our lives to each other, working through our confusion, disappointments and soul-crushing struggles that we begin to see the Spirit ceaselessly at work in our lives; shifting us from token hope, that generates pleasant feelings, to the real thing that anchors us through the storms of life {drawing some conclusions here based on Larry Crabb's thoughts} . [16]
“It's not easy, it's worth it” Larry Crabb writes. [17]
Larry Crabb writes that “A central task of community is to create a place that is safe enough for the walls to be torn down, safe enough for each of us to own and reveal our brokenness.” [18]
Often, as Larry Crabb goes on to write, “our community feels impotent to us, unable and inadequate to do any real good, the same way you would feel if you told a friend that your tooth hurt.” However, it is not about fixing each other. He writes, “We don't realize that they do not primarily represent problems to be solved, but are rather opportunities for spiritual companionship, for experiencing a kind of relating that is better and different from any we've known before." [19]
He goes on to write, “You long for brothers and sisters who are intent not on figuring out how to improve your life, but on being with you wherever your journey leads. You want to know and be known in conversations that aren't really about you or anyone else but Christ.” [20]
Just as sermons, programs, and styles of worship, discipleship is not the source of our spiritual life but a 'vessel' God can use powerfully to draw us into maturity in Him. The role of church leadership, and therefore the purpose of all the activities engaged in by the church (sermons, programs, worship, discipleship, etc.), according to Paul is “to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:12-13)
As the body is fully built up in Christ, performing works of service, Paul notes “we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Ephesians 4:14-16)
Every believer has something to contribute to others. Paul says, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Cor:12:27). Becoming the fullness of Christ depends on the whole body growing, building itself up in love and fulfilling their part.
Bonhoeffer writes about the mature disciple and the body of Christ, “In the Christian life the individual disciple and the body of Jesus belong inseparably together... This visible Church, with its perfect common life, invades the world and robs it of its children. The daily growth of the Church is a proof of the power of the Lord who dwells in it... They show the love of God to all men, 'But especially to them that are of the household of faith' (Gal. 6:10; II Pet. 1:7). They are patient and cheerful in suffering, and they glory in tribulation... Amid poverty and suffering, hunger and thirst, they are meek, merciful, and peacemakers, persecuted and scorned by the world... Although they are a visible society [a city on a hill cannot be hidden], they are always unknown even to themselves, looking only to their Lord... They stand in suffering and remain in joy, they appear dead to all outward sense and lead a life of faith within... That is the Church of the elect, the Ecclesia, those who have been called out, the Body of Christ on earth, the followers and disciples of Jesus.” [21]
Larry Crabb writes, “It's time we paid whatever price must be paid to become part of a spiritual community rather than an ecclesiastical organization. It's time we turned our chairs toward one another and learned how to talk in ways that stir anorexics to eat, multiples to integrate, sexual addicts to indulge nobler appetites, and tired Christians to press on through dark valleys toward green pastures and on to the very throne room of heaven. It's time to build the church, a community of people who take refuge in God and encourage each other to never flee to another source of help, a community of folks who know the only way to live in this world is to focus on the spiritual life -our life with God and others. It won't be easy, but it will be worth it. Our impact on the world is at stake." [22]
Lord & Father, I can think of nothing better than you living with us, walking among us, as our God and Father, and us and your sons and daughters. And this a gift that is so freely given to us. Thank you. Teach us to follow you and how to love others well, using our gifts to serve others, that we may be one (with You and other believers) in both heart and mind. Draw us into greater maturity as your body that we may attain “to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
4-8. Willard, Dallas and Johnson, Jan. Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice. NavPress, Colorado Springs, Co. 2006
9-12. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. Touchstone, New York, NY. 1959.
13. Willard, Dallas and Johnson, Jan. Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice. NavPress, Colorado Springs, Co. 2006
14-20. Crabb, Larry. Becoming a True Spiritual Community: A Profound Vision of What the Church Can Be. Tomas Nelson, Inc. Nashville, TN. 1999.
21. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. Touchstone, New York, NY. 1959.
22. Crabb, Larry. Becoming a True Spiritual Community: A Profound Vision of What the Church Can Be. Tomas Nelson, Inc. Nashville, TN. 1999.
Paul addresses issues related to corporate gathering in Corinthians. We are individual Christians, but as we come together, as Jim Altizer noted in a short clip on corporate worship he sent to me on facebook, we are not to behave as individuals. He notes, we should respond corporately as we come together.[a] As we come together, we are one in Christ.
In Ephesians 4:3-7 Paul tells the church, “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.”
The church of Corinth greatly struggled with becoming one. Paul writes to them in 1 Cor. 1:10, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
Perfectly united or perfectly joined together is the Greek word katartizo, Strongs # 2675 [/kat·ar·tid·zo/], which means to be completed, fit, equipped, arranged and put in order, making one what they ought to be.
And the word 'same' used here is the Greek word autos, Strongs # 846. According to Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, it means “he himself and no other” as referred to in Ephesians 2:14.
In Ephesians 2:14-15, Paul says, "For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace...”
It is our union with Christ that brings us in union with each other. In John 17:21 Jesus asks his Father, “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
Paul says in Ephesians 1:22-13, “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
Paul writes to the church in Corinth about those creating divisions by arguing over whose leadership they were following, “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for God's temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”
One article notes, “The church is God's temple, God's naos. And God's temple, says Paul, "is sacred." The congregation, in other words, is holy, set apart, reserved for God and His use. Of course she is sacred because in her God dwells, she is indwelt by the Spirit, and she is the body of Christ.” [1]
In the Corinthian church, part of the division had to do with who was performing baptism. People were developing sects which created divisions among the people and created discord. Paul tells the church they have nothing to brag about. He notes, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom form God -that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: 'Let those who boast boast in the Lord.'"
Paul challenged them that their meetings together were doing more harm than good (1 Cor. 11:17). In taking communion, they were getting drunk and eating large meals while others went hungry. He writes, “Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!”
Ironically, baptism and communion are sacraments given to the church designed to bring us into greater unity and oneness as the body of Christ. Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “In the two sacraments he [Jesus Christ] encounters us bodily and makes us partakers in the fellowship and communion of his Body, and thy are both closely linked to his word. Both proclaim the death of Christ for us (Rom. 6:3ff; I Cor. 11:26).” [2]
He goes on to write, “Baptism makes us members of the Body, and the Lord's Supper confers bodily fellowship and communion with the Body of the Lord whom we receive, and through it the bodily fellowship with the other members of his Body. Thus through the gift of his Body we become one body with him.” [3]
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”
Yet, as Paul notes, “Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did” (1 Corinthians 10:5-6). They failed to enter into the fullness of the promises of God and were sidetracked in the wilderness.
Dallas Willard notes that the main reason congregations fail to produce children of light, becoming the fullness of Christ, is that they become distracted. They focus on “things the New Testament says nothing about.” He writes that they devote their thoughts and effort on sermons, denominations, styles of music, board meetings, camps and programs. [4]
He writes that as we are vessels, or jars of clay as noted in 2 Corinthians 4:7, we are the means God uses to make “his light shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ.” [5]
And in this same way, he notes that we “might also apply this 'vessel' distinction to the practices, traditions, and groupings to which many congregations devote their attention and effort.” [6] We cannot mistake the vessel [program, style of worship, etc.] as the source of Life itself. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:5, “For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.”
Dallas Willard writes that the real treasure is “the real presence of Jesus Christ in our midst, living with increasing fullness in every essential dimension of the personality of the individual devoted to him as Savior and Teacher.”[7] Rather than focusing attention towards the avenue and means by which we connect people to God through prayer, styles of worship and programs, our focus needs to be on Him, the real treasure.
Paul writes, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power.” (1 Corinthians 2:2-5).
Dallas Willard notes, “apprentices of Jesus in such a church [one that focuses on Christ as the treasure] get their faces before God and ask him to show them how to immerse others in God. Even if the results look something like an existing program, it will be administered from very different hearts when it comes out of the church's life with God.” [8]
Sermons, programs, worship, etc. all are incredibly powerful 'vessels' when they are used by Christ to draw us into maturity in Him. However, they have no value on their own. They are merely the avenue God is choosing to use. Without the Spirit's power, they are empty.
I think what Dallas Willard is saying is that just as individual people can be distracted and led off course by putting their confidence in Jesus plus something else that is a very good, so can an entire church. As a church, we can put our confidence in sermons, programs, styles of worship, denomination strength, etc. as the source and not really be putting our full confidence in Christ only.
Besides struggling with distraction, the Corinth church also struggled with an incorrect view of grace. As a community, the body was embracing not only the sinner but also the sin. They were proud of being tolerant of others. Paul writes to them, “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man has his fathers 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)
As a community of believers rather, Paul notes that “you must not associate with any who claim to be fellow believers but are sexually immoral or greedy, idolaters or slanderers, drunkards or swindlers. With such persons do not even eat” (1 Corinthians 5:11).
We are to confront sin in the church (not sin in the world – 1 Cor. 5:10) rather than embrace it. In 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 Paul writes,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer notes if it is “my only duty as a Christian to leave the world for an hour or so on a Sunday morning and go to church to be assured that my sins are forgiven. I need no longer try to follow Christ...” [9]“For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.'
'Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.'
'I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.'"
The other side of cheap grace, as Bonhoeffer notes, is trying to obtain our salvation and acceptance in the body of Christ by religious works. He notes, “Luther had taught that man cannot stand before God, however religious his works and ways may be, because at bottom he is always seeking his own interests. In the depth of his misery, Luther had grasped by faith the free and unconditional forgiveness of all his sins.” [10]
Bonhoeffer writes about the church that “We poured fourth unending streams of grace. But the call to follow Jesus in the narrow way was hardly ever heard.” He notes that cheap grace quenches the joy of discipleship, telling us that salvation has already been accomplished by the grace of God so we don't need to discipline ourselves. [11]
“One of these days we're gonna take off and fly, so let's make the most of our time as long as we're here” sings in the background.
Discipleship calls one to have a commitment to a disciplined life in Christ. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”
Ultimately, Paul was moving the church in Corinth towards a commitment to Christ in undivided devotion (1 Cor. 7:35), in doing all things to bring glory to God (1 Cor. 10:31). He wanted them to seek the good of others, so that others may be saved rather than devoting themselves to their own self interests (1 Cor. 10:33).
Paul said to them, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” He was calling them to the way of discipleship.
Bonhoeffer notes that Christianity without discipleship is Christianity without Christ. And from the other side, he notes, discipleship without Jesus Christ is following a path of our own choosing which does not bear fruit. The fruit of discipleship is that the disciples “think, not about their own way, their own sufferings and their own reward, but on the goal of their labours, which is the salvation of the church.” [12]
Dallas Willard writes that if a church spends most of its time on 'vessels' (sermons, programs, styles of worship, etc.), those who regularly attend will not progress in spiritual formation. Rather, he notes “The way to get as many people into heaven as you can is to get heaven into as many people as you can -this is, to follow the path of genuine spiritual transformation or full-throttle discipleship to Jesus Christ.” [13]
True spiritual community involving discipleship and leading to spiritual transformation requires us to ask of ourselves, 'Am I willing to move in whatever direction the Scriptures mandate and the Spirit leads?' 'Am I willing to risk giving up my cultural definition of church to try to define it biblically?' {inferences made from Larry Crabb's conclusions on his own life related to spiritual community} [14]
Each person in the body has been given a place as a disciple of Christ and provided gifts so they can contribute to building up the body of Christ. Paul writes, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”
We are to be unified as to Christ but diversified in how we use the gifts we have been given for the good of others. Paul writes, “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 as to form one body -whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free-and were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but many... Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
Whatever role we play within the body of Christ, when we are using our individual gifts for the common good of others, we are moving towards loving others. Paul writes the most excellent way that we are to follow as disciples of Christ, is the way of love (1 Corinthians 13).
Paul notes about the spiritual gifts (manifestations of the Spirit), we should follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts that will result in the strengthening, encouragement and comfort of others within the body of Christ (1 Cor. 14:1, 3). He tells the church in Corinth, “Since you are eager for the gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.”
Dallas Willard writes, “More important than whether the music is 'right' is whether the people on the worship team or the choir love each other. More important than having capable staff members is whether they love and respect each other. It's a strange through to some Christians that the most important thing about any meeting at church is not what is accomplished or decided but whether the participants treat each other with the love of Christ.”
In John 13: 34-35 Jesus says, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Love builds others up into the fullness of Christ (1 Cor. 8:1)
Maturity is marked by the way we love others, in both fully knowing others and in fully being known by them (1 Corinthians 13:11-12; 1 Corinthians 8:3). Loving others involves building relationships with them. It is in that place of knowing and being known that we become invested in the lives of others.
1 John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another. If any one of you has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in you? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."
When we stand back at an arm's length from others and drop some money in a bucket because we feel sorry for those who we hear are struggling, this may be love, but I don't believe it is the full measure mature love that Christ is looking for. Maybe we are giving so we can go on with our busy lives and not be bothered or feel guilty about our brother who has deep needs. It costs us much less to just give money in a bucket than investing our hearts, time and selves into people's lives.
Discipleship calls us to move beyond simply wanting people to show up for church, to support the budget and do nothing publicly immoral or disruptive, to entering people's lives and seeing what struggles they are having on the inside [15]
“It's gonna be worth it all!” sings in the background.
Spiritual community changes people's lives. It is when we open up our lives to each other, working through our confusion, disappointments and soul-crushing struggles that we begin to see the Spirit ceaselessly at work in our lives; shifting us from token hope, that generates pleasant feelings, to the real thing that anchors us through the storms of life {drawing some conclusions here based on Larry Crabb's thoughts} . [16]
“It's not easy, it's worth it” Larry Crabb writes. [17]
Larry Crabb writes that “A central task of community is to create a place that is safe enough for the walls to be torn down, safe enough for each of us to own and reveal our brokenness.” [18]
Often, as Larry Crabb goes on to write, “our community feels impotent to us, unable and inadequate to do any real good, the same way you would feel if you told a friend that your tooth hurt.” However, it is not about fixing each other. He writes, “We don't realize that they do not primarily represent problems to be solved, but are rather opportunities for spiritual companionship, for experiencing a kind of relating that is better and different from any we've known before." [19]
He goes on to write, “You long for brothers and sisters who are intent not on figuring out how to improve your life, but on being with you wherever your journey leads. You want to know and be known in conversations that aren't really about you or anyone else but Christ.” [20]
Just as sermons, programs, and styles of worship, discipleship is not the source of our spiritual life but a 'vessel' God can use powerfully to draw us into maturity in Him. The role of church leadership, and therefore the purpose of all the activities engaged in by the church (sermons, programs, worship, discipleship, etc.), according to Paul is “to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:12-13)
As the body is fully built up in Christ, performing works of service, Paul notes “we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (Ephesians 4:14-16)
Every believer has something to contribute to others. Paul says, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Cor:12:27). Becoming the fullness of Christ depends on the whole body growing, building itself up in love and fulfilling their part.
Bonhoeffer writes about the mature disciple and the body of Christ, “In the Christian life the individual disciple and the body of Jesus belong inseparably together... This visible Church, with its perfect common life, invades the world and robs it of its children. The daily growth of the Church is a proof of the power of the Lord who dwells in it... They show the love of God to all men, 'But especially to them that are of the household of faith' (Gal. 6:10; II Pet. 1:7). They are patient and cheerful in suffering, and they glory in tribulation... Amid poverty and suffering, hunger and thirst, they are meek, merciful, and peacemakers, persecuted and scorned by the world... Although they are a visible society [a city on a hill cannot be hidden], they are always unknown even to themselves, looking only to their Lord... They stand in suffering and remain in joy, they appear dead to all outward sense and lead a life of faith within... That is the Church of the elect, the Ecclesia, those who have been called out, the Body of Christ on earth, the followers and disciples of Jesus.” [21]
Larry Crabb writes, “It's time we paid whatever price must be paid to become part of a spiritual community rather than an ecclesiastical organization. It's time we turned our chairs toward one another and learned how to talk in ways that stir anorexics to eat, multiples to integrate, sexual addicts to indulge nobler appetites, and tired Christians to press on through dark valleys toward green pastures and on to the very throne room of heaven. It's time to build the church, a community of people who take refuge in God and encourage each other to never flee to another source of help, a community of folks who know the only way to live in this world is to focus on the spiritual life -our life with God and others. It won't be easy, but it will be worth it. Our impact on the world is at stake." [22]
Lord & Father, I can think of nothing better than you living with us, walking among us, as our God and Father, and us and your sons and daughters. And this a gift that is so freely given to us. Thank you. Teach us to follow you and how to love others well, using our gifts to serve others, that we may be one (with You and other believers) in both heart and mind. Draw us into greater maturity as your body that we may attain “to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
a. To read more on Jim Altizer see http://roadmapsforworship.com/
1. Adrian, Dieleman. Sermon on 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. Located at: http://www.trinitycrc.org/sermons/1co03v16-17.html. Last Accessed: 7/6/10
2-3. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. Touchstone, New York, NY. 1959.
4-8. Willard, Dallas and Johnson, Jan. Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice. NavPress, Colorado Springs, Co. 2006
9-12. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. Touchstone, New York, NY. 1959.
13. Willard, Dallas and Johnson, Jan. Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice. NavPress, Colorado Springs, Co. 2006
14-20. Crabb, Larry. Becoming a True Spiritual Community: A Profound Vision of What the Church Can Be. Tomas Nelson, Inc. Nashville, TN. 1999.
21. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. Touchstone, New York, NY. 1959.
22. Crabb, Larry. Becoming a True Spiritual Community: A Profound Vision of What the Church Can Be. Tomas Nelson, Inc. Nashville, TN. 1999.
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