Are you looking for Middle Ground?

1 Corinthians 4:14-21

“I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me. That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?”

In the verses that preceded these Paul is giving a very clear picture of the world’s view of an apostle, and in the Roman culture they were seen as the dregs of society.  And many of the new followers of Christ may have wanted the middle ground, respect of the world and yet to be a follower of Christ; sounds much like some who go by the title of Christian today.  Paul is not boasting in the following verses about being the Corinthian’s father in the faith, it was Paul who brought the message of Christ to them, and it was Paul who founded the churches of Corinth.  Paul is saying you may have new leaders, but only one founder or father through the gospel, and he is asking them to imitate him as he imitates Jesus.  Now the downside on the social and cultural side of being an imitator of Paul is being seen as a fool by your worldly neighbors; not much has changed since the time of Paul.

So Paul is sending a young man named Timothy to lead them, and his job is to remind them to follow their father in the faith ways.  When your pastor stands before you asking you to share the gospel with the people in your circle of  influence, know that it was Timothy’s message and it was clear that they would be viewed by some as fools for Christ.

The message of the cross has never changed, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”  Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Corinthians 1:18-20) 

And this was the word they needed to hear then and we so need it today; that every word that comes from a preacher, priest, or teacher needs to be examined by the Scriptures.  There is no power in words centered in the wisdom of this world, but in the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified.  As stated above, it is seen as foolishness by the world’s wisdom, but it is the power of God to redeem a person.  So Paul is telling them on his return he will put to the test the empty words of foolish leaders with the power to change a life that is found in the foolishness of the cross.

Paul’s hope was to come back to see his children in the faith following Christ and then they would not need correction.  That is the desire of any dad, to come home in a spirit of love and gentleness, and not to come with a rod of correction.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice