1 Corinthians 16

Today we wrap up our series on 1 Corinthians, and before we start I want to thank you for going on this journey with me. It’s been very helpful for me to spend some extended time at the beginning of my ministry here at Gilfillan thinking about what it means to be the church, and I hope it’s been helpful for you as well.

If you’re the kind of person that reads ahead, I think you can be forgiven for feeling that today’s chapter seems a little…well, anticlimactic.

Last week we were in chapter 15 with grand talk of the resurrection of Christ, written in words that stir hope in the soul and resonate with power and glory still, almost 2000 years after they were written.

But today in chapter 16…it’s a little less dramatic. To put it mildly.

It’s like you’re reading “War and Peace,” and on the last page the publisher decided to tack on Tolstoy’s grocery list for you to finish with.

Or at least it can seem that way.

It’s often the case with Paul’s letters that the final chapter is filled with a flurry of final instructions and personal messages that can seem a little dry compared to the deep theology and reflection in the previous chapters…but that doesn’t mean these final chapters are devoid of meaning and importance.

In another one of Paul’s letters the final chapter is given over to basically a list of names of people that Paul wishes to send greetings to, and I once heard a powerful sermon on that chapter where the preacher talked about names and legacies and relationships in the church that left me nearly weeping because it was so beautiful.

So we do ourselves a disservice is we skip over these final chapters thinking they don’t have much to offer us.

Interestingly enough, the opening verses of 1 Corinthians 16 are preached from a lot because they’re all about stewardship and giving, as Paul gives specific instructions to the Corinthians about taking up a collection to be sent to Jerusalem.

Again…it can seem a little jarring at first.

Because here’s Paul in chapter 15 waxing eloquently on the resurrection of Christ and the hope it gives, finishing with these stirring words:

(SLIDE)

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

And then in the very next verse, Paul starts: “Now about the collection for the Lord’s people…”

Can you feel the difference?

And yet I think it’s one of the most wonderful things about Paul…that he can shift so quickly from stirring rhetoric and prophetic authority…to basic, practical instruction meant to simply help the church.

One author I read this past week called it a “wedding” of theological foundation with practical application.

That’s what we do in the Christian faith every day…we seek to “wed” our spiritual and theological understanding of faith with the practicalities of everyday life.

And Paul is a master of that.

He can shift in a moment from “here’s what we believe” to “here’s how we live it out.”

And we need instruction in both.

We need a solid foundation in what we believe so that we know who we are and whose we are and what it means for us to be the children of God in Christ Jesus.

And we need practical instruction in how to put that faith into action, so that every part of our lives becomes infused with the hope of the gospel.

Paul has no difficulty shifting seamlessly between the two.

Because he’s all about living what I would call an “integrated life.”

His faith is so deeply rooted, so much a part of who he is, that it impacts everything he does and how he views every aspect of his life.

Even the parts of this chapter that seem to have no relevance at all to us reflect something of this truth.

For example…the opening verses of the passage we heard earlier:

(SLIDE)

“After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you—for I will be going through Macedonia. Perhaps I will stay with you for a while, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.”

At first this may seem just like a travel itinerary. Paul just wants to share his plans with the Corinthian church.

And at a surface level, that’s what it is.

In fact, some scholars propose that with some of these final chapters of Paul he is literally trying to squeeze as much final information as possible onto the final page of his letters because parchment was so expensive.

You can almost picture the writing getting smaller as he wraps things up and wants to fit as much as he can onto the last page, like we do on a greeting card when we realize there isn’t room to say everything we want to say.

But even in these travel plans, Paul’s understanding of faith shapes what he says.

In verse 7 he says, (SLIDE HIGHLIGHT) “For I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.”

I hope to spend some time with you…if the Lord permits.

What that reveals for me is someone who saw every moment of his life yielded to God’s will.

He had his desire…he hoped to spend some extended time in Corinth. He clearly has great affection for this congregation that he himself had planted.

But he also understands that ultimately…it’s not up to him.

God is ordering his every step.

He trusted God to guide him, and he yielded his desires to God’s greater plan.

That is a huge lesson for us in the church today.

Because I’ve seen a lot of churches, even served some churches, who seemed more interested in telling God THEIR plans than they were in listening for HIS plan.

(JAMES ROBISON)

“For many years I’ve been watching your ministry. Now how would you like to see mine?”

As followers of Jesus our lives are not our own. Our churches are not “our churches.” Our ministry is not “our ministry.”

It’s all God’s. He has a plan for us.

Our role is to yield and submit to that plan.

And I love that Paul feels free to express his desire…he wants to come spend time with the Corinthians.

Yielding to God’s plan doesn’t mean ignoring what our hopes and dreams might be.

But it does mean laying those hopes and dreams at the feet of God and being willing for those hopes and dreams to change.

When Sharon and I went to serve a small church in Michigan as co-pastors, we saw this play out in a powerful way.

It was a church that at one time had been a thriving presence in their community with a full sanctuary and busy programs that involved a lot of people.

But because of a couple of significant conflicts and crises…by the time we arrived there it was down to just about 40 people.

And as we talked to those 40 people, it was clear that for some of them…the hope and dream was that God would restore the church to its former glory.

For them…their greatest desire is that God would return the church to what it once was.

But as Sharon and I stayed there and as we spent a LOT of time in prayer with the church leadership…it was clear that God was directing the church into a new future…one that didn’t look like the past.

And so part of the journey was learning to lay down that desire to return to what they saw as the “former glory”…and instead embrace the new ministries and the new opportunities God was laying before them.

And those new opportunities turned into 10 wonderful years of ministry.

It wasn’t always easy…but it was fruitful.

But the first step was laying down our plan…and seeking God’s.

It’s true for congregations…and it’s true for individuals.

Paul’s words are good words for us to embrace whenever we’re wondering what the future looks like…

“I hope for this…but whatever you want Lord…that is my greater desire.”

It brings to mind one of my favorite verses in the book of Proverbs:

(SLIDE)

“You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.” (Proverbs 19:21, NLT)

The Lord’s purpose will prevail.

Even in the face of great opposition, which Paul references here in Chapter 16.

He faces opposition in the city of Ephesus, but he knows that the Corinthians are also facing opposition where they are.

Because remember…it wasn’t very popular to be a Christian at that time in history.

First century Christians faced persecution from all sides.

The Romans saw them as a threat. The Jews saw them as heretics.

It was dangerous to be a follower of Jesus.

Which is why Paul reminds them in verse 13:

(SLIDE)

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.”

Those are good words for us even today, as we seek to live out our faith in a culture that is increasingly hostile to Christianity.

But then notice what he says in verse 14:

(SLIDE ADD)

“Do everything in love.”

In fact, Paul wraps up 1 Corinthians by returning to the theme he introduced in chapter 13…the theme that really ties everything together.

Remember…over the course of this letter he’s been shepherding the Corinthians through church conflict, misunderstandings, abuses of things like the Lord’s supper, confusion about spiritual gifts, and the persecution they face in a hostile culture…but there is something, Paul says, that can cut through all that and provide a solid foundation for the church…

…love.

So he reminds them, here at the end…do everything in love.

If you read the final verses of the letter from this point forward…it’s all about love.

Love expressed in serving one another…love between the different churches in in Asia…the love of mutual friends…he even has a harsh word for those who call themselves Christians yet don’t truly love the Lord…and then the final verse expresses Paul’s own affection:

(SLIDE)

“My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.” (v. 24)

After everything this letter contains…parts of it unpleasant and difficult, some of it even confusing for those of us in the 21st century…after the whole journey Paul has taken us on…

…it finished up with love.

How appropriate is that?

How beautiful is that?

And it’s completely consistent with the overall theme of the letter. As one commentator put it:

(SLIDE)

“In the course of this letter [Paul] has pinpointed many areas of discipleship where they have either fallen asleep, or started to totter, or lost their nerve. He has challenged them to take firm action to put right what has gone wrong. Above all, he has stressed the absolute priority of love for everything they do as a church.”—David Prior

The absolute priority of love.

My friends, if you walk away from this series on 1 Corinthians with nothing else…walk away with that.

The absolute priority of love.

Because it is desperately lacking in our world today.

In fact, it grieves me more than just about anything else, especially when I look to my homeland across the pond…

…love should define who Christians are and what Christians do, yet so many are about everything BUT love.

Love is the beating heart of the Christian faith. Jesus made that clear.

This is my commandment, he said, love one another as I have loved you.

You should even love your enemies, he said.

How radical is that?

When he was asked what the greatest commandments were in the Old Testament law, how did Jesus respond?

You can sum up his response in four words:

(SLIDE ADD)

Love God. Love others.

Do everything in love.

It’s hard. It’s hard to love sometimes.

Just ask my wife.

But we really don’t have a choice.

So as we look out at the future together…whatever God has in store for us…

…whenever we disagree, whenever we’re confused, whenever we get it wrong, whenever we’re misunderstood by the world outside these doors…

…whatever opportunities we grasp, and even in the ones we miss…

…let’s commit ourselves to cover it all, as Paul does here…with love.

(INVITE SHARON)