by Vance Havner
Christian, he will repent and return; if he is not a Christian, he should not be a church member anyway. In Corinth, Christians were going to law against other Christians. God’s people should be able to set tle their differences within the church. One may have to go to law with outsiders. Paul appealed to Caesar. But Christians will one day judge the world and even angels. Certainly we should be able to decide our own problems among ourselves. Apparently most church members do not seem to know that this is in the New Testament! There was also the misuse of Christian liberty that needed correction then as now. Paul stated the general principle, “ All things are lawful unto me” and then he gave three limitations of this freedom: “ All things are not expedient; I will not be brought under the power of any; all things edify not." We must as Christians subject the things we do to the Test of EXPEDIENCY, the Test of ENSLAVEMENT and the Test of EDIFICATION. Some things are not good for me to do; some things tend to make me their slave; some things are not constructive. Then Paul offered the Test of EXAMPLE. Eating meat that had been offered to idols might not harm the eater but if a weaker Christian brother saw him eating it, that weaker brother might be caused to stumble. Our Lord said that if we cause others to stumble, we should have a millstone hung around our necks and be cast into the depths of the sea. Modern Corin thians need to re-read their New Testaments at this point! The Corinthians were also disregarding the true meaning of the Lord’s Supper. When I think of the way we tack this blessed ordinance to the end of a Sunday morning service, and rush out from it to our Sunday dinner, I remember Paul's reminder that some Christians were weak and sickly and some even died because they observed the Lord’s Supper carelessly. As he went on to say, it is time we judged ourselves
instead of justifying ourselves in this matter as in many others. Finally, the Corinthians were more interested in the gifts of the Spirit than in the fruits of the Spirit. Some were more concerned with ecstatic experiences than with walking in love and listening to sober in struction. Some of the Corinthians had given priority to speaking in tongues and had put at the top of the list of gifts to the church what Paul put at the bot tom. This was causing great confusion. We have to day some who live in smug indifference to sin within the church as did the Corinthians. Others go to the opposite extreme and major on seeking exciting spir itual thrills. Some freeze and some fry! Some think the only way we can meet the “ demon-stration” of the powers of darkness is by a dramatic demonstra tion of strange mystical experiences to match what the world finds in a sugar cube of LSD. Normal New Testament Christianity is good enough any time and just as relevant today as it was in the early church. The trouble is, most of our Christianity is either subnormal or abnormal. Paul dealt with both and what did he set forth as the ideal? Strange mani festations or spectacular meetings? Not at all. He reached his climax with the more excellent way of love. Without love, one may exercise all the gifts, speak with tongues of men and angels, prophesy, under stand all mysteries and knowledge, have all faith, bestow his goods to feed the poor and give his body to be burned, and yet be only a sounding brass and clanging cymbal. When will we learn that everything is summed up in love? “ He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love.” Paul does not define love as the writer to the Hebrews defined faith. He tells us how it works and in doing so, he gives us a pic ture of our Lord. Jesus suffered long and was kind, envied not, vaunted not Himself, was not puffed up, did not behave Himself unseemly, sought not His
MAY, 1970
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