3 responses so far ↓

• 1 Polar Bear (BG) // Mar 18, 2008 at 11:55 pm

  Hail, brothers and sisters!

  (except perhaps not like it did in January as that was scary quite franky. Scary only, until I heard the quite entertaining story of Kelvin Jarrett’s cows floating downstream in the flood. Not only do cows actually SWIM, but they have NAVIGATIONAL ABILITIES to find out which way is home! Fact!)

  Um. Yes. Oh yeah - the talk. Now I want to commend Steve Cree on his enlightened insights into this passage of scripture. It has been easy for me in the past (2001? Yes folks, we have studied 1 Corinthians together before. I remember which bits made me uncomfortable. Still have the bible study booklet, if anyone wants a laugh and to check whether I have actually learned anything.) to assume this passage is primarily referring to whether I will be accountable on Judgement Day for the money I didn’t give to the Salvation Army at their last door-knock appeal. Or an extended version of the “Big Brother” show - wherein prizes are dished out for clever rule following.

  Up until this point I hadn’t noticed that these verses are aiming at what people do to spread and multiply, or sit on and inhibit, the good news of Jesus’ rescue and Kingship - the foundation already laid in the Corinthian church. Work that makes Jesus known, verses rubbish that distracts or hides him.

  It is now that I wish to raise a few questions (on behalf of my wife - blame her - but which my small group leaders suggested I bring to the open Colluseum. Sorry, forum.):

  1. The passage talks about building God’s church. However, is it fair to extrapolate this to our lives, in which acts of drudgery (yes, I have read the Breifing article) which are tedious and boring are considered “hay and chaff” because they are not clearly directly involved in the task of building up God’s family in the church. Nor telling the good news to someone who is lost.

  2. Related to the first question; at what point do you justify something as being valuable to this mission, versus something that is clearly not worth the price you paid for it (I am not talking about things that are used in direct opposition to the gospel here)?

  For instance, can we claim buying a video recorder is important and will stand the test on the last day because: “I bought it so I could film my family, so that they can see how each other is going, and love each other, and learn about Christ … and anyway it get’s used for church things sometimes so it is not a waste but in fact important” (not quoting anyone here). Or “I bought this new computer because I needed it to do my job, but also to send emails, buy christian literature, and contribute to the SCPC website; as well as do things that will help me build closer friendships with non-Christians in order to tell them about Jesus” (me, in bits.). Or harder still “I clean the bathroom and toilet weekly in this house because not only does God call me to diligence as part of my character, but also it needs to be clean so that I can use it to be hospitable to others (church people or no).” (definitely not me - how do you clean a toilet?).

  Is “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:18-20) the same as “each one’s work will be revealed” (1 Cor 3:13)?

• 2 Steve Cree // Mar 19, 2008 at 8:00 am

  Hey Bevan - thanks for the excellent questions. I’ll be interested in others’ thoughts, but a few comments:

  Yes, I think the primary application of this passage is definitely about faithful gospel building (Christ and him crucified) vs false gospel building (some other message), rather than doing ‘holy’ things vs doing mundane things.

  Yet I suspect part of the challenge in our church context is not necessarily wrong building but that we might not be building at all (i.e. we have the true gospel but keep it to ourselves - what’s called ’sins of omission’).

  Our lives, of course, are necessarily still filled with mundane activity, but the challenge is that they shouldn’t be exclusively so. And in fact, as you point out, much of what we might call mundane can be transformed under the rule of Jesus and done in imitation of Jesus as part of our proclamation and service of him.

  We definitely don’t want to have a sacred vs secular view of life where we are only serving Jesus when actually gospelling. Let’s both increase our gospelling and seek to transform everything else as part of proclaiming and honouring and imitating Jesus.

  The specifics of the computer purchase, DVD etc … it comes down to heart and motives doesn’t it? But I know how easily I can justify something for ‘ministry purposes’ when perhaps that buck would have been better plowed straight into gospel service?

• 3 Pete // Mar 20, 2008 at 11:04 am

  A book which I cannot recommend highly enough is “promoting the Gospel” by John Dickson (the guy in the Good Friday doco, “The Christ Files” - see my post). One of its emphases is that gospel building is something that we should be doing together, each playing our part and each helping each other to play our part - something that we often lose sight of.

  Another empahsis is on the many different ways that each of us can be involved in promoting the gospel. Gospel conversations are an essential part of the picture (the book offers no easy cop-out) but not the whole picture. For example, since we know that God makes things grow (1 Cor 3:6-7), prayer for our unbelieving friends and family is another essential part of the gospel-building process. The book also details many other aspects - what we do with our money, works of the church, Christian behaviour, the work of “evangelists”, public praise and daily conversation. It’s a good read so buy it or ask to borrow my copy - I’ll bring it to church with me on the weekend.

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