JANUARY 28th, 2024 PASTOR DON PIEPER
The Corinthian Complex 1 Cor 3:1-9; 10-18,21-23
“THE CHAMELEON COMPLEX”
When I was young, my family went to a magic show. The magician performed all kinds of amazing acts – mending broken objects, making things disappear, pulling scarves and rodents out of thin air! My siblings and I were mesmerized. 'How does he do it?' we asked ourselves. Always eager to help, I suggested he perform the disappearing trick on my sister, but my parents nixed the idea.
As Paul traveled the ancient world, he pointed to Jesus as he who brings the kingdom of heaven to earth by mending broken people, making fear of death disappear, and pulling the very best out of the very worst by transforming lives, by bringing life to the lifeless. But how – how does he do it?
Sometimes he does so miraculously, in the twinkling of an eye, but more often than not, he leads us in ways that bring growth, ways that require our willing cooperation in a more relational, daily way. In doing so, Jesus addresses the inner disease of disconnect: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me produce much fruit; for apart from me, you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
So how does this work? How do we change into the people God intends for us to be? How do we go from just another face in the crowd to resembling Christ to those in the crowd? That was the problem the leaders of the Corinthian church, like Chloe and Sosthenes, brought to Paul in Ephesus.
Sosthenes was one of the first Christian converts in Corinth. A former leader of the local synagogue, he's so eager for Paul to respond that he has come in person, serving as Paul's secretary as Paul dictates his response. “This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Sosthenes.” (1 Corinthians 1:1)
Sosthenes' role was Paul's recording secretary is made clear in that Paul concludes the letter in his own handwriting. “Here is my greeting in my own handwriting – Paul. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Corinthians 16:21)
Chloe was another leader of the church in Corinth, evidence of the leading role women played in the early church. Chloe must've been quite the force to reckon with. Paul's letter is written in response to her sending a delegation from the church meeting in her home. “Some members of Chloe's household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters.” (1 Corinthians 1:11)
Paul responds to Chloe and company by addressing areas of concern that are compromising their unity, witness and spiritual growth. In short, they've been backsliding evident in their bickering whether they're following Peter, Paul or Apollos, and in their sexual immorality, their spiritual syncretism, their watered down worship and their infighting over numerous issues from who baptized to who had the best spiritual gift. Instead of living lives that distinguish them from a world drowning in sin they seem to be sinking along with it! They're more chameleon than Christian! It's like Nicky Gumbel's story of a young officer, taking his final exam at the police academy in London...
“You are on patrol when an explosion occurs in a nearby street. On investigation you discover an overturned van nearby. Inside the van there is a strong smell of alcohol. The man and woman inside are injured. You recognize the woman as the wife of your supervisor. A passerby offers to help and you realize that he is a man wanted for armed robbery. Suddenly a man runs out of a house, yelling that his wife has just gone into labor. Another man is crying for help having been blown into the river and cannot swim. Bearing in mind the provisions of the Mental Health Act, what actions would you take?
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The officer thought for a moment, picked up his pen, and wrote: 'I would take off my uniform and mingle with the crowd.' That is to say, he choose the path of a human chameleon.
Based on this pointed letter Paul wrote during his three years in Ephesus, I can only imagine the distressed report Sosthenes and Chloe must’ve given. Some were living changed lives but so many others had seriously backslid. Some were compromising their faith by indulging in sexual sin. Others were saying that Paul's resurrection message was unrealistic and irrelevant. Still others claimed that real Christians speak in tongues or could claim their conversion thru Apollos' popular preaching.
So it is that Paul offers some clarity: “My job was to plant the seed, Apollos' job was to water it, but it was God, not we, who made it grow. The ones who do the planting and the watering aren't important, but God is important because He is the one who makes the seed grow. We work together as partners who belong to God. You are God's field, God's building, not ours.” (1 Corinthians 3:6-9)
How do people change? God causes the growth! Only God can grow us into who he intended us to be. You may say, 'Well, if God causes the growth, why doesn't He just do it – ya know, zap us?' The answer is this: we have to be willing. As Jesus asked a crippled man: 'Do you want to be healed?' (John 5:6)
Paul makes it clear that we have a role to play. We're God's coworkers in this growth. If you plant sweet corn in your garden you don't cause it to grow, but if you don't create the right environment with fertile soil, ample sunlight and water, you won't be eating corn on the cob any time soon. The same is true for spiritual growth. We cannot overcome bad habits, hardened hearts or addictions by ourselves, but we can create the right environment where God can cause the growth. We have two roles to play: 1) creating the right environment, and 2) putting intentional practices in place that allow God to grow us up. As Paul affirms: “God will do this, for He is faithful to do what He says and He's invited you into partnership with His Son, Jesus Christ...” (1 Corinthians 1:9)
It would seem that we need to be reminded of all this. The Corinthians sure did. Their infighting is evidence that they've not been attending their spiritual garden. They don't want to be healed, they want to be seen as being in the right, and along with that, of getting their way. As Paul writes in frustration: “I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren't ready for anything stronger, and you still aren't ready, for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. In so doing, you are living like worldly people.” (1 Corinthians 3:2-3)
Ever use the auto pilot in your car? I do, more than I mean to, even. Just ask my family. I don't know how many times my car takes over and steers me in the direction I'm used to going...
Some times our lives are like that. We live so much out of habit. We have a hard time curing ourselves of bad habits because they've become so ingrained through repetition. We automatically drink too much or respond with anger or impatience or superiority. We respond...by habit. That was the trap the Corinthians were in. As Paul noted: you are still controlled by your sinful nature!
The key, by the way, to overcoming bad habits is not trying harder. Rather, we must start with our core beliefs if we're to overcome our autopilot responses. Our core beliefs are not intellectual. They're experiential, formed by our experiences in the past. So how do we break free?
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It begins by reflecting on our bad habits and the self-perceptions that fuel them. Our habits are formed by our actions which emerge from our beliefs. It all starts with what we believe, not just about God, but about ourselves. As David put it: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there be any offensive way in me and lead me in the eternal way.” (Psalm 139:23)
If our beliefs are in line with reality according to the truth of the gospel, our beliefs will lead us toward freedom. But our stated beliefs are not always our actual core beliefs. The way to discover what we actually believe is to took at what we actually do – our habits. At one point Jesus asks a rather disturbing question about habits. He asks, “Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord', but do not do what I say?” It's not what we claim to believe, but what we do, that reveals our deeply held beliefs. (Luke 6:46)
In the film, Batman Returns, Bruce Wayne is acting out his inner pain and core beliefs by living a life style contrary to his compassionate, selfless demeanor. As he stumbles out of casino with a couple of prostitutes he bumps into Rachel, a childhood friend. When he awkwardly greets her, he tells her, as if to rationalize his habits, “Inside, I am more...”
Her eyes meet his and she responds, “You know, Bruce, it's not the feelings inside, but our actions that define us.” Later, upon rescuing her in Batman regalia, he whispers her words back to him as an expression of trust and revelation, but also to show her he had finally changed.
The film points to a truth. It's not what we claim to believe, but what we do that reveals our most deeply held beliefs. In inner healing prayer ministry, we ask the Spirit to reveal lies that keep us stuck in habitual, broken patterns of behavior, and to replace those lies with His Truth. Paul articulates three truth gems in his letter's opening: 1) God made you holy by means of Christ Jesus; 2) God has invited you in to partnership with His Son; 3) It is God who will bring the growth. (1 Corinthians 1:2,9;3:6)
During my college years, I lived for a year with ten other guys in a house we named, 'Rehab', short for rehabilitation. Two years earlier the house had been condemned. The owner had fixed the major problems, but it still looked like a Rehab. It was a scary experience on multiple fronts, not the least of which being the refrigerator. No one threw anything out much less cleaned it. At one point, a housemate's girlfriend broke down and cleaned it out. I think her survival instinct that prevailed!
We all have moldy, stinking lies that God's Spirit wants to help us clean out – lies that stay hidden have a power over us. Things brought into the light of God's truth can be conquered and the resulting freedom of living in the truth is exhilarating! One person who came in was struggling with feeling stuck in life, that there was no joy in her primary relationships. When we explored these things it turns out she had been neglected as a child and bought into the lie that she was an unwanted mistake. When we prayed, God showed her the truth, that He loved her and had plans for her life, that God does not make mistakes, or junk, as she viewed herself. The truth truly set her free! She decided, like the cripple Jesus helped, that she wanted to be whole. In pursuing that, she partnered with Jesus.
Paul is clear: “You are God's field. What's important is that God makes the seed grow!” (1 Corinthians 3:9) God is looking to do a new thing in you, to grow in you the best you possible, a new creation, (as Paul elsewhere puts it), a you that clings to the truth that you are holy by means of Christ, you are his partner in seeing His Kingdom grow, both in terms of transformed lives, but also within you
So, my friends, “Stop deceiving yourselves! Don't you realize that y'all are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God's temple is holy and you are that temple!”
(1 Corinthians 3:16-18)