My Morning Meal

I woke up this morning with a certain excited anticipation of where my reading plan would be taking me in the Word today. In particular, I knew that I’d be starting into the book of Ruth today. Love the book of Ruth. So glad to move on from the downer of the vicious, dysfunctional cycle of the Judges. As I’m thinking about it in advance I think to myself, “Ruth is a game changer. It’s the oasis in the desert of the judges. It’s the beginning of a turnaround in Israel . . . and throughout history.” Her story seeds hope in a time of tremendous despair and bitterness. It presents the kinsman-redeemer and foreshadows the great Kinsman-Redeemer. It’s the prologue to the throne of David . . . and ultimately to the King of kings. And so, as I started in on my first reading of the morning, I enjoyed taking in again the opening chapter of Ruth . . . knowing how the story is going to end. But then my reading plan took me to 1Corinthians 15 . . . and that, my friends, is the real game changer!

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared . . .    (1Corinthians 15:3-5 ESV)

Shame on me if I ponder this great truth and this great passage only once a year at Easter. This is the game changer . . . Paul says it is “of first importance” . . . that “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain . . . if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (15:14, 17). Anticipate all you want the types of Ruth . . . the shadowy pictures of the Redeemer . . . the feel-good happy ending of her love story . . . but this is the meat . . . this is the real thing . . . this is clear as crystal . . . this is the foundation of our faith.

How excited should we get as we hover over these words, “Christ died for our sins . . . He was buried . . . He was raised . . . He appeared”? Pretty!!!

This is the gospel . . . it’s the good news . . . the stuff by which we are being saved (15:1-2). Though Paul wasn’t a follower of Jesus of Nazareth . . . though he wasn’t vested in that dreadful Friday . . . though he was clueless on that glorious Sunday . . . when Christ did appear to him, “as to one untimely born”, it was the first thing delivered to him . . . the first thing he got . . . as he was facedown on that road of Damascus he knew, absolutely knew, Jesus had risen . . . “in accordance with the Scripture” (15:3-9).

How amazing is the resurrection of Christ? God’s “amen” to the work of the cross. God’s “well done” to the faithful obedience of the Son. God’s “let’s do it” to the saving of souls for all eternity. A dead savior is no savior at all. A buried king is no king at all. A hidden god is a god which can not appear to those in need of a god.

But our Savior is a risen Savior . . . able to save indeed. Our King is the King who left the grave, who shed the tomb . . . able to reign indeed. And, our God is the God of appearances . . . first “to Cephas, then to the twelve . . . then He appeared to more than five hundred . . . then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles” . . . and then . . . as I own Paul’s words as my own . . . “He appeared also to me!”

You ask me how I know He lives? Because I have encountered Him . . . I have experienced His game changing reality . . . because He lives within my heart.

Not new truth for the believer. But may it never become old truth . . . nor worn out truth . . . nor truth that ceases to raise the head (and hands, if you’re so pre-disposed) and cause the redeemed to joyously declare “Hallelujah! He is risen! He is the Game Changer . . . and I know how the story ends!”

To Him be all glory and praise . . . amen!

Is it too simplistic to say that God cares less about the “what” and more about the “how”? That while we can do tons of great stuff . . . get all of our “to do’s” done . . . work this . . . serve there . . . accomplish that . . . that, at the end of the day, it will be less about what we did for the kingdom and more about how we did what we did for the King? I’m thinkin’ . . .

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.   (1Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV)

You hover over these verses for just a few minutes and maybe you ask yourself, “Really?!? Talking like the angels . . . understanding the deep, deep things of God . . . faith beyond faith, even to the moving of mountains . . . tithing everything . . . putting my very body on the line . . . but, if I have not love, it’s empty noise . . . I gain nothing . . . nothing is accomplished? Really?

Is it really such an all or nothing proposition? Can so much good “what” count for so little if not done with the right “how” — with love?

I guess it comes down to whether or not we take God at His word and believe the Word. If I do, then to desire living in love as defined here has got to be one of my greatest pursuits. To want to “grow up” and put away childish understanding and childish motivations and childish thinking and other childish things needs to be a driving force in my life.

And I can’t help but think that the church is an important part of figuring out the “how”. That’s the context for this portion of Scripture — it’s about how we be the body of Christ. 1Corinthians 12 is about the gifting in the church and the relationship of body members to each other. 1Corinthians 14 is about the use of that gifting in the church to build up the body. And, smack dab in the middle of all this “what” is 1Corinthians 13 describing the “how”.

I learn to love in the body of Christ. My “training ground” for developing the “how” is with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

It’s there that I learn to be patient and kind . . . and where I practice putting down the natural man’s desire to be envious . . . or boastful . . . or arrogant . . . or rude. By God’s grace, and through the enabling of the Spirit, it is in the day-in-day-out rubbing of shoulders with other less-than-perfect trophies of grace that I learn not to insist on “my way or the highway” . . . and I work on saying no to irritability or resentfulness with others. It is with God’s called out special treasure that I am transformed from being attracted to wrongdoing and, instead, rejoicing in truth. It’s with the people of God where I learn to bear all things . . . believe all things . . . hope all things . . . endure all things. It’s through God shining in the face of brothers and sisters in Christ that I internalize that “love never ends.”

As part of the body of Christ I abide in faith, hope, love — but the greatest of these is love.

You gotta love the church! God does. And I think it’s in the church where we can learn to love . . . where we can learn the “how.”

Simplistic? Maybe. Truth? Definitely. All for God’s glory? Absolutely!

As an apostle, Paul had certain rights. Not entitlements of men, but some God-given “ground rules” of which Paul could have legitimately availed himself. Oxen who tread out the grain should not be muzzled, but allowed to eat of that which they worked. The plowman should plow and the thresher should thresh with an expectation of sharing in the crop. “In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel” (1Cor. 9:8-10, 14). But Paul chose instead to keep his day job . . . even if he only had time to do it at night. He chose not to take a paycheck (or even a paycheque) for his ministry but instead sought to remain self-funding. How come? Because of Paul’s perspective on what God had asked him to do . . . a perspective I’d do well to emulate.

For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship.   (1Corinthians 9:16-17 ESV)

Entrusted with a stewardship . . . that’s how Paul viewed his apostleship. The preaching of the gospel wasn’t his meal ticket . . . it was his calling . . . it was what God had enabled him to do . . . it is what God had told him he should do . . . “woe to me if I do not preach.” His ministry wasn’t a vocation, it was a precious trust . . . to be managed thoughtfully . . . to be administered effectively . . . to be dispensed carefully. Paul would “endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ” (9:12b). And if that meant making tents at night so he could preach during the day with no grounds for anyone to question if he was in it for what he could get out of it, that’s what he would do.

And there’s a principle here, I think, for all of God’s people . . . and, in particular, for this God’s people in this chair this morning.

Every believer is a “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). Each redeemed child of God has “gifts that differ according to the grace given to us” that are to be used (Rom. 12:6). It seems to me I can either ignore these truths or somehow believe that they’re not true of me and do nothing . . . or I can say, “whatever” and half-heartedly “check the box” . . . or, I can view the calling and gifting of God I’ve been given as a stewardship . . . as a sacred trust.

I can count it an honor and privilege to serve Christ and to serve His body with whatever enabling He has trusted me with. I can manage and nurture the calling . . . I can faithfully dispense what was been given to me . . . I can do so with no thought of what’s in it for me, but solely because of the pleasure and glory it perhaps brings Him. I can be careful to manage all areas of my life so that no obstacle is tossed in the way of what God has graciously allowed me to do on His behalf. Rather than view the “kingdom tasks” God has asked of me as something to do in my free time, they can become the reason for why I work a day job . . . my service for the King, whatever it may be, can be the “ends” for which everything else becomes the “means.”

And it’s not about having an elevated sense of self or boasting in the importance of what I’ve been asked to do . . . “woe to me if I don’t do what God has asked me to do”. Rather, it’s about embracing a perspective on the high, and holy calling which is mine because He who called me, and tasked me, is high and holy. It’s about being faithful because He is faithful. It is about serving wholeheartedly because He was “all in” when He secured my salvation.

Entrusted with a stewardship . . . by the grace of God . . . for the glory of God . . . amen?