Paul’s New Letter

By Glenn Nestlerode

September 26, 2004

I Corinthians 1:1-5

         All this month we’ve been looking at the letters of the New Testament.  Some of these letters mark the beginnings of the New Testament.  The letters of Paul particularly were being circulated and collected and read in Christian worship decades before the 4 gospels became books and were read in worship.

            Part of what is very clear in most of Paul’s letters is that he was writing to particular churches which were facing particular challenges and struggles.  Though other churches benefited from reading the letters later, the letters were actually specifically addressed to the issues going on at one particular church.  At times that specific nature of Paul’s letters gives them a powerful edge or bite.  You know he’s not just suggesting grand ideas about love.  He’s talking loving in the nitty gritty messy situations of community life.  Occasionally, Paul’s letter become confusing to us because it is clear that he’s addressing a situation at a church or responding to some question, but we don’t have the context.

            Most of you know about the slogan WWJD.  What Would Jesus Do?  This sermon incorporates WWPW.  What Would Paul Write?  If somehow Paul had been reading our newsletters, and reading our community newspapers, and corresponding with our members, if Paul had done all that, what kind of letter would he write to us today?

            I encourage you to continue to ponder that question.  Here’s one way I imagined Paul might write a letter.

            Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle.  To all the saints, the church in Edmonds, grace to you and peace from God our maker and the Lord Jesus Christ.

            I thank my God every time I remember you.  I continually pray for you knowing that the Holy Spirit implanted in you will continue to do good works through you.

            I rejoice with and am proud of you that even in difficult financial times you have remembered to tithe or better with your church budget.  Your finances reflect that you know God cares for the whole church and for the whole world.  You have not become self-centered with your giving.  You continue to give to God’s mission beyond your doors and beyond your borders.  I praise God for your generosity and your commitment.

            I continue to hear how you care for one another, that when one of you is sick or hurting others reach out an arm of caring.  This is what it means to be the church.  This is what Christian love does when it is lived out in the lives of the saints.

            I also hear how warmly you welcome those who come to your door to visit.  Christians should always welcome all seekers.  The divisions we find in the world betweens different races, and different economic classes, and between the sexes.--.none of these belong in the church.  In Christ all those divisions fall away.

            I have heard that you have built a labyrinth lately.  I understand that it is a tool for prayer, and for opening oneself to the Holy Spirit.  And I have read that your labyrinth has been discussed in three different newspaper articles.  What wonderful news that you are inviting people to walk with the Holy Spirit.  Bringing people to God is the mission of the church.

            I hear that you have formed groups and are still forming groups to study scripture and to practice praying together.  This is vital work in the church.  Each of you should strive to grow in your understanding of God’s word and God’s will.  Study and prayer are not only for those new to the faith who are trying to learn about the faith.  Study and prayer are for all the saints, because God is always leading us forward, calling us to new work, and sending us out with a message of love and healing.

            Study, prayer and praising are what ensure that our service to God will be blessed.  How can we do the work our master calls us to, if we won’t listen to his call.  In reading scripture, in praying, and in worshipping, God speaks to us.  All Christians must regularly immerse themselves in listening to God.

            There are many reasons to give thanks for the ministry that God is doing through you and for the many ways that God’s love and grace is shared through you.

            In addition to praising God for the good he has done through you, I write to you now to address two concerns.  The first concern regards news I received in a letter from a church member.  The letter said that in the near future your church must make some difficult financial decisions.  The letter asked for my advice, but I am not sure what to tell you.

            The letter talked about church property, the church budget, and about programs and salaries.  When I worked in ministry there was no church property or church buildings.  We only met in people’s homes.  You must be a large church to require a special meeting place.  In my day we took up offerings to help the needy and the widows and to send relief money to the church in Jerusalem.  But we never had a budget, or programs or salaries.  I made tents to earn money for my livelihood.

            Now, just because these things are new to me does not mean that I think they are bad.  When I was doing ministry I could get attacked by mobs or put in jail for sharing the gospel.  We had to be careful about how we shared our faith at times.  Property and buildings, budgets, programs and salaries – I imagine that they can all be wonderful tools for sharing the gospel and carrying out God’s mission.

            But, of course, there is danger there, too.  Sometimes people forget that the purpose of a tool is to do a job.  An ax is a tool for cutting wood.  Now, an ax blade gets dulled after it’s been used awhile.  Thus, it is important to sharpen an ax from time to time so that it will cut wood better.  However, another way to keep an ax sharp is by using it less often, but that means less wood gets cut.  Protecting a tool too much keeps the work from getting done.

            As you consider your important financial questions I hope that you will not decide anything without spending much time in prayer.  Listen for what God is calling you to do with your resources.  Don’t ask yourselves, “What do I think we should do?”  Ask yourselves, “How can God best use our resources for ministry?  What is the Spirit calling us to do in this situation?  What would being faithful mean in this situation?”

            Christ gave up his body to carry out God’s mission.  So the church, as the body of Christ, is still called to pour itself out to carry out God’s mission.  One of the writers of your day has expressed an important truth with these words:  “The church is an instrument of God’s mission,…the church of Jesus Christ is not the purpose or goal of the gospel, but rather its instrument and witness.”

            Sometimes, especially in the midst of fear or anxiety, we forget even the things that we know deep inside.  Let me remind you of one truth that you know deep inside.  The church does not belong to you.  It is you who belong to God’s church.

            I have a second concern I wish to share with you.  As I read a report about the Edmonds church, I found something very disturbing.  At a meeting with a consultant you all seemed to be in agreement that the people in the community outside your church don’t really know what your church believes or stands for.

            How can this be?  You sing a song with a verse that says, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”  That should still be true.  How is it that you can be so invisible to the community?  God has entrusted you with the gospel.  God has put the treasure of the gospel in the clay jars of our imperfect bodies and imperfect churches.  But still God is counting on you to share that treasure with others.  That is the purpose of the church.  You have been called together to be fed and strengthened so that you can then be sent out to share the good news of God’s love and grace.

            When I preached in Athens I spoke about an altar that had the inscription, “to an unknown god.”  I told the Athenians that what they worshipped as unknown I came to proclaim.

            I think you have the same task before you -- to proclaim an unknown God.  The people in your part of the world are hungry for spirituality.  They are searching for meaning in their lives, and thus they are searching for God.

            In my day I had the problem that no one knew what being a Christian meant.  Many had no understanding of the nature of the God I tried to describe.

            Your situation is different.  And, yet, still the same as mine.  It is different because everybody thinks they know what Christianity means.  They think they know the God the church worships, but far too often they do not.

            Though I have written that there is neither Jew nor Greek in Christ, there are people who believe Christians are racist and bigoted.  Though I have honored the ministry of women in the early church, there are some who say that Christians are sexist.  Though I have written about the grace and forgiveness of God, there are many who believe that God is an angry judgmental God who pursues and punishes but does not forgive.

            I do not completely understand how the good news has become twisted into bad news for so many hurting people.  But I do understand that people with this twisted understanding need to meet the true God, the God of compassion, grace and forgiveness.  It is just as vital in your day as it was in mine that this good news be shared with all those who feel cut off or alienated from God.

            In your time there seem to be so many barriers that keep people from knowing a loving God.  Far too often those barriers have arisen in churches where people seem to have forgotten that they should be worshipping a God of grace.

            You have been entrusted with that message of God’s grace.  But at times it seems you have forgotten that you do, in fact, have an important message.  Your insights about God’s love and your experiences with the Holy Spirit moving through your life need to be shared.  You have been given a message.  Now, you must work harder to deliver it to the many who desperately need to hear it.

            What I said long ago to the Corinthians still applies to you.  “So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us;”  You are ambassadors.  You have been called in and given a very important message.  Now it is important to go out and deliver that message.  You are not just called.  You are called and sent out.

            Peace be to the whole community.  May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

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