Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany (1 Cor 3:1-9)  2/16/2014

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We hear in our lesson from the Book of Deuteronomy this morning, “If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today…then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you…But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are lead astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish.” (Deut 30:16-18a) And speaking from Psalm 119, the Psalmist tells us, “Happy are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! Who never do any wrong, but always walk in his ways.” (Psalm 119:1,3) And Matthew warns us this morning that “if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than your whole body to be thrown into hell.” (Matt 5:29) The challenge of perfection seems to have been set before us this morning in our Scripture lessons. In the spirit of the Olympic Games, it seems we have been challenged to perfectly land an “acrobatic triple cork” jump as we rush down the slope style ski range of life…our lessons seem to be telling us, go for the heavenly gold medal or go home! That approach to life would certainly create a fair bit of anxiety and restless nights.

Nearly 500 years ago there was a young monk named Martin who was filled with this exact type of anxiety and fear. Brother Martin took these words very seriously, not to imply that you should not take Scripture seriously, but he searched his heart night after night and only found sinfulness. His discovery filled him with the anxiety that is born from the fear of not measuring up to expectations and he was led to great despair, the same despair that might overtake someone after hearing our Scripture lessons this morning. Martin’s single-minded focus on achieving this illusive “perfection from sin” led him to doubt that God could ever love him, because how could God love someone who was filled with so much sin? He was broken hearted that he could not obtain the highest forms of Christian righteousness – no spiritual gold medal for young Martin!

The Corinthians, however, were not filled with any such despair or anguish! No, the Christians in Corinth were quite pleased with themselves, perhaps a bit too pleased thought the Apostle Paul. They had become so pleased with their gifts for ministry, they had taken up the practice of judging whose gifts were most important to the life of the community. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians was a direct invitation to welcome some humility in their hearts and minds. His letter was a reminder that people filled with jealousy, quarreling, and prideful boasting of their ministries have not perfected their lives in Christ. Paul said he could not “speak to the Corinthians as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.” (1 Cor 3:1) The Corinthians, in their assurance of their Christian perfection, had achieved quite the opposite according to Paul. They were quite sure they had perfectly landed that most difficult “spiritual acrobatic triple cork,” but no, no spiritual gold medal for the Corinthians either!

So, what lesson can we take from these challenging words of perfection we hear this morning? Paul’s lesson to the Corinthians, and his lesson for us today as well, is that as children of God we achieve our perfection through the humble acceptance of the grace of God. Paul’s intention as he wrote his letter to the Corinthians was to highlight the varieties of ministry of those serving God in the world and that those who serve are given power through God alone. “Servants, through whom you came to believe, as the LORD assigned to each. One planted, one watered, but God gave the growth. So, neither the one who plants or the one who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose…for we are God’s servants, [God’s children], working together.” (1 Cor 3:5-9) The young monk who was filled with anxiety and despair eventually learned the lesson Paul is teaching us today. His despair and anxiety dissolved into an abundance of trust in the hope and promise of Christ’s love for us. After years of searching for God’s grace, Martin Luther was finally able to believe that the humble sinner is worthy to stand in the presence of the holiness of God. Luther wrote, “For it cannot be that a soul filled with its own righteousness can be replenished with the righteousness of God, who fills up only those who hunger and are thirsty. Therefore, whoever is full of their own truth and wisdom is not capable of the truth and wisdom of God, which cannot be received save by those who are empty and destitute.”^[i] Luther’s insight is our path toward the presence of God. To empty our souls and make room for the grace of God is our shared journey of a lively and spirit-filled faith in God…a journey toward the perfecting presence of the Holy One. As recipients of God’s grace, we walk together in our common purpose of ministry and service to God and to others throughout our world.

The signs of God’s grace are all around us! The combined benefit concert for the mission work in Haiti held this past week by St. John’s and St. Peter Claver’s is a sign of God’s grace in our hearts and a sign of our common work in the world. The faithful work of the Transition teams is a sign of God’s grace among us, and these teams will each be reaching out to you for your wisdom and your thoughts in the days and weeks ahead, and by God’s grace we all have the opportunity to provide these teams with our prayers and our support. “For we are God’s servants, working together for a common purpose,” as Paul told the Corinthians. So perfection is not the ultimate goal and winning the spiritual gold medal does not bring us closer to God. Our hope is set on the promise of Christ’s presence in our lives and our joy is made manifest in our common work together…this is the faithful path to the perfecting grace of God’s love.

The power and love of God’s grace is beautifully captured in a prayer written by Jeremy Taylor, 17th century Anglican Bishop and theologian: “God is especially present in the hearts of his people, by his Holy Spirit: and indeed the hearts of holy people are temples in the truth of things, and, in type and shadow, they are heaven itself. For God reigns in the hearts of his servants: there is God’s kingdom. The power of grace has subdued all his enemies: there is God’s power. God’s people serve him night and day, and give him thanks and praise: that is God’s glory. This is the religion and worship of God in the temple. And the temple itself is the heart of humanity.”^[ii] AMEN.