4:18 Now some are
puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you
shortly, if the Lord wills, and I will know, not the word of those who are
puffed up, but the power. 20 For the kingdom of God is not in word but in
power. 21 What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a
spirit of gentleness?
Ah the impossible position of dealing with those who are in
error. In traffic a guy will cut you off and then give the one finger salute as
if you are to blame. a cheating spouse will constantly accuse the faithful one
of cheating. Satan is the liar yet accuses God of being the liar.
How do you discipline a person in rebellion? If you show
mercy they get more emboldened. If you don't show mercy you are accused of
being a tyrant. The two great accusations against God are that He
doesn't fox the mess the world is in yet for the times in history when He did
step in He is accused of being a tyrant, a genocidal maniac.
Paul loves the church in Corinth. That love will not allow
him to sit by quietly while the church destroys itself through infighting.
First he states the truth. In Christ they are saints. In Christ they perfect.
However that miracle grace does not erase who they are in the present world.
Behind the curtain of His perfect grace there is a work or restoration taking
place. Satan is doing everything he can to stop it. Every victory for him is a
step closer to believers giving up and returning to the Christless life they
lived before.
Ironically the root of all sin is our lack of trust that God
sees us as perfect and will heal us inside until we match His picture of us.
Some of that healing will occur here. Some may not be completed until we eat
from the tree of life, the leaves of which are for the healing of the nations.
When we don't trust we start meddling. You know we do. We say
we believe the score was added up correctly but we take the sheet and double
check. We say we trust our friend but we listen in on coversations or read
things we would feel no need to read if we really did trust. People are not
trustworthy. Sometimes the score is wrong and sometimes friends lie but not
Jesus. He said he would come and He did. He said kingdoms would rise and fall
in a particular order and they did. He said Judas was the betrayer and he was.
He said he would both die and rise and He did. Jesus is faithful. Never has a
promise been broken. When He says that in Him we are saints and perfect He is
not lying. No meddling will improve upon it. Quite the opposite actually. Rules
we invent to become more holy end up becoming what we worship and Christ is
forgotten.
Now back to Paul. Love demands he do something to address the
mess in Corinth. Tough love will make some accuse him of being a bully or a
tyrant. Gentleness will be interpreted as weakness.
In the words of Paul I see the dilemma of Jesus. "Some
of you think I'm not coming but I am. Would you like Me to come with a rod or
in love and a spirit of gentleness?
The sun melts butter but hardens clay. The sun is the same.
It never changes. The variance is with us. Will we be butter and melt into His
saving grace or harden against Him and seek to save ourselves with our
meddling?
No comments:
Post a Comment