The church in Corinth it might be said was all talk and no power. They had, in the eyes of the world, all manner of resources available to them. They were strong socially, economically and culturally but they had not fully grasped the upside down nature of God’s Kingdom. They had not started to display the fruit of the spirit which we read about in Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia. The fruit of the spirit is an output of God’s grace, and by living in the spirit. Paul’s charge to the Corinthian church was that they were living out of their own grace, their own strength, and their own wisdom, fashioned, perhaps understandably, by all the world had incorrectly taught them.
No, that is a Kingdom of talk. And Paul says that’s God’s Kingdom is founded in the very power of God, where his weakness is stronger than our strength. Service then in God’s Kingdom is not empty words but rather as a result of being drenched, immersed, utterly transformed, renewed and powered by God’s very own essence; and from a knowledge of God’s grace. As we discussed in Galatians we can’t earn God’s grace, we can’t work for it but oh, when we receive God’s power and God’s grace – grace get’s to work. We can’t work for Grace, but grace works…
And Paul outlines in this chapter what this grace in action, in service looks like. Our dedication to Christ as Paul says, our service to him, even our slavery to Jesus will cause us to look like fools, to be ridiculed, to go hungry and thirsty, to experience poverty and persecution. To serve, is to work wearily with our own hands, to bless those who curse us, to be patient with those who abuse us, to appeal gently when evil things are said about us. It is to be prepared to be treated like rubbish…
Saints, following Jesus Christ isn’t about church services, and I know many of us want to get back to all that once lockdown is fully lifted. That’s part of it of course, and I’m not seeking to diminish our Sunday worship together, but our corporate worship is best displayed in service of Jesus Christ to the world on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. It’s service that is worship, it is worship that is costly. If it isn’t costly, it might not stand up to much heat in the refiners fire that we read in chapter 3! Service – that’s where the rubber hits the road.