Community Church Sermons

Year A

February 16, 2014

The Sixth Sunday after Epiphany

The x God Button

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Rev. Martin C. Singley, III

Senior Pastor

There are some songs that never made the hymnal.

“Poisoning Pigeons in the Park” never made it.

“The Vatican Rag” didn’t get in.

And neither did “National Brotherhood Week.” Can you believe it?

These hymns were the creation of a brilliant songwriter by the name of Tom Lehrer. Some call him a comedian. Others say he is a social commentator. Actually he’s retired now – 85 years old. But back in the 1960’s, Tom Lehrer became rather famous for his offbeat, irreverent and usually very satirical songs.

“National Brotherhood Week” is a good example where in the first verse he takes on racial discord, pointing out the sad reality of racism in society, but then reminding us that on National Brotherhood Week we can just pretend it doesn’t exist. It’s a parody loaded with sarcasm.

The next verse takes on income inequality which seems to be all the rage these days. It goes like this:

Oh, the poor folks hate the rich folks,
And the rich folks hate the poor folks.
All of my folks hate all of your folks,
It's American as apple pie.

But during National Brotherhood Week, we should step up and shake the hand of someone you can’t stand. You can tolerate him if you try.

And then Tom Lehrer brings up religion. Lord, forgive me for even repeating this verse:

Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics,
And the Catholics hate the Protestants,
And the Hindus hate the Muslims,
And everybody hates the Jews.

Mind you, Tom Lehrer is Jewish. And he concludes by singing:

But during National Brotherhood Week, National Brotherhood Week,
It's National Everyone-smile-at-one-another-hood Week.
Be nice to people who
Are inferior to you.
It's only for a week, so have no fear.
Be grateful that it doesn't last all year!

Never made the hymnal. Nope. We got “Blest Be the Tie that Binds.” And “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love.”

But National Brotherhood Week - never made it.

Maybe because it’s just too true.

If you ask most Christian people what their favorite verse of scripture is in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, they’ll right away say, “First Corinthians 13 – the one about love!”

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love

I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal…

Love is patient and kind, it is not jealous or boastful, it is not arrogant or rude…

Love does not insist on its own way, it is not irritable or resentful…

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things

Love never ends.

Now faith, hope and love remain – these three - but the greatest of these is…?

Love.

The most beautiful, powerful, exhaustive description of love in all of literature.

Why do you suppose Paul had to tell the Corinthians about this kind of love?

Because they hated each other’s guts, that’s why!

In fact, the reason Paul wrote this letter to the church at Corinth is because it was tearing itself apart with jealousies and quarrels and divisiveness. Some people in that church thought they were ALL THAT spiritually because they spoke in tongues and could recite scripture frontward and backward. And they looked down on those who couldn’t. There were some who propped themselves up as amateur theologians (one of the big problems in churches today by the way). And so they argued back and forth about who had the correct view on the resurrection, and the correct view about the cross, and the correct understanding of the nature of sin. And they picked favorites among their preachers. Imagine that? The big divide was between Paul and a fellow by the name of Apollos who was said to be a silver-tongued preacher who everyone loved to listen to while Paul was kind of erudite and academic. “I only go to church when Apollos is preaching!” says one member of that church. “Yeah, well,” says another, “when Apollos is in the pulpit I go over to the Baptist church!”

If you ever want to see a case-study in church strife take a look at First Corinthians. It’s a letter intended to help a congregation understand the problem of divisiveness.

But more importantly, it is a letter that seeks to help people learn how to celebrate and embrace differences!

Churches – like the world itself – are not made to be homogeneous. Difference is built into us. None of us is exactly the same as someone else. Not even identical twins. I didn’t know that until I read an article about how the latest research shows that although identical twin embryos share the same DNA, during early fetal development they undergo more than 300 genetic mutations, or copy errors, on average. And as human cells divide trillions of times during their lifespan, a few hundred genetic mutations could lead over the years to millions or even trillions of genetic differences in the DNA of identical twins. That’s what the latest genetic research shows.

God has wired differences into all of us. And yet, we don’t quite seem to know how to handle those differences without creating barriers and mistrust and animosity between each other – whites and blacks, rich and poor, Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Hindu, Jew…

And not even an annual National Brotherhood Week can make it better.

What can?

The power of God.

I was thinking about all this when I remembered something our church member Don Tate said during a presentation he made as part of our Imagine! campaign. Don mentioned that, as a banker, he’d probably have a hard time if he was one of the first disciples of Jesus. When Jesus said, “Feed these 5,000 people with these 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish,” Don says he would have gotten out his banker’s calculator and figured out how many ounces are in a loaf of bread, and how many people that would feed, and then gone back to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, we might be able to feed fifty people, but 5,000??? There’s no way!!” But Jesus would say, “Just trust me, Don. Go and do it!” And so – in Don’s imaginary journey – he’d go out and start feeding people. And lo and behold, when he was done, all 5,000 men – plus women and children - were fed and full and happy and they collected 12 basketfuls of leftovers besides!

And then Don said something like this, “You see, the problem with my banker’s calculator is that it doesn’t have a TIMES THE POWER OF GOD BUTTON on it!”

Times the power of God.

There are some things only God can do.

And here’s what Paul tells the Corinthians: “What is Apollos? And what is Paul? We are simply servants through whom you came to believe. I sowed the seed. Apollos watered it…

…BUT GOD MADE IT GROW!”

And then he says that they – the Corinthian churchpeople - are God’s field, each one of them a different kind of plant or flower in it. And as some of us plant the seeds, and others of us water the seeds, God causes the field to grow and become productive. We ALL have a part in it, but it is GOD who gives the growth by weaving together all the differences and making the field beautiful in his time.

Think of it this way: God has planted in each and every person – each and every one of you – a small part of the puzzle of life. And even as we sit here today God is at work putting all those puzzle pieces together into what will one day blossom into the kingdom of heaven.

So we’ve got to stop the sin of division – and discord – and fighting against what God is trying to accomplish. We’ve got to learn to appreciate our differences and start using the TIMES THE POWER OF GOD BUTTON!

Many years ago I was honored to serve as a delegate to the General Synod of my home denomination. What an amazing thing it is when thousands of people from all over the world gather together to worship and fellowship – and fight! Oh, yes, there was lots of fighting.

And most of it had to do with sex. That’s what denominations love to do – get together to fight about sex.

Well, I went out to that General Synod pretty much convinced that the faction that was pressing a more liberalized agenda about sexual ethics was made up of a bunch of perverts, outlaws and heretics. To me, the Bible clearly spoke to all these issues and there was no need to discuss it further. “The Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it,” as some like to say. So I went out to Synod to save these misguided souls from themselves.

But I made two mistakes.

First, I got to know some of them.

And I discovered that the words “pervert, outlaw and heretic” didn’t do them justice. Nor did those pejorative words accurately describe them. Why some were little ol’ grandmothers struggling with the fact they had been widowed, but now had miraculously found new love! But, if they remarried, they’d lose the pensions they and their late spouses had worked so hard to earn. And now, their kids were all shook up that they were thinking about just shacking up! And the worse thing is that their kids – most of whom didn’t even go to church anymore – were quoting the Bible against them!

And there were others there too who were struggling with their own individual issues to find a just sexual ethic suitable for living as Christians in the 20^th century.

That was my first mistake – getting to know them as people and not labels.

The second mistake I made was attending workshops where serious study of the Bible was being done. And I learned I didn’t know as much about the Bible as I thought I did. People today talk about biblical marriage being between one man, one woman. Not true. Biblical marriage is more often between one man, and as many women as he darn well pleases. Not to mention a side order of concubines. Biblical marriage is usually arranged marriage and girls are married off as soon as they come into puberty at 12 or 13 years of age. And I don’ know about you, but I don’t think that’s a good idea. Oh, I learned a lot about what I didn’t know but thought I did.

And I can’t say that anything was really settled at that Synod except for this: those grandmothers, the other strugglers, and I, left that Synod united as the people of God. We didn’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but we understood each other better, and we were all committed to learning and growing as Christians, and we also left that Synod committed to seeking justice for all people.

We loved each other.

Love is patient and kind

Love is not jealous or boastful

It is not arrogant or rude

Love does not insist on its own way

It is not irritable or resentful

Love does not rejoice at the wrong, but rejoices in the right.

Love bears all things

Believes all things

Hopes all things

Endures all things.

Love never ends.

This love that Paul writes about is the TIMES THE POWER OF GOD BUTTON that you and I need to activate in our lives.

And this is how it can work for when you go out today to live in this world of many differences:

Become friends with someone who is not like you.

Commit yourself to learning about them, and come to understand why they see and live life differently than you.

And just love them.

Love them unconditionally, trusting that God is at work taking all our differences and weaving them into the beautiful kingdom of heaven.