Allow me to be very clear—church is a messy place. Our sinful thoughts, selfish attitudes, distorted beliefs, misguided behaviors, and our ill-intentioned motivesdon’t magically disappear just because we go to church onSunday morning. I’ll say this also. These characteristics don’t magically disappear just because you’re a Sunday school teacher, an elder, a deacon, a life-long church member, on a worship team, or serve communion. They don’t magically disappear because you stand behind a pulpit and preach the word of God.
The church in Corinth was a messy place.
Considerthe church of Corinth, for example. We clearly established last week that Corinth was a first century Vegas. To be called a Corinthian was to be accused of excess andsexual license. Itmeant that you had an unsavory character. Here is a first century oxymoron.Corinthian Church.Corinthian Christians. The words church and Christian should beopposite from Corinthian.
"There is a paradox at the heart of the church. It is the painful tension between what the church claims to be and what it seems to be; between the divine ideal and the human reality; between romantic talk about 'the bride of Christ' and the very unromantic, unholy and quarrelsome Christian community we know ourselves to be. It is the tension between our final, glorious destiny in heaven and our present, very inglorious performance on earth. This is the ambiguity of the Church—in Corinth and in Christ."(source: John R. W. Stott, Basic Christian Leadership, page 17)
You want to talk about church being a messy place? Have you taken time this week or last week to read 1 Corinthians or 2 Corinthians in your Bible? How is this for a list? The church at Corinth had the following characteristics.
•The church was full of deep divisions, quarrels, and jealousy
•A case of incest was discrediting Christ’s name.
•Church members were taking each other to court and suing.
•In the name of 'freedom' and 'personal rights', people were sinning against one another, their bodies, and God’s name.
•A permissive culture was developing in the church that excused sin instead of confronting sin.
•The Lord’s Supper was becoming a mockery of Christ’s death. People would take the elements while harboring hatred and an unforgiving spirit toward one another.
•There was marital infidelity, adultery, and promiscuity
•Christians were still participating in pagan culture by eating food sacrificed to idols. They still immersed themselves in social gatherings, the wine shops, and the perverse temple functions that dishonored Christ.
•A battle was brewing over women and their place in worship.
•Instead of serving one another in love, people were filled with self-centeredness. The Corinthian church was too Corinthian.
The Church wasn’t transforming culture. However, theculturewas transforming the Church. One of the worst things we can do as a church is topretend that sin doesn’t impact each and every one of us. Think of it this way: the Church is to be like an emergency waiting room. Have you been to an emergency room lately? Do you remember what you saw?
I’ll tell you what you probably did not see. You probably did not see people pretending to be well. You didn’t see people ignoring their symptoms. You saw people seeking healing. You saw people who wanted to walk out of that place well again.
What are your reasons for coming to church?
So allow me ask, why do you come to church? We sure don’t come to church because we’re well. We come here because we are sick, because our spirits are broken, because we’ve been beaten up, or because the world has infected us. We come because we want the disease of sin and death conquered once and for all. We come here seeking healing and wholeness. We come to be transformed! We are sinners. The Bible says that every single one of us falls short of the glory of God.
What was really happening in the Church at Corinth is what happens in most churches. People were not coming to church to be transformed orchanged by God’s grace. They were coming to church to see a show, to pretend, to seek status, to advance themselves, to stroke their egos, to flaunt their intelligence, or to gain influence over others for selfish gain. They came to be the consumer. Church was becoming all about "me"—my status, my intelligence, my influence, my position, my eloquence, my superior wisdom, my power, my strength, and my personality.Me, me, me.
Imagine an emergency room full of sick and dying people, but all of them pretended to be well. Imagine an emergency room where people came ignoring their symptoms and thinking that they knew more than the Great Physician himself. Imagine going toemergencyroomto be entertained, to have someone lie to you,and to pronounce peace where there is no peace? Welcome to the modern day Church.
I have titled this message, "Elvis Impersonators and Headliners." An impersonator is someone who mimics the voice, appearance, and manners of someone else. Elvis impersonators are quite entertaining—except they're fake.
In Vegas, a headliner is the star attraction of a show. Headliners attract big crowds. They are a huge spectacle! The problem with headliners is that they are obsessed with self-promotion. It’s all about me. Look at me. They cannot share the stage. They want to be larger than life. They want to be like gods, forever immortalized by their fans.
Are we coming to church to be changed or to impersonate being a Christian?
But just what is the Church of Jesus Christ (the Church at Corinth, the Church at Lakeside) to become? Is church all about me or is it about God’s grace in Christ? Are we here to be changed or just to impersonate? USA Today ran an article this week titled "Megachurches seek the 'seekers'." The article cites concern over churchgoers becoming mere spectators (fans) who fail to drive toward deeper faith. People will fill stadiums to feel good about who they already are. If church is too challenging and not entertaining, people will move on. Membership in the bodyno longer carries any responsibility. Research Ed Stezer warns, "You can create a church that’s big, but is still not transforming people. Without transformation, the Christian message is not advanced."
The Church at Corinth was becoming a Vegas show. It was becoming an endless parade of Elvis impersonators and headliners, of pretenders. The church was devoid of authenticity and credibility. Church was becoming like a baptized Vegas show.
Church can become a cult of personality.
The Church at Corinth was developing into a cult of personality. 1 Corinthians 1:10-13 (NIV) tells us, "I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, 'I follow Paul'; another, 'I follow Apollos'; another, 'I follow Cephas'; still another, 'I follow Christ.' Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?"
AndPaul continues in 1 Corinthians 1:17(NIV),"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power."
You know we are in trouble when church becomes more about a personality than about Christ himself. I follow Paul. I follow Apollos. I follow Cephas. It is our nature to boast in men, to align ourselves with impersonators and headliners, to exalt this person or that peson. But church is not about this person or that person, this building or that building, this denomination or that denomination. Church is about being transformed by God’s grace. When we make church a charade, pretending as we do, the cross is emptied of its power.
If we're not careful, church can be nothing more than a charade. Church is too often a place of pride, jealousy, quarreling, wordliness, self-exaltation, competition, and comparison. This is what happens when our focus shifts from Christ to men. Church ought to be a place where we humble ourselves and receive God’s grace and experience genuine transformation.
Our work will be tested.
1 Corinthians 3:1-15 (NIV) tells us how to build a church."Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, 'I follow Paul,' and another, 'I follow Apollos,' are you not mere men?"
"What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building."
"By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."
These verses teach us that God’s work in our lives will be tested. What are we building here? What kind of church are we becoming? What kind of Christians? If what we are building here is little more than a charade or a house of cards, it will be shown for what it is.
We should regard ourselves as servants of Christ, growing more like Christ daily.
1 Corinthians 4:1-7 (NIV) explains, "So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God."
"Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, 'Do not go beyond what is written.' Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?"
John Newton, the man who wrote "Amazing Grace", explains Paul's point. "I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world. But still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am." May we all strive for the growth that God desires for us.