“Lenten Sermon Series 1: Humility”
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Text: 1 Corinthians 4:1-13
I think human beings are a little conflicted when it comes to the type of leaders that we want. We often have a divided mind, and we are not quite sure precisely what we are looking for. In the realm of politics, for example, do we want people who are erudite, articulate, people who live on the edge but have great charisma, or do we like the steady, solid, reliable leadership of people who carry out their duties without much fuss, pomp and circumstance?
In the realm of sport, do we want our leaders to be brilliant, but morally flawed? Or, do we want them to be steady and a role model for our children? In the realm of the arts, do we emulate Lady Gaga or do we like Carrie Underwood? In the realm of movies, do we get excited by the gore of Tarantino, or would we rather have Forrest Gump?
We are never quite sure, you see. It just seems that whatever we have, we actually want the other. And, when we find we have one, we actually covet the other. We are of a divided mind. We are never quite sure where to hang the hat and who we should follow and adore and praise.
The Corinthian Church was undergoing that very same crisis. It seems they just didn't know what kind of leadership they should have. They were unsure about the type of person or the type of leader that would lead this fledgling, growing congregation in this great metropolitan city.
The Apostle Paul writes to this congregation that he helped found, expressing his concern about the dilemma. In one of the most emotional passages in all of Paul's writings, he pours out his heart to the Corinthians. He is worried, he is concerned, and he is passionate about the Corinthian church. He knows that their divided mind can cause great stress and great trouble.
As we read the text, it becomes evident that there were two problems with the Corinthian church that led to the crisis of leadership, the first of which is that they had become complacent and smug. The Corinthians were clearly a successful church by the standard of church growth in the first century. They were adding new members and becoming more influential in a cosmopolitan, pluralistic, ever-growing city at the centre of commerce and the movement of people between Asia Minor and Europe.
Corinth was a great place, but the problem was that in this city the church itself had become as smug as the city. The Christian community was full of itself and complacent, Paul even goes so far as to say that they “thought themselves to be kings.” He didn't mean that in a positive but a pejorative sense. They were kings in their own minds.
They were full of themselves. Great things had happened in the church, marvellous things had taken place. They were smug, but in their smugness, something else happened. They became divided over what kind of leaders they should have. They felt that they could have various types of leaders within the congregation: leaders who would represent one particular spiritual viewpoint or one particular moral viewpoint or one particular attitude towards the faith.
And so, the Corinthians, in all their arrogance and smugness brought in leaders, and leaders emerge from the church who started to dissipate the ministry. Some said, “I follow Apollo” some said, “I follow Paul” some said, “I follow Peter.” There were numerous groups starting to coalesce around gifted, spiritual and elite leaders. These small groups being formed started the disintegration of the Corinthian church.
The Apostle Paul, on the other hand, always placed a high premium on unity in the church. You can see that later on in the Book of Corinthians, where he writes about spiritual gifts and he says that there are a variety of spiritual gifts, but there is one Spirit, and there are different aspects of the faith, but there is one Lord. The Apostle Paul knew that if this Corinthian church was going to be representative of Christ in that great city, it needed to be unified, and these other disparate leaders who were coming along and dividing the church would ultimately create its downfall.
The Apostle Paul holds himself up as an example. In contrast to those who had become petty leaders, all those who were full of their own importance, and in one of the most fantastic passages in the whole of The New Testament, Paul refers to himself and those who minister with him in these words from Verse 9:
For I think God has exhibited us, Apostles, last of all, as ones condemned to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We're fools for Christ's sake, but you are prudent and wise. We are weak, but you are strong. You are distinguished, but we are without honour. To this present hour, we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed and are roughly treated and are homeless. And, we toil, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless. When we are persecuted, we endure. When we are slandered, we try to conciliate. We have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.
Paul, you see here, is referring to himself. But, notice the humility. Look at the self-deprecating language that he uses. I think sometimes when I read this passage that he went too far to call himself and those who were originally with him in the founding of that Church “filth” or “scum.” But, as I look at that word more closely, I can see the roots are in Hebrew, and the Hebrew word that is translated into the Greek refers to the “scapegoat” in The Old Testament. In other words, it is the one who has sacrificed for the sake of others.
Paul isn't saying that he is “scum” and “filth” in terms of his own moral behaviour or in terms of his status or in terms of his standing. He is saying that he has become filth for the sake of the greater good. He humbles himself in order that the Body may be lifted up. He doesn't even want his name to be pushed forward, and even to those who say, “I follow Paul” he says, “I want none of this!” because, as he said in the beginning of the Book of Corinthians, “All I come to do is to preach Christ and Him crucified.” You see, for Paul, the unity of the church and the type of leadership was born out of the type of faith that he wanted them to have.
Then in a line that arises from this text above all the other lines, he says the following, “What do you have that you did not receive?” Oh, you might have got great spiritual gifts, be doing wonderful things, have selected your own wise leaders, but what do you have that you did not receive?
You see, Paul knew that there were two truths that the Corinthian church needed to embrace. They are not only truths for Corinth, they are truths for Toronto and for Timothy Eaton Memorial Church today. The first truth is that there is always a legacy of witness. The problem with the Corinthians was that they were acting as if they had founded themselves, they had their own abilities and their own speakers, and they didn't want to acknowledge that it was Paul and the Gospel he proclaimed and the witness that he bore that was the foundation of that Church. They were caught up in all the other extraneous things and had forgotten that they had been the recipients of the witness. “What do you have” says Paul “that you did not receive?” I think that goes not only for the Church in the time of Paul; I think it goes for every church in every era.
Just about a week ago, on a day when I was feeling, well, I've got to be honest, really sorry for myself, one of those days, you know, where you are in so much pain you think you must have done something wrong. So, I came to church and I was all prepared for a day of work, and I realized that I wasn't doing very well. I just sat in a pew for a while, prayed and asked for strength. I was thinking about the 100th anniversary and all the plans that we have, and the magnificent plaque that is going to be put up, and the exciting days.
I thought of the great things that we have here and how much I love this place and the people. It was sort of warm: it's nice to be in the church quietly alone. Do that some time. I then looked at this plaque on the wall, and I read the names of those who had been sacrificed, those who had given their lives for freedom. And then I thought, “This is right, we are all the beneficiaries of those who have gone before us.” It is not as if even in great things that we do and have and accomplishments, it is not that we have done this all on our own. “What do we have” says Paul “that we did not receive?”
I think there has been a great witness over the years and a great passion and commitment to the cause of Christ. And without that we would not be here. When we celebrate our anniversary we celebrate the witness that we have received. But, that should not lead to passivity.
There is a wonderful moment in that great movie Dead Poets Society, which I can't believe is more than 20 years old now, where the teacher, Keating, gets all the students together and he tries to inculcate in them love and a passion for poetry and to make their own minds up about the poems that they are reading. He takes the students into the hallway and in front of the great cabinet where there are many of the great former students of the school, many of the trophies that have been won, many of the honours and accolades that have come to the school on display, and he says, “Look at all these faces, they are not very different from you - same haircuts, same hormones, same desire for success - and nearly all of them are dead. They are fertilizer for daffodils! They are gone.” Then, he says, “What do you think they are saying to you, you, who take up their mantle? What are they saying to you?” And, behind them, he whispers, “Carpe diem!” (Seize the day!)
He knew that those young men had a legacy, that they had been given something great, that others had gone before them, but they needed to live in the day. The Apostle Paul wanted the Corinthian church to understand that very same thing: that they had been given a witness, the witness of the Gospel, but now was the time to seize the day and to not become fragmented by petty arguments, not to be divided along the lines of following individuals, but to reaffirm the commitment to Christ, for only then could that church “seize the day.”
There is not only a legacy of witness, there is also the legacy of gifts. The Corinthian church was powerful. They had healings, they had miracles, they had great speeches, they had wonderful people, and they were carried away by their own success. they had forgotten the grace that undergirded it. It is in the context of those gifts that Paul says, “What do you have that you did not receive?” I can't help but think of that in terms of our own nation as well. It doesn't only apply to spiritual gifts, it applies to everything that God has ever given us.
Like many of you, I have been enthralled by the Olympics for the last two weeks. In fact, without the Olympics on television when I haven't been feeling well I think I would have gone out of my mind. I have watched every bobsleigh run and every bobble along the way! It's been great! Thank you, Lord, for timing it this way! I have got up and cheered, I have gloried in our success, and commiserated in our losses.
We've all gone through the rollercoaster of emotions, but there was something that really struck me. It wasn't a performance by an athlete and it wasn't something that was created here at home, but it was something that I saw on NBC, and I have subsequently received many copies of it from YouTube, and I do hope that you are going to look at it some time, and that is Tom Brokaw's six minute and 19 second History of Canada. It is remarkable! And, if that doesn't stir your soul, believe me, nothing will!
In it, he says,
When you go to war, you want to make sure the Canadians are on your side. And, when you are in trouble as a nation, like we were on 911 when the planes couldn't land in the States, you would want to have Canadians on your side. And, when you look at the majesty of the land they have and the beauty of it, you understand how great it is to have Canada as your neighbour.
It was one of the most moving things. As someone who has lived in this country 33 of my 51 years, as I told you, my heart soared.
I couldn't help but think after I had listened to what Brokaw had said that every single Canadian needs to understand that what we have, we have received. The wonderful things that have come our way and the privilege of winning gold and taking the podium, we have received: “for what you have that you have not received.“ I can trust that.
There was something I was reading by a friend of mine who ministers in Africa about a pastor who lives and has a congregation in Port Harcourt in Nigeria, a city that has become a cesspool. It has become a place of poverty and violence and filth and degradation. There was all the power of wealth of the oil companies and the power of the government to take the money from the oil companies and spend it, but the inhabitants of that city oftentimes live in squalor.
This minister has a little church in that place, and it was decided that church had to relocate because the road taking the oil to its point of departure needed to be built. So, bulldozed his church. But, the pastor was defiant. Even though the church had been knocked down and they wouldn't pay for the relocation of his flock, he just stood there on the ground where the church had been, and courageously said the following to those who were abusing the people of God:
I do not claim ownership of this land. I am only here to bear witness to the One who created it in the first place. Every drop of oil that has come from this earth through millions of years has come because of the One who made it. And, every worker that has ever worked in any of the oilfields is a child of God for whom the Son of God died. Every success and amount of wealth that comes out of the land originally came from the hand of the One who made it. I do not claim to stand here today to say I own this, but to bear witness to the One who created it.
There is nothing that we have that we have not received, and we need to remember that.
How then do we live? What are the debts of an honest person who knows humbly that they are the recipient rather than always the source of what they have? Well, I think there is a need sometimes to do an audit of our lives, to check in and see, as a people of faith and as individuals and as a nation, that we have been blessed, and to acknowledge the One who has blessed us.
There is a need to dedicate ourselves anew to the service of one another within a nation and a country and a world that is often devastated, as we found out in the last 24 hours in Chile. There is a need to renew our sense of the Apostle Paul's vision for ministry: To become nothing in a sense but for the sake of the other, to recognize in humility that there is nothing that we have that we have not ourselves received.
Now, I wanted to give David a gift this morning for his last two sermons. I thought, “What can I give him to thank him for stepping in?“ And then I knew. I will quote from John Wesley. That will make his day! And to sum up everything I say, listen to this incredible statement by Wesley:
When the Possessor of Heaven and Earth brought you into being and placed you in this world, he placed you here not as an owner, but a steward. As such, he entrusted you for a season with goods of various kinds, but the sole property of these still rests in Him, nor can ever be alienated from Him, as you are not your own, but His. Such is likewise all that you enjoy.
Humility, true humility understands that we have nothing except that which we have received. Amen.