Now that Thanksgiving is over with, I’ve turned my attention – as many of you have probably done – toward Advent and Christmas. There is the decorating of the tree, the planning of parties and gatherings, and the writing of Christmas cards.
Some of the people I send Christmas cards to are folks I don’t hear from very often, and they don’t hear from me, so I like to carefully construct a note.
In writing a Christmas card, as with any letter, there is a certain formality. There is a salutation –
“Dear Fred.”
There is the signature – “Maynard and Ginny”
And in the middle, there are certain things that must be said, “I’m alive. I’m well. I’m doing this and that. I hope you are also alive, and that you are also well.”
Our New Testament reading is from a letter that St. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. And as with our culture, in Paul’s culture, there was a certain formality that was observed. There was the salutation, the signature, the body of the letter, the date. Pretty much as it is today.
In Paul’s day, however, there was a lot more formality to it. There was a diplomacy that had to be observed.
Often times, there was be a little bit of fluff, before getting to the heart of the matter -- especially in informal letters between friends and family.
For example, a person today might write a letter that started with fluff like this: "Dear Joe, I was thinking about you on Thanksgiving Day when I was watching the games on television. I remember when I bought tickets to last year’s Orange Bowl and we went together, your family and my family together. I hope your wife is doing well. I heard her father died. Tell her we are thinking of you."
And then after a sufficient amount of diplomatic fluff, we get down to the business... "However, since your team lost, you owe me a hundred dollars."
Paul follows the pattern of writing letters that was followed in his day. But what he does with the fluff is that he turns it into an opportunity for prayer.
In Corinth, Paul had a lot to deal with. This was a church that had all sorts of problems.
There was a man who was having a sexual relationship with his father’s wife.
There were church fights that were becoming court room battles.
There were issues about sexual ethics, marriage, worship of idols, and there were serious disruptions in the worship services.
But before getting down to business, he starts in a diplomatic fashion. He begins by saying, "Let us pray."
“I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way-- in all your speaking and in all your knowledge—“
Wait a minute, is this the same church we’re talking about? Sexual immorality, disruptive worship, courtroom battles?
“…because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift …”
Wait a minute, is this the same church we’re talking about? Sexual immorality, disruptive worship, courtroom battles?
“Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end…”
Is this the same church we’re talking about? Sexual immorality, disruptive worship, courtroom battles?
“…so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Wait a minute, is this the same church we’re talking about? Sexual immorality, disruptive worship, courtroom battles?
“…God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.”
Well, God may be faithful, but the Corinthian Church sure isn’t.
And what is it with Paul?
Why does he say all of these things before he gets to the point?
But wait, this isn’t fluff.
This is a prayer list.
The very problems that are going to be addressed, One by one, what Paul will deal with in this letter is reflected in this prayer.
Here is a church that is broken, hurting, feeling pain and giving pain, confused about morality and ethics.
Yet, St. Paul starts his letter with, "I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus."
Is Paul thankful that they have all these problems?
No.
But he is thankful that in all these problems, the grace of Jesus Christ is faithful to them, even when they are unfaithful to God.
The grace of Jesus Christ shines through the brokenness of the church.
The faithfulness of God shines throughout the Word of God.
In the New Testament letter to the Hebrews, the writer says (Heb 13:5), "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ’Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’"
St. Paul wrote in his New Testament letter to Timothy (2 Tim 2:13), "if we are faithless, he will remain faithful."
In Deuteronomy, Moses told the people (Deut 31:6), "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."
And the psalmist wrote (Ps 100:5), "For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."
Faithfulness like that is almost an alien concept, because we do not remain faithful to one another or to God.
One of the most tragic events during the Reagan Presidency was the Sunday morning terrorist bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, in which hundreds of Americans were killed or wounded as they slept. Many of us can still recall the terrible scenes as the dazed survivors worked to dig out their trapped brothers from beneath the rubble.
A few days after the tragedy, I recall coming across an extraordinary story. Marine Corps Commandant Paul Kelly, visited some of the wounded survivors then in a Frankfurt, Germany, hospital. Among them was Corporal Jeffrey Lee Nashton, severely wounded in the incident. Nashton had so many tubes running in and out of his body that a witness said he looked more like a machine than a man; yet he survived.
As Kelly neared him, Nashton, struggling to move and racked with pain, motioned for a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote a brief note and passed it back to the Commandant. On the slip of paper were but two words "Semper Fi" the Latin motto of the Marines meaning "forever faithful."
With those two simple words Nashton spoke for the millions of Americans who have sacrificed body and limb and their lives for their countryóthose who have remained faithful. (Children at Risk, J. Dobson & Gary Bauer, Word, 1990, pp. 187-188.)
That is the faithfulness Christ has for us. That even though his own body was broken on the cross, and even as today the body of Christ, the church, is broken into many denominations and divisions, he remains "forever faithful" to us.
Now, it occurs to me that if God is that faithful to us, should we not try to become faithful to him?
If we are called to be Christlike in our conduct, should we not try to be like Christ in his faithfulness to us?
That is a difficult goal.
Being faithful is not in our nature.
In the Old Testament the writer of the book of Proverbs observed (Prov 20:6), "Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find?"
It is difficult, but it is possible.
St. Paul, writing to Timothy in the New Testament, said, (2 Tim 4:7), "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
Indeed, in his letter to the Corinthian Church, St. Paul says (1 Cor 4:2), "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."
Clarence Jordan was a man of unusual abilities and commitment. He had two Ph.D.s, one in agriculture and one in Greek and Hebrew. So gifted was he, he could have chosen to do anything he wanted. He chose to serve the poor.
In the 1940s, he founded a farm in Americus, Georgia, and called it Koinonia Farm. It was a community for poor whites and poor blacks. As you might guess, such an idea did not go over well in the Deep South of the ’40s. Ironically, much of the resistance came from good church people who followed the laws of segregation as much as the other folk in town. The town people tried everything to stop Clarence. They tried boycotting him, and slashing workers’ tires when they came to town. Over and over, for fourteen years, they tried to stop him.
Finally, in 1954, the Ku Klux Klan had enough of Clarence Jordan, so they decided to get rid of him once and for all. They came one night with guns and torches and set fire to every building on Koinonia Farm but Clarence’s home, which they riddled with bullets. And they chased off all the families except one black family which refused to leave.
Clarence recognized the voices of many of the Klansmen, and, as you might guess, some of them were church people. Another was the local newspaper’s reporter. The next day, the reporter came out to see what remained of the farm. The rubble still smoldered and the land was scorched, but he found Clarence in the field, hoeing and planting.
"I heard the awful news," he called to Clarence, "and I came out to do a story on the tragedy of your farm closing." Clarence just kept on hoeing and planting. The reporter kept prodding, kept poking, trying to get a rise from this quietly determined man who seemed to be planting instead of packing his bags.
So, finally, the reporter said in a haughty voice, "Well, Dr. Jordan, you got two of them Ph.D.s and you’ve put fourteen years into this farm, and there’s nothing left of it at all. Just how successful do you think you’ve been?"
Clarence stopped hoeing, turned toward the reporter with his penetrating blue eyes, and said quietly but firmly, "About as successful as the cross. Sir, I don’t think you understand us. What we are about is not success but faithfulness. We’re staying. Good day."
Beginning that day, Clarence and his companions rebuilt Koinonia and the farm is going strong today. (Holy Sweat, Tim Hansel, 1987, Word Books Publisher, pp.188-189)
You see, there is a difference between being successful and being faithful.
Look at the Corinthian Church. They were not successful. They were a complete failure at trying to be the church -- or so it would seem. They had conflict, disruption in the worship services, civil lawsuits going on.
But St. Paul still said, "I give thanks for the Corinthian Church."
Not because they were successful.
But because Christ was faithful to them. And they were remaining faithful to Christ. They were not giving up, in spite of the moral and ethical failures they were struggling with.
Mark Hatfield tells of touring Calcutta with Mother Teresa and visiting the so-called "House of Dying," where sick children are cared for in their last days, and the dispensary, where the poor line up by the hundreds to receive medical attention. Watching Mother Teresa minister to these people, feeding and nursing those left by others to die, Hatfield was overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the suffering she and her co-workers face daily. "How can you bear the load without being crushed by it?" he asked. Mother Teresa replied, "My dear Senator, I am not called to be successful, I am called to be faithful." (Beyond Hunger, Beals)
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells a parable in which the word "faithful" is repeated over and over.
In Matthew 25, Jesus talks about a man who went on a journey, but before he left he called his servants together and entrusted his property to them.
"To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.
"The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.
"The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ’Master,’ he said, ’you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’
"His master replied, ’Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
"The man with the two talents also came. ’Master,’ he said, ’you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’
"His master replied, ’Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’"
We learn to be faithful but being faithful in a few things.
We don’t have to become overwhelming successful according to the standards of the world.
We just have to learn to be faithful in the few things in which God has entrusted into our care.
Fred Craddock is one of the most important preachers of our day, and has taught preaching in a seminary in Atlanta for many years. In an address to ministers, he talked about this principle of being faithful in small things.
Many of us would have fantasies of being able to devote our lives fully to Christ.
Craddock says, "Oh, to pour myself out for others - to pay the ultimate price of martyrdom “I’ll do it. I’m ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze of glory."
Craddock observes, "We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking $l,000 bill and laying it on the table, ‘Here’s my life, Lord. I’m giving it all.’ But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $l,000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. Listen to the neighbor kid’s troubles instead of saying, ‘Get lost.’ Go to a committee meeting. Give a cup of water to a shaky old man in a nursing home."
Usually giving our life to Christ isn’t glorious. It’s done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory; it’s harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul.
It’s the problem of confusing success with faithfulness.
Many years ago, an elderly preacher was rebuked by one of his elders one Sunday morning before the service. "Pastor," said the man, "something must be wrong with your preaching and your work. There’s been only one person added to the church in a whole year, and he’s just a boy."
The minister listened, and with tears in his eyes, he agreed that the church had not grown as he would have liked for it to have grown.
With a heavy heart, the minister finished the worship service that morning and remained alone in the sanctuary, thinking that perhaps it was time for him to resign from his ministry.
It so happened that after everyone left, the one young boy who had joined the church, the only one who had joined for the past year, came into the sanctuary and approached the elderly minister, and asked him, "Do you think if I worked hard for an education, I could become a preacher or perhaps a missionary?"
Putting aside his thoughts of resignation, the minister and the boy talked at length, and the minister agreed to become the boy’s personal tutor. After several years of dedicated study, the boy became a missionary to Africa.
Many years later an aged missionary returned to London from Africa. His name was spoken with reverence. Nobles invited him to their homes. He had added many souls to the church of Jesus Christ, reaching even some of Africa’s most secluded peoples. His name was Robert Moffat, the same young boy who years before had spoken to the pastor that Sunday morning in the old Scottish church.
A man was faithful, and ignoring the standards of the world’s success stories, trained a young man to become a missionary.
Are we being faithful?
How many of you have brought in 100 new souls to our church? No one is asking you to. But have you been faithful in inviting a single soul?
How many of you have given half your salary to the church? No one is asking you to. But have you given a tenth, or a tithe, as God instructed?
How many of you have fed a nation? No one is asking you to, but have you given to the "two cents a meal" program or given a few dollars to feed the poor?
God is faithful to us.
We, therefore, ought to become faithful to God.
As St. Paul says (1 Cor 4:2), "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."
Copyright 2005. All rights reserved by the author.
