Back before #2 pencils were invented, I was a freshman college student at what was then called Western State College. As fate would have it, I got the dreaded Dr. Anderson as my English Literature teacher — insanely tough. Time for a 2000 word essay with the thematic tool: Compare and Contrast. No sources but your own brain. Creative writing. I walked up to his desk. He looked at me, then at my belt, and said my 2000 words had to be about my belt buckle. That was a big Yikes, and a guy who has fashioned himself a writer got his first assignment. I want to use that self-same Compare and Contrast here.
Thematically, we are talking about unity this week. How about a bad example.
Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still 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 humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?
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 has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 1 Corinthians 3:1-7
The Corinthians had lost sight of the singular purpose for which they were created; instead: no common purpose other than determining who is right, who is best. Acts Chapter 1 should set both them and us straight.
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:6-8
His followers were concerned with the Now. Jesus had something else in mind. A singular purpose for them all. They were to be Jesus’ witnesses: to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to all the ends of the earth. Paul made it quite clear.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. Galatians 2:20a
As followers of Christ individually, and corporately as a church, we have that singular purpose. All those we see each day should see Jesus shining through us — everything else is secondary. John the Baptist described the process perfectly.
“He must become greater; I must become less.” John 3:30
Here is our charge:
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27
Christ in you and I. The hope of glory in a world desperate for hope. Our singular defining purpose.
by Bruce Hanson
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