Foundations for the future

6 December 2009

1 Corinthians 3:9

Here in Australia, the number of people who choose to build their own house, at least in percentage terms, is greater than in many other countries. This is because of the sheer size of our country and the availability of land. It has become fashionable to project-manage and oversee such ventures. Television programs in Australia, Europe and North America pick up this theme, often proving that it is far more difficult than is often assumed … invariably involving blood, sweat and tears!

What is clear about such a building is that the single most important part of the house is not the floor covering, the sophisticated lighting, the décor, the air conditioning or heating. The most important part is the foundation.

At the end of another year, we begin to take stock of our journey and I want to use words the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians as a useful reminder …

‘For we are God’s co-workers;
you are God’s field, God’s building.’
(1 Corinthians 3:9)

These three descriptions of what we are about are not only appropriate as we look back at the year that is ending, they also help us to see ourselves as God’s people as we move into the future. In one sense, the past year has presented us with a huge number of challenges … however, as I have said elsewhere, I believe it has given us the opportunity to build resilience and we are certainly the stronger because of it.

In the chapter before our text, Paul has emphasised living on a spiritual level. Unfortunately this message did not naturally appeal and a sectarian spirit and even partisan attitudes would soon emerge in this early church.

The first description in our text is a statement of how we understand ourselves, followed by two metaphors from the world of agriculture and architecture.

Let us look together at:-

The work in which we share ... co-workers

As the popular song goes, ‘We’re all in this together’. I am more convinced than ever that we must discover an on-going sense of team if we are to succeed in the present and the future. Such a statement does not preclude individual gifting, but it does give a fresh perspective upon the way we see ourselves.

By way of background, there was some real tension in the life of the early church at Corinth. Paul and Apollos were leaders and there were those who tended to say, ‘I belong to Paul’ or ‘I belong to Apollos’. The emphasis falls on the personal pronoun in both cases.

There were those who were in danger of believing the leaders themselves were the actual cornerstone and foundation of that early church; but no human leader can sustain the life of any church or any Christian. Some have even suggested that there is an oblique reference to a ‘Peter-party’.

The strong message here is that we are in the business of co-operation. If a spirit of rivalry was allowed to predominate, then the very mission of the Christian community would be destroyed. A number of things become clear:-

How different are the contributions we make

Within our Wesley Theatre this evening, there are many different people who bring a huge number of skills to bear upon our work. As I look around, I see nurses, high level management, carers, trainers, accountants, those in pastoral ministry, and those who work in the realm of information technology. The list is in no way exhaustive and the range is already breathtaking!

On visits to our sites, I really do get excited when I am introduced to someone new who tells me what they do day-by-day. My job is not to see that role as something in which I have to personally excel, but rather know it is another aspect which allows me to see our world through a half-full glass rather than half-empty.

Our willingness to see the contributions of each other, to acknowledge and to join up is so important.

I recall the old wisecrack that ran along these lines: ‘If a group of lions is a pride, and a group of cows is a herd, what word is used to describe a group of dermatologists?’ The answer was ‘A rash of dermatologists.’

Whilst it is not easy to always spell out the relationship between us, it is getting a little easier. What is clear is that we are certainly not a gang of folks thrown together with a generally similar purpose. Our very diversity is an important contribution to our partnership in service.

Whatever part we play in the work of God, whether conspicuous or otherwise, we are all co-workers. There was no clearly-defined hierarchy in this early apostolic age.

How dependent we are upon one another

We depend upon each other … and it can be frustrating if we are waiting for a piece of information to complete our task. When I have been building churches and halls in the past, I know how vital it is to have those charts for the site meetings which tell us exactly when the first and second fixes will occur, when the plasterer will arrive, and so on. I have also learnt that one person’s very small task can hold up the whole program!

National Geographic ran a story about Mbuti men of Central Africa, who used to be designated as Pygmies. The article told of the unique way in which these people make music and reinforce social bonds. They play pipes which they create out of softwood. Each pipe plays just one note. One person plays a pipe that can only play as A flat; another may whittle a pipe that plays a D, and another plays an F sharp.

Because each can only play one note, everyone must work together to create music. If anyone is missing, the music is noticeably different.

Some versions read, ‘We are fellow-workers with God’ and whilst this works with the original Greek text, it is not really appropriate to this setting. Our unity, as with Paul and Apollos, is held together under God’s authority.

How dynamic such partnership can be

For a Christian organisation, the message should be clearly understood … but often has to be re-learnt by us all.

For years people in the UK and France had observed each other on a clear day across the English Channel. The distance at its narrowest is about 30 kilometres. People longed for a day when a tunnel could be built.

The Channel Tunnel connecting England with France was a two-headed beast from the start. Two mammoth firms were heading the project: one charged with finance and operation, and one with the building responsibilities. Each of these companies needed to be two-headed.

No-one was allowed to take charge. Invariably, leadership was reduced to the management of conflict. One executive said, ‘The project … created lots of tension because it was not geared to solving problems but placing blame.’

However, an impossible dream became a vibrant reality. A partnership in air travel between the English and the French, forged in the development of Concorde, was now a reality under the English Channel. A partnership can be really dynamic … often after making that partnership real through a combined sense of purpose.

The way in which we see our mission ... God's field

The first of two helpful metaphors takes us to the world of agriculture. It is not an odd thought … for Jesus has often used such imagery in his parables.

The essential context for our work

Recently I met with my opposite numbers in the social and welfare sector and it was very clear that many of our partners are facing challenges similar to ours. This should not surprise us and we should certainly adopt new ways of responding to need and new strategies to communicate who we are into the future.

A field suggests a place. A piece of land suggests tilling and fencing, which needs to be seen as a place that delivers a fruit or benefit … and it raises all kinds of questions about our own fruitfulness or otherwise.

However, the context of our mission is always far more than a geographical location. It is a set of human circumstances and in Corinth those circumstances bore all the hallmarks of our fragility as a human community.

The material which constitutes our work

Our work is more often than not discerned through the window of human need. Whether it is in the need of the message of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ … or the delivery of caring and compassionate service alongside others … it is ‘God’s field’.

This acknowledgement is not just about service, for it informs our strategic decision-making in asking what we will be moving into next … and where our valuable resources must be employed for the good of all.

The binding that holds everything together

An invisible glue binds all our work together – and that is in the realm of faith, vision and hope. Such glue is critical to all we do. The Christian community in Corinth faced particular issues which led Paul (the author) to call for unity within the fellowship of Christ (1 Cor. 1:10). This glue enabled the writer to censure the kind of factionalism which divides.

The worth of what we are doing ... God's building

The idea that aligns with such words is that of ‘construction’. Later in the same chapter, Paul drives home the point: ‘Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple …’ (v.16). This concept serves as a useful introduction to the whole section about building that follows (1 Corinthians 3:10-20).

The testing situations our work will meet

Corinth is a good place to write about with regard to building. Corinth had been destroyed in 146 BC and partially rebuilt a hundred years later by Julius Caesar. The result of this brought about typical urban challenges:-

A city with splendid buildings enriched with pillars of marble … and adorned with gold and silver.
A city with many poor folks, which serves as a striking comparison.

We have just returned from Cape Town, following our son’s wedding. It is one of the most beautiful cities on earth, but it also has its extreme poverty. But don’t we see that in our work here in Sydney, albeit in a somewhat less stark way? We are constantly tested in various directions.

Looking back over 2009, much of our testing has been in ways we could never have imagined, but I don’t see this as having weakened us … quite the reverse!

When we have been faced with seemingly impossible situations, we have proved God’s power and help comes with the day.

The truthful outcomes our work will advance

Integrity for us has not been just about personal ethics. It has an organisational shape to it and has been at the heart of some of our greatest challenges:-

A declining economy … and yet growing and urgent need … this still has some way to go.
A prevailing culture of success … and yet a deepening sense of poverty.
An increasingly secular look at life … and yet a spiritual hunger which only God can fill.

For us to be God’s building, we need solid foundations (v.11), enduring foundations and a complete foundation. Paul knew his skill as a builder was only possible through the grace of God. An expert builder (cf. Proverbs 8:30) knows God’s plan (Ephesians 3:7-10) is laid in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:6).

The totality of witness such work will deliver

As we move to the future, I do not feel despondent. I believe we must still, as Collins reminds us, move from ‘good to great’. When we give up the search for excellence in service, we lose our way.

Our resources are at times stretched to the very limit, but that does not prevent us from committing ourselves to and achieving a growing witness into the future.

The world in which we find ourselves is continually changing. At the present time, the Oxford Dictionary is being fully revised for the first time since 1928. We must go back much further to Dr Johnson, in order to have a feel for one of the first widely accepted works. When Johnson produced his work (and we have just celebrated the tercentenary of his birth) he was paid 1,500 guineas (about $3,000); he had a few copyists and not much of a computer!

The new dictionary project will have a staff of 120, plus 200 consultants and a budget of sixty-five million dollars. The world of words is certainly changing! That is equally true of the Macquarie Dictionary here in Australia.

We see many examples of how our churches and services have also changed. This will be evident as we understand what success looks like for us. It will be shaped in an integrated way … in our ability to work together as one team in the service of Jesus Christ.

I want to tell you about two hotels in Orlando, Florida and in Memphis, Tennessee, both Peabody Hotels. They are run for the tourist market and twice a day they have a famous parade of ducks. ‘Stars and Stripes Forever’ is played and ducks come from everywhere and gather at a fountain. A red carpet is unrolled … then, without a quack, they march to the music. The ducks are trained by a former circus trainer and I’m told it is a most wonderful sight.

Let me share a secret … when the ducks complete their journey, they go behind a curtain and, just like all ducks, they’ll go anywhere for duck food on the floor. The cheering crowd thinks that the wonderful marching is to do with their cheering; in reality it’s for the food behind the curtain.

Thank God we are not motivated in such ways! … for we are first and last a people, a community, a Mission motivated by serving people in the name of Jesus Christ.

I was introduced to Frederick Buechner as a young minister and he is one of my favourite North American writers … for his sheer originality, particularly in Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy and Fairy Tale. In The Gospel as Comedy, he writes words which are appropriate for all of us:

‘God is the comic shepherd who gets more of a kick out of that one lost sheep once he finds it again than out of the ninety and nine who had the good sense not to get lost in the first place. God is the eccentric host who, when the country-club crowd all turn out to have other things more important to do than come live it up with him, goes out into the skid rows and soup kitchens and charity wards and brings home a freak show.

‘The man with no legs who sells shoelaces at the corner. The old woman in the moth-eaten fur coat who makes her daily rounds of the garbage cans. The old wino with his pint in a brown paper bag. The pusher, the whore, the village idiot who stands at the blinker light waving his hand as the cars go by. They are seated at the damask-laid table in the great hall. The candles are all lit and the champagne glasses filled. At a sign from the host, the musicians in their gallery strike up, Amazing Grace. If you have to explain it, don’t bother.

Christian Life