1 Corinthians 9- Navigating our Society

Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm147:1-12, 21; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39

Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is a fascinating peek into how Christians in the early Church were trying to live out the way of Christ. I want to explore this a bit more generally this morning.

In the first century, there was an advantage to becoming a follower of Jesus as a Jewish person living In Israel. A person who grew up in a Jewish society at that time meant that they spent their whole life being shaped by the Scriptures and the rhythms of their religion. The rhythm of society would have largely encouraged you to keep your mind on God. You would have seen people around you praying and fasting regularly, and you would probably feel a societal pressure to do so. Little boxes containing pieces of Scripture called Mezuzahs would have been fixed to the doorframes of houses as a reminder of their covenant with God, and the commandments they had been given to direct their lives. On the Sabbath everything would have slowed into a time of rest, and families would go to the synagogue. Three times a year just about everyone would have gathered in Jerusalem for the major feasts, and to worship at the Temple. Society would have reinforced a sense of identity as people of the covenant, and they would have been surrounded by reminders of their responsibilities before God.

To come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah in this environment would have been revolutionary, but it would have been experienced as a completing- as a drawing all things together. In this society, the teachings of Jesus focused on motivations and the inner life- People are generally doing the right thing, but are they doing it for the right reason? Charitable giving was already valued, but Jesus says don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing; don’t do it to show off. Fasting and prayer were already practiced and valued, but Jesus corrected these practices by teaching the people to do them secretly, rather than to show off how spiritual you are. They knew that adultery was wrong, but Jesus taught them to look deeper and deal with the lust in their hearts before it had a chance to grow. … Jesus taught that love should be the inner motivating reality- Love should be expressed even towards enemies, and Jesus challenged his society’s prejudicial attitudes towards Samaritans and Gentiles. …

In Jesus, the people took the next step into relationship with God- the God who has come to visit them as Jesus- Jesus who completed sacrifice and replaced the temple as the meeting place with God. … The shaping of their life, the rhythm of prayer, the stories they heard in Scripture, would have all flowed into this new understanding of the Messiah and the New Covenant that Jesus established.

It was a very different thing to have grown up in a Greco-Roman Pagan environment. The stories of the gods, might have been interesting, but the gods certainly didn’t give moral examples to be admired or imitated. Paganism wasn’t about teaching people to be being moral. The gods had to be appeased and kept from being offended, but favours could be asked for as well. The religious atmosphere was diverse. There were many different gods and many different temples. There were sacrifices, and temple prostitution. Men were permitted to express their sexual desires as they wished, more or less. There were offerings made in worship of the Roman Emperor, and that was considered a civic duty. Business meetings and family celebrations would often happen in halls attached to temples where offerings would be made, and a feast would take place, where the god would be considered one of the guests of the banquet. They believed that for groups of people to refuse to worship the gods could put the whole city in danger, if one of the gods took offence at this. Slavery was widespread. Between 10-20% of the Empire were slaves, but I’ve read that in some cities may have been half slaves. It was a culture marked by power and strength. There was no place for humility or forgiveness. Human beings did not have an inherent dignity by virtue of being human. There was a hierarchy of worth, and near the bottom of that hierarchy human beings were mere property.

To become a Christian in that environment was a very different situation from growing up in a Jewish society. New Gentile Christians would have all kinds of cultural habits to break, and would have all kinds of questions about how to navigate their society. Recently, our readings from First Corinthians have addressed meat dedicated to idols. That was pretty much the only meat available in the markets, unless you were wealthy enough to raise your own animals. Could they eat meat from the market, knowing that the meat came from a sacrifice at a Pagan temple? … Could they go to a business meeting at the hall of the temple, knowing that sacrifices were made to the god of that temple, and the feast itself was thought to be a meal with that pagan god? … There were very real consequences to how these questions were answered. It could mean that you ate as a vegetarian (Like Daniel and his friends while in exile in Babylon). But, what do you do if you are invited to someone’s home? Is it important enough to risk offending your host? This could dramatically change a person’s social life, and their ability to network and do business. …

We have experienced a shift in our society, and I think it can help us relate to both of these societies, to some degree. … When I was a kid, I remember Canadian Tire putting out a sign saying that they would be open on Sundays. I remember people talking about that. There was a time when we (in Red Deer) had a pattern of life that leaned us a bit more towards Christianity. I remember praying the Lord’s Prayer in school until grade 3. Stores were mostly closed on Sundays. Sports clubs didn’t meet on Sunday mornings. This meant people were free to go to church and spend time with their families because almost no one was working. There were guidelines for television and radio that expressed a generally shared sense of morality and modesty. There was mostly a shared attitude towards the Bible, and to call someone a ‘good person’ was synonymous with calling someone a ‘Christian’. … This is sometimes called “Christendom”. It had its problems, so I’m not being nostalgic. But, it did give a baseline assumption that Christianity was true and good. When people woke up on Sunday morning, going to church was something that was generally in people’s minds (even if they didn’t go).

Now, most stores are open on Sundays, and they have extended their hours into the evenings. There is a lot happening that can get in the way of attending church on Sunday Morning. The guidelines for what we can see on television doesn’t seem to care much at all for a Christian sense of modesty or morality. To call someone a “Christian” no longer automatically means calling someone a “good person”. To some, it might even be considered an insult. …

I’m not saying Christians are oppressed. We should talk to our brothers and sisters in the Middle East, China, and parts of Africa before we comment about being oppressed. … But we are aware that Christianity is no longer assumed. Christian principles still haunt our culture under the surface, but our culture doesn’t necessarily lean us towards Christian formation. The TV networks aren’t going to help you decide what is appropriate to watch. Our society’s patterns aren’t going to lean you towards church attendance, regular prayer, charitable giving, or an awareness of the stories in the Bible. It’s up to us to navigate these waters.

Growing up as a Jewish person in Israel, in Paul’s day, meant that the society would have done a lot of the heavy lifting regarding your spiritual life. The patterns would have been imposed on you. … But as a new Gentile Christian living in a Greco-Roman world, you would have been living with constant friction with your society as you tried to discern and choose how you would live as a faithful Jesus follower.

Paul was traversing these different environments as he tried to guide these communities. It would have been easy for there to be two different churches- a Jewish Christian Church, and a Gentile Christian Church. But Paul believed that Christ came to draw people into a new humanity, where those kinds of divisions are overcome in the Kingdom of God. Paul is trying to help these Christians navigate these tricky waters.

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians seems to have been in response to some challenges that were being thrown at him and his teachings. Some in the Corinthian church believed that their freedom in Christ meant that they were free in a way that allowed them to do things like go to feasts at pagan temples for family gatherings and business meetings. Paul seems to have forbidden this, and in 10:21-22 probably restates his position on this matter, 

“I imply that what pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”

 … But even if they were right that they could participate in such feasts because the Pagan gods have no power, Paul encourages them to act out of love for a fellow Christian who might be scandalized by this or even tempted back into Paganism by being drawn into these temple feasts.

Christian freedom is not about what we can ‘get away with’ before getting in trouble. The freedom of a fish is to swim. To “free” it from the water is not freedom for the fish. The freedom we are called to (in Christ) is the freedom to be who we were created to be. Just as the fish has a nature, so we have a nature. We are made in the image of God and just as water is the place for a fish to be free, so being immersed in God is freedom for us. There is an ordering to reality, and freedom is to find our proper place in that larger order.

People might think using drugs is an expression of our freedom, but that could very easily lead to not having the freedom to have a life without drugs. … It’s not just drugs, all sin works this way. Drug abuse is just a kind of gluttony. Pride, greed, anger, jealousy, envy, lust, and sloth, are just as likely to trap us and steal away our freedom to not be ruled by them. To choose them means losing the freedom to be joyfully following the ways of God.

Paul says that he is free in Christ in important ways that allow him to go into Gentile homes and eat with them, and he is also free to go to the synagogue and eat with them. His freedom is for the purpose of sharing the life of Christ with them, not to serve his own personal desires. His freedom allows him to be who God has made him to be.

In Red Deer, we are dealing with a changing society. More and more we will be called to make decisions regarding how our soul is being shaped by different parts of our society, and how our behaviour influences the souls of those around us, especially our fellow Christians. Like Paul, we are being called to navigate very tricky waters. … May the Holy Spirit grant us discernment to know how to use our freedom in service of God, rather than merely for ourselves. AMEN