Removing Corruption from the Body of
Christ
Pastor Mathew Magera – 9/18/16 – Sermon 185
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from God our
Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Being the genuine body of
Christ is difficult in the changing world around us. With so many temptations
to be in the world and of the world it is not easy to be as the Bible instructs
us, to be in the world but not of the world. I think foundation of this
temptation can be found in our very own homes. Think of a pair of siblings
trying to get out of trouble. They are going to one up each other on the bad
things the other sibling did. As long as mom believes that my sibling did worse
than me, I won't have to stay inside and clean my room. The corruption of the body of Christ can begin
on this, a very small level. But, of course, corruption does invade the church.
It's a trap we fall into that can easily lead us astray from the mission God
has set out for us.
Paul is writing to Timothy,
a young new preacher, who is currently living in the city of Ephesus. Ephesus
has quite a history of being a corrupt church. Last week, in the first chapter
of 1 Timothy, Paul was encouraging Timothy to stand up for the true Gospel
message. Now in chapter 2, Paul is focusing in specifically on worship
practices. If there is any place where false gospels might be shared it could
very well be in the church itself. But, in order to keep the church on track,
it is always best to purify the worship experience so that Timothy can ensure
that the message being preached there and the practices that are taking place
are genuine in their form. So, Paul offers Timothy advice here in the chapter
we have heard this morning with instructions for worship or what I would like
to say is advice on removing corruption from the Body of Christ. In this, I've
found that Paul offers four suggestions for Timothy on removing the corruption
from the church in Ephesus and I strongly believe that these suggestions can
help our church and our homes in removing corruption and directing us toward a
path that pleases and glorifies God.
Pray for Everybody
"I urge,
then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be
made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live
peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and
pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a
knowledge of the truth."
Do you know what one of the
easiest ways is to find corruption in a Lutheran church? The prayer chain. Yes,
really, the prayer chain. If you want gossip, where do you look? The prayer
chain. There are people who refuse to be put on a prayer chain because they
don't want to become tomorrow's gossip. There are people who want to know
specific reasons on why a person is on a prayer chain because there is no point
in praying for them without a reason. Paul is saying "no, absolutely
not!" Prayer chains are so you can pray for people not talk about them
behind their back. Prayer chains can be dangerous to the health of a church.
So, Paul is encouraging Timothy to remind the people to simply pray, to offer
petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings. But there's more to it
than that. Not only should they genuinely pray but they should pray for all
people, especially their leaders. The body of Christ should be praying for our leaders,
both locally and nationally. We should be encouraging them and lifting them up.
We have to pray for people in power because power is an intense temptation. Our
leaders have, at their fingertips, a power that is only just imaginary to us and
they have a choice to make. They have the choice to use that power for the
people they are serving and leading but they also have the choice to use that
power for themselves. We need to pray for our leaders.
Then, Paul gives us good
reason to pray for everyone. He says, "This is good, and pleases God our
Savior, who wants all people to be saved..." God wants every single person
to be saved. This is the difference between a lot of conservative and liberal
churches in America. Some believe in universalism, which is the belief that all
people are saved. Some believe in the universal scope of the Gospel, which is
the belief that God wants all people saved. There is a difference. We believe
that God desires all people to be saved and so what do we do? We pray for them.
Pray for all people, Paul says.
Focus on the only Mediator
"For
there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ
Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed
to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an
apostle — I am telling the truth, I am not lying — and a true and faithful
teacher of the Gentiles."
For Paul, corruption in the
church was caused many times by the different religions that were culturally
accepted in the places that he visited. It was not uncommon for the bigger
cities to house many different religious traditions from Christianity to
Judaism, Paganism, idol worship, and worship of the various Greek and Roman
gods. Thus, when Christian preachers arrived and set up Christian churches with
converts from all of these various religions, the new churches became a melting
pot of traditions that people wanted to hold onto. Paul is encouraging Timothy
here to go into Ephesus and remind people that these other religious practices
are hindering the spreading of the true Gospel. The desires of the people to
bring their past beliefs into this new Christian idea was softening the effect
Christ has on that community. He says there is only one mediator, one person
through whom we can connect with God and that one person is Jesus.
For us, we can also fall
victim to seeking salvation outside of Jesus. It may not be that we pray to
other gods in our worship, but as a community when we place other things above
Jesus or place our trust in someone or something other than Jesus, we lose our
connection with God. This often happens around issues of life and death but it
can happen elsewhere too. I'll never forget one of the things my supervisor
taught me when I was interning at a church in Rochester, MN. He told me that
people rely so much on calling 9-1-1 that it might be hurting the person more
to have them transported back and forth to the hospital when something goes
wrong. When someone is at the end of life, he told me that people should be
quicker to call their pastor than dialing 9-1-1. We have put so much trust in
the medical profession to increase the quantity of life that we forget about
the one that takes care of the quality of our life. God might have given us
people with special skills in medicine but God is the only one that can truly
save us and he does so only through Jesus. Focus on the one who can and does
give life, the one who was himself raised back to life from the dead. Only
Jesus mediates between us and God.
Embody Pure Worship
"Therefore
I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or
disputing. I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety,
adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or
expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to
worship God."
Paul has already talked
about how to pray and who to pray for. He has also talked about placing our
focus on the one true mediator, that is Jesus, and nothing or anybody else. So,
Paul is simply explaining to Timothy and the Ephesians exactly how to do that.
Men should pray, lifting
their hands together without anger or disputing. This is Paul's instruction for
us men here. Paul says that men should be able to gather together without
getting angry or quarreling with one another. What Paul means here, in a sense,
is that Michigan and State fans should be able to worship in the same place
without arguing or getting angry at one another. Men should be able to worship
together without their testosterone getting the best of them, which it has a
tendency to do at times and we all know it. Men, this is how you worship with
your eyes on Christ without arguing or thinking about sports, sex or work.
Embody pure worship and you will hear and know the true Gospel.
Paul says women should dress
modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves with good deeds. Here
is where we start to notice some cultural differences between now and then. In
Paul's day women had a very subordinate role. The reason I have come to think
that Paul offers this advice for women is because of this: men are weak. I
believe Paul thinks men can't control which brain they use to think with.
They're trying to worship but this beautiful woman walks in, dressed
elaborately, it's difficult not to look at her. So, what happens? The man loses
focus on God. So, I believe Paul is only making this statement about women
because it distracts the men from purely worshiping God. I think Paul's got one
thing right here, but in our culture, it would not be as acceptable to blame
the woman as the distraction, though many still do try.
So, Paul stresses here that
we should be so very pure in our worship so as not to let us get distracted
from the reason that we are here. What he says and what he is going to say in
these next closing verses is extremely sensitive to the cultural norms of those
whom he is speaking to. We should not think of this, therefore, as a dress
code, but a call to do everything we can to control ourselves so that when we
are here in worship that our minds are not somewhere else. Don't think about the
stress of the football game later this afternoon. Don't think about trying to
get your homework done before school tomorrow. We are here to worship and Paul
wants us to do it as purely as we can.
Cut Off The Source of
Corruption
"A woman
should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach
or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed
first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was
deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing — if
they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety."
This point, again, is
another cultural reference and to understand it, you need to understand the
culture of the day. If we remember that women are to be subordinate and not in
teaching positions, this might make more sense than it does right now. The
church in Ephesus, coming from multiple religious backgrounds, is corrupt by
these false gospels. One of the reasons for this corruption in this culture is
the women. Because they were not highly favored, they didn't receive the
majority of the education, they were not included in some things and as a
result were one source of these false gospels that were being spread. What I
think Paul is trying to do in these verses is to cut off the source of where he
believes the corruption in the church is coming from. He believes it might be
coming from the women and he instructs them not to teach, to learn in quietness
and to just be quiet. Again, I say, this is cultural. Now, Paul gives a reason
for his instruction but, at least for our culture today, I don't think it is a
very good leg to stand on. What it sounds like to us is Paul is saying that
women should be quiet and not teach and in all other matters related to worship
be quiet. Why? Well, because Adam was formed first and Eve was second. So?
Well, Adam was not the one who was deceived by the serpent, it was the woman
who was deceived and became a sinner. The man was only distracted by the woman.
Oh really, Paul? Really? Can you just see him teaching these things in a church
today, just continuing to dig his own grave? He offers some slightly helpful
advice when he says that women should be saved through childbearing. What that
sounds like to us is that Paul would rather have a woman be in the kitchen all
day barefoot and pregnant.
Okay, so this is not the
best message for the church in the 21st century to hear, but this is exactly
what the church in Paul's day did need to hear. Would it work now? No. But,
does the goal Paul is trying to reach still apply? Absolutely it does. To
remove the corruption from the church in Ephesus, Paul and Timothy needed to
cut off the source of corruption. When a church in the 21st century is corrupt
by sin or by financial embezzling, or by inappropriate relationships, or by
idol or money worship, the key Paul is saying that will help to remove the
corruption is to cut it off at the source itself. Action should be taken
immediately. Don't delay because that corruption may only get worse and more
people could be led astray. For Paul, that meant giving this very extreme
instruction that does not get accepted well in most churches today.
* * *
Of course, none of this is
possible without the saving work of Jesus in our lives. Without Jesus, we can't
instinctively pray for everyone, our leaders or our enemies. Without Jesus we
have no true focus. Without Jesus we can't embody pure worship. Without Jesus
we can't cut off the source of our corruption. All of this because Jesus is the
only one who can truly remove corruption from our homes and our churches, from
our nation and from the world. Only Jesus can remove that sin and he desired so
much to do that they he came down and did it. We realize each and every day how
incapable we are, how corrupt we are, that not even minutes after leaving this
place today we might be drawn back again to that same corruptive force that is
working to destroy the church. In all of this we realize that no matter what we
do we cannot, on our own, remove corruption from the church. In all we do we
must rely on Jesus to forgive us our sins and to lead us in the right
direction. Only He can completely remove corruption from our churches, from our
homes, from our workplaces and schools. Paul gives us some very cultural
specific means of seeking the true Gospel in the church in Ephesus but while
the methods he chose may not translate into our community, the goals do. We
must work together with Jesus as our guide, to keep His church holy and pure, not
just this building, but anywhere his church resides. In homes, workplaces and
schools. We must work together to keep the body of Christ a safe haven for
those who need safety, to keep it a center for healing for the broken, to keep
it a shelter and refuge for those who are afraid, and to keep it pointed on the
one who provides all of that and everything we need to face each day. Lord,
remove the sin from our lives, forgive us and purify your people today and every
day. To God be the glory, now and always. Amen.[1]
[1] Extra interpretation of this
text can be found here:
https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/1Tim/Men-Women-Worship.