Mennonite Weekly Review

Perhaps it’s fitting we end in Corinth as we conclude our look at the New Testament through the lens of the kingdom-coming community. Our living-together in God’s kingdom will encounter many trials — even from within. But hardship never has the last word.

Andres

God’s grace is sufficient

In The Message, Eugene Peterson says Corinthian believers gave Paul “more trouble than all his other churches put together.” This time, false teachers are challenging Paul’s authority and integrity —threatening not only the reputation of Paul but the Message as well. Fortunately for us, says Peterson, the Corinthian trouble produces a letter with “some of Paul’s most profound and vigorous writing.”

Indeed, even as he defends himself, Paul artfully points to the Message, returning often to the theme that hard times — from adversity and persecution to personal attacks and limitations — are actually opportunities to prove God and his Message all over again.

In bad times, says Paul, we reach the end of our ropes and are “forced to trust God totally” — and he rescues us over and over (1:9-10, Message). Remember, there’s far more here than meets the eye: “On the outside, it may look like things are falling apart,” but God’s inside “making new life” (4:16). He’s using the “clay pots of our ordinary lives” to reveal his power (4:7). This gives us a taste of what’s to come, so let’s keep trusting him (5:6-7).

Don’t give up, says Paul: “Don’t squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us” (6:1). Enter “this wide-open spacious life” and live large! (6:11-13). Let distress — even from failures within the community — bring you to God and turn you around (7:9). When you do, you’re “more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible” (7:11).

Paul recounts a stunning amount of his own trouble, from beatings and floggings to shipwrecks and bandits to betrayal by friends to his own “thorn … in the flesh” (11:21-30, 12:7, NRSV). But in that, says Paul, God revealed something wonderful: “My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.” That settles it for Paul: “I just let Christ take over!” (12:9-10, Message).

So, get your act together: “Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith… . If you fail the test, do something about it,” Paul exhorts — and remember, we’re rooting for you! (13:5-9).

Flourishing kingdom life

When things get hard, sometimes we feel like throwing in the towel. But that’s when we must return with fervor to the Message and Jesus, trusting that God is who he says and does what he says.

Paul knows the kingdom-coming life works. He stands on, as Dallas Willard puts it in The Divine Conspiracy, “many experiences of the presence and goodness of our Father” and “God-given adequacy to whatever happens.” He also knows that when we lose our focus on and trust in God, it not only lessens our experience of kingdom life but also disrupts our relationships with others — and our witness to the world.

That’s why this kingdom-coming life requires absolute focus, especially in hard times. “It is full-time work that requires full-time devotion,” says Donald Kraybill in The Upside-Down Kingdom. And we need each other to do that. As we focus on and trust God, he helps us overcome hardships and also transforms us and the way we relate with each other. That displays his power to a broken world.

So, let’s examine ourselves in the light of all we’ve learned. Is the kingdom-coming life flourishing in our communities? If not, let’s do something about it. Let’s live large — like letters from God (3:2-3), stars in the darkness (Phil. 2:15) and lights of the world (Matt. 5:14) that draw others to this God of rescue and life. For that is what God not only calls but also enables us to be.