In Acts 18 we find that the Apostle Paul, the greatest missionary the world has ever known (apart from Christ Himself), preached the Gospel to the Jews in Corinth and was by and large rejected.
Paul literally went “next door” (Acts 18:4-8) and planted a church at the synagogue leader’s house, which became a haven for Gentiles to hear the Gospel!
Paul was the Corinthian church’s “father” (1 Cor 4:15) through the Gospel, “Jesus is King!”
Despite having Paul as their Gospel “father,” church planter, discipler, spiritual mentor, and their model par excellence… things still went sideways for the church in Corinth because they grew apathetic, arrogant, and prideful as self-promoting, high-sounding theological prigs bereft of any legit power. They were wholly incapable of radically impacting the wayward course of their surrounding culture.
Christian ministry -can- be absolutely brutal, but only if we take our eyes off the prize of the ridiculous privilege we have in serving King Jesus.
If we waiver just a smidge to the right… we become culture-adopting idolaters with a superficial Jesus sticker slapped on worldly programs, productions, and events.
If we waiver just a smidge to the left… we become religious Pharisees demanding obedience and adherence to a laundry list of rules and regulations with no power, which is equally loathsome to Christ.
The necessity for desperate dependency upon King Jesus through our absolute reliance upon the Holy Spirit to continually redeem our corrupt, carnal, and licentious motives cannot be overstated.
In the first few chapters of the book of Revelation, we find several churches that had great reputations for community outreach, steadfastness, perseverance, spot-on doctrine, etc., yet King Jesus rebuked the majority of them for:
•abandoning their first love
•superficial worship
•allowing false teachings and sexual immorality
•for running on spiritual autopilot- being "lukewarm"
Christ Himself provides a variety of leaders (Ephesians 4:11) not to entertain, make comfortable in sin, or tickle ears (2 Tim 4:3), but to equip the saints for the work of ministry to build up the Body of Christ (Eph 4:12).
Despite having the Apostle Paul as their model, despite receiving direct revelation from God Almighty regarding both their offenses and the resolution… the church in Corinth ultimately imploded.
When God provides leaders to local churches they should be wholeheartedly affirmed and followed with passionate devotion and zealous fire -or- they should be run off for the sake of Christ and the purity/integrity of His Bride.
Landing anywhere in-between is a path that always leads to the decay and death of a church.
The Apostle Paul stated emphatically, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power!”
Endless meetings and jibber-jabber, even of the high-sounding spiritual variety, that doesn't actually translate into gathering, growing, giving, and going for Christ, His mission, and His everlasting glory - are nothing but ballyhoo gussied-up in utter poppycock.
Paul warned the Corinthians he was coming. He gave them a choice. Did they want his arrival to be with a rod or with a gentle spirit? Christ is coming soon. Do we want His return to be with the rod of wrath and rebuke, or in love with a gentle spirit?
How He comes depends on how we respond to the Gospel with our lives as members of His Body and Bride. What will King Jesus find when He returns? Will the LORD find a corrupt and hollow church like Corinth, Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, or Sardis? Or will King Jesus find us eagerly awaiting His return as passionate, thriving members of a Spirt-led church revealing His glory to the ends of the earth through our unity in worship?
Blessings,
-Kevin
