Ours
was an interesting Bible School Class this past Sunday. My co-teacher was
covering 1 Corinthians 15, that great
chapter about the Resurrection of the Christ. A significant observation was
raised rather quickly. In Corinth, everyone in the church seemed to embrace the
Resurrection of Christ Himself, but some were denying the future resurrection
of His people. In Corinth, the heresy of the moment suggested that nobody was
going to heaven, because there was no resurrection of the dead. Today, the
opposite idea seems to be the predominate idea in religious circles. The heresy
du jour is that everybody is going to
heaven. If a loved one lives a life anywhere short of the decadence of Adolph Hitler
or Genghis Khan, his loved ones tend to comfort one another with the assurance
that he or she is in “a better place.”
It
occurred to me that the culture, whatever beliefs may be in vogue from one
generation to the next, will always push back at the claims of the Gospel. The
pressure that comes with this pushback may have as much to do with the bad
teaching and heresy that has arisen in the church through the centuries as any
other factor.
Picture
some well-meaning Corinthian as he ventures into the marketplace, determined to
share his newfound faith. His claims of life after death are met with laughter,
ridicule and derision. One believer after the next encounters a similar reaction.
It begins to appear evident to the Christian community in Corinth that this
response may very well become the norm. It becomes almost irresistible to
consider how the gospel might be retailored so as not to ring so absurdly in
the ears of the philosophical elite who had a stranglehold on the thought and
rhetoric in that ancient city. Some Corinthian Christian had to be the first to
think to himself, “Maybe this future resurrection idea IS a little far-fetched.”
Paul
reminded the Corinthians of the historical evidence for the Resurrection of
Jesus, a truth they were not questioning, at least, not yet. Many of the
hundreds of eyewitnesses were still living. After all, only a couple of decades
had passed. Paul also reminds them that they had believed and taken their stand
on that gospel. They could not modify it. They could only walk away from it. The
apostle would eventually make the argument that if Christ is raised, the power
to raise the rest of them was already established.
You may
be numbered among the well-meaning contemporary Christians who has attempted to
defend your faith in the modern marketplace of ideas. The Gospel suggests that
Christ died for sinners, but effectively, only for those who will call their
sin what it is, turn away from it, and pursue Christ as a disciple. God has
spoken in terms of moral absolutes which define our sins, and some things
remain sinful no matter how tolerated and even embraced they are by this current
age. That position on moral absolutes is met with the same ridicule and
hostility that your first-century counterpart endured when he spoke of a
resurrection to come. But, you are not only a rube for believing the things you
believe. You are also an intolerant, narrow-minded, judgmental and hateful
rube.
Such
harsh rhetoric will take a toll on anyone over time, especially if we fail to
remember that Jesus Himself told us to expect it. It certainly becomes tempting
to back away from some of our stances. Who wants to be called names like that?
Perhaps, we can get away with soft-selling the sin and repentance dimensions of
the Gospel and emphasize the acceptance, love and forgiveness aspects of Jesus.
But, an imbalanced gospel is not the true Gospel. Jesus extended much grace to
many people during His three-year ministry, but He was also never reluctant to
warn them of Hell, to call them to repentance, and to tell them, “knock it off”
when addressing their sinful practices.
Hence,
some heresies are born not so much from some sinister and demonic motive as
from a simple fear of trusting Jesus enough so as to handle His message faithfully
and boldly. This pushback from the world creates a breeding ground for peddlers
of religion to appear on the scene to preach what people with itching ears want
to hear. Once-sound churches abandon orthodoxy and any emphasis on overcoming
sin, apparently, because growth and survival seem more favorable to their
boards and clergy than faithfulness regarding that “faith which was once for all entrusted to the saints.” Again, it
may well be that more deviation from sound doctrine is born of cowardice and
compromise than because some reckless lunatic woke up one morning and decided
to pit himself against God as an enemy of truth.
Where
did it all begin? In the pit of hell? Not so fast. It may have begun simply
with ill preparation. If we do not believe the world will hate us, then, we have
not been closely paying attention … not to the Christ who first warned us, not
to Paul who reiterated the Lord’s teachings on the matter, and not to the
lessons of many martyrs through the ages.
18”If
the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19If you
belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not
belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the
world hates you. 20Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not
greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.
If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.” - John 15:18-20
18For
the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us
who are being saved it is the power of God.”
- 1 Corinthians 1:18
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