3.1 to 3.6 -- "The Dude Sucker Punched Me Right in the Feels!" -- The Difficult, Sacrificial, Painstaking, Faith-filled, Confusing, Excruciating, and Absolutely Necessary & Wonderful Joy of Relational Ministry

Maybe I’m trapped in seeing everything through the lens of the super ultra packet.  

As I read 3.1 to 3.6 I constantly saw myself out on the water (and sometimes in the water, sputtering - a desperate fool at the end of his pitiful rope) as I read how Paul wrestles with how we, the body of Christ,  navigate the turbulent waters of  loving and serving the lost kids of Adam.

Some of my favorite (am I out on the water or eaves dropping on the Corinthian church?) passages are as follows:

“The overall essay focuses on the question of how Christians are to live out their lives in a pagan world. Are they to accommodate to that world, and if so-to what extent? Are they to blend in or stand apart?”

“Knowledge, love and God. Love is more important than knowledge. Love builds, while knowledge creates pride.” – By the way, this discussion brought to mind this clause from our writing on Modesty…. “The temptation occurs when the disciple desires for people to lust over the disciple’s ideas about God instead of falling in love with God.”  This point is re-affirmed in Bailey’s discussion of Cameo 2 where he writes, “The key to knowledge of God is: Does the seeker after knowledge about God, love God?

On the topic of evangelism and relational ministry – I absolutely love this quote: “The longing to be known is a deep inner yearning within every soul.”  -- I love how we very simply capture this anthropological, metaphysical fact/statement in the super ultra with the phrase – “Everybody needs genuine friendships!”  AMEN!!!

I could write for days on the near endless threads of perplexion, introspection, inspiration, and emancipation that I experienced reading 3.1 to 3.6.  I would ratio it as 60% ultra packet and 40% trainee float and 100% INSANELY AWESOME!!  (Side note: I’m a total sucker for prodigal son/good Samaritan ties so as soon as his exegesis mentioned these parables I went instant sky high emo/praise!)  -- The dude sucker punched me right in the feels!!

 One last (of many) inspiring quotes: "God's love is always there searching for the faithful. The act of accepting that love opens the flow of love from God to the believer."

 I love how Paul honestly and candidly reveals that God's "love flow" through us often involves difficult, sacrificial, painstaking, faith-filled, confusing, and excruciating moments of wrestling Faith/Trust in us and through us!

 Steve Mann

Comments

  1. Maddie DoironNovember 30, 2018 at 3:21 PM

    I love the thoughts and quotes on God's love! I think I needed to read your blog post today Steve, thanks for the encouragement!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Be Loved, And It Will Change the Cosmos

At the cross the world discovered that you cannot beat brokenness. I do not wish to wait for hindsight to treasure and cherish the power and wisdom of God in broken scenes such as the nativity and the cross (often times in hindsight we are more apt to receive blessing. If only we were to receive it now!) Paul combats the prideful boasting of the Corinthian church. They have no seeming sense of humility, as observed about and written by Dio Chrysostom: “shouting and reviling one another...fighting with one another, many writers reading aloud their stupid works, many poets reciting their poems...jugglers showing their tricks...peddlers not a few peddling whatever they happen to have”. I can’t help but completely and utterly relate to the Corinthians. I have very recently realized how much I seek to boast in how I manipulate the way people view me, and I reflected back on what Bailey said about how the Corinthians were guilty of considerable boasting. In my initial nots on that co...
Read more

Talk about a character check!

the things that I got from this reading where a bit similar to the ones from Reid. there where a few things that made me feel a bit of conviction as well;                   -"some women were preaching and other women weren't listening to them."(pg.16) its hard to admit that I can be a part of the other women when I am seeking help and advice from my mentors and if I dont like the advice they give me (which is definitely good for me) I won't listen because of my stubbornness for a better easy way...           -"for we write you nothing but what you can read and understand"pg. 29 do we say we can't  understand the bible as an excuse? do we say it because we are not willing to take the time to process it? do we say it because we are tying to hide from it?  I know I can tend to use these excuses to get out of uncomfortable situations or things I don't want to deal with just yet, while God is definitely ca...
Read more

The Solution = CHRIST

Dang...so much to attempt to digest from the intro! Excited to continue to read as Bailey unpacks the rhetoric/homilies/cameos/etc that so easily go right over my head!  It's encouraging to me that Paul's intended audience for this letter is not relegated to the believers in Corinth during the days of the early Church. As we talked about during All Staff, so many of the issues he addresses are SOOOO relevant in the church today. There's no way we can use the excuse "it's a cultural thing" to discount what we are told by God through Paul. From the moment that Paul began writing, WE - believers in the 21st century - were part of his intended audience! On page 28, after outlining the letter - Bailey says this: "In short, Paul does not say: Here is the problem! Here is what you must do! Instead he writes: You have received the tradition from me. Here is the problem. Consider the following theological foundation on which a solution can be built. Look at ...
Read more