Something More Important Than Being Right
Rev. Edwin Morrow
01/28/24
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Recently a member remembered that I had not been raised as a Lutheran.
I said you are right. “I was raised as a pagan heathen.”
How can we define a pagan heathen?
A pagan does not believe in the one true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
A heathen has no moral code to follow except their own desire for treasure and pleasure
With that in mind, let me take you back 2,000 years and miles from where we sit now.
Many called it “Sin City.” Others called it “Carnal Corinth.” With good reason.
In the days of Paul there was what we might call a redlight district in downtown Corinth
There were at least 33 bars with brothels, one on almost every street corner.
Lots of alcohol. Lots of drunken men. Lots of loose women.
Lots of rooms set aside for sex and orgies, all available for money.
The biggest name for sex in sin city was the Greek goddess, Aphrodite.
The largest temple in town was dedicated to worship her.
As the goddess of erotic love and pleasure, prostitutes at the Temple were making money for Aphrodite by selling their bodies for sex.
No wonder that the city was called Carnal Corinth.
Pagan Corinth also had temples dedicated to ?
Yet, Paul shows up in this spiritually dark city to start a small Christian mission church.
“Paul, what on earth were you thinking?
The answer to such a question is easily answered.
Paul He was thinking about God’s Holy commandments.
He was thinking about lost souls condemned under God’s Holy law.
He was thinking about souls on their way to hell without faith in Jesus.
He was thinking about the Gospel, the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus.
He was thinking about the grace, the mercy, the love, and the forgiveness of God.
He was thinking about God’s divine power to truly set men and women free from the power of sin and death.
If you want to reach lost souls, what better place was there to go to set men and women free bondage to sin and Satan.
Paul spent a year and a half in Corinth establishing the first Christian church there.
His message was a Law and Gospel message.
The Law shows us our sin.
The Gospel shows us our Savior.
Time has passed. Paul has left Corinth. He hears news of what is going on in Corinth.
The news is not good.
He hears that there were at least 4 factions in the church.
Allegiance to these factions has caused sinful, internal fighting among brothers/sisters
The divisions, disputes, and discord at Corinth had gotten so out of hand that members had begun to file lawsuits in pagan courts to have a pagan judge’s referee between church members.
There were those in the church who felt they were “superior Christians” compared to others they considered to have inferior intelligence, gifts, and abilities.
Open sexual immorality was going in the church and being ignored.
The bodily resurrection of Jesus was being denied by some who said Jesus only rose in a spiritual sense.
Some were attacking Paul’s credibility and the Gospel he preached.
And as we read just a few moments ago, they were even divided over what meat could and could not be eaten.
Not something we argue about today, but in addressing this problem Paul teaches churches throughout all generations there is one thing more important than being right.
Much of the meat sold and bought in the Corinth came from one of many temples
A small portion would be sacrificed to whatever false god or goddess of the temple.
Temple workers would take their cut of the meat so to speak.
The rest of the meat would be sold out into the city for profit and then resold again for profit.
Eat meat and not worry about it or refrain from eating thinking it may have been sacrificed to a false god.
Some said we are strong in our Christian freedom to eat meat no matter where came
Others said no, none of us should do that.
So guided by God, Paul weighs in.
In Christian liberty, he says, they were all free to eat the meat.
Some did not believe they had that freedom.
Paul doesn’t try to bully brothers and sisters in Christ to see things his way.
Instead, he tells the free ones to see to it that their new-found sense of liberty doesn’t become a stumbling block to a brother or sister for whom Christ died.
In other words, unless the point of disagreement was about the resurrection of Christ or about salvation through faith in Him alone, or about Holy Baptism, or about the Lord’s Supper.
There is only one thing more important than being right.
And that, of course, is unity over disunity.
Unity over disunity is by far the overarching message of Paul in his two letters.
The effective witness of any church depends upon the unity of believers.
Disunity damages our witness and limits our ability to be salt and light in the world.
Paul urges churches of all ages to not let non-essential issues divide us.
He encourages us to not let factions tear us apart.
As Jesus’ followers, we are one body in Christ.
As the head of our body, Jesus lives among us.
As Jesus rose from the dead, He stands among us today in Word and Sacrament.
Because Jesus lives, we will live again, even after we die.
As long as we have breath, we are called to live together in Christian love.
Yes, we like all congregations are full of imperfect people, sometimes get messy.
When it does, God calls us to repentance and to remember who we are.
We are not pagan heathens, we are the baptized children of God.
We are the body of Christ.
We are His mouth. We are His hands. We are His feet.
We love one another.
We forgive one another.
We carry one another’s burdens.
We encourage one another.
Together we share the hope of the Gospels near and far.
With that in mind, there are two huge ministry decisions that are in the process of being made here at St. James Lutheran Church and School.
At noon today, there will be a Voters’ Assembly meeting with huge implications for the future
One of two men will receive a Divine Call to become our next pastor.
I encourage each member of St. James to attend this meeting.
Be there. Listen. Participate.
Right now, is the right time to be involved in this Divine Call.
In unity, we pray the Lord’s will be done!
Not long from now, this same kind of decision will also soon take place as we move forward in calling the next person to be the principal of St. James Lutheran School.
As we know it now, principals from two other schools are currently being considered.
We pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to guide and bless this call process.
Again, in unity, we pray the Lord’s will be done.
I encourage all of you to rejoice in our ministry, to rejoice in reaching out to pagan heathens as we all used to be without Jesus in our hearts.
As we prepare to celebrate Lutheran Schools Week, I want to share this with you.
After only six months here, I can unequivocally without hesitation or reservation share with you that St James Lutheran School is a magnet for lost souls.
It is a Christ-filled ministry of drawing families and their children to Jesus.
At noon today, a number of school families will be joining me and others as we begin another New Members class.
Along the way, I will remind them of the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine.
That miracle points us to the miracle of our being changed from pagan heathens into the baptized children of God.
Our mission as the united body of Christ is to seek and save pagan heathens as lost souls for Christ.