“High-minded” Guides vs. the Lowly Mother
Oftentimes, the serving ones are challenged. They are put through a qualification check: “How many have you baptized? Do you follow this? Do you follow that?” People want to check who you are and what your credentials are. However, the true issue is not the things that people use to measure you; rather, it is a mindset that stems from “good opinions,” including a high, moral mind. That mindset is the root of division. These questions, opinions, and expressions are in contrast to the serving one with a mother’s heart. As we see in 1 Corinthians, Paul’s vindication of his serving toward the Corinthians is that of a mother: “I don’t remember how many of you I baptized. What I remember is the relationship with you, which was never initiated in that kind of mindset. I came here for Christ—I was not sent to you to baptize but to announce the gospel.” This is a relationship for raising children, not meeting quotas.
“Not in Wisdom of Speech”
We can see evidence of this in Paul. We know that Paul was trained under the great teachers of the strictest sect of the Pharisees. However, he does not take this position with the saints in Corinth; on the contrary, he specifically says, “When I came to you, brothers, I came not according to excellence of speech or of wisdom, announcing to you the mystery of God” (1 Cor. 2:1). Paul is very clear what kind of relationship he is building with his children. He continues:
2:3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling;
2:4 And my speech and my proclamation were not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
2:5 In order that your faith would not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
He is a mother who does not compete with those bringing in other speakings. He reminds the saints that he began with them “not in persuasive words of wisdom.” He purposely chose to forgo his natural skills, so that the cross of Christ may not be made void. The cross of Christ is the beginning of a believer’s faith; Paul will not allow that ground to be shifted.
Likewise, if anyone wants to do outreach, you need to understand what gospel you are preaching. Be careful—if any one serves, no matter what area you are touching, you need to know what you are serving and what is your source. There are a lot of brothers and sisters that are able to talk with the right terms—we can talk about a wonderful church life, the organic church life or the conduct in love toward one another. Others know how to “cope” or how to “survive” in the church life by analyzing statements on their failures. However, all these are considered wisdom of speech; it is just a different source. We may know how to speak, but the problem is: we are not speaking in the same mind, the mind of Christ. We have a lot of wisdom about ourselves to make ourselves look beautiful. We want people to know that we knew this, we saw this, I perceived this, why don’t you listen to me? We care about the way people look at us, just like those speaking to the saints in Corinth, “I am from Paul, I am from Apollos, I am of Cephas.” In contrast, Paul took none of those approaches to interact with the saints—he had altogether a different intention, purpose, and focus. Paul was able to talk very differently from those people who came to claim their right among the saints, because he was a mother. He chose and kept a lowly position, a “nobody position” who insists on no other ground than the cross of Christ. He served according to no other foundation than that.
The Word of the Cross is the Power of God
Paul was really in a hard position because he was not a “super apostle” among the saints (2 Cor. 11:5). Paul was nobody; Paul was just a mother. His tone to the Corinthians is literally begging. As the mother, he knows what holds this family together; the core of this great house is the word of the cross. Maybe for some people, the words of the cross are foolish. But to us, to our children in the spirit, to God’s children, to those people who are sanctified, to the called, this is the power of God. We are able to do things with no problem. However, if there is no cross involved, it is not the power of God. There is nothing to take pride in if you can’t display the power of God; the standard is too high to display something else. If you don’t understand this, whatever you do or serve is division.Just like Paul, we need to know what we are serving. From the first chapter of 1 Corinthians on, Paul helps us to know what is the flesh, what is behind division, even the division that was covered by very high opinions. Where is your power to serve? The cross is the power of God. Does that sound harsh? Yet this is Paul’s love to the saints in Corinth, to speak the honest words to uphold this sphere of sanctification. That’s the tenacious love of a mother’s heart, which is also Paul’s heart. That’s the spirit brewing today. Without it, the church could become anything with no standard and even with a different nature.
Take Heed How You Build
Paul wants to build upon this. All are yours—“the world or life or death or things present or things to come,” but don’t forget, you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s (1 Cor. 3:22). Paul was not ashamed to say that he is the master builder (1 Cor. 3:10). He is not humble here at all. He basically says that there is one work here. “I am a master builder, so you don’t lay other foundations but the one I laid, which is Christ. If you want to build, you build upon this. If you build something else, that’s division.” There’s an understanding behind what he was serving. Paul was very clear. Paul was criticized, and was abandoned by the majority. He was not popular. Paul was despised, put aside, and persecuted. Even until his death, he owned nothing. That was his ending.
Today, we appreciate Paul; yet when Paul was alive, he was utterly abandoned. However, he never lost the dignity as a mother, neither did he change his tone because he wanted something—never. Paul risked his ministry, his reputation. He said, “If I boast, I boast nothing but this One crucified” (cf. 1 Cor.1:31). That’s the reason why he was so free to challenge them to try building on something else.
It’s really painful to read Paul’s writing to the Corinthians. Today, the church helps saints to become humans with proper humanity. Because of this, we are very sensitive to those feelings in us when we read Paul’s writings. But for some reason, when Satan injects something in us, the first thing erased are the tangible attributes of humanity. If you look at history, people who turn away from this life have to shut down something inside of them. It’s very painful to treat a mother like this. If you look at Paul’s speaking here, he says, “For who distinguishes you?” In other words, he asks what makes the Corinthians different that they act like they were not raised by Paul. He pricks their conscience, furthermore and asks, “And what do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor. 4:7). He asks not to boast, but to recognize that this life is not from Paul, Cephas or Apollos. Whatever the saints receive is from God. Why do you act as if you didn’t receive and as if you came from nowhere, having no genealogy? This is especially obvious when you act in a way as though you didn’t receive, being ungrateful. Paul sees this—I can help you and let me help you—“Already you are filled; already you have become rich; you have reigned without us. And I would have it indeed that you did reign, that we also might reign with you.” (1 Cor. 4:8). Is this speaking not the words of a parent’s heart to his beloved children?
At the end of the day, we are nobody. We are all the offscouring of the world. We need the cross of Christ. That is our identity. Yet no mother admonishes the children to stay immature or in shame. Paul wants his children to grow to the full maturity of life. The cross is the only way. Any other mindset will deviate the saints from the oneness. That is the foundation we still hold onto in the church life today.
—Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 5/22/2020, not reviewed by the speaker.