Apr
20
2011
An Existential Affirmation of the Truth of the Gospel
“The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers.” (1 Cor. 6:7-8)
As a church, we’re still benefitting from the conference ministry of Ken Sande, Annette Friesen, and Peacemaker Ministries. We’re continuing to see people strive for peace in their relationships. We’re learning more and more that one practical outworking of the gospel–tightly held, deeply believed–is reconciliation between God’s people.
In God’s providence, since the conference we’ve been studying 1 Corinthians 6 in our Wednesday night Bible study. Our Wednesday nights have been a good reinforcement of many of the peacemaking principles we’ve learned and are practicing with God’s help. And more and more we’re seeing that our ability to live as a community of peace, which pleases God (1 Tim. 2:2-3), either affirms or denies our testimony of Christ’s redemptive work in our lives. The presence or absence of peace testifies to a watching, unbelieving world.
As one commentator puts it:
A united community in which love dominates is the existential affirmation of the truth of the gospel. A community which contains within itself the divisions which characterize ‘the world’ has no power to transform its environment, because the contradiction between theory and practice is too evident.
–J. Murphy-O’Connor, 1 Corinthians (Wilmington, DE: Glazier, 1979); cited in David E. Garland, 1 Corinthians (Baker), p. 210.
Have you thought lately about the unity of your church family and its affirmation of the truth of the gospel? Have you prayed lately for the unity of your church? Have you thought and prayed that your church’s unity might be used of the Lord to transform your community? May the Lord close the gap between gospel theory and gospel practice in all His churches!