1979, the upper
slopes of Everest.
In spite of urgent pleas, she could descend no further.
Exhausted, Hannalore Schmatz needed but to rest her weary body. She never stood up.
In fact, for
years climbers would pass her frozen corpse. Still resting on her pack, eyes wide open,
hair blowing in the wind, Schmatz sat as an eerie reminder to all who
pass.
As one climber
recalls: “I cannot escape the sinister guard. Approximately
100 meters above Camp IV she sits leaning against her pack, as if taking a
short break. A woman with her eyes wide open…it feels as if she follows me with
her eyes as I pass by. Her presence reminds me that we are here on the
conditions of the mountain.”
All Schmatz
sought was a break from tireless effort.
Still she
sits.
Decay has
drained whatever signs of life once existed.
So it is with
the tireless work of church unity. The
ascent of this spiritual Everest is daunting.
Day after day, circumstance after circumstance, temptation after
temptation we must rely upon supernatural power to accomplish the incredible.
Her warning remains: do not grow weary.
Don’t sit down.
Resist the demand
for rest.
Factions only
bait us into frozen indifference.
Press on –
seeking to build gospel-centered unity in Christ.
After calling us
to unite in the power of Christ’s cross, Paul continues leading the charge
upward. Follow I Corinthians 2:6-3:23
Unite in the
depths of Christ mind
"We have the mind of Christ"I Corinthians 2:16b
Paul offers a
wisdom for the mature, a wisdom that the rulers of this age woefully missed. This biblical wisdom is intricately connected
to the person of Christ, achieving supernatural levels of discernment solely by
the indwelling Spirit of God (2:6-16).
But a problem
persisted, the Corinthians had sat down.
The disunity of
the church made it impossible for Paul to interact with them in a
mature, Christ-like fashion. The ongoing
preferential demands and petty factions demonstrated their true colors – the
believers were acting like mere men
(3:4)! Instead of exhibiting the
supernatural discernment afforded through the mind of Christ, the church caved
and resorted to a natural, fleshly orientation.
Trace I
Corinthians 3:5-23. Paul literally
spoon-feeds the church a measure of spiritual discernment. He helps them think biblically concerning
their ongoing interpersonal factions:
What is Apollos,
What is Paul – they are God’s servants.
The church is God’s field, his building, and his temple. Paul’s point is that if the Corinthians were
spiritual astute, they would have already connected the dots and understood
these most basic principles – but they were still stuck in the muck, incapable
to exercising the mind of Christ.
Envision young
children trying to fill out a ‘connect-by-numbers’ sheet. There was a time in their early developmental
stages that my boys had no idea the number sequence. Every time they distorted the image, every
time they were unable to connect the dots. Every time the image was distorted and indiscernible. Every time reality was warped.
Such it is with
the mind of Christ.
The Corinthian
church proved incapable of seeing circumstances clearly for their spiritual
development was stunted. They were
unable to connect the dots, unable to exercise biblical discernment. Instead of seeing clearly, they distorted
God’s picture of how reality should play out. Ultimately, their immaturity warped their interpersonal connections.
We are to unite in the
mind of Christ, striving toward unity.
May we push ourselves further into this divine reality.
May we push ourselves further
into the greatest commandments.
Learning to discern their implications in all manner of life.
Together, do not
sit down. Face the threats and differences.
Together, have
the conversations. Together, disagree.
Together, admit
unrest, hurt, and fear.
Together admit
narrow, self-serving paradigms.
Together, admit
sinful presumption. Together, don’t let
the sun go down.
Together, push
ahead. Extend grace, open to unite in the mind of Christ.
Grace and Peace
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