Everything is permissible for me

Not everything is beneficial.

I will not be mastered by anything.

How much do I value myself? How valuable am I? What am I worth?

Am I worth protecting? Am I worth being treated with care and with caution?

When Paul talks about sex, these are the questions he makes me ask. How valuable am I? Am I just something that can be carelessly used or am I worth more?

Sex is a powerful thing. It brings people together and tears them apart. It defines how we look at the world and how we look at ourselves. How we value ourselves should influence how we value sex. Is it something worth protecting? Is it worth being treated with care and with caution?

Do we as Christians get all up in arms regarding sex because we are afraid of it or because we are embarrassed by it or because we value it and want to protect it?

A changed Perspective

Who am I looking out for? Who do I want to be perceived as?

What do I want people to think when they see me? What do I wish upon myself?

Paul writes, "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."

Would I rather be on the receiving end of an offense than the giving end?

Would I rather be cheated than be a cheat?

Of course I would rather there be no offense or no cheating, but if it happens am I willing to accept it upon myself before I would pass it off to others? Would I rather suffer the consequences or have someone else suffer? What if people knew about it? Would my pride get in the way of my heart?

Am I completely defeated already? Are you?

The duplicity of knowing better

Paul writes to the Corinthians that in the past he has told them not to associate with sexually immoral people - but that does not mean the people of the world who sin. If they tried to do that they would have to leave this world.

This is exactly what some Christians try to do. No, not leave the world. They try to stay far away from anyone who they see as a sinner. They hide away, only associating with church people, only listening to church music, only reading church books, watching church movies, attending only church events. Given Paul's rhetorical style, I'm willing to wager he would say they should go the whole way and lock themselves in the church.

Paul writes to help his readers in their understanding, "But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolator or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat."

If you are trying to follow Paul's advice on proper associations, the church may be the most dangerous place to hang out.

A Commentary in Sarcasm

"We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world."

I had to read this a couple times before I realized Paul's sarcasm. He's not really bashing himself and the other Apostles, he's describing things from a worldly point of view.

By the common standard of the day, Paul was a fool.

(Look at the life he left behind!)

By the estimation of the common man, Paul was weak.

(He needs the crutch of religion!)

By those who bestow honor now, he wasn't worthy.

(Unless they were into honoring troublemakers.)

In reality, these were Paul's highest qualifications and the Corinthians didn't see that. They were judging things the way they always had. They were looking at things as though they didn't know Jesus. They were unchanged.

How do we judge today? Would Paul sarcastically throw our views and values in our face in a similar manner?

What is wisdom? What is strength? What is honor?

Who is hungry & thirsty, who is in rags, who is treated poorly, who is homeless?

Is that us or is that who we neglect & ignore?

Who exchanges curses for blessings, who endures persecution, who answers kindly to slander?

Are these things we do or things we hear about?

Who is the scum of the earth, who is the refuse of the world?

Relative Conscience

Last night we watched the premiere of "Community" in it, the main character says, "I discovered at a very early age that if I talk long enough I can make anything right or wrong. So, either I'm god or truth is relative. In either case, booyah."

Another character replies, "Interesting, its just the average person has a much harder time saying 'booyah' to moral relativism."

(You can watch it here at about the 8:40 mark.)

While the scene was simply meant to be clever banter to push the plot forward and give us a small glimpse into the personalities of the characters, it really touches on much more.

We live in a world where millions of people decide right or wrong only by what they can defend or reason or rationalize. If they can explain why what they did was right for them, it was right. If their actions weren't as bad as an alternative, it was right. If they can do it without their conscience getting in the way, it was right. If they can do it and then smooth things over with their conscience, it was right. All of these things focus only on the individual, not those around them or anyone else. What's right for me is right. Is this right?

The other character's response is simply wrong. We live in a world where the average person never considers the implications of moral relativism enough to consider even whether or not it deserves a "booyah". People don't consider what kind of moral system supports their actions or what type of system they should conform their actions to. Instead, they simply act on what feels right for them (see above).

The truth is, our conscience is a flimsy guide, one that can be bent and twisted by our wants and desires. Over time, we can train our conscience to ignore grave evils. We don't even have to do so the training. Our consciences are constantly being trained by the things we see around us, the people we interact with and the experiences we go through. It is our consciences that are relative, not morality.

"My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent." - 1 Cor 4:4

Mud

Love God and Love People. That is what we are called to do.

Sin rails against both of these. The classical definition of sin says that it is the violation of a moral or religious command. If we're trying to love God, it becomes obvious how violating what He's all about would be problematic.

Sin and people is a little bit murkier, muddier and more painful. There are times when we sin against someone - we gossip, we offend, we abuse. These are painful, but for the most part clean-cut and obvious. Both parties know something wrong happened. One person must repent and one must forgive. Hard but simple.

There are other times when sin tears people apart tangentially. Sin isn't just a wrong. It is a stain and a scar that tears deep into the fabric of our being. It doesn't just harm those we've sinned against, it harms us. We find ourselves guilty. Obviously, painfully guilty. We know that we've messed up someone's life and that just sucks. Even if we go through the divine process of finding forgiveness with God and then the painful process of repentance and seeking forgiveness of those we've wronged we're still left with the lingering, debilitating problem of shame.

Shame tells us not that we've done evil, but that we are evil. Not that we have messed up, but that we are messed up. Not that we've done wrong, but that in some way we ourselves are wrong. We don't measure up, we're not perfect, we're not worthy, we're not good enough,

We can fight these feelings, we can work through them and deal with them, but some part of our psyche makes them nearly impossible to eradicate. When we meet new people, when we are in tough situations, when we are stressed and worried those shame statements come creeping in - they speak up and tell us to run, to hide, to retreat, to embellish, to deflect, to lie. There's no way they will accept you. (Not if they knew.) There's no way they'll understand. (Don't bother trying.) You're not good enough. (Not anymore.) I can't tell them the truth. (That's not what they want to hear.)

These thoughts and feelings push people away from us. They cause us to create masks, false identities that we hide behind as we try to get by. They keep us from letting people truly get close, they keep us isolated and alone - vulnerable and weak. We rely on false intimacy and fake relationships to get through the day while the whole time we are scared that someone will find out and everything will come crashing down around us.

That's not a life, it's a collision course with disaster.

Unfortunately the church not only allows it to happen, we foster it. We put up false fronts and pretend to have it all together. We hide our own warts and imperfections, bury our past sins and smooth over our faults. When someone does have the courage to admit a mistake or more likely when someone's mask falls off we rush to "fix" them, to correct the problem to make everything status quo once again - always teetering on the brink wondering which gust of truth will send things crashing down.

What if we all just admitted we've crashed already? What if we were the place where past failure was a badge of honor, a purple heart that shows where we've come from? What if sinners were more welcome in our midst than Pharisees? What if we loved people the way Jesus did? What if we loved like we've been commanded?

That would be loving God by loving People.

Knowing v.

Knowledge is power.

Knowing is half the battle.

Knowledge alone is nothing.

Francis Bacon said the first and the second one is the famous ending of so many GI Joe public service announcements. The last one has been said before, but not nearly as much as the former two.

What good is just knowing? It doesn't make things different. It doesn't improve things. It doesn't fix things. It doesn't matter. Acquiring knowledge is easy. It is fun. Understanding a situation makes it seem like we can handle it, like we can deal with it - it puts us at ease. It changes nothing. It placates. It dulls. Knowledge is the opiate of the masses.

So, what then makes a difference?