The Holy Spirit and the Southern Baptist Convention Today (XVI): “Show Us What You’ve Got! (1 Corinthians 4:20)”

The reason I am writing on this topic today instead of my original plan of starting my review of J.P. Moreland’s important new book, Kingdom Triangle, is simple.  I’m preaching through 1 Corinthians on Sunday mornings and have arrived at the latter part of chapter 4.  Also, my brother is in town and I am short on time (which means I need to carve out a tad more prayerful ruminating before posting on Moreland’s book).

While I have taught 1 Corinthians repeatedly in New Testament introduction and survey courses, as well as occasionally as a specific elective, I have to admit that I had not paid anywhere close to the kind of attention to this passage that it deserves.  In fact, in regard to where things are in the Southern Baptist Convention right now, the latter part of 1 Corinthians 4 is, if anything, even more important for our careful current consideration.

Perhaps you are already aware that the topic of 1 Corinthians 1-4 is factions within the church, why they exist and what they indicate from a spiritual standpoint.  For example, earlier in the letter (3:1-4), Paul had noted that the existence of fan clubs (e.g., of Paul, Apollos, Cephas [Peter], etc.) in the church at Corinth revealed the fleshly, immature nature of many–if not most–of the believers in Corinth.  Sadly, it seems to me that this is similar to the “I’m of Paige” and “I’m of Al” type personality cults present in the SBC today and is reflective of the same kind of fleshly immaturity.

Now, here’s how I would principlize (i.e., draw timeless truth principles from) 1 Corinthians 4:6-21, a section in which the impact of good old garden variety pride is seen as the culpit behind much of the problem of factions and related fleshly immaturity:

I. It’s prideful for Christians to go beyond the statements of Scripture in the way they “value” leaders (4:6).  We don’t know what passage or passages which Paul may have had in mind here.  But, suffice it to say that you will never find any place in the Bible where you are given justification for playing favorites in regard to leaders.  Rather, all leaders are simply God’s servants and each only plays “the role the Lord has given,” as Paul declares earlier(3:6).  To look at leaders otherwise is biblically “out of bounds,” no matter what any of us thinks.

II. It’s prideful for Christians to treat leaders who are not your favorite as second-class citizens (4:7-13).  In Corinth, these arrogant believers were acting as if they had already “arrived” spiritually and, in the process, were viewing Paul and the other apostles whom they did not virtually worship as dirt. 

Is it not fair to note that, in the SBC at present, even after the expose of extravagance and waste at NAMB under Bob Reccord, there still appears to be a small handful of SBC leaders riding very high?  Even more disturbing, though, is that there are some among us who seem to think that, if it is their favorite leader, there is nothing wrong with being significantly overpaid.  Of course, if it was anyone else but that person, the calls for an immediate investigation would be loud and long! 

Now, what is it that predisposes people to look at things that way?  Paul says it’s pride–pride displayed in playing favorites in regard to one particular leader.  It’s not any more complicated than that.

III. It’s prideful for any Christian not to imitate godly leadership (4:14-19a).  In Paul’s case, he exhorted the fleshly, immature Corinthian believers to stop ignoring his teaching about proper Christian behavior.  He said that the reason they were doing so was that they were “inflated with pride,” thinking he would never come back to Corinth to be able to hold them accountable (4:18).

This is one of the biggest problems in the SBC today.  Because there is: 1) no way built into the Constitution/Bylaws to make sure that trustees hold entity heads accountable for their actions; and 2) no way for the SBC to truly hold entity trustees accountable, almost the entire trustee system of the SBC suffers from being “inflated with pride” corporately.  Because this Bylaws trustee ”loophole” is massive enough to fly a 747 through, it allows for this sort of arrogant lack of accountability.  As a result, the trustee system, which sounds fine in theory, is rife with arrogant abuse in actual practice.

IV. It’s prideful for Christians to think that talk is more important than the power of the Holy Spirit (4:19b-21).  As has often been said, “Talk is cheap.”  However, actions–especially selfless actions that only could come from the Lord–are precious… and absent in the lives or ministries of those shot through with pride. 

Yes, there are some whom the Lord has gifted so amazingly (see 1 Corinthians 12-14) that they seem to still be able to wow many people in spite of their huge egos.  However, in the vast majority of the cases, the proud “talk a good game,” but the evidence is not there spiritually to back up their words. 

Here is a classic question which we need to pose to the SBC at large as we seek to properly evaluate our own spiritual lives, as well as the longer-term fruit of the Conservative Resurgence.  What about our work and ministries could not have happened completely as it did without the Holy Spirit’s power?  If your honest-to-God answer is “Almost all,” or even “I’m not sure,” you–we–are in deep trouble spiritually.

You see, the Upper Room Discourse (John 14-16) makes it very clear that, in Jesus’ physical absence, his own are supposed to be at least as dependent on the indwelling Holy Spirit (the other–just like Jesus–Comforter) as they were on Jesus.  Also, Galatians 5 tells us in no uncertain terms that, if a believer is not consciously walking in the power of the Spirit, he or she is acting in the power of the flesh.  This much is perfectly clear: if you are not, at this moment, clearly under the control of the Spirit, the only other possibility that exists is that you are under the control of the flesh.  Biblically, there is no neutral or middle ground option.

So, as I close, based on these principles derived from 1 Corinthians 4, and especially verse 20 (“For the kingdom of God is not in talk but in power”), it does not seem out of line to ask all of us–but especially the agressive cessationists who are attempting to force their views on their brethren in the SBC with steamroller force–a crucial question based on Paul’s challenge to the Corinthians: To mimic the old ad campaign–”Where’s the beef?”  In this case, what it gets down for all of us is to value talk about the Holy Spirit a lot less and value actual spiritual fruit that can only come from the ministry of the Spirit a lot more.

No, I’m not asking for striking miracles at all, just consistent widespread evidence that you have not “quenched” the Spirit completely in your life and ministry.  In other words, we need to all at least demonstrate that the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23), not “the works of the flesh” (5:19-21) dominate our lives, even–perhaps especially–when we let down our guard behind closed doors.  We need to reflect that we are “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18) by the way we conduct every aspect of our church lives, marriages, parenting and business relationships (as Ephesians 5:18-6:9 envisions, based on the Greek structure of the text).

Bottom line: Each one of us needs to take dead seriously Paul’s admonition to the Corinthians to “Stop talking and show us what you’ve got!” spiritually.  And, if any of us think that is too much to ask, sadly, it must be said that means you’re not even willing to exert what it takes to do even the minimum the Lord expects in living the Christian life as he designed it.  After all, the fruit of the Spirit and the filling of the Spirit are basic concepts of a Spirit-empowered lifestyle that anybody even a year old in the Lord is able to understand and practice. 

Thus, can there be any biblically and theologically legitimate excuse why all of us–except the newest baby Christians–are not living that way moment-by-moment, day-by-day?  If you think there is, I am very sad for you, because, whether you have any awareness of it or not, you have been blinded by the same kind of pride Paul convicts the Corinthian believers of in 1 Corinthians 4:6-21.

Coming Wednesday: “An Applicational Review of J.P. Moreland’s Kingdom Triangle (I)”