Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute… We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. (I Cor. 4:8-13)
When we read this passage on Sunday, I couldn’t help but wish that I had met Paul. Mild-mannered theologian? Hardly! Paul’s frustration with the Corinthian church spills over in one of the most sarcastic passages in the Bible. The Corinthians think HIGHLY of themselves, and Paul, through holy sarcasm (is that a real thing?) brings them down a notch or two. He asks them, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (v. 7) They thought that they were exalted, and they thought that they deserved their high status. That attitude flies in the face of the Gospel, so Paul lets them have it!
When Paul calls the apostles “fools for Christ’s sake,” he is using the tradition of the “holy fool.” Throughout the Scriptures, the prophets frequently look and act like madmen. John the Baptist dining on grasshoppers is barely weird when compared to Jeremiah hiding underwear in a cave (Jer. 13), Ezekiel playing with models of the city of Jerusalem and eating bread cooked over burning dung (read Ez. 4!), or Isaiah running around (nearly?) naked for three years (Is. 20). Even David, dancing before the ark in a sacred shirt (II Sam. 6), fits this category. God encourages his prophets to act very strangely, at times!
The true “holy fool” is Jesus, who emptied himself of dignity for us. He became a laughingstock, a fool, out of love. All of the prophets who were asked to act like fools set the stage for the most absurd act of all—God, the Majestic Creator and Lord of Heavenly Armies, became a frail creature and chose to suffer for those he knew would reject him. In love, he became a laughingstock.
God’s ways don’t make sense to the world. Human pride is deflated when we see the King of the Universe submitting to mockery and death. He becomes a fool to get our attention—our boasting is foolishness, our pride is ridiculous. What are our achievements, in light of God’s self-chosen folly? Human goals and pursuits become emptiness, folly itself, next to a suffering God.
Each of us harbors desires for recognition, status, and achievement that are revealed as ashes and nothing in light of Jesus’ self-emptying. As you wait for our King this Advent, consider the High and Holy One who was willing to become a fool for you. Don’t be afraid to follow him on his path of divine wisdom, even when it seems like folly to the world.
Steven+
Angel Tree
For the past few years, Incarnation has participated in Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program. We will be doing so again this year and will be giving gifts to children who are separated from a parent because of incarceration. The gifts are purchased by people in the church and are given to the children on behalf of the incarcerated parent. This is a great opportunity to show the love of Christ to families who are affected by incarceration.
On Sunday (December 8) there will be a Christmas tree at church with “angel tags” on it that give
information about the children. Everyone at Incarnation who wants to participate should take a tag from the tree and buy the appropriate gifts, based on the information on the tag. (We would like each child to receive two gifts, one worth approximately $5-10 and one worth approximately $25-40.) After buying the gifts, you will simply wrap them, fix the “angel tag” to them, write the gift code inconspicuously on the corner of the package (in case the tag falls off in transit), and return them to church no later than Sunday, December 15 (you can return them earlier!). If you would like to get a jump on shopping, you can email me and I will send you gift information for the child(ren) you would like to shop for.
We also need volunteers to help deliver the gifts the week before Christmas (December 16-20). If you would like to deliver gifts to a family, please let me know no later than Friday, December 13.
Katherine
Christ the King
Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne;
Hark how the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own!
Beginning our worship with this line last Sunday made me chuckle. We’re still very much an embryonic church plant, and depending on what the Lord decides to do with our weekly English services, it could very well always be as tiny as it is now. This past Sunday we totaled 10, our own family with two women who have recently joined our team, both from the Netherlands. Our worship music each Sunday consists of however many of us are singing; with a familiar hymn like this we probably had a solid 8 voices last week. As the de facto song leader, our music often feels thin, both because of the lack of voices and instruments and also because of my own lack of training or inherent ability for this role. Singing of the heavenly anthem drowning all music but its own rang in my heart as a comforting reminder that our offering of music is not on its own, but is a part of the music of all the Church, even of those now gathered around the risen Christ’s throne. It was a comforting reminder, even a playful jab at my narrow sight, and as such it did make me chuckle—but it was also a convicting jab at my narrow sight, a jab that felt like an invitation from the Lord to let him use the sword of his Spirit on this piece of me. I have a true desire to serve the Lord in this role of song leader in our service, and I also have sin around this desire and even the act of service, sin that clings so closely! In my pride, I desire for the music of our tiny congregation to sound better, to be a better credit to me—I want those following my lead and any who should somehow hear us (in these thoughts the Lord doesn’t even come to mind) to be impressed. I have submitted to the Lord’s call to serve him in this way—I did my best to convince him I wasn’t the woman for the job!—doesn’t that entitle me to some praise and admiration? As Paul would say (and did in II Cor. 11!), I’m speaking like a mad man. But I’m also giving you direct quotes from my heart, from a part of my heart still under the sway of my flesh, my old man.
Did you hear Justin’s charge to us this past Sunday to give to our King these areas of sin, to invite him in to reign in these parts of our hearts where we are still bowing to our flesh rather than to him? (If you didn’t, you should go listen to the recording!). In considering Christ on his throne this Christ the King Sunday, Justin charged us to come to our Lord in repentance, to give him these places where sin clings so closely. In a charge that felt very related to the first of repentance, Justin also called us to grateful submission. Grateful submission: submissive obedience giving thanks always. Not only in this area of leading the songs for our service, but in so many others, I find I have been seeking to submit, to obey my King if—if he will give me all I need to do this thing in a way that reflects well on me. If he will reward my obedience with gifts I then get to keep—no take-backs! If he will provide in the way I desire—what if I want and know for sure my family needs quail rather than manna? What then?
What then, indeed? True submission, like true repentance, must come from a place of trust. Do I trust my King? As Justin reminded us, he is coming in the Last Day with eyes flashing fire and the sword in his hand—will I invite him in to kill my sin and conquer my flesh today, while it is still called today? He comes with a sword, but that sword is his Spirit, the one by whom we cry, “Abba, Father!” He comes, that is, in love and wielding love. Do we trust him?
Awake my soul and sing of Him who died for thee,
And hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity!
Amen, for he is indeed crowned the Lord of love. Beloved, let us invite him in!
Hannah