Where Do We Stand?

1 Corinthians 3:10-23
Paul offers a basic truth about the church in today’s epistle reading. “According to the grace of God given to me,” he writes, “like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:10-11). Jesus Christ is the foundation upon which the church stands, Paul is saying. There is no other criteria, no formula, no beginning or end, no creed or confession, no form of governance or style of worship that lies closer to the heart of the Christian faith; Jesus Christ alone is head of the church which is his body at work in the world.

But this same statement reveals another truth about the people of God, one we sometimes lose sight of in our day to day lives. That other truth is that because Jesus Christ is the foundation of the church, the church is the only gathering, the only organization, the only body or community that finds its being in the Son of God. Many groups may be said to have Christ-like aims. Many gatherings may involve acts of religious devotion. As a minister I have been invited on a number of occasions to offer prayer for city councils, county courts, a state legislature, civic groups, and even sporting events. I applaud this practice, but this in no way changes the fact that the church alone is constituted by and finds its true purpose in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ alone is the foundation of the church; the church alone is Jesus Christ’s body at work in the world: while much about our lives is ambiguous, hazy, unclear, those two facts are absolute. And it follows that to be a Christian one must be focused on God as revealed in Jesus Christ, and at the same time engaged in the community of faith that is the church, for this is the foundation on which we stand.

Prayer: Lord, help us to live according to your will and to serve you as a faithful community of believers. In Jesus’ name. Amen.