A church’s culture will be shaped by the beliefs and convictions the people in that church have. Some of our beliefs are known to us, but some aren’t, at least not immediately. Why? We hold to beliefs and convictions that lie underneath the surface and we may not even be aware of them. It’s those beliefs that lie underneath the surface that are the most powerful beliefs you have. And it’s those beliefs underneath the surface that exert the most influence on a church’s culture. I want to expose those today, but I’m not going to reinvent the wheel. The apostle Paul already did the heavy lifting for us in a letter he wrote to a church in the city of Corinth, which is in modern day Greece.
This church possessed anti-gospel culture. The culture in the church in Corinth was anything but gospel culture. They had divisions, disunity, quarrels, disagreement, schisms; it was not a harbinger of the new heavens and the new earth. Throughout his letter to them, Paul makes appeal after appeal for them to change course and his climactic appeal comes to us in one of the most popular Scriptures passages know to us today: 1 Corinthians 13 (The “Love” Chapter).
In order for gospel culture to take root in us, we need to…
1) Identify the hidden belief
The church in Corinth had anti-gospel culture. It was characterized by impressive outward religious performance. They speak in tongues, they prophesy, they have faith that the impossible can happen, they generously give their money to the poor. Some of them have been martyred. This is an impressive list of visible religious performances. But for each of them Paul says they are without love. He’s exposing their hidden belief.
The church in Corinth serves a provocative example of why our visible, stated beliefs and practices may be impotent to shape a church’s culture. Instead, it’s our invisible, unstated beliefs and practices that exert the most influence on a church’s culture.
What was that hidden belief in this church in Corinth? They are without love. Look at the repetition. “If I can do this, but don’t have love I’m nothing. If I can do that, but don’t have love, I’m nothing.”
What does it mean to be without love? What does it mean to be loveless? There’s a little phrase in v. 3 where Paul cracks open the curtain to let a little light in so we can see what lovelessness is: “If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast…”
There it is: “that I may boast.” This is the core of lovelessness. This is the hidden belief lying underneath the surface that is destroying any shot the Corinthians have of fostering gospel culture.
What does it mean to boast? Boasting says, “Look at what I’ve done now give me your praise. Look at what I’ve done, now stand in awe of me. Look at what I’ve done and give me your gratitude.” This is the hidden belief that destroys any shot a church may have of fostering gospel culture.
Do you see that at the core of boasting, at the core of lovelessness, is an attitude that approaches giving in order to get something? Lovelessness is giving in order to get something. Just a couple of verses later Paul describes lovelessness as “self-seeking.” The hidden belief is this: we give in order to get.
2) Detect the hidden belief in ourselves
Surely, that’s not me. I don’t have this hidden belief. This “give to get” belief isn’t something I struggle with. Maybe not. But let’s see.
In vv. 4-8a, Paul paints a picture of love for us. Notice the places where love is portrayed in emotional terms: love doesn’t dishonor others, love is not easily-angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Do you hear the emotions in these descriptions? Look at the descriptors: dishonoring others, easily-angered, keeping a record of wrongs. Do you hear the emotions of resentment, irritability, and bitterness in there?
Can we just talk turkey for a minute here? You know why we’re irritable all the time? You know why we’re irritable with God and others? We’re irritable with God and others because we feel God owes us. We’ve worked hard, we’ve been kind people and now God, life, and the universe owe us. This is why we’re irritable, demanding, and critical. This is why we’re chronically unhappy. We have paid your dues, now God, life, and the universe owe us. We’re unhappy because the “give to get” belief is the organizing principle of our lives.
This characterized the church in Corinth. They had an anti-gospel culture of divisions, factions, and conflict because they operated under the hidden belief of “give to get.”
Those who are most prone to being chronically unhappy, critical, demanding, and irritable are those whose lives are governed by the “give to get” belief. If that’s you, if you look at your life and see a history of being chronically unhappy, critical, demanding, and irritable, you are living a loveless life. You are living a self-seeking life. You are being governed by the “give to get” belief and you’re probably not even aware of it.
3) Destroy and replace our hidden belief
Gospel doctrine is the only antidote to the poison of a loveless life. The gospel is the only antidote to the “give to get” belief. So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to set up a purely fictional scenario and then we’ll rub the gospel into it.
Joe gives generously to his church. Like the church in Corinth, this looks really good on the outside. The surface belief and practice is admirable. But let’s say he’s operating under the “give to get” belief. He’s giving large sums of money to his church directed by his “give to get” belief. If he’s giving in order to get something, the million dollar question is: what does he want? Maybe he wants to put the church in his debt so if he ever wants something to be done at the church, the leaders will have to listen to him because they will fear losing his financial support. Or maybe he’s giving generously so that if the church leaders decide to do something he doesn’t like, he can threaten them by drawing attention to the ramifications of not having his financial support. So Joe is operating under the “give to get” belief. How do we work gospel doctrine into this to destroy this hidden belief and replace it.
How does that happen? Joe needs to preach the gospel to himself daily. In order for your life to be characterized by love, you need to preach the gospel to yourself daily. In order for you to become a harbinger of the new heavens and the new earth, you need multiple exposures to the gospel. That means preaching the gospel to yourself daily.
The definition of the gospel we looked at last week is this:
We are created by and accountable to God. Our problem is our sin against him. God’s solution is salvation through Jesus Christ. We come to be included in that salvation by repentance and faith.
I’m going to give you a shortened version of this. Here’s what I want you to do with it. Every day look in the mirror and preach this to yourself. Here’s what I want you to preach. Look in the mirror and say, “I’m a totally loved, moral failure.” That’s the gospel in it’s shortest form.
So let’s work this into Joe’s life…
Joe needs to preach to himself, “I’m a totally loved moral failure.” So on the one hand, he’s a moral failure. Which means anything less than hell he enjoys today is only by God’s mercy. For his church not to give him something he wants or to withhold something he does want is a blip on the radar compared to what he deserves. He’s not owed anything. This would alter Joe’s use of money and reasons he’s using the money the way he is.
Joe isn’t only a moral failure. He’s a totallyloved moral failure. Because Joe is more loved, valued, and cherished than he ever dared dream, there’s a limit to how much life circumstances impact his joy. So his church doesn’t do something he wanted them to do or they do something he doesn’t want them to do, big deal! He’s more loved, valued, and cherished than he ever dared dream, how much more joy can adding a fixture to the church or another ministry in the church give him?
I’m a totally loved moral failure.
The Church in Corinth possessed anti-gospel culture because it was a self-seeking church. People in that church had admirable surface beliefs and practices, but the hidden belief they possessed was killing them. This hidden belief was lovelessness. This hidden belief was that they would do all these great, nice, and kind things for each other, but it was fueled by “giving in order to get something.” This led to disunity and conflict in the church. It was an ugly church. There wasn’t anything beautiful about it. The only solution to it is to saturate the church in the gospel. It’s only through gospel-saturation that a church can be transformed from a self-seeking church into a truly loving church.
