The Imperfect Church (Part 2)

It was the Gospel reminded Paul of God’s promises for the future. He must have felt staggered when he listened to Chloe, Stephanas and a long line of other visitors with bad news from Corinth, but one great fact kept him upright through it all. “God, who has called you … is faithful,” he rejoices in verse 9, confident that this means “He will keep you strong to the end.” The same God who had called the Corinthians to follow him in the past would also keep them following him right until the end, because human unfaithfulness does not nullify God’s faithfulness. That’s what stopped Paul from giving up at the start, from giving up in the spring when his emergency visit ended in heartbreak, and from giving up in the autumn when he wrote to them again. Ultimately, it was because Paul kept sight of God’s future grace for the Corinthians that he won them to repentance and helped them to see it too.

The Gospel also helped Paul to see God’s work in the present. Fault-finding is easy but grace-spotting requires faith. Paul needed it to see God’s fingerprints at Corinth, still at work amidst the mess. In spite of their sin, the Corinthians were still calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, and no one ever does that but for the working of God’s grace. Compared to their paganism less than five years earlier, the changes to their speech and knowledge were living proof that the Gospel had saved them. Even the disorderly way in which they exercised the gifts of the Spirit bore testimony to the fact that God was present in their midst and had not given up on them. It is easy to focus on the negatives and disappointments, but those who understand the Gospel can see God at work in the midst of the mess.

Make sure that you see the full picture of God’s grace in the Church. If you don’t, you will find yourself complaining, church-hopping, and falling out of love with the Bride for whom Christ died. Your heart will eventually grow cold towards God’s People, and your joy in Christian ministry will begin to falter and die. But if seeing God at work could give Paul strength to love, persevere and give thanks for the troublesome Corinthians, then it is more than able to give us strength to cope with our own setbacks and disappointments today. I am amazed at how Paul won back the church at Corinth when they realized that he was more aware of God’s grace than he was of their failure. I am still amazed at the potential released in churches today whenever people learn to see God at work amidst the imperfect church.