Not for Me but for Thee
In the heat of summer here in America and the only thing we can think about is how to cool off. We search for a bit of shade when parking our car. We sprint to get that last chair under the shade of the tree to relax. We are obsessed with our comfort in the heat of summer.
The last thing we think about is if someone else is comfortable, even if we are thankful for the shade we have found. I get it. Nobody wants to sweat in the heat, but is sprinting for that chair really the right thing to do?
Today’s blog really has nothing to do with shade. It has everything to do with how we fight for ourselves at the expense of others. The heat of summer is just today. In a few months we will be glad for the closest parking space at church when everyone comes back from vacation.
BRETHREN, when you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn; and let one interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each one of them keep silence in church and speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. If a revelation is made to another by sitting by, let the first be silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged; and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. But God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. What! Did the word of God originate with you, or are you the only one it has reached? If any one thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord. If any one does not recognize this, he is not recognized. So, my brethren, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues; but all things should be done decently and in order.
1st Corinthians 14.26-40
For Saint Paul everything revolves around how we treat others and how we serve them. The context of today’s reading is the worship of the Church, which I have written many times about. Today, I invite you to consider the broader concept of how we benefit others over ourselves.
“If there is no one to interpret, let each one keep silence.” These few words are my focus today. Rather than look at our actions as how they benefit us, we must look at our actions at how then benefit others, and if they lift them up rather than cast them down.
When we pray, do we pray for others or just ourselves? When we work, do we work just for ourselves, or do we work to help others? Being a Christian means that we work to benefit others, serving them as if we are serving Christ.
Of course, I’m not suggesting that we ignore our salvation in favor of serving others. Our salvation is in serving others. That is the point of salvation. Being saved by ourselves, alone, is not salvation, but selfish gratification.
Also of benefit in today’s passage is the context of being together in Church. The Church is more than the building, as we all know intellectually. If we didn’t need each other, the Church would not gather us. We are gathered BECAUSE we need each other.
We are all in this together, brothers and sisters, friends and strangers, sinners and saints. What makes us Christians united to Christ and each other our willingness and devotion to serving and benefiting others. It was the example of Christ.
Christ came to save all of us together, not individually. We taught us to feed each other rather than ‘sending them away to fend for themselves’ when He fed more than 5,000 people with just a few loaves of bread and two fish.
He taught us to “love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13.34) He said, “whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.” (Mark 10.43) At every turn, Christ teaches us that the needs of others must be our consideration.
Life isn’t about saving ourselves. Yes, we want to be saved and be in heaven with Christ. Being there without everyone else won’t be heaven. It would be hell. If you think the heat of summer is bad, you don’t know the heat of hell, and there is no shade tree in hell.
