New Thoughts (7/21/02)
There are two thoughts I wish to consider at the end of this passage. First, it occurs to me that Paul's reasoning in sending his letter to Rome with Phoebe was not much different than his reasoning in collecting a Gentile offering to send to Jerusalem. In both cases, he seems to be doing his utmost to chisel away at the cultural divisions, he was challenging the accepted order of things.
I noted way back at the beginning of this study that Phoebe presented Rome with an opportunity to practice the unity that this letter preaches. Looking again, I would say it was not so much an opportunity as a necessity. Paul was doing his best to gently force them into doing the right thing by Phoebe. In doing so, they would be facing in their own actions a strong argument against the perceived division between male and female. In Christ there is no male and female, but in the Church, even to this day, the difference remains.
It remains a matter of doctrinal debate in many churches, whether women can serve in the pastorate, whether they can serve in any official way. In all these cases, Paul's comments on women in the congregation being silent and submissive are brought out as proof. Yet these verses seem to stand at odds with both his teaching in other places, and his example. If his intent was to keep women in this lower social place, why are so many of his praised coworkers women? Why is he establishing churches in their homes? Why is he arranging requirements of office for them as well as for men?
It doesn't add up. It seems far more likely that we've missed some undercurrent specific to the church at Corinth which was being addressed in his other comments. Perhaps, much like our church, they were a particularly boisterous congregation. Perhaps, much like us, they needed some reminders of due order on occasion. Perhaps it's a question that will never be resolved in this current age. This being the case, the message of Romans applies: let those who abstain accept those who don't; let those who don't not despise those who do.
Paul's contribution to Jerusalem was much the same kind of effort. It was possible that the Church there would insist on its separation from the Gentiles, even to the point of harm. It was possible that they might prefer to go hungry than to accept the love of their brothers in Christ. Possible, but not likely. Paul's hope was that love would win them over. Love has a way of doing that.
At present, our church remains in the process of occupying our new home, a home shared with a Jewish congregation for whom it is their home of many decades. No, we don't hold joint services. Indeed, there is an insistence on very distinct separations. We are being presented with a possibility not unlike the one I suggested might have been needful in Corinth. We are being presented with a possibility of learning, or relearning, a bit of discipline, a bit of reverence that has been swallowed up in our liberty.
Liberty in worship is a critical thing, but it is also a somewhat dangerous thing. "With liberty comes responsibility," as somebody once said. We lose sight of that responsibility all to easily. In God's presence, we can never allow liberty to slide over the line into presumption. We need that sense of the Holy, that awe of the things that are God's. We need to look at the seriousness with which our cohabitants view the holiness of God's house, and reflect on the fact that we are God's house. The same care and concern they show for His building, His day, His service is the care we should be showing for our ways, our example, our lives.
We are a temple of living stone. Yet, we tend to get so caught up in the grace, in the liberty of the sons of God, that we forget our responsibilities as a temple. We forget that we are emissaries of the Most High God. As His emissaries, we are called to display the ways and habits of His kingdom before mankind. Love has a way of doing that. Love has a way of displaying before the eyes of the lost the 'more excellent' way.
We, as a church, are placed in a position of opportunity. Like the apostles in the days after Pentecost, like Paul with the Gentile contribution, we are placed in a position to minister by our very presence to God's Jewish children. For us, it is not an opportunity to proselytize, nor to bombard them with tracts. It is an opportunity for us to display our God and Savior in our lives and attitudes. If we are praying for them to quickly depart, to find another place to dwell, we are failing our Father miserably. If we are constantly pushing our rights, grasping our rights, forcing conflict, we are failing our Father miserably. Our purpose in this day must be to live God loudly in the presence of these observers, loudly yet respectfully. We can learn as well as we can teach in this situation.
What is exciting is the possibilities. In the beginning, the church was in the temple. This division we know was not known so fully. The coexistence was not comfortable, by any means. There was resistance in the ranks of tradition, but there was coexistence. Today, at least in our case, the church is back in the temple. Hopefully, in time, the division we sense so greatly now will diminish. Our coexistence is not comfortable by any means. There is resistance not only in the ranks of tradition, but in the ranks of liberty, but there is coexistence. Consider what God did then. In the account of Acts, we find that even the priests of the Temple were coming to faith (Ac 6:7). Can it be that God is moving in that direction again? Can it be that the time has come for his children to grow jealous, to desire what Daddy has given over to the Gentiles so long? Can it be the time that the prodigals come home?
Lord, if this is what You are doing, then how can we complain of any momentary trial we are dealing with in the course of this move. I pray, my God, that You would move sovereignly on the hearts of Your Gentile children to seek not the eviction of Your chosen ones, but rather their conversion, their inclusion. I pray, my God, that You would move sovereignly on Your children to seek only to show Your presence in Your house. I pray, also, indeed foremost, that You would bring Your chosen ones home, that as You have moved sovereignly on my own heart, You would move on theirs, that Your children might come back home, that the salvation that was of the Jews would be shown also to be salvation for the Jews.
Lord, this too, I see in the example of Phoebe. It was only fitting that she receive as good as she gave. Is this not true, also, of Your chosen? Unwittingly or not, they gave salvation to the world. Unwittingly or not, will You not now see that they receive of that same Salvation? I know it to be Your will that they return, for You have declared it Yourself? I pray that in some small way, You would allow me a part in that return. May Your glory be known on the earth by the mighty acts of Your arm in drawing Your whole family home again!
