Decently and in order

I am one of those people who have a keen sense for order. Everything done in the proper sequence; everything in order and in its place (except my office at home).

It could be my distinct INTJ personality, or that maybe I am OCD (although some may think I am just ODD, but that’s another story). Whatever it is, order – proper sequence, organization, and procedure – is important to me. Very important.

That observed, it is fair to say that I get out of sorts when everything else is. Disorder and chaos make me tense and uneasy and unable to rest.

It’s safe to say we live in a world of chaos. A quick glance at your favorite news website will yield news of confusion and disorder. Terrorists forcing a religion of violence through intimidation, same-sex couples changing the way we have always understood marriage, and upheavals in healthcare, government, and world events. The past year we have seen a deadly disease practically decimate three nations, and send the rest of the world into panic. We are nervous over the Islamic state and North Korea. We are overwhelmed with the flood of people who no longer want to wait for the bureaucrats to stamp their green card. We are, as described in one of my favorite bedtime prayers, “wearied by the changes and chances of this life” and we need grace to rest in God’s “eternal changelessness.”

We live in a world where we really don’t know what to believe or expect anymore. Oncoming generations don’t like the way their forebears do things, so they, on the fly, recreate the rules of life and morality. They make bold fashion statements. They don’t want to conform to anyone’s norm but in the process create a new norm to which to conform. It seems that order is lost and no one knows how to find it.

Yet Paul the apostle rises this morning to remind us along with the Corinthians that God wants everything done “with dignity and in the proper order.” In the immediate context he speaks of certain practices in worship, but from the forgoing we know he is addressing other issues that had gotten out of hand.

The church in Corinth, like the city in which it was located, was in a state of chaos. Corinth the city was a crossroads of trade and a clash of culture. People from all over the known world brought their business, their religions, and their values to Corinth. All this brought great pressure on the believers in the fledgling church to conform. Made up of a handful of Jews and God-fearers from the synagogue, combined with converts from pagan fertility cults, the church was a train wreck of idea and practice.

The issues Paul addresses, which we will look at in subsequent weeks, makes it clear they had lost their way. There was no common history, no tradition, no clear guidance. Most of them were new to the faith and were not grounded in it. In short, they were in chaos.

God is not a God of disorder but of peace, Paul reminds. At creation he brooded over the chaos and brought order in six sequential steps that resulted in a creation he ultimately pronounced good.

So what exactly is order? The Greek word means decree, sequence, and arrangement. It suggests a certain way to do things based on a higher authority. The biblical Hebrew understanding runs deeper. The Bible understands order as the way God intended it, the way it was at the beginning. At the beginning God presided over chaos and brought it into order.

Then he turned things over to us and we promptly created chaos. James tells us disorder comes from jealousy and selfish ambition, and that is exactly what happened in the garden when the serpent enticed Eve to eat forbidden fruit and turn things upside down. It all boils down to their rebellion against established authority.

Through Jesus Christ God is seeking to restore order. Jesus lived to show us order, and then died to make it possible.

A group of Pharisees wanted to reinterpret the law of marriage and quickie-divorce and asked Jesus for help. Jesus noted the hardness of their heart (jealousy and selfish ambition) and referred them to God’s original intention. From the beginning.

To find and reestablish order we must look to the beginning, to what God originally intended when he brooded over the chaos and through six successive events spoke order into existence and stepped back to call it good. We need somehow to find what God calls good. We need to come under God’s authority instead of creating our own.

In other words, we need to work as God’s agents to establish the kingdom here on earth. The kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The kingdom not of power but Spirit. The kingdom that is everlasting and transcendent above all kingdoms. Jesus points us back to God’s design with the good news of God’s kingdom.

To do that we must be willing to set aside our preferences, our opinions, and our agendas. It is God’s kingdom, not ours. We must be willing to search out the truth, and apply it no matter the sacrifice. We must choose to live under his authority. We must be willing, committed followers of Jesus Christ, crucified with him that we may live for him.

Let everything be done in proper order.

1 Corinthians 14:40