I
Corinthians 3:10-23
In
the 1600’s, Jesuit missionaries in China were allowing converts to take part in
Confucian ceremonies honoring their ancestors, when Franciscan missionaries who
had just come onto the scene were appalled and declared that they were
tolerating idolatry. They objected to
the language that was being used to describe God in Mandarin, and to some of
the decorations that appeared in the chapels and to the way that the Jesuits
were dressing and to the way they let their beards grow so that they looked
like traditional Chinese scholars. The
Franciscans charged them with twisting Christianity into something that looked
less like a great cathedral and more like the set of Seussical the Musical. Eventually
the whole business was appealed to the pope, who condemned the practices, which
set off the Chinese emperor, who asked what business some barbarian thousands
of miles away had telling his subjects what they were or were not allowed to
do. The emperor then tossed, or tried to
toss, the missionaries out. A few stayed
and went underground, but most had to go.[1]
Those people had
traveled halfway around the world by ship and by foot to share the gospel. They had struggled to learn languages totally
alien to Western ears and then to master the classics of its literature. They had put their hearts into getting to
know a land totally foreign to them in order to share with its people the matters
closest to their own hearts. Expelled
from that country, how could they not have wondered every day for the rest of
their lives what had happened to the believers that they had had to leave
behind.
“Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver,
precious stones, wood, hay, straw— the
work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because
it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each
has done.” [I Corinthians 3:12-13]
As it
turned out, that particular group of missionaries had made sure, during the time
that they had been there, that they were not themselves the message.
“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has
been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.” [I Corinthians 3:11]
They had seen to it that the
foundation they built on was Christ, and they had concentrated on speaking of
him, and showing that faith in him is open to all people. (That was sort of how they had gotten into
the tangle with the people who thought the faith always had to look European.) As a result, although they did not know how
things would go, when they left the country, the work of which they were a part
continued. Although they had
concentrated their own efforts on working with influential men, when they left,
it was carried on, largely by women, and often women of low standing, at
that.
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master
builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. [I Corinthians 3:10]
Many years later, other Christians,
mostly Protestants this time, would return, and find that Christianity had
preceded them.
A
hallmark of Christianity in China has been the legacy of the so-called “Chinese
Rites Controversy”: the house-church gathered around people who simply share
the gospel, person-to-person. Many
of us remember attempts that the Chinese government made under Mao-tse-tung to
wipe out religion of any kind. Nowadays,
the focus is on trying to establish official control of the Church by limiting private
gatherings for worship and study. A
report published last year by the China Aid Association tells how,
“For example, landlords
were pressured to terminate lease agreements with church members, church
members who had purchased real estate were unable to take possession of them,
church leaders were placed under house arrest and church members were
evicted—all of which was done to make it impossible for the house church to
operate normally so that it would eventually disband. According to the data
collected by Shouwang Church, ‘by September 2012, because they persisted in attending
outdoor worships services, members of Shouwang Church were detained 1,600 times
by either Domestic Security Protection agents in various districts [of Beijing]
or in more 90 different police stations across Beijing (for periods of several
hours to 48 hours). Sixty people were evicted from their homes and more than 10
people lost their jobs because they attended Shouwang Church’s outdoor worship
services or simply because they were Shouwang Church members; others were sent
back to their hometowns and some believers were confined to their homes on the
weekends.’”[2]
I really wish that we in the West
were as conscientious about building on Jesus in ways that enable people to
withstand the challenges that our own people face. Ours are completely different from theirs. Ours are not the challenges of standing up to
the status quo. Ours are the challenges
and temptations of having been the Establishment for so long. (We are not that anymore, by the way.) Like any established group, we are often
identified by our formal leaders and when they fail us (whether publicly or
privately) – and any human being will fail – the faith itself seems to take a
hit. Remember how Jim and Tammy Faye
Bakker mishandled money? Remember how
Oral Roberts began to show signs of dementia on the air? Remember how Richard Nixon tried to use Billy
Graham to give him the appearance of respectability at the depths of the
Watergate scandal? What about all the
clergy who have abused minors, and those who have covered it up? Don’t forget Paul’s warning to the
Corinthians:
“So let no one boast about human leaders.” [I Corinthians 3:21]
Don’t build on the professionals. Build on faith in Christ, and him alone. Don’t build on human traditions, whether that
means styles of worship or music or meeting places. Don’t build on specific ways of
organization. All of these are means to
an end, which is to share Christ. Build on faith in him and him alone. Build with trust that his Spirit is within
all his people, everywhere.
“For all things are yours, whether Paul or
Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the
future—all belong to you, and you
belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.” [I Corinthians 3:21-23]
[1] A
good summary of the Jesuit mission to China and the ensuing “Chinese Rites
Controversy” is found in Diarmaid MacCulloch, Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (New York: Viking,
2009), 706 ff.
[2]
China Aid Association, “2012 Annual Report: Chinese Government Persecution
of Christians and Churches in Mainland
China” (Midland, Texas: China Aid, USA, 2013), 4. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_YUgSyiG6aIWUpXdWwtWVJWb00/edit
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