Fools for Christ’s sake

We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonoured! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labour, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. – 1 Corinthians 4.10-13

I was recently given a book by my friend Geoff, who is an atheist. He had read it and wanted my perspective as a Christian. I am about half way through it and am thoroughly intrigued by it. The book seeks to express the 'problems' that Christianity forces atheists to deal with. I read this section just yesterday. The author is pointing out how the world perceived the early church.

‘Christians were—what could be more obvious?—enemies of society, impious, subversive, and irrational; and it was no more than civic prudence to detest them for refusing to honour the gods of their ancestors, for scorning the common good, and for advancing the grotesque and shameful claim that all gods and spirits had been made subject to a crucified criminal from Galilee—one who during his life had consorted with peasants and harlots, lepers and lunatics.'  (Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies by David Bentley Hart)

I think the reference does a good job of describing just how Christians are seen a fools for Christ's sake.

But no matter how we are seen it is how we respond that makes a difference. 'Bring reviled, we bless; being persecuted we endure; being defamed we entreat.' This impact this had from the start was profound. A example, from the same book - 'Even the emperor Julian, who was all too conscious of the hypocrisies of which Christians were often capable, was forced to lament, in a letter to a pagan priest, “It is a disgrace that these impious Galilaeans care not only for their own poor but for ours as well.”'

As long as we live for Christ we will be seen as foolish in the world’s eyes. But, as strange as it might sound, there is an appeal in our ‘foolishness.’ When we love our enemies and care for their poor it makes no sense. When we respond to reviling with blessing it makes no sense. When we respond to persecution with patient endurance it seems foolish. When we respond to defamation with calling for good it seems crazy.

The Corinthians Paul was writing to counted themselves as wise. They thought they had it all figured out. They had found a way to be culturally relevant. They were distinguished, the apostles were dishonoured. The apostles were the filth and the scum of the world while the Corinthian Christians were honoured by the world.

There is a terrible tendency in the church today to seek to be culturally relevant. The church wants to fit in. Can you imagine a church sign today saying ‘Come in and join the scum of the world’ or ‘Come in and join the fools?’

The book I am reading makes the point that the early church made a difference, not because they fit in, but because they were different. It was, as the author describes it, a ‘Christian revolution’ but it was a revolution not of guns, but of love and peace and charity and giving.

Are we willing to join the fools, the filth, and the scum to live for Christ?