The scum of the earth

July 1, 2021 (Thursday)

 

Welcome to the middle of the year! Kind of hard to imagine the year flying by as fast as it has. I don’t know what kind of year you have been having, but it is nice to see our church cutting against the current of what seems to be happening in other churches. I’d like to personally thank everyone for their efforts to be in church. May God bless you!!!

 

Life will not always go our way. Life can be discouraging. Paul had a counter-intuitive way of dealing with difficulties and difficult people. “When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.” [1 Corinthians 4:12b – 13 ESV] This was written in context of ignorant and arrogant people saying stupid things. Let’s break it down.

 

Revile essentially means to insult. Okay, it goes beyond that to abusive. You’ve heard “sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me?” The thing about bones is, they heal. Words, on the other hand, and shape or haunt us our entire lives. One of the tragedies we are watching is bullying. Not all of it is physical, thanks to social media. Paul’s strategy when being verbally abused is to bless.

 

Paul then tackles persecution. I think he’s talking about attitude and words in this context. Outright persecution has historically been awesome for church growth. Yet, there is a more subtle form of persecution that comes from social marginalization and stigma. It feels like it you intend to live a holy life in today’s world, you are going to face criticism from drones, character attacks, and cancerous opinion. Just make sure it is because of Jesus, not something like politics.

 

Slander is a venomous word. While revile means we are abused, slander means we face malicious and false statements. Here’s the thing, there are times when I wonder if we do not earn and deserve the malice. Seriously how many Christians have ever said or done something that they shouldn’t? Unfortunately, these stains become stereotypes. Racism is stereotype. Ironic how people who say they hate racism use stereotypes so readily.

 

The final image of what the world is going to think of the Christian is “scum of the world” and “refuse of all things.” The Greek word translated “scum” is only used once in the New Testament. The word is not used often in ancient Greek culture, suggesting it might not be a polite word. Technically this was a worthless person, someone fit only for human sacrifice. (Yes, the ancient Greeks practices human sacrifice.)

 

Being “refuse” is a reinforcement of the idea of “scum.” This is “garbage.” Let’s face it, in America Christians have lived a privileged existence unknown in much of history and the world. We have not had to face much in context to history or the world. Ask survivors of communist governments. Talk to people facing anti-conversion laws that end in the death penalty. In Paul’s day, Christians were tossed to the wild animals and killed in other ways for general entertainment.

 

Those were the “good old days.” Those were the days when believing in Christ meant a genuine risk of life. Those were the days when people who stood for Christ were real, instead of casual. I wonder if our churches would be so concerned with the church growth philosophies and programs if survival was an issue. I am thankful for our fading freedoms… but…

 

I wonder what it would be like, if the church was about Jesus; not building, bodies, and budgets.