How's My Living?

March 5, 2000

2 Corinthians 3:1-6

The church at Corinth

was a house-based church of people

who worked very hard at getting along with each other.

But, as in any relationship or group,

they had problems.

Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth,

what we know as 1 Corinthians,

sought to address some of this difficulty

by offering a larger vision of what it meant

to live in community,

in relationship with each other.

Perhaps the best know passage from the bible

is from this letter,

from 1 Corinthians 13:1-13,

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,

but have not love,

I am only a resounding gong

or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy

and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,

and if I have a faith that can move mountains,

but have not love,

I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor

and surrender my body to the flames,

but have not love,

I gain nothing.

Love is patient,

love is kind.

It does not envy,

it does not boast,

it is not proud.

It is not rude,

it is not self-seeking,

it is not easily angered,

it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil

but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects,

always trusts,

always hopes,

always perseveres.

Love never fails.

But where there are prophecies,

they will cease;

where there are tongues,

they will be stilled;

where there is knowledge,

it will pass away.

For we know in part

and we prophesy in part,

but when perfection comes,

the imperfect disappears.

When I was a child,

I talked like a child,

I thought like a child,

I reasoned like a child.

When I became a man,

I put childish ways behind me.

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror;

then we shall see face to face.

Now I know in part;

then I shall know fully,

even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain:

faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

This is a song...

these are the notes your relationship must hit

if it is to be harmonious.

but more was needed.

to address several specific problems in the community.

Read 2 Corinthians 3:1-6

"How's My Driving?

Call 1-800-U CAN TELL"

Tailgated by an 18 wheeler?

Almost sideswiped by a weaving tanker?

Cut off by a tour bus

barreling down the highway

at 80 miles per hour?

Apart from yelling a few choice words and shaking your fist,

and teaching those in the car with you

about a new side of you...

there is not much you can do,

assuming you wish to control your own road rage.

That is, unless the guilty vehicle

is one of the half-million trucks and busses

with a "How's My Driving?" bumper sticker on the back.

In this case,

you can dial the 1-800 number and tattle,

or at least you can vent.

The 800 number connects you to

one of several companies

created over the past decade

to field such complaints.

They have names like

Drivers Check, Drivers Alert, and Fleetsafe.

Call and an operator will take your report.

"You say he cut you off at the rest stop?"

"You were driving at 75 miles per hour and he passed you?"

"Exactly which finger did he wave?"

Companies like Fleetsafe

collect about 1,000 calls each week,

fax the reports to the individual companies,

and then assume the companies will dole out suitable consequences --

anything from

a safe driving refresher course to

a black mark on the driver's "permanent record."

Eighty to 90 percent of all truck drivers

never receive a single complaint.

Some even receive compliments via the 1-800 number.

But identifying unsafe drivers

is the point of this business,

and drivers with consistent problems can be fired.

We can expect to see more and more "How's My Driving?" decals

as insurance companies increasingly require them,

companies need them

and travelers appreciate them.

As Paul traveled from Corinth to Galatia and back again,

complaints about him piled up from the anti-Paul movement --

rival evangelists,

typically Jewish-Christians

insisting that Gentiles converting to Christianity

should follow Jewish ritual practices

in addition to following Jesus.

These opponents monitored Paul with great enthusiasm.

At issue was not Paul's safety record,

nor was it his rudeness --

even though he always could stand a refresher course in humility.

The word on the street from his opponents was that

he just did not conduct himself like a true-enough apostle.

he insisted that turning one's life to follow Jesus

was sufficient to be welcomed into the body of Christ.

Paul was too wooden,

not polished enough,

an unremarkable servant.

As far as his opponents were concerned,

Paul could be reached at

1-800-THOROUGHLY UNIMPRESSIVE.

he was uninteresting,

BORING,

a religious Al Gore.

Like a political candidate with many sound ideas

but little stirring rhetoric,

Paul often spoke the truth

without glitter and glitz.

to those who had heard about the Jesus of miracles.

Close monitors of Paul complained that

his reconciliation sermons could use some fresh material.

Paul's talk about the new covenant

was making obsolete those traditional checklists
for evaluating the degree to which his preaching "worked"

or was "successful".

Had Paul worn a decal asking

"How's My Living?"

his opponents would have reported

"weak," "ineffectual".

But Paul's response is surprising.

Paul never invited such monitoring

by sticking a "How's My Living?" decal

to his back in the first place.

Were such a decal even available to Paul,

he never would have worn one.

If he actually could have worn any decal at all,

Paul most likely would have chosen one

in keeping with those truckers who protest being monitored

by displaying

"How's My Driving?

Call 1-800-BUZZ OFF".

Paul asked the Corinthians,

"Surely we do not need,

as some do,

letters of recommendation

to you or from you,

do we?"

Here Paul was at his robust best,

making his point with the supreme confidence of

posing a question that already contained the answer --

and strongly in his favor!

Clearly, he was stoked --

but where'd he get such confidence?

Paul was fueled by the certain belief that

he was commended by God

through the power of the life-giving Spirit.

How was Paul living

as far as he was concerned?

Just fine, thank you very much --

yet just fine precisely because of his confidence

not in himself,

but in the new covenant

and the Spirit of the living God working in him.

Thus Paul was not overly anxious about what

his opponents thought of him.

Only God's recommendation concerned Paul.

But how were the Corinthians doing?

Paul wanted to make sure they were not fixating

on the old covenant and checklists.

In those dawning days Y-0-K,

travelers to new regions carried letters of recommendation with them.

These were documents from friends and upstanding citizens

vouching for one's good name and character.

As far as Paul was concerned,

there was no reason to make a big deal

about your family friend writing a glowing recommendation.

So, you whipped it out of your pocket

to introduce yourself to the Beautiful People

of your new community,

which then gave you the opportunity to praise your friend

who wrote the recommendation in the first place.

Oh, please!

What a bowl of self-serving slop.

Paul reiterated to his good friends the Corinthians that

the only recommendation that mattered came from God.

by the work of the Holy Spirit,

the Corinthians were themselves

Christ's letters of recommendation.

"Don't you realize that you are

the letters of recommendation?

The way you live

according to the new covenant

in the Spirit of the risen Christ

is more telling than any ink and papyrus tribute

or checklist conjured up by your buddies."

So, how about us?

Through the advance of technology,

ink and papyrus have given way to

faxes and e-mail.

But, frankly,

more than we care to admit,

we find it difficult to progress beyond

worrying about complying with worldly tributes and checklists.

Paul had been pegged a loser

by rivals who disliked his manner and his theology,

but he plugged along with his plan to

spread the gospel

throughout the Roman Empire anyway,

caring only what God thought about him.

What about us?

Do we care what everyone is saying about us?

collecting letters of recommendation?

Positive reviews?

The affection of those

who can give us something in return?

How's our living?

Is it "just fine, thank you very much"?

Sometimes, the proper response to criticism

is to blow it off.

Blow it off.

We have forgotten how to ignore criticism

and stay the course we believe God has laid before us.

As we vie to perfect our resumes,

as we ambitiously generate and collect sparkling references,

as we set up lives that appear to be

"just fine, thank you very much,"

Paul at his finest would be the first to remind us that

there are some complaints which actually do warrant our attention.

For while the world at large may see

what we want to be seen...

in fact, I think most of us are quite adept

at keeping the mask up...

but God sees what is in us.

Paul reminds us that God monitors us ...

and his is the only monitoring that matters.

"How's My Living?" --

What if we transferred this question inward

to be inscribed on our hearts?

If you want a most accurate measure of your faith

ask that question...

how is your living?

to take us to a deeper awareness
that God watches us very closely in our daily travels,

checks our actions,

and notices our attitudes

lest we emulate the average cranky trucker

with a late shipment --

or opponent of Paul with a checklist?

As our world becomes increasingly obsessed

with all that glitters and impresses,

Paul reminds us that

God is not impressed with anything other than

a change of heart

and subsequently,

a change of life.

God knows exactly how we are living.

And God is interested in getting us into right living.

And let's be clear,

the God I've come to know

is not vengeful and punishing,

finding me when I'm puzzled and hurting and saying,

"Yeah, the life thing...

well, you're pretty awful at it."

I think God works a different way.

"I don't know how you do this job,"

the girl says.

"It would be scary."

"Yeah,"

the man says.

"Some individuals are really scared."

"Don't you get scared?"

she asks.

"Naw,"

he says.

"It's not in my vocabulary."

"What if I swerved?"

"I would grab the wheel and bring it back over."

His tone is comforting.

In fact, Patrick Norris, driving instructor,

has just done this.

Meghan Huggins, 16,

novice driver and sophomore at Keokuk High,

had wandered over the line,

and the instructor's left hand --

with a calm, quick flick --

had corrected the mistake.

He hadn't scolded, berated, panicked --

had simply asked gently:

"What are you doing over there?

Aren't you watching the lines?"

His attitude seems to be that

it is the job of novice drivers to

make mistakes, be corrected, learn.

Indeed, with nothing more said,

Meghan drove for the next hour

without again crossing the line.

Throughout, Mr. Norris maintained --

much like a psychologist,

and quite unlike many nervous parents --

an unwavering positive regard for his student.

"Easy,"

he would coach.

"Slow up ...

gentle ...

keep your foot on the brake ....

good job...

I feel safe with you behind the wheel...

excellent!"

I want to read to you a piece of a book.

It's about a man who has ALS (Lou Gehrigs disease) and is dying,

and his former student who comes to visit weekly.

"The new year came and went.

Although he never said it to anyone,

[Professor Morrie Schwartz] knew this would be

the last year of his life.

He was using a wheelchair now,

and he was fighting time

to say all the things he wanted to say

to all the people he loved.

When a colleague at Brandeis died suddenly of a heart attack,

Morrie went to his funeral.

He came home depressed.

"What a waste,"

he said.

"All those people saying all those wonderful things,

and Irv never got to hear any of it."

Morrie had a better idea.

He made some calls.

He chose a date.

And on a cold Sunday afternoon,

he was joined in his home by a small group of friends and family

for a "living funeral."

Each of them spoke and paid tribute to my old professor.

Some cried.

Some laughed.

One woman read a poem ....

Morrie cried and laughed with them.

And all the heartfelt things we never get to say

to those we love,

Morrie said that day.

His "living funeral"

was a rousing success."

--Mitch Albom, Tuesdays With Morrie (New York: Doubleday, 1997), 12-13.

Our scripture reading reads,

Clearly, you are a letter from Christ prepared by us,

written not with pen and ink,

but with the spirit of the living God.

It is carved not on stone, but on human hearts.

We are confident of all this

because of our great trust in God through Christ.

It is not that we think we can do anything of lasting value by ourselves.

Our only power and success come from God. (vs. 4-5)

The problem Paul was addressing for the community

was insecurity...

he was saying you cannot be insecure

and be in community.

because you are trying to meet your needs

and sapping them to fill yourself.

Be in contact with God,

be a creation of the living God,

and be secure.