Running from Church Problems
by Richard Blackford
When a church has problems, the first inclination is to run from it and find a perfect congregation that doesn’t have problems. I know that feeling. I’ve had it too. Of course, honesty compels us to admit that this is the easy way out. “After all, my nerves just can’t take it.”
When the apostle Paul saw the church at Corinth with all of its problems, he didn’t run from it. He ran toward it to “put the fire out.”
I used to wonder why God put First Corinthians in the Bible. Who wants to read about church problems? The more I study it, the more I see how incomplete the Bible would be without it. It is nothing short of a masterpiece, and chapter thirteen is a masterpiece within a masterpiece – an oasis, a goldmine! It is a favorite passage of many, often read at weddings.
If Paul had run from the problems at Corinth, we would be without First Corinthians thirteen and many other jewels contained in the book. Ponder that. It’s not so much about church problems as it is about solving them. Every church can see itself mirrored in one or more of its problems. We learn how painstakingly patient Paul was and how much care he had for his brothers and sisters in Corinth.
The love Paul writes about to the Corinthians is the love he had for them. This is how he could discuss their problems and lead them to the solution. This is how he could persevere. We see both tenderness and scolding, patience and rebuking, praising and shaming as Paul pours himself out on their behalf.
Paul was about keeping brethren united. Not only was he about solving problems rather than running from them, but he also encouraged others to do the same. “I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel,…” (Philippians 4:2-3). There is no indication that Paul thought any of the Corinthians should run, and no record that any of them did. In that, the “awful” church at Corinth puts us to shame.
I wonder if Jesus or Paul ever said, “My nerves are shot. I can’t take any more of this.” Did Jesus say that from the cross? Surely, if neither Jesus nor Paul ever entertained that idea, then we should be able to handle challenges far less than those they faced.
Should we run from problems? To say the least, that should be our last resort when all other efforts have failed. What did Paul say? What would Jesus do? “Be ye imitators of me as I also am of Christ” (I Corinthians 11:1). Paul told us what Jesus would do. How do we measure up? Paul did not abandon the Corinthian church when they were going through hard times. By teaching us to follow his example, he showed that you don’t have to be an apostle to care about the welfare of a congregation. Paul also said, “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you” (Philippians 4:9).
