A Striking Example of Patience

“For who ever dwelt even for a short time among you, and did not find your faith to be as fruitful of virtue as it was firmly established? Who did not admire the sobriety and moderation of your godliness in Christ? Who did not proclaim the magnificence of your habitual hospitality? And who did not rejoice over your perfect and well-grounded knowledge? For you did all things without respect of persons, and walked in the commandments of God, being obedient to those who had the rule over you, and giving all fitting honour to the presbyters among you. You enjoined young men to be of a sober and serious mind, you instructed your wives to do all things with a blameless, becoming, and pure conscience, loving their husbands as in duty bound; and you taught them that, living in the rule of obedience, they should manage their household affairs becomingly, and be in every respect marked by discretion.

Moreover, you were all distinguished by humility, and were in no respect puffed up with pride, but yielded obedience rather than extorted it, and were more willing to give than to receive. Content with the provision which God had made for you, and carefully attending to His words, you were inwardly filled with His doctrine, and His sufferings were before your eyes. Thus a profound and abundant peace was given to you all, and you had an insatiable desire for doing good, while a full outpouring of the Holy Spirit was upon you all. Full of holy designs, you did, with true earnestness of mind and a godly confidence, stretch forth your hands to God Almighty, beseeching Him to be merciful unto you, if you had been guilty of any involuntary transgression. Day and night you were anxious for the whole brotherhood, that the number of God’s elect might be saved with mercy and a good conscience. You were sincere and uncorrupted, and forgetful of injuries between one another. Every kind of faction and schism was abominable in your sight.” (Emphases mine)

If I told you that these words were written to one of the same churches as a New Testament letter, which church would you choose? Virtue, sobriety, moderation, women marked by discretion, a tender conscience and a hatred for any type of schism. That sounds like a model first century church, given the prevalence of opposing issues in the days of Paul. Maybe you might assume that it was written to the church in Philippi, after sorting out their minor differences. Or perhaps the Thessalonians who, even in their infancy, were “an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia”.

This stream of commendations, however, flows to another region. Written about 40 years after the first letters of Paul, these words from Clement of Rome were sent to the church in Corinth! Clement is writing to the Corinthians to address some disputes that had arisen amongst the believers.

There is much that could be said about this letter, but to me the most striking thing is the way in which Clement opens the letter as quoted above. He praises the Corinthians for all the above virtues, which he claims are known by anyone who has even stayed but a short time amongst them. The incredible thing is that this list of virtues contrasts perfectly with the list of vices about which Paul wrote, wept about, and grieved.

A church that once looked just like their culture was now, in one generation, transformed:

• Eating and getting drunk before the Lord’s supper had given way to sobriety and moderation.
• Those in danger of being “puffed up” with knowledge rather than love were known for perfect and well-grounded knowledge, and in no respect puffed up with pride.
• Utter indifference to sin in the church had been replaced with a tender conscience that sought the Lord’s mercy even for involuntary transgression.
• Women causing issues in the church were now marked with discretion.
• Those who would sue other believers became forgetful of injuries between one another.
• And perhaps most striking of all is that “schism” had become an abominable word to them. (Perhaps indicating how our greatest sins often become the most impressionable on our conscience as we grow.)

Oh, how Paul’s heart had been broken. Oh, how he carried the burden of care for Corinth. Oh, the pain he felt on their account. But like the Sower in Psalm 126, he cast out his seeds with tears, expecting to reap with joy. Clement later refers to him as a “striking example of patience”, because of his work among the churches. One day, joy. But in his present ministry, tears.

Did Paul ever begin to hear of slow changes in Corinth during his lifetime? Was he privileged to see the shoots of green popping out of that spiritually barren church? We don’t know, but what we do know is this; he was patient. He sowed and sowed because he expected that one day, long after he was gone, there would be a church there who were a model of Christian witness.

I am reminded of a story of a missionary in Mongolia, who after a couple of years on the field packed it in. The reasons he gave were that the church in which he was ministering was “full of unbelievers and false converts, with drunkenness and sexual immorality everywhere” and nothing was progressing with them. A member of his sending organisation contacted an older worker in the area and asked him what was going on. The veteran’s reply was, “his problem is that he has never seen a first-generation church.”

I know of a church that was decaying from certain forms of apathy. I hadn’t much hope for them beyond the present generation. But then I began to hear small indications of something afoot among them, whispers of spring-time growth. It was painful for them, and a number left the church at that time, but it was revitalised, and soon there was an incredible student ministry happening among them.

I think of individual campers, who, during their first years, are a handful. They drive the leaders insane. Then to see them give testimony several years later, having grown and matured naturally, but also spiritually. The labour of sowing is hard, but the growth comes eventually.

Paul never saw the full fruit of his labour in the Corinthians. The long, painful days of sowing that he spent on them may have seem wasted. But the promise of Holy Spirit growth is certain. Was it not to the Corinthians themselves that Paul wrote “Your labour is not in vain in the Lord”? From a worldly point of view, we look at the failure of New Year’s resolutions, self-help programs and many other methods of improvement in life, and wonder is change ever possible. And yet it is. Not by might, nor by power, but by steady sowing, and Holy Spirit miracle-gro. I’m sure Paul’s rejoicing in heaven was great when that next generation was presented before the Lord.

We would do well to follow this striking example of patience. The epilogue to the Corinthian story is the proof of the pudding.