If you haven’t read Part 1 or Part 2 yet, you might want to read those before reading the following.
Paul had a lot to say to the Corinthian church. Right off in 1 Corinthians 1 we see him castigating them over their divisions. The problem didn’t come from different people having different favorite teachers. They had fallen into elevating one teacher above another. They cared more about being on Team Paul or Team Apollos or even Team Jesus (which I assume in this context means they thought only their little group understood Jesus) than about following Jesus.
In that context, Paul made a startling statement.
I had made up my mind not to think about anything while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and to preach him as crucified. (1 Cor. 2:2, CEB)
It’s startling because Paul not only had the equivalent of a Ph.D. in theology, but he actually did a lot of preaching and writing about deep theological ideas. We understand this as hyperbole to make a point about the centrality of Jesus Christ and his crucifixion. That is, all theology revolves around and points to this one fact.
If we’re following his lead, then, it doesn’t mean we literally never talk about anything else, but without that, nothing else matters.
Paul’s concern about division ran throughout the whole letter, and so I think we can see his solution for such division centered on this idea: keep Jesus in the center. It doesn’t render other concerns inconsequential, but it does make them secondary.
That’s why the emphasis in Thriving in Exile will stay on what joins us together in the family of followers of Jesus instead of on what divides us. Division happens when we care more about our positions than our relationships, more about being right than with being connected.
Hebrews 12:1-2 emphasizes this same point.
So then, with endurance, let’s also run the race that is laid out in front of us, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let’s throw off any extra baggage, get rid of the sin that trips us up, and fix our eyes on Jesus, faith’s pioneer and perfecter. He endured the cross, ignoring the shame, for the sake of the joy that was laid out in front of him, and sat down at the right side of God’s throne.
Get it? Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus. We won’t ignore other matters, but let’s keep the main thing the main thing. He didn’t come so that we could just grind out this life; he lived, died, and rose from the dead so that we might have life.
The thief enters only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest. (John 10:10)
That doesn’t mean fancy cars, big houses, and big salaries. It means life with all its wonderful shades, even in the middle of a broken world. It’s for eternal life—and, by the way, eternity means “without beginning or end,” so we’re already in eternity. It’s just a question of whether we’ll be connected to God, and that’s why Jesus came.
Peace.