On
Faith That Is Hard and Soft
Rev. Mark Porizky
1/8/2006
1
Corinthians 1:10-18
Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
You’ve
heard our country described as rich and poor, urban and rural, conservative
and liberal, Democrat and Republican, Red and Blue.
How
about Hard and Soft?
A political analyst named Michael
Barone has written a book called Hard
An example of Soft America is our
public school system. It’s filled with progressive values, including a
desire to promote the self-esteem of its students. Playground games that seem
to be too competitive and cruel, such as dodge ball, are banned in Soft
America. You remember how dodge ball was defined in the Ben Stiller comedy
last summer? It’s the sport of “violence, exclusion and degradation.”
Hard
Hard versus Soft. Competition
versus coddling. Whether you line up with one side or the other, I believe
that it’s a fair description of one of the divisions we face in
But how about the church? What’s
the condition of the Body of Christ in the world today? Can it be said that we
are split between Hard Faith and Soft Faith?
The
early Christian church certainly had its share of divisions, nowhere more
clearly than in
The Corinthian church was a
shattered Greek urn, lying in pieces on a cold stone floor. Some of the
members were swayed by brilliant rhetoric, others were influenced by
knowledge, others were impressed by spiritual gifts, and still others attached
importance to wealth and social status. There was sexual immorality in the
church – a man living with his father’s wife – and this behavior was
being tolerated by some (5:1-2). There were abuses at the Lord’s Supper,
with the rich arriving early and enjoying the very best food and drink, while
the poor arrived later and had only the leftovers to consume (
Were these pieces swept up and put
back together? I don’t think so. The church is still broken, as we face a
division between Hard Faith and Soft Faith in the 21st century. Those who
practice Hard Faith place an emphasis on the obligations of religious life,
and they appreciate moral clarity. If your faith is Hard, you are focused on
knowing God’s truth, keeping the Ten Commandments, and living a disciplined
life.
When
President George W. Bush speaks about his Christian commitment, he tends to
use the language of Hard Faith.
Those
who embrace Soft Faith, on the other hand, see religion as a liberation
movement. They tend to stress God's love for the oppressed of the earth, and
they focus on Christian charity. If your faith is Soft, you put emphasis on
experiencing God’s grace, keeping the commandments of Jesus to love God and
neighbor, and living a life that is open and receptive to new understandings.
When
former President Bill Clinton spoke of his faith I believe his words were an
example of a national leader speaking the language of Soft Faith.
Hard Faith is all about obligation, clarity, truth and discipline. Soft Faith is committed to liberation, charity, grace and openness. Please understand, I’m not talking right and wrong here, good and bad, because both sides are important to Christianity, both have deep roots in our Scripture and tradition, and both are necessary for a fully formed faith. But Hard and Soft perspectives create a very tricky tension – they exert a kind of magnetic pull on us as they draw us in opposite directions.
The
apostle Paul had a similar problem in
The
implication of Paul’s words are, “Of course not! That’s ridiculous.”
According
to Paul, the center of our Christian faith is always going to be Jesus Christ,
whether we are Hard or Soft. What unites us is always going to be more
powerful and all-embracing than what pulls us apart. The way for us to be
“united in the same mind and the same purpose” (v. 10) is to focus on
Jesus Christ, for he is the one who calls us to be one body of believers.
The
amazing thing about Jesus is that he is simultaneously Hard and Soft. The Hard
Jesus lays out the obligations of discipleship, and is clear about the
Christian way of life. He is devoted to the truth – in fact, he himself is
“the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) – and he asks his
disciples to be so disciplined that they actually deny themselves, take up
their crosses, and follow him.
You
simply cannot get any Harder than that.
At
the same time, Jesus is Soft. He liberates us from captivity to sin and death,
and challenges us to show Christian charity to the imprisoned, the hungry, and
the thirsty. He would no doubt approve of our special offering for Tsunami
relief. Jesus shows amazing grace to all who follow him in faith, receiving
with open arms the outcasts, the sinners, and the brokenhearted.
He
is a Soft, Soft Savior – no doubt about it.
What
we’ve got in Jesus is a Hard-Soft Savior.
The
apostle Paul knows this, which is why he calls for unity in the midst of
Christian diversity. He doesn’t expect the Corinthians to have identical
views and perspectives on all things, nor does he expect them to live out
their Christian faith in exactly the same way. But he does expect them to be
united in their determination to follow Jesus, and equally dependent on the
power of the “cross of Christ” (v. 17).
In
fact, Paul doesn’t want to do anything to distract people from the cross,
for it is the clearest possible symbol of Jesus’ sacrificial death and
life-giving resurrection. Paul doesn’t want to baptize or speak with
eloquence or do anything that might turn people away from the central image of
what God has done for us through Jesus.
The cross of Christ is what unites us, according to Paul. It is the perfect symbol of Hard Truth and Soft Grace.
So,
what does this mean to us today?
Hard
and Soft divisions are going to continue to plague us, but their existence
does not mean that we have to lose sight of the centrality of Jesus Christ.
Some of you will naturally practice a Hard Faith, and will be clear about your
beliefs, practices, Scriptures, and morals. But at the same time, some of you
will embrace a Soft Faith, and will show charity to others as you focus on
hospitality, inclusiveness, outreach projects, and unconditional love.
My
challenge to those of you who are being ordained as officers of the church
today is to keep this in mind. You’ll be working with people at Saint Andrew
Presbyterian who don’t always agree with how Soft you are, or how Hard you
are – just as they don’t always agree with where I stand.
But
you’ll be doing your work well if you remember that we are called to serve a
Savior who challenges us to practice both moral clarity and Christian charity; a
Savior who wants us to grow inwardly as we look outwardly. It isn’t being
faithful to Christ to go to one end or the other, and become too Hard ¼
or too Soft.
The
challenge for us is to be united in Christ, bound together in devotion to the
one who valued both Hard Truth and Soft Grace. Both are important if we’re
going to be faithful followers of a Hard-Soft Savior.
Will
you pray with me now?
St.
Andrew Presbyterian Church,
Web Site: SAPC-CT.HOME.ATT.NET
Office Email: SAPC-CT@ATT.NET
"Permission to use is granted provided use is not for publication."