Are Christians Normal? (1 Corinthians 2.1-16)

Sermon by: Robert Austell
April 20, 2008
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In our church play, “Emilia’s Gift,” Emilia is teased for being different – for not being “normal.” She has a good imagination and has imaginary friends and the other kids can’t see her imagination for the special gift that it is. Through the course of the play, she struggles with being normal and fitting in, until she accepts her own creativity as God’s special gift to her.

I imagine there is something each of us can relate to in Emilia’s character. Part of growing up is learning the careful balance between fitting in socially and accepting the things that make us unique.

On a spiritual level, this struggle can be even more profound, particularly in a culture increasingly hostile to Christian faith.

Expelled

The movie Expelled opened this weekend. We talked about it last Wednesday night and will again this coming Wednesday night at Bible study. The film depicts the struggle between two approaches to science: Darwinian evolution and intelligent design. But the film isn’t primarily about the validity of one or the other, but about the way intelligent design scholars are being denied a seat at the academic table. Because their science points to something bigger than and beyond the material world, they are dismissed as superstitious wackos. It’s not a matter of saying, “Here’s where your science is flawed,” but basically of saying, “You’re not normal and can’t associate with us.”

In many ways, it’s a tragic replay of what happens in the lunchroom at school. Because the “in-crowd” determines some not to be normal, they are ostracized and not allowed at the table.

The makers of the film are not so much trying to push an alternative scientific approach as appealing to freedom of speech and ideas and warning about the dangers of limiting these freedoms.

Your Own Experience

I wonder if you have experienced Christian faith as “normal” or “abnormal.” At one point in our culture, particularly in the South, Christianity or some version of it was accepted as normal. Not to belong to a church or attend church on Sunday was abnormal. But increasingly this is not the case. Certainly to be involved beyond the Sunday worship service is not the norm any more. Sports leagues and other extracurricular activities used to be planned around Sundays and Wednesdays, but now practices and games are set right in the middle of those times, even at 11:00 on Sunday morning.

Businesses were once closed on Sundays. Truett Cathy’s legacy at Chic-Fil-A is one of the only businesses nationally that seem to diligently follow that practice any more. Many of you are not only asked, but expected, to work not only into family time but into the Lord’s Day.

Increasingly, there is pressure to keep matters of faith personal. Faith is fine as long as you keep it to yourself. But dare to share it with another, particularly at school or work, and the social consequences (from others, not the one you are sharing with!) can be intense.

But here’s the question: is Christian faith normal? What is going on with us who trust in and follow Jesus Christ? Do we have a mental deficiency? Are we insane? Do we just march to the beat of a different drummer? Are we social outcasts and misfits?

Is Christian Faith Normal?

Consider what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2. He is describing not only his method of teaching in the sophisticated Greek culture in Corinth, but the reception he and the believers there would receive.

First, he describes his message. Simply put, it is “to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” (v. 2) He does not come to debate Greek philosophy. He is not depending on his own oratory or charisma, but on the message. It’s not about him; it’s about Jesus. One practical reason for this is so that the local believers’ faith “would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” (v. 5)

Then, he describes the source of this message. It is not one that he or any human being invented. He speaks of “things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man.” (v. 9) He is not saying that no one saw Jesus, but that God’s will, plan, and revelation, are not of human invention, but come from the mind and heart of God. Jesus is not a common man that some followers turned into a hero; he is the Son of God, chosen before the world was made to be God’s light to the world.

Paul describes God’s means of revelation: “For to us God revealed [these things] through the Spirit.” (v. 10) Paul’s argument is that only God could reveal God’s intentions to us. It is not something, curiously enough to the argument of Expelled, that we can discover through our own investigations. God is a self-revealing God and it is only through “the Spirit who is from God… that we may know the things freely given to us by God.” (v. 12) And it is only words of faith, “combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words,” that we can adequately talk about such things. (v. 13)

Finally, Paul gets to the punch line for our consideration of normalcy. In verse 14 he writes, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them.” This is because the things of God are only understood spiritually… by faith and by God’s Spirit.

So, the short answer to the question of normalcy is, “No, Christians are not normal.” But let’s also consider what that means.

What is Normal?

What is normal? Is it fitting in with the culture around us? Certainly that is the public definition. Majority rules and to be normal you have to fit in with the majority.

But is that biblical? Is that TRUTH?

What if our society turned to cannibalism? What if that became the norm? Would we want to be “normal?” More importantly, would God want us to be “normal?”

I chose what I hope is an obviously extreme example, but is this not the very kind of thing with which we struggle in our culture?

If the norm for American culture is to devalue the elderly, to abort babies, to perpetuate racism, to celebrate criminal behavior, or any other thing that runs counter to what God teaches, do we want to be normal?

The real challenge for Christians is choosing between the apparent comfort of fitting in to the culture that surrounds or the fair warning given by Jesus that following him will be difficult. Christianity is a counter-cultural thing. It does not involve fitting into anything other than God’s revealed will and design for humanity.

And that’s the bottom line. We shouldn’t ask whether we are normal, for that is a word describing one among the cultural crowd. We should be asking whether we are faithful, fulfilling God’s design for human life and for our lives.

The children’s story, The Ugly Duckling, illustrates this point well. In the story, the so-called ugly duckling was teased and ostracized for not being normal, but once he realized he wasn’t created to be a duck, he found his real purpose and understood just how beautiful he was… he was a swan.

There is a sense in which a faithful Christian can only be so “normal” – we are not made ultimately for this world, but for God’s Kingdom. We are witnesses and lights in this world, but we belong elsewhere. Our beauty and true normalcy are to be found in Christ alone, as we fulfill God’s design for us through following Jesus.

In our play, Emilia discovers this truth, as does her friend Jessie. May God give us ears to hear what His Spirit is saying to the Church. Amen.