How many of you, students and professors, have completed your first round of exams for the semester? How’d you do? When I first moved here I was amazed at the popularity of Fat Burger down the road.  Every night the parking lot seemed packed.  However, when I looked inside the burger joint there were not that many people.  It was then that I noticed the sign next door: “A⁺ Tutoring”.  Sometimes we need a tutor, especially when taking a new subject.

Today, we conclude our series of sermons entitled, “Fish Food for Everyone”.  The series is devoted to our nearly 10,000 fish, first year students, who have moved into our community.  I am guessing several of them have made their way to a tutor.  Of course, we know by now that it doesn’t take being a freshman to be encountering new experiences.  That’s why today I want to talk about Tutoring for a New Subject. 

The Apostle Paul was a teacher.  Thirteen New Testament books are attributed to him as the author.  No one gets as much press from this teacher/tutor than the church in Corinth.  They had some problems and may have been relegated to remedial Christianity, but Paul never gave up on them.  He wrote a lot to them.  I don’t have time to teach the entire subject, but I do believe that all that Paul taught the Corinthians can be summed up in two verses of scripture found in the last chapter of I Corinthians – I Corinthians 16:13-14. Hear now the Word of the Lord:

¹³Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. ¹⁴Let all that you do be done in love.

This is the word of God for the people of God.  In this passage Paul summarized the essential actions and attitudes of the church and those who make it up.  When I am being tutored I want to walk away with a few handles that will help me grasp the subject: a² + b² = c^2; i before e except after c (and come to find out a lot of other places); e = mc². Some of you are familiar with my occasional use of props to help bring home the lesson.  Today you provided the props – right in your hands, because the lessons of this passage can be counted on one hand.
 

Lesson #1 – Heads up!

Paul told the Corinthians to keep alert.  It was easy for them to get distracted.  In fact, he began this letter to the Corinthians by warning them against internal rivalries.  They were trying to “one up” each other in terms of who was the better Christian.  Can you imagine such a thing?  That would be like Methodists and Baptists talking bad about each other or perhaps even one Methodist congregation being in competition against another.  It is so easy to get distracted by rivalries and internal conflicts.  Paul told the Corinthians to keep alert.  He was encouraging them to vigilant about dangers that surrounded them.  I also hear in this imperative a challenge for the readers to keep alert of opportunities, as well.   

Last week I had a chance to spend a day with clergy friends and was reminiscing about the days when I played golf.  I never really trusted the warning, “Fore!” so I always yelled, “Heads up!” when my shot put someone else in peril.  I seldom could hit an iron more than170 yards and the party in front of us was easily over 200 yards out there as they were getting out of their cart to putt on the green.  I addressed the ball and clobbered the shot.  It was headed straight toward their cart.  I shouted, “Heads up!” and the ball just missed hitting my District Superintendent as it rattled around in the cart that he had just vacated.  He suggested that we go ahead of his group since we were in a much bigger hurry.  Golf can be a very dangerous game.  “Heads up!” is an expression that calls people urgently to full awareness.  We begin to look for dangers and opportunities.

Gordon Fee wrote in his commentary that these two verses are Paul’s “final words of urgency.”  And the first word of urgency is heads up – keep alert, stay on the watch, don’t get distracted.  There are dangers and opportunities that we will encounter this week.  The first lesson in this tutoring session is, “Heads up!”
 

Lesson #2 – Hold Up

Paul’s second verb was a unique one.  In fact, one of the commentators stated that Paul introduced this verb to Greek literature.  It is taken from the verb, “to stand”, but has an added force to it, like something so deeply established that it cannot be uprooted.  “Stand firm in your faith” he exhorted the Corinthians.  This was always an anxiety for Paul.  Too often he would leave a community and discover that they had grown lukewarm in their faith or had wandered away from it completely.  He began his letter to the Galatians by writing, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.” To the Corinthians, he simply wrote, “Stand firm in your faith.”  Paul seemed to worry like a parent worries about kids going off to college.

Students, do your parents worry about you? Former students, did your parents worry about you?  My first year here I met a young man from Kenya, Africa.  It was his last semester here, when he came into my office and was nearly weeping.  He told me that when he came to College Station he had been a devout Christian.  However, after only a short time he discovered that no one was holding him accountable – not only for how late he stayed out, but for what he did while he was out. He began to inch away from the faith and its lifestyle.  By the time I met him he was miserable.  He told me that he was so far from home in so many ways and asked that I pray for him.

I will never forget that conversation.  I hear it and see it over and over again.  I see it with new students who don’t exactly know what to do with this new found freedom.  I see it in people who have been placed in a new course because of grief, divorce, unemployment, and so many other experiences.  Of course, Paul worried for his friends.  I worry about my children and my friends.  They worry about me.  Stand firm in your faith.  The second lesson in this tutoring session is, “Hold up!”
 

Lesson #3 – Grow up!

Our translation said, “be courageous,” but this is another curious word used by Paul.  The Greek word is andrizesthe, and this is the only place where this word is found in the Bible.  Yet, it is the verb form of the noun that is used over 200 times in the New Testament.  The noun is almost always translated, “man.”  So, when William Barclay was translating this passage, he wrote, “Be on the alert; stand fast in the faith; play the man…”  Of course, 1^st century Greece and 21^st century America have some contextual differences, so I much prefer Leon Morris’ translation, “act like responsible adults.”  Paul was telling his people in Corinth to grow up.  It was so easy for them to play a more petty role – striking back like children, ganging up on the vulnerable, and gossiping about others.  Paul told them to grow up and have the courage to act like adults.

Let me assure you that every day this week, perhaps several times a day, you will have to make the choice of acting like an adult.  Someone will say something to you that will cause you to want to strike back.  You may hear some news about someone, the telling of which would place the spotlight of positive attention on you, but would injure the reputation of the person of whom you speak.  Have the courage to act like the responsible adult.  The third lesson in this tutoring session is, “Grow up!”   
 

Lesson #4 – Go up!

The actual imperative is, “be strong,” but the sense I get when reading this is for the follower of Christ to have the strength to complete the course.  It is a call for perseverance, for the follower not to give up, not to drop or to withdraw from this course.  It is much too important.

I use the phrase, “Go up” because to me this is the encouragement I have given and been given when hiking up a mountain.  I love hiking up mountains – usually.  However, there is always that place where I am gasping for breath, sweating profusely, feeling my heart pounding in my chest and my temples – that place where I am not sure I can go any farther.  That is when the encouragement is given with a simple question and answer.  The question is, “Do you know how you climb a mountain?” The answer is, “One step at a time.”  So when I get to that “gasping for breath, sweating profusely, feeling my heart pounding in my chest and my temples” place in my hike, I tell myself, “You don’t have to climb the whole mountain right now, just have the strength to take the next step.”

Living the Christian life can feel very much like climbing a mountain.  Have you ever tried to read through the whole Bible?  Have you ever given up before getting to the end – of Leviticus?  You don’t have to read the whole Bible today, just take the next step.  Have you ever made a promise to spend time in prayer every morning or every evening?  Have you ever given up before getting to the end of the week?  You don’t have to become the master of spiritual disciplines today, just take the next step.  What is it that makes the climb seem so hard for you?  Don’t try to conquer the whole thing today.  Just take the next step.  The fourth lesson in this tutoring session is, “Go up!”

Remember that you brought the prop for today’s sermon with you – your hand. Five quick lessons for this tutoring session for the subject of living the Christian life in a new environment: 

Lesson #1 – Heads up

Lesson #2 – Hold up

Lesson #3 – Grow up

Lesson #4 – Go up

The fifth lesson is to be remembered by your thumb.  The thumb is an amazing part of the hand.  It is opposable, so it can touch every other finger on the hand.  Without a doubt it has the most range of any other finger.  Try doing ordinary things like combing your hair, picking up a coin, turning a doorknob, or buttoning a button without your thumb and you will quickly realize your dependency on this smallest, yet most versatile element of your hand.  I remind you of the significance of the thumb, because the fifth lesson is the most important.
 

Lesson #5 – Love always

Paul’s emphasis on love frequently takes center stage in his teaching.  He wrote to the Corinthians, “Let all that you do be done in love.” That means when they had their heads up in keeping alert, when they held up by standing firm in their faith, when they grew up by acting like adults, and when they went up with strength in their Christian life one step at a time; every moment was to be laced with love, every action was to be prompted by love.  Love inclines the heart toward goodwill or beneficence for others.  So then Paul is saying, in all that you do consider others in a loving way.

I enjoy going through our coffee house that serves so many college students.  Often I will find students asking one another or maybe asking one of our adult volunteers to help them with an assignment that is tripping them up.  The other day I heard about a student who decided to get help in class.  From the very first day she was lost, but she knew that she needed to complete this course.  It was too essential in her program to drop.  So after class she sat there for nearly thirty minutes trying to formulate her question in an articulate way.  Finally, she approached the tutor who was assigned to that class and asked her question.  The tutor looked in amazement and said in a less than pastoral way, “That question reveals that you are missing the glue that holds this entire course together!”  She knew then that her question clearly communicated her confusion.

That must have been a harsh declaration to hear – “you are missing the glue that holds this entire course together.”  If we try to live the Christian life in a new environment or even in a familiar environment without internalizing this imperative, “Let all that you do be done in love,” we will miss the glue that holds this entire course together.

So welcome to all of our fish and those experiencing newness in their life journey.  This is a part of the journey where danger and opportunities exist.  As you continue to move through your first round of tests, try to grasp these five lessons as tutoring for a new subject:

Lesson #1 – Heads up, keep alert

Lesson #2 – Hold up, stand firm in your faith

Lesson #3 – Grow up, be courageous

Lesson #4 – Go up, be strong

Lesson # 5 – Love always, let all that you do be done in love 

Do these and you will do well.  Amen.