Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you…for what I received I passed on to you as of first importance. (1 Corinthians 15:1,3)

When I got married, my mother (who, in fairness, only had a simple ceremony in her mother’s home) took charge. When I wanted lemon filling in the cake, my mother insisted it wasn’t traditional. Pecan pies (Scott’s favorite) instead of a traditional groom’s cake? Horrors! A Shakespearean sonnet (this was my field of study!) on the wedding program? Are you serious? My mother wanted for me all the trappings of a traditional wedding. And it was beautiful. But my wishes were pushed aside. (Well, I was allowed lily of the valley in my bouquet only because they were white!) 

My mother focused on the peripherals almost to the exclusion of the basic premise: this was my wedding. It’s not that peripherals aren’t important; they are. But elevating them above the essentials risks forgetting - or at least undercutting - the very foundation of why we’re doing what we’re doing. Such focus also feeds the wrong hunger.

In his first letter to the Corinthian church, Paul spends fourteen chapters discussing peripheral issues: divisions and immorality in the church, lawsuits between believers, marriage, food sacrificed to idols, spiritual gifts, and how to observe the Lord’s Supper. These need addressing, of course, but Paul - in Chapter 15 - directs his readers back to the basics, which he calls “of first importance.” 

What’s the foundation for the church’s very existence? Paul drills home this basic truth of the gospel: “Christ died for our sins…was buried and was raised the third day” (15:3-8). The Corinthians’ entanglement with peripherals distanced them from the fundamentals of their faith. Paul even says,” I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to it” (vs.1-2, emphasis mine). To paraphrase Paul: folks, you need to get hungry again for basic gospel truth. Feed anew on that truth, and let it redirect your focus and mend your divisions.

Churches today, too, get distracted by peripherals: music styles, leadership roles, what we should wear to services, how we should align ourselves politically. That’s when we need reminding of what’s of first importance, to hunger again for why we’re in church in the first place: how the basic truth of the gospel led us to saving faith in Jesus Christ. I dare say Paul would be pleased to see Chatham Church’s commitment to the gospel having “first importance.” Every dollar spent, every program instituted, every leadership role filled has as its goal reaching people for Jesus. When that’s the driving hunger for any church or Christian, watch the focus on peripherals fade from not being fed.

During this Lent season, how might you focus less on peripherals and more on hungering for your Savior, the One Who ignored all distractions in pursuit of the one thing that mattered - ministering to the lost?