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One of the new species of alien in the Star Trek series that don’t involve Captain Kirk and the gang are the Ferengi. The Ferengi are probably the ugliest aliens anyone has ever come up with. They are short and have great big bulbous bum-shaped heads that are rimmed by a uni-brow of cartilage that becomes their earlobes that they find pleasurable when petted. Their teeth are very sharp fangs; an orthodontic nightmare that they are frequently seen rather vainly sharpening with a tooth-file. To make matters worse, Ferengi men think they are God’s gift to women no matter the humanoid species. Simply said, they are disgusting little grunts.
The Ferengi are rather flat characters in the Star Trek universe meaning they have only one defining characteristic: everything they do is motivated by financial profit. They are überkapitalisten or uber-capitalists. Their society is a free-market economy gone to the extreme. The only code of law they have are what they call The 285 Rules of Acquisition which are simply legalized ways to cheat people out of their stuff. For them, the good person is the most profitable person. Their lust for profit is so extreme that pregnancy is simply a matter of renting space. Their religion is even based on profit and resembles the Christian Prosperity Gospel. What happens to a person in the after-life is determined by how much profit one made in this life. People who’ve made profit go to the Divine or Golden Treasury and those who haven’t go to the Vault of Eternal Destitution also known as the Debtor’s Dungeon.
In the big picture, the Ferengi are a parody of Westerners and our free market economy because if you look at us from outer space it just seems our highest of values is making the money we need to afford the stuff with think will make us happy. In fact, the name Ferengi is derived from the Arabic word for European traders or Westerners in general and it’s derogatory. The Ferengi are supposed to be what human society would look like if benefit, usefulness, success, and even “the Good” were determined by financial worth. In an off-handed way, the presence of the Ferengi and their way of life in the Star Trek universe forces us to see that there is more to life than turning a profit.
The foul taste the Ferengi leave in our mouths make us ask what motives underlie how we determine what we think is best for us. For, you see, we live in a culture that’s quite selfish at this task. In High School I’m pretty sure that we all had to read Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Polonius’ last words of advice to his son Laertes when leaving for France became the motto for many guidance counsellors: “This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” The advice is to be honest with oneself. If you lie to yourself, you are a lie before all people. Being honest with yourself is good advice, but difficult to do. So, Polonius’ advice is straight forwardly just be honest with yourself and you will be honest all people. The converse of that is that if you lie to yourself, you are a lie to all people. Well, for some reason that’s not what we, today, hear Polonius’ advice to be. We hear it as if I must do what seems best for me. I must do what makes me happy and that will be best for everyone. Follow my joy. Follow my bliss. Unfortunately, and if you haven’t noticed, living that “me, myself, and I” way oddly tends to leave a wake of hurt people behind us. Doing that is marginally ok when we’re young and out to conquer the world, but once commitments are made and there are people relying on us, we have to start thinking outside the box of simply what’s best for me and rather think about and foremost do what is best for us.
In this passage from 1 Corinthians Paul pushes us in this direction and leads us to see that what is best for the Christian community of which I am a part will in the end be what is most beneficial for me; not the other way around. This is subordinating oneself to the community. He says, “‘All things are permissible for me’ – but not everything is beneficial. ‘All things are permissible for me’ – but I myself will not be enslaved by anything.” To give you some background, Paul is taking a common phrase that was frequently used in the early church in the dispute over whether or not eating meat sacrificed to idols was permissible. Back then, it was nearly impossible to buy meat in the marketplace that hadn’t been sacrificed to one god or another. The Jewish Christian part of the church had a huge problem with eating marketplace meat for they saw it as participating in idol worship so also the memory of past persecutions of the Jewish people by Greeks and Romans who forced them to eat idol meat or die. On the other hand, the Gentile Christians who grew up on such meat didn’t see anything wrong with it because the gods those idols represent didn’t really exist. So they coined the phrase, “All things are permissible for me”; meaning it’s not hurting anyone if I do this.
Well, Paul picks up on that and runs with it by saying, “it might be ok for you, but is it beneficial to anybody else? And, we have to ask what Paul meant by “beneficial”. The New Testament Greek word for “beneficial” is symphero. It is often translated as profitable or to one’s advantage. Yet, quite literally it means “to with-bring” or “to bring together”. This verse really ought to read, “All things are permissible for me” – but not everything promotes community”. He follows that up with “yes, all things are permissible for me” – but if we get carried away with it there is an awful lot out there that will become master of us.” The point of his argument is that we have to do what’s best for building up our Christian community. To make the case even stronger, Paul says as much in 1 Corinthians 10:23-24, where he says: “‘Everything is permissible’-- but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible’-- but not everything builds up. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.” Though we might not see any harm in a particular activity, if it hurts another, then we ought not do it. Rather, we should do that which draws us closer together in Christ.
The others inferred here are the fellowship of believers. Paul has something special to say about Christian fellowship – we are the body of the resurrected Jesus. The Holy Spirit is in us each and, therefore, we each are members, body parts of the body of Christ. Our collective body, our fellowship, is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, since the Holy spirit dwells in and among us, we ourselves are not our own and what we do with our bodies should bring glory to God. So, since we are united by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ we need to make our decisions according to what is best for building up Christ’s body.
Paul presents us here with a very radical paradigm for how we make decisions about our lives. We are not our own. We belong to Jesus Christ who bought us when were slaves to sin at the cost of his own life that we might live free for him, not for ourselves. Therefore, as he is physically present to us in his Body, the Fellowship of believers, in all matters we are to do what is best for the body of believers with whom we are growing together in Christ afs his body. Let’s flesh this out a bit starting with me the minister.
What if I were to receive an offer to go and minister to a congregation that would pay $40,000 more a year. Most people would say, “That’s a no-brainer. Take it.” It would be good for me career/ego-wise to finish out in a bigger pulpit. It would be good for my family financially. But if I listen to Paul and take him seriously on this, upward career move and financial incentive is not enough reason for a minister to move on. Any such move on my part would have to involve a consultation, indeed a prayer-filled conversation with the folks among you who know me best concerning what is best for you and the greater church. The point being a prayerful discernment of whether our Lord Jesus through the voice of the Holy Spirit is telling you to send me forth to this other calling.
The same is true for all of you. According to Paul, what is best for building up this worshipping community is supposed to be the determining factor in all our decisions from what we do in retirement, to personal family matters, to career moves, to kids in sports, even to matters involving morals. We are a temple of the Holy Spirit. We are each body parts of the body of Christ. Christ Jesus has bought us at the price of his own life. Our lives are not our own anymore to just do what we think makes us happy or follow our bliss. Happiness is found in subordinating ourselves to the will of God as discerned with the body of Christ.
Jesus has blessed us with having a praying community of devoted Christians to consult with in respect to the important stuff of our lives, people through whom he will speak if we give him opportunity. To bring a matter before the LORD is to bring it before our brothers and sisters in Christ so that prayerfully we may speak the things of God to one another and lean on the godly wisdom that the Holy Spirit has wrought in us each. God has not left us in this world to fend for ourselves nor to do what simply feels right to me in my gut. God wants to direct us down his pathways that he might bless us. Praise be to God. What a beautiful thing this is. Amen.
