Read
2
Corinthians 1
In our last episode…
It’s like watching Batman and Robin. The
Caped Crusaders would catch the bad guys during the allotted time, but end up
in peril once again at the end of the show.
Paul was delaying his trip to Corinth
because he was realizing much success in Asia. Things changed.
They got bad, then worse. We don’t get
all the details, but apparently it was more than just the Judaizers opposing
Paul and his crew. He noted there was some existential risk. We call that
danger.
It was more than they could handle,
but not too much for God. In fact, only in these desperate times was God’s
presence manifest.
It was sort of like God
sending so many of Gideon’s warriors home so that it would be evident that
the victory could have come only from God.
It was sort of like God hardening
Pharaoh’s heart so that there would be no doubt that the Hebrew people were
released from bondage in Egypt, not because of the superior negotiation skills
of Moses, but by the mighty acts of God.
Paul noted that only God could have
delivered them. So, one day or month or year, Paul and company stopped going
from mountaintop experience to mountaintop experience. The next thing they knew
they were walking through the valley of the shadow of death.
But they lived to fight and spread the
gospel another day. Paul noted that the believers in Asia and those in Corinth
and Achaia were like fellow combatants.
They endured pain with each other, and
they celebrated victories together.
While the poetry is not there, I grasp
the same sentiment and warrior spirit as in the king’s speech in Shakespeare’s Henry
V. Do you remember how he summed it
all up? The words will sound familiar.
From
this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be rememberèd—
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not
here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any
speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
I’m not doing a History Channel thing
on the Battle of Agincourt, the introduction of the British longbow into
fifteenth-century combat, or how few we happy few happened to be.
Paul noted that it was something
special to suffer for God, to suffer for the gospel.
Do you remember God telling Ananias
that he would show Saul—by this time we are calling him Paul—how much he must suffer for my name.
Paul knew that he would suffer as he
took the truth to a world that didn’t want to hear it.
Do you recall how the Beatitudes
concluded?
Blessed are those who are persecuted
because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult
you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same
way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Surely, Tom isn’t going to insert a
time of self-flagellation into the worship service or Sunday School. The one who jump-started the Reformation
practiced a little of that and the Cumberland Church is part of the reformed
tradition.
I knew I should
have gone to that meeting to see what they were up to.
The only form of self-inflicted suffering
you will get this morning is to make it through the rest of the sermon.
Understand that if we live the life of
a disciple, we will inevitably face persecution and suffering. Paul wrote to
the church in Corinth and said, “Let’s come out of this victorious together.” Close enough.
To live is
Christ. To die is gain. You know
the words. Paul noted that pressing on doing the work of an evangelist might
just be painful, but let’s enjoy it together.
I love seeing other veterans when I
cruise, especially my fellow Marines. And when you have been places that most
people never go of their own accord, you share something.
You may have been separated by miles
or meters, years or decades, allies and enemies, but you chewed the same dirt
or are still working the desert sand out of your ears today.
There is a connection that the timid
and those governed by comfort will never know. Paul noted that he and the
Corinthians were their own sort of band of brothers. Yes, the syntax reflects
the masculine but applies to all who have been persecuted for following the
Christ.
Those who never endured and emerged
victorious over what the world threw at them should hold their manhood cheap.
Enough for the band of brothers
bit. Let’s get to discipleship. This one
comes with some assurance. It is delivered in the course of Paul explaining his
travel plans, but we are not talking Google Maps and GPS routings.
But as surely as God is faithful, our message
to you is not “Yes” and “No.” For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was
preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,”
but in him it has always been “Yes.” For no matter how many promises God has
made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us
to the glory of God. Now it is God who
makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of
ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing
what is to come.
Ok, there is a little more Band of
Brothers in that, but we must extract from this the affirmative. When we ask,
how can God fulfill his promises to us in the middle of my mess, we know the
answer is in Christ Jesus, not in our own understanding.
So, there is your affirmation. Now,
let’s have our dose of discipleship. You have heard this from me before, and
probably will again.
The curse of modern Christianity is to
acknowledge God, acknowledge Jesus died for our sins, and acknowledge that the
Spirit lives within us, and then live unchanged lives because we hold our own
understanding in such high esteem.
Knowing that the saints here in this
body and in those across the road or the nation are called to put the words of
our Master into practice…
Knowing that the saints across the
ages, not just in this modern century, are called to put the words of our
Master into practice…
Knowing that all of God’s promises are
true and will be fulfilled in the name and the work of Christ Jesus…
Knowing all these things…
How can we not be
changed? How can we grip our own understanding
so tightly? How can we let our fellow warriors—our fellow saints—down by not
surrendering it all to Christ Jesus and putting his words into practice?
Let us live as if our very souls
believed that every promise is “Yes” in Christ Jesus. We are not in this alone.
We have brothers and sisters in this fight with us as we invade a pagan world
with the good news.
We are in league with every believer of
every century. We are fellow warriors in Christ in every clime and place—couldn’t
pass that one up—with every geography, regardless of where the boundaries are
now drawn.
Some church bodies engage in a lot of
worldly, feel-good activities. Some of you may wish we didn’t have so much
scripture and did some feel-good stuff every once in a while.
Not because it feels good, but because
it reinforces Paul’s words, I will give you the end of the Shakespeare quote to
close. It’s a relevant affirmation.
From this day to the ending of the
world,
But we in it shall be rememberèd—
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood
with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so
vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they
were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles
any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint
Crispin's day.
In Christ, all of God’s promises are
fulfilled.
We are not in this alone.
Imagine one day in eternity, coming up
on a young, ruddy-looking man picking out stones from a stream. You say, “What’s
up?” The strapping young man says, “I’m
fixin’ to go kill me a giant or two. You comin’?”
We are in this fight together with the
saints
from all ages, and some of them are excellent warriors.
We face this mean and tumultuous world
with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ across time and geography. We
are in good company when the world persecutes us for following Christ.
Enjoy the company of your fellow
warriors.
Amen.
