2 Corinthians
6:1-13
As God’s
co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says,“In the time of
my favor I heard you,
and in the day of salvation I helped you.”
and in the day of salvation I helped you.”
I tell you, now
is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. We put no stumbling block in anyone’s
path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend
ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and
distresses; in beatings,
imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in
purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere
love; in truthful speech and
in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the
left; through glory and
dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying,
and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor,
yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and
opened wide our hearts to you. We
are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from
us. As a fair exchange—I
speak as to my children —open wide your hearts also.
What if?
My sermon from 6-24-2012
As I read
the Scripture from 2 Corinthians in a few different translations, I had to ask
myself, “What does it mean to accept God’s gift in vain”? How does one “Ignore it”? Paul says in this letter to the church in
Corinth, that it is possible to look like we have received God on the outside,
but to go on living like we are still the same person we were before we
received God’s grace. Paul goes on to
say that he and his followers are living so that no one will stumble because of
them, no one will find fault with the way they are living their lives.
We’ve all
heard stories of corruption, church employees being charged with theft and
embezzlement, pastors having affairs or getting DUI’s, priests charged with
molesting children. The very people who we
trust to guide us in our search for truth and justice sometimes are the ones
who need that guidance the most. Its
very disturbing to hear these stories, and it affects how we trust people. And unfortunately, those people cast a very
negative shadow onto God’s image.
On the other
hand, we have people like Mother Teresa, who lived her life as an amazing
example of what Christ’s love looks like.
She cared for the orphans, the dying children of India, often holding
them while they passed into the next world.
She fed them, bathed them, and loved them, and lived a life of utter
poverty to bless the less fortunate.
But what
does it mean for us to live a life that
would cause no one to stumble? How do we
make sure we have not accepted God’s gift in vain?
When people
look at my life, and your life, and all our lives, I want them to see us
working in God’s love for the betterment of everyone. I want people to see Christ in me. If I met someone, and I couldn’t say anything
to them, what would they understand about me by the way I act? By the way I treat others? By the way I share the love of Christ with
others? If you spend a day with me, do
you leave happy and full of God’s love?
Or do you call me a hypocrite and shake your head?
What would
the world be like if we actually lived the life Jesus calls us to live? What if we really did love all of our
neighbors as much as we love ourselves, and we loved their children as much as
we love our children?
What if we
only said things about others that we would say if they were present? What
if we encouraged each other and lifted each other up in our prayers? What if we treasured our time together as if
we were best friends? What if we
over-looked each other’s shortcomings because we want them to overlook
ours? What if we forgave others easily,
because we wanted them to forgive us? I think the world would be a much better
reflection of the world God meant for us to live in.
Have you
ever heard the expression, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”? We usually say that in a negative situation,
referring to the way a bad action from a child results from parents who also
are considered to be bad people. But
what if we changed that and said it to mean good things? Because the tree we are from is such a good
tree, we should also be really good people!
In John 15:5 Jesus said to His
Jewish disciples,” I am the vine and you
are the branches.” I’m not Jewish, so I’m
not a part of that original vine. But
there is good news! Through the death
and resurrection of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I have been grafted onto
the branch! In Romans 11:17 we are told
that “some of these branches from Abraham's
tree--some of the people of Israel--have been broken off. And you Gentiles, who
were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also
receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the
rich nourishment from the root of God's special olive tree.”
And Galatians 3:27-28
say, “for all of you
who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor
free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed,
and heirs according to the promise.”
Those words mean that we, even though
we were not born into the family of Abraham and Sarah, even though we were not
God’s original chosen people, He still
made a way for us to be part of the body of Christ. We’ve been adopted by the Creator as His own
children, from shoots of a wild olive tree to children of the living God. Its
such great news that regardless of
whether we were Jewish or gentile, we are a new creation in Christ, living
together in the New Covenant of God’s grace.
So what is this promise? What is this New Covenant? The promise referred to is the promise God
made to Abraham way back in Genesis. God
told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you
with contempt. “ That’s God’s promise,
to bless Abraham and all his decendants, and all the families on earth will be
blessed through us. Yes, us, because by
grafting us onto the vine we get that promise too.
And
the New Covenant? Hebrews 8:8-13 says
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah,
9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.”13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah,
9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.”13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
So not only do we get to be God’s children, we get Abraham’s
blessing, and a new covenant . And when
Jesus died on the cross, and the tapestry was torn, the New Covenant was
brought about.
The New Covenant itself is pure
genius. God carves His new laws into our
hearts and gives us a place at His table.
He throws out the old plan, the agreement He made with Moses, because
none of them remained faithful to the old laws.
This time God takes us out of the context, since we mess things up all
the time, our salvation and our faithfulness are all about Him. 2Timothy
2:13 “If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown
Himself. “ If He
is in our heart HE CANNOT DISOWN HIMSELF! He will be faithful to us FOREVER!
We want to believe that we are the
important part of this relationship, that it’s all about us and what we do and don’t
do. But in reality, it’s all about
Him. It’s about what Jesus has done for
us to provide an unbreakable connection to God.
So when we do receive the spirit,
and Jesus takes up residence in our hearts, it truly should cause us to
change. It should cause us to become
totally different people, people who reflect the image of God.
When you look in the mirror, do you
just see yourself? Next time you look in
the mirror, study the reflection, can you see Jesus in there? I bet you can. Now look at your neighbors. Really study them. Can you see Jesus in them too? Now look at the homeless man, the leper, the
orphan, the widow, the starving children in Africa, can you see Jesus
there?
In the book of Matthew, Jesus tells us
to take care of these people, that what we do for the least of these, His
brothers and sisters, who are also OUR brothers and sisters since we are
adopted into His family, what we do for the least of these, we also do for
Jesus. And if our heart is filled with
the love of Jesus, then this will come naturally. It will bring us joy to help others, and to
show them the love that God has for us.
It will bring us joy to bring glory to God. It will bring us joy to make others joyful.
So if we live our lives by trying to
imitate Jesus, we will never cause anyone to stumble. If we imitate Christ we will be true to
ourselves and to our Father. We will be accepting God’s gift, not in vain,
but with gratitude and thanksgiving.
