Sunday, June 16, 2024

Sermon: What Matters

Lectionary: Proper 6(B)

Text: 2 Corinthians 5:6-17

Martinvl, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
"Reconciliation"

Introduction

A criticism that is sometimes leveled against Christians is that “some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.”[1] And if we take some of the texts found in the New Testament, we could certainly come up with a basis for focusing solely on salvation as a means of exiting this world and getting to heaven. Part of the reading this morning from 2 Corinthians 5 could be interpreted in that way.

I grew up in a theology that strongly emphasized the Second Coming and the saved would be taken up, after which this present world would be destroyed. Then this world would be recreated with the arrival of the New Jerusalem. In one sense then, I grew up with the idea that this world and everything in it was quite temporary and we shouldn’t spend too much effort “down here.”

But on the other hand, the denomination had a strong organizational branch dedicated to education, health and medicine, and disaster relief. It was very much concerned about growing its presence. But these were most always undertaken toward the ultimate goal of evangelism and “getting people saved.”

What I read in Paul’s words found in today’s reading is not either-or, but a both-and. In a nutshell, what Paul seems to be writing to the Corinthians is that what is done in this world matters now to the physical world, and what is done in this world matters in the future when Christ will take into account what was done.

It is on this latter point that Christians raise eyebrows because the idea of a judgment that evaluates works and then offers a payment based on that seems rather foreign and antithetical to the entire message of gospel and grace, especially when it is coming from Paul, the foremost champion of grace over law and works.

What is going on?

The Church at Corinth and Paul

First, it needs to be noted that the idea of a future judgment is not foreign to Paul’s theology. In addition to what we read today, we find Paul writing about a future judgment and associated rewards in Romans and in 1 Corinthians.[2] What is key to note about Paul’s theology of future judgment is that the same God who saves is also the judge. Rather than fearing judgment then, those who belong to Christ should know relief and assurance instead.

Next let us turn to the context of the church in Corinth. Many of you are already likely aware that the church in Corinth seems to have been plagued by one problem, issue, and conflict after another. At least based on the Pauline letters that we have left to us to ponder. There were conflicts of leadership: some preferred Peter, others Apollos, others Paul, and others eschewed any kind of human leadership and went straight to Christ.[3] There was within the church sexual immorality that even the pagan Romans frowned on.[4] Members were taking one another into Roman courts to bring and settle lawsuits.[5] There were conflicts over what one could eat or not eat.[6] There were rivalries over manifestations of spiritual gifts.[7] There were even conflicts involving the Communion meal.[8] Members of the church were judging one another and dividing into factions, each believing themselves to be better than the others.

One of the issues then may be related to an over-realized eschatology that some of the members may have come to believe. These thought that because they had been saved, the full realization of salvation had already come and that what they did in their physical bodies on the physical world no longer mattered.[9]

A second issue was that of authority. It seems that Paul’s authority as an apostle was being questioned. He did not act like teachers and authority figures were expected to behave. He did not demand to be supported, and instead supported himself. The church in Corinth saw this not as a sign of humble Christian behavior, but as a lack of power and authority and preferred others who acted more in line with their expectations.[10]

The Second Letter to the Corinthian Church

The First Epistle to the Corinthians addressed these issues and several others. But apparently the issues didn’t get resolved, because Paul had to write at least one more letter. Chapters 10 through 13 of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians is probably that letter. In these chapters, Paul again has to defend his authority as an apostle and rebuke the church at Corinth for their ongoing conflicts and behaviors unbecoming of Christ-followers.

And that brings us to the first seven chapters of the Second Epistle. (Several modern scholars theorize that the Second Epistle is an amalgamation of three separate letters that are found out of order from their chronologies.)[11] These seven chapters, the last of Paul’s letters that we have written to the church in Corinth, may be seen as a reconciliation letter. The conflict and issues at Corinth seem to have been finally resolved and Paul writes to explain himself and assure the Corinthians that he has not continued to be angry with them. Our reading today was taken from the middle of this material.

The Future Hope and Present Realities

In this subsection, Paul seems to be writing excitedly about the hope he and all Christians have in the promised future restoration of all things. Physical bodies might be weak, they wear out, and trouble can hit us at any time. Death is always a possibility. But none of that compares to the life that we already have in Christ and the resurrection that we will experience. What we see is temporal. All the troubles are temporary. What is promised beyond what we can currently see surpasses anything we can truly imagine. The visible, physical world weighs us down. We long for the life to come. We do not belong to this world.

At this point we might expect Paul to go all in on the future, the world and life to come. He does, indeed, long for it and hope for it. But he tells his audience that while this world might be temporary and our permanent home isn’t here, we should nevertheless live in the here and now as if it were our home and Christ was here with us. A precedent for this pattern may be found in Jeremiah 29 where the prophet writes to the exiles in Babylon to live in their land of exile, the land of sojourn, as though they were going to be there a long time. They were commanded to promote the welfare of their temporary home because their future was tied to the future of their temporary home.[12]

Both-And

If we heed Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, we will be better equipped to stay away from a couple ditches that we could find ourselves in. The first ditch is one where because all our hope is in the future, we come to believe that nothing in the present world matters. This is where Paul’s words about judgment and rewards based in what happens in the body are pertinent. How we treat the physical world and how we relate to creation and created beings matters to God and therefore, it should matter to us. The words about judgment is a call to critical self-reflection for individuals and for faith communities. If we claim to be followers of Christ, but ignore Christ’s concerns, are we really following Christ?

The second ditch is one where only the present is of concern. Especially since Christ’s return is so long in coming, and placing faith and hope in an event that could be another two-thousand years off seems esoteric and difficult to comprehend. It is much easier to try to make concrete, tangible efforts in the present and minimize or ignore what might or might not happen in the future as it is inconvenient to try to explain to those outside the church this very delayed hope.

The Ultimate Hope of Reconciliation

We need to go past today’s assigned reading, but when we do we can see that for Paul, ethical works done in the present was a means of bringing reconciliation. Starting with the last couple verses from the reading here is the rest of chapter 5.

16 So then, from this point on we won’t recognize people by human standards. Even though we used to know Christ by human standards, that isn’t how we know him now. 17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!

18 All of these new things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 In other words, God was reconciling the world to himself through Christ, by not counting people’s sins against them. He has trusted us with this message of reconciliation.

20 So we are ambassadors who represent Christ. God is negotiating with you through us. We beg you as Christ’s representatives, “Be reconciled to God!” 21 God caused the one who didn’t know sin to be sin for our sake so that through him we could become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:16-21 CEB)

Anyone can devote their lives to doing ethical work in this world and make a positive contribution and possibly a lasting difference. But for Christians, there is an even larger objective. It is the reconciliation of the world back to God. The hope of Christian faith is not simply a better world or eternal life, but a world and life reconciled back to the Creator so that we can all live together in peace and harmony, without fear.

Last week we read Paul’s words, “We also have faith, and so we also speak.” We heard about the importance of speaking about our faith. Today is a continuation of that conversation.

Paul’s theology is both-and. We must love this world, relate to it, and treat it as God does. We must begin to plant the seeds of God’s new creation within the world around us. We must tend to the sprouts and growth as they appear. But we must also point toward and speak about the hope that is found in the final reconciliation of the world to God. Our faith is not just in a glorified future, but in the power of God that is already recreating and restoring, who is working through our efforts to be Christ’s representatives in this world.

References

Dunn, J. D., & Rogerson, J. W. (2003). Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

 



[1] Attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

[2] Romans 2:16; 14:10-11; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15.

[3] 1 Corinthians 1:10-12.

[4] 1 Corinthians 5.

[5] 1 Corinthians 6:1-8.

[6] 1 Corinthians 8.

[7] 1 Corinthians 12-14.

[8] 1 Corinthians 11:17-34.

[9] Paul’s discussion of the resurrection in 1 Cor. 15 seems to be related to this.

[10] 1 Corinthians 4.

[11] (Dunn & Rogerson, 2003), Introduction to 2 Corinthians.

[12] Jeremiah 29:4-7.