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| Lone Cypress, Pebble Beach, CA |
Last Sunday we heard Paul invite the members of the Corinthian church to live by faith by focusing on eternal things that can’t be seen, rather than temporary things that can be seen. This morning we continue that conversation, as Paul once again invites us to walk by faith and not by sight. He wants to assure them that whether they are in the body or not, God is always present with them and that God has a purpose for their lives.
Paul tells the Corinthians that he sought to live in a way that pleased God. If he could do that then when he stood before God’s judgment seat he could give an account of his life confident that he had given his all to the work of God. He wants the same to be true for the Corinthian believers.
Standing before God’s judgment seat to give an account of our lives might seem a bit scary because nobody enjoys going before a judge. I’ve only had to go to court once, and that was for a speeding ticket not long after I graduated from college. At the time I had to go to court, I was a youth minister. I got pulled over for speeding while heading home from church. Fortunately, the officer gave me a word of advice. He told me that if I went to court, pleaded guilty, and paid my fine, then the infraction wouldn’t go on my driving record. So everything was good unless that pastor I worked under had seen me getting pulled over. You see he was very strict about obeying the speed limit. Fortunately, as far as I know, he didn’t see me getting pulled over, so I survived for another day.
When it comes to the matter of divine judgment, Paul doesn’t go into detail. He just tells his readers that “Sooner or later we’ll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what’s coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10 MSG). As for Paul, he’s confident that he’s on the right path. There’s nothing to fear because this path leads toward the new creation in Christ.
Paul’s declaration that “if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation” has proven to be foundational for my faith. I’ve always found this to be a comforting and encouraging word because it speaks of the possibility of new beginnings. No matter what happened in the past, the future isn’t set in stone. That is, if we are in Christ, we become a new person with a new future. Since the old life has passed away like water under the bridge, it no longer defines who I am as a child of God.
Paul’s confidence was rooted in the cross. He believed that Jesus died for everyone and will raise up everyone so that can live for Christ rather than for ourselves. Biblical scholar C.K. Barrett wrote: “Because Christ, being the person he was, died and was raised, there exists the universal possibility (he died on behalf of all; all died) of a new kind of human existence, no longer centred upon self but centred upon Christ” [Barrett, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 169]. This describes Paul’s own sense of purpose. As a follower of Jesus, he had been reconciled to God through the cross and the resurrection, so that he might commit himself to fulfilling the ministry of reconciliation in Christ. While this was his calling, he believed that it should be ours as well.
From what we know of Paul, he believed that Jesus would return to earth to set up God’s realm within his lifetime. He was off on his timing, but if, as I believe, the new creation he spoke of has already begun to take shape in our midst, we can live accordingly. The central message of Paul’s ministry was that Christ defeated the forces of death through his death and resurrection. Death may still be with us, but it doesn’t define our lives. Evil remains with us, but it won’t have the last word. Think of it in terms of D-Day. I mention D-Day since we just observed the eightieth anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy. The Germans didn’t surrender on June 7, 1944, but when the Allies took the beachhead that day, the tide of the war turned. When God raised Jesus from the dead, God secured the victory over death. The old ways, including death, may persist for a while, but the day of Christ’s resurrection was the day of new beginnings. On that day death lost its sting. As Jürgen Moltmann, whose own death came recently at age 98, wrote: “Death is an end and simultaneously a beginning, an end of life in this world and the beginning of life in the world to come.” He spoke of the “new creation” being “the counterpart to the destruction rampant in this world of death and slaughter” [Resurrected to Eternal Life, p. 61]. Ultimately the message here is that while death continues to be with us, it doesn’t have the last word. That is reason for hope, even in a world that seems in disarray.
So, neither death nor our past has the final word, that’s because today is a day of new beginnings. While nostalgia can be fun, we can’t live in the past. There’s no going back to what was. There is only what is and what will be. While we might look back fondly at the past, we can’t afford to get stuck in the past. Therefore, if we are to live by faith in Christ, and through him participate in the life of God, then we need to keep our eyes focused on what is ahead of us, even if we don’t know where the future leads. That’s because God is out in front of us, beckoning us to follow.
Once again, we might want to think in terms of the story of Abraham and Sarah, who packed their things and headed out on a journey toward an unknown destination. Even as God made a covenant with Abraham and Sarah, promising them that the nations would be blessed through their descendants, God invites us to take up the ministry of reconciliation. So, as we live by faith in Christ, God commissions us to invite others to experience for themselves life in the new creation, which brings with it freedom from the brokenness of the old world.
This ministry of reconciliation is rooted in God’s act of reconciling us to Godself through Christ. Paul tells us that when we enter the new creation God sets aside our trespasses, not counting them against us. So, when God calls on us to give an account of our lives on the day of judgment, we can stand before God with confidence knowing that Christ has wiped the slate clean. Therefore, we don’t have to live in fear of God’s judgment. Turning again to Jürgen Moltmann, he wrote: “Judgment at the end is not an end at all; it is the beginning. Its goal is the restoration of all things for the building up of God's eternal kingdom." [The Coming of God, (Kindle Locations 3619-3621)].
When it comes to our calling to the ministry of reconciliation rooted in Christ’s death and resurrection, Paul uses another term to describe this calling. He tells us that God is calling us to serve as ambassadors for Christ through whom God makes an appeal, inviting the world to be reconciled to God on this, the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:1-2). When it comes to this day of salvation, Moltmann draws on Paul’s letter to the Romans, writing: “It is not just a few of the elect who have been reconciled with God, but the whole cosmos. It is not just believers whom God loved, but the world (John 3.16)” [The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology (Kindle Locations 3541-3545)]. In other words, our job is to let the world know that, acting out of love, God is transforming this world of ours into the new creation in Christ. We get to experience the first fruits of that work, even as we participate in God’s work of transformation. So, even if we can’t see the finished product with the naked eye, the future is taking shape, even if the world continues to be in disarray.
We hear this promise that God will bring into existence the new creation, even as we pray for the resolution of wars around the world, as well as the political divisions that exist here at home. We look forward to the day of new beginnings, even as many in this country and elsewhere face economic concerns. We take up this call to be God’s ambassadors even as sexism, racism, and gun violence continue to exist in our midst. Then there are the conspiracy theories that threaten to undermine the democratic foundations of the United States and other nations as well. These are all expressions of the old world that is marked by the power of death. While they may not have the last word, they continue to wreck havoc. Therefore, Jesus calls on us to be God’s ambassadors, sharing the good news that today is a day of new beginnings; “for by the life and death of Jesus, God’s mighty Spirit, now as then, can make for us a world of difference, as faith and hope are born again” [Brian Wren, “This is a Day of New Beginnings," Chalice Hymnal, 518].
Preached by:
Robert D. Cornwall, Ph.D.
Acting Supply Pastor
First Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)
Troy, Michigan
June 16, 2024
Pentecost 4B
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