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Wallingford Presbyterian Church January 13, 2008 |
Rev. Ken Sunoo |
Is the Gospel of Jesus Christ strong enough for this world we live in? Don’t you sometimes wonder why God doesn’t act in our world in the same direct way he acted in Old Testament times – why doesn’t God rain down fire from heaven anymore like he did in Elijah’s time? I mean, it would be great if God would eliminate al-Qaeda without any effort or struggle on our part. And what’s the benefit of being a Christian if we’re not exempt from the same problems and suffering the rest of the world experiences?
Those are huge questions to consider. I believe that the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians can help us address these issues. But first, a bit of background.
There are two Corinthian letters in the Bible. Two years ago, we studied 1 Corinthians. In that book, we saw that the Apostle Paul addressed two main issues: first, he had an overwhelming concern about the fact that the Corinthian church had lost their focus on Jesus Christ. They were going adrift, and they had lost their sense of what was central to their faith and what was secondary. So Paul wrote to this church which he had founded to help them re-establish their true center in Jesus Christ. Above all else, Paul centered the church on Christ.
A secondary concern Paul addressed in 1 Corinthians is the issue of how the Corinthians were to treat each other. He addressed the health of the church – it’s in this letter that Paul creates the Body of Christ parable in C. 12, emphasizes the importance of each member of that body, and talks about the gifts God gives so that we can be bonded to each other.
Now we come to 2 Corinthians. One thing to note is that relations between Paul and the Corinthian church had deteriorated during the period after 1 Corinthians was written – there’s now more tension in the relationship. That will become evident as we read more of the letter in future weeks.
But above all else in this letter, Paul shares with the Corinthians stories of his own faith journey. It’s a letter about being a Christian in a complex time, in a time of intense pressure and turbulence. It’s a letter about keeping one’s Christian faith and formulating a Christian response to the hostile world we live in. It’s a very relevant letter for us today, living in Seattle in 2008.
It’s also a book that reflects on the power and the strategy of the gospel in the midst of this complex world.
Let’s take a look at how Paul starts his letter [READ v. 1-2]: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” – this is Paul’s favorite saying that he includes in every letter he writes. He combines a Greek word, Charis (grace, joy, a surprise gift of love) with a Hebrew concept, Shalom (peace, wholeness, health, salvation).
After his greeting, Paul does an interesting thing: he will use the same word 10 times in his next paragraph. Whenever Paul repeats a word, we should pay attention, because he’s emphasizing a point.
The word Paul emphasizes is the word paracaleo. The NRSV translates this word as “console” or “consolation.” In the Gospel of John, this same word is used for the Holy Spirit – it literally means “the one who comes alongside” and is usually translated as “encouragement” or “comfort.” The Holy Spirit is the encourager, the comforter, the one who comes alongside. So “encourage” or “encouragement” is probably a better translation. And he uses this word 10 times in this one paragraph: [READ v. 3-7]
Finally, Paul shares with the Corinthians a terrible affliction (literally, “intense pressure”) he experienced in Asia (Asia Minor, modern day Turkey). [READ v. 8-11]
I’d like to share a few reflections on this passage. First, Paul shares autobiographically about himself and the intense pressure he experienced in Asia. We’re not sure what this terrible trial was, but Paul says that he was so utterly, unbearably crushed by this affliction that he despaired of life itself. However, in the middle of this intense experience he somehow experienced God’s grace.
He also discovered something that made him rely more on God and had a profound effect on his whole future ministry: he discovered God’s faithfulness – remember the 10 fold use of paracaleo, encouragement. God came alongside of him in the midst of intense pressure, and he felt the presence of Christ.
It’s interesting - Paul makes it clear that he did not win a great victory in Asia. In fact, it was a defeat – he was crushed. It’s the opposite of the Elijah story – he didn’t win; he got out by the skin of his teeth! But in the midst of that terrible experience, God still came alongside of Paul and he made it, he survived. And sometimes we just have to survive and hang in there - victory will have to wait for another day.
Finally, Paul discovered that God was asking him to encourage others with the same encouragement that he received. After the Holy Spirit comes alongside us, we’re to come alongside others and share what we’ve experienced.
Let’s get back to the questions I posed at the beginning of the service. First, why doesn’t God act in our world in the same direct way he acted in Old Testament times? Perhaps one reason is that it didn’t seem to have any lasting effects on God’s people. People in Old Testament times saw God act powerfully and directly through people like Elijah, Moses, and David. But the record is clear – they still disobeyed and fell away from God.
So God came up with a new way of being in relationship with us. God was still a God of justice – there’s still a price to be paid for sins, so the false prophets, by all rights, could still be killed. However, at the last moment, God surprised the world by switching places with these prophets and taking the punishment on himself. On the cross, he absorbed sin and in the process defeated the enemy’s ultimate weapon, death. He is Emmanuel, God with us, who comes alongside us and gives us the strength and the power to change the world in new ways.
Tony Campolo tells the story of watching Martin Luther King on tv during the height of the Civil Rights movement. King comes marching out of Selma and meets that old Bull Connor, the ardent segregationist: Bull Connor has his guns, Connor has his clubs, Connor has his troops, and King and his followers get down on their knees and start to pray – there’s nothing more vulnerable than people on their knees in prayer.
At the count of 10, Connor and his men charge in, and they bashed in the heads of King and his followers. And as Campolo saw them battered and beaten and plastered on live tv, he knew that God had just won, that the Civil Rights movement had just won. How do you figure? They’re getting their heads bashed in, they’re getting stomped, they’re getting kicked, they’re getting killed – you’re right. But, Campolo reminds us, we Christians have a nasty habit of rising again. And we rise again because the God who raises the dead comes alongside of us.
Paul shows us that the encouragement God offers is enough for us to live out our faith in a tough world. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is NOT too weak for this world, because life is stronger than death, and love is stronger than hate. One of the biggest benefits of being a Christian is that we can experience God coming alongside of us in all situations, and we in turn can share those experiences with one another in the family of faith. Thanks be to God. Amen.