Monday, March 11, 2013

All Things New (2 Corinthian 5:16-21)

Sermon as preached 3/10/13 at Lambs and Evington UMC

Scripture 2 Corinthians 5:16-21


When I was growing up there was a very popular show on tv call “Pimp My Ride.” I know, it’s a horrible title, but it was a pretty interesting show. They would find people with some of the most beat up, run down, ugliest and broken cars, and then they would go over the top in fixing them. Not only would they fix it, but they would add things like racing kits to the car, they would lower or jack up the car or truck, They would give it a crazy new paint job, they would redo the interior of the car with new upholstering, and usually add some crazy gadgets like T.V.’s in the headrest and rear view cameras, which unbelievably are now common in many new cars. Then they would reveal the car to its owner and watch the pure joy come across their faces. There are many shows on today that do similar things. For example the show “American Restoration” does exactly what it says. They find really cool, older American relics, from anything to cars, to old signs or whatever you can think of, and they restore them to make them look new. Or there are a bunch of house shows on today focused around this idea of remodeling and restoration. One in particular, “Flip This House” is a show about taking old, decrepit houses, restoring them to a beautiful like new house, and then selling them back on the housing market for a huge market. Whether it is cars, houses, or memorabilia, We as Americans, and I would dare to say simply we as humans, love to see old things become like new.

            We truly do love this idea of transformation, and while we do like seeing it happen with cars, and houses and the like, I think deep down it is because we want to see it with us. On a superficial level, how many ads and commercials do we see targets us by telling us their product can transform our appearances. There is aging and beauty cream, weight loss pills, teeth whitening strips, Rogaine, and Just For Men, all products made to make us feel like a new person. And still I believe that our desire for transformation is even deeper than this. So often we get so fed up with the way things are going in our lives or simply with the way things are going in the world in general. We wish things were different, and often times for Christians this leads to us playing the waiting game. I can’t wait until things change when I get to heaven. I just have to endure this life and all will be made right in the next.

            Our scripture today focuses around the same hope and desire, in fact the section of scripture right before our passage echoes many of these sentiments. “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling— if indeed, when we have taken it off[a] we will not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” Paul recognizes hardships of this Earth and the joy and hope of heaven. He understands that we long so much to be in the dwelling of God, that we long so much not to live in this broken and  sinful state, that all we really want is the joy of transformation, the joy of being new, the joy of being close to God that comes when we get to heaven. And yet hearing and understanding all of this, in our passage for today, Paul reminds us of a new transformation, one that is made possible through Jesus Christ.

            Paul tells us, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.” Here, Paul is reminding us of an extremely important fact to remember, He is telling us that to think about God and heaven and then reflect about us and Earth, and then hoping and waiting for the time in which we can leave Earth for Heaven, creates a false divide. It makes us feel as though we are here alone on this Earth, That God has nothing to do with us besides a few instructions that are written down for us to follow. It leads us to thinking that the only true interaction that we have with God is once we die and go to heaven. It is as if we are young homesick children dropped off at camp crying and waiting for our time at camp to be over so that we can go back home. Though we don’t ever say it this way, and though it surely isn’t our intention, when we think about God in this way it is as if we are saying that God is not here for us.

            Paul is reminding us that exactly the contrary is true. Paul says that we once knew Christ from a human point of view. In the original Greek it is probably better translated, according to the flesh. We knew Christ according to the flesh. What does this mean? It means that Christ was human, that this notion that there is some great divide between God and ourselves is bogus, that this notion that God does not interact with us on Earth is false, and that the idea that our bodies and our time on Earth is not valuable, is an idea that is just flat out wrong. Because Jesus Christ was human, we knew Christ according to the flesh. God walked amongst us, talked with us, ate with us, and of course died for us. There is no divide between us and God, because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

            And yet, having known God, Having God dwell with us, and die for us, we no longer look at Christ the same way.  When Christ first came into this world all we saw was the flesh, his humanity. Yes there were prophets predicting his arrival, there were visitations and signs, but all of these things pointed to Christ being a Messiah, being a special man sent by God, another great prophet or leader or king. And Yet as people started to follow him, started to witness his miracles, and of course when he died and rose again, people started to look at Jesus not just a great man, but realized that God had walked among them. The same is true when we reflect back on Jesus, we don’t think of him as just a man, we think of him as our Lord, our savior, our God.

            This event, God on Earth, is an incredibly important event, because Christ gave our lives greater meaning, and redeemed our flesh. What do I mean by this?  Earlier we talked about how there can feel as though there was a divide between God and humanity. It could even lead many to believe that humanity simply doesn’t matter. The arrival of Christ changed that though. God became human in Jesus Christ, and in doing so showed us our sacred worth. God would love us so much that he would humble himself, take upon the flesh, and even die for us. God showed us through Jesus Christ that we are all sacred.

            This is what Paul is saying when he tells us that just as we no longer know Christ according to the flesh the same as we no longer know one another according to flesh. We no longer see each other for our brokenness, for our flaws, our mistakes or our weakness. God so loved the world that he died for all of our sins; now see each other as those who God treasures, who God loves, who have sacred worth in God’s eyes. What an amazing transformation! That we could go from broken and sinful people to people of sacred worth.

            The amazing transformation doesn’t stop there. Paul tells us, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!  Paul is telling us that through Christ this transformation is not something that we must simply wait for, that this transformation is not just for us once we die and go to heaven. This transformation, this new creation, is happening here and now for those who are in Christ. Everything old has passed away; see everything has become new! The good news of Jesus Christ is that through Christ we can be transformed into new creation.

 This Lent we have talked over and over again about self-reflection, about sin, about finding things that separate us from God and then about changing those things. We do these things so that through Christ we may be made new. Like a snake shedding it scales, or a butterfly breaking through the chrysalis, we shed these things to reveal our new selves, the wonder beauty of new creation that is only possible through Jesus Christ.

            But we must remember that Paul says, “So if anyone is in Christ.” What does this mean? It could easy to use this as a way of separating the sheep from the goats, the saved from the unsaved. It could be used to lift ourselves up and gloat about new creation while looking down upon those who are not in Christ. This is not the point of the saying. This phrase is not directed to the “others” but instead it is directed at us. It makes us recognize what it means to be in Christ. Paul goes on to say, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”  Paul is reminding us that we are the ambassadors for Christ, that if we want to be in Christ, then we must be like Christ.

How do we do this? Paul boils it all down into one word, reconciliation. Reconciliation “to make oneself or another no longer opposed.” This of course means that we must reconcile ourselves to God, as I have been saying all along, getting rid of those things that keep us in opposition of God’s will; yet reconciliation is more than that also. If we think about Jesus’ ministry, his whole ministry was one of reconciling the world to him. Even with his birth he brought together the lowly Jewish shepherds  and the rich, Gentile magi. He ate with sinners, touched the unclean, protected an adulterer from death, and still at the same time he dined with Pharisees and Sadducees and taught lessons in the synagogues. Jesus’ ministry was a ministry of bringing all people to him, because as mentioned before all people are of sacred value.

            If we are truly to live as ones who are in Christ, if we want to see the beauty of new creation in its fullest, the we are called to be in reconciliation to all the world. We are called to view and treat all humans as sacred beings, ones who are loved by God. This means that we must reach out to those who are richer and poorer than us, those from different ethnic backgrounds, those with different beliefs. Not only must we reach out to them, but we must allow them to reach back to us. If we view ourselves simply as someone bringing the good news to those who don’t have it, then we are viewing ourselves as better and not of the same sacred value. If we truly want to be in Christ, if we truly want to see the amazing power and beauty of new creation here on earth, then as ambassadors of Christ we are called to be in the ministry of reconciliation. Drawing ourselves closer to each other, and in doing so drawing the whole world closer to God.

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