A Sermon delivered on Sunday, June 16, 2024, by Rev. Dr. Patrick H. Wrisley.
Turn in your Bible to 2 Corinthians 5 and we are going to begin with verses 6 – 17. The books of First and Second Corinthians are undoubtedly written by Paul the Apostle; however, most folks think these two books are really two volumes of a series of collected letters to the church in Corinth. Corinth was a bustling seaport town. It was an eclectic place and a melting pot gathering people from all over the world at the time. The people, how shall we say, had a zest for life. It would have been a tough place to start a church for sure, but that’s exactly what Paul did. If churches were people, the church in Corinth was the problem child with its behavior. It is a church that turned the Lord’s Supper into a “love feast” in a carnal sense. The church was full of the cultural mores plaguing the secular world and had a very libertine air about it. Instead of becoming a pillar of contrast to the ways of the world, the Corinthian Church simply adopted worldly ways.
Humility was not a practiced virtue among the Corinthians Christians. Believe it or not, there were factions inside the church where a certain group saw itself as the “right way to be church” and then there were others who favored Paul’s leadership and teaching. The Rev. Cynthia Briggs Kettredge, President and Dean of the Seminary of the Southwest writes, “Scholars differ upon how specifically to characterize Paul’s critics. Paul’s self-defense suggests that perhaps he has been criticized for his physical distress, for his mystical experience or lack of it, or for his outward appearance.”[1] So let’s make sure we get this. Dr. Kettredge is suggesting people did not like Apostle Paul because his body was misshapen because of all the severe beatings he received proclaiming the gospel, or they did not think he was spiritual enough, or because Paul was not pleasant to look upon. These are all good reasons for disliking your pastoral leadership, right? If anything, it gives us a glimpse into some of the church member’s character.
In the part of the letter we are reading today, Paul is making the argument he is more than qualified in his position as Apostle. Furthermore, Paul is redefining what we call “The Circle of Life.” My beloved, listen for the word of God!
2 Corinthians 5:6-17
6So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— 7for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil. 11Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade others; but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences.
12We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart. 13For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.14For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore, all have died. 15And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.
16From 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. 17So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new![2]
The circle of life. Old dinosaurs are now our gasoline. A fire that destroys the underbrush also causes the soil to generate nutrients that bring forth life and growth through new vegetation. Animals that die become the food that gives another animal life. People die and then are reabsorbed back into the earth and there you go. This is “the circle of life.”
I want to introduce to you an animal you may not have heard of before but really gets into this “circle of life” thing. A Civet is a bobcat-like creature that lives in parts of Africa and Indonesia. What is so special about a Civet? Well, the Civet is an animal that has a penchant for finding and eating only the choicest and most ripe coffee beans. It is quite fussy in its choice of beans it eats. The Civet devours the beans, and its digestive enzymes work on the beans as the beans ferment inside the Civet’s stomach. Over time, the Civet passes these beans, and farmers have learned to follow along behind them to collect and harvest them. They wash them off, roast them up, and the result is the most expensive coffee in the world called Kopi Luwak – a pound of which goes for $450 today.[3] Talk about the circle of life for a coffee bean! I don’t even want to think about how they discovered this delicacy! My former church in Celebration purchased me a quarter pound of it one time and I will say, it has a nice nutty, buttery flavor! For those of you who would like to order some, I will footnote where you can get it when I post my sermon online!
The circle of life. Paul is trying to tell the Corinthians they need to totally upend their understanding of what God values in our world and how God works. Paul is reminding the Corinthians they are living and looking at life through an old pair of lenses that are cracked, broken, and out of focus.
The world and mindset of the Corinthians were all swagger and prestige. This is what the Empire taught and fostered. Paul is telling them God gives precedence and notices the meek and the broken.
The Corinthians gave value to pomp and circumstance and the need to prove their moral righteousness. Paul is telling them God does not strictly look at \what we do and how we behave; God looks deeper into a person’s heart and sees and values what others cannot and do not see.
The Corinthians valued Aristotelian logic and Platonic thinking. People live and people die, their bodies return to the earth and their disembodied souls fly off someplace. Paul’s gospel message about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection sounded crazy and illogical and this is just the point: In and through the Christ, God breaks all the old rules and changes the circle of life. In an ecstatic flourish of praise and wonder, Paul declares in verses 16 and 17 –
16From 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. 17So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
As Jesus died and rose as the conquering Christ of God, he upended the spiritual and natural status quo and opened the door for a new life lived with different values and aspirations. When we hitch our wagon to Christ, we are letting go of our need for power and prestige, our sense of privilege and pride, and our desire to consume while leaving a mess for others to clean up. We become new people with new identities embracing new ways of living that will be contrary to the way others in the world live. We become people who no longer perceive enemies but view other people through the eyes of Christ as brothers and sisters.
Beloved, are you regarding God, life, and others in the world from your outdated human point of view or are you looking through the eyes of your new identity in Christ? Paul is saying, “Look, folks, there are two ways of looking at things. One is from a worldly perspective and the other is from a heavenly perspective. Each of you is a fresh, new, Spirit-filled heavenly creation in Christ – do the people you rub shoulders with every day see that?”
Do you remember growing up and being shown a picture that either looked like the head of a bunny rabbit or the head of a duck? Initially, you will see one or the other. But then something happens – you begin to see the other animal. If at first, you saw a duck, you now begin to see the head of a rabbit as well.[4] It is right at that point your brain cannot unsee both the rabbit and the duck. Whereas you could only see one before, now you cannot help but see both.
The world looks at you and me and they see an identity. Is it an identity reflecting the world’s ways of power, pride, consumption, waste, irreverence, prejudice, and vitriol? Or do people look at you and me and see identities that are countercultural and kick against the goads of worldly values? Do they see an identity of grace, humility, love, and service? The thing is, like the bunny and the duck, once people in the world can see both in us, they cannot unsee who we used to be before Christ and the new identity in Christ we claim to have.
This week, our basic homework is this: How do I in my life reflect I am a new creation in Christ? Does my outward life reflect this new inner identity in Christ? And friends, if we find there is a gap between our stated identity and what God and others see, that is the place for our spiritual growth to occur.
In the Name of the One who is, was, and is yet to come. So be it.
© 2024 Patrick H. Wrisley, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, NY 12801. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, New York, and may not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission. All rights reserved.
[1] Feasting on the Word: Year B, Volume 3: Pentecost and Season after Pentecost 1 (Propers 3-16) (Feasting on the Word: Year B volume) by David L. Bartlett, Barbara Brown Taylor. See https://a.co/4poyRVT.
[2] The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[3] To order your pound, simply go to https://www.omgcoffeecompany.com/product-page/kopi-luwak-coffee?utm_source=google&utm_medium=wix_google_feed&utm_campaign=freelistings&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIst-BwMDehgMVFFBHAR1tyAApEAQYAyABEgJhTPD_BwE.
[4] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit–duck_illusion. Accessed on 6/15/24.
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