Embracing the New

Fifth Sunday After Pentecost
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Michael J. Moffitt June 23, 2024

SCRIPTURE: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

Teresa and I have a dear friend in Roanoke who is a wonderful prayer warrior and intercessor. At our first parish Donna was the head of the prayer ministries there, both intercessory and healing prayer. When Teresa and I finished seminary and moved back to Roanoke we stayed with her for 5 months while I found a suitable job and place to live. She and I would often pray together in the morning. Most every day she got up very early to be with God. She often spoke of the Holy Spirit being present while she prayed and praised the Lord. She claimed to both have a sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit and at times there was a pleasing fragrant aroma, which she called the aroma of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 2:15 the Apostle Paul spoke of those who receive the Word of God and embrace Jesus as their Savior as the “pleasing aroma of Christ” to our heavenly Father. Donna was speaking of something else that let her know that she was in the presence of God. I remembered her telling me about this, so I called her last week to ask her again about these times. She explained that it usually happened when she was interceding for her children or others who were struggling. She felt overwhelmed by the situations they were in. As she was fervently praying, this light aroma would fill the room. She would find comfort that Jesus let her know that this burden was more than she could handle. He was there with her, and the aroma reminded her that Jesus loved her and would never leave her. What a wonderful gift.

I have never had that particular thing happen to me, but over the years I’ve at times felt a heightened awareness that God is doing something in particular, and I should pay close attention. Whenever God is moving in ways that accomplish something that I wasn’t prepared for, I have learned that I need to listen and wait.

Recently, God has done just that. I have shared with most of you my current health problems and upcoming surgery. I’m not really that concerned about it but the way it happened surprised me. I don’t want to take the time in this sermon to fully explain it but suffice it to say that God’s fingerprints are all over this. Things that seemed to have no real connection worked together to discover what no one was looking for. Because I suspect that God has a definite lesson to teach I’m not worried, but I am curious about what he is doing.

The past 4 years I have been in a weekly Bible study with other Anglican priests around the country and we have focused on what it means to live life, Jesus’ life with him. When we seek him, we will find him, or some times we encounter him even when we aren’t.

This morning we’ll briefly consider our passage from 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 but first I want to lay the foundation for that text by pointing out one of the major lessons that are found in our Psalm and Gospel reading this morning.

Listen to Psalm 107: 27-32, speaking of sailors who were caught in a terrible storm,

“they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits' end. 28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 29 He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. 30 Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. 31 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! 32 Let them extol him in the congregation of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders.”

In Mark 4: 37-41 we find the same scenario with the disciples of Jesus encountering a great windstorm. Their boat was filling with water and so the awoke Jesus accusing him of not caring that they were perishing. I love Jesus’ response in verse 39-41.

“And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

In both of these passages there are identical situations. The Psalmist begins by laying the foundation that the Lord should be given thanks for his goodness and it’s the redeemed of the Lord who should proclaim the goodness of the Lord. He gives examples throughout the Psalm of times when those who claimed to be the people of God had wandered away from Him and eventually found themselves in very bad situations. When they cried out to the Lord he heard their cry and came to their rescue. In the example of men at sea finding themselves in a big storm that threatened their ship and their lives, so they cried out to the Lord and again he came to their rescue by speaking to the storm which brought instant calm. The Psalmist rightly says that the response should be recounting the story of their salvation within the assembly and praising God in the assembly of the religious leadership.

In our gospel reading the disciples find themselves in a similar situation, with the exception that God in the flesh was actually in the boat. A big storm rises up threatening their lives. So they awaken Jesus who speaks “Peace! Be Still!” to the storm and it obeys his command. There are two lessons here in this story.

1. In verse 35, Jesus comes to the disciples telling them that they would be going to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. This sea (lake really) was well known for sudden violent squalls. But Jesus had told them that they would go to the other side. Why didn’t they believe him? Why had they taken their eyes off of him and focused on the storm? You’ll recall another instance in Matthew 14:22-33 when Jesus walks on the water to come to their rescue.

2. Psalm 107 is a song of thanksgiving to God and a reminder that the worshippers should give him thanks, “for his steadfast love endures forever.” The ending of the Psalm reminds the reader of the occasion when God had saved the lives and the boat by calming the storm. The Psalms were well known by those who worshipped in the synagogue so this Psalm would have been well known to the disciples. Why then did they ask the question in verse 41, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

The disciples still didn’t recognize Jesus as the Lord who calmed the storm spoken of in Psalm 107. Before his ascension back to the right hand of the Father Luke 24:45 records, “then Jesus opened up their minds to understand the Scriptures.” Later on after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost the blinders were removed, and they now had access to the deeper things of God through the indwelling presence of the Spirit. Until that event things that would later be plainly seen and understood were hidden from them.

So with that in mind turn to 2 Corinthians 5:14-21. So we should be able to come to this passage with the understanding that God sent his Son, to pay the price or our sins because we are made in his image, he wants us to know him intimately, and experience the profound joy that is to be found in God alone. In order for this to be realized something had to happen that only God could do. Man’s image was too badly marred, and he had shown himself to consistently chose for everything but God, even when it always ended tragically. The world seeks to provide imitations of joy but that is all they are. A cubic zirconia initially looks like a diamond but is a cheap imitation and has no real value. What God has for us in Christ can’t be replicated by anything or anyone else and it is only through Christ can we be reconciled to God.

Let’s read 2 Corinthians 5: 14-15,

“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

There are two points that we want to understand from our passage:

1. The only way to be reconciled to God is to die with Christ. The “ALL” speaks of those who have died to self and surrendered to the will and lordship of Jesus Christ. They now live for his glory.

2. Those who have done so are a new creation and should model the example of Christ in how they live and what they reveal about God through their lives.

It was because of Paul’s love and devotion to Christ that he was compelled to give his life to the proclamation of the gospel, the very same gospel that had changed him. It was Christ love that had compelled him to give his life for sinners and he did so that those for whom he died might no longer live for themselves but for him who died and was raised for their salvation. Paul had earlier written to the church in Corinth in 1 Cor. 6:19-20 confronting them for the sexual immorality found in their church.

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

The truth of the matter is that we are made to serve, and we will either serve Christ or another master. To live for self is sin. To live for Christ is to bow down to him as Lord of our lives.

I love our Old Testament reading this morning from the Book of Job. Up until this time God had remained silent during the discussion of Job’s suffering between him and his friends. Then God decides to speak. In Job 38: 1-4,

“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: 2 ‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. 4 Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.’”

I can’t even imagine what Job experienced during the conversation between him and God over the 5 final chapters of the book. Most of it was God speaking to Job and to his friends, but I do know that in chapter 40:3-5 Job expresses regret that he spoke foolishly and promises to put his hand over his mouth. However, in the end God blessed Job mightily, once Job was able to see God for who he was and his place before God. They were not equals. For all his previous wealth and position before men, Job was completely dependent upon God for everything. Once everything was taken away from him he was allowed to see where his security really was. It was in God alone.

Let’s read 2 Corinthians 5:17,

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Paul confidently wrote that every person who came to Christ through faith and repentance was a new creation, no longer under the curse of sin and death. The image was being restored to the place that was intended for man from the beginning.

Dr. Richard Pratt in his commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians writes,

“New creation describes those who follow Christ because they have begun the transformation that will eventually lead to their full enjoyment of salvation in the new heavens and new earth. Christ’s death and resurrection introduced a foretaste of that new world to come.”

Paul was a living example of what in meant to be a new creation in Christ because that is exactly what had happened to him. Because of his relationship with Jesus Christ he looked at people differently. He went from being a dangerous persecutor of Christians to someone who was being persecuted for being a follower of Christ. His primary ministry as an apostle was to bring the gospel message to the Gentile nations. In his former life as a Pharisee he would have considered them pagans and not those for whom he would labor and sacrifice for. His view of the new believers in Christ was that they were new creations and those who were not as those who needed Jesus. There were only two categories in his new understanding.

The change in his perception mirrored the heart of Jesus Christ and compelled Paul to do whatever was needed that those without Christ might be transformed into new creations. Paul had been a passionate Jewish Pharisee and zealous for the law of God, but after encountering the manifest presence of the Son of God, his passion was transferred to the proclamation of the Lordship of the very one that the law and prophets had pointed to. To really encounter Jesus as Savior and Lord means that there can never be a neutral response to him.

Many of the members of the church at Corinth were still living by the values of the world, as they assumed that claiming to believe that Jesus was Lord and the way to salvation didn’t necessarily call for them to change their behavior and live their lives for the glory of God. Paul points out that they are holding on to the old way of living and thinking. Critics of Paul pointed out that he was living in such a way that would indicate that he wasn’t successful according to the standards of the world. Paul is pointing them to a new standard where those who are in Christ are to live for the glory of God and as servants to those around them.

That’s one of the reasons that the prosperity gospel is such an abomination. They teach that our reward is now because our Father is the king of all creation. We are royalty and should claim what is ours. The same mentality was very present in the Corinthian church and Paul wanted to point out that what God was offering them as new creations in the kingdom of God was life with God both now, which may be difficult, but life in the age to come. Jesus taught his disciples to not “lay up for yourselves treasure on earth…but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven…” In order for this to happen Paul knew there needed to be a change in their way of thinking.

2 Corinthians 5: 18-19,

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”

Paul explained the change within his own life and way of thinking in terms of reconciliation and that even this had come from God. Reconciliation is the establishment of peace and harmony between those who had once been enemies and at odds with one another. Where there was once hostility there is now mutual love. In his writings to the churches Paul often shared the story of his opposition to the ways of God and his persecution of the followers of Jesus. Now he writes that it was God who established peace between himself and Paul, through Christ. This act of divine love and grace is what transformed the apostle.

In so doing, God raised up Paul and then raised up those who responded to his message to have a ministry of reconciliation. It would be a ministry that changed how Paul viewed people and would be a ministry devoted to making peace between God and humanity through the preaching of the gospel.

Jesus did not come to Saul, later to be called Paul, because of his righteousness or because he was deeply committed to the law of God- Torah. On the contrary he was seeking to destroy the followers of Christ and had a hatred of Christianity. God had a mission for Paul and transformed his life through Jesus Christ and sent him to be the messenger to those who by in large had not been seeking God or showed a real interest in knowing Jesus Christ. The fact is that the majority of those in the Gentile world who Paul initially went to had never heard of Jesus Christ, much less the resurrection.

God, the reconciler was sending Paul to preach the gospel message that God was reconciling the world to himself, in spite of their evil and idol worship. God was willing to offer peace with those who by nature lived in opposition to him.

As a Pharisee Paul’s vision for what was important was that the law of God be honored and obeyed.

“The Pharisees were the most numerous and influential of the religious sects of Jesus day. They were strict legalists. They stood for the rigid observance of the letter and forms of the Law, and also for the Traditions. There were some good men among them, no doubt, but for the most part they were known for their covetousness, self-righteousness, and hypocrisy.”

God uprooted Paul from this life of respectability and comfort in ancient Israel, but instead gave him a vitally important role in the kingdom of God. Paul writes,

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

In Paul’s day the term ambassador was much the same as its usage today. An Ambassador represented a nation or kingdom to other nations. An ambassador was an honored position because they represented the authority of kings on whose behalf they spoke. God was making an appeal for peace to those who had rejected his authority and dominance as God and King of all and had chosen to do that through his ambassadors. The message of reconciliation is a startling one and we see that in 2 Corinthians 5: 21,

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

HE BECAME SIN! Can you wrap your mind around it. Does it change anything in you to know that. The Creator God, who rules and reigns in power, glory, majesty, and strength became sin. The Lord who is far more wonderful and amazing than we can even begin to imagine was willing to lay down his life in payment for the sins of those who he had created. It wasn’t a matter of mankind making a few mistakes or lapses in judgment. It was a case of the created defying, blaspheming, betraying, and ignoring, the God who had lavished upon them his love and affection. Who had forgiven them times without number, even after they arrogantly turned away from his entreaties. He came to pay the penalty of their sins. Paul wasn’t expecting that when he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, but once he understood there was only one thing he could do. He gave up his life and everything that it entailed to be the ambassador of such an amazing and loving King. He even died the death of a martyr and was honored to do so.

Paul’s teaching had power and authority but coupled with his authority over sickness, disabilities, the demonic, and even over death he demanded attention, even among those who resisted him. The combination of the Holy Spirit and the authority of the name of Jesus enabled the disciples and all those who followed Jesus after his ascension to be able to do the same miraculous works that Jesus did and that was true of Paul.

For just a moment I want to go back to the question that I began with this morning about waiting to see what God is doing in my current situation. I want you to all know something. I am so in love with Jesus Christ and because of that I am asking God to do whatever he wants in and through me. No limits. Whatever the cost. When I think back and remember the man I once was I see it through the lens of where God has brought me. Only he could have done it and only He can continue to do it. Donna and I had a lot of conversations about where God had brought her from and how that made her want of all that Jesus and the Holy Spirit would pour into her. He has used her in the lives of many more than she even knows. Hundreds, even thousands. This morning before we move to remind ourselves of what we believe in the Nicene Creed let’s just take a few moments in silent prayer before the Lord. If you want to come to the altar to pray feel free.

Let’s pray.