Grace to you and peace...
Sisters and brothers in Christ, we’re going to be in II Corinthians until July 12, when we’ll get into Ephesians.
So I just want to share with you a little background on Corinth and the climate of Paul’s second letter to the people there.
This is not to bore you, but help you see some similarities then has to now.
Corinth was a wild, bustling city. It’s part of Greece, but jets out into the Mediterranean. For a while it was second in size only to Rome. There were choppy waters in that region and so if you look at a map you’d see that if there had been a way to dig a canal across the isthmus where Corinth is, that would have been a very convenient short-cut for seafarers and traders of the ancient world between the Athens and Rome. But they couldn’t do that then. Still, it was a better option -- if you had enough money -- to have slaves drag your ship across this kilometer+ of land than go all the way around this rocky peninsula. Look at a map and you’ll see what I mean.
I find this geography fascinating, but the point is that this set-up renders Corinth bustling. Crazy, actually. Lots of sailors. Lots of traders. Lots of languages and cultures both passing through and some settling. Romans, Greeks, Africans, Jews, Turks, Arabs...
And with all those people came lots of bars and clubs, let’s just say. And let’s just say that the word Corinth, was turned into a verb “to Corinth” which meant to fornicate. Does that give you a picture of this city. It was like Vegas in a convenient location on the sea.
Exciting, right? Gives a little color and drama to this book of the Bible from which we’ve been reading for years...
This is Paul’s second letter to this obviously struggling Christian community. (Interesting to note to, that while scholars are almost unanimous on the fact that Paul did indeed write this, there’s all kinds of theories about this letter of II Corinthians actually being multiple letters -- as many as 4. That’s because of the very abrupt shifts that you find as you read through the letter. But ultimately that doesn’t matter as much.) What’s happening here is Paul is writing and encouraging a people who are both struggling and squabbling (putting it lightly).
The Christians in Corinth are trying to live differently. They’re trying to be community in a place that elevates individual success and mobility above the common good. Corinth was a place where people literally moved through, where people didn’t stay, and didn’t care, and didn’t look out for each other. Where people were even reckless and destructive with their own bodies not just the bodies of others. Where people consumed and threw away, and moved on...even violently.
But the Christians in Corinth were trying to live differently. And Paul was their spiritual father, and encourager, and mentor...sometimes their antagonist, as Paul can be very direct and honest at times. Paul is not just a peaceful guru with the Christians in Corinth. He is often at odds with them.
See, the Christians in Corinth were struggling with moral issues -- whether or not to eat meat, whether or not to get circumcised, whether or not to follow Jewish rituals and customs, whether or not to remain celibate or get married. And Paul -- particularly in his first letter -- lifts up love above all those conflicts. Faith hope and love and the greatest of these.. Love...despite your being at odds on moral issues.
What if we could follow Paul’s advice today: loving one another, despite being at odds on our modern day moral issues?
We struggle so hard to do this. If you don’t agree with me on these important moral issues -- today, I think that’s sexuality, immigration, war, peace, poverty, the environment (to name a few) -- then we’re done with each other, we draw our lines and withdraw into our corners with others who think the same way we do. [pause] Paul’s got something to say about that. Paul talks about reconciliation. And basically says, “Live together lovingly. If you married, stay married, if you’re single stay single, if you eat meat, eat meat, if don’t, don’t. Stay where you are, but stay together. Live peaceably with one another. For here’s where we all do connect -- in Christ Jesus.” “We are joined to Christ,” Paul encourages...
And that brings us into our text today: “That Christ is the one who raises us up, who gives us our life. So. Do. Not. Lose. Heart. Even though our outer natures are wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.” That doesn’t need much explanation, does it? Our outer natures wasting away? Someone said to me recently, “The older I get the more I understand that.” Bible translator Eugene Peterson expands that even more: “Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace.” Even if the world is falling apart around us, God is making new life, and not a day goes by without God’s unfolding grace. [pause]
Despite our conflicts, despite the world rolling on (like a warship over the land, pulled by slaves) -- often so carelessly and cruelly, just crushingly -- despite our own health issues, and dysfunction in our bodies and in our families and in our communities, despite all evidence to the contrary sometimes, despite even death itself (some are even facing that, even more seriously these days) -- despite all of it -- God is doing a new thing inside, even if we can’t always see it or name it. God is doing something. Our inner natures are being renewed day by day. Not a day goes by without God’s unfolding grace.
Reconciliation is possible even now; forgiveness is possible; wholeness is possible with God. Peace is possible. Even in a world wracked with violence and Corinthian behavior, God is doing a new thing. And your inner nature is nucleus for God’s unfolding grace.
So don’t lose heart. Don’t tear each other down. Build each other up. Respect the other’s corner. All that is just temporary anyway. All that is just a “tent”, Paul says. (Lifting our tent on Saturday morning to get the dirt out. Katie: “I can’t believe that’s where we slept.”) There’s a much greater home ahead of us, a much greater surprise for us anyway -- a house built by God. That’s what we have to look forward to!
And it starts now. We get a glimpse of it even now!
So don’t lose heart.
God’s at work here, in you, through Christ and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
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