We Do Not Lose Heart
2 Corinthians 4:13-18[1]
St. Paul is famous for having
said “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim. 6:10). He’s
famous for this because he’s been so often misquoted as saying that the love of
money is the root of all evil.
No doubt, greed motivates people to do things they might otherwise not think of
doing. But so does fear. I believe that fear can be just a powerful a motivator
to do evil as greed or lust. We fear what we do not understand, what we cannot
anticipate, and what we cannot control. And in our world, there is so much that
we don’t understand, can’t anticipate, and have no way to control. I would have
to admit that the things I’m most ashamed of having done I’ve done out of fear.
I think one of the main
reasons why fear can affect so deeply is because fear converts to anger. To be
afraid of something or someone is a powerless feeling, and most of us don’t
like feeling powerless. So we convert our fears into anger, because anger feels
more powerful than fear. And we usually do so without even knowing it. This dynamic
in our human psychology has allowed zealots and tyrants of every stripe to
manipulate whole nations of people to do unspeakable evil. It still makes us
susceptible to those who point the finger at some particular group as the ones
who are to blame for the challenges that we fear so much in our world.
If anyone had a right to give
in to fear, it was St. Paul. He recounts that during the course of his service
to Christ, he endured “afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings,
imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger” (2 Cor 6:4-5). He said
it well elsewhere: he was in “danger from bandits, danger from my own people,
danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at
sea, danger from false brothers and sisters” and he carried out his ministry “in
toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often
without food, cold and naked” (2 Cor. 11:26-27). I think if anyone had a right
to give in to fear, it was St. Paul.
Beyond that, he had endured
public humiliation and even being run out of town by the people of the church at
Corinth. Now this was a church that he had founded, and he continued to serve
as a pastor to them for many years through his letters which we have in the NT.
But the relationship between them was not always the best. The Apostle recounts
one particular occasion when he visited the church in Corinth and was forced to
leave by those who opposed him openly. He also chides the church at Corinth for
receiving so-called “super-Apostles” who claimed that Paul was a fraud because
he was he didn’t “throw his weight around.”
Part of the problem was a
question of authority. The “super-Apostles” who attacked St. Paul claimed that
his authority was lame and ineffective. They insisted their credentials and
performance as preachers of the gospel put Paul to shame. And it would appear
that, at least for a while, the people of the church at Corinth were taken in
by this scam. But in our lesson for today, St. Paul addresses this: he says, “everything
is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may
increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God” (2 Cor. 4:15).
You might think that Paul
would give in to fear and move on to greener pastures. But he never gave up on
the church at Corinth. He never stopped trying to lead them into the truth of
the Gospel, no matter what obstacles there may have been in his way. And
finally, after many months of conflict, his efforts were rewarded. That was the
whole reason why he wrote the letter we know as 2 Corinthians. And that helps
us to understand better the context in which he could say, “we do not lose
heart” (2 Cor. 4:16).
This wasn’t the first time or
the last that St. Paul was attacked by those who claimed he had no authority to
act as an Apostle. Elsewhere, in response to those who were boasting of their
perfect “pedigree,” he insists that none of that counts. In a church that
follows a crucified savior, St. Paul insists that “the only thing that counts
is faith working through love” (Gal. 5:6). I might paraphrase that as “faith
serving through love.” Because St. Paul knew he was a living example of “faith
serving through love,” he didn’t let those who tried to discredit him divert
him from his task. Because his motives were pure and his ultimate confidence
was in Jesus Christ, he could say “we do not lose heart.”
I think that’s a lesson that
we can learn from in our day. It is a difficult time to be the church. 60 years
ago, we were right in the middle of the mainstream of our culture. These days
it’s all we can do to try to keep moving forward against the current of our
culture. And there are so many voices out there claiming that our mandate for
being the church in our world is lame and that we are ineffective at best when
it comes to carrying out our mission.
It would be easy to give into
fear in this setting. There’s so much about our future as a church that we
don’t understand, we can’t anticipate, and we can’t control. But now is not the
time to give into fear; it’s the time to follow St. Paul’s example by putting
into practice “faith serving through love.” I think that can be one of the most
effective antidotes to the fear-mongers in our world who would paralyze us and attack
us for carrying out our calling. When we devote ourselves to a life of “faith
serving through love,” then we can also have the courage to say, come what may,
“we do not lose heart.”
[1] ©
2018 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 6/10/2018 at
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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