Now is the Time
2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10[1]
We live in a “throwaway” culture. That’s not a particularly
original observation. In fact, the first use of the phrase was in an article
called “Throwaway Living” in the August 1, 1955 edition of Life magazine. Ironically, at that time, “throwaway living” was
something that was celebrated. The article opened with a picture of a family
tossing plastic goods into the air that would have taken hours to clean.
Instead, they could just throw away these items and devote their time to
something other than the “tedious” chore of cleaning. Unfortunately, I think
the idea of throwing away something instead of taking the time to clean or mend
or otherwise make it useful again spread from simple items used in everyday
living to a broader mindset about life in general.
It seems to me that these days we are more aware of the problems
created by throwing away packaging waste and plastic or Styrofoam utensils.
That’s a good thing. But I fear the “throwaway” mindset has migrated into more
important areas of our lives. Relationships these days seem to be viewed
increasingly as something that one can simply “throw away” if they get too
unpleasant to manage. I’m not talking about the fact that some relationships
have serious flaws. I’m talking about the casual way in which people approach
relationships. The attitude seems to be “If it works out, great. If I have to
put any work into it, I’m outta here!”
We’ve seen before that St. Paul’s relationship with the church at
Corinth was a difficult one. Paul was their spiritual “father,” so to speak, in
that he was the one who had brought the gospel to them in the first place. In
spite of the fact that Paul founded the church, it would seem that a majority
of them had been turned away from him by other teachers. These others came to
Corinth and scorned Paul for the fact that he didn’t “throw his weight around”
as an Apostle apparently “should have.” The idea seems to have been that if he
were truly an Apostle of Jesus Christ, he would have demanded to be treated
with the proper deference. Instead, by his own confession, St. Paul served them
in “weakness” and humility. And his opponents used that to turn the church
against him.
As I have mentioned before, the tension between St. Paul and the
church at Corinth came to a breaking point. We have to do some “reading between
the lines” in 1 and 2 Corinthians, but when we do, a troubling story comes to
light. Apparently, on one of his visits to the church, the majority of the
believers at Corinth, led by one only known to us as “the one who did the
wrong” (2 Cor. 7:12) openly spurned St. Paul and his ministry among them. As we
might expect, Paul speaks of this as a painful experience. Some might think he
should have simply “shaken the dust from his sandals” and moved one, treating
his relationship with the church at Corinth as something that he could readily
“throw away.”
But as his letters demonstrate, St. Paul never did that with any
of the churches he served during his ministry. No matter what kind of
opposition he faced, his letters display a determination not to let any of
these relationships go without making every effort to reconcile whatever
differences or problems there may have been. And in this case Paul goes to
great lengths to argue that his ministry among them was not fraudulent, as his
opponents claimed. Rather, the mark of the authenticity of his work was
precisely the fact that it was accompanied by “afflictions, hardships, [and] calamities”
but also by “patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, and truthful
speech,” among other qualities (2 Cor. 6:4-8). Paul turned the very accusations
leveled against him—that he was weak—into proofs that he truly was a “servant
of God” (2 Cor. 6:4).
I don’t think this was just a matter of St. Paul defending
himself. His primary concern here was for the fact that when the churches he
served rejected him, they were also rejecting his message. And it was their
adherence to the message of the Gospel that he was his primary concern, not his
personal reputation. And so he made every effort to call these believers to
reconcile with him, that the gospel seeds he had planted among them would not
go to waste. He made every effort to reconcile with them, so that their
reconciliation with God through his gospel would not be endangered.
Being reconciled with someone with whom you may have difficulty is
not easy. It takes work. Sometimes it can take months of work to heal the
broken relationships we have with others. That was true in this case as well.
St. Paul spared no effort in his appeal to the people at Corinth. In fact, by
the time we get to Paul writing the Scripture before us today, there had been a
significant amount of work behind the scenes to make amends. All of this took
place while Paul was working with other churches. He could very well have
delayed the effort while he was busy elsewhere.
But the gospel
message would not allow him to do so. He knew that if they spurned him they
were in danger of spurning the offer of being reconciled with God he brought
them in the gospel. Rather than putting off the work of reconciling with the
believers in Corinth, he knew that it was something that needed immediate
attention. It was something that had to be done “at the acceptable time,” and
that time was now. His determination and persistence point us in the same
direction. When it comes to being reconciled, whether with God or with others,
the right time is always “Now”!
[1] ©
2019 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 3/10/2019 at
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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