"Finally" Sermon: II Corinthians 13:11-14

"Finally"
[II Corinthians 13:11-14]
May 18, 2008 Second Reformed Church

This morning we are looking at the closing and benediction of Paul's second letter to the Church at Corinth, and it might serve us well to know something about this church and why Paul wrote the letters he did.

In the first century, the city of Corinth was the center of the trade route for the civilized world. Everything passed through Corinth -- not just goods from all over the known world, but every type of philosophy and religion. So Corinth was known to be a very "tolerant" city -- in a very modern sense of the word -- every sort of belief and practice flourished among every other type of belief and practice. Paul founded a church in this city.

Although there were true believers in the Church at Corinth, there was a great deal of challenge, confusion, and division over what to believe and how to act as a Christian. They were now representing an exclusivist religion in an inclusive society, and issues kept arising.

Paul wrote his letters to them to correct false teachings that had crept into the church: in his first letter, he told them that Christians cannot have sexual relations with whomever and whatever they want, he taught them the difference between true and false spiritual gifts, he explained that some people can eat food that had been offered to idols without sinning, while others can not, and he explained that the resurrection was not just a spiritual happening, but the physical body also rises from the dead. In his second letter, he argued against false apostles that he is a true apostle, and he taught them that they were wrong to hoard their money away, but God calls Christians to give generously to the Church.

In Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, he taught them that they must be unified in the teaching of the Church, and especially those doctrines concerning salvation. In the second letter, he taught them that they must be unified with other churches that believe the same things they do. These general themes are the same for us today: we are to be unified in the teaching of the Church -- we are to believe what has always be taught by the Church from the Bible. And, we are to be unified with other churches that hold the same beliefs that we do -- we are to work with and pray for all churches that teach that Jesus is the One and Only Savior and Salvation is through Him Alone.

And nothing has changed. One example from our denomination, the Reformed Church in America: We confess that the Bible is the Word of God. Ordained ministers swear to uphold the Word of God and the standards, so long as they conform to the Word of God. God has clearly said in His Word that committing homosexual acts is sin. We, as a denomination, are in the midst of a several year study to determine what the meaning of "is" is. And, when this issue is voted on, if those voting decide that the meaning of the word "is" is "is not, if it is a loving relationship," then we shall ordain practicing homosexuals to the ministry, and it will be impossible to say it is wrong to have loving, sexual relations with one's brother, sister, mother, father, aunt, uncle, or dog. We will be the Church at Corinth.

This morning's Scripture contains the final comments and the benediction of the second letter:

Paul tells the Corinthians, first, to rejoice. After these letters of correction, he tells them to rejoice. Why? Because they have believed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and there is nothing that fills a person with more joy than to know Jesus and His Salvation. So, in the midst of being corrected, in learning that what we have always done isn't right, we can rejoice, because we are Christ's forever and always, safe and secure.

Then he says to "aim for restoration, comfort one another" (ESV). Just this week I talked with a minister of a church in another reformed denomination who told me about how one family was disrupting the church -- trying to run the church -- against the will of the Consistory. People were up in arms, some left the church, but this past Winter, the family left the church, all of the issues were settled, and they are worshiping in peace. When there are disagreements and misunderstandings and sinful refusals to obey God's Word, there is turmoil in the church. We ought always to be aiming for restoration of the unity of the church on those things which are clear and necessary for Salvation, and we ought to be a comfort to one another after the issues have been settled. When we agree in unity on the fundamentals of the faith, we experience and know that the God of love and peace is with us.

Finally, he says to "greet one another with a holy kiss" (ESV). We've seen this in other places in the New Testament -- kissing each other, in a non-sexual way, was a familiar greeting in the first century. We can adapt that to our time by saying that we ought to use our bodies -- in a non-sexual way -- to show our love for each other. Some kiss, some shake hands, some hug -- these are all appropriate when done to greet others in the love of Christ.

Then Paul gives the benediction, and we're tempted, after hearing the end of the instruction to read, "All the saints greet you. Yada, yada, yada, Paul." But we ought to be careful not to skip over the benediction: there is much to learn and rejoice in in these words.

The first thing we should notice, on this Trinity Sunday, is that this is a Triune benediction. Paul ends with a "good word" regarding all Three Persons of the Trinity. And in this benediction, the distinctness of the Persons of the Trinity is emphasized. He prays/commends that these three things be with all of them:

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit" (ESV). What do these mean?

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." The primary Gift of Grace that Jesus gives us is Himself for our Salvation. Peter said, "But we [Jews] believe that we will be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus, just as [the Gentiles] will" (Acts 15:11, ESV). Paul wrote about how sin came into the world through one man, Adam, and the free gift of Salvation came into the world through One Man, Jesus: "But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many" (Romans 5:15, ESV). He puts it again this way: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich" (II Corinthians 8:9, ESV). Paul, in his benediction, prayed that all the members of the Church at Corinth would come to believe in Christ through His Grace -- that they would all receive Salvation in Jesus Alone.

We ought do the same: we ought to pray for the Salvation of all those who attend our worship service, because not everyone who attends worship is a Christian. Not everyone who sits in our pews week after week has received Jesus Alone for Salvation. Just because someone is present in worship week after week does not prove that he is a Christian any more than going to McDonald's week after week would make him a hamburger. Salvation is not attending worship, Salvation is in receiving the Grace of Jesus Christ, believing in Him Alone for Salvation.

For those who have received Him, there is a second Grace: Paul wrote of it to Timothy, "You, then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you heard from me in the presence of many witnesses..." (II Timothy 2:1-2a, ESV). Jesus gives us His Grace and strengthens us in the faith, as we read God's Word and hear it preached and receive the sacraments and pray. As we spiritually meet with Jesus, He ministers to us and strengthens us so we can go and tell the world His Gospel.

May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of our Salvation be with you all -- that you might be saved this day and eternally through Jesus Christ, and that He might strengthen you day by day to do the good works He has planned for you to His Glory.

"The love of God." What is the greatest showing of God's Love for His people? Paul wrote, "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person -- though perhaps for a good person one would even dare to die -- but God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:6-8, ESV). God showed His Love for us by saving us when we were His greatest enemy and wanted nothing to do with Him. When we were in cosmic rebellion against Him, when we said we neither wanted Him nor needed Him, while we cried out, "Be gone!", God sent Jesus to live under God's Law and die for our sins, saving us and making us His children. John was dumbfounded by this: "See what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called the children of God; and so we are" (I John 3:1a, ESV).

God loved all of us who would believe throughout time and space so much that He sent His Son to live and die for our Salvation. It is that Love that causes Jesus' Grace to be irresistible to those of us who believe. He loves us and draws us to Himself and makes us His own. May that Love conquer you and change you and give you eternal life.

"The fellowship of the Holy Spirit" The past two weeks we have noted that God the Holy Spirit lives in every Christian -- the same One God -- in the Person of the Holy Spirit lives in you and you and you and me. He lives in us and unites us in the faith -- we are one body, we are a holy temple, a holy people, we are brothers and sisters and co-heirs with Christ. Paul wrote, "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation [fellowship] in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind" (Philippians 2:1-2, ESV).

Paul was not unrealistic; there are times when Christians need to receive Church discipline, and Jesus gave us instructions for how that is to be done, and Paul knew that some people would tend to like each other and do things together, and others would do likewise. And we are not commanded to always do everything together -- we do not have to be best friends with every person in the church. But, since we are united by the same God the Holy Spirit, we have fellowship with one another -- and with all Christians. The word that is used is koinonia, which means a sharing of all things. Now, that doesn't mean that Paul wants us to be communists. What it means is if we are loved by the same God, if we are saved by the same Jesus Christ, if we are united and indwelled by the same Holy Spirit, we must love each other, we must sympathize with each other, we must pray for each other, etc.

Understand, there will be Christians in every church that you don't have as much in common with as others, there will be Christians who rub you the wrong way, there are Christians who you will disagree with on issues -- that's alright; it's normal. However, we must be able to worship together. We must be able to express sympathy when someone is sick or a family member has died. We must be able to congratulate them when they get a degree or a raise. We don't have to have every Christian to our home for tea, but if God the Holy Spirit indwells each one of us, we must be able to put aside our petty differences for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must get over ourselves and humble ourselves before God and man, showing that we have received God's Grace and Love and we now exist together in fellowship.

For example: this week I was invited to hear a certain minister speak. He is a world-renown scholar, and he is someone with whom I have profound disagreement in the area of Christian Ethics. I politely declined the invitation, because I knew if I went, I would be tempted to sin against this speaker -- my back would have gone up, and even if I never spoke I word, I would have been fuming and full of pride. Since I do believe the man in question is a Christian, I prayed for him -- that he would speak in accordance with the Pure Word of God, and I prayed for myself -- that my attitude would change towards him -- that we would both grow in Christ-likeness. That is how we ought to deal with those in the Church we aren't best friends with. Keep yourself from sin; pray for the brothers and sisters you don't see eye to eye with. Confess your sin, and pray that God would change and mature you in the faith.

May the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all -- with the whole Church of Christ. May we all realize that we are united in God the Holy Spirit for the sake of the Gospel, which is far greater than any of our differences.

In the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, may the Love of God and the Grace of Jesus Christ shine through us and be seen by the world that God would get the glory. For there is Only One God and One Salvation. Praise Jesus.

Let us pray:
Almighty God and Father, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, we confess that You are the One and the Same Only God. We rejoice that You have revealed to us that You come to us in history in Three Persons. We thank You that You do not leave Your Church to its own devices, but continue to give us Grace and Love and unite us through Yourself, even as You change us into Your Image. Use us to Your Glory. Amen and amen.