First Lesson: 1 Samuel 15: 34- 16:13 Responsive Reading: Psalm 20 Second Lesson: 2 Corinthians 5: 6-10, (11-13), 14-17 Gospel Lesson: Mark 4: 26-34 Grace and peace from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Conan O’Brien finally achieved his dream in life. He was the new host of The Tonight Show. He seemed to have the opportunity to be his generation’s Jonny Carson. Only seven months after starting his dream, the dream was on the verge of dying. The Tonight Show’s ratings had slipped. NBC executives needed to look out for themselves and began plotting how to get Jay Leno back on the air. Conan O’Brien’s dreams were going up in flames with the entire world watching. As Conan O’Brien gives his final monologue before exiting stage left he mouths words that everyone in the studio audience could understand, “Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going get[1].” The Bride who believed that her wedding day was the happiest of her life never expected to have to attend her divorce proceedings. The guy who works every day of his life hoping to retire comfortably, only to see bad investments never allow him to take a day off. The kid who works all summer to make the high school basketball team only to ride the bench in losses surrounded by few fans and seemingly fewer friends. What about the parents who look upon their young children as the most important thing in their world, only to be estranged from them later in life. What about the person who prays for their loved one to survive only to lose them way too soon. Conan O’Brien’s words connect with each and every person who considers where they currently are in this world. This morning I want to focus on just one verse of the Bible. The following verse is one of the most relevant verses in all the scriptures because we will wrestle with this verse’s meaning at some time during our life. We reflect upon Paul’s words from 2 Corinthians 5 verse 7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight”. Consider a few things about Paul’s life when he wrote these words. Paul had been disowned by those he held dear when he converted to Christianity. Paul lived every day with a disorder thought to be epilepsy that he pleaded for the Lord to take away only he wouldn’t[2]. Paul spent nights in prison[3], wondering if execution was just around the corner. Paul did not get in life exactly what he thought was going to get. Paul grew up Saul, a Roman citizen[4] with a top-notch education. The sky was the limit for young Saul, yet his adult years were spent far different than his childhood dreams. When Paul says that “We walk by faith and not by sight,” Paul is seeking to assure us to be confident in God’s master plan. Paul knows first hand that this is often not an easy thing to do. A while ago, I was talking to a friend of mine serving on the Call Committee of her church. This church has had a litany of problems for the past decade. The pastors they like would leave, and the pastors that they didn’t like would leave on not so friendly terms. People had been leaving the church for other churches with less fighting. The people that stayed behind would clamor for peace until they didn’t get their way. The church was nearing its breaking point. This friend recalls praying every night for the perfect pastor to come their way. Only these prayers never seemingly were answered. She felt the pressure that many people feel to make sure that everything is right in the end. I remember talking with this friend when I heard every possible negative “What if?” scenario that could potentially come down the pike. As I heard all her negative thoughts, I couldn’t guarantee her that they wouldn’t come to fruition. What do you say if God isn’t looking out for his church then where shall he be? There is precedence though for her church’s situation. When Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians, they were a struggling church. They had divisions amongst their membership, and their future as a congregation was anything but certain. To those on the outside, the Corinthians would have seemed to have not much going for them. When considering the meaning of our lesson a Bible commentator named Alan Brehm has some very wise words, “Consider the difference between ‘appearance’ and ‘reality’. Whereas appearances always change, reality never changes[5]. Things can look one way at a particular time, only for a very different reality to be present underneath the surface. Whereas the church in Corinth might seem absent from God’s plan, Resurrection would win out in the end[6]. Think of the story of Joseph. The little brat sold into slavery. As Joseph lies in prison, falsely accused of a crime that he did not commit. Joseph could have gone through every day of his life building more and more resentment against his brothers. Joseph’s brothers were jerks then again so was Joseph. In the midst of these most dysfunctional of families, God had a plan. God had a plan that involved: Joseph being a brat, his brothers getting jealous, his brothers selling him into slavery, and the slave traders they met happening to go to Egypt. Potiphar buying Joseph, Potiphar’s wife accusing Joseph of making a pass at her, and Joseph ending up in prison. While in prison, Joseph meets a butler and a baker with crazy dreams, and Joseph interprets their dreams correctly. Later on while the Butler was working for Pharoah, he hears about Pharoah having a confusing dream. The Butler gets Pharoah in connection with Joseph, and Joseph interprets Pharoah’s dream. Joseph’s brothers are experiencing a famine in Canaan, so they travel to Egypt where they reunite with Joseph, who now serves as Pharoah’s second in command. The story only works when you consider that what God’s plan appearing before Joseph, was very different from God’s reality in Joseph’s life. The thing about the story of Joseph is that God’s will would only begin to make sense after many difficult years. The pinnacle of the whole story of Joseph comes in Genesis 50:20 when Joseph has finally made himself known to his brothers once again. Whereas God’s plan was going to take many difficult years to unfold, it did one day make sense to Joseph. Joseph’s famous words describe the point of the story well “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Tullian Tchividijan sums up the whole of the Christian gospel well when he says “The Gospel is not ultimately a defense from pain and suffering, rather, it is the message of God’s rescue through pain[7].” We often fail to grasp this and it leads to people struggling. Atheists demand proof of God’s presence at a certain moment in their life, so therefore they reject Christianity. The lack of proof of God’s existence would seem to be a convincing argument. Although when we say, “We walk by faith but not by sight” what this means is that there are things such as love, faith, and hope that we cannot touch or see. Just because we can not feel or see these things doesn’t mean that they are not there[8]. Lena one day asked Ole to prove that he loved her. Ole says, "I’ve been married to ya for 42 years?" Lena says that doesn’t mean that you love me. Ole figured he better think of something else, so he says to Lena “Think of all the chores and errands that I’ve done over the years to make you happy.” Lena was still not satisfied with this answer. Ole was getting mad at this point when he says “Lena, do you really think that anyone else promises to wake up next to you every morning, even if they know that you’re going to be crabby”. Lena was speechless at this point. Ole’s point had been made. You see love is a promise, not an emotion. You cannot touch love. You can not envision hope. You cannot see faith. Even in the absence of proof these things are still there. A few months back I was down in Duluth running a few errands. On the last errand of the day, the car doesn’t start. I call Triple A figuring it’s a dead battery. Triple AAA can’t get the car started. I’m down in Duluth at 4:45 on a Friday all sorts of repair shops are closing down. A cold rain is beginning to come down. My cell phone in another turn of bad luck is dead. I’m being told that the car probably won’t get into the shop till either Saturday or Monday. This Friday afternoon was not going according to script. Life is often going to work this way. Think of the people that you call when you’re stranded on the side of the road. You call them on the basis of faith. They have come through for you before. Sure there might have been a time or two that you couldn’t get a hold of them. Sure, they probably ran late once or twice. You might not know quite what to make of these people sometimes. You call them because you know that they will ultimately come through for you even if you cannot prove it at the moment that you dial the phone. In moments like this, I will always call my dad. Dad has hardly been on time for anything in his life. He’s been late when he’s come to church at Sychar even staying next door. When I was a child in school, I would always be the last kid picked up from nearly any school activity. Yet I still call upon Dad because I know that he will ultimately come through even if it might not be according to my timeline. Every time, I call my dad it is on the basis of faith that he will come through in the end. Being able to trust in God who will deliver you at the moment of your desperation even if you cannot prove it today is what Paul is getting at when he says that “We walk by faith and not by sight.” I cannot predict the future for anyone here, but what I can say with certainty is that it will not go according to plan. Paul would always point our eyes to the cross. For as wise as we think ourselves to be ultimately, our wisdom stands as folly compared to the foolishness of the cross. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD,”-Isaiah 55:8 For at those moments when we can’t make sense of God’s ways we fixate our eyes towards the Cross. We fixate our eyes to a symbol of hope of what’s on the horizon, even if we can’t make sense of the present in the midst of despair. Conan O’Brien is right “Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going get.” What our God promises to give us instead is beyond that which we can imagine. Amen [1] Rice, Lynette. “Conan O’Brien’s final monologue: Nobody in life gets what they thought they were going to get”. Entertainment Weekly. 22.Jan.2010. Web. June.8.2015 [2] 2 Corinthians 12:8 [3] Acts 16:19-40 [4] Acts 22:28 [5] Brehm, Alan. “Not by Sight”. The Walking Dreamer. 29.July.2009. Web. June.9.2015. [6] Inspired by Malcolm, Lois “Commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:6-10 {11-13}14-17.”. Working Preacher. 14.June.2015. Web. June.8.2015. [7] Tchividjian, Tullian. “The Comfort of Who”. Liberate. 13.Aug.2014. Web. June.11.2015. [8] Anders, Dr. Mickey. “By Faith or By Sight”. Lectionary.org. 2006. Web. June.8.2015. Comments are closed.
|
Categories
All
|