“Word for Today” – 2 Corinthians 4 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
Yesterday, a friend of mine who works in a management position called me asking my advice. “I’m having this problem with another employee at my office,” he began. He then proceeded to rip off a whole litany of offenses, shortcomings, integrity issues, and job performance weaknesses that this employee had displayed during his time at the company. After listening to a dizzying and dismal performance report, I asked my buddy, “Have you talked to this employee about all these problems?” “Well,” my buddy continued, “I tried to, but he wouldn’t let me get in a word edgewise. He just kept on talking and talking. I think he knew that we were having some problems with his performance, and he didn’t want to face them.”
How many times has this been true of us? There are some problems with our performance, but we don’t want to face them. And so, we try to cover them up, dress them up, make them up, and excuse them away. In our reading for today from 2 Corinthians 4, however, we learn that this is not the way that our “problems with performance” are to be dealt with. Paul writes in verse 2 that we, as Christians, “have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”
“By setting forth the truth plainly…” That doesn’t sound like any sort of cover up to me. Instead, that sounds like brute honesty. Honesty about our sin. Honesty about our shortcomings. Honesty about our “performance problems.” As Christians, Paul says, we are to address these things head on rather than trying to shirk responsibility for them and talking our way out of them.
One of the things that Paul exhorts us to do when talking frankly and forthrightly about our “performance problems” is not to use “deception.” The Greek word for “deception” is panourgia and is often translated as “trickery” or “craftiness.” Sadly, this is the way many of us deal with our sin. We trick ourselves into thinking that it’s not that bad. We are crafty in the way that we confess our sins, strategically leaving out bits and pieces of information, so that we don’t sound too depraved. But this is not the way of the gospel. Panourgia concerning our sinfulness just won’t do. For this kind of “trickery” and “craftiness” is none other than a disgusting device of the devil. “I am afraid,” Paul writes later in 2 Corinthians 11:3, “that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” The Greek word for the “cunningness” of the serpent? Panourgia.
“By setting forth the truth plainly…” This is the only way for a Christian to live. Not cloaked in secrecy. Not veiled in shame. We are to live in the plain light of truth. But remember, the plain light of truth tells not only of our sin, the plain light of truth also tells of God’s grace. That’s why John reminds us that Jesus “came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Grace and truth go together, John says. You can never tell the plain truth of your sinfulness without also hearing the plain truth of God’s grace, love, mercy, and compassion for you in Jesus Christ. Grace and truth go together.
So here is your challenge. Is there any area in your life where you are practicing some panourgia with your sinfulness? Are you hiding your “performance problems” from the plain light of truth? Now is the time to expose them. Now is the time to get honest about them. And now is the time to receive the plain truth of God’s grace. It’s yours for the asking. It’s yours for forgiveness.
“Word for Today” – 2 Corinthians 3 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
Last weekend was the weekend of the Oscars. And although the popularity and the ratings of this perennial awards powerhouse has been slowly but surely waning, winning one of these gold-plated britannium statues is still a coveted Tinsel Town status symbol. Indeed, even presenting one of these awards is considered to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity not to be missed. That’s why when, according to Hollywood “insider” reporters, some actors and actresses such as Kate Winslet, Nicole Kidman, and George Clooney refused to present at this year’s Academy Awards, the producers were less than thrilled. After all, presenting at the Oscars is still regarded as a high honor, even if it’s not quite the same as actually winning an Oscar.
In our reading for today from 2 Corinthians 3, Paul, unlike many Hollywood elites, marvels at the prospect that he would get to be a “presenter” at an awards show hosted by none other than God himself. Paul writes, “And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (verse 3). Paul says that Christ has won some awards. And these awards are much more than mere gold-plated britannium statues; rather, these awards are living, breathing, flesh and blood human beings. These awards are none other than you and me. Because we, as Christians, rather than being awarded to Satan and his wicked minions because of our sin, are awarded to Christ and his angels because of his work on the cross. We, as Christians, are the eternal awards of Christ, presented to him finally and wholly on the Last Day.
But just like any good awards show, there needs to be some presenters. And here’s the transcendent privilege in this divine awards show that so thrills Paul: he gets to be a presenter. He gets to present an award of human beings to none other than Christ himself. Can you imagine? Presenting an award like this to Jesus? This is Paul’s privilege. This is Paul’s honor. This is Paul’s boast. And this is why Paul writes to the Corinthians, “You are a letter from Christ! You are an award for Christ! And you know what? I get to deliver you to Christ. I have the high honor and distinct privilege of presenting you to the Lord.” Paul speaks similarly later in this same letter when he writes: “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him” (2 Corinthians 11:2). Paul is keenly aware of the distinct honor and high privilege that he has in presenting those under his care to Christ on the Last Day.
Like Paul, you have a similar privilege. You have a similar commissioning. The truth of the matter is, you can never “win” anybody for Christ. The winning of human beings has already been accomplished by Christ through his work on the cross. But although you cannot win anybody for Christ, you, like Paul, can present people to Christ. People that you have befriended with Christ’s love. People that you have helped in Jesus’ name. People that you have shared the gospel with. These are all people who you can present to Christ on the Last Day, saying, “Here’s another award for you, Jesus. But more than a mere award, here’s another person for you. A person you have won by your forgiveness. A person you have loved by your grace.”
And so, who will you have to present to Jesus on the Last Day? My prayer for you today is that you, along with Paul, can revel in the distinct privilege and high honor that you have in being one of God’s many “presenters.” Because you have the distinct privilege and high honor of presenting the most precious thing of all to Jesus: others.
“Word for Today” – 2 Corinthians 2 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Have you ever heard this well-worn proverb? I have. Usually from someone who has been wronged in a monumentally significant and deeply painful way. “I’m never going to let them do that to me again!” they exclaim. “I’m never going to trust them! They won’t be able to fool me again!”
Usually, in a conversation like this one, I will try to help the wronged person understand the difference between foolishness and forgiveness. “Foolishness,” I say, “is when you put yourself in a position where your perpetrator can recklessly and dangerously hurt you. Forgiveness,” I continue, “is when you give up your right to wish hurt on them.” Sadly, this important distinction is often lost on a freshly wounded heart. Objections usually come immediately and vociferously: “I can’t forgive him!” they might say. “If I let my guard down for even a second, he’ll get me again! There’s no way I’ll ever be able to trust him again!”
As hard as it may seem, this distinction between foolishness and forgiveness is a vital one to take to heart. As Christians, we are certainly called to avoid foolishness: “Stay away from a foolish man, for you will not find knowledge on his lips” (Proverbs 14:7). Yet, at the same time we are called to eschew foolishness, we are also called to embrace forgiveness.
Indeed, this is the exhortation that Paul gives the Corinthians in our reading for today from 2 Corinthians 2. Apparently, there was a man among this congregation who had grieved and embarrassed its members greatly by his sin. And, in accordance with sound doctrine, the Corinthians had disciplined this man. But now, this man has repented and sought forgiveness and restoration. And so, Paul tells the Corinthians: “The punishment inflicted on this man by the majority is sufficient for him. Now instead, you ought to forgive him and comfort him” (verses 6-7). I can imagine what the reflexive protestations from the Corinthian congregants must have sounded like: “What do you mean forgive him and comfort him? This guy almost wrecked our church with his raucous behavior! If we forgive him, comfort him, and then restore him to our fold, he could bring us to the brink or destruction once more. He fooled us once, but he’s not going to fool us twice!”
Sadly, those who so stridently hold on to unforgiveness so that they will not be “fooled twice” are actually being played for fools. But they’re not being played for fools by their menacing perpetrators. They’re being played for fools by Satan. For unforgiveness strangles the soul and smothers the spirit – Satan’s very goal and desire for us. That is why Paul encourages the Corinthians to be timely and sincere in their forgiveness: “In order that Satan might not outwit us” (verse 11).
And so, today I call you to choose forgiveness over foolishness. And I’m under no delusion about the difficulty that this choice involves. Indeed, this choice was difficult even for God. So difficult, in fact, that it literally killed him…on a cross. And yet, I must say lovingly, but also truthfully, that one of the most foolish things you can do is withhold forgiveness. For unforgiveness is nothing but a trick of the devil. So don’t let Satan play you for a fool. “Forgive each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).
“Word for Today” – 2 Corinthians 1 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
Last night, I had to change my plans. I say “I had to change my plans” because, honestly, I never like to change my plans. Midcourse corrections, last minute updates, and on the fly modifications are not my spiritual gift. In fact, they have sometimes been known to bring out my less endearing spiritual gift of crabbiness. But last night, the need was so pressing, the situation so acute, and the circumstance so weighty that even I made an eleventh-hour change. Such was the reason I was not able to attend our Ash Wednesday service yesterday evening.
As we begin studying together through 2 Corinthians in our “Word for Today” readings, I am comforted by the fact that I am not the only one who has “last minute change aversion.” Paul, we read in 2 Corinthians 1:15-16, had planned to visit the Corinthians twice (cf. 1 Corinthians 16:5-7). But at the last minute, he has to turn two shorter planned visits into one longer unplanned visit. This change in plans gives his detractors fodder to accuse him of, to use some political parlance, “flip-flopping.” Their accusation is piercing and damning: “If you cannot be trusted in something as elementary as keeping an appointment, how can you be trusted in your message of Christ?” Paul, knowing that the very gospel is at stake in their accusation, responds swiftly and pointedly: “When I planned this, did I do it lightly? Or do I make plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say, ‘Yes, yes’ and ‘No, no’” (2 Corinthians 1:17)? When Paul asks this question, he sets it up with the Greek word meti. This particle is used when its speaker expects a negative answer to his question. To paraphrase in English, “I didn’t make my plans lightly, did I?” Paul already has in mind the answer to his own question and that answer is “no.” Paul would never change his plans on a whim. Yet, in this instance, the need was pressing, the situation was acute, and the circumstance was weighty. He had no choice.
Even though Paul may have had to occasionally, if not begrudgingly, change his plans, he reminds the Corinthians of something that he has never changed – his message of Jesus Christ. “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me…was not ‘Yes’ and ‘No,’ but in him it has always been ‘Yes’” (2 Corinthians 1:19). There is no “flip-flopping” in Paul’s gospel message because there is no “flip-flopping” in God, as he himself promises us: “I the LORD do not change” (Malachi 3:6). And because there is no “flip-flopping” in God’s essence, we can also be assured that there is no “flip-flopping” in God’s plans. Indeed, God had planned all along to send us Jesus. As 1 Peter 1:18-20 reminds us: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world.” Long before we saw our need for a Savior, God did. And so God planned the cross before the creation of the world. Why? Because God planned you. And God has plans for you. Aren’t you glad his loving plans for you are secure?
“Word for Today” – 1 Corinthians 16 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
I’ll never forget having my first realization that I was indeed getting older. Then again, as I grow older and more forgetful, perhaps I will. So while I still have my memory relatively in tact, allow me to share. It was my sophomore year in high school. I was taking a course in American literature when I began to realize that I could barely read the things my teacher was writing on the board! Does that say “read pages 1-103” of The Scarlet Letter or “read pages 1-03”? I think I like the second option better.
When I finally told my mother that everything was looking a little blurrier these days, her immediate response was, “We need to schedule you an appointment with the optometrist. You need to have your eyes checked!” “But mom,” I protested, “I’m only 15! Glasses are for old people!” Unfortunately, one week and one optometrist visit later, I became an old person. I walked into my American literature class donning a pair of glasses.
It happens to all of us. Eyesight dims. Hearing gets muffled. Joints get sore. Physical stamina wanes. We get old. And we eventually pass on. This is the sobering reality we remember this day. Today, according to church tradition, is Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday has as its credo this sobering reminder: “Dust you are and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19). According to Scripture, human beings were formed from dust (cf. Genesis 2:7) and because of sin, we will one day return there. We will be buried in the dust upon our deaths. The dimming eyesight and muffled hearing and sore joints and waning physical stamina are mere indications of the inexorable and inevitable dusty deaths that await us all.
Interestingly, we see a sign of dustiness in our reading for today from 1 Corinthians 16. Paul, as he concludes his letter, includes this passing comment: “I, Paul write this greeting in my own hand” (verse 21). In the ancient world, it was not unusual to have an amanuensis (who was much like a secretary) pen a letter at someone else’s dictation. Without the clear type settings that we enjoy today, this would insure an easily readable letter because of the professional penmanship. Indeed, this was the reason many believe that Paul dictated his letters to an amanuensis. Elsewhere, in a similar statement, Paul writes, “See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand” (Galatians 6:11)! Apparently, Paul had terrible penmanship. He had to write in “large letters,” for his hands were shaky. Was this because of arthritis? Or Parkinson’s Disease? Or Congenital Hyperinsulinism? Who knows. But we do know that we are receiving a slight glimpse into this apostle’s dusty mortality. He was not always healthy.
“Dust you are and to dust you shall return.” This is the credo of shaky hands and dimming eyesight. And yet, that is not all Scripture has to say about dust. As Daniel 12:2 reminds us: “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake.” Our dusty deaths do not have the last word, for Ash Wednesday always gives way to Easter. And it is Easter that we are waiting for and watching for and preparing for, even as this Lenten Season begins. And that is what I remind you of as I type this blog…by my own hand.
“Word for Today” – 1 Corinthians 15 – www.concordialutheranchurch.com
Like many guys, I am not very adept at multi-tasking. For example, if Melody and I are sitting in bed one evening and she is one the phone while I am reading, I will often get to the bottom of a page and realize that I have no idea what I have just read. Why? Because I was too busy paying attention to her conversation and not to what I was reading. And I can’t do two things at once. Or, let’s say Melody is trying to have a conversation with me while I am watching TV. Often, after she realizes that my mind is drifting away from her and toward what’s on TV, she’ll say in her best frustrated tone, “Zach, stay with me!” To which I will reply, “I am with you.” “Yes,” Melody will say, “but you’re not ALL THERE with me. Your face may be looking at me, but your mind is thinking about what’s on TV.”
Last month, sorrowfully, my wife’s grandmother passed away. And, just like in most instances of bereavement, the night before the funeral there was a visitation with an open casket. So I went along with my wife and my two nephews, Noah and Nicholas. Noah, as a six year old, was having a hard time understanding what he was seeing. He would walk over to “Gi Gi” (that’s what he calls Melody’s grandmother) and he would stare into the casket, and then he would come back and ask me, “Uncle Zach, when is Gi Gi going to wake up?” To which I would have to somberly and sadly reply, “She’s not going to wake up, Noah. She’s died and gone to heaven.” And it was then that Noah asked probably the most insightful question I have ever received from a six year old: “How can Gi Gi be in heaven when her body’s in the casket?”
That, actually, is a really good question. And it’s one that far too many adults fail to ask. The teaching of Scripture is indeed clear: those who die in Christ live with him in heaven. The words of Jesus to the thief on the cross right before he dies, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43) leave no doubt about the precious hope of heaven that awaits us immediately upon our deaths. But it is not our bodies that ascend to heaven after we die, it is our souls. That is why, when John has his vision of heaven in Revelation, he sees not people’s bodies, but their souls in heaven (e.g., Revelation 6:9). And yet, God would say along with my wife, “You may get to be with me when you die, but you’re not ALL THERE with me. Your soul may be with me, but your body is still buried in the ground.” But one day, that will change.
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep. But we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). In our reading for today from 1 Corinthians 15, Paul talks about the resurrection that will take place on the Last Day, not of our souls, but of our bodies. When Jesus returns, Scripture teaches, our bodies and souls will once again be reunited with each other and we will be “all there” with Jesus. And six year old boys will no longer be confused.
You see, my friends, this is the ultimate hope of the Christian according to Scripture. Not just that when we die our souls get to go to heaven to be with Jesus, but that on the Last Day, Jesus will come and resurrect our bodies and we will live “all there” with Jesus. And so, we confess in the words of the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in the resurrection of the BODY and the life everlasting.” I’ll most definitely offer a hearty “Amen” to that.
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