February 17, 2019 – “The Gospel Life: Two Lenses” by Rev. Cody Sandahl

Lay Reader = Jeremiah 29:4-7
4Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
Introduction
We are continuing our series looking at the Gospel. Last week we teased out God’s eternal truth, not just the things that were true at one time in history. This week we are asking if the Gospel can change the way we look at our life.
Do you remember Stuart Smalley? That was one of Al Franken’s characters on Saturday Night Live whose core idea was that telling yourself positive things – daily affirmations – would help you have self-esteem. His most famous line was, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!” While Stuart Smalley is a joke character, the concept behind it is certainly real enough. How we see ourselves and how we see our world affects how we live our lives.
In the first text we read today, the people of Israel had been defeated, the Temple of God had been destroyed, and the leaders were sent into exile in Babylon. And almost his whole life, the prophet Jeremiah had been warning people about the bad things that were about to happen. So imagine how surprised the exiles must have been to get a letter from Mr. Debbie Downer himself, Jeremiah, and the letter is actually full of hope! “Build houses, plant gardens, start families, multiply there and do not decrease.” And it started off with this interesting tidbit from God: “to all the exiles whom I HAVE SENT INTO EXILE.” God is telling this defeated and exiled people, through the prophet Jeremiah, that there is hope. That this is a season. That God is going to use this to bring about a new day. To even seek the best for this foreign city because they’ll be better off themselves.
God wanted them to remember God’s infinite power and God’s long-reaching purpose. Because those two ways of looking at the world would sustain them and guide them in this difficult season. How we see ourselves and how we see our world affects how we live our lives.
In our second text today, Paul is writing to the church in Corinth. Paul had to help the Corinthians several times. We have two of his letters, and he references another “harsh” letter that we don’t have. In our text today, Paul is encouraging them to forgive each other and find a way to come back together after some nasty in-fighting. Listen to how he points them to God’s point of view. Listen to how he uses God’s power and God’s purpose to help them shape how they see each other.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
16From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Power
It was simultaneously one of the most heart-breaking and inspiring things I have ever heard in my life. One of the girls in one of my previous church’s youth groups had a very difficult life. Her mom was always just a hair away from being homeless. Her dad was financially stable, but at least manipulative and probably abusive. We’ve heard a lot of times in the news about people and institutions not reporting things to the authorities, but this was a case where I did report it, fought for her, but the judge didn’t think it was as dire as I did. I will go to the grave bitter that I couldn’t figure out how to get her out of that situation and wondering if there was anything more I could have done.
So it was a few months after my failed attempt. She was stuck with her father. And now he was even worse – taking a measure of revenge for almost getting him in trouble. And she told me what she had told him the night before. She told him, “Even if you don’t love me, Jesus does and nothing you do or say can take that away.” Heart-breaking. But also inspiring.
I mean, think about it. How disappointing is it when you try and fail? How disappointing is it when you have hope…but that gets dashed? Well this was about as high stakes as you can get. She asked for help. I and other people from the church tried to help. And we failed. She couldn’t escape. That’s a tough pill to swallow.
And yet. And yet. And yet. The love of Jesus sustained her.
That, sisters and brothers, is the power of the Gospel. That, sisters and brothers, is the same power that is in you and me. And that power can give us a different way to view ourselves and our world.
That is the power to tell despair, “Not today!” That is the power to tell hopelessness, “Not on my watch!” That is the power to tell the one who tells you you’re worthless, “Not true!” That, sisters and brothers, is the power of the Gospel.
Paul writes in our text today, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” And notice that he doesn’t say, “If anyone is in Christ, they can become a new creation.” No, he says “if anyone is in Christ, there IS a new creation.” Present tense. Right now. Even though you and I don’t always resemble the people we’ll be in heaven, we are already, today, right now, new people in Christ.
It’s kind of like after an election where you know who the new person’s going to be but they haven’t taken office yet. That’s when they’re called the president-elect or senator-elect. They’ve been elected, that’s reality. But they don’t have their full position yet. That’s like how we are in Christ. We’ve already been elected into the company of saints. That’s true today. We just haven’t fully arrived yet.
But just like a president-elect or senator-elect starts living differently after their election even before they take office, so we, too, start living differently as new people in Christ even though we aren’t all the way there, yet.
But it’s that present reality, that already-a-new-creation reality, that Good News that we are already loved, already elected, that present reality is what gives the Gospel such power in our lives today. That present reality is what gave that girl the power to declare she is loved by Jesus to her angry father.
I am frequently asked how Becca and I keep going even with our son’s seizures and developmental delays and waking up so many times in the night. And I’m not trying to be trite or platitudinous about this, it really is the power of the Gospel that sustains us.
Because the Gospel says that some things are true even if they can’t be seen right now. Even though sometimes it may feel like God has forgotten Charlie, even though sometimes it may feel like we are cursed, Jesus reminds us that we and Charlie are blessed, not cursed, embraced, not forgotten, that we have a future, not hopeless. Even if it doesn’t look like it today, it’s still true. That’s the power of the Gospel.
Where do you have a hard time standing? Where do you struggle with hopelessness? Where do you battle despair? Where do you wonder if there’s a future worth living? That’s where we have to remind ourselves about the unbreakable, unbendable, unshakeable power of the Good News of Jesus. If we see that the power of God lives within us, even if it doesn’t look like it right now, that can change how we live our lives. That’s the power of the Gospel.
Purpose
That’s the power of the Gospel. But that power is used in a particular way. God’s story goes in a particular direction. And that’s the purpose of the Gospel.
Paul writes in our text today, “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.”
To see what’s going on here, I want you to try to imagine heaven in your mind. Specifically, how many people are there? Is it just you, or are there other people? What about your dearly-departed pets? Are there dogs and cats and parakeets in heaven? If you had a pet snake, I have bad news: my dad and I both agree there are no snakes in heaven. And even though it’s just because we don’t like snakes, that’s two pastors agreeing, so it’s guaranteed.
Here’s the point – God’s purpose includes you and me, but it’s much bigger than you and me. God came to redeem and restore and reconcile the WORLD. That includes us, but it’s much bigger than us.
Given the context of Paul’s letter, he’s reminding people on all sides of the internal conflict that had been raging in their church that their preferences are smaller than God’s purposes. When we realize that our preferences are smaller than God’s purposes it can change how we live our lives.
A friend’s father was in the hospital and pretty ill, and their whole family was eating in the cafeteria together. And my friend’s mom started complaining about how dry her muffin was. But she didn’t just say it once, she kept harping on it. How ridiculous it was that this muffin was so dry! And my friend’s son told her, “That’s a first world problem, Grandma.” Next to his grandfather being in the hospital, or next to the plight of many around the world, a dry muffin seems like a pretty tiny thing to worry about.
That’s one way that the purpose of the Gospel can help us – we can get over it when life doesn’t meet our preferences, because we’re part of God’s much bigger purposes. So what’s your dry muffin? Where are you annoyed by something that probably wouldn’t make Jesus’ TODO list? Remember that your preferences are smaller than God’s purposes. Let it go.
But the purpose of the Gospel can help us in another way. Since we moved to Colorado I’ve been doing much deeper research on outdoor winter activities. When I was looking up information about winter camping, I found some tips from a Scoutmaster who had taken his troop on a multi-day hike in the winter. It was a shade under freezing. They had to use snowshoes or spiked shoes almost the whole way, making the hike that much more difficult. It was windy on the mountain. It was miserable.
But it was also motivating and memorable. They had a goal in mind – they had a purpose – they had somewhere to go. And so onward they trudged – together. And afterwards, it became the trip that everyone talked about, because they had all suffered together in the same direction and reached their goal.
Having a bigger purpose can keep you moving when it feels miserable in the moment. Having a bigger purpose can keep you motivated through setbacks.
I just read an article about how the military trains and selects their special forces. The dropout rate is around 70% – and remember that they’re already selecting from the best of the best and the people who are supremely motivated to achieve the goal. So 70% of the best of the best can’t make it. And in this article, one of the trainers said that a lot of what determines who keeps going and who drops out has nothing to do with physical ability. A lot of what determines success is internal.
Specifically, people who have dealt with significant challenges in their life beforehand are much more likely to persist. Those are the people who know that their preferences are merely first world problems AND who know they have a purpose bigger than themselves. That’s what helps you be the best version of yourself.
When we focus on the purpose of God, we remember that our preferences are smaller than God’s purposes, and we have motivation to keep going because we’re part of something far bigger than ourselves. That’s what we get from the purpose of the Gospel.
So if you feel like you are too small to make a difference. If you feel like you don’t have a reason to push onward. If you feel like too many things have gone wrong to keep fighting. Remember that you are part of God’s purpose. Ask God to use you for that purpose.
Summary
Sisters and brothers, when we see our world and our lives through the lens of the Gospel, it can change how we live. When we remember the unbreakable, unbendable, unshakeable power of the Good News of Jesus, we can persevere through anything. And when we remember that our preferences are smaller than God’s purposes, but we are still part of God’s purposes, we can find motivation to push toward a goal far bigger than ourselves. How are you looking at your world? How are you looking at yourself? How does Jesus see things differently? Amen.