Ministers and Ambassadors

Salem United Church of Christ, Higginsville, Missouri

II Corinthians 5.16-21 (NRSV, with alternate readings)

¹⁶From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh; even though we once knew Christ according to the flesh, we know him no longer in that way. ¹⁷So if anyone is in Christ, there is 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.

I. Forgiveness and Reconciliation

• The apostle is sometimes a difficult figure to like – through the letters that we have and that he wrote to churches in the early days of the Jesus Movement, he can come across to us as less than humble, often inflexible in matters of the new way of living that he was creating, and apparently judgmental in the extreme – many times I read Paul’s words and I question whether or not he knew what he was doing
• At other times, however, he comes through with some brilliant insight, something that seems to be absolutely without precedent, something creative, challenging, and through it all showing us someone deeply in love with God and God’s people
• Our little bit of the second epistle to the Corinthians for today strikes me as an instance of the creative, challenging, and loving Paul, in spite of his facing an extremely difficult situation with the Corinthians
• In a recent visit to Corinth, some of the Corinthian Jesus People have begun to challenge him and to question his authority as an apostle – some of them think that he does not live up to their ideas of what an apostle should be and do – they push back when he tells them to get rid of their divisions – they do not listen when he tells them that they have made a mockery of the love feast – they attack him when he tries to teach them a “more excellent way” (I Corinthians 12.31) – the treatment that Paul has received from the Corinthians hurt him so much that he felt compelled to write a letter “with many tears” (II Corinthians 2.4) – apparently we do not have that letter, but the mention of it tells us that there is a good deal going on between Paul and his converts in Corinth that we do not know
• Then, just before today’s portion of the letter, Paul tells them that they are missing the point of the gospel – he tells them that the point is not about the messenger, but about the message – he tells them that the message is a priceless treasure that God has placed in breakable and often broken clay jars (II Corinthians 4.7)
• In the face of the Corinthians’ challenges, Paul asserts his confidence – but, of course, his confidence is not simply in himself, in his abilities, although he seems to have plenty of that – his deepest confidence is in the message that he proclaims and in his relationship with Jesus
• His relationship with Jesus requires that Paul looks at everything with new eyes – he tells his friends and foes at Corinth that there was a time when he looked at Jesus “according to the flesh,” which most English language versions of the Bible translate as “from a human point of view”
• I have to take issue with that translation – for Paul, the concept of the flesh is about more than just looking at things from a human point of view – for Paul, “the flesh” is the spirit of this present age, the spirit that stands always in opposition to the Spirit of God, in opposition to the ways of God that we see in Jesus, and in opposition to the Vision of God for all of creation
• “The flesh” is not simply a reference to our bodies or to the physical world, which are gifts of God to everyone – “the flesh” is anything and everything that works against the ways of Jesus
• When Paul says that he once knew Jesus “according to the flesh,” he says so much more than that he knew Jesus from a human point of view – he is saying that the spirit of opposition was in him and was the lens through which he viewed and understood everything – with the reference to seeing things according to the flesh, Paul may also make a sly dig at the Corinthians who oppose him and his work – he may be saying to them that they have understood him by looking through the wrong lens
• The important thing about this is that Paul says he now looks at Christ in a new way – he can no longer view Christ according to the flesh because in Christ there is new creation – everything old has passed away – everything has become new – in Christ, God has forgiven all sin and has reconciled the whole creation to God’s self
• In spite of the tension between Paul and the Corinthians, he wants to be reconciled with them – he wants them to share in the work to which God has called him, and to which God calls all who are in Christ
• You see, Paul declares that God has given Jesus’ friends and followers the ministry of carrying that work forward – Jesus’ friends and followers are now ministers of reconciliation and ambassadors for Christ, Christ’s representatives, Christ’s messengers doing God’s work in new creation – this is work not only for people with titles such as Reverend – this is work for all who are in Christ

II. Ministers and Ambassadors

• In this new creation, Jesus’ people see the world’s power and the world’s ways for what they are – they are nebulous and temporary – they are empty shells – they are dead and dying things because they are passing away – everything has become new
• Living in new creation is not an easy thing to do – on the one hand, in our minds we know that God is doing a new thing – we know that God is making all things new – we read many times in the Bible about this new thing, about this new way of living
• On the other hand, we still live in this world – we still have to eat and live somewhere – we still have to have work so that we can earn money so that we can eat and live somewhere – we still have to live in a world that is largely opposed to the ways of God as we see them in Jesus Messiah
• We are caught, then, between these two competing visions of life and creation – one of the visions is incredibly attractive and so much easier to live in than the other – but the other is the one that leads to true, authentic, abundant life
• We begin to follow the more excellent way when we find in our hearts that we are ready to see the world as God sees all of us, “not counting their trespasses against them” (II Corinthians 5.19) – when we can do that, then we have begun to see others the way that God sees us all
• And then we are ready to begin our work as ministers and ambassadors – again, this work is not easy – too often we will want to hold on to our anger and our sense of hurt when others wrong us – too often we will want to withhold forgiveness from others – too often we will want to continue to live according to the flesh
• But anyone who is in Christ is new creation – everything old has passed away – everything is become new

III. Conclusion

• The season of Lent is always a time for preparation, not just for the coming celebration of Easter but also to participate in new creation – one thing that we have to keep in mind is that new creation is not a future way of living – new creation is already here – everything old has passed – everything is become new…including us
• As we participate in new creation then, let us live fully as ministers of reconciliation and ambassadors of Christ – let us carry the good news of life for all people into a world that wants to reserve life and reconciliation and healing for only some people
• Let us go, fellow ministers and ambassadors, and show the world a more excellent way

God Will Be Our Light

A Sermon Preached at Salem United Church of Christ

Higginsville, Missouri

26 May 2019

I. Introduction

• We are nearing the end of the Revelation – the parts that the lectionary skips tell us about beasts with multiple heads, about celestial signs and omens, about dragons, about battles that never quite happen – and all of it leads to the breaking of the powers of the world and the world’s gods, and the completion of God’s Vision for the creation
• Behind all of the imagery, running through all of the imagery, underneath all of the imagery, and coursing ahead of all of the imagery is that singular message that is at the heart of Revelation – and what is that message? – God Wins!
• The crowning symbol of God’s victory over the powers of the world may be a surprise for some of us, perhaps for many of us – we know that God Wins because there is a new heaven and a new earth, the first heaven and the first earth are gone (Revelation 21.1) – the old things and the old ways are gone – in their place is this crowning symbol of God’s work in creation and God’s victory – the symbol of God’s victory is a vast, immeasurable city – the sting at the end of the story is that the city is not Rome – the city is God’s city – it is a gift from God – it is the new Jerusalem

II. God’s Gift, the New Jerusalem

• As our reading for today begins, this vast city comes down out of heaven, from God – it is not a human creation – it is God’s gift to humankind and to the universe
• Between verse 10 and verse 22, John of Patmos describes the city – the city has wall, and it has gates, but the gates never close – anyone can enter the city – everyone is welcome in God’s city – the only ones who remain outside of God’s city are the ones who choose to remain outside – God invites everyone to enter and turns no one away
• The city’s walls are made of precious jewels and stones – the city is gold, but it is as transparent as glass – the city is fifteen hundred miles long on every side, and fifteen hundred miles high – in terms that we might think more appropriate, the size of the city is quite beyond any human measurement – it is large enough for all who enter it, and with room to spare
• We might think that the Vision of God’s city would include a temple, but there is no temple – there is no house of worship – there is no place set aside especially for God – there is no need – God is the temple – the Lamb, a reference to Jesus, is the temple – and God Almighty and the Lamb are always immediately accessible to everyone in the city
• There are no celestial bodies – no sun, no moon – again, there is no need for them – the glory of God is all the light that the city of God needs – when the Vision is complete, the nations of the earth will walk in that light – and all the glory that the powers of the earth might hold come to God as acts of worship
• The river of the water of life and the tree of life are in the heart of the city – the river flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb – fed by the river of the water of life, the tree of life endlessly produces fruit that feeds and heals the nations, all the nations and all the people of the nations
• There will be no more night, no danger, no threat – the light of God will be there for all and will provide anything that anyone needs
• For the ancient readers of the Revelation, the contrast to God’s city is the city of Rome – for us it might be any location of human power – the contrast remains the same – human cities are locations of brokenness, of division, of exclusion, of strife, of apathy, of human power, of darkness – God’s city is the location of peace, of the healing of the nations, of inclusion, of love, of life, of the light of God

III. God Will Be Our Light

• It is a glorious Vision, but it is not a literal description of the new Jerusalem – it is poetry – it is metaphor – it is encouragement to the readers of Revelation, including us
• The Vision of God is a Vision of the world as it could be, as it can be – the Vision of God is of a place, let us call it a city, a community, in which everyone is welcome – there are walls, but there is no need for protection from any outside force – the prophet tells us that the gates in the walls never close – the security of God’s city is not in its walls, not in its defenses – the safety and security of God’s city is in the presence of God within the city
• The Vision is of a place where there is no hierarchy and no division – all the people of the city stand equal before God – the only power and the only authority is God Almighty and the Lamb – no human person is above another – there is no night, no darkness, no lack, no poverty, no need there, but all receive freely from the provision of God
• There is life and there is plenty for everyone in God’s city because the city is full of the light of God – and God will be our light
• That light, the light of God is in us, showing us the way to live, lighting our path – the light of God leads us away from our divisions, away from our squabbles and fights, away from our wars, away from the ways of empires and nations – the light of God is in us to lead us toward one another and, thus, toward God – to lead us to forgive one another and to forgive ourselves – the light of God leads us toward unity, so anything that divides us remains outside God’s Vision – and if we hold on to our divisions, if we hold on to our desire for domination, if we hold on to our striving for more of the things of the world, then we are choosing to remain outside of the Vision – God does not exclude us – we exclude ourselves
• This Vision of God is not only for the end of all things – God has the power, the ability, and the will to accomplish this Vision by God’s self – and, Jesus tells us and shows us, that God chooses every day to enlist humankind in the work – God chooses to place the power of the Vision in our hands and then allows us to choose to do the work or not
• God gives us the power to choose to bring healing and the glory of creation back to God as our worship – we can choose to heal creation or to perpetuate its brokenness – we need not worry about the specifics of how God accomplishes any of this – we need only live according to the light of God within us

IV. Conclusion

• God Wins, and we share in God’s victory by serving God and serving one another – thus, our work is to live in ways that demonstrate that the light of God is in us
• God will be our light, and then we are to go out and be the light of God in a dark, divided, and broken world

A New Thing

A Sermon Preached at Salem United Church of Christ

Higginsville, Missouri

7 April 2019

I. Introduction

• I do not know about you, but I love the smell of a new car, not that I get to smell it often – like so many things, someday scientists will probably discover that that smell is toxic or carcinogenic, but I love it – it is the smell of newness, of something different – and the fact that it will soon fade seems to make it all the more special – soon after buying a new car, that smell goes away, never to return – there is a car air freshener that is supposed to duplicate the smell, but I do not think it works – when the smell is gone, it is gone
• I have heard, though I cannot say where, that our sense of smell ties closely to our memories, that one of the most powerful triggers for memory is smell – so perhaps when we smell that new car smell we are remembering something special from our pasts – who can say?
• New things are often a delight, to see, to touch, to hear, to taste, and, yes, to smell – of course, older things can be a delight as well – there is nothing like the smell of an old book, or the feel of old leather – and it is the older stuff that is the temptation for us
• The idea of perception is important in this text as God proclaims through the prophet that a new thing is coming

II. Old Things and New

• Remember that during the time when the prophet spoke these words the people are still in Exile in Babylon – we have spoken several times before about how much this dislocation hurt the people – about how they felt cut off from their roots, from their land, from their God – there they are in the midst of foreign people who are worshiping foreign gods and doing foreign things, wearing foreign clothes and eating foreign foods – it is all so strange to them to be so completely out of touch with who they are – this experience of being foreigners in a foreign land becomes the reason why God’s people are to welcome foreigners into the land – they know what it is to be foreigners, so they are to make foreigners welcome
• And into the midst of their dislocation comes a prophet from the school of Isaiah, the great prophet in Jerusalem during the eighth century BCE – the prophet comes to say that even though the people feel that they are alone, they are not – even though they feel cut off from God, God is still with them – not only is God still with them, but God is about to do a new thing, a thing they could not have expected
• While in the Exile, the people did continue to tell the stories of God – they began to collect the stories and to write them down in ways that they never had before – and of course they had the rituals with which to remember those stories – one of the stories was the story of the Exodus
• You remember that story, right? — the family of Jacob (also called Israel) moved to Egypt during a great famine – Joseph, one of Jacob’s sons, was there and welcomed them and shared the abundance of Egypt with his relatives – after many years, the tradition says 400 years, the children of Israel were numerous, and their presence in great numbers was a threat to the Pharaoh, who enslaved them as a means of control – through many trials and difficulties, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, God brought liberation to the people – one of the most memorable of the events of the Exodus is the time when God parted the waters of the sea, which allowed Israel to walk through, but when they were through, the waters rushed back in on the army of Pharaoh – we see that event in this text when the prophet speaks of God making a way in the sea and of the quenching of the army and its horses
• But having brought to mind that powerful image of God’s work of liberation, the prophet tells the people to forget it — “Exodus? Fuhgeddaboudit” — “do not remember the former things or consider the things of old” — but, why? Why forget the past?
• Forget the former things because God is about to do a new thing – it is right there, right in front of you – just around the corner perhaps – do you not perceive it? Do you not taste it in the air? Do you not hear it in the songs of birds? Do you not see it just there in the corner of your eye? Do you not feel it in the ground? Do you not smell it in the freshness of the day? — it is there, just there – and it is coming
• Instead of making a way through the sea, God will make a way through the wilderness – instead of drowning armies, God is going make rivers in the desert so that God’s people will have plenty to drink as they journey home to Jerusalem – but that is not the wonderful part of this image, as wonderful as it is – the wonderful part is that this journey is a piece of what God is doing to form the people for God’s self so that the people might declare the praise of God – there is also a sense in which they will be praise to God – their very existence is the embodiment of praise to God
• There is continuity with the past, but God does not repeat the past – God’s action in doing a new thing is both a continuation of the past, although with a new tone, and a completely novel thing – the past is not bad, but it does not limit God — it did not happen in the ancient world that conquerors allowed conquered peoples to return home – and yet the prophet says the people will return through the wilderness
• That really is the wonderful thing – God the creator will re-envision the past in new ways to do a completely new thing – and in the process, God takes another step in creating a people of praise

III. A New Thing

• My training in graduate school was as a historian – as historians, and even as non-historians, we often like to quote George Santayana, the philosopher and writer, who famously once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” – that makes sense to us – the idea being that we look back to see what we have done and what others have done, and, ideally, we learn from that so that we can avoid the mistakes of the past
• As followers of Jesus Messiah, however, as believers in God, we cannot simply look at the past and assume that what God has done God will do – the work God in the world is not that simple – God is always doing new things – our choice is to join in this creative, novel work or not
• Our task is to look for the new thing that God is doing today – we cannot predict what it might be, but we can be ready for it when it appears – we cannot say that God will do this or that, but we can say that God will act in creative, loving, gracious ways
• We prepare for the new thing that God is already doing, not by forgetting the past completely, but by not living in it – we prepare not by expecting God to act in a particular way, but by expecting that God will act – we prepare not by doing what we have always done, but by setting out into new territory, both as a community and as individuals – we all know the seven last words of the church – there are two versions of those words — either “We’ve never done it that way before,” or “We’ve always done it that way before” – in either case, if that is the feeling of any church, they should close the doors because they have already done all they are going to do – before we know it, we may be doing things we never thought of doing or expected we would do – God is at work in us – we are not yet done becoming what God creates us to be, calls us to be, and empowers us to be

IV. Conclusion

• Our Lenten journey is proceeding apace – we have only this week and Holy Week before the resurrection celebration of Easter Day – as we move through these two weeks and beyond them into the future that God envisions for us, let us look constantly for the movement of God
• Do not remember the former things – God is doing a new thing, and that new thing is right there before us – do you not see it? Do you not taste it, feel it, hear it, smell it? – A new thing is always in our future, as individuals and as a congregation, and God is leading us into it

Open Wide Your Hearts

A Sermon Preached at Salem United Church of Christ

Higginsville, Missouri

24 June 2018

I. Paul’s Résumé

• Today’s text picks up right where last week’s text ended – please recall that the apostle has been writing about a new creation – he says that if anyone is in Christ there is a new creation – not only is the one in Christ a new creation, but the entire creation is new – everything old has passed away – everything has become new
• In this new creation, we who are in Christ may no longer view anyone or anything from a human point of view – the new point of view is God’s point of view, the Holy Spirit’s point of view
• With this point of view in our lives, we recognize that in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Messiah, God has reconciled the world to God’s self – in Christ, God has healed the brokenness that has separated humankind from God – not only that, but God has also given to Jesus’ People the ministry of reconciliation – God has made us all ambassadors for Christ – in this new creation, we who are in Christ have the ministry of bringing people together, of overcoming the divisions that separate us from one another – we do have to reconcile anyone to God – we could not if we wanted to – besides that, God has already done that part of it in Jesus Messiah
• So here we are, Christ’s ambassadors, ministers of reconciliation – but Paul warns the Corinthians, and us, that we must not accept the grace of God in vain
• Again, as you may recall, Paul has a difficult, tension-filled relationship with the Corinthian Jesus People – they challenge Paul’s authority as an apostle – they challenge Paul’s ministry – they challenge Paul’s message – and they think he looks funny – after working with the Corinthians perhaps for more than a year, they still do not fully accept Paul or anything about him
• When he encourages them not to accept God’s grace in vain, he essentially refers to the idea of the new creation – to accept God’s grace in fact, in deed, and in truth, means that they have to stop looking at the world as though it were not a new creation – if everything old has passed away and everything has become new, then all of those things of which the Corinthians are so proud, all of those things that they have used to judge and divide themselves from one another, also have to pass away – they have to begin to try to see the world as God sees it, as a new creation
• That is not something that they can wait to do – using a reference from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 49.8), Paul tells the Corinthians that the time is now – now is the acceptable time in which God listens to the people – now is the day of healing, the day of salvation
• Paul assures his readers that he does not place any obstacles in the way of reconciliation – his catalogue of difficulties demonstrates his identification with the difficulties of Jesus’ life and ministry – great endurance, afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonment, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger – these are the apostle’s résumé, his curriculum vitae, the course of his life as an apostle – but that is not all
• He also lists some of the things that have gotten him those difficulties – purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God – these things have also been a part of the course of Paul’s life as an ambassador for Christ
• People in his life, including the Corinthian Jesus People, I would assume, have continued to regard him from a human point of view – he is treated as an imposter, even though he is truly an apostle – he is treated as if he were unknown, but God knows who he is – he is treated as if he were, dying, but he is alive – he is treated with punishment, but God gives him life – he is regarded as sorrowful, and yet he always rejoices – he is thought of as being poor, but he enriches the lives of many – he is regarded as having nothing, but God gives him everything he needs
• He once again asserts that he places no restriction on his affections for the Corinthians – the only restrictions are theirs – and at last, simply and directly, as if speaking to children, he asks them to open wide their hearts, both to God and to him, as God’s heart and his heart are open wide to the Corinthians

II. Open Wide Your Hearts

• There is something very tender, very emotional, about Paul’s request – for once, he does not use flowery or even overtly theological language – he merely asks the Corinthians to reciprocate his love for them
• There are echoes of Jesus’ teaching in that request – there are echoes of Jesus’ Golden Rule, which tells us to treat others the way we want them to treat us – there are echoes of the teaching to love God and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves – there are echoes of the teaching to love even our enemies – Paul’s request is touching – it is affectionate – it is warm – it is kindhearted
• And responding to it as he asks is hard to do – we do not always do this naturally, do we? – we really are more like the Corinthians than we would like – we are impatient – we are demanding – we would rather create divisions between us, division of race, divisions of sexual orientation and gender identity, division of social class and standing, divisions of politics, division of ethnicity and nationality – we are comfortable with the divisions – they allow us to delude ourselves into believing that we are in some way safe
• Divisions do not make us safe – they do not remove our fear – they make our fear stronger – and, to borrow Paul’s language, the demonstrate that we accept God’s grace in vain because they demonstrate that we are not actually striving to live in God’s new creation
• Now is the acceptable time, sister, brothers, and friends – now is the day of healing – now is the time to open wide our hearts, especially to the ones we fear the most – now is the time to open wide our hearts to anyone and everyone from whom we would rather divide ourselves
• We live in God’s new creation – we live in eternal life, here and now – which is to say that we live in the life of God’s new age right in this moment
• There are no restrictions on God’s love for us – we need not, we must not, put restrictions on our love for anyone, either

III. Conclusion

• Let us open wide our hearts – let us live fully in God’s new creation – let us love everyone as God has loved us
• Let us regard no one from a human point of view – instead, let us regard everyone from God’s point of view
• Then we will see that the only thing to do is for us to open wide our hearts to all of God’s new creation

A New Creation

A Sermon Preached at Salem United Church of Christ

Higginsville, Missouri

17 June 2018

I. Introduction

• We have all heard it – I am sure that many of us have said it – and quite likely most of accept it as true: seeing is believing
• We say that because we trust our senses – because we can see, hear, smell, taste, touch a thing, we believe it is real – there have been philosophies and philosophers who have told us that nothing is real, that unless we perceive something, it does not exist – our senses only tell us what our minds say they tell us – our senses are no more real than anything else about us
• Perhaps as a mind game, we could go along with such an idea – after all, there is no way to “prove” that if a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, that it makes a noise – but while that might be an interesting intellectual exercise, it is really little more than that
• One response to such exercises was a philosophy that came to be known as Common Sense Realism – at its heart, the philosophy says that it is simple common sense to think that if a tree falls in a forest and we hear it fall, then it still makes a noise when no one is there to perceive it – it is common sense to think that when we leave this building, its interior does not cease to exist because there is no one here to perceive it – our senses do not simply tell us what our minds say they tell us – our senses tell us what is real, what is actually in the world around us
• As the apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian Jesus People, he is challenging their common senses – he challenges them to move beyond what they see, hear, smell, taste, and touch – he challenges them to live in a new creation – and that is his challenge to us, too

II. The Way It Was

• I have spoken before of the pride of the Corinthian Jesus People – they, or at least the ones who cause the apostle trouble, seem to think that they are simply better than others – they are smarter – they are more gifted – they are better looking than other – in fact, they are better in every conceivable way
• Thus, they challenge the apostle’s right as an apostle – they challenge his position as the apostle to the gentiles – they push back when he tells them to get rid of their divisions – they do not listen when he tells them that they have made a mockery of the love feast
• Just before today’s portion of the letter, you will recall, Paul tells them that they are missing the point of the gospel – he tells them that it is not about the messenger, but about the message – he tells them that the message is a priceless treasure that God has placed in breakable and often broken clay jars (I Corinthians 4.7)
• In the face of the Corinthians’ challenges, Paul asserts his confidence – but, of course, his confidence is not simply in himself, in his abilities, in his good looks or charm – his confidence is in the message that he proclaims and in his relationship with Jesus
• Here is the thing – that relationship is a relationship of trust, not of his senses – he says that he walks by faith, not by sight – the relationship depends not on what he can see, hear, smell, taste, or touch, but upon trust – he trusts in his experience of God, both in his past and in his present – he trusts
• With that trust in his heart and in his life, he carries on with his ministry – and he trusts that the Corinthian Jesus People will have an answer for those who look only on outward appearance – and that answer will be that God looks at the heart
• With that trust in his heart and in his life, Paul holds on tightly to the idea that since Jesus died and was raised, that all have died and are raised – and now, all who have died and been raised live no longer for themselves but for Jesus
• Paul certainly knows about having looked at Jesus from a human point of view – when Paul saw Jesus in that way, Paul hunted down and persecuted Jesus’ followers – he was merciless – he was unforgiving – his devotion to what he understood to be his duty to God was unwavering
• Than something happened – then Paul had an encounter with the risen Christ and can no longer view Jesus from a human point of view – Paul generalizes from that experience – if anyone is in Christ, Paul says, there is a new creation
• Do you hear that? – Paul does not say that the person in Christ is a new creation, although that is implicit in his argument – he says that if anyone is in Christ there is a new creation – that is a fundamentally different idea – not only is the person in Christ a new creation, but the world is a new creation – everything old has passed away – everything has become new
• All of this is God’s doing – in making a new creation, God has reconciled the world to God’s self – not only that, God has given Jesus’ friends and followers the ministry of carrying that work forward – Jesus’ friends and followers are now ambassadors for Christ, Christ’s representatives, Christ’s messengers – it is a new creation indeed

III. A New Creation

• In this new creation, Jesus’ people see the world’s power and the world’s ways for what they are – they are nebulous – they are empty shells – they are dead and dying things because they are passing away – everything has become new
• As followers of Jesus, we participate in this process – every time we stand and speak against injustice, we embody a new creation – every time we hear the cries of the oppressed and act in ways to set them free, we embody a new creation – every time we feed the hungry, we embody a new creation – every time we clothe the naked, we embody a new creation – every time we give drink to the thirsty, we embody a new creation – every time we welcome the stranger and the alien, we embody a new creation – every time we welcome the outcast, the other, the ones who are different, to the table of Jesus’ family, we embody a new creation
• The day is gone when we can look at this world only from a human point of view – now is the day to see it as God wants it to be – now is the day to see it with new eyes, because it is and we are a new creation
• This will not be an easy job – our human senses will tell us again and again that seeing is believing – but the Holy Spirit of God tells us that we are in Christ and everything old has passed away, that everything has become new – our human senses will tell us that we cannot stand against injustice, against anger, against hatred, against persistent racism, against misogyny, against Islamophobia, against homophobia, against the powers of this world – but the Holy Spirit of God tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ, that we have the ministry of reconciliation, that in Jesus we can become the righteousness of God – not the righteousness of ourselves, which will only and wrongly justify our selfishness – but the righteousness of God, which draws all people together in love, grace, and mercy

IV. Conclusion

• In Christ, we are not only new creations ourselves, but we live in a new creation, friends, sisters, brothers – this new creation is not bound by our senses – it is a creation of trust and light – it is a creation of unity and love – and we are its messengers – we are its ambassadors
• Let us go and live in this new creation – let us go and be a part of God’s Vision for this new creation, a Vision in which God breaks down every barrier, in which God heals every broken place in every broken person, in which God removes and reconciles every division
• Let us go and make a new creation everywhere we go and in everything we do