June 14, 2015, 2Corinthians 5:11-17

Sermon Presented by Jim Kauth

Third Sunday after Pentecost—June 14

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time / Proper 6

Read Mark 4:26-34

This is the Pentecost Season; during this time of year I invite you to consider the works of God’s Holy Spirit in your lives and the lives of others. What is God doing or has God done for you and your community. All praise and glory for God!

In Mark we hear Jesus say, “Here is what the kingdom of God is like:” and He tells a parable; again He says, “What else is the kingdom of God like?” and He tells another parable. We ask ourselves what does Jesus mean by these parables, what is He talking about? Why do we ask this?

Listen to the lyrics of this John Denver song, “Annie’s Song”

You fill up my senses
Like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again

Do we ask what John Denver means when he says, “You fill up my senses like a night in a forest, like the mountains in springtime”?

No, we don’t ask, we just let the lyrics and music sink in; we just experience the words and the moment. Biblical translators are not as lyrical as John Denver; I wonder how John would have written these verses in Mark?

The kingdom of heaven

Is like a small seed

planted in soil

it grows while we sleep.

But we do ask what does Jesus mean?

What is a parable, how does it teach? Why did Jesus teach through this method?

In these parables Jesus compares the “Kingdom of Heaven” with earthly things; the planting, growing, blossoming and harvesting of crops or a garden plant that grew from an almost microscopic seed into one of the largest garden plants, a haven for wildlife.

In essence a parable is a comparison.

How does a parable teach?

It teaches through experience!

Have you noticed that we can immerse ourselves in a good novel, we can experience what the characters in the story experience though not all of us enjoy the same novels-stories? It is true we each have our preferences for types of stories, ways the story is told, a mystery, a memoir, a style of writing even the choice of words, these preferences determine our willingness to enter into the stories; so it is also true for parables. Though our parable preferences are determined not by subject or literary style but by our God given ability to see and hear the parables, our ability to hear God’s Word with our mind’s eye. Hearing with our minds eye is the best description I’ve found for experience!

Why teach through this method?

Remember Jesus’ ministry is God given, God directed and God driven, God is in control, God chose the disciples, those who can hear God’s Word with their mind’s eye. God chose the parables. There is a winnowing; those who God has chosen from those not chosen, those who have been chosen to hear the Word later rather than now. Parables winnow, God chooses for God’s own reasons.

At different times, during Jesus’ ministry, God directs Jesus to teach by parables, and then through miracles. Through God, Jesus teaches to the whole person, intellect, emotions, body and soul, sometimes Jesus’ teaching is focused on one aspect of who we are, our intellect and then later another part of us, our spiritual body or our physical body or our emotions. God through Jesus teaches us, as God would have us worship, we learn with our entire being just as we worship with our entire being. Parables are just one way God teaches our entire being!

We can experience a Jesus parable just like we experience a John Denver song; let it sink in; experience the words and the moment. Let the parable sink into your entire being as you study, meditate then contemplate on what is shown to your mind’s eye. Yet unlike a John Denver song a parable carries layers of meaning from God, some we are meant to understand now, some later, some not at all!

You’ve noticed that I haven’t told you what I think these particular parables mean. You will never run out of people who would gladly tell you what a parable means, learned commentators and pastors, Christian educators and people like me. But a parable’s meaning is best understood through the journey we all must make as we walk the Christian Way. I haven’t shared with you a meaning because parables speak to individual people and individual communities at specific times. It’s time for you to sit quietly at the feet of Jesus, for you to hear with your mind’s eye, to understand what God is saying to you and this community right here and right now. Talk to each other and grow in spiritual wisdom as a family of faith, grow in faith as a disciple of Christ.

Read 2Corinthians 5:11-17

In Corinthians is where the tire meets the road, Paul addresses the application of Jesus’ teachings, Jesus’ spiritual directions to real life.

Who empowers and guides our spiritual growth in faith? God’s Holy Spirit. The same Spirit that grew Paul’s Faith in Christ, that allowed Paul to live in the “Fruits of the Spirit”, the same Spirit that gave Paul new eyes to see “the old life is gone, a new life has begun!

Last week I mentioned that the Church in Corinth displayed less evidence of transformation / spiritual growth than did other congregations! We know from Paul’s first letter to them their fellowship was marked by divisions, by doctrinal disputes, by confusion over spiritual gifts.

In 2Corinthians Paul is preaching “Reconciliation”, reconciliation with God first, then with each other. How do we enter into the Kingdom of God? By being reconciled with God. For us to reconcile we must make the adjustment. When we set our watch by the kitchen clock, we are “reconciling” our watch to the clock. We change our watch so that it keeps time set by the standard of the kitchen clock. When our life is reconciled with God we change our life so that our life keeps time by the standard of God!

But how do we reconcile with each other?

Hear what Paul says in 1Corinthians 13:4-7

⁴ Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷ It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

What do you hear? Love does not insist on its own way, we live by God’s standard by not thinking of only ourselves but by keeping our focus on others, by not insisting on our own way? Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. What do you hear? When Paul looks at the Corinthians he sees the truth, he sees who God intended them to be, he is joyful ¹⁶ Because of all that God has done, we now have a new perspective. We used to show regard for people based on worldly standards and interests. No longer. We used to think of the Anointed the same way. No longer.

Paul wants the Corinthians to see the same way God sees, the same way Paul now sees, Therefore, if anyone is united with the Anointed One, that person is a new creation. The old life is gone—and see—a new life has begun!

How do we reconcile with others by reflecting the love God has given to us, ¹³ And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

How do we reflect this divine love?

By living through the “Fruits of the Spirit”.

I want you to hear what life lived by the Fruits of the Spirit sound like.

This is from a song written by Jimmy Dean.

I never made a fortune and it's probably too late now

But I don't worry about that much, I'm happy anyhow

And as I go along life's journey, I'm reaping better than I sowed

I'm drinking from my saucer, cause my cup has overflowed.

I ain't got a lot of riches, and sometimes the goings tough

but I've got kids who love me and that makes me rich enough

I just thank God for his blessings and the mercies he's bestowed.

I'm drinking from my saucer, cause my cup has overflowed.

I remember times when things went wrong, and my faith got a little thin

but then all at once the dark clouds broke, and the sun peeked through again

so Lord help me not to gripe about the tough rows I hoed

I'm drinking from my saucer, cause my cup has overflowed.

And if God gives me strength and courage, when the way grows steep and rough

I'll not ask for another blessing, I'm already blessed enough

And may I never be too busy to help another bear his load

I'll keep drinking from my saucer, cause my cup has overflowed.

Let God’s Word speak to you, sit at the feet of Jesus, listen with your mind’s eye, let God’s Holy Spirit work in you and through you.

Drink from your saucer cause your cup has overflowed, show the world how to drink from their saucer cause through God, their cup can overflow!

AMEN