Text: 2Corinthians 13: 11-14 June 19. 2011
I think of my dad today. Year after year, he worked hard to take care of my mom, my sister and me. My dad was a mechanic. He had calluses on his hands. But no other kids had a dad who worked on those big planes like mine did.
Some of you have something very special to be thankful for. Your dad trusted in Jesus and wanted you to know him too. So he and your mom had you baptized. They took you to church and Sunday School. You saw him read his Bible at home. How blessed you are to have had a dad like that.
Of course, dads if they act like fathers sometimes have to carry out a thankless job. My dad sure did. More than once I heard my mom say, Just wait till your dad gets home. Usually I had gotten into it with my sister. My poor dad had to come home from work, listen to my mom describe what I had done and then do what needed to be done to straighten me out. I wasn’t too happy about it at the time. But I understand now that my dad wanted me to turn out right.
You might say that the apostle Paul was a father of sorts. He was never married. He fathered no children. But he was a special kind of father to the Christians in Corinth. He was their spiritual father. He had come to Corinth, and through his efforts the Corinthian church was born.
While Paul was off elsewhere these new believers had gotten themselves into all kinds of trouble. Their Christian family had become dysfunctional, something that can happen in any Christian congregation. Instead of looking to make disciples, they were at odds with one another… So now Paul had to step up and be like my dad was sometimes forced to be.
This inspired letter to the Corinthians was meant to meet those problems head on. It was meant to help these Christians remember what was theirs in Christ and then to act accordingly.
Our text is the very end of Paul’s epistle. His parting words to them.
Breath, Christian, Breath
I. Breath in the blessings of the Triune God (14)
II. Breath out the desire to live as God’s family
Today is not just Father’s day. In the church year, it is Holy Trinity Sunday. We believe and teach that there is one God who is yet three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
And maybe we’re tempted to think that this Trinity thing is just some dusty, old dogma to be spelled out correctly. But not so. For look how Paul ends his letter. With words worth our time today. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (14)
Someone told me the other day he was heading out to the beach. On the hot days of the summer, it’s nice to breath in that cool fresh ocean air. Well here I invite you to do the same. Breath, Christian, breath. Breath in the blessings of the Triune God
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ…be with you all. Grace, that’s the first blessing. It’s ours through God the Son, Jesus Christ. Paul described it this way in this same letter: 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (8:9) Maybe you’ve heard this expression GRACE. God’s riches at Christ’s expense. The Lord Jesus was rich beyond our imagination. Rich in power and glory as the almighty Son of God. Yet he became poor and not by accident.
So the Bible tells us he was born to poor parents. When he grew up he had no place to call his own. He had to depend on other’s generosity. And yet the most striking picture of the poverty he came to bear is Calvary’s cross. For there let himself be stripped of every comfort and dignity. And in its place he let himself be laden with the guilt and shame of every human being who’s ever lived. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ… be with you all. Though he was rich, he became poor.
Why? For your sakes, Paul wrote. For the wages of sin is death. That’s the ultimate poverty, the poverty we owned, that we deserved, death. But for your sakes, Jesus took it on himself so that you through his poverty might become rich.
That’s what you are through the grace of the Lord Jesus. You are rich. Rich in God’s forgiveness. You are rich, reconciled to God, his dear child, whose prayers are heard and answered. You are rich, rich in a sure and certain hope of being with God in a place where the sadnesses, the evil of this life will be wiped away and remembered no more. So breath Christian, breath. Breath in the blessing of grace.
Then Breath in another blessing of the Holy Trinity. May the love of God… be with you all. That’s the love of God the Father. A few months after Paul wrote these words, he wrote to the Christians in Rome. There he pointed them to the greatest demonstration of God the Father’s love. That God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all. Breath Christian breath. Breath in the Father’s love.
But keep breathing. Breath in so much more. We’re so used to it we hardly notice. For instance, The sun came up this morning didn’t it? What if it didn’t? This world would become a dead, icy mess. Well God the Father who created the sun in the sky made it shine for you one more time today so you can live
Then think of so many other blessings. Everywhere you look the Father’s love can be seen. Thoughtful friends, the love of a wife or husband, that mother or grandmother who held us in her arms, a father or grandfather who taught us about being a man. The protection of police, fireman. soldiers sailors airman and marines. That’s love we enjoy each day. Yet all too often we’re like the fellow standing in a nice warm shower. He only notices when the water gets cold. So breath Christian breath. Breath in the blessing of God the Father…and also God the Holy Spirit
May …the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. That word translated as fellowship has the meaning of oneness. We get the word communion from it, a very special oneness. God the Holy Spirit has done that for you and me. What’s the Bible say? We were dead in sin, enemies of God. It says we were without hope and without God. But the Holy Spirit came to us in the gospel and brought us into fellowship with the most important person there is. He made us part of God’s family, children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. All that was his work, not ours. All that was his gift, his blessing – fellowship with God. So breath, Christian breath. Breath in the blessings of the Triune God. Grace, love and fellowship.
But when you breath in it goes without saying, you have to breath out. These Christians were breathing out some things that we Christians have no business breathing out. There were ugly divisions in the congregation. Some were attacking Paul’s authority as an apostle of Jesus Christ. People were confused. And I suppose there are times in every congregation where some kind of ugliness can break out. Satan just loves it. It tears people up and destroys the unity of the Spirit. There’s no excuse for it. We’re family. We’re brothers and sisters in Christ. So breathe Christian breath. Breathe in those blessings. Breathe out the desire to live as God’s family.
I remember a visitor came to a church I was serving. After spending some time with us she made this comment: Pastor I can see that your congregation cries with one another and rejoices with each other. She saw something special going on. She witnessed Christians being what we are, family.
Paul wanted that once more for these Christians. He closes then with four brief appeals 11 Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection,… Aim for perfection is probably not the best way to translate here. The thought is: be restored or mend your ways. What do these words say to us? What is lacking in our family life as members of this congregation? How can we be more of what God would have us be? Do we hang back or refuse to get involved? Are we too quick to speak or too slow to listen?
Listen to my appeal. Literally Paul is saying, be encouraged. Don’t let my words fall on deaf ears. Don’t let these words. Be of one mind, live in peace. King David wrote in Psalm 133: How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity. It’s such a blessed thing to see that. Christians who are united in faith breathing out that desire to live as family. Think of what Paul says here: The God of love and peace will be with you,. ow caH
God’s presence is evident when you see Christians love one another and care about one another. Do I see that here? Sometimes. Can we do better? For sure.
Greet one another with a holy kiss. There’s probably some young fellow hearing this — hoping it means he gets to kiss that pretty girl across the way. We’re not talking about that kind of kissing. It’s about expressing our oneness. For us it might mean reaching out to shake someone’s hand. It might mean a hug. It’s about not rushing out the door but taking the time to acknowledge you are my brother or sister in Christ. I’m here not just for me but also for you. For we are family.
So breath in those blessings of the Triune God. The grace, the love, the fellowship. Breath in those blessings as you remember your baptism, as you hear your sins are forgiven, as you partake Jesus’ body and blood once given for you. Breath in. But don’t forget to breath out. Look at your fellow believers and breath out the desire to live as God’s family, one in Christ. Amen