Text: 2Corinthians 13: 11-14\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 June 19. 2011<\/p>\n
I think of my dad today. Year after year, he worked hard to take care of my mom, my sister and me. \u00a0My dad was a mechanic.\u00a0 He had calluses on his hands.\u00a0 But no other kids had a dad who worked on those big planes like mine did.<\/p>\n
Some of you have something very special to be thankful for. \u00a0Your dad trusted in Jesus and wanted you to know him too.\u00a0 So he and your mom had you baptized.\u00a0 They took you to church and Sunday School.\u00a0 You saw him read his Bible at home.\u00a0 How blessed you are to have had a dad like that.<\/p>\n
Of course, dads if they act like fathers sometimes have to carry out a thankless job.\u00a0 My dad sure did.\u00a0 More than once I heard my mom say, Just wait till your dad gets home<\/em>.\u00a0 Usually I had gotten\u00a0 into it with my sister.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t too happy about it at the time.\u00a0 But I understand now that my dad wanted me to turn out right.<\/p>\n You might say that the apostle Paul was a father of sorts.\u00a0 He was never married.\u00a0 He fathered no children.\u00a0 But he was a special kind of father to the Christians in Corinth.\u00a0 He was their spiritual father.\u00a0 He had come to Corinth, and through his efforts the Corinthian church was born.<\/p>\n While Paul was off elsewhere these new believers had gotten themselves into all kinds of trouble.\u00a0 Their Christian family had become dysfunctional, something that can happen in any Christian congregation.\u00a0 Instead of looking to make disciples, they were at odds with one another\u2026\u00a0 So now Paul had to step up and be like my dad was sometimes forced to be.<\/p>\n This inspired letter to the Corinthians was meant to meet those problems head on.\u00a0 It was meant to help these Christians remember what was theirs in Christ and then to act accordingly.<\/p>\n Our text is the very end of Paul\u2019s epistle.\u00a0 His parting words to them.<\/p>\n Breath, Christian, Breath<\/strong><\/p>\n I.\u00a0 Breath in the blessings of the Triune God\u00a0 (14)<\/strong><\/p>\n II. Breath out the desire to live as God\u2019s family<\/strong><\/p>\n Today is not just Father\u2019s day.\u00a0 In the church year, it is Holy Trinity Sunday.\u00a0 We believe and teach that there is one God who is yet three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n And maybe we\u2019re tempted to think that this Trinity thing is just some dusty, old dogma to be spelled out correctly.\u00a0 But not so.\u00a0 For look how Paul ends his letter. \u00a0With 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.<\/span> (14)<\/p>\n Someone told me the other day he was heading out to the beach.\u00a0 On the hot days of the summer, it\u2019s nice to breath in that cool fresh ocean air.\u00a0 Well here I invite you to do the same.\u00a0 Breath, Christian, breath<\/strong>. Breath in the blessings of the Triune God <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>May <\/strong>the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ\u2026be with you all<\/span>. <\/strong>Grace<\/span>, that\u2019s the first blessing.\u00a0 It\u2019s ours through God the Son, Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Paul described it this way in this same letter:\u00a0 9 <\/sup>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.<\/span> (8:9)\u00a0 Maybe you\u2019ve heard this expression GRACE.\u00a0 God\u2019s riches at Christ\u2019s expense<\/em>.\u00a0 The Lord Jesus was rich beyond our imagination.\u00a0 Rich in power and glory as the almighty Son of God.\u00a0 Yet he became poor and not by accident.<\/p>\n So the Bible tells us he was born to poor parents.\u00a0 When he grew up he had no place to call his own.\u00a0 He had to depend on other\u2019s generosity.\u00a0 And yet the most striking picture of the poverty he came to bear is Calvary\u2019s cross. For there let himself be stripped of every comfort and dignity.\u00a0 And in its place he let himself be laden with the guilt and shame of every human being who\u2019s ever lived.\u00a0 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ\u2026\u00a0 be with you all.\u00a0 Though he was rich, he became poor<\/span>.<\/p>\n Why?\u00a0 For your sakes<\/span>, Paul wrote.\u00a0 For the wages of sin is death.\u00a0 That\u2019s the ultimate poverty, the poverty we owned, that\u00a0 we deserved, death.\u00a0 But for your sakes, Jesus took it on himself so that you through his poverty might become rich. <\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s what you are through the grace of the Lord Jesus.\u00a0 You are rich.\u00a0 Rich in God\u2019s forgiveness.\u00a0 You are rich, reconciled to God, his dear child, whose prayers are heard and answered.\u00a0 You are rich, rich in a sure and certain hope of being with God in a place where\u00a0 the sadnesses, the evil of this life will be wiped away and remembered no more.\u00a0 \u00a0So breath Christian, breath.\u00a0 Breath in the blessing of grace.<\/strong><\/p>\n Then Breath in another blessing of the Holy Trinity. <\/strong>May<\/span> <\/strong>the love of God\u2026 be with you all<\/span>.\u00a0 That\u2019s the love of God the Father.\u00a0 A few months after Paul wrote these words, he wrote to the Christians in Rome.\u00a0 There he pointed them to the greatest demonstration of God the Father\u2019s love.\u00a0 That God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all.\u00a0 Breath Christian breath.\u00a0 Breath in the Father\u2019s love<\/strong>.<\/p>\n But keep breathing.\u00a0 Breath in so much more.\u00a0 We\u2019re so used to it we hardly notice.\u00a0 For instance, The sun came up this morning didn\u2019t it?\u00a0 What if it didn\u2019t?\u00a0 This world would become a dead, icy mess.\u00a0 Well God the Father who created the sun in the sky made it shine for you one more time today so you can live<\/p>\n Then think of so many other blessings.\u00a0 Everywhere you look the Father\u2019s love can be seen.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The protection of police, fireman. soldiers sailors airman and marines.\u00a0 That\u2019s love we enjoy each day.\u00a0 Yet all too often we\u2019re like the fellow standing in a nice warm shower.\u00a0 He only notices when the water gets cold. So breath Christian breath.\u00a0 Breath in the blessing of God the Father\u2026and also God the Holy Spirit<\/strong><\/p>\n May \u2026the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all<\/span>. That word translated as fellowship has the meaning of oneness. We get the word communion from it, a very special oneness.\u00a0 God the Holy Spirit has done that for you and me.\u00a0 \u00a0What\u2019s the Bible say?\u00a0 We were dead in sin, enemies of God.\u00a0 It says we were without hope and without God.\u00a0 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\u2019s family, children of God by faith in Jesus Christ.\u00a0 All that was his work, not ours.\u00a0 All that was his gift, his blessing \u2013 fellowship with God.\u00a0 So breath, Christian breath. \u00a0Breath in the blessings of the Triune God.\u00a0 Grace, love and fellowship.<\/strong><\/p>\n But when you breath in it goes without saying, you have to\u00a0 breath out.\u00a0 These Christians were breathing out some things that we Christians have no business breathing out.\u00a0 There were ugly divisions in the congregation.\u00a0 Some were attacking Paul\u2019s authority as an apostle of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 People were confused.\u00a0 And I suppose there are times in every congregation where some kind of ugliness can break out. Satan just loves it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It tears people up and destroys the unity of the Spirit.\u00a0 There\u2019s no excuse for it.\u00a0 We\u2019re family.\u00a0 We\u2019re brothers and sisters in Christ.\u00a0 So breathe Christian breath.\u00a0 Breathe in those blessings.<\/strong> Breathe out the desire to live as God\u2019s family<\/strong>.<\/p>\n I remember a visitor came to a church I was serving.\u00a0 After spending some time with us she made this comment:\u00a0 Pastor I can see that your congregation cries with one another and rejoices with each other. \u00a0She saw something special going on.\u00a0 She witnessed Christians being what we are, family.<\/p>\n Paul wanted that once more for these Christians.\u00a0 He closes then with four brief appeals 11 <\/sup>Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection,\u2026 <\/span>Aim for perfection is probably not the best way to translate here.\u00a0 The thought is:\u00a0 be restored or mend your ways<\/em>.\u00a0 What do these words say to us?\u00a0 What is lacking in our family life as members of this congregation?\u00a0 How can we be more of what God would have us be?\u00a0 Do we hang back or refuse to get involved?\u00a0 Are we too quick to speak or too slow to listen?<\/p>\n Listen to my appeal<\/span>.\u00a0 Literally Paul is saying, be encouraged.\u00a0 Don\u2019t let my words fall on deaf ears.\u00a0 Don\u2019t let these words.\u00a0 Be of one mind, live in peace.<\/span> King David wrote in Psalm 133:\u00a0 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.<\/span> It\u2019s such a blessed thing to see that.\u00a0 Christians who are united in faith breathing out that desire to live as family.\u00a0 Think of what Paul says here: \u00a0The God of love and peace will be with you<\/span>,.\u00a0 ow caH<\/p>\n God\u2019s presence is evident when you see Christians love one another and care about one another.\u00a0 Do I see that here? Sometimes.\u00a0 Can we do better?\u00a0 For sure.<\/p>\n Greet one another with a holy kiss<\/span>.\u00a0 There\u2019s probably some young fellow hearing this — hoping it means he gets to kiss that pretty girl across the way. We\u2019re not talking about that kind of kissing. It\u2019s about expressing our oneness.\u00a0 For us it might mean reaching out to shake someone\u2019s hand.\u00a0 It might mean a hug.\u00a0 It\u2019s about not rushing out the door but taking the time to acknowledge you are my brother or sister in Christ. I\u2019m here not just for me but also for you.\u00a0 For we are family.<\/p>\n So breath in those blessings of the Triune God.\u00a0 The grace, the love, the fellowship.\u00a0 Breath in those blessings as you remember your baptism, as you hear your sins are forgiven, as you partake Jesus\u2019 body and blood once given for you.\u00a0 Breath in.\u00a0 But don\u2019t forget to breath out.\u00a0 Look at your fellow believers and breath out the desire to live as God\u2019s family, one in Christ. \u00a0Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text: 2Corinthians 13: 11-14\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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. \u00a0My dad was a mechanic.\u00a0 He had calluses on his hands.\u00a0 But no other kids had a dad who worked on those big planes like mine did. Some of you have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}