Sermon

2 Corinthians 13:11-14

The Order of Faith

By Dr. Randy L. Hyde

Okay, I admit it. Sometimes, when reading a book, I take a peek at the last page to see how it all turns out. I’ll bet you’ve never done that, right? Right.

Most of the time, of course, it doesn’t work. By jumping to the end of the book you remove the context, and it’s the context that makes sense of the story. Once you realize that, you go back and read it the way you’re supposed to, from front to back. And when you return to the end of the story and read it again, this time in context and in proper sequence, you say to yourself, “So that’s what the ending meant. Now it makes sense.”

But isn’t it true that for our New Testament reading this morning, we jumped all the way to the end of Second Corinthians and read the last part? Doesn’t the same principle apply? Well, yes and no. Yes, you do have to consider the context, but in this case these last four verses can be lifted from their context and we can still basically apply them to our purpose.

But it certainly doesn’t hurt to know where Paul is coming from, does it? Or to know why he wrote this letter, or what comes before this passage. So, let’s talk about it for a moment.

“Finally,” Paul says, and this time he really means it. There are others of his writings where he says “finally” several times and like the Energizer Bunny just keeps on going. He probably did that when he preached, too. “Finally, brethren,” Paul would say and everybody would just roll their eyes. They’d believe it only when they saw it. But not here. Here, he really means it. “Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell.” But Paul can’t just say “so long.” He’s got to get in a final word of instruction, even if it is brief. In this case, he doesn’t disappoint. “Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace.”

Let’s see… “Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace.” One, two, three, four… Uh oh. That’s four points. What happened to the three-point sermon?

Three points, four points… it really doesn’t make any difference. It’s a tall order no matter how you add it up, isn’t it? It’s tough for any of us to do that. “Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace.” But if you do know the context of the church at Corinth, you know just how utterly impossible Paul’s counsel really is. “Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace.”

If you know what’s going on in the church at Corinth, you know that Paul is just spitting in the wind. This group in Corinth is a tough bunch. They are immoral and they are selfish. Groups in the church are trying to get the upper hand on others in the fellowship, they squabble constantly, and they have revealed a complete disregard for one another. Why, they make that church over in Waynesville, North Carolina – the one that kicked people out for being Democrats – the people in Corinth make them look like perfectly rational people. As Paul Harvey would say, they are constantly “getting back to abnormal.”

If there is one thing the cantankerous Corinthian church cannot do, it is to put things in order. They can’t agree with one another either. Definitely not their strong suit. Live in peace? Forget about it!

And they’re not too good at listening to Paul’s appeal, either. After all, some of them don’t like Paul very much. There are those who much prefer Peter (now that guy has a fire in his belly, let me tell you) or Apollos (boy, can that Apollos preach!). Paul can’t even put two sentences together. His mind is always traveling here or there, and he has other problems as well… like that “thorn in the flesh” thing he’s always talking about.

Now, here he is, telling the people in the church to listen to his appeal. Fat chance.

So, while some of them might be trying to do what Paul has suggested – especially Chloe’s people, since they’re the ones who came to Ephesus and told Paul about everything that was going on in the church back home – there are plenty others in the church who aren’t going to give Paul the time of day, much less give heed to his appeal.

I’ve been in that situation before. It was a previous church, of course. I fell out of favor with one of the female members, and for that reason she didn’t come to worship for a long time. She would attend Sunday School, but made sure she and her husband – who was a deacon – came in separate cars so she could go back home… or maybe to another church for worship. This went on for quite some time.

I got word one week that she was going to come the next Sunday, to “give me another chance.” Unfortunately, I used an illustration from a Star Wars movie (believe it or not, Star Wars was even hotter then than it is now), then topped it off with one from Greek mythology. That really set her off. It was reported to me – I had my “Chloe’s people” too, you see – that when she left she was telling anyone who would listen that all I did was preach on Star Wars and mythology, not the Bible.

Oh well, you can’t please everybody. Paul knew that. But it didn’t keep him from telling the folk in the church at Corinth what to do. “Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace.”

You think that’s easy? Not by a long shot, especially in a Baptist church. But when the people of God can do it, even if but for a fleeting moment, it is a glorious sight to behold. Because, when people can put things in order, agree with one another, and live in peace, they’ve forgotten about themselves and their needs, and have focused on Christ.

Can it happen? Can a body of individual believers, people of different kinds of professions and income levels, political persuasions and views, ages and attitudes, come together in a common purpose of being the body of Christ? It can happen if they take seriously what Paul says next in his closing benediction…

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”

Grace, love, communion… That, you see, is the order of faith. It is the key to the kingdom. Grace, love, communion.

The other part, the part where Paul says, “Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace”… that’s the practical dimension, the social part of doing and being church. But you can’t do that without experiencing the unmerited grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, accepting the steadfast love of God, and participating in the communion of the Holy Spirit.

Now, if you’ve been looking for them, there’s your three points. In fact, it sounds downright Trinitarian, doesn’t it? The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the communion of the Holy Spirit. The order may be a bit different, but the elements are there. God is not defined as Father, nor is God listed first. Jesus is not referred to as Son, but he is listed first. Then comes mention of the Holy Spirit. What do you think that means?

Perhaps Paul’s intent is not to identify God’s different manifestations in terms of relationship – Father, Son, Holy Spirit. In other words, he’s not thinking of the Trinity. But he is thinking about what each manifestation of God does in revealing the purpose of God.

You’ve got blank looks on your faces. You’re not sure what I mean. Okay, let’s try it this way…

Rather than emphasize Jesus as the Son, Paul chooses to refer to his grace. Rather than describe God as Father, Paul focuses on God’s love. The communion referred to in regard to the Holy Spirit, is the word koinonia. Does that sound familiar? In the Greek it means fellowship or sharing or participation or partnership.

The squabbling folks in the church at Corinth can only do the things Paul tells them to do – “Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace” – when they have recognized and participated in the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit.

And while we do manage to keep our squabbles pretty low-key around here, which is a way of saying we don’t do it much – well, not too much, anyway – we still cannot function as a body of believers, as the body of Christ, if we ignore what it means to partner with God in the enterprise of grace, love, and communion. They are the three elements that add up to the order of our faith.

But let’s make it more personal.

When life throws you a big roundhouse curve and you’re as low as low can be, you’re not sure how you’re going to go on, not sure if you can. And then someone comes by and lifts you up, says a kind word, offers an encouraging hand, takes your burden upon himself. It is then that you experience firsthand the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You feel alone and don’t know what move to make next. Someone steps in beside you and offers you friendship. And you know that in that person you find incarnate the love of God.

You’re searching for answers and in a conversation with a fellow believer something is said that makes so much sense you cannot help but believe that what was said was meant just for you. In that talk you know you have experienced the communion of the Holy Spirit.

God has come to you in human flesh and you have found grace, love, communion. It is the order of faith, and you discovered it – not at the country club or at work, not playing bridge or golf. You found it at church.

Sometimes churches act badly, that is true. They throw people out because of their political persuasion, or the preacher because he doesn’t toady up to their expressed wishes. They talk about one another and backbite. They sit back and see what the other person in the pew is going to do instead of taking the initiative of doing it themselves.

But every once in awhile the church hits the nail right on the head and gets it right. It acts like Jesus would act and does what Jesus would do. When that happens, the church discovers the order of faith, and it is a beautiful, wondrous thing to behold.

The order of faith – grace, love, communion – is incarnate in the people who claim to follow Jesus. It happens, maybe not every day, but occasionally at least, it happens. And it makes coming to church worthwhile, it makes being the church so important, if for no other reason than just to be here to see it for ourselves. When the church is really and truly the church, and we get our act together, we live out the order of our faith. Indeed, it is worth being here just to see it happen and to be a part of it, don’t you think?
Lord, our Master, help us to find the order of our faith… to accept your unmerited grace, to love as you love us, to commune with your Spirit. And then, give us the desire to share such order with others. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Copyright 2005 Dr. Randy L. Hyde. Used by permission.