Introduction

I’m going to start straight away by asking a question. This is where being together works better for me as I would now be able to make you feel very awkward by trying to get an answer from you, allowing the silence to make you feel a bit uncomfortable. Some thinking is anyone going to say something and everyone trying not to meet my eyes. Then you think you know the answer but find you're not quite sure, so you don’t want to volunteer just in case you might be wrong and look silly. Now would I do that to you? And shame on you ;-) for thinking that of your minister. So at least there is one good thing that’s come out of “lockdown” : you won’t be subjected to that. There are more.

So to the question. Several actually. Would you read an email/Fb post/Text/Whatsapp message from a loved one and not read it to the end? Would you read a contract of employment and not read it all the way to the end? Would you not bother reading the whole “terms of agreement” no scrap that very few of us bother to read all the way through, we just click OK. How many of us would spend hours reading a book and not find out what happens in the end? I do have a diagnosable psychological condition that prevents me from beginning a book and not finishing it. No matter how bad or boring it may be I just can’t do it. It’s impossible for me to put it back on the shelf and leave it. I have to finish it. What that means is I now have, I think it’s at least 6 books, it may be more, lying around waiting to be finished. That really isn’t a boast. I have a problem.

So why do we often not finish the letters of the bible? Bible studies do it. Sermons do it. We take bits from a letter and never quite get to the end. We will even quote BITS to other people and ourselves but very very rarely are those quotes the end of a letter. Well we’re going to concentrate on the last few sentences from Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthian church.

Verses 11-14 are very familiar, well at least the last one anyway, and I bet some of us didn’t know they were from here. But why does Paul end this letter, which may not have been the 2nd letter to the church in Corinth by the way (no time here so go look it up), with these words? Well, what Paul has had to deal with, remotely remember, is a church in a mess. They have gotten into a pickle to use more refined language than we could use. It is a church in a cosmopolitan port city. The religious background of Corinth was a mix of Greek, Roman, and Oriental and so those influences deeply affected the individuals and the church. There was very little understanding of this new christianty and so the actions became confused and let’s say, not in the spirit of the Gospel.

This led to some within the church claiming spiritual superiority over others. They were dragging each other through the public courts, no witness of forgiveness or the communal nature of the church. Some are abusing the common meal and leaving scraps for those of a lower class, and last but by no means least there was sexual misbehavior.

Not a situation any Baptist Association regional minister would be keen on trying to sort out. However Paul visited the church and was met with public humiliation and some in the church accepting the teaching of so called super apostles.

In response to the city's reputation a “Corinthian” was used by the Romans for someone who was immoral and excessive in that immorality. Corinth was the sin city, the “Las Vegas” of the Roman Empire, and the church was doing nothing to dispel that “By Line”.

Are we getting a picture? I guess there are two things to feel now. One, the church in the NT was not as holy as I thought and so I feel relief, or disappointment at being let down by our idea of the church at that time or...Are we now thinking well we’re not that bad so we need not worry.

Well the first point is a reasonable one in that we should not be hung up on not “being like the early church” with all it’s life and expectation. It was a mess and sometimes they did not even know it. They were, at times, like little babes who were learning to walk but with adult appetites that were not in line with the christian faith.

And secondly I don’t imagine any of the churches started out thinking they were going to be a mess. It was just that they were full of people so inevitably something was going to give and therefore we can’t be too pleased at not being “AS BAD” we are never that far away from going over the handlebars. Even the apostles found themselves in difficulties at times, so one thing we can take away is God can make it better. If we turn around.

If we turn around.

Thankfully the Corinthian church does take notice and begins to turn around. Paul's language becomes a little softer and these last 4 verses are an encouragement and exaltation to a very simple way of life in the Church and what ultimately makes it work.

I want to read them again but in ESV

11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All the saints greet you.

14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

And so, “The Grace” is not just a rote that we are to share with each other every now and again, there are three very distinct truths that should bind us together, help us to grow and give us hope.

Paul uses some tough but important words to help us understand the importance of these final greetings. Some versions have the word “rejoice” as “farewell” but they are not meant as a goodbye but that we all may “fare well” that we would thrive. His desire is to see the church fare well, to place it’s energy on being joyful in relationships with God and each other. To help and support one another. Work together in seeing what it is God wants for us. And just as peace has come to you, live peacefully with each other.

Grace

Well shall we look at the importance of the grace then and start with that very first line “The grace of the lord Jesus Christ. I have always loved this verse from Luke 7:47 where Jesus responds to the pharisees, let’s say, disappointment of his welcoming of a sinful woman and her anointing of him. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – as her great love has shown. Or “who is forgiven much, loves much” because it speaks of the power of Grace, of forgiveness and just as I suggested earlier that we never read to the end of the NT letters we often do not read the second half of this particular verse. As it continues...

But whoever has been forgiven little loves little. Which one are you?

Grace/forgiveness is vital in the church for it to work. Forgiveness shown in community, along with, patience and kindness, is a witness of what is possible when we accept that grace ourselves.

I have forgotten the amount of conversations I have had with people who have insisted that they don’t need to go to church to be a christian, without going into the whole called out/holy/family thing, I maintain that forgiveness is at the very heart of our faith and the church and that the easiest way to avoid it is not go to church. IT WORKS BOTH WAYS we cannot be forgiven and we don’t get the opportunity to show grace.

Forgiveness changes us. Both the forgiver and the forgiven. The forgiven is released from guilt, transformed by love and able to grow. And the forgiver is spared the anger, frustration and conflict again that allows them to love and grow. So apart from anything else Forgiveness is essential in opening up the possibility of knowing and then showing love to another and accepting love ourselves . So from “The grace of the lord Jesus Christ” we “see in the community the love of God”

Love

Where we might see peace come in forgiveness shown in community Love is shared in community like no other place.

Think about it. It is not too dissimilar to forgiveness in that every single one of us can SAY we love someone but if we are not around them, sharing our lives, in whatever form that takes, it is very easy to say you love someone.

Now I’m not suggesting this is the case for you all but they do say never meet your heroes. Because inevitably you will be disappointed. They are not the person you think they are. That I have to say can be said about us all. We often portray a version of ourselves, even in the community that is the church. And to be honest here, I have probably disappointed everyone of you at some point. No don’t do the NO of course not rubbish. I know I’m not anyone's hero, although I was my daughters once.

Love has to be done in community.It has to be shared and revealed in that community and Paul encourages the Corinthians to stop the bickering, infighting, immoral behaviour and favouritism and love as God loves us.

The love of God is seen for the unloved. It is shared with the weak and the strong. With the needy and the rich. The love of God was shared with the whole world in Jesus Christ and unconditionally. Whether that creation embraced that love or rejected it God still loved and loves it. And here we might begin to see a missing part of the love sometimes shared in the community of the church.

In the church This love is not always shared unconditionally. There are always caveats. The BUT or HOWEVER feature heavily in any community, nonetheless the church is meant to be different, isn't it? So we must always ask ourselves then IS IT? It isn't the case that we must accept the behaviour but that the person, any person, is loved by God. The way He turned us around was to reveal that love in the cross. Even when we still sinners It is the cross that changes us not condemnation, the church is to show the same between us and for others.

God so loved a world that had disregarded him, thought He was irrelevant, even hated and despised Him. Yet the love of God is far greater and far more powerful than any of that and we as his church are capable of that kind of witness albeit not alone but with the presence of the Holy spirit working in us.

Fellowship

We are given the greatest gift that God can give. That of Himself. The holy spirit. And the very same spirit works in everyone, each single member of any church. To what degree only He and us may know that, but work He does. And any community doesn’t work apart from every individual.

I am sure many of you will know the line “No man is an island entire of itself” from the poem by John Dunne. He writes about how the whole of humanity is connected. This is not my favourite line in the poem though, but this “any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind” It always reminds me of Romans 12 (I recommend you go and read it) but verse 15 in particular “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” This means what it means and I would venture that if we cannot do that and then we may not be as connected to the community as we think we may be.

When the Holy spirit is working in us, the church works. When our hearts are broken by what is happening to one of us, then that community is working. Unlike the Corinthian church where there was a complete lack of empathy for the, when the holy spirit is in us we feel, weep, rejoice and share every one of those moments together, without envy or conflict but a feal sense of hope in what God is doing.

The Holy spirit is supremely capable of doing so much more in us than we can ever imagine. Our potential as a church is not built on how hard or long we work but how much we rely on God’s spirit to work in, US. Where He works those simple, tiny miracles in the lives of all of us so that we wood grow in our talents and gifting and mature as His people.

In The End

At the end of this particular letter Paul does not just say goodbye. He encourages the church to see how the community really can work and give witness of the forgiveness found in Jesus Christ.

The bedrock of any church community must be forgiveness. Forgiveness received and then given. The release from those things that will don’t produce Love, kindness and peace but only conflict and that is never a good look for a church.

And it doesn’t show very much of God’s love either. It is love that bought our salvation. It is love that moves us on. It is love that and I’m sorry for this “binds us together” so don’t lose it. Don’t allow the lack of it to break us and the community. But allow the presence of God in His Holy Spirit to work all these things and more in us as we share this life together.

And if we do that there is no end to what we, with God, are capable of as a church.

Let’s pray

Prayer

Grace - Lord Jesus there are times when grace has not been foremost in our minds and our actions.

For that we are sorry

We can often allow our anger, hurt, frustration and conflict rule our responses.

For that we are sorry

Lord for the moments when we have said things that harm others and break relationships.

For that we are sorry

Thank You Jesus that in you we find the grace that overcomes all that we do or are capable of. That your forgiveness is the catalyst for us to love more than we think we can.

Love - And heavenly Father May the great love you have shown to us through that forgiveness begin to shape our relationships within...

The Church

Our families

With our friends

In our interactions with our neighbours and colleagues

So that the Love of God will be shared wider and further than even us.

Fellowship - Holy spirit as you work in each and every one of us may we strive to fellowship with you.

And allow you to encourage us in our gifts and talents as we mature in our faith

So our fellowship with each other will show the grace of Jesus Christ and the Love of God to one another and to the world.

In the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit