How tragic! Here were two people, members of the same family who no doubt had often shared occasions of affection and joy. How tragic that their last words were of such ill will. Remarkably, the situation between the individuals in Dr. Garrison's story is in many ways similar to the situation to which Paul is writing the "second letter" to the church at Corinth. Having visited the church at least twice and hoping to return for another sojourn, Paul is seeking to pave the way for his return with this epistle. Our text is situated at the conclusion of the correspondence where Paul is naturally trying to say, "Good--bye!" But how does one say, "Good--bye," particularly when the circumstances are varied?
As the reader is aware, there is some disagreement among reputable biblical scholars about the structure and nature of the book of Second Corinthians. Some contend that Second Corinthians is actually a compilation of two separate letters of completely different natures addressed to Corinth upon different occasions. Chapters 1--10 comprise what is generally known as the "thankful" letter, full of joy and gratitude for the young congregation and for their mutual relationship. But with chapters 10--13 Paul's language changes severely. This is known as the "stern" letter written by Paul possibly from Ephesus when his relationship with the Corinthian church was strained, and it may reflect his response to some who were very critical of him. How does one say, "Good--bye"? How does one say, "Good--bye," when the air is filled with joy and gratitude? How does one say, "Good--bye," when there is contention and controversy between the two parties both of whom are aware of the possibility that they may never again meet?
Paul is implying that it does not matter! In the Christian faith and fellowship, one says, "Good--bye," in the same way. It does not matter if you are saying, "Good--bye," to someone with whom you share gratitude or to someone with whom you share hostility. It does not matter if you are hugging or fussing! You say, "Good--bye," in the same fashion because what we have in common is far greater than anything we can ever have in difference. That commonality is expressed in the Trinitarian formula with which Paul closes his correspondence.
This is a triune phrase that most Christians have heard countless times in worship. Notice the order in Paul's closing, "May the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (v. 14 NIV). Check out the order: Son, Father, Holy Spirit. I will not seek to explain the intricacies of the inter--relatedness of the three persons of the Godhead. For one reason, I do not understand it, and I do not know anyone who does, completely. I do know that some have tried to characterize the Trinity in this way: God the Father is the One who is over us, God the Son is the One who was with us, and God the Spirit is the One who remains with us. Possibly! Another viewpoint would be that God the Father is the God of the Old Testament, God the Son is the God of the New Testament, and God the Spirit is the God of today. Seems a bit strained, don't you think? Another has tried to describe the Trinity as the Father is the Creator, the Son is the Revealer or Redeemer, and the Spirit is the Companion. That, too, falls incomplete! I think that we are talking about something that is too big for us! But the fact that its complexity is beyond our comprehension should not prevent us from trying to better understand. We are seeking to get the big picture of the wholeness of God, a God who is one in essence and substance, but yet has revealed himself or herself in at least three separate ways or personalities: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I was privileged to study the book of Genesis with Dr. Clyde Francisco as he was re--writing the Commentary on Genesis for the Broadman Publishing Company. In his comments on Genesis 1:26 he stated, "For all that we do not understand about the Trinity, its nature and the different ways in which God reveals himself to us in scripture and today, we know that they always agree." What insight! Thus, the Trinity, the way God acts, becomes a model for the way we should act in the church, thereby finding unity amid diversity and even dissension.
Paul blesses and instructs, "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ ... be with you." May the unmerited free gift of Jesus Christ be yours. William Bausch tells the story of a young orphan girl. She was not very attractive and had an edge to her personality that set her at odds with the other children and most of the workers. So severe was her attitude that many prayed that someone would soon adopt her. One day someone noticed as she walked to the fence surrounding the orphanage and she stuck a note in the wiring. The wind blew the note away from the fence, where a stranger picked it up. The note read, "Whoever finds this, I love you."1 That is what we all are longing for, is it not? We all yearn to be loved, validated, and accepted. We have to know that somewhere, someone cares. Jesus took the initiative and gave to us his unmerited love. Could there be a greater gift? He does not love all of us so much as he loves each one of us. He loves me as I am, and he loves you as you are. He loves you so much that he willingly and intentionally took Calvary's cross to die for your sins. What an absurdly wonderful gift! What an amazing grace! As Paul said in his earlier letter, "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" (2 Corinthians 8:9 NIV).
Lewis Grizzard relates a story that occurred at the Moreland Methodist Church in which he was reared. On Sunday nights they had a meeting called MYF (Methodist Youth Fellowship). He said that there were two rough boys, really juvenile offenders, in their community who had gotten into trouble. Their punishment as designated by the court was to go to MYF on Sunday nights for six months. That was their punishment! Grizzard said that the first Sunday night they were there they beat up two fifth graders and threw a Cokesbury Hymnal at the woman who was in charge of the group and who brought cookies. She looked the boys square in the face and said, "I do not for one minute agree with what you did, and Jesus does not either, but I guess if Jesus can forgive you, I can too. Sit down, shut up, and eat a cookie!" Grizzard said, "That was the day I saw my first miracle. The last I heard, both those boys had fine families, good jobs, and rarely missed a Sunday."2
"My first miracle...." You experienced a miracle the moment you faced Jesus Christ and acted on the absurd notion that he loves us unconditionally. That is a miracle! How do we know the love of God? Because we know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. I think that the order is significant here. We know the love of the Father because we know the grace of the Son. "May ... the love of God ... be with you."
In Peter Gomes' excellent book, Sermons, he tells a delightful story of a little girl in kindergarten who was very busy drawing with her crayons. The kindergarten teacher passed by and remarked, "My, you are busy. What are you doing?" She responded, "I'm drawing!" The teacher asked, "What are you drawing?" The little girl answered, "I'm drawing God!" The teacher exclaimed, "You are drawing God! You cannot draw God. No one knows what God looks like!" The small student responded, "They will when I get finished."3
We know what God looks like. God looks like Jesus. We know that God is good because Jesus is good. We know that God is love because Jesus is love. We know that God's intentions for you are good because we know that Jesus is that way. We know that all of creation is good. The Bible says in Genesis 1 that God looked at creation and said, "It is good!" Then God created you. You are the climax, the crowning accomplishment of God's creation. God made you! Look around. Look at the person next to you. That is the very best God can do! God has made us in his own image. He loved creation so much that he put a little bit of himself into it. He put a little bit of himself in you because you are created in the image of God. We know that God is love because we have seen that love in Jesus Christ.
Tom Lewis is a deacon in our congregation who attends a Business Persons' Bible Study that I teach every Tuesday at noon. Having studied straight through several Gospels, he and I always have the same conversation when we encounter the crucifixion of Jesus. He has a good point! He says that as horrible as it was for Jesus to die upon a cross, suffering the pain, humiliation, and public disgrace, it was even more horrible for the Father because the Father had to stand by and watch his only Son go through it all. Can you imagine how wrenching it was for the Father to see his only Son treated in such a way knowing that He could do something about it, but yet he chose not to? Think how agonizing it would be to see your only child mistreated, abused, and murdered! I cannot begin to comprehend. We know that God is love because we see that love in Jesus, we see that love in the Father who is willing to let his Son die for people such as you and me. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should never die" (John 3:16).
"May the ... fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." Fellowship! What a wonderful word! We get our word "fellowship" from a Greek root word, koinos, which means "common." What does the church have in common? What do we have that binds us together? Certain groups are bound together by various common elements. Some groups are bound together by their views on politics, such as in a political party. Certain groups are built together upon their social status or financial attainment, such as a country club. Other groups are held together by an allegiance to certain values or goals. Some rally around common accomplishments, such as an alumni association. Still others of a lesser nature are drawn toward each other because of common foes or because they hate the same people. Still others have common bonds upon a pure luck of the draw. Parents of twins or other multiple births share a natural affinity.
But what is unique about the church that is different from other organizations? I think that one distinguishing and cohesive factor is that you and I as God's children can stand nose to nose and not have to see eye to eye. The church can be together and not be together. The church at Corinth was together but it was not together. It was known by its decisive schisms.You can tie the tails of two tom cats together and throw them across a clothes line. They will be together but will not be together.
What is unique about the church that binds us together? Several years ago my wife wanted a monkey. I said, "What are you going to do with a monkey? We don't need a monkey." "Yeah, I want a monkey," she said. "Well, if you get a monkey, where will the monkey eat?" "The monkey will eat with us." "We don't need a monkey. Where will the monkey sleep?" "Well, the monkey will sleep with us." "We don't need a monkey. What about the odor?" She said, "Well, I got used to it, so I guess the monkey can too." Sometimes we need to think about what binds us together. We do not need to look at one another. Maybe we need to look at ourselves, and remember that none of us are perfect. I am not. In fact, the great German theologian, Karl Barth, said, "What binds the church together, that which we have in common, is not that which we have but that which we don't have." It is not a positive; it is a negative. We are bound together as the church of Jesus Christ because foundationally we all are sinners and are saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It is a deficiency, our common plight as sinners, totally dependent upon God, that binds us together as the church of Christ. That is our common ground. Diverse and distinct we are, yet directed toward a common goal.
We are not only unified because of our common plight as sinners but also unified around our common future goal. A minister of education in our denomination has in his study a plaque that reads, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." Part of Paul's moral imperatives in verse 11 can be interpreted as, "Stay on the right track." How do we stay on the right track? How do we keep the main thing the main thing? How do we keep the main thing of reaching others for Jesus Christ the top priority? We do so when we realize that we all stand on common ground for a common goal for reaching others for him. We are trying to find a way to reach more people for Jesus Christ. That is our number one priority. We are bound together as we seek to keep the main thing the main thing.
Harry Emerson Fosdick, that great preacher of another generation, tells the story that during World War I, a young man lay dying. A Roman Catholic priest made his way across no man's land to get to that young soldier. As he got there, the young man, still cohesive enough to know that this was a Roman Catholic priest responded, "But, Padre, I do not belong to your church." To which the priest responded, "No, my son, but you belong to my God."4 That is the foundation of the Church. We have more in common than we can ever have in difference. And when we act like it, we act like God acts.
In 1967, I was privileged to hear Gert Behanna speak at the Southern Baptist Convention in Miami, Florida. Many of her comments were memorable. First, she said that whether a female is eight or eighty, with the menfolk, she always wants to be a "killer"! She also said that the reason most women would rather have beauty than brains is that she knows most men can see better than they can think!
She wrote her life story titled The Late Liz. She told that her father was a multi--millionaire, her mother was an international beauty queen, and she was neither. She became an alcoholic. She had never heard the name of Jesus until she was in her thirties, except taken in vain. She told of the wonderful way Christ had transformed her life. She told of how he had taken her from that scared and lonely little girl that never met up to anybody's expectations, who tried to drown her sorrows in a bottle, and changed her into one of the most vibrant and dynamic witnesses I have ever heard.
When she finished speaking, over 17,000 rose en masse to give to her a standing ovation. It continued for what seemed like several minutes. She then returned to the microphone and said, "Now you know you ain't applauding an old drunk like me. That is just the Jesus in you meeting the Jesus in me. He doesn't get enough applause. Let's all give him a hand!" Deafening applause erupted.
"The Jesus in you meeting the Jesus in me." Wow! That is fellowship! That is what we have in common that is greater than anything we can ever have in difference. That is what makes us act like God acts!
My dear friend and mentor, Fred Craddock, tells of an occasion when he had several hours to kill while waiting for an airplane. He was told about a church that was located near the airport. When he arrived, he observed that the church was very modest and looked like it had been built by the hands of the people who worshiped there. He said that the sanctuary was very comfortably filled, and as the worship service started, the pastor made his way to the pulpit showing only his left side. He was a very large man and dragged his feet like he was born disabled. His head was immense. Dr. Craddock said that it was easy to tell even at first glance that this was an individual who was very disfigured. Dr. Craddock said, "When he turned to face the congregation, I literally gasped because this was one of the most uncommonly disfigured people I have ever seen. His head was very large and misshapened. His glasses were very thick and one eye sort of looked out into no man's land. When he read, he moved his lips like one who had learned to read as an adult." Dr. Craddock said, "When he started his sermon, he preached on 1 Corinthians 13, the great love chapter. If you had put that sermon on a piece of paper, it would not have been a homiletical masterpiece, but as that pastor spoke to those people, something wonderful happened. You could tell that he was a pastor who dearly loved his people and they dearly loved him. It was a wonderful worship experience; the fellowship of the Holy Spirit was so real; and I was so lifted up."
After the service, Dr. Craddock wanted to take the preacher out to lunch. As he was waiting to speak with the pastor, a lady stopped, shook the pastor's hand, and said, "I wish I had known your mother." The preacher responded, "My mother's name is Grace." Craddock asked the preacher if he could take him to lunch. The preacher already had made other plans. But Dr. Craddock said, "Before you go I would like to ask you a question about your mother. You said that her name was Grace." The pastor said, "It's true. When I was born I was abandoned by my mother and my father because of reasons that are apparent. All of my childhood I was tossed to and fro, from one foster home to another foster home. Nobody really wanted me, because of the obvious. As a youth I heard about a place where people were accepted and loved. I went there and found that people cared for me and people accepted me. The people didn't care what I had been. The people didn't even care what I looked like. They loved me. It was at that place, the church, that I found 'grace.' "
"May the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you now and forever more."
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1. William Bausch, A World Of Stories (Mystic, Connecticut: Twenty--Third Publications, 1998), p. 330.
2. This story is attributed to Eric S. Ritz of First United Methodist Church, Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania.
3. Peter J. Gomes, Sermons (New York: William Morrow and Company, 1998), p. 103.
4. Harry Emerson Fosdick, Dear Mr. Brown (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1961), p. 118.
