March 30, 2025
Let’s think today about the important happenings in our lives, the events that changed the way we looked at the world, the things that, when we look back on them, we can recognize a before and an after. As I was trying to fall asleep one night this week and I was thinking about this sermon, an example popped into my head—the old Skeeter Davis song The End of the World.
Why does the sun go on shining? Why does the sea rush to shore?Don't they know it's the end of the world? 'Cause you don't love me anymore.
I was alive for that song, but I only remember it as an oldie. But it describes how a major occurrence—good, bad, or indifferent—can change how we think about everything else. Skeeter was jilted, and she can’t understand why the rest of the universe doesn’t feel it like she does.
But let’s not dwell on the pain for now. Think instead about the good things in your life, the wonderful things—maybe when you went away to school or got your dream job, or you got married or your children were born. All these things don’t just change your life, they change your outlook on life. You view people, places, and events through a new lens.
I think Paul is talking about a lot of things in this section of his Second Letter to the Corinthian church, but certainly this is one of them, and maybe the most important. But he gets to the point in a way that we might not expect.
So the first point Paul makes in this section of his letter seems to be that he can be trusted. Just before the beginning of this morning’s scripture reading, Paul wants to emphasize that he is trustworthy. “We work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too.” [2 Cor. 5:11]
He seems to want to give the Corinthians reason to place their confidence in him and the gospel he represents. I think one of the points here is that there must have been other preachers running around that part of the world (southern Greece), and I think maybe their ministries were showier than Paul’s—more spectacular. Maybe today, we might think about the difference between a solid local congregation and a megachurch… or maybe the difference between a pastor who works with people and a polished TV ministry. “We are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart.” [v 12]
He then does something that Paul seems better at than just about anybody. It appears that the people’s he’s writing to have misunderstood him, so he talks about how opposites can work together to help us make sense of the gospel. “If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God.” [v. 13a] In other words, when it comes to his relationship with God, Paul is able to let go of his own mind and let God control him—and this might make him seem crazy at times. We might compare this to letting go of our own thoughts as we meditate on the scriptures, or during silent prayer times when we drive all thoughts from our head so that only God seems to be present within us.
If we want to go outside religion, perhaps we can think about how our minds become one with a piece of music, so that we lose ourselves in it. Bonus points, of course, if this happens during a sacred choral piece.
But then Paul makes it clear that he’s not so far out there that he can’t share his message in a sensible way with the people God sent him to serve: “And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit.” [v. 13b] Apparently worship isn’t only all about showmanship. It’s also about calm explanation.
What brings these two opposites together? How can the Corinthians recognize a genuine preacher of the gospel? “Either way,” Paul writes, “Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.” [v 14] Jesus said that “you can identify [a true messenger] by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” [Matt 7:16] And so the Corinthians can trust Paul, because it is the love of Christ that comes first in his message.
At the beginning of the reading you heard earlier [in v 15], Paul says that Christ died for everyone, so that those who trust in Christ can start anew. Their lives have a new focus—the One who gave his life for them. Just as the love of Christ is in charge of Paul, Christ’s love also controls anybody who believes his message.
So we no longer need to look at people the old way. Remember, Christ gives our lives a new focus—we now go through life with a different set of priorities. We look at things from the perspective of love… and not just any old love, but the deepest of all loves—the love of God we see when we look at the cross. And this new outlook on life “means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun.’ [v 17]
Paul seems to be talking first about how the Corinthians are to relate to him. Don’t gossip and criticize and nitpick. His life is lived in love and in Christ, and so they can trust his message. But I’m pretty sure he is telling them to look at each other in the same way. “Let Christ’s love take control of your relationships,” he seems to be saying; “and when you look at each other, remember, you’re not looking at the old person with the old priorities and the old point-of-view, but you’re looking at a new person. Let go of the past; forgive; start anew.”
That is a theme that I think most churches today need to take up. Too often in the church, we fail to assume the best in each other. It’s easier to criticize, or look for hidden intentions. Just as Paul wanted the Corinthians to trust his message, which was delivered in love, we also ought to be able to count on each other and our loving intentions.
Paul’s advice not to evaluate others—whether it be himself or fellow church members—from a human point-of-view is something I think we need to take seriously. Included in our new way of seeing things is the notion that we are not to judge. Knowing that “Christ died for everyone” is the strongest reason we can possibly imagine to love everyone. If we don’t yet see them as a new creation—a new person—then we know that they have the potential for renewal through the same love of Christ that (I hope) motivates us.
The most basic fact for Christians is this: People have value because Christ died for them. People, whoever they are, whether they have responded to Christ or not… are treasured by God. From the moment of Christ’s death, everyone, everyone, has value.
If we’re looking for the problem with this way of thinking, then we need only to look in a mirror. We often think that a person’s value as a human being is the value we give them. We want to establish standards, or place hurdles people need to jump (or hoops they have to jump through) before we decide if they’re good enough—the way people look, the country they’re from, the language they speak, the way they vote, the church they go to, the people they hang out with—the list can go on and on. But as Christians, we’re not really allowed to look at people from this stale, old viewpoint. A person’s value is given to them by God. And that value—in every case—was the value of the life of God’s Son. So we don’t even have to ask what a person’s faith is before we decide whether or not they’re worth it, because they are.*
If we’re seeking a new beginning this morning, let us start with the way we look at the world around us. Because we have embraced the love of God, we, too, can love. And because we have accepted the forgiveness of God, we can forgive others.
—©2025 Sam Greening
*J. Paul Sampley, 2 Corinthians, in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. XI (Nashville: Abingdon, 2000), p. 98.
