Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,
a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.
This fall, we're studying the book of Second
Corinthians. Second Corinthians is a heartfelt
and practical book calling us back to the life
of the cross. We, like the Corinthians, so often
pursue glory, admire eloquence, shun suffering,
hide hurt, and hoard our goods. And yet the gospel
of Jesus tells us that resurrection comes after
a cross. comfort comes after being crushed, that
the way up is the way down, that the way to glory
is through suffering, that his strength is made
perfect in our weakness. We'd love to meet you
and we hope you'll consider coming and joining
with us each Sunday morning at 10 a .m. in the
heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find us
online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Facebook,
Instagram, and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this
sermon. God bless. Let me pray again. Lord, thank
you. You say that out of the mouth of infants
and babes, you have ordained praise. We're thankful
this morning to get to hear your word from some
of our younger members of our church. And I thank
you for the attentiveness they had in their practicing
and the way that they helped that word to come
alive to us a little more fully in their lips.
Now, Lord, Would you do the same through me passage
in a second? May the words of my mouth and the
meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your
sight. Oh Lord our rock our redeemed. I think
this is just cutting in and out so hopefully
you can bear with me. We're in 2 Corinthians
chapter six, and in many ways this first section
is, and actually it will continue to a little
bit, but it will build off the idea of being
an ambassador of Christ, God making his appeal
through us. In fact, it's part of the great argument
of 2 Corinthians that power is made perfect and
weak. It's not just in Paul's life, but in the
life of the church, that the life of the church
is also called to be the way, the means through
which God makes his appeal. the ambassador reality
of the church. But first, I want to draw your
attention to Psalm 19. And I will say that this
was largely because when I began working on this,
we were going to be outside. We're not. But a
little bit of that, I want to draw your attention
to that. But first, I want to mention that I
was reading again, I have a little book. It's
short. In fact, it's even shorter than what it
looks like because there's a facsimile of the
text. in the second half of this book, but it's
Flannery O 'Connor's prayer journal from when
she was a student at the University of Iowa's
writing workshop. It's a lovely little prayer
journal. I would commend it to you. She's very
open and honest and such a lively and fresh way
with the Lord. And in that journal, among other
things, she writes, there is a whole around me
that I should be able to turn to your praise.
the sensible world, the physical world, the world
of the senses around her that she should be able
to turn to Lord's praise. The Psalm 19 begins
like this. I'm not going to read it all again
for you, but it begins like this. The heavens
declare the glory of God. The sky above proclaims
his handiwork. Day to day pours out. Night to
night reveals knowledge. we were going to be
out in creation right now. And I will say, it
is no wonder that so many people say that they
have had some of the most spiritual experiences
being drawn near to God out in his world, out
in nature. I mean, I would get to be, in fact,
I would hope you have had that experience, God
came close to you, present in a really like a
truly supernatural way, out in the wonder of
his world, maybe out hiking Hawk Rock or out
on the AT down in the Cumberland Valley and maybe
you've been out at the shore and just the expanse
of the ocean has spoken to you of the God, maybe
Yes, how small you are, but also you've had this
immense experience of I am valued. I am a real
true part of the wonder that is this world. In
a sense that actually gave you breath, gave you
your life. Christian theology has long called
this reality of the witness of creation, the
ambassadorship. of creation, general revelation,
God's revelation, revelation being the revealing
that God truly and really reveals himself in
nature. That that experience you had isn't something
to toss aside, but God actually truly does speak
in those real experiences out in the world. Out
among the rocks and trees and stars and seas,
out along the valley. Is this too distracting?
The clicking that I just. Project. You do that.
Yeah, I can pivot turn. Let's do that. Do I need
to start over? You all following me? No. Okay.
Let me take this up. Anyway, so this is a theme
in Christian theology and throughout scripture
that the creation itself is proclaiming God.
It's a revelation of God. We can say that creation
in fact is God's first ambassador. God spoke
the world into being and then the world speaks
back his praise. is the reality of what he has
done. I love our church building, I really do.
It's often that I might walk through this space
with somebody who's maybe at Logos and somebody
comes in, they go, wow, this is lovely. And we
have lots of reasons to give thanks for this
space, we do. Think of the rooms being used by
Logos or our English classes. Think of actually
the space directly below here right now. where
some of our children are learning the stories
of our Lord, and the liturgies of our faith,
the habits of life following God, and how it
really is this beautiful worship space with the
stained glass windows there. It's a lovely space
for them to gather together to worship the Lord.
This is a gift, and you actually may know this.
I was reading this week some about the American
chestnut. the American chestnut started to die
off in 1904. There was a parasitic fungus that
killed off the American chestnut. It took about
45 years or 50 -ish years, I think early 50s,
until they died off. But that fungus actually
started to infect the American chestnut in 1904,
which was the very year that this wood paneling
and the pews that you're sitting in and this
back here and that pulpit would have been cut
down and cured and fashioned into this space.
This is the American chestnut that you're surrounded
by right now. And how lovely it is. There are
many gifts that this building has, and the people
that have gone before us have given it to us.
And while this is all gift, it is a gift, in
some ways a greater gift, to be out in the wonder
of the world singing the praises of the Lord.
which we were intending to do this morning, right
down at Shea for a treat, because we are joining
our voices in a very real way, surrounded by
the chorus of the trees and the rocks and the
creek there, the grass under our feet. What I'm
saying is that creation itself bears witness
to God. Creation is an ambassador for God. Let
me press into this a little bit more. I read
an article in the British news publication, The
Times last week. It was about a book that is
being, it was actually, The English version of
the book is being published this week. It's written
by two Frenchmen. Its title is God, the Science,
the Evidence. It's sold 400 ,000 copies already
in French, and it's first printing in English
is 110 ,000 copies. They insist that their book
is not a religious book, but rather a scientific
critique of the materialist explanation of the
existence of the world. They say the theory that
all reality including our origins thoughts and
consciousness can be explained solely by physical
matter and physical process doesn't hold up to
science they're arguing so uh this article said
their book explores key scientific theories such
as the big bang the theory of relativity quantum
mechanics and the human genome each detail was
checked with a group of leading scientists to
ensure the argument could not be challenged on
the basis of scientific accuracy In fact, the
preface for the book was written by the renowned
physicist Robert Wilson, who won the Nobel Prize
for physics. But the whole thing is this creation
itself is pointing to the idea of a creator,
of God himself. It speaks of God. It's an ambassador
for God. They say we are all believers. Believers
in God believe with some evidence. And believers
in materialism, they believe in plenty of things.
That are a little bit weird. That's what the
author said What it's saying is that science
itself is commending the idea that creation is
an ambassador Creation declares the glory of
God. It's a general witness to the grace of God
So back to Flannery O 'Connor after writing there
is a whole sensible world around me that I should
be able to turn to your praise She then adds
but I cannot do it in some ways that she's a
part of creation that actually She's part of
the sensible creation that doesn't always do
what she's intended to do. She says, yet at some
insipid moment when I may possibly be thinking
of floor wax or pigeon eggs, the opening of a
beautiful prayer may come up from my subconscious
and lead me to write something exalted. She wrote
that at 21. Creation itself speaks to God. But
as much as the Bible speaks about this, and as
much as our own experience actually does this,
being out in the world, out in the beauty of
the natural world, as much as science itself
is actually increasingly pointing us to that,
Christian theology has also said that the witness
of God is not just in his general revelation,
but more specifically in his special revelation.
of scripture, that scripture is an ambassador.
So maybe you caught this, maybe especially if
you were following along in Psalm 19, but Psalm
19 begins the first half with this general revelation
and then it turns and it says, the law of the
Lord is perfect, perfect. Then it says, reviving
the soul. That it's actually the word of God
as the ambassador of God sent out that revives
our souls, that gives life. to what was once
dead. So turn to the special revelation of scripture.
And what we find in the special revelation of
scripture is actually part of how this chapter,
chapter six begins. So verse one and two of chapter
six in second Corinthians says, working together
with him then, isn't that wild? Working together
with him, working together with Christ. We appeal
to you not to receive the grace of God in vain
for he says in a favorable time I've listened
to you and in the day of salvation I've helped
you and that's quoting from the passage that
Ruth read for us from Isaiah 49 verse 8 and if
you I hope you were able to listen as Ruth read
that for us, because then it goes on to talk
about what the Lord has done. I mean, it's talking
about the restoration of Israel, but it's actually
harkening back to the whole story of what God
has done in his special revelation, revealing
of the works of God in Scripture. So the Lord
says to the prisoner, it says, come out to those
who are in darkness, appear. We see in just those
few verses what we see throughout the text of
God's special revelation in Scripture. What do
we learn about early on with Adam and Eve? They're
hiding. God says, where are you? It's as though
it's there, right there in Isaiah 49. Come out.
Come out. What do we find at the beginning of
the book of Exodus? But God calling out those
who are in slavery, prisoners, come out, appear,
come to me. Think about even as they go along,
I mean, if we could keep looking at Isaiah 49,
talks about how he provides for them. Well, what
does he do when they're out in the wilderness?
He feeds them, he gives manna from heaven, water
and the rock, the pillar of fire and the cloud,
all of that, God bringing them and he brings
them to the promised land. God calls them out,
out of their fear of man, out of their own strength.
out of their need and to himself. This is the
great theme of scripture. God calling us out
and bringing us near to himself, providing for
us. I've met with many of you and I've had this
kind of conversation, but I had one of these
conversations this week with somebody in our
church who said that part of coming to God was
knowing that he couldn't deal with it. He was
going to be in darkness. who's going to continue
habit, signs of sin, and this other kind of life.
In the hope of Christ and the revelation of God
in scripture. So, even this verse, even that
little verse there from Isaiah 49, recalls for
us the wonder of God's revelation of himself
in the scriptures. And what I'm saying is that
creation itself is an ambassador for God, that's
true. But the scriptures themselves are a more
definitive ambassador for God. Look at how I'm
saving you. Look at how I'm bringing you to myself.
Here's an interesting thing, is if we looked
actually at the passage right before Isaiah 49
verse 8, earlier in that passage, what we have
here actually is a foretelling of the coming
of Jesus. Because what we don't just have is
God revealing himself in creation and in special
revelation of scripture, but what we ultimately
have is that God reveals himself by the Lord
Jesus himself. We can say that the greatest ambassador
for God is God, God coming among us. So in verses
six and seven of Isaiah 49, it says, To one deeply
despised, abhorred by the nations, the servant
of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes
and they shall prostrate themselves, because
of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of
Israel, who has chosen you." It speaks of the
great servant -king, God revealing himself as
overall, and yet the great servant. What is that
but actually the Lord Jesus himself? God makes
his appeal to us through Christ. be reconciled
to God. He who knew no sin became sin that we
might become the righteousness of God. The one
who's over all becomes lowly, despised, rejected,
scorned, spat upon, crown of thorns placed upon
him, that he might be the ambassador bringing
many sons to glory, calling them out from their
sin. And in all this he remains faithful, full
of the Spirit of God, full of grace and truth.
Christ is the great ambassador. Creation is an
ambassador, Scripture is, but Christ is the great
sent one by God. God so loves the world that
he gave his only son, that whoever believes in
him would have eternal life. Here's an interesting
thing though, and this is actually what a lot
of this passage here in 2nd Corinthians is about
Creation isn't the only ambassador and scripture
isn't and actually Jesus isn't the only ambassador
even though he's the pinnacle ambassador Verse
one if you have your Bible open again there working
together with him then we appeal to you Or verses
three and four says, we put no obstacle in anyone's
way so that no fault may be found with our ministry.
But as servants of God, we commend ourselves
in every way. And how can Paul say that? I don't
know, does it sound boastful to say we can commend
ourselves in every way? Well, he commends himself
out of this place of being God's ambassador,
the ambassador for Christ. And how can he say
that, but that he is reflecting Christ in His
ministry to them, specifically through His righteous
endurance and suffering, first His suffering.
What you see there, if we read it all through,
all those verses, is this long list of what happens
to Paul and how he interacts with it, starting
in verse four, in affliction, hardship, calamities,
beatings, imprisonments, riots, labor, sleepless
nights. hunger, impurity, knowledge, patience,
kindness, all that. What we find first is this
list of afflictions, hardship, and calamities.
And Paul's saying that he has this general kind
of suffering that he has experienced. These things
are outside of his control and outside of necessarily
who he is, but he's done this for their sake.
And then he moves actually, so that's the first
little triplet there. The next one is actually
sort of specific to Paul's suffering. beatings,
imprisonments, riots. That's not necessarily
something you've experienced, but Paul's saying
he's experienced it, and he's experienced it
for their sake. As an ambassador of Christ, he's
experienced this suffering. And then the third
one, he says, labor, sleepless nights, hunger.
In some ways, he's saying, I voluntarily do this.
These in some ways are voluntary things, things
that he's given up for their sake, to be an ambassador
for Christ. So part of my point though here is
that Paul is saying he is suffering that the
sake of Christ might go forth into the world.
As an ambassador, he is suffering. But he's not
suffering generally, right? This isn't just the
fact that he's suffering, but he's suffering
righteously. So verses 6 through 7, it says this,
By purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the
Holy Spirit, genuine love, by truthful speech
and the power of God, with the weapons of righteousness
for the right hand and for the left. which is
to say that in his suffering, he can still say
that he lives in purity, in patience and kindness
and genuine love and truthful speech, which if
you put these together, in some ways what you
could say is that he's living the fruit of the
Spirit and putting on the armor of God. He's
grabbing these ideas that he speaks of elsewhere
and says, this has actually been true of my ministry
among you, of being an ambassador for God through
Christ. Even in his suffering, what he's saying
is it's not general suffering, it's suffering
lived in light of the reality of being led by
the Holy Spirit, equipped by the power of God.
But this suffering, even this righteous suffering,
is also marked by endurance. And so then you
look at verses eight through 10. It seems as
though we almost have these paradoxes at play
here. Through honor and dishonor, through slander
and praise, we're treated as imposters and yet
are true, as unknown and yet well -known, as
dying and behold we live, as punished and yet
not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing,
as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing
and yet possessing everything. And what these
paradoxes, it seems like, what he's mostly putting
before us or doing is, they're putting forth
this idea of endurance. Of endurance. in honor
and in dishonor. He's faithful, continuing slander
and praise. He's treated as an imposter, yet
he's true. He's continuing on for their sake
that they might know God. They might know the
Lord Jesus. Righteous suffering through endurance.
I read this week that Christian history will
convince you That the more faithful a Christian
is, the more difficulties accumulate in his life
and the more burdens he chooses to lay upon himself
for Christ's sake. Find me anywhere in the Christian
past a great man or a great woman who went to
heaven in an easy way. We do not find this man
or woman in the Bible. We do not find them in
church history. This is not just the call generally.
But this is the call specifically for Paul and
specifically for the life of the church. Faithful,
righteous, suffering, endurance. Paul is an ambassador
for Christ. That's partly what I want you to
hear this morning. Because he's reflecting Christ.
He's mirroring Jesus. Jesus comes as the great
ambassador from God, not just a general revelation
of creation, not just a special revelation of
the scriptures, but the particular revelation
of God incarnate among us. Here's God. What we
find is his righteous suffering through endurance.
He's enduring suffering. He's righteously enduring.
suffering for our sake. And Paul comes as this
ambassador for Christ, and he mimics this reality,
mimics the reality of Jesus. Now, children here,
some of you are still with us. Ah, we actually
have the older, olderish children here. So maybe
some of your siblings are downstairs. My guess
is that maybe some of the ones that are downstairs
I like to copy you. It's not uncommon. Yeah,
right. I get a little nod there. It's not uncommon
in our house to hear things like so -and -so
is just following me around doing exactly what
I'm doing. Mom, they are just saying the exact
same words I just said. And I will acknowledge
that's kind of annoying sometimes. Okay. That's
kind of annoying. But, but as annoying as that
is actually oftentimes that's a great act of
love. Right? It's a great act of love. Mimicry
is an act of love. Copycatting is saying, well,
that's how I want to be. And that's what Paul
is placing before them. I'm mimicking. I'm imitating
the one whom I love for your sake. That's what
Paul's doing. His story, you could say, is Christ's
story. Because what does he desire but to be
an ambassador, to be a reflection, to be a mirror?
The Lord Jesus himself, his life as witness to
Christ, who righteously endured suffering for
us, that we might be brought near to God. Paul
is saying, this is my desire in my life for you.
But interestingly, so interestingly, this passage
isn't just about, you know, this passage is not
too much actually about creation itself being
a revelation, but this passage isn't just about
scripture being a revelation or about Jesus being
the full revelation or even about Paul being
the great revelation, the ambassador. but it's
also actually about the church being an ambassador
for Christ. It's about the Corinthians, but it's
also about us. So look with me down at verses
11 and 13. It's kind of interesting. This happens
quite a bit when you look at different commentaries
about the scriptures, and different commentaries,
they break down the passages differently. Oh,
it seems like in 2 Corinthians a lot. I look
at one and he's like, well, the section is this
verse to this verse. You look at another, it's
this verse to this verse. And these few verses,
They're kind of in one or the other, but this
is what it reads. We've spoken freely to you
Corinthians. Our heart is wide open. You're not
restricted by us, but you are restricted in your
own affections. In return I speak to you as children.
Wideen your hearts also. No doubt this is a statement
about Paul's love for the church. But I would
suggest to you that in this context, it's also
not a statement about his love, but a call. Call
to them. A call to their own ambassadorship.
So if you look back at verse three, you'd read,
we put no obstacle in anyone's way so that no
fault may be found with our ministry. And that
word there, the fault may be found, actually
it's just fault, the maybe found is filled in
by the translator. But that word fault is often
translated by ridicule or mockery. Something
that you look down on, you disdain. And so part
of what Paul is doing, he's speaking to this
reality that they might disdain Paul's ministry
because it's been marked by these kinds of things,
this kind of suffering, this kind of righteous
suffering. And again, the temptation was to find
that this kind of ministry that was full of affliction
and beatings and sleepless nights and all the
rest. Was not a ministry worth commending, a
life worth living? And Paul says the answer to
this is widen your hearts. The object of your
affection is too small. Why that seems ridiculous
is because the things of this world have grabbed
onto your heart. And you think that you can't
give them up because that's where your heart
is holding fast to. And he said, if that's the
case, your heart needs to be enlarged. It needs
to be made bigger to understand that God has
something on offer for you much more than what
this life here has on offer. If you look at the
life of Paul and you say, ah, I don't... I don't
think there's much there. He says then you're
actually missing the whole good news of the gospel.
Because it's a reflection of Jesus, but he's
also saying your loves are too small. Your affections
are too small and there is something on offer
for you that is much, much greater. Because if
you die with Christ, you will also be raised
with Christ. They need wider hearts. Let me end
by getting back to Flannery O 'Connor's prayer
journal. There's a lot of lovely prayers in that
short journal, and again, I would commend it
to you. But she offers a prayer in that, actually,
I mean, it's in the midst of a longer prayer,
but she offers this prayer that I hope is sort
of the lifeblood of our church together. Just
the beating heart of who we are. And I think
that's what Paul is doing in this church in Corinth.
He's saying, this is what I desire for you to
be, for the DNA, the life of the church. She
says this, don't let me ever think, dear God,
that I was anything. but the instrument for your
story." Hear her in that? She's saying, in all
that I am, in all that I do, let me be an ambassador
for who you are. Let me read it again. Don't
let me ever think, dear God, that I was anything
but the instrument for your story. Let me pray
that over us. Lord, dear God, don't let Second
City Church ever think ever Act or live like
we are anything but the instrument for your story.
In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Please consider
subscribing to this podcast and joining us in
person each Sunday at 10 a .m. You can find us
online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Instagram,
Facebook, and YouTube. Thanks again for listening.
God bless.