20 January 2019
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 2 Cor 1:21-22
2 Corinthians
1:21-22 New International Version (NIV)
21 Now it is God
who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal
of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing
what is to come.
-- have you ever paid attention to
the names of the churches as you’re traveling around? -- historically, our
church names were rather utilitarian -- you’d come into a town and you’d find
the First Baptist Church or the First Methodist Church of that town -- names
that identified themselves with their denomination and their geographic
location
-- then we started branching out and
naming churches based on biblical places or Christian terms -- Grace Baptist
Church -- Corinth Baptist Church -- Harmony Methodist Church -- Covenant Church
-- Fellowship -- you get the idea
-- you see a lot of churches using
“Point” in their name -- CrossPoint -- LifePoint -- sometimes with Point
spelled with an “e” at the end to be unique
-- a lot of churches like to use the
word “life” -- Life Church -- New Life -- or “Redemption” -- or just simply
“Christ”
-- but recently, churches have
become quite creative in naming themselves, with recent churches choosing names
such as Journey, The Bridge, Mosaic, Generation, Elevate, Vertical, or Summit1
-- when you’re looking around, you
just never know what names churches will have chosen for themselves -- which
begs the question, “What’s in a name?” -- in other words, what is important
about your name?
-- whether we’re talking about
churches or people, our name identifies us -- it defines who we are -- and it
becomes a legacy of what we have done and a predictor of what we will do in the
future -- names carry weight
-- when I was in school, mothers
were always worried about how their daughters were known -- they wanted to make
sure they had a good name -- a good reputation -- a name that reflected their
values and their behavior
-- throughout history, if someone
did something bad -- something heinous -- their name would ever be associated
with that action -- ever hear the term, “Do that and your name will be mud?” --
you know where that comes from?
-- when John Wilkes Booth shot
President Lincoln, he jumped from the balcony at the Ford’s Theater and landed
on the stage, hurting his leg -- and then was shot by someone as he fled --
wounded and harassed by the military and the police, he made his way to a
doctor friend -- someone he trusted who would take care of him, no matter what
he had done -- the doctor who stitched up John Wilkes Booth’s wounds? -- Dr.
Mudd
-- when word got out that Dr. Mudd
had helped Lincoln’s assassin, he was shunned by the people of Washington --
his career was over -- his name was forever ruined and remembered in the
saying, “Do that and your name will be mud…”
-- names are important -- that’s why
we see people’s names changing in the Bible, as God renamed them to reflect
their new natures and their new positions with Him -- the same holds true for
us -- although our names may not have been changed since our birth, who we are
has been changed as God has named us and claimed us for His own and marked us
as His representatives in this world
-- this passage from the book of 2
Corinthians goes into detail on what it means to be named and claimed by God
-- before we get back into the
Scripture, let me just give you a little context and background to get us
started
-- Corinth was capitol of Achaea --
a Roman province about 40 miles west of Greece -- located between the Aegean
and Adriatic Seas and was an important port city known for its wealth,
magnificence, and learning -- it was especially famous for the Corinthian
marble and for the pottery and brass that were crafted there -- its name was
associated with wealth and prosperity and the finer things of life -- even
today, Corinthian marble is still sought out for use in our homes and
businesses
-- but, its name was also known for
something else -- it was famous for its immorality -- it was the Las Vegas of
the ancient world -- it was a town you visited to experience all the vices life
had to offer -- wine, women, and song -- debauchery could be found on every
street corner -- and the people of the ancient world flocked to Corinth to
experience it all
-- Corinth was also the site of the
temple of Aphrodite, which wasn’t a good thing -- sexual practices were part of
their religious services -- so, when people came to Corinth, they naturally
were drawn to become followers of Aphrodite for the weekend in order to partake
of the sexual religious rituals led by the priestesses
-- all in all, Corinth was a wicked
and evil city -- and this pagan and idolatrous world is the place from which
the church of Corinth was drawn -- the people who had received the teaching of
Paul and the other missionaries of Christ were all Gentiles who grew up in this
town and had spent their whole lives immersed in the immorality of Corinth as
their normal life -- it is no wonder that we see in these two epistles to the
church at Corinth Paul dealing with their struggles at embracing the
righteousness and holiness demanded by the Christian life
-- I think we can safely say that
these books are especially insightful in our modern day, as we see our country
following the path of Corinth in terms of immorality being accepted and
applauded as the new norm
-- these epistles -- there were
actually four of them -- we only have two left extant -- these epistles were
written by Paul to encourage and strengthen these struggling Gentile Christians
in their walk with Christ -- to help them walk in the new name they had in
Christ
-- through tear-stained letters, he
appealed to them to live a better life -- to turn from their sins and
immorality -- to turn to Christ -- to live up to the name they now carried
-- in his earlier letter, he dealt
with some unrighteous acts going on in the church, to include sin within the
church and pride in the matter of worship and spiritual gifts -- he had written
them with instructions on how to purge the sin from within and they had
responded, but problems still abounded
-- not only were they still
struggling with living the Christian life, but now they were experiencing
increased persecution and suffering for trying to walk a different path from
the rest of the people in Corinth -- this letter -- a rather personal letter
from the heart of Paul -- addresses both issues and seeks to encourage them in
their faith
II. Scripture Lesson (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)
-- look back at verse 21 and let’s
read this again
2 Corinthians
1:21-22 New International Version (NIV)
21 Now it is God
who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal
of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing
what is to come.
-- the first thing Paul tells these
struggling Christians is that God makes us stand firm in Christ
-- the meaning of Paul’s statement
here is two-fold -- first, it was to take away the pride of the Corinthians and
the arguments of the so-called “super apostles” who challenged Paul -- they
alleged that they were better Christians because they were able to live the
Christian life in superior ways, whether that was through speaking in tongues
or in the expression of other gifts
-- Paul’s point here was that
anything good that comes from us -- any changes in our behavior and our
thoughts and our attitudes -- is not a result of our own power and strength --
but from God -- even our faith comes from God Himself -- so the Corinthians
were sinning by taking credit for what God had been doing through them
-- secondly, by pointing out that it
is God who makes us stand firm in Christ, Paul is speaking encouragement to
those Corinthians who were struggling in their faith -- they looked at those
around them and everyone else seemed to be doing better than them in their walk
with God and they asked, “What is wrong with us?” -- they thought the error was
in them and that their problem was they weren’t strong enough or didn’t know
enough or didn’t have enough faith
-- instead, Paul points out, it is
God who makes us stand firm -- it is not about you -- it is about Him working
in you and through you to sanctify you and make you grow in Christ -- by
depending on their own strength, the Corinthians were failing to tap into the
power source that we have from God in the Spirit
-- it
reminds me of the story of this missionary named Herbert Jackson -- when
Herbert first got to the mission field, he was given a car to drive -- it was
an older car with a manual transmission, but he was excited to get it, because
it meant he could drive rather than having to walk the entire time
-- but,
when he tried to crank it up, it wouldn't start -- the battery wasn't strong
enough to turn the engine over and get it going -- and on the mission field,
there was no way to charge the battery or to get a new battery -- the only way
he could get the car started was to get it rolling and pop the clutch
-- for the
next two years, Herbert would either leave his car running or he would park on
a hill so he could coast down the hill and get it rolling to pop the clutch
-- after
the two years were up, it was time for Herbert to leave the mission field, and
a new missionary showed up to take his place -- while Herbert starts telling
this new missionary about how he needs to leave the car running or park it on a
hill so he can crank it, the new guy popped the hood and looked around for a
moment and said, "Herbert, I think the problem is this loose cable!"
-- He gave the cable a twist,
tightened a nut, and got in the car and turned the key, and to Herbert’s
astonishment, the engine roared to life -- the power had been right there the
whole time, but for two years, a loose connection kept Herbert from putting
that power to work.
-- the Corinthians were trying to
come out of a lifestyle of paganism and debauchery, but were failing because
they were trying to live that life in their own power -- they were not
connecting to the Source -- and, without God’s help, none of us can live the
life we were called to live
-- Paul goes on to tell us in these
verses that this power of the Spirit -- this work of God in us making us stand
firm -- is received and experienced in three distinct ways:
1. God anointed us
-- when someone was set apart by God
for a special work, they would be anointed with oil to symbolize God’s power
and call in their lives -- this was especially true of kings and prophets and
priests
-- but now, Paul points out, because
of the grace of God through Christ, we are all called to be set apart from the
world for God’s use -- we are all anointed and proclaimed and consecrated as
God’s servants
-- to be anointed means we are no
longer part of this world -- we are called out saints -- we are like Moses, who
was drawn out of the river Nile and brought into the king’s palace -- and, we
need to live like this
-- and, not only are we called out,
we are anointed to prepare and empower us for service -- rather than being
passive participants in religion -- as was the practice in Judaism and in most
other religions -- where only the priests were called to interact with God
directly -- we are now all called to be ministers of God’s grace on earth -- as
Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 5:20, we are Christ’s ambassadors, entrusted with
the ministry of reconciliation
-- to be anointed means you have
been named and called and sent forth in service
-- it’s a good practice to remember this
every morning -- the world wants to tell us who we are -- it wants to tell us
how to act -- it wants to tell us who to be -- but God says otherwise -- and it
is a good idea to remember who we are in Christ every morning when we get up
-- to include in our morning prayers
a prayer of consecration -- consecrating and setting apart every part of you to
service to God as you begin your day -- and consecrating all that you will do
and all that you have to Him, as well
-- I like to do this every morning
-- to claim this anointing fresh every day -- to remember who I am in Christ --
and then to clothe myself in His spiritual armor -- in order to go forth into
this world as His ambassador and messenger
2. God set His seal of ownership on us
-- this term by Paul calls to mind a
king sealing something with a signet ring -- putting His seal or mark on
something did two things -- it identified the object as belonging to the King
and it protected the object from any who would tamper with it
-- so, when Paul says that God put
His seal on us, it means that He has claimed us -- He has called us out of this
world and made us His own -- we belong to Him and not to the world or the ways
of the world -- we are part of His kingdom -- His ambassadors -- His servants
that represent Him in this place
-- it also guarantees His protection
and care of us -- no one and nothing can come against us without God’s
intervention -- He protects us from this world -- from the prince of this world
-- from the evil that surrounds us -- He orders our steps -- He makes our path
straight -- He gives light unto our feet as we walk through the darkness of
this world
-- I’ve been reading a series of
books about a detective who is a wizard -- and when he is attacked by someone,
he puts up a magical shield around himself to ward off the threat and to
protect himself and those around him from the danger -- that’s an example of
what the Holy Spirit does in our lives -- because God has sealed us and claimed
us as His own, He has given us the Spirit as our shield -- we walk in a bubble
of spiritual protection that keeps us safe and that helps us to live worthy of
the calling within us
-- that doesn’t mean that we won’t
stumble -- we can certainly do like the Corinthians and invite into our lives
sin and immorality and unrighteous living -- but God protects us from the world
around and warns us when we are straying as a result of our own actions
-- if we could remember that God has
put His seal on us -- that everyday we go forth with a big sign on us -- a
nametag, if you will -- that says, “I belong to God,” -- it would help us
remember our power to walk in holiness and righteousness in this immoral land
and it would help us strive to live holy lives through His power and strength
3. God put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit
-- the Greek word that Paul uses
here for deposit is arrabon -- it is
a part of the whole -- it’s like in a contract when you put down a deposit or
earnest money, which guarantees that you will pay the rest at the end
-- the Holy Spirit is the arrabon given by God to us -- meaning
that the kind of life we live through the Spirit’s power and influence on us
now is a picture of what our lives will be like when we receive the full
payment of our faith in heaven
-- in other words, what Paul is
telling these struggling Christians is that their faith and trust in the Spirit
-- and His work in them and through them -- is proof of God’s grace and mercy
in their lives -- that these fledgling, toddler-like steps of faith prove that
one day they will be walking with God in heaven with perfection of their spirit
and body and soul
-- Paul’s telling them to not give
up -- to not grow dissatisfied when they don’t see themselves proceeding as
they hoped or when they fall and fail and have to get up and start all over
again
-- one day they will truly be who
God called them to be -- right now, they were only experiencing a small part of
who they were becoming, but the best was yet to come
-- you've
probably heard the story before of the woman who wanted to be buried with a
fork in her hand to remind people of what she had learned as a little girl --
every time they would finish a meal, her mother would tell her, "keep your
fork, there's something better coming" and then they would enjoy a
wonderful dessert
-- what
Paul is saying here to the Corinthians is "keep your fork -- there's
better things coming in the next life"
III. Closing
-- I opened
this message by talking about names -- about living into our names -- about
making sure our actions and our behaviors and our being reflected the name that
we have been given
-- Paul reminds
us here in these verses of our new name in Christ -- of the standard to which
we have been called -- but, he says, you don’t have to live in this new life
alone -- it is God who makes you stand firm in Christ -- and He has given you
everything you need to be successful in fulfilling the calling and name He has
given
-- He has
anointed you -- He has put His seal on you -- He has given you His very Spirit
-- so, go,
and be who God called you to be -- trust in Him -- depend on Him -- and take up
the name of Christ in this world today
-- let us
pray
---------------------------------
1
Thom Rainier, Contemporary Trends in Church Names, https://thomrainer.com/2018/06/contemporary-trends-church-names/
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