"From the Heart: Living By Another Standard" 2 Corinthians 10:1-18. Rev. Ron Holmes. October 31, 2010

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1 11500 West 20th Avenue Lakewood, Colorado (Fax ) contact us at 9:00 a.m. Christian Education 10:00 a.m. Worship Children's Sunday School during Worship "From the Heart: Living By Another Standard" 2 Corinthians 10:1-18 Rev. Ron Holmes October 31, 2010 Our journey through the apostle Paul s second letter to the church at Corinth brings us to a challenging place. We ve just journeyed through Paul s words about joyful giving. Now, however, the tone of 2 nd Corinthians changes. Scholars have long debated whether the section we are heading into today, beginning at chapter 10 and running through the conclusion of the letter, belong with this letter or are remnants of a third letter from Paul the bulk of which no longer exists. Such debate is fueled by the change in tone from discussion about joyful giving to high anxiety about the Corinthians attitude toward Paul perhaps prompted by accusations made against Paul by itinerant preachers. Paul s anxiety often gets expressed in sarcastic ways, some of which you ll see in the reading for today. We can t say with absolute certainty if 2 Corinthians is complete as one letter from Paul or contains fragments of another letter. Some scholars argue that earlier, undisputed sections of 2 Corinthians also contain writings revealing Paul s anxiety about the Corinthians perception of him, therefore the change in tone at chapter 10 isn t a complete change in the letter s tone. Some argue that Paul likely interrupted his dictation of the letter at what we have as the conclusion of chapter 9 and resumes it later when the possibility of another visit to Corinth is looming closer. Could be. Or it could be that the fragments of a third letter from Paul were incorporated into the second letter he wrote. Could be. We can t say for sure. What we can say with certainty is that chapters 10 through 13 are writings from Paul to the church in Corinth and are God s Word for us today with relevancy on topics still impacting the Church today and individuals in Christ s Church today. So, let s listen to the Word of God and God s Word for us today from 2 Corinthians 10:1-18. (Read) I hope you enjoyed meeting our friends, Arch and Pat Baker, last weekend. Hopefully you enjoyed hearing from Arch in his sermon and leadership for Consecration Sunday and, hopefully, you had an opportunity to visit with his wife, Pat, who is a terrific person and friend in her own right. One of Pat s shortcomings, however, is she doesn t like sports analogies in sermons. She likes to give me a hard time about that and I respond back, probably too defensively, that I don t always use a sports analogy in my sermons and all preachers have to preach from their life s experience and mine just happens to include a lot of sports experiences. So, having said that and in honor to Pat Baker and without apology a sports analogy. Every sport has its fundamental key to success. In baseball, one would cite

2 pitching (just ask the Texas Rangers!) as an obvious one. But another, more subtle key to success in baseball is a team s strength up the middle, at the positions of catcher, second base, shortstop and center field. The stronger team "up the middle" has an advantage. In basketball, one might cite whoever "controls the paint" that area within the free throw line and lanes particularly in defense and rebounding, will likely be the winner. In football, one might cite many factors, but most football people will tell you that it is the line of scrimmage that determines the outcome. Whoever controls the line of scrimmage that area where the big guys on the line both offensively and defensively line up whoever controls the line of scrimmage will likely be the winner. If Paul were writing today, he might use a football analogy to make his point. Whoever controls the line of scrimmage that is your mind and your thoughts will win the day. As it is, Paul uses instead a war analogy (Goodness knows football is often referred to with war images, as George Carlin so famously pointed out several years ago: dropping the bomb, exploiting the enemy s weakness, fields like Soldier s Field and War Memorial Stadium). In Paul s war analogy, our minds are like "strongholds" (or, as the New American Standard Bible and some commentators translate it, "fortresses") against which wars are being wages. However, the weapons we use in this war are not the weapons of the world. We may live in the world, Paul says, but we do not fight with the weapons of the world. Rather, we fight with weapons of "divine power" that demolish any "stronghold" or "fortress" of our mind arguments or pretensions that wage war against the knowledge of God and bring about disobedience to Christ. In other words, we live by and fight by different standards than the world does. They are not the world s standards. Rather, they are standards that are reflected in the knowledge of God and obedience to Christ. And the foundation for that knowledge of God and obedience to Christ is Scripture. The standards for the world are not founded in Scripture. But for the Christian they are. The obvious implication of that is that a Christian s behavior, both in how we live and how we wage "war" for the mind, is not based upon what the world says is ok. What is popular in culture is not the standard for what is acceptable for the Christian. "Everybody s doing it" is not an acceptable excuse. The standards for what is acceptable behavior for a Christian is not "everybody," nor is it the world. It is founded in Scripture. What Martin Luther brought to Christianity in the Reformation 493 years ago was the primacy of Scripture as our authority for a Christian s thoughts, words and deeds. I know I ve shown this triangle of authority before in some Sunday School classes, but I m not sure I ve shown it here within a sermon. There are, within Christian faith, three points of authority. All three carry authority in our faith and our walking according to our faith. At various times in the history of Christianity, each of the points was placed at the top of the triangle, representative of the primary authority over all others. In the early Church, Corinth for example, Individual Revelation was the primary authority. They didn t have the New Testament yet. There wasn t much structure or tradition yet to the Church. They had, primarily, the teachings of Paul and his letters. To be sure, some day those letters would become a central part of Holy Scripture. But not yet! The struggle in the church of Corinth was over Individual Revelation. Who had it right? Paul? Or the itinerate preachers speaking against him? Paul, in his letters, is asserting his primacy in authority through the Individual Revelation given him. As the Church grew and began to form more structure through its leadership and its confessional statements, Church Tradition became the primary authority.

3 Scripture and to a lesser degree Individual Revelation carried some authority and informed the Church in its statements and creeds, but the primary authority was those statements and creeds Church Tradition. Along comes Martin Luther, in 1517, and upsets the authority apple cart by saying, in essence, "I hear the authority of the Church in its doctrinal creeds and statements, but I read in Scripture this." That is the root of his request for a discussion on the points of his 95 Theses which he posted on the door of the church in Wittenberg (not an act of vandalism, by the way, the church door served as a kind of community bulletin board). The result was the Reformation and churches formed out of the Reformation, including the Presbyterian Church, elevated Scripture to the primary point of authority where it s been ever since. In the battle for your mind, in the contest for control of the line of scrimmage that is your mind, Scripture is God s main weapon. So, there is relevancy in such passages as Joshua 1:8, "Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful". Or, Colossians 3: 1, 2, "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." Whoever, or whatever controls the line of scrimmage that is your mind wins. Woodrow Wilson, our 28 th President who also was Presbyterian and served as president of Princeton University, said this, "He that will not command his thoughts will soon lose command of his actions." Whoever, or whatever controls the line of scrimmage that is your mind wins. And Christians are to have their minds and subsequently their actions controlled not by the world s standards, but by Scripture s. Yes, we may quibble over interpretations of Scripture Luther s Reformation led to the transition from one Church, the Roman Catholic Church, to thousands of denominations but the discussion and our actions must be rooted in some understanding of what Scripture teaches. That is the legacy of the Reformation which we commemorate today. Finally, the implication of all that is that the thoughts, words, and actions of a Christian will differ greatly from the world s. We just completed Consecration Sunday in which we asked you to give from your resources to the work of God in the world through this church. A worldly perspective would say "Keep your resources for yourself! Invest! Save! So that you can retire early and live comfortably." And the Biblical perspective says "Give a portion of your income to God s work in the world and watch how He works in your life!" Regarding sex the world has come to a place where it pretty much says "Anything goes! If it feels good, do it!" About the only "standard" the world goes by is that it must be consensual. Otherwise, anything goes. But I m just wacky enough to say that the Biblical perspective informs me that sex is a gift given by God to be used within His design for creation of marriage between a man and a woman. Speak out for that standard in the world today and see how you are viewed. Regarding our attitude toward others, the world would say, "Fend for yourself! Take care of number one first!" But the Biblical standard would lead the Christian to understand his or her responsibility is to look to the interests of others, to serve others, that whoever wants to find his life must first lose it. The world would say, "When offended, strike back. Exact your revenge two, maybe four fold! Regarding your enemies strike back at em hard!" But the Biblical standard says "Turn the other cheek. Take no revenge, leave that to the Lord. Forgive. And love your enemies." The standards

4 by which we, as Christians, are to live are very different from the world s. And whoever controls the line of scrimmage that is your mind wins. Paul writes in the context of defending his integrity and his actions with the Corinthians in which he strives for obedience to Christ and against those calling for a different standard. Yet, his words remain relevant for us today: For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds [fortresses]. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." Who, or what, controls your line of scrimmage that is your mind? Who, or what, is winning the battle for the fortress of your mind? Another legacy from Martin Luther is the hymn we sung earlier, A Mighty Fortress is Our God. For our reflection time today, I d like us to sing it again, listening within it for the answers to be found to those questions. A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; Our helper He amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; His craft and power are great, And, armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal. Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing; Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God s own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He, Lord Sabaoth His name, from age to age the same, And He must win the battle. And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him, His rage we can endure, for lo! his doom is sure, One little word shall fell him. That word above all earthly power, no thanks to them, abideth. The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him who with us sideth; Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;

5 The body they may kill, God s truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever.