New Creation Mode: 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 - Third Sunday after Pentecost

"community gardens" by emdot. Creative commons image on flickr.com. https://flic.kr/p/KcGba 

⁶So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord —  ⁷for we walk by faith, not by sight.  ⁸Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.  ⁹So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.  ¹⁰For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.

             ¹¹Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade others; but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences.  ¹²We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart.  ¹³For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.  ¹⁴For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.  ¹⁵And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.

             ¹⁶From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.  ¹⁷So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (NRSV)

I’ve never had much of an interest in video games—but they’re a big part of many young lives…

I was fascinated when one of our youth told me about the game Minecraft. 

The game is split into two separate game modes: Creative and Survival… If you’re interested in making huge structures from scratch with unlimited resources, Creative mode is your best bet. You won’t see any enemies, and you can pull blocks of all shapes and sizes out of thin air. It’s a peaceful world.

However, if you’d prefer to adventure into a world of danger, where you’re crafting and creating out of necessity, you’ll probably want to play in Survival mode. That world comes with gangs of monsters. You’ll need to protect yourself from the creatures that come out at night. 

What I can tell you—is that if I was going to play Minecraft, I’d choose to play in creative mode, and the reason is simple: I’m the kind of person that likes to be in control.  I don’t want to have to deal with monsters and setbacks, and watch all of my hard work be destroyed.  I guess the thrill of victory comes with the impossibility of defeat.

I certainly wish we could live in “creative mode,” but that isn’t reality.  We have to contend with monsters—like poverty, pain and suffering.  Often times, the monsters are people.  Sometimes, the monsters are us.  Either way, there’s no monster we fear more than death.

And no one has to look very hard to see its carnage. 

Just take our community as an example…  This week, I heard someone describe Leechburg as “post-industrial…”   We see death in abandoned steel mills and boarded-up storefronts that once provided living wages for thousands of people.  We see death in decaying homes and vacant lots where families once lived.  We death in the rising crime rate and the infestation of illegal drugs. 

Some would look at us and call us a dying church. 

It is inevitable that death will strike—in separating us from our loved ones; in the aging of our minds and our bodies, and ultimately, in our own mortality. 

Because when death doesn’t take away the breath of life, it destroys quality of life—so that a person’s daily existence is ruled by fear, depression, and hopelessness.

Death is the biggest reason why we all despise change so much. 

I hate to say it, but death influences how we live and make decisions more than any of us care to admit. 

The Apostle Paul knew this full well as he wrote to the fledgling Christian church in Corinth.  The church had become what Jesus would call “a house divided against itself.”  It was a mess.  Controversy arose over issues ranging from authority and control to more practical questions of how Christians live in an immoral world.  Cliques had risen up among social classes, as well as behind certain leaders.  And we can’t forget that persecution and social ostracism was always an issue.  By all outward indications, this church was on a rapid decline. 

But amid all the fear and uncertainty, Paul’s message was clear: things are not what they seem.

Death may be hard at work in the world, but so is God.  Death is not going to have the last word.

Paul writes, that within our frail, weak, mortal human bodies, God is making a new creation. 

God is doing the same out in the world, working where the forces of evil and death do their worst.  New life is taking hold every time the Gospel is proclaimed and people come to faith.  It’s taking hold as the hungry are fed, the lonely find a friend, sinners receive forgiveness, and love overcomes the bitterest hurts.

It is by faith that God takes us beyond all the realities of death to believe and see what God is, in fact, up to.  God’s kingdom is not something we can always see or understand—and we can never control it.  But it is a promise coming to fulfillment; right here, right now. 

What some call a thousand-page sleeping pill, God gives as the Word of life and the Gospel of salvation.

What some would see as bread and wine, God gives to you as the bread and drink of new life in Christ.

With what some would call a dying church, Christ is alive and making a real difference in people’s lives—and impacting more of our neighbors than ever before.  The fact that we’re here this morning is proof undeniable that you matter to God.  The fact that we’re about to launch the most exciting vacation Bible school ministry ever is proof undeniable that the Kiski Valley matters to God.

In spite of all the death, God is in “New Creation Mode.”  We are called to follow Jesus beyond the realities of death, to the frontlines of his victory.  Even as death remains very much a part of our reality, in Christ in need no longer define our reality.  In Christ, we will not be victims.  We will not even be survivors.  In Christ, we are a new creation.  What death destroys, God is always making new. 

Remember this promise.  Put your trust in it.  Follow Jesus.  Live your live with him in “New Creation Mode.”