Uncommon Courage

John 14: 15– 18, 25– 27; 15: 26– 27; 16: 33 

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.

This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

“I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.

“I have said these things to you while I am still with you.

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.

You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!”

1 Corinthians 3: 9– 15; 15: 20– 28

For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it.

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—

the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done.

If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward.

If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.

For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being;

for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.

But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power.

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is plain that this does not include the one who put all things in subjection under him.

When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all.

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In this letter from Paul to the Corinthians,

         he is addressing a church that is fractured,

         that is made up of people who are in conflict

         because some of them are fans of Paul,

         some are fans of Apollo,

         and some are fans of other church leaders.

But Paul reminds them that he laid a foundation, and the foundation is Christ.

The foundation of the church is Jesus Christ our Lord.

Christ is our only foundation. There is no other.

And Christ says to us today, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

And what are Christ’s commandments to us? To love God with all we have, and with all we are; and to love one another. Even those who are hard to love. Even our enemies.

But, wow. Our list of enemies keeps on growing.

·      Terrorists killing people all over the world.

·      Politicians who fall short of our expectations, who offer not hope but dread.

·      All sorts of persons we perceive as “others” and therefore not trustworthy or safe.

·      Threats of illnesses ranging from cancer to Zeka virus, all seemingly out of our control. These are not human enemies, per se, but things we see as enemies nevertheless, to be fought against, to protect ourselves from, along with all the rest.

All these enemies of our good lives push us toward fear, and away from courage.

And in the midst of this, Christ says to us – take courage!

Yeah, right.

But you see, Christ didn’t say – take courage – I know you can do it!

Christ said – take courage – I have conquered the world.

Christ said – I will send the Holy Spirit, the Advocate. You will do all things through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We do nothing good by our own power.

·      The power we have comes from the Holy Spirit.

·      The courage we need to do what is good and what is right – that also comes from the Holy Spirit.  

·      And when we step out in faith, it is there for us to rely upon.

o   Both as individuals and as the church of Jesus Christ.

When Paul speaks of God’s temple, he is speaking of the church.

And God’s temple is holy – not because we holy people are in it, but because God’s Holy Spirit dwells in it. And we are called to live as if we not only realize that, but that we are willing to act in line with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Paul says that when the firestorms of life come, and they will come, then what is temporary things will burn away, but what matters will not burn away – those things will be refined and strengthened. They will be purified.

So the question for us is this: do we understand Christ to be our rescuer in crisis – meaning when we are not in crisis, we can push Christ’s call, as we hear it through the Holy Spirit, to the sidelines in the meantime?

Do we place our trust elsewhere these days for the foundational things of our life – do we place it on governments, on family members, on the support of friends, or on our own self – our own achievements, our own capabilities, our own ability to “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps”?

This is not what Paul has in mind.

In a commentary on this passage, Mark Tranvik writes, “Christ is not merely one option among many, but the very source or foundation from which we live our lives.”

If we choose to live our lives trusting other sources, we do so to our own peril.

But – will Christ as our foundation keep us out of trouble?

In a word, no.

Christ did not ever promise his followers an easy life or a safe life.

Christ tells us in today’s gospel reading, “In this world you face persecution. But take heart – I have conquered the world!”

So what ever made us think that the purpose of our lives was to avoid persecution or trouble?

What ever made us think that being a follower of Christ would create for us some sort of inherent privilege?

Certainly it was not the Living Word, the Holy Scripture, that ever gave us that idea.

None of the disciples of Christ had easy lives. In fact, they faced great persecution, imprisonment, torture, death at the hands of oppressors. And they did not try to avoid any of that. Christ had told them it was coming, as a consequence of following him.

We need to remember that much of the New Testament was written from inside prison.

Following Christ means flipping the way we live completely upside down.

Let’s see what this might look like. (video: How strange behavior can save the day.)

Now, we all know that taking this courageous approach doesn’t guarantee what we would call a happy ending, a good outcome as we would perceive it.

They don’t all end up good.

It was only a little more than a year ago that nine people in a Charleston prayer group, all black, welcomed a white man who came to join them.

And after praying with them for an hour, he shot and killed them all.

A horrific ending to a similar sort of situation, a case of behaving opposite to what your instincts might tell you to do.

But beloved in Christ,

         how it ends up is not the purpose

         of us flipping our behaviors upside down.

The purpose is to be faithful followers of Christ,

         not fearing death,

         but courageously loving without focusing on the outcome.

It’s about accepting that Christ has conquered the world,

         and so we have nothing to fear.

         Come what may.

I was watching news coverage Friday on the terrorist attack in Nice, France.

The news reporter gave the number of persons who were dead,

         and then this caption appeared as a follow-up:

        

         “50 persons between life and death”.

Of course this was meant to say that 50 persons were critically injured, hovering between life and death.

But the words struck me….

         because aren’t we all between life and death?

And through our baptism, as Christians, have we not already moved from death to life eternal in Christ?

And since Christ has conquered death for us, then how can we, how shall we, choose to live our lives?

We now that someday we will be judged by God. And we can be thankful that God is merciful, and we can be hopeful about our judgment based upon this.

We have choices all the time as we walk this journey between life and death and life eternal.

Choosing kindness and love is what we were made for.

With Christ as our foundation and the Holy Spirit

         as our Advocate and guide,

         we can trust that God will work within us,

         that God will see our heart,

         even when kind acts are not reciprocated,

that God will know when we aimed

·      for love over hate

·      for inclusion over exclusion

·      for generosity over profit

·      for self-giving over self-protecting.

These are the things that will be refined as the troubles and firestorms of life occur.

And, friends, God will also know when we choose

·      hate over love

·      exclusion over inclusion

·      profit over generosity

·      self-protection over self-giving.

And these are the things that will not last.

God will judge the world, all of us, by the way that we have chosen to live our lives.

We will not be judged by our successes –

         for only God produces the outcomes of our actions.

But we will be judged by our faithfulness – by our choices –

         by whether we have reflected trust

         in the direction of the Holy Spirit,

         or whether we have relied

         on our own perceived knowledge of right and wrong,

         our own limited view of good and evil.

I pray that we may give ourselves up,

         more and more, to trusting in the urgings of the Holy Spirit,

         knowing that even though life is not easy or safe,

         that we are never alone, and that in the end,

         come what may, in ways beyond our understanding,

         in Christ, all will be made well.

Amen.