2 Corinthians 1:18-22
“And All God’s People Said, ‘Amen!’”
By: Rev. Kenneth E. Sauer,
Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
Whether it be in politics, business, or ministry, there have always been crooked people.
But today, it seems like everywhere we look, trust is not merely being violated, but shattered.
Sure the “Big Ones,” the Enrons, Worldcoms, and Adelphias get our attention, but perhaps even more
corrosive to our willingness to trust are the hundreds of little promises that we hear each day, which almost by a
knee jerk reaction, we refuse to believe.
Promises like:....
...I’m not trying to sell you anything...
...Lose 20 pounds in 20 days....
...This will only take a minute of your time...
...This won’t hurt a bit...
...There is no risk or obligation...
...You can’t miss it...
...If I’m elected, I will....
...Read my lips, No New Taxes!
We have been conditioned to disbelieve...and with good reason!
We are jaded and skeptical.
The word “promise” has been thrown around so lightly that there is even a brand of margarine named
Promise!
Too many promises have been broken.
Is anyone trustworthy?
Is there anyone who will keep his or her word?
Broken promises wound our spirits...
...they leave us a little wiser and a little less trusting.
They may even break us inside.
But promises that are kept give us life and hope!
They are the catalysts for realizing our most joyful and even wildest dreams.
So, can we get beyond the jaded skepticism of our day?
Can we step out in faith--holding onto a promise?
As soon as we ask that question, we realize that our faith is only as good as its object.
People, in spite of their best intentions, will fail us, but God never will.
In our Scripture Lesson for this morning, Paul is addressing a broken promise.
He had intended to visit the Christians at Corinth, but the situation had become so bitter that he postponed
his visit, in order to spare them the pain of his apostolic rebuke.
Paul’s opponents used his change of plans, to accuse him of duplicity and deceitfulness.
Things don’t change much.
All of us have made judgements from time to time without the benefit of all the information.
It is human nature to paint the picture with too broad a stroke, to succumb to the temptation to think
the worst of others, and to jump to the worst of all possible conclusions.
Paul doesn’t spend too much time defending himself before he points us toward the real issue.
He points us back to THE PROMISE.
The one that makes a difference.
The only truth that matters.
The one that gives life.
Jesus is described in Scripture as “The Promised One.”
Jesus Christ is God’s great “Yes!” to the world.
Though our experience with people may cause us to be leery, our experience with Jesus Christ and the
Holy Spirit strengthens our hearts, giving us hope that we can trust God fully, without reservation.
A pastor visited an old man who was confined to his chair because of rheumatism, but he had his Bible
open in front of him.
The minister noticed that the word “proved” was written continually in the margins.
This man had taken God’s Word and written his own experience in the margin.
Beside each promise...
...as he found it to come true in his own life...
...he had written the word “proved.”
God keeps all His promises, and He has fulfilled every one of them in Jesus Christ!
The pages of the Old Testament are studded with promises from God as the night sky is with stars.
Some are prophetic visions of what God had in store for His people when the time was ripe.
Some are direct and simple promises of God’s forgiving mercy and deliverance.
All of God’s promises correspond to human need in all its aspects.
And Chief among God’s promises is the promise of a forgiveness that would restore humankind to
fellowship with God, which through our sin--we have lost.
Through Jesus Christ, the love of God becomes so clear--to those who dare to lay hold of it by faith--that
we can actually get a glimpse of it.
A young man was condemned by a jury to die. He hated everyone, even his mother.
His mother came before the judge and pleaded with him for her son.
But the judge could do nothing.
He said, “Why don’t you let him alone? There’s nothing you can do. He doesn’t love you.”
“I know,” said the mother, “but I love him.”
This is how God loves us...unconditionally.
We too have been sentenced to die...
...but God loves us too much to allow that to happen.
Through God’s promise of Jesus Christ, God has shown us the greatest extent of His love.
Jesus declared in John chapter 15: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his
friends.”
And this is exactly what Jesus has done for us!!!
The forgiveness of God, which alone can bring peace and hope, becomes an unmistakable reality when
we experience the forgiving love of Christ.
Have we experienced the forgiving love of Christ?
The Bible tells us in 1st John: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as
an atoning sacrifice for our sins...We love because he first loved us.”
The world is full of “Yes’s” that turn into “No’s.”
Many of us have been disapointed and heartbroken so many times that we fear putting any more trust in
anyone or anything.
Paul’s broken promise to the Corinthians caused some of them to think that the message he preached to
them was a broken promise as well.
But Paul reassures them and us that, even if humans who will always fail and let us down at some point
or other, do indeed say “Yes,” and then “No.”....
....the message of Jesus Christ is not a “Yes” and then “No”.... “in him it has always been “Yes.”
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the
‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.”
Our hope springs from the fact that we are spiritual beings, and we cannot find complete satisfaction in
the material world.
When we try to fulfill our hopes in material things...
...in money, or comfort, or freedom from trouble...
...ultimately we become frustrated.
We don’t find what we are seeking, or even if we do succeed by the world’s standards...
...we soon find out that these material things do not satisfy us.
As a matter of fact, the worst kind of frustration may be an unsatisfying success!
Most of us have probably heard of Michael Jackson...the singer.
I say most of us because I had a funny experience in seminary that I’ll tell you about.
Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu was a visiting professor at Emory University during my three years there.
I recognized him right off only because a clip of him had been used in Michael Jackson’s 1980’s music
video for the song “Man in the Mirror.”
MTV used to play that video all the time. This was how I knew who Desmond Tutu was.
One afternoon Bishop Tutu sat down next to me during the Chapel service.
I decided to try and spark up some conversation with this infamous Nobel Peace Prize winning man.
So, I turned to Bishop Tutu and said, “So, did you ever meet Michael Jackson?”
I had taken it for granted that he knew what I was talking about...afterall, he had been on national
television several times a day through Michael Jackson’s video.
Bishop Tutu looked at me as if I were speaking a foreign language.
So, I said it again, “Did you ever meet Michael Jackson?”
“Who?”, inquired the bewildered man.
“You know,” I said, “Michael Jackson. You were in his video ‘Man in the Mirror.’ Did you ever meet
him?”
Bishop Tutu continued to look at me with bewilderment.
“You mean the singer?”, he asked.
“Yes, Michael Jackson the singer. Did you ever meet him?”
Bishop Tutu looked at me as if I were crazy and said, “No.”
That was the end of our conversation.
Anyhow, Michael Jackson appears to have suffered his entire life from what some might call
“self-hatred.”
He has sold hundreds upon millions of albums, and has millions of fans and hundreds of millions of
dollars...
...but all of this seems to be an unsatisfying success for Jackson.
So Jackson, disliking his appearance, set about to find peace in the hope that he could change the way he
looks through the ‘magic’ of plastic surgery.
According to some plastic surgeons, Jackson has had over 50 surgeries on his face alone.
Now, Michael Jackson has metamorphized himself person...who by many accounts is rather scary
looking.
Jackson is now described as being a very lonely and unsatisfied man.
This hope that turns into cynacism and despair, is the outcome of us putting our hope in that which is not
rooted in faith in Jesus Christ.
Real hope...though...does satisfy...
...and it is reflected in us because of the things that God has prepared for those who love Him and put their trust in
Him.
The “Yes” of Christ reveals to us true Reality...which is God.
Christ purifies our desires.
Christ causes us to want the things that God is waiting to give us...
...and Christ awakens the spiritual hunger that He came to satisfy.
An Arctic explorer who had been subjected to eight months of slow starvation was asked whether, during
those months, he and his companions had suffered much from the pangs of hunger.
“No,” he answered, “we lost them in the sense of abandonment, in the feeling that our countrymen had
forgotten us and were not coming to the rescue.
It was not until we were rescued and looked into human faces that we felt how hungry we were.”
I remember when I was given the gift of faith, and made the decision to give my life to Christ....
....suddenly I realized how empty and unhappy I had been without Him.
I can remember walking up to a friend and saying, “You know, life is actually worth living afterall!”
Jesus Christ came, died for us, rose again, and placed His Holy Spirit within those who believe--within
those who have been born again--as a down payment and as a guarantee.
Christ has literally invested Himself in us!
And God does not make any bad investments.
He doesn’t waste His resources on Junk bonds, He doesn’t ‘cook the books’, or inflate the value of
corporate assets.
But He does do this: He knows our true worth.
He knows our infinite value.
He looks at us and He says “Yes!”, “Yes!”... “You are my priceless creation! I have sent my One and Only
Son to you in love...so that you might believe in Him and be saved.”
Yes, the world is full of things which cause us to doubt, but when we look to Jesus...our reasons for
doubting should disappear.
Jesus is indeed our savior, redeemer, helper, and friend.
He is God’s great “Yes!” to us and to everyone who puts their hope in Him.
He is not only God with us, but He is God for us!
Let us pray: God of compassion and forgiveness, help us to overcome the barriers that keep us from trusting
completely in You. Enable us to put our full trust and hope in You...the God of Yes! We praise You for your
unconditioal love!!! In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
