2 Corinthians 4

Errand Runners

Posted on by Betsy

Last Sunday, I had the privilege of preaching for my lovely friend Gina, who was on a well-deserved cruise with her husband as they celebrated their anniversary. I have preached for her before, and it is a complete joy. Her congregation is warm, inviting, engaged, and one of the strongest examples of contributing to local mission and ministry that we have in our conference. Her lay people lead the worship service with expertise and practice, reading Scripture, offering prayers, singing, playing, and generally running the show (as laity should) except for the sermon. One of my favorite moments is watching the little acolyte come up from her pew, pull out a step stool, and offer the prayer for the offering at the lectern. This child isn’t even ten years old, and she leads worship.

Another favorite moment is watching the Children’s Sermon. A young mom came forward and sat with the children gathered around her and began to talk about flashlights. The flashlight she brought had a very dull beam, so she made talked to the children about the importance of batteries, needing to re-charge when they go weak, and things work better when they are fully powered. At the end, she pulled out fresh batteries and allowed the kids to help her put them in the flashlight.

The contrast between the dull light from a flashlight that needs a new charge and the blinding beam that the new batteries provided was startling and instructive.

We all have moments where we need to re-charge, get fresh batteries, take a break, go on a trip with our spouse, or just have a lie-abed day. But work pressures, a society that promotes workaholism, and the demands and needs of others often prevent us from getting the rejuvenation that we need.

In our passage today, Paul addressed his church at Corinth and encouraged them to keep shining their light into a darkness of unbelievers. He warned them about people who prefer to follow their “god of darkness” and look away from a Truth they can’t see. He called the unbelievers “stone-blind:”

2 Corinthians 4 (The Message)

3-4 If our Message is obscure to anyone, it’s not because we’re holding back in any way. No, it’s because these other people are looking or going the wrong way and refuse to give it serious attention. All they have eyes for is the fashionable god of darkness. They think he can give them what they want, and that they won’t have to bother believing a Truth they can’t see. They’re stone-blind to the dayspring brightness of the Message that shines with Christ, who gives us the best picture of God we’ll ever get.

5-6 Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we’re proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, “Light up the darkness!” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.

As errand runners for Jesus, we are charged with shining his light into the darkness of the world. Our lives are filled up with light and it is incumbent upon us to use our flashlight like an usher in a dark theater, directing people to the safety and joy of God’s presence. But we can’t do that if we allow our batteries to be drained beyond repair.

How about you? Are you fully charged up and ready to lead others into the dayspring brightness of Christ? Or do you need power down and recharge? We all know that stopping to recharge gives us strength and energy to move forward. A small moment of self-care can make a world of difference.

May God rejuvenate us as we do the errands of serving, worshipping, and loving his Son.

Dayspring Brightness by Hannah Crews

Aggravations

Posted on by Betsy

Friends of mine are finally building their “dream home.” The perfect location, plans that they helped design, space for an in-law suite, and views for miles…what’s not to love?

Moving. Moving is not to love.

Having started my married life as a Navy wife for the first eight years, I know the pain of frequent moving. During the first two years, we moved four times while my husband attended different flight schools. I never bothered to learn any of the zip codes. There was no point! It would change in a few months anyway.

In this FABULOUS passage in 2 Corinthians, Paul gives us a different spin on moving. He likens our earthly homes to tents, which have to be put up and taken down with some regularity as we relocate ourselves to different homes here on earth. But better things are coming, and we should be ready to talk about it!

2 Corinthians 4 (The Message)

13-15 We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God’s glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!

16-18 So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

My friend is hoping this will be her final move. She recently posted, “If I ever move again it will be too soon!” But this aggravation, and ALL of our aggravations, is here today and gone tomorrow.

What is aggravating you today? God promises to make a new life out of this old one where things are falling apart on us on a regular basis. We can claim, as Paul does, that not a day goes by without experiencing God’s unfolding grace. Today’s hard times are “small potatoes” compared to what is coming.

5 1-5 For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we’ll never have to relocate our “tents” again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it!

So whatever you are going through right now, hold on to the fact that it is temporary. Life here on earth is temporary. And compared to eternity, this current aggravation is just a blink of an eye. All of our frustrations will melt away into nothingness compared to what’s ahead.

We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less.

So hang on! Better things are on the way.

Heaven Awaits by Michelle Robertson

Stone-Blind

Posted on by Betsy

Super Bowl 2021 was its usual combination of pretty boring football, a controversial halftime show, outstanding commercials, and a great excuse to eat a lot of snacks, albeit in the safety of our homes rather than at parties. In the spirit of full confession, I am that person who watches it every year to see the entertainment pieces that keep getting interrupted by a game. This year was no different.

One thing that captured my attention was the Light Gloves worn by the dancers in the halftime show. Now THAT was notice-worthy. They made really cool moves with them, and the choreography was designed to highlight the gloves and the patterns of light that they made. This was a good thing, since the headpieces that were worn should have been left in the players’ lockers.

Man, I would love a pair of Light Gloves! On the Outer Banks, we don’t have a lot of light at night. There is no ambient city light, and street lights are few and far between. The blessing of this is that we can clearly see the stars. The curse is that we can’t see where the door lock is when we come home at night.

Paul encourages us to think about the light-vs.-dark dynamic in a new way in his second letter to the Corinthians. He creates a word chain about darkness: obscure looking—going the wrong way—refusing to give the message serious attention—eyeing the fashionable god of darkness:

2 Corinthians 4 (The Message)

3-4 If our Message is obscure to anyone, it’s not because we’re holding back in any way. No, it’s because these other people are looking or going the wrong way and refuse to give it serious attention. All they have eyes for is the fashionable god of darkness.

Then he creates a contrasting word chain about the light: dayspring brightness—message that shines with Christ—best picture of God:

They think he can give them what they want, and that they won’t have to bother believing a Truth they can’t see. They’re stone-blind to the dayspring brightness of the Message that shines with Christ, who gives us the best picture of God we’ll ever get.

The invitation to all believers today is to go out into the darkness of your family, your workplace, your neighborhood, and indeed the world, and be a messenger or an errand runner for the Message.

5-6 Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we’re proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, “Light up the darkness!” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.

Where is God calling you to be a light-bearer for him? Where are you meant to shine some light into someone’s darkness and bring them into the beauty of the Son?

Light up the darkness! When we all do as we’ve been instructed, our lives will fill up with his light, all bright and beautiful.

Pull on your Light Gloves and go.

Wolf Moon by Michelle Robertson