Scripture
14We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. 15All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory. 16That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 2 Corinthians 4:14-17
Observation
Paul is living in the Resurrection Reality of Jesus. He is comparing his present troubles with his eternal home. He is describing an abiding faith that is renewed “every day” even though life is extremely painful. There’s even a description of the beauty that draws other’s to the Lord when a saint refuses to give up in the face of trials and tribulations. “More and more people” will be drawn to the Lord and “more and more glory” will come to the Lord when we stay connected to our source no matter what. Jesus described it this way, “4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. 5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5
Application
I recently heard a podcast describing the “cut flower” culture we currently live in. Randy Newman, who is a Senior Fellow for Apologetics at the C.S. Lewis Institute, describes our “cut flower culture” in this way, “When we buy a bouquet of flowers, they are cut off from their roots. We bring them home and put them in water and enjoy their beauty—but only for a short time. Sooner or later, because of their lack of rootedness in a source of nutrients and life, they die. In fact, the dying process begins as soon as the flower is cut. But for a time, they still appear vibrant and alive. Such is the case in our culture when it comes to morality and sin. We have cut ourselves off from biblical roots that support morality, but we still want (to some extent) the fruit of that morality. We hear it most painfully when people who have separated sex from marriage lament that their current bed partner cheated on them.” Why are so many Christians giving up and giving in to the deconstruction of their faith when so many saints in generations past have stood strong? We have settled for a cultural Christianity instead of a connected one. The 50% of Christians who left during the Pandemic and never returned is proof of the fact that we weren’t abiding in Christ, but were content to put our faith in a vase until the petals began to fall and the colors began to fade. How has this happened? How have we allowed for a faith expression that’s disconnected from its very foundation? If our Christian understanding of the indwelling resurrected Lord is nothing more than Easter songs on a holiday than we are in a very similar place to the most famous atheist of our day. Richard Dawkins, who doesn't want anyone anywhere to be a Christian, made this statement last week in the face of Ramadan replacing Easter in the UK, “I sort of felt at home in the Christian ethos. I feel that we are a Christian country in that sense. It's true that statistically the number of people who believe in Christianity is going down, and I'm happy with that, but I would not be happy if, for example, we lost all our cathedrals and our beautiful parish churches. So I count myself a cultural Christian. I think it would matter if we, certainly if we substituted any alternative religion, that would be truly dreadful.” Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy to see Dawkins moving towards God instead of away from Him. If Dawkins stops at the cut flowers sitting in our church lobby, he will never know the true salvation that comes with complete surrender to the Risen Lord. “Cultural Christianity” is morals without the salvation, behavior modification instead of internal transformation. Notice what Dawkins said? “I sort of felt at home in the Christian ethos.” Have we presented a gospel that allows people to “feel at home” in our traditions instead of making their home in Christ? This is no more possible than it is for a flower to continue to bloom once it’s been cut from its root. Jesus was pretty clear about this when He said, “apart from me you can do nothing.” Cyndi describe it this way, “We want the benefits of marriage without the commitments of marriage. We want romance with distance rather than the daily choices to stay committed.”
Prayer
Jesus, You are alive! This changes everything. This means I can make it through anything. I feel like I need to repent for any place where I’ve communicated from the pulpit that it’s possible to have a Christian faith without a daily intimate relationship with You, Jesus Christ! I think about all for the “CEO’s”, Christmas and Easter Only folks who come every year for the traditions but are never transformed by Your presence. Lord, that’s not on You, that’s on me and those who present Your good news. Forgive me for a shallow faith that wants to cut and run when life get’s hard. I want to see more and more people come to You so You get more and more glory. That means I need to get more and more closer to You every day!
