Glory and Decay

Sermons – St. Brendan's Anglican Church

Peace Be Still by YongSung Kim

Pentecost +5
Rev. Doug Floyd
2 Corinthians 5

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)

We are created for glory. We are moving in and toward glory. In 2 Corinthians, Paul says that the glory of God is shining out in us, and we are growing up into that glory. At the same time, we are wasting away. Our bodies, vessels of clay, are in decay.

We are frail, filled with doubt, falling down. Our bodies will fail us. Our minds will fail us. We are fading away.

Paul is telling us this in 2 Corinthians. We are weak. We grow weary. We may even despair of life itself. We may lose hope. We may lose jobs. We may grow sick. We will die. We will be forgotten. Think about people from other eras. Consider Shakespeare. Most of you will recognize his name. Some of you have read his work. Some of you may even know some of his biography, but you also may know that many of the details of his life are subject to question.

Now think of the countless people alive during his lifetime. We may know the names of a handful of people or possibly even a few dozen. But most of the people in his lifetime have already slipped into the fading pages of history. You are also fading. I am also fading. We will be forgotten.

The next generation may remember us. If we’re lucky our memory will persist in the second or third generations. Soon we will only be a name. Then the name will fade from earth.

Do not be dismayed. This is the way of all things. Even as these bodies crumble back into dirt, we will be clothed with an eternal body not made with hands. Christ enters our helpless estate; in the cross he condescends to the depths human sin and brokenness. As he rises from the dead, he rises with the promise to lift us up into his love. By God’s goodness and grace, we will be swallowed up by life. We will shine with the glory of God.

Yet we are still weak and weary. Our failures and frailties remind us that the old creation is still present. New creation is overtaking this old creation. Even now we sense it. Even now we long for glory that will not fade. There will come a point when this ole world, this old body will seem like the blink of an eye. One moment we were complaining about failing knees and tired limbs, and the next moment unfolding glory upon glory upon glory.

How do we live in this moment? How do we live in a time between times? The glory is already growing within us, but the old life still remains. We feel it in our bones. Our brokenness.

One way we live in this moment is to acknowledge our failures. By God’s grace, we learn to face those broken places within us in light of God’s reconciling love. He does not forsake in our pride, in our anger, in our sadness, in our loneliness, in all our faults.

At his darkest, weakness moment, the light of Glory shines upon Paul and he encounters the Lord on the road to Damascus. With this hope of God’s reconciling love, we are free to be honest. When we come to the altar to receive of Christ’s body and blood, we bring our utter weakness, our fear, our temptations, and even our successes. We come as children totally dependent on the love of God in Christ.

In this dependence, we learn to depend upon one another. I need you. I need your prayer and encouragement. You need me. We are not independent, God created us as interdependent upon Him and those around us. In this place of trusting weakness, a glory is revealed that would otherwise be hidden by the light of our own fading glory.

The church fathers speak of translucence. The sinful mind makes the world opaque to God’s glory. But as the Sprit reconciles us to God, our eyes began to see the glory in all creation. Everything is pointing us to the love of God in Christ. The very people we thought were wearisome and tiring, we now see through eyes of wonder. They are revealing a sacred glory wholly particular to them.

I’ve sat with families of the dying or those who have died, what I’ve often beheld is the mystery of glory. I am often awestruck by the glory of God in our midst. Even now the people beside us are a wonder and glory to behold. Treat them as such and give thanks to God for them.

As you step out into the world of weariness and sin, remember that God has drawn you to Himself and is sending you out with His reconciling love. Pray for the people you meet along the way: the people beside you in the store, the people you work with, study with, drive beside. I assure you that many people do not know the depths of God’s love even the faithful churchgoer. Pause before other people. Share the gift of presence. Listen to them. Trust that God can love them even through your weak and weary limbs.

When the Good Lord formed the clay and breathed His very life into humanity, He celebrated His creation. “It is good. It is very good.” That is, it is just and true and beautiful. You are a work of His glory and beauty. Never forget. He loves you with an unfathomable love.

Share this love with a world in darkness. He can make His appeal to a sinful world through you and He can call the dead to life through you. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.^[1]

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)

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^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 2 Co 5:21.