We Have Powerful Changes to Declare!

3rd Sunday after Pentecost, 6/17/12
2 Corinthians 4:13-18


We Have Powerful Changes to Declare!
I. Death to life
II. Trouble to glory
III. Time to eternity


I’m fairly certain that the problem-solving skills taught in the Centerville schools are also taught in the other school systems in our area as well. Students are presented with a number of problems in short-story format that need to be solved. In solving them, they are encouraged to think outside the box. In fact, achieving a solution often means that they must think in creative ways.

Those of us whose formal education is complete appreciate those efforts because we know that life is full of problems that call for solutions. Some of those problems fall on us through no fault of our own. Others come as the unintended consequences of our choices. And we learn rather quickly that you can either choose to ignore your problems or you can choose to address them in an attempt to solve them.

When we do find a solution to one of our problems, if it’s not an intensely personal issue, we don’t mind sharing it. In fact, we may feel a sense of duty to share it so that other can enjoy the solution with us.

Paul talks about that very thing in the words of our text this morning. He states, “We also believe, therefore we speak.” Paul speaks about three huge problems in our lives—death, troubles and time. In Christ we have the solution to all three of them and more. In Christ, all these have been changed into blessings for us. What an amazing privilege it is for us to share those changes with others! We have powerful changes to declare, changes to the problems that plague and disrupt our lives. Let’s see what they are as our Lord shares them with us this morning.

Part I.

The magazine rack at the head of the grocer’s check-out line will contain more than a dozen magazines each with about a dozen short statements about articles or advice for the problems you’re facing in your life. Many have to do with weight-loss. Others with health problems. Still others about eating healthy foods or buying cloths that will flatter you. Some offer financial problem solutions, some computer problem solutions, and still others home-maintenance problem solutions. But those nationally published magazines don’t offer any advice for the greatest problem people face—death. Perhaps that’s because people don’t want to think about it. No one wants to talk about it.

But Paul urges us to declare it. We believe in Christ as our Savior from sin and death and therefore, in Christ, we have the solution for the problem of death.

Paul states, “With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.” Almost every day we hear of amazing events but none of them have any bearing on our lives. For instance, a Major League Baseball pitcher pitched a perfect game last week, a truly amazing feat. But it doesn’t have any impact on my life or yours.

But the greatest and most amazing feat ever certainly did. That feat was the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. There is no greater miracle in all of history and there will never be a greater one. Jesus raised himself from the dead as he promised. Amazing! And adding to the amazement is what it means for us. Paul states here in our text what he states repeatedly in his other letters. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead means that we will rise from the dead. That’s what Jesus promised us. That’s what will happen. That’s what must happen. Everything Jesus promises must happen.

So, if we will rise from the dead to eternal life, why spend so much time and effort fretting about this life with this body in this world? And yet that’s exactly what we do. Our thoughts are consumed with them and so is every moment of our days. We spend so much time, money and effort on this body which will die sooner or later. Please don’t misunderstand me. Our God wants us to take the best care of our bodies that we can. But we should do so in the light of the fact that they don't last forever. Jesus changes that. He will raise us from the dead.

We have a powerful change to declare—the change from death to life.

You wouldn’t be the first person to come to the conclusion that life is full of troubles and then you die. That’s a terribly pessimistic way of looking at life. In fact, it doesn’t take into account the very reason your Savior came to this earth. He came to win your forgiveness and to change your death to life. That’s what he promises you. And he’s not merely speaking about your soul’s enjoyment of heaven prior to the Last Day; he’s speaking about your body’s enjoyment of it after the resurrection on the Last Day. Christianity promises what we’re all looking for and hoping for—a perfect life with our bodies. Jesus won it for you. He changes death to life. What a powerful change to declare to others!

Part II.

You’ve probably heard it said about someone, “He invites trouble.” Perhaps you’ve even used that phrase in referring to someone yourself. It’s often used for a person who, rather than make huge efforts to avoid trouble, seems unbothered by the fact that he often brings trouble into his life by what he says and does or by what he fails to say or do.

Paul doesn’t invite trouble into his life or ours, but he does see the benefits of it. He writes, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” Paul refers to our troubles as “light and momentary.” You may beg to differ. Everyone faces troubles that seem to last a long time, sometimes even an entire lifetime. What’s so momentary about that?

In fact, some of them aren’t so light. Talk to people with health or financial troubles. They seem to be crushing them at times.

But these troubles, as heavy and lengthy as they may be, are light and momentary when compared with eternal glory. Our translation doesn’t pick it up, but literally Paul writes, “our eternal weight of glory.” He places our troubles on one side of the scale and our eternal glory on the other and the “weight” of the glory immediately causes the scale to bottom out. There’s no comparison between the two. But when we’re suffering, our focus gets so narrow that we miss that saving truth and the change that Jesus has in store for us.

We have powerful changes to declare—the change from trouble to glory.

When teaching the 4th Commandment to our children in Catechism class, we always make the point that parents are commanded by God to discipline their children when they have done something sinful or wrong. We always refer to the passage in Proverbs which speaks about a parent doing that out of love for the child. At the end of the lesson, I then ask this question, “Agree or disagree? A child is happy when he or she is disciplined by a parent.” And the children rightly have a difficult time making the choice to agree or disagree. A child is sad that they have done something wrong which calls for discipline but happy that a parent loves him or her enough to carry out the discipline.

Our God allows troubles in our lives to do the very same thing. The troubles that come our way are one of God’s ways of prying our focus apart from this life and training it on the one to come. Without trouble in our lives, we’d be far too happy to continue living in this sinful world apart from the full presence of our God. We would have no need to trust in our God. But those troubles remind us of our sin and drive us to our Savior for forgiveness and the hope of a better life. And that’s exactly what our God has in store for us—eternal glory with him. That’s the life we live for now. It’s our privilege to declare that life to others. We have powerful changes to declare—trouble to glory.

Part III.

Paul shares with us one more problem—the problem that we have with time.

Someone once said, “Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them.”

It’s true. Time governs everything we do and when time ends for us, we’re dead. That might not be a very pleasant thought for you.

It’s also true that once you’ve used time, even just a second of it, you can never get it back. It’s the one great commodity that every person has and we all have it in the same amount—we get 24 hours of it every day.

But that never seems to be enough. For much of our lives each day consists of a list of things we must do along with another list we’d like to do and when the day is over, we realize how few of them we accomplished. We didn’t have the time.

And when we get to the end of our lives, we wish we could reverse the clock and experience portions of our past once again. We long for the days we enjoyed with our loved ones who used to be near us. We pine for the days when we had the health, energy and youthful optimism to enjoy our time.

In short, we wish we could stop time at a particular moment of joy and experience it endlessly.

That’s exactly the change that your Savior has won for you. Paul writes, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” Paul encourages Christians to lift their focus off of all the things that make up this life. They won’t last anyway. Instead, focus on the life to come. That life and everything in it will last forever.

We have powerful changes to declare—the change from time to eternity.

Our lives are so controlled by time that we can’t begin to understand eternity which is really life without time. This life is so filled with the stresses that limited time brings. This life is so filled with regrets over time wasted or lost or unrecoverable. We can’t turn our clocks back and gain any time. Jesus knows our struggles with time. As the eternal One, he entered time when came into our world. He lived perfectly in time for us. He suffered and died in time as the punishment for our sins. In doing so, he won eternity—life without time—for us.

Now there’s some refreshing news for us to declare to others! Our God has won eternity for us. Enjoy the powerful changes Jesus has made to the problems you face in life and then share them with others. Amen.