Amen to Gods Yes

Amen to God’s “YES!”

2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Epiphany Seven

February 23, 2003

          Introduction: One of the first words we learn as very young children, because we hear it so loudly and often, is “No.” That word carries freight, because we soon figure out that our hearing “No” is usually connec5ted to corresponding actions that we ought not to be doing. Loving parents will utter a corrective “No” to their children as a way of instructing them to stay out of harm’s way.

          Still as adults we need the “No” of God’s commandments to keep us from stepping on the wrong side of right morals and ethics, and otherwise sinning against the perfect will of God. But even with a life span of practice, we fail to get it right. And how does God deal with us when we have failed? To be sure, he could crush us with the powerful “No” of eternal punishment; yet in Christ he chooses instead to give his believing children the comforting “Yes” of his forgiveness and love. Today we join our hearts and voices to the acclamation of gratitude raised by the church in all times and places, now and forever, saying—

Amen to God’s “Yes!”

I.                   Human sinfulness says “No” to authorities established by God.

A.   The occasion for our text was that some in Corinth were calling Paul’s authority and credibility into question.

                                                              i.      So-called “super apostles” sought to undermine Paul’s preaching that forgiveness and life with God come through faith in Jesus Christ apart from works of the Law (Rom 3:28). Their Judaizing teachings required works of Law for salvation.

                                                            ii.      Attempts were being made to show that Paul was untrustworthy in his ministry because he had changed his plans to come and visit the church in Corinth when he said he would (1 Cor 16:5-8; 2 Cor 1:15-16).

B.   As Jesus forgave the paralytic his sins, scribes challenged his authority to do so (Mk 2:1-12).

                                                              i.      When Jesus announced God’s “Yes” to the paralytic, the scribes spewed out their “No” with inner charges of blasphemy.

                                                            ii.      Jesus gave walking mobility to the paralytic to prove his authority to heal both the outer and the inner man.

C.   Humility has the propensity to challenge God’s authority in all times and in all places.

                                                              i.      The problem is as old as Eden, where the serpent’s wily challenge was put to Eve, “Did God really say…” (Gen 3:1).

                                                            ii.      Mankind’s challenge against God remains a current event.

Illustration: Bumper stickers can still be seen on cars that proclaim a motto made popular in the 1960s to “Question Authority.”

The tenets of Darwinian atheism create an environment for thought that professes that absolute truths established by God are impossibility.

Allen Bloom begins his insightful book, The Closing of the American Mind [New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987] with this observation, “There is one thing a professor can be absolutely certain of: almost every student entering the universi9ty believes, or says he believes, that truth is relative” Such is the case when people succumb to the lie that all things in life are both “Yes” and “No.”

II.                  God responds to our human sinfulness with his resounding “Yes.”

A.   God pronounces his “Yes” over us for his own sake (cf Is 43:25), not because we have deserved it in any way.

B.   We are sealed in the “Yes” of God’s forgiveness, life, and salvation through the washing of Baptism (vv 21-22).

C.   The “Yes” of God toward us was accomplished by God’s declaring his “No” toward his Son.

                                                              i.      “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me” (Lk 22:42; Mk 14:36).

                                                            ii.      “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46; Mk 15:34).

                                                          iii.      Through his perfect life, death, and resurrection, Jesus is both God’s “Yes” (v 19) and “Amen” (Rev 3:14) toward us in establishing his faithful and true witness and fulfilling all of the promises of God for his people.

III.                We respond to God’s “Yes” with our heartfelt “Amen.”

A.     “Amen” means “Yes, it shall be so” (cf Luther’s Small Catechism, Lord’s Prayer).

B.   “Amen” rings out in today’s worship as our liturgical exclamation point that declares the truth of God’s “Yes” toward us as he comes to us in bread and wine, water and the Word.

Conclusion: “Amen” is not simply a period to a sentence that marks the end of a thought. Rather, it is the continuous hymn of the church both on earth and in heaven. In their “Amen” all of God’s redeemed people shout their thanksgiving to God for graciously declaring his “Yes” of forgiveness in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He was preached among them by Paul, is still proclaimed among us today, and will be praised forever. To God’s eternal “Yes” be our enduring “Amen!”