Promises, Promises

Scripture Introduction:

We will be looking at 2 Corinthians 1:15-22 this morning. Here is what I want to do this morning. I want us to be honest with how two truths kind of clash in our lives.

#1: God is a promise keeping God.

#2: We get really disappointed in life. People don’t keep promises. Those claiming the name of Jesus sometimes don’t keep their promises. And sometimes it seems and feels like God isn’t keep His promises to us.

My goal at the end of this is to help us have a big collective sigh of relief—I want us to know that all of the greatest promises that God has made to humanity have been fulfilled in Christ and they are GOING TO BE fulfilled in Christ. We can rest easy in Him....and this is true even though we face a million disappointments. He is our sure and steady anchor.

And so to show this I want us to interact a little with 2 Corinthians 1:15-22. It’s a strange passage, honestly, because what has happened is that Paul had plans to visit, told them he was coming, but the plans changed and they were super disappointed. Promise made. Promise broken by a religious leader.

Put yourself in their shoes for a moment.

He promised to pay you a visit, and maybe even spend an extended period of time there. But in the mean while things get a bit rocky in your community, he comes earlier than expected. But his visit isn’t pleasant. It’s a painful visit. In fact it gets so ugly and things get so heated that he bolts. He says that he is going to return. But instead of coming back to you he actually sends a really harsh and severe corrective letter. And in that letter he says that he is going to come back and actually visit you twice, and one of those visits he is going to come and try to collect some money.

Can you hear the critics now?

If the Spirit of God was really with him then he wouldn’t be changing his mind so much. If he really was listening to God then he wouldn’t be changing plans. He wouldn’t make promises he couldn’t keep. And doesn’t his character really show you something? I mean think about God…He is unchanging in nature. But not this guy. Shouldn’t a minister’s word reflect a God who never lies? He’s a double-minded and duplicitous man. And then he’s got the audacity to think he’s going to come back and get more money. That’s all this guy is about isn’t it? He’s going all around talking about collecting money for the poor. I bet he’s pocketing some of this himself.

2 Corinthians 1:15–22 ESV

Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

Sermon Introduction:

The way I painted that picture earlier all of the facts are true. He said he was going to be there and his plans changed and he didn’t come. He also sent them a severe letter instead. He gave them a painful visit and he ended up leaving them because it was such an unpleasant time that he felt staying would have caused them even more pain. So he left. But his decisions through all of this caused some to doubt him.

But I put kind of a jaded slant on it. That’s a bit like what would have been happening in the first century. There was a group at Corinth who was very happy to throw shade at Paul and put some spin on this. They took advantage of the situation and made people think that Paul was an unworthy guy, not a good gospel minister, not consistent, just after money. Calling into question his integrity.

And what is interesting is that at times Paul defends his ministry…and other times he is ambivalent. “ah, let them talk.” But if the gospel is at stake then he’ll defend hiss ministry. And that’s what he does here. But the way he does it I think can help us with our introductory question.

What do we do when we are really disappointed with stuff around us—even people—and it’s connected to the promises of God somehow and we are just really discouraged and confused. I think we see what Paul does here.

It’s not really difficult to follow Paul’s flow of thought or argument here. But it is a little difficult to see how the points he is making serve his argument. How does it all fit together? That’s kind of the tough part.

Verse 17—Paul doesn’t make plans according to the flesh. He doesn’t vacillate. He’s a Spirit directed man. verse 18—As surely as God is faithful we are faithful. Our word is sure.

Verse 19-20—the Son of God we proclaimed among you does not vacillate. He is always a yes…every promise is fulfilled in Christ.

Now if you are scratching your heads a bit you are like me. I mean I affirm both these truths it’s just hard to see how they fit together. I mean I know Paul is one of those guys who is crazy about Jesus and so any chance he has to share the gospel he does it. And he’s kind of doing that here. He’s using this as a way of saying all the promises of God are fulfilled in Jesus.

Fair enough. But why start the sentence with “for”. Why say, here’s proof for what I’m saying in verses 18-19. How does the faithfulness of Christ prove the faithfulness of Paul? Here’s what I believe he is doing. If you won’t believe me at least believe the gospel. I think what he is doing is drawing their eyes away from the petty squabbles and their concern about travel schedules and those things and causing them to look a bit higher.

Look at verse 21. Notice the word us. What he is saying in this passage is that all of the promises of God are certain in Jesus. The people of God are secure in Christ. Do travel plans change that? Even if Paul actually did something wrong for them to be disappointed in does it change the promises of God to them? Not at all.

I’m reminded of what John Newton said about the promises of God being fulfilled in Christ:

Suppose a man was going to New York to take possession of a large estate, and his [carriage] should break down a mile before he got to the city, which obliged him to walk the rest of the way; what a fool we should think him, if we saw him ringing his hands, and blubbering out all the remaining mile, “My [carriage] is broken! My [carriage] is broken!”

God causes both Paul and the Corinthians to stand firm. Paul’s travel schedule doesn’t change that. And no disappoint you face in this life, from a leader or something else doesn’t change this. Your firm foundation isn’t in the leader. It’s in God.

God has “christed us in Christ” that’s the literal translation, but what it means is that he has anointed us…set us apart and equipped us for God’s purpose. Paul’s travel schedule doesn’t change that. And not disappointment you face in this life, from a leader or something else doesn’t change this truth. You are set apart, you are gifted by God, your identity is found in Christ and His work on your behalf. It’s not in a leader.

God has set his seal of ownership on you. You belong to God not to a leader. Paul’s travel plans can’t change this. God has pledged himself to you. He is faithful even when his leaders aren’t. Consider that big picture.

You’re going to disappoint people and be disappointed. But the big picture is that in Christ. You have hope. And nobody can change that.

But let’s now widen the lens a little bit…what promises?

It has been estimated that Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies in the OT. One scholar found 456 OT verses referring to the Messiah and that Jesus had fulfilled them.

But honestly, I think it’s better for us to read the Bible as a narrative than picking up a verse here and a verse there. That seems to be the way the NT writers did this.

The biblical story is centered around these three great promises. Going all the way back to the Garden of Eden you see that humanity was placed into a garden to work it and to keep it. They were tasked with being fruitful and multiplying and they were God’s image bearers who walked in a loving relationship with God and one another. Glory-reflectors who have a home and interacting in loving relationship.

3 R’s. Rest. Rule. Relationship. You have a place, a purpose, a people.

We see in Genesis 3 all of this is turned on it’s head. Rather than exercising rule over the serpent the serpent seems to be leading the man and woman. After the Fall you see the significance of man’s call as every blessing of creation is cursed. We now live in a distortion of the original created order.

The curses that we see in Genesis 3 touch every one of these areas. Rather than spreading God’s glory we now spread the curse…rather than working and keeping of creation we now have sweat and futility. Our relationship with God is broken and our relationship with one another. And humanity is kicked out of the garden…we lose our place. So in one fell swoop humanity loses place, purpose, and people. Rest, rule, and relationship are now forfeited.

But each person is still created in the image of God. And that means we still carry around those fragments. We still want a place, a purpose, and a people. We still long for rest, rule, and relationship.

Rest. All is right, all is well. If you are familiar with the Old Testament so many of those land promises are wrapped up in this idea of rest—it’s all about place. Finding a home.

That’s what is behind so much of the fighting that we see in our world today. It’s fallen people attempting to find shalom, to find rest, in stuff. In power, prestige, authority. If I can just....then I can finally be at peace. If I can just make enough money. If I can just get control in this relationship. If I can just move into this job. If I can just get into this relationship. If this thing will just work out. If this pain will just stop.

At the center of all of this is an impulse to get back to the Garden. To have rest. To have a home.

Rule. We want to have purpose. We want to make a difference. We want our life to have meaning. We want things to make sense. There is something deeply inside of us that knows we aren’t just made to wander around aimlessly. We were made for something. We want careers—we don’t want jobs. We want meaningful stuff.

But that’s all broken. And so we grab for authority, we grab for power—rather than giving it away. We want human flourishing—but it’s morphed into OUR personal flourishing. The working and keeping that was supposed to take place in the garden has now turned to dominance of others. Abuse of others.

Relationship. We want a people. “These are my people”. We want to belong. We want to have deep relationships…or maybe we don’t because we’ve seen too many broken relationships…and so we stay frustrated because we know deep down we were made for others but yet we don’t want to be around others. We long for relationship with God, with others…even with ourselves. To know others. To be truly known by others.

Thankfully, even in the early pages of the Bible there is a hint of a deliverer who is coming. There are little glimpses of hope even in Genesis 3.

1. Man is not instantly judged

2. Enmity would be between the woman/her seed and the serpent instead of between the woman and God

3. There are hints that this “seed of the woman” will restore everything back to its Edenic state

4. Adam seems to pick up this promise as he names his wife “Eve” which means mother of the living

5. Even the provision of garments will point to God providing ultimate forgiveness and restoration

And that’s really what the story of the Old Testament is all about. Who will be this “seed of the woman”? Who will be the rescuer? How will rest, rule, relationship be restored? How will we someday have a place, a purpose, and a people again?

But in the midst of all this fallenness you get the idea that God is up to something. All throughout the OT he makes promises. He makes covenants. He promises to Abraham basically the same thing that we saw in creation. RULE, RELATIONSHIP, REST. He gathers a people to himself. And these promises reverberate all throughout the OT.

And we see all of these promises. In a single day I will remove the sin in this land, I will give you a new heart, you will be faithful to me, all of these looking for a day to come.

And then it happens…when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. The promise is fulfilled in Jesus. What all these other people could not do Jesus does.

He fulfills God’s creation mandate. He is fully satisfied in God. He is in complete union with God. He accurately displays God’s glory. Jesus, who is one with God—in perfect union with God—enjoy’s God and extends His glory.

This becomes good news for us when we realize that Jesus is our representative and he did this on our behalf. This isn’t just some theoretical or potential work that Jesus accomplishes. NO, he actually gathers a people for himself…those who are united to Jesus by faith…so that we are hidden in Christ. The implications of this are far-reaching. We never move away from this. This is the gospel…that God did on our behalf what the law could not do. Where we were guilty, deserving of death and hell, Jesus gives us life.

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And it is here in this story that Paul is picking up in 2 Corinthians. All the promises find their “yes” in Christ. Rest. Rule. Relationship....these are all restored. You have a place. You have a purpose. You have a people.

What does this mean?

You look around and you’re thinking. Wait, how can you say this stuff is restored? I still feel homeless. I still feel like my relationships are broken. I don’t feel like I have purpose. This isn’t restored? What are you talking about?

That’s where the already, not yet of the gospel comes in. In one sense you are restored, if you are in Christ. You are a new creation. You do have a place, you do have rest. You can rest from this quest to do good and be good—you can rest in your restored relationship with God. You have a people—you are connected to other believers.

But there is also the “not yet” component to the gospel. We see in Revelation 21 where God is taking us. We see there that rest, rule, and relationship will be finally and decisively restored. God will be with us as our God—we have a place, we have a purpose, we have a people. All those are present there in the grand climax of the Bible.

So how does all that relate to 2 Corinthians and Paul’s failed plans? The greatest problems in the universe have already been solved in Christ.

If you are in Christ nobody can take away your place. It’s secure. You have a home. You have rest. It’s been purchased for you. It is secure. It is established. You may be not be living in all the benefits of it yet…but you have a home. A garden of delight. Created by God from eternity past for enjoyment.

If you are in Christ nobody take away your purpose. You are uniquely created by God. You ARE an image-bearer. That’s not optional. It’s how you are. You are created in God’s image. And that image is being restored in Jesus every single day. Nobody can ultimately stop you from this. In Christ, you will resound to His glory. You will glorify God in your redemption. And you will live in this for all of eternity.

If you are in Christ nobody can take away your people. Nobody can fracture that relationship with God. And ultimately—some blessed day in the future—you’ll be fully restored to a people as well. United to your brothers and sisters in Christ from all around the globe. No more war. No more crying. No more pain. No more abuse. No more suffering. No more hate. No more evil. No more sin which separates. It’ll be free in us and it’ll be free around us. This is YOURS.

Doesn’t this put Paul’s change of plans into perspective?

If we forget this story that’s what makes us frazzled. That’s what makes us believe lies like those people in Corinth were spitting…lies which leads to not loving people but hating them. Listen, if you hear something proposed as truth—and it leads you to hate another human—there’s probably something dirty in that water.

If we remember this story it changes everything.

Or maybe this isn’t your story yet. As we close listen to what this story means for every one of us:

God lovingly created us to enjoy Him and extend His glory. We choose instead to rebel from God’s loving rule. So God gives us what we want. Because God is the source of life and all good things the result of our rebellion is not good. Rather than having life, meaning, and freedom we are now spiritually dead, enslaved, and guilty before God.

But because of His great love God has acted to rescue and restore us. He did this by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to the world. Unlike us, Jesus did not rebel from God’s loving rule, so he did not deserve death or judgment. But He did die. He died as a substitute for us. He paid the debt that we owe to God because of our rebellion. And He paid it in full, so that we could have complete forgiveness.

As proof that God accepted Jesus’ payment He raised Him from the dead. This means that everything we need for life, freedom, and forgiveness has already been purchased through the finished work of Jesus Christ. God has provided the way for humanity to once again enjoy Him and extend His glory.

Today you have a choice. Will you continue in rebellion against God or will you submit to Jesus? Submitting to Jesus means turning away from sin and rebellion and trusting in Christ alone. Which do you choose? Rebellion? Or, life in Christ Jesus?