Deep Water

2 Corinthians 2:6-16

February 9, 2014

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A large number of Americans identify themselves as "spiritual but not religious." Some say perhaps one in every five persons (roughly half of all people who do not part of a church could describe themselves in this way. This phrase probably means different things to different people. The confusion stems from the fact that the words "spiritual" and "religious" are really synonyms. Both connote belief in a Higher Power of some kind. Both also imply a desire to connect, or enter into a more intense relationship, with this Higher Power. And, finally, both connote interest in rituals, practices, and daily moral behaviors that foster such a connection or relationship.

Before the 20th century the terms religious and spiritual were used more or less interchangeably. But a number of modern intellectual and cultural forces have accentuated differences between the "private" and "public" spheres of life. The increasing prestige of the sciences, the insights of modern biblical scholarship, and greater awareness of cultural relativism all made it more difficult for educated American to sustain unqualified loyalty to religious institutions. Many began to associate genuine faith with the "private" realm of personal experience rather than with the "public" realm of institutions, creeds, and rituals.

Although we see this as a recent phenomenon, we find it present also in first century Corinth.  Before we explore this let us pray:

Holy God,

            you are the light of our seeing,

            the wisdom of our understanding,

            the delight of our loving.

Assist your people

            so to trust you that we may begin to understand you,

            so to understand you that we may better love you,

            and so to love you that we may more eagerly worship and serve you,

Through Jesus Christ, your very Mind incarnate;

Amen!.

I believe I mentioned before that during my Penn State summers I worked for a contractor who repaired boxcars on a siding in downtown York.  I don’t believe I told you the whole story.  When I began most of the crew were college kids like me.  We’d rip out the old plywood that lined the inside walls and hang the new plywood with 12 penny nails every six inches. All of this was happening in a steel box under a hot summer sun.  It was hard work – too hard for kid from Slippery Rock College.  He quit and was replaced by an immigrant from Puerto Rico. He was not going back to college in the fall.  This was his job and he was glad to get it.

            As the summer wore on the other college kids dropped out and got jobs at the Dairy Queen where it was air conditioned and you got to eat ice cream on your break. And when they quit the immigrant from Puerto Rico told the boss he had a brother or a cousin or an uncle who would do the job.   By the beginning of August I was the only college kid left and the only one for whom English was a first language, so they spoke to each other in Spanish.

            I picked up a few words like “martillo” which means hammer, and “clavo” which means nail and “pulgar” which means thumb.  I also picked up a few words you might use if the “martillo” misses the “clavo” and hits your “pulgar”, but I can’t share them here.   I was the foreigner in their group.

            Lunch time was the hardest because they would be joking in Spanish and laughing – but I was never in on the joke, though sometimes I suspected I was the butt of the joke, because I did know what the word “gringo” meant.  When I heard it and saw them looking at me and laughing I became a tad suspicious.

            It was frustrating the prophet Isaiah said, to “have ears but not to hear, to hear but not to understand.”  I’ve seen that same expressions on the faces of recent immigrants as they try to explain some need but can’t find the words, or on the faces of those who have suffered from a stroke and can understand but not speak.

            This is the same futility the Apostle Paul described in this second chapter of his first letter to the church in Corinth.  The question he asks is this:

            “How can we as limited, finite and mortal creatures understand God who is an unlimited, infinite, and immortal creator?” 

            “How can we know God” “How can God be known?”  “How do we even begin to plumb the depths and riches of God?”

            In the seventh verse Paul says, “We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification.”  He further said, “The rulers of this age” did not understand this secret or hidden wisdom.

            This is hard to understand.  Why the eyes of some people are open to the Word of God and the eyes of others are shut?  As Americans we believe that God has created us all equally.  It’s right there in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”  So, the thought that God would reveal his truth to some and not to others seems unfair.  But, we must be careful here, because we know that all have not been created with the same intellect, or gifts, or talents, or abilities.

            I remember speaking with a member of a church I once served who was very accomplished.  He was a seminary professor and at one time the President of the Pittsburg Theological Seminary.  He was one of the most brilliant men I ever knew, but he bemoaned his lack of musical talent.  He came from very musical stock, but this particular gift had passed him by.  Although there were members of his family who sang professionally, he said he could not carry a tune in a bucket. He envied people like Mozart who can hear the “music of the spheres”.

            He had a choice.  He could moan and groan about the unfairness of it all and so jealously resolve to never listen to a concerto of Mozart, but if he did that who would be hurt?  Or he could embrace Mozart’s gift so that he might also listen to the “music of the spheres”. He decided on the latter and learned more about Mozart than anyone I knew.

            This reflects the thoughts of the Apostle Paul.  In Ephesians 1:9 he wrote:

            For God has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

            There is a wisdom to God’s timing and the revealing of his Will.  We certainly may not see that now nor understand it now; but we ought to be very careful when we question it.

            This was the mistake that Job made when he was sitting in the ash heap of what had been his life.  After he loses his home, health, and wealth, he quite naturally asks the question, “Why?”  “Why me?”  “Why now?”  Implicit in the question is the assumption that he will be capable of understanding the answer.

            Job’s friend, Zophar questioned that assumption.  He asks:

            “Can you find out the deep things of God?  Can you find out the limit of the almighty?  It is higher than heave, what can you do?  It is deeper than Sheol – what can you know?”

            God’s response is the same and he answers Job’s “why” questions with a question:

            Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?  Tell me, if you have understanding.

            In other words, we only know God as God chooses to reveal himself to us.  In fact, that’s true about most of our deeper relationships.  You can google someone and find out a lot of facts about someone, where they were born, where they went to school, who they married, how many children they had.  But, the important things like what really matters to them, what are their deepest wounds, greatest joys, biggest questions can only be discovered if they choose to reveal them to you.  Our most intimate relationships follow these revelations.

            So, Paul wrote, “Gold has revealed these things to us through the Spirit.  For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”

            Let’s go back to the box car.  Sometimes during those lunch ho9urs, when I wasn’t the butt of their jokes, one of the Puerto Rican kids who spoke English would translate.  I would not have know what they were saying without the translator, without that individual’s willingness to describe to me what was going on.  He revealed to me that which otherwise would have remained hidden.

            God’s hidden nature has been revealed to us in three ways.  He has shared his thoughts first through his written word.  This is revelation in black and white.  You can read it.  God has shown himself to us through his Holy Word.  But, that is only the first level of understanding.  It is people, places, dates, action.  You don’t even need to be a believer to see it.

            I remember when I was studying for my doctorate in ministry, one of our New Testament professors was a reformed Jew.  Even though it was a Presbyterian Seminary they wanted to demonstrate how inclusive they were by hiring her.  She was an adept scholar but not a believer in Jesus.  She looked at Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, in the same way I might read Shakespeare – interesting and even inspiring but certainly not a Word from the Lord.  I remember the frustration most of us in this class and all of us pastors felt when she tried to teach us something Jesus whom she clearly did not believe.

            That’s the next step.  The Bible teaches us as God revealed himself to us in a deeper way through the incarnation of Jesus Christ.  “In the fullness of time God sent forth his Son.” (Galatians 4:4)  Jesus said, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.”  He is the “word made flesh, full of grace and truth.”  Through Jesus Christ that link to god was established that leads unto salvation.  That’s why Jesus could say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

            It is possible to remain on the surface or close to the shore even in this relationship.  There are those who read the written word and acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior but go no deeper than that.  They stick to the shore.

            Faith is kind of like an iceberg. Just ask anyone who ever saw the movies Titanic and they’ll tell you the biggest part of an iceberg is what you can’t see underwater.  All some people see is what sticks up out of the water.  What they don’t see is most of the ice which lies just beneath the surface.  The Bible for them is only the tip of the iceberg.  Jesus remains a Sunday morning relationship.  They wiggle their toes in the water, but, as one preacher put it, “If you want to walk on the water you have to get out of the boat.”

            The Apostle Paul calls these folks “babes in Christ”.

            Finally there are those who are willing to yield themselves completely to the “Spirit of God”.  The moment we place our faith in the Lord, the Holy Spirit joins our lives and begins the life-long process of transforming us into Christ’s image.  He indwells in us, liberates us from the oppressive power of sin, searches the depths of God, and communicates his thoughts to us as we draw upon his resources.

            In other words, there is a difference between those who are spiritual and those who are unspiritual.

            William Barclay has described this difference as clearly as anyone:

            Paul speaks of the man who is un-spiritual.  He is the man who lives as if there in is nothing beyond physical life, and there are no other needs than material needs; whose values are all physical and material.  A man like that cannot understand spiritual things.  A man who thinks that nothing is more important than the satisfaction of a sexual urge cannot understand the meaning of chastity; a man who ranks the amassing of material things as the supreme end of life cannot understand generosity; a man who has never thought beyond this world cannot understand the things of God.  To him they look foolish.

Unspiritual Man thinks that he will be able to "figure everything out".  Give him enough time, and enough resources and he will solve every problem.  Spiritual man has the humility to know that will never happen.  Revelation demands humility.

            But, I think there is more than was we can see and taste and touch and smell and hear.  I think you do to and that’s why you are here.

            I believe there are matters eternal which extend beyond any horizon and I believe you do to and that’s why you’re here.

            I believe that day by day, decision by decision, we can come closer to the mind of Chris and I think you do to and that’s why you’re here.

            We live in two worlds and the temptation is great to hug the shore line and look out at the horizon and wonder what is beyond. Or we can wade into the waters of faith and swim into the deeper waters of the Spirit and trust God to bring us ho.  We will not reach the other shore until the end of this life, but we will never get there unless we begin the journey now. 

            Lord, there are those who say that spirituality in America is a mile wide and an inch deep.  We pray Lord you lead us by your Spirit to deeper waters.  Help us to understand the profound mysterious to be found in your Word so that we may seek the mind of Christ and better understand ourselves.  This we pray in his name.  Amen