Good morning again, and welcome to Church of the Advent.
If you're joining us for the first time, my name is Jeff, and I'm one of the pastors here,
and I would love to meet you after the service and get to know you a little bit.
I'll be outside on the steps.
Please come say hello.
Brian Johnson is a billionaire tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist whose mission in life
is to reverse the aging process of his own body and to be able to live longer than human beings
have ever been able to live.
Every day, Brian Johnson follows a strict regimen of diet and exercise, taking over 100 supplements
a day, having blood plasma treatments, skin treatments, and strict sleep protocols.
This is a project that costs him over $2 million a year.
Back in January of this year, Fortune magazine reported that Johnson had hosted Kim Kardashian
and other members of the Kardashian family and influential people, lots of other influential
people, for a don't-die dinner.
It sounds like I'm making this up, but I'm not.
The article said that Johnson has hosted bi-weekly Don't Die dinners for the last few years, and
he has welcomed hundreds of guests, including politicians, astronauts, artists, scientists,
and he says the impetus for the dinners is to provoke conversations about what it means
to be human.
Don't Die is the punchline of the dinner, he says.
The article goes on to say that guests enjoy a meal of broccoli, cauliflower, black lentils,
and nutty pudding, a concoction of various nuts and berries.
And in true Johnson fashion, because sleep needs to be optimized, the dinner wrapped up
at 7.30 that evening.
Most recently, it was reported on multiple news outlets, you can look this up, that due to Johnson's
progress, he now celebrates his biological age every 19 months.
Now, to many of us, I think this probably sounds a bit extreme and honestly a little silly,
but I think you've got to give it to him.
This is someone who has taken the human problem of human mortality very seriously, a problem
that most of us would honestly prefer not to think about on a daily basis.
The fact that there are over a thousand ways that our bodies can break down and get sick
and suffer and die.
Some of us right now know this better than others, but even for the healthiest among us,
it's just a matter of time.
Given enough years and days and months and minutes,
our bodies will eventually break down and stop working.
And you have to give it to him.
Brian Johnson is trying to face this problem of human mortality with incredible hope and
optimism and discipline, and he's trying to inspire others to do the same.
But is there a better way to think about and respond to the human problem of mortality and
frailty and weakness?
The Apostle Paul is someone who not only thought about these things a lot, but he faced them
head on and experienced a great deal of suffering.
He was imprisoned.
He was beaten.
He was shipwrecked.
His life was threatened countless times.
And he had critics who questioned his credibility, critics that he's speaking to here in this letter
in 2 Corinthians.
And his critics believe that if he really was an apostle from God,
he wouldn't experience this kind of bodily frailty and weakness and suffering.
And yet in the middle of that, he has this incredible hope and optimism.
Far beyond the hope and optimism of somebody like Brian Johnson.
And the question is why?
What hope does Christianity offer the world as it relates to human frailty and weakness
and mortality?
And what difference does that make in our lives?
And that's the question that I want to look at this morning, this question of hope.
That's what we're going to look at as we look at our passage in 2 Corinthians 4 and 5.
We're going to look at the hope of present transformation and the hope of future glory.
The hope of present transformation and the hope of future glory.
So first of all, the hope of present transformation.
In verse 16, at the beginning of our passage, Paul says this.
So we do not lose heart.
Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
The fact that our outer self is wasting away, this reality of mortality,
has the potential to drive us to discouragement and even to despair.
And many people have been driven there.
On the other hand, it can drive others like Brian Johnson to,
not to discouragement and despair, but to greater discipline.
To have greater discipline and mastery over his body.
But Paul isn't discouraged about his mortality.
He's not driven to despair.
Nor does he say that the solution is greater discipline or mastery over our bodies.
No, he's filled with hope and encouragement.
He says, for we do not lose heart.
Why?
Because though our outer selves are headed towards a trajectory of breakdown and decay,
our inner selves are headed in precisely the opposite direction,
towards transformation and renewal and healing.
Listen to how Paul describes this inner transformation just a couple chapters earlier in chapter 3, verse 18.
And we behold the glory of the Lord.
As we behold the glory of the Lord,
we are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.
From one degree of glory to another.
Outwardly, our bodies are being changed from one degree of mortality and weakness to another.
But for the Christian who's been filled with the Spirit,
we are inwardly being transformed from one degree of glory to another to look more and more like Christ.
This is a kind of glory that no amount of discipline could ever achieve.
And it's the glory of spiritual transformation and moral beauty.
It's the glory of holiness.
It's the glory of becoming more and more like God.
But even as we think about this,
as we think about our own transformation,
it's easy to get discouraged about that.
The older that I've gotten,
the more I've wondered,
can people actually change?
Can I change?
Can broken relationships be healed?
Can leaders in the public square
live just and morally beautiful lives?
A younger version of myself would probably have been more optimistic
about the answers to these questions.
And I wonder about you.
As you've gotten older,
have you become more encouraged or discouraged
about the possibility of change?
About the possibility of change in your own life
and in the lives of others?
Wherever you're at,
Paul would remind us today that we,
of all people,
should be optimistic in the face of these questions.
Because of the power of the Holy Spirit
that is available to us
to transform us inwardly,
even as outwardly our bodies
have the appearance of wasting away.
By God's grace,
people can change
and live lives of moral beauty
this side of heaven.
Just in the past month,
I have seen this.
I've seen a change happen in my extended family
that, to be honest,
I had lost hope could ever happen.
After years of no communication whatsoever,
I received a text message
from an extended family member
who I thought would never talk to me ever again.
Now, this might sound like
a really simple, unglorious thing,
but some of you have the kind of broken relationships
where you know that there is a depth
and there's a degree of brokenness
where to receive a text message from somebody
would mean that God has done a miracle.
And this is exactly what happened.
I saw real change.
I saw real transformation happen
in somebody in my extended family
that I have a relationship with.
Brian Johnson is seeking outer transformation.
He's seeking the reversal of his age.
But Christianity offers us something
far greater and deeper and profound,
the inner transformation of our humanity
into moral and spiritual beauty,
into Christlikeness,
the reversal of our sin nature.
And this isn't a transformation
that just lasts for the present.
It's a transformation that lasts for all of eternity.
And Paul is clear
that the transformation that we experience in this life
is evidence,
is directly linked to the fact
that we also possess the hope of eternal glory.
And that's what I want to look at next,
is we not only have the hope of present transformation,
but we also have the hope of future glory.
And we see that in the next verse
and the verses preceding.
2 Corinthians 4, verse 17.
Paul says,
For this light and momentary affliction
is preparing for us
an eternal weight of glory
far beyond all comparison.
However we imagine
the beauty and glory of heaven
to be with our finite brains,
our best projections,
our best imaginations
pale in comparison
to what it will actually be like.
Consider what Paul says elsewhere
in 1 Corinthians 2.
He says,
No eye has seen,
nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love him.
We are actually not given
a lot of intricate detail in Scripture
about what heaven will be like.
We do have some glimpses
in some places,
like the book of Revelation.
But actually what we're given more of
and what Paul emphasizes here
in this passage
and in other places
is that we will have
resurrected glorified bodies.
In chapter 5, verse 1,
he compares our current bodies
to a tent.
And he says that we have,
in these tents that we have,
we have this promise
of a greater house,
a greater dwelling,
a building from God,
a house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens.
And then in verse 4,
he mixes these metaphors
of dwelling and clothing.
And he says,
For while we are still in this tent,
we groan,
being burdened,
not that we would be unclothed,
but that we would be further clothed
so that what is mortal
may be swallowed up by life.
Paul is mixing metaphors here
of home and clothing
to make the point
that our transition
from this life
to the next one
isn't going from being clothed
to being naked.
It's not from having a body
to being without a body.
Rather,
it's transitioning
from a lesser body
to a greater,
more glorified body.
From a tent
to a home.
From being clothed
to being further clothed.
From a weak,
frail,
mortal body
to an immortal,
indestructible,
glorified body.
Now,
even though he
doesn't go into great detail
about what this body
will look like,
and sometimes I wish
that Paul did,
this actually helps us
to imagine
how beautiful
and glorious
heaven will be.
Think about
all of the best
experiences
and pleasures
that you have experienced
in your body.
Think about
the best meals
that you have
ever eaten.
Well,
heaven is described
like a great feast,
a wedding supper,
the wedding supper
of the Lamb
between Christ
and the church.
Think about
the most beautiful
experiences
outdoors
in nature
that you've had,
whether it's
a sunset
or a hike
in the mountains
or a day
at the beach.
Our future
is the renewal
of all creation,
the marriage
of heaven and earth.
Think about
the best night's
sleep you've ever
had.
Heaven is
the ultimate
Sabbath rest.
Think about
the best experiences
of art
or music
that you've
ever experienced.
Heaven is described
as a place
of beauty
and glory
beyond all
comparison.
The point is
that the promise
of future glory
isn't a glory
apart from our bodies,
but an embodied
glory
that transcends
all our best
bodily experiences
in this life
and fulfills
the deepest
longings
that we have.
And this is why
Paul is
filled
with hope.
This is why
he repeats
multiple times
in this passage,
we are always
of good courage,
we do not
lose heart
because the promise
of future glory
is more beautiful
than any of us
could possibly
imagine.
And this not only
gives us hope
for the future,
but it transforms
how we think
about our bodies
in the present.
On one hand,
the hope
of the resurrection
of the body
gives us
the greatest
possible affirmation
of the dignity
of what it means
to be human
and to have a body.
But on the other hand,
it also cautions us
not to place
our ultimate hope
in these bodies,
in these tents.
We might not be
billionaires
like Brian Johnson
with $2 million
a year
to spend
on our physical health
and reversing
our aging process
and hosting
don't die dinners
with celebrities.
But we all
to some degree
experience the temptation
to treat these bodies
as our home
and not as a tent.
It's easy for us,
I think,
that we live
in the culture
that we live
in this culture
to base our sense
of self-worth,
to base our ultimate
source of hope
in our physical beauty,
in our health,
in our fitness.
We're surrounded
by images
in marketing
and media
and TV
and movies
that offer
a vision
and a particular
vision
of what it means
to be human
that can lead us
to a certain
kind of idolatry
where we give
physical beauty
and health
and fitness
a place of worship
in our hearts
that only God deserves.
One of the main problems
in a culture like that,
in a culture
that worships beauty
and physical fitness,
is that it has
little to no resources
to help people
face the realities
of physical weakness
and suffering.
The solutions
we come up with
are only for the elite
and for the rich.
See,
if you worship
physical beauty
or health
or fitness,
you'll never be able
to see how physical
suffering
or weakness
or even death
could make you
more beautiful,
could make you
more glorious,
could make you
into a person
of greater spiritual beauty.
Instead,
it will always drive you
to despair
and discouragement.
But if you see
Jesus Christ,
what you see in Jesus
is that you see
a God
who took on a body.
Think about
what it means
for our weak,
frail,
suffering,
dying bodies
that are outwardly
wasting away.
Think about
what it means
that God
took on a body,
a body that was weak,
a body that was frail,
that had limits,
a body that suffered,
a body that died.
Think about the fact
that because God
himself experienced
in his body
all the weaknesses
and frailties
that we experience.
He can use
those things
in our life
to transform us
to be more like him,
to become
more glorious.
And what can bring us
more hope
for our bodies
than the fact
that we are promised
the same transformation
that Christ experienced
in his own resurrection,
a transformation
far beyond
what supplements
and skin treatments
and gym memberships
and mascara
could ever achieve,
a transformation
that doesn't
downplay
or minimize
or ignore
our suffering
and our weakness,
but that in comparison,
in comparison,
makes our suffering
look like
what Paul calls
a light
and momentary
affliction.
And far from being
a hope
that is only
available to the rich
and the elite
and the healthy,
the hope
of the resurrection
of the body
is a hope
that is available
to everyone.
And this is why
Paul is full
of optimism
and hope
in the midst
of his own mortality.
This is why he says
we are always
of good courage,
we do not lose heart.
In these tents
we groan.
But in our groaning
we are always
of good courage
because we have
the hope
of present transformation,
that by God's grace
we can be transformed
by the Holy Spirit
to live lives
of moral beauty
this side of heaven.
And that this
present transformation
is evidence
that we also possess
the hope
of future glory.
And our groaning
is evidence
that one day
our groaning
will end.
That our earthly tent
will become
a heavenly dwelling.
That our tattered rags
will become robes
of splendor.
That what is mortal
will be swallowed up
by life.
as I was reflecting
on all this
this past week
I couldn't help
but continue
to think about
Brian Johnson's
don't die dinners.
Partially because
I thought it was funny
to imagine
the Kardashian family
sitting around the table
with their makeup
and Botox
eating cauliflower
telling each other
to not die.
but more so
because I couldn't
help
but connect it
to the meal
that we receive
each week
at this table.
Now maybe that's
because I'm an
Anglican priest
and because I think
about these things
a lot.
But also I think
there is something
that is connected
to this universal longing
for what is offered
and made available
in the Eucharist.
That in our decaying
frail
mortal bodies
we have this longing
for present healing
and transformation
and also this longing
for future glory
and immortality.
And somehow we know
on an intuitive level
that what we eat
and what we drink
is where we find assurance
that those longings
will be fulfilled.
And if I was there
at that dinner table
at Brian Johnson's house
if you can imagine
me and my collar
sitting next to Kim
and Courtney
what I would want
to invite them
to
and what I want
to invite us to
is this
that the hope
of healing
and immortality
that they are longing
for
that we are all
longing for
isn't in what
we do
to our bodies
it's in what
Jesus does
to our bodies
and nowhere
are we assured
more of this
than in the Eucharist
where Christ
gives us
his own life
his own
body
broken for us
his own blood
shed for us
offered
mystically
and sacramentally
in bread
and wine
the hope
of healing
and transformation
both now
and forever
given
and offered
freely
to bodies
that are
frail
and weak
and sick
and suffering
that through
the suffering
and weakness
of his own body
through the
indestructible glory
of his resurrection
Jesus is the one
who reverses
our aging process
forever
through the power
of the Holy Spirit
and to the glory
of God the Father
and I'd want
to remind
the people
at this table
of these words
therefore
we do
not lose
heart
though our
outer self
is wasting away
our inner self
is being renewed
day by day
for this light
momentary affliction
is preparing
for us
an eternal
weight of glory
beyond all
comparison
as we look
not to the things
that are seen
but to the things
that are unseen
for the things
that are seen
are transient
but the things
that are unseen
are eternal
let's pray
God and Father
we thank you
that in the midst
of the weakness
and frailty
and mortality
of our own bodies
that we have
this hope
that we have
this embodied
hope of the
resurrection
of the body
Lord I pray
that that hope
would fill us
with faith
right now
in the present
to know you
and trust you
and worship you
thank you
that you promise
healing to us
both now
and forever
and thank you
that you offer
your own body
to us
at the table
we pray this
in the name
of the Father
the Son
and the Holy Spirit
Amen