Complexity to Clarity
From Complexity to Clarity
2 Corinthians 5:16–20
Guest Speaker: Stacy Jones • Schrader Lane Church of Christ • June 22, 2026
Three Movements of the New Creation
- Race, politics, or socioeconomic status
- Past failures or reputation
- Appearance or outward behavior
"What God does TO you, He is intending to do THROUGH you. The same comfort He gives you — He wants you to give to others."
— Stacy Jones, Schrader Lane VBS 20264 Ways to Live This Out
Stop Sorting
See every person as a soul — not a category
Tell Your Story
Your testimony is evidence of what God can do
Stay on the Altar
Keep yourself available to God's ongoing work
Carry the Message
Ambassadors don't rewrite the message they carry
Barry's Bureau | Inspired by Stacy Jones's sermon at Schrader Lane Church of Christ — 2026 Vacation Bible School
During Schrader Lane's 2026 Vacation Bible School, guest speaker Stacy Jones delivered a penetrating message from 2 Corinthians 5:16–20 that cuts through life's complexity with one clarifying truth: when Christ makes you new, He commissions you new. Being connected to Christ is never a destination — it is a deployment.
From Complexity to Clarity: Connected to Christ, Sent to the World
Life Gets Complicated — But God Has a Word for That
Have you ever felt like life just piles on? Like the complications come faster than the clarity? You start each week with good intentions, and somewhere between Monday's challenges and Friday's fatigue, you find yourself wondering what your faith is actually supposed to look like in the middle of all of it.
You are not alone. Life, as guest speaker Stacy Jones reminded us during Schrader Lane's 2026 Vacation Bible School, has a way of being exactly what it is. As he put it with characteristic candor: "Life be life in the way that life does — and all you got to do is keep on living." That is not pessimism. That is pastoral honesty. And it is the exact setup God uses to cut through the noise.
Because when Paul writes to the church at Corinth — a congregation defined by dysfunction, misunderstanding, and complexity — he does not offer them more programs or cleaner systems. He offers them a Person. And that Person changes everything.
The Theological Runway: God Does Things To You So He Can Do Things Through You
Before we land in 2 Corinthians 5:16–20, we need the runway. The book of 2 Corinthians opens with one of its defining themes: God comforts His people in affliction — not just for their benefit, but so they can comfort others. This is not a minor point. This is the architecture of the Christian life.
Jones framed it this way: "God does things to you so that he can also do things through you." The same comfort that steadies you in your storm is meant to flow from you to someone else who is still drowning. When we hold God's blessings close and refuse to let them travel, we short-circuit the very circuit God designed.
And lest we start feeling a little too important in that equation, Paul delivers a corrective: we have this treasure in earthen vessels. In other words, we are cracked pots. All of us. No matter how many years we have sat in a pew, no matter how many Bible classes we have taught — we are cracked pots carrying precious cargo. The power has never been in the container. The power is in the contents. The emphasis belongs on the gospel, not the messenger.
A New Person Sees the World Differently
Now we arrive at verse 16, and it lands like a thunderclap: "From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh." (2 Corinthians 5:16, ESV)
When you are genuinely connected to Christ, you stop sorting people by the categories the world hands you. Jones named them plainly: skin color, political affiliation, socioeconomic status, reputation, past failures. We are all guilty of this kind of flesh-based accounting. We see someone's exterior — what they are wearing, where they are from, what they have done — and we make a judgment about what they deserve.
But Jones offered a piercing illustration. He recalled a young woman at his home congregation who dressed in a way that caused people to draw immediate conclusions about her character. The church treated her accordingly. And yet she was one of the only ones living with integrity. The congregation was responding to who they thought she was, rather than who God was already making her to be. The outside had not yet caught up with the inside.
That is the danger of regarding people according to the flesh. You respond to the old when God has already declared the new. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV) The new has come — past tense, present reality. Sometimes the outside just needs space and grace to catch up.
"You are saved and being saved all at the same time. Which means that sometimes your character has got to catch up with your calling."
— Stacy Jones, Schrader Lane VBS 2026
You Have a Title, a Message, and a Mission
The text does not stop at identity. It moves immediately to assignment. God reconciled us to Himself through Christ — and then handed us the ministry of reconciliation. We were made friends with God, and now we are sent to invite others into that same friendship.
The word Paul uses is ambassador. Jones unpacked it with weight: "Your position is not your own. What you represent is not yourself." An ambassador does not freelance. An ambassador does not attach personal preferences to the official message. An ambassador carries the message of the one who sent them — fully, faithfully, and without editorial additions.
That means the gospel is not Jesus-plus. Not Jesus and your dress code. Not Jesus and your political identity. Not Jesus and your cultural expression. It is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ — and that alone is where the power of God unto salvation resides. Every time we add our own requirements to the gospel, we fail our assignment.
Jones closed with the story of John Newton — a man who once participated in the slave trade, who once looked at people made in the image of God and saw them as cargo. But when grace grabbed hold of him, his perspective was transformed so completely that he penned the words we still sing today: "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me." What God did to Newton, He then did through Newton. The same pattern holds for you and me.
4 Ways to Live as a Connected-and-Sent Believer
- Stop sorting people by the flesh. The next time you categorize someone by their appearance, past, or political label, ask: do they have a soul that needs saving? Start there instead.
- Tell your story. Testimony is not weakness — it is evidence. Share the mistakes, the missteps, and the grace that met you anyway. That is the best advertisement for what God can do in someone's life.
- Stay on the altar. Sanctification is a process. Keep yourself available to God's ongoing work so your character can continue catching up with your calling.
- Carry the message without editing it. Check what you are actually presenting to people. Is it the gospel, or is it the gospel plus your preferences? Ambassadors do not rewrite the message.
📺 Listen & Learn More
This message was delivered by Stacy Jones during Schrader Lane Church of Christ's 2026 Vacation Bible School. Explore related study tools — including the interactive quiz and study game for this lesson — at BarrysBureau.org. Dive deeper into the book of 2 Corinthians with our growing library of Bible study resources.
Your Reflection Challenge
Here is the question Stacy Jones left hanging in the air — and it is worth sitting with: How many people are still waiting to be found, and it is you who could show them the way?
You have been reconciled. You have been commissioned. You carry something the world desperately needs — not because you are perfect, but because you are willing to be a cracked pot that stays on the altar.
This week, identify one person you have been regarding according to the flesh. Pray for them. And then take one step toward sharing the message that changed you.
What stood out most to you from this message? Drop a comment below, share this post with someone who needs it, and visit BarrysBureau.org for the quiz, study game, and more resources to go deeper.
Join us for worship at Schrader Lane Church of Christ or visit BarrysBureau.org for more resources.
Barry's Bureau • VBS 2026
From Complexity to Clarity
Test your knowledge of this powerful message from 2 Corinthians 5:16–20.
7 questions • Immediate feedback • Certificate upon completion
Question 1 of 7
Quiz Complete!
True or False Challenge
From Complexity to Clarity
Based on Stacy Jones's message from 2 Corinthians 5:16–20
- 🎮 8 rounds — True or False statements from the sermon
- ✅ Tap TRUE or FALSE for each statement
- 💬 Immediate feedback with a brief explanation
- 🏆 See your final score at the end
Round 1 of 8