2 Corinthians 13:5

2 Corinthians 13:5  Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.  Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you — unless, of course, you fail the test?  And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.  Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong.  Not that people will see that we have stood the test but that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed.  For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.  We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is for your perfection.  This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority — the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.  Finally, brothers, good-by.  Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace.  And the God of love and peace will be with you.  Greet one another with a holy kiss.  All the saints send their greetings.  May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 

Paul concludes this letter with an apostle's fatherly admonition to a troubled church.  He wants the Corinthians to examine their works to see if they are IN CHRIST or not.  Are they producing the peaceable fruit of the Spirit?  He challenges all of them to live holy lives: Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong.  He desires them to aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace.  Paul as the spiritual father of the Corinthian church wanted his Corinthian children to experience all the good things that his heavenly Father has for them.  He wanted his beloved children to live in Jesus Christ's grace, to love God, and to have a daily communion with the Holy Spirit.  He desired them to be with him in eternity.  The purpose of Paul's life was to father his Gentile children, so they would make it to heaven: to finish the race of life successfully.  

Every biological father should desire the same things for his children.  His life should be so oriented that his children will desire to run the race with God all the way to the end.  As Paul, a Christian father should want his children's lives to be successful IN CHRIST.  He should want his children to  know God and to hear the Holy Spirit's voice inside of them.  He should want his children to live circumspect and holy lives.  Most of all, he should desire his children to finish this race of life successfully: to be with God for eternity.  Paul was a good spiritual father to the Gentile Corinthians. Christian fathers should be good spiritual fathers to their own biological children.  As Paul, Christian fathers need to be steadfast and consistent in their lifestyles.  If they waver, if they fall into sin, if they seek after the world and its goodies, they will lead their children into confusion.  Their children will reap the fathers' sins.  The children will experience the instability that comes from following an undisciplined life.  

Paul constantly reminded the Corinthians to follow me as I follow Christ: look at my life.  What a fearsome responsibility, but that is the natural consequence of being a father.  Young children look up to their fathers and follow them.  When children are very young, their fathers are God-like to them.  They believe everything their fathers say.  They want to be just like their fathers.  When fathers betray that trust, that reliance, they bring their children into great uncertainty, into great conflict.  The wayward father has exposed his child to the devil's wiles, and that child become the devil's workshop.  He loves to work in a confused, troubled atmosphere.  The perplexed children are now open game to be snatched and deceived.  

Therefore Christian fathers, I implore you, be all THAT YOU SHOULD BE IN CHRIST: BE A CONSISTENT example of Christ's grace and POWER.  Live your lives as if the spiritual lives of your children depend on it, for they do.  I once heard a statistic that a huge percentage of children become Christians when their fathers follow Christ, but only a minority of children will follow their mother into Christiandom if the mother is the only Christian in the home.  Fathers are definitely the leaders in the spiritual world.  They can lead their children to Christ, or they can lead their children into confusion and destruction.  In every community, in every nation, fathers are considered the warriors.  They are the ones who are expected to die for the community, the nation.  The question is, Father, what will you die for?   Are you willing to die daily to your own desires and worldliness for your children's sake?   Or will you retreat into your own pleasures and sacrifice your children on that altar of self?  It is your life to do with as you want.  Paul said, I will suffer everything for my children; I will even die for them.  Of course that is what he did.  The Bible says to every father, quit like a soldier.  Otherwise, don't turn and run, die on the battlefield.  Real fathers, real soldiers, don't turn and run.   Love, Dad (Cliff)

(Since we are at the end of 2 Corinthians, I will take a short respite.)

2 Corinthians 13:1-4

2 Corinthians 13:1-4  This will be my third visit to you.  “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”  I already gave you a warning when I was with you the second time.  I now repeat it while absent: On my return I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others, since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me.  He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you.  For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power.  Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him to serve you. 

Paul is warning the Corinthians that his position in Christ as an apostle gives him much authority in God to deal with them.  Even though Jesus seemed weak in the flesh, for he seemingly could not save himself from crucifixion, Jesus was powerful, transforming lives for eternity.  Paul is stating, so am I in Christ.  God has given me power to deal with sin and with people who sin.  In the above passage, Paul is affirming that his weakness in the flesh does not translate to weakness in the Spirit.  When the Jews dealt with Jesus by crucifying him, they thought they had gotten rid of him, that his influence on people would wain, but that wasn't true.  His dying brought a revolution to the world, old ways were put aside by many, and a new life, a new way of living, spawned in millions of people.  Paul is assuring the Corinthians that even though he seems weak, he is not, for God's power in him is transforming lives throughout the Gentile world, and he has power to deal with them and their wayward ways.   

We, who are in Christ, are also imbued with power by God, not power to hurt or to destroy, but power to restore, to heal.  God's power in us transforms us into his sons and daughters.  This is a progressive work.  As we yield to God's authority in us, we become more like Jesus.  Our light shines brighter, and we have more positive influence on the people surrounding us.  Our power is not used to judge or to criticize, our power is to love and to care.  When we are impacted with God's authority, we will use his power to reach out to a dying and sinful world.  We will try to restore and to heal the lost, to build up fellow believers.  But God is always in the driver's seat.  He alone can draw people into the fold.  He alone can bring the reality of Jesus Christ as Lord to their consciousness.  We can only be instruments of his love.  We cannot determine who will hear in their inner being and be restored.  We, in our weakness, must do our part by loving and caring.  God must do the rest.  Jesus is the bread of heaven, but not everyone will partake of him.  Not everyone will drink of his blood and die to this world.  God will be the final determiner of that.  

Paul had a special calling to father many Gentile churches.  He established these churches in Christ, and his mission was to father them into maturity. We, who have a host of witnesses around us, should live our lives in Christ by reliance upon God and the Holy Spirit within us, no matter how weak we think we are.  We should live our lives so people can see Jesus in us.  By doing so, we will have authority in other people's live.  They will allow us to speak into their lives about God's amazing mercy, grace, and love.  If they accept his call, God will transform them into new creatures.  Therefore, as Paul, we should seek to minister to others and to be spiritual fathers and mothers to those who need us.  Also as Paul, regardless of our weakness, if we trust God and allow him to use us, we will be able to say to those in need, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him to serve you.

2 Corinthians 12:20-21

2 Corinthians 12:20-21  For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be.  I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.  I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged. 

For most of 2 Corinthians, Paul has been defending his apostleship to the church of Corinth and his strong letters to them, especially a second letter that we do not have in the Bible.  Paul knew false prophets and licentious living were corrupting the Corinthian church.  Therefore, his concern for them was great.  He did not want his work in Corinth to come to nothing.  His letters to the Corinthians were strong and straightforward, but enveloped in love.  Yet he was still afraid that when he got to Corinth, his coming would expose great strife amongst them: quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.  He was also afraid he would find them not having repented of their licentiousness: impurity, sexual sin and debauchery.   

When the gospel of Christ is perverted in us or in a community of believers, sin flowers.  Sin takes advantage of strife.  As Christians we have to be careful when we find our spirits teeming with dissension, anger, arrogance, and disorder.  We have to be careful when we find ourselves impatient with people deserving our love and respect.  The Bible indicates we should possess the peaceable works of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control), not the disrupting, corrosive spirit of the world.  When we allow sin in the door through our emotions, we allow all kinds of damage to enter our families, the church, and the world.  We allow Satan to have freewill in damaging our lives and the lives of others.  Such choices will surely lead to destruction and hopelessness outside of Christ and the power of the cross.  

Paul is also talking about licentious behavior in the church.  He is telling the Corinthians that they should repent of these kinds of sins (impurity, sexual sin and debauchery), for they are sins against the body of Christ.  All sexual sins announce infidelity to Jesus Christ to the world.  When we are "saved," we are married to Christ.  We become his bride.  We establish a covenant with him when we say yes to Jesus Christ.  Therefore, when we participate outwardly in sexual sins, we directly violate our covenant, which says we are one with him.  The children of Israel were severely chastised for this sin of whoring after other gods.  God's love towards the wayward Israelites was so great that He kept forgiving them and restoring them to himself, but finally He allowed them to be dispersed throughout the world as a punishment for their infidelity.  In the New Testament the church is described as the bride.  The bride is holy because of the work of the cross, but sexual impurity brings a lie to that work.  Sexual sin announces to the world that we are not ONE WITH CHRIST, that we do not want to keep our covenant to him.   Our "yes" to Christ becomes a "no."  

Paul beseeches the Corinthians to repent of sexual sins, for they represent separateness from Christ.  Of course, Paul knew repenting would bring holiness again to their lives, for Christ' love is so great that it covers a multitude of sins.  However, repenting means saying, "Yes," to Christ, saying to him, "I am yours.  You are mine."  Without repenting, the covenant is broken.  The covenant breaker has said overtly before the world, "I want another lover, not you."  Paul is begging the Corinthians to rid themselves of the sin in their midst, for it is dangerous to their souls.  Of course, we are found IN CHRIST only if we want to be there.  Just as in a marriage, we are found IN A MARRIAGE only if we want to be there.  Without being in Christ we are lost, under the horrible judgement of God.  “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  Now remain in my love.  If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love."  (John 15:9-19)  God's plan and perfect will is that we remain in him and He in us.  We must not fail to enter in to him, our Sabbath Rest, because of sin or unbelief.

2 Corinthians 12:14-19

2 Corinthians 12:14-19  Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you.  After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.  So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well.  If I love you more, will you love me less?  Be that as it may, I have not been a burden to you.  Yet, crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery!  Did I exploit you through any of the men I sent you?  I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with him.  Titus did not exploit you, did he?  Did we not act in the same spirit and follow the same course?  Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you?  We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening. 

This can be a difficult scripture for believers, for within it is a good description of love, God's love.  After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.  So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well.  Of course this is not about money it is about a total commitment of self to the people we are supposed to love.  I once met with a Christian man who was having severe family problems during several weeks of a men's Bible study.  In those sessions, we talked about a Christian's commitment to love his wife and children.  Towards the end of our meetings, I noticed he became very edgy and noncommittal.  Finally, he said, "Cliff, when do I have time for myself?  When do I fulfill my desires?  When do I live my life?  He walked away from those Bible studies fully intending to LIVE HIS OWN LIFE, to place his life before his wife and children.  When he came to me, he wanted help for his life; his relationships were all messed up.  However, he wanted everyone to change but him.  He left me on the last day of Bible study sad, for he did not want to give his whole life to God.  He was like the rich young man who sadly left Jesus because he was not willing to give up his life (his possessions) and follow Jesus completely.  The family of this man that I counseled did end up in a train wreck.  He stubbornly chose his life, his will, his needs, but his family reaped chaos and sorrow.  

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.  (1 John 3:16)  God's love is a covenant love, a grace love, something similar to having a child born in your home.  You love that child regardless of his temperament, abilities, or potential.  You love the child because he or she is yours, simply because the child exists.  Immediately, you establish in your heart a covenant with your child: "I will love you regardless, for you are mine."  From that time on you don't abandon the child.  You give your child all you have: all your strength, all your ability, all your will, all your possessions to make that child the best he or she can be.  Your love is a covenant, established in love forever.  

Jesus laid down his life, all that He had, for us.  We ought to love in the same way.  This is often difficult for Americans, for we have been taught not to love others as we love ourselves.  We have been taught me first, and sadly to say sometimes me only.  However, if we have anything left over, we will love others too.  We find that self-centered, seductive philosophy propagated through advertisements, through celebrity worship,  through extolling "party time," and so one.  We are sold the message TO BE ALL THAT WE CAN BE in life.  We are to get the most out of life FOR OURSELVES.  Love, enduring commitment, is not in vogue.  But fleshly ATTRACTION, lust misnomered as love, is in vogue.  In America, sin dances on center stage.  Materialism, sexual salaciousness, self-gratification take up even the thoughts of Christians as we buy into the great American Dream.  As Eve, we hear Satan say, “Did God really say. . ."  (Genesis 3:1)  "Did God really say that you can't have it all, that you can't live as you please, that you can't partake of everything you see in the Garden?  Did God really say that you should live as He directed?"  And as Christians, did Jesus really say that you must emulate him, that you must show this world his life, his love, his will?  

Paul says in the above scriptures, Children should not save up for their parents; parents save up for the children.  Children are to be cared for by their parents; God's children in the world are to be cared for by the church.  Paul said as a spiritual father to the Corinthians, I will spend all that I have for them, and I will dedicate my whole life to them.  Even as Jesus Christ dedicated his life to me to the point of death, I will do likewise to those I am supposed to love.  This directive is very difficult for many American Christians, for we have been taught a lie by Satan himself.  We have been taught to live for ourselves, to be all that we can be, regardless of the cost to others.  This is not the way of the cross.  We must repent and live for Christ.  We must love because He first loved us.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

2 Corinthians 12:7-10  To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my (the Lord's) power is made perfect in weakness.  The questions are:  What is the Lord's power, and what does it do?  The Lord's power is the miraculous transforming presence that affects our spirits for the better and makes our lives for Christ shine brighter in a dark world.  We become more like Jesus Christ in our day-to-day walk.  Christians often pray to be more like Jesus, to be stronger, better Christians, more dedicated, more powerful in prayer.  I wonder if we really would pray that way if we knew the cost, if we knew the answer would come through the venues of weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties.  We might quickly say the cost is too great.  The deeper, more dependent walk in Christ might not be that important to us.  We might say the cost of being a Paul is too great--to have our testimony sharpened, highlighted for the Lord.  THE COST IS JUST TOO GREAT.  

One thing that I have learned as I have walked with the Lord for over 50 years: maturity and eldership do not come without a cost.  Spiritual insight does not come without a cost.  Ministry does not come without a cost.  If you desire more of Christ, you will suffer.  You will experience times of great stress, times when you think you have lost your spiritual moorings, times when you are sure all is lost.  Depth in Christ like does not come by strolling down Easy Street.  When we are filled with the fruits and the goodies of the world, we tend to settle down spiritually.  We are satisfied with the status quo.  Our lives are not discernible from the world.  Then our living testimony is to gain the most from this world.  Our spiritual, eternal selves soon become anemic.  We no longer anticipate the Lord's coming.  We like it where we are.  Sadly, we say to ourselves, we have to die someday, but we hope that is far in the future, for we are comfortable and secure here.  Spiritual depth comes from fighting spiritual battles, by desperately depending on the battle plan devised by God and obeying his voice.  Then, and only then, do we see the cross.  We see Jesus' walk, his love, his covenant.  

A life of ease will never develop elders that the church or people can depend on.  No, Christ's power, his ability to change us, works best in our weaknesses, works best when we face the problems of the world.  Christianity works best when we are backed into a corner and there is no way out but up through the power of the cross.  Then our spirits begin to pray in earnest.  Paul prayed three times to be delivered, three times not to be devoured by his weakness.  But God said to him, "I am powerfully in you when you face this difficulty head on.  My grace is sufficient for you."  Children of God, may we let our lives shine whether we are on the mountain of victory or in the valley of distress.  Often our lights glow best when we are experiencing the most problems in our lives.  Then, our lights are most dependent on the loving grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus.  Then, we need his power perfected in our difficulties.  WE NEED HIM TO BE OUR LIFE, AND WE KNOW THAT HE WILL NEVER FAIL US OR FORSAKE US.  We have learned to rejoice in the struggles of this life, for we serve a God who makes his strength perfect in our weaknesses.

2 Corinthians 12:1-6

2 Corinthians 12:1-6  I must go on boasting.  Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.  I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven.  Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know — God knows.  And I know that this man — whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows — was caught up to paradise.  He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.  I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.  Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth.  But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. 

In this passage to avoid appearing self-centered, Paul switches to the third person rather than using his own voice and says: I know a man in Christ.  He is still defending his credentials as an apostle, and especially as an apostle to the Corinthians.  He says he will boast about a man who has had a marvelous vision, but he will not boast in this man's presumed position in Christ or even in his special insight and knowledge about spiritual things.  He will glory only in God's work, not man's work or his ability.  If he boasts at all in the flesh, he will boast how God uses a man with so many weaknesses.  Paul understood he was an instrument in the hands of God, and that his loving Father was using every part of him, even his weaknesses.  Isn't it exciting to know that God is willing to use every part of us for his glory if we are willing to give ourselves over to him completely?  God loves and accepts us for who we are.  He works on our weaknesses, and He glories in our strengths, but He is able to use both.  “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (vs 9)

God wants to use us.  None of us are too scarred, too physically or emotionally hurt, for God not to use us.  He desires Christians who will present their minds and bodies as living sacrifices to him, just as Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.  (Romans 12:1)  If we do so, He will use every experience that we have ever had as we commit all to him.  He will even use the experiences that we have had in the past that we believe are too horrible, too awful, too sinful for him to receive any glory from them, but God will use everything.  He can turn the bad into good.  We might not have a wonderful vision from fourteen years ago for God to use; instead, we might have an affair, an abortion, or an abusive relationship to offer to him, but He will use everything that is consecrated to him.  My wife, Jacqueline likes to say, "God does not waste our pain if we invest it in the kingdom of heaven."  This is true.  

As Christians we boast in the fact that God can use even our weaknesses, our failures, our past for his glory.  He can take the worst of us and transport us to the third heaven in a vision as He did the villainous Paul, the persecutor, the murderer.  Paul sought to destroy the living body of Christ, the church--God himself, but God forgave him and made Paul a powerful instrument for good in his hands.  We, too, are powerful instruments for good in God's hands.  Our lives, past and present, are powerful instruments in his hands when they are totally committed to Christ.  Our unique  personalities, even our difficult temperaments, are effective tools in his hands when they are committed to him.  We are lights to a dying world.  We are those who reveal God's love to a loveless world, a hopelessly lost world.  In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.  (Matthew 5:16)  Let your light shine without reservation; give your life in its totality to God.  Let your weaknesses and strengths be used by a loving God.  He wants you to shine, to take your place in the body of Christ.  Don't let your reflection on the bad things in your life take away from the good that He desires to do in your life.  You are his child, the sheep of his pasture.

2 Corinthians 11:30-33

2 Corinthians 11:30-33  If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.  The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying.  In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me.  But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands. 

Acts 8:1  And Saul was there, giving approval to his death.  On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 

The imagery of Paul being lowered in a basket from a window to escape the governor of Damascus is quite a dramatic one, yet somewhat perplexing.  Why didn't Paul and the believers in Damascus just ask God to prevent the governor from harassing Paul, so Paul could walk out the front door?  Didn't Jesus say, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.  Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?"  (Matthew 7:7-10)  Is the above scene at Damascus one clouded with unbelief?  Are these believers and Paul faithless?  Don't they know Jesus' words?  And why did the Christians in Jerusalem scatter?  Why didn't they just pray for God's safety and remain in Jerusalem?  

Many of us in America, especially in the media church, would say, they should have had more faith; they shouldn't have had negative thoughts; they should have created a positive reality with their WORDS OF FAITH.  And for sure, if they lacked faith, they should have tarried longer in prayer until they had enough faith to believe God would protect them.  This is the ministry that many "prosperity preachers" preach today.  If this kind of ministry is valid, Paul would not have had to be lowered out the window, and the Jerusalem church would have not been scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.  Prayer is important, prayer moves God's hand, but prayer does not supersede God's providence, nor does it always change the consequences of a sinful world.  Christians work within God's economy.  We work within HIS WILL, not ours.  Do bad things happen to good people?  Yes, the above scriptures reveal that.  Sin is in the world.  But God made something good come out of both situations.  Paul's escape allowed him to further propagate the gospel to the Gentiles.  Many Samaritans became Christians because they heard the "good news" from those who escaped Jerusalem.  In both difficult instances, faith was in action, even in the fleeing.  They wanted to live another day to testify of the "good news."  

Paul and the Jerusalem Christians escaped to safer places so they might survive to spread the gospel another day.  The gospel has, and always will be, spread by faith in ACTION.  Paul would not have gone from one town to the next if he felt that Jesus was not the Savior.  This strong belief motivated him to travel many dusty roads and many long miles to preach the gospel to the barbaric Gentiles.  In fact, his faith was so great he was willing to do anything to further the gospel of Christ, even allowing himself to be lowered in a basket from a window, not a very pleasant or positive experience for anyone.  In Samaria the people heard the gospel from fleeing Christians who were full of faith in spite of their negative flight from Jerusalem.    

We see in the above difficult situations that something good came from them.  Evil did not win the day, for God is on a mission of doing good.  Well then, what about our ask, seek, and knock verses?   We ask, seek, and knock for the living bread, HIS LIFE in us.  Jesus said these words while giving the Sermon on the Mount.  He is telling us that we should ask, seek, and knock for his life, his characteristics, his will.  And He said, we will receive as a child would receive good things from his father.  We will receive his likeness through the fulness of the Holy Spirit.  What then will happen in our lives?  We will live our lives for Christ regardless of the circumstances, for we will hear his voice in us; we will hear him say, "I will be with you regardless of the city or the circumstances.  I AM LIFE ETERNAL."  Will things always be the way we want in our lives?   No, but we can be confident in his provision: He will make good out of that which was meant to harm us, for we are his children of faith.  And by faith we will run from city to city, sharing the gospel message, until we reach the eternal City of God.

2 Corinthians 11:21-29

2 Corinthians 11:21-29  What anyone else dares to boast about — I am speaking as a fool — I also dare to boast about.  Are they Hebrews?  So am I.  Are they Israelites?  So am I.  Are they Abraham’s descendants?  So am I.  Are they servants of Christ?  (I am out of my mind to talk like this.)  I am more.  I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.  Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move.  I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.  I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.  Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.  Who is weak, and I do not feel weak?  Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? 

Paul tells the Corinthians he is speaking as a fool for he has been pressed to boast as he justifies his apostleship to the Corinthian church.  In the above passage, he relates in much detail the adverse and demanding experiences he has endured to preach the gospel to them and to others.  He wants the Corinthians to compare his credentials with the lives of those who now falsely claim to be their spiritual fathers.  Sadly, Paul feels he has to do this to regain the Corinthians' respect and allegiance to him as their spiritual father.  He wants to open up their eyes to the truth.    

In looking at Paul's experiences, one quickly notices that Paul's life wasn't easy.  He didn't seem to win the proverbial white house in the country with the white picket fence around it.  His portrayal of his life doesn't seem to fit the bucolic scene that so many American Christians have in their minds once they give their lives to Christ.  Paul's life experiences were just the opposite of what many people want when they decide to follow Christ.  Where in Paul's experience is the aspect that God wants you to be all that you can be in your life?  Where is the surplus of goods and money in Paul's account?  Where in Paul's life is the physical and material security that people so often seek?  Where is the fulfillment of all Paul's natural earthly desires and goals?  In today's passage it sounds as if Paul died to his earthly desires and wants.  He seemed not to be worried about how many touchdowns he scored or whether he earned the applause of the world.  His basic concern in life revolved around doing the will of God and following his leading.  He was committed to serving God no matter the cost.  Paul had one life to live, and that life was yielded to God; he sacrificed his life for Christ; he died daily.  Paul boasted in one thing and that was his service to God.  By serving God completely, even recklessly, he validated himself as a true apostle, the true spiritual father of the Corinthians.  And this boast was made only in desperation to win a people back to the truth.

Are we this committed?  Probably not.  But God is still asking for our lives--our substance, our time, our everything!  He asks us to be willing and faithful servants regardless of personal tragedies and experiences.  He asks us to reach out to others even when we experience pain in our own circumstances.  This is the will of God that we should have the mind of Christ: who even though he was God, willingly gave himself and suffered for humanity.  Christ willingly went to the cross and gave his life for mankind.  Paul proved his apostleship to the Corinthians by his willingness to give his life for them.  We need to be like minded.  Is that possible?  Only if we stay close to the Lord and hear his voice.  He will direct us, He will lead us, He will choose our life's course.  Is it difficult for us to completely give our lives to Christ?  Yes, for our flesh still desires the bucolic scene, the one of peace, the one void of difficulties.  We want to see the end of the road in this idyllic environment, drawing our blankets around our bodies in peaceful contentment.  We surely don't want to end our lives in Rome or on a cross on some barren hillside.  But that is not the way of a Christian; a believer is committed to Christ regardless.  We must realize that in commitment and true surrender comes real contentment and true peace.

2 Corinthians 11:16-21

2 Corinthians 11:16-21  I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool.  But if you do, then receive me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting.  In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool.  Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast.  You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise!  In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face.  To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!  What anyone else dares to boast about — I am speaking as a fool — I also dare to boast about.

Today's passage is the beginning of a somewhat challenging section of Paul's second letter to the church at Corinth, for he seems to step out of character for a little while and to focus attention upon himself, much more than we usually see in Paul's writings.  Perhaps this focus comes from his desperation over their situation, perhaps it stems from an attempt to wake them up, but for sure we know it comes from his abiding love for these people that he considers his spiritual children.  Here we find a father willing to speak as a fool if that is what it takes to bring his children back on the right path.  He is going to recite to them a laundry list of his qualifications to regain their allegiance and respect, but before he does, he makes it clear that this may be the world's way of doing things, a fool's way, and perhaps not God's way.  He says that if I spoke as God would speak I would not need to boast, but since you are so impressed with the ways of the world, since you have been enticed by foolishness and willingly put up with fools, then I will abandon the gentle ways of my Lord and react as those you now respect and those who have enslaved and exploited you.

Paul seems to be putting into practice what he wrote in his earlier letter, To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.  To the weak I became weak, to win the weak.  I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.  (1 Corinthians 9:21-22)  He satirically says if you are so wise as to allow these false teachers into your lives out of respect for their qualifications, then look at mine.  If you are willing to let them abuse you and misuse you and thwart the advancement of the true gospel because you think they are important people, then consider my life and my experiences.  He writes he will dare to do that, meaning this is out of his comfort zone, and I believe it was.  Paul would not be inclined to focus their attention on his life, but he is so upset at this point that he truly is willing to do whatever it takes to win them back to the truth.  I think this cost him a great deal, and that is why he even calls himself a fool and uses such stern language towards people he loves dearly.  This is a crucial moment in his plea to their spiritual integrity, and Paul through the discernment of the Spirit knows that.

There are times in all of our lives when we become very frustrated with life, frustrated with circumstances that we can't seem to change or with people we love who are making choices that we know will not result in good fruit in their lives.  At those times, we may be tempted to react out of anger or some other negative human emotion.  In those times, we need the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit.  We need the Lord to show us how to react in love and how to let the fruit of the Spirit come forth from our lives in abundant supply.  Sometimes that is easy and natural; other times we have to depend moment by moment upon the strength and power of the Lord--Christ in us the hope of glory.  Although Paul protests to the Corinthians that he is speaking foolishly, in today's passage and the verses that we will study next, I do not see a foolish man revealed before my eyes.  I see a man sold out to his Lord, a man who has given all, a man who has willingly paid the price again and again and again.  If he was a fool, he was a fool for Christ.  We all struggle, and when we do, I pray we will follow Paul's example and be able to say to those in our sphere of influence, "Follow me as I follow Christ."  If we are fools, let us be fools for the Lord.  Love, Mom (Jacqueline, filling in for Dad who is getting grandkids off to school this morning)

2 Corinthians 11:13-15

2 Corinthians 11:13-15  For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.  And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.  It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.  Their end will be what their actions deserve.

Mark 4:15  Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 

In the above passage, Paul is attacking the Satanic spirit embedded in these false prophets.  These false teachers were confusing the message of grace and stealing the purity of the gospel from the Corinthian church.  Paul refers to Satan as the great deceiver, the great schemer; he will do anything to lead men away from the "Good News."  Satan does not want the light of Christ do flourish in the hearts of men.  One of his best schemes to distract men from the message of grace and mercy in Christ is religion.  Many times, people who ply the trade of  religion do masquerade as angels of light.  They claim to bring light and life, but instead they bring bondage and death.  They play to man's innate self-willed attitude.  This self-willed religious attitude usually wishes to garner God's approval by obeying lifestyle strictures or the letter of the law.  

This spirit tends to say, "Just give me the rules and I will follow them.  You don't have to worry God, I can find righteousness on my own if I know the way.  Just give me the rules and then watch me follow and fulfill those rules.  I will show you that I can rule myself; you don't even have to be involved."  However, if the Old Testament teaches us anything, it teaches us that man is a natural lawbreaker.  Man's basic, sinful tendency is to violate laws, even good laws.   Man's sinful, lawbreaking nature will always surface regardless of how good the rules are (as any one of you can attest to about speeding laws).  Man is a natural lawbreaker; the Bible says everyone has gone his OWN WAY.  

We see religious men throughout the world captivated by this philosophy of pleasing God through their own efforts.  They will even deprive themselves of the amenities of life to please the God they serve.  We even see them beating their own bodies, hurting and cutting their bodies to achieve some sacred goal.  Man's basic stubborn will is to show God that he can please him through his own efforts.  Man desires to prove that he doesn't need grace--he just needs a divine road map to rescue himself from himself.  Show me the way and I WILL DO IT.  But even the angels knew man's fallen nature would never be redeemed through his own efforts.  There had to be another plan to deliver this trapped, degenerate man from himself.  

The Bible reveals that Christ and the cross is that plan.  He alone has the power to release people from their sins, to make mankind right with God.  So Christ came to "SAVE" mankind.  He came to redeem the unredeemable.  In the Corinthian church, Paul was battling with many different spirits, some very carnal spirits: sexual sins, deceitfulness, and the like, but the spirit of Judaism (following the Law to be righteous) was probably the most potentially damaging one of them all.  So Paul was very forthright in dealing with these false prophets.  We must always recognize that because we are IN CHRIST, we are IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, we ARE HIDDEN IN HIM.  There we are safe, secure, and free.

2 Corinthians 11:7-12

2 Corinthians 11:7-12 Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about.

Paul was not taking any remuneration from the Corinthians for his teaching. Of course, to financially support a teacher for his instruction was a customary procedure at that time. But Paul did not want the Corinthians to say that he was preaching the gospel for a living; he did not want anything to hinder the purity of his work in their church. Nevertheless, the false prophets claimed that Paul did not really love the Corinthians as equals, for if he did love them like that, he would demand remuneration from them as he would any other community that he respected. Paul, of course, says that is foolishness because he loves the Corinthians so much that he does not want anything to distract them from wholeheartedly receiving the message of redemption. Paul cut the ground from underneath those false prophets who were probably teaching for status or for money alone.

We always need to evaluate carefully the reasons we are doing something for the Lord. As a young Christian, I was encouraged by many pastors to seek out the lost and to win their souls to Christ. Many times their basic message consisted of condemnation if I didn't do all I should do in seeking the salvation of people. I felt condemned and ineffectual in my Christian life. I felt guilty about not giving all my free time to the Lord for delivering people out of darkness. As I look back on those times, I realize I was trying to win my soul's place in heaven rather than other people's place in heaven by trying to convert them. I was seeking my security, not theirs. I wasn't functioning out of love for them; I was functioning out of fear and obligation. When we have that spirit in witnessing, no wonder people are so quick to close the door to us. They know it is about us, not them. We are trying to win our way to heaven by using them. Sometimes as Christians, we feel if we get so many "saved," then we are in a better relationship with God; we are doing the "right thing." However, if witnessing, if testifying, is about us and our eternal security, there is little love in the activity.

Paul is telling the Corinthians that he is serving out of love for them. He is not doing anything for his own best interests, what is right for him. He doesn't even want to take money from them because he doesn't want anything to motivate him other than his great love for them. When we deal with people, we need to pray for that love. God's love transforms us. Our own love for people can sometimes be degrading, for we are not really loving them for who they are if we are placing our interests above theirs. This kind of love is usually easily detectible, for it will get discouraged quickly if things don't go our way. A love that is transforming is an abiding love, an eternal love, one that never quits--God's love. A love initiated from the heart of man is a temporary love, a fleeting love that will quit easily. Paul loved the Corinthians so much that he endured all kinds of humiliation and pain. He definitely placed their interests above his interests. This is the love we want, loving others as God loves us.