What does God want for you in the new year? Success, prosperity, fame? In 2 Corinthians Paul unpacks some principles that show a different set of priorities that will bring joy in God.
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Reading: 2 Corinthians 1:12 – 2:11
Happy new Year!
Today a new series of Sunday mornings that will take us up to Easter
I want to start with this particular passage because it spoke to me in relation to starting a new year. There are some principles here that I pray will help each of us live for Christ and know joy in Christ in 2013
Joy in God doesn’t come naturally – it’s not part of the natural man! And this series is about finding our joy in God and being equipped to live for him.
There are times when genuine love has to be tough. Any of us who are parents know the sinking feeling when we have to exercise some sort of discipline that “this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you” When love causes pain, it always does so reciprocally – like a boomerang – it hurts the person bringing about the discipline, more than the person on the receiving end.
The Bible is very clear on this
- Hebrews “no discipline seems pleasurable, but afterwards it produces the peaceable fruit of righteousness”
- Discipline in the context of love produces righteousness.
Paul getting tough
Now that’s what Paul is finding it necessary to do in 2 Corinthians. He’s having to be tough with the Corinthian church – and I expect there were moments when he said to himself “this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.”
- He loved the church he had planted in Corinth. He had worked there, planting and growing the church over a period of about 18 months and become their pastor.
- He was proud of the church and they were proud of him.
BUT there were things going on that were undermining God’s work so Paul had to write a very stiff letter to rebuke them about their behaviour and try to bring them back into line with God’s will for them.
Paul was being criticised for (a) writing a tough letter <ppt>
- So there exists a third letter Corinthians in which Paul takes them to task for some immoral behaviour that was being tolerated in the church
Exactly what it was that prompted Paul to write to them so strongly we’re not entirely sure
- Some people think it’s the immoral brother in chapter 7 of 1 Corinthians. But we can’t prove it.
- Neither do we have any copies of this painful letter that Paul wrote to them (although some people think that it’s summarised in chapters 10-13)
What is obvious, however, is that a smear campaign had started against Paul. People were saying “Who does he think he is, saying all this?” So Paul planned to visit Corinth to teach and encourage and (hopefully) put some of this innuendo to rest.
- How do you respond to smears? – by telling the truth dispassionately.
Paul was also being criticised (b) for changing his mind <ppt>
And then Paul unwittingly played into his critics hands by announcing he was changing his plans. His original plan was to come back to Corinth
16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea.
He was going to cross the Agean sea twice and visit them on both journeys – But his plans were interrupted and this riled his critics
- “This Paul!” they said “ writes all this tough stuff and then walks away from us! What kind of pastor is that?!”
So Paul is finding himself in a position where he has to defend himself against detractors!
So how does that work out for us at the beginning of a new year? What underlying principles is Paul living to that will equip us to face life in 2013?
SO how did Paul defend himself because within that defence we find some principles that will help us live for Jesus Christ.
Paul defended himself by saying
I want to live with holiness and sincerity
Paul is being accused of being deceitful, insincere, BUT …
12 Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace.
“this is our boast” – we are going to find Paul talking about boasting several times in 2 Corinthians. It was something, by default, he shied away from, but something which his detractors did really well – showing off!
- And because Paul’s critics are undermining his reputation, he’s really got few options left but to beat them at their own game and justify his ministry by telling them about his achievements.
So here’s our first principle fro the new year that comes out of this passage – live with holiness and sincerity!”
- It may seem that Paul is boasting in order to make himself sound better than he is, but nothing could be further from the truth.
- He’s just telling it like it is.
How does Paul defend himself? He does so by saying
I want to communicate Christ clearly
13 For we do not write to you anything you cannot read or understand.
If Paul had communicated in riddles and euphemisms he would have left his disciples confused and direction-less
- The greatest teaching is usually the clearest teaching
- It may not be technical, it may not contain crafty new ideas, but in order to reach its target it needs to be marked by clarity.
I sometimes hear people say of Christian teaching “Oh it’s ever so deep”
- But when I ask what this paragon of Biblical teaching has said, they can’t tell me!
- So (sometimes) ‘deep’ teaching is nothing more that incomprehensible teaching!
- If you are a preacher here this morning (or a teacher of any sort) here is a principle that I find as unnerving as I find it compelling: To communicate clearly it is essential to understand profoundly
That was Paul
14 … And I hope that, as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Thirdly, how does Paul defend himself? He does it by saying
I want to live in the joy of God’s ‘yes’ in Christ.
17 Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?
How frustrating it is when someone says ‘yes’ but means ‘no’ – that is what Paul is being accused of doing – being fickle
So he defends himself against this accusation of insincerity and (typically) at the same time brings out a theological principle.
In verses 19 and 20 Paul shows why his own life is YES to the Corinthians: It’s, because God has spoken his decisive YES to them in Christ.
19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” (i.e. fickle and unreliable) but in him it has always been “Yes.” 20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.
My heart, says Paul, is not divided or fickle toward you because God’s heart is not divided toward you.
- If you belong to Christ by faith, then everything God could possibly give you for your good he has signed over to your account in Christ.
- You hear the same answer at every point: Is this promise in my account? Yes. Is this promise in my account? Yes. Is this blessing available in my account? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All the promises of God are YES in Christ.
How does Paul next defend himself? By saying
I want to rest your confidence in God’s integrity
The faithfulness of God, living up to his promises demonstrate his integrity
The word ‘integrity’ comes from the root ‘integer’ meaning ‘whole’ (E.g. mathematics the whole numbers are called ‘integers’ – devoid of awkward little additional bits like fractions!)
- So Paul is asserting that his inner world of the motives and drives was consistent with the outer world of his words and actions
This is integrity!
However, for moments when the inner world conflicts with the outer world God has placed within us a moral alarm bell that rings – the conscience
- At that moment we can either turn the alarm off or we can ignore it or we can act on its warning.
On my alarm clock there are two buttons – snooze and off. >>>
I can treat my conscience like that alarm clock – snooze the alarm – and ignore the issue until it rings again.
In 2013 ask that Lord to alert you at moments when there is a danger of living with a crossed conscience. Because it has some spin-offs – let me tell you mine:
It saps us of our spiritual energy
It causes us internal stress
More seriously it dulls our spiritual awareness
Prayer can become merely mechanical – dominated by the shopping list or characterised by desperation
The I find myself failing to respond appropriately to people in need
I suffer from compassion fatigue towards the people who are closest to me –
While preaching on this some years ago I wrote this as a sign of lowered personal integrity. Reading it now still dismays me that I could even think like this:
“Rosi becomes a mere nuisance, the children slip into being appendages I’m content to see from time to time and not valued members of the family with whom I want a deeper relationship”
Most noticeable of all – my love for the Lord becomes jaded
I feel there are some of us here today who have lost our joy in the Lord
Not because of stress, not because of busy-ness, not because of the complexity of life or the welter of decision-making that comes our way
But because we’re living with a Crossed conscience.
You know that and God knows that – you’ll be relieved to know that I don’t!
(although sometimes the Lord breaks the confidence by giving someone in your world an appropriate word of knowledge – and when that comes from someone you love and revere – that’s often God saying “take the hint!”)
Listen – God’s heart yearns for the issues of conscience to be settled
Living with integrity is not a natural phenomenon (it’s supernatural)
– and Paul knew this
We have done so (lived with integrity among you) not according to worldly wisdom but according to God’s grace.
There is wisdom present in this world that can help us to live at peace with ourselves and the inner voice of conscience
Welter of self-help books, programmes, conferences and courses
But they will only ever take you so far.
True integrity has an additional component – God’s grace
Grace => generosity >>>
Integrity involves knowing the true state of my heart
Have any of you ever had an ECG? What is the purpose of it?
IT is to determine the health of the heart. To help find potential problems and to help diagnose future problems.
It is a test of the condition of the heart.
this physical testing of the heart is what God needs to do to us in a spiritual sense. He needs to come in and find out the condition of our heart and fix it before major problems take over!
1 Chronicles 29:17 – I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you.
You see, God is pleased with integrity and examines the heart to see if a person is full of integrity!
Integrity is shown in moments of temptation
What you believe in your heart will determine how you act when placed in a tempting situation.
Newspaper headline “Fairy tale Princes Story Turns Sour After Newlyweds Lose Money.” (So read the headlines of the Daily Herald in Chicago on February 20, 1996).
A newly married couple had left a black zip-up holdall on the roof of their car as they sped away from the reception to begin their honeymoon.
The holdall contained had all their wedding gift money in it – $12,000. By the time they reached their destination it was gone.
Two days later the same newspaper carried headlines to a related story: “Finders Keepers? Not All Believe It!” David Yi, an unemployed suburban resident, had come upon a black bag with $12,000 in cash. In spite of his mounting bills and jobless state, he didn’t keep the money. Tracking the couple down, he returned the full amount. When asked why he turned it al in, he said, “I guess it doesn’t matter whether it’s $50 or $1,000 or $1 million. It doesn’t belong to you.”
Upon investigation, the media discovered that David Yi acting as Good Samaritan was consistent with his overall character. David had found $50 the year before and turned it in as well. When offered jobs because of the exposure he received, Yi said he would only consider jobs he was qualified for. He felt accepting a managerial position for which he was unequipped was dishonest.
You will only be characterised by integrity if you prove to demonstrate it, and that means having the right things in your heart: not being greedy for instance.
Paul was fighting for his own ministry. He felt he needed to justify God’s calling on his life
We are going to have to fight for our faith in the same way that Paul had to fight for his ministry
and he did it by living for Christ.
rejoice in what God has already done in you!
21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
When I go to buy a house I put down a deposit – £100 “Subject to contract” – that is a promise that there’s £100,000 or more to come.
The Holy Spirit is that deposit, given by God in Christ to all his children. There is a promise of much more to come!
Pray >>>
