Beware!

Today marks the end of our series ‘Equipped to live’ looking at 2 Corinthians

We’ve looked at such topics as

the wonder of God’s plans for our lives – to be equipped to live for him (ch 1)
how to minister to one another in the power of Holy Spirit (ch 2)
how to be resilient when life’s hassles come our way (a vital spiritual skill for today!) (ch 6)
generosity in a mean world and how being generous actually reflects what God is like (ch 8-9)
Paul’s thorn in the flesh and how God’s grace strengthens us when we’re weak (ch 12)

See www.whites.me.uk

In the last chapter of the book Paul changes gear a bit and gives them some warnings.

beware a fertile grapevine

12:20 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 discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. 21 I am afraid that when I come again … I will be grieved over many who have … not repented of impurity, sexual sin and debauchery.

This was not a perfect church (and neither is ours)

However Paul knew (as any contemporary church leader knows) that reports of ungodly activity can get blown out of all proportion

E.g. … “I’m telling you this so you can pray about it!” what actually it’s little more than rumour-mongering!

e.g. >>>!

So what remedy does Paul suggest?

13:1This will be my third visit to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”

This was the OT way of establishing a fact as true in court. (Deut 19:15). Of course in their era there was no CCTV images, No DNA evidence and no forensic medicine. So a fact had to be verified by 2 or 3 people – actually 2 or 3 men.

While our legal system is very different, the principle is the same. A person can’t be treated as a violator of God’s law or the law of the land without sufficient evidence.

It is of course vital that a church deals with ungodliness, but it’s also vital that we deal with what is real and not just what is rumoured.

And Paul’s hit list of wrong-doing that Christians must guard themselves against is very comprehensive

discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder

and how easy it is to slip into being jealous or selfish!

Being arrogant or allowing disorder and confusion

And Paul adds

impurity, sexual sin and debauchery.

In the same breath as specific things that the church must separate itself from

This has an amazingly contemporary ring to it! We all know the church of Jesus Christ has been rocked by accusations of sexual misconduct in this decade in a way that it has never before!

And where those allegations turn out to be true (and not all of them do) the church of Jesus Christ needs to separate itself from these activities.

But we do need always to distinguish rumour from fact and beware the over-fertile grape-vine.

beware undermining God-given authority

2 I already gave you a warning when I was with you the second time. I now repeat it [even thought I’m] absent: On my return I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others,

What had been going on was this:

The Corinthian Christian had come under the spell of some people who were highly charismatic characters (in the psychological sense, not the theological sense!)

These people had been questioning Paul’s authority to be an apostle

“Oh you can’t believe what Paul says, can you?! He’s come here, set up the church and scarpered!

What’s the difference between God and Paul? God is everywhere, but Paul is everywhere except here! You can’t trust him”
“and just look at us!

BUT – the Christians knew (and Paul knew) that they were in it for the glory!

Get one of these super-apostles to stand on the platform and spout or pray dramatic prayers over people and they’ll be there like greased lightening! But ask one of them to do a humble act of service and they’re nowhere to be seen – or they’ll say “that’s not my ministry – someone else can do the donkey work”

That’s not servant leadership, that’s not Godly authority!

What is more, (not only were they in it for the glory) they were in it for the money

and so Paul says (in ch 12) that when he visits next time he will not expect the Corinthian Christians to support him financially at all

Of course he needs to put food on his table, but he will use his own resources to do this and not burden the church he’d planted.

He put clear blue water between himself and these people who claimed to speak for God but were only speaking for themselves.

And he did it by the way he behaved.
Principle: look for the fruit! – look for the results of a man or woman’s ministry – what does they look like?
Does this man genuinely care for the people of God. Is he building their faith, sharing their pain, clearly unpacking the truth of the Word and proclaiming the gospel?
Or is he confusing people and going off on some other track with a gospel of his own?
Are people coming to faith through his ministry? Do new disciples grow as they listen to him and follow his example? and is he directing his followers’ attention to Christ and not to himself?
THEN you have a genuine ministry!

Paul knew he was up against people who didn’t behave like this – let’s remind ourselves of what he said in Ch 4

4:2 we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.

Whenever the God-given authority of church leaders is undermined, the cause of the gospel always suffers.

beware assuming you’re OK

“I’ve given you these tests / criteria to assess these ‘super-apostles’ ministries – and you can apply just the same tests to me so you can see the difference” says Paul “but what about you?”

5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.

This is an uncomfortable message to hear!

It is possible to come to church for years and not to have come to Christ!
It is possible to be in a Christian community and not be in Christ!

And that’s such a pity! I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard a testimony here, perhaps at somebody’s baptism, where they’ve said “I was going to church for years but I never heard the Christian gospel (the good news about Jesus) explained to me clearly from the pulpit.

I never heard it explained to me in such a way that I could respond to him.

And this is a tragedy, because when you are in Christ – Christ places his life in you!

(that’s the theme of Easter next Sunday – the great exchange – his life for mine.)

v5 … Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you (unless, of course, you fail the test)? 6 And I trust that you will discover that we (all of us – you and me) have not failed the test.

I feel I need to do something here.

So that no-one here can say they came to Victoria and didn’t hear the gospel, let me unpack what this gospel – this brilliant news – is in a nutshell:

God made you

and he made you to be a person who will thrive by having an intimate relationship with your creator

God loves you

He is not an ogre, or a spoil-sport but he has your very best interests at heart.

God sacrificed for you

The nasty stuff that Paul was taking about is like grit in the cogs. It prevents your relationship with God running smoothly and so God sent his son Jesus Christ to pay the price and to re-establish the connection.

What happens if I take this on board?

God fills you

He fills you with his new life. A dynamic of living wich you can’t receive from anywhere else. It’s like his spirit (his holy spirit) being infused into your spirit. And he brings forgiveness, and freedom and confidence and above all adoption. Adoption into the family of God

You have a heavenly father, and a load of brothers and sisters here.

Billy Bray was a Cornish miner who was a drunkard and wife-beater.

He accepted Christ at a meeting a bit like this and he went home and said “Wife – you’ll never see me drunk again by the grace of God” and history records how he was as good as his word.
Billy Bray became a compelling preacher and it was the fact he had been adopted into God’s family that just fired his heart.

And his favourite way of describing himself was “I am the child of the King!”

So the question I want to ask is this: Are you in Christ and is Christ in you?

If your answer is ‘no’ or ‘not sure’ come to prayer zone at the end of the service and we can talk briefly about it.

and finally … v11

11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All God’s people here send their greetings.

Pursue excellence!

V11 aim for perfection

Excellence is very different from perfectionism where every the slightest error is a cause for criticism.

Excellence is doing God’s work to the very best that your resources allow and living for Jesus with spiritual excellence.

This word occurs in a fascinating place elsewhere in the NT

When Jesus called James and John as disciples they were sitting on the bank of the sea of Galilee ‘mending their nets’ – same word

literally “making good – or making excellent their nets”

So this word carries the nuance that we are to make good, to repair that which was broken in the church, in our own lives and in society as a whole

to live with excellence.

Agree on your vision

V11 listen to my appeal – be of one mind!

He’s not saying that we should think alike on everything

It’s unity of purpose, not uniformity of thinking that he’s appealing for here.

avoid acrimony

11 … Iive in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you

So it’s when we live in peace (even when there are tough thinks to say, as Paul has been saying here) that the peace of God flows in his people

kiss!

V12 Greet one another with a holy kiss

Can I tell you about something which makes me chuckle in connection with this verse – it’s the way some of the commentators write about it. Many of them talk about it with such lofty, prosaic terminology you’d think that kissing was something you should only do when God isn’t looking!

When I was working on this message I told Ros that I was covering this verse and she said “well, what’s the difference between a holy kiss and an unholy kiss” and I said “That’s something the commentators love to get their teeth into” to which she instantly shot back “Well it’s about time they got their lips into it!”

Paul did not write this verse expecting it to be analysed, he wrote it expecting it to be done! (So, cultural norms permitting, now you know what to do before you leave the building today!)

Now look at the way he finishes the letter (v14)

The grace …

(together)

v14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.