This morning I begin with a few thoughts from my heart to yours. These passages are the prayer of every pastor & my desire for you! Colossians 1:9…
We have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom & u’standing, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work & increasing in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance & patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
1:28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone & teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all His energy…
3 Jn 4, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
Everything I do is for YOU to grow & mature in Christ. From the daily Bible readings… prayer ministry… “99-1”… “1 in 2012” AND what I preach… is ALL for you to walk with Christ. It is so that when you stand before God you will be mature in Christ!
Like John wrote, I have no greater joy than when YOU walk, talk, think, & live in the truth of Jesus! Than when YOUR life pleases God… bearing fruit for HIS glory… & YOU are strengthened according to HIS might!
My call & goal in life is YOUR readiness to stand before Almighty God (Col 1:28).
Parents know what I’m talking about. You want your children to do well in life. You want them to marry well… have a vocation that is honorable… raise their children as Christians… & live for Jesus. If/when children go astray, it grieves your heart. When kids don’t become all they can… parents (wrongly) tend to wonder if they failed somehow.
Paul viewed Corinthians as his children in the faith (6:13). His heaviest burden was “The daily pressure… of my anxiety for all the churches” (2 Cor 11:28). When believers had struggles, it burdened HIS heart! This helps us understand better his struggle in today’s text.
12:11-13. That which wounded Paul most was the Corinthian’s rejecting his love for them. He didn’t abuse the fellowship, it was the “Super-Apostles” that did that. He loved them & was proved by his actions while among them and why he “didn’t burden (them).”
12:14-18. Compare 12:15 with Jesus’ “Greater love has no man than this.” Paul gladly spent himself for their souls! Paul died to comfort & safety for the Corinthian’s benefit. What hurt Paul was that they did not in return love him.
Instead they accused him of being deceitful & crafty rather than honest (12:16-B). Paul pointed out he did not take advantage of them by what he did OR by those sent to carry out his instructions. He always did what was best for the church & the members… whether they saw it or not… believed it or not.
12:19-21. At this point Paul turns the discussion in a direction unexpected by the Corinthians.
All the things he wrote were not to exonerate himself but for their good (“Upbuilding”). Paul knew their present attitudes resulted in conduct not good for them before God! So he did what every faithful pastor would do… he warned them!
For their good he told them where they were wrong. He wrote NOT to be divisive, (1 Cor 1:12). Jealousy & strife were improper (1 Cor 3:3). Not addressing immorality was wrong (1 Cor 5). Suing each other was abhorrent (1 Cor 6).
Proper conduct was (1 Cor 10:31)… “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Thus they were to honor one another at the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11). He reminded them they were the Body of Christ (1 Cor 12) & as such to love each other. To make sure they understood what love was, he wrote 1 Cor 13:4-8 which was Paul’s love for THEM! To build them up!
12:20-21. Paul feared when he got there, there’d be problems. Then he’d have to take a course of action he didn’t like. Paul wrote in 2 Cor 12:20…
I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish… that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.
If those things are present in any relationship it is not of God because “God is not a God of confusion but of peace” (1 Cor 14:33). Paul wanted the Corinthian’s GOOD & BENEFIT!
What Paul hoped to see in the Corinthians is more of Gal 5:22-23…
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
12:21. Paul’s desired Godly Repentance over sin (2 Cor 5). He feared Corinth being filled with 12:20 attitudes rather than Gal 5:22-23 attitudes. IF that were the case, it would cause him to mourn (12:21-B).
At this point, let’s reflect a little…
Q: Do WE mourn over sin? Does OUR heart grieve over the things that grieve God’s heart?
When we become aware of 12:20 type things… quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, & disorder… are WE grieved in our heart? Do we mourn over their presence in the lives of people we know and/or love?
IF/when we are troubled… shouldn’t our response be to hit our knees in prayer? Shouldn’t our reaction be to honor God & His Word in them… regardless of what anyone else does? Shouldn’t we follow what Paul wrote earlier in 2 Cor 5:18…
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself & gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, & entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
There is an interesting passage about this ministry found in Jude 20-23…
But you, beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
Paul’s greatest joy was fellow Christians walking with Jesus. He rejoiced when they honored Him with their lives… words… & thoughts. He wanted them to stand before God mature in Christ.
I mentioned that in Christ God reconciled the world. That means Jesus died for at least two reasons: 1) To glorify God by saving sinners from God’s wrath… 2) To glorify God by freeing believers from the entanglements of sin (Like found in 2 Cor 12:20).
Now the responsibility is in our hands! The sinner is to repent & believe so as to be saved. The Christian is to “Walk in the Spirit so as not to carry out the desires of the flesh.”[i]
It doesn’t matter what anyone else says or does. We alone are responsible for our actions. We are to do what is right in God’s sight.
“God commands all people, everywhere, to repent” (Acts 17:30).
[i] Galatians 5:16