Category: Correction & Counsel

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 7:5-16 (day one) 

“He told us about your longing for me. . . so that my joy was greater than ever.“–v 7

If you have ever experienced a broken or strained relationship, you know.  Distance from a friend or family member is painful, joy-depleting.  Reconciliation is SWEET!

Paul and the Corinthians had not had an easy relationship.  Distrust.  Accusations.  Hurt feelings.  But Paul was careful and prayerful.  Communicated even when it was hard. Continued to invest and believe.  In the end, he was richly rewarded.

Churches and pastors, members of churches, citizens of a nation, all of us must be frequently reminded.  In many (most) cases, it is possible to be reconciled.  Someone just has to care enough to work at it under the leadership of Christ.

“If you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering and go; first be reconciled to your brother.”–Matthew 5:23-24

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 4 (day seven) 

But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak… -2 Cor. 4:13

I speak what I believe.  I do what I believe.  I sing what I believe.

Jesus says it like this: For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. -Matthew 12:34

No matter what happens to us, no matter how our circumstances change we will speak what we believe.  Paul was the perfect example of faith here.  When things got tough he sang in that spirit of faith, he kept preaching, he shared the story of the Gospel with whoever came his way even in the worst of times.

May we have many dark nights like Paul:  …threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.  But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them… Acts 16:24-25

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 4 (day four) 

“so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.”

There is a very close connection to grace and thanksgiving in this passage than we might not recognize.  It is better seen in the Greek.  Grace- charis Thanksgiving- eucharistian. The true giving of thanks in Paul’s words is directed naturally and intently to the giver of the gift (glory of God) as opposed to only the gift.  We are thankful for jobs and vocations.  If we are honest, we do feel like we have earned (to some degree) the salary and wages.  We have exchanged labor for pay with our employer.  The degree of thankfulness is less.  The  more undeserved the gift, the more easily the attention and gratitude is directed to the giver.  What gift is more undeserved than grace? What gift could be greater than grace?  What is a more fitting response to grace than thanksgiving?  Ephesians 2:5  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. 

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 4 (day four)

Paul is offering his counsel to the church in Corinth.  He is reminding them of the contrasts between the world and God.  He used words like hidden vs. manifested…veiled vs. seen…blinded vs. sight…darkness vs. light…afflicted vs. not crushed…persecuted vs. not forsaken…perplexed vs. not despairing…struck down vs. not destroyed…death vs. life…decaying vs. renewing…and temporal vs. eternal.  Satan’s ways are always completely opposite from God’s ways.  He always has a counterfeit.  Paul’s counsel is ‘don’t lose heart, hang on…it is worth the wait…our reward is eternal and glorious.’

God’s kingdom is victorious, eternal and glorious beyond comparison!  Satan is a defeated enemy.  Colossians 2:15 says, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”  Satan would have us believe there is no possible way to victory when he has already been defeated.  Paul is instructing the church to live in the reality of Christ’s victory.  Are you walking in victory?

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 4 (day three)

“What is seen is temporary.”

Paul said it earlier: “The world in its present form is passing away.”  The pattern of this age, the stopgaps, the diversions, the workarounds—all of what we think of as “just the way things are”—really have only the most tenuous hold on the universe.  It’s only a matter of time before these bankrupt systems of living completely collapse. You might not want to get too celebratory about that just yet.  How are we supposed to live if we can’t depend on what we thought were the cold hard facts of life?  Don’t repeal if you can’t replace.  This is what Paul was getting at when he spoke of his longing that “Christ be formed” in people.  Christ teaching you your work habits, Christ teaching you how to think—determine to learn from him.

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 4 (day two)

For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Vs. 6

There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. John 1:9-11

Light over darkness – familiar theme. Jesus is a dawn breaking in our hearts that shines on all that was in shadow. Things in the light cannot be hidden, they are to be dealt with and surrendered. Things in the light also shine in a way that they could never have without the light source. We are greater with Christ shining in us, on us, and through us than we could ever possibly imagine ourselves to be otherwise.

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.  C.S. Lewis

 

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 4 (day one)

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. . .always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus. . . So death works in us, but life (works) in you.”–v 8, 10-12.

Ministry in the 1st century was hard.  Still is.  A great price is required for those who would serve the Lord.

Remember the old road signs?  A crew of workers on a street project.  A sign posted as you approached, “Men at work”.

In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul makes a similar declaration.  Death IS at work.  Still.  Physical and spiritual. Servants of the Lord encounter opposition and spiritual pressure.  It will cost you to “carry” (in your own experience and story) the dying of Jesus.

But, you will also witness the victory of Jesus!  Through your witness, you will see (eyes of faith ) people lifted to life through faith in Christ.

Death is at work.  So is LIFE.  The Lord was good with this arrangement.  You?

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 1:12-24, 2:1-11 (day seven)

Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. -2 Cor. 1:21-22

God has given us a guarantee in the person of the Holy Spirit who seals our lives in such a way that we know whose we are.  We belong to the perfect creator of the universe.

The Holy Spirit is far more than just an identity badge though:

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. -John 14:26-27

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; -Romans 8:26

God completes his perfecting work in our hearts and lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.  May we trust His work and be transformed.