Archive for the ‘2 Corinthians’ Category
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Week 36
Philippians 2 — Colossians 2
Is your mind boggled by the fact you belong to Jesus Christ? In spite of all the junk that comes your way, the daily trials and tribulations, does the love of God still rock your world? Of all your relationships, are any as satisfying as the relationship you have with God and the fellowship you experience with Him through His Spirit?
What would happen if we started asking ourselves these tough, penetrating questions on a regular basis? Paul’s hope in raising these issues in his letter to the Philippians was to help his readers live out what ultimately matters in life.
Here is their story; one you will see is much like ours today. They were affluent and worldly, but they had become complacent and discontent in their hearts. They complained, they argued, they exalted themselves above others, they took pride in their flesh, and they worried about the future. They held tightly to their worldly possessions. They were uneasy, restless, always striving for something more. The busyness and clutter of life bogged them down and robbed them of the joy of knowing Christ.
We’ve probably all been there and know exactly what that feels like, and it is not good. But is doesn’t have to be that way. We really can say that nothing compares to knowing Christ and experiencing the joy of our salvation. Sometimes we just have to be reminded what we truly have in Him, that He is the source of our contentment and joy.
Ask your self these questions. Digest what it means to belong to Christ, to know and experience the love of God, and to walk in fellowship with His Spirit. These are the realities that matter, the realities that bring satisfaction and contentment to the soul.
As God in Christ also has forgiven you
Week 35 – Ephesians 2 – Philippians 1
These five chapters of the New Testament, particularly the Ephesians chapters, are so rich that I think we could spend weeks if not months exploring their depth. But for the sake of this week’s post I want to home in on a subject that seems to be troubling for some of those who call in on our radio program, People to People. That subject is forgiveness.
This is not the age old issue of reconciling 1 John 1:9 with the rest of the New Covenant, but that of Jesus’ prayer as recorded in the account of the Sermon on the Mount (read Matthew 6:12, 14-15).
It’s been terribly hot in North Texas this summer—blazing hot! But that’s nothing compared to the heat this passage of Scripture puts on those who just can’t forgive those who have wronged them. For according to Jesus in this Matthew discourse, if they don’t forgive, God won’t forgive them either. Thus, things could get even hotter. Or so they think.
As we’ve said many times, Jesus taught under the Old Covenant. His death had not yet occurred, so a new will or testament had not yet gone into effect. Thus, He taught that if men did not forgive each other, the Father would not forgive them.
Why did He teach this? It was His purpose to show us that we are incapable of achieving the righteousness of God; He was driving the final nails in the coffin of man’s self-effort. He wanted to show us that it was impossible for us to attain God’s perfection and thus earn favor with God. A little later He did the impossible for us.
But, you say, what’s all that got to do with this week’s Meet the Author study of Ephesians 2 – Philippians 1? Ephesians 4:25-32 sheds light on that whole scenario, particularly verse 32: “And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ HAS forgiven you” (emphasis added).
In the sacrificial death of Jesus, God reconciled all things to Himself (Colossians 1:19-22), including the issue of the Father’s forgiveness toward us, even when we refuse to forgive each other.
As His kids, we can, and should, be tender-hearted, forgiving each other because God has (past tense) forgiven us. We are now free to do so.
If you are holding a grudge against someone, realize that even though the Jews and more particularly the Romans beat Jesus to a pulp and then hung Him to suffocate in agony on a cross, He looked upon them with compassion and said, “Father, forgive them. For they do not know what they are doing.” If the love of God resides within us, then the power to forgive lives there, too.
Examine Yourselves
Week 33, 2 Corinthians 12 – Galatians 3
2 Corinthians 13:5 is not one of those verses you hear in sermons very often, at least not at “grace” churches. “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?”
Frankly, I’d rather examine you. That’s so much easier. I can ascribe all kinds of motives to your behavior. I can deduce your state of spiritual health. Of course, my ascribing and deducing are worse than useless, but that doesn’t matter as long as I can avoid introspection.
These are tough questions. Am I in the faith? Really? How do I know? Do I realize that Jesus is in me, or do I fail that test? Is my behavior truly consistent with my identity as God’s kid? Why? Why not? How am I doing with agape love?
This is the discipline of grace. Thankfully, it is solely between God and me. It is none of your business, just as it is none of my business regarding God’s conversation with you. Even more thankfully, no condemnation accrues. This discipline simply, starkly lays out the facts, and then a dialog begins regarding what parts of my mind need to be renewed today.
If Jesus didn’t deal with my sin once and for all, this testing would be fearful beyond hope, the stuff of suicide rationalization. But because Jesus did remove sin I can, by faith, ask these questions of myself, and then rejoice that the Spirit is ready, willing and able to effect change.
These are not questions a lost person should ask himself. The vague realization that something better must be “out there” is enough to motivate him to accept Jesus as life. But those of us who are saved must be honest with ourselves and with God.
Meaningful change really is possible, but only within the context of fearless honesty. Thank God this honesty merely demonstrates, over and over again, the depth of His love and grace!
To Tithe, or not to Tithe?
Meet the Author
Week 32
2 Corinthians 7-11
To tithe or not to tithe? That is the question on the minds of sincere Christians. They ask for several reasons: They feel guilty for not tithing and are wondering if this is going to lead to some type of punishment. They want to know what blessings they can expect if they do tithe. And still others are just plain confused because of all the mixed messages they have heard on the subject.
This question really shouldn’t concern us because tithing is an Old Testament practice put into effect to support the Levites. We don’t live under the Old Covenant, and the Levites are not our priests. We live under the New, and in this New Covenant we are called to participate, actually to excel, in the grace of giving. Paul tells us all about this grace of giving in 2 Corinthians 8-9. Here are the highlights:
- Give yourself to the Lord first.
And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves
first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will.
- Give willingly.
Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do
it may be matched by your completion of it, according to
your means.
- Give from what you have, not from what you don’t have.
For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable
according to what one has, not according to what he
does not have.
4. Give enthusiastically.
For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about
it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in
Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most
of them to action.
5. Give generously.
So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in
advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you
had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not
as one grudgingly given.
6. Do not give grudgingly or sparingly.
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap
sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap
generously.
7. Give cheerfully.
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart
to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God
loves a cheerful giver.
New Covenant giving is done in response to the work Jesus Christ has done and continues to do in our lives. The grace of giving flows from the heart. And it is in the heart that the Spirit of God does His work to transform us into people eager to share in God’s work. As we trust Him, we can experience the joy the Macedonian churches experienced as “they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints”(2 Corinthians 8:4).
These believers were experiencing severe trials and tribulations. They were impoverished, yet they pleaded with Paul for the privilege of sharing in “this service to the saints.” Their generosity was not prompted by a law or command requiring them to give. God’s grace had done a powerful work in their hearts, and as a result, they desperately wanted to give of themselves and their resources.
What about you? Are you still asking the question about tithing, or have you been set free to excel in the grace of giving?
The Old Man on the Mountain – The New Man in Your Heart
Week 31 – 2 Corinthians 2-6
The old man with the beard came down off the mountain, his face glowing brightly. The people were tense. The face was so bright they could not look at it intently. “What’s up with this guy?” they pondered. “Why is his face shining like that? It must have something to do with … G_D!”
It was just Moses. He’d been up on that hill again, talking with God. Now his face was all shiny and bright from exposure to the Shekinah glory. It was getting to be a habit. The people were on edge. To assuage their anxiety Moses began wearing a veil over his face so they could not see the radiance of God’s glory.
And, thus, we have the first reference in recorded history of what we know today as the Radiant Barrier. (Google it for a provider in your area.)
I jest, of course! But it is an interesting thing—this issue about the face of Moses and the illumination caused by his presence before God on Mount Sinai.
In our target passage this week, the glory which shown on the face of Moses is contrasted with that of the glory of Christ Jesus. The glory that was on the face of Moses came “in letters engraved on stones (3:7)” the ministry of death. But the ministry of the Spirit in Jesus is even more glorious—the ministry of life.
For those who choose to remain under the Law of Moses, Paul clearly declares in 3:14 that “… their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted,” why? “… because it is removed (only) in Christ.”
If you are still trying to live up to the righteous requirements of the Law, the Scripture says your mind is hardened and that you have a veil over your heart that is preventing you from seeing (with spiritual eyes) and entering into all God has for you in and through the finished work and absolute sufficiency of Jesus Christ.
As the Scripture says…
“But to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
“But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit (3:15-18).”
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