Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:06] Go ahead and have a seat. My name is Eric Bolling. I'm part of the preaching team here and it is my privilege to bring to you the very last message in our series we've been going through about ministry training. And as a way of reminder, when we talk about being in ministry, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, then we assume you're in ministry.
[00:00:30] Maybe that's to your family or your job or your pickleball court. It doesn't matter if you're a follower of Christ, you've got a ministry that you're involved in. And one of the things in order to set up today in second Corinthians chapter 13 is I was recently at a seminar and they were talking about the multi generational workplace. And if you're currently in some type of workspace, there's probably four generations of people that are potentially working there. There are the boomers, there's Gen X, there's the millennials, and there's Gen Z. And what's coming next is Generation Alpha.
[00:01:10] So I started thinking about just my generation and I am proudly a member of Gen X.
[00:01:18] Thought there'd be a little more out there. But yeah, Gen X is the slacker generation. So right on cue.
[00:01:27] But I started thinking about like my generation and what were some things about kind of how we oper and what we did and I started thinking about just language that we would use as a part of Gen X. And I, I, this phrase popped in my head and I was like, that is perfect for 2 Corinthians 13. Here's the phrase check yourself for you wreck yourself, right? That was popular kind of the mid-90s. And some of you, you're like, what's he talking about? Right? But let me give you kind of what this meant. It meant like examine yourself, see what you're doing, check your behavior. Because if the current path you're going, you're probably going to likely end up in trouble for yourself or somebody else. Okay? So as a little bonus this morning I'm going to teach you boomers and Gen X gen zers how to use this. Okay? So take this out of here after this this morning and you can impress people with this. Here's how it works. Let's say for example, somebody is a fan of the six time super bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers just by example.
[00:02:30] And they've recently asked a couple applauses there. They've recently signed a somewhat controversial quarterback who is a four time MVP and won a Super bowl from the Green Bay packers and New York Jets. And people come up and they go, what do you think about Aaron Rodgers?
[00:02:46] He's washed. You'll never win another game. And I might respond, you better check yourself for you wreck yourself. So one way to use it is like person to person, okay?
[00:02:57] So you have that. Another way to use it is in reference to somebody else. So let's say you're talking and someone's like, oh, goodness, Tina's back with Ron. And you can say, well, she better check herself or she's going to wreck herself. Right? So that's free. Okay, you can take that out of here and impress at least the Gen Xers. But what's interesting, when we get to Second Corinthians, chapter 13, Paul is essentially going to say to the Corinthian church, look, you guys need to check yourself because you're wrecking yourself.
[00:03:30] And what he's going to ask them to do is examine and test their faith. Why? Because they're drifting away from the Gospel.
[00:03:38] They're moving further and further away from what Paul had taught them and what Jesus had wanted for them. And so he's going to talk to them about where they're at and how to get back on track.
[00:03:52] And one of the things as we. As we go through this, sometimes Paul gets a bad reputation of being just kind of like angry, surly guy that just writes these letters in, like, all caps, and he's always angry. Okay, that's not really the heart of what Paul's going to get out here in Second Corinthians, chapter 13.
[00:04:10] What Paul really is coming from is a place of love.
[00:04:13] But it's a place of love that says, look, I care enough about you that I want to address some things that are happening because of the sake of the Gospel.
[00:04:24] Paul founded the church, he's their spiritual leader, and like I said, he has these deep concerns. So in order to get to 13, we're actually going to back up. We're going to look at two verses in chapter 12. So if you want to go to Second Corinthians, chapter 12, verses 20 and 21, Paul's going to lay out his concerns and then he's going to address them in chapter 13. So here's what he says.
[00:04:47] He says, for I fear that perhaps when I come, I may find you not as I wish, and you may find me not as you wish, that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.
[00:05:08] So when Paul says, look, for I fear that when I come, I'm not going to find you as I wish. What he's saying is, he's saying, I'm afraid when I actually come and visit you, when I'm physically with you, that I will find that the influence of these super apostles that we've been talking about in this series and your unrepentant sin, I'm gonna find you not as you should be.
[00:05:32] He's like, I'm concerned about that. I'm concerned. I'm gonna find you not as you should be. And the second part of that, when he says, and you may find me not as you wish, he's saying, and when I find you in that state, I'm not going to be able to come to you in this, like, caring, pastoral, you know, kind of. Kind of friendly way. Like, I'm going to have to come with discipline. And so Paul's saying, look, I'm afraid you're not doing what you need to do. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to come to you in a way that you're not expecting. And it's potentially going to lead to problems.
[00:06:11] What kind of problems are they currently having? Look at this list that he goes through. Perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit and disorder. See, these are not just isolated incidents.
[00:06:28] These are endemic. These are happening all the time. Like, the church has a reputation for this.
[00:06:35] And so Paul is saying, look, this is a problem and you need to address it. And he goes on to express another fear at the end of this text. And he says, I fear that when I come again, my God may humble me before you. And I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality and sensuality that they have practiced. And so when Paul makes this phrase, I fear that when I come again, my God may humble me before you. He's not talking about his own humiliation.
[00:07:13] He's not talking about, I'm fearful I'm going to be humiliated. What he's saying is, is he fears that God is going to humble him because despite his previous warnings and visits and letters, that the Corinthian Church continues in unrepentance.
[00:07:30] See, the problem isn't that they had sinned. It was their persistence in sin.
[00:07:37] And so Paul says, look, I'm concerned that when I come, God may humble me because you're not following through with what I've taught you.
[00:07:45] It's like we said it before. They're drifting from the gospel. They're following False apostles and those things.
[00:07:52] In addition, Paul highlights then some specific moral sins. So the first list was more of this internal strife within the church. The second list are these, like, almost public moral sins that were happening within the church. Look at this list. Impurity, sexual immorality, sensuality that they have practiced, meaning that they are regularly engaged in. And in order to understand what he's referencing, we have to get a glimpse of the context of the.
[00:08:24] Of Corinth, what's happening around the church.
[00:08:27] Sometimes I'll admit for myself, when I read scripture and I read about these cities, I just picture these, like, little desert villages and, like, arid climate and. And that's not really realistic. Corinth was a major city.
[00:08:42] It had all the hallmarks of what major cities even today have. It was very diverse. You had a lot of different groups of people together.
[00:08:51] It was very wealthy because it was geographically located to be a major trade route. So you had a lot of money flowing in and flowing out. So you have a lot of wealth.
[00:09:01] It's a major Roman colony. Like, Corinth is a big city. It is a. It is, like, well known in the ancient world. And this church had a high visibility as well, which explains why Paul is so concerned for them.
[00:09:18] One of the things that really exemplified Corinth was this. This polytheistic view of multiple gods. So they worshiped Greek and Roman gods together. And so when these people became Christians, they held on to some of these past religious beliefs. Particularly there was a Greek goddess, Aphrodite, who was the goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation.
[00:09:43] That was a major deity. So there was a massive temple in Corinth to Aphrodite. Part of the worship involved temple, prostitution and other immoralities. And so what Paul is saying is you're still doing those things that you should have stopped doing.
[00:09:59] You look just like the culture around you. In addition, Corinth was also a center for what was known as mystery religions or cults. And what happened there is people would say, well, I have this special revelation.
[00:10:14] I know some secret knowledge, and I'm going to start this group and I'll teach it to you. Which is why the super apostles that we talked about previously were so influential so quick because they were culturally attuned to that type of environment. And Paul's saying, look, I'm concerned in two ways. Number one, Corinthians would continue in lifestyles contrary to the gospel. And they look and act exactly like the culture around them. And then two, for himself that he's going to be grieved and humbled by God due to their drift.
[00:10:50] As another historical note to this, in addition to what we have in 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Paul actually had written two more letters, one of which was. It's not included in the New Testament, but it was called the Severe letter, where he already has pointed these things out to people.
[00:11:08] So he's been addressing these concerns for about four plus years.
[00:11:13] So it's been a long time and a long relationship. And this isn't new. It's like he keeps telling them over and over and over. So by the time we get to, to chapter 13, it's like the end of it. And Paul's saying, look, we've been having all of this and now here we are. Let's look at 2nd Corinthians 13. We're pretty much going to be in verses 1 to 10 for the rest of the morning.
[00:11:36] Here's what he says.
[00:11:38] He says, this is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. Let's stop on that.
[00:11:48] That's. That's sort of a strange thing to throw in there. Here's what Paul's doing. Paul is using an Old Testament legal concept to set up his charge or what he's going to accuse the Corinthian church of. And here's Deuteronomy 19:15, where this comes from, says this. A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.
[00:12:23] So according to the Old Testament law, nobody could be condemned on just one witness. You had to have two or three corroborating witnesses. So Paul is saying, when he uses this phrase that on the basis of charges, he's saying, look, I'm not just bringing this to you myself, myself. I'm following the Old Testament law. There's witnesses against you.
[00:12:47] So here's these witnesses. Number one, he says, this is the third time I am coming to you.
[00:12:52] His other visits count as witnesses. He's like, I've already been with you.
[00:12:57] He goes on, in, in Second Corinthians 13, 1 and 2, he says, I warn those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent. So in addition to his visits, he's now written this letter as an additional witness. Do you see where Paul's going?
[00:13:18] He's basically saying, I am bringing charges against you in accordance with the law.
[00:13:23] Here's the witnesses, my visits, my previous letters, this current letter that I'm finishing and going to send to you.
[00:13:32] So what he's. What he's doing is he's saying to the Corinthian Church, you are without excuse.
[00:13:38] Like. Like you have no. You have nothing but yourself to blame here. And here's the charges against you.
[00:13:45] And then at the very end of verse two, he says, if I come again, I will not spare them.
[00:13:53] Those are strong words for Paul to say. He says, if I come again, I will not spare them. Remember, a large part of Second Corinthians has been this. This argumentation of Paul's authority.
[00:14:07] The super apostle said, well, he doesn't have authority. He doesn't speak with authority. Paul says, no, I have true authority. And we looked at last week with Paul's vision that he had when he was caught up in third heaven in paradise, and he sat out for four. He's like, no, I have true authority. And. And he's saying, if I come to you and I find you unrepentant, continuing in these internal and external sinfulness, he's like, I will not spare you. I will render judgment. And I can, because I've already provided witness against you.
[00:14:44] Here's what he says. He says the discipline for the unrepentant. He's already given them warnings. Might be to be put out of the church, disassociated, perhaps given over to Satan. Let's look at 2. Two warnings he's already given. First Corinthians 5:3 to 5 says, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. Apparently there was somebody who was caught in a sin. And Paul saying, I've already judged this person. You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. First Corinthians 5:11. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater, reveler, reviler, excuse me, drunkard or swindler, not even to eat with such a one. See, Paul's been patient.
[00:15:37] We've talked about this. He's been patient for four years.
[00:15:41] He's patient because he loves them.
[00:15:44] So when we read that, I will not spare them. It's not. I don't think it's written out of anger. I think it's written out of man. I don't want to do this, but I will I love you enough to not let you continue doing this.
[00:15:58] A parallel that I think we can draw is sometimes as a parent, right, you warn your kids, now, don't do that again. If you do that again, this is going to happen.
[00:16:11] Now sometimes if you're a permissive parent, you keep going. I mean it this time. This time. This time, it's real.
[00:16:17] But there comes a point, right, where you discipline because you love.
[00:16:22] And it's so hard, right? Can we just admit that? If you've raised children, it's so hard.
[00:16:28] I remember we had a situation with one of our children. Hopefully they won't listen to this, but they were not able to go to the pool.
[00:16:35] And that was a big deal in the bowling household.
[00:16:37] They had something happen. They weren't able to go to the pool. So the whole family packs up. We sunscreen up. It was old enough to be left at home. We walked through the pool. This child is in his bedroom and he's screaming, I want to go to the pool.
[00:16:52] And the whole neighborhood is listening.
[00:16:55] And I'll be honest with you. I told my wife, I was like, let's let the kid go to the pool. I was like, I understand. She's like, no, he needs this. He has so hard, right? So hard. But we knew and understood that because we loved this child. Now, he didn't think that at the time.
[00:17:16] I said, I'm doing this because I love you. No, you're not.
[00:17:20] But we look back and we can see that that's what he needed. That's what Paul's doing for his church. He loves his people.
[00:17:26] And he's saying, look, I will do it because I care enough for you. I don't want to let you continue in this process that you're currently in.
[00:17:37] Let's go to verse three and four here, because Paul's gonna make a couple of shifts as he writes. So the first part, like we just looked at, he's writing to the Corinthian Church now. He's going to address the concerns that they have that he show proof of power that Christ is speaking in him. Here's what he says. He says, since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me, he is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. So remember, the Corinthian Church was always demanding, what's the proof that Paul is speaking with the authority of the super. Apostles tried to base everything on their authority and their proof. And they were showy and they were eloquent and they had all these. These massive displays of their importance and their leadership. And the church kept saying, well, what about Paul? What about Paul? And so Paul here counters this kind of implicit accusation that he's weak by connecting himself to Christ. Notice what he says.
[00:18:39] He says Christ truly speaks through him. And Christ is not weak.
[00:18:44] What he's going to do is he's going to connect his authority back to the power of the resurrection. Look at the end of this section. He says, for he Christ was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God, for we are also weak in him. But in dealing with you, we will live with him by the power of God. Now this is sort of a strange argument that Paul's laying out. But what he's basically saying is Jesus willingly subjected himself in weakness, quote unquote to the humiliation of the cross.
[00:19:21] However, that was the exact method that God needed to show his power through the resurrection.
[00:19:30] So God's power then was perfected through Jesus opposed weakness. Right. So the resurrection proves God's power over sin and death.
[00:19:41] So Paul is going to connect his authority back to him when he says, for we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you, we will live with him by the power of God. See, Paul's previously admitted all of his weaknesses.
[00:19:56] Verse chapter 11, he goes through all his physical weaknesses. Last week we looked at his thorn in the flesh. And so Paul identifies with Christ's weaknesses.
[00:20:08] But just as the weakness of the cross showed God's power, Paul says, I am going to use that same power in order to provide the discipline that you need to stop sinning.
[00:20:22] And so what Paul's connecting there, when he says I am not going to spare them, he's like, I will do that through the power of the resurrection. Just as Christ is not weak among you, I will not be weak. Why? Because I'm following the cause of the Gospel and of Christ.
[00:20:40] But Paul's over ultimate desire is repentance.
[00:20:45] His desire is that they turn from where they were and they start following Christ.
[00:20:50] And so when we get to verse five, he's going to make another shift. And in verse five he's going to shift away from talking about his coming and his witness against them. And he's going to ask them a very pointed question about faith. He's going to ask them, are you in the faith of Christ? Look what he says in verse 5. He says, examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize, do you not realize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you fail to meet the test so Paul's going to go into this next section. He's going to talk about testing and examination and failing a test and passing a test. Here's what he's saying when he tells the Corinthian Church, examine yourselves. It's really another strong command.
[00:21:44] And the command is to literally scrutinize yourself, like examine yourself deeply. The verb used here in examine is used in context of testing metals to see if a metal was genuine or pure.
[00:22:01] And so Paul's saying, examine yourselves to see if you have genuine faith. Is it real?
[00:22:09] Is it real?
[00:22:11] And he goes on and he says, to see whether you are in the faith. In the faith refers not only adhering to doctrine, but in this case, a relationship with Christ.
[00:22:23] So Paul's saying, examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Not just do you believe the right things, but are you living the right way?
[00:22:33] Are you truly following Jesus?
[00:22:35] And then he repeats again, test yourselves, which is a repetition of the previous command to examine.
[00:22:43] So get the severity of what Paul's saying here, kind of the gravity of it. Examine yourselves, see if you're in the faith. Test yourself. Like he really wants them to do this.
[00:22:54] He's saying, this is important. I said it twice.
[00:22:58] Then he goes on and he says, or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you unless you fail to meet the test? See, Paul makes an assumption about Christianity.
[00:23:11] He says, if Jesus Christ is in you through the Holy Spirit, then you are truly in the faith because Christ is in you.
[00:23:20] And if that is accurate, then what that means, then your life will reflect his character and it will lead to transformation.
[00:23:27] So when Paul uses this wording like, see if Christ is in you unless you fail the test. What he's saying is, examine yourselves.
[00:23:37] See if Christ is in you. And if he is, your faith is genuine, it's real.
[00:23:44] If not, then you will fail in this term, the test.
[00:23:49] And you are disapproved of by God and your faith is disingenuous.
[00:23:54] And then the pattern Paul's pulling out is he's already talked about strife and unrepentant sin. Sin and looking like the culture. He's saying, you're not following Christ as closely as you think you are.
[00:24:07] And if you, if you. You know, again, throughout this whole series, we've seen the Corinthian Church thought they were pretty good.
[00:24:13] They thought they were following Christ. And Paul's saying, you're not.
[00:24:17] So let's make an application to us examination and testing, because I think it's a good Practice for us as well.
[00:24:24] So if we were to examine ourselves, how could we do that? Number one is I think we should start that process with prayer and asking the Holy Spirit for guidance and the humility to see yourself accurately. See, we are not very good judgers of self.
[00:24:42] Which is why when you take like questionnaires and they ask you, we all skew ourselves positively.
[00:24:50] How have you been doing this week? I've been doing pretty good.
[00:24:53] And you go back and you're like, except I'm not.
[00:24:56] But I always skew it positively, right? So we need to start with prayer. Ask the Holy Spirit, where do I need to change? Give me the courage to address this. It's hard to look at yourself and go, man, I'm failing here. I am weak here.
[00:25:11] Scripture.
[00:25:12] Scripture can act as a mirror for us where we put our lives up against the Bible and we look at passages that describe what genuine faith looks at, looks like the fruit of the Spirit, the character of Christ, discipleship. We go into Galatians 5, Matthew 5, 7, Romans, chapter 12, etc. We say, how do I line up against that?
[00:25:35] Like, what do I need to see here?
[00:25:37] We also need to examine our and test what we believe, orthodoxy and what we do, orthopraxy.
[00:25:44] Because it's not just a matter of having an intellectual knowledge about the Christian faith.
[00:25:49] How does it impact our day to day? So a couple questions, and there's more than these. I felt that these would just be a good start. But ask yourself, do I believe in core doctrines of the Christian faith?
[00:26:00] Do I believe in fundamental doctrines like Jesus is who he says he is, Jesus did what he said he did, for example.
[00:26:09] Or am I intellectually assenting to them? Or am I fully convinced?
[00:26:14] Am I living in obedience to God's word? Am I actively striving to obey God's commands out of love and gratitude? Are there areas where I'm knowingly disobedient? I don't know if you've ever had the experience where you're reading scripture and something pops out to you and it's like, hey, that's for you.
[00:26:33] I sometimes call it a haunting verse where, like, I see it, I know it, I read it, I gotta do something with it.
[00:26:42] I'd like to apply it to somebody else.
[00:26:45] Be like, you really need this.
[00:26:48] But when that happens, we say, all right, am I going to live in obedience to this?
[00:26:53] We're not talking about perfection, right? That's impossible. What we're talking about is growing in maturity and sanctification and making strides to Being more like Christ. Here's another one. Do I practice confession and repentance when I sin? Do I acknowledge it? Do I confess it? Is there a pattern of unconfessed sin? Is there evidence of the fruit of the Spirit?
[00:27:16] Love, joy, peace, patience, etc. Are these a part of my life? Am I growing in these?
[00:27:22] Do I share my faith with others?
[00:27:24] Do I live in a way that points to Christ? Again, when we start talking about examining and testing and looking at ourselves, that is one of the. I think it's a great privilege of following Christ is that we have the opportunity to continually measure where we're at. Not so we can look and go, oh, I'm so terrible and I'll never make it. But we can say, man, I can grow. Remember last week we talked about when God convicts us of something, he never just leaves us in that it always is accompanied by hope.
[00:27:56] Here's where you are, but look where you can be because of Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:28:04] All right, let's go back to the text again. Paul's going to continue in this, like passing the test, failing the test. Here's what he says next. In verses six and seven, he says, I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. But we pray to God that you may not do wrong. Not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may have seemed to fail. Okay, what's Paul talking about here? He's saying, I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. This directly connects back to verse 5 where he said, examine, test yourselves. And he says, if you are in the faith and your faith is genuine, then you will see Paul and his team, his co workers, are also in the faith.
[00:28:52] Like, you will recognize that we're all on the same page. We're all pulling the same direction.
[00:28:58] So you will see that we haven't. Paul saying, we haven't failed the test. You haven't failed the test, we haven't failed the test.
[00:29:06] Then he goes on to say, but we pray to God you may not do wrong. Not that we may appear to have met the test, but you may do what is right. See, Paul's primary concern is that they don't do wrong. Literally, they avoid evil.
[00:29:20] And he's saying, what I'm concerned. Paul saying, I'm concerned not with like my brand or vindication of my authority or proof of Christ, but your repentance.
[00:29:31] He's like, I really care most that you repent.
[00:29:35] Though we may have seemed to fail. See, if the Corinthians repent and correct themselves, then Paul won't need to exercise his authority.
[00:29:44] That might be viewed by some in the church as weakness and failing. Remember, they're just looking all the time for proof, power, authority. And Paul's saying, if I tell you I'm going to come with authority, and then I don't, it's not that I failed, it's that you've repented, and I don't need to do that. And that's the thing to celebrate.
[00:30:07] He goes on in verses 8 and 10 here he says, for we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. Paul is always for truth, upholding what is consistent.
[00:30:18] So he's going back to saying, I have to pronounce judgment if you're unrepentant. Unrepentant, because that is against the truth.
[00:30:28] And I cannot use Paul saying my authority to support sin or doctrinal errors. He says, for we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for.
[00:30:41] See, the paradox here is Paul finds joy in weakness.
[00:30:45] If he's wrong, he's happy with that because that means the Corinthians have repented and they're living in obedience. That restoration word means perfecting, being made complete. Something that's broken is put back together.
[00:30:58] Something that's torn is mended.
[00:31:01] Paul's ultimate prayer is for the Corinthians to be made whole, living in full conformity to the Gospel.
[00:31:08] He's going to wrap up this whole section when he says this. For this reason, I write these things while I'm away from you. Not that when I come. He says, no, that when I come, I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority the Lord has given me for building up and not tearing down.
[00:31:28] So Paul's saying, if this letter is effective, if you get this and you read this, then you repent, you change your lifestyle, you start living in the truth of the Gospel. He says, then when I come, I can use my authority, which is real, which is true, which is powerful through Christ, not to have to be severe and not to discipline, but to edify and build up and support and strengthen.
[00:32:00] Now, kind of the end of the story here, we know through the rest of the New Testament, the Corinthian Church actually does reproduce, repent, they change their ways. There's evidence through other books of the New Testament that they get going the right direction. So Paul's ministry to them is effective and so that's the good thing. Now, so what for us, I think two kind of takeaways we need. Number one is we need to regularly practice self examination. And we talked about that in the midst of the sermon. But I think that needs to be a regular practice for us as believers. Let's go back to Second Corinthians 13, 5. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.
[00:32:41] Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Let's put that with Psalm 139, 23 and 24. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. See if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
[00:32:57] See, I think as a church, we desire for all of us as ministers involved in ministry to be people who have genuine spiritual introspection.
[00:33:10] Where am I doing things right? Where am I doing things wrong? So we need to be people that self examine rather than relying solely on outward appearances or just passive assumptions of faith.
[00:33:23] I think the second so what is we should minister in our spaces through what we'll call paradoxical strength. Let's go to look at 13, 3 and 4. For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God, for we also are weak in him. But in dealing with you, we will live by the power of God.
[00:33:42] I think when you're involved in ministry, instead of hiding or being ashamed of weaknesses, struggles, see them as opportunities for God's power to work through you.
[00:33:53] That's really hard to do.
[00:33:55] It's really hard to do, but you begin to understand that it's not really about you.
[00:34:01] So the spaces where you can minister are spaces where God's power can be demonstrated. Let's talk about just really four things we can do to minister.
[00:34:15] Number one is we need to be people of humility.
[00:34:18] That we need to understand, look, that I, in and of myself, I'm gonna mess this up pretty bad.
[00:34:25] Like, I need to come to you in humility, not as the authority and not as I'm just gonna tell you what to do, but humbly, I'm gonna walk beside you and with you.
[00:34:35] We trust in God's strength.
[00:34:38] We lean on that as opposed to just trying to overcome them through our own sense of willpower and relying on our own gifts and talents and abilities.
[00:34:48] And that or we hide from other people.
[00:34:52] I think we pray, pray for power that God will work through us.
[00:34:58] This idea that, look, God, I need you to work through me in this situation because some of these ministering opportunities we're going to have, they're different, difficult, they're complex, they're challenging. And if we look at them, we say, wow, there's no way I can figure this out. True.
[00:35:17] Absolutely. But through relying on prayer, God, you got to help me through this. Some of the people we're called to minister to, let's be honest, we may love them, but we don't like them.
[00:35:29] And we may say, God, you got to help me, like, see this person, how you see them.
[00:35:35] And I'll tell you what, it is fascinating when that happens and suddenly people look different. I had a situation one time real quick. I worked with a guy. He was hard to work with, and it was he and I doing landscaping every day in a truck. And I was talking to my dad, and I said, dad, I can't work with this guy. He goes, why not? And I gave him probably about three or four minutes of all this guy's faults, right? And there was a lot of them.
[00:35:58] And my dad said, why don't you try just praying for him and working with him? And I was like, that doesn't make any sense. I won't do that.
[00:36:05] And then I went and thought, and I was like, okay, I will do that.
[00:36:09] So I prayed. And honestly, like, my first prayer was like, God, this guy is.
[00:36:18] He's. He's your child.
[00:36:22] And I was tempted to be like, now, I don't know how or what, but I was like. And so I started looking for what's one positive thing every day.
[00:36:31] And sometimes it was like, you know, he drove the truck to the site and we didn't wreck, and we made it safely. Now, what's funny is, by the end of that summer, I had a new appreciation for him, and I viewed him differently. Not because, again, I'm so wonderful. I was very judgmental, but I prayed for God help me to see my point in that is God will do it. If you ask for it, he'll do it. Last thing I think for us is we need to be authentic.
[00:36:58] We need to be real. There's a lot of fake in our world today, correct?
[00:37:03] And so I think as Christians, we need to be authentic and share, like we talked about last week, our scars, our pain. Like, here's where I'm really doing well. Here's where I'm not. Find close people who you can be vulnerable and open with and talked with that can strengthen you and help you.
[00:37:20] So the Corinthians sought outward signs of power, but Paul says Christ was power is displayed through what looks like weakness. By embracing this, we humble ourselves. We rely on God, and we get a clear witness to his transforming grace. Let's pray together.
[00:37:37] Heavenly Father, we thank you for this series. We thank you for the book of Second Corinthians, Lord. It's been challenging to go through some of this, some of the things that Paul brings out to the Corinthian church, Lord, the exact same thing. Things we deal with in our own lives, our own culture, Lord, even our own church.
[00:37:57] But we are grateful that we have the Holy Spirit. We have the power of the resurrection. We've got grace, Lord, so much, so much more than we could even understand or imagine. We thank you for providing that, Lord. Thank you again for the privilege of hearing from your word.
[00:38:14] May we go out different people because of your influence in our lives. And I pray this in your name. Mm.
