We Commend Ourselves in Every Way

Reading:  2 Corinthians 6:1-10
    
    Paul considers himself an ambassador for Christ (2 Cor 5:20) and a fellow-worker with God (2 Cor 6:1).  He urges the Corinthians to “be reconciled to God”(2 Cor 5:20) and “not to receive the grace of God in vain”(2 Cor 6:1).  In this section, he appeals to the great work God is doing through the apostles.  “But as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way:  by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger”(2 Cor 6:4).  Would a hypocrite or charlatan continue through such experiences?  Paul admits the weakness and difficulty of his ministry—and in doing so, commends the ministry.

     He goes further:  “by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left”(2 Cor 6:6-7).  These are the tools of the apostle.  His integrity, gentle spirit, and honest speech characterize him.  God is at work in him.  “through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise.  We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed”(2 Cor 6:8-9).  The mixed reaction Paul receives also confirms his sincerity as an apostle.  He does not only play for the crowds, yet a few show him honor and praise.  Generally the treatment is shabby, yet he presses on as he works for his God.

     Paul introduces us to a unique style of ministry.  It is lowly and despised, yet this is no mark of its effectiveness.  It is full of a quiet integrity, yet does not make a huge splash in the world.  Paul commends the apostles and their ministry because God works through imperfect, quiet, weak, despised people to make his glory shine even brighter.

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One Thing to Think About:  Why do we struggle valuing situations that show our weakness?

One Thing to Pray For:  God’s priorities (not man’s) to become my priorities
 

The Love of Christ Controls Us

Reading:  2 Corinthians 5:11-21
    
    Not only does the fact of future judgment motivate Paul to please Jesus (2 Cor 5:9-10), but it also fuels his preaching.  “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others”(2 Cor 5:11).  Paul will employ any approach—including fear of Jesus’ disapproval—to convince others to believe in Jesus.  “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this:  that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised”(2 Cor 5:14-15).  Since Jesus “died for all,” the ultimate act of love, so we respond to that love by living for him rather than ourselves.  Jesus’ love becomes the determining factor in all our decisions.

    His love also means that our way of evaluating others has changed:  “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh”(2 Cor 5:16).  Jesus died for all people, so no one person is worth more than another.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come”(2 Cor 5:17).  The fact that matters now is not our “fleshly” characteristics but the change Jesus is causing in us.  We are entirely new—and this is God’s word as part of “reconciling the world to himself”(2 Cor 5:19).  “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”(2 Cor 5:21).  The gospel is not just Jesus dying for our sins; he saved us from sin so that we could become righteous, new creatures, and no longer live for ourselves.

    We often hear about the love of Jesus in romantic terms; it is a pleasant thought that Jesus loves us and wants us to be saved.  But Paul’s view is deeper.  “The love of Christ controls us.”  Our lives reorient around this fact.  We tell others about his love.  We remake our relationships.  We love our neighbors and our enemies.  We choose honesty and fidelity.  We humble ourselves.  We become new people.  None of this is forced upon us.  It is the love of Christ controlling us.

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One Thing to Think About:  Are there people I “regard according to the flesh”?  Why?

One Thing to Pray For:  Vision to see God’s great work in the world 
 

We Make It Our Aim to Please Him

Reading:  2 Corinthians 5:6-10
    
    Paul explains how the hope of a future resurrection and superior body enables him to persist through his trials.  “So we are always of good courage.  We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight”(2 Cor 5:6-7).  Throughout this text Paul plays with the picture of being “home” or “away.”  While we remain “at home in the body,” living in our current state, we experience the tension of being away from Jesus.  At present “we walk by faith, not by sight”—a perspective that even the apostles shared.  Faith animates our behavior because “we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen”(2 Cor 4:18).

    This, of course, is not our preference.  “We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord”(2 Cor 5:8).  Even if it means the interruption of life as we know it, living in Jesus’ presence remains our greatest desire.  But how do we live in the present tension?  “So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil”(2 Cor 5:9-10).  Whatever our state, our consistent goal is “to please him”—both now and later.  Part of the motivation here is the awareness that we await a future appointment with Jesus at his judgment seat, where he will evaluate all our works.  We want to please him because the prospect of being judged a sinner and condemned by Jesus is unspeakably horrific.  

    “We make it our aim to please him” is a tremendous summary of Christian living.  We do not seek to please ourselves by only choosing our words, actions, and relationships based on our preferences.  We seek to please him, submitting our thoughts and pursuits to his will.  But longing to please Jesus also means that we are not just avoiding his wrath.  We want to delight him by serving him in ways that truly fulfill his will for our world.  

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One Thing to Think About:  What is the difference between avoiding someone’s anger and seeking to please them? 

One Thing to Pray For:  The confidence to always be “of good courage” like Paul
 

A House Not Made with Hands

Reading:  2 Corinthians 4:16-5:5
    
      Because the gospel promises such great glory, Paul refuses to be ashamed of it, even when he suffers.  The more he suffers to preach, the greater the glory God receives and the richer the blessing the hearers receive.  “So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen”(2 Cor 4:16-18).  Though Paul is suffering physically, his spirit as renewed as he looks forward to the hope he will receive when he receives the superior, immortal body that awaits him.

      He uses the image of tents and houses to describe the difference in his current body and the glorified body he will receive.  “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens”(2 Cor 5:1).  This “house not made with hands” is not a place, but the body we will inhabit eternally.  Instead of living in a tent (our current physical bodies) that is temporary, we will have a house (our glorified, immortal bodies) that is permanent.  “For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life”(2 Cor 5:4).  The promise of a body that will never die, wear out, get sick, or suffer makes us groan, acknowledging the weakness of the bodies we currently inhabit.

      Christians anticipate the time when we are transformed and embrace true life.  As we experience the weakness and frailties of our bodies—particularly as we face worldly opposition—we groan all the more for something lasting.  God has promised us a house—something permanent and eternal—that he has made so that we can live forever in his presence.

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One Thing to Think About:  What events, feelings, or relationships make me groan for immortality? 

One Thing to Pray For:  The daily renewal of the inner man
 

Jars of Clay

Reading:  2 Corinthians 4:7-15
    
    Given how glorious the gospel is, it is shocking that God would entrust it to weak and flawed human beings.  “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us”(2 Cor 4:7).  A great treasure is encased in a fragile container when the gospel is placed in human hands.  Yet our weakness serves to remind us that “the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us,” a lesson we struggle to learn.  Paul then speaks to his apostolic work:  “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies”(2 Cor 4:8-10).  At every turn Paul’s weakness is exposed, but he is never quite defeated.  There is the constant looming specter of death, but even death connects us to Jesus and points toward his resurrection life.

    All of this serves to embolden Paul’s work.  “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, ‘I believed, and so I spoke,’ we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence”(2 Cor 4:13-14).  Paul reveals his deep motivations for his preaching.  It stems from faith rather than obligation.  He speaks because he knows that God will raise him just as he raised Jesus; he speaks because he knows that God will reunite Paul, the Corinthians, and all believers in the presence of Jesus.  

     “Jars of clay” shines a spotlight on our human frailties.  While we are often tempted to downplay our struggles, distract ourselves from the fact that we will die, and focus on our successes, there is tremendous value in acknowledging that we are weak.  Our weaknesses are not reasons for despair, but constant reminders that “the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”   

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One Thing to Think About:  What situations am I facing where I need to speak from my conviction?

One Thing to Pray For:  A heart to increase God’s glory rather than my own