The Power of Hard Words

Reading:  2 Corinthians 7:1-9
    
    Paul keeps imploring the Corinthians to “make room in your hearts for us”(2 Cor 7:2).  His heart is on his sleeve:  “We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one…you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together”(2 Cor 7:2, 3).  There is no reason for them to reject Paul—he has been utterly sincere and only done them good—yet they are holding back their hearts.  As evidence of his openness, he again describes his emotions:  “great boldness…great pride…filled with comfort…overflowing with joy”(2 Cor 7:4).  This is not flattery; Paul is leading with his heart.

    He also details his anxiety over their reception of his “painful letter,” picking up his thought from 2 Cor 2:1-4, 12-13.  While awaiting Titus’ news of the Corinthians, “our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within.  But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus”(2 Cor 7:5-6).  Paul is wrestling with his deep concern:  will the Corinthians reject him, the will of God, and Christlike attitudes toward sin?  Yet he receives wonderful comfort from Titus’ arrival with the news that they have received his rebuke well (2 Cor 7:7).  “For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that the letter grieved you, though only for a while.  As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting”(2 Cor 7:8-9).  Despite all the grief it caused them and all the concern it caused him, Paul is thankful that his hard words made a difference.

    Sometimes we need rebuke, but hard words are hard to take.  They sting us.  We get defensive and lash out.  Or we attempt to discredit the speaker.  We may even cut off anyone who says things we don’t like.  This scene shows us the power of hard words to alert us to needed changes.  Others (especially our brothers and sisters in Christ) can see our blind spots and give us vital insight.  They love us enough to brave our displeasure and speak into our lives.  Hard words can transform us, but we must receive them.

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One Thing to Think About:  How do I typically react when others challenge me?

One Thing to Pray For:  Wisdom to know when and how to give hard words to others
 

Unequally Yoked

Reading:  2 Corinthians 6:11-18
    
    Paul’s concerns for the Corinthians boil over here as he addresses their willingness to be influenced by ungodly people.  “You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections”(2 Cor 6:12).  He longs for them to open their hearts to him as he has opened himself to them (v. 11, 12).  The Corinthians have embraced some agitators who discredit Paul and influence the group to ignore him.  Paul is not expressing hurt feelings; he is frustrated that the Corinthians’ relationships are hindering the gospel.

    Some things just don’t go together.  “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.  For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness?  Or what fellowship has light with darkness?  What accord has Christ with Belial?  Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?  What agreement has the temple of God with idols?”(2 Cor 6:14-16).  God’s people, standards, worship, and work do not belong with Satan’s.  Christians who are involved in close relationships of influence with evil people are like unequally yoked animals.  An ox and a donkey can be linked together, but too much work will fall on one and the relationship will hurt.  Paul urges the Corinthians to cut off their connection to Paul’s opponents:  “Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you”(2 Cor 6:17).  

    When Christians are tied together in close relationships with unbelievers, they don’t match.  Their priorities, loves, behaviors, hopes, and concerns are not the same.   While we seek opportunities to bless unbelievers and lead them to Jesus, being “yoked” with them implies a connection with spiritual influence.  The answer to the problem is not to eliminate all worldly people from our lives, but to be honest and cautious about the influence others have over us.  

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One Thing to Think About:  Who am I allowing to influence me?

One Thing to Pray For:  Spiritual people to influence me toward Jesus
 

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