Edification - Part II: How to Be

Edification in the Closing of 2 Corinthians

Well this morning we continue on in our little detour two-week detour into the end of 2nd Corinthians, so we sort of parachuted into the Conclusion of the of the whole letter and that was to trace out this theme of edification.

And so we're preparing Lord willing beginning next week to head back into the next narrative cycle within Genesis beginning in Genesis 24 We'll consider Isaac and then following him Jacob. But for this morning, we want to tie loose ends on what we began to consider last week, which again is edification and.

I.

Wanted us to have time in 2nd Corinthians 13 because I think it's a blueprint for how a church Can pursue the things that lead to edification and that's been our banner verse drawn from Romans 1419. Let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify.

Another edify build up. In nearly every letter that Paul writes to the scattered churches of his ministry He includes this same vital exhortation that believers be about the business of building up. So let's read 2nd Corinthians 13 beginning in verse 11.

Finally brethren farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort be of one mind live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the Saints greet you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with You all amen. So this is the closing greeting. This is the Farewell of the letter and we have that word in verse 11, right.

Finally brethren.

Farewell.

Some translations interestingly would say finally brethren rejoice with an exclamation point. And of course this word can often be translated rejoice. The time that we spend in the Philippians we saw this imperative this Exhortation to rejoice same same word same form throughout the letter when you find it in a context where?

Perhaps it's in the body of the letter or surrounding further instruction. It would make sense to translate it as rejoice. But here we are at the last paragraph of 2nd Corinthians, and this is a standard way to say farewell.

It's also the standard way to open a letter as well. So it's it's greetings or if it's at the end farewell. In fact, you can go to the Worcester Art Museum, which is a hidden gem, by the way. If you haven't been there, it's worth a trip.

And if you go to the ancient Roman room to the left of the entrance in the lobby. You'll find a little grave slab there and the epitaph. The first word is this word in Greek chirata. Which is not the man who's dead saying rejoice, you know, I've died rejoice.

It's saying, you know, I salute you or greetings, you know. And then you read about his life and so even on gravestones if not letters. This is just a common way to say farewell. And so I don't think the translation rejoice works as well here.

And so good on the new King James. Christians, of course are in view. Paul is saying brethren farewell and We are brothers and sisters. This is something again that we take for granted. We cut our teeth on the Christian East language of being brothers and sisters.

In fact so much of my life is surrounded by fellow Christians whether at church or in school that I often stumble and call someone who's truly not a brother a brother. I catch myself all the time calling my neighbor brother Hey brother, and I'm like, you know, and maybe that would work in Florida, but not so much in Massachusetts, you know.

You off-roading brother? So Paul is speaking to the brethren and this is significant theologically. We cannot take this for granted. This was not a label that was lightly thrown around in fact. It would have taken some getting used to for a pagan who was unrelated to another person to be called a brother this term of family relationship and.

Of course.

The significance theologically is that Christians have been conceived by the love of the Father through Christ by the Spirit and and you can see why Paul Would continue throughout all of his letters to to use this language.

To always be reminding himself and his hearers that when you're in Christ You're a brother or sister in the Lord. You belong to the household of God. And so as brethren and we have this actual relationship with fellow Christians that we belong to one another and Just like real brothers and sisters made of flesh and blood.

You don't necessarily choose whom you're called to love. There's a divine relationship of supernatural birth and these are the people you love. Sometimes, you know, you're losing hair and losing sleep over them, but they're your family.

They're your brothers and your sisters and so you love them this relationship. In other words is a fact whether we like it or not Paul has a lot of issues with this church at Corinth and they've caused him all sorts of grief and heartache and Distraction from ministry that he sought to do in Macedonia.

But they're still brothers and sisters and so he still has this Brotherly concern for them a love for them and he never loses sight of this fact. Even with all of the personal discouragement and disappointment from this crisis.

He acknowledges their fellowship here. He acknowledges their brothers and sisters. So I hope we use that language of brother or sister with full weight and full sincerity and Again, it's just an example of how throughout this whole passage Paul has been edifying building up a troubled church in Troubling times and we have a blueprint of how we can pursue the same thing.

So we considered four points last week and to close the message this week. We want to consider five five things. How must you be in? Order to edify so last week. What must you do in order to edify this week?

How must you be?

Five points.

Become Complete and Be of Good Comfort

First.

To edify you must become complete. Verse 11. Finally brethren farewell. Become complete. That's a command. That's an exhortation. Become complete. We saw last week. One of the things that were to do in order to edify is pray that God would make us complete.

And.

So with only the distance of a few verses Paul goes from saying I'm praying that God would make you complete. It's giving the command be made complete. Become complete. And so he's exhorting them to walk and live out the reality that he's been praying for.

In other words, it's not enough just to say I'm praying that you're made complete and everyone's sitting back passively going. That's great. We're making no effort to do that whatsoever. He says I'm praying this for you.

Now do this start to put things in motion. Make choices and live in a way that will lead to this. I'm praying for the reality which you must now walk in. He longs to see them in harmony not just with himself but with each other.

Remember just from the beginning of the first letter to the church at Corinth how it opens with all of the divisions and Factions and Paul just knows this. This sane.

Selfish.

Pandering after the great speakers and the false teachers now in 2nd Corinthians. It's just a recipe for a church that's constantly dividing. Splitting into factions. Backbiting and slandering and so he wants them to have this harmony.

He wants them to put to right what's been disjointed and as was said this word complete here. It's not the normal word. That we would find scattered throughout Paul's letters for instance or other letters like James or even Peter.

Where the word perfect or complete tele us that's that's normally how we speak of completion. But here it's an entirely different word last week. We said it's it's something that another writer might use in the day to talk about a bone being made complete.

So you put a cast over a broken limb so that it can be made right? It can be fulfilled. It can be restored. So in other words, it becomes a complete body or a perfect body. It supplies what is missing to bring about fullness.

So it's a very very wise choice of word here when Paul says be made complete. He's speaking collectively to the church. He's not saying you go off on your own to be made complete and some vague sense of self-discovery.

He's saying you as a church you live and pray in light of the fact that you are one in Christ. You you live in a way that will bring that reality to bear. Put what's just don't what's disjointed rightly another use of the word Would be mending a broken fishing net and that's actually from the Gospels when Jesus calls the the fishing brothers.

They're making complete their nets. They're mending their nets so basically you're patching up something that's been broken that's become worn down or or frayed and So the RSV it translates mend your ways finally brethren mend your ways.

It's a good translation. Take what is fraying take what has become loose what has become fragile. Strengthen it restore it. Don't don't keep going in this way that you're becoming isolated and distanced and your affections are cooling.

No mend come together put to right. That's what Paul is saying. Here are these holes in Christian fellowship. Sort them out. Paul is saying Here are these tangles undo them. Pray for it and then bring it about make the decisions that will lead to it in order to edify.

You must be made complete second to edify. You must be of good comfort. Verse 11 still finally brethren free farewell become complete be of good comfort. This word would be very familiar to us. It's it's where.

It's where we get the word paraclete for the Holy Spirit the comforter capital. C. If you were at the Bolton conference when we actually had it it's now been two years since we've held it. Jeff Thomas Was preaching and he he spoke about the Holy Spirit being the paraclete.

And he talked about how this would be for instance. Maybe a unit commander of a Roman Legion and he's giving a stirring speech. He's to use the verb Paraclete. Oh, he's he's stirring the men. You're gonna crush the enemy.

Rely on your training. No one can withstand you. You're the seventh Legion. Remember who you you know, it's just cheering them on girding them with strength galvanizing him for the road ahead. So comforts not some, you know.

You know soft gentle nursery blanket kind of word. It can also be like Being strengthened for battle being exhorted being encouraged. That can also be a sense of comfort here and that would make sense that we have to somewhat Broaden our understanding of what it means for us to be of good comfort that being of good comfort.

It's not necessarily always being that soft handshake. How you doing brother things are looking up sometimes. It's kind of that, you know gird yourself. That's being of good comfort as a Christian and I hope you've experienced both in Your walks if you've been a Christian for any length of time I I hope you've experienced that that true comfort when you're in a season of trial.

Or perhaps you've been discouraged by certain events in your life or just spiritually you've become depressed which is a very real experience for Christians if you've read the Psalms and I hope that a brother or sister has been God's means of giving you comfort in this sense of.

Warmth and.

Encouragement and kind of a tender sympathy. It helps you understand you have someone that is really in your corner praying for you and they care for you. And they become as it were a token of God's love to you.

But I also hope in your lives that you've experienced something of this bootstrapping comfort. Something of this straighten up straighten out, you know press forward press on to the things of the Lord.

This this exhortation and admonition and. So some translations and some argue it should you know. It should be translated be admonished or or even heed my appeal, you know. Follow these things out and it certainly may have that connotation.

We're reminded that Paul is concluding this the letter with this instruction be of good comfort and he actually Opened this letter with the same instruction and perhaps this is the best way to understand what he means here.

By being of good comfort. So 2nd Corinthians 1 as soon as he gets past the greeting. This is the first thing he lays out to this church at Corinth. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is verse 3 the father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforts us in our tribulation. That we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort. With which we ourselves are comforted by God.

That's a lot of comfort between verses 3 and 4. So what kind of comfort is he talking about comfort from God in the midst of tribulation? Comfort to those who are being troubled. That helps us understand here what it means to be of good comfort and notice how at the beginning of the letter He ties this in to God the father of Mercies the God of all comfort.

And where is he going to go? Between Verse 11 by the time we get to the end of verse 11. He's gonna tie it to God the God of love the God of peace. These things have a supernatural origin as we'll see in the very last verse.

These are not things that we muster up from ourselves. You must realize that your ability without the Spirit of God. To be of comfort to a brother or sister in a time of trial or tribulation is pretty much nil.

The things that truly reach someone in such a spiritual state are supernatural. And so Paul recognizes. It's not so much the cause and effect you be of good comfort and then the God of comfort will know it's the other way around.

It's the God of comfort who is drawn near so that you may comfort. And what are you comforting with? The comfort that you have received yourself from God. This is how we're to be of good comfort to one another.

And if we're gonna find spiritual encouragement if we're gonna be exhorted have motivation for the Christian life if we're gonna have help in times of need to press forward. Though the going is tough.

We need to have this attitude of seeking ways to consistently intentionally comfort our brothers and sisters in the things of the Lord. And 2nd Corinthians 1 is so insightful for that. You know when the Lord draws people together in a body so often we experience trials if not Identical similar to those trials that other people will come to experience in time.

And what you have from the Lord is that which he used to comfort you and You become a source of comfort to them in that same trial or time of need and so part of this is the lived experience of a fellowship in Christ.

That we're constantly seeking to comfort and build up each other with the things the Lord has used to comfort us. Has that been a certain devotional has that been a certain routine? Has it been some experience or insight?

Has it been something that someone shared with you and the Lord impressed it upon your heart? These are the things that God has given for you to comfort others with and so if you want to edify be of good comfort.

Be of One Mind and Live in Peace

Third.

Be of one mind. Still verse 11 finally brethren farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort be of one mind. The first time Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. He called for this same unity of mind.

I plead with you 1st Corinthians 1 10 brethren By the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all speak the same thing. And that there be no divisions among you, but that you be joined together in the same mind in the same judgment.

This is not a peripheral concern for Paul if the church can't be built up in a way that they're seeing things and Speaking things and coming to a unity of mind. They won't come to that unity of fellowship.

So Paul says I want you to have a deep unity. That deep unity needs to be cultivating the same outlook. You need to have the mindset of Christ. You need to have the same love for one another that you're loving each other in light of the gospel.

I want you to have the same approach to life the same goals and then purpose in life. Come together in a unity of mind. Says this elsewhere same emphasis. Romans 15 verse 5 now May the God notice again the supernatural source may the God of patience and comfort again.

Grant you to be like minded toward one another for Paul. There's an immediate connection to go from comforting one another to being of the same mind. There's something instructive here between Romans 15 and 2nd Corinthians 13.

That one of the steps on the road to being of the same mind is that we're actively Intentionally seeking to comfort each other in the things of the Lord. May the God of patience and comfort you're gonna need patience and comfort if you're striving to be of the same mind.

And may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like minded toward one another. According to Christ that you may with one mind in one mouth glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

How do we bring this about? We could have a whole sermon on how we bring this about but let me highlight two things. The first and perhaps the most obvious and the reason we need patience if we're seeking to comfort one another.

We need to think of ourselves soberly and properly in a fitting way. In other words, we need to think of ourselves In an accurate way and not more highly than we ought another exhortation Paul gives to the Romans and other churches as well if You failed to do this the church will become divided because an attitude where you're constantly puffing yourself up or Esteeming yourself in a way that you ought not that's a personality that is divisive and a divisive Personality leads to division.

It'll be that way in the home. And it will certainly be that way in the household of God. When it comes to the household of God Paul is aware of this. He's constantly exhorting Christians to have Humility toward each other and that humility begins with this sort of self-disregard.

I Claim nothing for myself. I see myself as a servant to my brethren and a servant to God's will for them. Certainly, that's how Paul framed his labors as we saw last week in 2nd Corinthians 13. Everything we do is for your edification and in screwtape letters CS Lewis Captured so well, you remember screwtape letters is.

It's a really interesting way to look at the the ethics and the moral qualities of the Christian life because you have wormwood and screwtape. Exchanging these letters about how to trip up the enemy which of course is Jesus and his people.

So you have this older demon? Screwtape and his young protege wormwood and this is the advice he gives. I Warned you before he has a patient meaning a believer someone who's earnest in the faith and he wants to pull him away From the things of God and from the fellowship of the church.

He wants him to be come destructive. I warned you before Screwtape says if your patient can't be kept out of the church. He ought he ought at least to be violently attached to some party within it and I don't mean on really doctrinal issues.

About those the more lukewarm. He is the better right? No, not on doctrine. You know keep him away from doctrine. Luke warmness. There is what we want. The real fun is working up hatred on purely in different things.

We have quite removed from men's mind what that pestilent fellow Paul used to teach about food and other non-essentials. Namely the one without scruples the one without conscience should always give in to the one with scruples.

So he's talking about Romans 14 here. And so it would have been but for our ceaseless labor. Without that the Christian Church might have become a positive hotbed of charity and humility. Oh, wouldn't that be the worst thing a demon could have added him?

Notice where it begins this divisive personality. Begins with this kind of self that you know. These are the things that matter and I know better and how could they not see this. And all of a sudden you've begun to isolate and demarcate.

Who's with it and who's not? Who's not able to see the glories that you behold because you're so lofty and high-minded and. So Paul is calling for this radical Humility self-disregard. I'm always at the service of my brethren and I Sacrificed those things by which I may build them up in the things of the Lord.

And so he writes to the church at Rome be of the same mind. Toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things. Associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. It's a hard thing to balance in the Christian life where we want to have men and women that are zealous for the doctrines of truth.

They're standing on the Word of God and that gives them a clarity and an energy and an immovability and that is something desirable and commendable and. And when when the flesh or the enemy sees that He'll immediately.

If I can't get them there if they're so watertight on the things of the word and that's giving them all sort of energy then. Here's the best play. I'm gonna puff them up to oblivion. I'm gonna make them so high and mighty in their opinion.

They're gonna become repulsive and destructive to any fellowship. They're a part of. And that's how he works. And so Paul says what do you do to counteract that associate with the humble. Serve them. Fellowship with them be among them.

Seek their good.

Don't be wise in your own opinion. Don't be setting your mind on things that are high above if it's producing this effect in your life. One said humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.

And I say okay, that's good. But sometimes humility is actually thinking of yourself less and thinking less of yourself, too. We all perhaps give ourselves a little too much of a boost a little too much of a pass.

You recognize this when? No, you only find patterns and routines and maybe sins. Odious and other people's lives even though you practice the same thing. I was reflecting on this. Yesterday. I was online getting Coffee and like every now and then if I'm if I'm away and I know I'm meeting someone I'll kind of say hey.

Can I bring you know coffee or something like that? So I might go through a drive-thru and get a tray and get several things on it. And so I'm that guy in that drive-thru that takes 12 minutes and the guys that are just you know.

Looking to go through it or kind of like yeah, it's taken. So this is crazy. Well, that was me yesterday. I'm like waiting in line and I'm watching this tray get past the car. I'm like, this is crazy, you know, you're ordering like eight drinks, you know, this is just and that's me.

I didn't find that when I'm doing it. It's fine. Hey, you know first-come first-served when someone else is doing it. It's like this is really ridiculous. Yeah, you should just park and go in if you're gonna order that.

And we do that in spiritual ways all the time. It shows that we're not thinking of ourselves accurately. There's a there's a certain sense of entitlement we have when it comes to spiritual things. We give ourselves a pass and it causes us to a not to not associate well with the humble.

To not truly desire for them to grow from wherever they at in. You know the most humble of ways to help them to grow in the things of the Lord. To be of good comfort to them. And so we're called to think of ourselves soberly.

Properly not more highly than we are. So that's the first point we do it from a place of humility. If you don't have that there's just no hope that you're gonna get to the place. Where you're of one mind in a church body you're not gonna be of one mind if you didn't you don't have brothers and sisters that are actively working to.

Disregard themselves and be humble and associate with the lowly. You're just not gonna have it. But even having that it's not enough. What must you do when you've followed out and begun to practice this.

This call to radical humility from this state of humility. What's needed second is a submissive spirit to Scripture. We must submit to Scripture. You won't get to that place in an in a. You know fellowship if you don't have humility, but if you have humility, it's not enough if if Scripture is not the sole.

Authority of your life in our homes in our church.

Do we present Scripture for what it is the sole authority of God for all matters pertaining to life and faith? Do we see it as a book of? Indispensable incontrovertible wisdom for all of life's Experiences.

And we submit even our thinking to it even our thought patterns in Doing this brothers and sisters from a place of humility Collectively exhorting and encouraging one another to submit to Scripture which often means being parades and saying I need you know.

This is my authority and so I've heard these things now I I have to go weigh them out and pray and understand. And as we continue to do that from a place of humility and seeking to Associate with those who are humble to us high and lofty ones.

We end up drinking of the same fountain. We end up celebrating the same truths. We put into practice the same Exhortations and instructions. We keep circling back to the infallible voice of God Speaking through his word and our minds are becoming more and more Saturated by the things of God and therefore more and more conformed to the things of God.

So convictions are built into a fellowship by virtue of Scripture. And even the first generation of churches of the New Testament had very different Personalities or or ethos we could say. Paul can commend some churches and castigate others.

Jesus in Revelation can sort of compare seven different churches in seven different places. Perhaps symbolic of more but he's really dealing with specific churches and he's saying I commend you in this and this I hold against you.

So every church has an ethos it it has The ability to grow in this place of humility and submission to Scripture and it's going to color and affect The way that that church operates and advances the will of God in the world.

You know Antioch was a church that was fueled toward missions in a way that other churches weren't. The churches of Macedonia were fueled toward giving and Raising support for the relief of Christians and in places like Jerusalem and Paul commends them.

I wish all the churches could be like this. What is it about the? personality of a fellowship of a congregation. Where does that come from? How is an ethos developed? It comes from how and whether we'll submit to Scripture in humility toward God.

That's how we move toward being of one mind. And so to edify you must be of one mind. Now all three of these exhortations Lead to I think Living in peace as Paul would have it. These are all part of how Christians also live in peace with God with each other with neighbors.

So here's a vision for the church. As Paul says in verse 11 live in peace. Every Christian brother is treated as a Christian brother and Every Christian sister is treated as a Christian sister.

There's this.

Inestimable weight of glory to your brothers and sisters. They've been chosen as the dearly elect of God. Sealed in the blood of his son prepared for an eternity of glory. Angels who are peerless and without blemish long to look into the things that they are heirs of.

How ought you to regard your brothers and sisters? It's the greatest honor and title in the world to be a Christian brother or sister. And we ought to have that regard For one another and for the Christians at large that that we meet When we live in peace.

Everybody is mending the things that so easily fray in season and out of season when it's easy and when it's hard and things that are clear and things that are unclear and They're bending not just mending but bending being self disregarding Self-sacrificing to bring about edification of others and they're making active choices and ways of living that bring this about in Their home and to their church fellowship.

Everybody is actively working to build up those around them in the things of God being humility as Humble as they do so, but also submitting all of their thoughts and ways to scripture. Everybody is completely deliberate in seeking to be of good comfort to each other.

All of this leads to living in peace and Paul says Live in peace verse 11 and the God of love and peace will be with you. There's a couple ways to understand this. First if we put it in these words.

To love the brethren.

Means that we're striving to be complete. Bringing comforts to our fellowship living in peace and all of these things lead To the God of love and peace being present in our midst. So we bring this to the Lord and and then he meets us as a result of it and to maybe Flip it the other side to not love the brethren.

To fail to strive at being complete. To not be of good comfort in our fellowship. To fail. Living in peace leads to the God who is of love and peace removing himself. I Won't be present in this place.

But I think it's important to say as we've already touched on these. These qualities don't lead to the result of God's presence. So much as God's presence leads to the result of these realities. When the God who is love is present in the midst of his people.

By his spirit this God of love and peace produces love and peace within his church. And so we don't try to find these things elsewhere. When we're detecting these things in our lives in our homes in our church, we beseech God come.

Break our hearts and repentance move us toward the things that will lead to love and peace. That we might be edified that we might glorify.

Be Affectionate and Belong to the Triune God

Fourth.

To edify you must be affectionate. Verse 12. Greet one another with a holy kiss. This is the verse that makes English preachers squirm.

The holy kiss.

American preachers, too. I.

Don't think I've ever been holy kissed. If I went to some parts of the world today, I would experience that. It wouldn't be uncommon if you were meeting with perhaps Turkish Christians or Greek Christians to.

To walk hand-in-hand walk down the street together holding hands. Or to be hugged and kissed on the neck as Paul was in Acts 20. Here we have a cultural practice. There's many cultural practices in Scripture and it takes time to sort out in what ways does this cultural application carry over to our culture?

In our time. What is Transferable what is applicable here? And the holy kiss is one that it seems Western culture in general has decided does not directly transfer and So I I put mildly let us be affectionate if we want to build up we must be affectionate.

Greet one another with a holy kiss. This isn't just one place that this exhortation is given to us. Paul says it in first Thessalonians 5 first Corinthians 16 Romans 16. Peter says it in first Peter 5 everywhere in the New Testament.

There's this call for Christians to show affection toward each other. It was a friendly sign of greeting. It was a it was a token of friendship. Maybe was given on the cheek or sometimes on the hand or even on the forehead.

And the clear takeaway of this is Christians are to have such a regard for each other. That they show these symbols these tokens of affection. It almost goes without saying if you're following verse 11.

What's the naturals up going to be if you have brothers and sisters that are being humble in the way? They think of themselves charitable toward you. Constantly seeking to comfort you in the things of the Lord build you up striving to be unified and of one mind.

What kind of ethos is are going to be but one of affection? Our motivation begins with affection from the affection of God toward us from the love of God toward us and that turns toward affection for his people and Even beyond his people a desire to see our brothers and sisters in Christ flourish and we've talked about this in the past.

You've experienced this when you come across someone who you've never met in your life. Maybe you're in a restaurant or in a lobby or an airport or so on and somehow they say something that makes you wonder like.

And you start to do this little dance. Are you a Christian? That's kind of a dance, right? So maybe they say oh, yeah, you know, you're gonna love it. I highly recommend that, you know that dessert. You'll be blessed if you try it and then you're like, oh blessed.

Is this guy a Christian, you know. Then you're like, yeah, that sounds good, you know. You know one of God's gifts right dessert and you kind of looking at each other. And now there's like this little kind of match going on like, all right.

You know, let's show your cards. And even if you get to the place when you say, oh, yeah, I'm a Christian. Doesn't really mean much you're like, okay good. Now. Let's ask more questions to find out if you really are a Christian.

But when you get to that place when yeah, they're a Bible believing gospel exalting church attending Christian. Even though they're a complete stranger to you. You have some affection toward them. You have some desire to bless them and to encourage them and you feel encouraged by them and it's kind of like.

You know here we are. You know here we are at friendlies to Christians and you know that you have this regard for each other. Because you have a regard for the Lord and so all we're doing is trying to bring that into a church fellowship where we're not strangers we know each other and therefore amplify at times a thousand.