2 Corinthians in 20 Minutes

But unfortunately, maybe you forgot it. I know as I go through it, I think, wow, I remember preaching that.

I wish I could have lived it the way I preached it. And maybe that's true of you as well, that sometimes we look in the mirror and we forget what we look like.

We should be looking in the mirror and fixing our hair or whatever it is, but instead we just immediately forget what we look like and go on living as if we never heard that word preached.

So let's go through, and I'm gonna need to be careful right here at the beginning of my sermon because all 10 of these points on that paper are a sermon in and of themselves.

So I'm gonna have to discipline myself to stay to about two minutes per so that we can get to the last four verses of 2

Corinthians today. But I don't want us to forget what God has said. I want us to take this home and preach this to ourselves again and again so that we're living by it.

The first one, the first big lesson from 2 Corinthians, and today is the last

Sunday in 2 Corinthians. Some of you are saying amen. You're ready for me to move on.

The first big message was maturity is suffering well. Anyone who says that because you're suffering, you must be on the wrong side of God or you must be doing something wrong,

God is angry at you because look how you suffer. If someone says that to you, they might be just like Job's friends.

But in truth, suffering is sometimes used of God for a purpose, to commend the gospel that in your weakness, his strength would be made strong.

If you look on the scripture here, on the paper listing the scriptures, there are four lists in the book of 2

Corinthians where Paul does not talk about the amazing things that he's done, although there were amazing things that he did in the spirit.

Rather, he talks about his sufferings. In chapter one, about how he was at the point of death where he despaired even of life itself.

In chapter four, he talks about himself being like a jar of clay, crumbly, weak, just a vessel, but it shows that the all surpassing power comes from God and not from him.

He talks about in chapter six, more about how his suffering commends the gospel and then finally in chapter 11, he boasts not in his power, but in his weakness.

Talks about the thorn in his flesh, but he also mentions the five times that he received the 40 lashes minus one and being beaten with rod three times, stoned and left for dead and all of the sufferings that marked his ministry.

He appeals to those as evidence that he's a true apostle. So maturity is learning to suffer well, to recognize that a sovereign

God brings difficult things into our lives and it's not necessarily because he's angry with us.

To accept those afflictions, recognizing that God has a purpose in them and he's going to work even through the hardest thing that you're dealing with right now.

Maturity is trusting him. So what does that actually look like? It looks like relying on God through prayer.

Instead of becoming self -centered, relying on oneself to put your trust entirely in God, to rely on the strength of the

Holy Spirit in the midst of your suffering, to learn to pray. These afflictions that you're going through are teaching you to pray.

We see that in chapter one, verse 11. Sermon number two, sermonette number two. Let your yes be yes and your no, no.

Paul talks about his traveling and his plans to come and see them and he says he doesn't make those plans lightly.

When he says yes, he means yes. When he says no, he means no. And as Christians, we need to let our word be our bond.

When we speak, there's times as a parent where my mind is distracted when my kids ask me something.

They come up asking for Cheez -Its or something and I say yes, yes, and then I actually process what they asked after I've already said yes.

And they always say, let your yes be yes. There's no changing it at that point. Let your yes be yes, you already said it.

There was a funny movie that we were watching, I probably shouldn't even mention this, but it was called Echo. It was about a little alien that came from outer space and it was a funny scene in the movie where the parents are talking and the kid tries to sneak out and says, yeah,

I'm going somewhere, but then he recognizes that the parents aren't really paying attention. So he just tells them what he's up to.

He says, I'm gonna ride 25 miles out into the desert to go look at this little blip on my cell phone and trace it down.

And the parents are like, yes, yes, go ahead, go ahead. Well, that's how we are sometimes.

No? Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes we are. We don't think before we make a promise or before we say what we're gonna do.

But what we learn from Paul is let your yes be yes and your no be no. We need to learn to be careful what we say and if we say something, as Christians, our word is our bond.

Number three, 2 Corinthians teaches us that discipline by the majority implies congregationalism.

Now, this is a little bit more of an abstruse kind of inside baseball point, but as churchmen, as people who are involved in the church, we need to recognize that congregationalism is biblical.

The highest authority in the local church is the local church itself. In Matthew chapter 18, you see that the final disciplining authority is the majority, the church.

And in 2 Corinthians chapter two, verse six, Paul says the decision reached by the majority is sufficient for them.

Well, what does he mean by that? He means there's a countable majority, a body of believers that you know who they are that belong to that fellowship and the majority can be counted, which is a great argument for official church membership, especially in our day and age when people kind of move around from church to church.

To join a church means you are countable. Like you can be counted, you're there, and we know who's who in order to operate as one body.

So there was a smaller point, but number four, a big one. Ministry is loving well.

All throughout the letter of 2 Corinthians, chapter two, verse 12 to 17, six, 11 to 13, seven, two to four, you see

Paul interject with words of affection. His love for the

Corinthians comes through. And ministry is all about loving well.

That's what ministry is. Ministry is not about building the largest platform, getting the most likes on Facebook.

Ministry is not even about building the biggest church, although we want to gather as many sheep into the fold as are willing to come, right?

But ministry is about loving well. To minister means to serve. It means to love.

And the greatest of these among us are the least, the one who's willing to serve and wash the feet of another.

That's what ministry is really all about. You see it in Paul's letter. Number five, this is a powerful teaching.

We are sanctified by unveiled looking at Christ. Turn with me to chapter three, verse 18.

And we all with unveiled face. So that's where I get the unveiled looking.

Moses had to wear a veil because the glory on his face was fading away.

So he wore a veil, I think, because he would be ashamed to see that glory fading.

The context there in 2 Corinthians is the boldness that we are to have, unlike Moses who would veil his face.

But unveiled face means you now are able to behold and see

Christ. And so we continue to look to Christ. There are many things in church and in the world that vie for our attention all the time.

Facebook and television and sports and the busyness of our schedules, they vie for our attention all the time.

But we will grow to be like Christ to the extent that we look at him. We behold his glory, it says in verse 17.

In verse 18, with unveiled face, we behold the glory of the Lord. So what happens?

We're transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. Sanctification, we become like the one we're looking at.

When I was in Florida about a year ago, remember when we were going through the Psalms and we were in Psalm 34?

Rick had told me about this song by Shane and Shane where they did Psalm 34. And when

I heard that song, man, something about that just stuck in my head. I loved it so much. Remember that, magnify the

Lord with me? Those who look to him are radiant. And I was singing this song all day long to the point that my kids were just like, whoa, sing something else,

Dad, or sing it to yourself. But that idea, those who look to him are radiant.

When you look at the one whose glory is unlike any other, when you set your eyes on Christ, the degree to which you're looking at him is the degree to which you become like him.

Those who look to him are radiant. Sanctification happens by focusing our mind's attention through the word and in prayer on the

Son of God. It's the one we're trying to be like. We need to look to him in the scriptures to become like him.

So sanctification is that big theme there. But it's also connected with this idea, number six, Satan blinds, but God gives light to whom he will.

The God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Satan is blinding minds, keeping people from hearing the message, making them sleepy when the gospel is being heralded, keeping them away from Christians, holding them back.

Now, we're in a season here at Christmastime where there's much talk about Santa Claus.

Santa Claus has a list, doesn't he? He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice.

What most people don't realize is that Nicholas, as would be the case with the true Santa, is a

Calvinist. He's a Calvinist, and if he takes a list, guess what?

On Santa's list, if he's judging by who's naughty or nice, all of us are naughty!

The doctrine of total depravity. There's no one earning righteousness. He's gonna find out.

If he looks at our deeds, we're all together, locked up under sin, blinded by Satan, by the devil.

He's holding us in. Now, what's really imprisoning us? Is it the devil? Is he really our ultimate problem?

Augustine said this, I was held before conversion, not with an iron chain, but with the obstinacy of my own will.

Our own will is enslaved to sin. Our own desire is for self -glorification, not to worship the one true

God. We're bound by sin. We're enslaved by sin, but God comes, and the great news that we learn in 2

Corinthians 4, 6 and following is that God lets his light shine the way at creation.

He said, let there be light. So he says, let there be light, which then comes and floods the soul of a naughty sinner like me.

He lifts the veil. I was blinded. There was a veil over my face, and he lifted it, and I saw

Christ for who he was. This is the message of 2 Corinthians 4, verses 4 to 7.

An unveiled looking comes from the spirit who says, let there be light.

It's a supernatural miracle, just to the degree that God said, let there be light, and the world was flooded with light, like that, through the speaking of his word.

In the same way, he says, let there be light, and your dead heart comes to life, and that veil is removed, and you're born again, and so the sanctification process begins at salvation.

Number seven, and I told you I'm gonna have to go fast, so I'm moving as quick as I can. Number seven, remember this lesson?

Learn to have an eternal perspective. We're living in this world, and we're distracted by so many things, and then suffering hits, and the affliction of this life, whether it's some disease, or some loved one getting sick, or some trouble that comes into your life, it feels so heavy.

It feels like it's everything. It's all consuming, but 2

Corinthians 4, verse 17 says, these light and momentary afflictions are preparing for us an eternal weight of glory that's beyond comparison.

It far outweighs the suffering. Think about that. We need to keep this perspective in mind, that even the heaviness of our afflictions have a purpose.

They are preparing us for an eternal weight of glory that far surpasses them all.

The suffering has a purpose, and we need to keep our mind on that purpose, on the eternal weight of glory.

There's something eternal that God is accomplishing in our sufferings. Such an important lesson, and we learn about the resurrection of the body in chapter five, and we learn about the eternality that we need to be focused on because we become very distractible and get focused on the things of this earth.

We need to keep that eternal perspective. That's a sermon to preach to yourself again and again, especially when affliction hits.

Number eight, seems almost out of place because Paul changes the subject.

In chapters eight and nine, giving is the Christian's privilege. He takes an offering for two chapters in the middle of 2

Corinthians. Why? He's won their affection back, he feels. He's confident in them now, and he asks for their participation in the gospel.

Giving is a privilege. I was moved by the story that we heard from Sharon and Jill about the prisoners who, having heard the gospel from the

Saints Prison Ministry, took an offering and gave $500 to the ministry of Saints Prison Ministry, but recognized that in prison, they are making 17 cents per hour.

It's like the widow's mite. $500 is more than the big number that one of us might be able to give, but what matters is the heart behind it, not the denomination of the bill.

Giving is a privilege, and these women saw it as a privilege to give to the work of the

Lord. It's a reminder of the widow who gave all she has with her two cents.

Giving is the Christian's privilege. We learn that from 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, and we need to be reminded of that, because, guys, what we do with our finances is an indication of what's in our heart.

It does indicate what's in our heart. What kind of priority do we place on the gospel of Jesus Christ?

We have an opportunity to say, through our giving, we value this church that is the church of the living

God. We value our God and the furtherance of the gospel to the ends of the earth.

So we have that opportunity. It's something we should delight in doing and find joy in giving. Number nine, apologetics is necessary.

A postmodern age that hates apologetics would disagree, but Paul says it's necessary, because some false apostles have come in and they're teaching doctrine contrary to what

Paul himself had taught, and that's where he says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty for destroying arguments.

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.

So what's the concern? Paul says in chapter 11, verse three and four, my concern is that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent, your minds would be led astray from the simplicity and purity of your devotion to Christ, because someone's gonna come and preach what?

Another Jesus and another spirit and another gospel, and you'll welcome it ready enough.

But apologetics, Paul says, no, hold fast to the genuine, hold to the true, and he fights for their devotion to Christ.

So apologetics is necessary, and that brings us now for the last half hour to the last four verses, turn with me, of 2

Corinthians 13th chapter, verses 11 to 14.

And here we see that the Trinity teaches us to love each other. Paul closes, his last verse is very

Trinitarian. All three members of the Trinity are found there.

But the emphasis is not just theological. He's not making a theological defense of the Trinity.

He's assuming the Trinity here, and he speaks of it casually, but he's, in the context, calling the

Corinthians to love like God loves. And the idea is that the

God of love, the God of peace, is with you. He promises to be with you, but you now must act like him.

So the Trinity becomes standard of love, and the love that's within himself is what we're to model ourselves after.

You know what, before we read this, because we're doing a lot of other things first today, there is one more passage that fits perfectly with what we're saying, and I don't want us to miss this.

It's the Lord Jesus in John 17, verse 20 to 26.

The Bible tells us to be devoted to the public reading of Scripture, Paul tells Timothy. I'm just gonna read this to you.

I want us to hear the words of the Lord Jesus Christ before we get into 2 Corinthians 11,