6 Commands for Healthy Church

2 Corinthians 13:11 and the Final Benediction to Corinth

I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to 2 Corinthians 13 and hold your place at verse 11. We come now today to our final sermon in the letter of 2 Corinthians. And when we reach the end of an exposition, there tends to be a sense of relief, a sense of thankfulness that we've yet again been able to begin and end together as a body walking through one of the books of the Bible.

And in my heart, it often is a time of reflection. It's an opportunity to look over what we have learned and contextualize the information that we have received and consider all the things that we've learned.

This has been a year study in this church. And so in today's message, we're going to do somewhat of a review of what we've learned so far, and then we're going to examine the final words that Paul gives to the church of Corinth in this final correspondence that he has with them.

Over the past three weeks, I have been dealing with some very difficult subjects, ranging from the subject of church discipline all the way down to the subject of self-examination, which last week we looked at and was a very heavy message.

So I wanted, in a way, to sort of have a message that was less heavy. It was just so heavy. And yet Paul still, even in these last final words that are encouraging words, there is still some heaviness here.

So as we complete the study today and as we examine these last words of Paul, I pray that the weightiness of this epistle will remain with us as we continue to move into the Christmas season. So let's stand together and read the words of Paul as he writes his benediction to the church at Corinth.

Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration. Comfort one another. Agree with one another. 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 fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Father in heaven, we come to you in Jesus' name. We come to you as the holy God who created all things and who upholds all things by the word of your power.

And we come to you as this moment of instruction that we receive at the beginning of each week where we gather as a church around the word of God and we say, Lord, teach us your statutes and give us the ability by your grace to walk in them.

Lord, it is one thing to have an understanding of your word. It is so much a different thing to do what your word commands. We know that even in your word there is a warning for those who are hearers of the word but not doers of the word.

And you say that they are deceiving themselves. So, Lord, I pray that as we consider the six commands of this passage today, each one, Lord, a command that would, if it were followed, give birth to more health and vitality in the local body.

I pray, Lord, that you would walk with us, bear with us, instruct us, and keep us, keep me from error, as I say every week, and open the hearts of your people to understand your.

Truth.

May your spirit be the teacher. May your son be the focus. May I decrease. And Lord God, may your people be edified. And may those who do not know you hear the gospel today. In Jesus' name, amen. The one benefit of preaching expositionally is that those who are here in church each week understand the context of where we are.

And so the benefit of expositional preaching is that you get to maintain a context, and we have throughout the last year, and we, I hope, have come to understand better the reason why Paul wrote the second letter to the church at Corinth.

This is likely, as I've noted in my preaching through this, this is likely not his second letter, but rather probably the fourth letter that he has sent to this church. The book that we call 1 Corinthians is actually the second letter that he sent, because in that book he references a previous letter that he had sent.

And then between 1 and 2 Corinthians, in our Bible, there is a reference to what he calls the severe letter, a letter that came in between. So as many scholars have done, they say there's Corinthians A, B, C, and D.

We have B and D. We don't have A and C. So we don't know everything that Paul ever wrote to the Corinthians, but we are able, through the study of these two letters, ascertain the issues that were happening at Corinth and understand the context that the apostle Paul was preaching into.

And the primary thrust of this letter has been Paul's defense of his ministry against those who call his ministry's integrity into question. In the very first chapter of this book, he gave an explanation of why his plans had changed.

Why did he even have to talk about why his plans had changed? Well, it's understood that most likely what was happening was his opponents were saying, look, Paul says he's going to do this and he does that.

Paul says he's going to be here and he's actually there. Paul is not a man of integrity. Paul's not a man who can be trusted. Paul's not a man who does what he says he's going to do. And so Paul defends his integrity.

He explains the situation that he's in. He says in that first chapter that he is not a man who is given to that type of miscommunication. And so it begins with a defense and it continues in a defense.

The letter can be broken into three parts. I know I've shown you this several times over the last few weeks, but I want it to be in your mind because I think when we take a step back and we look at the book, we need to understand the overall construction of the book.

As we're looking at the individual pieces, they fit into a larger context and the larger context is the first seven chapters. Paul is defending his ministry. He's defending what his ministry is. He says it's a ministry of reconciliation.

It's a ministry of the new covenant. He explains what that means and he over and over again explains why and who has called him into ministry and why God has called him into ministry. In chapters eight and nine, he calls for generosity and giving to the church at Jerusalem, which may seem like a departure.

It may seem like it doesn't fit in this letter. And I mentioned when I was teaching through that, that some people even think that that part of the letter is actually a separate letter that was later stitched together into this letter.

There's no evidence of that, but I understand why people would come to that conclusion because chapters eight and nine are different in the way that he speaks to them. And it seems as if he almost switches gears rather suddenly, but the reason is, is because they have made a promise.

The church had made a commitment to the church in Jerusalem. We read about this in chapter 16 in 1 Corinthians, that they had made a commitment to raise money and send to this church that was going through a time of famine and a time of persecution.

They had not fulfilled their command. They had not fulfilled their promise. And so Paul is reminding them of that commitment. Don't we all need to be reminded of our commitments from time to time? And then finally, chapters 10 to 13 ends with Paul's assault against the false teachers, his assault against the, what he calls super apostles.

Those men who have come into Corinth after Paul and who have run amok in that church, who have brought false teaching into that body. And so that's the overall structure. The last four chapters are an absolute assault against false teaching.

Paul even calls his opponents agents of Satan. We think today people say things and, oh, that person's too harsh, so we should never.

Say a word.

Christians would never use harsh language. Paul said, you're workers of the devil and was not afraid to say it. It's interesting to me when I was starting to preach this letter and as I was beginning to think through all the things I wanted to teach over the last year, just how little attention 2 Corinthians gets compared to 1 Corinthians.

When you look just at the amount of commentaries and things that are available for 2 Corinthians, it pales in comparison to 1 Corinthians. In fact, a lot of people's commentaries on 2 Corinthians are just little sections at the back of their very long exposition of 1 Corinthians and they're like, oh yeah, here's what we have for 2 Corinthians.

But this is unfortunate because of the great wealth of truth which is contained in this.

Letter.

Throughout this study we have seen passage after passage after passage that have indescribable and powerful expressions of faith and truth. In fact, it contains, even though it's less cited than 1 Corinthians, it contains some of the most commonly remembered passages in the Bible.

For instance, if I even start a passage, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new, old things pass away, we know it, right? That's 2 Corinthians 5 .17. In that same chapter we have probably the most clearly articulated statement of the gospel outside of John 3 .16.

John 3 .16 is probably the simplest explanation of the gospel, but 2 Corinthians 5 .21, God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us that we could become the righteousness of God in him. It's the gospel in one sentence.

And it's found in this very important letter. This letter also contains probably the most important passage on the subject of giving. Where the Bible tells us in this book, each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion because what?

God loves a cheerful giver. Throughout this letter there are gems like that that we have sought to mine throughout our study. And others may be not as well known, but still just as powerful, such as in chapter 4 when Paul says, we have this treasure in jars of clay to show the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

What is Paul saying in that passage? He's reminding us that the treasure that we have is the ultimate value, but we who carry the treasure are really just vessels that are easily broken and easily discouraged.

He says we have this great treasure, this wonderful treasure of the gospel and it's contained in a vessel that's like a clay pot. He tells us in chapter 10 that we are to destroy every argument and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

One of the most important passages on how we are to live the Christian life mentally. I don't know about you, but as hard as it is to work out my sanctification in the physical, isn't it also hard to work out my sanctification in the mental?

Just the mental things that we struggle with, anger and frustration and emotional turmoil. And I have a very bad problem is I don't have a poker face. People say, why do you say that so mean? I didn't say anything.

Well, your face spoke volumes. And I'm told I'm supposed to take every thought captive. I'm supposed to actually think about how I think. Be sanctified not only in my hands, but in my heart. And then I'm reminded in chapter 12, probably one of the most precious passages of the reminder of this isn't all up to me when it says my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in what weakness, weakness.

Where does my power come from? Not from me. If it was up to me and my power and my strength, it would be absolutely futile. So I say with the apostle Paul, his grace is sufficient for me. This letter has been just a tremendous study for me.

It's a powerful reminder of what ministry looks like. Because ministry is raw, it is dirty, and it is painful. Ministry is rarely all happy, joy, smiles, and pain free. It's never pain free, but it's often, as I said, just dirty.

John MacArthur in his comments on 2 Corinthians said that before any man enters the ministry, he should make Paul's letter to Corinth, the second letter to Corinth, a study simply for the fact that it is a demonstration of what unvarnished and real, raw ministry looks like.

People come, I have so many people who ask me, you know, I think God's calling me into ministry, what do you think?

Run!

Often, I'll quote Spurgeon, people don't like this quote of Spurgeon, but he essentially said if you can do anything else and be satisfied, do that. Ministry is filled with taking hard stands, being disappointed in people you trust, and disappointing people that trust you, and getting betrayed by people you love.

And hey, I'm not talking about me, I'm just saying that's Paul. If you read this letter, that's what Paul said. This is why men leave the ministry as often as they do. According to Barna Research, the percentage of pastors who have gone through a period where they significantly doubted their call for ministry has doubled in the last 10 years.

And I can't imagine that COVID helped that at all. In 2015, they did a study, it was 24 said within the first few years of ministry, they doubted their calling, now it's at 55%. And one of the largest attrition rates in the world as far as professions go, and I hate to call ministry a profession, but for those who do it vocationally, it is one of the most quickly left professions, if you want to call it a profession, or vocation.

However you want to define that. And so what's been encouraging me in this letter is that Paul went through it. That when Paul is writing, he doesn't write with rose-tinted glasses, but he simply says, guys, you're hard to deal with, and I haven't done everything right.

I mean, go back and read the letter, that's what he said, you're hard to deal with and I haven't done everything right. I've loved you, and I've wanted you to love me, but this is where we are. There's a real issue in Corinth, and the real issue in Corinth is some other men have come in and convinced them that they have done it right.

See, the super-apostles came in and they convinced everybody that they were the ones who were right and Paul was wrong. And again, over and over through the letter, Paul is simply saying, how has this happened?

What brought us to this? So now we are here, we've read of his anxiety, we've read of his doubt, we've read of his struggle, and I say this with almost a sense of thankfulness, because as I deal with anxiety doubt and difficulties, I'm like, well, thankfully Paul was honest, because had he been unwilling to mention the fact that hey, when I was in Troas I was actually so anxious that I couldn't stay in Troas, I had to go to Macedonia because I was so worried about what was going on with Titus, because he was with y 'all, and who knows what y 'all were doing to him.

I mean, go back and read it, that's essentially the idea. He was so concerned he couldn't stay in Troas, even though God opened a door for ministry for him there, he said I couldn't stay and do that ministry there because I was so anxious in my spirit about what was going on with you.

This whole letter is, I know why it doesn't get preached much, because a lot of ministers don't want to be this honest. You don't want to deal with the reality, that ministry is hard, but it is. And Paul has been honest.

So we come to the final four verses, and as we reach these final words, we are going to see six imperative statements that Paul concludes this entire letter with in the context of understanding that the entire letter has been defensive and corrective in nature.

I don't see how anyone could read the letter and not come to the conclusion that it's been one, he's been on defense, and two, he's been correcting them as he's been defending himself. That's what this letter is.

And so how do you end a letter like that? Well, this is how Paul chooses to do it. I'm going to give you six things that you need to do. I'm going to give you six imperatives. And if you don't remember, an imperative is a command.

It's a call to action. In the ESV, they list as this, as the words on the screen, and it's going to be different, and I'll walk through, as I'm walking through, because I know some of you have other translations, I'll point out where we are in your translation.

But this is how it reads in the six from the ESV. Rejoice, aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and greet one another. And so let's walk through each of these and see what, and I've entitled today, I know this is a little late to bring in the title, but I've entitled this, Six Commands for a Healthy Church.

Because I truly believe this, I said this when we were praying with the men this morning, I truly believe if we were to practice these things, and actually implement the commands that are here, that it would actually, it would do so much for the heart of our church, if we actually implemented these six things, on a personal level, as well as a corporate level.

And no, in case you're nervous, I'm not going to ask anybody to kiss me when we're done. We'll talk about that when we get there, but that's, I saw nervous. Don't be too nervous, yeah. So he says, the first command is, Finally, brethren, rejoice.

Now, the literal rendering of this word, karete, is literally the word rejoice. But some translations translate this as farewell, or goodbye, or all hail. And the reason why it is translated with those different ways of address, which are very common, is because this is a common form of address, in first century Greek writing.

So, it is one of the ways that if you were writing a letter, you would bring a letter to a close. You notice that the letters of Paul's time are different than the letters of our time. When we start a letter, we say, Dear, whoever the recipient is, Dear Mike, and then we say, Sincerely, Keith, or Love, Keith, or In Christ, Keith.

We'll have some type of introduction, which addresses the hearer, and a conclusion, which comes from the sender. Well, in early, or in first century epistolary literature, it was more like, it's almost like I say, if you're in business and you have memos, memos have a from at the very beginning.

That's how the epistles start. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, sent by God, appointed by Christ. That's how he would begin his letters. He would begin with his name, and then his qualifications, who he is.

And then it would say, to the church of Corinth, or to the church of Philippi, or to the church of Thessalonica. So, there were constructions that Paul would use in writing these letters that were formal constructions that were common in first century epistolary literature.

And when we reach the end here, we come to this first imperative, and this imperative was common in first century epistolary literature as a conclusion, in the same way that we would say goodbye, or we would say salutations, or we would say greetings at the beginning, or something like that.

So, we don't want to overly read into this use of this word, but we do want to understand that there is a reason why this word is being used here, because Paul wouldn't put anything that didn't have a meaning.

And the meaning of the word karete, the meaning of the word translated rejoice, is literally the command to be glad.

To be glad.

And you say, well, why in the world does that matter? Well, I think it matters because, quite frankly, Paul has just spent the last 12 chapters, 13 chapters altogether, correcting them in their sinful condition.

And Paul is now, in these final words, reminding them that this, even though this letter has been corrective, it has not come to them in a spirit of hatred or contention. It has come to them in a spirit of love.

Let me ask you this. Are you glad when someone corrects you? Thank you, Jordan.

Oh, yeah.

We love it, don't we? Aren't we glad when someone corrects us?

No.

Even the book of Hebrews says that when discipline comes, for the moment it does not feel good. And Paul has spent 12 chapters plus providing to them a correction, and at some point the correction has been a sword to the heart.

It has been a dagger to the soul of this church. In fact, as I said when I was going through this book, I said some people think the last four chapters are actually the severe letter that Paul talks about in the second, that later somebody put those two together, because it is so harsh.

And they said this must be the severe letter, because look what he's doing. He's calling them agents of Satan. He's calling them followers of the devil. He's saying that they need to repent or they're going to go to hell.

It has been corrective. It has been hard. And yet Paul says be glad. Are we willing to receive correction and be thankful for it? Not always. But what does the book of Proverbs say? The book of Proverbs says it is the wise person who is glad when he is corrected.

And what is the fool? The fool despises correction. The fool despises correction, but the wise person is glad when they receive correction, because that correction is going to be used by God to sanctify them.

I think there's a very gentle heart here. I think Paul is showing here at the very last part of this book, I actually have not written this to you because I hate you. I've written this to you because I love you.

And I want you to understand that my ultimate goal is not that you would shrink into despair, but that you would be glad that someone cares enough about you to call you to repentance. Can you be glad?

Proverbs chapter 9 verse 8. It says, do not reprove a scoffer because he will hate you. But reprove a wise man and he will love you. On Thursdays I go to set free. And it's become my pattern here recently to teach them essentially what I'm teaching you guys, because it gives me an opportunity to walk through the text with another group and maybe see how they respond and hear their questions.

That's helpful.

It helps me be better. So as I'm talking to the men, I mention that passage. And I said, you know, do not reprove a scoffer. He will hate you. Reprove a wise man and he will love you. I said, how many of us hate correction?

And we won't take it from anyone. I said, that is the person in view in Proverbs 9. I said, the wise man loves. Not that we love to be corrected because no one just wants to walk into a wall every time we do anything, right?

But we love when we are in error and God uses someone in our life to correct us. Paul says, be glad. Finally, brethren, be glad. And then he moves to the next imperative. In the ESV, the term is aim for restoration.

In the NAS, it says be made complete. In the King James, it says be perfect. Right?

Okay.

Well, I'm actually going to say it means a little something even different. Because the word here, the word is katartizo. And it's literally the word to bring things back together that have been taken apart.

It's about reconciliation. In this context, it's about reconciliation. And here's a good place where the same word is used elsewhere to give you an idea. When Jesus meets the disciples and they are mending their nets.

Remember that? Because as they toss their nets, their nets become pulled apart and they begin to be damaged. When they come back to the seashore, they have to pull their nets in and they have to mend the nets.

Because holy nets aren't useful for catching fish. The same word, mending, is katartizo. It's the same word. And that word is used twice in the gospels. And both times it's used to apply to the mending of the nets.

Because it's mentioned in Mark's gospel. It's mentioned in Matthew's gospel. This is why if be glad is a good interpretation of rejoice, which I think it is. Then a good interpretation of this phrase is be whole.

To be whole. Because the church at Corinth had become broken through false teaching. It was a broken church that needed to be mended. It needed to be reconciled. It needed to be made whole. To made complete.

And we could say mature. We could say all of that because it brings back that idea of what is separated needs to be brought back together. And as I was writing this and thinking, I asked this question.

Is it personal or is it corporate? And I think it's both. There were people who were broken that needed to be mended. And there was a body that was broken that needed to be made whole. Because quite frankly, division was real.

Division in the church was real at Corinth. We read about it in 1 Corinthians when there were those who say I am of Apollos, I am of Paul, I am of Peter, I am of Christ. There was division over leadership.

There was division over allegiances. There was division over what ought to be done with the man who was caught in sin. Or what ought to be done with those who were eating meat offered to idols. What ought to be done with the married and the divorced.

What ought to be done with the spiritual gifts. What ought to be done with those who were abusing the spiritual gifts. All through 1 Corinthians there's these questions. What ought to be done? And Paul's ending of this letter is we need to aim for mending the situation.

Not continuing to tear it apart. Not continuing to let it stay broken. The goal is union. Restoration.

Mending.

In truth, that's the goal. Can't have union in error. Can't have union in falsehood. When people say why aren't you united with the local whatever church. Well there are certain churches we won't unite with because quite frankly they don't preach the gospel.

They encourage sin and they walk not according to the word of God. So you never unite in error. But the church in Corinth Paul is calling them to unite around the truth. And he's telling them that this is a command.

Aim for restoration. Be made complete. Seek to dispel the division. I am convinced in 18 years of ministry here. And years before that still here but not in pastoral ministry. I'm convinced that there are some people who just want division.

For whatever reason. They thrive on discontent. They thrive on being unhappy and making other people unhappy. It's just in the heart somewhere. And the old joke, it's not funny, but the old joke is heaven has to have a complaint department.

Because some people won't be happy in heaven if they don't have a place to complain. That's the old joke, right? But the reality is we are called to be unified. We're called to be mended. Not to be torn apart.

And Paul's looking at a church that's got false teachers in it. And yet he's still calling for mending. Now he does say when I get there some of you are going to get expelled. Because some of you won't stop the false teaching that you're doing.

Some of you won't stop this. But ultimately the body has to be mended. I really didn't intend to spend this much time on each of these. So I'm going to have to increase my speed a little. When you have three points it's easy.

The third command, comfort one another. Comfort one another. I absolutely love to teach on this word. Because the word comfort here is the verbal form of the noun which is used when Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit.

And most of us who grew up in church at some point heard some old preacher reference the paraclete. The paraclete is the southern version of the Greek word parakletos. And the word parakletos is the word that Jesus chooses to describe the Holy Spirit.

You guys have heard me talk about this before. Jesus said I must go away but it behooves you that I go away. For when I go away I will send to you alas parakletos. I will send you another comforter. That's why the King James translates it.

Because the King James has influence from the Latin language. And the word in Latin comforte means one who gives strength. That's what comfort means. Forte means strength. COM at the beginning is the prefix come which means with.

So comforte means with strength. And so Jesus says I'm going to send you one who is going to be your strength, who stands beside you, who enables you to do what I've enabled you to do while I was with you.

He's going to do what I did while I was here. Now that word parakletos is noun. It's a noun. It's a person. The comforter. The advocate. It was actually a term used for one who would stand next to you in court like your lawyer.

The one who gave you strength. Noun form. But the verbal form, parakleto, means to do that for someone else. To be their strength. To be the one who stands next to them. So you have the noun form. That's the person.

You have the verbal form. That's the doing of that thing that that person does. And Paul here calls the church to be for one another our strength. Last week I said no such thing as a lone wolf Christian.

Posted it. A little short clip. Immediately. I don't need the church. I don't need to be part of a body. You just want people to come because you want people to listen to you yell and take their money.

I'm always so thankful for how much grace is given through comments. The church is supposed to be the place where we find those people in the world who serve Christ with us and stand with us in serving Christ to give us strength.

That's what it's supposed to be. That's what it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be a place where we encourage one another. We advocate for one another. We exhort one another. But here's the thing that's real hard.

Sometimes encouragement and exhortation includes correction. In fact, I want to prove this. Not that I need to because I think you all agree. But just in case you wonder, I want you to hear three verses of scripture that all use this same verb.

Periclea. Periclea. All of these verses use the same verb. But I want you to hear how they're used. The first one is in Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 3 verse 13. But exhort.

That's the word.

Periclea. But exhort one another every day as long as it is called today that none of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. What's involved in that use of that word? Building each other up but maybe possibly needing to correct, right?

Because he's saying exhort one another so that you don't fall into sin. So when we hear the word comfort, we automatically think some kind of emotional comforting. There is emotional comfort available.

But it's also a standing with you so that you continue to walk the path. Second Corinthians 520. The same book we're reading. But I implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God. What's the word implore?

It's the word periclea. It's I literally I'm standing with you encouraging you to do this thing.

To do what?

To be reconciled to God. First Thessalonians 2 verse 11. For you know how like a father with his children we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God.

I think that's probably the best passage in regard to what Paul's saying here. Because comforting one another does not simply mean whispering sweet nothing in each other's ear as we walk out the door.

But what it actually means is to encourage one another and charge one another to walk in a manner worthy of Christ. That's what it means to comfort one another. It means to encourage one another in our Christian walk.

This is why I said ministry is hard. It's dirty because people don't want this. We want the sweet nothings. We want the church that tells us how great we are. We want to be told how we're doing everything right and how dare anyone call us into question if we're not.

So understand this. When Paul says comfort one another he's not saying give everybody an attaboy. Now attaboys are good. Attaboys are fine. But that's not all that's here. Comforting can include correction.

Because it's about building up. So again if I'm taking these and I'm making them into short commands. The first one is be glad. The second one is be whole. The third one is be building one another up.