Lessons Learned
This was a tough letter – to receive and write. Confrontation is never easy, but there are times when it is necessary to the spiritual growth of a person, a congregation, and even, at times, a denomination. There will be times in our lives when we need to receive a stern word. We will need to be disciplined because of the things we are doing or saying. We will need God to reach out to us with His rod and staff to keep us from going astray. I, like most people, don’t like to be told I am wrong. I just don’t. My instant reaction is to make excuses or try to justify what I’m doing. I can come up with plenty of reasons why I’m not wrong. But discipline is necessary. If we want to grow, and become holy and righteous as God is holy and righteous, we must endure discipline. As we come to the end of 2 Corinthians, let’s remember that God loves us and wants what’s best for us. That may mean our Good Shepherd will need to use His staff, to bring us back to the path, and His rod, to remind us that He is indeed holy and righteous. If we can learn the lessons of this book, we will be on our way to becoming mature believers in Christ.
Vs 1-4 This is the third time I am coming to you. Every fact must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. I gave a warning when I was present the second time, and now I give a warning while I am absent to those who sinned before and to all the rest: If I come again, I will not be lenient, since you seek proof of Christ speaking in me. He is not weak toward you, but powerful among you. In fact, He was crucified in weakness, but He lives by God’s power. For we also are weak in Him, yet toward you we will live with Him by God’s power.
Deuteronomy 19:15 says, “One witness cannot establish any wrongdoing or sin against a person, whatever that person has done. A fact must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” Paul is coming a third time to the church at Corinth. The first time, he established the church and stayed for a year and a half. The second visit, alluded to often in this letter, was much briefer and quite painful. This visit was going to be a time of judgment and Paul will not be lenient. The Greek word for lenient is pheidomal, which means to spare. So Paul says, he will not spare them this time. He will be very blunt because they have been very disobedient. They wanted proof that Christ spoke through Paul, they were going to get that proof. They saw Paul as weak and humble, but this time they were going to see the power of God speaking through Paul.
The Bible often speak of us as sheep. Why? Because sheep are in constant need of direction and discipline. In Psalm 23, David says, “Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.” The rod and staff were both there to guide and discipline the sheep. The shepherd would much rather use his rod and staff to guide the sheep, but if they didn’t listen to him, he would have to use them to let them know he was serious for their own protection. If the shepherd just let’s the sheep wander wherever they wanted to, pretty soon, there would be no sheep left to shepherd. Discipline is absolutely necessary for their survival. And discipline is absolutely necessary for us as we seek to become mature believers in Christ.
Vs 5-10 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless you fail the test. And I hope you will recognize that we do not fail the test. Now we pray to God that you do nothing wrong—not that we may appear to pass the test, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear to fail. For we are not able to do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. In fact, we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. We also pray that you become fully mature. This is why I am writing these things while absent, that when I am there I will not use severity, in keeping with the authority the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.
It is Paul’s desire that the church heed his letter, so that when he gets there this third time, he will not have to be harsh. If any of you are parents I know you understand this. You don’t want to come down hard on your children, but you might have to if they don’t listen. It would be better if they just listened to you the first time, but, there are going to be times when the child just won’t listen and they don’t take the discipline seriously enough. It is at those times when you have to demonstrate that you mean business. The discipline you give your children is important in their lives. It is for their growth and, at times, for their own protection. Without it, they will continue to go astray, just like those sheep. Paul sees the church at Corinth as his children. He established this church and takes responsibility for their growth, like the groomsman with the bride. He is their parent and they are currently children in need of some pretty severe discipline. The word for severity is apotomós, which means to be abrupt or curt. Paul, like any parent, would much rather come with pleasant words, but he will be curt if he has to, for their own good.
Vs 11-13 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Become mature, be encouraged, be of the same mind, be at 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 all of you.
We have come to the end of this letter. It hasn’t always been easy to hear the words Paul had for the Corinthian church, but they are necessary words for our growth as believers. I have learned many lessons from this book, and so to conclude this study, I have encapsulated the lessons here.
Lessons learned from 2 Corinthians: First, discipline is a necessary part of life. Without it, we would, like sheep, go astray. We may not like it, but discipline is really for our own good. It will keep us walking on the right path toward the narrow gate that leads to life everlasting. Second, we are to walk by faith and not by sight. What we see around us may not be what it appears. Those polished words and success driven promotions might just lead us away from God. They sound good and look even better, but they distract us. Instead, keep our eyes on Jesus Christ at all times. He is the author and finisher of our faith. Third, we need to love the right things. Are we letting go of the things in our lives that hinder us, limit us, that take our eyes off God, or entangle us? This leads us to: Fourth, we need to disconnect from the things of the world. Let go of anything that keep us from growing in our faith and keeps us from walking with God. That may mean a drastic change of lifestyle. It may mean letting go of those things you love. Fifth, give the gift of grace in word and in deed. Remember the words of Mother Teresa: “Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.” and “Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier.” Sixth, give hilariously. God loves a cheerful giver, so become someone who gives our of your sheer love for Him. Seventh, be ready to fight the battle with spiritual weapons instead of weapons of the flesh. It can be so easy to fall back on our fleshly weapons of manipulation and polished words or success and power to appeal to the world. Instead we need to speak truth in a world where lies abound. We might be looked on as foolish. but that’s ok! So: Eighth, go ahead and be a fool for Christ. If we are going to be seen by the world as foolish, embrace it like Paul did. He even boasted in what the Corinthian church saw as foolishness. The world will probably see our walk of faith as foolish. Embrace it, relish it, shout it from the rooftops. Ninth, remember that God’s grace is sufficient. There will always be temptations – thorns in our flesh – as long as there is breath left in our bodies. We can’t seem to stop hearing them, wanting them. They come at us like a raging boxer ready to beat us down. Those are the moments in our lives when we stand on the promise that God’s grace will cover us and his power will sustain us. Finally, Tenth, always remember, we store treasure in jars of clay. We are weak vessels, like jars of clay: fragile, unreliable, ordinary, uninsurable, easily broken. But, in His all encompassing and sufficient grace, God inhabits us. That is amazing to even contemplate. God, the Creator of the universe, chooses to reside in us, ordinary jars of clay. Not only that, God has taken the fragile unreliable, ordinary vessels that we are, and made them beautiful, useful and everlasting through His presence in our lives. To God be the glory. Amen.
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