Meditations from 2 Corinthians – Part 3

                In the previous two meditations, we considered the truth that not only is our salvation a work of God, but also that what began in faith — trusting God for new life, the new creation that we have become in Christ — continues in our work and service as well.  Our calling, service and sufficiency are all from God.  We don’t do it in our own strength, but God uses and enables us to do His will. 

                Paul deals with further aspects of the Christian life in this letter which should give us comfort and encouragement.  There is no aspect of life in which God is not involved, and so we can have hope that God will do all He promised until we reach our final destination.

 1. Our share in the victory is of God (2:14)

                 We are in a spiritual battle (10:4).  Man's abilities, wisdom, and strength are of no value in this battle.  We need God's divine power to overcome these spiritual enemies.

We have available a tremendous power if we only knew it.  It’s "Christ...powerful among you” (13:4).  Christ is the one who has defeated death and the devil.  He overcame the final enemy.  It is God who always causes us to triumph in Christ (2:14).  God is its source (Col.2:15).  God now causes us to share in this victory which He has won.  Notice the word ‘always’ in chapter 2:14.  There is never a time when He will let us down.  He is faithful.  How do we view the work we are doing?  Do we see it in the light of a God-given victory, or do we feel defeated in our work?  God always causes us to triumph in Christ.  This is a great truth for us to hold on to.

2. Our fellowship, consecration and sealing is of God (1:21)

                "Now it is God who establishes us with you in Christ (ESV)."  The idea of fellowship is seen in the phrase, “us with you.”  We are not lone rangers.  We are in this together, and together God gives us the ability and stability to stand firm in Christ.  It is in standing firm in Christ, not being shifted from the foundation of our faith, not being tossed to and fro, that God is establishing us together in Christ.  As we look to God for that help to stand firm together with our brothers and sisters, we can have the confidence that He will do it. 

Our consecration, or ‘anointing’ — that is being set apart for God’s work— is here seen as linked to fellowship.  The priests in the OT were set apart by God.  Even Christ did not make Himself a priest, but rather God appointed Him and anointed Him (Hebrews 5:5).  We too do not presume to take upon ourselves particular Christian works; rather it is because God calls us into works of service for Him that we do what we do. 

                Then in the next verse another action on the part of God is seen, that of our sealing by giving us the Holy Spirit.  This guarantee of ownership is God's doing.  We now belong to God and so are assured that He will always be with us.  Do we revel in the fullness of it?

3. Our comfort is of God (7:6)

                In chapter 1, Paul gives one reason for suffering which is so that we can experience the comfort of God, and so help others who need comforting (1:4).  He calls God the God of all comfort, the source of every comfort. God comforts and will continue to comfort.  Paul experienced it in chapter seven when Titus arrived back from Corinth.  God knew what Paul needed just then, and so brought Titus back to him.  God knows how to comfort us when we are downcast. 

                We will meet many problems, trials and difficulties in the course of our activities in His service.  Paul we know went through many.  And just as Paul experienced God’s comfort so too we can have the assurance that God will be with us to meet every need, including comfort when we need it.   

4. Our glory is of God (5:5)

                Paul in the beginning of this chapter realizes that his life isn’t complete here on earth.  He is looking forward to the life that God will give him when this life comes to an end.  He tells us in verse five that it is God who has prepared us for this very thing, and we have the Spirit as the guarantee that it will come to pass. This is what we are looking forward too.  In the meantime, we groan and long for our heavenly dwelling. 

Summary

                We have briefly considered nine areas in these three articles.  The conclusion of the matter is that God is involved in every area of life; from our salvation right through to our glorification in heaven.  Do we appreciate these blessings, and trust God for them, or do we forget sometimes, and try and do things on our own and in our own way, forgetting that “God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places” (Eph.1:3)?  It has been encouraging to meditate on these aspects of what God does for us. 

 

Meditations from 2 Corinthians: Part 2

            “God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph.1:3)   In the first part we considered how one of those blessings was seen in God’s work of bringing us into a new relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.  Without God coming towards us, shining His light into our hearts, we would never have come to Him.

            As we think about God’s plan and purpose for our lives, we can see God’s blessings.  God had His plans for us even before we were conceived.   Jeremiah was told that he had been set apart for God’s work before he was conceived (Jer.1:5).  Paul saw God’s purpose for him having been in God’s mind from his birth (Gal.1:15).  God set these men apart for His service before they were even conceived; their call came at an appropriate moment at the right time in God’s plan.

1. Our call and gifting is of God

            God is sovereign, let us never forget that.  He not only is the Lord to whom we owe our allegiance, but also the general who directs the battle.  He sees how the battle is going, He knows where the needs are, and He equips with appropriate gifts for the particular tasks He gives to His servants.

            Paul knew that God had a task for Him to do and a time table for him to do it in.  He was privileged to be given the general plan of God’s work at his conversion, although he had to wait some ten years before he could really set out on the task God had given him.  So in chapter 1 verse 1, Paul could say that he was an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.  This had been God’s plan for Paul right from his birth, but the time came when God was ready to use him.  So it is with us.  God has a plan and a purpose for each of us.  That call will be different for each one of us.  Each of us has received a gift for the work and purpose God has planned for us.  As we respond to the doors of opportunity God opens for us we begin to see the gift/s we have received and more fully can appreciate God purpose for our lives.

            In Paul’s case his gifting was for his life work, but God gave Titus a gift for a particular purpose (8:16). God gave him a heart and a concern for the Corinthians like Paul had, and so he was eager to go and visit them there.   

            The Macedonian Christians also experienced God’s grace, so that “in keeping with God’s will” (8:5) they were able to give themselves to the Lord first, and then to the ministry that Paul was involved in collecting for the saints in Jerusalem.  Because it is the grace of God that enables us to be involved in God’s work, whatever it may be, “God is able to make all grace abound to [us], so that in all things at all times, having all that we need, [we] will abound in every good work” (9:8).

2. Our sufficiency is of God (ch.3:5)

            The word in the NIV is  ‘competent’ or ‘competency’, that is, capable of doing what has been given us to do.  Do we believe that to be true for us as well?  He enables us to carry out the work he has given us to do.  But I like the word ‘sufficiency’ which is used in the ESV.  It gives the idea of not needing anything else.  We have all we need.  We are sufficiently provided for.  That provision for performing the will of God to which we have been called is sufficient, no more is needed.  What an encouragement.  What a blessing.  We don’t need to worry, but only trust in the provision that God has made available to us.

            The next verse tells us that God has made us competent, that is capable, to be ministers of the new covenant.  He has qualified us by making us able to carry the message of the new covenant to others.  We have a great message – the good news about Jesus and the resurrection, and with His sufficiency we are made competent servants, enabled by God through the Holy Spirit to fulfil God’s call on our life.

 3. Our service is of God (ch.4:7)

            As we noted in part one, this message of the new covenant has been entrusted to us who are weak, earthen vessels.  Although we have been made competent to carry it out and we have the sufficiency of an all-powerful God at work in and through us, this message has been given to us who are weak, often fail, and are very dependent upon God.  Why is that?  It is so that the work will be seen to have been God’s doing rather than us.  It is His work, and although we respond to that invitation of being included in His purposes through His calling and enabling He will get the glory.  If we can see this blessing of God that enables us to serve Him in this way, it will take the pressure off us to perform.

            Not only are we the vessels into which this message has been entrusted, but we have also been given the power and strength to carry out all that God has called us to.  Paul felt his weakness as chapter 12 highlights, but Paul can say, “yet by God’s power we will live with him to serve you” (13:3-4).  This is the promise that the power of God will be at work in us as He was in Paul because He lives in us as we serve together with Him.

To be concluded. 

Meditations from 2 Corinthians: Part 1 – God shines the light

            We have been blessed with “every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Eph 1:3). What does that mean?  Part of the problem is that we don’t know what the blessings are that God has blessed us with.  This verse suggests that they are many.  It may surprise us to see just how much God has done in our lives. Meditating on 2 Corinthians has highlighted this aspect of that blessing for me.

God’s work and blessing begins with Him opening our eyes to the truth of salvation in Jesus Christ.  I am sure that many times we have wondered why people are so blind to the truth of God’s love for us.  But we were there once ourselves before we believed.  2 Corinthians 4 tells us, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (v.4).  Our adversary, Satan, keeps people in the dark by blinding their eyes to the truth about God.  His purpose is to keep people from believing in the Lord Jesus.

However, God in His mercy towards us has shone a light into the darkness of our hearts so that we could see and understand the glory of God in Christ Jesus (v.6).  It is the illuminating of the Spirit of God that enables us to appreciate who Jesus is, and so to respond to the love of God that we see demonstrated in Christ on the cross for us.  This is not something that happens by persuasive arguments or clever stories, nor is it dependent upon us.  Paul was quite open about that in verse 2 where he says that he didn’t seek to distort or deceive, but rather “by setting forth the truth plainly” he presented the good news to the people there in Corinth.  But it was God who opened their minds and hearts to see the truth so that they could act upon it.  As Paul goes on to say in verse 7, this treasure of knowing God’s love is in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power will be seen to be from God and not of us.  Paul was just the instrument in God’s hand, just as we may be as well.  Anything that may transpire in the heart of another person is all God’s doing.  No place for any pride on our part.  We cannot save a person but God will use us as His instruments to communicate this saving message to others.  

In chapter 5 Paul describes the end result of what happens to the person in whom God’s light has illuminated his heart.  He becomes a new creation.  “[T]he old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God…” (5:17,18).   It is a gift.  It is a complete change.  It is a transformation, so much so that we now have new desires, a changed purpose in life and we are now facing in a new direction.  With God’s help and the Holy Spirit’s leading we can move forward together now with God.  This is not something that originated with us, but it is all of God.  “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” (5:21 NLT)   Paul calls this an “indescribable gift” (9:15), and it is certainly that. 

The more we appreciate all that God has done for us in giving us this new life, the more humbled we are that we are the recipients of this tremendous gift. Without God moving towards us, we would never have made a move towards God.  This is God’s grace towards us.  Paul therefore exhorts us not to receive this grace in vain (6:1).  “Now is the time of God's favour, now is the day of salvation” (6:2).  Now is the time to accept what God has done for us and not resist even if we find it difficult to understand.  If we are willing to acknowledge our lack of understanding, or hesitation in accepting all that God has done for us, even in that, God will patiently bring us to a position where we can trust Him fully.  If you would like to talk to someone more fully about these things, please get in touch with someone you can trust. 

Lessons learned in the hard times. Lesson 1

            God uses hard times, difficulties, pain and unusual situations to teach us things that will help us grow in our faith in God.  However, we can be quite slow in learning these things that He wants to reveal to us and patiently keeps drawing them to our attention.

            Over the years God has been teaching me three key lessons which can probably be applied to many situations that we face in life.  The first was learnt in our first year of marriage when we were on a literature team in Eire for fourteen months. One of my big concerns was how will I manage as a mission worker in Japan to which we were heading after our time in Ireland.  I was looking at senior mission workers that I knew and saw all the things they were doing and was quite fearful that I wouldn’t be able to do all they were doing.  While on the team, I had some free time while the others were taking a typing course.  I had been told that 2 Corinthians was Paul’s hand book for mission workers, so I thought that would be a good book to study. 

            This book certainly revealed Paul’s heart, his motives and experiences of God as he carried out God’s call on his life.  I learnt a lot and the study was a blessing to me because it helped me to see that it was God who was fitting me for my role as a mission worker.  In fact, it was because of Him that I could be a mission worker at all and do the work that He had for me to do.  I learnt that every area of my life was because of Him and I contributed nothing to the equation.

            God was there at my salvation.  It was God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," [making] his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6).  Then in the next verse Paul tells us that “we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”(ch.4:7)  Paul tells us that our confidence is in God because it is He who is working.  Then he says in chapter 3:5-6,  “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.  He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant …”  Then in those well known verses in chapter 12, Paul had a ‘thorn’ that he felt was hindering his work for God and so asks God to take it away.  But what was God’s answer?   "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (12:9-10)  So Paul thanked God for his weaknesses, and it is the same with us for when we are weak we too need to rely all the more on God’s grace and power.

            This was an important lesson to learn, that really all aspects of our lives are under his control and He is working out His purposes through us as we trust and allow Him that freedom to work in us.  We have the assurance that when we do this God can and will use us to His glory.  In Philippians 1:6, we are reminded that, “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  And further, it is “God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”  (Philippian 2:13)  A burden was lifted by this truth – if God calls he will also equip and provide all that we need to carry out His purpose and will for our lives and so with greater confidence I was able to leave for Japan in 1976.

There was one further aspect to this lesson that happened during this time in Ireland which helped me to see clearly that I could trust God with the work that He would give me to do when we got to Japan.  As it was a team situation, living together for the 14 months did add pressure on our relationships, not least between the director and the team members.  As team leader I felt responsible for the care and well being of the team as we faced hard situations that we all were struggling with.  How do I deal with this?  I spoke with the director and trying to resolve the issues that we sensed were present but without any apparent change to the situation.  I felt that I should not be defeated by this but have victory in this situation.  In struggling with this over some three months or so, the Lord one day made it very clear to me that he had already given me the victory but that I was trying to gain victory with my own effort.  I repented of my unbelief and self effort and submitted my life to God for his victory already received.  The problem didn’t go away but my heart attitude was changed and I was given the grace to accept it and experience God’s peace in the situation.    

This was another step in helping me to realize that I needn’t fear about going to Japan because God would be with me, helping, enabling and carrying out the work He wanted to do through me.  I didn’t need to be like other mission workers but I could be myself and do what God had called me to do.  This was an amazing release. 

By David Dexter