Paul's Final Plea to the Corinthians
Tom Shrader completes East Valley Bible Church's study of 2 Corinthians by walking through Paul's closing plea in chapter 13, pressing listeners to examine whether they pass both the doctrinal test—confessing Jesus as Lord and believing in His resurrection—and the moral test, evidenced by the fruit of the Holy Spirit. He traces the condition of natural man from Romans 3, the simplicity of the gospel from Romans 10:9, and the marks of genuine conversion including a love for Scripture and changed character. The message closes with Paul's five commands in verse 11—rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace—and the trinitarian benediction of verse 14, held up as a portrait of what the church is called to be.
“Your salvation is not based on you, it's based on him. Now, if that is true, it should generate in you a sense of thanksgiving and a sense of praise, if it's true.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: 2 Corinthians
Recorded: 2003 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 47 min
Themes: self-examination, salvation, genuine faith, fruit of the spirit, repentance, peace, unity, gospel, doubting your salvation, new believer, nominal christian, struggling with assurance, questioning your faith, young adult, church member, spiritually complacent
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 13:5, 2 Corinthians 13:6, 2 Corinthians 13:7-9, 2 Corinthians 13:10, 2 Corinthians 13:11, 2 Corinthians 13:12, 2 Corinthians 13:13, 2 Corinthians 13:14, Romans 3:10-12, Romans 5, Romans 8:16, Romans 8, Romans 10:9, 1 Corinthians 4:15, James 2:14, Ephesians 2:1, Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 2, Psalm 119
Theological Themes: assurance of salvation, soteriology, sanctification, trinitarian benediction, conversion, total depravity, justification by faith, ecclesiology
Full Transcript
Examining Yourself First
We are in 2 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 5, and today we will complete our study of this letter. This is a verse we used last week as we encouraged you to begin the task that Paul has laid on the hearts and minds of the people in Corinth: to test yourself, to see if you are in the faith, to examine yourself. Notice the personal pronouns. Paul is saying, you take a look at your life. Resist the temptation to evaluate the lives of the people around you, for now anyway.
That is the very thing that has happened to Paul. There have been many accusations made against him, charges leveled in the church at Corinth that Paul is not a true apostle, that his doctrine is not legitimate, that personally he is not a man of integrity, that he does not do what he says he is going to do. The accusation is that he is hypocritical — very strong on paper, but not as strong in person when he comes to see you. Paul has answered all those charges, and that is what we have been looking at for the last several weeks. Paul said that this boasting, this defense — not of his reputation, but of his apostleship — is necessary. It is probably not profitable, but it is necessary. He said that if he is going to boast about anything, he will boast about his weakness and about God's strength.
But then he turns the tables right here, and does something quite different. He says, we have been examining me — now let's take a moment and examine you. You look at your life, you examine your life. Right back at you — that is what he is saying. And I would sense that it is probably more important that they get an accurate assessment of their own life than of the apostle's life. That was the charge we gave you last week: are you truly a Christian? Have you been converted?
The New Testament Bible paraphrases the verse this way: "Check up on yourselves. Are you really a Christian? Do you pass the test? Do you feel Christ's presence and power more and more within you, or are you just pretending to be a Christian when actually you aren't at all?" That last sentence captured me this week, and I began to wonder why somebody would pretend to be a Christian when they were not one at all.
Reasons People Pretend to Be Christians
I came up with five things, and I am sure there are many more. It may be that you have a guilty conscience, and somehow this religion or this church experience is a salve to that conscience. You know something is wrong in your life, you know you are supposed to do something but are not sure what, so you pretend to be part of the Christian faith. It may also be that you simply hang around with people who are Christians and it is the socially accepted thing to do. You are not a Christian at all — you are, perhaps, a cultural Christian.
Or it may be that you are pretending to be a Christian in order to appease somebody. Maybe there is a friend who has been pressing you and pressing you, and you have responded just to get them off your back. Maybe it is a spouse. Maybe it is your parents, and you just have to play this game long enough to get to college. I have mentioned before the statistics showing that 90% of church kids when they go off to college quit going to church — 90%. That is a staggering number. Or perhaps you are dating someone. You ask her out and she says, "Well, are you a Christian?" And you say, "Well, is that important to you?" And she says yes, and suddenly you are here as part of a dating process. I mentioned last week, and please remember this, that most people are better dates than they are spouses.
You may also be pretending to be a Christian simply because it makes you feel good. There are times during the week when someone will come into the worship center and sit there alone — not a staff member, just someone who has come by — and there is something about being in the house of God that just makes them feel good. Or it could be that you are genuinely confused. You think that being in church is the important thing, that this is your spiritual practice, and it could just as easily have been Zen or Buddhism or mysticism, but this happened to be the one someone introduced you to. It is not a genuine thing.
Whatever the reason, I am asking you to take a look at that in your life. Are you pretending to be a Christian, or are you the real deal? Are you genuinely converted, or are you putting on a show, a facade?
What You Might Discover
Some of you are going to discover that you are genuinely converted Christians, and that will be a source of great encouragement. Some of you are going to discover that you are not Christians at all, and that is actually healthy — because at least you can declare your position accurately, and then we can figure out whether you are going to respond to the real gospel or not. Some of you are going to make a sadder discovery: that you are converted, but your fire has begun to burn more and more dimly.
There was a time, for those of you who came to Christ in repentance and faith as an adult, when there was a radical change in your life and everybody knew it. You were immersed in His Word. You could not finish a sentence with a stranger without asking them if they knew Jesus. That is the term we use — you were on fire. But somewhere along the way, that fire began to dim.
The Test We Must Pass
When we talk about the test, we're talking about two aspects: the doctrinal test and the moral test. When I'm talking to somebody, they will say, "Bob's a great Christian," and I'll say, "Well, tell me about Bob and his Christianity." He's a great guy to work for. He's a great guy to work with. He's involved in the food bank. He's a good dad, pretty good husband. He barely ever swears. He's a good coach — Little League, soccer — he's a good guy.
Let me help you out here. There are a boatload of pagans who coach soccer, most of them as a matter of fact, and Little League, and they're pretty good dads and pretty good husbands and pretty good business guys or gals. There are lots of people who are great to work with and great to work for. That's not what makes you a Christian.
It may be that in this examination process what you discovered is yes, you do love God, but not nearly like you did, or could, or should. There's repentance and there's humility. There's been a lackadaisical response. Hopefully, just in this exercise — as you checked up and you looked at your life — you discovered that this has taken place, and maybe even in the week that just passed there's been a radical change again. Here's how Ken Taylor paraphrases it: "Check up on yourself. Are you really a Christian? Do you pass the test?"
Do you pass the test? That's the question we need to sit with. And when we're done with this idea of the test, it's very important that you understand the condition of man before we move on.
The Condition of Natural Man
What really brought this to mind — I had the lesson pretty well thought through and then I got an email from a gentleman in Texas who's writing a book. He gets the tapes, and I had quoted A. W. Tozer and he was emailing me looking for the quote. I can't find the quote and it may not ever have existed — it may be a paraphrase. But essentially, this is always dangerous, essentially Tozer is saying this: there are two flaws in our theology. Number one, it does not ascend high enough. Number two, it does not descend low enough. What he's talking about is we tend to have an inflated view of man and a deflated view of God. The terms I like to use are these: we have magnified man's position and minified God.
Romans 3, verse 10 lays this out plainly: "There is none righteous, not one, there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God, all have turned aside, together they have become useless, there is none who does good, not even one." Now that's natural man. Natural man, in and of himself, cannot do good, does not do good. Natural man may do actions that we on the outside stand and say, "Oh, look at him, isn't that good?" But God looks at him and God's conclusion is, no, it isn't good. All of man's works on his own are useless — they're in vain.
Why? Because there's a heart problem. When Tozer says our theology does not descend low enough, what he is saying is that there's something wrong with all men, and that is that we are sinners and there is nothing we can do in and of ourselves to please a holy God. Our sin has separated us from this God. We are not children of the King by nature — we are enemies of God.
The Doctrinal Test: What Do You Do with Jesus?
If you're still in the book of Romans, go back to Romans chapter 10. In a very simple form, Paul gives you the doctrinal test. Romans 10:9: "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." There's the doctrinal test. What do you do with Jesus? Who do you say Jesus was?
You must understand that He was God come in the flesh. I'm working my way through what book to teach when we come back in the fall. One of the things I wanted to do — and I don't think it's going to happen — is a Harmony of the Gospels. I think it would be a great study: chapter by chapter, verse by verse, through all four gospels in harmony, looking at the life of Christ.
When does the life of Christ begin? There is no beginning to the life of Christ, is there? "In the beginning was the Word." When is the beginning? Well, there is no beginning. He's God. That's a magnificent truth. I think that study would be a fascinating study.
He's God. Do you say that? Do you see it? Jesus came — He was God come in the flesh — to die on the cross, and in His death, when He said "It is finished," He paid the price for the sin of His people, all who would ever come to Him in repentance and faith. At that moment their price was paid for. If you confess that He is Lord over all and you believe God raised Him from the dead — that's a very important issue.
More and more — and I hope I'm not distracted by this — but more and more you watch the church today, the mainline denominations but even the independent churches and their desire to be seeker sensitive...
The Doctrinal Test
Every Easter, as far as we can see into the future, this will happen. You pick up the religious section, you listen to the talk shows, and there will be representatives from Christian churches who will say Jesus did not rise from the dead — that it is a metaphor for life springing together, or whatever their explanation is. If somebody says to you that Jesus did not rise from the dead, then let me ask you this: will they be saved? I do not know. All I have is Romans 10:9 — "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Based on that verse, and on all of Scripture, if somebody denies the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ, they are not Christians at all.
That is an important truth for us. When we talk about whether somebody is a Christian or not, we have to begin with the doctrinal test. Do you pass the doctrinal test?
The Moral Test
There is a second test: the moral test. That is what James writes in James 2:14 — "What use is it, brethren, if somebody says that he has faith but he has no works?" Because you believe this, because you are truly saved, there is a change in your life. When somebody says, "This person looks like a good Christian," the qualities they point to should be genuinely present in that person's life. He is saved by grace through faith, he passes the doctrinal test, and now he lives a morally pure and clean life.
In Romans 5, Paul writes: "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." We have been justified — it is a one-time legal declaration that has a continuing effect on our life. Now we have peace with God, and because we have peace with God, we begin to exhibit the peace of God in our life. There is evidence that God is alive in us.
Romans 8:16 tells us: "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." How does the Spirit bear witness? Not through some inner voice or mystical experience — the Spirit produces fruit. We know that you are truly a child of God when the Holy Spirit bears witness of that truth through fruit in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control.
Now, are those qualities evident in your life? If they are not, then you have a very legitimate reason to be concerned, because you may not be a Christian at all. The way the Holy Spirit bears witness of God's dwelling in you is through that fruit. Your life begins to change. You are now adopted as children of God.
Adopted Into God's Family
I want to spend a moment on that — especially speaking to those of you who are not Christians, because I want you to understand and feel the full weight and full impact. When you are in communion and you pass those elements by, what you are saying is: "God, I am going to do this on my own. I do not need Jesus. I do not need His death. I do not need what He did. I do not need Christ at all. I will do this on my own." To some extent, you have bought into the cultural lie that we are all under the universal fatherhood of God, or the universal brotherhood of man — that we are all children of God. That is simply not true.
If I was adopted into God's family, then there must have been an existing condition prior to that. What was I? Ephesians 2:1 tells us: "You were dead in your sins and trespasses, in which you formally walked according to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of air, of the spirit which is now working in the sons of disobedience." You were children of wrath, not of God. But God, in His gracious mercy, reaches down, saves you, and gives you a new heart. You were dead. Now you are alive. You are His child. And the Holy Spirit says yes.
How does the Holy Spirit say yes? There is fruit — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.
A Desire for God's Word
There are some practical things that begin to happen as well. Here is one of them. In 1 Peter 2, we are told: "Therefore, putting aside all malice and guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation." Just as a newborn baby desires milk, we desire the pure milk of God's word.
Let me read from Psalm 119 — the longest of the Psalms, and a psalm whose dominant theme is the word of God: its effect in our life, our view of it, and what that view should be. Reading from the New Living Translation, some selected verses:
Verse 11: "In my heart that I should not sin against you." Verse 16: "I delight in your principles and not forget your word." Verse 24: "Your decrees please me and they give me wise advice." Verse 26: "Make me walk along the path with your commands, for that is where my happiness is found." Verse 47: "How I delight in your commands, how I love them, how I honor and love your commands and meditate on your principles." Verse 72: "Your law is more valuable to me than millions in gold and silver." Verse 92: "If your law hadn't sustained me with joy, I would have died in misery." Verse 97: "Oh how I love your law, I think about it all day long." Verse 103: "How sweet are your words to my taste, they are sweeter than honey." Verse 111: "Your decrees are my treasure, they are truly my heart's delight." Verse 113: "I hate those who are undecided about you, but my choice is clear, I love your law." Verse 127: "Truly I love your..."
The Test of Genuine Faith
"I love your commands more than gold, even the finest gold." "See how I love your commands, Lord; give back my life because of your unfailing love." "I have obeyed your decrees and I love them very much." And finally, verse 174: "O Lord, I have longed for your salvation and your law is my delight." That is to be the normative Christian life. There is to be a desire for God's word, and in it you will grow. You will see your sin, you will understand how you can eliminate that sin as God begins to work in your life, you will respond to truth, and you will love that truth.
So here is what we ask: Do you pass the test? Do you pass the doctrinal test? Do you pass the moral test? Is Jesus Christ within you? Do you feel His power? Do you feel His presence? While we tend to push away the idea of feeling, and we understand this is a knowledge thing, there should also be some affection here. There should be what Jonathan Edwards calls religious affection. There should be a passion for Him, a love for Him, and there should be times when you are overwhelmed by God's grace and mercy and provision for you.
That is what you sang about just before communion. It brings you face to face with your sin and His provision, and how you are lost in the midst of that. That is a powerful thing to sit with.
Salvation by Grace Alone
I was born and raised in a Catholic church — Catholic grade school, high school, college. I think I know the Catholic church pretty well. The entire time I was there, I never once heard that I was saved by grace. I heard that Jesus died for my sin, though that was never really defined much. What I heard was: you need to do, you need to do, you need to do.
I have friends who are in that church who say, "No, we believe what you believe. We believe in salvation by grace through faith." No, you do not. If you did, you would not have purgatory, because purgatory would not be necessary. The very existence of purgatory negates the idea of salvation by grace through faith, based on Christ's work and Christ alone.
When I understood this for the very first time, I had great joy and I had great peace. Think about this: your salvation is not based on you — it is based on Him. If that is true, it should generate in you a sense of thanksgiving and a sense of praise. All of a sudden, instead of hell as your ultimate destination, you are going to spend eternity in heaven.
The Weight of Eternal Realities
When they showed the pictures of the Hussein boys that week, it seemed to me we were a little glib about it. These are two dead men who are, as certain as this pulpit is here, in hell today, and we seemed to be happy about that. I understand all the political ramifications — please do not email me — but when I saw those faces, I really did think: these two men are in hell. Can you imagine that?
And their sin before God was no greater than yours. Grab that. It did not take more grace to save you than it did to save them. That is you. They are what you deserve. But God saved you. That is a big deal.
If that does not move you emotionally, if that does not change your life, then you really have to wonder whether it is the real deal at all.
Paul's Defense of His Apostleship
With that said, as we close this study, Paul says in verse six: "But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test." Back in 1 Corinthians chapter four, verse 15, he said, "If you have countless tutors in Christ, you have not many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father." He is saying: if you pass this test, I want you to understand that it is because this gospel was true and real — and we passed it.
Now, to get your arms around verses seven, eight, and through the end of this passage, you have to remember the backdrop. Paul is writing to the Corinthians and pleading with them to get their spiritual act together before he arrives. One of the charges they have made against him is that he is weak — that he writes a powerful letter, but in person he is not very impressive. They have even demanded proof of his apostleship, and he said that if they want proof, he will give it to them by confronting the sin in their lives and proving he is not weak. But Paul does not want to do that. That theme runs through this entire closing section, and keeping it in mind is essential.
Paul's Prayer for the Corinthians
He says: "Now we pray to God that you do no wrong, do what is honorable, not that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though we should appear unapproved." In other words, they may again appear weak, because when Paul comes to them, he will not have to deal with all of these difficult issues. Through God's grace and God's strength, the church will have resolved them.
"For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth." That is what motivates all of Paul's life and ministry. He is dedicated to promoting and furthering the truth — beginning with the truth about Christ, who He is, and the gospel, and then extending to how we live for Him. Paul says he is willing to do whatever it takes. He will be stern if he needs to be, or he can be loving and kind and gentle — whatever it takes. His desire is to serve them.
And you see it very plainly in verse nine: his desire is for them to grow spiritually. "We rejoice when we ourselves are weak" — in other words, when he does not have to come in and be forceful in dealing with these issues — "but you are strong. This we also pray for, that you may be made complete." That word appears only this one time in the New Testament, and it is translated —
The Heart of a Shepherd
The word translated as "perfection" in the King James and as "perfection" in the NIV carries the idea of being made fully ready, being put into order, restored, mended, equipped, put into a suitable state, made complete. That is Paul's number one concern for the Corinthians. Not that he would display his power and his authority — that is not his desire. His desire is that they would display spiritual maturity and love. That is the shepherd's heart right there, the heart of a shepherd for his sheep.
Paul desperately wants to see these people respond to his words. He does not want to go through a power struggle with them. He does not want to exert his authority. He is praying that the Holy Spirit convicts them, that they respond in love, that they are filled with the Holy Spirit and obedience, and that they deal with the sin in their lives and the sin that is in the church.
The Purpose of the Letter
Verse 10 contains a one-sentence explanation, a purpose statement for why Paul is writing this letter: "For this reason I am writing these things while absent, so that when present I need not use severity, in accordance with the authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down." Paul is reminding them of the severe letter they were once so concerned about, and of previous encounters that had not worked out well. He is saying he does not want to go through that again.
Paul's concern is for the church in Corinth to be built up, not torn down. God gives gifts for the equipping and encouraging of the saints, to make them complete so they can serve one another and minister together. That is the design of the shepherd — to edify and build up the body, not tear it down.
Five Closing Commands
Then Paul closes in verse 11 with his concluding statement: "Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, 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." Paul is saying that it is God's love and God's peace that he desires to see carried out in them. God is a God of love, and Paul wants to see that love manifested in His people.
Paul gives them five commands: rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, and live in peace. Some translations render the first command as "farewell," which can seem like an odd word given everything Paul has been addressing. He has been warning them, dealing with them very directly, and yet he says he wants them to rejoice. He has talked at length about pain and suffering — his own and theirs — and has acknowledged that there is genuine difficulty in the Christian life. But in the midst of it, you do not walk away. You hang in there, and in the midst of it there is real, genuine joy.
Joy That Transcends Circumstances
This joy is not happiness as the world defines it. In a worldly sense, happiness is always related to circumstance: a new car brings happiness, losing a job brings sadness; the stock goes up and you are happy, the stock goes down and you are sad. That worldly happiness is always circumstantial. The joy Paul is speaking of transcends circumstances — it goes beyond them entirely.
This is not to say we are unaffected. We do feel better when our stock is up than when it is down. But our joy, our ultimate happiness, is not tied to circumstances. It is tied to our relationship with Christ and our obedience to Him. That is where joy is found — in holy, righteous, pure, obedient living. Your circumstances will fluctuate, but joy is meant to be constant, because it flows from the vitality of your communion with your Savior and your obedience to Him.
Being Made Complete, Comforted, and United
The second command is to be made complete — spiritually mature, growing in Him, loving Him, living for Him, learning His truth, and letting that truth transform and change your life. It changes the way you live. It changes the way you see the world. It changes everything, and your eyes begin to see more and more as He sees.
The third command is to be comforted — do not lose heart. Life is tough. Not everyone is going to respond. Life has challenges, difficulties, and problems. But we call things exactly what they are without losing heart, because He is at work in you. He is never going to leave you. He is never going to forsake you. You have an extraordinary power living in you, and it is not about you and how strong you are — it is about Him and how great He is. He indwells you. Why would you lose heart? Nothing can come into your life that is not first filtered through Him. God either causes or allows everything in your life, and He has said He will cause all things to work together for good.
The fourth command is to be like-minded — to grow together in unity of mind and purpose. And when all of those are in place, the fifth command follows naturally: live in peace with one another. What emerges from this passage is a clear picture of what God is looking for in a church — a sense of joy and spiritual maturity, a church that perseveres, a church that is growing, and a church that is living at peace. That is what Paul is commanding them to be.
Greeting One Another with a Holy Kiss
Back to the text, verse 12: "Greet one another with a holy kiss." The first thing to note is that this phrase appears five times in the New Testament—
The Holy Kiss and Christian Unity
The holy kiss is referenced five times in the New Testament. It was similar to our modern handshake. One important note that may temper any enthusiasm for restoring this practice: it was observed men with men and women with women. One author writes that very early in the church the holy kiss was incorporated into ceremonial usage. In the second century, Justin Martyr wrote of its usage in connection with the Eucharist, where it was apparently intended to indicate the brotherhood that existed in the family of God. Unfortunately, like most things, the practice was sometimes abused. It is like our handshake — "greet one another with a holy kiss."
Verse 13 tells us, "all the saints greet you." We do not know exactly where Paul is when he is penning this, but he is probably speaking of the Christians who were at Philippi, Thessalonica, or Berea. What he is exhibiting here is the idea of unity in the church — the connection of all these churches together, their oneness, not just of the local body but of the universal body. Paul writes this same theme in Ephesians 4: "there is one body, one Spirit, also one calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God." There is that idea of unity.
The Trinitarian Benediction
Paul then closes with this benediction: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you." Notice what jumps out in verse 14 — he makes reference to the Trinity, and in a somewhat unusual order: first Christ, then God the Father, then the Holy Spirit. He says "the grace of the Lord," reminding us of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, from which all these other benefits tend to flow.
The love of God is important here. Paul is not talking about our love for God, but God's love for us. That is an important distinction to remember. It is the same idea Paul writes about in Romans 8 when he says who can separate us from the love of God — not our love for Him, but His love for us.
God's Love for His Children
If you are a Christian, God's love for you is very different than it is for someone who is not. Does God have a love for lost people? Yes, but it is very different from the love He has for His children. Consider how a parent loves all children in a general sense, yet has a uniquely deep and special love for their own. In the same way, God has a very different love for His people. We talk about how God causes all things to work together for good — but that is not a universal promise. It is for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. For those of you who are Christians, understand this: God has a hold of you. It is His love for you. He will never leave you and He will never forsake you.
Then there is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Because we are Christians, we have fellowship with Him vertically, and because we have fellowship with Him, we can fellowship — that is, have a meaningful relationship — with one another. So grace and love and fellowship be with you. That is how Paul closes.
Paul's Testimony to the Church
Ray Stedman writes this in closing: "History does not tell us what happened in the church there, whether it was able to recover and obey the word or not. But Paul's done his best. He has left with us a tremendous testimony as to what constitutes Christianity at work in a pagan world." The hope and prayer is that these letters to the Corinthian church will mean much to us, that we too will obey the word of the apostle and recognize that Jesus Christ is among us and that we cannot be the same kind of people because of that. That is the issue.
When we began this study — it was September 21st of last year — we talked about the problems that were in the church at Corinth. They were split following personalities. Sin had infected the church and they had to deal with that. There were accusations attacking Paul. There were truthful accusations that they were not using their gifts rightly. Paul deals with all of that throughout these letters.
A Portrait of What the Church Should Be
As we close, looking back at verse 11, we see those characteristics that should mark our church: rejoicing, maturity, perseverance, growing together, and peace. What a magnificent portrait of what the church should look like and should be in our world.
There will be people at the front who would love to pray with you. Maybe as you reflect on this you are struck by the fact that you are not a Christian at all. Maybe you are a believer, but there is sin or issues or challenges you need to deal with. Maybe you have a particularly difficult week ahead — challenges at work or at home — and you need someone to pray with you. Maybe it is a praise, or maybe you simply want someone to talk with. These people are here for that.
Father, thank You for Paul and for this church at Corinth and its struggles. Thank You for the way that You have worked in that church. God, we pray that as we look at East Valley Bible Church, at Gilbert, here now in 2003 and into the future, that we would be a people that rejoice in the joy of Your Spirit in us — that we are mature, spiritually mature, that we do not lose heart, that we persevere, that we are like-minded, and that we live in peace with one another. God, what that means is that we will be led by Your Spirit, not by our flesh. We pray that when people see a church that functions that way, it will be contagious. They will want that. They will see our good works and glorify You. Father, that is our prayer this morning, offered to You in Jesus' name. Amen.