Introduction:
A. How many of you break out into a cold sweat or used to break out into a cold sweat when you hear the words: “Clear your desk, take out a sheet of paper and something to write with. We are going to have a pop quiz”?
1. How many of you like taking tests?
2. It can certainly be nerve racking – even if we have studied and feel well prepared!
B. Certainly some test questions are easier than others, right?
1. Any question you know the answer to is an easy one.
C. Then there are those test questions that seem simple on the surface, but then we find that they are not as simple as we first thought.
1. For instance, answer this question, “How long did the Hundred Years War last?”
a. Answer: 116 years.
2. How about this question: “Which country manufactures Panama hats?”
a. Answer: Equador.
3. Here’s another: “From what animal do we get cat gut?
a. Answer: From sheep and horses of course. The name is likely an abbreviation “cattlegut).
4. Maybe you will do better on this question: “In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?”
a. Answer: November.
5. How are you doing so far? Let’s do one last question, surely you will get this one correct: “What was King George IV’s first name?”
a. Answer: Everyone knows it was Albert, right? George was his last name, not his first.
D. We, adults are glad to be out of school aren’t we?
1. But even though we may not have to face the rigors of the academic life any longer, we find our lives are still filled with other kinds of tests.
2. We take driver’s tests, drug tests, polygraph tests, sobriety tests, eye tests, and employment tests.
3. Like it or not, tests are a part of life.
4. But is there a test to determine whether a person is on the right track spiritually?
E. In today’s sermon we find ourselves at the end of our sermon series on 2 Corinthians.
1. I hope you’ve found this series to be challenging and encouraging – I know I certainly have.
2. 2 Corinthians is not a book that often gets much attention.
3. There are a few well-known passages in the book that get a lot of attention, but not the book as a whole.
4. As we have seen throughout our study of the book, Paul was going through a heart-breaking time in his relationship with the church in Corinth – a church he had founded and had ministered with for some time.
a. After he moved out of the area, some false teachers came in behind him and have attempted to discredit him and undermine his leadership and ministry.
b. Certainly there was much more at stake than personalities and leadership styles – this was a battle over the true gospel and real spiritual ministry.
c. As distasteful as it was, Paul was forced to defend himself and his ministry.
5. As we come to this final chapter and these final verses, we see Paul wrapping things up.
6. Let’s work our way through these final verses, and see what lessons we can walk away with.
I. Understanding the Word
A. Let’s begin with verses 1 – 4: This will be my third visit to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” 2I already gave you a warning when I was with you the second time. I now repeat it while absent: On my return I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others, 3since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. 4For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God's power we will live with him to serve you. (2 Cor. 13:1-4)
1. Last week, we noticed that Paul was concerned about the upcoming visit.
a. He was concerned that he might not find them as they ought to be, and that he would be forced to take action.
2. Here he began with two warnings.
a. The first warning is a well-known quotation from the Old Testament: “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
1. Why did Paul bring this up? I believe that Paul putting them on notice that when he came unsubstantiated accusations against him or any Corinthian would be ruled out.
2 He was not going to put up with foolish gossip or false accusation.
b. The second warning had to do with previous warnings when he was there on the second visit.
1. Those who had sinned earlier and had still not repented were being put on notice.
2. Those who had been influenced by Paul’s opponents and who had still not repented are also being put on notice.
3. Paul was coming for the third visit, and he “means business.”
4. As we have pointed out previously – It seems that in their immaturity, the Corinthians were unimpressed by Christ-like gentleness and meekness on Paul’s part, but were overawed by displays of power and control on the part of Paul’s opponents.
a. In their misguided judgment, Paul’s gentle demeanor, which was so unlike the temperament of the intruding false apostles, had raised doubts about his apostolic authority.
5. Therefore, Paul sought to clarify the relationship between Christ and Paul with regard to weakness and power.
a. Paul wants them to know that he was just trying to be like Christ – who was crucified in weakness, but lived by God’s power.
b. So by the standards of the world, both Jesus and Paul were weak, but by the standards of the Lord, both were strong.
c. It is a wise and mature servant of the Lord who knows how to be “weak” and therefore, how to be “strong.”
B. Let’s start reading again at verse 5: Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? 6And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. 7Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. Not that people will see that we have stood the test but that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. 8For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is for your perfection. 10This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority—the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down. (2 Cor. 13:5-10)
1. Paul turned the tables on them – rather than demanding that he prove that he is a true apostle, they should examine themselves and look for evidence that they are true disciples.
2. I don’t think that Paul thinks that they aren’t disciples, but they do need to see where they are missing the marks of their calling.
3. He knows that he is approved by God, and even where it may seem that he has failed the test, he certainly hasn’t failed the test nor the truth.
4. Paul always stood for the truth, and Paul’s greatest concern and prayer for the Corinthians was for their perfection.
5. What Paul meant by their perfection was not absolute sinless perfection, but was maturity and completeness.
a. The word Paul used here was also used to describe setting a broken bone, the outfitting of a ship, or the equipping of an army for battle.
6. Paul wanted to see the Corinthians grow up in their faith, and he had hoped that his letters would lead to that end.
7. He didn’t want to have to come to Corinth and act upon his authority by disciplining them.
8. In the end, all Paul wanted to do was to build them up and strengthen them, but sometimes that also included disciplining and tearing down.
C. Look at verses 11 - 13: Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13All the saints send their greetings. (2 Cor. 13:11-13)
1. As was typical, Paul’s conclusion included a series of staccato sentences.
a. Good-by.
b. Aim for perfection.
c. Be of one mind.
d. Live in peace.
e. The God of love and peace will be with you.
f. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
g. All the saints send their greetings.
2. Each sentence is a sermon itself.
3. Aim for perfection – what else should we aim for – imperfection?
a. That’s a pretty easy target to hit! We can hit the target of imperfection without even trying!
4. Be of one mind and live in peace.
a. These were very needed admonitions there in Corinth with all their divisions.
b. Being of one mind doesn’t mean that we all agree on everything, but it does mean that we agree to be unified on the things that matter, and agree not to cause division over matters that are not essential.
5. And did you notice how Paul described God? He’s the God of love and peace.
a. That was not the concept of God in the ancient pagan world.
b. So many people at that time believed there were many gods and they were not benevolent and peaceful, but were demanding and needed to be pacified.
c. That’s not how our God is, and aren’t we thankful for that!
d. Our God is love and He wants to be at peace with us – isn’t that wonderful!
D. Paul ended the letter in verse 14 with a wonderful closing benediction: May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (13:14)
1. Here we have a Trinitarian formulation – a verse that mentions Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
2. Notice that it is slightly different than the usual order with the Son coming before the Father.
3. Note also the specific blessing associated with each person of the Trinity.
a. Jesus represents the grace of God made possible by His sacrificial death.
b. The Father represents the love of God as His love was so great that He would allow His one and only Son to die for us.
c. The Holy Spirit creates the fellowship and communion we enjoy with God and with each other.
II. Applying The Word
A. So what lessons can we challenge ourselves with and take to heart from today’s passage?
1. Let me point our attention to 4 lessons that capture my attention.
B. The first lesson we learn is that: Individually, we must aim for perfection.
1. The name Stradivarius is synonymous with fine violins.
a. This is true because Antonius Stradivarius insisted that no instrument constructed in his shop be sold until it was as nearly perfect as human care and skill could make it.
b. Stradivarius said, “God needs violins to send His music into the world, and if any violins are defective God’s music will be spoiled.”
c. His work philosophy was summed up in one sentence: “Other men will make other violins, but no man shall make a better one.”
d. Antonius Stradivarius expected his workers to do their very best in producing violins.
e. How much more should we as Christians strive for excellence in the work assigned to us?!
2. Scripture often gives us the admonition: “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
3. Our God is altogether holy, complete, and mature.
4. Our goal should be nothing less.
5. Why would we want to aim for anything less?
6. And just because we fall short of our target, doesn’t mean we should change the target.
7. Our target must always be to be like God, and imitate Him. “Oh to be Like Him!”
C. A second lesson we learn is that: Collectively, we must strive toward unity.
1. This is also another challenging goal.
2. Disunity and division don’t take very much effort.
3. Discord and conflict come pretty naturally.
4. We must value each other above ourselves, and love each other deeply from the heart.
5. Certainly there are essentials that cannot be altered, but there are also many non-essentials wehre we need to give each other room for differences of opinion and preference.
6. Division and dis-fellowship are to be actions of last resort after all other options are exhausted.
D. A third lesson we learn is that: Regularly, we must examine ourselves.
1. One of the things I loved doing when I was growing up, was marking my height on the wall to see how much I was growing from month to month or year to year.
a. My spot to mark it was next to the molding on my closet door.
2. Don’t you wish there was some way to have a chart at the back of the church to mark our spiritual progress?
a. It is so hard to gage spiritual growth.
b. What criteria can we use?
3. Paul told the Corinthians to examine themselves, but he didn’t offer any test or test questions.
4. So what are some good barometers to test ourselves spiritually? Let me offer two.
5. We might begin by testing our relationship with God.
a. How’s our hunger for God and for the things of God?
b. How’s our walk with God? How’s our conversation with Him?
c. Are we learning anything from Him and His Word?
d. How eager are we to serve Him and share Him with others?
e. How consistent are we in worshipping Him?
f. How seriously are we trying to obey God and overcome temptation and sin?
g. Those are good questions to test ourselves with.
6. Another way we might test ourselves is by examining our relationships with others.
a. How are we treating others?
b. Are we living at peace with others, or is there a lot of conflict?
c. How hospitable are we? How engaged with others are we?
d. How open are we to helping others carry their loads?
7. I decided to ask questions along those two lines, because if you remember Jesus said the most important commandments are love God and love your neighbor.
8. Just like it’s important to have regular checkups with the doctor, or with the auto-mechanic, it’s so important that we regularly examine ourselves spiritually.
9. Sometimes the best way to know how we are doing is to ask God to examine us and allow God to show us how we are doing.
E. The final lesson we learn is that: Continually, we must lean on the Lord.
1. There’s no way we will be able to approach perfection, or maintain unity, or be spiritually strong without God’s help.
2. The story is told of three guys who were trying to get to a town called Perfection in one day.
a. Perfection was 100 miles away.
b. The first guy decided to walk all the way.
1. He started off at 6 in the morning.
2. He only walked for a few hours and managed to cover about 5 miles.
3. After that he was too pooped to carry on so he gave up and didn’t make it.
c. The second guy decided to ride a bicycle (Dave Hogan).
1. He rode and rode and he had to take constant breaks because he would get so tired.
2. The road wasn’t always flat. Sometimes he had to ride uphill and that was tough.
3. He really enjoyed the downhills.
4. After 10 exhausting hours, he finally arrived at the destination, but it had been a tremendous struggle and it took almost everything out of him.
d. The third guy decided to look for some help, so he asked someone to drive him there.
1. All he had to do was sit in the car.
2. He got there in only three hours, and was fresh as a daisy.
3. That’s how it is with our spiritual lives.
a. If we’re trying to do it all by ourselves, we’ll never make it.
b. We will likely give up even before we’re halfway there.
c. If we only partially depend on God, then we might get there but it’ll be tough and we’ll be totally exhausted.
d. The key to spiritual victory is to totally depend on God.
e. We must make the decision to trust God and get into His car and let Him drive.
1. Inside the car, we still have to abide by the rules.
2. We can’t do things like stick our head out of the window. (Not unless we’re a dog.)
3. We can’t fool around with the gear shift or the steering wheel.
4. We have to behave, and do our part, which is mostly to obey the driver, God himself.
4. I know that that is not a perfect illustration, but it helps in many ways.
a. God knows the way to go – let Him drive.
b. God has all the fuel needed – let Him supply the resources.
c. The last thing we need to do is to try to get there on our own.
5. I hope we have learned something from Paul and 2 Corinthians about leaning on God.
6. Let’s close with two verses from 2 Corinthians that we have looked at along the way that remind us about leaning on God who is the source of our power to grow and to minister.
7. 2 Cor. 3:18: And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
8. 2 Cor. 4:7: But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
F. So, how are we doing spiritually?
1. Are we leaning on God?
2. Are we aiming for perfection?
3. Are we striving for unity?
4. May God help us with these things!
Resources:
Paul for Everyone, 2 Corinthians, Tom Wright, Westminster John Knox Press, 2003
2 Corinthians, The NIV Application Commentary, Scott J. Hafemann, Zondervan, 2000
2 Corinthians, John MacArthur, Nelson Impact, 2007
The Letters to the Corinthians, William Barclay, The Westminster Press, 1975
Be Encouraged, The Bible Exposition Commentary, Warren Wiersbe, Victor Books, 1989
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Murray J. Harris, Edited by Frank E. Gaebelein, Zondervan, 1976
