- I should note as we begin that v. 8 is a difficult verse. Its meaning is not clear. It’s not essential to grasp that verse in order to be able to understand the larger point that Paul is making, so we’re just going to lay it aside this evening. There’s not any benefit tonight in spending a bunch of time unpacking the options for that verse’s meaning.
START AND STOP: Do we settle for rejoicing when someone is saved and baptized or do we expect more for them?
- It’s typical today that seeing someone saved and baptized is a source of great joy for us. It is also not a source of much else.
- We wish more for them. We wish that their faith will grow. We wish that they’ll read the Bible. We wish that they will have a good prayer life. We wish that they’ll keep coming to church.
- But we don’t actually do anything about that.
PAUL'S CLOSING POINT: We should push each other toward spiritual growth.
- 2 Corinthians 13:7-10.
- What is Paul getting at here?
- First, it’s important to know the larger context of this book. Paul has been chastising the Corinthians because they’ve fallen into sin and pursued false teachers. The larger point of the book is that he wants to get them back on track.
- Knowing that, let’s look at the three larger points he makes in this passage.
- Unpack the verses.
a. Paul’s goal for them was their spiritual perfection.
- 2 Corinthians 13:7a, 9b, 10a.
- So perfection (also used in v. 11) seems out of the question. But we also see the same call in the Sermon on the Mount. What’s the point?
- Is the point that we can achieve perfection in this life? No. Because we can’t.
- But we can make massive progress and spiritual growth. And there is not a plateau in this life where we should settle in and say we’ve gone far enough. Our goal is perfection, so we keep striving.
- And we will eventually get there when we see Christ. But that doesn’t mean that we sit around aimlessly and wait on that day. We are to passionately pursue Christ’s holiness and righteousness now.
b. Their spiritual growth was more important to Paul than his reputation.
- 2 Corinthians 13:7b, 9a.
- Paul is less concerned about what they are saying about him than he is about their spiritual growth. This is the heart of a pastor.
c. Everything Paul did was for their building up.
- 2 Corinthians 13:10b.
- Paul’s goal is not “what can you all do for me.” Instead, it’s how he could build them up.
- I think of parents who are doing what’s best for their children. It might not always be stuff that the kids are thankful for in that moment. It might be doing chores. It might be saying, “Yes, sir.” It might be getting punished for misbehavior. But those things are good for them in the long run. The parents’ goal is not to give the children what they want, but for them to grow up to be functioning adults. One of the worst things a parent can do is just blindly give their children everything they want.
- Paul here is focused on building up the Corinthians. That includes sharing some hard truths with them.
- Expectations play a major role in others’ growth.
- What new believers see in us makes a big difference in what they think the normal Christian life looks like.
- Think about starting to a church. The Sunday morning service is good. There are about 200 people. You decide to go back to the evening service. What’s the impact on your likelihood of continuing to come back on Sunday evening if you find 150 people there? What if you find 15 people there? The attendance numbers tell you whether that’s a priority for that church family. If the numbers are big, you’re far more likely to be involved yourself in that service; if they’re tiny, you’ll likely go along with everyone else and skip it. The faithfulness of those around you impacts your faithfulness.
- Why don’t we push each other toward spiritual growth in the American church?
a. Individualistic society.
- There’s not a sense that we are in this together. It’s each person walking alone. Sure, we sit near each other in a room on Sundays, but we aren’t really journeying together.
- This is a reflection of the society in which we live. We are heavily focused on self and not the common good, self and not others.
b. Empty belief as the norm.
- We have dumbed down “belief” in the American church to where it is essentially meaningless. There is little sense that believing in Jesus means that you’re actually following His teaching. Rather, “belief” simply means a cursory mental assent to His existence.
- In so doing, we have cast aside ideas of spiritual growth, let alone spiritual perfection.
c. It’s not what we think the church is.
- We think that church means “sit-and-soak.” You show up and put in your time and then you’re done. So we don’t have any thought that it might look like something more personal and relational.
d. It hasn’t been modeled for us.
- This is related to the previous point. Most of us have not had what Paul is talking about here living out in front of us. Almost none of us have experienced someone doing this for us. So we don’t know how to do it for new believers because no one ever did it for us.
WHAT MIGHT THAT LOOK LIKE? Widespread spiritual mentoring.
- Unpacking this idea a little bit:
a. Spiritual mentoring.
- Taking responsibility for others and investing in them.
b. Weekly meetings.
- At least early on, meeting with them regularly and encouraging growth.
c. Higher expectations.
- Going back to the opening point, we need to expect more than just “they got saved so we’re done.” Instead we should let the new believer know that this spiritual mentoring is part of the way we do things. It’s not a bonus – it’s expected.
d. Revised pastor job description.
- If the American church were to fully incorporate this idea, there would be a need to be substantive changes to “business as usual.”
- Such a change is needed in the typical pastor job description. We now generally hire a pastor to “run the church.” That includes a sufficient number of responsibilities that a pastor’s interactions with his people are fleeting and cursory. There simply isn’t time to go deep with people – there are too many other things that need done. This needs to be revised to encourage our pastors to, well, pastor.
