Let’s start this morning with a time of confession. By show of hands, how many of you have ever had a mysterious ailment that caused you to turn to Dr. Google or WebMD for a diagnosis? Raise your hand again if you convinced yourself that said diagnosis was likely terminal. Raise your hand again if you actually argued with your real doctor when he or she laughed at your self-diagnosis? Anyone? We’re all friends this morning, we can be honest (I think some of you are lying).
In a similar story, Shannon recently had to have an ultrasound for some intestinal pain that she was having and the results came back with a really wild diagnosis. And so we got on google and researched it from every angle and immediately starting making plans for a procedure so weird, that you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. But that night, Shannon convinced me to seek the advice of my baby brother, who also happens to be a surgeon. And as much as it pained me, I reached out to him via text and showed him the report. He immediately replied, “That’s an over read…it’s misdiagnosis.”
Now, I’m gonna be honest, it made me a little mad. How could he possibly know? He didn’t see the actual scan. He lives too far away to have seen Shannon with his own eyes. And I really wanted to argue with him. And so I started to rattle back a quick text when I saw these two little initials appear in my head...they were the initials behind his name—“M.D.” And those two little letters represent years of medical school, a fellowship at Ohio State, five years of experience as a surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, and approximately 10,000 surgeries. In the moment, I really wanted my internet experience to trump his credentials. But truth be told, his credentials and his vast experience made him more than qualified to “treat” Shannon and to give her a better future. And much to my chagrin, he turned out to be right.
Today, we are closing out our study through the book of 2 Corinthians. And for 12 chapters, Paul has been forced to defend himself as a trustworthy apostle. The church members in Corinth had been doing their own research with the help of the false teachers known as the Super Apostles, and Paul has been forced to be the doctor from our opening illustration that has to rattle off his credentials to prove that he’s the real deal and can be trusted to point people to Jesus.
And in chapter 12, verse 11 Paul basically says, “Shame on you for making me stoop to such a level. I should be commended by you and instead, you’re making me act like a fool, forcing me to drop to the level of these Super Apostles, that are in it for themselves. They don’t have your best interest in mind. They have no idea what they’re talking about. I’m the real doctor here.” And then he says in verses 14-15, “I seek not what is yours [in other words, unlike the Super Apostles, he didn’t want ANYTHING from them], I want YOU…I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.”
Paul is in the business of “soul care.” He basically says, “Wring me out. Take everything I have. It’s all for you. I have proven that I don’t want ANYTHING in return. I’m just here to protect you and to lead your souls to Jesus.” And church, that’s ministry in a nutshell. It’s all about the personal sacrifice of digging through the brokenness and messiness of relationships and dysfunction with the purpose of glorifying Jesus as we make disciples.
This morning we’re going to pick up in chapter 13. And like just about every writer in the Bible, Paul closes out this letter with some final warnings and challenges to the church.
2 Corinthians 13:5-10
"Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. 10 For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down."
And so there are a couple challenges here in this closing passage this morning, and the first challenge is to…
1. WORRY ABOUT YOURSELF – vs 5-8
One of my favorite YouTube videos of all time is the little toddler in the back seat struggling to unbuckle her car seat. And when her dad turns around and asks if he can help, she says with all the charm of a three year-old princess, “Worry about yourself.”
Throughout this entire letter we’ve seen a common theme: Paul has been defending himself against false accusations. Over and over, jealous leaders have been trying to discredit him and he’s spent an incredible amount of real estate proving himself to be a true apostle of Jesus. But now it’s time for Paul to flip the script. Look back at verse 5: “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
Paul is literally saying, “You’ve been so worried about me. It’s time to worry about yourself.” In the original language, there’s a huge emphasis on the pronouns. “YOU worry about YOURSELF.” And then he basically goes on to say that as their spiritual father, if HIS apostleship was counterfeit, then so was their faith. Paul has observed their lack of faith, their acceptance of false teaching, and their hostility towards him—and he NOW believes that some of these folks WITHIN THE CHURCH aren’t even in the faith. “Your biggest problem is not me. YOU need to worry about YOURSELF.”
We live in a relatively conservative community where it would not be unusual for people to look you dead in the eye and say, “Yes, I’m a Christian.” Even within the church, it’s not lost on me that in most evangelical circles, one simply has to check a box that they are a Christian in order for them to become a church member. And maybe it was the same way in the Corinth church, but Paul’s looking around and he’s not buying it. But he loves them too much to just move on, and he’s not willing to sign off without challenging them to take a hard look at their lives to determine whether or not they are truly following Jesus.
And maybe some of us need to hear this this morning. Maybe your motto in life is “Fake it till you make it.” But the problem in the Corinth church, and the problem in our church today is that when it comes to eternity, if you fake it, you WON’T make it. And so despite this room being mostly filled with professing Christians this morning, let’s step up to Paul’s challenge and do a little self-examination. And this isn’t meant to discourage you, it’s to help you discern if you are IN CHRIST and to find areas that you might need to repent of. Because it’s quite possible that some of us have grown a little cold in terms of our relationship with Jesus.
There’s a phrase that we use all the time around here, and it’s this: “God’s Word is not a curriculum to be mastered, rather it’s a mirror to be gazed into.” And the temptation is to take that mirror and to turn it around until we can see somebody else. Because it’s always funner (I know that’s not a word) to apply the test to someone else, isn’t it? But this test today is for YOU and only YOU.
SELF-EXAMINING QUESTIONS
• When it comes to sin, are you waging war or making peace?
You may have heard someone say, “We’re all sinners, it’s just the way it is.” The first part of that statement is true. We are all totally depraved. We all have fallen short of the glory of God…we’ve fallen short of his standards of holiness. But the second part is NOT true. An authentic Christian should never say, “That’s just the way it is.” That’s denying the power of the cross. And so, are you someone that is quick to cry “legalism” when someone begins talking seriously about sin? Are you quick to accuse people of being “judgmental” when God uses them to expose sin in your life? That’s a sign that you’re making peace with your sin. None of us should ever say, “What the big deal, everybody sins.” In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome, listen to what he said in Romans 8:13: “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Paul is talking about waging war…putting something to death.
Many years ago I worked with someone who professed Christ but was really a very critical person. And they used to say, “Oh, don’t mind me…that’s just the way I am.” This person had made peace with their sin. And so I ask you this morning to think about your besetting sin? What’s a besetting sin? It’s the sin pattern that YOU most easily fall into and that you have a hard time breaking free from. Anger is a common besetting sin. Insecurity is a common besting sin. Jealousy, people-pleasing, materialism, lust—these are all common besetting sins…you get the idea. So here’s the self-examining question: Are you actively putting these deeds to death, are you waging war against them, or are you making peace with them?
• Do you say that you have NO sin?
I think this is worse than making peace with sin. Listen to 1 John 1:8: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” For some of you this morning, it’s not that you’ve made peace with the sin in your life by saying, “It’s just the way I am,” some of you don’t even recognize that you have specific sin in your life. Maybe you’re not saying the words, “I have no sin,” but you’re totally insensitive to sin because your heart is so cold. When was the last time you wept over your sin? When’s the last time you were broken by the reality of your inclination to sin?
Do you know the opposite of claiming that you have no sin? It’s a life that is marked by confession. Listen to the very next verse in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” One person’s life is marked by saying they have no sin, and the other person’s life is marked by confession. If you’re listening, smack your neighbor and say WAKE UP. If the theme of the gospel is repentance, and if your life is not marked by confession and repentance, then there’s a good chance that you are not IN CHRIST. When was the last time you confessed your sins?
• Do you look like Jesus to the people around you?
Staying in 1 John, listen to the apostle’s words in 1 John 2:6: “Whoever says he abides in [Jesus] ought to walk in the same way in which [Jesus] walked.” When I was little and I would “help” my dad shovel the driveway, I tried to take big steps where my feet would land in his footprints. I wanted to be like my daddy. And his steps were too big and I couldn’t, but I tried. In the same way, the Christian’s greatest desire should be to walk in our Father’s footsteps. Do people look at you and see a Jesus follower? Or do they see someone that just looks like everybody else? Do you crack the same dirty jokes or use the same crude language? Do the same critical words come out of your mouth?
Church, it’s appropriate from time to time, to step back and do a self-assessment. And these are the types of questions that we have to ask ourselves. But for the sake of time, let’s pause here and move to Paul’s next challenge and then we’ll come back to some more questions in a few moments.
2. SEEK PERFECTION – vs 9-10
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You mean to tell me that perfection is now the goal? You’re kidding, right?” Well, let me read verse 9 from the old King James translation and you can decide. Paul writes, “For we are glad, when we are weak, and you are strong [there’s that paradox again of strength and weakness]: and this also we wish, even your perfection.” The word “wish” there in the KJV carries the meaning of “pray.” Paul is literally saying here that he is PRAYING for their perfection—there’s that word again, “perfection.”
Now when I hear that word, my mind immediately goes to absolute sinless perfection, and I get discouraged. But you know the drill, let’s look back at the word in the original language. The word here is katartisis and it means “the bringing of something to completion.” The word picture is the mending of a net or to set a broken or twisted bone. In other words, there is a restoration towards a specific purpose—which in this case is our spiritual maturity.
Then look at verse 10 with me: “For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.” Paul is tired of having to tear them down. If you’re a parent, you know the feeling. Sometimes it’s necessary as parents to grab those bad behaviors by the roots and rip them out. But it’s no fun…at least it shouldn’t be. But the fun part is when you get to build up the positive behaviors…when you get to reinforce and build on the progress that you thought would never come.
I want to go back and focus on the first sentence of verse 10: “For this reason I write these things…” You can almost hear Paul say, “The reason I’m writing these things, is so that you can seek perfection in your own lives…so that you can become ‘spiritually mature.’” And so what are “these things” that Paul has written? “These things” are the evidences of the gospel that Paul has woven throughout this entire letter. And so in keeping with the theme of “examining ourselves,” let’s wrap up this entire series by looking at the lessons Paul has taught us. In fact, these questions can be added to the self-examining questions that we asked in the first part of this message.
SELF-EXAMINING QUESTIONS (continued)
• Am I experiencing and sharing the comfort of Christ in affliction
– vs 1:3-5
You may remember the title to the very first message in this series: “God’s Purpose in Our Pain.” Let me read from chapter 1, verses 3-4: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
A test of the genuineness of our faith is whether or not we are experiencing the comfort of Christ in our pain, and more than that, are we sharing that comfort of Christ with others? Christians are comforted by the Father of Mercies; while those that are NOT in Christ, wallow in their misery. You may also remember that we said God often uses our greatest place of personal pain as a platform for ministry. Do you make it a habit of comforting others?
Here’s another question to ask ourselves as we look for evidence of the gospel in our lives…
• Are the permanent promises of God more important to me than momentary afflictions – vs 4:16-18
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
One of the evidences of the gospel in our lives is that the decaying of our bodies focuses our minds on the eternal, because we understand the paradox that death actually brings life. Now I’m not particularly looking forward to the JOURNEY associated with death, but physical suffering should point a Christ-follower to the hope of heaven. Are the permanent promises of God more important to you than the momentary afflictions?
• Have I become a new creation – vs 5:17
Chapter 5, verse 17 is literally one of the most promise-filled statements in this entire letter: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Paul is talking about a RADICAL new creation of the inner being. This is not just the changing of bad habits. You have new desires and new ambitions because you serve a new King. Your old self is not just buffed and polished, you become brand new from the inside out. In the original language, the phrase “new has come,” means that this “newness” is a continuing condition and a constant reality. Has your life changed since you met Jesus? The fact that maybe you’re not seeing this “continuing newness” may mean that you’ve not yet been made righteous in Christ—Paul says that this is a good thing to wrestle with.
• Am I an ambassador for Christ – vs 5:20
“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” Here’s the question to wrestle with? Are you grieved that people around you are lost and going to hell? Are you actively praying for lost people? When was the last time you shared the hope of Jesus with hopeless people?
• Am I eager to give sacrificially in response to Christ becoming poor for my sake – vs 8:9
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” Does the thought that Jesus gave up the riches of heaven and became poor so that you could become spiritually rich, does this drive you to live a life of generosity? Are you generous in supporting the work of the Lord? Do you give of your time, talent, AND treasure? Were you uncomfortable when Paul doubled down in chapter 9 when he started talking specifically about supporting the Lord’s work FINANCIALLY? Do you cry “legalism” when a you hear a message on giving? Have you comfortably divorced your faith from your finances?
A few years ago after hearing another pastor preach a particular message, I remember watching somebody come up to him and say (only half-joking), “Pastor, that wasn’t preaching, that was meddling.” But church, that’s what happens when we hold up the mirror and let the gospel start doing explorative surgery on our hearts. It absolutely should make you wince. And if you haven’t winced today, then I humbly but genuinely fear for your soul.
These questions this morning may be part of the most important, life-changing test that you’ll ever take…because this is an eternal test. It’s a test that identifies the real you, the secret you (not the “you” that you show the rest of us each Sunday). This is a test for your soul. It’s a test that I hope you’ve taken today as God’s Word has been opened.
If I’m honest this morning, we’ve painted with a broad brush today. There are probably a hundred other questions that we could have asked. But here’s what I can say with certainty. If you can’t answer these questions with a settled confidence, then it means one of two things. First, it could absolutely mean that you are trusting in something else other than Jesus for salvation. Maybe it’s morality, maybe it’s an experience, maybe it’s your accomplishments…but it’s NOT the blood of Jesus. Or, if you think you have genuinely repented and believed, then the other reason has to be that you haven’t appropriated the empowering grace that flows out of the gospel—that even though you’ve confessed Christ, you’re still operating under your own strength. And I’m here to graciously warn you today, that if your life is marked by continually operating out of our own strength, season after season, then I want to be honest and help you ask the question, are you really IN CHRIST?
