Emmanuel Lutheran Church

2 Corinthians 12:19–13:13 (NKJV)

¹⁹ Again, do you think that we excuse ourselves to you? We speak before God in Christ. But we do all things, beloved, for your edification. ²⁰ For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults; ²¹ lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and lewdness which they have practiced. ¹ This will be the third time I am coming to you. “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.” ² I have told you before, and foretell as if I were present the second time, and now being absent I write to those who have sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare—³ since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you. ⁴ For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you. ⁵ Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. ⁶ But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified. ⁷ Now I pray to God that you do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable, though we may seem disqualified. ⁸ For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. ⁹ For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. And this also we pray, that you may be made complete. ¹⁰ Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction. ¹¹ Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. ¹² Greet one another with a holy kiss. ¹³ All the saints greet you.

No minister of God enjoys being harsh with his flock, just as no godly father enjoys having to speak harshly to his children. But sometimes it is necessary. When members of the flock are stubbornly living according to the flesh without repentance, the preacher has to rebuke them, as Paul feared he would have to rebuke the Corinthians when he arrived.

So he encourages them, ahead of his visit, to “examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Cor. 13:5). Use the Word of God to judge your own desires, attitudes, and actions. Do you recognize the self-centeredness of your flesh? Do you recognize your sins against God and man? Do you mourn over them and renounce them? Do you believe in the Lord Jesus who was delivered to death for your sins and raised to life for your justification? Do you wish to amend your sinful life? Are you filled with thankfulness toward God and committed to love your neighbor and especially your fellow Christians? Do you believe all the things God’s holy prophets and apostles have taught you to believe? Do you respect the ministers of Christ? Do you long to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd preached by His ministers? Do you long for the Sacrament of His body and blood? Do you struggle against your sinful flesh and hope for the coming of the Lord Jesus?

An honest “yes” to these questions reveals that you are “in the faith” and are not in need of a harsh rebuke from God’s ministers, though we all need a mild correction from time to time. Where rebuke or correction is needed, know that God’s minister administers it for your good, that you may be eternally saved.

Let us pray: O God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, accompany us with Your grace, love, and fellowship. Amen.

2 Corinthians 11:1–18 (NKJV)

¹ Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me. ² For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. ³ But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. ⁴ For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it! ⁵ For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles. ⁶ Even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge. But we have been thoroughly manifested among you in all things. ⁷ Did I commit sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge? ⁸ I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you. ⁹ And when I was present with you, and in need, I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself. ¹⁰ As the truth of Christ is in me, no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹ Why? Because I do not love you? God knows! ¹² But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. ¹³ For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. ¹⁵ Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. ¹⁶ I say again, let no one think me a fool. If otherwise, at least receive me as a fool, that I also may boast a little. ¹⁷ What I speak, I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were, foolishly, in this confidence of boasting. ¹⁸ Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast.

Be very careful whom you trust, especially in matters of the faith. St. Paul scolds the Corinthians in today’s reading for being too trusting of those who claimed to be apostles. They were proud of their “simplicity in Christ,” proud of their gullibility, proud of accepting the preachers who came to them without passing judgment on them. After all, didn’t Christ command us to “judge not”?

But the apostle warns that by failing to judge the message of those preachers, the Corinthians were not doing well; they were leaving themselves open to being deceived and led astray to a different gospel.

It is possible to be overly critical of those who preach the gospel; that flows from lovelessness and lack of respect for authority. On the other hand, it is very dangerous to be underly critical of them, because both Satan and his human ministers like to pretend to be something they are not. Satan pretends to be an angel of light instead of the demon of darkness that he is. His ministers pretend to be teachers of righteousness instead of the false teachers that they are. And even well-intentioned Christian ministers can err.

The true apostles and ministers of Christ are known by their fruit, both their doctrine and their life. Paul’s Scriptural teaching and Paul’s insistence on not taking a salary from the churches in Corinth should have made the Corinthian Christians more trusting of him and more critical of those who came with a different message and a different way of life. There is no virtue in the kind of intentional simplicity that says, “Jesus loves me, this I know—and this is all I care to know.”

Let us pray: Lord, keep us from being deceived by false prophets, and help us each day to grow in grace and the knowledge of You. Amen.

2 Corinthians 10:1–18 (NKJV)

¹ Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. ² But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. ³ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. ⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, ⁵ casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, ⁶ and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. ⁷ Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ’s, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ’s, even so we are Christ’s. ⁸ For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed—⁹ lest I seem to terrify you by letters. ¹⁰ “For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” ¹¹ Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will also be in deed when we are present. ¹² For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. ¹³ We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us—a sphere which especially includes you. ¹⁴ For we are not overextending ourselves (as though our authority did not extend to you), for it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ; ¹⁵ not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, in other men’s labors, but having hope, that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere, ¹⁶ to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s sphere of accomplishment. ¹⁷ But “he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” ¹⁸ For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.

It appears that some members of the church in Corinth were listening to the wrong people. Other ministers had come claiming to be apostles and had led them to distrust Paul, who would soon be coming to pick up their offering for Jerusalem. “Don’t worry about Paul. He only sounds tough in his letters. He won’t rebuke you harshly when he comes in person. He’ll be meek and mild.”

On the contrary, Paul promises that he will be “bold against some,” even as the “meek and mild” Jesus sometimes upbraided the Pharisees for their hypocrisy or drove out the moneychangers from the Temple. Paul and the other apostles and ministers of Christ wielded God’s Word as a mighty weapon. No sin is off limits from being identified and condemned. No false argument is immune from being dismantled. No human idea at all is safe from being criticized and even brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Paul asserts his divine authority and insists that the Corinthians recognize it, especially since Paul was the very one who brought the Gospel to them in the first place and who was in fellowship with the rest of the Lord’s handpicked apostles.

Ministers today were not handpicked by Jesus as the apostles were; their authority is governed by the authority of the apostles and prophets. But their authority is still valid, given to them by God in their call and ordination, so they, too, have been armed with mighty spiritual weapons to address men’s behavior, ideas, and teachings and to make them conform to the Word of Christ. They do this, not to seek men’s approval, but God’s.

Let us pray: O Lord, bless the ministry of Your ministers. Grant them wisdom and boldness to preach Your Word with power. Amen.

2 Corinthians 9:1–15 (NKJV)

¹ Now concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you; ² for I know your willingness, about which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal has stirred up the majority. ³ Yet I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this respect, that, as I said, you may be ready; ⁴ lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we (not to mention you!) should be ashamed of this confident boasting. ⁵ Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation. ⁶ But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ⁷ So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. ⁹ As it is written: “He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.” ¹⁰ Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, ¹¹ while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. ¹² For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, ¹³ while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, ¹⁴ and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!             

St. Paul continues his admonition about the special offering the Corinthians were gathering—or were supposed to be gathering—for the saints in Jerusalem. Again, we can apply his instructions to our own charitable offerings to other Christians in their time of need.

Give, because I know you’re willing. You said you were willing. I know you want to help your fellow Christians.

Give, because I’ve already boasted to others about your willingness and zeal to help, and I don’t want to be put to shame if I arrive and find that you were all talk and no action. Then I will appear to have deceived others about you.

Give, because I’ve already boasted to others about you, and I don’t want you to be put to shame. You said you wanted to help. How embarrassing it would be for you if your fellow Christians learned that you chose not to help them.

Give, not grudgingly, not out of a sense of obligation, but cheerfully, because God loves a cheerful giver.

Give, not sparingly, but generously, because God will bless you far beyond what you give, sometimes with physical blessings, but always with spiritual ones.

Give, because it supplies the needs of many, even beyond what you actually give, because God is able to multiply the little works that we do, even as Jesus once multiplied a few loaves of bread and a few fish to feed more than 5,000 people.

Give, because it results in thanksgiving to God as the recipients of your gift praise Him for working such love in you and for providing for them through you.

Let us pray: O Lord, increase in us the mind of Christ to keep us focused on fulfilling the needs of others, as You give us the means and the opportunity. Amen.