06.04.23

Scripture Reading - 2 Cor. 13:11-13

Message

Two weeks ago, we heard about the church in Ephesus. How Paul was excited as he greeted that church, knowing their faith, their love for God, for each other, and for him. And he celebrated the work they were doing. Well, there is probably no greater contrast to the church in Ephesus than the church we find in Corinth.

In today’s terms we would call Ephesus a “healthy” church and Corinth an “unhealthy” one. Ephesus was “functional” while Corinth was “dysfunctional”. Ephesus was moving in the right direction. Corinth was stuck at the beginning.

But Paul loved both of these churches he had pastored. Ephesus was born during his third missionary journey, and Corinth was born towards the end of his second.

Now, when we looked at the letter to the Ephesians, we spent some time looking at how they typically began because we were at the beginning. Today, we come to the close of this letter and looking at the other letters in the New Testament we would see that many of them include some type of final greeting. A few parting words, sometimes a prayer, sometimes a blessing or as is the case here, sometimes words of instruction.

As Paul prepares to close his letter to the church in Corinth, he simply says “goodbye”. It may be a standard closing or it might suggest that Paul didn’t think he’d be writing to them again. But then he gives them some very specific instructions.

And we can affirm that these instructions were given because this was in part what they struggled with or corrections in their lives together that needed to be changed. In other words, Paul won’t tell the church what to do if they are already doing it. He will compliment them or affirm them if they are. Instead, what he tells them to do are things they aren’t doing.

He tells them, “to put things in order, respond to my encouragement, be in harmony with each other, and live in peace.” Again, all things this church has shown difficulty doing. Things Paul himself has had to address over and over

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He tells them to greet one another and to know that other groups, other “people of God” say hello. It’s an exchange of greetings. Tell everyone there I said hi, and everyone with me says hi as well.

And he closes this letter with a benediction. But He doesn’t simply say, “God be with you.” He doesn’t simply say, “Go with Christ”. He doesn’t say “Be comforted by the Holy Spirit.” No, in one phrase, He includes the entirety of the trinity. He says, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” He is literally wrapping the entire presence of God around this congregation.