The Final Exam

Introduction

We are wrapping our series on Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, which we’ve called Empty Vessels. What I have found as a gospel preacher for the last seven years is that embracing and living out the truth of Jesus requires unlearning as much as it does learning. I think that is a requirement for any transformation, whether physical, mental, or spiritual.

Need to get in shape? Unlearn the bad eating habits, learn the good. Starting a new job? You may need to unlearn the systems of your last job so that you can fit in the new place. If you want to be truly healthy, you can’t keep the old unhealthy stuff with the new, healthier stuff.

But that emptying process, as anyone who has started a new diet or worked their way through addiction can tell you, is not easy. Habits are there for a reason, and they die hard. But the truth Paul shares is real: If you want to be filled with the Spirit, you first have to be emptied of the flesh. You first have to be emptied if you want to be filled. This is less about your willpower, this is less about your mental or physical acuity. This is about trust. Because when you claim Jesus as your king, when you surrender your life over to him, what you are saying is, my family is yours. My house is yours. My 401K is yours. My body is yours. My time is yours. Do with them what you will. Make everything I have, everything I do, everything I am, all about You. Is there no greater declaration of trust as that? That’s what being an empty vessel is all about. That’s what following Jesus is all about.

Paul’s last words have a sense of urgency and weight to them. There’s a seriousness in his instructions. It’s why I titled my sermon “the Final Exam”, and it’s not just because I’m a teacher for my day job. Paul is going to put a tough scenario out there for the Corinthians to consider, and he asks them to “test” themselves, to see if they are ready for the ultimate goal of being a Christian (are you ready for it?): maturity. He wants them to become fully grown spiritual creatures who can reproduce, multiply—in other words, he wants sold out followers of Christ who share and raise up more and more people to find and follow Jesus with everything they have.

Church, their test is your test. The gravity they face is a gravity you must face. Their goal must be yours. We do not want to be those who simply know of Jesus. We cannot be mere admirers of his morals or his power. We must be committed, spirit-empowered, transformed people of love and grace who know nothing but Jesus and his way.

Are you ready for a cram session? In all tests (students, pay attention!) you need three basic things:

you need to consider the weight of the grade,

you need to study hard,

and you need to exceed expectations.

PRAY

Pass or Fail: Weigh the Grade

2 Corinthians 13:1–4 (CSB)

This is the third time I am coming to you. Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. I gave a warning when I was present the second time, and now I give a warning while I am absent to those who sinned before and to all the rest: If I come again, I will not be lenient, since you seek proof of Christ speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but powerful among you. For he was crucified in weakness, but he lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by God’s power.

Paul’s heading to Corinth for the third time, and he warns them, it may not be fun. Paul brings up a Jewish law here about conflict and the need for any accusation to be verified by “two or three witnesses.” Scholars are a bit divided here, but here’s how I read it: Paul’s has come to them before with some issues, and he’s gracious, he’s understanding, but he says, that’s strike one. Now he sends them another, dealing with the issues of the super apostles, and he says, strike two guys. And now, if he comes this next time, and there’s still gossip, slander, pride, anger, chaos—the stuff of the flesh—well, that’s strike three. You don’t want three strikes.

Three strikes means the problem isn’t an aberration. It’s not a mistake. It’s a deeply ingrained heart issue. It’s a core belief. It’s your identity, who you are.

Bill St. John shared something during our elder meeting that Lucy’s family used to say: the first time, it’s a mistake. The second time, you know better. The third time, you’re stupid.

So here’s the point of Paul’s comment. Corinth better be ready. Because if they prove to be a prideful people, an angry people, a selfish people, a slanderous people, in their relationship to Paul and to others, the fruit of the Spirit is not growing, and they are not in Christ. I know, that’s a harsh thing to say, it’s damning, but Paul’s says, I see what I see. You are who you are.

HS, took a College Calculus class. First Exam: 76%. Second Exam 58%. The weight of the final exam brought me to a place I never had been before. I needed help. Final Exam: 94%

What will it take for you to take your relationship with God seriously? To give it the weight it deserves?

Paul says he is coming to deal with them as a weak person—weak physically, weak in speech, weak in age—but since the Corinthians are enamored with power, Paul will bring the power of Christ with him to deal with the church, so that they might know God’s power and live by that, instead of the human power they crave. When speaking power, here’s what we mean:

Power (dunamis) is the ability to make things happen, to bend something to your will. Dunamis is where we get our word for dynamite, it’s a powerful explosion that can bring out holes where there was once a mountain, for example. And the human nature is to exert power as explosively as dynamite. The church falls prey to this too. How do you draw someone into a relationship with God? Powerful, inspiring music, lights, architecture, events, dynamic speakers (see what I did there?). And yet what have witnessed, time and again, is that the moments when people are drawn near to God come in the quiet spaces, off to the side, where humble servants love and show compassion and sit down and offer grace in abundance. No one in our day would call that power. It looks nothing like the chemical concoction that levels mountains. But yet the gospel of the cross, the most abject human display of weakness ever designed, can cut through the hardest of hearts and unite divine and human beings in love.

What moves your heart more, blustery charisma or quiet conviction? Jesus comes to you, right now, and says, without any fanfare, I know the condition of your heart. I know what you value. I know what you love. I know the trajectory of your life.

That quiet whisper of knowing ought to strike utter fear and anticipation within you. Because, do you know it yourself?

Study Hard: Check Your Heart

2 Corinthians 13:5–9 (CSB)

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless you fail the test. And I hope you will recognize that we ourselves do not fail the test. But we pray to God that you do nothing wrong—not that we may appear to pass the test, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear to fail. For we can’t do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. We rejoice when we are weak and you are strong.

Paul says, Listen, I’m sure you believe that Jesus is in you, that’s you are a real, serious follower of Jesus. But how do you know? How do you know if you are truly following Jesus, or if you are just playing the game of “Christian? “ Pauls says, test yourself. Study hard, do a deep dive. Know who you are. And that requires a good heart check.

My friend Nate would often say this to his kids whenever there was conflict in the house: “Check your heart”; when horizontal attitudes are going the wrong direction, it’s time to check your vertical relationship and your inner desires and loves.

Honestly, every one in this room needs to make a good heart, as often as you can. Here’s how you do it. First, go vertical, then, go horizontal. Here’s what I mean by that.

Vertical: How’s your relationship with God? Are you growing closer to God? Are you becoming more focused on his presence and work in your life? Or do you forget about him until Sunday, or until some crisis pops up in your life? How much time have you spent with him, and what does that time look like? Do you spend the time talking, or listening?

Horizontal: How are your relationships with people? Are they good, fruitful, encouraging, supportive? Or are they marked by lies, greed, pride, self-interest? How do you treat people? How do you treat your spouse? Your parents? Your siblings? Your friends? Your Neighbors? Is the mark of a good relationship how much you get out of it, or how much you offer? Do bring criticism, or comfort? Do you build up, or do you tear down?

This is the test. This is what Paul means by “doing right.”

Comer: If you had to summarize Christlike character in one word, there would be no competition: love. Love is the acid test of spiritual formation.

The single most important question is, are we becoming more loving? Not, are we becoming more biblically educated? Or practicing more spiritual disciplines? Or more involved in church? Those are all good things, but not the most important thing.

If you want to chart your progress on the spirituality journey, test the quality of your closest relationships—namely, by love and the fruit of the Spirit. Would the people who know you best say you are becoming more loving, joyful, and at peace? More patient and less frustrated? Kinder, gentler, softening with time, and pervaded by goodness? Faithful, especially in hard times, and self-controlled?

Are you growing in love not just for your friends and family but for your enemies? When you are hurt, wounded, and treated unjustly (as we all are), are you finding yourself increasingly able to emotionally release the bitterness, to absorb the pain and not give it back in kind? To pray for and even “bless those who curse you?”

Church, taking this test is not something you can do on a piece of paper. It’s not a performance exam two hours a week on Sunday mornings. We treat spiritual life this way sometimes, don’t we? We treat church like a spiritual cram session—if I look the part, sound the part, act the part, then I can do what I want the other 166 hours. I did the math: if the only time you spend with Jesus is church on Sundays, that’s 1.2% of your life. Do you think 1.2% will change your life? Do you think Jesus is satisfied with 1.2%? Are you satisfied with 1.2%?

Check your heart. Do a deep dive. Know yourself the way Jesus knows you.

Because passing this test will lead you to your final goal. When my students are sitting in math class and we’re learning something like systems of equations and their eyes are rolling back into their heads, I will inevitably hear this question: Mr. Parodi—what is the point of all this? Will we ever use it in real life? Why go through all this examination?

That’s a fair question. You want to do something with all this learning, right? You want to be more than just a casual Christian, a Sunday church goer, a dabbler in spirituality, right? What is the point of passing this test?

Exceed Expectations: Live the Mature Life

2 Corinthians 13:9–13 (CSB)

We also pray that you become fully mature. This is why I am writing these things while absent, so that when I am there I may not have to deal harshly with you, in keeping with the authority the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Become mature, be encouraged, be of the same mind, be at peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints send you greetings.

What’s the goal? Maturity. No creature is born fully developed. There is a forming process. Watch a young child learn to walk. It’s not a steady process. There’s rolling, then crawling, then toddling, and slowly the steps become more sure and you don’t have to even think about it anymore. It’s the same with speech, and fine motor skills, and critical thinking, impulse control, interpersonal relationship skills, etc. Practice, however rough at first, eventually makes perfect, or at least, mature.

So Paul’s prayer here is a call to action. To become a people who stop talking about grace and love, who stop name dropping Jesus like Christianity is celebrity culture, and start living out the cruciform (Cross-formed) life. Paul won’t be fooled by a show, a facade of spiritual-looking Corinthian church activity. He wants real, inside out, fruit-bearing, world-changing, love infused life. That takes real practice. I tell my students, you won’t ace the test by sleeping with your head on the textbook and hoping the information seeps into your brain. In the same way, spiritual osmosis is not a thing. It requires that you stop rolling around, stand up, and take some steps, however awkward it will be at first.

Rev. Derek Browning (regarding prayer and the church): Have we not been bombarding the Almighty with our endless petitions, confessions, and intercessions for centuries, and occasionally remembering good manners and offering our adoration, thanksgiving and praise? I sometimes imagine God enthroned in splendor with hands firmly over his ears and muttering, “Won’t they simply shut up for a moment and get on with what they already know they ought to be doing?”

Comer: There is a journey inward and even a self-discovery that are key to Christian spirituality, but it’s followed by a journey outward into love—into action in the world. The goal is to be formed by Jesus, at every level of our beings, into those who are pervaded by love.

If the cross is the ultimate act of love, than perhaps it is no suprise that Jesus urges you to take up your cross and follow him. If you are being formed into a person of love, Jesus is asking you to take on the sort of actions that require laying down your own life so that your family, your neighbor, your greatest enemies, might be called sons and daughters of the King of Glory. (1 John 3:16)

Because the defining mark of maturity, for any creature, is reproduction. Multiplication. Trees don’t drop seeds or bear fruit until they are mature. Mammals don’t reproduce until they are mature. And when they multiply, they always multiply their own kind.

You are constantly becoming formed with the goal of multiplication. Will you multiply anger, deceit, slander, selfishness, greed, chaos? Or will you multiply love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control? The One who owns your life will decide.