The Gospel in 2 Corinthians

Intro:

I am so excited to dive into 2 Corinthians with you. And to get started here today I want to tell you that there isn’t a ton out there on 2 Corinthians. Some Pastors have preached on it faithfully and there are some books by scholars no doubt, but it’s not that popular in comparison to some of Pauls’ other letters. And I’ve been racking my brain and talkinig to Pastor Jon about why that is. So I want to answer that by telling you what I want for us. As I have lived in this book over the years and particularly in preparation for this sermon, one desire has bubbled to the surface. It’s a desire I have for myself, and for my kids and for all of you. What I want for all of us is a love of Jesus so fierce and passioante that we would trust Him and love Him no matter what comes. No matter if everything we touch turns to gold or our church grows like crazy or our platform grows or our kids accomplish great things or our city all comes to faith in Jesus or our bosses see our value. But I also want us to deeply love and trust Jesus if it goes terrible. When cancer hits. If the church doesn’t go how I want. If our kids don’t follow Jesus. If our following of Jesus ostracizes us. If just disappointment after disappointment comes. What I want for you and for me is a vision of God so big and a love of Jesus so precious that it holds no matter what comes. Becuase ultiamtely what we got into this for and why we stay is how good and precious Jesus is, not how comfortable we are. Now,, the good news is that no book sets out to give us that desire quite like 2 Corinthians. Paul has been through it. This church in Corinth has challenged his legitimacy as an apostle. They undervalue him. And Paul is put in an awkward position to defend himself, but not because he cares what they think, but becuase their gospel grid is just off. Their willingness to listen to those questioning Paul and saying he isn’t good at speaking or doesn’t make much money or have a huge following shows that they want a front runner. They want a happy go lukcy gospel preacher. And Paul is always getting beaten up and looking morbid and is soft spoken but writes real big. And so Paul is going to say that my lack of external showmanship and the constant pressures I face from the outside but remaining faithful to this message is what validates this ministry. So, here’s the catch 22 of preaching 2 Corinthians to you here today. Being negative doesn’t sell. Saying let’s suffer for Jesus is hard. And Paul isn’t saying let’s go suffer, that’s what you’re supposed to do. In fact, he prescribes very little for them to do in this letter. He’s just describing how his hard life makes the gospel look good, and by doing that he is bringing us in on the depths of the glory of God in the midst of hardhsip. So this letter could not be more important for us because life is hard. It’s hard. Living with Jesus is hard. Life leans on us and squeezes us constantly. We need the strength the Spirit gives in this letter. Two asterisks as we get going. Number one, as we get into what real ministry is and the beauty of the gospel despite suffering, avoid the temptation to look at other ministries or platforms that may be all positive or have tons of momentum and don’t preach a more weak gospel that Paul does in 2 Corinthians. Focus on what God has for you. Number two, don’t hear Paul prescribing aiming for a martyrdom complex. He’s not. We pray for thorns to leave. We ask God to take pain away. As we will see God uses pain but God isn’t the root of any evil friends. God is good. God is God. God loves you. As you read the Bible, that God is at some level in control of all that happens, whether Satan is behind it or God Himself, is undeniable. How God’s control works isn’t what the Bible is as concerned with answering. And today’s sermon won’t be about the how of God. But the what of God and how that shapes how we trust Him whether life goes how we want, or it just squeezes us. In either case, we aim for Jesus Himself who is the greatest gift of all. Amen? Today’s sermon is called 13 Letters: The 2nd Letter to the Corinthians. If I had another title, it would be, “Weakness is the Way.” We are going to see that the gospel is personal, the gospel is paradoxical, and the gospel is persuasive. If you’re ready, let me hear you say, I’m ready.

Live into gospel paradox, not religious platitude

MI: In the gospel, life comes through death.

The Gospel is Personal (2 Corinthians 1:16-17, 6:11-13)

Spends time there. Leaves. Receives letter. We don’t have that one. Writes 1 Corinthians in response. Makes a brief painful visit to Corinth. He writes a severe letter to them. We don’t have that one. He writes 2 Corinth. Then after this one, he goes and visits them on his way to Jerusalem while he writes the letter to the Romans. So of the 4 letters total, 1 Corinthians is #2 and 2 Corinthians is #4.

So Paul and the Corinthians go back. They’ve spent tons of time together. Paul has told them what they need to do to be faithful. They’re clearly doing some of it, and many of their people are growing in maturity. Others are not. And one of the evidenes that some of them aren’t getting it is their questioning of Paul. Specifically, they question his intentions and his looseness with words. You said you’d be here by now, you just say you’re coming but don’t mean it. And we have to understand that Paul isn’t defending himself in the way we do. As Jon walked us through last week, Paul don’t care what they think about him. Paul isn’t defending Paul. Paul is defending the gospel and the glory of Gdo and is so attached to God, that their separting from him is a departure from the gospel. So this letter is intensely personal. I want you to just check Paul’s tone and perplexed posture. Imagine a man doing his thing, longing for God’s glory and planitng churches and then the people he prays for constantly and takes beatings for questions his intentions and accuses him of making false promises. Woah. That stings. And watch how serious Paul gets.

16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? 18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him.

2 Corinthians 1:16-20

And look what Paul says later. I believe it gives us insight into Paul’s tone.

11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. 12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. 13 In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.

2 Corinthians 6:11-13

If I did this in normal life, people would think I’m crazy. Hey why didn’t you come to that meeting? You make false promises? Oh yea, my kid is sick my car don’t work, and I’m barely hanging on how dare you question me. Paul doesn’t do that. He gives an answer about God’s truthfulness. He’s like every promise ever is rooted in the faithfulness of god. He gave us His Son. Jesus’ word to us is not yes and no. Jesus isn’t playing around with us. Every promise in the whole Bible is valid through the Son of God to us. So I would never be loose with my words. Are you kidding me? Seems extreme of a response. Not very practial, Paul. So serious Paul. Can I tell you, Port City, that I want this sort of personal and deep life with God for all of you. I want you to so know and love God and for your motivational structure to be so tied up in God. Every patient you serve, every ticket you take at work, every student you answer, you’re so filled with God’s desires for their life, you’re so attuned to God’s presence, you’er so aware of how purposeful every second of every day is, that if someone were to question you, and you were to get to open yourself up to them, you could be like “are you serious?” In the most gospel humble way I want us to be able to answer, to that student who says “you don’t even like me, you’er too hard on me.” I want us to live so deeply that even if we never write the letter or actually defend ourselvs that you’re living the kidn of life that behind closed doors that question from that student makes you weep. They have no idea how much you pray for them. How much you want to love them but it’s a struggle. When that teenager says “you hate me” you can go into your room and have this kind of conversation with them to the Father through the Spirit. When your boss says “you don’t even care about this company” you’re able to just go to war in prayer for them. The point isn’t write letters to people questioning you. Paul isn’t prescribing what we do. But he’s modeling for us how deep his life is in the gospel. How personal it is. Everything you do is for others good and God’s glory. I just want you to hear that it’s possible. And that even the Apostle Paul got questioned. You don’t care. So we who parent backtalking teenangers or submit to emotionally manipulative bosses who question us, we can know we are in good company. And you can know God this deeply and want good for them. Amen?

2. The Gospel is Paradoxical (2 Corinthians 4:7-9, 6:8-10, 5:6-7, 8:9, 12:8-10)

Now, we get into some of the most amazing statements in all of the Bible that describe our walk with God. And we are walking a tightrope here between robust deep faith and love for the real Jesus no matter what comes, and falling into coffee cup Christianity of platitudes. What I want for us is to live the gospel paradox life and learn to love Him in it, and not to settle back for statements that sound good, but we’re not really living them. And listen, I’m not anti-platitudes. Don’t judge movements or people that use them, judge for yourself if your walk with Jesus is this deep and robust or if all you know is to throw your hands up in situations and make some platitude Christian cliche statement that has no real meaning to it in your life but is you saying what you think you should say. Ready? I have 5 gospel paradoxes to give you.

Paradox #1: We have this treasure in jars of clay (2 Corinthians 4:6-12)

6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Some of what was hanging over Paul’s life was this question, explain why your life is so hard? You’re an apostle. Why do you suffer? Paul’s answer is basically, my life as a minister of the gospel is to display the glory of God in the person of Jesus. Jesus is the God-Man who died in our place to draw us to Himself. He died and it led to resurrection. So my life looks like a perpetual death. Death is at work in us, but life in you. We have this treasure in jars of clay. Something so precious. Knowing God. The immortal and eternal God. Who made us in His image. The Son of God who is risen in power and will never die again lives in me by the Spirit of God. But I’m finite. I’m flesh. And this isn’t a statement that somehow the body is bad. By saying the treasure is in jars of clay, it’s not to degrade the clay. Paul is extremely pro-body and pro-life in the body. He wants the fullness of God in a resurrected body. He longs for the corruption that sin has brought to be fully undone. But he’s not bashing our embodied existence. He’s simply saying that God has set it up such that the gospel message of being able to know God who is infitely strong and good and wise comes through the package of broken apostles like Him. Weak. Not good speakers. God doesn’t recruit the top speakers. He isn’t recruiting a package in the flesh, in the way we think about what is impressive, and then throwing His treasure in a package of treasure. No, He gets the glory because the treasure of knowing God in the face of Jesus Christ comes through the package of frailty. So hear this today, family. We are clay. We have a great treasure. And somewhat God purposes that you remain clay. Knowing God doesn’t make you invincible. Loving Jesus doesn’t protect you from the curse. In fact, God purposes that your love for Him in your body under the hardship of a cursed life is to display His treasure through your cracks. Imagine a light shining and busting at the seems. It requires cracks to be seen. What do you think the vessel of that crack is so that the light shines through? It’s our lives. It’s our ministry. Our testifying to the glory of God despite our life feeling like a cracked jar. So, do we ask God to crack us? Not necessarily. But when the pressure comes, so with it comes the opportunity to say with Paul, we hold this treasure in jars of clay. And a day is coming when the clay is gone. But with it goes the opportunity to testify to other clay that there is a treasure they need. That’s why Paul can say elsewhere, I wish I could be cut off that my brothers would know God. Paul is like, bring on the cracks to me if it brings them in.

Paradox #2: We are sorrowful yet always rejoicing (2 Corinthians 6:8-10)

We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

Paul continues to try to convey the joy he has in his ministry. It makes sense to him that it is this way. He is seeing everything through the lens of the gospel. But in some ways, he wants them to know that thigns are not as they seem. Some think we are poor, but look, we are so rich in what we get to be a part of. They think I don’t have much because I don’t make money off this. I know Jesus though, I possess it all. They think I am sorrowful, which I am. But I’m always rejoicing. Family, this is a phrase so deep in insight we need to camp in it. It tells us that the life with God is a life of constant sorrow and constant rejoicing. When we are sorrowful because of the effects of the cruse, we aren’t sad as those who have no hope. And when we are rejoicing, we aren’t rejoicing as if the curse is fully gone, but continue to mourn. We are those who can both be sad because our lives are hard and the earth is still cursed and brokenness is still a thing and be rejoicing because we see current eveidence of God moving and we hold the promise that one day God will make all things right. I can tell you that after 7 years in counseling and now several months of spiritual direction the phrase “sorrowful yet always rejoicing” is a lot of what counseling pushes us towards. Be happy AND sad. Maturity is growing in the both/and of that. It’s not that if you mature with Jesus you’re always sad or always happy. Your sadness gets fuller and more informed by the goodness that is and is to come. And your happiness gets deeper but also more informed by the ongoing need for full redemption. It’s viewing life through an already-not-yet redemptive arc. It’s like being good friends with new foster parents. They tell you something going on and you say you’re excited and they’re like no, that’s sad. And you think about it and you’re like yeah that’s so sad I hate it. And they’re like but it’s happy. So then you begin to read which headspace they’re in. But here’s what they’re learning and stumbling through and beign patient with us as we laern it with them; sorrowful yet always rejoicing. It will never be inherently good taht fostering is needed. Period. No part of this will ever be pure happiness. Period. But yes there is much redemption occurring and for that we rejoice. More than anything we rejoice because one day none of this will be necessary anymore because God will redeem all layers and forms of brokenness. So yes celebrate with your friend whose cancer surgery went well, but remember, they shouldn’t have needed it. It’s not all party now. It’s a sobered party and a happy cry fest if that makes sense. Praise God that in Jesus we can be sorrowful yet always rejoicing. Becuase if Jesus didn’t raise from the dead, no redemption is coming friends. All sorrow. All pointless. Let’s go to the club right now. We are wasiting time seeking morality reading an old book. But if Christ is raised, we are in a triumphal processing, and we are always sorrowful yet rejoicing. Your kingdom come, your will be done. You see, the Bible teaches that in the person of Jesus when we trust Him our sin is gone. God has paid for it. It is removed. But, pain isn’t erased in the same way. Pain is repurposed. Pain is redeemed. In Jesus, sin gets erased, and pain gets used. Our Lord upon being risen from the dead showed His disciples His hands and feet. The wounds. Wounds. Not a fresh body without wounds. Our pain is redeemed, not erased.

Paradox #3: We give because He gave (2 Corinthians 8:9)

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

One of the reasons Paul wrote 2 Corinthians is to prepare them to contribute financially to the offering that was going to the people impacted by a famine in Jerusalem. Paul eventually comes to Corinth and gets the money and while there he writes to the Romans before heading for Jerusalem as we saw in our sermon on Romans. And in chapters 8-9 here Paul unveils his view on giving. The believer is not trying to get God’s favor by giving. No, in the gospel we don’t give to get God to accept us. He’s not an unpleaseable God we want to get the attention of. Rather, because God has so lavishly given to us, our response is to freely and joyfully give. So the gospel doesn’t demand that you become generous, the gospel transforms stingy hearts into generous ones. Giving is a base level assumed reality of the law. It is a way we love our neighbor. Generosity is an evidence that God is moving in your life and you now care about leveraging resources for others and not just yourselves. You become a steward of God’s riches for others, not an owner of resources for yourself. We give not to get accepted by God, but because has already accepted us in His Son. So at Port City we talk about money for the same reason that Paul did, because it is tied to your heart. Paul tells them you guys are excelling in so many things in Christ, excel in this gift also. Even when they had no money the churches in Macedonia were excited to contribute to this Jerusalem offering. Generosity is something Paul, God Himself, and we here as your leaders want for you more than we want it from you. It’s true that God doesn’t need our money. At the same time, God has set up that the Jerusalem sufferers have their needs met by the Corinthians generosity. In some sense, God doesn’t always need our money, but one of our neighbors probably does. So we give as a response to God’s love for us, and because we love our neighbor. Paul is telling them in advance so they can have a system around collecting it and it be pre thought out. Our giving should both be systematic and spontaneous. I encourage you to consider systematic and spontaneous ways to be generous in your life with your time, your money, your energy, and your skillsets. Give. The gospel is all about giving. Jesus gave everything away. We give because He gave.

When we are weak, then we are strong (2 Corinthians 12:8-10, 2 Corinthians 1:8-9)

7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Now we come to one of the most awesome passages in all of Scritpure and one of my favorites. The Lord tells Paul his power is made perfect in his weakness. Let’s quickly define weakness. Based on the context, Paul is defending the credibility of his ministry. Some of them were contemplating wholesale rejecting Paul and being under some super-apostles ministry instead because they were more eloquent speakers and took money from them. So, ironically, Paul’s lack of external superstarness and emphasis on money was a turnoff. Paul is shocked by what he’s hearing. He cares nothing about their thoughts of him. But he does care that they don’t lose the gospel. So he says bear with me while I do some foolish boasting. If y’all want my letter of recommendation here it is. I’ve been beaten, stoned, hated, lied to, tricked, left for dead, made fun of, ran out of cities. You name the pain, and in the name of Jesus, I’ve taken it. Then Paul goes on to say I’ve seen things in the Lord that if I uttered them, you wouldn’t believe. So God has allowed a thorn in the flesh from Satan himself to stay in my life to keep me from becoming conceited. So to be clear. Not all weaknesses are sent by Satan. But some are. Not all are directly sent by God, but they’re all used by God. He defines weaknesses in verse 10 by saying weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamaties. We aren’t talking about sinful patterns or character flaws. Weaknesses are pressures applied as we follow Jesus from the outside. Insulted for standing up for Jesus. Hated on for loving him. But then just calamaties, hard pressure. We all experience that. And what we see in this text is that Paul knew one such external pressure was given by Satan himself. Scholars debate what it is. Maybe it was bad eyesight or maybe one specific group of haters in his life. In any case, God says, the thorn isn’t leaving. My grace is sufficient. My power is made perfect in weakness. Somebody say in weakness. What this means friends is that God’s goal is to display who He is through who we are not. And the circumstances of life as we follow Him will bring about situations where our lack, our need, the gap between who we are, the pressure being applied, and who God is calling us to be feels too great. And we want God to zap us out of that situation. God I can’t handle this. Look at what he says in chapter 1.

8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

I’ve heard some people say things like God doesn’t give us more than we can handle. Um. Not true. Did it with Paul constantly. God provides a way out of temptation; we take that context and apply it to weakness which God didn’t intend. Life will constantly feel like more than you can handle. God wants you to become someone who doesn’t rely on yourself, but on God who rasies the dead. So if life squeezes us to the point of death, we are on the preicipice of resurrection. Listen, Jesus died for us. Resurrection was on the back end. Then when we are united to Him by faith our life with Him now takes on the shape of the cross. We enter into His life and follow Him on the Calvary road in what feels like death. God wants you to become dependent on Him. The goal of your life is not to become as strong as possible in Jesus’ name. It’s to walk with Jesus no matter how foolish and weak you look giving Him the credit as you hang on. And we don’t hang on because we are supposed to and we are good at it, we hang on because He’s good to us. We love Jesus. So our weakness becomes something we welcome and boast in so that God’s power might show up. So although your flesh is allergic to weakness, the Spirit in you loves it. If dependence is the goal, then weakness becomes an advantage. But if all you want from Jesus is to feel a removal of a guilty conscious about your sin, you will want his saving from your sin, without your life taking on a cross shape and you having to depend on Him for resurrection.

3. The Gospel is Persuasive (2 Corinthians 4:1-2, 5:11, 5:20-21, 13:5)

Open statement of the truth (2 Corinthians 4:1-2)

In his defense of his ministry, one of the themes you pick up on consistently is Paul basically saying “I am not trying to sugarcoat the gospel. I don’t throw money on top of it so you’ll pay attention to it.” Here is the plain statement of the truth. Or he says in 2 Corinthians 5:11, we persuade others. What is this plain statement of the truth? What is this persuasion? We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20-21) You are made by Gdo for God. To live with HIm. You’re sinful. He’s holy. You are living like you’re God and you’er not. He’s so good and you’re wasting your life. But if you want to draw near to God it’s not that simple because He’s Holy. So He sent His Son. Jesus Christ is God and He died on a wooden cross because you’er a sinner, God is holy, you needed savig, and He wants to live with you. The only way that could happen is for God to step in and die your death so through the Son of God’s resurrection you could be adopted into the family and be united to God through the Son by the Spirit. That’s it. Plain Jane. You are wasting your life if you don’t know Jesus. You are a sinner. You need a Savior. You can’t save yourself. You need to follow Him. You need to repent. So for some of you I want to persuade you. 2 persuasions from the open statement of the truth I just shared with you. One, your life is wrong. You’re wrong. You’re living it wrong. You’re wrong about God. He’s good. He’s a better King than you are. He’s kinder. He’s wise. A good judge. He’s Creator. Sovereign. You’re a sinner. You do sinful things. You do bad things. You leave good things undone. You love yourself. You’re wrong. Second, you’re wasting your life. Hard. But to not know God is to waste your life searching for somethign and someone that can only be found in Him. All the glory and good and love you’re seeking elsewhere, can be found in the one that you’re wrong about. Here’s the truth. Your life is wrong. Your life is a waste. Hard. Plain truth. Here’s what else is true. God wants to know you. He sent His Son to die for you. And His offer is what Jesus did for you as a gift. You can’t earn it. You receive new life in Him and with Him by repenting and believing.

Examine yourselves. Test yourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Port City church, examine yourselves. Test yourselves. Is the life of Christ that was in teh Apostle Paul, is it alive in you. Is death at work in you so that life may come to others? Are you osrrowful yet always rejoicing? Are you so in tune with Christ who died in your place that your hands are open? Are you fighting to see His goodness displayed through the cracked up pot taht you are? Is it your joy to be his vessel even when things feel like too much? We may not be apostles and we may not have thorns direclty from Satan taht we know of right now, but you know what, Paul’s letter describes a cross shaped life.

Here’s the good news friends. If you think you’re not good at following him, but you keep following Him trusting He will give you enough strenght to trust Him one more day, He is using you. Some of us think we aren’t useful to God because we aren’t strong. You may not be useful to God but it isn’t because you’re not strong, it’s because we haven’t learned how to turn to Him in our weakness. When we are weak, then we are strong. I’ve heard it said that ministry isn’t what we do; it’s what God does through the overflow of our intimacy with Him. You know what brings a lot of intimacy? Weakness. Pain. Hardship. Intimacy - I’ve heard it defined as INTO Me You See. God wants intimacy with you believer. He wants to see into you and He wants you to see into Him. And you know what brings that out of us? You know what draws us into Him? Weakness. Hardships. Pain. Church I don’t wish pain upon any of you, but I do pray for you to learn to love depending on God. Depend on Him. We get to boast in that which makes following Him hard. I boast in my weakness.

CROSS SHAPED LIFE