Association Sermon

2 Corinthians 13:11–14 CSB

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. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

2 Corinthians 13:11–13 CSB

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.

2 Corinthians 13:11–13 CSB

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.

2 Corinthians

Illus: 5 Kids. They take on the traits of their parents.

Illus: 5 Kids. They take on the traits of their parents.

The church is to be a reflection of our heavenly father.

Humility. Unity. Love.

Paul gets dubbed as the theologian, but more than anything…he loved the local church and longed for her unity, purity, and growth.

{Reason why Paul is writing 2 Corinthians}---->>>> Plant/Pain/False Teaching—Rebuke

Plant/Pain/False Teaching—Rebuke

Corinth was a church in bad condition, yet Paul loved it, wasn’t afraid to rebuke it, but sought its mending.

2 Corinthians 13:9 CSB

We rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. We also pray that you become fully mature.

The word for mature is the same word used by the gospel writers to describe the disciples mending their nets.

Paul wanted the Corinthian church to be mended.

2 Corinthians 13:10 CSB

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.

13:10

He wanted to build up churches, not tear them down.

Ephesians 4:12 CSB

equipping the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,

1 Thess

1 Thessalonians 3:10 CSB

as we pray very earnestly night and day to see you face to face and to complete what is lacking in your faith?

Paul had planted the church at Corinth

Acts 18:9–11 CSB

The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent. For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.” He stayed there a year and a half, teaching the word of God among them.

Acts 18::

But the church was divided, immoral, and committing idolatry when it was taking the Lord’s Supper. Thus Paul rebukes them in 1 Corinthians.

He visits them again and it is known as the “painful” visit.

2 Corinthians specifically was written to rebuke false teaching and to challenge them to be reconciled and to give to those in need.

He ends his appeal in 2 Corinthians with exhortations and with the reason why they should be unified.

We are stronger together when know and obey God’s Word

We are stronger together when know and obey God’s Word

11—Rejoice; many translations have “farewell” but this is the same word used in

1 Thessalonians 5:16 CSB

Rejoice always,

Become Mature, be encouraged---grow up!! Figure it out, mend your ways. Listen to me.

5

Respond to the Word of God

Illus—kids fighting over anything and everything.

Paul wanted his readers to reject false teaching, recognize authority (apostles—Word of God), and to turn from immorality.

Top 100 books---false teaching.

We are stronger together when we worship in unity and with genuine love.

Be of the same mind, be at peace---and the God of love and peace will be with you

2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary a. Final Exhortations and Greeting (13:11–13)

This promise should not be understood as a reward that will be given if the Corinthians obey Paul’s exhortation. It is best taken as an encouragement to those who set themselves to obey, as well as an indication of the source of power by which they will be enabled to do so.

The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Second Epistle to the Corinthians D. Conclusion (13:11–13)

All five imperatives are in the present tense, suggesting that Paul saw these virtues or actions as ideal Christian characteristics that were to be constantly cultivated before his arrival: rejoicing in the Lord, working for restoration, responsiveness to exhortation, unity of outlook and action, and the cultivation of peace.

Holy Kiss---

12--Holy Kiss---

12--Holy Kiss---

In the New Testament the kiss was a sign of greeting and respect. **NOT** Erotic----fellowship and welcoming. Treating people for who they are....made in God’s image. All the saints (probably of Macedonia greet you).

Colin G. Kruse, 2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 8, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1987), 215.

**NOT** Erotic

Closing

We are stronger together when we are reflect the nature and character of the God we serve.

13

The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ--

2 Corinthians 8:9 CSB

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary b. The Benediction (13:14)

This is the nature of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ which Paul invokes upon his readers, a grace completely undeserved, yet overwhelmingly generous and astonishingly committed to the well-being of sinful human beings.

The Love of God---The love of God was supremely demonstrated by Him reconciling the world through the blood of his Son Jesus.

It is through the grace of Jesus that we are able to receive God’s love.

2 Corinthians 5:18–21 CSB

Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God.” He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit...

The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Second Epistle to the Corinthians D. Conclusion (13:11–13)

It was through the grace of Christ exhibited in the cross that God demonstrated his love (Rom. 5:8) and that believers came to participate in the Spirit’s life and so form the community of the new Age.

2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary b. The Benediction (13:14)

The expression fellowship of the Holy Spirit can be construed so as to mean participation in the Holy Spirit where the Holy Spirit is understood as the object in which Christian people share (objective genitive construction). Alternatively it can be construed so as to mean a fellowship created by the Holy Spirit (subjective genitive construction). Both ideas are true and are found elsewhere in Paul’s letters

The Message of 2 Corinthians 6. Final Prayer (13:14)

By this prayer Paul is reminding the Corinthians that their ‘mending’ does not lie within themselves but with the grace of Christ, the love of God and the Spirit’s fellowship. The grace of Christ removes aggressiveness, the love of God dispels jealousy, while the fellowship created by the Spirit destroys bitterness.

We are stronger together not when we just decide to be mentally, but when through the grace of Jesus we our overwhelmed with the love of God and work together and fellowship through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Second Epistle to the Corinthians D. Conclusion (13:11–13)

It was through the grace of Christ exhibited in the cross that God demonstrated his love (Rom. 5:8) and that believers came to participate in the Spirit’s life and so form the community of the new Age.

We are stronger together not when we just decide to be mentally, but when through the grace of Jesus we our overwhelmed with the love of God and work together and fellowship through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Closing

We know that Paul does visit Greece and Corinth for the third time and it is from there that he writes the epistle of Romans in which he seems to indicate that the Corinthians did repent and were reconciled and had sent financial relief to churches in Jersualem who were suffering.