Paul's Purpose for 2 Corinthians

Paul’s Desire for Corinthians

Intro:

Good morning Church!

Good morning Followers of grace of Jesus Christ!

Good morning God lovers!

Good morning those who love to fellowship with the Holy Spirit!

And

Finally...

Good morning All Nations Vineyard Church in Tulsa

I am Andrew Schmidt, lead pastor here at All Nations.

Well, Today is a momentous day!

Today we finish our walk through 2nd Corinthians

We have gone verse by verse, mostly, to see what God has to say to us as individuals and to us as a church.

Today is no different.

We will look at the final Greetings Paul has for the folks in Corinth who preached into the faith.

Today we will look at his final words to the Corinthians who had rejected him as being an apostle.

Today we look at what words Paul leaves them with after the letter that called them on the carpet for rejecting him as a TRUE apostle of Christ.

Today we look at what a great communicator and leader says to them EVEN if some still reject him.

Today we look at a leader who MET Jesus face to face, who received the gospel DIRECTLY from Jesus, who delivered the straight from Jesus Gospel to these Corinthians, who saw these corinthians come to faith in Jesus Christ, say to those who rejected him, who were embarrassed by this low budget preacher.

We will see Paul’s heart for these folks.....

He gives them directives and then

He prays for them.

He prays for them in written form for the second time.

Paul loves these folks and is so confident in what he says that He gives them a promise that seemingly only God can give.

Yes Paul’s letter to the Corinthians called 2nd Corinthians reveals his heart for them and what he sees them becoming.  He is coaching them to the end.

Story of being in honors English my senior year in HS.

The only one who wasn’t getting an academic scholarship.  Filled with super smart people.  I was just talking with Ashley the other day on a walk, that the english teachers were probably talking to each other about honors english...and they had one spot left..

They had one spot left to fill it up...we want to make the class full..what knucklehead could we place here...the regular classes were full, and the honors english class is 1 shy. We need just one more..you think Schmidt could hang?  Maybe...well, we need a good laugh...let’s place him in there.

Anyway...none of that story is true...but I know I really didn’t belong.  How do I know?

First time we discussed a poem or some section of our super boring book we read....Mr. Wilson asked a question.  After picking 1 hand among 20 hands going up, this gal who I really didn’t know ...answers....

Well, I didn’t listen to her response, because i was waiting to see what Mr. Wilson said, or his correction of her answer....well, Mr Wilson just nodded in the yes manner of “you’re right.”

Oh no....i didn’t even LISTEN to her response.  How could she understand the convoluted prose we read...i know i couldn’t...from that point onward...i had to take notes on what other STUDENTS said in class!  I was so worn out, outclassed, out brained in that class....As painful as it was to be the #1 dummy in the class. The one who really didn’t belong. IT WAS for my benefit in the long run.  And yours.  It really stunk being LOST the whole YEAR, but I did learn some stuff that makes reading literature of any kind.....including letters of Paul....MUCH easier. Or at least having tools to help make some sense and appreciate them.

I learned what makes great literature great  and what great communicators do so when the numbskulls like me read it, we can UNDERSTAND!

I tell that story to let you in on my life.  I thought I was born to play ball, to play tennis, to play...only...well, God had other plans all throughout my life to prepare me JUST for today.

Yes, my friends,  God arranges our lives so that we can learn from every experience..whether good or bad...and put it to use for later times and FOR OTHERS benefit.

Psalm 119:73 esv

Your hands have made and fashioned me;

give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.

Psalm 139:13-16 ESV

13 For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

14

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a]

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

15

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

Ester 4:12-14 ESV

12 And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. 13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Yes, my friends,  God arranges our lives so that we can learn from every experience..whether good or bad...and put it to use for later times and FOR OTHERS benefit.

God knew that my path all along was going to go through Tulsa in 2015. He knew that He was preparing me all the preceding years to  be lead pastor here at ALL Nations Vineyard Church ON this day...and He arranged all so that I could communicate whatever truth  WE ALL need to hear today.

Sure, we think we made the decisions along the way.

Even right now your brain is retrieving those momentous decisions or circumstances that steered your life in one direction from another.

Right before I became a Christian...God let me see that His hand was there all along HELPING me experience things, all the good things, that had NOTHING to do with me, but really HIS love for me to build me up and see that He is really in charge.

All my successes were HIS handiwork. Not mine. I also realized that all my big STUPID stuff that I did I didn’t get what i really deserved. It may sound like I got away scott free...but really I think you know what I mean.  It should have been worse.

As one comes close to God through the gospel of Jesus Christ...you start to understand that SIN is a way bigger part of your life than you ever thought it was. In fact,

When the GOODNESS of God is now EVIDENT in your life... When you realize that He DIDN’T  crush you and send you straight to hell for all the sins you and I have committed when He was totally justified to do so.....

INSTEAD...He sent Jesus to die for yours and my  sins we  committed against others and God...SO THAT WE COULD BE forgiven and NOW have THE HOLY SPIRIT reside in us and become children of God!

PRAISE GOD!

Right before I gave my life to Jesus when i was 29years old, I knew that I was so stupid and dumb, and lazy and didn’t deserve ANYTHING good that happened to me.

God is a God who loves all of us to let us experience things in life so we can GIVE IT AWAY freely.

Nothing is wasted with God.

Your life’s experiences are not just yours, they are God’s too.

He created you.

He knows all your steps.

He knows what you will say before you say them.

He came to earth to die, to suffer, so you can be in right standing with Him and COOPERATE with Him in getting others to come and follow Jesus too!!!!

WHAT has this to do with the final greetings 2nd Corinthians?

Let’s find out

This final greeting in 2nd Corinthians chapter 13 comes 5,985 words of Paul to his beloved church in Corinth.

This final greeting comes after many words of  corrections.

Paul corrects their  attitudes, motives and actions as it relates to reconciliation, his apostleship and financial giving.

Now Paul has said plenty...5,985 words and now says this..

Final Greetings

2 Corinthians 13:11-14 ESV

11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, 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.

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

Yes, Paul gives a few final things to do....and encouragement, and prays for them.

Is this normal for Paul?

Is it normal for Paul to end his letters like this?

Yes.  He did such things in all his letters.

In fact, the final greetings in Paul’s letters MIRROR or reiterate what he wants to communicate with his readers in the first place.

Paul opening greetings are a window in what he will be discussing..even his prayers for them do this.

Yes, in fact Paul is so purposeful, so GREAT in writing and communicating, that if you ever get lost in what the main point of his sometimes LONG letters are...just go to the first of the letter and the end of the letters for the prayer/greetings...and you will know what his main reasons for writing.

Great writers do such things.

In Fact..in my honors english class i learned that a well written paragraph will have the thesis or main point of the paragraph on the first line and it will be reiterated in some fashion with the last sentence.

On a side note...IF YOU

Want to read an amazing book that will help you understand the kingdom of God...the one that influenced the founder of the Vineyard Movement John Wimber.

THE BOOK by George Eldon Ladd.

Gospel of the Kingdom: Scriptural Studies in the Kingdom of God

by George Eldon Ladd

This theologian writes so well. His paragraphs are so well written, it makes it much easier to digest such a huge and seemingly complex topic like the Kingdom of God.   Reading Ladd’s theological book is a JOY because he writes so well...

I go on and on about this not to bore you, but to help you.

God’s word should be read.  It can be understood.

Knowing Paul’s purpose through his opening and final greetings and prayers will help you put into context what some of his LONG and somewhat confounding paragraphs mean.

I tell you all of this so that you and I can live this Christian life out biblically.

The Christian life is not all easy. It is full of trials and tribulations.  Trials and tribulations come from many places...outside the church and inside the church.

2nd Corinthians is about trials WITHIN the church.

Paul writes this letter so we can move closer to JESUS as a body of Christ even when going through a tough thing like church discipline!

I tell you all of this so that when we misbehave as christians to one another we can CHOOSE the way of reconciliation, choose repentance, and choose to bless one another.

Paul says in verse 1....

Finally Brothers, rejoice!

Why, because this letter is finally concluding?

No...because he still calls them BROTHERS(in Jesus) and he is about to give them some instructions that lead to an awesome promise of GOD.

Aim for restoration (of those who sinned, or had bad attitudes, the goal is not KICKING people out..but to restore them into community)

Comfort one another (because of getting through this rough spot of our relationship where you were embarrassed of me and rejected me as an apostle)

Agree with one another(as in keeping true to the truth)

Live in peace, (in other words, live in wholeness with God and with other believers...choose to do what is right)

AND here is the promise

And the God of love and peace will be with you!

The God of love is the FATHER, the God who gives wholeness of relationship with God is Jesus Christ will be with you...

Paul makes it very clear that despite going through the pointing out of the sexual sin of folks in their church, their putting up with that sin, the confronting that sinning person(s),  that forgiving of that sin, and the rejecting Paul as a true apostle of Jesus, that if we

Aim for restoration of those in sin,

Comfort one another as we go through that process

Agree with one another in the truth,

Live in wholeness to God and to others in the truth

THEN our God of love and peace will be with us AS WE GO THROUGH it.

Remember when I said that Paul uses his opening greetings and prayers to let you know what he is going to talk about in the letter and you can use it to help you put into context what you are reading in context??... well look at

2 Corinthians 1:2-4 ESV

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

The affliction Paul is alluding to that most scholars agree is the “severe trial” that both Paul and the readers experienced when he visited them after the 1st corinthians was written..  Paul called it a painful visit.

As much as we know that Paul suffered many physical things like, stoning, lashes with whips, beaten with rods, shipwrecked, imprisoned...etc....THIS SEVERE trial of pointing out sin, etc...He saw this confrontation and visit to them as just as hard.  IT was an AFFLICTION on par with those physical trials.

This affliction was a CHURCH problem.  It was necessary to go through SO THAT OTHER CHURCHES will know how to do it too!  Paul knows that God doesn’t waste anything that happens

Paul knows that his letter will ultimately bring JOY to the readers.

What has this to do with us as our church today?

Well, we are in transition.

Jerry is no longer our lead pastor.

The Hornbacks aren’t our worship pastors either.

We have a new lead pastor.

We have new worship leaders as well.

We are still living in semi post pandemic life..

Covid is still around and  making a comeback through the Delta variant.

We are in TRANSITION.  Otherwise known as CHANGE.

Change is hard! Yet it is doable.

Will Andrew truly lead this church towards Jesus.

How will Andrew lead?

How will the Pastoral team of Robert, Dinah and Andrew lead?

Is the Pastoral team of Robert, Dinah and me committed to leading as servants or as tyrants??

Well, friends.

We as a pastoral team, are choosing each minute, every hour of the day  to Examine ourselves to see if we are in faith, examining our church to see if it is staying true to the gospel of Jesus Christ:

We are aiming for restoration, always wanting to comfort one another during this transition, agreeing with one another in the gospel, choosing to be whole with God and with our fellow church goers!

We as a pastoral team are on fire for God and are willing to be put through the transitional fire here at church so we can ALL be one with God by the grace of Jesus Christ and in Fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

So as we finish our tour through 2nd Corinthians, I pray that the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Paul starts and ends his letters with greetings and prayers.

Consider that the prayer Paul writes in the last verse of 2nd Corithians as OUR PASTORAL greetings to you and prayer for YOU.

WE  pray that the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Next week we will be starting a new sermon series on what the bible says about church.

Robert feels that as we transition as a church with new leadership, that it would be a great time to look at how the Church is defined in the Bible.

Looking forward to seeing if we as a church are on the right path!

I pray that the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

COMMUNION