Abounding Grace

2 Corinthians 9:1-15Welcome! Today we continue our series on 2 Corinthians, looking deeply into some powerful, powerful verses in Chapter 9. Today’s passage, like that of last week, deals with giving, but it also applies in many other areas of life. Now, it may help to briefly recap what we saw last week, in Chapter 8. The chapter begins with Paul talking about the generosity of the Macedonian churches, those in the northern part of Greece, including the churches at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. These people were eager to give to a collection Paul was taking for the Jerusalem church even though they themselves were experiencing extreme poverty and trials and persecution. Paul exhorted the Corinthians likewise to be generous. In I Corinthians, Paul had instructed them to take weekly collections for this purpose, and they had responded by doing so. Now, about a year or so later, Paul instructed them to continue and in fact complete the collection so that when Paul and his companions came to Corinth, they would be ready to give them the funds.

The Grace of Giving

2 Corinthians 8:1-24Welcome! Today we will continue our study of 2 Corinthians, focusing in on Chapter 8. Both Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 deal with the topic of giving. I have a lot of ground to cover today, so let me get right to the passage.

And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. – 2 Corinthians 8:1-4

Godly Sorrow

II Corinthians 7:2-16

Good morning. Before we get into today’s message, I want to take a moment and pray that God would speak to us today.

Lord God, You are sovereign. You have authority over all things. And, “You have exalted above all things your name and your word.” (Ps 138:2b) I pray that your spirit would stir in our hearts. I pray that I would speak Your words, and I pray that our hearts would receive them and live them out. Thank You for giving us your Word both in Jesus Christ as the Word made flesh and the Bible that we can read every day. Amen.

Okay, so we’re in chapter 7 of II Corinthians. Today’s message will bring us to the end of the first section of this letter. Through the first 7 chapters, Paul wrote to the Corinthians with an apologetic focus. He has been explaining his conduct, his ministry, and his heart.

In today’s passage, Paul is going to make some reference to his travel plans as well as a trip by Titus. So, I’d like to take some time to make an overview of who’s going where when and who’s writing what when and from where. Got it?

A House for My Name

Good morning! Today after a short message we will spend time together remembering the Lord with the bread and the cup, doing what He asked His disciples to do in remembrance of Him. Following this, we will have a sharing time, where whoever wishes to share what the Lord has been doing in their life will be free to do so. Our sharing times are also motivated by Scripture; this was the kind of meetings that the early church had when they met together. And Scripture is also clear that all the members of a local body of believers are gifted by God in different ways, and by sharing and encouraging one another together, Christ’s body, the church, works as God equipped it and intended it to work.

I have titled today’s message “A House for My Name,” in part because my message is based in part on a book of the same title. This book is subtitled “A Survey of the Old Testament,” but it is unlike any survey I have seen anywhere else. This book shows how there are certain grand themes in the Bible, there are some grand questions that are explored and revealed little by little as we go from the creation of the universe up to the writings of the last prophets a few hundred years before Christ. These themes invariably find their ultimate fulfillment and understanding only in the New Testament, and one way or another, they are always fulfilled in the Person or work of Christ. Today I want to look at one of these themes, the one for which the book has its name.

Right and Wrong Yokes

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

Good morning! Today we continue our series on 2 Corinthians by looking at what may be the most well-known passage from the entire book. Unfortunately, I also believe this passage has been misused, used to mean something than other what was intended, more than perhaps any passage in this book as well. So today I want to look at it carefully and discern the context and the correct Biblical meaning of this passage, and then we will talk about how it applies to our lives. So here is the first part of the passage, the portion that is so frequently quoted:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? – 2 Corinthians 6:14-16a

Who is Paul talking to? He is talking to Christian believers; the book of 2 Corinthians begins with Paul saying after introducing himself and Timothy, “To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” He is speaking to believers.

Open Wide Your Hearts

2 Corinthians 6:1-13Well, if you have looked in your program today for the messenger, I guess you’re a little surprised at this point. Yes, the program does say that Carl is the messenger. But no, I am not Carl. And if you don’t already know me, my name is John. Unfortunately, Carl came down with a cold this week, and it has given him a terrible cough. And that is not so good if you have to deliver a message.

Also, if you weren’t aware, we have three pastors here at Clemson Community Church: Carl Baum, Fred Custer, and me, John Farmer.

So, today is one kind of example of why it is good to have a plurality of leadership. Instead of Carl having to come in here sick, he can rest and I can serve him by giving the message today. It brings to mind Ecclesiastes 4 where it says that two are better than one because they have a good return for their work. The same passage also points out that a cord of three strands is not easily broken.

Reconciliation

2 Corinthians 5:6-21

Last week we learned from Carl (in II Corinthians 5:1-5):

For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.--II Corinthians 5:1-5

(Note this is not "the force" in Star Wars or Eywa in Avatar.) This week we are going to continue on with verses 6-21.

Eternal Dwelling

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:5

Welcome! Today we return to our series in 2 Corinthians. Let me briefly remind you a bit of where we have been. Three weeks ago we looked at chapter 3 and learned how there is the very glory of God in us, through His Spirit. We saw this glory compared to the glory of God made visible through the glowing face of Moses. After Moses spent time with God, the result was that his face would glow. After telling the Israelites what God had told him, Moses would cover his face with a veil, because the glow was distracting, if not blinding. Over time, however, the glow would fade until which time Moses came back into the presence of the Lord. Our earlier passage in 2 Corinthians explained that the glory that is now in us, as believers in Christ, sealed with the Holy Spirit, is so much greater than that glory that it is not even worth comparing the two. So that is part of what we learned about three weeks ago.

Two weeks ago we looked at the first part of Chapter 4, which described us as “jars of clay.”

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. – 2 Corinthians 4:7

Find Rest

Since the beginning of March, I’ve been to 3 funerals and a wake or visitation for a fourth. The ages of the deceased were 86, 63, 44, and 15 years old. One died of old age. One died in a tragic accident. Another died suddenly and unexpectedly from a heart attack. And one was murdered. Only one of the four was expected to be near death. The other three were shocking and completely unexpected.

In one of the funerals, the pastor said a phrase in passing that really caught my attention. He said, “This is too real.” And so death appears to be when it comes unexpected. It is real because everyone dies. But it seems too real because we’re not prepared.

I share that because it is very important to consider the state of your soul today, right now. How much time any one of us has on this Earth is known only to God. If you were to die today, what would you say to God? If you were standing there before the Lord this very afternoon, and He asked you, “Why should I let you in to my heaven?” What would you say?

Jars of Clay

2 Corinthians 4:1-12Welcome! This is a special Sunday – following our time here we are going to have a picnic at Twelve-Mile Beach and also have a number of baptisms. I love baptisms. But you know, baptisms are kind of funny things. To children they are simple – they understand that it is simply something you do after you have come to have your own personal faith in Christ; they understand that you do it because Jesus said to do it, and of course you want to do what Jesus says to do. But for many adults they are more complicated; some people have been baptized as infants, before they had faith, and so they don’t quite know what to do when they come to faith.