Monday, July 15,
2013, 8:39 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “The Battle for Truth” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, your words
to my heart. I read 2 Corinthians 11-13 (NIV).
I will quote several selected passages from this scripture. The Bible verse of
the day on BibleGateway.com also went along so well with my quiet time for
today:
“Therefore,
get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept
the word planted in you, which can save you.” — James 1:21
A Different Spirit
(11:1-4)
I
hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with
me! I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband,
to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid
that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow
be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone
comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you
receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel
from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
As I read through these three chapters in 2 Corinthians, it
became clear to me that there was a common thread among these three chapters,
and Paul hit the nail on the head in just these first few verses. He said he
was jealous for the Corinthian believers with a godly jealousy, for he had
promised them to Christ in a spiritual union (like a marriage), with Christ as their
only husband, that they might not have any others (other lovers) besides him. Throughout
the New Testament our relationship with Jesus Christ is described in terms of
us being his bride and of him being our husband. We need to realize, thus, that
when we enter into a faith relationship with Jesus Christ that we are
committing our lives to him, promising (vowing) that we will love, honor and
obey him in all things, and that we will be faithful to him and will forsake
all other lovers. And, we need to treat him like we would treat a “first love,”
passionately desiring to be with him and to please him in all ways.
Paul said he was jealous for them with a godly jealousy. All
throughout scripture we have a picture of God as a jealous God, though not in
the sense of him being selfish, or of him desiring for himself what we have, as
we often think of when we hear the word jealous. Godly jealousy cares about the
other person, and shows concern and love, and is willing to give of one’s life
to help the other person walk in peace, righteousness and fellowship with our
Lord. Godly jealousy also desires fidelity, truthfulness, faithfulness and
sincere and unpretentious love in a relationship between Christ and his
followers, and between those men and women who have entered into marital union
with one another as husband and wife. Coming to Christ means we forsake all
others, and we choose to walk in faithful obedience to our Lord the rest of our
days (See Lu. 9:23-25; Ep. 4:17-24; Ro. 6; & Gal. 2:20). And, God doesn’t
want second place. He wants to be our Number One Love!
Yet, Paul was concerned that the Corinthian believers might
be led astray from their pure and sincere devotion to Jesus Christ, i.e. from
their “marital vows” to Christ. And, one might feel the same way today about
those who would lead Christ’s followers astray by teaching them a false gospel
which does not teach death to sin and obedience to Christ via the working of
the Spirit of God in transformation of our hearts and minds away from sin and
to a walk of faithful obedience in the Spirit of God. And, many are easily
putting up with this false gospel, too, which is prevalent in today’s church
here in America.
Masqueraders (11:12-15)
And
I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under
those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they
boast about. For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers,
masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself
masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants
also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their
actions deserve.
Many of these false teachers of the gospel masquerade
themselves as followers of Christ and as teachers of the true gospel, yet they
are deceitful, cunning, manipulative, and their purpose is to get you away from
the true gospel to follow them and their gospel of humans, because the true
gospel offends, whereas the false gospel is popular and pleasing to the masses,
because it doesn’t call for us to be crucified with Christ, or for us to
forsake our sins, or for us to follow our Lord Jesus in obedience. Yet,
scripture teaches throughout the New Testament that genuine believing faith
involves turning from a life given over to sin and self-pleasure to a life
committed to love, honor and obey our Lord Jesus Christ. So, don’t listen to
the masqueraders. Listen to and obey what Christ’s word teaches us.
I Want YOU
(12:14-15)
Now
I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you,
because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their
parents, but parents for their children. So I will very gladly spend for you
everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love
me less?
God has given a similar message to his children all
throughout Biblical history. He often told them that it was not their
sacrifices that he wanted, i.e. the things they thought they were doing for God
to please him, but what he wanted then and still wants now is us on the altar,
living lives holy and pleasing to God, which is our reasonable service of
worship. He wants us to no longer have our lives molded to the ways and
thinking of this world’s sinful system, but for us to be transformed in heart
and mind of the Spirit of God (See Ro. 12:1-2). In other words, he doesn’t want
all the things we are willing to do “for” him, which may be very good things,
and they may even be loving and kind things. Yet, he is not pleased with us if
he does not have our hearts. We may be do-gooders, and we may even be liked by
many people, but if we withhold our hearts from the Lord Jesus, and if we
follow after other lovers, instead, then we can pile high all the good deeds in
the world but they don’t mean anything to God if he does not have our hearts.
He wants YOU! And, he wants ME!
You see, this is the difference between works-based
salvation and obedience, though some people tend to confuse the two. Obedience
listens to our Lord and submits to the Lordship of Christ in our lives, and
does what the Spirit within us asks us to do, whereas works-based salvation
does what it thinks would please God in order to earn salvation on its own
terms. We can’t earn salvation. It is a free gift of God. Yet, salvation
requires surrender, obedience, submission and forsaking lives of sin – our
cooperation with and yielding to the Spirit’s work of transformation in our
hearts and minds. If it is obedience, then it can’t be works-based salvation,
for thus it would not be obedience, since Christ teaches salvation by grace
through faith, and not of ourselves (trying to win merit with God through human
effort). Yet, if we continue in lifestyles of sin and in disobedience to our
Lord, and/or if we refuse to love other humans, the Bible says that not only
are we liars if we claim to know Christ, but we are not one of God’s, and we
don’t have eternal life with God (Read 1 John, for example). Yet, it also
teaches that the way we love God is through our obedience.
Grieving Over Sin
(12:19-21)
Have
you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? We
have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we
do, dear friends, is for your strengthening. For I am afraid that when I come I
may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to
be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,
slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. I am afraid that when I come again my
God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned
earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in
which they have indulged.
Paul was very concerned over the lives of the Corinthian
believers. Remember, he had promised them to one husband – Jesus Christ – and
to spiritual fidelity in their relationship with him. Everything he did and
said was for their strengthening. He didn’t chide them about sin and about the
danger of following after a false gospel in order to be mean, hateful or just
because he thought he was spiritually superior to them, and thus he looked down
on them. He did so out of a heart of love, mercy, compassion, and out of a
heart that wept and grieved over their sins. He loved them like a good father
loves his children.
It was his hope that they would be convicted of the Spirit
of God concerning any ways in which they had been led astray, or of any ways in
which they had returned to lives given over to sin and/or to rebellion against
God. And, he hoped that they would repent of their sin (have a change of heart
and mind about their sin that would result in a change of behavior), and that
they would turn to walk in faithful obedience to their Lord and would submit to
his Lordship over their lives. Then, he would not have to exercise spiritual
discipline with them when he saw them in person. What loving parent enjoys
having to discipline his or her child? It is always our hope that they will
respond to instruction, and that correction won’t be necessary, and that is how
it was with Paul, too. And, that is how we should feel about one another – we
should grieve over the sins of our loved ones and of those of the family of God,
we should pray for them, and we should speak the truth in love to them
concerning their sin.
Examine Yourselves (13:5-10)
Examine
yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not
realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? And I
trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. Now we pray to
God that you will not do anything wrong—not so that people will see that we
have stood the test but so that you will do what is right even though we may
seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for
the truth. We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer
is that you may be fully restored. This is why I write these things when I am
absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority—the
authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.
So, what this all boils down to is our need to examine our
lives to see whether or not we have genuine believing faith in Jesus Christ
that is evidenced by repentance and obedience to God in a walk of faith with
Jesus Christ - in cooperation with the Spirit’s work within us in transforming
us to become more and more like Jesus. We should also examine our hearts and
lives to see whether or not we are giving way to sin in our lives, so we can
repent.
So, what is the standard by which we must examine ourselves?
– the word of truth (See Mt. 4:17 - Repent; Lu. 9:23-25 – die to live; Jn. 3:3
– be born again; 8:31-32, 51 – keep Christ’s word; 10:27-28 – listen and
follow; 13:34-35 – love one another; 14:15-24 – obey Christ and his teachings; and
15:1-17 – remain in Christ and bear much spiritual fruit, etc.).
The Battle for Truth
/ An Original Work / May 18, 2013
Based off Malachi 1-4
I love you. Honor me.
Tell the truth. You’ll
be free.
Sing My praise all
your days.
I will give all you
need.
Turn from sin;
cleansed within.
Stand in awe of My
Name.
Teach what’s true.
Walk in peace.
Follow Christ, in His
ways.
Show to God
faithfulness.
Do not be adult’rous.
Do not shed shallow
tears.
Do not be insincere.
I have sent
messengers,
Who have giv’n my
address.
They call for
repentance,
And they warn of
judgment.
I, the Lord, do not
change,
So return – blessings
gain:
Healing comes;
joyfulness;
Freedom from your
distress.
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