2 Corinthians 1 (Part 3)

2 Corinthians chapter 1, this is our third part in this chapter. And once you're there, find verse 12, and we're going to read through the end of the chapter. It goes like this.

Stop there. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You so much for giving us this time this morning and we pray that as we go through and just deconstruct these verses and these words, that You will help us to put them together in an understandable way.

And also, Lord, that we would be able to apply Your Word to our lives, thus being, not just hearers, but also doers of the Word. Be with us, we pray, in Jesus name, amen. Have you ever known someone in your life who was unreliable? We probably have all had someone like that. And it's basically someone who says they're going to be someplace at a certain time, they're going to do something at a certain time, and when that time comes, they're a no show or just don't get the job done. And it's very frustrating, but, unfortunately, people like that exist and we come to recognize it, and we just say that person is unreliable. It's not a very nice thing to say about someone, that they're unreliable, but essentially that was the rap that Paul was getting by the Corinthian… some of the Corinthian believers. They were accusing him of being unreliable, even though he is, and I can't imagine a more reliable person, but yet that was the accusation that was going out about Paul. And it all had to do with him changing his plans, and we all do that from time to time. But, when you want to pick knits, you're going to find something to pick, right? And he had told them previously that he was going to come and visit them as he passed through Macedonia. In fact, it's recorded for us in 1 Corinthians, I'll put it on the screen for you. Chapter 16, verse 5, he said to them,

I will visit you (and then he told him what his time frame was) after passing through Macedonia, for (it’s my) I intend (intention) to pass through Macedonia, And then I'll stop in and see you guys then. However, life happens, unforeseen circumstances popped up. And for Paul, it wasn't so much unforeseen as it was relational issues with the Corinthian church, and he had to change his plans, not just once, but twice. His second plan was to visit Corinth and then go back through Macedonia, stopping by Corinth a second time, but that plan didn't work out. Instead, what

Paul did do is he made a painful visit to Corinth, and then he went back to Ephesus without things really being resolved. We talked a little bit about the history of this last week. But you see all of this changing of plans can cause some people to get to thinking well, maybe this Paul guy isn't somebody that we can really depend on. I mean he seems to be going back and forth, and one minute he's thinking about doing this and the next minute he's telling us he's going to do that. And he says he's going to come and they began to question his, not only reliability, but it eventuated into questioning his very authority as an apostle, his trustworthiness. Paul sat down to write this letter. Instead of going and making another painful, face to face, confrontational visit, he decided to do it by letter. And in this letter, as we've said before, he will spend quite a bit of time defending his integrity and defending his authority as an apostle. But I want to remind you of something that I said last week, and this is vitally important. Had this been simply a matter of Paul's integrity, and there was nothing else attached to it, I don't think Paul would have cared a snit about what they thought of him. I don't think he was that kind of a guy, but because he had personally brought the gospel to Corinth, he was the man who brought the message of Jesus to these people. And so therefore, Paul believed that his reputation was tied to his message and vice versa. And if they were going to begin to question his integrity as a man and as an apostle, they would probably begin to question the integrity of his message, and perhaps even a doubt the gospel itself. For the sake of the gospel, Paul begins to write and now here in verse 12 begins to address these issues. And he starts off by saying, “…our boast is this,” look with me in your Bible at verse 12. “…our boast is this, (he calls it) the testimony of our conscience, that… (that when they came to Corinth, they) behaved in the world with simplicity… (we weren't trying to be complex, hard to understand, we also behaved, he says, with) godly sincerity.” Very important statement there. And so right off the bat, he comes to them and he says, listen, my conscience is 100 percent clear about how we dealt with you. Now, basically, he's saying to them, there's no conviction in my heart from the Holy Spirit about how I treated you guys and how I dealt with you. And Paul is telling them that, and this isn't a final judge by any means of the propriety of his actions cause we all know that a conscience isn't a perfect barometer of whether or not I'm doing the right thing.

Somebody might say, my conscience is clear, but we know that a conscience can be calloused. The Bible even talks about it being seared, as with a hot iron, like a branding iron so that a person doesn't really even feel much anymore. (1 Timothy 4:2) And they can say, my conscience is clear, and still be in the wrong. You just got to judge by the integrity of the person's statement, the person's character. But Paul is saying, first thing, listen, my conscience is clear. But there's one other claim that he made about the change of his travel plans that I want you to see here because it's very important. Not only does he say he operated out of sincerity, but notice what he says at the end of verse 12, that he did not make his plans according to “earthly wisdom.” And I hope you saw that in that verse. By the way, the Greek word that is translated, “earthly” just simply means, fleshly. Those of you who have a New King James Version (NKJV), a New American Standard Bible (NASB), your Bible actually puts, “fleshly” in there. And when Paul says fleshly, he's talking about the wisdom of carnal man. Right. He's saying, when I made my plans, did I think the way a man thinks? You guys remember? When Peter came to Jesus and began to argue with Him about not going to Jerusalem and being crucified, because Jesus had told His disciples, we're going to go to Jerusalem and there the Son of Man is going to be crucified. Peter pulled Him aside and rebuked Him. He said no, no, it's not going to happen. Remember what Jesus, responded, you're thinking like a man. Now you might say well duh, he's a man, how else is a man supposed to think? What He's saying is, you're thinking like fleshly, worldly, carnal man. You're thinking like people think apart from God, apart from the perspective, or the viewpoint, if you will, of God. You're not thinking from His perspective, you're thinking from your perspective. And what is it about our perspective that isn't good? We're incredibly selfish people, very self-centered, very narrow minded. Sorry, that's us. And when we think based or predicated upon that, what we think is very skewed. It doesn't take into consideration God's purpose, God's plan, right, and so forth. What Paul is doing here for you and I, is he is highlighting and contrasting for you and I two ways of thinking. There's two ways to think in this world. And the only reason I'm talking to you about this second way to think is because I'm just assuming right now and trusting that you're a believer. And by believer, I mean, you're born again and the Holy Spirit is dwelling within you because of that by faith. I'm addressing to you these two ways of thinking. If you're not a Christian, you only have one way to think. Sorry, it's the way things are going to go. But there are two ways and Paul contrasts them here and the first way, as I've already said, is the thinking of this world. And something you need to know about the way this world thinks, it is based upon the values that it holds. The thinking of this world is predicated upon the values of this world, and, so what the world values, governs their thinking right. And again when I talk about the world, I'm talking about carnal man cut off from God. The had the carnal man has no ability to think like God or to think from the perspective of God because he's cut off and so his values shape his thinking. If I value marriage for example I'm going to think according to those values right. If I don't value marriage I'm going to think according to those values and so on and so forth. That then is contrasted for you and I with what Paul is claiming to be led by. Here's what Paul is saying. I'm not thinking. When I made my plans, when I changed my plans, do you think I did that according to carnal man who is cut off from God? He says no. He's claiming to use a different decision making process when it comes to things like changing his plans, and he's talking about godly decision making. Godly choices. Meaning that according to the values that I have as a believer, according to the Holy Spirit who lives within me and guides and directs. According to His Word, I begin to make choices and decisions in life. And Paul is claiming flat out, listen, when I changed my plans, and you guys got all lathered up about it, do you think I changed my plans on a whim? I mean like carnal people do? And so forth? He says, no, he's telling them that he employed godly decision making processes. What does that look like? And what's required to make godly decisions, godly thinking, choices that are predicated upon God’s Word and so forth. What's that look like? What's it all about? One of the best passages, I believe in the Bible, to talk about this very important issue, is one in Romans chapter 12, and I'll put it on the screen for you so we can see it together. Paul writes,

Romans 12:2 (ESV)

Love this passage. We'll leave it up here for just a minute because it is so good. It teaches us how to go about making godly decisions. And if you're taking notes, here's the first point that Paul emphasizes. 1. Do not be CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD Number 1. Do not be CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD. Meaning the world's way of thinking, the world's way of making decisions. And what that means for you and I is, for starters, we got to be aware of the fact that we live in a world that is making decisions every day that are contrary to the will of God because they are cut off from God. And the other thing that we need to admit is that we've been thoroughly indoctrinated by that thinking process. I don't know when you came to Christ. Maybe you were raised in a Christian home from your earliest days, maybe you came to the Lord later. Honestly, it really doesn't matter because I find that Christians of all stages of growth are still very much influenced by the thinking of this world, the patterns of thought processes that go into making decisions and so forth. And so I think that is so important. First of all, I got to be aware that I am living in a world that makes decisions that are contrary to God's Word, God's ways, all the time and I am incredibly influenced by that. And we know what the wisdom of this world is focused on because we've watched movies that have nothing to do with Christian values. We've read books that are not predicated on a Christian basis. We know what people in this world are trying to do. The goal of worldly thinking, you ready? Is to be happy apart from God. That's it in a nutshell.

The goal of this world apart from God is to be happy without Him. I don't want Him in my school. I don't want Him in my politics. I don't want Him in any sort of a public sector. I want to drop kick God to the curb and then pursue happiness. That is worldly thinking in a nutshell and basically all the decisions that worldly people make, come from a rotation around that basic idea. And Paul speaks about this thinking in verse 17. Look with me in your Bible at verse 17. He says, “Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this?” In other words, when I made my plans and wanted to come and so forth, and then changed my mind? He says, “Do I make my plans according to the flesh, (is that really what you think of me?) ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” (in the same breath or) at the same time?” Paul's here talking, he's talking about how worldly people make decisions and he talks about this vacillation, right? Which is this up and down sort of a thing. And the reason that decision making from a worldly perspective is described as, vacillating, is because it's based on how we feel. Feelings have become as I've said many times from this pulpit, the barometer of right and wrong in our culture. We've talked about it before. It can't be wrong when it feels so right. But you see the problem with basing choices on feelings, feelings change all the time. I mean one minute I'm feeling this way, another minute I'm feeling that way. And pretty soon I'm saying yes at the beginning of our conversation and then you talk me out of it at the end and I say no because I feel differently than when I started the conversation. Right. And that's just who we are and I don't know about you, and I'll spend a little time here doing some true confessions because I guess it's good for the soul. But I've recognized in my own life over the years that I've been alive that I am hardwired into this whole idea of making choices based on my feelings. I mean, I've noticed that about myself. I'm very feelings oriented and I've proven it to myself over the years, before I make a decision, I usually factor in how I feel about it. Or I think about whether or not it's going to make me uncomfortable. Or I wonder if maybe I'm too tired. Or I wonder perhaps if maybe I'm just not feeling up to it. And those are the things that all go into me making decisions. And I recognize it's very fleshly but it's hardwired in me. I was born with that and the reason I don't mind admitting it is because so were you. You're in the same boat that I'm in. We're all very carnal individuals, and apart from God, that is the way we will make decisions, in a very me centered sort of an approach to life, right? In other words, I have to learn to question my motives. I have to learn to question why I'm making the decisions that I'm making. Because I recognize it's hardwired in me to be me centered, and I'm living in a world that is cut off from God, that has taught me very well to make decisions predicated upon my feelings. And I know that, that is the easy thing to do. Next, and this is the second thing Paul says from that passage in Romans is, 1. Do not be CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD. 2. Be transformed by the RENEWAL of your mind. Be transformed by the RENEWAL of your mind. You see, it's not enough just to recognize that I live in a world that thinks a certain way. It's not enough to understand that I have a bent toward thinking that same way. But I also need to have my mind transformed from the worldly pattern of thinking so that it might be renewed in the wisdom of heaven. And practically speaking, in case you're wondering what that means, some of you might be thinking, what exactly are you talking about? I'm talking about feeding on the Word of God and yielding to the ministry of the Holy Spirit to use that Word to change or to transform the way I think and my decision making processes. See, here's the interesting thing about it. Do you know that somebody can be a Christian? And when I mean a Christian, I mean genuinely a Christian; born again, washed in the blood of the Lamb, and still be very worldly in their thinking. In terms of making decisions. When their marriage is in trouble, they don't think like the Bible would have them think, or as the Spirit might lead them, they think according to the world. They do according to the world. The way they fight their battles is with worldly weapons. The way they respond to people is through worldly means, right? But they're Christians, and you say how can that be? It's easy, actually.

There are a lot of people who have responded to the simple message of the gospel, but have never fed on the Word of God and allowed their mind to be renewed in the truth of God’s Word, the understanding of heaven, and they've never yielded themselves to that message from the scripture. Sure, they're saved, but that transformation process has never really taken place in terms of their thinking, the way they respond to life. And so instead of trusting God, they panic, and they can be very, very fearful type people and very removed from the concepts that are laid out in the scripture about trusting in God with all of your heart, leaning not on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5) Oh, they're Christians, but they lean totally on their own understanding because that's what they've been taught. That's what comes natural, and that's what they've been taught in the world. And so as Christians, they're applying that same understanding of dealing with life. I lean on my own understanding. I do what I think is best to do, right? I do it. I don't question it. I just do it. And they're miserable, because there's these philosophies and understandings and things that are just at loggerheads in their lives, and they just can't mesh the thing together and it's very frustrating. What we're talking about here is we're talking about not just hearing the Word of God, but yielding to it. Here's the next thing. You can be a born again Christian and know your Bible really well. I mean you quote all the verses that are quotable, know where they're located so on and so forth, and still be a very worldly thinker. Why? How can you know the Word of God like that and still be thinking in a worldly way? Because you have not yielded to that Word because in order to yield to the scripture. I have to yield you see to the lordship and the authority of Jesus Christ. And I can be saved without necessarily always yielding to his lordship. I can say you, know what Lord? I believe you died for me on the cross I believe you gave your life for me to pay the penalty of my sin and I accept it, thank you. Now, I'm going to go live my life. I'm going to do it my way. I'm going to think my way. I'm going to do things. I will be in charge. Now, that doesn't mean that person isn't going to be under conviction or be miserable. But, they can do it. They can do it, they can do it. Because there is a necessity in our lives, that need to yield, to surrender, to say, Lord, you're in charge. I give my life to you and I'm going to begin to yield to the wisdom of Your Word. And I'm going to begin to put it into practice in my life. James actually talks about this. Let me show you this passage from James, chapter 4. He says,

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and (we might) spend a year (or two, or three, or whatever) there and (we’ll do business there,) trade and (probably) make a profit”— (and then we'll just come back, we'll move back here and stuff like that. He says,) yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. (he says,) What is your life? (he asked the question. He says, you know what?) For you are a mist (we sang about that this morning, I am a vapor, you are eternal, right? Same thing that he's saying here. you're a mist, he says,) that appears for a (small amount of time on the timeline of mankind’s history) little time and then vanishes. (like smoke) (he says, so in light of all that, here's what you) Instead you ought to say, (and these aren't just words to say it's a motive to have) “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, (he says, what you're really doing is) you (you’re) boast (boasting) in your arrogance. (and in fact, that is a very evil thing) All such boasting is evil. Why? Because it is based upon one primary human element, and that is pride. Pride. Pride is a very interesting dynamic in our lives. We all struggle with it to some degree or another. And if you don't think you struggle, With pride it's because you're so proud you can't see it because that's one of the elements of pride, it blinds us to our pride. We all deal with it and it's what keeps us from yielding to the will of the Lord in our lives and making His will the focal point of our lives, and what we do, and the decisions that we make. James says in this passage, listen, those of you who just make up your own mind according to worldly considerations. Yeah, I'm going to move to Portland this year, maybe go up to Seattle. We're going to do some business. We got this thing you're going on. We're going to make money and then we'll come back here and we'll work for a while. And then just people talk. He says, listen, if you're like that, he says, actually, that's evil.

It's predicated on boasting and a prideful attitude, and he says you don't even know, you don't even know what tomorrow's going to bring, you have no idea. How are you making plans all on your own without God? Instead what you, and he's talking to believers here. Instead you ought to say, I so want God's will in my life that I'm going to lay this thing out and I'm going to say, Lord, according to your will, let it take place. But if it is not your will, I pray that it wouldn't. I pray that you would shut it down. Now that takes something, doesn't it? Boy, especially when you want something really, really bad. Lord, if it be your will. If not, I want your will more than I want what I want. Whew! That assaults our pride, right where it hurts the most, and that's what James is talking about. And that's the thing we have to watch out for. If it's the Lord's will, if God wants me to do this. Basically I'm declaring that I'm submitted, I'm surrendering to His will. God, I believe your will's best. And I'm not sure all of us are convinced of that. Sometimes I think we make a pretty good god, small g. At least in our own lives, and maybe a couple other people around us. We'll be God to them too. We'll tell them what to do because we pretty much have this thing dialed in. You don't think that comes from pride? Recognizing that I am unable without Him, to really tie in to the wisdom of Heaven is humility. Notice what Paul goes on to say in verse 18 here in your Bible. He says, “As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No.” In other words, listen, you might be accusing me of some vacillating attitude toward coming here, not coming here, or whatever. I want you to know something about the Word of God that we brought you, that doesn't vacillate. There's no hesitation there in regard to that message. Look what he goes on to say in verse 19 and 20. “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, (you'll remember when we were there, he says, that message) was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen (right, when it comes) to God (and all of His promises and we do it under) for his glory.” That's what Paul is saying.

He's assuring the believers in Corinth that whatever they might think of him in his decision making, he wants them to know that the message of the Gospel cannot be so doubted. And he says that all of the promises of God are, yes. They're not yes today and no tomorrow. Or, there's not maybe. Everything that God has said in His Word is yes, with a firm foundation. The Bible says He has never let one of His good promises hit the ground.

Paul explains in verse 21, “And it is God who establishes us (it's not man, it's not worldly thinking, He's the One who establishes) with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts (look at this) as a guarantee.” Again, Paul is using language that expresses no shred of wavering, no hesitation. Don't think that there's anything in the gospel that is not absolutely certain. And then he ends this chapter by explaining why he made the changes that he did to his travel plans. It took him a long time to get to it. But that's Paul, the master of the run on sentence. Anyway, he says here in verse 23, “But I call God to witness against me—it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth.” You see, Paul knew how hard his last visit had been to Corinth, and he did not want to go and visit again. He wanted to spare them of the grief of a further face to face confrontation. He decided instead to use a letter, and that wasn't because he was being a wimp, because he was trying to spare them. And then he assured them of his motives. Here at the end in verse 24 he says, “Not that we lord it over your faith,…” I want you to know my motive for changing my plans and my motive for telling you that it was to spare you. That's not to make it sound like, I'm the lord over your life, and you guys are the little minions. That's not the point. I want you to understand my motive. I'm not trying to lord it over you. My hope is that you would be strong in your faith. Why? Because it's by your faith you stand. It's by faith you stand. I want to be, I want to help to build you up in your faith. What's the conclusion of what Paul is saying here? He's saying that as believers, we can't always afford to trust that our motives are pure and our decision making is biblical and godly. We just can't afford to do that. Now, I'll grant you, Paul is arguing here to the Corinthians that he made decisions based purely on what God wanted him to do. I, unfortunately, have a hard time making that claim at all times. And I'm willing to bet you probably do, too. And one of the reasons is because we're just so hardwired to think in worldly terms, and to make decisions based upon worldly considerations, like feelings and so forth. We're just too good at deceiving ourselves. And that's one of the reasons that we have to allow God and His Word penetrate our hearts and minds and do a work in us. But that doesn't happen overnight, does it? That whole process of having your mind renewed, but that's not one of those quickies. I like to get in line for the renewed mind, ihat's it'll be 5 minutes, 10 minutes? It's a lifetime where that renewal process is taking place. How in the world am I going to deal with making decisions up to that point? I mean, if I'm not, if I've not been perfected yet in my, in the process of making godly decisions, what can I do? I've, some of you have some real genuinely big decisions ahead of you. Some of them are family related, some are career related. You've got big decisions ahead of you, so what are you going to do? You understand, as I've been sharing, that hey, it is hardwired in you to be pretty worldly. I mean, let's face it, we're bottom feeders when it comes to the wisdom and knowledge of man. We're used to getting our information from below. Yeah, we've got the Word of God, great. We've got the Spirit, but again, this is a process. This is a process of growth. It doesn't happen overnight. There's wonderful things that God has put into place. He's put godly people in our lives. There's counselors that we can go to, and I'm not talking about professional counselors necessarily. I'm just talking about people who can give you godly counsel, is what I'm saying. People, who have had an experience of walking with God, and making godly decisions, and so forth. But there's something else that is very key to this process of making good decisions. And it's something that king David gives us a wonderful example of. And I shared this with my staff this last Thursday, when we were spending time in prayer, and it goes like this.

--- Psalm 139:23-24 (ESV)

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me (that literally means test me) and know my thoughts! (he says) And see if there be any (anything in me, anything in my heart, anything in my motives that might in some way be) grievous (to you) way in me, (some way be contrary to Your will, I invite you to turn on the search light of Your Spirit, through Your Word to examine me, right?) (and then he says, if there's anything that's grievous in me, that is contrary to Your Will, Your purpose, Your plan, he says, show me, and then) and lead me in (Your way) the way (that’s) everlasting! Because, he's contrasting the ways of man, which are temporal, to the ways of God, which are everlasting. He says, “lead me in the way (that is) everlasting. I want to deal with life on a different level. I want to understand how to make decisions on a godly level. I want to stop thinking and looking to the world as the way that I make my decisions and the way I respond to life, and I want to begin to see these sorts of things from the perspective of heaven. And I want to make decisions about my career, my marriage, my child raising, everything, I want it to come from you. Isn't that a desire of your heart? When we come to terms with the fact that it's so possible for us to be incredibly carnal, incredibly worldly, we just want to cry out. Well you know what? God hears that cry and I believe He responds to that cry. That cry that David exemplified for us, Lord... And boy, and let me tell you something, that's a courageous prayer. You think God's not going to find anything when He looks into your heart? You think He's going to go, yeah, clean! Think again. Every little crack and crevice, that's what David is inviting Him to shine the light of his presence into, that he might find anything there that is grievous in any way to the Holy Spirit. God, I do not want to grieve your Holy Spirit. I do not want to grieve my family. I don't want to grieve myself, for heaven's sakes, with bad, worldly decisions. Lord, shine your light in my life. Let me see what's really going on. Expose the motives of my heart that are ungodly, the thought processes that are unworldly, or excuse me, that are worldly, and help me to focus my attention, my will, upon your plan for my life. I want to do what you're doing. It's funny sometimes God will be doing something right in front of us and we just don't see it and we're off doing our own little thing. And He's doing something and it's like suddenly we stop and go wait, I was going that way, but I think God's going that way. I want to set my will to do what He's doing. Sue was sharing with you this morning some of the numbers from our YouTube channel and how many… Blows me away how much people are watching these teachings that we do on Sunday — Wednesday? I can't believe it We have over 2,300 subscribers on our YouTube channel. Over 2,300! What the heck? I mean, what's going on here, right? And then we see these things, they've watched over a half a million minutes in just the month of May. And, you know what, Sue and I looked at each other one day, and this is really true, this happened. We looked at each other and we said, I think that's what God's doing. We did. And we're all trying to push things in a different direction, and it's like, wow, look what God's doing. You know what else is really cool about it? He doesn't need our help. That's what's really cool. But I want my will to be aligned with His, don't you? So Lord, search me and know me, that's our prayer. Lord, search me. Search my heart. See if there's anything there that shouldn't be there. You know what? Let me just tell you right now. Just make a list of all the things You find, okay, Lord? Because I know you're going to find a lot. And give me the heart to look at what You reveal and say, Yes, Lord, that shouldn't be there. I want to want Your will. Help me to desire Your will above anything, right? That's a bold prayer but we need that prayer. Let's stand together. ---