Reconning . . . Reconciliation! (A Study of 2 Corinthians 5:16-21)

Friends: If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know that my friend Frank (in New Jersey) and I have been doing an email Bible study for over a year. We read the same chapter every day for a week — and then send a brief email of encouragement to each other. We’ve completed most of the epistles of the New Testament — and it’s been a great discipline for both of us.

We’re now working our way through 2 Corinthians. Here’s my outline for several verses in chapter five:

Reconning . . . Reconciliation! (A Study of 2 Corinthians 5:16-21)

To “recon” means to investigate, to explore, to do surveillance on. In these verses Paul reminds us of several critical truths which ought to guide us in living for Christ right now! Notice that our reconciliation —

I. Has Changed Our View of . . . Everything! (v. 16)

II. Has Made Us a New Creation! (v. 17)

III. Has Given Us the Most Important Ministry Possible! (vv. 18-19)

IV. Has Commissioned Us to Appeal to Others to Be Reconciled to God! (v. 20)

V. Has Been Established on the Basis of Christ’s Atoning Work for Us! (v. 21)

Today’s Challenge: Are you aware that you are a “minister of reconciliation”? Your audience are those who are enemies of God because of sin and need to be brought into a place of peace with their Creator. And you — and I — get to be part of that redeeming message! Look for opportunities to engage in that ministry today!

 

“Ain’t Got No Body!” (A Dozen Thoughts on 2 Corinthians 5:1-10)

Friends: If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know that my friend Frank (in New Jersey) and I have been doing an email Bible study for over a year. We read the same chapter every day for a week — and then send a brief email of encouragement to each other. We’ve completed most of the epistles of the New Testament — and it’s been a great discipline for both of us.

We’re now working our way through 2 Corinthians. Here’s my outline for several verses in chapter four:

“Ain’t Got No Body!” (A Dozen Thoughts on 2 Cor. 5:1-10)

1. The body we have is an earthly body (v. 1).
2. The body we have is subject to destruction (v. 1)
3. A replacement body is waiting for us in heaven (v. 1)
4. We should not be content with this earthly body, but groan and long for our heavenly dwelling (v. 2)
5. God’s plan is that we be clothed with our heavenly dwelling and not be unclothed (v. 4)
6. This heavenly dwelling shows that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life (v. 4)
7. God’s Spirit has been given us as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come (v. 5)
8. While we are in this earthly body, we are away from the Lord (v. 6)
9. This situation — being “away from the Lord” — gives us the opportunity to live by faith and not by sight (v. 7)
10. Our preference should be to be away from the body and at home with the Lord (v. 8)
11. In either case, we should make it our goal to please Him (v. 9)
12. What we do in this body matters. We will appear before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of the things — good or bad — we did in the body (v. 10)

Today’s Challenge: What are you doing with your earthly body? Ignoring it? Abusing it? Worshiping it? Recognize that there is a much better body waiting for you in heaven, but use the body you’ve got now to serve Him!

 

 

STUCK! Ten Areas That Will Bury You as a Believer and How to Dig Your Way Out! (Area #7- SUCCESS) (con’t)

Jesus-followers sometimes get stuck in the area of SUCCESS.  They either think God has guaranteed them success in material prosperity or health — or — they think they are to go through life as paupers, like the little boy in Charles Dicken’s tale (“More porridge, Sir?”).

These messages for Crossroads Fellowship Church in Augusta, GA (website: crossroadschurchinaugusta.com) will conclude with this one on the topic of SUCCESS.  I pray for the SUCCESS of that small church as their new pastor comes and begins his ministry in October.

We looked at 2 Corinthians 5 briefly in our last post.

⁶ Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. ⁷ For we live by faith, not by sight. ⁸ We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹ So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Cor. 5)

All believers await the judgment seat of Christ — and we will be held accountable for how we have served Him.  What factors maximize the possibility that He will say to us on that day, “Well done, good and faithful servant”?  From this passage I would suggest three:

1. We seek to walk by faith and not by sight (v. 7).  Demanding daily miracles from the Lord does not strike me as walking by faith.  He can do a miracle whenever He wishes, but our task is to live out our Christian lives by faith.

2.  We make it our goal to please Him (v. 9).  What’s involved in “pleasing” someone?  We find out what their desires, needs, wishes, dreams are — and we invest ourselves in meeting those!  What pleases the Lord? (Might I suggest you do a concordance study of the word “please” or “pleasing” the Lord?  You’ll find some very helpful truth in the Word!).

3.  We recognize that we will be held accountable for the things done in the body, whether good or bad (v. 10).  Although we are saved by grace, we are responsible for the works we do or don’t do once we are saved.  (The topic of rewards for the believer is a large, but important, one, and deserves to be studied.)  It is not wrong to live for the Lord’s approval and for the achievement of rewards for faithfulness.  My desire is for a whole lot of crowns on that day — so that I can lay them at His feet!  You?

 

STUCK! Ten Areas That Will Bury You as a Believer and How to Dig Your Way Out! (Area #7- SUCCESS!)

“I’ve had great success being a total idiot,” Jerry Lewis once said.  This ground-breaking comedian and philanthropist died this week at the age of 91.  Sometimes SUCCESS becomes a kind of quicksand for the Christian.

I will deliver a message on SUCCESS to the saints at Crossroads Fellowship Church in Augusta, GA (website: crossroadschurchinaugusta.com) on September 24, my last Sunday with those friends.

Jesus-followers gravitate from a kind of prosperity theology that says God always wants us wealthy, healthy, and successful to a kind of poverty theology that says we are to suffer for Jesus, live austere lives, and eat only locusts and wild honey.   Both theologies are wrong.  Should the follower of Jesus seek SUCCESS — and what kind of SUCCESS ought he or she to pursue?

Of the 51 uses of the word “success” in the Bible, all of them are in the Old Testament!  There is not one occurrence of that word in the New Testament.  The idea of being successful is there in the New Testament (in verses such as Phil. 4:13, Mt. 16:26-27, Lk. 16:10-11, Rom. 12:2), but the emphasis seems to be more on faithfulness and rewards for living life for Jesus.  In the Old Testament, many of the uses of “success” have to do with military victories (such as I Sam. 18:5, 14; I Chron. 12:18; 2 Chron. 26:5).

Here is the main text we want to look at:

⁶ Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. ⁷ For we live by faith, not by sight. ⁸ We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹ So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Cor. 5)

How does this text relate to SUCCESS?, you might ask.  SUCCESS in life will be judged by the Lord Jesus at “the judgment seat of Christ.”  The Apostle Paul makes it quite clear that there are only two states of existence for the believer:  either “at home in the body [and] away from the Lord” or “away from the body and at home with the Lord.”  We are presently “away from the Lord,” seeking to please Him with our lives, striving to live by faith and not by sight.  SUCCESS is striving to please Him whether at home in the body or away from it!  How are you trying to please the Lord today?  (to be continued)