Micah McCormick: Every Sunday night and we're in 2 Corinthians tonight, so go to 2 Corinthians, chapter 1.
Micah McCormick: I'm going to begin reading in verse number 1 and read down through verse number 7.
Micah McCormick: 2 Corinthians 1, 1-7.
Micah McCormick: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will, and Timothy, our brother to the church of God at Corinth, with all the saints who were throughout Achaia.
Micah McCormick: Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
Micah McCormick: He comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
Micah McCormick: For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also, through Christ, our comfort overflows.
Micah McCormick: If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation.
Micah McCormick: If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer.
Micah McCormick: And our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, so you will also share in the comfort.
Micah McCormick: Let's pray again.
Micah McCormick: Lord, we're thankful tonight that we're sharers together with the Lord Jesus Christ, sharers in his suffering and shar shares together in his glory, and we thank you for the glory of words that comfort us.
Micah McCormick: So bring that to us tonight through your scripture.
Micah McCormick: We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Micah McCormick: It's hard to overemphasize how individualistic the world is that we live in.
Micah McCormick: I mean, we know that, we kind of have a sense of that.
Micah McCormick: But Doug mentioned earlier that Kevin is in town with his daughter Leah.
Micah McCormick: They're serving over in Indonesia.
Micah McCormick: When they're here next Sunday you get a chance to talk to Kevin Sunday afternoon, maybe in the gym.
Micah McCormick: You should say Kevin, tell me about what life in your village is like and how individualistic is it compared to things here in America, and just let him go.
Micah McCormick: He'll just go for a while.
Micah McCormick: We are focused on the kinds of career that we want to pursue, the kinds of clothes that we want to buy, the music that we like the most, the sports that we think is the best, and those things aren't wrong and there's a place to see ourselves as individuals.
Micah McCormick: Paul's going to say we have to all each appear before the judgment of God.
Micah McCormick: So there's definitely an individual component in Scripture.
Micah McCormick: We're made in the image of God, but and this is a very big but God has designed us to be beings that are not just individuals but communities at the most basic level, a community of humanity, of image bearers, but that's also, in a more narrow sense, a redeemed people and, at the most local level, a church.
Micah McCormick: A church is not just one person or this person, it's not just a group of individual people.
Micah McCormick: The parts make something greater than the individual, and a part of what we see here in Corinthians and a big part is seeing this sharing that Paul has with the people of Corinth.
Micah McCormick: Gospel leaders share a deep communion with their people.
Micah McCormick: So we're going to walk through this letter tonight, and this is a letter that Paul wrote to a church that he helped to start in Corinth.
Micah McCormick: You can read about that in the book of Acts, but I'm going to break it up as we think about this tonight we're going to look at the Corinthian church, these gospel people.
Micah McCormick: We're going to look at the apostle Paul, who is a minister, writing to them, and then we're going to look at the communion we share.
Micah McCormick: So those would be kind of our three sections for tonight.
Micah McCormick: We'll start with the Corinthians.
Micah McCormick: Notice there how he opens this letter 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, paul's writing and he says to the church of God at Corinth, with all the saints who are throughout Achaia.
Micah McCormick: The church of God is with all the saints.
Micah McCormick: He's saying that they're saints, they're holy ones.
Micah McCormick: That's how he starts You're people, not that they were perfect, not that they were holy, holy, holy in the same way that the Lord, god Almighty himself is but he does say you're people who are saints, you're in the Lord Jesus Christ, and because of that verse 2, grace and peace are coming to you.
Micah McCormick: You have that foundation and hope in the gospel.
Micah McCormick: These are gospel people assembling together.
Micah McCormick: We also see about this church and this is an evidence of the reality of that gospel work in their hearts that there are repenting people, and you can see that in chapter 2.
Micah McCormick: That there are repenting people, and you can see that in chapter two.
Micah McCormick: He talks about causing them pain and writing a letter Verse number five if anyone has caused you pain, he's caused pain not so much to me but to some degree to all of you.
Micah McCormick: Now we're already hinting at that sharing that they have.
Micah McCormick: When one suffers, all suffer.
Micah McCormick: But then he goes on to say in verse number six this punishment by the majority is sufficient for that person.
Micah McCormick: As a result, you should instead forgive and comfort him, otherwise he may be overwhelmed by excessive grief.
Micah McCormick: What's Paul talking about here?
Micah McCormick: Well, back in 1 Corinthians there was a man that was living in grievous sexual sin and Paul says he's not repenting.
Micah McCormick: You got to remove him from your assembly.
Micah McCormick: But now Paul seems to be saying look, if he's turning, if he's repenting, you don't just shun him indefinitely.
Micah McCormick: You embrace him, you welcome him.
Micah McCormick: That's what true repentance looks like.
Micah McCormick: So this is a church, and if you read 1 Corinthians, they had a lot of problems.
Micah McCormick: But as you read 2 Corinthians, you see Paul still calling them saints and still acknowledging the progress they're making and the reality that they're a repenting church.
Micah McCormick: Flip over to chapter 5.
Micah McCormick: These are people who are living their lives for Christ, chapter 5, verse 14.
Micah McCormick: Their lives for Christ, chapter 5, verse 14.
Micah McCormick: The love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion that one died for all and therefore all died, and he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for the one who died for them and was raised.
Micah McCormick: That's an admonition he gives them.
Micah McCormick: It's also I want to say charitably a description of what he sees from the whole.
Micah McCormick: They're alive and living for Christ and he wants to encourage that.
Micah McCormick: Turn over to chapter 9.
Micah McCormick: Chapter 9.
Micah McCormick: Just a couple more things, things, and we'll press on.
Micah McCormick: To Paul this is a very personal letter, chapter 9.
Micah McCormick: Look down to verse number 13.
Micah McCormick: Because of the proof provided by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedient confession of the gospel of Christ.
Micah McCormick: He's been talking about their overflowing giving, but the overflowing giving is an evidence of what the gospel is doing in their hearts.
Micah McCormick: So these are gospel people through and through, though not perfectly and though not without fault, but they're sharing what they've experienced in Christ.
Micah McCormick: So Paul can encourage them.
Micah McCormick: Chapter 11, last verse I want to look at here before pressing on to the next point.
Micah McCormick: Look at how Paul describes these people, these Christians, the Corinthian church, verse number two of chapter 11.
Micah McCormick: I'm jealous for you, with a godly jealousy, because I promised you, in marriage to one husband, to present a pure virgin to Christ.
Micah McCormick: And then he goes on.
Micah McCormick: Verse number four if a person comes and preaches another Jesus whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit which you had not received, or a different gospel which you had not accepted, and then he says, a little bit sarcastically but also bitingly you put up with it splendidly.
Micah McCormick: Wait a minute here.
Micah McCormick: What's going on?
Micah McCormick: Well, paul's acknowledging his longing for them.
Micah McCormick: He sees them as a pure virgin.
Micah McCormick: He wants to give them over to Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: He acknowledges they're married to Christ, but he's also warning them you've got to maintain that gospel.
Micah McCormick: Because if someone comes with a different gospel, different teaching, that's utterly false, you can't put up with it even for a moment or that puts you in danger and that brings us into Paul.
Micah McCormick: So there's the gospel people, the Corinthian church.
Micah McCormick: What about Paul, this gospel leader?
Micah McCormick: He calls himself an apostle.
Micah McCormick: Back in chapter one, verse one, flip back there.
Micah McCormick: I know we're moving around as we do in these sessions, but Paul is an apostle and I'm not an apostle.
Micah McCormick: We don't have apostles here in our church, but there is a reality of gospel leaders and the responsibility that they bear.
Micah McCormick: That Paul exemplifies and he has a burden for this people.
Micah McCormick: He has an obligation to help them, to consider them, and he's been appointed an apostle by God's will.
Micah McCormick: He's not only an apostle, he's an authentic apostle, he's a sincere apostle.
Micah McCormick: Look down at chapter 2.
Micah McCormick: Look at verse number 17.
Micah McCormick: We do not market the word of God for profit, like so many.
Micah McCormick: False teaching is not a new thing to our own day.
Micah McCormick: The Corinthian church had to face this, and Paul is distinguishing who we are as gospel ministers against the contrast of who some are.
Micah McCormick: And then chapter 3 continues that thought.
Micah McCormick: So try to ignore that chapter break and just read it as it is there Chapter 3, verse 1.
Micah McCormick: Are we beginning to commend ourselves again, or do we need, like some letters of recommendation to you?
Micah McCormick: There, apparently, were people coming into the church of Corinth with recommendations, with accolades, with pomp and circumstance, but they weren't coming with the true gospel.
Micah McCormick: Paul later in the letter says aren't we better than the super apostles, super apostles?
Micah McCormick: So there's a conflict here of people that are promoting themselves in the church of Corinth after Paul has left.
Micah McCormick: And not only are they promoting themselves, not only are they seems to have a different spirit and even maybe a different gospel, they're even attacking Paul.
Micah McCormick: They're trying to get the Corinthian church to discount Paul as a gospel leader.
Micah McCormick: Now imagine how hard that would be if you were Paul.
Micah McCormick: He helped to give birth to this church.
Micah McCormick: It was God who did the saving, but he was the agent who prayed over them, labored, evangelized first church of Corinth.
Micah McCormick: He didn't even inherit someone else's church.
Micah McCormick: He helped to found it and he pressed on his missionary endeavors.
Micah McCormick: And now one of his fledgling baby churches has conflict.
Micah McCormick: And a part of the conflict is other things you can read about in 1 Corinthians.
Micah McCormick: But a part of the conflict here is people are saying, well, that Paul guy, I mean, he wasn't.
Micah McCormick: It doesn't seem like he was really as great as some of these other guys that we have now.
Micah McCormick: Boy, that's got to hurt.
Micah McCormick: That's painful.
Micah McCormick: Look over at chapter 4.
Micah McCormick: Chapter 4, verse 1.
Micah McCormick: Therefore, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy, we do not give up.
Micah McCormick: So he's again tying his authority as an apostle, his authenticity as a gospel leader.
Micah McCormick: It's God's mercy and God's call.
Micah McCormick: It wasn't his idea.
Micah McCormick: Instead, verse 2, we have renounced secret and shameful things, not acting deceitfully or distorting the word of God, but commending ourselves before God, to everyone's conscience, by an open display of the truth.
Micah McCormick: And how does he do that?
Micah McCormick: Verse number five we are not proclaiming ourselves.
Micah McCormick: There's one test of a true gospel leader Are they proclaiming themselves or are they proclaiming Jesus Christ?
Micah McCormick: Paul is clear about the object of his proclamation.
Micah McCormick: And verse number five ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake, just like Jesus himself came to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.
Micah McCormick: Now we know that Paul is a gospel man, not only because of his testimony to that effect, but also he can't even hardly go verses or chapters without rehearsing.
Micah McCormick: How glorious it is.
Micah McCormick: So verse number six, god, who said let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to get the light of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: Or you can see back at the end of chapter three the Lord is that spirit.
Micah McCormick: Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Micah McCormick: Or let's turn over to chapter five to see a very clear statement of this in chapter five.
Micah McCormick: Chapter five, verse 20,.
Micah McCormick: We are ambassadors for Christ.
Micah McCormick: Since God is making his appeal through us.
Micah McCormick: We plead on Christ's behalf.
Micah McCormick: Be reconciled to God.
Micah McCormick: He made the one one, that is, god, the Father made the one who did not know sin, that's Jesus Christ, to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Micah McCormick: It's been called this passage of a great exchange.
Micah McCormick: So Paul's crystal clear about what the gospel is.
Micah McCormick: It's not self-promotion, it's not self-help, it's not good works.
Micah McCormick: It's God's decision to send Christ to redeem.
Micah McCormick: It's Christ taking on sin of people like you and me and marvelously, we take his righteousness and God credits that to our account.
Micah McCormick: That's the good news.
Micah McCormick: Paul's a gospel guy.
Micah McCormick: But even though Paul is a true gospel minister, he's sincere.
Micah McCormick: He's got some things to learn as a minister about weakness and power and what that looks like.
Micah McCormick: Chapter 6, verse 4.
Micah McCormick: As God's ministers, we commend ourselves in everything by great endurance, by affliction, by hardship, by difficulty, by beating, by imprisonment, by riots, by labors, by sleepless nights, by times of hunger.
Micah McCormick: That's a lot of suffering as God's ministers.
Micah McCormick: He's not the only one who's suffered.
Micah McCormick: He suffered a lot.
Micah McCormick: He wasn't the only one who suffered and God had appointed a suffering purpose for Paul.
Micah McCormick: Even as faithful as he was.
Micah McCormick: He wasn't a perfect person.
Micah McCormick: No one is this side of glory.
Micah McCormick: But you don't read of any scandals about Paul after his conversion.
Micah McCormick: That didn't stop God from showering him with suffering.
Micah McCormick: That was God's purpose for Paul.
Micah McCormick: Go over to chapter 12, or chapter 11, sorry, let's go to chapter 11.
Micah McCormick: , verse 24.
Micah McCormick: Five times I received the 40 lashes, minus one from the jews.
Micah McCormick: Three times I was beaten with rods.
Micah McCormick: Once I received the stoning.
Micah McCormick: You gotta love how casual that is.
Micah McCormick: Yeah, I got stoned once it's when you get stoned.
Micah McCormick: They're trying to kill you like the object is not to like throw some rocks at your, at your, window.
Micah McCormick: So he managed to survive somehow with stoning.
Micah McCormick: Three times I was shipwrecked.
Micah McCormick: I have spent a night and a day in the open sea.
Micah McCormick: On frequent journeys I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from waters, robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea and dangers among false brothers.
Micah McCormick: So it's not only physical suffering that God allows him to face shipwrecks and beatings.
Micah McCormick: It's even people that stand opposed to him and that can be the hardest form of suffering, sometimes when it's people that he was passionate about, the Jewish people, his kinsmen according to the flesh.
Micah McCormick: He wanted nothing more for them to be saved, and they're the ones that are the ringleaders of his persecution and the lies about him.
Micah McCormick: Verse 28, not to mention other things.
Micah McCormick: There is the daily pressure on me, my concern for all the churches, and then verse 29, we start to see what Paul understands through some of these things.
Micah McCormick: Verse 29 of chapter 11, who is weak?
Micah McCormick: And I am not weak.
Micah McCormick: Verse 30, if boasting is necessary, I will boast about my weakness.
Micah McCormick: Paul was learning.
Micah McCormick: He couldn't do it himself.
Micah McCormick: In chapter 1, he said that he had the sentence of death in himself.
Micah McCormick: There was times when he despaired of life.
Micah McCormick: I was talking with another pastor friend who happened to be staying with me this week and we were talking about that passage and I said do you think when Paul says he despaired of life, was he talking about when he was out on the ocean and he thought, well, I'm out here, I guess I'm going to die?
Micah McCormick: Was this when he was getting stoned?
Micah McCormick: Or was he just depressed and like Elijah's, like you know what?
Micah McCormick: Lord, just kill me now.
Micah McCormick: I've had enough.
Micah McCormick: I'm not sure.
Micah McCormick: Maybe a combination of all those things at different times.
Micah McCormick: He doesn't go into great, great detail about the circumstances, but he's the spirit of life.
Micah McCormick: That's human weakness, but God has a purpose in human weakness.
Micah McCormick: Go over to chapter 12.
Micah McCormick: This is perhaps the most well-known passage of Corinthians.
Micah McCormick: But here, in the context of all that Paul is saying about who he is, he's truthfully writing to this church that he's an authentic gospel minister and they need to listen to his true gospel and reject the false gospel.
Micah McCormick: But he's acknowledging that he doesn't have anything in himself to sustain his own ministry, the very gospel power that gave him spiritual life when he was dead is what has to happen if anything's going to happen at all through him as a converted minister.
Micah McCormick: Verse number nine so Paul was praying for this thorn in the flesh to be taken away, and the Lord didn't do it, at least at this point.
Micah McCormick: But he said to me my grace is sufficient for you.
Micah McCormick: My power is perfected in weakness.
Micah McCormick: There's Paul just said, who is weak and I'm not weak.
Micah McCormick: If I'm going to boast, I'm going to boast about my.
Micah McCormick: He's acknowledging I'm weak At.
Micah McCormick: The super apostles say how strong they are.
Micah McCormick: Good on them.
Micah McCormick: I acknowledge I'm weak, but then now we have a chance for Christ's power to come in, and it's not my power.
Micah McCormick: Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may reside in me.
Micah McCormick: Verse 10, I take pleasure in weaknesses.
Micah McCormick: And he's not saying he takes pleasure in any sinful mind or action that he does, but this inadequacy that he recognizes.
Micah McCormick: He doesn't have to hide behind it or from it, because he wants Christ's power to be on display.
Micah McCormick: He's already said his whole goal is to display and proclaim Christ on himself.
Micah McCormick: And here's how that can happen through weakness.
Micah McCormick: I take pleasure in weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ, for when I'm weak then I'm strong.
Micah McCormick: So last thing I want to come to tonight is that, yes, paul's learning some personal lessons, but all throughout this whole letter he's weaving together the you and the me, the me and the you, this church and my care.
Micah McCormick: What I'm doing is for you and what happens to you is for me.
Micah McCormick: So it's not merely a personal testimonial about some things God had to teach him.
Micah McCormick: A personal testimonial about some things God had to teach him, it's his understanding and realization that God's doing something for the Corinthian church through him.
Micah McCormick: Let's go back to chapter one and we'll just scan a little bit and see how this language of communion between Paul and the people, this sharing, is talked about.
Micah McCormick: Verse number four of chapter one God comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction through the comfort we receive from God.
Micah McCormick: Do you hear that he doesn't say God comforted us so I could learn about my need for comfort, although he did.
Micah McCormick: God's giving me something that I have to pass along to somebody else.
Micah McCormick: It's this great whirlpool of grace.
Micah McCormick: That.
Micah McCormick: That's what's going on here.
Micah McCormick: Verse 5, just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
Micah McCormick: So in his weakness, the power of Christ in him.
Micah McCormick: He's a channel that others experience power in weakness.
Micah McCormick: Verse 6, there's this word share in verse number seven.
Micah McCormick: That's a word you might have heard before koinonia.
Micah McCormick: It's okay if you haven't heard it, but it's this idea of communion.
Micah McCormick: That's where we get the word communion.
Micah McCormick: It's a sharing, but it's a deep, normally a deep spiritual fellowship.
Micah McCormick: And in verse number seven he acknowledges that the Corinthians, they have a koinonia, they have a communion in suffering.
Micah McCormick: Well, I don't like that spiritual communion.
Micah McCormick: Let me have a spiritual communion with we're all praising the Lord and beautiful music, the suffering part.
Micah McCormick: But there's a camaraderie that he sees in the suffering that he's experiencing with them and alongside of them, because they're all part of one body, the body of Christ.
Micah McCormick: So when one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.
Micah McCormick: When one member rejoices, all the members rejoice with it.
Micah McCormick: Verse number 11.
Micah McCormick: While you join in helping us by your prayers, then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gift that came to us, for the prayers of many.
Micah McCormick: So prayer is a form of togetherness, because God uses the prayers of others to help us and our prayers to help them.
Micah McCormick: Verse number 14.
Micah McCormick: Just as you have partially understood us, we are your reason for pride, just as you also are ours.
Micah McCormick: In the day of our Lord Jesus, you say, well, these people weren't as mature as Paul.
Micah McCormick: But he sees, I can take pride in you because you belong to Christ, and I hope you take pride in me too.
Micah McCormick: We're together in this.
Micah McCormick: Go over to chapter three.
Micah McCormick: Chapter three, it's so fascinating.
Micah McCormick: So he begins by that statement in verse one do we need, like, some letters of recommendation?
Micah McCormick: So okay, I didn't come with all the accolades that some of these guys do, but do we need letters of recommendation?
Micah McCormick: Verse number two you yourselves are our letter written on our hearts, none read by everyone.
Micah McCormick: I don't need a fancy calligraphy on the wall about where I went to school or what I did.
Micah McCormick: I've got you guys, and if people want to know about my ministry, they need to look at you, they need to talk to you.
Micah McCormick: But he uses this imagery of a letter and says you're a letter written on our heart, and that's the same exact metaphor that he's going to use later in the chapter to speak of the gospel work that originally happens.
Micah McCormick: Look down again, verse number 13.
Micah McCormick: We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from gazing steadily until the end of the glory that what was being set aside.
Micah McCormick: So there's a veil on the heart, but if you look back up, in verse number 7, he says there's a ministry that brought death, that was chiseled in letters on stone.
Micah McCormick: But now, when the veil is lifted, he's saying here the law of God is written on our hearts.
Micah McCormick: The Spirit of God brings freedom.
Micah McCormick: So it's the power of Christ shining on them that then gives them this beautiful partnership with Paul to be able to take pride in each other and that they can be his letter of recommendation, because the Spirit's already written the letter of the gospel on his heart.
Micah McCormick: They're together in Christ.
Micah McCormick: Verse number 12 of chapter 4.
Micah McCormick: So then, death is at work in us, but life in you.
Micah McCormick: Paul is allowed by God to see that, even when he's suffering, even when he's despairing of life, even if he's not feeling strong in himself, at the exact same time God is pouring out life to others.
Micah McCormick: And God's not doing two entirely different things.
Micah McCormick: It's through the very death of Paul that others are receiving this life.
Micah McCormick: And unless the corn of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it doesn't bring fruit.
Micah McCormick: But if it falls to the ground and dies it produces much fruit.
Micah McCormick: That happened for Christ and only he can redeem sinners.
Micah McCormick: But Paul understood that sharing in Christ's suffering meant that there would be dying in him, even as others are receiving comfort through his sufferings.
Micah McCormick: And he doesn't actually die.
Micah McCormick: But that sentence of death he has in himself Go down to chapter 8.
Micah McCormick: Chapter 8 and 9 can be a little tricky to fit into the structure of this letter.
Micah McCormick: I didn't talk a lot about the structure of this letter, but in chapter 8 and 9, he gives this appeal that hey, we need money.
Micah McCormick: It's like wait a minute, isn't that what the false teachers do?
Micah McCormick: Why are you asking about money?
Micah McCormick: Well, there's a genuine need that saints have and he's going to highlight the grace of God in other churches, in one church in particular that had contributed very sacrificially, and he's going to appeal to the Corinthians.
Micah McCormick: There's some other saints in need.
Micah McCormick: We need help.
Micah McCormick: But it's still continuing the same theme of you're sharing together with these people because you belong to Christ.
Micah McCormick: Verse number four of chapter eight.
Micah McCormick: They begged us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints.
Micah McCormick: Chapter nine, verse 13.
Micah McCormick: Verse 13.
Micah McCormick: Because of the proof provided by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedient confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone.
Micah McCormick: Paul shares life with the Corinthians.
Micah McCormick: He appeals to them share your life with other churches.
Micah McCormick: There's this whirlpool of grace.
Micah McCormick: Again, what I've experienced, I'm passing on to you Now you experience it.
Micah McCormick: This other church they shared.
Micah McCormick: And look at the blessing that they got.
Micah McCormick: Because God loves a cheerful giver.
Micah McCormick: He's been able to make all grace abound because of the Lord, jesus Christ, who was rich and became poor for our sakes so that we, through his power, would become rich.
Micah McCormick: And now you've received that.
Micah McCormick: Money's not that important.
Micah McCormick: You can share your money because you're already sharing your whole lives with me and with them.
Micah McCormick: Chapter 12.
Micah McCormick: Going back into chapter 12.
Micah McCormick: He compares his relationship to them as a parent to children in verse 14 and 15.
Micah McCormick: And then in verse number 19,.
Micah McCormick: He reiterates what he's driving at.
Micah McCormick: Have you been thinking all along that we were defending ourselves to you?
Micah McCormick: He has been doing that a lot in this letter.
Micah McCormick: He has been saying you're gospel people, I'm a real gospel minister.
Micah McCormick: Here's how you know.
Micah McCormick: Here's my testimony.
Micah McCormick: Here's what the gospel is.
Micah McCormick: Here's what you've done.
Micah McCormick: In one sense, he has been commending himself to them.
Micah McCormick: He's been defending himself.
Micah McCormick: But is that really the main thing he was wanting to do?
Micah McCormick: Verse number 19.
Micah McCormick: Have you been thinking all along we were defending ourselves to you?
Micah McCormick: No, in the sight of God, we are speaking in Christ and everything, dear friends, is for building you up.
Micah McCormick: Why did Paul have to suffer?
Micah McCormick: Because this church needed to be built up.
Micah McCormick: Why did he have to face harassment?
Micah McCormick: Because the Corinthians could look at him and see what it looks like to die to yourself and look around and think about how they might die to themselves even a little bit.
Micah McCormick: He's seeing the good of the whole, not just his own instruction and lessons.
Micah McCormick: So what about you?
Micah McCormick: What about us?
Micah McCormick: Again, we don't have apostles here, but do we have this expectation that God's doing something in me for other people?
Micah McCormick: We often hear people say I want to know what God's teaching me in this, and that's a good question.
Micah McCormick: Nothing wrong with that question.
Micah McCormick: But what if God's teaching other people something because of your life and your suffering.
Micah McCormick: What if you don't always know what he's teaching you and maybe you don't see all that he's teaching you and you might not even see all that he's teaching others?
Micah McCormick: Paul is not, at this point in time, right there among the Corinthians.
Micah McCormick: He's writing a letter to them.
Micah McCormick: He doesn't have video calls, he doesn't have, you know, nice things like that.
Micah McCormick: So he doesn't know in perfect detail all that they're hearing, learning, doing.
Micah McCormick: But he knows it's happening because he trusts in God.
Micah McCormick: So when we're suffering we can trust.
Micah McCormick: God's got a purpose in this for New Hyde Park Baptist Church.
Micah McCormick: God's got a purpose in this for Christians.
Micah McCormick: I know maybe in other places that would hear about what I'm going through and say, wow, isn't God's power perfect in weakness?
Micah McCormick: And isn't it better when we can hope that there's joy overflowing to other people, even if we're not feeling the joy every Monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday morning morning?
Micah McCormick: 2 Corinthians 13,.
Micah McCormick: This is how the passage ends.
Micah McCormick: The letter ends Verse 12, greet one another with a holy kiss.
Micah McCormick: All the saints send you greetings.
Micah McCormick: There's the whole again, and it's grounded in Father, son and Spirit and the communion that they have, the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship, or sharing or communion of the Holy Spirit.
Micah McCormick: Be with you all of the Holy Spirit, and be with you all.
Micah McCormick: Paul learned some beautiful lessons.
Micah McCormick: He learned a lot about what it means to share with the people of God.
Micah McCormick: God wants us to share with each other.
Micah McCormick: Let's pray, lord, give us endurance.
Micah McCormick: We're in need of patience.
Micah McCormick: We're in need of endurance.
Micah McCormick: Forgive us for our complaining spirits.
Micah McCormick: Even the spirit that doesn't complain to others but complains to ourselves, complains to you, lord.
Micah McCormick: Help us to see that you're working in us a far more eternal weight of glory.
Micah McCormick: And the weight of glory that you're working in each one of us is so that the weight of glory in all of us together can be magnified in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Micah McCormick: And so we're waiting for that day and we're trusting that, though suffering abounds in us, and in different times, in different ways, to different degrees, all of us we share in the sufferings of Christ, but we share for the comfort of others, for the joy of others, and everything is for building up one another.
Micah McCormick: Give us that heart, give us that mind.
Micah McCormick: Oh, how good it is when the family of God dwells together in spirit, in faith, in unity.
Micah McCormick: We pray this in Jesus' name Amen.