Patrick: 00:13

Thank you for listening to FirstDay. I am Patrick Cooley, pastor of Northport Methodist Church. You can visit the podcast website at 1stday.us and there you can shoot me a text message, connect at 1stday.us. If you have any questions or comments or would like to have a a deeper discussion on anything from the podcast, episodes going back to 2017, of all things, rapidly approaching the 100th episode. I know I haven't been there hasn't been a new episode in a little while as, stopped at 1 Corinthians chapter 16, but it's been busy here at church.

Patrick: 00:58

We've had an influx of church members and so I've been kind of caught up doing doing church related new membership, new members sort of sort of stuff and church governing sort of stuff. So I I hope that your patience is is going I hope I hope that you will consider your patience well worth it as we get ready to start 2 Corinthians. Many people consider 2nd Corinthians to be Paul's most personal and emotional letter or letters. And I say let possibly letters because there is the chance that 2 Corinthians represents 2 separate letters commonly referred to as letter d, which is chapters 1 through 9 or letter e which is chapters 10 through 13, due to the sudden development here, they say, of a sort of strained relationship between Paul and the Corinthians. So in 1 through 9, it's attaboy, attaboy, attaboy, pat on the back.

Patrick: 02:11

Y'all are all great and wonderful. And then there's this shift in chapter 10 as he starts talking about the appearance of certain outsiders. And these outsiders, no one really has a good handle on who they are. There are a couple of different theories that the outsiders may be Judaizing Christians like the ones in Galatia who said, you know, Jesus is great to justify you, but, you know, you've gotta count on yourself for righteousness. Or or, the maybe they might be Jewish Christian Gnostics, some people believe, even though Gnosticism as a religion or a philosophy, however you want to put it, didn't really take shape until the 2nd or even 3rd centuries.

Patrick: 03:04

But, you know, it could be some sort of nascent Gnosticism. Other scholars believe that it might be Hellenistic Jews, and some think there might be hybridists who are angry at Paul for saying that, as Christians, they can't live like the rest of the Corinthians live, outside in public. So, you know, we have our church life and we have our world life, and we don't want the 2 to be the same kind of thing. However, what we do know is that in 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul does refer to them or describes them as Jews. So whether or not this does represent 2 separate letters, it does appear to be some time between chapters 9 and chapters 10.

Patrick: 04:03

But I'll let you be the judge of is these two different letters when we get there. If this is a case where there is two letters represented here in in 2 Corinthians. That means that Paul has written 4 or possibly even 5 letters to the Corinthians. The the well, I'm sorry. 4 or 5 letters have exchanged between Paul and the Corinthians.

Patrick: 04:33

So maybe this church in Corinth is one that today's church should really, really pay closer attention to. Now sometimes we kind of gloss it over, but, you know, if we are being if we're being honest with ourselves, a lot of the problems and issues that Paul is addressing in the church of Corinth are ones that are very, very germane to the life of the church. You have, you know, how does the church function in the greater society when there is a such a divergence of what's important between the church and the greater society. I mean, it wasn't much of an issue back in the days of Christendom when the church and state kinda worked hand in hand and the church kind of steered or attempted to steer anyway the way the culture worked. That's not how our world is today.

Patrick: 05:35

Our world today is, in fact, very much like the Corinthians' world. I mean, true, there aren't temples with idols everywhere or, like, maybe there are. Maybe there are, speaking to football fans or or or whatever out there whose idol happens to be in the stadium of your choice for the team of your choice. You know? We've we've got plenty of idols.

Patrick: 06:01

But but, no. No. Seriously, though, how does the church or how is the church to engage and function or how are Christians to engage and function in the world when what the world values is becoming more and more divergent from what the church values or or should value. So I really think we should probably pay a bit more attention to 1 and second Corinthians than we probably do, particularly for pastoral theology and and and practical theology. Paul's first letter to Corinth, commonly called letter a, is lost.

Patrick: 06:45

Maybe someday it will show back up and maybe one day it will be discovered, but right now we don't have it. So 1 Corinthians represents letter b, and it was written to Corinth when Paul was in Ephesus as was Paul's harsh letter that he refers to in 2 Corinthians 2:4. These letters this harsh letter, for instance, was sent to the Corinthians via Titus. And afterwards, when Paul finally meets Titus in Macedonia, the apostle is met with really good news from his padawan. The Corinthians, based on or in response to the harsh letter, had mended their ways.

Patrick: 07:38

They they had embraced and realized, that they had gone astray, as it were. And so in response to this really, really good news, Paul pens 2 Corinthians and he has it sent to them. So in 2 Corinthians, Paul justifies the change that he made concerning an announced future visit to the church and that he had actually written them in 1 Corinthians 16 and it's a visit that apparently did not occur. Interestingly, though, some scholars theorize that Paul may have had a short impromptu trip to the church when he was living in Ephesus though no one really knows for sure. And it is during this, little impromptu visit that an attack or something happens and Paul receives no aid from other members, thus prompting the harsh letter that Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 2:4.

Patrick: 08:51

But don't worry about remembering all of these, timelines and such. We'll get to that when we get to chapter 2 and the harsh letter. So, we're going to begin here with 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians 1 It's really a mouthful. And this opening chapter we're gonna be reading and using the CSB as our translation. 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 are throughout Achaia.

Patrick: 09:28

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul here essentially says hello. His greeting does remind us of, that we are one in the Lord. He and Timothy are greeting the Corinthian church not only, not only for by themselves or not only for themselves but on behalf of all of the saints who are throughout Achaia. Maybe this is something that we need to remember here in America in the 21st century, that we are all one in the Lord regardless of our denomination or our tradition or our bent interpretive or hermeneutic bent.

Patrick: 10:15

We are all one in the Lord. I admit that I'm guilty of drawing distinctions from time to time between, you know, those of us in the Methodist tradition and those in the Baptist or the Presbyterian or the Lutheran traditions, but but this practice really is likely contributing to the church's decline in our communities when those outside of the church see Christians in different churches and different traditions bickering over over things that, you know, they don't really know matter or even think matter. So verse 3, blessed be God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in 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. We see clearly here a pastoral emphasis in this letter, God, the Father of all mercies and of all comfort.

Patrick: 11:18

This is how Paul describes God's character mercy and comfort. Of course, there are other descriptions of the divine character and these 2 cannot be ignored but ofttimes I fear that we Western Christians living in our highly politicized and divisive society forget to read the room when we're describing or sharing God's character with people. We end up choosing the wrong face for the wrong emotion. God is just but God is also the Father of mercies. God is a corrector but God is also the God of all comfort.

Patrick: 12:05

Paul here is trying to mend fences with the Corinthians and heal the hurt that has occurred between them. He reminds the church that God comforts us in our affliction for a specific purpose so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction. So God comforts us so that we can comfort others. God saves us so that we might be instrumental in saving others. I believe for some time that the primary reason why the church is struggling so much in our world today, why there is apparently unmindable divisions within the body of Christ, is not doctrinal disagreement.

Patrick: 12:58

Notice that I gave a caveat of the primary reason. But the reason why the primary reason why we struggle is, I think, not doctrinal, but it's because we lack empathy and we lack compassion. We have allowed our cultural differences to impact, shape, and direct the church that we have received from Christ. The world outside the church is cruel. The world outside the church of Corinth is cruel, so the Corinthians may act that way too or so that we in the church act that way too.

Patrick: 13:36

Instead of the church going out and attempting to transform the society, engage the society for the sake of Christ and the sake of the gospel, we end up allowing the problems of the world to infect the church. Our world lacks empathy and compassion and unfortunately many of our churches lack and many of us Christians lack those two qualities that Paul begins 2 Corinthians with, the God of mercy and the God of all compassion. So we have allowed these cultural differences into the church. The comfort that we have received from God, we have reserved it for ourselves and for our friends rather than utilize it for the purposes that God has given it to us. Patrick's rule of ministry number 2, for those of you that have been members of my flock or are members of my flock, there is infinite grace for one's own sin but swift and sure condemnation for another's.

Patrick: 14:44

We would rather prove a point or justify a decision or be on the right side of history than to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction. We receive grace from God so that we might show grace to others. Verse number 5: for just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer.

Patrick: 15:27

And our hope is in and our hope for you is firm because we know that as you share in the sufferings, so you also will share in the comfort. Is this not Paul's way of expressing Jesus' command to take up our crosses and follow him? For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. Here is an unpopular and unavoidable fact of faith, one that none of us want to hear. To have faith in Christ is to have suffering.

Patrick: 16:07

In his daily interactions with others during his earthly ministry, Does Jesus once condemn a sinner? Or to be specific, does Jesus ever condemn a person who the religious authorities of his day have has labeled sinner? Does he excuse that person's sin or redefine it to be no sin? Does his willing self sacrifice free that sinner from the penalty of sin? And does his resurrection offer to that person a life transformed by grace and love?

Patrick: 16:42

To be faithful means to be willing to die for one's enemies. I don't think I can put it more succinctly, not die in order to prove the point, not, not die in order to win an argument. Well, if you're going to die, you're probably not going to win the argument anyway but you get the point. Is our life full of grace and comfort and hope or is it full of self righteousness? That's the question.

Patrick: 17:11

Paul tells the Corinthians that as he suffers for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ, he also receives comfort and salvation from Christ, but that is to share with them. The Corinthians, in turn, will receive comfort as they, too, suffer for the sake of the gospel. Paul mentions a recent personal experience to illustrate this teaching. He says in verse number 8, we don't want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction that took place in Asia. We were completely overwhelmed beyond our strength so that we even despaired of life itself.

Patrick: 17:57

Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a terrible death and he will deliver us. We have put our hope in him that he will deliver us again while you join in helping us with your prayers. Although the Corinthians are not made privy to any of the specifics of this trial that Paul faced, it hasn't stopped Christians from trying to discover what these details are. In 1 Corinthians 15:32, Paul mentions that he had fought wild beasts.

Patrick: 18:41

Or in Acts 1923-forty, we learn of the apostles' involvement in a riot at Ephesus. The truth is, if the details were important, I am convinced that we would have been provided those details. As Paul chose to inform the Corinthians of sufferings, who can't relate to being completely overwhelmed with affliction in those times in life when a righteous choice has led to our suffering. We may not be we might not suffer because of wild animals or because of riots, but our suffering that we have experienced based on the expression of our faith or the sharing of our faith very, very much, have the same impact on us. You know, they cause suffering.

Patrick: 19:34

Wild animals and riots are details that perhaps could hinder empathy. So if there's some part of if there's some suffering that I have experienced based upon the sharing of my faith or the living out of my faith, it doesn't matter what that is. Maybe it's a spur as, you know, a spurned look or or maybe it's a friend that walks away or we don't know what it is. I mean, do these compare to wild animals eating at us or or riots? You know?

Patrick: 20:07

I don't know. I mean, no, obviously, but the effect is the same. This is why, you know, empathy and compassion are 2 things that are absent in the church are in less is absent in the church, and that absence is growing, unfortunately. I think what Paul's point is here is if the Corinthians suffer for the faith no matter what it is, God is going to bring them comfort and that comfort that they receive is so that others might come to experience God's comfort as well. In this moment here, Paul says in verse number 9, he was convinced of the certainty of death.

Patrick: 20:49

He was powerless to avert it, whatever was happening. Yet, this was that he might not have anywhere else to turn except to God who can raise the dead from the grave into new life, an untenable situation that the only way out is to turn and trust in God. If God can do that, certainly he can see us through even the direst circumstances. What better example of this is there than Jesus' own crucifixion at the hands of the religious authority and the most powerful nation to exist at that time and his subsequent resurrection. He was overcome physically but the grave could not stop him.

Patrick: 21:38

And Paul fully expects that this is what will happen again. He has delivered us and he will deliver us again, Paul says. You see, the mission is not complete until all things are brought into subjection under Christ. In verse 11, Paul includes the Corinthians in God's gracious act when he tells them that they are aiding in God's deliverance by their prayers. What an incredible message.

Patrick: 22:09

Most people feel the need for deliverance, I would say, most of the time or at least they think that they are responsible for only for their own deliverance. Yet here, Paul tells the faithful that we are part of the solution and are not the cause of troubles and we're actually not even victims and in this, through the power of their prayers, the Corinthians will be a positive example to all the people of God. The image that immediately comes to my mind is Jesus' time in Gethsemane. What was his request of Peter, James and John that night? It was to stay awake, keep watch and pray.

Patrick: 22:54

We continue: Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gift that came to us through the prayers of many. Indeed, this is our boast. The testimony of our conscience is that we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially towards you with godly sincerity and purity, not by human wisdom, but by god's grace. For we are writing nothing to you other than what you can read and also understand. I hope you will understand completely just as you have partially understood us that we are your reason for pride just as you also are ours in the day of our Lord Jesus.

Patrick: 23:42

People will witness the power of prayer and give thanks to God because of it. It will happen because Paul has conducted himself in the world and especially toward the Corinthians with godly sincerity and purity not by human wisdom but by God's grace. Just as Jesus said in the garden so too does Paul hearsay God will be God's will will be done and not his own when we act for the sake of God's kingdom for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of god's will, for the sake of agape, it will change people's lives. This is evident according to verse 13. The faith that makes an example and brings people to salvation is a faith that comes from the willingness to lay down one's life for the sake of another.

Patrick: 24:39

Paul's willingness to do that for them and their willingness to do that for him will serve as a witness and be a reason for pride. If God is first in our lives or in the life of the church, Paul says, then there is surety in our lives. Verse 15, Because of this confidence, I planned to come to you first so that you could have a second benefit and to visit you on my way to Macedonia and then come to you again from Macedonia and be helped by you on my journey to Judea. So Paul had promised to visit the Corinthians again but that had not happened. We will discover the reason for this in the next chapter, however.

Patrick: 25:30

As it turns out thus far in the letter, Paul has been explaining to the Corinthians why he had not fulfilled this promise that he made at the end of 1 Corinthians, that he would come back to them for a visit. He had had every intention to but the work of the gospel happened and that takes precedence over anything else that he wants. Verse 17, Now when I planned this, was I of 2 minds? Or what I plan, do I plan in a purely human way so that I say yes, yes, and no, no at the same time? As God is faithful, our message to you is not yes and no.

Patrick: 26:15

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaim among you, Silvanus, Timothy and I, did not become yes and no. On the contrary, in him it is always yes, for every one of God's promises is yes in him. Therefore through him we also say, Amen, to the glory of God. Now it is God who strengthens us together with you in Christ and who has anointed us. He also has put his seal on us and given us the spirit in our hearts as a down payment.

Patrick: 26:57

Was Paul being deceitful, essentially? Was he of 2 minds when he made this promise? One of the things that you can always count on pretty much 90% of the time is that when somebody tells you tells me that, he or she is gonna be at church on the following Sunday, 90% of the time they are actually there. So so it's yes. So Paul doesn't say yes, yes, and no, no.

Patrick: 27:25

Paul's yes is always yes. He's not of 2 minds. If he was not firstly thinking about God, if his intentions toward the Corinthians were earthly and impure, if his motivations were his own and not God's, then they would have grounds to complain about him not following through with the plan to come and spend time with them. Remember what he says here, For every one of God's promises is yes in him. Therefore through him we also say, Amen to the glory of God.

Patrick: 28:01

Amen. So be it. As the faithful, God's call takes precedence in our lives and whatever is called is a yes. It must be done. Everything, in respect of Paul's relationship with the Corinthians was as God desired it to be.

Patrick: 28:24

It is always yes. When we respond to the call affirmatively, then every promise that God God makes is also a yes. Therefore, through him we say amen to the glory of God use me as you see fit Paul tells the Corinthians that all of this has happened to strengthen their relationship with one another and to strengthen the relate their relationship with God and that the spirit is present in the church and I guess in a person's a Christian's life to prove that God is always faithful to the promise. I call on God as a witness on my life that it was to spare you that I did not come to Corinth. I do not mean that we lorded over your faith but we are workers with you for your joy because you stand firm in your faith.

Patrick: 29:29

Paul believes that it is because of these reasons why he has yet to return to the Corinthians. Remember, he's in Macedonia. He's just received good news from Titus that the Corinthians have amended their ways from the harsh letter, whatever that letter may be we'll talk about it pretty soon, actually and so, he is praising them because they've turned their lives around. He believes that it is because of all of these things, he's not yet come back to them but that's okay because God doesn't want him to come back to them yet. God was concerned with theirs and the apostles' relationship and ministry and he interceded in that.

Patrick: 30:20

If Paul had come back before receiving this good news from Titus, he would have probably been, you know, pretty mad pants, you know, been mister mad pants at them. But as it is, he says, it's good that he didn't come because if I had had to come to you or if I did come to you before now, before receiving this good news that you're you you have amended your ways, I would have been very, very harsh with y'all. But hallelujah, he said, God interceded. So because of this, Paul says, they are coworkers with one another in the building of the kingdom and they will remain faithful. Thank you for listening to FirstDay.

Patrick: 31:04

Visit the website at www.firstday.us and share and like and subscribe and I will see you next time. Blessings and goodbye for now.