Read the Bible in a Year (04DEC19)

DAILY REMINDER – Today, December 4’s Bible reading is 2 Corinthians 1-4.

NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, December 5’s Bible reading is 2 Corinthians 5-9. May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.

2 CORINTHIANS Introduction

Biblical scholars believe that this letter was written shortly after the first one and that Paul was still having to address issues that were taking place in the church of Corinth. Paul found himself having to defend his apostolic anointing because some of the false teachers and church leaders did not feel that he was qualified nor deserving of being called an apostle. In order to have people turn towards their doctrines of demons, they had to assassinate Paul’s character. They accused him of stealing church funds that were to go to the poor to finance himself, being pious, and being a coward. Paul, in response to their false accusations, makes this letter to the church more of a personal nature. He accused some of the church leaders of being deceptive and compromising the Word. Therefore, much of what he addresses in this letter is in response to his critics.

This letter is believed by scholars to have been written around the fall of 55 A.D. Paul gets really personal in this letter and describes the joys and challenges that he has gone through as an apostle for Christ. He encourages them to prepare for his arrival so that he may deal with whatever issues that are taking place in the church and that he is operating in full authority as an apostle.  

2 CORINTHIANS MOMENT – (04DEC19) “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 1:20). “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).

In Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth, he is addressing his critics who call into question the authority by which he was called into apostleship. Paul had not walked with Jesus as the Twelve had, and yet, Jesus called him on the road to Damascus. Some of the false teachers were jealous of Paul’s anointing and following. They were no different than the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the Sanhedrin who hated John the Baptist and Jesus because of the message they taught and the following they had. Therefore, if they could not achieve the same success, then they would call into question Paul’s character to cause division in the church. Paul, however, had a regretful harsh rebuke against those who did these things, but he wanted the church to know that even in his rebuke, he loved them, for it pained him to do such.

Paul had been under great pressure from not only the world but those in the church. Nevertheless, he did it willingly for the sake of the Gospel. Paul wrote: “…We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:8b-9). Paul had been shipwrecked, stoned, flogged, imprisoned, and had gone hungry. He was not living a life of luxury, but a life of sacrifice so that others may have life. Even so, Paul operated in humility even towards his accusers as he asked the church to forgive and restore the one who had caused trouble in their midst. Paul wrote: “Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:10-11). Paul knew that the enemy would love nothing more than to have bitterness and unforgiveness in their midst to cause division in the church and prevent the Gospel from being spread. Nevertheless, Paul had no intentions of giving the devil territory in his heart nor helping to facilitate it in the hearts of the church at large. Paul addressed the issues within the church that needed addressing, but he was determined to do so in love and not out of the pride of heart, so that Jesus may be the Light for made known for the world to see.

As we see in the case of Paul, ministry has its challenges. It goes without saying that it truly takes sacrifice. Despite what is seen on t.v. and many of today’s pulpits, ministry is full of sweat, blood, and tears from those whose greatest concern is for the lost. Paul wrote: “Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God” (2 Corinthians 2:17). If one was to ask true ministers in third-world countries what it is like to be a minister of the Gospel, most would tell you that it is very difficult. Many of their congregants do not have Bibles or even know how to read. Their churches, if they have one, are not glamourous but are composed of the bare essentials such as chairs and the structure itself. There is no air-condition, running water, or marble floors. They often live with the risk of being ostracized from society and imprisonment or death to not only themselves, but their families. Many ministers barely scrape by on basic living essentials themselves and most have not gone to fancy seminaries, universities, colleges, or other higher institutions of learning. Their knowledge of the Word has been through the leading of the Holy Spirit and/or Christian missionaries who have taught them the Bible. Therefore, there are those, who like Paul, have and are still living a life of sacrifice for the Lord. Yet, in the end, all who endure hardships will gain an eternal reward.  

Most true ministers of Christ are not behind the four walls of a fancy building. They are the ones who post prophetic words online that the Lord has given to them. They are the little old ladies who go into their prayer closets at home and intercede on behalf of others. They are the men who mentor young boys with absent fathers in the ways of God to keep them out of prison. They are the ones who go out into the streets and preach and pray for the lost on the street corners and bus stops. They are the ones who visit the person on hospice or give a coat to the homeless man on the bench. They are the ones who give of their last to a mother who cannot afford shoes for her little ones. They are the ones who nobody knows them by name but God. Something to ponder….