Examine Yourselves to See If You Are in the Faith By Faith You Stand Firm - Change of Plans 2 Corinthians 1

Examine Yourselves to See If You Are in the Faith

By Faith You Stand Firm - Change of Plans

2 Corinthians 1

Paul had a change of plans

He told the Corinthians He would visit them on his way to and from Macedonia

Paul made the first visit but changed his plans on the return trip

This caused the Corinthians to lower their already low esteem for Paul

They said his yes did not mean yes and his no did not mean no  

Paul in his work to restore his favor and help a troubled church

Always points to the faithfulness of God

All God’s promises are yes to us and A-men

Paul would not force his faith on others

Not that we lord it over your faith,

but we work with you for your joy,

because it is by faith you stand firm.

He always was working “with them” for the joy of their faith

You cannot have any joy doing the right thing if you are forced to do it

The only way anyone of us stands firm is when we believe on our own free will

Paul kept to the principle that each person must have their own faith

because you cannot lord faith over someone else

Change of Plans

2 Corinthians 1

Paul was writing 2 Corinthians to a

people who held him in low esteem.

It is very hard to win people

who do not respect you.

Paul in 2 Corinthians is

working through two problems…

The one problem is the people in

Corinth are falling away from God.

The second problem is Paul who cares deeply for

the people has lost esteem and authority in their eyes.

Paul starts his letter with his credentials…

  

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God

Paul is not throwing his apostleship in their faces.

Paul is stating his responsibility to

live up to God’s will for his life.

Paul makes it known he is not alone

and neither is the Church in Corinth.

This letter is also to the saints in Achaia.

Paul recognizes his letters and

visits have caused suffering.

 Paul speaks of his personal suffering not in a way

of comparing scars, like the men in the movie, Jaws.

But in a way to comfort.

Paul says…

 “All our troubles”

God is the “Father of Compassion”

and the “God of all Comfort”

With this in mind Paul says…

“We can comfort those in any trouble with the

comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

Paul wants them to know he is not speaking words to

make them feel good and win them by his sympathy.

His words of comfort are from the comforting

he received from God in his personal suffering.

Paul takes an interesting approach to “boasting”.

The relationship Paul had with the Corinthians

was in holiness and sincerity that

comes according to God’s grace.

Paul continued to hold up God’s standard in order for

the Corinthians to judge how his actions measure up.

Paul holds himself accountable

to God and lets the others judge.

Paul told the Church in Corinth that he would

come see them (1 Corinthians 16:5-7) on the

trip to and on the trip back from Macedonia.

The trip back he calls a second benefit.

 2 Corinthians 1:15-7

Paul made the first visit.

 It was painful because it was full of confrontation.

Paul did not see a benefit of coming to them in sorrow.

2 Corinthians 2:1

Paul was openly insulted by the anti-Paul party.

2 Corinthians 2:5-10; 7:12

So Paul sent a “second letter”

2 Corinthians 2:3-9

For this Paul was labeled as a man

whose word cannot be trusted.

When Paul said yes he was coming he meant no.

They were wrong in blaming

Paul in this circumstance.

Paul wanted to come but for spiritual reasons Paul

saw it best to not visit and stir up more suffering

and pain and drive a greater wedge between them.

Paul pointed out that no matter what they think

about him being a man of his word, God’s Word,

His promises, are always yes and a-men.

 

Than Paul says…

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ.

 He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us,

and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit,

 guaranteeing what is to come.

What is to come…

 Our future and plans are subject to God.

It is the same spirit in the Corinthians

and in Paul, as in you and I.

Although we mean what we say and sometime

realize those plans need to change, we

can always count on God’s Word.

God’s Word is a “Guarantee”.

Paul closes this chapter with some very wise words…

I call God as my witness that it was in order to

spare you that I did not return to Corinth.

Not that we lord it over your faith,

but we work with you for your joy,

because it is by faith you stand firm.

Paul knew his pressure to get the Corinthians to do

something because he said so was not good enough.

He would not lord over their faith.

He always was working “with them”

for the joy of their faith.

You cannot have any joy doing the

right thing if you are forced to do it.

The only way anyone of us stand firm is

when we believe on our own free will.

Pastors can preach faith but until the

people embrace it in their heart as a

conviction, the preaching is just words.

Paul kept to the principle that each person

must have their own faith because you

cannot lord faith over someone else.

Scripture Reading

2 Corinthians 1 NIV

1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:

2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6 If we are distressed, 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 we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

12 Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God's grace. 13 For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, 14 as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.

15 Because I was confident of this, I planned to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. 16 I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 When I planned this, did I do it lightly? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say, "Yes, yes" and "No, no"?

18 But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No." 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not "Yes" and "No," but in him it has always been "Yes." 20 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. 21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

23 I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. 24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.