Reconciled and Reconciling...

II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Having challenged us in chapter 4 to not lose heart, Paul seeks to give us more perspective. Earlier in this chapter, he reminds us that we should be encouraged by the fact that this world is not our true and final home, but that one day we will be with the Lord (and His people). His purpose in leaving us here is to tell others that they too can be reconciled to God in Christ.  He has made us right with God; they can be right with God too.  Reconciliation pervades our whole life; it implants within us a desire for righteousness that parallels our hope and desire to be with Him some day.  When we are in Christ, we understand that He did all He did not just for me, but for them too, so we want to tell them about it. if we have no desire to see others reconciled to God, are we truly reconciled? 

The Long and Short of it.

II Corinthians 4: 16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self[d] is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Paul bookend this chapter with this repeated statement: "We do not lose heart." Though he had spent himself for the ministry and suffered repeatedly.  Though life often got frustrating, as he challenged selfish people (like these Corinthians) to allow God to change them from the inside out, and they would not, Paul would not give up. He had experienced the grace of God in Christ, and he had to tell others; he had to let his light shine.  That's because God gave him the big picture.  It was not Paul against the world.  There is a spiritual battle taking place, as the enemy seeks to blind the lost.  This same enemy attacks those on the opposing team with a vengance.  And we are fragile, imperfect vessels.  We should not expect others to immediately respond and change to us - they need to see Christ in us.  They need to be able to see beyond the temporal to the eternal, which we ourselves even fail to see.  When we grasp the big picture that God has revealed to us, we do not lose heart. We trust in His renewing strength from day to day.  We look ahead to where we can only see faintly. 

Insufficient in and of ourselves...

II Corinthians 3:4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Paul went overboard to not brag.  He always spoke of himself as the worst of sinners and least of the apostles.  He did not want favortism bestowed upon him, nor did he want his personality to overshadow his calling.  What an example for us all to follow - to stop pushing ourselves.  Paul could put it no more clearly than he does here: our sufficiency and confidence must be in God, and not ourselves.  That is when the Spirit is free to work in and through us. Whenever we start focusing on our knowledge, wisdom, or personality, we do and say things that detract from what God is doing, and destroy the fellowship the Spirit is seeking to work among us.  Lord, make us and keep us humble...

Outwitted by Satan

II Corinthians 2:5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
Paul wanted no part of division in the church.  When he thought that people might be polarizing, choosing sides, and holding grudges - he bowed out.  He was not willing for personal hurt to cause a chasm.  Forgiveness and reaffirming love - those are the characteristics of Christ and His true followers.  Sometimes we are so blinded to how Satan works: divide and conquer. It started in the garden; he tried to isolate Christ from everyone; he is still trying to split God's people apart today.  Let's not be so ignorant or outwitted.  Forgive, encourage, raffirm.

Who is Wise to you?

II Corinthians 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

As I continue to reflect on all those professing Christians who have gone from church to church, leaving for this reason and that, many of whom come to the point that they go nowhere at all, I here find another reason.  They think they are smarter and wiser than anyone else, including God. This chapter is a call to unity - to stick together as the people of God, and to not be divided.  Those mentioned above not only divide - they splinter into toothpicks, making each and every one less and less spiritually strong and wise.  In thinking they are wiser, they choose the follishness of this world: that they don't need anyone else.  In the end, they are saying they do not need God and His "foolish" way of salvation and getting to know Him.  It is sad indeed that one would come to the point of treating God's wisdom as foolish, and his/her foolishness as wisdom. 

Giving and Building Community

I Corinthians 16 Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. 3 And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.
How can we combat the selfishness to which are all prone? Establish a new pattern of generosity.  The Gentile churches were collecting a gift to take to the struggling church in Judea - as an act of brotherly love, and as a thank you gift for sending them Paul and others to share with them the Gospel of Christ.  The church at Corinth, due to their self-centered focus, was not responding as well as many of the other churches, so Paul challenges them. Sometimes, we're just not "feeling it." Such giving does not come naturally, so Paul exhorts them to make it a consistent part of their week and lives, and trust God to do something within them to help them see that "where our treasure is, there our heart is also."   When we trust Him and give, then see what He does, He teaches us to let go and trust Him more.  He also wants us to realize how important a sense of community and brotherly love within the Body of Christ is, and that it is the only way that we will grow spiritually individually. Sooo. Give away! Let God work. See what He will do.

Another Unifier: What We Believe

I Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
After a hard chapter of rebuking this church for their division, Paul now turns to what should unite us: the core elements of our faith. He summarizes what Christ has done, through His suffering, death, burial and resurrection. The then has us look forward to what He shall do: He will raise us up again.  He spends more time here looking forward to the resurrection of the dead than almost any one topic in any of his letters.  If we truly believe "the package deal", then we will embrace all that it means in this life that we have a life yet to come. We will not bicker with one another, squabbling over small differences, but we will work together as we await the greatest victory yet to come. We will live together in solidarity of faith, having as our battlecry the closing verse of the chapter:  58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.