the-christian-walk

[the-christian-walk]

THE POWER OF ENDORSEMENT

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to [email protected] In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative. And we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel.

What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we administer in order to honor the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help. We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.

In addition, we are sending with them our brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you. As for Titus, he is my partner and co-worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honor to Christ. Therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you, so that the churches can see it.

There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the Lord’s people. For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident. So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.

2 Corinthians 8:16-24, 9:1-5

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Endorsements are important.

I’m not talking about this from an advertising sense where let’s say a sports team, race car driver, or golfer wears names on their uniforms or vehicles to promote companies or causes. No, the king of endorsement I am talking about is when someone endorses someone by praising them for their quality of work or character traits.

If my wife and I are looking for a contractor to do work on our home, we are usually reading reviews people have left or seeking referrals from our neighbors who may have had similar work done. If a worker has a large number of positive endorsements from others, then you can feel confident that they will do a good job for you.

Personal trait endorsements can happen for different purposes. When a politician is running for office, they will often try to get someone to endorse their campaign so to garner more votes and win the election. A person who seeks employment may be asked to provide referrals to provide feedback on the prospective employee’s work ethic and moral makeup. If that person gets hired, they may eventually be in the running for a promotion and would hope that there would be plenty of endorsements to move up to greater levels of responsibility.

As we look at the closing verses of 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, and move through the opening five verses of chapter 9, we find the Apostle Paul using the power of endorsement to promote those who would be assisting him in the work of the ministry. In this instance, the backing is for those who would be involved in getting the promised gift for the church in Jerusalem.

First, we find Paul talking about Titus, his “partner and co-worker”. Immediately, he wanted the Corinthians to know that God had put the same concern for them in Titus, who was coming with “much enthusiasm” and fully on his own accord.

Second, we find Paul telling the Corinthian Christians that someone would accompany Titus, a man Paul referred to as a “brother” (meaning brother Christian) who was praised “by all the churches for his service to the gospel”. Further, this brother was “chosen by the churches to accompany” Paul and his fellow missionaries as they carried “the offering” which they administered “in order to honor the Lord Himself” and display their “eagerness to help”.

Ultimately, Paul was carefully choosing the men who would manage the “liberal gift” donations because he hoped “to avoid any criticism of the way” they administered the funds, He wanted the church in Corinth to know that he and the others were “taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.”

So Titus and a brother Christian of Paul’s were going to Corinth to receive the offering earmarked for Jerusalem. They would be joined by a third person, another brother Christian who had often proven that he was zealous and felt great confidence in the Corinthian believers. Together, the scriptures tell us that two brother Christians were “representatives of the churches and an honor to Christ”.

With these three men coming for the distinct purpose of collecting the offering for Jerusalem, Paul issues a slight warning. He had been bragging up the Corinthian church and he didn’t want them to let him down. And so he encouraged the church to “be ready” to provide the “generous gift” as promised and to do so with eager joy so not to make it appear that they were giving grudgingly.

Finally, Paul finishes by asking the Corinthian Christians to show the visiting men “the proof” of their love and validate the pride that Paul and his fellow missionaries had for the church in Corinth.

Through the power of endorsement, Paul sought to facilitate a smooth collection of the giving for the Jerusalem church. The Corinthians knew they could trust the emissaries were coming as representatives on behalf of God Himself on a mission to bring aid to a sister church in Jerusalem.

What’s out takeaway from this?

We need to learn from Paul’s tact and moxie because he fully knew the power of persuasion. It was a gift God had given him to convince Christian believers to live and give as God desired. We need to be positively endorsing all positive aspects of church ministry and the people involved with the intent of encouraging people to give to the work, whatever it might be. If we do, then we can ensure our church congregants are willfully giving out of a preponderance of care for the church and a desire to advance the kingdom work of God here on earth.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to [email protected]

[the-christian-walk]

TWO WAY GIVING

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to [email protected] In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”

2 Corinthians 8:13-15

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever been associated with someone who was one-way when it came to giving?

You know this kind of person, right? The one who always wants other people to give to them but never gives anything to others themselves. I’ve been associated with more than a few in my life and like to view them as consumers of people and what they have, consumers because they develop an appetite for charity with others with no intention of ever returning the generosity.

As we see in today’s verses from our continuing study of 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, we find the Apostle Paul addressing what giving should look like between churches but there is a broader application of this principle when it comes to how we should give to one another and especially God. Let’s look again at Paul’s words here:

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”  2 Corinthians 8:13-15

You will recall that the matter at the heart of this chapter was the collection Paul took up from all the Christian churches he had planted during his missionary journeys for the support of the Jerusalem church. The Apostle had singled out the Macedonian believers for their blessed generosity as they had given up and above what would have been expected and did so eagerly and gladly. Paul extended his compliments to the Corinthian Christians as well because they were first to give out of a deep desire to help their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. He encouraged the church in Corinth to continue giving as they had done in the year before.

But note that Paul didn’t advocate for one-way giving. He didn’t want the Corinthian believers to think that they wouldn’t one day be helped the same way in kind if there was a need for it. No, Paul expected that the Jerusalem church would be just as quick to help the Christians in Corinth once they were able to financially do so. This was an equitable and cooperative approach which would link and strengthen the bond between all Christian churches in the world at that time.

In first century AD, Paul’s goal was equality in charity and we should see this in the way Christian churches interact with one another today, the way people interact with one another, and most importantly, how people interact with their God. Sadly, I believe we need to do a lot of work in this area. If you don’t believe that, then just take the time to consider the following questions:

1. How many Christian churches connect with other churches around them and truly connect ecumenically, caring for and supporting one another regardless of denomination affiliation?

2. How many people are only interested in receiving giving from others but never feel compelled to give back to the person who helped them or anyone else for that matter?

3. How many times does God give and give and give to His people only to never receive anything in return?

Friends, these are questions that should convict us and challenge us to improve the way we approach giving whether within the church, or in giving to one another or God. The good news is that we can make conscientious decisions to change our giving attitude and those changes start with us allowing God to dictate how we give. For in the end translation, what we have or what we might receive from others is really from God’s provided resources, right? We should allow Him to show us how to use the things He provides to His glory and honor.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to [email protected]

[the-christian-walk]

ACCEPTABLE GIVING

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to [email protected] In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Here is my advice: It would be good for you to finish what you started a year ago. Last year you were the first who wanted to give, and you were the first to begin doing it. Now you should finish what you started. Let the eagerness you showed in the beginning be matched now by your giving. Give in proportion to what you have. Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have.

2 Corinthians 8:10-12 (NLT)

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

If the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is the love chapter, then the eighth chapter of 2 Corinthians is definitely the giving chapter for just as Paul’s focus is on love in the former, his emphasis is definitely on giving in the latter.

This truth has played out in our messages so far in this chapter as we have looked at the blessed generosity shown by the Christians in Corinth, giving that was excellent because they followed a certain process and emulated the actions of Jesus, the greatest role model for giving that mankind has ever had.

As we continue the study of this chapter in today’s message, we find Paul providing the guidelines for appropriate giving and this is critical because while giving is definitely required and endorsed by God’s word, there always seems to be a lingering question as to how much a person should give.

For example, if your church is working on the budget for the next year, they may ask the congregational members to complete a giving estimate for the coming year. This request causes people to have to sit down and decide how much they commit to. In doing this, they may ponder how much is enough.

So how much is acceptable to the Lord when it comes to giving?

Let’s look again at our three verses today for the answer.

Here is my advice: It would be good for you to finish what you started a year ago. Last year you were the first who wanted to give, and you were the first to begin doing it. Now you should finish what you started. Let the eagerness you showed in the beginning be matched now by your giving. Give in proportion to what you have. Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. 2 Corinthians 8:10-12 (NLT)

What is acceptable?

It isn’t to give in a way that overextends yourself, that’s for sure. We are to give according to what we have, not what we don’t have. In other words, the Lord wouldn’t expect you to go into debt by charging your offering on a credit card. Rather, He would want you to work giving into your budget in a way that is “in proportion to what you have”. Then a person could give eagerly because they not only know that their giving is in accordance with what they have but also done in a way that is acceptable to the Lord.

This was the kind of giving the Corinthian church had engaged in during the year prior to Paul writing this latter and the Apostle encourages them to continue giving as they were in the year to come.

Friends, this message is written as much for us as it was for the Christ believers in Corinth. For the Lord still calls on His people to give charitably to the church and elsewhere, and this giving will be acceptable when we conscientiously give in proportion to what we have, giving what we can.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to [email protected]

[the-christian-walk]

THE GREATEST ROLE MODEL FOR GIVING

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to [email protected] In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.

2 Corinthians 8:8-9

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

We all need role models in life, people we can look up to and be inspired by, people we would want to grow up and be like.

This need for people to emulate applies to life to a lot of very specific circumstances but it also can be applied broadly and perhaps this is the best case scenario for a person, that they would have one go-to person for everything life might bring, a person to imitate so that by following their way they could be assured they are always doing the right thing, at the right time, and in the right way.

As Christians, we have such a universal role model in Jesus, the one and only Son of our God Most High, the only person who has lived an absolutely sinless life while in the flesh. In life, all we need to do is to look to Jesus and we will see how God intends for us to live and this applies to all aspects of life to include giving.

The Apostle Paul was laser-focused in regard to this through the way he lived and ministered to others for the cause of the Gospel. He proclaimed that “to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21), placing the emphasis on the Savior who said He was the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).

As we look at our scripture passage for today, we find Paul specifically using Jesus as an example in regard to how a Christian should give.

How much did Jesus give?

Look at His life and you’ll see that He gave it all, even willing to sacrifice His life to give life to others.

Indeed, through grace, a wealthy Jesus, One with the Father and God of all creation, willingly chose to be impoverished so to make the way for sinners to be rich in the salvation God offers. Jesus freely surrendered His life to give life to millions upon millions of people. He was willing to give up everything to improve the welfare of others.

This is how God wants us to give, knowing that just as He took Jesus out of His poverty and promoted Him to sit in power at His right hand, so too will He one day draw us out of the poverty of this world and into the immeasurable treasure that is Heaven, a place where Jesus has prepared a mansion for every people who placed their belief in Him.

Jesus told us to store up treasures in heaven and not on earth (Matthew 6:19-21) and then showed us what that looks like. In Him, we have the greatest role model ever in every walk of life, including giving.

Thanks be to God for the gift of His Son.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to [email protected]

[the-christian-walk]

EXCELLENCE IN GIVING

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to [email protected] In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

2 Corinthians 8:6-7

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Over the past couple messages, particularly in chapter 8 of 2 Corinthians, we have been focusing on the matter of giving. This has been prompted by Paul’s words as he writes to the Christians in Corinth and focuses on their blessed generosity expressed through the charitable donations sent to the church in Jerusalem.

In the last message, we saw where this blessed generosity is really born out of a two step process. First, one needs to give themselves fully to the Lord, submitting to Him completely. When a person does this, then the outcome is that they trust that the Lord will provide for their needs and therefore can give freely as the Lord desires, fully acknowledging that they are really giving away what is rightfully His, not theirs.

Now, this sounds easy if we look at it in a vacuum but life is a marathon, not a sprint. Blessed generosity is something that is expected to persevere over a lifetime. So how can we continue to sustain excellence in our giving? How can we ensure that we are pleasing God with our benevolence, whether to the church or elsewhere, for the long run?

We find Paul giving us some insight to answering these questions in our passage for today. Look again at his words here:

So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. 2 Corinthians 8:6-7

I don’t know about you but I was taught from a very young age that success typically comes from a lot of hard work. You have to be dedicated and committed to be the best you can be at whatever you are doing.

Now, most people do this in regard to one thing. Maybe it’s as a student, attending college. It could be someone who is employed in a certain vocation. It could also be someone who has some special skill like music or art. All of these instances and more could create an environment where a person might be laser-focused on one undertaking with the goal of being a standout in what they do.

When it comes to our spiritual lives, we need to be just as devoted to allowing the Lord to help us become the people He wants us to be in whatever He calls us to do. It’s obvious through the words of Paul that the Corinthian Christians had excelled in many different spiritual disciplines. Specifically, he mentions their faith, speech, knowledge, and love, all things that Paul and his fellow missionaries had tried to teach and show the believers there. The Jesus followers of Corinth had practiced all these earnestly but Paul wanted them to pursue one other matter with the same level of intent and that was the matter of giving.

It’s important to read all of his words here. For it wasn’t just giving that Paul asked the Corinthian Christians to excel in. They were also to excel in grace, specifically in this case, the grace of giving.

How does this change the dynamic of giving, especially from a Christian perspective?

We need to look at grace through the eyes of the Lord to find the answer.

As an easy way to remember what grace really means, I have always liked to look at the word like an acronym:

God’s

Reward

At

Christ’s

Expense

Note here that no one does anything to earn this gift from God. It is received when a person believes in Jesus as Savior by faith. Works are not required to gain the gift of salvation. God grants it freely through His Son.

Now apply this concept of grace to the matter of giving. We are to give freely and unconditionally to others as God directs through His will. He will lead us to give, not just when but how much. When we do this, we will always be assured that we are giving as God desires and therefore giving with excellence.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to [email protected]

[the-christian-walk]

THE PROCESS OF GIVING

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to [email protected] In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.

2 Corinthians 8:5

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

How do we get to the place where we give in the way the Lord desires, a place of blessed generosity as we looked at in the last message?

As we see in verse 5 of 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, the Apostle Paul tells us it is a two-step process. Look at his words again here:

And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.

Paul had anticipated that the Corinthian church would make a contribution to help the church in Jerusalem but their blessed generosity exceeded all his expectations.

How did they achieve this?

First, they first gave themselves to the Lord and this included all that they were and all that they had. They came to realize that they were only alive because God had granted them grace. They also came to understand that anything they had was provided by the God they gave themselves to.

God gives life.

God gives all that a person needs to live life.

The Corinthians held this spiritual view and we would be well served to hold it today for ourselves, placing our full focus on God and God alone as the source of every good and perfect thing from above.

With their focus fully on God, giving Him all that they were and attributing to Him all that they had, the Christians in Corinth were primed to carry out the will of their Lord. This will of the Lord is what led them to exceed Paul’s expectations in the way they contributed to the cause of the Jerusalem church. God had not just called them to give but to give in abundance with a trust that He would continue to provide for their needs if they gave sacrificially.

The key to giving in ways that defy expectations is to first devote all that you are to God. Give of yourself to Him just as fully as He gives of Himself to you. This dedicated surrender will allow the Lord to dictate what He wants through His will and part of that will is always going to be giving to others to make a difference in the lives of those who are in need.

In our next message, we’ll see how we can achieve excellence in the way we give.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to [email protected]

[the-christian-walk]

BLESSED GENEROSITY

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to [email protected] In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in His kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.

For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem.

2 Corinthians 8:1-4 (NLT)

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The Lord wants us to be a giving people. There is no question about this and the scriptures declare it. Consider these verses:

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7

A gift opens the way and ushers the giver into the presence of the great. Proverbs 18:16

A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Proverbs 11:25

You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 2 Corinthians 9:11

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. Proverbs 3:27

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” Matthew 19:21

“...the righteous give generously.” Psalm 37:21

Certainly, there are many more but you get the idea. God blesses us with His provision to not only help us live but He wants us to share what we have with those in need as well. He gives to us in great abundance and He expects us to follow suit in the way we live. The Lord desires that we adopt a spirit of blessed generosity in the way we help others.

As we look at the first four verses of 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, we see the Apostle Paul trying to instill this giving spirit in the church of Corinth and its Christian believers, using other Christian churches as an example. Look again at his words here:

Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in His kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.

For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem.  2 Corinthians 8:1-4 (NLT)

To fully understand what was happening, I need to provide a little background, particularly in regard to the “believers in Jerusalem” that Paul mentions were the recipients of the blessed generosity extended by the “churches in Macedonia” which included Thessalonica and Philippi.

You will recall that after Jesus’ crucifixion and Stephen’s stoning, persecution ran rampant in Jerusalem against Christians. Many of the Jesus believers there were pushed into poverty and treated like outcasts. Great hardship and suffering came upon them just because they professed their faith in Jesus as Lord.

Paul was on a campaign to raise funds to help support the Jerusalem Christians and he had solicited all the churches outside of Jerusalem to contribute. We read where the Macedonian believers were "tested by many troubles" and poor as well but this didn't stop the churches from showing rich, blessed generosity. The scriptures tell us that “they gave not only what they could afford, but far more” and did so with “abundant joy”. In fact, the Macedonian believers begged for the privilege to give. Such was their desire to provide for the needs of their brother and sister Christians in Jerusalem.

How could the Macedonian believers adopt such an attitude of blessed generosity?

It comes down to God. He was the One who instigated the work of the Macedonian churches through His kindness and He is the One who has guided believers to give ever since.

One thing’s for sure. When we allow the Lord’s will and way to be our own, then we will be a giving people, a people obedient to our Father’s calling as relayed through His Word and Holy Spirit.

Indeed, God loves a cheerful giver for they are carrying out what He has told them to do to bring blessed generosity to others and glory to His holy name.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to [email protected]

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SPIRIT-REFRESHING HOSPITALITY

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to [email protected] In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well. And his affection for you is all the greater when he remembers that you were all obedient, receiving him with fear and trembling. I am glad I can have complete confidence in you.

2 Corinthians 7:13b-16

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Paul was a letter writer who you could call fair but firm in the correspondence he penned and sent to Christian churches in first century A.D. He wrote words of condemnation and correction but he balanced this with words of praise as well. Perhaps we could learn a lot from Paul’s approach in how we deal with others because I think we can be too quick to criticize and not as quick to compliment in the words we use, whether spoken or written.

In regard to the latter, complimentary words written by Paul to a person or group of people, we see such a display in the final verses of 2 Corinthians, chapter 7. Look again at his words here:

In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well. And his affection for you is all the greater when he remembers that you were all obedient, receiving him with fear and trembling. I am glad I can have complete confidence in you. 2 Corinthians 7:13b-16

The Corinthian Christians had welcomed Paul with open arms and treated him well during his visit to Corinth. He consistently thanks them for their wonderful hospitality in the two letters to them and we read that Titus, who visited after Paul, was treated the same way, much to Paul’s delight. In fact, Paul shares Titus’ testimony that his spirit was refreshed by the great hospitality he experienced in Corinth. This is something that made Paul feel good because he had endorsed the Corinthian Christians to Titus and they hadn’t let him down, something that would have caused Paul great embarrassment. Paul’s boasting was reinforced and for that, he had even greater confidence in the believers worship in the Corinth church.

What was the byproduct of Titus’ experience of spirit-refreshing hospitality?

It produced great affection within Titus’s heart for the Corinthian church. They all had been “obedient, receiving him with fear and trembling” which was code for deep respect. This is really at the heart of hospitality, right? Respect and love for your guest or guests. The church in Corinth served their visiting Gospel; missionary well and, in turn, he left with feelings of fondness and love for them.

As we have our opportunities to host someone, we should follow the lead of the Corinthian believers, intentionally seeking to provide spirit-refreshing hospitality that ultimately pleases, honors, and glorifies the Lord. We’re called to do so by the scriptures and when we allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us, we will always be obedient to that calling.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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SPIRIT-REFRESHING HOSPITALITY

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well. And his affection for you is all the greater when he remembers that you were all obedient, receiving him with fear and trembling. I am glad I can have complete confidence in you.

2 Corinthians 7:13b-16

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Paul was a letter writer who you could call fair but firm in the correspondence he penned and sent to Christian churches in first century A.D. He wrote words of condemnation and correction but he balanced this with words of praise as well. Perhaps we could learn a lot from Paul’s approach in how we deal with others because I think we can be too quick to criticize and not as quick to compliment in the words we use, whether spoken or written.

In regard to the latter, complimentary words written by Paul to a person or group of people, we see such a display in the final verses of 2 Corinthians, chapter 7. Look again at his words here:

In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well. And his affection for you is all the greater when he remembers that you were all obedient, receiving him with fear and trembling. I am glad I can have complete confidence in you. 2 Corinthians 7:13b-16

The Corinthian Christians had welcomed Paul with open arms and treated him well during his visit to Corinth. He consistently thanks them for their wonderful hospitality in the two letters to them and we read that Titus, who visited after Paul, was treated the same way, much to Paul’s delight. In fact, Paul shares Titus’ testimony that his spirit was refreshed by the great hospitality he experienced in Corinth. This is something that made Paul feel good because he had endorsed the Corinthian Christians to Titus and they hadn’t let him down, something that would have caused Paul great embarrassment. Paul’s boasting was reinforced and for that, he had even greater confidence in the believers worship in the Corinth church.

What was the byproduct of Titus’ experience of spirit-refreshing hospitality?

It produced great affection within Titus’s heart for the Corinthian church. They all had been “obedient, receiving him with fear and trembling” which was code for deep respect. This is really at the heart of hospitality, right? Respect and love for your guest or guests. The church in Corinth served their visiting Gospel; missionary well and, in turn, he left with feelings of fondness and love for them.

As we have our opportunities to host someone, we should follow the lead of the Corinthian believers, intentionally seeking to provide spirit-refreshing hospitality that ultimately pleases, honors, and glorifies the Lord. We’re called to do so by the scriptures and when we allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us, we will always be obedient to that calling.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to [email protected]

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THE OUTCOMES OF CONVICTION

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

See what God did with this sadness of yours: how earnest it has made you, how eager to prove your innocence! Such indignation, such alarm, such feelings, such devotion, such readiness to punish wrongdoing! You have shown yourselves to be without fault in the whole matter.

So, even though I wrote that letter, it was not because of the one who did wrong or the one who was wronged. Instead, I wrote it to make plain to you, in God's sight, how deep your devotion to us really is.

That is why we were encouraged.

2 Corinthians 7:11-13a

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

One of the greatest tools that the Lord possesses to shape us into being the people He wants us to be is conviction. This blessing comes upon us when we read the word of our Lord and allow His Holy Spirit to influence our heart and mind. Both will lead a person to a place of godly sorrow, a sincere regret for living in ways that are undesirable to God.

It was this godly sorrow that Paul was trying to cultivate within the church of Corinth and the believers there because he knew godly sorrow would lead to repentance and repentance would result in a turning from sin toward righteousness.

But repentance wasn’t the only byproduct of conviction and godly sorrow. For as we see in today’s passage, there were other important outcomes as well. Look again at Paul’s words here:

See what God did with this sadness of yours: how earnest it has made you, how eager to prove your innocence! Such indignation, such alarm, such feelings, such devotion, such readiness to punish wrongdoing! You have shown yourselves to be without fault in the whole matter.

So, even though I wrote that letter, it was not because of the one who did wrong or the one who was wronged. Instead, I wrote it to make plain to you, in God's sight, how deep your devotion to us really is. That is why we were encouraged. 2 Corinthians 7:11-13a

The godly sorrow produced by the Lord’s conviction had helped to sharpen the mindset of the Corinthian Christians. Their minds were eager to show their innocence to God, fueled by a righteous indignation. Their hearts were grounded in feelings of devotion to their Lord and a readiness to punish any wrongdoing within the church. There would be no more complicity with wickedness as the Jesus believers in Corinth were eager to show themselves faultless.

This was the state of the Corinthian church and it was a healthy one. Paul was pleased in where the Christians in Corinth were in relation to their God as well as to him and those traveling with him on the mission trail. The love of the Corinthians toward the missionaries who helped plant their church was an encouragement to them.

When we stay connected to the scriptures, we can’t but help to be convicted and led to a place of godly sorrow, challenged to live in ways that are counter to the world and pleasing in the sight of God. The word and Spirit of our Lord possesses a power to continuously transform a person, refining and reforming them daily to be a better person in the presence of God, a person more and more like the Christ who saved them. We should invite this as believers and be intentional about permitting the Lord to mold us in His image. When we do, we will be sure to be effective in living God, modeling the life of Jesus as we help others find salvation and become disciples in His name.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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GOOD SORROW

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

2 Corinthians 7:10

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.  

The Israelites had been in exile for a very long time, seventy years to be exact. This was the period of God’s judgment imposed on the Israelite people, His people, after their continuous run of disobedience and disrespect towards Him.

We know that the Babylonians were used by God to carry out His judgment. They invaded the southern kingdom and laid it to waste, including the holy city of Jerusalem. Those Israelites who survived the onslaught were hauled away into captivity.

While in Babylon, the exiled Israelites had a lot of time to think about what they had done. Many were ready to return to the Promised Land after God’s imposed penalty to start anew. And so when the Persians defeated the Babylonians late into the time of exile, the stage was set for God to allow His people to return and rebuild their lives, their nation, and their relationship with Him.

In the Old Testament books of Ezra and Nehemiah, we read about how the Persian king Cyrus permitted the Israelites to return to their homeland if they so chose and I think it’s important to remember than not everyone went back. For those who did, we read about this event that took place as Ezra opened up and read the words of the Law:

On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors. They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God. Nehemiah 9:1-3

Once the Israelites came back to their nation, we see in the last verse of chapter 7 through chapter 9 of Nehemiah that a priority was given to return to worshipping God and reconnecting with His word written in the Law. There were times of celebration and praise but then there was a time of solemn repentance as well as we see in the opening three verses of chapter 9. The scene was one of deep, heartfelt sorrow as the Israelites gathered together while fasting, wearing sackcloth, and heaping dust on their heads, the latter an intentional display of repentance. The scene was one of godly sorrow, a sorrow brought on by confession, a realization of just how sinful the Israelites had been before their God. It was this sorrow that brought the Israelites to repentance and a renewed commitment to get right with God and not repeat the errors of their ancestors.

Through this Old Testament event, we are reminded that a renewed relationship with God after one has strayed from His will into sin will lead to godly sorrow which in turn will result in repentance. When we read the word of God, illuminated and enhanced by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will always be convicted of our wrongs and led to a place of godly sorrow, saddened by our failure to be the person God wants us to be. This conviction and its subsequent repentance put us in a place where we can start fresh, having asked for forgiveness and knowing God will grant it when we are sincere in our confession and commitment to live in righteousness.

As we look at our single verse from 2 Corinthians 7, we see Paul reaffirming the beauty found in godly sorrow. Look again at his words here:

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. v. 10

When we come to the Lord in solemn confession, admitting our sin, we come knowing He is willing to forgive us from our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). This pardon leaves us with no regret as we have gotten ourselves right with God in the moment and we are reminded of the eternal hope we have through belief in Jesus who gave His life as an atonement for the sins of all mankind. Anyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

Conversely, worldly sorrow has no connection to salvation because those feeling sorry for something they have done aren’t really sincere about it. If they were, then they would confess before the God who judges all and is willing to save them. Those in the world but not in Christ are traveling a road to death and eternal damnation. Like the Israelites in exile, they will have plenty of time to rue over their decision to reject Christ but that regret won’t have an expiration date. It will be an eternal pondering in Hell.

This is the sorrow Paul wanted the Corinthians to avoid. He wished for all to have everlasting life and devoted his life to that cause. He never shied away from writing words of conviction and calling out sin because he knew salvation could always be the end result of sorrow turned godly.

I don’t know about you but God’s word convicts me of something every time I read it. I am reminded just I am far from perfect and a work in progress as the Lord continues to shape me into the man He wants me to be. In my life, there are times of spiritual joy when I know I am hitting God’s mark in the way I live but then there are those times when my flaws are exposed and laid bare. I rejoice in both of these and the work the Lord is doing in and through me. I pray He is doing the same in your life.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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SORRY, NOT SORRY

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while—yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us.

2 Corinthians 7:8-9

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

A recent ad campaign for one of my favorite candy products carried this slogan:

“Sorry, not sorry.”

On one hand, the company was seemingly apologizing for making peanut butter-filled chocolate cups that were incredibly delicious, so much so that people couldn’t stop buying and eating them.

On the other hand, the company wasn’t sorry for making candy that was so good to eat. Those who bought and consumed their product received great joy and satisfaction from doing so.

As we look at verses 8 and 9 of 2 Corinthians, chapter 7, we find the Apostle Paul engage in his own version of “sorry, not sorry” with the church in Corinth.

On one hand, Paul felt bad that he had to write words targeting wrongs inside the Corinthian church, wrongs that he knew would bring sorrow to the believers there. No one in Christ really likes to say things that are hurtful to others but sometimes, as we see in this case, it’s necessary.

You see, Paul’s words to the Corinthian Christians carried with it a big impact. His words convicted the church of its wrongs and this conviction produced a harvest of repentance as Jesus believers within the church committed themselves to turn from their wickedness toward righteousness. They weren’t harmed in any way by what Paul wrote. Rather, the apostle’s letter produced the sorrow and change that God intended.

Ultimately, all this left Paul happy and without regret. His words, directed by God, had the desired impact to produce the desired outcome. That’s what the word of Lord does when it takes root in those who hear and receive it.

What’s our takeaway today?

Sometimes ministry work requires that we be brutally honest with others, especially when it comes to sin. We should allow God to lead us to do and say what He intends so that His desired outcome is realized. Jesus did it and so did Paul. All we need to do is follow their lead.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to [email protected]

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COMFORT FOR THE DOWNCAST

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

For when we came into Macedonia, we had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn—conflicts on the outside, fears within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever.

2 Corinthians 7:5-7

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

It’s been a rough week. I am always busy but this week exceeded the norm, leaving me feeling down and exhausted after meeting all the many challenges of the past seven days. I needed a real pick me up, an injection of reassurance and encouragement.

Have you ever been in such a place? Maybe you’re there as you read this.

Well, I have to report that today, the Lord delivered to meet my needs and in a big way. First, He brought me a good night’s rest, rest that could be extended because I am off work today. Then, after He restored by physical and mental strength, He fully engaged my spiritual side as I sat and worked on the Sunday school lesson I will teach tomorrow. Engaging with the word of God and the Holy Spirit filled up my spiritual fuel tank to overflow and brought me to a place of great energetic joy. I was reminded how I am never more pumped up in life than when I am fully engaged with my Lord while doing His work and will.

As we turn to our two verses today from 2 Corinthians, chapter 7, we find Paul testifying about his own time of need for encouragement and a pick-me-up. He gained it from multiple sources, all provided by the Lord. Take a look again at his words here:

For when we came into Macedonia, we had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn—conflicts on the outside, fears within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever. vv. 5-7

Macedonia was a region north of Corinth. It’s where you find the city of Thessalonica.

By his own admission, Paul and those who were traveling with him came into the region tired. They weren’t at their best and vulnerable when they came under harassment “at every turn”, facing “conflicts on the outside” that resulted in “fears within”. He and the others needed help and God delivered.

We know this because Paul shares how the Lord brought them all comfort by sending Titus who shared how the Corinthian Christians had brought comfort to him while he was with them. Paul learned that God, the One who brings comfort to the downcast, had delivered for Titus and now was delivering for him and his ministry counterparts in Macedonia. For Titus brought more word from Corinth, that they were longing for Paul to return there and were showing ardent concern for Paul’s well being. I’m certain they were expressing this concern through prayers to the Lord on Paul’s behalf because this is one way that all believers should be showing concern for others, by interceding for needs via prayer to the One who can meet every need.

Paul’s need for comfort was satisfied by the Lord who brings comfort to the downcast. If you run down today by your life circumstances, I encourage you to turn to the word of God and allow it and the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart. I promise you that the Lord will meet you where you are and bring you encouragement and hope, lifting your spirits and providing you the assurance that He is with you and for you, in good times and bad.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to [email protected]

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IT TAKES TWO

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one. I do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you. I have spoken to you with great frankness; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.

2 Corinthians 7:2-4

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever been in a one-way relationship?

It’s when only one of the two members in a relationship is working to make things work. This is especially problematic when it comes to the matter of love.

I remember back to my first marriage and how it ended. My wife ended up having an affair with my next door neighbor and while I was away at sea, she moved in with him and took my two children along. When I returned a few months later, I was the next door neighbor to my own family. I can’t tell you how painful and hurtful that was.

After being deceived, I still was willing to accept my wife back. I wanted to reconcile differences and try to make things work but those overtures were laughed off. Nonetheless, I remained faithful and refused to enter into any other relationship as long as we were married. Eventually, things ended in divorce and I had to face the reality that I would have to move on in life. I came to learn one important thing from it all.

No matter how hard you try, you can’t make someone love you and relationships won’t last if only one is trying. It takes two.

Well, as we continue to look at the opening verses of 2 Corinthians 7, we find the Apostle Paul hoping to avoid a one-way relationship with the believers in Corinth. He begins with a simple plea:

Make room for us in your hearts.

Paul reminded the Corinthians that he and those with him had a special place in their hearts for the Corinthians. They had great pride in the church there and how it had established itself in the midst of a city where more established religions were present. Paul was greatly encouraged and possessed a joy that knew no bounds, even in the midst of his troubles as he moved from place to place while sharing the Gospel.

In his view, Paul didn’t see any reason why the Corinthian Christians wouldn’t reciprocate his love for them. Paul worked hard in his ministry work to do things the right and righteous way with the Lord as his guide. He wanted his efforts for the cause of Christ to be above reproach and so he was careful not to wrong, corrupt, or exploit anyone. If he was guilty of anything, it was speaking to the church in Corinth and the believers there “with great frankness”. The apostle never sugar-coated his messaging as he tried to develop the church to be what he knew the Lord wanted, no matter the church’s location. This is evident as you read any of his New Testament letters.

Now, we don’t know if the Corinthian church took Paul’s words to heart or not. Certainly, he did everything he could to promote that. But I think the scriptures here are seeking to teach us something well beyond Paul’s efforts to make sure his relationship with the believers in Corinth went both ways. For think about this matter in the context of our relationship with the Lord.

How often does the Lord pour out His heart to us and yet we don’t give Him the same love in return?

Do we really want to be honest and answer that question?

I believe the question convicts and challenges us as Christians for if we are to hope to have a proper relationship with the Lord, we need to be as devoted to Him as He is to us. It takes two to have the kind of association and rapport the Lord expects and desires.

My prayer is that we all will respond to this message with a renewed commitment to dedicate ourselves fully to the Lord who is fully dedicated to us. When we do, we will find a life more fulfilling and blessed than we could ever imagine, a life that will be the envy of others who are graving proper two-way relationships in their own lives.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to [email protected]

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SEEK PURITY

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

2 Corinthians 7:1

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

How does our Lord desire for us to live?

It could be summed up in these words spoken by Him to His believers:

“I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy.” Leviticus 11:44

Consecrate yourselves and be holy..

Note here that God isn’t providing a suggestion. He’s giving His people a command to consecrate themselves (an action word) so to gain a specific result (to become holy).

Why?

Because God wants His people to dedicate themselves to be like Him, to be holy as He is.

Okay, so what in the world does it mean to consecrate something, in this case ourselves?

The dictionary tells us that we are to make something sacred, dedicated to a divine purpose. Spiritually speaking, we are to strive to be perfectly righteous and blameless in the sight of God and the world. This means we need to shun sin and when we do, we won't look like the people of the world anymore. Rather, we will be drastically different and set apart. In other words, we will be defined more by our purity and holiness than by our wickedness.  

New Testament missionaries didn’t wish for God’s people to forget His order to consecrate in order to be holy. We find Peter quoting God’s word from Leviticus in the opening chapter of his letter (1 Peter 1:16). And we find the Apostle Paul presenting the importance of holiness to the Christians in Corinth as he writes this opening verse from the seventh chapter:

Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

Chapter 6 of 2 Corinthians ends with a call to avoid uncleanliness (sinfulness) in life for this is the life that would be favorable in God’s sight, a life that He would receive. In verse 18, Paul repeats God’s promise to be the Father of His sons and daughters who devoted themselves to righteousness.

It is this promise that we find Paul referring to at the start of chapter 7 and in response to God’s promise, he exhorted the Corinthian believers to purify themselves “from everything that contaminates body and spirit”. This spiritual cleansing would lead to “perfecting holiness”, to be holy as God the Father is holy. Ultimately, it would show a deep reverence and respect for our Lord, reverence and respect born out of an obedience response to His commands.

Friends, we need to ensure that purity is a quality we seek daily. God called us to it and that really settles it. If we want to honor Him the right way, we can start by doing what He told us to do and He demanded that we be holy as He is holy.  

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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BE CAREFUL WHO YOU HANG WITH

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.

For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate”, says the Lord. “Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters”, says the Lord Almighty.”

2 Corinthians 6:14-18

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

You are what you eat.

Maybe you have heard this saying used before.

The saying’s origin goes all the way back to the early 1800’s when a French lawyer by the name of Anthelme Brillat-Savarin published an article titled “Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante”. In the article, he wrote "Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es." Which translated means “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are”.

The point is that our health relies largely on the foods we eat. Consume foods that are unhealthy and you will more likely than not find yourself with any variety of afflictions that come from it like diabetes or congestive heart failure or even any number of cancers. Conversely, commit yourself to eat foods that are healthy and promote the development of a fit body and you can minimize the chances that sickness will fall upon you.

In taking these physiological truths and translating them into a spiritual illustration, we can point at the large variety of influences in life and treat them as if we were talking about food. For whatever you open up your eyes and ears to will impact the state of your heart.

This applies to the songs that we listen to. It applies to the shows we watch on television, the movies we watch, or what we choose to stream off the internet. And it applies to the people we decide to connect ourselves to, either directly or indirectly, people who can persuade us to think, speak, or behave in ways that are sinful and unacceptable to our Lord.

In regard to the latter, we see in our scripture passage for today that God warns His believers to exercise absolute caution in whom they chose to hang with. For there were numerous belief systems in place at the time God brought His people to the land He promised and He knew that the Israelites could easily be swayed to place their life’s direction and heart’s affection on false gods which really was any god except for Him, the one and only true God. And so He spoke to His people through the messengers he appointed, messengers which included Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Samuel who we find the Apostle Paul quoting as he writes these closing words of 2 Corinthians 6:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.

For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate”, says the Lord. “Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters”, says the Lord Almighty.”

2 Corinthians 6:14-18

In verse 14, we find Paul sharing Old Testament advice in the New. He didn’t want the Corinthian Christians to be corrupted in what they believed and so he commands them to not yoke together with unbeliever. The New Living Translation takes the word “yoked” and replaces it with “don’t team up with those who are unbelievers”. Using our English slang, we might say today, “Don’t hang out with unbelievers”. Any and all of these send the same warning. Be careful who you associate with.

So why should Christians resist in attaching themselves to unbelievers?

Paul shows the stark contrast that exists in these kinds of potential relationships through our passage.

Christians live in righteousness while unbelievers choose to live for the world and its wickedness. There have been so many horrific acts of violence punctuated by senseless killings. The world would have us believe it’s a gun problem. It’s really a God problem as in a godlessness problem with non-believers. No one who truly believes in the Lord is going to kill someone else out of personal motive because God commanded His people not to murder.

Christians live in His light where unbelievers walk in the darkness of the world and its ways. Darkness is where we find evil happening most of the time as non-believers sin under the cloak of night so they can avoid detection. The problem is that God sees everything. What is done in the dark will be brought to light by Him.

Christians are defined by their relationship with Jesus and the saving work He calls them to do. These Christ believers have nothing in common with Belial, a Hebrew word used to define people who are wicked and worthless.

In the end translation, there is no commonality to justify a close and intimate relationship between Christians and those who have rejected Jesus. Just as God commanded His people to divorce themselves from unclean things, we are to do the same today. This is what was pleasing in His sight.

Yes, Christians are called to bring the Gospel message to the unclean. There is no question about this. Jesus called His disciples to go and make disciples. But note He didn’t tell us to build long standing relationships with those who rejected Him. For He knew that Satan would like nothing better than to draw a Christian believer into sinful behavior through one of his minions with the intent of discrediting them so they would lose integrity and effectiveness in bringing the good news of salvation through Jesus to others.

Like Jesus, we are to associate with sinful non-believers but only to share the Gospel with them. If they choose to continue refusing God’s offer of eternal life through His Son, then Christians need to move on to someone who will accept it just as Jesus told the Twelve to leave anyplace they weren’t welcomed, knocking the dust off their sandals.

Christ followers are to be careful who they hang with to avoid being adversely influenced to think, speak, or behave in ways that run counter to the way Jesus lived. In the end translation, we honor Jesus by becoming more and more like Him every day through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We only become Christians in the truest sense when He is the One who is guiding the things we think, say, and do.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to [email protected]

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.

2 Corinthians 6:11-13

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Relationships are often transactional.

People elect government officials to represent them and in turn, those elected officials are expected to work in the best interest of those who put them in office.

A person interviews for a job and is hired. The new employee brings their skills and talents to bear to carry out the work they are asked to do and, in turn, the employer plays them a wage or salary for their services.

When it comes to interpersonal relationships, friend to friend or husband to wife in marriage, the transaction is typically centered on love. We all want to feel cared for and we choose to be around people that value us. Take love out of a relationship and the relationship doesn’t usually sustain.

We get a sense that the Apostle Paul is concerned about his relationship with the Corinthian church as we look at the two verses forming the base for today’s message. Look again at his words here:

We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also. 2 Corinthians 6:11-13

Here we find Paul openly professing the love that he and his ministry counterparts had for the church in Corinth and the believers there. The missionaries had “opened wide” their hearts and never withheld their affection for their brothers and sisters in Christ but as we can see, there wasn’t a fair exchange happening, at least in Paul’s view. The transactional relationship was lacking transaction. It was only working in one direction.

And so Paul, speaking to the Corinthian Christians as if they were his children, asked for them to also “open wide” their hearts to him and those working with him. He hoped that the love and affection between the Jesus followers in Corinth and the missionaries would run both ways.

Does this happen to us today? Do we find ourselves in situations where we love and care for others but receive nothing in return?

I know I have been in these circumstances in more than one occasion. They are hurtful and frustrating.

So how do we deal with these relationships where love transaction is expected but not received?

Here are two key things the Lord has taught me through His holy word and Spirit:

First, he convicted me through the Holy Spirit.

Now you’re probably thinking, “Convicted and not encouraged?”

Trust me, it was conviction in its purest sense.

So what was the nature of the conviction?

It came by way of the Lord forcing me to face how I have handled my relationship with Him. He asked me if I had ever failed to show Him love when He was loving me. Of course, I was guilty as charged. I have never loved the Lord as well as He's loved me and frankly have taken Him for granted too many times. Way too many.

And yet, He has never ceased to love me, even when I wasn’t giving it to Him in return. In doing show, He has shown me how I need to respond to people who don’t return love to me after I give it to them. I am supposed to keep loving them anyways.

And this leads me to the scriptures and this single verse from Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, a verse that contains these three powerful words:

“Love never fails.” 13:8

God’s word is truth and when His word tells us love never fails then it won’t. The Lord is telling us through the scriptures to never give up. We’re to persevere in loving others even when that love isn’t returned. Yes, we are going to find ourselves in relationships that may fall short of being transactional when it comes to love but in those times we can look to our Lord and be reminded how we are to love others, without fail at all times.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to [email protected]