SPIRITUAL CHILDREN
Opening Prayer
Mighty God, you are the God of all the years, the God beyond all years, the author and source and goal of all my living. I trust in you.
Read 2 CORINTHIANS 12:11-21
Paul’s Concern for the Corinthians
11 I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the “super-apostles,”[a] even though I am nothing. 12 I persevered in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles. 13 How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!
14 Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. 15 So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less? 16 Be that as it may, I have not been a burden to you. Yet, crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery! 17 Did I exploit you through any of the men I sent to you? 18 I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not walk in the same footsteps by the same Spirit?
19 Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening. 20 For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. 21 I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.
Footnotes
- 2 Corinthians 12:11 Or the most eminent apostles
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘May my cry come before you, Lord; give me understanding according to your word’ (Psalm 119:169).It seems that some in the church were accusing Paul of favoring other churches over them. With a little sarcasm, he points out that the only thing they have been denied is an expectation that they should contribute to his expenses (v 13). The Corinthians were his spiritual children, and as such he did not expect them to contribute to their own upbringing (v 14).
What will Paul find when he makes his next trip to Corinth? He fears that the sins about which he had to write earlier are still rife. The lifestyle of some Christians was not very different from that of the surrounding culture, and the rest of the church was too accepting of wrong behavior. What would Paul find in the average church today?
We may be shocked at the sexual sins Paul condemns, but he is equally concerned about less spectacular problems which are found in many churches. How many Christian communities are free from ‘discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder’ (v 20)? Do we take such things as seriously as we should? I once read in an old church minutes book that a member had been barred from Communion for gossiping; I wonder what the reaction would be if we tried that today!
Apply
Read again the list of sins in verses 20 and 21. If God challenges you, ask for his forgiveness and help.
Closing prayer
Loving God, I pray for my church family. I ask that we will be as a light set on a hill, demonstrating the difference Jesus Christ can make in a community.
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