Forgiveness

Corinthians 6:1-3
This passage begins with a sense of urgency; Paul is trying to tell the Corinthians that the spreading of the good news about Jesus is urgent and not something that can be left. He says to the Corinthians that:
We urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.
God has given them the opportunity of a relationship with him and Paul is begging them not to receive God’s grace in vain. He then quotes from Isaiah 49:8.
Now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation.
The long awaited time of salvation has finally arrived and Paul is spurring the Christians on to tell people and he is also telling them not to waste this opportunity to accept God’s grace which has been freely given to them through Christ’s death.
On Sunday we heard the speaker talking about the rapture and that it is something that is certainly coming. The Bible describes it as coming like a thief in the night to take us to be with Jesus. We also do not know the day or time of our own deaths. In light of these two facts Paul is urging the Corinthians to tell people about Christ. This is a challenge to us too. How much urgency do we put into telling people about Jesus? Is it something that we do with the imminence of Christ’s return or our own deaths hanging over us or is it something which we do timidly, always leaving it until the next conversation, the next day at work, the next opportunity? Paul tells us all. The time of God’s favour is now and it will not last forever. This also encourages us to live holy lives. Would we be living our lives in the same way if we knew now that Jesus was coming back today or tomorrow?

Corinthians 6:3-10
Paul now describes how he has tried to spread the gospel and the hardships he has suffered. He says that as a servant of God he has tried to live a life worthy of his undertaking so that the ministry will not be discredited. He even goes so far as to commend himself in every way as a servant of Christ. In attempting to spread the gospel, Paul states that he has suffered troubles, hardships, distresses, beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard work, sleepless nights and hunger. And that he has done all of this in purity, understanding, patience, kindness, in the holy spirit, in sincere love, in truthful speech, and in the power of God.
For him, the immanency of Christ’s return was real. For Paul all these trials and suffering were worth it so as to save souls for the kingdom of God. And we must ask ourselves, “Do we personally think that it is worth it for us to go through the same trials and suffering that Paul went through so as to tell people of the gospel”?
If yes then we do not have any excuse in the world not to be telling everyone we know about Christ. Do all my friends and family know I’m a Christian? It is our duty as Christians to tell people the good news of the cross. The reason that Paul was able to do all this was that he understood the importance of telling people. He says it at the end of the verse! Having nothing yet possessing everything! Here was a man who had his eyes fixed completely on heaven and on God. Are our eyes so totally fixed on God and on the next life that we can say, even if we were poverty stricken, that we possessed everything?
To take this idea further: how committed is the church to outreach in the area? If your answer would be that we as a church are very committed to the local area, why do we not have many new people joining the fellowship? Would we as a church, still attempt to reach the local population with the gospel if we knew that we would face the kind of trials that Paul faced? If the answer is not yes, then our outreach and our attitude towards outreach is sourly lacking!!!

Pray for Outreach!


Corinthians 6:14-7:1
People, trying to undermine his position in the eyes of the Corinthians, have started many of the rumours about Paul. These people, Paul refers to as false prophets. He uses this as an opportunity to look not only at the Corinthians and the partnership they have with these so-called false prophets but also to look at the general subject of Christians being in the world but not of the world!
I’m sure we have all heard of this idea of being in the world but not part of it. It is a hard line to walk. Now this idea of being unequally yoked comes from the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 22:10 where it states that “You shall not plough with an ox and a donkey yoked together”. This is a perfectly sensible idea, since the animals will be unequal in size and speed and they will be unable to plough. However here the idea goes far deeper. The donkey was seen as unclean by the Old Testament law, whereas the ox was not. Therefore this was breaking God’s law. In the same way, the yoking of the believer with the non-believer is contrary to God’s law.
So, what does this yoking together of the believer and the non-believer actually mean? In the direct context of the passage it is telling the believers at Corinth that they should not be in fellowship with those people who do not follow Christ. However this verse also has a far more general idea of the separation of the believer from the un-believer. Firstly it is generally agreed that this means that marriage or going out with non-believers is strictly not allowed. This is because the body is described here in the passage as God’s Holy temple. By marrying or going out with a non-believer, it is seen as corrupting that holy temple. However, how far should this principle of separation be taken by us Christians in our everyday lives? We are in almost constant contact with the non-believer everyday. Well all the commentaries that I have read have stated that this includes business as well as marriage.
To quote one of them, “A Christian should maintain contact with the un-believer in an effort to win them over to Christ, but he/she should never engage in their sinful pleasures or in any of their activities in such a way as to lead them to think he is no different than they”. We must remind ourselves constantly that we are the salt and light of the world and what good is salt if it does not make something salty or light if it does not remove the darkness?
In preparing this talk I found that The Message’s translation of the passage was very helpful. Let me now read it to you.
Read The Message: 6*-7
The first verse of chapter 7 sums up the practical advice that has been given in the verses that we have just studied.
Read NIV 7:1

Prayer for wisdom in how we relate to the world and outreach!

2 Corinthians 7:2-16
In chapter seven we see Paul trying to straighten out some of the loose ends that have resulted from some misunderstandings within the church towards him. This kind of problem within the church is very common isn’t it? Someone will give some advice or say something that is misinterpreted or misunderstood and it causes splits in the fellowship. Sometimes these splits are simply a case of explaining to the other person what the problem was, whereas sometimes these splits can create animosity between people for years and years and can really upset the unity of the fellowship that we have through Christ!
Here Paul is facing this exact problem. It seems that he has made certain comments about the Corinthians that have been taken the wrong way and that now he is trying to explain to them that he did not mean to harm them! In verse 2 he makes this clear by stating that “We have wronged no-one, we have corrupted no-one, we have exploited no-one”. He then goes on to say that they hold a high position in Paul’s heart and that he takes pride in them. It seems however that something has happened and Paul has had to write them a strong worded letter. We see this idea repeated in 2 Corinthians 2:2-4. Read! But he is saying that he did not write this to put people down but to show them the error of their ways so that they could repent and have a renewed relationship with the Lord!
I think that this is something that everybody here should really take to heart. And honestly ask ourselves, how good are we at taking advice? Do we hold a grudge against anybody because they have given us advice that we have not agreed with? I understand that this can be a very touchy subject and can cause problems between people. If you believe 100% that you are right but someone tells you that you are not then it can cause serious upsets between people.
However here we see the value of good advice taken the right way. In this case, Paul was afraid that the Corinthians would take the advice the wrong way. They did not however and the result was that they repented and enjoyed a renewed relationship, not only with Paul but also and more importantly with the Lord.
We should stop and think now. Is there any advice that someone has given me? Have I really thought about it or have I rejected it out of hand? If we reject advice then it could be to our detriment. If we think that that advice is wrong then we should not hold a grudge against the person giving it! No one is perfect. Often though, it is our own pride and refusal to admit that we are wrong that causes us to refuse advice, that might actually help us greatly, both in our relationships with others and with the Lord God.
Pray for unity within the Church and a spirit of Forgiveness!