2 Corinthians 8:10-11 And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.

We all know the Nike motto: “Just Do It“. This is what Paul was asking the Corinthians to do. A year earlier, they had found out of the poverty and need of another church. They had gotten together, and expressed an eagerness and willingness to give. In fact, their zeal had already encouraged other churches to give. But it’s a year later, and they haven’t yet given. They’re “sitting on their hands”. And Paul says “my advice is this. Stop talking, and start doing.”

I’m guilty of this in my life. There’s a book I know I should read on marriage, and it’s been on my Kindle, untouched – Just do it. There’s that couple who has a crazy schedule, but needs to go through our discipleship material. And I’ve meant to ask them if a weekend or evening time will work – Just do it. There’s a need that I know needs met, and I can meet it if I stretch myself a little bit – Just do it. There’s a child with a heart problem, and it’s evident that they need time and prayer and prodding, we might just want to do it. There’s someone we can tell is hurting, or maybe someone that is going a little wayward, and it’s going to take our time and mental and emotional energy to pull them back into the fold, so we’ve put off. It’s worth it to Just do it. Maybe there’s someone I know I need to forgive, or ask to be forgiven. I’ve had the intention to do it, but have put it off. Just do it. There are people in our class that need fellowship, and a once a month house fellowship would be great for them. It’s been a year of putting it off… – Just do it! There’s a ministry opportunity where I can make a difference, or a soul that I know I should have witnessed to, or something the Lord has brought to my mind that I have the desire to do, and the means with which to do it -I might want to just do it.

Someone said that at the end of our lives, we’ll most likely regret the things we didn’t do more than the things that we did do. If there’s something that the Lord has worked in our heart about, and it’s something good, and we know we ought to be a part of meeting the need or making the difference, might we be done with putting it off, and just do it.

2 Corinthians 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

This morning’s reading reminds me of the importance of examining and cleansing both our flesh and our spirit. It’s so easy for the world, the flesh, and the devil, and the “dirtiness” that comes with them, to creep into our lives. It doesn’t matter how long I’ve been saved or serving – I need that cleansing.

I may not be around the world as much, or in a “dirty environment”. But I am flesh, and by the very nature of flesh, I need examination and cleansing. In my context, the majority of my work day is behind a computer screen, and/or teaching. These are not very dirty jobs. In fact, I could go an entire work day without seeing dirt. But one thing is certain – at the end of the day, I need a shower! Likewise, living in this “flesh”, daily, let us “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness”, both of the flesh (outwardly), and the spirit (our inward man).

Of course, as Paul reminds us at the end of the verse, this stems from a holy fear of the Lord! No matter where we are in our walk with the Lord, might we examine myself daily, and make sure that there is nothing in my life between me and my Lord.

 2 Corinthians 5:10-11 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

John Gill said “This is a reason why the saints are so diligent and laborious, so earnest and intent upon it, to be accepted of the Lord, because they must stand before the judgment seat of Christ.”
One of the most sobering and motivating thoughts on this side of eternity is that one day, everyone of us will stand before the judgment seat of Christ – the Judge of all the earth – and will give an account of our lives to Him (Rom 14:12). It is it His seat that our stewardship, our works, and our very motives for doing them will be made manifest (1 Cor 4:2-5).

As a ministry leader and father, this reality holds so much more weight as I realize that I will also give account for the stewardship of my life, family, and ministry as well (Heb 13:17). But there’s something else. I also realize that, within my realm of leadership, I am helping to prepare for the judgment seats of others.

I love my wife. I have thought much recently about my wife’s time of standing before the Lord. I hope to God that I will have loved, helped, co-labored, encouraged, and enabled her to live her life in such a way that she will rejoice when she stands before that seat. Then there are my children. I’d give my life for them in this world. But I must think of their time in the next. They, too, will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and give an account to Him of their lives. I must strive to train, nurture, admonish, challenge, and encourage them to live their lives so that when they stand before Him, there are not regrets.

My dad often said, “my job as a pastor is to help my people to have a better judgment seat.” I believe if we really read and meditated and comprehended even a fraction of what that day will be like, we will – we must – live differently. But further than that, I believe we will do all we can to challenge all those in our world of influence to live their lives so that when they give an account to Christ, they, too, can do it with joy, and not with regret.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

It is easy to get caught up living our lives for the things that are seen, because we’re human and it surrounds us. However, these things are temporal. They will not last. One day, they will burn. In our reading, Paul exhorts us to “look at” the things that cannot be seen – through faith and spiritual eyes and vision. For, those are the things that last. Those are the things that are eternal. When we do this, we will live differently. When we do this, we’ll be able to put up with a lot more (as in verse 17). When we do this, our eyes are taken off of ourselves, and begin to focus on the things that matter – God and people.

Might we lives our lives for the things that are not seen. Might we set our affection above. Might we live for eternity.

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

This morning I thank the Lord that at salvation, when the Holy Spirit came in, He brought a freedom from the bondage of sin and death. Before salvation, I couldn’t but help it. I was “under” a life of sin and death. But when Christ came in, two things happened:

First, I was made free from sin and the law, and free to serve the Lord in the liberty of my conscience. The word liberty means: The state of being free from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views; a right, or privilege, especially a statutory one; the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved. I was made free and at liberty to serve the Lord without the letter and condemnation of the law hovering over me.

Secondly, I was made free to be changed into the image of Christ. We must understand that the “veil” of the law and that bondage was put away so the we could see the glory and image of Jesus. It’s not so we can just walk after the dictates of our heart. We have been made free from the blindness that the law brought, so that we could see clearly, and be “changed into the same image from glory to glory”. Simply put, we can now see and know the life of Christ (the “glory”, the Gospel), and therefore ought to live a life like Christ.

This morning, I’m thankful that we’re free in Christ. And I’m further thankful that through the Spirit, I’m free to see His glory and “choose” to live my life in service to Him, seeking to become more and more like Him each day of my life.

2 Corinthians 2:7-8 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.

A goal as Christians ought to be the restoration of the fallen brother or sister. Unfortunately, people will fall. And some won’t just fall – they will walk willfully into a sinful lifestyle.  Sin is enticing, and Satan is a slick, dirty liar and deceiver. As we see in Scripture, we can’t condone sin. It must be dealt with in the church and in our realm of influence, lest it spread like cancer. However – and here is the thought for today – when a brother or sister is dealt with according to their sin, and when the world, flesh, and devil have chewed them up and spit them out (which they will), and when they realize how empty and vain the deceitfulness of riches and lust of the flesh is, and desire to get right, might they always know that there is a place where they can find repentance, restoration, and forgiveness.

Probably the greatest case made in Scripture for our responsibility to forgive is the one made in Ephesians 4:32: “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you”. How do we know if or how we should forgive one who is seeking restoration? “As Christ hath forgiven you”. That’s pretty deep stuff. If we compare our forgiveness to Christ’s, we’ll have no problem bringing the lost sheep back to the fold. I see three things we can do in these verses:

1. Forgive – We ought to forgive, fully, and freely, as Christ did to us.
2. Comfort – When one comes back, they don’t need the stick. They need comfort. Many times they’re hurting, shamed, and seeking to put the past behind them. Let us be the ones that comfort.
3. Confirm our love toward them – It’s one thing to say we forgive. It’s another thing to confirm that love in our actions.

And so when the wayward brother or sister comes back, which many will, let us welcome them with open arms, like Paul, or the father of the Prodigal son, or like Christ. Let’s forgive, comfort, and confirm our love through our actions.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

I am reminded this morning that God is merciful, and He it is that comforts us when the testings and trials of this life come upon us – no matter how hard they might be. Paul’s testing was so harsh that he “despaired even of life.” But Paul reminds us in verse four why we are comforted. He says it is done “that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble.”

He comforts us “that”, or “for the reason”,  we  might comfort others. Maturity in the Christian life causes me to stop looking at everything through the lens of “me”, and to begin to see what happens through the lens of Christ and others. If there’s a trouble in my life, or testing, or situation I don’t understand, first, I should seek the God of all comfort, Who is willing and able to comfort me. Secondly, as I begin to receive that comfort, I ought to begin to look for ways to also comfort those who need comfort. This is the mind of God.

1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

There is so much truth and doctrine packed in this one chapter, it’s hard to write on any one. Paul gives so many nuggets of insight and admonition, one could teach for a long time through 1 Corinthians 15 and still have more to teach. But the underlying theme is this: One day, we will rise, as Christ did, and be forever with the Lord. In this life, we might “die daily” (vs 31). We might have times where we’re “most miserable” (vs 19). We might (and must) be like the seed, which falls to the ground, and dies (vs 36-38). We might be in jeopardy (vs 30). We might fight battles (vs 32). But in the and, and praise be to the Lord, we will rise in victory. There is victory over death. There’s victory over the grave. There’s a crown. There’s victory with Jesus Christ. We will be changed to be like Him. We will lose corruption and put on incorruption. And we will put on immortality, ever to be with the Son and the Father, where there will be rewards, and rejoicing for all of eternity.

He hits a climax in light of our lives and eternity near the end, which has taken 57 verses to build. But then Paul adds and ends it all with one verse that sums up our response to this: “be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” Because we know about the resurrection, and because we know about the rewards, and because we know that we will live with Him for all of eternity, and because of Christ’s example, might we give our lives 100% to this thing. Might we be “all-in”. Might we be unmovable. Might we look stedfastly toward that time in eternity. Might we be abounding – growing, fruitful, serving fully – in the work of the Lord. And we can rest assured of this: our labor is not in vain in the Lord!

1 Corinthians 14:26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

I am reminded that, as members of the church of God, one of our primary purposes is to edify one another. The word edify (οἰκοδομή) was used in architectural. It meant “to build up”. Paul talked about tongues, and about prophesying, and about gifts. All in all, he said, we can desire many things in the ministry and in the church. But if those things we seek aren’t edifying (building) others, Paul basically says, “what’s the use?” Might we seek to use our gifts and talents to build up those in the church, as well as those we seek to reach with the Gospel.

1 Corinthians 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

How often are we “judged” because we fail to judge ourselves first? The short thought this morning is this: might we judge (try, examine, prove) ourselves and come before the Lord humbly. Let us condemn ourselves, by confessing, acknowledging, and mourning over our sins, so that the Lord doesn’t have to judge and point the finger at us. Let’s keep a “short account” of sin in our lives with the Lord. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.