A Fitting Conclusion - 37

Well, today, after a long journey, we come to the last section of the last chapter of the last Corinthian epistle that's included in our New Testament. The church at Corinth was planted by the apostle Paul on his second missionary journey. He labored there in the city of Corinth for 18 months to get that church established. As you know, the second longest period of the New Testament, the second longest period of the New Testament. The longest period of time that he spent in any city, Ephesus only exceeding the length of time there.

But you think about that. Established a church in 18 months and in other cities in less time than that. It's clear that there was a special anointing, a special power working in the life of the apostle Paul that is not true in most ministers of the gospel today, most missionaries today. If a missionary gets a church established in a four-year term of service, that's really, really good.

And sometimes it takes many, many, many more years than that. So Paul was a special vessel anointed by God, and he planted churches all over the Roman empire, and one of these was in the city of Corinth. To that church, Paul wrote two epistles that are preserved for us in the New Testament, plus one and we think probably two others that are referred to but are not preserved for us by the Holy Spirit of God.

And furthermore, in addition to his 18 months there initially, he visited at least two more times. And when you think about all of this, you realize that Paul expended unusual attention and labor upon this church. The question is, why? Why so much more labor in Corinth than in other locations? The first answer to that question is because, as you know, the church at Corinth had more problems than most other churches. They needed more attention because of those problems. But secondly, we can say it's clear that Paul deeply loved them, and he was determined not to give up on them. Yes, they had problems. Was he ever tempted to say, I'm done, phooey, that's enough, that's all. They're on their own. They can either thrive or disintegrate because I've given them enough time.

I've given them more time than anybody else. But if he felt that way, there's no indication of it anywhere in Scripture. All we see is that he loved them deeply and he would not give them up, and he was determined to continue doing whatever needed to be done in order to bring them to full maturity and to usefulness for the Lord. And it is obvious that God blessed Paul's intense concern for Corinth, and we're going to see how all of this comes together at the end, for we have indeed come to the end of the material that we have in Scripture regarding this church in Corinth. The fitting conclusion, Paul's final words to the church at Corinth.

Now, one way to look at the passage in front of us is to recognize that it divides into two very obvious portions. Verses 8, 9, and 10 continue what went before. In the first seven verses, just for sake of not taking too much at one time, we broke it where we did. I realized that the week before I had tried to squeeze too much into one sermon, and so I was determined that I would not do that again. So there is a section, the first part, that connects with what has gone before, and then there's an obvious break at verse 11 where we have the concluding words, finally, brethren, farewell, and so forth. And so it would seem logical to break our message today into two parts, but I'm not going to do that.

I've actually got five parts, so here we go. We're going to see, number one, Paul's integrity, number two, Paul's prayer, number three, Paul's authority, number four, Paul's desire, and number five, Paul's blessing. Number one, Paul's integrity, verse eight, where he says, for we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. We can do nothing against the truth, but we can do much for the truth. What is Paul saying? Well, he is saying, first of all, that he is determined to put truth above self-interest.

This is a continuation of what has gone before. You remember in verse seven, he said, now I pray to God that you do no evil, that is, that you don't sin, that you stop sinning, that you do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable, though we may seem disqualified. You remember what that's all about? Paul was being challenged to demonstrate his apostolic authority by showing great personal power, particularly by demonstrating divine power by chastening disobedient Christians. I don't know what it was about that that some people thought was particularly significant, but they did. And they were challenging Paul's apostolic authority because he hadn't displayed that kind of power for quite a while. He actually did back as recorded in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 when he apostolically excommunicated that member of the Corinthian church who was living in fornication with his stepmother, and they hadn't dealt with it, and Paul did. That's interesting.

I don't want to go back to that again, but there's a lot of things interesting about that. Paul obviously understood that he had more power as an apostle than anybody else in a similar leadership position would have today. Nobody today would say, it would be like my saying, over there in Zimbabwe, one of the churches, there's somebody that is living immorally and you all haven't taken care of it yet, so I excommunicate them. Bang. You say, you wouldn't do that. No, you're right, I wouldn't. I couldn't do that. That wouldn't be appropriate.

That wouldn't be right. That would be beyond the authority that's been given to me. But clearly Paul had greater authority than a pastor. He was an apostle. And he had exercised that authority in regard to this man, but now he hasn't exercised anything like that for a long time. And he certainly hasn't caused anybody to drop dead on the spot like Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter 5 when Peter dealt with their sins in the church.

And so there were some that were holding this up and saying, he's weak. He doesn't have this kind of power. He's not a real apostle. He's not qualified to be called an apostle.

He's not qualified for you members of the Corinthian church to consider him to be an apostle. And so back to verse 7. Now I pray to God that you do no evil. He's been appealing to them to deal with sins in their midst individually.

There are some in the church who are sinning grievously and you haven't dealt with it yet. I'm appealing you to do that. I'm appealing to you to stop your evil. Not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable. That's the most important thing.

That you do what is right and you do it now. Don't wait. Don't wait for me to come. Though we may appear disqualified, if you get everything straightened out, all the sins confessed, repented of, acknowledged, removed, and are no longer practicing them, then when I come for this third visit, I'm not going to wield this mighty, authoritative, apostolic power and discipline people and excommunicate them and deal with them in great power. So some of you will say, see there, we told you he doesn't have that kind of power.

He's disqualified. And Paul said, if you clean up your act, I may seem to some to be disqualified as an apostle, but that's not what's most important. What's most important, now verse 8, for we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. Paul is saying if they respond to his admonitions, Paul may appear disqualified to those who judge his qualifications by the exercise of disciplinary power. If they repent, Paul loses the opportunity to display that power and to prove to these critics that he is a genuine apostle.

In other words, Paul loses an opportunity to elevate himself, to raise his own honor and esteem in the eyes of others, but why would he do that if truth has already been honored and put into its place by operating in the lives of these sinning members and operating properly within the church? I would rather that you respond to truth than that I appear to be qualified because I am not going to do anything against truth. I only operate in support of truth.

And if in truth you have dealt with this, then I'm not going to do anything. In other words, Paul elevated truth above self-interest. There would have been a great temptation for him to say, I'm going to show you, I'm going to show you, some of you are questioning me, you're criticizing me, I'm going to show you my apostolic power.

Regardless, I'll show it one way or another, you just wait till I get there, but Paul says no. If truth is already in place, then I don't do this because it's not necessary. I honor truth above my own self-interest.

That's not true of everybody. There are many who would prefer self-exaltation to truth. But Paul sets an example. Paul leads the way. Paul shows us what is most honoring to the Lord. So truth above self-interest, verse 8 in the first part, and truth above everything else in verse 8, the last part, Paul says, for we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth.

Nothing, nothing. Not only we cannot exalt ourselves in opposition to truth, but we can do nothing against the truth. This is a broader statement even than just this one occasion of his own apostolic power. I'm not willing to advance the church at the expense of truth. I'm not willing to advance Christian ministry at the expense of truth.

I'm not willing to do anything at the expense of truth. All of the ministers of Christ would learn this and never fail to operate this way. Oh, that all of the churches, all churches that call themselves churches would understand this and would always operate this way.

How pragmatic we can be at times. How we can excuse doing things because that'll grow the church even when we know good and well that causes compromise and truth. That's going to cut some corners. But after all, it's important that the church look good, that the church be seen as growing, that the church be seen as important. And so church advancement above truth, Paul says, no, truth above everything else. Paul's highest concern was for truth above his own self-interest, above the reputation of the church, above the reputation of Christian ministry in other ways. That was Paul's highest concern and that ought to be ours.

But sadly, that's not true of all. Several times throughout the epistles, Paul laments the fact that he had a hard time finding ministry partners that had the same integrity, the same commitment to truth above everything else as he had. He said so many are more interested in their own self-interest than they are in the gospel, than they are in the truth. It saddened him and it was a sad commentary on some of those who call themselves ministers of the gospel. But this is Paul's integrity, that his life and ministry were regulated entirely by truth. That should be true of all ministers of the gospel, yea, that should be true of all who call themselves children of the Most High God. Truth above everything else.

Paul's integrity. Number two, Paul's prayer, verse nine. It goes on to say, for we are glad when we are weak and you are strong.

And this we also pray that you may be made complete. Paul's prayer, verse nine, is for two things. Number one, for the strength of believers and number two, for the healthy functioning of believers.

And they're closely related. But first of all, for the strength of believers and that's Paul's prayer, going back to the words of verse seven, when he says, now I pray to God that you do no evil, and that prayer that we've already looked at continues in verse seven, verse eight, and into verse nine. This is still all part of Paul's prayer for them. And his prayer is that you be strong even if we are weak. Now this is still talking about the same sort of thing that we explained a moment ago, but he's using the word strong and weak not in an identical sense, but in illustrative correspondence, I guess is the best way I can put it.

He's praying for the strength of believers. He said, even if we are weak or we seem weak in the exercise of apostolic authority, we are glad when you are strong in a different sense. We may be weak in what some people consider to be a qualifying characteristic of apostolic authority, but that's okay if you are strong, not in apostolic authority, because that's not the issue with them, but if you are strong in a different sense. If you are strong in faith, we're glad to be weak if you are strong. If you are strong in repentance, we're glad to be seen as weak in apostolic authority if you are strong in repentance. If you are strong in obedience, if you are strong in self-examination of sin and correction of error in your life, if you are strong in your Christian walk, then we're glad about that. Our prayer is for you to be strong even if we seem to be weak. So his prayer is number one for the strength of believers and prayer number two for the healthy function of believers because he goes on in verse 9 to say, and this also we pray. That's how I know what has gone before is still part of his prayer mentioned in verse 7 because now he mentions a second prayer or second part of his prayer.

Here's something more. This also we pray, and what is that? That you may be made complete.

What does that mean? Well, the word complete is a Greek word that means something like fitted out, equipped, or restored. A good example of how that word is used is found in Matthew 4.21 and I think in one of the other gospels as well where it talks about the apostles of Christ mending their fishing nets, same word. They restored their fishing nets. They mended their fishing nets. They returned them to usefulness to their ability to catch fish. They weren't very useful when they were torn.

How did they get torn? By catching fish and by wear and tear. Even in one case, remember they didn't catch any fish and Christ said, he came along and he said, throw your net out on the other side of the boat and you'll catch a whole lot of fish.

They were frankly skeptical. This guy isn't even a fisherman. We're the professionals here. We know how to fish.

If we couldn't do it all night, how does he know how to do it? They were not, I suppose, embarrassed to do otherwise. They said, okay Lord.

Kind of like, yeah, a lot of good this will do. Throw their net out on the other side of the boat. The other side, the side they never fished from. That was the wrong side. That was kind of like doing it left handed instead of right handed.

It just didn't even feel right. They'd always done it the other way. They throw their net out on the other side and caught so many fish that they couldn't even haul them all in. And the net broke and some of the fish got out. So what did they have to do after they processed that big catch of fish? Mend their nets. Fix the tear.

Restore the nets to their full function. That's the word here. That you may be complete. That's what Paul is praying for.

We pray that you may be complete. This word is used in secular Greek also of a physician setting a bone. We don't function very well with a broken bone. It better be mended. It's also used of outfitting a ship so that it can be put into service.

It is used of equipping an army so that an army can carry out its function in the military. It has the idea of being healed, restored so that the result will be that whatever it is that has been impaired and then fixed is now functioning fully. And that's what Paul said, I'm praying for you. Yeah, there are a lot of impairments here in this church as we've already seen. Going all the way back to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. There are divisions in the church.

The house of Chloe tattled on you. They told me that there are divisions in the church and he started dealing with that problem. Some of you say I'm Paul, some of Apollo, some of Cephas and so forth. And starting with that problem, he went on from problem to problem to problem to problem to problem all throughout 1 Corinthians and then he's still dealing with some of those problems in 2 Corinthians. Here's a church that has a lot of broken bones, a lot of torn nets, a lot of illness that needs to be healed. And Paul says my prayer for you is that you be restored, made complete and functioning fully. That's Paul's prayer. Number 3, Paul's authority, verse 10. Therefore, I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness according to the authority which the Lord has given to me for edification and not for destruction. This all ties in with what we've seen about this challenge to Paul's authority. And Paul tells us that he has authority, number 1, to correct the erring and number 2, to build the church.

He has authority to correct those who are in error. Therefore, I write these things where he's been pointing out their errors, their sins, their failures. I write these things being absent.

I'm not there. I'm pointing these things out from afar by letter. I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness according to the authority which the Lord has given to me. Back to this issue of when I come, do I come in meekness or do I come with a rod? Up to you. I'm able to come either way. I'm authorized to come either way. In one sense, I can even say I'm willing to come either way because I'm willing to do what needs to be done, even if it's not pleasant, but my desire is not to come with a rod. My desire is for you to take care of these things so that I can come in a different spirit.

And so that's what he's saying here. I have authority to correct the erring, and I am addressing those errors, first of all, by writing this correcting letter, but I will address those errors, secondly, in person, if that becomes necessary, because you don't respond to my letter, but I prefer to avoid that. But Paul says, though I recognize that chastening is sometimes necessary, it's not really my ultimate goal. It's not really what I want to do, and it's not really the spirit with which I want to come. I don't want to come in the spirit of chastisement. I want to come in the spirit of building up, of encouragement, of edification. I will exercise my authority to correct the erring if necessary, but I would rather exercise that same God-given authority to build up rather than to tear down.

Therefore, I write these things, being absent, lest being present, I should use sharpness according to the authority which the Lord has given to me for edification. That's a word that means building up. I'd rather use it for building up and not for destruction.

But Paul realizes that in the exercise of his authority and desire to build the church, that impediments must first be removed. You can't build the church if it's full of rotten timbers. You've got to get the rotten timbers out and replace them with healthy wood. You ever had a repair like that around your house?

You probably all have. Our back porch was literally falling off the back of the house several years ago, quite a few years ago now. And we got that taken care of at considerable effort and expense, but the Lord sent us the people that helped us with that. We got it propped back up and secured so that it wasn't going to fall off the back of the house again. Well, the builder looked at it and said it's hopeless. All you can do is tear it off and start over. Somebody else looked at it and said, no, we can fix that. I said, well, let's fix it. I won't go into all the details. Some of you would like to know, some of you are construction people, you'd like to know what did you do with that porch that is a cement floor. It's a heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy porch, 10 by 30, and it was sagging really, really bad. How did you repair something like that?

Ask me afterwards, I'll be happy to tell you. I enjoy talking about it, but here's the thing. That wasn't the end of it. We thought that was the end of it, and then a few years later, we began to notice water stains in the ceiling, and we realized we needed the new roof, and we got the new roof put on.

And that was doing pretty good. The new roof had stopped the leaking, but when we wanted to repair the damage that the water had done to the inside, whatever that kind of lapboard or whatever it is called in the ceiling out there, the workmen who tore that down said, uh-oh, that's always a bad. That's not what you want to hear. Uh-oh, you've got some rotten timbers up here.

I mean the main ones. So what do you do? Well, you don't just cover them up and pretend they're not there. That's a recipe for disaster.

Quick fix and long-range problems, you have to replace them. You have to get good wood in there. And Paul is saying it's the same way with the church. Sure, I'd rather just come along and just build up some more, but if there's rotten wood, first that's got to be torn out.

That's the chastening part, the discipline part. That rotten wood has got to be torn out first. But if you'll take care of that before I get there, you can do that.

You can tear out the rotten wood and replace it. And if you'll take care of that before I get there, then I'll just use my apostolic authority, which remember, this is remarkable ability, spiritual ability that God has given to Paul in greater measure than in any other man. So if he comes, he'll be able to bless and build that church in a way that probably nobody else will. And if I come, I'll use my God-given apostolic authority not to tear out and to replace, but rather to build up.

That would be my preference. When I was thinking about what Paul is saying in this verse, I was reminded of what is said of Jesus Christ in John chapter 3, where he said, I did not come into this world to condemn the world, but that the world, well, this is actually not the words of Christ. It's the words of John of Christ. Jesus Christ did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. That's a little bit of a puzzling verse. What does that mean? Because elsewhere we're told Jesus Christ is sent to judge, and he will judge. So what does this mean?

I think it means the same thing Paul is saying here. My desire, my goal is not to condemn and judge. My desire and goal is to save, but necessity means that in cases of unrepentance, judgment must be done. But that's not my desire.

That's not my goal. What I'd really love to do is to do my saving work. I wish I didn't have to do the judging work. That's what Paul is saying.

I'd really want to do my building up work. I'd rather not have to do this chastising work. When Paul comes, if there is punishment to be done, it's because it's merited. If there is no punishment, it is because they paid attention to this epistle that we're studying right now. And either way, and this is interesting and think this through, either way, Paul's authority is acknowledged and growth will result.

The problem was the critics were questioning his authority, and some were wondering, does Paul really have authority or not? Paul said, you'll find out if you won't submit to my God-given authority by epistle, then when I come, I'll clean house and you'll know. I'll exercise however much power is needed to get the job done. I hope it doesn't get as far as an Ananias and Sapphira situation, but whatever is done, I'm going to do what needs to be done, and when it's done, you'll know that I have God-given apostolic power. But if you listen to my word and repent and forsake your sins and clean house, then you will have all demonstrated my apostolic authority in that way.

You've demonstrated that you recognize it by listening to my words and obeying them. So either way, my apostolic authority is intact, and we can move on from there. Paul's authority. Number four, Paul's desire.

We're moving on. And Paul expresses his desire in verses 11 through 13, number one, for good spiritual health, and this, of course, overlaps. And number two, for God's special presence with them, and number three, for unhindered Christian fellowship.

First of all, for good spiritual health, verse 11. Finally, he's getting to the end. Somebody said, what does it mean when the preacher says, and now finally?

Someone says, probably not anything, but anyway, in this case it does. He's pretty close to the end. Finally, brethren, farewell, become complete.

We've already seen what that means. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Paul's desire is for good spiritual health, and there are actually five closing exhortations here. The first one is rejoice. My Bible translates it farewell. And how could the same Greek word be translated in such a widely different manner?

Farewell doesn't even sound like it comes close to rejoice, until I tell you, and some of you already know this, that the Greek word actually is rejoice, and it had come into common use as a greeting or a word of parting. It's kind of like most of us are more familiar with the Hebrew word shalom. What does shalom mean? Well, it means peace. What does shalom mean? It means hello. What does shalom mean? It means goodbye. You see what I'm saying? Same word.

It's all how you're using it. And so the question is, is Paul using this word according to its actual meaning or according to its common usage as a greeting of farewell or goodbye? But in context, because it's here with all these other exhortations, it probably means rejoice. Rejoice. Remember, similar to what Paul said in Philippians 3, 1. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. So that's exhortation number one.

Rejoice. That's the fruit of the Spirit at work. What's the fruit of the Spirit? Love, joy, peace. Don't lose that one.

Don't forget that one. In the midst of COVID, it's easy to just kind of get gloomy and gloomier and gloomier and gloomier. And that's one of the side effects of isolation for health reasons, self-preservation.

I fully understand that. But you've got to realize this cutting off of contact with other people, this cutting off of contact with the body of Christ, has an emotional and even a spiritual price to it. And a lot of people are depressed right now and they can't figure out why. I'm well. Why am I depressed?

Because you've cut yourself off from one of the tools God has given to keep you enlivened, to keep you joyful. So number one, rejoice. Number two, become complete or maybe more accurately be perfected, function harmoniously as we've already described the meaning of that word. Number three, be of good comfort.

Be comforted. Number four, be of one mind. Be unified in your love for one another and in the doctrine of Christ. Remember, they were all divided.

I'm a Paul, I'm a Paulus, I'm a Cephas. They were not demonstrating a love of unity within the body. And there were problems listening to false teachers and their false doctrine, their false gospel, and some of them were giving ear to that. And that's creating problems and divisions. To be of one mind doesn't mean we all have exactly the same mind about everything. We may have some different perspectives on politics.

I'd rather suspect that's true, don't you? I know that's true. We don't all have exactly the same perspective on politics. We don't all have exactly the same perspective on what is necessary and appropriate in regard to COVID and so forth. Some have one opinion, some have another.

That's not critical. But we better be of one mind in our love for one another. That's what Christ commands. We better be of one mind in our understanding of the gospel of Christ. That's the foundation of it all.

So be of one mind. And number five, live in peace. You will live in peace if you are unified in love one for another and in the doctrine of Christ. So Paul's desire is for good spiritual health. Paul's desire is for God's special presence.

He says in verse 11, if you will obey these five exhortations, the God of love and peace will be with you. Now we know God's always with us, so what is Paul saying? He'll be with you in a special way. He'll be with you in a more precious way. He'll be with you in a more personal way. He'll be with you in a more encouraging way. He'll be with you in a more enabling way if you obey these five injunctions. And my prayer is that you obey them so that God's special presence will be with you.

And then number five, he prays for unhindered Christian fellowship, and this parallels what we've seen. This is where we get to the holy kiss. You're wondering what I was going to say about the holy kiss. It's been a while since I've said anything about the holy kiss, because I only say something when we come to it in the text. What about the holy kiss? I point out to you that it is a command. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

Not a suggestion. It's a command. I can also tell you that this same command is found four other places. Romans 16, 1 Corinthians 16, 1 Thessalonians 5, and 1 Peter chapter 5. Five times we're told in the New Testament that we are to greet one another with a holy kiss.

Are we all disobedient if we haven't been doing that? A holy kiss was a common greeting in the eastern world in Paul's day, or I should say a kiss. They probably wouldn't have called it a holy kiss, but they all did it. This is the way they greeted one another. We see that among Arabic people and so forth, people of that part of the world today. That's just customary in some countries.

And it was to these people. So Paul's telling them to do it, make sure it's holy. Paul's telling them to do it. But it's not a command of exact duplication. The command is not that we are to do the exact same thing, that is to greet one another with a holy kiss. The command is to show warm affection according to community customs. Whatever the custom is in your community, be sure you do it and do it enthusiastically and warmly. Don't omit it.

Do it more, not less. Whatever it is. Now, we have problems with that right now because of COVID. Our most customary way of greeting one another is with a holy handshake. But uh-oh, it's COVID time, so now we're doing holy fist bumps and holy elbow bumps. And for some people, it's customary to greet one another with a hug. And that varies from community to community, church to church, family to family.

Those customs vary even here in the United States. But again, COVID kind of knocks that one out too. So some people are really hurting. Some people haven't had a good hug for a long, long time. But probably none of us have had a holy kiss from anybody but our spouse or other members of our family, ever, in some cases. But we are to show warm affection according to community customs, whatever they may be in our particular time, which I think helps us to understand the command about head coverings in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, which is only mentioned once. The command for head coverings is only given to us once, not five times in the New Testament. And there are a few people who say, well, we've got to obey that literally. And so there are some churches where the women will wear some kind of a head covering in obedience to 1 Corinthians 11. But if you see it in this light, as I do, then you realize that the issue there is not the actual putting of something on the head, but it is to live out what that meant, what that demonstrated, and what was it. It was a wife's submission to her husband.

That's the issue. That's not popular in America today either, but there are a lot of things that the Bible does require that are not politically correct. And we're going to be bumping into society more and more in those areas and to pressure that's increasing, increasingly strong, and in some cases even authoritarian and legal. And we're going to really be tested as to those things that really are required by Scripture, number one. And the ones that are, are we willing to suffer for obedience? Are we willing to go to jail for obedience?

Are we willing to be martyrs for obedience to the truth? The issue is women showing submissive spirit toward their husbands. That's the head covering issue in 1 Corinthians 11. That part hasn't gone away, but the head coverings have to do with the customs of certain societies. It's not the head covering.

It's the submissive attitude. It's not the holy kiss. It's the warm expressions of fellowship among believers in the body of Christ that are in view.

But one added word before I move on. Whether we're talking about a holy kiss or a warm embrace or a warm handshake or even, out of necessity, a fist bump or an elbow bump, it requires that we be personally present with one another. And when we're present, no turning and going the other way, no coldness, no refusal to greet other people warmly because of this or because of that, away with all of that, away with all of that, away with all of that. Demonstrate love and unity in the body of Christ and greet one another warmly, enthusiastically, in whatever way is appropriate, according to the customs of the day. And finally, we come to Paul's blessing, the benediction in verse 14, which closes out the book. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you. I will call this, first of all, a customary benediction and, secondly, an instructive benediction. It's customary in the sense that it's similar to the benediction you will find at the end of every one of Paul's 13 epistles. They all have a similar benediction. But the exact wording in these benedictions vary.

There are two or three that have identical wording, but of those 13, there's a lot of variety in the way they are worded. There are ones that are very short. There are ones that are quite long.

There are some that are in between. I actually brought a sermon on those one time. We walked through all of those benedictions and put them into categories, longest, shortest, and so forth, and took a look at them, which I'm certainly not going to do today. But the shortest one I can think of goes something like, Grace be with you.

Amen. But it's a similar benediction. This happens to be the longest of all.

There's not another one that's as long. That's why I have called it, secondly, an instructive benediction, because it contains a good deal more in the way of information and the number of words that are used. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Amen. It is an instructive benediction in that it is Trinitarian and it is instructive. It's Trinitarian. All three members of the Godhead are included here. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the Father, the communion of the Holy Spirit, Trinitarian.

But it's instructive in this sense. Flowing from the members of the Godhead, we have grace, love, and fellowship. And it is probably not Paul's intention that we say, well, grace flows from the Lord Jesus Christ and not from the Father and the Holy Spirit, and love flows from God the Father and not from the Son and not from the Holy Spirit, and fellowship is traced to the Holy Spirit and not to God the Father or the Son, because we know that would contradict Scripture elsewhere, so that can't be what he means. So since this is not a treatise, it's a benediction. It's something you can say at the end of a service. This is the most commonly used benediction in the Bible. And by the way, the very word benediction means blessing. So when you say benediction, you've said blessing.

And this is instructive in this sense. It tells us, and I think this is appropriate, grace is first, love is second, fellowship is third. Grace from the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and certainly from God the Father and the Holy Spirit as well.

But grace first. We must experience the grace of God before we can receive, understand, or experience the love of God. So grace is first, love is second, and then fellowship is third. And fellowship could be the fellowship with the Holy Spirit or with the Triune God. That's a possibility, but it's probably telling us fellowship that is enabled by the Holy Spirit, fellowship that's enabled by God, fellowship that's enabled by the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, fellowship with God and other believers because of the grace of God, because of the love of God. Because of that, we have fellowship, as John tells us in 1 John 1, we have fellowship with the Son and we have fellowship with the children of God as well.

And this benediction is all-inclusive. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with, someone said Paul had to be a southerner, be with you all, be with you all, be with you all. Paul, there were some in the Corinthian church who really weren't showing themselves very friendly to you.

They were the ones that would tend to turn the other way and not want to greet you with a holy kiss or any other way. Are you praying God's blessing upon them too? Are you wanting them to enjoy the same blessings too?

Yes, to you all, even to the critics. When they experience the blessings of this benediction, they'll quit being critics. When they really experience the grace of God and the love of God, then they will understand the fellowship of the saints in a new way. These wrong feelings are going to be removed and we'll all be enjoying wonderful fellowship, one with another again.

Now one closing question. Paul wrote to the church to clean up their act, acknowledge their sins, repent of their sins, correct their sins, get all of these sins out of their lives and start living right. The epistle concludes. We don't have 3rd Corinthians to follow up on it. We don't have any information of any substance in the book of Acts to tell us what happened here. So the question is, did they listen to the letter or did they wait until Paul came with the rod?

And do we know and can we know and how could we know if we can know? Shall I now say amen or shall I answer the question? Did the Corinthians respond to Paul's written appeal?

Answer, yes. How do we know? We compare what he said in chapter 10 with what he says in Romans chapter 15. In 2 Corinthians 10, 15 and 16 I read this. Not boasting of things beyond measure, that is in another man's labors, but having hope that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. Paul is saying, if you will act out your faith in dealing with these problems, that will free me up to go elsewhere.

But until you get these things solved, then I'm pretty much tied to you to get this thing solved as long as it takes. But I'd sure like for you to free me up to go to a larger sphere of ministry elsewhere. Well, did that happen?

Evidently. How do we know? Romans chapter 15. I'll read verses 20 through 24 and you'll hear some of the same language. And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named lest I should build another man's foundation, but as it is written, and he quotes something and I'll skip that, verse 22. For this reason I also have been much hindered from coming to you, coming to you in Rome. What hindered him? He doesn't say, but this could be it, what we're dealing with in 2 Corinthians.

This could be the hindrance. He couldn't come till he got this thing straightened out. But now he says in verse 23, no longer having a place in these parts and having a great desire of these many years to come to you, whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you, for I hope to see you on my journey. Paul has been freed.

He says, I really don't have any other compelling business in these parts. I'm free to travel. I'm free to go. I'm free to come to Rome. I'm free to go on to Spain.

I'm free to preach the gospel in other regions. And the only thing that could have done that is their obedience. They did listen. They did repent. They did clean house. They did acknowledge the authority of the apostle Paul through his letters.

They did obey the Lord. It took a long time. It took a long time to get the right result in this particular church. But it happened eventually.

The duty of pastors, and I'll close with this, is to teach the truth and to hold Christians accountable for life and doctrine and to persevere in that until the church is healthy. Growth takes time and much labor and much patience. Sometimes you think it's never going to happen, just like you and the things you're waiting for, the things you're longing for, the things you're praying for, and you get discouraged and you think they're never going to happen. That's not what Jesus told you to do. Keep knocking.

Keep asking. Keep praying. If you persist, if you persist, that's what Jesus said, you'll see my hand at work. Same thing for pastors. Pastors get to a rough spot in the road and they say, Well, nothing more for me to do. They're not listening to me. There's no response. I think I'll find another church.

Well, I suppose there are some times where that's appropriate, but it looks to me like what Paul is teaching pastors is Hunker down, persevere, keep at it. I wrote one epistle. You didn't respond properly, not fully.

I visited you in between, still didn't respond properly. I wrote another epistle. This has really taken a long time over the course of several years, and yet he didn't stop until it was done, and then when it was done, he said, Now I'm free to go back to being a traveling apostolic missionary to go preach the gospel and plant churches in other places.

They did listen. Thank the Lord. Shall we pray? Father, teach us thy ways and show us thy paths, we pray. Amen.