Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. In this last message from our series on 2 Corinthians, Pastor Rich fleshes out what it looks like to speak and act in truth and meekness, just as our Lord displayed for us in His earthly life. Let's listen in. This is part three of a message on 2 Corinthians 13, 7-14 titled Gentle Authority. It was originally preached on September 7, 2014.
To hear the entire message or more of the series, you can go to www.delightingrace.com. Sheep. Sheep need shepherds.
And that sheep and shepherd relationship might even be a one-on-one relationship. As you, as one who has followed Christ for a long time, are willing to come alongside another life so that together you can walk Godward. Do you have a gentle authority there? Do you have a believability where they are willing to follow you as you follow Christ? Not to become like you, but to become like Christ.
That's the whole point. Gentle authority is hopeful. And it is hopeful in the sense that it leads out front, but also in the sense that it has high expectations. Twice in this paragraph, the Apostle Paul challenges the Corinthians to become complete. Become complete. What an interesting phrase, isn't it? If I were to stand here before you this morning or having a conversation afterwards, and we're having a, you know, we're finishing up our conversation, you're about to say goodbye, and I look at you and I say, become complete. What would your response be?
What would your response be? What do you mean by that? It is a very interesting term. The term means fully trained. Fully trained. It is a term that the Lord Jesus used in Luke 6 40. Look at this with me. Luke 6 40.
It's on the screen. Everyone who is perfectly trained, that's the word, complete, will be like his teacher. Is that not God's objective for us? As your teacher, as your pastor teacher, it's not my objective for you to become like me.
I was expecting an amen there. The objective is for you to become like Christ, because I'm a Christ follower. And that's the objective. So become complete, become perfectly trained, and you will become like your teacher, the Lord Jesus himself, who teaches you through his word and by his Holy Spirit. Become complete.
Those are pretty high expectations, aren't they? But you see, that's the objective. That's what defines success. That's what helps you understand the question, why, about your life.
This is why you are here. Become complete. Become perfectly trained, fully trained. Become like Christ.
Become like your teacher. This is why at the beginning of this paragraph that we're studying in verse 7, he says, Do no evil. I pray to God that you do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable.
Two opposites there. Don't do evil. Do what is honorable. Evil means that which is bad, harmful, or damaging. Honorable means that which is good, advantageous, and fitting. So, don't do evil, and do what is honorable in regards to what? The purpose God has for you.
To become complete, to become fully trained. If you're doing evil, you are doing something that is inhibiting this objective of you becoming fully trained, of becoming like Christ. So, it might be something that in normal, everyday life is a benign thing that might even be good in the right context. But if that benign thing that might be good in the right context becomes to you a distraction away from your God-ward movement, it is to you, even if you distraction away from your God-ward movement, it is to you, evil.
Don't do that. Don't raise up hindrances and obstacles to your Christ-likeness. Instead, do what is honorable. Do what is good.
Do what is advantageous. What is fitting to your Christ-likeness. This is what the Apostle Paul is teaching us. These are high expectations and gentle authority communicates high expectations through being hopeful in that way. So, remember that every one of us here is a minister. Part of following Jesus is to help others follow Jesus.
Can I do that with a gentle authority? I can do that whether I am or you are a parent, a friend, a peer, a colleague, a teacher, a pastor. Gentle authority and discipleship are the context of this. One life coming alongside another in order to walk together God-ward. It's discipleship.
Every one of us is called to that. Those are the words that the Apostle Paul has for the Corinthian church in exhortation. And then finally he closes his letter to the church with a benediction.
Verse 11, finally brethren, farewell. Some translations say rejoice or be joyful. And then again he says, become complete. That's the objective, isn't it?
Become fully trained. It is a word that involves discipline. But when he says finally, brethren, farewell, that word farewell is the word kirete. I translate it to mean this, be glad in a state of well-being. Be glad in a state of well-being. As one who can say it is well with my soul. Even though I might be experiencing the frustrating characteristics of a fallen creation, I can be glad in a state of well-being because I am in Christ.
And I'm all about his character and his purpose. Three little words in a phrase that he uses here a couple of times and it's the words be with you. He says in verse 11, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you. It's important we understand that, understanding that God is omnipresent. There is no place that he is not. But what does it mean that the God of love and peace will be with you? He says at the end of verse 14, the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. The understanding of be with you is the understanding of presence.
Now, that's pretty clear in the word and the phrase, isn't it? Presence. But a presence for what? A presence guiding you, motivating you, compelling you.
So, if you are glad in a state of well-being, if you are becoming complete, if you are being of good comfort of one mind and living in peace, then the God of love and peace, you will know his presence guiding and motivating you. Look with me at verses 12 and 13. This is a common part of his benediction. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
Okay, ready on three. This is an excellent example where we can impose a 21st century culture on the biblical text. How do they greet in the Middle East?
Have you seen that? How do they greet in the Middle East? It's a two-arm hug, you know, cheek to cheek kind of thing. And depending on where you are, it might be cheek to cheek to cheek to cheek to cheek to cheek, you know, in some places not so much. I was used to that in South America. When you greet somebody, you get to church on somebody morning, you greet each other. This shaking hands nonsense, they would think you had offended them somehow, or they had offended you if all you did was shake their hand. When you greet a brother in Christ in South America, you hug them.
Okay. I grew up that way. Greet one another with a holy kiss, the sense of purity, the sense of communicating the affection of God that we have within the body of Christ. It's that Christian bonds of affection and community.
It is a part of becoming a complete Christian. And then in verse 14, what a beautiful verse it is. And the Trinity is there. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
What is that? That's delighting in the Trinity. Delighting in the Trinity. What does delighting in the Trinity mean? You're pursuing the person and you're passionate about his purpose. So as the apostle leaves them, let me just paraphrase with this one comment and observation at the end that the complete Christian, as Paul challenged them to become complete, become fully trained.
Ask yourself this morning, am I becoming fully trained? Can I say I am becoming a complete Christian? Then I can recommend to you this morning from the text that a complete Christian does at least two things. A complete Christian, number one, delights in the Trinity. Delighting in the Trinity being defined as pursuing the person and passionate about his purpose. And his purpose has something to do with people.
Because God is a God of reconciliation. So delighting in the Trinity is a God of reconciliation. So delighting in the Trinity is pursuing the person and passionate about his purpose.
And then secondly, the complete Christian does this. He delights in God's people. He delights in the Trinity and he delights in God's people. Delighting in God's people is verses 12 and 13. Delighting in the Trinity is verse 14.
And the one is the other. To delight in God's people, John says very clearly, he who loves God, loves him who is begotten of God. We are a community of grace. And we pray God to develop among us, a culture of discipleship, where there is that gentle authority of helping another follow Jesus. That's what the church is all about. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 AM.
