April 14, 2009 2 Corinthians 5:11-6:13

Becoming Friends with God ~2 Corinthians 5:11-6:13~
Since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to help people accept the truth about us. God knows what we really are, and I hope that in your hearts you know, too. We are not trying to prove ourselves to you again, but we are telling you about ourselves so you will be proud of us. Then you will have an answer for those who are proud about thigns that can be seen rather than what is in the heart. If we are out of our minds, it is for God. If we have our right minds, it is for you. The love of Christ controls us, because we know that One died for all, so all have died. Christ died for all so that those who live would not continue to live for themselves. He died for them and was raised from the dead so that they would live for him. From this time on we do tno think of anyone as the world does. In the past we thought of Christ as the world thinks, but we no longer think of him in that way. If anyone belongs to Christ, there is a new creation. The old things have gone; everything is made new! All this is from God. Through Christ, God made peace between us and himself, and God gave us the work of telling everyone about the peace we can have with him. God was in Christ, making peace between the world and himself. In Christ, God did not hold the world guilty of its sins. And he gave us this message of peace. So we have been sent to speak for Christ. It is as if God is calling to you through us. We speak for Christ when we beg you to be at peace with God. Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ we could become right with God. We are workers together with God, so we beg you: Do not let the grace that you received from God be for nothing. God says, "At the right time I heard your prayers. On the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you that the "right time" is now, and the "day of salvation" is now. We do not want anyone to find fault with our work, so nothing we do will be a problem for anyone. But in every way we show we are servants of God: in accepting many hard things, in troubles, in difficulties, and in great problems. We are beaten and thrown into prison. We meet those who become upset with us and start riots. WE work hard, and sometimes we get no sleep or food. We show we are servants of God by our pure lives, our understanding, patience, and kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by true love, by speaking the truth, and by God's power. We use our right living to defend ourselves against everything. Some people honor us, but others blame us. Some people say evil things about us, but others say good things. Some people say we are liars, but we speak the truth. We are not known, but we are well known. We seem to be dying, but we continue to live. We are punished, but we are not killed. We have much sadness, but we are always rejoicing. We are poor, but we are making many people rich in faith. We have nothing, but really we have everything. We have spoken freely to you in Corinth and have opened our hearts to you. Our feelings of love for you have not stopped, but you have stopped your feelings of love for us. I speak to you as if you were my children. Do to us as we have done--open your hearts to us.

Paul is saying that the new covenant gospel ministry is about reconciliation. Paul tells the Corinthians that he has always been true when talking to them. Paul was able to tell the Corinthians about God, and through that, the Corinthians have accepted God. Paul has opened his heart to the Corinthians, and showed his affections, all he wants back is that they open their hearts and show affection to him. Just like Paul, we all are ambassadors for Christ. We need to open our hearts and show our affection.

April 13, 2009 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10

Living By Faith ~2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10~
So we do not give up. Our physical body is becoming older and weaker, but our spirit inside us is made new every day. We have small troubles for a while now, but they are helping us gain an eternal glory that is much greater than the troubles. We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever. We know that our body--the tent we live in here on earth--will be destroyed. But when that happens, God will have a house for us. It will not be a house made by human hands; instead, it will be a home in heaven that will last forever. But now we groan in this tent. We want God to give us our heavenly home, because it will clothe us so we will not be naked. While we live in this body, we have burdens, and we groan. We do not want to be naked, but we want to be clothed with our heavenly home. Then this body that dies will be fully covered with life. This is what God made us for, and he has given us the Spirit to be a guarantee for this new life. So we always have courage. We know that while we live in this body, we are away from the Lord. We live by what we believe, not by what we can see. So I say that we have courage. We really want to be away from this body and be at home with the Lord. Our only goal is to please God whether we live here or there, because we must all stand before Christ to be judged. Each of us will receive what we should get--good or bad--for the things we did in the earthly body.

Living by faith is hard, but that's what we need to do. Honestly, we can't physically see/hear/touch God as we can with those things of this world, but He expects us to believe. Although our physical bodies might be tired, drained, exhausted, and etc., our hearts, our spiritual bodies are being renewed, being recharged. That is because we are not fixing our eyes on the temporary things of this Earth, but on what's to come, eternal glory! We need to be building up treasures in Heaven. Looking forward at what's to come, to serve Him in His Kingdom.

Overall, what Paul is trying to say is that we need not to lose heart!!! No matter how hard it is here on Earth, on matter how burdened, troubled, drained, exhausted, turmoiled, and etc. we are, we need to believe. We need to have that courage and joy, because we have God. So while on Earth, do whatever to please God, and then once we get there, we can please God again!

April 12, 2009 2 Corinthians 4:7-15

Spiritual Treasure in Clay Jars
We have this treasure from God, but we are like clay jars that hold the treausre. This shows that the great power is from God, not from us. We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We do not know what to do, but we do not give up the hope of living. We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed. We carry the death of Jesus in our own bodies so that the life of Jesus can also be seen in our bodies. We are alive, but for Jesus we are always in danger of death so that the life of Jesus can be seen in our bodies that die. So death is working in us, but life is working in you. It is written in the Scriptures, "I believed, so I spoke." Our faith is like this, too. We believe, and so we speak. God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, and we know that God will also raise us with Jesus. God will bring us together with you, and we will stand before him. All these things are for you. And so the grace of God that is being given to more and more people will bring increasing thanks to God for his glory. ~2 Corinthians 4:7-15~

A part of this passage reminded me of the song, "Trading My Sorrows." Part of the lyrics is from this passage: "I am pressed, but not crushed persecuted, but not abandoned struck down, but not destroyed I am blessed beyond the curse, for His promise will endure and His joy will be my strength." That is who we are in God. We are pressured from all around...here and there...yet, we are not crushed by all these concerns/burdens and pressures weighing us down. We are persecuted so many times, by the world, by non-christians, but never are we abandoned by God...we should never feel abandoned. We are struck down for who we are, but never destroyed.

What else are we? We are like a clay jar. Clay jars were used back then to contain anything: flour, water, milk, sugar, salt, and etc. Just like that, we are clay jars that contain something...what? The treasure...the light of the knowledge of the glory of God and of Christ.
By being the container of the treasure and not the treasure itself, we know that everything comes from God, done by the power of God. With that treasure within us, we need to display it right. We need to share it with others, spread it...become messengers.

BTW, I have a prayer request...I'm praying about going on missions this summer to Lima, Peru, and I really, really want to go, but my parents are hesitant to send me. They themselves have never thought about going on missions or sending me nor my brother on missions, so when I told them, it took them by surprise. My mom is also a bit hesitant because if I were to go, I wouldn't be going with my church, but with another church, so she's worried. My parents are praying about it, I'm praying about it, my aunt and uncle are praying about it...I really need your guys' prayer too! Please! Thank you!

April 9, 2009 2 Corinthians 4:1-6

Preaching the Good News
God, with his mercy, gave us this work to do, so we don't give up. But we have turned away from secret and shameful ways. We use no trickery, and we do not change the teaching of God. We teach the truth plainly, showing everyone who we are. Then they can know in their hearts what kind of people we are in God's sight. If the Good News that we preach is hidden, it is hidden only to those who are lost. The devil who rules this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe. They cannot see the light of the Good News--the Good News about the glory of Christ, who is exactly like God. We do not preach about ourselves, but we preach that Jesus Christ is the Lord and that we are your servants for Jesus. God once said, "Let the light shine out of the darkness!" This is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts by letting us know the glory of God that is in the face of Christ. ~2 Corinthians 4:1-6~

To continue with the message of being messengers of God, Paul is talking about what we preach. When we go about telling the gospel, we need not to hide it, we need not to cover it up...it just needs to be told as it is. No sugar coating, nothing! Paul says that many Christians get discouraged...want to stop/leave/hide...they want to quit! Then he says that this doesn't happen to him, because he only goes by the truth. Many spiritual leaders want to sugar coat things, want to bribe people to come to church...they make church/God seem fun, exciting, and etc., but that's not how it should be taught/told. Eventually, you run out of ideas to keep it fun/exciting...the focus is not God, but how amusing it is...then that wears people down...tears away the desire to go/learn...discouragement! That's where it comes from!

I remember the beginning of last semester...I heard people talk about how they can get people to come to Cornerstone, or how they can get people to stay...how they can get people to come to bible study by making fun activities, or candy or cookies or etc. According to Paul...and the Bible...those are not the things we should be doing with the intent of bribing people to come/stay. It should be solely the Bible, the message, God, that makes us wanna come and wanna keep coming!

Continuuing with the passage...Paul says that people fall away not because they don't believe and that causes the devil to prey on them, but because the devil causes evil in one's heart, that causes that person to stop believing. Furthermore, when we preach/tell the Good News, we need not to sell ourselves, but to preach about God. The one who created all things, the one who said, "Let there be light."

April 8, 2009 2 Corinthians 3

Servants of the New Agreement
Are we starting to brag about ourselves again? Do we need letters of introduction to you or from you, like some other people? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ sent through us. This letter is not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. It is not written on stone tablets but on human hearts. We can say this, because through Christ we feel certain before God. We are not saying that we can do this work ourselves. It is God who makes us able to do all that we do. He made us able to be servants of a new agreement from himself to his people. This new agreement is not a written law, but it is of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life. The law that brought death was written in words on stone. It came with God's glory, which made Moses' face so bright that the Israelistes could not continue to look at it. But that glory later disappeared. So surely the new way that brings the Spirit has even more glory. If the law that judged people guilty of sin had glory, surely the new way that makes people right with God has much greater glolry. That old law had glory, but it really loses its glory when it is compared to the much greater glory of this new way. If that law which disappeared came with glory, then this new way which continues forever has much greater glory. We have this hope, so we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who put a covering over his face so the Israelites would not see it. The glory was disappearing, and Moses did not want them to see it end. But their minds were closed, adn even today that same covering hides the meaning when they read the old agreement. That covering is taken away only through Christ. Even today, when they read the law of Moses, there is a covering over their minds. But when a person changes and follows the Lord, that covering is taken away. The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Our faces, then, are not covered. We all show the Lord's glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change in us brings ever greater glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. `2 Corinthians 3~

This passage is exploring the old covenant versus the new covenant. There is a comparison of the old covenant which brought "death," and the new covenant which brought "life of the Spirit." The old covenant was the ministry of condemnation, but the new covenant is the ministry of righteousness. In the old covenant, the people who sinned, were brought down by their sin, they knew of their guiltiness. Then by the new covenant, they were able to repent and be resurrected.

Although the old covenant and the laws were given to Moses, who saw the glory fade eventually and didn't want to show it, the new covenant is different. For it is unveiled, so that any willing person may see it. The Lord is the Spirit, and wherever that Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Moses was only able to unveil in front of God, but we should be able to do it anywhere because God is everywhere. The purpose of the new covenant is to change us, to be more and more like Him, in His glory. Through the new covenant we are given the Spirit of the Lord, and only by the Spirit of the Lord are we able to transform and change to be more and more like Him.

April 7, 2009 2 Corinthians 2:14-17

Victory Through Christ
But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ's victory parade. God uses us to spread his knowledge everywhere like a sweet-smelling perfume. Our offering to God is this: We are the sweet smell of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are being lost. To those who are lost, we are the smell of death that brings death, but to those who are being saved, we are the smell of life that brings life. So who is able to do this work? We do not sell the word of God for a profit as many other people do. But in Christ we speak the truth before God, as messengers of God. ~2 Corinthians 2:14-17~

Last Friday, our small group bible study was about accountability to God...our purpose here on Earth. That is to build up treasures in Heaven, by spreading the gospel/message. As smell/scent spreads very rapidly and effects people, whether it be a delightful scent or a disastrous scent. For example, the smell of cookies or coffee or roses is delightful to the nose, but the smell of skunk or garbage or garlic/onion is pretty bad. Just like that, we are the smell of Christ. We need to spread rapidly and as we spread, we are the like the delightful smell to those who are willing to learn about Christ, who accept Him, and to those who aren't willing, we are like the bad/unwanted smell. We do not spread the gospel/message for a profit, or for something in return on Earth. We only speak the truth, as it's our duty here on Earth!

April 6, 2009 2 Corinthians 2:5-11

Forgive the Sinner
Someone there among you has caused sadness, not to me, but to all of you. I mean he caused sadness to all in some way. (I do not want to make it sound worse than it really is.) The punishment that most of you gave him is enough for him. But now you should forgive him and comfort him to keep him from having too much sadness and giving up completely. So I beg you to show that you love him. I wrote you to test you and to see if you obey in everything. If you forgive someone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven--if I had anything to forgive--I forgave it for you, as if Christ were with me. I did this so that Satan would not win anything from us, because we know very well what Satan's plans are. ~2 Corinthians 2:5-22~

Coming from the previous passage about God focused relationships, another important thing is forgiving. This passage is about forgiveness. I honestly think I am pretty good with forgiving because I just forget about it. I don't hold grudges...if I have a problem, I deal with it right then and there. Cornerstone doesn't really seem to have a problem either. Although the past Sunday, there were a little "shouting across the gym" action among two people, but I'm sure they'll make it up! Unlike us, the Corinthians must have had some problems with forgiving.

In this passage, Paul is teaching the Corinthians about forgiveness. It's not like they don't know what it is, it's just that they didn't practice it very well. Paul brings up an example of how he forgives them, just like all of us have been forgiven and are continued to be forgiven by our Merciful God.

It's ironic that this passage comes up and it's almost Easter Sunday. What is the whole point of Easter? Jesus, the One and Only Son of God, was sent down to Earth to live a short, but meaningful life on Earth as a human being, among other sinners. Then He was sentenced to carry His cross with all the sins of every single being, and with that He was crucified, washing away all our sins. This happened on Good Friday, then on Easter Jesus rose from the dead!!! Amazing!!! Beautiful!!! Awesome!!! That's the meaning of forgiveness. Not just accepting an apology, but really forgiving. We need to follow the example. Besides, Paul says that if we don't forgive, we're letting Satan win.