This transcript was generated by whisper.ai. (upbeat music) Welcome back to our look through the New Testament. This is week two, day three. We looked at 1 Corinthians yesterday, so we're going to look at 2 Corinthians today. Yesterday we talked about the city of Corinth being a strategic, rich, but also immoral city, where God had used Paul in a great way to start the church. From 1 and 2 Corinthians, let's pick up the story of Paul's relationship to the Corinthians as he comes into writing this second letter to them. 1 Corinthians was written to give advice, as we saw yesterday, to a divided church. Instead of following Paul's advice, the church followed what Paul called, sort of facetiously, super apostles, false teachers. You can read about that in chapter 11 of 7 Corinthians. They taught a different gospel, so they went the wrong direction. So Paul revisited Corinth, and he was laughed out of town. You can read about that in chapter two. Later, Paul sent Titus, his partner in ministry, with a very severe letter to the Corinthians. It's not 2 Corinthians. It was a different letter. We don't have this one anymore. A severe letter about what they were doing. And the church, because of that letter, they repented. And Titus brought the news back to Paul that they had repented. And so, out of that news, Paul wrote 2 Corinthians. So it's at least the third actual letter that he's written to them, but it's the second one that is a part of scripture. He wrote it in response to the good news that they'd turned their hearts back to God. He wanted to build upon their repentance. Now, the way that he writes this, this is Paul's most autobiographical letter. He talks the most about himself in this letter of any that he wrote in the New Testament. In many ways, the reading of 2 Corinthians, it's like opening a window into Paul's soul. He's very honest about his struggles, and also about God's victories in his life. Because of the personal language that Paul uses throughout, we get a view in 2 Corinthians from one of God's greatest servants about how to survive the ups and downs of ministry. I like to call 2 Corinthians God's Servants Survival Handbook. As you read through this book, there are 10 things in 2 Corinthians. The outline is 10 things where you will need God's strength to survive. You'll need God's strength to be an effective servant. What am I going to have to survive? And what is the principle for how God causes us to survive? Let me share those with you with some verses along the way, those 10 things. First, you're going to have to survive distress. Chapter one, verses three to 10. The distresses that come into our lives, the troubles and the problems. And the survival principle Paul shares here is that God will comfort us so that we can comfort others. That even in our distress, he's going to use even that in ministry. 2 Corinthians one, three to six. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our troubles, in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer. So even in distress you realize God wants to use even that in ministry. That's how you survive the distress. Second thing to survive is the misunderstandings. Paul writes in chapter one, verse 12 through two, four, about the misunderstandings they had about his ministry. And the survival principle here is that confidence is based on conduct that is marked by holiness and sincerity. Don't try to prove yourself right to others when there's misunderstandings. Instead, live before God in holiness and sincerity. Let it drive you that direction. 'Cause I always need some more holiness in my life. I need some more sincerity in my life. Instead of trying to argue with somebody else, I'd rather have their misunderstanding drive me to God and trusting in him more. Third thing to survive in this book is offenses that people bring against you. Chapter two, five to 11. And the survival principle here is obvious. Learn how to forgive. You will not survive as God's servant unless you learn how to forgive. So in verse 10 of chapter two, "Anyone you forgive," Paul writes, "I also forgive. " And what I have forgiven, if there was anything to forgive, I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake. In order that Satan might not outwit us, for we are not unaware of his schemes. One of the greatest schemes that Satan has against God's servants is to get us caught up in unforgiveness. He will destroy your ministry, your servanthood, your life in Christ through unforgiveness. And so Paul writes and says it's just a scheme of Satan. Don't let him trip you up. You think you're holding on to that bitterness? Satan is scheming to get you to hold on to that bitterness. Once you realize that, it changes the way that you think about bitterness and unforgiveness in your life. Fourth thing that you're going to have to survive as one of God's servants is you're going to have to survive accusations. Chapter two, 12 through three, 18. Not just people who misunderstand you, but people who criticize you. What are you going to do when that happens? When they don't understand what you did and then openly they accuse you of having the wrong motive. When you know you had the right motive, here's the survival principle. You recognize openly that your competence comes from God. Again, instead of arguing with them, you turn to God. And you just be honest. You recognize openly my competence comes from God. So any confidence, any ability I have, it comes from me. I'm not going to respond to your accusations. I'm going to look to God. I'm going to say 2 Corinthians 3, 5. Not that we're competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. Now when you're able to say that, you have a new confidence. Because you're able to admit when those accusations might be right, but you're also able to, not pridefully, but humbly, you're also able to humbly accept when those accusations are wrong and you've been doing the right thing. Recognize openly that your competence comes from God and then it's all about God. It's not all about you and you're able to survive the accusations. Number five, maybe most importantly, Paul talks in chapters four and five about surviving a loss of heart. These are some of his most honest expressions of what had gone on in his life. These are the chapters where he talks about being pressed down, where he talks about having these experiences of life where he feels like God has somehow not shown up for him, but then at the same time he realizes, no, but I was not forsaken. I was not shaken, God was with me. And the principle for all this, how do you have a loss of heart, feel discouraged? How do you face that feeling as a servant of God and get past it? The survival principle, the verse, Paul says, you fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. So personally, when I have a loss of heart, I try to remember, I don't always remember, but I try to remember to think about heaven, not as a place of escape, but as the goal, as the destination, as what God is working toward. Because when I have a loss of heart in this world, it's just about this world. And what's going to happen in heaven is so much greater. What is seen is temporary, Paul says, what is unseen is eternal. So fix your eyes on the eternal if you're having a loss of heart right now. Sixth thing he tells us we need to survive in chapter six to the first verse of verse seven is you have to survive everyday life. Just the everydayness of life, the relationships of life, the tasks of life. The survival principle here is you try to live so that no one will find fault with you and blame it on the Lord. You try to live a life of integrity. That's one of the ways that you survive, I survive everyday life. None of us have perfect integrity. All of us can be growing in integrity. Make the choice for integrity today. That's how you survive everyday life. Satan's tempting you maybe right now to cheat on that one. Don't do it, don't do it. If you're going to survive, live so that no one can find fault with you. Ask God for the strength to do that. The seventh thing we have to survive is hurtful relationships. Chapter seven verses two to 15, Paul talks about some people that had hurt him in ministry. If you serve for a long time with anyone in ministry, you're going to be hurt by them. If you're married to someone for more than, let's say a month, oh, let's say a week, let's say a day, if you're married to someone for more than a day, you're going to be hurt by them because we're not perfect as human beings and so we hurt each other. There's also those that hurt you intentionally. Deep hurts in ministry sometimes. The survival principle here is to keep your heart open even if they close theirs. Keep your heart open to a reconciliation in this relationship, even if theirs is closed. You can't make someone reconcile with you, so stop trying, but also if they decide they want to. Don't be the person who says, oh, I'm sorry, now you're going to have to wait on me because I had to wait on you. No, keep your heart open because that's how you survive hurtful relationships. They may never open their heart to you, but you can open your heart to God by keeping your heart open to them. Number eight, you survive selfishness. Chapters eight and nine, Paul talks about that. Some people call these chapters the sermon on the amount. He talks in these chapters about giving and the value of giving in our lives as believers. And the survival principle here, how do you survive the selfishness that's all around us in this world? The survival principle is whoever sows generously will also reap generously. So you sow generously by giving. You realize that the greatest, the greatest thing that you do in life is give to others. The greatest in life is not what you get, the greatest in life is what you give because that's sowing generously and out of that God brings reaping generously. Sometimes on this earth, certainly in heaven. Paul talks in chapters 10 and 11 about surviving criticism. Several times he's talked about accusation and criticism. He had to face a lot of it. And servants of God often have to face a lot of it in this world. So the survival principle here is let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. When you're criticized, don't let it draw you into boasting in yourself. Just boast in the Lord. Boast in Jesus. That's how you survive criticism. And finally, in maybe the most personal section, even more than the early chapters maybe, in chapters 12 and 13, Paul talks about surviving weakness. And the survival principle here, what do I do when I'm weak? When I don't have the strength to do what I know what God wants me to do as a servant. You realize that God's power is perfected in our weakness. 2 Corinthians 12, nine to 10. But he, God said to me, Paul, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in my weaknesses. And in insults, and hardships, and persecutions, and difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Let's pray together. Father, we want to survive in this world. We want to survive the distresses, and the misunderstandings, and the offenses that come against us. The accusations, and the loss of heart, and the everydayness of life, and the hurtful relationships, and our own selfishness, the criticism, our own weakness. And thank you for this honest letter from the apostle Paul, inspired by your spirit, to remind us that we can survive, by looking to you. Thank you for the practical advice he gives to us about how to look to you in every circumstance. We look to you right now, in Jesus' name, amen. Tomorrow, we're going to look at Galatians, and the freedom that we have in Jesus Christ.