Today’s message is from 2 Corinthians 12:11-13:13—the end of 2 Corinthians. In today’s passage the apostle Paul says that he is planning on coming to visit the Corinthian believers for the third time. He wants to find them in good spiritual condition. What does it mean to be in good spiritual condition? It means that you are trusting the Lord and that you are obeying him. (And really, I could just stop with trusting him—trusting the Lord. If you trust the Lord fully, you will also obey him fully.)

We’ll be reading the passage. As we read it, remember as always that we are reading the word of God. In today’s passage, the apostle Paul talks about the fact that he is fully an apostle of Christ—that his apostleship was confirmed when he performed the “signs of an apostle”. In other words, what he has been teaching them is the word of God.

¹¹I have become a fool; you forced it on me. I ought to have been recommended by you, since I am in no way inferior to the “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing. ¹²The signs of an apostle were performed among you in all endurance—not only signs but also wonders and miracles. ¹³So in what way were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I personally did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!

¹⁴Look! I am ready to come to you this third time. I will not burden you, for I am not seeking what is yours, but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. ¹⁵I will most gladly spend and be spent for you. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? ¹⁶Now granted, I have not burdened you; yet sly as I am, I took you in by deceit! ¹⁷Did I take advantage of you by anyone I sent you? ¹⁸I urged Titus to come, and I sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Didn’t we walk in the same spirit and in the same footsteps?

¹⁹You have thought all along that we were defending ourselves to you. No, in the sight of God we are speaking in Christ, and everything, dear friends, is for building you up. ²⁰For I fear that perhaps when I come I will not find you to be what I want, and I may not be found by you to be what you want; there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder. ²¹I fear that when I come my God will again humiliate me in your presence, and I will grieve for many who sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, sexual immorality, and promiscuity they practiced.

^13:1This is the third time I am coming to you. On the testimony of two or three witnesses every word will be confirmed. ²I gave warning, and I give warning—as when I was present the second time, so now while I am absent—to those who sinned before and to all the rest: if I come again, I will not be lenient, ³since you seek proof of Christ speaking in me. He is not weak toward you, but powerful among you. ⁴In fact, He was crucified in weakness, but He lives by God’s power. For we also are weak in Him, yet toward you we will live with Him by God’s power.

⁵Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you not recognize for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless you fail the test. ⁶And I hope you will recognize that we are not failing the test. ⁷Now we pray to God that you do nothing wrong, not that we may appear to pass the test, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear to fail. ⁸For we are not able to do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. ⁹In fact, we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. We also pray for this: your maturity. ¹⁰This is why I am writing these things while absent, that when I am there I will not use severity, in keeping with the authority the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.

¹¹Finally, brothers, rejoice. Be restored, be encouraged, be of the same mind, be at peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. ¹²Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.

The apostle Paul is planning to visit the Corinthians. He wants to find them in good spiritual condition. When you have an inspection in the army or in some other organization, the purpose is to ensure that everyone is doing everything right. Everyone cleans up and mops and dusts and puts everything in order so that they may pass the inspection. You know, the people who are being inspected are sometimes also told that there may be surprise inspections so they aught to have everything cleaned and mopped and put in order all of the time just in case. And, for us, as far as our spiritual condition goes, well, we know that Jesus may come back at any time:

⁴⁵“Who then is a faithful and sensible slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time? ⁴⁶That slave whose master finds him working when he comes will be rewarded. ⁴⁷I assure you: He will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸But if that wicked slave says in his heart, ‘My master is delayed,’ ⁴⁹and starts to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, ⁵⁰that slave’s master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. ⁵¹He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew~24:45-51)

For the last several passages (for the last several Sundays) Paul has been establishing his ministry credentials. In last week’s passage, even though he was pretty embarrassed to talk about it, Paul talked about how much he was willing to suffer in order to spread the gospel of salvation—how much he had suffered. (The false teachers are generally interested in how they can benefit themselves more than how they can benefit those they are teaching. They are not willing to suffer very much.)

In today’s passage, Paul starts out by saying, “I have become a fool; you forced it on me. I ought to have been recommended by you, since I am in no way inferior to the ‘super-apostles,’ even though I am nothing.” The Corinthians should have been defending Paul and the gospel he was teaching against whatever the false teachers were teaching. Instead, they had been listening to the false teachers. False teachings generally appeal to pride and selfishness—the flesh.

Paul also says that the “signs of an apostle” were performed among the Corinthians—and not only signs, but wonders and miracles (v 12). These are the things that should have authenticated Paul’s message. (And notice that Paul didn’t say that he had done the signs of an apostle, but that they were done. The Holy Spirit did the signs by his power.)

The signs of an apostle were done—and not only the signs, but wonders and miracles. But what are they? What are signs and wonders and miracles? Remember that in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 Paul said that he had not come to them with brilliant speech or persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and power. When I think of wonders and miracles I think of demons being cast out, of miraculous healings—people who are dying being completely healed—maybe even raised from the dead—and maybe prophetic messages—Paul telling people whom he could not possibly know anything about what their problems were and what they needed to do about them—trust Jesus!

But, you know, false teachers can do wonders and miracles and wonders, too. Jesus said, “Watch out for false prophets.” He said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’” But did you notice that the apostle Paul said, “...not only signs, but wonders and miracles.” “...not only signs, but wonders and miracles.” The wonders and miracles were something that was in addition to the signs. What were the signs? I tell you what I think in just a little bit. But let’s go on.

Paul is again telling the Corinthians what he has done and what he intends to do when he comes to visit them again is not for his benefit, but for their benefit. Did you notice that Paul has made this same point over and over? False teachers will say that, too. But you have to watch what they do, not what they say. Paul was very careful not to accept any money from them or anything else that was theirs. Even though he had every right to be paid, he didn’t exercise that right. Paul pointed out that the people he sent didn’t take advantage of them either.

We have to watch out for false teachers. Jesus says that we will know them by their fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is love! And, by the way, what motivates you in your relations with other people?

And there is something else that I need to point out. Paul did sacrifice for the Corinthians. He didn’t burden the them. He didn’t take advantage of them. But he did gain something really good when he served them. He gained joy!

You know, I thought I ought to say something about verse 16. Verse 16 says, “Now granted, I have not burdened you; yet sly as I am, I took you in by deceit!” It’s a little hard to understand what Paul meant when he said, “I took you in by deceit.” So, you know what? I gave up. I looked as a bunch of commentaries, too. They didn’t seem to have anything consistent or convincing to say either.

It sounds like an inspection. Paul is afraid he will find dust and dirt and things out of order—and even worse, garbage and filth. Look at what he lists: quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder. These things result when you fix your eyes on yourself rather than on Jesus. These things are the result of selfishness and self-centeredness—the fruit of the flesh. Do we have any of these things among us? We need to examine ourselves. These things are the exact opposite of the fruit of the Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Gal.~5:22-23) How much fruit of the Spirit do we have? (And how much fruit of the fleah?)

In verse 21 the apostle Paul also says that he’s afraid that some of the Corinthians have not repented of the uncleanness, sexual immorality, and promiscuity they had practiced. “Repented” means that they have changed their thinking about these things and that they have stopped doing them! Let me read from Ephesians. I was just going to quote one verse, but then I couldn’t figure out where to stop. I was going to quote: “But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints.” We are “saints”. “Saint” means “holy person”. If you belong to Jesus, you are a saint—a holy person—a person set apart for the Lord. Everyone who belongs to Jesus is a saint. We must rid ourselves of all these unclean things.

I was going to quote just one verse, but then I thought I should quote some of the surrounding verses. But I had trouble figuring out where to stop, so I’m going to read Ephesians 4:28 through 5:12

²⁹No rotten talk should come from your mouth, but only what is good for the building up of someone in need, in order to give grace to those who hear. ³⁰And don't grieve God's Holy Spirit, who sealed you for the day of redemption. ³¹All bitterness, anger and wrath, insult and slander must be removed from you, along with all wickedness. ³²And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

^5:1Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children. ²And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. ³But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints. ⁴And coarse and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks. ⁵For know and recognize this: no sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of the Messiah and of God.

⁶Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these things God's wrath is coming on the disobedient. ⁷Therefore, do not become their partners. ⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light— ⁹for the fruit of the light results in all goodness, righteousness, and truth— ¹⁰discerning what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹Don't participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead, expose them. ¹²For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. (Ephesians~4:29-5:12)

This is God’s direction, given by his Holy Spirit, through the apostle Paul, to his holy people, his saints, to us. And it’s not to individuals, but to the church—although we need to receive the message as individuals, as well. It is in love that we must encourage and build each other up.

¹This is the third time I am coming to you. On the testimony of two or three witnesses every word will be confirmed. ²I gave warning, and I give warning—as when I was present the second time, so now while I am absent—to those who sinned before and to all the rest: if I come again, I will not be lenient, ³since you seek proof of Christ speaking in me. He is not weak toward you, but powerful among you. ⁴In fact, He was crucified in weakness, but He lives by God’s power. For we also are weak in Him, yet toward you we will live with Him by God’s power. (2 Corinthians 13:1-4)

“On the testimony of two or three witnesses every word will be confirmed.” It’s a quote from the from the Law of Moses. A person couldn’t be put to death on the testimony of just one witness. It required two or three witnesses. This would be the third time Paul would be coming to the Corinthians.

Paul says he will not be lenient. What do you think? Is he planning on intimidating the Corinthians by strong words or by hollering and yelling? Sometimes we think we can persuade people if we holler loudly enough. But Paul is not talking about how he is planning to say things, but about the power of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.

You remember that Paul said that he had performed the signs of an apostle among the Corinthians? Do you remember that those signs were apparently something that was different, something that was apart from wonders and miracles? Do you remember that Paul had told the Corinthians back in 1 Corinthians, chapter 2 that he had not come to them with brilliant speech or persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and power? Listen to what Jesus told his disciple when he was getting ready to go to the cross. This is from John 16:5-8:

⁵“But now I am going away to Him who sent Me, and not one of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ ⁶Yet, because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send Him to you. ⁸When He comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment...” (John~16:5-8)

The Counselor that Jesus spoke about is the Holy Spirit. It’s the power of the Holy Spirit that convicts the world about sin, righteousness and judgment. Remember the story about Jonathan Edward. He preached the very famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. He did not preach with brilliant speech. And the people were not at all in a serious mood. But after he had preached, they were down on the floor in repentance. They were asking God for mercy. That is a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. In Paul’s case, it’s the proof of Christ speaking through him.

So what does Paul expect to happen when he comes to Corinth? If they are disobeying, he expects that they will be convicted by the Power of the Holy Spirit. They will be convicted about sin, righteousness and judgment. They will all be convicted. Some will repent. If any fail to repent, they will probably leave. I believe the strong conviction of the Holy Spirit can drive away people who refuse to repent or, in the cases, cause them to attack. Stephen told the Jewish counsel that they always resisted the Holy Spirit. They stoned him to death. But in the case of the Corinthians, they would probably be in the minority. I think they would leave.

Paul is telling them to test themselves to see if they are in the faith. What is the test? He doesn’t say. But I can say this: If you are in the faith, you will want to become more like Christ and you will become more like Christ. Paul said that they (he and the other apostles) were not able to do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. He said that he hoped that they would recognize that they were not failing the test. So, let us examine ourselves to see how able we are to only do things that are for the truth. The truth is the truth of the gospel—the truth that God loves us and that he showed his love by sending his one-and-only Son to die for us—the truth that Jesus rose from the dead and that he is coming back. How able are we to only do things that are for the truth?

I’ve suggested in the past that maybe we could greet one another with a holy hug. If we belong to Christ, we all belong to the same family. But the most important thing is to rejoice. Rejoicing comes from God’s power. Let’s praise God and rejoice.