LPL Knoxville Notes 2012
Verses for the weekend:
2 Corinthians 6: 1-18, 2 Corinthians 7:1-4, 9-10
1As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in
vain. 2 For he says,
“In the time
of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.”
I
tell you, now is the time
of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
Paul’s Hardships
3 We put no stumbling block in
anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. 4 Rather, as
servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and
distresses; 5 in beatings,
imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6 in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the
Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7 in truthful speech and in the power of God; with
weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8 through glory and dishonor, bad
report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9 known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live
on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many
rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
11
We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to
you. 12 We are not withholding our affection from you, but you
are withholding yours from us. 13 As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children —open
wide your hearts also.
Warning Against Idolatry
14 Do not be yoked together with
unbelievers. For what do righteousness and
wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or
what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and
idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will live
with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my
people.”
17 Therefore,
“Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive
you.”
18 And, “I
will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
7 Therefore,
since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates
body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
Paul’s Joy Over the Church’s Repentance
2
Make room for us in your hearts. We
have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one. 3
I do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you have such a
place in our hearts that we would live or die with you. 4 I have
spoken to you with great frankness; I take great pride in you. I am greatly
encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.
9
yet now I am happy, not because you
were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became
sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance
that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
Notes
2 Cor 6:2 – “Now is the time of God’s favor. Now is the day of salvation”. A reference to now being what was prophesized
in the past.
Isaiah 49:8-9
Restoration of Israel
8 This is what the Lord says:
“In the time of my favor I will
answer you,
and in the day of salvation I will help you;
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people,
to restore the land
and to reassign its desolate inheritances,
9 to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’
and to those in darkness, ‘Be free
and in the day of salvation I will help you;
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people,
to restore the land
and to reassign its desolate inheritances,
9 to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’
and to those in darkness, ‘Be free
The present (following Christ’s death and as Christians today) is
the day of favor & time of salvation they have been waiting for, eagerly
anticipating. God is making himself
accessible to us.
Mark 1:14-15
Jesus Announces the Good News
14 After John was put
in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The
time has come,” he said. “The
kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
As with many prophesies, there is a sooner fulfillment and a later
ultimate fulfillment.
2 Cor 6:3 – “We put no stumbling block in
anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited”
Key word for us as Christians:
CREDIBLE. We have to be credible
to advance the Gospel and fulfill our unique missions.
Credible, from the root word “cred” meaning to believe.
Lesson for the session, using the word CREDIBLE:
C-Credibility is believability that
can only be earned
R- Reconciling adversity and divine
favor is true mystery disclosed
E- Every single antithetical inch is
spaced by grace
D- Dying to self feels most like a
killing when the unloved love
I -Interlocking lives is double strength
or double trouble
B- Bondage at is deadly best is trading
repentance for regret
L- Living together and dying together
(in reverse order…die, then live) in heart is fellowship at it s finest
E- Everything is nothing without Jesus
“C” – Credibility is believability that can only be earned. Credibility is earned the hard way. It can’t be bought, married into, faked,
etc. When our lives demonstrate we can
do what would otherwise be impossible.
“The Gospel can’t be spread if we ain’t got no cred.”
We must be humble servants of God.
Competent to give evidence worthy of belief.
From 2 Cor 6:4-10:
But as servants of God, we commend
ourselves in every way, by great endurance in
___________________________________________________________________,
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All of our “great endurance” blanks are different, but we all have
them. And we should want them. We want to get to heaven before Jesus having
overcome our great endurances.
They differ by person, but there are three basic categories:
·
Circumstantial
·
Other people
·
Price it takes in discipline for what we are
called to do (hard work in discipline for our unique callings)
We have to be willing to pay the price to do what we are called to
do. By way of self-discipline to be
credible to do our calling with the seal of God’s approval.
Memos – Greek word for discredit.
Greek god of ridicule and mockery.
Mockery is one of Satan’s big attacks.
Satan likes to make us think we are a fool, gullible. We will forsake our faith faster over ridicule
than any other form of persecution.
“R” – Reconciling adversity and divine favor is true mystery
disclosed
“E” – Every single antithetical inch is spaced by grace
Difficult circumstance
ß------------------(God’s grace)--------------------à
Our attitude
From 2 Cor 6: 4-10:
Dying Live on
Sorrowful Always
rejoicing
Poor Making
many rich
Having
nothing Possessing
everything
“D” – Dying to self feels most like a killing when the unloved love
2 Cor 6: 11-12 “We have spoken freely to you,
Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. 12 We are not withholding our affection from you, but you
are withholding yours from us”
Unreturned affection. Ask
God for understanding where we may be withholding words or love where you
shouldn’t be.
Matthew 24:12-13 in reference to the end times:
Because of the
increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to
the end will be saved.
I” – Interlocking lives is double strength or
double trouble
2 Cor 6:14-16 “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.
For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can
light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or
what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and
idols?”
It isn’t saying to not have any
association. It is saying do not be “yoked”. Yoked is a more intimate relationship…a
partnership. It is fellowship in
fellowship’s true definition:
Fellowship
> friendship
Fellowship
> kinship
Fellowship
= co-ownership
Don’t be unequally yoked in marriage or
partnerships.
Love and obsession are not the same things. If there is jealously, then something is off. Be careful of instant intimacy – no such
thing – must build over time, you should wait and see. In ministry, partnerships, etc.
2 Cor 7:1 “Therefore, since we have these promises, dear
friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and
spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”
Watch out for
what we put in our minds and bodies.
What we watch, listen to, are around, associate with, etc. It isn’t okay. Carnality profoundly undercuts credibility.
Isaiah 52:11:
Depart, depart, go
out from there!
Touch no unclean thing!
Come out from it and be pure,
you who carry the articles of the Lord’s house.
Touch no unclean thing!
Come out from it and be pure,
you who carry the articles of the Lord’s house.
“B” – Bondage at its deadly best is trading
repentance for regret
2 Cor 7:9-10 “yet
now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led
you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not
harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that
leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”
Repentance
= own it, desire to turn from it and walk away from it. It doesn’t leave you in it. It is freedom.
Regret
= just relive foolishness and stay in it through bondage.
Regret by itself
is worldy grief.
When you feel
that regret/reliving happen even though you know you have been forgiven,
instead replace it with thanksgiving to God for the gift of repentance and for
forgiveness and cleansing (instead of wallowing in regret).
“L” - Living
together and dying together (in reverse order) in heart is fellowship at its
finest.
We tend to say “live
and die” in that order, but it is actually dying that comes before living. Paul uses a lot of metaphors of death and resurrection
in his writings. We must die (to self,
to the world, etc) before we can live.
That is where true fellowship lives.
“E” – Everything
is nothing without Jesus
2
Cor 6:3b “…having nothing, and yet possessing everything. “In our society, most of us can not relate to having nothing, even if we grew up without a lot. We can think we don’t know what it is like to truly have nothing. But this isn’t true, because everything is nothing without Jesus.
Rev 3:17
You say, ‘I am rich; I have
acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are
wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
