Generous giving: this is the best description you’ll find anywhere.

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints—and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. (2 Corinthians 8.1 – 5, ESV)

• Affliction, joy, poverty -> “a wealth of generosity” – Really? That’s amazing.
• Gave beyond their means, of their own accord
• They gave themselves to the Lord, then to Paul, and then they gave their money.

Go thou and do likewise:

But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also. (2 Corinthians 8.7, ESV)

Yesterday, we meditated on 2 Corinthians 6.14 and concluded that the “unequal yoke” might include being sucked into the values of the age we live in. Here’s a poignant paragraph from the book Dream Small by Seth Lewis, son of Bruce and Elena Lewis, lifelong friends of ours. Seth tells the story of a wealthy man, discontent with the size of his mansion.

I remember visiting a friend who was retiring after a highly successful career. By any measure I could think of, he had done well. He was well known in his field, and his opinions were well respected wherever he went. While not fabulously wealthy, his family was well-off compared to most. As he showed me around his expensive home, he said, “All of my colleagues have bigger houses. I feel cramped here, but I’m looking at getting something bigger soon.” I said nothing, because what could I say? His small house was almost three times the size of mine. – Seth Lewis, Dream Small: The Secret Power of the Ordinary Christian Life (p. 5).

Jesus spoke to the problem a long time ago:

And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. (Luke 12.15 – 23, ESV)

Let me walk you through my process of meditating on this familiar verse:

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. (2 Corinthians 6.14)

Paul never specifies what he’s referring to. We always applied it to marriage, and that’s not bad advice although 1 Corinthians 7 indicates there were a lot of marriages of believers to unbelievers. Some have applied it to business partnerships, which also makes sense.

Here’s the therefore:

Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 6.17 – 7.1, ESV)

But what are we to separate from? Jesus certainly hung around with “sinners,” and in 2 Corinthians 5 Paul wants us to be ambassadors. An ambassador has to live in the other’s country. You can’t teach ‘em if you’re not around ‘em.

But not “yoked.” So I don’t know yet…

The application comes directly from Isaiah 52.11:

Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves,…

But even that’s not clear. Isaiah 52 is extolling Jerusalem. Then he says, “Go out from the midst of her…” But maybe “her” is Assyria and Egypt? (See Isaiah 52.3 – 6) The Lord will rescue his people from captivity. 

Today, we might need to think about separating from the values of the world. Seth Godin spoke to that on September 4. He observes that marketers work to create unease which will be cured by buying things we don’t need. We need to separate from that. Here’s how Seth starts:

For decades, marketers (and politicians) have been working to amplify cultural distress, a hack on our emotions.

Not the tragic emotional distress of being unable to care for your kids, find a place to live or deal with trauma, but the invented cultural distress of modern industrialized societies.

This is the easily created shame of not having a new suit to wear to the garden party, or having to use an old model smartphone instead of the new one. It’s the dissatisfaction of knowing that something ‘better’ is available, and the invented discontent that comes from the peer pressure of being left out or left behind. –Seth Godin, September 4, 2022

Walk away from that! “Go out from their midst and be separate from them…” 

Wow. Maybe that’s the unequal yoke! Trying to compete in the wrong game. Envy and greed are part of “every defilement of body and spirit.” I have a story that illustrates the discontent very well, but this blog is already too long. Stay tuned!

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7.1, ESV)

Yesterday, we saw Paul talking about our sufficiency in Christ. He follows immediately with a meditation on glory. [Caution: Paul has a lot of “stream of consciousness” communication in 2 Corinthians!]

Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory…Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3.7 – 11, 17, 18, ESV, emphasis mine)

We’re not just sufficient, we’re participating in a ministry of glory! “Sufficient” is good – recall Ian Thomas’ story about the Rolls Royce. Will it go up the mountain OK? The Rolls Royce people said: “It’s adequate.” Paul wraps it up:

Since we have such a hope, we are very bold. (2 Corinthians 3.12, ESV)

 

That bright object in the eastern sky after sunset is Jupiter:

It’s been bright for a few weeks now, and will probably continue a few weeks more, but today is special:

Earth will sweep between the sun and Jupiter on September 26, 2022, placing the giant planet opposite the sun in our sky and closer than in 70 years. – EarthSky website

I never cease to marvel at the mathematical precision of it all, and the folks who keep up with it.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8.3, 4, ESV)

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19.1, ESV)

We were nearing the end of our time in Estes Park in late August when this sign caught my eye:

What’s within you is stronger than what’s in your way.

At first, I thought it was a motivational seminar of some sort, but I soon realized it was a conference for those with disabilities. The No Barriers website explains:

We empower people to break through barriers, find their inner purpose and contribute their very best to the world.

Now, more than ever, we need to believe that What’s Within Us Is Stronger Than What’s In Our Way. Through transformative online and in-person experiences, tools and inspiration, we help people tap into their inner hope, optimism and resilience. In the process, we foster a community of curious, brave and collaborative explorers who are determined to live the No Barriers Life.

I saw special wheelchairs designed for hiking mountain trails and invitations for folks to participate in archery, orienteering, and other outdoor activities. The company that provided the wheelchairs had a tagline:

Making Adventure Accessible

I like that. My first book is Join the Adventure!, in which I tried to do precisely that: make the Adventure of participating in God’s mission accessible. We all have handicaps, especially spiritual ones. God makes the Adventure accessible!

Notice how the Apostle Paul latches onto the word SUFFICIENCY in his second letter to the Corinthians:

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3.4 – 6, ESV, emphasis mine)

This ties in nicely with the “no barriers” concept. I’m not sufficient, but my sufficiency comes from God who makes me sufficient! Indeed, the Adventure is accessible!

I’m reminded of when I heard the English author Major Ian Thomas tell a story about a Rolls Royce owner who wondered if he could take it into the mountains. Does it have enough power? The company wrote in typical English understatement, “It’s adequate.” This for a car with twice as much power as others in its day. The Greek word translated “sufficient” in these verses includes the idea of “To equip one with adequate power…”

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us… (Ephesians 3.20, NIV)

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4.4, NKJV)

If you read all of 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection chapter, that I referred to yesterday, you would have come across one of the “hard passages” in the Bible:

Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? (1 Corinthians 15.29, ESV)

Baptized for the dead? It’s the only reference to such a thing in the entire Bible. The Mormons have built an entire enterprise around it, resulting in one of the best sources of genealogical data in the world. The rest of us are pretty sure that there’s no merit in being baptized for someone who has died, but what are we to do with 1 Corinthians 15.29?

The best explanation I have seen is in The Passion Translation. It’s one of those, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Here is the note:

This is one of the most puzzling verses in all the New Testament. Bible scholars are divided over its meaning, with nearly two hundred interpretations offered. Paul is not condemning nor commending this practice, but merely using it as evidence that the hope of resurrection life after death for the believer is widely believed. Apparently, some believers were baptized in hopes of benefitting those who died before receiving baptism. This practice is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible nor in other writings of the earliest church fathers.

Two hundred interpretations! But here is the simplest: it means what it says. People were being baptized for the dead. That means that people believed in the resurrection of the dead, something that some in Corinth were doubting. That’s the whole purpose of 1 Corinthians 15 – to make a case for the resurrection. “Paul is not condemning or commending this practice, but merely using it as evidence…”

The larger principle is that just because someone did something and the Bible records it, doesn’t make it right. For example, I’ve always been bothered by the end of Ezra, where Ezra makes the people send away the foreign wives that they had married. (See Ezra 9 and 10.) They’re already married! They’ve had children! Wouldn’t it be better to keep them in the fold so they could learn about God? What’s the message?

My friend Dr. Willie Peterson, who was a professor at Dallas Seminary, gave me a clear answer: Ezra was wrong! Again, just because a person did something, and it’s recorded in the Bible, doesn’t make it right.

For the rest of you who are in mixed marriages—Christian married to nonChristian—we have no explicit command from the Master. So this is what you must do. If you are a man with a wife who is not a believer but who still wants to live with you, hold on to her. If you are a woman with a husband who is not a believer but he wants to live with you, hold on to him. The unbelieving husband shares to an extent in the holiness of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is likewise touched by the holiness of her husband. Otherwise, your children would be left out; as it is, they also are included in the spiritual purposes of God. (1 Corinthians 7.12 – 14, MSG)

Continuing yesterday’s theme of death swallowed up by life, we can be “of good courage.”

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,  for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5.6 – 8, ESV, emphasis mine)

So we are of good courage – twice.

Because of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15) we are to be “steadfast, unmovable, abounding in the work of the Lord” – how? Because we are always “of good courage” knowing that we are moving toward LIFE.

In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God! With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort. (1 Corinthians 15.53 – 58, MSG)

A couple of weeks ago, we were privileged to attend The Navigators’ Senior Staff Conference. A friend thought we would be with Navigator senior leadership. Nope. These Navigators are “seasoned citizens” – at age 75, we were among the younger people there!

Our theme was “Celebrating God” (two sessions) and “Celebrating Each Other” (two sessions), and the closing session was about heaven – a place many of the 200 of us will be sooner rather than later. I was struck by this verse, quoted by our first plenary speaker, and part of my recent readings:

For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. (2 Corinthians 5.4, ESV)

“What is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” Not swallowed up by death! But by life. As I heard Howard Hendricks say:

People think we’re in the land of the living heading for the land of the dying. Nothing could be further from the truth! We’re in the land of the dying, heading for the land of the living.

Earlier passages in 2 Corinthians affirm and encourage, especially as I was around a lot of Navigator friends and role models who are, well, older than they used to be! (As are we.)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. (2 Corinthians 3.17 – 4.1, ESV)

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4.16 – 18, ESV)

Let’s get back to Corinthians! I love this little paragraph in the last chapter of 1 Corinthians:

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. (1 Corinthians 16.13, 14, ESV)

Let’s bullet it out and note the contrast:

• Be watchful,
• stand firm in the faith,
• act like men,
• be strong.
• Let all that you do be done in love.

I say contrast because the first four are “manly” commands. They sound like an appeal to an army…or a football team! But wait…Do all that in love! Say what?

There’s a battle, and battles require fighting, but we do it in love.

I sent The Message version to our pastor as he was off to a General Conference of the United Methodist Church about 20 years ago (the battles are ongoing). It’s still a good word:

Keep your eyes open, hold tight to your convictions, give it all you’ve got, be resolute, and love without stopping. (1 Corinthians 16.13, 14, MSG)