This jumps out at me every time I read it, in part because my prayer life is weak:

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way… I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; (1 Timothy 2.1, 2, 8, ESV)

I’ve written before about the importance of praying for “all those in high positions:” government officials, clerical leaders, and business leaders. And we have no choice but to include those people in our prayers.

But this time, what struck me was what is going on in my own little neighborhood. There are 20 houses on our street, and there are:

• A family where a 21-year-old son has serious issues
• A lady about our age who has had two medical emergencies in the past few months
• A widow friend who has started a new arthritis medication whose side effects may be worse than the disease
• A pair of large, noisy dogs the family is trying to re-home, so far without success
• An emergency call to the home of the oldest people on our street.

I don’t need to follow all the ins and outs of the daily news to have things to pray about!

…praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. (Ephesians 6.18, ESV)

We leave 2 Corinthians and start 1 Timothy, the next book in our New Testament Reading Program. The letter from Paul to Pastor Timothy starts with a bang:

As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1.3 – 5, ESV)

Timothy’s purpose at Ephesus:

• Charge “certain persons” – local teachers…
  • NOT to teach any different teaching
  • NOT to devote themselves to “myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations”
• The objective?
  • Love 
    • from a pure heart
    • Good conscience
    • Sincere faith

The alternative is “vain discussion.”

Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. (1 Timothy 1.6, 7, ESV)

I can’t tell you how many men’s Bible studies I’ve dropped in on and discovered, within one minute at most, that they are precisely about “vain discussion.” Debating fine points of doctrine, talking about different radio preachers they listen to, or otherwise finding ways NOT to put what they’re reading into practice.

It’s always the same. People want the authority and mystique that comes from being a teacher. They want secret knowledge, previously unknown. They want to “discuss” the Bible but they don’t want to put the Bible into practice. They don’t want the simplicity of teaching real truth that leads to love.

The bottom line is a life of love. How quickly we leave that! Jesus was clear:

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13.34, 35, NIV)

I’m grateful to Dr. David Jordan-Irwin, pastor of Monument Community Presbyterian Church, for passing along this story, which he says is taken from Lectio 365.

At her coronation the Queen of England was presented with a Bible as these extraordinary words rang out in Westminster Abbey, and around the world:

“We present you with this book, the most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is wisdom, this is the royal law, these are the lively oracles of God.” 

She was wearing, at the time, a priceless golden crown adorned with 2,901 precious stones, she was sitting upon a throne in a thousand-year-old vaulted abbey, and yet, God’s Word was recognized as “the most valuable thing that this world affords.” from Lectio 365

⁷  The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
⁸  the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
⁹  the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.
¹⁰  More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold… (Psalm 19.7 – 10, ESV)

If you’ve been reading this blog for more than a year, you know that I always write about Sputnik Day, in memory of the first satellite, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. This blog, from 2019, highlights the importance of technology to solve problems.

However, this year, it seems appropriate NOT to honor the Russians who are waging an unprovoked land-grab war on Ukraine, reminding us that technology can be used for good or ill.

As of this writing, the Ukrainians are still fighting back, and lately, they have been succeeding. Bless ’em.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. (Matthew 24.6, 7, NIV)

We end our time in 2 Corinthians with this meditation from the next to last chapter:

Paul’s philosophy of life and ministry:

Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps? (2 Corinthians 12.14 – 18, ESV)

“I seek not what is yours, but you.” That’s a good word and a rebuke to, for example, televangelists who do want what is mine. “I will gladly spend and be spent for your souls.”

Instead, we were gentle among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. (1 Thessalonians 2.7, 8, NIV)

2 Corinthians is a difficult book to read in many ways. It’s not as tightly organized as most of Paul’s other letters. It’s deeply personal, somewhat emotional. He was “competing” for the Corinthians’ respect after other, so-called, apostles tried to steal their loyalty. He lists his “credentials” in chapter 11. I offer them with little comment other than, “Do you really want to be in full-time ministry?”

• Are they Hebrews? So am I. 
• Are they Israelites? So am I. 
• Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I.  
• Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—
  • with far greater labors, 
  • far more imprisonments, 
  • with countless beatings, and often near death.  
  • Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.  
  • Three times I was beaten with rods. 
  • Once I was stoned. 
  • Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;  
  • on frequent journeys, 
  • In danger…
    • from rivers, 
    • from robbers, 
    • from my own people, 
    • from Gentiles, 
    • in the city, 
    • in the wilderness, 
    • at sea, 
    • from false brothers;  
  • in toil and hardship, 
  • through many a sleepless night, 
  • in hunger and thirst, 
  • often without food, 
  • in cold and exposure. (2 Corinthians 11.22 – 27, ESV, bulleted for clarity)

What a list!

In danger from three kinds of people:

• Jews
• Gentiles
• False brothers

I have fought the good fight… (2 Timothy 4.7)

2 Corinthians 10 gives us insight into how and why Paul carried out his mission:

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6 our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity…8 so even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it…12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise…15 We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged. (2 Corinthians 10.3 – 6, 8, 12, 15, various translations)

The context is Paul’s ministry. 

• The objective: building lives of obedience into maturity (6)
• The means
  • spiritual weapons for casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to Christ. (3 – 5, compare 2 Corinthians 6.7)
  • An authority which builds up rather than tears down (8, compare 2 Corinthians 13.10)
  • Enlarged area of influence (15)
• The mindset: not one of comparison to others (12)

There are so-called spiritual leaders, some famous, some not so famous, who would say that they want to “build lives of obedience into maturity” and “enlarge their area of influence,” but they don’t do it the same way. They often use their authority to tear down rather than build up. They compare themselves to others. (A mega church pastor once said, “I can’t learn anything from [another more experienced pastor]. My church is bigger than his church.”) They often use “carnal weapons” – screaming at people, for example.

“Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit,” says the Lord. (Zechariah 4.6)

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4.9, ESV)

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)