Fellowshipmtz

REVIEWING the CONTEXT (from ENDURING WORD Bible Commentary):"We must remind ourselves that Paul ... isn't talking about the world here but the Corinthian Christians. They were the ones with the strongholds in their minds and hearts. They made the arguments against God's mind and methods. They held on to every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. We miss it entirely if we think the love of manipulation, the image of success, smooth words, the perception of power, lording over authority, and human schemes and programs are just problems among unbelievers. Paul dealt with this heart and mind in the church."

From The Biblical Illustrator:

The last thought that occurs to some professing Christians is that Christianity or the Christian life is a warfare.  It has been noticed by discerning persons that almost as soon as a man joins the Church he settles down into indifference or selfish enjoyment — as if a man should enlist into the army, and then go home and sit down all the rest of his days on the sunny side of his house and in the favourite spot of his garden. What kind of enlistment is that?  In addition to this the next mistake that is made is that persons who enter the Christian service imagine that all the fighting is to be done outside.  You cannot fight outside until you have fought inside.  The first man you have to kill is yourself.  It is possible to be a magnificently grand philanthropist in public, and to let your own family starve for want of sympathy. – J. Parker, D.D.

APOLOGIES: The first 5 minutes (or so) were not recorded.Warren Wiersbe writes, "You cannot fight spiritual battles with carnal (worldly) weapons."  If that is true (and I think it is), then why do we so often TRY to fight spiritual battles with carnal weapons?  For one reason it is because we don't SEE spiritual forces, but we DO see the persons who are against us, our antagonists/adversaries; those persons who are angry, brazen, hurtful, insulting, authoritarian, manipulative, controlling, combative, self-centered.  Accordingly, it is easiest to respond in kind -- it *feels* good, satisfying (at the time).

Paul responds to the accusations leveled against him because they are not merely "personal attacks" -- rather, they are an attack on the essential fabric and foundation of:

Christ's Church - its structure and makeup of the Church

Christ's Authority - the scope & nature of Christ's authority

Christ's Gospel - the wholeness of the Gospel, the Message

CHAPTER 9:8-15

There are many good results of Grace Giving -- in these verses we will see effects...- in what GOD does next- in/for the GIVERS- in/for the RECEIVERS- and in what God receives

CHAPTERS 10-13

In chapters 1-9 Paul's relationship with the church seems largely restored. Paul writes looking back on what had been a problem, but it ceased to be a problem because the Corinthians' evidenced godly sorrow & repentance (see esp. chapter 7).In chapter 10 the tone changes without warning or explanation: Is Paul now confronting only a small minority within the larger body?  Is he attempting to strengthen the commitment and resolve of the church overall?

For all my fifty-nine years I believed chapters 8 and 9 of Second Corinthians were about giving -- specifically, taking up a collection for the destitute believers in Jerusalem.  Certainly, there IS that -- but that is only the presenting concern.  In fact, the chapters teach a much more important and underlying truth applicable to Christian life and doctrine.

Why does the Bible exist?  What difference does it make?  At the risk over oversimplification, the Bible exists to correct two primary and very gross errors -- the inflated view we have about ourselves and the overly accommodating view we have of GOD.  In this message you will learn what theologians mean by the term "total depravity" and how our mouths are a demonstration of our sinfulness.  At the same time, the call of the gospel is to confess (with our mouths!) Jesus as Lord & Savior!

Today's message develops the pattern found in Scripture that God's grace is not received in vain.  Grace changes things!  People who have experienced grace, who have received from God, are people who extend grace, kindness, forgiveness.

William Dyrness has observed that in many respects American identity is established in material terms.  We define ourselves by our relation to our material environment, perhaps more than our relation to other people (or even to God).

...The point Dyrness makes is that this cultural backdrop has permeated our preaching of the gospel.  In his words:

Communicating the gospel in America will invariably reflect these emphases.  On the one hand, it will tend to affirm the quest for achievement.  It might emphasize that God loves us and seeks to help us realize our potential or our gifts (He "has a wonderful plan for our life").  On the other hand, it will encourage a practical no-nonsense kind of faith, a "faith that works"… it will in general affirm the goodness and value of the person and the created order.  As a rule, Christians in America will feel the need of affirmation rather than of deliverance.

The question must be raised whether this adaptation to our culture is not a syncretism that compromises the gospel itself.  Is God the great "supporter of my goals," the assistant assigned to help me realize my potential?  ...Sloppy thinking about this crucial area of our lives as Christians will open the door for an invasion of American self-serving materialism and self-congratulating moralism. – NIV Application Commentary

2 Corinthians 8:16-9:5

Today's message highlights how we should understand BOASTING.  Paul's boasting of the Corinthians (9:1-5) is inseparably tied to his confidence in GOD's GRACE performing its necessary work among them.