Today we completed reading Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthians. The last 10 verses are a telling summary of his challenge to them to live in a worthy manner  – a challenge that we should take and apply to ourselves. 

In the Old Testament we read of the foolish actions which lead to disaster in the reigns of the kings in the northern kingdom – they had become totally ungodly – and we can see comparisons to our world today and its’ ‘gods’.  These ‘gods’ are the things people seek after and which occupy their minds. Do we feel tempted to follow, at least a little, the example they are setting? We fear the answer is ‘Yes.’

And what a testing time Ezekiel had (ch.4) when God instructed him to ‘teach’ these exiles to live according to their spiritual heritage. As a result of his ‘acted’ teaching the LORD wants them to “look at one another in dismay … because of their punishment.” [v.17], that is, the punishment the acted parables indicate!  Is this situation coming upon our world today – it has exiled itself from “the word of God,” indeed, nearly all have no thought to there being a real God who sees all.

Back in Corinthians, let us heed Paul’s words,  “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.” [v.5] Then he puts a challenging question before them!  “Test yourselves … that Jesus Christ is in you?”  He qualifies this by adding – “unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”  A question for us? What is our answer?  Is Christ truly “in” our hearts, in our thinking?  What do our actions show – the things we read – and watch!?

We reflect on the last sentence of ch. 12, “I fear that when I come … I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.”

And when Jesus comes again!   Remember the key question of Jesus in Luke 18 v.8, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”  Let us all “examine (y)ourselves” so that the answer to our Lord’s question is “Yes.”  

How close are we now to the time when the Lord “will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect “? [Matt. 24 v.31], the days having “been cut short, (or) no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.” [v.22] Let us all “examine (y)ourselves so that the answer is “Yes” – and we are among those who are among “the elect” – what wonders far beyond our present comprehension await all those who do this.

What a remarkable man Paul was.  From being the foremost persecutor of the believers until he was struck blind – and heard the voice of Jesus challenging him as he neared Damascus – he was turned around to be the very opposite!  His statements (Acts 9 v.4; 22 v8-10) show the drama of this!

He had already done what he was urging the Corinthians (and us) to do.   It is evident Paul at first went through an intense learning period to embrace in his mind the whole gospel. The teaching of Christ that “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required” [Luke 12 v.48] was impressed on his mind.  We read today, in 2 Corinthians 10 how he appealed to the example he had set them (and us) that “we destroy arguments and every lofty opinionraised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” [v.5]

Although the circumstances are different Gods’ call for commitment by Ezekiel has similarities.  We read today how God tells him, “”Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked … that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.”  [3 v.17,18]  Do we sense the degree of responsibility for us today in this “whenever we read’  – and opportunities follow?

Back to Paul’s words.  We see how totally committed he had become, and, as a result, he is more aware how the Corinthians “measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another” and as a result “they are without understanding” [v.12]  This is what the Pharisees did!

We must constantly measure our thoughts, words and actions by the word of God.  The divine word, so readily available to us, must be absorbed by us more and more.  If we fail to do this, we will find, as Paul warns the Corinthians that, “(y)our thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ” [11 v.3]   When we “take every thought captive to obey Christ” and develop this spirit of  “sincere and pure devotion” – then we will have more and more spiritual strength to follow ever more closely in the footsteps of both Ezekiel and Paul.

By Bro David Caudrey

Who would be a prophet that has been specially sent by God! We are now reading Ezekiel and we find many similarities in his circumstances to that of Jeremiah. The message from the LORD they bring is not welcome because it does not agree with what the people want to hear.
Ezekiel is among the captives in exile (ch.1 v.1-3) and all that the exiles want to hear is a message that they are soon going to be able to return to their homeland and the Temple in Jerusalem.
The end of ch. 1 is about Ezekiel having a vision, he says “and I heard a voice speaking.” Our chapter today is about what the voice says; it is an instruction for him to act! “I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels … And whether they hear or refuse to hear … they will know that a prophet has been among them” [v.3,5]
Ezekiel is further told, “be not afraid of them, whether they hear or refuse …” [v.7] God repeats the instructions to Ezekiel for emphasis. This reminds us of the words of Paul to the Corinthians, “…necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I will have a reward …” [1 Cor.9 v.16,17]
Is necessity laid upon us? Are we so focused on the kingdom to God and the “house of prayer for all nations” {Mark 11 v.17] to be built in Jerusalem that we rarely or never speak of God’s message of hope and expectation to others regardless of “whether they hear or refuse to hear” Let us do this “of our own will”
There is a human saying that there is no time like the present, but in today’s reading Paul puts it this way after quoting God’s words through Isaiah that “In a favourable time …in a day of salvation I have helped you” Paul says, “Behold now is the favourable time; behold now is the day of salvation.” [2 Cor. 6 v.2]
Now is the favourable time for us to decide whether we are on the Lord’s side and will live sensing both the blessings and help he provides in our godless world and the responsibility that comes with it.

We have a remarkable set of chapters to mentally digest today!  2 Kings 10 records how Jehu, now king, carries out the will of the LORD in destroying all the progeny of Ahab and Jezebel and all the worshippers of Baal. “And the LORD said to Jehu” how he had “done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes” [v.30]

However the next verse makes the statement , “But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart.”  Now we ourselves can and should zealously work for our Lord, but we must be“careful to” do so “with all (our) heart.”

Today we started reading Ezekiel; he was “in the land of the Chaldeans” when “the hand of the LORD was upon him …” [1 v.3]  He was given some remarkable visions: the first is of “four living creatures” that have “human likeness.” [v.5].  There are wheels, one for each of them, “And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around.” [v.18]  This is repeated in ch. 10 v.12 and our thoughts go first to Proverbs 1 v.3 “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good” and then to Rev. 4 v.8, “And the four living creatures … are full of eyes all around”  Let us each become so spiritually minded that we sense the “eyes of the Lord” upon us.

The first of our 3 chapters (5,6 & 7) in 2nd Corinthians is a challenge to understand but once we get the context and flow of Paul’s points into our minds, his meaning falls into place.  It is those who are “not careful to” do this, who misunderstand some of his points.

Paul longs for the time when “what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” [5 v.4] But when does this happen?  When will Paul and fellow believers be “at home with the Lord” ? [v.8]  Verse 10 tells us, “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”   This is when he returns; remember what we read in 1 Cor. 4 v.5.  Those who have “done good” will then be truly “at home” – eternally.

We may also misunderstand what he means when he says “the body”! He does not say “your body” as in 1 Cor. 6 v.19, 20!   We read last week in 1 Cor. 12 v.27 “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”  

The body of believers must team together as being, collectively, “the body of Christ.”  So let us try hard today – and every coming day to not follow the example of Jehu, but be “careful to” not only build up our own faith but also“the body of Christ.”

These days the challenges to “lose heart” are multiplying as the boisterous ways of the world swirl around us – and appear to be getting even more chaotic and ungodly.  Our readings in 2 Kings ch.9 reveal a situation that was, in some ways even worse!    But at least Jehu, to whom Elisha had sent one of the sons of the prophets to anoint as the new king, was carrying out deserved justice on the wicked Jezebel and the ungodly kings of both the northern and southern kingdoms.

Paul’s words in 2nd Corinthians ch. 4 are applicable to at least some believers today.  Paul encourages the faithful (v.6,7) that “we have this treasure,” that is, “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” but it is “in jars of clay,”  meaning, our present humble and lowly situations.   But this is “to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” [v.7]

Do we feel increasingly overwhelmed by this godless world? Let us try harder to follow the example of Paul, for, although he was “persecuted” he was “not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed …” [v.9] His and our “spirit of faith” was in “knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. ” [v.13,14]

How encouraging, indeed triumphant, are his words from v.16. “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”

As a result we know for sure, if we possess a full faith in our hearts, that (as the chapter ends) “the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” and “our present light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” [v.17]

So let us make sure “we do not lose heart.”

Paul uses some interesting – and challenging – words – as we start reading his 2nd letter to the Corinthians; he refers to his continuing journey in serving the Lord and writes, “…thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.” [2 v.14]

Let us visualize in our minds the state of – and perceptions within – Paul’s mind.  We sense that these developed more and more as the years passed.  Is that happening in us?  

In reading his first letter to the Corinthians, we saw how, in some chapters, he had sternly reprimanded them – trying to provoke them into more Christ-likeness.  But now in his 2nd letter he reflects on how “I wrote to you out ofmuch affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.” [2 v.4]

Those who are bringing up children in our ever more godless world face a great challenge these days – and those who do not fully apply themselves to meeting that challenge are not really showing “love” for them, there is not enough of the right kind of “fragrance.”

We come to v.15-17!  Let us meditate on all that Paul means – what his words cause our minds to meditate on – what they unfold into our thought processes.  “We are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?  For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.”

Paul is the supreme example to us! What kind of “aroma of Christ” is to be seen in the way we behave and speak?  And we must not miss Paul’s point – it is an aroma … to God”   Is the ” fragrance from life to life” flowing out to all around us?  Do you and I sense in our hearts that we are really people “of sincerity, as commissioned by God”?

Let us all re-double our efforts to both feel and show “we are the aroma of Christ.”

We have a diverse range of inspired lessons in our readings today.  First, from a human perspective it is understandable that Elisha’s proclamation of “thus says the LORD, tomorrow about this time …” [2 Kings 7 v.1] there will be an abundance of food –  would be beyond belief to those who heard him!  Yet, because of all the remarkable things he had already been able to do in the name of the LORD, the “captain” should not have been so totally sceptical. 

A lesson for us  which surely we have learned in view of the way aspects of prophecy about “the last days” have already been fulfilled – that we can be confident the rest will wonderfully come to pass – indeed, maybe very soon!  But we must be careful to distinguish between plain prophetical statements and those which are not so plain. Jeremiah in his ‘lamentations’ (ch. 3 v.37-41) has an appropriate comment; “Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?” adding, “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?” 

Those doing their best to know his word and serve him should be able to discern this.  Jeremiah certainly could!  His next words are appropriate for us too!  “Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD! Let us lift up our hearts …”

We ponder how many, over the centuries have lifted up their hands, but not their hearts!

In the New Testament we completed Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians – and v.13 of the final chapter provides an appropriate concluding thought. “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” 

After we “test and examine our ways” let us commit ourselves to doing that.

Today we read one of the most meaningful chapters in the Bible – Ch. 15 of 1 Corinthians. Many verses “jumped out” for our meditation. The one we have chosen to really reflect upon is v.10.  Paul laments on his unworthiness, but then says, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.  On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

We hear the word grace used a lot in Christian circles.  There are popular hymns about “amazing grace” and how the Lord has “saved a wretch like me.”  Bible readers above all people appreciate “the wonder of his grace.”  But we reflected thoughtfully on the example of Paul and his utter commitment of service to his Lord to see that “his grace toward me was not in vain.”

No one can earn salvation!  But in accepting “his grace” what kind of motivation results in our hearts?  Can it be that for all too many in these “last days” that his grace is taken for granted and it fails to motivate them to live really committed lives as Paul did? Let us realize that commitment shows up in all the small things of life that we do (or don’t do) every day.

Paul urged his companions in this.  We will soon read in 2 Cor. 8 how he “urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace.  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.” [v.6,7]

Our acceptance of the grace of God should change us – as it did Paul, to show grace toward others in every situation so that his grace toward us is “not in vain.”   If we have previously been a “wretch” – this change should be extremely evident.  The challenge for most of us is in the many “small things” we do every day. Recall yesterday’s reading in 2 Kings of Naaman being angry he had not been asked to do some great thing to be cured of his leprosy.  His grace toward us is not in vain if we daily do the small things in his service.

We can be confused by the use of the word “prophecy” – presuming it simply means a prediction of future events.  But its’ primary meaning is to speak about the word of God, of God’s view of human behaviour: most of Jeremiah’s messages to the people had been like that.  His Lamentations over the fall of Jerusalem, which we started reading today, were all about the present situation those still in the land were in.  He starts, “How lonely sits the city that was full of people! …. she took no thought of her future; therefore her fall is terrible; she has no comforter.” [v.1,9] Our world takes “no thought” as to its future! What kind of afflictions await it because of this!

Our thoughts about the word “prophecy” were prompted by Paul’s words in todays’ 14th chapter of 1st Corinthians.  Verse 5 is puzzling, we need to see the context of the point Paul is making: “Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater …”  Paul does not mean that such are forth-telling future events! He means – to tell the truth about God’s ways and will.

Look down at v.24, 25!  Paul states ” if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all,  the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship Godand declare that God is really among you.” Those points makes the meaning of the word clear.

There was no Bible available among that first generation of Gentile believers, so gifts of the spirit were given.  But they had to be properly used – and Paul is writing here – seeking to correct their misuse. He declares –  the gift of “prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers.” [v.22] It is clear from Acts ch. 2 and the events on the day of Pentecost, that “tongues” were actual languages and were a sign and encouragement to unbelievers to learn about “the mighty works of God.” [v.11]  They listened and received the message – a contrast to the experience of Jeremiah.

Our final thought today is the point Paul makes near the end of his chapter, so many churches today are ignoring v.34-35 where Paul states, “women should keep silent in the churches … it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.”  The chapter ends with Paul’s request to the Corinthians that “all things should be done decently and in order.” That is just as much the need today – but only those who carefully and prayerfully read God’s word will achieve this.

We have come to that part of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians which is about the gifts of the Spirit which were possessed among the believers there. The Gospels were not yet in circulation, probably they had just been written.   Now what was the purpose of these gifts? After writing, “to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” [v.7], we notice the first gifts that are then mentioned, “To one is given through the Spirit the utterance ofwisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge, to another faith by the same Spirit …” [v.8,9]  Properly used, these inspired utterances would stimulate the spiritual life of the believers in Corinth.

The different gifts were like different parts of the body and Paul proceeds to draw an analogy on this, that as the parts of our body team together, so the believers should. “The eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you” [v.21].  It is evident that the believers in Corinth were not teaming together very well at all.  A lesson we may need today!

Chapter 13 describes what was lacking – love!  Paul wrote,  “if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” [v.2] Nothing!  What is it to be “nothing” in Christ’s eyes!? After that generation the gifts ceased.  What continued is summed up in the last verse, “So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

When Jesus returns, faith will be turned to sight and hope fulfilled!  So Paul is speaking of the things which are central to the here and now – and surely in God’s kingdom, with Jesus reigning from Jerusalem, then “love” will be the guiding principle of life!

We remember when the disciples of Jesus came to him and asked for an explanation of “the parable of the weeds in the field” [Matthew 13 v.36]  that he said, “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law breakers … then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom … “ [v.41.43]  It is evident that “love” with be the motive power for that shining!

Then the Spirit will be seen in all its “goodness” for the Spirit gifts are “the powers of the age to come.” [Hebrews 6 v.5]   Let us beware of those who make claims they have such powers now. The gifts then were to provide strength of conviction in the believers until the gospels and apostolic letters were in circulation.  They, and the other Scriptures, are the foundation of our strength today.