Podcast
As Paul closes this letter to the wayward church at Corinth, he knows they may still be wavering between himself and the false apostles who have misled them. So he challenges them, with four vital pastoral questions:
What’s true?
What’s real?
Where are we heading?
What’s important?
As we seek to get in tune with God’s cosmic plan for reconciliation, we could do worse than ask ourselves the same questions.
Exploring the hard, embarrassing work of reconciliation, and the humility of the cross.
Paul has been defending his ministry, not out of self-interest, but out of love for the church. His leadership, like that of Christ whom he imitates, is humble and gentle, but there are warnings mixed into his message.
Generosity reconciles churches to churches, and people to God. From the passage and from personal experience, Morag shares the joy of giving and being generous.
Paul challenges the believer to prove in real terms what we believe theoretically. He cites what we may see as 4 'proofs': Grief, grace, generosity, & gathering.
What does Paul have in mind when he tells the Corinthians not to be 'unequally yoked with unbelievers'? The point, it turns out, is that Paul is worried about the way the Corinthians are living out the Gospel. He raises a serious challenge: choose between the original Gospel he gave them, and come away from their new teachers and their false gospel.
In the last talk, Paul spoke of our lives as "treasures in clay jars." In this section he moves on to talk about "tipping the treasure out," as we engage in the great Ministry of Reconciliation which is the meta-narrative of the entire Bible.
Paul's defence of his apostolic mission and the unending glory of Christ - showing us to put our trust in what is eternal, not what is passing away.
We are called to be a people of forgiveness and reconciliation through Jesus and to spread the aroma of Christ to the world.
Above all, 2 Corinthians is about reconciliation. Not only between Paul and the Corinthians, after they have fallen out, but between God and human beings. Ultimately, God's heart is for reconciliation with the whole world - and that includes you!
