Men, especially —the greatest calling on our lives is to love Jesus with our whole heart, and daily show the people under our care how beautiful and helpful and patient God’s authority is. Our calling as parents is to help our children believe that God’s authority is where life and safety and freedom and joy are found. This is gospel work! That is kingdom work. That is being an ambassador for the King of kings. That is carrying this incredible treasure in fragile clay jars that often break and crack and need repair. This is being a temple of the Holy Spirit, and making our homes a place where the Spirit lives, and moves, and is known.
Paul closes out his letter by somewhat threatening the Corinthians, saying he's going to come and be harsh with them if they don't get some of their sin issues dealt with. He also invites them to test themselves to see if they are truly in the faith. 1 John helps us with that test.
To be a Christian is to be at war – a war to rest in the right place. The world wants us to rest in and find satisfaction in everything but Jesus. So the enemy plants thoughts in our minds that line up with our sinful desires, and together they create an argument that easily becomes a stronghold. Paul says we've been given weapons that are powerful enough to tear down the argument and the stronghold.
Here in 2 Corinthians 5, Paul outlines the gospel in about as clear and concise a manner as possible. As a result, we are ambassadors for Christ – his representatives, his spokespeople. But even more than that, he is with us. In us. And for us.
God has chosen to put the greatest treasure of all, not inside of gun safes, but inside clay jars, or earthenware vessels; not inside of strength, but inside brokenness and weakness. It's intentional. There's purpose behind our weakness. It's so the treasure is seen all the more clearly.
Pastor Don Stubbs, from The Branch Church in New Philadelphia/Baltic Ohio joins us, and walks us through 2 Corinthians 5. What starts with walking by faith and not by sight, becomes "we try to persuade people", "for the love of Christ compels us."
Paul says that we are ministers of a New Covenant, which isn't written on stones, but on human hearts – not by the letter of the law, but by the Spirit of the living God.
Paul faces criticism from another group doing ministry, because he doesn't carry the same "credentials" and "recommendations" that they do. Paul looks at the fruit of the gospel and says that's all the credentials I need.
Jesus made six statements in the gospels of Luke and John about discipleship: three from the negative, saying, if this or this is true you cannot be my disciple, and three from John in the positive, saying, this is how people will know you are my disciple. We put those six statements together to derive a working definition of a disciple of Jesus.
We hear a story of disappointment, frustration, and not knowing where God is, and we also hear from a young couple and how the gospel has stirred their hearts to move overseas and work with college students.