"A Call to Spiritual Self-Examination" | 2 Corinthians 13 | Pastor Israel

Well, I'm I'm holding in my hand here a precious commodity, a

little piece of plastic, something that almost every 17

year old in Australia longs for, something that is earned with

time and with patience, a fair bit of work.

And this little plastic card which many of us have in our

possession offers a new kind of freedom.

It's our driver's licence and it brings with it some power,

brings with it certainly some responsibility and for a

teenager, maybe bragging rights. Have you got yours yet?

I've got mine and all of that sort of stuff that goes with it.

When I first received my driver's licence, I remember it

just feeling like it opened up a whole new realm of opportunities

and possibilities for me. But here's a question of I've

got to thinking about this. How would I go if I had to take

my driving test again today, after nearly 30 odd years of

driving familiarity and certain habits, certain shortcuts that

I've probably been taking and of relatively driving unchecked,

would I pass? I wonder how I'd fare under

examination having to sit that test again.

It gets me thinking about other types of exams and assessments

and tests that we have. School exams, some of you have

just completed those, maybe university exams have just

wrapped up for you. Think about health exams and

check UPS that we can have. Think about audits and things

financially that examine how we're going with our budgets or

with our expenditure and those sorts of things.

And for the most part, many of those aren't fun, but they

certainly are necessary in many respects in our lives because

examinations reveal what's real, provide a good little status

quo, a check up on some things in our lives.

And that's exactly what Paul does here in chapter 13 to

conclude our book here at the end of Second Corinthians, he

closes what's been a very personal letter, a very

passionate letter, an often times painful letter that he has

addressed to the church in Corinth here now with this

single command that we see in verse 5.

And he says examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith,

test yourselves. Do you not realise that Jesus

Christ is in you? Unless, of course, he says you

fail the test. And the Corinthians from

chapters 10 through 12, he's been addressing this.

They've been testing Paul. They've been questioning his

credentials, challenging his merits as an apostle, doubting

his authority, challenging his motives.

And now Paul turns the tables on them for us as we read.

He says, OK, you've been you've been testing me now.

Now it's your turn about some self examination.

How about you guys turn the focus off me for a moment and

reflect on yourselves. And so for us tonight, as with

them as we read, it's it's exam time, not a time necessarily for

us to be embarrassed, but rather to ensure to check that we're on

the right track. Not to, to shame, but to, to

strengthen where we're at in our walk with the Lord and our, our

progress in our faith, and not to necessarily expose failure,

but to confirm faith in our lives.

Again, the context, as we've been seeing all the way through,

is that the church in Corinth was a church that Paul loved

deeply, that he had a strong connection with.

And he was concerned having spent 18 months there.

We read in Acts chapter 18. It was the longest time that

Acts 18 · chapter mention

again, he'd spent in any city in, in founding a church.

He'd taught, he'd discipled them, he'd loved them

powerfully. And he was, in a sense, their

first pastor. He called of them himself their

spiritual father. And then when he left, a great

orator, A fellow called Apollos had come in and taken Paul's

place, and it was a great teacher and and preacher of

God's word. And so imagine being a part of

that congregation in Corinth church that had been founded by

Paul, sitting under Paul's teaching and then under Apollos,

mighty in the Scriptures, the Bible says of Apollos.

You'd think that that would make a strong church, right?

But they were really messy. As we've discovered, church in

Corinth had a lot of problems. And we've been kind of like the

the brother or the sister looking on, as you know, the

parent has berated the fellow sibling and we're going, oh, OK,

there's some lessons I need to learn and take out of that.

It's been a pretty significant. They were divided as a church.

They were siding with one teacher over another and saying

I'm of Paul and others were saying I'm of Apollos and some

were saying I'm of Peter and still some were saying, well, I,

I I see that and I raise that and I'm of Jesus.

And they were dividing. There was disunity amongst

themselves following their favourite preachers.

They, we discovered, tolerated sexual immorality in the church

across a number of spectrums that even had one fellow we

discovered in One Corinthians who was sleeping with his his

stepmother, it probably looks like.

And Paul says this is a relationship that not even the

pagans would celebrate. And you're not only tolerating

it, but you're celebrating it in your midst.

They abuse spiritual gifts. We discovered they were even

getting drunk as part of their communion gatherings and they

misunderstood what the resurrection was all about.

And now they had turned against Paul, as we've been dealing with

in the last few chapters here and entertaining these false

self appointed super apostles who claimed this heightened

sense of spirituality and they were buying into that.

So Paul writes this final chapter here for us as a kind of

final warning and final appeal to the church in Corinth and to

you and I. He says, I'm coming again soon.

I'm going to come and I'll, I'll see you and I'll visit in

person. And when I do, I'm, I'm going to

deal with these issues that I'm writing and whatever still needs

correcting. We'll see that in verses one and

two. But he warns and says, before

that day, I urge you, let, let me come in a different way.

Don't wait for me. Examine yourselves.

Deal with it now so that when I'm I'm present with you, it can

be a different kind of of gathering in person.

So let's consider self examination spiritually speaking

in our lives. And what that means is we

consider the example of the Corinthians and I want to kind

of Orient our thoughts around three things.

The purpose of examination tonight is to confirm what is

real in our lives. And then we'll see the power of

this kind of examination and that is that it is able to

correct what is wrong that it's not too put us down, but rather

to build us up. That's that's Paul's heart in

writing these things to edify. And then the product of that

examination is to cultivate, to encourage what is right and to

see unity and harmony in the body of believers and in our

relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's have a look at the first, the purpose of examination to

confirm what is real, and let's go through from verse one to

six. This will be the third time He

says I'm coming to you by the mouth of two or three witnesses.

Every word should be established.

I've told you before and foretell as if I were present

the second time. And now being absent, I write to

those who have sinned before and to all the rest, that if I come

again, I will not spare, since you seek a proof of Christ

speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you.

For though he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by the

power of God. We also will weaken him, but we

shall live with him by the power of God toward you.

Now our focus, these two verses 5 and 6.

Examine yourselves as to whether you're in the faith.

Test yourselves. Do not know yourselves that

Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you are disqualified.

But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified.

So the purpose of examination, as we consider, is to confirm

what is real, what is genuine, to prove that Paul's command is

not designed here to make them doubt, but rather to make them

sure. This isn't one of those tests

that sometimes a teacher can throw out to a class that's

almost designed to, to show students that they don't know as

much as perhaps they thought and that now they really need to be

urgent about their study. But the whole point of this

language here of Paul is to make them sure certain of their

faith, of their walk with the Lord.

The word examine in the Greek means here to test for

genuineness. Consider and think of it like

testing metal to see if it's pure gold.

And the word test that he uses means to prove something through

experience that it should come out in the usage of it as being

genuine and authentic. So Paul's call here for

examination is not an academic thing, but a very practical call

here in their lives. So in other words, what he's

saying, don't just profess Christ, practise.

Christ may be real in the day to day in in your living.

May it be evident in the way that you conduct yourselves.

Don't just say that you believe. Let's have this faith be alive

in you. So we asked the piercing

question, do you not realise that Jesus Christ is in you and

that's really the ultimate test as we consider this idea of self

examination is Christ in you? Is Christ in me?

Is there evidence of Christ shaping your life, of Him

shaping my life, of this being lived out in the day to day, in

the decisions that I make, in the words that I speak, in the

thoughts that I have, are they reflective of Christ in me?

Would that be evident as a means of examination of testing, of

proving my faith, your faith in Jesus Christ?

A modern illustration might fit. When we purchase a vehicle, we

don't just admire the paint work, but that's perhaps a part

of it. We don't walk around the vehicle

and and look at the tyres and go wow, they're pretty impressive

though that may be a part of it. We don't just consider the

fabric on the inside, but we typically will ask for the keys

and seek to take the vehicle, to test it, to prove it, to drive

it, to see it in action before making such a purchase, to see

how it runs on the road. And in the same way, what Paul

is asking of them and of you and I tonight is that faith ought to

be tested in real life. It's not just words, it's not

just thoughts, but it flows on out in actions and in deeds, not

in theory, not in isolation, but in the pressures of life, in the

traffic of temptation, in the detours of disappointment.

And this is all the way being evident in Paul's writing as the

challenges come about him being a an apostle of Jesus Christ.

And and the proof that he has provided has always been in the

pressure, in the suffering, in the trials, in the tribulation.

He says now it's time for you guys to do some examination, to

do some testing. So this is the purpose of the

examination Paul is referring to here.

If your faith is real, he says of them and he says of you and I

tonight it will be evident in the everyday.

It will be apparent. So as we think about this and

seek to apply it to ourselves, you know what?

Examine not just what you know about the Bible, about Jesus,

about God, but what you show. Do I see, do others see Christ's

character in me, in my reactions, in my choices, in my

thoughts, in the way that I conduct myself, my character?

Is there a growing love in me for God's Word, a desire for me

to open it and to read it and, and to seek wisdom and knowledge

from him when making decisions? Do I see God's people as a a

wonderful blessing in my life? That yes.

Oh, we might rub one another up the wrong way and we can get

irritated, but there's a a greater connection and bond and

a unity that we share and have in Jesus Christ that supersedes

that, that goes beyond that. Do I grieve over sin in my life

or do I just simply seek to manage it or to kind of cover

over it? So examination is what Paul

calls here. The purpose is not about looking

for perfection in our lives, but for direction.

Are we progressing in that sanctification, in that work

that the Holy Spirit is doing? In other words, is your life, is

my life moving toward Christ or moving away from Christ?

Are you, am I, are we becoming more like him, or as each day

passes, less and less like him? Paul says to them and to you and

I Unless, of course, you fail the test.

Now that's a pretty sobering statement, isn't it, when you

consider what we've been talking about and you know, there were

people in the Corinthian church, as I suspect that there are in

any churches and maybe just some in ours as well, who are busy

with religious activity, but spiritually empty and of this

exact situation. Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 7

Matthew 7:21–23

verse 21 to 23, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will

enter the Kingdom of heaven. Many will say to me, Lord,

didn't we prophecy in your name? Didn't we cast out demons in

your name? Didn't we do mighty works in

your name? And I will say I never knew you

depart from me. I think that to be the most

tragic words that anyone could hear.

Not you failed, but I never knew you never knew you depart from

me. So Paul's challenge here is in

fact one of mercy. Wouldn't you rather be

challenged with that now than to find out it's all too late?

He says Take the test now while there's time.

Examine yourself. Test yourself.

And so the purpose of examination is to confirm what

is real power of such examination is that it corrects

what is wrong in US. And this is Paul's heart and

what we need to heed from this in verse 7 through to 10.

Now I pray to God that you do no evil, do no wrong, not that we

should appear approved, but that you should do what is

honourable, do good, though we may seem disqualified, for we

can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth we are

glad. Verse 9 when we are weak and you

are strong, and this also we pray that you may be made

complete fool. Therefore I write these things

being absent, unless being present, I should use sharpness

according to the authority which the Lord has given me.

Why purpose for edification and not for destruction.

Paul's heart here understand in in this declaration of you guys,

you need to examine yourselves. It's not harsh, but it's trying

to humiliate the Corinthians to get them to understand what

they've been doing and where they're at and to effect change.

His goal then is restoration and not rejection.

Verse 7, he prays, we pray to God that you may not do wrong,

that you may do what is right. In verse 10, he reminds them

that there's authority that he possesses God given, and that

authority is for building up, edifying, and not for tearing

down. In other words, understand my

heart here. My purpose in saying these

things is that I don't want to break you.

I don't want to destroy you, but I want to build you up.

I want to see you rightly living with the Lord.

And that's the power of examination, not to condemn, but

to correct. Think of a captain of a ship

before a long voyage about to embark.

It doesn't just assume that the course is right and correct.

They'll check the compass, the coordinate, the coordinates,

they'll study the charts, they'll test the instruments,

make sure that everything is taken care of before such a

journey. Why?

Because they know that that one small miscalculation now could

mean disaster later. Just as we trust when boarding

an aeroplane that the pilot has done such sort of things before

taking us on the journey, we trust that they've gone through

all of the protocol, all of the processes to get us to our

destination and to where we're going.

Well, in the same fashion, consider this self examination

as spiritual navigation. It allows then for the

Corinthians and for any of us tonight for this, for a mid

course correction. The Corinthians have begun their

journey in faith. They're walking with the Lord

and, and now Paul says you, you need to check yourselves.

You need to examine, you need to stop and and arrest the course

of direction that you're going, spiritually speaking, because

there's destruction ahead unless there's a change, unless you've

correct the course that you're going.

You need to realign with Christ in your in your journey.

So we, we need this, don't we? We need to constantly just

evaluate and to check and to to analyse because sin in our

lives. Haven't you found this?

It rarely announces itself, you know, it doesn't knock on the

door and say, you know, tomorrow you can expect such and such and

so and so by the way of temptation and you'll probably

succumb and fall into it. But now it creeps in quietly in

our lives through through compromise, through comparison

of others, through neglect of our spiritual disciplines and

our focus on the things of the Lord.

And and maybe maybe tonight we're sitting here and and maybe

we've grown comfortable with attitudes that once convicted

us. Maybe we've become critics of

others and defenders of ourselves.

Maybe we've replaced passion with performance.

You know, we do church, but but the fire has faded in our walk

with the Lord. So Paul says to them, as he

might say to you and I tonight, deal with it now, deal with it

now. Let God's truth realign you.

You know when I was a student? I wasn't excited about exams.

I don't think I'm alone in that. But you know, every so often a

teacher would hand back a marked test or assessment and say, now

I've corrected and I've shown where the errors were.

But here's what I want you to do.

I want you to consider it and go over it carefully.

I want you to see where you went wrong and I want you to learn

from it. And that's where the real

learning happened. And maybe you can relate and you

can connect. I could identify, I could see

in, in their marking, in their corrections, find out what is

correct and why it was correct. And I could learn it then I

could practise it. I could see where I went wrong

and then I could test it because I, I knew what the truth was.

And in readiness for the next time I could, I could know that.

OK, when that next test comes along, I'm confident now of the

knowledge I've practised, I've learnt it, I've been corrected

now. Well, God does the same through

his Spirit, through his word, as we read, he exposes not to shame

us, but to shape us. You know, I, I see now God,

haven't you found that you've been reading the Bible and you

go, thank you Lord for showing me that man.

I see what I was doing and, and now I see in your word and I've

read it and I understand it. I see what I was doing wrong and

I see it needs changing. Forgive me.

God, help me, God guide me, Holy Spirit in this and, and here's

how correction can happen now and, and then thank you God for

your mercy in revealing this to me.

Now help me in correcting this. Help me in navigating through

this. I don't want to break your heart

again in this way. So guide me, Holy Spirit, bless

me and and lead me. These are things that we pray

and that we go through. So every conviction then in our

lives is an invitation to correction, to stay the course

to move towards the Lord. Hebrews chapter 12 reminds us

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

the Lord disciplines those whom he loves.

And so if you're being challenged by the Spirit today

in any way, don't see that as rejection, but as as God working

on your relationship with him. That's God saying, you know, I

love you too much to leave you as you are.

Let's examine this and let's correct it and let's work and

move together so that thirdly and lastly, the product of

examination to cultivate what is right exists in our lives.

Paul concludes our journey through 1st and 2nd Corinthians

here with these words. Finally, brethren, farewell,

become complete, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in

peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

Greet one another with a holy kiss.

All the Saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus

Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit

be with you all. Amen.

Doesn't Paul close this letter beautifully?

Just read those words. After all the the correction,

the confrontation that's come through the rebuke that's been

there. He ends with this, this grace

and warmth, particularly verse 11.

We've read it, but there's there's 5 short commands that he

supplies to them in verse 11. And they what those commands do,

they describe what, what healthy examined faith looks like.

And, and this is the product of examination.

And this is what is to be cultivated in their myths, in

our myths and in our lives. He says rejoice in other words,

lift your eyes from the problem, the circumstances, situation and

and lift them to the person of Jesus Christ and joy then is not

the absence of struggle in our lives, but the presence of

Christ in the midst of those to be able to enjoy his presence

with us. He says be made complete.

In other words, grow on towards maturity.

Don't settle for spiritual mediocrity or or celebrate past

victories, but always be pressing on and and moving on

ahead. Be made complete.

Thirdly, he says be comforted, in other words, support one

another, walk together through trials.

Fourthly, be of one mind. And in this he speaks of unity

and it's not about uniformity that everybody is to be the

same, but it's a shared purpose around the gospel.

And then live in peace. Fifthly, in other words, where

it is a thing that you can do, do your part to make peace,

because where peace reigns, God's presence remains.

Now in verse 12, there's somewhat of an illustration of

this in his words. In Roman culture, people only

called family members, brothers or sisters, didn't they?

The early church began greeting one another in this way, even it

says with a holy kiss. And this is now what he says,

greet one another with a holy kiss.

And what that was was a, a declaration that they were one

family, brothers and sisters in the Lord.

And it was a a powerful witness as a consequence to a divided

world. Now in our culture and our

custom, that's why we shake hands.

That's why we we hug. That's why we fist bump maybe.

And then Paul seals it all with one of the most beautiful

benedictions in Scripture. And verse 14, he says the grace

of the Lord Jesus Christ, love of God, fellowship of the Holy

Spirit, be with you all. That's such a wonderful summary

of the Christian life there. The grace of Christ which saves

us, the love of the Father that surrounds us, and the fellowship

of the Spirit that sustains us. You know, you and I, we can't

live the examined life alone. We need the full ministry of the

triune God at work in US. And that's what Paul leaves them

with and you and I with and that's the product of the

examine life, cultivating what is right through the power of

God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit as we

finish this book. And what a journey it's been.

But specifically tonight, as we think of this idea of

examination, spiritually speaking, when I passed my

drivers less all those drivers test all those years ago got my

licence. It wasn't because I was perfect.

You know, I made some mistakes in that test.

But you know, it was because having gone through the course

of practising, I'd learned to listen to the instructor, to

correct my mistakes, to keep my eyes on the road, to examine the

mirrors, to do all of those things.

And, and that's the essence of this passage that we've just

finished with tonight. Paul's not calling the

Corinthians. Paul's not calling you and I to

perfection. He's calling for direction.

He's saying, don't wait for my next visit to sort things out.

Don't wait for judgement day. Examine yourself now.

Make sure you're in Christ and Christ is in you.

And so we can ask questions of ourselves tonight.

We can ask, you know, have have I been playing church or am I

pursuing Christ? Am I content in what I know of

him or do I actually know him personally?

Is it head knowledge only? Can I spout off Bible facts and

figures and things, or is there something deeper going on?

There's a relationship, a connection with the God that I

know stuff about, but do I know Him intimately, genuinely,

authentically? Is your faith alive?

Is it still growing? Is it active in love?

Is your faith in Jesus able to be tested in the everyday

situations, in the workplace, in the home, in your marriage, in

your relationships with your brother, with your sister?

How does your faith in Christ hold up under pressure?

And so today, tonight ask, am I in the faith?

Are we in the faith again, Not just about believing facts of

Jesus or of the Bible, but am I in him?

Am I committed? Am I trusting in him?

We think of analogy that might help.

Consider the ark of Noah as it was being built.

You know, we know in the Bible that it was built out of

something called Gopher wood. You know, you can believe that

the ark is it's made out of Gopher wood.

Strong. Yes, I think it's sea worthy.

Look, it's it's a wonderful thing.

I think it would do the job. But the question is, are you in

it? Are you in the ark when the rain

come and the floods? It's the same with Jesus.

Are you in him? And is he in you?

You know, as we examine, maybe in thinking about this

ourselves, examine your public life.

Are you dishonest, thieving, swearing, drunk, unclean,

biblically speaking? And if so, you know something's

not right there. And we've all bumped into people

who profess to be Christians with their mouth, but when you

look at their lives, you think this.

The math ain't nothing. If that's you tonight, repent,

cry out. Oh God, be merciful to a Sinner

like me. Help me, correct me in our

private lives. Do you pray?

Do you search the scriptures? Do you think of God?

Or do you live as if a stranger to Him?

You know, if if you're right with God, you would say things

like, you know, I couldn't possibly live without prayer,

couldn't possibly live without opening my Bible.

You know, I love his word. I love his people.

I love his house. Finally tonight, can you say

Jesus Christ is in me and I am in him, even though at times,

yes, maybe your, your heart might feel dark, but he's there

and you know it. You've, you've accepted him and

Jesus Christ lives in you. And in that then we can rejoice

because there is grace that is offered to us.

Because here's the good news in this, in thinking about testing

and examinations, really, this is an open book exam and the

answer is a person. The answer is Jesus.

There's an old Scottish pastor who said for every look at

yourself, look 10 times to Christ.

So maybe tonight there's been a self examination.

As we've been talking, you've been thinking through and

perhaps some things have hit home and you've gone, oh man,

you know, here's what we need to do.

Look to Christ. He is the author and finisher of

our faith. He has begun a good work in you,

in me, in US. And the Bible says that He will

be faithful to finish it and to complete it to the very end.

He's your strength and weakness. We've been learning about that

through Corinthians. He's the restorer of brokenness.

If at times you felt disqualified, through

examinations, through self assessment, then here's what you

need to do. Come now to Him, because His

grace awaits to seek Him, to pursue Him.

You know Jesus is both the standard.

Yes, and He is our Saviour. He is the lover of your soul,

and when you have Him, you have passed from death to life.