A CAll for Completion
2 Corinthians 13:11-14
Well, this is a monumental day. We come to the last portion of Scripture in the epistle of 2 Corinthians. After four years going through this with a little bit of a break, we come to message number 96 in our study of 2 Corinthians and we say good-bye today to what has become a familiar and beloved friend, this great epistle.
Paul's divinely inspired writing ends with a straightforward appeal to the Christians at Corinth, it comes in the last four verses of chapter 13 of 2 Corinthians. He says this, "Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace and the God of love and peace shall 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 fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."
Now you remember back in chapter 12 verse 19 we introduced this entire section under the title of "A Faithful Pastor's Concerns." That's been the theme from chapter 12 verse 19 on as Paul brought his epistle to an end. And it is still the theme in this last final farewell. He is still telling us what concerns him. In fact, in some ways this is a general summary of everything that a pastor is really concerned about. As he gives this last final word to the troubled church at Corinth, the troubled church that he loved so much, he summarizes the concerns of his heart for them.
As you remember, the Corinthian church had been under siege, the were under siege from the world, the flesh and the devil. That is to say from all the possible enemies. The world being the culture around them that was filled with immorality, to an almost epic proportion so that to Corinthianize meant to go to bed with a prostitute, they were so synonymous. Their culture had all kinds of sinful defects which had influenced their lives prior to coming to Christ, and which, of course, continue to be an influence as they were surrounded by them.
They were also influenced by the devil. The devil, having spent most of his time always in false religion, the devil had allowed to come into the church at Corinth some false apostles, false teachers who were teaching lies and who had many more lies to teach if they could destroy the people's confidence in Paul. They had come to attack the church and had been successful in so doing, as you remember.
And then, of course, there was the attack from the flesh. The people were falling victim to sins of the flesh which, of course, were a way of life before they had come to Christ. So this was a church under siege basically from every possible angle. We have learned about that as we've gone through the epistle. We've seen them battling the world, and battling the flesh, and battling the devil in 2 Corinthians as well as 1 Corinthians.
Now as Paul wraps everything up, as he comes to this just final finishing few statements, the very end, the final farewell, the final summation, he has three concerns for them. We can sum this up in three words. He desires for them perfection, affection and benediction. Those are the three things that sort of sum up the last four verses. And this is really a final farewell summation. In fact, he begins verse 11 by saying, "Finally, brethren," and obviously it is the very end. Brethren is a term he used in chapter 1 verse 8, chapter 8 verse 1 to refer to the believers at Corinth. And this is a summation then in finality, the last word, so of a recapitulation of all his concerns. He brings everything together under three words. And, you know, you could safely say that these three words sum up what any faithful pastor would want for his church. In fact, these become goals for the church, objectives so strive for in the life of the Christian and the church.
I feel compelled also to mention what Paul doesn't have in his list. What are his apparent non-concerns, like prosperity, and success, and physical health and comfort and freedom and honor and prestige and things like that that people often get caught up in pursuing, even in the church. Paul has little or no regard for them. They don't even show up on his list.
Three main things concern him: perfection, affection, and benediction. And by the way, they overlap a little bit, as you will see. They're not just distinct, although there is enough in each of those categories to identify the category, there's a spillover into the other categories. You'll see that as we go through. So after 13 chapters of relentless defense of his life, 13 chapters of relentless defense of his apostleship, of his ministry, of his integrity, including a confrontation of the church and a straightforward confrontation of the church, a straightforward confrontation of the false apostles who were lying to them, finally it's all come to an end and he gives his final desires, his last brief summary. He tells them what he really wants to happen in that church.
Let's look, first of all, at the first word, perfection. Verse 11, "Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace and the God of love and peace shall be with you." The key to understanding this point is found in that statement, "Be made complete....be made complete." That's a comprehensive statement. That sort of sweeps over the whole verse, and we'll see how the rest fits in in a moment. "Be made complete," a very important Greek verb is the root of this, katartizo, very commonly used. It means to put in order, to put in order. It isn't to complete in the sense that something is incomplete and something needs to be added to it. It isn't complete in the sense that something that has some imperfections need to be made perfect. It's complete in the sense that things that are out of sync, out of order need to be appropriately placed in order. It could be translated wholeness, or soundness. It is a word used to refer to restoring a broken bone, to reducing a fracture, or to...to locating a dislocated joint. It is used...the same word is used in Hebrews 10:5 and I think it's chapter 11 verse 3 and it's translated in the English by the word "prepare," that it has the idea that something is ill prepared, something is not ready, something is not right and it needs to be further prepared. There must be further preparation before this is to the place it needs to be.
I suppose it would be safe to say we could translate it "mend your ways." Paul is calling for restoration here. There are a lot of things in the church that are out of line, out of order, out of sync and out of harmony. And Paul is saying you've got to get everything back in its proper order, back into place. He encouraged them along that line, by the way, already at the end of verse 9 when he used the same root word in that phrase "that you be made complete." Get your life in line as a church. Get things in order. This is spiritual wholeness. Having everything consistently in conformity to the Word of God and the will of God, that's the idea. Whatever's broken, whatever's out of sync, whatever's out of whack, whatever's out of harmony needs to be brought into its appropriate place. That's really the same thing he was saying to the Ephesians when he wrote them in Ephesians chapter 4 and he talked about the fact that the necessity for the Apostles and the prophets and the teaching pastors and evangelists was the perfecting of the saints, to put everything in place, to bring everything into sync, to bring everything into perfect order. This is the equipping of the saints for the work of the service. This is the building up of the body of Christ till it becomes a mature man and reaches the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, as he says in verse 13. You need to get everything in the kind of harmony that was exhibited in the person of Jesus Christ, where his theology and his thoughts and his words and his life all were in perfect harmony, where everything he did, everything he was, everything he claimed, everything he believed was in perfect integrity.
We're talking here then about integrity, about spiritual wholeness. Paul is saying to them, "Look, you've got some things to fix, you've got some things to correct. You have some things that are out of order that need to be brought into order, some things that are out of line that need to be brought into line."
I don't know about you, but that's kind of a way of life for me, isn't it for you? I mean, you kind of go through your whole Christian life being restored, getting things back in line, getting the priorities back in appropriate places, correcting the sins, correcting the errors. And that is exactly what the church is involved in. Any church leader knows that who is faithful to the Word of God. We are given this tremendous responsibility of getting the church in order and it's a never-ending battle. We work all the time to bring the church into harmony with the Word of God and the will of God, that's what we do. I am much more concerned about the church then I am about the world outside. I can't fix the world outside. I can't put it in order. But I have the tools in the power of the Spirit and the truth of the Word of God and spiritual leadership to do what God's commissioned me to do and that's to get the church in line, to put the church in order.
Where there are errors of theology, they need to be corrected. Where there are sins, they need to be eliminated. Where there are violated relationships, they need to be restored. Where there is laziness and indifference and apathy and lethargy, it needs to be turned into energy and commitment and devotion and service. That's what pastors do much of the time is work to put the church in order, and that's what the people need to do as well. That's why you're instructed in the Scripture. If you know someone who is sin, you go to that person, you confront that sin, you deal with it. You that are spiritual, Galatians 6:1 says, you're going to restore those who have fallen into sin.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 10 Paul said, "I want you to be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment." In 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 10 he said, "We want to complete what is lacking in your faith." This whole idea, same word is used, this whole idea of getting things in order, getting things in line in the church, that's the great task of church leadership. That was Paul's great passion. He knew that evangelism was a byproduct of that. He knew that changing the world around them was more likely to occur when they were what they needed to be. They needed to reject the false teachers, the false apostles, reject their lies, reject their heresies. They needed to turn their back on the sins of the flesh, the sins of the world. They needed to acknowledge Paul's apostleship to hear the truth of God, end all sinful practice, all ungodly thinking. And they needed to start with their own hearts. That's why in chapter 13 verse 5 he says, "Test yourselves to see if you're in the faith." Start with you. Make sure things are in order in your life.
That's a consuming thing, isn't it? Just keep your own life in order and then to be concerned about the lives around you. Lovingly to confront and encourage and strengthen and build and pray for those around you that their lives might be in order and that the whole church might be in perfect harmony with the will and the Word of God.
So, he's saying you need to make all the necessary changes to bring the church into perfect harmony with God's will. That's the great challenge. You know, you don't study the Word of God just simply so you can preach a sermon that people will like and think is insightful or profound or clever or moving. You study the Word of God so that you can preach a sermon that informs people about God's will so they can live by it. That's what you do. You're always trying to conform the church to the Word and the will of God because that's the desire of God. God's not...God's desire, obviously, comes through Paul because it is God who has inspired Paul to write this. This is the faithful pastor's concern that the church be adjusted, that it be brought in line, prepared, ordered rightly according to God's Word. That means sound doctrine, sound thinking, sound living.
Now doing this is an endless task. As I said, it's endless in your own life and it's endless in the circle of people around you. You're always trying to get them into adjustment to God's will. You try to do that in your family with your spouse and with your children, sometimes children with their parents. Always trying to bring them back into line with God's way and God's Word and God's will...and that's what we do in the church as well. And in order to do that there are some features that feed in and make that happen.
Go back to verse 11, there are four of them here. Number one, you see it in the word "rejoice," chairote [?]. Some translations translate that "farewell." And it could be translated farewell, it could also be translated "all hail," which was the greeting when you met someone. And the reason for that, although the word means "to rejoice," that is what the word means, it had become a greeting. It all started when Jesus came out of the grave. When Jesus came out of the grave and first greeted the disciples, He said to them, the Scripture says, "All hail." But the actual term is "rejoice." Rejoice then became the greeting. They heard Jesus the first time when He had come out of the grave and He said, "Rejoice," and that became the Christian greeting that was standard for both "hello" and "goodbye." Personally I prefer it. "Hello" has absolutely no meaning to me. I don't even know what the word means. I...I know it's a greeting but it has no meaning, it's meaningless, it's vapid, it's vague, it's nothing. Why do we say it? Well because that's the tradition, I guess. But the early Christians said something with meaning, they said, "Rejoice." And the implication was "rejoice" because Christ is alive.
They even said it when they said "goodbye." Goodbye is a funny word, too, isn't it? I know, it makes a little more sense than hello...hello doesn't seem to make any sense, but goodbye means in your parting I hope things are good. But rejoice, it's kind of like the Hebrew word Shalom. Shalom means peace in Hebrew, but it's become a greeting. And when you see somebody you say Shalom and when you leave them you say Shalom. And chairote was the same thing. Chairote when you met, and chairote when you parted because joy was so essential in the life of the church. He says rejoice, you have nothing to be dour about, you have nothing to be defeated about, you have nothing to be morose about, you have nothing to be down-in-the-mouth about. You ought to be characterized by joy, rejoice always and again I say rejoice, Paul said in Philippians 4:4. Repeatedly in Philippians, at least three other times he told the Philippians to rejoice. Galatians 5:22 says joy is a fruit of the Spirit. First Thessalonians 5:16 says that we're to rejoice all the time without ceasing. First Peter 4:3 says...4:13 says essentially the same thing, it's to be a constant feature of the life of the church that we express joy. Rejoice, he says, Jesus is alive. Joy was a part of our Lord's legacy. In John 14 when Jesus was meeting with the disciples in the upper room, He said that they had reason to rejoice. In John 15:11 He repeated it, you have reason to rejoice. In John 16:22 He said, "You're going to have reason in the future to rejoice."
And if you follow joy through this New Testament, our joy is to be great, it is to be abundant, it is to be exceeding, animated, unspeakable, incessant and full of awe. We should be joyful all the time. Our sins are forgiven. Our past is dealt with. Our present is under the power and control of the Spirit of God. And our future is secure in God's promise, right? Rejoice. There's no vicissitude of life, there's no struggle of life, there's no issue of life, there's no problem of life that can overpower the purposes of God on your behalf. Rejoice...rejoice! Christian joy is not something superficial. Christian joy is the experience...it's the experience bubbling up from deep confidence that God is control of everything and all is well. Circumstances on the surface change. The surface may be rough. There may be a storm. But way down deep inside there is a confidence that God is in perfect control of everything in my life and He will bring it to good in time and His glory in eternity. And that takes all the anxiety out of life. I mean, why become flustered about anything? God is in control of everything. Every circumstance in life is under God's control. Every issue in life is under God's control for His children. And it's all for your good and His glory. All things are working in that direction, rejoice.
You say, "What about illness? What about death? What about struggles? What about economic difficulties? What about the loss of a job? What about disappointment in careers or disappointment in expressions of affection? What about broken friendships? What about anything?"
It can't tough the deep-down confidence that God is still in control. That's joy. Rejoicing is the bubbling up of that deep-down confidence. And what gives you that deep-down confidence, folks, is good theology. A good understanding of God's Word gives you the deep-down confidence and when it bubbles up it's rejoicing. That's an act of proper response to the character of God. When I understand the character of my great God, that causes me to rejoice. Rejoicing is an act of appreciation for the saving work of Jesus Christ. It's an act of gratitude for the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. It's an act of reasonable thanks for spiritual blessings, divine providence, the promise of future glory, answered prayer. It's an act of appreciation for the Scripture, of appreciation for Christian fellowship. It's commanded over and over in the Bible that we rejoice and that's something way deeper than some superficial emotion. And it's essential to spiritual wholeness. It's essential to well-being. It's essential to restoring the church to its completeness. One of the features of this perfection, one of the features of getting everything in order is pervasive joy.
There's a second one and it's in the phrase "be comforted," in verse 11, "be comforted." Actually the verb here is parakaleo, paraklesis is the form here, but it's the verb parakaleo, probably better to translate it exhorted...exhorted, or admonished. And the word here is submission. If a church is to get its act together, if we're to pull in the loose ends, if we're to get things in order and have integrity and demonstrate the fullness and the wholeness of spiritual life that is the measure of the stature of Christ, if we're to be what we ought to be we must have joy but we also must have submission. There must be a character of submission in the church in that it submits itself willingly to the authority of God, to heed all the appeals based on truth, all the calls to righteousness. Paul is saying to the Corinthians, "Look, if you're going to be the kind of church you ought to be and enjoy the perfection that I desire for you, first of all there needs to be a pervasive joy and secondly, there needs to be a pervasive submission to that which is authoritative from the mind of God to you.
In 1 Corinthians he had certainly expressed that to them in 4:14. He says, "I do not write these things to shame you, but admonish you as my beloved children." Just like a father does a child. You have to learn...we could even say obedience, submission. Paul is calling the believers to obey, to submit to the authority of the truth. Paul in Colossians 1:28 said his ministry was all about admonishing every man. That admonish is the same word, to bring them under authority, a call to obedience. Titus preached with conviction because Paul told him you're to preach with conviction and you're to preach with all authority, Titus 2:15, and don't let anybody circumvent that.
Two key words then, joy and submission. Third key word, truth. Its found in the phrase, "be likeminded." Now normally when you read likeminded you think of the people who sort of learn to agree with each other because they make necessary adjustments. That's really not it. The key word here is truth. The first key word is joy. The second key word is submission. The third key word is truth. Literally this phrase says, "Be thinking the same thing...be thinking the same thing." Have the same thoughts. To put it another way, have the same convictions. To put it another way, believe the same things. This is a plea to conformity to the truth, get in line with what the Word of God teaches. Agree with each other, yes. But agree with each other because you all understand the truth of God. It's not superficial, this is not something on the surface, this isn't...well, we don't want to make doctrine an issue because its divisive. We don't want to have any convictions because they tend to fracture things and we want to have room for everybody's opinion so we can't let anybody's opinion reign over any other opinion...it's not that kind of thing. It's not trying to find some superficial truce. What we're talking about here is everybody thinking the same about God, everybody thinking the same about Christ, everybody thinking the same about the gospel, everybody thinking the same about sanctification, everybody thinking the same about God's revelation for the church. This is a unity of truth based on a unified understanding of God's Word. Philippians 1:27, "Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ," he says, "and I want to hear that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel." I want you to be single minded in that you all understand the gospel the same way and you stand for that same gospel. This is what Paul called in Ephesians 4 "the unity of the faith...the unity of the faith."
If the church is to reach the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, Christ is not divided. Christ doesn't have five different theologies swirling around in His mind, He has one understanding of the truth of God. When he says "be like-minded," he is saying be thinking the same thing. It's all built around truth.
In Romans 15:4 there's a good illustration of that. The Apostle Paul writing in Romans 15:4 says, "Whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction," he's referring to Scripture there. Whatever was written in the Scripture in earlier times was written for our instruction. So that's where everything starts. Then through perseverance and encouragement of the scriptures we have hope.