For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder (2 Corinthians 12:20).
Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you (2 Corinthians 13:11).
Summertime can make me feel like a kid again. Spending time outside, the smell of honeysuckle, eating corn on the cob … all the things I loved about summer as a kid.
Not as sweet were the days my brother, sister, and I spent home alone while my parents were at work. I imagine these two verses that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth echo the feelings of any parent who has left kids at home, hoping for the best:
I fear I may not find you as I want you to be …
Like my siblings and me, who bickered and fought and trashed the house sometimes, Paul anticipated returning to a church in disarray, because in his absence, the church drifted away from the truth they had learned from him.
Sin doesn’t spare us, even when we come to faith. The people of God can be as full of disorder, jealousy, gossip, and arrogance as any dysfunctional family. But Paul offered a vision of the church as a source of restoration, encouragement, unity, and peace.
At Hope, our first core value is “Jesus is life. The rest is details.” The Corinthian church’s jealousy, rage, ambition, and gossip were what happened when people forgot the most important thing: Jesus. Instead, the Corinthian church put their trust in self-promoting leaders who bragged, demanded support, and disparaged Paul, instead of staying grounded in the gospel—that Jesus was crucified but lives by God’s power (v. 13:4).
When we live out “Jesus is life,” it is much easier to be the family of God described in verse 13:11, who rejoices and encourages one another, forgives and receives forgiveness. Because when we all agree that what matters most is Jesus, we live by God’s love and peace.
And I sure hope when Jesus returns, he finds the church in better shape than my parents found the living room!
Reflection:
- Look at the harmful behaviors Paul lists: discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder.
- When have you experienced these among God’s people?
- How did you respond?
- Who is the priority when we act this way?
- Paul also offers the beauty of a Spirit-filled church:rejoicing, restoring, encouraging, unified, and full of God’s love and peace.
- How have you experienced these among God’s people?
- What made them possible?
- How is Jesus at the center of this kind of relationship?
- Are there new choices you need to make today to live out our value that Jesus is life and the rest is details?