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The Promises of God Are Always “Yes”
2 Corinthians 1:12-22
Introduction: How much do you count on God’s promises? Most likely you are like me, thinking primarily of God’s promise of salvation and possibly giving little thought to the rest. Even with the promise of salvation, it is so easy to question the reality of it. Will it really happen? Our “sight” so often gets in the way of our faith.
At the end of the 1 Corinthian letter, Paul had mentioned his plans to visit the Corinthians, and even though he had added the qualifier, “If the Lord will,” the Corinthians had used his change of plans to visit as evidence that he was not truly speaking for God. After all, if he can’t even get his plans right, how can he be trusted to bring them the true gospel of God? At first it seems such a picky point, but Paul will point out that the accusation that he flippantly makes plans and then vacillates, is instead an accusation against the very promises of God. This is an example of how the Corinthians did not fully understand what it means to be a disciple and servant of the Lord, that is, a person who lives in complete and fully trust in the Lord.
You Will Boast of Us, We Will Boast of You, 12-14
Notice the last line of verse 14. Paul’s desire is a mutual boasting of each other on the day of the Lord. Indeed, what if there weren’t a mutual boasting on that Day? Someone wouldn’t be there! We certainly wouldn’t be entering heaven pointing the finger at one another and make accusations.
Unfortunately, some brethren seem to have a different view. When Christians denounce one another and have divisions over petty differences, do they really think that the Lord will call them together in heaven and say, “Okay, there’s an eternity ahead of you, so it’s time to kiss and make up”?
Therefore, Paul begins by revealing his heart to the Corinthians. The testimony of his conscience was that he had always behaved before them with integrity and godly sincerity. The Corinthians were accustomed to some dishonesty in those who would teach them or attempt to lead them. They knew that the average person was first out for themselves and therefore would put on a “show.”
Notice, therefore, that Paul insists that they did not behave with “worldly wisdom” but by the grace of God. There is no “politicking” in Paul’s message. There is nothing hidden or in any way dishonest in how they are approaching the Corinthians (6:11). Earthly wisdom is a way to take advantage of another for one’s own benefit.
Therefore, when they read Paul’s letters they needed to understand that Paul wrote plainly – nothing beyond what they could read and understand so that they could fully understand and not just partially understand as they had done so far. What is the importance of this?
One of the primary keys to understanding Paul is to understand his participation in the sufferings of Christ and therefore the need for the Corinthians and all disciples to understand the importance of “sharing abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (1:5).
Why then is it so important to read and understand Paul? Because without that understanding, we do not understand God. Paul is not passing on earthly wisdom, nor did he behave in a worldly way. He has given both in words and deeds the true picture of the grace of God and what it means to be a servant of God. Do we partially understand Paul, or fully understand?
Paul is hitting on the major reason brethren ought to boast of one another.
“Boasting,” in one form or another is mentioned 29x in the letter, sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a sinful way. Here’s the good way: boasting about one another. How great is it when you hear that someone has been boasting about you? We are all flawed and it is easy to gossip about our flaws. But we are all children of God, and God is not interested in us tearing down his children. We need to do some good boasting but boasting about one another!
The way this boasting of one another can come naturally, is by having an honest, godly sincerity with each other. No fake stuff. No pretending. Truly sharing our heart with each other.
Trusting the Promises of God
As we have mentioned, Paul had a change in travel plans. He had told them that he would visit them twice, once on the way to Macedonia, and then again on his return from Macedonia. Paul had a good reason for this change, which he reveals in 23-24, but his more pressing issue is their trust in him and the words he speaks from God.
Paul establishes his reliability on the basis of the faithfulness of God and Jesus. As God is faithful, so is Paul’s word. Notice the parallel sentences of verse 19:
- “our word to you has not been yes and no”
- “For Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you…was not yes and no…”
- 20: “For all the promises of God find their yes in him.”
- I have read this for years and not fully understood the significance of what Paul is saying even for our time. Do we believe the promises of God are Yes and No? In other words, do we read what God promises and then give a half-hearted prayer with the thought in our minds that, “Well, who knows whether he will really do what he says…sometimes it is Yes and sometimes it is No.” Examples: 1 Pet. 5:8, Phil. 4:6-7… Matt. 6:33-34 … John 14:12-14, 1 Jn. 5:14.
- Verse 19: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the way God shows his faithfulness to his promises, and therefore is always “Yes,” but never “Yes and No.” –– “That is why it is through him [Jesus] that we utter our ‘Amen’ to God for his glory.” We are always telling the world of God’s ‘Yes!” His word is always faithful. If not, God would not get glory. We tell the world to his glory.
- Now you may be wondering about this word, “Amen.” Usually, all we know about it is what is said at the end of a prayer. “Amen” is a transliteration of a Hebrew word which means “surely.” Just as we use the word, in this text, “Amen” refers to our response to God’s promises that surely he will do all that he has promised.
To confirm the faithfulness of God, Paul lays out four ways God is our “Amen” and therefore always a “Yes” for us:
The first is, God who “establishes/strengthens” us in Christ. Listen to the NIV: “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ.” This is a principle that has been nearly non-existent in our preaching and teaching, and yet the NT writers repeatedly make this point:
- 1 Thes. 5:23-24 “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”
- 1 Pet. 5:10 “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”
- So many of us have lived our lives as if we have to do this all on our own and we will just be super lucky if we make it to heaven. Jesus didn’t go to the cross so that our salvation would end up to be a flip of a coin. God is actively working to make us “stand firm in Christ.”
Second, he has anointed us. The word is used in the OT for the commissioning to a particular office. It is the same word that is used for “Christ” as the Anointed one of God to be our Savior. At first, we might think this anointing only refers to Paul or the apostles, but Paul’s “we” includes Timothy and Silvanus. Further, the other three blessings in this text are clearly referenced for all Christians in other texts as well as this one. The primary OT text that would support Paul’s assertion is Isaiah 61:1-4:
- Notice first that the Messiah is “anointed” by the Spirit of the Lord. Both of these ideas are also in our text.
- Next, we see that the anointing is a commissioning to accomplish the work of bringing good news to the poor, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. In 52:7, Isaiah has already spoken of God’s people who will bring good news and publish peace, “who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’”
- Now, notice in verses 3-4 that the people who are released from bondage participate in the Messiah’s work by “building up the ancient ruins” and bringing “strangers and foreigners” into the work and even becoming “priests” and “ministers” of God. In other words, as we have noticed many times before, whatever the Messiah is commissioned to do, his people will come into the work with him and do the same. Thus the Messiah is anointed to bring good news to the captives, and when we as captives are set free, we also are anointed/commissioned to proclaim the good news of freedom.
- Finally, keep in mind that the context in which Paul is referring to our anointing is promised blessings on his people. He is establishing us, he has anointed us, put his seal on us, and given us his Spirit as a guarantee. Do we see our “anointing” has a blessing?
The third promised blessing of assurance to us is his seal. We have been sealed in that we are marked as God’s possession and kept secure for the day of redemption (Eph. 1:13).
Fourth, he has “given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” This can sound a bit mysterious, as if we are to “feel” something in our chest cavity. But the heart is the mind, the reasoning, thinking part of a person. From Ezekiel 36:25-27, the giving of the Spirit into our hearts refers to everything God has done to bring life to us through the sacrifice of Jesus and the revelation of his “mystery/will” so that we know his purpose for us from before the foundation of the world (Cf. Romans 5:5-6; Eph. 1:3-14). God’s revelation of himself in the NT, is his signed document assuring us of completing his promise of us acquiring “possession” of the inheritance (Eph. 1:14). At present, we have a foretaste of that eternal blessing.
Conclusion: To question the trustworthiness of Paul based on his change of plans is the cast doubt on the trustworthiness of God himself. Just as “God is faithful,” so God’s words through Paul to them are faithful. In fact, as Paul will point out in the next section, it was not a fleshly whim that caused his change of plans. There was a godly, spiritual reason, and it was for their welfare. So also, God treats us. What God does for us and how he hears and answers our prayers are not as fleshly whims, but for God’s purposes to establish us, anoint us, seal us, and give us his Spirit as a guarantee of our eternal inheritance.