Redeemer reads 2 Corinthians 4

Welcome! Over the next few weeks we are going to be reading 2 Corinthians together as a church, 1 chapter every week day. We’re encouraging everyone to read the passage, pray, and share with a few others what they felt God was pointing out to them in his word. Every day we’re going to be hearing from someone at Redeemer about what they felt God pointed out to them as they read the passage.

This morning Tara is sharing with us, you can watch her video above. She has also shared some more of her thoughts on the passage below.

---

I thank God that he has unveiled my faith and sent an atomic bomb to shed His Light on my darkness. 

I particularly loved the reminder of Paul’s war cry prophesy in verses 8-9. I am so grateful that in my weakness and darkest moments I have this declaration. I am particularly declaring this over our frontline NHS staff members. 

In chapter 4 Paul encourages us “I believed, and so I spoke.” This is not the season for unspoken faith. But the season to confess and speak Gods word into existence. 

I loved the image of “that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.” Gods Grace is extending to so many during this season and we must continue to be the light and salt of the earth.

I am encouraged not to lose heart. Though we are not exempt from suffering and our outer self fades we have the hope that our inner self is renewed day by day. 

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18

---

Further Study

Paul’s ministry was by no means a story of total success and minimal hurdles, and as we read in today’s passage, there was clearly many people who weren’t responding to his gospel message! This is similar in many ways to our own experience of evangelism. In this talk (link below) from September 2017, Mike Cain of Emmanuel Bristol shares with us how to respond “when it appears the gospel isn’t working”.

Redeemer reads 2 Corinthians 1

Welcome! Over the next few weeks we are going to be reading 2 Corinthians together as a church, 1 chapter every week day. We’re encouraging everyone to read the passage, pray, and share with a few others what they felt God was pointing out to them in his word. Every day we’re going to be hearing from someone at Redeemer about what they felt God pointed out to them as they read the passage.

This morning Leslie is sharing with us, you can watch her video above, and read some of her thoughts on the passage below.

---

In 1 Corinthians we were challenged to align every area of our life to the gospel.  Thus, it is fitting that in the beginning of his second letter to the Corinthian church, Paul talks about affliction.  As followers of Christ living gospel-centered lives, we will face hardship and trials.  But there is great encouragement to be found in the opening verses of 2 Corinthians 1.

3“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4who comforts s in all our affliction…”

God is the source of all mercy and comfort and he is with us.  God will not allow suffering where he will not also provide is comfort. 

4“so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

God comforts us so we can comfort others.  We are meant to live in community with one another.  We share our trials and hardships, and then we reciprocate the comfort we have received from God.

5“For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”

Our suffering is the result of choosing to follow Christ.  Yet where there is great suffering, there is also great comfort.  

6“If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort…”

Paul did not hesitate to suffer for the sake of others.  Paul’s purpose was always to strengthen other believers.  Suffering is never wasted.

8“we were utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself…. 9but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God…”

Once again, we see Paul’s full confidence in God.  God who raises the dead.  God who will deliver us.

Take-away: Drawing strength from these truths, where do I need to confidently choose the way of Christ, even if it might involve suffering?

---

Further Study

If you are looking to go deeper into your study of 2 Corinthians during this time we’ll be recommending resources to help you do so.

This morning as we start the book I’d like to point you in a direction of a Podcast called ‘How to Teach the Bible’, the episode on 2 Corinthians is found by following the link below. George Guthrie, a college professor and Christian author, takes us through some of the more complex concepts in the book of 2 Corinthians.

If you have been going through a season of suffering recently and you are reading the words of 1 Corinthians 1 this morning and still can’t fully grasp why God has led you to the situation that you’re in now, then you may find the below article helpful, as John Piper attempts to answer the question - Why Doesn’t God Fully Explain my Pain?

Redeemer reads 2 Corinthians - Intro

When I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:10

This is one of the key verses in 2 Corinthians, and is one of the reasons I'm really glad we're going to be reading it together as a church during this time. Because the book helps to remind us that God has a completely different view on how the world works than we do! And it's great to be reminded of that at the moment!

The world will tell us that the path to happiness and security is found within us. True satisfaction comes from us having power and authority, us looking good, us having our needs met. Paul in 2 Corinthians points us to the cross, which shows that actually serving others, even at our own expense, is the key to true satisfaction, that in our weakness, we discover the power of God.

That's something that I think we all need daily reminders of at the moment. I know I do! It seems that every day I see something on the news, or hear a story from a friend or relative, or just observe the mundane nature of aspects of my life at the moment, and it all serves to remind me of the fact that life really isn't about me or about my ability or strength.

But God says this -

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9

If you want to discover more of God's power, or simply remind yourself of who is in control then join us, starting tomorrow! As we read 2 Corinthians together as a church, make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel, and visit redeemerlondon.org/blog to see all of the daily resources we'll be producing to help you as we read together! Bless you, and see you tomorrow!

Redeemer reads 2 Corinthians - Why do we read the bible?

As Christians, whatever stage we’re at in our journey, one thing that is key to maintaining forward progress is our own personal relationship with God. When it comes down to it, no matter our circumstances, no matter our church environment, or our age, or our relationship with other Christians - if we don’t spend any time just us and God, it is incredibly difficult (I might even say impossible) to continue to grow in our relationship with him and be made more like Jesus.

One way in which we do this is by intentionally carving out time every day to read his word in the Bible. We believe that ‘All scripture is God-breathed’, and that God planned that it would not only equip and serve those for whom it was originally written, but that it would also equip and teach us! You and me! Today! When we spend time reading God’s word every day, and allowing him to speak to us, it is the equivalent of arming ourself with a sword with which we face the battle that is the rest of life (Ephesians 6:17).

But here’s the thing, it’s not always easy to do that! It seems crazy that we can so firmly believe that the best thing for us to be doing is to be spending personal time with our heavenly father (which I would hope most of us do), and yet be so bad at prioritising it! I am not throwing stones here, I am exactly the same, but one thing that has helped me over the past year to better prioritise reading God’s word, is the Community Bible Reading (CBR) Journal.

The CBR Journal has just one aim, and that is to get people reading scripture, and it does just that, by encouraging people to do 3 very simple things.

1. Read 1 chapter of the Bible every day (Either New or Old Testament, if you want you can read both!)

2. Pray. Being led by the scripture you have just read, pray following the ACTS (Adoration - Confession - Thanksgiving - Supplication) model. This means focusing on the passage you’ve just read, and identifying what it told you about God (Adoration), in what ways it convicted you about your own life (Confession), how it encouraged you to give thanks to Jesus (Thanksgiving), and what it stirred you to ask of God (Supplication). You may also want to write these sections down to help you to visualise the 4 sections.

3. Share. The community aspect of the journal involves discussing with a small group of friends the key point that you felt was most obvious to you when reading the passage.

That’s it. Simple right?

Well I’ve got good news for you, starting next Tuesday (the 28th of April) we will be encouraging everyone at Redeemer to do the CBR together! Don’t worry, you won’t need the physical journal, the reading plan is online at thecbrjournal.com. But in reality, you probably won’t need that either, as our plan is fairly simple! We are going to read a chapter of 2 Corinthians together, every week day, starting with Chapter 1 on the 28th of April, and finishing with Chapter 13 on the 14th of May.

Every day we’ll be releasing videos on our social media pages at 9am each weekday morning, with members of the Redeemer family detailing their takeaways from the passage. We’ll also be publishing daily blogs which focus on the day’s reading, and feature other recommended resources to help you study the passage in greater detail if you want to. So keep your eyes peeled!

What do I need to do?

1. Get in touch with a small group of Christian friends, and ask if they want to follow the CBR plan with you over the next few weeks.

2. Figure out the time of day that works best for you to read the bible (the morning is my preferred time), and commit to reading one chapter of 2 Corinthians at that time every day.

3. Make sure you are subscribed to our Youtube channel, following us on instagram, and keeping an eye on this blog, so that you don’t miss any of the videos & other resources we’re releasing to help you over the next few weeks.

4. Be expectant! We believe that as we read the bible and cultivate a deeper and closer personal relationship with God, he will lead us both as individuals and as a church, into new and exciting adventures with him!

I so look forward to reading the bible alongside all of you, and seeing what seeds God wants to plant and water in us, and the fruit he wants to bring out in all of our lives!

Covid-19 - An Opportunity for Generosity

As you will no doubt be aware, the recent covid-19 outbreak has changed everyone’s lives to a greater and a lesser extent. As a church we know that many members of our family will be self-isolating, working from home, or practicing social distancing over the coming weeks. We are hoping that through a series of blogs we can encourage you, and others who might be reading these blogs, to fix your eyes on Jesus, and respond to the crisis in a way which honours his will for our lives.

---

In the last 24 hours many of us will have made decisions to work from home, to cancel social events, and to refrain from travelling to visit friends and family in other parts of the country. These actions are in response to government advice which seeks to ‘flatten the curve’ of the coronavirus outbreak, limiting its effects on the health of the general public. But the physical health of members of our church family is not the only thing we need to be concerned about.

The crisis will also have a significant effect on many people’s finances, and as Christians it is important that we step up and support those who are impacted by the virus in this way too. As any church should, we choose to look to the very first church in the book of Acts, for guidance as what to do in these situations. This is my challenge to you today, does your generosity towards others in your community look like the church in Acts? They had everything in common as a church (Acts 2:42-47), they sold land to give to the poor (Acts 4:32-5:10), they distributed food amongst their community (Acts 6:1-7). Your actions may look different to this, but I think you would agree that in times like this it is crucial that we stand up and follow the example of the early church.

It is so crucial to not only change our social behaviour to keep the vulnerable amongst us safe, but to also change our economic behaviour too. This is an opportunity to be known as a church for our love, which will in turn draw others to us and give us an opportunity to preach the gospel, just as it did for the church in Acts.

So, how can you be generous today?

I’ll leave you with a verse which though written to a church over 1000 years ago, speaks directly to us today.

In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.

2 Corinthians 8:2

This blog was inspired by a similar one on thegospelcoaltion.org which you can read HERE