2Corinthians 13:11
God’s Sweet Presence
These last four verses are the closing of Paul’s letter to this
church. If you would, notice some facts abou them:
1. It is a long closing. Even when modern-day people wrote
letters, which we don’t any more because they take up too much
time, by the time we got to the closing, we were ready to
quit. Ours might have been "Sincerely Yours" even maybe just
"Sncerely." Obviously the Jews weren’t in as much of a hurry
so their closings were longer.
2. The word FINALLY sets this section of verses off as an
independent section. It does not tie in with anything Paul had
already said.
a. I wonder if Paul was just trying to be nice in his opening
and closing remakrs. Did he think, "After the skinning I
just gave these people, I need to write a few verses that
sound nice."
b. I don’t know, but because the Holy Spirit was on him, as
long as Paul’s pen kept moving, he was writing holy Writ.
3. Notice the result of what he wrote in verse 11.
2Cor 13:11 …and the God of love and peace
shall be with you.
a. Again, I don’t know if he meant to or not, but he tells us
how to have the sweet presence of God.
b. There is nothing greater than having the presence of God.
(1) If I were to take a poll and ask a group of
Christians, "What is the best part of your
salvation?" I believe most Christians would say,
"Not going to hell."
(2) But I am not certain that is God’s favorite part of
granting man salvation.
(a) Certainly, God is a merciful God and is not
willing that any should perish.
(b) But why did God create us to begin with?
i. I don’t think it was just to save us.
ii. I think it was to have a relationship with
us.
(c) If you ask God what the best part of salvation is
He might just saying spending time with us, i.e.
His presence and our presence together.
(3) So to God, the best part of salvation might be the
fellowship. That is what this verse is telling us
how to have.
c. Understand, there is more than just the sweet presence of
God.
(1) There is convicting presence of God.
(2) There is the chastening presence of God.
(3) What I need when I am serving God is the empowering
presence of God.
d. But what every Christian should desire is to have private
time with God just to enjoy God’s sweet presence.
(1) That is when God comes to put His arms around you and
love one.
(2) That is when God breathes:
(a) strength into our weary bones?
(b) courage into our discouraged heart?
(c) love into our drained emotions?
(3) When was the last time you felt that?
(a) We need it.
(b) We should crave it.
(c) This verse is talking about how to get it.
Paul does not elaboate but he gave us four short commands:
I. Be Perfect
A. Wow! That sounds like a simple enough challenge. Just be
PERFECT!
B. The word PERFECT does not mean SINLESS, although there is
nothing wrong with striving for it.
1. It means COMPLETE and MATURE.
2. The command is telling us not just to GROW spiritually but
to ACHIEVE spiritual maturity.
a. What have we accomplished in Christ?
b. Some have been saved a long time, but what growth and
change has actually taken place?
c. We all know that no one is perfect, but something
sizeable should be taking place in our lives.
A fellow worked in the office and needed to make copies of document.
The office copier was always out of order. It had most recently been
out of order for several days, and he doubted he could, but he needed
to make copies. As he approached the machine, he could see the
familar sign which read, "Out of Order," but there was another sign
someone had taped to the machine under. It read, "Winner of the
Guiness Book of World Record for being out of order for the most days
in row."
d. I wonder if that is not how God feels about us?
C. At some point, Christians must quit:
1. …trying and start doing.
2. …wanting to and start geeting er done.
3. …planning on it and start finishing it up
D. There are two areas of our lives in which we need to be
perfect.
1. One is sin. We do not to perfect the doing of that but the
avoiding of it. Certainly we are works in progress, but
if you have attempting to overcome sin for a long period
of time but have not, maybe you are trying it all.
2. The other is in our service. We can talk about tithing, we
can talk about praying, we can talk about witnessing, we
can talk about being faithful, but if it is anything more
than talk, it sould not take but a few days to get at it.
a. It only takes to the next church service to start being
faithful.
b. It only takes to the next spare minute to start reading
your Bible.
c. It only takes to your next off day to start inviting
people to church.
d. It only takes you long enough to wtite out the check
to start tithing.
E. Paul’s command is that if you want the sweet presence of God,
BE PERFECT.
II. Be of good comfort.
A. Notice the command here is not give good comfort but BE OF
GOOD COMFORT.
1. This is not a command for you to do.
2. This is a command for you to be.
3. The opposite of comfort is discomfort.
4. So the command is be comfortable.
a. Now, Paul was not encouraging Christians to be
comfortable in the things of this world.
b. He was commanding us to be comfortable in the things of
God.
B. The Greek word for "comfort" literally means "to call near."
1. The thought is that we should always be capable of coming
near to God.
2. By application, the works means to help, to encourage,
to be exhorted and instructed.
3. So we are to be encouraged, exhorted, instructed, and
helped so that we can draw near to God.
a. Be well encouraged.
(1) Do not be downcast and dispirited.
(2) Remember the times in which Paul is writing.
i. If Nero was not the emperor, he soon will be
and persecutions will be common.
ii. Life was already pretty tough in this time
period; but if it wasn’t tough enough,
being a Christian certainly made it
tougher.
iii. The irony here is that Paul was speaking to
them about staying upbeat. Look at his
life!
2Cor 11:23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I
speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more
abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons
more frequent, in deaths oft.
24 Of the Jews five times received I forty
stripes save one.
25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I
stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and
a day I have been in the deep;
26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in
perils of robbers, in perils by mine own
countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils
in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in
perils in the sea, in perils among false
brethren;
27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings
often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often,
in cold and nakedness.
28 Beside those things that are without, that
which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the
churches.
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is
offended, and I burn not?
(3) Remember, a bitter, critical, discouraged spirit is a
host to Satan just like a joyful, thankful,
encouraged spirit is host to the Lord.
Psalms 22:3 But thou art holy, O thou that
inhabitest the praises of Israel.
b. Be well instructed.
(1) To give instruction was the very reason why Paul
was writing this letter.
(2) So thispart of the command should be simple for
us. All we have to do is read what God gave us.
(3) The truth is a commodity that we cannot afford to
be without!
c. Be well helped. Knowing Jesus and the truth He
brought will both exhort and help us. It will make
all of the difference in the world.
C. Be of one mind.
1. This is Paul talking to a group of believers.
2. No church is a church that is made up of one!
3. Few things do more to terminate the presence of God than
discord among the brethren.
a. Discord is mark of carnality, confusion, and evil
works.
1Cor 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas
there is among you envying, and strife, and
divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
James 3:16 For where envying and strife is,
there is confusion and every evil work.
b. The secret to a church having one mind is everyone must
forget what they want and seek what Jesus wants.
D. Live in peace.
1. We do not always get to decide whether we will live in
peace or not; but as much as we can, we should.
Romans 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth
in you, live peaceably with all men.
2. If we must sacrifice our peace to live for Jesus, so be
it; but there is little else for which we should
sacrifice peace.
a. Sacrifice selfishness instead of peace.
b. Sacrifice wealth instead of peace.
c. Sacrifice job instead of peace.
d. Sacrifice pleasure instead of peace.
e. Show kindness, tolerance, and gentleness to each
other and to others.
III. In closing, I noticed that these four command cover four
different areas of our earthly life.
A. To be perfect releates to our spirit.
B. To be of good comfort releates to our soul.
C. To be of one mind relates to our minds.
D. To be at peace relates to physical life.
These four things deal with the four areas of our existence: our
spirits, our souls, our minds, and our lives. One command is given
to each area and the promise for obedience in each area of our lives
is the sweet presence of God. May be obey that we might enjoy.
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