Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture: II Cor. 1: 16-22 April 14, 2024

Message: “Keeping our Promises!”

by Pastor George Gnade

Intro.: 1. Last week we began a new series of messages on the Book of II Corinthians. In the beginning of chapter one, Paul shared how he almost died in Asia due to the hardships he suffered there. But God was gracious and delivered him.

a. His point was to trust in God even when things seem hopeless. And God, “who is the Father of all compassion and the God of all comfort” will bring you through your trials just as He brought Paul through his trials.

b. When Paul wrote this, Corinth was also struggling and needed that encouragement.   

2. Knowing of their need, Paul planned to visit them. In fact, he planned to visit them twice! 

A. Consider what actually happened and why.

1. Paul helped to start many churches, and he liked to visit them to see how they were doing.

a. Corinth was one of the churches he started. He had led many of them to Christ.

b. So on his next missionary journey, he planned to visit them on his way out, and again on the way back.

But it never happened!  

2. As a result, some of the people in Corinth were criticizing him for not keeping his word. They made it sound like Paul could not be trusted, like you couldn’t believe a word he said. They acted like he had lied to them.

a. That is how the world often treats people. They make you look like you are untrustworthy. 

b. In vs. 17-18, Paul wrote to assure the Corinthians that he was not like that.  He says: “Do (you think) I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breathe I say ‘Yes, yes’ and ‘No, no?’” Paul assured them he always kept his word if at all possible.

3. In vs. 23, Paul explained why he changed his mind. He was afraid it would just turn into a big argument where everyone would be angry and upset, solving nothing. 

a. So the primary reason why he changed his mind was “to spare them.”

b. In II Cor.2: 1-3, he also explained that when he came to visit them, he needed them to encourage him just as much as they needed him to encourage them. If he hurt them, then who was going to encourage him? So he wrote them a letter instead.

4. Have you ever felt like that? Did you ever have a problem that got out of hand and you didn’t know what to do? Have you ever felt like a visit would only make things worse? In those situations, sometimes a letter is more helpful, to give everyone time to think about it before you talked about it.

B. But Paul used this issue with the Corinthians to teach us a more important lesson.

1. Sometimes we develop the same kind of feelings about God.  Sometimes God does not answer our prayers the way we thought He would, and we get angry at Him. 

a. Or we get angry at another Christian and transfer our anger to God. In the situation we are studying today, because Paul let them down, some felt God had let them down.

b. Paul did not want that to happen.

2. So he wrote in II Cor. 1: 19-20 that: “the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you… was not ‘Yes’ and ‘No,’ but in Him it has always been ‘Yes.’ For no matter how many promises God has made, they are always ‘Yes’ in Christ. As a result, through Him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.”

a. In II Peter 1: 3- 4, we are challenged to keep learning all we can from God’s Word so we might come to know ‘His great and precious promises.”

b. In our passage, we are assured that every one of those promises are true and have been or will be fulfilled in Christ.

3. God wants us to learn these promises and in faith cling to them.

C. Paul calls this “standing firm in Christ,” standing firm even when things get tough.

1. He writes in II Cor. 1: 21: “Now it is God who makes us stand firm in Christ.” Then he shares how God does this.

2. In vs. 21, the primary way he helps us to stand is by “anointing us.” Then he explains how this works.

a. When He anoints us, vs. 22 says, He sets ‘His seal of ownership upon us.” We often sing the song: “Now I belong to Jesus, and Jesus belongs to me, not for the years of time alone, but for eternity.”

b. Jesus knows those who belong to Him. In John 10:27, He told His disciples that “no one can pluck us out of His hand.”

c. Another song I like says: “Safe am I; safe am I in the hollow of His hands.”  God wants us in faith to believe we are safe in His hands.

3. When He anoints us, it also says in vs. 22 that “He puts His Spirit in our hearts…”

a. When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He taught them and us to: “ask and you shall receive, seek, and you shall find, and knock and it shall be open unto you” (Matt. 7:7).

b. Jesus then compared it to a child asking for help from his father. In Matt. 7: 11, He says: “If you, who have sinful natures, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him.”

c. But there is more! In Luke 11: 13, Jesus basically says the same thing but this time He says: “How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”

4. In plain words, Jesus not only takes care of us and often gives us good things to enjoy, but above all, He gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.

a. That is why Satan can never pluck us out of God’s hand! It is because Jesus’ Holy Spirit is in our hearts. To be anointed by God is to receive the Holy Spirit of Jesus into your heart.  That is the greatest gift that God can give us. 

b. Children love to receive gifts from mommy and daddy, but the greatest gift we can give our children is to love them and spend time with them. God knows this is true.  That is why Jesus wants to live in our hearts, and loves it when we want to spend time with Him.

5. Finally, by anointing us with His Spirit, it “guarantees what is to come” (II Cor. 1:22). The Holy Spirit is like a deposit. He guarantees that God has even more for us when we get to heaven.  

In conclusion: 1. As humans, we tend to get angry at God when things get tough.  We think our problems mean He isn’t keeping His promises to us. The truth is our problems in this world can’t be avoided, any more than Jesus could avoid the cross if He was going to save us.

2. Like the Corinthians, who didn’t understand why Paul changed his plans and indirectly blamed God too, we do the same thing. The truth is, the more problems we have the more closely He watches over us. He will never leave us. If we are patient, every promise God has ever made will be fulfilled completely when we finally get to heaven.