Examine Yourselves

I. Introduction
A. Winding down 2Corinthians. Only two sermons left after today.
B. One of my purposes in preaching through books like this is to encourage you to read the Bible carefully and intentionally, deliberately and thoughtfully, with the assumption that there is something there for you in every verse.
C. Another purpose for preaching through books like this is because it forces us to face things in the Bible we might never face otherwise.
D. 2Corinthians 13:5-7 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed.
E. Paul was the first to preach the gospel in Corinth and he planted a church there, to which he is now writing. He is writing them to address a number of problems which have arisen in the congregation, especially that they have been led by some self-proclaimed super-apostles to question Paul’s apostleship. They’ve already had one unpleasant encounter, now Paul is writing them before he visits again, to warn them to shape up before he arrives so they don’t have to face his discipline.
II. Explanation of 2Corinthians 13:5-7
A. 5a Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.
1. Instead of questioning Paul’s apostleship, they ought to be questioning their own faith.
2. What Paul is doing here is turning the question around on them. You’ve been critiquing me to see if I’m genuine, now critique yourselves to see if you are.
3. They should be examining themselves, not cross examining him.
4. Paul tells them this because their behavior has been so defective that it is time for them to sincerely ask themselves whether they are Christians at all.
B. 5b Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test.
1. In v.5b Paul makes it clear that he expects them to pass the test and conclude that Christ is indeed in them. Not only does he expect they will pass the test, but he hopes they will pass the test.
a. Both of these, of course, are born of love. Love expects the best (love believes all things), and love hopes for the best (love hopes all things). 1Cor.13:7
b. This is a helpful litmus test of love. If you find yourself hoping that someone fails or falls, then you probably don’t love them. And if you find yourself expecting the worst of someone, you are probably failing to love that person.
2. But then something strange happens. In v.6, Paul adds, “I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test.”
3. Why does Paul transition from, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith,” to “I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test”? How does the Corinthians testing themselves relate to Paul passing the test? In Paul’s mind the two are obviously intertwined.
4. Here’s what seems to be going on:
a. If they pass the test and conclude that Christ is indeed in them; then Paul passes the test of being Christ’s spokesman as well, for he is the one who first brought them to Christ.
(1) The verdict about the Corinthians will also be the verdict about Paul.
(2) If they approve themselves as truly in Christ, that also proves Paul as truly Christ’s messenger.
(3) Earlier he told them that they were the proof of his legitimacy (1Cor.9:2; 2Cor.3:1-3, 10:7).
C. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed.
1. This is a very complicated verse, though it’s meaning is clear. Here’s what he’s saying: But what I really long for and pray for is this: not that I might be vindicated, but that you might be made right, that your faithfulness to Christ might be restored.
2. You see, what Paul really wanted was not to be recognized as a tried and true apostle. He just wanted the Corinthians to be tried and true Christians by resisting the evil temptations which have come upon them through these false apostles.
3. When he comes to visit, he doesn’t want to display his power or show that he can be just as severe in person as he was in his letter.
4. He wants them to be spiritually healthy; he wants them to be firm in faith.
5. Paul has been warning them, and, if necessary, he is willing to bring down the hammer. but he doesn’t really want to come wearing the disciplinarian hat. He just wants them to get right with Christ so that he can continue to be meek and humble with them, even if that makes him look weak and unapostolic to some.
6. Once again, we see here that Paul’s zeal to be approved by the Corinthians was not for his own sake but for theirs, since his teaching and leadership is their lifeline to Christ. This has been his true motive all along.
III. Well...
A. If you have gotten through our study of this epistle without being moved by, and inspired by, and even melted by the amazing display of Christ’s love we see here over and over again through Paul, I don’t know what it’s going to take to get through to you!
1. Just when you think he’s going to come out with a nasty comment out of exasperation with the Corinthians, he makes another stunning statement of love for them.
2. After all his boasting, after all his defending himself as a true apostle, he says, “Look, I don’t really care about my reputation or what happens to me, I just want you all to be right with Christ.”
3. And to grasp how profound this is, we need to remember where Paul began: the number one enemy and persecutor of Christ’s people!
4. And yet this letter reveals a love that is beyond comprehension: his patience, his opening his heart to them, his enduring all their shenanigans without growing weary of them! It’s remarkable!
5. All of what Paul has said in this epistle has been said to try to help these people, even the defense of his apostleship, even his fierce rebukes. Paul is willing to do all things for them, even look like a fool, all that they might be right before God.
6. He really was “most willing to spend and be spent for [their] souls.” (2Cor.12:15)
7. I was speaking to someone, urging them to love someone else, and their response was, “You just don’t understand how much that person has hurt me.” That’s why God gave us 2Corinthians!
8. In 1Corinthians, Paul says, “Love endures all things.” In 2Corinthians, he demonstrates it.
9. Paul’s struggle to love the Corinthians may seem small on the grand scale of things.
a. Certainly there have been many inspiring examples of love in human history.
b. But only a few of them have been included in so much detail in God’s holy book, and presented to us with the explicit instructions to imitate it.
B. But now let’s look at a few of the other things in his passage. Let’s talk about examining ourselves.
1. Many of us wear glasses or contacts. Some of us have had various eye surgeries.
2. But the fact is, spiritually-speaking every single one of us has vision problems. We all have partial blindness. There are things we don’t realize about ourselves.
3. We have secret corruption in us (Augustine called it hidden pollution).
4. And we can’t see ourselves clearly because we can’t be objective when it comes to ourselves; we love ourselves too much.
5. And there are things in us we are too scared to see.
6. We easily spot the weaknesses of others, but we have trouble seeing our own.
7. This doesn’t mean we necessarily feel unsure about seeing ourselves clearly.
a. One of the sins I regularly confess to the Lord is the sin of being confident that I can see myself,
b. for the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer.17:9).
8. There are three things we need in order to begin to see our blindnesses:
a. We need to want to see it. That means we need to know how our blindness hurts us, and hurts others around us, and ultimately grieves the Lord. I need to ask myself: “Do I desire for Christ to work in me – to change me, to convict me, to humble me, to open my eyes in ways I am blind?”
b. We need to ask God, who alone knows us, and who alone can show us. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” – Psalm 139:23-24
c. We need to be confident of God’s love and Christ’s forgiveness so we know that whatever we find in ourselves has already been covered by the blood of Jesus and doesn’t diminish Christ’s love for us one iota. In fact, it increases our ability to appreciate the amazing grace of Christ.
9. The Corinthians had a critical spirit, which they turned on Paul. Now Paul tells them to turn it on themselves. I too have a critical spirit. And some of you do to.
a. We need to turn it on ourselves. “Let each one test his own work.” – Galatians 6:4
10. Don’t critique yourself by comparing yourself with others! That’s what the Corinthians were doing. “They measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.” – 2Corinthians 10:12
a. As God to show you and then listen intently for His answer.
C. Examining ourselves to see if we are in the faith.
1. There is a time when each of us must ask if we are truly saved, if we are truly Christians.
2. When the fruit being manifested in our lives is contrary to the fruit of the Spirit, it is wise to do some self-analysis.
3. Examining yourself isn’t just about getting your act together. Examining yourself implies that there’s an internal spiritual reality in some people and not in others.
a. We refer to it as regeneration. Jesus called it being born again (John 3:3-8).
b. Ezekiel refers to it as when your heart of stone is replaced by a heart of flesh (Ezek.36:26).
4. But, it is a fact that a number of folks think they are saved who are not.
a. As Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven... 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” – Matthew 7:21–23
b. The five foolish virgins (Matt.25:1-13) thought they were fine. That’s why they’re called foolish.
5. So, examining ourselves to see if we are in the faith involves asking whether we truly love and trust Christ or not.
6. How do you know whether you have this inward reality or not? Two ways, mostly from 1John.
a. Inward, experiential connection/identification with God (Rom.8:16; 1John 3:21, 24b; 4:13)
b. Outward, objective fruit in our lives (1Tim.4:16; 1John 1:6-8; 2:3-6, 9-11, 15b, 19, 29b; 3:6-10, 14-15, 17-20, 24; 4:7-8, 12, 17a, 20; 5:18)
7. It is easy to rest in the good opinion others have of us.
a. Judas was thought to be sincere by the other disciples. They would have been happy to give him a letter of recommendation. But he was a fake. His faith looked real, but was not real.
D. And then one more thing. In v.5, Paul asks, “Do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
1. He’s calling them to go back to their origin, to think back on how they knew Christ in the first place. He wants them to remember how the most important thing of all is that Christ is in them.
2. If you are a Christian, do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?
3. Often we don’t realize who we are. We need to spend a lot more time thinking about who we are.
4. One of the most important aspects of Christian maturity is coming to grips with who you are.
5. If you are truly a Christian, then the greatest thing about you is that Jesus Christ is in you.
6. If Jesus Christ is in you, you have everything you need to live life to the fullest in this world.
a. You have all the hope you need. You have all the assurance and comfort you need.
b. You have access to all the help you need.
c. You have access to all the wisdom you need.
d. You have access to all the love you need.
7. You may be a clay pot, but you have a treasure inside you (2Cor.4:7). And His name is Jesus.
E. But what if you conclude that you really don’t have Jesus inside you? Then let Him in!
1. Jesus Himself said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” – Revelation 3:20
2. Jesus is knocking on the door of your life. He’s calling out. Do you hear His voice? Then open the door and He’ll come in!