2 Corinthians 2:17 Where art thou motives?

2 Cor 2:17
Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity like men sent from God.

It seems that the “Christians” in Paul’s time was preaching for gain rather than to do God’s will. In my head, I hear a conversation like this. “Eh, what can you tell me about this verse?” The “Christian” would say, “What’s in it for me?” You look at that phrase and say, “dude, that’s so messed up. Are you serious? Why would you do that?” Now hold that thought and lets continue with the interpretation.

We have to look at ourselves and say, “Do we do that?” I bet you that you do. Maybe not in the way that I stated through that little impromptu conversation, but think about it. God tells us to preach the word, but seemingly, actions speak much louder words. 1 John 3:18 tells us to show love through actions (the goal of the word is to love Matt 22:37-38) and 1 Peter 2:12 tells us to live such beautiful lives amongst the nonchristians.  I heard this once and my pastor quotes it a lot. “Preach the word and speak it sometimes.”

So the way we act, the way we serve, is it all for the God? Have you ever served for “profit?” Not just monetary gain, but gain in anything? Did you ever serve in order to get praise (thank yous, that’s awesome!, you’re awesome!), material things (money, gifts, food, etc), and anything else other than God? Well, “Dude, that’s so messed up. Are you serious? Why would you do that?”

So when you serve or preach the word, where are your motives?  Are they upwards or elsewhere? Gal 1:10 tells us that if we do it for man (including yourself…..Phil 2:3) we’re not Christians (or servant of Christ, meaning He’s not our master). The question you gotta ask yourself now is, “Can I present my motives in front of God and not be embarrassed?” Paul did just that. (“..we speak before God with sincerity”). The word sincerity literally means tested by sunlight, which basically means pure. His motives were pure BEFORE GOD. Can you do that? Probably not, so how can we? The two words before that phrase, “In Christ.”

How have your motives been lately? Can you share them before God? Are they pure?

1 Corinthians 10:10 Part 1:Complain?

1 Cor 10:10 And do not grumble (discontentedly complain AMP), as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. (Along side Numbers 16)
The story in Numbers talks about a group of leaders who created a faction against Moses about the leadership of the Israelites (which is one of the OBVIOUS acts of sinful natures Gal 5). In turn, Moses told them that God will choose he who is holy. An interesting thought is this. v9 talks about how these Levites rising against Moses was given many things, and yet they wanted more. Also, Dathan and Abiram was saying to Moses to the effect of “We have yet to receive what you promised us!” (v14) This goes back with yesterdays application. Are you content with what you have or are you going to complain about what you don’t have? Are you content with what you have received or do you focus in what you have not received?

Now the idea of complaining….(the context is to grumble or complain about the situation and what God has done but we’ll look ahead to the other complaints) I looked back on my life and asked myself, “why do I complain and what are the reasons and what happens when I do?”

I remember telling God many times:
1)Why don’t I have this certain thing?
2)Why do I have to do this thing?
3)Why do I have to go through this thing?
I see the error of my ways. The way I see it, what I’m telling God, just like the Israelites, is:
1)Why are you taking so long to give me what I want?  (Cause you know that the Lord will give you what you need [Matt 6:33/Ps 37:4])
2) Aren’t I the master and Jesus is my servant or aren’t I better than Jesus? (You may not be saying this to yourself, but you’re implying it. John 13:15 Jesus is washing His disciples feet and says “I have set an example that you should do as I have done for you.” The idea is Jesus laid down what He had, the power of God v3, and served his disciples. If you don’t like the idea of serving, always complaining when doing something, you’re implying that you are better than Jesus and that you are his master (v16a “I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master…” so you not wanting to serve is telling him I’m better than this.)
3) “I don’t want to be like Jesus. I don’t want to be what God wants me to be.” The reason why people go through trials is so that one can be stronger, more complete in their faith (James 1:2-4). (This is for the blog) I remember hearing people say, “Come as you are,” or “I don’t have to change to come to Jesus.” This is totally true…..up to a point. People tend to leave out the second half of this part. The reason why you would come as you are is so that God can turn you into what He wants you to be. He molds you, shapes you, and polishes you to be like Him. My pastor gave a really good illustration about the fire and gold mentioned in 1 Peter 1. An impure gold is placed in a furnace so that the impurities would rise to the surface. It would then be wiped off and placed in the fire again until the impurities are gone. Then they would rub something really irritating on it so that it can be polished with the final product showing a reflection of the cleaner. It’s the exact same thing in life. The fires, or trials, also mentioned in 1 Corinthians 3, bring out the impurities in you. Have you noticed that when you go through crap, the real you comes out? Then you get rubbed by all the roughness in life so that you can reflect to others the one that polished you, God.
So this is the idea. If people say to come as you are, do you come that way every single time? If you were made Christian and you still “come as you are” from the first time you came, would God be happy? Don’t you expect growth from your children? Peter started off as a fisherman. Did he stay that way?

There will be a part 2. It’s interesting to write the blog at the end of the day. I realize how many times I’ve failed at what I’m trying to apply…

Isn’t it interesting that you don’t realizing that you’re failing until you already fail…?