2 Cor 13:5…Examine yourself to see if you are in the faith
Background: Paul was criticized by the believers of Corinth. They questioned his apostleship. Corinth church was in a city like what we are in Bangalore….The culture and the world has influenced the church very badly. Paul wrote two epistles….one to answer the questions raised by them and another to defend his ministry and apostleship.
Paul was saying “You disputed my doctrine. Ok But now, you examine yourselves whether you are in faith?
- It is like a military term... Examine your strengths and weaknesses to explore your fall outs and weaknesses and take the right strategy.
- It is like an economic term…Sitting down and examining how the business is heading in a view to take appropriate correction in the right direction
- It was a legal idea…Cross examination in such a way to pinpoint the fault. Use the same approach for yourselves.
- It is travelers' idea….while writing down the travel notes, Go right from the beginning to the end, including all the glorious mountainous experiences and the deep personal valleys…to re-examine the path you are journeying…public character and private lives. Performances and how it is measured up with the instructions of the Bible
- It is like a military term... Examine your strengths and weaknesses to explore your fall outs and weaknesses and take the right strategy.
- It is like an economic term…Sitting down and examining how the business is heading in a view to take appropriate correction in the right direction
- It was a legal idea…Cross examination in such a way to pinpoint the fault. Use the same approach for yourselves.
- It is travelers' idea….while writing down the travel notes, Go right from the beginning to the end, including all the glorious mountainous experiences and the deep personal valleys…to re-examine the path you are journeying…public character and private lives. Performances and how it is measured up with the instructions of the Bible
WHO ARE WE?
1 Peter 2: 9, 10….. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God
1 Peter 2: 9, 10….. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God
- Chosen people, people belonging to Him..... Eph 1: 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
- Chosen to be holy and blameless. Eph 2: 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
- We are being built in Him….We are His dwelling place. Rev 22:11 Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.
- Growing in holiness, growing in righteousness
1. In our daily lives, we take a lot of care to check the genuineness of the products we buy. We do many preventive maintenances to keep our vehicles and devices in the right condition. We take a lot of tests to ensure our vital organs are in the right condition. But we seldom take that much care for our inner life, for keeping our mind clean, to keep our life blameless in the sight of God and man, to keep our soul spotless.
2. We are often judgmental about others with whom we are connected – in family, relatives, friends, preachers, ministers…..We have a different scale to measure us and a different one to measure others.
3. In rocket launches, slight deviation from the original path will put the satellites in the wrong destination. Failure to check and take the right corrections lead to plane crashes and costly accidents. Even in our lives, delayed checks and corrections would be too costly.
Jeroboam made two golden calves. .. One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin. Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites (1 Kings 12:28-31). After becoming the king over ten tribes of Israel, in order to prevent them from going to Jerusalem for worshipping the Lord and to burn offerings at the altar there, he made two golden calves and placed it in Bethel and Dan. He appointed non-Levites as priests, who sacrificed burnt offerings to these golden calves. He also built shrines in high places. He changed the God’s entire system of holy days, sacrifices, and worship into a man-made system focused on worshiping golden calves. He made the cities of Bethel and Dan as the places of worship rather than God’s chosen city of Jerusalem. The sins of Jeroboam haunted the later kings of Israel and they provoked God, bringing His judgment upon them.
4. Our judgments about ourselves, our ministry, our lifestyle, our preferences, and priorities in life could be wrong. We need to calibrate our conscience and mind with the right teachings of the word. Our actions can be right and genuine, but we can be on the wrong path. We may carry a wrong belief system.
You will never be an inwardly religious and devout man unless you pass over in silence the shortcomings of your fellow men, and diligently examine your own weaknesses....Thomas a Kempis
- Christian life is better when we self examine regularly.
- We need to examine ourselves daily and periodically.
- It would be a good habit to self examine ourselves before going to bed every day.
- It would be helpful to examine our lives, probing our daily activities in the light of the word by the help of Holy Spirit
- Was I judgmental in my heart today?
- Did I think about things that I should not have?
- Did I treat somebody in a dishonorable way?
- Did I maximize the time you gave me?
- How am I measuring up compared to what the scripture asks me to do?
Self examination time will help us to cross check and examine our purposes, ambitions, goals, etc. There are many areas in our life… our public life, our private life, our relationships, our obsession with things and ideas of the world, etc.
1 Cor 10: 12….whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall. We can be easily deceived, if we do not take enough care about our Spiritual lives.
1. Doubts can derail our Spiritual life……Eve was created by God. When doubt was planted in her life, she fell.
2. Insufficient understanding of the Will of God concerning our lives, can lead to different destination……Abraham and Sarah….bringing forth Ismael
3. Loving world and its things derail our Spiritual life…..Lot and family, Judas Iscariot, Gehazi, Achan of Ai, etc.
4. Failure to control carnal mind and desire will make us fall…..Samson, Solomon, David, etc.
5. Lust for power, position and fame can led us astray…..Any one can be tempted…..Can be spiritual on like pharisees, ….Can be ministerial ones like his disciples (Who is great?)….Temptation to showcase our strength….
SEARCH ME AND TRY ME…Prayer
Ps 26:2 Examine me O Lord…Test me, LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind;
Ps 139: 23… Search me…Try me Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
2 Sam 12:13….David responded rightly And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.
