Are You in the Faith?
May I ask you a question? Are you in good health? How do you know? What standard do you use to make that determination? Good health is a tremendous blessing. When you have it, it can easily be taken for granted. In many ways, it is a gift from God, but our lifestyle choices also have a significant impact on our health.
When I was a boy, my parents and siblings rarely went to the doctor. As very young children, I know we had periodic wellness checks with our family doctor, and we got our required immunizations to attend public school. But we weren’t taken to the doctor for colds, chicken pox, sore throats, upset stomachs, and fevers. We appreciated doctors, but we only used them when we absolutely needed them.
How things have changed! Now even minor discomfort causes people to head to the medicine cabinet, urgent care, or even the emergency room. For some people, physical health has become an obsession and the medical profession has obliged them by becoming a very profitable business. I’ve discovered that even having blood work done can be quite pricey.
I’m now in my sixth decade of life and am constantly told I should have this test, and that screening, and on and on. Like the rest of you, I value my health, so I recently scheduled an appointment to have a screening for the risk of stroke, cardiovascular disease, and more. I don’t have a family history of those things but thought it might be good to get checked out.
But you know, as important as physical health is, spiritual health is so much more important. Our physical life is limited to the realm of time, but our spirits will live on forever. Some people are uncomfortable with my casual approach to doctors and medical screenings, but those same people totally ignore their spiritual health. That’s very unwise.
Did you know that just as there are tests for your physical health there are tests you can take to evaluate your spiritual health? There are, and we want to look at them in this study from the final chapter of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians.
The church at Corinth had some real spiritual ailments and Paul closes this second letter by asking them a question. The question he asked them is just as applicable to you and me today. It is “Are You in the Faith? Paul shows us how to find the answer to that question.
I invite you to listen and follow along if you can, as I read Second Corinthians 13.
In the closing portion of this letter, Paul proposes several TESTS we can use to prove whether or not we are in the faith.
The First TEST we can use (to prove whether or not we are in the faith) is,
Examine the Source of Your Power
There are a couple of phrases I want us to notice in this first section of verses, one through five. They are “mighty in you” and “by the power of God.” This second phrase, by the power of God, is mentioned twice. First, Christ lives by the power of God, that is, even though from a human viewpoint His death seemed an obvious indication of weakness, He was resurrected by the life-giving power of God. Because of that fact, we as Christ-followers live with Him by the power of Christ toward us.
That calls to mind Paul’s words in his letter to the Romans. “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” That’s Romans 8:9 to 11.
Paul’s conclusion is very clear in this process of determining whether or not you are in the faith. If you do not have the Spirit of Christ in you, you do NOT belong to Him and you are NOT in the faith. Maybe you think it’s not that simple, but it is! And that’s what Paul was wanting those in Corinth, who professed to be Believers, to understand.
Paul was calling his readers to examine themselves, to test themselves, to determine whether or not they were (still) in the faith. His use of the word yourselves is emphatic. He was specifically addressing those in Corinth who were opposing the purity of the Gospel. Earlier, in his first letter, he challenged them to examine themselves in the context of participating in the observance of the Lord’s Table.
What is “the faith.” When I was working on the manuscript for this teaching, Microsoft Word didn’t like the words “the faith.” It kept wanting to eliminate the word “the.” But Paul is referring specifically to biblical faith, which is a believing attitude toward Jesus Christ. It’s not just any faith, faith in myself, faith in a creed, or faith in a system, but belief and trust in a person.
When you and I, by faith, accept the sacrifice of Jesus as the only acceptable payment for our sin, we become partakers of that same power that raised Christ from the dead. Our sins are forgiven and, according to Second Corinthians 5:17, “…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
When Paul calls us as Believers to test ourselves that implies a deliberate attempt to ascertain or measure our spiritual condition. And proving is the result that comes out of the testing. If Jesus Christ is “mighty in you,” as Paul said, you will pass the test.
You know, there are only two sources of power in the world; one is God and the other is Satan. Satan exercises his power in the hearts of those who are unredeemed, and unsaved. Their focus is on themselves, and their pleasure, their benefit. It doesn’t take any power to live like that, you just follow your natural inclinations.
God exercises His power in the hearts of those who have trusted Him for their salvation. Their focus is on bringing glory to Him by loving and serving others. They submit to His will and allow His power to flow through them to others.
Testing the source of power in your life will answer the question, “are you in the faith?”
The Next TEST we can use (to prove whether or not we are in the faith) is,
Examine the Motivation for Your Choices
Do you know how to find out whether or not the Spirit of Christ is in you? Here’s a simple test. Just look at the choices you make every day. If someone makes an offensive comment about you or your reputation, how do you respond? If you respond in the Spirit, by the power of God, you will forgive them and even try to return good for that evil. If you respond out of your flesh you will be angry, maybe bitter, and seek revenge.
When someone sins against us our immediate reaction is usually out of our flesh, our old nature, the unredeemed part of us. That’s definitely how unbelievers expect us to respond. If we don’t respond like that, those who don’t know Christ see us as weak. But that’s not true. It takes a strength much greater than our own to respond in the way that Jesus would.
In this context, Paul is asking them to test the motives for their actions, not so he would look good, but so they would learn to do what was right. He had warned them that when he came to Corinth the next time, he would exercise discipline as needed, even severe discipline.
He didn’t really want to do that. He wasn’t looking forward to that with some kind of perverse delight. He wasn’t hoping to make himself look better at their expense. Paul would much rather be seen as “weak” in order that the Corinthians would be strong in doing what was right. He reassured them that any discipline would be for their edification not for their destruction. Many church leaders today could learn from Paul’s example.
While Paul was dealing with their motives there’s another aspect to this. Motivation, to some degree, gives evidence of maturity or the lack of it. Paul wanted the Corinthian Believers to become mature in their faith. This is a common theme in this letter. Mature Believers don’t need the threat of discipline hanging over them to make the right choices. They do right because they know it’s right. The power of the Holy Spirit in them guides their choices.
When was the last time you made a deliberate decision to evaluate your spiritual condition? When was the last time your life choices proved that you were living under the control of the Holy Spirit whom you received in response to exercising your faith in Christ? Those lifestyle choices DO NOT save you, let’s be clear about that. But they do indicate whether or not you are truly in the faith, truly a new creature in Christ.
As you examine the motivation for your choices in life, are you in the faith?
The Final TEST we can use (to prove whether or not we are in the faith) is,
Examine the Level of Your Love
Paul had written a long letter to the Corinthians, and he’d addressed a lot of issues. Now he’s coming to the end of it. In closing, he gives them several ways to test the level of their love for God and each other. First, he writes “be perfected.” What an admonition for such a conflicted congregation! The grammar indicates continuous action and I understand this word was used by ancient physicians to speak of a joint being put back into its proper place after a dislocation. A dislocated joint is painful, it causes weakness, and we’re not able to perform at the level we should. Dislocations in relationships have the same effect; they cause pain and dysfunction.
And then, “take courage.” This is the same word that is used repeatedly in the New Testament to describe the Holy Spirit as the Comforter. Paul encourages the Corinthians to receive admonition that would bring comfort to them. It would call them to put their arm around a brother or sister in mutual love and respect and it would accept the same love in return.
He goes on, “be of one mind and live in peace.” The church in Corinth was notorious for its dissension and conflict. Paul encourages them to reject that practice and cultivate a peaceful disposition. Don’t be the person that’s known to have a short fuse or a hair-trigger temperament. Hebrews 12:14 gives us good advice on this. “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord…” When you pursue something, you’re intentional about it. You intend to catch it and hold on to it. Let’s be that way about living in peace.
There are many people today who loudly and publicly proclaim their love for God, but the evidence of their love for their brothers and sisters in Christ is almost nonexistent. In fact, some even state openly that they have no need for the local church. But call to mind the words of the apostle John. “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God MUST love his brother also.”
Paul closes his instruction by urging them to demonstrate that love to their brothers and sisters in a tangible way, a kiss of love. Historically, it was practiced at the celebration of the Eucharist or what many of us today call Communion. A minority of churches still practice it today.
When was the last time you evaluated your love for your brothers and sisters? Think of your most recent interactions with those who are part of your local fellowship. How did you respond to their questions, their opinions, and their choices? Were you willing to truly hear what they were saying or were you more concerned about your own agenda?
Were you willing to see them, or were their ideas preferred over yours? Were you “… tenderhearted, courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this…” These are all ways to test the level of your love for the brotherhood, and they are vital in determining whether or not you are still in the faith.
The final verse of Second Corinthians contains the most complete benediction in all of Paul’s letters. Here, he invokes the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit upon each of them and upon the whole group.
I encourage you to take some time to meditate on that benediction and see how these three expressions of God’s person align with the three tests we’ve looked at in this teaching.
Are you in the faith? Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scripture, these three tests will enable you to discern the answer to that all-important question.