“Examination To Restoration”
Sermon Title: Examination To Restoration
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 13:5-11 ESV
Introduction
Today, we are finishing our series in 2 Corinthians. I personally believe there were many things the Lord was saying to our church throughout this series. There were many things the Lord was speaking to me personally; convictions He was placing into my heart – not just as a pastor, but simply as Minjae. I hope you too found the Lord speaking to you through 2 Corinthians, something that convicted your heart, something that helped you grow and mature in your faith, and something that brought you closer to God.
In this last chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul summarizes the previous chapters as he delivers the Lord’s final message of love, hope, and restoration to the Corinthian church.
Examine Yourselves
Paul commands in verse 5:
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.”
This is interesting because up until now, it was the Corinthians – influenced by false teachers – who had been examining Paul and his ministry. Paul defended himself not because he needed validation, but because he cared for their souls. Now in chapter 13, Paul turns the focus back onto them and says: “Examine yourselves.”
The words “examine” and “test” are closely connected, but there is a slight difference in meaning. To examine means to search yourself honestly and thoroughly before God. To test means to see whether what you claim to believe is genuine and true.
Paul is not trying to retaliate against the Corinthians. In fact, he is confident in their faith, or else he would not say, “Do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?”
Then in verse 6, Paul reveals the deeper point:
“I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test.”
Paul is saying that when the Corinthians truly examine their faith, they will realize that the gospel they received – the message that brought them to Christ – came through Paul’s ministry. Earlier in the letter Paul said that the Corinthian church itself was the letter of recommendation written by Christ (2 Cor. 3:1–3). Their genuine faith was evidence that God truly worked through Paul.
Paul explains in verses 7–8 that even if his ministry appeared weak or unimpressive by worldly standards, his concern was never about defending his reputation. His concern was that the Corinthians would not drift away toward another Jesus and another gospel, but remain anchored to the true Christ.
Examination Leads to Restoration
Paul says in verses 9–10:
“For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for.”
This was Paul’s heart for the church. The last visit he had with the Corinthians was painful and confrontational, and he did not want the next visit to be the same. Paul desired reconciliation, repentance, and spiritual maturity. He did not want to exercise his authority with severity, but to use the authority God gave him to build them up and restore them to Christ.
This is why examining ourselves is so important. Examination is the beginning of restoration because it means confronting our current lives honestly before God and allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal what is truly inside of us. It means allowing God to show us that our sins are greater than we think, that we are not as good as we often imagine ourselves to be, but also realizing that God’s grace and forgiveness are even greater.
Examining yourself before the Lord means continually asking:
“If I truly belong to Christ, does my life reflect it?”
The Corinthian church struggled with pride, division, disobedience, drifting hearts, worldly thinking, spiritual arrogance, and broken relationships. Paul tells them to examine whether Christ is truly shaping their lives.
We must ask ourselves:
Is Christ present in my thoughts, my relationships, my workplace, my motivations, my purpose in life?
Is Christ present in how I love others, serve the church, respond to correction, repent before God, and endure suffering?
Is my faith merely intellectual, or is the Holy Spirit genuinely transforming my life?
These are difficult questions, but they are necessary questions because examination leads to restoration.
A Church Restored
Restoration was always God’s desire for the Corinthian church. God desires restoration for His people – restoration to Himself and restoration with one another.
In verse 11, Paul gives five characteristics of what a restored church looks like:
“Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”
These five commands reveal the kind of fellowship the Holy Spirit creates within a restored church.
1. Rejoice
Christian life is characterized by joy in all circumstances because it is the fruit that is produced by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. True genuine joy even in the face of great suffering is the mark of a Christian’s genuine faith and trust in Christ. The joy we experience is not a self generated joy but the supernatural joy that comes from Christ (John 15:17). It is a joy that remains with us knowing that nothing can separate us from God, that our salvation and the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven is secure, and that one day we will see our Lord Jesus (John 16:22).
A restored church is a church that experiences a joy that is not dependent upon our emotions, our successes, our financial situations, the pains and sufferings of life, the disappointments or discouragements that we face, nor is it dependent upon people. Our joy is a joy that cannot be shaken because it is anchored in Christ. It is a joy that draws the wonder and curiosity of unbelievers who ask how you can be joyful even in your darkest hour.
Christian joy does not deny pain, it does not deny that you’re hurt and struggling. God acknowledges your pain, but He turns your eyes to see Him who is greater than your pain, and we have confidence through faith and trust, that God is at work in the midst of our pain. that God knows us, loves us, and sees us, and He will surely come and save us
2. Aim for restoration/reconciliation
A restored church is a church that desires for restoration and reconciliation in all aspects of life. A restored church is a church that individually and communally restores our relationship with the Lord first and foremost through repentance.
Before I officially began to serve here at Uptown, I met with the elders to talk about many things and hear about some of the things that went on last year. My heart was broken for our church, but it was also broken because of how we so fall short of God’s glory and yet the Lord continues to be faithful to us and sustain us. That day, the elders and I prayed together in repentance as one church regardless of who had been hurt or who had done the hurting. It was not a time of pointing fingers and finding blame, but to come to the Lord asking for forgiveness because we have all failed before the Lord. It was a time for us pray that all would be restored to the Lord and each other. A restored church is a church that desires restoration and reconciliation not only with God, but others, especially those who have hurt us.
A restored church is a church where the people desire for the restoration of the church. It is a desire like that of Nehemiah whose heart grieved in sorrow over the news that the city of Jerusalem and the temple of God was in shambles. It is the heart of the people of Nehemiah’s time who all gathered together, each doing their part to rebuild the walls. A church that aims for restoration is a church that understands the heart of God, and desires to take part in the healing and rebuilding of the church, and by doing so will also heal and rebuild your own heart.
3. Comfort one another
A restored church is a church that recognizes that the Lord has been their comfort – that understands that things would be a lot worse if not for the Lord. A restored church is a church that understands the assignment of the Holy Spirit that calls us to comfort others by coming alongside them and strengthening them and loving them.
It is understanding how God uses your own brokenness to bring healing to other people by drawing them closer to Christ.
A restored church that lives out the gospel is a church where hurt and weary people are strengthened and encouraged by others, who help carry the pains and disappointments of your life, if you are willing to open your heart to them.
4. Agree with one another
Agreeing with one another doesn’t mean that everything about every person in the church needs to be the same or that you have to agree with every thought or opinion. That would actually defeat the whole idea of the church being the body of Christ, with all parts of the body working in unison. If we were to have the same thoughts and opinions, then we’d have a house full of just arms, or just legs.
As strange as this may sound, agreeing with one another actually needs people of different thoughts and opinions, and sometimes God uses that tension in the church to fulfill His will, to sharpen each other as iron sharpens iron (Prov. 27:17).
Agreeing with one another is about being united in Spirit and sharing a common direction, vision, and goal, with Christ at the center, together – for the sake of the gospel and the glory of God. A restored church recognizes that each of us has been uniquely shaped by the same truth, the same gospel, and the same Jesus, and together we serve Him and Him alone.
5. Live in Peace.
The last piece of godly fellowship is to live in peace. This part will fall into place when a restored church continues to live out reconciliation, repentance, and godly fellowship because true peace comes when God’s people live in obedience to God’s word, and as a result, the people are reshaped into the image of Christ – that which we call Christlikeness.
Conclusion
This is the restoration God was doing in the Corinthian church, and I believe this is also the kind of church God is shaping Uptown to become.
Some people may think this is simply positive thinking, but this hope does not come from optimism or personality. By nature, I am actually very cynical and negative. I struggle with anxiety and discouragement. Left to myself, I often see the world as bleak and hopeless.
But Christ changed that.
Jesus taught me to look beyond present circumstances and see what God may be doing. He taught me to search for hope because He Himself is our hope. The Word of God convinces me too deeply for me not to believe that God is working.
As we went through 2 Corinthians, I saw the faithfulness of God toward broken people. I saw the love and power of Christ poured out into His church. I saw that God does not abandon His people in their weakness, but works powerfully through their brokenness.
Therefore, I believe.
May we as Uptown come together in unity and one Spirit, and may our confession together be:
“We believe.”
