2 Corinthians 7 (7)

Pray Psalm 128.1, 2.
Blessed is every one who fears the LORD,
Who walks in His ways.
When you eat the labor of your hands,
You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.

Sing Psalm 128.1, 2.
(Fountain: There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood)
How blessed are they who fear You, LORD, who walk within Your ways!
Rejoicing in Your bounteous Word, they prosper all their days!
They prosper all their days, they prosper all their days!
Rejoicing in Your bounteous Word, they prosper all their days!

Review 2 Corinthians 7.1-16; meditate on verses 4-7, 9, 13-16.

Preparation
1. What is the most recurrent idea in this chapter?

2. What is the source of this?

Meditation
Where the Kingdom of God is present and advancing, its true colors will be seen: righteousness (holiness), peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14.17, 18). In 2 Corinthians 7 Paul rejoiced—even amid his own great trials (v. 5)—because he could see that the Kingdom was manifesting among the Corinthians. In response to his first epistle, they had become repentant, sorrowful, revived, renewed, reunited, and set back on the Yes Path with Jesus. Paul rejoiced and urged them to continue the good work of bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God (v. 1).

True joy is the consequence of being in the Presence of the Lord (Ps. 16.8). When God’s people submit to His Word and yield to the inward work of His Spirit (2 Cor. 3.12-18), the grace of God becomes evident in them. The Spirit bears righteous fruit, floods their souls with the peace of Jesus, and draws out the joy of knowing the Lord in all who believe and obey Him. That joy is infectious. From the Corinthians it spread to Titus, from Titus to Paul, and from Paul back to the Corinthians—grace leading to rejoicing in the Lord and boasting in Him.

God wants us to know joy, joy so deep and true that not even adversity or affliction can keep us from it. Joy comes not from circumstances or things. It issues from the Presence of the Lord. When we are in His Presence and He is making Himself known to, in, and through us, joy just breaks out, and with that joy, holy boasting in the Lord.

We are saved for joy: Joy to the world! The Lord is come! Godly sorrow for sin coupled with true repentance and resetting our steps with the Lord (v. 11) will bring us back into His Presence, back under the cope of His power, back on the Yes Path with Jesus, and back to fullness of joy and holy pleasures forevermore (Ps. 16.11).

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” So wrote the young missionary Jim Elliot, who, before he grew old, was martyred for his faith in Jesus Christ.

“I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation…therefore I rejoice” (2 Cor. 7.4, 16).
“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1.21).

These are the truths that spurred him on in Kingdom service, truths that run rampant through Scripture; and truths that Paul also wrote, and lived, and died by.

“God wants us to know joy, joy so deep and true that not even adversity or affliction can keep us from it. Joy comes not from circumstances or things. It issues from the Presence of the Lord.”

“You will show me the path of life;
In Your Presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Ps. 16.11; cf. Ps. 23.3; Jn. 15.11)

“True joy is the consequence of being in the Presence of the Lord.” Let us stay obediently in His Presence; gladly giving up what we cannot keep, to gain what we cannot lose.

All for Jesus! All for Jesus! All my being’s ransomed pow’rs;
All my thoughts and words and doings, All my days and all my hours.

Let my hands perform His bidding, Let my feet run in His ways;
Let my eyes see Jesus only, Let my lips speak forth His praise.

Since my eyes were fixed on Jesus, I’ve lost sight of all besides;
So enchained my spirit’s vision, Looking at the Crucified.

O, what wonder! How amazing! Jesus, glorious King of kings,
Deigns to call me His beloved, Lets me rest beneath His wings.
(Mary D. James, 1889)

For reflection
1. How do you experience the Presence of God?

2. What can rob you of the joy God wants you to know?

3. Whom will you encourage today in the joy of the Lord?

Assuredly, it is not sumptuous banquets, it is not splendid apparel, it is not courteous and honorable salutations, it is not the plaudits of the multitude, that gratify the upright and faithful pastor. He experiences, on the other hand, an overflowing of delight, when the doctrine of salvation is received with reverence from his mouth, when he retains the authority that belongs to him for the edification of the Church, when the people give themselves up to his direction, to be regulated by his ministry under Christ's banners. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on 2 Corinthians 7.16

Pray Psalm 128.3-6.
Praise the Lord for His promise to be with us always (Matt. 28.20). Praise Him with rejoicing that He is present in you, in your home, throughout your church, and in all the many blessings He provides day by day.

Sing Psalm 128.3-6.
(Fountain: There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood)
Their homes with happy children bloom who fear Your holy Name;
their tables and their every room declare Your glorious fame!
Declare Your glorious fame, declare Your glorious fame!
Their tables and their every room declare Your glorious fame!

O LORD, from Zion send Your peace, and prosp’rous make our ways;
thus may Your blessings e’er increase upon us all our days!
Upon us all our days, upon us all our days!
Thus may Your blessings e’er increase upon all us all our days!

T. M. and Susie Moore 

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter, available by clicking here.