2 Corinthians 6 (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 6.1-18; meditate on verse 18.

Preparation
1. How did Paul describe our relationship with God?

2. How does he instruct us to think about God?

Meditation
All who believe in Jesus Christ are children of God (Jn. 1.12). The implications of this are staggering.

We have an eternal and almighty Father, and He has given us Himself as our inheritance. He feeds us by His unfailing Word, fills us with His Holy Spirit, puts us in the charge of His appointed King and Lord, and continues to bring us into greater measures of His fullness day by day. His power flows to us and dwells in us (Acts 1.8). He receives our prayers and promises to answer them in great and wondrous ways (Jer. 33.3). He sends us into His mission of restoring the reconciled world with the instructions to do good works and be witnesses for Him. He provides for all our needs; bears with us in all our shortcomings; renews us by His Word and Spirit; calls us to His Kingdom and glory; and makes us a royal priesthood and a holy generation.

The more we realize our heritage and live from within it, the less this fleeting world will appeal to us. And the more we will desire holiness in the Lord, our heritage and calling card, as we serve our Father in this world.

Children, heirs, co-workers, ministers, witnesses, and benefactors. We are the children of the LORD Almighty! Know your Father. Embrace your heritage. Seek His Kingdom and righteousness in all you do.

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“…the glory of children is their father” (Prov. 17.6).

If this is true of the earthbound, how much truer is this of our Almighty heavenly Father?

Not all people have had loving fathers—those who cared tenderly for us—or who disciplined, guided, and discipled us well. But God has stepped into our lives and made all things new. He has given us a new heart (Ez. 36.26, 27) and made us new people with a new outlook (2 Cor. 5.17). Everything has changed because He is our Father.

He only expects from us what He knows we can do for “He pities those who fear Him” (Ps. 103.13). He is a protective Father Who is on the job for the long-haul. “You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your Name” (Is. 63.16)

We are a part of His extended family from eternity past to the everlasting future. “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?” (Mal. 2.10).

So, God wants us to get along with the siblings: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Eph. 4.4-6).

Most Christian parents wholeheartedly want their children to follow in their footsteps to love and serve God (1 Cor. 11.1). Frankly, there is nothing that we desire more. Obviously, God wants the same for His children.

There is not a Father’s Day card that would suffice for our dear, perfect, loving, Almighty Father.
Happily He doesn’t demand a card. But what He does want is for us to be holy, as He is holy (1 Pet. 1.16; Eph. 1.4).

Jesus Christ is God’s perfect Son. We should imitate Him. And we should be eager to say, as Jesus said, “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Lk. 2.49).

The truth of our Parentage, albeit “staggering”, demands that we, as His imperfect children, must be busy about our Father’s business too, for we are His “sons and daughters” (2 Cor. 6.18).

For reflection
1. How do you experience God as your Father?

2. What does it mean to “walk in the Spirit”, Who is God indwelling us?

3. How would you explain to an unbelieving friend what it means to be a son or daughter of the Almighty God?

It is no common honor that we are reckoned among the sons of God: it belongs to us in our turn to take care, that we do not show ourselves to be degenerate children to him. For what injury we do to God, if while we call him father, we defile ourselves with abominations of idols! Hence, the thought of the high distinction to which he has elevated us, ought to whet our desire for holiness and purity. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on 2 Corinthians 6.18

Pray Psalm 128.3-6.
Thank the Lord for making you one of His children, taking you as His dwelling place, and appointing you as His minister in the world. Pray that He will bless your work for this 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 

The Church in Corinth was in need of revival. But there was much to be done before that would happen. The Church today is in need of revival, and the same is true for us. Our book, Revived!, can help us to discern our need for revival and lead us in getting there. Order your copy by clicking here.

Support for Scriptorium comes from our faithful and generous God, who moves our readers to share financially in our work. If this article was helpful, please give Him thanks and praise.

And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 103 Reynolds Lane, West Grove, PA 19390.

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.