2 Corinthians--a Very Misunderstood Epistle

Many commentaries focus on Paul's defense of his ministry. Paul's main purposes have little to do with defending his ministry. The most common themes are: 1) reconciliation--between us and God, between fellow believers within the church, and between Paul and the Corinthians; 2) exhortation to ministry--Paul has been steadfast and uses his example to spur the Corinthians to look beyond their petty squabbles and reach out to the world, no matter how difficult it will be, because we have God and the rest of the world needs to be in relationship with Him. Be bold, be brave, get out of the pew!

Friday, May 15, 2020

Biblical Business Radical: Who's on Your Team?

Too often we focus on the more blatant qualities--yea, even sins--of our teammates and our competition. Even so as the church family looks at itself and society. We tend to focus on the most egregious of temptations, traps and defeats: adultery and other sexual sins, embezzlement, fraud, violent crimes, etc. We tend to ignore the softer issues: greed, narcissism, envy/jealousy, quarrelsomeness, divisiveness, self-centeredness and so on. We ignore them until they become destructive like destroying team unity, effectiveness by being a distraction or impeding progress. (We even 'reward' those who have bounced back--repented--from the most blatant 'sins' and don't reward those who have bounced back from the quieter sins. The big sins get the big book/movie deals. The small sins barely get lunchroom chatter or a tweet.)

Who should be a 'citizen' of our kingdom? God has ordained that people like those noted above will not 'enter' the kingdom (Galatians 5.21; Ephesians 5.5). The citizens of heaven--and preferably a part of our team--are people that:


  • Express fealty (as in the beginning of the Lord's prayer, acknowledging the 'chain of command' and disavowing anarchy--"No one can tell me what to do. I'm a free person.")
  • Trustworthy and trusting (earned or believed until disproven)--dependable, competent, having integrity, approachable, accepting
  • Forgiving as much as expecting to be forgiven
  • Loving, joyful, peaceful, self-controlled, good, gentle, patient, kind--even at the top of the leadership hierarchy
  • Meek and hungry for becoming a better person, a better neighbor, a better friend, a better teammate
  • Peace-making--not just peace-keeping by separating those in conflict but resolving the conflicts
  • Motivated by serving others and not themselves (pure in heart)
  • Unperturbed by persecution, bad-mouthing, bad press unless it's justified and then they take it as an opportunity to discover how to become a better person... (see above)
  • Showing mercy when desired--i.e. understanding that treating people equally can be treating them unfairly (e.g. two people who are late to work: one is a single parent with sick kids while the other was out too late partying with friends).
You might be able to add to this list. I hope that any of you with some Sunday School/Catechism experience will recognize those qualities above come from lists like the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5) and the Beatitudes (and Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7).

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