Walking away from the god of our making

 2 Corinthians 1:1-4

 It is believed the apostle Paul was in Ephesus at the time of writing this letter, and that false teachers had come into the church at Corinth teaching that the Christ life or as some state, Christian life was not based on just grace and faith but on the keeping of the Mosaic law requirements and the church was taught to ignore Paul’s teaching.  This still happens every day to those who go by feel and not by the authority of the Scripture it’s a Jesus plus teaching.  It is a lie from hell and it feeds the flesh, for it requires one to perform in some way to earn Salvation.

So we will be seeing Paul defending his authority as one called by God to be an apostle of Jesus Christ.  Paul begins the letter in this fashion; “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  (2 Corinthians 1:1-2)

It is very important that one has the right concept of God the Father, and the apostle Paul is declaring He is the Father of mercies and a God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction.  Now give thought to verse four, “who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

As a young child raised Baptist, I had no understanding of a Father’s love, of a Father of mercies and a God of all comfort, who comforts us in our afflictions.   My Baptist god was always upset with my poor performance, but when I met Jesus Christ in a hotel room in Victoria, Texas.  I began to look into what the Word of God had to say about how He loves me, and God sent Jack Archer an oil man who begin to teach me what God was showing him about His great love for you and me.  I left that Baptist god, you see the Baptist god was not the God of the Scripture, nor was he the God of the Baptist Church he was designed by ones like myself who had no understanding of Scripture or a personal relationship with the living Christ.

As a young person with a god of my making I missed grace, I missed mercy, and without grace and mercy, I missed God’s love for me, for without grace a person cannot have peace with God.  As one who is following Jesus we come to a place where we must ask for help, I often ask for help.  This is an example of grace and mercy Jesus is teaching us in Luke 6:35-36, “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” 

Folks, that requires Jesus doing it through you, for your flesh, lives in fear of your enemies.  Each of us must come to a point of walking away from the god of our making, the one that agrees with us and looks to the God of the Scripture who loved us so much He allowed His Son, His only Son to take on flesh and become a man, without an earthly dad so no sin was passed on to Him.  He came as Truth, as Love, as Life, as the Word of God, as Creator, and as the atonement for Sin by dying on a Cross for the sins of all who have ever lived or will live; and His name is Jesus the Christ, the Messiah.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice