Examine Yourselves
II Corinthians 13:1-10
INTRODUCTION
The woman had identified herself as being a member of a local Baptist church.
When we asked her the question, "Suppose you were to die today, and were to
stand before God, and He were to say to you, "why should I let you into my
heaven?" What would you say?'' A startled look came over her face. As she
slammed the door in our face, she said, "I don’t think about things like that. That
would drive you crazy." Her response to the question was much more typical
than her action. Not many of us like to make that kind of examination of our
relationship to God.
The Corinthians had been ready to subject Paul to an examination. They were
demanding that he provide proof that he was a true apostle of Jesus Christ. In this
last chapter Paul turns the tables on them. Under the inspiration of the Lord he
admonishes, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test
yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you
fail the test." This word "examine'' means to try or to test. The thing to be tested
is our relationship with God. The behavior of the Corinthians had given reason to
doubt the genuineness of their knowledge of the Lord. Paul challenges them to
check their spiritual credentials.
Are you willing to follow the admonition of this text? In our day in which little
time is really devoted to this kind of discipline this could be a very helpful
exercise for the soul. In seeking to point the way to make such an examination,
let me make some suggestions from the text.
I. WE SHOULD EXAMINE OURSELVES PERSONALLY.
''Examine yourselves--test yourselves". In both instances "yourselves" is the
emphatic word. We seem to have an inclination to examine other, but the text
calls for self-examination. There is good reason for the emphasis of this text.
There is a good reason that it must be done personally.
The very nature of our relationship with God calls for this personal examination.
The most personal thing in the world is a man's relationship to his God. It
involves a relationship between the inner spirit of the man and the Holy Spirit of
God. When there is a proper relationship, there is an inner union between these
two spirits. This union of spirit with Spirit is such that it cannot be inspected or
evaluated by any outside observer. Ultimately it can be known and evaluated
only by the person involved. You can guess about my relationship with God on
the basis of what you can observe, and you may be very close to the truth, but the
only person who can know is me.
There is another aspect of this. It should be personal because ultimately I am the
only person responsible for this relationship. Others may care and may seek to
help, but I am personally responsible for the state of my relationship before God.
If I am wrong with God, condemned by God, I will be the one responsible for it.
