Paul McKenzie

Memory Verse, Tuesday, December 23, 2 Corinthians 5:11

"Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience."

If I read this letter right, I believe at this point, Paul is again defending his ministry amidst false teachers who were infiltrating and corrupting the Corinthian church. But this is a great principle as well, for he has brought out the truth and gravity of his mission to preach both the mercy and the fear of the Lord.

Jesus said: "And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." (Matthew 21:44 KJV) When you fall upon Him, you will be broken, for you will realize that you are a hopeless sinner and can only depend on Him to build you up again. And in that broken state of forgiveness, you sit on the solid foundation, and He picks up the pieces of your broken soul and rebuilds you after His own image.

But if your foundation is on the world, He will grind you into powder, right back to the dust you were. If you demand "justice", you will receive justice. If you fall upon Him for mercy, you will become a new creation.

"For whosoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?" (Mark 8:35-37)

It was Paul's mission to persuade everyone to build on that foundation of Christ. The fear of the Lord can bring one to fall upon His ever-present mercy, or to face judgment before a perfect, holy God, without any foundation but their own sin.

And I love the statement: "But what we are is known to God." We are all at His mercy, and, the more one walks within that mercy, he sees how deeply the roots of sin penetrate within the fallen nature. That new nature within us shudders at this realization and cries out anew: "Lord have mercy on me, a sinner." (Luke 18:13b) My pastor likes to point out that the actual Greek uses the definite article: "THE sinner". He also likes to point out that Paul, in his letters, moves from calling himself a sinner to "the chief of sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15) as his letters progress.

Now this doesn't make God's children despair. It makes them ever more thankful of the grace the perfect God has given such wretched people. For when He sees us, He sees His Son, who has taken our wretchedness and made us clean, reconciling us to Himself. And it gives us even more confidence as we see how far He removes us from darkness and matures us into children of light.

"But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life." (1 Timothy 1:16)

I've said before that if I knew how great a sinner I was at the time of my salvation, I don't think I could have lived with myself another day. But the Holy Spirit, like a patient gardener, roots out the evil within me to let His fruit grow, nourished by Christ, the True Vine. All of those nasty motivations and roots of sin are being extracted and cast into the fire!

Then I see part c of this verse: "and I hope it is known also to your conscience", remember the words of Christ in Matthew 7, "by their fruits you shall know them", and look at the dismal display of fruit I produce and weep before the Lord. And He mercifully helps me recall 1 John 3:20 "for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything."

And then we cry out: "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:24-25a), and "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who give life has set you free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:1-2)

And on that foundation I rest. It is the foundation God mercifully offers all who believe. Fall upon that Rock today!

Today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart.

Memory Helps:

"There FORE, know ING the FEAR of THE Lord,
WE per SUADE oth ERS 2 3
But WHAT we ARE is KNOWN to GOD,
and I hope IT is KNOWN 2 3
(al SO to YOUR con SCIENCE 2 3)."

This is a long verse, and I know it will take more than a day for me to get it back into my brain. I've been working diligently every day, rehearsing each verse in this chapter, beginning with verse 1 and moving into the new verses. I've put each verse to some little song, recorded it, and sing them one by one. Slowly they are getting easier to remember.

I have found that some melodies work better than others, and if I find I have too much trouble with one, I'll change it to another, or create a fitting melody myself. So far, these have worked, though that first one took quite a while!

My initial song to this is "O God Our Help In Ages Past". If you know the tune, you can tell the meter by the capitalized words. Again, I repeated the last line of the song's verse to finish verse 11. The "2 3" are rests so it fits the song's rests. You'll catch on if you sing it a few times. On my website I give you "hand-actions" to help you remember if you're interested.

So, my "next performer" between the two pillars is my DaD (D's = 1's, vowels fillers, so DaD has to be 11). If you heard him sing, it would make this verse even more memorable. I definitely got what vocal talent I have from my Mom! He will be using hand actions to help remember key phrases.

I need to remember that "Therefore knowing" is what starts the verse out, so I will have him start by touching his hair and showing "four" fingers, and then pointing to his head ("hair-four knowing")

Maybe next he will be biting his fingernails and pointing to heaven for "fear of the Lord".

Maybe getting on his knee with his five-fingered hands splayed out to try to "persuade others", and touching his head for the "Knowns" first pointing up to "known to God", then pointing at you for "known also to your conscience." Singing the melody with these hand actions help.

Ask any performer who "blocks" like that all the time to help remember their lines.