2 Corinthians 13:5-13 My Spiritual Report Card

“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves….” (2 Corinthians 13:5, HCSB)

The Bible compares my faith to a spiritual report card. Here in his second letter to the church at Corinth, known as 2 Corinthians, Paul told the Corinthians that they should examine their hearts to see if they were really born again and members of the family of God. Paul writes that everyone should examine themselves – test themselves to see if they are “in the faith.”

Either you are “in the faith” or you are not. Paul compares the Christian life to one big test. So let’s use a report card with the letter grades you would get to see where you are today. Let’s start with F.

F – FAIL

“…Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless you fail the test.” (2 Corinthians 13:5, HCSB)

“…if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.” (2 Corinthians 13:5, NLT)

Have you ever been given a test and fail it? Then you know how serious a test can be. I remember in school that there was this test in eighth grade history class. I didn’t really want to complete the test. I didn’t know the chapter and so I just put my name on it and turned it in. You can guess what happened. My teacher, one of the coaches, told me that I received “one big goose egg” otherwise known as a zero. I got an F.

That’s what people do in life. The go through life thinking that they don’t have to even take the test. They just do their own thing. They don’t want to know and they don’t know about the Christian life. Much of the time, many people don’t want to go to church, they don’t want to engage with Christians, they don’t want to hear the story because they are confused. They look at the church and wonder – is this really Christianity. They have no idea how to pass the test. They look at the other students and wonder “What do they know?” So why try to take the test when I don’t know what they are doing. They look at us and ask: “How can they pass the test? They don’t look like they can pass it.”

So they put their name on the test and turn it in. They get married in the church. They get buried by a pastor, and they never try to take the test. They never ask themselves: “What does it take to pass the test?” As a result, they get an F.

D – DO

“Now we pray to God that you do nothing wrong—not that we may appear to pass the test, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear to fail.” (2 Corinthians 13:7, HCSB)

The problem with doing is that you can do the wrong thing. Doing good works in and of itself will not get you a passing grade. Many people try to do things to make it spiritually. However, the only thing you can do to pass is to “do the right thing.” What is that right thing?

C – COMMIT

“For we are not able to do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.” (2 Corinthians 13:8, HCSB)

“We’re rooting for the truth to win out in you.” (2 Corinthians 13:8, The Message)

Committing to the “truth” is the only right thing you can do.

“The truth” is the good news of Jesus Christ. This is about the work of Jesus on the cross. What Paul is saying here is that they will do everything they can to make sure you know how to pass the test.

How does trusting the truth help me pass the spiritual test?

You make a C because of the CROSS. You pass because Jesus passed His test. All you have to do is commit and trust Jesus’s work on the cross. You get his passing grade when you turn in His work. Turn means to repent. When we turn in Jesus’s work, we pass the test.

A CURVED GRADE

It’s like a getting a curved grade in school.

In a normal situation, usually you get a bell curve grade distribution. There is the bell curve. 2% lowest, 2% highest, and 96% are in between in this bell-curve shape. Most of the time, tests are made which will reflect this reality. You’ll get few As, a few Bs, many Cs, and a few Ds and Fs.

However, when the test is too hard to pass, then the teacher has to use what is called a curved grade. That means that the person with the highest grade (even if it is just passing, a C) gets a 100 and everyone’s grade goes up to a passing grade.

That’s what Jesus did. He passed His test on the cross. When Jesus died on the cross, He got a C from God. When God raised Him from the dead, God raised His Son’s grade to 100% A.

The problem is that no one could pass this test. We are all sinners and no one can take away everyone’s sin. Because we are all sinners, we will always fail the test.

So Jesus comes into this world, lives a perfect life and then passes the test by dying on the cross. So God, the “Highest Teacher” curves the grade. He resurrects Jesus and puts Jesus in the highest place in the class.

You and I get to pass the test. But that is only if we trust in Jesus’ work on His test. We can’t cheat off of Jesus’ paper. We can only trust that Jesus did get the 100%. We don’t automatically get the C. You have to show up to take the test. We can’t pass the test when we are absent doing our own thing. We have to show up and COMMIT. We commit to follow Jesus and His work on the CROSS that helped CURVE us to pass the test. We are CURVED to the Christian faith.

B – BUILD

“In fact, we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. We also pray that you become fully mature. This is why I am writing these things while absent, that when I am there I will not use severity, in keeping with the authority the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.” (2 Corinthians 13:9–10, HCSB)

How do you go from getting a C in the Christian life to a B? You learn to BUILD your relationship to Christ and His church. The Christian life is not lived in isolation. In order to grow, we need community. In these verses, Paul is talking to a church which has hurt him. Some have questioned his authority as a pastor and apostle. How does he react? He prays. Paul prays that each Christian in the church would become mature. He prays that they would grow. How does this happen? It happens when we learn to build ourselves up and become mature – in the church.

“submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.” (Ephesians 5:21, HCSB)

To get the B, you have to belong. Belonging to a group means you make and follow the groups rules. You make and build friendships in that group. You treat each other as family. To get the B, you obey by being baptized (which is done in a group setting), and then learn to belong to your church family. When you commit to Christ, you also commit to His wife.

In a marriage, you belong to the family. You build a family and that starts with marriage. How do you build the family? You learn to belong. You hang out with the family. You contribute to the family. You learn and teach one another in the family. A husband doesn’t really belong to a family when he decides to stay away from the home. The same is true for the Christian. You can’t live the Christian life and stop belonging to the church family.

Your church family is not made up of Christians in your biological family. Churches don’t operate well as clans. Churches show that people belong when they move beyond the clan.

A – ACHIEVE

“Finally, brothers, rejoice. Become mature, be encouraged, be of the same mind, be at peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.” (2 Corinthians 13:11, HCSB)

The beauty of the Christian faith is that everyone can get an A. We don’t have to just pass the test. We don’t have to get just a B. Everyone of us can get an A.

How do you get the A? You ACHIEVE an A. You work hard. Remember that you can’t do good works to pass the test. However, you can do good works to get the A. You have to trust and commit to Jesus to get the C. You have to belong to the church to get the B. You have to achieve through good works by following Christ to get the A.

Committing to Jesus gets the C. He is the foundation:

“For no one can lay any other foundation than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:11, HCSB)

Building your faith. You get the B when you build yourself in the faith.

“If anyone builds on that foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw,” (1 Corinthians 3:12, HCSB)

Achieving the reward through the good works you do. You get an A when you do God’s work and will in your life.

“each one’s work will become obvious, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward.” (1 Corinthians 3:13–14, HCSB)

Jesus is going to judge your work. When He returns, He is going to grade you, not by whether you passed the “payment for sin” test. You’ve been freed up from that test to pass the test of sharing your faith. You tell others about the truth and you do the work Christ has called you. There is work you can do in the church, work which reveal the truth of Jesus Christ to others. This work will be judged. Your sin won’t get judged. However, your work will be judged.

Where are you on your spiritual report card? How would you examine yourself today? What would you grade yourself?