Be spent

The church in Corinth had problems. Doctrinal, moral, factional, social, attitudinal, spiritual. The apostle Paul had established this church, staying there for a year and a half during his second preaching tour around the Mediterranean. During his third tour, hearing about their problems, he feels compelled to write letters to this church—two letters preserved for us in the New Testament and apparently at least one other.

This church’s problems were so serious, and so blatant, that I think a lot of us would be inclined to write them off. Not Paul. He takes a parental posture with them. He corrects, reproves, exhorts, encourages. He answers the questions they’ve sent him. And then he does it again in the next letter.

Toward the end of the second letter we have, Paul explicitly casts himself in the parent role. He tells them he’s going to visit them, and he firmly denies allegations that he’s trying to profit from them. He writes:

Look, I am ready to come to you this third time. I will not burden you, since I am not seeking what is yours, but you. For children ought not save up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for you. (2 Corinthians 12:14-15*)

How often would we be willing to say, and mean, “I will most gladly spend and be spent for you?” The Greek word behind “spend” means exactly what we would think. “Be spent” means to exhaust, to give all, empty the tank. We would say and mean this about our children, probably some other family members. Possibly some very close friends—but generally we reserve that “be spent” part for a very tight inner circle of people in our lives.

I doubt very many of us can truthfully say we are willing to go that far, for a church congregation with the problems Corinth had.

Paul does, and not only for the Corinthians. He did spend—he supports himself while preaching, rather than ask for money. And he is spent, as he has just detailed in the previous chapter. What he endured and what he gave, in service to Christ and to Christ’s brethren, is mind-boggling.

He does it for these in Corinth, for those in Philippi (Phillippians 2:17), for those in Colossae (Colossians 1:24-29), for those in Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 2:8-12). And more. As he says, on top of everything he’s listed that he has endured:

Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my concern for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:28)

ALL the churches. Including places he’d never even been, such as Colossae. He spends everything he has; he is spent—worn out, emptied—for all the churches.

He truly is an imitator of his Lord, who said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)

I’m not going to suggest that we have to equal what Paul did. I am going to suggest that we do need to be willing to spend—some of our money, some of our time, whatever else God has blessed us with. There are many opportunities. And we do need to be willing, at least occasionally, to be spent. To really give it our all.

Love, Paul

(* all scripture quotations from CSB)