To be sure, Paul knew what it was to witness not only in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, but also to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). He knew what it was to leave the comfort of home for the sake of bringing the good news to those who needed to hear the good news. Knew what it was to give up everything in order to travel everywhere preaching the gospel. Paul knew the cost of pursuing the lost. But as I read in 2Corinthians this morning, it hits me that he was also willing to pay a great price in order to care for the found.

Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?

(2Corinthians 12:14-15 ESV)

I will gladly spend and be spent for your souls . . . That’s the turn of phrase I’m chewing on this morning. As Peterson puts it,

I’d be most happy to empty my pockets, even mortgage my life, for your good.

(2Corinthians 12:15a MSG)

Okay, these people have already “punched their ticket”, they’re already Spirit sealed and heaven bound. Yeah, they’re a little dysfunctional (okay, maybe a lot), but hey, they’re saved. So, move on. Don’t sweat the saved stuff. There’s only so many resources. Only so much patience. Isn’t the priority the unsaved? Evidently, with Paul, it wasn’t an either / or proposition.

For Paul, it seems, it wasn’t enough for people to just be Christians, it was kind of important to him that they behaved as Christians too. Seems he wasn’t content just to get them in the door of the church but was also willing to invest heavily in making them disciples of Christ. And so, he would most gladly spend and be spent for their souls.

He would incur expense and exhaust by expending so that those redeemed by Jesus would reflect something of Jesus. He would put out the effort — even if that meant a third visit — if it meant it would build them up (2Cor. 12:19). We would empty his pockets if it meant an end to the “quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder” among them (2Cor. 12:20). He would mortgage his life in hopes that his care and concern for them would cause them to repent of “the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced” (2Cor. 12:21). It wasn’t enough for Paul simply to see sinners engaged to Christ, but he also desperately desired to see them presented to Christ as a pure bride (2Cor. 11:2). Paul was ready to pay the price of being a vessel for Jesus’s use to “present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27) — both positionally and practically.

Okay, good for Paul. What about me?

Thinking that while I might not be called to pay the price in the same way as Paul did to go to the ends of the earth, I’m still called to find God’s place for me in the Great Commission. Similarly, while I might not be asked to spend myself on spiritually fathering churches as Paul was, as a member of the family of God I do have a place for investing in the family’s flourishing. I should be prepared to ante up something for the sake of building up brothers and sisters in Christ. Whether it’s the “price of admission” of just regularly attending the gathering of the saints, or it’s being a little more “in” by investing time with others in a community group or in one-on-one encouragement, or it’s being “all in” by lovingly drawing aside those tripped up in sin and restoring them in a “spirit of gentleness” (Gal. 6:1), like Paul I too am called to invest in those who are already saved.

While loving the lost might be part of the Great Commission, loving one another is part of Jesus’s Great Commandment (John 13:34, 15:12, 15;17). And both are worth investing in.

Spend and be spent. Gladly. Not only for the sake of those who are need to be saved, but also for the good of those are being saved.

By God’s grace. For God’s glory.