Sorrowful For You (Part 2)

I read a very sad article from a Christian magazine several years ago. The article stated that on average 5,000-7,000 pastors resign from their churches each month in this country – most of them never to return to the ministry.

Some have simply reached the time to retire, some finally realized that they were never truly called by God to be in such a position, some cannot manage to make a living on the salary that their church can afford or are willing to pay, but the majority resign because of the constant criticism, turmoil, and unending problems that consume most of their time. The article also stated that while 5,000-7,000 pastors on average resigned every month, only about 4,000 were filling those vacant positions.

One major seminary in our country, that I know of – there could be others, encourages their graduates to start a church from scratch instead of taking over churches that have been mired in these kinds of problems, which could account for part of the imbalance in how many resign versus how many fill these vacancies. Their reasoning is why waste years if not a decade or more trying to fix all the trouble when you could be engaged in fruitful ministry from the beginning.

Whether this is a good strategy or not, and whether too many pastors today cut and run too easily when problems arise is not for me to say, but it is a disturbing trend if that trend is still happening today.

The Apostle Paul was more evangelist and church planter than full-time pastor, but much of his time was devoted to dealing with trouble in the churches he had started and had been the pastor of for a period of time. The church at Corinth seems to be the one that consistently had the most problems, at least by what we have recorded in Scripture.

Turn with me in your Bible to the Book of 2nd Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 1:23-2:4

Let’s pray.

If you were not here for the last few sermons from this Book of the Bible, or to refresh your memory, the church at Corinth was one that was seemingly in a constant state of struggle over one problem after another. The Book of 1st Corinthians is almost a catalog of shocking sinful behavior and a “how-to” manual on ignoring Scripture. And with this history of utter spiritual immaturity, they are now in an uproar because Paul changed his travel plans and did not stop by to visit them as he initially was hoping to do.

This church fits with what the writer of Hebrews related in saying that hie readers were not ready to handle spiritual meat but still needed to only receive milk for their nourishment. They were still infants in their sanctification, somehow stunted in their growth. The Corinthians should be well beyond these petty issues distracting them and causing such upheaval in the church.

Apparently, after hearing about all of this ridiculous mess that was going on at the church, Paul determined to not respond to their childish temper tantrum by changing his plans yet again to fit in a short visit to Corinth.

2 Corinthians 1:23

Paul has already defended his integrity and reaffirmed his loyalty, honesty, reliability, and authenticity, so now he calls on God as witness to the truthfulness of his words – Paul appeals to God to verify the truth of what he about to write and for God to judge him if he lies.

And beloved, as a quick side note, this is exactly what you are saying if you even haphazardly say things like, “I swear to God this is true”. If you ever say such things, you had better be speaking the full and unaltered truth or you are asking God to judge you. Do NOT invoke God’s name in your speaking if you are even intentionally leaving something out of what you are saying. You are essentially putting God’s reputation on the line with such talk, so you had better be speaking the full truth if you bring Him into it or prepare for his righteous discipline.

With God firmly established as his witness, Paul writes that it was much better for the people in the church at Corinth that he did not come to visit – he writes that in staying away from them that he would spare them from the full measure of his response to their silly and petty immaturity. Paul was expressing sincere mercy in not traveling to Corinth, giving them time to consider their ways and correct and repent over their sinful words and behavior.

In 2:3-4, which I will get to before we are done this morning, Paul reveals that he had already written a harsh letter to the church, one which we are not privy to. Some scholars call this Paul’s severe letter to Corinth. I’ll have more to say on that when we get to these verses, but Paul wished to avoid visiting them with that kind of tone and attitude – he wished his next visit to be a joyful one instead.

2 Corinthians 1:24-2:1

Even though Paul has the right to exert his apostolic authority, the right to reprimand and admonish the Corinthians, he now gently affirms to them and reminds them that they are co-laborers for Christ with him and that they are equals with him in that regard. Paul does not wish to lord it over them and to minimize or question their faith. Paul does not want anything that he has to say coming across as him being spiritually arrogant.

This is something that we must always be aware of and careful of. In our humanness we can easily become spiritually arrogant, almost without even recognizing it. We personally devote ample time reading and studying Scripture, we grow in our understanding and in spiritual wisdom, we feel a sense of joy and accomplishment in our sanctification but then turn around and use this increased knowledge as a sword against brothers and sisters in Christ who we feel are lagging behind in their spiritual growth, instead of using this spiritual growth to benefit the church and to be Christ to others.

We are called to admonish one another in love but I think we misunderstand the word admonish. Our English word, admonish, sounds like it has the attitude of scolding someone but that is not the meaning or sense of the Greek word behind it. The Greek word is to gently and lovingly come alongside to compassionately help one another better see the truth of Scripture or the error in their thinking and ways; it is never meant to be in a tone or attitude of scolding or lording our knowledge of the truth over them.

Paul is quick to get this across to the Corinthians. Although he is greatly disappointed in how they are behaving, he is not questioning their faith and he is still standing right alongside them as a fellow worker with them for the sake of the gospel – not better than them or superior to them but as an equal to them in the kingdom. His goal in writing to them and in eventually visiting them is for their joy. Paul affirms to them that in your faith you are standing firm. Paul wants to make sure that the Corinthians know that he does not doubt their faith nor their standing firm in that faith in the less than favorable culture in Corinth.

This is vital for us to put into practice. We are most definitely called to admonish one another in love when we see a brother or sister drifting into sin, but not in a scolding manner; it should always be in a compassionate manner by calling on the Holy Spirit to manifest His kindness and goodness through us for the benefit of our brother or sister. To encourage and equip them, not to demean them or discourage them.

I often mention this truth in wedding ceremonies. The initial practice of having a wedding party, meaning groomsmen and maids of honor, was not picking your close friends to be honored by the bride or groom but was so that you would be granting others the permission to hold you accountable to live up to your vows before God. Groomsmen and maids of honor were to watch over the bride and groom and correct them when they were not fulfilling their marriage vows properly.

Paul is trusting that his words in this Letter would be that loving and compassionate admonishment so that he would not come to them in sorrow again. He is in this sense being that groomsman or maid of honor and correcting them for not fulfilling their vows to their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And by writing in sorrow again, it is apparent that Paul had made a previous visit to Corinth that was not pleasant; he didn’t want to have his next visit be the same.

Paul’s change in travel plans, led by God, was not motivated by him being unreliable, as the false teachers claimed, but by Paul’s compassion and sensitivity toward his beloved brothers and sisters in the church at Corinth.

2 Corinthians 2:2-2:3

I have already mentioned love, joy, gentleness, kindness, and goodness in how Paul is responding to this ridiculous and petty mess, I’ll now add patience and self-control being expressed in Paul’s response, which Paul has already been expressing. Paul is trusting that the Corinthians will quickly express faithfulness and that God’s peace would reign over this entire situation. We have all nine qualities of the fruit of the Spirit either directly or indirectly involved in this confrontation (Galatians 5:22-23), which I taught in my morning Facebook devotions this past week if you would like to refresh your understanding of these things.

Paul starts with, “For if I cause you sorrow”, meaning that while he does not desire to cause them sorrow, he will if they do not repent. For it is only in such repentance from those whom he made sorrowful that he would be made glad again.

One of the most difficult things for me as a pastor is to confront those who are blatantly in a pattern of unrepentant sin. In my experience with this, it’s about a 50/50 chance that the person I confront will eventually respond in a biblical manner, and it is almost always going to be an initial response of defending themselves and denying they have done anything wrong. About half will eventually accept the admonishment and come around again, but it is rarely an immediate response of accepting responsibility for their sin.

Paul expresses his heart in these verses – if I must, I will confront you which will cause sorrow for both of us. But my goal is to be made glad by your repentance. I wrote to you in such terms so that when I eventually visit you there would be no sorrow but that there would be rejoicing. And I am confident that such rejoicing will take place for both of us when I come.

I am not a big fan of today’s methods of communicating to one another, even though I obviously use such methods. Too much is lost or miscommunicated in texts and emails when they pertain to important issues or issues that easily turn into offences. I have seen small things get totally blown out of proportion through these modern methods of communication, primarily because most of us cannot articulate our thoughts and more importantly the tone and tenor of our thoughts in written form.

For example, just look at this phrase up on the screen: “She didn’t say that he hit her.” A simple enough phrase that could be interpreted in at least five different ways in printed form depending upon where the emphasis belongs.

SHE didn’t say that he hit her.

She didn’t SAY that he hit her.

She didn’t say that HE hit her.

She didn’t say that he HIT her.

She didn’t say that he hit HER.

That exercise is a little amusing, but it is also serious when it comes to communication, especially in light of what this passage has been teaching us. Without context, without tone, and without more explanation or greater expression in the writing, this little phrase can be completely misunderstood by those who read it. Add in the growing tendency to abbreviate in texts and social media posts and we have an even greater failure to communicate.

Tremendous care and skill must be exercised with written communication, which is time consuming. Most of us do not take the amount of time to refine what we type, we are not real careful or even concerned with how what we type may come across, and since most of us will admit that English and Composition were the subjects we hated most in school, most of us lack the skill to always communicate well in written form.

Small things, or the little foxes as I referred to them several weeks ago, can become huge and damaging issues when communication is lacking or misunderstood. And we are all guilty as charged because the most common problem with communication is assuming that it happened.

Paul’s severe letter that I referenced earlier, apparently did not accomplish what he had hoped. As articulate as Paul is, that letter did not hit the mark. When word got back to Paul after he sent that letter, the church was not responding as Paul had hoped, and things possibly got even worse.

2 Corinthians 2:4

We can rest assured that Paul is being extra careful to express himself well in this Letter to the Corinthians, besides this one being inspired by the Holy Spirit as part of Scripture and the other one not, but even if they were not fully getting it he bares his soul to them with these words.

Paul essentially tells them that it is killing him to write this Letter to them. Feel these words – Much affliction, anguish of heart, many tears or as some translations say, a flood of tears. Paul is heartbroken over this utter misunderstanding and subsequent accusations against him by people he loves dearly.

Stuff like this, tears me apart. Connie and I have been falsely accused time and again in the 17+ years that we have been ministering up here in the mountains – sometimes by people that have been members of the two churches we have pastored. Rumors are spread, lies are proclaimed, and reputations have been damaged personally and that of our church. And most everybody is quick to believe them without investigating the validity of what has been said.

Paul is experiencing far more than I ever have, so I cannot imagine the emotions that are overwhelming him as he writes, but he must write; he must try again to set things right with his beloved church in Corinth; he must try with every fiber of his being to be the pastor that this church first knew and loved.

Paul longs for this church to grow in Christ, to mature in Christ, and to return to their purpose in Christ. For the most destructive aspect of divisions in the church like these, is the church’s focus is off of the gospel, off witnessing for Christ, off making disciples, off loving god with all of their heart, mind, soul, and strength, and off loving one another as Jesus loves them. That is the tragic aspect of turmoil and division in a church, the focus is diverted to the turmoil and off of Jesus.

In Revelation 3:20, we have the familiar words of Christ, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock”. Most people have mistakenly interpreted those words as Jesus knocking on the door of unbeliever’s hearts for salvation, but that is not the context of that passage at all. It is Jesus standing at the door of His church and knocking. It is a picture of a church that has lost its way to such magnitude that Jesus isn’t allowed in anymore.

This is the reality of churches that get so embroiled in offences and controversies and divisions and agendas and personal crusades – they have not only lost their focus on Jesus, they have kicked Him out of their church and He is knocking on the door but nobody can let go of their own little foxes long enough to let Him in.

Jesus obviously desires to be your Lord and Savior, if He is not already this morning, and you can get this taken care of today, but for those of us who are already saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, He desires for us to be unified in our faith and in our mission to spread the gospel and make disciples.

Let’s pray.