The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 44; 2 Corinthians 7:2-16 "Unfaithful in Little, Unfaithful in Much?"

The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 44; 2 Corinthians 7.2-16 "Unfaithful in Little, Unfaithful in Much?" We are going to jump into the Scripture today with little lead in. You know how I usually like to ease us into things. But there is so much here, that I want us to focus on the passage almost immediately. This is about truth. Relationships. The gospel of Christ. Affection. Comfort. And so much more. And by way of a personal testimony, sometimes when I prepare the message, things seem to just flow together. As I pray, and meditate on the passage, and look into the original language, background and all that, it doesn't take too long until I begin to hear what the Lord is saying in the passage in front of me. This week, not so much. I could not figure out heads nor tails as to why this passage is here. It seems to be out of place. And I was confused. Certainly, this is God's truth. Certainly, it is Paul's writing under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. There is nothing wrong with the text. I was the problem. I even called up Mark and asked him to pray that I would correctly understand it. It is vital that whenever any of us come to Scripture we understand what the writer wrote, and as much as possible, discern why he wrote it. We are not allowed to make something up and pretend that this is what passage says. That results in false teaching and false applications and damage to our soul. And with a little help from the learned men and women in the books I have access to, with the Spirit of God teaching me, I was able to understand what our passage for today, 2 Corinthians 7.2-16 is doing here. This is right after Paul talks about separating from the false teachers. As we get into this, it seems as though Paul did a 180 and talked about something else entirely. Instead of warning them, he went out of his way to commend and encourage them. To help us understand this portion of Scripture, I need to review for us the journey Paul took to write what he did. Then we will jump over to our passage for today. There are 10 steps here and let me run through them with you. 1. Paul visited Corinth, established a church and left after about 18 months. 2. He caught wind of some of their problems and wrote a letter that we don't have, but he referred to in 1 Corinthians 5. 3. He followed that letter up with what we call 1 Corinthians. 4. At the end of 1 Corinthians, Paul promises that he would spend time with them and gave them a rough time frame to anticipate his arrival. 5. Paul could not fulfill his promise to visit the Corinthians when he said he would because of all opportunities and difficulties he had in his ministry. 6. In the meantime, things went south in Corinth. False teachers entered the church and convinced one of the influential leaders to turn his back on Paul and the true gospel, and follow them. Well, how did they do it? How did they get this influential leader to believe them and not Paul? It was a fairly simple tactic, really. This is key and we will revisit it a little later. Keep it in mind. 7. Paul heard about this problem that threatened to undo the church. He cut his ministry efforts short and apparently paid the Corinthians an unannounced visit. He blasted the false teachers, rebuked the influential leader and left. 8. Paul left a lot of spiritual carnage in his wake. Every time he thought about how he treated them, it didn't sit right with him. So, he wrote a difficult, tear stained letter and had Titus play the part of mailman to deliver his letter to the Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians, he tells them why he wrote this strong, emotional letter in 2.4: For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you. 9. Titus caught up with Paul and gave him a great report of how they received the letter-and his ministry! Part of what Paul heard was that the other leaders in the church in Corinth took this leader to task through church discipline. And they were severe! So much so they overdid things and refused to forgive him after he repented of his sin of leading others astray. 10. Paul then wrote the letter in front of us, 2 Corinthians. As we remember so far, he defended the authority the Lord gave him for building them up and not for tearing them down. In chapters 3 through the end of 6 of this letter, he reminded the Corinthians of the true nature of the gospel he preached. Paul emphasized the gospel's work in the believer in this life as the Lord prepares his people for the next life, particularly Christ's Judgment Seat. Paul gave the Corinthians his credentials of character qualities and life experiences almost like a resume-to show that it was him, not the false teachers, who had the true gospel. Paul blasted the false teachers and warned the Corinthians to return to the truth 3 times: 1. Be reconciled to God. 2. Don't receive the grace of God in vain. 3. As we will hear today: "Make room in your hearts for us." I said all of that because in our passage for today, Paul picks up where he left off in 2 Corinthians 2.12-13. The phrase "circling back" is popular now. And this is what Paul did in this letter. So let's circle back to 2 Corinthians 2.12-13 to remind us where Paul stopped in telling his story: When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. With that said, let's now go to our passage: 2 Corinthians 7.2-16 to pick up where he left off in chapter 2. I hope that I did not overly complicate matters in giving you the lead up to this passage. I am convinced that giving you the backstory here is very important to help us understand and apply God's word to our lives today. We are going to see 4 things as Paul finishes up what really amounts to the main part of his letter. First is Paul's testimony about the Corinthians in vv. 2-5. Second, we will discover what Titus reported to Paul regarding the Corinthians in vv. 6-8. Then we will see that the Corinthians repented-they turned back to the truth in vv. 9-13. And finally we will experience Paul rejoicing over the Corinthians in vv. 14-16. So, let's begin our passage by reading 2 Corinthians 7.2-5: Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one. I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy. For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn-fighting without and fear within. This is Paul's testimony of how much he loved the Corinthians. But it is love fueled by truth. And truth sometimes wounds. Proverbs 27:5-6: Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. Once again, Paul laid bare his heart out of his affection for the Corinthians. When you love someone, you are willing to risk the relationship where sometimes the other person even walks away. And as an aside, I'd much rather have someone tell me stuff that matters, as in what I need to hear, than to only hear stuff that flatters. Paul lets the Corinthians in on what was going on in his heart. To sum up his pleading to them, he emphasizes 3 things in v.2: They have wronged no one. They have corrupted no one. They have taken advantage of no one. Now, all of us who have followed what Paul is saying in this letter can see this is another attack on the false teachers. "We have not wronged anyone-like the false teachers who have wronged others with their religious teaching. We have not corrupted anyone with a false gospel. We have not taken advantage of anyone-like the enemies of the gospel have in their relationship with you, my dear Corinthians." Though Paul does not name names here, it is obvious to the Corinthians who he is talking about. And when we think about the false teachers in our day, they are doing grave damage to the gospel. We need to avoid them like the plague-for they are a plague on the soul. Remember how Paul described the false teachers in his day: non-believers, on their way to a Christless eternity in hell. Because they are non-Christians they practice lawlessness and live in spiritual darkness and are even in league with Satan. In our day, false teaching, along with the teacher, has 2 rotten parts. First, incomplete or twisted teaching of who Jesus Christ is. I mentioned last week that we must not be guilty of selective reading when we study the life of Christ and who he claimed to be. The second rotten part is a perversion of grace as God defines it, not how we so often define it. Titus 2.11-14 emphasizes that one who has received the grace of God is in life-long training toward being like Jesus. So we can sum things up here with the 2 questions Paul asked of the Lord Jesus the day he met Christ: "Lord who are you?" and "Lord, what would you have me do?" In vv. 3-5, Paul heaps up words that would have been impossible for him to utter regarding the Corinthians if he were not saved. I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy. Notice his description of the Corinthians: "You are in our hearts." Great boldness. Great pride. Filled with comfort. Filled with joy. Remember what this entire letter is all about, as I coined it awhile back: Paul's dissed authority. Paul poured his life into the Corinthians, carefully teaching them the truth of God over a year and a half. Doubtless he thought everything was great with them as he moved on to other places. Until. Until the false teachers came in and tried to discredit Paul, aiming at his character. They certainly felt that if they could convince the Corinthians that Paul's character was deceptive, then how could he give them the truth? Remember when I said that the false teachers used a simple tactic to sway at least one member of the leadership to go their way? Well here it is. It was a small thing, really. But the false teachers blew it way out of proportion. What was it? Of all things--Paul's travel plans. He addresses it in the first part of this letter. Again, Paul told them he was going to spend time with them, but because of the opportunities and difficulties of the ministry, his visit to them was delayed. Apparently, the false teachers pounced on that to get their foot in the door-this is why Paul addresses it at the end of chapter 1 and beginning of chapter 2. He was not vacillating when he changed his plans. As he said, it was to spare them another unannounced, painful visit, where he would have to deal with their sin. But for the false teachers, it was their golden opportunity. I can imagine them saying to the Corinthians, "See, Corinthians? Paul promised to come to you at a certain time and he didn't. It's clear that Paul lied to you. And if he can lie to you about such a small thing, how can you believe him when he tells you about spiritual things? Paul revealed his character. He was unfaithful in something small. That makes him unfaithful in what matters." Now, there is some redeeming value in this idea: character counts. Lifestyle counts. We can't very well declare Jesus as our Lord and Savior if the way we really lead our lives spells out that Jesus is not. Our Lord said it plainly: "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord' and don't do what I say?" But the false teachers spun things to their advantage. They lied about Paul and accused him of lying to the Corinthians. Tragically, the Corinthians began to believe the lie and began to turn their back on Paul and the gospel of Christ. This is what had Paul so concerned. But as a fallen, though redeemed man, doubtless it hurt Paul. And his demonstration of his forgiveness to the Corinthians is challenging, to see, isn't it? What is the typical response when betrayal happens? "I don't get mad . . ." But Christians controlled by the Spirit of God don't respond that way. It reminds me of what the Lord Jesus did at the last meal he had with his men. He knew Judas was practically out the door to betray him. Peter would soon declare his undying pledge to lay down his life for him, but Jesus knew his pledge would be short lived. And Jesus knew that every one of his disciples would tuck tail and run when their skin was on the line. Yet, Jesus poured water into a bowl. Took off his outer garments. Tied a towel around his waist. Went to each disciple and washed their feet. Such forgiveness and servant hood shown by the Master! And to bring it down to our level. How many times have you beaten yourself up, again, over your sin, only to find the Spirit of God tenderly washing over your heart with the truth: "Christ died for your sin. You are forgiven." Because Paul was forgiven, he was able to forgive the Corinthians and say to them: "You are in our hearts." Great boldness. Great pride. Filled with comfort. Filled with joy. What about you and me? Forgiveness is paramount with us as followers of Jesus. It's been said that we are never more like Jesus than when we forgive others who have sinned against us. And if we have forgiven them, we can speak well of others from the heart. If we have not, then simply put, we cannot-at least not for long. Our words and attitudes will eventually reveal us. Paul says it plainly in Ephesians 4.32: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Literally, to the same level that God has forgiven us, we are to forgive others who have sinned against us. What a great testimony Paul gave of his beloved Corinthians, with their relationship based on the grace and mercy of God, oiled by forgiveness! Now in vv. 6-8, let's discover what Titus reported to Paul about how the Corinthians' received his strong letter, and how they felt about Paul and the gospel he preached. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more. For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it-though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. Makes one go, "hallelujah!" Paul's broken heart over how he so forcefully dealt with the Corinthians had the best effect it could have had. Though we don't know what words he wrote in that letter, we do know the outcome. "Longing, mourning and zeal" were music to Paul's ears. Now, let's not misunderstand. Paul was not saying something like Sally Field admitted when she received an Oscar for her performance in Places in the Heart where she said, "I've wanted more than anything to have your respect, Right now, you like me!" Paul was not looking for admiration from the Corinthians. All he wanted to hear was "Well done good and faithful servant," from the Lord Jesus, But for him to hear from Titus of their respect for him meant that they did not turn their back on the gospel. After all, if it wasn't for the scoundrels who attempted to lead the Corinthians away from the gospel, Paul would have had no reason to react the way he did. Paul truly had one thing on his mind: "Corinthians! Follow Christ. He is the Lord; we are all his servants, and we are your servants for Jesus' sake." Paul knew his place as the Lord's servant. That is why he was able to take what the Corinthians gave him and not retaliate in this delicate time in their strained relationship. Now that the letter had its hoped for effect, Paul could relax. As I mentioned before, "faithful are the wounds of a friend." See, "friendly" wounds heal us and make us stronger. And let me just say this in passing. Our culture is training us to hate one another. Cancel culture is the name of the game. We are not allowed, so they say, to wound one another, as in us telling each another, even in the church the things we need to hear. They tell us that we can only say things that do not make anyone feel ashamed in any way. That's why there is rarely any talk about sin for example. But if we are not allowed to talk about sin, then we can only way we can talk about Jesus in a way we imagine him to be. We are not allowed to talk about Jesus dying for our sins if we can't mention sin. So, what do we do? We prefer to make him out to be a martyr, a victim, one who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He suffered for our mistakes. And avoid at all costs telling people that they are sinners in rebellion against God. But as Christians, let's follow Paul's example. Let's adopt Paul's mentality. When we sin, it is not a mistake because Christ did not die for mistakes. He died for sins. And love takes the risk to call out one another's sins. Of course, we do this discreetly. We prepare our hearts, making sure we are right before the Lord. We gain the right attitude by spending a lot of time in the Lord's presence. We pray and even weep over the sin of our brother or sister before we approach them. But approach them we must. As Paul experienced, dealing with sin is a grievous, regrettable thing. So, let's help one another as we walk with one another toward Christlikeness by inflicting loving wounds as true friends. And when sin is dealt with the right way it causes joy! Paul was able to rejoice because of the Corinthians' repentance. We see this in vv. 9-13: As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. Therefore we are comforted. And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. Let me point out here how grief and repentance go together. In our lives as humans, and especially as Christians, we suffer over our sin. This suffering usually shows up in our emotions. As humans we sorrow when we understand that we are guilty before God and we deserve his wrath. And when we do, in the midst of our emotions, we have a choice to make. One choice is to blame this whole mess on others. Of course this is natural. Adam and Eve both did, and Adam even blamed God--"Lord, you gave me this woman!" Eve blamed it on the snake. But God placed the blame where rightly belonged--on their shoulders. He unfolded his plan to get rid of sin: The life of an innocent offering. Leviticus 17.11 tell us, For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. And gloriously, at the right time, God the Father sent His Son, to be his Lamb to take away the sin of the world! Praise be to Him! So, the suffering we experience over our sin can drive us to blame others and save ourselves. And to continue down the path of destruction. A second way of dealing with suffering over our sin is to go to the Lord and be saved by receiving His mercy. But this requires we turn away from our path of destruction. We turn around and go to God. That is called repentance. When Titus gave Paul the news that they turned their backs on the false teachers, Paul knew he was seeing true repentance take place and that the gospel was indeed at work in the Corinthians' lives. The Corinthians were at the crossroads. Paul warned them strongly about the false teachers. They turned away from the lies and returned to the truth. Indeed, their grief was a godly grief. And this godly grief produced in them a whole set of godly responses. Same with us. When we repent of a certain sin as Christians, it affects our minds. We change our thoughts about it. We see it for what it is and stop making excuses for it. Repentance affects our emotions as well. We feel revulsion about it. And repentance also affects our will. We change our behavior. And I will say that if we don't experience these changes in our minds, emotions and will, stay in the Lord's presence till he does his good work inside you. We are all familiar with 1 John 1.9. When we confess our sins he cleanses us from all unrighteousness because he is faithful. To confess means to "say the same thing" as God says regarding this sin. It is not a mistake. It is not a generalized, "I blew it." It is a form of rebellion against holy God. And we deserve his wrath over it. But because Jesus shed his blood for that sin, we can appeal to his sacrifice. Therefore we must repent regarding the sin we are confessing. And when we do, like Paul, and now Titus, we receive his comfort. The bottom line for this is: sin destroys. Godly sorrow, confession, repentance and forgiveness all work together to bring us God's comfort and restored fellowship with him-and with others. Finally, in vv. 14-16 we see Paul rejoicing over the Corinthians. For whatever boasts I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true. And his affection for you is even greater, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. I rejoice, because I have complete confidence in you. Let me make a brief, glorious comment here before we wrap up the message, though much can be said about these verses. Before Paul sent Titus to Corinth, he spoke very highly of the Corinthians. And the Corinthians did not disappoint. Titus expected a good reception from the Corinthians and received an even better one! Praise be to the Lord, it was a group of obedient, humble members of the body of Christ. This was far more than what Paul expected they give Titus. And Paul greatly rejoiced. And with this great report the air is cleared. The Corinthians realized, and rejoiced over the truth expressed by the Lord Jesus: "whoever is faithful in little is also faithful in much." Paul was faithful after all. God, by His Spirit enabled the Corinthians to overcame the lies of the false teachers. The Corinthians' confidence toward Paul was restored. And now Paul can issue a renewed call to the Corinthians to demonstrate unity and love, not just among themselves, but to the body of Christ in other parts of the Roman Empire. We will see that in Chapters 8 and 9. So, to bring this message to a close, let me tie together the applications I brought to your attention today. First, the gospel changes us. It is everlasting truth that works in us to make us more like Jesus-the purpose for which God gives his people his grace. All of us here today and who are tuning in on FB live who are in the family of God know this to be true. The gospel is a thing of eternal life. Let me once again ask all of us to make sure that we have embraced the gospel of Christ, and have not settled for a cheap imitation that does not change us. A popular message that often passes for the gospel can be summed up in this quote by Richard Niebuhr: "A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross." Let's make sure that it is the Lord Jesus, the one who died for your sins has saved you, not some cheap imitation of who we want him to be, in order to save our own pride. Second, if Christ has saved us, he has placed us by his Spirit into his body. As members of the Church the Lord Jesus has been building for 2000 years, God has called us to help one another be more like Christ-his purpose for all of us as God's people as Paul tells us in Romans 8.29. We are to love one another and sometimes this means, out of love and concern for our brother, our sister point out their sin. Though we are concerned for the welfare of our brother and sister, we are to be much more concerned about the glory and majesty of our Lord Jesus. So, as we continue to love one another, let's love Jesus more. Let's be more concerned about his glory than even about the relationships we have among us -- relationships we so highly value. Jesus laid it out for anybody to hear and heed when he said this in Luke 9.23-25: And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?" These activities of denying ourselves and taking up our crosses daily are not for special, sold-out Christians. Dying to ourselves every day is a tell-tale sign that we are his followers. My challenge for all of us is simply: "Where is your cross?" Let's bear it for his sake, for in bearing our cross we tell one another, "I am your servant, and together, we are servants of one who died and rose again, the Lord Jesus Christ."