Paul's Reason for Delaying a Visit to the Church

Intro

Good morning and welcome to the Countryside Vineyard Church

My name is Joe Fager and I am one of the pastors here.

This morning we will be continuing our series on Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthians.

We will be looking at 1:23-2:4

So if you have your Bible please turn there now - 2 Cor. 1:23.

Before I begin to teach let’s pray...

But I call God to witness against me—it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. 24Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith. 2:1For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. 2For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 3And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4For 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.

Before we get into the points that are valid for us I want to take a few minutes and make some general observations about this passage.

First introductory point - Chapter breaks.

You might be wondering why a passage would span from the end of one chapter to the first few verses of the next chapter.

Right, to modern readers we think of a chapter as a logical break, a place to start a new thought. We have to remember that chapter and verses are not part of the original text. They were added as reference markers to help us find and remember stuff.

They didn’t always get these breaks quite right, but to keep things consistent these do not change from one translation to the next.

In this case, 1:23-2:4 forms a complete thought, so this is one of those cases where the original scholars who put in these breaks got it wrong.

Many of the online bibles have a feature that allows you turn chapter and verse breaks off.

I love this because it allows to read and get the flow of thought better.

Second Introductory point - visits to Corinth and letters to Corinth

With 1st and 2nd Corinthians there is a lot we don’t know. There are holes in the story because some of the correspondence and movements are not available to us 2000 years later. There are several things we can know for sure based on other of Paul’s letters and Acts.

Paul’s first contact and founding of the church is recorded in Acts 18:1-18. He stays in Corinth for 18 months.

He wrote a letter to Corinth (1 Cor. 5:9) that has been lost.

While in Ephesus, he receives word from Chloe’s household (1 Cor. 1:11) and from a letter from the Corinthian church (1 Cor. 7:1) that there are problems in Corinth.

Paul writes 1 Corinthians while in Ephesus in response to these reports and questions.

From our passage today we learn that Paul made another visit to Corinth, not recorded in Acts, and not referred to anywhere but here.

In 2 Cor. 12:14 Paul says that he is ready t visit for the third time.

In 2 Cor. 2:1 he refers to making another painful visit to them.

So here is the big of picture.

Paul planted the church in Corinth (18 months)

Paul wrote a letter shortly after leaving them.

Paul received reports from Corinth identifying some problems.

Paul writes 1 Corinthians.

In 1 Corinthians he promises to visit and stay a while. (1 Cor. 16:5-6).

Paul hears of some problems and makes a surprise visit (painful visit) (inferred from this text).

Then he writes a (painful letter (2 Cor. 7:8-10)) because of the scene caused in Corinth and the humiliation he received from his opponent (unknown) there.

Now he is trying patch things up and explain his actions and more importantly his heart.

Last week, Bill talked about the first part of Paul’s defense.

He talked about Paul’s theological defense.

Paul has a pure conscience.

Paul practices what he preaches. (he is not hypocritical)

He relies on the Holy Spirit for direction (he is not fickle in his plans, but listens to the Spirit of God).

His message is consistent everywhere.

he and us have the same Lord, the same holy Spirit as a deposit.

This week, now we will talk about why he didn’t come as he said he would.

Paul gives three reasons for cancelling his visit to the Corinthians.

to spare them

to stop the pain

because of his great love for them.

I. Paul wanted to spare them Vs. 23-24

Spare from what?

But I call God to witness against me—it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.

Between Paul’s painful visit (whatever that visit consisted of) and the painful letter he sent that he thought his personal appearance would add to the conflict in some way.

Paul says if I come, it won’t be good. That’s all we can say about that, because we just don’t have the information we need to make any further comment.

However, we can learn some stuff about Paul’s heart, and that is what we are going to look at this morning.

Now with God as my witness I avoided coming to spare you.

Most likely he is saying he wanted to spare them from some sort of further rebuke some sort of confrontation.

Because in verse 24 he says not that we Lord it over your faith.

I think what he means here is clear.

He is saying if I would have come to Corinth again, I would have to confront these troublemakers in person which would cause more trouble for the church.

He didn’t want to cause any trouble for the Church, so he is staying away.

This is the point though....

He says we don’t lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.

He is making a statement about Christian leadership.

He says it is not a Christian leader’s job to force anybody into compliance.

What does he mean by this?

After all it is from Paul and the letters to the Corinthians that we get the most direct teaching on how Church discipline should be administered.

I mean we will be talking about that very topic in the next few weeks.

He is saying, that since he is not a part of that Church he should not be the one from a distance to come in and demand this or that.

He says you’ve got to take care of this within your own community.

He planted the church, but he is like an advisor, rather than a direct participant.

He doesn’t think his presence will be conducive for them to have joy.

Sometimes we have to step back and say, you know what I see you aren’t going to listen to me.

And I am not talking about church leaders, I am talking about each one of us.

When we have a spouse or a child who is going astray.

We have to recognize that being in their face all the time maybe isn’t conducive to their change.

I’m not saying that never is ok, but many times the Bible is giving us wisdom rather than a five step plan to this or that.

the book of Proverbs is a perfect example of this.

Right, I mean in Proverbs sometimes you get two exactly opposite proverbs next to each other.

Proverbs 26:4-5

Don’t answer a fool lest you be like him yourself

Answer a fool lest he be wise in his own eyes.

Which one is it? Answer him or don’t answer him.

the point is yes… it depends on the situation. We are seeking God’s wisdom, not God’s answer.

So, maybe if you are constant strife with another Christian who just isn’t seeing things your way or is turning from the faith or into some sort of sin and you are like come on, and you are getting frustrated.

Maybe you should use a different tactic.

Maybe you should see if you aren’t trying to coerce rather than convince.

The point I am making is that I am not giving you a directive here, I am saying seek wisdom from God.

You love the person, and want to his or her joy made complete, so your heart is in the right place.

Seek God’s wisdom in how to deal with the uncomfortable situation.

Sometimes it’s direct confrontation, like Paul did with Peter in Antioch. (Gal. 1)

Sometimes it’s church discipline like Paul taught in 1 Cor. 5:1-8

Sometimes it’s stepping back and saying you know what I am going to pray for you, I am going to write you a letter and try to convince you, but I’m going to leave the rest up to God to work out.

He says hey I want to bring you joy, I want to minister to you, not fight with you.

Ultimately in verse 24 Paul says yeah, you know, you stand or fall on your own faith.

If I try to control you, it won’t work because like he says in Phi. 2:12 we have to each work out our own faith with fear and trembling.

Right, your faith is your faith.

I can’t make you live out your faith, I can’t make your faith more secure in Christ.

Ultimately how you respond to Christ is on you. You stand or fall on your own.

You can look like you have a great faith, and yet not believe a single word of it.

Conversely, I think there are those who you look at and think they are far from the faith, yet they may be much closer to real faith than you imagine.

Paul says we need to stop the pain. 2:1-4

In this section 2:1-4 Paul uses the word pain 7 times. 2 nouns and 5 verbs.

This is a deeply personal address.

Whatever happened in Corinth, was extremely emotionally painful for both Paul and the members of the church.

Paul apparently left Corinth on the “painful visit” and immediately wrote a letter to them. We have no idea what the context of that letter was, but Paul says here that he wrote with tears and affliction of heart and great anguish.

Those are very heavy words, very personal and very emotionally painful words.

He says I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. Verse 2 for if I cause you pain who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained?

What is he saying here?

CSB Study Bible: Notes Chapter 2

Even when a Christian is justified in bringing pain to errant believers, it is hardly likely that those hurt will be in a position to cheer the one who caused the pain. They need to be encouraged after such an incident.

The Message puts verse 2 like this: That’s why I decided not to make another visit that could only be painful to both of us. If by merely showing up I would put you in an embarrassingly painful position, how would you then be free to cheer and refresh me?

I think this is the point of verse 2.

If I show up you will be embarassed and pained, and thus you can’t possibly cheer me either.

It is better for us to take a break and step back and heal a bit before coming into contact again.

Sometimes after a painful exchange, we can hug and make up, but sometimes there needs to be a cooling off period.

I think… this is what Paul is saying here. We can’t mutually encourage one another until we have had time to heal

Then he says this is why I wrote the letter, and in fact, is why he is writing this one.

He wants to provide a space for healing.

Notice he doesn’t say let’s break up, we’re done. No he says let’s take some time to heal, to cool off.

Far too often we just say I’m done with you.

Marriages end in divorce most of the time.

People move from…

job to job

church to church

Even now, the thing is to religion hop.

That didn’t work for me, so I’ll try something else.

It’s a post post-modern mindset.

Hey if you ain’t feeling it don’t worry just find something else.

Never mind all the pain and destruction you leave in your path.

After all life is all about you, right?

Paul says no we are in this together. Let’s stop injuring one another. Stop the pain

This isn’t the church Jesus wants.

Paul says that all of this for the sake of Love. (3-4)

And I wrote as I did so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 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.

Paul says none of my actions were done from a controlling spirit. I want you and me to have the joy that we all share in Christ.

In a Church we are going to have issues.

We are a family. Every church is local manifestation of God’s family.

We will have those in our midst who don’t see things exactly the same way.

That might be...

politically,

that might be doctrinally,

that might be over the style of worship, or

how we dress or the

paint on the wall.

But when the going gets tough, and there are hurt feelings

we don’t turn our back on the family,

we confront the issues head on.

We deal with them,

and we get past them.

Why, because we love one another.

Jesus says the world will know that you are mine because you love one another.

We don’t abandon those we love.

We stick it out through

the rough times,

through the pain,

through the good times,

through the stale and spiritually dead times.

We stick it out and we grow because of it.

You will never grow if you are always comfortable and things always go your way, and everyone agrees with you about everything.

As Iron sharpens Iron. so another man sharpens another. Prov. 27:17

You know in that process one piece of metal rubs against another and both lose some of their impurities and bent over edges.

Now, personify those two pieces of Iron in your mind.

Can you imagine being one of those pieces of iron.

It might hurt a bit as the one blade rubs across the other, right?

I mean but it makes both blades better. Stronger, sharper, etc.

What I am I saying?

Go out there in our little church and find someone who will hurt you...

in a good way.

Someone who will challenge you.

You can’t grow without getting hurt.

I’m not saying that we ought to strive to hurt each other or some crazy thing like that.

I’m saying we are all broken people, and will hurt each other from time to time.

It’s not about if it’s about when.

And if we are always trying to run and hide from the pain, we won’t grow.

Plus it’s impossible to always live pain free. It’s as true physically as it is emotionally.

It’s not reality.

Proverbs 27:6 faithful are the wounds of a friend.

Hebrews 10:24 let us consider (meditate) on how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

We are called to love one another.

Paul could have simply walked away from this whole situation,

fine you want to attack me,

the one who loved you enough to preach the gospel to you.

You want to attack me

the one who sacrificed 18 months of my life for you,

me who has spent countless nights praying over you, sobbing and crying over your souls,

you want to attack and deride me,

fine I’m outta here.

See ya.

That’s the attitude Paul could have taken, and most people today would probably say yeah paul you gotta take care of yourself buddy. You need to get outta there.

Nope, why, because Paul loved them like Jesus loves his Church.

There is nothing special about Paul… (I think Bill said that last week.)

Anyway.... it’s true we can, each and every one of us make that same commitment to our brothers and sisters in this building and even those in TV land this morning.

We can say I love you, because Jesus loves you and I am willing to get hurt by you and work through it, and grow because of it.

Listen guys if there is nothing more you get from these six little verses.

It’s this… that you love those you church with.

Get to know one another, make yourselves vulnerable to someone you don’t know.

That’s the point of this thing.

We are called to love one another we are called to do life with one another.

Find your church family and stay!

Communion

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.