"So you can know Love!"

This second letter to the Corinthians is pointed directly at the struggling church. Paul is personally addressing this congregation.

He has feelings of uncertainty, frustration, sympathy and at times great relief in the steps that this church has taken. They are battling culture, history, apostacy, idol worship, “other small “g” gods that are continually drawing people away and at the same time the church is surviving and some area thriving.

I hope this words are striking a cord for you. I feel at times

Overwhelmed

Uncertain

Frustrated

and sympathetic

All of us here in Sunnyside are fighting

Culture

History

Apostasy (All of us in our community meet and interact with people who don’t know the truth about Jesus, God and the Spirit)

Idol Worship - putting things and stuff ahead of God in our lives.

Our church and your Pastor is not immune to any of these things.

We as a body of believers, a universal body of believers here in our community are not immune from any of these things.

Yes… there is a flip side to that coin,

2 Corinthians 1:3 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

He, God comforts us in all of our troubles so that we, all of us can comfort those in ANY TROUBLE!

Why..? So you can know love...

No matter the “trouble” we have in our faith community someone whose been there and can help.

Drugs

Gangs

Alcohol

Prison

Abuse

Divorce and Re-marriage

Parenting issues

THIS IS WHAT WE THE CHURCH IS MADE FOR!

These are current issues in Sunnyside and in our church. It always has been our job to be there for these who suffering and needing the guidance and the Grace of God that is only found in Jesus Christ.

This Grace, answers and relieves from these issues in ourselves in our “community” is found by that relationship with Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:20 (ESV)

20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

What is it that God has done...

2 Corinthians 1:21–22 ESV

21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

Let’s get to our passage for today...

Our passage actually begins in 2Cor 1.23. This is best said in the NIV

2 Corinthians 1:23 NIV84

23 I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.

You see pain, persecution, trouble from the Romans. From the Saducess came the religious persecution. Paul acted as a magnet if you will these problems.

Don’t get me wrong he was 100% correct but to draw attention to this growing group of believers brought them difficulties.

To our passage for today is … 2Cor2

There are two parts to this passage the first part is a place where Paul is talking personally.

He is talking to a particular, unidentified person. Now there is some discussion among theologians that there is a particular person that Paul is addressing. For our purposes he is using this to address the cost of personal sin..

Here is our question for today?

HOW DO WE RESPOND TOWARDS THOSE THAT HAVE SINNED AGAINST US?

Boy this is a hornet’s nest… There is sort of a subtext here that we will get to.

Why is it so hard for us, sinners saved by Grace to seek out and ask for forgiveness from those that we have sinned against?

I know people, believers that have held against other believers for years and years pain and sin.

That is NOT the way of a Believer, that is NOT the way of a Follower, that is NOT the way a Child of God by Faith in Jesus. [PERIOD]

Let’s get to the first passage for today

2 Corinthians 2:5–11 ESV

5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Verse 5

2 Corinthians 2:5 ESV

5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you.

Paul here is addressing a painful incident that happened on an earlier visit to Troas. Paul was “pained” by it and he says “all of you” are in some way “pained” Sin is painful… Sin is costly.

POINT #1 -- SIN HAS CONSEQUENCES, PERSONAL AND FOR THE BODY OF CHRIST.

Paul makes it VERY clear that he was the chief of sinners before his encounter with Jesus!

He makes “no bones” about what he did... Horrible, awful things to Christians.

He sinned greatly against God, against the people of God until Christ changed him, converted him

He is a part of Paul’s journey.

1 Corinthians 15:9 ESV

9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

But yet he was called, confirmed and sent.

After Paul’s confession and baptism, he went to the Desert of Arabia for 3 years.

To see for himself the wonders God that can be found in solitude.

The price that Paul paid for his sin was written in the parchment of the Torah, the Law, the Prophets.

Paul unwound the all of the Old Testament Law and replaced each and every instance and replaced it with GRACE, GRACE, GRACE!

Paul’s obedience to God and the Spirits leading lead him to close off his previous life, become born again.

He realize it was going to be his job, his mission, his calling, his life to bring the “Good News” to EVERYONE!!

I want to pause here a minute… Acceptance of the Lordship of Christ and the Leadership of Christ in our lives is a like eating an elephant.

It is so big and so vast that you can’t do it in one sitting.

For those who have been followers and believers of Jesus since they were 4 have been working on their elephant sometimes for a long time.

I “accepted” Christ as a 25 year old. Same elephant, same table to eat from, I’m still sitting at the table learning, being discipled, learning to follow Jesus.

Where are you learning to follow Jesus?

Where are you getting fed? Whose table are you sitting at? Are you learning? Are you being discipled?

OK… I’ll leave you alone. At least until the next time I talk about it.

This is the Paul that we know so well, he was sent into proverbial lion’s den with the Gospel and what came out was a world that was committed to converting and sustaining the message of Forgiveness, Grace, Mercy through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 2:5 ESV

5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you.

Sin has consequences for everyone, for us personally, for this body and for the body of Christ.

What are we talking about here..?

Sin that is left hanging,

sin that is just swept under the carpet,

sin that is just “forgotten” if that is possible is harmful for the sinner, the one sinned against, and

For the body

Paul is clear… keep your accounts short. Be the bigger person, be the one who has a contrite heart, a willing spirit, has humility to come first.

POINT #2 - WHAT SHOULD WE DO TO THE ONE WHO HAS SINNED AGAINST US?

I want to take us to verse 7 & 8

2 Corinthians 2:7–8 ESV

7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.

Notice in this passage, that the person who has sinned NEVER comes and confesses his sin… but Paul leads the charge, encourages us, begs us to reaffirm our love for him.

In other words… FORGIVE HIM!

Before we even understand the depth of the sin against us and in this case against the body. Go to him and forgive him.

The challenge for us and for the people of Corinth is the same...

2 Corinthians 2:10–11 ESV

10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Ah… Finally we know why Paul has such a burn to forgive, why he overlooks what was possibly a HUGE sin that brought him and the members of the body literally to their knees. They began to doubt all that it was to follow Christ.

POINT #3 - OUR PURPOSE IN FORGIVING THE SINNER IS TO “NOT BE OUTWITTED BY SATAN.”

2 Corinthians 2:11 ESV

11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

We as a committed body of Christians, here at First Baptist, in our local body of believers and part of the large universal church have to beat satan to the punch.

he will cause doubt, he will corrupt our minds.

Using a sports metaphor satan is our adversary!

Since his initial rebellion, satan has continued to work at EVERY level. Personally and corporately.

His goal… Is to STOP THE GOSPEL!

The GOSPEL is FORGIVENESS!!

We must be ahead of satan, correcting and forgiving those who have sinned against us. If it lingers, we are the ones who will be messed with, distracted and eventually lead into this culture Christianity, the transactional Christianity that is prevalent in our church and in communities of believers.

FORGIVE SIN BEFORE satan HAS A CHANCE TO USE IT AGAINST US PERSONALLY AND IN OUR BODY OF BELIEVERS.

Paul has some VERY GOOD NEWS FOR US!!

2 Corinthians 2:17 ESV

17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

I want to return to our BIG QUESTION...

HOW DO WE RESPOND TOWARDS THOSE THAT HAVE SINNED AGAINST US?

FORGIVENESS — FORGIVENESS — FORGIVENESS

That we forgive sin among others

That we DO NOT let satan have a footing in our lives and in the lives of our faith community.

Let’s always make sure that we speak in Christ!