2 Corinthians 7:2-16

Good morning church! And welcome back to our ladies, we hope you were blessed last weekend if you were able to attend the ladies conference down in Freeport, but we are really blessed to have you back. To all our Mom’s, Happy Mother’s Day! Proverbs 31 is a collection of sayings of King Lemuel, that were taught to him by his Mom. AND Near the end of that proverb are these words, Prov 31:28-29

Proverbs 31:28–29 NKJV

28 Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her: 29 “Many daughters have done well, But you excel them all.”

We are blessed to have Mom’s fitting of that description in our fellowship here at OTCF. That now concludes the Special Mother’s Day portion of our service this morning, so please open your Bible’s to 2 Corinthians 7 . Happy Mother’s Day to My Mom.

2 Corinthians 7:2-16

I’ve been blessed by our journey through 2 Corinthians so far, there has been some tough stuff, some challenging things, but for the last couple of weeks we have just been getting saturated with the Gospel and that is refreshing.

There aren’t many among us this morning that enjoy confrontation, it doesn’t really matter which side of the exchange that you’re on, neither is pleasant. I have met a few people in my lifetime who really seemed to love confrontation, and each one of them had a motive that was all about them. The Bible give us instruction to live at peace, as much as depends on us, to live at peace with all men, but especially the Brotherhood. But There are times in life, when if we really care about someone else, and we see them heading down a path that is going to destroy them, we need to intervene.

I titled this morning’s message as Confrontation leading to liberation.

One of the definitions of Liberation from Oxford Dictionary =

the act of setting someone free from imprisonment, slavery, or oppression; release.

See there are times when confrontation must happen. If your child is going to touch a hot stove, a confrontation may be necessary. If all the traffic has stopped in front of you, and you notice your husband is checking out the billboards on the other side of the highway, you may need to confront the direction of his attention. And part of discipleship is showing a younger brother or sister in Christ by living the life yourself, remember Paul could say follow me as I follow Christ. You can look to me and the example of my life as a model, as you are learning what it means, and looks like to be a Christian.

And discipleship also means opening your mouth when you see sin in their lives that is going to destroy them. See, it’s not cute, it is deadly. It required Jesus dying a horrible death, so that we could be free from the penalty of sin, but also the bondage of sin. Young Christians and old, you need to understand that spiritual warfare is real and you have an enemy, that doesn’t love you. You have an enemy that Hates your guts. John 10:10

John 10:10 NKJV

10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Satan, the thief wants to rip you off and deceive you. I want you to notice something, I said it once, but I want to make a point of it....Discipleship means…Opening your mouth when you see sin in their lives that is going to destroy them. OK, I want you to see that it says sin, not slack, not liberties, and not when they are falling to follow you. Even when or if we can say like Paul did, follow me as I follow Christ, the idea is that they be like Jesus, not like you. Only like you in the ways that you’re like Jesus. Does that make sense? If you’re a mom here this morning and the person next to you isn’t getting it, could you straighten them out for me, give them and elbow or something?

I don’t know how you guys feel when you have to confront someone, and I don’t mean just anyone, with a former life spent in law enforcement, I became rather used to confrontation. But it is different when you love someone isn’t it. It’s different when it’s your child, or someone who you care about and how they might respond. It might cause us to feel anxious, I know it does me, it can cause a knot in your gut.

And if your a weirdo like me (and I know some of you guys do this too) you start playing out different scenarios in your head about how it might go, ladies, did you think you were the only ones that did stuff like that? Well you used to be, but then Nick taught me, and I passed it on to a few others.... We work ourselves up and 99% of those things never ever happen. But we do that because we really care about them, we care about their response, and we care enough to follow through despite all that.

And even after that difficult conversation happens, no matter how positive it appears to be received, you can’t always really tell, until you see the response lived out in their lives. So there is concern for the fallout that may occur.

That’s really where Paul is at with this church in Corinth. Paul loves these guys. Paul planted this church, he poured his life into them, spent time with them, right? We read that he spent 18 months with them, I can’t imaging how much I’d love you guys if I left after only 18 months! We’ve stayed because we do love you guys, our love for the church here is what is keeping us here and some of you guys love us back.

All kidding aside I know we are loved, you guys bless our family incredibly and we want you to be the best loved congregation in the state of Maine. SO I really understand Paul’s hardship here.

If you haven’t been with us for the past 7-8 months as we’ve gone through these letters to the Corinthians, I know some of you are getting worried I going to try to “summarize” the whole thing, I’m not. BUT....Paul left the church in Corinth to plant other churches, heard about some things that were going on there and wrote and sent 1 Corinthians that I said numerous times while going through it, that it was a corrective letter.

There were all kinds of things going on in this church, there was out of control use of the spiritual gifts, a lack of order in their worship services, they accepted sexual immortality... remember there was a guy that was having relations with his father’s wife and they were cool with it. They were puffed up, full of pride, legalistic, selfish, self-righteous, along with bitterness and division, and because Paul loved them he addressed it firmly and directly, he wasn’t cruel, but he also didn’t beat around the bush.

Now part of this division was the result of a particular brother in the fellowship that wasn’t a fan of Paul’s. He didn’t like Paul’s rebuke very much, and began to cast doubt in the church about the ministry of Paul, about his apostleship, and even his motivation for ministry. When this came to the attention of Paul, he made a detour, a quick trip to Corinth, and unplanned trip to check it out personally and assess the damage. After Paul see’s the situation with his own eyes, he returns to Emphasis, and he writes a second letter. Not this second letter, but a letter that has since been lost.

But we have a description of it as being a short, painful, sorrowful letter, that Paul sent not to justify or defend himself, but to address sin head-on so they wouldn’t be destroyed by it. His love for them compelled him to do it, not hurt feeling, although I’m sure they were hurt. Part of that letter called for their repentance and also called for them to discipline this rebellious brother and stop the bleeding of the damage he was causing in division. Paul gave this letter to a brother named Titus to deliver to the church, hoping and praying that they would receive his rebuke and repent, getting themselves back on track with God.

SO by the time we get to what is labeled in our Bible’s a second Corinthians, but we know it to be at least the third letter that Paul sent them, he must have had the same mail carrier that we do out in Clifton....by the time he is getting ready to write this letter, he is waiting with some anxiety to find out what the response of the church in Corinth was. But Paul is continuing to work and has actually left Ephesus, and begins to head north west toward the sea to cross over and head to the are of Macedonia.

Titus in the meantime he leaves Corinth to bring news to Paul and heads north up through Macedonia, the peninsula there with the intent to meet up with Paul, and he does, probably in Philippi or Thessalonica, we don’t know exactly where from the scriptures. SO they meet up and Paul receives good news from Titus about the church’s repentance. So the first 7 chapters of this book are joyful. Here in our chapter this morning he is acknowledging this really tough confrontation, this painful confrontation and his joy that the confrontation resulted in something good, their liberation from sin and bitterness and bondage. Let’s look at it together.

Starting in verse 2 as we covered the first verse with our text from last week, verse 2… 2 Cor 7:2-3

2 Corinthians 7:2–3 NKJV

2 Open your hearts to us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn; for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.

Remember, Paul was involved in collecting a large offering for the church in Jerusalem as they were suffering and there had been allegations around that. He’s addressing he’s being kind delicate after the painful letter when he says I don’t say this to condemn you, there’s a big difference between confrontation and condemnation. It might not feel like it on the receiving end, but if done correctly there should be, condemnation does not come from God.

2 Corinthians 7:4–7 NKJV

4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation. 5 For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. 6 Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you, when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.

Paul is again expressing his love for this church, that he brags about them, filled with comfort, joyful in tribulation.

I want you to see that Paul experienced that comfort through the coming of Titus and the news from Corinth. Paul experienced the comfort of God through the fellowship that he received with another Christian. Some of you, some of us, have a tendency to isolate when our feelings are hurt, things don’t go how we think they should go, the music is too loud, or too soft, or the heat isn’t right. Or the chairs are the wrong color. I’m of course just making up examples here…Those of you that isolate need to know that very Often when we turn away from people, we turn away from the comfort God wants to give us.

AND very often when we turn away from people, we turn away from the opportunities where God wants to use us to comfort, or encourage, or strengthen other people, and they are getting ripped off…I do not say this to condemn, I say it to encourage you that God wants to use you in bigger ways than you may be able to see. By joining a growth group you may be providing exactly the encouragement, exactly at the right time for that person that is sitting on the other side of the living room from you. So don’t rip them off, sign up sheets are on the back table and the groups will be closing soon. Verse 8 2 Cor 7:8-11

2 Corinthians 7:8–11 NKJV

8 For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. 9 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

2 Corinthians 7:12–14 NKJV

12 Therefore, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you. 13 Therefore we have been comforted in your comfort. And we rejoiced exceedingly more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. 14 For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I am not ashamed. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, even so our boasting to Titus was found true.

2 Corinthians 7:15–16 NKJV

15 And his affections are greater for you as he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him. 16 Therefore I rejoice that I have confidence in you in everything.