Christian Love
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Let us begin by just reading a few scriptures:
46 Now an argument started among them as to which of them might be the greatest.
24 And a dispute also developed among them as to which one of them was regarded as being the greatest.
8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
22 And yet Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You!”
23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s purposes, but men’s.”
25 So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
This is a small sampeling only of the 12 disciples of Jesus, never even mind Judas.
These men where the origional leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Men, by God’s grace capible of amazing work - yet also equally capibvle of amazing failure.
This piotential for failure is why we are told:
10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor,
3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves;
1 Brothers and sisters, even if a person is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual are to restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you are not tempted as well.
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
3 being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so must you do also.
Aslo just to list a few.
In 2 Cor Paul gives us a form to fill in.
A form is a prewritten document that has blank spaces for personal details.
Paul, in this section, speaks about a specific man who caused both the apostle and the church terrible pain and sorrow. Yet, Paul does not mention his name or his particular sin. He leves these personal details blank - so that we today can use his letter as a form with our personal details filled in.
And i absoluly love how this section starts:
5 But if anyone has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not for me, but in some degree—not to say too much—for all of you.
Paul could have put the mans name in here: If john.. if Bill.. If Rudy....
Everyone of us is both capible and guyilty of causing others to sorrow.
If you do not believe that to be true then the level of self absorbtion is blinding.
We cause sorrow in many ways.
ASt times by deliberate sin.
At times by deliberate action.
At times by ignorance.
At times my accident.
There is someone in the world right now who has sorrow because of you. You either know of that person, or you are unware of how you hurt them.
And in this section Paul is addressing 2 people:
1: “anyone” who has caused sorrow.
2: Anyone who has been caused sorrow.
The offender and the offendee as it were.
What does he say:
6 Sufficient for such a person is this punishment which was imposed by the majority,
7 so that on the other hand, you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a person might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
Verse 6 is a beautifully simple verse. In his he says that whatever punishment which causes the offender to repent and apologise - is a sufficient punishment.
Punishment that goes beyond repentance is not discapline - its abuse.
And so when it comes to dealing with sorrow, we must always be tempered by grace.
But verse 7 is where things get really intresting.
He says, that at the moment of apology the guilty person must be adiquatly forgiven and comforted in christiuan love - Or else the person will experience “exessive sorrow”.
Let us talk about sorrow for a moment:
The bible mentions 2 well known kinds of sorrow:n Worldy sorrow and godly sorrow.
10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
Worldly sorrow is not true sorrow as its only a sorrow that comes from getting caught.
Godly sorrow however is good because it leands a person to repentance and salvation.
Godly sorrow ends at repentance where it is replaced by Godly comfort and peace.
But not many people are aware of a 3rd kind of sorrow, the kind Paul mentions in this letter:
7 so that on the other hand, you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a person might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
Exessive Sorrow.
Worldly sorrow is from the world.
Godly sorrow is from God.
But exessive sorrow is from you.
When a person has godly sorrow and repents - If that repentant person is not forgiven, comforted and restored - their godly sorrow will turn to exessive sorrow.
AND as much as the offender cause sorrow by their initual actions, you, by not forgiving them, have cause just as much sorrow as they did.
Look at how Paul goes on:
8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.
9 For to this end I also wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things.
There are 2 judgments here:
1: There is a judgment on the offender - That judgment remains on them till they repent.
2: Then if their repentance is not met with forgivness, love and comfort - a judgment falls on the “offendee” in their disobedience to Paul’s test of faith.
Paul is calling Jesus Parable to remembrance:
21 Then Peter came up and said to Him, “Lord, how many times shall my brother sin against me and I still forgive him? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy-seven times.
23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.
24 And when he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.
25 But since he did not have the means to repay, his master commanded that he be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment be made.
26 So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’
27 And the master of that slave felt compassion, and he released him and forgave him the debt.
28 But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe!’
29 So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’
30 But he was unwilling, and went and threw him in prison until he would pay back what was owed.
31 So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their master all that had happened.
32 Then summoning him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
33 Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’
34 And his master, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he would repay all that was owed him.
35 My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”
No wonder we read over and over again:
13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so must you do also.
When you as an offendor towards God came to him in godly sorrow and repentance He extended his grace, love and forgivness to you through Jesus Christ.
So when another comeds to you in that same spirit of repentance - You had better do the same.
Look how this section closes:
10 But one whom you forgive anything, I also forgive; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did so for your sakes in the presence of Christ,
11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
If a brother or sister is forgiven by the one they offened - all should forgive them too.
And we do this so that Satan will not take advantage of the pride we can harbor.
Do you need to be forgiven? Then in Jesus name i call you to repent.
Do you need to forgive? Then again in Jesus name do it and do not let satan gain an advantage through you.