We're going to be in 2 Corinthians chapter 1.
We started in 2 Corinthians last week. We'll
probably be in here for a while. We went through
1 Corinthians, it's been several years ago now,
probably five or six years ago. And this takes
place a little while after the letter was written.
1 Corinthians, or what we have in 1 Corinthians,
as we talked about last week, it is believed
that Paul might have wrote as many as four letters
to the Corinthians. There are some things that
are said that leads us to believe that that is
possible. However, we don't have those letters.
So we're kind of left to fill in the blanks,
and we'll see that a little bit tonight. There's
a couple of things in this passage that we kind
of have to kind of guess and figure out exactly
what's going on. I think we can kind of pick
it out, but it's not abundantly clear, but I
think we can make sense of what's being talked
about. So let's pray and then we'll get started.
God, we come to you. We thank you for your word.
I pray that your Holy Spirit would be with us
tonight, that you would keep us free of the distractions
and the worries and the pains and the things
of this world. but that in these few minutes
we would hear from you, that you would help your
Holy Spirit to speak to us tonight, that we would
grow in your word, that we would understand your
word, that we would see the things that are being
discussed in your word, and help us to see how
they can apply to our life and how we can grow
from them. So I pray, dear Lord, that you be
with us tonight, and I ask these things in Jesus'
name. Amen. 2 Corinthians chapter 1, we went
through the first 11 verses last week, and Paul
gave us an introduction and really a beautiful
passage where he talks about comfort, that God
is the God of all comfort. And that is so reassuring
because there are plenty of times in our life
where we need the comfort of God. And that comfort
that we desire... comes from nothing else, no
one else but from God. And so Paul talked about
the comfort of God and that we are to use the
comfort we receive from God to comfort others
who may be going through difficult situations,
maybe even situations that we ourselves have
gone through, and we can offer some words of
encouragement. And Paul talks about this comfort
because... He talks about the affliction that
he has experienced, that as he's doing the work
of God, that he's experienced a lot of affliction
along the way. And as we read through the Scriptures
and Paul's journey and Paul's work, we see that
the work that he does is not easy. Now he is
certainly all about preaching the gospel of Jesus
Christ, but he faces much opposition along the
way, much physical harm along the way, imprisonment
along the way. But nonetheless, he finds comfort
in God, and he finds comfort in knowing that
his brothers and sisters in Christ are praying
for him. And we saw that in the first part of
the introduction of the book last week. And now
we're moving on to verse 12. And he's kind of
shifting gears a little bit. And he's going to
deal with what appears to be an issue that's
going on between him and the Corinthians. And
it's not spelled out super clearly for us here.
So we're going to have to kind of fill in the
blanks as to what's going on. In 2 Corinthians
1, verse 12, he says this. For this is our confidence.
The testimony of our confidence is that we have
conducted ourselves in the world, and especially
toward you, with God -given sincerity and purity,
not by fleshly wisdom, but by God's grace. Now
we are writing nothing to you other than what
you can read and also understand. I hope you
will understand completely, as you have partially
understood us. That we are your reason for pride
as you are ours in the day of our Lord Jesus.
Now Paul, it sounds like, is making a bit of
a defense for himself here. He's saying, look.
This is our confidence. I have confidence in
that I have been a good example for you and that
I have steered you right, that all of the things
that I have said and done when I was with you,
all of the things that I have said and done when
I was apart from you, I have walked in the ways
of the Lord. I have done right. I have served
God. I have been done right by you. I have done
right by God. And for that reason, you can take
some pride in knowing us. You can take some pride
in saying that you are brothers and sisters in
Christ with us. You can take some pride in knowing
that you know Paul. And you can tell others that
you know Paul. And that the work he does is honorable
and respectable. And he is a man who serves the
Lord. And that's what Paul is saying here. That
I've got a clear conscience. I'm confident in
the work that has been done and the things that
have been done. And he says, We are your reason
for pride as you are ours. That is, we have lived
for the Lord and we hope that you are proud of
the way in which we have been living and we want
to be proud of the way in which you have been
living. That when we are out and about among
the other cities, among other Christians, that
we can say of the people of Corinth, look at
what they are doing. Look at the stand they are
taking for the Lord. Look at how they are living
for the Lord. Look at how they are serving the
Lord. And this is Paul's desire, but things in
Corinth are not really that good. Now, we saw
that when you look back at 1 Corinthians. If
you want to go back and read that, you'll see
that Paul really has to address some issues there.
He's really calling out several different things
that are going on in the church in Corinth that
must be dealt with. He has to bring some discipline
about in the first letter. And at the end of
the first letter, he says, I'm going to come
back and see you. And that appears to be part
of the problem here with the next few verses
that we're going to read. Now, Paul was going
to come back and see him, and two times he was
going to come back and see him, but he had only
come once. And it doesn't say in the text exactly
what the problem is, He said he was going to
come back. And he gives his reason why as we
continue to read through the text. But Paul starts
by offering this defense, saying, look, I've
been doing the Lord's work, and I'm doing what
God wants me to do, and I have a clear conscience
about that. And even though the people of Corinth
don't appear to be too happy with Paul, maybe
some of them, maybe a lot of them, maybe just
a few, I'm not sure, but some are questioning
Paul and the things that he said. Because he
hasn't made that second trip to Corinth. And
that's what we see as we continue to read in
verse 15. I planned with this confidence to come
to you first so you could have a double benefit
and go on to Macedonia with your help, then come
to you again from Macedonia and be given a start
by you on my journey to Judea. So when I planned
this, was I irresponsible? Or what I plan, do
I plan purely in a human way so that I say yes,
yes, and no, no simultaneously? Now, he explains
what's going on. I was coming to you. I was going
to come to you twice. I was going to come see
you. I was going to go on my way. I was going
to come back and see you. But something had changed.
Paul's plans had changed. And Paul says, look.
I'm not flip -flopping. I'm not just acting in
a human way. When I tell you something, I'm not
just saying, oh, yeah, I'm going to do that,
but I don't have any desire to really do it.
He says, I'm not telling you yes and no at the
same time. That's an interesting way to put it.
But he's saying, look, I had every intention
to come back and see you. I was going to come
back and see you, but my plans have changed.
I wasn't leading you on. I wasn't just saying,
oh, yeah, I'm going to come back and see you
all. I can't wait. And then not coming back,
he's saying, look, don't be upset with me for
not coming because things changed. And there's
a reason why I have not come back. So it appears
as though some are questioning Paul. Maybe it's
motive. Maybe it's heart. Maybe it's love toward
him. And Paul is trying to defend himself, saying,
look, what I say is true. What I say I mean.
And you can hold on to the words that I say.
I am one who is trustworthy. I am one who has
loved you. And even though my plans have changed,
don't let this be a problem between us. If there
were some, maybe a lot, maybe a few, who had
a problem with this, then obviously this is something
that was an issue and Paul is addressing it here.
Even though we don't have a lot of detail, we
see that he's trying to deal with this issue
in some way. He says in verse 18, As God is faithful,
Our message to you is not yes and no. For the
Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among
you by us, by me and Silvanus and Timothy, did
not become yes and no. On the contrary, a final
yes has come in him. And so, for whatever reason,
it appears as though, because Paul didn't make
that return trip, that some are questioning Paul.
And so he makes this defense at the beginning
part of this passage we look at. And he's saying,
look, I'm not flip -flopping. I'm not just opening
my mouth. I don't say one thing and do another.
You can trust me. You can trust everything that
I've told you. You can certainly trust the gospel
of Jesus Christ. The things that I said are true
and trustworthy and reliable. And you need to
listen to the words that I and others who have
been with me have taught you about Jesus Christ.
They are true. We're not changing our mind. We're
not causing any trouble. We're not saying one
thing and doing another thing. We've lived our
life in a way that we've lived for the gospel.
And you can look at that and you can see that
and you can take some pride in that. And you
can hold fast to what we say. You can listen
to my words. Even though I haven't made this
other trip, when I said I was going to make it,
even though I haven't come back to see you, Don't
throw me out quite yet. Don't be done with me
quite yet. Listen to the words that I've said
and know that the words that I've said are true
and good. And he uses this language of yes and
no and not having a confusion there between the
two. He doesn't say both of them at the same
time. And so that's kind of an interesting way
to phrase it. That's the term that he chose to
use. And then in verse 20 he says this, For every
one of God's promises is yes in him. Therefore
the amen is also spoken through him by us for
God's glory. Now that's a beautiful verse right
there. For every one of God's promises is yes
in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the yes and
amen. He has done everything that was to be done.
Everything that God had talked about. Everything
in God's word pointed to Jesus Christ. It has
been fulfilled by Jesus Christ. He is the yes.
Is Jesus the Messiah who was to come? Yes. Is
Jesus the Son of God? Yes. Is atonement for our
sins made through Jesus Christ? Yes. Are all
the promises in the Old Testament fulfilled in
Jesus Christ? Christ yes so everything is yes
in Jesus Christ And that's the argument that
Paul is making. You can trust what we say because
we've preached Jesus Christ to you, and Jesus
Christ is the yes and amen, and all things are
yes through Jesus Christ. That's a beautiful
verse. That really sums up a lot because there's
a lot of things in the Old Testament that were
talked about, a lot of things that were prophesied,
and Jesus Christ, Paul tells us here, has fulfilled
all of those things. So Paul says my words are
trustworthy, especially the words of Jesus Christ.
Verse 21. Now it is God who strengthens us with
you in Christ and has anointed us. He has also
sealed us and given us the Spirit as a down payment
in our hearts. Another beautiful verse there.
Paul says, look, I'm a brother in Christ. I'm
serving alongside you. You are brothers and sisters
in Christ. You are the church in Corinth. You
are the ones who have followed Jesus Christ.
And it is Jesus who strengthens both of us. And
Paul had just talked about that strength earlier
on in what we looked at last week. And all of
those afflictions. Paul recognizes that it is
Jesus who is his strength. He tells the Corinthians
here that it is Jesus who is their strength.
And then he says in verse 22, He has also sealed
us and given us the Spirit as a down payment
in our hearts. So how can we know that we are
saved? How can we know that we are Christians?
How can we know that we are receiving that strength
of Christ? What is the evidence? The evidence
is that God has given us the Holy Spirit as a
down payment. The Holy Spirit dwells within us.
The Holy Spirit guides us. The Holy Spirit convicts
us and helps us to understand the Word of God
and to grow in the Word of God and to live by
the Word of God and produces fruit. The fruit
of the Spirit, peace and patience and love and
kindness and gentleness. And all of these things
come from the Holy Spirit. So that is the evidence
that we have been saved through the precious
blood of Jesus Christ. And Paul says here, look,
we have strength through Christ and we are sealed
with the Holy Spirit. That is, we have received
God's Holy Spirit. So we know that we are God's
people. Verse 23. I call on God as a witness
on my life that it was to spare you that I did
not come to Corinth. I do not mean that we have
control of your faith, but we are workers with
you for your joy because you stand by faith.
Now, our Bibles will end in chapter 1 right here.
We have to remember. that when this letter was
written, it wasn't written in multiple chapters
and multiple verses. These are things that were
added later. And sometimes I wonder why the people
that added the verses and chapters broke them
off where they did, because this whole thought,
this whole idea that Paul is talking about, it
actually continues on into chapter 2. And we're
fixing to turn there and look at it. how this
all flows. So even though your Bible stops in
chapter 1, we really have to read into chapter
2 to see what's going on. But he says here in
verse 23, I call on God as a witness on my life
that it was to spare you that I did not come
to Corinth. So Paul says, look, I've got a good
reason for not coming to you. There's a reason
why I did not come, and the reason that I did
not come, it was for your good. He says here
it was to spare them. Well, what does he mean
by that? Well, let's read a little further into
chapter 2, verse 1. In fact, I made up my mind
about this. I would not come to you on another
painful visit. For if I cause you pain, then
who will cheer me other than the one being hurt
by me? I wrote this very thing so that when I
came, I wouldn't have pain from those who ought
to give me joy. Because I am confident about
all of you that my joy will also be yours. So
Paul says, here is the reason why I didn't come.
He says, I knew it would be a painful visit.
What does he mean? Well, I think he means more
of the same about 1 Corinthians. He had already
written the letter of 1 Corinthians and maybe
even another letter or two between this. And
obviously things in Corinth were still not good.
They were still not doing good. There were still
some who were in sin. There were still some who
were causing trouble. There were still some probably
who were doubting Paul or questioning Paul, which
is why he's making a little bit of a defense
for himself here. And he says, this is the reason
why I did not come because if I would have come,
I would have disciplined you and it would not
have been a good thing. He says, I would not
have taken any joy in that and you would not
have taken any joy in that. and it probably would
have affected our relationship, so I thought
it better that I should not come to you right
now. I told you that I was going to come to you
at this time, but I'm not going to come, and
it is for your good because I love you, and I
don't want to cause you pain, so I'm going to
keep my distance for a while. Now, this is good
advice for us. This is good advice for us. There
may be times in our life where we need to keep
our distance. Maybe it's a time when you're having
a problem with your spouse, or maybe it's a time
you're having a problem with a co -worker or
a family member, and maybe they're doing wrong,
or maybe you're doing wrong, and maybe there's
some confrontation that needs to take place,
a discussion that needs to be had, and boy, when
we're in the midst of our anger and we are just
mad, that's not a good time to discuss things.
And it appears as though maybe that's what's
going on with Paul. He's not really happy about
what's taking place. He knows that discipline
needs to take place, but he does not want to
do that. That's not his desire to do that. He's
already done that in 1 Corinthians. He's not
afraid to. He's not afraid to say, these things
have to be dealt with, and this is how they have
to be dealt with. He's not afraid of discipline,
but he wants that to be the last resort. Because
anytime you have to discipline someone, it causes
a little bit of tension. It causes a little bit
of separation. Now maybe for a little while,
maybe for a long while in some circumstances,
but discipline is difficult. And Paul says, I'm
going to keep my distance. Now maybe he's keeping
his distance because he don't want to act rashly
and he don't want to say something out of anger.
Maybe he's keeping his distance to give them
an opportunity to get their ways right. Maybe
he's written in some of these other letters that
we don't have things that they need to do, and
maybe he's trying to give them a chance to do
it. And that's good for us to consider too in
our life. Most of the time, it's probably not
going to hurt us to wait a little bit before
we make a big decision or before we confront
somebody. And I suspect, hopefully, Hopefully,
none of us have a desire that we just want to
attack people and discipline people all the time.
If we do, we're already in a bad place. But nonetheless,
sometimes discipline is necessary, and we should
pray about that and think about that and do everything
we can before we do what sometimes has to be
done. We want to check our own self, as the scripture
says, take the log out of your own eye before
taking the speck out of your brother's. We want
to consider scriptures like that. But ultimately,
there are times where discipline has to occur,
where things have to be done, where people have
to be confronted. And that is one of the worst
things in life. At least I think it's one of
the worst things in life. I hate it when those
situations come. But Paul also recognizes...
For those who are in the church, who claim to
be Christians, who are living in sinful ways
and doing things that are destructive to the
church and the gospel of Jesus Christ, those
things have to be dealt with. And he talks about
that in 1 Corinthians, I believe, chapter 5,
where he says, look, what job is it of ours to
judge those outside of the world? That's not
our concern. But Paul says we do have to judge
those in the church. Those who profess to be
Christians, who profess to be followers of God,
but are living in blatant, unrepentant sin. And
Paul has to deal with that in 1 Corinthians chapter
5. And he gives some pretty harsh instruction
on how a particular person in that instance needs
to be dealt with. So Paul knows about discipline,
but his heart is not to enact discipline. He
doesn't want to do that. And so he says, look.
I have not come to you because I knew it would
cause me pain. And I don't want to cause you
pain because if you're in pain and our relationship
is fractured, he says the only thing that's going
to make me happy is for you to be happy. And
if I come and cause you pain, then I'm not going
to be happy and you're not going to be happy.
And so Paul says, I have delayed my visit. I
have postponed coming to see you. And it is for...
your good. And then he closes this idea, this
section here in verse 4. For I wrote to you with
many tears out of an extremely troubled and anguished
heart, not that you should be hurt, but that
you should know the abundant love I have for
you. So we see in this verse that Paul really
does care about these people. Now he says here,
I wrote to you with many tears. Whatever he wrote,
maybe it's referring to this letter. Maybe he's
referring to a letter that's already been written.
It sounds as though that may be the case. Maybe
it was what we know in 1 Corinthians. Maybe there's
another letter. Regardless of what letter it
is, we see the heart of Paul. That when he writes
these things that are difficult, these disciplinary
things, these things where he's trying to instruct
the people and get them to do what is right and
to not live in sin and to deal with the sinners
who is among them, he is heartbroken over this.
He says, I wrote to you with many tears out of
an extremely troubled and anguished heart. his
heart was broken over whatever it was they were
doing. His heart was broken that he was having
to deal with this situation. But listen to the
beautiful language at the end. He says, Paul
says, I want you to know more than anything that
I love you. And that's why I'm doing this. That's
why I'm disciplining you. And that's a hard thing
to do. It's a hard thing to discipline someone
you love. But if you don't discipline someone
you love, you have to ask yourself the question,
do you really love them at all? Now, I don't
have a child. I can imagine that it would be
unbelievably difficult to discipline a child.
I would really struggle with that. Maybe that's
why God didn't give me a child. But on the flip
side, I also know that if a child is not disciplined,
they will turn into a hellion. There are plenty
of kids who don't receive any discipline whatsoever.
And the kids tell the parents what to do, and
the parents say, okay. And that's not good for
your kid. You want your kid to be raised where
they can function in society and have respect
for people and know they won't always get their
way and know that there are limits and know that
there are things that are not right and that
there are consequences and they learn those lessons
through discipline. That's how they learn those
lessons. And if they don't receive any discipline,
then they don't learn those lessons. And they
grow into adults that are unproductive and unprepared
for the world and will crumble at the least little
thing the world throws at them. And so some people
may say, well, I can't discipline my child. I
love him too much. Well, you don't love him too
much or you would discipline him. The Bible says
that God disciplines those who he loves. I don't
suspect any of us like discipline. I mean, did
anybody like getting a whipping when they were
a kid? No. We didn't like getting a whipping
when we were a kid. We hated it. But it probably
didn't take you many whippings. Some of you maybe
more than others, but it didn't take me many
whippings until I learned that I didn't like
that. I learned that there were consequences
to the things that I would do. I remember one
day we had a birthday party. I was probably like
seven or eight years old, and we were having
a birthday party at my grandma's house. and I
was standing at the door, and some people didn't
have a present, and I told them that if you didn't
have a present, you couldn't come to the party.
And my mother took me in the back room and took
care of that, and I never did that again. But
I needed to learn that lesson, because if she
hadn't done that, I'd be 41 years old telling
people, you can't come to my party if you don't
have a present. And that's not very cute. You
know, we laugh at things that kids do. It's cute
when a kid does something when they're three
years old. It's not cute when they do it when
they're 40 years old. So discipline takes care
of that. And discipline, I believe, comes with
anguish. I don't believe that God takes any joy
to discipline us. We don't like to be disciplined
by God. But praise the Lord that He does. If
you ever felt disciplined by God, it's not a
good feeling, but we can rejoice in it because
God disciplines those that He loves. And so if
we feel the hand of God and the conviction of
God and the discipline of God, then praise God
that he loves us. And he does that so we won't
be a bunch of fools running around. And sometimes
he may have to discipline us more than we would
like to admit. But Paul is saying here, look,
I'm doing this to you because I love you. I have
an abundant love for you. I love you too much
to just go on to the people of Galatia and Philippi
and just send them letters and visit them and
the people of Ephesus. He says, I love you too
much just to leave you behind. I love you too
much for you to keep doing what you're doing.
I love you, and I write these things to you,
and you may be questioning why I'm not here,
and there may be people questioning what I'm
saying and is it true or not, but he says, look.
You can take confidence in me. I have done the
Lord's work. I've been serving the Lord. My yes
is yes. It's in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is
who we preach. Listen to him. Listen to me. Trust
me and know that I love you. But you can't keep
doing the things that you're doing. And that's
why I haven't come back to see you yet. And that's
one thing that we need to remember too. is that
there may be times in our life where discipline
is necessary. One, we need to remember that sometimes
we're on the receiving end of that discipline,
and we don't like it, but sometimes it's necessary
for us to receive that. But even when we are
on the giving end of discipline, and never should
it be done so without a lot of prayer and a lot
of guidance by the Lord, but if we are in those
situations where we are the one bringing discipline
in some way, it needs to be abundantly clear
that we do this because we love the one that
we are disciplining. It's not that we're trying
to pretend like we're holier and now. It's not
like we're pretending like we are not sinners.
It's not any of that. Sometimes we have to do
these difficult things. And Paul is having to
do a difficult thing. But he's doing it out of
love. Let's pray. God, we thank you for these
words. And even though it takes a little work,
dear Lord, for us to try to understand what's
going on here, God, I pray that you help us to
get what Paul's saying, dear Lord. That he has
been a faithful servant. That he has been faithful
to do your work, dear Lord. All of the writings
that we see in Scripture of Paul are all trustworthy,
dear Lord. His yes is yes, dear Lord. He's not
one that flip -flops and goes back and forth
and is uncertain, dear Lord. He speaks with authority
that comes from you, dear Lord, through Jesus
Christ. And so, God, I pray that we would read
the words of Paul and know that you have inspired
those words, that we would grow in those things,
dear Lord. Maybe we are like the people of Corinth,
and maybe there are some things in our life that
just aren't right. They're not good. And maybe
you've been working on us, dear Lord. through
other people, maybe through your Holy Spirit.
But God, I pray that in the midst of the discipline
that we feel your love, because God, we can't
go on without your love, dear Lord. And so I
pray, God, that we would learn, that we would
repent, that we would grow in you, dear Lord.
I pray that you would help us to be patient with
others. God, maybe there are times in our life
that... Like Paul, we need to pump the brakes
a little bit. We need to keep our distance. Maybe
there are times that if we act rashly in our
anger, we'll say things that we don't want to
and would regret. So maybe, dear Lord, sometimes
it's better for us to take a moment before we
speak, just as Paul did, dear Lord. And whenever
the moment comes for us to speak or to bring
discipline in whatever way is necessary in our
circumstances, that it is always done with love,
dear Lord. that we would seek you, that you would
guide us in the process, dear Lord, that you
would help us to be those who love like Paul
loves, that we would have such a heart and such
an anguish for people in our heart, dear Lord,
that we would shed tears for them just as Paul
did, God, that we wouldn't take any delight in
discipline, dear Lord, but that it would break
our heart and bring us to a place of love that
will be evident to those that we have to discipline.
And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.