2, verse 5 is where we will start. Last week,
Paul was writing to let the people of Corinth
know why he didn't return as he had originally
said he was going to, and we don't know exactly
the situation, but there were some things going
on, and Paul said the reason why he did not come
is because he didn't want to caused pain to them
because he knew if he'd come, he would have to
discipline them. And we see that same idea in
1 Corinthians. We see Paul bringing discipline
toward the Corinthian people for some things
that were going on. And it appears as though
there were still some things going on that Paul
has addressed, maybe some in the 1 Corinthians
that we have or maybe even some other letters
that we don't have. But last week, it was pretty
strong language about... And Paul used strong
language in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 where he
talked about one in the church that was in sin
that they needed to hand over to Satan so that
that person may be saved. Now, what exactly that
means is hard to say, but there was some discipline
there that I think Paul was saying, look, you've
got to get this one away from you. If he's going
to continue to live in sin and be unrepentant,
You have to address that. That's not healthy
for the church. And so we know that Paul is pretty
strict on some occasions. And we also see similar
language in 2 Timothy chapter 1. You may remember
when we talked about a couple of guys that he
talked about handing them over to Satan so that
they may be taught not to blaspheme. And so Paul
really hits home on a few occasions about the
necessity of discipline. But this part of the
letter that we're getting to tonight is kind
of the flip side of that. Paul is not just some
disciplinarian who's wanting to come in and just
always get on everybody all the time and be some
authoritarian that tells everybody they're doing
everything wrong. That's not his heart. And we
see his heart at the end of the verses we looked
at last week when he says, look. I didn't come
to you because I do not want to hurt you. I do
not want to cause you pain because it causes
me pain. And he said, look, I write this with
anguish and tears because I don't want to see
you guys. I don't want to see some troublemakers
among you. I don't want to see sin popping up
among you. I don't want to see your fellowship
and other brothers and sisters in Christ stumble
and fall into the traps of Satan because of these
things that are going on. Paul says, for this
reason I delayed my coming, because when I'll
come to you, I don't want to have to come to
you too harshly, because that wouldn't be good
for either of us, he said. And so with that in
mind, we kind of shift gears to a kind of a more
uplifting idea that we see in what he writes
tonight. So let's pray, and then we'll get started.
God, we come to you. We thank you for your word.
And I pray that we would soak it in, that we
would get it, that we would understand it, that
your Holy Spirit would be with us and free us
from the worries and the things of the world
that are on our mind tonight. I pray that you
would just lead us, that you would speak through
me, dear Lord. There's no good word I can speak
if it does not come from you. So I pray that
your Holy Spirit would be among us and bless
this word. In Jesus' name I ask it. Amen. 2 Corinthians
2, verse 5. If anyone has caused pain, he has
caused pain, not so much to me, but to some degree,
not to exaggerate, to all of you. The punishment
inflicted by the majority is sufficient for that
person. All right, so... Apparently there's somebody
or maybe multiple people. He's real vague here.
We don't have any specifics. Maybe he's referencing
somebody that we see talked about in chapter
1. Some have suggested that maybe he's talking
about the same person that was addressed in 1
Corinthians 5. Maybe he is, maybe he's not. It's
hard to know exactly. It doesn't really matter
who it is. But there is somebody or maybe multiple
people who have been causing trouble, who have
been causing problems. And he says if anyone
caused pain, he caused pain not so much to me
but to some degree to all of you. And so what
he's saying here is that when there's a body
of Christ and there's one person in that body
or some people in that body who are living in
sin, unrepentant sin, or causing trouble or causing
chaos among the body of believers, it brings
pain on everybody. The things that we do, we
don't do them in a vacuum. It's not just things
that we do that affect us. The things we do affect
other people. The things that we do as a church,
as individuals, when we go out into the world
and act a certain way and do a certain thing,
and people know that you go to Enterprise Baptist
Church, that's going to have an effect. If you've
got two or three people in the church that are
going out acting a certain way, not behaving
appropriately, acting a fool, then guess what?
People are going to start to question, hey, you
know, they go to Enterprise Baptist Church, and
they go to Enterprise Baptist Church, and that's
going to cause sometimes conflict and all kinds
of problems within the church, and people begin
to take sides. The same goes for me as a pastor.
If I go and do something, then that's going to
leave a stain on the church. And people are going
to hear about things that we do. Even if we do
them as individuals, that's going to turn people
off from being part of this body, from being
part of the work that God calls us to in the
ways that God calls us to serve. And so Paul
says, look, whoever it is that's causing trouble,
he says it's not just bringing pain to me, but
it's bringing pain to everybody. The whole church
of Corinth, all of the believers there, it's
caused trouble. It's caused pain. And Paul doesn't
want that to be the case. He doesn't want to
see chaos among the body of Christ. We should
not want to see chaos among the body of Christ.
We have to always check ourselves and examine
our lives to make sure that we're doing okay.
And sometimes we don't do good. And sometimes
we do things we shouldn't or say things we shouldn't.
And sometimes we're not a good example of what
a Christian should be. And that's not good for
us. And it's not good for our body. We don't
want to be one who causes conflict amongst other
brothers and sisters in Christ that we worship
and serve with. And listen to what he says in
verse 6. The punishment inflicted by the majority
is sufficient for that person. they had punished
this person who had been doing wrong, who had
been living in sin. And rightfully so. Paul had
said on some occasions, as we've discussed it,
there are times that discipline is necessary.
And now he says to them, this person or these
people have been disciplined, and the discipline
they have received is sufficient. The punishment
they receive by the majority. That is, there
were a few that were bad or maybe only one that
was bad. And the majority of the believers had
come together and they had addressed this problem.
They had talked to this brother or this sister
in Christ. And they had acknowledged that what
you're doing is not right. There was some discipline,
some punishment that took place. And Paul says
the punishment that's taken place is sufficient.
There needs to be no more punishment. And listen
to what he says in the next verse. As a result...
you should instead forgive and comfort him. Otherwise,
this one may be overwhelmed by excessive grief.
Therefore, I urge you to reaffirm your love to
him. Now, this is the other side of the coin
of discipline. You never want to just be one
who is just a tyrant that's just discipline,
discipline, discipline. Getting on everybody
for every little thing. Boy, we could point out
all kinds of little stuff that everybody does
if we wanted to be that way. But that's not what
Paul is talking about. He's not just saying we
should be these strict disciplinarians. He's
saying, look, sometimes, and hopefully not very
often. And it shouldn't be very often in a body
of Christ, of people who love the Lord. But sometimes
you're going to have a person. It's inevitable.
The best church, you're just going to have people
that are going to cause some trouble, that are
going to be doing some things that are not healthy
for them and that are not healthy for the church.
And in those situations, Paul says, deal with
them. But he says here, look, once it's been
dealt with, don't just keep beating the poor
boy up. There comes a time where you have to
forgive that person. You have to give them grace.
Once they get to a point when they've received
the discipline and they repent, and it sounds
as though this person has repented and Paul is
giving them instructions as if they had. Look,
this man has repented. Therefore, you need to
show him a little grace. It says you need to
forgive him and you need to comfort him so that,
He may not be overwhelmed by excessive grief.
Now think about this for a second. Now probably
most of us in here got a whipping when we were
little, and a lot of you have whipped a child
or a grandchild, and there are times when you
need to have that discipline, and it's effective.
But if your child or your grandchild or your
dog does something that they shouldn't do, and
you discipline them, It doesn't take much and
you start to see a reaction there. There probably
starts to be some tears. There probably is an
apology. Maybe it's genuine. Maybe it's not.
But it probably is usually after a couple of
licks with that belt. And I'm sorry. I didn't
mean to do it. I'll never do it again. I won't
do it again. Well, that's what you want. You
want people who receive discipline to know. This
is not acceptable. This is not healthy. This
is not good. And when they have that spirit of,
okay, I know I was wrong. I won't do it again.
I've learned my lesson. Well, that's what Paul
is getting to here. He says, look, this guy's
learned his lesson. It's just like when our little
dog, whenever she was young and she would do
stuff she wasn't supposed to do, we'd have to
discipline her a little bit, and we'd teach her
not to eat the cords that go to the lamp. Why?
Well, one, I got tired of patching lamp cords
and putting them back together. But two, I don't
want her to bite into a cord to get electrocuted.
So we had to discipline her several times. But
we didn't just keep beating her every day when
we got in because that's just going to cause
somebody or some animal to be afraid. If you
just keep on beating your kids all the time,
that's not discipline, that's abuse. And Paul
says here, look, don't abuse this person. You've
dealt with the problem and so be it. It's good.
They've learned their lesson. But once somebody
has learned their lesson, you have to see on
the other side of discipline, there has to be
grace and there has to be mercy and there has
to be comfort. There has to be some love or else
this person is just going to feel excessive grief.
Now, it wouldn't have made for a healthy church.
if the people of Corinth would have continued
every time they see this person just to give
them the evil eye and to look down on them and
say, I can't believe you did that. That would
not have been a healthy thing. That's not what
Paul wants to do. That's not what we should do.
And maybe sometimes we're guilty of that, of
somebody who's already repented. They've already
acknowledged they're sorry. They cannot change
what they did. They cannot go back in time, but
they're to a point where their heart regrets
it, and they're not doing it anymore, and they
don't want to be involved in it anymore. And
you can't just hold something against somebody
forever and ever and ever. You have to embrace
them with love. And so many times I hear parents
that have talked about when they give their kid
a whipping, they hug them afterwards. They show
them that discipline, but then they show them
that love. And they hug them and they say, look,
I love you. I don't want to do this to you, but
you can't do that. I've seen Michelle do it plenty
of times with our little pup. Boy, she'd get
Portia for eating those cords. And you know what
she'd do after that? Portia, you could tell she
learned her lesson. She could tell she got it.
And Michelle would pick her up and she would
just hold her. And Portia would just sit there.
And so you've got to show on the other side of
that discipline, yeah, what you're doing is not
right, but I still love you. And I'm telling
you these things because I want you to be healthy
and I want you to grow and I want you to be okay.
And that's what he tells the church here. You've
got to take care of problems when there's problems,
but don't get hung up on that. You've got to
show some grace. You don't want anybody to be
overwhelmed with the burden of their sin. You
want them to experience the freedom in Christ
and the love of the congregation. They need to
be part of the body and they need to be welcomed
back in with open arms. That's what Paul is telling
them here. He continues on. Therefore, I urge
you to reaffirm your love to them. It's very
important that we do not forget that step, that
we do not forget that sometimes there are occasions,
whether it's our children, or whether it's someone
in the church, or whether it's a co -worker,
or an employee, or whatever it is that discipline
occurs, but it always needs to end with a reaffirmation
of, look, this is not personal, this is not bitter,
I love you, and you need to know that I love
you, and I care about you, and he says here,
reaffirm your love to this person. Make sure
that they know that they are loved. that they
are part of the body of Christ, that God loves
them, that you love them, that they have been
forgiven. And he continues with that thought
in the next verse. I wrote for this purpose,
to test your character to see if you are obedient
in everything. If you forgive anyone, I do too.
For what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven
anything, it is for you in the presence of Christ.
So Paul says, look, I gave you these instructions
on how to deal with this problem or this person
or whatever was going on. I wanted to test you.
I wanted to make sure that you were going to
be obedient to God's word, that you weren't going
to let sin come in and people come in and run
rampant and cause problems, but that you were
going to hold people accountable to the commands
and the words of God. And I wanted to test you.
And they passed the test, obviously, it sounds
like. They've dealt with the problem. And Paul
says, good job. You've dealt with the problem.
Now go love on this person. Go love on them a
little bit and let them know that you love them
and they're still part of your group and they're
still part of this community of believers in
Christ. And don't let them be overwhelmed by
their grief, but let them see your love and let
them know that there's restoration that's occurred
through Jesus Christ. There's forgiveness that's
taken place. I forgive, Paul says. You guys should
forgive too. This is what we do because Christ
has forgiven us. We forgive others through Christ
who forgives us. And why is he so concerned about
all this? Why does he spend the time in 1 Corinthians
dealing with some disciplinary issues and books
like 2 Timothy, that account we talked about
here at the beginning of this book a little bit.
Why is he worried about discipline and restoration
among the believers? Why is this important? Well,
he says why in this next verse, in verse 11.
He says, I have done this. so that we may not
be taken advantage of by Satan, for we are not
ignorant of his schemes. So Paul says, look,
the devil is always working, and the devil wants
to break up the body of Christ. The devil wants
believers to live like unbelievers. The devil
wants believers to squabble amongst one another.
The devil wants people to come into the church
that are going to be divisive and that are going
to cause problems and that are going to mess
up a beautiful spirit and a loving spirit. The
devil wants to destroy the work of God. So Paul
says, I'll write these things to you. I'm telling
you all these instructions, everything that you
wrote in 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians and
other letters that we don't have. Paul says,
I'm writing these things to you because you need
to know the devil's schemes. You need to be aware
of, you need to be reminded of the schemes of
the devil. That the devil wants to come in and
he wants to take advantage of these situations.
So do not give Satan a foothold. That's why sin
has to be dealt with in our individual life.
And sadly, sometimes even in our churches. Because
if you give the devil an opportunity, all the
devil needs is one person to cause trouble. Will
it be you? And we would all say it won't. But
boy, the devil knows just how to use us to tear
apart a body of Christ, to cause trouble, to
cause conflict. So we have to make sure. that
we don't fall into that scheme of the devil.
We have to make sure that we check ourselves.
We have to make sure that maybe there's some
things in our life that we need to address. Maybe
God's Word's disciplining us a little bit sometimes.
Maybe sometimes we just need to be reminded,
okay, we've done some wrong, but if we've repented
of that, then praise God. God doesn't want us
to keep beating ourselves up over it. The devil
does. That's one of his great schemes. Is there
going to be some sin you sinned 20 years ago,
and you done prayed for forgiveness for it 100
times, and you are forgiven if you've prayed
from the heart. But man, the old devil, he just
keeps beating you over the head, and it just
keeps causing you excessive grief. And there
are some times in our lives that we live with
excessive grief over something that we've been
forgiven for for 20 years. And you say sometimes,
people will say, well, God forgave me, but I
can't forgive myself. Well, that's foolish. The
Bible doesn't ever say anything about us forgiving
ourselves. We're not called to forgive ourselves.
We can't forgive ourselves. When we say that,
what we're saying is we're greater than God.
Well, I know God is powerful enough to forgive
me, but I'm not powerful. I mean, I can't do
it. So we need to not allow the devil's schemes
to overtake us in that area. We need to know
that, look, if there's sin that we've done and
God has disciplined us for that and we feel conviction
for that and we've repented of that, then I want
you to know today that there is freedom in Jesus
Christ. That you don't have to live with that
sin anymore. That it has been nailed to the cross
and it is cast as far as the east is to the west
and you do not have to live in that anymore.
And we need to know that truth that Paul says
today. We need sometimes to know that God's love
for us has been reaffirmed and that our love
for one another makes sure that it is reaffirmed.
Maybe there are some people that you've had trouble
with in the past. Maybe you need to reach out
to them and just let them know you still love
them. God's Word is good for us tonight. There's
good things for us to consider here. There's
good things for us to think about. Some of Paul's
stuff is hard. Some of these things he tells
the people to do are hard when it comes to exercising
discipline. But he always does it with a heart
of love. And that's the most important thing
we want to remember. Let's pray. God, we thank
you for your good word. I pray that you would
help us as we... work through this book, as we
work through the teachings of Paul, dear Lord,
that we never become one who just wants to always
bring discipline, but dear Lord, that your Holy
Spirit would guide and instruct and direct us
on when discipline is necessary. God, perhaps
there are times that we need to be disciplined,
or times that we need to discipline others, but
God, I pray that everything we do is done with
love, God. that everything we do is to draw closer
to you, to grow individually, to grow as a body
of Christ, dear Lord. And I pray today, God,
that if there's anybody that in the past has
some sin that just keeps lingering on in their
mind, dear Lord, and they've come to you time
and time again, I pray tonight that you would
give them some peace in that, dear Lord. I pray
that... As they have asked you for forgiveness,
that they would find peace to know that they
are forgiven, dear Lord, that they are freed
in Jesus Christ. God, maybe there are some here
tonight or some listening online, and they've
never really confessed their sin. They are still
carrying it around. And God, I pray that maybe
tonight, in this moment, that they would repent,
that they would turn from their sinful way, that
they would ask you to forgive them, maybe for
the first time, dear Lord. and that they would
experience the joy and the peace and the comfort
that comes through salvation in Jesus Christ,
God. And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.