2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 14. 2 Corinthians
chapter 12, verse 14. The passage we looked at
last week, the beginning of 2 Corinthians chapter
12, is one of my favorite passages. I think that
there is a lot of strength we can gain from that
passage. Because life is hard, and just that
truth of God's Word, that His grace is sufficient
and His power is perfected in weakness, I think
we should be able, as Christians, to draw a lot
of power from that, to just trust in God even
when things don't go the way we want, even if
our prayers aren't answered in the way that we
desire, to know that God is gracious and His
grace will get us through. And so that's a good
passage that we looked at last week. Tonight
we'll continue on, we'll skip down a few verses
to verse 14, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse
14. Let's pray and then we'll get started. God,
we come to you tonight, we thank you for the
freedom and the privilege that we have to come
and to worship you. I thank you for all the folks
that have come out tonight. I pray that you just
would help us to feel your presence and to feel
just some comfort from being here, dear Lord.
A busy week, I'm sure, and different things going
on for different folks, but dear Lord, whatever
we've had going on, no matter how busy it may
have been or may not have been, I pray that you
would help us to be free of distractions and
worries and thoughts of the world. I pray, dear
Lord, that your Holy Spirit would be in this
place tonight, that you would help me to preach
and teach in a way that brings glory and honor
to you, dear Lord, that we would draw near to
you, God. As we read these words and let your
words do the speaking to us tonight. And I ask
these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Now we've
seen up to this point Paul, in a sense, we could
say is defending himself because some of the
people in Corinth are questioning him. But Paul's
desire, as we've talked about a few times throughout,
especially these last few chapters, Paul's defending
himself, but not for himself. He's really concerned
about the people. He's not concerned about what
the people think about him, but he is concerned
about the people. And he wants to make sure that
they know the word of God and that they're living
right. And we see kind of his heart for the people
all through the book, certainly. But we see it
here in these couple of verses. Paul says in
verse 14, Now I am ready to come to you this
third time. I will not burden you, for I am not
seeking what is yours, but you. And I paused
on that last part as I was reading through it,
and I was thinking, man, what a beautiful heart
I think we see of Paul there. He says, I'm not
seeking what's yours, I'm seeking you. I'm not
worried about what I can get from you. I'm worried
about you. I'm not concerned about anything else.
I'm concerned about you. My love and my care
is for you. I want to serve you. I want to be
here to lead you. I want to guide you. I want
to teach you. I want to protect you. I don't
want anything from you. I just want to love you,
and I just want to help you. And is that our
attitude in life? I think that maybe at times
it is. But I think that our natural inclination
maybe, our human side is, okay, I've got to get
to the top. I've got to do good at this and I've
got to do good at that. And sometimes in us trying
to get to the top, in us trying to increase ourselves
in whatever way it is, a lot of times you see
people just kind of step over others. They're
not concerned about other people. They're just
concerned about what they can do from other people.
And maybe we see that in some of our relationships.
Maybe sometimes we have that heart and that mentality,
okay, I'm going to help this person, not because
I desire to help them or not because it's the
right thing to do, but if I help this person
now, then maybe they'll help me later. And that
can be very dangerous. You can see a lot of corruption
when that takes place. I think we see. Those
very types of things taking place in politics
and in a variety of areas. And sometimes there
may be a tendency for us, instead of seeing other
people as just other people that we can serve
and we can help, perhaps sometimes we are tempted
to think, what can I get from this person? Now,
some people certainly are. And some people are
well aware that that thought exists in their
heart. And they prey on people. And they go out
and they seek people not because they love people
or desire to help people or desire to serve people,
but they go out with the very intention of, what
can I get from you? Now, we've seen some of these
people that Paul's talking about, these false
teachers. And it appears as though this is part
maybe of their problem, of whatever that these
false teachers are wanting, that some of it is
some monetary gain or some material gain from
the people. But Paul tells the people here, look,
I'm not seeking what is yours. I don't care about
your money. I'm not trying to get something from
you. I'm not trying to use you. I'm not trying
to do something nice for you now so that I can
call in a favor later. Paul says, I don't want
anything from you. I just want you. That's a
beautiful heart to have. It's that when we encounter
people and we are around people that we don't
go into any situation thinking, how is this going
to benefit me? Oh, I'm looking for a husband.
I'm looking for a wife. What kind of qualities?
Oh, they got to do this and they got to do that
and they got to make a lot of money because that's
what's going to benefit me. Or whatever it is,
there's tons of ways in which we may fall into
these traps of, okay, if I enter into this situation,
how is it going to benefit me? But maybe we need
to stop for a moment and we need to reverse those
roles and say, here's a person I'm fixing to
marry, or here's a person I'm going into some
type of business interaction with, or here's
a person I'm going to encounter on the street,
or here's a neighbor that's nearby. And instead
of saying, how can they help me, or what am I
going to get out of this, maybe we need to ask
ourselves, how can I help them? How can I help
them? How can I serve them? How can I make this
business relationship better? How can I serve
my husband or my wife? How can I be a better
spouse? How can I be a better man of God? How
can I be a better woman of God? How can I serve
God by serving other people? And that is the
heart that Paul had. Now, Paul, he goes along
with some of their their foolishness we've seen
that he says all right she won't boast in foolishness
well let me let me boast in foolishness and paul
he kind of he kind of gave in to him a little
bit just trying to get their attention he's even
gotten on to him pretty pretty sternly we see
that in first corinthians we see it at the beginning
of this book that he does get on to him pretty
sternly but it's not that paul is on a power
trip it's not that he's jealous because All these
people are listening to another preacher and
not listening to him. None of those things are
of concern to Paul. The only concern to Paul
is, I want you, and I want you to be okay. I
want you to know Jesus, and I want you to live
for Jesus. I don't want you to be a slave for
sin. I don't want you to get caught up in sin.
So Paul says, I'm not asking for anything from
you, but I just want you to be okay. He says,
for children are not obligated to save up for
their parents, but parents for their children.
I will most gladly spend and be spent for you.
Now, that's a beautiful idea. Now, most of you
in here have children. You know what it's like
to raise children. You know what it's like to
sacrifice for children. And Paul says here, children
are not obligated to save for their parents,
in my translation, but parents for their children.
We have to understand the context here a little
bit. By that self, we may say, okay, well, as
parents, we're obligated to leave some big inheritance
for our children. But that's not what the text
says. And in the context of what's being said
here, he's simply stating, okay, here's how a
parent and child relationship works. A child
is born. They can't take care of themselves.
It is the obligation of the parent. to provide
for the child. And some of your translations
may say, it may not say save up, it may say provide
for. And I think that's probably a more accurate
heart of what Paul's trying to say. And what
he's saying is, look, in a sense, I'm your spiritual
parent. I've led you to Jesus Christ and it's
my job. It's my blessing. It's my joy, I think
Paul would say, to see you grow in the Lord.
And so it's my job to provide for you and to
take care of you. I don't want anything for you,
but I want to make sure that you're okay. I want
to try to meet your needs and I want to try to
help you focus on the Lord. So he says, I will
most gladly spend and be spent for you. Now,
for those of you who have kids and now you have
grandkids, do you ever have to spend any money
on them? Yeah. Yeah, your bills go up a lot,
right? Because kids come, and boy, they come
out, they're this big, and then in just a few
years, they're this big, and every time they're
going from this big to this big, you've got to
get new clothes, you've got to get new shoes,
you've got to get diapers, you've got to get
all kinds of stuff. So you've got to spin, baby,
spin, and spin, spin, spin. You've got to spin
a lot. But if you have kids, Lord willing, You
joyfully did that. I know a lot of you did. Maybe
all of you that had kids. It wasn't easy. You
couldn't just go in the backyard and pick a few
dollars off the money tree. You had to work harder.
You had to get up and go in early. You had to
come home late. You had to do without so that
your kids could have. And Paul said, look, I
want to spend. It's my joy to spend for you.
It's my joy. I will most gladly spend and be
spent for you. Not only will I use all I have
materially, if I have to sacrifice so that you
can come to know Jesus Christ and follow him
more, I'll be spent physically. Paul was spent
physically. I mean, we just saw in the last chapter
all the list of things that Paul had gone through.
And he says, I gladly do this for you. I suffer
for you. And I give everything I've got for you
because I love you. And he says at the end of
the verse, if I love you more, am I to be loved
less? The people that Paul is talking to, we've
seen this struggle, this problem. It's like they
don't really love Paul anymore. They don't have
the same respect for Paul anymore. They question
Paul because he's not. as good a speaker. He's
not maybe as eloquent as some of these other
speakers, false teachers that they have. But
what he says is, I love you more. And I think
in these couple of verses, we see that. We see
in this language, we see the heart of a man who
loves these people like his own children and
who is ready to do anything and everything possible
to help take care of them. And why? Because he's
fearful that they're going to Turn away from
Jesus. They're not going to hear the truth of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. He's fearful that
they are going to continue to live in their sin
and that they're not going to stay in the straight
in the narrow way, that they are going to be
led astray. Now, I don't have a child, but I
can imagine that as a parent and as a grandparent
that there is probably nothing more rewarding
than to see your child succeed. and to see them
do well in school and to see them excel in their
sports and to see them get a good job and to
see them begin to get established and start their
own home and start their own family, I would
imagine that as a parent that you probably feel
more joy seeing your child succeed than you ever
felt in your own success. Now, I'm just guessing
at this. Y 'all can tell me I'm wrong after church
if I'm wrong, parents. But I think that that's
probably true. I see a couple of heads shaking.
That there's a great joy in seeing your children
succeed. But I suspect also that there's probably
no greater pain than seeing your children in
pain. than seeing your children suffer, than
seeing your children struggle, than seeing your
children lose their job, lose their home, not
be able to get on their feet, not make good decisions,
get into trouble. There's probably nothing more
painful than seeing your children in trouble.
And so Paul shows the joy that he has from saying,
look, I want you to continue to do well in Jesus
Christ. But he also addresses why at the end
of the chapter. In verse 20 he says, For I fear
that perhaps when I come, I will not find you
to be what I want, and I may not be found what
you want. There may be quarreling, jealousy,
outburst of anger, selfish ambitions, slander,
gossip, arrogance, and disorder. So this is Paul's
fear. Now, he gives a list of some things that
he's worried about in the next couple of chapters.
And these are some of the very things that he's
addressed in 1 Corinthians. And he has a fear.
He says, I want you to do good and I'm writing
you this letter so that you'll do good because
I want you to be safe and I want you to grow.
But I'm afraid that I'm going to come and you're
not going to be doing good. I'm afraid that when
I get there, you're going to be in bad shape.
And I don't want to see that. And he says, you
don't want to see that either. Because if I come
and you're not what I want you to be, then when
I come, I'm not going to be what you want me
to be. Because what Paul wants to do is come
and see the people flourishing in the Lord. And
that they can sit and they can eat and they can
rejoice and they can praise God together and
grow in the Lord together. But if Paul comes
and he doesn't see that, if he sees that there
is all kind of sinfulness in this order, then
Paul's going to have to address that in the same
way that a parent has to address when a child
is misbehaving. Again, I don't have a child,
but I would imagine it's probably pretty difficult
to discipline your children, but it's necessary.
Maybe that's why children today, a lot of them
aren't disciplined. I don't know. Maybe it's
because it's too hard. I'm not sure. But you
see the result of children who are disciplined
and children who are not disciplined. And Paul
knows the dangers. If he lets these Corinthians
just continue to do whatever they want and he
doesn't make any effort to correct them, then
it's going to be for their own demise. It's going
to be for their own destruction. So he says,
look, if I come, I'm not going to be who you
want me to be. Because you're doing good. You
make A's in school. You had a good day at school.
You go home and you can just play your games
and have a cool afternoon and you ain't worried
about nothing when your mom or daddy gets home.
But you get in trouble at school and you get
a paddling, you get home, there ain't no enjoyment
because you don't want them to be what they're
going to be because you know what they're going
to be. You're going to get in trouble. And that's
what Paul says. He says, look, you do good. It's
going to be a great day when I get there. But
if you don't do good, you're not going to be
excited about what's going to happen. And Paul
goes through and he lists all these things that
he may find. He says there may be quarreling.
jealousy, outburst of anger, selfish ambition,
slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder. Now
look at that list. Think about these things in
this list. Think about how bad a group of Christians
would be, a church would be, if these were the
types of things going on. Could you imagine if
every time you come to church there was a bunch
of quarreling between the people here? You had
a few here in this group and a few in that group
and a few in this group. and they all begin to
quarrel amongst themselves. If there were some
who were jealous of others, I'm jealous that
he got to teach that class. I want to teach that
class, so I'm going to try to promote myself
and make myself look better. And you get jealous,
and you start doing things that are not good.
Outburst of anger. One person gets mad at another
person. How dare you put red pews and carpet
in here? I wanted green pews and carpet, and
I'm not going to stand for it. People begin to
get angry with one another. People begin to be
selfish and worry about themselves. They begin
to slander one another. They begin to gossip
about one another. It's just chaos and disorder.
Imagine if that's what the body of Christ looks
like. Imagine if that's what a church looks like.
And sadly, some of us may not have to imagine.
We may have seen that in our life. Because sometimes
you see this kind of quarreling and anger and
selfish ambition and disorder in the house of
God. And that's what Paul is trying to stop.
He says, look, I love you guys and I want you
to do good and I'm trying to teach you and show
you and guide you, but I'm afraid that if you
don't listen to me, this is what's going to happen.
And I don't want to come and see this. Why does
he not want to come and see us? A church that
is quarreling and full of anger and arguing when
there is no love is not an effective church for
the Lord. And it may very well not have many
people who follow the Lord in it if that's the
heart of the church. And so Paul says, look,
I love you like a parent loves a kid and I'll
do anything I can for you. But I am fearful.
I'm fearful that if you listen to these false
teachers, if you continue down the... path you're
going down, I'm fearful that this is what's going
to happen. And Paul would be devastated. And
the work of the kingdom of God would be totally
ineffective among this group of believers. Paul
says in verse 21, he says, I fear that when I
come, my God will again humiliate me in your
presence or humble me in your presence. And I
will grieve for many who sinned before and have
not repented of the moral impurity, sexual immorality,
and promiscuity they practiced. He said, this
is going to be a humble experience. If I come
and I see disorder and I see you led astray and
I see sin running rampant among people who are
supposed to be God's people, he said, God will
humble me. It'll be a humbling experience. What
does he say? He says, I will grieve for those
who have sinned and have not repented. Do we
do that? Do we grieve for those who have sinned
and not repented? Is that what our world does?
Perhaps sometimes, but maybe not enough. We see
a lot of sin in our world today. And if we're
honest, even us Christians, sometimes we turn
a blind eye to it. We just pretend like it doesn't
exist. We don't address it. We don't acknowledge
it. We don't speak out against it. And we're
not grieved over it. And sometimes these sins
are celebrated. And that's the sign of a morally
bankrupt culture. of a morally bankrupt country
when we celebrate sin. But the sign of a healthy
people, the sign of a people who God can help
and God can restore and God can use are a people
who grieve over their sin and grieve over the
sins of the people around them. And Paul says
here, I will grieve for those who have sinned
and not repented. And he goes on and lists some
things that certainly must have been prevalent
there. Moral impurity, sexual immorality, and
promiscuity. So Paul knows that soon he's going
to go see these people. He knows how he wants
them to be living. He's told them as much in
the letters that we have and perhaps there are
other letters that we don't have that Paul wrote
as well. I'm sure very similar to what we see
in 1 and 2 Corinthians. And Paul says, I'm coming
to you. And you know what it's right. But I fear
you're still going to be doing what's wrong.
What about us? What if the Lord comes back today
or tomorrow? Coming back one day. We've got His
Word. We've got His instructions. We've got His
commands. Maybe we're following them pretty good.
Maybe we're not. And what a fearful and sad and
horrible thing it'll be if God comes and finds
us as a people of disorder, as a people of sinfulness,
who have not repented. Just as Paul loved these
Corinthians, as a father loves a child, so God
loves us. As our Heavenly Father, He desires
for us to be His children. Sometimes He gets
stern with us, as Paul does. The Bible says that
God disciplines those that He loves. Praise the
Lord. Paul disciplined the church of Corinth,
at the very least, in these words. But what will
be their response? What will be your response?
It's a beautiful thing to know that we have a
Father who loves us. Do you know that God loves
you today? Do you know that He gave His only
begotten Son? That's pretty amazing love that
Jesus would die for your sins. God doesn't want
anything from us. He just wants us. In the same
way that Paul spoke those words to the people
of Corinth, I don't need your wealth. I don't
need your riches. I don't need anything from
you, but I want you because I love you. And I
think the very heart we see of Paul in this passage
is the very heart of God. Let's pray. God, we
come to you. We thank you for these good words.
We thank you for Paul. We thank you for his heart.
Dear Lord, we see that he gets pretty worked
up. He gets pretty stern. He's not afraid to
address these things, but we also see his love
and his gentleness and his compassion, dear Lord.
God, we see these same characteristics in you,
dear Lord. You are a loving God, but you do want
us to do right. You do try to lead us in the
right direction. You do sometimes, dear Lord,
have to... discipline us and guide us and lead
us in the way we should go. So dear Lord, I pray
that we would give ourselves to you, that we
would know your love, dear Lord, that we wouldn't
try to earn your favor by what we can do, but
that we would just seek Jesus Christ and know,
dear Lord, that there is nothing that we can
do, that you don't want anything from us. You
just want us to be obedient and to seek you and
to follow you, dear Lord. I pray that you would
help us to have that same heart when we encounter
other people, dear Lord. That we don't go through
the world looking for what we can get from others,
but that we would go through the world seeing
how we can serve and help others that come into
our path. Dear Lord, help us to be on guard because
we are just as vulnerable as the people of Corinth,
dear Lord, that if we are not on guard, if we
are not obedient to your word, That all this
chaos and anger and disorder, it can take place
right inside this building, dear Lord. And we
don't want it. We don't want there to be sin
in our life that we have not repented of. We
don't want to celebrate sin, dear Lord, that
others around us do. We want to be grieved by
that. We should be, dear Lord. If we're not,
then I pray that we would seek you and grow in
you that you would make in us a heart that...
that would be grieved over such things. I pray
that you'd protect our church, dear Lord, from
the enemy, that you'd protect our hearts, that
you would help each one of us to make sure that
we are not one that can be used to bring such
disorder and chaos in this church. God, I pray
that you'd protect us and provide for us. Help
us to be a church that would seek you and that
would seek to love others, God. And I ask these
things in Jesus' name. Amen.