In the presence of Christ
2 Corinthians 2:1-11 · Vern Peterman · Mar 7, 2010
1 & 2 Corinthians, No. 38
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492615706919

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We're going to be proceeding into the passage that Courtney read for us. He read kind of an introduction. We'll continue on into verse 11 and have a kind of a starting question for you. Have you ever been misunderstood? You know what that feels like? Have you ever struggled to try to Hey, wait a minute. I've been misunderstood. How do I get that turned around so that I am understood without further complicating things here? Have you ever been misunderstood and wrestled with, oh no, I've been misunderstood and there's been consequences from my being misunderstood? How do I not only get myself understood, but try to restore things from the mistaken consequences?

That's kind of what Paul's into here. He's trying to deal with this church. As we mentioned previously, this is 2 Corinthians, but it's the second of the two letters that we have. By looking at the evidence of the two letters that we have, it's clear that there were probably at least four letters that he had written in actually fairly tight time sequence. And so he's got this back and forth set of letters and visits that have been included in here and made clear. We're looking here at this second letter, probably the fourth letter, and he's at that point.

He says, I've done some things before and I've not been understood. How do I get what I actually intend, what I actually want to have the consequences, how do I get those in place? How do I get to a place where you understand what my heart is? And so that's what he's doing in this passage that we see here this morning. He wants to make it clear, this is my intent. This is what I want to have happen. And I think there's some insights for us as we get into situations where we've been misunderstood. How do we deal with that? Anyway, let's see what insights Paul has there.

One of the things that is clear is that sorrow has at least been some part of his interactions with this church body. Oh yes, they've got a boatload of real big spiritual and relationship and moral problems. This church has got a bunch of them, okay? Lots of problems, lots of issues in this church. He has had to go in, since the leadership apparently was not dealing with him, and to deal with him himself. And so it's been this huge challenge. He cannot be there all the time. He has various churches he's dealing with. But he doesn't want them to think that because he's been delayed, because he is dealing with the other churches, he doesn't want them to think that he doesn't care about them. He most certainly does.

And as the passage that Courtney read for us declared, he says, I love especially you. Paul could have come to the church either in person or in writing, as he does here, and simply ordered them to do this and that. As an apostle, he could have done that. He could have come to them either in writing or in person and said, you're going to do this, you're going to stop doing that, you will not do this this way, you do it this way, I'm an apostle, I'm going to order you, you will do it, period. He had that authority. Did he use it? No. That's not how he went about doing it. Although there are places where he gave them something that was particularly do this or don't do that, in great part what we find is that he is frequently appealing to them, pleading with them. He is coming to them, urging them.

He comes alongside them, not with the authority that he has an apostle, but as someone who cares for them dearly, who loves them at heart. So he urges and pleads with them in love. book we studied was 1st Corinthians and we went through 1st Corinthians 13 where the whole chapter is basically centered on the subject of love. What's interesting is you go through 2nd Corinthians starting with this chapter right here he is not the love chapter but the love book. He keeps telling them he loves them. He keeps talking about the love that they ought to have for one another. He keeps bringing up that point again and again. And so this passage is but the beginning of that theme throughout the book.

One of the things that becomes clear as we look at this passage, certainly in the rest of scripture, is love can be pricey. Love can indeed be very costly. You see, if he didn't love these people, none of this would matter that much, would it? He wouldn't have things like sorrow and concern and even other emotions that he expresses. Those wouldn't be an issue. But because he loves them dearly, it in fact is a pricey kind of love.

Love might even call for us to be vulnerable. Love might even call for us to be vulnerable. Love may, in fact, call for us to pay a price in relationships. It is, in fact, the love that we have for others, for people that maybe we're related to, or maybe others that we have a relationship with, even though it's not by blood or by marriage. But in any case, love can be pricey. Love can have a cost.

Christ loved and gave his life for all of us. Why did he do the giving? Because of the loving. You have a slide with all these on a single slide in your handout on page 1. The beginning passage there is John 3.16. For God so loved the world that he gave. The loving was the motivation for the giving. God so loved the world that he gave. He gave his only Son.

Galatians 2.20, the Son of God who loved me. Paul makes this personal. The Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. He loved and he gave. In Ephesians chapter 5, there are two verses that have the love and gave combination. Beginning there in 5.2, Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us. He loved and he gave. He loved and he gave.

And finally, in Ephesians 5.25, Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her. He loved and he gave. The love that God intends is pricey. As a matter of fact, it is the fact that we love that makes that makes it pricey. It is the kind of love with which we love that makes it pricey. For God so loved the world that he gave.

The maximum price is life. But there's also a possible reward. It's interesting, I can recall my grandmother saying, yeah, this was the grandmother who was a missionary to the cannibals in Fiji. I can recall her saying in her later years, she said, you know, kids when they're little they walk on your feet and when they get older they walk on your heart. Love is pricey. Love can have a cost.

But there is a reward out there and that is in fact what motivated our Lord. There was a love and then He also looked ahead. Jesus The author and perfecter of the faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross. There was a love that motivated him and there was also a joy set before him. There is a motivation and there is a payback. For the joy set before him he endured the cross. When Christ died for you, you, I mean you personally, when he died for you personally, For the joy set before Him involving, and put your name in there, He endured the cross.

He said, a relationship forever with you, it's kind of like, where do I sign? Where do I sign? It's personal. There was a joy set before Him, for He says, for the prospect of that joy, of that eternal relationship with you, He says, I'll die. I'll do it.

The other thing that's clear and it comes out in this passage is that the love is from the heart. Paul's heart for the believers at Corinth, he had told them. In fact, he told them at the end of the first chapter was that they would have joy in the Lord. He would be working alongside them with joy and for their own joy to the end that they may be joyous. That was what came from the heart of Paul. It wasn't simply Paul's cold, objective assignment where the Lord said, Paul, you go do this and that.

He loved these people. And his desire and motivation, he says, I know that in the past we've had sorrow. That's not really what I want. That's not what I'm aiming for. He was trying to correct the misunderstanding. I know in the past we've had some sorrow, but the fact is, I want to have a joy along with you and I want you to have joy in the Lord too." He says, that is from my heart. That's what my heart is aimed towards.

He had to correct their many errors. He had to. He had no choice. As a matter of fact, love required that he correct the errors. He did so as graciously as possible. While he could have come in and simply ordered them out of his authority as an apostle, he frequently 1st and 2nd Corinthians, both, frequently would come to them with an urging, a pleading, an appeal.

I encourage you to do this. I call for you to do that. I come alongside. And that's what we mentioned previously as the basic word, to come alongside. Not as one standing in authority, pointing down at them. Do this. Don't do that. But instead, as one who comes alongside. a fellow, and he uses the word brethren, one of them, to encourage them and to urge them.

He, as he says right in verse 4, had a special love for these believers. And it's an amazing thing. If you look at them, they were a very difficult group of people to work with. From a human standpoint, you might say, well, it would have been easier for him to just forget the special love and just deal with them. But he told them, Right out, straight out, I have a love especially for you. The next thing he says also in here is he is determined about a relationship. Not determined like this sprinter appears to be to get as quickly as possible to the finish line.

But we find that this is not just in this passage, but elsewhere in a few places, Paul makes a determination about a relationship. His determination in 1 Corinthians 2, 2, 4, I determine and own nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. See that? The same word, the same thing. He determined about the relationship. What we see in Paul's letters is when he makes a determination, he will tell them, I determined this, I determined that.

When he makes that determination and declares it, it's for the best for those people. It's for the best for those people. And I would suggest to you that He does so with good purpose, and that's perhaps something for us to even think about. In the relationships that the Lord has given us, especially those relationships that are longer term, in the family, in people, well, even in our relationships here, making a determination about how that relationship is going to go is actually a good thing. One of the things that Nancy and I will talk about in marriage counseling situations, as a couple begins dealing with a difficult subject, maybe one that brings an argument, is there a determination at the very beginning that this is going to end up, the argument will end up with each knowing that the other is loved. We're going to get through this argument and when we're coming out to the other side, She's going to know I love her.

That kind of determination. There is a place for us to do that as well, in those relationships, especially those long-term and special relationships, to determine what are some things that, when this whole thing is said and done, what are some things we want to make certain are an outcome.

So, we ask the question, what's driving this guy? What's making this guy go? Verse 4 expresses some really intense emotions. I mean, some of them are pretty negative. Affliction, anguish, tears, sorrow, and finally, love. And by the way, those are not at all at conflict, even though they may sound opposite.

Because later on this letter, Paul is going to reveal a perspective on the believers at Corinth that's going to be really valuable. He was a spiritual father with a solemn duty. Let me tell you what I mean. Among the Jews of New Testament time, and Paul was a Jew, and there were some Jews among the believers there in Corinth, the marriage tradition was this. Once a couple was engaged, and maybe some of you are particularly interested in what I have to say, Once a couple was engaged, everybody in the relationship was particularly focused and looked upon it as a solemn obligation to guard and maintain the purity of the bride. Everyone looked upon it as an extremely important obligation to maintain the purity of the bride towards that end. And it would be the family members. It would be the friends. All of them would be focused on that. And so Paul, as a spiritual father, would go on and say this, as is quoted on the next slide, and you also have it in your handout.

In 2 Corinthians 11.2, towards the end, there's 13 chapters in the book. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy.

For I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. What Paul is making an equivalence here is the church as the bride of Christ is the one who is being presented to Christ as the very bride of Christ one day. And so there is this relationship between Christ and the Church. As a matter of fact, you find evidence of that, of Christ as the bridegroom, the Church as the bride, starting at the end of the Gospels and continuing on into the Book of Revelation. We have a two-page supplement on Jewish marriage practices in the time of Christ.

It's available on the cabinet to the right as you exit the room. But it's also on the Holly Hills website, thanks to some updates that have been made. The supplements are also available on the website. And that'll be with today's message, so you can get it at either place.

Now, as we go on to the next part of the passage, verses 5 through 11. In verses 5 through 11, Paul deals with the issue between the body of Christ and one particular man. Now, this man had apparently erred to some degree that he had to be disciplined in some way by the whole church body there at Corinth. Now, it is possible that this man was the same one that Paul wrote about in 1 Corinthians 5. We have a quote of it here, and this was an instance where in 1 Corinthians 5, there was one man in the church body who was being physically intimate, basically, with his stepmother.

And he addressed that with the church body and says, you need to deal with this man and not be prideful of the fact you're so tolerant of this immorality. In this case here, we don't know if that's the instance. It could be, but it's hard to be certain. Nonetheless, at this point, the need was to forgive and accept him. He had apparently come to a point of recognizing whatever the problem was. that he needed to have a change of mind, repent, and to come around and restore fellowship with the Lord and with the church body. It's even possible that he had said some profoundly rude and offensive things to Paul, maybe even publicly. We don't know.

One of the key things, though, And it shows up in this passage, the goal of church discipline, and by that it may be anything from just one person and the body coming alongside another and helping to correct them, or it may be something that gets to be of such a magnitude that it actually has to be brought before the church. That's, by the way, not something to jump to, but only after a biblical sequence. But nonetheless, the goal of church discipline is to restore the believer to a walk. When a believer has stepped off of the path of fellowship, no matter what degree of correction stage we're at, the goal of that church discipline is to be able to restore the believer to a walk.

What do we mean by that? We mean, first of all, that it's a restoration. Restoring is the key. The word restore that Paul used there in several of these passages, and Galatians 6 comes from a word that means to mend or to set right. And in Matthew 4.21 and Mark 4.19, that same word for restore is used for mending a net. Here's a net that has gotten torn. And mending those nets would then be a significant restoration of the integrity of the net. Another use of this restore in New Testament times was what Dr. Luke very likely would have done, and that is where a bone is broken to set it correctly, to set the bone into the positions that it should be so that the bones can heal.

That was also a use of this very same Greek word, So the goal of church discipline is to restore, that is to mend or to put right the believer to a walk. That walk is to be in fellowship with the Lord and in fellowship with other believers. Now, in restoring, the errors of the extremes are to be avoided. What do we mean by that?

One is neglecting the problem. Ever heard the phrase, you know, the elephant in the living room? Let's talk about the elephant in the living room. Neglecting a big problem is not a good idea. Unfortunately, I've seen churches do that where there is an issue that needs to be dealt with and the church does nothing to correct it.

Let's just pretend like it's not there. That won't work. There was a church that Nancy and I attended briefly, not in Colorado, where the pastor was found to be having multiple illicit relationships with women in the church. And some of the people didn't want to do anything about it because they said, but he gives such good sermons.

We don't want to neglect something that most definitely needs to be corrected. Now, then there's the other extreme, where someone has some kind of an issue and the first thing that gets done is you just burn them to ashes or to ashes in front of the whole church. That would be the other error of extreme. The goal is always restoration, no matter what stage things have to come to. Restoring is the goal, mending, healing.

We have a five-page supplement on church discipline as well just to help explain this in more detail. Again, available on the cabinet to the right or available for download. So take your choice there. One of the things that Paul encourages here, he says, forgive, comfort, and reaffirm your love. And one of the things that's really neat is as believers, we're in a perfect position to do exactly that.

As Paul wrote to the believers at Ephesus in Ephesians 4.32, Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other. Why? Just as God in Christ also, and notice the tense, past tense, has forgiven you. We as believers are in a position to forgive.

Beyond that, This comfort that he's talking about is a coming alongside. It's not a standing over and pointing the finger or pulling out the blowtorch. But it is instead a coming alongside to comfort. Paul told them finally, reaffirm their love for this brother. The word reaffirm means to affirm a love that is already there. The love was always there. But reaffirm it now at this point, especially that this brother has come back. The little account that I'll give you is one I may have told you before, but I think it's valuable.

I would say the instance where I saw this taken to the greatest extent was in the instance of Lambert Dolphin. Nancy and I, years ago, were at a church where Lambert had decided to step into a homosexual lifestyle. Nancy and I had both been over to this fellow's house at different occasions, and I'd known him for some time.

He decided to step into a homosexual lifestyle, but we didn't know anything about it until finally it was at the stage where it had to be brought before the church body. There had been various biblical things that had happened before that. Finally, it was brought before the church body and Lambert decided to go off into this lifestyle. Well, after two years, he came back and he said, I realize that what I've done is wrong, but I want to come back into fellowship with the Lord and with you.

And he said that the way this was handled was one of the things that allowed him to come back and even invited him to come back. So they had a welcome home party for him. And so far as I know, and I've kept an occasional touch with him, he has continued to walk with the Lord since that time. He looks back on this time where the church did the right thing.

And then he came back and was restored to fellowship. as it is a prime biblical example of how it ought to be done biblically. Paul also uses here a key phrase here, in the presence of Christ. Paul was often inclined to underscore the presence of Christ among the believers and before the Lord.

In 1 Timothy 5.21, 6.13 and 2 Timothy 4.1 We have examples of passages where he spoke to Timothy specifically in the presence of the Lord, in the presence of Christ, and gave him insight from that perspective.

And the key thing that it does is this. The things that we're doing day to day, they really count. They matter. The things that we're doing matter every day. Christ is always present with you. If you're a believer, Christ is always present with you. It gives a significance to everything that we do, doesn't it? Christ is present with you every moment of every day in the presence of Christ. This understanding also fits with the teaching in God's Word that speak of our being in Christ, His being in us, Christ being with us wherever we go, whatever we do.

There's a tendency for people to think of God as somehow far, far away, real distant. Even a tendency to think of talking to God as talking to the man upstairs. Well, boy, I wish he wasn't so noisy, right? This term kind of talks about a guy I don't know. He's that man upstairs. And some guy is distant.

Paul's appeal is not that way. Paul's appeal is Christ who is present with you. Christ in whom you are. Christ, the one who is with you all the time. Paul also has a test here that he talks to them about. He says, I put you to a test in the circumstance that they're in. He used a word here that is often used of God putting us through a test. God purposely places these tests in our paths. The word refers to a testing that is done with a view of approval by God in many circumstances. And Paul himself is stepping into that in this case. You see, God doesn't just put us through trials of some sort of divine experiment where God just wants to see what happens.

I'll tell you a little farm story if you can put up with that. Here is a barn where through my high school years, I milked cows twice a day. And then of course, as I invited Nancy to come up to the farm, the initiation was of course, you have to milk the cows too, right? And so we kind of would joke with each other that we got to know each other on opposite sides of a cow. But at any rate, so here's this barn. And in that barn, we go and milk a cow or two.

One of the things we used to do is while you're milking, it's of course something rather repetitive. You do it twice a day and there's hundreds of milkings each time. One of the things that would happen is the cats would come. We would aim the stream at the cat. We noticed the cats were very interested in that stream of milk. Then we noticed if we aim the stream a little higher that the cats would stand up. And then we noticed, if we aimed the stream higher and waved it back and forth, that the cats would dance. And that was a lot of fun.

But one of the things that was important with that is, unlike me with the cats and the milk, God's not playing games with us. God's not just seeing what you will do. God is not playing games with your life and saying, I'm wondering what Vern will do. I think I'll put this in Vern's way and see what happens. God's not doing that.

As the Lord does in our lives where He puts us through a test, He puts us through a test with a view to approval. He has given us every motivation, every capacity to come out approved through the test. That's the exact same thing Paul is doing here. He says, as you deal with this man who has erred and is now in a place to be restored, he says, I put you to the test with the idea that there would be an approval of what you did and how you handled it. That's why I did it. He expected that they would be approved when it was all said and done.

The other point that he makes here is that Christ has the victory. Christ has already won the war, if you will. Satan can win a battle, but only if we hand it to him. There are a lot of Christians who get kind of pulled into this thing of always fighting Satan. They're fighting Satan for this and they're fighting Satan for that. And they even get into the habit of, okay, we're going to bind Satan. I don't know who lets him loose, okay? But they're going to go bind Satan and bind him and bind him again.

The reality is Christ has already won the ground that we stand on. He has already given us every weapon that we need. Satan will only win if we hand it to him, but the most Satan's going to win is a particular battle. Christ has already won the war. That's guaranteed. No questions. We need not hand the advantage in the battle over to Satan. Christ has already won the war. We're not ignorant of Satan either. as Paul abundantly makes clear, as well as the other apostles. Stand firm. Stand the ground. Ephesians 6, he keeps saying again and again, stand firm, stand firm, stand firm. Stand the ground.

The ground that Christ has already won using the weapons that he's already given you. The victory is through Christ. He told them that in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And finally, 1 John 5, 4 and 5, whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world? But he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

Victory is a given. All you have to do is believe. Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this passage here, Thankful for what you have accomplished. Thankful that as you bring about various things in our lives, you're not playing a game. You are not just wondering what we will do. You're not wondering about the outcome. But instead, you have a purpose in each and everything that happens. We thank you for your immense love, that immense love that loved and gave, loved and gave, and loved and gave. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.