In the sight of God
2 Corinthians 7:5-16 · Vern Peterman · Jul 18, 2010
1 & 2 Corinthians, No. 55
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926210176241

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

Good morning. We will proceed into this passage here just to kind of give a little bit of introduction or context here. This book of 2 Corinthians we're studying, as we pointed out before, is actually the fourth letter to them from Paul to the Corinthians. And why do we say that?

In 1 Corinthians he talks about 1 Corinthians 5-9, I wrote you in my letter. So apparently he had written a prior letter to them. I suppose it's possible he wrote even more, but he makes reference to at least one more. And then in 2 Corinthians 7-8, he also talks about another letter that he had written.

So essentially the pattern we get is there's another letter that Paul had written that we don't have before 1 Corinthians. There's also another letter between 1 and 2 Corinthians that we don't have. But reference to both of those letters is made there. This third letter that we don't have was apparently one that caused them sorrow. It was one Paul needed to write. And so from that standpoint, he didn't regret it. But he was hurt that he had to write to them so severely.

As we'll see here, something had progressed. One thing that he talks about, and we may not know exactly the details, he talks about forgiving a particular man. We don't know the specifics on that, but apparently there was some progression in these letters that is implied here in this 2 Corinthians letter that we do have. Now, we have a slide here. I have a sign, I mean, some wording at the top.

A Holly Hills theme park, question mark. OK? We're going to kind of erase Holly Hills and put a theme park here? Well, probably not. What I'd like you to do is to park at Holly Hills and come in as we talk about some themes in this passage, all right? So that's what we really have in mind.

And so it looks like you've done the parking part. We'll talk about the themes here as the next part, OK? Oh, and I've got another picture. I think it's from Poppy that I'm going to scan and include maybe next week or two here. So anyway, it's it's Poppy Matthews impression of me. So anyway, you'll get to see that now. This morning, however, we're going to take a little bit different approach.

Rather than go through the details of the passage in terms of what was the content of Paul's letter, we're going to talk about particular themes that stand out. And I think that there's a good reason for doing that. As we go through the passage and talk through these themes that stand out, What we're going to find is that the applications from these passages will be a better use of our time, I think, because it'll be easier for us to make application. It'll be easier for us to see what Paul's talking about. There are some words and ideas that he talks about rather consistently in this passage. As a matter of fact, they have a continuity with the whole letter.

So that's the reason for going there. Most of the important points in this passage, in spite of the complication of this prior letter, the important points in the passage are actually quite simple, and I think valuable for us to take a look at. So we'll go there.

Now, one of the things he says there early in this passage, our flesh had no rest. That is one statement that stands out very early. And what does he mean by that? He wrote this, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side. Conflicts without fears within. What is he saying? He says, we were exhausted. That's what he's saying.

We were really, really exhausted. Exhausted not just from working hard physically, although there was certainly some elements of that. But also, we had stressful situations, you know, just circumstances around us, and also we had concerns about things inside. So there was, ever have a day when you're exhausted, not just from physical work, but from all the emotional interaction that's gone on? It can indeed be exhausting, and he was expressing that. He says, we've got such intense things going on, the, quote, emotional work had been, in this instance, something that had really taken its toll.

He was worn out. But he wrote there, but God. And that's a key thing. Matter of fact, it's an interesting point. If you go through the Bible and you look up, but God. We have this circumstance. We have this situation. This is our personal condition. And then you see the phrase, but God. But God, and he does that here, but God who comforts the depressed, comfort us by the coming of Titus. Now this word depressed is not referring to some clinical long-term depression, but just being completely circumstances. Ever get to a point where life is just at the moment overwhelming? That's kind of what he's talking about here. He's been through circumstances that just has him wrung out.

But he said, God's able to come alongside in comfort in circumstances like that. Comforted us how? Now this is something interesting. God can certainly comfort us directly, but God may use other people. In this circumstance, what does Paul share? Comforted us by the coming of Titus. God may in fact use other people, and that may be God's direct instrument to send you help, comfort, encouragement. and the things that we need. God will in fact use other people, which is one of the reasons why we gather as a church body. We gather as a church body because God does intend to use other people in our lives.

Now, the word that's translated comfort in this passage means to come alongside. It means to come alongside or be called alongside. And that is an opportunity for ministry that includes comfort as well as other things. The reality is the same word is also translated encourage, urge, exhort.

And the only reason you know the difference in meaning is the context. In this case, the difference in meaning becomes apparent because comfort is what is needed. So are you comfortable? This is a new Pew style we're considering, just in case you're wondering. Maybe not. What do I mean by, are you comfortable? Well, there are two ways that you could take this question, and I intend both.

First, there is a ministry of coming alongside another to comfort, appeal, encourage, exhort, urge, all those things. Coming alongside another believer. And so Paul does this. Titus was God's agent in Paul's life to do this in this circumstance. To come alongside another believer and carry out personal ministry, person-to-person ministry. Second, there's also a question of a willingness or an openness to have another in the body of Christ come alongside. At times, I may be in a position where I need somebody in the body to come alongside. So there is, for all of us, a question of are we willing to be in the role God wants us to be at various times.

Paul himself would encourage and urge and exhort and comfort. He himself would call alongside or be called alongside and come alongside. And what he brings out here, Titus came alongside him to comfort and encourage Paul. There is both the giving and the receiving of that ministry that both are a valid part in the body of Christ for all of us.

Have you ever had that happen? Somebody came alongside you to encourage you, maybe even an exhortation? Maybe an urging in a particular direction, an urging, you need to do this, you need to not do that, you need to look in this direction. And so there can be all those kinds of things. And that's ministry. And we all have a place in both the giving of it and the receiving of it.

Now, the next thing he brings up, it shows up in verse 7. It also shows up in verse 11. It's a place where he actually brings it up twice in the passage. There's the word zeal, and I'll kind of explain it a little bit more, spiritual fervor. He uses this word that is translated zeal in verses 7 and 11, referring to the spiritual fervor and intensity that the believers in Corinth had for Paul and for his ministry. Now, spiritual fervor is actually something that the Lord wants in our lives. He wants us to have.

This word that's translated zeal literally means heat. It's related to the verb that means to be hot. Now, Courtney and I have no problem with being hot, as I've discovered. Our metabolism is such that hot is the way we are. The temperature now is a little warm, and so Courtney and I would tend to agree with that. But it's just about right in January, right?

Now, that's not quite what Paul's talking about, though. He's talking about spiritual fervor, not just a high metabolism. And so this spiritual fervor, this zeal, this spiritual heat, if you will, is exactly what he has in mind. And Paul is glad to see it in the Corinthians. He's glad to see spiritual fervor. Why? God wants us to be spiritually hot, if you will, with spiritual fervor. That is exactly what God intends.

In Revelation 3.14-16, the angel, basically it's a word that means messenger, of the church of Laodicea, write, the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, which of course are various names for Christ, says this, I know your deeds that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot or cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

Paul wrote to the church at Colossae, and in that little valley there was, to the north side, the city of Hierapolis. and Colossae kind of upstream from Hierapolis. On the opposite side of the same valley from Hierapolis was Laodicea. That is the church to which these words were written.

And as it turns out here, looking at these places, there was a pipeline that went from Hierapolis. Hierapolis did have and does now have hot springs. You go there, in fact, looking across the valley, there's a white area on the mountainside or on the hillside. There's a white area in there and it's because of all the minerals that have deposited over time. And so there are hot springs there, there's hot water that was piped from Hierapolis to Laodicea. This, in fact, is a section of that pipe. that went from Herapolis to Laodicea. The only thing was, well, it started off hot. By the time it went through the pipe, by the time it got to Laodicea, it was lukewarm. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't care for too much of anything lukewarm, right? You either want something hot or something cold, but lukewarm is not what you aim for most of the time.

Colossae was a city upstream that actually had cold water. It was water coming out of the mountains and it was cold. Hierapolis naturally had the hot water because of the hot springs. Laodicea, on the other hand, was a city that, oh, it seemed to be well off financially and prospering in those respects, but it was lukewarm water that came there. And so this analogy is pictured there. Lukewarm is not what we're looking for. Hot is exactly what the Lord has in mind.

In 1 Thessalonians 5.19, Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica and he says, do not quench the spirit. What I believe this has a reference to is this.

In the temple in Jerusalem, they were told you must always keep the fire going in the temple. They were not allowed to let the fire go out. They even had rotating responsibilities among the tribes to cut firewood and to keep the fire supply to the temple. And then they would have a younger priest responsible for constantly loading up the firewood so that the fire was always going.

That picture is used for us as believers. The Holy Spirit has a spiritual fervor that is natural in our lives. We are, as we rest in the Lord, as we depend upon the Lord, we are naturally having the Holy Spirit's fervor and intensity in our lives. The only reason it's not there is because we can quench it. He tells them, don't do that. Don't quench the spiritual fervor, the zeal, the intensity that is naturally there because of who you are in Christ, because of the Holy Spirit's indwelling. Then when we look at verses 8-11, we would say pick your sorrow source from this passage here.

2 Corinthians 7.10 goes this way. Paul wrote, for the sorrow that is according to, and it says in the New American Standard, the will of God, but it actually is literally according to God, according to God's character, produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation.

This is interesting. Would you say that sorrow is a good thing or a bad thing? Actually, it can be a good thing. Depends on the source. And that's part of what he's saying here. The sorrow that is according to God produces a repentance. Now, it's very important that we understand something. God intends sorrow for his sorrow to be productive. You see that? God intends his sorrow to be productive.

It produces a repentance. Now, we have to talk about what repentance is and what repentance isn't. If I were to give some really emotionally stirring message and have you come up here crying and weeping and you're just touched, and of course you know I wouldn't do that, but anyway, if I were to do that and touch you emotionally but you just walked away with the same problem, guess what? That's not repentance. Having intense emotions is not repentance. Regretting things like regretting that you got caught or regretting the consequences is not it.

Repentance is a change of mind. Repentance is what the Jews in the early chapters of Acts were challenged to do, to change their mind around, to turn around 180. It's a change of mind. Emotions may be the consequences but are not necessarily The outcome. But it's basically the change of mind that God is looking for. That you had one perspective and now you have another perspective. That's what repentance is. If there is a godly sorrow, it has the outcome of change of mind. Understanding and seeing things differently from a spiritual standpoint without regret. Without regret. leading to salvation. Now, this isn't talking about salvation in terms of eternal salvation, but it means leading to salvation in the circumstance, in the set of situations and decisions that the Lord has put us in.

Now, on the other part of that, he says then, but the sorrow of the world produces death. Hmm. Two kinds of sorrow. One's good, another isn't. I would take it that the sorrow of the world doesn't lead to repentance. I would take it from this that the sorrow of the world has regret. I would take it that the sorrow of the world doesn't lead to salvation. Isn't that an important distinction to make?

There are two kinds of sorrow. One is good, another definitely not. The sorrow of the world produces death. Each sorrow source has an outcome that fits with the source. Death is a separation in our daily walk. I think it's important that we recognize that. Even as believers, it is possible for us to experience the sorrow of the world, if we're looking to the world.

And it is possible for us to come to a place of regret from that sorrow of the world. And it's possible for us to come to a place where we don't repent. And the sorrow continues, because we never learned what God has us to learn from it. There never was a repentance, right?

The next thing that we see here in verse 12 is part of a continuing series. There are actually five places in 2 Corinthians where it's in the sight of. And it's either in the sight of God, as we see in four of the circumstances, or in what we'll see next in chapter 8, in the sight of the Lord. But it's interesting that from the second chapter to the second to the last chapter, he scatters five times in the sight of God, in the sight of God, in the sight of God, in the sight of the Lord, in the sight of God.

This particular one here, of course, is right in the middle. Why would he keep focusing on this in the sight of God? He doesn't do that all the time. He certainly does it here rather consistently, and he doesn't let up. He had good reason, I think, to bring attention to this critical life perspective that everything we do is in the sight of God. Everything we do is in the sight of God. Now, what's to be our perspective about in the sight of God?

Well, one, it's reality. Ever seen somebody who doesn't want to live life in the sight of God? I don't want there to be a God. If there is one, I want one that's disinterested. If there's a God, I want one that's happy with everything I do and believe. That's the kind of God I want. And if there isn't one, I don't want him to know what I'm doing. I just would rather stay out of his sight.

Well, the reality is we're always doing everything in the sight of God. But the other part of it is this. It's about relationship. I do a lot of things in the sight of Nancy. Why? It's because we have an ongoing relationship. And so that's the other thing about being in the sight of God. It's about relationship. It's not about God being big brother or heavenly policeman.

Aha! Vern, I gotcha! Right? Now I've caught you. Boy, are you going to get it. Vern, you're going to get fried. You've done it again. Right? That's not what he's talking about. It's not God watching. He just can't wait to catch you doing something wrong. No, in fact, what he'd rather is he catches you doing something right.

And that comes from his life in us. It's not an accident, not at all, that this book, the one that says five times, in the sight of God or in the sight of the Lord, keeps pointing at God seeing us. And it also talks about us beholding Christ. That's right. It talks about us beholding Christ. He sees us all the time. And we're called to behold Him, too.

We had, when we went through 2 Corinthians 3.18, we did this expanded and explained, which gets, yes, rather wordy, but I think helps the understanding. This is the way we went through expanded and explained, and you also have it on page two of your handout as a slide.

But all of us who are in Christ with a face that is not veiled by the law, having died in relationship to the law, and living by God's amazing grace are right now continuing to behold as we read and hear the written word of God, seeing as one who looks into a mirror the glory, the radiant essence of who God is, the glory that comes from Christ himself.

See, we're not here to just pack our heads full of Bible knowledge. God, you know, seminary degrees, Bible college degrees, going through classes, all that by itself won't even pass heaven's gates. What will pass through heaven's gates is the beholding that we do of Him. That lasts forever. And here's why. We are, in fact, in the very process of being changed and transformed into the same spiritual character as Christ the Lord. growing from one level of Christ's glory to the next, from every part of this beholding and transformation is from the God-given ministries of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has a responsibility in our lives as we behold the Lord Jesus Christ to transform us in this glory to glory means growing, increasing in the glory of the Lord as we behold Him.

Now when we get into verses 13 through 16, Paul gets into some truth talk. What do I mean by that? He speaks in this passage about having said things that are by nature and character truth. It's interesting, he in this case doesn't use the definite article, but it's by nature and character the truth. Alongside those truth words are words with heart and depth and sentiment. Truth is not just dry, dusty, or cold.

It's like, okay, we believe in this. Blow the dust off, right? It's not like that. It is vibrant, alive, and deeply intermingled with the deepest things of the heart and the spirit. That's the character of truth. We have a few passages to take a look at here. Here's one of them.

First Corinthians 13, 4 through 7, if I take out the intervening part, basically says, love rejoices with the truth. Love rejoices with the truth. You see, love is not something at odds with the truth where we got to pick between one and the other. And truth is not just dry, but love rejoices with the truth. There is a depth of emotion and sentiment with it. There is a perspective about the truth that's founded in love. The response to truth from love is rejoicing.

Next here is Ephesians 4.15. It says there, But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects. How many? All. all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.

And I have to tell you that speaking the truth in love is actually literally truthing in love. It's truth as a verb. It's truth in action in love. Truthing in love, to put it this way, but truthing in love we are to grow in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.

Truth and love are not to be chosen between as opposites that you somehow got to say, well, they're sort of like oil and water and I just have to pick one. No, they are intended to be united. They're part of this very same thing. And finally, in John 14, 6, Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.

And that's a very important insight. Truth is personal. Truth isn't just facts and data. My hard drive knows a lot of truth in a dry data sense. It can't do anything with it. My hard drive is not being transformed. As a matter of fact, it's probably something else. But Christ himself is the truth, and it's truth that's personal. That's the truth that counts. That's the truth that counts. Now, we have this word obedience showing up here also in this passage.

Some Christians are inclined to shrink from the words obey or obedience, and in some respects that's understandable and correct. It may seem like legalism or just simply a kind of externalism, kind of like robotics, right? Just something you do mechanically or externally. It's even possible, and you may have seen this, some child is told by his parents to do something And they say, I'm doing it on the outside, but not on the inside.

That's not the character of obedience that Paul's talking about here. Paul, in the same letter that he said grace is now the reigning principle, began in the first chapter and ended in the last chapter with the phrase obedience of faith. Now, how could he say such a thing?

Here is, I think, the key insight. The Greek word that's translated to obey, or the related word obedience, means to listen and to place oneself under what is heard. You see the difference? It's responding by faith. That's the obedience he's talking about. Responding by faith. That's what obedience is. Not mechanical, not external application of the law. New Testament biblical obedience is listening and by faith placing oneself under the truth. That's what it is. It's actually very good news. Here's Romans chapter 5, two verses here. The abundance of grace, grace reigning in verse 21. And the key thing to remember is when we look at these passages here, Obedience of faith is not some external obedience. It's not mechanistic. It's not robotic. It is not outward legal conformity.

It's listening and then, in response, by faith. Listening and placing oneself under that truth. That's what obedience is. It's also something I think important for parents to get in their minds to when you talk about raising kids. You're not just wanting outward conformity. You want them to listen. By the way, if you're being parented, remember that. You want them to listen and you want to place yourself under what is being said.

That is ultimately a learning opportunity no matter what age we're at. To listen and place ourselves as a response by faith to what is said. He finally finishes with the same phrase in Romans, that obedience of faith, listen and respond by faith, by placing oneself under that truth.

Now, the next one here, rejoicing and refreshing. And one of the first things, when I say refreshing, it has nothing to do with computers. Rejoicing and refreshing are things that he, particularly with the rejoicing, talks about repeatedly in this passage. People tend to like the idea of rejoicing and refreshing. You say, do you like rejoicing about things?

Sure. Glad to be able to rejoice. Refreshing? Yes. That's all really good to have. Yesterday, some people helped Craig and Jessica with things around their house. And when it was time to get some water, it was very refreshing. So I understand, right? Refreshing is a good thing.

The source of this rejoicing and refreshing that Paul speaks of are from spiritual realizations. You want rejoicing and refreshing? You see, the difficulty is that the world teaches us to pursue the right circumstances for that. You want to rejoice, you've got to keep pursuing the circumstance so that you can rejoice and refresh. Paul focuses on something else here.

Spiritual realizations and progress, and by that I mean God's progress in our lives, are the true source of rejoicing and refreshing. Do we realize who we are in Christ? is something worth rejoicing over. It is refreshing to know who we are in Christ. That's not an external circumstance that is by God's doing an internal reality, a spiritual reality. To realize who we are in Christ. You want refreshing? This is a great realization. You want rejoicing? This is a great place to start.

The other part comes in Colossians 125 through 27. I'll focus on the very last part of that passage which talks about Christ in you. You are in Christ and that is something worth rejoicing over and it's refreshing, spiritually speaking, but also the fact that Christ is in you. You're in Christ and Christ is in you. Both of those are true. Isn't that amazing? Do we realize who Christ is in us? We are to get to know Him, the one who is in us.

In Romans 8.28 and 29, it says we are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.

Do we realize God causes all things to work together for good in order for that conformity to take place? It's important that we understand what God is doing. It is not God's job to simply make all of our circumstances nice. It's not God's job to make this room 70 degrees. It is God's task and something that He predestines that we be conformed to the image of His Son.

That we're conformed to the image of His Son is exactly the process that He has going on because of the things that He works together for good. Is everything that happens good? Absolutely not. There are some awful things that happen. But He causes all things to work together for the ultimate good that we're conformed to the image of His Son.

Paul in Romans 12, a few chapters later, says, don't be conformed to this world. And I think that's important for us to realize. God has predestined that we be conformed to the image of his Son. The world also has an image that it wants to squeeze you into. We need to realize that there is a conflicting, conforming process that the world would like to impose on us. We have, as we mentioned last week, died to the world.

He said, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And we've pointed to that earlier. The transforming process comes as we behold the Lord. The transforming process comes as we have the renewing of our mind from spiritual sources, from the work of the Lord in our hearts, by work of the Spirit. Do we realize what God is doing? Do we realize who we are and what God's doing?

That's the source of spiritual refreshing. and spiritual rejoicing. Not the circumstances. Those may come and go. Those may be good or they may not be good. But God has a process and an identity for us that He's got in mind. That's what He's about. That's what He's doing. That's what He's carrying out. Let's pray.

Lord, as we look at this passage, we see that You have a very clear intent and direction. And in fact, what You're doing all carries out into things that are beyond this present life, all carries out into things that are beyond our present circumstances. And we thank you for your great love shown to us in the things that you are carrying out in our lives, the processes that we're going through, whether being conformed or transformed into the image of your son. and also in us being in Christ and Christ being in us. We thank you, Lord, for these marvelous, precious truths. We thank you for that spiritual refreshing. We thank you that we have so much to rejoice over. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.