2 Corinthians 7:2-16, How Do You Respond?

2 Corinthians chapter 7 verses 2 to 16. Hear the word of the Lord. Make room in your hearts for us.

We have wronged no one. We have corrupted no one. We have taken advantage of no one. I do not say this to condemn you.

For I said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together.

I'm acting with great boldness toward you. I have great pride in you. I'm filled with comfort in all our affliction.

I am overflowing with joy. For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn, fighting without and fear within.

But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus. And not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you.

As he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.

For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while.

As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting, for you felt a godly grief so that you suffered no loss through us.

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment.

At every point, you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God.

Therefore, we are comforted. And besides our own comfort, we rejoice still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.

For whatever boast I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. For just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true.

And his affliction for you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling.

I rejoice because I have perfect confidence in you. May the

Lord add his blessings to the reading of his holy word. Well, how do you respond to threats, to fear, to insults, to criticism?

Fear makes some people respond just irrationally, makes them entirely unreasonable.

Once when I was swimming at the Y, a lady who was swimming in the lane immediately next to the side of the pool started to get cramps in her legs in the deep end.

And she feared that she was drowning. So she responded by playing about. The fear was so great, she couldn't see what was obvious to everyone else without the fear.

She's right next to the wall. All she had to do was reach out and grab the wall.

But all she could think about was, I'm drowning. And so she responded with panic.

In all my years of swimming, that's the only time I've seen a lifeguard have to dive in to save someone, someone who could have easily have saved herself, if not for her hysteria.

I think there's been a lot of hysteria over the last six months. You know, the whole toilet paper shortage thing was all because of hysteria.

How does the virus make us run out of toilet paper? I haven't figured that out. There's the fear of getting a virus.

Now that's not unreasonable. That's something you need to think about, take precautions about.

But the fear is so great, you can't reason with some people about it, about how to react to it.

If you see someone driving down the road alone with a mask on, you know, that's a sign that fear has dominated reason.

I mean, you don't get the virus from just being outside. You get it from other people. And so if you're not around other people, you probably don't have anything to fear.

I heard Dr. Fauci on television say that as long as you're separated by six feet, you probably can't spread or get the virus.

I assume he knows what he's talking about, so I'm going with that. That's why I'm not wearing one now. But try telling that to people who are convinced that we just have to, we have to lock down, we have to wear a mask, even if we are separated from other people, no assemblies like this, even if you do wear a mask, you can't do anything.

And it's all because of COVID. Some of them will react angrily at any attempt.

You try to reason with them. You try to allay their fears. You try to say, well, you can wear a mask.

If you can't, if you have to get close together, you can remain distance. If you try to be reasonable with it, sometimes they just get angry.

They're hotheaded about it. You're trying to calm them down, but they don't want to be calmed down.

The hysteria prevents them from being reasonable. On the other hand, some people respond out of pride.

You have some of those too. They're hotheads who react rebelliously against even the slightest challenge, what they think may be a slight challenge to their freedom.

You can't reason with them because they can't stand the idea of anyone telling them what to do. They respond to appeals to wear a mask, to stay at a distance, to wash their hands, to make changes in their habits, with rebellion, with defiance, because they don't want to be seen submitting to anyone.

They just assume. They're just sure that these people telling them to do these things are telling them for some nefarious reason to control them, to dominate them.

It's all about my freedom, they say. Today, they're going to telling us to wear a mask. And I've heard some people actually say this. Today, they're going to tell us to wear a mask.

Next, they're going to be telling us to get on boxcars, to go to concentration camps. Really? So if the store has a sign that says, mask required, they're not going to do it.

They're going to walk in there defiantly because it's their right, they say. Nevermind about anyone else.

Nevermind about the fact that you might spread the virus to them. Or maybe you just need to be a good example for others who might spread the virus.

You need to go along. Or even if such people, even if they're right, let's say they're right, and you don't really need to wear a mask.

Well, can't you at least put others at ease? Can't you at least think of their feelings, of their fears?

If you just put up with a minor inconvenience of putting on a mask. Some people respond by only thinking about themselves.

How do you respond? One of the few tests of a difference between a hypocrite and a true believer.

You know, both will do all kinds of things. They both go to church, they'll give, they'll do Bible studies and so forth. One of the few definitive tests,

I think, between a hypocrite and a true believer is how they respond to correction. A true believer wants correction, even if it hurts.

Proverbs chapter 27, verse six says, faithful are the wounds of a friend, profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

Hypocrites hate correction because the very purpose of their religion is to look good.

And correction shows where they're really not so good. And so they'll react hot -headedly to accusations, to criticism, to correction, storming out if they get corrected.

Hotheads react. They don't appreciate paradoxes or nuances, shades of differences that can make a world of difference.

They can't be corrected because they will just explode. They can't be reasoned with because they'll imagine all the reasons away.

They may seem bold sometimes, assuring us that we'll be okay if we follow them, but that's just because they can't see the little truths that upset their imaginary world.

Now, here in 2 Corinthians 7, we see a very different kind of person, the apostle Paul. And we see very different kinds of virtues that he's encouraging us

Christians to have, virtues that are sometimes paradoxes.

Three quiet, solid paradoxes. First, troubled joy.

Second, good grief. And finally, happy obedience.

All to answer the question, how do you respond to correction, to being troubled?

With joy, with good grief, or with happy obedience?

How do you respond? Well, here beginning in chapter 7, verse 2, the apostle Paul picks up from where he left off earlier.

2 Corinthians so far has really just been one flowing discussion. It's hard to say, you know, where to stop and start.

We have to somewhere. We have to somewhere. We ended at chapter 7, verse 1 last time. Here we are beginning in chapter 7, verse 2.

His relationship with the Corinthians has been strained. That's what he's trying to heal here. He's corrected them.

That's why he's strained. He scolded them. He made a painful visit and he sent them a harsh letter.

There are teachers in Corinth who are leading the Corinthians astray. They are confident, they are bold, they're assertive men who talk a lot about themselves.

Super apostles, they like to call themselves. Not so much doctrinally false teachers. Their doctrine may have been okay.

That wasn't so much their problem as something was wrong with their character, with their spirituality.

They were likely hotheads trying to organize the churches around themselves. Eloquent, maybe, good storytellers, but characterized by rash haste, a kind of sweeping simplicity, lack of thought and deliberation, covering their pronouncements with easy assurances.

Maybe a, thus sayeth the Lord, and you can believe them. Maybe shrugging off cautions, you know, with a glib answer,

I don't need to wear a mask. I'm covered with the blood of Jesus. That kind of person. They've been criticizing

Paul, some overtly, probably claiming, as suggested in verse 2, you know,

Paul has wronged you. He's corrupted you. He's taken advantage of you. You Corinthians.

Others, though, are much more subtle about it, subtly denigrating him. You know,

Paul, he's a great guy, but he's not the greatest speaker. He doesn't have great insights.

He doesn't have the mysteries we do. He's not so bold. He doesn't have the faith we do.

That's why he suffers so much. That's why he has all these problems, you know. He can't name it and claim it.

He can't command it away. We love dear old brother Paul, and we wish he'd learn our secrets of success so he wouldn't have to suffer so much.

The result of both is that many in Corinth were beginning to look down on the

Apostle Paul. Now, how would you respond if you were in his position? How would you respond to that kind of criticism, both overt and more subtle?

Here, Paul responds, not hot -headedly, angrily denouncing his critics and boasting of his great achievements and experiences.

He doesn't react hot -headedly, but warm -heartedly. Make room for us, in verse two.

In chapter six, verse 11, remember last week, he told them that his heart is wide open, but they had pulled back from him.

They've been closed to him. Now, to those who've pulled back from us, pride often makes us want to pull back and return.

They're looking like they don't care about me. I'm gonna look like I don't care about them. I'll respond reciprocally. Be cool.

And closed. Maybe some, they're a little hot -headed, but you're hot and angry. But Paul is warm and open.

He tells them to respond in the same way. Make room for us. In your heart, he's talking about.

Make room. Be affectionate toward us like I am toward you. Open up, reveal yourself. Put away this fake bravado.

You know, this look that you have it all together. That you don't need me anymore. That, you know, everything's fine. Me? Yeah, no problems.

You good? Yeah. And put away this pride that makes it look like I don't need you anymore.

That hides behind a fake humility. Yes, I fall very far short, they might say.

And if, I hope you'll forgive me and we can get all, we can all get along again. Something to basis for a good relationship is a false apology.

It's just too difficult. It's too complicated. Sometimes too painful to defend myself against false accusations.

Whatever the hotheads make up, whatever they reacted to. So I'll just humbly admit, okay, it's true.

Forgive me. You're right. I'll apologize for setting the hothead off. They'll forgive me when

I apologize and for what they think I did wrong. I don't really believe I did anything wrong, but I'm gonna say

I did just to patch things up and the relationship will be healed. I knew a pastor who said that to defuse a tense situation in his church, when there were some people there accusing him falsely and threatening to fire him, he responded by apologizing.

I'm sorry for what you wrongly say I did wrong. So they'd have to forgive him, right?

Because we all know we're supposed to do that. In the meantime, he was sending out resumes so we could get out of there. And that's all, that's fakery.

That's what you do when you don't really care about the other person, about the relationship or the good of the other people.

But you just wanna put up a good front and protect your career. And get out of there as soon as you can.

But Paul doesn't do that. He simply responds with the truth in verse two. I didn't wrong you. I didn't corrupt anyone or take advantage of anyone.

That's the truth. He's not hotheaded, but warm hearted. In verse three, he becomes almost embarrassingly affectionate.

Look at that verse three. Think how affectionate he is to these people, these Corinthians. I'm not condemning you.

You are in our hearts to die together and to live together.

Think of how intimate and attached that statement is. In other words, we're in this together.

We're taking up our crosses together. We're being disciples together. We're attached to each other. He's openly, plainly telling them what's in his heart.

There's no, what some people actually suggest for even for pastors, have a professional distance here.

You don't care. You gotta look like you care, but don't. Not really too much, because you might want to move off somewhere else when you get an open door.

But the Corinthians, and they may have actually preferred that from him at this point to be kind of cool and distant.

Some of them still reeling from his rough treatment of them. I'm boldly revealing myself to you now.

Paul says in verse four, I have great boasting about you. In other words, I'm glad to speak well of you to others.

I like to tell others about your positive things. I'm not running you down behind your back.

I'm not ashamed to have anything to do with you. I'm happy to be associated with you.

He's saying, I'm filled with comfort about you. Look at those verbs in verse four.

He says, filled, overflowing, filled with comfort, overflowing with joy.

And the joy overflows, even when we're in affliction, even when we almost despaired, he says, of life itself.

For him, that meant, I mean, it looked like he might be sentenced to death, to be executed.

And yet he says, in the midst of that fear, that trouble, overflowing with joy.

We'd almost given up all hope, yet still a joy. He says, because of you,

Corinthians, a joy because of you, flowed out into that affliction.

The great paradox, troubles and joy mixed together.

A joy that overflows into your troubles. Now, does this sound like they just came together maybe on Sunday mornings, that's all.

They kind of looked at the relationship with each other's, basically looking at the back of the heads of the person in the row in front of them.

Maybe they made a little small talk about the start of the football season before they headed to their chariot parked outside and went home.

Never really think about each other until next week. Is that sound like their relationship?

Obviously not. They had a real relationship together. Now, how would his correction of them affect that relationship?

For Paul, it didn't affect it at all. He's warmhearted. He's not hot -headed.

He explains in verse five that we had this trouble and joy at the same time, because when we came to Macedonia, that's just north of Greece, where Corinth was.

Corinth is in Greece. We had trouble. In other words, he was close by them. He wasn't with them.

We had trouble there. We couldn't rest. He says he has the trouble because of his thoughts about them, of their problems, about our relationship with you.

He says, fightings without, persecution, problems.

People tried to stone him. Fightings without and fears within. But even through all this,

Paul reveals himself. I was comforted by God in verse six. God, he says, comforts the downcast, the humble.

He comforts those not afraid to admit that they have fears within, that along with their joy is trouble, trouble joy.

God comforts the downcast. And Paul was comforted in verse six by finally meeting back up with Titus.

Earlier, Paul had made his painful visit to Corinth, sent them a harsh letter, scolding them for all kinds of things.

Then he sent Titus there to Corinth to see how they were doing, how they were reacting.

His mind was so full of concern for the Corinthians, he couldn't focus on his opportunities he had in Troas.

And so he went to Macedonia to find Titus so he could hear what's going on in Corinth to see how they had reacted.

Now, from Paul's point of view, he could hide all this from the Corinthians. He could be brave, he could talk about all his victories, about the converts he's made, the baptisms, the miracles, the changed lives.

He could pretend like he doesn't have a worry in the world, maintain a professional distance that some recommend.

Say, I was never worried about you. I knew you'd come along. I wasn't thrilled when I got good news from Titus because I expected it.

Everything's calm, everything's fine. He could be cool, but he doesn't do that.

He's warm. He openly admits that he was troubled and that he was joyous.

That's one of the paradoxes of the Christian life. Simplistic people tell you that as soon as you accept Christ in your life, your life goes from an unhappy face to a happy face, and that's all there is to it.

It's just very simple. He'll turn that frown upside down. You'll never need to worry about trouble or fighting without and fears within again.

Don't worry about it. It's all been passed. They'll say, some want to tell us that we can have all ease and comfort and happiness.

And there is filling comfort, and there is overflowing joy, but the paradox is that it often comes with trouble.

And that troubled joy comes because of the way here, many of them responded to correction.

Not as hotheads reacting emotionally with hurt egos. Who does that Paul think he is anyway?

But some at least responded with repentance by changing their minds, changing their lives.

How do you respond? Are you hotheaded or warmhearted?

Again, the key difference between the real thing and the fake is that a true Christian goes to church or gives or attends

Bible studies or takes part in evangelism because they want to be near the Lord. They want to serve him.

They want to be more like him. They know they have a long way to go and they're willing to experience some trouble to be more like him.

But the fakes are in it for the appearance, for the way it makes them look or the way it makes them feel.

And correction makes them look bad, exposes their sins, and it makes them feel bad about themselves.

It's the opposite of what they are in religion to get. So they hate it. They hate it with a passion.

The sheep, they don't enjoy it, but they know they need it.

You poke a sheep with correction and he'll go bah and move along.

Poke a wolf in sheep's clothing, especially a hotheaded ego -driven wolf in sheep's clothing, and it will snarl and bite.

Here, Paul is relieved. He's even overflowingly joyful. He says, despite all the trouble he's been going through, because many of the

Corinthians went bah and moved along. They responded well to the strong correction that he had to dish out.

They responded with the paradox of good grief. We often assume that grief is to be avoided.

You know, grief is always bad. We don't want anything to do with grief. Advertisers try to tell us that there's nothing to grieve about if you buy their product, that Coke tastes good and you'll get a girlfriend if you buy a

Harley Davidson. They don't tell you that Coke will make you fat and that the kind of girlfriend you get just for having a

Harley will give you a lot of grief. There is good grief. That's what the

Corinthians had in response to Paul's harsh letter in verse eight. Paul wrote so strongly of their sin that it caused them to grieve.

All of it, they went through a period of sadness, of grief because of Paul's intervention.

He made them, Paul had made them come face to face with their failures, with their sins.

And they grieved for a time, but it was a godly grief. That is a grief that is literally according to God.

It's from God. It's his version. His version of grief brings us to him.

It's usually a necessary stage in conversion and spiritual growth. The great

Puritan author, John Bunyan in his allegory, Pilgrim's Progress, begins writing his main character named

Christian. Okay, no secret what Christian stands for. Christian begins his journey by going through what

Bunyan called in 17th century English, the slough of despond, which means the slough is like a swamp.

So it's like, well, we might say the swamp of conviction or the bog of despair.

Usually we go through a stage when we feel deep conviction, when we feel our dirtiness, and it's often painful as we become more and more aware of our sin.

We'll be like trudging through a swamp as you feel filthier and filthier and knee deep in the mud of your own sinfulness, waist deep in the stagnant water and the decay, getting neck deep in muck and the mire of your own sinful nature.

Bunyan's picture of going through a swamp is a great picture of what it's like going through a period of godly grief, beginning to really grieve over sin and not proud of the quote, wild oats that they got to sow when they were young.

Like some people sometimes talk about whatever their past life, almost proud of the sins they got to do.

Not boasting about them, by writing startling books about them, like Mike Warnky, remember him? They are ashamed of them, ashamed of their sins.

As we often say in our preparation for the Lord's Supper, we learn to despise our sins as we examine ourselves and we see that those sins broke

Jesus's body and spilled his blood. On the way to grace is a swamp of grief.

This is why Martin Luther said, God has mercy on none but the wretched and gives grace to none but those who are in disgrace.

Godly grief is a stage on the road to life. There's worldly grief, a feeling of being sorry for getting caught, or maybe you realize after a while, maybe that sin didn't turn out to be nearly as fun as it advertised itself to be.

One of the reasons I'm skeptical about much of the white church in the South from the civil war to this day is that I don't see in much of Southern religion the fruit of godly grief that produces repentance, a changed mind and life.

There's has been instead an embrace of a glib superficial spirituality in which one can taste no grief, just say a quick prayer as a little kid, claim to believe in Jesus, never despise your sins or shed a tear over them, show no change of mind, no change of life, be a hothead who can't stand to be corrected, who just too arrogant to be teachable, who never thinks about others, thinks he can be a lone ranger out there independent of the church, only caring about his or her own rights, and yet assured that they are eternally secure and they don't need to be bothered anymore about any embarrassing questions about their relationship with God.

People who have never tasted grief have also likely never tasted life.

Godly grief works in us a change of mind and a heart that results in salvation.

But the kind of regret, the grief of loss that the world desperately tries to avoid, that leads to nowhere.

It works out to death. Like for Esau, Esau who finally was sorry.

Esau got to where he was sorry that he didn't believe enough in the promises to Abraham to keep his birthright. He felt bad over the outcome.

He hated the result of his warped priorities that caused him to sell his birthright for a pot of stew.

You know, he thought so little of it. He didn't care as much for it, God's promises as more than getting lunch.

He wept in sorrow over what that, the consequences of it, what that meant. But he never really repented of the lack of faith itself, of the warped priorities themselves.

Like the man who was sorry that his wife caught him in an affair, but not really sorry that he had the affair in the first place.

He hates the decisions he might have to make, whether to try to repair a broken relationship, a broken marriage or to go through a divorce.

He may hate the impact it has on his kids, but in the back of his mind, he's thinking, man, if only

I'd been so careless, hadn't gotten caught, could have kept it a secret. But for the

Corinthians, Paul's painful visit and harsh letter had produced in them a grief that led to life, that led to really hating the sins themselves.

They weren't just sorry that Paul had caught them in their sins, but they were sorry for the sins themselves. In verse 11,

Paul is jubilant. See, see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you.

Earnestness, sincerity, zeal. It's made them on fire for God again. It's produced a real revival.

Grief comes before revival. It's caused them to change.

It's caused them to agonize over their lives instead of being complacent. It's caused them to fear the judgment seat of Christ.

Instead of being so smug, they have nothing to fear. To now, they long, they are zealous for, they're committed to being right in every way to being pure.

That's the result of God taking us through godly grief, his grief.

How do you respond to correction? With troubled joy?

With good grief? With happy obedience?

Verse 12, Paul reminds them of what he wrote earlier, what he told them to do. Now, we don't know all the specifics of the issue, all the relationships and the things that are going on and the scenes behind this, but there was some controversy.

Somebody got hurt. He told them how to deal with it. He did that not only to settle the problem, but to see how they would respond.

How would they respond to correction? Would they be like a sheep and go bah and move along?

Or like a wolf, snap and snarl? Like a hothead who reacts out of emotions and hurt ego?

Or like someone who really wants to get better? God's commands in our spiritual leaders often exist and poke us to see how we'll respond, to see if we'll be eager to obey, if we'll have happy obedience.

I'm amazed that some Christians today, when they see a sign that says, wear a mask, recoil and rebel, as though next they're going to be carted off to Auschwitz.

Sure, it's an annoyance. I don't like it myself. I hate those things. But here's an opportunity to show that you're willing to be annoyed for the benefit of others.

But the carnal person thinks that in order to be happy, he or she must always be unannoyed, always get his or her way.

So just the term happy obedience seems to be an oxymoron, beyond really a paradox for them.

They think it's an actual contradiction to such people. If I have to obey, I can't be happy, they think.

We have our rights and we will fight for them, they say. Even if we're using our rights to deny the rights or the comfort of others.

Hot -headed and cold -hearted. But for the

Christian, there is happy obedience. Paul says he wrote to them so that they could demonstrate their earnestness, their zealous sincerity.

And they did before God. They demonstrated their earnestness before God and before him. That obedience made

Paul happy. We are comforted, he says in verse 13. Titus was happy because the

Corinthians had been responding so well. And Titus was impressed by, what was he impressed by? What?

Was he impressed by their bold, self -assured spirituality? We're super apostles?

No. He was impressed by their happy obedience. In verse 15.

That they weren't a bunch of hotheads trying to jerk them around just to prove that we're not being intimidated by anyone.

Not even by Titus or his so -called apostle. Instead, they had, in verse 15, treated him with respect.

Treated Titus with respect. They received his words, even if those words didn't make them look good or feel so good.

Paul was still happier that he didn't have to be embarrassed by all the good things that he had said about the

Corinthians. And that last verse, their happy obedience had given him, had given Paul great joy.

And he says, perfect confidence that they were sheep. They were warm -hearted.

Not hotheaded. They were heading the right way. Even if they had to go through grief to get there.

They were happily obeying because they really wanted to follow the

Lord. How do you respond to correction?

Well, that depends on why you're in this Christian life. Why you're in church right now.

If it's just to look good to others, you may not come to a gym. It's a small church.

You may want to go to a bigger one where more people can see you. But if it's just to look good to others and feel good about yourself, you're probably not going to happily obey.

You're not going to go through good grief. The whole reason is to avoid grief.

You're probably not going to be overflowing with joy in trouble. But that's the way of Jesus.

The paradox is that He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we could be right with God.

He had trouble. He had the worst trouble of all and in the midst of it, joy.

For the joy set before Him He knelt. He humbly, willingly to obey.

He agonized on the cross. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

He tasted grief. Not for His own sins, because He had none. But so that we could have life.

He admitted on His knees that He did not want to go through that grief. But He obeyed so we could be happy.

Now, how will you respond to that?