WWUTT 1682 Restrained by Your Own Affections (2 Corinthians 6:11-13)

You have everything that you need to be reconciled to God and to be reconciled to others. What's keeping you from being reconciled? It's got to be your own passions when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible study in the Word of Christ, that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Paul’s Open Heart and the Corinthians’ Worldly Affections

Thank you, Becky. So we come back to our study of 2 Corinthians 6. Picking up where we left off yesterday, I'm going to start reading in verse 11, and we'll go through verse 18. This is out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

The Word of the Lord through the Apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth. Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians. Our heart is open wide. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections.

Now, in a like exchange, I speak as to children. Open wide to us also. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Or what harmony has Christ with Belial? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has a sanctuary of God with idols? For we are a sanctuary of the living God. Just as God said, I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord. And do not touch what is unclean, and I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.

And this chapter is just as great as the last one. And in fact, there was something I wish I had put a little more emphasis on in chapter 5, but that's okay. It serves us well today, too, in the section that we're looking at.

So verse 11, our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians. Our heart is open wide. Now, think of where we just came from. This is right on the heels of how Paul had qualified his ministry to the Corinthians in verses 1 through 10.

We covered that whole section yesterday. So we talked about how in everything, we commend ourselves as ministers of God. That was in verse 4. And then Paul expounds on that. Here's the everything. Here are the ways in which we have proved ourselves.

We have shown ourselves to you as being ministers of God, in much perseverance, in afflictions, in distresses, in hardships, in beatings, in imprisonments, in disturbances, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in unhypocritical love, in the word of truth, in the power of God, by the weapons of righteousness, for the right hand and for the left.

That was verses 4 through 7 there, okay? And then verses 8 through 10 as well. Paul just goes on, qualifying his ministry. We've proven ourselves to you. These false teachers that have come in among you, they don't have this genuineness in the message that they proclaim.

They are seekers of themselves. They're preachers of themselves. They are not for you, oh Corinthians. So Paul is making this impassioned appeal for them. And it's so they will not be led astray by the errors of lawless men, as these false apostles are.

Paul is going to say later that they are agents of Satan. Don't listen to what it is that they have to say. So he says in verse 11, our mouth is spoken freely to you. We've not withheld anything from you.

A common practice among these philosophers that would enter into these cities, and they would proclaim some great philosophical revelation, like some new knowledge. We read about how in Acts chapter 17 that the Greeks just craved new knowledge.

They wanted to hear something new. So a philosopher would come into one of these towns, and he would proclaim something and kind of attract the people. Word would spread, hey, do you hear what this guy is saying?

Or even, he would be great at rhetoric. It may not be a new idea, he just knows how to package it in the right way. That sounds like he's selling something new. And so people would be attracted to that, they'd come hear him, and he would tease them with just enough, and then he would say, I'm starting my school over here.

So if you want to hear more about this, if you want to learn these ways, and unlock the secrets of the universe, it may not be put in exactly that kind of terminology, but that was basically the point.

You want to unlock all the secrets of the universe that you don't yet know? Come over here to my school, pay this amount of money, and you'll get to learn even more. So that was very self-seeking, of course.

It was turning rhetoric into a business. And so there were many preachers, including the apostles, who had to contend with that, especially when they would go into these Greek cities, because the people are used to hearing somebody stand up and proclaim something, but they want something out of this.

Like, they're selling something. And Paul is demonstrating to the Corinthians, this was genuine in what we gave to you. We gave ourselves to you. Hence that proving of his ministry in verses 4 through 10.

All the things that he and his missionary brethren had been through for the sake of those who have heard this gospel message, who have turned from sin to the Lord Jesus Christ. They've started churches.

Paul's not getting rich off of that. It's not like he's getting some kind of royalty. He's not getting royalty checks. Or what would be the other term for that? There's another R word. It's not commission.

Anyway, I can't remember. I'm trying to think of what a songwriter gets when he gets his cut. Royalties is the word we typically use. There is another word. That's what I'm getting hung up on. Anyway, so Paul was not out there planning churches to make himself big, that being the point.

He is doing this for the sake of the faith of God's elect, as he says in Titus 1 .1. So our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians. We've held nothing back. When you read about Paul sharing the gospel there in Corinth, when you read about that in the book of Acts, he goes to the synagogue first, as he does with any city where he would visit for the first time preaching the gospel.

First he does that in the synagogue. And the Jews would not receive his message. So he shook out his garments. He shook his garments before them, as though to kind of symbolize, I'm shaking myself free of you.

And he says to them, Your blood is on your own heads. From now on, I go to the Gentiles. And that was to say, You've heard everything, and there's no reason for you not to believe that Jesus is the Christ, but you're not accepting it.

So your blood is on your own heads. It's not on me. I've told you everything that you need to hear. So Paul is saying the same thing to the Corinthians here. We've said everything to you. Our mouth has spoken freely to you.

So we haven't given you a little bit, and now we're going to go start our school over here. So just give us more money, and then you can come hear more stuff. No, he's spoken everything to them. For their sake, for their benefit.

Our heart is open wide. We have not kept ourselves from you in any way. Look at the way that the apostles put themselves in harm's way for the benefit of others, so that others may hear the gospel of Christ.

So Paul is making that same appeal to the Corinthians. Just look at what we've done. And this has been for you. Our mouth has spoken freely. We've shared everything with you. Our heart is open wide. There's nothing that we are holding back.

There's nothing mysterious about our ministry or our intentions or our affections for you. They're all right there. You are not restrained by us, Paul says. This is verse 12. You are not restrained by us.

You're not limited because there's something that we've limited. You're not limited in your understanding of who God is because there's something we haven't told you yet. That's basically what Paul is saying there.

You are restrained by your own affections. So verse 12 again. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. Now, what does he mean by that? Well, because their affections are for worldly things and for worldly people instead of those who have come proclaiming the truth about the kingdom of God.

So they're going after these false teachers because their appeal, the false teacher's appeal, is all worldly. It's because they have flashy garments. It's because they're great orators. It's because they outright say they're better than Paul.

It's because they have these certificates of authentication, which we read about at the start of the letter. Do we now need letters of commendation from you, Paul says, because that's what these false teachers came with.

Look at these letters of commendation we have. So you know that we're genuine because we have the original certificates, a seal of authenticity. Here's my resume. Here's all of the famous people who endorse me.

Here's my conference list, all the conferences that I've spoken at, the best-selling books that I've sold. You've probably heard the stories about authors out there, preachers that have bought their way onto the New York Times bestseller list.

That was a big scandal with Mark Driscoll, because he used church money to actually play with the numbers, manipulate the system, so that his book would have... Privately, he bought more copies so that the book would appear on the New York Times bestseller list.

Now he gets to call himself a New York Times bestseller. And Stephen Furtick trumpets himself that way. I don't know that anything dishonest has been done there, but his ministry is certainly dishonest.

The message that he proclaims is not the gospel. It isn't godly. He proclaims himself. So we've seen this over and over again, people boasting about their own accomplishments, and they think that that is somehow a measure of authenticity of their message.

Well, if people buy what it is that they're selling based on that, then they are testing a person's worth by worldly means and not according to what the Bible says. Stephen Furtick is not a great preacher because there's tons of people in his church, and he's got a program on TBN, and he's made the New York Times bestseller list, and his videos get millions and millions and millions of views online.

That's not what makes him a great preacher. He's not a great preacher. But if you think that he's a great preacher for those things, then you are making that determination by worldly things, not according to what God's Word says.

If you test Furtick by God's Word, you'll find out that he's a heretic and a liar. So Paul is saying to the Corinthians, we've not held anything back from you. We've opened our mouth freely to you. Our heart is open wide.

You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained. You should be further along in your faith than you are. You should be growing more in maturity. Back in 1 Corinthians 3, Paul says, we could not address you as a spiritual people, but as infants, because they were not yet ready for the deeper truths of the Word.

They were still behaving as worldly people, and not as those who are mature in the faith. The way that he's talking here, in 2 Corinthians 6, which, by the way, is two letters later. There's another letter in between 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, that we don't have record of, but anyway, I talked about that back in our introduction to 2 Corinthians.

In that amount of time, there are still Corinthians there who have not grown from that. They're still immature. So he says, you're restrained, but you're not restrained by us. You're restrained in your own affections.

Your affections are for things that are worldly, for things that are dividing the body of Christ, instead of growing you in the body of Christ. And so this division that is there, it's your own doing.

It's not because we've held anything back from you. It's because your affections are for things that are worldly. You're being enticed by these false teachers because they're scratching your itching ears.

You want to hear worldly things, and so these guys are scratching that itch, and that's why you're going after them. You're restrained in your growth, and it's your own doing. It's because your affections are for worldly things.

Reconciliation With God and One Another Through the Gospel

Now verse 13, Paul says, now in a like exchange, I speak as to children, open wide to us also. So there's that again where he says, I speak as to worldly people, as to naturally-minded people, as he said back in 1 Corinthians 3, because you are not yet mature enough in the spirit to receive the deeper truths of God's word.

So I speak as to children, as those who still need to grow up, open wide to us also. What is keeping you from growing in your faith? What is keeping this church from growing in its affection to God and to each other?

It's because you're listening to false teachers. You're not listening to the truth of God's word, which comes from his apostles. So Paul says, open wide to us also, and that's not self-serving. That's for their benefit.

If you're receiving these false teachers more readily than you're receiving us, then you're not growing. You're growing further from God instead of closer to God. You're growing further from each other instead of closer to one another.

So I speak as to children, open wide to us also. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. That's the next part. That's verse 14. Before moving on to that, though, let me jump back a little bit, because I said at the beginning there was something I wish I had articulated more when we were in chapter 5, particularly verses 18 to 21.

I didn't say it there, but it still serves our purposes for today. Remember me saying that about 15 minutes ago? Okay. Here's what I had in mind. Here's what I wish I had said more of when we were talking about reconciliation.

There are a lot of people today that are using that word reconciliation. We go back to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 20. Paul says, We are ambassadors for Christ. As God is pleading through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Now, that is not a foreign word in our present cultural context. Even in a Western English-speaking world, there are many that are using that word reconciliation. But how do you hear it used? How do you hear the word reconciliation used?

You hear racial reconciliation, right? That's the most common way that word gets used in the Western English-speaking world today. And it's because of wokeness. It's because of the social justice movement that you hear this term racial reconciliation.

My friends, there's no such thing as racial reconciliation. No such adjective is attached to that word in the Bible. Especially when you consider that racism is a social construct. It's not really a thing.

Because people don't have races. We are a race. We're the human race. So just because the color of your skin is darker or lighter doesn't make you a different race. At what point does more melanin in your skin make you a different race than another guy?

See, the whole concept of race is just extremely ridiculous. It's like having color swatches out. You're trying to figure out where this guy is from because he's tanner than the other guy. We're all brown.

We're just different shades of it. One person has more melanin than another. But everybody is the same color of brown. Nobody's actually black and nobody's actually white. It's all varying degrees of brown.

Anyway, this is the way you hear this word used. Racial reconciliation. It has that adjective attached to the front of it. Something you never see in the Bible. So there's no such thing as racial reconciliation.

What we have are people who are divided from God and hating one another. That's what Paul says explicitly in Titus 3 .3. We were hating each other before we came to God. But then there are people who are reconciled to God and are loving one another.

They are the people who have believed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. For it is only by faith in the gospel that you can be reconciled to each other. That you can now love those whom you previously hated.

You love God whom you previously hated. You've been reconciled to God through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now you love God. Now you desire to do His way. Now God has poured out His affections on you. Because you're no longer a sinner and the object of His wrath, you are clothed in the righteousness of Christ and a recipient of His fatherly benevolent love.

So, in the gospel we're reconciled to God and we're also reconciled to the people of God. So there are people who are divided from God and hating one another. And there are people who are reconciled to God and loving one another.

And the reconciling power is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the only thing that will bring us together. Not wokeism. And not racial reconciliation. Because we're talking about racial reconciliation.

Where do you need to turn to be reconciled? You have to turn to the gospel. So if you're turning to the gospel to be racially reconciled, you're turning to the gospel to be reconciled. And now that word is useless and there's no point in using it anyway.

You cannot be racially reconciled before you can be reconciled. You're divided from God and from each other. And the only thing that is going to reconcile you to God and to one another is faith in Jesus Christ.

That's it. What Christ has accomplished on the cross for us, we who are divided from God and hating each other, by faith in Him, He has reconciled us to God. And reconciled us to each other. As we've been going through Ephesians chapter 2 in our church, in our sermon series recently, Pastor Tom preaching about how that Christ has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, making the two men into one.

So where previously we were Jew and Gentile, now we're reconciled into one people of God through faith in Jesus Christ. This is the way Paul is appealing to the Corinthians as well. Our mouth has spoken freely to you, our heart is open wide, you're not restrained by us, you're restrained by your own affections, your own worldly affections.

Now in a like exchange, I speak as to children, open wide to us also, that you would be reconciled to God. This appeal, the way that he makes this appeal in chapter 6 verse 13, very similar to the impassioned plea that he makes in chapter 5 verse 20.

As God is pleading through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. And my friends, if you want to see reconciliation in this world, and reconciliation of any kind, racial reconciliation, okay?

You want to see reconciliation among people of different ethnicities, okay? Maybe that's what you're after. Maybe you need reconciliation in your marriage. Maybe you need reconciliation in friendships, or at work, other members of the family, whatever, whatever it might happen to be.

The way we are reconciled to God, and to one another, is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if we're reconciled to God, we will be reconciled to the people of God also. It doesn't mean that there won't be divisions in your life anymore, because there are still people that hate God and the gospel, and they're going to be divided from you.

Hence, Paul getting to the next statement in verse 14, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. I'm going to have to pick up on that part tomorrow, because we're out of time today. But otherwise, to say to you, the repairing that our worldly relationships need is in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Only in Christ can we be unified to each other. Your marriage probably needs work. It starts with the gospel. Your friendships, other relationships need work. It starts with the gospel, and it's going to begin with you turning from your sin to Jesus Christ, and being reconciled to God.

And those others who have likewise turned to Christ will be reconciled to God, and you will be reconciled to each other. Separate people made one body in Christ by his gospel. What he has accomplished for us with his death on the cross, his resurrection from the grave, his ascension into heaven, and being seated at the right hand of God.

He reconciles us to God and to his people when we worship him. So let's finish up there. We'll come back and pick up right there. Verse 14 tomorrow. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the mercy that you show to us.

We don't deserve it, but you have shown your kindness to us anyway. And I pray that we would continue to grow in our knowledge of these things. We would continue to grow in the knowledge of God, and we grow in our affections for God, and so likewise we grow in our affections for each other.

We have affection for people, even that are lost, so that they may hear the gospel and be reconciled to God, and be reconciled to the people of God. Help us to understand this ministry of reconciliation so that we realize that the change that needs to happen in our world can only happen by the power of the gospel.

And we proclaim these things to see people saved and reconciled. Work out this salvation in our lives, Lord God, as we grow in our knowledge of the truth and our affection for who you are. It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen. For more about our ministry, visit us online at www .utt .com.