Second
Corinthians 7:3
Paul wrote to the believers in the city of
One more time Paul mentions just how difficult of a task it was
for him to pursue spreading the gospel and teaching the truth in the city of
Corinth and other places in the same region of Macedonia. Paul described the
spiritual battles and the opposition that he faced when he said, our flesh had no rest, but we were
troubled on every side: without were fightings,
within were fears. There
will be attacks from without and there will be attacks from within. You must be
ready for both. The attacks from without are the physical and material things
that go against you: they include your finances, your health, relationships
with other people. The attacks from within are called fears. You will either
fear or you will have faith. You will not have both. The one will cast out the
other. But the fears will come to tear down your faith: the negative thoughts,
the thoughts that things just will not work out for you. Do not let the fears
win. Remember the promises. God cannot lie. He may do not things when and how
you would like, but He will keep His promises.
One of the promises that God has made is that He will comfort
those who suffer. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, Blessed are those that mourn, for they
shall be comforted. Paul
wrote here in Second Corinthians 7:6, God, that comforteth those that are
cast down. There are great
tragedies that people can suffer in this life, but no matter how great is the
sorrow, there is one who is closer than a brother and who can always find a way
to comfort the bereaved. Do not ever think that someone has suffered so greatly
that they never can be comforted. God is able. That is why it says here, without were fightings,
within were fears. Nevertheless God...
Notice the method that God used to comfort Paul. Paul said that
God comforted him by the
coming of Titus. In one way
this demonstrates the importance of Christian fellowship. Jesus is in me, but
He is also in you if you are a believer; and Jesus just might speak through you
to encourage my heart. If I am not around you and if I do not hear what you
have to say in the Lord, then I will not gain the godly comfort or the
encouragement that I would have gotten. Forsake you not the assembling of yourselves together. The information that Titus gave to Paul
that was such a joy to him had to do with the believers in Corinth. The things
that Paul had been suffering for Christ and for the gospel were not in vain.
Remember when Jesus said, There
is more joy in heaven over one sinner that repents than over ninety and nine
just persons that need no repentance? We can know a similar joy when we see that our lives had a part
in people growing spiritually. As we follow Christ there are things that we
suffer only because we follow Him. One thing that makes it worth it all is when
we see that God used us in the lives of others. The spiritual condition of
others is what is important because of the value of their spirit.
Paul spoke of the joy that he had in seeing the spiritual progress
in the lives of the Corinthians and he wrote in Second Corinthians 7:7-10, And not by his coming only, but by the
consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest
desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the
more. For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did
repent; for I perceive that the same epistle has made you sorry, though it were
but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed
to repentance: for you were made sorry after a godly manner, that you might
receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance not to be
repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
Paul spoke of a previous letter that he wrote to the Corinthians.
Of course, we call it the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. A good part
of the first epistle is a scathing rebuke of the spiritual failures and
wrong-doing of the believers at Corinth. The first thing that Paul rebuked them
for was the divisions that had come in among the church at Corinth. Paul wrote
to them in First Corinthians 1:10, Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among
you; but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment. Christians are
supposed to love one another and be united. That is the way it is supposed to
be. What causes the divisions? Several things listed in First Corinthians tell
us the cause of divisions. Christians that are carnally minded instead of
spiritually minded cause divisions. Also, Christians that are followers of men,
even good Christian men, instead of followers of Christ will cause divisions.
There is another thing that causes divisions and that is a lack of
forgiving others when they need to be forgiven. One of the big problems that
had existed when Paul wrote the first epistle was a particular sin that had
been committed by an individual in the church. Paul wrote about this sin in
First Corinthians 5:1 where it says, It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and
such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should
have his fathers wife. Returning back to the book of Second Corinthians, we see
that the teachings of Paul and the rebuking by Paul had a positive effect. The
reason that they had a positive effect is because of the reaction of the
believers to the rebukes.
Paul said in Second Corinthians 7:9 that they sorrowed to repentance. That is the best kind of sorrow to
have: sorrow because of your sins that leads you to repentance. If you have
sinned, then you need one thing: repentance from your sin. Jesus said, Except you repent, you shall all likewise
perish. Notice that there
are two kinds of sorrow. The Bible says in Second Corinthians 7:10, For godly sorrow worketh repentance to
salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
There is a certain kind of sorrow that is true sorrow all right,
but the Bible calls it the
sorrow of the world. Great
tragedies can happen to people, and they will happen, and they cause great
sorrow. It is genuine sorrow, and God knows and He can help you. But you had
better be careful about how you handle that kind of sorrow. It can easily
become the sorrow of the world. It can depress you, it can make you feel sorry
for yourself, it can steal your joy and even your will to live, and it will
eventually lead to death. You will either learn to take your sorrows to Jesus
and leave them there, or you will take your sorrows to the grave. In order to
have the joy of the Lord to be your strength, you must turn away from the
sorrow of the world.
There is one kind of sorrow that will have a good benefit: godly
sorrow. That is the kind of sorrow that the Corinthians had. Godly sorrow will
lead you to repentance. You will be sorry that you sinned, you will be sorry
that you failed God and the Savior, and your sorrow will bring you to the feet
of Jesus where you will ask Him for forgiveness. That is the good result of
godly sorrow. Once you have repented of your sins, you will have joy again: the
joy that comes from knowing that your sins are forgiven and the joy that can
only come when you are rightly related to the Savior and are walking in
fellowship with Him. David said in the Psalms, Restore unto me the joy of my salvation.
Repentance from sin will fix a tremendous number of problems in
the lives of people who need to repent. Some of the good benefits from
repenting that the Corinthians had are listed in Second Corinthians 7:11. It
says, For behold this
selfsame thing, that you sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it
wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea,
what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all
things you have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
The first thing that repentance accomplished in the Corinthians
was carefulness. Carefulness refers to earnestness and
diligence. This refers to an earnestness and a diligence for the things of God.
When you repent you are turning from your sins and turning to God. If someone
does not have an earnestness and a diligence for the things of God, it may very
well be that they need to repent of something. Another good result among the
Corinthians is what is called here clearing of yourselves. This refers to
what the Corinthians had to say. The same word is used in First Peter 3:15
where it says, be ready
always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that
is in you
It says in the
Psalms, Let the redeemed
of the Lord say so. If
Christians have a speech problem and if they are not saying things that they
ought to be saying, maybe they need to do some repenting.
Paul said that the Corinthians had indignation. They had indignation against sin. They grieved at it. They disliked
it. The people of the world enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. God hates
sin. If you become rightly related to God, you will also. You will love the
sinner, but you will hate the sin. Because they had sorrow at their sin and
repented, the believers in Corinth had indignation at sin, and they had fear.
They had a fear of God, a reverence and respect for God, and they had a fear of
sin and the consequences of sin. Watch out for the lies of the world. The world
will keep telling you that there are benefits to the sinful, selfish, and
self-centered actions and life-styles that they pursue. But do not listen to
the lies. Have a fear of God, who punishes evil-doers and who brings to nothing
the way of the wicked.
Paul mentioned once again how greatly the hearts of the
Corinthians had been turned towards God because they repented. He said of them,
Yea, what vehement desire,
yea, what zeal. What needs
to happen that would cause people to have a vehement desire and a zeal to serve
God? They need to repent of their sins. Sin is the problem of the world. The
judgment is coming. The horrible result of all the sins are mounting up. People
have hard hearts and selfish hearts. They need to repent and turn to God.
The last word in this passage that the Bible uses to describe the
Corinthians is the word revenge. It refers to vindicating ones self
from ones wrongs. If you are guilty and someone accuses you, then you are in
big trouble. You are susceptible to suffer all the punishments that the law can
throw against you. But once you repent, you are vindicated just as someone
would be who is totally innocent. Once you repent and are forgiven, some may
still attempt to condemn you, but God will not and you should not condemn
yourself either.
Just make sure that you offer the same forgiveness to others that
has been given to you. Another reason for the divisions among Christians is the
lack of forgiving one another. People will sin because they still possess a
sinful nature. Do not allow a root of bitterness to come up between you because
you are unwilling to forgive. Jesus told us to pray, Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive
those who trespass against us.
If you have not been forgiven of your sins, today you could repent
and turn to Jesus and ask for forgiveness.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2003 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved