2 Corinthians Chap. 7

2 Corinthians Chap. 7

10/10/2010                                                                                                                                        Since (Therefore) we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

Having God’s promises provides powerful motivation for believers to separate from unbelievers. Paul’s use of the word therefore is a call for action based on what he has previously written in chapter 6:16-18

In verse seventeen and eighteen, Paul put together a collage of scriptures from the Old Testament.  "Having therefore these promises," that He would receive us, that we would be His sons and daughters, He would be our Father, So come apart from idolatry. Come apart from unrighteousness. "Be separate, saith the Lord, don't touch the unclean thing. And if we will, then God will receive us, be our Father, we will be His sons and daughters"

Those promises should elicit love, gratitude, and thankfulness for His overwhelming generosity.

 “I suppose that, the nearer we get to heaven, the more conscious we shall be of our imperfections. The more light we get, the more we discover our own darkness. That which is scarcely accounted sin by some men, will be a grievous defilement to a tender conscience. It is not that we are greater sinners as we grow older, but that we have a finer sensibility of sin, and see that to be sin which we winked at in the days of our ignorance.” (Spurgeon)

Now, Paul is talking in sort of a relieved way. Paul heard that there were problems in Corinth, that there were divisions there, and so he visited the church and his visit was a disaster. Yes, there were divisions, and they sort of polarized when Paul came. So Paul left Corinth quite upset. He then wrote a letter to them and sent it by Titus. And after he wrote the letter, he worried about that letter that maybe he was too severe. Maybe he laid it on them too heavy.

Paul’s Joy

² Make room for us in your hearts.

Now, in writing open your hearts to us, Paul returns to idea he left off with in 2 Corinthians 6:11-13.                 

¹¹ We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. ¹² We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. ¹³ As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.

The Corinthian Christians believed many bad things about Paul – that he wasn’t being used by God, that he didn’t have the kind of image or authority or power an apostle should have – but their problem was not an information problem. Their problem was with their hearts. Their hearts had been open to the world, great new carnal, worldly things, but not to Paul. In the “unequally yoked” passage, Paul told them to close their hearts to the world. Now it is time to open their hearts to him!

We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one. ³ I do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you. ⁴ I have great confidence in you; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.

⁵ For when we came into Macedonia, this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn—conflicts on the outside, fears within.

2Corinthians 12-13  12  Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, 13  I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.

2Corinthians 4:8-9  8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Here, in 7:5, the apostle returned to the events that followed the sending of the severe letter. When he came into Macedonia from Troas in search of Titus, his flesh had no rest (cf. 2:13). Nothing changed; he had no relief from his concern over the situation at Corinth. In fact, he had new concerns. What if the severe letter had made things worse? Was the breach with the Corinthians now irreparable? How would they treat Titus? Corinth, as Paul well knew, could be a hostile environment for a lonely preacher; would the church leave Titus to fend for himself? Lack of relief from the heavy burden of grief and concern Paul bore sapped the joy of his ministry.

It likely refers to those in Macedonia who wanted to get rid of Paul. They would have remembered him as the troublemaker who sparked a riot in Philippi, was miraculously released from jail by an earthquake, and then humiliated the city’s magistrates by demanding a public apology for being wrong fully imprisoned (Acts 16:16–40). Certainly, they would not have welcomed Paul back into their territory but would have applied great pressure on him to leave. As he anxiously awaited Titus, Paul was also beset by fears within. Phobos (fears), the source of the English word phobia, describes Paul’s intense anxiety over the situation in the church at Corinth.

MacArthur, John F. (2003-11-01). 2 Corinthians MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Macarthur New Testament Commentary Serie) (Kindle Locations 5172-5177). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.

⁶ But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, ⁷ and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever.

If you're discouraged, if you're cast down, if you're worried about a pressing situation, get your eyes off of that and get your eyes on to the Lord. Just begin to worship Him, tell Him how much you love Him. Develop your relationship with God, and you'll be amazed how the other things will just smooth out. Jesus said, "Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these other things will be taken care of" (Matthew 6:33). Isn't it interesting how that our minds are so filled with these other things.

And here, Paul experienced that comfort through the coming of Titus and the news he brought from Corinth. Paul experienced the comfort of God through human instruments. Often, by turning away from people, we turn away from the comfort God wants to give us.

⁸ Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— The Greek text reads “for an hour,” a metaphor for a brief period of time.

2Corinthians 2:2-4  2 For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? 3  I wrote as I did, so that when I came I would not be distressed by those who should have made me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. 4For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.

The pleasure of sin is brief while the sorrow it produces lasts; the sorrow of repentance is brief, while the joy it produces lasts.  A worthwhile saying.

 "Man, I was sorry for a while until I got Titus' word. I was really sorry that I wrote that letter, because I didn't know how the response was. And so at one time, I had really felt bad that I wrote it. Now I don't."

⁹ yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. ¹⁰ Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

"Repentance" implies a coming to a right mind; "regret" implies merely uneasiness of feeling at the past or present  Faussett

Paul makes a clear separation between sorrow and repentance. They are not the same things! One can be sorry for their sin without repenting from their sin. Sorrow describes a feeling, but repentance describes a change in both the mind and in the life.

Judas was sorry for what he did, as many people are sorry for what they have done. But if you're sorry and you keep doing it, that just brings death. If you're sorry and you don't do it anymore, that's repentance. Godly sorrow that leads to repentance.

Repentance must never be thought of as something we must do before we can come back to God. Repentance describes what coming to God is. You can’t turn towards God without turning from the things He is against. “People seem to jump into faith very quickly nowadays. I do not disapprove of that happy leap; but still, I hope my old friend repentance is not dead. I am desperately in love with repentance; it seems to be to be the twin-sister to faith.” (Spurgeon)

"The sorrow of the world" is not at the sin itself, but at its penal consequences: so that the tears of pain are no sooner dried up, than the pleasures of ungodliness are renewed.   Faussett

Acts 11:18  18  When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

¹¹ See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves,

Godly sorrow produces, and repentance shows, a clearing. It is a clearing of guilt and shame, from knowing that we have brought our sin to God, and we are now walking in the right way.

Greek, "pure," namely, from complicity in the guilty deed.

what indignation, what alarm (fear),

a fear that we would ever fall into the same sin again. Paul isn’t writing about a fear of God here as much as a fear of sin, and a fear of our own weakness toward it.

what longing, and yearning to see him and have their relationship with him restored.

This is a heart that really desires purity and godliness, and doesn’t want to sin any more. This vehement desire is expressed through heartfelt prayer and total dependence on God.

what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. ¹² So even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong or of the injured party, but rather that before God you could see for yourselves how devoted to us you are.

1Corinthians 5:1-2  1  It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2  And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?

¹³ By all this we are encouraged.

Encouraged to say the least!  Paul was tortured in his spirit that he had lost much of the Church from his ‘severe letter’ and here Titus shows up with great news of wide spread repentance!

In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. ¹⁴ I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well. ¹⁵ And his affection for you is all the greater when he remembers that you were all obedient, receiving him with fear and trembling.

Because of their repentance Titus’s spirit had been refreshed.  Their obedience had calmed Titus’s fears and caused him to develop a strong affection for the Corinthian church.

¹⁶ I am glad I can have complete confidence in you.

Their unity was especially comforting to both Paul and Titus since unity was at a premium in the Corinthian assembly. Their many factions (cf. 1 Cor. 1:10–13; 3:3–4; 11:18–19) resulted in the most chaotic church in the New Testament. But now they had come together, seeking to restore their relationship to Paul and hold to his teaching.

TABLE TALK

1.      Paul talks about his ministry being sapped of joy.  When was the last time you encouraged or said a good word to a Pastor or thanked him for bringing a message that inspired you?

2.      Sin crouches at the door; false teachers are everywhere, and Satan constantly seeks to destroy the work of God.  When was the last time you prayed for your Pastors?  Ed and I?

2 CORINTHIANS 6

2 CORINTHIANS 6

10/3/2012

A. The seriousness and character of Paul’s ministry.  1. (1-2) The responsibility of God’s great offer.

6 As God’s fellow workers we urge (plead, beseech) you not to receive God’s grace in vain.

1Corinthians 3:9  ⁹ For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

2Corinthians 5:20  20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

What an amazing job: workers together with Him! It isn’t that God needed Paul, or any of us. Instead, it is that God wants us to be workers together with Him for our good.

The gospel is a word of grace sounding in our ears; but it will be in vain for us to hear it, unless we believe it, and comply with the end and design of it. And as it is the duty of the ministers of the gospel to exhort and persuade their hearers to accept of grace and mercy which are offered to them, so they are honoured with this high title of co-workers with God.  Matthew Henry

Not to receive the grace of God in vain: The Corinthian Christians had obviously received the grace of God. They would not be Christians at all had they not received the grace of God. Yet, having received it, they were potentially guilty of receiving the grace of God in vain, so Paul pleads with them to not do this.  What does it mean to receive the grace of God in vain? It means to receive the goodness and favor of God, yet to hinder the work of grace in one’s life. It means to receive the favor of God, and to fail in what Paul spoke of in 1 Corinthians 15:10: But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

² For he says,

“In the time of my favor I heard you,
    and in the day of salvation I helped you.”^[a]

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

Isaiah 49:8  ⁸ This is what the Lord says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances,

The present time is the only proper season to accept of the grace that is offered, and improve that grace which is afforded: NOW is the accepted time, NOW is the day of salvation, MH

By quoting and applying Isaiah 49:8, Paul wants to give the Corinthian Christians as sense of urgency. God has an acceptable time for all of us to work with His grace. God has a day of salvation that will not last forever. This is no time for Christian lives all about ease and comfort and self-focus. It is time to get busy for the Lord, and to be workers together with Him! “No man has a contract with tomorrow!”

Paul’s Hardships

³ We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited.

1Corinthians 9:12  ¹² If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more?

But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.

⁴ Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; ⁵ in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger;

2Corinthians 11:23-25  ²³ Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. ²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,

⁶ in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; ⁷ in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;

2Corinthians 10:4  ⁴ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

Ephesians 6:10-18  The Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

The figure of on the right hand and on the left, is that of holding both offensive and defensive weapons. It probably has in mind “both advancing and being attacked.” “Particularly, the shield and the sword; the former on the left arm, the latter on the right hand. We have the doctrine of truth, and the power of God, as an armour to protect us on all sides, every where, and on all occasions.” (Clarke)

 ⁸ through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; ⁹ known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed;

2Corinthians 1:8-10  ⁸ We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. ⁹ Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,

2Corinthians 4:10-11   ¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.  Paul here reminds us that though we may think we are at the end of the rope, we are never at the end of hope.  Our perishable bodies are subject to sin and suffering, but God never abandons us.  Because Christ has won the victory over death, we have eternal life.  All our risks, humiliations, and trials are opportunities for Christ to demonstrate his power and presence in and through us.

¹⁰ sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.  ¹¹ We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you.

2Corinthians 7:3   ³ I do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you.

¹² We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. ¹³ As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.

Do Not Be Yoked With Unbelievers

¹⁴ Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

The idea of do not be unequally yoked together is based on Deuteronomy 22:10;  ¹⁰ Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.  It speaks of joining two things that should not be joined.

There is an old Greek saying: "The dice of the gods are loaded." That is, you cannot go against God and win. You cannot go against the word of God and win.

Now, this does not and is not limited to just marriage. It really applies to any environment where we let the world influence our thinking. When we are being conformed to this world and are not being transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2), we are joining together with unbelievers in an ungodly way.

This goes to many different types of yokes where you are brought together with an unbeliever, and you are always in an unequal situation. Watch it. You're always in an unequal situation if you're yoked with an unbeliever. You see, they don't follow the same rules that you follow. They don't live by the same ethic that you live by. And to lie won't bother them. To cheat won't bother them. To fudge won't bother them; but it will you.

Ephesians 5:7, 11   ⁷ Therefore do not be partners with them.  ¹¹ Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

And this unequal yoke, or ungodly influence, may come through a book, a movie, a television show, a magazine, or even through worldly Christian friends. Most Christians are far too indiscriminate about the things they allow to influence their minds and lives.  We all like to believe that we can be around ungodly things as much as we want, and that we are strong enough to ward off the influence. But we must take seriously the words of Scripture: Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits” (1 Corinthians 15:33). It needs to come back to the simple question from Romans 12:2: are we being conformed to this world or are we being transformed by the renewing of your mind?

¹⁵ What harmony is there between Christ and Belial^[b]?

Belial is a word borrowed from Hebrew, meaning worthlessness or wickedness. Here it is used as another word for Satan. “The term is used only in this place in the New Testament, but very often in the Old Testament, to express men notoriously wicked and scandalous.”

What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”^[c]

¹⁷ “Therefore come out from them
    and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
    and I will receive you.”^[d]
18 “I will be a Father to you,
    and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”^[e]

Says the Lord Almighty: The title Almighty uses the Greek word pantokrater, which means, “the one who has his hand on everything.” In the whole New Testament, the word is used only here and in the book of Revelation. Paul wants us to understand that it is the sovereign God of heaven who offers us adoption as His children as we separate unto Him.

"If you only love those that love you, what do ye more than others? Even the publicans do the same. But love those that hate you, do good unto those that despitefully use you, pray for those that persecute you; And so shall ye be the children of the Father" (Matthew 5:44-46).

Jesus is declaring, "You're to be different. You're a new creation." "The old things have passed away; everything is become new" (II Corinthians 5:17). And God now lays claim to you as His son.

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For he that hath the love of the world in his heart hath not the love of the Father" (I John 2:15).

TABLE TALK

1.     As a child of God, do you live different than a person who is not a child of God? You're expected to live differently. Living by different standards, living for different purposes.

2.     So what was/is your evidence you’re a new creation?

3.     Ever find you tried to “roll the dice with the gods?”