Fear of Unrepentant Wickedness

2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 14. 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 12:14 2 Corinthians 12:14

chapter 12, verse 14. The passage we looked at

last week, the beginning of 2 Corinthians chapter

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

12, is one of my favorite passages. I think that

there is a lot of strength we can gain from that

passage. Because life is hard, and just that

truth of God's Word, that His grace is sufficient

and His power is perfected in weakness, I think

we should be able, as Christians, to draw a lot

of power from that, to just trust in God even

when things don't go the way we want, even if

our prayers aren't answered in the way that we

desire, to know that God is gracious and His

grace will get us through. And so that's a good

passage that we looked at last week. Tonight

we'll continue on, we'll skip down a few verses

to verse 14, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse

2 Corinthians 12:14

14. Let's pray and then we'll get started. God,

we come to you tonight, we thank you for the

freedom and the privilege that we have to come

and to worship you. I thank you for all the folks

that have come out tonight. I pray that you just

would help us to feel your presence and to feel

just some comfort from being here, dear Lord.

A busy week, I'm sure, and different things going

on for different folks, but dear Lord, whatever

we've had going on, no matter how busy it may

have been or may not have been, I pray that you

would help us to be free of distractions and

worries and thoughts of the world. I pray, dear

Lord, that your Holy Spirit would be in this

place tonight, that you would help me to preach

and teach in a way that brings glory and honor

to you, dear Lord, that we would draw near to

you, God. As we read these words and let your

words do the speaking to us tonight. And I ask

these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Now we've

seen up to this point Paul, in a sense, we could

say is defending himself because some of the

people in Corinth are questioning him. But Paul's

desire, as we've talked about a few times throughout,

especially these last few chapters, Paul's defending

himself, but not for himself. He's really concerned

about the people. He's not concerned about what

the people think about him, but he is concerned

about the people. And he wants to make sure that

they know the word of God and that they're living

right. And we see kind of his heart for the people

all through the book, certainly. But we see it

here in these couple of verses. Paul says in

verse 14, Now I am ready to come to you this

third time. I will not burden you, for I am not

seeking what is yours, but you. And I paused

on that last part as I was reading through it,

and I was thinking, man, what a beautiful heart

I think we see of Paul there. He says, I'm not

seeking what's yours, I'm seeking you. I'm not

worried about what I can get from you. I'm worried

about you. I'm not concerned about anything else.

I'm concerned about you. My love and my care

is for you. I want to serve you. I want to be

here to lead you. I want to guide you. I want

to teach you. I want to protect you. I don't

want anything from you. I just want to love you,

and I just want to help you. And is that our

attitude in life? I think that maybe at times

it is. But I think that our natural inclination

maybe, our human side is, okay, I've got to get

to the top. I've got to do good at this and I've

got to do good at that. And sometimes in us trying

to get to the top, in us trying to increase ourselves

in whatever way it is, a lot of times you see

people just kind of step over others. They're

not concerned about other people. They're just

concerned about what they can do from other people.

And maybe we see that in some of our relationships.

Maybe sometimes we have that heart and that mentality,

okay, I'm going to help this person, not because

I desire to help them or not because it's the

right thing to do, but if I help this person

now, then maybe they'll help me later. And that

can be very dangerous. You can see a lot of corruption

when that takes place. I think we see. Those

very types of things taking place in politics

and in a variety of areas. And sometimes there

may be a tendency for us, instead of seeing other

people as just other people that we can serve

and we can help, perhaps sometimes we are tempted

to think, what can I get from this person? Now,

some people certainly are. And some people are

well aware that that thought exists in their

heart. And they prey on people. And they go out

and they seek people not because they love people

or desire to help people or desire to serve people,

but they go out with the very intention of, what

can I get from you? Now, we've seen some of these

people that Paul's talking about, these false

teachers. And it appears as though this is part

maybe of their problem, of whatever that these

false teachers are wanting, that some of it is

some monetary gain or some material gain from

the people. But Paul tells the people here, look,

I'm not seeking what is yours. I don't care about

your money. I'm not trying to get something from

you. I'm not trying to use you. I'm not trying

to do something nice for you now so that I can

call in a favor later. Paul says, I don't want

anything from you. I just want you. That's a

beautiful heart to have. It's that when we encounter

people and we are around people that we don't

go into any situation thinking, how is this going

to benefit me? Oh, I'm looking for a husband.

I'm looking for a wife. What kind of qualities?

Oh, they got to do this and they got to do that

and they got to make a lot of money because that's

what's going to benefit me. Or whatever it is,

there's tons of ways in which we may fall into

these traps of, okay, if I enter into this situation,

how is it going to benefit me? But maybe we need

to stop for a moment and we need to reverse those

roles and say, here's a person I'm fixing to

marry, or here's a person I'm going into some

type of business interaction with, or here's

a person I'm going to encounter on the street,

or here's a neighbor that's nearby. And instead

of saying, how can they help me, or what am I

going to get out of this, maybe we need to ask

ourselves, how can I help them? How can I help

them? How can I serve them? How can I make this

business relationship better? How can I serve

my husband or my wife? How can I be a better

spouse? How can I be a better man of God? How

can I be a better woman of God? How can I serve

God by serving other people? And that is the

heart that Paul had. Now, Paul, he goes along

with some of their their foolishness we've seen

that he says all right she won't boast in foolishness

well let me let me boast in foolishness and paul

he kind of he kind of gave in to him a little

bit just trying to get their attention he's even

gotten on to him pretty pretty sternly we see

that in first corinthians we see it at the beginning

of this book that he does get on to him pretty

sternly but it's not that paul is on a power

trip it's not that he's jealous because All these

people are listening to another preacher and

not listening to him. None of those things are

of concern to Paul. The only concern to Paul

is, I want you, and I want you to be okay. I

want you to know Jesus, and I want you to live

for Jesus. I don't want you to be a slave for

sin. I don't want you to get caught up in sin.

So Paul says, I'm not asking for anything from

you, but I just want you to be okay. He says,

for children are not obligated to save up for

their parents, but parents for their children.

I will most gladly spend and be spent for you.

Now, that's a beautiful idea. Now, most of you

in here have children. You know what it's like

to raise children. You know what it's like to

sacrifice for children. And Paul says here, children

are not obligated to save for their parents,

in my translation, but parents for their children.

We have to understand the context here a little

bit. By that self, we may say, okay, well, as

parents, we're obligated to leave some big inheritance

for our children. But that's not what the text

says. And in the context of what's being said

here, he's simply stating, okay, here's how a

parent and child relationship works. A child

is born. They can't take care of themselves.

It is the obligation of the parent. to provide

for the child. And some of your translations

may say, it may not say save up, it may say provide

for. And I think that's probably a more accurate

heart of what Paul's trying to say. And what

he's saying is, look, in a sense, I'm your spiritual

parent. I've led you to Jesus Christ and it's

my job. It's my blessing. It's my joy, I think

Paul would say, to see you grow in the Lord.

And so it's my job to provide for you and to

take care of you. I don't want anything for you,

but I want to make sure that you're okay. I want

to try to meet your needs and I want to try to

help you focus on the Lord. So he says, I will

most gladly spend and be spent for you. Now,

for those of you who have kids and now you have

grandkids, do you ever have to spend any money

on them? Yeah. Yeah, your bills go up a lot,

right? Because kids come, and boy, they come

out, they're this big, and then in just a few

years, they're this big, and every time they're

going from this big to this big, you've got to

get new clothes, you've got to get new shoes,

you've got to get diapers, you've got to get

all kinds of stuff. So you've got to spin, baby,

spin, and spin, spin, spin. You've got to spin

a lot. But if you have kids, Lord willing, You

joyfully did that. I know a lot of you did. Maybe

all of you that had kids. It wasn't easy. You

couldn't just go in the backyard and pick a few

dollars off the money tree. You had to work harder.

You had to get up and go in early. You had to

come home late. You had to do without so that

your kids could have. And Paul said, look, I

want to spend. It's my joy to spend for you.

It's my joy. I will most gladly spend and be

spent for you. Not only will I use all I have

materially, if I have to sacrifice so that you

can come to know Jesus Christ and follow him

more, I'll be spent physically. Paul was spent

physically. I mean, we just saw in the last chapter

all the list of things that Paul had gone through.

And he says, I gladly do this for you. I suffer

for you. And I give everything I've got for you

because I love you. And he says at the end of

the verse, if I love you more, am I to be loved

less? The people that Paul is talking to, we've

seen this struggle, this problem. It's like they

don't really love Paul anymore. They don't have

the same respect for Paul anymore. They question

Paul because he's not. as good a speaker. He's

not maybe as eloquent as some of these other

speakers, false teachers that they have. But

what he says is, I love you more. And I think

in these couple of verses, we see that. We see

in this language, we see the heart of a man who

loves these people like his own children and

who is ready to do anything and everything possible

to help take care of them. And why? Because he's

fearful that they're going to Turn away from

Jesus. They're not going to hear the truth of

the gospel of Jesus Christ. He's fearful that

they are going to continue to live in their sin

and that they're not going to stay in the straight

in the narrow way, that they are going to be

led astray. Now, I don't have a child, but I

can imagine that as a parent and as a grandparent

that there is probably nothing more rewarding

than to see your child succeed. and to see them

do well in school and to see them excel in their

sports and to see them get a good job and to

see them begin to get established and start their

own home and start their own family, I would

imagine that as a parent that you probably feel

more joy seeing your child succeed than you ever

felt in your own success. Now, I'm just guessing

at this. Y 'all can tell me I'm wrong after church

if I'm wrong, parents. But I think that that's

probably true. I see a couple of heads shaking.

That there's a great joy in seeing your children

succeed. But I suspect also that there's probably

no greater pain than seeing your children in

pain. than seeing your children suffer, than

seeing your children struggle, than seeing your

children lose their job, lose their home, not

be able to get on their feet, not make good decisions,

get into trouble. There's probably nothing more

painful than seeing your children in trouble.

And so Paul shows the joy that he has from saying,

look, I want you to continue to do well in Jesus

Christ. But he also addresses why at the end

of the chapter. In verse 20 he says, For I fear

that perhaps when I come, I will not find you

to be what I want, and I may not be found what

you want. There may be quarreling, jealousy,

outburst of anger, selfish ambitions, slander,

gossip, arrogance, and disorder. So this is Paul's

fear. Now, he gives a list of some things that

he's worried about in the next couple of chapters.

And these are some of the very things that he's

addressed in 1 Corinthians. And he has a fear.

He says, I want you to do good and I'm writing

you this letter so that you'll do good because

I want you to be safe and I want you to grow.

But I'm afraid that I'm going to come and you're

not going to be doing good. I'm afraid that when

I get there, you're going to be in bad shape.

And I don't want to see that. And he says, you

don't want to see that either. Because if I come

and you're not what I want you to be, then when

I come, I'm not going to be what you want me

to be. Because what Paul wants to do is come

and see the people flourishing in the Lord. And

that they can sit and they can eat and they can

rejoice and they can praise God together and

grow in the Lord together. But if Paul comes

and he doesn't see that, if he sees that there

is all kind of sinfulness in this order, then

Paul's going to have to address that in the same

way that a parent has to address when a child

is misbehaving. Again, I don't have a child,

but I would imagine it's probably pretty difficult

to discipline your children, but it's necessary.

Maybe that's why children today, a lot of them

aren't disciplined. I don't know. Maybe it's

because it's too hard. I'm not sure. But you

see the result of children who are disciplined

and children who are not disciplined. And Paul

knows the dangers. If he lets these Corinthians

just continue to do whatever they want and he

doesn't make any effort to correct them, then

it's going to be for their own demise. It's going

to be for their own destruction. So he says,

look, if I come, I'm not going to be who you

want me to be. Because you're doing good. You

make A's in school. You had a good day at school.

You go home and you can just play your games

and have a cool afternoon and you ain't worried

about nothing when your mom or daddy gets home.

But you get in trouble at school and you get

a paddling, you get home, there ain't no enjoyment

because you don't want them to be what they're

going to be because you know what they're going

to be. You're going to get in trouble. And that's

what Paul says. He says, look, you do good. It's

going to be a great day when I get there. But

if you don't do good, you're not going to be

excited about what's going to happen. And Paul

goes through and he lists all these things that

he may find. He says there may be quarreling.

jealousy, outburst of anger, selfish ambition,

slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder. Now

look at that list. Think about these things in

this list. Think about how bad a group of Christians

would be, a church would be, if these were the

types of things going on. Could you imagine if

every time you come to church there was a bunch

of quarreling between the people here? You had

a few here in this group and a few in that group

and a few in this group. and they all begin to

quarrel amongst themselves. If there were some

who were jealous of others, I'm jealous that

he got to teach that class. I want to teach that

class, so I'm going to try to promote myself

and make myself look better. And you get jealous,

and you start doing things that are not good.

Outburst of anger. One person gets mad at another

person. How dare you put red pews and carpet

in here? I wanted green pews and carpet, and

I'm not going to stand for it. People begin to

get angry with one another. People begin to be

selfish and worry about themselves. They begin

to slander one another. They begin to gossip

about one another. It's just chaos and disorder.

Imagine if that's what the body of Christ looks

like. Imagine if that's what a church looks like.

And sadly, some of us may not have to imagine.

We may have seen that in our life. Because sometimes

you see this kind of quarreling and anger and

selfish ambition and disorder in the house of

God. And that's what Paul is trying to stop.

He says, look, I love you guys and I want you

to do good and I'm trying to teach you and show

you and guide you, but I'm afraid that if you

don't listen to me, this is what's going to happen.

And I don't want to come and see this. Why does

he not want to come and see us? A church that

is quarreling and full of anger and arguing when

there is no love is not an effective church for

the Lord. And it may very well not have many

people who follow the Lord in it if that's the

heart of the church. And so Paul says, look,

I love you like a parent loves a kid and I'll

do anything I can for you. But I am fearful.

I'm fearful that if you listen to these false

teachers, if you continue down the... path you're

going down, I'm fearful that this is what's going

to happen. And Paul would be devastated. And

the work of the kingdom of God would be totally

ineffective among this group of believers. Paul

says in verse 21, he says, I fear that when I

come, my God will again humiliate me in your

presence or humble me in your presence. And I

will grieve for many who sinned before and have

not repented of the moral impurity, sexual immorality,

and promiscuity they practiced. He said, this

is going to be a humble experience. If I come

and I see disorder and I see you led astray and

I see sin running rampant among people who are

supposed to be God's people, he said, God will

humble me. It'll be a humbling experience. What

does he say? He says, I will grieve for those

who have sinned and have not repented. Do we

do that? Do we grieve for those who have sinned

and not repented? Is that what our world does?

Perhaps sometimes, but maybe not enough. We see

a lot of sin in our world today. And if we're

honest, even us Christians, sometimes we turn

a blind eye to it. We just pretend like it doesn't

exist. We don't address it. We don't acknowledge

it. We don't speak out against it. And we're

not grieved over it. And sometimes these sins

are celebrated. And that's the sign of a morally

bankrupt culture. of a morally bankrupt country

when we celebrate sin. But the sign of a healthy

people, the sign of a people who God can help

and God can restore and God can use are a people

who grieve over their sin and grieve over the

sins of the people around them. And Paul says

here, I will grieve for those who have sinned

and not repented. And he goes on and lists some

things that certainly must have been prevalent

there. Moral impurity, sexual immorality, and

promiscuity. So Paul knows that soon he's going

to go see these people. He knows how he wants

them to be living. He's told them as much in

the letters that we have and perhaps there are

other letters that we don't have that Paul wrote

as well. I'm sure very similar to what we see

in 1 and 2 Corinthians. And Paul says, I'm coming

to you. And you know what it's right. But I fear

you're still going to be doing what's wrong.

What about us? What if the Lord comes back today

or tomorrow? Coming back one day. We've got His

Word. We've got His instructions. We've got His

commands. Maybe we're following them pretty good.

Maybe we're not. And what a fearful and sad and

horrible thing it'll be if God comes and finds

us as a people of disorder, as a people of sinfulness,

who have not repented. Just as Paul loved these

Corinthians, as a father loves a child, so God

loves us. As our Heavenly Father, He desires

for us to be His children. Sometimes He gets

stern with us, as Paul does. The Bible says that

God disciplines those that He loves. Praise the

Lord. Paul disciplined the church of Corinth,

at the very least, in these words. But what will

be their response? What will be your response?

It's a beautiful thing to know that we have a

Father who loves us. Do you know that God loves

you today? Do you know that He gave His only

begotten Son? That's pretty amazing love that

Jesus would die for your sins. God doesn't want

anything from us. He just wants us. In the same

way that Paul spoke those words to the people

of Corinth, I don't need your wealth. I don't

need your riches. I don't need anything from

you, but I want you because I love you. And I

think the very heart we see of Paul in this passage

is the very heart of God. Let's pray. God, we

come to you. We thank you for these good words.

We thank you for Paul. We thank you for his heart.

Dear Lord, we see that he gets pretty worked

up. He gets pretty stern. He's not afraid to

address these things, but we also see his love

and his gentleness and his compassion, dear Lord.

God, we see these same characteristics in you,

dear Lord. You are a loving God, but you do want

us to do right. You do try to lead us in the

right direction. You do sometimes, dear Lord,

have to... discipline us and guide us and lead

us in the way we should go. So dear Lord, I pray

that we would give ourselves to you, that we

would know your love, dear Lord, that we wouldn't

try to earn your favor by what we can do, but

that we would just seek Jesus Christ and know,

dear Lord, that there is nothing that we can

do, that you don't want anything from us. You

just want us to be obedient and to seek you and

to follow you, dear Lord. I pray that you would

help us to have that same heart when we encounter

other people, dear Lord. That we don't go through

the world looking for what we can get from others,

but that we would go through the world seeing

how we can serve and help others that come into

our path. Dear Lord, help us to be on guard because

we are just as vulnerable as the people of Corinth,

dear Lord, that if we are not on guard, if we

are not obedient to your word, That all this

chaos and anger and disorder, it can take place

right inside this building, dear Lord. And we

don't want it. We don't want there to be sin

in our life that we have not repented of. We

don't want to celebrate sin, dear Lord, that

others around us do. We want to be grieved by

that. We should be, dear Lord. If we're not,

then I pray that we would seek you and grow in

you that you would make in us a heart that...

that would be grieved over such things. I pray

that you'd protect our church, dear Lord, from

the enemy, that you'd protect our hearts, that

you would help each one of us to make sure that

we are not one that can be used to bring such

disorder and chaos in this church. God, I pray

that you'd protect us and provide for us. Help

us to be a church that would seek you and that

would seek to love others, God. And I ask these

things in Jesus' name. Amen.