The Power of Love in Restoration

2, verse 5 is where we will start. Last week,

Paul was writing to let the people of Corinth

know why he didn't return as he had originally

said he was going to, and we don't know exactly

the situation, but there were some things going

on, and Paul said the reason why he did not come

is because he didn't want to caused pain to them

because he knew if he'd come, he would have to

discipline them. And we see that same idea in

1 Corinthians. We see Paul bringing discipline

toward the Corinthian people for some things

that were going on. And it appears as though

there were still some things going on that Paul

has addressed, maybe some in the 1 Corinthians

that we have or maybe even some other letters

that we don't have. But last week, it was pretty

strong language about... And Paul used strong

language in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 where he

1 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

talked about one in the church that was in sin

that they needed to hand over to Satan so that

that person may be saved. Now, what exactly that

means is hard to say, but there was some discipline

there that I think Paul was saying, look, you've

got to get this one away from you. If he's going

to continue to live in sin and be unrepentant,

You have to address that. That's not healthy

for the church. And so we know that Paul is pretty

strict on some occasions. And we also see similar

language in 2 Timothy chapter 1. You may remember

2 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

when we talked about a couple of guys that he

talked about handing them over to Satan so that

they may be taught not to blaspheme. And so Paul

really hits home on a few occasions about the

necessity of discipline. But this part of the

letter that we're getting to tonight is kind

of the flip side of that. Paul is not just some

disciplinarian who's wanting to come in and just

always get on everybody all the time and be some

authoritarian that tells everybody they're doing

everything wrong. That's not his heart. And we

see his heart at the end of the verses we looked

at last week when he says, look. I didn't come

to you because I do not want to hurt you. I do

not want to cause you pain because it causes

me pain. And he said, look, I write this with

anguish and tears because I don't want to see

you guys. I don't want to see some troublemakers

among you. I don't want to see sin popping up

among you. I don't want to see your fellowship

and other brothers and sisters in Christ stumble

and fall into the traps of Satan because of these

things that are going on. Paul says, for this

reason I delayed my coming, because when I'll

come to you, I don't want to have to come to

you too harshly, because that wouldn't be good

for either of us, he said. And so with that in

mind, we kind of shift gears to a kind of a more

uplifting idea that we see in what he writes

tonight. So let's pray, and then we'll get started.

God, we come to you. We thank you for your word.

And I pray that we would soak it in, that we

would get it, that we would understand it, that

your Holy Spirit would be with us and free us

from the worries and the things of the world

that are on our mind tonight. I pray that you

would just lead us, that you would speak through

me, dear Lord. There's no good word I can speak

if it does not come from you. So I pray that

your Holy Spirit would be among us and bless

this word. In Jesus' name I ask it. Amen. 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 2:5

2, verse 5. If anyone has caused pain, he has

caused pain, not so much to me, but to some degree,

not to exaggerate, to all of you. The punishment

inflicted by the majority is sufficient for that

person. All right, so... Apparently there's somebody

or maybe multiple people. He's real vague here.

We don't have any specifics. Maybe he's referencing

somebody that we see talked about in chapter

1. Some have suggested that maybe he's talking

about the same person that was addressed in 1

Corinthians 5. Maybe he is, maybe he's not. It's

hard to know exactly. It doesn't really matter

who it is. But there is somebody or maybe multiple

people who have been causing trouble, who have

been causing problems. And he says if anyone

caused pain, he caused pain not so much to me

but to some degree to all of you. And so what

he's saying here is that when there's a body

of Christ and there's one person in that body

or some people in that body who are living in

sin, unrepentant sin, or causing trouble or causing

chaos among the body of believers, it brings

pain on everybody. The things that we do, we

don't do them in a vacuum. It's not just things

that we do that affect us. The things we do affect

other people. The things that we do as a church,

as individuals, when we go out into the world

and act a certain way and do a certain thing,

and people know that you go to Enterprise Baptist

Church, that's going to have an effect. If you've

got two or three people in the church that are

going out acting a certain way, not behaving

appropriately, acting a fool, then guess what?

People are going to start to question, hey, you

know, they go to Enterprise Baptist Church, and

they go to Enterprise Baptist Church, and that's

going to cause sometimes conflict and all kinds

of problems within the church, and people begin

to take sides. The same goes for me as a pastor.

If I go and do something, then that's going to

leave a stain on the church. And people are going

to hear about things that we do. Even if we do

them as individuals, that's going to turn people

off from being part of this body, from being

part of the work that God calls us to in the

ways that God calls us to serve. And so Paul

says, look, whoever it is that's causing trouble,

he says it's not just bringing pain to me, but

it's bringing pain to everybody. The whole church

of Corinth, all of the believers there, it's

caused trouble. It's caused pain. And Paul doesn't

want that to be the case. He doesn't want to

see chaos among the body of Christ. We should

not want to see chaos among the body of Christ.

We have to always check ourselves and examine

our lives to make sure that we're doing okay.

And sometimes we don't do good. And sometimes

we do things we shouldn't or say things we shouldn't.

And sometimes we're not a good example of what

a Christian should be. And that's not good for

us. And it's not good for our body. We don't

want to be one who causes conflict amongst other

brothers and sisters in Christ that we worship

and serve with. And listen to what he says in

verse 6. The punishment inflicted by the majority

is sufficient for that person. they had punished

this person who had been doing wrong, who had

been living in sin. And rightfully so. Paul had

said on some occasions, as we've discussed it,

there are times that discipline is necessary.

And now he says to them, this person or these

people have been disciplined, and the discipline

they have received is sufficient. The punishment

they receive by the majority. That is, there

were a few that were bad or maybe only one that

was bad. And the majority of the believers had

come together and they had addressed this problem.

They had talked to this brother or this sister

in Christ. And they had acknowledged that what

you're doing is not right. There was some discipline,

some punishment that took place. And Paul says

the punishment that's taken place is sufficient.

There needs to be no more punishment. And listen

to what he says in the next verse. As a result...

you should instead forgive and comfort him. Otherwise,

this one may be overwhelmed by excessive grief.

Therefore, I urge you to reaffirm your love to

him. Now, this is the other side of the coin

of discipline. You never want to just be one

who is just a tyrant that's just discipline,

discipline, discipline. Getting on everybody

for every little thing. Boy, we could point out

all kinds of little stuff that everybody does

if we wanted to be that way. But that's not what

Paul is talking about. He's not just saying we

should be these strict disciplinarians. He's

saying, look, sometimes, and hopefully not very

often. And it shouldn't be very often in a body

of Christ, of people who love the Lord. But sometimes

you're going to have a person. It's inevitable.

The best church, you're just going to have people

that are going to cause some trouble, that are

going to be doing some things that are not healthy

for them and that are not healthy for the church.

And in those situations, Paul says, deal with

them. But he says here, look, once it's been

dealt with, don't just keep beating the poor

boy up. There comes a time where you have to

forgive that person. You have to give them grace.

Once they get to a point when they've received

the discipline and they repent, and it sounds

as though this person has repented and Paul is

giving them instructions as if they had. Look,

this man has repented. Therefore, you need to

show him a little grace. It says you need to

forgive him and you need to comfort him so that,

He may not be overwhelmed by excessive grief.

Now think about this for a second. Now probably

most of us in here got a whipping when we were

little, and a lot of you have whipped a child

or a grandchild, and there are times when you

need to have that discipline, and it's effective.

But if your child or your grandchild or your

dog does something that they shouldn't do, and

you discipline them, It doesn't take much and

you start to see a reaction there. There probably

starts to be some tears. There probably is an

apology. Maybe it's genuine. Maybe it's not.

But it probably is usually after a couple of

licks with that belt. And I'm sorry. I didn't

mean to do it. I'll never do it again. I won't

do it again. Well, that's what you want. You

want people who receive discipline to know. This

is not acceptable. This is not healthy. This

is not good. And when they have that spirit of,

okay, I know I was wrong. I won't do it again.

I've learned my lesson. Well, that's what Paul

is getting to here. He says, look, this guy's

learned his lesson. It's just like when our little

dog, whenever she was young and she would do

stuff she wasn't supposed to do, we'd have to

discipline her a little bit, and we'd teach her

not to eat the cords that go to the lamp. Why?

Well, one, I got tired of patching lamp cords

and putting them back together. But two, I don't

want her to bite into a cord to get electrocuted.

So we had to discipline her several times. But

we didn't just keep beating her every day when

we got in because that's just going to cause

somebody or some animal to be afraid. If you

just keep on beating your kids all the time,

that's not discipline, that's abuse. And Paul

says here, look, don't abuse this person. You've

dealt with the problem and so be it. It's good.

They've learned their lesson. But once somebody

has learned their lesson, you have to see on

the other side of discipline, there has to be

grace and there has to be mercy and there has

to be comfort. There has to be some love or else

this person is just going to feel excessive grief.

Now, it wouldn't have made for a healthy church.

if the people of Corinth would have continued

every time they see this person just to give

them the evil eye and to look down on them and

say, I can't believe you did that. That would

not have been a healthy thing. That's not what

Paul wants to do. That's not what we should do.

And maybe sometimes we're guilty of that, of

somebody who's already repented. They've already

acknowledged they're sorry. They cannot change

what they did. They cannot go back in time, but

they're to a point where their heart regrets

it, and they're not doing it anymore, and they

don't want to be involved in it anymore. And

you can't just hold something against somebody

forever and ever and ever. You have to embrace

them with love. And so many times I hear parents

that have talked about when they give their kid

a whipping, they hug them afterwards. They show

them that discipline, but then they show them

that love. And they hug them and they say, look,

I love you. I don't want to do this to you, but

you can't do that. I've seen Michelle do it plenty

of times with our little pup. Boy, she'd get

Portia for eating those cords. And you know what

she'd do after that? Portia, you could tell she

learned her lesson. She could tell she got it.

And Michelle would pick her up and she would

just hold her. And Portia would just sit there.

And so you've got to show on the other side of

that discipline, yeah, what you're doing is not

right, but I still love you. And I'm telling

you these things because I want you to be healthy

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

And that's what he tells the church here. You've

got to take care of problems when there's problems,

but don't get hung up on that. You've got to

show some grace. You don't want anybody to be

overwhelmed with the burden of their sin. You

want them to experience the freedom in Christ

and the love of the congregation. They need to

be part of the body and they need to be welcomed

back in with open arms. That's what Paul is telling

them here. He continues on. Therefore, I urge

you to reaffirm your love to them. It's very

important that we do not forget that step, that

we do not forget that sometimes there are occasions,

whether it's our children, or whether it's someone

in the church, or whether it's a co -worker,

or an employee, or whatever it is that discipline

occurs, but it always needs to end with a reaffirmation

of, look, this is not personal, this is not bitter,

I love you, and you need to know that I love

you, and I care about you, and he says here,

reaffirm your love to this person. Make sure

that they know that they are loved. that they

are part of the body of Christ, that God loves

them, that you love them, that they have been

forgiven. And he continues with that thought

in the next verse. I wrote for this purpose,

to test your character to see if you are obedient

in everything. If you forgive anyone, I do too.

For what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven

anything, it is for you in the presence of Christ.

So Paul says, look, I gave you these instructions

on how to deal with this problem or this person

or whatever was going on. I wanted to test you.

I wanted to make sure that you were going to

be obedient to God's word, that you weren't going

to let sin come in and people come in and run

rampant and cause problems, but that you were

going to hold people accountable to the commands

and the words of God. And I wanted to test you.

And they passed the test, obviously, it sounds

like. They've dealt with the problem. And Paul

says, good job. You've dealt with the problem.

Now go love on this person. Go love on them a

little bit and let them know that you love them

and they're still part of your group and they're

still part of this community of believers in

Christ. And don't let them be overwhelmed by

their grief, but let them see your love and let

them know that there's restoration that's occurred

through Jesus Christ. There's forgiveness that's

taken place. I forgive, Paul says. You guys should

forgive too. This is what we do because Christ

has forgiven us. We forgive others through Christ

who forgives us. And why is he so concerned about

all this? Why does he spend the time in 1 Corinthians

dealing with some disciplinary issues and books

like 2 Timothy, that account we talked about

here at the beginning of this book a little bit.

Why is he worried about discipline and restoration

among the believers? Why is this important? Well,

he says why in this next verse, in verse 11.

He says, I have done this. so that we may not

be taken advantage of by Satan, for we are not

ignorant of his schemes. So Paul says, look,

the devil is always working, and the devil wants

to break up the body of Christ. The devil wants

believers to live like unbelievers. The devil

wants believers to squabble amongst one another.

The devil wants people to come into the church

that are going to be divisive and that are going

to cause problems and that are going to mess

up a beautiful spirit and a loving spirit. The

devil wants to destroy the work of God. So Paul

says, I'll write these things to you. I'm telling

you all these instructions, everything that you

wrote in 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians and

other letters that we don't have. Paul says,

I'm writing these things to you because you need

to know the devil's schemes. You need to be aware

of, you need to be reminded of the schemes of

the devil. That the devil wants to come in and

he wants to take advantage of these situations.

So do not give Satan a foothold. That's why sin

has to be dealt with in our individual life.

And sadly, sometimes even in our churches. Because

if you give the devil an opportunity, all the

devil needs is one person to cause trouble. Will

it be you? And we would all say it won't. But

boy, the devil knows just how to use us to tear

apart a body of Christ, to cause trouble, to

cause conflict. So we have to make sure. that

we don't fall into that scheme of the devil.

We have to make sure that we check ourselves.

We have to make sure that maybe there's some

things in our life that we need to address. Maybe

God's Word's disciplining us a little bit sometimes.

Maybe sometimes we just need to be reminded,

okay, we've done some wrong, but if we've repented

of that, then praise God. God doesn't want us

to keep beating ourselves up over it. The devil

does. That's one of his great schemes. Is there

going to be some sin you sinned 20 years ago,

and you done prayed for forgiveness for it 100

times, and you are forgiven if you've prayed

from the heart. But man, the old devil, he just

keeps beating you over the head, and it just

keeps causing you excessive grief. And there

are some times in our lives that we live with

excessive grief over something that we've been

forgiven for for 20 years. And you say sometimes,

people will say, well, God forgave me, but I

can't forgive myself. Well, that's foolish. The

Bible doesn't ever say anything about us forgiving

ourselves. We're not called to forgive ourselves.

We can't forgive ourselves. When we say that,

what we're saying is we're greater than God.

Well, I know God is powerful enough to forgive

me, but I'm not powerful. I mean, I can't do

it. So we need to not allow the devil's schemes

to overtake us in that area. We need to know

that, look, if there's sin that we've done and

God has disciplined us for that and we feel conviction

for that and we've repented of that, then I want

you to know today that there is freedom in Jesus

Christ. That you don't have to live with that

sin anymore. That it has been nailed to the cross

and it is cast as far as the east is to the west

and you do not have to live in that anymore.

And we need to know that truth that Paul says

today. We need sometimes to know that God's love

for us has been reaffirmed and that our love

for one another makes sure that it is reaffirmed.

Maybe there are some people that you've had trouble

with in the past. Maybe you need to reach out

to them and just let them know you still love

them. God's Word is good for us tonight. There's

good things for us to consider here. There's

good things for us to think about. Some of Paul's

stuff is hard. Some of these things he tells

the people to do are hard when it comes to exercising

discipline. But he always does it with a heart

of love. And that's the most important thing

we want to remember. Let's pray. God, we thank

you for your good word. I pray that you would

help us as we... work through this book, as we

work through the teachings of Paul, dear Lord,

that we never become one who just wants to always

bring discipline, but dear Lord, that your Holy

Spirit would guide and instruct and direct us

on when discipline is necessary. God, perhaps

there are times that we need to be disciplined,

or times that we need to discipline others, but

God, I pray that everything we do is done with

love, God. that everything we do is to draw closer

to you, to grow individually, to grow as a body

of Christ, dear Lord. And I pray today, God,

that if there's anybody that in the past has

some sin that just keeps lingering on in their

mind, dear Lord, and they've come to you time

and time again, I pray tonight that you would

give them some peace in that, dear Lord. I pray

that... As they have asked you for forgiveness,

that they would find peace to know that they

are forgiven, dear Lord, that they are freed

in Jesus Christ. God, maybe there are some here

tonight or some listening online, and they've

never really confessed their sin. They are still

carrying it around. And God, I pray that maybe

tonight, in this moment, that they would repent,

that they would turn from their sinful way, that

they would ask you to forgive them, maybe for

the first time, dear Lord. and that they would

experience the joy and the peace and the comfort

that comes through salvation in Jesus Christ,

God. And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.