The Produce of Repentance

I just, it's a privilege to be a part of this church, guys. I'm Jason. I'm one of the pastors here. I get the privilege of asking you to open your Bibles.

So if you do that, we've been in 2 Corinthians, as Joshua just mentioned, chapter 7 today. And we are going to begin in verse 2. And as you're finding that in your Bible or in your app or in your scripture journal, let me backtrack into some of Paul's personal biography

as it involves this relationship that he has with this church. We know that Paul planted this church here in Corinth, right? Got a map behind me for you to see and help you.

Planted the church and then moved on to do more ministry. And then at some point, we think in about the year 54 AD, Paul sent his ministry assistant, Timothy, to pay this church a visit.

And suffice it to say, the visit didn't go well. Not at all. The church was kind of a mess. Which, by the way, is kind of encouraging to us in the modern day church.

That it's not just the pure church of the early first century period that had everything right and we get everything wrong. Sometimes, well, sinners are sinners.

So anyway, this left Timothy to return to Paul with a very troubling report. Prompting Paul to make an immediate kind of emergency visit. He calls it the painful visit.

That was in the spring of AD 55. The visit was very hard. It did not go well. From what we can piece together, it involved a very public exchange between a very vitriolic church member and the apostle Paul himself.

This man, we think, challenged the integrity of Paul and even his very standing as a legitimate apostle. But what wounded Paul even more, understand this, was the fact that the church offered a very weak response.

They did not back the apostle Paul. And so he returned to Ephesus. And when his plans to make another follow-up visit fell through the cracks, he had to make a change, it prompted Paul to write them another letter.

This so-called severe letter, one that we don't have. And this time he sent the letter by the hand of a young man named Titus. Now, Paul was supposed to rendezvous with Titus at the port city of Troas, hear how the severe letter was received, find out how the church responded.

But the problem was Titus never showed up. And then winter came, which shut down the ports, shut down sailing. And so it seems that there was a backup plan for Paul to meet up, to rendezvous with Titus in Macedonia.

So it's here in Macedonia, likely in the city of Philippi, where Paul is now composing this very letter that we are studying, this book. And as for Titus, he finally shows up.

But Paul actually left us hanging on this point back in chapter 2, taking on what was basically an extended four-chapter-long theological excursus.

And so today he's going to pick up where things are with the search for the missing Titus. And we're going to find out that it has yielded a fruitful result.

So begin with me, or I'll begin reading. You can follow along in verse 2. Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one. We have corrupted no one.

We have taken advantage of no one. I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before, you are in our hearts to die together and to live together.

I am acting with great boldness toward you. I have great pride in you. I am filled with comfort in all our affliction. I am overflowing with joy.

For when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn, fighting without and fear within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus.

And not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoice still more.

For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. For I see that the letter grieved you, though only for a while.

As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear,

what longing, what zeal, what punishment. At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us

might be revealed to you in the sight of God. Therefore we are comforted. And besides our own comfort, we rejoice still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.

For whatever boast I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true.

And his affection for you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. I rejoice, because I have complete confidence in you.

Let's pray together, shall we? Father, we do come to your word, trusting it. We trust that it's true. We trust that it's here for our good. That you can speak to a church today, to people today like us, even through the words of an ancient writer that you inspired.

So teach us now. Humble our hearts and help us to hear. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Amen. You know, this is an interesting passage from the Apostle Paul here.

I don't know about you, but one minute, I think I kind of get the impression that there's still a lot of work to do here in Corinth, a lot of relational damage to repair.

Verse 2, he says, hey, make room in your hearts for us, followed by a personal defense from Paul. But then the next minute, we hear Paul with this effusive praise for them, bragging on them, telling them how he's filled with so much joy.

It's like we almost want to ask Paul, well, which is it? Are things going well? Has the relationship really been put back together? Or is there still work to do?

And I think his answer for us this morning is yes. Both. In fact, scholars note for us that this is actually a common literary technique that Paul is using when you write a persuasive letter.

Sometimes you were very direct and confrontational, but you would also mix in a lot of encouragement, a lot of positivity, even some praise.

I mean, how many times does he tell these guys he's proud of them and that he has the utmost confidence in them? So I would encourage us to kind of just let this tension sit with us.

Don't try to explain it away. As we move through these paragraphs with Paul, yes, a lot of good has come from Titus' visit and the severe letter Paul sent along with him.

God used it. It's had an effect, but there is still work to do. And also, let's not forget that churches, like today, back then are made up of what?

Individuals. They are a collection of individuals. And last time I checked, we individuals have sometimes different perspectives and different opinions.

And it could very well be that the church Paul's writing to, talking to is a mixed group. That is to say that maybe the majority had had a change of heart about Paul, taken some good steps, but the battle is far from over.

So in verse 2, it's again a plea to their hearts. He says, make room for us. And then what Paul does is he immediately follows this with a defense of a whole bunch of things.

A whole bunch of things that he has not done. Here's what he says. He says, I've not wronged anyone. We have not corrupted anyone, taken advantage of anyone.

And if we get a sense that maybe this is a bit of a shot across the bow at some of his opponents who are actually doing these very things, we'd be right to suspect that.

Wronged. Paul was actually himself the one who had been wronged, taunted by his rivals about his sufferings, about his weaknesses, corrupted, or taken advantage of.

Ironically, this is exactly what Paul's opponents were doing. They were, as he puts it earlier in the letter, back in chapter 2, verse 17, peddling the word of God for profit.

His commitment to them as their apostle, though, he wants them to know it's ironclad. I mean, he's already faced death in his ministry many times.

So we can take Paul at his word when he tells them in verse 3, hey, you know, we ride together. We live and die together, right? He means it.

He's talking for like from the perspective of a soldier who has allegiance to his fellow soldiers. So it's like, I'm with you guys, yes. And Paul says, I have been bold with you guys.

Verse 4. But you know what? I also have great pride in you. I'm filled with comfort. I'm really encouraged about you. I am overflowing with joy even.

And then we come to verse 5. And in verse 5, we learn why he's so joyful. Finally, in verse 5, after, like I said, four full chapters of wondering whatever happened to Titus, finally, we hear the results of the infamous search for the missing Titus.

This is where Paul left us if we'll remember all the way back in chapter 2. Let me read these last verses where he mentioned Titus. 2 Corinthians 2, verses 13 and 14.

2 Corinthians 2:13

When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was open for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there.

So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. Yeah, how when Paul got to Troas and when Titus failed to show up before winter and the port closed, he knew that they would have to fall back on a backup plan.

But as he tells us in verse 5, or kind of maybe intimates to us in verse 5, although this wide door for ministry was open to him while he's waiting there, he was in such bad shape he couldn't even take advantage.

What's he tell us here? He says, our bodies, literally our flesh had no rest. We felt frail. We were vulnerable. Most scholars think that he literally is saying we had sleepless nights.

Paul's suffering from insomnia over all the stress, worrying about the Corinthians, worrying about Titus. He says, we faced affliction at every turn, fighting without, fighting on the outside, fears within.

And we already know about the fighting on the outside. Paul's told us about that back in chapter 4, being afflicted and persecuted and struck down.

But now, in addition to all the external stuff on the outside, he's got a big hole in his heart for Titus, worried about him. Where is he? Is he okay?

We also realize right about now, Paul's about to turn his attention in this letter to a collection of money for the saints in Jerusalem that are suffering.

And it very well may be that he is thinking Titus is traveling with a pretty large sum of money already. Is he worried about robbers? We know that travel in the first century world can be dangerous.

Did he fall victim to some robbers on the road? And even if Titus would show up healthy and safe, still Paul worries, what kind of report is he going to bring me?

How will my Corinthian church have received my severe letter? I mean, Paul even goes on to reveal that he had some misgivings about it after he wrote it and sent it.

Did I go too far? Was I too severe? Am I pushing them too hard? Fears within.

But God. Verse 6. But God, and we stop right there and remind ourselves God is the one working behind the scenes. And Paul wants to put all of our attention on God.

Not on himself, not on Titus. And his blessed final arrival, not even on the favorable response that he now hears through Titus, he puts the attention on God.

Because Paul knew that God was the one in charge of all that was happening and that God was the real source of all the comfort that he had received now.

Verse 8. But God, who comforts the downcast, and that's surely what Paul was, he was depressed, he was downcast, cast down in body and soul.

God, he says, comforted us by the coming of Titus. Verse 7. And not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.

Listen, Titus showing up now at this point is absolutely a huge turn of events for Paul. It's like, my trusted friend, my brother, my ministry compadre is here.

He's okay. And more than okay, he's showing up in great shape, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, you name it. And the fact that Titus had been so well received by the Corinthians, Paul tells us that this was the biggest source of his comfort.

It's like, it's like a baton that gets passed if you've ever watched a relay race or run in one. It's like comfort is the baton and the Corinthians have handed it off to Titus and Titus has run all the way up here to probably Philippi to hand the baton of comfort now to Paul.

It's like this strange phenomenon, like maybe we've heard it described somewhere before. Maybe earlier in this letter in chapter 1. This is 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 4.

2 Corinthians 1:4

This is how Paul opens the letter. Think about this now. It's God who comforts us in all our affliction, Paul writes, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

And what was it about Titus' report to Paul that had such a positive impact on our worried, frail, sleep-deprived apostle? He tells us. Actually, Titus tells us, he says, of your longing, Corinthians, how much you longed, your mourning,

your zeal for me. Longing because these church people still felt attached to Paul, even if it was mixed with some pain recently. The severe letter, yes, it had caused them genuine grief, it had probably upset them, but instead of pushing them further away from Paul,

it had done just the opposite by the grace of God, right? It had actually drawn them to make them want to long and it had increased their zeal for Paul.

And please understand, this is more than just a personal thing. It's more than just longing for the person, but it's the longing for what Paul is to them, the apostle, God's apostle, the mentor, and commissioned apostle who started this congregation and rooted it on the true gospel.

Listen, whatever it was that had happened to break down this relationship between this young church and this apostle, they were sorry about it.

A lot of scholars believe that there was a very public split with Paul at some point, perhaps at a meeting with some offender rising up and challenging his authority, but of course what hurt Paul the most was that the rest of the church did nothing.

They didn't stand up for him. They didn't back their apostle. And what was at risk was more than just the feelings of one man, Paul. What was at risk was all that Paul represented, the very gospel itself, the very gospel, the true gospel of Christ and

him crucified over and against all the false rival gospels that were being peddled to them. So Paul goes on in verse 8. Hey, even if I made you grieve with my letter, I don't regret it.

And then he kind of catches himself, doesn't he? He said, well, actually I kind of did regret it, but it was only for a while. You know, sometimes I think we have to remember that Paul, though the greatest apostle maybe, he's also a human being.

He doesn't have superpowers. He's not omniscient. Neither is Paul perfect. You say, Paul still struggled with sin? He was a human being. Sanctified, yes, but only Jesus was perfect.

And in as much as God's Holy Spirit certainly inspired this apostle and others to infallibly write letters that would become the scriptures we're studying, please understand that that doesn't mean that every piece of papyrus Paul ever picked up and wrote down on that that was inerrant writing.

It stands to reason he wrote lots of pieces of correspondence that by the providence of God did not make it into scripture. Was that because they had some weaknesses in them?

Maybe some error in places? Maybe we don't know. We know that what we have is inerrant, but we don't have this lost letter, this severe letter.

And it maybe kind of makes us wonder, and maybe for a while Paul himself is even wondering, did I go too far in the severe letter? Did I possibly make things a little too personal?

Did I lay it on too thick with the Corinthians? Have I done more damage than good? We really don't know. Because again, unlike 1st and 2nd Corinthians, we don't have the severe letter, the 1.5 Corinthians we sometimes joke about it being, we don't have this letter in our Bible.

And again, we are not guaranteed that he wrote without error. So Paul was, for a moment, wrestling over this, maybe for more than a moment, for all that time where he had not heard from Titus.

And he goes on to say, but when I heard about your response, I rejoiced. What a relief! I was so happy! Not because it caused you pain, not because I grieved you, I don't run around grieving people and take some sick pleasure in that because it's fun to make people upset.

No. Verse 9, I rejoiced, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief so that you suffered no loss through us.

In other words, Paul's telling us that he was glad that he wrote that severe letter, which is an act of discipline from the apostle toward this church.

He was glad that he wrote it because it had hit its mark. It had had the positive result he was hoping it would. As Paul will elsewhere, over in a letter like Colossians, Colossians chapter 3, advise earthly fathers, you don't ever want to discipline your kids to the point where you embitter them,

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

drive them further away. And the same principle, he's applying it right here to his spiritual children. The goal was always to get everyone to repentance, to break through any human pride or despair or anything else that would get in the way.

He rejoices because the Corinthians were not led into hopelessness or bitterness or further alienation from him. They felt a godly grief or literally what it translates is a grief according to God.

A grief according to God so that they suffered no loss and they were not harmed by the severe letter of discipline. No, they became sorrowful as God intended.

They had, as the NLT, New Living Translation puts it, the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have.

Then Paul goes on in the very next paragraph beginning in verse 10. And what's he do now? He takes, ever the apostle, ever the teacher. He takes advantage of a moment to teach them.

Verse 10. He says, for godly grief is one thing, worldly grief is something else. What he does is he goes on to contrast these two very different types of grief.

Let's read it. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret whereas worldly grief produces death. You see, worldly grief is the kind of grief that leaves a person in sheer regret.

They're sorry about the mess. They feel bad about how things have gone or maybe what they've done to ruin things. They feel really bad about messing up and not measuring up in some way.

They might even be depressed about it. Worldly grief, though, they're left right there in simply regretting it. But this kind of grief doesn't come with any change, no reflection on, no ownership of the failure, let alone any desire to try to make things right and do something

different moving forward. That's why worldly grief, as Paul rightly says, produces only death. We wonder, are there any prime biblical examples of worldly grief?

And I would give you a couple. I think about the Old Testament character of Esau. You know, in the story, Jacob, of course, looks like the villain.

He steals the blessing, the birthright, but there were other things going on in Esau's life that are really the reason for which he forfeited the blessing.

That's what Hebrews tells us. He was sorry. He was upset. But Hebrews 12 tells us that there was no turning, no change in Esau. He sought the blessing with tears, but he sought with the tears of only worldly grief.

How about another guy that had worldly grief in Scripture? I go to the New Testament. Of course, we have the example of Jesus' own betrayer, don't we?

Judas, Iscariot. Again, the Scripture records much sorrow in this man, overwhelming sorrow to the point that he took his own life. But no, repentance, just worldly grief, and in his case, it quickly led to his physical death.

But godly grief, let's talk about that. Godly grief, on the other hand, or literally, again, sorrow in accordance with God is a very different kind of grief because it starts with conviction.

It's the kind of sorrow about something where you're actually convicted and led to repent of what you've done. Starts with confession, but repentance involves more than just confession.

It also involves turning away and seeking to change and make amends. You begin with God. You seek forgiveness with God. But repentance means more than just being sorry.

It's also that change of heart and mind and will that leads to a change in your behavior.

And Paul goes on in verse 11 to talk about what this godly grief had produced in these Corinthians. How it had in their repentance produced an earnestness in them, an earnestness to want to manifest the genuine fruits of repentance.

You say, well, what are the genuine fruits of repentance? We actually have Paul show us a few here. That's what he goes on to talk about in verse 11 based on the report that he heard from Titus about the Corinthians.

He says, the fruit was in your earnestness to clear yourselves. Yeah, the Corinthians had allowed Paul to get kind of thrown under the bus and attacked by this guy.

And by their inaction and silence, they had allowed the offender to do his offending unopposed. That was on them. That was on this church. But now Titus tells Paul, hey, they are so eager to clear themselves.

It was also manifest in their indignation. They felt really terrible about what happened. The words of that severe letter that were read to them really stung.

They read about what they had done to Paul. They heard Paul's own assessment, and it really kind of made their stomachs drop. What were we thinking?

Why didn't we respond the right way? They were indignant about it. It showed up in their fear, and that can only be the fear of God, not fear of Paul, the healthy fear of God we all ought to have, knowing that we're accountable to him for everything that we've done.

they had longing. They wanted the relationship with Paul back. They wanted it mended and healed and restored. They even wanted to see Paul again personally, face to face.

And it was also the fruits of their repentance were also manifested in their zeal. And then Paul even adds the word punishment. And we actually already read about that.

Back when Paul told them a few chapters ago, hey, you have punished the offender enough. We don't want him to go off and die in worldly grief.

It's time for you, he's repentant, it's time for you to restore him. That kind of punishment, or really we could say justice.

Listen, I don't know if you've ever been in a place like this where you have committed some really dumb sin, or made some really terrible mistake, and you begin to see how Satan's piled onto it and made your sin reverberate into the lives of other people by hurting them, by destroying your

credibility in some way. From the spouse who's done something really stupid to jeopardize trust in the marriage, to the angry father who's blown up and lost control, and gone way overboard in his reaction.

Those of us who mess up in these kinds of ways can identify with this, being indignant about our own sin and what we've done. eager to make things right, feeling, yes, the fear of God and conviction, and having that longing and zeal to want to make amends and work to make

things right going forward. This is real repentance, folks. Not just feeling sorry for yourself, but being zealous and wholehearted about seeking forgiveness from God first, and then working to restore and to make amends where you can on a

human level, the best you know how. That's what these Corinthians were doing. That's what they were ready to do and had begun to do. And Paul goes on to say, yeah, you've thrown yourselves so fully into repentance that I want you to know that God forgives you, and I forgive you, and it's

almost like it never happened. Isn't that interesting? What's he say? At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. End of verse 11.

Innocent in the matter. They weren't innocent. They were guilty.

They had transgressed and fallen short here pretty big time. But you know what Paul was doing? He was applying the same principle that God applies to us.

The same God who says, when I forgive you, your sins are separated as far as the east is from the west. Paul was putting into practice things he wrote in the first letter about love and what real love does.

It keeps no record of wrongs. It's almost like, I forgot you sinned against me. You've been innocent the whole time.

Obviously, there's some rhetorical flourish in this.

Verse 12. So although I wrote to you that severe letter, listen to this. It wasn't for the sake of the one who did the wrong. The offender. Nor was it for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong.

That's me, Paul. I wrote in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. This is actually a Hebraic turn of phrase that Paul's using here.

It's a way of comparing what are really three purposes for the severe letter. Yeah, calling out the offender was one and getting them back on track and vindicating himself was another.

But his third purpose was the biggest purpose is what I'm saying. In comparison, it was to get you guys to repentance.

Because loyalty restored to Paul, he knew that a loyalty and fidelity restored to him as an apostle was a loyalty restored to his gospel. Remember, the message and the messenger at this point are indistinguishable in this situation.

Those rivals to Paul had developed distorted variations of the gospel that were a real threat to the true gospel. They were running around teaching the Christian believers in the church that you can be about all your comfort and ease and success and God wants you to be prosperous and the world can still

love you and you know what? You can keep doing the things that will have the world love you by consorting with pagan idolatry. You know, still come to church on Sunday participating in sexual immorality.

These were distortions of the gospel. And again, fidelity restored to Paul was fidelity restored to the true gospel. The gospel of Christ dying in the place of sinners to save them from their sin and give them new life.

And because this has happened, church, Paul goes on, because, praise God, you've demonstrated real repentance and real earnestness for us, therefore, at verse 13, we're comforted.

We are so encouraged. And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced more at the joy of Titus. I mean, I saw this guy after all that time apart and I could see that his spirit has been refreshed by you all.

Paul goes on to admit, yeah, you know, whatever boasts I made to Titus about you guys, verse 14, you didn't let me down. I wasn't put to shame.

I told Titus that the Lord would draw you back. I told him that I knew you were the real deal kind of Christians. I made big boasts about you guys.

And it proved true. And guess what? Verse 15, his affection for you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling.

So I rejoice, verse 16, because I have complete confidence in you. Yeah, Paul ends this section right here on a very, very high note, doesn't he?

A high note of gratitude and praise. Praise to God, but even some praise to the Corinthian believers. And how timely that will prove to be right here in the middle of this letter.

Because you know what? In the very next chapter, our apostle is going to make a turn, a turn that is going to test their newfound loyalty, or I should say, newly refound loyalty.

It will be a test that's going to touch their pocketbooks and truly measure where their hearts really are. We're going to save that for next time.

For today, let's turn to some application. Very quickly, I'm going to leave you with four points. Four points from Paul's teaching here that I think encapsulate what he's trying to communicate.

The first one is almost too easy to miss, and maybe because it's all wrapped up in some of the biographical stuff, but here it is. It's this, number one, godly comfort for the downcast often comes through his children as its bearers.

Godly comfort for the downcast often comes through his children as its bearers.

From the Corinthians and their favorable response to the severe letter, it's comfort for Titus. And then they give him the comfort. He in turn relays it on, passes the baton to the apostle Paul and gives him comfort.

We know it all came from God. God is the source. Yes, Paul reminds us of that in verse 6. But the comfort came by the coming of Titus. In this case, a personal visit.

Titus bore comfort. Titus bore the comfort for the apostle, and it was the comfort that had been given to him from the Corinthians. I want to think about that very practically.

What does that mean for you and me? I think it means we need to be on the lookout for comfort. I think it means we need to be on the lookout for God's comfort coming to us by means of our brothers and sisters.

brothers.

They're here for you. They are a means that God wants to use. But you know what? We have to be willing to receive it. You need to be willing to receive the comfort from your brothers and sisters, and you need to be able to receive it when you're at your lowest, when you're at your most

cast down, at your most depressed, which last time I checked in our society is about the last time anybody wants to be comforted.

Receive the comfort from the Lord by means of God's bearers all around you. Maybe it will be a conversation with someone. Maybe it will happen through a text or an email.

Or maybe it will come through a very thoughtful gesture. How about lunch or coffee with someone? Whatever it is, allow it to come to you and receive it because you know what?

God has sent it.

That's our first point from Paul. But then his second point moves on to a much more challenging subject, and that's discipline. Point number two.

Godly discipline is designed not to hurt or bring worldly grief, but to draw to repentance. Not to hurt or bring worldly grief, but to draw us to repentance.

Confrontation. I used to say, how many of us like confrontation thinking no one would raise their hand? There's always a few. Don't raise your hands.

Confrontation. We do realize that to confront one another, though sometimes merited and needed, that's not an end in itself. The confrontation.

It's just the means. What I'm saying is making a person, another person, feel sorrow or grief for the sake of feeling grief, that's not the goal.

Whether that applies to your parenting or to your marriage or to a friendship where you need to confront someone about something, we must always remember this and keep this at the forefront of our minds and hearts.

Dads and moms, we don't discipline our children to hurt them. Husbands and wives, we don't confront the spouse God has given us just to hurt them or get them back.

It's not only about getting people to regret what they've done. No. Acts of confrontation, discipline of all types, should and must come from love.

From a desire to restore. From a position designed to lead and draw that person who's offended in some way toward what God wants. And what does God want?

Repentance. Paul geared his discipline in this way. And so should we. Whether as a church or as a family.

Now having said this, we have to realize we cannot always control how people will receive our confrontation or our discipline if it's our children.

We can't control how they'll receive it. When a child or even a teenager or a family member wants you to be okay with something that you can't be okay with, sometimes they don't like it.

When a friend or a family member wants you to go to her gay wedding or whatever it might be, we have to say no, I cannot come. No, I cannot be in support of this.

And we know, some of us know very personally, that hurts. That hurts. That may bring a person worldly grief. In some cases, I'm aware of situations where ties have been severed.

But please understand that's never our purpose. Our purpose is repentance. Our purpose is their eternal soul. And just because somebody that we love receives discipline in a negative way, that doesn't change

the fact that, A, we love them. They may say we don't, but we do. That doesn't change the fact that, B, love is only, love only deals in the truth.

We cannot love by lies. And thirdly, C, it doesn't change the fact that repentance is what we're after and what we're praying for.

Remember, godly discipline of any kind in any situation is not designed to bring hurt or cause worldly grief. It's to draw to repentance.

Third point from Paul. Number three. Godly grief that manifests in repentance will yield a harvest of righteousness. Godly grief that manifests in repentance will yield a harvest of righteousness.

See, godly grief is different. It does not end in sheer regret. It doesn't only lead a person to despair and condemnation. No. Grief according to God will manifest in repentance.

And God's word goes on to tell us that when it does that, it's going to yield something. It's going to yield a harvest and it's a harvest of righteousness.

That's what the writer to the Hebrews reminds us of over in chapter 12 talking about discipline. Here's what he says in Hebrews 12 verse 11.

Hebrews 12:11

For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant. Yeah. Yeah. But later, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Remember, there was a harvest of righteousness that Titus saw back in Corinth and which he was able to relay to Paul. Remember what he relayed to Paul about those repentant Corinthian believers.

He said what in verse 7? They long for you. There's longing. There's mourning. There's zeal for you, Paul. Verse 11. They had earnestness produced in them.

They were eager. They are eager to clear themselves. They have indignation about what they did. The fear of God is in them. They long for restoration and they have a zeal to do everything possible to make it happen.

That's the fruit of righteousness. Will you be equally earnest to see these fruits produced in your heart and life? Will you be eager to clear what needs clearing?

Let me ask you. Will you and I have indignation over our own sin? It's easy to get indignant about other people's sins. Will we remember the fear of the Lord and our accountability before Him?

Will we long for and seek as far as it depends on us a peaceful restoration with others?

Godly grief manifests in a kind of repentance that seeks to yield this kind of harvest. And finally, one more. A last point from Paul. Number four.

Number four. Godly restoration. Godly restoration produces encouragement and joy. Encouragement and joy. We've saved the best for last, right?

Or at least Paul has anyway because isn't it funny how he opens the letter or I should say he opens the passage on a note of joy in verse four and then here he is at the very end in verse 16 closing the same passage saying, I rejoice.

This is what godly restoration produces. More than just worldly grief that leaves people in regret or despair. It produces a restoration that produces joy and encouragement.

You say, is everything perfect now? Everything's all better? Paul says at one point, like, you're innocent in this matter. Well, sometimes there are scars.

I don't think I have to tell you that restoration doesn't mean there are no scars. It doesn't mean that every battle wound is immediately healed.

It doesn't mean that there aren't consequences to our sin that we have to sometimes endure.

Relational damage can take time to repair. Some sins we commit may haunt us with longer term consequences. And you know what? Sometimes people won't let us be restored to them.

We can't control that. But when we've been forgiven by God, when we have seen God work and heal first our own hearts, but also heal and mend things in our lives, we know that as far as it depends on us,

we've put it in His hands and we've corrected course to do what's right. That is a good place to be. That is a place of blessing. You have returned to a place of blessing.

And you can have joy. And that joy cannot be quenched. And you can know encouragement that the Lord has better days for you ahead. And that He will be with you even if you must walk in a valley for a while.

Amen? Let's pray.

Godly comfort, Lord. Godly discipline. Godly grief. And Godly restoration. Lord, will you just implant these principles that Paul has given us so deeply in our hearts.

We are well aware, Lord, that in a church family like ours, there are issues. There are problems. There are problems. There's damage. There are sins.

It affects us. Some of us are struggling right now. Some of us, Lord, struggle with being confronted and we have lashed out in response and we don't want to repent.

And we may risk it getting ourselves into a situation where we have only worldly grief. Lord, that's not what you want. We pray for godly grief, for a grief that will accord with you.

That will lead us to repent and confess and, Lord, begin to seek to change what it was that was wrong, that was sinful. We pray for your spirit to help us in that.

Lord, for others of us, we are so averse to conflict and confrontation. It's so hard for us to do. We worry about what we risk to lose. We worry about, Lord, what appears to be the end of a relationship that we don't want to have end.

And so, Lord, we pray for your boldness. Let us not sacrifice love for truth or truth for love, Lord. Let us not take a counterfeit version of love and affirm things we cannot affirm, Lord.

I pray for your church this morning. I pray that you would work in ways that only you can, but God comforts the downcast. We love you. We trust you.

We give ourselves to you. And we pray all of this in the name of our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.