The Wavering and The Faithful

That's more like it. I like that light. How about you? Everybody good? You got out this morning in the snow? Good for you. I hate canceling church. So I've got two sermons for you today.

Either that or I've got, I guess, what you could say is a twice-baked potato or something. Twice-baked sermon. So I don't know how this will come out. I've had a little more time on it.

So it didn't change a whole lot from last week, but it's good to see you back here. If you're new with us this morning, we've been in a series.

We're in 2 Corinthians, if you want to find that book right now. 2 Corinthians. We're up to chapter 6. And we're going to take chapter 6, the first 13 verses today.

And then we're going to take a little break. There's a season upon us, and I want to devote some attention to that, to Christmas. And we'll be back in January to pick up 2 Corinthians again.

So if you're a person that only brings your scripture journal to church, bring the whole Bible for the next three or four Sundays, all right?

2 Corinthians chapter 6. And as you're finding it, let me recap our situation here. The Apostle Paul has planted a church here at Corinth, stayed on as the founding pastor for a bit, and then we know that he left for other mission opportunities.

2 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

In the meantime, our church here has struggled. In fact, from this first letter that Paul wrote, also in our Bibles, we learned that they've been dealing with a lot of issues.

Everything from rivalries and infighting, to sexual immorality, to lawsuits among themselves, even abusive practices when they sat at the Lord's table and took communion.

And so Paul wrote that letter to address some of these problems. But, but, more recently things had taken a turn, and for the worse. The arrival of the so-called super apostles, as Paul dubs them.

These rivals of Paul had come with, and won some of the Corinthians' hearts. They seemed so successful, well-trained, highly recommended by each other.

And they were eloquent and very prosperity-minded teachers. And who doesn't want to hear from a prosperity teacher? And they told everyone that, hey, Paul is yesterday's news.

He's kind of an unreliable loser who suffers needlessly. And so Paul's been writing this second letter we've been studying in preparation for making a much-needed visit.

But he comes to this point here in chapter 6, where things get very, very personal for Paul. Paul shows some emotions in our passage today. We're going to hear him plead with the church.

And the way that he pleads with them is that they don't receive God's grace in vain. That they open wide their hearts to him. We get the sense that there's some real instability here.

Some wavering, we might say. Now, is everyone in the church at Corinth wavering? Probably not. But a significant part of the church is, they're wavering not just on their opinion of Paul.

I want you to understand, but their opinion of Paul is also tied directly to the gospel itself. And so what they're wavering on is not just their commitment to an old apostle, but to the true gospel.

The question is, is the Christian faith about being well-liked and popular and accepted by everybody and successful like the super apostles represent?

Or is it about the things that Paul teaches? The things that Paul and his companions represent by their very afflicted lives? Often resisted and rebuffed and persecuted as they are.

Really, in our passage today, I think we have two groups in view. The wavering and the faithful. And so what I'd like to do with you this morning is to go ahead and read this passage in 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 6.

2 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

And I want you to see how one group is wavering. That would be the Corinthians. They're wavering in a sea of trouble. And the other group is the faithful.

And that, of course, is Paul and his companions. So let's read together, beginning in verse 1.

Working together with him then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, in a favorable time I listen to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.

Behold, now is the favorable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone's way so that no fault may be found with our ministry.

But as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way by great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger,

by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, by truthful speech and the power of God, with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left.

Through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise, we are treated as imposters, yet are true, as unknown and yet well known, as dying, and behold, we live, as punished and yet not killed, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,

as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing, yet possessing everything. We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians. Our heart is wide open.

You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return, I speak as to children, widen your hearts also. Let me pray with us once more.

Father, we pray that you would bless the reading and teaching of your word. Father, give me the words to say. Give me, Lord, a clear mind this morning as we teach and as we walk through what your apostle is teaching, not just one church, but every church.

And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. If you'll allow me, I think this is how I would like us to approach things today. I'd like for us to lay out really what are the two major things that our passage offers.

One thing for the wavering and the other thing is for the faithful. What we have are some pleas for the wavering and then we have some examples for the faithful.

And if you're listening to me right now, you may find yourself identifying in one of these two camps, right? You may find yourself identifying with either the wavering or with the faithful or you may know someone who is wavering.

Maybe you are wavering and some people waver so much they think about wavering right out of the faith. If that's you, I want you to hear these pleas today.

On the other hand, maybe you're very committed and very stable in your faith and you're trying to minister, like Paul, to others in your life who are wavering.

If so, I also want you to hear from Paul too as he commends himself and his own faithful example to the faithful. So let's start where Paul starts and that's with his pleas.

I want to share with you two pleas and the first one is this, plea number one. It's do not receive God's grace in vain. Plea number one, don't receive God's grace in vain.

Verse one, he says, working together with him, with God, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. I want to remind us that the Corinthians had received grace through Paul.

The very fact that they're a church that exists is evidence that they had received grace. Paul traveled here initially, he met up providentially with two other tent makers like himself, Priscilla and Aquila, and he planted a church here in Corinth and their very existence as a church was evidence

that they had received grace. And now what does Paul say? What's he plead with them? He says, don't let it all be in vain. What does he mean when he says don't let it all be in vain?

He means, don't let it be empty. Don't let it be fruitless. Don't let it not bear fruit. Paul's essentially saying, don't let your encounter with grace come to nothing.

Now is he trying to suggest that the conversion of everybody in this church is superficial? Probably not. But it does certainly mean that some had started out with Paul's gospel here in the church and they were now being influenced by others in a bad way.

They had been brought a different gospel than the one they originally heard from Paul. We know this because that's what he says a little later in the letter.

Here's chapter 11, 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 4. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

2 Corinthians 11:4

Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super apostles. What Paul's saying is that you're taking the gospel I gave you, the true gospel, and you're putting it down here, and you're taking what these super apostles are telling you, this success gospel, the prosperity gospel,

and you're elevating that above it.

Tragically, the super apostles were proclaiming another Jesus, offering really a different gospel. And this was putting them at risk of receiving God's grace in vain.

And if only this were just a first century problem, right? If only that was something that one church back, you know, 2,000 years ago dealt with, but sadly it's not.

You do realize that there are teachers in our world today, teachers you can listen to, honestly, teachers right here in this area, who do preach a different Jesus than the one Paul proclaimed.

There are people who proclaim a different gospel. It's maybe a Jesus who tolerates sin, or it's a gospel of social justice, or even maybe a gospel where Jesus does die, but he doesn't die as a payment or as an atonement for your sins,

just as a symbol of something. But that's another Jesus. That would be a different gospel where Christ does, in fact, the true gospel, where Christ does, in fact, die, where he must come to die, as our substitute, in our place, to atone for our sins.

It's a different spirit that's at work in any kind of a church that claims that they can discern new things or have new revelation, new ideas about what God's standards are.

That's a different gospel. And when any church or professing believer succumbs to these kinds of errors, when they get taken up in these unbiblical ideas that clearly contravene Scripture and the consistent witness of the church down through the centuries, please understand, all of those people

run the risk of receiving the grace of God in vain, empty, fruitless, coming to nothing. I don't know about you, but I personally know people in such situations, and I pray for them.

And if we're wondering if there's any urgency behind Paul's plea here, well, there is. Look no further than verse 2. What's he remind them of?

He quotes from Isaiah the prophet. Isaiah chapter 48, verse 9. Back in Isaiah 48, the prophet wrote this, In a favorable time, I, God, the Lord, listened to you, and in a day of salvation, I helped you.

Isaiah 48:9

And what Paul does is he now connects this prophecy to the present time, to the new age that's dawned in Christ. And he urges them, he says, Guys, this is now.

Behold, now is the favorable time. Now's the day to be saved. What he's saying is is that in the gospel, in the new covenant, age that we're in, you and I now have an opportunity that other people did not.

We have unprecedented access and a full understanding of what God has done in the gospel that others before Christ were not afforded. For us, Jesus has already come and lived that perfect life and become sin for us on the cross.

And so now, we can seek salvation. And it's still a favorable time. I would urge us, now is still the favorable time. You don't have to live under the law.

You don't have to keep Sabbaths or festivals anymore. You don't have to live in longing and waiting for a Savior to come. I mean, sometimes in our Christmas songs, we kind of reenact as if we did.

We sing like, oh, please come, Lord Jesus. Come and save us, Messiah. But we know that he already has come. We are not like what the patriarchs and the Old Testament prophets are.

As Hebrews tells us, they had to look forward and waiting and longing and see these things only dimly. Right now, as you live and breathe, now is the favorable time.

Now is the day of salvation. That's Paul's first plea for the wavering, that they not receive the grace of God in vain. There's a second one too.

And the second plea comes in the very last verse of our passage. Plea number two, jumping ahead, is open wide your hearts. Open wide your hearts.

That's Paul's second plea to the wavering. You see, he's no stranger to the Corinthians. They know Paul. They know him as a spiritual father, in fact.

That's why he speaks to them as to my children, he says. He's not insulting them when he says that, like you're acting like kids. It's not like that.

He is speaking to them out of loving concern as a spiritual parent. A spiritual parent who has opened up his own heart wide to them. Verse 11, he says, our heart is wide open to you.

We have not restricted it. As he reminded them in that first letter back in 1 Corinthians 4, verse 15, he said there, you've got countless guides in Christ, but you do not have many fathers.

1 Corinthians 4:15

For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. You know, sometimes I reflect on my role with all of you here at Redeemer. And you know, I've been here long enough now to see some of the children that I've dedicated up here or maybe in the old building.

I've seen them grow up and I've seen some of them graduate and get married and even begin adult life. You know, you stay around long enough and that happens.

So listen, I can kind of resonate with this stuff here from Paul. I know that if one of our children that I've known for a long time and watched you raise and I've been teaching and pastoring, if they were to grow up and go off somewhere, go off to a college somewhere or a university where they were taught

another gospel or were left to find another church where a different spirit was at work or they were being mentored in error, taught things that are wrong, that would trouble me.

Our kids will have countless guides in Christ, countless guides trying to do that even in the faith, maybe especially in the faith. I know for us personally, for my wife and I, this is why it gives us great joy.

There's no greater joy for us not to see our kids being successful, not to see them making wise decisions, but the most important decision they can make is to find a good local church and they've done that.

And I feel that way about not just my kids, I want that for all of your kids too. Listen, I might not be their actual parent, but I see them as my spiritual children, you know what I mean?

And I know Matt feels the same way as he mentors a lot of your kids through the teen years. And even for those of us who are not kids, who are full-grown adults, for those of you that are older than me, listen, we still have countless guides trying to lead us, vying for our attention, whether it's through

the books that they write or the conferences they speak at or the podcasts or on YouTube. There are countless guides out there vying for you to follow them, to listen to them.

They compete for your influence. They want to teach you. You know, what's interesting is later in this letter we learn that there's one big battlefront that Paul's been fighting on and it's the battlefront of moral purity.

Apparently, some of the Corinthians have been caught up in sexual sins and they were apparently being told by their new leaders, by those super apostles, those countless false guides, that that's okay.

There's nothing to worry about. That if that's you, just be you. If that's what you desire, how can it be wrong? It's funny, the messages that our culture gives us today are really no different than what has been said through the ages.

And this is why we hear the second plea from our fatherly apostle in verse 13. And his plea is open wide your hearts. Widen your hearts. Our fatherly hearts are wide open.

Now in return, my children, open up your hearts too. And of course, what Paul means fundamentally is not just a relational, let's be friends, let's be nice to each other.

He also means open your hearts to the gospel we taught you because that's what we're all about. The truths of God's word. That's what we rooted deeply in you.

Open your hearts to that. Kind of reminds me of some Old Testament fatherly advice. Some fatherly advice that comes from the book of Proverbs.

A very popular chapter, Proverbs chapter 3. Let me read a couple of verses from it. Chapter 3, verse 1. My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart.

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent His rebuke because the Lord disciplines those He loves. As a father, the son He delights in.

The reality is that some paths are bad paths to walk in, right? And, you know, we can gain the whole world and lose our soul. Isn't that somewhere in the Bible?

Some of the things that come at you or that present themselves to your children might look like golden opportunities in life, but they can be traps spiritually.

We need to be aware. I personally know of some families who had children. They raised very brightly and they had these great opportunities and they sent them off to these schools and they lost them spiritually.

What good is it to gain the whole world and forfeit your soul? This is a fatherly warning from the Apostle Paul and it comes from a heart of love.

So these are the pleas, two pleas that he makes for the wavering, but that's not all that he offers here. There's more and he actually devotes a pretty significant amount of attention to this other thing that he offers, this time to the faithful.

So beginning in verse 3, as we listen to Paul and watch him now appeal to his own life, to these things he's gone through, his own faithful example, we see that he gives us kind of like this rapid fire list, doesn't he?

And yet I think we see five examples of what the faithful do and I want to offer these to you now. Five examples of what the faithful do. First example is this, number one, they endure hard, challenging, and even unjust things.

hard, challenging, and even unjust things. Look at this list that Paul gives us in verses 4 and 5. He highlights afflictions, hardships, calamities.

Afflictions are these general burdens and struggles that a person has in life. Paul had quite a few of those. By hardships, Paul means literally pressure, living through pressing situations of need.

This Greek word that he uses for calamities, it literally means narrow places or tight spots like getting into a jam. We got out of a few jams, Paul says.

Understand what he's telling us. He's saying that when you undergo sufferings and adversity in your life and people around you are aware of it and your responses are being watched, watched, this means something.

He's saying how you endure a struggle, how you endure say an unexpected accident or an alarming diagnosis or a job loss or some financial pressure or maybe a physical ailment, the faithful will commend themselves by how they

endure in these things. The faithful will commend themselves by how they endure in these difficult things. In fact, he goes on to say that as we endure these challenges well, we remove obstacles to the faith.

In other words, when people see how you as a Christian cling to the Lord, trust in the sovereignty of God, put yourself into the hands of God, it makes an impression on them.

It commends you as a Christian. Then there's what Paul goes on to list at the end of verse 5. He says, labors, sleepless nights, hunger. These are a little different, different category of trials because these are things that Paul and his companions are going through by choice,

really by self-discipline. As Paul pours himself out in ministry, he, we know, physically depleted himself and his resources. We know it was exhausting work.

It was heavy on him in body and soul. Over in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 9, Paul mentions how he worked day and night. Here he simply says, sleeplessness.

1 Thessalonians 2:9

We didn't sleep. And this isn't because Paul's an insomniac. It's because Paul's up early, probably studying and preparing, and then I would imagine him throughout the day, he's teaching and mentoring people, and then we know what does he do when the sun goes down?

He pulls out the tent making supplies, and he works through the night. Paul's ministry was hard. Make no mistake. It posed challenges to his physical well-being.

But then he goes on and there's another category of sufferings. It's not the general sufferings in life. It's not self-imposed hardships. He goes on to list a number of ways he's experienced unjust suffering, right?

This is where active evil is coming against you for your faith, for your convictions. Paul showed great endurance here too, whether, verse 5, in beatings.

You know, Scripture records that Paul was whipped five different times. He was beaten with rods three different times. He endured a stoning once.

And then he mentions riots. You know, riots seem to occur all over the place. Wherever Paul went, people would stir up hostility against him and his message, maybe to the point of trying to kill him.

There are two riots recorded in the book of Acts, one in Ephesus, one in Jerusalem. Could have been more. And then he mentions imprisonments.

I would imagine even Paul lost count how many times he'd been behind bars. But the faithful, like Paul, show great endurance even in these unjust, trying circumstances.

You know, I wonder, how do we respond when we are falsely accused? How are you going to respond when someone stirs up trouble for you, maybe in your workplace because they don't like the fact that you're a Christian?

How are you going to react? How are you going to endure when unjust, unfair things come at you based on your convictions and your beliefs? Or how are you going to simply endure when you face general hardships in life?

You know, sometimes our witness, I want you to hear me when I say this, sometimes the strongest witness we will ever have with people is showing them how we faithfully endure hardships.

Sometimes that's our strongest witness. How we faithfully endure trials and suffering in life.

Consider this powerful verse, this often memorized verse from Romans. Romans 8.28, maybe you can quote it. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

That is a great verse to memorize. I'd encourage you to memorize it. But you know what? It's an even better verse to live out, to demonstrate, to exemplify, especially when you are in the midst of hard and challenging and even unjust trials.

That's the first way that the faithful commend themselves in how they endure these things. Paul goes on to show us a second way. Number two, they show the virtues of the Spirit.

The virtues of the Spirit.

Check out the list he gives us in verse 6. He says, by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love. Let me try to define a couple of these things.

I think you know what they are. Purity is holiness. The sense here is like a sincerity before God, being able to be guiltless before God, having no corruption.

Knowledge, it's not just lofty education or brain power. This is knowledge that counts with God. This is character-shaping knowledge.

Patience and long-suffering. I don't know how else you sit in a dungeon for days on end, sometimes weeks, months on end, without being patient, right?

Paul was patient. Kindness. One of the best examples of kindness from Paul came when he was in jail in Philippi, I think. He was delivered by God from his imprisonment by an earthquake.

But Paul didn't run out. He didn't let the other prisoners run out. He encouraged them to stay. And ultimately, that act of kindness led to a salvific outcome.

Paul was kind to the many churches that had problems, especially the one right here at Corinth. And of course, all this springs from what? From love.

Genuine love. Not hypocritical. Not a love that actually has ulterior motives. Genuine love. Genuine love. Paul had genuine love for the churches and for this church.

And these virtues here that he lists, these are more than just removing obstacles or roadblocks for the gospel. He actually goes on to call them weapons, doesn't he?

Take a look. Verse 7. He mentions the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left. We understand that to mean right-handed weapons being offensive weapons.

Left-handed weapons are the defensive weapons. Of course, we go over to Ephesians 6 and we see that really the only offensive weapon that the believer has in their arsenal is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

Scripture. And so that leaves things like purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, genuine love. Those are our defensive weapons. You know, you really can't kill someone with kindness.

It doesn't work that way. Kindness is a defensive weapon. So is patience. You don't attack someone with your patience.

Someone unfairly attacks you, you maintain your purity and innocence. You feel temptation, you rebuff the enemy's attacks, you defend yourself with the knowledge of Scripture, right?

Like Jesus did at His temptation. Someone mistreats us, we defend with the virtuous weapons of patience and kindness. We receive hate or even told maybe that we are hateful and we defend ourselves with genuine love.

That's the second way that the faithful commend themselves by showing the virtues of the Spirit. And here's the second way, number three. Number three, they view all treatment, good and bad, through the eyes of faith.

All treatment, good and bad. Look what Paul does. He moves on in verses 8, 9, and 10 and he gives us these sort of contrasting assessments of him and his ministry, right?

He says, we commend ourselves through honor and dishonor. It's funny that he mentions both because most of what Paul got was dishonor. in some instances, I think about when he went to the town of Lystra in Macedonia.

If you've read that in Acts 14, I mean, it was within, what, the same hour he's getting honor. Him and Barnabas are being extolled as gods who have come down in human form and then the moment they say, no, no, no, that's idolatry.

We're not gods. There's one true God. Then the next thing they get is dishonor because they get beaten. Honor and dishonor, slander and praise, you know what slander is.

Slander is when someone gives a bad report about you, tells other people bad things about you. Maybe they aren't even true or they impute false motives to you or they misrepresent or twist what you say.

That's slander. Paul certainly knew slander and sometimes he knew praise too. There were occasions when people said, Paul, you're amazing. You're an amazing apostle.

You're an amazing teacher. Keep up the good work and when Paul got that, he had to keep his head. He had to keep his heart in check too, right?

Verse 8, Paul knew what it was like to be treated as an imposter and yet be true. To be, as he says in verse 9, unknown or really what that means is unrecognized and yet also well known.

He'd been treated as dying. I mean, people trying to kill you, treat you as you're dying and yet, as he sat literally under the sentence of death several times, he says, behold, yet we live.

You wonder how a man like that being punished, being sentenced to death could say, basically, check it out. This is the life. I'm really living.

How could Paul do that? It's because Paul viewed all of his treatment, the good, the bad, the ugly, through the eyes of faith. The eyes of faith.

The eyes of faith are what the psalmist had back in Psalm 118, verse 17. This is what the psalmist wrote back there. He said, I shall not die, but I shall live and recount the deeds of the Lord.

Psalms 118:17

Paul is echoing the psalmist because that appears to be what the psalmist was going through. I shall not die, I shall live. He's in trouble.

People are coming at him, but he says, I'm going to live and I'm going to recount the deeds of the Lord. And Paul himself is so saturated with Scripture.

Scripture is his world that he can quote that and have the same eyes of faith. He does it again. He goes on and says at the end of verse 9, as punished and yet not killed.

Again, same psalm, Psalm 118, one verse later, verse 18, the Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death. Do you see what Paul's doing?

Do you see what eyes he's looking at his world through? He's looking at all of his treatment, good or bad, through the eyes of faith. He's looking at it through eyes that see beyond the material world, eyes that see beyond his immediate circumstances and look to the Lord

who holds all things, including life and death, in his hands. So is there sorrow? Yeah, verse 10, Paul knew sorrow, yet always rejoicing, he says.

Was Paul a rich man? Well, not by the world's standards, yet poor, as poor, yet making many rich. And we know what Paul's talking about, he's not talking about the perishable riches of this world, he's talking about the imperishable riches of what's in store for him in heaven.

He's talking about a spiritual wealth that never perishes, spoils, or fades, that by coming to the Corinthians and bringing them the gospel, he has made them spiritually rich.

Yes, when you have Christ, as he says at the very end of that paragraph, you possess everything. Listen, this is the language of a man completely sold out.

This is a man who is sold out to and lives and breathes the gospel of Jesus. This is a man who will die for the message of be reconciled to God.

It's no wonder that he has eyes that can view all of his mistreatment in this way. So the challenge then is for us. What kind of eyes do you have?

Are you able to see people and circumstances and situations through the eyes of faith so that you can still find joy and sorrow? I think about that family, the Jacobi family.

I know they're in incredible sorrow right now, shock at losing a husband, a father, a church in shock at losing a leader, but they still have joy and sorrow because they know that his vision is now complete.

He's with the Lord.

Do you know what it's like to have need but still know spiritual plenty? Some of us have gone through financial hardships, but you have riches in Christ.

When you have the eyes of faith, you will see the world through different lenses. And that's another way that the faithful commend themselves.

Here's another one. The next one is number four. They speak the truth freely. Another way that the faithful commend themselves is they speak the truth freely.

How many times does truth or truthful pop up in this list? Verse seven. Paul mentions truthful speech. Verse eight. Though treated as imposters, yet we are true.

True people. Verse 11. We have spoken freely to you. Spoken the truth freely to you. What's another way that the faithful commend themselves?

It's by speaking the truth freely. That might seem counterintuitive to some of us sometimes. Because sometimes honestly it's a little easier to be quiet.

It's a little easier to just keep the peace. To avoid trouble and controversy and hurt feelings. I'll just stay hushed. It's tempting in the effort sometimes to want to maintain peace in our homes especially around the holidays to not speak freely.

And then sometimes by our silence to suggest that we are in agreement with something. To give our compliance by our silence. That we're okay with things that are untrue.

That we can kind of live by lies. But we do not live by lies. Not as true people. Not as people of the truth. Now I'm not suggesting that every family gathering is a place to start an argument with your family.

I'm not telling you to stop embodying the fruits and virtues of the spirit we just talked about. Patience. Kindness. Genuine love. But I am telling you and I am encouraging you to be sure that you are free to speak the truth.

And that your truth and commitment to the truth remain firm. And I would remind you that it's only in truth that we have any real love. It's only with the truth that love can be genuine as Paul talks about here.

Remember faithful people speak the truth freely. And especially to those who need to hear it. And finally a fifth way that we see the faithful commend themselves from Paul's example.

Number five. They keep their heart wide open and do not restrict their love. They keep their heart wide open and don't restrict their love. Earlier when Paul spoke to the wavering what was his plea?

Again open wide your hearts. And now it's kind of ironic but he says the same thing to the faithful by his example. It's the same message to them.

He says the faithful keep their hearts open. That's what I'm doing. My heart's wide open. I never restricted my love. Verse 11. We have spoken freely to you Corinthians.

You know that's the first time he calls them by name in this book. It's also the last time. It's the only time he calls the Corinthians by name in both of the letters that we have that he wrote to them.

Something about directly calling someone by name that gets their attention, right? Now that works better or worse depending on what's going on in your house with your kids, right?

Sometimes you can call their name all day long and it doesn't matter. But if you walk up to someone today after church and you say, hey, so and so, you mention their name, you get their attention.

Paul is doing this. This is what he does in verse 11. Hey, Corinthians, we've spoken freely to you. Hey, Corinthians, our hearts are wide open for you guys.

These Corinthians were wavering in their relationship with Paul. He knows they were holding back their affections. He knows they were allowing the criticisms they were hearing from the super apostles, the rivals to Paul, to restrict their affections for him.

literally, they were squeezing Paul out of their hearts. No room for you, Paul. We got better shepherds now. We got these better apostles now.

You know, a lot of pastors I know have been through this. A lot of pastors I know have had personal experience with this. I've had some personal experience with this.

This is when you love people and you invest in people and you pray for them and you care for them as your sheep and somehow the affections get squeezed out of their heart and they walk away.

Now we know that sacrifice is at the heart of the gospel and we know that all faithful ministry is going to involve at least some suffering.

I hope that's not a newsflash for you, but it doesn't make it easy. It doesn't mean it's not painful, but painful as it was, and please understand it was painful for Paul.

It doesn't stop him from faithfully making this plea. And I think that's a lesson here. It's another example for the faithful to follow. To see that even when Paul was being pushed out of their hearts, even when he himself was being rejected and their affections

for him were shrinking, Paul could still say what he does in verse 11. our heart is wide open. We are not the ones restricting our affections for you.

It's the other way around. Let me ask you a question, a challenging question. Can you keep your heart open towards someone when they have closed their heart to you?

Are you able to keep your heart open when they have restricted their heart or restricted their affections in their heart for you? You know, Paul's going to go on a little later in this letter and he's going to say these words and I want to share them with us now.

These come from chapter 12, 2 Corinthians 12 verse 15. Listen to what he says. He says, I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.

2 Corinthians 12:15

He says this as their spiritual father, as their spiritual parent to this troubled church, that he himself will spend himself, that he will allow himself to be spent for their souls.

This is a man that also wrote that my life is being poured out for the gospel and he meant it. A loving parent will do this for their children.

A faithful brother or sister will do this for someone who's wavering. And maybe we should say especially for someone who's wavering.

So these are five examples of what it looks like to be faithful that are offered to us and that are exemplified for us by the apostle Paul. So whatever group you're in here today as you're listening to this, whether you're in a group that's wavering, and I know

some of us are, if that's you, I want you to hear these please, don't receive God's grace in vain and open wide your heart. Or if you're here and you're a part of the group that's faithful, I want you to remember that the faithful commend themselves in these ways.

They endure hard and challenging and even unjust things. They do it showing the virtues of the spirit in the process. They, the faithful, are able to view all of the ways they're treated, whether good or bad, through the eyes of faith.

They speak the truth freely and they keep their hearts wide open. They do not restrict their love.

I'm going to ask you if you'd stand with me and I want to give us a moment to pray as the team comes to lead us.

Heavenly Father, we pray this morning for the wavering. Maybe that's someone, Lord, that's here listening. to this this morning.

Father, I pray that you would help us to recognize that there is an urgency, there is a day of salvation that is upon us. Now is the time. Now is the day of salvation.

Father, I pray that you would draw us by your love, draw us in your grace. Lord, I also pray for those that are faithful, who maybe have wavering souls on their heart, on their mind.

I pray that you would help us learn from this example that you've given us through your apostle. Lord, will you help us to show these virtues of your spirit, even when it's hard, even when the circumstances are challenging.

Lord, will you help us to view how we are treated, not through an economy of you get what you give, I give back what you've sown in my heart, but help us to view these things through the eyes of faith.

Lord, I pray that those of us that are struggling to balance, showing the virtues of the spirit, and still speaking and representing the truth, will you help embolden us to speak the truth freely.

And Lord, will you, by your power, the power of God, do what only you can do, and that's open hearts. Keep our hearts wide open, and open the hearts of those that would be closed.

We pray this in the name and in the power of Jesus Christ, our Savior. We thank you that you have sent him, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under the law, to break the curse of sin.

Thank you that you sent a Savior who lived and bled and died for our sins, and is now resurrected and ascended with you in heaven. We pray this in his name, in Jesus' name.

Amen.