Godly vs. Worldly Grief | 2 Corinthians 7:2-16 | 05/03/26

Let me give you two scenarios.

Scenario one, you're part of a community

group here at the church and uh you meet

every other week with your community

group to study the Bible and pray and

you're really tight with these people.

Uh you know them better than anyone else

in the church. You love them more than

anyone in the church. And same is true

for them to you. You're a very tight

group. But one day, whether all at once

or gradually, somehow you discover that

someone else in your community group is

trapped in serious sin.

Someone else in your community group is

trapped in sin. Maybe they're addicted

to something immoral.

Maybe they are not loving their spouse

or their kids the way they should be.

Maybe they're they're giving themselves

over to worldliness. But whatever it is,

it becomes clear that they either don't

realize it's sin or they don't care that

it's sin. They don't bring it up. They

never ask for prayer. And so you decide

to reach out to them a few times in the

hopes that they will bring it up first.

You shoot them a text. You say, "Hey,

how can I be praying for you?" You ask

them after church on a Sunday morning,

"How's life? What's new with you?" Maybe

you even get coffee or a meal with them.

But it becomes pretty clear they're not

going to bring it up on their own. And

so after that, every time you see that

person, you just feel this knot in your

stomach because you know that you need

to talk to them. You need to address

this. You can't stay silent. But that

idea terrifies you. And every time you

think about confronting them in their

sin, you come up with a dozen reasons

why you shouldn't. Who am I to correct

them? I'm a sinner, too. Wouldn't this

make me a hypocrite? Didn't Jesus say

we're not supposed to judge others?

What will I say?

What if it's super awkward?

What if they get mad at me? Isn't this

the pastor's job? Shouldn't I just email

Jason about this and ask him to take

care of it for me?

That's scenario one. Here's scenario

two. A friend of yours from the church

reaches out to you and says, "Hey, could

we meet for coffee? There's something I

want to talk to you about."

Sounds a little ominous. You're not sure

why they want to meet, but you agree.

And so you meet up at Phil's coffee.

Your friend seems warm but also a little

bit nervous. You order your coffee. You

sit down at the table. You make small

talk for a few minutes. And then after a

pause in the conversation, your friend

looks you in the eye and says, "Hey, the

reason I actually asked you to meet is

that there's some sin in your life that

I see and I'm really concerned for you

and I want to talk about it."

Which of those scenarios scares you

more?

Because let's be honest, they're both

pretty uncomfortable, aren't they? But

they're not unrealistic. Not if you're a

Christian and you're deeply connected to

a church.

Ask Christians, are we called to correct

each other when someone falls into sin?

If so, how?

And what if you're on the receiving end

of correction? How should you receive

correction? How should you respond when

someone points out sin in your life?

Well, our passage this morning, 2

2 Corinthians 7 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 7, is a case study

in correction. And through this passage,

my prayer is that we will become better

equipped to give correction and receive

correction so that we could all become

more like Christ. That's my prayer for

this morning. If you're new to West

Hills right now, uh, as you might have

caught on, we are preaching through the

New Testament book of 2 Corinthians. And

basically from the start of 2

Corinthians up until now, Paul has been

defending his ministry and defining what

real ministry is. But now in chapter 7,

Paul's going to zoom out from that and

he's actually going to take us back to

what led him to write this book in the

first place. And so before we jump into

our text, I want to give you just a

quick recap of kind of the events that

led Paul to write this letter. And it's

it's important to understand our

passage. So back in First Corinthians,

Paul promised the Corinthians that he

would soon travel to see them. But first

he would send Timothy to check on them.

Paul wanted Timothy to check on the

church and see how they responded to his

letter. Would they repent from the sin

that he called them out on? So the

Corinthians, they received the letter of

first Corinthians. And then shortly

after that, Timothy shows up in Corenth.

But what did he find? Well, he found

that the church was still a mess. There

was ongoing sexual immorality. There was

divisiveness. And then those false

teachers who opposed Paul were actually

more popular than ever. And so after

Paul hears this report from Timothy,

Paul goes straight to Corinth for what

he calls his painful visit where he

confronts them on their sin. But it

doesn't go well. You know, Jason

speculated about this back in chapter 2

that most likely the leader of the anti-

Paul faction in the Corinthian church

publicly attacked Paul in front of the

whole church. He accused him of not

being a true apostle. He accused him of

being flaky with his travel plans. He

accused him of pocketing the collection

offering for Jerusalem for himself. And

Paul was so stunned that he had no

choice but to leave. So, so Paul runs

back to Ephesus where he then writes his

painful letter to the Corinthians. And

that then he sent that letter to them

with Titus. And we don't have Paul's

painful letter. Uh but we do know why he

sent it. He sent it to call out the

Corinthians on their sin and to call

them to repentance. So after that, Paul

leaves Ephesus and he goes north to

Trrowaz to preach the gospel, hoping to

meet up with Tim with Titus there. But

Titus doesn't show up. So Paul continues

on to Macedonia. And then while Paul's

in Macedonia, Titus finally catches up

to him and tells him that most of the

Corinthians after receiving this painful

letter, most of the Corinthians actually

repented. They they turned away from

their sin.

And that's what our passage this

morning, 2 Corinthians 7, is all about.

the Corinthians repentance in response

to Paul's letter. But before we jump in,

let me just give you a road mapap for

how we're going to tackle this text.

First, I'm going to take us through the

whole chapter and just explain what's

going on from Paul's perspective, from

the Corinthians perspective. After that,

I'm going to get just really practical.

We're going to focus on just two

questions. How should Christians give

correction? And how should Christians

receive correction? That's where we're

going this morning. Let's jump into it.

2 Corinthians chapter 7 starting in

2 Corinthians 7 · chapter mention

verse two

Paul says 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 get condemn you for I said before

that 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.

So, a moment ago I said to you that that

most of the Corinthians repented from

their sin, but there were still some who

doubted and opposed Paul. And so, in

these three verses, Paul's speaking to

that minority. He's asking them, "Hey,

open your hearts back up to me." He

wants them to trust him again. And then

notice what Paul says in verse two. He

says, "We have wronged no one. We have

corrupted no one. We have taken

advantage of no one." So those false

teachers in Corinth, we can speculate

they probably accused Paul of all those

things. But Paul turns his exact those

accusations right back on them. Paul's

saying by implication, it's actually the

false teachers who have wronged you and

corrupted you and taken advantage of

you. But then in verse three, he says,

I'm not saying this to condemn you. He's

saying this because he loves them. He

even says that he's willing to die for

them. And we'll see throughout this

whole passage that Paul is motivated by

love.

Then in verse four, he says,"I have

great pride in you. I am filled with

comfort and all our affliction. I am

overflowing with joy." So why so why is

Paul so proud of the Corinthians? Why is

he overflowing with joy and comfort even

in affliction? Well, let's find out.

Verse 5, it says, "For even 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 that 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.

Imagine how Paul was feeling before

Titus came to him with this news of

their repentance. As far as he knew, the

Corinthians, they were still in

unrepentant sin. They were still siding

with these false teachers against him.

And so Paul, he goes to Trrowaz hoping

to meet Titus there, but Titus isn't. So

he keeps going to Macedonia. And then

while he's in Macedonia, his if his

grief and his anxiety for the

Corinthians weren't enough, he faces

constant affliction. Says in verse 5,

"Our bodies had no rest, but we were

afflicted at every turn.

But then one day, out of nowhere, Titus

arises." You can just imagine. He runs

up to Paul and he says, "Paul, you won't

believe it. They repented. At least most

of them. They they love you. They're on

your side now. And then Titus tells Paul

about their longing to be reconciled

with him. Their mourning over their sin

and their mistreatment of Paul, their

zeal for him, their zeal for the gospel

he preaches. Can you imagine how happy

Paul was to hear that? How much joy that

would have brought him? It kind of makes

sense of verse four, right? I have great

pride in you. I am filled with comfort

in all our affliction. I am overflowing

with joy. That's why. It's because they

repented.

But the thing is is that repentance came

through pain. That repentance came

through pain. Like it hurt Paul knowing

how much his letter hurt the

Corinthians. How much grief it caused so

much so he even regretted sending it for

a while. There was a moment there where

Paul was like, "I don't even know if I

should have sent this because of how

much grief I know this is going to

cause." But in verse 9, he says, "As it

is, I rejoice not because you were

grieved, but because you were grieved

into repentance. For you fell to godly

grief so that you suffered no loss

through us.

Paul doesn't rejoice in their grief. He

rejoices in what comes out of their

grief, which is repentance.

And because the Corinthians repented,

Paul could say they suffered no loss

through him. What does that mean? Well,

the loss pro Paul's probably talking

about here is the loss of heavenly

rewards. The Corinthians were in danger

of losing their heavenly rewards because

they were tolerating false teaching and

sin. But because they repented, they

suffered no loss.

Now, in verse 10, Paul's going to focus

in on this idea of godly grief. What is

godly grief and what is worldly grief?

Verse 10, he says, "For godly grief

produces a repentance that leads to

salvation without regret, whereas

worldly grief produces death."

Let's start with worldly grief. What is

worldly grief? Well, to put it simply,

worldly grief is simply feeling sorry

for the consequences of your sin, not

feeling sorry for the sin itself. That's

what worldly grief is. It's regret for

what your sin cost you, for how it set

you back, for how it damaged your

reputation. But what does it lead to?

What does it produce?

Death. Worldly grief leads to death.

How is that different from godly grief?

Well, godly grief doesn't produce death.

Godly grief produces repentance.

Repentance is turning away from sin and

turning to Christ for forgiveness. And

that repentance then it leads to

salvation without regret.

Let me explain it a different way. So

imagine that sin is like a fire that

starts in your house.

Godly grief looks at that fire and says,

"This is bad. I need to do something

about this." And then runs and grabs a

fire extinguisher and puts the fire out.

Worldly grief looks at that fire and

says, "This is bad."

And then sits down on a couch and lets

the house burn down on top of them.

One leads to action and salvation. The

other leads to inaction and destruction.

Godly grief frees you from regret, but

worldly grief enslaves you to regret.

Godly grief moves you toward Christ.

Worldly grief moves you away from

Christ. And ultimately, godly grief, it

leads you to eternal life. But worldly

grief, it leads to eternal death.

Most of the Corinthians, they chose the

path of godly grief. And that led to

their repentance and their salvation.

And in verse 11, you know, Paul

describes what came out of their godly

grief. He says, "Forese 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." Paul lists seven attitudes,

seven fruits that come out of their

repentance, that come out of their godly

grief. Earnestness, they're taking their

sins seriously. They're not waiting to

take action. Eagerness. They are eager

to clear themselves and make things

right. Indignation. They're upset with

this opposition leader who slandered

Paul. Fear. They have a godly anxiety

over their sin. Longing. They long to be

reconciled with Paul to make things

right with him. Zeal. Their repentance

isn't half-hearted. They are allin. And

punishment. We saw back in 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 2:6

2:6, they took action to punish the

leader of the opposition party by

excommunicating him.

What I want you to see here is that do

you see that repentance is so much more

than just saying you're sorry? It's so

much more than that. It's not less than

that, but it's more. It's a it's a

180°ree turn away from sin toward

Christ. And it leads to radical

transformation. That's what happened for

the Corinthians, right? Godly grief

transformed this church. Repentance

transformed this church, led them to

radically repent because they weren't

just sorry for the consequences of their

sin. They were sorry for the sin itself.

And all this proves their innocence. It

proves that their repentance was

genuine.

Verse 12, Paul says, "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.

Paul's saying, "I didn't write that

painful letter to you just to get even

with the guy who accused me. Nor did I

write it to vindicate myself as the

victim of those accusations. I wrote so

that your earnestness, your support for

me and my fellow workers, and the gospel

we preach would be revealed to all." And

that's exactly what happened. Verse 13,

Paul continues, "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

boasts 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.

You know, this was a a messy and a

painful process, wasn't it? This wasn't

fun for anybody involved. And yet, look

at the outcome. What did we just read?

Paul is comforted and filled with joy.

Titus is refreshed and filled with joy.

Paul's boasting in the Corinthians is

validated. Titus has even greater

affection for the Corinthians. And then

Paul can say in all of at the end of all

of this, I rejoice because I have

complete confidence in you. All of that

came through one correction in the form

of a letter.

Well, that's really cool, Paul. I'm so

glad that things turned out well for you

and your buddies with your little

letter. But what does any of this have

to do with me in 2026?

Well, I'll tell you. The answer is it

has everything to do with you. Because

if you are a Christian, you are called

to correct others. And you are called to

receive correction from others. And let

me just give you three verses that prove

that.

Matthew 18:15,

Matthew 18:15

I think. I have this wrong on my notes.

Matthew 18 something. If your brother

sins against you, go and tell him his

fault between you and him alone. If he

listens to you, you have gained your

brother. Galatians 6:1. Brothers, if

Galatians 6:1

anyone is caught in any transgression,

you who are spiritual should restore him

in a spirit of gentleness.

James 15:19, sorry, James 5:19, "My

James 5:19

brothers, if anyone among you wanders

from the truth and someone brings them

back, let him know that whoever brings

back a sinner from his wandering will

save his soul from death and will cover

a multitude of sins." You know, the

Bible's pretty clear on this. Uh, no

matter how scary correction is, no

matter how uncomfortable correction is,

correction is a normal part of the

Christian life, and it's a necessary

part of the Christian life.

And and if that's not enough, here's

another reality.

Most of us in this room are members of

West Hills. And as members, we have

agreed in our membership covenant to

engage, to give and receive admonition,

that is correction, with meekness and

affection. In other words, members, like

we have literally promised to do this.

We have made a covenant to correct and

be corrected by one another. But here's

the problem with correction. It's really

hard to give it well and it's really

hard to receive it well, isn't it?

That's why this chapter is so helpful.

This chapter is a gold mine of wisdom

for how to give correction and how to

receive correction. So, what we're going

to do now is we're going to go back.

We're going to look through this chapter

through the lens of giving and receiving

correction well. So, let's start with

giving correction. I want to answer this

question. How do you give correction?

Well, by looking at two aspects of

correction. first motives and second

methods. In other words, why should we

correct others and how do we correct

others? So, first, why does Paul correct

the Corinthians? What are his motives?

What drives him to do it? Well, before

we go back to chapter 7, I want to go

even further back to chapter 2:4 where

Paul first mentions this painful letter.

Listen to what he said then. He says,

"For I wrote to you out of much

affliction and anguish of heart and with

many tears, not to cause you pain, but

to let you know the abundant love that I

have for you." Paul was motivated by

love. And he was motivated by grief.

Love for the Corinthians and grief over

their sin. Like their sin, it tore him

up on the inside. He wept. He's not

exaggerating. He's not being

metaphorical here. Paul literally wept

and shed tears because he was so grieved

over their sin. His grief was a product

of his love. Because think about this,

he wouldn't grieve over their sin if he

didn't love them. And notice what Paul

was not motivated by. You know, first he

he wasn't motivated out of a desire to

cause the Corinthians pain. We see that

in chapter 2 verse4. We see it again in

chapter 7:9. He says, "I rejoice not

because you were grieved, but because

you were grieved into repentance."

Second, Paul was not motivated by

revenge. Which is incredible if you

think about what Paul went through,

right? Being falsely accused in front of

the church that you planted with your

own blood, sweat, and tears. But what

did Paul say in verse 12? He said,

"Although I wrote to you, it was not for

the sake of the one who did the wrong."

Paul didn't write this letter to get

back at the guy who bashed him at their

last member meeting. In fact, if you go

back to chapter 2, you might remember he

told the Corinthians that they should

forgive and comfort that guy so that he

wouldn't be overwhelmed by excessive

sorrow, right? He begged them to

reaffirm their love for the one who

falsely accused him. And then third, he

wasn't motivated by his own pride. His

ego wasn't part of this. Verse 12, he

also said he didn't write for the sake

of the one who suffered the wrong. He's

talking about himself. Paul's the one

who suffered the wrong. Paul's the one

who was falsely accused. That visit was

probably a pretty big blow to his pride,

right? But that's not why he wrote the

painful letter. He didn't write it for

his sake. He didn't write it to

reinflate his damaged ego.

So, let's get practical, okay? So, when

that first scenario I gave you comes

true. When you're that Christian who

sees a brother or sister in Christ who

has strayed into sin and you know that

God's calling you to correct them, what

should you do first?

Start by checking your motives. Start by

checking your motives.

Are you motivated by love?

Are you Do you love that person so much

that you're actually grieved by their

sin? Maybe even moved to tears by their

sin. Like with everything in you, do you

just want to see this person leave their

sin behind and rembbrace Christ as their

Lord? Is that what's driving you? Or is

there a part of you that wants them to

feel some of the pain they've caused?

to get revenge for how they've hurt you

or hurt someone else. Maybe to look down

on them in pride like you're a cop

giving them like a spiritual ticket or

something.

It's interesting that in Galatians 6,

right after Paul tells us to restore our

brother caught in a transgression, he

says, "Keep watch on yourself lest you

two be tempted." And what's that

temptation Paul's talking about? Maybe

it's a temptation to fall into the same

sin you're correcting. But I think it

might be the temptation to correct

incorrectly. The temptation to correct

with sinful motives or to correct in

sinful ways.

So church, before we correct one

another, check your motives. Don't

assume your motives are pure. Bring it

to the Lord first. Ask him to reveal

your heart.

So the right motive for correction is

love and grief. But what about the

method? When it's time to actually get

coffee with that brother or sister, how

do you do it? what what do you say?

Well, we don't know exactly how Paul

corrected the Corinthians, obviously,

because we don't have the painful

letter, but we can actually learn a lot

just by seeing how the Corinthians

responded to his letter. So, first, it

it's obvious that Paul's love and grief

came through loud and clear in his

letter. It's obvious that the

Corinthians felt loved and felt that

Paul genuinely was grieved over their

sin when they read that letter. Because

if they hadn't sensed Paul's love, why

would they long to be reconciled with

him?

If they hadn't sensed his grief, why

would they grieve over their sin? So

this is really important. You can't just

be motivated by love and grief. You also

must correct with love and grief. Like

your words, your tone, your body

language, all of it should communicate

that you deeply love this person and

that you are deeply broken and grieving

over their sin. We must correct with

love and grief. What else did Paul do,

right? Well, second, he clearly

identified their sin. He clearly

identified their sin. Paul wasn't vague.

He wasn't unspecific. He told them

exactly where they went wrong. And we

know that because the Corinthians

repented in very specific ways. They

only knew how to make things right

because they knew specifically where

they went wrong. And you know, anytime

you correct someone, you got to keep

this in mind. There's a very real chance

that they don't realize that they're in

that sin. there's a very real chance

they don't even realize what they've

done wrong. You know, sometimes it's out

of ignorance or immaturity. Sometimes

it's because they're self deceived. I

mean, sin does that, right? Sin deceives

us. It blinds us into thinking that it's

not sinful.

If you want to correct someone, well, be

ready to gently but specifically tell

the other person where they have strayed

into sin.

And then here's the third part of Paul's

method. He called them to repentance.

He didn't how messed up they were and

dropped the mic. He told them what they

needed to do to be saved. They needed to

repent and turn back to Christ.

Now, I know I'm about to lose some of

you here. Some of you are like, Elliot,

I am not going to look someone else in

the eye and call them to repentance like

not a pastor. I'm not a Puritan. I I

don't know about you, Elliott, but I

like following established social norms.

And you don't do this in America in

2026. Okay, I get it. But here's the

thing.

calling your brother or sister to

repentance. That's not it's not issuing

them a threat. That's not what it is.

It's pleading with them. It's saying,

"Friend, please turn from this sin. I

love you and I'm worried for you.

Please, I'm begging you. Take this to

Christ. Be forgiven by him. Let me help

you get free from this sin because I

love you and I hate seeing what the sin

is doing in your life." Do you hear

that? That is a call to repentance. It's

not threatening. It's pleading.

Calling someone to repent is the

difference between telling someone

they're sick and actually taking them to

a hospital.

If you really love the other person, the

best thing that you can do is to plead

with them to take their sin to the one

person who can heal them, and that's

Jesus.

Now, I know I've explained all this kind

of formulaically. Obviously, in

practice, you're never going to correct

two people in the same way, right?

Right? Like there's a big difference

between correcting your son for shoving

his sister versus correcting someone in

your community group who's like caught

in a serious pattern of sin. Correction

should always be tailored to the

context. You need to factor in what's

your relationship with the other person?

What's the nature of the sin? Right? It

can be complicated, but but whatever the

context is, you should always strive to

correct with love and grief, correct

with clarity, and call the other person

to repentance.

All right. Now, let's switch seats.

Scenario two. What if you're the person

being corrected? What if someone comes

to you and lovingly or maybe not so

lovingly points out your sin? Well, it's

easy. You should uh should smile, take

it like a champ, shake their hand, have

a great rest of your day. That's it.

That's a joke. Uh

it's not that easy, is it? It's not that

easy to receive correction. I mean, look

at Adam and Eve. They were the first two

people who were ever corrected. And what

did they do when God confronted them for

their sin? They hid until they couldn't

hide anymore. And then they blame

shifted. Adam blamed it on Eve. Eve

blamed it on the serpent. And I mean,

just be honest with me. Like, look me in

the eye. Tell me, you don't do the exact

same thing when someone corrects you.

Don't we all do this? We all do this. We

hide until we can't hide anymore. And

then we try to shift the blame. We try

to shift it onto something else, onto

someone else. Maybe most often, we try

to shift it back onto the person

correcting us.

I only did that because that's how I was

raised.

I only did that because I'm stressed out

from working my butt off for this

family.

I only did that because you did this to

me first.

Our sin has hardwired us to avoid guilt

at all costs.

I've been thinking about this. I wonder

if the reason why we can't stand guilt

is because deep down we know just how

guilty we are and we hate being reminded

of it. Is that fair? We hate being

reminded of the reality of our guilt.

But church, Jesus did about that guilt.

He did something about it. He took it on

himself and he was nailed to a cross to

free us from the guilt of our sin

forever. And listen, if you're not a

Christian this morning, but you realize

that you've spent your entire life

running from that guilt, running from

the guilt of all of your sins and your

mistakes and regrets, you've got to stop

running. What I'm about to tell you is

very, very difficult, but it will save

your life and your afterlife. You need

to face your sin.

You need to grieve over how your sin has

not only hurt you and not only hurt

others, but hurt the God who made you

and loves you. You've got to face that

and grieve over it.

But don't stop there. Most importantly,

let that godly grief lead you to repent.

Let it lead you to repentance. Let it

lead you to Jesus, the one who died to

pay for that sin. Let him wash you

clean. Let him free you from the weight

of all of your guilt and regret because

he can do it and he loves to do it. Let

Jesus do that for you. If you want that

for your life but you don't know how,

come talk to me or a member of our

prayer team after the service. We would

love to talk with you, pray with you

about that.

What if you already are a Christian, but

you can't stand correction? You're like

a spiritual porcupine. If anyone comes

near you, the quills come out.

Uncorrectable,

right? Well, here's the good news for

you. Because of Jesus, you can let your

guard down. Because of Jesus, you can

let your guard down and you can come out

of your foxhole. Do you know why?

It's because though you may be corrected

in this life, you will never be

condemned.

You're going to be corrected. That's a

normal part of the Christian life, but

you will never be condemned. Jesus made

sure of that. Your guilt is gone and

paid for.

But if you continue living as if

correction and condemnation are the same

thing, you are robbing yourself of the

joy that comes with freedom from sin. Do

not equate correction with condemnation.

Correction is for your good.

Condemnation has been paid at the cross

by Jesus Christ. So correction is your

friend, not your enemy.

Now, even if you're with me, you're

like, "Okay, I I get it. Maybe

correction is for my good. Maybe

correction is my friend." Well, it's

still really hard to receive, isn't it?

It doesn't change the fact that it it

really stinks getting corrected. I mean,

it feels like an attack, right? I mean,

have you ever paid attention to your

body when someone corrected you? Any

context, church, work, home, whatever?

You ever paid attention to what's going

on in your body? Like, what happens?

Your heart starts beating faster.

adrenaline and cortisol, they they flood

you, start making you feel restless, you

start sweating, like you literally start

going into fight orflight mode. Our

bodies respond to correction the same

way they would if we were being

physically attacked.

So guess what? The first and the best

thing you can do when someone begins

correcting you is to take a deep breath

and not respond. At least not right

away. It's the best first thing you can

do. takes a ton of discipline and

self-control, but trust me, it's worth

it. Because if you respond right away,

you will regret it. Take a deep breath

and wait.

And maybe in those few seconds while

you're waiting, before you even consider

what the other person is saying, before

you even think about how you're going to

respond, maybe it'll be helpful to

remember these truths.

Remember that you are saved, but you are

still a sinner.

Your sin hurts you and it hurts God.

Remember that you can't see all of your

sin and you can't fight the sin that you

can't see.

But remember that other Christians can

see the sin that you can't. Other

Christians can help you to see the sin

that you can't see. And once you see

your sin, you can fight it. And as you

fight your sin, you will experience the

joy that comes with freedom from sin.

Like when you slow down and you think

about it, do you realize you have

nothing to lose and everything to gain

by receiving correction? Well,

okay. So, you've taken a deep breath.

You've reminded yourself that correction

is for your good. What now? Well, I want

to give you five challenges for

receiving correction. Well, five

challenges for receiving correction.

Well, first, listen before you speak.

Listen before you speak. Ask clarifying

questions. In fact, I would encourage

you to ask at least three questions

before you before you respond. At least

three questions. That gives them time to

explain where they're coming from and

what they've seen. It gives you time to

chill out and process what's happening

and what they're saying.

Second, assume positive motives. Assume

positive motives. You know, we always

say don't assume motives, but when it's

a brother or sister in Christ who's

correcting you, I think it's actually

health healthy and and right to assume

positive motives until you're absolutely

proven wrong. Okay? Like, assume this

correction is coming from a place of

love and grief. Assume that they've

thought and prayed long and hard about

this. Assume that they really do want to

help you and have your best interests in

mind. And if it becomes clear in the

process of that conversation that their

motives are not all positive, you know,

it might still be worth hearing them out

because there could still be truth in

what they have to say even if they

correct you in the wrong way or for the

wrong reasons.

Third, humbly consider their correction.

Search yourself. Ask God to search you.

See if you can see what they see. Assume

the best of them, but don't assume the

best of yourself. Remember that sin

blinds and deceives.

You might only need a minute. You might

need longer, too. You know, like it's

okay to say to someone, "Hey, I

appreciate you bringing this to me. Can

we meet in a week?" So, I have some time

to pray about this and think about this

and process this. But however long it

takes, just humbly consider if there's

truth, even just some truth in what they

shared. And if you're still not sure,

man, ask another Christian who knows you

well, who you know will be honest with

you. Ask them, "Hey, do you see this in

my life? Someone just came and they

corrected me on this thing. I I don't

see it, but do you see this? Is this

something that I'm just blind to?"

Fourth,

if you've sinned, start by grieving over

it. Start by grieving over your sin. I

know it sounds weird to say that, but

but notice that the Corinthians, they

didn't jump straight to repentance. They

started with grief.

Are you actually sorry for your sin? Do

you truly regret it? Do you grieve your

sin the way that God grieavves your sin?

And I want to be careful here. Don't mix

this up. Godly grief is not a form of

self atonement where you try to pay for

your sin by making yourself feel as

guilty and awful and miserable as you

can. Okay? That is not what we are

called to in the gospel. We're not

called to just beat ourselves up

emotionally until we feel we've done

sufficient penance. That's that's not

the gospel. Christ took all of our all

of our sin at the cross. There's nothing

left for us to pay. Godly grief in

contrast is just simply it's

acknowledging the tragedy of your sin,

accepting full responsibility for it,

and feeling genuinely sorry for it.

That's godly grief. But this is

important. Godly grief is temporary.

It's not permanent. It's temporary. Like

look at verse 8. Paul says, "I see that

I see that that letter grieved you,

though only for a while." The

Corinthians grieved. They did grieve,

but it was only for a bit. And that's

because while worldly grief is a final

destination, godly grief is just a short

stop on the way to repentance and

freedom from guilt and regret. So after

you've grieved your sin, repent. You got

to repent.

Sometimes I feel like I'm a broken

record every time I preach about

repentance. But the other day I was

thinking to myself, you know, if we were

all in a burning building and there was

only way out, only one way out, and I

just kept pointing to that exit and

saying, "Hey, this is how you get out."

I I don't think I would feel repetitive,

right? We talk about repentance so much

because it is the only way out of sin.

How do you repent?

Well, first you repent by asking God to

forgive you through the death and

resurrection of Jesus Christ. You ask

God for forgiveness. You remind yourself

that you are infinitely loved by him and

that your sin has been paid in full and

there is now no condemnation

in Christ. Though you may not feel it,

you are holy and righteous in his sight.

You are a saint.

Second, you repent by asking the

forgiveness of every person you sinned

against.

I know I lost you here, right? This is

not popular. Okay, sure. I'll go to God

and ask for forgiveness in my private

prayer time that no one else can see.

But you're saying, "I need to go to the

people I've wronged and ask them for

forgiveness." Yes. And if you don't, you

will build up scar tissue on your soul.

Don't skip this. You need to go and ask

forgiveness for others. The Corinthians

didn't did this, didn't they? They

longed to be reconciled with Paul. They

wanted to make things right with Paul.

They sinned against God, yes, but they

also sinned against Paul. And they

wanted to make things right.

And third, you repent by turning away

from your sin, walking, running in the

other direction.

In seminary, I took a class called

pastoral ministry with this guy named

Dr. Hershel York. It's an awesome

professor. He looked and sounded like

Colonel Sanders. He was great. I went to

school in Kentucky. So,

I'll never forget a story that he told

us in that class from his years as a

pastor.

He said that he once at his church, he

had a husband and wife join his church.

The husband used to be a youth pastor at

a different church, but he stepped down

because his wife had an affair with a

female intern.

So, one day, this couple, they came to

Dr. York for counseling for all of this.

And the wife in their first session

asked him, "Dr. York, what do I need to

do to get past this?"

That was her question. What do I need to

do to get past this? And here's what he

said. He said, "You will never get past

this. Someday, years from now, some

other kid in the church will tell your

kid, "Guess what I heard about your

mom?"

Years from now, people will see you and

whisper about what you've done. You

can't change that. The only thing you

can change is what people will say after

that. Well, they reply her. I never

would have thought in a million years.

And then he quoted something to her from

the British preacher John Angel James.

He said, "Let your repentance be more

notorious than your sin."

Let your repentance be more notorious

than your sin.

The Corinthians repentance was

notorious.

They turned away from their sin with

fear and trembling. They took radical

steps. They excommunicated a member of

their church. They went so far that

Paul's like, "Hey guys, like chill out.

Welcome this guy back in. You love the

zeal, but you're going to crush this guy

with how seriously you responded to

that.

If you're caught in sin, what would it

take for your repentance to be more

notorious than your sin? What would it

take? You know, it might mean taking

steps to make that sin impossible to

access. It might mean asking someone to

hold you accountable so you don't fall

back into it. It might mean talking

about it with a pastor or an elder. I

don't know, maybe it would even mean

turning yourself into the police.

But if you have really experienced godly

grief over your sin, guess what? None of

that will stop you. None of it will stop

you because you will hate your sin far

more than you will hate the cost of

getting free from it.

If you have real godly grief, you will

hate your sin far more than the cost of

getting free from your sin.

And what's the end result of all this?

What's the end result of a church that

gives correction and receives correction

with grace? Well, the outcome is the

same for us as it was for Paul and for

Titus. It's comfort and joy and even

greater love for one another. Correction

is uncomfortable and difficult in the

moment, but when it works well, it it

results in greater love. It results in

greater joy. It results in greater

affection for each other. So, church,

let's be a church that gives correction

well and receives correction well. so

that we could all become more like

Christ.