We are back in the NT as we enter this new year. Paul writes his second letter to the Corinthians encouraging them to extend grace to those who have fallen morally.
2 Corinthians 1: Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
God of All Comfort
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our affliction, 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.
5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.
7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.
9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.
11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
Paul's Change of Plans
12 For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.
13 For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and acknowledge and I hope you will fully acknowledge---
14 just as you did partially acknowledge us---that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you.
15 Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace.
16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea.
17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say "Yes, yes" and "No, no" at the same time?
18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No.
19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes.
20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.
21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us,
22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
23 But I call God to witness against me---it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth.
24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.
2 Corinthians 2:
1 For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you.
2 For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained?
3 And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all.
4 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.
Forgive the Sinner
5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure---not to put it too severely---to all of you.
6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough,
7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.
9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything.
10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ,
11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
Triumph in Christ
12 When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord,
13 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.
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,
16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
Things to think about…
Comfort. It is the one thing we all crave when we have gone through a period of trial or suffering. Paul in his opening words of 2 Cor 1:1-11 starts by saying that he had a rough time in Macedonia. He wanted to come to the Corinthians earlier but he couldn’t. He was stopped and had suffered so much even to the point that they despaired of life itself. This is more than ‘death threats’. This was intense persecution to the point of utter despair even of life itself. Thankfully we are not in that place. Some in this world are in this position, as we often hear about – generally in Arab, Asian or African countries. But as we share in sufferings, we also share in our comfort together, 2 Cor 1:5, 6. Paul says in 2Cor 1:11 “You must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks.” Our prayers make others give thanks to God.
In 2 Cor 2:1-11 Paul is not wanting to cause ‘pain’ when he comes to visit. So rather than do that he wrote a firm letter. This may or may not have been 1st Corinthians. In all likelihood there was at least one more letter in there. The point being, Paul wanted to bring encouragement, not condemnation. This is always the minister’s desire. I love encouraging people; the flip side of course is that I loathe having to discipline people, even though it is also a part of the calling. But to a large extent this is the calling of every Christian. Let’s encourage one another with the truth, whether it is a word of encouragement or rebuke. Again Paul’s reasoning is found in vs 11 “so that we are not outwitted by Satan, because we are not ignorant of his ways”. Do you have an accountability partner in your life? If not, I would encourage you to get one!
I love this snippet in 2 Cor 2:12-17. It shows that Paul really appreciated close friendships even when an open ministry opportunity (even a blessed one) was before him. I think we have the opinion of Paul that he sacrificed relationships from what happened with Barnabas over John Mark (Acts 15:36-41), but here Paul wants to find Titus and would not be at rest in his spirit until he did. Despite all of this he says, the gospel still spreads. Pastors and preachers need to keep this in focus. The Lord will look after His Word, ministers of the gospel just need to be faithful with what the Lord has revealed to them in His word. Keep me accountable in this please.
The triumphal procession Paul mentions in 2Cor 2:14 refers to a conquering force overtaking a defeated foe. The victors would triumphally present the captured enemy before the citizens of the victor’s city. Christ in the same way has been triumphant over sin, satan and death. As such we spread the knowledge of His victory. To those who are perishing our message of the gospel is the smell of death, but to others who are being saved we have the smell of life, vss 15, 16.
In our day we have many peddlers of God’s Word for profit – prosperity preachers. Paul had them in his day, 2 Cor 2:17. There is nothing new under the sun. Those who are commissioned by God have an understanding that everything is said and done under the eye of the Lord and that one day He will judge every word and action.
Vision Point for cell groups
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Cell groups on break.
Prayer Points
1. Planning for this year’s preaching topics and roster.
2. Those returning from holidays.
3. Victorian parliament discussing gay conversion therapy, antichristian bill next moth.
3. America. Pray for truth, grace and peace. Especially the next 2 weeks.
4.Sunday’s message. This week –Andrew Otte.
6. Church finances to meet our expenses and to put a roof over our café.
7. Our City and Country – Pray for revival over our city and the leadership of our country even through these challenging times.
Praise Points.
1. Faithful message on Sunday by Graham Willey
2. The worship team and streaming on Sunday. Great job Josh and Ben.
3. All those who served in 2020 – Especially Dan Anderson, Helen and Steve Hawkins , Angelo, Rod and muso’s, Murray Aitchison, Yuki and many, many others. Thankyou. The elders have been a great support to me this last year.
