Forgiving the Repentant

Transcript

GR 1794
1/11/2015
Forgiving the Repentant
2 Corinthians 2:5-11
Gil Rugh

If you would turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 2. As we have observed in our previous study, the church at Corinth was a difficult church for the Apostle Paul, and even this second letter which is really at least a third letter that he has written. We have two of them as part of our inspired Scripture and he refers in his first letter to another letter he had written even before our first letter of Corinthians. The Spirit of God did not have it preserved for us as part of our Scripture. So it is an important church. These records are here for us today as the church of Jesus Christ to learn from, to grow in as we assimilate these truths.

The church at Corinth is a difficult church. Paul's first letter was a difficult letter. As we moved through 1 Corinthians, that first letter and noted the various things Paul had to deal with, some of the areas of problems that Paul had to be rather firm with them. He has visited them, his first visit was in Acts 18 where Luke the historian records the establishing of the church at Corinth by the Apostle Paul. Then he has visited them sometime in between. We don't know anything about that but we have looked, and at the end of 2 Corinthians Paul will refer to the fact that his coming visit, his impending visit is his third. We know the first, when he established the church at Corinth. We know this visit that is coming up is his third visit. We don't have any record, for example in the historical account of the book of Acts of that visit.

He spends three years in the city of Ephesus. We saw on the map that Ephesus is just across the water from Corinth. And evidently while he was in Ephesus earlier he made a trip over to Corinth. Things have not gone well, the first letter indicates that. The letter he wrote previously was not an easy letter because in 1 Corinthians 5:9 he said he wrote that they shouldn't be associating with immoral people. Obviously he is addressing, and he makes clear there, he was talking about the immoral people in the church at Corinth. So the letter we don't have a record of that preceded our first letter of Corinthians wasn't an easy letter. We've worked through 1 Corinthians and saw that wasn't an easy letter; now 2 Corinthians Paul has to defend himself, his trustworthiness as an apostle, the one that God used to bring these people to Christ, who helped them grow as God would have them grow. But some in the church at Corinth are saying, Paul can't be trusted, he isn't trustworthy. So he has to address that.

He is concerned as he anticipates this visit that he is about to make very shortly to Corinth (which will be his third) not be a cause of sorrow and unpleasantness. So chapter 2 opens up, “I determined this for my own sake, that I would not come to you in sorrow again.” Now his first visit when he established the church was not a cause of sorrow. But the second visit that is not recorded evidently was a difficult time where he had to address issues and that was unpleasant for the church at Corinth, and it was unpleasant for Paul. So he has said, I have delayed this visit, because some at Corinth was saying, you can't trust Paul. Remember? Because he said he was going to come over here shortly and he didn't, he changed his plans. Paul had originally said, I'll come over from Ephesus and visit you in Corinth, then I'll go up into northern Greece, Macedonia, and minister. Then I'll come back to Corinth and we'll have another visit, then I'll be on my way. He has changed his plans—he is going to go from Ephesus up into Macedonia and come down to Corinth. Seems to us as we read it this far removed, no big deal. But you know it's amazing what people in the church can make a big deal out of. And here we say the Apostle Paul so greatly used of God and there is a faction in the church saying Paul is not trustworthy, he changed his plans. So that's something of the situation, and Paul says I have no desire to make you unhappy, to cause you sorrow. And part of my purpose in delaying my visit, changing my plans, was so that when we do get together you will have had time to deal with the issues you must correct. And that when I come I won't have to deal with them and we can just enjoy one another's fellowship.

So verse 4 we read, “Out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not so you would be made sorrowful but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.” And that first letter which we went through, all the things that Paul had to address. He said, I didn't write that just to try to make you unhappy, I want you to know how much I love you. I am concerned for your spiritual wellbeing and out of love I had to deal with those things that have to be corrected.

Then he focuses on one particular issue, and this is where we pick up our study, where we left off, with verse 5. “But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me but in some degree in order not to say too much, to all of you. Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority, so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him. Otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Wherefore, I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.” Paul is dealing with a situation here which I believe goes back to his first letter. You'll note he says in verse 5, “if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me but in some degree not to say too much, to all of you.” The sin and sorrow caused by this individual sin impacted the whole church and was a cause of sorrow in the church. And Paul wants to be clear, this is not a personal issue for him and he is not dealing with this out of some self-centered issue. The real problem is the sorrow he has brought to you as a church.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 5. A few years ago we studied 1 Corinthians together. This chapter as we have surveyed through 1 Corinthians in prior studies on the problems in the church that Paul had to deal with, here is that situation of immorality. 1 Corinthians 5 begins, “It is actually reported there is immorality among you.” This is the issue—immorality among you. The church at Corinth, the saints, the holy ones, “immorality of such a kind that does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife.” It doesn't say his mother, it is a step-mother, but still viewed as incest. And when we studied this chapter I read to you from writings of the time from different Romans, even this kind of relationship was unlawful in the Roman Empire, according to Roman law. So this doesn't even exist just among the Gentiles outside the realm of the church.

“You have become arrogant, have not mourned instead.” And keep this in mind—arrogance can take a variety of shapes. Paul is going to be dealing with from the other side in the second letter here, in the section we're dealing with. But a major problem that is behind a lot of the problems that the church at Corinth has is arrogance, that self-righteous, self-centered pride. “You've become arrogant, you've not mourned instead so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.” This becomes key. Evidently in the context of what he says, you have become arrogant. It has not caused you sorrow. You haven't removed this person. They prided themselves on their openness—we don't judge other people. We're not going to be judgmental. We're broad enough to understand none of us are perfect. And they became accepting of sinful behavior in the family of God at Corinth.

“For I on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit.” So he wants to connect himself with them—I am not there with you but I am there with you in my spirit. I think of myself as there. When I'm writing, I'm writing as though I were there with you and part of the group. “I on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit have already judged him who has so committed this as though I were present.” And it is right for Paul to judge this. He is going on to tell the church at Corinth, it is wrong for them not to judge it. “In the name of our Lord Jesus when you are assembled and I with you in spirit.” He can't be there, we understand this kind of expression. We'll talk about I couldn't be there but I was there with you in my heart, my mind, in my spirit. “When you are assembled and I with you in spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus.” He wants to make clear, ultimately this is Christ's church. He is the head of the church. We are acting on His behalf in doing this. This doesn't come out of some self-centered desire to inflict vengeance, it's not because I personally was offended. We are here representing Jesus Christ and on His behalf. And you as a congregation when you meet together and me with you in my spirit, we are operating under the authority of Christ and in His power.

“I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus.” Deliver such a one to Satan,that is to remove him. The end of verse 2 said “This one would be removed from your midst.” Down at the end of verse 13 he'll say, “Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.” The point is the church is the fellowship of God's people. When someone in the church persists in sinful behavior, they are to be put out from the church. That puts them into the realm of Satan. The whole world lies in the evil one and will expose him to some of the afflictions that the devil can bring. Later in 1 Corinthians 11 Paul will talk about those in the church at Corinth that were weak, that were sick, and some had experienced physical death as part of the disciplining of God for sin. The ultimate goal is the salvation of this person, so discipline is good. If they persist in their sin, are they manifesting they are not truly saved? Part of the discipline in this is how God deals with His children. And remember when we studied Hebrews? If you are without discipline, you are not true children, you don't truly belong to God because He disciplines all His children. And part of His discipline takes place through His church. And that's the context we are talking about.

“Your boasting is not good.” This is a problem, their boasting. Pride. Doesn't meant they are standing up and bragging about it, but there is an arrogance, that self-righteous, self-confidence that overlooks the sin that ought to be dealt with, and a certain pride in not dealing with it. That shows you are broader, more open, more understanding, more loving, more patient. In reality you are more unbiblical. That's what Paul is dealing with. “Your boasting is not good.” The problem is sin is like leaven, like the yeast, it permeates the dough. So he said, you tolerate sin, this ongoing sinful activity, you're making a statement in the body of the saints, the holy ones, this kind of activity is acceptable. While that may not be the same sin, we're saying immorality is acceptable, and other kinds of sin are acceptable. It will grow, permeate and corrupt the whole body. So you must deal with it.

Verse 9, this is what I referred to a little bit ago. “I wrote you in my letter.” Well, we don't have that letter. It evidently preceded what we call 1 Corinthians because this is the first letter we have preserved for us by the Spirit. But he had written another letter. “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people. I didn't mean the immoral people of this world—the covetous, swindlers, idolaters. Otherwise you would have to go out of the world.” Twisted thinking—we keep ourselves from those sinners outside there. We try not to hang around with the unbeliever. Paul says that's not my point. “Actually I wrote you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, covetous, idolater, reviler, drunkard, swindler. Not even to eat with such a one.” This is our responsibility. I'm going to mention this and emphasize it a number of times. You always begin with this question—what is my responsibility? Here you don't have any association. The church, as the church, is to cut him off him from the fellowship of the church. He is no longer welcome here. My responsibility as a believer, I don't say, that was the church's decision, but come on over and we'll have dinner. No. We are out of fellowship, we are cut off in our relationship.

Paul says, what do I have to do with judging the unbeliever, outsiders. “Do you not judge those within the church, those who are outside God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourself.” And then you go on into 1 Corinthians 6 where we are not going, but he says the saints are expected to exercise judgment in a biblical sense. So judge not that you be not judged is to put that in its context in which Jesus gave it. Here he says you are not doing what the Head of the church would have you do if you don't judge. We have to be careful. We pull out pieces of verses from here and there and think we've made a case. Well, the Bible says judge not that you be not judged. It does say that. What does it mean when it says that in the context in which it was given? Because here Paul says that we are to judge those who are within the church. So the church sometimes gets confused. We tolerate things in the church which should not be tolerated, and we're always railing against the unbelieving world for their sin. What do you expect from an unbelieving world? They always do the will of their father the devil. But our Father is the God of glory, of holiness, we are His children. “Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.”

Come back to Matthew, we'll go to Matthew first and then come back to 2 Corinthians. Matthew 18, this is the pattern set down in a more organized fashion, how you deal with it. You could put the same pattern together, basically, in 2 Corinthians 2. Matthew 18, and you'll note the context. Verse 14, “It's not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones would perish.” Remember Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 5, “that his spirit may be saved in the day of judgment.” God's concern for His children. And then you move into “if your brother sins.” Well, that's what Paul was talking about. What do you do? How do you deal with it when one who calls himself a Christian sins? “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private.” Pretty simple. You know someone who is involved in sin, you go tell him about it, you go talk to him about it. “If he listens to you, you have won your brother.” It's over, that's it. We go through this, sometimes we forget it. You start with that. That's why I say, what is my responsibility? I've become aware that you are in sin. Well, I'll go talk it over with three or four people. No. What's my responsibility? “Go and show him his fault in private.” What's my responsibility? We always start there. I always like to start with what's your responsibility? That's where we start. What should you be doing? Wait, what's my responsibility? This situation as one subservient to my Lord and master, desirous of doing His will, I have to go. I don't know that I'm the best one to go. I'm the one who has become aware, I guess I'm the one God wants. If he listens to you and says, thank you for coming. It is sin, I am guilty, I want to repent of this sin, be done with it. Wonderful, it's over, it's done. You have won your brother, you have gotten him back on track.

If he won't listen to you, you take two or three witnesses with you that will agree together, your conduct here is sinful, it is wrong. If he refuses to listen to them, then it becomes more widespread. Then you have to deal with the church. “You tell it to the church. If he won't listen to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax gatherer.” In other words these are those you don't have anything to do with. The Jews would understand that. “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; whatever you shall loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” You see the context we are dealing with here. As a church we are functioning under the authority of the Head of the church, acting on His behalf. Not that we have power to bind sins and loose sins as in some situations like a Roman priest has the power for forgiving and so on. That's not what he is talking about. He talked about here, what's the context? Read it. “Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven” because we are acting as God's representatives. This is serious business. “I say again to you, if two or three of you agree on earth about anything they may ask, it shall be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three have gathered in My name there I am in their midst.”

This is in the context of what we've just read, dealing with sin. We know that because verse 21, “Peter came and said to Him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?” Sometimes we pull these verses out and say, we have a church, we have two or three gathered together. He's not giving a description of the church, he's talking about those witnesses, for example, that came in verse 16 to confront the person and on behalf of their testimony the church of unrepentant sinner, the church has gotten involved and so on.

“Then Peter asked, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” We laugh at Peter and we love him because he always steps up and asks those things or does those things and we can identify with him. I have to say, I just went that far, I think Peter is a very gracious man. Think about it, if someone sins against you seriously and they say, that was wrong, I want you to forgive me. And you say, you are forgiven. They turn around and do it again. You go through the second time and you say, I forgive you. Then they do it again, I think we're up to three. Then they do it again, and again, and again, and again. You say, I think we've just about exhausted your forgiveness. Jesus said to him, I tell you, you don't forgive him to seven times, you forgive him up to seventy times seven. Now obviously Jesus didn't mean you get a notebook, number it from 1-490 and keep checks. He says, you don't count.

And then he gave the example of a king who has a slave and that slave misused what was entrusted to him and owed the king a huge sum of money. He sought the king's forgiveness and the king gave it. Then that slave had his own slave and he owed him a little pittance. And he asked for forgiveness and that slave who have been forgiven wouldn't give it. And then Jesus applies it. Verse 32, “Summoning him, his lord said to him, you wicked slave. I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave in the same way I had mercy on you? His lord moved with anger handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed.” How is he going to repay? He is at the torturers, he has nothing. “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you if you do not each of you forgive your brother from your heart.” Superficial forgiveness, yes, I've forgiven them but in your heart there is bitterness, there is anger, there is resentment, there is the desire for vengeance. That's not biblical forgiveness.

Now we know from the Bible you can't earn forgiveness. I'm going to forgive him so that I can earn God's forgiveness, because we're saved by grace. But those who have truly experienced God's saving grace must constantly remind themselves of the greatness of the forgiveness that we have received. And I start there again, what is my responsibility? What has God done for me? He has forgiven me all my sin, He has washed me whiter than snow. And even when I sin against Him again, He has forgiven me. I have to guard against self-righteousness here because when I see someone else's sin I say, I don't know how they can do that, I don't understand that. It's not going to be easy to forgive them. And I find myself sliding into self-righteousness—I know I'm a sinner, but I'm not a sinner like they are. And I begin to minimize the greatness of the sin that God has forgiven me because it was not the same kind. I have to remind myself, what was I like? I had a heart that was deceitful and desperately wicked above all things; I was by nature a child of wrath, deserving of God's wrath; I was His enemy, deserving. That's how serious my sin was, I deserved an eternal hell. He forgave me it all and He continues to forgive me. The blood of His Son Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing me from all sin, 1 John 1 says. Now I turn and say, they have done so much to me but it is nothing compared to what God has forgiven me. So what is my responsibility as the forgiven slave? To keep on forgiving. That's the point.

We say that means then he shouldn't be put out of the church because we've forgiven him. There are two issues going on in forgiveness. First the forgiveness of my heart. There is no room for bitterness, resentment, vengeance because vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord. So I forgive in my heart, but the expression of that forgiveness, the acceptance that comes for it in the body requires that person to recognize the sin and stop it. Then no matter what they do to me doesn't justify my being bitter, my being vengeful. We've looked at that from the other side and Christ is the example of that. Peter uses it—when He was reviled, He didn't revile back. But that doesn't mean we don't follow through in what He says we should do to maintain the purity of the body and the testimony for Christ. And as we're going to see here now as we move along, there are things we must keep in tension or in balance if we are to be biblical. And Paul is concerned that the church at Corinth does that.

While you're in Matthew come back to Matthew 6. Forgiveness is not optional for a true believer. Where there is not forgiveness I take it we're not dealing with a true believer because Christ says God the Father will not forgive the one who is unforgiving. In Matthew 6 we're in the Sermon on the Mount and the Lord's Prayer as it is generally known. Note verse 12, “Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors.” And that's the only phrase here that Christ elaborates and explains in what we call the Lord's Prayer because look at verse 14. “For if you forgive others their transgressions your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” So this is to be an expression, our Father who is in heaven, but if He truly is your Father you understand something of the greatness of the forgiveness that you have received, the cleansing that He has brought. So when you pray Lord, forgive me as I am forgiving others, I am mindful of your grace, your forgiveness, your cleansing. The word forgiveness here is Matthew is the word aphiemi. It means to cancel, remit. So when you forgive you cancel the debt. It's like we saw in Matthew 18, the king canceled that debt, no longer owed.

Come back over now to 2 Corinthians. Paul is using a different word for forgive. They're both talking about forgiveness. They just give a little different emphasis. The word for forgiveness that Paul uses, verse 6 we said, “sufficient for such a one is the punishment which was inflicted by the majority.” Evidently the church responded in light of Paul's exhortation and they removed the wicked man. But now he has repented and so on the contrary you should rather forgive. The word he uses forgive there, charizomai. I mention that because you know the Greek word for grace—charis. This is a word built on the word grace. So if you go to a Greek dictionary, to forgive graciously. Just carries that. The other word, aphiemi, denotes forgiveness in canceling the debt, remitting what was owed, no longer owed, but here you also bring into that, that context of grace. A reminder, I have experienced God's grace and now I have a chance to manifest that grace to others. It's not a matter of whether they deserve my forgiveness. What do you mean, do they deserve my forgiveness? Do I deserve God's forgiveness? Now we've moved outside the realm of salvation by grace alone to no salvation. Now we are to manifest the character of God, we have become partakers of the divine nature. We manifest that grace of forgiveness.

So that was sufficient. We think, I wonder if the punishment was enough; I wonder if they suffered enough; I wonder if they got off easy. It was enough, sufficient. When the repentance occurs, we saw if it occurs at the first contact by one individual, that was sufficient and you've won your brother. Here as serious as this sin was, the action of the church was necessary but the person has repented. “Sufficient for such a one is this punishment, which was inflicted by the majority. So on the contrary you should rather,” and there are three things given here that they are to do, reinfinitives. In English we would recognize infinitives like “to” in front of it. Here to forgive, to comfort, to reaffirm in verse 8. Circle those three words, mark them, highlight them—forgive, comfort, reaffirm. Two of them in verse 7, one in verse 8. What do we do when a person repents of their sin? You forgive graciously, there is a full and complete forgiveness. You demonstrate that. Of course that’s in, as we said, the heart and there was never any bitterness there, any resentment. That has been resolved. It couldn't be expressed until the person expressed their repentance and could be welcomed back to fellowship, forgiven. Comfort him. Remember this word from the word for the Holy Spirit, the paraclete. You come alongside to encourage, to comfort, to give help. Otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. We know what that's like as a believer. You sin, and we all do, James says we all stumble in many ways and the most consistent way we stumble is with our tongue. And if we never sin with our tongue we'd be perfect.

You know what it's like when you sin, maybe with your tongue, you say something. Then it dawns on you and you say, that was sin. Why would I do that? What was I thinking? And it does cause you sorrow, not because you don't think you're forgiven, because you know you grieved the Holy Spirit. It was so out of character with what should be done by one who knows the Lord and His grace in their life. One is not to try to crush this person, overwhelm him with the sorrow. Well, I know you say you've repented, you say you are sorry but we're just not ready to receive you back, yet. Maybe over time. And we create our own protestant-kind, evangelical-kind of purgatory. The Roman Catholics say you're not forgiven completely so you have to go to purgatory and suffer after you die. We do it here now—I know you say you are sorry, you say you are repentant but you are not welcome back here. Maybe sometime, but not now. We cut them off, put them out there so they can be overwhelmed with sorrow. Well, I don't think they are sorry enough, I don't think their heart has really changed. I find all kinds of excuses to not do. I have to come back, what is my responsibility? What is our responsibility as a church? That's where I have to keep coming back, otherwise I'm trying to say what their heart is like, what they ought to be doing. What do we do? Forgive, comfort.

Verse 8, you can't do this at arm's length. I hope you are tracking here because we're going to do a specific example in a moment. “I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.” The word reaffirm used one other time, it's in Galatians 3, it's in the context of ratifying a will, like a legal contract. You reaffirm it, it is settled, you love. How can I do that if I don't have a contract with them? I know, I've forgiven them but I prefer right now not to have any contact with them. Well, how am I going to reaffirm my love, show that that's a settled matter, the forgiveness, the comfort, the love. Well, they sit over here, I'll sit over here. I can forgive them but I don't have to have contact with them. I don't know how you're going to reaffirm your love. That's our responsibility. Again, it simplifies things, doesn't it? So easy to begin to adjust our focus, and this is where Paul is concerned. Pride, arrogance, self-righteousness at the church at Corinth.

Now first the sin on the part of the church was that they wouldn't deal with the sin. They tolerated it. Now the other side the danger is they deal with the sin and self-righteous and arrogance, they won't accept repentance and show forgiveness. And you become proud because we're the church that doesn't tolerate sin. We deal with it, they're out of here, and they don't get back in very easily, either, because we're righteous people and we want to be a holy group. And we're every bit as unbiblical as the person who committed the other sin. That's what Paul is dealing with—forgive, comfort, reaffirm your love. That's where we start when we're dealing with this. What's my responsibility? What's the church's responsibility?

For to this end I wrote so that I might put you to the test to see whether you are obedient in all things. And that's why Paul wrote the first letter, a test to see if you will pass it and come out approved as one who has passed the test. You're not just obeying Paul or obeying the rules of the church, but obeying the Lord of the church. That's what he is talking about. “But whom you forgive anything, I forgive also. For indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes,” note, “in the presence of Christ.” In the presence of Christ. We are operating, that word in the presence of, literally in the face of Christ. It's like standing there before Him. We must function in the way that pleases Him. We stand before His face. It's like He is there looking at us. And we're not going to do what He would have us do?

And Paul wants to make clear, just like in 1 Corinthians 5 the church, he wanted them to take the initiative. They had to carry out the action, Paul is not the church. The church at Corinth had to deal with the sin. Paul would join himself with them. So here it's their forgiveness that has to be demonstrated. Paul wants to make that clear. The one whom you forgive anything, I have also and if I forgive anything it's for your sakes. It's for the good of the church, not only that they deal with the sin but they show the forgiveness and the presence of Christ, the One who has forgiven me everything. Go back to that picture that Christ drew in Matthew 18 of the king who forgave so much. And here I am in the presence of the One who forgave me everything at great cost to Himself.

Verse 11, “So that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.” You see what happens, by not dealing with sin and the ongoing practice of sin by someone in the congregation, they gave the opportunity for Satan to spread sin in their congregation. By not showing forgiveness and love to the person who has repented of their sin, they give opportunity to the devil to divide the congregation, to spread pride and self-righteousness and bitterness and slander and gossip and everything else. We need to be careful. If we're going to be known for one thing we want to be known to be hard against sin. Well, we're a forgiving congregation so we don't feel we have to deal with sin because nobody is perfect. We have to be biblical. We don't get to pick and choose. He's the Lord and I'm the slave; He's the head of the church and I'm not. We can't say, Lord, I decided to obey you here but not obey you here; and I thought you'd be more pleased if I chose to obey you here and not obey you here; and if I were going to disobey, I thought this would be a better . . . Who gives those kinds of choices? And we can't function like that.

No advantage be taken us of Satan. Come over to 2 Corinthians 12, just note here verse 19. “We've been defending ourselves. Actually in the sight of God we have been speaking in Christ, all of this for your upbuilding, beloved.” Now note, “I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you not to be what I wish, may be found by you to be not what you wish, that perhaps there will be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances.” We're not ignorant to the schemes of the devil. If the church at Corinth doesn't function like they should, to forgive, to comfort, to reaffirm their love it gives the devil the opportunity to produce these things. If they don't deal with the sin, look at verse 21, “I'm afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you. I may mourn over many of those who sinned in the past, not repented of their impurity, immorality, sensuality which they have practiced.” We don't get to pick and say, would I rather be with verse 21 or verse 20. I don't want to give the devil and opportunity to put his foot in the door and to promote his schemes either way, and thus mar the testimony and our faithfulness to Christ.

I don't often use an example for the congregation, but I am this morning. Some time back we had a situation here where a person involved in very significant ways, sinned, and not only sinned but his sin was a crime and he has been incarcerated for it. Some of us have had contact with him and one of the letters, I won't give you the date, this has gone on for some different times. But he did write me a letter saying I'm very near to the closing portion of my incarceration. The institution is beginning to make inquiries into my release plans, including where I plan to attend church, if I plan to do so. And of course I do. Here is the concern, basically, should I come back to Indian Hills or shouldn't I? I know that some would think that improper and I don't want to do anything to harm the body.

Then he says, I'm asking your opinion, not even particularly as a pastor but as a friend. I suppose I am not asking if I could return, could in bold, if I could return when released, but whether I should, again should in bold, in your opinion would my return cause more harm than good? I've asked a number of good men here, both staff and inmates, and they have given me a mixed bag of answers. I hope to hear from you. And I have corresponded with him.

Let me tell you what I shared with him and I've shared with a number of others from time to time as part of our body. My answer is, this is your church family and it is best for you personally to return to this family. It is best for this family of believers that you return here. Let me give you some breakdown. It is best for him because it is here that he'll experience forgiveness, comfort, love. He'll have a chance to demonstrate that his repentance is genuine.

I had a conversation on the phone with someone who had never been here. The people involved have never been here, or to Lincoln, for that matter. But I had a call and it was about a person I know that had a public ministry, got into sin, and his sin also was a crime, went to prison. But I talked to this person on one of the coasts and said, what about so-and-so since they've gotten out? Have they repented? How are they living? Nobody knows, they didn't go back to their church. He doesn't maintain any contact with believers formally, we don't know what has happened. I said, everything is left hanging. Did he truly repent? Has there been any change? So a person comes back to their church family, they have an opportunity to demonstrate their true repentance.

Secondly, the opportunity, and I've shared this as openly as I can, if you come back to this church, quite honestly there will be people who will not handle it biblically, and will not be forgiving, and will maybe maintain bitterness or coldness toward you. You have to be willing to handle it biblically and not let that affect you negatively. That would be part of what God has, part of what you have to work through. And it will give you the opportunity to experience the love, the support, encouragement of the body so you can continue to grow and be used of Him.

So it's best for him, it's best for the church. When something like this happens, any kind of sin, it's easy to think it would be good if they went to another church and they weren't here. Then they won't have to deal with any of the consequence. We won't have to deal with them. We can all get on with our lives. But it's not biblical. We're God's family. We don't tell our children if they've done that, then they repent, we're glad to have them back. The prodigal son kind of picture. It's the self-righteous Pharisees that aren't glad.

So it provides opportunity for the church family to demonstrate their forgiveness. Not just to talk about it, not just verbally say it, but to demonstrate it. Forgiveness, comfort, love. How are we going to do that? Believers who sin are no longer welcome to come here, we're just the assembly of those who never sin? I think that's call self-righteousness, isn't it? Arrogance? Pride?

And so it puts pressure on the church to deal with that, and we all have that. We like to think I'm not self-righteous, I'm not proud. But then somebody sins and I say, what did they do? And we do, we want to be offended by sin. But then I carry it to the point, I would never do that, I'm not that kind of person. I don't know that I want to be associated in church with that kind of person. And so their forgiveness was not complete? If God has cleansed them and forgiven them everything, they are acceptable in His presence but they are not acceptable in mine. So we as a church need the pressure. It reminds us of how easily sometimes we can become self-righteous, proud.

It's necessary there so the devil doesn't have opportunity to work on our body. If we are closed to anybody who sins or any believers who sin at least in significant ways, coming back. I think it's an unhealthy thing for the person and for the church. Sometimes people are disciplined. Sometimes it doesn't go to that discipline, but the principle is still the same—ought to be restored in the family, not run off someplace else.

And it reminds us all, how great the forgiveness of God is. Think about it, they are totally forgiven. But that doesn't amaze me so much, what amazes me is I'm totally forgiven. This is what kept Paul in perspective. 1 Timothy 1, God saved me, the worst of sinners, the chiefest of sinners. It kept him from becoming self-righteous. How could the church at Corinth sin? What is wrong with them? I can understand, I'm a great sinner and the recipient of a great salvation. I begin to forget what I am and I can slide into self-righteous pride. So the balance.

Come over to Ephesians 4 as we wrap up. And believers ought to avoid sin and that's what he has been talking about here. We who were by nature the children of wrath, he talked about in Ephesians 2, have experienced the power of God's saving grace. So Ephesians 4:25, “Lay aside falsehood,” we don't want to sin. Verse 27, “Don't want to give the devil opportunity,” and so on. “Don't want to grieve the Holy Spirit of God,” verse 30, “by which you were sealed for the day of redemption.” These are people that we will enjoy eternity with. “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander be put away from you along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” The best thing for us as a church is we have people who have sinned, and their sin perhaps has become known but they have demonstrated true repentance and remained part of the fellowship or come back to the fellowship, and enabled us to grow, to deal with any self-righteous pride and to show true forgiveness. We go on in ministry together. Doesn't mean there may not be some adjustments and so on that have to be there, there are consequences. But one of the consequences is not un-forgiveness. One of the consequences is not un-acceptance. One of the consequences is not withholding love. So we want to maintain the balance of being what God wants us to be in all areas of our lives, in all areas of our functioning as a church. I hope we will be known as a church that is not accepting of believers continuing to practice sin. And we want to be known as a church that when any believer does practice sin and recognizes it and stops it, repents of it, they are welcomed back with open arms, fully received, forgiven, comforted, confirmed in the love of the body. And we continue to go on and grow together.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the greatness of Your salvation, the power of Your forgiveness. Lord, we are reminded that Your forgiveness is awesome and wonderful, without limits. The greatness of our sin, the terribleness of our lost condition, and we have been cleansed, forgiven so that we might be presented in Your presence as holy, blameless, without spot. Thank You for every opportunity we have to manifest Your character in being intolerant of sin among your family, among believers. But being just as ready, just as quick, just as desirous of showing forgiveness, comfort and love to those who have turned from their sin. Lord, we continue to grow together, mature together, desirous of Your work being accomplished in our lives and conforming us to the character of the One who loved us and died for us. We pray in His name, amen.