"Turn Around" (Audio error)

[0:00] you all and to get to preach to you all this morning i invite you to turn with me to second corinthians chapter seven as we continue our study through this book of the bible i want you to ask yourself some questions to look into your own heart and see what you do and how you act and what you think ask yourself why do you criticize people whether out loud or in the private of your own conversations or in the secrecy of your own heart why do you criticize people we've all had that conversation in our mind of what it would look like to finally give that person a piece of our mind to let them have it to tell them everything we wanted to say you know imagining in our head the conversation we would like to have when you do that what is the purpose in your heart what is driving you what is your end goal in that imaginary conversation or worse yet if you actually do let it pour out of your mouth so that you do say what's on your heart and offer your harsh criticism what is your purpose doesn't your heart secretly want them to feel terrible for what they did isn't that what you're hoping that if i can speak harsh enough they'll finally feel bad for their mistakes you know rarely in that moment am i thinking ah yes i will lay into them i will let them have it i will show them how stupid they are because i love them so much and i just want them to be happy and walking in good paths and doing good things i love them to be happy and i love them to be happy and i love them to be happy and i love them if we look around we rarely offer criticism out of love we frankly don't know how to do that most of the time we take the good tool of criticism and we use it to tear down like a hammer it's made to build things but in the wrong hands and for the wrong purposes it can break a whole lot of stuff that's like what criticism is it is a tool meant to build people up by shaving off the bad but so often almost always our sinful hearts wield it to destroy well paul has brought out the hammer of criticism a few times with the corinthian church but he has been unlike us in doing that he did it out of love so he wants to make clear that the criticism he has wielded was for their good so that they might repent that they might turn around and live walking in good paths so in today this passage that we're going to read is paul's defense of his loving criticism of the corinthians so follow along with me as we read second corinthians chapter 7 starting in verse 8

[4:09] for even if i made you sorry with my letter i do not regret it though i did regret it for i perceive that the same epistle that is letter that made you sorry though only for a while though only for a while now i rejoice not that you were made sorry but that your sorrow led to repentance for you were made sorry in a godly manner that you might suffer loss from us in nothing for godly sorrow produces repentance leading to death not to be regretted but the sorrow of the world produces death for observe this very thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner what diligence it produced in you what clearing of yourselves what indignation what fear what vehement desire what zeal what vindication in all things you proved yourself to be clear in this matter therefore although i wrote to you i did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong but that our care for you in the sight of god might appear to you therefore we have been comforted this is the word of the lord thanks be to god you might notice a bit of uh oddity in where i ended that passage or on the screen it says 8 through 13a that's because the nkjv didn't do quite a good job of translating the hebrew the greek here verse 13 is properly two sentences therefore we have been comforted and then it goes on to say we were comforted and rejoiced exceedingly more in the joy of titus these are two separate thoughts so i'm splitting them up attaching them to their proper sections that's just a little word to help you understand why we have that split and we'll address it again in next week's sermon before i get into what exactly this passage is saying properly i have two reminders for you number one gospel trajectory everything i'm about to say to you about what this passage means is not so that you can understand how paul loved the corinthians because frankly knowing that a man two thousand years ago loved a church ten thousand miles away that doesn't exist anymore does you very little good so what this is doing everything i'm teaching about paul is training to help you understand the gospel better so as i'm working through this keep in mind our goal is to understand the gospel it's like taking a fine arts class before going to an art exhibit so that you can understand better everything you're going to see in this passage everything we learn about paul and the corinthians is training to help us understand more what we are going to learn finally about the gospel second reminder remember the context when i started chapter 7 reading in verses 2 and 3 we read open your hearts to us we have wronged no one so on i don't say this to condemn you for i have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together great is my boldness of speech

[8:15] and i said there that paul is saying everything that he has said all of his boldness his truthfulness has been in love for them and that this whole chapter that we're reading is a defense of paul's love so keep in mind as we read this section that paul is continuing to prove to the corinthians that everything he has said he has said because he loves them so keep in mind as we work through the details we are heading to the gospel and everything we're reading about is to prove that god that paul loves the the corinthians the corinthians the main idea of this passage could be summarized in this sentence love rejoices with repentance that when you love someone one of the things that makes you happy is when they turn from bad things and turn towards good things that when paul is is writing here he is arguing that he wrote to them in love criticizing their sin that he wrote to them in criticism because he loves them and he wanted to see them repent and then they can know that he criticized them in love because when they repented it made him rejoice and love rejoices with repentance paul is not some harsh vindictive leader who is ready to go after anyone who upsets him quick to wield the banhammer and crush anyone who displeases him that's not paul rather he is a kind shepherd who will work for his sheep's good even when he has to use a rod to turn the sheep away from danger love rejoices with repentance a lover rejoices to see the beloved turn from evil directions and towards good paths to turn around that is repentance and yet it's hard it's hard to take criticism even when someone means it in love everything in us hates to be told we're wrong especially if the person is a peer or we feel some closeness to them that can be really hard too our flesh just just hates to have people come up to us and say you were wrong there look at what the bible says you're you're off the beaten path you need to turn around and so paul wants to be clear to the corinthians because he knows it's hard to receive criticism he wants to make sure they never forget that he's done it all because he loves them so look at how paul defends his love he first starts by arguing and showing that he rejoiced not because they were sad but because they were happy because they repented think about when we were talking earlier about how we use criticism when we don't like people and we love ourselves above them we criticize and the happy result of that is that they feel bad we like those gotcha moments

[12:19] but paul because he actually loves them criticizing them not to make them sad but so that they might repent verse 8 shows all of these things for even if i made you sorry with my letter i do not regret it though i did regret it this is paul's summary here let's start with the end of that he says though i did regret it he's saying my letter made you sorry and the response in my heart was to be sorry too because it hurt you when you criticize people in love it hurts you that it makes them sad that it grieves them see how paul's love is being shown there he says even though i made you sorry with my letter i do not regret it so he regretted it at first but ultimately he doesn't regret it because the sorrow that it produced in them ultimately was for their good he was sorry that he had to hurt them to help them he was sad that he had to use a hammer but he was willing to do that if that was what would build them up this letter really brought grief but someone who truly cares is willing to bring someone grief for their good think about someone who is addicted to drugs is the loving thing to tell them that they're doing everything right no the loving thing is to sit them down and say you are destroying your life the loving thing sometimes is to say if you don't stop i'm kicking you out of my house it's not because it makes me happy to see you on the streets that makes me regret what i did but if that causes you to turn around i will rejoice for your repentance and be glad for the criticism because it brought you repentance love rejoices with repentance when you love someone you don't just settle for the little good you're willing to work for the big good a little good is telling someone that everything's okay the big good is telling someone where things aren't okay so that they might move to an even better place you know to tell the poor man the ways in which he is responsible for where he's at no that's a tough situation but sometimes someone needs to hear get off of your butt and go and get a job and that's a loving thing to say or you can say it in love notice also that the sorrow that criticism brings is temporary the second half of verse 8 for i perceive that the same epistle made you sorry though only for a while that's why paul didn't ultimately regret writing to them because it made them sorry but only for a time the person who is living in a bad situation and needs to be corrected out of it

[16:25] is going to be sorry until they're corrected even if they're they're corrected they will stay sorry for a little while until they repent and things become better see that is the goodness here see paul's love that is on display verse 9 now i rejoice not that you were made sorry but that your sorrow led to repentance for you were made sorry in a godly manner that you might suffer loss from us in nothing this is clear love here now i rejoice i'm happy because you repented i didn't want you to feel bad i just wanted you to do better i rejoice you know there's a saying that some loving parents have when they're disciplining their kids this hurts me more than it hurts you because good parents aren't happy to make their children sad but good parents are willing to do it if that's what will help them i remember my dad grounding me for bad grades it was so hard for him because he only saw me two days a week on the weekends and i would be stuck in my room and he couldn't hang out with me and have a good time because he needed to teach me to do better it hurt him a lot but he was willing to do that because he loved me he was willing to do that because he was willing to do that because he was willing to do that because he was willing to do that this isn't just regular sorrow here this is the sorrow of someone in training think about someone in boot camp that's a sorry lot crawling under the barbed wire and they're going why did i do this too much it made it through the전 it through the전 it through the전 it through the전 it through전 it through전 it through전 it through전 it through전 it through전 it through전 it through전 it through

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