Transcript

Writing With A Heavy Heart

2 Corinthians 1:1-2
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Pastor Randy Smith

See if you can identify a common theme. Please follow along in your Bibles as I read some verses from 2 Corinthians:

• Chapter 1, verse 5, "For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ."
• Chapter 1, verse 8, "For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to usin Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life."
• Chapter 2, verse 4, "For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you."
• Chapter 4, verses 8-9, "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed."
• Chapter 6, verses 4-5, "But in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger."
• Chapter 7, verses 5-6, "For even when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side: conflicts without, fears within. But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus."

And the verses along these lines continue…

It's been called, "The most personally revealing of all Paul's epistles" (John MacArthur). "[A letter] that uncovers the affectionate warmth of the man while at the same time showing the anguish of heart which he often suffered" (Homer Kent). "The most emotional of all [Paul's] writings. Nowhere is [his] heart so torn and exposed as in this letter. Second Corinthians bears a fierce tone of injured love [and] relentless affections" (Kent Hughes).

What we will see as we embark on our study of Paul's second letter to the Corinthians is a God-inspired masterpiece of God-given Christian love for the church. Despite the heart-wrenching pain this particular church in Corinth brought upon the apostle, the unloyalty, the rebellion, the criticism and the dishonesty, Paul pursued them with a persistent and unconditional affection. Paul was far from a masochist. He disliked the intense pain he received. Nor was Paul some type of super-saint immune to agony. Like most, his natural inclination was to run from suffering. It was the greatness of his love that spurred him on to willingly suffer for the cause of Christ which meant dying to self for this unholy and ungrateful church. And it was the greatness of his love that actually made him more vulnerable to the pain. Despite the vicious attacks on his character, physical beatings on his body and lack of encouragement from the very people he sought to serve, Paul persevered in his service in a desire to be found faithful to his calling. His love for Christ was seen in a love for these people. And that love was the same enduring love that he first received, as all Christians do, from Christ.

Second Corinthians will teach us God's special love for the church. Second Corinthians will teach us God's purpose in pain and weakness. Second Corinthians will teach us what it means to have a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. We'll cover some significant doctrinal issues along the way, like the New Covenant and life after death and financial stewardship and spiritual warfare, but our primary focus will be dealing with the topics that are infrequently covered in most churches, the less glamorous issues that seem to invade our daily lives as Christians. Why didn't God answer my prayer? How do I love unlovable people in the church? Why does God permit His children to suffer? How do I preserve through these never-ending trials? How can any good come out of this situation? Most importantly, we'll see in this letter victorious Christian living despite some of the most emotionally painful situations the mind can conceive. As 1 Corinthians carries a rather negative tone, 2 Corinthians, ironically, comes to us from a positive perspective. Through the suffering, Paul is an overcomer as a result of God's grace.

1. An Overview of the Letter

This morning before we break for the Lord's Table, we will cover the introduction in verses 1 and 2, but before we do that I'd like to provide a brief overview of the letter (our first point) that will help establish the context of this great epistle and provide a foundation for our detailed study in the months ahead.

The date was approximately AD56 when Paul was on his third missionary journey. It was from the upper district in Greece, a Roman province called Macedonia, where Paul wrote 2 Corinthians. The recipients of the letter were located in Achaia, the lower district of Greece, from a town named Corinth - hence the title, Paul's letter to the Corinthians.

What most people fail to understand is that Paul mostly likely wrote not two, but at least four letters to this Corinthian church. We read about the first letter in 1 Corinthians 5:9. Please turn there with me. "I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people." Obviously if we are reading this in 1 Corinthians, there was another letter written before 1 Corinthians. This letter we no longer have was lost. This letter was also misunderstood by the Corinthians church precipitating the need to write a second letter; the one in our Bible's that we call: "1 Corinthians." 1 Corinthians is a severe rebuke on the moral and doctrinal errors of the Corinthian church. After 1 Corinthians (which is really 2 Corinthians), Paul wrote a third letter commonly referred to as the "severe letter." Paul spoke of this third letter in 2 Corinthians 2:3-4. Please look there with me. "This is the very thing I wrote you, so that when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy would be the joy of you all. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you" (also see 2 Cor. 7:8-9). This letter is also lost. After finishing this painful letter, then Paul the wrote a fourth letter which is the one in our Bibles called 2 Corinthians to express his joy in the church's positive response to the "severe letter" (chapters 1-7) and to confront the minority in the church who were still unrepentant (chapters 10-13).

So with some knowledge of the background under our belts, let's spend the remainder of our time looking this morning at the contents of the letter seen specifically in verses 1-2 (our second point).

2. An Examination of its Contents

Paul's introduction in verses 1-2 followed the traditional introductions that were common of letters in the first century.

The Sender

First, the sender identified himself. Paul did the same. In verse 1 we read, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy ourbrother."

Without a doubt, Paul was one of the most unique and influential figures in the New Testament. After a dramatic conversion on the Damascus Road, the Lord personally commissioned Paul to be a missionary to the Gentiles. This bold proclaimer of the Gospel would take the "good news" to places it had never reached. His mountaintop experiences in Christ would be paralleled by valleys of emotional and physical suffering. Written over the course of roughly twenty years, nine of his letters to churches and four of his letters to individuals would make up thirteen of the twenty-seven boos in the New Testament.

Immediately Paul makes it a point in verse 1 to identify himself as "an apostle of Christ Jesus." The term "apostle" often carries with it two meanings. One is the lesser sense of a person who is sent out on a mission. Literally, apostle means "sent one." So if we were to commission and send out a missionary from this church to a foreign country, in that sense he or she would be considered an apostle. The other is the formal sense of the word apostle as it is commonly used to designate the original twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. Being an apostle in this sense carried with it the same authority as Jesus Christ as they were commissioned and sent out directly by Christ. Ephesians 2:20 tells us the church was "built on the foundation of the apostles." When Paul identified himself as an apostle, this is the meaning of an apostle of which he considered himself (although he too was also commissioned by a church as well - Ac. 13:1-3). And frequently, it was the very use of this term that caused him problems.

So you had the original twelve apostles commissioned by Jesus Christ. These were people who walked with Christ and were witnesses of His resurrection. Judas falls and he is replaced by Matthias (Ac. 1:26). Then in Paul's own words, "And last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God" (1 Cor. 15:8-9). Paul was the final apostle in this formal sense. Since then the office of apostleship has been closed.

You see, Paul needed to assert his apostolic authority in order to speak as one who needed to be heard. His words would be inspired. He spoke Scripture. He spoke the very words of Christ. This church in Corinth had an unrepentant minority that was seeking to undercut Paul and his message. Who was the church supposed to listen to? How would his instruction carry any greater weight than the false teachers? In declaring his apostleship, Paul sought not to boast in a title, but rather to emphasize the title in order to command the necessary obedience to his words in that his words represented Jesus Christ, the very One who commissioned him for service. Or as Paul said in verse 1 of 2 Corinthians, He is "an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God." No doubt his opponents challenged his claim to that authority, challenges Paul spells out and answers throughout the letter. Why so much suffering? Why no letters of commendation? Why the change in travel plans? Why the refusal of accepting money? Why is the preaching so dull?

The Recipients

Verse 1 continues, "To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia."

The Greek town of Corinth was a significant city. At the time of Paul's writings, Corinth was the third most important city in the Roman Empire. It had about a half million people living there. It was situated at a perfect location for commerce with a harbor on either side. Oftentimes ships would be hauled across the small four mile strip of land where Corinth was located rather than sail around the Peloponnesus, the lower part of Achaia, which would have been a dangerous 250 mile journey.

Also due to its ports, the town was a haven for all kinds of shady individuals and immoral conduct. Even the saying "to Corinthianize" among the common folk meant to spend time with a prostitute. The centerpiece of the city was the temple to Aphrodite (the goddess of love), equipped with its priestesses, better translated prostitutes.

It was in the midst of the lewd behavior and religious pluralism that Paul founded this Corinthian church on his second missionary journey when he spent 18 months in the town (Ac. 18:11).

Also note that Paul in verse 1 identifies his recipients as "the church of God." In a greater sense, this is what all of God's people are called. Before we ever become part of a formal organization that meets in a physical building on a regular basis (like we are doing this morning), we are placed in God's invisible church. Once we were in the world. Now, once saved, we are immediately in God's church. As I have said frequently, this building is not the church in the formal sense. You are the church. Christ dwells not in a building, but within the hearts of His people. Once all of us leave, the church in this regard leaves as well! God has people who love Him along the Jersey Shore. We are His church. And God had people who loved Him in Corinth. They were in His church too.

There is also the lesser sense that Paul is writing to the physical assembly of the church that have publicly identified themselves as Christians in the city of Corinth. We see nothing in the Bible about Christians belonging to God's invisible church, but for whatever reason not belonging to God's visible church. All believers in the Bible were identified with a local assembly. We are commanded to get together to hear God's Word and praise His name and serve and encourage and fellowship and pray for one another and hold each other accountable. As we are to be a blessing to each other and visible light to the Jersey Shore, Jesus had His church in Corinth doing the same.

Jesus loves His church. Jesus purchased it with His precious blood (Ac. 20:28). Jesus is the Head of the church (Col. 1:28), and when it came time to speak; His words went out, as we see here, specifically to His church. You see, we belong to this church, a church that does not belong to a pastor or denomination, but as verse 1 says, a church that belongs to God Himself. We in New Jersey are only continuing in this rich biblical legacy that Christ began with His first churches like the one in Corinth.

And who is in God's church? Look at verse 1. "To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia." Paul is specifically writing to the saints in the church at Corinth and the other less familiar churches in the surrounding region (such as Cenchrea spoken of in Romans 16:1).

Now I was never Catholic so my understanding of the many they identify as saints is rather dull, but were any of these folks present at the dysfunctional church of Corinth in the first century? I doubt it. Moreover do we think Paul is addressing a supposed class of elite Christians or was he addressing the Christian community at large? I believe we'd have to argue for the latter. Paul was writing to all Christians in Corinth. Therefore these common Christians in Corinth were the ones Paul called saints.

So that brings us to the next question. How in the world can Paul address those in the Corinthian church as saints when we know, especially after reading 1 Corinthians, that this was one of the most problematic churches in the New Testament?

The answer is found not in who they were practically (the way they behaved), but who they were positionally (the way they were identified by God). Now of course the goal is that when we receive Jesus we are practically and increasingly being made more like Him in our behavior, but Paul was viewing this from a positional perspective. You see the very split second we give our lives to Jesus Christ, is the very split second that God forgives us from all our sins and clothes us with the righteousness of Christ. In the eyes of God we are seen as righteous as Jesus. That's perfect holiness! Interestingly, the word saint means "holy." So we grow in holiness as we mature in Christ over time in our behavior (2 Cor. 3:18), but we are as holy as we will ever get immediately upon conversion in the eyes of God. Therefore all true Christians are saints, because all true Christians are saved not by their works, but rather by grace, the undeserving work of Jesus Christ based upon His death and resurrection applied to us.

The Greetings

And that takes us briefly to our last point of the introduction: "the Greetings." Verse 2, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Grace is God's unmerited favor that we enjoy because of Jesus Christ. All undeserved blessings, everything from the forgiveness of our sins to the power to overcome sins to the deliverance from sins and eternal life in heaven are all tokens of God's grace.

Even the next term, "peace" (the common Jewish greeting) is available for believers because of God's grace. Peace is the well-being we enjoy in our hearts despite our circumstances knowing that all is well between us and God.

And from where and whom do we receive grace and peace? >The only place that can truly deliver. From, verses 2, "God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

I find it so comforting that we are able to benefit from a letter written two-thousand years ago to a church thousands of miles away. And the only reason is because God redeemed people then just as He does today. And people regardless of their culture or nationality were the same back then as they are today. And God's Word is unchanging and relevant because it came from God through the apostles back then just as it comes to us today. I pray the Lord will minister to your heart this year as we begin our study of 2 Corinthians!