I invite you now to turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and find that on page 964. We're going to read 2 Corinthians chapter 1 starting at verse 23 and then going to chapter 2 up to verse 4. And for just a reminder, Paul, what he's doing here, at this point in 2 Corinthians is he's continued to explain why he changed his travel plans because that's a big source of conflict there and they're questioning his love for them. And he's actually going to tell us in this passage that he changed his travel plans because of his love for them as he tries to restore his relationship with the church in Corinth. So 2 Corinthians chapter one starting at verse 23. But I call God to witness against me, it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith. For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you, for if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one I have pained? And as 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 all of you. 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. Praise God for his holy word. Let's pray. Lord, as we come to your word this evening, we're reminded that sometimes it's hard for us, hard for us to speak the truth when we know that it will hurt others, and we know it's also often difficult for us to hear tough love. But we thank you that you always speak the truth and love to us through Jesus Christ. May we hear and receive what the Spirit has to say to us this evening. In Jesus' name, amen. Now I know I'm not announcing anything to any of you that's news or brand new. This is one of the more obvious things in our fallen existence here. But one of the hardest things to do in our Christian life and in life in general is to work on and to maintain healthy relationships. We might stress out about many things, about our finances, about our health, but it seems that many times nothing causes us more heartache or is more difficult for us than maintaining these relationships. But that's exactly what God has called us to do. Relationships, as we know, are often our greatest source of joy and comfort and blessedness. But they're also the cause of some of our deepest pain. And the same is true for the relationship between Paul and the church in Corinth. And we remember that things between them are not good. They're upset with Paul. One reason is his travel plans keep on changing, and there's also a group of people stirring up dissent against Paul. And in all honesty, we would think that if we were Paul, in light of all the time and effort that he's put into the church in Corinth, and now how they're really upset with him, that we might think he has every right to perhaps ignore them or maybe to say, you know what, I've done my best, Lord. I give them over to you and just to leave them in their sin. That's not what he does. He does the exact opposite of that. He doubles down and bears his soul to them as 2 Corinthians is one of the most heartfelt and revealing and emotional letters that Paul writes. And as Paul shows his tender love and mercy to the church in Corinth, what we see here is a picture of Christ's love for his church and for us. And as we see Christ's love for us, then we're also encouraged then to have the same heart of love and desire for reconciliation and being willing to put in the work, the same amount of work that Paul's put in here for the church of Corinth. We're to work that hard. And as we do see Paul's love and Christ's love for us in this passage, we'll be motivated, further motivated to work hard on our relationships. We'll explore these thoughts under three points, Paul's heart, Christ's heart, and our hearts. So Paul reveals his heart for the church in Corinth by addressing two topics. First, he explains why he didn't come in person. And those verses were a little hard to understand in English, so we'll do a lot of paraphrasing tonight on this. And then in chapter 2, verse 4, he explains why he sent a difficult letter ahead of his visit and what he hoped to accomplish with that letter. So first, Chapter 1, verse 23 through verses 2 and 3, Paul explains why he didn't come visit. He's going to read 23 and 24 again. But I call God to witness against me. It was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth, not that we lorded over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith. So, Paul's really making a serious statement here. It's a serious oath, so to speak, and the original language is even stronger than what's translated here. Essentially, what Paul is saying is, may God bear witness against me and take my life if I'm lying. What I'm telling you is the God's honest truth. It was not for my benefit that I didn't come visit you. It was for your benefit. I wrote instead of visiting you to spare you additional pain and grief. So Paul's not writing because he wants to manipulate them or strong-arm them into obedience. He's not trying to lay a guilt trip on them. This is not how God or his messengers operate. Paul doesn't stand over them as a cruel taskmaster, probably actually like some of the false teachers were doing at that time in Corinth. but he reminds them of their mutual love for one another and of their partnership, their partners in the service of Christ. And the goal in a partnership is not to beat someone into spiritual submission, but the goal is to strengthen faith and to experience mutual joy. The goal is not to win. The goal is not to be right. The goal is a strong and healthy relationship between Christ and his people and between brothers and sisters in Christ. That's what Paul's getting at here. And just a side note. If in any relationship, but especially in a relationship in the church between brothers and sisters in Christ or between church officers in a congregation, if there's force involved, if there's a guilt trip or if there's other motives, this is a sign of ungodly leadership. This is what they're accusing Paul of and he's saying, that's not the case. I just want strong faith. I want to experience joy together. We're partners together. Paul has more to say about his motives of joy in relationships in chapter 2, verses 1 through 3, listening for the role of joy. For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. For if I caused you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one I have pained? And as 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. So here's what Paul means by this. He's basically saying, I decided not to visit you again because you're still dealing with the same problems you were dealing with the last time I had visited. And I can see that you need some more time for growth, and there needs to be some more time for healing. This time needs to go by. And so I don't want to come to you just yet, because these things are still going on. He says, because you see, you're my source of joy and encouragement. If I have another tough visit like this last one, when I'm down and depressed and full of just weight of my calling, where am I going to be able to go then for encouragement if we're not right with one another? So Paul opens up his heart. He makes himself very vulnerable to the Corinthians. They're his prayer partners. They're his partners in ministry. They help prop him up in the midst of his trials and help him provide for his needs. He needs their prayers. He needs their encouragement. Their prayers, their encouragement are food when his soul is weary. And he was going to leave this area soon for good. And his last visit to Corinth was so hard. He just couldn't bear another painful visit where what was on the agenda was just discipline. And so he wrote another difficult letter to them ahead of time to try to help them and move them along. He didn't write this letter because he was afraid to meet with them in person. He didn't write this letter because he was avoiding conflict. He wrote it because he wanted to give them an opportunity to finish dealing with an important discipline issue before he got there. And if they could just get this heartbreaking situation out of the way, then Paul's visit would be a lot different. It would be a visit of mutual joy. For wherever there's repentance and restoration of fellowship, there's greater joy than there even was before. And this is what Paul wants. Things didn't go according to Paul's plan in sending that letter. they were still dealing with it, that's why we have this letter. But this is another chance to clear up misunderstandings and for the Corinthian church to grow in maturity and do what the Lord requires of them. And in verse four, Paul really opens up and he really shares, we can really see his love for the church in Corinth, and we can also see his pain. 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. So we get a picture here of a tear-stained parchment, perhaps with ink running from Paul's tears. Paul needs them to know the tone and the motivation of his heart as he's writing to them. We're all familiar that at times written communication can lack emotion, and it's hard to read between the lines at times, or we read things between the lines that aren't there. Just think of how many times we misinterpret an email or a text. Sometimes what's communicated and can be communicated in person is lost in print or on a screen and so Paul's trying to do everything he can to communicate in writing here so he's not misunderstood. He's in pain. He's suffering as a result of just this ongoing conflict in Corinth. Paul wants good things for his beloved church plant, and we see that their disunity and their falling away from the faith and their just being upset with Paul that this conflict and this strife is literally hurting him, as we know that that's what conflict does in the church of Christ. It causes pain. and it hurts. We notice when there's not unity in the body of Christ. We can understand this also in our life, whether it be one of our children or grandchildren or niece or nephew or even just friend. You love so much. And yet, your relationship isn't what you'd like it to be. And there's just an ache there, and there's just a pain there, and sometimes it's all we can think about. But this happens also when people that we love are making self-destructive choices, and you feel their pain so much, and you love them so much that you almost feel like your life is being destroyed along with their life. And that's because you love them so much, and you want good things for them, and you would do anything to help them. In fact, you've tried to help them, or perhaps we should try, and as we know, it's hard to come to them, and they're hurt, and they're suffering. We get these situations. This is what's happening between Paul and the church in Corinth. He loves Christ so much. He loves the Corinthians so much as the body of Christ that he's in anguish, pain, and tears over their sin and over the state of their current relationship. His heart is broken for them as they struggle. Paul wrote this quote, severe letter, and then writing in this current letter, not because he can't be bothered to visit, which is what some of them may think, but to display his great love for his brothers and sisters in Christ. Well, someone has gotten into the head of the Corinthians and whispered into their ears, Paul doesn't really want what's best for you. Paul doesn't really love you. Paul's out for his own interest. Paul just wants to be right. The devil speaks these lies and the Corinthians have listened. So Paul's fighting against these lies by wearing his heart, his love, his concern, and his tender mercy on his sleeve for all to see. And Paul does this because he values his relationship with the Corinthians, and even though it's hard, and even though he's leaving, and in the ancient world, he could easily ghost them, for sure, they could never find him. But he's not giving up, and he's gonna keep doing the hard work of reconciliation. This openness, this tenderness, this tenacity in pursuing reconciliation is a model for pastoral ministry and it's a model for all of us as we continue to deal with one another. And so we ask, this model, where did Paul get this model? Where did he learn how to be such a winsome shepherd? How did he go from being a party to the murder of Stephen to one that's heartbroken when there's conflict in the church? Where did he get these mad shepherding skills? Who is his PT professor? Because we want to go online and find that guy and take lessons from him. We know who it is. It's the risen Christ that he met on the road to Damascus. Paul was born again, and the Spirit of God gave him a new heart that loved Jesus and loved his church. That's what happened first as Paul's heart was transformed, and this kind of transformation is not something learned by Paul, but it's something done to Paul by Christ. Paul didn't know it. But his training for pastoral ministry began a long time ago, as Paul was a serious student of the Old Testament. Throughout the Old Testament, the God of Israel constantly deals with his wayward children with a tender heart that's full of mercy. Paul's first teachers are the Old Testament prophets. where God's tender mercy is on display with wayward Israel. The Old Testament is full of events where we'd expect God to get tired of His wayward people and to pour out wrath upon them because they're rebels. And instead of pouring out wrath, He pours out more mercy. And the creator of heaven and earth comes so low to us that at times it's even as if he, it sounds as if he's begging Israel to repent. The God, the creator of heaven and earth who has done everything for Israel in every way, shape, and form comes to them and it almost, he's pleading with them. And his pleadings are full of tender compassion. We read about that in Isaiah 40. We heard it. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and her cry that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity is pardoned. And then our Old Testament reading from this morning, which initially I had as our Old Testament reading for tonight, but I had to go back and change it. But we hear the pleading, come everyone who thirsts. Come to the waters, he who has no money. Come, buy and eat. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Paul's compassion. and concern for the Corinthians is a picture of God's faithful covenant love for His people. He's seeking to love as He Himself has been loved by the Redeemer, and that's what motivates Him to seek reconciliation. And our Lord also learned from the Master, from Jesus Himself. Jesus, like Paul, always tells it like it is. but he comes to his broken saints with kindness and compassion and even tears. We can hear the compassion of our Lord Jesus in passages like Matthew 11, 28 through 30. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And then Jesus speaks tenderly to all Israel in Matthew 23. This is after all the leaders of Israel have been rejecting Him and plotting to kill Him the whole time. Matthew 23, 37, He weeps. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it, how often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing. This is the compassion of our God that we hear all throughout redemptive history. God always comes to His people tenderly with bearing His full heart on His sleeve, so to speak, desiring peace and reconciliation. So in our passage, we not only see the heart of God's messenger revealed, but as we see Paul's heart, we see the heart of the Lord Himself. For the Lord desires unity, union and communion between himself and a people. And he desires union and communion and unity within the body of Christ. The heart of Paul is a reflection of the heart of God. God comes to his people with genuine concern and tenderness and leads us gently to repentance. This is Paul's heart, and this is why he can say with such confidence then, as God is my witness, I wrote instead of visited because I'm showing you my great love for you. So Paul gives us some principles here, and as he reflects the ministry of the Lord Jesus to his church, he gives us some principles, he gives us a model on how to interact with each other in the church. when it comes to healing broken relationships and the kind of heart we should have as we strive to resolve conflict. A few things. First of all, whether you're an officer in Christ's church or a parent or none of these things, in Christ's church we don't lord it over anyone. Our faith is not a show of force, but it's gentle persuasion using the truth, using the Word of God. We teach the truth in love, whether it be a brother or sister in the Lord, or whether we're teaching it to our children at home. We tell them, this is what God says in His Word. I'm genuinely concerned that you're headed this way, and sometime admonishing them with tears, please don't do this. This is the truth. This is the way. This is the life. And then we have to sit back and pray. and wait and see when the Spirit of God applies it. That's what this looks like in our church and in our homes. We also recognize that regardless of our position in the church, and we do have different roles certainly and different callings, none of us is superior to one another. We're partners together. We're fellow sinners. We're trying to show each other where to find God's grace. Someone best described preaching as one beggar telling another where they can find bread. That's all of us together. We're beggars together, but also partners. And as we seek to correct potential wrongs, and as we seek to restore division in our relationships, we must remember this. We're equals. We're beggars together. We're partners together. We seek to be persuaded by truth and love. And if someone's not persuaded by the truth, then we patiently wait and pray and ask for the Spirit of God to work. And sometimes that means it's us that's wrong and He works in us. And sometimes that means He works in the other individual or individuals. Sometimes He works in us all. It means that what we do is we come to conflict and reconciliation because we're brothers and sisters in Christ and we know one another. And many of you here have known each other for many, many years. It means that we think the best of each other and we ask the Lord for the grace to overlook all the minor offenses that we can. It means that we don't keep a record of wrongs and keep bringing them up even in our own minds. It means that we don't hold grudges. It means after there's been efforts of reconciliation that you let those things go. That's what it means. Second, we also must remember that the goal of reconciliation and correction, the end goal and end result, is mutual love and joy in the Lord. Our motivation should not be to be proven right or to be able to say, I told you so. It's a goal of mutual joy and encouragement that we keep ever before us as Paul does here, filtering this as our great motive. This is also Christ's motive as He sought reconciliation between God and sinners. He suffered what was… He went through all of that suffering and He did it for the joy that was set before Him. That was Christ's motivation and that joy is union and communion with His church, with us. This joy, this union and communion must also be our true north and our desire to heal broken relationships. It's not to get our pound of flesh. It's not to be right. It's how can we get back to a place of mutual encouragement and joy with one another, and it's okay to just be a pleasure seeker here, to be hedonistic as our goal in seeking out and the healing of relationships is so that we might be able to be restored and to experience more joy in the Lord together. Third thing we see is that Paul does not keep his love and sincerity a secret. He's not scared that others will see him as weak or even as an emotional wreck, because that's kind of what you see here. He has no reservations about showing his affection and proving his love for others. Paul knows that for the Corinthians to hear him, they must know that he loves them first. And this is how God has always worked for his people. He proclaims his love for his people, a promising salvation, and then he delivers that salvation in Christ. He says, I love you with all my heart. I've proved it in my actions. Now repent and return to me so that we can have sweet fellowship together. This is how our God comes to us. Praise God that he does. And as He does, and we know all the things that we've done, and all the ways we've wronged God and offended us, and yet He still seeks us, He still gives us grace, let us take this generosity from God, seeing what we've been forgiven for in Christ, and bring that to one another. Do the people that we think need correction, do they know that we absolutely love them no matter what? Have we told them? Have we showed them? Have we proved it in how we've treated them and how we behave toward them? Or might they wonder if we still love them? And if someone has told you how much they love you and that they desire to be reconciled with you, have you believed them? unless there's a serious pattern of blatant, unrepentant sin and wrongs that someone's done to you over and over again and refused to repent. When someone tells you that they love you and that they're sorry and they ask for forgiveness and that they want reconciliation, when someone says that to you, I love you, you're required to believe them if they're a brother and sister in Christ. When they say, I'm sorry that I caused you pain, But we do love you. I love you. We should believe them because we're brothers and sisters in Christ. Reconciliation is really hard work. These are things for us to consider as we seek to be more and more reconciled to each other. Because I don't have to tell you. You guys, most of you have been here for a really long time and you've been through a lot and you guys all know the ways that you've hurt each other over the years and these things and sought to forgive one another and walk together. You know that the church is full of conflict. You know that reconciliation is worth the effort. You know that the Christian life is full of conflict, here at church and at home. Well, we know it's full of conflict because of us. Because we are redeemed. But we are not glorified yet, and we still struggle with sin. The Christian life is a life of continually dying to self and seeking to repair relationships with others. It's never ending. We may get seasons of blessedness and all joy, but the conflict will return. We'll need to apologize or seek out an apology from somewhere else. And this is really difficult, and it makes you really tired. but Christ's path was infinitely more difficult, and He had to have been unspeakably more tired. You say, yes, but He was the Son of God. I'm not. This is too much for me. Well, remember, as we saw earlier in chapter one, as Christians, you not only share in Christ's suffering, but you share in Christ's anointing. And the same Holy Spirit that empowered Christ's ministry on earth is at work at you even now. If you ask, if you seek, the Lord will strengthen you. He'll help you continually seek out reconciliation with each other, whether that means just letting something go or coming together and agreeing to move forward. God always gives us all the tools that we need to accomplish every task that he puts before us. And in this case, the task is repairing, rebuilding, and restoring relationships with one another. The tools that we have to do this are godly sincerity, making sure that others know that we do love them, even if we're not getting along right now. The directions and how to accomplish this are spelled out for us in the Word as we show each other that we love them in our actions. And the motivation is that Christ has sought us out and showed His love for us by dying for our sins while we were still sinners. The goal is mutual joy in the Lord, sweeter union and communion with Christ and His body. And the strength to accomplish all of this is promised to us. It's guaranteed to us in the power and work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit's working among us. So by God's grace then. May we continue to seek reconciliation in all godly sincerity with anyone we've wronged or anyone that's wronged us, making sure that we're trying to reach out even at church or even with our kids at home if we need to apologize for something. Know that we seek to build strong, healthy relationships. Let them know that because we love them abundantly, even as Christ has abundantly loved us. Building, repairing, and fixing relationships is hard work, but it's also a work of the heart. But praise God that Christ thought you were worth all of that work, and may we see each other as worth the work and effort as well. Let's pray. Father, we thank You that You are a God of grace and of mercy, and that Christ the Son has reconciled us to You. Now help us to see to be reconciled to anyone that we are in conflict with, anyone we've wronged or anyone who feels wronged us. Help us to be quick to overlook all the offenses that we can. Help us to always think the best of one another, and Lord, give us the courage and the wisdom to actively seek out reconciliation and peace with any we've wronged or who have wronged us, even if that means humbling ourselves. For, Lord, we know that the reward will be great joy, increased joy, and we look forward to it. In Jesus' name, amen.