God’s Promise To Prodigals Series

Finish this sentence for me: “This is going to hurt me… (more than its going to hurt you).” That is a lie that parents have been telling since the beginning of time. I grew up in the age of corporal punishment (i.e. paddling at home and at school). And while I’ll admit to having doled out a few well-timed swats of my own when MY daughters were younger, I had dad that believed deeply in the power of a good spanking. And while I don’t ever remember him uttering these words, I can remember hearing them a time or two before a paddling I received at the hands of my elementary teachers. And so hopefully, parents are no longer telling this lie…that your punishment is going to hurt them worse than it’s going to hurt you. No way. “I paid my dues when I was young and dumb, and now it’s your turn to accept the punishment you have coming” (even if the punishment looks differently than what I got with the paddle).

But what IS absolutely true is that as a parent, one of the most painful things to witness is to see your children in pain. For the past several weeks, we have been in a series through the book of 2 Corinthians. And we have learned that Paul served as the spiritual father to this church…not simply an evangelist who won people to Christ, started a church, and then left town with no concern for the people he left behind. In reality, he cared so deeply that he wrote letter after letter to this church, filled with instructions for Christian living.

But the Apostle Paul understood that to love someone means to do what is best for them…not what was easiest for him. And so his care for them involved a mixture of comforting and encouraging words, but also words of correction and admonishment. And this is exactly where we find Paul today in 2 Corinthians 7. While you’re turning there in your Bibles, one of our pastors reminded me this week of a conversation he had had several years ago with a couple that asked for advice on what church to attend. They had been splitting their time between our church (where they were being fed) and another church (where they had developed deep relationships).

And after sorting through which church they should give their tithe (I tease), our pastor gave them the framework of how to evaluate a church when trying to make a wise decision. And one of the first things he asked them was in the dozens and dozens of sermons they had listened to at the other church, was there ever any mention of repentance? In fact, this is just my opinion, but I believe one of the dividing lines between a Biblically-driven church and a shallow, seeker church is the teaching and calling of people to repentance. It’s easy to tell someone to add Jesus into their life and that he’ll make their life better. It’s quite a different thing to call someone to lay aside sinful patterns of living in order to truly follow Jesus. But make no mistake, repentance is a central theme in the Bible, and the lifestyle of a Christian should be a lifestyle of repentance.

2 Corinthians 7:2-11

Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. 4 I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy. 5 For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within. 6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more. 8 For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. 9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. 10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 11 For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.