As we move along in our survey of the books of the New Testament, we come to the book of 2 Corinthians. The theme of 2 Corinthians is opposite of the theme of 1 Corinthians. To understand 2 Corinthians you have to know that when Paul wrote his first letter to them, he was not happy. The entire book of 1 Corinthians was a scathing indictment of their self-centeredness. If there was a doctrine or practice to get wrong, the Corinthians seemed to make sure to get it wrong. Their self-centeredness left them like a bunch of babies.
1Cor 3:1-3 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
2 Corinthians is the opposite of 1 Corinthians. The Corinthians responded to Paul and had fixed their attitude. Paul wrote to them with a good deal of relief. They had gotten over themselves and had turned their hearts to God in repentance. As a result, they had grown spiritually and achieved a sense of maturity. We admire those who are mature, it could be teacher, a leader, a sports figure, a son or daughter, a teammate – people don't like babies, but a seasoned believer gives us a sense of confidence.
To the extent that we are focused on self, centered on self, our decisions are based on self interest and benefit: we are immature. Self centeredness lies at the root of immaturity.
There are those who are entirely immature, they can't help it, they are children.
There are those who are relatively immature: compared to their friends and peers, they just haven't seemed to grow up as fast as them.
There are those who are deliberately immature: they are in rebellion and refuse to grow.
There are those who are naively immature: they have not been challenged in their spiritual growth.
There are those who are immature in various aspects or areas in their personalities and need to strengthen those aspects.
There are those who have moments of immaturity.
1. Spiritual immaturity, self-centeredness, and sin go hand in hand.
To whatever extent we are immature, whenever we get into spiritual trouble, that immaturity and trouble is due to self centeredness. As you read through the Bible with an eye for immature self centeredness, you will be surprised at how often this figures into the trouble people got into spiritually.
Adam and Eve took their eyes off of God and were tempted by a self centered desire for wisdom.
Cain was self-centered and slew his brother rather than give in to God.
The people in Noah's day were self-centered and wanted to indulge self rather that turn to God.
Noah got into trouble after the flood when he was self centered and got drunk.
Nimrod was self centered and wanted to build a tower in rebellion to God.
The Israelites were more concerned about their own safety rather than trust God (Who had already proven Himself) and that generation died in the wilderness.
Moses ultimately was more concerned about his own frustration and struck the rock the second time rather than obey God.
Saul's self-centeredness drove him mad and caused him to continually hunt David.
David fell to lust in his self centeredness and turned to murder to cover it up.
Solomon served his own lusts and it overpowered his wisdom and his kingdom was condemned.
All the problems of the kings of Israel and Judah were due to self-centeredness.
You can read about all the problems of the Israelites in the prophets and you hear one indictment of self centeredness.
Jesus likened Peter to Satan and told him to get behind him because he didn't savor the things of God.
Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ and acted only in his own self interest.
We could go on and on. We should get the idea that acting out of self-centeredness is something that we need to be extremely wary of!
Before getting in to 2 Corinthians, Paul set the tone for the remedy in 1 Corinthians 13. So many couples will take a Scripture reading from there and then proceed to prove that they have no idea of what they just read.
1Cor 13:1-8 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
Truly loving others requires denial of self and self interest, bearing all things, endureth all things.
I find it interesting that when God gave the Ten Commandments, the first and the last are mirror opposites. The first commandment is to put God first, the last commandment teaches us to put our self interests last.
2. Spiritual growth is a process that brings us outside of ourselves.
Let's move on to 2 Corinthians 1.
2Cor 1:3-7 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
4Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
5For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
6And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
7And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
Later on, Paul is going to address how he knew that he had risked offending them by confronting them with their self-centeredness. In this passage, the tribulation that he is probably talking about is rough process they had to go through as they addressed their many self-centered sin issues. Spiritual maturity is a process of overcoming sin and self that people have to go through.
Rom 5:3-5 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
5And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Jas 1:1-4 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
2My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
2Cor 1:3-5 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
4Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
5For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
When we go through tribulation, we might be tempted to think, , "Poor me!" rather than, "Oh how much stronger I am because of it." It is all a matter of perspective.
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
— Abraham Lincoln
“The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.”
— Horace Walpole
To the optimist, the glass is half-full. To the pessimist, the glass is half-empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
“It is the obvious which is so difficult to see most of the time. People say 'It's as plain as the nose on your face.' But how much of the nose on your face can you see, unless someone holds a mirror up to you?”
— Isaac Asimov
“Fairy Tales always have a happy ending.' That depends... on whether you are Rumpelstiltskin or the Queen.”
— Jane Yolen
“Often it isn't the mountains ahead that wear you out, it's the little pebble in your shoe.”
— Muhammad Ali
How we view our tribulations, whether we see them as stumbling stones to self or stepping stones to growth, depends on us.
3. How the Corinthians got over themselves and grew.
Paul challenges the Corinthians perfection - this is spiritual growth.
2Cor 7:1-11 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Paul challenges the Corinthians about his own part in their growth. He exonerates himself and points out that they needed the challenge.
2Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.
3I speak not this to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you.
4Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.
Paul talks about how he had been comforted by the report he had of them from Titus.
5For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.
6Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus;
7And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.
Paul talks about how he knew that he had challenged them, and that he felt bad about it, but knew that it was had been for their own good because of how they responded.
8For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
9Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
Notice their response:
10For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
They could have responded with worldly sorrow or godly sorrow. Worldly sorrow is not really sorrow at all. It is more like self-pity. The only reason the word sorrow is used is to say that we feel sorry for ourselves, our loss, our feelings. It is feeling bad about what we have to go through rather than reflecting on how we got to where we are. Godly sorrow causes us to turn away from self and to turn to God.
11For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
In repenting and turning to God, the Corinthians went through a process.
They got careful. They didn't just have a knee jerk reaction. They took note of how they could possibly be acting out of getting even, or having their feelings hurt. They slowed down and took time to think and be honest with themselves.
They cleared themselves. They made sure that they had checked their emotions and were honest with themselves about their reactions.
They became indignant over their self-centeredness. If we stop to think about the effect our sin has, we wouldn't be casual about it. We should be shocked at ourselves.
They became fearful in a godly way. They grew to have a great respect for God.
They grew in their desire for God and became zealous for God.
Finally, they took revenge. Now that's hard to imagine how it fits in living for God. The revenge is revenge against sin. It has the idea of carrying out justice, making sure justice is done. In other words, it has the idea of righting wrongs. The Corinthians fixed their problems and got back on track of serving God. Paul will go on to speak of their support for the ministry and then he will have a final word for those who would still glory in self. However, the Corinthians proved themselves worthy by their refocusing on the mission of Christ.
There are plenty of admonitions in the Scripture for us to be careful to encourage each other lest we offend. But it is not all up to us only; those who would think themselves offended have an obligation to examine self and to stay on track serving God.
Gal 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
