Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends on this Friday,
Is there a place in our world which brings you both great joy and great pain? I wonder what events occurred in that place for you which cause you both pain and joy when you hear the name of that place? For the apostle Paul, I think that ‘sweet/sour’ place may have been crazy CORINTH.
Yesterday we watched as the apostle Paul finally concluded the letter in our New Testament which we know as 1st Corinthians. I’m sure with much prayer and perhaps some tears, Paul sent that powerful letter to his dear Christian friends in that big, raucous city of Corinth, hoping it would help them. We are not exactly sure who the courier with that letter was, but as we’ve seen, it must have been a difficult letter for Paul to write, because it dealt with some very complex and painful situations.
But my friends, that’s what the Gospel does, right? God’s truth, God’s love, God’s forgiveness, God’s healing of brokenness happens when the Holy Spirit applies the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the mess in people’s lives, right?
With the letter on its way, Paul returned his focus to teaching the Gospel of Jesus to the people of Ephesus. Paul had been in Ephesus a little more than two years, (Acts 19:10) so by now the church was growing rapidly and Paul had many, many dear friends.
But I’m sure Paul’s heart was frequently with that letter going to Corinth. How would his Corinthian friends receive the important but strong words the Holy Spirit had led Paul to write in that letter, after all, it wasn’t the first time Paul had written to them! What?
Yes my friends, if we could sit down with Paul and have him give us an overview of the fascinating “sweet / sour”, “joy and pain” relationship which Paul had with the Corinthians, I think we would be shocked! Why? Because did you know Paul evidently wrote MORE letters to the Corinthians than any other group of Christians in any city!? What? Yes!
Paul had first arrived in wild, crazy Corinth about the spring of 51ad, during his second missionary journey, according to Dr. Luke’s record of Acts 18:1-18. Paul had come from his remarkable experience in Athens. (Acts 17:15-18:1) In Corinth Paul met Aquila and Priscilla and joined them in their tent making business, remember?
Soon Silas and Timothy arrived and for more than 18 months Paul shared the Gospel in Corinth, day and night with amazing results, and a little church of Jesus followers was formed. From Corinth Paul headed home to Jerusalem and Antioch to report on his long second church planting journey, stopping briefly in Ephesus for the first time. (Acts 18:18-22)
A little more than a year later, Paul began his third missionary journey, arriving back in Ephesus around the fall of 53ad. Paul stayed there for about 3 years! (Acts 19) Evidently early in this time word came to Paul that the Christians in Corinth were really struggling with many things and Paul wrote a brief letter to them. This letter was not preserved for us so it is not in the Bible, but Paul mentions this lost letter briefly in 1 Corinthians 5:9,10. So this little letter would have PRECEDED the letter we know as 1 Corinthians.
Sometime later Paul received a delegation from these disgruntled Corinthian Christians (1 Cor. 1:11) and it was evidently this report which prompted Paul, as led by the Holy Spirit, to write the letter we know as 1 Corinthians, which we’ve spent several days digesting.
As I dig into Paul’s 2nd Corinthian letter, I discover a brief but troubling verse which suggests Paul received such a disturbing report after his recent major letter to Corinth, that Paul actually made a special and perhaps urgent voyage to Corinth, we presume by ship! From Ephesus Paul would have sailed across the Aegean Sea to Corinth, to address the troubling issues face to face, and then Paul returned to Ephesus. We don’t know how long Paul stayed in Corinth but I presume it was a confrontational experience.
Some time later Paul was evidently contemplating yet another trip to Corinth but Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:23 “…it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth… I made up my mind that I would NOT make another painful visit to you….” (2 Cor. 1:23-2:1) So this ‘painful visit’ would have been during Paul’s 3 years in Ephesus, after his 1 Corinthians letter but before he wrote the letter we have in our Bible called 2nd Corinthians.
Sadly, even a personal, urgent visit from Paul did not bring full resolution to the disgruntledness and discord among the Christians in Corinth. Therefore it seems Paul wrote yet another brief letter trying to address painful issues in Corinth. Evidently Paul sent this special letter to Corinth with Titus urging him to return with a report on how the Corinthians received it. Once again this letter was not preserved so this letter is also not in our Bible.
But I see that Paul was greatly encouraged by Titus’ return and report in 2nd Corinthians 7:6-10 “God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus…He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever. Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it… I see that my letter hurt you but only for a little while – I am happy because your sorrow led you to repentance...Godly sorrow brings repentance which leads to salvation and leaves no regret…”
Oh my friends, have you ever confronted someone you love because of their sin and while your confrontation was initially painful, did you see the Holy Spirit bring conviction, which led to repentance and restoration of relationships? That’s what Paul is celebrating here. Oh the precious restoring work of the Holy Spirit in response to repentance!
By the way, when Titus returned from Corinth to Ephesus Titus had some trouble finding Paul. Why? Because Paul was no longer in Ephesus! Paul had actually been run OUT of Ephesus by a huge riot, a riot actually caused by Paul! What? Yes, we’ll look tomorrow at that, my friends.
For today, let’s thank God that the Spirit of God enabled Paul to be persistent and patient with his friends in Corinth who struggled so greatly trying to live Jesus honoring lives. Are you and I as persistent and patient as Jesus wants us to be with those who struggle trying to live God honoring lives?
I invite us to ask Jesus about that, and the ‘lessons learned’ study notes will be very helpful, as will the worship song I’ve found, and let’s meet here tomorrow to find out about this riot Paul got caught up in!
Today’s Scripture: 2 Corinthians 7:6-10.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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