Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. In Matthew 5 for Jesus said, blessed are those who mourn. Yet when we feel sadness, regret or guilt, most would rarely describe that pain with the word blessing. The Bible teaches us that there is a good sorrow. A sorrow that teaches us, heals us and draws us near to the Savior. What does that good sorrow look like?
Is there a right way to sorrow over sin? What's the difference between worldly sorrow that binds and godly sorrow that frees us? Today, Pastor Rich answers these questions from our passage in 2 Corinthians 7, 1 through 12.
Let's listen in. This is the second part of a message first preached on June 1st, 2014 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. And he was speaking pastorally. He was speaking as their pastor, as their spiritual father. Sometimes as a father needs to speak to his children. Sometimes as a shepherd has to treat his sheep with discipline, with correction. And this is how Paul had to write to the Corinthian believers. And it pained him to do it. He confesses that in this text. But not only does that happen at a pastoral level, but it also happens person to person, brother to brother, sister to sister. If you love someone, why would you want to just sit back and watch them sabotage their own success?
Doesn't make sense, does it? Those are the wounds of a friend. They are faithful wounds. Here's an example, Gordon McDonald at the passing of a lifelong mentor recalled his loyalty and the crucial counsel he gave in a crisis. He was there when my life fell apart because of a failure for which I was totally responsible. In our worst moments of shame and humiliation, he came and helped us do a searing examination of our lives.
We will always remember his words. You are both momentarily in a great darkness. You have a choice to make. You can, as do so many, deny this terrible pain or blame it on others or run away from it. Or you can embrace this pain together and let it do its purifying work as you hear the things God means to whisper into your hearts during the process.
If you choose the latter, I expect you will have an adventurous future modeling what true repentance and grace is all about. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. It is a necessary element of Christian discipleship. This is the sort of thing that happens in a culture of discipleship where there is a community of grace because you are working for the success of another person.
Not only is it Christian discipleship, but as we see here, as Paul writes to the Corinthians, he does so out of deep affection for them because they have been doing life together. He's not just an authority figure over them. They have been doing life together and his heart longs for them and out of love for them.
He works with them for their success and sometimes that requires cutting truth. Look what he says in verse 3, I do not say this to condemn for I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together. That is deep affection. That is the bond of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ moving together in a God-ward direction. Not only is it deep affection, but he says we do this because we are fellow workers for your joy. That is a phrase that he uses back in chapter 1. Keep your finger in chapter 7 and look back at chapter 1 with me, 2 Corinthians 1.
Look at the last verse of the chapter, the second part of the verse. We are fellow workers for your joy. Fellow workers for your joy.
You see that? That joy. What is that joy?
That is success in God-ward movement. God is my joy and satisfaction. And we are fellow workers for your joy, Paul says to the believers. And that is what he is describing as he continues here in verses 4, 5 and 6 and 7 and 8.
Fellow workers for your joy. Matt Redmond is the author of one of the songs, some of the songs that we sing. The most well-known one is probably Ten Thousand Reasons. Early in his career, Matt Redmond was singing with his church's praise band when his pastor confronted them. The pastor had to inform the members of that band that they were proud of their musical performance and that they were neglecting true worship. Insulted by the charge, the members of the band left the church, except Redmond. And shortly afterward, he wrote his song, one of his most well-known songs, The Heart of Worship.
Which includes the words, I'm coming back to the heart of worship and it's all about you, Jesus. Do you see the healing power of the faithful wounds of a friend? Christians, loved ones, are you willing to receive the faithful wounds of a friend?
One who works together with you for your joy, one who helps you recognize that which you need to let go of for your success. Are you willing to receive it? Secondly, are you willing to speak it? In a culture of discipleship, are you willing to speak truth in love?
Are you willing to give faithful wounds? It's a part of the church. Because we are moving, we are walking together, God-ward. And this is the approach that Paul has taken to the Corinthians in his second letter to them. You see, there is such a thing as good sorrow. Paul says, as he was writing to the Corinthian church, he said, it hurt me to write this letter. And he says, I know it was painful for you to read the words, words that were spoken authoritatively by the apostle. But they were cutting words, they were the faithful wounds of a friend. And he says, it hurt me and in me there was a sense of regret that there was so much pain and hurt there for you, but it was necessary. And I don't regret it, even though at the time it pained me to have to do it and I regretted having to do it, but I don't regret that I did it.
Why? Because it produced good sorrow. There is such a thing as good sorrow. It was Jesus who said, blessed are those who mourn.
Why does he say that? Truth that sets one free might have a sting to it, but only for a while. Look what he says in verse 8, for even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it, for I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. It was painful for you and there was sorrow for you, but it was only temporary. It was a temporary sorrow, but it was a good sorrow, like surgery. No surgeon approaches his patient with a scalpel and says, let me inflict some pain here.
That's not what he's doing, though some of us might think different, but that's not what he's doing. He is cutting for the purpose, the objective of healing. And so are the faithful wounds of a friend, which the apostle Paul had to give to the church. We don't know what the issue was that the apostle Paul had to write to the church about. Some think that it might have to do with 1 Corinthians 5 with a man who was living in an incestuous relationship. Many scholars doubt that that is actually it. They don't exactly fit the context here, but we don't exactly know, but that doesn't matter.
We don't have to know what exactly the issue was. The point is Paul had to inflict wounds. He had to speak cutting truth, but it was faithful wounds. It was truth that heals, that sometimes has a sting. And by God's grace, he was willing to do that, even though it hurt him to do so.
But it produced good things in the church. What were the outcomes of their godly sorrow? He made them sorrowful by his letter to them. But what were the outcomes of that godly sorrow?
Look at verse 9 with me. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. Godly sorrow produces repentance. Repentance. Repentance means a change of mind which leads to a changed direction of life. Godly sorrow produces in me a recognition of the destructive nature of sin and its impediment to my movement toward God, toward his perfect character and purpose. And when I recognize sin in my life for what it is, that it only sabotages my success, and a brother who loves me enough to point it out to me to help me cut it away is a faithful friend. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.
