 The title of our text this morning is Labor and Love for the Joy of Faith. This is part two, Labor and Love for the Joy of Faith. That title is an exhortation, if you didn't notice, right? It's an exhortation. We want to labor and love for the joy of faith. If you are here, you've committed to be a member of this church. You're serving this church. If you haven't caught a holy vision of that ministry and the life of the church, then that's what I want you to get from this text. We are engaged in Christian ministry. We are to labor in love for one another for the joy of our mutual faith together. Labor and love for the joy of faith. If you have had that vision, that holy vision of Christian ministry in the church, maybe you're lagging. I want you to consider Paul's example with me and fan that flame. Let's fan it together. We want to serve the Lord in this way and honor the Lord in the way that we serve one another in the church. That's our joy and our privilege again to come back to this text. In Corinthians chapter one, verse 23 runs down through chapter two, verse four. For part two of this in-depth verse by verse look at the example of the apostle Paul in his ministry to the Corinthians. We've established, we've well established the context and the setting of our text in prior sermons. Paul is laboring in ministry to the church at Corinth under extremely difficult circumstances. And from these verses, we've been unpacking the example of the apostle Paul as it relates to faithful ministry, faithful, fruitful, effective ministry in the Lord's church. Now considering Paul's example, we are drawing principles from this text to support four exhortations to us as we labor together in ministry to the Lord's church. We are to first, you'll find these points in your bulletin on your notes. We're first to labor by the rule of love. We saw that in verse 23. Secondly, we are to work for the goal of joy. We find that in verse 24. Thirdly, we must insist on the obedience of faith. In order for us to labor in love, in order for us to work together for our joy, we have to insist on the obedience of faith. We'll talk about that more today from verses one through three in chapter two. Secondly, we must minister with a testimony of love. We'll see that in chapter two, verse four. I've said it before, but it bears repeating, right? Every Christian is employed in ministry to the Lord's church, right? Can't be any clearer than that. The testimony of scripture are extremely clear. Ephesians chapter four, verse 11, apostles are given. Now pastors and teachers are given to the church for the equipping of the saints to do the work of the ministry. We are to be involved in ministry together. There has been through church history, this sort of unbiblical idea of a clergy laity split. And again, I want to emphasize that that's unbiblical. We're all involved in ministry together. We all have roles to fulfill, responsibilities to fulfill. And we see that from Paul's example here in 2 Corinthians. Now, last week on point one, we looked at Paul's authority, the authority that's expressed in verses 23 and 24. Look at verse 23 with me. Moreover, Paul says, I call God as witness against my soul that to spare you, I came no more to Corinth. Not that we have dominion over your faith, but our fellow workers for your joy, for by faith you stand. So let's look at our text and let's review our train of thought, the argument here of the text to this point. One, jot these down if it helps you. One, Paul has authority in the church as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's been given authority. That authority is inferred in verse 23 as the authority to either spare them or not to spare them. Okay. But he has authority in the church either to spare or not to spare as expressed there in verse 23 to that authority does not mean does not mean that Paul has dominion over their faith. He is not the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He does not have dominion over their faith. One God has dominion over their faith, right? Paul, not having dominion over their faith, then is a fellow worker together with them for their joy in the faith. Paul is a fellow worker. He's not a dominating tyrant over them, right? Expecting that they would have blind obedience to his rule or his word. Paul is a fellow worker together with them. Number three, Paul's authority, that authority that Paul does have is a delegated authority. In other words, it is given by the Lord. It's a delegated authority and it's rooted and grounded in the word of God. His authority is a delegated or a derivative authority for because that authority is rooted in the word of God, it is a declarative authority. In other words, God reveals himself to us through his word. Paul's authority coming from the word of God then is a declarative authority. He has the authority to declare the word of God, right? The Corinthians are not going to stand before Paul in the judgment. They're going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ in giving account. Paul is there to declare the word of God to them and it's by their own faith or lack of it that they stand or fall, okay? Point five, it's Paul's responsibility. It's Paul's ministry. Paul's calling then to exercise that delegated and declared authority in the church for the benefit of God's people, right? His responsibility then is to exercise the authority that he's been given. For the sake of the Lord's church, for the eternal good of the Lord's people, Paul must labor in the ministry that the Lord has given him, even if it means rebuke, even if it means at times church discipline, as it often has already in the church at Corinth, even if it means declaring that someone's no longer a part of the church as he has had to do already in church discipline, even if it means exposing false teachers, even if it means exposing lies and error and heresies as he's already done in the church at Corinth, even if it means naming those false teachers by name, right? Hymenias, philetus, Alexander. Paul's also had to do that. So it's in that sense, and it's with that authority then, that Paul comes and has the right either to spare or not to spare, expressed in verse 23, okay? So if they don't repent, if they choose not to repent, he's already threatened not to spare in chapter 13, verse two. He says in chapter 13, verse two, I write to those who have sinned before and to all the rest that if I come again, I will not spare. Paul has the authority to spare or not to spare, right? To spare or not to spare, that is the question of verse 23, okay? So now, from verses 23 to 24, the issue that we're looking at specifically from these verses is not whether or not Paul has the authority, Paul certainly has the authority, alright? He certainly does. The issue under our consideration from this text is how Paul exercised that authority. From verses 23 to 24, we established that Paul exercised that authority in love, in love, right? He exercised his ministry. He fulfilled the responsibility that the Lord had given him. He did all of that in love. He labored by the rule of love, right? Paul would say in chapter 12, verse 15, I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls. That to me is just, that sums up Paul, right? It sums up ministry of the church. I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls. Even if it means that, Paul says there, the more abundantly that I love you, the less I am loved, right? Ministry in the Lord's church is a labor of love, even when it's hard and it often is hard. Ministry in the Lord's church is a labor of love, especially when it's hard. It's to be a labor of love, even when that love is not reciprocated, as it is currently among many in the church at Corinth. We've been given a stewardship. We are to minister in the Lord's church with love. Now even though Paul has the authority to pay them another painful and corrective visit, right? Even though he has the authority not to spare in that sense, he says in verse 23, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth. Paul determined in love, Paul determined that it would be more to their benefit, more loving toward them, more for their good, to refrain from coming to them, right? To change his plans and to refrain from coming to them again in sorrow and Paul hopes in his mind, Paul hopes rather to see them again in joy, Paul decides in wisdom to write a letter instead of coming to them again in pain. Make sense? That wasn't an easy letter that Paul decides to write. The letter is called a severe letter for a reason. Sometimes, sometimes the most loving thing that you can do is to say some hard things, right? Paul determines in love that a letter would be better for them than a visit. Why is that? Why is that? Because verse 24, Paul is a fellow worker together with them for their joy. Paul's goal, Paul's aim, Paul's ultimate end is their joy in the faith, which brings us to point two on your notes. The second of four exhortations to us as we endeavor to minister in the Lord's church as Paul did, the second of four exhortations is this, work together for the goal of joy. Paul labors by the rule of love, working together with them for their joy. That comes directly from verse 24. Not that we have dominion over your faith, Paul says, but our fellow workers together for your joy, for by faith you stand. In verse 24, notice first with me, Paul's horizontal relationship to the Corinthians themselves, all right? Paul's relationship to them. Rather than being lords over them, Paul, Silas, and Timothy are fellow workers together with them. So rather than pridefully exalting himself over them, trying to control them, trying to manipulate them, trying to dominate or coerce them. Paul takes the attitude, heart attitude of humbly standing beside them, persuading them, pleading with them in love. You can imagine Paul even holding their hand, weeping with them, right? Striving together with them for their joy. Notice next that relationship of standing beside them, not dominating them, but standing beside them, that work, that relationship has a goal, an aim or an end in mind, and that goal is joy. Paul is not in Corinth for the paycheck, right? In fact, he has forfeited that right. Paul's not there for some ulterior motive. He's not trying to build up numbers for himself in Corinth so that it makes him look better. He's not trying to build his name or build his own reputation. He's not trying to get ahead for himself, right? He's working there together with them alongside them in these difficult circumstances for their joy. That's Paul's goal, and it's the joy of faith. He works in service of their joy, right? The last Lord's name, we looked at the negative of this joy. We discussed how the dual diseases of legalism and license or disobedience can rob you of your Christian joy, right? So this week, we want to begin with point two here by considering the positive aspects of this joy, the positive aspects of this joy. And that begins with a little phrase at the end, the very end of verse 24 there, where Paul says that for by faith you stand. The emphasis there is on faith. Rather than a firm standing, there are a couple of translations, your ESV or NASB, that tend to emphasize their stance as firm. The emphasis in the verse is on faith, right? Rather than a firm standing, but on faith. And if you stand, essentially if you stand, the only way that you're going to stand is by faith, essentially what's being communicated. If you stand, the only way that you can stand is by faith. That little conjunction four there at the beginning points back in contrast to the domination referenced at the beginning of verse 24, look at the beginning of verse 24, right? Paul is saying, they don't have dominion over your faith. In other words, we can't force your obedience. We can't force you to agree with us. Or it is by your own faith that you stand. Calvin said that faith, genuine saving faith should be completely free of any bondage to men. Faith should have no master, but the word of God. Paul is not master of their faith. Their faith, they stand by their own faith, right? The word of God is to be Lord over their faith. Lord Jesus Christ, God himself, Lord over their faith. Paul and all pastors after him are no more than fellow helpers, no more than fellow workers, not lords. And faith is an individual matter between the believer and God. God is the author and finisher of our faith, amen? So here then is the logic of Paul's statement in verse 24. Paul essentially says in verse 24, we don't lord it over you because you stand by your own faith. We instead work with you in the service of your faith for your joy. Make sense? We don't lord it over you. You stand by your own faith. We instead work together with you in service of your faith for your joy. In other words, working together with them for the building up of their faith is for the goal of their joy and a strong faith produces joy. Because Paul labors in Corinth with the Corinthians as he works among them and prays with them and pleads with them and rebukes them and corrects them and encourages them. All of that work is a labor of love that builds up their faith. The end of a built up faith is joy. The end of genuine saving faith is joy. As Paul works together with them for their faith, their joy increases. Now Paul essentially says the same thing elsewhere in Romans chapter 15 verse 13. Paul says to these believers in Rome, now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, right? As they believe, God fills them with joy and peace. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul in the same letter describes the kingdom in chapter 14 verse 17. He describes the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And he, Paul says, he who serves Christ in these things, serves Christ in what? In righteousness, in peace and in joy of the Holy Spirit. That one is acceptable to God and approved by men. Paul told the Philippians chapter one verse 25. I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for, Paul says, your progress and joy of faith. As Paul works for their progress, as Paul works in service, in the service of their faith, they have joy. And we think about all these things together now. You and I, you and I, as members of his body, the church, we are to work together for one another in love for the aim of that joy produced by the Spirit, which is the fruit of a sincere faith in Jesus Christ. I know that's a mouthful. I want to repeat it. And I would encourage you to jot it down and think about it. We are to work together for one another in love for the aim of that joy produced by the Spirit, which is the fruit of a sincere faith in Jesus Christ. Now think with me for a moment about the fruit of joy in the Christian life. In Acts chapter eight, those who were scattered after Stephen was martyred for his faith, the Bible says that those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. They went everywhere preaching the gospel, preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. Philip, one of the deacons of the early church. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. Bible says that the multitudes with one accord, you can imagine, right? This is in Samaria. The multitudes with one accord heated the things preached by Philip. There was a Samarian Pentecost, so to speak, a Samarian revival. The Samaritans were gloriously saved in that city. And Acts chapter eight verse eight says that there was great joy. It was great joy in that city. That's what happens when the gospel breaks down. People get saved. There's great joy, right? Philip, on the heels of that experience in Samaria, Philip is then taken away to witness to the Ethiopian unit in Acts chapter eight. The Ethiopian unit is riding along in his chariot. He's having difficulty with the scroll of Isaiah. He needs someone to explain it to him. The Lord drops in, parachutes in, so to speak, Philip. Philip runs alongside. He's invited up into the chariot. He sits down next to the Ethiopian and he explains the scroll of Isaiah, preaching, as the word of God says, Jesus Christ to him from the Old Testament gospel, Isaiah. The Ethiopian unit is gloriously saved. He's baptized right then. And Luke records that he went along his way rejoicing, rejoicing, right? A joy of salvation. If you think about those texts of the Old Testament that say that the Ethiopian will not be accepted. No foreigner accepted into the temple of God. No unit accepted into the temple of God. And here from the scroll of Isaiah that this Ethiopian unit had purchased, purchased in Jerusalem, Philip comes along preaching Jesus Christ to him. He gets gloriously saved, forgiven of his sins, accepted by God. And what does he do? Of course, he rejoices. He rejoices at the preaching of the gospel. Isaiah 61, verse 10. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God. Why? For he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom. Decks himself with ornaments and as a bride adorns herself with jewels. The Philippian jailer rejoiced at the preaching of Paul said to rejoice having believed in God. Peter, Peter says, though you do not now see him yet believing, Peter says you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. Are you acquainted with that joy? A joy of believing, a joy of genuine salvation, having your sins forgiven? To be reconciled to God, you who are once an enemy of God by your wicked works now reconciled at peace with a God who made you to worship him forever. One day now in the kingdom, God dwells with his own. You dwell with him. One day in the new heavens, the new Jerusalem, we will dwell with him forever. He will be our God. We will be his people worshiping the Lamb who was slain from before the foundation of the world. We worship him for all eternity. That's joy, the joy of salvation. What is the chief end of man? We talked about that earlier, right? What is the chief end of man to glorify God and to rejoice in him forever? We were created. We were created to rejoice in the Lord. David says delight yourself in the Lord. We're to delight ourselves in the Lord. We're not sufficient in and of ourselves to find joy in us or to find lasting joy in our pursuits or our interests or our desires. We're not created to be an end in and of ourselves. We're to look for true and lasting joy in him alone. The only true and lasting joy is found in him alone. It's the only place you're going to find it. Not in the passing pleasures of this world. You know that kind of joy. Have you lost it? Has it become cooled or dull? If Adam never sinned, there would be perfect and undiluted eternal joy. But Adam did sin. When sin entered the world, death threw sin. Therefore death spread to all men because all of sin and sorrow and despair came with it. That which most interrupts our joy as Christians, that which most interrupts our joy is sin. Is sin. And so when joy is interrupted, man goes looking for his joy and creaturely pursuits. We are hell-bent, so to speak, to look for joy in all the wrong places. Man goes looking for joy and entertainment. And that joy is fleeting. For our like entertainment obsessed culture, that joy is transitory. It's fleeting. It's temporal. It's like a mist and it disappears. And yet we pour all of our hope for joy into entertainment. People that play video games for hours on the day watching movies all the time. It's just that's not where we find our true and lasting joy. Men go looking for their joy in drinking, in drugs, right? Drowning out the truth, doling their heart and mind to the truth. They go looking for joy in clothes, looking for joy in money, looking for joy in parties and friends, loved ones. They look for their joy in work. They look for their joy in sex. In comfort, in pleasure, in leisure. Man labors and strives for his own gain, thinking that whatever he can gain will bring him joy. In the end, in the end, Solomon says that every last bit of that is entirely and utterly vanity. And there was a guy who tried it all, right? Nothing truly satisfies, but being found in him. And that's why joy comes in salvation. When the Lord changes your heart, when the Lord changes your heart, changes your mind, you see the futility of your existence apart from him. You see the disgusting filth of your own sin, the deplorable nature of your own deceitful and wicked heart. When you see that, you're made to see it because God gives you eyes to see, right? Ears to hear, a heart to perceive. And joy, true joy comes in salvation from that. True joy is found in him who loved you and gave himself for you. That joy is only produced in the believer by God's spirit. It's only possible that way. It's only possible in a genuine believer, a genuinely saved, reconciled, redeemed sinner, only possible in that person by the work of God's spirit. Joy is the inexpressible work of God's spirit. And that joy, that work is where a genuine believer is made to rejoice in God, the God of his salvation, and rejoice in the blessings that God gives them in his redemption. All of that accomplished by the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all people simply don't experience that. Joy in this life, joy in this world is fleeting. God promises, God promises through Isaiah the prophet. God says, behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart. But you, unbeliever, God says, shall cry for sorrow of heart and wail for grief of spirit. Remember hearing an illustration one time of someone jumping out of a plane, right? Over the joy, the exhilaration, the rush of jumping out of an airplane, you know, they went and they put on a parachute and they're all excited. I'm going to go skydiving. Skydiving, I'm going to jump out of an airplane. All right, the doors fling open, the excitement rushes in, they jump out of the airplane, right, and just, you know, unutterable joy as they plummet. And that joy is only fleeting if your chute doesn't open, right? That's the joy of this world. Those born in Adam, which is every man, woman, and child alive, they are plummeting toward a termination. And there may be passing, fleeting, temporary experiences of joy or happiness along the way that is fleeting and temporary because the termination is coming. You're going to hit the ground at some point, some sooner rather than later. And all of that temporary, missed, vanishing, vaporous joy, that happiness, that worldly pleasure is going to come to an abrupt end and there is only left sorrow. You will spend, apart from Christ, you will spend a joyless eternity in hell where there is only weeping and gnashing of teeth, right? True joy, the only lasting joy, that joy which is not vanity, true lasting joy comes in being the beneficiary of His love, grace, and mercy in Christ. Counterfeit joy, counterfeit joy is that joy that is fleeting, right? That joy that doesn't proceed from a vital union with Him, that joy that is just passing, the joy of this world. And so many drown out the truth of Him, suppressing the truth in their unrighteousness. They ignore the grace of that joy offered to them in Christ to wallow in the mire of this world's joys, to suck down the vomit of this world's joys, ignoring that joy that is offered to them in Christ. Now, the opposite of this joy, the opposite of this joy is expressed in sorrow, sorrow. Now, Christians can experience sorrow, we know that from this text, it's sorrow that even believers may occasionally face. Pain, illness can cause sorrow, fear can cause sorrow, the loss of a loved one, right? It can cause sorrow. Jesus Christ tells the disciples in John chapter 16 that when He leaves them, they're going to experience lamentation and sorrow, weeping. But then He turns, then He turns to His disciples in John chapter 16 and He says this to them in verse 22. Therefore, He says, because He's leaving, you're now going to have sorrow, but He encourages them with this. He says, but I will see you again and your heart will what? Rejoice, your heart will rejoice and your joy, your joy no one will take from you. That's the joy of a Christian, right? We will see Him. We will see Him and our heart will rejoice and that's a joy that no one can take from you if you're in Christ. It's promised by God. The joy of a genuine Christian may be interrupted, but it's interrupted only for a time. One of the chief marks, one of the chief marks of a genuine true and lasting Christian joy is that it perseveres, is that it lasts. In the parable of the sower, our brother mentioned earlier, in the parable of the sower, the stony ground hearer immediately receives the word with what? With joy. The stony ground hearer immediately receives the word with joy, but He has no root in Himself. Because He has no root in Himself, He endures only for a while and when difficulty comes, He stumbles. What happens to His joy? It is out the window, right? For the Christian, for the Christian, that joy lasts. Now for the Christian, sin, persistent disobedience, as we talked about last Lord's day, sin will rob you of your joy. Sin will take the joy out of serving. Sin will take the joy out of loving your brother, loving your sister. It'll take the joy out of those things that you did for the Lord out of love and out of joy previously. Now you find no joy in them because sin has robbed you of that joy. Sin will take the joy out of serving. Sin will cause the Christian to feel exhausted. I can't do anymore. I'm just so tired or to cause the Christian to be exasperated. David talks about this, doesn't he, when he says that his strength, in his sin, his strength, his physiology, his fervor was dried up like an old piece of pot, a pot shirt. His strength was dried up. Sin puts a halt, so to speak, a persistent, consistent pattern of sin. It's not done in faith. Results when the Christian becomes faithless. And if they're faithless, they are joyless. It will rob you of your joy. It will cause you to cease being thankful, cease being grateful. A lack of joy or sin will cause a lack of joy. Sin will cause you to lack love for your brother or your sister. It stifles your growth. Sin is oppressive. In all, sin is joyless. Sin produces sorrow. The Lord expects this joy in his people. Lord commands us to light ourselves in the Lord. We're to glorify him and enjoy him forever. So what do you do? You seek the joy of the Lord. You seek the joy of the Lord. You seek the joy of the Lord through the means that he's appointed through his word. Serve the Lord with gladness, the psalmist says. Come before his presence with singing. Well, how do you do that? You repent. You repent of your sin. You turn from your sin. You trust the Lord. A sorrowful person might object. How can a person rejoice who commits sin like I do? It's impossible for me to rejoice when I'm such a terrible sinner. Repent of your sin. Put your faith and trust in Christ. For the Christian, the genuine Christian who falls into patterns of sin or better yet walks headlong into patterns of sin. For the genuine Christian that does that, the foundation of your joy, the ground of your joy is not to be found within yourself or within your circumstances. The ground of your joy, the foundation of your joy, the root of your joy is to be found in Jesus Christ alone. And it's by faith in him that our joy is restored. So when you're busy as a genuine believer and you're busy being morbidly introspective, you're looking at your own heart, right? You're looking at your own sinfulness and you've got your eyes so focused inwardly that you've taken your eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ. You're no longer trusting in him. You're no longer rejoicing in his work. You're no longer expressing gratefulness and prayer to the Lord for what he's done for you. But your eyes are so turned inwardly that you can only see your own sin. You're not going to find joy in yourself. You're not going to find joy in your own holiness. You have none of your own. You're not going to find joy in your own performance. You can do no works that please him apart from faith in Christ. You have to get outside yourself and look to him, right? If a person had to wait for perfection or holiness within themselves for them to be joyful, you will never, ever, ever be joyful. Never. Our joy is found in him, in him. There's a great difference. There's a qualitative difference, if you will, between the one who is mourning over their sin and repenting of it and turning to Christ for forgiveness and times of refreshment. There's a distinct difference between that person and the person over here who is despairing and introspective and morbid and inwardly focused. Make sense? Or to turn from our sin. When someone mourns over their sin, when they humble themselves before the Lord and turn to Christ truly like asking for forgiveness and seeking grace, seeking mercy, Lord Jesus Christ promises, right, that when you sin, you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and your joy can be restored, not to be inwardly morbid. Don't yield yourself to a pattern of sin in your life. Don't yield yourself to a pattern of sin in your life. It will rob you of your joy. Incidentally, this, this, this, what we're speaking of is why hard preaching and sometimes hard conversations are necessary and good in the Christian life. One of the reasons that hard preaching, exhortational preaching, preaching against your sin, preaching that stands on both of your feet, on all of your toes, is because it directs us away from our sin to repentant faith in him. If you are being turned from your sin, you're being turned to him in joy. So working together with one another for the goal of our joy involves hard preaching, hard conversations, confrontation sometimes, rebuke sometimes, reproof sometimes. It involves confrontation sometimes, right? It also will involve encouragement and comfort and support, but it's necessary that we are confronted with our sin. Hard preaching, tough talks with a brother or a sister against your sin or confronting you in your sin is what leads you to forsake it. It's a means that God uses to lead you to repentance. Solomon said this, Ecclesiastes 7 verse 2, better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. For that is the end of all men and the living will take it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter in this respect. For by a sad countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. We see that in Corinth under the ministry of Paul. Paul working together with them for their joy sends them a very hard and a very painful letter. That letter rebuking them for their sin certainly leads them to repentance and their ultimate joy in the faith. So back in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul explains in verse 23 that he changes his travel plans in order to spare them. He's working together with them for the joy of their faith and now he explains more fully what he was avoiding by sparing them. Now ignore the really poor placement of a chapter division there and look with me at chapter 2 verse 1. Paul says this, chapter 2 verse 1, but I determined this within myself that I would not come again to you in sorrow. For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me? And I wrote this very thing to you lest when I came I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all. Now something has arisen in the church at Corinth that has brought sorrow rather than joy. What is that? Sin, right sin. The apostle Paul labored in Corinth, right? He worked with the believers there together with them for 18 months preaching the gospel to them. Pagans in multitudes are turning to Christ, the Spirit of God, knitting them together in that church. And it's evident that in that time, in that 18 months that Paul spent with them, Paul developed a great love, a great affection for those people. So what is the Christian response of love? What is the response of Christian love to sin? The response of Christian love to sin is sorrow, is grief. And so there's sorrow now in the church at Corinth, and there's sorrow and grief over their sin. Sin has leached its way into the church, it has ruined their joy, it has ruined Paul's joy over them, and it's given rise to great sorrow. They have, think about their sin. They have despised Paul, they've rejected his authority, they've spurned his leadership, they've abused their so-called liberties, resulting in division, resulting in immorality, in idolatry. There have been divisions among them, there's been discord, Christians taking other Christians to court, bringing reproach on the name of Christ. There were divisions over baptism, right? And ungodly, and ungodly observance of the Lord's Supper. There was gross abuse regarding the gifts of the Spirit. There is confusion and disorder in their public worship. They were steeped in carnality, behaving like natural men. They were succumbing to error regarding the resurrection. To top it all off, there was this deplorable case of incest that they failed to discipline, a case that even the world would see as evil, unacceptable. And now they're beginning to fold under accusations against Paul that he couldn't be trusted. The result is great sorrow. And Paul has had it. The result is sorrow. And Paul has had it. Look at chapter two, verse one. I determined this within myself, that I would not come again to you in sorrow. Not going to come again to you in sorrow. The word again there implies a previous painful visit. And now because they've not repented of their sin, he's faced with another painful visit. And Paul cannot enjoy his fellowship with them due to their sin. Their sin has come between them. So instead of joy, instead of joy, sin has brought grief and sorrow to the Corinthians, and sin has brought grief and sorrow to the apostle Paul. Now Paul loves them. If Paul were indifferent toward them, there would be little concern here, but Paul's not indifferent, right? This is, again, this is the labor of love. Paul loves them. And so Paul is not indifferent. Their sin has certainly become burdensome to Paul. And this experience isn't limited to Paul, is it? Right? Many of you have been grieved, as I have been, over the sin of someone who professes to be a brother or a sister. Right? They plunge themselves into their sin against all of your pleading and crying and praying. You've experienced that, some of you, when someone you love departs the faith. Right? When they're heading in the wrong direction and you see every ditch and pothole along the way, and they will not turn. Right? Many of you have experienced exceeding sorrow over the sins of your child, over the unbelief of your child. How heart-wrenching is it when they reject the Gospel, reject the Lord Jesus Christ? You want to rip your heart out of your chest? Over the sin of your spouse, the grief, right? The sorrow that that brings to your heart, that's caused by sin. That's what sin does. All that sin as grieving and as heartbreaking as it is to you, all that sin is ultimately against God. God who sent his only begotten son to die on account of sin. One of my favorite hymns says that mine was the sin that drove the bitter nails and hung him on that judgment tree. Right? That sin, that sin against God, sin against the one who died for sinners, sin against grace. Those who fall away into sin, the Bible says, they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put him to an open shame. The Bible says it's impossible, it's impossible to renew those to repentance, again to repentance. They insult the spirit of grace, they have counted the blood of the covenant, a common thing. They've trampled the Son of God under foot. If you're in sin, if you're in sin, you're causing sorrow. You're causing grief. It's not that you sin against me or sin against your brother or sin against your sister, you sin against God. You're grieving a mom or a dad who loves you. You're grieving that brother or sister who's laboring with you for your joy. Your sin causes sorrow and sadness and disappointment and discouragement. But most importantly, your sin grieves the Lord who died for sinners. So what does Paul do here? What does Paul do in response to this? No doubt, Paul's heart is broken over these Corinthians. Sin has robbed them of their joy. Paul responds by laboring with them for their repentance, labors with them for their repentance. Brings us to point three on your notes, insist on the obedience of faith, insist on the obedience of faith. Paul must deal with the sins. The Corinthians must repent for their joy to be restored, right? David says that, restore to me, God, the joy of my salvation. Turn from your sin. Paul desperately wants them to do that before he visits them again. Verse two, if I make you sorrowful, Paul says, who is he who makes me glad, but the one who has made sorrowful by me? In other words, Paul's joy is wrapped up inextricably with their joy. Paul says, if I visit to rebuke you and cause you all sorrow and pain, then who is there left at Corinth who can make me glad? The one that I just rebuked, right? That's sort of Paul's mind here in verse two. It doesn't make sense if one is grieved, the other is grieved. Mutual joy here isn't possible until the sin is dealt with. Paul's decision not to avoid the sin, not to sweep it under a rug, not to avoid it, Paul's decision was to deal with sin by writing a painful letter. Gonna write them a letter instead of going to them and give them gracious time to repent, rather than visiting them again, risking the added sorrow of alienating them further from him or alienating them further from the Lord. Paul decides I'm gonna give them time. I'm gonna write them a letter instead. Now, Paul has explained all this in his letter to them. Look at verse three. Paul says, I wrote this very thing to you. He explained it to them, lest when I came I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy. In order for there to be genuine joy, the sin must be dealt with. There must be repentance. Paul must insist on the obedience of faith. So he writes them a letter, a letter confronts them, calls them to repentance. That letter has been lost. We don't have it. We can only assume what Paul wrote in that letter, but certainly Paul confronts them, calls them to repentance, and he does so in hope. He does so in faith. Look at the last part there, verse three. Having confidence in you all that my joy, the joy of genuine saving faith, is the same joy of you all. In other words, I have confidence. I have confidence you're gonna respond rightly. You're gonna respond with repentance because my faith is your faith, my joy is your joy, right? So Paul's hope, Paul's confidence is well placed in the Lord. We know from chapter seven that Paul's difficult and painful letter, at least in some part, has had the desired and prayed for effect. Look quickly at chapter seven and drop down to verse eight. Chapter seven and verse eight. Paul says there, for even if I made you sorry with my letter, I don't regret it, though I did regret it. Do you see how that makes sense in the context? I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice. Why do you rejoice, Paul? Verse nine, 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. You want to know what godly sorrow looks like? Read on. Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation. You want to know the difference between big fat crocodile tears that don't mean anything and godly sorrow? Paul's explaining it right here. Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner, what diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what anger over sin, right? Righteous anger over their own sin, what fear it caused, what vehement, fervent, earnest desire, what zeal it caused, what vindication and all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. That's repentance. That's repentance, right? Therefore verse 12, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you. He says essentially the same thing in chapter 2 verse 4, right? Sometimes a loving confrontation, a loving rebuke is the clearest evidence of genuine love. Verse 13, therefore we have been comforted in your comfort, we have been comforted in your comfort and we rejoiced exceedingly more for the joy of Titus because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. He got a good word back, good report back from Titus, and upon their genuine repentance, their mutual joy is restored. Verse 14, for if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I'm not ashamed, but as we spoke all things to you in truth, even so our boasting to Titus was found true, and his affections are greater for you as he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you rejoiced, you received him, therefore I rejoice, Paul says, that I have confidence in you and everything. Paul wrote to them with confidence that he expressed in chapter 2 verse 3. Now he can write further with even greater confidence and joy hearing from Titus about their repentance. We must insist on the obedience of faith. We must aim for, right, hope for, pray for, labor for, strive for the obedience of faith. Why? Why? Because that the obedience of faith is the path forward to restoring genuine true Christian joy. It's far easier not to get involved, isn't it? Paul could have just hunkered himself down in Ephesus and not concerned himself with what was going on in Corinth, right? The Lord is sovereign, all I can do is pray for them. Far easier not to ask questions, far easier not to confront, far easier to let things slide. No one likes conflict, right? No one likes confrontation, sweep the sin under the rug, right? Let's just pretend it's not happening, to turn a blind eye to Corinth. I've got work to do here in Ephesus. Somebody else has got to deal with that. I've got work to do at home. I've got work to do at work. I've got work to do at school. Somebody else can go after that person who's straying, that person who's in sin. Better yet, better yet, right? This is the modern christened dumb way of doing things. Let's just maintain really superficial relationships in the church. Let's just sort of pretend to be really close friends, so that we don't have to deal with stuff like this, right? If we don't know, if you begin to get into a conversation that they start revealing a little too much, let's just change the subject really quickly. I don't want to know too much. Let's just be really superficial with one another. You come up with some really holy sounding justification for why you won't get involved or minister in the Lord's church. It's like all we can do is pray for them. Well, yes, certainly you can pray for them, but you can do more than just that. It gets bad enough. You stop talking to them. Maybe it gets bad enough that you actually leave and go to another church. Happens all the time. It may be easier. It may be easier, but it's not loving. Paul didn't do any of these things. Paul labored with those people in the trenches, so to speak, in Corinth. Why is that? It's because he loved them. He loved them. Point four on your notes, we're to minister with a testimony of love. We're to minister in the Lord's church with a testimony of love. Verse four, Paul says, for out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but so that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you. This was no heartless exercise for Paul. He didn't correct them because they were making him look bad. They weren't quote unquote hurting his reputation. You can imagine Paul writing this and having trouble writing because he couldn't see what he was doing through his tears, right? Having to stop, wipe his eyes and write again. Having to pray and write, stop and pray and go back to writing. Paul says, I want you to know the depth of my love for you because he wants them to know the depth of his love for them. Paul does what is necessary. He does what is hard and he does it with the right heart. Paul pours himself into ministry, spends himself as he says on the sacrifice and service of their faith. He laid his heart there and Paul uses his mind. He considers them, right? He thought about those people under his care. He thought about their needs, thought about their personalities, thought about how they might react, thought about their scruples. He thought about their sin and the state that they were in. Should I go now and visit them again? Should I go and see them when I know I'm going to have to rebuke them? Is that what's best for them? Or should I write them a letter instead? I want to do what's most helpful, what's most beneficial to them. What would be most loving? What would be most considerate? God help me. I want to labor for the benefit of these people. What do I do now? Paul decides to write the letter. What should I say? How should I say it? Should I say it this way or say it that way? Paul's loving heart is considering them, certainly. He wants them to hear his heart in this letter. Considering Paul's approach here, Calvin says that it would essentially be remarkably unbecoming of the Corinthians to take offense at Paul's letter. Even though it's a severe letter, Paul wearing his heart on his sleeve, it's here in this particular example of Paul that we see the heart and mind that should precede and accompany any rebuke or discipline. That's the heart and mind that should accompany any hard conversation, any confrontation, any active discipline. We see in the Corinthians the repentance that should accompany a Christian's response to sin. Here we see the example of Paul's heart and mind. Let your loving pleading, let your ministry in the Lord's church, let your loving confrontation, your loving rebuke, let it be with much affliction, with much anguish of heart and with many tears that they might know the love, the abundant love that you have for them. Paul didn't avoid them. Paul wasn't superficial with them. He didn't neglect them. Paul wasn't heartlessly harsh toward them. He labored with them in love for the joy of their mutual faith. You and I, we've got to be involved in this kind of ministry, amen. Labor by the rule of love, work for the goal of joy, insist on the obedience of faith, minister with a testimony of love. All praise, honor, and glory to him who has shown us such grace, amen. Let's pray. Take a few moments. Pray silently. Examine yourself. Then rejoice in the Lord for his grace. Let's ask the Lord what he would have us do in ministry in the Lord's church for his glory. Let's pray. When you're done praying, you are dismissed.