Repeat Offenders
2 Corinthians 12
Our culture gets us
to accept things by repetition
When things are
repeated over and over again we begin to accept them
The music industry,
the entertainment industry and advertising industry
Have changed our
thinking over the years
Culture changes as
things are repeated
Paul is making ready
for his third trip to Corinth
He is going there to
deal with the repeat offenders
Those in the Church
who boast in their sinful life
Those who want to see
a church that does not deal with sin but accepts it
Anything that repeats
itself becomes the norm
Let us repeat the Righteousness
of Christ and make no room for the flesh
Our model is Christ
who forgives sin, He does not accept it
Repeat Offenders
2 Corinthians 12
It is in 2 Corinthians 12 we see Paul
is still dealing with sin in the Church…
“I am afraid that when
I come again my God will humble me before you,
and I will be grieved
over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented
of the impurity,
sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.” V. 21
Paul is concerned that the sin is causing….
“I fear that there may
be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger,
factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and
disorder.” V.20
We know…
“All have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God”
We know…
“Christ died for
sinners”
The Gospel is Good News
Paul took the Gospel to the
Corinthians and many received it.
The problem of sin still remained.
The sin problem did not go away when
Paul first preached the Gospel in Corinth.
Years later, after several letters,
and others making
visits, the
sin problem is still in the Church.
It is not the new believers,
it is repeat
offenders…
People who accepted the message of
Christ and were part of the Church Family.
Yet, they continued their sinful practices.
No Church is perfect.
If you find the perfect church don’t join it,
because the minute
you do
it would not be perfect anymore.
The Church will always have
to deal with sin problems.
Not just those of new
members, but those
who have been in the Church for a long time.
Because of the repeat offenders,
Paul spends 2
chapters focusing on boasting.
The Church in Corinth boasted that you can be
saved from your sins and still live a sinful life.
Each time Paul addresses the Church, he is
addressing divided people and divided leadership.
Paul fights fire with fire
Boasting with boasting
Yet, Paul wants to
make sure all know
that even though he has a lot to boast about,
as a man of integrity and stature in the Lord…
It is not his strength that he relies on.
Although Paul must show himself as
a strong leader, Paul is still a servant.
2 Corinthians is famous for Paul’s
visions and his words that follow…
“… I will not boast
about myself, except about my weaknesses.
Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would
be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is
warranted by what I do or say.”
Paul’s boasting is not about
his strength, but his weakness.
Not about people thinking
too high of him, but the truth.
These famous words say it all…
"My grace is
sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I
will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,
so that Christ's power may rest on me.
The most important thing in life is God’s Grace.
To have God’s favor.
God’s favor comes to those who
recognize their weakness and humble
themselves in the sight of the Lord.
As much as Paul tries
to defend his role as a leader
of the Church and his right to lead the Church…
Paul reveals it is not about him.
Not about what the Church can do for him.
Paul’s message of weakness is…
“So that Christ's power may rest on me.”
The message to the sinner is…
Jesus Christ saves
sinners.
The message to the repeat offender is…
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and
purify us from all unrighteousness. If
we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no
place in our lives.
1 John 1:8-10
Many today go to church but live like the world.
“who have sinned
earlier and have not repented of the impurity,
sexual sin and
debauchery in which they have indulged.”
Paul is making his third trip to
deal with the same problems of sin.
As members of the Church of Jesus Christ,
we cannot stop dealing with the sin issues.
Our job is to line up with the
Head of the Church, Jesus Christ.
It is from the Head we humbly find our strength.
As the moral standard falls lower and lower
in the world, and more and more sin is accepted,
the Church must not
lower the standard of God.
We do not live a life of “Do’s and Don’ts”
We live the Life of Christ.
He is our Standard.
Because…
“He is the way the truth and the life.”
Scripture Reading
2 Corinthians 12 NIV
12:1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be
gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man
in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it
was in the body or out of the body I do not know — God knows. 3 And I know that
this man — whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God
knows— 4 was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that
man is not permitted to tell. 5 I will boast about a man like that, but
I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should
choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth.
But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do
or say.
7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these
surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a
messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to
take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is
sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I
will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may
rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in
weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For
when I am weak, then I am strong.
11 I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I
ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the
"super-apostles," even though I am nothing. 12 The things that mark
an apostle — signs, wonders and miracles — were done among you with great
perseverance. 13 How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was
never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!
14 Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I
will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but
you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but
parents for their children. 15 So I will very gladly spend for you everything I
have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less? 16
Be that as it may, I have not been a burden to you. Yet, crafty fellow that I
am, I caught you by trickery! 17 Did I exploit you through any of the men I
sent you? 18 I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with him. Titus
did not exploit you, did he? Did we not act in the same spirit and follow the
same course?
19 Have you been thinking all along that we have been
defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God as those
in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening. 20
For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and
you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that
there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander,
gossip, arrogance and disorder. 21 I am afraid that when I come again my God will
humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented
of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.
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