I invite you to open the Scriptures to 2 Corinthians 2, we'll find that on page 1226. 2 Corinthians 2, we will read verses 5-11. This is God's Word. Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure, not to put it too severely, to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough. So you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. For this is why I wrote that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs. So far the reading of God's Word. Have you ever held a grudge? You know how it goes. Someone offends you or commits some kind of injustice against you. They seem to forget. Everyone else forgets. But you don't forget. You become bitter. You know how this goes, right? How does it work out for you? Paul, in this passage, refused to hold a grudge. You see, he knew it was a tool of Satan. to create unnecessary division and despair. Well, when I talk about grudges, where does your mind go next? If it's anything like me, you go to guilt and shame. You know you shouldn't do that. You know you should forgive. But Paul in this passage also refused to allow shame to fester. See, he knew that shame is a tool of Satan to cause unnecessary division and despair. Instead, Paul would bring us before the face of Christ in the Gospel. Find the solution there. The Gospel is the solution to holding a grudge because it teaches us to extend forgiveness. And the Gospel is the solution to festering shame because it invites us to receive forgiveness. We'll consider the material of this passage under three headings. First, when discipline works. Second, how the Gospel creates a community of forgiveness for the face of Christ. And finally, how the gospel of forgiveness fights Satan's strategies. So first, when discipline works. Well, you might recall from the context of this letter that there was some conflict between the Apostle Paul and this church. In large part, it seems it has to do with some personal issue between them. Something having to do with doubt towards Paul and his apostolic authority. It doesn't seem it was the whole church. There's some amongst them. They said things like, he wasn't a good preacher. He's a flip-flopper. He's not reliable. He says yes and no at the same time. As we find out earlier in chapter 1, Paul planned a visit to them. He wanted to stop in twice because he loves them so much. But the first visit didn't go very well. It was painful. And so he changed his plans and didn't stop again. He didn't want to inflict more pain upon them. And we see him using this language of pain several times. As you look back to earlier in chapter 2, You see, in verse 1, he calls it a painful visit. Verse 2 talks about causing pain in someone else. The one whom I have pained. Verse 3, I did not want to suffer pain. Let's see, there it is again in verse 4. To cause you pain. And as we started our reading in verse 5, If anyone has caused pain. Now this isn't physical pain he's talking about, of course. It's more like emotional pain. Something like grief and sorrow. And so that idea appears again in verse 7. He's talking about this person under church discipline. To receive him back or he might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Paul's very concerned about this pain and sorrow and grief. We get an additional glimpse of what he means by this by its opposite, because he talks about joy. Gladness is the opposite of this pain. It's there in verse 3. He wanted them to make him rejoice and experience joy. That's what he wanted. He works for their joy. He wants to resolve this pain. So instead of visiting them a second time, we recall he wrote them a letter instead. Let's resolve this by writing a letter. He refers to it in verse 9. This is why I wrote. He refers to this letter that he previously wrote. Now he delivered this letter to the Corinthians by the hand of Titus. If you peek ahead to verses 12 and 13, he says he was in Troas ministering, but his spirit was not at rest. See, he wanted to resolve this conflict with the Corinthians. And so who was he looking to find? Verse 13, Titus, the one who carried the letter. He wanted to meet up with Titus again to see how it went. How did it go? How did they receive my letter? How did they receive my letter? he was eager to find out. And he reflects on this further more in chapter 7 when he says it caused them pain and grief, he knows. It was a hard letter to write. He was glad it caused them pain. Not because he revels in inflicting pain, but because it was a godly grief that led to repentance. So that's what he's after. so indeed paul's application of church discipline achieved its goal repentance now a number of commentators believe that the case of church discipline that's referred to here as the same as that in first corinthians chapter five there it talks about a man in sexual immorality and paul rather forcefully tells them you need to discipline him you people are putting up with it. Approving of it, even. The church needs to take action here. Paul tells them to put this person out of the fellowship of the church. Even to hand him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. That is, when someone's heart is hard, we actually make use of Satan as a tool to break them down to repentance. But we come now to this time in 2 Corinthians and it seems the discipline has worked. He's repented. So Paul says to welcome this man back into the fellowship of the church. Reaffirm your love for this person. Tell him he's forgiven. Now whether this really does refer to that same person in 1 Corinthians, we can't be sure. Some see here a different situation. since it certainly seems from the context here that this has to do with a personal matter towards Paul. It talks about causing pain against him. My preferred solution in these things is to say it's both. Certainly it's plausible this guy in 1 Corinthians 5 did repent. He maybe said something like, Okay, Paul, I'll stop this sin. But I don't like you bossing me around. How do you have the right? Who are you, anyway? You see, there's this problem of questioning his apostolic authority. But whatever the case, Paul indicates now that it's been resolved. Titus came back and gave him a good report. He's repented. So Paul says, okay, it's over. Forgive him. I forgive him. I will not hold a grudge against him. So church, you forgive him too. Welcome him back. We let him out to the influence of Satan, but we need to stop that now. Or he'll become weighed down, swallowed up by grief. The word reaffirm here in verse 8, reaffirm your love, it has a very formal connotation. That the church would make a formal pronouncement. That he is now welcomed back into the church. Yes, the church should indeed act with authority, both in excommunicating those who do not repent, but also in receiving them back when they do. But additionally, the informal practice of the church members should match that formal pronouncement. Turn to him. Forgive him. Comfort him, Paul says. Give the guy a hug. Tell him you're glad to see him back. Well, one principle that arises from this is that the church is a body, as we know. What happens to one person in the church affects the whole church. When one part suffers, the rest do as well. So Paul talks about this punishment by the majority in verse 6. The church as a whole carried out discipline against this individual. You see, because we care for one another, when one falls into sin, we all get involved. And this means church members don't get the whole up in private. The church bears the authority of Christ for your good, for the good of its members. You see, sin is deceitful like a poisonous root that spreads. Hebrews 12.15 says this, See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled. The sin of one can affect the whole. And twice later in 2 Corinthians, Paul will emphasize that he does have apostolic authority. But that Christ gave it to him for the building up of the church, not to tear it down. And so the church continues to exercise this authority of Christ for the good of its members. And when discipline works, reaffirm your love. Well, secondly, let's consider how the gospel creates a community of forgiveness before the face of Christ. You see, the gospel of Jesus Christ creates a kind of community. There's another aspect to this idea of punishment by the majority. It has more to do with the informal relationships between church members. Imagine you are this guy who committed this sin and came under discipline, stirred up this conflict with Paul, And when this letter comes, this letter of 2 Corinthians comes to the church, you're there, and it's being read to the whole congregation. And Paul's talking about all this conflict he's having with all of you. But you're the person that stirred this up. You can just feel everyone's judgy eyes on the back of your neck. See, this punishment by the majority has to do with just that embarrassment of being that guy who invoked a letter from an apostle against the whole church. But then come Paul's words of encouragement. See, Paul has this pastoral sensibility anticipating that this person could hear this letter. Paul tells the church to reaffirm their love to him. if you're him, can't you just feel that weight of sin fall off your shoulders? The change from everyone looking at you annoyed to having an apostle tell them all to love you and forgive you. Paul holds no grudge. And the church shouldn't either. You see, the gospel creates a community of forgiveness. The ground beneath Golgotha is level ground. In other words, as we stand there looking up to that bloody cross, we're reminded of our sin. And then we look to our neighbors next to us. It's level ground. We're all the same. The sin done against us pales in comparison to the sin we've committed against Him. Any self-righteousness we might have before others collapses into nothing when viewed before Him in His presence before the face of Christ. And Paul here uses that language in verse 10. He says He forgives. In the presence of Christ. Before the face of Christ. It's a theme that comes up repeatedly in 2 Corinthians. This idea of living quorum Deo. It's a Latin phrase that means in the presence of God. Before His face. One of our churches in the URC in the Denver area is quorum Deo. The name of their church. You see, we live life before the face of God. Here, as it says, in the presence of Christ, before the face of Christ, not only is that a pledge of Paul's honesty, his sincerity, but it's also a summons to forgiveness. When you recognize that all your life is laid bare before his face, how can we be hypocritical? You see, when we consider ourselves in relation to Christ, standing as sinners beneath the cross, reminded anew of how much we've been forgiven. How can we hold a grudge? Paul simply couldn't hold a grudge. When he looked to the compassionate face of Christ, and he knew how much he was forgiven. You see, this is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance. That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. So we forgive one another. As Christ has forgiven us, so we extend forgiveness. The Gospel creates a community of forgiveness before the face of Christ. Now, it's important to say, depending on the nature of the sin, there can still be practical consequences. Reconciliation doesn't necessarily mean the relationship goes back to normal like nothing happened. Part of the true humility of repentance is to accept the consequences for this life. Certainly I'm not talking about eternal consequences, but consequences for this life. An example is if a minister commits a heinous sin, he can certainly repent and find forgiveness before God. That doesn't mean he should go back into the ministry. You see, there's a difference between holding a grudge and exercising wisdom. We should exercise wisdom in protecting people from their own weaknesses, and especially when their weakness could lead to sin against another person. You see, that's not a grudge. It's just wisdom protecting people. But these sorts of protections should be done in a way that doesn't heap shame upon a person. There should be a welcome, an affirmation of love. The emphasis that protections go in place for the good of this person. Remember, your authority exists for your good. To protect us all from the deceitfulness of sin. And we do these sorts of things because we do not want to be outwitted by Satan. Which leads to our third point. How forgiveness fights the strategies of Satan. You see, Paul says here that we are not ignorant of Satan's schemes. He says we should take care lest we be outwitted by him. This morning in the entranceway I picked up the September issue of Table Talk. And as providence would have it, it's germane to this idea of being aware of Satan's schemes. It's all in the spirit of the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. I have it here. It's a training manual for demons. We need to be aware of Satan's schemes. This is a helpful guide. There's a number of articles. One way to tear down the church and God's people. Wear Down Worship is the title of one of the articles. Push Against Personal Piety. Demonize Church Discipline. Certainly relevant to this passage and several other articles in here. It looks pretty good, so I commend it to you. But maybe you wonder how Satan's power works. You know, I think of question and answer one. It says we've been delivered from the tyranny of Satan. We've been delivered. So how is it that we continue to battle? You see, there's an already but not yet nature to this. He is indeed a defeated foe. We are free from his tyranny. We are free because any accusation he hurls against us does not stick. We have the shield of faith by which we can distinguish every flaming dart of the evil one. The shield of faith. And yet, he continues to hurl accusations. Question and answer 123 is helpful here when it goes through the Lord's Prayer, talking about thy kingdom come. When we pray that, the Catechism explains, we're praying that God would destroy the devil's work. until your kingdom fully comes. You see that qualifier there? His kingdom has come, but we await it to come fully. In the same way the devil is defeated, Jesus has dealt the decisive blow. Yet, as he's falling down backwards to the mat, he's flailing punches, seeing if he can land anything. It's a last-ditch effort. Maybe you've seen those slow-motion videos of someone getting punched in the face. That's Jesus to Satan. But I think of it in slow motion as he's falling backwards, trying to hit something. He's a defeated foe. But we await the consummation of that victory. Furthermore, when we pray that God would not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil. The Catechism teaches us that we are praying against our three sworn enemies. The world, our own flesh, and the devil. But we pray for the power of the Holy Spirit. We have this power that we may, as it says in question answer 127, firmly resist our enemies until we find We finally win the complete victory. See that qualifier? Complete again. It is a certain thing. The complete victory is coming. We do not yet experience it. And so we continue to battle. So I hope that helps you a little bit. Think about how we are indeed free from Satan. Yet continue to fight him. And why did God allow it this way? Why couldn't he have just done it decisively in one shot? Why is he letting this drag out? One of the benefits of allowing Satan to continue roaming like a lion is that we get to participate in Christ's victory. You know, there might be some benefit in reframing our thinking. Instead of calling it a problem, call it an opportunity. I hear that in the working world, the way to spin it. It's not a problem, it's an opportunity. But this isn't mere positive spin. Paul has a wonderful statement in Romans 16, verse 20. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. You see, God will do it. Not only will he do it soon, but it will be under your feet. you get to participate in Christ's victory. Now, if you want to stick it to Satan, I have something very simple to suggest. Believe you're forgiven. Believe you're forgiven. An atmosphere of grace and forgiveness in the church is not just for the big public sins. It's for every sin. Satan would have you stuck in shame. he would have you stay there he can't stop the forgiveness but he can try to prevent you from resting in the joy of that forgiveness well how can you get out of being stuck there by hearing the words you are forgiven hear it from a minister hear it from your fellow church members you are forgiven There was a moment in my life when I was wallowing in guilt and shame. And God, by His grace, brought me to the point of realizing I was doing this. I was trying to pay for this sin myself by just some sort of penance. I had to repent of that and believe I was forgiven. And, you know, if you are conversing with a fellow believer and they express shame in any way, any shape or form, you can say to them, you know you're forgiven. You know Jesus paid for that, so you don't have to. You're forgiven of that. We all need to hear from outside of ourselves that message of forgiveness. Because Satan would want us to stay there, stuck in shame. But we're not ignorant of his devices. So in conclusion, as you have God's indwelling Holy Spirit, may you be that person by his power to speak that word of forgiveness to each other. And may you be that person on the receiving end to hear and believe and rest upon God's forgiveness for you in Christ. You see, we don't need to carry a grudge against one another because the Gospel teaches us to forgive. And we don't need to wallow in shame because the Gospel invites us to receive forgiveness, to move on from godly grief and rejoice. Let's pray. Oh God, we thank you for your word and for even recording these historical events. that seems so specific to someone's situation, and yet it is general to apply to all of us. We thank you that even as Paul could forgive, that you give us your Spirit, that we too can forgive one another as we stand before the cross, before the face of Christ, beholding his glory and compassion for us. That we too could forgive each other. Lord, you are so good. Help us to move on from godly grief to rejoicing. To knowing the joy you would have for us. Not to be ignorant of Satan's schemes to keep us in shame, but to rejoice. May we be a people, a community of faith that has that spirit of forgiveness because you've forgiven us. We thank you for that. In Christ's name, amen.