2 Corinthians 2:1-11

                                                                     2 Corinthians 2:1-11

For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you.  For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained?  And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all.  For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.  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.

Discipline is one of the most difficult, but necessary practices required of leaders and believers as a whole.  It is never easy to confront someone with their sin.  There is always fear that we will be misunderstood and the danger that we will drive the person further away from us and the Lord than draw them closer.  God works through the disciplinary measures in the church.  We don’t know exactly what the issue of discipline was in this case, but it is instructive for us to see how Paul handled it.

 

DISCIPLINE PRODUCES PAIN: It is a painful process to discipline another believer in Christ.  Sin causes pain and it is painful to fix.  One of the reasons Paul decides to delay his return visit to Corinth is he determined that it would cause additional and unnecessary pain.  Apparently, there had not been enough time to deal with the issue between a painful disciplinary letter and the proposed visit.  The issue at hand was too serious to wait for his arrival so Paul wrote a painful and harsh letter but didn’t want to follow it up with a painful visit.  When we are being tempted to sin, the only thing that comes to our minds is the pleasures of sin.  We must always strive to remember the painfulness of sin.

 

DISCIPLINE PROMOTES PARDON: The purpose of discipline is always to bring about repentance, forgiveness, and restoration.  Apparently, in this case, the painful discipline was successful in bringing about this desired result.  When a sinner repents it is a time for rejoicing and expressions of love.  There is a real danger that the painful process of discipline can bring about so much shame on the part of the sinner and anger on the part of those who had to exercise the discipline, that God’s purpose of restoration can be derailed.  Sinners who repent should rejoice in the forgiveness found in Christ.  Believers who exercise successful discipline must love their repentant brother while humbly recognizing that it is only by God’s grace that they were not in the same difficult circumstance.  

 

DISCIPLINE PROVIDES PROTECTION: When discipline is correctly exercised it protects all parties from the sin that Satan wants to unleash on the church.  Satan wants to see believers at odds with one another.  He wants people wallowing in guilt, shame, and embarrassment because believers are completely ineffective when they feel this way.  Discipline calls the person to turn from sin, enjoy forgiveness, and restores relationship between believers in a way that makes them stronger than they were prior to the sin issue occurring.  We must recognize that Satan is at work to bring about our destruction or make the ministry of the church ineffective.  We must guard ourselves from this danger by loving one another.

 

APPLICATION: Don’t shy away from the pain of discipline.  Be willing to go through that painful process so the body of Christ can be made pure, and relationships can be restored.  Repent whenever confronted with sin in our own lives.  Readily restore relationships with those who do repent.  Protect our hearts from Satan’s schemes of shame and vengeance.  Express love to one another whenever discipline is successful.