Steve Webb: Maybe you should sit down. Take a deep breath. Brace
yourself.
It's the Lifespring! One Year Bible, and podcasting since
2004, I'm your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is Epistle
Sunday and we'll read 2 Corinthians, chapters 1 through
3, and I'm calling the episode "What Is Forgiveness?" Also
being Sunday we'll share prayer requests before the end of the
show. Now before we read, let's ask God to bless this time.
Heavenly Father, we come to you now thanking you for your Word.
And we do pray that you would take this time of reading and
study to teach us. Open our hearts, Lord. Open our eyes. I
pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, let's begin.
2 Corinthians, chapter 1. From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus
by the will of God, and from Timothy our brother. To God’s
church in the city of Corinth and to all God’s holy people
everywhere in Greece. Good will and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus are yours! Praise the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ! He is the Father who is compassionate
and the God who gives comfort. He comforts us whenever we
suffer. That is why whenever other people suffer, we are able
to comfort them by using the same comfort we have received
from God. Because Christ suffered so much for us, we can
receive so much comfort from him. Besides, if we suffer, it
brings you comfort and salvation. If we are comforted,
we can effectively comfort you when you endure the same
sufferings that we endure. We have confidence in you. We know
that as you share our sufferings, you also share our
comfort. Brothers and sisters, we don’t want you to be ignorant
about the suffering we experienced in the province of
Asia. It was so extreme that it was beyond our ability to
endure. We even wondered if we could go on living. In fact, we
still feel as if we’re under a death sentence. But we suffered
so that we would stop trusting ourselves and learn to trust
God, who brings the dead back to life. He has rescued us from a
terrible death, and he will rescue us in the future. We are
confident that he will continue to rescue us, since you are also
joining to help us when you pray for us. Then many people will
thank God for the favor he will show us because many people
prayed for us. We are proud that our conscience is clear. We are
proud of the way that we have lived in this world. We have
lived with a God-given holiness and sincerity, especially toward
you. It was not by human wisdom that we have lived but by God’s
kindness. We are only writing you what you already knew before
you read this. I hope you will understand this as long as you
live, even though you now understand it only partially. We
are your reason to be proud, as you will be our reason to be
proud on the day of our Lord Jesus. Confident of this, I had
previously wanted to visit you so that you could benefit twice.
My plans had been to go from the city of Corinth to the province
of Macedonia. Then from Macedonia I had planned to
return to you again in Corinth and have you support my trip to
Judea. You don’t think that I made these plans lightly, do
you? Do you think that when I make plans, I make them in a
sinful way? Why would I say that something is true when it isn’t?
You can depend on God. Our message to you isn’t false; it’s
true. God’s Son, Jesus Christ, whom I, Silvanus, and Timothy
told you about, was true not false. Because of him our
message was always true. Certainly, Christ made God’s
many promises come true. For that reason, because of our
message, people also honor God by saying, “Amen!” God
establishes us, together with you, in a relationship with
Christ. He has also anointed us. In addition, he has put his seal
of ownership on us and has given us the Spirit as his guarantee.
I appeal to God as a witness on my behalf, that I stayed away
from Corinth because I wanted to spare you. It isn’t that we want
to have control over your Christian faith. Rather, we want
to work with you so that you will be happy. Certainly, you
are firmly established in the Christian faith.
2 Corinthians, chapter 2. I decided not to visit you again
while I was distressed. After all, if I had made you
uncomfortable, how could you have cheered me up when you were
uncomfortable? This is the very reason I wrote to you. I didn’t
want to visit you and be distressed by those who should
make me happy. I’m confident about all of you that whatever
makes me happy also makes you happy. I was deeply troubled and
anguished. In fact, I had tears in my eyes when I wrote to you.
I didn’t write to make you uncomfortable but to let you
know how much I love you. If someone caused distress, I’m not
the one really affected. To some extent—although I don’t want to
emphasize this too much—it has affected all of you. The
majority of you have imposed a severe enough punishment on that
person. So now forgive and comfort him. Such distress could
overwhelm someone like that if he’s not forgiven and comforted.
That is why I urge you to assure him that you love him. I had
also written to you to test you. I wanted to see if you would be
obedient in every way. If you forgive someone, so do I.
Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did
in the presence of Christ for your benefit. I don’t want Satan
to outwit us. After all, we are not ignorant about Satan’s
scheming. When I went to the city of Troas, the Lord gave me
an opportunity to spread the Good News about Christ. But I
didn’t have any peace of mind, because I couldn’t find Titus,
our brother, there. So I said goodbye to the people in Troas
and went to the province of Macedonia. But I thank God, who
always leads us in victory because of Christ. Wherever we
go, God uses us to make clear what it means to know Christ.
It’s like a fragrance that fills the air. To God we are the aroma
of Christ among those who are saved and among those who are
dying. To some people we are a deadly fragrance, while to
others we are a life-giving fragrance. Who is qualified to
tell about Christ? At least we don’t go around selling an
impure word of God like many others. The opposite is true. As
Christ’s spokesmen and in God’s presence, we speak the pure
message that comes from God.
2 Corinthians, chapter 3. Are we beginning to praise ourselves
again? Some people need letters that speak well of them. Do we
need those kinds of letters, either to you or from you? You
yourselves are our letter. You are written on our hearts.
Everyone knows you and reads you. You make it clear that you
are a letter from Christ. You are the result of our work for
God. You are a letter written not with ink but with the Spirit
of the living God. You are a letter written not on tablets
made out of stone but on human hearts. Through Christ, we can
be sure of this because of our faith in God's power. In
ourselves we are not able to claim anything for ourselves.
The power to do what we do comes from God. He has given us the
power to serve under a new covenant. The covenant is not
based on the written Law of Moses. It comes from the Holy
Spirit. The written Law kills, but the Spirit gives life. The
Law was written in letters on stone. Even though it was a way
of serving God, it led to death. But even that way of serving God
came with glory. And even though the glory was fading, the people
of Israel couldn't look at Moses' face very long. Since all
of that is true, won't the work of the Holy Spirit be even more
glorious? The Law that sentences people to death is glorious. How
much more glorious is the work of the Spirit! His work makes
people right with God. The glory of the old covenant is nothing
compared with the far greater glory of the new. The glory of
the old is fading away. How much greater is the glory of the new!
It will last forever. Since we have that kind of hope, we are
very bold. We are not like Moses. He used to cover his face
with a veil. That was to keep the people of Israel from
looking at his face while the brightness was fading away. But
their minds were made stubborn. To this very day, the same veil
remains when the old covenant is read. The veil has not been
removed. Only faith in Christ can take it away. To this very
day, when the Law of Moses is read, a veil covers the minds of
those who hear it. But when anyone turns to the Lord, the
veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Holy Spirit. And where
the Spirit of the Lord is, freedom is also there. Our faces
are not covered with a veil. We all display the Lord's glory. We
are being changed to become more like him so that we have more
and more glory. And the glory comes from the Lord, who is the
Holy Spirit.
Beloved, I've got some news for you that you might find
shocking. It might completely alter your worldview. Maybe you
should sit down. Okay? Take a deep breath. Brace yourself. I
need you to know that the church and I'm not referring to one
specific local church or even a denomination. I'm talking about
all of the church which is made up of all the believers. Anyway.
The church is made up of imperfect people. Oh, you knew
that? Of course, you did because you know that whenever people
are involved, there's going to be difficulties. None of us is
perfect. People mess up. Sometimes there are what we
might consider to be minor infractions. And sometimes there
are major sins. But that's not surprising, is it? Do you
remember back in 1 Corinthians, chapter 5? Paul addressed a
major sin that was happening there in the church at Corinth.
There was a man there who was married to his father's wife, it
was an incestuous relationship, and Paul chastised them for not
dealing properly with the sin. In fact, they were not dealing
with it at all. Paul even said that they were being arrogant
about it, accepting of it. He told them that they should
remove the man from the fellowship. He said, "Hand such
a person over to Satan to destroy his corrupt nature so
that his spiritual nature may be saved on the day of the Lord."
Remember that? Good. Are you aware that we as Christians
sometimes do that today? Thing is, as far as I know, it rarely
happens in local churches. You know, where it happens quite
often? When a prominent well-known Christian's sins
become known. Then we ostracize him or her, we destroy them, we
cast them out. Since I started podcasting, I've been blessed to
have gotten to know several Christian recording artists
pretty well. And because of the family that I married into, I
probably know more than the average person does about some
of the quote-unquote, famous pastors in the world today. And
I've heard more than once how this person or that person lost
a career or a ministry because the church found out about a sin
in their life. You say, "Well, Steve, isn't that what Paul told
the Corinthians to do? Isn't that the biblical thing to do?"
Well, let's take a look at chapter 2 from our reading
today. In the first four verses, Paul reminds them of the fact
that he told them that he had wanted to visit them, but then
he said he didn't come because he was distressed at the
situation with the incestuous man. His previous writing to
them about this was done tearfully, and he was deeply
troubled, and he was anguished. Now, is that how we feel when we
find sin in the life of someone we hold in high esteem? I have
to say, I'm not so sure. And then Paul goes on here in
chapter 2 to say that "The majority of you have imposed a
severe enough punishment on that person." It's enough! So now
what? Paul continues, "So now forgive and comfort him. Such
distress could overwhelm someone like that if he's not forgiven
and comforted. That is why I urge you to assure him that you
love him." In other words, let that person know that you still
love him. Don't let him become overwhelmed. Why? Because then
the enemy has a chance to come in and keep him from being
restored. How many times have we seen this happen with these
"famous Christians" I referred to earlier. Beloved, I've seen
it happen to more than one person because we don't take the
extra step of reaching out to them, once they've dealt with
the sin. We continue to rub their nose in it. We don't
forgive them, and it's shameful. How can we claim to represent a
loving God who is faithful and just to forgive us, if we don't
forgive? How can we expect to be forgiven for our sins, if we
won't forgive the sins of others? The reason we rebuke the
brother or sister who's sinning is not to get a notch on our
belt. It's to bring them to repentance and back into
fellowship first with God and then with us. If you have
comments, I'd love to hear them. Call the Lifespring Family
Hotline at +1-951-732-8511, or go to
comment.lifespringmedia.com or send me an email at
steve@lifespringmedia.com. I do read every comment and there's a
good chance I'll play your audio comment or read your comment on
the show. Tomorrow will be The Law Monday. We'll read Exodus 13
through 16.
Prayer requests. My wife, the Lovely Lady LeeAnn, has a cousin
who asked for prayer. Some friends of his were in a
terrible car accident. The husband was killed and the wife
is in critical condition. Her name is Anne. Her husband's name
was Dale. We need to pray for Anne and the family. And also
Kathi's not been feeling at all well this week. For newer family
members, Kathi and her husband Del have been friends of mine
since we were in our teens. She was diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis in... when she was in her 20s and she's battled
various forms of cancer for at least thirty years and is
currently undergoing a form of chemotherapy. She has brief
periods of feeling relatively okay, and then times where she's
really quite sick. So we need to pray for Kathy and for Del.
Let's pray. Our heavenly Father, we thank you for inviting us to
bring our prayer requests to you. And so now I bring Anne and
her family to you now. Be with her as she's in the hospital
after this terrible accident. Father, she needs your touch. We
know that our lives are always in your hands, but at times like
this, we're reminded just how true that is. If it's your will,
Lord, we ask you to heal her. We pray for her and Dale's family
that you would comfort and strengthen them. Hold them
close. And if there are those in the family that don't know you,
I pray that through this, they would discover who you are. I
pray, Lord, that You would make yourself known to them. You can
take the worst of circumstances and make something beautiful. So
we ask you to do that here, Lord. This family is in a great
deal of pain right now. And I pray that you would do something
wonderful through the tragedy. And I pray once more that you
would touch Kathi. She's in a rough patch right now, and I ask
you to give her strength and energy, Lord, as you have done
in the past. Help Del as he cares for her. I ask you, Lord
to heal her body in Jesus' name. And I know that there are some
in the Lifespring family who are hurting for various reasons. You
know each one of us, and so you know what the struggles are. I
pray that you would be with each one and hold them in your loving
arms. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Beloved, if you have
a need that you'd like the Lifespring family to pray with
you about or if you have a praise to share, let us know at
+1-951-732-8511, or go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com. I'll
pray for you in my personal quiet time and we'll pray
together right here on the show, prayer.lifespringmedia.com.
Thanks to the team: Kirsty, Denise, Michael Haner, Scott
Snider, and Jason Paschall. God bless you guys. Until tomorrow,
may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.
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