Transcript Document

Presentation 11
Presentation 11
Introduction
An Italian neighbour returned from the woods near
where we stayed with a large quantity of wild
mushrooms - they had a very distinctive taste. She
warned, ‘If you are going to pick any yourself you
must learn the difference between those that are
harmful and those that are safe to eat! Making the
wrong choice can be fatal’.
Paul describes two kinds of sorrow in v10, godly
sorrow that leads to salvation and worldly sorrow
leads to death. It is equally important that we are
able to distinguish between the two. The Corinthians
had made the right choice and are commended for it.
In order to develop this important distinction we
need to remind ourselves of some background.
Presentation 11
Background
Paul's relationship with the church at Corinth had
begun to deteriorate. It had become strained.
This had been caused by the hostility of his rivals
in the church and also by [cf.Ch2v14] the sharp
public rebuke that he had sent to the church for
failing in the business of church discipline.
Titus had gone to Corinth to ensure that Paul's
letter of rebuke was acted upon. So concerned
was Paul by the whole affair that he could not
settle down to the business of preaching. And so
he abandoned the work in Troas and sailed back
to Macedonia in the hope of meeting Titus
returning from Corinth.
Presentation 11
Background
Paul’s arrival there was not without its difficulties. The
‘conflicts on the outside’ v5 mat refer the Macedonian
authorities recalling that his previous visit to Philippi
had been marked by a public riot, an earthquake, the
collapse of the local jail and the embarrassment of the
public officials who had been responsible for Paul’s
wrongful imprisonment. Authorities can make life
difficult for foreign missionaries if they wish to do!
Paul also describes ‘fears within’. Was Paul worried by
the letter he had sent? Had it played into the hands of
his rivals who might exploit it to their advantage? Many
of us will know what it is to be haunted by fears that we
have not made the right decision, or said the right
thing, or handled a situation as best we might.
Presentation 11
Background
God stepped into this stressful situation at just the
right time by bringing Titus to encourage Paul with
good news that the Corinthian crisis seemed to be
resolving itself v6.
We can sense the overwhelming sense of relief in
these verses for many of Paul's fears had been
groundless. He is told that the Corinthians were
sorry for the way in which they had behaved.
However, Paul is concerned to discover what kind
of sorrow they had expressed. He knew that only
one kind of sorrow would be of benefit to them.
This gives Paul's teaching on the subject of
repentance in this chapter its great significance.
Presentation 11
Appropriateness Of Godly Sorrow
Paul tells his readers that he does not regret causing them
sorrow, Why? ‘For you became sorrowful as God intended
and so were not harmed in any way by us’ v9. There are
some kinds of sorrow about which Paul could not say, ‘For
you became sorrowful as God intended’. There are
depressive, guilt ridden psychiatric conditions that are the
products of unhealthy and abnormal minds. Far from
resulting in a liberation into newness of life they
sometimes quite literally result in death.
One in ten seriously depressed persons attempt suicide.
What then is the difference between this self-destructive
melancholy and godly sorrow. The difference is vitally
important for the sorrow that is produced by an unhealthy
mind is always an inappropriate sorrow.
Presentation 11
Appropriateness Of Godly Sorrow
Sorrow can be inappropriate because the sin over which
it grieves is totally imaginary. The clinically depressed
person can be reduced to despair over appalling crimes
which they mistakenly believe they have committed.
Sometimes people's sorrow is inappropriate because it is
grossly exaggerated. The depressed person can see a
personal failing that is out of all proportion to its true
seriousness. After a minor scrape in the car they behave
as though responsible for a multiple motorway pile-up.
In these cases sorrow is inappropriate because it reflects
a guilt that is either the product of illusion. But this was
not the case in Corinth. A real sin had been committed.
The church had been negligent in exercising discipline
and therefore their sorrow was quite appropriate.
Presentation 11
Appropriateness Of Godly Sorrow
One of the most disturbing effects of humanism
in the field of psychiatry has been a weakening
of people's grasp of 'appropriate guilt'. Freud
taught that morality is simply a matter of social
convention, and any sense of right and wrong is
the product of the conditioning we receive as
children. Our conscience is nothing more than a
commentary on our parents value systems.
Hence feelings of guilt are best ignored! As a
result many people today regard guilt feelings as
unhealthy. We no longer speak of 'the conviction
of sin' and send people off to speak to a
Christian minister, we speak of a 'guilt complex'
and send them off to a psychiatrist for therapy.
Presentation 11
Appropriateness Of Godly Sorrow
Have you heard Anna Russell's 'Psychiatric Folk Song‘?
I went to my psychiatrist to be psychoanalysed
To find out why I killed the cat and blacked my husband's eye.
He laid me on a downy couch to see what he could find,
And here is what he dredged up, from my subconscious mind.
When I was one my mummy hid my dolly in a trunk
And so it follows, naturally, that I am always drunk.
When I was two I saw my father kiss the maid one day,
And that is why I suffer from Kleptomania.
At three I had a feeling of ambivalence towards my brothers
And so it follows, naturally, I poisoned all my lovers.
But I am happy now I've learned the lesson this has taught:
Everything I do that's wrong, is someone else's fault
Presentation 11
Appropriateness Of Godly Sorrow
This guilt denying attitude abounds today. The goal of
Christian ministry is not to eliminate guilt feelings but to
help people to recognise the source of their guilt and
then to deal with it appropriately. Christianity is not an
elixir of happiness. There are times when people ought
to be sorrowful. This is why Paul could say, 'I do not
regret it, even if I caused you sorrow because you have
not been harmed by it'. When we feel guilty the first
questions we must ask is, 'What do I feel guilty about?
How serious is it?’ Be suspicious of vague feelings of
guilt. The Holy Spirit is specific when he convicts of sin.
He points to words, actions and thoughts that we can
identify. God intends us to experience only appropriate
godly sorrow. It's always a response to real sins.
Presentation 11
Godly Sorrow Practically Expressed
It is not only possible to have a sorrow for sin that is
inappropriate, it is possible to possess a sorrow that
is insincere. The classic example is Pharaoh’s
reaction to the plagues that threatened Egypt.
Pharaoh refused to free God's people from
bondage and God would send a plague, Pharaoh
would repent or, appear to, and the plague was
removed. But then the old resistance re-emerged
and he repented of his repentance. This ‘crisis
repentance’ is not uncommon today. People go
through the motion of feeling sorry for their sins to
get God’s help in some emergency, perhaps the loss
of a job, or an illness but once the crisis is over, their
sorrow evaporates like the morning mist.
Presentation 11
Godly Sorrow Practically Expressed
There are other people who practice what
has been described as 'ritual repentance'.
They will make a great song and dance
about confessing their sins. They are
happy with saying a few prayers or
lighting a candle but they are back the
next week confessing precisely the same
things. Nothing has changed nor have
they really wanted anything to change.
Repentance is merely a ritual habit which
makes them feel better. It is something
which is performed both thoughtlessly
and superficially.
Presentation 11
Godly Sorrow Practically Expressed
There's another brand of repentance around;
‘manipulative repentance’. It exudes selfreproach which is designed to extract the
sympathy of others. Children often perform in
this manner, hoping that by turning on the
waterworks their parents might be more
indulgent of their crime.
Adults discover that looking depressed they
can gain attention that might not otherwise
be theirs. Charles Dickens character, Mrs
Grummigde, developed this art. She played
on others with her feelings of misery.
Presentation 11
Godly Sorrow Practically Expressed
What is the big difference between these different kinds of
worldly sorrow and godly repentance. Quite simply godly
sorrow will always result in practical actions designed to
put things right. Paul describes the practical
evidence of the Corinthians godly sorrow in v11.
First, it was marked by earnestness, not simply
a whimpering that says, “What a mess I am in”.
An earnest person is a man of action.
The Corinthians were determined to do
something about their past sin. And so Paul
goes on to speak of their eagerness to clear
themselves. They wanted to make up for their
past failure.
Presentation 11
Godly Sorrow Practically Expressed
And then he speaks about their ‘indignation’
not against Paul but against the sin which they
had allowed to make itself at home in their
midst. They were alarmed as they reflected
upon the moral seriousness of their situation
and of incurring God's judgement.
They also wanted to see justice done, [a
reference to 2v6] and so they put aside their
earlier indolence and disciplined the sinful
offender. This reaction demonstrated that they
were not, as Paul feared, complicit in the
offender’s sin. As a result of their action
reproach had been lifted from the church.
Presentation 11
Godly Sorrow Practically Expressed
This kind of active, practical response can be
expected when repentance is real. It is illustrated
in Zacchaeus’ life. He repented of his
racketeering and invited those he had cheated to
recover their money with interest. The queue
outside of Zacchaeus' door would have been a
long one! Repentance is not merely an
emotional response but a practical one.
“The truest and most acceptable repentance is
to reverse the acts and attitudes of which we
repent. A 1000 years of remorse over a wrong
act would not please God as much as a change
of conduct and a reformed life”. A. W. Tozer
Presentation 11
True Repentance Is God-Centred
The literal translation of the phrase 'godly sorrow' v10 is in
fact 'according to God sorrow'. In other words a sorrow
which has God as its focus. Worldly sorrow is always selfcentred. Indeed that is how you recognise it. Archbishop
Fulton Sheen wrote, “Repentance is not self-regarding, but
God-regarding. It is not self-loathing, but God-loving”.
Ask a person, suffering from worldly sorrow why they are
unhappy and they may talk about being disappointed with
themselves or, the hardship they have brought upon
themselves or, their failure to reach their goals. It is unlikely
that they will say, 'I have offended a holy God and brought
great shame and dishonour to his name.' Such people
are not sorry for their sins but sorry for themselves.
Presentation 11
True Repentance Is God-Centred
Shakespeare’s McBeth enquired of a doctor
concerning his wife's grief stricken and diseased mind
after she had murdered the king. The doctor replied,
‘Therein the patient must minister to himself.’ In other
words medicine has no answer to guilt. No amount of
medication could restore Lady McBeth’s untroubled
sleep pattern. She paced the floor each night because
real guilt lay on her hands and troubled her
conscience. It began to suffocate and crush her. It was
not a doctor she needed but a Saviour. One who can
say, 'Your sins are forgiven you'. This is why the hope
of the guilty lies only in godly sorrow, for its focus is
upon God and not upon self or sin. This is why Paul
tells us here that this sorrow alone leads to salvation.
Presentation 11
True Repentance Is God-Centred
Godly sorrow always brings with it blessing. When
Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of
Wittenberg Cathedral one of them read, ‘When our
Lord and master said, 'repent', he called for the
entire life of believers to be one of repentance'.
Repentance, godly sorrow, is an attitude rather
than a single act. God holds before us those areas
of our lives which fail to conform to his will and
says, 'What are you going to do about these things
which are distancing you from me?‘ We are then
immediately confronted with a choice - to cling on
to our sin or let it go as an indication of ‘godly
sorrow’.
Presentation 11
Conclusion
Whenever someone is weighed down with guilt, it is
important to ask is it real guilt? Does it point to
specifics rather than a to vague feeling?
If specific then genuine repentance will do
something practical about that discovery. It will not
be content to wail and moan and beat its breast. It
will ask a number of questions,
“Is there some restitution I must make? Are there
new habits I must cultivate? Is there someone whose
forgiveness I should seek?”
For repentance to be genuine we need to possess
godly sorrow as Paul has defined it. There needs to
be a real concern to put matters right.
Presentation 11
Conclusion
But more than that we need to stop looking in upon our
situation, stop putting ourselves centre-stage, stop wailing
is self pity. We need to wheel something far bigger onto
centre stage. Something bigger than our sin? Yes there is
something bigger on which to focus our gaze. The cross on
which our Saviour died. And the Grace of God which
conceived a plan of salvation which not only deals with
sin but with guilt. Where sin abounds grace does much
more abound. If our hearts condemn us God is greater
than our hearts. Only God can acquit the guilty. Like the
father of the Prodigal Son, God can see penitents
returning from a great way off and runs out with arms
wide open to meet them. Repentance leads to
reconciliation with a holy God whom our sin has offended.
Presentation 11