![]() ![]() I see preachers who think they are accountable to no one and can act however they like in the church. I see preachers running off other Christians because the Christian does not agree with him. I see preachers bullying Christians through fear or through the pulpit into submitting to their desires about how the church should be run. ![]() I see elders who tell preachers if they can preach, how long they can preach, how long worship services can be, how long prayers must be, and the like. I see elders running the church like a corporation, where they are the CEOs whose decisions are final, and their decisions are not to be questioned or discussed. I see elders who are not allowing people to take the Lord’s Supper on Sunday night because they think they have the authority to make such a decision. They see themselves as put in charge of the church and therefore can lord it over the congregation. I am disturbed at how often I am seeing in churches today the elders of the church or the preachers of the church think that they have some sort of authority to compel others. If Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, who possessed the authority of God, understood that he was not use his authority to lord it over the faith of these Christians or compel them, then we have much to learn for how we behave in the family of Christ. Paul says that I am not trying to make you act as you ought, so he decided not to come to them for a painful visit. Rather, he is working with them for their joy, not his own joy. Paul says that he is not ruling over them or using his authority to compel these Christians. Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith. Why not? Listen to the reasoning behind why Paul acted the way he did toward these Corinthian Christians in 1:24. He does not say that he is in charge by the power of Jesus and so you have to do what he says. But notice that Paul does not apply apostolic pressure. That is why they could believe Paul’s words as faithful. He just reminded them of this back in 1:21-22 as he tells these Christians that he and his companions were anointed and sealed with the Holy Spirit. I think we understand that Paul could have come to them or written them a letter, commanding them what to do and how to live because he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. Now we need to consider that this is the path Paul took. Paul’s joy was closely tied to their joy. In this letter Paul says that he wrote to them out of his abundant love that he has for them. So instead of visiting them, Paul determined to write a letter to them so that when he did come it would not have to be another painful visit (2:3-4). Paul was like a father to them and to cause these Christians pain was to cause himself pain (2:2). Paul did not want to cause them pain because he may find these Christians not behaving as they ought to. He did not want to make another painful visit (2 Corinthians 2:1). In 2 Corinthians 1:23 he says that he did not come so that he would be able to spare them. Rather, he did not come see them for their own benefit. Paul says that the reason Paul did not come see them like he said was not because he had a duplicitous heart. Open your copies of God’s word to 2 Corinthians 1:23 and we will look at what Paul says about the situation in Corinth and the great message God has for us in this portion of God’s word. Rather, Paul had a very important reason not to come. Paul says that he was not being duplicitous when he said he would come. So why didn’t Paul come to them like he said he would? Paul says that he intended to come to them twice, which would have been a double blessing to them. Paul ended the last paragraph telling the Corinthians that it was his full intention to come see them. What Paul will teach these Corinthians now is very important because he is reminding them of the foe they face. So we must look at what Paul says that Christians must watch out for because we know the schemes of Satan. You will notice that he concludes this paragraph in 2 Corinthians 2:11 by saying, “So that we would not be outwitted by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.” We might have heard this phrase before, “We are not ignorant of Satan’s schemes.” But have we explored what Satan’s schemes actually are? Satan is constantly at work against us as individuals and as a church.
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