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. 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. 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 (ESV)
Most Christians have likely heard of the importance of
forgiveness, and we know of the personal implications (see Matthew 6:15). Forgiveness, or a lack
thereof, can hinder our spiritual growth and place a barrier to our communion
with the Lord. Yet the necessity of forgiveness
has broader repercussions as well.
In the above passage from 2 Corinthians, Paul is following
up on a previous issue in the church.
This is likely a reference to the man who was caught in sexual sin as we
read in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5. In his
first letter, Paul commands that the man be put out of the fellowship and
placed under discipline until he should repent.
This sections of 2 Corinthians reveals that the man had indeed responded appropriately and
repented. It was therefore now time to
end that ‘sentence’ and bring the man back into fellowship not only for his own
sake (that he would not be overwhelmed by
excessive sorrow) but for the sake of the entire church fellowship.
Christ outlined the plan and pattern for discipline in the
Church (see Matthew 18:15-20), but that process was never intended to be open-ended. The goal of discipline is restoration. A person placed under discipline either
repents, in which case they are to be restored, or they reject the discipline
and so prove themselves to be outsiders to the faith family.
Our enemy, satan, and his minions lurk in and around our
local churches looking for any and every opportunity to bring disruption. The devil loves to entice Christians into
sin, but he garners an even greater delight in twisting the process of
discipline to undermine Christian love, fellowship and unity. The enemy would see Christians divided,
suspicious and hostile to one another.
When unforgiveness rules, satan gains power in a local church. When discipline is not brought to its
intended and appropriate conclusion, the enemy flourishes.
Discipline in the Church, though some may not like to hear or
accept it, is necessary; but forgiveness is essential. Paul implores[1]
the Corinthians to publicly and officially reaffirm[2]
their love to the repentant brother.
Paul ties the forgiveness of the church towards the
repentant sinner directly into the purposes[3]
of satan. The intentions of the devil
are to tear down the Church at every opportunity. Every good thing the Lord gives to His Church
is a target and every Christian should be fully aware of this. Nothing satan attempts should catch us
unaware, but many local churches have fallen to pieces because Christians
became dull and failed to stay alert. I’ve
seen it happen. Perhaps you have as
well.
Genuine forgiveness and restoration takes all the wind out
of the devil’s sails; it disarms him and renders him completely impotent in the
matter. When we truly forgive one
another, satan has no choice but to scurry back under his wet rock! And isn’t that a beautiful thing!
Is there any unforgiveness in your heart? In your church? In Jesus’ Name you must deal with that
immediately. If you do not, you are ripe
for the picking and the enemy is salivating!
If you persist in unforgiveness you are not only endangering yourself,
but your Christian brothers and sisters, your local church, as well. Take the power of the enemy away. Exercise the power of forgiveness!
Be blessed
I'd love to hear some feedback
ReplyDeleteThat is so very true. There is a lot of unforgiveness throw out many churches. If we can't forgive The Lord will not forgive us. And that is scarey. And yes the devil will have a foot hold on us. We will also lose our peace. Very nicely written. Thank you for sharing. Blessings to you my friend.
ReplyDeleteThat is so true. The church can easily be split in two for lack of forgiveness And that is so sad. And I feel it is more easily to forgive, holding on to non forgiveness destroyed us. Again thank you.
ReplyDelete