Your Daily Bread – Accountability of the Church

For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not what I wish, and may be found by you to be not what you wish, that perhaps there may be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances. I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past, and not repented of the impurity, immorality, and sensuality which they have practised. You know, I really believe the churches today, and spiritual leaders today, and elders today, need to be held accountable for faithfulness to the matters that are in this text.

They need to be held accountable for the matter of repentance, discipline, authority, authenticity, obedience, and perfection. That is how they will be accountable before God, and they need to be held accountable even today by others. And most notably, at the very head of this list is to be concerned about the issue of repentance. We’re accountable to God, I believe, for that concern. Paul was concerned about his people in regard to sin. Why? Because it is sin that is the enemy of spiritual progress. Sin is that which thwarts edification. The building up of the saints is hindered by sin.

Becoming like Jesus Christ, that process is retarded severely by sin. Sin is anything that displeases God, and anything that displeases God does not contribute to the process of sanctification to which all of us are called. So sin then becomes of supreme importance to the shepherd of the sheep, to the spiritual leader. He is concerned about sin in the life of his congregation, just as a parent should be primarily beyond everything else, concerned about sin in the life of his child. Now look at Paul’s concern, verse 20, for I am afraid.

He says the same thing at the beginning of verse 21, I am afraid. What is he saying here? He has some fears. The word is phobia, from which we get the English word phobia. It’s not talking about a superficial thing, it’s talking about a deep-seated fear, a deep-seated anxiety, something that has a way of racking his content. He says, I have a phobia, if you will. I have a deep-seated anxiety. I have a deep-seated misgiving. I am afraid that perhaps when I come, he says that in both verses, and he’s referring to his planned third visit.

Back in verse 14 he said, here for the third time I’m ready to come to you. In chapter 13 verse 1, this is the third time I’m coming to you. He’d been there once to found the church. He’d been there a second time to confront some sin in what was known as the sorrowful visit, referred to in chapter 2 verses 1 and 2. And now he’s about to go back the third time, but he’s afraid. Frankly, the second time he went was agonising. Absolutely agonising. Because when he got there, he found rebellion, he found sin.

And he says in chapter 2 verse 1, I determined this for my own sake, that I would not come to you in sorrow again. I just don’t have the heart for it. I just can’t deal with it again. I don’t want to come there and see what I saw the first time, and have to deal with all the sorrow that came about as a result of it. I don’t want to come in affliction, in anguish of heart and tears, as he referred to in chapter 2 verse 4. I don’t want that again.

But he’s planning to come. But he’s afraid that when he comes, it’s going to be like the last time he came, when he was so heartbroken, when he confronted their sin and they rejected him, and he left with a broken heart. Now you notice here that he’s somewhat restrained. He says, perhaps when I come, I may find you to be not what I wish. Perhaps. He’s not ready to make a complete denunciation of the Corinthians. He is restrained. He will not pass final judgment on them until he sees for himself the real evidence when he gets there.

That’s why in chapter 13 verse 1 he says, this is the third time I’m coming to you, and every fact is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses. In other words, we’re not going to take any assumptions. When I get there, we’re going to have a real tribunal, and we’re going to find out what condition you’re in spiritually. He was very concerned that he would go there and face the heartbreaking reality of carnality in the church. This would be the very opposite of what God wanted. This would be the very opposite of what he wanted.

He wanted their edification. End of verse 19. Everything was for your upbuilding, beloved. Everything. Everything is for your spiritual good, for your sanctification, and I don’t want to come there and find unrepented sin. Such a fear, by the way, was reasonable, because the last time he went, he found that. It was reasonable because since that lap time, false teachers had gained the ascendancy, and many of the Corinthians had followed their lies, and you don’t follow error without attendant sin. Iniquity follows error. Theological error is followed by behavioral iniquity. So, he realises that there is great potential for sin to be in that church, because they have false teachers there who are leading them astray, and he’s afraid that when he goes there, he’s going to find that his present sin and no repentance, as he notes in verse 21.

Now remember, he had written them a severe letter after his sorrowful visit. He called them to repent of following the false teachers and repent of the attendant sin, and that letter was delivered by Titus, and Titus had come back to him before he wrote 2 Corinthians and said, they did repent. They reaffirmed their love to you, Paul. That’s in chapter 7, and it’s very hopeful. He says in verse 6 that Titus finally came, and he reported to us, verse 7, So there was definitely a repentant group in that church, maybe the majority, and they repented at that letter taken by Titus.

But sin and error die hard, and the false teachers were still there, and there was certainly still a minority that hadn’t yet repented, and so Paul wrote 2 Corinthians to kill all the remaining noxious weeds that were still in the soil of the Corinthian church, those who were still unrepentant, still continuing in sin. The bottom line here, though, for you to understand, is that nothing is more painful to the spiritual leader than sin in his beloved church. Just crushed him. Back in chapter 11, verse 28, he talked about the daily pressure upon me of concern for all the churches.

What was that? Verse 29, Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? The spiritual leader is concerned about the spiritual weakness and sin of his people. That’s what is consuming the heart of Paul. That’s my fear. My fear is I’m going to get there, and that’s what I’m going to run into. And my fear is, first of all, when I come, verse 20, I may find you to be not what I wish. I’m going to come there, and you’re not going to be what I wish.

You’re not going to be growing in Christ, growing in grace, repenting of sin, moving ahead, becoming more like Christ, but rather the very opposite. I’m going to find carnality and iniquity and a lack of repentance. And if I find you to be not what I wish, then I may be found by you to be not what you wish. If I don’t find you the way I want to find you, then you’re not going to find me the way you want to find me. So, what does he mean by that? Well, if you go back to 1 Corinthians 4 21, he said to them, he was going to come to them in this first letter.

And he says in verse 21, what do you desire shall I come to you with a rod? That’s an instrument of chastening discipline. Shall I come to you with a rod or with love and a spirit of gentleness? What’s your desire? Take your choice. It’s up to you. Deal with sin, and I’ll come to you with love and gentleness. Don’t deal with sin, and I’ll come with a rod. That’s what he means in verse 20. If I find you to be not what I wish, you’re going to find me to be not what you wish.

Thank you for joining us in this exploration of accountability of the Church. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].