How do we function together as a church? For many who think of the church simply as what we do on Sunday morning, this question is nothing more than a question of how we order our services each week. However, if we understand the church as a body of believers living in community with one another, encouraging one another, exhorting one another, loving one another, and investing themselves in one another’s lives so that all may grow into conformity to the image of Christ, then this question becomes quite a bit larger. For, if understood in that light, the question, how do we function together as a church is a question not simply of what we do on Sunday morning but of what we do day after day, week after week, and year after year as we labor to ensure that together we are growing up in maturity in Christ. It is a question of how we live together in community until the return of our Lord.

Thus, seeing how large of a question that is, we might also ask a number of smaller questions, such as: “How do interact with one another?”, “What guidelines do we use in making decisions?”, “How am to consider the needs of others in relation to my own needs?”, “How do I need to understand the role of others in the church in my own life?”, and “How do we need to handle sin and repentance among the community?” to name a few. Our text this morning does not give us answers to all of the questions we might have about how it is that we’re to live together as a believing community, but it does tell us much.

The text basically divides into five sections. In the first (1:12-14), Paul opens this section declaring his boast before the Corinthians. In the second (1:15-22), he openly declares his motivation for changing his traveling plans the first time. In the third (1:23-2:4), he openly declares his motivation for changing his traveling plans for the second time. In the fourth (2:5-11), he urges them to show mercy to a man who has repented. And in the fifth (2:12-13), he recounts yet another motivation for going to Macedonia.

With that said, we might be wondering, “Why does Paul take up all of this space simply to talk (for the most part) about his travel plans and sharing his motivation in changing them?” The answer to that question is not absolute, but hints throughout this letter and a bit of guesswork lead us to the probable answer that those challenging Paul (the “super-apostles”) pointed to Paul’s change of travel plans to show that he was not able to discern the Spirit’s guidance, or was fickle, or was manipulating them, or was even too cowardly to come to them when he said he would. Therefore, Paul, as he will do in much of this letter writes this section as a defense of what he has done. But he does even more than that in this section. He also shares with the Corinthians how they should think and act based on what he has shared of his own thoughts and motivation. And it is here, in his sharing, that we are able to get this vision of how believers are to labor together in community. Therefore, I want us to see these things as we turn to the text this morning.

The place Paul begins with himself and the first aspect of how we function together as a church is in this first section (1:12-14) as we see that …

We must allow every aspect of our lives to be lived in honesty and sincerity before God and one another

Again, remember, Paul’s motivation, his very character, has been slandered by the Corinthians as many of them have believed the lies that Paul is simply manipulating them and deceiving them in his change of travel plans. Therefore, he begins this section of the letter claiming that he has lived openly, in honesty, and in godly sincerity before all men, and especially toward them.

He writes, “For our boast is this: the testimony of our conscience that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and acknowledge and I hope you will fully acknowledge – just as you did partially acknowledge us, that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you” (1:12-14).

Paul’s boast before them is the testimony of his conscience, for he has not been secretive or manipulative in any way. Rather, by God’s grace, he has acted openly before the Corinthians, knowing his conscience is clear before God and man. And because Paul will go on (as we will see at the end of this section, to suggest his actions as a model for the Corinthians as a community), I believe we are right to apply Paul’s actions here to ourselves. Thus, I believe that one aspect of what we need to do as members of a local church together is to allow our lives to be lived in honesty and sincerity before God and one another.

Now this is not to say that every detail of our lives must be shared with one another. What it does mean, however is that we all strive to live in uprightness before God and one another and therefore have no necessity to hide our actions or motives. One thing that can easily come to be an accepted part of community life in the local church is that we all have hidden agendas and desires of what we want and therefore remain secretive about our motivations and actions, and then can easily get offended when questioned or challenged. That, however, is not the way the believing community is to function together. Rather, we should seek to live in a way in which our consciences are clear before God and one another. Then, we should feel free to share our thoughts or motivations with others in the church – even when we have done wrong.

And I believe we do a good job here in many ways. One thing I tell others about my brothers and sisters at CCC is not that we do everything right but that I really believe the people here desire only to do as a church that which is in conformity to God’s Word, pleasing to him, and good for one another. May Paul’s boast, therefore, be ours. May we be able to say as a church that we have no need to mask our agendas as part of this fellowship, for our desires are only to be pleasing to God and good for one another. It is in such a commitment by all the church where I believe true community starts, which is one reason we stress that when we join the church we covenant with one another to labor for their good and Christ’s honor.

Thus, again, this is a good starting point for functioning together as a church, but Paul goes into more detail, giving us more specifics. Next, he shows that …

We must allow our decisions to be impacted by our reflection on the gospel

The next question we might ask is, “How do we make decisions as a people?” That is, if I now function within a community so that my actions affect others and not simply myself, then how do I go about making decisions? Obviously, the first answer to this question would be to obey the Word of God. Decision-making is made a lot easier as a believer because the Bible gives so many commands and principles which inform our decisions. However, there are also decisions to be made and things to do that are not given clear direction in the Scripture. How do we make those decisions?

In order to answer that, we can look at the next section of our text (1:15-22), for there Paul explains his motivation for making a decision about travel plans to Corinth (something obviously that God has not given precise instructions for in the pages of Scripture).

What Paul is defending in this section is his change of plans in coming to them. Originally, he told them he would come visit them and take up an offering to relieve other churches. Then, however, he decided that he would visit them twice. And, again, Paul’s opponents accused him (it appears) of talking out of both sides of his mouth. Therefore, Paul tells them why he did it.

He begins in verses 15-16 saying, “Because I was sure of this [i.e. that Paul and the Corinthians wanted to live upright lives before the Lord and one another], I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea?” That is to say, Paul wanted to give the Corinthians two opportunities to contribute to the offering, for in doing so they would have two opportunities to extend mercy to their brothers and sisters.

Why did Paul decide to do this, though? Why did he decide it would be good to give them an opportunity to show mercy twice? He states clearly in verses 17-18 that it wasn’t because he is just quick to change his mind or doesn’t intend what he says. He fully intended to come once, and then thought it best to come twice. But again, what was he thinking in order to arrive at this change of plans?

It seems that his answer begins in verse 19 and extends through verse 22. Now, at first glance it might appear that Paul just gets sidetracked in these verses. He has mentioned his “yes” meaning “yes” and then has compared his sureness in speaking to God’s faithfulness. So it might appear as if mentioning God’s faithfulness leads him to think about the cross and salvation so that he rambles on about that for a bit and then is able to regain his focus on travel plans in verse 23. I don’t think that’s what he’s doing in verses 19-22, however. Rather, I think that he mentions what God has done for us in Christ because it was the grid he used for making his own decisions.

That is to say, it might appear to one who studied the Old Testament thoroughly that God really hasn’t done all that he said he would do. After all, the restoration of a kingdom, the judgment of enemies, and the full salvation of his people hardly look to have been accomplished. So, one might ask, “Does God really intend on keeping his promises?”

Paul’s answer, in this text is clearly, “Yes.” For he writes, “In [Christ] it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory” (1:19-20). That is to say, all the promises of the Old Testament find their fulfillment in Christ. For, as we have mentioned before, all the promises come to him and then to his people through him. And, how do we know we will, through union with Christ, receive those promises? Paul writes, “And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (1:21-22).

Do you see? God is indeed fulfilling his promises, but differently than many expected. He did not do it all at once but sent his Son to begin the work and will send him again to complete it. But why did God do it that way? And one reason is to extend us mercy. For we rejoice that judgment has not yet come, for we know that “the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

And it is that which Paul has imitated in deciding to visit the Corinthians twice. He wants them to be able to extend mercy to others, and in doing so imitate our Lord who has extended mercy to us, even as Paul has already said to them, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1).

Therefore, as Paul made this decisions (and, it would seem, other decisions as well), he allowed himself first to meditate on what his Lord did as he thought of the gospel. And this thought process in making decisions is instructive for us as well. I do not think it is extremely helpful to ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?” not because it isn’t a good thought but because it’s so hard to figure out and at times not helpful. After all, what Jesus did when speaking to lost men was to speak in parables so that they might not understand if they weren’t among his people. We can’t repeat that. However, what we can do when making decisions is ask, “How might I most reflect the character of our God as displayed in the gospel?” In Paul’s situation it meant he wanted to give the Corinthians a chance to show mercy to others as God had shown it to them. For us, in a number of situations, the answers will be numerous, but it is a good and consistent question to ask when making decisions as a community.

With that said, we might also add some more detail to that in saying that as a community …

We should seek others’ holiness even if it means our own pain or loss

Now, we can connect this to the last thing we mentioned, for that is exactly what we see our Lord doing in the gospel, but that is not the only reason I mention it at this point. I also mention it because this is what Paul does as he describes the reason for changing his travel plans yet again.

Not only did Paul move from saying he would come to visit them to then deciding to visit them twice, but then, after visiting them once he changed his plans yet again and decided not to visit them a second time, for the first visit had been painful. Paul talks about this in 1:23-2:4.

Paul opens the third section declaring, “But I call God to witness against me – it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. Not that we Lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith” (1:23-24). Then he elaborates in 2:1-4 saying that he had made up his mind not to make another painful visit to them because he did not want to pain them with his judgment. Instead, therefore, he wrote them a letter with tears rolling down his face, giving them a chance to repent before he came to visit them.

He did this because he did not want them to know judgment but to know joy. You see, Paul did not want to come in and throw around his authority and exercise judgment if it wasn’t necessary. He did not get overjoyed at being able to judge others. Rather, he got overjoyed at seeing people walk and stand firm in the faith. Therefore, with that being his goal, he wrote a letter, giving them a chance to repent before bringing judgment against them.

The thing we must also see, however, is that this move no doubt cost him. If already his first visit was painful as they attacked him and accused him in changing his traveling plans, then it didn’t help him to change them again. So why do it? He did it because vindicating himself was not Paul’s first aim, but it was to do what was best for the holiness of the church. And if suffering himself meant the holiness of others, then he was all for it.

That too must be our thoughts as a community. In our day we are so used to individualistic thinking, even as a church. Our corporate worship is thought of as all of us having our own separate experience with the Lord. We see the height of spirituality as loving the Lord as if no one else is even around us. But that’s simply not right. Rather, Jesus has said that the world will know we are his followers by our love for one another. Therefore, as a church, if we want to think about community rightly, our thoughts must be so concerned with the holiness of one another that we are willing even to sacrifice of ourselves.

Then, finally, we see one more note as we find in the last section that …

We must see the church as a unified body, being willing to discipline, forgive, and comfort for the good of the whole

In the last section, Paul mentions their dealings with a certain man who apparently stirred up much against Paul in his visit and pained him. And apparently, after Paul’s tearful letter, the a majority of the church had repented from following him, disciplined him, and now were struggling to forgive him though he himself was repentant. Therefore, Paul points out that, yes, as a body for the man to hurt Paul hurt all of them. However, he also points out that their punishment is enough; it has had its effect. Therefore, they needed to restore him and comfort him less he be overwhelmed by sorrow and Satan be allowed to tear against their unity.

So, we must be reminded as well from this section, that because we are all one body, we must be willing to discipline, forgive, and comfort for the good of the whole. We must discipline for unrepentant sin affects the rest of the body and detracts from the message of holiness the church is to portray. And we must forgive and comfort the repentant because their joy and pain should be shared by us as well.

Then, finally, with that said, Paul shares news of his final travel plans, his love for Titus and the Corinthians moving him to leave Troas and meet Titus in Macedonia.

This section, at first glance, seems nothing more than news of travel plans, but as we’ve seen what Paul is doing, it is instructive for us as a church. May we, therefore, learn to walk in honesty with clear consciences before the Lord, make decisions with the gospel in mind, sacrifice ourselves for the holiness of others, and discipline, forgive, and comfort others as we are one body. In these actions, I believe, we will begin to demonstrate to the world what it means to live together as the body of Christ.

May his grace be with us. Amen.

RECOUNTING HISTORY AND SETTING AN EXAMPLE