This godly sorrow

2 Corinthians 7:4-12 NASB

Great is my confidence in you; great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort; I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.
For even when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side: conflicts without, fears within. But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus; and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more. For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it-- for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while-- I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you in the sight of God.


My thoughts -

In his first letter to the church in Corinth Paul sort of opened up both barrels on them. They were divided between followers of Paul and of Apollos, who picked up that ministry when Paul left. Paul chastised them for there division calling them "childish" and "mere infants" and lamented their lack of Spiritual maturity. He lamented that he could not feed them "real food" but instead they were still stuck on milk. They should, metaphorically, be sitting at the big table with a fork and a knife but instead they were still sucking on a bottle.

These were harsh words. This is the sort of thing that no one wants to hear about themselves. We want to think of ourselves as finished products, not as works in progress. And we definitely don't want to think of ourselves as works that are not progressing as they should. It sucks. It hurts. It is not a pleasant message, especially if it's true.

So in this follow up letter Paul addresses this situation. He laments that his previous words brought the Corinthians sorrow. But then again, no he doesn't. Why? Because look at what good this sorrow did! They heard Paul's words and they responded. They heard the call of God tugging at their hearts and they responded.

Titus brought Paul comfort in his struggles. Titus gave Paul great news about the church in Corinth and Paul couldn't be more proud. In their sorrow they responded to God's call and grew up, Spiritually.

Paul lays out the difference here between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. Sorrow hurts. It doesn't feel good. But worldly sorrow stops there. Actually, Paul says it doesn't. It just keeps on going leading all the way to death. There is nothing good there. Only bad.

But godly sorrow awakens us. It convicts us of our sin and leads us to repentance and to a restored relationship with God. Godly sorrow may still hurt at first but it demands action in response. When you put your hand on a stove burner it hurts. That demands action. You have to get your hand off right now! In the same way godly sorrow hurts, it alerts us to our sin and we have to turn from it right now!

The church in Corinth didn't want to hear, I'm sure, that they we're immature. They didn't want to hear that their division was bad. They didn't want to hear that they needed to grow up. I'm sure both sides wanted to hear that they were completely right and the other side was completely wrong. But it didn't work that way. They were both wrong. And Paul made darn sure they knew it.

This sorrow led to repentance. And repentance led to restoration. And the whole process led to the maturity that they previously lacked. And this led to Paul being greatly comforted by them.

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