Sufficient Sorrow

"If anyone has caused you grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent-- not to put it too severely. The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you therefore, to reaffirm your love for him." 2Corinthians 2:5-8

The personal tenderness of Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians is notable and should touch our hearts. Paul is suggesting that a repentant man be restored and forgiven. Perhaps this is the man from 1 Corinthians 5, who had committed some act of egregious sexual immorality and was banished. Perhaps it was the man who had so opposed Paul in the early days of the church, that needed to be put out of the church, and, who had now been transformed. Regardless, there is a time to confront extreme sin and exercise church discipline, and there is a time to comfort the wayward one who is contrite and broken and should be forgiven.

The two common errors in the church today are leniency, meaning no accountability, consequences or effort to maintain Biblical standards in the Body... or, harshness; meaning no grace or path to restoration and judgmental un-forgiveness. Of course there is much unevenness in the application of any church discipline. Without becoming legalistic or licentious, how do we do the right thing? Not easy at all. In this passage, Paul is suggesting that there is a limit to grief and not a limit to forgiveness. People who commit extreme sin or unthinkable acts, do not lose their humanity or God's love or the opportunity for restoration. So easy to call for someone's head, or to relegate them to hell on earth, so to speak. There is a real possibility that the punishment can be too great. As often as we tolerate gossip, divisiveness, meanness and robbing God, maybe we should reconsider and let grace be applied to the truly penitent and those who face their consequences. Then, on the other hand maybe we all ought to be a little more self-disciplined, before we are accused of throwing stones when we too, have sinned.

Today I am reaffirming my love for the broken and contrite and reaffirming my commitment to not be so overly tolerant of the self-righteous, including myself.

Reflectively,
Pastor Fred

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