PODCAST
God of Comfort
January 24th, 2013
2 Corinthians 7:2-7
An evangelist told his audience that “. . . Christians were to be Christ’s reputation.” That’s an awesome responsibility. Paul could well have preached that message to the Corinthian congregation, for, according to 2 Corinthians 7, some of them apparently still harbored some resentment toward him. And he couldn’t abide the thought that there were some deep emotional wounds needing to be healed. So he took the high road of compassion and comfort which he knew Christ would want of both himself and of them.
Christlike relationships are vital to the community health and wholeness. Though quite different from the circumstances Paul and the Corinthian congregation were experiencing, the Amish community of West Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania astounded the world on October 2, 2006 when Charles Roberts charged into the Amish one-room school house and shot ten girls (aged 6-13), killing five of them before he killed himself. Just hours after the shooting, the Amish community began offering forgiveness to the family of Roberts. Wouldn’t you say that was living out the reputation of Christ?
Author: Richard H. Neiderhiser
January 24th, 2013 at 6:56 am
“. . . some of them apparently still harbored some resentment toward him.”
Who knows why they held resentment towards him (Paul)?
They may not have liked some of his spiritual rebukes — for example the issue of circumcision. Or, they may not have liked that he was a self-proclaimed apostle (not being the one of the twelve chosen).
If the latter was the case, at that time they didn’t understand the workings of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:10-11) for developing the Church versus the “gift” of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16) for developing us individually (Acts 2:38).
The Holy Spirit guides (Luke 1:79), directs (Luke 2:27), leads (Luke 4:1), teaches (John 14:26), confirms (Romans 9:1), comforts (II Corinthians 1:3-4) and rebukes (conviction of our thoughts and actions — 1Thessalonians 1:5).