And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.
It is a famous line heard from parents. “This is going to hurt me far more than it hurts you.” This is usually followed by incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. What the parent means is what Paul means. He even used parental imagery in both letters. In 1 Corinthians 4:14, he says,
I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
It does indeed seem to hurt him even more.
Come to Cape Community Church to learn more about the painful things that need to happen for churches to be healthy and free from the sin that was rampant in the church in Corinth. We will learn about church discipline, updating 1 Corinthians 5. The bottom line is this. If church discipline is enjoyable for anyone, it is being done wrong.
There is one famous example of pain in discipline and it was the pain of our Savior. Only Jesus Christ can truly say that the wrath of God hurt him more than it hurt us because he took the pain and the shame on himself.
Dear Lord, thank you that you sent Jesus to the cross for us and you still correct us. Help us to benefit from your love so we become better followers. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church