Ray Stedman, who is the pastor of the Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, California, has faced a number of serious disciplinary situations in his long and effective ministry. On one occasion there was a young man in the church who grew in spiritual things and was eventually elected to a position of leadership, but who somehow along the way had fallen into all kinds of sin and who, at one particular point, was unwilling to repent of it. It began with a sexual sin, but then compounded itself, and the man got into a variety of activities, including gambling and the use of drugs. His life was going completely downhill. The members of the church tried to work with him, but he was resistant to that. Eventually, he left the area. They kept hearing terrible reports from time to time. He had lost his job and had no money. He was drifting from place to place. Eventually, they lost contact with him.
Years and years went by, and then one day he showed up again. God had reached him, he had repented of his sin, and had come back. Now he was seeking restoration into the community from which he had fallen and where discipline had been exercised. They were very careful as they examined him, as they should have been. There was a period of time to see if he really was stable and that these bad habits had really been shaken off.
They came to the end of that period, and they were ready to receive him in a formal way back into fellowship again. Ray Stedman said to him, “You know, you’ve done very well in all of this. But there’s one more thing now you have to do. We’re having a formal meeting of the elders, and you have to appear before them.
The man said, “Oh, I’ve been through so much. Do I really have to do that?”
“Yes,” said Pastor Stedman, “you do.”
So, he said, “Alright, if that’s what I have to do, I’ll do that.”
And they arranged for the meeting to be at Ray Stedman’s house at a certain evening. The man was to come at a certain hour, and when he arrived he found that all the elders were already there. They had prepared a barbecue out in the backyard. Unknown to the man, it turned out that it was going to be a party.
And what they did was a reenactment of the parable of the prodigal son who had come home. As he came into the room, they said, “Now, here’s a coat you have to put on.” Then they said, “Here’s a ring that you have to wear.” And out in the yard for the barbecue was literally the fatted calf. After this they sat down and ate together, because, as Jesus said, there was great joy in heaven over a sinner who repents. And if there is joy in heaven over that, there should be joy on earth, too.
This is what Paul is talking about when he writes about this man who had sinned in Corinth. There is the heart of a pastor. There is a man who is so delighted about how this situation turned out. Sometimes when elders need to practice discipline people say, “Oh, you know, they’re hard. They must enjoy doing that.” No elder enjoys discipline. It is one of the hardest things you ever do. You wrestle with it and pray for guidance because you do not want to be too harsh, but you also do not want to be too easy because of what you are trying to achieve. Well here in 2 Corinthians the discipline is past, the restoration has been achieved, and Paul is overflowing with joy. He said that Satan tried to outwit us but he did not succeed.
In the second aspect of this passage Paul begins to talk about his ministry. He went to Troas, where he says “the Lord had opened a door” to preach the Gospel (2:12). He was supposed to meet Titus there, but Titus had not come and Paul was restless because he was so concerned about the Christians at Corinth. So he crossed over to Macedonia, where he met Titus. Thinking about his ministry, his aspirations, and his concern for the Corinthians causes him to talk about what God has been doing in his life and the way his ministry has progressed.
He introduces a number of these images that I talked about earlier. Paul apparently had seen triumphal processions, where the great Roman generals, when they came from a decisive conquest, would lead the captives they had defeated. Paul picks up on that image and concludes that this is really what he is. He is a captive to Jesus Christ, who leads Paul along in the triumphs of the Gospel as it is spread around the world. Christ is the conquering general and where He leads, Paul follows and is delighted to do what Jesus wants. He likens Gospel preaching to the aroma of Christ that is spread among those who are perishing.
Paul goes on to say that this work of spreading the fragrance of Christ is not always loved. There are those who hate Christ and His kingdom, and when they respond in this way that which should be a message leading to eternal life is to them a message of eternal death. Nevertheless, the great thing is that wherever the apostles go with that Gospel God does use it to bring many to faith, and life comes. People who were spiritually dead beforehand are made spiritually alive. Paul rejoices that the Corinthians were among that number.
