Welcome to the defender bible study. A weekly encouragement to equip the body of Christ through the study of scripture and prayer to manifest the gospel to orphans and vulnerable children around the world. This podcast is a ministry of Lifeline Children Services, where we believe that defending the fatherless begins by being rooted in God's word. It's May 13, 2024, and I'm coming to you from Birmingham, Alabama. Well, today we are continuing our study on the books of 1st and second Corinthians.

And specifically today, we will be looking at the book of 2nd Corinthians chapter 1, verse 12 through chapter 2, verse 4, and looking specifically today about resolving conflicts. You see, of all the churches Paul helped establish, none caused him greater distress or demanded more of him than the church at Corinth. And here, Paul addresses the conflict head on. You see, Corinth was a self indulged culture looking for pleasure and contentment in the flesh and the things of the world. And the message of the gospel interrupts a self indulged culture.

We are grateful today for this recorded conflict between Paul and his church because it helps us with the same conflicts we encounter today. Also, beloved, we live in a culture, a time, and a day that mirrors what we see in Corinth. We are a completely self indulged culture. We have phones in our pockets that draw us in to endless apps, social media, and communication. We get it the way we want, what we want, when we want it.

If you even think about it, I remember a day when a road trip meant you had to agree on the music or the programming you were going to listen to. Now a road trip means you have your own personal entertainment right there on demand. We are a self indulged culture. And we get so distracted and frustrated when someone interrupts us or brings us out of our own self indulged world. It's like that person with 1 AirPod in who's checking you out at the store.

When you ask something, there is frustration because you are interrupting their personal solace. But the thing is, we have tricked ourselves into believing that this world is about our personal solace. We've tricked ourselves into believing that we can find contentment in worldly things, thinking we have to have more and we have to have what others have in order to be content. And so beloved, this word from 2nd Corinthians is for us. It's for me.

It's for you. This is what Paul says, 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 starting in verse 12. For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom, but by the grace of god and supremely so towards you. For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand. Just as you did partially understand this, that on the day of our lord Jesus, you will boast of us and we will boast of you.

Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first so that you might have a second experience of grace. I wanted to visit you on the way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia and I have and have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say yes, yes, and no, no at the same time? As surely as god is faithful, our word to you has not been yes and no.

For the son of god, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not yes and no, but in him, it is always yes. For all of the promises of God find their yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. But I called god to witness against me.

It was to spare you that I refrain from coming again to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy that you could stand firm in your faith. For I have made up my mind, chapter 2 verse 1, not to make another painful visit to you. For if I caused you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 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, and my joy would be the joy of you all. For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you. You see, one of the main issues why Paul wrote the book of 2nd Corinthians is that he wanted to clear up a misunderstanding that had taken place between between him and the church at Corinth. You see, Paul's relationship with the church in Corinth was complicated at best. Paul had started the church before leaving to start other churches, and yet sometimes later he got news of some problems within the Corinthians church.

That's when he wrote the letter that we call 1st Corinthians. It's full of loving confrontation. Paul loved the church so much that he wanted to deal with the issues that were causing them problems. If you remember from a couple weeks back, 1st Corinthians chapter 16 verses 5 through 7, Paul gave his travel plans when he said, I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia. And perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey wherever I go.

For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you if the lord permits. Well, it's obvious now that long visit never happened. Instead, he visited them for only a short time, and it didn't go well. 2nd Corinthians 21, Paul calls it a painful visit.

Apparently, things were were not the way that they wanted them to go, and Paul did not make a good impression. And so he faced public criticism from an outspoken member of the congregation. And so Paul, we also see, obviously wrote another letter to the church at Corinth somewhere between 1st Corinthians and 2nd Corinthians. And we see obvious notation of that in verse 4 when it says, for I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart, with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you. You see, that letter was sharp, but it seemed to have worked.

Some people were still upset with Paul, but the fact that Paul had changed his plans made some questions Paul's character. Paul had changed his mind, but yet god never changes his mind. So clearly, Paul was not godly is what they were arguing. Because Paul changed his mind, he was not acting as a Christ follower, as a god follower. And so the the the the Corinthians just begin to settle.

Well, maybe Paul couldn't be trusted. Maybe Paul was deceptive. Maybe he was a double speaking leader who lacked character. And so Paul wrote the 2nd letter to deal with the distrust, the letter that we don't have. Again, we see reference to this letter in 2nd Corinthians 2:3-four when he says, I wrote as I did so that when I come, 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.

And what do we get from all of this? Conflict is real and inevitable. The question is not how do we prevent conflict, but how do we deal with it in a biblical Christian way? The Corinthian had not dealt well with this conflict. We see again in verse 13 of chapter 1 of 2nd Corinthians, For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand.

Rumors were being spread within the church. People were trying to read between the lines assuming that Paul wasn't being sincere. Paul was saying to the church stop reading between the lines. The Corinthians were believing the worst instead of getting the benefit of the doubt and trusting Paul's heart. So beloved, how quick our flesh is to believe the worst or even to relish in it?

How many times do we instantly go to the worst? We convict another, a fellow believer, a fellow brother or sister in Christ or even even someone in our family. How how quick we are to think the worst and then relish in it. How quick our flesh is to attribute bad motives rather than good motives. How quick our flesh is to assume rather than ask.

How many times do we make assumptions as opposed to asking kindly. May I ask what you meant or may I seek to understand how quick our flesh is to miss the heart of another and how quick our flesh is to think things will never change for the good and assume that there is no hope. But, beloved, we must be different than the world as we deal with conflict. So six things we see from this passage about how we can deal with conflict and divisive situations. The first is we must examine our heart.

2nd Corinthians 114, it says, just as you did partially understand us, that on the day of our lord Jesus, you will boast of us as we will boast of you. We need to remember what life is really all about. Are we honoring god by the way that we are living in light of eternity? Are we living for the here and now trapped in the deception of selfishness and sin? You see, beloved, Paul was saying, I'm looking at the day of the lord.

I'm looking at eternity, and I will stand faithfully before the lord. Check your heart. Let the gospel flood over your heart. Have a clear conscience examine your heart as you go through conflict. Is there any wrong way in you?

Have you failed? Have you done wrong? How have you contributed to this situation? I love what George Mueller said. He was a a pastor and orphanage builder in Bristol, England.

He said that his main task every morning was to first get his heart happy with God. And that wasn't because of some kind of superficial little, trinket. No. It was it was because that was the way he could love the kids, the 10,000 orphans that he ministered to over his lifetime. After he said he would get up and and make his heart happy, George Mueller said, after I got my heart right and happy and restful and content in my king, then and only then was I able to roll 60 burdens onto the lord every morning.

You see, George Mueller knew that he needed his heart right in order to serve well and to deal with the pending and inevitable conflict. And so 2nd Corinthians 124, Paul reminds him, we work with you for your joy. Your joy is mine. Mine is yours. And the kind of joy is joy in Christ.

And so when we say that your joy is my joy, I mean that I see in you a treasure and a valuing of Christ. I'm glad when you see in me a treasuring and a value contentment in Christ. I'm glad when I see that in you, and you should be glad when you see it in me. We have mutual joy when we are radically Christ centered. There's nothing that will bring you greater peace and confidence in difficult situations than a conscience that is totally clear and transparent before the Lord.

But the second thing after examining our heart is we need to, second, move in grace. 2nd Corinthians 112, for our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom, but what? By how? By the grace of god and supremely so towards you. Heart that belongs to god always moves in grace and favor to others.

We are God's representatives, and he always moves in grace. He is the God of all grace. Ephesians 4 1 through 3. I, Paul, therefore, a prisoner for the lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling to which you have been called with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. To bear with means to endure, to put up with, to be patient with.

The church is glorious, but sometimes the glory shows up in putting up with each other and paying the cost of relationship with people who are hard to love, people with whom we're in conflict. To move in grace assumes that you have examined your heart, your own motives, and even the way you may be misunderstanding another person. We move towards our brothers and sisters seeking to empathize with their hurt, their pain, and their difficulty. At Lifeline, when families call and they are upset, we are willing to wait and understand the stress that they are walking through. When a birth mother that we're ministering to is difficult, we sympathize with her past hurt and pain and seek to understand where she's coming from.

When dealing with one another, the question is, do we take things personally first and foremost, or do we seek the other's perspective? See, moving in grace means that we're willing to forgive another, but it also means that we're willing to see their point of view. So we examine our heart. We move in grace. But then 3rd, we let our yes be yes and our no be no.

Verse 19 of 2nd Corinthians chapter 1, for the son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not yes and no, but in him, it is always yes. You are never to say yes while in your heart you have no intention of doing it. God's yes is always and forever. Yes. He will never go back on his promises, and we are called to imitate Christ.

Ephesians 5:1-2. Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Think about what would happen in our relationships if we didn't vacillate, but said what we meant and followed up on our promises. We need to let our yes be our yes and treat one another with all sincerity. And especially in conflict resolution, we cannot overpromise or twist the truth.

We must be truthful. We must be honest. And so we examine our heart. We move in grace. We let our yes be our yes and our no be our no.

But 4th, the 4th biblical way of conflict resolution is we look to the best of another and we apply the gospel. 2nd Corinthians 123, but I called god to witness against me. It was to spare you that I refrain from coming again to Corinth. Paul didn't go to Corinth this plan because it wouldn't have been best for the Corinthians. Paul didn't want to cause any more sorrow than he already had caused them.

True love desires another's highest good. Does it whitewash sin or allow wrong behavior to continue without confrontation? And so gracious, honest confrontation is essential to healthy relationships because healthy relationships are open and honest relationships. Things cannot be buried or ignored, covered up, or denied. Paul does something else that's surprising.

He spends most of his time talking about the gospel and applying it to the situation. In verses 15 through 22, he explains how god's faithfulness has shaped his ministry. It's an incredible passage. Paul unpacks god's faithfulness. He says that god is faithful.

The greatest evidence of this is Jesus. All of God's promises, he says, have been kept faithfully by God through Jesus. All of God's covenant promises find their yes in Jesus. And so, beloved, don't just know the gospel, don't just believe the gospel, but apply the gospel, and especially in conflict. As we examine ourselves, we look for how the gospel affects what's going on.

Can we lay down our life and our interest for another's? Can we forgive in the way that we've been forgiven? Will we forgive our debtors as we've been forgiven? Oh, beloved, we must apply the gospel in our conflict resolution, which sometimes means that from a worldly perspective, we're seen as the loser. We don't get what we want.

We don't get justification. We don't get the apology that we think we deserve, but we lay down our own interest in order to exalt Christ Jesus. But then 5th, we examine our hearts. We we we we move to another, in grace. We let our yes be yes and our no be no.

We look to the the best of another and apply the gospel. But 5th, we don't force another to do their part. 2nd Corinthians 124, Paul says, not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith. You can do your part, but you cannot force the other person to do theirs in a healthy relationship. You see, in conflict resolution, we have to allow the holy spirit to bring conviction and action to another.

We cannot play the role of the holy spirit in another's life. Beloved, we need to pray throughout these situations of conflict and ask for the lord to work in our lives and the lives of those we are in conflict with. You see, the lord himself will move for his glory, his purpose, and the gospel, and ultimately for our good. Not forcing others, but humbly relying on the lord shows that we are ultimately more about the gospel and restoration over and instead of our own peace. You see, in conflict resolution, we cannot be only seeking our own peace and comfort, but ultimately for the lord to work and to act, to teach, to strengthen, and to grow both us and the one we're in conflict with.

But then 6th, we reaffirm our love for the one that we're in conflict with. You see, 2nd Corinthians 2:4, Paul says, 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. What Paul does here is extraordinary. He extends love. Look for ways to love, especially those who have wronged you and repented.

Ken Sandy wrote in his book, The Peacemaker. He said peacemakers are people who breathe grace. They draw continually on the goodness and the power of Jesus Christ, and then they bring his love, mercy, forgiveness, strength, and wisdom to the conflicts of daily life. When Christians become peacemakers, they can turn conflict into an opportunity to strengthen relationships and make their lives a testimony to the love and power of Jesus Christ. So move in love and seek peace.

Beloved, at Lifeline, we wanna be a place of biblical conflict resolution. We wanna empathize with one another and give one another the benefit of the doubt. We wanna let our yes be yes and our no be no. We wanna be a place that believes the best in another. But above all else, beloved, let us all cling to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to make it known in and out of conflict.

Well, thanks for joining us for the defender bible study. This week, we are praying for our child sponsorship program and the countries that it serves for our global orphan care programs. So let's pray for these child sponsorship programs, not just to raise the resources that are needed, but ultimately to serve the kids that are the recipients that are greatly in need. Let's pray. Father god, we truly do pray for this child sponsorship program.

We pray for our global orphan care team as they work to grow and and develop and to promote this program. Pray that you would give them avenues for which to advocate for children and advocate for this program. Lord, I pray that you would help people to see the need of a monthly giver towards the needs within these countries and and to be able to meet those needs on a monthly basis. Lord, we pray for guidance as we look to expand this option and ultimately to raise support for more partners. We pray that partners would come out of the woodwork to have a heart for orphan care, who have a heart for adoption and foster care, who have a heart for the nations.

We pray that they would come. And we pray that they would would want to support the needs. And, Lord, we we we lift up several needs to you even now. We we pray for the program in Uganda, especially for Busega School For the Deaf and the Blind. We ask that you would be with the children and their families, the school staff, that you would bless the current sponsors and that you would bring more sponsors for those kids and those needs that are still left unsponsored.

Lord, we thank you for my brother, from another mother, pastor Rafael Kajubi, and he and his sweet wife, Allen, their 4 daughters, as they lead with character and conviction at the Uganda School for the Deaf and the Blind, and we pray that you would meet every need that they have. Father, we also pray for the work that the sponsorship program is doing in India, specifically with the Hanna Krupa Center there in Bangalore. We ask that you would bring the the needs to the front and you would bring supporters who wanna meet those needs for these hundreds of children that daily call Hannah Krupa Center their home away from home. God, I just pray that you would use Hannah and Krupa in their ministry as they leave the church to care for orphans and vulnerable children in their community. And specifically as well, lord, we pray for the steps home in Chennai, for the 18 young ladies who call that home, who have escaped poverty, who escaped slavery and trafficking.

Lord, would we just see these ladies truly find the delight of the lord. And lord, we just ask for these children to know you. We ask for the ministry staff to be supported and are girded by you. We ask for the current sponsors to be, lord, just encouraged by what they see. And again, we ask for sponsors for those who are left unsponsored both in Bangalore and in Chennai.

And, again, lord, we know that you are the father to the fatherless, the defender of the widow. You are an owner of a cattle on a 1000 hills. You will supply the need of the sower. And so, lord, we ask that you would do just that, that you would provide for these needs, be it through a one time gift or be it through monthly sponsorships. We pray that you would supply the needs of your people, that you would support the fatherless.

Lord god, we love you. We praise you, and we ask all this in your great name, the name of Jesus. Amen. Thanks again for joining us for the defender bible study. If you enjoy making this podcast a part of your weekly routine, we'd love for you to take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review the defender bible study to make it easier for more people to find.

For more resources and information on how you and your church can partner with Lifeline, please visit us at lifelinechild.org. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter by searching for Lifeline Child. You can email us directly at info at lifelinechild.org. We look forward to seeing you again next week for the Defender Bible Study.