Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20010617.htm

2 CORINTHIANS: OVERCOMING WHEN GOD'S SERVANT FACES RESISTANCE
Part IV: The Priority Of Brotherly Love Ministries Over Outreach Ministries
(2 Corinthians 2:12-13)
  1. Introduction
    1. God calls us believers to love one another, John 15:12. He also leads us to let God's love motivate us to reach out and evangelize the lost, Matthew 28:19-20 with 2 Corinthians 5:14.
    2. A believer may then wonder which of these two directives should take a priority over the other: if an opportunity to evangelize conflicts with a responsibility to exercise love for a fellow believer, should one opt to go ahead with the witness at the price of exercising help to the believer, or vice-versa?
    3. Paul ran into a similar situation in his relationships with the Corinthians, a situation in which his response to the conflict acts to instruct us on the priority we should adopt, cf. 2 Corinthians 2:12-13:
  2. The Priority Of Brotherly Love Ministries Over Outreach Ministries, 2 Corinthians 2:12-13.
    1. The background for the 2 Corinthians 2:12-13 helps us to understand the issue of priority Paul faced:
      1. The Apostle Paul had written a severe letter to discipline the Corinthians who had not removed an immoral fellow believer from their midst, 2 Corinthians 2:5-6.
      2. He had sent Titus back to Corinth to see if these Corinthian converts would obey that letter's injunctions, and was awaiting Titus' report on the Corinthian response, cf. Ryrie Study Bible: King James Version, p. 1645, "Introduction to the Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians: Occasion."
      3. Thus, Paul was concerned about the relationships he had with these fellow Corinthian believers as it related to his leadership role with them.
    2. Meanwhile, Paul was given a large evangelistic opportunity by God in Troas, which is on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, 2 Corinthians 2:12; Ibid., Map 13. God had opened up this door for Paul, so it was certainly within at least God's permissive will for him to evangelize there!
    3. However, conscious of the importance of his dealings with the Corinthian believers, and unable to find Titus at Troas in accord with former plans, Paul left his Troas evangelistic ministry opportunity! He crossed the Adriatic over to Macedonia in hope of finding Titus and gaining insight into the Corinthian believers' reaction to his strong disciplinary letter, 2 Corinthians 2:13.
Lesson: The believer is responsible to place the ministry of love expressions toward fellow believers ABOVE his expressing love in evangelizing the unsaved, cf. Galatians 6:10. Even if GOD opens the door for an evangelistic outreach opportunity, if that ministry opportunity conflicts with responsibilities of expressing love ministrations toward fellow brethren, the former must be relinquished for the value of ministering to the brethren in Christ. This fits the John 13:35 teaching of Jesus: our love for one another as Christians is the BASIS of our TESTIMONY before the unsaved, so being sure we fulfill our responsibilities of loving fellow believers actually SERVES our outreach witness where NOT fulfilling our responsibilities toward one another undermines the credibility of our outreach witness!

Application: (1) God's concern that we evangelize the unsaved finds its root in how we relate in love to fellow believers, for THAT is the SELLING POINT to the unsaved who are estranged and need to see evidence of a truly loving relationship with God and other believers! (2) If an opportunity for evangelism ministry opens, we should use that opportunity PROVIDING it does not COST in terms of loving ministrations to fellow believers. (3) Obviously, there are LIMITS as to how far we can go to minister in love toward fellow PROFESSING believers: carnality can develop to the point where one may be IRRECONCILABLY ABUSIVE, and the believer is responsible to withdraw fellowship from a professing believer in that case, 2 Timothy 3:1-5. HOWEVER, aside from such circumstances, God wants us to hold to a PRIORITY in RELATIONSHIPS when it comes to our ministries: God first (Mtt. 22:37; Ex. 20:3), spouse second (Eph. 5:22-33), household dependents third (1 Tim. 5:8b), extended family fourth (1 Tim. 5:4, 8a), fellow believers fifth (Gal. 6:10a,c) and unbelievers sixth (Gal. 6:10a,b) in ever widening circles of contact in that order (Rom. 13:8 with Luke 10:27-29, 30-37)!