2 Corinthians 12:20-21 KJV
For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:
And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.
There is a type of humility Paul said we should fear. Paul actually feared that the next time he came to Corinth God would "humble" him among them. His desire was that these people would accept his rebuke and corrections and make the changes in their lives that he was preaching they should make.
As it was, they were not as Paul would have them to be and as a result, Paul was not as they would have him to be. Paul had no give in this. He would not "come down" as Nehemiah said just so there could be peace between them. Unless they repented; unless they corrected their direction Paul was sure the next time he saw them there would be "debates, envyings, wraths, strifes" and etc.
And that would humble him. His heart would be broken and depressed because of it.
O that God's people would submit to the message of the preacher! O that they would not ask the preacher to compromise his message to suit or that they would ignore the message and not turn through it!
Then the church would find the pastor as they would and he would find them as he would.
For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:
And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.
There is a type of humility Paul said we should fear. Paul actually feared that the next time he came to Corinth God would "humble" him among them. His desire was that these people would accept his rebuke and corrections and make the changes in their lives that he was preaching they should make.
As it was, they were not as Paul would have them to be and as a result, Paul was not as they would have him to be. Paul had no give in this. He would not "come down" as Nehemiah said just so there could be peace between them. Unless they repented; unless they corrected their direction Paul was sure the next time he saw them there would be "debates, envyings, wraths, strifes" and etc.
And that would humble him. His heart would be broken and depressed because of it.
O that God's people would submit to the message of the preacher! O that they would not ask the preacher to compromise his message to suit or that they would ignore the message and not turn through it!
Then the church would find the pastor as they would and he would find them as he would.
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