To Be Told You’re Wrong

Read: 2 Corinthians 10: 7-11

The decades leading up to World War 1 were often seen as “the Gilded Age”. On the surface, everything was nice and glittery. The stock markets were amazing, everyone was doing reasonably well, there was peace and security. But underneath that gilded surface was nothing but rot. Peace and security were gone when the network of military alliances led to World War 1. Not long after the last bullet was fired, the stock market crisis in 1929 officially inaugurated the Great Depression. The unemployment rate in the USA was 20%. The rot was definitely destructive in its scope.

Humans are prone to look at things so superficially, and the Corinthians were no exception. Imagine if you received regular (and rather angrily-toned) letters from some pastor far away with some praises, but some criticisms. It won’t be long before people start talking. Who does that guy think he is? What does he know - he’s rarely here in the first place! Maybe the guy is angry in his letters, but preaches like a wimp. Maybe the guy doesn’t even know anything! This was what Paul had to deal with.
And so he responded quite matter-of-factly. The Corinthians were only looking at this superficially. They weren’t paying attention to the message, so much as they were paying attention to how much they didn’t like the criticisms. Instead of changing from their sinful ways, they only criticized Paul back! Oh - and the tone of the letter. Paul assures the Corinthians that if his letters were angry already, he’d be at least as angry in person!

I wish the Church is a church that accepts criticism well, but in all truth and honesty we don’t. We don’t like criticism. We like to be prim, proper, and - as Cheryl would put it - uppity. In short, we like to be right, and if we’re not right, we’d like criticism to be delivered in a nice, neat package. We don’t like being told we need to repent for our sins like gossip, spending time doing the wrong (note: not necessarily bad) things, pornography, getting involved with unwholesome relationships, etc. We prefer to be told that “our sins is just between us and God.”

So let us be a church that is not afraid, but entirely embracing of wise criticism. Let us wisely build each other up, wisely criticize each other, in order that everyone flourishes in faith. Let us, together, strive for righteousness and empower each other to do just the same.