HOW TO STRENGTHEN YOUR RELATIONSHIPS

Text- 2 Corinthians 12:11-21

Introduction


This morning I am going to continue with my series of sermons from the book of Second Corinthians.

Throughout this book we have seen how Paul has been speaking to the church in Corinth on the topic of ministry.

Last week we learned how God used some very painful experiences in Paul’s life to teach him humility and how to rely on God’s grace and strength.

God not only uses pain to help us grow and learn; he also uses people.  Sometimes relationships can be painful.  This is the way it was with Paul’s relationship with the church in Corinth.

False teachers had attacked Paul’s ministry and also him personally.  While the Corinthians were supposedly Paul’s friends, they either keep quiet about what was being said or agreed with them.  While they should have defended Paul, he had to defend himself.  For this, the church in Corinth should have been ashamed.

Have you ever done something that made you feel ashamed?

A man decided one rainy day to finally take all the family's broken umbrellas to the repair shop at the local mall.  That afternoon during his lunch hour he accidentally picked up an umbrella that belonged to a woman sitting in the booth next to him. The woman yelled, "Stop thief!" took her umbrella out of his hand and shamed him in front of everyone in the restaurant.  That  evening after work he picked up all eight umbrellas at the repair shop.  As he walked towards the exit of the mall with the umbrellas tucked under his arm, he was horrified to see walking toward him the same woman who had accused him of stealing that morning.  With a scornful tone in her voice she said, "Huh huh! You had a good day, didn't you!"

Today we live in a calloused society that has little or no sense of shame.

In a January survey of 753 adults only 41% of those surveyed said they would feel ashamed if they were caught cheating on their income taxes, 16% thought divorce was a reason for feeling ashamed and 27% thought having a child out of wedlock was a reason for feeling ashamed.

This same lack of shame has also crept into many of the Lord's churches today to the point that Christians today do not feel ashamed for not attending Sunday school or church services, witnessing to the lost, reading and studying their Bible, supporting the ministry financially, and not doing what God has commanded in general.

As Paul wrote to the church in Corinth he tells them three things that they should be ashamed of in their ministry.  These are three things each of us need to learn to give so when we stand before God we won’t be ashamed.  These are also three ways we can strengthen our relationships with each other.