Dear Christian friends:

In our text St. Paul talks about two kinds of sorrow - godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. He shows that worldly sorrow leads to death, but godly sorrow leads to salvation and joy. We ought to know more about sorrow especially godly sorrow. Godly sorrow can do much good for us. So on the basis of our text and with God's Holy Spirit let us consider

Godly tears are a work of God Himself in our hearts. In our text Paul says that he made the Corinthians sorry by another letter. This other letter is 1 Corinthians in our Bible. The Corinthian Church had become lax in dealing with a brother who was living in sin. It appears from Paul's first letter that this member had married his mother-in-law and so was living in incest or as Paul calls it "fornication." So Paul scolded the church about that and said they were very weak and wrong not to correct that brother.

This scolding from their pastor made the Corinthians sad and cry. And Paul says it made him cry, too, because he didn't like to write such a scolding letter. But He felt he owed that duty to them.

Sometimes God's Word makes us sad and sorry, because it shows and proves our sins. And sometimes we don't want to hear about that. We don't like to get corrected and scolded by God's Word. Maybe we skip certain books or chapters in the Bible because we don't like to hear about our sin. And sometimes we may be displeased about preaching.

Don't hide from the Law and truth of God. Listen and cry. God Himself wants to make you cry through His Word. God knows you must cry and sorrow, before He can help you.

Such sorrow that God's Law works in us leads to repentance and salvation. Paul says in verse 9, "I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance."

Worldly grief works "death" Paul says here. Cain was sorry often after he killed brother Able. But his sorrow was worldly sorrow; it did not lead to faith and a change of heart. He was only sorry because God punished him and put a curse on him. King Saul was sorry, too, but without faith in God's mercy. He killed himself by falling on his sword. So also Judas. After he realized his sin against Jesus, he lost hope and went out and hanged himself. Worldly sorrow is hopeless and faithless. It leads man to death and hell.

Godly sorrow put in our hearts through preaching God's Word does not stay hopeless and faithless, but seeks God's mercy and forgiveness through the crucified Son. David after adultery and murder confessed, "I have sinned against the Lord." But he believed Nathan the preacher when he said, "the Lord has put away thy sin." Peter wept bitterly after he denied Jesus. Yet he did not hang himself as Judas but later accepted Jesus' forgiveness and became a great apostle.

Paul himself said: "I am chief sinner", (1 Timothy 1:15) because he murdered the Christians at one time. Yet he believed God's mercy in Jesus and became chief of missionaries. The Corinthian congregation is another fine example. Paul says of them, "Ye sorrowed to repentance."

We Christians should, therefore, understand the blessings of godly sorrow: Law and Gospel. Sorrow before joy. When we hear about our sins and shed tears over them and then look to Jesus for pardon we have real joy. This joy in Jesus no man can take from us.

Not only does this godly grief help the individual member but it works blessings in the whole Church. After the Corinthians had experienced (lived through) their godly sorrow they improved as a Church. They became more "careful", "eager to correct the wrong", "angry at sin and sinners." No more closing an eye to other men's sins.

They were zealous now to keep their church nice and having a good name before God and their pastor and before the world. Now they feared and loved God rather than men. Here we see the real test of repentance and faith.

Do our words and actions prove that we really have godly sorrow and godly joy in Jesus? Indeed we are saved by grace through faith. But our repentence and faith must be honest and true. And if our sorrow and faith is true we will show it by improvement in all that we do at home, at work and at church.

During this Lenten Season it is a good time for us to see our sins and cry about them as we look back at Jesus' suffering and death. Let us have true sorrow and faith in Jesus that we may rejoice and improve.

Amen.