Call’em Up, Don’t Just Call’em Out
January 18, 2026
Preached by Tony Pitts
Sermon Discussion Questions
What makes calling out an offense difficult for you?
Do you find it hard to forgive someone who has hurt you even when they seem genuinely sorry?
What is your response to the sentence “people who don’t perform deserve to be punished”?
When you call people out, do you typically call them up as well?
Scripture Reading
2 Corinthians 2:1-11
1 For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 3 And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.
5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
Good morning. My name is Tony Pitts. I’m one of the pastors here. I don’t preach a lot because frankly it was never a real passion of mine. The first few times I got up to preach I was horribly nervous. And as I look back and ask myself why I was so nervous, I think it had a lot to do with thinking that one of the main goals of preaching was to have people conclude that I was a good preacher. What has changed that has actually caused me to enjoy preaching much more is that I realized the goal of preaching should be to have people conclude that our God is a great God. A much easier task. And a task that I know God will help me with. And so I’ll ask you to pray with me to that end.
We continue this morning in 2 Corinthians, in our series Power Made Perfect in Weakness. We’re in Chapter 2 verses 1-11.
I know a lot of you here this morning grew up in the church and you’re well aware of what 2 Corinthians is. But, for those of you who did not grow up connected to a church and reading the Bible I want to give a quick explanation. Our Bible is divided up into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old describes God creating everything, including us. It shows us that God clearly communicates with the people he created and tells them how to live. They disobey him and their intimate relationship with him is broken and death and suffering come into the human experience as a result.
The Old Testament then points forward to how God himself will solve the problem that man created. And that solution is a person. The person of Jesus. God himself becomes a human. Lives a perfect life. Offers himself as a sacrifice to pay the penalty for man’s disobedience. Dies, rises from death and ascends to heaven. The New Testament begins with four books that tell the story of his birth, life, death, and resurrection. These are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Just before he ascends to heaven he commissions his disciples to spread the good news of what he has done to reunite people to the God who made them and loves them deeply.
The book of Acts that follows the four gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and is an historical account of the beginning of the New Testament church. The books that follow Acts are known as the epistles. And simply, they are letters written to the first churches started by the apostles or they were written to an apostle. The book of Romans written to the church in Rome. Corinthians written to the church in Corinth and so on. Most of them were written by the apostle Paul.
I realize that to many of you this is basic. But, for some it will help to give context to what I’m talking about. I want us to appreciate that this is a real letter, written to a real church, in a real place, about real issues. And they were written by a real apostle who once was a real Pharisee. A Pharisee who spent his time opposing Christianity. And opposing it violently. This Pharisee was knocked to the ground, called out by Jesus, and then called up by Jesus. Paul then goes on to call out and call up thousands to follow Jesus. And I want us to appreciate that God has preserved it for us to apply to our lives today. I know I’m asking you to appreciate a lot, but there’s a lot here to be appreciated. So try to keep up.
What I want to do this morning is show:
· Why Paul’s painful visit to call them out was necessary
· Why Paul is not content to leave it at calling them out
· What that has to do with us today
Let’s look at the first 4 verses of 2 Corinthians chapter 2. This is the apostle Paul writing to the church at Corinth.
For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 3 And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.
So what’s the background here? A lot of people (myself included) have thought that this is addressing the man in 1 Corinthians who is having an inappropriate relationship with his father’s wife. But, there really is a much stronger argument to be made that this is about a different individual and a different problem. This is based on the defenses that Paul offers in this letter and the absence of mention of the other problem.
So, the problem that most modern scholars believe Paul is addressing is this. After Paul has spent several years of his life starting this church in Corinth. Loving them, teaching them, building them up. There is a rebellion. Lead by an individual who has convinced many in the church that Paul is not to be trusted. He’s after your money, he’s not a good teacher. We should be led by better. Paul is deeply wounded by the fact that this isn’t just one guy but he has convinced enough of this congregation that it warrants Paul going there in person to call them out. He does. And, it is painful. Most likely because the guilty parties have to look Paul in the face and see the hurt that they have caused to this man who has loved them so dearly.
It is so much easier to trash people when we don’t have to look them in the face. So much of the hurt that happens in our relationships could be avoided by simply handling offense by doing what Jesus told us to do. Go to that person in private. Look them in the face, and tell them what you’re bothered about. It’s not to say never call anyone out. It’s to say there’s a godly way to do it, and then there’s a lot of wrong ways to do it.
Okay so that’s some of the background for this letter. And Paul, does what Paul so often does in his letters. He gives us a masterclass in what Godly discipleship looks like. This is where my sermon title comes from. Call’em Up Don’t Just Call’em Out. I got this wording from a guy with a YouTube channel called Conflictish. His name is Ryan Dunlap. He has a bunch of videos on conflict resolution and communication that are really well done. He has pastored and also worked with police departments as an investigator and a hostage negotiator.
So often in today’s social media driven call out culture, there is an emphasis on calling people out. And doing it publicly. It’s become an important part of social currency. Social currency being that which makes us more socially valuable, more attractive to other people. It’s created a culture where people seek to make themselves look taller by cutting the legs off of those around them. And this is seen as an act of virtue. And again, there is a place for calling out wrongdoing. But, there is also a way of doing it that calls people up and not just out.
In his book the Peacemaker Ken Sande gives us 4 G’s to consider that I have found really helpful. Keeping these in mind will help us to call people up and not just out.
1. Glorify God: 1 Corinthians 10:31. So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Ask, “How can I please and honor God in this situation?”
2. Get the Log Out of Your Eye: Matthew 7:5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
Ask, “How can I show Jesus’ work in me by taking responsibility for my contribution to this conflict?”
3. Gently Restore: Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
Ask, “How can I lovingly serve others by helping them take responsibility for their contribution to this conflict?”
4. Go and Be Reconciled: Matthew 5:24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Ask, “How can I demonstrate the forgiveness of God and encourage a reasonable solution to this conflict?”
The priority that God gives to relationship is made very clear throughout the Bible. And Paul is making it very clear to the church. Our relationships matter to God. Paul has asked the rhetorical question in this passage “if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained?” We would be wise to ask ourselves that question when we are tempted to simply beat people up with their faults and leave them there. When we’re tempted to call them out without calling them up.
And we see by the last verse in this passage that our relationships matter to Satan.
God wants us to do the hard work of discipline, which often includes conflict and confrontation of sin. But, he also wants us to do the hard work of forgiveness. Let’s read verses 5-11 in 2 Corinthians.
5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
In verses 5-7 Paul is encouraging the church to forgive and comfort the offending party. The goal is not to have the person who has done the wrong feel horrible for as long as possible. There is a place for godly sorrow when we’ve done wrong. And how do we know it’s godly sorrow? God’s word tells us that godly sorrow leads to repentance. What is repentance? It’s not just a performative, theatrical apology. It’s not just a change in our behavior. It’s changing our mind about the wrong and having what we believe line up with what God says. But the goal is not to have people we love feel sorrowful forever.
I heard a story from a pastor years ago about a young girl he had an encounter with while on a trip. He was headed to speak at a big conference for which he had prepared for quite some time. He wanted everything to be just right. He studied, he wrote, he rewrote. He practiced his speech. He bought a new suit and a new pair of shoes. He’d only wore the shoes that day and still in wanting everything to be just right, he had them shined at the airport just before he sat to wait for his flight. He sat reading his newspaper and couldn’t help but be distracted by a young girl who seemed to be terrorizing many of the other travelers who were trying to relax before their flights. The girl’s mother, absorbed in her book, was not noticing the misbehavior of her daughter. The first thing the girl did to the pastor directly was to smack the newspaper he was reading and kinda get in his face. He looked to the mother who was unfazed by what her daughter was doing. He grew increasingly frustrated, but the final straw was when the little girl came up to the pastor, put her hands on his knees and stood on both of his freshly polished shoes. He looked to the mom and said somewhat sharply “ma’am, would you please control your child?” The mother, looking annoyed, called her daughter over and instructed her to go to the man and say sorry. To which she did, in the way that mandatory apologies often go, “sorry”. To which the pastor gently responded, “I don’t want her to be sorry, I want her to be polite”
This is Paul’s heart towards the man that has hurt him and the people of the Corinthian church involved in the rebellion against him. It seems that too often our intent in dealing with offense is to seek to punish the person, make sure they feel awful, and leave it at that. There, I disciplined them.
This is the view that a lot of people have about God. He sits on his throne watching us and waiting for us to mess up so that he can catch us and punish us. But, the Bible tells us that God doesn’t take any pleasure in destroying the wicked and prefers that they turn from their wickedness
In verse 10 Paul talks about the forgiveness that he is offering is for the churches sake and he uses the phrase “in the presence of Christ” And in verse 11 he says so that we would not be out witted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
So what are Satan’s designs? And how does forgiveness in the presence of Christ defeat those designs?
Well, let’s think about who Paul is and where he is coming from. This is a man, as I said earlier who spent a good portion of his life as a Jewish religious leader attacking the Christian church. The first person murdered for their faith in Jesus recorded in scripture is Stephen. And Paul was there watching the coats of the men who did it. There are many other references in the Bible of Paul’s cruelty towards God’s people. But, when Paul meets Jesus, and by God’s grace comes to understand that he has been forgiven, it changes everything. Paul’s main point in writing these things to the church is to remind them. Remind them that forgiven people should be forgiving. And that nothing ruins Satan’s plans like God’s grace.
Jesus tells us that Satan’s plan is to steal, kill, and destroy. He is the accuser of the Christian. God’s forgiveness is the last thing he wants you to experience and the last thing he wants you to share.
But church, God has appointed us to do just that. To be ambassadors of reconciliation. God is making his appeal through us to be reconciled. We are to be pleading with people to receive the forgiveness that God is offering. And we are to do it “in the presence of Christ” knowing that as he sent his disciples out he promised to be with them.
Something seemed to shift in my lifetime in the church away from winning souls and towards winning arguments. We’ve started to forget about the designs of Satan and focus on the designs of the progressives and the liberals. Preoccupied with whether or not our friends and neighbors agree with us on every hot topic while forgetting to help them agree with us about Jesus. Who he is and what he’s done for us.
What Paul does over and over in his letters to the churches is to call them up by reminding them of God’s extravagant grace. And then he calls them out by showing them the ways that they are not acting like people who have been shown extravagant grace. And then he calls them up again by encouraging them to remember God’s grace for the power to do and be what he’s calling them up to.
So often we tell ourselves when obedience is hard that our disobedience is well…only natural. I don’t like conflict so I’m not going to go talk to that person that hurt me or offended me. And well, it’s only natural. Or I can’t seem to forgive that person that hurt me even though they apologized and I know God tells me to. But, well it’s only natural to hold on to grudges.
But here’s the thing. And I’m going to wrap up with this and move us into receiving communion. We who have been born again into God’s family are not only natural. We have the spirit of the living God alive in us. Giving us the ability to live and love and forgive supernaturally! I don’t have to just white knuckle my love for other people and muster up the ability to please God on my own. God has come to dwell in you and in me. This is what we celebrate as we receive communion. And we celebrate not only that it has happened for ourselves but that it has happened for all of our brothers and sisters who have placed their faith in Jesus. And we remember that it hasn’t come cheap. The God who speaks stars out of his mouth was made weak, the God who did nothing wrong was counted as wayward on our behalf, the God who made us with his hands was wounded for our wrongs. And it is God’s grace that not only calls us out, it calls up. I want finish up with this passage from the second chapter of Ephesians where Paul writes about God calling us out and calling us up. Ephesians 2:1-10
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Going back to the pastor in the airport and the rambunctious little girl. We see when compared to Jesus a difference. In that story you don’t see that pastor inviting the little girl to come and sit with him and look through the newspaper. Oh but our God. He doesn’t just call us out, he calls us up. Up to be seated with him in heavenly places. And he does it to show the immeasurable riches of his grace! Amen