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“Not What We Are Looking At” • 4.28.13
• Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- We are entering into the final section of the
book of II Corinthians, Paul having thoroughly laid out his concerns over their
relationships, their response to correction and the reality of their love.
- Today, Paul makes a abrupt left turn, making
a very direct assault upon the false teachers that had invaded the church
community in his absence.
- Some scholars believe that chapters 10-14 constitute the missing letter
that Paul had written to the Corinthians. Whether it is or not, I'm sure that
the tone would have been very similar.
- I'm inclined to believe that now that he has
gotten the business side out of the way, that he needs to take them to task
regarding their recognition of authentic ministry.
- How do you look at and assess a ministry or a
minister? What judgment and criteria is applied? Chapter 10 gives us a grand tour of how NOT to judge a minister.
I. Personality Profile (v.1-6)
II. Personal Appearance (v.7)
III. Pulpit Power (v.8-11)
IV. Public Appeal (v.12-18)
Text
I. Personality Profile (v.1-6)
• II
Corinthians 10:1,2 : "Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and
gentleness of Christ—who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am
bold toward you. But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that
confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we
walked according to the flesh." : Paul
seeks for the Corinthians to hear him personally. How does Paul address them?
By bullying them around? Not at all.
- He his pleading with them by the meekness and
gentleness of Christ!
- These are the same characteristics that our
Lord possessed and that Paul now possessed by the Holy Spirit. It was not
Paul's meekness or gentleness. It is Christ's!
- Paul has been maligned and certainly is
within his rights to deal with the Corinthians that were the offending parties.
- Yet, what a Christian grace to call unto the
Lord and ask that we respond to those that wrong us, not out of our own
personality but from the Lord's personality, through His Spirit!
- Meekness or mildness seems to stretch our
imaginations as It is certainly not a characteristic that the world is
impressed by. The Corinthians greatly misunderstood it in Paul.
- Meekness is the ability to control great
strength. For example, a horse that would take to the bridle of it's rider
would be consider meek. This is power under directed control.
- Paul could have bowled them over and
overpowered them. He had been a man of such means, but when Christ came into
his life, it was meekness that overpowered him!
- Numbers
12:3 tells us that Moses was very meek above all on the earth. Jesus uses
both meekness and gentleness to describe Himself in Matthew 11:29. What better people to imitate!
- What of Christ's gentleness? This word speaks
of fairness. One translator renders it "sweet reasonableness." This
is how Paul was presenting himself to them.
- He tells them, "I'm Paul, the one who is
lowly among you, but bold then I'm away from you!"
- Paul is answering a charge against him, as
his detractors would say that he was humble, literally not rising from the
ground when he was with them, but confident, even cocky while away!
- Paul never sought to be harsh with them, but
would be if he had to.
- The NLT gives a great sense of what Paul is
saying: " Well, I am begging you now so that when I come I won’t have to be bold
with those who think we act from human motives."
- Some presumed that Paul was just acting like
any other leader, subscribing to rules of the world, manipulating people with
his behavior, but this was never the Apostolic way.
• II
Corinthians 10:3 : "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the
flesh." : They lived their lives in the
flesh, in a mortal body. They were as human as anyone else!
- While their bodies were flesh dominated,
their minds and their actions were not. They walked this way, but their war was
altogether different.
- When you read the word "war," think
of the concept of a general in the war room or the military post, where the Commander
lays out his plans and sets soldiers in motion.
- It's a place of strategy and counteraction.
War according to the flesh is to simply respond with equal force, to out gun,
over power, dominate with hate! That was not Paul's way!
• II
Corinthians 10:4-6 : "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God
for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself
against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the
obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience
is fulfilled." : The weapons of our warfare.
- To have to have instruments or equipment that
is geared for war reminds us that we are in one! The Corinthians did not know
it, but there was a war going on for their souls.
- Like Adam, they had left the garden untended
and an enemy had swept in unnoticed. They were charmed by men that sought only
to use them and had been captured by the enemy!
- That's why the weapons which were employed by
the Apostles, were not carnal or after the flesh. This was a spiritual war and
the weapons that God's people use are mighty in or through God!
- God makes the tools of Christian warfare
effective. These are the only tools that work! What are these weapons?
- When we assess Paul's teaching in Ephesians 6, we understand that there
is a sword of the Spirit, which is God's word. There is a belt of truth. A
breastplate of righteousness. A shield of faith.
- Paul finishes with feet that are shod with
the gospel of peace. On your way out, don't forget to grab your helmet of
salvation!
- These are the implements that we walk out
onto the field of battle with. God's Word confronts our behavior and demands
our conformity. God's truth speaks loudly when Satan spews out a lie.
- God's righteousness is His life lived through
our actions. God's faith is our vision of the future. God's gospel is the
mission, the road that we are to take. And God's salvation is our rest and
hope!
- When we are confronted by the enemy, these
are our defenses, as well as our offensive arsenal. What are these weapons good
for?
- First, the instruments of our warfare are
effective for pulling down or demolishing strongholds or fortresses.
- A fortress is a place of defence where cities
would make their final stand against their enemies, trusting in the thick and
high walls to keep aggressors at bay.
- This concept of a stronghold refers to a
spiritual mentality that God can pull down.
- There are many strongholds that believers
hole up in. Fear and pride are common strongholds from the enemy. In the case
of the Corinthians, it was pride in their carnal choices!
- They had convinced themselves that their many
carnal choices were actually godly choices!
- Their weapons would, in attacking those
mental fortresses, also cast down arguments. They would take down these
reasonings, these calculated thoughts, with violence.
- They would pull down and cast down every high
thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. This provides us with a
category.
- The stronghold is a spiritual mental position
that exists to defend itself against God. These arguments are reasonings that
compete with God's Word.
- And the high thing, referring to a bulwark or
a rampart that the city might use to fight off the enemy, that exalts itself,
raises itself in opposition to the knowledge of God.
- This is an accurate picture of what it's like
for the carnal Christian to oppose God. They are wrong and won't win, but this
is exactly how a person justifies their sinfulness from God.
- They run into the stronghold of their desire
and they raise up their reasons for what it is that they are doing.
- As the last defense, they run up into the
highest place or ideal that would insulate them! But God will not lose to these
human inventions.
- He will demolish them and then take every
thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Literally, God will capture their
minds and lead them to the land of the obedience of Christ!
- I like the NLT's rendering of this verse:
"We capture their rebellious
thoughts and teach them to obey Christ."
- These are the thoughts of rebellion.
"God's not concerned. It's my life. I can do as I please. God and I have
an understanding." Those thoughts need to be taken captive.
- While those thoughts are defeated, God opens
His Word and frees us to obey Him!
- He has to break us down, one defense
mechanism at a time, because either we don't think that we're wrong or we have convinced
ourselves while twisting scripture into a position to defend.
- Those who are obedient, convinced of their
wrong behavior or thinking, are peacefully captured or re-captured for the
Lord. Then there are those who will not be convinced.
- Those people receive a reciprocal response,
as they are prepared to punish the disobedient after the obedient are identified!
- The army will treat those who surrender one
way, while those who continue to fight against the Lord will be dealt with, to
deal with them justly as their behavior deserves.
- Today, if you hear His voice, surrender. I'm
not talking to non-Christians. Notice that Paul wasn't either! He was talking
to Christians who had taken a sinful position. Don't let that be you!
II. Personal Appearance (v.7)
• II
Corinthians 10:7 : "Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If
anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ’s, let him again consider this
in himself, that just as he is Christ’s, even so we are Christ’s." : Do you look at what a person looks like on the outside? How
deceiving that can be!
- The Corinthians had looked at the False Teachers
and noted how cool they looked and how tolerant they were. They had convinced
them that they were the standard of what a Christian is!
- Those who trumpeted their own authority
needed to recognize Paul's! He was a Christian too!
- They were saying, "Just look at
him!" and by extrabiblical historical accounts, Paul was more a librarian
or college professor, than he was a politician or a celebrity. He was hardly
impressive.
- The Corinthians had become convinced by the
false teachers that looks mattered if the ministry was to be considered
relevant.
- Those that the Corinthians were proud of
looked the part. Tall, handsome, every hair in place and a perfect smile to
boot!
- They had everything that one could hope for
in appearance, but were snakes dressed as lambs! That's the irony here! They
had believed to their detriment, the show that was put on for them!
- When you looked at Paul's ministry, and we
have seen it was one of suffering and difficulty, it would be easy to be ashamed
of it and to question it's validity.
- When all the world is full of sham ministers
with shameful motives and poor practices, one might be hard pressed to
recognize the authentic ones by their looks. That was the case with Paul.
- Paul belonged to Christ. The Apostles
belonged to Christ. He is telling them to look again and really consider. They
knew that he belonged to Christ because they existed!
- If the Apostles truly belonged to Christ, how
could these false teachers belong to Christ? In this case, personal appearance
had been very deceiving!
III. Pulpit Power (v.8-11)
• II
Corinthians 10:8-11 : "For even if I should boast somewhat
more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and
not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed—lest I seem to terrify you by letters. 'For his letters,' they say, 'are weighty and powerful,
but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.' Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word
by letters when we are absent, such we will also be in deed when we are
present." : Paul had to speak about his authority, to remind them that
it was there to help them grow!
- When he talks this way, he's not going to
shrink away from the subject, despite what his detractors were saying about
him. His letters are one thing, awesome, but his speaking, contemptible!
- His words were severe, stern even, but his
body was weak, sickly and his manner of speaking was utterly despised. He did
not employ the rhetoric that was fashionable in that day.
- He simply gave them the straight Word of God
and built them upon a solid truth foundation!
- God had moved their hearts through this man.
It was God, not the man that was worth focusing on, but God had indeed worked
through him, despite his frailty.
- God does not need another powerful
personality or a superior intellect. He can work through any person who is
willing to be fully obedient to Him.
- That is what the Corinthians should have been
proclaiming. They might have said, "Yes, humanly speaking, Paul is less
than impressive, but God used him mightily in our lives!"
- Instead, Paul speaks to them and says,
"Let those who think that we can't back up our talk know this: What we
write like, we are prepared to act like!"
IV. Public Appeal (v.12-18)
• II
Corinthians 10:12,13 : "For we dare not class ourselves or
compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring
themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not
wise. We,
however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere
which God appointed us—a sphere which especially includes you." : "We would not be so bold as to think of ourselves in the
same category as those that commend themselves!"
- Who were they? They were those who commended
themselves or stated their own importance, as the NLT translates it. They
publically appealed to the Corinthians of their own value!
- When asked about who thought they were
important, their answer was, "We do!" That should always be a giant
red flag to any community!
- They measured themselves by themselves. They
made themselves the standard by which all others would be measured.
- They compared or interpreted themselves by
themselves, which Paul asserts correctly, as not being a wise way to live.
- On the contrary, Paul's company of Apostles
refused to glory in that which was beyond measure or outside of the sphere of
their labor.
- They were not making more of themselves or
attempting to say that they had done more than they had actually done.
"We're not padding our resume hoping for greater returns!"
- Their only glory was that which included
their labor and that included the Corinthians! Paul had started this church.
None of them had been Christians before Paul got there!
• II
Corinthians 10:14-16 : "For we are not overextending
ourselves (as though our authority did not extend to you), for it was to you
that we came with the gospel of Christ; not boasting of things beyond
measure, that is, in other men’s labors, but having hope, that as your faith is
increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere, to preach the gospel in the regions
beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s sphere of accomplishment." : They were not hyperextending themselves. They rightly assumed
authority in the Church at Corinth.
- Those that had come had taken credit for what
was happening in the Corinthian's lives, but that was an expression of the
fruit of Paul's labors.
- The Apostles would only now glory in that
work, in order that they might see the value in Paul's ministry and send him on
his way to regions beyond them, into new gospel territory.
- Paul did not even want to remain among them.
He wanted them to send him further out! He was not seeking to engage them
again.
• II Corinthians 10:17,18 : " But 'he
who glories, let him glory in the Lord.' For not he who commends himself is
approved, but whom the Lord commends." : Paul
quotes from Jeremiah 9:24. "He
who boasts, let him boast in the Lord!"
- Whatever I am and whatever I have become,
it's by the hand of the Lord, not by my own doing and certainly not by my own
achievement.
- Paul tells us why it's vital to take on this
attitude. Because it's senseless to toot our own horn. That won't matter at the
great white throne. Only those whom the Lord commends will stand.
- Paul was waiting for that day and that
commendation. What they thought of him personally was of little importance. He
had a much bigger and more impressive audience!
Conclusion
- If Paul were here right now, he'd remind you that what you see may not be what you get, not in this world anyway.
- If Paul were here right now, he'd remind you that what you see may not be what you get, not in this world anyway.
- Don't be taken in by a personality without
examining their dedication to living the Word of God. Don't be fooled by
personal appearance, as Satan can make himself look like an angel.
- Don't be impressed by empty pulpit power
bereft of God's Word that confronts you about sin righteousness and judgment.
And don't listen to public appeals that taut one's ministry greatness!
- Be wise and understanding! Don't be taken in!
Don't be fooled! In this day and age, that is a great danger for us all!
- Thank God that He will never leave us or
forsake us and that if we'll continue to listen to His Word in it's given form,
we'll have enough of the genuine to spoil us for the false.