‘A healthy church boasts in weakness’ (2 Corinthians 11:16-33)

I have struggled with my mental health.  A number of years ago I had a small nervous breakdown followed by a time of deep depression.  I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  I wrestle with intrusive thoughts all the time.  I don’t believe that makes me unqualified to be a pastor.  I don’t believe that it’s something I should be ashamed about.  I don’t believe that God failed me by letting me endure this pain.  In fact, I believe God has used these experiences to help me get alongside other people who have similar weaknesses.

What weaknesses do you have?  Is this church a community where you can be open about your struggles?  Are you someone who cares about the pain people may be passing through?  Do people feel safe to be real in front of you?  Are you honest about your own brokenness, or do you pretend that you have got it together?  Are you willing to boast in your weaknesses?

The health of the church is seen in how it values the weak (16-21)

Sometimes Christians are not good at choosing leaders.  Many of the Corinthians had been taken in by the ‘super-apostles’.  ‘You even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you’ (20).  The ‘super-apostles’ boasted about their Jewish pedigree.  They thought that mattered.   In fact, they insulted those Corinthian Christians who had come from a non-Jewish (Gentile) background.  They had an arrogant domineering attitude.  The ‘super-apostles’ may even have humiliated people by literally striking them on the face.  Paul sarcastically explains that he and his co-workers were ‘too weak for that’ (21).

Surely people wouldn’t get taken in by such antics today.  Think again! 

A young Christian told me recently of going to a church where he was told that if he gave money to their offering he would get twice as much back.  He gave twenty euro.  The next time he gave another twenty.  He never got his eighty euros.  He stopped going to that church. 

Paula White is a televangelist and senior faith advisor to President Trump.  In 2025 she had a special Passover appeal.  She wasn’t telling her viewers to give to their local churches but to her ministry.  For a minimum gift of a thousand dollars you would get seven blessings, including God assigning you an angel, financial prosperity and sickness being taken away.  In appreciation for your gift she would also send you a Waterford Crystal cross.

But is not only ‘propensity gospel’ preachers who take advantage of people.  

There’s a danger that when the church becomes obsessed with growth and numbers that people simply become a statistic—their presence serves the purpose of enabling us to boast about how successful we are.

We also have to be careful that we don’t simply look to people for what talents they can offer.  It is great when a good musician joins the church, for we love to sing.  But please don’t welcome that person simply for their gifts.  Let this be a place where they can be weak.  Love people during those times when they feel they cannot serve. 

I wonder if the health of the church is seen in how we treat those who the world sees as little and who seem to have least to offer.  I say ‘seem to have least to offer’ because you might be amazed by the encouragement they bring.  It can be inspiring to see people hold on to Jesus whose life circumstances seem most difficult.

The health of the church is seen in how it cares for the weak (21-29)

The apostle Paul hates to boast about himself.  The ‘super-apostles’, have been questioning his credentials.  They made a big deal about being Jewish so he says ‘I am a Jew as well.’  Not that it matters!   They boasted about being great servants of Christ.  He hates to have to say this, but he had actually worked harder than them.  Indeed, while they sought to line their pockets from their ministry, he has endured great suffering.

I suspect that when talks of shipwrecks and opposition the ‘super-apostles’ looked down their noses at him.  ‘That doesn’t look like a man who is enjoying the blessing and favour of God.’

Notice how much he cares for those he serves.  He feels anxiety for all the churches (28).  ‘Who is weak, and I am not weak?  Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?’ (29).  We can’t live lives detached from each other.  Remember that how you live for Christ can bring joy to the Christians who love you.  Similarly, when you stray from Christ it brings them sorrow.  You can encourage them or discourage them.  When we see other Christians growing in their faith we are to rejoice.  When we hear of Christians falling into sin we are to be quick to pray for them.

The health of the church is seen in how it cares for the weak.

The health of the church is seen in how we boast of our weakness (30-33)

Paul would rather boast about things that show his weakness and to have to draw attention to any real or perceived strength (30).  So, he mentions what happened to him at Damascus.  Remember that he had encountered Jesus the road to that city.  We can read about what happened in Acts 9.  It was on the way to Damascus that he met the risen Jesus.  It was in Damascus that the scales had fallen from his eyes.  It was in that city that he started to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.  There the Jews tried to kill him.  Indeed, King Aretus, was guarding the city to seize him.  So, Paul had to be let down through a window in the wall of the city in a basket and escape on his hands (33).

That might sound heroic but it looked very humiliating to those who were there.  In the Roman army there was a prize given to the first soldier to climb the wall of a city they were attacking.  Paul is the first one to have to climb down the wall of this city.  The basket may have been a basket for holding fish.  He had set out for that city in strength breathing hatred against Christ and his people.  He left that city in weakness full of love for Christ and his people. 

Not everyone is comfortable with weakness.  When I had that nervous breakdown, a friend took me for coffee and asked why I told people about it.  My friend suggested that if I just said I was sick they could think that I had the flu.  But why should we be embarrassed about our weaknesses?  Similarly, a young woman asked me to stop sharing with the church that I struggled with my mental health.  She said, ‘I want my family to think this thing works’.  She had no place in her understanding of the gospel for brokenness—just like the ‘super-apostles.’

Why might Christ want us to boast about our weaknesses?  He wants us to boast about our weaknesses because they demonstrate His grace and love.  ‘I am not a Christian because I am impressive and strong, but because God lovingly promises to lift up the broken-hearted.’  ‘’I am not a Christian because I am faithful and brave, but because Christ came into the world to save sinners.’  Isn’t He wonderful!   

Conclusion

In a healthy church, where people boast not about their weaknesses not their strengths, vulnerable people experience the love of Christ.

Do those with mental health difficulties feel the need to hide their pain from us?  What about those who are wrestling with same-sex attraction—are there people they can talk freely with?  Are we merciful to those who doubt?  What about the difficulties in your marriage—are people here honest about the fact that marriage can be hard?   Do you know that you are not alone as you struggle with that rebellious teenager?  Do we speak mercy to people who feel the failure of divorce?  Are we looking out for those who find singleness very lonely?  Will we remind those who are crippled by a sense of guilt that there is more mercy in Christ than sin in then, and we know this because He forgave a great sinner like us?

On the wall in the hall of our church is a print of a portrait of the great Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon.  We have it there because he was a friend of one of the pastors of this church.  I think that print was a gift given to that pastor by Spurgeon.

Anyway, Spurgeon had undoubted strengths.  He was a brilliant communicator and is referred to as the ‘Prince of Preachers.’  But he also had a great weakness, and that weakness was a great benefit to his ministry.  He endured years of crippling depression.  He talks about times when he would cry like a child and no not what he cried for.  He did not hide it, and God used it.  His sermons and his conversation had a way of speaking to broken and distressed people because he had gone through something like they were going through.  One person wrote that ‘many admire someone faithfully ministering through so much sorrow and adversity, but few wish these trials for themselves.’

Who knows what God might do when we boast of our weaknesses! 

‘The good news is worth boasting about’ (2 Cor. 11:1-15)

Albert Speer was a leading Nazi and close friend of Adolf Hitler.  After the war he was imprisoned and tried at Nuremberg.  He immediately started attending the services that were organised by the Lutheran chaplain, Henry Gerecke.  He seems to come to real faith in Jesus.  Speer was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment in Spandau prison.  During that time, he spent his time reading theology books.  Near the end of his life he looked back on his conversion and said that he could not explain what happened to him when he accepted Christ, even though many times he had tried to explain it.

The good news of Christ-crucified is that the Son of God gave His life for sinful people.  He did all that was necessary to make wicked people clean.  He has given His people the Holy Spirit so that we can be made more like Jesus.  One day we will see our loving Saviour face to face and on the joyous day He will reward us for even the smallest things that we have done in His name and for His glory.  This is good news!

But in the apostle Paul’s day there were false-teachers who were distorting this good news.  While Paul preached Christ-crucified these false-teachers said that you got right with God by obeying rules, and that it was never God’s will for His people to suffer.  We see these same two false-teachings today.  Many people think that the way to heaven is based on what we do rather than accepting what God has done for us in Christ.  Many ‘prosperity gospel’ preachers will tell you that it is always God’s will for His people to be healthy and wealthy.

So, let us begin by affirming that the cross of Christ is the only way to be made right with God.

1.      The cross of Christ is the only way to be made right with God (1-4)

Paul labels the false-teachers ‘super-apostles’.  He’s being sarcastic.  These men boast about having great spiritual experiences.  They have mastered the speaking techniques that were so admired in that culture.  They look impressive.  But they have a different spirit, a different gospel and a different Jesus.

Paul worries that the Corinthians will be taken in by these false-teachers.  ‘I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led away from pure devotion to Christ’ (3).  It is interesting that in Genesis 3 the serpent beings by twisting God’s word and then simply denying God’s word.  ‘Did God say?’  ‘Surely you will not die!’  The ‘super-apostles’ were twisting and denying the good news about Jesus!

The serpent is happy for you to try to make yourself good enough for God by ‘obeying rules’!  ‘Be a good person.’  ‘Go to church.’  ‘Pray.’  ‘Be nice.’  But if that is what you think puts you right with God then you are denying God’s Word!  Solomon declared that ‘there is no-one who does not sin’ (1 Kgs 8:46).  Jesus said that no one is good, but God alone (Mk 10:18).  Paul explained that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). 

is  His There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.  There is no guilt that Jesus’ blood cannot cover.  When Jesus completed His work on the cross He cried, ‘It is finished’, which means that there is nothing for us to add.  But if you don’t think you need His forgiveness, and if you don’t want His Holy Spirit to begin a work of making you more like Christ then there is no hope for you.  Jesus said that He came not for the righteous but to bring sinful people to repentance.  If you are simply depending on being good, then your good works will lead you to hell.    

2.      Gazing upon the glory of Christ is the only way we can change (5-11)

My hope is that all of you know that good news, but the question is, ‘is this grace changing us?’  In particular do we want to make much of ourselves or do we want to make much of Jesus?  Do we seek to draw attention to any good we do or do we point to His goodness?

The ‘super-apostles’ were boasters.  Paul wants only to boast in Jesus.  ‘Isn’t it amazing that Jesus would leave heaven, live a life of perfect love and die an excruciating death for someone like us?’  ‘Isn’t Jesus so kind that He would allow us be His ambassadors in this world?’  ‘Isn’t Jesus so generous that one day He will reward us for even the smallest and most imperfect act of obedience—like giving a cup of water to someone in His name?’

While the super-apostles sought to line their pockets with the Corinthian’s cash, Paul refused to charge them for his ministry.  Although he had the right to ask the Corinthians to support his ministry he worked among them for free.  Why?  He worked among them for free because he wanted to show them that the good news is free.  He wanted to show that he was different from the ‘super-apostles’.

Ironically the ‘super-apostles’ criticised Paul for this.  Do you know that Barak Obama can charge four hundred thousand dollars for an after-dinner speech?  Well the ‘super-apostles’ boasted that they could charge big fees to have people learn from them.  So, who looks more impressive—Barak Obama or a man who supports his ministry working a part-time job making tents?  The ‘super-apostles’ saw Paul’s humility as evidence that he was a spiritual nobody.

But Paul is following the example of Christ who made himself nothing, took the nature of a servant and humbled himself to death—even death on a cross.  Paul is compelled by love (11). 

I am an arrogant man.  I like to be the centre of attention.  I like to be told that I am great.  I want to boast of any good I do.  So, how do we change?  One of the most important verses in this letter goes as follows: ‘And we all, with unveiled face; beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.  For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit’ (3:18).  We become like Jesus as we gaze upon His beauty!    

Look at the lovely person of Jesus going around doing good.  Look at the suffering Jesus dying for you in love.  Look at the risen and conquering Jesus inviting you to Himself.  Remember that He promises to be with us even when dearest friends desert us.  He delights in you, despite all our imperfections and sin.  He makes much of you, holding you to Himself as a dearly loved child.  He sees us when no one notices us.  May Christ so work in our hearts that it gives us more joy to boast in Him rather than boast in ourselves.

3.      Be careful who you listen to (12-15)

‘Their end corresponds to their deeds’ (15).  Those are chilling words for the ‘super-apostles’.  Paul sees Satan himself behind their ministry.  He calls them false-apostles and deceitful workmen.  It can be hard to spot a false-teacher.  The ‘super-apostles’ masqueraded as servants of righteousness.  ‘Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.’ 

I am not saying that every television preacher is a false-teacher but there are parallels between what the ‘super-apostles’ and the ‘the prosperity preachers’ you see on ‘Christian’ television.  Both have no place for suffering in the Christian life.  Be careful who you listen to!

God calls us to come singing, ‘Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling.’  God calls us to behold the glory of Jesus and let His Holy Spirit make us more and more like Him.  God holds His children close to His heart.  Then in the coming ages those who trust in Christ alone will display the immeasurable riches of God’s grace in kindness towards us in Christ.

Conclusion

Henry Gerecke was the Lutheran chaplain to the prisoners at Nuremberg.  When Albert Speer and others started coming to his chapel services he wrote, “I felt sure that others’ prayers were with me because it was not possible to win them to the foot of the cross without the intersessions of God’s people.”  Prayer and the message of the cross.  There was also great love.  It was not easy for Gerecke to love these men.  His two sons had served as soldiers in American army during the war and he had been an army chaplain.  But he asked God’s Spirit to give Him God’s love.  At one stage, because of his age, he was given the opportunity to quit being chaplain at Nuremberg and go home to his wife, who he had not been for over two years.  The prisoners wrote to his wife asking for her to encourage him to stay.  ‘During this past month he has shown us uncompromising friendliness … in these surrounding in which … we find only prejudice, cold distain or hatred.’

As we have been looking at this section of 2 Corinthians we have been thinking about doing God’s work God’s way.  The way to do God’s work is to pray, love and be clear with the truth.  That is what we see in the ministry of the apostle Paul.  We see his love and devotion to the truth in these verses.  Read his letters and you will see the great emphasis he puts on prayer.  It’s so exciting because it is a ministry that we can share in.  We can pray.  We can love because we have been first loved in Christ.  We can be clear about the truth as we boast of what Jesus has done for us!

Your weaknesses equip you to serve (2 Corinthians 12:1-10)

 

Supposing I ended up in 5b.  It could happen, I’ve struggled with my mental health before.  For those of you who don’t know 5b is the psychiatric unit of University Hospital Limerick.  It is where people go to get help with severe mental illness in times of severe distress.

Would you be ashamed of me?  Would suggest that we search for a new pastor?  Would you be telling me to keep it secret? 

I don’t think being in 5b is anything to be ashamed of.  The church is supposed to be a safe place for those who struggle.

This morning we are going see that the gospel is more important than miracles, God’s ‘no’ can be more important that his ‘yes’, and that our weakness is more important than our strength.

The gospel is more important than miracles (1-7)

I love miracle stories.  They can be a real encouragement and they can strengthen our faith.  They also can be a distraction.  Jesus warns us that, ‘a wicked generation demands a sign’ (Matthew 16:4).  We must not make miracles the main thing in our faith.

Paul has been forced to talk about a spectacular vision he received fourteen years earlier.  That places the vision in what’s known as Paul’s ‘silent years’—a period of seven to ten years after his conversion and before the beginning of his public ministry.  Notice that this was a once in a lifetime event for Paul.  He didn’t have this sort of vision all the time.

He was caught up into the third heaven.  The first heaven refers to the sky, where the birds fly.  The second heaven refers to space, where the stars shine.  The third heaven is paradise, where God’s dwells.  There Paul saw things that he was not permitted to share.

The only reason that Paul talks about this vision is that the ‘super-apostles’ have been boasting about amazing visions they’ve experienced, and they were trying to undermine Paul’s credibility by saying that he has experienced nothing similar.  He responds, ‘It embarrasses me to have to say this, but I have had a revelation that surpasses anything you claim to have had.’

It’s amazing that Paul didn’t feel the need to talk about it before.   If I had a revelation like that I would be tempted to make it my platform.  ‘Come see the man who was in heaven!’  In fact, it is not so long ago that there was a book and a film called ‘Heaven is for Real’, about a boy who visited heaven.  At one stage there were a whole host of ‘heaven tourism’ books.

But Paul doesn’t want to talk about this vision because he doesn’t want people to ‘think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say’ (6).  I know a man who claims to have had great miraculous experiences.  I reserve my judgement.  But I want to know how much he makes of Christ-crucified, if is he humble, if understand the place of suffering in the Christian life and if the love of Jesus effects the way he treats people.

‘No’ can be more important than ‘yes’ (7-8)

Like all of us, the apostle Paul was tempted towards pride.  Such a surpassingly great revelation could easily puff someone up and make them arrogant.  God loves Paul enough to care more about his heart more than his comfort.  God loves us enough t seek to make us humble.  God permitted Satan to torment him with a thorn in the flesh.

We don’t know what this thorn in the flesh was.  He doesn’t say.  It might be that the eye condition that caused Paul to have to rest in Galatia was a recurring condition.  There are actually lots of suggestions to what it might be.  What we do know it that it caused him severe suffering, and that it was humiliating for him.  Maybe in a culture where there were plenty of prosperity teachers he had to put up with being looked down on for having a weakness.

I was actually in a small group when someone claimed that God had removed the thorn from Paul.  This person had no place in their theology for suffering in the life of the believer.  Their ‘name it and claim it’ beliefs could not allow God say ‘no’ to a prayer offered in sincere faith.  But the whole flow of this passage makes clear that the thorn was God’s will for Paul’s life.

We see here that God is committed to saving us from pride.  Now I wouldn’t call it a messenger from Satan and it didn’t cause me torment, but I had to repeat my leaving certificate.  Then when I got into college I wanted a particular grade, in part because my primary school principle had made it clear that she didn’t think I was clever.   I didn’t get it.  I think that was God’s blessing to me.  For if I’d done better I would be even more arrogant than I am. 

Success can be far more dangerous to our hearts than failure.   It might feel like the world has fallen apart when the doctor tells us that the results are bad.  It might feel like our dreams are shattered when you are passed over for promotion, the business fails or you are let go.  It might be humiliating to pass through a nervous breakdown or a time of deep depression.   But our heavenly Father knows what He is at.  He is committed to shaping our hearts.  He is dealing with our pride and causing us to depend on Him.   

Our weakness is more important than our strength (9-12)

God actually wants us to boast about our weaknesses.

I messaged a friend who is a New Testament lecturer and asked him if such weaknesses could include an area of temptation that God allows us to experience to cause us to lean on Him for strength.  He suggests that that can be the case.  I wrestle with my appetite.  I am tempted all the time to binge eat.  I am ashamed to say that many times I give in.  There is nothing to boast about in the sin.  But I can also say that this weakness humbles me and causes me to cry out to Him for help!

God did not remove the thorn in the flesh from Paul.  ‘But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness’ (9).  My grace is sufficient—you do not need to be free from weakness in order to serve Jesus.  My power is made perfect in weakness—not my power is made perfect despite weakness but my power is made perfect in weakness.  Your weaknesses are what qualify you to serve Jesus.

Weaknesses causes us to depend on Christ.  Weaknesses drive us to pray.  Weaknesses make us realise that we can’t live for Jesus in our own strength.  Weaknesses remind us that we are dependent on His power not ours.  Will you allow your weaknesses direct you to the prayer room, or to be honest with people about your struggles?  Can you thank God for those weaknesses?  They may be one of God’s greatest blessing for you!   

‘Therefore, I will boast more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties, for when I am weak then I am strong’ (9-10).    

Are you willing to boast about your weakness, or at least be honest about them?    Do you feel a failure as a mother or a father?  Do you feel a let down as a son or a daughter?  Do you feel unsure when the topic of faith is raised by your friends and family?  Do you have a daily battle to resist lust?  Do you have social anxiety?  I know I come across as very social but I struggle with this.  Do you find it hard to pray?  Most of us do.  I sometimes have to wrestle with doubt.  Not all doubt is rooted in stubborn unbelief, as we see with Jude’s instruction to be merciful to those who doubt.  Do your struggle to be patient with your workmates?  Do you find singleness lonely?  Are there health issues that tempt you to despair?  Did you ever lost face because you feel apart in front of people?

All these weaknesses drive us to Christ.  All these weaknesses cause us to depend on Him for His strength.  All these weaknesses show the loving heart of a God who chooses the weak things of this world to shame those who think they are strong. All these weaknesses reflect the beauty of the Christ who allowed himself be so weakened that He could not carry the beam of His cross but needed the help of another.  All these weaknesses point to the one who experienced a shame-filled death to make us His own.  All these weaknesses give Jesus the opportunity to show that He is all that we need.  Yes, God’s gives His people talents and gifts, but these will only serve to make us look good if they are not used in dependent weakness.

Conclusion

So, what if I ended up in 5b?  Would you start the search for a new pastor?  Would you be embarrassed for me?  Would you think it made less of a Christian?  It might be that the strains of this ministry are too much for me and that I need to think of a different way to serve God.  However, it also might be the best thing that ever happened to my ministry.

You might not struggle with your mental health like I do, but we all struggle.  All of us have experienced brokenness and have weaknesses.  Those weaknesses do not mean that God has let us down.  Those weaknesses may be among His greatest gifts to us.  God is glorified to show that He chooses the weak to shame those who think they are strong.  God is committed to making us humble.  God moves us to depend on Him alone.  He comforts us in our troubles so that we can comfort those in their troubles with the comfort we have experienced.  He causes us to give up on our strength so that we depend on His.        

‘I asked God for strength that I might achieve.  I was made weak that I might learn to humbly obey.

I asked God for health that I might do all things.  I was given infirmity that I might do better.

I asked God for riches that I might be happy.  I was given poverty that I might be wise.

I asked God for power that I might have the praise of men.  I was given weakness that I might feel the need for God.

I asked God for all things that I might enjoy life.  I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing I asked for but everything I hoped for.  Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.  I am, among men, most richly blessed.’  (Anon.)    

2 Corinthians 10:7-18 ‘Whose glory?’

Paul Tripp writes:

‘I saw a change in my friend.  He was once a champion of the gospel.  It was the fire in his belly, the passion that constantly motivated him.  But now he was different.  It hadn’t happened all at once, but his ministry had changed.  It had been all about his Saviour, but now it was all about him.  He seemed to have fallen into the lure of his own notoriety.  He clearly loved being the centre of attention.  He liked being surrounded by his fans.  He loved hanging around with “the cool kids.”  He was still in ministry and still doing ministry things, but the glory-focus had radically shifted.  Whether he knew it or not, the glory that excited him was not the glory of his Saviour.  He was obsessed with his own glory, and it would be his undoing.’

I find those words chilling because I like to be centre of attention.  I like people to make much of me.  I want to be told I am great.  While affirmation can bring needed encouragement, we must not live for human applause.

What about you?  Who are you trying to impress?  Are you trying to show the world that you have got it together?  Are you striving to be the best?  Do you push your children to make you look good?  Is your worth found in how far up the career-ladder you are?  Do you get angry when people don’t notice all that you have done?  Do you demand that people take your opinion into account?  Do you get upset when no one thanks you?  Do you draw attention to all you have achieved?  Do you have to be a leader or have you learned how to follow?

This morning we are going to see the difference between making much of ourselves and making much of Jesus. 

Those who want to make much of themselves are critical and ambitious (10:7-12)

You are judging by appearances (NIV).  You are looking at the surface.  Look at what is before your eyes (ESV). 

The people in the church at Corinth are faced with two types of leader.  On one hand there are those Paul has ironically labelled ‘super-apostles’.  These men are trained communicators, who have an impressive appearance and who think highly of themselves.  On the other hand, you have Paul.  Listen to how these ‘super-apostles’ describe him.  ‘His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is of no account’ (10). 

Paul wouldn’t entirely disagree.  His letters were strong, and he had come to them in ‘weakness with great fear and trembling … not with wise and persuasive words’ (1 Cor. 2:3-4).  But his words did count for something because he preached Christ-crucified.  Also, Paul isn’t a two-faced coward.  If they won’t respond to his letters, he will show them how stern he can be when face-to-face.

Paul had opened this letter by describing himself as ‘an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God’ (1:1).  His letters were recognised as Scripture by the other apostles (2 Pet. 3:16).  I remember talking to a friend about an issue that Christians disagree on.  I wanted to know what she thought of the apostle Paul’s teaching on the subject.  She admitted, ‘I don’t really care what Paul said.’  You can’t say that as a Christian!  He was writing with divine authority.   

While Paul was appointed by the will of God, the ‘super-apostles’ were self-appointed.  While Paul sought to build up the church, the ‘super-apostles’ sought to build their reputations.  They wanted to be masters, he sought to be a servant.

The ‘super-apostles’ desire to make much of themselves demonstrated itself in a critical spirit, boastfulness and comparisons.  There is something wrong with our heart if we are regularly critical of people.  There is something wrong with our heart if we always feel the need to tell people of the things you have achieved.  There is something wrong with our heart if we find ourselves comparing yourself with others.

Comparison will either lead us to pride or jealousy.  If we think that we are better than someone we will proud and smug.  If they think that they are better than us we will be discouraged or even jealous.  But if we can rest in the fact that we belong to Jesus and are dearly loved children of an affirming Father then the need to compare ourselves with others should disappear.  Paul says that those who find their worth in comparison are not wise/without understanding (12).   

Those who make much of Jesus point to the beauty of Jesus (13-17)

Look down to Paul’s words about boasting.  ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord’ (17).  That is a quote from Jeremiah: ‘Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong of their strength or the rich boast of their riches but let the one who boasts boast about this:  that they have understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who excelsis kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight’ (Jer. 9:23-24).

The ‘super-apostles’ wanted to draw attention to how great they were, Paul wanted to draw attention to how great God is.  God is the one who loved us when we wanted nothing to do with Him.  God is the one who gave His Son to take the punishment for all our guilt.  God is the one who has made us a part of His family.  God is the one who has prepared works in advance for us to do.  God is the one who is pleased even with the smallest gesture, like giving someone a cup of water in Jesus’ name. 

Paul says that he will not boast beyond proper limits, ‘but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service that God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that includes you’ (13).  Paul recognises that God had called him to share the gospel with the Corinthians and that God had blessed his efforts.  But he would be the first to tell you that anything of value that happens through his efforts are the result of God’s power not his.

‘Neither do we go beyond our limits in boasting of work done by others’ (15a).  The ‘super-apostles’ arrived in Corinth and tried to take credit for work Paul and his friends had done.  Their attitude was ‘nothing really had happened until we arrived’.  They would have said, ‘these Corinthian Christians weren’t really very spiritually mature until we started to teach them.’ 

Paul had a godly ambition.  ‘Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand, so that we can preach the gospel in regions beyond you’ (15b).  He hoped to take the gospel as far as Spain.  But he wouldn’t go until he feels that his work with them is complete.  Paul isn’t just into counting numbers.  Someone says that you need to weigh converts as well as count them.  You need to ensure that they are really established in the faith.

Remember that it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the Lord’s commends (18).  The Lord’s work done the Lord’s way will always bring the Lord pleasure.  That is our joy!

Conclusion

Paul Tripp:

‘Sin causes us to search for glory satisfaction outside of our Creator, but God will not share his glory with another.  He is jealous for his glory to be the one glory that captures our hearts, and should shape the way we live … God exercises his power for his own glory.  Does that bother you?  It is wrong to live for your own glory because, as a creature, you belong to the one who made you.  You exist by his will and for his purpose …  His zeal for his own glory is the hope of the universe.  It is in loving for his glory that we are rescued from our bondage to our own glory, a glory that will never satisfy our hearts.’

Final question, who had more joy, Paul or the super-apostles?  The super apostles who wanted to be centre of attention who compared themselves with each other who had a critical spirit.  Paul who delighted in the gospel.  He marvelled that God would use him, even him, to fulfil his purposes.  He knew that God sees all that what we do, and doesn’t need to worry about others recognition, who depended on God’s power working through him.  He boasted in the Lord.

Prayer:

‘Lord, help us live for your glory.  Rescue us from the bondage of our own glory, which will not satisfy.  I thank you for being my hope, my life, and satisfaction.  I praise the name of Jesus, the one who died and was raised for my sake.  May I live for his eternal glory, even as I pray in his name, amen’ (Adapted from Paul Tripp).

‘When you don’t have the strength to follow Jesus it is God who makes us stand firm’ (2 Corinthians 1:12-2:11)

 

‘When you don’t have the strength to follow Jesus it is God who makes us stand firm’ (2 Corinthians 1:12-2:11)

Many years ago, a friend of mine told me that she would like to become a Christian but she didn’t think that she would have the strength to do all the things that Jesus calls us to do.  I actually think that was quite a mature reaction.  Jesus makes big demands of his people.  Jesus commands us never to be ashamed of him, to love our enemies and to share the good news.  Following Jesus is not easy, but God promises that he will make us stand firm in Christ.

1.       ‘We did not rely on worldly wisdom but God’s grace’

Remember the context.  Paul and his team had established the church at Corinth.  But after he left false-teachers had come and turned the church against Paul.  They were trained in the best methods of communication, could charge expensive fees and spoke a message of pain-free triumphant living.  The majority of the church had been taken in by them.  It was celebrity preachers and the prosperity gospel.

So, what does worldly wisdom look like when it came to ministering among the church at Corinth?  Worldly wisdom looks like the false-teachers.  These men were impressive, self-made, powerful and wealthy.  These men would have impressed in the world, and they had impressed the worldly Corinthian Christians. 

How weak the apostle Paul looked compared to them!  By all accounts Paul was unimpressive in appearance.  He was poor and earned a meagre living through manual labour.  He wasn’t a trained communicator.  His life was characterised by suffering.  But he knew that ‘when I am weak then I am strong’ (2 Cor. 12:10).

In this internet age there are plenty of celebrity preachers and there are churches whose worship can rival the best of concerts.  These things aren’t necessarily wrong, but they are not where we place our confidence.  We must not think that they are the key to a good ‘worship experience’ or the ingredients that will establish our church plant.

‘We don’t rely on worldly wisdom but of God’s grace’.  God’s grace is his undeserved unearned unmerited favour.  It’s God not treating us as our sins deserve but according to his loving kindness.  It centres on a broken saviour on a cross.  Because he knew that the church was a result of God’s grace Paul did not rely on his performance.  Instead he acted with integrity and godly sincerity.

When my parents retired they went to Killarney to revive a small Methodist church.  It grew quickly and the denomination wanted to learn how that happened.  I think it was quite simple.  The time was right and they simply loved people, prayed and taught the Bible.  That is our task as we seek to grow this church and plant a new one.  We need to love people, pray and faithful speak of the crucified Jesus.       

2.      ‘It is God who makes us stand firm in Christ’

I have noticed something since coming to Limerick: in this city our word is not our bond.  People will tell you what they think you want to hear but that doesn’t mean that they will actually act on their words.  I remember someone finding out that I was pastor of this church and telling me that they were going to come to join us the next Sunday.  I waited for them.  Hoping to see them.  Then they did not turn up.  I don’t think they had intentionally lied to me, they just didn’t follow through on what they had promised.  I learned not to take people’s promises so seriously.

Paul’s opponents were accusing him of a similar unreliability.  They said that he was the sort of person who says one thing but does another.  He had made plans to visit the church, but he didn’t follow through.  They said he was two-faced.  As we will see Paul had good reason to change his plans.  He tells him that his ministry and his message is rooted in the faithfulness of God. 

‘But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not ‘Yes’ and ‘No’.  For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not ‘yes’ and ‘no’, but in him it has always been ‘yes’.  For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘yes’ in Christ.  And through him the ‘Amen’ [literally ‘let is be’] is spoken for the glory of God.  Now it is God who makes us and you stand firm in Christ.  He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come’ (18-22).

John Piper explains that behind every promise of God lies the logic of heaven, which says, ‘I did not spare my own Son therefore my promises cannot fail.  I will help you do what you have been called to do’ (John Piper).  I think that this is beautifully illustrated in the letter to the Romans, ‘he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things [which in the context is all things needed to grow in godliness and say with God to the end]’ (Romans 8:32).

Think of all the promises of the Old Testament—our sinful hearts being made as white as snow, a new heart and a new inclination to follow God and that would be his people and he our God, they are all fulfilled in Jesus.  This is also true of all the promises of the New Testament.   You say, ‘I can’t overcome this temptation, I am addicted to my sin, it is hopeless.’  God says, ‘Did I lie to you when I said that I will not let be tempted beyond what you can bear and that I would provide a way out (1 Cor. 10:13)?’  You say, ‘I can’t speak to that person about Jesus, I wouldn’t know what to say.’  God says, ‘when I call I equip, ask me and I will fill you with the Holy Spirit and you will speak with courage’ (Acts 4:31).  You say, ‘I don’t matter to God.’  God says, ‘through Jesus I have forgiven your sin, made you a child of mine, and you are the apple of my eye.’

‘I did not spare my own Son therefore my promises cannot fail.  I will help you do what you have been called to do’.

3.      ‘Forgive in the sight of God’

But why hadn’t Paul visited them when he said he would?  He had changed his plans ‘to spare you’ (1:23).  He had delayed visiting out of love for them.  It was not because he was unreliable or two-faced.  It was because he loved them so much. 

You see his second visit had been a ‘painful visit’ (2:1).  He had to address the Corinthians about their behaviour, including their tolerance for false-teachers.  That visit had been full of confrontation.  If he had come back too soon after that visit it would have likely ended up with more fighting.  Instead, he wrote a letter—a severe letter, but written through tears—to address the issues and give them time to repent.  Thankfully that letter had worked and the majority of the church returned to Paul.  Now Paul calls them to do one of the hardest things that God demands of us—to forgive! 

We don’t know how, but one of their members had particularly wronged Paul.  Yet in response to the severe letter and the discipline of the church he had repented.  You see, if we really care about each other we will seek to address serious and ongoing sin in their lives.  This man’s behaviour had upset all of them.  Those in the church were finding it hard to forgive him.  In fact, they were in danger of crushing him.  It was really important that they reaffirmed their love for him.  For you know who loves to see a church consumed with bitterness and forgiven people being condemned?   The devil!  It is how he damages churches!  A politician stood before a large audience of Christian students and gave them some advice: ‘get even!’  That is exactly what the devil would do!

Notice how he forgives.  There is some debate about what is meant when he says that ‘I have forgiven in the sight of God’ (2:10).  I think that part of this means that he has forgiven for God’s sake.  He has also forgiven following God’s example.  We don’t understand the good news about Jesus if we can’t see that involves unworthy people like ourselves been forgiven by God and being challenged by Jesus to extend that forgiveness to others.  Christ took up his cross so that we could be forgiven.  It is not too much for him to ask us to forgive others. 

I remember when I began to work in a church in Northern Ireland at the end of the troubles someone suggested it was not my place to tell people they needed to forgive.  After all I had not suffered what they had suffered.  That may be true, but the call to forgive comes from Jesus, who suffered more than any of us, and he did so for us.  He will be patient with us a we struggle to let go of bitterness.  He will enable us to reaffirm love to those who have let us down.

Conclusion

I want to finish by admitting ‘I can’t do it’.  ‘I can’t forgive those who have hurt me.’  ‘I don’t have the courage to speak about Jesus to those who intimidate me.’  ‘I don’t have the sticking power to stand’.  ‘I don’t feel like I will ever have the ability to overcome those temptations that so easily defeat me.'  Neither do you, and that is okay!  We act in the grace of God.

The Christian life is not activism.  It is not turning over a new page or making a New Year’s resolution.  It is not gritting our teeth or trying harder.  On our own we will not stand firm in Christ.

The Christian life is not passivism.  It is not simply ‘let go and let God’.  God works in us to will and act according to his good purposes.  We are called to respond to God’s grace.   

The Christian life is striving in dependence of God.  In a previous letter to the Corinthians Paul wrote, ‘by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.  On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me’ (1 Cor. 15:10).  Or to the Colossians Paul sums up his ministry explaining, ‘He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.  To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me’ (Col. 1:28-29).

‘It is God who makes us and you stand firm in Christ’ (2 Cor. 1:21).  When we admit our weakness then we are strong!