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!

Matthew 6:19-25 ‘Making a good investment’

 

I like the concept of idols when it comes to seeing what is wrong with the human heart.  An idol is not necessarily something carved out of wood or stone, but something that we look to for our security and significance.  Money, and the stuff money can buy, is one very popular idol.  Jesus teaches us that we cannot live for both God and money.

Investing in heaven makes sense (19-21)

How much is enough?  The rich person replies, ‘just a little more’.  Wealth has a way of leaving us unsatisfied.  It also has a way of disappearing.  The minute you drive that new car out of the garage it has depreciated.  Inflation means that your money is worth less every year.  Shares crash.  Property bubbles burst.  Scam artists steal.  Even if all of your invests go well, you are going to have to leave it all behind you when you die!

But there is an investment with a magnificent return.  It is in the Bank of Heaven.  How we live now affects the joy that we will experience in the life to come.  Everything we do for God has eternal significance.  Even the smallest thing done in Jesus’s name, like giving someone a cup of water, will never lose its reward.

Where your treasure is, there will be your heart also (21).  People often play the short game—living without reference to God and thinking that the stuff of this world is as good as it gets.  But there is a long game—to enjoy God now and for all eternity.

Investing is based on how we see the world (22-23)

Our attitude towards wealth is about how we see the world.  If your eye is healthy (or ‘clear’ or ‘generous’) your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad (or ‘evil’) your whole body will be full of darkness.

If our sight has been caught by the beauty of Jesus, and what He has done for us through His death and resurrection, it will show itself in how we use our money.  If His love is pouring into us, it will generously flow out of us.  As the hymn says, ‘turn your eyes upon Jesus.  Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of the world will go strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.’ 

But, if our joy comes primarily through what we can purchase; if our security is based on trusting our bank account to provide rather than trusting our God to provide; and, if we are we demand that the world sees us as a success, then it is doubtful that we know God at all.

We have to choose how we invest  

No one can serve two masters, for he will either hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.  Your money wants to master you.  It wants you to live for it.  Like all idols it promises security and significance.  Like all idols it fails to deliver.  It will make you a slave if you let it.  You need to sit down with all of your stuff and be firm.  You need to say to it, ‘Thank you for coming today.  Listen, I just want you to make sure that the rules are clear.  You shall serve me, not I you.  And I serve God!’ (Adapted from O’Donnell). 

A pastor warned his son that you cannot serve both God and money.  The son replied, ‘but you can serve God with money’.  That is so true.  In one of his most interesting statements Jesus says, ‘I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings’ (Luke 16:9).  Imagine if the generosity you showed to someone in Christ’s name touched them so deeply that they allowed His love to master them.  Think how the money spent on missions enables people to hear the gospel.  Imagine you arrive into heaven and one of the people you meet says to you, ‘I am here because of how you gave.’  That would be a treasure in heaven! That would be a good investment!

2 Corinthians 10:1-6 ‘God’s work done God’s way’

There had been a problem between the apostle Paul and the church at Corinth.  However, the majority of the Corinthians had repented and their relationship restored.  But there was still a group of self-appointed leaders who continued to oppose Paul.

Paul will call these opponents, ironically, ‘super-apostles’.  They looked down on him.  They despised his emphasis on weakness and suffering.  For them, the Christian life was not supposed to embrace pain and hardship.  They emphasised a victorious Christian life and triumph.  Theirs was a ‘prosperity gospel’.  Paul needs to take these men on.  Bad theology needs to confronted.  Bad theology misrepresents the holiness and love of God.  It hurts people.

Not so long ago, I was in a Christian centre.  There I saw copies of a book on healing.  I looked through one of them and saw that it claimed that it was always God’s will to heal faithful Christians.  I was struck by an irony—not so long ago the founder of that Christian centre had died of an illness.  I want to ask the people of that place, ‘if you believe what this book says, then who sinned—who lacked faith—your leader or the people who prayed for them?’  The ‘health and wealth gospel’ can only offer condemnation at the funeral of a believer.

1.       Confront like Jesus (1-2)

I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away—I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh (1-2)

Paul refers to the meekness and gentleness of Christ.  Jesus describes himself as ‘Gentle and Lowly’.  Last year I read the book, ‘Gentle and Lowly’, by Dane Ortland.  It’s so good that I plan to read it again this year.  The author explains, ‘Meek.  Humble.  Gentle.  Jesus is not trigger-happy.  Not harsh, reactionary, easily exasperated.  He is the most understanding person in the universe.  The posture most natural to him is not a pointed finger but open arms.’  Yet Jesus’ meekness and gentleness walk side-by-side with his courage and conviction. 

Another book I really enjoyed last year was ‘The Incomparable Christ’, by Oswald Saunders.  He writes a chapter on ‘The Manliness of Christ’.  He explains that chaplains in WWI found that ‘The average Tommy believed that Jesus was just and good but a trifle soft.’  ‘They never knew that He was Lion of Judah as well as Lamb of God.’  Jesus could overturn the tables of the corrupt and have sharp words for religious hypocrites.

The ‘super-apostles’ accused Paul of being a hypocritical-coward.  They said that he was all softly-softly and nice when with them, but then when at a safe distance he would write them harsh letters.  Paul warns them that he is willing to challenge them face-to-face.

I feel God is challenging me about being afraid of conflict.  I want everyone to think well of me.  I don’t want to fall out with anyone.  But speaking the truth in love may annoy people.  We need to be full of meekness and gentleness, and loyalty to the truth.  Family members may be offended by the gospel—but we don’t want to leave them uninformed.  We should be inviting people to address issues in our lives, without taking the hump.  We may also be called to address issues in the lives of others—seeking to be respectful, tactful and wise—and they might not thank us for it.  Having all people speak well of you is not a measure of godliness.

2.       Build with Word and Spirit (3)

The ‘super-apostles’ accused Paul of ‘walking according to the flesh’.  They thought that he wasn’t very spiritual.  Not like them.  They boasted of great spiritual experiences, he simply preached the good news.  They were trained in all the rhetorical techniques of the day, he simply spoke clearly.  They charged fees for their teaching, he supported himself by working with his hands.       

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh (2).  The New Living Translation puts it, ‘We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do.’  He may not have had natural charisma.  He may not have appeared impressive.  He had come among them in weakness and with much fear and trembling (2:1-5).  But his message had power because it is the gospel of God.

A Tweet read: ‘What if Jesus decided to build the church in a way that only he got the credit?  What if it wasn’t down to how up-to-date our buildings are, how professional our praise band is, or how impressive our preachers?  What if we just loved people, prayed and were clear with the truth?’

Let’s grow this church in depth as well as numbers.  Let’s pray for lives to be transformed.  Let’s ask God for opportunities to be clear with the truth.  Let’s be Christlike in our love and concern for others.  Church growth experts offer lots of techniques to make a church great.  May we simply depend on these three: prayer, love for people and being clear with the truth.

3.      Do God’s work God’s way (4-6)

I don’t know why the Christian church is so obsessed with putting on a performance.  I don’t know why people are impressed by flash and charm.  I don’t know why we fall for the strutting showman.  But while these weapons of the flesh can attract a crowd they cannot change lives from the inside out.  The good news about Jesus, lovingly and prayerfully shared, destroys strongholds of unbelief, overcomes arguments and objections to God and takes every thought captive to obey Christ.  

This doesn’t mean that we win will every debate with our unbelieving friends.  It does mean that our aim is to be clear.  When the opportunity comes to speak about Jesus make sure that you tell them that without Jesus in their lives they are lost and guilty before God and on the road to hell.  Make sure that you tell them that God loves them and wants to transform their lives.  Make sure you show them the cross, where Jesus took the punishment that we deserve, so that everyone who turns to Him might be forgiven and clean.  Then, even if they laugh at what you have said, you can walk away knowing that you have offered them the most powerful message the world has ever heard.  

Paul takes every thought captive being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete (6).  Paul is so convinced of the need to do God’s work God’s way that he is ready to take on everyone who opposes the message he brings.  God’s truth is worth fighting for!

 

 

 

Conclusion

I want each of you to give your life to Christ, then get baptised and then become a member of the church, where you can submit to the church’s discipline and contribute to its mission.

Before you become a member, you will attend a membership class.  In that membership class you will be told about a family called the Stockils.  They were a key family in our church for many years. 

They became Christians because in the early 1900s their son contracted an infectious disease and was quarantined in hospital.  The only minister who would visit them was the Baptist pastor.  He would visit the bog and his family each week, and bring a bag of sweets.  He would take time each time he visited to pray with the family for the boy’s recovery.  The boy’s father was intrigued that the pastor would risk his own life in this way.

‘Why would you do this?’ 

‘Because of God’s love’, the pastor replied. 

‘But what about you own life?’ 

‘Live or die my life is in God’s hands.’   

‘Well,’ said the father, ‘if that is your faith, I am my family will be coming to your church.’

Our predecessors in this church summed up their mission like this: ‘We place great importance on the preaching of the gospel of Christ, the communion of believers and the furtherance of the Lord’s cause here’.  

God’s work done God’s way!

What are the three ingredients?  Prayer, love people and be clear with the truth.

Mission to Nuremberg

I have been reading 'Mission to Nuremberg' by Tim Townsend.  It is well-written, but I feel he goes on too many tangents and might have been better to write a shorter account.

At the Nuremberg Trials, twenty-two of the most notorious Nazis were tried for war crimes.  Two chaplains were assigned to minister to them, including the American Lutheran, Henry Gerecke.

I want to focus on Gereche's ministry to Hermann Goring, who was one of the leading architects of the Nazi's evil regime.   Goring was the Nazi prisoner that Gerecke dreaded meeting the most.  Goring had been responsible for the Nazi party's security apparatus, and had created the first concentration camps for Hitler's political opponents.  He later oversaw the Luftwaffe (German air force) and was Hitler's number two.

Jesus teaches that God sends the sun and the rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous,  The psalms teach that God is good to all he has made.  God blessed Goring with human love through his devoted wife, Emmy, and their young daughter, Edda.  Another blessing God gives all people is that he retrains our evil.  Despite such a cruel heart towards so many people, Goring was an animal lover, and even had tame lions at his home.

In the prison, Gerecke found Goring to be a natural listener who related to him with friendliness and charm.  Goring was a nominal Christian, with no personal relationship with Jesus.  At the Christmas carol service in the make-shift chapel, Goring sung 'Silent Night' louder than all the others. 

Gerecke described Goring's wife, Emmy, as a woman of 'considerable grace and charm.'  Her first visit occurred after she had been apart from her husband for seventeen months.  She wanted to kiss him, but rules would not permit. 

Edda Goring was eight years old when she visited her father for the last time at Nuremberg.  She recalls standing on a chair to get a better view of him through the screen, and seeing him surrounded by white-helmeted guards.  Emmy had urged her daughter to talk with the chaplain, and Gerecke asked her if she said her prayers.  She told him that she prayed every night.  When he asked what she prayed about, she replied, 'I kneel by my bed and look up to heaven and ask God to open daddy's heart and let Jesus in.'

Yet Goring's heart was closed to Jesus.

Goring was found guilty of war crimes and he was sentenced to death by hanging.

At Emmy's last visit, she told Goring that she would like to die with him, if it were not for their daughter.  After the visit Goring told Gerecke that it didn't matter what happened to him now, for he died when he left her for the last time.

Gerecke was not allowed reveal the timings of the prison's executions.  On the night of Goring's planned hanging he visited his cell with the desire to lead him to Christ.  Gerecke had written a devotional for Goring to read.  Goring promised to read it letter, but the chaplain was desperate.  He tried to steer the conversation towards faith.

Goring was annoyed that he was being hung, he felt that it would be more dignified for a senior commander to face the firing squad.  That's what he wanted to talk about.  Again, Gerecke tried to get the conversation onto faith.  But Goring ridiculed the creation accounts of the Old Testament, made fun of the idea of the Bible being divinely inspired and he would not accept the necessity of Jesus' death on the cross.

Gerecke protested, 'this Jesus is my saviour who suffered, bled and died that I may go to heaven one day.  He paid for my sins.'  Goring rubbished the idea of life after death or that God would care about the lives of individuals.  

Then, Goring asked Gerecke to serve him the Lord's Supper.  Gerecke could not with a clear conscience do this.  'This is the way it is: Only those who believe that Jesus is really their saviour, who believe him who instituted the supper, should be permitted to attend the Lord's Supper.  The others are not fit.'

Goring protested that no German pastor had refused him the Lord's Supper.  But Gerecke stood his ground.  Then he tried his last card: 'Herr Goring, your little girl says she wants to met you in heaven.'  

'Yes,' replied Goring.  'She believes in your saviour.  But I don't, I'll just take my chances, my own way.'

Feeling defeated, Gerecke left.

Later that evening commotion broke out when a guard realised that Goring was dying.  He has swallowed a cyanide that someone had smuggled to him.  Gerecke rushed to his cell and whispered in the dying man's ears, 'the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.'

Goring had written a number of suicide notes.  In one, to Gerecke, he claimed that he had prayed to God, and that he felt it was right to take his life rather than die by hanging ('for political reasons').  It is really unclear whether Goring had really turned to the Jesus of the Bible/ 

So, what do we learn from the story of Goring and Gerecke?

1.  We learn about God's common grace.  Common grace is the undeserved kindness to all people, even towards an evil man like Goring.  Goring was blessed with intelligence, charm and a family who loved him.  None of us deserve anything from God, but every good gift comes from above.

2.  We also learn of the God who seeks and saves those who are lost.  God sent that wonderful chaplain, Henry Gerecke, to those prisoners.  God extend them the offer of his forgiveness and life beyond the grave.  The Bible tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  The same grace Goring needed is the grace each of us need.  We remember that Christ Jesus came into the world to save not the self-righteous but those who know their sin.  He will never turn away anyone who comes sincerely to him.

Let's pray:

' Lord Jesus, I acknowledge your many good gifts to me.  I acknowledge the gift of your Son who died for the guilt of all who would put their trust in Him.  I thanks you that you transform our present and offer us the sure hope of eternal life.'  Amen.           

Be small

 

Last week before I preached on the virgin birth I struggled to think how to best apply this wonderful truth.  It was actually only just before the service that I realised that this is a call to ‘be small’.  The second person of the Trinity, who has enjoyed the love of the Father and the Holy Spirit for all eternity, and has been the subject of angels’ praise, becomes an embryo in a virgin’s womb.  What a picture of choosing to become small!

The creator of this universe enters his creation through a fallopian tube.  He becomes a baby born in a backwater of the Roman Empire, with no beauty that we should be drawn to him, belonging to a poor family, having his parenthood questioned, being misunderstood and despised, opposed and mocked, and having his naked body spat upon as he is crucified on a Roman cross—a death so humiliating that it could not be mentioned in polite company.

He did it to demonstrate the goodness of God.  He did it for us.  He did it in love. 

Now he calls us to follow this example and make ourselves small.

1.       The way of smallness is the way of grace

Jesus was one of those men who was good with children.  He was safe and pure.  He was welcoming and warm.  Children were drawn to him.  Parents brought their infants to him that he might bless them.  The disciples thought that this was wasting Jesus’ time.  You see, in those days people did not idolise children.  Children were considered insignificant people.  Jesus teaches that, ‘to such as these belongs the kingdom of God’ (Luke 18:16). 

What is it about the infants that teaches us about entering God’s kingdom?  Helplessness.  Helpless dependence (Kent Hughes).  ‘No child can survive its early years without the help of others.’  No child can boast of great achievements.  No child can offer to pay their way.  Every child needs the protection of someone.

The way of smallness is the way of grace.  It lives in helpless dependence.  It gladly sings, ‘nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.’  It trusts in the truth that God does not treat us as our sins deserve but according to his loving kindness.  We continue to acknowledge our failing as we pray ‘forgive us our trespasses every day’.  In fact, daily confessing our sins should fill us with both humility and gratitude as we acknowledge how we fall and rejoice in the fact that his mercy is renewed every day.

Some of you will know the name Billy Graham.  He was one of the greatest people of the twentieth century.  Billy Graham entered the kingdom of God not be because he had personally preached the gospel to more people than anyone in history; not be because he remained impeccable in his finances when so many have failed; not be because he remained a faithful husband; and not because he was humble and kind.  Billy Graham entered the kingdom because he came to Christ as a helpless child (adapted from Hughes).  He acknowledged the great evil that he saw in his heart and trusted the mercy of our gracious saviour.

I am reading a book on the Nuremburg trials.  This was the trial after World War Two of some of the leading Nazis.  These men were among the worst human beings that have ever walked this earth.  Yet a chaplain was commissioned to share the gospel with them.  That chaplain could speak of a mercy in God that is greater than the worst of human sin.  Some of those war criminals denied that they had done anything wrong.  They claimed that their consciences were clear before God.  Some of those war criminals admitted their guilt and came to Christ like children, admitting their helpless dependence, and they were welcomed into God’s kingdom.

The same grace that saved a sinful man like Billy Graham saves sinful war criminals.  None are so good that they are not in desperate need of grace, God’s grace is sufficient for those who see ourselves as the worst of sinners.  The grace that saved us is the grace that we depend on him every day as we bring him our daily sins and remember he ready mercy   

2.      The way of smallness is the way of gratitude

My friend Brenda is a lecturer in Maynooth University.  She did her doctorate on the mental health effects of gratitude. 

She told me that gratitude influences mental health through increasing the levels of happiness (positive emotions and life satisfaction), and reducing stress, depression and anxiety levels.  It has a protective effect, in the fact that it strengthens us to face future stressful events.  It improves our relationships with other people.  Consciously practicing gratitude changes your brain activity, and even improves your physical health.  By pausing to say thank you, you strengthen neural pathways and make it easier to see the good in life.  Over time it will become a healthy habit.  It even improves the quality and duration of your sleep.  She pointed out that in order to benefit most you must not only seek to feel thankful but express thankfulness.  When you feel thankful for someone, you should actually thank them.

It is a gracious command of God when we are told to ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures for ever’ (Psalm 107:1).  Like all of his commands this is for his glory and our welfare. 

I would add another benefit to Brenda’s list of good things gratitude does for us.  Gratitude should keep us small.  We thank God as people who are helplessly dependent on God.  We thank him for his daily mercies remembering that we do not deserve them.  We thank God for his people remembering that though our Christian brothers and sisters he is fulfilling his promise to place the lonely in families.  We thank him for his love knowing that he loves us infinitely more than we love him.  We thank God for the cross where Jesus took the punishment our guilt deserves.  We thank him that he has been with us in past storms and will be with us as we pass through future fires.

Can we be boastful and thankful at the same time, I am not sure?  The way of smallness is the way of gratitude.      

3.      The way of smallness is the way of glory

Jesus repeatedly tells us not to draw attention to ourselves, and yet he also says that we are to not to hide our light under a bushel.  How do these two things fit together?  Maybe the answer is found in thinking about what shining for Jesus looks like.  Shining our light is about making ourselves small not big.

Shining our light involves genuine humility, a virtue that was not valued in the ancient world.  We rejoice in what Jesus has done for us for more than in anything we have done for him.  We acknowledge that he is changing us in ways that we were helpless to change ourselves.  He has enabled us to will and act for his good purposes.  We serve not in our own power but with the grace of God in us.  Maybe we could say that our light is to shine like a floodlight that casts it glow on the beauty and work of Christ.

In this life we may be looked down on for our faith in God.  In some countries Christians endure rejection and violent opposition.  But Christians focus on Jesus who endured the shame of the cross looking ahead to the glory that he would experience when he sat down at the right-hand side of God.  We look forward to when they will share Christ’s glory.  That glory will be rooted in our smallness. ‘God has poured out his love on us so that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus’ (Ephesians 2:7).  For all eternity people will marvel at the fact that God has brought insignificant and failed people like us into his kingdom!

Conclusion

The creator of this world becoming an embryo in a virgin is such a picture of God embracing smallness.  But how are we at living small? 

What about when someone criticises us?  I remember listening to someone hotly criticise me, and while it was a little unfair and very unpleasant, I was also aware of the fact that I am a far more sinful person than even they were saying.  I took their criticism badly, but how much better I might have taken it is I was glad to be small.  No-one can knock you off your high horse if you are already bowed in the posture of humility.

How are we about asking for help?  Are you ready to admit your struggles?  Do you think it honours God when you pretend that your family has got it together?  Do you think that it is beneath you to open up and ask people to pray for you?  Only weak people would go to the prayer room after church, but only weak people understand the grace of God.

In a world of self-made men and independent women, where children are driven to pursue excellence and success, let your light shine as you follow one who entered our world as an embryo in a virgin’s womb, and who would set his face towards a shame-filled cross, where he would die in love for us and now is seated in glory.  Let us be small to the glory of God!