Show Notes
2 Corninthians 11:16-33
Pastor Christopher Chelpka
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Our heavenly Father, because we need you.
[00:00:10] We ask that you would hear our prayer. We ask that you would strengthen our faith that we might be watchful to your hand, watchful to your works, and listening and ready to hear the things that you have said.
[00:00:26] So much doubt is in us that often Satan would tempt us to not pay attention, to not remember, to not believe the things that you have spoken. And yet your word so plainly tells us that all the word of God has been breathed out by you and is profitable to us in so many ways. We see throughout your scriptures examples of people's lives who are changed, saved, miracles done. Amazing things happen, including in the life of the apostle Paul, whom we'll consider today.
[00:01:04] Lord, as we look to all these examples, the mighty works of your hand, the proof and testimony to your steadfast love, let this cloud of witnesses strengthen and encourage us that we might look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Well be with us now as we continue to hear your word read and then also preached. We pray for your blessing this morning, Lord, and we pray in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:01:36] Let's turn to two Corinthians, chapter eleven, and hear the end of this chapter. So I'll begin at verse 16. Ma.
[00:02:10] Paul begins by saying, I repeat, let no one think of me foolish.
[00:02:17] And then he's picking up something he began at the beginning of the chapter in which he says, I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. So he's going to be speaking in particular ways, ways that are foolish, and he knows to be foolish, and he wants us to understand them as foolish, but he's doing it for a particular reason, and he wants us to understand something about the nature of his ministry, which is to say, the nature of the ministry of Christ in the world.
[00:02:44] So let's hear God's word now. Two Corinthians, 1116. To the end of the chapter.
[00:02:52] I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I, too may boast a little well what I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say, not as the Lord would, but as a fool. Since many boast according to the flesh, I, too will boast for you gladly. Bear with fools, being wise yourselves, for you bear it if someone makes slaves of you or devours you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or strikes you in the face.
[00:03:26] To my shame, I must say we were too weak for that.
[00:03:30] But whatever anyone else dares to boast of, I am speaking as a fool.
[00:03:35] I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ?
[00:03:47] I am a better one. I'm talking like a madman.
[00:03:51] With far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the 40 lashes, lest one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was drift on sea. At sea, on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers in toil and in hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
[00:04:35] And apart from all from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety, of all the churches. Who is weak and I'm not weak, who is made to fall and I am not indignant.
[00:04:49] If I must boast, I will boast of these things that show my weakness.
[00:04:54] The God and father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I'm not lying. At Damascus, the governor under King Artas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me. But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.
[00:05:14] May God bless his word to us. Please be seated.
[00:05:45] When we look at the life of Paul and the life of a lot of believers, of the.
[00:05:52] A lot of believers in the Lord, we see this combination of several things coming together.
[00:06:00] We considered this last week when we were finishing Hebrews eleven in the evening service.
[00:06:06] On the one hand, you see that faith accomplishes these really amazing things. When people put their trust in the Lord, amazing things happen. And there's all kinds of examples of this.
[00:06:22] On the other hand, it's also true that when people put their faith in the Lord, there tends to be a great amount of suffering and weakness and non greatness, anti greatness, instead of success and marvelous things. They're pitiful, shameful, embarrassing things.
[00:06:44] The strength that you would expect that would come sometimes doesn't.
[00:06:51] And you see that in the life and the history of God's people. And you see that also in the apostle Paul's life, just speaking, just sort of telling it like it is.
[00:07:04] As Paul records these aspects of his life, we see that on the one hand, Paul has endured so much, he has suffered in so many ways. He talks about external things that have happened to him, dangers in all kinds of ways, publicly embarrassing things, trials and persecution. On being stoned, being beaten, we find external circumstances that are perhaps apart from his, or at least directly apart from his persecution.
[00:07:41] But just as a result of his hard work, on frequent journeys, in hunger, he's tired, he's exposed.
[00:07:50] Then there's the internal things that are going on just inside of his own heart.
[00:07:55] He mentions a few. He says, there's the daily pressure of my anxiety for all the churches. I don't think this is sinful anxiety here, but the care and concern, a legitimate care and concern that he has for others. And that's expressed in the next verse. When he talks about having his mind's eye, so to speak, on those who are weak. When he sees their weakness, he meets them in their weakness. When he sees that they are made to fall, he gets upset, or, to use a stronger word, as the Bible uses, indignant.
[00:08:33] You think about the way that Paul talks about the weaker brother in various parts, parts of, of the corinthian letters and also Romans, where his heart goes out to those who are weak, and he despises and is angry at those who would use their strength or even legitimate christian liberty to hurt them, to make them fall.
[00:08:58] Paul thinks about these things. He doesn't just sort of look at everyone and say, be strong in the Lord. Get out there, do a bunch of good work, and report back in a week. And then when they don't do well and when they suffer and there's problems, he gets mad and says, do you need to perform better? We've got goals to achieve. That's not how he thinks.
[00:09:20] He understands that there is suffering and difficulty, and sometimes things don't work out. And yet, in all of it, we can't help but see the greatness of Paul. Right? Yes, he's suffering. Yes, he's worried. He's concerned. But at least I have a hard time reading this and saying, wow, I wish I could be like that. I wish I could be this strong, this hard of a worker, this persistent, this resilient, this faithful and having this much faith.
[00:09:56] You see in Paul a spiritual greatness that is astounding, and yet it's in the midst of so much suffering.
[00:10:09] We can look at Paul's life and we can see success in some ways on his spiritual strength. He talks, though, in other places, about his educational abilities.
[00:10:20] There's good reasons to think that he was wealthy. We see the success of his work, the planting of all of these churches, ministries, spread across the world, there is greatness in the apostle Paul. This man is amazing. And yet where does his mind go when he wants to think about himself and when he wants to truly boast?
[00:10:47] He ends in this sort of funny way right at the end of this chapter, if I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. He swears to something that happened in verse 31. The God and father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows that I'm not lying. And then he tells us about this embarrassing time when at Damascus, he had to run away and was let down in a basket through a window.
[00:11:15] This was very likely this moment at the beginning of Paul's ministry, right after this significant period of time where he was a persecutor of the church, where he was on the other side of that wall. Literally, or I guess, figuratively. Literally before. Figuratively after.
[00:11:38] Paul, as a persecutor of the church, would go to other places, find people that practiced the way, having previously obtained papers that authorized him to drag them out of their homes, bring them to Jerusalem for beatings, stonings, like we saw with Stephen, like we see with Stephen in the beginning of acts. That's what Paul did.
[00:12:03] He was strong, right? He had the backing of the government. He had his own energy. He had zeal, and he was effective. And he went to these places, and he was trying to tear apart the church and was, as I said, effective. And in that he was powerful. There was a measure of glory. He got to approve beyond the shadow of a doubt that he was a jew, as he and his other persecutors thought about that. He got to use his education, his connections, his wealth, and all of that to come to bear in this thing in which he was the powerful one, standing there looking over Stephen and other people like him being beaten and despised and shamed, now being let down in a basket, running away from people like that.
[00:13:09] He has to escape. He has to be on the run. He's not on the side of the powerful. He does not feel strong anymore. He's suffering in all kinds of ways. And that's what his mind goes to when his mind goes to how ought we to think about ourselves? How ought we to think about ministry and the work of Christ among us. He wants to boast in the things he's going to, wants to talk about the things that show his weakness.
[00:13:45] What is Paul trying to do in all of this? What is he trying to teach us?
[00:13:52] Well, he tells us back in verse twelve what he's doing.
[00:13:57] He says, and what I am doing and what I will continue to do, I think in his ministry in general and in this passage in particular, he does, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission, they work on the same terms as we do.
[00:14:18] So he's undermining a claim. What is the claim? He's undermining the people that are saying, we're like the apostles, we do apostolic work, we are christian ministers. We are doing, we are doing. And in fact, we're doing it better than they are. Look at Paul. He's not as good of a speaker as I am. Look at Paul. He's not even getting money from you. Look at Paul. He's not even here. His words don't match his actions. All kinds of things like this, they're making all of these accusations.
[00:14:54] And the fundamental difference between these false apostles and the true apostles, the fundamental difference is the confidence that they have on the thing that they stand on. Or rather, the difference is the thing that they're standing on.
[00:15:12] Paul's confidence is in the Lord.
[00:15:15] Paul is great. We can say safely, he does great things. He has lots of gifts. He's great, but he does not depend on it. He does not depend ultimately on his particular gifts, on his connections, on his ability, on his work ethic. He doesn't depend on those things. He depends on Christ.
[00:15:45] The false apostles are depending on themselves and on worldly things, their eloquence, their wealth, their connections. They are depending on their commitment to righteousness.
[00:16:02] They're depending on their ability to teach God's word.
[00:16:07] Some of these things are not so bad unless you are depending on them and putting your faith in them.
[00:16:17] Because when you put your faith in something other than Christ, it's not christian.
[00:16:24] If you are ministering in a way that is not ministering Christ, it's not Christian.
[00:16:31] The apostolic ministry is the word apostle means those who are sent out, and that's what Paul is doing. He is one who is sent out by the Lord to do the Lord's works.
[00:16:46] Before the Lord left, he told his apostles, you will do greater things than I have done. That's an amazing thing to say to men, for the son of God to say to these men.
[00:17:01] What did he mean by that? I think in part what he meant was the expansion of their work, how far it reached, how deep it went.
[00:17:12] Indeed, they accomplished great things, but they accomplished great things because of the Lord, not because of themselves.
[00:17:22] And so Paul is doing these things. He's saying things in the sarcastic way he is, but also the true way he's speaking to undermine that claim.
[00:17:35] How does he do it here?
[00:17:38] Well, he does it in a few ways.
[00:17:40] The first thing is he reminds us over and over again that he's acting in a funny way right now. He's talking in a special way. I think it's sarcasm, at least in parts he's taking on. He's sort of saying, you want to play that game? You know how we talk about, like, say that phrase, you want to play that game? Let's play that game. Right? In other words, I'm going to enter into this world that you are talking about. I don't like this world. I don't like the rules of this world. But I'm going to enter into it and show you that it's false or in some other cases that I can win.
[00:18:16] When Paul says, I can play that game and win, that's when we have passages like, I'm a Hebrew of hebrews studied under gamaliel, like that. That kind of thing. You want to talk about being the best, you ain't got nothing, is basically the point that he makes there.
[00:18:33] And then what does he say? He doesn't say, and therefore I'm better than you. What does he say? He says, I'll trade it all away. I consider it all garbage. Refuse for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ. He says, let's stop playing that game. It's worthless. I won and it's worthless.
[00:18:55] It's kind of like an ecclesiastes sort of comment, isn't it? I've studied all the books. I've obtained all the wealth. I've done all the things, and it's all vanity. Let it go. We can stop.
[00:19:09] This is a little different here. He's coming and he's saying, let's play that game. I'll play the fool. We'll talk about it. And what he's doing here is he's doing it to show the foolishness of the thing that they're saying.
[00:19:25] And from a few different ways, let's look at it.
[00:19:28] So to make sure that we know this, he says things over and over again, like in verse 17, I say, not as the Lord would, but as a fool.
[00:19:39] The Lord doesn't talk like this. I'm not representing him in the way that he would act. I'm pretending. In other words, I'm being a fool.
[00:19:50] And then he says, this is a biting comment, I think, in verses 19 and 20. And becomes, I think, our primary application this morning. For you. Gladly bear with fools being wise in yourself. That's the first part.
[00:20:09] In other words, he's talking to the Corinthians and he's saying, you're putting up with these people that are fools.
[00:20:17] You want to listen, and you want to talk about it like that, fine, I'll be a fool for you, since you're so wise, and then you can make a decision.
[00:20:26] But then he shows them that wise is in air quotes, because what are their actions?
[00:20:34] What are the people that they are bearing with that are so great but are really fools? Verse 20 tells us, for you bear it if someone makes slaves of you or devours you or takes advantage of you or puts on air or airs or strikes you in the face.
[00:20:53] You might say that the relationship between the super apostles or the false apostles and the Corinthians was an abusive relationship.
[00:21:08] Doesn't this categorize the hallmarks of an abusive relationship, even up to and including physical violence?
[00:21:19] And they are bearing with it.
[00:21:22] They are victims of it. Yes, these false apostles are wrong for it, but the Corinthians are bearing with it, tolerating it, even celebrating it, and looking at Paul and saying, why aren't you like these guys? Why, of course I'm not like these guys.
[00:21:40] He says, because he doesn't do these things. He doesn't make slaves of his people.
[00:21:47] He doesn't devour them, take advantage of them, put on errors, or strike them in the face, and neither does the Lord.
[00:21:59] The Lord Jesus didn't walk around the world puffing himself up, always seeking after the ways to prove himself and make sure that he got a lot of followers. In fact, a lot of times when there were a lot of people following him, he went into the wilderness and was alone for a while, or he turned them away or he pitied them from a distance.
[00:22:28] You know what I'm talking about?
[00:22:31] You know the difference between a true servant and a true leader and a false one? These were false leaders, and they were hurting, coercing, abusing, even. I think he means it, physical abuse at times to get what they wanted.
[00:22:50] We see in Paul's own life that people were open to abusing even the physical body to extract certain religious commitments.
[00:23:01] Paul tells us he was beaten at the hands of the Jews, 40 lashes, lest one. He says it this way because in deuteronomy, the commandment is only 40 lashes as a sort of maximum penalty. And so a lot of times they would do 39 to make sure that you don't break the law. So he's sort of using this way of speaking, talks about that. He talks about being beaten with rods. He talks about being stoned.
[00:23:28] Paul himself used physical coercion, abusive behavior to get what he wanted right before he became a believer. And these people were doing this in the church as well. And sadly, these things continue on today.
[00:23:49] When we accept as a fundamental premise, either for others who are supposed to minister to us, or for ourselves as we minister to others, if we accept as a fundamental premise that the work that we are to be doing depends on ourselves, that the work that we do depends on our greatness and our achievements, this is where it goes.
[00:24:20] This is where it leads.
[00:24:22] Because if I have to control everyone to get what I need, that's what I gotta do. And I have to use the things, the worldly things of this world, to accomplish what I want, because that's all I have as a man of the world.
[00:24:41] If I belong to this world and to the things of this world, and those are my tools and those are my ends, and those are my goals, then that's what's going to happen.
[00:24:51] Paul, though, is different.
[00:24:54] The apostolic ministry is different. True christian ministry is different. Why? Because it does not depend on the things of this world.
[00:25:06] It does not look to the self for success or greatness, and it doesn't try to make others great or successful by just making them work harder or recognize our greatness or any sort of combination of these things. Instead, christian ministry, true christian ministry, apostolic ministry, is the ministry that we see, unsurprisingly, of the Lord Jesus of Christ.
[00:25:35] It's built on faith in his obedience and an obedience that came very frequently through the form of weakness and humility and lowliness and suffering, the apostle Paul suffered. He suffered greatly at many times and in many ways.
[00:26:01] And in the last moment that he shares with us here in the end of this chapter, he points to this moment where it wasn't working, this moment where it was not a moment of success.
[00:26:18] It was a moment in which he was having to run away and escape the hands of those who would come to seize him.
[00:26:31] The good news for us, though, is that when we let go of the things of this world, when we stop being fools, real fools, by attaching ourselves to things that dissipate, leave, fall apart, and we put our faith instead in the Son of God, who became weak for us, so that we would have his strength, so that we would have his victory, so that we would have his inheritance, then we can endure great things, and the Lord does accomplish great things in us.
[00:27:10] Paul's hard work was good, and it's good to be a hard worker. And Paul's greatness was great, and it's great to achieve great things. It's just not great to depend on those things for all of our success and for this success, in particular of the gospel. Because the gospel is faith in the Lord, not faith in ourselves.
[00:27:37] But when we put our faith in the Lord, these things like hard work and suffering and other things, the Lord does his work through them. We could say it this way, the works that come from faith do come from faith, but they're not a replacement for faith. We don't depend on them. We don't trust in them. We trust in the Lord. And that's why Paul, when his mind wants to think about what am I going to depend on? What am I going to boast in? He wants to go back to these moments of weakness wherein his weakness, the Lord, was shown to be strong. Because ultimately that's what christian ministry is. It's showing not my strength or the strength of our church or the strength of this thing or that thing, but it's showing the Lord's strength.
[00:28:31] We see the Lord's strength in all kinds of ways.
[00:28:35] We see it in the ministry of Paul as we see those, as we begin to discern better and better the difference between true and false ministry, we begin to discern better and better the voice of our savior, right? Because he comes to us and he speaks to us and he leads us in the ways that we should go.
[00:28:58] It's my prayer that the Lord would reveal himself more and more to me and to you and to us together, that we would not be afraid of suffering because of what he has done, because he has suffered for us, that we would not be afraid of our own personal weaknesses and even our sins. Knowing that the Lord forgives us our sins and he sanctifies us and one day will glorifies us, glorify us. And it's my prayer that the Lord will work in us and help us to share with others this same ministry from that heart of ministry which is based in faith, faith in him.
[00:29:38] Let's pray.
[00:29:41] Our heavenly Father, what an evil thing it is to, through jealousy and selfish ambition and wanting to accomplish the things of this world as our chief end. We put on airs, we take advantage of other people. We devour, we enslave. We are filled with pride, and we even go so far as to hurt others, sometimes their bodies, sometimes their reputations, sometimes their families or communities. Oh Lord, stop us. Stop us in our evil. Stop us in our pride. Stop us in our wickedness. Help us to see that this is not wisdom, this is not greatness, this is foolishness. And it will be exposed, Lord, undermine our pride, undermine our foolishness, undermine our jealousy and our selfish ambition.
[00:30:35] Lord, we ask that you would help us to instead trust in you. Trust in you for everything that we need, to look to you for direction, to look to you for provision, to look to you for protection.
[00:30:52] And when we find ourselves feeling in need, not having provision endangered, not having protection, let us rejoice knowing that we are suffering in faith. And that faith, our faith is a faith that has hope, and it has assurance and strength and the promises of God attached to it.
[00:31:17] Let us rejoice knowing that in our weakness, the gospel is made known. All the better as you show your strength, even through weak and suffering people like us.
[00:31:30] Lord, we also rejoice in the promise that is to come. You tell us that we will not suffer forever, that we will not lack forever, that we will not be shamed and have contempt forever, but that there is a day coming very soon when the Lord Jesus will return and we will be glorified.
[00:31:52] So, Lord, teach us to be patient, to seek first the kingdom of God and trust that everything is going to be added to us.
[00:32:02] Help us this day that you have given to us for rest. Help us to rest. Rest in the gospel, rest in the fellowship of the saints. Rest in the ministry of Christ. Hearing the voice of our savior, we pray these things in his name. Lead us and direct us, o Lord. Amen.
