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June 13/14, 2016
Jason Meyer | 2 Corinthians 12:11-21
I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!
Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?
Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved. For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.—2 Corinthians 12:11–21
Introduction
I flew on few different airplanes this week. I saw with fresh eyes how the world we live in gives us many different ways to separate ourselves from the rest of the pack. We give people opportunities to be placed into a better category than others. We hold out the promise of being placed in a better category as a reason for people to pay more. You get what you pay for, so people pay for additional perks that set them apart from others.
Go ahead, first-class customers, you can board the plane now ahead of everyone else. We appreciate your business. Yes, thank you. Once you are seated, we are going to come to you right away with some immediate services. Can we get you a hot cloth to wipe your face right away? Could we get you something to drink right away? The people in coach will have to wait until three quarters of the way through the flight to get something to drink. Are you enjoying the extra legroom?
Meanwhile, we hear about the many other classes of people in the airline hierarchy. We would like to welcome our business class, skyclass elite, skyclub, gold medallion members—there are so many of these clubs! Then we can finally get to the coach people. It is a class without much distinction or fanfare. One comedian said that it is almost like they say, “Ok, folks, anybody who has not yet made anything of his or her life can feel free to board the plane right now.”
When I was flying this time, I noticed something that I had not noticed before. After the coach people (like myself) find their seats, the airline staff put up a curtain to reinforce the division between the classes. But it is a see-through curtain. They are separating us, but they want us all to see through the separation to what is on the other side. It is like they want people to see what could be. You guys in first class, go ahead and look back and see how squished you could be. Think, “What suckers. I’m glad I paid the extra money. People in coach, look at how quickly you could have the hot face towel or the fancy goblet of wine. Don’t you want to indulge in that extra comfort?
It is obvious that these things work because people want to be placed in better categories. We like distinction. No one in first class was offended by the curtain. No one in first class said, “What are you trying to say—that I am better than everyone else back there?” We want to stand out. You don’t ask people to pay extra for things that they don’t want. Nobody pays extra to sit by the exit rows and get the speech about being willing and able to assist the passengers evacuate the plane.
We like the divisions. We love to categorize. This is a huge problem when it comes dividing people along ethnic and economic lines. Some divisions reveal a universal heart problem. You can’t just will it away or pass laws to eradicate it from the heart.
My hometown was a Dutch community. My family was a hundred percent Dutch. It was surprisingly easy for the words “if you ain’t Dutch, you ain’t much” to roll off our tongues. I still say it today in honor of my heritage, but I have slightly edited it to “if you ain’t Dutch, then you ain’t Dutch.” I was able to make it a factual statement while editing out the overtones of ethnic superiority.
This problem is a universal problem. It doesn’t just show up in the world—it also rears its ugly head in the church when the church looks like the world. Our passage today goes right to the heart of these problems. It highlights how Christian ministry should reflect Christ and how a toxic church culture that reflects the world can resist the reflection of Christ that should be seen in the church.
The main point of the passage comes in verse 11. It says that the whole fool’s speech could have been avoided if the Corinthians had any discernment at all. Paul had to speak like a fool because they thought like fools and lacked wise discernment concerning the ministry of an apostle.
I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super–apostles, even though I am nothing.—2 Corinthians 12:11
Can you see the main point here? The Corinthians should have commended Paul as an apostle of Christ because through his ministry they see Christ.
I will close the sermon by showing how Paul’s ministry puts Christ on display. What Paul says in verse 11 is simple: the Corinthians should have commended Paul and thrown out the intruders as apostolic imposters. But the rest of the passage shows why that did not happen. The Corinthians had some toxic problems that made them easy pickings for the imposters. The Corinthians didn’t like what they saw in Paul because of who they were. What they were impacted what they saw. Therefore, the confrontation is set between who they are and who Paul is. This confrontation is between the marks of Christlike Christian ministry and the marks of an unhealthy church.
The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!
The Corinthians were not satisfied with Paul’s ministry. They felt something was lacking, so they felt slighted. They did not believe that Paul had performed as many signs and wonders and mighty works among them as he had among others. They thought they were “less favored than the rest of the churches” (v. 12). Paul points out that the only difference was financial—he did not burden them financially. Paul indulges here in a mock confession: “I am so sorry that I was not a burden.” I will try to show in the next point why Paul chose to not be a burden.
If the Corinthians got to witness the same apostolic power as the other churches, why didn’t they like what they saw? The problem was not the absence of apostolic power; the problem was the presence of suffering.
The ESV translation makes it hard to see this point. The ESV says that these signs were performed among you with “utmost patience” (v. 12). This word can mean patience, but it can also mean endurance in the face of trials (v. 12). Paul is not simply saying that signs were patiently performed, as if the Corinthians are questioning his patience. That is not the problem. Paul is saying that signs were performed while enduring trials. The Corinthians have a problem with Paul’s sufferings. Remember the trials he is talking about? Verse 10 spells them out: insults, persecutions, and afflictions. The fool’s speech documented many of these in detail (2 Corinthians 11). Can you see his point?
The Corinthians saw the full picture of Christ in the two signs of an apostle of Christ: weakness and strength. The ministry of an apostle of Jesus looks like both the cross and the resurrection of Jesus. People should see the weakness of the cross in suffering and the power of the resurrection in mighty works and miracles.
The Corinthians wanted to skip around the cross and get right to the resurrection. They wanted to pole vault over the pain part and get right to the part about power. They wanted to separate what God has forever joined together. But that would distort the Father’s favorite picture. What God has joined together let not the Corinthians or anyone else separate. What should people see as the signs of an apostle of Christ? They should see Christ! What should you see when you see Christ? You see both the cross and the resurrection—the risen Lord who forever has the nail prints in his hands.
The different “Jesus” that the false apostles preached was a Jesus of power but not of weakness. The cross was absent from the picture in their preaching. How different from Paul’s preaching where he resolved to know nothing except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 2:2).
An unhealthy church does not boast in the cross. It hides the cross—it is ashamed of the gospel. A healthy church loves the cross and the resurrection of Christ.
Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?
The suspicion of the Corinthians wreaked havoc on their relationship with Paul. Paul went above and beyond the call to prove that he was not in it for the money. It was obvious that he was not in Corinth for the money because he didn’t take any money. He wouldn’t let the Corinthians spend anything on him, but he spent all he had on them. He says he was glad to do it, too. “I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls” (v. 15). The first point ended with Paul saying that he was not a burden to them. Should he ask their forgiveness for not putting burdens on their backs?
Now he says the same thing two more times. Paul says, “I will not be a burden” when he comes to them now for the third time (v. 14). It is a fact that they have to grant in verse 16: “But granting that I myself did not burden you.” That is a fact. But they interpret that fact very differently than Paul does. Their interpretation is that Paul did not burden them so he could get the better of them.
But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit.—2 Corinthians 12:16
When people spend their time jockeying for position, they begin to think that everyone does what they do. They are jockeying for position against everyone, so they assume everyone must be doing the same thing against them.
Paul has a different conclusion. He didn’t burden the Corinthians because he loves them (v. 15). They have failed to grasp Paul’s profound fatherly affection for them. Peers jockey for position with each other. Parents aren’t trying to pull their children down; they are trying to raise them up. Paul says he will gladly spend and be spent for their souls. Can’t they see that he wants their souls, not their stuff? He turns the tables on them—if he loves them more than a father normally loves (spending all he has on them), why should they love him less than children normally love their parents?
Do you see what is happening here? The Corinthians think that Paul has pulled off a masterful deception. They think that because he didn’t take money directly from them, he has made himself better than them by not being in their debt. Then, he used his messengers to do his dirty work for him—they would collect the money, and Paul would pocket the money. He gets both rich from the Corinthians while having power over the Corinthians. Well-played, Paul.
They have failed to make a simple distinction between an apostolic mark and an apostolic right. The marks of something prove the genuineness of that thing. They are not optional. Paul says that the marks of apostleship that needed to be there were present. A right is different than a mark. A right is optional. Paul has a right to be supported by his churches, but someone can forgo a right for certain reasons in certain seasons. Paul has given his reasons for foregoing this right throughout 2 Corinthians. He wanted to reinforce the fact that the gospel is free. He wanted to prove to the Corinthians that he was not in ministry for the money. He wanted them, not their stuff.
Suspicion is a deadly thing. Two deadly things happen when you practice deceit: you aren’t trusted, and you can’t trust. When you treat others a certain way, you begin to believe that they do the same things to you. Now we will see how that kind of thinking can wreck a church. The world will know we are disciples of Christ by our love. Do we reflect the love of Christ? Are we spending ourselves in love like Jesus did for us?
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.—1 John 3:16
But Paul is going to go the source of all of their problems now in the third mark of an unhealthy church: the problem is pride. Here I have called it smugness.
Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved. For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.
Please notice both the presence and effects of spiritual pride. In terms of the presence of spiritual pride, notice that the word shows up in the list of sins as “conceit” (v. 20). This concept has made an appearance multiple times. In chapter 10, Paul talks about the siege approach to tear down their lofty thoughts raised up against the knowledge of Christ. Paul has just commented upon what God had to do to keep Paul himself from being conceited (2 Corinthians 12:7).
He showed them a better way back in verse 11. Paul speaks of his apostolic work in the passive voice. The passive voice (“the miracles were done”) is a nice touch that enables Paul to say that Christ did the miracles. Paul did not perform them. The signs of power were not from him; Christ did them through him. He also shows that he is not on a power trip. Being an apostle is not something Paul uses to elevate himself above others as an ego trip up the elevator to the top floor. He keeps his office at the bottom floor.
For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing.—2 Corinthians 12:11
The Corinthians are conceited, and the signs of their conceit show up everywhere. One of the clearest evidences of conceit is their defensive posture towards Paul. Their self-protective walls kept them from being able to receive the things Paul said to them. He would speak, and they would put up a defensive wall. Can anyone else relate to this problem? We are self-protective by nature, are we not? In fact, if we are honest, we have to admit that we are obsessed with ourselves. As I said in another sermon, the problem of pride is not that we think high thoughts or low thoughts of ourselves; it is that we think lots of thoughts about ourselves. Pride means we are very prone to protect ourselves. If we are not careful, we can become hyper-vigilant as we watch over our reputation and our standing in the sight of others. If we hear anything that puts us in the wrong, we can immediately rise up to defend ourselves. We lose the ability to hear what is being said and to receive it.
How does Paul address this smugness? He speaks the truth in love. He lets the Corinthians know that he is not speaking from self-protective motives. He does not talk in order to save his stature or his social standing. He is not defending himself like he is defending his overall ranking against competitors who are vying for his spot. He speaks in Christ in the sight of God (the truth). He speaks in order to build them up, not tear them down (in love). He even calls them “beloved.”
Paul opens up more of his heart for them by letting them know his fears for his upcoming visit. They may not find him as they wish, and he may not find them as he wishes. They will not like finding him with a whip of discipline and divine power in his hand.
What does he want to see? Purity. A healthy church has a passion for purity. God is light, and his children are called to walk in the light. Holiness is an essential mark of the household of God because God is holy. A fallen world has a tide that flows away from holiness. Verses 20–21 are intensely interesting to me as we see the downstream effect of sin.
Here is what should happen in the Christian life in terms of the fight for holiness. We should be swimming upstream in the battle against sin. We should move away from the sins of the flesh to swim upstream against the sins of the tongue, and then we should move further upstream against the sins of the heart. Paul fears the opposite for the Corinthians. He does not wish to find them floating down the stream of sin like dead fish.
Paul believes that their pride may lead to a whole host of sins of the heart and sins of the tongue: “quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder” (v. 20). Conceit is conspicuously present here as it was back in verse 7. It was also very prominent back in chapter 10.
So how does pride or conceit lead to a flow of death downstream away from God toward sins of the tongue and sins of the flesh? Start with the flow from conceit to sins of the tongue. A heart gripped by self will constantly compare itself to others. We perpetually define ourselves in relation to others. Take envy, for example. Envy does not just recognize someone that is above us in some area—it lusts after that position. It savors switching places. It savors the reversal of the situation.
As Joe Rigney says, “Envy weeps with those who rejoice and rejoices with those who weep.” Slander is like envy enacted. It means using our tongues to tear down. I think that is why tabloids and paparazzi are an industry. We don’t mourn when the mighty have fallen; we have a bit of sadistic glee. We celebrate the fall of the mighty—the higher they are the greater they fall. The same thing happens in the church. What is gossip? If you fundamentally want to be better than others, then gossip is a way to reinforce that fundamental belief. We move from believing we are better to saying, “Can you believe that so-and-so did such-and-such?” We can even turn prayer time into a gossip session. “Please pray for so-and-so because he or she did such-and-such.”
How does one move from sins of the heart to sins of the flesh? Pride ignores the alarms that should go off in your head when you go through checkpoints. Pride says, “I can handle it. It won’t affect me. I can stop whenever I want.” We can take the sins of others much more seriously than we take our own sin. Our judicial sentiment can be strong towards others and really watered down towards ourselves.
There is a great skit that Bob Newhart did in which he was a counselor. He only charged one dollar a minute for the first five minutes. He didn’t have any sessions that lasted more than five minutes because whatever problem someone had, he had an easy, two-word solution: “stop it.” Bob would listen to several issues, and he would say, “Stop it.” Just stop it. However, one woman says, “I wash my hands a lot.” And Bob says, “Well, that’s okay. There are a lot of germs out there. That one is fine.” The skit opened with him moving to his desk after washing his hands. It is easy to speak with stern moral judgment on the issues of others and then comfort our conscience with it comes to our own issues. “Well, that’s ok,” we tell ourselves, “That may be a good rule for other people, but it is a little different for me.” We make exceptions for ourselves. Pride places other people under the law, but places itself above the law. Can you see that the core is what matters here? If pride poisons the headwaters of your heart, your whole life will bear the effects of this sickness. The same is true corporately of a church.
Application
It is easy to start with the issues that are important to us and then rank people according to how they conform to that self-imposed standard. Our beliefs become the objective guide for entrance into our club. We are like gatekeepers of the rides at Valley Fair. “Oh, sorry, to ride this ride you have to be this tall. Come back when you grow up a little.”
Beware how pride thrives in a high-bar culture. In this kind of culture, your ability to fit in at Bethlehem becomes about conformity to certain standards, like a ruler that measures whether you are tall enough to ride on the rides at Valley Fair. You have to be this tall, and you are not quite there—maybe next year. We are in danger of creating our own self-made screening process for the people we will choose to associate with.
The Bible says that there is nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God, but we can turn that on its head. In the church, we can use anything in all of creation to separate ourselves from the love of other Christians.
We can use food to separate ourselves from other Christians. Fill out the following questionnaire: What do you feed your family? You get points for everything that comes from your own garden, everything that is organic, and everything that is not genetically modified. Extra credit points for bone broth, kale, and kombucha. Minus fifty points for high fructose corn syrup, and minus a hundred points for every time you have ever eaten anything at McDonalds. (This might be awkward for the North Campus because they are right next to McDonalds. Should they worry about who sees them as they go through the drive through?)
Where do your kids go to school? Homeschool is an entry-level answer with extra points if you are in the right homeschool co-op or use a certain curriculum. Private classical school is okay if you can afford it. Minus a hundred points for public school.
How much electronics do your kids use? How much TV? Which movies? What games? Minus a hundred points for every child who has a cell phone.
How much do your children read? What do you let your kids read? Minus a hundred points if Harry Potter even comes up in the conversation.
What do you let your kids wear? Extra points if you make your own clothes, but deduct points if anything is name brand, and deduct even more if you paid full price or did not get said clothes from a thrift store.
Or you can do the opposite and wear the opposite answers as a badge of honor—plus a hundred points if you don’t even know what kombucha is, plus a hundred if you eat at McDonalds multiple times a week, and plus a hundred if you have read every Harry Potter book.
Hear me carefully: it is not wrong to have convictions in some of these areas, but it is wrong to make those convictions the foundation of Christian fellowship. The exclusive foundation of Christian fellowship is Christ. Let me put it even more plainly: it is wrong to put anything in all creation above Christ as the foundation of Christian fellowship because when we do that, we are acting as if there are things in creation that can separate people from Christ.
Think about what Paul said in Galatians 2:14. Peter was using food in a way that was out of step with the gospel because it led to separation and categorization among people who professed Christ. Peter was saying that something other than Christ—food—was a more important basis for fellowship. We are called to keep in step with the gospel. Jesus died to tear down the dividing wall. We are not keeping in step with the gospel when we build the wall back up brick by brick while giving lip service to the sufficiency of Christ.
Remember the airplane story that opened the sermon? The church operates like an airplane sometime. We become like little church attendants. Can I see your ticket? Yes, go ahead, take your seat here at the front. You paid enough to stay at the front. You belong in this first-class Christian club. Can I see your ticket? Public school? Yes, that’s fine. You belong on the plane—we are all going to the same destination you know. We have a great seat for you in the back of the plane here. 55A. You can have a window seat right next to the lavatory. We need to get started here so don’t mind me as we close the curtain of separation.
The only reason anyone is on the plane is that Christ has torn down the curtain by the tearing of his own flesh. He opened the way to paradise. There are no first-class Christians. Christ must have the first place in everything. We don’t have classes of Christians. We do not use the divisions of the temple. “Here is the court of the homeschoolers like the court of the Gentiles.”
Can we celebrate that none of these things can separate us from God’s love if we allow them to separate us from each other? Can we resist categorizing Christians with categories other than Christ? It seems like the word Christian already contains the definition of the category—Christ!
How does Christ speak to us in our sin? What about those of you today who have fallen into sexual sin? I know there are some here. Not only do I know because of statistics, but also because some have been bold enough to ask for prayer and help and accountability. You may be tempted to believe that I am speaking now to tear you down. That someone I believe I am superior to you. I speak to you as a mourner. You should be mourning over your sin. How can I not mourn if you won’t?
I call you to come away from the false promises of sin. Haven’t they let you down and left you feeling empty and dirty? I speak to you with pleading love.
The picture I have for you comes from a scene in the Chronicles of Narnia. Chapter 13 of The Last Battle is called, “Pleading with the Dwarves.” The Dwarves are huddled in a circle. They have decided not to believe. They are so afraid of being taken in that they are missing all the good things they could have on the other side. They say, “We haven’t let anyone take us in. The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs.” Aslan says, “They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their own minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out.”
I am going to speak a certain way to you. Not harshly to tear you down—I will talk to you the way my Dad spoke to me once. We went to the zoo, and I went under the wooden fence to get a closer look at the bears. Best seat in the house. Boy, are they big! My dad did not yell at me for fear that he would startle me and that I would fall in with the bears. He spoke with a kind, pleading voice. “Come on, Jason, let’s go get some candy.” That’s better than bears. He grabbed me and told me about the danger I was in. That is what biblical commands are for—not to beat you up, but to keep you from going down with the bears and being destroyed.
Jesus has purchased paradise. He didn’t die for you because he was itching to destroy you. Foolish pride and the fear of losing control or being taken in are the only things that can keep us out. Come to Christ. Rest in his Lordship. His love for us is far greater than the picture of love we saw with Paul. Paul talked about spending and being spent for the Corinthians, but Jesus paid it all. He paid it all. Love bought us, so we are beloved. What is our response? We gladly and sweetly sing, “My life he bought, my love he owns. / I have no longings for another. I’m satisfied in him alone. / I will glory in my redeemer, who waits for me at gates of gold / and when he calls me it will be paradise. / His face forever to behold. / His face forever to behold.”
Sermon Discussion Questions
Outline: The Marks of Genuine Christian Ministry vs. the Marks of an Unhealthy Church
1. The Signs of an Apostle vs. Sensationalism (vv. 12–13)
2. The Spending of an Apostle vs. Suspiciousness (vv. 14–18)
3. The Humble Speaking of an Apostle vs. Smugness (vv. 19–21)
Main Point: The Corinthians should have commended Paul as an apostle of Christ because through his ministry they see Christ.
Discussion Questions
1.Describe the problem of sensationalism. What did the Corinthians have a taste for, and what did they lack a taste for? Why did they fail to see Christ in Paul’s ministry?
Application Questions
1. Which of the three problems (sensationalism, suspiciousness, smugness) do you struggle with most? What does the struggle look like? How do you fight it?
Prayer Focus
1. Pray for the grace of humility through the cross of Christ to crush our pride.