Through the Bible - 2 Corinthians

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. (2 Corinthians 3:5–6)

Paul boasts not in himself but in the cross and in his own weakness, where the strength of God is made perfect.

The Passion of Paul

How many of you read through 2 Corinthians this past week? I have to admit, it was one of those distracting weeks — things at a national level, things here at the church, things in my own family. Every time I sat down to focus, something else would grab my attention. Yet this passage is so filled with awesome truths from God.

As I read through it, the key thing that stuck out — what I'd really call the title of this book — is The Passion of Paul. More than perhaps any of his thirteen letters in the New Testament, this one presents his emotion and passion for a church and a group of believers. You can't get over how deeply he feels for them.

A Church Drawn to Men and Knowledge

The Greek-minded converts of Corinth put great stock in the strengths and gifts of individuals. They were focused on people who came through — great orators like Apollos, miracle workers like Cephas (Peter), or the intelligence of the men who followed after Paul's ministry: the Judaizers.

You remember that group from Jerusalem who followed Paul's ministry. They appeared to believe the gospel, but as soon as Paul planted a church and moved on, they would come in and disrupt the free grace of God with works. They'd say, "If you really want to follow God, you must be circumcised, you must keep the feast days, you must do this or that." Paul constantly contended with this group. He never picked a literal fight — though reading the Scriptures, I think Paul was the kind of guy who'd be ready to throw down if he had to. But these men injured his heart in a big way as they tried to devastate the gospel he preached.

It's my opinion that Paul's thorn in the flesh may refer, at least in part, to them — though it could also have been a physical infirmity; there's good possibility on that. Here in Corinth, some were drawn to Apollos' eloquence, others to Peter's miracles, and a larger group to the apparent intelligence of the Judaizers.

The Fourth Letter to Corinth

Although this is the second letter to Corinth in our Bibles, it's very likely the fourth letter Paul wrote to this church. In 1 Corinthians 5:9 he refers to a previous letter. After that came what we call 1 Corinthians. Then Paul visited and rebuked them in person, and after he left he received news that nothing had changed, so he sent a hard, severe letter that just nailed them. Now this is his fourth letter.

These people had come to see Paul as a strange dichotomy, as though there were two different Pauls. When he came to them in person, he wasn't the fiery, impassioned Paul of the letters — he came with trembling, with tears, a brokenhearted, compassionate father. Yet when he wrote, it was with power and strength. Some of them wanted him to come in that fiery way, but he tells them, essentially, "I don't think you want me to be like that when I come. You want me to come in gentleness and meekness."

Affluent Carnality — Then and Now

Corinth was centered in the middle of affluent carnality. It was a narrow isthmus between two coasts, a port city where merchants funneled all their wares. Slaves would even roll ships across the land on great logs, like a Panama Canal without the canal. Everything funneled through Corinth, so there was a lot of money — and affluence often breeds carnality.

We see this with Israel. Before Babylon they were sheep herders and farmers; after Babylon they became merchants, bankers, lawyers, and doctors. When so much wealth flows through, people drift toward carnality. The Corinthian church was surrounded and enticed by the search for knowledge and sensuality.

Remember, just before Corinth, Paul had gone to Athens and gone toe-to-toe with the philosophers on Mars Hill (Acts 17). He was clearly an intelligent man who knew their poets and philosophers. But when he came to Corinth, it's as though he checked his intelligence at the gate. He came in meekness, in trembling, not with the wisdom of man but with the power of God through the preaching of the gospel.

So I think 1 and 2 Corinthians could be called 1 and 2 Californians. We're an affluent people, especially in Southern California, and with affluence has come carnality. People are constantly seeking knowledge and sensuality. Many say they believe in God, but there's a real lack of power in their lives.

A Demonstration, Not a Redefinition

America today doesn't need another redefining of the Christian faith — it needs a demonstration of it. That's exactly what Corinth needed: a demonstration of God's power and strength in our lives. How has the gospel transformed us? People should be able to look at us and say, "They're different."

Honestly, as a pastor I'm thankful for what has happened over the last six months around Proposition 8, because it has begun to draw a clear delineation between the church and the world. You're either on one side or the other, and we need to be on the right side as it relates to the Word of God. It's going to get worse. As I read the news, it's clear we're moving toward a time of persecution in California and our nation, with a shifting demographic that looks at the church and calls us hate-filled and intolerant.

Rome, during Paul's day, thought it had become very advanced. Really it had de-evolved — become carnal, wicked, and was on the decline. I read a peculiar article that some scientists believe human evolution has halted because we've reached the pinnacle. Boy, isn't that sad — after billions of years, this is it? Corinth, too, believed it had arrived, and the church there, having let the world invade it, felt it stood at the crux of Christianity.

Boasting in Weakness, Not in Self

Paul could have said, "I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrews; I'm an apostle; let me show you my apostleship." But that would be folly. Instead he says, "I'm going to boast in the cross of Christ, in my infirmities, because in my infirmities the power of God comes forth stronger." It's as if Paul sticks himself out on the furthest part of a branch — either he falls flat or the Lord sustains him.

That's what we as the body of Christ need to do — put ourselves so far out on the edge that it's going to be God or nothing. Either He comes through and is shown powerful, or we fall flat on our faces. That's faith. It's in this book that we read we walk by faith and not by sight. For too long the church — myself included — has walked by sight, relying on our own understanding, our own wisdom, our own bank accounts, minusing God out of the equation.

A.W. Tozer said that if the Holy Spirit were removed from the church in the book of Acts, 90% of what they did would come to a slamming halt. Today, if the Holy Spirit were removed, we probably wouldn't even skip a beat. That's a sad thing.

The Spirit Gives Life

One of my favorite verses, committed to memory years ago, comes from 2 Corinthians 3:5–6. We are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; our sufficiency is of God, who has made us able ministers of the new covenant — not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Underline that: the Spirit gives life. The church has relied on great music, lights, smoke, and stages, thinking these bring life. They bring only an appearance of life that ultimately leads to death. The Judaizers' "intelligence" likewise set people apart as elite, but it was only an appearance of life. The letter of the law was meant to bring us face to face with death — the conviction of sin — so that it points us to Christ, the end of the law. When the church focuses on legalism, it's a dead church; when it fixes its focus on Christ, there is life.

We Preach Not Ourselves, but Christ

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:5, "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Christ's sake." The gospel we bring is not our gospel but His. There is a place for testimony, but it's only a precursor — Keith Green sang that he loves the part of a testimony when you get past all the stuff about yourself and on to Christ.

If you exalt yourself in preaching the gospel, you become a stumbling block, because you're not perfect. We must always point people beyond ourselves to Christ. And we are to be servants. Just as Jesus said the one who would be great must become the servant of all, and as He Himself made Himself of no reputation in Philippians 2, even to the death of the cross. The hardest part of being a servant is when people start treating you like one.

Treasure in Earthen Vessels

"God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." That light comes from the face of Jesus. I am not the light; you are not the light. We are reflectors, like the moon, which has no light of its own but reflects the sun beautifully. The moon only goes dark when the earth — the world — gets in the way. That was Corinth's problem: they let the world, even a worldly spirituality, get in the way.

We have this treasure in earthen vessels, "that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." Paul writes of being troubled on every side yet not distressed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed.

Paul's Distress and God's Reduction

Paul wrote this letter from Philippi, around 56–57 AD, after spending nearly two years in Ephesus, where the silversmiths turned against him because converts were abandoning their idols. While distressed in Ephesus, he kept receiving word that the Corinthians — the very church he had fathered — had turned on him and doubted his apostleship. Then he came to Philippi, one of the strongest churches he ever built.

It's curious: the two churches Paul spent the most time at, Corinth and Ephesus, had the most problems; the two he spent the least time at, Thessalonica and Philippi, were the strongest. He always bore about in his body the dying of the Lord Jesus, so that the life of Jesus might be made manifest.

Alan Redpath said that God reduces a man to the minimum and then pours into him the maximum so He can use him for His glory. God is always reducing us. Think of Jacob, reduced before God could change his name to Israel. Even Paul, whose name once was Saul — "desired" — became Paul, meaning "little." In that change was a heart transformation, a man brought from one who was desired to one who is little, boasting only in his infirmities.

A New Creation and the Ministry of Reconciliation

In 2 Corinthians 5:17, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Paul was especially thankful for that truth. Remember where he came from — carrying letters to bind believers, presiding over Stephen's stoning, making havoc of the church. What joy it must have been for him to know that grace.

All things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation. We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you through us: be reconciled to God. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Jesus didn't merely take sin upon Himself — He became sin, and God poured out the punishment for sin on Him, that we might receive His righteousness.

And so Paul pleads in chapter 6: receive not the grace of God in vain. There are those who use grace as a license to sin — but as Romans 6 says, God forbid; how shall we who died to sin live any longer therein? Don't receive the grace of God in vain.

Godly Sorrow That Leads to Repentance

In chapter 7, Paul says, "Though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent." He's referring to that severe third letter. He's not sorry he upset or offended them. Take careful note of this as we come into the holiday season. We all have family members who don't know the Lord, and we're often fearful to speak the truth because it might offend or hurt them. But they need to repent, and how will they know unless we make clear there is a righteous standard they must meet on the day of Christ Jesus?

"Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance... for godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." Esau is the example of worldly sorrow — he wept bitterly over losing his birthright but never truly repented (Hebrews 12).

Godly sorrow is the work of the gospel. The Beatitudes show the progression: "Blessed are the poor in spirit" — recognition of our poverty; "Blessed are they that mourn" — weeping over it; and this leads to comfort. James 5 calls the rich to "weep and howl." When you come to Christ through that godly sorrow, it builds godly character in you.

My Grace Is Sufficient

In chapter 11, Paul boasts about himself as deliberate folly, mocking the Corinthians' own boasting to show how foolish it looks before God. Then in chapter 12 he tells of a man — clearly himself — caught up to the third heaven fourteen years earlier, possibly connected to when he was stoned at Lystra. He heard unspeakable words. We think of the sights of heaven, but there are sounds of heaven that will blow our minds. Unlike John on Patmos, Paul was told he could not speak of what he heard.

"Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations... there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me." Some say it was his diminishing eyesight, some say lingering injuries from Lystra, others the Judaizers who tore apart his work. Whatever it was, three times he sought the Lord to remove it, and the Lord said, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness."

There's that word sufficient again. We are so tempted to complain about the hand we're dealt — the sun shines and the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike — without recognizing that God has given grace sufficient for everything we face. The difficulties of this world are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.

Don't you want to know the strength of God experientially? It comes through weakness — through trial, tribulation, and persecution. When you're at the end of yourself, you find the beginning of God's strength. That's why Paul says, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities... I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." Not because his flesh enjoyed beatings, shipwrecks, and hunger, but for Christ's sake — that the cross might go forth.

The Heart of a Father

"I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved." This is not the heart of a mere teacher or a tentmaker — it's the heart of a father, a pastor, and ultimately the heart of Christ. Paul was willing to tell them difficult things out of love, even to the point where they said, "I don't want to hear from that guy." He loved them enough to be put outside, longing to see Christ formed in them. We'll see similar words next week in Galatians, where Paul fears he has labored in vain yet labors again until Christ be formed in them.

Come Out and Be Separate

Finally, turn to chapter 7:1. This church was divided into carnal factions — "I'm of Paul," "I'm of Apollos," "I'm of Christ" — and the world looked at the resulting hypocrisy and was repelled. "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

All the promises of God are in Him, "Yea, and... Amen," as this book says. Having received those promises, let us sanctify ourselves, setting ourselves apart unto God. In chapter 6 Paul writes: "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?... what concord hath Christ with Belial?... ye are the temple of the living God... Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord... and I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters."

This was the word to a church of affluent carnality nearly 2,000 years ago, and it's the same word to the church in California today. God says, "You are the temple of the living God; come out from among them, and I will receive you." If the church rejects that still small voice, He chastens us, because whom the Lord loves He chastens.

The dividing line is being drawn in the sand. Some will push to the left, some to the right, but in every generation God has a narrow path in the middle. As He told Joshua, "Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that I have commanded thee... Be strong and of a good courage... for I am with thee." May the Lord help us as the body of Christ to stand strong on the Word of God.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank You for Your word and the truth of it. I thank You for the heart of Pastor Paul, for the passion he had to see those to whom he had preached the gospel stand strong and complete in You. Lord, that's my heart, and I know it's the heart of the other pastors of this church — that we would see the body here standing strong upon Your word, complete in You. We know that is Your desire, for You have no greater joy than to see Your children walk in the truth. Help us this week by Your Spirit to walk in the truth, trusting in You, to be bold and clear in the proclamation of the gospel, because it is Your power unto salvation. Use us as earthen vessels to carry this treasure into a dark and dying world. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.