A ministry worth admiring 2 Corinthians 10

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You've got just a few months left on your phone contract,
…so what do you do?
Well, if you've got the time, you start looking around to see if you can find a new contract,
…that will give you a nice new phone, with more minutes and a better data bundle, for less money than you're paying right now.

It's time to renew your car insurance,
…what do you do?
Well, if you've got time, you go on those price comparison websites,
…and you see if you can save money on what you paid last year.

Or perhaps you decide where you want to go on holiday,
…or you've set your heart on a new…something or other,
What do you do?
You shop around.
You don't just buy the first one you see, or let your policy auto-renew,
…you shop around.

Some people love doing it,
…and some people hate doing it,
But given the need and the chance, we all do it.
We shop around to get the best deal that we can,
…the most bang for our buck, don't we?

So what about when it comes to churches?

Maybe you've had the experience of catching up with a Christian friend,
…and at some point in the conversation you ask, 'How are things at church?'
And they start telling you about how much they love their church,
…how wonderful people are,
…how the kids just beg them to go along,
…how much they enjoy their home group, and how they could listen to the preaching for hours (!),
They tell you all about the amazing programmes they're running and projects they've started…

And at some point, whilst they are getting very excited,
…you begin to wonder…am I missing out?
…should I start looking around for a new church?
…could I being getting more spiritual bang for my Christian buck?

A few years before the apostle Paul wrote the letter of 2 Corinthians,
…he had started a church in city of Corinth.

For 18 months he preached the gospel,
…and when a few people started to believe,
…he nurtured their faith and built them up into a fledgling church.
And then he moved on, to another city, to do the same thing all over again.

But since he'd left, new Christian leaders had started to arrive,
…new preachers and teachers, who claimed to be apostles just like Paul,
But who had new messages and exciting new ministries.

In fact, what we're going to see next week is that they weren't genuine apostles, or even genuine Christians,
…they were false teachers.

But some of the Christians in the Corinthian church had started listening to them, and had begun to wonder if they weren't missing out?

They'd begun to look if they shouldn't start shopping around a bit?
Maybe they were missing out just going along to the same old church with the same old message?
Maybe they were missing out?

And maybe you feel like you might be missing out?

That's what our passage is all about this morning,
…so let's pray that God would help us to understand 2 Corinthians 10.

Let's pray.

Paul's ministry to the Corinthians was based on two things,
1) His visits
2) His letters

Even though we call this letter 2 Corinthians,
…it was probably actually the 3rd or 4th that Paul had written to them.
And he tells us that as he's writing,
…he was on his way to visit them for the 3rd time.

And one of the reasons he wrote this letter,
…was to speak to those members of the church who were beginning to think less of him,
…and who were tempted to follow the new, more impressive looking, Christian leaders in town.

So he wrote to win back their affection,
…and to answer some of the accusations that were being made against him by those false apostles.

So in chapters 10-13, Paul defends his ministry.

And the first way he does that, in chapter 10, is to address one of the things the false apostles were saying about him.
Look at v1

By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you — I, Paul, who am "timid" when face to face with you, but "bold" toward you when away!

What's he talking about?
Well at v10

For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing."

Some of the false apostles were saying, 'Paul could write a good letter,
…he sounded impressive and strong…on paper,
…but in person…he was nothing special,
…a bit weak, a bit beige.

So what does Paul have to say about that?
First of all he says…

1) He's not afraid to use the weapon of truth, v1-6

Look at v1 again

By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you — I, Paul, who am "timid" when face to face with you, but "bold" toward you when away!

The false apostles had no problem being 'bold'.
They loved to argue and shout,
…to tear each other apart in order to build themselves and their reputations up.
Like some modern politicians, they had no problem getting angry and getting personal.

But Paul didn't do that.
And they said, well, that's because he's weak.
He's 'bold' in his letters but he's 'timid' in person.

And to a degree they were right.
Back in chapter 7v8a he said this,

Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter I do not regret it.

But then he added,

I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while – yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance.

Do you see?
Paul did write hard things in his letters.
But not because he was afraid of being forceful in person,
…but to give them a chance to change before he arrived,
Look at v2

I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world.

Paul didn't want his visits to be painful, he wanted them to be joyful.
But if they thought that meant that he was too weak to be bold with them in person,
…they were wrong.

He would speak hard, even harsh, words to them in person if necessary.

But again, not like the false teachers.
Look at v3-4

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

Back in chapter 6 Paul had said that he fights

in truthful speech and in the power of God

The weapon he fought with was the truth.

And the truth comes with divine power because it comes from God.
And Paul is perfectly prepared, he says in v5, to use the weapon of truth,
…to "demolish arguments and every pretention that sets itself up against the knowledge of God," and to use the truth to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

A ministry worth admiring is one where the weapon of choice is the truth of God.

Now that might not seem impressive by the world's standards,
Praying and then simply opening up the Bible Sunday after Sunday might seem a bit quaint and old-fashioned,
…maybe even weak.
But they are powerful because God is in them.

Paul's is a ministry worth admiring because "He's not afraid to use the weapon of truth."

Secondly, Paul's was a ministry worth admiring because…

2) He's not involved in tearing down but in building up, v7-11

Look at v7-11

You are judging by appearances.[a] If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do.  So even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it.  I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters.  For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing." Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.

Now turn over the page to the end of the letter in 13v10

This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority—the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.

Paul says that his God-given ministry as an apostle was to 'build up' not to 'tear down'.

He took the message of the gospel to places where it had never been heard before,
…and told people the good news of Jesus' life, death and resurrection.

When he arrived in Corinth for the first time, there was no church,
…he had to build it up from scratch.

But after 18 months there was a community of believers,

And once a church had been established, it was time for Paul to move on,
…because that was his calling.
To start new churches.
To present people with the truth, to build up a community of believers,
…and then to move on to somewhere new, and do it all over again.

But once he had left Corinth, these new 'apostles' started to appear.

And when they arrived in Corinth the church that Paul had started already existed.
Of course they wanted to start their own ministries and have their own followers,
But instead of just reaching out to non-Christians, like Paul,
…they also approached the Christians.

They started talking to the members of Paul's church,
…encouraging them to leave,
…and inviting them to come and join something exciting and new.

So do you see?
Whilst Paul's ministry 'built up,' the church,
…theirs ministry 'tore it down'.

They challenged Paul's message,
…and questioned his qualifications,
They confused people, and seduced them…away from the truth.
And Paul warns them, in v11, that he is ready to be forceful with them when he arrives.

It is easier to tear down than build up.
It's easy to criticise.
It's easy to pick holes, isn't it?
And, sadly, it happens in churches and between churches all the time.

But a ministry that's worth admiring is a ministry not involved in tearing people down but in building people up.

Thirdly, Paul's was a ministry worth admiring because

3) He's not interested in anyone's praise except God's, v12-18

Look at v12

We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.

Do you see what Paul says the false teachers love to do?
They love to compare themselves to each other.
They love a contest.
They love jockeying for position and coming out on top.
They love to boast about their achievements and their qualifications and their successes and their triumphs,

v13-15a

We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you. We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others.

The false apostles…they loved to boast about their celebrity endorsements,
…they loved to show off the letters of recommendation they'd collected from impressive and influencial people.
Paul, on the other hand, never boasted like that.

If someone questioned Paul's authority to lead,
…or doubted whether he was really up to the job of teaching and preaching,
…he didn't pull out letters of recommendation, he simply pointed to the churches that he'd planted.

The Corinthian Christians were the proof of Paul's credentials.
The Church he had started in Corinth was enough to silence any critics he might have.

But it's wasn't enough for Paul.
Because Paul wasn't interested in starting one church, or even 10 churches,
…his desire, as he says in v16, was just to keep on planting more and more and more.
Why?

Because he wasn't interested in winning the praise of men,
…he wasn't interested in anyone's praise except God's.

There was a time in Corinth when, if you were a Christian, or if you wanted to go to church, you didn't have a choice,
…the only church that existed was the one that Paul had started.

But now…
Now there was a whole range of options.
Now younger, more exciting Christian leaders had come along.
Now the Christians in Corinth had a choice.

Did they stick with Paul and the gospel of Jesus that he taught?
Or did they shop around, and try something new?

Today in Gateshead there are dozens of churches you could choose from.
Perhaps you're here this morning and you're still looking for a church to make your own?
So how do you choose?
Or perhaps you've been at HTG for a while and you're wondering whether to try something new,
…how do you decide?

Well, look for a church and a minister that's not afraid to use the weapon of truth,
…a place where they go back to the Bible and back to the Bible and back to the Bible.

Look for a church and a minister that's not involved in tearing down, but in building up,
…a place where they're more concerned with reaching non-Christians with the gospel,
…than gathering Christians from other churches.

And look for a church and a minister that's not interested in anyone's praise except God's,
…whose agenda is set by God,

…and whose greatest drive is not pleasing people, but pleasing Him.

They were the characteristics of Paul's ministry.
And they were the characteristics of Jesus' ministry before him.

And would you join me in praying that those would be characteristics of our church here at HTG,
…and of our minister, Rod,
…and of our ministry.
Because that's a ministry worth admiring.

Let's pray.

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