Everything for their Strengthening

Everything for their Strengthening

We live in a world that is confused about and hungry for true leadership. Last month I left the country for a few weeks and overnight we left the EU and lost our Prime Minister. Across the pond Donald Trump seems more and more a genuine contender to become the next US President.

I don't know what the Brexit vote means or how Donald Trump comes to be leading the race for the White house – I find it hard to work out how he even got into the race… but it seems to me that what we are seeing is a back lash against leadership that's disconnected from the people. 'You don't speak for us' seems to be the message we're sending to our politicians… I'm not sure if we really want the things we're voting for so much as we don't want the alternatives… the problem is that we can't find anyone else to speak truly for us…

It really begs the question what are we looking for – someone to make us all rich? Someone to unite us around a common vision? Someone to protect us and keep us all safe? Someone to make the world a better place?

And of course that begs the question what should we be looking for? And today we'll see something of the Bible's answer in the Apostle Paul.

If you've been here the last few months you'll know we've been working through 2 Corinthians. This morning we're almost at the end. And throughout the letter Paul has been treading a very fine line – trying to win back a church which has gone astray; in particular they have been listening to false teachers who have been grooming them – spreading proud boasts about themselves and lies and dissatisfaction with Paul so that the Corinthians won't have anyone to protect them from false teaching. So in the last three chapters Paul has been forced to defend and explain his ministry – so we've been looking at his reluctant boasting in his weaknesses…

And today Paul comes to explain what he's been doing. He's been modelling godly leadership – modelling something that we might not want, but that we really need. Paul is a leader who doesn't hesitate to do what is for our ultimate good, even if it hurts and we hate him for it. That is, he is a leader who loves his church with a true love that goes far beyond opinion polls and doing what's going to be popular; instead out of love he works at determining what is best and then winning us over to it, but even if we should chose to reject it he will continue striving with all his strength to win us over to that which is best, because it's for our good.

See it in three ways in this passage:

1. He chooses the way of pain for them

Vs 11-13

I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the "super-apostles", even though I am nothing. The things that mark an apostle--signs, wonders and miracles--were done among you with great perseverance.  How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!

You drove me to it says Paul. That's not often true is it – but in this case it really is; Paul has tried every type of reasoning with them, he's sent letters and envoys, he's pleaded, he's challenged, cajoled and everything in between. Now as a last resort he has been forced to go so far as to ape the false apostles they love instead. We've seen how distasteful Paul has found this whole boasting thing – it's not Christian, it's not right that they listen to it; but despite his distaste he did it.

And this is a pattern that charcterises Paul's ministry. He's a guy who does whatever it takes to get the message across. In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul spoke of the lengths he would go to in order to deliver the gospel, he sums it up like this – vs 22 – I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. And in the last two chapters we have seen what that meant in possible – he's been whipped, he's been stoned and left for dead, he's been beated and imprisoned and ship wrecked and even humiliated himself in print with a series of foolish boasts – and all for them, all so they could hear the gospel and share in it's blessings.

And they knew it too – because he was the one who brought the gospel to them in the first place. How come he needs to say this to them – they should have been saying it for him. Remember chapter 3.1-3 Paul didn't need letters of commendation because they are his letter – they were the fruit of his ministry, he preached the gospel and the church came to be. Before he came – braving rejection and pain and all the rest – before he came they had never heard the gospel, it was he who shared it with them. Surely they of all people should appreciate his ministry – why were they so quick to turn away to these false teachers.

Paul shouldn't need to remind them, but apparently he does – when he came and preached the gospel he demonstrated that he is an apostle all right. Verse 12 he did among them the things that only apostles can do – he demonstrated the power of God with signs wonders and miracles. But more than that – much more than that – these miracles were done with great perseverance. That doesn't mean he did thousands of them, he kept going when he got tired… no he's saying that they were done in the context of Paul's perseverance in of suffering. His suffering double underlined his apostolic credentials in a way the false apostles could never copy – like Jesus he took the hard road, the road that led to suffering and pain, not for personal pleasure or gain, but because it would benefit them.

Do you know what this is like? There's something particularly galling about biting the hand that feeds you isn't there? The child who rejects her parents, the student who despises his teacher, the former employee who learnt his trade under a master but never has a good word to say about them… They've been nurtured and trained and held up until they could learn to stand on their own two feet, but instead of gratitude they despise the help they received. Paul wants the Corinthians to see that's them, that's what they're doing to Paul and it's totally unjustified. And despite the pain he keeps holding out his hand and they keep biting it He keeps holding out his hand, not because he likes the pain, but because he is still working for their good.

[And it's so easy to be just like the Corinthians hey should have defended him – hear this, there were the fruit of his ministry – they were his letter of recommendation to the world, but when his name was being slighted they dissembled and dropped him. We can be very often tempted to do the same – Jesus warned that we would be tempted to abandon him before men, but that if we did he would disown us before the father in heaven. We are so easily taken along with the crowd, so easily manipulated by those who express disapproval… but we need to learn to stand with the unpopular but right idea, with the person who speaks the truth even when it gets them into trouble… all that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing! Don't abandon Christian gospel just because it is unpopular, don't let others disapproval or scorn for godliness divide you from the truth (my experience in being ashamed to shower before entering the pool!)]
Don't we need leaders like this – not feathering their own nest, but acting out of love for those they lead?

And not only does he take the pain, but he foots the bill, and that takes us to point two.

2. He bears the cost for them

Verse 14-18

Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less? Be that as it may, I have not been a burden to you. Yet, crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery! Did I exploit you through any of the men I sent you?  I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not act in the same spirit and follow the same course?

Paul won't take their money – he's not preaching for profit, but for love. They may be acting like moody teenagers, but he still feels fatherly towards them. So like a Father he gladly spends his money and even himself for them, and what he hopes for in return is true affection and love – listen to his plea: what I want is not your possessions, but you – I love you Corinthians, can't you see it? I love you with a genuine passion so I don't care what it costs me – I will gladly spend everything I have and expend myself as well and I'll call that a bargain if it leads to your salvation.

Parents you know the sacrifices you make for your kids don't you? Paul is like immigrant father who takes what ever job he can get and works night and day to put food on the table, who never buys new things for himself, but saves up all his money to put his kids through university so they can enjoy the kind of life that he can never have for himself. Paul is like the refugee carrying his kids out on his own back because he wants to give them a life they can only have by his sacrifices.

But even as he speaks he can anticipate the answer from those false apostles – 'o sure he's not asking for money – he doesn't have to, he's got you all saving up to give to the poor in Jerusalem – but that money is going straight into his back pocket!' It's scandalous to think that anyone could read that list of Paul's sufferings for the gospel and still imagine that he could be somehow in it for himself, but that is the nature of these false apostles, they will say anything, stop at nothing to enslave the church. So again Paul has to answer cheap allegations. Well look at Titus, look at the men we've sent – can you possibly think for a moment that they're in it for money? Paul has worked hard to be seen to be doing the right thing. But money transfers involved physically transferring the money from place to place and could take months, all kinds of things could happen along the way – and in dishonest hands a bit of dipping into the money bag would be really simple. That's why Paul has specifically chosen trustworthy men, and sent along his own men (Titus) and men from the other churches who are making contributions (see ch 8.16ff), men well known for their upright behaviour. Paul knows their character and behaviour, so he simply says we act in the same spirit and follow the same course. Have any of them exploited you? Can you really believe it's all an elaborate rouse? Of course it's not, we're in it for your sakes, not for our own.

There are no tricks, no hidden agendas, no secret stash of stolen cash, what you see is what you get.

One of the problems of our world of spin is that we become cynical and we can't trust anything anyone says. Some of the things coming out about Tony Blair and the war in Iraq are shocking – and yet they're not all that shocking at all, because we know how politics and spin works. That's the problem the Corinthians have – they are so accustomed to spin, to working angles and corruption and kick backs that they can't see honour when they face it. But Paul isn't a politician. He's a servant leader, like Jesus he's willing to foot the bill for the things that will benefit the people he leads.

Don't be naive as leaders, take every effort to make sure that above reproach, not open to accusations (see how Paul tried hard to safe guard the giving and ensure he was not open to accusations of theft or misappropriation of funds, 8.16ff); and as those who are led, don't be quick to believe accusations or pass on damaging gossip.

Paul takes the pain for them, and Paul foots the bill, for them and that's because ultimately Paul works to serve them, not himself. and this is our third point:

3. He serves for them not himself

Verse 19-21

Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening.

Here is the crux of Paul's argument, his purpose for all that he's said in the last two chapters, in fact in the book as a whole. It's sounded a lot like Paul has been trying to restore his shattered reputation. its' sounded like Paul has been defending himself. But that's not it at all. Paul doesn't care about his reputation – he started his boast with a list of the number of times he's been punished by the courts – whipped, beaten and imprisoned.

That is not the CV of a man who's trying to impress a church!

What is he doing then, why is he so worked up? It's for them, for their sakes, for their strengthening. Paul speaks in the sight of God – this is almost an oath – he's not spinning anything, he's not concealing anything, not working an angle, not deceiving them like the false apostles, no he cares about them and he wants to win them back – not to himself as such, but to the gospel that he taught them. Their enemies have attacked Paul in order to groom them for slavery. To rescue them Paul needs to break the spell by opening their eyes to see how wretched and deceitful and treacherous the false apostles are.

But don't go thinking that he's just another politician burnishing his reputation. Paul has no interest in his own reputation, what he cares about is them. And he is fighting for them because he's really worried about where they're going – look at verse 20:

For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarrelling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.

This takes us right back to 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 where there was disorder and factions that is social failings, failure to submit to leadership (primarily his) and failure to love and serve one another, preferring instead to bite and argue and pursue selfish agendas and create factions and tribes and 'us vs them' thinking.

I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.

This takes us back to 1 Corinthians 5-7 where we saw all kinds of sexual immorality includes all sorts of sexual sin and debauchery, including prostitution, incest (marriage within the forbidden degrees – a man has his father's wife!) and homosexual sin – 1 Corinthians 5,6. False teaching teaches us to pursue our pleasures, our satisfaction; but Jesus teaches us to pursue purity and holiness and to forsake our desires, put aside our pleasures and deny ourselves.

As Paul considers his coming visit he has grave concerns that what he will find in the church will be totally out of keeping with the gospel, a church gone feral, a church with none of the holiness or godliness that characterises God's people. A church not unlike the Church of England in many ways.

In that case he would be ashamed and they all the more so. We'll read next week of what would follow if things are like that … but Paul still hopes, still prays, still writes this letter in order that things would be different. He will gladly expend himself, humiliate himself, take the pain and pay the cost if it will win them back to sincere devotion to Christ.

True concern for them rather than for himself.

Don't we need leaders like that today?

Wouldn't you love to be able to vote for a man or a woman like that?

Wouldn't you love to hear the bible taught by someone like that?

Wouldn't you love to be married to someone like that?

Wouldn't you love your kids to be taught by someone like that?

Wouldn't you love to come to church with people just like that?

The thing is, Paul deliberately sets out to make himself an example to follow, as he follows the example of Christ (1 Corinthians 11.1) We're supposed to follow leaders like that, to pray for leaders like that, to listen to leaders like that … and we're also supposed to aspire to be followers like that.

So when you get home would you read back over 2 Corinthians10-12 and ask if you see yourself in these passages – are you like Paul, or are you like the Corinthians, or worse still, like the false apostles? And ask yourself what are you doing in your life – in your day to day – to become more like Paul as he models becoming more like Jesus? What are the things you need to add to your programme? And what are you doing to become less like the Corinthians, and less like false apostles? What are the things you need to let go of? Are you serious about the call of the gospel, are you serious about following Jesus, even to the point of doing the hard things, taking the path of pain, even to the point of bearing the cost for others, are you laying down your life in service of Jesus and his church?

Paul was driven by his passion for the gospel, by his pure devotion to Christ that gave rise to a deep devotion to Christ's people. And his life was warped out of all recognition by it. What about you, what about me? Are you driven by passion for Jesus too?

Let's pray