Houseparty Notes - 2 Corinthians 10

2 Corinthians 10 - God's Gospel Commendation

I wonder how you think of yourself? The Bible says that all believers are ministers of the gospel – the good news that despite our rejection of and rebellion against God he has acted to enable us through Jesus death and resurrection to be made right with him.

2 Corinthians helps us answer some of the questions we face as gospel ministers. How do we engage in real gospel ministry with course mates, or those we live with, or those we play football with? What are the marks of a genuine gospel minister? Maybe you are here this weekend and you are not sure you believe the gospel – hopefully through this letter you will see how much the gospel matters and who to listen to about it.

In Corinth the gospel is under threat because the church in Corinth has too much of Corinth in the church. In their society they prized power, charisma, personality, and speaking skills. It was a time when travelling teachers were common, and they earned their living by teaching their ideas and gathering a band of followers who paid them.

The problem in the Corinthian church is that they have adopted the values of the society they live among. They bring the standards of the world they live in into the church. And that has led some to question Paul’s ministry; Paul isn’t very impressive as a speaker is he, he’s not really a ‘go gettum’ kind of leader, he isn’t good looking, he doesn’t us long words and clever arguments… and the knock on effect of questioning his ministry is that they are questioning the gospel(11:4).
The Corinthian church is in real danger and as Paul writes he is defending not himself but the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now it would be very easy to think that’s awful but we’d never do that.

A friend of mine was invited to a church looking for a pastor. As he walked in he noticed on every chair was a piece of paper. He picked one up, they were grading sheets, people were asked to rate the speaker on a scale on 1-10, not just on their Bible teaching, but sense of humour, voice, dress sense etc…

We may laugh at that, but actually it rings true with us doesn’t it. We fall for the same thing; we are just like the Corinthians. We want a name, someone known; we have an evangelical celebrity culture. 2 Corinthians warns us about just that.

In 2 Corinthians 10 we see Paul answer the charges against him and we see 3 marks of a gospel minister, 3 marks we need as we engage in taking the gospel to our friends, and we need to be aware of as we work out whose teaching to listen to.

1. The Gospel Minister trusts God’s weaponry
(1-2)Are an astonishing way to start aren’t they? To a church obsessed with power and show Paul begins “By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you…” I don’t know about you but I’d probably have written something like this: ‘by the majesty, glory and authority of the risen and reigning Christ I appeal to you.’ But Paul doesn’t, why, because he is subverting their value system. And he does so by showing them how un-Christ-like it is. Paul’s ministry is modelled on Jesus Christ’s not on the prevailing culture.

In Corinth meekness=weakness, gentleness=timidity. We have the same problem don’t we, we have societies view of those things. So what does Paul mean?

It does not mean that he is a wimp. Paul will be bold when he comes to them if he has to be, but it means that he will accept the wrongs that have been done to him, he will bear with their rejection of him because he loves them and still call them back to the gospel. It is not weakness it is love.

Paul has authority and it is Jesus authority but he exercises it in the way Jesus exercised his authority as he calls the church to repent(2).

Paul then confronts one of the fundamental problems in the church - they think as the world thinks. The standards of society are dragged into the church, the church in Corinth is not in the world it is the same as the world. But Paul says you’ve got it wrong (3-4)”Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.” The gospel minister thinks, acts and reacts differently from the world.

The gospel minister, we, has different divinely powerful weapons. Paul uses the three stages of a campaign of siege warfare against a city to describe the work of these weapons. First of all the stronghold –the city wall- would be demolished, then captives would be taken before finally punishing any remaining resistance once the city was taken. Paul trusts in God’s weaponry because it works, it is powerful.

The question is what is this weaponry? Well it is counter to the culture of clever arguments, rhetoric and the like. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4; “Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.”

The gospel is the weapon and amazingly 4:7 “…we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” The gospel is given to us to tell the world and its power is all of God. Our weakness and failings are part of the gospel’s glory.

The gospel minister trusts the gospel and models their ministry on Christ, not the latest programme, not on a power packed presentation, or on complex and clever arguments.

2. They fulfil God’s commission
The opponents of Paul are saying he isn’t impressive enough, he doesn’t dazzle, where is the evidence of his apostleship and calling(7). (10)He may be impressive in letter but in person he is a bit of a let down, shouldn’t an Apostle be a bit more charismatic, dynamic, and authoritative!

Paul in answer appeals to them to look at the evidence (7)there is some debate over translation but the footnote in the NIV is probably right and it should read “Look at the obvious facts.” Don’t listen to the flattery and persuasion you are hearing, look at what is tangible and obvious and when you apply gospel criteria you will see if we are Apostles and have authority.

What are the obvious facts? In Acts 18 Paul planted the church in Corinth, they are called to follow and many believe and are baptised. Paul then stayed 18 months building up the church by teaching them the word of God. Because God told them “I have many people in this city.” The church exists because of the power of the gospel and God’s commission and work through Paul, therefore their authority and calling is obvious. They are fulfilling God’s commission,

By contrast (8)the false apostles in Corinth are causing friction and tearing apart what God by his grace and the gospel through Paul has built.

You will spot a true gospel minister by their work and their way. They do not tear down they build up, they are not puffed they humbly serve and their ministry is not about them it is about Christ.

3. They look for God’s commendation
Boasting is another issue in Corinth; it was in his first letter that Paul had to tell them “no more boasting about human leaders!” But in the Corinthian goldfish bowl they haven’t remembered that lesson and accept the false Apostles boasts about themselves, what they have done, how they have done it and so on.

It was another Corinthian attitude that had seeped into the church. Famous figures would pay to have a statue of themselves erected, Roman generals would pay for a triumph, and others would pay to have a eulogy published about their actions.

The Corinthians have swallowed the boasting of the false Apostles, so Paul sets up another contrast between the true gospel minister and the false – the true gospel minister looks for God’s commendation, not their own which is foolish(12).

Paul will not boast in what he has done but in what God has done, Paul’s concern is God’s commendation(17-18) and God’s future glory as the gospel is worked out in growing faith among the Corinthians rather than abandonment of the faith and as it is preached in new areas.

How should we respond? Well Paul wants the Corinthians to examine themselves, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?”(13:5) Just like the Corinthians we look at ourselves and our society and see potential dangers. We must be aware of the danger of adopting society’s values. One particular area I think we are in danger of doing so is celebrity culture. We have our own celebrity speakers in the evangelical world don’t we. It may show in the books we read or the MP3s we listen to. I’m not saying don’t read them but be aware of the danger, they are not your pastor. They are not the person whose church you are in.

We need to evaluate what we read and hear in light of gospel criteria. The gospel minister trusts God’s weapons, fulfils God’s commission and looks for God’s commendation.

That is tremendously liberating for us as we engage in gospel ministry. The gospel saves not my cleverness of arguments, it frees me to pray, to work hard to explain the gospel well but ultimately I tell others the great news about Jesus and trust him to save them – it is not down to me.

It means that if you are here and you don’t know Jesus yet you should see evidence of life change going on in those around you who do. Look at them and you will see something different, you will see that grace has gripped them and they live differently because of the gospel. You will see they treat you differently, in short you will see as you look at them and read the Bible that they give you a glimpse of what Jesus was like.

It means we model our evangelism not on the latest programme or idea of man but on Jesus. We love people and therefore we share the gospel with them. But it also means we love them enough to tell them the hard truths, not to look for their approval but for God’s. It means we tell them the Bibles truths and absolutes, their deadness in their sin, their inability to save themselves and their need of a saviour.