A True Test
To evaluate the depth
of our commitment to Christ,
we should consider the degree
we are willing to endure discomfort
as ambassadors for Christ.
Here's Gene:
When we look at church history,
there are a lot of people
who have suffered for Christ.
It happened in the New Testament world
and it certainly happened to Paul.
And it's happened throughout church history
in certain situations. It's even happening today.
But I think we can safely say
that no one suffered more than Paul.
I think that'll be true someday
when we know all the facts.
But here we have a reference
to his sufferings.
And the interesting thing is
that suffering was a part of his calling.
You remember that he was
on the Damascus Road,
going to Damascus to take Christians captive.
He had already approved of Stephen's death.
He was called Saul at that time--
a Pharisee of the Pharisees,
a denier of Jesus Christ.
And the Lord in His mercy spoke
to him on that road.
And what happened is his life
was dramatically changed.
And he was supposed to go on into Damascus.
And the Lord prepared a man by the name of Ananias
and He said: Ananias, I want you
to minister to Paul, My servant.
And Ananias was scared to death
because Paul's reputation had preceded him
in terms of all the havoc
that he had created in Jerusalem
and in other places.
But the Lord said something to Ananias
that Paul never forgot because
it was part of his life.
And notice I called it Paul's Calling:
But the Lord said to him, [that is Ananias]
"Go, for this man is my chosen instrument
to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.
I will show him much he must
suffer for my name."
And Paul knew that. He understood that.
And he really suffered
because of the name of Jesus Christ.
As I said, probably more than
any other human individual
who was carrying out the Great Commission.
Paul understood his calling.
And I think that freed him up
to utilize suffering as a means,
that is recounting his sufferings,
as a means to demonstrate
that he was a true apostle.
That was part of his calling, compared to
false apostles and their lifestyle.
And so he goes on here
and he shares generally--
you remember, we already looked at this
in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, where he says:
We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; ...
We didn't give up and we'll never give up.
...we are perplexed but not in despair;
we are persecuted but not abandoned;
we are struck down but not destroyed.
And he uses the word "we" because
those who served with him--
Paul: [and] Barnabas, and Silas, and Timothy,
and others.
And so he's talking about the fact
that they were severely persecuted
for their commitment to preaching
the gospel of Jesus.
And so he gives us a little
general perspective on this.
And he knows that he's
leading up to some specifics
because he's going to address this issue
in terms of these false apostles.
And here was his motivation--
not to brag about himself:
We are not giving anyone
an occasion for offense, so that the
ministry will not be blamed.
Instead, as God's ministers,
we commend ourselves in everything:
Now you're going to have
three sets of descriptions here
that are rather fascinating.
In fact, eighteen times he uses
a little preposition "by."
And I'm going to break this into two categories.
This first category
divided into two more categories.
Notice what he says about suffering.
Paul's Specific Experiences
Through Sufferings:
by great endurance, by afflictions,
by hardships, by difficulties,
by beatings, by imprisonments,
by riots, by labors, by sleepless nights,
by times of hunger.
And we could go back and we could
fill in blanks relative to each one
of those statements that we read
about in his experiences.
But he goes on to say that
his specific experience involved
their sacrifice of their lives--
the living sacrifices.
And so here we have what I've called
Paul's Specific Experiences Through Sacrifice:
by purity, by knowledge, by patience,
by kindness, by the Holy Spirit,
by sincere love, by the word of truth,
by the power of God.
That's the first set of descriptions
and obviously Paul did a lot of thinking
about how to lay that out
under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
But now we come to the
second category where he uses
the [word] preposition "through."
And three times, he uses a word through.
His Specific Experiences:
through weapons of righteousness
for the right hand and the left.
And when I read that I thought about
what he said in Ephesians chapter 6,.
That one of our weapons is the
sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
And I had kind of a flash of fantasy with that.
And I could see Paul with two swords,
lasers by the right and the left,
taking on Satan and the enemy.
The Word of God. So he says:
through weapons of righteousness
by the right hand and the left,
through glory and dishonor,
through slander and good report.
It's interesting again you see these contrasts.
And then finally in this third category,
he uses the words "as" and "yet."
And notice how he explains this:
Regarded as deceivers, yet true;
as unknown, yet recognized;
as dying, yet see--we live;
as being disciplined, yet not killed;
as grieving, yet always rejoicing;
as poor, yet enriching many;
as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
And the point I believe here is this:
that Paul really wanted to make his point.
And what he's doing is addressing, as it were,
these false apostles.
He's writing to the Corinthians.
But in essence, he is saying:
What have they endured?
Take a look at their lives.
Take a look at the way they're living.
Take a look at what they call their calling.
And compare that with what it means
to be a true apostle of Jesus Christ.
And so Paul did not like to do this
but he felt it was necessary,
based upon his true calling
in Jesus Christ, is to defend himself
in this particular situation.
And then he gives them a personal message.
He says, look Corinthians:
We have spoken openly to you, Corinthians; ....
He's being very vulnerable--very open to you:
...our heart has been open wide.
We are not withholding
our affection from you,
but you are withholding yours from us.
I speak as to my children;
as a proper response,
open your heart to us.
He is saying basically: Yes, I'm an apostle.
God has given me authority.
But I'm also your father.
I care about you deeply.
And we're opening our hearts to you.
Now interestingly, we need to raise the question:
How do you reconcile it with the fact
that earlier or later, we'll see
as it's coming up.
But it really happened earlier
in the sequence of things in chapter 7.
How do we reconcile the fact that
he said: When he received a report
that he was very encouraged.
For example, what I'm referring to
is in 2nd Corinthians chapter 7:
But God, who comforts the downcast,
comforted us by the arrival of Titus,
and not only by his arrival
but also by the comfort
he received from you [Corinthians].
He told us about your deep longing,
your sorrow, and your zeal for me,
so that I rejoiced even more.
What he is saying here is: I received
the report that you obeyed.
You did what you needed to do
in terms of the letter that I sent you
that was a painful letter.
But opening your heart to us
is more than obedience.
It's more than just following through
on my apostolic authority
and what I told you to do--
in relationship to that discipline.
To really love us is to open your hearts.
To take us into your lives.
And to have a relationship with one another
that is deep, abiding, and caring.
And so there you see the
real human dimension
in the life of the apostle Paul.
Even though he had a great calling--
as in some respects, no other calling--
as an apostle to the Gentiles.
He suffered.
Now the question that I think
grows naturally out of this:
In what ways have you suffered
because of your commitment
to the Lord Jesus Christ
and His calling on your life
to be a dedicated disciple?
And when I apply that question
to my own life, I just simply need to say:
I can't come even this close
to identifying with the apostle Paul.
Yes, in the ministry, I've been criticized.
I've been misjudged.
I've had a little period of time
in the scheme of things
of false accusations with people
who tried to get me out of the ministry, even.
Because I was getting too close to their sin.
That was very painful.
But that [doesn't] compare
with what we've read about
the sufferings of Paul.
That was his calling.
Now on the other hand,
there are Christians today
that would answer that question
differently than we would.
Even today in certain parts of the world.
Because they're literally suffering
for the cause of Jesus Christ.
I think in some respects--
and I use this word advisedly--
we're somewhat living in a culture
that has many millennial qualities.
When I say millennial qualities,
I'm referring to the to fact
there's going to come a time
when Jesus Christ is going to reign.
It's called the millennium.
I don't believe we're in the millennium.
I believe it's future--
and that's my perspective.
But there are a lot of millennial qualities
that have been in our culture. Why?
Because from the beginning
of our culture, the Word of God,
and the values of Scripture
in the Old and New Testament,
were foundational to our culture.
And even though we were not
"a Christian nation" per se,
we were built upon the
Hebrew-Christian tradition
and the values.
And over the supreme court
in three places is a reference
to the Ten Commandments.
That's kind of ironic, isn't it?
You really wonder when people
are going to begin to say
those commandments have got to go.
The fact is that our culture's changing.
And even as I speak, there are things
happening in our culture that are
bringing persecution and accusations
that we've never experienced before.
And I think we have to just face
the fact that it's going to get worse.
I wish there were a way we could turn the tide.
But it's going to get darker.
But let's remember that the darker it gets,
the brighter the light can shine.
And that's was Paul's perspective.
May God give us the grace to live for Him.
Not to forget this Principle--the True Test:
To evaluate the depth
of our commitment to Christ,
we should consider the degree
we are willing to endure discomfort
as ambassadors for Christ.