Study in 2 Corinthians

Study in 2 Corinthians Presentation 01

The Paradox Of Weakness Chap 1v1-11 Presentation 01

Introduction Recently in the leadership campaign for a political Party leadership qualities that should be found in the leader of the nation were listed. The words, strong, forceful, tough, bold, and resilient all featured regularly. Clearly any admission of weakness or failure was deemed to bring immediate disqualification. Why? Because a political leader must not be seen to be vulnerable or open to the charge of weakness! Presentation 01

Introduction I suspect that, when we think of leadership in the church, we are often tempted to employ the same model. Those in positions of responsibility are expected to be Herculean in every aspect of their lives. There must be no evidence of weakness, no admission of failure, they must never tire under any circumstance. The Christian leader must always cope! Only other Christians are allowed to be crushed by personal problems. The Christian leader must never appear to be under pressure, never uncertain or perplexed. He must always have an answer for all that is going on in God's world. Presentation 01

Introduction At least that is the myth which both Christian leaders and their people are encouraged to believe. One of Paul's purposes in writing this letter is to expose and explode that myth. Indeed, throughout the epistle Paul teaches that one of the primary qualifications for being used of God is to be painfully aware of one’s weakness, inadequacy and incompetence. The great paradox of this epistle which finds its remarkable climax in chapter 12 is that, 'when I am weak I am strong‘ 2Cor.12v10. Presentation 01

Background We learn from the book of Acts that Paul founded the church in Corinth but not without a great deal of heartache and discouragement. Indeed, at one stage the people seemed so unresponsive that he was all set to pack his bags and leave. He spent eighteen months preaching and laying the foundations of the church - a church which seems to have distinguished itself by having a considerable number of pastoral problems. Paul wrote at least three letters dealing with issues such as party spirit, sexual immorality and spiritual pride. Presentation 01

Background But this epistle differs not only from his previous correspondence to Corinth but from every other epistle we have in the N.T. Its thrust is to defend his leadership credentials and his leadership style. There were in Corinth some self-styled apostles who questioned Paul's authority and ridiculed his leadership style. They considered him a Christian wimp, an inadequate leader, who did not measure up to their model of leadership. They believed, as many do today, that Christian leaders should be strong, forceful, impressive personalities possessing powerful communication techniques! Presentation 01

Background There was in Corinth a clash of cultures. The hero cult was part and parcel of the Greek culture. The athlete, the actor, the orator, and the soldier, men of eloquence, confidence, virility and strength were the Greek role models for success. In Paul's day there were travelling teachers called Sophists who made their living by teaching youngsters how to nurture an impressive, confident persona, not unlike some life coaches of today. The self-styled apostles in the church at Corinth offered the strong kind of leadership, which the secular Greek world found so appealing! Their methodology clearly clashed with Paul’s. Presentation 01

Background This epistle, which forms a defence of Paul's leadership style is of value not only to church leaders but to all Christians who have some kind of leadership role, and the opportunity of influencing other people. Parents influence children, husbands influence wives … we can influence family and friends indeed, anyone who looks to us for some kind of direction. It is therefore important to discover what kind of image we are projecting. Do we adopt the Greek hero model where we are seen to be self-assertive and strong or, dare we, like Paul, acknowledge our own weaknesses and vulnerability? As we shall see it is the latter that God delights to bless? Presentation 01

Paul's Vulnerability In these opening verses, Paul does what his opponents would never dream of doing, he honestly unpacks his own weakness and vulnerability v 8-9... Here is a man under pressure. Since leaving them Paul had experienced constant battles not just with the Jewish religious establishment, but with Jewish Christians. He'd faced anti -Christian hostility in Ephesus that had been whipped up by the trade union movement. The phrase 'sentence of death'v9 could refer to a sentence of capital punishment hanging over him. But it is also possible that Paul is referring to a chronic physical sickness, like the thorn in the flesh mentioned in ch.12. Presentation 01

Paul's Vulnerability Commentators cannot agree upon the precise danger Paul had faced. We do not need to know. But it is important to be aware of the extreme gravity of his situation and the depth of despair to which he was reduced by it. cf8b... He is at his wits end, the jaws of death were closing in upon him. Paul freely admits that he was on the point of giving up all hope of survival. Why display this vulnerability? Was he after a sympathy vote? No! News of Paul's troubles had filtered back to Corinth and his opponents used it to discredit him. “Look Paul has just about given up, he's depressed. What kind of leader that!” Paul, aware of this kind of criticism, does not seek to minimise his troubles! Why? Presentation 01

Badges of Honour Because his understanding of Christian leadership does not require that. It was not important he appear invincible! He is not ashamed of his weakness and so begins his letter by identifying it. The agenda of his epistle clear from the outset. Paul indicates a number of ways in which his troubles far from being shameful tokens of defeat were in fact badges of honour. First, trouble qualifies us to comfort others. Difficulties bind us to others in a way that prosperity can never do. When someone is bereaved or seriously ill and friends arrive to console them, it is a relief to hear them say, “I can imagine how you must feel for I have experienced the very same thing”. Presentation 01

Badges of Honour Paul is saying, “ God has allowed me to walk through the furnace of suffering in order that I might have a ministry of comfort. The comfort that God has given me in my peril is not something, I put in a display case for selfish enjoyment, instead I distribute to any who are in need. I pass it on.” The word ‘sympathy’ means 'suffering with'. But the Christian who has suffered can go beyond that. He enter into the suffering of others and walks where they walk. This enables the Christian not just to be a ‘sympathiser’ but an ‘empathiser’. Someone who enters into the situation of another. Paul blesses God that he has such a ministry! Presentation 01

Badges of Honour The leaders in Corinth, who gave the impression of being supermen, invincible, strong in every circumstance of life, would have made very bad pastors. For only those who can share how God has helped them in their own deep distress can effectively minister distressed believers. Are you so aware of your inadequacies that you believe that you are of little use to God? Consider this, all of the pain, frustration, failure and soreness of heart that you have experienced are precisely the qualifications that God can use as you minister to others. Presentation 01

Badges of Honour Secondly, Paul links Christian suffering to that of Jesus cfv5.... Paul makes this link in a number of his epistles. Paul does not imply that his sufferings have any atoning significance - there is a uniqueness about the death of Christ to which we cannot add. Nevertheless, Paul views Christian suffering as a kind of mystical extension of the sufferings of Christ. In Col. 1v24 he says, “I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions”. The church is the ‘body of Christ’ and so when the church is persecuted the body of Christ suffers. Presentation 01

Badges of Honour Think of the profound effect that Jesus’ words must have had upon Saul the persecutor on the road to Damascus; 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' The suffering of the Christian has been described as a sort of 'referred pain' issuing out of the cross to all who are joined to him in his body. And so our comfort is a kind of 'referred joy‘, flowing out of Christ’s resurrection by virtue of our union with him. And so Paul is saying here, what he will state more clearly in chap 4, that his suffering and subsequent deliverance in an echo of what Good Friday and Easter morning must have meant for Jesus. Presentation 01

Badges of Honour The pseudo-apostles, who gloried in their suffering-free lives, are really saying that they have no fellowship with Christ in his sufferings. The thrust of Paul’s teaching needs to be emphasised in a day when a spirit of triumphalism has begun to infect the church. Its message is simple, God intends his children to be healthy, wealthy and free from suffering. They have missed the point. If we are to glory in anything it is in our sharing in Christ’s sufferings! A Christian woman who had a miscarriage was told by her church leaders that she must have stepped out of God’s will. Their theology left no place for the suffering in the life of the believer. Paul is quite clear you can't expect to enjoy the comfort of Christ without being prepared at some level to share with him in his sufferings. Presentation 01

Badges of Honour Thirdly, Paul points out that he could see a purpose in his sufferings. He spells this out in v6... He is saying, 'the example of my sufferings and my subsequent deliverance will be used by God to encourage you to hold fast when the time comes for you to have your share of troubles'. Few things encourage our hearts more than stories of Christians who have passed through trial and been enriched by it. Think of the way in which Christians in the west have been encouraged by the way in which their brothers and sisters in Iran have “suffered for Jesus sake”. Presentation 01

Badges of Honour Paul then explains how he benefited from his own suffering v9b... He was put under pressure, sent into a tailspin of despair in order to learn to trust in God rather than in himself. How often do we find ourselves clinging to the rope of self-confidence only to discover that God has frayed the rope causing us to land with a bump. We attempt to make ourselves the masters of our destiny rather than trust our futures to God. Conversion does not erase the personality traits of self-assurance and self-confidence. It is the discipline of God's grace that severs the ropes of self reliance to which we cling. Real faith is constructed from the ruins of self despair. For this reason God brought Paul through trial after trial. Presentation 01

Badges of Honour Finally, trials teach Christians to pray. Paul writes, 'as you help us by your prayers’ v11.This phrase describes labour in which we work together to support somebody else. Some people who do not like church prayer meetings say, “Everyone should pray in the privacy of their own home!” But the language of v11 employs describes the corporate prayer of the church fellowship. Nothing motivates the prayer life of the church like the news of a fellow Christian in trouble. It injects a new sense of urgency into the prayer meeting . This by the way should encourage us to share our burdens with one another for prayer. Presentation 01

Conclusion How do we view our troubles? Are we ashamed and embarrassed by them. Do we resent them as a slur on our Christian character? Paul's response to trouble is not masochistic, he did not enjoy it but he saw benefit init. He had learned enough from Jesus to realise that Christian leadership has nothing to do with living a heroic, triumphalistic life but rather it is lived out under the shadow of the cross. An old Puritan minister wrote of his afflictions : “O Lord these afflictions are thy pearls and I will wear them for thy sake”. May God grant us such a spirit. Presentation 01

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Study in 2 Corinthians