Commended by God

2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 12. We had left

2 Corinthians 10:12

off last week with Paul addressing that some

of the people in Corinth were questioning Paul.

They were saying, ah, he's not a good speaker.

He's kind of weak. It's not much to him. Yeah,

he's a big talker in his letters, but he comes

in person and he's not all that. And Paul was

saying, hey, look, you better be ready. You know,

I'm writing you these letters. I don't want to

have to come to you and be bold, but there are

some things you guys need to be aware of. He

had addressed a lot of stuff in 1 Corinthians,

some things that were going on that needed to

be dealt with. And here in 2 Corinthians, we

started with... Paul addressing this idea that

there seems to be some false teachers, some other

people that's moved into Corinth, and they're

maybe questioning Paul or challenging Paul, teaching

things that aren't solid, that may lead the people

astray. And Paul wants to make sure that they

know that he loves them, that, hey, he's calling

them out for some of these things because it's

not healthy for them, and not to forget that

he's poured into them, that he's shared the gospel,

that he's led them to Jesus Christ. Let these

other people come in and lead them astray. And

so he's lovingly and with some sternness, as

we see in 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, trying

to get their attention so that they do continue

to do good and grow in the Lord and don't fall

off track following other people, but will continue

to let him lead them. And that's kind of what

we've seen. In 2 Corinthians. So we'll read through

these verses. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse

2 Corinthians 10:12

12. We'll read through the chapter. Then we'll

pray. And then we'll talk about it for a minute.

For we don't dare classify or compare ourselves

with some who commend themselves. But in measuring

themselves by themselves and comparing themselves

to themselves, they lack understanding. We, however,

will not boast beyond measure, but according

to the measure of the area of ministry that God

has assigned to us, which reaches even to you.

For we are not overextending ourselves as if

we had not reached you, since we have come to

you with the gospel of Christ. We are not bragging

beyond measure about other people's labors. But

we have the hope that as your faith increases,

our area of ministry will be greatly enlarged,

so that we may proclaim the good news to the

regions beyond you, not boasting about what has

already been done in someone else's area of ministry.

So the one who boasts must boast in the Lord,

for it is not the one commending himself, who

is approved, but the one the Lord commands. Let's

pray. God, we thank you for these good words.

I pray that you would help us to listen to them,

dear Lord, that there would be something in here

that would grab our attention. God, maybe there's

some boasting about something in our life. Maybe

the standard that we're comparing how we live

by is not your standard. God, maybe we have been

guilty of commending ourselves in some way. God,

I pray that we would see these truths in the

scripture and help us to test ourselves. I pray

that your Holy Spirit would be with us tonight.

I pray that everything that is said and done

would be for your glory, that you hide me behind

the cross, that I would preach and teach in a

way that points to you. I pray that you take

away any fear or pride that is within me tonight,

dear Lord, that we can look at your word and

I can present your word and that we would all

seek you through it. And I ask these things in

Jesus' name. Amen. Now, Paul was certainly proud

in some sense of what had taken place in Corinth.

That there was a group of believers there. And

they were excited for the Lord. And yeah, there

was some stuff going on. But that's always going

to be the case. Among any group of believers,

there's going to be... there's going to be some

pulling in one direction, some in another, maybe

sometimes about things that aren't that serious,

and then maybe there are serious things that

pop up that have to be dealt with. But nevertheless,

Paul had shared the gospel and those with Paul

to the people of Corinth, and that he was grateful

for, that there were brothers and sisters in

Christ, and he wanted to continue to see them

excel. But as... I mentioned a few minutes ago,

there were other people also, maybe in some way

kind of doing some ministry work, but not with

the same heart, it appears, that Paul was. And

not with the same humility. Now, Paul is ready

to point out, hey, I've done right by you. But

I don't think Paul is boasting necessarily in

a sense that he's saying, look how good I am.

He's boasting in the Lord. To say, look, I've

shared the gospel with you. Look, you've accepted

this good news. You've accepted Jesus Christ.

Now I want to see you living and I want to see

you to continue to increase in those ways. And

Paul talks about kind of in the middle of this

section here. That he says, look, you are the

ones that we've shared the gospel with. And so

we're boasting in you and what the Lord's doing

in you in hopes that what God's doing in you

is going to continue to expand to other people.

That was Paul's concern. He said, we're boasting

in you in a sense because we see what God has

done in you. We're not taking credit for somebody

else's work as it appears that others were doing.

Maybe they were seeing what was going on in the

Corinthian church and they were trying to take

some credit for that. As if they had done part

of the work and they had established the church.

But Paul says, look, you need to listen to me

because I'm the one who's invested in you. I'm

the one who's shared the gospel with you. And

he points out these others at the very beginning

of this passage and the very end of this passage.

And that's what we're going to... focus on mostly

tonight, I think these are good things for us

to consider. And he says in verse 12, we don't

dare classify or compare ourselves with some

who commend themselves. Okay, so Paul's competition

was worried about who? They were worried about

themselves. They were commending themselves.

Now Paul and those with him, were not in the

business of commending themselves. They didn't

want to be glorified. They wanted Jesus Christ

to be glorified. So Paul says you need to pay

attention and realize we're not like these other

people. We don't commend ourselves. You need

to look at their life and how they're living.

Are they someone who loves the Lord and who serves

the Lord and are putting God's interest first

and bringing glory to Him? If so, then praise

the Lord. But that doesn't appear to be the case

as we read through 2 Corinthians. So Paul says,

don't make the mistake to think that we are like

these others. The things that we are saying is

trustworthy and true. And you know that through

our example as we've already seen Paul state

throughout 2 Corinthians so far. So he says,

look, we're not like those other people. We don't

even compare ourselves to those other people.

And then he tells us what's going on with the

other people. He says, In verse 12. But in measuring

themselves by themselves and comparing themselves

to themselves, they lack understanding. Or they

don't have wisdom. Or they are unwise. Something

like that your translations may say. So we instantly

can see the problem here. The measuring stick

of these other people, the standard of these

other people, is their own actions. So Paul says

the other people who are teaching you are measuring

whether or not they're doing a good job based

on whether or not they think they're doing a

good job. And so if the standard is set by them,

they meet their own standard. Now, we probably

all do this in some way. We have the standards

and the things that we measure by as to what

we think is the best. Now, let's say, for instance,

there was somebody in here that had a red Chevrolet

truck. and they said red Chevrolet trucks were

the best. And they bought a red Chevrolet truck,

and therefore if red Chevrolet trucks are the

best, according to their standard, they have

the best truck. But somebody else's standard

may say that black Ram trucks are the best. And

therefore they would say that red Chevrolet trucks

were not the best. If we all have a different

standard we're going by, it's easy enough for

us to meet our standard. We do it in the kitchen

all the time with what we cook. We all have different

standards for what we think is good food, for

what we think is salty enough food or too salty

food. And you make your food, and it's perfect.

Based on your own standard, you are the best

chef in the world because your food tastes just

how you want it to taste with just the right

amount of salt. And so you bring it to church,

to the eat, and then somebody else eats it, and

they say, this ain't got enough salt. Because

their standard is up here. And when they cook

their food, it has a lot more salt. And so therefore,

they are in fact a better chef than you because

it doesn't meet their standard, and they know

how to make food to their standard. So we all

have these standards that we judge ourselves

by sometimes, and we prove ourselves to be right

in these areas. And therefore, those others that

we see around us, who don't live according to

our standards, have to be wrong. And we do this

in a lot of ways. And we have all these little

things that we pick and choose as to what really

matters. We will have kind of these big sins

that we'll call them, and we judge people according

to those standards. They might be different for

all of us. They might be different for all of

us, but I'll just pick some random ones here

just for the sake of making a point. So let's

say we look at people and we say, okay, well

that person right there doesn't use any foul

language, they don't drink and smoke, and they

don't sleep around with people. Okay, that's

good people. When people don't do those things,

they're good people. So as long as we see people

not doing those things, then they meet our standard.

But the moment we see somebody doing one of those

things, well, they're a bad person. They don't

meet the standard. But the problem is, is that

everybody in the world has different standards.

Because there are things that you and I may say,

that's wrong and that's not what God wants us

to do. And there are other people that say, ain't

nothing wrong with that. There's a group that

will go along with this standard and a group

that will go along with that standard. And so

there has to be a standard, not a standard that

you make and a standard that I make and a standard

that your neighbor makes. There has to be a standard.

And that's the problem in our world today, I

believe, a big part of our problem, is there

is no single standard. that everyone looks to

and says, this is what establishes what is right

and what is wrong and what everything else is

to be measured against. Now we have that. It's

called the Word of God. It's called Jesus Christ.

That is the standard by which everything we do

needs to be measured by. The question is, do

we live by that standard? It's pretty clear that

our world does not see the word of God as the

standard. Maybe there was a point in time in

this country for a little while where maybe more

people than not would view the word of God as

the standard that we live by. But that's less

and less the case, I believe, every year that

goes by. And so we have to measure ourselves.

Not by what we have considered as right and wrong,

but what God says is right or wrong. Now, what

are these people that Paul's talking about? What

are they doing? They're doing exactly that. He

says they've measured themselves by themselves.

They've measured themselves. This is what's required,

that I think's required, so this is what I do.

And therefore, since this is what I do, then

I meet the requirements of what I think is required,

and I have approved myself. They have approved

themselves by themselves. Now, do we ever do

the same thing? Do we ever have some things that

we think, well, you know, maybe this isn't the

best thing in the world, but it's not that bad.

That thing that other people's doing, that's

pretty bad. But this thing I'm doing, I know

it's not right, but it's not as bad as what they're

doing. And so therefore, I meet my standards,

so I'm okay. But it's what we do and what we

say and how we act. We meet God's standard. So

we need to measure ourselves by a better standard.

And what are we measuring ourselves by? Are we

measuring ourselves by saying, well, I know I'm

not that good, but I'm better than a lot of these

other folks that I see. Well, by that standard,

we may be better than some of the other people

we see in some ways. But what about God's standard?

I suspect that if we... Read God's word. And

we should. We begin to see God's standard. And

what he calls us to. And the way he calls us

to live. And the things he calls us to do. And

to not to do. Then we start reading God's word.

And maybe we read a page. And we say oh my. And

we flip to the next page. And we say oh my. And

pretty soon we done got a lot of pages. That

we done made check marks by. And said I ain't

meeting that standard. I'm not living up to that

standard. I failed in that way today. Boy, I

failed in that way last week. And that's why

it's important for us to be in the Word of God.

How can we know the Word of God if we don't know

the Word of God? How can we do the Word of God

if we don't read the Word of God? And you can't

just have somebody with you every day just telling

you, here's what you need to do, here's what

the Word of God. It'd be great if there was somebody

that was beside us all the time and every thought

that popped in our mind or everything we were

going to do, somebody just quoted a scripture.

It'd be great. And in a sense, you know, we kind

of do have somebody that does that. He's called

the Holy Spirit. If we know the Word of God,

guess what? If you know the word of God, there

will be times that you're about to do that thing

you shouldn't do, and you'll hear that word in

your mind. It'll come back to you, a word that

maybe you hadn't even thought about in a few

weeks or a few months. And something will bring

it into your mind, and I believe that that something

is the Holy Spirit. But I think we have to know

the word of God. I think we have to seek the

word of God. We have to say, God, what is your

standard? What do you call me to do? How do you

want me to live? And God helped me to see that

and live by that. And that's the measuring stick

right there. The standard of God. So maybe we've

been going along in this life and we think we're

pretty good. Maybe by worldly standards we are.

But what does it say at the end of this passage

that we just read? Verse 18. For it is not the

one commending himself who is approved. But the

one the Lord commands. Now we may live up to

our own standard. And we may get to the end of

our life. And based on our standard, we may say,

I commend myself. I have done a pretty good job.

Pat myself on the back. And I suspect that there

are plenty of people in this world that have

done that. And if we're honest, perhaps we do

that too. We have a standard. Okay. I'm going

to do one good deed a day. Oh, I did my good

deed of the day. Met my standard. Pat myself

on the back. Maybe God wants you to do two good

deeds in a day. Maybe there's going to be five

good deeds in a day. Maybe there's going to be

17 things that God wants you to do tomorrow.

Maybe we sell ourselves short. Maybe we fail

to do what God calls us to because we... Have

our standard to say, as long as I do one good

thing a day, that's enough. And we do our good

thing and we say, check mark, standard is met.

And we make it to the end of our lives and we

say, I've done a pretty good job according to

what I think I should have done. But that doesn't

get us anywhere. For it is not the one commending

himself who is approved, but the one the Lord

commands. Does the Lord commend the way that

we live our lives? Because he's the only one

that matters. Because we get before the Lord

one day when this life is over, and he says,

how do you think you did? I said, pretty good.

I mean, there was some little stuff, but big

stuff, I knocked it out of the park, God. I did

a good deed every day. I didn't cuss, I didn't

drink, I didn't smoke. Pretty good, God. I commend

myself. And the Lord says, depart from me, I

never knew you. Because God's standard is Jesus

Christ. Because God's standard is not just going

through the motions. God's standard is not just

coming to church. God's standard is to follow

Jesus Christ and to follow the words of Scripture

and the commands of God. And when we follow the

word of God. That's not to say that we will not

fail. But are we striving? Are we trying? Or

have we just convinced ourselves that I'm okay

where I'm at? I've approved myself by myself

and I'm okay where I'm at. But maybe we're not

okay where we're at. Maybe there's some areas

that God wants to work in our life. And it doesn't

matter if you commend yourself. It doesn't matter

if those around you commend you. You might have

a lot of people telling you how good you are.

Don't fall for it. Because it's not them that

matter. It's the Lord that matters. So we must

seek to live for Him. So when the day comes that

we stand before the Lord, we are commended. And

God says, well done, my good and faithful servant.

Let's pray. God, we thank you for the truth of

these words tonight. And God, I pray that you

would help us not to fall into that trap. And

it's easy for us to do. And maybe we do it more

often than we would like to admit. Maybe even

as we come in here tonight, God, we've kind of

established in our mind, in whatever ways, the

things that are good and right that we need to

do. And maybe some of those things are what your

word says. And maybe we just kind of check those

boxes. We say, well, we're doing all we think

we should do and we're okay with that. But God,

help us to know if we're doing what you call

us to do. And we can't judge our actions based

on what we think, but based on your word. So

I pray, dear Lord, that we would not ever...

Leave a church service or leave from reading

your word, giving ourselves a pat on the back,

thinking that we've made it, we're where we need

to be. That's not to say that we're always just

doing bad, dear Lord. Maybe there are some seasons

in our life that we're doing better than others.

Maybe we are doing really, really bad tonight,

some of us here or some online. But God, I pray

that you would help us to seek your word. that

you would help us to look past and above our

standard, to look to a higher standard that comes

through Jesus Christ, that comes into your word,

God, and let us seek to live according to that

standard. And God, give us grace when we fail.

Help us to be repentant and to seek you and to

continue to strive to live according to your

will moving forward. In Jesus' name I pray it.

Amen.