Stay in Your Lane

Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,

a ministry of Second City Church in midtown Harrisburg.

This fall, we're studying the book of Second

Corinthians. Second Corinthians is a heartfelt

and practical book calling us back to the life

of the cross. We, like the Corinthians, so often

pursue glory, admire eloquence, shun suffering,

hide hurt, and hoard our goods. And yet the gospel

of Jesus tells us that resurrection comes after

a cross. that comfort comes after being crushed,

that the way up is the way down, that the way

to glory is through suffering, that his strength

is made perfect in our weakness. We'd love to

meet you and we hope you'll consider coming and

joining with us each Sunday morning at 10 a .m.

in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find

us online at secondcitychurch .org and on Facebook,

Instagram, and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this

sermon. God bless. Please pray with me. O Lord

God, you are good. Your mercy endures forever.

We thank you, O Lord, for coming to us in such

kind ways through your preached word, through

the sacraments. We ask that you would enrich

us, help us to know and to love and to treasure

you better for our time together this morning.

We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. I

want to begin our discussion of the Apostle Paul's

letter to the Corinthians with a quote from Harrisburg

native and former Philadelphia Eagle, Lashon

McCoy, who apparently attended the Seventh Day

Adventist School on Her Street until he was in

eighth grade, and that's like a block from my

house, so we're practically neighbors. Anyway,

Shady McCoy is one of the more beloved running

backs in Eagles history, but in 2015 he was traded

away from the team by recently hired coach Chip

Kelly. As a Sports Illustrated article put it,

this was a major part of, quote, the coach exerting

his control of or putting his stamp on the roster.

So Kelly, the coach, wanted to remake the Eagles

in his own image and McCoy became sort of a casualty

of that situation. One of the more interesting

parts of this whole story is Kelly's feud with

Howie Roseman, the then and current general manager.

So Kelly was not able to outright fire Roseman

because the owner, Jeffrey Lurrie, liked the

guy a lot. But he did have Roseman's desk removed

from the building. He put him with the marketing

team He banned so Roseman the general manager

that's the guy who officially declares who's

on the team and who isn't he banned that man

from Eagles practices In an interview later McCoy

Claimed that his own trade and Roseman being

shut out from all -player interactions was because

quote this dude ie Chip Kelly wanted power so

bad He was willing to do whatever he needed to

get it The happy ending to this story is that

Kelly was fired shortly afterwards. My neighbor

Shady retired with the Eagles and Roseman has

two Super Bowl rings and counting. Go birds.

I bring this up not because any of the characters

that I've mentioned are noted Bible experts.

but instead to show that the type of conflict

that Paul is talking about here in the 10th chapter

of his letter has not gone from the earth. It

is not unbelievable. It happens all the time

publicly in high places, and I suspect it happens

secretly in our own hearts as well. So, let's

think about the broad context of the book. We've

been through the bulk of 2 Corinthians now. Well,

in chapter 10, there's sort of a discernible

change in tone. The apostle becomes very tense,

as it were, specifically about his apostolic

authority. You can see this in most of the beginning

of that chapter. which people in Corinth apparently

had been challenging while Paul has been away.

This changed tone continues on through the end

of the letter and it's such a marked change that

some scholars suggest that chapters 10 through

13 are actually a different letter and it sort

of got added to the end of this other letter

almost by accident like an appendix or something.

I don't see any compelling reason to adopt this

theory. letter writers are allowed to change

tone when they want to and actually I think it

makes a lot of sense that Paul would have this

sort of kindly pastoral tone while he's asking

for money as he does in chapters eight and nine

and Then gets a little bit fiercer as he deals

with the other stuff on the docket as it were

So in any case here in chapter 10 Paul shows

that he's ready to do battle New Testament scholar

David Alan Black says that Paul's, quote, change

in tone came because he was speaking to a still

rebellious group in church. And what seems like

happened is that between the writing of 1st and

2nd Corinthians, a new group of people had moved

into the church in Corinth, which is the church

Paul had founded. We can read about this in Acts

18. And this new group has been trying to discredit

Paul so as to gain more influence on the church's

movements and life, social life apparently together

as distinct from Paul. We don't know anything

about these guys except what Paul writes about

them, but scholars generally agree based on internal

evidence, they are people with a Jewish background.

who have at least some Greek education. That

is, they are people very like Paul himself. And

perhaps because they're like Paul in their education

and their background, they feel confident they

can beat Paul at his own rhetorical games. So

the way Paul goes about arguing against this

renegade group here in chapter 10 is pretty remarkable.

There's so much here. And there's so many different

topics that are fascinating that I feel like

there's no way to do justice to all the different

things Paul is saying. Looking at this chapter,

I feel the same way as when I go to Aldi's and

presumptuously, again, having never learned from

my mistakes, I think, I don't need a cart, I'm

just getting a few things. And by the time I

get to the end, I'm like balancing things on

the things that I'm balancing in my elbows and

trying to hold them with my chin. There's just

a lot of stuff in here. Look at this list of

topics. Paul brings up spiritual warfare and

taking every thought captive to Christ. That's

verses two through five. There's proper church

authority in verses six through 11, not comparing

oneself with others in verse 12, and then staying

within one's proper limits in verses 13 through

18. It's chapters jam -packed with really interesting

material. A good preacher Not me necessarily

but a good preacher could give you a full sermon

on each one of the sub topics. Books have been

written on them but. Paul doesn't present these

different topics as separate items they're all

part of his one argument so our task today is

going to be to try. to make sense of all of these

different strong flavors of topics and not get

distracted into just dealing with one of them,

but instead to try to see how they all fit into

Paul's purpose together and what we can learn

from that practically. Okay, but before I'm strong

and disciplined in this exegetical way, I want

to take a moment and read this great quote from

the very funny and very profound Anne Lamont.

And it corresponds to verse 12 in here. She says,

don't compare your insides to other people's

outsides. It'll just make you worse than you

already are. And I think that's just very needed

wisdom for us in this world. I love the language

of the King James here in verse 12. It says,

comparing themselves among themselves, they are

not wise. So this is just a minor point of application

for us all before we dive into the argument.

Friend, be wise. Don't compare your internal

lived experience with what you must feel like

it's like to be somebody else who you admire

or envy. That's a good way to make yourself crazy.

Diversion over. So back to history. Paul had

once had a good relationship with the Corinthians

and then there was this rough relational period.

He has rejoiced back in chapter seven that this

relationship seems to have been renewed. And

now that the relationship is renewed, he's going

to address the people who have been making life

difficult for him in the Corinthian church. So

what we will hear when we get to chapter 11 is

that these guys are either calling themselves

or just behaving as super apostles. So Paul's

an apostle, but these guys are super apostles.

That at least is what Paul uses as a derisive

term against them. And all of the individual

sections of this argument here in chapter 10

must be responses to their claims about his behavior.

So, for instance, if Paul says he doesn't dare

to classify himself or compare himself with some

of those who are commending themselves, verse

12, it must mean that these guys, these other

guys, are making lots of comparisons in order

to tear Paul down and also commending themselves

to show off how great they are. So what I want

to say today, my thesis this morning is based

on Paul's broad argument. So Paul shows us in

this passage how a person who identifies with

Christ can handle conflict. And my sub points

today are really simple. When we experience interpersonal

conflict, and we will, that is strained between

ourselves and other people, we want to, point

one, not behave according to the flesh, as Paul

says in verse 3, but instead, point two, we want

to behave in a counter -cultural way, like Paul

himself, and then we want to behave in that way.

Why? Because, point three, it will be better

for us in the church if we do so. So, Point one,

don't behave like the bad guys. That's obvious.

It's also way too simple. I think that unless

we're willing to sympathize with Paul's opponents

a little bit here, we're gonna miss the strength

of what Paul is saying and perhaps how it's going

to be painfully applicable in our own lives.

So while these mysterious bad guys Are in fact

the bad guys we want to be team Paul on this

one right consider this did they think they were

the bad guys. Obviously not right it's almost

a psychological impossibility right. Consider

these are guys with a jewish background who have

some greek education what purpose would there

be in faking christianity. They don't have a

lot to gain. In their society, they would be

in some danger. One would think socially and

also physically, as Paul himself was, if they

were faking this Christianity. So probably these

guys thought they were doing the right thing.

They thought they knew how to help the Corinthian

church to run itself well. It's just that they

were doing it wrong. And that's the problem with

moralism, isn't it? The preacher stands up here

and says, don't be bad. And we all sort of nod

our heads. But the problem with that is we're

sinners. We're people who don't know how to be

good. We're people who think we know how to do

good, but actually we do bad doing it. Think

back to Chip Kelly. The guy wasn't a secret agent

for the Cowboys. As far as we can tell. He was

a bad coach not because he was trying to be,

but because he thought in order for him to be

a good coach, he had to have total control over

the team. And in order to get that control, he

was willing to do things that seem in retrospect,

to be obvious, to be cruel and manipulative and

lose him the respect of the players. So, if we

put ourselves in the position of people who want

to do right, but who are willing to do morally

questionable things to get there, then I think

we'll be able to see what Paul is really arguing

against. Think about what these guys are saying

to each other. right? When the other Corinthians,

the sort of regular Corinthians, are coming back

to them in support of Paul. Think about it. They're

saying to each other, well, you've got to break

some eggs to make an omelet. They're saying to

themselves, sometimes you just got to step on

a few toes, right? This is the way the world

is. I'm just being a realist. And we can say

these things ourselves, can't we? In our workplaces?

Can we say them in the church? Can we say them

in our own families? So children, especially

my children, this applies to you as well. Do

you ever put your siblings down so that you feel

better? Do you ever choose to hang out with?

Who to hang out with at school because they have,

say, more power to make decisions about what

games get played during recess? Husbands and

wives, do you ever play power politics with each

other? Do you allow yourself to slip into manipulation

rather than dealing with your wife or your husband

with Christ -like kindness? Do we wage our wars

according to the flesh? It's really easy to do.

Paul says if we don't take every thought, every

thought captive to Christ, we will fall into

the temptation to fight according to the rules

laid down by the devil rather than the Lord.

Thoreau talks about people who quote, as they

rarely make moral distinctions are as likely

to serve the devil without intending it as God.

I suggest we don't want to be those guys. Let's

make some moral distinctions. So, Paul cautions,

let him that boasts boast in the Lord. That's

verse 17. This is what the Corinthian faction

is not doing. They're boasting in something other

than the Lord. They're boasting in their churchly

ability. And this is a temptation for us, right?

There's a real temptation for church people,

especially to stop boasting in Christ and start

boasting in what we do for Christ. And if we

do that, we'll start comparing ourselves with

one another. We'll start looking over other people's

shoulders to see how much better we're doing

than they are, and we'll start feeling underappreciated.

Do you see how much venom can creep into our

relationships? If we let the focus slip from

Christ to ourselves. So all that was point one.

Don't be like the bad guys, but note that you

often are like the bad guys. How about that?

And here's the actually frightening thing about

this whole thing. If we persist in acting like

the bad guys here, we might win. These methods,

they do get results. But. Even if we win whatever

battle we happen to be in at the time, we might

wreck our faith, right? This is kind of a big

deal. So what do we need to do to make sure we

don't get this wrong? We need to, as Paul says

in his first letter to the Corinthians, follow

Paul as Paul follows Christ. That's point two.

Don't be like the bad guys, be like Paul instead.

And the way that we need to do that is to, as

the saying goes, Stay in our lane. Stick with

me. Let's look at the language in the middle

of this chapter. Verse 13, it says, We do not

boast beyond limit in the labors of others, but

our hope is that as your faith increases, our

area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged,

so we may preach the gospel and lands beyond

you without boasting of work already done in

another's area of influence." That phrase, area

of influence, comes up three times in a four

-verse span. That phrase, in each case, is translating

the same Greek word. It's canonai. That's the

word from which we get our word canon, as in

the canon of scripture. It can mean a rule or

a way of life. Area of influence. appears to

be just fine as a translation, but this is what's

really interesting to me. One of the ways that

this term is used in the broader Greek -speaking

world is as a technical term in athletics. Listen

to this. Quote, the metaphor that Paul is using

is that of the athletic contests for which Corinth

was renowned. In the games, a course or a lane

was measured out for each of the runners which

was marked by a line. Canon. The lane measured

out by God for Paul was the one which led him

to Corinth. End quote. And so metaphorically,

this is what Paul is saying. He's saying I have

stayed in my lane. You stay in your life, right?

Paul is running his own race, which is a metaphor

he uses multiple times, and these super apostles

are coming in here and trying to trip him. They

should find their own course to run. So in this

metaphor, Christ is the one who has laid the

course for Paul, and by implication, he's also

led a course for each of us. He has a race for

us to run. He has a job for each of us to do.

And His burden is light and His yoke is easy.

Why? Well, because Christ Himself, who knows

us and loves us, has assigned us to it. And to

rest content with His plan is the best way to

our own happiness and the usefulness of the people

that we love. And here's where I want to just

glance at our broader culture and say that contentment

and this willingness to stay in our olin that

Paul is displaying here is almost an act of defiance

right now. Right? Think about what our culture

says. Get more. Do more. Be more. You're important.

Act like it. Get a bigger car. Make people notice

you. This is what I see when I watch commercials.

The desire to be where we should be and do the

work that's given to us to do and to enjoy the

process, that's about as counter -cultural as

you can get right now. And I'm not saying this

is easy. Consider, if we are staying in our lane

and lane is an athletic metaphor, we should work

as hard as possible. That's what an athletic

means, right? Even if the yoke is easy, a yoke

is still an implement for plowing a field, right?

It's not going to feel restful, but if we do

it in the right way, we will find rest for our

souls, which is what Jesus says in our gospel

reading. We will know that we're doing what we

need to be doing. I tried to play soccer when

I was in middle and high school and I was awful

about it because I never knew where I was supposed

to be. I never knew who I was supposed to be

covering. It's a really bad way to play sports,

right? That's what I loved about cross country.

In cross -country, it's really simple, right?

When you hear the gun, you start running that

way. When you see a sign, turn left, okay? Go

as fast as you can, see you in 18 minutes. Bye.

You can rest in knowing that the course is there.

All you have to do is go after it with everything

you've got. If you feel, by contrast, that it's

up to you to figure out what you need to be doing,

where you need to be to chart your own course,

you'll make yourself nuts. And you might start

tripping other people up. Stay in your lane!

That's why I chose that for my title. Respected

biblical scholar, Bruce Weatherly, in his recently

published book, Holness, which you can get if

you play your cards right, he says that reliance

on Christ allows us to keep running in the path

of his commands and that gives us freedom from

the rampant sin of insistence on control and

the misery that comes with it. I've got a couple

of sub points for you here. We can stay in our

lanes morally. Paul begins this whole chapter,

if you remember, he entreats us by the meekness

and gentleness of Christ. Christ is meek and

gentle and therefore we should be too. So if

we are feeling tempted to be something other

than meek and gentle in our relationships with

other people, we can know we're doing it wrong.

Paul's opponents might want to do this competing

gift showdown, but Paul doesn't need to. He could

just rest in Christ. We can also stay in our

lane in a big picture sense. We can trust in

God's providence. We can follow his leading and

his leading, I guarantee you, will not bring

us to a point where we have to elbow somebody

else out of the way to get where we're going.

We don't need to attack anybody else's character

ever in the Christian life because it's not a

Christian thing to do. You run your race and

you'll know you're doing what God planned for

you. Let God be God And then if we stay in our

lane, what will happen? We might not see great

things in a worldly sense happen in our lives.

That's true We might not shoot up the corporate

ladder. We might not got a million followers

on Instagram But we can and we should expect

this our faith will increase and the work of

Christ will prosper That's point three. Look

at verse 15 with me I read this already. We do

not boast beyond limit in the labors of others,

but our hope, Paul's hope, is that as your faith

increases, our area of influence among you may

be greatly enlarged. So if the ordinary Corinthians

stay in their lane, if they refuse to be a part

of this faction that allows itself to fight according

to worldly values, what happens? The exercise

of their faithfulness will increase their faith,

for one thing. And then secondly, Paul's area

of influence, his canon, his lane among them

will be enlarged. It will be made great. And

then in the next verse, it says that their faithfulness

will allow Paul to travel further. That's the

great commission being fulfilled. Their work

allows Paul to do his work and all of it is Christ's

work. And it just seems obvious that if this

is true of the Corinthians, it's also true for

us. If we will stay in our lane, if we will work

the hardest at the thing that God has assigned

us to do, our faith will be strengthened and

the church of God will spread. And what follows

from that is we will be commended by God himself.

That's the end of this, right? It is not the

one who commends himself who's approved, but

the one who the Lord commends. I want to make

a few important distinctions before I finish

up here. So first, the title and the main point

of the sermon has been to stay in your lane,

and that includes not attacking anyone else and

not usurping their God -given authority. So I've

been urging us to make sure that in interpersonal

conflict, we're trying to do what the Lord would

have us to do to try to work with a Christ -like

character. I don't want you to take me as saying

that unlimited bullying against you is fine.

that's not the point that I'm trying to make.

We all have legitimate authority over our own

conscience, and it is totally within your lane

to determine if the people around you are behaving

in a Christ -like manner or not, especially in

the church, especially in families, right? And

if things are habitually going badly, you can

and you should ask the godly people around you

for advice on how to get things to change. In

a sense, that's exactly what Paul is doing here,

right? He's beseeching his hearers by the mercies

of Christ, and we, in our words and our actions,

should be doing the same. So, disclaimer over.

Now let's flip the whole situation around and

look at it for just one more perspective. Question,

what would have been the godly thing for Paul's

opponents to do when they receive this letter?

It's repent, right? It's to publicly say that

they were doing the wrong thing, they were trying

to... get into an area of influence that didn't

belong to them. They needed to make Christ more

important in their own lives than their own ambitions.

What does that look like practically? It looks

like this. They need to be willing to lose. And

friends, I suggest, again, counterculturally,

what that means is that we need to be willing

to lose in interpersonal conflict. Your Christian

life is probably not going to look like an unbroken

series of a success. If you're like me, it will

feel a lot of the time like failure and confusion

and dismay. And all of that is okay, because

as with the Corinthians, our following of Christ

will sometimes look like painful repentance.

We don't have to be the winners. That argument

that you're always having in your head, just

let that thing go, man, right? That nagging feeling

that you're not being appreciated properly, man,

let it go. It's not worth it. We don't need to

throw fits to get attention. We don't need to

pout. When we stay in our lane and when we wrestle

against this cultural pressure to want more,

more, different, exciting, we will be able, by

the help of the Holy Spirit, to boast in the

Lord rather than what we have done. And here's

the implied point of this chapter. Here is the

point that's foundational for all of the other

points. The Lord is worth our boasting. He is

our rock and our deliverer. He is worthy to be

praised. Run to him. Don't trust in your own

works. Praise Christ for his works instead. And

here's what I want to leave you with. We don't

know how these false leaders responded when they

got the letter. We don't know what they did when

they were called out. We do know from the book

of Acts in chapter 20, that Paul went back to

Corinth after he wrote this letter and he stayed

there for three months and he had a productive

time. He wrote the letter to the Romans. After

that, he was going to go on from there to Syria,

but as it says in Acts 20 verse three, quote,

a plot was made against him by the Jews. And

it's hard for me to think about this chapter

and not wonder if his opponents here became part

of that conspiracy that we read about in Acts,

right? Did they on reception of this letter,

did they totally rebel? Did they quit the church

entirely? Did they set themselves satanically

against the work of the gospel? Because that's

available to us. Or did they hear what they needed

to hear and repent? because that's also available

to us. We can choose how we will respond to setbacks

and personal conflicts and frustrations. Lashon

McCoy had over 5 ,000 all -purpose yards in the

four years he was with Buffalo, right? Friends,

we can stay humble. We can make our boast in

God who has saved us and who will guide us in

the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pray. Oh Lord

God, we influenced by our culture. We often want

to chart our own course. We want to attain power

for ourselves. We often feel like we need to

do nasty things to get it. Forgive us for this.

Cleanse our hearts as we've prayed already this

morning. Feed us by yourself. And Lord, change

us to be those who like Paul will seek you under

whatever circumstances we find ourselves in.

Lord, we ask these blessings in Jesus' name.

Amen.