Humility of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:1-15)

2 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 1 through 15.

2 Corinthians 11:1–15

Oh, and before we actually start reading, there's sarcasm in this verse.

So if you read something and you think that doesn't sound right, Paul's being sarcastic.

So if it doesn't sound right, you are right.

Anyway, I want to give you that heads up first.

Starting in verse 1.

I wish you would put up with a little foolishness from me.

Yes, do put up with me, for I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, because I have promised you in marriage to one husband to present a pure virgin to Christ.

But I fear that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

For if a person comes and preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, which you had not received, or a different gospel, which you had not accepted, you put up with it splendidly.

First case of sarcasm right there.

Now, I consider myself in no way inferior to those super apostles.

Even if I am untrained in public speaking, I'm certainly not untrained in knowledge.

Indeed, we have in every way made that clear to you in everything.

Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted?

Because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge.

I robbed other churches by taking pay from them to minister to you.

Again, sarcasm.

When I was present with you and in need, I did not burden anyone.

Since the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs, I have kept myself and will keep myself from burdening you in any way.

As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaea.

Why?

Because I don't love you?

God knows I do.

But I will continue to do what I am doing in order to deny an opportunity to those who want to be regarded as our equals in what they boast about.

For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ, and no wonder, for Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

So it is not it is no great surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.

Their end will be according to their works.

Let's pray.

Lord, as we do every week, we thank you for your word.

Lord, we thank you that you have given us this book, Lord, that is filled with your words, inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that, Lord, we can know truth.

We can know right and wrong.

We can know what's biblical and what's not as we come across these false apostles and false teachers and uh false prophets.

Lord, so I pray that as as we uh dig into this passage, that we would not only learn with our minds, but with our hearts as well, and that we would hide these verses in our hearts, Lord, so that you can bring them up as needed uh later on in life.

So Lord, I pray that you would have your perfect will here today, that you would uh would teach us.

That would be the Holy Spirit teaching each one of us here this morning, that you would give me the perfect words uh to say, and that we would come to you humbly and and uh and that we'd be clay in your hands, Lord, just ready to be molded and shaped to be more and more like Jesus.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So at this point in 2 Corinthians, we know that for the most part, things have been smoothed over in Corinth.

You know, Titus met up with Paul in Macedonius, and we've already gone over.

He had a good report that Corinth had a change of heart.

In 2 Corinthians 7 7, Paul says that Titus told us about your deep longing, your sorrow, and your zeal for me, so I rejoiced even more.

So the church as a whole is doing much better.

But as Ben mentioned last week in chapter 10, verse 2, there was a certain group, Paul called them a certain group, and it's probably a very loud minority, that was against Paul.

Chapter 10, verse 2 says, I beg you that when I am present, I will not need to be bold with the confidence by which I planned to challenge, says certain people who think we are living according to the flesh.

So Paul's bringing correction to this certain people that are causing this division and spreading rumors about him, as we're gonna see today.

And they're following after false apostles and trying to get others to come along with them and follow him as well.

So that's one group, these certain people that we're gonna be talking about today, but there's also a second group that's not so innocent either, and that's the Corinthian church as a whole.

This second group, this the church as a whole, they may not have been completely swayed by these false apostles, but they are putting up with them when they should be denouncing them and driving them out of the church.

So Paul tells the whole church, as I mentioned sarcastically, that they put up with these false apostles splendidly.

So that's a little bit of context of what we're jumping in here today.

But I also want us to note that Paul's going to address this church and this situation by leaning into humility, by telling them that servants of Jesus should be doing the things that Jesus did.

Jesus was humble, he was meek, he was other focused while he was on this earth with us, still is.

He was not ministering to people to get rich or to build his own earthly kingdom.

He was a suffering servant that wasn't attractive by earthly standards.

And Paul's gonna use these marks of Jesus in his own ministry as well to set himself apart from these people that he's gonna be calling these super apostles.

So let's jump in.

Verse 1.

I wish you would put up with a little foolishness from me.

Yes, do put up with me.

So at first glance, this may seem like an odd thing for him to say here, but in verse 16 of this same chapter, he clarifies a little bit.

You can look down, you know, down to verse 16 if you want to, where Paul says, I repeat, let no one consider me a fool, but if you do, at least accept me as a fool, so that I can also boast a little.

He's saying, You may see me as a fool, but can you be okay with that at least?

You know, don't let that stand in the way of what I'm communicating to you.

You know, this church had already put up with so much foolishness from these so-called superapostles, so he just asked them to please put up with a little bit of foolishness from himself as well.

Look at verse 2.

For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, because I have promised you in marriage to one husband to present a pure virgin to Christ.

Speaking of jealousy here, there's a big difference between being jealous for and being jealous of.

Paul's jealousy lines up with God's jealousy, and that's being jealous for.

You know, in Exodus 20, when God says, Do not have other gods before me, he tells Israel, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.

You know, Israel all throughout the Old Testament went through this cycle of worshiping God and then allowing outside influences in and allowing idol worship in, and then they would turn to full-blown idol worship.

They would have high places and statues and priests to these other gods that they would have.

And God would refer to their idol worship, Israel's idol worship as adultery.

He looked at it as them cheating on him as in a marriage relationship, and they were cheating on him with other gods.

This is why in marriage, God's design is for us to become one with one person and to not have a bunch of partners.

Our earthly marriage relationships are really a foreshadowing of the relationship that we have with God, and he designed us to worship him and to worship him only.

That's why he said, You shall have no other gods before me.

And it's not because God's a control freak, it's because he knows what's best for us and he desires what's best for us.

And his heart breaks when he sees how much heartache we cause ourselves when we act outside of that plan that he's given us.

He is jealous for us to be holy and righteous.

That's what godly jealousy is.

And the same kind that Paul's talking about right here.

Paul is a man that's poured a year and a half of his life into planting this church in Corinth.

You know, he's written to them at least twice previously, maybe three times.

He made an urgent trip to them when they were in turmoil.

He's worried about them, he's told us very much when he's not with them.

He sent out other people to minister to them when he wasn't able to be with them.

And he just outright says here, I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy.

You know, if they gave themselves over to false, a false gospel taught by false teachers, Paul would be, and he is, jealous for them.

Because this certain group that we're talking about here today had given themselves over to something that was not God.

Now, we learned in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 15, that Paul had this huge fatherly heart towards this church in Corinth.

1 Corinthians 4:15

In 1 Corinthians 4 15, Paul tells them, For you may have countless instructors in Christ, but you don't have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

And this language Paul uses here in verse 2 indicates that he sees them as his spiritual children and has a sense of responsibility for their right standing before God.

He says at the end of verse 2, look at with me.

He says, Because I have promised you in marriage to one husband, to present a pure virgin to Christ.

This was the job of a father in this time, in this culture, to present a pure chaste virgin to her husband to be, to arrange the whole marriage, at least in the Jewish culture at this time.

That's what it was about.

And as the bride of Christ, Paul wants to be able to present this church in Corinth to Christ as a pure virgin who has not given herself to another in adultery.

You know, the truth is we have all, everybody in here, regardless of your age, we have all come from idolatry and we all still struggle with idolatry.

I don't care how old that we are or we were when we got saved or how long we've been walking with the Lord, we came from idolatry and we all still struggle with idolatry.

But when we are in Christ, when we accept that gift of salvation, we're cleansed from that idolatry.

We're a new creation, we become a new pure virgin to Christ.

You know, Paul already told us in chapter 5, verse 17 of 2 Corinthians.

He says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away, and see the new has come.

So even though we've committed spiritual adultery against God, Jesus' gift of salvation allows God to look at our adultery and say, forgiven, paid for.

Blood was spilled by my son so that my children could be cleansed from that idolatry.

We're made pure so that we can be given to Christ as a pure bride.

You know, sometimes we can talk about all this stuff and be like, yeah, yeah, I've heard that stuff before.

So let's let's think about it a little differently.

I want you to imagine this scenario.

We're back in biblical times.

There is a father who had a daughter, and at a very young age, he arranged a marriage with another father in town who had a son that was about the same age, and they're just little kids at this point.

And the father of this daughter was so excited because this other father of this son was the most respected man in the city, with the most respected family in the city.

And as the kids grew, the boy was turning into everything that a father would want in a son-in-law.

Great character, hardworking, honest, respectful, just perfect in every way from this guy's eyes.

But the daughter was not impressed with this boy.

She thought that he was too much of a boy scout.

More attracted to a bad boy in town that was known for getting in fights at the biker bar.

I'm sure they had those back then, right?

And hated any kind of authority in his life.

And the daughter was just enamored with this guy.

And one night she got caught fooling around with this guy.

Completely ashamed, her father went to the boy's father and said, She has committed a grave sin.

I cannot present to you a pure virgin.

And my daughter deserves to be stoned.

That's actually what would have happened in the Jewish culture.

That's what she deserved.

But the boy's father says, We know.

We've heard.

And we love your daughter so much.

And my son wants her so desperately to be his bride that my son has offered to die in her place and to be stoned for her and pay the penalty that she deserves.

So that from this day forward she can be presented as a chaste virgin.

And the analogy really has to stop here because only Jesus could then raise from the dead and still marry the girl.

But we're the daughter that was fooling around with the guy that was a horrible influence on us and taking us away from what the Father had planned.

But Jesus still wanted us and made a way for us to be a pure virgin so that we could enter into that marriage relationship with him.

So with all that in mind, look at verse 2 again.

For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, because I have promised you in marriage to one husband to present a pure virgin to Christ.

You see Paul's fatherly heart coming out for this church.

He wants to present the Corinthian church to Christ as a forgiven, cleansed, and spotless bride.

But Corinth is entertaining things that are trying to steal that purity away from her.

Look at verse 3.

But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

Think about what Adam and Eve had before Eve was deceived.

They were living in absolute paradise.

They were having face-to-face fellowship with God.

There was no curse, no sin, no pain, no suffering.

And Eve was still deceived.

If Eve was deceived, the church in Corinth can just as easily be deceived.

We here today can just as easily be deceived as well.

So I want to encourage you, as you often hear us say, read your Bible.

Know your own doctrine, know your own theology, and why you believe it.

Please don't ever say, well, my pastor teaches that.

No.

We want you to be able to say, this is what I believe, and here's why.

Right here, this is why I believe it.

Because we have access to more false teachers now than at any time in history.

And our defense against that is knowing God's word for ourselves and walking by the Holy Spirit.

So I want to encourage you, read your Bible and walk by the Spirit.

The more that you're in your Bible, the more you're going to be able to recognize when things are a little bit off.

Even if you can't name the book in the verse that speaks against whatever is being taught, the Holy Spirit's going to nudge you and say, doesn't really sound like what you've been reading God's word, does it?

And then you go back to God's word and find, oh yeah, that's the verse.

That's why that sounded off, because this speaks against that.

You know, you'll hear things these days like, you know, if you're truly following Jesus, you're not going to experience suffering anymore.

And you're not going to be sick anymore if you're truly doing what you're supposed to.

And then you'll hear the Holy Spirit, he's going to help you recall passages like Isaiah 53 that describes Jesus as a suffering servant.

And then you remember, oh, and we're called to be just like him.

So that doesn't match up with Scripture.

You'll hear things like, God wants you to be rich and have monetary wealth to overflowing.

If you'll just do A, B, and C, then you're going to be rich with your finances.

And then you remember things like what Jesus said, that it's harder for a rich man to pass through an eye, or harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into heaven.

You start thinking, wait, this guy is telling me that Jesus wants to make it harder for me to get into heaven?

You know, it's like those things don't match up.

That's not a biblical concept.

All that to say, be careful, know the word, walk by the Spirit.

If you're doing these things, you're gonna be fine.

Don't live in fear of false teachers, because fear is sin.

Just keep your ears open, stay in the word, listen through a biblical filter, line everything up through Scripture, and you'll have nothing to fear.

Now look at verse 4.

Paul gets really sarcastic here.

He says, For if a person comes and preaches another Jesus, whom he whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, which you have not received, or a different gospel, which you had not accepted, you put up with it splendidly.

These certain people in Corinth had not been discerning about who they were listening to, who they were letting in to influence them, and who they were allowing to teach and influence them.

They were more impressed with personal appearance and oratory skills than hearing the truth, just like so many today.

I mean, who doesn't want to hear that if a few things change, God's gonna make you rich?

You know, who doesn't want to hear that the road to heaven is wide and nobody goes to hell?

Or who doesn't want to hear that, you know, all that stuff about marriage and sexuality and the Bible, it was all cultural, you know, God changed his mind and no longer applies anymore.

And there are people teaching this stuff all over the place today.

And the church has faced this for 2,000 years.

These false teachers, these false prophets that are coming in and trying to change what Scripture says.

So Paul calls out the persons that are believing and spreading the false teaching.

But notice in verse 4 that he calls out the whole church for putting up with it when he says, You put up with that type of stuff splendidly.

You know, it's no wonder that they didn't like Paul, but they liked these false teachers and what these false teachers were saying.

Paul's teaching them stuff like suffering for Christ is a good thing, and it actually shapes us into Christ-likeness.

He's teaching them to put others first in every way.

He's confronting the sin that they have in their life.

He's talking to them about marriage and sexual purity while they're living in a highly sexualized society.

He's teaching them about self-control with spiritual gifts.

He's talking about giving sacrificially for God's kingdom of their time, treasure, and talent.

About living for the eternal and not for the kingdom of this world.

You know, all that together, it's a lot to take in for this church.

And those are not easy concepts, not easy teachings to adapt.

Our flesh screams and says, no, I don't want to do any.

Of that.

And then someone else comes along and says, You don't really need to do all those hard things.

You know, you need to be more open-minded.

Paul is so closed-minded.

You know, let me tell you how things really are.

And I'll tell you about a more culturally relevant Jesus.

And they're like, you know, I like what this person has to say.

Paul's teachings are hard, but I kind of like what this other person has to say.

Let's, you know, let's keep listening.

And they listen to these people splendidly.

Look at verse 5.

Now, I consider myself in no way inferior to those super apostles.

You know, some believe that this term superapostle may be referring back to Peter and Apollos, who were mentioned back in 1 Corinthians chapter 1.

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

But I don't think context allows for that.

I think this is Paul's sarcasm again.

Probably using the word that this certain group of people in this church were using to describe these false teachers.

Or maybe this is the term that the false teachers are using.

Like, yeah, Paul, yeah, he might be an apostle, but we're super apostles.

You know, if Paul's an apostle, then these character these charismatic guys must be super apostles.

But either way, Paul uses their term here to defend his own ministry.

So he goes on in verse 6.

He says, Even if I am untrained in public speaking, I'm certainly not untrained in knowledge.

Indeed, we have in every way made that clear to you in everything.

So he's saying, even if you don't think my delivery's good, or you don't like who I am, the content is always right on.

Paul was extremely well educated.

When it came to doctrine and theology, you weren't gonna stump Paul.

And Paul's not boasting here, he's simply pointing out that if someone is speaking something eloquently, it doesn't mean that they are either knowledgeable or right.

We need to care more about content than we care about delivery.

Look at verse 7 with me.

Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted?

Because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge?

So Paul's asking, you know, do you think that I sinned, or do you look at me as less of an apostle because I wasn't arrogant and didn't demand money from you?

I mean, think about that question.

Remember, when Paul was in Corinth, he worked as a tent maker.

He didn't ask them for any financial support, even when he really needed it, while he was with them planning that church for a year and a half.

Paul's actions were lining up with Jesus.

Jesus was humble.

As far as worldly riches go, he was poor.

Paul's ministry reflected Jesus' ministry.

So this should have made Corinth see him as a rightful apostle, but they were doing the opposite and judging by the world's standards, not by God's standards.

And notice Paul asked them in verse 7 a question about if he was sinning by not charging them or asking them for support, and he doesn't even bother answering the question because it's so ludicrous.

Paul doesn't answer it, but he chooses to continue on in sarcasm in verse 8.

Look at that with me.

I robbed other churches by taking pay from them to minister to you.

You know, as we talk about talked about in chapter 8, Paul was extra careful regarding finances and Corinth.

And it probably stemmed back to him realizing early on that he needed to separate himself from these false apostles.

And if that was the case, it's actually working really well because this is really the argument that sets him apart from those apostles now, later on down the road.

He wanted to show them that he wasn't after their money, but was truly only concerned with their souls and with God's kingdom.

Paul had no problem being supported by other churches.

We see that in other places.

But with Corinth, it was different.

And what shows me that Paul's ministry and character were a lot like Christ's is he was willing to sacrifice his own rights to further the kingdom of God.

And that, in my opinion, is the ultimate mark of maturity in any believer's life.

Being willing to sacrifice our own rights to further the kingdom of God.

And that's exactly what Paul was doing by not taking those finances so that that didn't stand in the way of these people hearing the gospel and his ministry to them.

Look at verse 9.

When I was present with you and in need, I did not burden anyone.

Since the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs, I have kept myself and will keep myself from burdening you in any way.

What did we learn about Macedonia in chapter 8, if you were with us?

They were poor, weren't they?

Yet they gave it extremely generously.

We also know that Corinth is one of the richest cities in the Roman Empire at this time.

But here Paul says, When I was present with you and in need, I did not burden anyone, since the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs.

It doesn't really make sense that a poor church in a poor region is supporting Paul while he goes and he ministers in one of the richest cities in the Roman Empire.

But that's what was going on here because Paul didn't want that to stand in the way of his ministry or the gospel going to the Corinthians.

Look at verse 10.

As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia.

Achiah is the region that Corinth and Athens is located in, and it's just south of the Macedonian region.

And Paul's boasting about his weakness and his trials and his worldly shortcomings, and he's saying that he's not going to stop doing that in this region, which apparently it seems like the Corinthians want him to.

Like, Paul, stop looking so weak and stop looking so humble and so poor.

You need to look strong and confident and put your best foot forward, Paul.

So Paul says, no, because look at verse 11.

Why?

Because I don't love you?

God knows I do.

He's saying, even if you want me to stop boasting in my weakness, I won't.

And it's not because I don't love you and I want to embarrass you, it's because I need to be set apart from these other super apostles, which is what verse 12 is about.

But I will continue to do what I am doing in order to deny an opportunity to those who want to be regarded as our equals in what they boast about.

For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

Remember, when Paul said that he would give no reason for offense, that was chapter six, verse three.

He said, We're 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.

And then he goes on to list all the hardships that he went through in the middle of chapter six there.

Not asking for support from Corinth was part of that, not wanting to bring about any occasion for offense.

He didn't want them to miss the gospel because he thought that they were just that he was just after their money.

He didn't want to be lumped in as well with all of those false apostles as someone that was just after their money or just looking for status or a platform or whatever it might be.

Look at verse 13 again.

For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

And no wonder, for Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, so it is no great surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.

Their end will be according to their work.

God is a God of light.

Speaking physically and speaking spiritually.

He's referred to as the Father of lights, actually, in the book of James.

In John 1, the Gospel of John, it says that Jesus is the light of the world that shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

Now, Satan, on the other hand, is associated with darkness throughout Scripture, and his kingdom is referred to as a kingdom of darkness.

Yet it says that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

You know, think about it what a disguise is.

You know, it makes you look like one thing, but once that mask is off, then your true colors come through.

The disguise is removed, and you get to really see what's underneath that.

So he disguises himself with light, but darkness is still underneath everything that he's doing.

And it's the same thing with these false apostles.

They may look the part, they may say things that seem righteous, but that is their disguise.

So Paul says, so it is no great surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.

They're no different than the one, than the driving force that's behind it.

Again, just because somebody has the appearance of a servant of God does not mean that they are a servant of God.

And verse 15 ends with, their end will be according to their works.

For those that are not living for the kingdom of light, but for the kingdom of darkness.

Jesus says in Matthew 8, 12, but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness.

There's darkness again, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, an end according to their works.

You know, praise God that in Christ, through God's grace, we now have the righteousness of Christ as our own.

We'll not be judged for what we did wrong because Jesus already paid for that judgment for us.

And we are now pure virgins in God's eyes.

And if you've not accepted that gift from God to become pure and holy in his sight through the gift of his son Jesus, so that we can become that pure bride of Christ.

I want to ask you this morning, why wait?

It's a free gift, and today is the day for salvation.

For any that confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in their heart that God raised him from the dead, accepting that payment that he made for us.

You know, if you do that, Scripture tells us that we are a new creation.

Like we've never struggled with idolatry ever.

And the greatest thing about it is not that we get to escape outer darkness and the wailing and the gnashing of teeth, but that we get to enter into this relationship with God as a loving Father and Jesus as our bridegroom, we being the bride.

That's the nearness and the closeness that God desires with each one of us.

You know, and for those of us that have already been walking with Christ and already experiencing that relationship, I want to encourage us once again, know the word of God.

That's why we spend so much time every Sunday going through it.

Know the word of God and walk by the Spirit, allowing Him to be your guide and your counselor and your teacher all the way through so that you can see through the disguise of the enemy.

Whether it's him directly or one of his false prophets, false apostles, so that we can see through that mask for who they really are.

You know, there's no new gospel, there's no new culturally improved Jesus, there's no new books of the Bible, there's no new revelation that trumps what the Bible has to say.

There's that old saying, you probably heard it before.

If it's new, regarding the Bible, if it's new, it's not true.

And if it's true, it's not new.

The Bible doesn't change.

God doesn't change.

Will you pray with me?

Or we thank you for your word.

That we can go to it with absolute confidence.

And know that you never lead us astray.

Lord, so help us to hide these scriptures in our hearts.

And even if we don't have them memorized or we don't have the address memorized, Lord, it'll be there for the Holy Spirit to bring up in the right moment.

And to just tap on our shoulder and say, something's not right here.

Something's not okay with what that person is saying.

So Lord, help us to be faithful, to be in your word, not as a chore, but a place where we find your presence, where we find your living voice speaking to us.

These are the words inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Lord, these are the words that you want us to be in daily and to be understanding and to be absorbing for those purposes.

So, Lord, would you help us in that?

Lord, help us to be disciplined in that.

Sometimes it's not easy to wake up early and open our Bibles.

But Lord, help us to see the value and help us to meet you in that place.

To where we crave those times, where we hunger and thirst for your word and for being with you so that we can know you better.

And Lord, the more that we know the original, the more we're gonna be able to tell the face.

So help us to know you on a deep and close level, to abide deeply in Jesus Christ and to walk so closely through the power of your Holy Spirit.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.