(By Nathan Williams)
Yesterday was cloudy and overcast and a little cold and we were forced to move some of the outdoor stuff inside, but today is quite a bit different. It’s a beautiful day, warm and sunny and hardly a cloud in the sky. We’re anticipating a great day and looking forward to Rick Holland getting it started this morning.
Rick will be speaking from 2 Corinthians 11 this morning. He begins by talking about a trip to Scotland he made a couple of years ago and the opportunities he had to see some of the places where John Knox served several hundred years ago. He says Knox left the legacy of being a fearless and courageous preacher. He feared no one. Queen Mary said she feared the prayer of John Knox more than an entire army. At Knox’s funeral one man said, “there lies a man who never feared the face of any man.” Rick said he visited Knox’s grave and it’s only marked by a gold tile with no inscription. But his bravery is a distant echo of the courage of the Apostle Paul. Paul was the most courageous preacher who ever lived. He preached before all types of people and leaders. Paul’s fearlessness cost him dearly, 2 Cor. 11:23-29 tells us of his trials because of his courage. Paul’s bravery cost him his life at the hand of Nero. Paul’s life changed the world through the preaching of Jesus Christ.
What is remarkable about Paul is that he trembled in 2 Cor 11:3. What would make him afraid? He was afraid that his flock would have their minds bewitched by false teachers away from Christ. It is encouraging that Paul was not a hyper-Calvinist. He wept over people and begged them to remain faithful. His Calvinism never got in the way of his care for people.
The false teachers in Corinth were attacking Paul and his credibility while he was traveling. Chapter 11 tells us these false teachers were trying to accumulate a following after themselves. Scholars call this chapter the fool’s speech. Even though he doesn’t want to, Paul lays out his credentials and his pastoral concern for their souls. There is quite a bit for us to be afraid of when it comes to the souls of our flock. By this point in the book of 2 Corinthians Paul has to address these false teachers. This passage is devoid of any concern for their behavior. Paul only cares about the focus of the people. In Verse 4 the people were being led astray by those who were teaching another gospel. It is likely this false gospel downplayed the blood of Jesus and the importance of His death. We see Paul’s theology on full display in 2 Cor. 11:3. His theology was pastoral.
Today we will see three applications of pastoral theology.
1. A Fearful Ecclesiology
Verse 2 helps us understand this. The imagery is that of a father betrothing his daughter to a suitor. Paul’s spiritual fatherhood was to betroth them to Christ. His goal was to bring them to Jesus Christ. Paul wanted no part of competing with Christ for the affection of the Corinthians. Paul says he is jealous with a godly jealousy. Paul was not jealous like a husband. He was jealous like someone protecting treasure for someone else. He did not want to see the people flirting with a worldview which was antithetical to Christ. Paul’s eschatology had an impact on his ecclesiology. Paul was afraid for the flock.
The word afraid used here is very interesting. It doesn’t just mean fear, it means to put to flight by terrifying. It’s used of walking into a flock of birds and seeing them fly off. It’s an intense fear which is sustained. Christian leadership must in some measure reflect God’s jealousy for us. Do we really have a fearful ecclesiology? Do we look at our people with fatherly protection?
2. A Functional Bibliology
Paul now goes back to the illustration of the serpent and instructs us in how to use biblical illustration. Paul fully believed in the creation narrative and even in a talking serpent. Paul took the OT to be absolute historical fact.
The focus here is on Eve who was deceived. When Eve fell it was not because she was battered into sinful submission, instead she was taken by cunning. She was tricked. Satan is always trying to trick believers into following him. He always uses our language and his dictionary. He replaces biblical content with social feel good ideology.
It’s the same method used by the emerging church. Rick says the emerging church is simply liberalism with new clothes on, and he’s not even sure the clothes have been washed. The emerging church is critical of trying to give people answers. They want us to give people questions and let them walk away wondering. They are giving another gospel. Satan always wraps his coils around people with subtlety. Craftiness means that his ways are never obvious to the unsuspecting.
In Gen. 3 we have to catch the full impact of the story. Ever wonder where Adam was during the story? Right beside Eve. Eve was deceived and Adam chose willfully. Here are some distinguishing characteristics of Satan. He disguises himself. He came as a normal part of God’s creation. Satan does not intend to be fearful. He doesn’t want you to be afraid of him. He wants to be embraced and loved by someone inside the perceived boundaries of Christianity. Hollywood has completely given us the wrong picture. Satan also deceives. He always tells half truths. Full lies are too recognizable. Satan also distracts. He puts our attention on everything except Jesus. He uses God’s Word in a distorted, out of context way. We should never say, “ I know the Bible says that, but...” or “ I know the Bible says that, and...”. Satan’s greatest ambition is to prevent Jesus from having supremacy in the human heart. He does this by dividing the Trinity. The OT God is Jesus. We cannot think of a mean God in the OT and a loving God in the NT. Jesus is God and if it’s not then according to 1 Cor. 15 we are all damned.
We have to have a functional bibliology. We have to be the resident expert of Scripture. It must work itself out in all aspects of our ministry.
3. A Jealous Christology
Paul now goes back and finishes his sentence. He doesn’t want our minds to be led astray from their pure devotion to Jesus Christ. Pauls’ point is simple in the end of 2 Cor. 11:3, Christ is the integrating centrality of all our faith.
The focus here is on the mind. Christianity is fundamentally a rational religion. The mind is the primary target of Satan. He wants us to think wrong thoughts about God. Don’t be deceived, Satan loves the name of Jesus because he can counterfeit it. Satan doesn’t sleep, he has thousands of years watching people and how they respond to temptations. He is an expert on you and me. He gets our attention off Christ and gets us to focus on other things.
These were first generation believers. Who would have thought that under the eyes of Christ’s disciples, there was any danger of Christians departing from the faith? Paul gives us insight into the drift away from the faith. It’s a drift away from a person. We should be like John the Baptist, we must decrease and He must increase. (Gal. 2:20; Phil 1:20; John 3:30; Col. 1:18) In Col. 1:18, Christ is not to be first place above everything. He must be first place in everything. All we do must have Christ as first place. He’s not number 1 on the priority list, he’s all the numbers. We can’t have a little quiet time and set Him aside for the rest of the day.
Christ gave us communion so we would remember. Why did He give us this ordinance unless He knew we would forget? We should be pointing our sheep to the person of Jesus Christ. Our hearts aren’t wrenched over the cross because we forget Jesus as a person. John 17:3 is a vital verse for a proper understanding. Eternal life is not living forever after we die. It’s a relationship with a living, resurrected savior. Let’s not replace Christ with Christology.
In Revelation 2, Christ had something against the Ephesians, they had left their first love. How did that happen? In 30 years they left their first love. Acts 20:28 tells us. Paul told them to be on guard because savage wolves would come in and would not spare the flock. These men would come from outside the church, but some of these men would come from within. It’s so easy to lob grenades at the Benny Hinn’s of the world. But Paul said the problem was within the church. Men would begin to want a following. Unless we are devoted to Christ, we are in danger of becoming thieves of God’s glory.