What an amazing moment it must have been, when the Almighty God revealed himself in all his majesty and glory and splendour to his faithful servant Moses on Mount Sinai on the occasion we thought about last week.

Exodus 33 19 And the LORD said, ‘I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,’ he said, ‘you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.’
21 Then the LORD said, ‘There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.’

No human could survive seeing the face of God, but God revealed himself to Moses.

Exodus 34 5 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’

As we saw last week, God revealed his divine name to Moses, the LORD, Yahweh, I AM WHO I AM, the eternal unchanging God. God revealed his love, his patience, his mercy and his forgiveness. At the same time God also revealed his justice and his holiness, the God who cannot leave sin unpunished. Yet in his mercy God makes a way for rebellious sinners to be forgiven. Love and holiness – bow down and worship, for this is your God.

Moses only saw God’s back and still he was a changed man. As we have just read this morning.

29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.

God’s glory had shone so brightly that the face of Moses was shining with the glory even after he came down the mountain. That radiance from Moses’s face was so bright that everybody, even his brother Aaron was afraid.

Moses saw God’s back. As Christians we can boldly claim that we have seen God’s face, in the face of Jesus who said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father”. We have seen the face of God in the face of his Son Jesus Christ, who is the visible image of the invisible God.

So where is all the glory gone? Why aren’t our faces radiant and shining as the face of Moses was when he had seen God? Surely we should be glowing even more than Moses with the glory and the love and the holiness of God? At least, that’s what the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians in our second reading this morning.

2 Corinthians 3 7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

The glory which Moses was reflected accompanied the giving of the Law, God’s covenant with his chosen people Israel. But we as Christians share in the glory of God’s grace which brings forgiveness and righteousness. And the glory we share, Paul says is surpassing, excelling, tremendously greater. The former glory is completely eclipsed by the glory we have encountered. We share in the victory of the Cross. We share in the resurrection life of Christ. We have God the Holy Spirit living inside us!

So where has all the glory gone? Why isn’t it shining on our face as we reflect God at work in our lives? We do receive the occasion glimpse of glory – but far too rarely, and not nearly as brightly as we should expect.

Of course we wouldn’t expect to see God’s glory if a person has never truly met with God, has never been born again. And we can understand why we wouldn’t see glory in the life of a person who met Jesus a long time ago but has lost touch with him. But there is another possible reason why we don’t see much glory shining on the faces of Christians in the church today. It is the same reason why the glory of God wasn’t seen among the Israelites.

Exodus 34 33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he entered the LORD’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD.

The Israelites did not see the glory of the Lord because Moses put a veil over his face. A mask. But why did he do that? “Well that’s obvious,” you will tell me. “Moses wore a mask to stop the Israelites being scared.” It was all for their benefit.

Maybe you would be right. Maybe Moses was only thinking about the Israelites. And maybe some Christians keep their faith under wraps, and don’t let the glory of God shine through them, because they are worried they might scare other people. Maybe.

But here we can turn to the New Testament to give us insight into the Old Testament. Did you notice what Paul said to the Corinthians about the veil Moses wore?

2 Corinthians 3 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away.

The Good News Translation makes it clearer. We are not like Moses, who had to put a veil over his face so that the people of Israel would not see the brightness fade and disappear.

Can you see the point yet? A translation called the International Children’s Bible puts the verse very well.

“We are not like Moses. He put a covering over his face so that the people of Israel would not see it. The glory was disappearing, and Moses did not want them to see it end.”

I think Paul is telling us that Moses was not worried about the Israelites being afraid. Moses was worried that the glory of God shining on his face was vanishing away and Moses didn’t want the people to see that it was fading. He didn’t want them to see that he wasn’t reflecting God’s glory any more and there was only little old Moses left. So Moses put on a veil. He put on a mask, so that people would think that the glory was still there. That meant that the people didn’t notice the glory of God fading away, but it also meant they couldn’t see the glory while it was shining either.

And maybe that is sometimes the reason we don’t see as much of the glory of the Lord in our lives and in our churches today. Because people wear masks. God blesses us, we are filled with love and joy and God’s glory shines through. But then we put on a mask so that people can’t see when the glory fades. The blessing fades, and we face problems and go through hard times and God seems far away. So we put on a mask of “everything’s OK, nothing’s changed” and we keep up appearances. We hide our true selves behind a mask pretending that the glory is still there as much as ever.

Perhaps we are afraid that other Christians won’t understand. We think they will look down on us and even reject us when they find out what we are really like deep inside. They will discover, as Michael Caine’s character in Educating Rita said, that “there is less to me than meets the eye.” So we put on our masks, so other people can’t see “the real me”. We don’t talk about our struggles or discouragements. When people ask how we are doing we say, “Fine, just fine.”

But the masks we wear to hide our real selves do four things.

First of all they stop us from seeing God properly. We will only meet with God when we come to him as we really are – even Moses took his veil off when he went to meet with God. It was those kinds of masks of respectability which stopped the Pharisees from recognising the glory of God in the face of Jesus.

Secondly, masks get in the way of our relationships with other people. If we want to be certain that God loves us and accepts us as we really are, we need to be real with other people – no masks. That way we can accept each other and love each other openly and honestly.

Thirdly, masks stop God from changing us to be like Jesus. God wants to give us a new life to live. He isn’t interested in cosmetic surgery but heart surgery, transforming us to be like Jesus. God can’t change us if all we really care about is keeping up appearances, keeping our mask looking good.

And finally, our masks will stop other people from seeing God in us. If we are only pretending to be like Christ when inside we aren’t, if it’s all for show, then we won’t be able to reflect God’s glory and people won’t see Jesus in us.

2 Corinthians 3 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

It is only when we take our masks off that God can transform us into the image of Jesus with ever-increasing glory.

JESUS TAKE ME AS I AM,
I can come no other way.
Take me deeper into You,
Make my flesh life melt away.
Make me like a precious stone,
Crystal clear and finely honed,
Life of Jesus shining through,
Giving glory back to You.

Moses wore a veil so that the Israelites couldn’t see that the glory of God had faded away. We need to take off our masks if we want to see the glory of God in our church!

Good News Bible All of us, then, reflect the glory of the Lord with uncovered faces; and that same glory, coming from the Lord, who is the Spirit, transforms us into his likeness in an ever greater degree of glory.

Final Greetings 2 Corinthians 12-13
Paul ends his second letter to the Corinthians in chapters 12 and 13 with a few reminders of things he has talked about before.

A promise that he will not be a burden on them
2 Cor 12 14 Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. 15 So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less?

An exhortation to repentance
12:19 … We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening. 20 For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. 21 I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.

A warning to those who are persisting in sinning
13 2 I already gave you a warning when I was with you the second time. I now repeat it while absent: on my return I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others, 3 since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you.

A call to self-examination
135 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? 6 And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.

But for tonight I want us not to focus on things we have talked about before but rather on the final three verses. Paul ends all his letters, as was the custom of the day, in final greetings and blessings.

2 Corinthians 13
11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All God’s people here send their greetings.
14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

So Paul ends his letter with words of blessing. Indeed he ended most of his letters with some words of blessing as was the custom of the time. We can learn a lot from the words Paul used to bless his readers. They show us the kinds of things we can pray for each other, as well as specific words we can use to bless one another.

11 Finally, brothers and sisters,
Despite all the disagreements, Paul still sees them as brothers and sisters
rejoice!

Rejoice NIV, NLT – or just Farewell/Goodbye GNB, NRSV
We have a here a list of five commands. The tense is present imperative – keep on doing these things, not just do them once. So it makes sense to read this command like the next four as a command and not just general greeting. Not just goodbye but “rejoice!”
Strive for full restoration,

Strive for full restoration, Put things in order (NRSV), make adequate, make perfect, grow to maturity (NLT) strive for perfection (GNB)
encourage one another,

Encourage one another or listen (to my appeals ) GNB NRSV
Be comforted / encouraged – a phrase Paul often uses
be of one mind,
live in peace.
And the God of love and peace will be with you.

12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
This is how families greet each other The form is not the issue, but the attitude. Believers are a family.

13 All God’s people here send their greetings.

14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

This is the one place where Paul puts together Father Son and Holy Spirit in positions of equality or equivalence. It tells us two very important things (1) Paul thought of the Holy Spirit as a person, just as Father and Son are persons and (2) Paul recognized God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit as fully and equally divine.

This is the most common benediction Christians use, in worship or prayer gatherings or even blessing each other when they meet one-to-one. So “the grace” actually comes from the end of 2nd Corinthians in 2 Cor 13:14,

14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
(cf. 2 Corinthians 8:9)

and the love of God,
(c.f. 2 Corinthians 5:18–21)

and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Koinonia fellowship of, communion of OR sharing in NRSV

11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All God’s people here send their greetings.
14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

We saw how Paul defended his ministry to the Corinthians last week. Pointing not to what he had accomplished but only to the things God had done.
2 Corinthians10 17 But, ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’ 18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
Paul was countering the “super-apostles” who were leading the Church in Corinth astray, as Eve herself was by the devil in the Garden of Eden. These super-apostles were actually preaching a different gospel
11 . 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough

In particular it seems that they were criticizing Paul because he supported himself during his time in Corinth, rather than expecting the Corinthians to give him hospitality and pay all his bills. 9…. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.

And Paul goes on to be even more direct in his criticisms.
13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
We saw last week how Paul summed up his defence against the “super-apostles”.
2 Corinthians 12 11 …. I am not in the least inferior to the ‘super-apostles’, even though I am nothing. 12 I persevered in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles.
These, says Paul, are included in the marks of a true apostle . and they were evidenced in Paul’s own ministry time and time again. Not boasting of their own accomplishments. Faithfully preaching the gospel as Christ commands all his followers to do. Not sponging off gullible Christians as some celebrity evangelists and preachers do today exploiting their followers. Not deceitful workers, masquerading as angels of light. But manifesting signs and wonders and miracles. That was last week. This week we come back to three more grounds Paul used in those chapters to defend his ministry which we skimmed over last week. They are often grouped together because they have a similar theme, and some people call them collectively “The Fool’s Speech”.
2 Corinthians 11 16 I repeat: let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then tolerate me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. 17 In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. 18 Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. 19 You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! 20 In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face. 21 To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that!
Paul says that he is speaking like a fool. Not because he is a fool – but because the evidence he calls on to defend his ministry and his mission could be interpreted as evidence that he is a fool. He starts by pointing to his background.
Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I.

But then Paul goes on to talk about his experiences of suffering for Christ. He starts with his experiences of persecution

23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones.

These sufferings came to Paul in persecution for his faithful preaching of the gospel. Then he goes on to list other perils he had faced on his missionary journeys.

25 … three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.

On top of all these dangers he had experienced, Paul had also endured a great many discomforts and inconveniences. He had made many sacrifices following Jesus.

27 I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?

So as evidence that he is a true apostle, Paul points to the mark of suffering for Christ, the servant King. Jesus had warned the apostles that they would suffer opposition and persecution. Ten out of the Eleven Apostles were martyred. Unlike the false “super-apostles” who enjoyed a life of luxury at the Corinthians’ expense, Paul’s true apostleship was evidenced by his suffering. And this will be the destiny of missionaries and evangelists and ministers in every age. Although it may seem foolish to some people, suffering for Christ is not a sign of failure in ministry but a mark of true ministers. Paul sums up that strand with a recollection of a particular event which demonstrates not impressive strength but humble weakness.

30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised for ever, knows that I am not lying. 32 In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. 33 But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.

The true servant of God will suffer for Christ. Paul had already pointed out to the Corinthians this inherent foolishness of the gospel in his first letter to them.

1 Corinthians 1 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
God uses foolish things and weak things to shame the strong. The heart of the gospel is the foolishness of the cross of Christ. So here is one mark of the true apostle – suffering for Christ. And then Paul goes on to a second demonstration of his ministry – his experiences of visions and revelations, which are evidence that the Spirit who inspired the prophets had been poured out on him in abundance. Paul personally had many experiences of prophecy, of dreams and visions. It was his vision of a Man from Macedonia in Acts 16 which led Paul to preach the gospel there. It was actually while he was staying in Corinth that Paul faced fierce persecution and we read in Acts 18 about a vision he had there.
Acts 18 9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.’ 11 So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.
Paul had many experiences of dreams and visions and next he refers back to some of these.
12 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations.
Paul was blessed by wonderful visions and revelations. But actually he doesn’t boast about them. He doesn’t go into details of what he saw. Those visions were just for him. He isn’t even allowed to talk about them. But they led on to a third strand in Paul’s defence.
. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’

What was Paul’s “thorn in the flesh”? Most commentators agree that we can’t know what for sure. But many think that Paul was referring once again here to his experiences of persecution. In the Old Testament the idea of a thorn in the side was used to describe the surrounding nations which opposed God’s chosen people Israel and tried to lead them astray from following God.
Num 33:55 | “ ‘But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live.

Eze 28:24 | “ ‘No longer will the people of Israel have malicious neighbors who are painful briers and sharp thorns. Then they will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.

If Paul’s thorn was some experience of persecution then perhaps he was referring to those people who opposed him, maybe specifically those in Corinth, either the vocal critic who had opposed him in person referred to earlier in the letter, or the “super-apostles” themselves.
Other views see Paul’s thorn in the flesh, that is in his mortal body, as some kind of illness. Paul wrote this to the Galatians.
Galatians 4 13 As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. 14 Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.
So arriving in Galatia Paul experienced some kind of illness or infirmity. Perhaps this became a recurring interruption and interference to his ministry. Others think Galatians 6 gives us insight into this question. Paul used an amanuensis, a secretary, to dictate most parts of his letters. But he signs off Galatians himself like this.
Gal 6 11 See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!
The large letters lead some people to think that Paul was actually very short-sighted. If so, this could also have contributed to his overall demeanour with the result that some people thought he was very unimpressive in person.
Experiences of persecution, or some kind of ailment? Nobody knows what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” actually was. But we do know why God allowed Paul to go through times of suffering in that way.
Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
Paul is very clear that alongside the amazing revelations, God allowed him to suffer this “thorn” precisely in order to keep him humble. When we are suffering, either through opposition or rejection or through physical illness, we always race to ask God to take the suffering away. But we should also ask God whether there he has some purpose in allowing us to suffer. Sometimes there won’t be any purpose we will discover in this life or the next. But sometimes there will be. God will sometimes allow Christians to go through suffering, because he has something to teach us. We can find ourselves grumbling about our illnesses or our experiences of opposition, instead of learning the lesson God has for us in them.
But as well as keeping him humble, Paul’s thorn in the flesh brought him another blessing. It taught him to trust in God.
8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’
Whether persecution or illness, this thorn taught Paul to find his strength not in himself, but in God. Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord Almighty (Zechariah 4:6). It might seem foolish that Paul would defend his ministry by pointing out his own weaknesses. But in fact they were a mark of his apostleship because through them God’s strength had been revealed. Here in a verse is a clear rebuke to the false gospel of health, wealth and prosperity which is taking hold in so many places today and may have been the error embraced by the false “super-apostles”. God does not guarantee Christians victory in every situation. He does not promise physical healing to everyone. Quite the reverse.
9 But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong
Here is Paul’s defence of his ministry. The evidence of suffering persecution for following the Crucified Christ. The evidence of visions and revelations. The evidence of weakness, depending on God’s strength for everything. These were the marks of the apostle to the Gentiles and the marks of true ministers and missionaries and evangelists through the ages and today.

A Texan went to Australia for a holiday. While he was there, he took a tour with a local guide. Driving around the countryside the guide pointed out a large wheat field. “In Texas, we have wheat fields twice as large!” the Texan said. Then they drove past a herd of cattle. “Our long horns are at least twice that large in Texas!” the American boasted. So the tour guide took him to see some kangaroos. “What on earth are those?” the Texan shouted. “What?” the tour guide asked. “Don’t you have grasshoppers in Texas?”
2 Corinthians 10 12 We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. 13 We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you. 14 We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. 15 Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand, 16 so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in someone else’s territory. 17 But, ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’ 18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
Ministers and missionaries face a particular challenge when they come to defend their ministries. In every other walk of life people can list their achievements. They can reel off their qualifications and point to their accomplishments. People can ask for references and testimonials and let others extol their virtues. But Paul is very clear that apostles, ministers, missionaries and Christian workers cannot do those things.
Proverbs commands 27 2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.
Earlier in 2 Corinthians Paul has reminded the Church in Corinth that THEY are the ones who should be supporting and recommending him!
2 Corinthians 3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4 Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

So it should be the Corinthians themselves defending Paul’s ministry, not challenging him. But instead he is having to explain himself to them. But it would not be right for him to reel off all the things he has done in his missionary journeys. He can’t even talk about his ministry among the Corinthians themselves. Paul can’t talk about what he has done at all – only what God has accomplished through him.
17 But, ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’ 18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
God’s commendation is the only thing that matters. Paul is quoting Jeremiah 9 23 This is what the LORD says:
‘Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches,
24 but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD.

Those who serve the Lord may never boast about what they have accomplished. Because they know they have never accomplished anything. They can only talk about what God has done.
‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’
Standing at the door at the end of the service, a lady came up and said, “Lovely service Vicar.” The minister modestly replied, “It wasn’t me – it was the Lord.”
“Oh, no,” said the lady. “It wasn’t that good”
‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’
So when Paul comes to defend his ministry to the Corinthians, his hands are tied. It is not appropriate for him to talk about anything he has achieved. He can only talk about what God has done through him, and even despite him.
We have thought before about the opposition that Paul experienced from a particular individual and a group within the church at Corinth. But it seems that there is another problem there. Another group are criticising Paul. He labels them the “super-apostles.” And this is what he says about them.
11 I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! 2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the snake’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
5 I do not think I am in the least inferior to those ‘super-apostles’.

Some people have thought that these “super-apostles” might have been some of the Twelve Apostles coming down from Jerusalem to Corinth. But from what Paul goes on to say about them it is clear that could not have been the case. Acts 15 makes clear that the relationship between Paul and those of the Twelve Apostles who were still alive remained very good. Paul would never have been this rude about any of Jesus’s original Apostles. So it is clear that he is using this title “super-apostles” ironically. This group of people in Corinth may have thought they were the bees knees but actually the opposite was the truth. They had fooled the Corinthians into thinking that they were actually apostles but in reality they weren’t really any kind of apostle at all.

Instead these “super-apostles” were leading the Church in Corinth astray, as Eve herself was by the devil in the Garden of Eden.

11 2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the snake’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

“Did God really say …. ?”

There are so many areas in which people today are twisting the Word of God. Over the Bible teaching on judgment and on hell. Did God really say? Over the Bible’s teaching on sexual ethics. God didn’t really say that, did he?

These super-apostles were actually preaching a different gospel
11 . 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough

There is no shortage of preachers twisting the gospel today. Distorting the word of God. Preaching versions of the good news which are as false as they are empty. We can’t know precisely which heresies the self-styled “super-apostles” were preaching, although we can do some detective work. In particular it seems that they were criticizing Paul because he supported himself during his time in Corinth, rather than expecting the Corinthians to give him hospitality and pay all his bills.

6 I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. 7 Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? 8 I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. 9 And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.

Paul went to great lengths not to be a burden to the Corinthians
Acts 18:1 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. 4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.
Rather than being a burden on the Corinthians, Paul earned his keep and paid his own way, or else relied on support sent from the Macedonian churches. Sadly so many celebrity preachers and evangelists today seem to be distracted by the pursuit of wealth and riches, popularity and success. It seems that these false “super-apostles” were falling into the same temptations almost two thousand years ago. They were criticising Paul for having preached the gospel at his own expense, relying on the support of the Macedonians instead of receiving financial support from the Corinthians
So Paul goes on to be even more direct in his criticisms. These people are not “super-apostles at all. They are false apostles

10 As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. 11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
12 And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

False apostles and deceitful workers. Just as the devil is a liar and the father of lies, sometimes people doing the devil’s work can appear to be all goodness and light. We need to be discerning. These “super-apostles” may have appeared to be the first century best thing since sliced bread to the immature Christians in Corinth. But in fact they were leading the church astray.

Paul will go on to defend his apostleship and his ministry on four grounds which we will consider in detail next weeks Later on in chapter 11 he will talk about everything he has suffered for Christ. It may well be that the false apostles’ false gospel had focussed on the victory of Christ to the exclusion of the sufferings of the suffering servant. Paul was the true follower of the Servant King. Then in chapter 12 Paul will talk about the visions he experienced from God. He will talk about his thorn in the flesh and how God’s power has been made perfect in his human weaknesses. Again, although we cannot be sure, it may well be that the false gospel of the false apostles had no room for weakness in the lives of believers. If so that would suggest errors very similar to the false gospel of health, wealth and prosperity which we hear so much of today.
And then Paul will return to comparing himself directly with the “super-apostles” in one very revealing sentence.
2 Corinthians 12 11 I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the ‘super-apostles’, even though I am nothing. 12 I persevered in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles. 13 How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!
Signs wonders and miracles. These, says Paul, are included in the marks of a true apostle. And they were evidenced in Paul’s own ministry time and time again.
In Iconium Acts 14 3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.
In Lystra Acts 14 8 In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
In Ephesus Acts 19 11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
In Acts 20 in Troas Paul even brought Eutychus back from the dead.
12 I persevered in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles.
The marks of a true apostle. Not boasting of their own accomplishments. Faithfully preaching the gospel as Christ commands all his followers to do. Not sponging off gullible Christians as some celebrity evangelists and preachers do today exploiting their followers. Not deceitful workers, masquerading as angels of light. True apostles follow Jesus the suffering servant and only boast about their sufferings and their weaknesses. And the Holy Spirit works through such true apostles in signs and wonders and miracles even today.
We need to beware of false apostles as much as ever. The “super-apostles” of the internet and the stadium rallies. Preaching all kinds of false gospels. By their fruits will you know them. Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.
KJV The weapons of our warfare are not carnal.
Paul sees Christian ministry and Christian life as a battle – as a war!
3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. NIV
NRSV 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, (or fleshly)
Sarkinos human, worldly, fleshly, of the flesh
Message The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will.
So Paul saw his life as an apostle and evangelist and missionary as a war. By extension all Christian ministry and Christian living is a battle. But he didn’t fight that war in human ways or with human weapons.
First of all, we need to be clear who Paul thought he was fighting againt in this battle. Or to be more precise, what he is fighting against. His battle was not with the Corinthian Christians, not even those there who had opposed him. The war was not with the people who sometimes opposed his ministry and persecuted him and even tried to kill him for his evangelism. The war Paul is talking about was not with people at all.
4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,
The battle we fight as Christians are never against people but against false ideas and arguments.
NLT 4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.
Paul’s war was against the strongholds of human reasoning and all the false arguments.
Message The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.
There is a battle in the Christian life, but it is not against human beings. It is against false ideas. But there are other enemies sometimes hiding behind that massively corrupt culture and those warped philosophies and those barriers erected against the truth of God.
(The weapons of our warfare) have divine power to demolish strongholds.
The word stronghold is not used anywhere else in the New Testament. But the idea of a stronghold or a fortress points us to the cosmic powers so often pulling the strings behind human philosophies and ideas. Paul is much more explicit about this kind of spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6.
Ephesians 6 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
As Christians we are not at war with other human beings. But our battle is with the devil’s schemes, all the false ideas and behind those the powers of evil who are seeking to possess and destroy God’s world and oppose God’s wonderful plan of salvation at every point they can.
Our war is against all who oppose God, the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
The Message spells out just how serious this spiritual battle is.
This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.
So in this struggle, which has cosmic dimensions, what are the weapons of our warfare? These weapons which are not human or fleshly but have divine power to demolish strongholds.
TRUTH
Time and again in 2 Corinthians when Paul is defending his ministry, his appeal is the very simple one of truth.
2 Cor 1:12 Now this is our boast: our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace.
Integrity, Godly sincerity. Transparent honesty. No double-mindedness. No spin
2 Cointhians 1:18 But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silas and Timothy—was not ‘Yes’ and ‘No’, but in him it has always been ‘Yes’. 20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.
We always need to remember that in our battles with false ideas and the powers of evil behind them, our greatest weapon is the truth. No compromising. No short cuts. But the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!
2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
No secret and shameful ways. No deception. No distorting the word of God. Just setting forth the truth plainly. Only God’s truth will get through the veil which the devil uses to blind the minds of unbelievers.
This is why it is so important to defend the authority of the Bible and the truth of the Word of God.
Paul spoke of weapons before in chapter 6.
2 Corinthians 6 ; 6 in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7 in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;
These are our weapons of righteousness in this spiritual battle. Truthful speech and the power of God.
THE POWER OF GOD
Paul had written in 1 Corinthians about the power of God. And how that power is found in a most unexpected place.
1 Corinthians 1 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
In the battle against the false human philosophies the strongest weapon to unleash the power of God is the cross of Christ.
1 Cor 1 20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
The power of the cross. The simple message that Christ has died for our sins according to the Scriptures is God’s answer to the wrong ideas of the Jews and of the Greeks and of all the atheist philosophers and the false teachers today. Jesus Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God!
1 Cor 2:1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power
God’s power is released through the cross of Christ. This is why it is so important to proclaim boldly and unashamedly the cross of Jesus. At the same time we must resist all the attempts to empty the cross of its meaning. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.
2 Corinthians 5 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
So our battles against the wrong ideas of this age are not fought with wise or clever words. Our weapons are truth and the power of God revealed in the cross of Christ. It was on the cross that Christ won the supreme and decisive victory over the powers of evil.
Colossians 2 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
On the cross Christ has defeated the devil and all his demons. Our battles are just the mopping up operations at the end of the war. The Cross of Christ is the power of God.
THE ARMOUR OF GOD
Ephesians 6 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Belt of truth
Breastplate of righteousness
Gospel shoes
Shield of faith
Helmet of salvation
Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God – the only weapon for offence in the list.

One more weapon of our warfare of course is
PRAYER
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
19 Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
In our battles against the false ideas and the powers of evil behind them, the most important and the most powerful thing we can do is pray. It is only God’s power which can help people to see the truth of his word. It is only the Holy Spirit of God who can give new birth and new life. So the best thing we can do is to pray without ceasing, on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests. To pray and keep on praying.
TRUTH, THE POWER OF GOD IN THE CROSS, THE ARMOUR OF GOD, PRAYER.
3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

Week by week we give our gifts to God in church. As the offering plate came by week after week one young boy asked, “Wouldn’t it be cheaper to buy a season ticket?”

Two chapters of 2 Corinthians are devoted to the subject of Christian giving. We began last week looking at motives for Christian giving, In chapter 8 Paul gave the rich Christians in Corinth a number of good reasons why they should contribute gifts for the poor Christians in Jerusalem.

The example of the Macedonians

2 Corinthians 8 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.

An expression of fellowship, sharing the common life

, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people.

Giving firstly to God and then to the cause

5 And they exceeded our expectations: they gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.

Not out of obedience but out of sincere love

8 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.

The example of Jesus Christ

9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

Finishing what they had started

11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.

Sharing and equality

14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality,

So far Paul has given the Corinthians no less than SEVEN motives for supporting the collection for the poor in Jerualem. At that point Paul digressed to commend his messengers, Titus and the two brothers who will be accompanying him to make sure the collection is handled with transparent honesty.

That was all last week. In 2 Corinthians Chapter 9 Paul returns to his subject of the collection for the poor with one more motive and a gentle dig at the Corinthians to make sure that they are ready and prepared when he is going to arrive.

2 Corinthians 9:1 There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the Lord’s people.

Paul really shouldn’t have needed to remind the Corinthians about the collection for the poor because they had raised the question with him in the first place, and he had answered their inquiry in 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 16 Now concerning the collection for the saints: you should follow the directions I gave to the churches of Galatia. 2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come. 3 And when I arrive, I will send any whom you approve with letters to take your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.

So Paul knew the Corinthians were committed to this collection. But if he really didn’t need to write to them about this, he would not have done. The need of course had arisen because of the opposition Paul had experienced from a group in the church on his last visit to Corinth. Paul was worried that with all that upset the Corinthians might have forgotten their prior promise to give to the collection for the poor. So he was just being thorough. At the same time he doesn’t miss the opportunity to nudge them to give enthusiastically and generously.

2 For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. 3 But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. 4 For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident.

Paul wouldn’t want the Corinthians to be embarrassed if their offering was not ready when he arrived but he also wouldn’t want to embarrassed himself if all the good things he had been saying to the Macedonian Christians about the Corinthians turned out not to be true. I’m not quite sure about this bit. It sounds almost like emotional blackmail. Almost twisting the Corinthians’ arms so that they will prove themselves to be more generous than the Macedonians. But this leads him then to talk at length about a vital element of Christian giving – generosity.
What Paul has said so far about the collection for the poor is an instance of historical peculiarity. Those things were said to the Corinthians in their particular context on the occasion of the collection for the poor in Jerusalem. We can only apply those verses to ourselves by extension – we take them as specific historical examples which teach us general principles which we can then apply to our own context. But the things Paul goes on to say about generosity are independent of context – they apply to all Christians everywhere and in every generation. Whenever Christians are thinking about giving, to the poor or to the work of the church, one word is always applicable and that is generosity.

5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.

Christian giving should always be generous, and not grudging. After eight motives for the Corinthians to give to support the poor Christians in Jerusalem, Paul goes on to give no less than NINE specific motives for Christians always being GENEROUS in our giving.

1. Sowing and reaping
6 Remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
This isn’t some Christian version of karma. Nor is it a quote from the Old Testament but it does seem to be an echo of a number of common sayings in the First Century. Different passages carry the idea that sowing sparingly will lead to a poor harvest.
Job 48 As I have observed, those who plough evil and those who sow trouble reap it.
In perhaps the closes parallel, Hosea offers an inspiring perspective on sowing and reaping.
Hosea 10 12 Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, …
13 But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil,
You reap what you sow.
2. God loves a cheerful giver
7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

There are no rules about how much each of us should give. We should give as each are led. This principle appears many times in the Old Testament.

Exodus 25:2 The LORD said to Moses, 2 ‘Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give.

Exodus 35 21 and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. 22 All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewellery of all kinds: brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments

Deut 15:10 10 Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. 11 There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.

1 Chron 29 9 The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the LORD.
We should always be giving freely, and not under any sense of compulsion.
“God loves a cheerful giver” is from an addition to Proverbs 22:8 in the Septuagint (“God blesses a cheerful and giving person”). The term rendered “cheerful” often applied in Jewish texts to gifts for the poor. And then Proverbs 22 goes on
Proverbs 22 9 The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.

God loves a cheerful giver! So be generous.

3. God blesses us so that we can bless others
8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
God does not bless us so that we can have too much. God blesses us so that we will have as much as we need, but then more which we don’t need so that we can pass on to others who do need it.
Actually last week the example of the Macedonians gave us an extension to that principle.
2 Corinthians 8 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.
The challenge is to give more than we can spare. It is probably better to recognize that it is not generosity to give from what we won’t miss anywhere. True Christian generosity is giving more than we can spare. God blesses us so that we can be generous.
4. Generous giving to the poor brings everlasting blessings
9 As it is written:
‘They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures for ever.’
That quote from Psalm 112:9 is talking about the generosity of righteous people towards the poor. God’s blessings on such people endure for ever. Paul then builds on that idea.
5. If we are generous God will help us always to be generous
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
God blesses us so that we can be even more generous whenever the opportunity arises. This is not the false gospel health, wealth and prosperity. The reward of giving away is not that God blesses us with more which we can then keep for ourselves and enjoy. Such a person will not be blessed by God. What matters is rather that the person who gives generously, and even sacrificially, proves themselves to be trustworthy in God’s sight. So God will bless them with more knowing that they will pass that on generously as well.
6. Our generosity meets the needs of the Lord’s people

12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

Paul said of the Macedonians 2 Corinthians 8:5 they gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.

Our giving is always first of all to God. We are only ever giving back to God wealth and possessions which he has given and entrusted to us in the first place. We give first to the Lord, but then we give to the needs of different people and causes. The Corinthians’ gifts were going to supply the needs of the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. And it is acceptable to look at the competing demands of different needs as we consider our giving: the needs of our local church and of churches overseas, and of the poor in our town and around the world. We will want to supply the needs of the Lord’s people whenever and wherever we can. But our generosity is not motivated by the extent of the need but rather by the extent of our gratitude to God.

7. Our generosity leads to thanksgiving and praise to God.
Paul just said in verse 11 and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
Then he says in verse 12 that their service is overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

He develops this theme. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.
The generous giver is not concerned with their own glory. They do not give to receive the praise of others for themselves. Their concern is for the glory of God – that their gifts should bring praise and thanksgiving to God.

8. Generosity builds fellowship and unity in the body of Christ.

14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.

Remember the Christians in Corinth had mostly been Gentiles before they were converted. The Christians in Jerusalem had mostly been Jews. So the Collection for the Poor in Jerusalem would make a vital contribution to the unity between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians. Generous giving is an expression of fellowship which builds up the body of Christ.

9. Our generosity is just the proper response to God’s immense generosity to us in Christ.

2 Corinthians 9 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Reminder of 2 Corinthians 8:9 and the overwhelmingly generous grace God has shown us in Jesus Christ. We give because God first gave to us.

The story is told that one day a beggar by the roadside asked for alms from Alexander the Great as he passed by. The man was poor and wretched and had no claim upon the ruler, no right even to lift a solicitous hand. Yet the Emperor threw him several gold coins. A courtier was astonished at his generosity and commented, “Sir, copper coins would adequately meet a beggar’s need. Why give him gold?”
Alexander responded in royal fashion, “Copper coins would suit the beggar’s need, but gold coins suit Alexander’s giving.”
God has given so generously to us. We should give just as generously back to God and to other people who are in need. Like in Jesus’s parable of the two debtors, the more we have been forgiven, the more we will love God and the more generously we will give to others. Freely, freely you have received. Freely, freely give! God loves a cheerful giver!

2 Corinthians 9 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

One verse in this passage is very familiar to us.

2 Corinthians 8:9.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich yet for your sakes he became poor, so that through His poverty you might become rich.”
In this single sentence, the apostle Paul sums up the whole story of Christ’s incarnation and the way God brings us salvation. Here is the story of Christmas. And Paul begins, as does John’s Gospel, not with the baby in the manger but with the cosmic Christ.

THOUGH HE WAS RICH
The person Paul is talking about is Jesus of Nazareth, but that person had existed long before the baby was born, long before even time began.
Who was that person? He was God the Son
John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
And what had that person, the Word already done? He had created all things, absolutely everything. And he is the source of all life.
John 1:3-5 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
THAT is the person we are talking about as Christians – the Word of God, God the Son. If our thoughts of Christmas and the incarnation don’t begin in heaven with the Cosmic Christ, we have missed half the story!
Though He was rich
YET FOR YOUR SAKES HE BECAME POOR
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
In the manger we find the Word without a word – not so much squeezing a quart into a pint pot as squeezing an entire OCEAN into a pint pot!
Philippians 2:6-7 6 (Christ) being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Christ chose not to cling on to His divinity but that doesn’t mean He ceased to be God. He remained fully God as well as being fully human. There was no loss of power or glory – just a change of status as the king of kings and Lord of Lords became a tiny human baby. Think about the poverty of Christ’s birth and his childhood. Born in a filthy stable, not a palace. Brought up as a refugee in Egypt and then in an insignificant village in the back of beyond called Nazareth. One of a despised race, in a country ruled by an occupying army in the shadow of the mighty Roman Empire. Think of the shame for Jesus, being conceived before his mother Mary was married.
And just why did God the Son leave all the glory of heaven and the presence of the Father and the Spirit? Not for their benefit, but for ours.Though Christ was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor

SO THAT THROUGH HIS POVERTY YOU MIGHT BECOME RICH
The riches Christ has are not material but spiritual. So the riches He brings to us are not material but spiritual. As Christ shared the poverty of the human separation from God, so he shares with us the riches of a relationship with Almighty God as our Father. God the Son became a human being so that men and women could become God’s children too.
John 1:11-13 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Christ makes us rich by making us children of God. Christ became what we are, so that we might share in what He is.
In that simple verse Paul unfolds the mystery of the incarnation. But we take it out of context when we unwrap its theology. Because Paul speaks about the grace of Christ to spur the Corinthians to GENEROSITY. Giving to those who are poor or needy, homeless or marginalised. And by extension also giving to the work of the church and to Christian mission. God loves us so much, and has given so much to us. We should follow that example and be generous to people in need, out of deep gratitude for all that God has done for us.

So let’s go back and see the context – and that is of the collection that the churches outside Israel were taking up to meet the needs of poor Christians, in particular the poor in Jerusalem.

THE EXAMPLE GIVEN BY THE MACEDONIAN CHURCHES
2 Corinthians 8:1 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.
GENEROUS GIVING DESPITE EXTREME POVERTY
2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.

Following the Jewish practice, and the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, Christians were expected to give alms to the poor. One was to give alms according to one’s ability
Deuteronomy 15:14 Give to them as the LORD your God has blessed you.

But the Macedonians went beyond this rule. They gave sacrificially, even beyond their ability.As an aside, remember that Paul is not asking for himself here. He is asking on behalf of the poor in Jerusalem
GIVING THEMSELVES FIRST TO THE LORD and THEN TO US
Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. 5 And they exceeded our expectations: they gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.
That is true of all Christian giving. We are giving first and foremost to God, and then secondarily to the poor or to the church or to whatever other good cause. The term translated “participation” (NASB), “sharing” (NIV, NRSV) or “fellowship” (KJV) was used technically in business documents of Paul’s day for a “partnership.” The word is koinonia = fellowship. We give to meet the needs of other Christians as an expression of our fellowship with them.
Judaism used the term translated here as “service” (NIV) or “support” (NASB) technically for distributing alms for the poor.
CHALLENGE TO THE CORINTHIANS
6 So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7 But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
Since the Corinthians are doing so well in following Jesus, Paul expected them to be outstanding in their generosity to the poor of Jerusalem too. The extent of our giving is an expression of our love and not just an act of obedience.
NOT OBEYING A COMMAND BUT OUT OF SINCERE LOVE
8 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.

THE GRACE of OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST – the supreme example of selfless giving

9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
Paul uses the example of the love and generosity of Jesus to inspire gratitude in the Corinthians, and by extension in all of us as well.

FINISHING WHAT WE HAVE STARTED – GIVING THE BEST WE CAN

10 And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. 11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.

PRINCIPLE OF SHARING – EQUALITY and FAIRNESS

13 Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, 15 as it is written: ‘The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.’

Paul is quoting Exodus 16:18 here which talked about the Israelites collecting up the Manna in the wilderness. Everybody had what they needed. That’s the way God wants it to be in the church. The Corinthian Christians were relatively wealthy. The Jerusalem church were relatively poor and in particular need due to the famine at that time. So in the spirit of fellowship out of a desire for fairness it was only right that the Corinthians should give generously to help their brothers and sisters who were in desperate need.
THE ROLE AND ENTHUSIASM OF TITUS
16 Thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. 17 For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative.
TITUS is delivering the letter 2 Corinthians to them. And then he would also collect the Corinthians’ gifts and take them on to Jerusalem.
THE ROLE OF THE UNNAMED BROTHER – TRANSPARENT HONESTY
18 And we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel. 19 What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we administer in order to honour the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help. 20 We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. 21 For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.
Who was this unnamed brother? It couldn’t have been Barnabas or Silas. They wouldn’t have been relegated to being just a companion to Titus. Similarly Apollos was known to the Corinthians so Paul would surely have used his name if it was him. The best guess is probably actually Doctor Luke, companion of Paul and later author of the Gospel which bears his name.
ANOTHER BROTHER ALONG WITH TITUS AND LUKE
22 In addition, we are sending with them our brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you.

This brother is commended for zealousness, or earnestness, more than other qualities. Paul had just praised the earnestness of others in verse 8 and Titus for his enthusiasm in verse 17.
Romans 12:11 says 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord.

They were REPRESENTATIVES of the Churches and AN HONOUR TO CHRIST
23 As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honour to Christ. 24 Therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you, so that the churches can see it.

Paul is spurring on the Corinthians to generous giving for the needs of the poor Christians in Jerusalem. Out of fellowship, sharing a common life. Out of a desire for equality and fair shares for everybody. But most of all out of the example of the Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

7 Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

Paul has been defending his ministry to the Corinthians. But in chapter six he wanders off in a digression and nobody has been able to work out why Paul chose to change subjects at this point. There is no obvious connection with what came before, but at 2 Corinthians 6:14 he starts talking about holiness. Perhaps he was aiming all along at the punchline in chapter seven verse one so we will start there.
7 Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

God offers amazing blessings to his chosen people – and Paul quotes two of these.
‘I will live with them and walk among them,
and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’

Leviticus 26:12,
11 I will put my dwelling-place among you, and I will not abhor you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

Jeremiah 32:38,
and I will bring them back unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely; 38 and they shall be My people, and I will be their God; 39 and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me for ever; for the good of them, and of their children after them; 40 and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me. 41 Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land in truth with My whole heart and with My whole soul.

Ezekiel 37:27
27 My dwelling-place also shall be over them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 28 And the nations shall know that I am the LORD that sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for ever.’

Not only are Christians God’s chosen people. Even more wonderful than that!
18 And, ‘I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.’

Part of the Covenant God renewed with David
2 Samuel 7:14,
14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son.
Christians are God’s chosen people. We are the children of the living God! These are the blessings God has promised for his chosen people when he brings them back from Exile and sends the Messiah the Saviour to them.

2 Corinthians 7:1 Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
We have so many motives for wanting to become holy. There are many places where God commands holiness.
1 Peter 1 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’
But not only because God commands it. But also because of all the blessings God pours upon us, because of the great privileges we have as God’s chosen people and as children of God,
let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit,
God is holy. God is pure. And as Christians that should be our goal. And we become holy by purifying ourselves and cutting ourselves off from everything that contaminates body and spirit,
That is what Paul had in mind just before when he quotes Isaiah 52
17 Therefore, ‘Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.’

That is how God’s chosen people should respond to God’s salvation.
Isaiah 52:11, 11 Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure,
Because of all the blessings God has poured out on us we are called to purify ourselves and separate ourselves from everything which would separate us from God.
Our aim should be perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
Not that we will ever achieve sinless perfection. But that should be our aim and rest in our struggle against the world and the flesh and the devil we should not be satisfied with anything less. But what does it mean in practice to separate ourselves from everything which is unclean?
This is where Paul is heading, when he begins his digression on holiness with a command which has been controversial and I think quite often misunderstood and misapplied.
2 Corinthians 6 14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.
What does it mean to be yoked together with unbelievers?
KJV Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
Message Don’t become partners with those who reject God.
NLT 14 Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers.
This verse has often been applied to two areas. The first has been to a Christian marrying somebody who is not a Christian. The second has been to Christians going into business with non-Christians as partners. Actually, I am not convinced that either of those two situations are what Paul is talking about in this verse.
NRSV Do not be mismatched with unbelievers.
Mismatched – heterozygountes – to be unevenly yoked in a pair of oxen pulling a plough – if one is stronger than the other the pair will pull to one side instead of ploughing straight.
Deuteronomy 22:10 10 Do not plough with an ox and a donkey yoked together.
It is easy to see how this metaphor would apply to forming a business arrangement. Less easy to see how it would relate to marriage.
Perhaps 2 Corinthians 6:14 is talking about marriage.
This was the command God gave to the Israelites as they were preparing to take possession of the promised land concerning the pagan nations which lived there.
Deuteronomy 7 3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.
That was the trap the Kings of Israel and Judah had fallen into from Solomon onwards by marrying foreign wives who worshipped pagan gods. The Israelites returning from Exile in Ezra’s time realised they had failed to obey this command
Ezra 9 “The land you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the corruption of its peoples. By their detestable practices they have filled it with their impurity from one end to the other. 12 Therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons.
So perhaps 2 Corinthians 6:14 is talking about marriage. But we need to understand the verse in the light of what follows. Paul uses five comparisons for what being unequally yoked with unbelievers means, and all of them seem very extreme if we are talking about a Christian marrying a non-Christian or forming a business partner with a non-believer.
For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?
All very extreme.
For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?
Is Paul actually saying that in a marriage the Christian is righteous and the non-Christian is wicked?
Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
Is the Christian light and the unbeliever really darkness?
15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? (between Christ and Satan). Is Paul really calling a non-Christian spouse Satan?
Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
His last comparison gives us the clue as to what Paul specifically has in mind here.
16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?
The commentators generally agree, and I am persuaded, that what Paul is really talking about here is idol worship. Christians are unequally yoked if their marriages or their business arrangements or any of their relationships lead them to participate in idol worship, worshipping pagan gods. Sometimes in those days working together in business would carry an expectation of joining in pagan ceremonies together, and Paul is saying this is wrong.
The meaning of the word unbelievers is straightforward – those who don’t believe the gospel.
But Paul may have a more specific meaning in this context. The comparisons seem very extreme if he is talking about everybody who does not have a faith – everybody who does not believe the gospel. What Paul means by non-believers here may be not so much those who have no faith, but those who actively worship and serve false gods, and lead Christians to do the same. Do not be mismatched with those who are opposed to the Christian faith.
Paul has already warned the Corinthians of the dangers of idol worship in
1 Corinthians 10 19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.
In Paul’s time everybody worshipped some god or another – the false gods or the Romans or of the Greeks or of the Eastern Mystery Religions. It is highly likely that the worship of pagan idols remained a temptation for the Corinthians, many of whom had been involved in such cults before they became Christians. And the pressures to worship idols from a pagan wife or business partner would be very strong. Perhaps indeed Paul had heard that this was a problem in the church in Corinth and it just came into his mind at this point in the letter as something he needed to talk to them about.
In our day there are many people who claim not to believe anything. Certainly very many who do not participate in any form of worship of any deity. These are non-believers. But they are not necessarily ANTI-Christian. So is this command not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers talking about a Christian marrying somebody who is not a believer in today’s context? Probably not. Is it saying Christians should not go into business with unbelievers? Probably not. But it surely is a warning about a Christian marrying somebody who is devoted to a different religion. Or forming a business partnership with somebody who has very different values. Somebody who is going to put them under pressure to worship the gods of this age, money, sex and power, consumerism and entertainment, instead of serving the one true God and Lord of All.
2 Corinthians 7:1 Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.

3 We put no stumbling-block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited.

Paul’s defence of his ministry
To defend his apostleship Paul shares his own experiences of ministry. From those I could use this passage then to talk about the nature of Christian ministry and specifically about the work of ministers and missionaries, pastors and teachers. In particular these verses and many other parts of 2 Corinthians challenge and condemn the health, wealth and prosperity teaching of many prominent preachers and televangelists. Actually these verses show up flaws and weaknesses in the ministries of many mainstream preachers and teachers as well. Even if the content of their teaching is entirely biblical, some preachers find themselves lured into the contemporary culture of entertainment and celebrity. They can find themselves pursuing popularity rather than truth, and the illusion of success rather than faithfulness and holiness,
So these verses are about the practice of ministry and mission. That was their original significance as Paul wrote to the Corinthians defending his own ministry and I will make those points as we go along. But the things Paul says here also apply to all of us, to every Christian in all our experiences of being followers of Jesus the Servant King. So I will comment on that as well. In his defence Paul talks about three things

PAUL’S SUFFERINGS
4 Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way:
For ministers: Paul cared what other Christians and what the world around thought about him. Many ministers do not.
For every Christian: equally we all need to be careful about how we conduct our lives so that we are giving a Christlike example.
Do you remember this old Mission Praise song?
Though the World has forsaken God
Treads a different path, leads a different way
I walk the road that the Savior trod
That all may know I live under Jesus’ way
Refrain:
They are watching you, marking all you do
Hearing the things you say
Let them see the Savior as He shines in you
Let His power control you every day.

Men will look at the life I lead
See the side I take and the things I love
They judge my Lord by my every deed
Lord set my affection on things above.
4 Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way:
That is the challenge we all face!
in great endurance;
For ministers: keeping on going. So many ministers leave pastoral ministry and go on to do other kinds of things.
For every Christian: keeping on with the work God has given us to do until he tells us to lay it down.
in troubles,
For ministers: the reality of ministry and mission means that we will face troubles of all kinds. In this case I think Paul is meaning particularly opposition and persecution but trying to stand alongside people and help people and stand up for justice and truth will always bring all kinds of trouble. It will be hard and ministers who think they can organize themselves out of such difficulties are just deluded.
Do you remember that scene in Yes Minister where Jim Hacker is a candidate to become Prime Minister? Now Cabinet Secretary Sir Humphrey makes it very clear to Jim’s Personal Private Secretary Bernard Wooley that his job is to make absolutely certain that Jim does nothing incisive or divisive in the next few weeks, avoids all controversy and expresses no firm opinions about anything at all. To which Bernard replies, “I think that is probably what he was planning to do anyway.”
Some Christian ministers follow the Jim Hacker approach Their highest goal is to make no waves, and rock no boats. To avoid doing or saying anything controversial or unpopular. But when you are preaching the Christian gospel, that is an impossible goal. As Spurgeon said, “the gospel comforts us in our afflictions but it also afflicts us in our comforts.” The gospel declares that Jesus Christ is Lord and that simple statement is a rebuke to the status quo and to all the rich and powerful people in this fallen world.
For every Christian: following Jesus the servant King will bring all kinds of difficulties.
Remember these words of Jesus. They are not just for the apostles but for all of us, for every Christian.
John 15 18 ‘If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: “A servant is not greater than his master.” If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.
Following Jesus will bring us troubles! And hardships and distresses!
If we have never experienced any kind of opposition or persecution for being Christians, we have been doing it wrong!
Hopefully we won’t have had to endure the same difficulties as Paul could talk about from his own experience. 5 in beatings and imprisonments.
But we may in our small way have caused a few riots
and riots;
For ministers
I love this extract from the diary of John Wesley
From the Diary of John Wesley
Sunday, A.M., May 5 Preached in St. Anne’s. Was asked not to come back anymore.
Sunday, P.M., May 5 Preached in St. John’s. Deacons said “Get out and stay out.”
Sunday, A.M., May 12 Preached in St. Jude’s. Can’t go back there, either.
Sunday, A.M., May 19 Preached in St. Somebody Else’s. Deacons called special meeting and said I couldn’t return.
Sunday, P.M., May 19 Preached on street. Kicked off street.
Sunday, A.M., May 26 Preached in meadow. Chased out of meadow as bull was turned loose during service.
Sunday, A.M., June 2 Preached out at the edge of town. Kicked off the highway.
Sunday, P.M., June 2 Afternoon, preached in a pasture. Ten thousand people came out to hear me.

If a minister has not caused a few riots they have not being doing their job properly.
For every Christian: we cannot hope or expect to go through life without making some waves and rocking some boats. Just keeping our heads down is not an option for Christians. We cannot be secret disciples. Either the discipleship will kill the secret or the secret will kill the discipleship.
in hard work,
For ministers: working hours for ministers. Discussions in minister’s groups about “work-life balance”.
For every Christian: Living the Christian life will be hard work – fitting everything in. Doing the jobs that need to be doing behind the scenes. Going the extra mile.
sleepless nights and hunger;
For minister and for every Christian:

PAUL’S VIRTUES

6 in purity,
For ministers: concern for holiness e.g. drinking
For every Christian: – place of holiness
understanding,
For ministers: declining importance of growing in understanding, Bible knowledge, continuing ministerial development. Focus instead on management and leadership and publicity
For every Christian: growing understanding
patience
For ministers: we all need patience – some try to run church like a big business and delegate pastoral care so that the ordinary people never get to see “the big man” at all. Perhaps that same tendency built into the institutions of some denomination
For every Christian: “Lord give me patience, and give it to me quickly”. We all need to learn how to be patient with other people, with God, with ourselves
and kindness;
For ministers: ministers can be known for many things, wisdom, preaching. Not enough are known just for being kind.
For every Christian: we all need to work at being kind.
in the Holy Spirit
For ministers: you would think that learning to be open to the Holy Spirit was an essential element of being a minister or a missionary. In practice that is less and less a part of the training ministers receive.
For every Christian: the Holy Spirit is absolutely vital for each one of us in every part of our Christian living and Christian service in the church and in the world.
and in sincere love;
For ministers: again – so few ministers are known for their love.
For every Christian: they will know we are Christians by our love!
7 in truthful speech
For ministers and for every Christian: we should be known as people who will always tell the truth !
and in the power of God;
For ministers and for every Christian: everything we do should be done in God’s strength, not our own efforts. Depending on God and not on our own skills or experience or human wisdom
with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;
For ministers and for every Christian: weapons for attack and for defence – the armour of God, the Word of God, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, the weapons of prayer and love and holiness.

HOW WE RESPOND IN SUFFERING IS WHAT MATTERS

The paradoxes of ministry – the difference between the outward appearance and the inward reality. So often two opposites are in tension.
8 through glory and dishonour,
For ministers and for every Christian: it is only by sharing the dishonor of the suffering servant that we will also share his glory. If you will not bear the cross you won’t wear the crown.
bad report and good report;
For ministers: Time was that people respected clergymen. It was seen as an honourable profession. I have seen that change even in my years as a minister. Nowadays preachers are seen as just another dodgy salesman trying to trick you into buying something you don’t want.
For every Christian: Time was Christians were respected in society. Now people are mostly suspicious of Christians.

genuine, yet regarded as impostors;
For ministers and for every Christian: everybody suspects our motives. What’s our angle? What’s in it for us?
9 known, yet regarded as unknown;
Paul experienced this. Appointed by God to be the Apostle to the Gentiles he had to start again from scratch everywhere he went. In a way that is true for every minister or missionary when we move to a new situation.
dying, and yet we live on; For ministers and for every Christian: we have talked about carrying about in our bodies the dying of Christ so that the life of Christ may be seen in us.
For Paul that meant coming close to death on many occasions.
beaten, and yet not killed; Hopefully that will never have to be our experience.
= “knocked down but not knocked out”
But we may all have to experience what it means to be
10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing;
Here is the challenge, to know the joy of the Lord in the midst of all the sorrows of life
poor, yet making many rich;
For ministers and for every Christian: that would probably not be the lifestyle we would choose. But we are followers of the Son of Man who had no place to lay his head, no home in this world who gave up all the riches of heaven to share in our poverty so that we might become rich..

So here is Paul’s defence of his ministry. An example and an inspiration to ministers and missionaries and indeed to every Christian.

4 Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way:

In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 Paul five motives for his ministry of evangelism and church planting. The first is fearing the Lord. Recognising that we will all be accountable before God because one day we are going to be judged – v 10.
Paul’s second motive for preaching the gospel is the love of Christ.
CHRIST’S LOVE COMPELS US
. 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
Before we consider what Paul says there, let’s jump to the end where Paul explains his understanding of the significance of Christ’s death in verse 21
“Christ was without sin, but God made Him to BE sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God!” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
There is a double meaning in the word sin here as the footnote in the 2011 NIV shows. The word for sin is used in the Greek Old Testament the Septuagint for example in Leviticus 4:24 and 5:12 to mean a sin offering. God made Christ to be a sin offering for us.
Leviticus 5 11 ‘ “If, however, they cannot afford two doves or two young pigeons, they are to bring as an offering for their sin a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour for a sin offering. They must not put olive oil or incense on it, because it is a sin offering. 12 They are to bring it to the priest, who shall take a handful of it as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar on top of the food offerings presented to the LORD. It is a sin offering.
God made Christ “to be sin” – or “to be a sin offering” for us.
The Good News Bible translates the verse like this.
21Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God.
The Living Bible expresses this verse beautifully. “For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us.”
The second century Bishop Irenaeus explained this “great exchange” like this. “Christ became what we are in order that we might become what he is.” God became a human being so that we could become God’s children. On the cross Christ became sin so that we could become righteous. Martin Luther said, “Lord Jesus, You are my righteousness but I am your sin. You took on You what was mine; You set on me what was Yours. You became what you were not that I might become what I was not.”
Graham Kendrick puts it beautifully.
If in my foolishness I stray, Returning empty and ashamed,
Exchanging for my wretchedness Your radiant robes of righteousness,
I love the way You father me.
We rejected God! God never rejected us. We sinful proud selfish human beings rejected God! Ignored his laws. Refused him the worship of which He is worthy. All we deserve is to be rejected by God in return. But instead of rejecting us – God rejects his one and only Son. The Son who was one with the Father from eternity, before space and time were created. The Son who from the very moment of his human birth lived in unbroken fellowship with God. The Son who was always the delight of God’s heart, kept by his Father right from birth. The Son for whom the Father spoke from heaven and put his seal of approval upon his life, saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,” (Matthew 3:17b; Mark 1:11). There is absolutely nothing in the Son to cause the Father to turn His back on Him. Yet there on the cross the Son of God is hung up to die, forsaken, abandoned, rejected.
“The suffering in the passion of Jesus is abandonment, rejection by God His Father. Jesus humbles Himself and takes upon Himself the eternal death of the Godless and the Godforsaken, so that the Godless and the Godforsaken can experience communion with Him.” (Moltmann)
Amazing love, O what sacrifice, The Son of God given for me.
My debt He pays, and my death He dies, That I might live.
The sacrifice of the omnipotent Father is as great as the sacrifice of the helpless Son. God’s deity is divided! The Holy Trinity, God eternally three-in-One, is split apart by OUR sin as Christ the Son shares our rebellion and separation from God the Father!
“Guilty, vile, and helpless, we; Spotless Lamb of God was He:
Full atonement—can it be? Hallelujah! what a Saviour!”
This language of the Messiah being an offering for sin was clearly foretold in Isaiah 53
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

We thought about this in our sermons on Isaiah. Jesus clearly understood his own death as fulfilling the prophecies of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53. In the Upper Room at the Last Supper Jesus quotes verse 12 , “He was numbered among the transgressors.” In passing round the cup Jesus speaks about his life being poured out and his dying for the many is echoed in different places, not least in Mark 10:45.
45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’

So Paul says, “Christ was without sin, but God made Him to BE sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God!” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
There are some people who don’t like this language of a sin offering, and the idea that Jesus died in our place, the idea called substitutionary atonement. But we find the same idea in other places in the writings of the apostle Paul.
Romans 3 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.
God’s way of bringing people back into a right relationship with himself clearly rests on the death of Christ as a sacrifice for sin.
NEW LIVING TRANSLATION 23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.
So Paul says, we share in Christ’s death and in Christ’s dying. We saw this in 2 Corinthians chapter 4
4 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
That is why Christ died. The great exchange. He became sin for us so that we can become the righteousness of God. But back to chapter 5 verse 14. Because Christ showed his love by dying for us, this motivates us to serve him and speak for him.
14 For Christ’s love compels us,
The love of Christ compels us. Paul is not referring to the love we have for Christ, although that is a motivation for our serving God. Rather he is pointing to the love Christ has for us, as shown by His death on the cross for us.
We love because God first loved us
1 John 4 God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: in this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us.
Christ has taken our sin on himself. He loved us so much. Therefore we serve Him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. Paul explains this obligation we have to live new lives not for ourselves but for Christ in verse 15.
. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
So we live new lives and proclaim the gospel for at least three reasons, Because we fear God and we know we are accountable to God for all our words and our actions. Because Christ’s love motivates us to speak for him. And because he has died for us and shares his resurrection life with us. But there’s more as Paul goes on the explain in a sentence what is this good news we have been given to share?

THERE IS A NEW CREATION
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!
Note the translation in the 2011 New International Version here. There is a new creation. The new creation has come. Earlier translations always used to say, “He is a new creation.” OR “that person is a new creation.”
So for example NLT 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
The Message Translation expresses that meaning well. “Anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new.” That sense is even clearer in the Living Bible. When someone becomes a Christian he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same any more. A new life has begun!
He is a new creation. He is a brand new person inside. But that is not exactly what the Greek says. The latest NIV translation is surely correct. “There is a new creation.” “The new creation has arrived!”
NRSV makes the same point 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

Actually there is no connective here at all. The Greek simply says this. “If anyone is in Christ – new creation!”
New creation! This is not just something subjective in the experience of the individual Christian. The scope is not just individual. It’s cosmic! We are part of something much bigger – God’s new creation! God is not just dealing with the consequences of sin in the lives of individual believers. God’s plan is to renew the whole of creation. And we are caught up in that glorious cosmic masterplan of salvation. As Christians as we share in the dying and in the rising of Christ, we are sharing in the blessings of this new creation. In Christ – new creation!
Becoming a Christian is not about turning over a new leaf. Becoming a Christian is about beginning a new life. God doesn’t just call us to follow the example He has given us in Jesus Christ or just to live by Jesus’s teachings. God actually makes it possible for us to share in Jesus’s life! So as Christians we enjoy a brand new life. That newness of life is not just “less old”, like changing to a newer car. Nor is it like so many washing powders are advertised, just some “new improved” version of the old. This is not the kind of superficial change you see in all those makeover programmes. God’s work in our lives is not merely cosmetic surgery. It is a heart transplant. God gives us a brand new life – a dramatic transformation from the old, like the butterfly emerging from the caterpillar. “If anyone is in Christ – new creation!”
But God does not want Christians to keep this amazing good news to ourselves.

WE ARE CHRIST’S AMBASSADORS

18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God.

The Good News of Jesus Christ is God’s message of reconciliation. It is the way God brings people back into a right relationship with himself. It is the way God brings people into his new creation and lets us experience new birth and new life. It follows that Christians are Christ’s Ambassadors. We are His representatives. We are His Messengers. What an amazing privilege. And what an awesome responsibility, The glorious task of an Ambassador is to draw attention to the one they are representing, not to themselves. Ambassadors do not have any choice about whether they deliver their Sovereign’s messages or not. That is their job: that is their responsibility. They may be scared of the reaction their message may provoke. But ambassadors don’t have the option of staying silent. Their whole task is to represent their leader and speak on their behalf. And God appoints us as Christians to be Ambassadors for Christ.
If we find ourselves anxious or afraid of fulfilling our responsibilities as Ambassadors for Christ, the one thing we should bear in mind is the source of an ambassador’s authority. They never speak on their own authority. They always speak on the authority of the ruler who they represent. In the first century a Roman Ambassador was no less than the personal representative of the Roman Emperor himself. Similarly, Christians do not talk about Jesus on our own authority. We don’t share the gospel on our own authority. We do so because Almighty God commands us to. He has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation.
… as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. Here we are, then, speaking for Christ, as though God himself were making his appeal through us.
We are speaking for Christ, on His behalf. The message is not our message but God’s message. We are not delivering the Good News on our authority but on the authority of the One we represent, even Almighty God. We speak because Jesus has authorised us and sent us to speak for him.
Jesus drew near and said to them, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
So we don’t only share Jesus because we know we will be held to account for our words as much as for our actions. It isn’t just because Christ’s love compels us, although it does. It isn’t just because we share in the blessings of Christ’s death and resurrection. It isn’t even because we have experienced in our own lives the miracle of new creation. Our fifth motivation for sharing the gospel and talking about Jesus and seeking to help others to become His disciples is that we are doing so in obedience to the command of Jesus Himself; Jesus who God has declared to be the highest authority in heaven and on earth, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus has appointed us to be his Ambassadors. We are his representatives, his messengers. We are simply delivering his wonderful Good News. God loves people – and we will want everybody else to know God’s love for themselves as well.