2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 16. Paul is continuing
to defend himself. There had been some around
Corinth that obviously had been referred to as,
he quotes, super apostles. It had been said in
2 Corinthians chapter 10, Paul referenced where
the people had said that Paul was weak. And Paul
was discouraged, perhaps angry, that the people
of Corinth had heard the gospel and they were
doing well. And these false teachers had come
in. These false teachers had begun to boast in
themselves. They had begun to, it appears from
the passage we'll read tonight, been putting
some burden on the people. And yet instead of
listening to Paul, the people of Corinth were...
Just really falling head over heels for these
new smooth -talking false prophets, false teachers,
I should say, that Paul said last week disguised
themselves as angels of light, that like the
devil, they are disguising themselves. They may
look good, they may say a good thing, and they
may play a good role, but Paul says you need
to stop listening to their boasting. and you
need to listen to me. And so we've kind of seen
that same theme really throughout, and he continues
along those lines in the passage we'll look at
tonight. So let's pray, and we'll get started.
God, we come to you, and I pray, dear Lord, that
you just help us to focus on you for a few minutes
tonight. We come in here, and some of us may
be struggling, dear Lord. Maybe there's some
listening online that are... that are struggling,
God, that today has just been a rough day. It's
been a lot of just difficulties and stresses
and just all kind of stuff, dear Lord. Life throws
it at us, and it's not always easy. So if there
are any that have had that bad day or maybe a
bad week or maybe a bad month or a bad year,
dear Lord, I pray that maybe we can learn from
Paul. that as he so confidently says that he
has learned to do without and to be content,
that God, that you would help us to grow in you
in such a way that we can get there. Maybe we're
not even really that close tonight, or maybe
we are close, or maybe we've got a long way to
go. But dear Lord, I pray that you would help
us to find some contentment to realize that you
are good, even on the bad days, God. And I pray
that we would find some strength and encouragement
in that, dear Lord, that we would not despair.
Life is tough, but I pray that as we read Paul's
words tonight, that maybe you can guide and instruct
us and draw us closer to you. In Jesus' name
I ask it. Amen. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse
16. I repeat, no one should consider me a fool,
but if you do, at least accept me. So Paul is
kind of being a little silly here. He's kind
of being silly. He says, okay, you people are
listening to a bunch of teachers that are just
teaching you foolishness. The things they're
teaching you is foolishness. The things they're
doing is foolishness. The way they're acting
is foolishness. And you're just eating it up.
You're just loving the foolishness. And he says,
look, if you'll listen to fools, then let me
just be foolish for a little while. Let me just
say some foolish things. Because you are ready
to listen to the fools, so would you put up with
my foolishness for a little bit? I've tried to
come in here and teach you and lead you in the
way of the gospel of Jesus Christ and to help
nurture you and to mature you in Jesus, and you're
not wanting to pay me any attention. You're not
wanting to listen to the things I've said, but
instead you're listening to foolishness. So if
foolishness is what you want, he says, then let
me speak foolishly to you for a while. And that's
what he says. He says in verse 19, For you being
so wise, gladly put up with fools. Now, they
are actually not wise there. That's the point
he's making. Y 'all are so wise, y 'all think
y 'all know everything, and y 'all are so smart
listening to these teachers. If y 'all are so
wise, then listen to foolishness, if that's what
you want to listen to. And listen to what he
says in verse 20. In fact, You put up with it
if someone enslaves you, if someone devours you,
if someone captures you, if someone dominates
you, or if someone hits you in the face. Now,
I would assume here that perhaps these are the
very things that the people of Corinth are seeing
from these people that they're following. These
are people that are not leading them closer to
Jesus Christ. to help them find grace and to
live in freedom from sin. But instead, it appears
as though whatever these foolish teachers are
teaching, it's putting more of a burden on the
people. He says, you put up with it if someone
enslaves you. Now, wait a minute. Shouldn't a
preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ... Be
offering and providing freedom through Jesus
Christ by the things that they preach and teach?
Shouldn't the word of God be being taught in
such a way that the people are experiencing freedom?
Not being enslaved. But these teachers, whoever
they are, these preachers, whoever they are,
they're obviously preaching and teaching in a
way that's not bringing freedom to the people,
but enslaving them in some way. Keeping them
in their sins or putting some type of burden
on them. And he says after that, You put up with
it if someone devours you. They're being taken
advantage of in some way. They're being destroyed
by these people. He says, you put up with it
if someone captures you, if someone dominates
you, if someone hits you in the face. Now, this
does not seem like an attitude of love. If someone
is to be a shepherd of the Lord, then these are
not the qualities that they should have. Now,
Jesus even tells his apostles, look, The rulers
of the Gentiles, boy, they use their power and
they dominate over the people. They put their
force and they want to be over the people with
their thumb pressed on them. But what did Jesus
say to his apostles? He said, but it must not
be this way among you. He said, those of you
who want to be first of all must be a servant
of all. So those who seek to be a leader just
so they can have some authority and dominate
those under them when it comes to, people in
the church, then they need to stop really quickly
and they need to go back and read the words of
Jesus. Because Jesus says, if you want to be
a shepherd, if you want to be a leader, if you
want to be a follower of mine, then you have
to first be a servant of all. Now that's, of
course, what Paul has been and is to those that
he ministers to in Corinth and everywhere else.
But that is not what's going on with these false
teachers. They have come in and they have put
these burdens on these people. They have enslaved
them and they're making it difficult for people.
And you still see that in our world today. There
are a lot of people out there that are in ministry,
that are preaching, that are teaching, that are
in some leadership role, and they really put
pressure and they devour. They devour their congregation.
Their goal is not to build them up in Christ,
but to... bleed their money from them and to
bleed their resources from them and to in some
way make them feel guilty or dependent on them
as though they're the only one who has the answer.
So you must come to my church and you must listen
to my preaching because I'm the one who's going
to help you and you must give me your money and
I'm going to show you the answers that you want.
And there are a lot of people that use their
leadership roles not in a way to build up people.
but in a way to completely destroy them. Those
are false teachers. Paul saw them in his day,
and we see them in our day. So Paul says, look,
you want to pull up with foolishness? This is
foolishness what you're listening to. You'll
gladly listen to these people, but Paul's already
made the point earlier on. We saw in the last
couple of weeks that Paul had said, look, I haven't
asked for anything from you. I'm not even asking
for money from you. I'm here to serve you. There's
other churches that are supporting me while I
support you. I'm not being a burden on you. Paul
says, I just want you to love Jesus. I just want
you to follow Jesus. I just want you to trust
Him and not be led astray. I want you to love
one another. I want you to follow the commands
of God. I don't want you to give in to sin and
to hate one another and for there to be trouble
among you. I want you to deal with these things.
Paul says, I've come to you with love. You've
seen my love. But why won't you listen to me?
You listen to these people, they don't love you
a bit. So Paul says, if you want foolishness,
then I'm going to give you some foolishness.
Listen to what he says in verse 21. He says,
I say this to our shame. We have been weak. But
in whatever anyone dares to boast, I am talking
foolishly, I also dare. Okay, so he's fixing
to start boasting. Now, we kind of have an idea
maybe a little bit about what these other people
are boasting about just because some of the things
that he said. Obviously, he, in quotations, calls
them super apostles, so perhaps that's what the
people were saying. Maybe that's what these people
were calling themselves. Perhaps they were boasting
in their ability to speak better. It says of
Paul that he's not a good speaker. It says that
he's weak in person, that he looks weak. So maybe
some of these other people were boasting that
they were better looking than Paul, that they
weren't weakly, but they were strong. Maybe they
were boasting that they were better speakers.
Maybe they were boasting at all the money that
they were bringing in. Well, Paul was just the
opposite of these people. They said, okay, you
don't look like much. You don't talk very good.
You ain't took no money from us. And Paul's thinking,
hey, this is a good thing. None of those things
matter. I'm just loving you, and that's what
matters. But obviously that wouldn't matter to
the people because they were looking for the
wrong thing. We have to be careful. Sometimes
we do that too. You know the story of when God
sent Samuel to pick the next king of Israel.
And Samuel, he first looked at the strongest
one. and he said, this is going to be the one
that's going to be the king. And God said, nope,
that ain't the one. He goes through all of them.
And he finally says, well, there's nobody left.
And God says, well, there is one more. And it
was little David, little shepherd. Well, he wouldn't
have been the one that Samuel was going to pick,
but the Scripture says that God doesn't see what
we see. He doesn't look at what's on the outside.
He looks at what's on the inside. And so the
people had completely kind of written off Paul.
because of what he looked like or what he sounded
like or the way he was doing ministry. And they
were really drawn to the ones who looked better
and who sounded better and who were really full
of foolishness, who didn't care about them at
all or weren't pointing them to Jesus at all,
but instead were being a burden to them. And
Paul says, I want you to be free of that burden.
But if they're going to boast in these things
that they're going to boast in, Paul says, well,
give me a moment. I would like to boast to you
as well. And listen to what Paul says when he
boasts. Verse 22. He says, are they Hebrews?
So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they
the seed of Abraham? So am I. Okay, he's off
to a good start right here. So whatever these
guys are boasting in, whatever they think they
got on Paul says, okay, I'm just what they are.
I'm all these things they are. They got nothing
on me yet, but let me continue. Are they servants
of Christ? I'm talking like a madman. I'm a better
one. With far more labors, with many more imprisonments,
far worse beatings, near death many times. Five
times I received 39 lashes from Jews. Three times
I was beaten with rods by the Romans. Once I
was stoned by my enemies. Three times I was shipwrecked.
I have spent a night and a day in the open sea.
dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers
from my own people, dangers from the Gentiles,
dangers in the city, dangers in the open country,
dangers on the sea, and dangers among false brothers,
labor and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger
and thirst, often without food, cold, and lacking
clothing. Not to mention other things, there
is a daily pressure on me My care for all the
churches. Who is weak and I am not weak? Who
is made to stumble and I do not burn with indignation?
If boasting is necessary, I will boast about
my weaknesses. The God and Father of our Lord
Jesus, who is praised forever, knows I am not
lying. In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas
guarded the city of the Damascenes in order to
arrest me. So I was let down in a basket through
a window in the wall and escaped his hands. Well,
that's a pretty impressive list. Paul says, if
you want somebody that's going to boast, well,
then let me boast for a minute. But notice what
Paul didn't boast in. Now, if we were going to
boast, what would we boast in? What are the kind
of things that maybe we're guilty of boasting
in or we see other people boast in? Well, the
things that we might boast in. Maybe similar
to the things that we see that the Corinthians
are drawn to. Boasting our good looks. Pretty
good looking. Actually, we look so good, we're
always going to take a selfie of ourselves, maybe
put it on Facebook for people to see on the TikTok.
I mean, we boast in a lot of ways. Maybe we boast
in how nice our homes are. Maybe we boast in
how nice our vehicle is, or we boast in our gun
collection, or we boast in... How much money
we've got in our bank account. Are we boasting
our position and how good our position is at
work? There's a lot of things that we may boast
in. There's a lot of things that people in the
world boast in. And those are the types of things
that seem really important to us in a worldly
sense. But you notice Paul didn't boast about
any of those kind of things? He didn't boast
about any of those things. What he was proud
of... is that he loved God and was suffering
for the kingdom of God. That's what he boasts
in. He says, look at these guys who are coming
to you. What have they done for you? They've
done nothing. But let me show you. Let me tell
you. I love God. I have suffered for the kingdom
of God. And he goes and he lists all of these
ways. I mean, he's been beaten. He's been in
prison. He's been lost at sea. He's experienced
dangers from all people and all things. Everywhere
he goes, he's constantly in the middle of conflict
and trouble and persecution. And what does he
do? He just keeps on praising God. He says, many
times I've been cold, I've been hungry, I ain't
had clothes to wear. But Paul also says in another
point in Scripture, Learn to be content with
all things, whether hungry or well -fed. I can
do all things through Christ who strengthens
me. And that's what he's boasting in. He says,
I'm going to boast in my weakness. I haven't
done anything worth boasting in other than serving
the Lord. And that's what I've done is serve
the Lord. And he boasts in that. And he says,
and on top of all of that, not only am I suffering
in this way to serve the Lord, but on top of
all that, I'm trying to care for the churches.
I'm trying to care for you. I'm trying to preach
to you. I'm trying to teach you. I'm trying to
protect you. So he says, who is weak and I'm
not weak? Who was made to stumble and I do not
burn with indignation? He says, man, these people,
I've gone through all this. I suffer in this
way for God. I suffer in this way for you. And
these people come in and they make you stumble.
And he says, I burn with indignation. It makes
me so angry that they come in. That I fought,
that I bled, that I have suffered in such a way
because I love you. And they're boasting in the
things they're boasting in. Well, let me boast
in these things to you. So Paul knew what really
mattered. He knew what was really important.
It wasn't the things of the world. He knew what
it was like to suffer. and yet he still continued
to serve the Lord. You know, he says earlier,
you may remember back when we were in chapter
4, we actually looked at this list because Paul
talked about his momentary light afflictions.
He says, boy, I have these momentary light afflictions.
And then you look at, this is his momentary light
afflictions. This is it right here. So we get
up tomorrow and we go get in our car and we say,
oh, my leather seat is cold. It's not really
an affliction. Or we say, golly, I've got to
use half and half in my coffee. I don't like
half and half. I want whipping cream. And we've
got all these afflictions, right? All these afflictions.
Oh, we've got a busted pipe out here. Well, there's
people that ain't got power, ain't got heat,
ain't got nothing. Our little afflictions, I'm
not saying that they're not real to us, right?
These things that we go through, they're real.
I'm not belittling your troubles. We have real
troubles, okay? but maybe our afflictions aren't
quite as bad as we thought. And maybe if Paul
can go through all these afflictions that he
can go through and still be content with Jesus
Christ and trust the Lord, maybe there's a lesson
there for us. Maybe the things that we're discontent
with, maybe the things that ruin our days and
ruin our weeks, maybe they're not quite as bad
as we think. Maybe our focus is on the wrong
thing. Maybe even if we don't do it verbally,
maybe our heart's been boasting in the wrong
thing. When those things that we boast in, those
things that we treasure, those things that we
long for, when something happens to those things,
then man, it tears us up. It gets us angry. It
gets us upset. It gets us depressed. But when
our heart boasts in the Lord in the way that
Paul's does, Man, it gives us a new passion.
It gives us a new desire. It gives us an ability
to say, you know what? Whether hungry or well
-fed, whether clothed or naked, whether imprisoned
or free, whatever it is, I have learned the secret
to being content. And we learned the secret to
being content. Paul certainly had. That's why
he could say with all boldness and foolishness
here, he could say, look. I have learned what
it means to trust in Jesus Christ, and I'm going
to proclaim him all the more. Would you just
listen to what I have to say? Okay, I'm weak,
Paul says. If I'm weak, I'm weak. But if I'm
weak, I'm weak for Jesus Christ. Are we trusting
in Jesus Christ today? Do we know that we can
do all things through Christ who strengthens
us? Well, we can if we become like Paul and are
content. with Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Dear
Lord, we thank you for these good words tonight
and I pray that you would help us to be on guard
because maybe we are exposed to people, dear
Lord, that want to teach and preach a little
foolishness to us. God, maybe we read your word
or maybe we even hear the truth presented in
a way that's right, but maybe it's not quite
as flashy as... as some of the things we hear,
dear Lord. And maybe we are drawn away to those
things that are flashy and worldly, those values
that we consider to be good, dear Lord. But sometimes,
God, we may be led astray by people that maybe
they look the right way or maybe they sound the
right way, but God, I pray that we would just
pay attention to the message that they preach,
God, that we are not led astray, that we are
not led into a... a burden, dear Lord, that Your
Word is not a burden, that Jesus Christ is not
a burden, God, but that Your Word offers us freedom
through Jesus Christ. So I pray, God, that we
would be on guard for those that want to preach
and teach false things, that we won't give in
to foolishness, but we would listen to the wisdom
of Your Word. I pray, dear Lord, that You would
help us to take a deep breath. God, maybe there
are some things in our life that are tough. There
certainly are many things in our life that are
tough, but God, you're still good. And maybe
our momentary light afflictions are not quite
as bad as we sometimes make them out to be. So
I pray, dear Lord, that we can have an attitude
like that of Paul, that even in the worst of
the worst situations that we go through, God,
that we still consider them as light afflictions,
God. That as bad as they may be, they pale in
comparison to your glory that we will one day
see. So help us to continue to run the race with
endurance while we're here, dear Lord. Help us
to have the same boldness. Help us to be able
to live our life in a way that we could, if necessary,
boast in the way that Paul does about our weaknesses,
dear Lord. That we would recognize our weaknesses
today and that we would be ready to... stand
for you and to live for you and to serve you
in that same way. God, let us not be those, if
we are ever one who has a position of any kind
of authority or leadership, let us not be one
who dominates over other people, dear Lord, but
let us, no matter who we are, what position we're
in, be those who would be, first of all, a servant
of all. And I ask these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.