We'll read together in 2 Corinthians
chapter 12 and from verse 11 down to the end of the chapter. I am become a fool in glorying. Ye have compelled me, for I ought
to have been commended of you. For in nothing am I behind the
very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. Truly the signs
of an apostle were wrought among you, in all patience, in signs
and wonders and mighty deeds. For what is it wherein ye were
inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome
to you? Forgive me this wrong. Behold,
the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be
burdensome to you, for I seek not yours, but you. For the children
ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.
And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though
the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. Be it, but
be it so, I did not burden you. Nevertheless, being crafty, I
caught you with guile. Did I make a gain of you by any
of them whom I sent unto you? I desired Titus, and with him
I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you?
Walked we not in the same spirit? Walked we not in the same steps? Again, think ye that we excuse
ourselves unto you? We speak before God in Christ,
but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying. For
I fear lest when I come I shall not find you as I would, and
that I shall be found unto you as such as ye would not, lest
there be debates and envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings,
whisperings, swellings, tumults. and lest when I come again my
God will humble me among you and that I shall bewail many
which have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness
and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed. Amen. May the Lord bless to us this
reading from his word. The Apostle, I think in this
passage again is showing us something of his open heartedness towards
the Corinthians, his frankness and honesty before them. And yet he's in a dilemma He's
between a rock and a hard place in many respects because he knows
that in writing to them as pathetically as he has done, as open-handedly
as he has done, that he is exposing himself to the abuse of his enemies. It's a little bit like we sometimes
say that they will use, our enemies will use anything that we say
as a weapon against us. And I do feel as if the Apostle
Paul realized that this was the suggestions, the situation that
he was in. That his enemies would mock him
for his frankness and his openness. concerning the things that he
had said and revealed and relayed, communicated here with the church
at Corinth. He'd spoken about the visions
and the revelations that the Lord had given him, that he had
enjoyed from the hand of the Lord, the goodness of God. Because
these people were saying, well, Paul isn't up to being an apostle. He isn't worthy of the status
of an apostle. And he also knew that they would
mock the weaknesses that he had endured and the thorns in the
flesh that he had suffered from the Lord. And so in his defence
of writing these things as he had done, he seems to suggest
that the Corinthians themselves ought to have been coming to
his defence with these false teachers rather than requiring
Paul to have been so open in the things that he has written. people who had benefited, the
people who had been blessed by the Apostle ought to have been
better able to defend him against the enemies that had been speaking
and slighting him. in the way that they had. They
should have commended the work that had been done amongst them
rather than simply jettison the apostles ministry and begin to
follow these false teachers, these false apostles. And we
have a saying, do we not? Perhaps it's a British saying.
If it is, then now I'll explain it to our American listeners. But we have a saying, a rose
by any other name is still a rose. I don't know whether that comes
from Shakespeare or not, but a rose by any other name. And
you can call things what you like, but the idea is that essentially,
inherently, it still has its worth and its value. And that
was what Paul was saying here to these people. He was saying,
look, they can come and they can speak badly of the ministry
that you had amongst you. They can speak ill of my person. They can undermine the gospel
with their false teachings and their untruths. But you should
have been able to look back and say, that was a true ministry. The Apostle Paul was faithful
amongst us. There was an integrity in the
way in which he acted. There was an honesty about the
man and the things that he did. And whether these people had
come calling it whatever they had called it, You should have
known that this was real and that this was true and that this
was all done amongst you with the highest integrity. It was
self-evident, says the apostle, that the Corinthian church had
come behind in no blessing that they had received at the apostle's
hand. They couldn't look to any other
church and say oh there's been such a wonderful work done there
and we haven't experienced that. There was no blessing that they
were behind as a result of Paul's ministry amongst them and they
ought to have been honest and they ought to have been self-aware
enough to have recognized that. and they should have been quick
to express that to the gainsayers who sought to undermine Paul's
ministry and contradict his gospel. But despite all the labours that
the apostle had exerted, all the sacrifices that he had made
on behalf of the Corinthians, There seemed to be little in
the way of return by way of loyalty and personal allegiance amongst
them. Their heads had been turned by
these false prophets. Their attention span had been
so small, so little, that as soon as Paul was away and someone
else came, they were distracted and diverted by them. and there's an immaturity there
that is being identified by the Apostle surely. With a child
you can sort of do something or make a noise or bring something
to their attention and immediately they're distracted and that appears
to have been the situation here with the Corinthians. and these
false teachers were now leading them astray. And I think that
we can read in the apostles' writings here a sense of hurt
and disappointment for the way in which the Corinthians had
expressed themselves and the fact that they hadn't been careful
enough to recognise the things that were being said to them
which were obviously untrue. And he notes that even the valid
arguments that now he is making with respect to the testimony
that he had given in the past would also be used against him
and twisted against him. So he makes these references
to Titus and another brother as if to say, well, yes, it's
true that the apostle Paul had not gained by the labours that
he exerted for the Corinthians. So the Corinthians couldn't say,
well, you know what? Paul came here and we sent him
away with all our money or we sent him away with all our goods
or we sent him away enriched because we became poor for him. On the contrary, Paul became
poor for them, that he had laboured for himself on their behalf,
that he hadn't been a burden to them, which these other false
apostles were accusing him of and now taking for themselves. And even when Titus and this
other brother were sent, they didn't exploit the Corinthians
in any way. and yet the apostle knows that
the way in which these false teachers and apostles were acting
is that they would simply say the apostle Paul was using guile
and trickery and afterwards he sent other people to gain on
his behalf. And it's very interesting I think
because what this shows us is that there will never really
be for the believer, for the church in this world, a means
by which we can truly vindicate ourselves in the eyes of the
world. We sometimes see that happening,
oh I don't know, it can happen in politics, it can happen in
the world, it can happen in business, it can happen in relationships,
that it doesn't matter how honest we endeavour to be about the
things that we have said or the things that we have done. Someone
along the way will always take it and twist it and make it appear
to be something else. We find that in our own personal
relationships and sometimes in families and sometimes even between
one another. And that the enemies themselves
are full of guile and deceit. and they live that life and they
simply use that and imagine that they can project their own guile,
their own trickery onto those who are being honest. And I think
it's very interesting that the apostle, when he is speaking
about the way in which he exercised his ministry, in the 12th verse. If you just look at verse 12
again, 2 Corinthians 12, 12. He says, truly the signs of an
apostle were wrought or were worked among you. So the Corinthian
church weren't behind in anything that the apostle Paul had done
amongst them. He says, truly the signs of an
apostle were wrought among you. But then it's interesting the
way he phrases the next passage. He says, in all patience, in
signs and wonders and mighty deeds. Now, you might think that
the signs and wonders and mighty deeds would be foremost to the
work of an apostle in a church. But that's not what he says.
The very first quality that is exhibited, the very first quality
that he highlights is patience. And someone might say, well,
surely signs and wonders and mighty deeds would be much more
impressive than patience. And yet that's the quality that
the apostle Paul here identifies foremost. He said, when I was
amongst you, Patience was the principal characteristic that
you ought to have seen in my ministry. That's the first quality
that he lists in this list. Yes, there were signs. Yes, there
were wonders. Yes, there were mighty deeds.
But what was foremost amongst them all was patience. And I
think that perhaps that's a useful point for us all just to note
and even dwell upon for a moment. Who would have thought that patience
would be the foremost gift required by an apostle and the greatest
manifestation of apostolic power and authority and yet there it
is. These things were worked amongst
them in all patience. They had their signs, they had
their wonders, they had their mighty deeds but what the apostle
needed most of all was patience and surely that speaking about
the condition of the hearts of those amongst whom he was preaching. That he had to learn to be patient
with these people because of their waywardness and because
of the things that they did. And I think in the whole of these
verses that we have, these 10 or so verses that we have before
us today, there's a lot in the passage that relates specifically
to the Apostle's dealings with the Corinthian believers and
the personal elements of his letters and his admonitions apply
to the particular case in question. So we can't necessarily draw
immediate applications from the circumstances that applied at
this time. But there are lessons that endure
surely and remain and perhaps this is the Lord's teaching to
us today just about that patience there that we have to work upon
and dwell upon and enlarge in our own dealings with one another,
to take these things to heart, because it surely is one of the
fruits of the Spirit, patience and long-suffering. And it's
one that we should stir up and consider, I think, in our own
Christian experiences and the way in which we deal with one
another. It's easy to be disappointed.
It's easy to be quick-tempered. And yet for the sake of the Gospel
and for the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, patience one
with another is a grace to be encouraged and a grace to be
nurtured. And I feel in reading down this
passage and indeed the larger context in which we have studied
together in Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians, that the
Apostle, and all of the Apostles no doubt, knew many disappointments
as they laboured and they sacrificed and they spent their energies
for the sake of these congregations and these brethren and sisters
in the Lord. And of course when we think about
the Lord and his example, our Lord learned obedience by the
things which he suffered and the apostles here seem to be
learning patience and obedience by the things that they suffered
and so also should we that's the point of the apostles teaching
here that when he was given that thorn in the flesh it was given
in order to make him patient. It was given in order to teach
him to be subdued and to be humbled, even in the exercise of his ministry. Though he was receiving much
at the hand of the Lord, that he had these visions and these
signs, he had these revelations that were given to him. Nevertheless,
he had to learn patience and he had to learn in the face of
many disappointments what it was to lean upon the Lord and
to rest upon the Lord and not to find his own character or
his own person vindicated when he might have wanted it to have
been so. And that's something that I think
we all have to learn as well. Another message perhaps that
the apostle gives here is that he is being honest in the way
in which he deals with these people. He's saying, I'm not
trying to deceive you, I'm not trying to do anything. He says,
we speak before God in Christ. All that I am saying to you here
is said with a good conscience. It's like Peter. As Peter, we
were thinking about him recently, how he misappropriated an oath
in order to call God's witness to a lie that he was speaking.
Well, the apostle Paul is saying here, and that, of course, was
to Peter's shame. That was the extent of his fall. But Paul is here saying, we are
telling you the truth in Christ. We speak before God in Christ. And this is the highest calling,
surely, that we have amongst one another. To be honest and
to deal with one another in truthfulness and with integrity. It were a
good thing for us always to remember that our speech be tempered with
a desire to honour the Lord in the things that we say and do
and reflect His holiness and His purity and His truthfulness
in all our ways. But our final thought perhaps
from this passage today is just to take another one of these
characteristics of Paul towards the Corinthians. The apostle
could say that we do all things for your edifying and he says
dearly beloved because this again was the was the passion of the
apostle he knew that that here were brothers and sisters in
the lord and he's calling them dearly beloved beloved in christ
and yet they were suffering at the hands of these false teachers
and the Apostle is doing what he can to redirect them and repoint
them to the true gospel and to the Lord Jesus Christ. He says,
we do all things for your edifying. And that's another characteristic
of the Lord Jesus Christ that we see beautifully exemplified
here in the Apostle Paul. And it is something that we should
admire. And I think it is something that
we should endeavor to imitate. Labouring together for the edification
of the body of Christ is our highest privilege here on earth
on behalf of our brethren. We are called and brought into
this body and we may be all different members of the body. The application
is given elsewhere by the apostle of some being hands and some
being feet and there are some members to honour and some members
to dishonour. It really doesn't matter where
the Lord has placed us in the body. if the Lord gives us a
sense of the contribution and the union that we make to that
body. And so we all work together in
the service of Christ, laboring together for the edification
of the body of Christ. And we see that exemplified in
so much. We were thinking recently from
the book of Romans, in Romans chapter 8, but we see the sacrifice
of God on our behalf. God the Father gave his only
begotten Son for the benefit of the body of Christ, for the
benefit and blessing of the elect of God. And the whole plan of
salvation, the whole covenant of grace and peace is designed
for the good of that body. The Lord Jesus Christ also came
and gave his life. Romans 8.32 says, he that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? and the Lord Jesus
Christ gave all that he had. His sacrifice was total, his
sacrifice was complete. He laid down his life for his
friends and well we mentioned that he gave it down while they
were yet enemies but the Lord for the sake of his people for
the sake of those that he loved from eternity, he gave his all. And it was all for the salvation
of the bride, it was all for the deliverance of the people,
it was all for the edification of the body. And that's what
the apostles did. The apostles being called into
the service of the Lord, having the gospel committed to them,
having the example of the Saviour before them for those three years
of their their training, their direction, their education, they
were sent out, they were called, they were commissioned, they
were sent out in the service of the body of Christ. And they gave their all. Ultimately
they gave their lives for the gathering in and the building
up and the feeding and the nurturing and the edification of the body
of Christ. And that's a calling that is
given to each of us individually. We look upon these examples,
the example of the father, the example of the son, the example
of the apostles, the example of Paul here to the Corinthians
and we see that they laid down their lives, they set before
the church this great example of edification of our brothers
and sisters, to seek the greatest good in spiritual matters for
those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ. And that's
the essence of our fellowship, surely. It's the essence of brotherly
love in the body of Christ. The apostle lamented that he
might come and find continued disruption and the continuation
of the fleshy passions that he had seen exhibited amongst the
Corinthians. He speaks at the end of the chapter
about debates and envyings and wraths and strifes and backbitings
and whisperings and swellings and tumults. And those things
that he described amongst the Corinthians we find still in
our own heart and in the hearts of believers and at the centre
of churches very often, even today. And if the Lord will not
protect us against these things, we will find too that there will
be those who will come amongst us who will distract and divert
and call our attention and our energies and our resources away
into other areas that are not edifying for ourselves or for
the body of Christ. That was the case in Corinth
and we see the Apostle labouring here still amidst his disappointments
in order to recover and restore the people that are there. So
may the Spirit of Christ and the example of Christ be our
highest aim amongst our dealings one with the other and may we
learn to deal patiently one with another. for the edification
of the body and the glory of our precious Saviour. Amen. Amen. Amen.