Our lesson begins in 2 Corinthians
12, verse 11. Paul says, I am become a fool
in glory, ye have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended
of you. For 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. Now you've seen how in these
last several weeks of different passages we've looked at how
repeatedly Paul says he feels foolish commending himself and
defending his ministry, talking about his qualifications and
things as an apostle. It's just contrary to grace and
it's contrary to humility. And he keeps pointing out he
feels foolish doing it. And you know what? He shouldn't
have to. He shouldn't have to be the one
commending his ministry and his apostleship. These Corinthian
believers should have been doing that before he was ever forced
to. The very first time they started hearing these false apostles
bring up these charges against the Apostle Paul, they should
have been the ones defending him. They should have been the
ones to say, now, wait a minute. Paul was here for two years.
We watched him. He preached to us. We watched
how faithful he was in study and in preaching Christ to us.
We listened to him preach. He taught us Christ. They should
have been the ones to say, Now, Paul's ministry helped me a lot
spiritually. I grew a lot spiritually under
his ministry. Under his ministry, for the first
time, I was convicted of sin. I was stripped of myself, of
my righteousness, just stripped naked and laid low, showed who
and what I am. And then I was pointed to the
remedy. They should have been the ones to say, now, wait a
minute. Christ was revealed to me in that through that ministry,
that ministry, that man, his ministry can't can't be all wrong. But that didn't happen. So Paul's
forced to defend himself. And he was not stretching the
truth to say he was not behind the chief apostle. He wasn't
behind the chief of the other apostles in his calling to the
ministry, in his preaching, in his the things that he suffered
for Christ's sake. in the work of the ministry that
he did all around the world. He wasn't behind anyone in the
extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, you know, speaking in tongues
and healing and all these different things. He wasn't behind the
chief of the other apostles and the power that the Holy Spirit
gave him and all the different things that he did. And the Corinthians
saw those things in Paul. They saw him work these different
signs and miracles. This is a man who woke the dead. He spoke in tongues. He had such
unusual power in preaching. They saw all these signs. But
I'll tell you the chief sign that they saw. Christ was revealed
to them through Paul's preaching. That's the chief evidence this
man's preaching the gospel. Christ was revealed to me in
his preaching. The chief wonder of all the wonders that they
saw, I'll tell you what the chief wonder was. God revealed himself
in mercy and grace to them through Paul's preaching. The chief wonder
was that God's grace was bestowed on them. Of all the mighty deeds
they saw Paul do, I'll tell you what the greatest one was. God
gave them faith in Christ through the preaching of the gospel,
through the preaching of the apostle Paul. They saw all these
things. And I tell you that there's a
word here that a lot of people would just pass over, you know,
people in religion, they're going to get caught up in the signs
and the wonders and the mighty deeds. But the first thing Paul
lists here that they saw as evidence of his ministry, his apostleship. Was patience. The key or not,
maybe not the key, but one of the key characteristics and requirements
of God's true servants is patience. Look at first Timothy chapter
three. This thing requires patience.
In 1 Timothy 3, Paul lists the requirements of a bishop, of
a pastor. He says, this is a true saying.
If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good
work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant,
sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach,
not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but
patient, not a brawler, not covetous, patient. Look over at 2 Timothy
2. Verse 25. Verse 24, but the servant of
the Lord must not strive. But be gentle unto all men, apt
to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose
themselves, if God perventure will give them repentance to
the acknowledging of the truth. Patience. And it takes patience
to teach those who oppose themselves, doesn't it? It takes patience
to do that. It takes patience to wait on
the Lord to give life. It takes patience. to wait on
someone to grow up, to wait on them to grow in grace. I think
back over a little bit of time I've been around. And I think
of the patience it took for Brother Henry to wait on me, to grow
up in me. Just patience. So thankful? Well, that's what this thing
takes, is patience. Patience to bear the hardships
of the ministry. This is a difficult calling. And Paul had all these signs,
he worked all these miracles and wonders and different things,
and they saw the patience that he endured with them while he
was teaching those that opposed themselves. He had all these
signs. He knew how blessed he was of
the Lord to be the apostle to the Gentiles. Yet what did he
say about himself? I'm nothing. I'm just nothing.
He's blessed to the Lord. but still knows himself to be
nothing. And this is so. Every one of
us here this morning, we are what we are by the grace of God. It's all of grace. Salvation
is all of grace. And that doesn't just, you know,
end with our calling or with our, you know, it's a grace that
Christ died for us. It's all of grace. every step
of the way from eternity to eternity. I was going to say from the cradle
to the grave. It started before then and ends after then. It's
from eternity to eternity. It's all of grace. And we'll
never be anything but nothing. We'll never rise above the status
of nothing. It's all of grace. We don't contribute
anything to anything about our salvation, either before conversion
or after conversion. It's all of grace, no matter
how it is that the Lord's blessed us. And the Lord's blessed us.
No matter how much he blesses us, this fact doesn't change.
We're nothing. In ourselves, we're just nothing.
And that's what Paul says. Despite all the blessings that
the Lord given him, he's still nothing. Now he goes on, verse
13, he says, For what is it wherein you were inferior to other churches?
Accept it be that I myself was not burdensome to you. Forgive
me this wrong. Now, just like Paul wasn't behind
the other apostles and his gifts and callings and so forth, the
church at Corinth wasn't behind any of the other churches and
how they were blessed and the different gifts and things that
the Lord had given them. They weren't behind any of the
other churches in the gospel and the ability to preach it.
They weren't behind any of the other churches. Well, then it
stands to reason they should have been the first ones to stand
up to defend Paul's ministry. They should have been one of
the first ones to recognize the true gospel and a false gospel. They should have been one of
the first ones to recognize that. They had the same gospel that
was preached to them as was preached in the other churches that were
started by the other apostles. They saw the same miracles. They
had the same spirit as the churches that were James and John and
Peter ministered. The only difference was Paul
didn't take financial support from them, and he did from the
others. And Paul says, now, if this offends
you, I'm sorry if I offended you by doing that. And that's
really more of a rebuke than an apology. And we'll see that
kind of as we go down through here. It's really more of a rebuke
that how the Lord had blessed them. Yet they didn't respond
when they were faced with these false prophets. Now, he goes
on, verse 14, says, Behold, this third time I'm ready to come
to you. And I'll 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."
Now Paul, he says, this is the third time I'm ready to come
to you. He had visited them once in person. And then after he
wrote the first epistle to the Corinthians, he had intended
to come to them. That's the second time he planned
to come to them, but he was prevented. Now this is the third time he
was ready to come to them. He planned on coming there. And
he's telling them, now, when I get there, I'm still not going
to take any financial support from you. I'm still not going
to be a burden to you. And it's so evident, he repeats
this so many times so that it's so plain. He is not in the ministry
for the money. He's not after financial gain
from people. And he does this, points this
out over and over and over again, so these false prophets cannot
accuse him of this, of trying to come in there and get their
money. So he's not in the ministry for the money, then why is he?
Why is he in the ministry? Why is he so interested in coming
and preaching at Corinth again? For you. He said, not yours. I don't seek yours. I don't seek
the things that belong to you, your money and your goods. And,
you know, I don't seek to profit from the things that I could
get you to give me. I don't seek yours. I seek you. I seek your soul. I seek your
salvation. I seek your spiritual good. I seek your spiritual growth.
I seek more than anything else to see you joined to the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what I seek. I seek what's
best for you, not what's best for my flesh. And Paul feels
like a parent. He likens himself to a parent
to them, how a parent feels about their children. Now, there sits
one of my daughters, Savannah. She and I have a close relationship. It's a good relationship. And
the basis of our relationship is this. I'm the daddy. That's the basis of our relationship.
I bear her burdens. She doesn't bear my burdens.
I don't unload my burdens on her. I go to her and say, how
was your day? And dig to find out. So I help
bear her burdens. I exist to help her. She doesn't
exist to help me. I don't seek help from her. I'm
the daddy. I exist to help her, to raise
her and teach her. I provide for her. She doesn't
provide for me. I don't seek any provision from
her. I provide for her. You know,
one of the saddest things I ever hear about is these child stars
in the movies or TV or something. They make millions of dollars
and they're just kids. They can't, you know, have control
of their money. So their parents control it.
And they steal just millions and millions of dollars from
these children. They use their children to provide
for themselves. They don't lay that up and protect
that for their grown children. They use it on themselves. That's
not the way a parent is supposed to conduct themselves. You know,
my relationship with Savannah is I protect her. I don't hide
behind her and try to get her to protect me. I protect her. And regardless of the mistakes
that we make, no one wants what's best for her more than Janet
and me. Nobody. Nobody will do what's
best for her, no matter what it costs besides me and Janet. I don't care what it costs, we'll
do what's best for her. We try to provide for her future. We've been thinking about her
future long before she was born. We've been thinking about her
future. Now, there may come a day I might live long enough. I'm
not able to take care of myself. And that relationship may change.
I hope not, but it might. But this is the natural order
of things. The parent providing for, looking
out for the child. That's what Paul says he's doing
for these Corinthian believers. That's what a pastor does for
the church spiritually. He's not in it for himself. He's
in it for you. Not for yours, for you. Looking
out for your best interest. Going into study. and laying
up treasures to give us, laying up treasures from the storehouse
of God's Word to give to the people. And Paul here shows he's
got a pastor's heart. He's just like a parent who's
willing to do whatever it takes for the best of that child, no
matter what it costs him. Look at verse 15. He says, I'll
very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly
I love you, the less I'd be loved. Now, Paul says, I'm willing to
spend and be spent. I'm willing to be used up if
that's what it takes for the good of your soul. He loved them
so much. He said, I'll gladly spend all
that I have. And he's not really talking about physical material
possessions. He didn't have many of those,
although what he had, he would have spent for them. He's talking
about being spent himself, just being used up, even if it means
shortening his life. In the work of the ministry and
in difficult travel and things that he faced in that day, whatever
it took in order to preach the gospel to them for the good of
their souls. It's just like a candle. The
only way a candle can give us light is by being consumed. The longer that thing burns,
the longer it gives us light, the more it's consumed and it
melts away to nothing. Paul says, I'm willing to be
consumed to preach the gospel to you. Our desire, and this
is not just a pastor's desire or an apostle's desire, it's
every believer's desire. To see souls saved. I desire to see souls saved. To see, you know, through the
radio ministry or people witnessing and things, to have people come
hear the gospel and be saved. I'm not talking about just to
suddenly get religious or be reformed or clean up their act
a little bit. I'm talking about saved. redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb, given faith in Christ. And Paul says,
I'm willing to be consumed in order to see that for you, because
I love you so much, I'm willing to be consumed for you. Well,
the only reason you're willing to do that for somebody, obviously,
is if you love them. You've just got to love them.
And Paul says, I love you so much, yet it seems like you're
loving me less and less. And you know, basically what
Paul is saying is don't be an ungrateful child. You see, many
times children do not realize what they have in their parents.
They just don't realize what a blessing that they are to them
and they don't show any love to them whatsoever. It ties back
to patience. It takes patience to be a pastor. It's like it takes patience to
be a parent. And even though they seem to love Paul less and
less and less, he was not deterred in his determination to be consumed,
to preach the gospel to them. Now, where did Paul get that
attitude? I mean, maybe you ought to just write him off. I mean,
well, first, you ought not be too quick to write off your brethren
or people that, you know, at least you thought were your brethren.
Where did Paul get this attitude? Why didn't he write them off?
Just be done with them. He got this attitude from the
Lord who saved him. He got this attitude from the
Christ he preached. If you preach Christ, you cannot
help but have this attitude yourself. You talk about a love. There's
never been a love like the love of our Heavenly Father for his
people. He loved us. when we were yet his enemies.
He didn't love us because we loved him. He didn't love us
because we act like some obedient child. We were rebels. We didn't
love him, yet he set his love and affection on us. And we love
him now, but only because he first loved us, only in response
to his great love for us. You talk about patience. How
patient is the Lord with us? Well, that stems from his great
love for his people. Our Heavenly Father does what
fathers do. He laid up for his children.
He laid up. He provided for our future before
we were born. He provided for our future before
the foundation of the world. He provided the land. He gave
us an eternal inheritance before the world was ever founded. He
laid up and provided for our future. And our Heavenly Father
did what fathers do. He did what was best for us,
no matter what it cost him. What did it cost him? It cost
him the life of his son, his beloved son, his only son. It
cost him being made sin. It cost the father to plunge
the sword of justice through his son and kill his son to do
what was best for us. And he did what was best for
his people. Christ came, not seeking ours,
not seeking, you know, things that we could give him. He didn't
come seeking to be served. He came as a servant. He came
seeking his sheep and he found them. He saved every one of them. And not one of them, not one
is left behind. He never made a mistake. Christ
didn't come seeking to be protected by his people. He came to protect
his people. Both from men and from God. When
that angry mob came to get him, he stepped out between them and
his disciples. He said, whom do you seek? Let
these go. He protected his disciples from
this angry mob. And he protected his people from
the wrath of God. Stepped in and shielded us. Just like the ark shielded Noah
and his family from the flood, he shielded his people. from
the wrath of God and suffered death for it. How he suffered
before he died, shielding us from the wrath of God. Oh, he's
a great protector. And Christ never took a thing
from us, did he? He gave us everything. He didn't
take anything from us. He gave us everything that we
have. He gave us everything that God
requires. He gave us everything that we need to stand perfect. before God. The only thing he
took from us was our sin, which cost him his life, but that he
put away through the shedding of his blood. And Christ came
and spent himself for his people. He loved his people so much he
spent himself. He died in our room and in our
stead So we'd have his life. He was consumed under the fire
of God's wrath so that we live. Now, that's not just doctrine.
Those are. I don't know, I don't even know
the right word, that's the description of our father. That's not just
doctrine. That's a person that we're in
love with. That is everything to us. Now,
how could you ever listen to a perversion of what our Lord
has accomplished or who he is? How could you ever listen to
a lessening of what he's done? You know, there are things I
do Savannah doesn't understand. You might understand them someday.
She doesn't understand them now because she's just too young.
There are things our Heavenly Father's done I do not understand. I just I simply don't understand.
But that doesn't mean I don't want to say, well, that's not
so, because I don't understand it. This is our father. Now, you'd be on guard about
this matter, just listening to a perversion of who he is and
what he's done, because it can happen. It happened in Corinth.
It happened in between the relationship between those Corinthian believers
and the apostle. Look what he said in verse 16.
He says, 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 gain of you? Walked
we not in the same spirit? Walked we not in the same steps?
Now, no one could ever deny that Paul never took financial support
from the church at Corinth. No one could ever say he was
a financial burden to them. And I thought this is just kind
of an aside. You know, even when we give to
support the ministry here, to support our pastor who preaches
Christ to us, that's not a burden. Nobody could ever say that's
a burden to us for what we get in exchange. But that's not what
Paul's saying here. He said, I never took anything
from you. I didn't take your money or your
goods or support from you in any way. So what's a false prophet? came in and said, they said,
well, now that's true. They couldn't deny Paul never
took money from him. So they said, well, it's true.
He didn't take money from you. But now this guy's crafty. He's
tricked you and deceived you into thinking he never took money
from you. He didn't personally take anything from you. But what
he's done is he sent other men in. He operated without anything
from you for a while. And then he sent other men in
to take money from you. And he took it from them then.
So he kind of inadvertently got it from you and he's deceived
you. He made it look like he was preaching the gospel freely,
but he made out like a bandit. Well, you know why false prophets
think he operated that way? Because they're deceptive and
they're crafty and that's what they would have done if they'd
have thought of it, but they didn't think of it. And that's
not what Paul did. Not only did he not take any
financial support from them, None of the men that Paul sent
to Corinth to preach took any financial support for themselves.
They all walked in the same spirit. They all conducted themselves
the same way. They all had the same message.
All of them came seeking you, not yours. They all preached
the same gospel. They all said the same thing
because that's what God's servants do. They all say the same thing.
Now, Titus did come. and receive the collection that
they took up for the poor in Jerusalem. But that wasn't for
Titus or Paul, and Titus and Paul never touched that money.
Paul sent another brother, a witness, who could testify all that money,
all that collection was given to the poor in Jerusalem. Paul
and Titus never used any of it. Now, verse 19. He says 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." Now, Paul's not just defending
himself to make himself feel better. He says, I'm speaking
the truth in Christ and God is my witness. And everything that
he was preaching and saying, first of all, was for God's glory.
But second of all is for your edifying. That was his goal,
for your edifying. Everything he did was for the
edification, for the learning of the people that he preached
to. He became all things to all men so that all men would hear
him preach the gospel. Now again, where did he get that
attitude? From the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything
our Lord did during his earthly ministry was for our edifying. He tirelessly worked for his
people. Every second of every day. He
kept the law. He bore the burden of the law
for us and kept it perfectly. Every moment of every day, he
did his father's will. He tirelessly went out and preached
to the lost. He healed the sick. He fed the
hungry. He came to the end of his earthly
ministry and he suffered for sinners. He died for his enemies. When we are yet enemies, Christ
died for us. He suffered and died. He lay
in the tomb for three days, suffering death for us. And then he was
raised again the third day for our justification. Then he ascended
back on high as our intercessor. He ascended back on high so that
when any man sinned, we have an advocate with the Father.
Everything he did was for our sakes. And Paul had the attitude,
the spirit of Christ. He came preaching Christ in that
spirit. And he was so fearful, his great
fear was that they'd be led astray. Look at verse 20. He says, for
I fear, lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I would,
and that I shall be found unto you such as you would not. Lest
there be debates and envies, wraths, strifes, backbitings,
whisperings, swellings, tumults, and lest when I come again, my
God shall 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." Paul
was afraid that when he'd come, he would not find them like he
wants to find them. That he wouldn't find them honoring
Christ in true worship. He'd find them acting in ways
that are contrary to holiness. Not preaching the gospel, but
debating about scripture envying one another, not loving one another,
but conducting themselves in anger and selfishness. That they'd
not be upholding one another, but they'd be backbiting one
another, either to their faces or whispering about one another
behind their backs. He'd find them swelling up with pride and
causing tumults instead of conducting themselves humbly, seeking you,
not yours. And I'll tell you this, there
can be no worship. There can be no spiritual growth
in that environment. Paul said that would the Lord
would humble me. I'd be well just weep if I find
you that way. Causing such sorrow to find out
that his labor was in vain, that what he thought was fruits of
the spirit was really just rotten fruit, an empty profession, no
change lives, just an empty profession. And Paul says, if I do find the
situation that way, like I don't want to see it, you'll find me
how you don't want to see me either. Paul had authority. He'd come as a disciplinarian
if you had to, and he didn't want to, but he would come and
deal harshly with this evil conduct and heresy that come into the
church. He didn't want to do it that way, but he would for
the good of the church because he's still seeking you, not yours. Just like a parent. You don't
want to be a disciplinarian. The last thing you want to do
when you come home from work is spank one of your children.
You don't want to do that. But you do if you come home and
find them as you would not, if you love them for their sake,
for their good. God help us to ever move from
the preaching of Christ and Him crucified. If we'll always, by
God's grace, preach Christ Him and him alone. That'll keep us
from many of these errors of thought and conduct. If all of
us, not just the pastor, but all of us seek you, not yours,
the church will be better off for it. And we will be blessed.
All right. The Lord bless you.