So 2 Corinthians chapter 10,
and I'm just going to read the first few verses. Now I, Paul, myself, beseech
you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am
base among you, but being absent, am bold toward you. But I beseech
you that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence
wherewith I think to be bold against some which think of us
as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk
in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of
our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling
down of strongholds. Amen. May the Lord bless this
short reading to us this afternoon or this evening or this morning,
whatever it may be with you. In our Lord's Day services in
the past few weeks, we've been thinking about the Saviour's
warnings to His disciples about the rise of false teachers and
false prophets. In fact, the Lord calls them
false Christs, false messiahs. Such was the presumption of some
who came and endeavoured to afflict and trouble the Lord's people. And it seems as if Paul in this
chapter, as indeed he was at the beginning of this little
epistle, this second letter to the Corinthians, reacting to
some troublemakers who have infiltrated the Corinthian church with a
desire, it seems, both to speak ill of Paul and to contradict
the gospel that he preached. So that we see that right from
the very beginning there was trouble in the church. The Lord's
people encountered external trouble because there were people from
religious and secular authorities who caused them and tried to
cause trouble amongst them, but there were also issues of internal
opposition from enemies that didn't necessarily appear to
be enemies, at least not at the beginning, but who intruded into
the church, who Jude calls them those who creep in unawares,
who caused division and discord amongst believers. And part of
the opposition that the Apostle Paul was facing and that was
directed against him and his fellow labourers was allegations
that they were not very impressive people, that they weren't real
leaders. that they weren't powerful, they
weren't imposing, they weren't inspirational or exciting. There was no great oratory when
he spoke or when he preached. There was no thrilling speeches
or rousing, passionate rhetoric. It was just ordinary. It was
just ordinary Paul who talked big in his letters. but really
didn't impress in person when he came into the presence of
these people, these churches. And so we find that the apostle
in this chapter responds and reacts against that. And I'm
not going to sort of steal thunder from other weeks because we will
touch upon some of those things in the future. It is perhaps
just worth noticing as a sort of underlying principle of this
chapter, that the enemies of the Gospel don't just attack
the Gospel, they don't just attack the Word of God, but they'll
attack preachers as well. And that was what Paul was encountering
here. They'll criticise the character
and the personality of gospel ministers. Almost as if they
say, well, we can't actually disagree with what he says, but
we're not going to listen to him because we don't like how
he says it. Or we can't disagree with the gospel that he preaches,
but we don't like his personality for some reason or another, and
therefore we'll not listen to him. And that's a very presumptuous
attitude to take. And it shows that there were
enemies ready to strike against Paul as an individual and as
a person, so that they were attacking his personality and his character. Now, big churches, big churches,
let's call them, I don't know, churches that have got resources,
churches that have got political sway, churches that have got
numbers and perhaps finance. These churches can draw big personalities
into their pulpits with big skill sets. But invariably, their approach
to their faith, and invariably it's the Christian faith that
we're talking about, is based upon carnal principles, fleshy
skill and natural ability, and that was what these people were
alleging against Paul. They were saying he doesn't have
this great ability to motivate and mobilise people. We read
We need real leaders, we need people with charismatic energy
that can press on and lead on and have big projects and have
big ideas and then our churches will prosper and then our churches
will grow. But what the apostle is showing
here is that these fleshy skills do not reflect spiritual quality. And the apostle in these, just
the few verses that we read, three and four specifically,
he likens the gospel to a battle. And it's often interesting to
see how this sort of belligerent language comes into scripture
where wars and contending and fighting and armour and swords
and shields are employed in the life and work of the believer. and Paul likens gospel preachers
to warriors in Christ's army. However, says the Apostle, though
we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. And he goes on, the weapons of
our warfare are not carnal. They're not to do with the natural
skills and abilities of the individual. Men and women of the world look
on the outward appearance and they're impressed with outward
things. We'll pick up on that a little
bit later because Paul asks that question of the Corinthians.
Not later today, later next week or the week after. we're reminded
that the Lord looks on the heart and so the Lord's people ought
to assess their ministers and the ministry that they hear and
the ministry that they receive using spiritual criteria. So we'll pick up some of this
theme again on another occasion. But what Paul is dwelling on
in these verses, the verses before us today, and in some of the
ones that follow, is interesting in the context of this warring
and this labouring together in a war situation. But what we're
going to spend our time, the rest of our time thinking about
today, is the argument that the Apostle uses to describe the
character of the Lord's ministers. and to describe the great example
that the Lord Jesus Christ is. And I really just didn't want
to pass this opening verse without pausing and dwelling on it for
a few moments. Paul writes, I beseech you, by
the meekness and gentleness of Christ. And it's those two words
there, meekness and gentleness, that I want to just finish with
this time. He's speaking about war, he's
speaking about the weapons of war, And he uses these two words,
which would seem to be diametrically opposite from what we would think
a warfare to be. He speaks of meekness and gentleness. And it's lovely to see the way
in which these themes are sort of put into contrast, juxtaposed,
positioned against each other. And it's a fine theme, I think,
for us to round off our thoughts for today. The meekness of Christ
and the gentleness of Christ are two delightful qualities
of character in the Saviour. that we all as his people might
desire to emulate. These qualities of meekness and
gentleness are gifts or rather they're fruit of the spirit of
Christ in his people and Christ's church, Christ's people are beautified
with these qualities in the same way as Christ's beauty is revealed
and seen in his meekness and in his gentleness. So just let's
look at that first one. We sometimes hear preachers,
even faithful gospel preachers disparage the idea of gentle
Jesus, meek and mild. And they say, no, we don't want
to have that sort of language. Well, I confess that I've said
those kinds of things as well in the past. And I trust I have
not said that for some time now, because really, even although
we want to draw attention to the strength of the Lord and
the boldness of the Lord and the bravery of the Lord and the
grit of the Lord Jesus in his earthly ministry, and it's true
that there's value in seeing these qualities, let us not ever
promote those ideals at the expense of the gentleness and meekness
of Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ was meek. Our Lord Jesus Christ was gentle. In fact, Our Lord was a true
gentle man. His meekness made him approachable
and attractive to many, many people in his lifetime's ministry
here on earth. People came to Jesus. Mothers brought their children
to Jesus, not because he was tough and bombastic and forceful,
but because he was meek and gentle and kind. And Paul endorses and
recommends these qualities in his followers. The Saviour's meekness was constantly
evident in his demeanour. And it's true that the scripture
calls him the Lion of Judah. But more so, our Saviour takes
the name the Lamb of God. We've been thinking about lambs
a few moments ago. But lambs are the meekest of
creatures. Now we don't confuse meekness
and weakness because they're quite different. Our Saviour
was strong. He was strong to endure the contradiction
of sinners. But he says of himself, I am
meek and lowly in heart. And that's beautifully evidenced
in the way in which in Matthew, Matthew writing applies a messianic
prophecy from Isaiah to the Lord. Matthew says in chapter 12, verse
19, he shall not strive nor cry, Neither shall any man hear his
voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break,
and a smoking flax shall he not quench till he send forth judgment
unto victory. The Lord Jesus Christ would not
break a bruised reed. Now, the picture there is that
here is a reed that has been battered in the wind or something
has knocked against it and it's bruised, it's just almost in
the very tip of falling over and breaking. And such is the
tenderness of the Lord Jesus Christ that with a bruised reed,
a person, a person who is on the verge of breakdown, and yet
the Lord would not deal harshly with such a one as to break that
one. Or smoking flax, a piece of flax,
a piece of rope or material that was not enough to kindle a flame
in it, not warm enough, not hot enough, not energetic enough,
and yet the Lord would not quench it. Such was his meekness, such
was his gentleness. And James, in his little epistle,
gives us a lovely description of meekness, telling us that
it is a quality that flows from wisdom. This is really quite
interesting, I think. Meekness is a quality that flows
from wisdom. James calls it the meekness of
wisdom. It's James chapter three, verse
13. Who is a wise man and endueth
with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation
his works with meekness of wisdom. And the sense there is that possession
of wisdom and especially spiritual wisdom, that is the knowledge
of Christ and a knowledge of the gospel and an understanding
of gospel principles, understanding divine sovereignty, understanding
divine preservation. A wisdom that knows our own weaknesses,
our frailties, our failures. It teaches us meekness and humility. We know where we stand before
God and we don't need to be pretentious and we don't need to be overbearing
and we don't need to be pretending we're something that we're not. The Lord Jesus Christ was no
sinner. and yet knowing that he would
bear our sins and carry our sorrows he made himself of no reputation
and humbled himself and was led as a lamb to the slaughter and
as a sheep before our shearers is dumb so he opened not his
mouth. So Christ was meek and he was
also gentle. He is the judge of all the earth
and every man and woman in it. And yet he says that he came
not to judge and condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. Such was his gentleness. Christ
was gentle and patient and long-suffering and bearing all the indignities
and insults of his enemies without ever being provoked to wrath
or to revenge. He even rebuked his own disciples
for their severe spirits when they wished to destroy some Samaritans
who treated the Lord badly as he was going through their village.
and Christ declared he rather came to save and not to take
away the lives of men. And the Saviour was gentle when
he prayed for his enemies and when he endured their deceit
and their contradiction, even when he knew their hearts and
their wicked attitudes and their intentions towards him. and he
was gentle in his compassionate dealings with the worst of sinners
and the neediest of souls. I love the way that the Lord
treated so gently the poor woman that was taken in adultery in
John chapter 8. You remember the scene. This
lady was brought before him, thrown into the middle of the
group, and all these scribes and Pharisees accused her of
adultery. Taken in adultery, they said,
in the very act. And the Lord, having written
on the ground, turned to the woman and said, Woman, where
are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? Neither
do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. Such was the gentlemanliness,
such was the gentleness of our Saviour. so that Christ is our
excellent example. And Paul wasn't afraid. He's
going to say some things to these people now in Corinth, but he
starts off by speaking about the meekness and the gentleness
of the Lord and his own desire to imitate that. And Paul is
saying, I'm not afraid, I'm not reluctant to imitate and copy
the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ was his example and you
and I, we are not ashamed to imitate and copy our Lord either. John says, as he is, so are we
in this world. So a little bit later, Paul writes
to the Colossians and he says, put on therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, there it is, long suffering or patience. And
he says to Timothy about a preacher, he says, but thou, O man of God,
follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Such qualities are the mark of
Christ in us. And in Galatians chapter 5 verse
22, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against
such there is no law. The Lord bless these thoughts
to us. Amen.