Second Corinthians 10:7-12 Can we identify an Apostle by how he looks
2 Corinthians 10:7-12 · Mike Doyle · Aug 28, 2022
Letters to the Corinthians, No. 122
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926192819567

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. I'm always a little nervous at what Jim has to say because he sets the bar. Mike's going to come up and he's going to tell us whatever. And if I don't tell you... Alright, we are working our way down through 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Last week we did the first six verses, and this week we'll move on from there. But last week I thought to maybe put it in context, starting in verse 3, Paul said, For though we walk in the flesh, we don't war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful, for the destruction of fortresses.

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And we are ready to punish all disobedience whenever your obedience is complete. The way we do things at Holly Hills, we teach line by line, word by word, book by book, Scripture by Scripture. I don't know of anything that could be more informative than that to us as believers.

So, what we're going to do this week now is begin to see how Paul implemented some of those spiritual weapons of war that he talked about. in these verses, and oh, by the way, it is a war. It's not just living, it's a war. And what the Lord is going to do to overthrow these strongholds, and last week we found at least one of the locations for the strongholds, is in our minds. And whatever reasonings we have or entertain, or high thing that's raised up against what?

The knowledge of God. So if we look back a little bit, take for instance the Corinthians had a fleshly zeal for Paul and Apollos and Cephas. And Paul says, he brings Christ and his cross to judge the roots of their thinking, stating that these men were but ministering servants, through whom the Corinthians believed, and as the Lord gave each, and in fact all theirs, and they are Christ and Christ's gods. It was a fleshly corruption of the privileges that they enjoyed as believers. Or take the worldly laziness of the Corinthians for such an unbelieving anticipation of the day when we shall all reign together.

Paul contrasts the apostles put in place by God as the last appointment to death and despised and suffering and became the world's off-scouring." So if you wanted to apply for the job of apostle, your qualifications were you had to be appointed to death, you had to be despised, you had to suffer, and you became the world's off-scouring. So if you want to sign up, see Roger. And then he said, they're appealed to go to the law courts against your brother. He said to comfort and embarrass and embarrass the saints who to judge the world and angels prosecuting lawsuits once against another before an unqualified worldly judge. In other words, If you have problems within the body of Christ, those in the body are much better able to judge outcomes rather than the worldly courts because we're believers and they're not.

And then there's the issue of carelessness in their feasts. He shows that their bragged intelligence about the futility of idols. You remember when we went through all of that? He exposed, really was an exposure to Satan's snare and drawing them into communion with demons when he talked about comparing eating sacrifice to animals and the Lord's table.

And then, he takes lastly their denial that the dead will rise, the resurrection. And he proves that it virtually spoils the resurrection of Christ if you don't think there's going to be a resurrection. And consequently, the gospel with all its heavenly privileges and hope go out the window. So, one of the ways you can look at 1 Corinthians is that what Paul did there is that he took every thought that was admirable to the Corinthians and brought it into the obedience of Christ.

So today, starting in verse 7, he says, You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ, let him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ, so are we. So what's he saying? He's saying to them, It's not a question. Well, let me start over. This is not a question. Some of your translations make this first phrase. Are you looking at things outwardly? It doesn't say that. It's a statement. You are looking at things from a fleshly or an outward viewpoint. So Kenneth Weiss says you are used to looking at external appearances. Well, what's wrong with that? Well, in John's gospel, We're told, don't judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.

In 2 Corinthians 5.12 we're told, we are not again commending ourselves to you, but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearances and not in heart. So how would someone claim authority in Paul's environment over the Corinthians or any other group? Because that's really what's going on here. Paul is beginning to answer his critics.

How would they come in and what would they do? Chester McCauley made an interesting point here. He said, if you had your church on the southeast corner of an intersection, Does Satan come down the street and say, oh, well, the southwest corner is available. I think I'll buy that lot and build a church there and we'll compete. No, he doesn't do that. He goes into your church and he begins to change it or try to change it from within.

So in order to attack Paul, there was this group of people here, and actually it was a small group and probably just one man that was the leader of it. But the first thing they would do is they would claim exclusive relationship with Jesus Christ. And all I have to tell you is just turn on the television and watch the preachers that are on there and listen to how they claim exclusive relationship with Jesus Christ. They would deny that Paul had any of the same relationship and therefore they deny his authority and they deny his teaching. And thirdly, they would reduce Paul to a self-made apostle.

Pretty clever. These people had come and acted as if they were originally authorized, where God had not given them any authorization at all. Paul had had all this difficulty and persecution and danger, and then it was very comfortable for them to step in and try and spoil his work. It's a quote from John Darby, and it's really interesting. That's really what happens. Some of you are aware of that firsthand. So when he says outward appearances, is it outward appearances you look for or you do look for outward appearances?

Bellet said, a certain man appears to have gained attention, to have gained notoriety, who had much more both from nature and from circumstances than the Apostle, and the saints at Corinth were moved by this. He was, I believe, as modern language speaks, now when Bellet talks about modern language, he's talking 1850. A gentleman who had a fine person and an independent fortune.

He had made advantages of that kind and the Corinthians were under that evil influence. To some extent they had been fooled or beguiled. They were looking on things after the outward appearance. They were enduring a man vaunting himself. and lording it over them and taking occasion by some low and worldly advantages he possessed from nature and from circumstances to be somebody. The natural advantages which this man had, he used, taking to himself the importance and value which attached to things in the world, and some of the saints were corrupted.

But against such association, Paul protests. And back in chapter six, we talked about it for a whole Sunday. Don't be unequally yoked. Don't be unequally yoked. I find today in contemporary Christianity, there's always a battle between those who are called of Christ to serve and those who use Christianity as an enterprise, as a job, as a way to become famous. So, what's their problem? What are they trying to do? They adopt an incorrect premise. The first premise is visually.

Can you tell a person is a Christian by the way he looks? I'm looking around the room. Can you tell that I'm a Christian the way I look? One is probably not a Christian if he has a physical deformity. If you were in a Jewish economy, if you had a physical deformity, your attitude was, God has cursed you. You probably aren't one of us. If you had a disfigurement or you had an affliction of some kind, somehow God is angry.

How does Paul correct this kind of thinking? He says, if you are persuaded or totally confident that you are in Christ and you are of Christ, that's how you know. You're a believer and you're persuaded that you are a believer. Then you can reckon, which is this great word, logismai, again in yourself, that as you are of Christ, so are others.

So am I. independent of their appearance or affliction in the flesh. That was a quote from Hal Malloy from 18 years ago, 20 years ago. So you can't tell just by looking. In Sunday school this morning, we were talking about having the power to speak and talk and walk beside somebody. And how do you know that somebody is a Christian?

Well, one way you can tell is just by the way they carry themselves, and it has nothing to do with how they dress. It has nothing to do with where they live. It has everything to do with what's in their heart. So, what we have here is a warning against outward appearances.

I judge that Paul's physical appearance was not of a great statesman or a great leader. Some of the people I read were so disparaging about Paul's physical appearance, it would have been disheartening if you were Paul. The Greeks particularly, they admired splendid physique. Where do you think the Olympic Games came from? As we may see from the mighty magnificent statues that they have left behind, I'm sure that when we go to Italy, We're not going to see a bunch of statues of scrawny, skinny people. But Paul was probably a small man. As a matter of fact, the word Paul means little man. And people naturally received names in those days that sort of imitated what their physical stature was.

His outward appearance is weak. His speaking is not very good. There might have been a hesity in his speech. He was not very articulate, but one man that I read speculated that because when he was stoned, he was left for dead in Lystra, and maybe that affected the way he spoke. He couldn't speak easily or very fluently.

And you know what's interesting about that? They despised him because of his infirmities. But you know what's interesting about that little man, Paul the Apostle? Though he was physically weak, he was filled with the power of the Spirit of God. And through that power, he had done incredible things, wonderful things, and he'd done them on behest of Christ. So he could say, If any man trusts in himself that he is Christ, let him of himself think this again, that as he is Christ, even so are we. So what he's challenging his detractors is, I'm of Christ. You say I'm not, but I am.

In other words, I might not be much to look at. but I belong to Christ as much as any of the fine-looking teachers with heroic figures." Then he says, I may seem to be boasting somewhat further about the authority that I have, or our authority, which the Lord gave for building up and not for destroying you. I will not be put to shame. The New Living Translation, I liked it better, he said, I may seem to be boasting too much about the authority given to us by the Lord, but our authority builds you up. It doesn't tear you down. So I will not be ashamed of using my authority.

He wants the Corinthians to know that he himself is united to the Lord Jesus Christ against every evil there is. And a church that tolerates evil is in essence denouncing who Christ really is. Grace knows how to salute a little that is of God and looks for all according to God's will in due time. In the solemn judgment of what is objectable, to his nature and his word. Such is the way the Apostle Paul sets forth pleading the authority he had received in the Lord against the distraction of adversaries who were even yet exercising a toxic influence in the saints.

In other words, they were questioning, where do you get your authority from? And this is his answer. What is this man and his group accusing Paul of? That he doesn't have any spiritual authority. How does Paul respond? A lot of what I'm going to do in the next little bit here actually comes from Hal Malloy. He responds by scriptures like 2 Corinthians 10. Now I, Paul, myself urge you by meekness and gentleness of Christ. Notice how he responds. Meekly and gently. If you correct according to the Word of God, it's meek and it's gentle.

2 Corinthians 5.12 We are not again commending ourselves to you, but we're giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearances and not in heart.

Paul, is he boasting of his authority? Or why is he boasting of his authority? Opposed to keeping quiet about it? So what's the source of his authority? What's the purpose of his authority? And what's his attitude about the false charges? So his methods are interesting. He boasts about his authority.

Why? Because he got it from the Lord. That's where it came from. The Lord, and not Paul, given by the Lord, and it wasn't something that Paul took on himself. That's what he's finding out with these false apostles, so to speak. They take authority to themselves. They're not given it by God.

In John 17.11 and 12.20, the authority, or in Ephesians 4.11, Paul says, And He gave some apostles, and some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors, and some teachers. We've talked about this before, that this church, this body of believers, belongs to the Holy Spirit. And He runs it, and He decides who goes where, and who ends up in what position. And He gives the spiritual authority to occupy that position. And it's by grace. It's not by Oh, I think I want to do that.

You know you're called and you're given that authority. You can't run any kind of an organization without authority. It'll just fall apart if you don't. And then he says, here's why the authority is given. Here's the goal. Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. You have to have an authoritative structure to go there.

So, Paul says again in verse 8, I may seem to be boasting about the authority given to me, but our authority builds you up, it doesn't tear you down. Key, key point. It's the Lord in all that you see in the Gospels and all that you see in Paul. He's always building up. That's all He does. He says, I may have somewhat more of our authority which the Lord has given me for edification, but it's not for your destruction. He would claim no authority in order to avenge Himself over somebody else. But his authority was always used to bless people. Always. In obedience to Christ, he had brought them the Gospel. And now he desired to build them up in Christ. That was his whole goal. So the purpose now is the edification of believers. To build them up.

It's not tearing them down. You notice last week we talked about the spiritual weapons that we have to the tearing down of strongholds, to replace those strongholds, which is fleshly thinking, with the very mind of Christ. Well, what was Paul's job? He was doing the replacing. He was building up in their minds the things that would equip them to be a believer and to function as a believer. He's always equipping saints for the building up of the body of Christ. And you know what? He wasn't ashamed about that. As a matter of fact, he gloried in that because it was the life of Christ in him and it was the ministry of Christ through him.

Ashamed here is an interesting word. It means to put to shame as being a convicted fake. I like that. Or a conceited boaster. or artificial, contrived, or pompous. And I was thinking, well, who do I know that fits under that definition? Clergy. They fit under that definition.

I read a thing this morning on my computer about some bishop in the United States that has decided that he needs to change the way his denomination thinks. So he's got a whole new thing going, but he's standing there with his robes and the collar on backwards and the weird looking fish hats they wear, and he's the guy with the authority. What's he doing? He's tearing down the structure to replace it with his own.

What I find interesting about that is that in our society today, what's one of the most effective tools to get your opposition to be quiet? You shame them. You shame them until they don't talk. They won't respond. And that's what they were trying to do with Paul.

And that's why he says, I'm not ashamed. Because the message I have and what I'm doing with my life is to build up the body of Christ. So if we take a look at Philippians 1.20, From the Weymouth Bible, I thought this was really good. In fulfillment of my eager expectation and hope that I will never have reason to feel ashamed, but that by my perfect freedom of speech, Christ will be glorified in me, now as always, either by my life or by my death.

And in 1 John 2.28, And now little children abide in Him, that when He appears, we have confidence and will not be ashamed before Him at His coming. So the question is, has God given us authority or the power that we can glory in and never be put to shame? This is Hal Malloy's list. I really like it.

He said, 1 John 1.12, But as many as received Him, To those He gave the authority to become the sons of God. So you receive the Lord Jesus Christ, what is God's response? He gave you the right to sit down as a son.

Romans 1.16, For I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Ashamed. Why? Because it's the power of God unto salvation.

Romans 15.13, Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope." See the building up? And through the power of the Holy Spirit, building up. 2 Corinthians 4, 7, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels. J.D. and Courtney and I were talking about this earthen vessel this morning. That he said unto me, my grace is sufficient. I went ahead.

2 Corinthians 4.7, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power of God may be of God and not of us.

2 Corinthians 12.9, and he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me." You know, one of the things that our society does, especially to men, it makes them ashamed to be weak. And yet a godly man is weak in himself, in his flesh. Why? So that the power of Christ can come through him. Ephesians 119, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us? who believe according to the working of His mighty power.

In Philippians 3.10, that I may know Him, personal, intimate fellowship, and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death. That verse is a Christian man right there.

Verse 9 for I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you with my letters for they Say his letters are weighty and strong, but his personal appearance But his personal appearance is unimpressive and his speech is contemptible So here are the charges again Paul was out They said look what Paul's trying to do with these letters.

He's out to terrify you and And the reason is because they're just too strong. They're too strong. They frighten people. And is that the way it should be? Accusations of improper use of authority. That's what they're saying. For the purpose of destroying people, of terrifying them. They also said that His Word written or spoken along with His speaking is of no value So it can't be regarded as God's Word.

Not only that, his physical appearance is pretty weak and sickly. Who does this man think he is? Speaking boldly and confidently. He's misusing his authority. As he uses it to destroy. Yeah, we know about people that misuse authority to destroy. Look at what's around us with our governments. Not only our country, but others. People use the authority they have to destroy people. They don't use it to build them up.

So he says their letters are mighty and strong, but his personal appearance is unimpressive. Nothing was farther for him than the fleshly, vacillating, torturous policy that attributed to him. But these are the common tactics of an enemy. If you have an enemy, and you have ever been in one of these confrontations or fights, that's the tactics they take. They say, well, look, if we're going to attack your speech is heavy, and it's burdensome, and it's oppressive.

Paul is weighing you down with his heavy words of correction because he wants to keep his position of authority over you. Powerful, firm, severe. Where does Paul get the right to speak to you in such a manner? Where does he get the right to do that? But you know what? Biblical authority given by God to the Apostle Paul is never meant to terrify. Never. It's always meant to build up. I am his servant and he uses me in spite of my physical infirmity, Paul says. If you look at Isaiah 53, 2 and 3, we'll talk about how appealing The Lord Jesus Christ was Himself physically. It says, for He grew up before Him like a tender shoot and like a root out of parched ground.

He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And like one from whom men hide their face, he was despised, and we did not esteem him." That was the general opinion about who the Lord Jesus was. Was He a man? He was the man.

Verse 11 says, So let a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such a person we are also indeed when we're present. Consider, Logitimai. This word is the word reckon. It's the word we use in like Romans 6.11. Likewise, also reckon yourself to be dead unto sin and alive unto God. Reckoning is more than just believing. It's a proven faith. I reckon it to be so, because it is so.

So, Ironside made an interesting comment here. He said, I think the apostle would rather have smiled as he wrote this next text in verse 11. Well, he says, wait till I get there and we'll see. If my letters and my physical demeanor are the same or are they different? I think there's a little bit of a grin, humor here, says Ironside.

So the first to brand somebody else with a lack of spirituality or of faithfulness or even integrity are those who themselves are guilty of the very same thing in this respect. And they spend their time in a restless endeavor to permeate all they meet with their own surmising. And I know what the word surmise is, but I had to look it up. A thought or an idea based on scanty evidence. I really like that definition.

Until they seem at last not only to believe their every impression, but to be satisfied that hostility is true love. and vilification and nothing but faithfulness to Christ. We've all met people in our Christian experience who thought they had the answer to every question that was ever asked biblically. And they would try to shame you. They would try to tear you down because you didn't have the right answer according to them.

So there are those who just love to do that. They love to tear their opponents down with the personal assurance that what they are doing is God's will. I've had a few experiences like that. Ironside quoted a man named Whitfield, which I really love this quote. He says, other men may preach the gospel better than I, but no man can preach a better gospel. I liked it.

So then he concludes, for we are not bold to class or compare ourselves and number ourselves and commend ourselves, but they measure themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves. My version says they're not intelligent or they don't have understanding. Paul says, I don't dare do that, or we don't dare do that. I can't be bold enough to do that, to classify or count myself among them. I don't want to be measured by them. Take ourselves, or to classify ourselves means to judge ourselves by a standard. So if I'm think this group of people is important to me, then I wanted to have myself judged that way."

He says, we don't compare. We don't judge one thing from another with these false apostles. We don't compare our ministry with them. One of the things I noticed when we were in Duluth, there were some incredibly gifted speakers there and really, credentialed people.

And you really do have a tendency to say, boy, I want to be like one of them. But that isn't what God calls us to do. He calls us to serve. And probably, commending to meet with approval from others in our group or their group, to present ourselves for approval to others in that group.

Now, I've told this story before, but it's one of my favorite stories as a young Christian. I went to a church in Aurora that was really a pretty good church, but I noticed that there were these cars in the driveway called Borgwards. A lot of you know my Borgward story. Well, the pastor of the church had a hobby, and the hobby was he'd buy these German cars, a little sort of ugly car called a Borgward, and he would rehab them, and he drove them, and they were really cool looking.

And as time went on, and there was two borg wards, and then three, and then four. And I looked around and thought, who owns all these borg wards? Guess who owned them? All the elders. If you were going to be spiritual in that church, you better have a borg ward.

That's comparing yourself with yourself. That's the best example I know of. To finish up here, I'm going to quote from Ironside regarding this. We dare not hold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves, but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding. Ironside says, in speaking thus of his authority, Paul was not for one moment entering into a kind of a competition with those who opposed him.

They were anxious to commend themselves and so get a footing with the Corinthians. And in doing this, a spirit of competition got among them and they began to measure themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves, which was a very unwise proceeding. In so doing, they got no higher than themselves. It was all self. One man might be distinguished by this feature and another by that. But in comparing themselves with one another, they never rose up to God. And the measure which he had ordained.

So, in John 5.43, The Lord says, I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me. If another man comes in his own name, you'll receive him. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? If you and we are the standard, then you and we always meet the standard. The clergy always meets their own standard. Who is the standard? The standard is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a very foolish thing to compare or contrast ourself with others.

To every man in his work, every servant of God, is specifically called, specifically gifted to do His work, the Lord's work. So we can all say we dare not compare ourselves with others, especially if you were dealing with what Paul describes as super apostles. Well, I can do it better than someone else, Paul says. No, that's not it. It is not a question merely of whether I'm able to preach better or teach better or serve better than others or not. Because why? Because we're all servants of Christ. Every one of us.

Paul's ministry was positive regarding grace and was measured by grace. So how can we measure a grace-based ministry with a law-based ministry? Paul's ministry was not from other men, but from the Lord himself. Paul's ministry is rejected by some only because his standards of grace are different.

Let's close. Father, how we're thankful for your servant, Paul, and how careful he always was to make sure that our focus was on your dear son, the Lord Jesus, and that we were continually built up We were continually growing in the knowledge and grace of Your dear Son, the Lord Jesus. And we pray in His name, Amen.