The Strength of Weakness
2 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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300 Illustrations for Preachers Hunting Penned Buffalo Is Not Hunting
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A true apostle’s credentials lie not in his strengths and accomplishments but in weakness and suffering. Paul lays out his credentials in verses 16-33.
1. He Doesn’t Boast According to the Flesh
1. He Doesn’t Boast According to the Flesh
A. The Disclaimer of His Boasting
A. The Disclaimer of His Boasting
16 Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little.
foolish = intellectually weak, ignorant.
Don’t let anyone think that I might be ignorant, but if that is what you think, then at least listen to what I offer up to you as if I were ignorant.
5 Answer a fool as his folly deserves, That he not be wise in his own eyes.
17 What I am saying, I am not saying as the Lord would, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.
18 Since many boast according to the flesh, I will boast also.
He will boast also, but not the way that they they do.
B. The Reason for Boasting
B. The Reason for Boasting
19 For you, being so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly.
They had welcomed the false apostle and tolerated their foolishness of boasting in their fleshly accomplishments (like: keeping the Sabbath, performing the proper sacrifices, eating kosher foods, circumcision, etc). So, certainly they could indulge Paul a little longer in the “foolishness” of giving his accomplishments for His Lord in the flesh but for the cause of the Holy Spirit.
20 For you tolerate it if anyone enslaves you, anyone devours you, anyone takes advantage of you, anyone exalts himself, anyone hits you in the face.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Ten: Father Knows Best (2 Corinthians 11)
Bondage:
They taught a doctrine of legalism that was contrary to the Gospel of grace.
Devour:
They “ate up” all they could get in the church; they took advantage of their privilege of receiving financial support.
Take of you:
“Take you in,” fool you. The image is that of a bird caught in a snare or a fish caught on a hook. “They baited you and caught you!”
Exalt:
They exalted themselves, not the Lord Jesus Christ; they loved to be honored and treated as great leaders.
Smite you:
This probably refers to verbal attacks rather than physical violence; the Judaizers did not hesitate to “slap them in the face” and embarrass them in public
21 To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison. But in whatever respect anyone else is bold—I speak in foolishness—I am just as bold myself.
2. He Sacrificed His Body
2. He Sacrificed His Body
Similarities
Similarities
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.
23 Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.
24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.
beaten - only one recorded in Philippi
Stoned - Acts 14:19
shipwrecked - 9 sea voyages recorded in Acts. The one from Acts 27 had not happened yet.
in the deep - Paul went sailing without a ship.
26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren;
Rivers - crossing swelling rivers to go where Christ wanted him to go.
Me and the kids playing in a river in N. Carolina after a storm and avoiding a poisonous snake crossing the river.
from Gentiles - like Philippi (Acts 16) and Ephesus (Act 19) where a riot broke out
27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
9 For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.
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3. He Sacrificed His Heart
3. He Sacrificed His Heart
28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.
examples?….in the next verse.
29 Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?
my being weak - his empathy for those in the flock.
intense - to set on fire.
4. He Sacrificed His Pride
4. He Sacrificed His Pride
30 If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness.
31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.
Paul recounts an embarrassing moment
32 In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me,
the history of the ethnarch and his relationship to Aretas in Damascus is not totally clear. What is clear is that the Jews who apposed Paul’s powerful preaching asked for help from the gentile leaders to kill Paul.
33 and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.
23 When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him,
24 but their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death;
2 Corinthians: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary His Experience of Submission
D. A. Carson writes, “This toast of high rabbinic circles, this educated and sincere Pharisee, this man who had access to the highest officials in Jerusalem, slunk out of Damascus like a criminal, lowered like a catch of dead fish in a basket whose smelly cargo he had displaced” (From Triumphalism to Maturity [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984], 127–28)
It shows the humility of Paul to include this in his listing of credentials. Most people only include the flattering examples of their actions.
