Delicate Authority

BIG IDEA: Christlike Authority is God's Gift to Tear Down Distorted Thoughts and Build Up Believers.

ME

Thanks again for Pastor Joanne’s message to encourage children and families last week. We’ve been looking at 2 Corinthians since last summer and we are now into chapter 10, we have just 3 more chapters to go, so hang in there.

One of the hardest experience I find as a pastor is to do what I call “play the pastor card.” What I mean is there are times within ministry or in any organization where you can’t be Mr. Nice guy, especially when it comes to issues of character, morality and rules. My record on this has not been exemplary, because in general I don’t like to confront. And when I do confront I tend to go overboard! I figure if I pummel them and run away, I wouldn’t have to deal with the aftermath! But in general, I don’t like to have to say something which could make others like me less. Yes, I admit I can be a people-pleaser. “Couldn’t we just get along? Or let this go? I am sure the person already knows they are in the wrong.” I would think of all these reasons why we don’t need to rock the boat. Now that’s just in my head. But then there’s another side of me which just wants the right thing to be done. To not let people get away with doing wrong. Especially with people I trust and usually on WhatsApp (because I am not face to face with the person), I am a lot more black and white, and if I admit, quite merciless with my words. So there’s a duplicity in me, to appear as nice as possible in the public but in private have a strong sense of justice and fairness of the angry kind.

WE

Maybe you can relate to that? As long as we are in the wake of the fall, sinners we are, there will always be a duplicity. Getting the right balance is hard. On the one hand you know something needs to be done, and I am sure some of us have recently been on the receiving end of this, and not because of your job performance or anything, but because of COVID-19, you were temporarily or permanetly let go. And some of you have been instead in the driver seat of having to let someone go knowing they have mouths to feed and mortgages and bills to pay. There’s no point beating around the bush, but if you are too nice, they don’t get it, and if you’re too harsh, you are adding fuel to the fire. So how do we properly exercise any authority, especially our spiritual authority both when those under you did nothing wrong or did something very wrong?

GOD

A bit of reminder what we’ve learned so far. We know Paul spent chapters 8 and 9 talking about the collection to give in relief to the saints of Jerusalem. Paul had planted this church in Corinth on his second missionary journey, and had plans to return to visit, but was stopped by circumstances as well as setbacks. This, coupled with one particular person within the church who sinned sexually against his stepmother while stirring up some supporters in 1 Corinthians 5 created a rift between Paul and this church, and Paul wrote a strong letter to rebuke the church for mishandling the situation, which was delivered by Titus, and it led to the Corinthian church’s repentance, to a certain point. There are also opponents who took advantage of this time to further divide Paul from his church, so Paul will spend the remaining chapters defending himself to the Corinthians and these opponents.

What can we learn from Paul’s handling of the situation as an apostle with authority from Jesus to care for His church? How authoritative should he be? Should he bare his whole heart to them, when there is lingering distrust? Should he just abandon this church as a lost cause altogether seeing how ungrateful they are? Paul’s answer to all the above questions could be summarized like this:

Christlike Authority is God's Gift to Tear Down Distorted Thoughts and Build Up Believers.

I. Spiritual Authority is always Christlike before Boldness (10:1-2, 11)

2 Corinthians 10:1–2 ESV

1 I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— 2 I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh.

Notice what Paul first says here, and how personal he is. We remember most likely Paul used a scribe to write the letter for him, but when he says, “I, Paul, myself entreat you,” he wants the Corinthians to know in no uncertain terms this is MY wish, not the scribes or anyone else’s, not even his co-sender (who would be Timothy) from chapter 1, though he probably shares the same sentiment. He appeals to two characteristics of Christ:

First is meekness, someone who isn’t easily angered, can think beyond themselves to what’s best for the other, and is not stuck on having things done their way. Of course this spells out Jesus and how he loved people of all walks, all cultures, and desires his disciples to do the same as he teaches:

Matthew 11:29 ESV

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

The same Jesus who welcomes all the children to him, heals the most disfigured in Palestine, eats and welcomes the lowliest and poorest sinners, washes his disciples feet, and dies for the ungodly.

The second characteristic is gentleness, which has actually the meaning of leniency. It has the sense of being merciful, of not taking justice to the nth degree because it would be unbearable.

It reminds me of watching on Facebook video which went viral about Judge Frank Caprio who had to try Victor Coella, a 96 year old man for speeding on a road close to a school in Providence, Rhode Island. When the judge heard the reason for his speeding was to take is 63 year old son for cancer treatment, he decided to be gentle on Victor and even praised him for his love for his family, and toss his case. That’s leniency. He could have thrown the law at him for $95 base, and $0 for every mile over, but he let him go.

Jesus’ general posture of forgiveness, who says “neither will I condemn you, go therefore and sin no more” to the woman caught in adultery and gentle correction of his disciples, who wants to burn down towns that defy them and fight for being first in the kingdom of God, fully display this characteristic. And Paul is appealing in those characteristics to the Corinthians. That’s what he had tried to be all throughout the disagreement, even in his painful letter, because it led to their repentance. The charge seems to be Paul is duplicitous between his harsh letter and nice guy image when he’s with them, and it gave his opponents an opportunity to accuse him of double-mindedness, uncertain, “all words and no action,” hardly anyone worth respecting. But Paul ends on verse 11 in no uncertain terms:

2 Corinthians 10:11 ESV

11 Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present.

Paul isn’t afraid to be bold (again), but if a confrontation which will lead to sorrow and bitterness could be avoided, his first stance is always to appeal and plea for a peaceful resolution, because that is what Christ would do. In other words, the type of leadership the opponents are saying is absent in Paul is precisely what is present in Christ.

This also gives us a framework to work from when it comes to our relationship as a church or any organization. At times we do have to have the hard conversation with an addiction, or a gossiping tendency, or someone always boasting about themselves and belittling others, someone who refuses to cooperate and be a team-player, or correct their incorrect teachings from the Bible, we must have the mind of Christ. We must have a heart larger than our fickle pride and bruised ego, to not see the other person as an opponent, an enemy, a nuisance, but as a dear fellow brother or sister in Christ whose faith is on shaky grounds so we can win them over with love and grace.

Paul then goes into how you handle things delicately. You attack the thought, and not the person!

II. Spiritual Authority tears down sinful thoughts, not person (10:3-6)

2 Corinthians 10:3–6 ESV

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

It’s clear Paul’s opponents fight dirty, and attack Paul’s physical presence, his words, his actions, his meek and gentle demeanor, in other words his humanness. That’s what walk in the flesh means. Whereas at the end of verse 2 and middle of verse 3 according to the flesh is the opponents way of saying he is living by the standards of the world, human standard, we are guided by/act from human motives, dictated by human weakness. This is where once again a non-literal translation of the Bible will help you understand what this term means. In other words, Paul says despite being accused there’s some worldly motive or signs of weakness behind his dealings with he Corinthians by his opponents, he won’t fight back with the same cheap shots. He then launches into spiritual warfare and siege metaphor powered by and from God himself, not human schemes or trickery.

Picture in mind something like the last battle with Sauron in Lord of the Ring’s Return of the King where the armies of Gondor are at the gates of Mordor, and the menacing tower with the Eye of Sauron standing and representing all evil, and malice, and treachery, proud and undefeated.

Towers and strongholds are tall and imposing, and they represents demonic forces behind the arguments mounted against Paul and his brand of the gospels, and so is the word “every lofty (opinion) raised,” which means the highest of height raised, all of them will be toppled and flattened because no matter how many arguments are “piled up” against Paul’s intimate knowledge of God, the truth of the gospel, they will fail!

Paul then uses another siege and war imagery that of taking captives of thought. In the war against untruth, there’s no place for lies and like a prisoner of war, the untruths needs to “surrender” and be “captured” and “tried” until they align with the truth of Christ!

Through well-crafted counterarguments, Paul will attempt to persuade one mind at a time to metanoia (that is, being transformed by the renewing of the mind, Romans 12:1-2) to stop thinking from the world’s ways to what would would Jesus do, and then do it (obedience in Hebrew is rooted in the word to hear).

The little part about punishing every disobedience, when your obedience is complete is interesting. Who is doing the punishing, another war metaphor? It’s actually the Corinthians who will punish the disobedience of Paul’s opponents, not physically, though it could mean driving them out of positions of influence. In other words, the Corinthians would have complete obedience when they no longer tolerate and even rebuke the opponents of Paul because they no longer think in worldly ways, but in the mind of Christ!

The War against Untruth is Won One Thought at a Time

For us, that means as much as God’s grace allows, our arguments and disagreements are never personal. And if the person we want to correct takes it personally, we must have the mind of Christ, his meekness and gentleness first, and then persuade by pointing out the sinful thought and not attacking the person with name calling and slanders. We have divine powers at our disposal: we pray for the Spirit to work in their life to hear truth and not Satan’s falsehood. We point to scripture as to where the error is, and also what is the remedy.

Lastly,

III. Spiritual Authority is Given by God for Building Us Up (10:7-10)

2 Corinthians 10:7–10 ESV

7 Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we. 8 For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. 9 I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. 10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.”

Paul points to the source of his authority, which is from the Lord. In fact, verse 7 is Paul’s way of defending himself as being in Christ because the Corinthian church is Christ’s. He as their founder would have to be in Christ for him to be able to pass on the gospel of Christ. This is his way to make every thought captive to Christ. Remember in 1 Corinthians there was even a ridiculous dispute in the young church as to who follows Paul, some follow Apollos, some follow Peter, but all ultimately follow Christ. So by extension we are Christ’s, and we have authority to help others in their Christian journey. Similar to the first point, ultimately even Paul’s strongest rebuke are not meant to completely demoralize those in the wrong, but so that when there are no more excuses, no more lies, no more misguided and misleading thinking, when everything is flattened (remember the tower metaphor), from the new foundation of Christ the church can be built up again with the right center, Jesus, and the right bricks and mortars, the church! So not only do we not take it personally, we also aren’t primarily a demolition crew, but a construction crew that restores gently and carefully those who repent of their sin. That’s why Paul earlier on asks the same church to restore the sinful brother in chapter 7. Two letters to the same place, the same church, show the full process of tear down and build up. Tear down in 1 Corinthians 5, build up in 2 Corinthians 7.

So this also reminds us it is a journey, at times a painful journey of longing and waiting and being disappointed again. Sometimes there will be people in our life who will need to, and choose to have to go through multiple demolitions before Christ will become the true cornerstone of their life. And building up a broken soul takes a long time, with setbacks, backsliding, but if we have the meekness and gentleness of Christ, whose closest disciples even deserted him in his greatest time of need, we can rest assured our Christ-like meekness and gentleness will not be in vain.

WE

So in closing, here are a few reflection questions for us to think about:

Who is it in your life you have been hesitating to walk alongside of, because you have already branded them in their mind as a lost cause? Might God’s truth today help you to give it another shot?

What conversation have you been avoiding to have because you are not sure how it will turn out?

Who have you been harsh in your words or actions thinking it’s for thier own good lately when Christ is impressing on your heart now to “build them up” instead?