Marks of a True Minister
The Marks of a True Minister
2 Corinthians 11:1-15
Introduction:
Last week we saw Paul speaking from his heart about
1) A Pastor’s desire
*See people listen to and obey the teaching of the truth
*See people presented as holy before Christ
2) A Pastor’s dread: That people would fall away from the truth
*The enemy’s power and deceitfulness
*The subtlety of false teachers
This week we are going to again see Paul defending himself by “bragging” on himself to show the difference between he and the false teachers (see v. 1)
Today we are going to see 4 marks of a true minister of Christ
1) He cares for those that he is ministering to
2) He speaks from the heart
3) He is not after personal gain
4) He is not filled with hypocrisy
I. He cares for those that he is ministering to vv. 2-4
1. Paul demonstrated he love for the people by sharing his hear for them
*He wanted to see them holy and acceptable before God
*He wanted to see them grow in their faith and understanding
2. Paul demonstrated his love and care for others that he ministered to as well
1 Cor. 12:26 Paul is instruction the Church as to how they should be concerned for one another
“And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”
Ephesians 1:15-17+
Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him….
Philippians 1:3-6+
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ….
Colossians 1:3
We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you….
1 Thessalonians 1:2-4
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God.
1 Timothy 1:2
To Timothy, a true son in the faith….
Philemon1:1
“To Philemon our beloved friend and fellow laborer”
See much of Paul’s care not necessarily in a particular verse, but in the whole context of his letters
See his care in Romans where he would be cursed himself if they would only come to Christ.
3. A genuine minister today is one who cares for people. A person who shows God’s love and compassion to others.
That seems like it should go without saying, but I believe that there are many in ministry today that for one reason or other do not seem to love those they are ministering to.
*My example in Jamaica
Jesus’ whole ministry was about love and compassion on people
Often today ministries become about routines and programs and not people, what a shame!!
II. He speaks from the heart vv. 5-6
1. Paul’s testimony:
*I am untrained in speech:
*I am not untrained when it comes to knowledge:
Adam Clarke’s commentary: “Though I speak like a common unlettered man, in plain unadorned phrase, studying none of the graces of eloquence; yet I am not unskilled in the most profound knowledge of God, of spiritual and eternal things….”
When it came to preaching and teaching Paul did not show off with big words, fancy phrases, or cunningly crafted speeches; he simply shared the knowledge of God that was on his heart and mind.
What Paul shared came from his heart. It was real and genuine.
2. I have listened to people preach and teach today, and when they got down wondered what in the world that just said. You wondered if they said anything. That was not Paul. More than what he said, you could feel his love and his heart. His godly compassion came through loud and clear.
Use the theology book to come up with a big worded phrase.
People do not care if you know all of those big words and the proper was to string them together. If you speak to them from your heart they will listen and understand.
Others may have sounded a lot better, but few had the heart that Paul did when it came to sharing his knowledge of the things of God.
III. He was not after personal gain vv. 7-11
1. Evidently another one of the claims against Paul was that if his preaching was worth anything that he would have taken support from the people of Corinth
1 Cor. 9:1-15 Paul shared that he had a right to be supported by those that he ministered to
2. Paul made a conscious choice to humble himself to preach the Gospel free of Charge
Why?
That you might be exalted: Might hear the truth and respond
Some would have accused him of seeking self gain
He did not want to be a burden to them v. 9
Paul’s qualifications for a Pastor include not being greedy for money
Paul’s greatest desire was not to make money, but to share the gospel of Christ. Paul was willing to suffer any loss if the gospel would be received. Look at what he was willing to go through vv. 23-28
All of this for no financial gain: would be unheard of in today’s world
Application question: How badly do we want to share the gospel? What are we willing to give up in order to do it?
3. Paul’s needs were supplied by the Macedonian Church v. 9
God took care of his needs
God took care of his needs through the Macedonian Church
Paul had followed God’s open doors to get to Corinth, now Paul could minister in the confidence that God would supply his need
Side note: I was struck by the fact that no matter what you do as a minister some will criticize. If he had asked for support they would have grumbled that he was in it for financial gain, because he didn’t seek support they assumed that he did not care for them enough (v. 11)
IV. He was not filled with hypocrisy vv. 12-15
1. Paul was what he appeared to be: there was no attempt at deception, there was no hint of hypocrisy
Paul was not one thing to the people of Corinth and another thing to someone else
If Paul would have been after financial gain, he would have told the people what they wanted to hear.
2. The false teachers were deceitful, turning themselves into something that they were not just to fool and deceive people to follow them.
3. Example of the Portia spider:
þ Has been called
o Killing machine: Master tiny killer with a bag of deadly tricks that rival predators hundreds of times its size.
o One of nature’s most efficient serial killers
o Jack of all trades
þ Smaller than the button on your dress shirt this morning
þ Is known for its deceitful tactics in catching its prey
o It will climb on another spider’s web and mimic the vibrations of trapped prey
o It will climb on the web of another spider and mimic the vibrations of a spider looking for a mate
o It will use the wind blowing or another animal approaching to hide its own movement on a web
o It will also mimic environmental noises to sneak close: i.e. a drop of rain
þ Scientists have proven that this spider actually sits back and watches its prey to decide the best way to deceive them: sometimes watching them for hours
þ Often they do this by acting like a piece of debris (leave on ground or a twig) so that they are unnoticed
These spiders are great deceivers, and as a result they are rarely killed themselves and almost always successful in bringing others to their destruction.
The same is true of the false teachers who where falsely accusing Paul. They were great at transforming themselves into what the people wanted to see and telling them what they wanted to hear.
Unfortunately the same is true today. Much of what is preached and taught in Churches is not designed to lead people to the truth as much as it is to please people and bring them into the “Church.”
*What happens is that it looks good, feels good, and yet leads to people’s destruction.