2 Corinthians 12:11-21
2 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted
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It better be clean when I come check
It better be clean when I come check
You ever been told these words? Have you ever said these words to your children or even an employee or coworker.
I told you to clean your room and I hope that when I come check it, your room is really clean.
And if it’s not?!?
Well my mom threaten me with a switch from the yellow bush.
That bush was so pretty too, but man did it hurt if you got hit with a branch.
Sometimes she would cut off a branch and just lay it on top of the refrigerator. You spot the switch it was a great reminder that everything better be in order when she ask you to do something.
There was not losing the wifi or getting grounded from the tablet. I had a switch! It was a great motivator.
You get the point when my mom said the room needed cleaned it better be cleaned. The worst of it was when you didn’t do what you was supposed to do and dad would come and find mom upset.
Dad got upset at you. This would sometimes bring guilt and shame for treating your mother the way that you did and not doing what she said..
Today’s passage Paul warns this church at Corinth that he hopes to find them living for Christ. He says and if you are not, then you can expect to see a different side of me.
Paul also uses shame to draw out their lack of commendation for him and for them following the false apostles.
11 I have become a fool; you forced it on me. I should have been endorsed by you, since I am not in any way inferior to the “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.
12 The signs of an apostle were performed with great endurance among you—not only signs but also wonders and miracles.
13 So in what way were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I personally did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!
14 Now I am ready to come to you this third time. I will not burden you, for I am not seeking what is yours, but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
15 I will most gladly spend and be spent for you. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?
16 Now granted, I have not burdened you; yet sly as I am, I took you in by deceit!
17 Did I take advantage of you by anyone I sent you?
18 I urged Titus to come, and I sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Didn’t we walk in the same spirit and in the same footsteps?
19 You have thought all along that we were defending ourselves to you. No, in the sight of God we are speaking in Christ, and everything, dear friends, is for building you up.
20 For I fear that perhaps when I come I will not find you to be what I want, and I may not be found by you to be what you want; there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder.
21 I fear that when I come my God will again humiliate me in your presence, and I will grieve for many who sinned before and have not repented of the moral impurity, sexual immorality, and promiscuity they practiced.
Pray
Judaizers have come in behind Paul and said that Paul is not an apostle because he does not have letters of recommendation, they questioned is miracles, he is not a public speaker, and he is not taking up an offering.
The church and the Body of Christ can be very complex.
I often remind our mentors and interns that working for a church everyone is watching you. Everyone is watching you online, everyone is watching your work ethic, they are watching you under pressure and how you respond, they are watching how you spend your money, they are watching how you raise your kids.
This can happen in other careers but working in the body of Christ is very unique.
Paul wrote about the collection for the Jewish believers and prepared them to give. He used the poor Macedonian churches as an example.
If you remember we spent almost 3 weeks talking about money and how to give in those chapters. Money can be a touchy subject.
To show that the Body of Christ is unique, Paul is refuting the fact that he is apostle simply because he would not take money from them.
I find this very unique. I am sure he would be criticized if he did take money and here he is being criticized because he did not take money from them.
Paul can’t win in this situation. I am sure some are saying of his opponents are saying that he is using the poor Jewish believers in Judea to profit for himself.
11 I have become a fool; you forced it on me. I should have been endorsed by you, since I am not in any way inferior to the “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.
12 The signs of an apostle were performed with great endurance among you—not only signs but also wonders and miracles.
13 So in what way were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I personally did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!
verse 11
His boasting was foolish. He says I have boasted and become a fool for you.
Why did I boast?
You forced it on me.
Again I played the cards that you dealt me. Perhaps he knew that if he did not boast and refute these Judaizers that there was a lot to lose if he remained silent. Again, there was nothing to be gained by his boasting.
I boasted because they thought I needed to and it was not something I desired to do.
I should have been endorsed by you, since I am not in any way inferior to the “super-apostles”, even though I am nothing
2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary 4. Signs of an Apostle (12:11–13)
People do not need to indulge in the unpleasant act of self-commendation when their friends, or those to whom they have ministered, take positive action to defend their integrity.
Paul here uses shame on the Corinthians. The church should have been boasting about him instead of compelling him to boast.
The church should have had his back in all this.
Instead, the Corinthians were boasting about the “super-apostles”.
The Judaizers had won their affection and were now running their church.
Was Paul inferior to these men?
No way!
12 The signs of an apostle were performed with great endurance among you—not only signs but also wonders and miracles.
in verse 11 Paul again uses Irony when he says, “even though I am nothing”
Remember what they said of Paul, is letters are heavy but his physical presence is weak. This could also be the humility of Paul as well here. I am nothing. Only in Christ I find my worth and value.
13 So in what way were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I personally did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!
Again some Irony is used here. The way that I treated you worse than the other churches is that I did not take payment from you.
Forgive me this wrong!
14 Now I am ready to come to you this third time. I will not burden you, for I am not seeking what is yours, but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
On Paul’s third visit he will stay true to his word. That is he will not burden them for his sake. That is he will take take personal payment for teaching them.
The purpose of him coming to them is not to collect a personal offering but to win them back to the Gospel
I am not seeking what is yours, but you.
Paul draws on the obvious fact that it is the parents job to provide for their children. It is not the children’s job to provide for their parents.
I must highlight this verse for our community. Parents it is your responsibility to provide for your children. Of course when they become adults, then it becomes their responsibility.
Too often, I see in our culture an idea that once the children start working that they owe money for rent, gas and other things. Again we are not talking about grown adults living with parents. We are talking about children.
Parents is is stated here that it is obvious that the parent is to provide children and not the other way around. The only time you might consider receiving from your child is if it is teaching your child a lesson.
Here he uses the very to lay up. Some are saying that in 1 Corinthians 16:2 Paul has encouraged them to lay up some treasure for paul and here Paul refutes this by saying it is the parents job to “lay up” treasure for the children.
(Maybe talk about how getting paid at church works, the offering goes up then we don’t all get raises. Someone gives a large gift then we don’t personally benefit from it) My kids will not inherit this property or buildings.)
15 I will most gladly spend and be spent for you. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?
2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary g. Paul Refuses to Burden the Corinthians (12:14–18)
Two cognate verbs are used, dapanaō (‘to spend’) and ekdapanaō (passive, ‘to be spent’). The word dapanaō is used several times in other parts of the New Testament, where it usually refers to the spending of money (Mark 5:26, the woman with the haemorrhage spent all she had on doctors; Luke 15:14, the prodigal spent all his inheritance on riotous living; Acts 21:24, Paul spent money to pay for the sacrifices offered by Jewish Christians; but cf. Jas 4:3), and this is its common use in the papyri as well
Paul employs the word to express his willingness to spend his resources on behalf of the Corinthians.
Rather than take their resources Paul says I will spend my resources on your behalf.
He then says to be spent for you
In the passive voice and applied to a person, as here, it means ‘to be spent’ in the sense to sacrifice one’s life.
Paul is not only prepared to use his resources for the church the is willing to sacrifice his own life for their sakes.
You see this heart of Paul in other places of scripture
3 For I could almost wish to be cursed and cut off from the Messiah for the benefit of my brothers, my own flesh and blood.
17 But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.
15 I will most gladly spend and be spent for you. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?
If I love you more, am I to be loved less?
2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary g. Paul Refuses to Burden the Corinthians (12:14–18)
The apostle who is prepared to exhaust his own earnings so as not to be in any way a burden on the Corinthians, who is prepared even to sacrifice his life for them if necessary, asks whether his more abundant love is going to mean that he will be loved the less by them.
16 Now granted, I have not burdened you; yet sly as I am, I took you in by deceit!
He uses Irony here again. yet sly as I am, I took you in by deceit.
Here his opponents are likely saying that he is using the offering for the poor jewish believers in Judea to benefit himself.
I have not burdened you; yet sly as I am, I took you in by deceit.
17 Did I take advantage of you by anyone I sent you?
18 I urged Titus to come, and I sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Didn’t we walk in the same spirit and in the same footsteps?
He ask the question Did anyone I sent you take advantage of you? Did Titus take advantage of you?
The resounding answer is NO!
2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary g. Paul Refuses to Burden the Corinthians (12:14–18)
Both Paul and those whom he had sent to Corinth on the business of the collection had acted in the same way, with complete integrity. The apostle expects his readers to acknowledge this fact.
19 You have thought all along that we were defending ourselves to you. No, in the sight of God we are speaking in Christ, and everything, dear friends, is for building you up.
20 For I fear that perhaps when I come I will not find you to be what I want, and I may not be found by you to be what you want; there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder.
21 I fear that when I come my God will again humiliate me in your presence, and I will grieve for many who sinned before and have not repented of the moral impurity, sexual immorality, and promiscuity they practiced.
verse 19
Paul defends and gives reason for his boasting. You have thought all along that we were defending ourselves to you. No, in the sight of God we are speaking in Christ and building you up.
He says in the sight of God we are speaking in Christ. Paul is not trying to gain their approval, but to build up the body of Christ.
He says that all that he has said, done and written is for building them up. Some may have mis construed his writing as one that is just self defense.
He says the purpose of this is to build you up.
Dear friends or beloved
We again see his love for them.
Verses 20-21
I fear that the room won’t be clean so to speak. I fear that I won’t find you the way that I want.
If what he fears is evident when he comes, then you may find me not what you wish.
If there is no improvement, then Paul must act with boldness and authority against the church. He has threatened to act against his opponents as well.
2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary h. The Real Purpose of Paul’s Fool’s Speech (12:19–21)
it is significant that the first two items on Paul’s list here (quarrelling and jealousy) are the very things he mentioned when dealing with the problem of party spirit in 1 Corinthians (cf. 1 Cor. 1:11; 3:3). Also in 1 Corinthians 13 he spoke by implication against anger, selfishness, slander and conceit when extolling the way of love as the only proper context for the use of spiritual gifts. And the last item of Paul’s list, disorder, was a problem addressed in 1 Corinthians in relation to women’s behaviour and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, as well as the use of spiritual gifts, all in the context of the worship of the Corinthian church.
Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergyman or layman, with them I will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of heaven upon the earth
John Wesley