The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 47; 2 Corinthians 10:1-18, "Out of the Grey"

The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 47; 2 Corinthians 10.1-18 "Out of the Grey" Out of the Grey is a husband and wife music team of Scott and Christine Dente that produced 7 albums way back in the 1990's. They are a popular team, well received by many. According to the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music, Out of the Grey chose their name, "as a rebuttal to relativism, an affirmation that there are absolutes in life." Their songs communicate that the Christian life can be, indeed must be, lived in the here and now. This reflects the truth that our Lord said, that we are in the world but not of it. One of their songs, "He is Not Silent" contains these challenging lyrics: We wander through this world In disbelief / Shake our heads at every tear / Searching endlessly For some relief / Has He left us dying here?-covid comes to mind with so many / But we've forgotten all His words / Pretend we never heard / We take our hearts and turn away / But He is not silent / He is not whispering / We are not quiet / We are not listening / He sends a lifeline / We keep resisting Him / He is not silent / We are not listening / We take our daily bread / And after we've been fed / We take our hearts and turn away. Not exactly a feel good song. But one that hits us where we live. How many of us as Christians experience reality hitting us hard and we lose our bearings, and even lose hope? Our problem so often is that we put ourselves in situations we should not be in, and then when we suffer, we tend to blame God: "Have you left us to die here, Lord?" And when the Lord displays his faithfulness and continues to provide for us, we take our daily bread, and after we are fed, we take our hearts and turn away. It's as if we are like little kids, expecting God to take care of us while we play at the edge of a cliff. We don't seem to sense or even seem to care about impending spiritual doom. But we have enemies in the unseen realm who are far bigger, much more powerful than us. They seek our complete destruction. They are relentless. As intelligent beings, they know how we tick-they have watched us over and over. And they seemingly know what we are going to do before we do it. Now, I set the stage for the message this way today, sounding the alarm, for the Apostle Paul did so. He did it in what we would think is a most unusual way. He defended the authority the Lord gave him when he sent Paul to Corinth to start the church there. For false teachers attached themselves to the church at Corinth. And they were gaining some influence. We know how Paul was so incensed at the leader who bought into their influence. For the protection of the church, Paul blasted this man. And the other leaders exercised church discipline, so much so that they overdid it! Paul told them to forgive the guy because he repented. But time and influence marches on. As we remember over last couple of weeks that we have been in this letter Paul seemed to win back the hearts and minds of the Corinthians. He encouraged them to be faithful to the promise they made to contribute to the Judean famine relief project. And Paul ends his encouragement by a strong exclamation of praise in 2 Corinthians 9.15: "Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!"-the gift of salvation found in Christ alone. As we know, and as Paul knew and taught so thoroughly, there is absolutely no salvation outside of Christ and his gospel. Every person who rejects Christ and his gospel does so at their eternal peril. That's the way it has been since the day Jesus said "I will build my church and the gates of hades will not prevail." The job the Lord Jesus has given all of his people is to two-fold: preach the good news to the lost and make fellow Christians to be more like Jesus. So, the Corinthians have a problem-allowing the false teachers, along with their satanic influence, to hang around. Where are the true leaders in the church in Corinth? In a sense, Paul is asking the same thing. There seems to be no one to lead the church in the ways of the Lord. It seems like pastoral protection is gone. It's like the sheep are in the sheep pen and the shepherd is missing. Wolves are at the gate ready to pounce. And with smooth talk and influence that attracts the Corinthians, they are about to be eaten alive. So, Paul is now taking it upon himself-and rightly so, to head back to the battlefront, as the Corinthians' champion. We will see in our passage today, 2 Corinthians 10.1-18, that Paul takes the challenge of the false teachers as a deadly threat to the souls of the Corinthians. In this chapter I want to point out 3 threats made by the false teachers to the church in Corinth. First, they were winning the affection of the Corinthians by, once again, attacking Paul. They have attacked him before. Remember how they insinuated Paul to be untrustworthy at the end of chapter 1. Paul told the Corinthians he would visit them at a certain time and when he didn't the false teachers accused the apostle that he could not be trusted in the things that mattered. "If Paul cannot be trusted in keeping his promise to you in such a small thing, how can you trust him with things that really matter, like spiritual realities?" Today we will see another direct accusation the false teachers levy upon Paul and how he handles their attack. Second, we're also going to see how Paul views the spiritual danger the Corinthians are in. He calls it warfare. But the tragic thing is, the Corinthians didn't seem to understand how much spiritual danger they were in. They were slowly but surely being taken in, duped by false teachers. They were like little kids at play. And Paul was saying to the Corinthians, "Come out of the gray." There are absolutes in the spiritual world. Wake up! There is a war going on! Finally, we are going to take a look at Paul's legitimate claim he had regarding the Corinthians, for this is the territory, as in actual geography, the Lord gave him. The false teachers had no authority on their soil. So, they had to butt out! So, again, let's take a look at how Paul saw himself and at what the false teachers accused the apostle of. Let's read vv. 1-2 and 7-10: 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!- 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. 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. 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. I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account." So, how did Paul see himself and how did he appeal to his beloved Corinthians? Meekness of Christ. Gentleness of Christ. Humility. But empowered by Christ's authority. One who can assert himself boldly by the divine authority of Christ who sent Paul to the Corinthians. These are precious traits. Beautiful character qualities. But according to the spirit of the age, and even from the perspective of the false teachers, these were horrendous! The absolute last things the false teachers wanted to display were meekness, gentleness and humility. Paul's approach was the meekness of Christ--power under control. It was the gentleness of Christ--not harshness. It was one of humility-a lowly state of heart and mind. Meekness. Gentleness. Humility. I can imagine that if these 3 qualities were fibers, they could be woven into a doormat--for that is what people often think when they see these words, especially all 3 together. It is meekness, gentleness and humility that washes feet. That offers the other cheek. That goes beyond the 1 mile in carrying someone's heavy loads. These things have the ability to allow the disciple of Jesus to deny self, and take up one's cross daily and follow him. And for us, 2000 years later, meekness, gentleness and humility are still character qualities the Lord wants us to display. But it's difficult to detect if we have them. Here's a good test to know if we are indeed denying ourselves bearing our cross and displaying meekness, gentleness and humility. Let's examine our hearts when people treat us like servants. When we knock ourselves out for others, spare no expense, invest great amounts of time and money for some grand project or to a person in need, but get no thank you. How do we respond then? But here was Paul. So willing, as we will read in a couple chapters from now, to spend and be spent for the souls of the Corinthians. Why would Paul put up with the garbage the Corinthians dished out to him? Because the love of Christ controlled him. Paul was Christlike in his character and demeanor. But the false teachers accused him of 2 things: walking according to the flesh and presenting a poor image. Let's read again, vv.2 and 10: 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. For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account." What were the false teachers all about? Star power. Slick and polish. Smooth, persuasive speech. Part of the strategy of these workers was to paint Paul as a weak man, in physical appearance and personal charisma. They did concede, though that Paul was quite the wordsmith, a paper tiger if you will. He wrote good letters but did not have the inner strength to back things up. Briefly, let me remind you of what kinds of things the rank and file Corinthians valued: Star power. Slick and polish. Smooth, persuasive speech. They valued those who could move them emotionally. So, what is wrong with this picture? The false teachers accused Paul of what they were guilty of, by saying that he was living his life according to the flesh. They disdained him. It was they, not Paul, who lived in worldly ways, by worldly standards. And it was Paul, not them had a weak physical appearance. It was Paul who had a lousy speaking ability. But because the false teachers had it all together, and could emotionally move people, the Corinthians were low hanging fruit, ripe for the taking and for being led astray. And the more things change, the more they stay the same. In our day, who doesn't really enjoy those who can act well? These people who pretend for a living can often move us emotionally. As most of you know I was a boxer in my high school days. The first time I saw Rocky 1, I was on Guam, my first duty assignment in the Air Force. It was a beautiful night on Andersen AB at their outdoor amphitheater. To this day, I remember how emotionally affected I was by that movie! Now that Rocky 55 has come out, I'm not as emotionally moved! But I'll never forget how motivated I was to get back in the ring! And it's not just actors in movies. What about the news media? How much of it is hypersensationalized-and we know it is, but we watch it anyway? And it's not just the media. What about the feel good religious speakers? How many slavishly listen to them because these speakers can move them? Forget whether it is truth: how does it make me feel when the speaker gets done? Star power. Slick and polish. Smooth, persuasive speech. As a whole, we value those who move us emotionally. Though the false teachers made them feel great, the Corinthians seemed to be afraid of Paul-at least by means of his letters. Again, in v.9, Paul says that he did not want to frighten them by his letters. But sometimes he had to present strong truth because of the authority the Lord gave him for building them up. Strong truth is sometimes frightening. Sometimes painful. But necessary. In John 15, Jesus told the disciples the truth about fruitbearing. The Lord was the vine they were the branches. If anyone in him does not bear fruit, that person is cut off and cast away as a branch and is burned. This is hard truth. Frightening truth. But it was necessary to tell this to his disciples. Compare this to false teachers, both in Paul's day and in ours. They would never say hard, sometimes frightening stuff. Why? The bottom line is they love themselves too much. The simple truth is they don't love God's people as God defines love. And they will give an account when they stand before the Lord on that day. So who was Paul according to the false teachers? Someone to disdain. Scary. Sub-par speaker. A paper tiger-a way with words but no power. Certainly not pleasant to look at. How many scars did Paul bear due to his beatings, being stoned and experiencing shipwrecks? But who was Paul really? One who loved the Corinthians. One who was sent with the very authority of Christ himself. And Paul was not afraid to use that authority. Should the false teachers be there when Paul and his trusted friends come to collect the offering for famine relief, they will discover just how much spiritual authority Paul really does have. Casting out demons. Raising the dead. Performing miracles. Preaching truth that no one could stand up to. That's Paul. The false teachers will experience his apostolic power when he comes. And what does this present to the Corinthians? They needed to come out of the gray. Make a choice. False teachers and all of their seductive pleasantness? Or the apostle to the gentiles and the truth and power of Christ? False teachers who loved themselves more than the Corinthians? Or Paul who loved the Corinthians more than himself? Having seen how Paul handled yet another false accusation hurled at him by the false teachers, let's now take a look at Paul's view of spiritual reality. He saw things as dire. A battlefield. With casualties all around him. Verses 3-7: For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. 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. Let me point out several things in Paul's vision of the unseen realm and how the Corinthians are involved. First, Paul and his friends see themselves as in the world but not of the world. They walk in the flesh-in this life. In other words, they live in the visible realm. They are human. Human, yes, but who lives in them-and the true believers in Corinth? He! As in the Spirit of God. 1 John 4.4 tells us that greater is he who is in us than he that is in the world. And who is the Spirit of God? God himself living on the inside. Almighty power, with more than enough force to wage warfare in the unseen realm. So, Paul and his friends concede to the point-they are in the flesh-they are human. But where the false teachers were in error was they did not live their lives by the flesh-the standards and perspective of this world and its ways. For Paul, walking according to the flesh means all is well. How so? When non-Christians live their lives according to the flesh there is no battle. They have already been taken captive by the unseen enemies to do their will. Certainly, the unseen enemies hate non-Christians just as much as they do Christians. And when they are through with the non-Christians, they will destroy them. But Christians see what is unseen. They see the spiritual battle. And they have the means to wage war, namely divine power. But notice where the war is waged? Around strongholds. Around arguments. Lofty opinions. Against the knowledge of God. Thoughts-more inclusively, minds. So, where it is waged? In a phrase: the realm of the mind. The thoughts. Hold that thought because we will return to it in a second. There is a second place spiritual warfare is waged: the will. Paul was ready to punish disobedience using the authority the Lord gave him. Simply put, spiritual warfare is waged in the mind and the will of a person. But where was the target area of false teachers? Emotions. It makes sense, doesn't it? It begins with eternal life-the very thing the King died to give us. John 17.3 tells us that eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom the Father has sent. The Lord also said in John 14.15, "if you love me, you will keep my commandments." Truth and knowledge involve the mind. Showing the Lord love by heartfelt obedience involves the will. This is where the battle lies. And in the arena of the mind and the will is where Paul directed his firepower. A stronghold here is a picture of a military fortress-vividly showing the strength of false arguments. The warfare Paul speaks of destroys falsehoods with the truth of the gospel. The bottom line for Paul is that Christ and his ways obliterate the lies of the evil one. And once the lies are overcome, then a born-again son or daughter of God can obey the Lord from the heart that he or she might be pleasing to the Lord. And when that happens, every emotion that the false teachers peddle through their lies, now become emotions experienced in a heart purified by the forgiveness of sin and new life found in Christ. But here is where the battle rages for Paul. Truth enters through the mind and is expressed through the will then the emotions will follow. Seemingly, the false teachers' approach was front loading the emotions, particularly the feel good ones. And when they captured their emotions through powerful, but deceptive experiences, it was a simple matter to capture one's mind and fill it with lies. And in our day, we see this all the time. The largest megachurches in the world put a premium on music and call that worship. The message the songs carry often are in error or downright blasphemous. One example is found in "what a beautiful name," where the talented voice tells the listener/worshipper, "You didn't want heaven without us, so Jesus you brought heaven down." Really? Or how about this one put out a few decades ago? "You ask me how I know he-Christ lives? He lives within my heart." So, Christ lives because of our subjective experience? The truth is Christ lives whether we experience him in our heart-our emotions-or not. Or what about the many people who come to corporate worship and leave with their eyes red, nose running and say, "God met with me today. I cried all the way through the service." It may have been the Lord met with this person in a powerful, manifest way. But how often do people who lack an emotional experience feel as though the Lord did not meet with them? When emotions are primary, we can become easily deceived. So, what is successful warfare? The gospel. We as Christians continue to believe the gospel. And we continue to give the gospel to others. For the gospel is truth. The gospel is the power of God for salvation. And Paul, seeing the danger in essence tells this to the Corinthians in v.7: "open your eyes! The false teachers among you claim to have Christ's authority. But don't forget-we have Christ's authority as well. And look in v. 12: Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding." What is Paul saying here? "Corinthians, the only thing these false teachers have is their mutual admiration society. They talk up one another. But they have no divine authority." It's as though they have created a niche market so to speak. I can imagine them saying to the Corinthians, "You know, John Jacob, he can amazingly predict the future. And Jerry Joe, he can heal the most difficult cases. And I can raise the dead. Can your Paul do that?" What's the apostle's answer to that? They are without understanding. Paul sees the unseen battle. Spiritual causalities all around. He knows the weapons are mighty in penetrating the strongholds of the lies of the enemy. Though the false teachers can boast of their abilities and insights, they don't have the truth. Once again, the Corinthians can't see the battle raging all around them. Why is that? Because they are in a spiritual funk. Torn between truth and lies. But let's not feel too sorry for them as though they are victims here. Remember why Paul wrote 1 Corinthians? The very first problem he dealt with was their playing favorites with true spiritual leaders, and the church practically split up in factions. Some said, "I am of Paul." Others followed after Apollos. Some were thoroughly attached to Peter. And still others sought mystical experiences by "following Christ." In a sense, they began to set themselves up for the acceptance of false teachers in their midst from the first day they divided over their favorite teacher. So, what was the solution for them? Corinthians, you know the answer. God is not silent. He is not whispering. He sent you Paul with an eternal lifeline. Don't resist the one the Lord Jesus sent you any longer. Corinthians, come out of the gray. Kneel before the one who saved you-the Lord Jesus. Stand with the one who brought you the gospel-the apostle Paul. We've seen how Paul dealt with the false accusations of the false teachers. We also took a look at the unseen world Paul saw as he waged spiritual warfare-it was the gospel, the very power of God for salvation. He warned them of the danger they were in but they didn't seem to know or care. How do we know that? Because the false teachers were still hanging around! Now let's take a brief look at Paul's legitimate claim he had regarding the Corinthians, as in the territory, the actual geography, the Lord gave him in vv. 13-18: But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. For we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another's area of influence. "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. I see here 2 deeply profound things for Paul's ministry. First, Corinth is 1 of the areas God actually assigned to him. We can see this almost like an Abram moment. God called him from the Ur of the Chaldees and took him to the land of promise. In the same sort of way, God took Paul and his friends and led them to start a church in Corinth. See, Paul had a God-centered vision of life. It also helps when the Lord himself shows up and audibly speaks to you! But Paul saw his ministry as one where God placed him. But remember what Corinth was. Sin city - as in Vegas - had nothing on Corinth. Remember how a person who was very loose morally was associated with Corinth as in he or she was corinthianized? Paul was not exactly at home with all this. What was his past? A former member of the Jewish ruling council whose job it was for his fellow Jews to keep all the fine points of the 613 laws. Remember when Paul went to Athens and he saw all the idolatry? He was extremely upset. We might say that his heart was eating him. This idolatry was eating his lunch-and breakfast besides! But he went to Corinth on God's errand. But Paul was convinced Corinth was where he needed to be. And he was there for 18 months. In the military, we would call that an all-expense paid, short overseas tour. Paul waged tremendous spiritual battles, both while he was there and literally years after he left Corinth. And for you and me. How clearly do you see where you are, your line of work, your friendships, as being on God's errand? We as the Lord's disciples are also his servants. If we want to be his faithful servants, we have only one answer to his assignments: "yes, Lord." A challenge for all of us: let's begin to see where we are as God's assigned mission field to us when it comes to evangelism. And if there are no non-Christians in your circle of influence, then consider where you are as God's assigned disciplemaking school. Either way, let's look at our geographical location as the place where God has put us. We are to work for him til he gives us a new assignment. The second profound truth I see is how Paul attacked the false teachers. Paul and his friends were faithful to come to Corinth. God used them to begin the church there. This was their turf. God gave it to them. And as it was put by one author, the false teachers were trespassing. So they needed to go. Paul and his friends had more work to do. They wanted to even expand the work they started in Corinth to areas in the regions beyond them. The other side of the coin should be obvious. If God gave Corinth to Paul, then he did not give it to the false teachers. So, spiritually speaking, Paul had every right to show them the door. Because it was the false teachers who were trespassing in Corinth. I see this not only as a rebuke to the false teachers but to the Corinthian church leadership as well. I asked earlier in this message, "Where is the leadership?" They were supposed to be the shepherds caring for and guarding God's sheep. And I can hear Paul saying to them, "Shepherds! Kick these false teachers out! Come out of the grey! Take your stand! Tell them in no uncertain words, 'you are not allowed to be here, so go.'" And I see a great application for us as well both personally and as a church. Personally, every false teacher which comes with their heresy is to be off limits to us. In other words, get rid of them. Take them off your podcast lists. Stop taking in their YouTube videos. Stop buying their books. Their teaching is deadly and it will ruin your spirit. They are spiritual trespassers who have no right to gain access to your mind, will and emotions. As Grace United, we have seen this as well. There were a couple of times when I had to confront some false teaching, and teachers in our midst over the years. And I must say, that as a Church Advisory Team, you helped me to come to my senses so that I could see things a bit more clearly. I have often thought of these times of confrontation and I shudder to think where we would be if I had not have confronted them. And as a result, we have policies in place to prevent false teaching from taking hold in the future. So, CAT, thank you! So, let's wrap up this message the way Paul finishes up this chapter: It is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. Simply put, every local church, indeed every follower of Jesus loyal to the Lord is commended by the Lord. As such, we have his power, his truth. We wage spiritual warfare by living and giving the gospel, which is the power of God for salvation to all who believe. We are not to be like the Corinthians who Paul had to rescue time and again. They set themselves up by tolerating division in their midst. They left themselves open by tolerating false teachers and false teaching. Let's make sure that as followers of Jesus and Grace United as a whole we walk in His light. May the message of song, "He is Not Silent" serve us as a cautionary tale to keep us out of the Grey: The people said this desert never ends / We have no bread, our throats are dry / Our heads are heavy and our feet need rest / Has He left us here to die? And we've forgotten all His words / As if we never heard / We take our hearts and turn away But He is not silent / He is not whispering / We are not quiet / We are not listening / He sends a lifeline / We keep resisting Him / He is not silent We are not listening We wander through this world in disbelief / Shake our heads at every tear / Searching endlessly for some relief / Has He left us dying here? But we've forgotten all His words / Pretend we never heard / We take our hearts and turn away But He is not silent / He is not whispering / We are not quiet / We are not listening We take our daily bread / And after we've been fed / We take our hearts and turn away But He is not silent / He is not whispering / We are not quiet / We are not listening