By What Standard?

The World’s Misuse of “Judge Not” and the Need for Discernment

I want to invite you to take out your copy of God's Word and turn to 2 Corinthians 10 and find your place at verse 7. The title of today's message is, By What Standard? If there's one passage of scripture that the world loves to quote, especially toward the church, it is Matthew 7 .1.

And what does Matthew 7 .1 say? Judge not, lest ye be judged. They apply this, the world applies this in the most egregious of areas, insisting that no behavior ever be condemned, no attitude ever be denounced, that we are never supposed to judge because of the text that says, Judge not, lest ye be judged.

Not reading the rest, not reading the context, not understanding what Christ was trying to convey, we are told that any judgment is wrong. But the reality is that there are many things which we are commended to judge.

We are called to discern truth from falsehood, that's making a judgment. We are called to determine a tree by the fruit it bears, well that's making a judgment. We are called to exercise discipline in the church.

Matthew 18 says that we have to make decisions, well that involves judgment. And one thing that we are clearly called to discern are the ministers and ministries which claim to be coming in the name of Jesus Christ.

Since the beginning of the church, there have been those who have claimed to speak on behalf of Christ, who have claimed to be ministers of Christ, but the word of God says they are.

Actually agents of Satan himself.

That they are false teachers, that masquerading as angels of light, they are actually ministers.

Of darkness.

And we are told to be discerning. And we see them early in the church. Galatians was written because Paul had planted a church, planted churches in the southern Turkey area which we called the Galatian area, Lystra, Iconium, and Derby.

He had planted churches there and after leaving, men had come in, infiltrated their churches, brought false teaching, false doctrine, and so Paul writes a letter to them and that letter is a letter of rebuke.

Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Referring to the false teachers who had made their way into the Galatian community. And those little letters toward the end of your Bible, 2 and 3 John, Paul is admonishing the church to be concerned about those who would come and seek to be received as itinerant ministers.

Watch out for these men because some of these men in fact are not ministers of the gospel. Some of them in fact are here to abuse you and to mistreat you and to take advantage.

Of you.

So we are called, not to be judgmental, but we are called to be discerning when it comes to receiving someone who claims to come as a teacher and preacher of the gospel of Jesus.

Christ.

Paul’s Defense of His Ministry and the Structure of 2 Corinthians

And in this text today, this section of 2 Corinthians, which we have been studying 2 Corinthians verse by verse. We've been in the book now for several months. In this section, Paul is going to show us what righteous evaluation looks like.

He is going to show us that there are right standards and wrong standards. And he's going to seriously pose the question to us, maybe not in these words, but in this sense, he's going to say, what standard are you using to judge?

Merely by the external? Merely by what you see? Or are you judging according to God's commendation? And so let us stand and read the text together. Beginning at verse 7, I will be reading from the ESV and it will be on the screen.

Beginning in verse 7, Paul says, look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ, so also are we. For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building 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 appearance is weak and his speech of no account. Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present.

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.

But we will not boast beyond limits, but we'll boast only with regard to the area of influence God has 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. Father in heaven, I pray and ask your mercy on this message. Lord, I pray as I pray every time and have prayed hundreds of times to keep me from error.

For your word is worthy to be preached properly, your scripture is the truth, and I do not want to fail to proclaim that truth and muddle it or mix it with some error. I pray, Lord, as your people are taught today that your Holy Spirit would be the teacher.

I pray that you would cause me to decrease and Christ to increase, and I pray, Lord, for the believer in this room that they would recognize the great burden of discernment that is placed upon all of us to not simply receive the word of God as if it were the word of God from anyone, but to discern whether or not they are actually proclaiming what the word says in truth.

And also, O God, to seek the truth as we study. And, Lord, for the unbeliever in this room, whether they be young or old, child or adult, Father, I pray that you would minister right now through the power of your spirit to the hearts of men and women in this room and children, drawing them to yourself if they do not know you, and through your grace, give them mercy that leads to life.

And I pray all this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

For those who have not been with us, again, a reminder that we are in a study of the book of 2 Corinthians, and where we are in the letter is on the latter portion. The book can be broken into three sections.

The first seven chapters is Paul's defense of his ministry. He has been called into question regarding his integrity by some of the men who had come into Corinth, just like in Galatia where he had planted the churches and people had come in after him and taught falsely and called into question his ministry.

Well, the same thing had happened in Corinth, and many men had risen up against him and had begun to teach against him. And we're going to see in the chapters to come exactly his thoughts about them. But in the first seven chapters, Paul defends his ministry.

He calls it a ministry of reconciliation. He calls it a ministry of the new covenant. And he gives us some of the most precious and profound theological truths in all of the New Testament in those first seven chapters.

Then in chapters 8 and 9, he gives us a call to generosity, gives the Corinthians a reminder that they had committed to be generous to the church in Jerusalem, which the churches in Macedonia had demonstrated their generosity.

And Paul looks at the Corinthians, and he says, just as the Macedonians have been generous, so too should you not fail to be generous in your giving, because the church in Jerusalem is in need. And so in chapters 8 and 9 of 2 Corinthians, we have some of the most profound teaching on Christian giving in all of the New Testament.

In fact, I would say the preeminent verse of teaching on Christian giving is found in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, which tells us that we are to give as we have decided in our heart, not under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

But then in chapter 10, as if Paul, as if he flipped a switch in his mind, he goes right back into the defense of his ministry, but now instead of defending his ministry, he's.

Now on offense.

And as one ancient theologian said, the best defense is a good offense. So Paul, rather than defending in the first seven chapters, he now switches and he goes after those who are his opponents. And I must say, looking forward to the next several months of preaching as I finish this book, I'm really looking forward to expounding to you some of the things that he says, because some of them are just very powerful.

Some of the portions between chapters 10 and 13 are really reminders to us that we are.

At war.

Spiritual warfare is real, and Paul comes in with his sword in hand, ready to slay those who would stand in the way of the gospel. Not physically, of course, but to slay them spiritually. And not slay them in the spirit.

Let me back that up. Carefully say, not that, if you know what I'm talking about. But the point is, Paul is ready for war. And as I said last week, or two weeks ago when I preached last time, the first six verses of chapter 10 are Paul's expression of his preparedness for war.

He says, even though we walk according to the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. And he says, we tear down strongholds, we destroy arguments, we take every thought captive to Jesus Christ.

Paul understands the mission. He understands the battle. He understands the enemy. And so he is letting the Corinthians know that they are at war. Verses 7 to 18 is a long section, and you may wonder why I'm placing it all together in one sermon.

And you may even be thinking to yourself, no way he's getting through it all today. I'm going to try, because it is one idea. And what's interesting about this text, and I have to share this, because as I was looking at Dr. MacArthur's, what he said about this text, he said, this is one of those texts that wouldn't get preached if you weren't an expositor.

He said, this isn't one of those texts that's highly theological, or has a lot of actual practical things that people would run to as a topical preacher would run to certain texts and would go to those texts.

He said, but this text doesn't get preached a lot because simply the only reason you'd come to it is if you had to. You're preaching through a book and it's there. He said, because there's not a lot of theology in here, but what you do have is you have Paul calling to mind the importance of understand making righteous judgment.

So it's important, it is practical, but it's not one of those texts that you're probably going to find on a billboard at Hobby Lobby. But I hope today to show you that this text is very important when it comes to making evaluations, because we are called to make evaluations.

We are called to make sound judgment as to who we will listen to, who we will sit under, who we will support, where our money will go. And not that I need to say this, but I will. How many of us can look at the landscape of evangelicalism today and not be absolutely overwhelmed with the amount of false teachers, false ministries, men who claim to be men of God, who are actually ministers of Satan, who are bringing shame upon the church and bringing shame upon the name of Christ himself.

So if there's one thing we should be good at, it's discerning who we ought to be listening to. So I have this outline for you. I put it up on the board. And this is not intended to be an outline that's stuck to strictly.

It's just to give you an idea. Paul talks first about an evaluation, then an accusation, then a comparison, recognition, and then commendation. So let's look first at the evaluation. Verse 7. The ESV translates this first phrase, look at what is before your eyes.

Looking Beyond Outward Appearances

And I want to say right away that if you are looking at different translations, this one sentence will be translated in three different ways, and all three different ways could lead you to a different conclusion.

So it's not an easy sentence to translate. And it's not an easy sentence to preach because how you determine its conclusion will determine the direction you head. But I want to tell you how I reached my conclusion.

And if at the end you disagree, then we will hopefully still be friends. The ESV translation translates this as an imperative. Notice the text. I'll put it on the screen. It says, look at what is before your eyes.

However, if you have a New American Standard Bible, it translates it in the indicative. And you say, well, what's the difference in the Greek? There's not a difference in the Greek. The indicative and the imperative are the same, so you have to determine your translation based upon context.

So the ESV translates it as an imperative, look at what is obvious. But the New American Standard Bible translates it as, you are looking at things as they are.

Outwardly.

Now that's quite a bit different. And then, of course, you have the King James Bible, Michael, that comes in the interrogative. Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? And it's like, oh, just had to throw a different one into the mix.

But the point that I want to get across is, if Paul is saying, as the ESV says in the imperative, look at what is obvious, which I don't think is actually correct, but that is the ESVs, then what Paul is saying, if that is correct, is look at what is true, look at what is right, look at what is obvious.

But if the New American Standard is correct, and this is one of those times where Mike's going to be happy because I'm going to say the New American Standard, I think, is correct, and that's the Bible he uses, and it would agree with the King James, that what Paul is actually doing is he's actually giving an indication that what they are doing is they're looking at the outwardly, instead of looking at what they should be looking at.

So even if the ESV is correct, we could still kind of get there because you could say Paul is saying look at what is right, look at what is true, look beyond the obvious. But if it is in the indicative, you are looking at the obvious, then it's a rebuke.

And if it is in the interrogative, do ye look after the outward things, it's a rebuke. Because what are we told, if we're not told anything else in the Bible, what are we told.

About the outward?

Don't look at the outward appearance. How many times throughout the Bible did people fail because they were enamored by the outside, not looking at what was within? What were the Pharisees so consumed by in their teaching?

The outward.

Remember in Matthew's gospel where we have the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about those who make their prayers long so that they are heard for their many words, or those who give their offerings out in the open so that they're seen for giving their offerings, these men who make their phylacteries broad so that they can be impressive to other men.

It's all about the outward. So based upon that, I do come to the conclusion that I do think that Paul is rebuking them and saying you are looking after the outward appearance. But again, even if the ESV is right, look at what is true, it would still be a call to look beyond the outward.

So, now you can argue with me about nothing because I bet they all agree with me. But the point I believe is that what we have here is we have people who are consumed with the outwardly. And I base this not only because of the context of this passage, but also because of the context of what we learn later.

What we learn later is that these men who are coming in, who are disagreeing with Paul, who are teaching false things about what Paul has taught, these false teachers make themselves important by their outward appearance.

Remember earlier in the book he talked about them bringing their letters of commendation. He calls them later in this book, in chapter 11, he calls them super apostles. And I imagine these men presented themselves in such a way that they did have an outward appearance that was quite impressive.

And one thing we know about the apostle Paul, not from the scripture necessarily, but from history, is Paul probably didn't have an outward appearance that was very impressive. Now, there's no paintings from the first century.

There's no photographs, obviously, because such technology did not exist. And what we do have about Paul's appearance comes 200 years after he lived, and it was based on a tradition from the time that he lived.

And we can't say it's accurate because, again, it's 200 years removed. But here's what it did say, in case you're curious. A 200-year-old, or a 200-year-writing after the time of the apostle Paul, said that he was short, bow-legged, bald.

He had a unibrow and a hooked nose. They said he was short, crooked legs. And the way it reads, it says, and his eyebrows did not part. Like, one straight across. But here's the thing. I don't think that's really the situation.

I don't think that's the focus. I've just brought that out because if you're thinking about outward appearance, obviously, we often think of that. But there is the reality that Paul talks about his speech as not being like the great orators.

He doesn't have all of this gifting that some of these other men have. These men were very impressive outwardly. And whether we're talking about looks or whether we're talking about giftedness, whether we're talking about how they presented themselves, how they explained themselves, their great use of language and articulation, all of these things were not commending them from God.

But they were impressing the Corinthian people. And Paul's saying you're looking at the obvious. I like John Calvin's quote on this passage.

He says this.

So basically Calvin was saying because Paul didn't look like one of the fancy guys, because Paul didn't have the outward expression of a lot of these guys, he just looked like a common man and therefore to many was unimpressive.

Paul Barnett in his commentary on this same passage, he said the Greek world admired physical beauty. It admired leisure and despised imperfection in manual labor. And in comes Paul, the tent maker, one who works with his hands, one of amateurish speech and doubtful appearance.

He was not one who would have commended himself by the outward things. This past month I was asked to review a book. A man sent me a copy of his manuscript, asked me to review the book, and if I thought it was good to provide a, what's it called?

Not the forward, but not a review, what's it? Recommendation, thank you. I don't know, I can't come up with the word. He asked me to write a recommendation. He shouldn't have asked me, apparently. He asked me to write a recommendation for his book.

So I read his book. His book is called Worshiptainment. And it documented many of the things that are happening currently in the church that are not worship but are intended solely for entertainment. And I could rattle off a list to you.

Pastors dressed like Batman, sanctuaries decorated like the Death Star. I mean, just absolute ridiculous things in the church. And so through this book, Worshiptainment, he outlined some of the crazy things that are happening.

But one of the chapters that really got my attention was the chapter on preachers and how the modern preacher has to be a man who presents himself the way the world wants to be impressed. And he talked about the way that many modern preachers present themselves and they present themselves very much looking like the latest rock star.

And he says, why is this popular? It's because this is what the world wants. They want to come in. They don't want to sit here from the man of God. They want to hear from a buddy. And I remember this years ago.

This is not an exaggeration. This absolutely happened. I was doing a funeral at the National Cemetery, which is out here on Laney Road. And right before the funeral, I was simply looking at my notes. I was preparing to preach the funeral.

And it was for a family I didn't know. I was doing some work for the funeral home, helping them out. But I could hear two men having a conversation. They were about six feet from me. I wasn't in the conversation, but I was listening.

I was exercising my pastoral prerogative and eavesdropping, pretending to read my notes. I listened very carefully. Don't you act like you ain't never. So I'm sitting there listening. And the man is telling the other man, I just started going to a new church.

It's great.

The pastor has a Mohawk.

It's awesome.

And I thought to myself,.

Is that all it takes?

I mean, would a Mohawk bring more people?

Not on this head. But that's the point. The point is we are so consumed with the outwardly.

We're so consumed with the things that just don't matter. Well, we're nothing new.

Even in the first century, they were consumed with the things that did not matter. Well, I have to move on past the first sentence. I said I was going to get through like 12 verses. I haven't even got through half of the first verse.

But you understand, this sets everything else up. Paul, I believe, is rebuking them for their concern regarding the outwardly. And then he points directly at those who would oppose him. And he says this,.

If anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ's, so also are we. Who is that person? Who is he talking about? Well, he could be talking just to the Corinthians.

If you think you're of Christ, then certainly we would be. But I think he's speaking directly to those who would call into question his ministry. Listen, this person who thinks he has this great ministry, if he thinks he's of Christ, then so are we.

Why is he putting himself up and telling us that we're wrong? Why is he exalting himself and putting us down? What is going on? If any man thinks that he is of Christ, let him remind himself that just as he is of Christ, so are we.

But then in verse 8, he says this,. 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. You might say, well, what is that all about?

Paul is simply saying this, I am claiming an authority that Christ has given to me. And I may be expressing it in a way that is to really point it out.

Notice how he says,.

Even if I boast a little too much of our authority, I will not be ashamed. Why? Because it comes from Christ. You think you're of Christ. This person thinks he's of Christ. Well, I am of Christ, and I'm not afraid to say it, and I'm not going to be ashamed of it.

I'm going to speak the truth, because I have been called by Christ, notice what he says, for building you up and not tearing you down. I want to say this real quick, and this is not the point of the sermon, but as I was reading this this week, it just kept coming into my mind.

If you are called of God to be a man of God, your job is to build up the church and not tear it down. If you're a leader, your job is to build up the church and not tear it down. That just should be simple, but I thought we'd hang on that for a minute.

Paul wants the Corinthians to make a proper evaluation of him, his ministry, and his authority. He wants them to understand it comes from Christ. And if they're going to think anyone is of Christ, they should understand that he is.

And what's amazing is that shouldn't even be a question in their mind. Paul planted the church. He grew the church. He was leading the church. It shouldn't even be a question, but these guys come in, and this is how false teachers do it.

They come in with all these little questions, like the little foxes that spoil the vine. They come in with all these little issues, and all these little problems, and they tear down what the man of God has built.

Paul is that man of God, and these men are tearing it down. And Paul says, I have an authority which is from Christ, and I'm not ashamed. I'm not backing out on this. I'm not taking it back. God put me here.

God put me in this position. And later we're going to see Paul is going to specifically say, between verses 13 and 16, God assigned me you. Because he's going to talk about the sphere of influence that he's in, and he's going to say, you are my sphere of influence.

If someone else has come in to destroy you, understand they're coming in my lane. That's his job. And that's how he sees himself. Now verse 9, I labeled this the accusation, because he says these words.

He says,.

I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. Remember this is probably the fourth letter of Paul to the Corinthians. Even though we only have two, this is probably his fourth letter.

The third one we call the severe letter, the harsh letter, the letter that was a harsh rebuke. And Paul says, I do not want to be frightening you with my letters. Understand this, Paul's purpose is to be corrective, not to be a bully.

And I will say this, one of the things that I have seen, and I've talked to our elders about this. I've talked to other pastors of other churches about this. One of the things that I have seen that absolutely frightens me in the church today is how many people behind the pulpit exercise an attitude of a bully rather than the attitude of a shepherd.

I've given this illustration before, but I think it's true. The difference between a cowboy and a shepherd is a cowboy gets behind and drives the herd. The shepherd gets out front and leads the sheep.

And in a lot of churches, and sadly, in a lot of reformed churches, because of the great weight of authority which is given to the office of elder in a lot of reformed churches, the elders mistreat their people.

Micah, am I wrong? We've talked about this very thing, haven't we? Andy, we've talked about this very thing, haven't we? And the danger of men who would come in and abuse God's people over exerting an authority.

It's one thing to understand the authority God's given us. It's one thing to exercise that authority properly. But notice we're supposed to exercise it for the building up of the church,.

Not tearing it down.

And there are men who are tearing.

The bride of Christ down.

Because they're bullies and they're not shepherds. One of the most famous ministries in the last 20 years was brought to its knees because it was found that the man behind the pulpit was nothing but a bully.

And he is not alone. So Paul wants the people to understand. Understand this. I do not want to frighten you with my letters.

That's not the point.

It's corrective, not abusive. And if you don't understand the difference, there is a difference. If someone comes to you, it doesn't have to be an elder, if anybody comes to you and offers you a correction in the Lord, the Bible says you're a fool if you don't listen.

That's not abuse, to be corrected. But it is abuse when we pile on to a person and we berate them and we manipulate them and we mistreat them. That should never happen from anyone, especially a man called to lead God's people.

And there's a line. Again, we're making a judgment, right? How do we judge? Does he lovingly lead in a corrective way or is he abusing the people of God? I believe in my heart these men who were at Corinth, these super apostles are abusers because Paul's going to straight up call them that later.

He's going to say you're hurting the people of God and there must be a reckoning.

And I'm on my way.

Paul's like, Wyatt Earp.

Yeah, yeah.

Titus is Doc Holliday.

I'm on my way.

Now I call this part the accusation because I think Paul has been accused of being a bully. Again, oftentimes the people who are opposed to you will claim what you are doing is actually what they're doing.

I don't know if you ever had that happen before where somebody's doing something and you call them out on it and they say no, no, no, you're the one doing it.

You're the one.

And so Paul is saying I'm not wanting to appear to be frightening you with my letters for they say, by the way, there's a textual variant here. Some translations say they say, some say he says. So it could be an individual who's accusing Paul.

We don't know for certain. I mean, we could go through all the variations of the text. But ultimately we know someone has made an accusation against Paul. And this is the accusation. His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily appearance or presence is weak in his speech of no account.

This again takes me back to the idea. Paul's presence and presentation wasn't as fancy and outwardly impressive as theirs. They say, yeah, his letters, he's strong in his letters, but when you meet him, he's really very timid.

He's not really the man he claims to be in his letters. I think I said this two weeks ago. The keyboard commando. You met that guy, right? The guy at work who writes the really strongly worded email, but when he talks to you in person, he can't back it up.

Well, that's basically what they're accusing Paul of being. They're accusing him being a first century keyboard commando. He writes strong, but when he meet him, he's not very impressive. I love what Paul says.

Verse 11. Let such a person understand that what we say when we're absent, we do in present. You think the letter's something. You think what I wrote is bold. Wait till I get there. Now, again, understand this, and this is key.

Paul is kind, but he's not weak. And I want to say this to you, church. Never, ever confuse kindness with weakness. Just because a man is kind does not mean he's being weak. Now, some people are weak, and they're afraid to speak the truth.

There are those who are weak because they're unable, in any sense of the matter, to be bold. But just because a man is kind, we should be kind, shouldn't we? I was just about to say. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

Against such, there is no law. Let me ask you this, men of God. I'm not talking about the elders. I'm talking about all the men in this room. If I were to ask somebody to give me three adjectives about you, would one of those adjectives have anything to do with kindness?

We are called to be kind. Paul is being kind, but he is saying, my kindness is not weakness. When I come, my words that were strong will be accompanied by a strong man. And I will, as he said earlier, we looked at verses 1 -6 last time.

He said, when I come, there's going to be punishment. Paul is going to punish those who have been opposing the gospel. Not for his own sake, not to simply vindicate the name of Paul, but because those who have denied his gospel have denied Jesus Christ.

And it will not continue.

Comparing by the Wrong Standard

Now verse 12, I believe, and I'm going to put it on the screen. Verse 12 sort of brings everything together because this is where Paul points out the difference between how those people that he's talking about are making their assessments, their judgments, and he says what the righteous standard of judgment is.

Notice what he says.

He says, not that we dare 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's the problem that's happening? They are judging by the wrong standard. And what standard are they judging by? Themselves. They're judging by one another. They're judging by the outward. They are judging by themselves.

I'm going to ask you this, and I want you to consider this thought. If I were to ask you today to consider what standard would you use to judge someone who claims to be from Christ, to be a man of God, to be preaching the word, what standard would we use?

Often our standards are very worldly. Well, look at the size of the guy's church. He's got to be preaching the truth. I mean, he filled a basketball stadium in Texas. He's got to be preaching the truth, right?

He's got a million followers on TikTok.

So I said, no.

By what standard do we use to judge? I can't help but think about the Bereans every time I think about this because they had one standard. Paul come in, preached, they listened to what he said, and they compared it to the word of God.