Following the Follower I: Meeting Our Example

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Welcome to the Whole Council Podcast. I'm Jon Snyder, and with me again is Chuck Baggett, and we are starting a new series in the podcast called,

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I think we'll entitle it, Following the Follower. How do we follow the Lord Jesus Christ by leaning on the example of the

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Apostle Paul? And we're going to be using a particular portion of Scripture for this, and it's found in 2

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Corinthians 2, verse 12, through the end of chapter 6, verse 10. And as we look at the highlights of these passages, we'll only be able to really kind of hit the peaks because of the amount of material there.

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But we're going to be looking at this passage because it gives us the fullest autobiographical section in Scripture on the

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Apostle Paul, where Paul doesn't just say what he does as a

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Christian or what he does when he ministers to other people, but it gives the deeper issue of what he thinks, what changed in the

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Apostle's thinking when he went from being a Pharisee and a self -righteous religious man to a servant of Christ.

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What fueled him? What guided his choices? And are these things applicable to anybody other than an

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Apostle? In the last year, Chuck, you've been preaching through this portion of Scripture, not just chapter 2 through 6, but through the entirety of 2

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Corinthians, you just finished that. And while Chuck was preaching through that, we took the opportunity to try to memorize some of this, of this chapter 2 through chapter 6, verse 10.

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I think Chuck did better than me, but I haven't given up yet. I'm still going. And in memorizing it,

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I think I found that a lot of places that I thought I knew what the passage said, so I thought

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I was familiar enough, you know, chapter 3, I know what it says. Verse 18, well, I know what it says.

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And I had kind of a summary that I had in my mind of the passage.

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But what I find in my own pattern, I find that I have a summary of a passage, and then over years, the summary in my mind, the summary becomes the passage itself.

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So when I think about a passage, I think, well, it says this, really, it's just my summary of it. And when

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I go back, especially if I'm memorizing a passage, I find that it not only says so much more than my vague generalization, but sometimes it says things differently than I remembered.

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And I thought I knew what the passage said, but actually, I didn't. And you know, so as we've tried to memorize the end of chapter 2 through middle of chapter 6, and as you were preaching through it, and it became the place of my quiet time for six months, so I did use some of the commentaries.

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I found it really to be one of the most impactful, helpful, I hope, one of the most lastingly life -changing portions of Scripture that I've come to in many years.

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So what was your take on it, you know, as you were working through it? I would say something similar to that.

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There are, you know, even, you think you're familiar with a passage, and perhaps familiarity is the problem.

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You know, even though you read it, you maybe don't pay as close attention to it as you would a passage you're not as familiar with.

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And so you look at the words, but you still have that kind of summary in your mind. But I did find it to be so helpful as a

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Christian and also as a pastor. Yeah, and we'll talk at the end about who we think these chapters are applicable to, but I find that they go far wider than I originally thought.

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Well we're going to start our study, and as I mentioned, we'll only be able to hit some high points, but we're going to start our study with 2

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Corinthians 2 verse 12 and 13 because there's a strange scene that opens the heart of the apostle to explain so much of the interiority of his life.

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So let me read those verses, and then Chuck, if you would, can you just kind of bring us up to speed?

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What's the context of the letter itself? It's not Paul's second letter. So what is it?

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And what were the things that were happening that led Paul to write verse 12 and 13?

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In chapter 2 verse 12 of 2 Corinthians, we read, Now, when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ, and when a door was opened for me in the

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Lord, I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother, but taking my leave of them,

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I went on to Macedonia. So really quite a unique passage in Pauline literature.

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The apostle arrives at a new town to preach the gospel. God himself creates an opening for that gospel, but something is happening in the life of Paul that causes him to turn his back on the opportunity and leave and go to another city.

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So Chuck, bring us up to date on what's going on there. As you mentioned, this isn't the second letter that Paul has written.

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In 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 9, he writes that he had written previously to them.

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I wrote to you. And so there's a letter that predates 1 Corinthians.

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And then after the letter to 1 Corinthians, and in between it and 2 Corinthians, there appears to be yet another letter.

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Paul had founded the church at Corinth during his second missionary journey, and it was there that God told him not to fear and to speak freely, that he had a lot of people in that city, many people.

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And so Paul stayed there for 18 months preaching, and a church has begun. And we would assume that when he left, that he left with the church on a good footing.

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And yet, problems soon began to occur. He writes and addresses some issues in the letter of 1

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Corinthians. And again, you know, I've already written to you about one of those issues. But then after 1

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Corinthians, things deteriorated even further. It appears that false teachers entered and began to sow seeds of discord.

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And among the things that they raised issue with, or problems that they brought, was a distrust of Paul to the

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Corinthian people. So here's their father in the faith. And in 1

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Corinthians, he's addressing concerns that they themselves have raised, so they, at least at that point, still trusted what he had to say and wanted to know.

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But by 2 Corinthians, the people are questioning whether he even is an apostle or whether they can trust him as an apostle.

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Apparently, between 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, he has made a visit to them. He mentions this at the end of chapter 1 and again at the beginning of chapter 2, where he talks about not coming to them again and causing them sorrow.

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And for their sake, he's not come again. So he's come to them, perhaps to address some of these issues, and the problem just became exacerbated.

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And he withdraws and writes them another letter. He speaks of writing them with much anguish, many tears.

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Some people have called it the tearful letter. And since writing that letter, he has sent

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Titus to them. Perhaps Titus delivers the letter. And Paul now waits to find out what will be the outcome of that.

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And you can imagine, you know, there's no email or telephone or anything like that. Even taking the letter from Paul to the

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Corinthians would have taken significant time. And then waiting for him to come back, you know, travel is not what it is today.

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And so likely, he expected Titus to come to him with news of how the

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Corinthians had responded by boat. And when he doesn't come,

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Paul goes looking for him. And Paul is so concerned about what the answer is that, you know, as you said, he can't even remain in a place where the

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Lord has opened up an opportunity for him to preach. And evidently, you know, he's finding that God is at work in that place.

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But he leaves for concern of the Corinthians. So the false teachers have, as I said, introduced suspicion on Paul in the minds of the

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Corinthians. And among the things that they have kind of used to bolster their position, there's a few things.

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One, they seem to indicate that he's untrustworthy. He says one thing, but then he does something else.

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And he addresses this in chapter 1 and chapter 2, where he talks about how he had plans to come to them. And his plans changed because of how they have responded to him.

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He doesn't want to come and have to talk to them, you know, in a harsh way.

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He doesn't want to come and find that he has reason to be sorrowful. And so his plans have changed because of what he's found in them.

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But the false teachers have pointed that as like, you know, there's a lack of integrity here. Another, along the lines of talking again, later we find that the false teachers have brought up the issue of, you know, his letters are bold.

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He talks so big in his letters. But in person, he is weak, and he's not that impressive.

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And Paul actually tells them, you know, I don't want to come to you and have to talk to you again in a harsh kind of way.

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So I'm saying things in a letter, hoping that by the time I arrive, you've repented, and I don't have to be bold in that kind of way.

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But the other, and the one that makes up, I think, the majority of the letter in this section is that Paul suffers so much.

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The Corinthians evidently had become very impressed with the idea of an easy life, and that was kind of the culture in Corinth.

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And perhaps the false teachers have fed into that. And you look at Paul, and there's nothing about Paul that suggests an easy life.

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You know, if this is victorious Christian living, then, you know, it seems very strange.

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So you look at Paul who, you know, his health can't have been great.

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I don't think he was a weakling. He does manual labor. But he says that he bears, you know, the marks of Christ Jesus.

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I don't think that's figurative. He has been beaten, and scourged, and stoned, and all these other things that he lists that have occurred to him, he probably did actually bear marks.

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And you look at him, and this isn't a specimen of easy living, you know? And then also, he suffers financially.

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There's no sense of easy Christian living and being financially prosperous with Paul.

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He refuses the help of the Corinthians, which was an affront to them. He labors night and day.

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If he's not preaching, and praying for the people, and teaching people, he's making tent, and maybe does some of that at the same time.

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And he works, and works, and works. And even that is not enough to completely support him. So he receives help from the

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Macedonians. So just the picture that they have, perhaps, in their mind and fed by the false teachers is that a

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Christian shouldn't suffer like that. Christ has suffered, so you don't have to suffer. And then you look at Paul, and there's so much suffering.

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And even his waiting, right now, for Titus is a kind of suffering.

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In that list of suffering that he gives us later in 2 Corinthians, he kind of says at the end of it, on top of all of that physical suffering,

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I carry the weight of the churches. And that's what he's doing in verses 12 and 13. I'm waiting to hear, how have you responded?

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Have you repented? Am I going to have to come and be bold? Or have you repented?

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And then the suffering is magnified by the fact that Titus doesn't arrive when he's supposed to.

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And so you can almost feel his concern, you know, not just for Titus, but for the

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Corinthians, for both of them. And he picks that idea back up in chapter 7 when he talks about how

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God comforted him finally with the arrival of Titus. Yeah, so chapter 2 from verse 12 to that verse in chapter 7, really, we're looking at Paul.

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It's kind of at the end of his rope, so to speak, you know. We're looking at him when he is under a terrible weight of concern and sorrow, being constantly mocked by those who would enter the church and distort that real work of the

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Lord, doubted perhaps by true Christians that he's poured himself out for their good.

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And, you know, and it's all in that, what Amy Carmichael, the missionary to India, called that age -long moment when you're wondering,

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God, are you going to respond? You know, are you going to act? And in that age -long moment, the apostle pins such wonderful bedrock realities.

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These are the things that he builds his hope on, and they become, of course, wonderful for us as well.

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Well, one of the reasons that we're wanting to look at these chapters together is because we feel that the apostle

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Paul is so particularly helpful for us today. And I think, and I think

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Chuck would agree, that especially if you are a person who has been rethinking theology, rethinking soteriology, the doctrine of salvation, so you're rethinking who

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God is, you're coming back to your Bible, and maybe you're rethinking what salvation is.

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What is redemption? From beginning to end, from eternity past to eternity future, and maybe getting a clearer picture of that.

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And whatever label you put on yourself is not as important as the fact that it's biblical.

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And you're also maybe rethinking church, ecclesiology. And so many have done that in the last 10 years.

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We've really seen a resurgence of going back to older writers, going back to scripture, and embracing healthier patterns.

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But with all of that, with the emphasis on expository preaching and not just getting up and having a thought for the day, with the emphasis on having a good theological statement that your church can say, we believe that this is what the

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Bible teaches about these key areas, so a confession, with the re -emphasis of the tool of catechism for teaching questions and answers, a very simple method for instruction, but a method that helps us not leave large portions of biblical truth out, you know, as we're kind of just doing

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Sunday school and we're hoping we hit all the major points. And on top of that, the resurgence of, you know, going back to what the scripture says about how

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God wants to be worshipped, rather than kind of consulting the culture around us and saying, what would you like on a

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Sunday morning? So we call that the regulative principle, scripture regulating how we approach

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God. With the resurgence of all these older tools, which I think are good and helpful and certainly of great value in their place,

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I think that that ultimately, if we're not careful, only kind of changes the surface.

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But I find that oftentimes in my travels, but more often, you know, as we look at church here, and more often than that, when

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I look in the mirror in the morning, it is easy to embrace external changes that are historically, you know, proven, that are biblically implied or founded, and then the deeper issues of my heart, of what fuels me, why do

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I get out of bed, of what guides my efforts to help people, whether it's the kids, to be a friend to my wife, to reach out to my neighbor, to talk to the person at the ball field, you know, or whether it's preaching here at the church, you know, those questions.

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But what molds John Snyder's approach to the

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Christian life? And what molds my thoughts and my choices when it comes to serving other people?

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Oftentimes, I would have to admit that it's been patterns that I grew up with. Well, this is how

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I saw my parents act, or this is how I saw my pastor act as I grew up. And there are many beneficial things from that, but that's not the standard.

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Or sometimes, I would have to admit that the way I am guided in my choices each day is more significantly fashioned by the present crisis.

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So, you know, what texts or phone calls you and I get, or the other elders at the church, what do we as pastors get, what does my wife say when she calls and says, you need to come home, you know, and I think, what's happened now?

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You know, the crisis of the moment can fashion you more than Scripture.

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And that always is a temptation when you care about people and you are involved in other people's lives, but that's not the standard.

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And then I think, well, what gets me out of bed? So not just what fashions my choices, but what motivates me.

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Self, pride, I want to be seen as the right kind of husband, dad, pastor, friend.

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Or is it what fueled Paul? And does he explain that? And he does. Well, obviously, the answer to, you know, this, the deeper issues of, you know, having our hearts reformed and not just our ecclesiology, having the interiority of our lives at the deepest level, having our identity completely refashioned, and our beliefs and our desires and our responses refashioned, these things occur when we take

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Christ as our pattern. So when Christ says, follow me, there was no year in church history where that no longer was the pattern.

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You know, we can't say, well, that was the pattern until 125 AD. And then from that point forward, there's a totally different way of the kingdom moving forward.

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It is still the same way. So we embrace him, believe me, and we follow him.

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But when you think about that, that can sound so super spiritual. You know, you can think, well, I don't live back then, and I don't do those kinds of things

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Jesus did. And I don't know, you know, when I look at 2023, and then

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I look at, you know, 30 AD, I don't even know if we're on the same planet, you know.

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So one of the great helps I have found is the pattern of Paul, especially here in 2

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Corinthians. One thing I think Paul does for us is he removes that silent whisper that says to us, if you,

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John, had been able to travel with Jesus for three years, like the disciples, you would be a much better pastor.

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You would know how to be a dad, how to be a father, how to be a friend, how to be a

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Christian witness at work, or whatever. And that is an excuse that is so easy to accept, but it is baseless.

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And I think the person in Scripture that just rips that away from us, tears that band -aid off of us, you know, pulls that smoke screen away, is the

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Apostle Paul, because he follows Jesus Christ so closely in how he thinks and acts that he can write for everyone to read in 1

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Corinthians, follow me, for I follow the Lord. Now, he says this in different ways throughout the

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New Testament, but that's his pattern. Remember how I acted. Remember not just what

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I taught you, but remember my life when I was among you. And don't follow other people who might repeat the same words

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I said, but don't follow the same pattern. Because I was among you, he says to the

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Thessalonians, in a certain way for your sake. You saw me.

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And he said, you became imitators of me, the Thessalonians, and of the Lord. What a strange statement.

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You know, I came to Christ Church. I heard the preaching of Chuck Baggett.

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I spent time with Chuck. Maybe I lived with Chuck and his family for a while as I was trying to find a home, and I imitate

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Chuck, and in imitating Chuck, I have imitated Jesus Christ's pattern. I mean, that would be wonderful.

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So when I read Paul's statements, it takes away the lie that I would be a better Christian if I had actually been there because Paul did not travel those three years with Christ.

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As far as we know, all that Paul knows of Christ is through the Scripture brought to bear on his heart and mind by the

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Spirit. He has contact with other Christians who did walk with Christ, yes, but it is a life of faith, not of sight.

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And so we have all that he had for the basic tasks of the Christian life.

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So I find Paul to be really helpful, but one question that I have to ask myself is, well, then what am

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I supposed to do? So are we supposed to mimic the external choices of Paul?

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So where do we start? Do we go to the Book of Acts? Pardon? Be tipmakers, right? Yeah, so should we be tipmakers? Should I wear a robe?

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You know, should I wear sandals? Should I be back in Jerusalem or maybe the ancient Roman Empire? Well, no, we don't go to the

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Book of Acts and say, Paul did A, B, and C when he went to that town. Well, that may be a very good guide, but the

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Book of Acts is pretty clearly not a how -to -do church book. It is an explanation of the mighty work of God from the resurrected

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Christ through his Spirit, working in these men, how the gospel spread. But it is not a how -to -do church book.

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So when we come to Paul, I think we don't start with just mimicking external choices that the apostle did, but we want to know, what did he think?

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Can I imitate the Lord Jesus Christ's way of thinking by imitating

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Paul's way of thinking? And I think the answer is yes. We can follow Paul, not just externally, but theologically, intellectually, with our heart as well as with our mind.

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So, what did Paul think? What did he hope in? What gripped him?

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What held him? In 2 Corinthians, we find that word that Paul uses everywhere so often, the word, therefore.

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So he says, I do this, and therefore, or I believe this, therefore. So because of these great realities that grip my mind and my heart, that's why you see me act a certain way, or that's why

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I don't do certain things. And that's where I think we want to start, how to think like the apostle

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Paul. And that is why we're looking at 2 Corinthians 2 through chapter 6, verse 10.

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Chuck, if you were to be asked by a person after they listened to the first episode of the podcast and they say, that's great for Paul, he's an apostle, and I can see how missionaries and preachers need this, but does this apply outside of people that we think of as professional ministers, as professional servants of Christ?

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Who do you think the chapters are applicable to? I think they're applicable to anybody who seeks to lead somebody else toward the

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Lord, in a number of ways, but one is how

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Paul refuses to make changes when things get difficult. The Corinthians are starting to abandon him, and he does not adjust his behavior or his message.

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He's consistent. Here's what the new covenant does. Here's the changes it brought, it brings about in someone's life.

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And he just keeps pointing right back to that. And so you think about, for instance, a parent with their child who is difficult and is not listening to you as you point them toward the

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Lord. Do you adjust the message? Do you try to make it simpler? Or do you continue to point them to God and know that only

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God can really change their heart? Yeah, I mean, it's very tempting as parents, especially when we care about their soul, to be misguided in that care, for the enemy to use that kind of in a sentimental way to get us off course.

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And like you said, you think, well, maybe there's a way that I can be Christian, but not be so biblical, maybe not so strict.

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And we're not talking about legalism, just talking about, like you said, pointing the young person to the

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Christ of the Bible, not the Christ of our culture, not the Christ that might exist for that young person, whatever you want.

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So we point them to the real Christ and the real path of the Christian, and you can just make a few adjustments.

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And the child suddenly, you know, he likes the new church, he likes the new family, he likes the me -centered

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Jesus. And so, you know, it can appear for a while, this has been a great thing. My kid loves church now, my kid loves, you know,

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Christianity now, where it used to be a bit of a fight. But really, what you've offered him is a substitute.

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And so, yeah, Paul, we see that in the book of Acts, he goes from town to town to town. And, you know, how many times do we read, he was chased out of this town, he was stoned in this town, he was imprisoned in this town, he was beaten in this town.

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And the very next chapter in Acts says, and so he went from there to this town.

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And he does exactly the same missionary methods. And you think, why didn't you change your method?

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Well, because the method, he believed, was in complete harmony with the message.

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And there was no need to change the method. God would work. And, you know, the reaction of the unbeliever was no reason to alter course when there was an infinitely wise and powerful

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God at work through the things Paul believed, through the new covenant.

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And he, knowing the sufficiency of Christ, he doesn't alter. Yeah, I think of parents.

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I think of a spouse who maybe is the only Christian in the home. Or think of a child who is the first Christian in the family.

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And they think, I'm just, I'm the son, I'm the daughter, I'm not the parent even. So how could

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I hope to really influence my parents? And so, you know, words are spoken carefully, you know, humbly, but clear message.

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A life that kind of, that is so different that it kind of bothers the parents.

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Why are you so different now? You know, have you become a religious fanatic? Well, no, but this is why.

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And when there's rejection there, when your methods or your best efforts and your long and many prayers seem to fall on deaf ears, do you alter?

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And if not, how do you hold the course and the things that Paul believed help that person?

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But yeah, you mentioned anyone who's trying to lead someone to the Lord, anyone who's trying to help a younger believer grow, and you see that young believer, you know, make progress at first, it's so encouraging, and then something stalls.

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And you can see them being just lied to and kind of enticed to maybe take a slower pace, or maybe just, you know, take a step to the left or to the right of obedience.

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And just, you know, it's still a religious life. It's still admirable. It's not a heinous sin, but you can see them begin to drift in their heart and in their choices.

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And it breaks your heart. And when you speak to them, maybe it's misunderstood. Maybe they say, well, oh, so you're a legalist, or you're disappointed in me.

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And you say, well, no, not at all. It's just, and you begin to, you know, try.

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And like Paul says to the Corinthians, the more I loved you, the more openly I plead with you, the more openly

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I share the truths with you that are for your good, the more you run away from me. And every

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Christian friend and every Christian parent has felt that at times. Every pastor has.

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How do we avoid the temptation of altering, of being clever?

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And in Paul, we have that foundation. Also, the temptation to become discouraged and maybe throw up your hands and say, just forget it and move on to someone else and something else, or the temptation to maybe become harsh.

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Like, I told you once. Now I'm gonna tell you, you know. But Paul is patient, and he leaves when he could have stayed, and he could have told them right then, this is wrong, and hammered them.

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But he leaves, he writes a letter, and here's another letter before I come. And he's gentle, so gentle that they basically have accused him of cowardice.

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And he's unperturbed. Yeah, and you think with the apostle

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Paul that memory of previous sin before the Lord conquered him, before conversion, how the enemy could have used the memory of your shameful sins.

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And to say to you, Paul, maybe if it were John or Peter, maybe if it had been one of the other disciples, one that hadn't hunted

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Christians and killed them, maybe God would use their words. But look at you, and Paul continually has to find his identity rooted in the new covenant and not in the present circumstances.

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So, 2 Corinthians 2 verse 12 through 6 verse 10, we're gonna be looking over the next weeks at what fueled the apostles' service in the kingdom and what guided it.

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And we'll be looking at that in hopes that every church leader, every Sunday school teacher, every older Christian that's reaching out to a younger

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Christian, every witness in the workplace, certainly every pastor, every family member, every parent would find in this the path for the