Spend and Be Spent

I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to 2 Corinthians 12 and hold your place at verse 11, 2 Corinthians 12 beginning at verse 11. The title of today's message is Spend and Be Spent.

How much do we value our brothers and sisters in Christ? That is really going to be the heart of today's message. We're going to ask some difficult questions such as how do we respond when we show love to another but that love is not reciprocated in the way that we think it ought to be?

How do we behave towards those who we are giving ourselves to and they are not giving themselves in the way that we think they ought in return? In essence, how do we behave toward those with whom we will spend eternity?

How much of ourselves are we investing in the lives of God's people? In today's text, Paul is going to use a phrase which has been rolling around in my head all week as I have been preparing this message.

This one phrase, even though we're going to look at several verses, this one phrase that sort of comes in in the middle of the text that we're going to study. This one phrase has, in one sense, become a new part of my vocabulary as certainly I've read this text many times over the years, but as is often the case, you'll read a text and read a text and it doesn't connect and then there's a point at which it just clicks and it sticks and it becomes more meaningful than it ever has.

This is the word of God which is living and active and so there are times where it just comes alive. And this phrase, spend and be spent, has really just taken on a whole new meaning for me. And I hope that through the message today it will do the same for you.

Because I want us to ask the question, is that our attitude toward one another? Are we willing to be spent, to be exhausted for the people of God? To spend and be spent for the souls of others? We live in a selfish world.

We live in a world that breeds selfishness. In fact, it encourages contempt for selflessness. But Paul in this text is going to show that his heart towards the Corinthians, who were not people who were doing him right, who was not a church that was loving him the way they should.

They were not a church that was exemplary in their behavior. But Paul says, on your behalf, I'm willing to spend and be spent. On behalf of your soul, would to God this message challenge all of us as to how we look at one another?

Let's stand and read the word of God, beginning in verse 11. I'll be reading from the English Standard Version. It'll be on the screen. And Paul begins, I've been a fool. You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you.

For I was not at all inferior to these super apostles, even though I am nothing. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you.

Forgive me this wrong. Here for the third time, I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours, but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.

I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit.

Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus to go and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?

Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding. Beloved, Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

And Lord, when we come to you, may we remember that you are holy. In fact, it is the very seraphim that said, you are holy, holy, holy. And therefore, when we approach into your presence, we should do so with genuine reverence.

The word of God says it is the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom. Lord, let us have a healthy fear of you. Lord, help us to know who you are. The God who created all things. The God who will stand through all ages, ordaining and providentially guiding and bringing about your will and the one who will at the end of the age bring judgment on the living and.

The dead.

Lord, help us to know who you are. And help us to know what you have called us to do regarding your people. For in this text, Paul does not give an explicit command, but he does provide for us an example.

And so God, I pray that as we examine this example, that Lord, you will open our hearts to understand and apply this text. And I pray, as I pray every time I stand behind the pulpit, God, that you would keep me from.

Error.

For Lord, you know how capable I am of error. How how my heart is easily led astray. And I pray, God, that you would keep me from that. For Lord God, I am weak, but your word says where Paul was weak, he was strong because of Christ.

I pray now, Lord, that Christ would increase, that I would decrease. That the word of God be our instruction, that the spirit of God be our instructor. May the word preached be done with power, but not the power of a man, but the power of the living God.

And Lord, as we consider not only hearing these words, but applying them, God, do what.

Only you can do.

And that is open hearts to understand and believe. I pray for the believers, God, that you would give them ears to hear and eyes to see where this might apply in their life. And for the unbeliever, Lord, I pray, as they are always among us, Lord, there are those who have not yet bowed the knee to Christ, whether they be young children, whether they be old, or whether they be somewhere in the middle, God, if they have not bowed the knee to Christ, may today be the day of salvation.

And Lord, may your gospel flow through this message. In Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. We are closing in on the final verses of 2 Corinthians, only this week and next week to finish chapter 12 and then into chapter 13, which will only be a few messages.

And then we'll be moving on. If the Lord wills and the plan is, again, many of the plans are with man's heart, but the Lord directs the steps. The plan is to begin the gospel of John. So that is our next book to begin.

But I've certainly enjoyed our time in this book and have gleaned much in regard to ministerial application from this. I pray that even though much of this book is related to ministry and ministers, I pray it has also been a book that has been well applied to your own life, because there certainly are many things in it that we can learn.

And the book breaks down into three parts, again, for those who have not been with us. The first seven chapters, Paul defended his ministry against those who called into question his integrity, those who called into question his truthfulness, those who called into question his very relationship with God, saying that because of his suffering, look at this man.

Everything he has ever done has turned into a mess. Every ship he's ever been on has sank. Every time he goes into a city, he's beaten, thrown out, or causes a riot. And so there was a question about Paul's ministry that had arisen in the Corinthian church, and I am convinced there were men there who came in after the Apostle Paul, which we identify as the super apostles, men who had come in after the Apostle Paul for the purpose of undermining the work that he had begun and bringing the church into their authority and pushing away the authority of the Apostle Paul.

And Paul has now come to them and is defending himself and his ministry, and we see that again in chapter one through seven as a defense. He calls his ministry a ministry of reconciliation, a ministry of the new covenant.

He explains so much sound theology that he has been teaching, and then in chapters eight and nine, he addresses the offering that they had promised to give to the Jerusalem church, a church that was suffering from famine and persecution, and he calls them to remember that offering and to not have to collect it when he comes, but to begin the collection now so that when he comes, they will not have to do that, but that it will be prepared when he arrives because he is on his way.

Chapters 10 to 13, the attitude of the books shifts. In fact, as I mentioned back in chapter 10, there are even scholars who believe this is an entirely different letter that was stitched together over time.

I don't agree with that. I don't think that there's any evidence of that, but I understand why someone would come to that conclusion because Paul goes off of defense and he goes right into offense against those who are calling his ministry into question, and he straight up calls them agents of Satan.

No longer is he going to hold anything back, but he's going to address them as they truly are, ministers of evil. He says Satan masquerades as an angel of light, and his ministers disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness.

These are not simply brothers who are in error. These are false teachers. These are dangerous men, and Paul has made it his mission to call out these men and to demonstrate their errors. So, we get to the chapter that we are in, and Paul has just completed talking about a vision.

He uses the third person, but as we talked about last week, many people agree that he's talking about himself when he said there was a man who was caught up to the third heaven, was given a vision of Almighty God, and then after that vision, he says, I was given a thorn in the flesh.

I prayed three times that God would take away that thorn, and God's answer to me was, my grace is sufficient for you, and my power is made perfect in weakness. And so, we get to verse 11, and Paul reminds us that throughout this last two chapters, he has been speaking as a fool.

Why has he been speaking as a fool? He says, because I'm boasting. If you go back to chapter 11, you look at verse 1, he talks about that very thing. He goes, if you go back there and look, he will say, I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness.

Do bear with me. What is the foolishness that he's referring to? He's referring to the foolishness of having to defend himself, having to boast. He even says in verse 17, he says, this is not what the Lord would do, but I'm doing it as a mirror against the super apostles who came to you with a boastful attitude.

The super apostles came to you with letters of commendation. They came to you boasting about all of their skills and oratory, all of their wonderful education. I am mirroring back to them, but I'm going to do it slightly different.

They came to you boasting of all of their strengths, all of their gifts, and I'm going to boast to you differently. I'm going to boast in my weaknesses, because as boasting in my weaknesses, I show where true strength comes from, and that is from the Lord.

Paul boasts in one thing, and that is Christ. So in our text today, Paul draws his boasting to a conclusion, and he speaks plainly to the people. They forced him into a game of comparison, and he says, I'm going to show you the genuineness of my ministry.

Here's the genuineness of Paul's ministry. I actually love you. That's the genuineness of his, that's how he's going to prove himself. You want to know what makes me different than the super apostles?

I love you. And he's going to say basically that throughout our text today. So let's begin back in verse 11. He says, I have been a fool. You forced me to it.

Why?

Because it was they who had given over to these super apostles, and Paul is saying to them, I didn't want to do this, but I had to do it. In fact, you are responsible for this foolishness. How are they responsible?

The very next line, for I ought to have been commended by you. Why is Paul having to defend himself? Why is Paul having to explain the breadth and width of his ministry? Why is he having to do that? Because they didn't do it for him.

You understand what I'm saying? If those super apostles came into Corinth with their adversarial attitude against the apostle Paul, the thing that they should have met was a church that said, no, we know who Paul is.

We know what he's about. We know that he taught us the truth. It was him who planted this church. It was him who gave us the gospel. It was him with whom we stand, and you got to go. But that is not what happened.

Instead, they embraced the false teachers. They embraced the heretics, and they made them the new leaders. And Paul says, this is not the way it should have been. You should have commended me. So there is a rebuke here.

Again, it's loving, but it is a rebuke. He says, you forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I am not the least inferior, or I am not at all inferior to these super apostles. Now, remember, the word here, super apostle, huper apostolon, meaning simply the one who rises above, later I mentioned in German there would be the word uber, which would relate to something that is above other things.

We think of uber as like a car driving service, but if you go back into last century, you'll read writings about the uber mensch, that is the German idea of the super man. The man who rises above other men.

The man who is by nature better than other men. Well I understand that's a 20th century development of the word, but the idea still exists even in what Paul is saying here. He's saying these men identify themselves as being above the other apostles.

These men identify themselves as the super apostles. Now that may not be what they called themselves. I can't imagine they just walked around, you know, like Clark Kent, pulling open and having a giant emblazoned S on their chest and look at me, the super apostle, but that's the attitude that these men had.

A few weeks ago I talked about that some think that this is referring to the apostles Peter, James and John, the actual apostles and Paul says I'm not at all inferior to those men. And I understand that argument, however I take the position from chapter 11 and chapter 12 where Paul says super apostles, that he's not simply referring to the actual true apostles, but he's talking about these men who have raised themselves up even over the real apostles.

The title apostle was limited to the 12 men who walked with Jesus and with Paul in regard to a specific type of authority, which we call apostolic authority. There are other men in the Bible who are called apostle, Barnabas is called an apostle because there is a generic sense in which the word apostle can be used.

The word apostle simply means one who is sent by another, an apostle. And so when we talk about even today when churches send out evangelists and missionaries, it would not be necessarily wrong to use the word apostle even though I'm not a fan of it and I'll explain why.

I think that when we use the word apostle, we tend to confuse it with the apostles and that limited number that I just mentioned. There's something called the new apostolic reformation. If you've never heard of the NAR, that is a group of hyper charismatic teachers who believe that they have a new outflowing of the spirit whereby they have become apostles in the same way that those early 12 plus Paul were apostles.

And there's a Greek word for that, it's baloney, it's what it is, it's not true. But those men claim today to be just as authoritative and just as gifted and to have just as much power as the apostles in the first century and it just ain't so.

It just ain't so. So, when Paul talks about the super apostles, these were men in the first century who were doing something very similar as the men that today make up the NAR and other false teachers.

They were claiming an authority that didn't belong to them. They were claiming to be in a position that was not rightly theirs. And so Paul says, I am not in the least inferior to the super apostles even though I am nothing.

Paul can't contain his own humility. I fight a battle with humility as many men do. Pride is a constant sin that has to be suppressed.

Amen.

Thank you for amening that so I wasn't alone. I was fixing to say anybody else but you got there. No, it is such a hard thing and it's not only men but it seems to be worse in men. But Paul had such a humble heart that even when he's saying, I am not the least inferior to these guys even though I am nothing.

You know what that means about them? They're less than nothing. But he's identifying his humility along with his boasting. This boasting is foolishness. He's called it foolishness. It's foolishness because the only thing I have to boast about is Christ.

I don't boast and shouldn't boast about any giftedness I have because the Bible says, what do you have that you have not received? If you have money, it was God who gave you the ability to make that money.

If you have talents, it was God who gave you those talents. If you have abilities to do things that other men cannot do and those men exalt you for those gifts, you should turn around and point to God and say, it is God who has given me the ability to do this.

And we should recognize the gifts that God has given to other men and not be jealous of other men and say, well, he has a gift I don't have, therefore, I can't exalt. No, I can exalt because the same God who chose to give me the gifts he gave me chose to give you the gifts he gave you and I can be thankful that you have those gifts and I have these gifts and together like a body, you might be a hand, I might be a foot.

I think I'm a mouth. But as we consider the different gifts, everybody has their own gifts. Paul says, I am nothing. And when I read that this week and I was thinking about it, something came to my mind from a long time ago.

You guys know I used to work with kids. Youth was the first part of my ministry was all youth ministry and still love working.

With kids.

I'm thankful for our karate program. It lets me get involved with the lives of many of our young people who come. I still like to talk to them and minister to them as God allows. But when I was in youth, we used to have this saying that was very helpful.

And if you think this is somewhat childish, I just told you it was for youth so you can take it for what it's worth. But we used to talk about the word Christian. And we would say the word Christian is Christ plus I-A-N.

Now what that means is follower of Christ. That's the meaning of it. But we would say Christian I-A-N, if you take the I-A-N, it means without Christ, I am nothing. Now that may seem a little elementary, but it's absolutely true.

Without Christ, I am nothing. And Paul says even in Christ, I'm nothing because in Christ, Christ is who I live in.

And through.

I am still nothing. But I have Christ. Paul says the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who gave Himself for me. To live is Christ and to die is gain. To live is Christ. It's not about me.

It's about Him. Oh, how much I wish my prayers reflected that truth. How often do our prayers get caught up in ourselves? So Paul says, even though, he says, I'm not inferior to these super apostles even though.

I'm nothing.

Now verse 12, again, remember he is showing the legitimacy of his ministry. In a moment he's going to say, I haven't really been defending myself. What I've been doing is building you up and we're going to talk about why he says that.

But he is showing the legitimacy of his ministry through all these things. And so in verse 12 he says, the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience with signs and wonders and mighty works.

Now that phrase, the signs of an apostle, needs to be considered. What does that mean? Some people believe that signs of a true apostle in this text can be linguistically disconnected from the phrase signs and wonders and mighty works because they are connected by a word, the word with.

And so the idea is that I did the signs of a true apostle and I also did signs and wonders. As if those two things are connected or disconnected. I don't think that's exactly right. But I do think we need to make this, at least this recognition.

Signs and wonders and miracles were done by men who weren't apostles.

Ever thought about that?

I'll give you two examples. You don't have to turn there. But in the sixth chapter of Acts, this talks about Stephen. Was Stephen one of the 12 plus Paul?

No.

Stephen was not. But Stephen, it says, was full of grace and power and he was doing great wonders and signs.

Among the people.

Same word Paul uses here, but referring to a man who was not an apostle.

Okay?

Philip, mentioned later in Acts chapter 8, it says in verse 6, it says,. And the crowds, with one accord, paid attention to what was being said by Philip. When they heard and saw the signs that he did, notice signs that he did, the word there, same word.

For unclean spirits crying out with a loud voice came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So Philip was able to cast out evil spirits and heal the lame and the paralyzed.

That's a pretty powerful miracle. And Philip was not an apostle.

Agabus.

I wonder if I had another boy if I'd name him Agabus. I like that name. I don't think we're going to have anymore. We'll see if we get into that. But Agabus was a prophet. It says in chapter 11, and then again in chapter 19, but in chapter 11, it says, One of them named Agabus stood and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine all over the world.

So Agabus prophesied a famine was coming to the area of Judea. And it says he did so under the Spirit of God. So here are three men who did signs, wonders, and prophecies who were not themselves apostles.

So when Paul says that he had the signs of a true apostle, is he including the mighty works? I think that he is, but it's not limited to that. Because other men who were used of God did signs and wonders.

But Paul and the other apostles were marked with a particular authority among the people of God. And that authority was demonstrated through these signs and wonders. But it was also recognized by their teaching.

It was recognized by the fact that God was using them among the people to be the foundation of this new thing called the new covenant community. Do you know what the New Testament says about the foundation of the church?

It's Christ, 1 Corinthians 3, no man can build on any other foundation than that which is Christ. But later it says that the church is built, Christ is the cornerstone, and the foundation is the apostles and prophets.

Christ Jesus being the cornerstone. These men were marked with a particular authority in the early church. The authority to be the voice of God among the people. And that voice of God was accompanied by great signs and miracles.

And I would say probably unique signs. Here's two unique signs that we don't hear about from anyone else. Peter, it says in Acts chapter 5, it says he'd walk by and his shadow would heal people. That's pretty interesting.

It says that Peter raised the dead. Remember when Tabitha in Acts chapter 9 died in Joppa? Her name was Dorcas as well. What did Peter raise her from? The dead. Now who's going to argue with that? Paul blinded Elymas the sorcerer when the man spoke against the gospel of God.

It says that handkerchiefs and aprons that Paul touched in Acts 19 were taken to the sick and through that were healed. And you see guys today, buy my prayer cloth.

Hooey.

But you've seen it, right? I'll pray on this prayer cloth, I'll send it to you, it'll heal everything and give you all the money you ever wanted. Just to be reminded, Paul weren't selling no prayer cloths.

Paul would be there, he would touch these things and people would say they would take it to someone and it would heal them. But again, this is demonstrating the extent of the power that Paul and his ministry was given by God.

Not Paul himself, but the spirit upon him. And did Paul raise the dead? Yes he did. Preachers love this story. Because a man fell asleep during his sermon. And all of us have dealt with that. Man falls asleep, fall out the window, Paul walks down, raises him from the dead and makes him come back.

And finishes the sermon. So yes, there were miracles, signs and wonders that accompanied the apostles. And I do think there was a certain uniqueness to their ministry. But I'll add one other thought. When Paul says, and remember just noticing in the text, he says the signs of a true apostle.

That word true is important. Because I believe, I can't prove it, but I think the text will bear this out. There were men who were calling Paul's ministry into question who themselves were claiming signs and wonders.

They were claiming to do these things. And Paul says, there's a qualitative difference. Mine are the marks of a true apostle. And were not they done among you. Luke doesn't tell us what they were. Luke does not record miracles in Corinth.

When we read through the book of Acts. We don't know what he did, but we know whatever he did. It was enough to cause them to recognize who he was. Paul says, were not they done. And notice he says how they were done.

They were done with patience. The NAS says perseverance. Done with patience among you. And then he says this. For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches? For what did I do at Philippi that I didn't do here?

What did I do in Thessalonica that I didn't do here? What have I done at any other church that I somehow mistreated you? The signs of a true apostle were done among you. You know who I am.

You know what I've done.

You've seen the mighty works that have been done.

You know this.

What did I leave out? One thing. I didn't burden you. What's he talking about? He didn't take their money. The one thing Paul did not do in Corinth. Paul did not take their money to support himself. He worked with his own hands.

And he received money from the Macedonian churches. So that he would not have to take one red cent from the Corinthian people. Now, I know the Bible doesn't have a sign which says, Insert sarcasm here.

But, I think there are times where the natural reading of the text would say, There's a sarcastic tone to the next word. Because what Paul just said, he said, For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches?

What did I not do among you that I did among them? Except that I didn't burden you. I didn't take your money. And then he says, Forgive me that wrong. I don't think he's legitimately asking for forgiveness.

I think he's saying, Well, excuse me. You know, that kind of attitude. I didn't take your money. Well, forgive me if that's what's offended you. You understand the idea? Well, forgive me. If that's the one thing I didn't do, that you think I should have done.

Well, you must forgive me for that. Here for the third time, I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden. I'm still not going to take your money. I'm still not going to take it from you. For I seek this.

Oh boy.

This phrase right here. He says, I seek not what is yours, but you. Couldn't we just camp out on that for a minute? Paul says, I don't want your money. I want your heart. I don't want to be a burden. I want to have you, not what is yours.

How many men who stand behind pulpits all around our country can genuinely say, I don't want what's yours. I just want you. I just want you. And then Paul gives this illustration. Can't help but be a preacher.

He is a preacher. And he says, he gives an illustration. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. Now, what's that about? Remember how Paul sees the Corinthians.

Paul sees the Corinthians as his spiritual children. He said this just a few verses earlier. Actually a chapter earlier when he's talking about them. He said, you are like a pure virgin that I presented to Christ as a husband.

What's the illustration there? Paul says, I'm like the father. You're like the daughter. And my desire is to present you to Christ, a pure virgin, because Christ is the husband and the church is his bride.

But these men have come in, and I've used this language. I said, these men come in and they're effectively rapists. Spiritual rapists have come in to defile the virgin daughter rather than have her presented pure to Christ.

Well, here Paul is saying, I didn't burden you. I'm not going to burden you. And here's why. I am like your spiritual father. You're like my spiritual children. And children don't save for the parents.

Parents save for the children. That's a basic principle of life that Paul is applying to this spiritual application. Now, I have in my notes a little word. It's called an aside. Sometimes I'll write an aside.

That simply means, I'm going to talk about something else for a second and I'll be back. Because I want to say something about this little phrase. It says, parents save for their children, not children for their parents.

Some Christians think that owning things and saving and amassing wealth is sinful. This is a modern form of something called asceticism. Asceticism rose very early in church history and gave rise to the monastic movement.

The monastic movement is the monasteries and the monks, the men who said they're going to rid themselves of all earthly goods and wealth and they're going to resign themselves to the cloisters, the monasteries, and they're going to be separate from all of the enjoyments of life and the pursuit of anything in life.

That is not the call of the Christian life. It's not. Now, we are called not to allow anything in life to hold us hostage, especially money, and money is a terrible hostage taker. But the Bible says in Proverbs 13, a good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children.

That be your grandchildren. That means there's actually virtue in saving for your children and their children, providing wealth for your children. Now, we can talk more about that and maybe we will in a future message because I think we need to consider, again, it's not the focus, but it's Paul's using illustration, so I'm just making this point.

We need to consider the fact that our children are valuable and think generationally. That's all I want to say. This little message, Paul says children don't save up for their parents, parents save up for their children.

Are we thinking that way about our kids? Investing in them, investing in them spiritually, but also investing in their future. So Paul uses that illustration to describe how he feels about the Corinthians.

And now we finally, almost at the end, finally get to the verse I wanted to talk about the whole time. And that is verse 15. He says, I will most gladly, this is a superlative form of the word gladly.

This is why the ESV puts most gladly in there. Most gladly, it's the idea of something not just glad, but very glad. Paul says, I would most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. I've come to you, Paul says, and I took nothing from you.

Instead, while I was with you, I spent my own money. I spent money, he says in an earlier passage, I robbed other churches so I wouldn't have to take a dime from you. And I have spent money on you, not taking your money.

And I have exhausted myself for the sake of your soul. Beloved, think for a moment. Think for a moment what Paul is saying in that passage. I have given everything for you. I've expended money and myself.

As I was preparing this week, I was trying to think how to say this in a way that won't be misunderstood. So here goes. Oftentimes I'll hear people say, I feel like I'm being used in a negative way. I feel like I'm being used.

Being used in that context typically means being taken advantage of. Nobody wants to be taken advantage of. That is the idea. Paul says, I'm willing for that to happen because that's how much I love you.

I'm willing to spend and be spent. What's the NASS? Expended. I'm willing because I love you. Now I'm not in any way endorsing any ministry or anything that would mistreat people. Please know that. That's not the point that I'm making.

But we live, and this is where I really want to get. We live in a consumer driven church culture. We live in a church culture that only wants to look for churches that provide for the needs without expecting anything in return.

A professional ministry for everything. A professional nursery. A professional youth group. A professional band. A professional this and a professional that. Everybody receives a paycheck and half the people being paid aren't even saved.