The Minister's Authority & His Critics - Part 2

Moore's Corner Church

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The Fellowship of His Sufferings - Part 3

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Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

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Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

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D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's Word through the ministries of the local church.

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If you'd like more information is at our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

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Look at Numbers chapter 16 verse 1. Now Korah the son of Ishar the son of Kohath the son of Levi with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab and the son and On the son of Peleth sons of Reuben took men.

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Okay I got through all the hard names. Verse 2 and they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel 250 leaders of the congregation representatives of the congregation men of renown and they gathered together against Moses and Aaron and they said to them you take too much upon yourselves for all the congregation is holy every one of them and the

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Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the

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Lord. So this is a not a question it's an accusation. So this man

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Korah leads a rebellion against Moses. He's stirring up all the people. Verse 3 it says they gathered together against Moses and Aaron and they had their complaint their excuse their excuse as to why they were doing it.

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You see in any coup attempt there is always a pretext. In any coup attempt there is always going to be a reason presented as to why this needs to happen.

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It's never just because there's always a reason. The false teachers had a reason a pretext to get rid of Paul.

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Remember what it was? He's walking according to the flesh. And what did they say about Moses and Aaron?

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You take too much upon yourself. Basically you can't handle this. Besides we're all at the same level.

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We're just as good as you are. All the people are holy.

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You're not better than we are. Who do you think you are Moses? But look at this question.

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Why then do you exalt yourself? Well is that true?

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Did Moses exalt himself above the assembly of the Lord? Seems to me I remember that when

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God came to Moses, Moses didn't even want to do it. He said go find somebody else.

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The Lord had to talk him into it or just tell him no Moses you're the man.

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So Moses didn't exalt himself. Paul, Paul wasn't seeking to be in this position.

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God had to strike him down on the Damascus Road and you're the man. You're the

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Apostle to the Gentiles. So again it's not uncommon. A faithful servant will always have critics.

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There will always be somebody ready to accuse. And just to finish this story of Korah, the best parts at the end.

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All right let's let's cover this. Verse 28, and Moses said by this you shall know that the

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Lord has sent me to do all these works. For I have not done them of my own will.

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If these men die naturally as all men or if they are visited by the common fate of all men, then the

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Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates a new thing and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belong to them and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected who?

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Moses and Aaron? No they've rejected the Lord. Now it came to pass, verse 31, as he finished speaking all these words that the ground split apart under them.

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And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households and all the men with Korah and with all their goods.

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So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit.

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And the earth closed over them and they perished from among the assembly.

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That's one of the most fearful and striking memorable sections of the

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Old Testament that you will ever read. You think God got his message across? I'm thinking he did.

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I think so. Now there's obviously this was unique. Moses was the mediator of the

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Old Covenant to ensure that all men everywhere, and even to this day when we read this, it's very clear.

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Just so God made this clear that everyone knows who Moses is. He speaks the truth.

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Don't listen to them. Listen to him. You know the false teachers in Corinth?

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Do you think they knew this story? I think they did. Were they worried that the ground was going to open up and swallow them alive, bring them down into the pit?

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Apparently not. Maybe they should have been. Because do you think that the punishment for corrupting the gospel will be any less severe?

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Not in this life perhaps, but certainly in the life to come. So the false teachers in Corinth, they were opposing

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Paul and they would have made it like this. We're against him. We're not, they didn't say they're against the

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Lord. Just like Korah. Korah never would have stood up and said, I'm a wicked false prophet.

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I'm against the Lord. No, he said I'm against, I'm opposing Moses. But opposing Moses is opposing the

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Lord. Opposing Paul is opposing the Lord. Now turn back to 2nd

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Corinthians chapter 10. On the New King James Version, that's the version that I use, this section is titled

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Paul's Authority, or the reality of Paul's authority. So we see that Paul did have authority, but there are limits to it.

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You know, sometimes preachers can use these stories, you know, you better do what I say or else the earth's going to open up and swallow you, you know.

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But there are limits to Paul's authority. There are limits even to Moses authority.

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There's limits to authority because one of the accusations against Paul is he's an abusive leader.

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And there are abusive leaders. So we're going to look at the limits to his authority as well. But go back to verse 7.

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Paul asked them, do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is

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Christ, let him again consider this in himself that just as he is Christ, even so we are

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Christ. So the way verse 7 begins, it's presented as a question, but it's more like a statement.

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Paul's saying, look at this. Just look at what's happening here. The false teachers say that they belong to Christ.

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Well, if they belong to Christ, certainly we do. So listen to us.

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Paul's defending himself now. We've talked about how he didn't want to have to defend himself.

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He feels kind of funny defending himself. He doesn't want to do it. It might even sound like boasting, but the point is he really doesn't have much of a choice.

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I mean things had gotten so bad, Paul simply does not have a choice. And Paul so loved the people in Corinth.

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He so loved this church. Even with all of their problems, Paul was not about to let someone destroy the church.

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Again, this whole thing is unpleasant. It's too bad I had to get to this. But really, what is

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Paul supposed to do? I mean just ask yourself, what's he supposed to do? Hand the church over to false teachers?

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Is that what he's supposed to do? You know, the church is worth fighting for.

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Amen? If the church is worth dying for, the church is worth fighting for.

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And we know that Jesus paid for the church with his own blood.

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If it's worthy to die for, it's worth fighting for. And God has entrusted it to us.

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Jesus is not here physically, okay? He is the head of this church spiritually, but he's not physically present.

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He has entrusted it to us. That's a great responsibility. The church is worth fighting for.

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That's Paul's attitude. It should be our attitude as well. Now, in fighting for the truth, at times, you know, issuing corrections and rebukes.

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Another thing that Paul apparently was accused of was being an abusive leader. Paul responds in verses 8 and 9.

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He says, for even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority which the Lord gave us.

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And what did he give the authority for? For edification. For the building up and the encouragement of the saints.

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Not for their destruction. But Paul says, I'm not going to be ashamed, lest I seem to terrify you by or in my letters.

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So, what Paul is doing, he's doing for their good. The false teachers are going to spin it another way.

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Of course, there's always someone looking to take what you say and spin it another way. But it's for their good. He wants to build them up.

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We already touched on verse 10 of what they said about his letters are weighty but his speech contemptible.

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But basically, they're saying Paul is all talk. You know, when he's hundreds of miles away, he's writing these powerful letters.

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He wouldn't dare say this to our face. That's what the false teachers are telling them. Look at verse 11.

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What does Paul say? Let such a person consider this. That what we are in word, by letters, when we are absent, such we will be indeed when we are present.

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So, this is a man saying, you know, you better be careful what you say. But here's a man speaking with authorities.

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So, his enemies are doing what? They're challenging him, trying to undermine him, twisting what he's saying and doing.

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And the question I think we have to ask, number one, is Paul's authority legitimate?

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And then number two, this would have been the question the church would have had to ask themselves, is his authority legitimate?

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Number one. And then number two, is Paul operating within the boundaries of his authority?

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Or has he got a little too big for his britches as, you know, some people say. It's a generation or two ago.

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Now, before we cover some of those things and finish the chapter, what's the application for us?

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You know, we live in a day and age where there are no apostles. There are no prophets.

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There are no men who speak with the same authority as Paul, who at times gets direct revelation from God.

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So, clearly there are differences. But is there still authority within a local church?

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Of course there is. When someone is rightly handling the Word of God as a

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Christian minister, but even as a Christian, when you speak the

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Word of God, there is authority in the Word of God. One of,

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I've already made reference to this man once, so I'll do it again. The great Protestant reformer,

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Martin Luther, said this, a simple layman, just an average church member, just an average

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Christian, anyone, a simple layman armed with Scripture is to be believed above a pope or a council without it.

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God's Word is authoritative. Speaking of spiritual war, how did

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Jesus combat the attacks in the wilderness when He was being tempted of the devil 40 days?

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How did Jesus combat the devil? Quoting Scripture. When someone comes at you with a lie, and they speak a lie, what do you do?

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You quote Scripture. And in doing so, you speak with authority. You can say to that person, no, thus saith the

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Lord, and you can present the truth. Pastors and church leaders, when speaking from God's Word, speak with authority.

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But like Paul, there is a limit to that authority, because there are abusive leaders out there who try to claim authority that does not belong to them, or try to expand their authority beyond what

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God has given to them. Generally speaking, this legitimate authority that we are talking about this morning, that Paul was talking about, it pertains to the church.

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It pertains to the household of God. And it covers spiritual matters, okay, moral issues, spiritual matters.

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What is faith, and what is sin? For example, Paul had authority in the church at Corinth.

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He did not have authority in the city of Corinth. He could wage spiritual war in the sphere of the church.

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He couldn't send in troops to go attack a stronghold, right? So he had authority, but it was limited to the household of God.

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People today, if they find themselves in a church, quote unquote, or if they find themselves in a religious organization where the leader has control over every aspect of their lives, and he's kind of micromanaging their personal life, there's a word for that.

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What is it? Cult. It's a cult. Thanks for listening.

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I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornet Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscornetchurch .com.

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And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, with the grace of God be with you.