2 Corinthians 10, Got Swagger?

2 corinthians chapter 10. We'll be reading the whole chapter. Hear the word of the Lord. I Paul Myself and treat you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. I Who am humble when face to face with you but bold toward you when I am away I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh.

For though we walk in the flesh We are not waging war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh. But have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

Being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete. Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ 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 you up and not for destroying you. I will not be ashamed. I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters for they say his letters are weighty and strong.

But his bodily presence is weak and his speech of no account. Let's 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 with regard only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us to reach even you to you.

For we are not over extending 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 the 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 was approved. But the one whom the Lord commends. If the Lord had his blessings to the reading of his holy word a one old-fashioned word.

It's been resuscitated lately and now become very prominent is the word particularly in sports is the word swagger. Sometimes even abbreviated as swag. But the new swagger the new resuscitated swagger has a slightly different connotation than the old swagger.

The dictionary where the old definition of swagger still lingers defines it as quote to conduct oneself in an arrogant or supercilious pompous manner. Especially to walk with an air of overbearing self-confidence.

Swagger then was an entirely negative thing to swagger. Used mostly as a verb was often said to in a way to make fun. Almost to insult someone for being just too self-confident as in like you should have seen him.

Swaggering onto the field like he like he was a superstar only to be told he was cut from the team. Ha ha. Swagger often came before a fall, but now swagger Is something something good something positive at least the way it's used most people think now use mostly as a noun.

It's an attribute that you strive to get or to get back. LeBron James once said that about his team. We've got to get our swagger back. That is we got to walk out into the courts with with confidence that we can win this game.

We have will so all the other team that they'll just be intimidated and those will melt away. Swagger is now desirable. So desirable even some companies advertise themselves as having swagger about a decade.

A decade ago an online retail company and based in Kerry North Carolina called itself swagger. Advertising itself is offering gifts with an attitude I Couldn't find them this past week. So I guess they went out of business apparently swagger Still goes before a fall.

The reality is that swagger that makes a team maybe make a team confident and aggressive to the opposition is A problem within the team itself. Now the sport I was involved in track and cross-country is probably the least conducive to Swagger, you know care how much swagger you have.

Can you run fast? It's better to let your running do the talking as I saw myself at Mississippi State. We're a competing runner from southeast, Missouri State challenged me right in the middle of a 5k race 5 ,000 meters three point one mile right in the middle of the race.

He turns to me and says I Can last longer than you bud? He definitely had swagger and his swagger Provoked me to beat him. By my senior year I was the lone senior with a team mostly a freshman. Each of them had just been recruited each of them were hot shots stars from their high school teams used to winning races used to Always running in front.

They were probably the each of them was probably the star on the team. They come from no one could no one was faster than them. No one could ever run in front of them and some of them definitely had swagger.

What in particular because he had so much swagger. He couldn't tolerate not being the lead in the lead whenever we ran together after a while this guy's swagger Was causing a lot of tension on the team's there were complaints about him people getting upset angry at him.

Finally one day we were running together on the track and I had I had had it. I decided enough with this. I decided I was gonna teach mr. Swag a lesson now instead of merely running the prescribed pace.

The coach gives us a pace to run instead of running that pace and having mr. Swag always in the lead I decided I searched to the surge to the front of our little pack in Front of him and when he of course he wanted always to be in front.

He decided to try to get in front of me. I wouldn't let him. Simply by continuing to run faster than him. We were both accelerating getting faster and faster until we reach our maximum pace after the practice.

He said to me something like you know, you're always hanging back there in the back of the pack. I didn't know you could run so fast and I didn't say anything, but I was thinking yeah. Just because I'm not running in front of you doesn't mean I'm not faster than you.

I Wish I could say he learned his lesson after that track season. He quit the team. Even if it meant losing his scholarship, I guess he thought that if he couldn't run in the lead. He wasn't gonna run at all.

Perhaps many of you have had to deal with problems caused by Swagger may not call it that maybe at work, but there's something going on some people with this this arrogance. That's always having to be the lead to be the prominent person.

People who feel they have to be in front who have to be on top to be the most recognized and so they won't follow. They may not be the best at work. But they always have to feel like they are to be the most recognized.

So at work or in sports or even in church people suffer from this need to always be first to be the most prominent and will Do anything? Maybe they'll gossip and they'll criticize they'll refuse to constructively work together.

They'll sabotage each other's reputations or or or chances so that they'll look good themselves. They'll elevate themselves and they'll tear down others. Maybe there'll be a manager who will not hire or will even fire capable people.

Because they don't want The skilled person he or she making them look bad because they're working so well. And they don't want anyone implicitly challenging their position. They they they want above all to keep their swagger.

Here in the second Corinthians chapter 10 We see the Apostle Paul turn to deal with people with a lot of a lot of swagger. We see that in three parts. First battling the world for verses 1 to 6. Then building the church for verses 7 to 12 and then boasting in the Lord from verses 13 to 18.

Now if you have swagger First you need to battle the world not the church. Paul appeals to the church. That's his teammates, right? The church is the team. And he he appeals to them with what he calls the meekness and the gentleness of Christ.

These Corinthians have a problem with what they regard is impressive. They are impressed by swagger by a strutting self-confidence that just loves to be first. Paul tells them though that the one they are supposed to be following Christ himself is not an overbearing Crushingly dominant leader.

He's not characterized by swagger, but by gentleness and meekness. Meekness means first to be teachable to be willing to submit to be subservient meekness is a mildness a Friendliness able to endure disagreement and mistreatment.

It's the opposite of what some Christians today lift up as a virtue. That is just a refusal to compromise. They know it all and they won't learn anything now if we're talking about God's Word that we should never compromise.

But some you know fighting fundamentalists have taken the refusal to compromise the Word of God and carried it over to their word. Maybe they don't know the difference between the Word of God and their word and there is with some of them a very Just a complete lack of the qualities.

Jesus is described as having here meekness and Gentleness followers of Jesus should be very willing very willing to compromise. Compromise many things compromise themselves maybe about where they want to go out to eat what they want to watch on TV.

Whatever, you know if you want to open a restaurant to cater to Christians, especially after church. You should be able to call it whatever you want because don't you know, they'll ask you what to go out to eat.

Sure, where you want to go wherever you want. Okay, we'll go there because they are characterized by meekness and not swagger. And that care and that gets to some some teaching some doctrines they should know the difference between what the Word of God really does teach and Some other things that it's not really so clear on and there are just opinions and be able to know be know what things they can Be meek and gentle about and teachable and open-minded about and then other things that they're supposed to be convicted about.

These are these are. The convictions that the doctrines they will never let go. They need to know the difference and meekness and gentleness of Christ will teach you that difference. Similarly the word here translated as gentleness means to be to be yielding to be fair to be reasonable.

You can talk to them someone you can reason what you can argue with and I don't mean in a combative sense that you can engage with them and change their mind if they're wrong and if they were wrong you could reason with Them to show them they're wrong.

Of course in Christ's case. He was never wrong. But if we have absorbed the meekness and the gentleness of Christ We realize that we can be wrong that we often are wrong and we can be reasoned with and we can be changed shown where we're wrong even by subordinates.

We're not made insecure by the possibility that someone could know something that we don't. We're not made insecure that maybe someone is better at something than we are. Even if they were not made secure that maybe they run faster than we do.

And so we don't always have to be up front. We don't have to be overbearing. You don't have to be domineering. We'll have to be determining everything. This is we like. We don't have to be like that because we have the meekness and the gentleness of Christ.

Paul appeals to them by that Meekness and gentleness implying that he's been humble with him. Because of that meekness and gentleness, he hasn't come swaggering into the Corinthian Church, you know, just barking orders at everybody imposing his way about everything crushing criticism.

Crushing any other leaders and try to rise up like the world does but in Corinth the world was in the church and you could tell That the world was in the church. By what they were impressed by. They were impressed by swagger.

Not meekness and gentleness. So Paul's humility when he comes to them humbly. Which they should have seen as the presence of Christ in his life. They saw that Gentleness that humility as a weakness. You know meekness many people think is weakness the reason he doesn't demand a high salary.

You know the reason he doesn't demand a reserve parking place for his chariot marked Apostle on it. The reason he doesn't demand to be called your holiness and to be you know. People have to kiss his ring when they come up to him reason.

He's in a talk all about himself and his experiences. To what reason he doesn't talk down everyone else is because they think. They thought he was weak. That's the reason he's not doing those things. He just didn't have he didn't have the swagger.

He's not confident enough. He didn't demand a high salary because he knew he wasn't worth one. He didn't demand the perks from them because he knew he didn't deserve it. He wouldn't take lofty titles.

Because you know, he's just not lofty. He wouldn't talk about himself all the time because he don't have anything to talk about. Right here. He is. Imagine this what we see here between Paul and the Corinthians here.

He is he's the great apostle Paul who we think of as one of the greatest Christian leaders of all time. Perhaps second only to the Lord Jesus himself and the Corinthians didn't think he was impressive at all.

They weren't they weren't impressed by him. They kind of know Paul. So what he's coming into town. Oh, well, whatever. Yeah, no swagger. They thought it says at the end of verse two that he walked according to the flesh.

That is that he that he wasn't spiritual not least not what they thought of as spiritual. That is they are fundamentally confused. About what is carnal and about what is spiritual they think maturity is immature.

They think being immature is Mature they think the weak is strong and being strong is weak. Swagger, they think it's spiritual humility. They think it's carnal. They've got it all turned around. What do you do?

About the world in the church. When it's that confused, but you go to battle against the world in verse 3 Paul says, okay. Okay from your point of view I'm walking in the flesh. What do you think is the weakness of meekness which is actually from Christ and It's true.

We live in the frailty and the limitations of our humanity, but we don't do battle by the flesh. He says it in our war with the world. We have truly spiritual weapons and powerful weapons. We have something we have something we can swagger about.

The power of our weapons. Paul is saying in verse 4, you know, you can accuse me of being weak. Okay, I don't. I don't really care what you think but don't think the weapons I employ the Word of God is are weak.

Our weapons are not fleshly. They don't get their power from human strategies. They don't get their power from manipulation or from intimidation from from the way. We just carry ourselves with ornate clothing or with titles or just being imposing.

That's not where the power of our weapons comes from it comes from the Word of God, but they come from God himself. They come with all the force of his omnipotence all the power that he has about Paul himself.

No, he'll he'll do more. Okay, whatever. But the Word of God, however. That he won't allow them to think is weak. It is strong. It's able to take down Anything arrayed against it with it. We battle the world.

Including the world in the church. Our weapons the Word of God applied in teaching and sharing and preaching and singing and counseling. Just reading it and discussing and reasoning has God's power to destroy strongholds.

Now strongholds would have been a familiar feature to people this time. They all probably saw them and every city would have one. Especially in Corinth almost every city would have some kind of fortress or tower that they could retreat to to defend themselves in case of attack.

Corinth had an especially strong Stronghold called the Acro. Corinth was built on a high rocky hill, which really just just a huge rock jutting out of the ground. Dramatically higher than the surrounding territory around it even without fortifying it the sort of Rock of a hill would be easy to defend but they did fortify it.

They put a fort on top of a rock making what would seem to be an impregnable Stronghold. That stronghold Paul says it's like all the ideas that the world has mustered. Against against the knowledge of God the world is hostile to God.

It's it's it's seeking to resist. Knowing God knowing the truth true God at all costs. So it gathers the world gathers whatever ideas it can to keep out the knowledge of God. It's constantly doing that.

Pushing against the knowledge of God with whatever ideas it's throwing out there it can be sophisticated sounding ideas such as some of the philosophies that the Greeks were known for a platonic Aristotelian philosophy.

Like the philosophers of the Aeropagus in Athens who has scoffed that the gospel taught the resurrection or they can be simple ideas. It's like live for pleasure, you know, suck all the marrow out of life now eat drink and be merry for tomorrow.

You may die sex drugs and rock and roll. Individualism. You're you're you are an army of one no way to tell me what to do. Customer is king. Follow your heart. Whatever floats your boat. And now. What do we do about those ideas?

How do we deal with them? Do we just retreat? We afraid of them. Because we don't think we can beat them. So we homeschool our kids and send them to Christian colleges which can't be a good idea for other reasons, but do we but do we do that because.

We're afraid because deep down. We're not confident in the Word of God. We're not confident in our ideas. No. Let's get our let's get our swagger back. Ron James is right. Sometimes we need to get our swagger back.

That's wagering. Confidence about ourselves but about the power of our weapons the power of the Word of God. With the weapons of God's power the Word Of God we are capable of taking every thought captive to obey Christ.

And you've got to engage those ideas whether complex Philosophies and academics or simple with the Word of God just just strutting among ourselves. Sometimes Christians do today with swagger talking about how how much superior we are to the those foolish and lame Ideas out there those those liberals as homosexuals or Mormons or Muslims just doing that among ourselves Is no solution.

It might make us feel good. It might fill us with swagger and it might be just the thing that Did much of the world in the church certain kind of carnal person in the church? Finds so attractive. You know, we're so confident in ourselves.

We have it, right now. We're afraid to go out there and actually engage it but we among ourselves we can tell that. Tell each other how right we are. That's not battling the world. Notice that the goal of the weapons of our warfare is in verse 5 it is to take captive.

Every thought see good the thoughts out there the carnal thoughts the thoughts of the world. Figure the here the thoughts of the world that have come into the church. God's Word destroys arguments every argument used to fortify people against truly knowing God for the purpose of.

What? Is it creating a soothing feeling of comfort? Sedating us. Making us feel good about how right we are. Filling us with an arrogant self-confidence giving us Swagger. No to take every thought captive to obey Christ.

Making us to the very core of our thoughts and attitudes submissive to Jesus. Now bang is the very thing that people with swagger Can't stand to do. They are sure they don't have to obey. They don't have to be submissive to anything other than themselves for them.

Spirituality is the ability in fact to assert themselves and to make others obey them. They are the world in the church. Remember now Paul is turning to the world of the church in Corinth and he will be engaging them until the end of this letter.

What is wrong with them? Is it that they just got a few basic doctrines wrong? Now if that were the case, he would just correct those doctrines like he did in 1st Corinthians on the resurrection. What is wrong with them?

Is that they don't know what to respect because deep down their thoughts aren't captive to obey Christ. Their thoughts instead are still captive to the world. They think just like the world does. Oh. Maybe instead of respecting the newest philosopher or the most flamboyant, you know speech maker who came through town.

Champion of rhetoric instead of following the worldly leader with the most swagger. They follow the so-called Christian leader. With this most swagger the most flamboyant preacher maybe maybe with a TV show and quaffed hair and a wife with much too much makeup on or.

Maybe a man who just insists as every opinion is clearly. It's the Word of God. It's clear. It's clear. It's clear. It's kind of that kind everything. Everyone a lot of other Christians throughout history have said well, this is debatable.

But they're they're they're very confident in their opinions that kind here. We get right to where their problem and our problems intersect. Where the world in the church? Then it's not very different than it is now if maybe it's not different at all.

It's the same problem. Really if you want to be respected and followed by the church today. What you need is not the meekness and gentleness of Christ what you need is swagger. Today whole churches are founded by a man with swagger who's able to get a following.

Maybe he couldn't he couldn't stand to be in a church where he can't be in the lead. He may be a Sunday school teacher. He thinks he has the right to talk down the leadership and his teaching talk up himself and people follow him off.

Found a new church or I could be confident smooth-talking man who can't tolerate the idea that not everyone agrees with him. One such man once told me quote. I hate the word compromise. That's seen guys like him before, you know, like mr Swag on the track.

With no sense that their swagger is carnal that what they think is strong maturity is really weak. Immaturity that they lack the gentleness and the meekness of Christ. The goal of the weapons of our warfare is not to make ourself feel assertive.

To give us our swagger back is to bring every thought. Captive to the obedience of Christ every thought that comes to our brain on every subject every feeling every Attitude is to be examined but the Word of God brought to heal made to submit to it if it won't submit if we just keep thinking it keep we Are to punish it.

He says in verse 6 interesting verbs here. He uses for spiritual growth, isn't it? Very very strong words. We take captive strongholds. We tear them down. Disobedient thoughts we punish them. There in verse 6 beat down every disobedient thought.

Pummel it. Torture it say you're wrong. Correct it with the Word of God. Temptation toward Sexual unfaithfulness you you quote Scripture back to it every inclination that that won't think like the meek and gentle Jesus.

We torture with the Word of God until we are until we are completely obedient. That's going to that's going to take our whole lives. We battle the world including the world in the church and We build the church.

Verses 7 to 12 Paul tells them that he has authority to build them up. That's what authority is for in the church is to build the church up. This is why Christians need to be in churches where they're under that.

Authorities authorities that are committed to building them up. But notice how he how he does it first. He tells them to look look what is right in front of you. First they are they have these leaders.

These other leaders who've come in. Who they think are very impressive. They're impressed by them because they're so confident in themselves. They exude this this assurance that they belong to Christ that they have these they have these great teachings.

They know these secret mysteries. They know what they know. The kind of humbling humbling grief that he talked about in chapter 7. They don't seem to have been touched by they haven't been humbled by conviction.

Then they have Paul right in front of their eyes. Open up Their your eyes. He's telling them and look at the difference. They have swagger. Paul has humility. They boast about how spiritual they are. About their great experiences.

They talk about their their mysteries. They know their knowledge. Paul doesn't boast like that. Look at the reality look at the difference. They imply by the way they talk the way they act that they have great authority for God.

If they are not just simple, they aren't just simple Apostles, you know, they're just your rank-and-file Apostles. They're just mere Apostles. There's their super Apostles. They use their authority whether real or pretended to Lord it over them to be to be in the front.

Paul has authority in verse 8 and even though he rarely mentions it He says here that perhaps I mentioned it too much. The Lord gave him authority to build them up. They need to open their eyes and see the real difference.

The Lord gives authority in the church. There is authority in the church just like there is in the family. There's authority in the church. It's important We understand that and not think that we have to be like the guy on the track team always in the front.

Always with with swagger not letting anyone have authority in your life. But the authority is to build you up too often today we have the tragedy of churches trying to keep their authorities usually the pastors try to keep them down and authority and pastors.

Trying to build themselves up. The church is trying to cut him down to size and he's trying to get his swagger back. So we come up with titles like reverend or bishop. Some even today apostle they're the Apostles special parking places pushing always for higher salary and more perks and more elevation.

While the church keeps him Pushing back to keep him poor and dependent and humiliated. That's the world in the church. What we are supposed to have is authorities who can build us up and We should be able to open our eyes and see the difference now one way sometimes.

They have to do that. That is a pastor's authorities have to build the church up is by knocking down those with too much swagger. Sometimes for the sake of people who are being pressed down by overbearing.

People, you know like these super Apostles here in second Corinthians for the sake of the church member the Christians being Being pressed down by overbearing people. Leaders have to be overbearing to the overbearing.

You have to be able to run faster than the teammate with swagger who thinks he runs the fastest and that Principle a lot of today's rank-and-file Christian church members don't understand. They don't they don't understand.

Okay for the sake of the people the church members the Christians who are being pressed down by overbearing people. Leaders have to be overbearing to the overbearing. See the difference right in front of you.

The difference between the world in the church and the gentleness and the meekness of Christ. Of course, they thought they already knew the difference because the leaders with swagger were constantly making their comparisons.

They were grading themselves with each other and with great confidence giving themselves all a's. They're grading on the curve. You know, I'm the most spiritual one here. I'm more spiritual than you people.

The guys with swagger were always talking about the differences. They even pointed out the difference between the way Paul wrote to them. Sometimes he wrote to them forcefully asserting what had to be done.

Remember in first Corinthians 5 I'm telling you this is what you must do. You must put this man out of the church. Sometimes he wrote to them severely. Remember his severe letter. He said he wrote to them.

The difference between that and the way he was when he was with them physically they they didn't understand the difference. They thought that since when he was with them, he didn't always have to be in front.

He didn't always have to be in the lead that he didn't have to be prominent and dominating. Then that must be because he doesn't deserve it. That he wasn't running in the front of the pack because he couldn't keep up.

So here starting in chapter 10 and to the end of the letter he puts himself out there. This is what I'll be doing to the rest for the rest of 2nd Corinthians. He's putting himself in the front. To do what I just talked about.

To be overbearing to the overbearing to put them down and it's uncomfortable for him. He doesn't want to have to do this. But he has to do it for the sake of the church. He doesn't want to have to to be overbearing but sometimes he has to.

For the sake of the church, but he feels he has to put those with swagger in their place. We build a church. When we create an atmosphere in which it is not those with swagger who are promoted. And become leaders or teachers or deacons or elders or powers behind the scenes, you know.

Pulling the strings with their nagging and their manipulation. People who just have to be in the lead who have to get their way. We create an Atmosphere in the church. We build the church when those kind are not allowed to be in the lead.

But we will allow the meekness and the gentleness of Christ to be in the lead. We battle the world. We build the church and we boast in the Lord. And verse 7 Paul challenged them to see what is really in front of you.

All right, see open your eyes look at it now in verse 13 verses 13 to 18 see that. The difference between those who are boasting about themselves that they're boasting beyond the limits of what they should see the difference between them and me.

Paul say they're boasting beyond the limits of what they should. And look at me. Like the guy who has to run in front. To say to us, you know by running in front that he was trying to say to us that he was the fastest.

But he wasn't the fastest. He was exceeding his limits. Here these men that were boasting about what they had done. But what have they done? I mean besides strut around with swagger and talk boldly about themselves.

They hadn't planted the Corinthian Church. Paul did that. God had assigned to Paul influence that is this. Certain number of people to be reached with the gospel. He had assigned to Paul a church to build in that area in Corinth.

Now Paul gave him authority to plant the church to prove that he wasn't just boasting. Paul says God has given him this. God has given him authority. Apostleship spiritual weapons. Revelation these guys with swagger.

Sure. They say God has given them more. There are super apostles. They say That's swagger there for Paul to prove his claim of authority. Was it just it's not just more swagger like them. Paul points to them the church.

Look what's been done. This whole church in Corinth is the product Paul say of God's authority given to me for you. It's not a matter of empty words. It's the reality of what has been produced. It's not just saying, you know, I belong at the front of the pack or I can last longer than you bud.

It's actually being able to do it if you can do it. You shouldn't have to boast about it. The sadly if you have the world of the church that sees things the way the world sees them that's impressed with swagger the things.

That meekness is weakness. Then we have to tell people we have to tell people what to see. They can't see it. They're seeing like the world sees. See that swagger is not a virtue to be followed. It's not a strength.

But but the one who knows his limits who knows what he can do. Who knows what's been given to him by God what his gifts are knows how he can serve and then he does it and Then also knows what he can't do.

For some he knows. Okay, you know, you're not really a preacher. It's not your thing. You shouldn't try to be one. You're not a singer or a prophet or an evangelist. God has not given you that to do. You're not gifted to be the one in front and so you should be content to settle in.

Back with the rest of the pack. One of the weaknesses that is dragging down the church today is the hordes of people who don't know their limits. They they want to their vision of what it means to be spiritual is to be the man up front to be the person.

In the spotlight who think they don't need a church. They don't need a team that they can be a church all to themselves providing accountability and teaching all for themselves. That they have Jesus in the Bible and so they think they don't need anyone else.

Maybe they drop out of church or even form their own little church if they have enough swagger to get some people to follow them. They are confident that they can pastor themselves. They are sure. Maybe they go to services and with such an attitude.

They will go to wherever they get entertained and flattered the best. Where no one will run in front of them to challenge their swagger. If someone does they'll go elsewhere or just quit. Don't boast beyond limits.

Instead in verse 17 boast in the Lord. That is after all where our approval comes from not a being better than others in front of the pack. Boast that is not in what we've done but in what God has done for us that he could approve of us.

Boast in the cross in the resurrection in grace. See the reality that there is nothing about us that even encourages God to approve of us. That's why those in verse 12 are. So without understanding they are proving of themselves by comparing themselves with each other.

They don't have a clue. You claim to be a Christian to be a leader to be spiritual and mature and yet you don't understand that your approval comes from What Christ has done for you that there is no way you could impress him by being better than another sinner.

But you desperately need him to give you something. You absolutely have no right to Approval that you need the approval Jesus earned by being perfect to be given to you. You need the disapproval. We each have earned to be paid for by him on the cross.

What we don't need is to swagger up to the judgment seat. Commending ourselves like Jesus said so many will do boasting. Lord Lord. Did I not do this or that for you? He will say Away from me. I never knew you.