Comparing Resumes with Paul

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I want to invite you to take out your copy of God's Word and turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and find your place at verse 16.
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I'm very thankful to be back this morning and Lord willing I will not be out again for quite a while.
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I had several Sundays in the last few months where I have been out and thankful to the elders for holding down everything and looking forward to now hopefully in the next two months concluding the book of 2
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Corinthians. That is my goal so that by the time we enter into the Advent season to celebrate again the birth of our
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Lord Jesus Christ I'm going to be going into the Gospel of John. That will be our next exposition.
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So for those of you who are interested in reading ahead and preparing yourself for those messages that will be where we will be and Lord willing we will finish 2
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Corinthians relatively soon. For those of you who are not normally with us, maybe you're a visitor this morning or have only been here for a few weeks we do try to preach through books of the
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Bible. This is an expositional style of preaching, one that we have tried to practice for the years that I have been here and pastoring and we are now again in this book of 2
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Corinthians here at chapter 11. This is important because by going verse by verse through the
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Scriptures it forces us to do what the Scripture says and that is to preach the whole counsel of God.
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To not simply pick and choose certain passages that someone may want to preach or some hobby horse that someone may want to ride.
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But it forces us to be confronted with passages that may not even be easy to preach.
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And as I said when I began chapter 11 of this book I said chapter 11 is not the easiest to preach because it's not highly theological and it's not even really highly practical.
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It's very personal. 2 Corinthians chapter 11 is Paul's personal appeal to the
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Corinthians because of their willingness to listen to what he calls the super apostles and that doesn't mean the good righteous apostles like Peter and James and John but the super apostles was the moniker that Paul had given to those men who had risen themselves up as powerful speakers and teachers in Corinth and had called into question
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Paul's integrity as a minister of the gospel and called into question the very gospel that Paul preached.
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And Paul says I am not inferior to these super apostles. In fact he goes on to say these are false apostles, false brethren, agents of the devil.
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He says Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and his servants disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness.
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So this is the context that we're in. Paul says I am jealous for you.
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I'm jealous for you like a father with a virgin daughter who is under the threat of being raped, being mistreated and I want to present you as a pure virgin to Christ but you like my daughter are in danger from these false teachers who are coming in and they want to ravish you spiritually and I'm concerned for you.
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I love you. I hate those who are going to hurt you and I want to see them to be turned away from their sin, to turn away from what they're doing to you.
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Paul is very concerned for the people at Corinth and he's passionate about it and he says at the beginning of this chapter
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I'm even going to engage in some foolishness. You say well why would he engage in foolishness?
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Sometimes, sometimes the best way to deal with the fool is to mirror back to them their own foolishness.
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Sometimes the best way to deal with the person who is acting in a way that is contrary to God is to show them what they're doing.
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Point it back to them and say this is what you're doing and this is why it's wrong. And so today that's what we're going to see.
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In chapter 11 beginning at verse 16 down to 21 he's going to say I'm engaging in foolishness and this is why and then in verses 22 and we're going to stop today at verse 29 because I believe verse 30 if we didn't stop we'd have to go into chapter 12 and I'm not ready to do that, we'll do that next week.
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He continues to go through this act of foolishness but it's a foolishness with a purpose.
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He's not simply being foolish for foolish sake but he's doing so to demonstrate to the
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Corinthians the problem that they are facing. So let us with God's word stand and read.
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I'll be reading from the English Standard Version and it will be on the screen for you if you would like to read.
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Beginning at verse 16 Paul says according to the flesh
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I too will boast for you gladly bear with fools being wise yourselves for you bear it if someone makes slaves of you or devours you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or strikes you in the face to my shame
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I must say we were too weak for that but whatever anyone else dares to boast of I speaking as a fool
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I also dare to boast of that Are they Hebrews? So am
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I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham?
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So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I'm a better one.
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I'm talking like a madman with far greater labors far more imprisonments with countless beatings and often near death five times
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I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one three times I was beaten with rods once I was stoned three times
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I was shipwrecked a night and a day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys in danger from rivers in dangers from robbers danger from my own people danger from the
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Gentiles danger in the city danger in the wilderness danger at sea danger from false brothers in toil and hardships through many a sleepless night in hunger and thirst often without food and cold and exposure apart from other things there's the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches who is weak and I am not weak who is made to fall and I am not indignant
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Father in heaven hallowed be your name I pray now
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O God that your word be proclaimed correctly that I be kept from error and that Lord you would be glorified your people would be edified and those who are not your people would be given the gift of regeneration and faith and drawn to your son
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Lord all these are things only you can do your word tells us you use the foolishness of preaching to accomplish your will so I pray today that your word be preached and I pray
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Lord that you would use it to do what only you can do that the spirit would use the words that he would cause them to go not only just into the ear where they may lay dormant or into the brain where they may be contextualized but into the heart where they would be transformative and Lord I pray that you would transform us by the preaching of your word and as we look at the words of Paul as he goes through this period of boasting help us to remember
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O God that Paul himself said that his only true boast is in the work of the
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Lord Jesus Christ may that be our boast as well in Christ's name,
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Amen most of us probably do not like people who we consider to be braggarts or boasters
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I don't know if you've ever sat with somebody who was just so full of themselves that every other word that came out of their mouth was
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I, me or some kind of boast of an accomplishment that they've done how much they can do how much they have done where they've been who they've spoken to where they've spoken at how much they can accomplish at work this, that or the other it just gets tiring to hear someone who is constantly bragging on their own accomplishments and in western culture which has in many ways been influenced by the
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Christian faith there is a tendency in polite company within western culture to favor humility over hubris we tend to say the person who is humble that's the person we like and the person who is hubris or prideful that's the person we would tend to turn away from but in the world of the apostle
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Paul boasting of one's accomplishments and seeking personal glory was commonplace in fact
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I want to read from Paul Barnett who wrote a wonderful commentary on 2nd Corinthians and he says this he said people in Greco -Roman antiquity possessed no hope of glory in the afterlife a detached immortality was the most anyone could expect therefore it was customary to achieve glory in this life and to boast of one's achievements in this life thus citizens and soldiers without embarrassment and as a social convention outdid one another in boasting of their military or political achievements these were listed on monuments in public buildings depicted in household murals or set forth in epic narratives we know this if we look back and read of the time we read of these things that were meant to glorify individuals for the things that they had done the spirit of boasting was present all throughout the
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Greco -Roman world in fact it even made its way into the religious people's lives most of us remember the
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Pharisees what were the Pharisees known for? boasting of their religious accomplishments remember
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Jesus talked about them making their long prayers making their phylacteries broad that was the thing that they would wear on their head that would have a section of scripture in it they would want to they would want to outdo one another how much can
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I put on my forehead? how much can I do to exemplify my spirituality?
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think of my favorite parable which is the parable of the two men who went to the temple to pray one a
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Pharisee the other a publican what was the Pharisee doing? Lord I thank
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Thee that I am not like other men I do this and that and tie this and that I do all these things understand the attitude of the
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Pharisee in that particular parable was not unique it was commonplace among the
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Pharisees to exalt themselves in their accomplishments so it would be no strange thing if men came into Corinth men who exalted themselves as super apostles to make their names known by their accomplishments beloved it's not much different today just about any time
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I get together with a group of pastors it is unfortunate how much we like to try to outdo one another even though subtly well how many people go to your church?
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what's your annual budget? you see it's not it's just more subtle now but it still exists and so in today's passage
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Paul chooses to engage in some boasting of his own but from the outset he identifies it as foolishness and he actually indicates that what he's doing is he's going to mirror the behavior of his opponents who have boasted in their accomplishments and essentially say this to them hey guys if you really want to compare resumes we can do that but understand my resume is going to look different than yours because your resume is going to be how good you can speak how many places you've spoken how many letters of commendations you have how great you are my resume is going to be
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I've taken this many beatings I've been in this many shipwrecks I have been on my knees crying out to the
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Lord for the souls of the people and that's what the resume of an apostle looks like you want to compare resumes we can do that but understand your resume and my resume aren't going to look at all the same now remember the context of the book if you will again for those who haven't been here the context of 2nd
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Corinthians overall is Paul's defending of his ministry and it's broken into three parts the first seven chapters
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Paul defends his ministry as being a ministry of reconciliation a ministry of the new covenant he gives us some wonderful theological points some of the most important theological truth in the whole new testament is found in the first seven chapters of 2nd
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Corinthians in chapters 8 and 9 he stops for a moment to address an important offering that's meant for the church at Jerusalem because the church of Jerusalem at that time was hurting they were suffering from poverty they were suffering from a famine they were suffering from persecution and they needed the help of the other churches so Paul stops for two chapters to address the need of giving and it is
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I would say some of the most important teaching on giving in all the new testament is found in 2nd
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Corinthians 8 and 9 this is a very important book though it's personal though it's passionate it's not impractical it's very practical so we have
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Paul's defense of his ministry, Paul's reminder of the offering and then in the last four chapters, chapters 10 -13 he has this powerful drive offense against the false teachers as the one man said years ago the best defense is a good offense and so he decides rather than staying on defense for the last four chapters he's going to be like a quarter pack driving to the end zone he's going to go right through his opponents and he's going to take them down one at a time and describe to them the complete error of their folly so that's where we are now today's sermon is broken into two parts we're going to look first at Paul explaining the reasoning for his boasting that's verses 16 -21 and then we're going to look at Paul challenging his opponents in verses 22 -29 and as I said we could continue because the challenge continues beyond verse 30 but it goes into chapter 12 and so what
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I've decided to do is I've decided to end at verse 29 today Lord willing and then next week pick up immediately at verse 30 and follow through through chapter 12 probably around verse 9 we should get to next week so let's begin by looking at Paul's explanation for his boasting he says in verse 16 he says
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I repeat let no one think me foolish remember again if you go back up to verse 1 of chapter 11 he actually says
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I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness so he understands that he's engaging in a worldly method of conversation but he says let no one think me foolish but even if you do accept me as a fool so that I too may boast a little consider this they're already accepting the foolishness of the false teachers why not give
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Paul the same deference if you're going to think I'm a fool put up with it for a moment deal with it for a moment because you've been dealing with it all this time from these other men give me the same opportunity because I'm going to be mirroring the tactics of them look at verse 18 just for a moment he says since many boast according to the flesh
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I too will boast that's what he's doing since this is what they're doing I'm going to do this just for a moment but verse 17 is the key because verse 17 he says this what
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I am saying with this boastful confidence I say not as the Lord but as a fool now
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I've got to address this some people use verse 17 to say that this is
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Paul indicating that this section of his writing is not inspired because he says it's not as the
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Lord would say that is not what Paul is indicating by the way he says something very similar in 1st
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Corinthians chapter 7 when he's talking about the subject of marriage and divorce he says
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I want you to know I say this not the Lord now why does Paul do that does
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Paul say those things to say okay while you're reading there's going to be some things from God and some things from me you've got to obey the things that are from God and you don't have to obey the things that are from me no that's not
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Paul's point in fact it was Paul himself who wrote in 2nd
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Timothy 3 verse 16 all scripture is Greek word it is
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God breathed all scripture is King James given by the inspiration of God I knew you'd amen to King James of course no but it's all inspired but in 1st
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Corinthians 7 when Paul says I say this not the Lord what he's saying is when the Lord talked about this subject he didn't say this but I'm going to add to it not outside of the inspiration of the
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Holy Spirit but under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit I'm going to add something that Jesus didn't say and you know the apostles had the right to do that you say but wait a minute wait a minute how in the world can the apostle have the right to add to the words of Jesus because they are under the inspiration of the
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Holy Spirit the same Holy Spirit that inspired the red letters inspired the black letters the same
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Holy Spirit that gave us the four gospels is the same Holy Spirit that gives us the 13 letters of Paul all of the general epistles and the book of Revelation all of those come from the same
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Holy Spirit so when Paul says I say this not the Lord he's not saying the
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Lord is not behind this he's saying the Lord didn't mention this but I'm going to say this because Paul in dealing with the
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Corinthian church is dealing with a context that Jesus wasn't dealing with at the time Paul is dealing with a
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Greco Roman context mixed of Gentiles and Jews who are dealing with divorce in a different context than Jesus was dealing with when he was in Matthew 19 answering the question of the
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Pharisees who came to him and said what about what Moses said about divorce guess who don't care what Moses said about divorce the
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Greeks don't care what Moses said about divorce so Jesus Paul speaking in a different context says
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I have to say this because there's a different context here and this is no less true and no less from the
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Spirit in fact Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7 I have the Spirit too I think
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I too have the Spirit that's what he said so when we come to 2 Corinthians 11 and he says in this text
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I say not as the Lord but as a fool what he is saying
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I believe is this I'm about to engage in boasting which is something you would not hear from Christ I'm about to engage in self defense which is something we didn't really hear
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Christ do this is not what the Lord did but I'm going to do this because I am now mirroring back what the men who are my opponents are doing this is how we get to verse 18 since many boast according to the flesh
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I too will boast you say well how dare you Paul act like the world because that's how we want we want to be so pious we want to tell
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Paul what he's doing wrong you know what I watched this week I watched the lady lady preacher
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I'll let that hang for a minute lady preacher stood in her church and she said you know when
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Jesus dealt with the Syrophoenician woman he gave a bad example and we should know
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Jesus was wrong what kind of hubris what kind of pride would say yeah
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Jesus got it wrong but I know better what kind of knucklehead sorry getting a little too comfortable but the reality is that's just some knuckleheaded nonsense to say
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I know better than Jesus well guess what it's same thing when we say we know better than Paul in this context because again it's under the inspiration of the
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Holy Spirit what is being written here is being communicated by God through Paul for the
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Corinthians and as Mike mentioned in Sunday School this morning a very important truth none of the books of the
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Bible are written to us very true but all the books of the Bible are written for us right so there's benefit here for us it's not written to us it's written to the
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Corinthians we need to know what it meant to them first and how it applies for us in what way does it apply for us and Paul is saying here he's saying
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I'm going to exercise a bit of foolishness for the purpose of mirroring back to you what these men are doing and then he says this verse 19 he gives them a chastisement notice in verse 19 he says for you gladly bear with fools being wise yourself
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I want to put this in your mind verses 19 20 and 21
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Paul engages in something that you might not think he would but I think it's obvious in the text he engages in sarcasm and you say well how do you know well
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I think it's easily discernible because notice what he says you gladly bear with fools being wise yourself you think you're so smart you're letting the fools run the show notice the four things they bear with you bear it if someone makes a slave of you devours you takes advantage of you puts on airs
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I'm sorry the five and strikes you in the face you're tolerant of these false teachers and they're abusing you you have been tolerant of the abusive false teachers who have done these five things to you they've made slaves of you brought you under the slavery of their false teaching they've devoured you what does
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Satan do he seeks those whom he may devour they've taken advantage of you probably financially most certainly spiritually they put on airs that means to parade themselves in a way that is false to put on airs is to put on a like to put on a mask and they've struck you in the face now there's some interesting commentary on that last one
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I've read a few commentaries in preparation and some people believe that church discipline at that time could include physical hitting
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I don't know I know it don't happen that way no more but there is this story you guys know the story and it's somewhat apocryphal we don't know if it actually happened with the story at the council of Nicaea where Saint Nicholas of Myra became so enraged at I was going to say
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Pelagius Arius who was the heretic who was teaching that Jesus was not fully divine and the story goes that Saint Nicholas punched him in the face yeah and so I you know
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I'm going to have a shirt made for Christmas that says we love to punch heretics not a good idea but the idea of a physical altercation a physical striking over doctrine has some at least historical merit at least within if nothing else within legend could it be that these men were physical with the people of God we don't know for certain but there is something to be said for the reality that we could say that it could be a reference to a non physical type of striking we talk about leaders who have a heavy hand what is a leader with a heavy hand it's a person who oppresses it's a person who pushes down the people of God who suppresses the people of God who mistreats the people of God and Paul saying strikes you could be a reference simply to their heavy handed use of their authority was it a physical striking possibly could be we don't know but it's certainly something they shouldn't have tolerated but Paul says you have tolerated you think you're wise and yet at the same time you're tolerating fools in verse 21 this has to be sarcasm because notice what he says in verse 21 to my shame
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I must say we were too weak for that think about what he's saying we just weren't strong enough to come and beat you up we weren't strong enough to come and raise a hand to you we weren't strong enough to do that I think their sarcasm dripping from there because Paul's never lifted a hand to them
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Paul's never abused them Paul's never mistreated them but whatever anyone else boasts of in fact the
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ESV what anyone dares boast of I'm speaking of a fool I also dare to boast of that again he chastens them for bearing with their abusive leaders he calls them wise but not in a way that we would think is positive he says you're wise for bearing with fools and that he was too weak to take advantage of them himself in the
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New American Standard Bible it says to my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison in what way we've been weak on the external we have not shown you this heavy hand that you seem to love so now we get to Paul's challenge to his opponents and he challenges them in three ways he challenges them first to match his stock second to match his service and third to match his suffering again this is not what would have been expected someone who was boasting about their accomplishments might boast in being related to Abraham and that's the first thing he's going to talk about they might boast in how much they have accomplished but likely not would they have boasted in their suffering because at this particular time suffering was not seen as a virtue suffering was seen as a distinction of someone who wasn't blessed by God if you're suffering that's because God has abandoned you remember back in chapters one and two
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Paul talked about the fact that his suffering was one of the things that he was being accused of being a false teacher in regard to your suffering proves that you're not well you're not right with God the prosperity gospel is not new even back in the first century there were those who said look at me look at what
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I've accomplished look what I've amassed look at the blessings I have and my blessings prove that I am
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God's man and if you're suffering that proves that you're not so Paul's resume is not going to look like theirs so let's look first at verse 22 he says he's challenging them to match his stock he says are they
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Hebrews so am I are they Israelites so am
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I are they offspring of Abraham so am I now that is basically three ways of saying the same thing because a
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Hebrew and an Israelite and an Abrahamite or an offspring of Abraham would all be the same thing now it is never stated specifically or categorically what the error of Paul's opponents is but likely the error that Paul's opponents are engaging in is the same error that the opponents of Paul in Galatia and the opponents of Paul in Colossae were engaging in and it is the error that we call
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Judaizing the Judaizing error was rampant in the first century among Gentile churches because there were those who came from the
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Jerusalem churches who were Jewish Christians who believed that to be a righteous
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Christian a righteous follower of Christ one had to adopt the old covenant law and fulfill the old covenant law in their life most specifically the laws of circumcision the laws of Sabbath keeping the dietary restrictions how many times do you read in the
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New Testament where this issue is being addressed think specifically at the very first time when the churches had to come together to address an issue
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Bert and Andy dealt with this in their class on Acts Acts 15 sometimes we call it the
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Jerusalem council because it would be the first time when the churches got together to solve a problem therefore we would say it's the first time there was a council of the churches,
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Paul comes Peter is there, James is there and what is the subject of the council that was held in Jerusalem in Acts 15 does anybody remember the subject was whether or not
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Gentiles were required to keep the old covenant ceremonies that the old covenant law was it binding on the new covenant
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Christian the answer is no emphatically full stop therefore when someone comes to you and you're enjoying your pork sandwich and they say you're in sin you can say no there's a
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Greek word for it baloney which is also made of pork we can say no that's false that teaching is false we live in the new covenant and within the new covenant the old covenant has been made obsolete
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Hebrews chapter 8 and so I believe the issue
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Paul is addressing here is he's addressing these false teachers who are Judaizers and so why would he make his stock part of his argument while he is showing them that in fact if you want to compare our
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Jewish bona fides mine are impeccable does he not also say in other books that he is a
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Hebrew of Hebrews does he not say this in the book of Philippians you don't have to turn there but if you go to Philippians chapter 3 he says if anyone else thinks he has a reason to confidence in the flesh
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I have more I was circumcised on the 8th day of the people of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew of Hebrews and to the law a
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Pharisee as to zeal a persecutor of the church as to righteousness under the law blameless you want to talk about someone who has
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Jewish pedigree I'm the guy and so you want to match stock you're an
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Israelite so am I you're Hebrew so am I you're an Abrahamite so am
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I Paul is showing anyone who questions his integrity regarding his
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Jewishness would be foolish to do so so he moves then not only does he challenge them to match his stock he challenges them to match his service verse 23 are they servants of Christ now right away full stop the answer is actually no because he's going to tell us in chapter 12 these are false apostles he's already said they're false brothers false apostles are they servants of Christ the answer is no but in this context he's simply building a case are they
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Hebrews I am are they Israelites I am are they Abrahamites I am are they servants of Christ and here's what he changes he doesn't just say
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I am he says I'm a better one to hear
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Paul say he is a better servant of Christ may be difficult for some of us because it sounds arrogant in fact he acknowledges that notice what he says
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I'm talking like a mad man what does the NAS say insane I sound like I'm insane
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I just said I'm a better servant of Christ than you and that sounds crazy but it's not because I do actually have far greater labors understand this
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Paul was not one of the original 12 apostles Paul was not even the man chosen to fulfill the place of Judas as that went to a different apostle and Paul is not even indicated with as much prominence as Peter in the time of the gospels and in the first part of Acts yet Paul does become the focus of the latter part of Acts and when we consider all that Paul did just in Acts and in his letters it is hard to truly quantify all that he contributed to the
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Christian faith almost impossible because we can't know everything that he did all we know is what was written and you remember the last part of the gospel of John where it says if all the things that Jesus ever wrote or said were written down there wouldn't be enough books in the whole world to contain right we know that's true of Jesus and I wouldn't say that's true of Paul in the same sense of course
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I would never compare Paul to Jesus neither would he but there is so much about Paul that we don't know and we're going to see that in just a moment because when he starts listing off the things he's been through most of this is not written down anywhere else it's only here and it's crazy stuff and by crazy
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I mean just outrageous amounts of suffering and this is just him listing a few things that he has been dealing with as a servant of Christ so when he says he has far greater labors it would be very hard to challenge that in fact
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I would say this there's one labor that Paul gave to the church that is beyond compare
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Paul gave us 13 of the 27 New Testament letters whether or not you count
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Hebrews in that I personally don't I think Hebrews is Pauline but I don't think
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Paul wrote it meaning I think that Paul preached it I think it was written down by one of his associates possibly
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Luke which would make Luke the longest writer in the New Testament having written Luke Acts and possibly
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Hebrews but the point is if you just took
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Paul's writings and said okay we're going to say who has contributed more to the
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Christian faith and understanding of doctrine and theology than the Apostle Paul certainly none of these super apostles would have been able to compare at all they have not planted the churches that he has planted they have not watered the churches that he has watered and they certainly have not written to the churches that he has written to and their writings have been sustained now for 2000 years
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Paul's service is without compare want to match his stock?
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want to match his service? but now the real heavy part can you match his suffering?
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he says this is continuing verse 23 he says I'm talking like a mad man with far greater labors and now he just goes into a list far more imprisonments with countless beatings often near death five times
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I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one let me just stop there for a moment in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 25 it tells us that it was a rule in the
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Jewish law that you could not beat someone more than 40 times lest you degrade him and so the law said 40 times was the maximum so it became standard practice that they would only beat 39 times so as to not go over the law some have said that it was 13 times 3 that they would do 13 lashes 13 in the back and 13 in the front one on each shoulder or something 13 here 13 here 13 there none of that is in scripture even historical
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I think somebody made that up but it is 39 times it is 39 times and that's what
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Paul is referencing here this was a standard practice notice what he says I received at the hand of the
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Jews 40 lashes less one 5 times 3 times
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I was beaten with rods that's actually mentioned in the book of Acts at least one of those times once I was stoned remember that story he stoned left for dead he survived 3 times
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I was shipwrecked here's the interesting part we read about one of Paul's shipwrecks in Acts guess what that was after he wrote this so every boat he got on got a hole in it somehow you know how you know why
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Paul was shipwrecked so many times because he traveled so much by the law of averages in that time of history the more often you travel the more likely you're going to be in some type of peril
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Paul traveled some have estimated he traveled more than any man in the ancient world with the amount of time and space that he had to go so when he says
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I've been shipwrecked 3 times law of averages the more you do the more likely it's going to happen
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I like when people tell me because I don't like to fly I had to fly last week hated it closed my eyes pretend
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I was on the world's fastest greyhound but the whole time people say oh well you know what you're more likely you know car wrecks happen more times than flights
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I said yeah but if my car engine breaks down I just pull over don't like to fly and the law of averages the more you do it the more likely you're going to experience some kind of dangerous situation well
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Paul was shipwrecked 3 times up till this point and at least one more time a night and a day adrift at sea on frequent journeys and then he lists this the word to the
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King James is peril I think the ESV says danger but it's like a list danger danger danger danger from rivers danger from robbers it's almost like poems it's almost like poetry danger from rivers danger from robbers danger from my own people that be the
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Jews danger from the Gentiles danger in the city danger in the wilderness I wasn't safe wherever I went
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I went to the city there would be a mob waiting to kill me I go out into the wilderness there's animals there's robbers out there remember the story of the good
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Samaritan he was caught by himself on a road and was beaten by robbers that was a real issue that had to be considered danger at sea danger from false brothers and toil hardship through many a sleepless night hunger thirst without food in cold and exposure
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Paul didn't David Gusek said this in his writing on this he said
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Paul didn't carry an electric blanket I know that sounds silly to even mention but it just kind of reminds you of the creature comforts we have today that didn't exist in the first century whatever
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Paul had is what he had to live on and what he had to live by and often it was very close to nothing and yet he did it for the cause of Christ he suffered physical suffering up to and including freezing temperatures where he experienced exposure for the cause of Christ years ago there was a movie movie was called walking tall and it was the story of Buford Pusser who was a law enforcement officer in the state of Tennessee and he had gone to the marines he had been a professional wrestler and then when he came back to his small town he found out that his small town was being overrun by a local mafia it was called the
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Kentucky Mafia and so he basically went on a personal war against these people and they beat him cut his body viciously and left him to die on the side of the road well he survived having to have stitches thousands of stitches to survive and he went to court over the issue and he was testifying against his opponents the men who cut him the men who beat him and the judge was in the pocket of the
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Kentucky Mafia so the judge was going to let them off Buford Pusser according to the stories and I believe they are true at one point in the court hearing
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Buford Pusser stood up and ripped his shirt off to expose all of the scars that he had from being beaten and cut by these violent men and he says look at what they did to me and then case was closed it was proof positive that he had in fact been inflicted this terrible harm by these people now why do
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I tell this story Paul is standing in front of his opponents saying look at my suffering for Christ and you are going to call into question my ministry look at the scars that I bear it was as if he took his tunic off and said look
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I have been beaten five times I have been beaten with rods three times I have been in shipwrecks
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I have been almost killed I have almost frozen to death for the cause of Christ how dare anybody question my integrity in ministry look at what
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I have suffered for Christ you want to compare resumes here is my resume you see
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Paul's suffering his marks were his resume and then verse 28 and apart from other things there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches
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I love Paul because he is honest remember what
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I preached I think it was two or three weeks ago what do pastors worry about pastors worry about the souls of their people pastors worry about the people under their care that is what
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Paul is saying now we don't worry to the point that it is a sinful worry like Andy preached last week that we don't allow ourselves to get consumed with worry because we do trust in the sovereignty of God we do trust those things but we still care and we still have concern for the souls under our care and he says
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I have this constantly I am constantly concerned for Corinth I am constantly concerned for the church at Philippi I am constantly concerned for the church at Thessalonica I am constantly concerned for the church at Ephesus because I know the vicious men who want to come in and who want to harm you and I know they are out there the physical suffering of Paul did not compare to his internal turmoil over the hearts of the people that he did not want to see be destroyed by false teaching notice what and this is where we will end verse 29 he says who is weak and I am not also weak what is he saying there when you guys are weak
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I am weak with you I am suffering with you who is weak that I am not also weak who is made to fall and I am not indignant when someone comes along and causes you to fall away
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I am angry beloved if your pastor your elders don't care enough about your soul that when they see you falling away it doesn't stir their heart for you then we would be wrong we care about your soul and when we see someone or some false teaching coming in to destroy you coming in to steer you away coming in to devour you we want to see to it that that does not happen
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Paul says when I see someone falling away I become indignant the new living translation says who is weak without my feeling weakness who is led astray that I do not burn with anger
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Paul cares about the churches Paul's heart is for the churches more than his suffering in his body is his suffering in his soul for the hearts of his people you want to compare resumes with a guy like that you want to compare resumes with a guy from who from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet is scarred for Christ and his heart is not concerned with his scars but is concerned with your heart that's
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Paul's point you want to compare resumes we can but understand this it's foolish it's all foolish one because you're false teachers and that's foolish anyway but two at the end of the day and this is where I want to conclude at the end of the day you have to remember one thing
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Paul knows that he's engaging in foolishness and he would never say that these things are what commend him to God and salvation all of these things all of the suffering all of the anxieties all of the pain all of the scars all of the cold and frigid temperatures all of it is not to be compared to what
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Christ has done see the danger of the false teachers the most vicious danger of the false teachers is they were trusting in themselves in no way in all of this is
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Paul saying he trusts in himself you say how do you know that well
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I want to go back to Philippians I think these are parallel passages not exactly parallel in context but they're parallel and that Paul did say in Philippians I'm a
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Hebrew of Hebrews and he goes to that list notice what he says in verse 7 in fact turn there with me turn there with me to Philippians chapter 3 verse 7 sorry see somebody put your
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Bibles away oh you thought I was done one last thing I just want to show you and then we'll pray because this is an important part of this if you go to Philippians chapter 3 go to verse 7 this is right after he has given this list
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Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law of Pharisee as to zeal of persecutor of the church as to righteousness under the law of blameless verse 7 but whatever gain
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I had I count it as loss for the sake of Christ indeed
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I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my
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Lord for his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as scubalon as rubbish in order that I may gain
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Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ the righteousness of God that depends on faith beloved that is our testimony that all things that we have suffered we can count as loss for the greater thing of knowing
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Jesus Christ that's Paul's resume and may that same resume be on all of our hearts let us pray
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Father I thank you for your word I thank you for your truth God may we trust not in what we have done but in what you have done may we count all of our goodness all of our good works as rubbish when we compare them to knowing