Paul's Concern for the Churches - 2 Corinthians 11: 26-30

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So we're going to be in 2 Corinthians again. And the last time

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I was with you, which was about 17 years ago, it seems like, we finished up on verse 25.

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So we're gonna do a little review as well. But chapter 11, you were wondering what chapter, that's the chapter.

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If I just give you a verse, you can find it. So we're gonna read from chapter 11, verse 16, through the end of the chapter.

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Remember, Paul has been castigating the

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Corinthians for suffering fools, for suffering fools in teaching, for suffering fools in leadership.

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The false apostles have somewhat overtaken the

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Corinthian church at this point that he is writing about. And he does not like having to compare notes, if you will, with false teachers.

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But that's what he's done in some respects, explaining to them the reasons why he is an apostle and they are not.

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And so throughout this chapter, he has cataloged some of the things that he has had to endure to bring the gospel to them.

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Things which these false teachers had endured none of, but had come in and taken over, as it were, or attempted to take over a thriving, a good church that was struggling.

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But don't all churches struggle a bit? I mean, is anybody perfect on this planet? Not even close.

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But nevertheless, this was a church that the apostle had labored to bring to fruition.

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He had planted this church and he had taught there and many had taught there. And now false apostles had moved in and were threatening to usurp the

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Lord Jesus Christ himself as their head. So we'll start with verse 16, where he talks about the foolishness again.

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Again, he says, I say, let no one think me foolish, but if you do, receive me even as foolish that I may also boast a little.

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Remember, the false apostles were boasting about their credentials, their letter from Jerusalem, et cetera. That which

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I am speaking, I am not speaking as the Lord would, but is in foolishness in this confidence of boasting.

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Since many boast according to the flesh, I will boast also. For you, being so wise, bear with the foolish gladly.

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For you bear with anyone if he enslaves you. Here's the people that they're bearing with. These are what the false apostles did.

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If he enslaves you, if he devours you, that was a financial statement. If he takes advantage of you, if he exalts himself, if he hits you in the face.

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To my shame, I must say that we have been weak by comparison, but in whatever respect anyone else is bold,

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I speak in foolishness, I speak in boldness. I am just as bold myself. Are they

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Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham?

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So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I speak as if insane. I more so, in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.

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Five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned.

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Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the

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Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren.

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I have been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

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Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure upon me of concern for all the churches.

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Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? If I have to boast,

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I will boast of what pertains to my weaknesses. To my weakness. The God and Father of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus, the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the

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Damascenes in order to seize me, and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.

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So interesting end of the chapter there, and remember that the chapter beginnings and endings were given to us much later.

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So sometimes they make great sense, sometimes they don't, but don't let that throw you. We'll continue right on into chapter 12 if we make it that far today.

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But so the last time we were together, we finished up, I believe, on verse 25, and Paul had cataloged from 23 and on a comparison of the credentials, if you will, between himself and the false apostles.

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He begins in earnest in chapter 11, verse 23, his defense of his apostolic ministry as given to him by the

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Lord Jesus Christ. But imagine, as I pointed out, a confirmation sermon being so delivered, he says, are they servants of Christ?

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I speak as if insane, as if insane. I more so, far more labors, far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.

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So Paul gives them great reasons to be Christians. Would you like to be beaten?

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Would you like to be imprisoned? How about a shipwreck? Anybody up for a shipwreck? Maybe having people shoot at you.

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Back then it would have been with arrows. That was the lot of a genuine believer in Christ.

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Were he to so put forward the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ. So then verse 23, excuse me, verse 24, five times

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I received from the Jews 39 lashes. We talked about the fact that the ruling authorities, the

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Jewish authorities, were so scrupulous to observe the law, they didn't want to even accidentally beat you too much.

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So they did 39 lashes instead of 40, which was allowed. Three times

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I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. The night and the day I spent in the deep. And that was the verse we ended up with.

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And it pointed out that in the book of Acts, we have record of one of the beatings with rods in Acts chapter 16.

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We have an attempted stoning that occurred in Iconium. Later in Lystra, Jews came from Iconium, Antioch, and stoned him.

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This attack was so severe when he was stoned this time that everybody thought he was dead and they left him.

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It's remarkable. I don't have any scriptural support for this, but it's my view that the

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Lord raised him up. Because stoning is not like getting, my parents used to spank me.

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Big difference, don't you think? This was designed to kill you. It was designed to cave your head in.

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And he got back up. So Paul was revived, I believe, by the Lord Jesus Christ to continue the ministry that he had given him and the timetable that he had chosen for him.

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But we only have one of the shipwrecks recorded, and that comes much later on in his journey to Rome.

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The night and day that he spent in the deep would have referred to probably spending a full 24 -hour period or so clinging to some wreckage during a shipwreck.

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Shipwreck was common in ancient times. We finished up with the quote from what

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Barclay did in his, explained in his commentary on 2 Corinthians. He said, again and again,

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Paul speaks of the dangers of his travels. It is true that in his time the roads in the sea were safer than they had ever been, but they were still dangerous.

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On the whole, on the whole, the ancient peoples did not relish the sea.

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How pleasant it is, says Lucretius, to stand on the shore and watch the poor devils of sailors having such a rough time.

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A nice guy. Seneca writes to a friend, you can persuade me into almost anything now, for I was recently persuaded to travel by sea.

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Men regarded a sea voyage as taking one's life in one's hands. Let's see if I can find that. That's where that was.

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Paul's litany of perils starting in verse 24 and continuing through verse 27 doesn't read like a resume of success, does it?

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But it was success the way God defines it. He planted churches, he preached the gospel, he brought the word of God to many, to many.

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It doesn't read like a resume of success. One would parade in front of others who were bragging about being your equal or your superior in service to Christ.

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The list of difficulties demonstrated Paul's devotion to Christ. He would serve him at all costs and through all dangers.

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The false apostles had no such claims. And that's where we ended up a couple weeks ago, a few weeks ago. So in verse 26, he says this, he continues, he says,

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I have been on frequent journeys in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the

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Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren.

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From a general statement of difficulties in verse 23 to a specific detailed litany of verses in 24 through 26, a specific litany of dangers and difficulties in verses 24 through 26,

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Paul demonstrates his commitment to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and indeed his commitment to the Lord himself. There were countless short trips interspersed with the long missionary journeys that Paul took in his three plus decades of ministry.

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He dealt with the dangers of swollen rivers, bands of robbers, the Jews, his own countrymen, who would attempt to kill him for abandoning the

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Jewish faith and taking up with dirty Gentiles in this new religion. The Gentiles themselves, especially the

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Roman authorities, endangered his life numerous times. Whether he was in the city or in the countryside, he met danger.

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There were dangers, as mentioned earlier, on the sea as well. This last little phrase, dangers among false brethren, it must have been especially disturbing and painful.

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Some of those false brethren were certainly in the Corinthian church. Indeed, the false apostles would have been classed among those traitors.

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Paul warned the Ephesian elders that false teachers would rise from the church they led.

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False teachers would arise from the very church they led. This is true in every age that false teachers come from among the brethren.

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And it has to be the most difficult of all to have those rise from your own body, accusing you of being duplicitous, of being a liar, and of attempting to upstage.

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And Paul wasn't in it for the glory. He wasn't, I mean, there was, there was, the way things are normally done, there was no glory here.

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This was not something that you would do to earn a living, a real living back then.

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He was a tent maker, a leather maker, and just difficulties all around, but he stayed the course.

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If we can gather something in an overview, such as an overview from all of this information, we can gather that, that true disciples of Christ, they stay the course, they stay the course.

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Who keeps them on that course? God does, God does. Because absent the strength of God, we'd all run screaming from the room.

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We just would, let's face it. When your skin's on the line, you find out how serious you are.

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So he gives the general statement, and then he goes into a litany. Then he says in verse 27, I have been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger, thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

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Paul earned his own way as he preached the gospel throughout the known world. He spent many sleepless nights.

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He went hungry, he went thirsty, and he had to sleep on the ground outside very often. And I gotta tell you, there's a, you young people don't know about this.

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There's a geotectonic phenomenon that occurs as you age. The ground gets harder. And it has something to do with the lithium in the rocks or something, and I'm still working on understanding all the details of that.

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But Paul, I mean, he had to spend a lot of time sleeping in the cold. He had to spend time hungry, thirsty.

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The temperatures in Philippi and Worms, for example, in the winter, could get down below freezing. Now, that doesn't sound like much to us here in North Idaho, but I don't think he had

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Pendleton wool. And he probably didn't have Fox River socks or a navy pea coat.

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He probably had some threadbare blankets and the clothing that he had on his back, and that was about it.

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But his devotion to spread the gospel of Christ was such that this was but milk and butter to him.

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It was no big deal. He points it out here so that those who are moving to a new camp, as it were, these false apostles would recognize that they were being fed a bill of good or served a bill of goods that was untrue.

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These false apostles would never do that kind of thing. They would never sacrifice their comfort the way the

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Apostle Paul did to bring the gospel to the world. And it's the same today.

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Now, God doesn't call those, sometimes he does, but generally speaking, he doesn't necessarily call those who would serve him to a life of threadbare clothes and starving.

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But if he does, they will do it. They will do it. So, but he also,

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I'm just not certain in my mind that he calls us to a life of seven jets. So that we can pick and choose not to fly with the demons in those tubes in the sky.

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That's what they've been accused of being, the people that some of these prosperity preachers talk about they can't fly in commercial jets because it's like being locked into a tube full of demons.

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They need two or three, no, six. Five or six, two or three. You're a popper.

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Real servants of God can pick between the Learjet, the Gulfstream and whatever the, I think we'll fly today seven people on a passenger, on a jet that takes, that holds 50, you know.

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Okay, I'm getting carried away. So that's easy for me to do. So all of these things that Paul has talked about,

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Luke only records a few of these, but it's enough to show the tenacity that Paul had in preaching the gospel.

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And we're gonna go through a few of them here. I've got, this is, because scripture is richer than anything

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I have to say. Acts 9 .23, when many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him.

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This was right after he was saved. He didn't even get a chance to really get his feet under him. Acts chapter nine,

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Acts chapter 9 .29, he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews, but they were attempting to put him to death.

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Now, I know it can get pretty nasty on social media, but not like this.

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You know, where does that guy live? We're gonna kill him. Acts 13 .45, but when the

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Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul and were blaspheming.

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They would blaspheme in order to contradict Paul. Acts 13 .50,

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but the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district.

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Acts 14 .2, but the Jews who disbelieved stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and embittered them against the brethren.

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So the Jews embarked on a case -by -case, day -by -day attempt to subvert everything

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Paul was doing. He had serious opposition. Sometimes, I mean, I've read the book of Acts, I don't know how many times, and as I went through it this time for my study,

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I went, they really didn't like the guy. I mean, it was awful. It would've been awful to have had to live in this kind of condition, under these kind of conditions.

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Acts 14 .19, but the Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and having won over the crowds, they were good speakers, it would be my guess.

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They knew how to turn a phrase and how to incite anger and incite violence.

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And having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.

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Yeah, just like that. Acts 16 .19 -24, but when her masters saw that there, this is the gal who was making money for people, one of the sorcerers, but when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized

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Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. And when they had brought him to the chief magistrates, they said, these men are throwing our city into confusion, being

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Jews and proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being

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Romans. The crowd rose up together against them and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods.

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Let me stop there for a minute. So the Jews weren't appealing to scripture. It would serve them better in this case to appeal to the

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Roman, the things that they were responsible not to do as Roman citizens. Whatever worked, whatever worked, whatever worked to get

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Paul and Silas and all the others in trouble. When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely.

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And he having received such a command, yeah, I'll just put them in a cell. I'll watch them. No, he threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in stocks.

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Now these weren't padded ankle bracelets. These were rough wooden or possibly wooden and partially metal devices that were fastened around your feet and they didn't size them to you.

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And so it was very painful, often resulting in broken bones, contusions, abrasions. Well, the contusions would be on the head.

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Abrasions and wounds of many types. In Acts chapter 18 verse 12, but while Galileo was proconsul of Achaia, the

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Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat. And then, and I'll leave this to you to read.

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We got a little bit of a late start there. There's quite a bit. But Acts chapter 19, 23 verses through 41.

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You know what? We're gonna read it. This is amazing. This is amazing. The kind of opposition that was brought against a man of God who was bringing the word of God to the world.

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About that time, there occurred no small disturbance concerning the way. That's what they called Christians, the religion they practiced, the way.

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For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little business to the craftsman.

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These he gathered together with the workmen of similar trades and said, men, you know that our prosperity depends upon this business.

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They're not really gods, they're goddesses. They're silver and it's business and we're losing money. You see in here that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this

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Paul has persuaded, that's a little bit of hyperbole, but okay.

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Has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people saying that gods made with hands are no gods at all.

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Well, duh. Not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess

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Artemis be regarded as worthless and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence.

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When they heard this, they were filled and were filled with, and were filled with rage, they began crying out saying, great is

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Artemis of the Ephesians. So they would just plug their ears and shout, nah, nah, nah, we don't hear you. Great is

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Artemis of the Ephesians. The city was filled with the confusion and they rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia.

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You better think careful if you're gonna travel with Paul. Because you might get beat up, hurt, killed, stoned just traveling with this guy.

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And when Paul wanted to go into the assembly, the disciples would not let him. Also some of the

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Asiarchs who were friends of his sent to him and repeatedly urged him not to venture into the theater. So then some were shouting one thing and some another for the assembly was in confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together.

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Most of the mob that gathered there to do this damage, they didn't even know I were there. We're here, tell us to kill something, we'll kill something.

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That's what mobs do. That's what mobs do. Some of the crowd concluded it was

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Alexander since the Jews had put him forward and having motion with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the assembly.

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But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single outcry arose from them all as they shouted for about two hours, great is

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Artemis of the Ephesians. After quieting the crowd, the town clerk said, men of Ephesus, what man is there after all who does not know that the city of the

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Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the image which fell down from heaven.

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So since these, so there's some false information right there, that was fake news. It didn't fall down from heaven.

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Somebody made it in their basement. So since these are undeniable facts, undeniable facts.

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Where have you heard that before nowadays? This is an undeniable fact and it's not even true. Since these are undeniable facts, you ought to keep calm and do nothing rash.

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For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess. So then if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against any man, the courts are in session and proconsuls are available.

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Let them bring charges against one another. But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the lawful assembly.

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So at least he was a voice of reason, attempted reason. For indeed we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today's events since there is no real cause for it.

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And in this connection, we will be unable to account for this disorderly gathering. After saying this, he dismissed the assembly.

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So irresponsible people took control of the crowd and got them stirred up.

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And it looks like a fairly responsible person got them shut down for a while. But Paul faced this everywhere he went.

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Remember, remember that if everything Paul did was recorded, there wouldn't be enough room in the world for the books.

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So Luke, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, recorded what was absolutely necessary to communicate to us the devotion of his servants in spreading the gospel.

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And so this is just some of it. Any comments or questions about that, verse 27? Verse 28, and here, here in this verse lies one of the great concerns of anybody who's responsible in the body of Christ.

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He says, apart from such external things, being stoned, locked in stocks, thrown in prison, freezing, starving, thirsting, being broke, apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.

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He loved the churches of God. He loved the people of God. He loved to be with them.

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He loved to give them God's word. He loved to spend time among them. And this, these external things were preventing that.

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Here we are reminded of the internal difficulties that occur when someone is responsible for a flock that God has entrusted to him or to them to care, for teaching and for nurture.

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He had particular concerns about those in Ephesus that were different in some ways from the problems in Galatia. Each church has its own little persona and its own differences so that their problems, while universal to the church, but individual churches may have, the struggles may seem somewhat a bit different at any rate.

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The Corinthians, let's see, the Colossians were courting Gnosticism. The Corinthians struggled with hedonism, perversion, and a significant influx of false teachers.

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In Rome, there were tensions between the Jews and the Gentiles to be dealt with. The Galatians had fallen back into legalism to some degree.

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The Thessalonians were struggling with intolerance and division. Does any of that sound familiar? There is really nothing new under the sun, nothing.

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The human nature waxes outside of the church worse and worse.

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Hopefully, inside of the church, it's not human nature, but it's godly nature, waxes more and more towards Christ.

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The epistles to Timothy, the Ephesians, Paul said, had forsaken their first love.

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They had lost the fire that had accompanied their salvation to Christ.

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The epistles to Timothy sought to encourage and instruct a new young pastor. Titus dealt with false teachers, and so it went.

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As I was doing sort of a survey of some of the New Testament books, looking through for some key verses as to what

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Paul was dealing with, these seemed to be some of the things that stood out. Paul had numerous issues, and so it went.

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Paul had numerous issues in the many churches he had founded, and they brought him many sleepless nights. They provided for him such fodder for prayer that he spent a great deal of time on his knees for these bodies of Christ, for these believers, these beloved people in his life.

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Paul also had a great solicitude for these churches, and when he could, he would visit them for the purpose of strengthening and encouraging them.

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In Acts chapter 15, verse 36, after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaim the word of the

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Lord and see how they are. Let's go and see how they're doing. I wanna help out. I wanna do what

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I can. Acts 15, 40 through 41. But Paul chose Silas and left, being committed by the brethren to the grace of the

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Lord and he was traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. So he planted them, and then he went back through and he told them what he wanted to tell them, then he told them again, then he came back to tell them what he told them.

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That's basic preaching. And having spent some time there in Acts chapter 18, verse 23, he left and passed successively through the

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Galatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. He had quite a ministry of strengthening already believers, already believers.

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Acts chapter 20, verse two. When he had gone through those districts and had given them much exhortation, he came to Greece, exhorting to build up, to strengthen, to encourage, to make strong.

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Colossians 2, 1. For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are in Laodicea and for all those who have not personally seen my face.

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He wanted to see as many as he could. Remember in the book of Romans, when he wrote to the Romans, I long to come see you. I wanna come see you, but Satan has stood in my way.

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And so it is true, the under -shepherd is solicitous of those entrusted to him. He prays, he agonizes, he counsels, he encourages, and he meets those who would lead any of the flock astray with rebuke, censure, and exposure.

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That needs to be done. It needs to be done. One commentator put it this way.

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He said, and so it is, and so it should be with every faithful pastor of Christ's flock.

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He should lovingly identify himself with those who have been committed to his care, showing himself deeply anxious for their spiritual well -being, compassionate with them in their frailties and temptations, and resisting and resenting everyone who seeks to entice them away from the purity of their devotion to Christ.

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This compassion is not of man. It is the divine compassion of Christ himself, burning in the heart of his servant and blazing forth in love to reach and to bind the one bridegroom and to bind to the one bridegroom the hearts of those to whom he ministers.

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So, and in New Testament churches on, you have groups of men who've been commissioned to serve, and it's hopefully, as God leads, it is their love for the church that should show through.

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It is their love for the teaching of God's word that should show through. Not for the almighty dollar or for fame or for any of those other things.

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They should be devoted to the people in the church. Any comments or questions about that?

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Yes. He will never leave you nor forsake you.

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And if I remember right, that's a triple negative, which isn't like an English negative. A double negative cancels itself out.

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No, he will never, never, never leave you nor forsake you.

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Now, that is either true or it's not. And it is true. Yes. Yes, they did.

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Good point. You pointed out that they saw Paul not as a single man, but as a serious player.

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They saw him as a single man. A serious player. One single man that was a serious threat to their way of life.

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Actually, the guy, it may have been a little bit of hyperbole, but he said the whole world. Well, at the time,

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Paul was bringing in the gospel to the known world. And those Roman roads helped him out a lot.

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He got around a lot. These are thousands of miles that he traveled and brought the gospel.

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And then, each faithful church would have had people in them that had the same fire burning in them to take the gospel.

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And Paul talks about that. So, and thus, and that's why I think sometimes when we get too comfortable around our little fire, our little home fire,

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God stomps the fire. And what happens when you stomp a campfire? The embers go out, don't they?

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He spreads the light. So, Paul was perceived as a threat to the prevailing religions of the day and to the prevailing moneyed interests of the day.

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And the gospel will always be perceived as a threat to the prevailing religions, and so it should, because I know this is gonna sound intolerant, but don't forgive me.

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There is no other way under heaven that men are to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm badly butchering this because I know it's in there.

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Peter said this, but through the Lord Jesus Christ. There are not many ways to God.

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There's one. Uno in Spanish. Bet y 'all didn't know that. And so Paul was threatening all of the existing religious systems.

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And the Romans, you were an atheist if you only believed in one God. Yeah, I mean, let's define our words the way we want.

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So that's what the Romans believed. If you were a monotheist, you were an atheist because there were lots of gods and you were avoiding and abandoning them.

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Verse 29, who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? The false apostles, being selfish, prideful, arrogant, and greedy, cared nothing about the pains, needs, and the daily walk of those in the church at Corinth.

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In fact, when a false apostle discovers a weakness or a pain of another person, they tend to exult and brag about their own conquering nature, about how good they are, about how wonderful they are, about how little they struggle with the kinds of things that the small people struggle with.

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I'm so close to God. I just don't have any problems. And I'm so humble.

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Just ask me. Paul had empathy with those in Corinth who struggled with sin. Their weakness was his weakness.

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He knew that but for the grace of God, there would he go. And anybody who understands the scripture and the nature of man understands it, but there but for the grace of God go any of us.

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He had intense concern for individuals who were being led into sin.

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So yes, he wrote the book, the books cataloging the issues at the churches and dealing with the churches, but it was individuals that were struggling with the sins.

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And Paul had concern for individuals. I am certain that as he spent time on his knees with his intense concern for all the churches, he prayed for individual people.

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He calls out individual people. Would you tell, is it Syntyche? And I can't remember the other woman's name. Tell him to get along.

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Phoebe, I think it's two women. He said, tell him to get along. So he knew there were two women in a church somewhere not getting along and it was important to him.

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It was definitely important to him. So he had intense concern for those who were being led into sin and those leading others into sin were the false apostles themselves.

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The Greek that is translated intense concern comes from a word which means to be burned with fire, to be ignited, to be set on fire, to burn up.

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This was not something that he just said, Lord, would you help that Cornell not to be so arrogant?

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Amen. No, it was intense concern for the sins of others. He would spend hours in seeking the

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Lord for a change in their lives. Those who would bring in false teaching that led one or more of the flock into sin intensely angered

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Paul and he fought to keep them from practicing their perfidy. He called them out. He made it known who they were.

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Now, we don't have any names in 2 Corinthians, but you can be certain that those names were known in those days.

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Paul is saying here that he burned with righteous indignation when someone led believers into sin.

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This echoes the Savior's concern in Matthew 18 over the little ones being led away from him. He said, but whoever, in Matthew 18, chapter 18, verse six, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

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That's an intense concern for those whom he loves. Any comments about that?

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Verse 29, 30. If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness.

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Why would Paul boast about weakness with respect to ministry of the gospel?

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There are a number of reasons why he would do so. First, any success that he had must be ascribed to the grace of God, and that would be what

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Paul would want to do. Those things that are positive in my life, he would say, are direct results of the grace of God in my life.

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And so the great things, he's about to describe one of the worst things that could have ever happened to Paul, that could have ever happened to a man like Paul who loved to speak to those who needed truth face to face, whether they be supporters or detractors.

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He went to Mars Hill knowing that he was not gonna get a favorable reception. That God you call the unknown

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God, well, I'm here to declare him to you. Come back tomorrow, we'll listen to your babble again. They really responded in some ways.

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But he didn't let that stop him. He never let that stop him. He loved to speak to those who needed the truth face to face, whether they be supporters or detractors, plain citizens or eminent politicians.

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It is in weakness that we become strong, the scriptures say, and in fact, it is Paul himself who would later say it in this epistle.

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He says it this way in 2 Corinthians 12, verses nine and 10, when he was concerned dealing with the thorn in his flesh.

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And God, and he, God, has said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.

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Most gladly, Paul says, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

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Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses. Who's well content with weaknesses? Well, I can live with them.

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That's not what he was saying. He said, I'm well content with weaknesses that God has given me, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sake, not for my sake.

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Give God the glory, Peter. Yeah. Yeah.

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Understand our own weaknesses, yes. It's one thing to say, God, there's been success here.

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I'm so excited about it. Would you help me continue this? Will you cause this to continue and to pray for individual people who can assist in this?

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It's another to say, whoa, he got a deal when he got me. I'm doing so well.

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Look at that. Yeah, pride goeth before a fall. Pride goeth before destruction.

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Yeah, we don't wanna be, we don't wanna have anything we're doing for Christ take that kind of a fall. It's okay to recognize that you're going in a direction that God has directed you, but give him the glory.

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That's what Paul did. Yeah, does that, you know the thing, okay, we're gonna have to finish up with verse 30 here.

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I'll finish up in a minute. But if there's one thing that should give us hope, well, that's a wrong way to say it.

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The gospel gives us hope. But in that hope, there's an exciting thing to remember.

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God uses regular people. It's not the mighty, it's not the wise.

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Paul said that too. It's the everyday folks. There are unsung heroes in every little town.

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I knew one. My mother -in -law was an unsung hero. She was a giver, an energy giver.

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She was a blesser. And she never ever sought any kind of acclaim for herself.

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She did it again and again. She'd give of herself again and again. She had a lot of work in learning to like me.

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I'm serious, she did. She was a blessed woman. And nobody even knows her name.

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God does. He knows her name and he used her weaknesses. She spent a lot of the last years of her life very, very ill and weak.

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But she did what she could from her bed even. And this is the kind of thing that he says, therefore,

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I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecution, with difficulties for Christ's sake, not for our own sake.

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But for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. So Paul would say this to demonstrate to his listeners that it was the power of God in his life that produced great fruit.

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Does that mean that the power of God in your life could produce great fruit? No, not your life.

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Of course it does. Of course it does. The power of God in your life can produce great fruit.

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The power of God. This was a clear evidence that God was at work in his life.

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Another reason would have been that given the incredible story he's about to relate in chapter 12, he prefaces that story.

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And I'll just kind of give you, I'll steal the thunder of chapter 12. He's gonna talk about a guy who he doesn't maybe know who he is, who might have gone to heaven and had this kind of experience.

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You remember that story in 2 Corinthians 12? He's prefacing it, reminding them, everyone, that it is our weakness that God uses to glorify himself.

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So it would have been, he prefaces that story with a call to remembrance that it is God who is at work in us.

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To will and to work his good pleasure, we need to always be coming back to his good pleasure.

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And where do we find that? In a gut feeling. In a vision in the night.

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In the word of God. I read again something online the other day. Someone, I just listened to my heart.

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How do you know it's not a stomach ache? I'm serious. Walter Martin used to say that. I remember when

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I was watching him one time dealing with someone who said that. He said, how do you know it's not indigestion that's leading you down this path?

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It could be. The word of God is sure, true, and sufficient every time.

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So, I got way off the subject there. So he prefaces that story in chapter 12 with a remembrance that it is

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God who has a work in us. To will and to work his good pleasure. We are vessels used by the

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Lord to bring the truth to the world. To bring his truth, not our truth, his truth out of scripture to the world.

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Paul would have none of the glory. He would have none of the glory go to him and all of the glory go to God.

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So that is why he just boasted in a litany of weaknesses. Shipwrecks.

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Sleepless nights. Broke. Cold. Thirsty. You wanna be a gospel, you wanna be a disciple of Christ?

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Here's what you're gonna have. Now, not everybody will be called to that. But it will be different than what the world gets.

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But it will be used by God in your life to bring glory to him and that's what matters. Let's pray.

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Father, we thank you for this incredible story that Paul is telling now under the inspiration of the

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Holy Spirit. He didn't wanna boast and we don't even see it as boasting. We see it as a comparison of his life to the false apostles who were leading the

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Church of Christ at Corinth away from devotion to Christ. No true devoted disciple of the

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Lord Jesus Christ would do anything but lead towards him. And so we ask, Father, that by your grace, any good that is done, we want you to get the glory, all of the glory, not some of it, not most of it, but all of it, that it is the word of God and it is the

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Holy Spirit of God who works and to wills your good pleasure in this planet today. And we thank you that you're doing that because without that, all would be lost.