GETTIN’ BACK TO IT
2 Corinthians 10:1-2 (KJV)
Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:
But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
I went back to check. I started teaching through 2 Corinthians 8-9 way back in April so almost all the way through this China Virus problem.
These two chapters are almost parenthetical to the whole of 2 Corinthians. Within these two chapters we find the foundational principles concerning Christian giving. So I wanted to take our time through them.
We’ve been almost four months since we saw that point, so my first heading for this lesson will be,
*I. A REVIEW
You will remember that Paul had written the first letter to Corinth to correct a ton of errors in the church. He sent it to the church in the hands of Titus. Paul admitted that he was quite anxious to hear how the people of the church took his rebukes.
No preacher wants to upset people.
But, if he is going to be true to the Lord, he has to preach faithfully the rebukes and well as the blessings.
So Paul was, I don’t think I go to far to say, excited when Titus returned to report that they had accepted his message and repented.
2 Corinthians 7:9-11 (KJV)
Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
He was more than relieved; he was rejoicing that they had repented.
Not everyone does.
Indeed, there was one group in the church that had not repented.
We call them today the Judaizers. These were professing Christians who believed that a Christian, Jew or Gentile, had to proselytize to Judaism in order to be right with God.
They exist today in groups such as the Seventh Day Adventists, Messianic Jews, and a number of similar groups.
These people
· challenged Paul’s credentials,
· questioned Paul’s authority and
· refused Paul’s corrections
The bulk of chapters 2-7 address these heretics. (Paul calls them that.[1])
The connection between his challenge of the heretics and his lessons on giving is that he had taken great measures to provide for the honesty of his ministry among such accusations.
A side lesson is that a faithful preacher will not let trouble in the church back him away from the subject of giving.
People who give faithfully get their heart where it ought to be.[2]
Having completed his parenthetical lesson, chapter ten goes right back to confronting the problem people in the church at Corinth.
2 Corinthians 10:1-2 (KJV)
Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:
But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
Notice in verse two the phrase, “against some.”
He’s still got some things to say against some of them.
What I find in these first two verses are two “tools” in preacher’s toolbox for dealing with troublemakers in the church.
For this lesson I see,
*II. A REFRAIN
2 Corinthians 10:1-2 (KJV)
Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, ….
He uses the term beseech two times in these two verses.
· He is appealing to them
· He is begging them
Notice the words:
· Meekness
· Gentleness
· Base
People tend to think of Jesus as only tender, meek and gentle. I remind you that Jesus was not afraid to rebuke even his closest disciples when it needed to happen.
The Apostle appealed to their sense of the meekness and gentleness of Christ.
If he was able, he would rather have won them with humility and kindness.
What pastor wouldn’t?
When someone begins causing trouble in the church the pastor’s first instinct is to humble himself.
Remember when Moses and Aaron were challenged?
Remember how they fell on their faces to the ground?
That’s going to be my preference every time.
· I’m going to want to take it to the Lord.
· I’m going to remember that I am no better than any of my accusers
· I’m going to want to solve the problem by appealing to the cause of Christ
The first thing Paul did was to beseech them to reconcile their differences rather than to continue making trouble.
But notice also
*III. A RESTRAINT
2 Corinthians 10:1-2 (KJV)
Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:
But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
Paul begged them to reconcile with him so that he did not have to be bold toward them.
See the word bold three times? The first two are the same Greek word. The third is different.
A. Bold toward you
This is the word courageous.
This is pointed, focused, targeted courage.
Those who had challenged his ministry, were in his sites.
He wasn’t going to back down.
B. Bold when I am present
Just in case they thought his letters would be more courageous than he would be when he was present. He let them know that he would be both bold and confident when he got there.
C. Bold against some
I said that this third Greek word is different. It means “extreme behavior.”
If he needed to, when he arrived, he would take such an adversarial role that it might be mistaken for the flesh.
Suppose you saw a wolf attack a flock of sheep.
Suppose as you watched, you saw the shepherd beat the wolf off with a stick.
Do you suppose that might look like he got in the flesh?
But was he?
No. He was doing exactly what he should have done.
· The wolf probably thought he was being violent
· The sheep might even have gotten a little spooked by his actions
Truth is, he would have been in the flesh had he not protected his flock.
But remember, the Apostle begged them to reconcile. He did not want to use boldness against them.
· He was meek
· He was gentle
· He was base and humble
But if he had to, he could use his weapons.
That’s where we will pick up in the next lesson.
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