For our final blog post on the book of 2 Corinthians, Paul has some parting advice for the church. It's real simple, but something I too often forget. Paul says, "Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice!" (v. 11). He offers no qualification for his command. He doesn't say, "Rejoice when you . . ." or "Rejoice, unless . . ." He simply says "Rejoice!"
Alittle over a year ago, I came to Chicago to work alongside Community Chirstian Church. . .
"Nosce te ipsum." It's a Latin phrase that means "Know thyself." Nobody knows who originally said it. Some have speculated that it was an ancient poetess named Phemonoe, or the philsophers Socrates, or Pythagoras. It was also quoted in the first "Matrix" movie, but it's way more impressive to quote Pythagoras than Keanu Reeves. But the meaning is simple: one of the most important exercises a person can accomplish is the discipline of understanding him or herself to the best of one's ability. I think it's one of the hardest things to do. I'm thirty years old and there are still things I'm discovering about myself that I didn't know, or didn't realize, or that I simply wished I never had to learn. There are some parts of my life that I have shielded from my own view so that I wouldn't have to sink into it's darkness. But the darkness comes sooner or later. And so do the bright spots. It's kind of a treat when you can surprise yourself after 30 or so years with something special inside that you hadn't yet seen. But that's the importance of self-examination.
This passage summarize the charges Paul's detrators made toward him throughout this letter and Paul's responses. People said, "Paul is a nobody." Paul responded, "Perhaps; but I know I'm not inferior to the so-called 'super-apostles" (v. 11). People said, "Paul is undistinguished, ungifted, and unqualified." Paul replied, "You've seen my apostolic proof: signs, wonders, miracles" (v. 12). People said, "Paul doesn't really care about us because he wouldn't take payment for his services." Paul said with sarcastic brilliance, "I did not make myself a burden to you by taking your money. Please FORGIVE ME for failing to sponge on you" (v. 13; this is Plummer's translation, which I think captures Paul's sentiment well).
It is with respect to this final point that I would like to elaborate. Paul continues his thought in v. 14 with a statement that has stuck in my mind for the past week. Paul says, "Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you because WHAT I WANT IS NOT YOUR POSSESSIONS BUT YOU!" (v. 14)
When reading unclear passages in the Bible, I usually wish they were alittle clearer. For instance, it would have been nice if God had given us a bit more direction with regards to the nebulous passage in Genesis 6 when the "Sons of God" married the daughters of men. That one's a toughy. Or when Elisha called two bears to come out of the woods to maul a group of teenagers because they insulted his haircut (2 Kings 2:23-25), I wish God had been alittle more specific in that story's implications for youth ministry or raising teenager. Usually, I wish he was clearer. But in this passage in 2 Corinthians 12, I am extremely grateful that God had left this text alittle unclear. I'll show you what I mean:
Paul says, "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me."
You know what it's like when you have that really spiritual experience. I'm not just talking about the way it feels when the church band plays your favorite worship song, or when you're listening to Michael W. Smith's "Secret Ambition" and the groovy pop/rock electric guitar kicks in (sorry for the sarcasm), or when you're slammin' a slice of Lou Malnatti's deep dish pizza. I'm talking about that really "out of this world" GOD experience. You remember? I'm talking about that moment when the heavens opened up, and God spoke to you, His presence was so thick you could practicallyy feel him, and you were so elated that the motion of the world around you froze and a feeling of ecstacy and delight filled your body, mind, and soul until your toes curled. Yeah . . . me neither.
Take a second and think about your most embarrassing moment . . . Dive back into the recesses of your memory . . . Remember all of those awkward Junior High moments, ill-timed bodily functions, wardrobe malfunctions, Freudian slips that you've tried so hard to forget. Do you remember yours? Now watch this video and I promise that your most embarrassing moment will never seem quite so bad again.
Now THAT might just take the cake on embarrassing moments. It's like a car wreck that you can't stop watching. Of course we all have moments from our past that we wish we could forget. The kind that made us appear pitiful, stupid, gross, clumsy, ugly, or insensitive in front of other people. The kind of moment that shines a spotlight on the areas of our greatest insecurities. You know your moment. We all have one. But let me ask you: WHAT IF your worst moment could be redeemed so that it actually became the firmest cornerstone of confidence in your life?
We all know that anytime money is introduced into a situation, the situation changes. I heard someone say one time that if you want to lose a friend, give him money. If you introduce money into a friendship, that friendship runs the risk of being overrun by financial obligations. I think that's the most difficult part of ministry. It obviously takes money to run a church, but the most important part of any ministry, before budgets, business proposals, and plans, is the love of God and people . . . it's relationships.
This passage is all about the subject of boasting. Have you ever seen those Dos Equis beer commercials . . . the commercials about "the most interesting man in the world?" Here's a linkto one of the commericals on youtube if you haven't seen it before, but here are some of my favorite quotes (I think it's pretty funny): "He's been known to cure narcolepsy just by walking into a room." "His beard alone has experienced more than a lesser man's entire body." "Every time he goes for a swim, dolphins appear." This is a marketing campaign driven by a character they created called "the most interesting man in the world." The way they prove he's so interesting? . . . by telling us all of these crazy, almost mythical, things about this guy. It's boasting at it's highest level.
In this section of 2 Corinthians, Paul ratchets up the defense of his ministry. Apparently there were some leaders visiting the church in Corinth saying they were the true apostles and Paul was sort of like Screech from "Saved By The Bell"-- they pretend to be his friend but everyone knows he's really annoying and kind of a wimp. They said, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing" (10:10). So in other words, Paul was gaining a reputation of being a guy who could get in your face and call you out as long as he was at least 5000 miles away, but he wouldn't dare be so bold in a face to face confrontation.
Evangelism Explosion . . .the Wordless Book . . . the Four Spiritual Laws . . . The Way of The Master . . . If you're anything like me, all of these phrases cause a mixture of emotions. On the one hand, I have great appreciation for programs like Evangelism Explosion and Campus Crusade's four spiritual laws, which have led countless people to Christ. There's no debating the power of the simple "If you were to die tonight, would you go to heaven or hell?" question. There's no hemmin' and hawin' over that, and I know a couple of Christ-follower friends of mine who decided to follow Jesus because of that very inquiring gut check! So there have definitely been benefits to evangelism "methods." Of course there are plenty of critics of the evangelism techniques that each of these programs (and more specifically, it's practitioners) have practiced. Many of those criticisms are abundantly apparent to the readers of this blog and well documented elsewhere, so I won't get into all that. Like any church ministry, there are windfalls and shortfalls to evangelism "techniques."
When planting a church there are all sorts of preparations to be made. I manage a church planting software for Waterfront called "Converge," which provides a step-by-step, scheduled, to-do list of all the tiny details that we church planters must accomplish before we launch. There are HUNDREDS of those little details! And in the middle of all that, it can sometimes feel as though the spiritual things are getting lost in the midst of details. . . as if the task of planting a church is all about methodically following the directions. Where's God in all of that?
Have you ever heard a phrase that sounds kind of like this: "It doesn't matter what people think about me; it only matters what God thinks of me!" Ever heard that phrase? It's a great affirmation of God's love for people, no matter what anyone else thinks or says. But believe it or not, there is at least one exception to that principle. There's one situation where it not only matters what God thinks of you, but it also matters what people think of you too. Wanna know what it is?
The issues of wealth, stewardship, and Christianity are explosive issues, and there is unfortunately little agreement about these among Christians. If you talk to some Christians, you might find a very radical "God says to give all your money away, so I'm gonna give my money away" kind of mentality . . . the hippie, anti-establishment branch of the Christian faith. On the polar opposite side, you find the Kenneth Copelands and Joel Osteens who stress a "Prosperity Gospel". . . that God wants all of his people to be very rich, and such riches are evidence of God's blessings in their lives. Left in the middle of the chaos are those Christians and average folks who don't know what to do with their money; they're confused by the message of the church, they're bombarded by the materialistic message of American culture, and they're torn between desire, conscience, and gratitude. The problem to me seems to be a lack of understanding of God's expectations and standards. . .
Since I've joined the staff at Waterfront, a church plant that's trying to give away all of it's Sunday morning offerings, I've been thinking pretty hard about the subject of generosity. I've been thinking about how important it is, how often I fail at living generously, how difficult it is, how large of a responsibility it is. When it comes to generosity, I find that it's always a challenge. And there are always plenty of examples of people I can look up to who model generosity much better than I do.
That's the way Paul begins this section of his letter to the Corinthians. In an effort to convince the Corinthian church to give more of their resources, Paul begins by comparing them directly to the churches in Macedonia. These churches were apparently the "Sugar Daddies" of the early Christian movement. . . they didn't have much money, but they gave tremendous amounts to the Jerusalem churches, who were suffering from a famine. Paul says, "In the midst of a very severe trial, their overwhelming joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability" (vv. 2-3). That's generosity! It's ironic. . .
I was a College Pastor in Denver, Colorado. I was having a conversation one afternoon with a girl (I'll call her Jaimie) who was a friend of someone in my ministry. She was an atheist, but she had visited our church several times and she'd expressed someinterest in Jesus. So I had coffee with Jaimie one day to help her explore God a bit. She asked me about Jesus, and I went into a well-seasoned explanation of the gospel, complete with a napkin sketch, featuring a cross/bridge which prevented people from falling into hell. I said, "What God asks us to do is recognize that we're sinners, repent of our sins, and place our trust in Jesus." She stopped me . . . pointing to the word repentance she asked, "What does that mean?" I drummed up my best seminary-glossed definition and said, "repentance is when a person recognizes that their sinners, feels guilty for their sins, and then turns away from those sins to lead a new life."
This is an extra long post today, because I'm sort of cutting against the interpretive grain on this passage. I'll be honest. I have a love/hate relationship with what Paul says here. Paul says, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common" (v. 14). Throughout my Christian life, I've heard people quote this verse. I've even quoted it myself. And the reason for all this verse-throwing has been to discourage Christians from dating a person who isn't a Christian, or to discourage a Christian from associating with a person who isn't quite "up to snuff" by church standards. I always have alittle trouble with this verse because the ways Christians tend to use such verses are always in a very separatist, "us vs. them" sort of way.
Reading through 2 Corinthians has been a great reminder of what it really means to be a pastor and to be called to a life of ministry as Paul had. As I read chapter 6 this week, I began to think of the way I might describe Paul's style of ministry. It's not "seeker-sensitive," or "traditional," or "emerging," or any other catch-phrase we often hear floating around church circles now-days. This was a phrase of Paul's that stuck out to me: "We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you" (v. 11). I think of all of the descriptions of Paul's ministry one could identify, this is the one I like the best: Paul was a practitioner of "Open Heart Ministry."
You may be asking, "Dave, what is Open Heart Ministry?" Well, I'm, glad you asked. It hasn't made a best-seller list on Christianbooks.com, it's not being featured at Willow's Leadership Summit, and in many ways it runs contrary to conventional leadership wisdom. But I think if you were to ask Paul, he would say that it was essential to his pastoral ministry. There are two aspects to this style of ministry. First, Open Heart Ministry is a life-style, not a job. It's something that becomes you, and seeps into your soul. It's something that you do in good times and bad times. Paul says,
Every good story makes a good point about something. Most bad stories are bad because the point it attempts to make is either unclear, or it doesn't follow from the story, or the point is simply untrue or repetitive. I saw the movie "Baby Mama" a few months ago. . . it's the worst movie I've seen in a long time. Not only was it not very funny (it was supposed to be a comedy), but the plot was so ridiculous it lost any point that the audience could apply to real life. There was nothing to be learned. All of the best stories or movies I watch are stories in which I can walk away knowing something or learning something about life that I didn't know or practice before. That's what makes a story good.
In this passage, we see a Paul who has faced some verbal abuse. He's been ridiculed by the people of Corinth. They called him names, accused him of untruth, spread false rumors about him . . and I'm sure such personal turmoil was hurtful for Paul. He's not made of stone. He'd gone to some lengths to try to prove himself to them. Paul said, "What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience" (v. 11). Paul says, "If we are 'out of our minds,' as some say, it is for God" (v. 13). In other words . . .
There is alot of talk about the afterlife among religious people. What will happen when we die? Where will we go? What is heaven like? Is there a Hell? How hot is it? And these are all great and valid questions. It's fun to imagine life (or afterlife, rather) in heaven. People love to ponder and discuss such matters over herbal tea at the local Starbucks while listening to Enya. you can let your imagination run wild.
There are alot of metaphors people have given for the nature of life. Forrest Gump suggested that life was like a box of chocolates 'cause you never know what you're gonna get. Augustus William Hare got alittle more fancy with his definition: "Life is the hyphen between matter and spirit." It sounds cool, but it's off the theological mark a bit if you read anything by N.T. Wright. I like this quote from an anonymous author: " Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up," or this one from Jack Handy . . . "I hope life isn't a big Joke because I don't get it."
When Paul wanted to make a comparison between his life and some kind of appropriate metaphor here's what he chose: "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us" (v. 7). Paul compares himself to a clay pot, a jar that's used to contain valuable materials such as water or wine. This is a powerful metaphor that I think makes two very important points about life.
I'm back on track with 2 Corinthians. I'll try to be alittle more consistent from now on. Here's an interesting phrase from this passage: ". . .we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God" (v. 2). Paul's trying to "up the ante" on his claim to be an apostle. Apparently some were suggesting that Paul was deceiving them and distorting things (namely the Gospel) for his own benefit, a claim Paul categorically denies. He says that he isn't hiding anything, and what he preaches is the absolute truth . . . no ifs, ands, or you-know-whats.
But I've been thinking about how easy it is to slip into that area of dishonesty. I'm not talking about the bold-faced, clock someone over the head type lies. I mean the small ones. . . as Paul calls them, "distortions" of the truth (actually, if you look at the origin of Paul's word, doloo, there is definitely a hint of something deceptive and snakish in the word). It's funny to me how the distortions that we use to falsify or deceive others are just as potent at decieving ourselves. . .
In our passage today, Paul offers us alittle theology of the new covenant by taking us back in time to the days of Moses. Paul wants to make a comparison between the life of those who lived by the "old ways" and the life of those who are now in Christ. Paul recaps the story of Exodus 34:29-35 when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the tablets of the Ten Commandments that God had just written. According to the story, Moses' face was shining, lit up like a tiki torch, because he had just been talking with God. That kinda freaked out the rest of the Israelites but they got over it and enjoyed the freak show. So Moses' face shined after talking with God, and he walked around with a veil covering his face most days because . . . I don't know. . . he wanted to save on his electric bill?
So that's the background to our passage. And so Paul goes from here and shows us, based on this story, how life in Christ is different from the old covenant. . . .
Paul's in full swing with his letter now, and he's starting to defend himself against a few nay-sayers in Corinth. Apparently there were a few people who questioned Paul's authority: "Who was this Paul? What makes him so special? He wasn't one of Jesus' disciples, so why should we listen to him?" So some people wrote him off as a crackpot, demanding that Paul provide proper credentials for his authority. Now in the next several chapters, Paul gives alot of good reasons why they should consider him to be a leader, but before he gets to all of that, he starts at a very cool, philosophical, "I think therefore I am," kinda place. He says "Before I give you my credentials, let's all take a step back, take a deep breath, and just consider what true credentials for ministry really are?"
Paul gives a great metaphor for the life of the Christian that I've been thinking about for the last couple of days. Pay attention to the imagery in this passage: "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing." (2 Cor. 2:14-15)
Paul paints us a picture of a royal procession, like a king triumphantly returning from battle, walking down the streets of his hometown to cheering crowds.
If I were to give this section a title, I would call it "Why Forgiveness is a Weapon Against Evil." In the context of this section, Paul addresses the person who had caused him so much trouble earlier. The man had apparently been disciplined by the church, and now Paul says this: "The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him" (2:6-8). So it sounds like the guy messed up, the church held him responsible for his actions, they disciplined him, but now Paul is recognizing that the discipline has been either too harsh or too drawn out. And now Paul urges them to "reaffirm [their] love for him."
So here is what I love about this section. . .
Reading the letters of the New Testament always provides a sobering reminder that the church has never been perfect. Despite our most romantic ideas of the early church, church people have always had great difficulty figuring out how to get along and love each other just like we do today. In this section of the letter, Paul addresses a prior altercation he had had with the people of Corinth. It's difficult to know the specifics of the altercation, but I'll try to reconstruct it as best I can.
To begin Paul's second letter to the town of Corinth, he describes God as one who "comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God" (1:4). Paul had apparently faced some sort of persecution in the province of Asia (later he says, "we felt we had received the sentence of death" (1:9).). And so, he speaks from first-hand experience about the kind of suffering one can endure because of his faith. But I find a few things interesting here.
Starting today, I'm going to begin blogging through the entire book of 2 Corinthians. I've been wanting to get back to a regular blogging theme for awhile, and I really enjoyed partnering my blog with my devotionals when I did the 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed. It's sort of like doing your time with God along with a community of people who can share that with you. This is the first time I will be blogging through a Biblical book though, so I may be learning the best way to do this as I go. I'm going to be reading the book alongside a commentary by a NT scholar named Ralph P. Martin-- just in case you're wondering where my brilliant Biblical insights are coming from, most likely they're coming from him. :)
