2 Corinthians 10

2 Corinthians 10

Watch

Read

The Spiritual War

10 Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. 2 But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

Reality of Paul’s Authority

7 Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ’s, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ’s, even so we are Christ’s. 8 For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed—9 lest I seem to terrify you by letters. 10 “For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” 11 Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will also be in deed when we are present.

Limits of Paul’s Authority

12 For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. 13 We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us—a sphere which especially includes you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves (as though our authority did not extend to you), for it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ; 15 not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, in other men’s labors, but having hope, that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere, 16 to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s sphere of accomplishment.

17 But “he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” 18 For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), 2 Co 10:1–18.

• Transcript

  Hey, good afternoon. Oh, it's still morning. Hey, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions, man, jump on the computer here. Make sure that we send out the text message to everybody going to make sure that the text message is sent out and we're going alive. Almost there. Wonderful. Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions is where every day we get together we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year 2022 will make it from the book of Acts to the book of fire Lehmann. We're at Second Corinthians chapter 10 this morning, so glad to have you here along with us. Let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into the Lord's word. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for the blessing of getting to be in Your Word. We pray now that your Holy Spirit would teach us God please direct us. Lead us, guide us. Let us understand your word. Let us believe it. In Jesus's name. Amen. Here we go second Corinthians chapter 10. Oh, my Bible and my glasses here second Corinthians chapter 10. Now I Paul myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence I am lowly among you. But being absent and bold toward you, but I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare. are not carnal but mighty and God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience. When your obedience is fulfilled. Do you look at things according to the outward appearance, if anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ's let him again consider this in himself. That just as He is Christ, even so we are Christ's. If we're even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification, and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed, lest I seem to terrify you by letters. For his letters, they say, are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak. In his speeches contemptible. Let such a person consider this, that what we are in Word by letters when we are absent such will we also be indeed when we are present. For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who are who are commending themselves, but they measuring themselves by themselves, or comparing themselves amongst themselves are not wise. We however, we will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us, a sphere which especially includes you, for we are not overextending ourselves as though our authority did not extend to you, for it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ, not boasting of things beyond measure, that is another man's labor. But having hope, that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast and another man's fear of accomplishment. But he who glories let Him glory in the Lord. For not he who commends himself as approved, but whom the Lord commends, well, we need to ask ourselves first a, what's this about? Be what's the best best verses summarize this and see, what are we called to do in response to these words, so what is this about? Well, Paul's gone, he's, he's out, he's away. And while he's gone, he's already written his hard letter, a letter that calls people tears, that letter that cause people turmoil, and some people repented, right? They turned, but now there's a new class of people and there's church politicking going on, right? It's sad that we even have this idea that there's power struggles in the church and there's church politicking, and who's going to do what and how are you going to get ahead of things and people are saying that Paul's not the legitimate pastor in Corinth. People are under this idea that oh, Paul, we're not really under Paul's domain. We're not really under his authority. And he says, Well, hold on here. Hold on. Paul's the one who brought the Gospel to them. Paul was the one who shared the faith with them. Paul was the one who was not building on anybody else's foundation, but he was the missionary going out to the Gentiles as he was called to do in Genesis or sorry, in Galatians chapter two, when he says that Jesus gave him this task to do and so the church in Corinth is under his sphere of authority. God given the Corinthian church to Paul to care for to love to minister and then also that church to send Paul out to go further than a Kea to get past Greece. To go to Rome did go to Spain to go as far as he could possibly go with the gospel to the Gentiles. And so he's got some stuff to say here, right and people are people are talking down about him. Right there. He's a hotshot by words, but he won't actually back it up and he says, Be careful. For those who are disrupting the unity of church for those who are making themselves great because they're comparing themselves with themselves. I'm going to come with the power of the Holy Spirit, tearing down strongholds, and the strongholds by which we will the tools by which we will tear down those strongholds are not earthly arguments. Right. They're not earthly weapons of war. But we go to war. With the spirit. We go to war with the Scriptures with prayer, with faith and with the power of the Holy Spirit. He's telling his adversaries there in Corinth, when I return I'm going to set the house in order. My boast is in Christ. My bow says that God has given the church in Corinth for me to shepherd and you're going to be put in your place. It gives them this reality check. Right like Dad's coming home. Every once in a while when I when I arrived back home, you know, the kids think that they've been running the roost and they've run mom out of the place and and things are all arrived and Jesus wait until dad gets home. And it's amazing how quick they shape up. Right Paul doesn't want to come to them. This way. That's what he's saying. And the first six verses, right church discipline is going to depend on the entire church recognizing the authority of the apostles. But when he comes he's going to set the house straight. He's going to come with boldness and he's telling them I'm going to confront you face to face. Not just in my letters. You might think I'm ugly, you might think my speech is contemptible. You might want to compare yourself with yourself, but it's Christ who has given Paul this ministry. It's the Holy Spirit who worked through Paul to give these people faith. So when he comes he'll come with a demonstration of faith and power. This isn't an ego trip. This isn't a power trip. This is Paul asserting his apostolic authority. Why? Because he loves the people in Corinth he's not doing this because he's on a power trip. Not doing this or puff up his chest. He's doing this because Christ has given the people of Corinth. For Paul to love and care for now, he was fine with other people going in ministering to them. Right He sent a Paulus. He sent Titus since Timothy he has he's got no problem with Peter going there and preaching right wonderful. But there are people now who are saying Paul's not even an apostle he's got this is outside of his realm outside of his sphere of authority. He says not so. Not so. I'm gonna come return so I can love you all right. Verse 17. For he, but he who glories let Him glory in the Lord. For not he who commends himself as approved, by whom the Lord commends, these guys are patting themselves on the back, making themselves out like the strong men and Paul Zane. Now, no, it's about who the Lord it's about who Christ commends. And the Lord has been commending Paul in his work this whole time. Well, what's the best verse to underline in the section? Well, I really like verses four through six. I really liked that part about spiritual warfare. I also really enjoy the part when when he talks about them directly in verse 11. Right when he says, well, verse 10, when he says, what they're saying about him, but verse 11, he says he's got to confront them face to face with the same type of boldness. And then I also think, verse 14 kind of gets at the heart of what this is about 13 and 14 Right. We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of this fear which God appointed us as fear, which especially includes you For we are not overextending ourselves as though our authority did not extend to you, for it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ. I think that kind of gets at the heart of what's going on here. Does Paul actually have authority in Corinth? Are they under his, his rule as an apostle? I think that that's what, I think that's helpful here. Well, what do we do right we've read the word. I think we understand what this passage is getting at. What do we take home? Well, the West the weapons of spiritual warfare are not carnal. fleshly but they're of the Holy Spirit. Your devil, the adversary, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking to devour you. How will you fight him? We do so by going to God's Word we do so by prayer. We do so by the power of the Holy Spirit, evidencing the fruits of the Holy Spirit, having humility and having courage in the Lord. I think there's also an application to be had here. about respecting the authority that God has placed in our lives over us. Right I think first six specifically is getting at this and other verses Wallace in this chapter is Jesus Christ as the head of his church but Jesus Christ has given gifts to his church. Some who are right but first century church apostles and prophets, and then preachers, even teachers, he gives elders in his church and when we come to the place like First Peter we're not going to get there this year, right? That's outside of our scope. But when he says, likewise, you who are younger, submit yourselves to the elders and Peter as an apostle calls himself a fellow elder. Do we submit ourselves to the elders? In our denomination if you're going to become a member of the Church, in your fourth vow of church membership, you actually make the promise that in case I would need correction in life or doctrine, I'll submit to the authority of the elders of the church. Are there times where I've had to do this? I love my my previous pastor Micah, when I was under his authority, and he would tell me he'd say he I never forget the day I was not loving Olivia. Well, I was involved in too many things. I was too busy. And we went to the front of the church after prayer meeting. And he had me sit down in the front pew and he sat there on on the edge of the stage and he just looked me in the eyes and very lovingly said, Brian, why are you being an idiot? Go home and love your wife, right? He's just go home, man. Don't worry about going to the library. Don't worry about doing such and such ministries and stuff. Go home. Love your wife, and it was a word of God for me, right? I gotta say, oh my gosh, damn, I'm mad at him. Or I could listen to him. Right I'll never forget another elder when I was when I was at seminary. And I was telling him about how my morning routine went and I was talking about these podcasts I would listen to in the morning as I was driving to school and four o'clock in the morning and this elder just very humbly telling me, you know, it'd probably be better if you listen to some Christian podcast instead of business podcasts. might be better to listen to your audio Bible as you drive into work. Rather than thinking about business right away. I can be offended. Or you take it that these men loved me. And they were trying to shepherd my soul. Do you respect your elders? Do you listen to their spiritual discernment? Or do you balk at their authority? I don't like authority in the US. We want to be our own free persons. But the Lord has established the structure. And when our elders love us, and they're leading us sometimes they say hard things, and we need to hear them. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ, who said some hard things. We thank You for Your Holy Spirit that you empower us with your word and with prayer and with the fruits that come from endeavoring afternoon obedience and and for how you, you root us in Jesus Christ and you bear much fruit in our lives. Lord, we pray that we would also bear the fruit of humility and obedience. Not a blind obedience but a biblical obedience. And we pray that we might be commended by you as we follow in your steps Please, Lord, keep us humble. Please give your elders wisdom. Please watch over your people. In Jesus's name, Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you. May you walk in the comfort of your Shepherd me your heart rejoice knowing that the Great Shepherd of the sheep cares for his lambs as he brings them to his chest and protects his own. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Transcribed by https://otter.ai