Until We All Attain To The Unity of the Faith

It really is a joy to be here. My wife is with Vanessa now at the hospital, helping with the process there. We got the call last night at about, I don't know, 9 o'clock or something. Knowing that David was not planning on going to the hospital this weekend, I said, well, shoot, I'll preach for you. And I'm thankful for the opportunity to do that. You are in our prayers as a church. and Clear Note Church in Bloomington. And I hope that we are in your prayers. And I also just personally especially want to thank you for, I just heard that was it last week you had your congregational budget meeting? Was that last week or the week before sometime recently? And that you are continuing to support the work of the Pastors College in Bloomington. Thank you for that. God is, we have three students currently this year.

probably, I hope, at least three coming in in the fall, Lord willing. And so we can't do that work. Literally, we cannot do that work without support from churches like you. So thank you. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 10. 2 Corinthians 10. And I'm going to read to you verses 1 to 11. 2 Corinthians 10, 1 to 11. Now I, Paul, myself, I urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent, I ask that when I am present, I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful.

for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. And we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And we are ready to punish all disobedience whenever your obedience is complete. You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ, let him consider this again within himself. that just as he is Christ's, so also are we. For even if I boast somewhat further about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame. For I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters. For they say his letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.

Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present. This is the word of the Lord. 2 Corinthians is about conflict. And the conflict is about the Apostle Paul's authority in the Corinthian church. If you read 2 Corinthians from the beginning, you'll see signs of this conflict all through it. It's everywhere. But now in chapter 10, Things are about to get very intense from here on out. In chapters 10 through 13, Paul takes the gloves off, right? And he starts sounding, it starts sounding a lot like the book of Galatians, where Paul uses every trick in the book to win the Galatians back from the brink of heresy and apostasy and eternal destruction. He does exactly the same thing here in 2 Corinthians chapters 10 to 13.

He pulls out all the stops. He uses all the tricks in the book. He's sarcastic with them. In 11, 19 to 21, he says, for you being so wise, tolerate, just listen to this. Actually, open up, turn your Bible, flip over to chapter 11. You have to see this and understand what he's saying to catch the sarcasm. It's just dripping with it. But look at what he says. Chapter 11, verse 19. For you being so wise. To my shame, I must say that we have been weak by comparison. Do you hear the sarcasm? Go over in chapter 12, verse 13. Look at it. that I myself did not become a burden to you. Forgive me this wrong. I didn't make you pay me. Oh, I'm so sorry that I mistreated you so. So he's sarcastic. He uses ad hominem arguments against them. He attacks the men themselves. Not just their arguments. He attacks the men. 11.13. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. You can't trust them.

You can't trust what they say because of who they are. He questions their motives. 11.13. I'm sorry, 11.12. But what I am doing, I will continue to do so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. He's talking about what they're up to, what their motives are. He's assigning motive to them. It's a bad motive. In other words, Paul, By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he does all the things that we're not allowed to do today. At least that's what we're told. We're not allowed to be sarcastic. No, no, no. We're not allowed to use ad hominem to attack the men. And we're not allowed to question their motives. This is exactly what the Apostle Paul does by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Now, why is Paul so intense? He's intense because of what his enemies do. They peddle the Word of God. You know what it means to peddle something? Not on a bike.

Right, kids? But to sell something, to sell it. They're like used car salesmen. Sorry if there are any used car salesmen here. 2 Corinthians 2.17, For we are not like many, peddling the word of God. They adulterate the word of God. Chapter 4, verse 2, But we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God. That means adding something to it that doesn't belong there. We don't do that, but they do. Paul says in chapter 5, verse 12, that they, his enemies, take pride in appearance, but not in heart. Not in heart, but they take pride in appearance. They point back, these enemies of Paul, they point to their lack of suffering. They point to their lack of suffering. They point to the fact that they have it so easy as the sign of their authenticity and of God's blessing. God is with us because we have things easy.

That's why Paul is constantly talking about his own suffering. In contrast to these false apostles, he's saying, I suffer, and my suffering is the major mark of my authenticity as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. Over and over again in this letter, he points to his suffering. Chapter 1, verse 5, the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance. Sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance. Chapter 4, verses 8 to 11, We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not despairing, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, always caring about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. This is the sign of his authenticity. I suffer.

It's what he does at the end of the book of Galatians. He says, from now on, let no one bother me because I bear in my body the brand marks of Jesus. And he could have taken off his shirt and shown you, literally, the scars on his back because of his faithfulness to God. He says in chapter 11, verse 20, that his enemies enslave the Corinthians. He says they devour them. They take advantage of them. They exalt themselves. They hit them in the face. And the Apostle Paul, as a good, faithful, humble shepherd, will not allow these people to be treated this way because he loves them. And Paul is intense because of what is at stake. He's not just intense because of what these people do, his enemies. He's intense because of what is at stake. Flip over to chapter 11, verses 2 to 3. He says, For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. There is such a thing as a godly jealousy.

For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. In other words, their souls are at stake. Their souls are at stake. Because the Corinthians are not just tempted to turn away from Paul. They are tempted to turn away from Christ. Because to turn away from the apostle, from an apostle of Christ, is to turn away from Christ. It's the same thing. The apostle stands in the place of Christ with the authority of Christ. To turn away from Paul is to turn away from Christ. So yes, Paul is intense. You better believe he's intense. He's intense because he loves these people. He has given his life for them. He has poured himself out for them.

But now these slicksters, these smooth-talking deceivers, these fancy-dressed, self-promoting servants of Satan are trying to destroy them, these false apostles. And Paul will not let this happen. That's what's going on. That's what's going on all through the book of 2 Corinthians. Now, let's zero in on this passage, chapter 10. What's going on in particular here in 2 Corinthians 10 is that Paul's enemies are dismissing Paul. They're dissing him. They're writing him off with the words in verse 10. For they say, my enemies, right, Paul's enemies say, his letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible. That's why he sarcastically says in verse 1, I who am meek when face to face to you, but bold toward you when absent. He's using his enemy's terms here. But he doesn't mean it. He's not really, as we'll see in a second. He's, again, being sarcastic. Because the Corinthians know better. The Corinthians know Paul. They know what he's like. They know that this dismissive charge is a load of nonsense.

But the problem is they're starting to buy it. They're starting to be persuaded by this line that Paul is a big talker when he's away, but when he comes and he's actually with us, he's just a wimp. He's just a little man. He can write big, strong letters when he's away from us, but he will not say these things to our face. Well, so what's happened? The Corinthians have forgotten the true marks of a true apostle of Jesus Christ, and they've started... instead to be impressed by outward things. They've started to be impressed by the outward appearance of these false apostles. We know this because of what he says to them in verse 2. He says, some regard us, that's him and the true apostles, some regard us as if we walked according to the flesh. Now, what's he mean by that? He explains it in verse 7. You are looking at things as they are outwardly.

You're looking at things as they are outwardly. In other words, the Corinthians are starting to be impressed by the bling of Paul's enemies. They've started to be impressed by the glitz of the false apostles. They've started to take big hair and shiny suits and fancy cars and all that bling for granted. They've started to assume that a real apostle, a real apostle is a powerful man, an important man. A prestigious man. A popular man. But this Paul, well, he starts fights. He has no polish. He stirs up trouble wherever he goes. He isn't all that good looking either. When he came to us, he did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom. He did not impress us with our own ability to appreciate his rhetoric. All he talked about was this unsophisticated, really...

frankly, barbaric message of the cross and death and blood. And he actually was weak. When he spoke of this cross, he didn't do it with persuasive words of wisdom, but he spoke with fear and trembling. What kind of man is that? So you see, they're starting to be impressed by the shine of Paul's enemies, starting to be blinded by the brightness of those who masquerade as servants of righteousness. Now, this is our constant temptation, isn't it? How big is his church? How many books has he written? How many conferences does he get invited to speak at? How many hits are on his blog? How much money does his church bring in? Who does he run with? Whose phone numbers are on his phone? Who praises him? Who writes the blurbs on the back of his books?

How many magazine covers has he been on? How good looking is he? How good looking is his wife? How many books has she written? How easy is his life? Has he arrived? If so, then why? He must be a man of God. This is all regarding men after the flesh. It is all to look at things outwardly. This is our constant temptation and it is always wrong. Now, what's Paul say to all this? Well, He actually begins by being very tender with the Corinthians. Verse 1. Now I, Paul, myself, urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Do you hear how patient he's being with them? How tender he's being? I, Paul. I, Paul, myself. Remember me? Remember me? I, Paul, myself. The one who labored for you. The one who fought for you. The one who spent months with you. Corinthians.

Because he did. He spent months with them. Day in and day out teaching you. The one who worked with my own hands so that you wouldn't even have to pay me while I was with you. The one who constantly carries the weight of your well-being. The one who loves you. I, Paul, myself, urge you. I come alongside you. I put my arm around your shoulder. I earnestly comfort and encourage and exhort you. I, Paul, myself, urge you. by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Look at how meek and gentle Christ is, Corinthians. He's the friend of sinners. He loves little children, and little children love him. Jesus himself said, Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Look at how meek and gentle Jesus is.

A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish. I, Paul, myself, I urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Now, what does he so tenderly urge them to do? Verse 2. I ask you, I ask, that when I am present, I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some. In other words, he wants to be tender with them. He wants to be soft with them. He urges them. By the mercy and gentleness and meekness of Christ, Corinthians, would you please make it so that when I do come, I don't have to be hard on you. Now, this is what every shepherd wants, right? It's what every father wants. It's what every mother wants. You don't want to have to be hard on your children, your sheep, the people under your care. We want to be able to be tender with you when we discipline you.

We want to be like what Paul describes in 1 Thessalonians 2. He says, but we prove to be gentle among you as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having so fond an affection for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives because you had become very dear to us. That is what we want. That is what your pastors and elders want. Believe me, that's what they want. We don't want to go around picking fights. They don't want to go around picking fights. In fact, Paul says that We would be disqualified to be elders if we were quick-tempered and were pugnacious, looking to pick fights. But it doesn't always work out that way, does it? Jesus was tender and meek and gentle and soft, but was he always that way? No. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? Jesus says. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.

Jesus says. John 2, and he found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables, and he made a scourge of cords. Now think about this. He made a scourge of cords, Jesus, the one who made the heavens, the one who made the earth, the one who nothing has been made except him making it. He made a whip. I believe it must have been the best whip ever made in the history of the world. I mean, seriously, right? And then he didn't just make it and put it on display in a museum. He used it. It says so. He made a scourge of cords and drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen, and he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. This is Jesus. Does that sound meek and gentle? So which is it? Was Jesus meek and gentle or was he bold and harsh? Well, obviously he was both. There's not a problem with that, right? He was both.

And his faithful shepherds are also both. Jesus is tender with those who are themselves tender. He is soft with those who have a soft conscience. He is a friend of repentant sinners. If you are a repentant sinner, you'll never find anyone so tender, so patient, so filled with mercy and kindness than Jesus Christ. You'll never find anyone more tender than him. But if you're a hardened sinner, if you're stiff-necked, if you refuse to soften your heart and humble yourself under his mighty hand, then you'll never find anyone so fierce as our Lord Jesus Christ. Because he'll scoff at you. He will dash you to pieces. He will rule you with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. He will be very hard on you.

And you cannot win. This is the Jesus of the Bible. This is the only Jesus there is. And his faithful shepherds are exactly the same. Look at what Paul says here, verse 1. Now I, Paul, myself, urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I whom meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent, I ask that when I am present, I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some. Who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful. Right? They have the power of God. They're divinely powerful. For the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. And we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

And we're ready to punish all disobedience whenever your obedience is complete. Verse 10, for they say, his letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech is contemptible. Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are indeed when present. Listen, you'd better watch out. I am coming to Corinth. And if I need to, I will come, not as a timid man, not as a weak man, not as a meek and gentle man, but if I need to, I will come to you as a warrior with weapons, and I will deal with you, and you will not win. My weapons are divinely powerful. God's weapons don't lose. Paul says, you are foolish to look at my height or my baldness or my old clothes or my bad reputation or my lack of credentials or my...

Lack of popularity or my old car, you know? You're foolish to look at all that stuff and think, this man is of no consequence. He can't do anything to us. Why should we listen to him? On the contrary, the weapons of my warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. I am destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And I'm ready to punish all disobedience. If you continue to harden yourself in your pride, you will not win because you will be fighting against the weapons of the Lord Christ. This is why he's so tender with them. He's begging them, don't harden your hearts. Because if you harden your hearts, you're not going to win. Jesus will crush you.

He'll tear you down. That's what he says. Destruction of fortresses. Tearing down lofty things raised up against the knowledge of God. Now, what are the lessons here for us? Well, first, the ministry of the gospel is a fight. It is a fight. It is warfare. And those of us who are in the ministry, those of us who are elders or pastors or deacons in the church, so I'm going to talk to you guys for a minute here. Those of us who are in the ministry, elders, pastors, deacons in the church, we had better be sure that we are using the right weapons, brothers. The Puritan William Perkins, he said this in a book on preaching. He said, if we follow the direction of our proud natures and trust in our own ability, gifts, and learning, we are using carnal weapons, carnal weapons in a spiritual warfare. Now what's that like?

What's it like to use carnal weapons in a spiritual warfare? It's like bringing a knife to a gunfight, as they say, right? Not a good idea. If we think we will win spiritual battles by fleshly means, we are fools, and we will lose, and nothing will come of our work. And so, brothers, let's be sure we're using the right weapons, weapons that are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses, the word of God, the preaching of that word. the administration of discipline as God has commanded, the binding and loosing that come through the authority of Jesus Christ, the kings of the kingdom of heaven that he has given us. Those are the weapons he's given us. Let's guard ourselves, brothers, against all the temptations to want glitz and popularity and ease and to mistake that for the signs of God's blessing. It's not. Let's guard ourselves against the temptation to use our own wisdom and our own strength.

The weapons we have are divinely powerful. Let's recommit ourselves to use them. Second, these weapons are to be used not only in the world, but in the church. Paul is not using these weapons, these divinely powerful weapons, in the context of evangelism in the world. That's not what he's talking about. He's not talking about using these weapons out there. He is using these weapons in the church. He's writing to a church. He's talking about what he's going to do when he gets there in the church. He is going to go to church in Corinth, and he's going to do battle with God's enemies in the church. And again, this is what God's faithful shepherds do. According to Titus 1, 9-11, where the Apostle Paul is talking to Titus about what an elder must be, what a pastor must be. He says an elder must hold fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching. Why? Why must an elder hold fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching that's come down to us?

through the apostles. He must hold fast to faithful words so that he'll be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced. He's talking about teachers in the church here. There are many rebellious men who must be silenced because they're upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. That's what it means to be a shepherd. Faithful shepherd must, must be able to refute, no, actually, you're wrong, right? One of the most useful things that we can, that we get from Donald Trump being president is we have a man in public who will say, wrong, wrong. Oh, yeah, I forgot that word, wrong. I don't like Trump, don't worry. But I like it when he says wrong.

That's what it means to refute. And not just to say wrong, but to prove it, right? To silence people. To silence people in the church. This is what the faithful shepherd does. Because the souls of whole families are at stake here. And if we think for a moment that the fight is mainly out there, we will have blood on our hands because we will not do our duty to fight in the church and for the church. People will be happy for us and for you. to fight all the evil outside the church. You start beginning to fight the evil in the church, well, they'll think of you just like they thought of Paul. And that will be a blessing to you. Third, I appeal to all of you to be sure you don't harden yourself in your pride against Jesus Christ and against his ministers. Don't do it. Hebrews 13, 17.

Let them do that with joy. If you're a hassle, if you're a pain, if you cause grief to your... elders and pastors and deacons, you're the one that gets the short end of the stick. This would be unprofitable for you, is what he says. It's in your self-interest to be shepherded with faith and humility and obedience. This is what the Word of God says. Please let your elders and your pastors do their work with joy. Let them be soft with you. Let them come to you with the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Don't fight against the discipline of God's ministers. You won't win. If they're using the weapons they should be using, that I hope you'll use, brothers, these are God's weapons, divinely powerful weapons. You can't win. Not because the elders and pastors are strong and macho. No, but because you're fighting against the king of heaven.

And if they discipline you, if your elders or pastors discipline you and you leave to get away from that, don't think you've thwarted the hand of God's discipline. You cannot thwart the hand of God's discipline. His arm is long and mighty, and he will have his way with you. If you're his, he will discipline you and bring you back, but it will not be easy. If you're not his, he'll destroy you. He will have his way with you either now or on the day of judgment. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that he is Lord. I pray that God would deal with you now when his mercy is open to you. Let's pray and ask God to help us with these things. Dear Lord, have mercy on us, we pray. We are just like the Corinthians. It's so easy for us, especially here and now in America, to be so impressed by...

foolish, outward things. Have mercy, Father. Give us wisdom and true sight to see through all of that nonsense. And I pray, Lord, for this congregation as they look at themselves and see not great numbers, not great facilities, not great money. Lord, let them not grow weary in the work you've given them to do. And let them not be discouraged by that stuff. Let them be faithful. I pray for the elders and the pastors and the deacons here, that they would be faithful, that they would love their people, that they would be tender and meek and merciful with them, especially with those who are themselves tender. And I pray that they would have the strength and the fortitude, the courage, the faith to discipline those who are running from you. Lord, we thank you for the gifts of...

of these weapons, these spiritual weapons. We see that they work. I pray that you'd strengthen these men as they use them. Father, we do pray, I pray for the ministry of this church, that it would continue to increase, that many more would hear it, not for the sake of popularity or prestige, but for the sake of your kingdom and your gospel doing work in this world, in this city. We ask for your mercy, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.