2nd Corinthians 10:9-18 | Not Comparing Ourselves Among Ourselves
We are there in 2nd Corinthians 10. We stopped at verse 8 last week and will finish up the chapter today. We are going to start back up in verse 8. If you remember, the Apostle Paul is dealing with some problems in the Church of Corinth. That is a theme in this book. They are like a problem child with a lot of issues. He’s dealing with some problems and specifically with criticism.
In verse 8, the Bible says “8 For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority,…”. He’s referring to the fact that they are attacking him as the leader. He is saying that maybe he should talk more about the fact that he is the leader at the Church. Maybe he hasn’t done a good enough job of explaining or teaching that to them. Notice where his authority comes from “8 For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us…”. He is being a little bit sarcastic or sharp with them.
What I do want you to take away or you can learn from this verse and is taught throughout the Bible is that there is such thing as God-given authority. God has instituted different institutions for human relationship: the home, the Church, the government. In those institutions, he has ordained authority, a chain of command. There is God-given authority and that God-given authority would be seen in certain positions, The husband is the head of the wife. He is the God-given authority. A father is the God-given authority of his children. A mother is also the God-given authority of her children. A Pastor is the God-given authority of a Church. Even government officials and positions were ordained by God. That doesn’t mean we blindly follow everything they say of course. We ought to obey God rather than men.
By the way, in all of these authority structures, when the leader comes out of their boundaries, then you ought to obey the higher authority of God. Obviously God has instituted government. God is not an anarchist. However, when that government steps out of bounds and wants to cause us to sin, then we obey God rather than men. That is the same with wives. You are to obey your husbands in everything. If your husband steps out of bounds and is trying to get you to sin then we ought to obey God rather than men. All of these are places where God has given you God-given authority. A husband, a father, a mother, a Pastor, an employer. The Bible teaches that your boss man when you go to work, he is your God-given authority. You might do less gossiping about your boss and complaining about your boss if you realize that that’s the person that God put as your authority. He’s your God-given authority. The Bible says that we ought to obey our masters. “6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;”. There is such a thing as God-given authority.
I believe there would be a lot less problems in life and definitely in Church if people understood what spiritual God-given authority is and learned to stay within their bounds. I know as a Pastor I’ve been able to bypass a lot of undue drama that many Pastors end up getting themselves into by understanding my job as a Pastor. I have God-given authority in this Church. When it comes to this Church, the ministries of this Church and how this Church is administered, I run this Church.
People don’t like it when I say that I run this Church as a dictator but it’s the truth. We don’t take votes around here. We don’t vote on what color to paint the playroom or what color carpet to get. We make the choice and if you don’t like it then you have to deal with it. I’m not going to go to your house and tell you what to do. God has given me the leadership of this Church. The power of the pulpit, the power of influence when it comes to how we run this organization. I make decisions. When it comes to your life, all I can do is preach the word of God and try to motivate and mobilize and mentor and model for you what it is that the word of God says. However, I’m not going to Lord over God’s heritage. I’m never going to step into your home and tell you what you need to do. What I’ve learned is that a lot of the drama that happens within is people not understanding boundaries of authority. I don’t need to have 17 opinions about everything because it’s not your God-given authority or your position to do anything about it. Why don’t you just worry about your own authority and your own problems and your own issues. This is what Paul said. “for though I should boast somewhat more of our authority which the Lord hath given us…”. This is God given authority.
I want you to notice the purpose of leadership and what true leadership is or what it should be. 2nd Corinthians 10:8 “…which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed:”. When we talk about God-given authority whether it be husband, father, employer, Pastor, government official, what is their purpose? For edification and not for the destruction of the people. This is a theme that is seen throughout the Bible. The Bible teaches servant leadership. Leadership that is not in it for themselves. Leadership that’s not just trying to get everything they can. What would God have us to do as leaders? Lead for edification and not for the destruction of the people.
This is something that Paul taught early in the book but let me show it to you in 2nd Corinthians chapter 1. I brought this up when we were in chapter one and he said it in such a way that honestly I never would word it this way. I’m not looking down on the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul was a better Christian obviously than me or anyone in this room. He was filled with the Holy Spirit of God when he wrote this. I’m just saying that I would not feel comfortable putting it in this way.
2nd Corinthians 1:15 “15 And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit;”. He’s talking about the fact that he had planned to go see them and he wasn’t able. When he says a “second benefit”, he’s referring to the fact that he wanted to come see them a 2nd time. He’d already come the 1st time. Again, I don’t know that I would word it that way but I think Paul is allowed to word it that way under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Here is what he is saying. I wanted to see you but honestly the reason I would have wanted to see you was for your benefit. Paul is saying that as a leader, he was their leader for edification and not destruction. Paul is saying that if he came then it would be for their benefit.
We might think that sounds a little arrogant or proud and I understand that. I would maybe never word it in this way or say it in this way but I believe that. I believe you ought to be faithful to Wednesday night Church, Sunday night Church, Sunday morning Church. I believe that you as a Bible believing Christian ought to be 3 to thrive. You ought to be faithful to Church. It should be a rare thing that you miss Church.
You say “Pastor, why do you think we should come to Church.”. Here’s the honest truth. For your benefit. When you come under the preaching of the word of God, it is your benefit. Please don’t misunderstand this and don’t take this the wrong way but I get to study the word of God all week long and write these sermons and pull out these truths and understand this. I get the benefit of preaching the word of God and studying the word of God. My wife gets the benefit, my family gets the benefit, my children get the benefit. Before the service starts, I’ve already spent the week learning the Bible and studying the Bible and outlining the passages and learning the truth. I’ve received the benefit. You say “What’s the difference if I show up.”. It helps you to come to Church. It is your benefit. I’m not trying to sound arrogant but when I stand up here and preach, the word of God benefits you. Paul wanted to come a second time. Why? To benefit them.
2nd Corinthians 1:24 “24 Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.”. Dominion means to have the power or right to govern or rule over. It has to do with authority and leadership. He is saying that God has given him spiritual leadership but he doesn’t have dominion over their faith. Peter said something similar when he said we are not to lord over God’s heritage. Whatever you think of me or what whatever you think of Verity Baptist Church, I’m here to tell you that God has placed me here. God has placed my wife and I here in this ministry to help you and it’s a benefit to you. Now don’t misunderstand me, we’re benefited too. The word of God helps all of us. Why should we not allow things to keep us from Church? Because Church is a benefit to you. True leadership is there to help you for your edification and not for your destruction. It is this idea of servant leadership.
Servant leadership is that we ought to lead for the benefit of others. We have to lead for the benefit of others. “Pastor, why do you repeat yourself?”. So that hopefully you will catch it at some point. I would love for every man in this Church when he’s at home to hear my voice in their head saying “I’m to lead for the benefit of others.”. Here is the thing, the world’s leadership technique is to lead for your own benefit. Some of you work for people like that. You can’t stand them. The guy is just out for himself and causes you to do the work while taking the credit but giving you the blame if there are any problems or mistakes.
Matthew 20:25 “25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.”. This is when they were arguing about which would be the greatest. Princes are political leaders or people in charge. Dominion means to have power or rule. The reason why he is bringing this up is because they are arguing about which one will be the greatest.
Verse 26 “26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;”. The word minister means to serve. “27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”. See, the world’s way of leadership is to benefit yourself. God’s way of leadership is to lead for the benefit of others. Again, sometimes people get the wrong idea and think that servant leadership is the boss obeying or doing the work of the employees. It doesn’t mean a husband works all day long and then has to come home and do the laundry or chores of the children. That’s not what servant leadership means. Servant leadership means that we lead, we make decisions, we make choices, we set a direction, we create strategies and systems to benefit the people that are following us. We’re serving them. Now, it might not hurt to help with the laundry if your wife just had a baby or something. I’m not speaking against that. However, what I’m saying is servant leadership is to lead or to carry your position of leadership for the benefit of others.
2nd Corinthians 10:8 “8 For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed:”. We need to be mindful of this idea of God-given, God instituted leadership. I remember when I was a young man. I was 18 years old. My wife and I were dating. He told me, “Watch how she treats her father.”. Why did he say that? Because how she treats her father is how she will treat you. My dad was teaching me the concept of spiritual authority, God-given authority. If she was criticizing her current spiritual authority then she would likely do the same thing to me one day after we got married. I began to pay close attention to my wife’s interactions with her father and I realized that she was very respectful, kind, submissive to her dad. I realized that she would be a great wife. 11 years later I can say that she has been a great wife.
If you are a young man and you see a girl constantly rolling her eyes to her parents and talking back then go running in the other direction. They will act the same way to you. I’ve performed some weddings over the years and seen how young men interact to their future father-in-law. I’ve seen some of those men say “Yes sir.”. I think to myself, the Lord is going to bless you. Whenever I see young men be rude, I think to myself “Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever man soweth that shall he also reap.”. I’m just here to tell you that there is such a thing as God-given authority. You say “I don’t like my authority.”. Well you don’t get to decide that. That’s why it is called God-given authority. Paul said “The Lord has given us.”. “I boast some what more of our authority which the Lord hath given us.”. He’s reminding the Church of Corinth because there’s people at the Church that don’t like him. He tells them “You aren’t the one who gave me this authority. You’re not the one who ordained me or put me in charge.”. We have to be careful how we interact with our God-given authority.
Some of you guys are setting an example. You say “My wife just keeps complaining about me.”. Well, are you complaining about your boss all of the time? She sees you interacting that way with your boss and she treats her God-given authority in the same way. Every Sunday morning you leave Church and at lunch just complain and criticize your Pastor for the things you don’t agree with. Then you wonder why your wife won’t respect you. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”.
2nd Corinthians 10:9 “9 That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters.”. Remember, Paul is referring to these people that are criticizing him. His letters are basically sermons. It’s like the prison ministry. We send these transcribed sermons to the prisoners and they write back sometimes and tell us it was a great sermon even though they didn’t hear the sermon. It’s not a recording that we give them but just a printed version. They read it and it helps them and they feel like they are in Church. I’m sure they can see the enthusiasm in the words also. Sometimes they write back and say “You guys are crazy. Take us off this mailing list.”. That is similar to what Paul was dealing with. Remember, Paul has instructed his letters to be read before the Church. He is receiving criticism as a result.
Verse 10 “10 For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.”. Remember they were saying that Paul is tough when he writes these letters but in bodily presence he is weak. If you remember from last week, they were judging him due to his outward appearance. Paul spoke about our weapons of warfare not being carnal. If the Holy Spirit is flowing through you then you can continue the work of God.
Verse 11 “11 Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.”. He’s saying “Look, I’m trying to be nice to you but I don’t want you to misunderstand something. I’ve been sharp in letters and nice in person but don’t confuse meekness for weakness. If I have to show up and clean house then I will.”. If this was in our modern day, it would be like Paul making a YouTube video and warning them that he will come down and deal with it if necessary.
Why should you lead like that? What I’ve learned from 11 years of ministry experience is that no matter how nice you are to people, no matter how much you try to be cordial and to be logical and to try to explain things to people, there are some people that only understand one language and it’s boldness or toughness. There’s some people that you can sit down and explain and tell them no but until you say something like “Stop or I’ll kick you out of Church.”, they won’t understand. Then it snaps them into reality. What can we learn from that? Stop being so hard-headed. We understand this if we have children. Sometimes you look at your kids and say something and they don’t listen. However, once you warn them about getting a spanking, it finally gets through to them.
Verse 12 “12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number,…”. Paul’s being compared right now to other preachers. They are saying “Well, other preachers are more impressive than Paul. Other preachers are more eloquent than Paul.”. So he’s going to speak about that because remember that Jesus taught in regards to leadership. He is saying don’t be like worldly leaders that are comparing themselves.
2nd Corinthians 10:12 “12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”. This verse gets preached a lot and often out of context and I’m going to teach it to you out of its context. Just understand that the context is Paul saying “Hey, you’re trying to compare me to these other people but that’s not wise comparing yourselves among themselves and measuring yourselves by themselves.”.
The reason why it is such a well-known verse and has been preached a lot is because human nature is to play the comparison game. Human nature is to just constantly be comparing ourselves to other people. It’s the “Grass is always green on the other side.”. It’s “Keeping up with the Jones’s”. It’s this idea of why social media is so popular. People constantly are trying to see how big their house is and comparing themselves to someone they went to high school with 20 years earlier. People compare vacations against each other and sometimes people take a picture in their backyard and try to make it look like they were on some extravagant vacation in a tropical island. Why does it matter? We are constantly wanting to compare ourselves. We live in this comparison game.
Paul says “12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”. Commend means to recommend or to praise. There is nothing wrong with someone recommending you. Nothing in the world wrong with someone praising or complementing you. The Bible says “Let another man praise thee and not thine own lips.”.
Listen, there is no winner in the comparison game. Everyone is a loser. Paul says it is unwise. I’m here to tell you that you need to just unplug yourself out of the comparison game. For some of you that might mean just completely getting off of social media. It doesn’t really matter what your 3rd grade best friend that lives in another country had for lunch. My wife and I aren’t on social media at all. Obviously our Church has a YouTube channel and Facebook with lots of subscribers and followers and we use that for Church ministry. Let me just be very honest with you. Pastor Jimenez spends 0 time on social media. I don’t upload videos and pictures and don’t know how all of that works. For some of you, you just need to unplug out of the social media. Sometimes people ask my wife and I how we get so much done. We don’t have social media. We’re not spending every 5 minutes looking at what people ate for breakfast or lunch.
We need to unplug from the comparison game. How do we do that. Number 1 – Quit listening to braggers. Paul says not to compare because that is what the Church or Corinth is doing. They are saying things like “Paul, your sermons aren’t as good as so and so….”. 12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”.
A few weeks ago I was having a talk with my sons. We were studying this out and I was teaching them about being competitive. This is something that I feel like men especially struggle with. There is nothing wrong with being competitive and it is good to be competitive but not in competition. What do I mean by that? I’m saying that in life it is good to be competitive. The Bible says “whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.”. If you’re going to work at something, building something, be in ministry or anything then give it your all. I mean if I am going to stand up here and preach sermons, I am going to do it with thy might. I am going to do everything I can to get the word of God out. There is nothing wrong with being competitive.
However, there is something very wrong with being in competition. Being in competition would be comparing how many subscribers we have to how many subscribers that somebody else has. How can we tell the difference? Are you able to celebrate the success of others? Or when someone else gets a raise or bonus or the glory, do you get all petty & angry about it? There is nothing wrong with being competitive. If you’re going to play then play to win. However, don’t just get in competition with people about everything. They get a nice car so now you have to get a nice car. Look, you should celebrate the successes of others. When I see Pastors succeeding and growing and accomplishing things, I think that is great. It is great to allow that to motivate you. Realize that God is no respecter of persons. If he can use them in that way then he can use you in that way also. Allow that to motivate you to grow and succeed but don’t get petty about it. Be competitive but not in competition. Celebrate the success of others. Allow their success to inspire you.
In the New IFB, this has been one of the major problems that has caused Pastors to turn on us. They aren’t competitive. They are in competition. When they feel like they aren’t succeeding then they become petty and bitter. Listen to me, “Don’t get bitter. Get better.”. Whatever the competition is. Celebrate the success of others and don’t compare yourself with people commending themselves.
How do we unplug from the comparison game? Number 1 – Stop listening to people bragging. Number 2 – Quit determining your success by how you compare. 2nd Corinthians 10:12 “12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”. Your value is not determined by how much nicer your house is than the next guys or your car or clothes. Get out of the idea that your success is determined by how you compare to others.
Let me let you in on a little secret. When you get to the end, you’re going to be judged. I’m talking about the judgment seat of Christ. As a saved person, you’re actually in competition with yourself. The race is set before you. Verity Baptist Church is not in a race against any other Church trying to accomplish something. We aren’t competing of how many salvations, how many baptisms or how many members in Church. We did better as a Church this year than last year but we’re not competing with some guy down the street. Quit determining your success by how you compare.
Matthew 25:14 “14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.”. This is a passage showing us how we will be judged. Verse 15 “15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.”. By the way, realize that not everyone has the same ability or opportunity. We are not all at the same starting point. One person has 5 talents, another 2 and another 1. The Bible says to whom much is given, much is required.
Verse 19 “19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. 20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. 21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”. That is what we want to hear at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Notice verse 22 “22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.”. The guy with 5 talents comes back with 5 and the guy with 2 talents comes back with 2. The first guy came back with more but they both heard “Well done.”. Verse 23 “23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”.
Verse 24 “24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.”. This guy did nothing. By the way on a side point, you’ll notice that the 3rd guy said a lot more than the other 2 guys. However, he did the least. Sometimes the ones who talk the most do the least. Verse 26 “26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: 27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.”.
He’s telling him that he could have at least put it in the bank. At least there could have been interest. Verse 28 “28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.”. Why was he judged? Not because he did less than the other guys but because he failed his own potential. Unplug from the comparison game and just ask yourself how you are doing. Compare your Christian growth this year in comparison to last year. Compare how you are doing at work this year compared to last year. There is nothing wrong with being competitive but just don’t be in competition. If you’re doing well, quit bragging on yourself and brag on God.
2nd Corinthians 10:13 “13 But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.”. What is he saying? He is saying that he won’t brag on his success but on God. Remember the story of John the Baptist. He had a big platform to reach people and then a bunch of people following him started following Jesus. His crowd diminished. Notice what it says in John 3:26 “26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.”. This is similar to if someone approaches you at Church and tells you the success of some other ministry.
It’s like they are trying to get John to play the comparison game and get all bitter and petty. John has the perfect response. “27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.”. He is saying that whatever success he has, it was given to him by God anyway. Then he says that God must increase and he must decrease. How do you stop playing the comparison game? Stop bragging on yourself and brag on God. When you make all the success about God then realize your failures can be on God also. Offerings are down or attendance is down then you can realize that God builds the Church so it’s ok. Any success we have has been given by God. He must increase but I must decrease.
I’d like to read to you a little excerpt from a book I was reading recently. It’s called the infinite game. It’s a business book about companies and how they set themselves up for other businesses that will last short amounts of time versus businesses that outlast the CEOs and the people that work. It’s kind of interesting but there’s a story in here that I’ve mentioned before. I want to read it to you. This whole section is called “the tale of two players”. He’s talking about the fact that some people play with a finite game and they’re constantly keeping their eye on their competition. They’re in competition with their competition. Other people are looking at the infinite game and I would call it the eternal game of trying to outlive themselves. We are accomplishing something here with our lives that will outlive us, that will impact eternity. Of course this is a secular writer but I just thought this was interesting.
“Some years ago I spoke at an education summit for Microsoft. A few months later I spoke at an education summit for Apple at the Microsoft event. The majority of the presenters devoted a good portion of their presentation to talking about how they were going to beat Apple at the Apple event. 100 of the presenters spent 100% of their time talking about how Apple was trying to help teachers and help students learn. One group seemed obsessed with their competition. The other group seemed obsessed with advancing a cause. After my talk at Microsoft they gave me a gift, the new Zune. This was Microsoft’s answer to the apple’s iPod, the dominant player in the mp3 player market at the time. Not to be outdone, Microsoft introduced the zune to try to steal market shares from their arch rival. Though he knew it wouldn’t be easy, in 2006 the CEO of Microsoft Stephen Balmer was confident that Microsoft could eventually beat apple. If the quality of the product was the only factor, Balmer was right to be optimistic. The version that Microsoft gave me, the Zune HD, was I have to admit quite exceptional. It was elegantly designed. The user interface was simple, intuitive and user-friendly. I really liked it. After my talk at the Apple event, I shared a taxi back to the hotel with a senior Apple executive employee. Number 54 to be exact. Meaning he’d been at the company since the early days and he was completely immersed in Apple’s culture and belief set. Sitting there with him, a captive audience, I couldn’t help myself. I had to stir the pot a little bit. So I turned to him and said, ‘You know, I spoke at Microsoft and they gave me their new Zune. I have to tell you it’s so much better than your iPod touch.’. The executive looked at me smiled and replied ‘I have no doubt.’ That was it. The conversation was over. Obviously Apple is a much more successful company than Microsoft and it has to do with this comparison game.”
When you’re constantly in competition with other people, you’re just going to drain yourself. You’re going to be weary. You’re going to get tired. You’re going to get petty and you’re going to get bitter. Paul said “for we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise”. I’m here to tell you something. Let the success of other people inspire you. Celebrate their successes and be genuinely happy for them but don’t let it consume you. Because there is no winner to the comparison game. Go back to 2nd Corinthians.
2nd Corinthians 10:12-13 are great verses even out of context. However, remember that the context is Paul answering his critics. They are comparing him to other people and he lets them know that he doesn’t play the comparison game. 2nd Corinthians 10:12 “12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. 13 But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.”.
The word “rule” refers to authority. What he is saying is this. “Look, you want to compare me to some other Pastor or preacher? I don’t play the comparison game. However, when I boast about the authority that God has given me, I’m boasting about authority that reaches down to you. I’m not boasting about something that’s out of my bounds or out of my measure.”. I think it’s interesting because people have criticized our Church over the last 11 years. We started Verity Baptist Church in our living room 11 years ago but over the last 11 years the Lord has blessed us to start 5 other Churches. Some of those have been started as satellites where they did not have a Pastor as their God-given authority. What’s interesting is that Paul is not writing in Corinth but he is writing to the Church of Corinth. He is telling them that his authority reaches unto them. It’s literally the same idea as a satellite plant that Paul is running.
Verse 14 “14 For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ:”. Paul is reminding them that he is the spiritual authority because he started the Church. You say “Why do I have to listen to what Pastor said?”. I started Verity Baptist Church. I was ordained and sent out to start this Church. You need to submit yourself. I don’t know if we have any problems with this right now. If we have problems then nobody tells me about it until afterward. What I’m saying is that Paul is the spiritual authority of this Church. He is the guy running the show. He is saying that he is not boasting about authority that he does not have. Maybe would say that Paul is not speaking in the most eloquent way but he is defending himself and his authority and his Apostleship.
Verse 16 “16 To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s line of things made ready to our hand.”. Here the Apostle Paul is saying that not only did we come to you and start this Church but we want to accomplish more and start more Churches and preach the gospel to the regions beyond. What is the Apostle Paul talking about? Paul is saying that he isn’t trying to compare himself to others but in fact go to areas that aren’t being reached. I think that’s a great idea. I think that we should try to do everything that we can. I’m all for celebrating other people’s successes. I’m all for allowing other people’s successes to motivate or inspire us to accomplish more. That is 1 reason I love the prison ministry because as far as I know, I don’t know of any other Churches that are sending transcribed sermons to prisoners. There are a lot of prisoners that can be reached with the gospel and they are a very captive audience. We can reach them so why not. Paul says to preach the gospel to the regions beyond you and not to boast in another man’s line of things made ready to our hand.
Look at verse 17. “17 But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”. The word glory means to boast or brag. Paul is saying that he doesn’t care what they think or what they want to tell him about the other ministry. Paul is saying that he doesn’t play the comparison game. He says that he doesn’t care about what anybody thinks about him. He is living for the Judgment Seat of Christ. He is saying that he doesn’t need anyone to commend him. He isn’t trying to make himself thing ever. Verse 18 “18 For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.”. Paul is saying that we will know how we are approved when we get to the Judgment Seat of Christ. The goal is that God will tell us “Well done my good and faithful servant.”.
Let’s pray.