Tag Archives: 2 Corinthians 11

Chapter-a-Day

Boasting of My Weakness

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“If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”
2 Corinthians 11:30 (NIV)

Over several years I had the honor to serve several individuals as a mentor and coach as I attempted to help them develop in the art and craft of preaching. To be honest, I’m not sure how effective I was. I honestly think I may have learned more from my protégés and the process than my protégés learned from me.

One of the most simple, yet most profound, lessons that I learned during those years was that people have a desire to hear people who are real about themselves, their lives, and their struggles.

I had one charge who I met with for the first time after I’d listened to him preach the previous Sunday. As we sat down over breakfast he asked me my initial thoughts about his message.

“The thing that came to my mind as I listened to you,” I said honestly, “was that you came across like a lawyer pleading his case to a jury.”

“I am a lawyer,” he said with a shrug.

I had no idea he was an attorney because that’s was not what he did for a living. We had a good laugh together about that.

Over the coming months, we talked about the fact that it is certainly important to know your material and present a strong case. Paul told his protégé Timothy to be one who “correctly handles the word of truth.” At the same time, however, I urged my charge to be willing to share how the iron-clad case he is presenting intersects with his own daily life, his own personal failures, his own personal struggles, his own faith in Jesus, and his own spiritual growth. People want to make an emotional connection as well as much as an intellectual one.

A year or so later, he experienced the unexpected and sudden death of a loved one. He was scheduled to preach just weeks later. To this day, it was the best message I heard him deliver. He didn’t simply deliver well sourced points complete with chapters and verses. He stood there and showed us his raw and broken heart. He talked about how his faith was helping him through the grief. Through his tears he told us what God was teaching him in his pain.

In today’s chapter, Paul continues to address the conflict he’s experiencing with other preachers and teachers who have been going to the local gathering of Jesus’ followers in Corinth and slandering him behind his back. They had been boasting about how great they were and telling the Corinthian believers that Paul was a no-good schlep and they should forget about him.

I found it fascinating that Paul did not present to the believers in Corinth his very impressive resume of credentials. Paul truthfully had a more impressive earthly resume than any of Jesus’ original twelve apostles and likely more impressive than his slanderers. He came from a prominent family of means. As a Roman citizen, Paul had social standing that likely none of the people of Corinth or his critics enjoyed. Only 1-3% of the population in the provinces had Roman citizenship. Paul had been a student and disciple of the most prominent Rabbi and teacher in Jerusalem. Before Jesus called him, Paul was among the most prominent, up-and-coming students of his prominent teacher. Like my friend and preaching protégé, Paul was a lawyer. He knew how to plead a case.

Instead of presenting that resume, however, Paul confesses that he wasn’t the most dynamic preacher in the world and then tells the Corinthians about his sufferings. Paul had been arrested, tried, imprisoned, and brutally punished. He was on the lam, a wanted man who had escaped justice and was wanted in many cities. He’d been shipwrecked three times. He’d found himself homeless, naked, starving, and penniless on multiple occasions. And, he did it all for the sake of sharing Jesus’ love and His message with others. “If I must boast,” Paul writes, “I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”

I know that I personally don’t want to listen to a preacher with a polished persona, an iron-clad case, and a seemingly flawless life. I know in my heart that it’s not real. I want to listen to a preacher who makes mistakes, struggles with their weaknesses, and is honest about striving to make a little slow and continuous spiritual progress rather than projecting perfection. I don’t think that I’m alone in this. I know that I get the most feedback from others when I’m vulnerable in a message. When I share about how God is at work in me despite my own personal struggles, failures, and weaknesses people seem to connect more deeply with the message.

One of the reasons that I struggled being a vocational pastor as a young man was that I felt pressure from people to be perfect, or to at least have the pretense to project that appearance at all times. I became a follower of Jesus, however, because I realized that I am flawed and He loved me anyway – loved me enough to die for me. Being a disciple of Jesus has never been about perfection. It’s been about God’s kindness and forgiveness towards me in spite of my flaws, weaknesses, and struggles which then leads to me to grow in His Spirit and becoming perpetually more loving, kind, and forgiving to those around me in spite of their flaws, weaknesses, and struggles. If I ever lose sight of this simple reality, then I’ve completely lost the thread of what it means to be His disciple.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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Chapter-a-Day

Not an Application, an Invitation

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I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.” I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge.
2 Corinthians 11:5-6 (NIV)

In the pantheon of faith, I find that Paul is revered as much as any other person in the history of Christianity. As I’ve journeyed repeatedly through that Great Story I find it fascinating how people selectively diminish the humanity of the “pillars of the faith” and selectively choose to focus on perceived strengths that might even be overstated through the lens of history and religiosity.

Paul was not universally loved and respected in his own day. While I have no doubt that Paul’s personality and mind were a force to be reckoned with, evidence reveals that the physical package was not in the least bit impressive. Some historical evidence suggests a homely looking man who was bow-legged and had a large nose. After repeated scourging, beatings, and stoning attempts his body probably had been unalterably scarred and he likely moved and carried himself as one permanently injured from suffering those repeated traumas. He famously had poor eye-sight in a day before eyeglasses had been invented, so he was probably ceaselessly squinting. And Paul he freely admits that he wasn’t a great public speaker.

Paul had rivals. He was not universally loved. Other believers, teachers, and apostles belittled him, sought to marginalize him, and tried to lead other believers (like the believers in Corinth) to shy away and even dismiss him. Paul’s authority was questioned because he wasn’t around when Jesus was on earth, publicly doing his ministry. His claim of being an apostle was constantly disputed as people clearly questioned the validity and voracity of his Damascus Road experience while not letting him forget his record as a prosecutor of believers and the head of the conspiracy to execute the beloved Stephen. And, there were other teachers and leaders, like Apollos, who were clearly better looking, more likable, and much better preachers.

As I make my way through Paul’s second surviving letter to the believers in Corinth (there’s at least one other letter referenced and there are probably two or more that didn’t survive antiquity) it reads like a man desperately making a case for himself, for his reputation, and his authority as a teacher and leader of the Jesus Movement.

In my faith journey I’ve observed that this is the real story that modern believers don’t know, or choose not to see. The Great Story is full of very flawed, every day human beings who God used in amazing ways, but they have been dehumanized, canonized, and lionized by religion and history. The result, I’ve observed, is that we both exaggerate our own human flaws so as to believe God would never use us, and we place the “heroes of the faith” like Paul on a pedestal we believe we could never, ever reach.

One of the meta-themes I’ve found in the Great Story is God using very human, very flawed people. Moses disqualified himself as a poor public speaker (God told him to let Aaron do the talking) and had a bad temper. Jacob, later called Israel, was a terribly deceptive liar. David may have been called “a man after God’s own heart” but he was also an adulterer and guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. Solomon may be hallowed for his wisdom, but he also enslaved and conscripted the labor of tens of thousands of people (while annually celebrating Passover and God’s deliverance of his own people from slavery in Egypt) to the point that his son had to reap the political consequences of their violent rebellion.

And then there is Paul, the big nosed, bow-legged, scarred, unlikable and forceful little man who was such a boring, long-winded preacher that a boy once fell asleep during his sermon and fell out of a third-story window to his death.  And, I still don’t question his induction to the faith Hall of Fame while quickly and shamefully dismissing my own worthiness or hastily judging the worthiness of other human beings just as flawed as myself.

This morning in the quiet of my hotel room I’m reminded that in all my reading of the Great Story I have not once come across an application for being a follower of Jesus with an accompanying list of requisites for the job. Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and feel the weight of your flawed humanity drowning your soul. I’d like to give you some rest.” This brings to mind another thing I’ve observed, and have found easily forgotten. Being a follower of Jesus is not a position I apply for, it’s simply an invitation I accept (or don’t).

 

Chapter-a-Day

People of the Lie and the Religious Con

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For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:13 (NIV)

“What about the evils of the crusades?”
“What about the Church’s silence during the Holocaust?”
“What about the Spanish Inquisition?”
“What about the Salem witch trials?”

As a follower of Jesus, one of the more frustrating experiences is being placed by others in the position of being called upon to answer for the awful things that have been said or done in the name of Jesus whether it be in this generation or throughout history. The reality is that I cannot excuse nor be an apologist for those who are determined to twist the teachings of Christ for evil, selfish or self-righteous purposes. I can, however, stand up and speak out if I see such things happening around me. Which is exactly what Paul was doing in today’s chapter.

Paul’s letter to the followers of Jesus in Corinth is a testament to the fact that even the first generation of believers were not immune to people using religion for selfish ends. Paul calls these religious con men out and urges the believers in Corinth to see the difference between the slick talking charlatans who were trying to line their own pockets and Paul who didn’t have con-man charisma but had always acted out of sincere love for the Corinthians.

This morning I’m reminded of the reality that wherever you find God you will find evil marring, twisting and thwarting the things of God. Even Jesus was betrayed by one of His inner circle. It is true that we can, throughout history, find those who did terrible things in the name of Jesus (including the institutional church). It is equally true that we can find incredible stories of followers of Jesus in those same periods of history who were living examples of Jesus’ teachings. During the bloodbath of the crusades Francis of Assisi was actively working toward peace and understanding with Islam. While the institutional Church remained silent about Nazi Germany, there were many like the Ten Boom family who gave their lives to protect Jewish people from the Holocaust.

Like Paul, I can only call out evil when I see it. “People of the Lie” will always be with us, as they always have been. I must confront their falseness when I am aware of it. I am responsible for my own thoughts, words, relationships and actions. And so I begin a new day as one simple wayfarer walking my own path and doing my best to obey Jesus’ command to love.

Chapter-a-Day

There are No Lesser Roles

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choices choices_SnapseedThree different times I begged the Lord to take [my suffering] away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:8-9a

I am currently in the middle of casting a show for our local community theatre. I had a lot of people try out and there are many roles to fill. In all my years of working on the stage I know that the vast majority of people are wanting to be cast in one of the major, lead roles. This show has a host of smaller “bit” parts and I know that many people will be disappointed when they see that they have been cast in one of these “lesser” roles. Most people think that bit parts are by definition worse parts and that being cast in them means that they are considered lesser actors or have been maligned in some way. But, as a director, actor and playwright I don’t see it that way and it grieves me to know that people will be disappointed by my casting decisions.

Most stories and plays have “bit” parts because they are crucial to the telling and they often provide for some of the most important and entertaining moments. As a director, I pay close attention to the smaller parts and consider the casting of the bit parts to be among the most crucial decisions I make. In some cases, a “lesser” role is so important to the story that I only want to cast a strong actor whom I can trust in that role. Time after time after time I have watched productions in which audiences buzz afterwards about one of the “lesser” characters who played their part so well at such a crucial moment that they “stole the show” from the lead actors.

Shakespeare wrote “All the worlds a stage, and we are all but players in it.” In today’s chapter, Paul realizes a similar lesson about his own role in this life. Like our desire to have the lead role, we all tend to desire the spotlight of power, prestige, fortune, and fame. Paul had learned an important lesson, however. He learned that God, the author of creation and master playwright, is known for a recurring theme: common, lesser, younger, weak, marginalized characters become the most important and powerful pieces of the story. Consider the line up of players like Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David, John and all twelve of Jesus’ disciples. All of them were considered “weak” and “lesser” in the eyes of the world for various reasons (age, birth order, home of origin, handicap, social status, etc.), but ended up being among the crucial pieces to the Great Story. As God revealed to Paul, He specializes in making weakness a conduit of true power.

Today, I’m thinking about the many ways I feel “weak” on the grand stage of life as I compare myself to those who live in the spotlight of this world. I think about my own feelings of being “less than” and my need to be reminded of an old adage of the stage:  there are no small roles, only small actors. Help me, Lord, to play my role well today.

Chapter-a-Day

Of Evil and Good

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But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 2 Corinthians 11:14 (NLT)

I am reminded this morning of this simple truth that is so easily forgotten. We think of evil as those things that are obviously dark and deathly. Along the journey I have come to realize that one of the most insidious things about evil is that it often masquerades in such a way so as to appear good and upstanding.

In his book, People of the Lie, M. Scott Peck take a clinical look at the nature of evil in people. He writes:

It is necessary to draw the distinction between evil and ordinary sin. It is not their sins per se that characterize evil people, rather it is the subtlety and persistence and consistency of their sins. This is because the central defect of the evil is not the sin but the refusal to acknowledge it.

…The evil appear to be most ordinary. They live down the street…on any street. They may be rich or poor, educated or uneducated. There is little that is dramatic about them. They are not designated criminals. More often than not they will be “solid citizens”-Sunday school teachers, policemen, or bankers, and active in the PTA.

In todays chapter, Paul is trying to get the believers in Corinth to understand that some men who had come to their town claiming to have authority as men sent by Jesus were actually deceivers. Evil masquerading as servants of the Light. So it is with evil. The real question is how are we to respond to it? Too often in history we have responded with witch hunts and inquisitions to try and root it out evil by human means which quickly turn to evil in and of themselves.

I’ve learned along the way that my responsibility as a follower of Jesus is to be observant, shrewd and on guard so as to recognize evil when I encounter it. I am then called to overcome evil by living out greater measures of grace, love and goodness. I find it interesting that Paul was not obsessed with hunting down these false teachers and punishing them for their deception. His energy was given to writing, loving and investing himself in the believers at Corinth so that the effect of the “people of the lie” might be minimized.

Today, I’m reminded that evil is overcome by greater good. I’m going to do some good today.