Weakness is The Strength of God's People 2 Corinthians 11:16-33

This past summer I read a book about a Chinese Christian named Brother Yun. He was born in 1958 in a small village in Nanyang China which is located on the Yellow River a few hundred miles southwest of Beijing. China became a communist country in 1949. The Cultural Revolution started in China in 1966 when Yun was just 8 years old. One of the goals of the communist party was to rid the country of all religion. When Yun was 16 years old he became a Christian after God answered his mother’s prayers for Yun's father. He started asking his mother, who was a quiet Christian, about Jesus. His mother told him Jesus was the Son of God and that all of His teachings were recorded in the Bible. Yun’s family didn’t have a Bible, but she remembered that a man in another village owned one. She took Yun to see the man, but because of his fear of the communists, he was afraid to show them his Bible. He told Yun to pray and ask God for one. Yun decided to fast and pray for a Bible. For 100 days he ate only one bowl of steamed rice a day as he prayed for the Lord to give him a Bible. After 100 days there was a knock at his front door. When he opened the door there were two men, one of them held a red bag in his hand. In the red bag was a Bible. Yun began to read the Bible for hours each day. He started memorizing Scripture and over time he became passionate about telling others about Jesus. His passion got him in trouble with the Public Security Bureau when they got word of his activity. Yun was in and out of prison for the next ten years of his life. He was starved, beaten, tortured with electric batons, and needles were placed under his fingernails. He tells the story of what happened one time when he was arrested. 

As I was paraded down the streets, a police car drove slowly in front. Through the loudspeaker they proclaimed, ‘This man came from Henan to preach Jesus. He has seriously disturbed the peace. He has confused the people. Today the Public Security Bureau has captured him. We will punish him severely. I was made to kneel down in the dirt while officers punched me in the chest and face and repeatedly kicked me from behind with their heavy boots. My face was covered with blood. The pain was unbearable, and I nearly lost consciousness as I lay on the ground. I lifted up my head and caught glimpses of people in the crowd. Some pitied me and wept. When I saw this it really strengthened my faith. When I had the chance, I softly told one woman, ‘Please don’t feel sorry for me. You should weep for the lost souls of our nation.’ (The Heavenly Man. pg. 61)

Today, Brother Yun travels all around the world preaching and supporting a movement called Back to Jerusalem. Yun is encouraging Chinese believers to become missionaries around the world, even in the most dangerous countries for Christians to live. He believes China is growing some of the strongest, bravest Christians in the world because of the persecutions they have endured. Their motto is “sacrifice, abandonment, poverty, suffering and death.” Can you imagine if we adopted that motto for growing our churches here in America? The American church growth strategy is the exact opposite. We are told that if you want to grow a church in America you need to cater to all of the people’s wishes and demands, assure them that Jesus will make their life better, as they define better, and market all of the wonderful aspects of our church that sets us apart from other churches. The church growth strategy in America is not that much different than what the false teachers were promoting in Corinth during Paul’s day. Let’s read our Scripture for this morning and see what we can learn. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 11:16-33.

16 I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then tolerate me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. 17 In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. 18 Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. 19 You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! 20 In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face. 21 To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that! Whatever anyone else dares to boast about-- I am speaking as a fool-- I also dare to boast about. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. 32 In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. 33 But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands. (2 Corinthians 11:16-33 NIV)

In the eyes of the people of Corinth, the false teachers had everything that Paul lacked. They were confident, entertaining, and could hold an audience in the palm of their hand with their powers of persuasion. Paul grew increasingly frustrated to the point where, as much as he hated to do it, he knew he had to enter the ring and fight according to their rules. Chuck Swindoll writes,

He had no qualms about writing page after page about Jesus Christ, His saving work, and our faith response to the gospel. He could pen long treatises on grace, practical instructions for the Christian life, and manuals for pastoral ministry. But when it came to pointing to his own accomplishments, Paul would rather hide under a rock than brag about himself. Something tells me that if Paul had to write a resume today, he would leave so much out about himself that he would never get the job. (Swindoll, Charles. 1 & 2 Corinthians. pgs. 458-459). 

Even though Paul felt the need to pull out his resume so he could put the false apostles in their place, he makes it perfectly clear that his doing so is far from what the Lord would have him do. In verse 17, Paul wants to be crystal clear that… 

17 In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. 18 Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. (2 Corinthians 11:17-18 NIV)

The many who are boasting in the way the world does are no doubt the false apostles who have swayed many in the church and are leading them into the cult of personality and away from the Savior. In verses 20-21, we can see the havoc these false teachers are causing in the church. Paul sees the damage that is being done and yet the people are more than willing to welcome all of the abuse. He writes, 

20 In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face. 21 To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that! (2 Corinthians 11:20-21 NIV)

There is a big, big difference between Jesus’ servants, like Paul, and leaders of the cult of personality who are in it for themselves like the false teachers of Corinth. I have told you before, but I can’t stress it enough, nothing has changed from that day until this very morning. More than 30 years ago a new church was started in Chicago. Harvest Bible Chapel was founded by a teacher named James McDonald. I listened to his sermons on the radio for years. Then, it all started to fall apart. It’s not that people stopped attending, that didn’t happen. Thousands of people showed up each week to listen to Pastor McDonald teach God’s Word. It all fell apart because the spotlight slowly shifted from Jesus to the pastor. Church elders tried to talk to him about his behavior. They attempted to help him, but of course he didn’t need help. More and more incidents were reported until finally, on February 12, 2019, the elders of Harvest Bible Chapel, following an eight month investigation, had to fire their founding pastor. The investigation found the pastor had a pattern of being disruptive, insulting, belittling, and verbally abusing others. He had used church funds resulting in his own personal benefit. The investigation found he had spent $171,000 of church funds on hunting and fishing trips. This is just one item listed to show how he had misappropriated church funds for his own personal use. And last of all, his temper created a culture of fear and intimidation in the church. Paul said of the false teachers in Corinth that they enslaved, exploited, took advantage of the people, put on airs, and even verbally or physically abused the people in the church. We just don’t learn from the past do we?! Paul never behaved in this way. He wouldn’t even think of doing such things to those the Lord had given him to love, serve, and disciple. Paul wrote, in 2 Corinthians 4:5,

5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. (2 Corinthians 4:5 NIV)

The two styles of leadership could not be more different. One seeks the limelight for themselves at the cost of others. The other seeks to serve regardless of what personal cost must be paid. Those of us who are followers of Jesus, we are called to serve, even at great personal cost. In a world where everyone is looking to stand out, to set themselves apart from the crowd, Jesus has the best advice–stoop to serve. The advice Jesus gave His disciples is still relevant today. Turn with me to Mark 10:42-45 and let’s read together.

42 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:42-45 NIV)

Paul didn’t create the servant leadership model, he was merely seeking to be faithful in following in Jesus’ steps. We can get some insight into who the false apostles were and how they had written their resumes so that it would have the greatest impact by taking a look at verses 22-23. Paul uses what the false apostles take such pride in to show that he can match them item for item. He writes,

22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more… (2 Corinthians 11:22-23)

Paul dealt with these kinds of leaders, false teachers, in Galatia and in Philippi as well. They set themselves apart from the common people with their impeccable pedigree and their religious superiority. When he wrote to the church in Philippi, Paul once again listed his blue-blood credentials, but ended his list by saying it was all garbage and had no value at all in comparison to the joy of knowing Jesus. Turn with me to Philippians 3:2-9.

2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh-- 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. 7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-- the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. (Philippians 3:2-9 NIV)

Resume building in the ancient world as well as in the world in which you and I live has to do with achieving greater and greater accomplishments, but the greatest resume in the world will be of no value whatsoever on that day we stand before God and give an account of our lives. That is why Paul says, “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. …I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.” It is only through Jesus that we can gain a righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.The false teachers had built their resumes in the same way we are told to build ours today. They listed their accolades and accomplishments. They highlighted their growing popularity and wide-spread influence, not just in Corinth, but all across Greece. They had grabbed the spotlight, were enjoying the limelight, and the best was yet to come! That line of thinking, “The best is yet to come,” is still what we are selling today isn’t it? At most every graduation ceremony around the country, some high profile person stands before the kids and lets them know they can do it, believe it and you can achieve it, the world is your stage, the best is yet to come!  As Americans, “the best is yet to come" is defined in a way that is totally foreign to what God’s Word describes as God’s best for you and me. No one was more aware of this than Paul. In Acts 9, while Paul was getting all of the paperwork in order to travel to Damascus to arrest the followers of Jesus, he believed he was living the dream. He was all of the things he wrote about in Philippians and Corinthians. He was the most Hebrew of all of the Hebrews. He graduated top of his class, summa cum laude, as a pharisee. He aced the test on legalistic righteousness! On the road to Damascus everything changed. He had no idea that the best was yet to come, but in a way he could have never imagined. Saul of Tarsus was blinded by the brilliance of Jesus, literally blinded. His friends led him into the city. The Lord told Ananias, one of His followers, that he was to go and pray for Saul so that his sight would be restored. Ananias was not excited about that task at all and he shared his concern. We can read what the Lord told Ananias in Acts 9:15-16.

15 But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." (Acts 9:15-16 NIV)

It just doesn’t make any sense to you or me. How does being God’s “chosen instrument” and suffering go together? It doesn’t make any sense to you or me, those of us who live in America and are pumped full of the steroids of success, but we must remember what God told His people back in Isaiah’s day. In Isaiah 55:8-9 we read,

8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV)

If you have been around here any amount of time you will know that my favorite preacher of all time is Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Spurgeon battled depression, sometimes severe, deep, dark depression for months at a time. His wife, Susanna, said there were times she thought her beloved would never preach again. Spurgeon was determined to see God’s hand at work in every moment of his life, even in the darkest times of his life. He prayed, but the depression never lifted. Some today would say he didn’t have enough faith or there was sin in life, but Spurgeon said, “I have learnt from it to be very tender with all fellow-sufferers.”In 1875, Spurgeon was speaking to some students who desired to be pastors one day. He told them that Jesus’ followers who have suffered greatly have something to offer the lost and hurting that the strong and successful, who have never suffered greatly, can never offer. He told his students,

Christian ministers should therefore expect a special degree of suffering to be given to them as a way of forming them for Christlike, compassionate ministry. Christ himself was made like his weak and tempted brothers in order that he might help those who are tempted (Heb. 2:16–18), and in the same manner, it is weak and suffering people that God has chosen to minister to the weak and suffering. Angels or supermen simply couldn’t sympathize with human groans; their very strength would only mock our weakness and thus mock the gospel. (C. H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, vol. 1, A Selection from Addresses Delivered to the Students of the Pastors’ College, Metropolitan Tabernacle (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1875), 1:168.)

I know what Spurgeon told those young pastors 150 years ago remains true to this day. It is not just true of pastors, but it is true for all of Jesus’ followers. If you have been crushed and then comforted by the Savior then you will be more empathetic with those who are weak and suffering, and you will be more bold in sharing the comfort you yourself have received from Jesus. I want you to look over 2 Corinthians 11:23-33 with me. We don’t have time to read these verses once again, but as you look over the verses you can see an itemized list, not an exhaustive list, but an itemized list of some of the ways Paul suffered as an “ambassador of Christ.” I do want to highlight one verse, verse 28. Besides all of the whippings, beatings, being stoned and left for dead, and being hunted by Jews and Gentiles alike, Paul writes,

28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:28 NIV)

Why would he willingly endure all that he endured instead of just writing off the people of Corinth and letting the false teachers have their way? He had been gripped by Jesus’ love in such a way that he fully understood how greatly he had been forgiven. That grace and comfort he had received from the Lord led him to endure anything and everything so that others might come to know Jesus as well. Many other men and women throughout the ages have been so overwhelmed by the Lord’s grace that they simply could not keep it to themselves. They were willing to travel anywhere the Lord would lead them to share the good news. Dugald and Jeannie Lawson grew up in Scotland, but they had heard the call for new recruits to be missionaries in China and they knew the Lord was calling them. They arrived in China in 1887. Dugald was an evangelist and Jeannie worked with the women and children. Over the next eight years Jeannie would lose five of her children. It was a crushing blow. She suffered such great grief that the mission urged her to go to Shanghai, the mission’s headquarters, so she could receive help. Jeannie returned to Scotland for a period of time to try and get healthy. Jeannie eventually made her way back to China and resumed her work with the women and children. Then, in 1930, Jeannie’s husband Dugald died and Jeannie once again returned to Scotland, this time, she thought for good since she was now 70 years old. She wasn’t in Scotland long before she realized her heart and soul were in Yangcheng. After arriving back in China, Jeannie realized she needed help. The mission organization put out the call and a young woman from London, Gladys Alyward, heard the call. What’s interesting is that Gladys had been looking to be a missionary, but she had failed the test so she went back to being a maid. You can read the whole story in a book titled, “The Little Woman,” but let me simply tell you that God used Gladys, who was less than five feet tall, to lead so many people in China to Christ. Both women spoke about the joy they experienced in the midst of their sorrow. Whether it be Paul ministering throughout Asia Minor and the ancient Middle East, Jeannie and Gladys giving their lives so the people of China could hear the good news of Jesus, or you and me living here in the United States–we need to know that our weakness is truly our strength. God does a work through the weakness of His people that can be done in no other way. Brother Yun wrote,

…The way to have God’s presence is by walking through hardship and suffering–-the way of the cross. You may not be beaten or imprisoned for your faith, but I am convinced each Christian will still have a cross to bear in his or her life. In the West it may be ridicule, slander, or rejection. When you’re faced with such trials, the key is not to run from them or fight them, but to embrace them as friends. When you do this, you’ll not fail to experience God’s presence and help. (The Heavenly Man. pgs. 301-302) 

This truth is impossible to understand by your own understanding. It is only when we surrender our lives to Jesus and come to know His grace and mercy that we can then know that sharing His love and mercy with others, regardless of the cost, is the greatest joy in life. If you are not a follower of Jesus then I want to invite you to surrender your life to Him this morning. Mike HaysBritton Christian ChurchOctober 15, 2023