Boasting in God and His Work, Not Ourselves or Our Work

Please turn to 2 Corinthians 10. Our sermon text is chapter 10 verses 8-18. That is on page 1150.

As you are turning there, be reminded that the apostle Paul has been defending his apostleship over and against the false apostles.

This morning’s reading continues the contrast between true and false apostles. These verses focus on boasting and comparing. In whom should we boast and with whom should we compare ourselves. Listen for those things as I read.

Reading of 2 Corinthians 10:8-18

Prayer

As I was studying this passage, I realized that it’s pretty relevant for our church’s 5th anniversary. I promise I didn’t pick this text for that purpose. And then as I studied it, more, I realized, oh this is actually pretty convicting.

I was reflecting back on all the feelings I was going through when we were organizing. This is going back to 2019 and early 2020.

A big one was fear of failure. I had read that something like 80% of church plants don’t make it. That was hard to consider. My temptation, like other pastors, is to connect my identity to the success or failure of the church. When things are seemingly going well, it’s tempting to think that somehow it’s due to my gifts or leadership. And on the other side, when things are seemingly not going well, the temptation is to feel like a failure instead of turning to Christ and relying on him.

So that was one thing. But also, I had feelings of rejection. Like when a person or family was exploring churches, but decided to go to another church, it was (and it still is!) easy to feel a personal rejection. Related to that, it has been tempting to compare myself with other pastors or compare our church with other churches. I have struggled with those but especially when we were beginning.

I’ve had to ask myself some hard questions. 1. Is my identity wrapped up our church instead of Christ? That’s a hard question for any pastor. 2. Do I have a worldly understanding of success and failure? That’s another hard one. Am I focused on numeric growth or, instead, spiritual growth? 3. Am I comparing myself with others or looking for affirmation from others instead of from Jesus?

Those are hard things to ask. The reason I’m bringing these up is because our text this morning asks and answer some of these very questions.

Now, to be sure, none of us are apostles. No, Paul had a special ordained role as one of the apostles called by Jesus himself. Moreover, the office of apostle concluded in the first century when the Scriptures were complete.

However, even though none of us are apostles, the foundation that Paul laid for the church, and the pattern that he modelled as a faithful shepherd certainly apply to us today.

In these verses, as Paul compares the true apostles to the false apostles, we can see the pattern. On the one hand, God glorifying, Christ exalting ministry and on the other, man-centered, self-exalting ministry.

As we work through this, my hope is that we, as a church, can hear and apply these words to us.

In the outline provided, you’ll see 3 questions.

1. Whose standard are we using?

2. Whose glory are we seeking?

3. Whose message are we proclaiming? Actually, I want to extend that third question. Whose message are we proclaiming and what mission are we pursuing? Pencil that in.

Again, whose standard, whose glory, whose message, and what mission.

1. Whose standard are we using?

So, #1 whose standard?

We’ve already considered that the impostors in Corinth critiqued Paul because he appeared weak in the flesh. Look at verse10: “For they say, ‘His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.’”

There are really three critiques here. 1) Paul was physically weak or at least he came across as wimpy; 2) his speech was unimpressive. In other words, because he didn’t use all the rhetorical devices of the era, he was therefore sub-par... and 3) he was self-contradictory. His letters were strong but that wasn’t matched by a strong in-person impression.

That last one is addressed directly in verse 11. Paul writes, “Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present.” He was saying to them, you may have an impression of weakness when we are in person, however, we are living out our boldness in our lives when we are with you. And make no mistake, we are prepared to speak with the same boldness if necessary.

What was the false apostles standard? How were they evaluating Paul?

And the answer is, they were using the world’s standards. They were comparing Paul to what they considered superior.

Verse 12 gets to the heart of their problem. It says, “Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.”

They were measuring themselves with one another. Their standard did not come from God, it came through their worldly comparison.

I think we can all understand the temptation. Our natural sinful disposition is to look to others. We constantly measure ourselves by what we see around us.

I was recently reading a book that identified the 10th commandment – do not covet – as the consummate problem with the entire world.

The author was saying that man’s covetous heart is the source of all evil and war and anger and stealing and adultery. Someone has something that we don’t have and we want it. We want to be better than and stronger than and more prominent than and more popular than our neighbor. Do you see how that is true? A covetous heart leads to ungodly and self-centered thoughts and words and actions that betray God’s standard of righteousness.

Now, I do not believe the 10th commandment is the only path to sin and evil in the world. I think the 1st and 2nd commandments are also an entry point into corruption and evil. The 1st and 2nd commandments are about having no other god and not making or worshiping an idol in the place of God.

But for sure, coveting was a big problem in Corinth. The false apostles coveted what Paul had – they wanted his authority and popularity. And so what did they do? They turned to each other and the world’s standards… and they undermined Paul, whom God had ordained as faithful and true.

Last month, something really sad and unfortunate happened. A prominent pastor in the reformed church world was found to be slandering other pastors. He had created multiple anonymous X accounts, and he was using those fake accounts to criticize and undermine other pastors. This pastor was doing the same thing as the false apostles in Corinth. He was elevating himself and suppressing others.

Now, that’s a negative example and I think it’s a rare example. At least, I hope.

A more common example is when we envy the so-called success of other churches and try to mimic their tactics. In other words, when we see or hear of another church attracting a bunch of people, we think, what are they doing that we could also do or even do better?

On my way here last week, I drove by a big church. Lots of cars were pulling in. And there was a guy with one of those giant bubble makers. You know, with the rope, and it makes big ubbles. And I thought, do we need a giant bubble maker? Just kidding. Actually, I was a little irritated because one of the bubbles popped on my car.

On a serious note, much of today’s church growth movement is focused on external things. It’s just a modern version of what the false apostles were doing. Today it’s about emotionally driven and high production experiences; or innovations to attract people; or it’s a focus on feel-good messages that avoid difficult topics like sin and judgment and repentance and holiness;

Now, I am not saying that we shouldn’t be thoughtful and engaging in the responsibilities God has given his church. We definitely should. Rather, I’m saying that our natural sinful proclivity is to turn to the world’s standards and approach which includes compare ourselves to others. It’s one of my temptations and I think probably to some extent, a temptation for all of us.

Instead, we should be looking to the Lord and his criteria. That begins by seeking to be faithful to him and to his ways and to his purposes rather than the world’s. Instead of being man-centered we should seek to be God glorifying. We should focus on the Gospel – our utter need for God’s grace in Christ because of our sin and God’s judgment. In our practices, we should submit them to God’s Word. Those are just a few.

So, whose standard are we using? Are we following God’s standard which he has reveled to us in his Word, or are we following the world’s standard, comparing ourselves to one another?

2. Whose glory are we seeking?

#2. Whose glory are we seeking? Are we seeking God’s glory and are we boasting in him, or are we boasting in and exalting ourselves?

You heard the word boast in these verses. It’s used 7 times. In fact, the theme of boasting will continue into chapters 11 and 12.

And we get the sense that Paul doesn’t even like the word boasting. But because the so-called super apostles were boasting, Paul needed to correct their misguided boasting by presenting what they should really be boasting in – which is the Lord.

By the way, let me give you a definition of the word boasting. The Greek word boast is to brag about, or rejoice in, or have confidence in something. To boast is to lift up something or someone as exceptionally noteworthy.

Paul is saying all throughout these verses that our boasting needs to be in the Lord and his work. Nowhere in these verses does Paul commend himself. Rather, he directs their attention to the Lord and what the Lord commends.

Let’s look at two examples here. First, verse 8. Paul writes, “For even if I boast a little too much of our authority.” Do you hear that uneasiness. But listen to what he says next, “which the Lord gave….” You see, he focuses on the Lord. It’s not a self commending authority, but an authority that the Lord gave.

Verse 18 is similar. “For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.”

The impostors were boasting in their own self-assigned authority. It was not a God-ordained authority. They were putting each other on a pedestal. I don’t know if you’ll remember this from chapter 3, but they even had letters of recommendation to somehow prove their authority in the church. It was all very self-serving and not God glorifying.

It’s kind of like they were applying for a job. You know the drill. The way to get a job is self-promotion. You put together a resume or a CV. You have to include all your expertise and credentials and education and certifications. Then if you get an interview, you basically have to talk about why you are the best… or at least the best fit for the job. It’s a little uncomfortable, isn’t it? …because you are essentially boasting about yourself.

That’s the way the world works, and it’s hard to break out of that mindset in ministry.

It’s not that Paul didn’t have the credentials. Actually, in the next chapter he is going to be clear about his credentials. Rather, what he is emphasizing is that we need to direct our attention to the Lord. It is his work, not ours. It’s his work in us, his work through us, and he is the one to be exalted in it.

Let me put it this way: No heart transforming work happens in anyone’s life by man’s work. No, it is the work of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit that turns hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. Furthermore, there is no sanctification in one’s life that happens by our will, no, rather it is likewise the ministry of God’s Word through his Spirit that matures us in Christ.

Our church is here today, not because of anything that any of us did. I am not saying that seeking to be faithful to fulfill God’s call for the local church is not important. It is important. But there have been many faithful church plants that have closed.

There was a church plant in Lilburn that closed a couple of years ago. It was a daughter church of Perimeter in John’s Creek – Perimeter is a sister church of ours. And I remember a very meaningful comment by Perimeter’s church plant director. As they prepared to close their doors, he encouraged them that their labors were not in vain. No, rather that the Lord had been faithfully at work during the time of their existence as a church. And furthermore, he said, that when that great day comes when Christ returns, the work that the Lord did through their church plant will be celebrated… celebrated as part of the broader kingdom work of God throughout the world. It was a great reminder that it was the Lord’s work.

That’s hard to get our minds around because we often apply the world’s criteria of success and failure. But we can still boast in what God has done in that community and the lives of his people.

The key verse is right there in verse 17. It’s a quote from Jeremiah. “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Paul is clearly boasting here. But he is boasting in God’s authority over his apostleship, and he is boasting in the Lord’s work in Corinth.

There is only one place to direct our boasting. It is to the Lord. What he has done and is doing.

So, whose glory are we seeking? Are we seeking our own glory? Are we commending and boasting in ourselves or are we seeking to give glory to God and his work?

3. Whose message are we proclaiming and what mission are we pursuing?

Which brings us to the third question. Whose message are we proclaiming and what mission are we pursuing?

We’ve already seen throughout 2 Corinthians that the false apostles were not only promoting themselves, but they were proclaiming a false gospel. Their gospel was about power and it was about prestige. It was not about the true Gospel of Christ crucified and the weakness and suffering and humility that comes from that.

Furthermore, their mission was to build up themselves and their little kingdom. We’re not given any sense in 2 Corinthians that the false apostles desired to spread the Gospel.

Paul focuses on these things in verses 14 and 15. And they merit a little explaining.

He says in verse 14, “we are not overextending ourselves as though we did not reach you.” What he means is that they had a vested interest in Corinth. Corinth was under their oversight. They were not interjecting themselves into the situation in Corinth without warrant. On the contrary, they had come, as it says, “all the way to them to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Paul and the others had sacrificed much to bring the Gospel to them and had labored many months to establish the church. When Paul planted the church in Corinth, he was there for 18 months. Of course he desired to see the church in Corinth prosper. And there are two things on his mind. First, he wanted them to be firmly established with the Gospel message and, second, he wanted them to participate in the Gospel mission.

The message of the Gospel and the mission of the Gospel go hand and hand. As Paul said in his letter to the Romans in chapter 1, “The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.” Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. He wanted to see the Gospel message go to the ends of the earth. And he wanted the Corinthians to help.

That is what the second half of verse 15 means. “our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged.” In other words, as you grow in your faith, we hope you will take the Gospel to other communities around you and thus enlarge what God began. And then look what he says in verse 16, “so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you.”

When the church in Corinth matures in Christ and stabilizes, two things will happen. First, the Gospel will spread in southern Greece. And second, Paul, Timothy, Titus, and the others will no longer need to focus their efforts on Corinth. They will be able to take the Gospel to other lands that have never heard of Jesus Christ.

A church that loses the Gospel message loses the Gospel mission.

You may have heard this, but a couple of months ago, the mainline Presbyterian denomination in the US ended its foreign mission’s agency. They let go their remaining 60 missionaries. Over the last 100 years, they had slowly lost their belief in Jesus as the only hope for salvation. And with that loss of message, they slowly lost the purpose of missions. If there’s no message, then why bother with the mission?

When the so-called super apostles infiltrated Corinth, not only did they distract the church away from the truth, they also distracted the church away from its mission. And it furthermore required a lot of effort from Paul and others, which distracted them from their broader mission to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Are we seeking to be true to the message of the Gospel and faithful to our mission to proclaim it to all the world?

Conclusion

To recap:

1. Whose standard are we using? Are we comparing ourselves to others using the world’s standards or are we seeking what the Lord commends and has designed for his church?

2. Whose glory are we seeking? Are we boasting in ourselves , or are we boasting in the Lord and his work, recognizing that in him and through him and to him are all things?

3. Whose message are we proclaiming and what mission are we pursuing? Are we being faithful to the hope that is found in Christ alone and faithful to the great commission… or is the message and mission waning in our lives and church?

Every church needs to be constantly evaluating and re-evaluating these questions.

I don’t know what plans the Lord has for us over the next 5 years. But my prayer is (1) that we would not align ourselves to the standards of the world, (2) that we would boast in the Lord and his work, and (3) that we would be faithful to Christ, seeking to be a light of his Gospel to our neighbors and taking that Gospel to the “lands beyond” as the apostle put it. In all of it, boasting in the Lord. Amen.