Fighting Your Bullies Series

In his book Fuzzy Memories, Jack Handey tells the story of a bully who demanded his lunch money every day when he was a child. Because Handey was smaller than the bully, he simply gave the bully his money.

“Then I decided to fight back,” Handey says. “I started taking karate lessons, but the instructor wanted $5 a lesson. That was a lot of money. I found that it was cheaper to pay the bully, so I gave up karate” (Greg Laurie, Lies We Tell Ourselves, Regal, 2006, pp. 99–100; www.PreachingToday.com).

Sad to say, a lot of people have that same attitude when it comes to facing the bullies in their lives. Rather than learn to fight, they just give in.

Do you want to learn to fight those who bully you—your harshest critics, those who question your authority, or those who belittle you? Then I invite you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians 10, 2 Corinthians 10, where the Apostle Paul shows us how in the way he dealt with people who tried to bully him.

2 Corinthians 10:1-2 I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh (ESV).

The false teachers in Corinth had accused Paul of having a bark that was worse than his bite. They said he was bold in his letters but humble in person—i.e., pliant and subservient (BAGD). Now, Paul can and will be bold when he needs to be, especially against the false teachers who oppose him. But He chooses to minister with the “meekness and gentleness of Christ” (verse 1).

According to Aristotle, the word “meekness” describes “the correct point mid-way between being too angry and being never angry at all. It is the quality of those people whose anger is so controlled that they are always angry at the right time and never at the wrong time. [In other words, they] are never angry at any personal wrong they may receive, but are capable of justi?able anger when they see others wronged” (Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians, 3rd ed). The false teachers in Corinth were wreaking havoc in the church, so Paul expresses justifiable anger towards them, but not towards the believers there.

He also expresses the “gentleness of Christ.” That is, Paul went beyond justice when dealing with people. The Greek word means “that which is just and even better than just.” For sometimes, “real justice is not to insist on the letter of the law but to let a higher quality enter into our decisions”—i.e., the quality of love (Barclay).

That’s Paul’s approach in ministry—to be bold when he needs to be, but to be meek and gentle most of the time.

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds (ESV).

The meekness and gentleness of Christ tears down the barriers people build against the truth. The flesh works to create the strongest arguments, to assert its authority, and to run people over with the truth. But none of that works like God’s power, expressed in the meekness of Christ, to destroy the strongholds people build against the truth.

You see, Christ in His weakest moment was more powerful than all the forces of evil arrayed against Him. The Bible says that on the cross “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame” (Colossians 2:15). And “through death He [also] destroyed the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). Christ’s meekness rendered Satan and his demons powerless. So with the meekness and gentleness of Christ…

2 Corinthians 10:5-6 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete (ESV)—that is, when you’re ready to oppose the false teachers in obedience to Christ.

You counter arguments against the truth not with stronger arguments, but with the meekness of Christ.

Thomas Huxley, the great 19th Century agnostic, once joined a house party where they planned to go to church that Sunday. Huxley said to a member of the party: “Suppose you don’t go to church, suppose you stay at home and tell me why you believe in Jesus.”

The man said: “But you, with your cleverness, could demolish anything I might say.”

Huxley said: “I don’t want you to argue. I want you just to tell me what this means to you.”