Five Ways To Stand In The Way Of Kingdom Growth Series

- As we begin, let me give a little context to the situation Paul is addressing. Paul has been to Corinth but during his absence there were some false teachers who came in and began to move the Corinthian church in another direction.

- This is an extension of the earlier part of this chapter, where Paul spoke of the accusations that were being leveled against him, including that he was a weak preacher. Obviously, they were on the wrong side of these issues, since we know Paul was used powerfully by God.

- In this passage, Paul addresses some specific shortcomings of the way his enemies were acting. Interestingly, here the issues discussed aren’t really theological ones.

- There are a number of ways to approach discussing this passage. I’m going to talk about it in terms of standing in the way of Kingdom growth. These false teachers were standing in the way of what God wanted to accomplish through His messenger Paul.

Five Ways to Stand in the Way of Kingdom Growth:

1. Make up your own standards of success.

- 2 Corinthians 10:12.

- Paul opens with a little sarcasm, as he is prone to do from time to time. He says that he and his people “do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves.” They are quick to brag on themselves and their spiritual prowess, but Paul says, “We wouldn’t dare measure ourselves against these guys who are constantly saying how great they are!” He’s not saying they’re better – he’s making fun of the fact that they are so full of themselves.

- This is emphasized by what he says next. He notes that these false teachers measure themselves by their own standards and compare themselves to what they already are, declaring that to be the ultimate standard. It’s a little bit like the kid who shot the arrow at the wall, walked over and drew red circles around it, and then said, “Look! I hit the bullseye!” Anyone can hit the bullseye when you have free rein to make up your own standards.

- What might this have looked like?

- Perhaps they were teachers who liked digging around into the mysterious shadows around the faith. So they made the standard of success being people who knew about the “hidden mysteries” of the faith. That might not have been God’s standard of success, but it was their standard and it made them feel like they were the best.

- Perhaps they were teachers who believed that Christians should continue to follow the Jewish Law. So they made the standard of success how much of the Pharisaical teaching they could try to obey. That might not have been God’s standard of success, but it was their standard and it made them feel like they were the best.

- Perhaps they were excitable, loud preachers. So they made the standard of success how worked up you got everyone. That might not have been God’s standard of success, but it was their standard and it made them feel like they were the best.

- Do we do similar things today? Absolutely. We make up our own standards of success and then praise ourselves for meeting them.

- Some examples:

a. The gold standard of measurements is Sunday morning attendance. You can tell a lot about a church simply by asking, “How many you running?”

- Certainly having a lot of people in church is not an intrinsically bad thing, but if we make that our standard, we can find ourselves in trouble. First of all, we might find ourselves watering down the message to keep it from being offensive in order to attract greater numbers. Second of all, we were called to make disciples, not pew sitters.

b. In many churches, a key standard is how much Bible you know. The most impressive Christians are deemed to be the ones who know the most Bible minutiae.

- Again, it’s not an intrinsically bad thing to know more Bible, but the goal is not to win a game of Bible trivia. It’s not ultimately about how much Bible we know, but how Christlike we are. I’ve known some people down through the years who knew a ton of Bible and were mean as snakes.

c. Some churches make excitability in worship to be the proof of maturity. They look around at other churches that don’t “whoop and holler” and they look down their noses.

- Loud praise to God can be a great thing, but it’s quite possible that the services are triggered more by emotional manipulation than by genuine praise.

2. Do someone else’s job.

- 2 Corinthians 10:13-14.

- In v. 13 Paul says that if he is going to boast it’s going to be concerning the task that God has given to him. Or, as he calls it, “the field God has assigned to us.” What was Paul’s “field”? Two things: a. The conversion of the Gentiles, and b. Preaching where the gospel had not been preached.