This past week Dr. Charles Stanley passed away. There is no denying that he had a tremendous influence in American Christianity over the past few decades, and ultimately, that’s what leadership is—influence. Dr. Stanley became well-known for teaching through a series of 30 Life Principles built on biblical truth. But the one that he became most noted for, and was quoted most in light of his recent passing, was this one: “Obey God and leave the consequences to him.” In other words, our responsibility is simply faithfulness…which means we obey and then let HIM decide how to work THROUGH our faithfulness. For the past few months, we have been teaching through the book of 2 Corinthians. Last week in chapter 10, Paul taught us how to a leader should respond to criticism in way that glorifies God. The context of his letter was that his leadership as an apostle was being questioned by those who had been influenced by a group of false teachers who were impressive on the outside, but wicked on the inside.
And now in chapter 11, Paul is going to show us the heart of a godly leader. And let me give this disclaimer right here at the beginning of our time together. Anytime we study God’s Word about what it means to be a faithful leader, especially when it’s in the context of church leadership, there is a temptation to think, “I am not in a position of leadership so this doesn’t really apply to me today.” But leadership is ultimately about influence, not position. And because this is true, everyone in the room today has some measure of leadership that has been entrusted to them by God. So the question is not IF you are leading; the question is are you leading in a way the brings glory to God, and good to others? And the foundation of this type of leadership starts in the heart, not the hands. So let’s look together at the first six verses of 2 Corinthians 11 to get us started this morning in a message titled “What To Look For In a Leader.”
2 Corinthians 11:1-6
I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! 2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. 5 Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. 6 Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.
Our pastors have all confessed in recent weeks that if any one of us had written this letter to the church at Corinth, it would have been the shortest book in the Bible –out of sheer frustration for what was going on, it would have simply read, “Dear Church, you are dead to me. Love, your favorite Apostle.” But fortunately for us, Paul loved this church too much to give up on them. And today, rather than walking away in disgust, Paul’s going to defend himself as a true minister of the gospel, and in doing so, we’re going to see three attributes of a godly and faithful leader.
1. GODLY LEADERS ARE FAITHFUL TO PROTECT OTHERS – vs. 1-6
So much of the content in every one of Paul’s letters to this particular church focused on correction for things they should have easily known by now. But even though Paul couldn’t be with them physically, he wanted to do everything he could for them spiritually. We can contrast Paul’s love for the church to what we have seen over the past several years where people have used their leadership positions to ABUSE people instead of using their positions to PROTECT people.
I want you to hear this clearly – whatever measure of leadership God has entrusted you with in life, you have a responsibility before God to use your influence to protect those who are vulnerable. And Paul, understanding the vulnerability of the Corinthian church (remember, they didn’t have the Bible yet as their ultimate guide to truth), was willing to stand up to these gospel bullies even if it meant subjecting his own life and ministry to unfair criticism.
In verse 2, Paul uses a word that is typically seen in the negative, to describe his love for the members of this church—the word is jealousy. “2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.” Dad’s in the room can probably relate to the Jewish tradition in which Paul was raised, where it was the obligation of the father of the bride to safeguard his daughter’s chastity. So Paul is feeling the outrage of a father whose daughter has been seduced by another man on the eve of her wedding. And the reason Paul calls this DIVINE jealousy is because it mimics the jealousy of God towards his people—God, our creator, is grieved when someone or something steals our loyalty and devotion.
Look at verse 3 again: “But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts [there’s the idea again that we studied last week…your thoughts] will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” Paul’s motivation in warning the church about these false teachers was not to make HIMSELF look good in comparison. He was 100% trying to protect them from the damage created by these false teachers. He was trying to protect their undying commitment to have a sincere and pure devotion to Christ, while the Super Apostles were trying to steal that devotion for themselves.
If you are listening, say Amen. Godly leaders are always pointing others to Christ, not themselves. Jesus is the model, not the leader. Jesus is the wisdom of God, not the leader. Jesus is the one who can change hearts, not the leader. Jesus is the one who people should seek refuge in, not the leader. Jesus can satisfy hearts, not the leader. Jesus is the one to get the credit and should be exalted, not the leader. Godly leaders are ALWAYS pointing others to Christ, not themselves. And the reason this is hard for all of us who are leading is because, in the words of Paul Tripp, “We are hardwired to be glory thieves.” But godly leaders protect others spiritually, not to be seen as the hero, but to point people to the REAL hero who rescued us from our sin—Jesus.
In Corinth, in Paul’s physical absence, these false leaders were stepping in and preaching lies, and the Corinthians were buying into their lies. Look at verse 4 again: “For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.”
Paul brings a little bit of accountability to the table here—remember, love is NOT the absence of accountability. When Paul uses the term “Super Apostles” it was a very sarcastic term in the original language. Paul is saying that these “SUPER” apostles showed up teaching a different Jesus, a different Spirit, and a different gospel, “AND SOME OF YOU FELL FOR IT.” You can almost hear Paul say, “C’MON, MAN!”
Now we don’t know EXACTLY what they were saying. Maybe that Jesus wasn’t really born of a virgin. Or maybe that he wasn’t totally sinless. Maybe that he didn’t actually rise from the grave. But whatever it was, they were proclaiming things that were untrue about Christ. If you are a student of church history, you know that in every period of history there has been a movement by false teachers to deny either the content of the gospel, the scope of the gospel, or the effects of the gospel. And in each period of church history, God has used godly leaders to warn people about whatever false gospel was being preached at that particular time in history. I would contend that today, the false gospel that we see taught is the promotion of the prosperity gospel and the idea that all roads lead to heaven.
And while it’s my job as your pastor to stand up and refute these false teachers, it’s also your job as kingdom leaders, that you make every effort to protect those within your circle of influence from teachers that proclaim a Jesus different from the Jesus that saved your soul. Godly leaders use their influence to protect others spiritually.
But not only do they do that…
2. GODLY LEADERS LIVE SACRIFICIALLY FOR OTHERS – vs. 7-11
If you are a parent or a grandparent, you understand this. When your children are first born, you sacrifice your time and rest. When they become toddlers, you sacrifice your time and rest and sanity. When they become teenagers, you sacrifice your time and rest and sanity and money. And by the time leave your house to go off to college or start their careers, you’ve got nothing left to sacrifice (at some point in that timeline you sacrifice your dignity, but it’s been so long, I can’t remember when that was). And while I’m only kinda joking, the fact of the matter is that one of the marks of a godly leader is that they consistently live sacrificially for the sake of others.
Paul begins this section with a rhetorical question in verse 7: “Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s gospel to you free of charge?” In the next 5 verses, Paul responds to criticism for not accepting any financial payments from the church at Corinth. So why in the world would the church be offended by this? Contextually, there are probably two reasons. ONE) they were probably offended because Paul refused to accept assistance from them, meaning THEY looked bad when he had to undertake menial work to support himself (we know from other passages that Paul was a tentmaker by trade). TWO) this refusal was construed as evidence that Paul did not really love the Corinthians. If he wouldn’t accept their money, surely that meant he had no real affection for them. Contextually, this would be the same idea for us today to be so disgusted with someone that we would say, “I don’t even want your money.” But Paul refutes this in verse 11: “And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!”
Now sadly, for many churches (NOT OURS), this passage has become a proof text for finance committees who refuse to pay their pastors a worthy wage. A while back, there was a sponsored advertisement on social media for a resource that was created to help church finance committees determine pastoral pay. You should have seen the comment section…it was basically comment after comment communicating the prayer, “God, you keep them humble, and we’ll keep them broke” intermingled with those questioning the eternal destiny of pastor who is paid for ministry. It was very encouraging.
But at the risk of sounding incredibly self-serving, here’s how we know that this is NOT what Paul is teaching – look at verse 8: “I robbed other churches by accepting support from THEM in order to serve YOU.” Paul is using hyperbole when he said he “robbed other churches.” In fact, the real irony is that the Corinthian church was probably quite wealthy as they were located in the center of commerce. But Paul refused to take money from them, instead relying on the Macedonian churches for support, who were MUCH poorer.
One of the reasons that Paul may have refused their support was because it came with patron-client strings attached. One of our pastors tells the story of having a pastor friend who had served on the staff of a large Baptist church in the south. The church was perhaps twice as large as our church but had a budget FIVE times our budget. On the surface, this is every pastor’s dream because of the ministry opportunities these funds would allow for. But the pastor friend gave testimony to it being one of the most miserable places he ever worked (and he had worked in the business world before he joined the church staff). And the reason it was so miserable in that particular church was because most of the dollars came from large donors with lots of strings attached. People were leveraging their gifts to make sure things were done THEIR way (which is ironically what Paul taught against back in chapter 9).
But I think more than that, Paul wanted to distinguish his ministry from the false teachers in the area that were preaching, not to make JESUS famous, but to make THEMSELVES famous and their wallets fat. But Paul loves this church so much, that he’s willing to self-sacrifice on their behalf, as a way of distinguishing himself from these false teachers that were readily accepting payment for THEIR services, even if it means setting up a tent shop in the marketplace to make ends meet. He’s literally modeling the servanthood of Christ, who made himself poor so that others might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9).
Hopefully by now, our vision statement can roll off everyone’s tongue. “We exist to make disciples who Gather, Grow, Give & Go.” We GIVE. That means that an effective disciple maker is a leader that lives sacrificially – and they GIVE of their time, talent, and treasure. And it’s ALL given for the purpose of seeing lives radically transformed by the power of the gospel. That’s what Paul modeled for the church at Corinth, and that’s what the gospel is asking of us today.
There’s one last attribute of a leader that we want to focus on, and it is…
3. GODLY LEADERS ARE BOLD FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS – vs. 12-15
Hopefully by this third point, you are seeing a clear pattern—that a godly leader has a desire to lead, not for his OWN benefit, but for the benefit of others. He is seeking to use his influence, NOT to build a platform for HIMSELF, but instead he is using his influence for the glory of God and the good of others.
2 Corinthians 11:12-15
And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. 13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
Paul’s taking off his gloves in defense of his own ministry as an apostle. And just like we saw last week in chapter 10, he’s not being a door mat. Look at the descriptors he uses in verse 13: “false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.” The word in the original language for “false apostle” is only used one time in the entire Bible and it’s right here. The word is “pseudapostolos” (pseudo apostle) and it literally means “bogus apostle” or “false ambassador.”
Now, you would think that “false apostles and deceitful workmen disguising themselves as apostles of Christ” would be fairly easy to spot. After all, these words conjure up images of foreboding sneakiness and dark, evil leadership that would be immediately off-putting to followers of Christ. But things were not nearly so straightforward in actuality. Throughout this letter it has been clear that the Corinthians are on the verge of yielding all of their loyalties to the opposition. And yet Paul has repeatedly affirmed his great confidence in, and his love for, the Corinthians. The only way to understand all of these realities is to see how alluring and how enticing the opposition must have been (ESV Expositor’s Commentary). The message from these false teachers sounded appetizing.
But then in verses 14 & 15, Paul goes as far as to indicate that these bogus apostles are actually servant’s of Satan. He’s not backing down, folks. And if that sounds like too strong of a warning, listen to wrote he wrote in his letter to the Galatians: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8). And the reason that Paul’s using such strong language is because as a father, he is so grieved by the fact that his children’s purity is being threatened, that he’s willing to say things that are not going to tickle their ears. This isn’t a case where he’s just spouting off and “speaking his mind” and calling it boldness. He is cutting across the grain by showing a willingness, a DIVINE boldness, to expose these charlatans that are attempting to steal his family’s devotion to Christ.
I find it interesting that Paul’s not standing up here and taking aim at Roman political leaders and everyone else in society that opposed God. He’s specifically battling those within this specific community that were masquerading as followers of Christ yet preaching a gospel different than Jesus. This isn’t a proof text that we are to stand up and be obnoxious jerks in culture as we beat people over the head in the town square with the Bible. These were wolves in sheep’s clothing that were serving their own appetites, and now these vulnerable church members were getting excited by the message these false ambassadors were preaching. The boldness that Paul is speaking with here is not so that he can grow his own fan club but in protection of his brothers and sisters in Christ.
I wish we had time to fully develop a list of attributes that the Bible associates with false teachers. But in an effort to help us all grow in our discernment, let’s briefly look at just a few.
• False teachers are man pleasers
Paul literally describes them in another letter as “ear ticklers.” They have a great skill in learning what other people want to hear and then give it to them. Instead of exposing sin, they affirm sin and coddle sin. John MacArthur says that “the creed of the false prophet, if he has any at all, will be vague, indefinite, and ethereal. No demanding truth will be absolute or clear-cut, and every principle will be easy and attractive.”
False teachers use words to attract and retain others, not for the sake of Christ, but for their own sake. A famous theologian from the 16th century once said, “The preachers of the gospel have also their courtesy and their pleasing manner, but joined with honesty, so that they neither soothe men with vain praises, nor flatter their vices: but impostors allure men by flattery, and spare and indulge their vices, that they may keep them attached to themselves” (John Calvin).
• False teachers serve their own appetites
In his letter to the Christians in Rome, Paul wrote that false teachers “serve their own bellies” (Rom. 16:18). In other words, the lifestyle of a false teacher often reflects indulgence and egocentrism. Christian teachers are not prohibited from enjoying nice things, but they should not live ostentatiously, where making their paycheck is the chief end to their labor. In other words, false teachers are lovers of money. Many within the prosperity gospel movement would fall in this category.
• False teachers deny the exclusivity of the gospel
Borrowing again from the words of Pastor MacArthur, “The creed of false prophets never has a narrow gate or a narrow way. On the surface their message may sound difficult and demanding, but it will always rest on the foundation of man’s works and will therefore always be accomplishable by man’s own effort. They never reveal the depth or danger of sin and depravity, the need for repentance, forgiveness, and submission to the Lord, or the destiny of judgment, condemnation, and eternal destruction for those apart from God. There is no brokenness over sin and no longing after righteousness.”
Church, concerning that fact that false teachers deny the exclusivity of the gospel, let me discharge my duty as a shepherd and offer this warning in closing. In a world of relative truth and political correctness, John 14:6 is still true. Jesus is STILL the way, the truth, and the life, and NO one comes to the Father, but through him. And ANYONE adding to or taking away from this truth, according to today’s text, is a danger to your eternal soul and their father is the devil. And for those that would argue that it just doesn’t seem fair that a loving God would allow people who don’t come to Jesus to spend an eternity in hell, I would agree with you, EXCEPT for the fact “that WHOSOEVER believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Yes, church, the gate is narrow, but there’s room for EVERYONE that repents and believes. That’s the story of the gospel. No exceptions. And I can’t think of ANYTHING more fair than that.
