The True Measure Of A Minister Series

2 Cor 10:7-18 The True Measure of a Minister

2 Cor 10:7-18 – Paul addressing his critics

7Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we. 8For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. 9I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. 10For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.” 11Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. 12Not 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.

13But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. 14For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. For we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. 15We do not boast beyond limit in the labours of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, 16so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence. 17“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

The Corinthians have been influenced by some self-proclaimed apostles and false teachers into attacking Paul and questioning his authority.

• The critics have been using the wrong standards to judge the character of Paul and his ministry, misled by their desires and the values of the Corinthian world.

• They created their own human standard to measure the man of God and his work.

Paul mentioned the accusations levelled at him in different parts of the letter but in this section, he addresses the critics directly and corrected them, from 2 Cor 10 to the end.

• Hence we see a change in tone and his stern words in these last few chapters.

What measure can we use to judge a minister of the Gospel and his works?

• How do you measure spirituality? How do we measure the works of God?

• This is important because if we use the wrong measure, like these Corinthians, we will find ourselves criticizing Paul and worst still, seeing ourselves as great.

In Dec 1998 the first robotic space weather satellite was launched to study the climate of Mars. It was a joint venture between NASA and Lockheed Martin, both leading aerospace companies.

After travelling for 10 months towards Mar, the Mars Climate Orbiter disappeared from space. It came too close to the planet and was likely destroyed in the atmosphere. It just disappeared and it cost them US$125 million.

What caused the disaster? The wrong measures were used. Investigations revealed that NASA software system uses metric units (newton-seconds) and Lockheed Martin uses imperial units (pound-seconds). The different measures gave conflicting results.

So what measure do we use? Paul set the tone right when he said in the previous section these important words:

• 10:3-6 3For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

Clearly, we cannot judge spiritual works by outward appearances, on what we can see and count, on how we perform or speak. Not by our impressions.

• We cannot judge by the human standards we created, whether it’s yours or mine; nor by how the world thinks.

• There is only one yardstick and that is the standard God has set - revealed as the truth of God and of Christ. That’s our only reference point.

The Corinthians created their measure and found Paul to be lacking in many parameters – his authority was questioned, his integrity was in doubt, his speaking ability was below par, he was quite inconsistent – writing in one way but behaving differently in person, and he does not take financial support like the rest of us.

• Based on all these factors, Paul has failed to qualify as a credible apostle. Paul was not spiritual enough.