MPC, 30th September 2001.2 Corinthians 12 - "Classless Christianity"
Phil Campbell MPC, 30th September 2001.
In the middle of all the Ansett crisis in the last couple of weeks, I guess it's nice to see that at least some Ansett planes are back in the air this weekend. Sydney to Melbourne. But if you've been following the story at all, you'll know that it's the NEW ANSETT. Ansett Mark 2. An Ansett with some very significant differences. This is the new LEANER Ansett.
And one of the key things the Administrator made very clear is that in the new Ansett, there are no FIRST CLASS PASSENGERS anymore. Business class has gone. Replaced by ONE CLASS FITS ALL. No fancy cabin service. No extra leg room. For $99 one way Sydney to Melbourne, everyone gets the SAME SIZE SEAT. And the SAME SERVICE.
We've been dipping into 2 Corinthians on and off through the last few months, and there's one message that if you go back and read the whole letter comes through very clearly. Being Christian is like flying the NEW ANSETT. There are no FIRST CLASS SEATS. When you're a Christian, there's no first and second class. And in spite of what the Corinthians might be thinking, there's no such thing as a SUPER CHRISTIAN. Only ORDINARY ONES like us. Which I for one find a real encouragement.
Stuart pointed out last week that the Apostle Paul, the genuinely commissioned ambassador of Jesus Christ, is being opposed. Opposed by people who want to call themselves SUPER APOSTLES. Travelling FIRST CLASS. Christians who it seems are full of boasting. Boasting how spiritual they are. Boasting how God talks to them first hand. Boasting how they're better looking than Paul, how they're better public speakers than Paul. Boast how GOD HAS USED THEM IN SPECIAL WAYS. Boast how they can heal the sick. Boasting of their visions, their revelations from God himself.
To which Paul says, wait a minute guys. You've got it all wrong. I mean, we follow a saviour who was BORN IN A SHED. We're serving a master who travelled SECOND CLASS all the way. We're serving a King who ended up crowned with thorns, hanging on a cross. And real Christianity is about being a SERVANT. Not a superman.
I want to say to you, what we've been looking at here in Paul's letter to the Corinthians isn't just some bit of dull theory. It's something that applies to every one of us today. And it's great news. Because it gives you and me permission to be ORDINARY PEOPLE. With ORDINARY PROBLEMS. Without feeling guilty that we're somehow second rate Christians.
I've BEEN to a church where the pastor stood on the stage and he told the people there he'd had a vision from God. A special message. And the message was, they had to BUY A GRAND PIANO. Dig deep, he said. Give generously. Cause THIS IS A MESSAGE FROM GOD.
Do you get messages from God like that? I don't. And if you do, do you BOAST ABOUT IT? I haven't got any special healing powers that I know of. Do you? But even if you do, do you boast about it? Fascinating to look at the example of Paul. Because here in chapter 12, he gives himself as a prime example.
Now can I say to you first up, it's an incredible thing Paul's saying to us here. Because of all the people who could lay claim to being something special, he's one of them. And the fact is, as an Apostle appointed by Jesus himself, Paul is a man who's done INCREDIBLE MIRACLES.
We've been seeing some of them in the book of Acts the last few weeks. The APOSTLES OF JESUS act with the POWER of JESUS. To work signs and wonders. And validate their gospel. There's no doubt about it, the APOSTLES WERE SPECIAL. And Paul's one of them. The apostles are the FOUNDERS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. With all the authority of Jesus.
And so Paul's able to say what he says there in verse 12 of chapter 12. And it's absolutely true. Come at it from verse 11 to get the drift of what he's saying. "I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it," he says; you've made me boast like the other guys. He says, I don't want to say this, but you're making me. He says "I ought to have been commended by you; YOU CORINTHIANS SHOULD BE SAYING THIS, NOT ME - "for I'm not in the least inferior to the SUPER APOSTLES, even though I am nothing. The things that MARK AN APOSTLE - SIGNS, WONDERS AND MIRACLES - were done among you with great perseverance."
Hear what he's saying. Signs and wonders and miracles were the things that marked out genuine apostles of Jesus. The ones Jesus commissioned first hand. And he says, YOU KNOW I'M ONE OF THEM. A REAL APOSTLE. He says, I did all that stuff when I came to Corinth in the first place.
But you know what? That's not what he wants us to notice. Paul the Apostle who did EXTRAORDINARY THINGS doesn't want to focus on that stuff at all. Just the opposite. He wants to focus on the ORDINARY INSTEAD. And in the face of these so called SUPER CHRISTIANS, he wants to talk about the fact that he's a NOTHING.
If you're an athlete, you'll always have in mind one particular glorious moment in your career. Your PERSONAL BEST. The one moment that will bring back warm fuzzy feelings when you think about it. And at the same time, you'll keep on TRYING TO BEAT. Your greatest moment. Ask Paul to tell you about his own PERSONAL BEST, the high point of his career, best ever miracle, biggest ever crowd, you know what he'd say? Forget it. I'm a nobody.
And to illustrate that, Paul gives two examples. Two examples that we need to think about carefully. And use as a model. Paul talks about a VISION that he had. And he talks about HEALING. Two key issues if you want to be superspiritual. Have a vision. Be healed.
Have a look what he says.
First of all, the VISION. Read from verse 1 in chapter 12, where Paul's still matching the super Christians point for point. They like boasting, he says, so I'll match them.
He says "I must go on boasting. Although there's nothing to be gained, I'll go on to visions and revelations from the Lord."
Now I know people who've had visions. And I've got no doubt at all that God can give us visions any time he wants to. And that's no problem at all. The question is, what do you do with it when you've had it. Because isn't the huge temptation is to TALK ABOUT. And use it to stoke up your reputation as a first class Christian? Because visions aren't your usual day to day Christian experience are they? And if you've had a good one, then that puts you at least in the big seats in BUSINESS CLASS if not FIRST CLASS.
The fact is, fourteen years ago, Paul has had an incredible vision from God. And I want you to see what he says about it. It's almost like too embarrassed to admit it was even him. Like one of those situations where someone comes to you and says, Hey, I want some advice FOR A FRIEND who's got a REALLY AWKWARD PROBLEM. It's only when you get down to verse 6 and 7 you know he's really talking about himself.
Paul says, if you want me to boast, then I know a bloke who had an incredible vision. Not even sure whether it's an out-of-body experience; but it was MIND BLOWING; he says there in verse 4, THIS GUY was CAUGHT UP TO PARADISE. And heard inexpressible things.
An incredible vision. That took him right into the throne room of God. And in verse 6 and 7 it's clear. He's saying, THAT MAN IS ME. But I'm keeping it QUIET. He says in verse 6, I could talk about it. Because it's TRUE. He says, "Even if I SHOULD boast about that, I wouldn't be a fool, cause I'd be speaking the truth." It really happened!
But he says, I don't talk about that stuff. Because the last thing I want to do is boast about MYSELF.
End of verse 6. He doesn't boast, he says. He says, "But, I REFRAIN. I shut up about it, so no one will think more of me than what is warranted by what I do or say."
What you see is what you get. When you meet the apostle Paul, he wants you to take him how you find him. Take him at face value. He's not going to boast that he's done this or that, he's not going to tell you about his visions and revelations. He's going to tell you about JESUS. Full stop.
So here's what he's saying. If you've had a vision or some sort of special revelation, thank God for it. And shut up about it. Cause there's an incredible temptation to big-note yourself as some sort of super-Christian. Which is missing the point.
Same with HEALING. I know some Christians who it seems have been miraculously HEALED. And I know some Christians who haven't. Maybe you've had a problem that you've prayed about and God's taken it away. Which is great. Maybe you've had a problem that you've prayed about, and it's STILL THERE. Well, if you look at what Paul says, that's great too.
We need to take this on board. GOD IS GOD. And WE'RE NOT. Which means GOD'S GOING TO DO WHAT HE KNOWS IS RIGHT. Rather than what YOU OR I MIGHT THINK IS RIGHT.
The irony is, the great apostle Paul, worker of signs and wonders, the great apostle Paul who's HEALED PEOPLE WITH A TOUCH, the great apostle Paul is in chronic pain himself. He's been like it for years. He's prayed about it. Three times. He said, FATHER, HEAL ME. Take this cup away from me.
And it's still there.
Friends, it's not lack of faith on Paul's part, is it? It's simply that God's answering his prayer. And the answer is NO.
Read it from verse 7. And Paul makes a link between this and the vision he's had. Because the one thing more important than anything else is that he doesn't start thinking he's a spiritual superman.
He says "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, as messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU, for MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS."
I mean, it'd be nice, wouldn't it, if all the problems were gone. If sickness was a thing of the past. But God says, MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT NOT IN YOUR STRENGTH - but in your weakness.
Which is exactly what Jesus demonstrated on that first Christmas born in the humble stable, and exactly what he demonstrated on the first easter dying on the cross. The servant king.
The bottom line is, we're CLAY POTS. Ordinary. And no matter what spiritual experiences you've had, no matter how much you might want to be a SUPER CHRISTIAN, no matter how much you'd like to boast in your spirituality, Paul says, DON'T GO THERE. And Paul's suffering is a constant reminder to be humble before God. And men.
And so he says there in verse 9 and 10, the one thing he's going to boast about is his weakness, so that Christ's power will rest on him. To sustain him. To keep him going. Read verse 10. That's why, he says, for Christ's sake I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties; FOR WHEN I AM WEAK, then I am strong.
When I'm weak I know I'm trusting Jesus. And not me. When I'm weak I'm constantly reminded of the gospel. That I'm not saved by my IMPRESSIVE WORKS. But by God's mercy. God's GRACE is the first step of the Christian life. And it's the rest of the journey as well.
And if that's true of the Apostle Paul, it's true of you and me as well. We're all travelling THE NEW ANSETT. All one class. And there's no such thing as first and second class Christians. And we need to remember that. Because whether you've run into it so far or not, you'll meet the sort of people Paul's been talking about. Who first of all will make you feel INFERIOR. Second rate. They might even invite you up to sit in the first class section with them. They'll tell you things are BETTER THERE. That you're somehow missing out on all the fullness of God's blessings.
That's what the super apostles are offering in Corinth. And what Paul explicitly wants to warn them AGAINST. Our friend Carol was 26 when she died from viral encephalitis. Carol's friends were part of a church. And their pastor said he could HEAL PEOPLE. With a touch. So the PASTOR visited Carol unconscious in hospital. And laid his hands on her.
When Carol died a couple of days later, the Super-apostle pastor said it must have been because she didn't have enough faith. Hard when she was unconscious.
Paul says, WATCH OUT. Watch out you're not fooled by those who make MIGHTY CLAIMS. Watch out you're not fooled by anyone who tells you you're missing out on the fullness of God's blessings. Cause we're not in heaven yet. And in the meantime we're saying this. We'll put up with our weakness. And our hardships. And our tough times. And our limitations. And we're happy to travel in the seats where the seat in front jams up your knees. Because that's where Jesus is. Perfecting his strength in our weakness. The treasure in our CLAY POTS.
I guess that means we need to always be measuring ourselves THAT WAY, doesn't it. And not the world's way. If you're a career person, you'll know. That so much of what you do is designed to make the right impression. Up a notch at the performance review. Say the right thing. Be IMPRESSIVE. Be NOTICED. That's how the corporate ladder works.
Paul says, for ME, it's about making myself a NOBODY. So as Christians, we need to make sure we know it doesn't WORK that way. Don't try to impress. Be real. As a church, we need to be careful too - that we're not looking to be IMPRESSIVE on the outside. To compete in the standards of the world. To have the biggest buildings and the best music and the most impressive people. And certainly not to compete with one another with our visions and our insights and our healings or our cleverness. But to be happy to say like Paul "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."