Not In It to Win It

"Undaunted" is the name of our series through the biblical book of 2 Corinthians. Good morning, I am so glad that we are together. My name's René, another one of the pastors here at Twin Lakes Church. And in today's passage, the writer, the apostle Paul, basically poses a question. What does greatness look like? Now, just think about that for just a minute. Because in our culture right now, our cultural heroes are characters like, well, Iron Man and Thor and Wonder Woman and the solution to every problem is smash.

We are living in what some modern cultural anthropologists have called a power culture, where the solution to everything has just ram it through with force. We almost idolize like CEOs who throw their weight around. In fact, there's a phrase in American culture, you hear it from contestants on TV shows like "Survivor." I am not here to make friends. I am in it to win it. That phrase right there, that really describes a huge part of American culture. And the problem is, this attitude has almost taken over American Christianity. We gotta win at all costs.

And that's why I call this message today, not in it to win it, based on 2 Corinthians chapters 11 and 12. You see, in the first century, when the New Testament of the Bible was written, the dominant culture was, of course, that's right, the Roman Empire and they valued might and authoritarianism and just smashing opposition. They were in it to win it as a culture for sure. But Jesus said this, he said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers like the Roman Caesars, lord it over them and their high officials exercise authority over them, not so with you."

He was calling us, Christians, to influence the world in a different way. He said, "Instead, whoever wants to become great among you, among Jesus followers, must be your servant. Whoever wants to be first must be slave of all, for," he said, "even the son of man, Jesus, did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." He's talking about servant leadership. This is how Jesus said that we change the world through our service, through our humility. And I think at this moment in our year, it is time for this reset for all of us.

And that brings us to our passage this morning. The Apostle Paul is writing to a group of people in the city of Corinth, the Christians in Corinth, they're being led astray by some false teachers, kind of classic cult leaders that are reflecting the leadership style of the Roman Empire. And so Paul warns the Corinthians about this and he starts in chapter 11, starting in verse 19. He says, "You know, you seem to gladly put up with fools, since you are so wise, they consider themselves very wise people." But he says, "In fact, you even put up with anybody who watch this who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face."

And this exact thing happens to this day. People often mistake aggression for leadership. And of course, Paul is talking about a church context. I was on YouTube the other day just curious about the sermons there with the highest numbers of views. And I watched a couple all the way through. Some of these pastors were so angry, so cocky. And the things that they said, I actually jotted down some of the actual lines they used. One man said, "Anyone with a semi-functioning prefrontal cortex would agree with me." Another pastor said, "The problem with the church today is it's just a bunch of nice, soft, tender, chickified church boys."

And the same pastor criticized other pastors as, "Wussified, crying, worship-loving, mama's boy, emasculated, male, even, jellyfish." And what's worse and very strange to me is almost all the comments on this last sermon were positive. Like, "That's right, pastor. You tell us." You know, I've actually had people tell me, "When I come to church, I want to be punched in the mouth." It's incredible, and that's exactly what Paul was talking about. There's something about us. We just love it.

But Paul says, "To my shame, I admit, we were too weak for that." He's saying, "Yeah, I guess we were too weak to bully you." Listen, Paul is pointing out a consistent error of religious people mistaking forcefulness for power and gentleness for weakness. This is very dangerous because this is how cults start. Listen, in a time, as I said, in our culture, when it is very easy for Christians to become enamored of political power-- listen to me clearly here, listen to what I'm saying-- we need to remember that my greatest credibility as a Christ follower, your greatest credibility as a Christ follower, the greatest power you have, the best way that is in your hands right now to influence your children or your spouse or your neighbors, our community, our country, is totally counterintuitive.

It doesn't come from Roman-style force and power and political weight that we can throw around. No, the Bible says it comes, number one, not from achievement but from weakness. These false teachers in the Corinthian church, they were apparently boasting about their great deeds and achievements, their miracles and healings, about their visions. And so in this passage, Paul says, "Okay, I can boast too if that impresses you." But then he throws in a twist. He says, "What I want to boast about are my weaknesses, my failures." I'll show you what I mean.

All through this passage, 2 Corinthians 11.30, he says, "If I must boast, I'll boast of the things that show my weakness." 12.5, "I won't boast about myself except about my weaknesses." Verse 9, "I'll boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses." Verse 10, "I delight in my weaknesses." Now, why would the Apostle Paul want to just keep going on and on about his weaknesses and his apparent failures instead of his successes? He had a lot of successes to brag about. But he says, "See, listen, weakness, that's when God really shines through." This is such an important concept to get, and it's so counter-cultural.

So let's go through this section verse by verse. First, Paul talks about danger. He says, verse 23, "Are they these false teachers, servants of Christ? I'm out of my mind to talk like this. Well, I am more." He says, "I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received the 40 lashes minus one, which was like almost capital punishment because 40 lashes would kill you, so they gave you 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned." And that's not, you know, once I was stoned. Just to make that clear here in Santa Cruz, that's rocks, not drugs.

"Three times," he says, "I was shipwrecked. I spent a day and a night in the open sea. I have constantly been on the move. I've been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, in danger from false believers." What would you say the key word is in these verses? Danger, that's right. Paul says, "I'll boast, let me boast about all the things that went wrong for me, all the dangers I've encountered." And he talks about distress.

He doesn't pretend to be serene and above it all and in control all the time. He says, verse 27, "I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep. I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food. I've been cold and naked. And besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches." Who is weak and I don't feel weak? Who is led into sin and I don't inwardly burn? What he's saying is, this job is tough on me. I feel like it's whack-a-mole. I feel like things are out of my control. I'm distressed.

So he talks about danger and distress and then disasters. In fact, he is about to brag on his worst disaster in his ministry. Verse 31, "The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. But in Damascus, the governor under King Aritus had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and I slipped through his hands." He's talking about his first real evangelistic mission. Up until this point, he'd been a golden boy and he probably went striding confidently in the town thinking, "I'm going to convert everybody. I'm a genius, you know, orator."

And instead, they get so upset, they try to kill him and Paul has to escape by being lowered in this basket through a window. It was just an abject flop. And Paul says, "You know what? That's what I'm going to boast about. The time that I, the Apostle Paul, fell flat on my face and failed." Now, listen, everybody who read this passage in those days would have known the very clever thing that Paul is doing in these verses. And it's this, watch this. Caesar Augustus, that's of course the very famous Caesar who was emperor when Jesus Christ was born. He wrote something very famous called the Res Geste Divi Augustus.

In English, that's the deeds of the divine Augustus. Caesar wrote what was kind of a poem himself about himself and how great he was. And then he ordered that this poem about himself and his great deeds would be carved into monumental walls in all the great cities of the empire. So this was about 40 years before Paul was writing to the Corinthians. So by this point, millions of people would have gone by on their daily business and read the words on this monument. It was like the Gettysburg Address. It was a short but very familiar speech by Caesar, again, about himself. And it's just one long boast.

But let me just show you a couple of excerpts. Caesar says, "When I was 19, I raised an army at my own expense. I often waged wars on land and sea. You know, I captured 600 ships, 30,000 slaves. Twice, I celebrated ovations." And that's a kind of a parade in his honor. "And three times triumphs, those were even bigger parades. He says, 'In my triumphs, nine enemy kings or princes were forced to walk before my chariot. At another time, when grain was scarce, I administered the corn supply in such a way that within a few days, I freed the whole state from fear and danger and hunger. I gave beast hunts of African beasts on 26 occasions, during which about 3,500 beasts were destroyed.' And he's like, 'That was awesome. Many kings sought refuge with me as supplicants. In fact, I acquired control of everything. I excel all in influence. And at the time of this writing, I'm in my 76th year.'"

Really, you could summarize the theme of this poem as, "I am awesome." One modern scholar called it a great example of Roman alpha wolf masculinity. And did it sound familiar to you? You see, many scholars believe that the Apostle Paul in these verses is doing a very clever, direct parody of Caesar's poem about himself in these verses. For example, Caesar said, "I celebrated victory on land and sea." Paul says, "Well, I experienced danger on land and sea." Caesar said, "I made the sea peaceful." Paul says, "I've been in four shipwrecks." Caesar said, "I fed the whole city." Paul says, "I couldn't even feed myself." Caesar said, "Twice, I received ovations." Three times triumphs. Paul says, "Five times I was whipped. Three times beaten." Caesar said, "I killed wild animals." Paul says, "Wild animals tried to kill me." Caesar said, "Kings sought to gain my favor." Paul says, "Kings sought to kill me." Caesar is all about his strengths. Paul is all about his weaknesses.

Now, think about this. Whose influence has lasted the longest and permeated culture the most? Well, today, absolutely nobody quotes Caesar's famous poem about himself anymore. Nobody even knows it existed. But 2,000 years after they lived, people quote Paul, even without knowing it. Like the greatest of these is love. And I can do all things through Christ. It was the one with zero political clout who changed the world. Again, it is so easy for us to become enamored of political power. Political power has its place. But it's so easy for us to become so entranced by it as the only way we could possibly change the world and that is just not true.

Caesar may have had the power in his day, but in the long run, Paul's life shows that my greatest credibility and influence as a Christ follower comes not from achievement, but from weakness. Now, of course, this does not mean that if you are successful, you should feel bad about it. Be grateful. Consider it a blessing. But it just means your greatest credibility as a witness for Christ will still come, most likely, from how God works through the weaknesses in your life. Let me just give you one incredible example. True story. You know, November is the International Month of the Persecuted Church. I strongly recommend that you order the book by Richard Wernbrand, Tortured for Christ.

He was a Romanian pastor in the 1950s. He was arrested, tortured just because he was a Christian. This is his mugshot. And I got to tell you, this book is not a downer. It will inspire you. One story that he tells us this. When one Christian prisoner was sentenced to death, he was allowed to see his wife before being executed. And his last words to his wife were this. "You must know that I die loving those who kill me. They do not know what they do. And my last request of you is that you love them too." Well, Richard Wernbrand writes that these words impressed the officer of the secret police who attended the discussion between the two.

How do I know this? That officer later told me the story in prison where he had been sent for becoming a Christian because of that Christian prisoner's witness. Wow. That Christian prisoner had zero political clout, yet astounding credibility because of God working through his weakness. You can probably tell I'm a little bit worried that we're forgetting this as Christians. No matter which side you voted for, don't overvalue mere political power. The little Christian movement in the Roman Empire had zero political power. It had negative social capital, yet had such influence that it changed the entire Roman world and the direction of history. How? Servant leadership. Feeding the poor, staying humble.

This is one of the reasons you know I love the Second Harvest Food Bank food drive every single year. It's an opportunity for us to lead as servants. Listen, right now, as you're joining us, you may feel like-- but René, I have no power. I have no clout. I'm stuck at home all day. I feel like my best days are behind me. You may be entering your most influential days. One of my wife's cousins was far from the faith. And his grandmother and my wife's grandmother, Grandma Grace, would try to share her faith with him, but he would always politely but firmly decline to even get into a discussion about faith.

It wasn't until Grandma Grace was very old and feeble-- she lived until she was well over 100 years old-- and he witnessed her struggling with her faith through the trials of old age, but bringing her faith to bear on her trials that his heart was melted. And now he's one of the faithful family leaders because of her credibility as he saw God working through her weakness. Well, I've spent most of my time this morning on the first point. I'll go through the last couple of points very quickly. Paul II says that we gain credibility not from glory but from humility. Not from glory but from humility.

He says, chapter 12, verse 1, "I must go on boasting. Although there's nothing to be gained, I'll go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ--" and we find out later he's talking about himself-- "who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Now in those days, the sky was the first heaven, space was the second heaven, and the third heaven was what we think of as heaven, where God has his throne." Paul says, "whether it was in the body or out of the body, I don't know. God knows. But I know that this man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I don't know. But God knows, was caught up to paradise."

In other words, had a vision of heaven. Heard inexpressible things, things no one is permitted to tell. This kind of experience would have been the dream of the false apostles who were infiltrating the church there at Corinth. They would have just milked this for all it was worth and bragged and boasted about it. But Paul says, I'll boast about a man like that, but I won't boast about myself except about my weaknesses. Now even if I should choose to boast-- and this is where it becomes clear that he's talking about himself-- even if I choose to boast about this, I wouldn't be a fool because I would be speaking the truth, but I refrain so that no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations.

He's saying this, I will not allow people to put me on some kind of a pedestal because I've claimed to have some kind of a vision. Paul is saying that's not where my credibility comes from as a minister of the gospel. My credibility comes from what I do and say, from the humble life that I live and the simplicity of the gospel that I preach. Now listen, let me explain something to you. This is why here at TLC I want to be so careful not to delegitimize any visions or spiritual experience or experiences that people may have on the one hand. And yet I also don't want to glorify them because if you're not careful, you can create a church climate where people are constantly hungry for the latest vision or revelation instead of the revelation they already have in God's word.

And they can miss the humble but profound way that Jesus can be glorified through the normal lives of people all around us. Does that make sense? God wants our influence to come not from glory but from humility, not from achievements but from weaknesses. And then finally, point three, he says, we gain influence not from my strength but from God's grace in me, not from my strength but from God's grace. Verse 7, chapter 12, "Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh. A messenger of Satan to torment me." Most scholars think that this thorn in the flesh was some kind of a painful eye disease. Three times, he says, I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. God says no to Paul's request for healing. But he makes this promise. He says, Paul, I've saved you by grace, and I love you still unconditionally by grace. I don't gauge you on whether or not you're healed or on any of your achievements. That's not how you should gauge your worth either. Gauge your worth on this. I love you infinitely, and I am working through you so powerfully, even in this weakness. If you've asked God for healing and God has answered no, don't think it's because he doesn't love you. Don't think it's because he's punishing you. Don't think it's because you didn't ask with enough faith.

No, take this answer from the Lord as your answer to. God is saying, my grace is sufficient for you. I still love you unconditionally. I'm going to get you through this. And when you look back, maybe you won't see it until you look back from heaven. But when you look back, you will see how God has worked powerfully, even through weakness, even through tragedy in life. And this is why Paul says, therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties for when I am weak. Then I am strong.

Many of you know one of my favorite storytellers is Tony Campolo. And one of my favorite stories that he tells is this one. And to me, this is such a great story as evidence, as example, of how God works through whatever weaknesses you have in your life. When it comes to living a life that matters, when it comes to living a life of purpose, you are golden, you are bulletproof, because the Lord promises that he can work through whatever limitations are on your life for his glory. Here's the story. Tony says, many years ago, when I was a young pastor, I was asked to be a counselor at a junior high camp.

I love this. He says, for any Roman Catholics who might be reading this, I have to say, I now believe there is a purgatory. I've been there. It's junior high camp. He says, junior high boys often have a strange, cruel sense of humor. They like to pick on kids, ridicule them. And this was certainly the case during this week of summer camp. They all picked on a 13-year-old kid named Billy with cerebral palsy. He couldn't walk like they walked. He couldn't talk like they talked. And those boys at the camp would mimic him. They thought it was funny.

He says, one day I overheard somebody asking him for directions, where is the craft jack? Billy, the boy asked, mocking Billy's speech patterns. And the boys with him laughed. Tony says, I burned with anger at them, but the worst thing they ever did was on a Thursday morning. Billy's cabin had been assigned to lead morning devotions. And his cabin all voted for Billy to be the speaker. They wanted him to get up there in front of everybody so that they could be amused. Tony says, when I found out about it, I was furious, but it was too late. There was nothing I could do. But watch.

As little Billy limped up to the rostrum, waves of laughter began floating over the audience. And he writes, it took Billy almost a full minute to say these two sentences for the morning devotional. Jesus loves me. And I love Jesus. When he finished, there was silence. I looked over my shoulder so angry. But what I saw all over the room were junior high boys with tears streaming down their cheeks. Some had their heads bowed, and revival broke out that morning. He says, you know, we'd done many things that week to try to reach the boys with the gospel. Nothing had worked. We'd even brought in a baseball player whose batting average had gone up since he started praying. None of it had had any effect.

It wasn't until a special needs kid named Billy simply declared his love for Jesus and that everything changed. And then Tony writes, here's a PS. I travel a lot. And I often come upon people who say something like, Tony, you probably don't remember me. But I became a Christian at this little junior high camp where you were a counselor. And you know what the turning point was for me? And Tony says, I don't even have to ask. Because I always know what I'm going to hear next. They will say, it was Billy. And he says, so many of those boys went into full-time Christian ministry as educators, pastors, missionaries.

You see, this is exactly what Paul's saying to the Corinthians. In an ancient Roman culture and a modern American culture where we can become so enamored of power and of talent, he's saying God delights in taking the weak and showing his love and power through our humility and service. Here's the bottom line. We are not in it to win it, not in the world's way. We are in it to serve as vessels of God's grace. That is how we win.

You know, I am so glad that we're concluding the service with communion today because that's the central message of communion, isn't it? That cross was Jesus Christ's greatest moment of weakness. I mean, it looked like defeat. And yet, that turns out to be the moment of his greatest triumph. And you know, it's a great icon of how God always works in our lives to this day. And so I hope you gather some bread or crackers, some juice or water because in a moment during communion time, we're going to share together in common something that unifies us.

No matter how you voted or didn't vote this year, we in Christ share something that supersedes any political affiliation. We share the faith of the humble servant whose kingdom will outlast any earthly emperor, no matter how powerful. So let's pray together right now. We come to you, Lord, now. And we say that we receive the truth, that your grace is sufficient for me. And Lord, we want to continue to pray for our nation, that you would help us heal our divisions and be more unified. And Lord, for the persecuted believers all over the world, we pray that they would be freed, that you would powerfully show your strength and their weakness and for the entire world in this COVID crisis, that you would strengthen, that you would bring healing and a solution. In Jesus' name, amen.