Series: 2 Corinthians
Title: The Spirit of Christ in Paul
Text: 2 Corinthians 12: 13-19
Date: January 21, 2018
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
2
Corinthians 12: 13: For what is
it wherein ye were inferior to other churches,…
They were not. Christ fills all in all,
making certain that all his churches receive exactly what is needful for our
good. Their pastor was not inferior to any of the chiefest apostles therefore
the church at Corinth was not inferior to any of the churches. They had the
same Gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace preached to them as other
churches. They wear born-again by the same Holy Spirit. Christ bestowed the
same graces and gifts upon them as other churches, so that they came behind in
no gift (1Co_1:7) Christ confirmed the gospel to them by working the same
miracles through Paul as he did in other churches. But to add to their
ingratitude, the one way they differed from other churches was Paul received no
monetary support from them.
2
Corinthians 12: 13:…except it
be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong.
While the poorer churches fully supported
Paul so that he could devote himself to preaching the gospel, this wealthy
church at Corinth did not. When Paul discovered they would not support him, he
refused to take money from them. Why?
·
Verse 14: For I
seek not yours but you
·
Verse 15: I will
very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you,
the less I be loved.
·
Verse 19: we do
all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.
Proposition:
The
new spirit that Christ imparts to his people is the same spirit that was in
Christ, which edified his brethren at his own expense. We will consider Christ
as we look at Paul.
Subject: The Spirit of
Christ in Paul.
THE
SPIRIT TO SEEK THE LORD’S PEOPLE
The spirit in Paul that make him seek the
salvation of those at Corinth was the Spirit of Christ. Christ sought nothing
from his people, he sought only his people. We that Spirit of Christ in Paul in
three ways here.
One, Paul came to them—2 Corinthians 12: 14:
Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you. While they lived at home in comfort, Paul
risked life and limb to come to them with the gospel:
2 Corinthians 11: 24:
Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25: Thrice was I
beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a
day I have been in the deep; 26: In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in
perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen,
in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in
perils among false brethren; 27: In weariness and painfulness, in watchings
often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
But Paul’s suffering is nothing compared
to what Christ suffered coming to his people.
Philippians 2: 6: Who, being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form
of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
We treated Christ far worse than the
Corinthians’ treated Paul; far worse than anyone has ever treated us:
Isaiah 53: 3: He
is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:
and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed
him not.
Since Christ suffered, Paul knew (and you
and I should know) that we shall suffer in the cause of Christ. Christ said, “Remember the word that I said unto you, The
servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will
also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”
(Joh 15:20)
Two, Paul did not come to lay a burden on
them—2 Corinthians 12: 14…and I will not be burdensome to you. It
should not have been a burden for believers to support the man who paid so
dearly to bring the unsearchable riches of Christ to them. But seeing they considered it so, Paul would
not lay that burden on them. He preached Christ freely to them. That spirit came from Christ who came
and took all the burden off his people. He removed the burden of the curse of
the law by being made a curse for us, justifying us from our sins. He removes
the burden of the bondage of our flesh, when he gives us a new spirit so that
we can believe and rest in him. He removed our burden of fulfilling the law by
fulfilling the law for us so that through faith in Christ we establish the
whole law of God that we might live unto God rather than Moses.
Three, the love Christ gives his pastor
for his people is that of a father for his children; he gives the same love to
those older in the faith for those younger in the faith—2 Corinthians 12: 14: I seek
not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but
the parents for the children. Christ
sought nothing his people could give him. He only sought those God elected unto
salvation in Christ and gave to him before the foundation of the world. He came to seek and to save his people that
were lost in the fall.
Christ gave the illustration of a woman
who lost a valuable coin. She will not rest till she has searched the whole
house and found that coin. Then she will call all her friends and rejoice that
she found it. Christ said there is
rejoicing in heaven over one sinner that repents more than 99 that think they
need no repentance. Oh, sinner, repent and cast all your care on this loving,
merciful Redeemer!
Since Christ is our Everlasting Father,
the last Adam by whom his children are born of incorruptible seed, he does not
expect his children to lay up for him, but our Everlasting Father lays up for
his children. When Sarah bore Abraham a
son in his old age, scripture says, Abraham gave Isaac “all that he had.” Christ gave his children all that he had. We are
joint-heirs with Christ. He laid up “salvation
ready to be revealed.” He said, “I go
to prepare a place for you that where I am there you may be also.” He laid
up eternal life for you who are born of him—“for ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.” That is the spirit and love he puts in the
heart of his people for one another. Paul said to the Thessalonians:
1 Thessalonians 2:
5: For neither at any time used
we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is
witness: 6: Nor of men sought we
glory, [monetary gain] neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might
have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ. [even when it was our just due]
7: But we were gentle among you,
even as a nurse cherisheth her children: 8: So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to
have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls,
because ye were dear unto us….19: For what is our hope, or joy,
or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus
Christ at his coming? 20: For ye
are our glory and joy.
Each child Christ saves—robed in his
righteousness, created anew with his spirit—is Christ’s crown of rejoicing, his
glory, a trophy of his grace, what he has created! Even the good works of a
believer are not because Christ desires that we give to him but Christ brings
us to do good works that he might behold his glory in what he has made by the
fact our works prove our faith to be the genuine article that he gave us. Likewise,
Paul did not desire money from them, he desired to see fruit that proved they
were spiritually alive. He said,
Philippians 4: 17:
Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your
account.
THE
SPIRIT OF LOVE
Christ loved his people even when we did
not love him. That is the love he put in Paul for his people—2 Corinthians 12: 15: And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the
more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.
Consider that through Paul preaching the
gospel, Christ gave the Corinthians the same gifts, grace, and knowledge as
other churches. He gave them life through Paul’s
preaching. He called their own children out of
darkness into his light through Paul’s preaching. Through Paul, Christ established them as a church so the
gospel would be preached to them through other pastors. Yet the more
abundantly Paul loved them, the less they loved Paul. And because that was
their heart toward Christ’s minister, it proved for many that the same was true
of their love for Christ. That spirit in Paul
was by the Spirit of Christ. Christ loved his people even more though we did
not love him.
1 John 4: 10: Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for
our sins. 11: Beloved, if God so
loved us, [if he loved us when we did not love him] we ought also to love one another
[when their love is cold toward us]
If we feel otherwise, remember Christ knew
our hearts of enmity against him, yet he said, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more
abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.” Free justification cost us nothing because it
cost Christ everything!
2 Corinthians 8: 9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye
through his poverty might be rich.
I desire for God to increase his love in
me toward his people. I want to spend all the time, talents,
strength and money that Christ has given me for your profit; I want to be
exhausted of everything for your good and Christ’s glory!
THE
SPIRIT TO EDIFY
Christ does everything to edify his
people. Even when Christ sent us the gospel and revealed to us the deceit of
our own hearts, as painful as it is, it was for our edification—2 Corinthians 12: 16: But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being
crafty, I caught you with guile.
Paul is saying what the false preachers
said of him. They accused Paul of not taking money because he was being crafty
and deceitful to take advantage of them some other way. Yet, in a sense, Paul was crafty and caught the Corinthians using
deceit. While they professed to believe on Christ and love the gospel, they
really were divided into factions, each one worshipping a different preacher
and some had even turned to false preachers preaching a false gospel. Yet, it
was only for their edification, that Paul wrote the convicting things he wrote
in his two letters.
Brethren, it was only for our edification
when Christ revealed in our hearts that we were full of deceit, worshipping the
idol of self!
Yet, Christ does nothing to fleece his
sheep, only to edify us. Christ sent them their preachers so Christ could say
through Paul—2 Corinthians 12: 17: Did I make a gain of you by any of
them whom I sent unto you? 18: I
desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of
you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?
So this was the spirit Christ put in Paul.
Paul said 2 Corinthians 12: 19: Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves
unto you? Paul was not guilty of the things they charged him with, so he
could not be making an excuse for any injustice on his part; he was not making
apology, he had nothing to apologize for. He said, “we speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly
beloved, for your edifying.”
Repeatedly, Paul said Christ himself gave
him “authority as an apostle for their
edification, not for their destruction.” (2 Cor 10: 8; 13: 10) Christ only
edifies his people and he gave Paul the same spirit:
1 Corinthians 9:
12: We have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder
the gospel of Christ…19: For though I be free from all men, yet have I made
myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more…22:…I am made all things to
all men, that I might by all means save some. 23: And this I do for the
gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.
1 Corinthians 10:
33…not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
Let this same
spirit be in us which is in our Lord.
Let us do all things for one another’s edification!
Amen!