Full Transcript

Welcome to Share the Word. We are in Second Corinthians, and the direction of the big idea of this podcast was not where I thought it was going to go. But I listened to the podcast three times, and it gave me a more profound appreciation and better understanding of the Apostle Paul and what he went through. Second Corinthians chapter one, Inside a Great Christian’s Mind. Forgive me, but my mind is still stuck back in Western Pennsylvania from my day spent at that mini reunion with lifelong friends I’ve told you about. My friends Bob and Sherry, who hosted us, have a beautiful home that overlooks a golf course.

Bob has been a big-time golfer all of his life. His father was a PGA pro and teacher, so he’s been playing since he was a little boy. I played with them a couple times many years ago. Quite a humbling experience, I must say. There was a time in my twenties, a short time, when I played enough that I started to get, you know, kind of decent at it, above average, above the average weekend hacker, let’s say. I was feeling pretty good about my game.

But then I’d play with Bob and his dad or his brother on a more difficult course, with them scrutinizing my ugly swing, and things would often come apart badly. And I was sorry I was even out there embarrassing myself. Golf is so much a mental as well as physical game. Even Bob told us that once when he was playing in a state tournament for high schoolers in Pennsylvania, the wheels came off one day and he played way under his expectations and potential. It makes me wonder how the best golfers in the world, the guys, you know, on the PGA or LIV Tour, who are playing on TV, who are often in front of large crowds, are able to keep focused and do what they do at such a high level. I’ve only watched one pro golf tournament live, and it was when I was in high school.

I think I was a sophomore. My high school band, as a fundraiser, somehow got the contract to pick up trash and do other menial jobs at a professional golf tournament held on one of the beautiful country clubs in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. I had been playing some golf since I was around 12 or maybe 13 years old, so this opportunity really interested me. Those were the days of Arnold Palmer and Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus, you know, that whole gang. And I’m a young wannabe golfer there watching those elite players drive 300 yards straight down the fairway or bend their iron shots around the trees to the green, all the while crowds of people just a few feet away gaping at their swing. It made me think, still does, how could they even do that?

How can they stay focused and that consistent? It made me realize and appreciate how many levels there are to the game of golf. Things are going on in those pros’ minds that never even occurred to me. They’ve not only developed a skill set, but a mindset far, far ahead of mine. And of course, this is not just true of golf and not just true of sports. When a young doctor has the opportunity to watch a top surgeon work or a young violinist listens to a great virtuoso on the same instrument, it’s humbling, it’s awe-inspiring.

Such experiences make you realize how far you’d have to go to be anywhere near their level. In this podcast, I am kicking off our chapter-by-chapter look at the letter we call Second Corinthians. More Corinthians? You’re probably thinking, did you just think that? Yep. How could we go anywhere else when we are neck deep in the struggles of Paul with the Corinthians?

It’d be like watching the first couple seasons of The Crown without watching the rest of that saga. So let me set 2 Corinthians up first before we dive into chapter one. I’ve mentioned before that several letters went back and forth between the apostle Paul and this early church he founded in the Greek city of Corinth, at least five that we know about, possibly more. But only two of them we have in our New Testaments. What we call 2 Corinthians was written about a year after the letter we just finished studying. At the end of chapter 16 in 1 Corinthians, Paul mentions that he intended to personally return to Corinth when he told them about his intended itinerary for the next several months.

He said there, I’m going to come to you after I go through Macedonia, for I’m going through Macedonia. Then perhaps I can stay with you or even winter with you, so that you may send me on my way wherever I need to go. For I do not wish to see you now just in passing, but hope to remain with you for some time, if the Lord permits. But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide, effective door has opened to me, although there are many adversaries. So Paul intended to stay on at Ephesus through the next spring because the gospel was making real progress in that city despite serious opposition. And then he intended to sail over to northern Greece to visit Macedonia, see the churches and the Christians at Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, and so on.

And then he intended to travel south to Achaia and spend extended time with these people in Corinth. One reason for revisiting all these churches at this point is that Paul was raising a collection for the Christians back in Judea who were having a very hard time because of both persecution from the Jews as well as famine that was then striking that area. But Paul’s intended plans got delayed. Things occurred, as we’ll see, that did not allow him to get to Corinth when he hoped. And in the meantime, some in that church who resented Paul and apparently some others who recently had come to Corinth from elsewhere, Paul later calls in this letter false apostles, these people gained a pretty strong foothold in the Corinthian church. And these opponents did so by deliberately attacking and undercutting Paul’s authority as an apostle of Christ.

It sounds like they also sowed doubts about his motives for this fundraising project. Are you sure that money Paul’s been collecting is really going to help poor people back in Judea? And also questioning the fact Paul did not keep his word, as they would put it, and come when he said he would come. And I’m sure there were other charges. Consequently, when Paul learned about this, he sat down and wrote the letter we call Second Corinthians. And it’s certainly the most personal writing we have from him, the most revealing we have from him.

I’ve said before that I am convinced Paul is the greatest Christian who’s ever lived. Remember I was talking about levels a moment ago? I mean, really, who would say they are anywhere near the Apostle Paul’s level as far as his focus, as far as his astounding accomplishments for Christ’s kingdom, as far as his drive, his consistency, his faithfulness, pretty much any way you want to look at the man. I was named after the Apostle Paul, I think as an incentive or some kind of hope my parents had for me. But when I think about the Apostle Paul’s resume and then mine as far as where I’ve gotten in the Christian life, it’s about the same as comparing my golf game as a pimply-faced 15-year-old on the course watching Arnold Palmer do his thing back in the day.

Considering Paul’s life and faith always makes me realize I’ve never gotten very far beyond the beginner level compared to his effectiveness for Christ. In 2 Corinthians chapter 1, off the bat, as Paul starts sharing some personal experiences and his personal responses to them, kind of bearing his soul in a way in this very personal letter, we start to get some glimpses inside this man’s mind. I start to see how it worked, some of the ways his heart and mind were tuned that are far different from mine, to be honest. And that’s why I entitled this installment, Inside the Mind of a Great Christian. Okay, 2 Corinthians, starting at chapter 1, verse 1. I’m going to read from the New International Version.

Listen to the opening lines of his letter. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy our brother, to the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia, southern Greece. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me just say his self-identification as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God was to underscore his authentic credentials. He goes on, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, you also will share in our comfort. We aren’t filled in on some of the things that Paul went through in his life. I wish we knew more. We get quite a bit in Acts, but not everything.

Something caused the delay in Paul getting to Corinth when he wanted to get there, and it was something pretty drastic that happened in Ephesus, or at least nearby in the province of Asia. I know this because he goes on to say in verses 8 to 10, We don’t want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the trouble we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure it, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from that deadly peril, and he will deliver us again.

On him we have set our hope. As I said, we don’t know exactly all that happened that Paul is alluding to during the years he was in Ephesus. You may remember from our study through Acts at one point in that city, there was a massive riot instigated by the guild of silversmiths that made souvenir idols for the goddess Diana. So many people were turning to the true God from idols that it was affecting their business in a bad way. Remember that? A huge mob gathered in the city center and then moved to the great arena, angered at how Christianity was affecting their city.

Some went looking for Paul that night since they knew he was the ringleader and they intended to drag him to the arena and do Lord knows what to him. Was that the circumstance he alludes to here? We also read at the end of Romans Paul’s greeting to Aquila and Priscilla, who hosted him while he was in Ephesus. He said there that those two people, his friends, risked their necks for him, as he put it. They saved his life at some point in Ephesus. Was that related to the same situation?

I wish I knew. But Paul admits here, whatever the situation was, he was under such intense pressure. He was in a situation so grim that he felt doomed, like there was no way out, like he was going to be killed. He said it was a situation far beyond his human ability to endure or escape from. In 2 Timothy, he reminded his chief lieutenant, who was with him during the period in Ephesus, that once God delivered him from the lion’s mouths. That was his words.

Was he speaking metaphorically there, maybe thinking back to how God protected the prophet Daniel, or was there actually a situation in Ephesus where he felt that was going to be his fate? The Romans did have gladiators and prisoners face off with lions in their arenas for ridiculously gory spectacles. We know that happened. But whatever the situation Paul has in mind here, he’s saying he thought there was no way out at the time, that he was going to die then. Have you ever been anywhere near that place in your head? I actually have.

I’m not going to go into it and elaborate. My situation was far more spiritual and psychological, although it felt physical. But I remember being so dark at the time, so depressed, so hopeless, that I could not imagine ever getting beyond that place. And here’s the difference. Here’s the elite-level Christian thinking showing up in Paul. Even when he was in such a place, a place I’m sure worse than mine, he considered it a way of understanding better, he says here, the sufferings of Christ.

And he considered it an opportunity, if he endured it, if he made it out alive, that he could then turn around and help other people who would go through their worst times. That’s exactly what he’s saying in these verses. Think about it. He says, Thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he is our Father and the source of mercy and comfort. He comforts us in our trials so that we in turn may be able to give comfort to others. Indeed, experience shows that the more we share Christ’s sufferings, the more we are able to give Christ’s encouragement.

That means that if we experience trouble, we can pass on to you comfort and spiritual help. For if we ourselves have been comforted, we learn how to encourage you to endure it patiently, the same sort of troubles. Can you imagine if or when you were going through the most dangerous or most difficult, seemingly no way out crisis in your life, thinking, You know, this extreme circumstance I am in now is helping me understand the sufferings of Christ. When Jesus was in Gethsemane, sweating those great drops of blood under immense pressure, facing what he was having to endure. Now I understand better. I understand in a deeper way and appreciate what Jesus went through for me.

I mean, who thinks like that? Or imagine in the midst of a seemingly life-altering or even potentially life-ending situation, when things are closing in on you and you feel completely trapped and your mind is thinking, You know, if God delivers me from this, I’ll be in a much better place to comfort and encourage other Christians I come across in desperate straits. Who thinks like this? Let me carry this step further, to the furthest place we can carry it, because that’s where Paul goes. He writes here again, We felt we have received the sentence of death, like it’s all over. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

He delivered us from that deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. Our hope is set on him. Paul was genuinely surprised that God delivered him from that impossible situation he’s thinking about in Ephesus. He looked death in the face there and was sure he was going down. But then again, he says, I now realize this is a God I serve who raises the dead. My God is a God who raises the dead.

What if that situation he’s recalling that happened in Asia had turned out differently? That is, he in fact was killed. That in fact was the end for him. Do you hear him? He’s saying, nevertheless, I serve a God who raises the dead, and that’s where my hope is anchored. Again, wow.

Who thinks like this? At the lowest point in my life I mentioned a few moments ago, I had a friend who kept pushing me with a question, So what if the very worst your dark, depressed mind is imagining actually happens? What then? What’s the worst possible outcome? They kept urging me to remember and think about that over and over again. They were trying to get me to remember that I serve a God and I know a Lord who raises the dead.

That’s how Paul’s mind worked. That’s what his mind could keep bringing him back to. What’s the worst-case scenario here? I can hear him saying to himself on different situations in his life, God calls me home through this? The pain and suffering are over for me and I’m in glory from then on? That’s far better.

I’m okay with that. By the way, when Paul uses the word hope in his writings, as he does a couple times in his chapter, it’s way more than wishful thinking kind of hope. He means the absolute confidence in God and his promises that allows us to boldly face the future no matter what it holds. I’m certainly not suggesting that Paul never struggled with depression or with fear or with all kinds of negative emotions. Most people do. I’m just saying his anchor of faith and his hope in God’s promises were so strong, those negative emotions could not keep him down, and certainly could never crush him or knock him out of the race.

Honestly, when I consider Paul’s life seriously, the way he pursued God, the way he served Him so faithfully, so productively, I often think, didn’t that guy deserve better? I mean, come on. The guy was so often betrayed and underappreciated. He went through such physical hardships, unjust treatment to the extreme, beaten multiple times, imprisoned where they threw away the key for years at a time, shipwrecked a couple times, gulping water in the Mediterranean, in the open ocean, struggling to find a shore. He was stoned and left for dead once, for heaven’s sakes. Why didn’t God intervene to keep him out of all these difficulties, spare him all the pain and suffering?

Didn’t he deserve that? I don’t think I’m even at the place yet to answer that question very well, but trying my best to get inside Paul’s head, I think this is how he’d answer it. I’m pretty sure, based on this section of Scripture, he would say something like, So I could understand the sufferings of Christ for me better. If I had led a cushy life, how could I have ever really fully appreciated that? Or, So I could learn how to survive and endure difficulties. If I hadn’t, how could I ever comfort and encourage others who are going through their worst times?

Or, so I could finally realize that what’s the worst anybody could do to me? Kill me? Ha! I still win because I serve the God who raises the dead. When God is done with me here, heaven awaits me. That’s elite Christian level of thinking, don’t you think?

I’m not sure where anyone is who will ever hear this lesson rooted in the first chapter of 2 Corinthians, but I’m sure some will someday who will also be up against it, who’ve been trying to pursue God, but it seems like you’re getting nowhere and what’s coming back at you is unfair. Maybe you’re kind of in a very dark place because negative thoughts keep getting the best of you. From God’s perspective, I’ve got to believe that He shows us on the pages of Scripture Paul and other struggles and lets us in on the fact that even the most elite Christians did not get out of this life anything like they deserved. Maybe He’s challenging us through them to remember the God who raises the dead is our ultimate refuge and strength, to remind us to keep hoping in His promises no matter what life keeps throwing at us.

To keep on keeping on, as someone said, doing what God’s called us to do until the final bell. That’s honestly what I’ve come to, although I’m nowhere near on the Apostle Paul’s level. Can I leave you with some timeless words from a follower of God named Asaph, some of whose songs and poems have been safeguarded for us in the Old Testament book of Psalms. This is actually from Psalm 73. Surely God is good to Israel, His people, to those who are of a pure heart. But as for me, my feet have almost slipped.

I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They seem to have no struggles. Their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from life’s common burdens. They are not plagued by all the human ills.

Pride is their necklace. Their tongues take possession of the whole earth. Therefore, people turn to them and drink up their waters in abundance. They say, How would God know? Does the Most High God know anything? Surely, in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence.

All day long I’ve been afflicted. Every morning seems to bring new punishment. But all I have done in trying to understand this troubles me deeply, till I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their final destiny. When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, when I was senseless and ignorant like a brute beast before you, yet you were always with me. You hold me by your right hand.

You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? The earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Lord, I want that kind of faith and hope. Help me keep growing toward the level of knowing and trusting you that the apostle Paul reached.

And I pray the same for all of our listeners who are listening today. In Jesus’ name, amen.