2 Corinthians, 11:10-15
Jim Pool · May 29, 2005
2 Corinthians (2004-05), No. 47
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262326577680

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Okay, let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Chapter 11 and let's just read through verse 10 again and kind of get the context and the flow of what Paul is communicating to these believers in Corinth. Remember what's going on here is that some of the Corinthian believers were being led astray by false teachers, by false apostles. That's what's going on. And Paul's ultimate objective for the Corinthian believers is that they would be edified, but because they're being led astray, there has to be some correction that takes place before they can be edified. And so that's kind of the context of where we are this morning.

So, we're in chapter 11. So, verse 1, it says, I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you are bearing with me. For I am jealous of you with a godly jealousy, for I betrothed you to one husband, that through Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.

But I am afraid. lest, as a serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit, which you have not received, or a different gospel, which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. But even if I am unskilled in speech, Yet I am not so in knowledge.

In fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things. Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself, that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge? I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to serve you. And when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone.

For when the brethren came from Macedonia, they fully supplied my need. and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia."

Alright, we'll stop there. And last week we left off with verse 5. So this morning we're going to pick it up in verse 6 where he says, But even if I am unskilled in speech, Yet I am not so in knowledge. In fact, in everything we have made this evident to you, in all things." So that's where we will pick it up this morning.

Okay, so Paul may be unskilled in speech, but he is not so in knowledge. Remember what the critics were saying about his speech? Because he wasn't the most fluent of speakers, he wasn't the most gifted of speakers, he was an abolished speaker, therefore how can he have authority as an apostle? So his apostleship and his authority was coming under question because he was unskilled. So how can you listen to and believe what this guy is saying because he's unskilled in speech? That's what the critics of these false apostles, these false teachers were saying. But we've looked at it before, let's look at it again, back in 1 Corinthians. Chapter 1, verse 17.

Paul doesn't seem to make excuses here. He doesn't seem to try to make himself look to be a good speaker, or look to be a posh speaker. He says, oh, that's not why I came here. That's not the purpose for which I came. Chapter 1, verse 17 says, For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void. So, you know, Christ did not send him to preach in the cleverness of speech. And he's very clear about that. He wants the focus to be on the cross of Christ and there to be no distractions from that whatsoever. Look over at chapter 2 and verse 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 1.

And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech. or of wisdom proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling." And verse 4 here talks about his message again. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

Why? So that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. just very open and honest, that he's not coming with superior words, superior speech or wisdom, but simply coming and presenting the gospel and dependency upon Christ so that their faith would rest in the power of God and not in the wisdom of men. So, Paul's being just very straightforward about where he's at with his preaching and with his message, and what about us?

What applications do we draw? Some examples are, two months ago or so, we prayed for Aaron, as he has the opportunity to share the gospel with a buddy of his at work. Steve, we've talked about your conversations with John at work, and all of us have probably people that we're engaging in sharing the gospel with, sharing the message of Christ with.

What are we dependent upon? Are we dependent upon just God simply living His life in us, using us as we speak, the simple words of the gospel? Or are we trying to be dependent upon our slick speech, or our method of presentation, or our putting in good illustrations, or things like that? See, that's really the point that I think Paul is driving at here.

And I've been in ministry circles in the past where it's amazing, it's amazing the emphasis that people put on being a good speaker. Is there anything wrong with being a good speaker? No. There's nothing wrong with being a good speaker. But when being a good speaker begins to take emphasis and priority over simply presenting the truths of God's Word, then I think we begin to get into dangerous territory.

Some circles where I've been, they actually take pastors and put a lot of emphasis and a lot of focus on sending them to secular public speaking classes so that these guys can become more fluent and have a better presentation and know how to use illustrations and know how to use storage and things like that. I don't want to be critical, but that's getting a little bit off track of just simply presenting the Word of God in dependency upon the Holy Spirit. And so Paul says, I didn't come with superiority of speech. I simply came presenting the gospel of Christ. I think that's what we're seeing here. Any thoughts about that? Okay, back to chapter 11 in 2 Corinthians.

But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge. In fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things. Let's talk about this knowledge for a little bit. If I'm unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge. So is Paul talking about spiritual knowledge or worldly knowledge here? He says, I'm not lacking in this area of knowledge. What do you think? Sure, yeah, spiritual knowledge. I think he's talking about spiritual knowledge. Because he says he didn't come with the wisdom of the world. but he came in dependency upon God, just presenting the gospel. So I think that he is talking about spiritual knowledge here.

So let's look through some of these verses. I'm over in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, just one chapter over here. And verse 1 there says, boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable. But I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord, For I know a man in Christ, whom fourteen years ago, whether in the body I do not know or out of the body I do not know, God knows, such a man was caught up to the third heaven.

And I know how such a man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know, God knows, was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words which a man is not permitted to speak." Who's Paul talking about there? Himself. Exactly. And so he was caught up. into the third heaven, into paradise. And he heard these inexpressible words. So, Paul is not lacking in any kind of knowledge here.

And go over to Galatians in chapter 1, and there's a typo there. That should be Galatians chapter 1 verse 11, not verse 1. So just pencil that correction in there for me. So, Galatians chapter 1 in verse 11, Verse 11 says, For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to men.

For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. So was there any lack of knowledge on the part of Paul? I don't think so. That's right, that's right, absolutely. He didn't receive it from any man, it wasn't any dream, but he received it directly from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. So, I don't think that there was any lack of knowledge that was there. You wouldn't believe him? Okay. That's a good question. Let's keep going. What's that? That's true, sure, sure. Yeah, yeah. for the revelation. And many people believe them, obviously. Their church is growing rapidly.

2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 16, Peter writes about Paul, and we'll come back to your specific question there, Marilyn, in just a second. 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 14 says, Therefore, beloved, since ye look for these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation, just as also our beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and the unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the scriptures to their own destruction." So even Peter says that the things that Paul taught and what Paul wrote, they were difficult to understand. Now we'll get into verse 15 there. regarding our beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom given him."

It was given to him by the Lord, not by any man, and thus Paul had understanding. He wasn't lacking in any understanding. Back to 2 Corinthians 11 again. I think that the reason that Paul was expecting them to believe him was because of the life that they were seeing from him. I mean, we've talked a lot about how Christ was living his life through Paul, how he was open, of a pure conscience before them, he wasn't hiding anything, and that he was open, and they were seeing it. They were seeing this knowledge that he's talking about here, they were seeing it lived out. I think they were seeing it lived out to such an extent and for such a period of time that they knew it was the real deal. Somebody can fake it for a little while, but when it's authentic and it's real for a long period of time, you know that somebody can't be fabricating that.

Bob? Jim, what's the root word for knowledge? Gnosko, I think. You know, I did not look that up. Yeah. I would expect this to be Gnosko. Yeah. I'm not sure on that. Does anybody have an interlinear equism? Because that would speak to the kind of more depth knowledge that the Lord Jesus Christ really provides, which I think in context has to be correct, but I just haven't looked at it. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know how to put that up.

So, let's go back a couple of chapters to something that we looked at several months earlier, to chapter 4, where Paul speaks of himself and the party who he was with in the ministry. He says, Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we receive mercy, we do not lose heart. Chapter 4, verse 1 and 2. But we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God."

See, I think that's speaking to what he's saying here. Yet, I'm unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge. In fact, in every way, we have made this evident to you in all things. And so, by the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience." I think that's what he's getting at here. There's no lack of knowledge on Paul's part, and they've seen it. They've seen it lived out through his life. Alright. Let's move on to verse 7. So verse 7 he kind of shifts gears here a little bit.

He's still under the accusations of these false apostles. So what he says here, he says, Did I commit a sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted? Because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge. So the question is, was it wrong for me to not charge for the gospel? Basically that's the question that he's asking. He humbled himself by not charging for the gospel so that he would not be a burden to the people in Corinth.

Is this wrong? Is this sin? That's what he's asking these guys in these verses. Some people were saying that because he lowered himself and worked a manual job, manual labor job, so as not to be a burden or to receive money for the ministry, that he was an inferior apostle. That's what some of the critics were saying.

And so Paul says, is this sin that I did not charge for the gospel, that it was not a burden to you expecting you guys to be paying me? So over in chapter 12, the next verse, look at verse 13. For in what respect were you treated as inferior to the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not become a burden to you, and forgive me of this wrong. And again, he's kind of addressing the same point here. Was it wrong for him to not charge for the gospel? Absolutely not. He says, no, it wasn't wrong for me to do that. What kind of manual labor was he talking about here? Tin maker. Exactly right.

We'll go over to Acts chapter 18 in verse 1 through 3. Acts chapter 18, 1-3. Verse 1 says of chapter 18, after these things he left Athens and went to Corinth. So boom, there he is. He's in Corinth which is the people that he's addressing to what we're reading. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome and he came to them. And because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they were working, for by trade, they were tent makers. So there he is in Corinth, the specific place of which the book is that we're studying in 2 Corinthians, and he is a tent maker. So some of the Corinth believers may have been embarrassed because Paul was working a manual job. So there's this criticism coming and some of the believers there may have been embarrassed.

So that's kind of where it is that some of these accusations are coming from. I tried to think of it in examples with Vern. What if Vern had some kind of a physically demanding job and decided for some reason not to accept pay from Holly Hills? That's kind of equating this thing here to the Quarrens and Paul's not taking money from them and so they're wondering why, what in the world is going on?

And so that's kind of the same kind of a situation that's happening here. I think as we look at the cultural insight that it helps us see a little bit more too as the clarity of the context and culture of what was going on here. So, the wisdom of the scribe depends on the opportunity of leisure. Only the one who has little business can become wise. How can one become wise who handles the plow and who glories in the shaft of a goad, who drives oxen and is occupied with their work and whose talk is about bulls? So it is with every artisan and master artisan who labors by night as well as by day. Those who cut the signets of seals, the smith, the potter, all these rely on their hands, and all are skillful in their own work.

Without them no city can be inhabited, and wherever they live they will not go hungry. Yet they are not sought out for counsel of the people, nor do they attain eminence in the public assembly. They do not sit in the judge's seat, nor do they understand the decisions of the courts. They cannot expound discipline or judgment and they are not found among the rulers.

So, you know, what's being said culturally or some insight is that to have a job that is working with one's hands and involves physical labor is fine. It's needed. Those people are going to make a good living and no city can be inhabited without those folks. But those folks are not going to be the ones that are going to be sought out for wisdom. And so here it is, Paul has this physically labor-intensive demanding job. And so there's a little bit of confusion. You would think that Paul would be one who does not have this physically labor-intensive job.

So that's kind of just a cultural insight for us. Yeah. Okay. Where are you at at Thessalonians? Okay, 1 Thessalonians 2. Remember, brethren, our labor and travail, for laboring night and day, because you would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preach unto you the gospel of God. Yeah. Same ideas of Thessalonians. That's right. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. You were reading my mind there, Doug. So, let me...

It appears that what happens is whenever Paul went to a church to establish a new church, He did not accept money from that new church that he was in the process of planting. It's clear there from the Thessalonians that he wasn't receiving money, but he was working to provide for his own needs. Also in Acts, we see that that was the same case with the church at Ephesus. When he was there establishing the church, planting the church afresh and anew, he wasn't receiving money from them. I think the reason is because he didn't want people to think he had ulterior motives. He's going around planting all these churches, just so that he can get money from these groups of people. He denied receiving money from them when he was first planting the church in different places like Doug pointed out in Thessalonica.

Yeah, very much so. That's right. Sure. That's right. That's right. That's right. I think probably in the pagan world, too, they could use that against them, because the whole way Paul came to these churches turned the worldview of authority on its head, because, like the Jewish scribe quote he used, the same sentiment of sort of an elite authority group resided in that pagan view, like an aristocracy. That's right, that's right. And that flows right with the next couple of points here in slide number 14.

What were some of the other professions? The cynics, they begged. So they weren't out engaging in physical labor, working with their hands. They begged. The sophists, they charged fees. Again, they weren't out there engaging in physical labor. The charging of fees with the sophists eventually led them to greed. The philosophers attached themselves to wealthy patrons. And again, they're not out working with their hands in some kind of physical job. The philosophers, they were known as lovers of luxury and strangers to labor. And then the Stoics might do any of the above, but some of them were known to do some manual labor jobs.

So just kind of some of the fields there, and here's Paul, takes up this occupation as being a tent maker so as not to be a burden to the Church of Corinth or the Church in Thessalonica or the Church at Ephesus. So again, like we're talking about, it is going against the culture and going against what people would think to be the norm for someone like Paul who is a teacher. But Paul did not want to be a burden to the believers in Corinth. And to say that it was sin for Paul not to receive money for the ministry in Corinth shows the foolishness of his accusers.

It was ridiculous for his accusers to say that it was foolishness for him not to receive the money. Verse 8, let's look back to Yes. Let's go back to chapter 11. In verse 11, we're going to jump ahead a little bit here, but I don't want to skip over 8 and 9. He's responding to the fact that he's not receiving money for the ministry, thus how could he be a credible apostle?

Oh, I think he was hearing these accusations and rumors, sure. I'm sure they were being made, one, directly to him, and two, they were being made to the believers in these various places, and then the believers are going to be communicating back to Paul. Not at the time, but I'm sure these accusations were being communicated back to Paul. Manus, these kinds of things are being said about you. Plus, I think he was able to sense that some of the Corinth believers were beginning to be led astray. I think that also plays into their, why is it that they were, why is it that they were beginning to follow these false apostles and begin to, their affections be shifted from Paul to these guys? See, because of the accusations that they're making. In verse 11, we'll get to it in a minute, but he says, why?

Because I do not love you? God knows that I do. So this is true, they're making these accusations, he's not accepting money. Why is that the case? Because I don't love you? So what the accusers were saying is that because he is not accepting money for the ministry that he's given to you, he doesn't love you. And we're going to see that in a little while, why they would think that. Culturally, we'll get to look at the culture and the history to see a little more clearly why that is the case. the false accusers saying, Paul doesn't love you. Paul's saying, wait a minute, that's not true, I love you. But they were thinking that he didn't love them because they were not accepting, he was not accepting money for the ministry that he was giving.

Okay, verse 8, any other questions? Verse 8 says, I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to serve you. So, it's very clear that Paul was receiving money from other churches to make up for his lack. Many charges were being made that he was in it for the money. So, in verse 8 he says, I robbed other churches in order not to be a burden to you, taking wages from them to serve you.

He was receiving money from other churches, but at this point in his ministry with the Corinth Church, he was not receiving money from the Corinthians. And so the robbing of other churches, I think in this sense, means that he was, say, receiving money from a different church in which he was not at that specific time ministering at.

So they, in a sense, were supporting him, but they were not receiving at that moment the benefit of his ministry. Does that make sense? Say that Verne were to go to another church, you know, back in Texas and minister for a little while. Yet we kept supporting, helping Vern out so that he would not have to be a burden to that church. Well, he's robbing us so that he can support and minister to them and not be a burden to them. So we're not receiving the immediate benefit of his ministry at that time, but yet we're still helping and supporting them. I think that's what's being talked about here. That's right. Sure. Sure. That's right. That's right. Yep. Exactly. Bob? Jim, the term robbing has such a negative connotation. Is this kind of an atmosphere of sarcasm that Paul is expressing here?

It could be. The term in a great way is more profound and better interpreted as using their support or something. Yeah, I think so. Because it entered into a kind of a dialogue, an interaction with him that is a little bit abnormal for Paul to be engaging. He says, you know, bear with me in a little foolishness here. So there's a little bit of this kind of interaction with him. It's not jabbing or sparring back and forth, but he is. He's wanting to clearly make a point. Maybe there's a bit of sarcasm in there. That's right. That's right. And again, why is he doing it? We have to keep in mind the whole big picture of this section of Scripture. Why is it that he's engaging some of the Corinth believers this way? Why is it that he's doing it? That's right, exactly.

To show them the error of their ways. Yeah. To show them their mistakes where they're buying into the false teachers. Thus, they're thinking in their minds that they can be corrected and they can be edified. Yeah. We always have to keep that Why is it that he's doing it? Because it does seem a little bit different for him. Sure, yes, absolutely, like Vicky was also alluding to. Yeah, exactly, Doug, yep, that's right.

Oftentimes we give to either a church or a specific missionary that is ministering somewhere where that church cannot in themselves afford to support that missionary. Absolutely, that's right. A little different because the church in Corinth might have been able to have supported Paul, but Paul says, no, I don't want to accept your help right now. And we're going to see reasons here in a minute why it is that he didn't want to accept their help.

Right. That's right. Right motive from the right source. That's right. Yeah, yeah. Because there was evidence, we looked at a couple of weeks ago, that the Corinth believers could have helped the needy Jews in Jerusalem. I think that's where it was, remember? They could have helped, but they weren't. And we talked about that a little bit, yeah. Okay, let's see. Oh, I had to just change this. I had a typo here. That should be his. Benefit of his ministry. I had to make that note there. So I'm going to scratch out. Okay, let's talk about this a little bit. Paul and support for the ministry. Let's go over to 1 Corinthians in chapter 9. I just think while we're here, it's well worth exploring this to its fullest so we can get a clear picture of what is going on. So 1 Corinthians in chapter 9. Let's read through this, through verse 13. Verse 1 says, Am I not free? Am I not an apostle?

Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? We talked about that, we just talked about, have I not seen Jesus my Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? Remember we talked about that a lot in 2 Corinthians, how they were his epistles, they were written on his heart. So are you not my work in the Lord? So verse two, if to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. My defense to those who examine me is this. Okay, so it's already coming under examination by many people. So, my defense to those who examine me is this.

Do we not have a right to eat and drink? Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord in Cephas? Or do only Barnabas and I not have a right to refrain from working. See, other of the apostles were not working and were receiving support from the churches. So this is Paul and Barnabas, the only one who are exempt from that, who can't receive help for their ministry. Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock?

I am not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does not the law also say these things? For it is written in the law of Moses, You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing. God is not concerned about oxen, is he? Or is he speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it is written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops.

If we sow spiritual things in you, is it too much if we should reap material things from you? If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share with the altar? Back to verse 11, I think really drives home the point here. If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it not much if we should reap material things from you? He's asking that question.

If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. So, does Paul have the right to receive support for the ministry? The answer is yes. Absolutely. But he says, we're not going to. Nevertheless, we do not use this right. He has the right to, but we're not going to use this right.

We're going to endure all things. I think endure all things. He talks about laboring with his hands. It's not to be a burden to anybody. That we may cause no hindrance for the gospel of Christ. He doesn't want anything to stand in the way of the gospel of Christ going out. He wants it to be unhindered. That means he has to work with his hands for a while while he's engaging in the ministry. so be it, and that's fine.

And the examples there, Doug, you were right on the money there, 1 Thessalonians 2.9, 2 Thessalonians makes the same reference there, and then Acts chapter 20, verse 33 and 35 talks about how he also worked with his hands when he was establishing the church at Ephesus.

So Paul was helped by the brethren in Macedonia, and apparently was then able to minister full time, yet without being a financial burden to them. Let's go back to chapter 11, 2 Corinthians. So chapter 11 there, verse 9. And when I was present with you, and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone, for when the brethren came from Macedonia, they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so."

So, there he is, he's ministering to them. When I was present with you, he was in need, and I was in need, yet he was not a burden to anyone. Thus, he's working with his hands. And then the brethren came from Macedonia, and they supplied his need. What did I do? They supplied his need. That meant that he did not have to work as his tent-making job any longer, that he was able to fully devote himself to the ministry, yet not be a financial burden to them, not be any possible hindrance for the Gospel going out.

Go back to Acts, in chapter 18, where we were earlier. Acts, in chapter 18, we read verses 1, 2, and 3. Now remember, Paul's in Corinth. He's given this account. He's in Corinth, and he's gone there. He's met Aquila and Priscilla. They have a common trade. They're functioning as tent makers.

He was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the Word. solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. And when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook off his garments and said to them, Your blood be upon your own heads.

I am clean from now on. I will go to the Gentiles." I think we see very clearly what he's talking about there back in verse 9 of chapter 11. From when the brethren came from Macedonia. I think he's talking about here when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia. They helped to supply his need and he was free too. minister full-time. I can kind of relate to what he's saying here because ministry is hard work. Shepherding people is hard work. From where I've been in the past of actually having the privilege of doing it full-time, it takes a lot of work and I was able to fully devote myself to that.

Now what am I doing? I'm working with my hands. I'm doing different things in a sense I'm not being paid for the ministry, just like, you know, in a similar situation here. And to read that Paul was ministering in the synagogues, think about he works during the day or he works during the night and then he's doing it part time, that's hard work. That's tough. And anybody that the Lord leads into church planting work, I think is difficult and they've got a large amount of faith. and I can really trust the Lord to go there. You know what I'm saying? To do it part-time, it's a tough deal.

So I have to think that when those guys arrived from Macedonia, with a little bit of help, and they freed him to be able to minister full-time, not have to be involved in the tin-making job anymore, Paul had to be relieved that he could just fully devote himself to the ministry there of the church in Corinth. And he said that he will continue to do so. The end of verse 9 there. Keep myself from being a burden to you and I am going to continue to do so.

Why do you think that Paul refused to accept financial support from the Corinth church? This question was kind of brought up a little bit earlier. We mentioned that if the Corinth believers were embarrassed of him because he had a labor intensive job and they were only wanting to support him because of their embarrassment then their motive was wrong, thus Paul could not accept their help. Straightforward. I think that kind of comes back to what we were talking about a couple of weeks ago, about the motive of giving has to be proper. So if they want to get out of their own embarrassment, because they're embarrassed because their spiritual leader or their apostle or their pastor has this manual labor job and they're kind of embarrassed, so let's give him some money so he'll stop.

No, Paul's not going to take that. He's not going to accept that kind of a help. And also he would not want to in any way be confused with the sophists or the philosophers or anybody else who is through ulterior ways getting money for their services so they do not have to work a manual labor job. He doesn't want to be confused with them at all. He doesn't want to give them fuel to try to even come in with more false accusations about him either. Let's see. Let's look at verse 10 here real quickly. I think we can get through this here. Verse 10 says that as the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia.

So this idea here of as the truth of Christ is in me, he knew that what he was doing is what Christ wanted him to be doing. There was no question about was he doing what the Lord wanted him to be doing? The truth of Christ was in him. Philippians 1 verse 21, Paul says that for me to live is Christ and then to die is gain. So he was confident that Christ was living his life in and through him and the truth of Christ was in him. So he was being open and transparent with him as he had been earlier in the book. We looked at that in a lot of details.

And God was providing for all of his needs. He wasn't going without his basic needs being provided for. The truth of Christ is in him, God is providing for his needs, and his boasting is really not of himself, but it's of the Lord. And this is going to go out throughout all of the regions beyond IKEA.

I think the accusations were coming in. Many people knew of the accusations, and so he wanted this boasting, which really wasn't of himself, but it really was of the Lord. He wanted it to go out, so that everybody would know about it. Not only the people in this one little area, but that everybody would know about it. But what was for the purpose? So the people would be edified in the Lord. So the people would see, boy, God is the one who is providing for the needs of Paul. God is the one who is taking care of him.

Nothing that he was trying to draw attention to in and of himself, I don't think at all. Let's just keep going. We talked about it a little earlier, the critics were saying that because he did not take money from them, that he did not love them. Why is he doing all this ministry yet without receiving payment for it? Is it because he doesn't love them? Absolutely not. I mean God knows that I love you guys. A little cultural insight here I think helps us understand this a lot.

The Greco-Roman society was governed by the complex system of patronage and benefaction in which the offer of a gift constituted an offer of friendship and obligated the recipient to receive in some tangible and proportionate fashion. There was something of a moral obligation to accept such gifts when offered, and refusal could result in animosity on the part of the one declined.

In refusing their support, Paul has violated certain cultural conventions relating to giving and receiving gifts, and some Corinthians have taken offense." I think as we look at the culture, here he is, he's not accepting their offer. And there's the embarrassment that he's working a laborism job, There's cultural, historical grounds here, so I think this is what some of the false accusers were saying, what some of the Corinthians may have been experiencing. So Paul had endured trials and traveling, long laborsome hours of manual labor, and then providing spiritual shepherding to the people there, mistreatment from the enemies of the gospel, and even from some of the Corinth believers. If this isn't love, God's love through Paul, then what is?

For them to say that he doesn't love them is just a ludicrous, ludicrous statement. Why is it that he's not accepting money because I do not love you? God knows that I do. I mean, it should be absolutely just the opposite. He loves them so much that he doesn't want to be a burden to them financially and other reasons as well. So that's why he says, why. He's responding to that question that of, you know, he's not accepting this financial help. Why? Because he doesn't love them? No. It's because he doesn't want to be a burden to them. He doesn't want to cause confusion.

Okay, we'll pick up in verse 12 next week, and I think we can finish 12 through 15, maybe. Alright, let's pray. And if anybody doesn't have all the notes, just let myself or Sue know and we'll get you. We'll make sure everybody gets all the handouts.

Lord, thanks for this morning. Thanks for your word and your spirit who leads us and guides us into all truth. Just bring these things to our remembrance that they won't just be things that we think about and we talk about here on Sunday from 9 to to 950, but those things that will be, through Your Spirit, impacting our lives on a moment by moment, day by day basis as we walk by faith and dependence upon You. And so, thanks. Be with us. He brings us more of Your Word in the upcoming service. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.