2 Corinthians 11:23-29

DISCOURSE: 2041
ST. PAUL’S ZEAL ILLUSTRATED AND IMPROVED

2 Corinthians 11:23. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes, save one. 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; 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; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?

THE people of the world are in the habit of representing religious persons as defective in every mental attainment, and negligent in the discharge of every social duty: and it becomes Christians not only to cut off all occasion for such reproach, but so to conduct themselves as to be able to appeal to all who know them, that they are in no respect below any other people who are similarly circumstanced with themselves. As St. Paul, when his adversaries sought to detract from his character, silenced them by this challenge, “Whereinsoever any is bold, I am bold also: are they Hebrews? so am I; are they Israelites? so am I; are they the seed of Abraham? so am I:” so ought Christians in every department of life to be able to challenge competition with other men, and boldly to say, ‘Are they modest, prudent, kind, faithful, diligent? so am I.’ This they should be able to do in reference to all heathen virtues, and worldly attainments. But in relation to every thing of a spiritual nature, the Christian should so far excel, that no worldly person should be able to come near him. Our blessed Lord intimates this in the question which he puts to us; “What do ye more than others?” We ought to do more than any other people in the world either do or can do; and, like the Apostle in our text, we should be able to enumerate many things, in which our adversaries, even the best of them, can bear no competition with us.
It is well for the Church of God that St. Paul was so calumniated by his enemies: for, if he had not been so traduced, he never would have recorded the extent of his labours, respecting which, from the brief history of them in the Acts of the Apostles, we should not have formed any adequate conception. True it is, indeed, that he again and again acknowledges, that, if not so compelled to declare the truth, he would have been a fool for boasting in this manner: and we too shall be guilty of the most egregious folly, if we without necessity proclaim our own goodness; but still, I say again, we should be inferior to the world in nothing that pertains to this life, and superior to them in every thing that pertains to the life to come.
From this account, which the Apostle gives of his own labours, we shall take occasion,

I. To place them more distinctly before you—

Of course, it is only a cursory notice that we can take of them: and indeed it is the accumulated mass, rather than any minute particulars, which will best answer our end in this discourse. Yet, that we may have something of a distinct view of his labours, let us notice,

1. His sufferings—

[St. Paul, at his conversion, had been told by the Saviour “what great things he should suffer for his Master’s sake:” and truly they were great, greater far than those which fell to the share of any other Apostle. He was “in stripes above measure,” being five times scourged by the Jews to the utmost extremity that their law allowed; and thrice by the Romans, though in direct opposition to the Roman law. “In prisons” all the Apostles had been; but not so frequently as he. So “often was he in deaths,” that he felt himself “standing in jeopardy every hour,” and could appeal to God that “he died daily [Note: 1 Corinthians 15:30.].” Thrice did he suffer shipwreck: and on one of those occasions he floated on a piece of the wreck “a day and a night,” every moment in danger of being consigned to a watery grave. On one occasion he was stoned (at Lystra), and actually left for dead: and doubtless he would have died, if God had not, by a miraculous power, raised him up again, and restored him to the use of his limbs [Note: All these were prior to his sufferings recorded in the latter part of the Acts of the Apostles.].

What patience, what resignation, what fortitude, must the Apostle have possessed, when he could persevere in the midst of such continued and severe trials as these! And how strange does it appear, that “in every place such bonds and such afflictions should await” such a man as he; whose only fault was, that he loved his God and Saviour, and loved his fellow-creatures too even beyond his own life! But so it was; and so it will be, as long as ungodly men shall have it in their power to put forth into exercise their enmity against God: and, in proportion as any man resembles Paul in his zeal for Christ, and in his love to men, he will meet with the very same treatment that the Apostle did: and if he be not persecuted unto death, as Paul was, he will be indebted for his protection, not to the abated hostility of men, but to the laws of the land in which he dwells.]

2. His dangers—

[These were incessant, wherever he moved. Sometimes he was in peril “by waters,” that is by rivers, which he was obliged to ford, or more probably by land floods, which he could neither foresee nor escape: sometimes by robbers, who, conceiving him to be carrying money with him from one Church to another, lay in wait to plunder him. Sometimes “by his own countrymen,” who were incensed against him for going to the Gentiles: and at other times “by the heathen,” who were indignant at his endeavours to overthrow idolatry. “In the city,” he was beset by enraged mobs; “in the wilderness,” by ravenous beasts; and, “in the sea,” by frequent tempests, or by pirates, more to be dreaded than death itself.
But who would have thought that persons professing love to Christ should be found adverse to him; and that he should be in as much danger from their envy and jealousy, their subtilty and malignity, as from the more open assaults of professed enemies! Yet amidst his other perils he mentions those in which he was “among false brethren,” who sought by misrepresentations to subvert his influence, and by treachery to destroy his life. Alas! alas! that such impiety should ever be concealed under a cloak of zeal for Christ! Yet the faithful minister shall find that such monsters do exist; and that there are yet in the Church, no less than in the apostolic age, “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” who, if only they can find opportunity to exercise their predominant dispositions, will tear in pieces the Church, and spare neither the shepherd nor the sheep [Note: Acts 20:29.]

3. His privations—

[Amidst all his labours, he was often destitute of the comforts, yea, and of the common necessaries of life; so that, in addition to all the weariness and painfulness of his exertions, he was exposed to “hunger and thirst, and cold and nakedness,” not having clothing to protect him from the inclemencies of the weather, nor food to sustain his feeble body. And, as if all these privations were not sufficient, he often added to them by voluntary fastings, and by a sacrifice of needful sleep, that so he might be able to support himself without being burthensome to any, and make himself an example to those who accused him of seeking only his temporal advancement.
How lightly and thoughtlessly do we read this account, as though there were nothing very extraordinary in it! But if we had only to spend one single week in such trials as his, we should soon see what astonishing grace he must have had, that could enable him to bear them for a series of years, and even to “take pleasure in them,” if only his Lord and Saviour might be glorified by means of them [Note: ver. 30. with 2 Corinthians 12:10.]!]

4. His cares—

[These, under such circumstances, were truly overwhelming. The Churches every where, whether planted by him or not, looked to him for guidance and direction in all their difficulties; so that there was a weight upon his mind sufficient to depress any one who did not feel his consolations and supports. The trials of Moses being great, seventy persons were appointed to bear the burthen with him. But Paul had to bear his burthens all alone. He was the referee of all; the counsellor of all; the director of all. Nor did he attend merely to the general concerns of all the Churches: no; he bore in mind the case of every individual that was brought before him; and laboured as much for the benefit of each, as if he had no other object to engage his mind. For this he could appeal to the Corinthians themselves; “Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?” If any, through prejudice, or ignorance of Christian liberty, or through any other cause, were weak, he sympathized with them, and accommodated himself to their feeble state, and laboured by all possible means to comfort and encourage them. In like manner, if any were stumbled either by the artifices of false teachers, or the violence of persecution, he “burned” with an ardent desire to restore their minds, and to establish their hearts.]
Such was the life of that holy man; and such were the labours in which it was continually occupied. We will now endeavour,

II.

To suggest such considerations as obviously arise from them—

But where shall we begin? or, once begun, where shall we end? We must of necessity confine ourselves to a few which are of most general utility. Let us see then in these labours of his,

1. The incalculable value of the soul—

[If we were to judge by the conduct of all around us, we should suppose that the soul were of no value: for the generality of men pay no more attention to their souls than if there were no future state of existence: and of those who profess to care for their souls, how few labour for their welfare with becoming zeal! If they be called upon to bear some reproach, or to sustain some temporal loss, they are ready to draw back, as though the interests of their souls were not worth the sacrifice. They are more terrified at the sneers of a fellow-creature, than at the threatenings of their God; and more desirous of the applause of man, than of the approbation of their Judge. But look at the Apostle Paul: Did he think so lightly of immortal souls? Would he have laboured and suffered so much for them, if they were of no more value than men in general account them? Surely, either he was wrong, or we; if the souls of men deserved no more attention than is usually paid to them, he was a foolish and mad enthusiast: but if we may at all estimate their value by his labours for them, then are the world mad, in paying so much attention to worthless vanities, and in so little regarding what is of more value than the whole world. O ye careless ones, whatever be your rank or age, let me expostulate with you on your more than brutish folly — — —]

2. The vast importance of the Gospel—

[When we urge on men the necessity of believing in Christ, and of living altogether by faith on him, they reply that there is no need of that entire surrender of ourselves to Christ; and that to condemn all who will not comply with such requisitions is uncharitable in the extreme. When we urge them also to use all possible means for the conversion of the heathen, they tell us that we may safely leave them to their respective creeds; and that God is too merciful ever to condemn them. But, if this be true, how can we account for the conduct of the Apostle? Why did he labour so for the conversion of Jews or Gentiles, if either Jews or Gentiles could be saved in any other way than through faith in Christ? Some labours and some sufferings we may suppose a man to undergo for the sake of proselyting others to his own opinions; but who would endure all that Paul endured, and that too so continually, and for so long a series of years, if he had not known that the everlasting welfare of men depended on their acceptance or rejection of his message? Know ye then that the record of God, even that record which says, “God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son; he that hath the Son, hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life;” that record, I say, is true: and just so many of you as are living simply by faith on Christ, and receiving every thing out of his fulness, are in a state of salvation: but every other person without exception is “under condemnation, and the wrath of God abideth on him.”

And here let me caution those who are convinced of this truth, to hold it fast and glory in it, though earth and hell should conspire to turn them from it: for if the Apostles laboured so much and endured so much to impart the knowledge of it to others, much more should we be in earnest to secure an interest in it for ourselves — — —]

3. The spirit with which alone men should enter on the ministerial office—

[Many, in undertaking this office, have no view but to their own case, or interest, or honour: and if in these things pre-eminence is to consist, they would have no objection to equal “the very chiefest Apostles.” But if their preferment is to resemble that of St. Paul, they care not how many get before them: they have no taste for such things; and if they had ever so small a measure of them, they would account it much more an occasion of complaint than any ground of glorying. But it was in labours and sufferings that St. Paul gloried; first, because they were the best proofs of his ministerial fidelity [Note: 2 Corinthians 6:4.]; and, next, because they were the means of magnifying the grace of Christ, whose strength was perfected in his weakness [Note: 2 Corinthians 12:9.]. Would to God that more of his spirit were found amongst us! There would not then be such difficulty in finding men to go forth to the work of missions. Now, the leaving of earthly friends, the incurring of some danger from foreign climes, the having but small provision, and looking forward to many difficulties and privations; these are such formidable obstacles, that but few are willing to encounter them. But they who have so little zeal for God, as not to be willing to encounter trials and afflictions in his service, are not fit for the ministry in any place: they may satisfy themselves with a ceremonious round of duties; but they will not so satisfy their God, who requires his stewards to be faithful, and his soldiers to war a good warfare. We must tread in the steps of Paul, if ever we would “save ourselves and them that hear us” — — —]

4. The proper influence of redeeming love—

[Look at the text, all ye who profess to believe in Christ. See what faith will do, wherever it exists in truth. Look and see what ye have ever done for the Lord that can be compared with this: say whether the best amongst you have not cause to blush and mourn for your unprofitableness? If you ask the Apostle Paul, what it was that animated him to such exertions, he will tell you, The love of Christ constraineth me. This it was that carried him forward in the midst of so many difficulties, and enabled him to bear up under such accumulated afflictions. This made him ready to be bound or to die, at any time or at any place, content that “Christ should be magnified in his body whether by life or death.” Beloved brethren, thus will it work in you: it will fill you with zeal for God, and with love to man. It will make you earnestly desirous to spread the knowledge of the Saviour throughout the world; and will render sacrifices, whether of ease or property, delightful to you. You will account it an unspeakable honour that you are permitted to do or suffer any thing for the advancement of his glory; just as the Apostles, after having been imprisoned and beaten by the Jewish council, departed, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for their Redeemer’s sake. Rise up then, ye servants of the Lord Jesus, and gird yourselves to your Master’s work. Let each inquire, What can I do for Christ? How can my time, my property, my talents, my influence be made serviceable to his cause? It is said of the angels, that they do their Maker’s will, “hearkening to the voice of his word;” do ye thus look for the first intimations of your Saviour’s will. If the most arduous and self-denying office be proposed, be ready instantly to say, “Here am I; send me [Note: Isaiah 6:8.].” So will you approve yourselves his disciples indeed, and reap a glorious recompence in the great day of his appearing.]