Bible Guys Classics: 2 Corinthians 11 Part 1

Hey, everybody, we're the Bible Guys. And if you're just tuning in recently, just know that we are showing a little bit of reruns for a few months, and then we'll be back bigger and better than ever on August thirty first, because behind the scenes, we're taking a hiatus to do some very important things. Yeah, we're building building out a new studio and we've got some new structure. Super excited about it. So August thirty first, brand new content. But in the meantime, enjoy some of our greatest hits. Well, today we're going to be witnessing Paul saying things like you know who I am, you know. Who you're talking to. He's challenging the idea of false apostles. So he's Chris, and I'm Jeff, and we're the Bible Guys. Okay, Jeff, good morning, Good morning, And I would like to read for you a segment called who Said It? Oh, this is the Bible version. It's kind of like, did you ever see those monopoly games that are Bibleopoly or Bible Trivia true pursuit? This is who Said It? Bible version. Okay, so these are people in the Bible. Yeah, and they somebody quoted it, and you have to say, who's the one. That said that. These are Actually I'm looking at them for the very first time they were they were handed to me. These are super incredibly. Easy, are they easy? Yeah? So you know that because if you miss it's. That you missed easy things. Okay. If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. Jesus said that. Yeah. Okay. Number two, he who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. John the Baptist. Oh what a great sin these people have committed. They have made themselves gods of gold. Yeah, that could be one of two people. I'm gonna say Moses. It was most and now these three remain faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love, Paul. Okay, last one, even. Though I walk through the Valley of. The Shadow of Death, that's David. Yeah. These are some of the most iconic scriptures in the Bible. Yeah, well that's great. I'm glad. So thank you Desiree for giving me a layup on that one. She helps us out with the segments. So maybe we should just call the show The Bible. Guy the Bible Guy because it's you because I got them all right, you're five to five. Hey, by the way, I would have appreciated more of these obscure ones like number three, the Moses one, because you know, when you choose. Things that are multiple, you know, it's like, well did Aaron say that? That's right? Right, So that would have been good, but those other ones are super famous. Yeah, yeah, that was great, so good. But yeah, I didn't mean to put Desiree down. No, no, no, I'm glad. I'm glad she did it. Thank you, Desiree. Yeah, very good. That helped tremendously that you didn't embarrass us. Hey, by the ways, if if Desrae. She appreciates her job, that's what it is. Good job, you get to stay with us, does Hey. If she is listening to this, I don't love she listens. She listens, So so Desrae, do me a favorite, pick more obscure ones. So then next time. When Chris does it. No, no, no, no, no no. No, we'll see. I didn't boast about being the Bible guy. Well I didn't before the questions after the speaking of boasts. Yeah, this is this is what actually. Paul is doing. He feels foolish about doing it too. Well, that's how he starts this off right right here. What a great transition. You nailed it. You're getting good at this. Yeah, okay, King. So we are in second with these chapter eleven. We've been going through the Book of Acts in the beginning of the First Church if you're just new with us, and so as we go through the Book of Acts, then we wind up when we come to a spot where a new book was written or new letters written by Paul. Then we pause and go through those letters, and then we'll go back. So right now, this is in the second letter or the third or fourth letter, depending on how you view this. In Sec. And Corinthians, and we're reading in chapter eleven. We're just going to read the first fifteen verses or so. In the New Living Translation, it says, I hope you will put up with a little more of my foolishness. Please bear with me, for I am jealous for you, with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband Christ, but I fear that somehow your peer and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of Gospel than the one that you believed. But I don't consider myself inferior in any way to these super apostles who teach such things. I may be unskilled as a speaker, but I'm not lacking in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every possible way. Was I wrong when I humbled myself and honored you by preaching God's good news to you without expecting anything in return. I robbed other churches by accepting their contributions so I could serve you at no cost. And when I was with you and didn't have an enough to live on, I did not become a financial burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia brought me all that I needed. I've never been a burden to you, and I never will be. As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, no one in all of Greece will ever stop me from boasting about this. Why because I because I don't love you. God knows that I do, but I will continue doing what I've always done. This will undercut those who are looking for an opportunity to boast that their work is just like ours. These people are false apostles. They're deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised. Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, so it's no wonder that its servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end, they will get the punishment that we could deeds deserve. Yeah, there you go. So you know, it's important for our listeners who've been following us a long time, you know, in other words, like through this journey of Sewan Corinthians understand that this is sort of a topic that's been touched on several times. Yeah. Yeah, he keeps circling back to this big idea. Goes back to the big idea. So he's writing. Keep in mind, this is writing in one sitting, right, this is the delivery of a letter. So he feels just as passionate about this as he did. Let's just say, like five podcasts ago, right, right, right, because because this is this is the same letter, so he still has the same feelings, the same anxious thoughts. And I love how he says, you know, again, I've just been sort of harping on this, but Paul is the master illustrator. If he were a presenter, he would have used props all day long. Oh probably. Yeah, He's the one who you know, he's a visual learner, he's a visual teacher. And so he talks about how he says, I promised you as as a pure bride to one husband, Christ, but I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted. And he's not talking about behavior in this case. He's talking about a bride being corrupted by false doctrine, a church being corupted by false doctrine, because. Because you know, think. About it, just as a bride dedicates herself to one man, Paul's making the comparison and saying, you know, Jesus being the groom the bridegroom, and the church being the bride, which you know we are called the bride right of Christ's He's talking about the purity. So he's using that analogy he's taking it one step further, you know, just dedicate yourself to one man, to the groom. And he's saying, you're not doing that because you're you're you're you're if you're accepting false doctrine, your your attention, your devotion is divided to another one besides Jesus. And I think it's interesting he recognizes the fact that he's not he's an unskilled speaker. Right, dude. I love the fact that he did that. Well, we're speakers, sure right. We speak so but but but for the layman, it's it's still it's still really encouraging. Well, you think of him as being like Superman, he can do everything right, and instead, you know, just a couple of days ago, we talked about how he talked about being afraid even though he was in persecution. When we read the Persecution, because we're just blowing through the stories, you know, what happens over months or years, we read in a paragraph and it just kind of condenses it, and you think, man, this guy was fearless, He went through all kinds of persecution, he do all these things, and God just made him like superman Christian and then here, you know, you feel like, oh, he's great at spreading the Gospel all around the known world at the time, because he was such a compelling speaker and he was such a good teacher. If I, if I was that kind of guy, I would do it too. And it turns out Paul goes, so, I'm not a very good speaker, and I admit it, right, And so it wasn't that he was super brave, and it wasn't that he was a great compelling speaker. Other times he says, hey, I didn't come with the wisdom of the world. As a matter of fact, when you listen to me, I sounded like a fool. Right, So he wasn't a compelling speaker. And so what he was was he was available and obedient. God said go and he went right. Right. The greatest ability is availability, and he just did what God told him to do, and God made him incredibly effective, which should encourage all of us. We don't have to be super speakers, we don't have to be super brave. We just have to be willing to start and God will do the work. Yeah. So the quote that he uses is he says, I don't consider myself in ferior in any way to the super apostles who teach these things. Then he says, I may be an unskilled speaker, but I'm not lacking of knowledge. And so he's recognizing his strengths and weaknesses. And so here's and I love to talk about this particularly but Ephesians four eleven. How later on, he says that he gives to the church. God gives to the church some with spiritual gifts to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors, and some to be teachers. And he gives to the church these gifts. And then he goes on to talk about for the perfecting of the saints, for the growing up of the mature, so we may be made, you know, mature into Jesus. So he talked about the purpose of those gifts in the church. But anyway, all of that to say this, so he is he is the one who is most famous. When we say apostle, the first thing that comes off of our lips is Paul. Right, even though the other disciples were apostles. Yeah, you're going to say apostle, Paul, apostle, Peter. Those are the first two. Yes, those the first two. But Paul is actually acting in his gift, and I love the fact that he's talking about it, because the gift of an apostle is different than that of a teacher. It's a different spiritual gift altogether. So I remember reading a book, Oh, come on the Forgotten Ways. Oh yeah, yeah, but what's his name? I remember it? Yeah, the Frigant Ways And anyway, Allen Hirsch, and I remember the breakdown. He says this. The apostle is the one who goes, The prophet is the one who knows, the evangelist is the one who recruits, the teacher is the one who explains, and the pastor is the one who cares right. And so really what he's saying is this. He's saying like, you need all five. And he actually laid out in the book that they build upon one another sequentially. So you need first for any mission, an apostle, an apostle who says, hey, we're going to go take this hill, We're going to take this city for Christ. And then once you have an apostle to set the mission, then you have the prophet who discerns, and the prophets the guy who says, I think God's telling us to start in that cafe, right, and then and then and then once you have a plan and a direction that what you need is somebody with the gift of evangelism, right, you need somebody who just is naturally gifted at sharing the gospel, and that person just goes in and recruits. And then once you have a body of believers, then what you need are the last two gifts are the inward gifts. So the first three are outward gifts. The inward gifts are pastor teacher, one who cares, and one who explains. Well, Paul is the. Guy because this is on his he's writing this letter on his third missionary journey, but he established this church in Corinth on his. First missionary journey, right, So he's he's. The guy who travels all around the Mediterranean Rim, and he's the guy who starts things and and so think about his gifts. He's an influencer. He made a big good speaker, but he's a mover and a shaker man, right, But he's not the guy to eat up every Sunday morning, right, and and and maintain the church. Yeah. And it wasn't that he was so super courageous. It was he was willing to put up with the punishment that was coming with it. It was, you know, we were laughing about this a while ago when you asked me, you know, how do you see, you know, the end of the movie of your life, And I'm. Like, just walking into the jungle and disappearing, right. The funniest thing that's been so funny. I think that's That's the kind of attitude Paul had. Was he wasn't afraid of the struggle. That part of it was. He was afraid, certainly, but he knew the struggle was necessary in order to achieve what it was that he was achieving, right, And I think that his goal of reaching people who were far from Christ, his goal of going to places where there had never been a gospel representation, it was like the it at the door, the cost at the door for that was, I'm probably gonna go to jail, I'm probably gonna get beat up, eventually, they're probably gonna kill me. That's really scary to me. But the value of reaching people for exceeds it. So I'm not a very good speaker. I'm I'm I'm fearful, but the delight of sharing the gospel compels me and so I'm going to go anyways, and those apostolic type leaders. That's very different from the guy like he doesn't sometimes Paul says a ton by not saying it. And here there's a lot of sarcasm in this chapter, right, So he's he's like, what do I say these things? Because I don't love you, God knows I do or whatever. But he also he's kind of taking shots at the quote unquote super apostles, right, which I love, And he doesn't say anything else really beyond that, and there's kind of a warning there. I hate naming names, like from stage, I just don't say this pastor, that pastor is a bad guy, or this. I don't care for that. And so Paul he only does it a few times where he names somebody, but there's a lot of times when he uses kind of this this you know, he's referencing these quote unquote super apostles, and what he's saying is there's a certain attitude of a person that you should not follow. So they're coming in and they're using Jesus words, but they're not talking about the same Jesus we're talking about. They're using faith concepts, but they're not talking about the faith that I brought. They're talking about Holy Spirit stuff, but they're not talking about the Holy Spirit you received, right. And they come in like they're super apostles and they have all this authority and they got all this swagger and they're so cool and they're so impressive. And Paul is like, I'm not any of those things. You should watch out for those people. And I would just say the kind of person who comes rolling in in their bends and they act like they know everything and they're so clearly living for the riches of it and the benefits. He's like, watch out for them. They're they're pretenders. And you know, I've been around people who demand that they be called apostles so and. So right, so and so right. So I was in a meeting one time, about a year ago. I was in a meeting and it was all pastors, so we're all ministry people, and uh so I referenced this guy and I said his name, his name. I'm not gonna say his name. I said his name, and he steps up and goes, yeah, I'm Bishop so and so. And I said, oh, I just think of him as and I said his name again because I thought he was joking, and he said I prefer bishop, right, And I was like what, and You're like, oh, okay, okay, sorry, you know, and I never referenced him the rest of the day because I'm like, wow. Well, part of that is cultural. So part of that is, like, I don't think this was okay, okay, okay, let's let's just. Leave it that this wasn't a cultural thing. Okay. By the way, I was given some really great advice when I was a teenager in my young twins, and the older you get, the more you realize how strong. This statement is. But I remember getting some job offer, you know, some ministry job offer, and it paid a little bit more money than the average job offer and everything else, but the church that was offering it was not a healthy church, right, And so I remember calling my youth pastor at the time, my pastor of high school students who I was under. Jim was his name, and I remember calling him and I said, hey, you know, I get this job offer, and he made this statement that stuck with me, and I think you probably know what I'm going to say. He said, Chris, he said, everything that glitters isn't gold. And I was like, oh, like just because I was so fascinated with the glitter, right, just you know, just the shiny salary and everything else, right, And that's what this is. That's what this is. It reminds me of like, you know, Paul's sort of saying super apostles with these fancy you know, speeches and persuasions, and he's like, but it doesn't, it doesn't really doesn't. It lacks content, right, which is why you're saying, like, I have knowledge, I have content, and a simple presentation with pure content is worth far more than a fancy presentation that seems seems impressive, but it doesn't have substance. Sure, you know, sometimes I'm nervous about people will say, hey, what authors are you paying attention to? What theologians should I listen to? What what apologists should I pay attention to? And you know, human sin, we fail. So people can have a great body of work and then have a massive character flaw and then we're all disappointed by them or whatever. Right, some always nervous. The easiest, easiest theologians to recommend are the dead. Ones, right right, because because they're not going to ruin. Their reputations, they're not going to have any So I give away often. I buy him by the case Norm Geisler's Systematic Theology and one volume, right, And I like it because he kind of splits the middle, will give you four or five opinions, kind of split the midil and say, I kind of stand here, but he'll give you all the sides, right. So I like that. He's not the only theologian, but he's a good one from the twentieth century. And so I'll give that one away. And I had somebody ask, how came you always give this away? Because he just died. That's why. Yeah, I didn't give it away a lot a lot because people fail. And he's kind of recognizing the frailty of leadership right right, that humans are will change, they'll shift, and so one of his defenses and there's great value in this verse twelve. But I will continue doing what I've always done. So if you're trying to figure out is this person somebody I should follow, look at their body of work. Over a long period of time. Somebody comes blowing on the scene. They wrote a book, they're speaking at two or three conferences, and they've got three years of ministry experience. Okay, they may or may not have something valuable to add. Just don't build your life around them, or build your belief systems around them, or start burning spiritual bridges theologically or relationally over something that over somebody who only has a short track record. Paul says, listen, I've been doing this for a long time, and my reputation with you has been impeccably consistent, right, And so he said, you can trust me, And he says this just my lifestyle and my willingness to continue to be consistent will undercut those who are looking for an opportunity to boast about their work. Right. So I think that there's great value one of the benefits. You know, you and I are getting into the right now. We're kind of at the peak of our influence in the fifties, right, typically in church work is fifties or that way. But eventually we're going to move into kind of an elder statesman kind of a role or a mentor kind of role. Right, That's what happens. And these a lot of times the young guys will forget or ignore or go, oh, you just don't understand the older guys. But there's a lot of value in paying attention to those guys, maybe not for methods, but certainly with regard to theology and to orthodoxy and all those. Kinds of things. And so this is what Paul Sam. Paul's not going after their methods. Paul's going after their theology and their orthodoxy, and these guys are teaching a false doctrine. But then he says, I'm not surprised even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Yeah, you know, we tend to think it's only evil things that the devil's trying to get us to do. And the reality is, the devil doesn't dress himself up. Is you know, some kind of evil nightmare. The devil dresses himself up as an angel, as an angel of light. That all that glitters isn't always gold. That's a true thing. Well, I love my life application study Bible. It has a note on that, and it says this one Jewish writing and it refers to the Apocalypse of Moses says that the story of Eaves Temptations includes Satan masquerading as an angel. Paul may have been thinking of this story, or he could have been referring to Satan's typical devices. In either case, nothing can be more deceitful than Satan, the prince of darkness that it references a couple scriptures if he's in six twelve Colossians one thirteen disguising himself as an angel of light. In the same way, the false apostles were pretending to be the apostles of Christ, servants of righteousness, while in reality they're agents of Satan. Yep, you know, I think of I'm not saying that the city is bad, but I'm thinking about the flashing lights and the false fronts of Las Vegas. Sure, or you know, it's they're trying to attract you with the pretty and the beautiful. But hey, Disney's Disney is similar. So much of what you see in Disney is fake. If you just look behind the scenes, it's just it's just stick built stuff. But it looks so amazing on the outside. Or have you been like on a Hollywood some of those sets, like a Universal or whatever, and you drive through and you're driving down a street and it's this amazing city. It feels like you're in New York City, and then when you go behind, it's just a wall. There's nothing there, there's nothing behind it. It's just just fake, you know, and that's what he's saying. The devil does a lot. So my daughter loves the Grinch. You stole Christmas the Jim Carrey version. Yeah. Yeah. When we went to California, we drove through Hollywood Study. We took the tour and there was a section in the back, just this forgotten section where it was Whoville. Oh wow. And they drove us through Whoville and it was just all, you know, run down. They just sort of let it just you know, like you know, be a victim to the weather. And and Tori's like, toy, wasn't that cool? She goes, well, no, because now like it ceased to be Whoville in my mind, and now it's just like these couple of facade buildings in the middle of the field. Right exposing it for what it really was. Right. I thought it was super cool for her. And she's like, no, the opposite. She wanted it to be Whoville. So he says, it's no wonder that that, you know, wicked people will disguise themselves as good teachers. So he says, you constantly need to be testing him, you know, and acts earlier we read about how he commends the Boreans because he would come in and teach and then they'd go home and study the Word for themselves to make sure that what he was teaching was true. And he says, man, you guys should all be like that. And so I think that's it that we we should test every teaching through what the Bible says. We should look at the lifestyle and the track record over a long period of time of Christian leaders and then give those people the benefit of it out over the brand new, flashy one that's coming in with a new teaching or a new idea. Yeah, and one last thing before we go is I would just say if a person does have decades of faithfulness and then the person has a moral failure, would you please stop canceling his. Entire life or her entire life? Sure? Right, because the bottom line is is yes, of course they had a failure, and it might even be a huge failure. But people get tired, they get weary, right, they get they get human, you know, they get discouraged. They will successful ministry wise, they're a bigger target for the devil. So temptation is going to be greater. All those kinds of things spiritual first, be greater. Yeah, and then and. Then I find myself referencing somebody who may have had a failure at the end of their life, but you know, they've had like, you know, forty years of phenomenal ministry and somebody's like, oh, you can't use them in a reference. So there are things that we can do that we can disqualify ourselves from future ministry, but what we do doesn't necessarily negate the past ministry. Right, that's right, right, that's right. Yeah, Well, that's probably a great place to end, and we will see you tomorrow, hopefully on the Bible. Guys,