Friday 9th June
Read 2 Corinthians 11:23-29
“Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. 27 I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?” (NIVUK)
Why would Paul put up with all these difficulties? Why would anyone? It is out of an almost all-consuming love for the church – from the weakest to the ‘strongest’. We read this frankly horrifying catalogue of distress and then come to ‘besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.’ (v28). It is as if all that he has listed is but the forerunner to the true challenge of ministry – a heart-felt concern for the church. The very same church that has entertained such offensive thoughts towards him!
Paul is consumed by an empathy for those who are weak, those who, through circumstance or illness or upbringing, find themselves questioning their own worth and their value before God. Those brought low. He emphathises with them for he has experienced it intimately, he has known illness and hunger and nakedness and oppression and verbal abuse and physical abuse. Ministry is about walking in someone else’s shoes and bearing their burdens – it is not about rights and prestige and honour and triumph as these ‘super-apostles’ claim.
Where does Paul stand with respect to sin? He is brought low himself, his compassion (v29a) is linked with his indignation (v29b) at those who would lead others into sin. But he seems to identify with the sinner. He ‘inwardly burns’ against those who would weigh down people freed up by the gospel. When they are led into sin he hurts. How far removed is Paul’s reaction to those who have stumbled in the church? I suspect our usual response is one of smug relief that we are not as easily deceived or morally loose. Carson’s words are salutary: “It is regrettably easy to philosophise when such sin occurs, comment on the evil times in which we live, reflect that the brother or sister who fell into sin or heresy was never very strong or discerning anyway, and never to agonise in prayer for our fellow believer or inwardly burn because of their weakness and shame.”
Pray that you would empathise so much with those who have sinned, and perhaps even sinned against you, that you burn inwardly and long to bear that burden yourself. After all, that is exactly what Jesus did for you.
