Scripture: 2 Cor. 1:3-11
One of the first things that you notice about the Bible is that it is brutally honest. It is not like most other religious books. Every time you read about a hero in the Bible, it turns out that they have some flaw. Abraham doubted God and tried to help out with a child of promise. He got Ishmael along with a heap of trouble. King Saul was humble and obedient when God chose him. But that did not last long and when God chose David and he set out murder the young man. David was a man after God’s own heart who committed adultery and then murdered the woman’s husband to cover up his sin. Gideon delivered his people from the Mideonites only to set up a pagan shrine with his share of the gold. Even Elijah went from victory on Mt. Carmel to hiding in a cave and pleading with God to take his life.
Jesus is the only one who did not fail in some way, but success was not easy, for he was fully human. As his life on earth drew near to the end, he asked God to find a way for him to avoid the cross.





That kind of honesty in religious writings is a sign, that it is the real deal. The text that we will discuss in this article is another example.
If the Bible was not so honest, it would be easy to think that spiritual leaders are not all like us at all. That they had no down-days or that every one was a beautiful day in the neighbourhood. They never got tired, or ran out of money and hadn’t a care in the world.
But beyond mere honesty, there is actual shock value to Paul’s admission. How he had been burdened excessively beyond his strength, and despaired even of life itself. That is so unlike everything else that we know about him.
A ‘Coles Notes’ version of the New Testament would utter – ’say it is not so”. How could an apostle and especially Paul ever be ‘down and out’? He was a preaching – teaching machine. When they knocked him down and he kept getting up. When they slandered his name and it was like water off a duck. Paul was the consummate cheerleader and leader of men. So these verses bring us up short for more reasons than one. It is disturbing to think, that God would let it happen. How could He…there’s just way too much at stake? The salvation of the world beyond the Jews hangs in the balance.
Why didn’t God make Paul bullet-proof? And why allow life and death stuff to keep getting in Paul’s way? I mean, what would happen if he just up and quit? What if he gave up and went home to Tarsus? What if he went on a hunger strike? There is something in us that wants to put all of that back on God.
Now in this reading – there are a lot of blanks that we need to fill in. What exactly was happening around Paul. What was Paul was thinking and feeling, as he battled for the Lord? Let’s look at our passage and see if we can get some answers.
When Paul wrote, he was on his third mission journey. He established the church in Corinth on the previous trip, and on this third journey, he was working in Asia while living in Ephesus.
There was quite a bit of correspondence between Paul and the Corinthians. He had written to the Corinthians after he left and they had misunderstood. So he wrote a second letter which we know as 1st Corinthians, and that letter is deeply disturbing. It reveals a congregation full of sin and division.
- Members were vying for control
- There was sexual immorality in the church.
- They were taking each other to court.
- Some were dabbling again in idolatry, eating food offered to idols.
- Women were challenged God’s pattern for male spiritual leadership
- Others were abusing the Lord’s supper, and shaming the poor.
- They acted as if the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit indicated just who was most important – based on the gift that you received.
Love was out the window…as the gospel faded from view – and that’s not even a full list. Paul must have been pulling his hair out. All of his hard work was being undone and Satan was winning.
As we come to 2nd Corinthians 2:1-2. we learn that Paul had made a trip back to Corinth to sort it all out. But when he got there, he was not welcome. Some got right up in his face. They challenged him and insulted him. It was painful for everybody. They were so ungrateful and even accused him of selfishness.
Paul had then written a third letter which he said was deeply sorrowful to him, and we find references to in chapter 2. This makes 2nd Corinthians the fourth piece of correspondence, and we read it, we find that Paul had postponed his return.
He had done that for two reasons. Something had happened to him that had brought him close to death and whatever it was, had delayed Paul. And Paul says that he was also giving them time to repent and clean house. He had sent Titus on ahead with this letter to see how it would be received. He didn’t want to arrive in Corinth – for round two.
One of the hardest things that we face is spiritual discouragement. It happens when the people who we wish we could save, don’t want to be. They want us to butt out and mind our own business. And this can still happen in the church. Paul faced it and so do we.
In Chapter 11, Paul shared a long series of physical things that he has suffered, and then at the end of that list he adds: “Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?”
Imagine getting bad news fromthe churches that you have established? Those church plants stretched from Asia Minor, to Macedonia and Greece, and as these reports came in, the stress mounted. Paul was on his knees all the time for his spiritual children. He was stressed out and the church at Corinth was one of the main reasons.
If you are a parent, you know what that’s like. You worry about your kids…and you pray for them. You try teach and lead by example with the hope that they only imitate the good stuff. And while you worry and pray, they may be oblivious. They don’t know enough to worry and pray, until they grow up.
Well, that is where Paul is – as he wrote to the churches of Galatia: saying “My little children, with whom I am again in labour until Christ is formed in you”. You have your kids and then go back into labour all over again. But this time, you are trying to get their spiritual lives out of the womb.
So when it seemed that God was allowing his life’s work to be ripped away. No wonder that Paul was feeling low. He said it was like having a death sentence…that was for the moment, biding it’s time.
Just when things were going so well – God was winning and Satan was losing. Then suddenly the church was falling apart
It is very important for us to know in advance…that tough times are coming. Or if they are already here…that they have always been around. Peter and Paul have been there and done that…and come out the other side. They faced a lot more than we are ever likely to.
Think about what the apostle Paul had gone through by this point in his ministry. This was still years before going back to Jerusalem and then to prison in Caesarea and Rome.
He tells us 2nd Corinthians 11: 23-27. And he shared these to make the point…that ‘when it comes to apostles, I am the real deal”. No one faces all of this and keeps going, if he’s faking it.
Here is what he wrote:
- Are they servants of Christ?—I am speaking as if insane—I more so; in far more labours, in far more imprisonments,
- beaten times without number, often in danger of death.
- Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.
- Three times I was beaten with rods,
- once I was stoned,
- three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent adrift at sea.
- I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers,
- dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles,
- dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness,
- dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers;
- I have been in labour and hardship, through many sleepless nights,
- in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
Paul was not just having a very bad day…his career looked like a train-wreck. Time for a delayed vocational choice?
When you and I look back at 2024, what was the worst thing that we suffered for the cause of Christ? I’ve got nothing…nothing specific comes to mind. And even if I could think of something – it wouldn’t come close to what Paul went through.
Yet…when suffering does come – for the sake of Christ, what is our response? What do we do with trouble and hardship? Do we say…well I guess this is not God’s will, I’ll quit & do something else?
The things that God allowed to happen to Paul were not a sign – to give up.Paul knew what God wanted…what God had sent him to do. So he didn’t lick his finger to see which way the wind was blowing. He faced into the wind…and by the power of God, he prevailed.
Suffering, persecution and hardship are not reasons to give up. They are reasons to depend that much more on God. They remind us that God’s work is God’s work. And when we set out to do his will, he has the power to see us through.
Looking back on what had happened, this is what Paul wrote: vs 8-11
For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction which occurred in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, who rescued us from so great a danger of death, and will rescue us, He on whom we have set our hope.
And He will yet deliver us, if you also join in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons in our behalf for the favor granted to us through the prayers of many.
Paul wants us to know that apostles are not immune. They had no special exemptions. Their clothes wore out whether or not they could afford new ones. They got cold and hungry, tired and discouraged. In their spiritual lives, they did not walk on water or soar like eagles. And sometimes they even despaired of life itself.
It was within the permissive will of God for this to happen and to happen to Paul – who then explained that God did it…to keep him humble. God allowed it so that he would not depend on himself.
Nothing hinders the progress of the gospel like pride. Paul’s main rivals in the church at Corinth were big talkers. They boasted that they too were apostles…just as much as Paul. God wanted Paul to call them out and gave him divine power to do it. But He did not send a ‘proud Paul’. A humble Paul was the man for the job.
The only thing worse than feeling like you have a death sentence is death itself. Whatever happened, Paul had come close to death and been saved. But had he died, Christ was still the one who raises the dead and God reminded Paul of that when he was desperate.
Have you ever had a brush with death? Ever wondered why God spared you and what he has in mind for you? Did you pray just a little bit more? Did you thank God for another day of life? As low as Paul felt and as desperate, Jesus rescued him and Paul was confident that he would keep on rescuing. Jesus rescues us from death with each new day of life that he grants. And he will rescue us from death – even after death. For we will not die again, but will be raised to eternal life. God’s promise is that he saves us so that we will remain saved forever.
Did you notice that Paul asked the Corinthians to pray for him?He didn’t doubt that God would rescue him for eternity. But in the meantime, he had work to do and danger to face.
Please underline this in your bible or in your minds. Leaders in the church need your prayers. We expect them to pray for us. But Paul says that we need to pray for them. The Lord will rescue…if…that is a conditional clause
Paul wrote:
And He will yet deliver us, if you also join in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons in our behalf for the favor granted to us through the prayers of many.
Paul wanted them to thank God and to praise Him for delivering him. When we praise God for his blessings and thank him – he gives us more. When we thank God for our leaders, he raises up more. He rescues them so that they can keep on serving us. It is a circle of love and thankfulness and praise – to God’s honour and glory.
Because this is first and foremost about his glory and not our comfort. So let us praise God. Let us thank him with our lips, for God is waiting to bless us as only He can – beyond all that we can ask or think.
Barrie ON