Meanness in the Church
2 Corinthians 10:10-13
For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing." Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.
See, Paul was operating in the divinely assigned sphere of service to Christ. As we say in church, he was walking in his calling. This is not self-appointed or self-anointed but divinely appointed and anointed for the carrying out of the prior mentioned activities. Should not this word be for the church? It can be. It is meant to spill into the world. As your house gets right, you begin to have influence over your neighbor's house. Have you ever started fixing your house and suddenly found your neighborhood seized by a desire to fix theirs? A house divided, as Matthew 12:25 points out, "against itself will not stand." Your will against Christ's whom you profess to follow will not work out very well for you. The church here is seen taking pot-shots at Paul for a variety of reasons, all of which are personal and frankly unwarranted. Some Christians will crucify the preacher, the choir, the leadership, and each other just for entertainment. I could tell many stories of such situations, but they would only be entertaining rather than teaching. I think Paul's story is sufficient. Here Paul is risking life and limb for the early church and the only thing they do is criticize his leadership, his letters, and his speech. If Paul was aware of these words when he was away, I am sure he would not bring special favors to the speakers of such upon his return. Is this not how some Christians do.
We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.
Paul places a lot of stress on the situation. There was bickering in the house of God. A lot of people who professed to obey and serve him were not responding appropriately to their leaders. The leadership had been appointed by God and they should have listened. There seems to be an element of pride and self-sufficiency built into the situation. Maybe some of the single women wanted a husband and children. Maybe some of the men wanted a friend or a mentor. Regardless of the situation, the wants, needs, and speech in the early church were fickle. Paul says he is the same whether he is present or absent. These people were not yet they were measuring themselves by human standards. Oh, the stories I could tell about whose body I find to be bigger, better, or more desirable. Christ did not give his life for the body of believers, known as the church, only for them to act just like the world. Verse twelve intersects into this discussion which spills into verses fourteen through eighteen because some classification and comparison had been taking place. What the early church did not understand is that the devil has crept in already in the form of themselves.
We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you.
Notice the sphere of service. Getting your own house right lets you go to the neighbor's house and say with all Christian kindness, 'honey, can I help you?' The woman at the well found a man who had told her all the things she ever did according to John 4:29. She was so thirsty for the things of God that she forgot about her own stuff and went to tell the neighbors; Jesus not only took care of her own stuff but also could take care of theirs. Paul makes it clear that the early church had been assigned to him by God. He was not neglectful of his duties as a spiritual teacher nor was he lazy in the growth of the early church. Not only that, but these other verses which follow make it clear that Paul did not go over to the neighbor's house and tell them what to do so to speak. His assignment was divine and just as reliable as those others who helped labor with him to spread the gospel. Even when they all worked together, God alone got the credit for the spread of his Word and the early church as in 1 Corinthians 3:6-8. So unbunch your panties and dry your neighbor's eyes. God is the overseer of it all. He is the master gardener.
See, the early church was acting like the man with the speck in his eye who could not see because of the log in his neighbor's according to Matthew 7:3. God's house is a "house of prayer;" his ministry is one of divine deliverance in Matthew 21:13. These weapons of divine power to demolish strongholds affect your house as well as your neighbor's. So, when God reassigns someone else to a different sphere of service, assigns overseers of one, and underseers of another do not be alarmed. God's goal is the spread of the gospel. If your goal is something else, God knows what you need. Ask him in prayer and you will find like Paul that his grace is sufficient for your need. Otherwise, God will provide you food to eat at home as in 1 Corinthians 11:20-22. If Paul preaches beyond the church or the church itself preaches further, the gospel is still proclaimed. God will sometimes make your house someone else's. In the middle of all this, Paul shows up wondering what in the world is happening. It should be no surprise when God is amid all. See Paul sitting there saying, 'I preached the gospel to all of you; someone else has preached to the surrounding areas I was going to get to. Now, some of you have your spiritual panties in a wad over what God has done.' There is stuff in the house now and I know God did not put personally that there. Here is how God did it and how the weapons which are not of this world work.