2 Corinthians 11:2-3 - Homilies By E. Hurndall

How little understood by most believers! What strange notions many form of ministerial experience! To not a few the pastor appears a monarch with a minimum of duties and cares, and whose lot has thus fallen in singularly easy and pleasant places. But what a heavy burden is carried by the most prosperous minister! He who seems to be surrounded by all that can make his ministry cheering and his life happy is agitated by a host of disquieting thoughts and pressed upon by innumerable anxieties. So was it with that amazingly successful minister, the Apostle Paul Following his line of thought, we may gain some knowledge of a true pastor's experience.

I. THE PASTOR 'S EARNEST DESIRE .

1 . That his testimony may not be ineffective . Sorely burdened is that pastor's heart whose words seem to fall to the ground. He has a great object in his earnest appeals; if these fail, his strength has been spent for nought, his life fails. To preach on and on, and yet to see no spiritual result, strains his heartstrings till they threaten to snap. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, and, if the people of his charge are merely interested or amused by his preaching, he cries, "Woe is me!"

2 . That those to whom he preaches may be truly converted . He desires that they may be united to Christ as a bride to her husband ( 2 Corinthians 11:2 ). He is not satisfied with their thinking or speaking well of Christianity, or with their outward observance of religious duties; his longing is for their real redemption and for their thorough consecration to Christ. If he be faithful, he aims to attach them, not to himself, but to his Master. His joy is full only when they are married to Christ, and live as those who are no longer their own. For this he longs, prays, labours, agonizes.

3 . That at last they may appear in holiness before Christ . "That I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ" ( 2 Corinthians 11:2 ). The true pastor desires, not only that his people should start in the Christian race, but that they should continue, and at last attain to the "crown of righteousness." Flash-in-the-pan conversions please none but fools. Pastoral anxiety is largely the anxiety of watching development. The man of God has the toil and care of building up spiritual life. He counts that labour lost, so far as the objects of it are concerned, which has no abiding effects. The merest flash of thought will reveal the multitude of disappointments certain to crowd upon his soul.

II. THE PASTOR 'S CONSTANT DREAD . This dread is lest his converts should fall away. Lest it should be made evident that the good seed has, after all, fallen upon the wayside, or into stony places, or amongst destructive thorns. He remembers:

1 . The power of the tempter . Perhaps, like Paul, he calls to mind the fall of Eve, and remembers how much the children are like their mother. He feels the power of temptation in himself; he sees others fall; he wonders whether his own converts will yield. They are his crown of rejoicing when they stand fast; his crown of thorns when they fall.

2 . The weakness of the human heart . He remembers the old nature still within them—their infirmities, their tendencies to trust to their own strength. They seem to be easy prey for the devil.

3 . The subtlety of false human teachers . So many other gospels besides the true will be preached to them—adroitly contrived, it may be, to pander to the carnality still remaining within them. Called by seductive names—bearing the name of Christ possibly, and yet inimical to his kingdom and person. Philosophies falsely so called, and philosophers as full of confidence and conceit as of emptiness, and yet presenting to shallow judgments the appearance of the fulness of wisdom.

III. THE PASTOR 'S JEALOUSY .

1 . A watchful jealousy . He will have to give account of the souls entrusted to his care, so dares not be careless. He loves his flock, and therefore watches over it. He watches for the approach of peril, if peradventure he may avert it. tie jealously scrutinizes all influences affecting his charge. His Master is the shepherd; he is the watch-dog.

2 . A warning jealousy . His keen feelings lead to solemn admonitions when needed. He barks, and, when occasion arises, even bites; faithful are the wounds of such a friend. A short shrift is the desert of a pastor who is but a dumb dog. Pity it is if our feelings are so fine that we cannot rebuke men to save them from perdition. Silver bells are all very well for seasons of festivity, but when the fire blazes forth we must swing lustily the rough alarm bell in the turret. He is a poor surgeon who is too tender hearted to use the knife, if we love people very much we shall be willing to hurt them that we may heal them. An unwarning jealousy is not worth a farthing a bushel, it is a poor sham.

3 . A godly jealousy . ( 2 Corinthians 11:2 .)

2 Corinthians 11:7-12 - Misinterpretation.

I. OUR BEST ACTS MAY BE MISINTERPRETED . Acts of the greatest nobility and unselfishness have often been. The world's greatest benefactors have tasted the bitterness of being misunderstood.

1 . We should not judge of our acts by man's estimate of them.

2 . We should not be surprised by any interpretation put on them.

3 . We should not be dismayed by any interpretation.

4 . We should rejoice that we have a higher, wiser, and more impartial tribunal than the human. Our Master said, "Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you!" ( Luke 6:26 )—a pregnant warning to those who live upon the approval of men!

II. MISINTERPRETATION SHOULD NOT HINDER US FROM CONTINUING IN A RIGHT COURSE .

1 . We have not to give account to men, but to God.

2 . To change our conduct might not avoid misinterpretation, but rather give occasion for it (verse 12).

III. MISINTERPRETATION MAY BE MET AT SUITABLE TIMES BY EXPLANATION AND JUSTIFICATION OF CONDUCT .

1 . It is well to take away occasion for misinterpretation. Misinterpretation, like martyrdom, should not be courted. Both should be borne heroically when they meet us in the path of duty.

2 . It is often well to show that misinterpretation is misinterpretation. We should not forget that misinterpretation may

In this matter we have need to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.—H.

2 Corinthians 11:14 - A very beautiful angel.

I. A STARTLING FACT . We learn from Paul that the most sable of Ethiopians can change his skin and the fiercest beast of prey throw off his warning garb. The blackest devil can appear as the brightest angel. This is, indeed, a transfiguration, the most marvellous of transformation scenes. As an angel of wisdom Satan appeared to Eve; as an angel versed in theology, to Christ, glibly crying, "It is written." Satan was an angel of light. He thus knows well how to play the angel. Herein is he to be feared. It is not the ugly devil we need dread so much as the pretty devil. The old Scotchman's comment on the horned and hoofed Satan of a celebrated picture of "The Temptation" is full of point: "If that chiel cam' to me in sic an ugly shape, I think he wud hae a teuch job wi' me too."

II. AN EXPLANATION OF SOME MYSTERIES .

1 . The power of temptation . Men frequently fall before white temptations rather than black ones. Satan is an adept at whitewashing the sepulchre. The voice that calls us to sin sounds often more like the voice of an angel than the voice of a devil. The great adversary transforms his temptations as well as himself.

2 . That wrong often seems much like right . Satan is a clever editor.

3 . That folly often seems wisdom . A most dexterous counsel is the devil; as we listen to him, folly is evidently wisdom, and wisdom certainly folly. His splendid intellect overmasters ours when we cope with him alone.

III. AN IMPRESSIVE WARNING .

1 . To ever be on our guard . We need have our wits about us whilst we have such an enemy about us. To be careless in such peril would be suicidal. Our guard should be severe; none should be admitted within the gates but proved friends.

2 . Not to judge by appearances . Our tendency is to do so, and therefore the devil transforms himself. "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" ( Proverbs 14:12 ). We must get below the surface of things. We must take pains to ascertain the right and the good. Every trap is baited, and the fool who concludes that there can be no difference between a bait and a meal, is soon caught.

3 . To seek true wisdom and discernment . Conceit in our own unaided powers is just what delights the devil, and he often preaches to us an angelic discourse upon the pleasing theme of our wonderful faculties, before demonstrating our unutterable folly and weakness. We need know that we are know nothings. Self-distrust baulks Satan. When a man is on the pinnacle of pride he can easily deal with him, but when he is in the valley of humility and self-abnegation the enemy gets sorely perplexed. Let us empty ourselves of the wind of conceit and self-sufficiency, that God may fill us with his own wisdom.

4 . To ever abide with Christ . Thus alone can we be truly safe. Here alone shall we secure the victory. Christ overcame the devil when he spake least like a devil, and, if we are truly with Christ, no disguise of Satan shall deceive us, and no might of his shall overthrow us. The cress of Christ is Ithuriel's spear, which, touching the tempter, reveals him in his true character.—H.

2 Corinthians 11:23-33 - Apostolic experiences on earth.

I. THESE EXPERIENCES , AS NARRATED HERE , ASSUME A GLOOMY CHARACTER .

1 . Painful .

(a) Persecution from Jews as well as Gentiles. His "own countrymen" hated him more fiercely than any.

(b) Hostility of false brethren. Peculiarly painful to such a noble nature as Paul's.

(c) Anxieties respecting the numerous Churches.

(d) Acute sympathy with the weak and hindered ones ( 2 Corinthians 11:29 ).

2 . Perilous . What a catalogue of perils in 2 Corinthians 11:26 . how extreme the one instanced in 2 Corinthians 11:32 , 2 Corinthians 11:33 ! how pathetic and suggestive the expression, "in deaths oft" ( 2 Corinthians 11:23 )! Paul lived on the margin of the next world. Of him was it peculiarly true that he knew not what a day would bring forth.

II. MUCH OF THE PAINFUL AND PERILOUS EXPERIENCE OF THE APOSTLE AROSE FROM HIS MARVELLOUS ZEAL AND ENTERPRISE . He might bare avoided not a little by:

1 . Being only moderately active . That delightful "mean" coveted by so many—it was too mean for Paul!

2 . Being more compliant . If he bad been a man of expediency, and not, as he was, a man of principle . If he had bent to the storm; but he intended that the storm should bend to him, or rather to those God-truths which he proclaimed.

3 . Placing God ' s honour in the second place . The servant was persecuted so vindictively because he would talk so much of his Master. It was not Paul that Jew and Gentile hated so much, but Christ; but where Paul was there men could hear of nothing but the contemned Nazarene;

4 . Loving himself more than a perishing world . It was a question which should suffer, Paul or the world; Paul said, "I will." In his sphere he thus imitated his Lord, who, though he was rich, for our sakes became poor.

III. NO SUFFERING OR PERIL SUCCEEDED IN DAMPING THE APOSTOLIC ARDOUR . How keen must have been his love for Christ and for his fellow men! Ever before him he had the future exaltation of Christ and the "saving some." We haste here a marvellous triumph of mind over matter, and a still more marvellous one of spirituality over carnality. The life of the apostle was so vigorous that he could bear to die daily. What little aches and pains stop us! An avalanche of grief and trial failed to arrest Paul!

IV. IT WAS ONLY WHEN SUBJECTED TO GREAT PRESSURE , AND THEN ONLY UNDER PROTEST , THAT THE APOSTLE ALLOWED HIMSELF TO DWELL UPON THIS PERPETUAL MARTYRDOM . He rejoiced in it; yet he did not like to speak about it. He almost calls himself a fool for doing so. The martyr has sometimes sullied his crown by pride; but the apostolic affliction seemed strangely sanctified to him. Some are not great enough to suffer much for Christ. God does not allow it. It would make them so intolerable that prayer would ascend on all hands for their transference to a world where they would have a humble opinion of themselves. Paul went through all the privation, anguish, peril, catalogued here, and came out from it with the spirit of a little child .—H.