Join for our live streamed Sunday School (9:30am) and Worship Service (10:30am). You can view them HERE.

Anything for Love

2Corinthians: Paul's Most Underappreciated Epistle

Feb 17, 2019


by: Jack Lash Series: 2Corinthians: Paul's Most Underappreciated Epistle | Category: NT books | Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:13–14

I. Introduction
 A. In his letter which we call 2Corinthians, Paul explains himself in response to many criticisms, most of which were generated by some false apostles who had infiltrated the Corinthian church.
 B. 2Corinthians 5:13–14a For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14a For the love of Christ controls us.
II. What is Paul talking about in v.13 “For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.”?
 A. The first half: What’s Paul mean when he says, “if we are beside ourselves, it is for God”?
  1. One of the difficulties of both first and second Corinthians is that we are trying to figure out a conversation when we only hear one side. But the One who inspired both has made sure we have enough information to find the truth we need to know.
  2. Paul seems to be responding to three things:
   a. the claim of his detractors that their public ecstatic practices validate the legitimacy of their ministry over against Paul’s,
   b. the criticism that Paul was too ordinary in his preaching style, too logical, too informational, and
   c. the charge that he was operating out of self-interest and didn’t actually care about the Corinthians.
  3. Paul first answers by referring to his own ecstatic experiences (e.g. 12:1-4; 1Cor.14:15, 18), but says that they are private matters between him and God, not for the sake of ministry.
  4. Secondly, he says that for ministry, he puts on a sound mind in order to persuade men about the truth of the gospel.
  5. His ecstasy, then, is for God. His sound mind is for the people.
 B. What does this say about ecstatic experiences?
  1. Paul is certainly not critical of ecstatic experiences! Paul himself had them and expressed a wish that all the Corinthians could have them (1Cor.14:5).
  2. But ecstatic experiences (which would look to an outsider like you are out of your mind) are not Biblically a criteria by which to judge a man’s true spirituality or qualification for ministry.
  3. You see, when it comes to ecstatic experiences, there is a great temptation to put on a show in from of others in order to make them think you are very spiritual.
  4. This was happening in the Corinthian church, and Paul talks about it extensively in 1Cor.14.
   a. The Corinthians were absorbed with the gift of tongues.  It seems that speaking in tongues was being used as a way to impress others with one’s spirituality.
   b. This is why Paul insists that uninterpreted tongues are not for public use but rather for personal, private intimacy with God.
  5. And then in 2Cor.12:1-4 where Paul informs the Corinthians of his ecstatic experience of heaven, he is clearly embarrassed to talk about these things with them, because he doesn’t want to come across as bragging about his ecstatic experiences.
  6. The other problem with ecstatic experiences is that they can easily be counterfeited.
   a. How can you judge if I had an ecstatic experience or not? It puts people beyond criticism/analysis.
   b. We should all be in favor of deep, spiritual, even mystical experience with God in Christ. However, we should also desire for it to be kept a private matter between people and God.
  7. These temptations continue in many Christian circles and churches today.
   a. Parts of the church today are driven by experientialism. Again, spiritual/emotional experiences are good. But all sorts of people – believers and nonbelievers – have all sorts of emotional experiences. It proves nothing.
  8. Ecstatic experiences have their place. But that place is not in front of others.
   a. “If we are beside ourselves, it is for God.”
  9. There are similar temptations for us who have no temptations in the direction of misusing ecstatic experiences, other ways of impressing others with our spirituality by the way we act.
   a. E.g. long, lofty prayers which make our private prayers look pathetic
 C. Now the second part: “if we are in our right mind, it is for you.” What does Paul mean by this?
  1. In his ministry, Paul did not rely on ecstatic experiences as the basis of his message. He used reason based on truth in order to convince men about Christ. He was of sound mind in order to communicate the truth to people, so much so that apparently he was being criticized for being too reasonable, too logical, too cerebral.
  2. God’s revelation does not come merely through experience, but also through God-given understandable interpretation of that experience, recorded in words and phrases and sentences in the holy Scriptures.
 D. Paul makes clear that experience and emotion must not be the basis of our faith. God wants us to experience Him. God wants us to experience a full range of emotions for His glory. But our faith is never to be based on these things.
  1. The Christian faith rests upon the facts about who God is, what He has done, and what He has said, according to His word.
  2. If we want to be able to give each other guidance and encouragement in the Lord, we need more than ecstatic experiences to do so. We need to know God’s word; we need to know parts which relate to what our friend is struggling with; we need to know where the promises of God are which they need to be reminded of.
  3. And if we ever hope to convince those who don’t yet know the Lord about the reality of Christ, we’re going to have to do more than have very strong feelings about the salvation He won for us. We are going to have to learn about it and understand it and be able to explain it to others. This is what I think Paul means when he talks about being of sound mind for the sake of others.
  4. “If we are in our right mind, it is for you.”
III. In 5:14a Paul concludes his thought with this: FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST CONTROLS US.
 A. Since ecstatic experiences make people put their attention on the one having the experience, I act that way only when I am alone with God and avoid them in public. Since people learn best by well-reasoned explanation, I will continue to minister with rational thinking and sound explanations. For I am controlled by the love of Christ. 
  1. For Paul, ecstatic experiences were not for his own pleasure but rather for God (v.13a). And when he was of sound mind that was not for himself either. It was for others (v.13b) – specifically for the sake of ministry. In both cases he is living in the love of Christ, not acting out of selfishness as he had been accused.
 B. Let’s think about this concept of being controlled by the love of Christ.
  1. The nature of man is selfishness – to do all things for self. But the pattern of Christ is very different. He came and He lived not for Himself but for others – for you and for me.
  2. Now He is instilling that same spirit of self-denying love in those He has called to be His own, working in us so that we will not be controlled by self-love but by the love of Christ.
  3. We all know what it’s like to have some love for someone, and how that’s different from having a love for someone which drives us to act.
  4. God didn’t just have some love for us. His love for us was so great that it constrained/moved Him.
  5. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. – John 3:16 The “so” is important!
  6. Constraining love is what moved God to save us.
  7. And now constraining love is what moves us to help others.
 C. You see, it doesn’t stop with God. God gave His love to apostles and missionaries and evangelists which drove them to bring the gospel all over the world. Paul: “the love of Christ controls us.”
  1. You and I owe our salvation not only to Christ whose love drove Him to the cross, but also to the love of Christ in others who were driven by love to bring us the gospel, or bring the gospel to those who brought us the gospel.
 D. And this is the love God gives His people today in order that they might be driven, in order that they might be compelled, in order that they might be constrained to love one another and to love the world God so loved in John 3:16.
 E. Being compelled by love is not the same as loving out of duty or our of obedience to the law.
  1. This love doesn’t come by trying, this love comes only from God.
  2. Part of becoming a Christian, part of being born again, is being given God’s love for others.
  3. 1John 4:7–8 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God & knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
  4. The word translated controlled in v.14 can have many meanings in Greek, but all of them come from the idea of being seized. We are seized by the love of Christ!
  5. Those seized by the love of Christ are eager to love, to help, looking for opportunities to do good.
 F. The fact is, all of us are seized by things; all of us are constrained by something. What is your heart compelled by?
  1. For some people it’s the love of money.
  2. For some it’s creature comforts.
  3. For others it’s human approval.
 G. People who are not gripped with the love of Christ are generally people who haven’t yet realized how God was gripped with love for them.
 H. Many people think of Christianity as being all about being good, but that’s just a byproduct.
  1. And those people look at someone like Paul and are very impressed. What a good person! I would like to be like that.
  2. Frankly that’s such garbage!
  3. Christianity is not about being a good person, it is all about finding a treasure, finding the ultimate Treasure.
  4. Paul was a bad person – an enemy of the people of God – who found a Treasure.
  5. And that’s what Christians are. They are bad people who have found the treasure of Christ.
  6. Their lives are transformed not by trying hard to be good. Their lives are transformed by the Treasure; their lives are gripped by Love.
 I. Think about how great God’s love for His people must be that it can be reflected through such common, broken, soiled channels as we are! 
  1. The dark side of the moon and the brightness of the Son: a reflection of a reflection.
  2. Where God’s light shines, it’s reflected. It’s not as bright as the original source, of course. Our love will never be as bright as God’s. but there’s always a reflection.
  3. That’s why “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar.” – 1John 4:20
  4. This is such an integral part of being a true believer in Christ that in 1John 3:19–20 John says it’s how we know we’re truly saved. Talking about love he says, “By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.”
   a. Sometimes our hearts condemn us. and our assurance of salvation wavers.  That is when we should look at our hearts and our lives and see that God has given us His love for others and reassure our heart before Him.
IV. Want to learn more about this love? I know of no better place to go than Jonathan Edwards tremendous work on 1Cor.13, entitled CHARITY AND ITS FRUITS. In my opinion it is one of the best Christian books ever written.