Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 11 - The mind of the Servant Jesus Christ. Isa 42:1-4; 2Co 11:16-33.

Class Outline:

Title: Joshua and Judges: The doctrine of leadership part 11 - The mind of the Servant Jesus Christ. ISA 42:1-4; 2CO 11:16-33.

 

Announcementsopening prayer:  

 

3. The Master's master principle: servant and slave of all.

 

ISA 42:1 "Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;

My chosen one in whom My soul delights.

I have put My Spirit upon Him;

He will bring forth justice to the nations.

 

ISA 42:2 "He will not cry out or raise His voice,

Nor make His voice heard in the street.

 

ISA 42:3 "A bruised reed He will not break,

And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;

He will faithfully bring forth justice.

 

ISA 42:4 "He will not be disheartened or crushed,

Until He has established justice in the earth;

And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law."

 

Strength from trust - He is confident that He will complete the work. He has optimism and hope and from this gains an insurmountable tenacity.

 

Optimism is a function of faith. Optimism or hope is a wonderful characteristic in any believer and certainly in a spiritual leader. We all know of the type that is ready to give up at the first hint of difficulty. When God is directing the battle we can confidently say that we don't know how it's going to work, the how is up to God, but we know it's going to work!

 

The Hebrew says that He will not become weak of heart or broken in strength. He saves the half-broken reed, but He cannot be broken until He has finished the work of salvation.

 

He could not be crushed by man. Though they severely abused His body they could not alter His desire. He knew He would complete the work. He was crushed by the Father for the sins of the whole world, but this did not break His strength to continue. He did not quit. He did not sin. He persisted until the work was finished.   

 

Paul faced an incredible amount of trouble on his missionary journeys but he kept going.

 

ROM 15:28

Therefore, when I have finished this [bringing the donation to Jerusalem], and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain.

 

2CO 11:16 Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, that I also may boast a little.

 

2CO 11:17 That which I am speaking, I am not speaking as the Lord would [boasting], but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.

 

2CO 11:18 Since many boast according to the flesh, I will boast also.

 

The Corinthians are attracted to those who boast in the flesh, so Paul says, "I'll boast too." Paul is extremely hesitant and embarrassed to do so, but he thinks it may help deliver the church, which, as he states in this passage (verse 28), is his main burden in life.

 

2CO 11:19 For you, being so wise, bear with the foolish gladly.

 

2CO 11:20 For you bear with anyone if he enslaves you, if he devours you, if he takes advantage of you, if he exalts himself, if he hits you in the face.

 

The corrupt in mind elect for themselves corrupt leaders after their own desires and they get what they paid for, even to smiting on the face.

 

Satan hates his own followers just as much as he hates the children of God. This is true of all those who are filled with love of self and use others to attain power. They hate those who have assisted them since they only have love for themselves.

 

The Corinthians tolerated tyranny, extortion, craftiness, arrogance, violence, and insult. Sarcasm that cut to the bone. The climax of insult, smiting on the face.

 

Those who choose evil leaders are themselves used and abused by those leaders. They reap what they sowed.

 

History is filled with examples of this.

 

Paul uses sharp sarcasm in the hope of snapping the Corinthians out of the fog that they have surrounded themselves with.

 

Paul is taking a page out of Proverbs:

 

PRO 26:5

Answer a fool as his folly deserves,

Lest he be wise in his own eyes.

 

2CO 11:21 To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison [extreme irony]. But in whatever respect anyone else is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am just as bold myself.

 

Fools are incredibly stupid and they never think things through. As things look on the surface or how they look at a quick glance is enough for the fool and he will base all his knowledge on that.

 

The Corinthians thought that Paul's meekness was weakness, when it was really strength. And they thought that the Judaizers' arrogance was power.

 

The meek believer is trusting in the Lord while the arrogant boaster trusts in the flesh. He trusts in his own flesh and hopes in the flesh of others to respond and admire him.

 

2CO 11:22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.

 

2CO 11:23 Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as if insane) I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.

 

"I speak as if insane" = He shouldn't have to do this because the Corinthians should not be this foolish, but because they are, Paul will have to legitimately boast about his credentials as an apostle from God.

 

2CO 11:24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.

 

2CO 11:25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep [the memory survives like a nightmare].

 

Flogging with a whip or rods was forbidden to a Roman citizen yet Paul endured them perchance it might open more doors for the gospel. This is an incredible love of the gospel and his ministry that all of us should ponder deeply.

 

The shipwreck that is recorded in Act 27 happened after he wrote this letter so we would conclude that he was shipwrecked four times. We know nothing of these three shipwrecks.

 

2CO 11:26 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 on the sea, dangers among false brethren;

 

2CO 11:27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

 

The Judaizers visited the safe places; Paul journeyed to the difficult places. But Paul was no ordinary traveler he was a marked man. He had enemies among both the Jews and the Gentiles, and some would like to have killed him.

 

Surely no man ever found glory in such a peck of troubles as Paul has here recounted. His list should shame us all today who are disposed to find fault with our lot in life.

 

2CO 11:28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure upon me [like the pressing of a mob] of concern for all the churches.

 

The great leader has the heart of a shepherd. His #1 concern is the health and prosperity (soul) of the flock.

 

2CO 11:29 Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?

 

"intense concern" - puro,omai [puroomai] = to glow with fire or with heat.

 

Paul's concern for those in the churches glows within him like a fire. When one is led away from the throng by sin and evil that fire burns with compassion and prayer.

 

2CO 11:30 If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness [the sufferings listed above].

 

The false teachers and leaders that have infected the Corinthians cannot boast of any such weaknesses since they are ministers from Satan and his world. They only suffer as ministers of Satan, which is weakness of heart and soul. Satan hates them just as much as he hates the children of God. He is just using them. They cannot suffer in the way that Paul and other servants of God suffer.

 

2CO 11:31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying [since such a list in the life of one man seems improbable].

 

2CO 11:32 In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me,

 

2CO 11:33 and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.

 

Difference between servant of Satan and God: From the ancient city where he was sent with great authority to conquer the Christian community his lot has changed to being secretly let out of a window in the wall to escape arrest.