Jesus answered “Watch out that no one deceives you” Mathew 24:4

2 Corinthians 11 shows Paul’s heart for the Church in Corinth and his concern that they may be fooled by the teachings of the Judaizers. 

Wherever Paul went to preach someone always came along afterwards and tried to turn people away from the message of truth by criticising the person of Paul and poisoning people’s minds against him.  The point is Satan knows he cannot attack the Word of God, so he attacks the messenger instead in his attempt to neutralise the Word. The tragedy then and now is that there isn’t only one Jesus being preached in the world.

Paul was attacked for not being eloquent, for not loving the Corinthians enough because he did not accept their money after he preached.  His response is amazing (v.5-15).

The church at Corinth was in danger of being led astray. The Gospel was at stake. To defend The Message Paul launches his attack and re-establishes his authority in the most unconventional way by boasting ‘like a fool”.  Why? Because there is ONLY ONE JESUS and He is the Jesus that Paul preached. Paul did this out of Love. He had betrothed the Corinthians to Christ. It was his job to keep them safe and present them pure to their one husband – Jesus.

However, Paul says I am not going to compare my ministry against theirs – not by their standards, but by the standards of God. – They have come to make slaves out of you and prey on you – they have come for what they can get.  I am too weak to do that. However, I will keep on fighting, boasting and being a fool until you believe the message and remember what God has done through me in your midst.

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Questions:

Who is Jesus? How did Paul emulate Him? How does your life reflect Jesus to the world? What are the limits to which a Christian can boast?

Prayer:

Father God help us live by the example of servanthood demonstrated by our Lord.