Christ Methodist Church Memphis
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Christ Methodist Church Memphis
Suffering for the Name (All Church Sunday) | Rev. Paul Lawler
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What is Jesus worth to you? In a culture that prizes comfort, success, and security, Scripture asks a much deeper question: Is Christ worthy of your suffering? The Apostle Paul points not to his accomplishments but to his scars, revealing that faithful discipleship isn't measured by comfort but by devotion to the One who is worthy of everything.
Welcome to the podcast of Christ Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Join us as we dive into this week's sermon that challenges our hearts and minds to grow closer to Christ. We pray that your heart is inspired and transformed by God's Word.
SPEAKER_00Amen. If you have your Bibles with you, I invite you to go ahead and open them up to 2 Corinthians chapter 11.
Paul’s Costly Gospel
SPEAKER_00We will be continuing our series through Paul's second letter to Corinth, looking at verses 16 through 33. Hear the word of the Lord. I repeat, let no one think me foolish, but even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. What I am saying with this boastful confidence I say not as the Lord would, but as a fool. Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast, for you gladly bear with fools being wise yourself. For if you bear with someone for you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs or strikes you in the face. To my shame I must say we were too weak for that. But whatever anyone else dares to boast of, I'm speaking as a fool, I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one. I'm talking like a madman, with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and day I was adrift at sea, on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure, and apart from other things there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is made to fall and I'm not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. At Damascus, the governor under King Aritus was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_02We welcome you this morning. I also want to express happy birthday to America and remind all of us that as Grant prayed a moment ago, as citizens of the kingdom of heaven, that we're instructed to pray regularly for our nation, for its leaders, and for its welfare. And we do celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of our nation. So there are moments in life when we discover what we truly love by what we're willing to endure. We discover what we truly love by what we're willing to suffer for. A parent will lose sleep in caring for a child. A soldier will endure hardship for the sake of his country. A husband and wife will sacrifice comfort for the sake of healing their marriage, or a missionary will leave familiarity for the cause of Jesus Christ among the earth as the love of God compels them. What we're willing to suffer for reveals our devotion. The question is not whether we will or we won't suffer in this life, because when you read the Bible, you see that Jesus and others clearly instructed us that there would be seasons in a fallen world where we would suffer. But the question, the deeper question in light of the text that was read this morning, is what or who is worthy of suffering for? Because in our culture, we often measure success by comfort, influence, recognition, and image. We celebrate those who often persevere and rise above hardship. We admire those who overcome obstacles. But the apostle Paul this morning gives a very different picture of suffering and why there are moments where the cause or the who is worthy of suffering. And so in 2 Corinthians 11, what the Apostle Paul does is open a window into his own life, something that really most of us would avoid talking, or let me phrase it this way, would prefer to avoid talking about. And it's the cost of carrying the name of Jesus. The cost of following Jesus Christ. Many of us know, as you've been following along in this teaching series, that Paul is defending his apostleship not because he wants attention, but because the Corinthians have been influenced by false influences, false apostles who were boasting about their credentials, their abilities, and their spiritual accomplishments. And in the process, the people of God were being led astray. And so what happens here is Paul is proving the worth of suffering for Jesus and the reality of his apostleship. He refuses to compete on their terms. What he does is instead of listing his achievement, Paul lists his scars. Instead of pointing to his victories, the apostle Paul points to his suffering. Instead of saying, hey, look how impressive I am. In other words, what he does is he declares, look at what I've endured. Look at what I've been willing to suffer out of my love for Jesus and my love for you. Which is why the title of this morning's message is Suffering for the Name. Because the Bible talks about every believer having a first love. You may even remember in Revelation chapter 3 when the church has grown lukewarm and she's not hot for Jesus, and Jesus says, You're not cold either. And because you're lukewarm, I would rather spit you out of my mouth. And he out, he indicts the church at Laodicea for forsaking her first love. And when Jesus Christ is our first love, there will be moments when we suffer for his name, suffer for following him. And so we're going to look at five areas that Paul outlines for us out of this passage this morning. First of all, Paul points us to this
Strength in Weakness
SPEAKER_02reality: the world boasts in strength, but the gospel boasts in weakness. Look with me at verses 16 and 18, because Paul starts this with a very counterintuitive, surprising statement. I repeat, let no one think of me foolish, but even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. What I'm saying with this boastful confidence, I say not with the Lord's authority, but as a fool. Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. And so what Paul is doing here is saying, hey, look, if there are people who can play this game, I can play this game too. But I'm going to boast in a different way, because the Apostle Paul knows something important. He knows that the kingdom of God does not operate on the values of this world. The world says, show your success, wear it on your sleeve, hide your weakness, promote your accomplishments, protect your image. But the gospel says, Christ in you is strong when you are weak. The gospel says that in your weakness, God's grace, his empowerment is available to multiply toward you. The gospel tells us our identity is not found in what we achieve, but who we belong to. In fact, later in this chapter, in chapter 12, verse 9, actually the next chapter, Paul says, My grace is sufficient for you, or Jesus is saying to Paul, for my power is made perfect in weakness. And Paul understands something very important that God gives us the opportunity to understand and grow in and well as well. And that is that weakness is not always a sign that God has abandoned you. That oftentimes weakness is the very place that God is allowing so he can demonstrate his grace in your life. Loved ones, there is a temptation in the Christian life that goes like this. If I'm faithful enough, then as I'm faithful, God will remove every difficulty from my life. And in Western culture, the unfortunate thing is that there are a lot of TV preachers that have taught things like that, and they're just blatantly false. If I pray enough, we'll never hurt. If I obey enough, life will become easy. These are fallacies. They do not align with the reality of what God and His love for you revealed in His Word. That's not the message of Scripture. In fact, we remember, as we're all being conformed to the image of Jesus, that Jesus Himself suffered. The cross was not a detour from the will of God. The cross was the will of God. And sometimes the most faithful place that we can be is in a faithful place of carrying our own cross for Christ's sake. So the world boasts in strength, but the gospel boasts in weakness. But Paul the apostle, he doesn't leave us there. Let's
Following Jesus Costs
SPEAKER_02keep moving. Because, secondly, what Paul is lifting up here, the apostle, is that faithfulness to Jesus will cost something. It's going to cost you something to follow Jesus. Hear that Western culture. Not just Christ Church, but hear that Western culture. Christ's followers in Western culture. Listen to what he said in verse 23 through 27. This is a paragraph, mouthful. Try not to go mentally water skiing. Listen to this. Are they servants of Christ? I'm a better one. I am talking like a madman with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes, less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day adrift at sea on frequent journeys, danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship through many sleepless nights in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Now think about that. What a resume. It's like it's just the opposite that any of us would ever put on a job application. We would say, I have experience, I have leadership skills, I have accomplishments, but the apostle Paul says, I have scars. Five times beaten, three times with rods, stoned, shipwrecked, imprisoned, hungry, cold, rejected, betrayed, threatened with death. And yet Paul doesn't say, Oh my, look at how unlucky I am. He says, Look what I've endured for the sake of my love for Jesus Christ. Look at what I've endured for the sake of loving his body. Look at what I've endured for the sake of seeing that people hear the truth, the love of God through his gospel that delivers people from the sinners of separation from God, death, hell, and reconciles them in the love of God. Look at what I've endured. And church family, I think we would all agree that there is a difference between suffering that comes simply because in a fallen world life is hard sometime, and suffering that comes because you are faithful. Sometimes we suffer because of our own mistakes. Sometimes we suffer because we live in a fallen world, but sometimes we suffer because we refuse to compromise our love and our allegiance to our King, Jesus Himself. Didn't Jesus in one of his statements say in John 15, 18, if the world hates you, if the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. Following Jesus has always carried a cross. It's always carried a cost. The early Christians knew this. They lost jobs, they lost relationships, they lost social status, some lost their lives, and yet they were willing to suffer because Jesus is worthy. The question is not, will following Jesus cost me something? Jesus said up front that it would. The question is, is Jesus worthy of paying the price? Is Jesus worthy of suffering? I've had a book I read years ago called Early Methodist Under Persecution. And if you'll indulge me this morning, I want to read to you just a couple of excerpts so that we realize the price that's been paid by our foremothers and forefathers that we would even sit in this sanctuary together this morning. The Methodists, early Methodists, were accused of the grossest crimes, some of which were high treason because of the way the gospel of Christ was affecting people. All kinds of false reports were circulated. Each loyalty seemed to add something new to the list of problems. So the Methodists were not only everywhere spoken against, but they were also everywhere falsely accused. These reports, the preachers of the day were compelled to face, which they did with undaunting courage. While the preachers were preaching, horns were blown, bells were rung, dogs were brought up to disturb, roosters were set to fighting, cattle were driven through the audiences, mud and dirt were thrown, and also other missiles were hurled at the speaker. These not only annoyed, but often bruised and brought blood. The preachers often preached with blood trickling down their faces, caused by these injuries. There was, this was much more true of the lay preachers than it was of Whitfield and Wesley. Let me read one more little excerpt. In the more violent outbreaks, the people suffered terribly. Many had all the windows of their houses broken. So prevalent was this in certain places that men riding through the town sometime afterward could tell the homes of the Methodists by the condition of the windows. Faithfulness to Jesus costs something to those who made a way possible for us to worship here. Faithfulness to Jesus will cost you something.
Shepherd’s Burden
SPEAKER_02And Paul goes on as he writes to clarify a third matter, and that is note this, church family, that the greatest burden was not what happened to Paul. That's not what he magnifies most, but what happened through Paul. Note this, because after listing all his physical suffering, he adds something rather remarkable. Look with me, verse 28. He says, and apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Now think about that, because you need to think more deeply than just he has some anxiousness. We need to ask the question, what's the why behind the anxiousness? Because after everything the Apostle Paul experienced beatings, imprisonment, danger, hunger, persecution, the thing that weighed on him the most was not his physical suffering.
SPEAKER_03The thing that weighed on him the most was his love for God's people. The thing that weighed on him the most was the spiritual condition of the bride of Christ.
SPEAKER_02The thing that weighed on him the most was people hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ clearly. This man of God carried a shepherd's heart. He didn't merely preach to crowds, he loved people, he prayed for people, he carried people, which tells us something, loved ones. A true servant of Jesus doesn't merely carry their Bible. A true servant of Jesus carries people. That's why there are people praying for you right now in that prayer room off the Northhex.
SPEAKER_03Because we care.
SPEAKER_02Because we know God, God, we're trusting you to show up in some way to speak to the hearts of your bride. This is why ministry, loved ones, and remember, priesthood of all believers, when we say ministry, that's not for preacher types only. That's for every, all of us. And this is why ministry is both beautiful and costly.
SPEAKER_03This is to love people means you're opening your heart to both joy and deep sorrow.
SPEAKER_02Because when people experience coming to know Jesus, you rejoice. When people experience healing, you rejoice. When people walk away from God, you grieve. When families are restored, marriages are healed, you celebrate.
SPEAKER_03But when families are broken, you weep. You know, isn't it true that love, true love, always makes us vulnerable? Because you can't love without being vulnerable.
SPEAKER_02Jesus did not save us without being vulnerable. He didn't save us at a distance. He entered this world. He entered your brokenness. He entered our pain. He carried your sin on a cross. He who knew no sin became your sin, 2 Corinthians 5. He carried your sin. He bore what you could not bore. The cross is the ultimate picture of love carrying a burden. And this is why what Paul's making clear, the apostle, the greatest burden was not what was happening to Paul in his physical suffering, but what happened through Paul because he loved the body. He loved the
Glory Through Weakness
SPEAKER_02bride. Fourthly, suffering for Jesus produces a different kind of glory. Now there are lots of ways to define glory, but one thing that we see from Genesis to Revelation is the consistency that we exist to glorify God as God's people. God raised you up for a purpose, to love him with your heart, soul, mind, and strength, to bring glory to him. This is why our mission statement as a church family begins with the phrase, we exist to glorify God before anything else. We glorify God with our lives. We do this when we're on the mountain, we do this when we're in the valley. And so Paul writes verse 30 if I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. This is one of the most important statements in Scripture.
SPEAKER_03Because when Paul says this, we do need to ask a question. Why? Why?
SPEAKER_02Because it was in the Apostle Paul's weakness is where the power of God was displayed. We're going to talk about this much more deeply next week.
SPEAKER_03And what Paul's teaching all of us is that in his humanity, he's not perfect. He's weak.
SPEAKER_02And out of his weakness, God is demonstrating his strength. A cracked vessel can still carry water. A wounded servant can still be used of God. And a broken heart can still become a place where God's love flows. We often want God to remove every weakness in our lives, but sometimes it's our weakness that God is using to cause us to be dependent upon Him. This is why I've said to you many times to encourage you, believer, that for a Christian, your weakness is not necessarily your vulnerability. Your weakness is your strength because that's the place that causes you to depend upon God.
SPEAKER_03My wife, Missy, worked with stained glass a number of years ago.
SPEAKER_02She would weave these broken pieces of stained glass together. And I kind of thought about as she was doing her work, I was like, huh, all this brokenness, all these broken pieces. And yet when you put them together and the light shines through the brokenness, something beautiful emerges.
SPEAKER_03And if you'll let him, that's what God does through your life, through your brokenness.
SPEAKER_02He does not waste your suffering. He does not waste your pain. He does not waste your scars. When surrendered to Christ, even your wounds can become windows through which his grace shines. And this is why Paul teaches us here: suffering produces a different kind of glory. Because in your weakness, his strength is magnified. And again, we're going to get more deep into this next week. That's where the text takes
Jesus Is Worth Everything
SPEAKER_02us. And then finally, where Paul the apostle takes us is into this final arena in this text. And that is this the name of Jesus is worth everything. Everything. Now, before you accuse me of just that's preacher talk, or before you accuse me of that's just what pastors are supposed to say, I want to lovingly appeal to your logic, to your reason. All of history is culminating in Jesus. That's what the Bible teaches. That all of us will stand before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. That's what the Bible teaches. All of history is summing up with every tribe and tongue and nation worshiping Jesus on a recreated heaven and earth. I would submit to you, this is not religion. I would submit to you, this is ultimate reality. And if it is ultimate reality, the name of Jesus Christ is worth everything, is not hyperbole. It is true, and it can't be more true. And so the final verse of this passage, Paul tells a personal story. He says in verse 32 through 33, at Damascus, the governor under King Eratas, was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.
SPEAKER_03Now I don't know what you're thinking, but I know that when I read that at a surface level, I go, What? What does that have to do with anything? I'm kind of like, that almost sounds humorous.
SPEAKER_02After all the dramatic suffering that you've outlined, beating shipwrecks, imprisonments, you end this section with, by the way, bada boom, bada bang, I was let down in a basket.
SPEAKER_03What is this? Well, the great apostle Paul, the man who preached before thousands and kings, and God used to change history, was lowered down outside a wall in a basket like a common fugitive. Why include that detail?
SPEAKER_02Because Paul, and I trust that God, through his servant Paul, wants you and me to understand something. The Christian life is not about looking impressive.
SPEAKER_03The Christian life is about being faithful.
SPEAKER_02Sometimes faithfulness looks like being willing to be lowered in a basket because God has more work for you to do. Paul did not suffer because he enjoyed suffering. He suffered because he loved Jesus. The name of Jesus was more valuable to him than his comfort. Therefore, the name of Jesus was more valuable than his reputation, more valuable than his safety, more valuable than life itself. And when we returned, you may remember the story that one of the members of Christchurch, Lisa Knoll, her ministry partner, had cotton in her ear. And after a couple of days, someone said to this young lady who's about 33, 34 years old, What's going on? What's going on with the cotton in your ear? As she was out serving, sharing the gospel with our team.
SPEAKER_03And she said, I used to persecute Christians. But deep down I knew what they were saying was true.
SPEAKER_02And I ended up coming to know Jesus Christ. Not long after coming to know Jesus Christ, I began to share the love of God through his gospel with others. And a man that used to be one of the leaders or was one of the leaders with the group of people that I used to be friends with, that we persecuted Christians together, he took his fist and struck me across my head and busted my eardrum.
SPEAKER_03And it's still healing. Was she deterred? She kept persevering through the suffering. Kept proclaiming the name.
SPEAKER_02I think about a brother I knew several years ago that the wind began to blow in his office. I'll use a metaphor, just very general. The wind began to blow in his office in a very ungodly direction.
SPEAKER_03And he had to take a stand. He chose to take a stand. And for about a year and a half, people he worked with would barely speak to him.
SPEAKER_02Even though the stand he was taking was very Christ-centered, godly. He was gracious about it, loving about it, but he just wouldn't compromise his conviction.
SPEAKER_03He suffered for the name.
SPEAKER_02Or I remind you again, church family, the very first Methodist martyr, William Seymour, who was a layperson, a stockbroker in London, who had come to know Jesus Christ through the field preaching of Wesley and Whitfield. And when he came to know Christ, he too began proclaiming the gospel openly, and he was stoned, and his right eye was put out. He laid in bed for three days. And after three days, when he was strengthened, blind in one eye, went back out to the fields and began sharing the gospel again. Only this time when they stoned him, they killed him. I am not trying to glorify suffering. That is not your pastor's heart.
SPEAKER_03But what I am saying to you, Western Christian, is that Jesus is worthy of loving. Jesus is worthy of our affection.
SPEAKER_02Jesus Christ, the one who came and hung on a cross for you, is worthy of your loyalty. He is worthy of enduring hardship. He is worthy of your suffering, Christian, because He is. He was and He is and He forever will be. And all of our lives are going to be summed up in Him. He is worthy. Oh, let that be so in your heart, loved ones. In fact, I invite you, even right now, decide in your heart. Just respond to Him right now, where you are. Jesus, you're worthy. Jesus, posture my life where you're my first love. Posture my life where I consider you worthy of the price that's to be paid in following you. Didn't Jesus talk about these things? He said, What man sets his hand to a plow and begins plowing and looks back? He said, First, a man or woman in following Jesus counts the cost. In fact, Jesus said things that are even heavier than that. He said, This if you deny me before other people, I'll deny you before the Father. He's worthy, loved ones. Oh, set your heart like flint. To love him with your heart, soul, mind, and strength, for him to be your first love. And as your first love, embrace the willingness to endure, to glorify his name for the sake of his glory in your life, through your life. In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_03Amen. Let's pray.
Rekindle First Love
SPEAKER_03So I want to issue an invitation. And here's the invitation. It's very simple.
SPEAKER_02If your heart has grown lukewarm, just lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus, I want to invite you to confess it to the Lord, to receive his forgiveness and his love afresh, and allow your first love of Jesus to be rekindled this morning.
SPEAKER_03Just encourage you to respond to him right where you are.
SPEAKER_02If you don't know him, if you're aware that there are people around you that know him, but deep in your heart, you know you don't know him. I just want to remind you he loves you. Jesus Christ died on a cross for your sins. And if you will come to him and surrender your heart and life, he extends forgiveness to you. He'll take you into his family. You just simply move toward him in faith, confess that he's God's Son, He's risen from the dead, and you trust that He's forgiven your sins at the cross. He's gracious, He loves you, He's merciful, He knows how to give you a brand new start. He doesn't condemn you. He wants to give you life. And just pray that you draw near to Him as He draws near to you. We pray all these things that they be activated among us. In Jesus' name. Amen.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the podcast for Christ Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. We pray that today's message has inspired and encouraged you in your walk with Christ. To stay connected with our church community, visit us online at Christchurch Methodist.org. We hope to see you this upcoming Sunday for worship as we seek to glorify God and make disciples of Jesus Christ among all peoples.