Paul’s Ministry As An Apostle

Transcript

GR 1786
10/19/2014
Paul's Ministry as an Apostle
1 Corinthians 1:1
Gil Rugh

It's our regular pattern, if you've been at Indian Hills very long you're familiar with it, to move through the Scripture book by book. It's not the only way to study the Scripture, but when God did direct the writing of His Word He did put it in this kind of order. So I think as the backbone for our studies the most effective way to move through the Word of God is to take it a book at a time, or as we are looking at in 2 Corinthians, a letter at a time. But the Spirit of God directed in not only the writing but the order and what is covered and preserved it for us. So we usually just start at the first verse and move our way through until we get to the last verse of this book or letter. And that way we are sure to cover everything God has given. We don't do a lot of preliminary analysis of the letter. When the Corinthians would have heard this, they would have received it from Paul and someone would have stood up before the congregation and read it to them. Then there might have been some explanation along the way.

So we've just started. We looked at some of the background of 2 Corinthians, and we're going to look a little bit more at that and then move into just the opening verse or two of that letter today. There will be some repetition if you've been here for our other studies because Paul begins most of his letters in a very similar way, setting the same foundation in the greetings and background that he gives concerning himself, any who may be with him, and then the words of greeting.

As we talked about in our previous study, Paul founded the church at Corinth on his Second Missionary Journey. That was recorded in Acts 19, and we looked a little bit at that. He spent eighteen months in the city of Corinth, ministering the Word and there was good response to the Word of God during that ministry. Why don't you put up the Second Missionary Journey of Paul, and you can see something of the trip that he took. They all start in Antioch. Jerusalem is down just off the map, so you can see where you are, north, and get an idea at least. He went on his Second Journey through the area below Galatia there, of Lycaonia as you have it, and you can see some of the churches there, I don't know if you can read them—Lystra being a key one, Derbe, where he ministered the Word of God on the First Journey. On this Second Journey he continues through there. Now on the First Journey evidently Timothy was saved and so when Paul takes the Second Journey and about a year has gone by, he picks up Timothy. Then he'll journey over, we saw, he ends up moving from Troas, crossing the sea there, and into Macedonia, the northern part of Greece. Then he proceeds down and comes to the bottom there which is the province of Achaia, and that's where Corinth is. And he spends eighteen months there.

Now put up the Third Missionary Journey. And you see some similarity, but on the Third Missionary Journey he goes to Ephesus in Asia Minor. He wasn't permitted by God to go into Asia Minor on that Second Missionary Journey, and he didn't go there on the First. But on the Third Missionary Journey he not only goes to Ephesus, but he spends three years there. It's from Ephesus that he writes 1 Corinthians.

Back up to 1 Corinthians 16:8, “I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective service has opened for me.” So he is in Ephesus when he writes, we know that during that three-year time. He may have made a trip over across, directly across from Ephesus you come to Cenchrea and Corinth, Cenchrea being a seaport there and then a short hop up to Corinth. Take about a week, looks short but in those days on a sailing ship it would have been about a week's trip. He may have been over there, we'll talk more about that as we move through the letter and some other things related. But he does write the first letter to the Corinthians from Ephesus. Then he is going to write the second letter a little later. He's going to leave Ephesus and journey up and cross over into Greece, into Macedonia, and while he is in Macedonia he'll write the second letter to the Corinthians. And that could have been anywhere from six months to eighteen months, depending on how you connect certain things, certain events. But it wasn't that long of a time between 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.

We know Paul wrote 2 Corinthians from Macedonia. Turn to 2 Corinthians 8:1, and this has to do with the collection Paul is taking among the churches in Greece. “Now brethren, I wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia.” Then come over to 2 Corinthians 9:1, “It is superfluous for me to write to you about this ministry to the saints, for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the Macedonians, namely that Achaia has been prepared since last year. And they have been motivated by your zeal.” So Corinth is down in the southern province of Achaia and that's primarily what Paul would be referring to since that's the central church there. But he is writing from Macedonia. Then he said, “I have sent,” verse 3, “the brethren in order that our boasting about you may not be made empty in this case so that, as I was saying, you might not be unprepared.” Paul's concern, he has been telling them what the Corinthians and others in Achaia have promised to do, regarding this gift.

Now Paul is coming through Macedonia and that has encouraged the Macedonian churches to give, but verse 5, “I thought it necessary to urge the brethren that they would go on ahead to you and arrange beforehand your previously promised bountiful gift, so it would be ready as a bountiful gift, not affected by covetousness.” “Because if you are unprepared,” verse 4,” both you and I will be put to shame.” So we know he is in Macedonia when he writes this. There doesn't seem to be any disagreement about that. He would have written 1 Corinthians about 55 A.D., 2 Corinthians a little later—55 or 56 A.D., in there.

Now Paul's Second Missionary Journey when he established the church was around 50 to 51 A.D.. Remember he was there around a year and a half. You see the church was about four years old when he wrote 1 Corinthians and maybe five years old when he wrote 2 Corinthians. This is not a very old church, five years when he writes 2 Corinthians. And this is not the second letter he wrote, 1 Corinthians wasn't the first letter he wrote.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 5. Paul makes reference to a previous letter here that we really don't know anything about, but we know he wrote a letter because in 1 Corinthians 5:9 he says, “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people, but I didn't mean unsaved immoral people,” the people of the world and so on. So we know he wrote a letter prior to 1 Corinthians. It wasn't the Spirit of God's intention that that letter be preserved. And the content of it is not of particular importance, then, to us. But just a note here, Paul has had much contact with this church through different visits and different letters. And we'll make reference to the possibility of another letter that has not been recorded as well, as we move further into 2 Corinthians.

So between his contacts and his letter this church has been on the apostle's heart and these are sizable letters. 1 Corinthians runs as we have it to 16 chapters, 2 Corinthians has 13 chapters. As he writes 2 Corinthians it's a church that is about five years old. Amazing to me how much trouble a church can have in such a short period of time. Let me just remind you what was going on in the church at Corinth in the first letter, and things haven't gotten a lot better when we have the second letter. Keep in mind Paul had a previous letter before 1 Corinthians and the visits he has.

Come to 1 Corinthians 1, we'll just note some of the highlights of the problems in this church. They were a church characterized by divisions. After Paul in the first nine verses gives some opening comments and complimentary things, verse 11, “I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you.” Evidently some people from the Corinthian church had informed Paul of divisions in the church. “Each one of you is saying, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas, I am of Christ.” You have a church divided among their favorite personality, and these divisions are a cause of difficulty through the church. It divides the church.

You come to 1 Corinthians 3:1, Paul says, “I could not speak to you as to spiritual men but as to men of flesh,” carnal people, fleshly people, “as to infants in Christ.” You ought to have outgrown this. The church is only four years old at this time but they ought to have matured beyond where they were. They are just acting like newborn babies. “I gave you mild to drink, not solid food. You are not yet able to receive it.” You are fleshly, there is jealously, strife among you. You are walking like men who didn't have the Spirit. This is an immature church. It's a young church but it's far less mature than it ought to be by this time. There is arrogance that pervades the church and its actions, the people in it.

Down in 1 Corinthians 4:6 Paul says I have used myself and Apollos as pictures for you, figuratively applying these things to us. The end of verse 6, “so that no one of you may become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. Who regards you as superior? What do you have you didn't receive? If you received it why do you boast as if you hadn't received it?” Then a little bit of sarcasm. “You are already filled, you have already become rich. You have become kings without us.” In other words you are in the kingdom, you have arrived. And he contrasts that. He says I wish you were kings, then we would reign with you because when Christ comes and establishes the kingdom, all of us as believers will share in the reign. You are arrogant. You think you are better than even the apostles.

When Paul says how he sees himself as an apostle and other apostles, I think God has exhibited us apostles as last of all. Verse 10, “We are fools for Christ's sake, you are prudent in Christ; we are weak but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor.” And on he goes. You see something of the arrogance even against the apostles, even against Paul. And this is going to be an ongoing problem when we come to the second letter that pervades the whole letter. Paul will spend most of the first part of the letter showing his ministry, and then the last part, chapters 10-13, defending his apostleship. Sad commentary on this church.

They had immorality being practiced in the church. In 1 Corinthians 5:1, “it is actually reported there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind that doesn't even exist among the Gentiles,” unbelieving people. The church has immorality going on.

1 Corinthians 6:1, “does anyone of you when he has a cast against his neighbor dare to go to law before the unrighteous, not before the saints?” They are going to law courts against one another, believer against believer going to secular courts, unbelieving judges to resolve disputes. You'll note the repeated question which is a rebuke, starting verse 2, “do you not know;” verse 3, “do you not know;” verse 9, “do you not know;” verse 15, “do you not know;” verse 16, “do you not know;” verse 19, “do you not know.” I mean a constant challenge to this church—what's wrong? Sort of like you might say to one of your kids, don't you know any better? That's not a question that needs an answer, you're really telling them you should know better, there is no excuse for your conduct. That's how Paul has to address this church.

In 1 Corinthians 8 and 9 it doesn't get any better. They know about Christian liberty just enough because they are fleshly, they are so immature that they misuse their liberty. And it's another cause of division in the body, an arrogance. So he starts out 1 Corinthians 8, the end of verse 1, “knowledge makes arrogant, love edifies.” Then he goes on to rebuke them for the misuse of their liberty and its selfishness. They challenge Paul's apostleship in 1 Corinthians 9. “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle?” He has to give a defense of his apostleship and how he functioned as an apostle for the benefit of others that they should learn from.

You get to 1 Corinthians 11, things aren't getting any better. Even when they get together to observe the Lord's Supper and be reminded of the sacrifice of Christ that has brought to them His salvation and joined them in a relationship of oneness with Christ and with one another, their observance of the Lord's Supper is just another occasion for division in the church. Down in verse 17, “in giving this instruction I do not praise you, you come together not for the better but for the worse.” When you come together as a church family, it's worse. Worse things happen, not better. Even when you are observing the Lord's Table. Verse 18, “in the first place when you come together as a church I hear there are divisions that exist among you.” And those manifest themselves even when you share in the Lord's Supper. When you come to 1 Corinthians 12-14, their abuse of spiritual gifts. And he has to explain the gifts and they are not a cause of arrogance, boasting and pride. I have a better gift than you, I am more important than you kind of attitude.

And in 1 Corinthians 15 you find that there were some teachers being tolerated in the church who denied the reality of bodily resurrection. How does a church get to be such a mess in just five years? Four years for the first letter? Then you are going to have the second letter to the Corinthians and you're going to find there have been some positive responses but Paul still has to spend most of that letter showing that he is a genuine apostle. And then showing the difference between him and the false apostles that were being tolerated. And by the time you get to the end of 2 Corinthians he says if a false apostle who is a representative of the devil comes and preaches on his own authority, you give him a gracious welcome. But if someone like me, a genuine apostle, you are constantly attacking me. What a church! We sometime think, why don't we have less problems in our church? Because the devil is always on the attack. We say, we want to have church just like the New Testament. Well, here is one. Not exactly the pattern we want to follow, is it?

And you realize Paul will have good things to say, he does in the first letter. He'll begin by complimenting them and God's work of grace in their lives. But that does not keep him from addressing those problems that must be addressed and must be addressed firmly. Love is not overlooking the problem, love is dealing in truth with the problem. So difficult ministry.

Come to 2 Corinthians, and what we're going to do is just pick up here. Paul begins as he did the first letter, and it's almost the same beginning. And normal, this is the way letters began in that day. We close our letters by identifying ourselves and giving a greeting or a wish like best wishes, sincerely, and you give your name and so on. Here in biblical times that all went at the front, which makes more sense. If you get a long letter and you didn't see anything to indicate who it was coming from, you have to turn to the end if you don't know who wrote it. So it's nice, it's right up front.

It starts out by Paul. And we are familiar with Paul, and he also had the name Saul. And the name Paul means little or humble. Some think that this was the Christian name given him after his conversion. Some think it was related to his stature. Whatever. Probably it's a name he had from birth along with Saul because remember when Paul was at Philippi he told the authorities there he was born a Roman citizen. And as a Roman citizen he would have had a Roman name, Paul being the Latin name. It would have been his Roman name. Now he is also Jewish and he was of the tribe of Benjamin. And the first king of Israel was Saul, and Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin. So naturally the connection given to this Jewish family. We name our Jewish son Saul after the first king of Israel from our tribe Benjamin. And he would also be given a name reflecting his position as a Roman. And it was common in those days to give the two names similar in sounding. And that would be true here as we even have it in English, would be true also in the original as they would have been given. Saul and Paul, they sound very much alike. Silas and Silvania, another example of names for the same person, a Jewish and a Roman name. So he is Paul, converted on the Damascus Road. Acts 9 is the record.

He identifies himself as an apostle of the Christ Jesus by the will of God. And this repetition comes up again and again in his letters. It is almost the same kind of introduction beginning in the first letter to the Corinthians, but it is true in his other letters. Because this is of foundational importance, this is what gives authority to the rest of this letter. It's not just a letter from a friend, from an important person. This is a letter from a man of unique position. And so what he has to say carries weight beyond what the average Christian would have. He is an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.

The word apostle is a rather common word and we have it used in the New Testament in a variety of ways. We think of it primarily as the twelve apostles. It is a compound word that means to be sent from and it was used of anyone who was sent or came as a representative of another person. It can be used in a more general sense of apostles of the churches in the New Testament, meaning they were sent representing a church or a group of churches. They were not part of the apostolic circle like Paul was admitted to the twelve, as we would know it. Sometimes people get confused and think maybe these people are apostles like Paul. But you could use this word just as those who were sent as emissaries or representatives between churches. So if we send someone representing Indian Hills, we could say he is an apostle from Indian Hills. But he wouldn't be an apostle in the biblical sense. In New Testament times it is used that way.

Paul's apostleship is different. He is an apostle, not of the churches, he is an apostle of Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus. He uses Jesus Christ in the first letter and uses Christ Jesus. Originally Christ, Cristos, meant the anointed one, the Messiah. But it comes to be joined together as the name and title of Christ. Obviously it always carries that connotation. He's the Messiah, but He is Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus. Clearly identifying Him. I am His representative, I am an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. I hold this position not because the other apostles had chosen him, not because he decided he wanted that, not because the churches voted him in. He was appointed by God.

Come back to Acts 9. This becomes crucial for the letter that Paul is writing. It is his position as an apostle that will come under relentless attack because if you can try to discredit him, you discredit the message he is bringing. And that's the intention of the devil—to send false apostles with a false message and have them accepted, and the genuine apostle with God's message rejected. In Acts 9 Paul has been confronted by the resurrected Christ on the Damascus Road. Ananias the prophet is sent to restore Paul or Saul's sight. He was blinded by the light and Ananias is to be sent to him. And Ananias is reluctant. He says, “I know about this man, he comes with authority from the chief priest to persecute believers in the church.” But verse 15, “The Lord said to him, go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine.” That's where his authority comes from. I have chosen him. Some people have a problem with the doctrine of election. All of us wrestle with what is involved in the doctrine of God's sovereignty and election. Here is what is said, “I have chosen him.” Saul was not looking for Christ, searching out the salvation found in Him. He was looking for Christians that he could persecute, jail and kill. But God had chosen him and He just intervenes in His life on the Damascus Road. And He is never the same. He had been chosen “to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake.” Isn't it interesting, we think of the greatness of Paul and the ministry God entrusted to him, but that also entailed great suffering because he would be so clearly and boldly and importantly identified with the Christ that he served, that the opposition against him would be intense.

Come over to Galatians 1. Paul an apostle, there he is identifying himself. Then note the parentheses, “Not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead.” Let me establish here what I mean by being an apostle, I mean a full apostle like Peter, James, John and the others. I am part of that unique circle. I have not been sent from men, I did not come through the agency of men, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father.

Come down to verse 15, “but when God,” and he talks about he was extremely zealous for his Jewish traditions. But verse 15, “but when God who set me apart from my mother's womb and called me through His grace.” You see Paul traces God's plan for him not back to the Damascus Road, but back to the time when he was conceived in the womb. Now that plan did not become evident until the Damascus Road and subsequent events. But God is sovereign in it. And we struggle with the responsibility of man and the sovereignty of God, but don't abandon one for the other. God is completely, absolutely sovereign and we are completely, absolutely, fully responsible. And I don't have to put it all perfectly together. I know He is totally sovereign and I know He holds me fully accountable. And He has to work that out, I don't. I just have to believe what He has revealed. That doesn't mean we don't study it, sort it through, try to come as clear in our understanding of both, but I can't just pick and hold this one and don't hold this one. I hold them both. But here you see the emphasis on the sovereignty of God. He called and set me apart from my mother's womb. And in His time He called me through His grace and He was pleased to reveal His Son in me. All the credit goes to God, I've finally found what I was looking for. No, that's not what I was looking for, but He was pleased to reveal Himself to me. And ultimately that's true of each and every one of us who were saved, who is saved. God was pleased at a certain point in my life, He used a variety of things, maybe a variety of people in His grace to finally touch my heart. He was pleased to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him among the Gentiles. So I didn't go up and talk to the other apostles, God gave me what I was to preach.

Let me just say something about an apostle here generally. The twelve apostles, this unique group of men. I say that because I've mentioned to you in other studies, the devil is always working to corrupt biblical truth. There are churches now that claim to be headed by apostles, there is a movement called the revival of the five-fold ministry coming from Ephesians 4 where He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors, teachers. Those five areas. So they say in these last days God is reviving the ministry of apostle and prophets. So the title of this book is The New Apostolic Churches. It explains how God is now reinstituting as these men have appointed themselves and appointed one man to be the super apostle who appoints other apostles. It has nothing to do with biblical apostles. And because their churches grow and become multiple thousands and they supposedly do miracles, Christians get confused.

We ought to be clear, to be an apostle as the Apostle Paul was, there were three things required. We've looked at these a number of times, you ought to have them fixed in your mind. First, he had to have seen Jesus Christ bodily alive after His resurrection so he could be, as Acts 1:22 says, “an eyewitness of the resurrection.” I haven't just been told Christ was raised from the dead, I saw Him after His resurrection. Come back to 1 Corinthians 9. Remember Paul's apostleship is under attack, a continuous attack at the church at Corinth because if they can undermine the people in the church at Corinth's confidence in Paul's position as an apostle and transfer their allegiance to false apostles, the church can be corrupted and destroyed. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:1, “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” That's key. I saw Him on the Damascus Road, I talked to Him. That qualifies me as a genuine apostle.

Come over to 1 Corinthians 15. This is so crucial because much of our New Testament depends upon this. These letters to the churches depended upon whether Paul truly represents Jesus Christ and God the Father and has a message from them or not. So
1 Corinthians 15 begins, “Now I make known to you, brethren, the Gospel which I preach to you, which you also received, in which you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold fast the Word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.” There is only one saving Gospel, that's the Gospel that I preached. Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture, He was buried, He was raised on the third day. And He appeared to witnesses, and some of these witnesses, they won't all necessarily be apostles. He is going to appear to others after His resurrection that would not be apostles. But everyone, all twelve, had to be qualified as having had this post-resurrection experience. He appeared to Cephas and above 500. Verse 8, “Last of all to one untimely born He appeared to me also.” I am the least of the apostles, not fit but by the grace of God I am what I am. I am the last. This was a unique appearance, one born out of time, not the normal order. He appeared for the period of time after His resurrection and before the ascension in Acts 1, forty days, appeared to various people and so on. Paul wasn't part of that. The original apostles, that's when they saw Him. But out of that order He appeared to me last of all.

If that's a requirement for an apostle, there are no apostles today. Paul said, “I am the last of that line of apostles.”

Secondly, his ministry was validated by miracles. He had to have seen Christ after His resurrection, his ministry of the Word of God was validated by miracles. Come over to 2 Corinthians 12. And this is in the context, 2 Corinthians 10-13 are an intense defense by Paul of his apostleship and attack against the false apostles. And in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 11, “I have become foolish. You yourselves compelled me. Actually I should have been commended by you. In no respect was I inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am a nobody.” And that will be a theme through this—God's power through man's weakness. “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance by signs, wonders and miracles.” People say, we want to go back to the New Testament church. And they go to the early chapters of the book of Acts and say they were doing miracles and all that. Why shouldn't we be doing it today? Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And they just pull verses out and throw them around. And you undermine the Word of God. These are the signs of a true apostle. If every believer in every church is running around doing miracles, what was it a sign of? Maybe that you were a believer, but it wouldn't be a sign you were an apostle. Paul says these signs, wonders and miracles, various words for miraculous actions, were the evidence that he was a true apostle. God was giving new revelation and as such it had to be validated. How do you know Paul is telling the truth and this man is not? Well, one of the reasons is he can do genuine miracles. Remember when some of the false teachers in the book of Acts tried to imitate Paul? The demon says, I know Jesus, I know Paul, but who are you? And proceeds to beat those men up. These are the signs of a true apostle, as we have here. So we are performing miracles, false miracles but they claim they are miracles. Then you get revelation. Who can stand against them? Because if these are genuine apostles getting direct messages from God, validating by miracles, then Scripture is not complete. We ought to be writing more chapters now. Not so.

Come back to Acts 5, since they like to talk about the church ought to be like the early chapters of Acts. I guess they don't like the last chapters of Acts because there is a lot of persecution and it's a lot more difficult. But you ought to note what is going on in these early chapters of Acts in the early history of the church, and miracles are being done. But you note in Acts 5:12, do you have it marked in your Bible? “At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people.” That's who were doing the miracles, it was a demonstration. And miracles occurred in their context and if there were those who were doing a miracle, it was a result of the apostles' ministry. So that's the second requirement for an apostle.

The third requirement is he is the recipient of direct revelation. That's why it's important to have this together correctly. The Roman Catholics have a dual line of authority—they have the Bible they claim, but then they have the magisterium of the church. And so they really only have one authority because only the magisterium of the church can validly interpret the Scripture. And you also have the super apostle, a supposed descendant of Peter who can on occasion speak out of the chair. And that is revelation. That's how Mary got assumed to heaven. One of the popes just said it was so. And so that becomes dogma, on the level of Scripture. Protestants can fall into the same pattern. With the charismatics, the new apostolic churches we get revelation from God, which is saying what? This is not enough. Well we have miracles. Won't more people believe if we do miracles? Well, more people will be duped but Jesus said if they don't believe Moses and the prophets, they won't believe even if someone is raised from the dead. The apostles were the recipients of direct revelation from God.

Come back to Galatians. If you've been here for a while, I want you to know that I know I'm repeating myself. At 71 I realize that. You say, does Gil know he has taught this to us a number of times? Yes, I know. I can't help it, it keeps coming up. I didn't write it. Galatians 1:11, Paul speaking again, defending himself. He has to defend himself in the churches of Galatia as well. “For I would have you know, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man nor was I taught it. I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” Now he is not saying this Gospel is different than the Gospel of Peter taught, or John, through the book of Acts. And we see the same message being preached by Peter. But Paul's argument is I didn't get it from Peter. Peter got it from Christ and so did I, direct revelation.

Come over to Ephesians 3. And additional revelation not given to the other apostles was given through Paul. Part of God's plan. He starts out Ephesians 3 by saying he is a prisoner because he is writing as a prisoner in Rome when he writes the letter to the Ephesian church, and it's for their benefit. “If indeed,” verse 2, “you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me.” Spiritual gifts, and every believer receives a gift of the Spirit which is an evidence of the Spirit living in the life and the body of that believer. So the stewardship of God's grace was the responsibility he had with the gift that God had given him, as an apostle. Verse 3, “that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery.” I've written before about this, he says. A mystery in the New Testament is not something hard to understand, confusing, a puzzle to be solved. A mystery is something that had not been revealed before by God. Not saying it wasn't part of God's plan, but in God's plan He chose not to make it known until this time. So I want you to know how I know this, if no one before me knew it. Because God hadn't revealed it yet. That's what he is saying.

Verse 5, he explains that, “which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit.” So Paul is not the only one getting revelation, but he gets a fuller revelation concerning the church and God's purposes with the church and how the church will function and how it fits into God's plan than anyone else. So you see it defines what a mystery is, it's something that was not made known in other generations. That doesn't mean it wasn't part of God's plan. That's what we call progressive revelation, God progressively revealed more and more of His purposes and plans. That's why we are so blessed. We have the fullness of His revelation completed as we have our New Testament completed.

Verse 9, he was appointed “to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery, which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies.” Even the angels didn't understand and know about this plan of God. He had kept it to Himself. Now the Apostle Paul has unfolded that truth and the church is the manifestation of that now revealed wisdom, that beginning in Acts 2 God would do a unique work in bringing Gentiles to salvation and form them into a unique group, the church, which we will talk about in our next study in the church at Corinth. Not prior revealed. Salvation of Gentiles revealed prior in connection with the coming kingdom, but not as part of this unique body and time in which we live known as the fullness of the Gentiles, from Romans 11, when God is primarily dealing in His saving work in the world with Gentiles, because the nation Israel continues under His judgment for their unbelief. And following the Rapture of the church, as we will talk about, God will resume and bring to fullness and completion the program with Israel.

So Paul here says I am the recipient of revelation. Do you want to know how I know this? God revealed it to me and my ministry has been validated by signs, wonders and miracles. This is genuine truth, it is a revelation of God.

Come over to 2 Peter, and Peter is writing about those who do not believe the truth of God's Word. And they are mocking the idea that Christ is coming and they say everything has been like it was. What we have in our thinking today with evolution and everything has just been in the process of evolving. They choose not to face reality, Peter says. And why hasn't the Lord come? People have been talking about the coming of the Lord for two thousand years—He's coming back, He's going to . . . Sure, sure. Keep talking, keep talking. He hasn't come. God has a purpose. Verse 9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise as some count slowness. He is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” If Christ had come for the church ten years ago, some of you weren't saved yet. Aren't you glad He is patient and waited? I mean, that's what is going on. These are days of Gentile salvation. Doesn't mean there will be no Gentiles saved after the Rapture of the church, but God's program in salvation will turn to the Jews and by and large the hearts of the Gentiles will be hardened.

What does he say in verse 14? “Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found in Him in peace, spotless and blameless. Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation just as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking to them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand which the untaught and unstable distort as they do also the rest of the Scriptures to their own destruction.” Those who twist and distort the Scriptures are doomed to hell. Remember the book of Revelation ends, if anyone adds to the revelation of this book or anyone takes away from it, he'll be going to the lake of fire. And Peter puts Paul's writings in that category. Those who twist Paul's writings are doing what they do to the rest of Scripture.

So you see Paul's position as he starts these letters, because keep in mind we can look at the New Testament and the completed revelation and compare it and see how it fits together. These are relatively new converts as we come to this second letter. The church has been in existence for five years and been bombarded by false teaching and false teachers who have come in, claiming to be genuine apostles, saying Paul is not the real thing. And those who reject Paul's teaching are rejecting the Word of God. That's why the single most important thing we do is give people the Word of God. Remember it is the Gospel which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. So it's not my well-reasoned arguments, it's not my personal illustration or example. I'm not saying there aren't times to use that, but keep in mind that until you give them the Word, you've not given them what they need—the Gospel, which Paul says I preach to you that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day. He was seen by witnesses, it's been confirmed. He's alive! And God is commanding all everywhere to repent for He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by a Man that He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead. People don't want to hear that, they're not interested in that. Go tell them whether they listen or not, you tell them. That's what God told Ezekiel, remember?

That's what Paul does, makes his life difficult. He gets beaten (we're going to get to that in 2 Corinthians) times without number he is beaten. He is thrown in prison, he is mistreated. We get the idea, wouldn't it have been exciting to go with Paul. John Mark didn't think so, he says, I'm out of here. By God's grace John Mark recovered. But traveling with Paul would not have been an easy life.

We come to appreciate the man Timothy. Come back to 2 Corinthians. Paul is an apostle by the will of God, and just note, Timothy our brother. And we don't have time to go into Timothy, but I do want to tell you something about Timothy, and that will prepare us for next time. Timothy was probably saved on Paul's First Missionary Journey because Paul calls him his son in the faith. We'll look at a couple of these passages next time. About a year later Paul picks him up and takes him with him on the Second Missionary Journey, Do you know how old Timothy would have been? 20, 21, 22. We get that because 15-16 year later he is going to write a letter to Timothy and refer to him as a young man, using a word that was used of a person under 40 years of age. Fifteen years after he joined Paul on that First Missionary Journey he is still not 40 years of age. He joins Paul, say he is 22. Four or five years later he is with Paul, he is joined with Paul here, he has been sent back into Macedonia to help strengthen the churches. He is a remarkable man. Here is Timothy when 2 Corinthians is written, joined with Paul, probably 27 years of age. A man that started out young and was faithful. Don't waste your youth if you have been saved young. Pour yourself into it, be used of God. By the time Paul comes back a year later after his First Missionary Journey, Timothy has a reputation of a sound, solid, strong believer that Paul thinks I can trust to stand with me, to travel with me, to journey with me. And Timothy is not a healthy man. You would think those that God is going to call would be ones that He gives extra physical strength. Paul has to tell Timothy later in his letter, drink a little wine for your stomach's sake and for your oft infirmities. Timothy even as a young man is beset by physical problems. And he had to travel with Paul who had his own problems. That's why in 2 Corinthians Paul is going to emphasize God's power through weakness.

These false teachers think it's an attack on me that has validity because they show how weak I am, how unimpressive I am, what a poor speaker I am. I acknowledge it all, but let me tell you, God's power in me is not weak. And now you have Timothy, and Paul will have to tell the Corinthians, I am going to send Timothy to you and don't you make him afraid while he is there. He is a choice servant. It's amazing how God works. We admire these men, we just want to be careful we don't find excuses. It doesn't matter Timothy has infirmities. It is not his strength that matters. It is God's power that matters. It doesn't matter that Paul has his infirmities and weaknesses, doesn't matter. We're talking about God's power, not ours. As we noted at the end of this second letter Paul will talk about when I am weak, then I am strong.

How amazing it is how God works. He takes the nobodies of the world. Why are you saved? Look around, we're like the Corinthian church, a bunch of nobodies, average and ordinary people, not the rich, not the powerful. Just ordinary people. God has called us to Himself, the salvation that is found only in Christ, revealed Himself to us and now placed us in His service. What can I do for the Lord? I can do whatever He has appointed me to do. What can you do? Whatever God has appointed you to do. And it hasn't been to be a lazy, half-hearted, bumming-around Christian. He has called us to be zealous in our service for Him so that He might use us to the fullest extent. But what greater privilege is that? We'll see that as we move through 2 Corinthians.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your grace. Lord, the more we look into Your Word, the more we are reminded of the greatness of Your grace, that we are what we are by the greatness of Your grace. You have saved us by grace, You have gifted us by grace, You provide for us and everything necessary for life and godliness by grace. We are here gathered as a church family as testimonies of Your grace. Through eternity we will be with the Ephesian believers as trophies of Your grace. Lord, may we be mindful of the privilege that has been bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of the living God, that we should be sent forth to represent You with confidence, unashamed of the Savior that we love and serve, not embarrassed by the message which is Your power for salvation to everyone who believes. May our testimony for You in these days be strong until Christ comes, and we pray in His name, amen.