Rev. David Holwick T 2 Corinthians sermon series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
June 6, 1999
2 Corinthians 11:21-29
IN DANGER FOR GOD
SERMON SUMMARY: Christian discipleship can be a dangerous affair. Paul
endured great suffering in his mission. Modern missionaries have
had similar experiences. We must be willing to back up our
beliefs with our lives.
I. Bragging rights.
A. What have you accomplished in life?
1) Creates a tension: we want to have done something
significant, but we want everyone to think we're humble.
2) Whatever we have done (or not done), we look up to
people who have genuine accomplishments.
B. The Apostle Paul had a dramatic career.
1) As his opponents tried to undercut him, he had to defend
his record.
a) He defended his heritage.
b) He defended his mission.
2) In this passage he gives a remarkable list of what he
had been through.
II. Paul's ordeal.
A. Suffering from people.
1) Forty lashes minus one. (Ray Stedman; also below)
This was a purely Jewish form of punishment.
The Law of Moses said that for certain offenses you could
be publicly whipped with forty lashes.
But it also said, according to the Jewish rabbis, that if
more than forty were inflicted the man who did the
whipping had to receive forty lashes of his own.
So to prevent that they were careful not to go quite to
forty; they made it thirty-nine, "forty less one."
Now incredible as it sounds (and we have no record of it
other than this), Paul had endured that terrible beating
five times.
The Law also said that if a man died because of a flogging,
his death would not be blamed upon the man doing the
whipping, so it is clear that this whipping was so
severe it could take your life.
2) Beaten with rods.
This was Roman punishment.
Paul was a Roman citizen and although the law of Rome
decreed that no citizen should be beaten with rods.
Yet by this time on three different occasions he had been
so beaten.
(In the book of Acts there is another incident of that
nature recorded which comes later than this.)
3) Stoned.
By rocks, not drugs.
On first missionary journey he was stoned so severely they
dumped him outside of city thinking he was dead.
He got up and went to preach in the next city.
B. Suffering from elements.
1) Ocean storms, raging rivers, starvation.
2) To spread the gospel, he would go anywhere.
C. Inner spiritual struggle.
1) He burned for the churches.
2) (He was also burned up by how they treated him!)
D. Much here is not mentioned in book of Acts.
1) Everything happened before Acts 19.
2) Still to come: two riots, an assassination attempt,
and another major shipwreck.
III. What have you endured for Christ's sake?
A. Only God can provide this motivation.
1) The love of Christ compelled him. 2 Cor 5:14
2) His love has also compelled others.
B. Missionary woman doctor in Africa.
Helen Roseveare was born into a well-respected English
family.
During her freshman year in Cambridge University she had
a conversion experience and joined an evangelical church.
She became a doctor and felt called to serve God in Africa.
In 1953 she set sail for the Congo.
Very soon she realized the typical missionary hospital
wasn't adequate for the human suffering she encountered.
Helen envisioned a training center where nurses would be
taught the Bible and basic medicine.
Then they would be sent back to their villages to handle
routine cases, teach preventive medicine, and evangelize.
Her missionary colleagues blocked her at every turn.
Just when her training center was ready to graduate its
first students, the mission moved her to Nebobongo, a
remote leprosy camp in the jungle.
Helen started from scratch and built up a new training
center.
She also became friends with the Africans and went to an
old African preacher when she needed spiritual help.
Humbling herself in this way was unacceptable to the other
missionaries.
To keep her in her place, the mission board sent a man to
Nebobongo and put him in charge.
It was a bitter pill for Helen.
She submitted to his authority but it tore her up.
Every seven years she was given a furlough back in England.
This time she decided to get a husband so she would have
more pull with the other missionaries.
She met a young Christian doctor, bought new clothes and
got a new hair style, and tried to win him.
She even resigned from the mission.
The young doctor liked her but wouldn't marry her.
Still single, Helen returned to Congo in 1960, just as that
nation became independent.
It was a very uneasy time for whites and many of the
missionaries began to leave for good.
Helen had a great opportunity to build up Nebobongo on her
own.
Meanwhile, the Simba rebels took control of village after
village.
In the summer of 1964 they occupied Nebobongo and put Helen
under house arrest.
Atrocities were being committed daily.
On October 29, Helen was forced to endure a series of
brutal assaults.
One verse came to her mind: "My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?"
Two months later she was finally liberated.
A year later Helen Roseveare returned to Nebobongo.
The new spirit of African nationalism continually questioned
her authority.
Finally, after twenty years of hard service, she arranged
to turn over the mission to an African colleague.
She organized a big day to celebrate the handover and
the graduation of a class of students.
At the last moment the students went on strike and the
celebration was cancelled.
Helen returned to England in 1973 to face a very lonely
period in her life.
But as with so many other disappointing experiences, she
turned to God.
Instead of bitterness there was a new spirit of humility
and a new appreciation for what Jesus had done for her
on the cross.
In the years that followed she became an acclaimed
spokeswoman for Christian missions.
#4620
C. Martyred missionary in India.
Just a few months ago an Australian missionary and his two
sons were burned to death in India.
Graham Staines and his wife Gladys had answered the call to
spread the gospel there.
After the murders, Gladys publicly forgave the murderers.
Her forgiveness of such brutality is being seen as "true
spirituality" which is inherently attractive to the Hindu
mind.
More than this, she is staying in India instead of going home.
"The thought of getting up and leaving has just not occurred
to me once.
I just feel that this is where God has called me."
[This month India elected his first Christian prime minister,
which some attribute to sympathy for this event.]
#4687
IV. Words versus actions.
A. We respect those who live what they preach.
1) The harder the life, the more we listen.
2) (Yet Paul's conclusion points to weakness: "basket case")
B. What does following Jesus cost you?
1) Many act ashamed of him.
2) Others view their service as a burden.
3) Commitment and dedication.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#4620 "From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya," Ruth A. Tucker, Zondervan Publishing
House, 1983, page 254.
#4687 "God's Glory Among the Nations: What Is It Worth To Us?" by Rick
Wood, Internet:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
(mf99.03-04.07-wood), June 3, 1999.
These and 4,500 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://users.nac.net/wdh2000/illust.html
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