How to Defend Yourself

Text: 2 Corinthians 6:1-13

Focus: Discipleship

Function: To help people react well to criticism.

Form: Bible study

Intro:

From our text this morning: ⁸in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; ⁹as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; ¹⁰as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

How can we “have nothing” and yet “possess everything?”

When I was a kid, I loved singing the song: “I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart!”

But sometimes bad things happen, and at that moment we don't feel any joy?

What happens when we are harmed, when we feel like we have a right to revenge, and we give all that up to obey Christ and forgive?

In those words, having nothing, but possessing everything, Brother Paul reminds us of the tension between the future hope of the peace in heaven, which we possess and the present reality of dysfunction.

Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Trials are promised us. And they prove our character. Criticism is one of those trials.

Brother Paul finds himself having to defend his ministry, his job, and his calling.

What happens when we are criticized? How do we obey Christ in the middle of criticism?

What is the appropriate way to defend ourselves?

These are the times when our Christian Character is truly proven.

Paul is their pastor and he has been the victim of unfair criticism.

He had planned a trip to visit them, but God prevented it and enemies used that to say that he was “wishy-washy.” That is nit-picking.

Then there was a sect of Christians who were very legalistic and they preached that every Christian must also perform all of the laws in the OT.

They accused Paul of not being true to God's word.

It was sad because he was criticized by those whom he had given up everything to reach.

He was attacked by his own children in the faith.

By this world's standards, he had every right to ask God for revenge.

But he acts like Jesus in the face of criticism. He continues to love them.

Instead of writing them off, instead of treating them in the nasty way they were treating him, he continues to love them and he keeps on trying to win back their love and support.

Instead of fighting fire with fire, he fights it with love.

First off, he isn't afraid to defend himself. He reminds them of all of his suffering for them. Look at verse 4,5: ⁴but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, ⁵beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;

Now sometimes, people can speak of how they have been offended by someone else in order to place them in a position where they owe them something in return. That isn't love, it is manipulation.

These aren't manipulative words that are intended to shame them because they had not sacrificed as much as he had. No, these are words to remind them that his commitment to Christ and to them is solid.

After he speaks of his suffering for them he begins to answer the personal charges against him. He speaks of his integrity, verses 6,7: ⁶by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, ⁷truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;

Most of these terms we understand well. Purity, holiness of spirit, our spirits set apart to God, truthful speech, God's power, not ours, knowledge.

We understand that. He didn't waver in his commitment to them.

But that phrase “weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left” bears some explaining. I want to unpack that.

The image of what it was like to carry a sword and a shield is a romantic notion to us, but to these readers, it as a picture of power.

When I read “Weapons of righteousness,” I can imagine fundamentalists taking it out of context.

After all, Jesus said, “turn the other cheek.” He told Peter to put away his sword when He was arrested. He told Peter that living by the sword brings death by the sword. It isn't a way for us to live.

The word “weapons” can lead to some pretty aggressive, and even mean-spirited, actions that are done in the name of Jesus. But, it is God's word so we aren't going to ignore it.

Let's go deeper into the meaning of this phrase.

Weapons... ...Righteousness.

What does righteous really mean?

A righteous person, according to the bible, can be either persons who 1) consistently does the right thing, like Job, or Daniel or Jacob's son Joseph. These men were faced temptation and didn't waver. Or it can be persons 2) whose sins are covered by God's grace like Jacob who lied and cheated his brother, or David, who committed murder, or Peter, who denied the Lord.

Weapons of righteousness in this passage refers to his actions of doing the right things for them.

As you probably know, the word Righteous means “just.” A righteous person is a just person. When Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant, because he was a just man, he covered for her and married her anyway. (Matthew 1:19) The New Living Translation states Joseph as a good man.

We have to be thoughtful in the translation of this phrase because all kinds of hateful deeds have been done in the guise of “weapons of righteousness” as if that is an excuse for not extending God's love and forgiveness to any group of people who get marginalized as “the other.”

The metaphor weapons of righteousness goes on in the text: “on the left and the right hand.” It is an expression from the culture again. It means a sword (right hand) and a shield (left hand), that is assuming one is right handed.

Paul, because he is just and loving, has a shield, to defend them. And, because he also has an offensive weapon, he can be pro-active and strike at the root of their problem.

But understand that throughout the bible, sin, almost always, is injustice.

In the OT, there are three main things that God punishes: 1). Idolatry, 2). Lack of faith in His promises and 3). Injustice.

Read through the prophets, every single message has to do with those three topics. And, the majority of those have to do with that third one, injustice.

I mention that this makes me nervous because I know how easily Weapons of righteousness can be taken out of context and people end up doing the wrong thing in their moral causes.

They nit picked Paul. Jesus was nit picked.

The Pharisees were “offended” by Jesus' “sin” of healing on the sabbath. Never mind a wonderful miracle of restoration happened.

But they claimed to be true defenders of the true faith. Nope. They were using religion to promote themselves and attack “the other.” And the sad thing, is that in their moral crusade, they killed the Lord himself.

As the Church's leader, Paul upset the church. He acted defensively and offensively to heal the church. He did what they didn't have the power to do.

So, In these chapters, we find Paul fighting for his ministry. He has been criticized by people, people supposedly who were of the faith, but they were criticizing him because he wasn't religious enough. He was “too free” in his faith. He wasn't bound by the letter of the law, instead he followed the Spirit of the law.

It was just like politics. They made mountains out of molehills in order to maintain their own power base.

But Paul was just living out Jesus teaching about the Kingdom of God being in the heart. True spirituality comes from inside the heart when a hard, hateful, or un-compassionate heart gives up selfishness and starts loving, forgiving and sharing with others.

He lives it out. He doesn't quit on them or lower himself to the level of his critics.

And Paul is pleading with them to re-examine him.

It is like he is saying, in spite of the way I was received by you, I want you to realize that what I did, I did to protect you. But I didn't just place a shield between you and the problem, I also used went on the offense against the one who was hurting you.

There was a specific problem in this church. We read about in 1 Corinthians 5. He dealt with a man who was involved in incest whose actions were harming the entire church.

Paul was a shield and a sword against this wrongdoing and his actions caused him trouble with the Church. He finds himself defending his ministry with them.

That is why in his defense, he first reminds them of his own willingness to suffer loss with them as he was helping them deal with this very real problem in the church.

He didn't just work to stop the problem and then abandon them for greener pastures somewhere else. He kept with it.

So, he says to them, look first at how I am wiling to suffer through it with you and second, look at the fact that I provided both a shield and a sword to protect you.

And there is good news. The man repented, confessed his sin and sought forgiveness from the Church.

In my own experience, sometimes a person repents and the whole congregation gets to see the power of forgiveness and restoration. Other times, the person doesn't repent. But in the end, either way, the congregation is in a healthier place.

Paul was willing to share with them in the suffering.

Paul wasn't seeking revenge. He was seeking healing and reconciliation.

He wasn't even seeking vindication, he was seeking their love.

So he asks them these questions: “are you now healthier?” The answer was yes.

Then he says to them, “open your hearts up to me again.”

This was a messy situation in the life of that Church. And God brought them through it.

Thank God for men like Paul who have the courage to do the right thing no matter what it cost them. Thank God they have the faith to keep to their post in spite of opposition. And thank God that the future of the Church is in God's hands, not ours, or mine.

So what is the best way to defend ourselves?

1^st Always seek the welfare of others and your integrity will stand up to scrutiny.

2^nd Don't quit on people. Paul's best defense was that in spite of how he was being treated, he acted to defend and protect others, even his enemies.

Remember, Jesus said: “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:43-48)

3^rd After the dust settles, loving remind them to keep on loving you.