Turn tonight, please, to 2 Corinthians. If you can find 2 Corinthians. I was sitting around the office this afternoon writing a little scripture myself. Let's try 2 Corinthians. Hopefully, this is not a preview of the next 30 minutes or so. Thank you, Rick. Second Corinthians chapter one. Did I mention that chapter? Second Corinthians chapter one. We will begin there this evening. We will begin there this evening. Let's pray. Father, bless us and help us as a church ministry. You love the church. You died for the church. We are your church. And may it be our prayer and our desire that we are a church that is in total harmony with you. So we ask for your understanding and help in Jesus' name. Amen. So we're giving some attention on Wednesday nights now broadly to the subject of transition because the day will come eventually when there will be another pastor at Westwood Heights Baptist Church. Pastors come and go. I'm sure I've made mention of this, but there is a book on pastoral transition that was written a number of years ago and the opening line is, all pastors are interim pastors. Because we die and we leave. But the church endures. And we've given some attention to what the church is. And the church is God's people. It is not a building or an institution or even an organization. It is a living body, the body of Jesus Christ in this world. And we have talked about what a church does, and we will return at some level to that a little bit. Not what it does, but how it should do what it does. And the church has two responsibilities, which is to evangelize the lost and to edify the believers. And this evening I want to begin several weeks of talking about what the church has. I could put it that way. God gave to his church gifted people. When he saved people, we talked about this 1 Corinthians chapter 12, that the Spirit has assigned to all of God's people gifts for the use and the building of the body. And in Ephesians 4, those gifts are in the nature of offices. There are apostles and their prophets and their evangelists and their people like me, pastors and teachers. Some people, the apostles, Peter and Paul to be sure, occupied, I think, overlapping offices. Paul and Peter were clearly apostles. And yet Peter, we will look at it briefly tonight and in greater detail in a few weeks, Peter identified himself as a pastor. Elder is the word that he used. And Paul had at least two rather extended terms as a pastor in his own right. He spent three years at the church at Ephesus and he spent a year and a half in this church at Corinth. and the references for that, if you care, Acts 20, 31 and Acts 18, 11. And probably in 2 Corinthians, Paul's heart as a pastor is most visible. We have two New Testament books that tell us about what a church is, Ephesians and Colossians. We have several books that tell us how a church functions, the pastoral epistles. And in 2 Corinthians, we have the heart of a pastor, how a pastor views the ministry that he has. And I mentioned that this evening because I'm going to take some of what Paul the Apostle says and apply it, first of all, to the office of the pastor, and then by extension to those who would occupy leadership position. in a local church and that's where we will go for the next couple of weeks or what leadership positions in the New Testament church look like in the church. So I have four points to make to you this evening, a kind of a topical survey of some of the things that Paul mentions here about that. So I want to begin in verse number 23 of chapter number 1 of 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 1.23, Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet into Corinth. Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy. For by faith ye stand. For by faith ye stand. Now if you recall, and it's been, I don't know what it's been, a couple of years ago or so, We worked our way through 2 Corinthians and we looked at some passages in 1 Corinthians and we saw that Paul had a rather complicated and at times very tense relationship with this church. He planted it and he pastored it. Apollos spent some time here. Paul and Apollos overlapped or exchanged kind of ministries. Paul was in Corinth while Apollos was at Ephesus and Apollos was at Corinth while Paul was in Ephesus. And then Timothy was sent to minister to this church. It was a very gifted church so that it was not really in any way spiritually deficient in its capabilities or its potential. And yet on the other hand, in many ways, the church was just an absolute mess. And the primary failing of the church was its carnality. The worldly approach that it brought to ministry and to church conduct, and Paul then begins to deal with that extensively, of course, in 1 Corinthians. And this is where verse number 23 comes in. Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul that to spare you, I came not as yet under Corinth. He had told him he was going to come. You remember this. He told him he was going to come and visit and that he didn't come and visit. And then that was one more. That was to them like the straw that broke the camel's back, that he said he was going to come and he didn't come. And now we're even more angry. And now Paul is explaining himself. And he explains that the reason that he didn't come was to spare them. Was to spare them. And this is not verse number 25. The expression there, for that we have, could easily, and I would argue perhaps should have been translated, because. That's what it means. Not because we have dominion over your faith. Not because we have dominion over your faith. but are helpers of your joy. So here's my first point, folks. Pastoral ministry and ministry leadership is about the possession and the use of power. Pastoral ministry and church leadership is about the possession and the use of power. I don't have dominion over your faith. I'm a helper to your joy. Not that we are lords over you is really what he is saying there in verse number 24. In Luke 22, 25, Jesus using that same word said, you know that the Gentiles exercise lordship over you. You know that. But we are not lords over you. We are not lords over you. In Romans 6-9, that word that is translated here, dominion, is translated again, dominion. Sin shall not have dominion over you. It shall not be your master. Romans 7-1, we know, Paul says, that the law does have dominion. does have dominion. It does rule. But we do not have dominion over your faith. But pastors do have very real power. They have very real authority. 1 Thessalonians 5.12, if you want to turn to it. Paul writes, we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you and are over you, which is the same word as rule in 1 Timothy 3, that are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly and love for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves. Know them which labor among you, which doesn't mean recognize their face. It is more intimate than that. And esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake, because of the task that they have. Now, I'm not suggesting for a moment that's an issue. I'm just saying that the New Testament is very clear that, right, there is a sense, folks, and we may get into this, right, there is on the one hand and equality of status among the people of God. They're not Jews, they're not Greeks, they're not males, they're not females, they're not slaves, they're not free men. We're all one in Christ. And that is our status. But there is a distinct difference in function within the church. And this is something that I will mention in a couple of weeks, but I think, and this is true in the Old Testament, it is true in the New Testament, but multiple mature men, multiple mature men are God's pattern for leadership in his assembly, multiple mature men. In 1 Timothy chapter three and verse number four, Paul writes of the potential pastor, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule, which has the idea of presiding over and providing guardianship for his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Or 1 Timothy 5.17, let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. Or Hebrews 13.7, which is really directed backwards. I mean, Hebrews 13.7, I think the view of Hebrews 13.7 would be more upon previous Bible writers than it would be upon present leaders. Remember them which have the rule, and that is the word, by the way, the exact Greek word, and we just took it and used it in English, hegemony. Leadership over you who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation, or Hebrews 13, 17, which turns from the past into the present. Obey them that have the rule over you. and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you." So pastoral ministry is a position of power. Doesn't mean that power cannot be abused. It does not mean that that power cannot be surrendered. but pastoral ministry is a position of power. Secondly, from the same passage, 2 Corinthians 1, 23 and 24. Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul that to spare you, I came not as yet unto Corinth. Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy, for by faith you stand. Number one, pastoral ministry is about the possession and use of power. Secondly, pastoral ministry is about the correct use of power. It is about using the power that has been entrusted to you for the right reasons. We have authority, but we are not lords over your faith. And it is really, folks, an amazing statement. There is an amazing, I would argue, kind of a hands-off dimension there in verse number 24. I'm gonna mention this, I'm sure, a little bit later. I know it's in the outline here somewhere. At what point in time could I, or what kind of things could I do or say that would cross that line? that would move me from the realm of that which is beneficial, helpers of your joy, into the realm of that which is harmful, dominion over your faith. You stand in your faith, Paul says. You stand in your faith. It is not the pastor's job to prop people up in their faith. It is, I mean, certainly there's a teaching ministry, we'll get into all that. I'm not suggesting that's not the ministry. But certainly within the framework of what Paul is saying here, right, the lordship over one's faith is not that the pastor is somehow a substitute for genuine faith. You have faith. And that's where you stand. That is what holds you up, your faith. Your faith is not in the pastor, your faith is not in another. The same idea that Paul brings to the Romans with reference to that whole chapter in Romans 14, who art thou that judgest another man's servant to his own master he standeth or falleth? Yea, he shall be holden up for God is able to make him stand. What we do, folks, is humanly visible. I preach to you. I can see you. You can see me. The great power and agency is invisible. This is the Lord and not a man. But we are helpers, Paul writes in verse number 24, of your joy. Joy. And the idea there of being a helper is to be just that, it is to be a companion. One who has a portion or share. This is the word used of Titus in 2 Corinthians 8.23. And it's found in 1 Corinthians 3.9 when Paul says, we are laborers together with God. And remember that's part of the rebuke. You are dividing us, Paul writes to the church at Corinth. You are looking at Apollos and putting him on one pedestal. And some of you are looking at me and putting me on another pedestal. And some of you are looking at Peter and putting him on a pedestal. But we are laborers together. We labor together. Usually that word is fellow worker or fellow laborer in your Bible. We are fellow laborers in your joy. The pastor is not the boss. Years ago, well, Brother Dan, you might remember because you and I took the long trip to Dallas to go to that conference where we were. Every segment was introduced with Lou Holtz telling us what it was like to be a coach. Not a coach. Not a coach. not a coach, not a boss, not a slave master, not a taskmaster, but an aid to your Christianity. And I don't want to go back and revisit this folks and keep beating upon this, but this is something the church has a very hard time coming to grips with in a practical matter, but it is simply a biblical reality. Churches are not designed by God to accommodate lost people. A church is constituted of saved people. And those saved people are supposed to go out and preach the gospel to those who are lost. But it is not to figure out how to accommodate the lost into the body and how to incorporate them into the ministry and assembly. And I'll talk about this in a couple of weeks in Sunday school. But it is not even to gear its Sunday services around their evangelization. task of the pastor is to help the people of God who are standing in their faith. Something they already possess. And I don't think, I mean the word joy means joy, but I don't think that there's anything, any hidden meaning to that. Paul views being a Christian as a joyful thing. Right? David viewed serving the Lord as a joyful thing, not as a burden to be borne, not as a grief to be endured, but as a joy. Peter helps round this out. And again, you don't need to turn to tonight, we will look at it in a couple of weeks. 1 Peter 5, 1, the elders which are among you, I exhort who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed." There's joy. Feed the flock of God which is among you. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage. Neither as being lords over God's heritage. And the word heritage there is an interesting word because it actually refers to portion. Because every local church, folks, contains a portion of God's people. The General Assembly has not yet come, and we are now all portioned out. Some in this church, some in that church, some in churches in other countries, where the Lord's portion So pastors contribute to the joy of the flock by feeding them, by shepherding them really is the idea, by providing them food and protection and by being an example of the right kind of life task we will talk about at another time. This is by the way in contradiction to what the Pharisees did so that Jesus would say to his apostles, the scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat, all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, what they're saying, do, that observe and do, but do not yet to their works what they say and do not. Pastors are not supposed to be like that. So pastoral ministry is about the possession and use of power. And I don't say that, folks, because I feel like my power is being threatened quite the opposite. But there will someday be another pastor. And these are just things that should be said. And it is about the use of power for good purposes. When you call a man to be a pastor, you are calling a man to have authority over you. that he should use for good. Turn now, if you would please, to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. And I want to move a little bit farther back into the book. Let's start in verse number 16, 2 Corinthians 11, 16. I say again, let no man think me a fool. If otherwise, yet as a fool, receive me that I may boast myself a little. That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting. Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. However, whereinsoever any is bold, I speak foolishly. I am bold also. And I'm going to stop there. Pastoral ministry is about the possession and use of power. It is about the use of that power for good. And it is about the proper use of power, even if the people are willing to tolerate the abuse of his power. This is an amazing indictment in this passage, folks. And again, when you read it, you have to kind of have in your arsenal of memory the entire picture of how the Corinthians viewed themselves. They viewed themselves as being very smart and very wise and very competent and very skilled. And they had fallen under the influence of what are known academically as the super apostles, who were leading them and guiding them. And they had, through the influence of these super apostles, come to the conclusion that Paul was really kind of a back woodsman, a bit of a redneck, a bit of a hillbilly. And that's kind of the perspective that permeates the letters. And so now Paul resorts to employing their tactics. Since so many glory in the flesh, all right, I will take to myself for the next little bit that kind of mentality. And from their lofty position of which they are convinced is the position of superiority, Paul points out the way they are willing to be abused by these false leaders. You suffer, you endure it, you tolerate fools gladly. Verse number 19. Because you think you're so wise. You're not biblically wise, you're not scripturally wise, you're wise in the ways of the world and you suffer these people who are fools. And again folks, a fool is not somebody who is an intellectually deficient. A fool is somebody who is biblically stubborn. It's not a commentary upon IQ, it's a commentary upon will. You endure bondage, you will let these people basically treat you as slaves. Win them, wet them, work them. Win them, wet them, work them. The mantra of many Baptist churches, win em, wet em, work em. You will take it if a man absolutely consumes you. If he sucks up your time, and your life, and your money, and your energy, and your will. You will take it. You will take it if a man exalts himself. If a man lifts himself up. You will take it. You will tolerate it. You will even take it if the man is physically abusive to you. That's what Paul says, if a man smite you on the face. And then, as if all that Paul has said is not astounding enough, you have verse 21. You think, you almost think there's something wrong with us because we don't do that. you almost think that's the way a spiritual leader ought to conduct themselves. Which by the way, folks, many of the Corinthians were not Jews. But if you read the Gospels, that is exactly the way the Pharisees and the Sadducees treated the people. They lorded it over them, they took advantage of them financially, they imposed all kinds of rules and regulations upon them for their own benefit that made them. That's the way the Roman government worked. That's the way the world works, that is not the way the church works. That is not the way the church works. So these people had a model of ministry in mind that if Paul had bought into it, he might have been much more popular in Corinth. A model that unfortunately some of us have some familiarity with. The pastor is virtual tyrant, bordering on the dictator. So pastoral ministry is about the possession and use of power. God gives to his ministers authority. Out of all the authority that belongs to Jesus, he delegates more authority to those in spiritual leadership. And he does that not so that they might be abusive or take advantage of that power, but to use it for the benefit of those over whom they minister. Even if they can get away with something else. Even if they can get away with something else. And so finally then, folks, and I'm just gonna make references here because we would really need to read much of the remainder of 1st, 2nd Corinthians 11, 12, and 13. Therefore, pastoral authority and those in spiritual leadership must be willing to use that authority to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. This is what Paul is dealing with in 2 Corinthians 10, 11, 12, and 13. He is taken upon himself to go to war against these false apostles, these pseudo-apostles, who really are nothing other than instruments of Satan masquerading as ministers of the gospel. Now there's not a organized formal process that Paul maps out here, but he is using the word of God to combat them. And he does that in part by laying side by side his own personal experiences. If you'll look at 2 Corinthians 12, right? This is the framework for this amazing testimony that Paul gives. It is not expedient for me, doubtless to glory. This is not the best thing for me to do. Not the best thing for me to do. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago, whether in the body, I cannot tell, whether out of the body, I cannot tell. God knoweth such in one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell. God knoweth how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such in one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. Okay, again, always with my apologies, depending upon the Baptist history from which you come, how often did you sit in a church service and hear a pastor boast about his weaknesses? versus how many times you sat in a service and heard a pastor talk about his successes. Verse number six, for though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool. I will say the truth, but now I forbear lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be and that he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. And you see how the idea of glorying and exaltation permeates what he is talking about here. You wanna talk about experiences, you wanna talk about success stories, you wanna talk about the kind of things that are riveting to tell to a crowd. Let me tell you my experience, I went to heaven. I went to heaven. And rather than allow me to get all enlarged about the fact that I went to heaven, God himself gave me an infirmity to keep me anchored to the ground. And so I prayed three times, verse number eight. God's response, verse nine, my grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect and weakness most gladly, therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities. Paul did not attempt to restrain the influence of the wrong kind of leaders through fistfights and regulations, but through wielding the proper use of scripture, bringing the proper perspective to bear. because these people are dangerous and they are detrimental. Somebody, you may know who he is, I guess somebody posted on Twitter last week, that guy that really wants to teach the class on future events, yeah, don't let him, right? And that's, there are people that want power for the wrong kinds of reasons. So again, I just want to close with this, folks. I say this only because I really think that it's just something to remind us of. When I came here in 1984, when I candidated in July of 1984, one of our then deacons, Bob Marty, said to me, we're used to following the pastor. That has always been true. I'm not under attack. I'm not There's nothing subversive that I'm addressing, but these are things that I think all churches ought to know and that all pastors ought to know, that God does give to pastors authority, authority that he gives to them for the benefit of the congregation. And again, our responsibility is to wield it properly, even, right? And I hope to never succumb to this temptation, but you know, folks, the reality is, is that having been here now almost 40 years, I can pretty much, seriously, not sin, I can't get away with sin, but I can pretty much get away with what I want. Okay? I should be restrained by the fact that my authority doesn't exist to make my life better, but to make your life better. And even if you were to indulge me on other bases, my responsibility is to use pastoral authority for your good, not for my gain. And then to always be on the lookout for abuses of power. Okay, I'm going to stop there. That's enough with that.