Sermon Tone Analysis

2 Corinthians 11:13-15

A Wicked Masquerade

 

Such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.

Their end will be what their actions deserve.

She would not take “No!” for an answer.

“You can’t fool me,” she insisted.

You are Richard Dreyfus.”

At last I surrendered to her insistence and autographed her church bulletin.

With a dramatic flourish, I signed the proffered bulletin, “Richard Dreyfus,” asking only that she keep my identity quiet.

The woman had first accosted me as I sat quietly, waiting for the morning service of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas to begin.

She had been seated behind me about four rows and had at last gathered sufficient courage to walk forward and ask for my autograph.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind was then playing at movie theatres across the nation and with the beard which I have worn for many years I apparently resembled the actor who played the lead in that movie.

In any case, she drew the association in her mind and would not be dissuaded.

I am not Richard Dreyfus, and though I have been accused of being the actor on more than one occasion, I am simply a preacher of the Gospel.

My autograph has scant value, either on a cheque or as a collector’s item.

I do hope that woman doesn’t try to sell the autograph to some unsuspecting soul.

I have often wondered if she has preserved it in some safety deposit box or whether it is displayed somewhere in her home where she gives the account of how she met the actor in a worship service in Dallas, Texas.

I guess it was my one moment of fame.

It is easy to make mistakes in identifying people.

Usually our mistakes don’t make much of an impact.

Perhaps some have been sent to prison in cases of mistaken identity, but this is the exception instead of the rule.

Otherwise, these instances would not be news.

However, mistaken identity can lead to disaster in the spiritual realm.

Paul warned the church at Corinth that Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

Therefore, it should not be a surprise that his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.

As a servant of the True and Living God I am compelled to warn you that such deceitful workers yet infest the churches of our Lord and infect the work of God.

In the text chosen for our message this evening is a brief snippet of information which should be thought provoking.

Paul was confronting the wicked influence of the false apostles.

They had presented themselves as super-apostles, but in fact, they were pseudo-apostles.

Paul’s motive for confronting their influence is laid out in the early verses of this chapter.

He was concerned that the attraction of a little bit of evil would prove sufficiently powerful to seduce the people from the freedom they enjoyed in and devotion they had to Christ (see *verses 3 *and *4*).

Though I might address the issue of succumbing to evil, especially as temptation erodes our defences, I am compelled by this particular text to treat the issue of religious leaders.

Paul was dealing with individuals presenting themselves as apostles.

Perhaps there are individuals presenting themselves as apostles in this day of whom we need to be wary, but I am more concerned about those individuals who present themselves as ministers of Christ—pastors and preachers—who are in fact ministers of evil.

An Evil Masquerade — Evil fascinates us.

Even the most godly among us are fascinated by evil.

Were this not so, movies and television shows about crime would not rate an audience.

Were we not fascinated by evil we would not be drawn to horror movies or shows which attempt to frighten us with the prospect of death.

Evil fascinates us, and I regret to say that evil also entertains us.

How shall we define evil?

Superficially, it seems easy to identify what is evil.

Evil is anything which is wicked or which is opposed to righteousness.

However, in providing this definition we raise some disturbing issues for us as Christians.

If evil is that which is wicked or opposed to that which is righteous, then we will find it necessary to define righteousness.

Of course, righteousness is that which reflects the will of God or that which pleases God.

Righteousness is that which is right, and the standard for “rightness” is Christ Jesus the Lord.

That which honours God is good.

That which corresponds to the will of Christ is righteous.

That which is godly is good and righteous.

The problem comes when we attempt to explain the parameters of righteousness.

Patriotism is good—isn’t it?

The answer is yes; patriotism is good except when our love of our nation leads us to exalt that above our love for God.

When patriotism leads us to hate others—even though those others are enemies—then we would be compelled to question how good such patriotism really is.

Tolerance of divergent views is good—isn’t it?

Again, the answer to the question is that tolerance of divergent views can be good, unless such tolerance blinds us to the wickedness of ungodly views.

We are conscience bound to defend the right of others to worship or not to worship according to the dictates of their hearts.

However, we must not confuse the clamour to recognise those same views as equally valid to the will of God as expressed through His Word.

Sodomites are still an abomination to God, though we must not attack them for their views.

Muslims are under sentence of eternal condemnation, though we would not compel them to surrender the freedom found within our nation.

You see, patriotism and tolerance can be good and righteous.

However, elevated to a position in which they either vie with or excel the revealed mind of God, both patriotism and tolerance become evil.

Similarly, much of what is good in life can become evil if we fail to keep our priorities straight.

An old saying in the American South stated that “good is enemy of the best.”

In other words, when I make what is good the best, of necessity I must supplant what is actually best.

Evil does not always consist of gross wickedness as we count wickedness.

It is evil to murder an individual, lying in wait for them in order to spill their blood.

However, we know from the words of the Master that it is equally evil to hate someone, harbouring malice in one’s heart [cf.

*Matthew 5:21, 22*].

Similarly, we who name the Name of Christ are convinced that it is evil to commit adultery; we are to be faithful to that one we marry and faithful to Christ.

We struggle, however, with the realisation that the lingering, longing look is equally sinful [cf.

*Matthew 5:27, 28*].

Perhaps we can handle the frank confrontation that these words of Jesus demand, but what we must realise is that evil is not always so clear cut.

We cannot help but notice a beautiful person, but our appreciation of beauty can become a means to justify our own adulterous heart.

As the fallen creatures we are, we cannot help but be angry on occasion.

There is a point where anger consumes, however, and where we begin to enjoy the prospect of murdering another.

There is a point when goodness crosses over to evil, and we are each vulnerable if we do not guard our heart.

If that which is evil were not presented in attractive packages, we would not be tempted.

Just so, those who preach wickedness are ministers of evil, but the evil contained within the message they bring or which is communicated by reason of their lives is not necessarily apparent.

In fact, appearances can be deceptive.

Not everything is as it appears.

Three times in our text, the Apostle makes this point as he uses the concept of masquerading or transforming [metaschmativzw].

False apostles *masquerade* as apostles of Christ.

Satan *masquerades* as an angel of light.

Satan’s servants *masquerade* as servants of righteousness.

*Workers* [ejrgavtai] may be a term referring to missionaries.

That would seem to be a natural conclusion drawn from a variety of verses.

Jesus, referring to missionaries, said the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few [*Matthew 9:37; Luke 10:2*].

Likewise, in a more general sense, the Master is recorded as saying the worker deserves his wages [*Luke 10:7*].

The Apostle later cited this same Scripture arguing for congregational support of pastors [see *1 Timothy 5:18*].

Once again, we witness Paul use this same term in reference to Christian workers.

In his last missive Paul says, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a *worker* who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth [*2 Timothy 2:15*].

*Workers* seems certainly to speak of ministers in the general sense, and in the context of our text it would seem to point to missionaries.

What I find fascinating is that these men whom Paul was confronting through his letter were not accused of presenting an evil message!

He does indeed call them deceitful workmen, perhaps referring to the fact that they were missionaries.

They do not, however, appear to be unbelievers who maliciously plot to infiltrate the church as undercover agents.[1]

These are professing Christians whom he roundly accuses of doing the Devil’s work.

Underscore in your minds what I just said.

Paul does not question their message—they may in fact  have been presenting a sound gospel message.