The Orange Game
2 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted
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BIG IDEA:
What do you want to know?
Why do you need to know it?
What do you want to do?
Why do you want to do it?
ME
I can still remember it as if it were yesterday. Imagine 4th grade gym class, it was a nice sunny day. So the gym teacher went outside and place four bases on the field. Then he instructs the students to form one line. He ask if he can have two volunteers. These were going to be the captains of the two teams. Being Chinese and naturally shy, I would of course not volunteer myself to this position. So one guy was chosen for team A, another for team B. So the gym teacher instructs the team captains to start picking who they want on their team. You heard one name called after another, as your classmates enthusiastically ran and high five their captain. You haven’t heard your name called yet, but that’s fine. There are still a lot of kids left. More names are called, and it’s still good. Still more names were called, you start to get a bit anxious, the person next to you just went to team B. There are now less than three kids. Next name called, not yours. Down to the two. Next name called, not yours. With a deep sigh, captain B says, fine, I will take Freddy.
WE
I don’t know why in the name of cruelty do gym classes go through this. I mean the gym teacher meant well, he just wants to get a game started. But why am I picked last? Well I am the tinniest, skinniest and slowest kid in class. Can’t help it I don’t enjoy sports much and prefer video games and junk food. And if it’s not this, it’s other elimination games. I hate elimination games! Or how about comparison games. those of us who have an older sibling who is smarter, taller, more clever would know. Especially in Chinese households, comparison is the name of the game. If not with your brother, how many sports do you play? Oh he just got 7 Excellents on his report card, why are all of yours just Very Good, and one Satisfactory? Or even with your cousin of a similar age. Then whether it’s school, your first job, your first date, your first car, your first condo or house, perhaps years of conditioning have made you so jaded that you savour beating others. You not only savour it, you flaunt it! Such is the depravity of our heart.
GOD
We have been talking about Paul’s struggle with the Corinthian churches since last year and as we entered last time in chapter 10, all the way to chapter 12, I would describe as probably one of the most raw portrayal of the struggle for leadership and influence we will see from Paul. Although some scholars believe most of it is rhetoric, when you deal with betrayal from your very own children (more on that later), who would turn against you simply by the flowery words and vicious challenges from some uprising star in the early church, you would feel the way Paul does too! Paul is seen as the outsider, instead of the dear appointed founder of the church of Corinth! He already mentioned this sentiment at the beginning of the letter:
1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you?
In these six verses though, Paul is still composed, and reasoning with wisdom and tact, so let’s take a look at what we can learn about some principles to his mission which can have ramifications not just with ministry but all aspects of life.
I. Christian influence is not measured by comparing with others ministries (v. 12, 16)
I. Christian influence is not measured by comparing with others ministries (v. 12, 16)
12 Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.
Paul obviously is referring to someone, the “they” which we will know even more about next time, and compare and contrast not how he does things and how these opponents do things. Using the word “compare” may be confusing because while Paul is striking a comparison, it is not so much about the quantity but the quality. What I mean is this:
Apples and oranges.
What? Yes, apples and oranges. You can have red delicious, macintosh, royal gala, northern spy, etc. but they are all apples. But Paul says I am an orange. What? I refuse to play the game altogether. You can contrast between others with the same mindset, that competitive desire to oust the other person in terms of ministry fame, how many people were brought to Christ, how persuasive was your teaching, how many likes you get from your last sermon, but Paul says, I am categorically different from you altogether. I don’t need to be commended by other men, even the Corinthians.
All this comparison shows is just how lacking in maturity and humility Paul’s opponents are. Calling them lacking in understanding is pretty tame. But how are his opponents without understanding? They act as judge, jury and executioner of their self-congratulatory ways! It screams of “look at me,” I am special, I am powerful, I am more legitimate than Paul? Why? Because I said so! How? Well, according to my own terms, I am special! Paul says they judge by mere outer appearance back in 5:12.
Have you ever met someone like this? Who you hear more about their glorious triumphs and when you talk to them, every story is about them, always about their victory, how they are better, smarter, faster than their colleagues. Someone so utterly competitive every moment they are measuring whether they have the best answer, whether they get noticed.
I have to admit I can be like that sometimes. Just the other day when we had a discipleship conversations led by Pastor Paul at CBOQ, we were talking about John Wesley’s Band, which is a small group of believers who keep each other accountable and honest through confessions and abiding by agreed rules. Every time they meet up they would ask the same questions. So as an exercise, Paul asked us to put the questions into today’s language, and then we would evaluate them. So there were 5 of us and we went about writing down these questions. Then we put in on the zoom chat area and the next instruction is what exposed my heart: “each of you look through them and see which one resonated with you?” That’s competitive language! Well, it’s not, but I sure took it that way. I immediately have this feeling in my stomach: I hope someone will resonate with my question. But the first person unmutes, and praises someone else. I can tell I was not happy. What about my questions? And what really exposed my heart was when the second person unmutes and comments on my question being helpful, I have a sigh of relief! What just happened there? I wasn’t contributing, so much as competing and measuring my worth and my value based on how others see me.
That is the comparison trap! Why are these opponents so needy to make a name for themselves? Because that was how their culture played the game. You gain honour by lifting your prestige and reputation, even at the expense of undermining others! 2,000 years later and the world still plays this game!
In what situation do you find yourself comparing apples to apples? Is it your work place? Is it your school? Is it with your friends? With your spouse? With your kids? What might that say about what you truly value?
II. Christian influence is measured by God-assigned areas of ministry (13-16)
II. Christian influence is measured by God-assigned areas of ministry (13-16)
13 But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. For we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. 15 We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, 16 so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence.
If comparing and categorizing is the symptom of spiritual immaturity, latent pride, and self-congratulation, then the first step to overcome this is level the playing field. I always say the Christian faith is the great equalizer. And for someone like me brought up as always compared to others, it gives me great joy to know I am just as much a sinner as the next person, and therefore need just as much grace as the next person to be forgiven of my sin. Jesus paid it all for all! We are both the most loathsome sinner and the most precious princes and princesses in God’s eyes. So this should be sufficient and satisfying, and anything else is a bonus! Well, not a bonus, but a privilege. And that is the privilege of Christian ministry. Now in the context it definitely is talking about ministry in terms of churches planted and believers discipled, and directly applies to pastors and missionaries, but we can see it in terms of the larger category of influence.
Everyone of us, saved by Jesus Christ have been given influence. Heck, our family is a sphere of influence. Our workplace is a space of influence. John Maxwell used to say, leadership is influence, no more and no less. I used to gobble up John Maxwell books. But I remember this quote because our influence can help shape and direct the path of someone else’s life. I probably borrowed this from somewhere too, maybe Andy Stanley. For some space, we are born into that influence. For others, we are educated and trained into it. But all of it is God’s providence guiding us to where he wants us to be.
Paul is no different. He was guided to Corinth by the Spirit on his missionary journey. He started with a few willing listeners of this gospel about King Jesus dying for our sins, regardless of whether it’s Jews or Gentiles, and being raised from the dead, calling all people into repentance. They started gathering, and soon a small community was formed. It’s an indisputable fact. They were there when it happened. And in a roundabout way, Paul is saying as a principle he only plants where God directs him, and had this dispute with the Corinthians and opponents not happened, he would have been happily on his way to plant further, perhaps in Spain (Rom 15:24) or in Rome (that’s what the lands beyond means). That’s what Paul meant when he said their faith increases.
What he is also implying is then why do his opponents claim ownership of Corinth if God has never assigned them there, and they came only after not so much to invest into the church but sow seeds of division between Paul and the Corinthians? Corinth is not an afterthought, or a, well “if Apollos or Peter is there, then I need to be there too!” This can easily be misunderstood as Paul being territorial, but let’s remember he was first, he was led by God to Corinth and assigned to plant there. It’s only because of this infiltration that Paul has to draw the line, the limits (Rom 15:20). So what it doesn’t mean as a church is that we ought to be preoccupied with ourselves and our pastors should be the only ones teaching and allow no other voices to come in (I know some churches do that, perhaps due to the insecurity of their leadership or an unwillingness to learn beyond their tribe), but as pastors it is important for us to discern and guard what is coming into God’s people! We are responsible for that!
As for your influence, it’s to be faithful in discerning what God has called you to do and stay there, not just your vocation and 9-5 job, but what is the God-given mission in your company? In your school? In your family? With your spouse? In your small group and Christian community?
III. Christian influence is measured by the approval of God, not men (17-18)
III. Christian influence is measured by the approval of God, not men (17-18)
17 “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
Lastly, if you are keen on the letters to the Corinthians, you would realize this is not the first time Paul quotes this exact quote which is derived from Jeremiah 9:23:
I put them together for comparison (show slide):
23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
The original use of the verse in Jeremiah, whom you will recall is know as the weeping prophet, is his lament for why Israel will enter into exile. For one thing, they took pride in their wisdom, might, riches as if they were attained by their own efforts, instead of crediting it to the Lord. They also failed to care for what God cares about: steadfast love, justice, righteousness in the earth. This was their responsibility because they had an intimate knowledge of the heart and the ways of the Lord! It’s misplaced priorities, it’s back to apples and oranges again! Paul simplifies this prophecy the first time to indicate the first problem of the Corinth church was division. Some follow one leader, others follow another, but all of them are servants doing their part, including Paul. If you want to cheer for one person, cheer for our Lord Jesus Christ! He is the one who makes it all happen! Now in 2 Corinthians, Paul uses this quote again to highlight somehow if it’s not Apollos, or Cephas (Peter) or Paul, it’s someone else again. The Corinthians haven’t learned that earthly servants don’t really matter, what matters is God gets the glory and honour! And therefore, what should matter to us is not whether we get praise from other people, as great as it feels to be acknowledged for your hard work, or affirmed for your message, but those very familiar words our Lord Jesus uttered, “well done, good and faithful servant!”
Now what this doesn’t mean is for those who see good works being done in the name of Jesus, to shy away from acknowledging it as a community to encourage your small group leader, your Sunday school teacher, your deacons, your pastors, or just one another as a community, but EVEN if you don’t hear a SINGLE praise from men, the one single praise from God should more than satisfy your soul! After all, God is sharing the commendation with you! He was the one who put you there! He was the one who gave you the ability to do what you do! He was the one who sustains and is still sustaining His work in you! That’s the Orange game!
YOU
So friends, brothers and sisters, if you’ve been scarred in the past by comparisons and being picked last. The good news is Jesus has picked all of us first. (He has given you your spiritual gifts and abilities, your passions, your calling, your personality, your culture and family background to occupy a special sphere of influence in Christ’s kingdom.) Don’t play the apples game (seems to be giving apples a bad name though I am more of an orange eater) seek the approval of God, who has put you where you are right now to be an influence which ultimately brings them face to face with Jesus who deserves all the glory and honour and praise, amen!