STUDIES IN II CORINTHIANS

Paul Aurandt tells the story of one of the fastest rising young singers back in the early 50's. He was called the Romantic Voice Of America. Teenage girls would give anything to see him, but he never appeared anywhere. He was not even seen in photographs. He was strictly a radio voice. Soon KFRC in San Francisco was flooded with teenage fan mail begging for signed photos, but none were ever sent. The golden voice was heard, but the person behind it was never seen.

One day a young girl went into the studio looking for a glimpse of her idol. When she saw him she was overwhelmed, and not with awe, but with laughter. The Romantic Voice of America was 5 ft. 10 and weighed 260 lbs. He was so embarrassed by her laughter that he went on a 4 month grueling diet. Because of that embarrassment he became fit enough to be seen in public, and he went on to become popular on television. By being crushed into despair he was able to rise to the heights of stardom. This young man is the now well-known Merv Griffin.

His experience reveals that there is often a link between the lows of life and the highs. The lows, or the failures, are often the motivating factors in our reaching for the heights and success. Had he never been crushed down by that negative experience he may never have been moved to change and climb to new heights. We see this process going on in the life of Paul as he records for all the world to see the depths of despair which forced him the heights of hope. Paul has been as low as a Christian can get, and he has been as high as a Christian can get. He knows the depth to which a Christian can sink in negative feelings, and he knows the heights in which they can soar in positive feelings.

Paul opens up and shares this intimate view of his own emotions, for he knows it will be a comfort to many, and God knew it would be a comfort to millions all through history. Christians need to know it is not a sign of lack of faith, or that God has abandoned you, because you feel sunk in a pit of despair. It has happened to the best of God's family, and is, therefore, an acceptable state of emotion event though it is not a state where you want to settle down and live. The proper response to this low state is to be motivated to climb to a higher level of faith and hope. We want to look at these two levels of life that Paul experienced so we can learn also to cope with the depths and climb to the heights. Let's look first at-

I. THE DEPTHS OF DESPAIR.

The Greek word Paul uses here to describe his low point means-to have no outlet whatever. Paul felt trapped with no way to escape. It was a hopeless situation, and there was nothing he could do. It looked like death was inevitable, and there was no other choice but to die. Paul was at a dead end. The enemy was bearing down on him and there was no exist. The pressure was great that it was beyond his ability to endure it. Paul was admitting that he had come to the end of his rope, and he could not longer hang on. This is a terrible place to be, but God had Paul share this so that Christians might not be superficial in their judgments of Christians who reach this level of despair.

Many Christians who have lived sheltered lives, as many of us have, do not know the depths to which life can push the emotions. We have all felt depressed but despair goes deeper than depression. It is the feeling of utter hopelessness. It is a very dangerous state of mind, for this is what leads people to take their own life. It is the feeling that made Job wish he had never been born. It is the feeling that made Solomon feel that everything was vanity and totally meaningless. It is a theme very common in literature.

John Bunyan in Pilgrim's Progress has a scene where Great-Heart has a major battle with Giant Despair who had as many lives as a cat. In other words, despair is a hard foe to get rid of. John Milton in Paradise Lost has Satan cry out in despair, "Which way shall I fly-infinite wrath and infinite despair? Which way I fly is hell; myself is hell; and in the lowest deep a lower deep still threatening to devour me opens wide, to which the hell I suffer seems a heaven."

The lost world has picked up on the despair philosophy of Satan, and it has become, in the words of Francis Schaeffer, the culture of despair. He traces despair as one of the key ideas in art, poetry, and music in our culture. If you think a lot of modern art, literature and music is meaningless, then they have succeeded in communicating, for that is exactly what they are trying to convey-that life is meaningless and absurd. So when you look at a Picasso painting not knowing if you are looking at a male, female, or a chair, and you say this is absurd, you have gotten the point.

Despair leads to all kinds of absurdity. But despair does explain absurdity. The reality of despair helps us understand all of the mysteries of evil, and why people engage in atrocities so vicious and inhuman. Despair means there is no way out, and so what do you have to lose? Despair causes people to go and shoot fellow workers, or to kill strangers on the street. Despair causes teenagers by the thousands to take their own life every year. George Eliot said something long ago that fits our day as well: "There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moment of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and have recovered hope."

Studies show that despairing teens take their own lives because they think the feelings they have at the moment are permanent. The broken heart the feel when their boy or girl friend dumps them is what they think they have to live with the rest of their lives, and so they cut their life short to end the pain. They do not have the ability to see beyond despair to a whole new life of joy. Do not take despair lightly. It is a very dangerous emotion, and it is what makes this a dangerous world in which to live. But the point of all this is that Christians can experience it. It is so negative, and the cause of such depths of evil in the world that many Christians refuse to believe that it is possible to be a Christian in such a state of despair.

Jeremy Taylor wrote, "It is impossible for that man to despair who remembers that his Helper is omnipotent." The problem with making such a radical statement is that it ignores the Word of God, which is our final authority. If a Christian can or cannot feel despair, it is not going to be settled by a survey, a vote, or by scholars doing research. It is settled by the revelation God has given us, and Paul states it clearly that he and young Timothy despaired even of life. They felt utterly hopeless with no way of escape.

Why is it important to accept the fact that a Christian can reach the depths of despair? Because it is in assuming they can't that has led many Christians to neglect the ministry of comfort, and let Christians descend into a pit so deep they cannot get out. Never assume that a Christian cannot descend to the pit of despair. The Word of God and the record of history makes it clear that they can. I have dozens of books by Charles Spurgeon. He was the greatest preacher England ever produced, and many consider him the greatest preacher in history. But he often had a battle with depression. He once said, "I am the subject of depressions of spirit so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of wretchedness as I go to."

I have many of the books of Dr. John Henry Jowett, another man who has been called the greatest preacher in the English speaking world. Listen to his testimony: "You seem to imagine I have no ups and downs, but just a level and lofty stretch of spiritual attainment with unbroken joy and equanimity. By no means! I am often perfectly wretched and everything appears most murky." There are hundreds, if not thousands, of such testimonies from Christian leaders through history. Some feel these records should be hidden and not exposed to the public. But this is folly, for Paul opens up his own life for us to see the depths to which even an Apostle can go. And he does it to give comfort.

Christians who do not know that Christians can go so low feel rejected by God and man. Those who hide these records from them for fear of hurting their faith rob them of the comfort they need to cling to their faith. It is important for us to see Paul is in deep distress and despair. He is overwhelmed by the troubles of life. It is important for us to see that Paul prayed for the removal of his thorn in the flesh, and he did not get the healing. It is important for us to see all of the negative experiences and emotions of Paul, for they are a source of great comfort for us when we suffer the same emotions. Hide the negatives from people, and they feel alone as if they are the only Christian whoever felt like they feel. This is to be a miserable comforter, and like Job's friends add weights to the crushing load that is already pushing down the suffering saint.

What does Paul do with his despair? He shares it with the church. He says in verse 8, "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered." And then he goes on to inform them of the awful pressures they feel that are beyond their ability to endure. You would think Paul would keep quite about such a depth of despair. After all, he is an Apostle and an example to all believers. Should he be exposing his inner soul like this and telling Christians how deep a pit he is in? Yes he should, for it is the source of great comfort to millions that he was in that state. But the comfort does not end with the feeling we are not alone, but in the highest of company if we are in the pit of despair. There is better news yet, and Paul goes on to deal with-

II. THE HEIGHTS OF HOPE.

St. Philip of Neri cried out in the streets of Rome, "I am in despair, I am in despair." A friend asked how he could say such a thing and he responded, "I despair of myself, but I trust in God." This is what Pal is saying here. He despaired of ever being able to save himself, but he did not despair of God's ability to save him. He says in verse 9, "This happened that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God, who raises the dead." The value of despair is that it forces you to give up your pride and self-sufficiency, and realize that without God you are sunk. The value of being so low is that there is nowhere else to look but up to God, who alone can give you hope.

Paul comes to the end of his rope, but he does not come to the end of his hope. He had no resource in himself, and all he could do was to surrender his life and future to the providence of God. This is that place in life where we see unique answers to prayer. If there is no way out for man, and God is the only one who can deliver them, then there will be a marvelous demonstration of God's providence. For example, a chaplain in the South Pacific tells of being with American troops trying to hold a beach. It was a long battle, and their water supply ran out. They were desperate and they prayed for some relief. They were helpless to meet their own need. Suddenly, one of the shells the American battleship was laying down fell short and buried itself in the sand near them. It exploded and left a deep crater. It began to fill with fresh water from springs below. Their despair turned to thanksgiving, for what was hopeless for them was clearly possible for God.

Paul was likewise delivered from his hopeless situation, and this filled his despairing heart with the highest of hopes, for he learned you can give up on yourself and your own ability to escape, but you ought never to give up on God, for He can deliver you from any pit no matter how deep and seemingly hopeless it is. We see an example of this in Psa. 107 where God's people were in a stormed tossed ship. It looked hopeless for them to survive. Starting at verse 26 we read, "In their peril their courage melted away. They reeled and staggered like drunken men. They were at their wits end. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm, and He guided them to their desired haven."

They were helpless in a hopeless situation. They were in the depths of despair, and yet they were also hopeful, for they cried out to God and He rescued them. The believer has to live sometimes in the paradoxical world of despair and hope at the same time. Politics makes strange bedfellows we say, but so does faith. Despair and hope are opposites, but the are often partners. The one aids us to let go of self, and the other aids us to take hold on God. Numerous were the passages where the feelings of despair and hope are linked together. They teach the same double lesson that Paul is teaching to the Corinthians, and that is that they are to be comforted in their despair, for it happens to the best. Be comforted because it forces you to look to God and be lifted to the heights of hope.

Edmund Burk said, "Never despair, but if you do work on in despair." Paul would say amen, for if you work on by looking up you can reach the heights from that pit. This is the good news for both the world and the church. It is the greatest message of comfort in the world, for even the worst sinner in the pit of despair can look up, and buy the love of Christ be taken out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. That is what salvation is. It is being taken out of the pit of self-sufficiency and being set on the Rock of Christ's sufficiency.

Francis Scott Key who wrote the Star Spangled Banner also wrote this letter to a cousin: "Nothing but Christianity will give you the victory. Until a man believes in his heart that Jesus Christ is his Lord and Master...his course through life will be neither safe nor pleasant. My only regret is that I was so long blinded by my pleasures, my vices and pursuits, and the examples of others that I was kept seeing, admiring, and adoring the marvelous light of the Gospel.

There was no one who can be so blind, or so depressed, or in such a deep pit of despair that the Christian does not have good news for them. To be at the end of your rope is the best place to be if you are going to let go of self-salvation, and look to God for your deliverance in Christ. People in despair are good prospects for the kingdom of God.

Chuck Colson in his book Kingdoms In Conflict writes that Winston Churchill died with these words on his lips, "There is no hope, there is no hope." He looked at a world of sinful men trying to gain power and control of other people, and he was in despair. Colson takes a survey of the world and says there is good reason for despair, for people all over the world are killing each other. He writes that man has the technology for the greatest era for peace and prosperity, but man uses his power for evil and destruction. He also despairs about mans ever being able to produce a world of peace, but he ends his book with hope, not in man, but in the God of all comfort who has given us a lasting hope.

He ends his book with these words: "Like any author, I would like to end this book on a triumphant note, announcing that ultimate peace and harmony can be achieved through human efforts. But that utopian illusion is shattered by the splinted history of the human race. Governments rise; even the most powerful fall. The battle for people's hearts and minds will continue. Where then is hope? It is in the fact that the kingdom of God has come to earth-the kingdom announced by Jesus Christ in that obscure Nazareth synagogue 2000 years ago. It is a kingdom that comes not in a temporary take over of political structures, but in the lasting takeover of the human heart by the rule of a holy God."

Our hope is not in self, not in the government, not in the U.N., not in technology, and not in all the idols of history, but our hope is in God. Anything that can get us to focus on this narrow way is a blessing, even if it means the pit of despair that robs us of all the other hopes. The world is indeed a hopeless case, but that is why God needed to provide us with a Savior. The world cannot save itself, nor can any person in the world. Our hope is in God alone, for He specializes in hopeless cases.

Tony was a good example. He was a 5 year old who was raised in the streets of Tijuana surrounded by crime, narcotics, and prostitution. His changes for a good life were extremely low. Then one day he heard his baby brother screaming, and when he ran into the house he saw his parents bending over his brothers body with a bloody club nearby. He turned and ran. His parents reported him to the police and told them that Tony had murdered his brother, and that is why he ran away. So 5 year old Tony was thrown in prison for murder. There he stayed until Carolyn Koons visited the prison. Carolyn was herself a product of great family abuse. But she found Christ and founded Mexicoli Outreach, which hundreds of college students into Northern Mexico for short term missionary work.

That is how she discovered Tony in prison. There had never been any investigation of the charges against him. He was just presumed guilty and left to spend his life in prison. She fought a long and expensive battle against bureaucratic red tape, but she finally won his freedom and brought him to the United States. She raised him as a single parent and sent him to a Christian college. A kid who had no chance in a hopeless situation was, by the providence of God, given love and life and eternal hope. He was taken from the depths of despair to the heights of hope.

The lesson Paul wants all Christians to learn is not that there are not hopeless situations. He knows there are for he had been in such situations. But the point is, it was not hopeless for God. We have a right to feel hopeless and helpless when all our powers are fruitless. But we also have a responsibility to then look to God for whom there are no hopeless situations. The Comforter helps the hopeless look beyond their despair.

A 26-year-old baseball player was cut from the Yankees and sent back to the farm club. He decided to quit baseball and get a job. He and his wife were driving back to their hometown in Louisiana when he stopped for gas. His wife said, "Honey, it is always going to bother me to think that you ran away and will never know whether you could have made it in the big leagues or not." Right there he made a decision to head back North. He went to the farm club and worked hard. Three years later he was declared the pitcher of the year. He won the Cy Young Hall of Fame Award, and led the Yankees to two world championships. Ron Guidry was his name. He was in a pit of despair about his future, but his wife's encouragement gave him the hope he needed to try again.

Paul's point is, don't give up in despair, for failure is a part of life. Just give up trusting in your own power to solve the problem. Let go of the self-sufficiency and put your hope in God. Is it 100% guaranteed God will lift you out of the pit? No! Paul was rescued often, but he was finally killed by Nero. The point is that Paul could have died much earlier, but God gave him assurance that he would be spared until his work was done. That is all the hope anyone needs. Like Paul, we should all be looking to God no matter what our circumstances, and be ever moving out of despair into hope.

2. PAUL'S SELF-DEFENSE Based on II Cor. 1:12-17

Jonathan Edwards was born in 1703, and he became one of the greatest preachers in history. He lived in a day when pastors went to a church out of seminary and stayed there for the rest of their lives. His father was the pastor of The Congregational Church in the little village of East Windsor, Conn. for 64 years. Jonathan entered Yale at age 13 and graduated at age 17. He studied theology for 2 years and then became a tutor at Yale. At age 24 he was invited to be the junior pastor at Northampton, Mass. where his grandfather was the senior pastor. Two years later his grandfather died and he was the sole pastor of the church.

Edwards developed a theology that said God can do whatever He wants with people. They are His creatures and He can do with them as He pleases. He can take them to heaven or cast them into hell. He has the right and the power to do anything He wills. He started to preach a series on this theme, and one became very famous, and it was called Sinners In The Hands Of An angry God. His fearful messages started a revival that spread until he became one of the most famous and influential pastors in the nation, and he was still only in his 30's.

When the winds of change died down, and the emotions of revival cooled, and apathy set in there was a period from 1744 to 1748 where not a single new person joined the church. This was a long dry spell, and critics of Edwards stirred up agitation. After much personal bitterness the church voted in 1750 to dismiss their pastor. He appealed to the Ecclesiastical Council to review the church's action, but five of the nine ministers voted to sustain his dismissal. So Edwards found himself out of a job at 47 years of age with a wife and 10 children to support. Their financial situation was pathetic.

After a few months the church found that nobody wanted to come to be their pastor, and so they did an unbelievable thing: They asked Edwards to help them out. Most pastors would have refused with indignation, but Edwards agreed to do it. He started preaching again in the pulpit from which he had been cast out. He was ministering the Word of God to a people who had rejected him. He did this for a year before he got a call to another church. He went on to write 4 theological works that gave him the reputation of being the most original religious thinker in American history. In 1758 he was asked to become the President of Princeton. I share this history of one of the great preachers of our land because it is such a parallel to what we see in the relationship between Paul and the Corinthian Church.

Paul spent a year and a half getting this church established. It was hard work, for they were a very godless people, and Paul needed special encouragement from God to hang in there and not give up. So Paul plugged away at it and got Silas and Timothy to come and take over his labor of making tents so he could devote himself full time to preaching and teaching. You would think that this would be a dream church. The world's greatest Apostle, who was the most brilliant and devoted man on the earth was their pastor, but the fact is, it was a nightmare. Paul had more problems with this church than with all the rest of them put together. These Christians refused to grow up. They stayed as babes, and the result was they were not really any different than the pagans around them. Paul, however, never gave up on this bunch of carnal Christians. He wrote 4 letters to them. We have 2 of them, but he refers in them to 2 others he wrote. So we have the paradox that the church, which had the most problems, and which gave Paul the most grief, have the most written to them of all the churches. They were the worst and they received the best.

They found every petty fault they could find in Paul to criticize. They chewed him up and spit him out, and yet Paul keeps coming back for more. Many who study the issue in depth wonder why Paul did not just write them off as a hopeless cause. As Paul travels the world he is ever thinking of this church and how he can help them shape up and stop being so critical. He wants them to grow up for the glory of God. Most would walk away from a church that treated them like this, but Paul looks at all their fault finding and decided he will defend himself against these critics.

This letter is loaded with Paul's self-defense. Some Christians feel it is not wise to engage in self-defense, for it can sound very egotistical. This is true, and at times Paul sounds anything but humble in this letter, but we need to keep in mind that he is not doing this for his sake, or for his reputation. The truth of God's Word will suffer and all the church will be hurt if he lets his critics undermine his authority and his teaching. He is defending himself for the sake of the church. Self-defense is legitimate when it benefits others.

Believe it or not, one of the main criticisms of Paul was that you cannot trust the man to keep his promises. Paul told the Corinthians that he planned to come and see them and spend a winter with them after he went through Macedonia. But that plan did not work out, and Paul did not make it to Corinth. The best laid plans of mice and men, and even Apostles, do not always work out, and this one of Paul's fell through. This is just the sort of thing critics latch onto. They were saying that Paul's word was not worth the paper it was written on. He says one thing and then does another. He says yes, but he means no.

It made no difference to the critics that Paul ended his promise to come to them with these words in I Cor. 16:7, "...if the Lord permits." Paul knew that life did not always go according to his plan, and so he conditioned his promise. But this did not stop the faultfinders. Have you ever promised somebody something and then discovered that life took a turn that you were not expecting, and you could not keep that promise? Parents have this quite often with children. You don't have to do this very often before you hear the words, "You never do what you say you will." This is what the childish critics are saying to Paul. He is like a mother who placates her crying kids by promising them the moon, but when it comes to carrying out the promise she is too tired, or has other plans.

Parents often do make promises to easily, and they do fail to be consistent with keeping their word. But this is not the case with Paul. He has valid reasons for his behavior, and much of this letter is his self-defense. It is hard to deal with Paul's defense in any other way but by a methodical verse by verse examination of his arguments and statements, and so that is what we will do beginning with verse 12. Paul begins with, "Now this is our boast." The Greek word Paul uses for boast is a very common word in the Greek world. The only problem is that it is almost always a bad word used to describe a person who trumpets his own renown, and is, therefore, not liked.

We feel the same about a boaster today, and so it does not sound like a good choice of words for a man trying to defend himself against critics. This is especially so since James 4:16, using this same word, says, "As it is you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil." So now he has James against him too, and he is calling him evil for his boasting. Paul's fist words of defense do not seem appropriate unless he is trying to hang himself, or unless he is a master of paradox. That, of course, is what Paul was, and by so being he teaches us over and over again that the same thing can be both evil and good. Boasting is primarily evil, for it is a sign of pride. But we all know there is also a positive pride, which is the foundation for our self-esteem, and without it we would not be healthy individuals.

Paul had a healthy sense of self-esteem, and he was able to be honest about how he felt about the gifts God had given him. His pride and boasting were not self-centered, but God-centered. You will notice that he stresses that his gifts are from God and according to God's grace. When your boasting exalts God as the source of what you are proud about it is a virtue. Just because most boasting is a vice of self-centered pride does not mean we should avoid all boasting. Paul took this bad word and used it often in a positive way. In so doing he taught Christians to look for the positive side of the sinful nature of man. What possible good lurks in the hearts of sinners who behave so proud and boast of their achievements as if they were self-made and created all their gifts on their own? That very vice that keeps them self-centered can become a tool for God-centered service. This negative word became one of Paul's favorite words. He uses it about 25 times in his letters to the Corinthians, and it is used only a few times in all the rest of the New Testament. It is a bad thing that can be good if properly expressed.

Minnie Pearl was famous for saying, "I'm mighty proud to be here." It was an expression of joy and a compliment to the audience. No one would ever accuse her of sinful pride in her spirit. Paul says something very similar when he says, "I am mighty proud to be God's agent in this world. I am mighty proud to be a child of God and a useful tool for His kingdom." We sing something like it when we sing, "I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God." Is that pride? Is that boasting? Yes it is, but it's the good kind that Paul loves to express often. It is that good pride like, "I am proud to be an American." Paul was proud to be a Christian, and he is going to boast about being a good Christian by the grace of God.

The first thing Paul boasts about is his clear conscience. His conscience testifies that he has been blameless in conduct in the world, and especially in his relationship to them. It is obvious to all commentators that Paul is being accused by some in the church of worldly behavior and worldly wisdom. They are questioning his integrity and sincerity. Almost every evangelist is suspect because there are so many who manipulate people for their own gain. Paul and all faithful evangelists have to endure this same criticism because it is so often true. Once you are accused of bad behavior it is very hard to get rid of the stain and restore your image. It is not enough to be innocent, for you have to prove it, and this will never convince all the critics.

Some years ago governor Gifford Pinchot of Pennsylvania sent his black retriever to the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia for the inmates to have a mascot. The prisoners loved the dog, and he became a great favorite. The story got out that he had condemned the dog to prison for killing a cat. He got letters from all over the world denouncing his inhuman cruelty. He could not stop the spread of the story, and so through his whole term of office he kept getting these nasty letters. It is hard to believe that people in total ignorance of the facts will go off half-cocked and in righteous indignation blast people as if they had direct access to the omniscient mind of God.

If you read of the hoaxes that have stirred up millions to write letters of protest over false reports you will discover that Christians are the worst offenders. They are often gullible and easily manipulated by false reports. It is nothing new, for Paul had to fight it in his day as all kinds of misinformation was being spread about him, and it was Christians who were doing it and believing it. That is why we see his self-defense in this letter, for if the falsehoods were allowed to stand his ministry would suffer.

His first argument is, "I do not feel guilty for my conduct, for my conscious is clear." His promise to visit them was made in all sincerity, and he does not feel any guilt that he could not keep his promise, for that was out of his hands. He does not control all of life, and so the best he can do is plan and make a sincere effort to carry out that plan. Some Christians go all to pieces when plans do not go as they wish. They feel guilt as if they failed. Paul will have none of this guilt, for he did his best. He moves on to plan B and does not fret and grieve and feel guilt. Some were trying to make Paul feel guilty by telling others that if he was really spiritual his plan would have worked out.

It is a case of Job's friends ride again. They were blaming Paul for the complexity of his life as if it was his sin that made his life so complex. If he was more spiritual and less worldly his plans would work out and he could keep his promises. Christians are notorious for calling other Christians less spiritual because they don't operate just the same way as they do. In his defense Paul writes that all he does is characterize by the holiness and sincerity that are from God. In other words, he operates with a singleness of heart, and he is not double minded as his critics are saying.

The word sincerity means, "Judged by the sun." When a person bought a vase they would hold it up to the sun, for if there was a crack in it the sun would reveal that flaw. Paul is saying, "I am not a fake putting on a show for my own benefit. I do not deceive you." Some vase makers would cover over their flaws with wax so you could not see the crack unless you held it up to the sun. On a cloudy day they could sell these defective vases, for they looked perfect. Paul is saying, "I am not trying to hide anything and put one over on you. I operate openly and above board, and gladly submit to a thorough examination to test my sincerity."

Because Paul is so honest with this self-exposure of his conduct, character and motives, we have in this letter the most intimate look at Paul's inner being and emotions. Paul tells us his conscience is a witness for his defense, for it says to him that he has done the right thing. Paul is the New Testament authority when it comes to the conscience. John uses this word only once, and Peter 3 times, but Paul uses it 28 times of the 32 uses in the New Testament. For Paul conscience is the self-awareness that you are right or wrong in your attitudes and actions. If you are deceiving people and doing what you know is not the will of God, you will feel guilty. The ancient Greeks saw the conscience as an inner witness telling you that you are on the right path, or that you are going astray. It is a God-given inner voice. It can be a very effective guide even in the pagan world.

This whole business with the conscience is a major theological issue with Paul. He writes in Rom. 2:14-15, "Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them." Paul is saying that there are pagan people who are guided by their conscience, and if they listen to this inner voice and obey it, they are as righteous as those who obey God's written law in His Word. Where there is no Bible people will be judged according to their conscience.

In Paul's day the conscience was a major subject. The Pythagoreans stressed the importance of a good conscience, and self-examination each night. They wrote, "Thou shalt not take sleep to thy gentle eyes until thou has considered each of the days acts. Where did I fail? What was a right act? What was left undone? Begin with the first, go through them, and finally when thou has done wrong rebuke thyself and when thou has done good rejoice." Socrates left the judgment of his accusers, who gave false evidence, to their conscience. Seneca the Roman stoic, who was a contemporary of Paul, wrote, "Every night I examine my life. I open out my conscience to the gods. For conscience is to every man a sort of inward god. The famous Roman by the name of Cicero wrote, "There is a law within, diffused among all men, constant, eternal.... There is one common master and commander of all, even God who originated this law. If anyone obeys not this law he plays false to himself and does despite to the nature of man."

Philo was the Greek Jewish theologian who was also a contemporary of Paul. He wrote of the conscience, "It is born with every soul and makes its abode with it, nor is it want to admit anything that offends. Its priority is ever to hate the evil and love the good." We could go on and on, but these are sufficient to make clear why Paul appeals to his conscience in self- defense. It was universally accepted by pagans, Jews and Christians that the conscience was a key witness to any persons motives. A clear conscience was one of the best testimonies that could be presented. Paul is saying, I am proud to declare that my conscience testifies I have been holy and sincere in all my dealings with the world and with the church.

Paul is saying that the charges of him being worldly wise are not true, and they are based on the critics misunderstanding. He makes it clear in verse 14 that he expects this letter to clear up this misunderstanding so that they can be proud of him. His self-defense is not just to make him look better, but to help the Corinthians so they can be proud of their founder and teacher, and, thereby feel more secure in their faith. Their self-image is going to be damaged if they think their founder is a con man. The goal is mutual boasting of each other, and a sense of positive pride about who they are in Christ.

The critics of Paul are saying that he is deceptive and that he uses words to cleverly say one thing, but he really means another. Paul says in verse 13 that what he writes to them is not mysterious and ambiguous, but it is easy to understand, for he is being as open an honest as he can be to convey transparent genuineness. His opponents are reading between the lines, and they are reading in things he is not saying. Critics who do not like a person are easily detected, as are Paul's critics. They find fault very easy because they read into his words and acts that which is not his intent to convey. Never take a critics interpretation of the meaning of another person's words, for there will be distortion. The only valid interpretation of a man's words are what he gives. If it sounds like a man is saying one thing and meaning another, don't ask his critics, ask him. He alone can give you an authentic interpretation of what he means. Paul's critics are saying, "We think he means something other than what he says." Paul responds, "You are wrong. When I say yes I mean yes, and when I say no I mean no. I say what I mean and I mean what I say."

Warren Wiersbe of Back To The Bible fame says he can sympathize with Paul, for he has made promises too and then had plans changed so that he had to cancel meetings where he was scheduled to be. Christians can be very critical when you foul up their plans. Paul's critics are calling him wishy-washy. He does not care about us, but only wants to get our money. We will see a lot of criticism and a lot of self-defense as we study this letter. The major lesson of this letter is that Christians are too critical, and they hurt the cause of Christ by being that way.

I must confess that I find myself critical of other Christians. We went to a large Presbyterian Church, and found myself being critical. Their choir was not nearly as good as ours, and the pastor took 10 minutes giving announcements, and his message had no central theme. I came away feeling proud that even though we are smaller we have a better service. Being critical of others makes us feel superior, and that is why it is popular, and that is why Christians put others down. It is important for us to be aware that we have this critical spirit so that we can keep it under control. That is one of the major goals for studying this letter of Paul.

3. OUR JESUS IS YES Based on II Cor. 1:15-22

Yes is only a three letter word, but its utterance can change your life. It happened to the poet Robert Robinson one Sunday morning in London. People everywhere were hurrying to church, but he was not. He had left the church, and he had lost the once passionate faith that made him a zealous witness for Christ. He was now dark and cold inside, and he was a very lonely man as he walked the streets. He heard the clip clop, clip clop of a horse drawn cab behind him. He turned and lifted his hand to hail the driver. But then he saw that the cab was occupied by a young woman dressed for church. He waved the driver on, but the woman ordered the carriage to be stopped.

The woman in the carriage said to him, "Sir, I'd be happy to share this carriage with you. Are you going to church?" He was about to decline when suddenly he was overcome by an urge to say yes. He did it. He said yes, and he got into the carriage. As it rolled forward he told her his name, and she said, "What a coincidence. I was just reading a verse by a poet with that name of Robert Robinson. She reached into her purse and pulled out the small book of inspirational verse. She handed it to him and he nodded and said, "Yes, I wrote these words years ago." She exclaimed, "Oh, how wonderful! Imagine! I'm sharing a carriage with the author of these very lines."

She was thrilled with God's providence in her life, but she had no idea of the profound work God was doing in his life. He opened his own book to his poem that became a famous hymn. He read these words:

Come thou fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.

Streams of mercy never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

His eyes filled with tears as he read the bottom of the page.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it-

Prone to leave the God I love,

Here's my heart, O take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above.

He was convicted and then revived by his own poem, and restored to fellowship with God. It was all because he said yes to an invitation to do something he knew was the will of God, and that was to go to church. The more we say yes to those things God wants in our lives, the more we will receive the yes of God's promises. e. e. cummings wrote,

Yes is a world

And in this world of

Yes live (skillfully curled)

All worlds.

The world of salvation begins with our own yes to the Gospel. Yes we say to God, I will receive your gift of eternal life in Christ. From then on every stage of growth is a stage we advance to by saying yes to God. Yes I will pray and read your word for guidance and wisdom. Yes I will give of my time, talent, and treasure to bless the body of Christ, and yes I will give and I will go to fulfill the Great Commission. Yes I will witness to my world, and yes I will love my neighbor as myself. Yes I will love and praise and serve my Savior, and I will follow the path He reveals for me to follow. The whole Christian life is a life of saying yes to God who has said yes to us in Jesus.

Paul in our text tells us that Jesus is never no, but always yes. He is God's yes, and all God's promises are yes in Christ. This is the greatest text in the Bible for the support of Christian optimism and biblical positive thinking.

1. Is there life after death? The answer of God in Christ is yes!

2. Is there hope for people who have messed their life up beyond human repair?

The answer of God in Christ is yes!

3. Is there a way out of the predicament men get into by their mere humanistic

schemes? The answer of God in Christ is yes!

4. Can sin be forgiven? The answer of God in Christ is yes!

5. Can the future still be a success? The answer of God in Christ is yes!

6. Can broken relationships be restored? The answer of God in Christ is yes!

7. Can impossible dreams still come true? The answer of God in Christ is yes!

8. Can I overcome the past? The answer of God in Christ is yes!

You can go on and on asking such hard questions, and the answer of God in Christ is always yes, yes, yes. God's answer in Christ is always yes, for Jesus is the yes of God. That is why the Christian can always celebrate even in fallen world filled with sin, sickness, and sorrow, for the final word will always be yes. James Angell could write,

In the midst of flashing neon darkness,

We dare this day to celebrate the light.

In the midst of blaring, shouting silence,

We dare this day to celebrate the word.

In the midst of bloated, gorged starvation,

We dare this day to celebrate the bread.

In the midst of bottled, bubbling thirst,

We dare this day to celebrate the water.

In the midst of smothered, gnawing doubt,

We dare to celebrate the affirmation.

In the midst of frantic, laughing death,

We dare this day to celebrate life.

How can we have the audacity to be positive and hopeful in such a negative world? It is because our Jesus is yes. The Christian who is negative, and who says no more often than yes to life is a captive of the world mentality. We all fall into the no mode from time to time, but it is to be a fall and not the ditch we choose to walk in. We are to get back to the highway of yes, for that is where a Christian should always be walking.

Neil Eskelin wrote a fascinating book called Yes, Yes Living In A No, No World. He found Christians in large measure tend to be a drag on the body the of Christ because of their no, no spirit. They tend to be critical and resistant to a positive way of doing all things for the glory of God. He learned the power of being a yes, yes father in relating to a no, no son. His five year boy had the living room full of toys, and it was time to go to bed. When he asked him to pick them up he said he was too tired. His immediate response was to force him to clean up the room, but then he got a better idea. He decided to try a more positive approach. He took his son into the bedroom and laid down with his knees up, put his son up on them, and played Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. The boy loved the sudden fall to the bed and was having a great time. Over an over he asked to do it again. But after the third fall dad said you first have to go and pick up the toys. The son ran and finished the task and was quickly back to play some more.

Dad learned a valuable lesson. If you can find a way to get a child to say yes I want to, then life is so much easier than when you are trying to push them with a no spirit. No is an uphill job, but yes is a downhill slide. No creates friction, but yes creates freedom. That is why he wrote his book on yes, yes living. He gives a number of examples of how yes people are the ones who do what no people say can't be done.

Cyrus Field was convinced a cable could be laid on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean to allow communication between the U. S. and Europe. He had a special cable laid and tried it, but it kept failing to work. The headlines read, "Field fails again." His friends and supporters were disheartened, and investors begin to pull out not wanting to risk anymore money. The no people were in control of the masses, but they could not stop Field from saying yes. He knew it could be done and he organized a new company and made it work. The first message sent on this cable under the ocean was, "Thank God the cable is laid and is in perfect order."

The history of progress is the story of people who can yes, yes when everyone else is saying no, no. Henry Ward Beecher, the great orator, recalled the day in school when he was demonstrating a problem in geometry. The teacher stopped him with a "No, No!" In a tone of total conviction. Beecher sat down in total confusion because he thought he was doing it right. The next boy went to the board and was stopped with the same loud "No!" But he went right ahead and completed the problem. Beecher raised his hand and said he was doing the exact same problem. The teacher replied, "Why didn't you say yes and stick to it? It's not good enough to know your lesson. You must know you know it."

This can be a powerful lesson that every parent should teach their children. They will confront a no, no world all of their lives, and if they do not have a yes, yes spirit they will be in bondage to the no. Humorous Sam Levenson knows what it means to look for the best. He is a short man, but he doesn't let it bother him. At a dinner he was surrounded by a group of rather tall businessmen. "Don't you feel quite small among these big men?" someone asked him. "Yes I do," was Levenson's reply. "I feel like a dime among a lot of pennies." That is a yes, yes way to look at it.

If we as Christians do not have a yes, yes spirit, we are part of the problem rather than part of the answer. Jesus is the yes of God, and if Jesus is in us, then we are to be yes people. This does not mean we are yes men and yes women in the negative sense that this terminology is used. When so used it means we go along with authority whether we really agree or not. The New Orleans man eased himself into the chair and called for a shave. The little barber was of a swarthy complexion that indicated that he might be of Latin-American blood. As he stropped his razor he opened the conversation with: "What's your opinion of this Mexican situation?" "Same as yours." "But how do you know what mine is?" "Don't matter. You've got the razor."

This is not the kind of yes people we are to be-saying yes out of fear. The Christian is to be a positive yes person out of the conviction that Paul had-I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Jesus is God's yes-he is the resource to give the energy and motivation to do whatever God wills you to do. The Christian can do whatever God wills, and so they are to be perpetually striving to do it with a yes mentality.

Paul says that by the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit in our hearts we can say amen to the glory of God. That is, we can say so be it, or yes to all God wills for us. Jesus never said no to God. He was tempted to say no, but He never did. He was always saying yes. Through Him Paul says we are to continue to say amen to the glory of God. Jesus is the everlasting yea and amen. 31 times in Matthew Jesus said amen; 14 times in Mark, 7 in Luke, 25 in John, for a total of 77 times in the Gospels. Jesus was single minded and so it was not sometimes yes and sometimes no. He was always yes. He said yes to God even when that yes took Him to the cross.

You can say no to Jesus and reject His love and sacrifice for you, but you can never change His yes to no. He will not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, for He is the everlasting yes. People came to Jesus in great crowds because He never said no. He had life to give and light, and He had healing and salvation. He gave freely and did not turn anyone away. His was a yes, yes life in a no, no world.

President Thomas Jefferson was riding horseback with some companions, and they came to a swollen stream. A foot traveler was there by the stream, waiting to ask someone on horseback to give him a ride across the rushing water. Jefferson responded and pulled the man up on his horse and took him to the other side. "Tell me," asked one of the men, "why did you ask the President to help you across?" The man answered, "I didn't know he was the President. All I know is that on some faces is written the answer "no," and on some is written the answer "yes." He had a yes face."

Jesus had just such a face, and Paul says this yes from the face of Christ is to shine yet in this world through us. In II Cor. 4:6 we read, "For God who said let light shine out of darkness made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." God sent His Son into the world to give light, hope, and salvation. The Gospel is good news, for it says that no matter what a mess life is, there is an answer, and it is a good one, and a positive answer in Christ.

Ilion T. Jones says that Paul is saying here, "That Christ is God's clear-cut, positive answer to all our human questions, to all our human needs, to all our human hopes and dreams." He is God's yes, yes, yes, and this makes Christianity a positive faith. The Old Testament was so much on a no, no, no level. Thou shall not was the theme. But the New Testament rises to a higher level and says we are to grow up and stop living on the child's level of no, no. Sink your teeth into the meat of maturity. Get off the bottle and start saying yes to life. Say yes to God, not because He will hurt you if you don't, but because you love Him as He loves you, and you desire to please Him and not the world, the flesh, and the devil. You don't spend all your energy saying no to sin and folly because you are to busy saying yes to love, service, and ministry.

Many have suggested that if David had said yes to his duties as king of Israel, and not been idle with nothing to do but lust after Bathsheba, he may never have fallen. All we know for sure is that he had opened the door for Satan to entice him to say no to God, and that no lead to all the negatives of his life that blotted one of the greatest careers in history. Every sin in history from the first one in Eden until now has been very simply a saying no to God. Every virtue, victory, and act of righteousness in history has been simply a saying yes to God. Jesus was the only perfect man because He is the only person to never say no, but always say yes to God. Jesus lived the only completely yes, yes life in a no, no world.

To be Christ like is to be one who is always saying yes to God. All of the battles of life can be seen in this ultimate simplicity of what the poet has God say at creation. "I will leave man to make the fateful guess: Will leave him torn between the no and yes." These are the only two choices we have in our relationship to God. To make it easier to say yes, God gave us Jesus who is the yes to all His provisions. This becomes the foundation on which we build the yes life. William Green put it, "Christ is God's ultimate yes to man, and when we find that God has said yes to us we are able to affirm ourselves and our world in spite of everything which drives us toward negation."

When we are negative about life it is because we have taken our eyes off Jesus. The Corinthians were negative toward Paul, and he is saying they ought not to criticize him for being inconsistent, for he always says yes to Christ and never no, and so he is being consistently positive in his decisions. If his plans sound like an no to them, it is not so, and they need to see his plans as a yes to Christ. He urges them to stop their negative thinking which in inconsistent with a Christ like spirit.

If you believe that God always says yes in Christ, you will not be so critical and complaining about my change of plans, is what Paul is saying. God who gave His Son for you has proven His love beyond any doubt. You can count on it that He will do everything else necessary to keep His promises to you. So he urges them to stop saying no and start responding to God's yes with a yes, yes spirit. Dag Hammerskjold, the Secretary General of the U. N. from 1953 to 1961, and a dedicated Christian, said, "When everything has a meaning, how can you live anything but a yes."

Billy Graham has been deeply influenced by yes people. They have been people who had to deal with the no's of life, but they did not accept the no. They rejected it, and chose the yes. One he writes about in his book Storm Warning is former President Dwight Eisenhower. Graham says that he had a strong impact on his thinking, for though he was a general and fought great battles, he was not in favor of war. War is a no, and he fought for peace which was a yes approach to life. Graham quotes him saying in 1953, "Every gun that is made, every war ship launched, every rocket fired signifies-in a final sense-a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children....this is not a way of life at all in true sense. Under the threatening cloud of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron."

These words motivated Graham to take an interest in the third world countries, and take a tour of them to see first hand the poverty and hunger. He learned that it was a moral obligation for every Christian to get involved in the world suffering and be a part of the answer. Saying yes to God and yes to life means being Christ like in relation to a hurting world. In that same book he tells of his meeting with one of the great yes people.

"One of the people most identified with Christian compassion in our day is Mother Teresa of Calcutta. There are thousands of unknown servants

of Christ who quietly and without fanfare invest their lives in feeding,

clothing, and caring for the poor. But Mother Teresa has become a kind

of representative of them all. I remember the first time I met this tiny,

wrinkled, radiant lady. An American consul in Calcutta offered to drive

me to Mother Teresa's compound in the heart of that sprawling city,

when I was introduced to her, she was ministering to a dying person,

holding him in her arms. I waited while she helped him face death.

When he died, she prayed quietly, gently lowered him to his bed, and

turned to greet me. We talked till dusk that day. I was surprised to

learn how much she knew about me and about our crusades. In her

lilting, broken English she asked if I would like to hear some of her

experiences with the hungry and dying."

He listened and was touched, for in the midst of a terrible no, no world here was a child of God letting the world hear the yes of God in Christ. E. Stanley Jones, the great missionary and author of numerous books, called his last book, which was written when he was 89, was titled The Divine Yes. This text was the basis for the book, and he wrote, "Jesus took the worse thing that could happen to Him, namely, the Cross, and turned it into the healing of sin. The Cross was hate, and Jesus turned it into a revelation of love. Jesus took everything that spoke against the love of God and, though it, showed the love of God. It is a Yes, a Yes over the very worst. Yes, about the nature of God. Yes, yes, yes!"

Jones gives many illustrations, but let me share one that shows just how close Christians can get to saying yes to every no of life. "There is a Lee Memorial Home in Calcutta, India. The Lees had 6 children in school in Darjeeling, a hill station in India. One night during the monsoon rains the whole mountain side, upon which their home was built, slipped and buried all 6 children at once! Instead of the Lee's saying, "Why did that happen to us when we were serving God in Calcutta?" They said, "Well, since our home has been broken up we will just set up a larger home for the waif children from the streets of Calcutta." For over 70 years that home has been filled with an average of about 500 homeless children a year. The family of 6 now became a family of thousands. On the monument set up to commemorate the memory of these children there are these words: "Thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

The whole point of Paul is to get the Corinthian Christians to stop being no people and become yes people. This is the point of all we do as a church. Worship, Bible study, fellowship, and service are all designed to help us be like Jesus, and to be ever saying yes to God. This has practical implications for all human relationships. We express our love for one another and our neighbor, and even our foes, by being yes minded rather than no minded.

Judieth Viorst, a popular writer, has this advice to married couples: "The answer to-do you love me isn't, I married you didn't I? Or, can't we discuss this after the ballgame is through? It isn't, well that all depends on what you mean by "love." Or even, come to bed and I'll prove that I do. The answer isn't, how can I talk about love when the bacon is burned and the house is an absolute mess and the children are screaming their heads off and I'm going to miss the bus? The answer is yes. The answer is yes. The answer is yes."

If we really believe that Jesus is the yes of God, we should be able to respond to every negative in life with a positive. We should be able to counteract each no with a yes, and so be yes, yes people in a no, no world. In the light of this passage I wrote the following lyrics-

IT'S A WORLD OF CAN'T

AND A WORLD OF DON'T.

PEOPLE RAVE AND RANT

AND THEY THRIVE ON WON'T.

BUT JESUS IS YES;

HE NEVER IS NO.

HIS GOAL IS TO BLESS;

GOD'S LOVE TO US SHOW.

CHORUS

YES, YES, YES MY JESUS IS YES,

EVERY PROMISE OF GOD IN HIM WE POSSESS.

YES, YES, YES MY JESUS IS YES;

THAT IS WHY ALL OUR PRAISE, TO HIM WE ADDRESS.

IT'S A WORLD OF NO

AND A WORLD OF NOT.

IT'S READY TO BLOW;

IT'S GOING TO POT.

BUT JESUS IS YES;

A POSITIVE NOTE.

IF HIM WE CONFESS,

HE'LL KEEP US AFLOAT.

CHORUS

III

IT'S A WORLD OF WAR

AND A WORLD OF NIGHT.

WHAT'S GOOD, MEN ABHOR;

THEY RESIST WHAT'S RIGHT.

BUT JESUS IS YES;

HE OFFERS US LIGHT.

IN THE MIDST OF STRESS,

HIS BURDEN IS LITE.

CHORUS

IT'S A WORLD OF HATE

AND A WORLD OF CRIME.

THERE IS NO DEBATE,

IT'S NEAR END OF TIME.

BUT JESUS IS YES;

IN TIMES OF GREAT STRIFE.

HIS GIFT IS NO LESS

THAN ETERNAL LIFE.

CHORUS

IT'S A NO NO WORLD,

AND IT'S FILLED WITH DOUBT.

MEN ARE TOSSED AND HURLED,

AND JUST THROWN ABOUT.

BUT JESUS IS YES;

HE'S THE ONLY WAY.

IF FAITH YOU'LL PROFESS

HE'LL SAVE YOU TODAY.

CHORUS

VI.

IT'S A WORLD OF DARK

WHERE NEGATIVES THRIVE.

SOME OFTEN REMARK

IT'S HARD TO SURVIVE.