We have been in a series this spring in the book of 2 Corinthians that we've been calling
Power in Weakness.
And we have seen so far how the invitation to follow Jesus is really an invitation to
a life of paradox.
And that's because God's greatest display of power, his greatest display of victory,
his greatest display of glory came in something that looked like suffering and loss and weakness
through somebody who was mocked and rejected and betrayed and crucified like a common criminal.
And so what that shows us is that true spiritual power is often going to look like weakness
in the eyes of the world.
And so we've seen how this paradox of power and weakness applies to a number of things.
We've seen how it applies to suffering.
We've seen how it applies to how we think about glory.
We've seen how it applies to how we grow in the Christian life, the nature of the new covenant,
the nature of ministry in the church.
And this morning, we're going to look at how this paradox of power and weakness applies to leadership.
It applies to leadership.
Here in 2 Corinthians 6, Paul shows us what being an authentic leader looks like.
What being an authentic leader looks like, especially in the face of criticism.
Over the past year and a half, before I was ordained, I went through a process called the
ordination discernment process.
And it's a long process for good reason.
And you kind of went through several rounds of interviews with different groups of people.
And in one of those first interviews, I was asked this question.
So Jeff, how do you respond to criticism?
It was a pretty direct question.
And I responded by saying, well, do you want me to say how I should respond or how I actually respond?
And the person said, no, we want to know how you actually respond.
And so I said, I was pretty honest.
And I was like, well, you know, honestly, I can tend to get pretty defensive.
I can tend to think about all the reasons why this person's wrong.
And maybe I don't do that outwardly.
Maybe I don't say any of that.
But I think it in my heart.
I actually sometimes will have these like imaginary debates between myself and this person where I clearly and convincingly show them why they're wrong.
Hopefully I'm not the only one.
But I was beginning to explain how I responded to criticism and just being honest about that.
How about you?
When you are criticized in the workplace or at home or among your friend group, how do you respond?
How do you respond to criticism?
As we look at how Paul responded here in 2 Corinthians 6, I think it's helpful to just reveal a little bit of the background of this letter.
He had planted the church in Acts chapter 18 in Corinth.
And while he was away continuing his ministry elsewhere, some people started to call his ministry and his leadership into question.
They started to critique the validity and the legitimacy of his leadership.
They critiqued him for not being the impressive, successful leader that they thought he would be or that they wanted him to be.
He was not the great public speaker that they hoped he would be.
He wasn't the successful minister.
He suffered a lot.
He was imprisoned multiple times.
He was beaten.
He had a lot of things in his life that looked like weakness.
And so as a result, a lot of people started to criticize Paul and even follow other false apostles.
And so a couple of the reasons why Paul writes 2 Corinthians are, one, he's trying to defend his authenticity as an apostle.
But not just that.
He wants to restore his relationship with them.
His goal isn't just to correct them or persuade them or lay down the law.
It's to win them.
He wants to win them.
He wants to restore his relationship with them.
And in doing so, throughout the letter, but particularly in this passage, he shows us what being an authentic leader looks like.
And he shows us that authentic leadership is this unique combination of authority and vulnerability.
Authority and vulnerability.
And so we're going to look first at how Paul views his authority.
And then we're going to look at how Paul expresses vulnerability.
But before we do that, let's pray.
Father in heaven, this is your word.
We believe it's absolutely true.
And Lord, I pray that you would illumine our minds and hearts.
God, would you teach us to know you as you want us to know you, to obey you as you want us to obey you, and to worship you as you want us to worship you.
We pray this in Christ's name.
Amen.
So first of all, we're going to look at what authentic leadership looks like by looking at how Paul views his own authority.
So last week in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, Pastor Tommy talked about how vertical reconciliation with God leads to horizontal reconciliation in the world.
That as God reconciles us to himself by giving us his righteousness, he then sends us out to be agents of reconciliation in the world.
And at the end of chapter 5 and the beginning of chapter 6, he transitions by turning this theological reality of reconciliation into a personal invitation between him and the Corinthians.
In this section, he makes a personal and a direct appeal to them.
And this is the only time in the whole letter where he directly refers to them as Corinthians.
He says, you Corinthians.
It's a personal appeal.
It's a direct appeal.
And part of what he's doing is he's saying, look, because God has resolved the conflict of sin between us and him, that gives us the power to resolve the unresolved conflict that's between us.
The vertical reconciliation that we've received gives us the resources to reconcile between one another.
And there's some things that we've got to talk about.
And so here he confronts his critics head on.
And so how does he do it?
How does he do it?
Chapter 6, verse 3, he says,
You know, one way to respond to criticism is to flex on people with your authority.
It's to flex on people with your title, your position.
You know, I've got more degrees in this person.
And so what they're saying, there's no way that they could possibly be right.
I'm a C-level executive.
This person is just a mid-level employee.
And so they must be clearly wrong.
They don't know what they're talking about.
And maybe you've never said something like this out loud.
But if you're like me, I can guarantee you've maybe thought something like this in your heart.
And this view of authority says that my leadership or my authority is ultimately based on my position.
It's based on my title.
It's based on my credentials.
And so when you're faced with criticism, what that means is you will validate your leadership by saying,
I'm in charge.
I'm the leader.
Sit down and listen to me.
I'm in charge.
And it's important to remember that as an apostle, Paul has every right to do this.
I mean, he's an apostle.
He has received direct revelation and direct authority from Jesus Christ himself.
And so he could have said to the Corinthians, look, as someone who's received direct authority from Jesus Christ, as an apostle, listen, sit down, shut up, listen to me.
I've got something to say.
He could have flexed on his position, but that's not what he does.
Instead, he says, we commend ourselves as what?
As servants.
As servants of God.
This word here, diakonos, means servant.
It means minister.
It's also where we get the word deacon from.
And a servant is someone who puts the priorities of others before their own.
A servant is someone who sacrifices their personal agenda to seek the glory of God and the good of others.
And if you're a Christian, if you belong to Jesus, this is your primary job description.
It's as a servant.
We're servants.
It doesn't matter if you're a freshman in high school or a CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
Our job is to be a servant.
We're to put the glory of God and the good of others before our own priorities.
And this is true regardless of if you're in a place of formal leadership or not.
You may say, well, I'm not in a place of formal leadership.
I don't have a title or a position.
But we may not have a formal leadership title, but all of us are in places of influence.
We're all in places of influence, and that is what leadership is.
It's just a place of influence.
And so we might be in a place of influence as a sibling or as a parent or as a neighbor or a co-worker.
We all influence other people with our words and our actions.
And so as we are in places of influence, we have the opportunity to lead even if we don't have a former leadership title.
And what Paul is saying is that true authority doesn't come from your position.
It comes from how you serve.
Those of us who maybe have been around in the church for a while may have heard this phrase servant leadership before.
And we might say, oh, yeah, I'm a big believer in servant leadership.
Leaders are servants, and servants are leaders.
I've read several books on servant leadership, and I've been to conferences about servant leadership.
But the way that you really find out what you believe about leadership, the way that you really find out what you believe about what it means to be a leader, is what you do when you're criticized.
That's when you really find out.
I remember when I was doing campus ministry, I led a mission trip in the summer of 2018 to Melbourne, Australia with a team of 10 college students.
We were there for a month to do outreach on various college campuses in the city.
And I was co-leading the trip with somebody else.
And it was a great trip.
And about midway through the summer, one of the girls on the trip was kind of frustrated with me about something.
And she had been frustrated about it for a few days.
I didn't know about this.
But her kind of frustration kind of came to a crescendo one night as our team was walking out of a restaurant.
And she basically, in the midst of everybody, our whole team out in the parking lot of this restaurant, she voiced her frustration with me and criticized me in front of this whole group.
And I can't remember exactly what she said.
But as you can imagine, I was pretty shocked.
I was pretty taken aback.
I was pretty humiliated.
It's hard to be publicly criticized in front of a group of people that you lead.
And so the question for me in that moment was, how do I exercise my authority or my leadership in this moment?
Do I exercise it by flexing my title or my position?
Or do I serve?
Do I act like a servant?
Do I exercise my authority or my leadership in this moment?
And these are, if you've ever been in a situation like that, those are not easy questions to answer.
These are hard situations to navigate as a leader.
And that's why what Paul is saying here is so countercultural.
He has this opportunity to flex his authority and his position, but he doesn't.
But he doesn't.
And so this is why what Paul is saying is so countercultural.
And this is why Jesus is so amazing.
This is why Jesus is so incredible in terms of how he thought about his own authority.
Because no one has ever had more authority than Jesus.
No one has ever had more authority than Jesus.
He has all authority in heaven and on earth.
Colossians 1 says that all things were made by him and for him.
And in him all things hold together.
He's the king of kings.
And he's the Lord of lords.
No one's ever had more authority than Jesus.
And yet, no one has ever acted more like a servant than Jesus.
No one has ever acted more like a servant than Jesus.
In Matthew chapter 20, he's talking to his disciples.
And he says to his disciples, he says,
You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them.
And their high officials exercise authority over them.
He says the way that the world exercises leadership is by flexing their title and their position and their authority.
But he says to his disciples, he says,
Not so with you.
Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.
And whoever wants to be first must be your slave.
Just as the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve.
And to give his life as a ransom for many.
The one who has authority over all became the servant of all.
The one who is glorious beyond all comparison became a ransom payment to exchange his life for ours.
And so when you see that, when you see that the one who has authority over all became a servant of all,
that will change how you view authority.
And it will change how you view criticism as a leader.
On one hand, it has to make us open up to the possibility that our critics might be right.
Right?
If nothing less than the son of God becoming a ransom payment for us had to reconcile us to God,
then we should never think, no matter what leadership position we're in,
we should never think that we're too good to be critiqued.
We should never think that we're too good to receive criticism.
We should be humble enough to admit, you know, maybe they're right.
Maybe they're right.
On the other hand, even if our critics are wrong, even if they're 100% wrong,
we should still receive their criticism with humility.
You know, one pastor that I really respect says, he says, you know,
even when I've received criticism from people who are 95% wrong,
even if they're 95% wrong, I still try to look for that 5% of truth.
I still try to look for that kernel of truth, something I can learn from,
something I can grow from, something that might be true,
that I need to learn in order to grow into maturity in Christ.
And on the flip side, if we're someone who gives criticism to someone else,
if we're giving feedback to someone,
being a servant should also shape how we do that as well.
If we're giving constructive criticism, we should remember
that even though we're not in a position of authority,
that the way that we respond to that person should be as a servant,
as well.
This is all because servants, servants see criticism
as an opportunity to enter a J-curve.
You know, we've been talking about this idea of a J-curve
that author Paul Miller talks about,
and it's this pattern of discipleship,
of entering in Christ's death and resurrection
over and over and over again,
that we die with Christ and rise with Christ,
and that's what grows us and matures us.
And we can avoid the J-curve,
we can avoid growth and maturity
by getting defensive when we're criticized,
by flexing our authority and our position,
or we can remember that we're servants.
We can let the criticism, whether it's right or wrong,
we can let it put to death the pride that's in us,
and we can allow that to make us more humble,
to make us more humble like Christ,
to grow and mature.
And when we do that,
we experience a mini-resurrection.
We grow more and more into the likeness of Jesus.
We die with him, we rise with him.
Servants see criticism as an opportunity
to grow and be more like Christ.
And you know, Paul's critics were totally wrong.
They were totally wrong about him,
and yet, he faced their criticism as a servant.
As a servant.
And that leads to our next point.
That's how Paul thinks about his own authority,
but this is how,
next we're gonna look at how he expresses vulnerability.
How he expresses vulnerability.
You know, Andy Crouch, Christian author,
wrote a book called Strong and Weak.
And in that book, he talks about how every person
in every society needs both authority
and vulnerability to flourish.
Authority and vulnerability need to be combined
in order for people to grow and flourish.
And he says the best leaders
are people who use their power
for the benefit of others
while being willing to embrace
the risk and the suffering that that involves.
And so he says, look, if you have,
you need both, you need both authority and vulnerability.
If you have authority, but not vulnerability,
that'll lead to exploitation.
That's power for power's sake.
You know, this is what Vladimir Putin wants.
This is what perpetuates every system of injustice.
Power for power's sake.
If you have vulnerability without authority,
this is what all of us fear the most.
This is being exposed to all of the risks
and all the dangers in the world
without having any agency,
without having any ability to do anything about it.
If you have neither authority
or neither vulnerability,
that's a life of withdrawal.
It's a life of living your life in a safe bubble
and having no meaningful engagement
with the world at all.
You might be safe,
but you'll never have a meaningful life.
But if you combine authority and vulnerability,
you get flourishing.
You get flourishing for people in societies
when people use their power to benefit others
while embracing that risk for themselves,
opening themselves up to risk and loss,
that's when people and organizations
and societies and cultures flourish.
And that's when you get love.
And so in verses four through 10,
Paul is, what he's doing
is he's bringing together his authority
and vulnerability.
And he does this by giving us a resume of his ministry.
But it's not the sort of resume
that you and I would think of.
It's a resume of weakness.
It's a resume of vulnerability.
And he starts by listing
a number of external difficulties that he faced.
In verse four, he says,
we commend ourselves in every way
by great endurance,
afflictions,
hardships,
calamities,
beatings,
imprisonments,
riots.
These are external difficulties that he faced.
You know, we know that
in places like Acts chapter 14
that he was beaten and stoned.
We know that he was sent to prison multiple times.
We know that in Acts chapter 19,
while he's preaching the gospel in Ephesus,
a riot erupts
because the craftsmen who sell idols
can no longer have a profitable business
because no one's worshiping idols anymore.
And so they riot in the streets.
The idol makers riot in the streets
because Paul has disrupted their business
through the preaching of the gospel.
He continues in verse five
with difficulties that he faced,
sufferings that he faced
because of how he personally chose to minister.
Labors,
sleepless nights,
and hunger.
This is most likely referring to how
at a certain time,
Paul didn't want to be a financial burden
to any of his churches,
to anybody.
And so he would often do manual labor
as a tent maker
to support himself financially
so others wouldn't have to.
And sometimes this meant
staying up late at night
and working
and having sleepless nights
and sometimes
not always having enough money
to buy food.
He says in 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 9,
for you remember our labor and toil.
We worked night and day
that we might not be a burden
to any of you
while we proclaim the gospel of God.
And he continues in verse six
by listing examples
of how he conducted himself
with personal integrity,
with moral integrity.
And so he says,
he continues his list by saying,
I commend myself in purity,
knowledge, patience, kindness,
the Holy Spirit,
genuine love,
truthful speech,
and the power of God
with weapons of righteousness
for the right hand and the left.
And so he's saying
the legitimacy of my ministry
isn't based on
my external results
or external success.
The legitimacy of my ministry
is based on the purity of my heart.
It's based on my integrity.
It's based on my moral conduct,
my way of life.
It continues in verse eight and nine
and in this list of things,
he is comparing
his reputation
among his critics
and what was actually true about him.
His reputation among his critics
and what was actually true about him.
Verses eight and nine,
he says,
through honor and dishonor,
slander and praise,
we are treated as imposters
and yet are true,
as unknown and yet known.
His critics said he was a fraud.
They said he was an imposter,
but he knew
that God knew who he was.
He knew that God saw the truth
of who he was
and he was fully known by him.
And then finally,
in verses nine and 10,
he concludes his resume of weakness,
his resume of vulnerability,
and perhaps what is the most poetic section,
and really in a section
that describes
the overall paradox of his ministry
and really what is the overall paradox
of the Christian life.
He says,
as dying
and yet behold we live,
as punished
and yet not killed,
as sorrowful
yet always rejoicing,
as poor
and yet making many rich,
as having nothing
and yet possessing everything.
Paul says,
spiritual power
was present in my weakness.
Resurrection life
was present in my mortal body.
Spirit-filled joy
was present
amidst all my sufferings
and sorrows
and true spiritual riches
were present
in my earthly poverty.
And so Paul says,
you want my defense
to my critics?
You want my resume?
Here it is.
Here's my resume.
I have suffered for you.
I have endured difficulty for you.
I have worked hard for you.
I've lost sleep for you.
I have acted with integrity for you.
I have been slandered.
I have been called an imposter
and all of that
has made my life
look like a living contradiction.
That's my resume.
It's a resume of vulnerability.
And so why does Paul do this?
Why does Paul give us
a resume of vulnerability
and weakness
and not a resume of strength?
I mean, I think
a legitimate question here
for us is
are we to conclude
that our abilities,
our strengths,
our expertise
isn't valuable
in the kingdom of God?
And the answer is
no.
Of course our strengths
and our abilities matter.
God has given everyone
strengths and abilities
as people made in his image
and as Christians
we're called to use
our skills and expertise
to the glory of God
in our work,
our jobs,
and our vocations.
But skills and expertise
alone
do not make you
an authentic leader.
Credentials
and talent
and expertise
alone
do not make you
an authentic leader.
What makes you
an authentic leader
is how you use
your abilities
and your skills
to love.
To love.
And love
is the whole point
and love
is the whole reason
why Paul is
defending his
ministry this way.
Love is the whole reason
why he's making himself
vulnerable.
We said earlier
his goal isn't just
to correct them
or lay down the law.
His goal is to win them.
How do we know?
We know because of
what he says
in verses 11 through 13.
In verse 11
he says
we have spoken freely
to you Corinthians
and opened wide
our hearts to you.
We are not withholding
our affection
from you
but you are withholding
your affection
from us.
I speak as to my children
open wide
your hearts
also.
In the face
of criticism
Paul's main goal
wasn't to be right.
It wasn't to clear
his record.
It wasn't to
vindicate himself.
His main goal
was love.
It was to be
loved
and to love
the Corinthians
to restore
his relationship
of love
with them.
Authentic
leadership
is about
combining
authority
and vulnerability
for the sake
of love.
It's about combining
authority
and vulnerability
for the sake
of love.
Paul says
I'm not trying
to flex on you.
my heart
is wide
open to you.
My affections
are open
to you.
Look how much
I've suffered
for you.
Look how much
I've worked
hard for you
because I love
you.
I'm opening
my heart
to you
Corinthians.
Will you
open your
heart to me?
Will you
open your
heart
to me?
And this
is an
incredible
vulnerable
place to be
because as
he opens
himself up
and makes
himself vulnerable
he's opening
himself up
to further
criticism.
He's opening
himself up
to further
rejection.
He responds
to criticism
paradoxically.
He responds
to criticism
by opening
himself up
to more
criticism.
But he does
it for love.
And this
is a model
for us
of what
authentic
leadership
looks like.
And so
as we think
about your
homes and
your neighborhoods
and your
workplaces
this is a
model for us
for what
leadership looks
like but
it's also
a beautiful
picture of
the gospel.
It's also
a beautiful
picture of
the gospel.
The events
of Holy
Week this
week remind
us that the
gospel is that
in Jesus
Christ God's
power was
expressed through
vulnerability for
the sake of
love.
That that's the
gospel that in
Jesus Christ God
came to a world
that had totally
and utterly
rejected him.
And God
responds to
that rejection
he responds
to our
sin by
putting himself
in a place
that opens
himself up
to more
rejection
by becoming
totally
vulnerable.
Palm Sunday
this morning
this day
Palm Sunday
we celebrate
that the
king of
kings doesn't
come riding
into Jerusalem
like a
conquering king
on a war
horse like a
Roman military
official.
He comes
riding in on
what?
A colt.
a young
donkey
a humble
animal
that represents
humble people
for farmers
and blue
collar people
authority and
vulnerability.
On Monday
Thursday
we consider
how
the one
who has
authority
over all
things in
heaven and
on earth
kneels down
before his
disciples
and takes
a towel
and does
something that
only a servant
does and
he washes
their feet.
He takes
a place of
vulnerability.
And then
a good
Friday we
see how
the judge
of all
the world
the one
who's going
to judge
the world
is given
an unfair
trial and
he's
betrayed
and arrested
and beaten
and mocked
and crucified
like a common
criminal and
dies.
One of the
most painful
deaths imaginable.
In Jesus
Christ
God has
expressed
the greatness
of his
power and
authority and
glory
through the
vulnerability of
love.
In Jesus
Christ God
says to us
my heart
is open
to you.
My
affections
are open
to you.
My love
is open
to you.
I have
made myself
utterly
vulnerable
to you.
I have
opened
myself
to more
rejection.
I have
laid
aside
my
power
and my
authority
and my
glory
to show
you how
much I
love you.
I have
opened my
heart to
you.
Will you
open your
heart to
me?
And friends
that's the
invitation
of Palm
Sunday.
It's the
invitation of
Holy Week.
It's the
invitation of
the gospel
that God
has opened
his heart.
He is
unrestrained in
his affections
for us.
And the
invitation for
us is will
we open
our hearts
to him?
Will we be
vulnerable with
him?
Will we
open wide
our affections
to him?
And that's
the path
to authentic
leadership and
it's the path
to being
authentically
human.
Let's pray.
Our God
and Father
we worship
you and
adore you.
We thank
you that you
laid aside
your glory
to become
a servant.
Lord I
pray that
that would
change us
to be
people and
leaders
who use
our power
and authority
for others.
Serving
them.
Becoming
vulnerable
for them.
Lord create
a culture
of love
in us
where power
and authority
come together
in a way
that glorifies
you and
reflects the
gospel we
pray.
Amen.