Please turn to 2 Corinthians 11. We will read the first three verses.
Would that ye could bear with me in a little foolishness! Nay indeed, bear with me.
For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.
We will continue with 2 Corinthians 11:16.
Again I say, Let no man think me foolish; but if ye do, yet receive me as foolish, that I also may glory a little.
That which I speak, I speak not after the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of glorying.
Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.
For ye bear with the foolish gladly, being wise yourselves.
For ye bear with a man, if he bringeth you into bondage, if he devoureth you, if he taketh you captive, if he exalteth himself, if he smiteth you on the face.
I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet whereinsoever any is bold—I speak in foolishness—I am bold also.
Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.
Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as one beside himself; I more: in labours more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft.
Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from my countrymen, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
in labour and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
Besides those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches.
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I burn not?
If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness.
The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He Who is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.
We will read 2 Corinthians 12:11-15.
I am become foolish: ye compelled me; for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing was I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I am nothing.
Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, by signs and wonders and mighty works.
For what is there wherein ye were made inferior to the rest of the churches, except it be that I myself was not a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong.
Behold, this is the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be a burden to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.
And I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less?
Turn now to 1 Corinthians 4. We begin with verse 9.
For, I think, God hath set forth us the apostles last of all, as men doomed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, both to angels and men.
We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye have glory, but we have dishonour.
Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place;
and we toil, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure;
being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things, even until now.
I write not these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
For though ye have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel.
I beseech you therefore, be ye imitators of me.
Let us pray.
Our heavenly Father, we have read Thy Word, and now we ask Thy Holy Spirit to breathe upon Thy Word and make it living and operative in each of our lives. We ask Thee, O Lord, that Thou wilt remove any hindrance, any veil that may be upon our hearts.
We ask that Thou wilt give us hearing hearts, that we may hear Thy voice; that we may allow Thee to work in us and to transform us according to Thine own image, that Thou mayest be glorified. We commit this time into Thy hands. We praise and thank Thee, knowing that Thou art with us. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Just to remind you, brothers and sisters, we have been considering together lately this second Epistle to the Corinthians. This second letter to the Corinthians is like an autobiography of the Apostle Paul.
Here we see a man in Christ. He is a man—not an angel, not a spirit, but a human being. He is a man, a grown-up man; not a baby, not a child, but one who is matured in Christ Jesus.
He is a man in Christ, and Christ is in him. Christ has become wisdom to him, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
And we find that in this man, especially when he is under tremendous pressure, Christ is being manifested through him.
Dear brothers and sisters, we mentioned last time that actually we do not know what kind of person we are until we are put under pressure. In ordinary days, everybody can look very spiritual. But it is only when we are under pressure that what we really are is revealed.
We find that the Apostle Paul was under such tremendous pressure because some of the Corinthians did not even accept him as an apostle. They rejected him. They rejected his apostolic ministry.
But while he was under such tremendous pressure, we find in the last four chapters of 2 Corinthians that it is Christ all over. It is the meekness and gentleness of Christ. It is the truth of Christ. It is the power of Christ.
You will find that everything that comes out of Paul as a reaction is Christ’s reaction. And, dear brothers and sisters, this is the way to measure whether we are really spiritual or whether we are yet carnal.
Now, last Lord’s Day, we mentioned that this man in Christ has certain characteristics. There are certain things that will mark that man in Christ. The first we mentioned was that he is a man with spiritual authority.
A spiritual man, a man in Christ, is a man with authority—not merely authority as the world knows it, but spiritual authority. Because he is a man under authority, therefore he is given authority.
He comes to this authority through obedience. You will find that he is very reluctant to exercise authority. Authority is exercised with extreme restraint, and it is exercised in love.
So, dear brothers and sisters, do not be afraid of authority, because authority is for building up, not for overthrowing. If we really want to see the church built up, if we really want to see God’s people being built together as a spiritual house, we need authority—spiritual authority—because spiritual authority will build us together under Christ.
This morning we would like to continue with the second characteristic of a spiritual man, a man in Christ. This man is God’s fool. A spiritual man is a fool for Christ’s sake.
In one sense, God has delivered us from the foolishness of this world. We were once very foolish, but thank God He has delivered us from this world. We are today, by the grace of God, called children of wisdom.
Why? Because we have received the wisdom that is from above. In the Epistle of James, we are told that the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, yielding, and full of good fruits.
We are supposed to have such wisdom that is from above. And we are exhorted in the letter to the Ephesians that we, as children of wisdom, should walk wisely and carefully, not as foolish. We must redeem our time because we are children of light; we are children of wisdom.
Now, who are really fools? If you read the Scripture, you will find in Psalm 14:
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
In other words, a true, real fool is one who does not believe in God. If a person does not believe in God, the Bible says he is a fool.
That is the reason why we find how foolish worldly people are. They think they are wise. They think they are clever. They think they are so mighty that they do not need God and do not believe in God. But the Word says very clearly, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”
Now, who is a fool? You remember once a man came to the Lord and said, “Lord, divide my inheritance for me.” The Lord used a parable and said that there was once a rich man who had such a good crop.
He said to himself, “Where am I going to put all my produce? My barns are too small.” So he decided that he would tear down the old barns, build larger ones, and put all the grain into those barns.
Then he would say to his soul, “Soul, thou hast much. Now thou dost not need to worry. Thou canst eat and drink and enjoy thyself.”
And you remember what the Lord said. In Luke 12, the Lord said:
Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be?
Dear brothers and sisters, how true it is. If anyone trusts in earthly riches, he is a fool. Why? Because he may have it today, but he may not have it tomorrow; or he may not be there tomorrow to enjoy all that he has accumulated. One who trusts in earthly wealth is a fool.
Brothers and sisters, as you read the Scripture, you will find that even those who are the Lord’s sometimes can be as foolish as the people in the world.
You remember in Matthew 7, after our Lord Jesus had shown the principles of the kingdom of heaven, He concluded His message by saying that if anyone hears His words and does not do them, he is like a foolish man building his house upon the sand.
When the wind blows, when the rain comes, and when the floods arise, that house will be completely destroyed. Brothers and sisters, we who are the Lord’s, if we have heard the Word of God and do not do it, the Lord says we are foolish, because we are building our house upon the sand. It will all be destroyed.
Not only that, but you remember the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. Because the Lord tarried, the ten virgins went to sleep. But at midnight there was suddenly a cry: “Behold, the bridegroom!”
They all rose up and began to trim their lamps. But the five foolish virgins did not have additional oil in their vessels. Their light was running out.
When they went to buy extra oil, the Lord arrived and the door was shut. When they came back and knocked at the door, the Lord said, “I know you not.”
These five foolish virgins are not unbelievers. They are virgins. They have the lamp; they have oil in the lamp. What they do not have is the additional oil in the vessel.
I suppose they all had vessels, but somehow they thought they were clever. They put other things than oil in their vessels—perhaps gold, silver, and precious things. They thought these things were more precious, so they put these things in the vessel instead of carrying additional oil.
That is the reason why, when the Lord comes, they find that they are really foolish because they do not have that additional oil, which is the fullness of the Spirit.
You remember, too, that on the day when our Lord Jesus was resurrected, two disciples were going from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They were talking about the things that had happened in Jerusalem, and they were very sad. One of them was Cleopas.
Suddenly, a man appeared to them and walked with them, saying, “Why are you so sad?” They said, “Do You not know what has happened in Jerusalem? The One in Whom was our hope was crucified. And the strangest thing was that some women came and said He was risen.”
You remember what the Lord said to these two men: “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into His glory?”
So, brothers and sisters, who are fools? Those who are dull of hearing, those who do not believe, those who are slow in believing the Word of the Lord.
Not only that: if you read Galatians 3, you find Paul saying, “O foolish Galatians.” Christ had already been portrayed before them as crucified. How was it that they began in the Spirit and were now trying to be perfected in the flesh? They went back to the flesh, back to the law and to works, instead of seeing that it is grace, that it is the Holy Spirit. That is foolishness.
Now, brothers and sisters, if we measure by these things, probably we are not as wise as we should be. Probably we have to acknowledge that sometimes—perhaps more times than we know—we are really foolish, though we ought to be wise. May the Lord deliver us from such foolishness.
But this is not what we are trying to fellowship about this morning. What we are trying to fellowship about is that, in another sense, even though we are all called children of wisdom, even though we ought to walk wisely, even though we should be wise virgins and not foolish virgins, and even though we ought to understand, yet in another sense, a spiritual man is a fool for Christ’s sake.
Oftentimes we are too clever, and because we are too clever, we fail to be spiritual.
I think probably some of you have heard the story about a Sunday school girl. Once, the teacher was teaching Sunday school, and he was speaking about Lazarus and the rich man. After he finished the story, he asked his class, “Now, whom do you want to be? Do you want to be Lazarus, or do you want to be the rich man?”
These little ones hesitated very much. Why? Because they were clever. They thought that if they wanted to be the rich man, they would lose paradise; and if they wanted to be Lazarus, they would lose the world. So even the little ones felt that it was a difficult problem to answer.
Finally, one little girl raised her hand and said, “I want to be the rich man while I am living, and I want to be Lazarus when I die.”
You know, the world is very clever—very clever. But, dear brothers and sisters, oftentimes we are clever in ourselves, and if we are clever in ourselves, you will find that we miss a great deal.
So, in one sense, a spiritual man is a fool for Christ’s sake. He is not really a fool, but he has so much wisdom that he acts like a fool. That is a mark of a spiritual man.
I believe our problem today is that there are too many clever Christians in this world. We are so clever. We figure out everything. We weigh everything in the balance; we calculate. We want the good of both worlds.
Because we are so clever, we can never be spiritual. We are always living in the realm of the carnal. In a very real sense, if you want to be spiritual, you must learn to be a fool—a fool for Christ’s sake, a fool in the eyes of the world, and a fool even in the eyes of carnal believers.
The world will consider you a fool, and even carnal believers will consider you a fool. Yet God knows.
Look at our Lord Jesus. In the eyes of the world, and in the eyes of carnal believers, I think they would consider Him the greatest fool in the world.
Why should He leave heaven, worshipped by millions of angels, and empty Himself? Why should He come into this world and become a man, knowing that the life of man is painful?
Why should He humble Himself, be obedient to the Father unto death, even the death of the cross? Why should He give Himself in such a way? For whom? For what?
He knows us so well. He knows the very depths of our hearts, knowing how ungrateful we are, how weak we are, how fragile we are, how changeable we are. Yet He is willing to give Himself so completely to us. Is He not a great fool?
Even His family, at one time, thought He was out of His mind. Why? Because He was ministering to the people. He had compassion upon them, seeing them as sheep without a shepherd. He was ministering to them and forgot to eat.
His family thought He was out of His mind. Even His brothers ridiculed Him and said, “If You want to be famous, why do You hide Yourself? Go to Jerusalem at the time of the feast. Show Yourself to the people. That is how You can become famous.”
Dear brothers and sisters, in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of the carnal, surely our Lord Jesus would be considered the greatest fool in the world. But He was willing to be a fool.
The message of the cross is foolishness in the eyes of men, yet God is willing to use that foolish way to save. There is a foolishness which is called the foolishness of God, and I wonder whether the cross is the foolishness of God. Yet the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men.
Look at the Apostle Paul. Some of the Corinthian believers considered him a fool. And he said, “Even if I am not a fool, receive me as a fool. I will act like a fool. I will speak like a fool. Receive me as a fool. I am willing to be a fool for God’s sake.”
Brothers and sisters, are we so wise in ourselves that we are never foolish for God’s sake? It is true that people will take advantage of you if you act like a fool. But sometimes, for God’s sake, for the sake of Christ, we are called to be fools.
It is only when this characterizes us that our spirituality is actually in question.
Now, in the life of Paul, especially in the last few chapters of 2 Corinthians, you find Paul as God’s fool. In what respect?
First, he is filled with a jealousy of God. He is a fool because he is filled with a godly jealousy.
He told the Corinthian believers, “I have espoused you as a chaste virgin to one man, Who is Christ. But I am fearful lest the enemy has enticed your hearts and led you away from the simplicity toward Christ.”
In other words, as Paul laboured among the Corinthian believers, he had not only brought them to Christ through the gospel, but after he had brought them to Christ, he had espoused them to Christ.
It is one thing simply to be saved. Thank God, He saves us. But it is another thing to be espoused to Christ. We are not only saved; we are actually engaged to Christ. We are as virgins engaged to Christ.
Now think of a virgin who has been engaged to a man. Suppose she is engaged to a man who is in another country or another city. How will that virgin spend her days?
Surely, if she is a chaste virgin, her heart will be wholly occupied with the man to whom she is engaged. During the days of her engagement, her whole concern will be, “How should I prepare myself for my bridal?”
In her everyday life, in her manner of life, in the things she will do or will not do, even in the dress she will wear and the things she will see, she will think in terms of her beloved: “Will my beloved be pleased with this thing that I do? Will my beloved be happy with the dress that I wear?”
You will find that everything she does is considered in terms of her beloved. She will not do anything that will offend him. She will keep herself away from any other distraction or interest. Her whole heart will be centred upon the one to whom she is engaged. That is the heart of a chaste virgin.
Paul said, “I have espoused you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” You who are saved by grace, you who are the Lord’s, belong to Christ. You are engaged to Christ, and one day your Bridegroom will come back and claim you as His bride.
Now, how are you going to live between the time of engagement and the time of marriage? Do you simply go out and have a nice time by yourself and forget the One to Whom you are engaged? Are you occupied with many things that you know your Beloved will find displeasing? Or is your whole heart toward Him, refusing anything that would take you away from Him?
Look at the Corinthian believers. They were espoused to Christ. They were supposed to have that simplicity toward Christ; in other words, a singleness of heart. There should be a simplicity, a singleness of heart, toward Christ.
But some people came in with another gospel. Some came in with another spirit. Some came in with another Christ. Some Judaizers came into their midst and said, “You need to be circumcised. You need to keep the law. The gospel that Paul preaches is not orthodox. It has to come from Jerusalem. It has to come from Judea.”
Their hearts were enticed away from Christ into the law of Moses—away from Christ into themselves, into their flesh, into their own works—instead of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Their hearts were enticed, just as Eve was deceived in the garden.
Before Eve was deceived, Adam and Eve’s life was very simple. They had a simplicity toward God. Whatever they did, they asked God, “What dost Thou want me to do? Will that please Thee?” They were innocent and dependent upon God. Their hearts were single toward God. They did not think of themselves, “What should I do?” They thought, “What does God want us to do?”
But the serpent came and deceived the heart of Eve. “If you eat that forbidden fruit, your eyes will be opened. You will be wise like God.” In other words, she wanted to make something out of herself. Instead of completely depending upon God, she wanted to make herself someone—something of which to boast. She was led away from the simplicity toward God.
Dear brothers and sisters, are we not espoused to Christ? Are we not all engaged to Christ? This is not anything sentimental. Sometimes people can become very sentimental and try to go through the motions of being married to Christ. It is not an outward thing; it is an inward reality.
We have been engaged to Christ. As virgins, there should be a simplicity toward Christ; there should be a singleness of heart toward Christ. But oftentimes we too are being deceived. We are enticed by the world; we are enticed by many things, so that our hearts become divided.
Our hearts are no longer pure toward Christ. We begin to love the world, even though we still love God. Dear brothers and sisters, if we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us.
Paul was filled with a jealousy of God. He was so jealous that he contended with the Corinthian believers: “This is something you ought not to be. You should return to the simplicity that is in Christ.”
Because he was filled with the jealousy of God and contended with the Corinthian believers, he was not liked by them. Paul could have been popular with the Corinthian believers. He could have been more tolerant. He could have been more liberal.
People might have said, “Look at Paul. He is really a broad-minded person. He does not mind if we love the world a little bit. Is he not reasonable?” Paul would have been a welcome preacher in the city of Corinth. He could have been considered by them a wise man.
But Paul was a fool. He was so filled with the jealousy of God that he could not contain himself. He had to strive with the Corinthian believers. He had to tell them that their way was wrong. Because of that, he was not welcome.
Dear brothers and sisters, a spiritual man is marked by the jealousy of God.
Look at our Lord Jesus. At the beginning of His public ministry, He went to the temple. He saw in the temple area all this bargaining going on—buying and selling, exchanging money.
This had been going on for years. People had accepted it as routine, as something that must be done. It was for convenience’ sake, because Jewish people came from all over the world to worship God. They had to bring sacrifices, and they had to pay tribute money to the temple.
But the temple would receive only the temple shekel, so they had to change their money into temple shekels. The sacrifices to be offered had to be examined by the priests. Therefore, for convenience’ sake, sacrifices were already examined by the priests and ready to be offered. All that people needed to do was buy them—of course, at a higher price.
Everybody took it for granted. It was for convenience’ sake. But when our Lord Jesus entered the temple, He could not contain Himself. He was filled with fire burning within Him.
He used a scourge. He drove the cattle away, overturned the tables of the money changers, and said, “Ye have made My Father’s house a house of merchandise.”
Why? The Bible says:
The zeal of Thy house shall eat Me up.
The zeal of the house of God had literally devoured and burned the Lord Jesus. He could not bear it. This happened not only at the beginning of His ministry; it happened again at the end of His ministry. Again, He cleansed the temple and said, “Ye make a house of prayer a robbers’ den.”
Brothers and sisters, why was He a fool? Christ acted like a fool, and because He did that, they decided to kill Him. “Get rid of Him. He is too much.” He was taking their profits away.
Dear brothers and sisters, are we filled with the jealousy of God? Have we become so complacent that we ourselves live in a divided manner? Are we no longer holding that simplicity toward Christ? Are our hearts being divided?
Are we so complacent that, when we see things going on among God’s people, we take them for granted and say, “Well, these things have been there for centuries, and they are to be taken as such”? Is there no longer the fire burning in our bones?
Brothers and sisters, where are we? What is spirituality? We have become so clever, so wise, that we can let things go. We are not disturbed in any way because we are in the same boat.
Paul was filled with a jealousy of God, and that jealousy made him a fool in the eyes of the Corinthian believers. But Paul would rather be a fool than be wise in the eyes of the world.
What is the jealousy of God? Does God ever become jealous? If you read the Bible, you find that God is very jealous. Our God is a jealous God.
Of course, the word jealousy has a bad connotation today. We often say that one should not be jealous. When you see somebody driving a Cadillac and become jealous because you have an old car, that is wrong.
But jealousy in itself is neutral. We ought to be jealous in the things in which we should be jealous, but we are not to be jealous in that which we should not be jealous.
God is a very jealous God. Not because He is narrow-minded—God is not narrow-minded—but He is very jealous. Now, what is He jealous over? Is God jealous over you? Is God jealous over me?
No, you are not that important. I am not that important. So far as we are concerned, we are not worthy for God to be jealous about. What is it that God is really jealous for?
He is jealous for His Son. He is very jealous for His Son. He wants His Son to have the first place in everything. If there is anything that would take away that first place, you will find that God becomes jealous, and He is going to do something.
Think of the scene on the Mount of Transfiguration. Christ was transfigured, and His face was shining; even His clothes were white. Moses and Elijah appeared, and they discussed His departure.
Suddenly Peter awoke and saw the whole thing there. He loved it so much that he blurted out, not knowing what he was saying, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. Why not make three tabernacles: one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah? We want all three of You. If we have the three of You, we do not want to go down the mountain anymore.”
Before he had finished, a cloud came—a bright cloud, the Shekinah glory of God. The glory of God stepped in and put Moses and Elijah away. Then they heard a voice:
This is My beloved Son: hear ye Him.
They opened their eyes and saw no one but Jesus alone. What is this? The jealousy of God. God is extremely jealous over His Son. He will not allow anybody or anything to take away the place that He has given to His Son. His Son must have the first place in all things.
Dear brothers and sisters, the enemy is trying to take that place. That is what made him Satan, the adversary. But God is jealous. God will not let anything or anyone take the place of His Son. He is jealous over His Son.
Because He is jealous for His Son, He is jealous for Zion. In the Old Testament, you find the term, “the controversy of Zion.” What is the controversy of Zion? Again and again in the prophets you find the controversy of Zion, and the Lord says, “My zeal shall perform it.”
God has a controversy over Zion because Zion is the place where the Son shall rule. Therefore, anything that touches Zion, anything that takes away from Zion the glory of His Son, causes God to say, “My zeal is there to perform it. I will keep Zion. I will make Zion the highest of the mountains.”
There is a controversy there. Dear brothers and sisters, the same thing is true: there is a controversy of the church. Why is there a controversy of the church? Not because we ourselves are worthy; it is because of Christ.
It is for Christ’s sake that God is zealous and jealous over His church. He has given His church as a body to Christ. He has given His church as a bride to the Bridegroom. Because of that, He is very jealous.
Again, I say that it is not because you are important or I am important. No. It is because, for His Son’s sake, we are important to Him in relation to His Son. That is the reason why there is that jealousy of God.
Oh, brothers and sisters, I do not know whether in your life you have ever experienced incidents of the jealousy of God. You will find that God is so jealous that He begins to contend with you. He will not let you go.
Sometimes you ask, “O God, why? Why not let me go? Other people can do this. Why cannot I?” Yes, other people may be able to do it, but you may not. Why? He is jealous. He is very strict with you. He will not let you go. He will not allow you to deviate.
There may be many Christians who can be carnal and can love the world, but when you merely graze the world, you find that He is jealous. You say, “Lord, just let me go. Let me do it, and then I will not.” Have you had such an experience?
Remember: a spiritual man is a man filled with the jealousy of God. Oh, that we may be filled with the jealousy of God, that we may intercede with a jealousy for ourselves as well as for our brothers and sisters.
Secondly, Paul is a spiritual man because he is filled with the sufferings of Christ.
Who wants to suffer? If anyone says, “I like to suffer,” he is a fool, because suffering is not a pleasant thing. Who wants to suffer? We will do everything to avoid suffering. Especially modern man—modern man cannot bear any pain or suffering.
But, dear brothers and sisters, a spiritual man is God’s fool. Why? Because voluntarily he enters into sufferings.
This is suffering not merely for righteousness’ sake. Sometimes we have to suffer for righteousness’ sake, and the world says that we are fools. “Why not compromise a little bit? Do it again instead of losing?”
Sometimes we have to suffer for righteousness’ sake. Sometimes we have to suffer for the sake of Christ, for the name of Christian. Because you are a Christian, people will take advantage of you, and you have to suffer for it.
We have to suffer for the name of Christ, for Christ’s sake. He was despised; He was rejected in the world. Therefore, as you go with Him, you will be despised and rejected. You suffer for Christ’s sake.
But here, in this particular area of suffering, it is suffering of the highest kind so far as human beings are concerned. It is the suffering of Christ for the Body’s sake.
You remember Paul said in Colossians 1:
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body’s sake, which is the church.
There is a suffering which is called the sufferings of Christ for His Body’s sake. We are called to have fellowship in the sufferings of Christ.
Of course, there is one area of the sufferings of Christ in which we cannot have a part. When Christ died on the cross, when He shed His blood to atone for the sins of the world, that is the part of His suffering in which nobody can have any part.
He trod the winepress alone. He is the only One Who is able to bear the sins of the world and to suffer, even unto death, separated from the Father while bearing the sins of this world. In that suffering, nobody shares with Him. Nobody can share with Him.
Why? Because it is atoning. Dear brothers and sisters, let us be very careful. No matter how we suffer, we have no share, no part, in the atoning death of Christ. There He died and suffered for the sins of the world alone before God, because He alone could atone for the sins of the world.
We thank God that we receive from that suffering and from that death the cleansing of our sins. But we have no share, no part, in that suffering.
Yet there is another part of His suffering in which He calls us to have fellowship with Him. We also have fellowship in His sufferings. In what sense?
When He died on the cross, there was not only the blood, but also the water that came out of His side. The blood is for redemption; the water is life, to build and to give birth to the church.
It is through the death of our Lord Jesus that He gave His life, so that with that life the church might be born. Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. He loved the church. He gave Himself to the church so that the church might be born.
The church is born through the sufferings of Christ, through the giving of His own life. Dear brothers and sisters, after the church is born, God has called us to have fellowship with His sufferings for the Body’s sake.
In other words, He has called us to suffer for the Body’s sake, that the Body may be built up, that the Body may mature. In the maturing and building up of the Body, we are called to share the sufferings of Christ.
In order that the Body may be built up, you find Paul in 2 Corinthians suffering greatly.
Listen:
In labours more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in prisons more abundantly, in deaths oft.
Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from my countrymen, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
in labour and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
Besides those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches.
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I burn not?
Was it necessary for Paul to go through all these sufferings? People would say, “You are a fool. Why? You voluntarily enter into it with open eyes. You do not need to suffer. These are not sufferings binding upon you, from which you cannot escape. You do not need to go through all these sufferings.”
But Paul was willing to suffer so much. Why? For the Body’s sake—to fill up that which was lacking in the tribulations of Christ for the Body, which is the church.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are called to have fellowship in this suffering.
I am afraid we are so occupied with our own sufferings that we have no strength to suffer for the Body’s sake—to fill up that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ for His Body, which is the church.
How we try to be wise and avoid every kind of suffering, every kind of unpleasantness. We want to live a life of smooth sailing. We are not willing to lose a meal. We are not willing to give ourselves. We are not willing to sacrifice ourselves. We are not willing to be burdened with the burden of Christ for His people.
We do not care because we do not want to suffer. My dear brothers and sisters, without suffering, the church will never mature.
God is calling His people to share with Christ that suffering for His Body, which is the church. Are we ready?
People will consider you a fool. You can spend your time in other things. Why do you spend time in return, in serving the Lord? You are a fool. But spiritually, it is wisdom.
Number three: Paul is God’s fool. Why? Because he is filled with the love of God.
As you read the last four chapters of 2 Corinthians, you find Paul so filled with the love of God that he cannot help but love. These Corinthian believers were very unlovely, and some of them manifested a very unlovely attitude toward Paul.
Yet Paul said, “I cannot help it. I am still willing to spend and be spent for you. If, in so doing, I am loved the less, I will still do it.”
How could he do that? “Because I am like a father to you.” You know, parents are fools, are they not? Parents are fools.
Look at the way you serve your children. Do they appreciate it? Do you know what will happen when they grow up? You are a fool. But you will do everything. You will sacrifice yourself. You will spend and be spent for them.
You would rather not have something yourself and let them have it. You would rather not eat and let them eat. You would rather wear old clothes and let them be clothed. You would do everything for them. Why? Because you cannot help it.
Oh, brothers and sisters, if this is true with earthly parents, how much more true it must be in the spiritual field.
Are we filled with the love of God to such an extent that, no matter how people misunderstand us or reject us, we cannot help but continue to love, willing to spend and be spent for them?
What did Paul get from the Corinthian believers? He got nothing from them. He even worked with his own hands to support himself and his fellow labourers. He would not be a burden or charge to the Corinthian believers.
Yet they looked down upon him, despised him, and rejected him. Even so, Paul said, “I am still willing to spend and be spent for your sake. I still love you, even if I am loved the less. I cannot help it. I am a fool.”
Brothers and sisters, who is willing to be such a fool? Are we not ashamed that we are too clever?
Oh, brothers and sisters, among God’s people today there are too many clever people—clever in our own lives. If you think of yourself, if you are interested in yourself, if you are good to yourself, the whole world will say that you are wise. Carnal Christians will say that you are clever.
But what will God say? How many among God’s people today are willing to be fools for the sake of Christ?
Actually, they are not fools, because they have greater wisdom. Therefore, they act like fools.
May the Lord help us. Shall we pray?
Our heavenly Father, deliver us from the wisdom and cleverness of men. Oh, we pray that we may know the foolishness of God; that we may rather be divinely foolish than be humanly wise, because Thy foolishness is wiser than the wisdom of men. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.