2024-07-21 Sermon Notes - Daniel Lyons' Notes

type:
  - "[[Sermon Notes]]"
speaker: "[[Archibald Allison]]"
date: 2024-07-21
location: "[[Emmaus Orthodox Presbyterian Church]]"
passage: "[[2 Cor-11#v21|2 Corinthians 11:21-25]]"
sermon series:
sermon link:
subjects:
title:
takeaways:
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💡Big Idea

Takeaways and Next Steps

📖Bible Passage

2 Corinthians 11:21-25

v21
I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet in whatever way anyone is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also.
v22
Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the offspring of Abraham? So am I.
v23
Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself.) I am more so: in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, and in deaths often.
v24
Five times I received forty stripes minus one from the Jews.
v25
Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep.

Points

A religious group of interlopers began to meet, aiming to discredit Paul and the other apostles, and to take over.
Paul, defends his status as an apostle of Jesus Christ.
- What is and apostle?
  - 2 Corinthians 11:22: The interlopers boasted of their lineage, and so Paul showed his lineage. Paul was a Hebrew of the Hebrews.

What is a Hebrew, an Israelite, the seed of Abraham

Hebrew: Genesis 11:17 : Hebrew means the descendants of Eber
- Hebrew is also the language of the Bible and the Hebrew people.
Israelite: Israel is the name that God gave to Jacob, the grandson of Abraham: Genesis 32:28
the seed of Abraham:
- Paul was also a descendant of Abraham.
- John 8:31-47: Not every descendent of Abraham is a seed of Abraham.
  - Those who follow Abraham are true descendants of him

What does Paul boast of?

in v23

Paul responds to their claim that they are servants of Christ
- I speak as a fool: Paul here does not believe that they are servants of Christ. In fact, to speak of them so would require that he be a mad fool. But for the sake of defending the Church, Paul shows that even if they were servants of Christ, that Paul is more of a servant in Christ.
- Paul cites actions of service for Christ that he did:
  - These acts would certainly be considered foolish by the world.
    - The world calls it foolish to minister in dangerous places, like a sheep among wolves. Matthew 10:16.
  - Paul was often persecuted for Christ's sake.
- If the world hates you then this is evidence that you are a servant of Christ: John 15:18-25
  - Acts 9:15-16 : In fact, God promised that Paul would suffer for Christ's sake.
  - Yet Paul did not care that he was hated and persecuted. Rather God was more important to him. Acts 20:24
- In fact all who desire to live godly in Jesus Christ will suffer persecution: 2 Timothy 3:13
- But fret not, for Christ is our comforter: 2 Corinthians 1:5
  - 2 Corinthians 1:7 and if we partake of Christ's suffering, we will also partake of His comfort
These are the things which Paul boasts of:
- These are the things that give him authority to speak as an apostle
- These are the things which we also must derive our pride from
  - Not from our merit, or lineage, or knowledge or anything else in ourselves
  - But only from our weakness and the work and grace of Christ. : 2 Corinthians 12:5.

Application

These are the things we should not boast of:
- Prosperity, popularity, acceptance, and success are signs that one is not of Christ.
❓: Are you and I true servants of Christ?
- Where are your scars, your enemies, your detractors? What signs do you have that you are a servant of Christ?
- (Don't forget that Jesus says blessed are those who are persecuted for Christ's sake. It does you no good if you are persecuted for your own sin.)
❓: What should you do if you do not have these signs of serving Christ?
- Be reconciled to God. Come into the Light.

Further Study

💬Discussion Questions

2024-07-21 Sermon Notes

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