Some passages and verses of the Bible are so curious and rich that they’re worth us focusing on each word or phrase. What does it really mean when Paul the apostle says our worship is to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God? I first shared this teaching with Lusaka Community Church and then with my Spiritual Companionship Group at Justo Mwale University. I had recently finished a course on Paul and his theology with the same group of JMU students. To listen or download, click here.
a sermon during our seminary’s January orientation
Orientation at Justo Mwale is an important time to seek direction. Orientation is a good word. It means getting aligned at the beginning so the future becomes what it’s meant to be. I’ve selected one verse to direct our thoughts this morning, 1 Corinthians 14:1. “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.” Or, as a literal translation says: “Pursue love, and be zealous for the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.”
I’m not sure how you tend to interpret this verse of Scripture. From my experience, many Presbyterian and Reformed congregations think, “This is not for us. This may be for other believers, but not for us.” Sometimes we act as though Paul said, “Pursue love, ignore the spiritual gifts, and don’t even think about prophesying.” Sometimes we treat these words as though Paul wrote the verse only for the believers at the Pentecostal and charismatic churches.
My hope is that we can move away from the idea that other kinds of churches have access to gifts and power that we don’t have. We need to claim the whole Bible for ourselves. Why should we leave some parts of the Bible for other Christians if there might be some benefit for our own life of faith? We need to claim 1 Corinthians 14 as a passage of the Bible that’s for us.
I think it would be a big surprise to Paul that there would be churches that don’t treat 1 Cor 14:1 as relevant to their life and ministry.
We need freedom to explore what these words mean, these words that seemed so important to the apostle that they’re a summary of 1 Corinthians 12 to 14. What better place to explore the meaning of these words than at a theological college? Here we are, training to be people who speak the word of God, and setting aside a year to think about what it means for us to be pastors and preachers. It is a good time to take a closer look.
Verses take their meaning from the context in which they are found. So even though our passage is short — one verse, one sentence — we need to take a close look at 1 Corinthians to understand what this statement means, and especially chapters 12-14, the section where our verse is found.
We as a community have some important things in common with what Paul is talking about in this section of 1 Corinthians. In chapters 12-14, he’s giving directions regarding the Corinthians’ life and ministry together. He tells them they’re the body of Christ, and that as individuals they have gifts to use and ministries to grow into so that the body will be built up.
This is similar to us at Justo Mwale. We’re here because God has called us, and the church has said we have gifts for ministry, and we’re here to prepare for a ministry of building up the church, and especially to become qualified to speak the word of God to God’s people.
Let’s notice that Paul says three things in this verse which sums up what he urges the Corinthians to do: 1) Pursue love. 2) Be zealous for the spiritual gifts, and 3) Especially be zealous that you may prophesy.
Let’s start with the second part of the verse: “Be zealous for spiritual gifts.”
Paul used a very strong word when he commanded the Corinthians to desire the spiritual gifts. Eagerly desire them. Be zealous for them. An important question for us to address is: Why would Paul tell the Corinthians to eagerly desire the spiritual gifts?
I believe Paul answers this question for us in the way he describes the spiritual gifts and what they accomplish for the church. Paul says in 12:7 “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” A spiritual gift is a manifestation, a bringing to light, a disclosure of the activity of God the Holy Spirit. The gift makes it clear that the Holy Spirit is alive, present, and doing things. In the spiritual gifts the power of the Holy Spirit is manifest. This is why people who are hungry for God in their lives often desire spiritual gifts.
Paul also says a spiritual gift is a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good, for the advantage of the body of Christ as a whole. Paul speaks of the spiritual gifts in several places in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 as edifying the church, encouraging the congregation, and strengthening it. He repeats the word “build up” at least six times in chapter 14.The repetition of this important term helps us to realize what Paul cares about— building up the church – and that the spiritual gifts are for this specific purpose.
Sometimes we give the impression that our churches, as churches of the Reformation, are about the past; we bear witness to the faith of the 16th century European Reformation. We bear witness to the faith brought by missionaries 100 years ago. This is true and good, but we also need to bear witness to a living God who is doing things today, right now, in our midst. Perhaps young people especially need to hear that, and see it.
And sure enough, the Bible uses present tense words to describe the Christian life. In 12:7, Paul says, “To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit”; he uses the present continual tense of the verb “give”. God gives the manifestation of the Spirit in an ongoing way. It’s something that happens now, and continually. God is giving the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. And so Paul responds to this reality, in 14:1, when he says, “Eagerly desire” or “Be zealous for” the spiritual gifts. He also uses the Greek verb tense that means ongoing action in the present, as though he says: Eagerly desire, and keep on eagerly desiring the spiritual gifts.”
God wants us not only to be open to the spiritual gifts but to eagerly desire them. The church needs to experience the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. We’re to be eager for the gifts, because the church needs to be strengthened, encouraged, and built up.
Now let’s go back to the first part of our verse: “Follow the way of love.”
Paul speaks of love and the spiritual gifts in the same sentence. Back in 1 Cor 1:7, Paul said that the Corinthians had all the gifts. They were not lacking in any spiritual gift. BUT in 1 Cor 3:1-3 Paul says he could not speak to the Corinthian church as to spiritual people. He had to speak to them as spiritual infants. They had every spiritual gift at work in their church, and yet Paul said he could only treat them as infants in Christ. How could this be? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 — Where there is jealousy, where there is strife, where there is disunity, where there is boasting, spiritual maturity is absent. Notice: Spiritual gifts are not the mark of spiritual maturity. The mark of spiritual maturity is love.
So Paul says to the Corinthians, “Pursue love.” If Paul could be here at Justo Mwale, I think he might say the same thing. Look what he says in 1 Cor 8:1: “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” Knowledge needs love. Justo Mwale, as an academic institution, is in the business of giving knowledge. And when you graduate, you will graduate with knowledge.
But Paul says, in 13:2, “And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, … but have not love, I am nothing.” I am nothing without love, even if I have all knowledge.
The NIV translation of 14:1 says, “Follow the way of love”, but the verb being translated is stronger and more intense than the word “follow”. Paul uses the same Greek verb when he says in 1 Cor 15:9 “I persecuted the church of God”. Paul didn’t just follow Christians around before he became a believer in Jesus. He chased them. He pursued them. He caught them. And so translators use the word “persecute,” to get at the intensity of the word. And that’s the word Paul uses to tell us what to do with agapē love. We go after it and pursue it.
If we chase and pursue something, then our mind is on it. We set it before us as a goal, and then we start running, and we don’t give up. It’s impossible to do this casually or lightly. When Paul uses the same word for pursuing love as the New Testament uses for when early Christians were pursued by their persecutors, it’s clear that we have a picture of zeal, of earnest desire, and seriousness about this goal to love.
But what is this love Paul speaks of in 1 Cor 14:1? Words of Scripture take their meaning from the part of the Bible where they’re found. In this case, we don’t have to look far. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says, 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
What if we spent our years at Justo Mwale in the pursuit of that kind of love?
When it’s time to graduate, the registrar, the dean, and the rector may not get together and ask, Is this student patient? Is he kind? Doe she envy? Does he boast? He’s not proud, is he? Is he self-seeking? That conversation probably won’t happen. But when you go to your first congregation as a pastor, they will be asking questions like that. Does the pastor care? Is he kind, or is he self-seeking? Is she easily angered, or does she keep no record of wrongs? Is he rude, or is he patient?
Paul says to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, but he also says: Pursue love. The gifts are manifestations of the Spirit and of divine power. Paul knows that power without love is destructive.
If we place even more emphasis on love than on our other gifts and skills for ministry, we are less likely to use our gifts for self-gratification. We’ll use our gifts for building up the church. If we spend our years at Justo Mwale learning to love, then we’re on our way to becoming good pastors.
Now the third part of the verse: “Especially that you might prophesy”
Throughout chapter 14, Paul attempts to encourage and convince the Corinthian church of the importance of a particular gift. Paul was convinced that this gift of prophecy was the spiritual gift that the Corinthians most needed. If Paul would tell a local congregation to be zealous that they might prophesy, how much more would he say the same to us, as a community of people preparing for ministries of speaking the word of God to others!
We need to think about what 1 Corinthians means by prophesying. It would be helpful if we had a video of a Corinthian worship service, so we would know exactly what gift looked like. One of the difficult things about interpreting 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 is that we only have Paul’s words. Although we can turn to Acts and see some of the same words for the spiritual gifts used, such as tongues or prophecy, it’s not always clear that they have the same meaning in Acts as they have in Paul’s letters.
The word prophesy itself just means to proclaim something that God wishes to say. But other verses in chapter 14, besides verse 1, give us a little more information. Verse 29 says, “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.” Paul says that others in the church should weigh, evaluate, and discern what is said. It looks like prophesying in 1 Corinthians may not carry the same authority as when Old Testament prophets would say, “Thus says the Lord…” It sounds like Paul is saying we need to be humble when we use this gift, because we may not always say exactly what the Lord wants us to say. We don’t always hear God’s voice with accuracy, so the congregation needs to evaluate what is said.
Verse 14:3 can also help us in knowing what Paul means by prophesying: “The one who prophesies speaks to people to build them up, encourage them, and comfort them.” Genuine prophesying is for building people up, encouraging them, and comforting them. Verse 31 is also clarifying: “For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged.” “So that all may learn” – it involves learning.
I don’t see any evidence in 1 Corinthians that Paul means to say this gift is the ability to tell the future. He doesn’t rule it out, but he also doesn’t mention it. I also don’t see any evidence that the person has to have a magnetic, exciting personality. He doesn’t need special clothes. He doesn’t have to have a nice car or access to a TV camera. And she doesn’t have to be someone who speaks to huge groups of people.
People who prophesy speak deeply into people’s lives, so their listeners are not the same afterward. The person is enabled by God to speak a word that is on target for people’s hearts and minds, to build them up and encourage their faith. He or she speaks just the thing that the people need to hear at a given time. The Holy Spirit is manifest because people know that God has addressed them and not just a person. The word not only rings true with Scripture; it goes to people’s hearts, so they know the Holy Spirit has been present.
Is preaching the same as prophecy? This is something we need to explore. I can only begin an answer.
It seems clear from Paul’s words that prophecy does not require a sermon. It can happen separately from a formal sermon.
But it also seems that preaching can qualify as prophecy. Often when I sit in one of these chairs, and someone else is standing here preaching, I sense that God is speaking to me. I experienced it yesterday. Maybe others were having the same experience. If so, that’s a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Yesterday’s preacher might not think of himself as a prophet among us, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t exercising a prophetic gift, if God was addressing us through him.
Let’s be honest: I don’t think preaching always qualifies as prophecy. But it can qualify as prophecy. Prophecy is when God speaks through a person what people need to hear. Preaching can do that. And when it does, it is prophetic.
Whether we understand this gift completely or not, one thing is clear: Prophecy is something we should eagerly desire. And just in case we miss it in 14:1, Paul says it again in 14:39 – “Brethren, be zealous to prophesy.”
Our studies can give us perspective and help us say informed things. But it takes the involvement of God to say what God wishes to say. It takes the involvement of God to say something, and then have people know that God has said something to them. When God speaks through us, the Holy Spirit is making himself manifest and activating the gift of prophecy through us.
Some pastors and congregations steer away from spiritual gifts because they can be abused. The gifts can certainly be abused. But staying away from them was not Paul’s solution. He taught love and emphasized that love is the real mark of being spiritual. Some Christians think, if you really want to be a strong, mature Christian, you must learn about spiritual gifts. But we’ve seen that spiritual gifts are not the mark of a mature Christian. Love is the mark of a mature Christian. Yet we’re still to desire the spiritual gifts, especially to prophesy.
As you go through your years at Justo Mwale, pursue love, desire the spiritual gifts, and especially that God would reveal to you what’s on his heart to say to God’s people. Earnestly desire the gift of prophecy.
Maybe we need to think about our experience here as training to be prophets. We may be Reformed. We may be Presbyterian. We’re going to do things decently and in order. But we also need divine power. We need divine gifting. And we sell ourselves short if we settle for getting academics but miss integrating our studies with the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
God has things he wants to communicate to people. Let’s become pastors who have insight into what those things are. “Pursue love, be earnest for spiritual gifts, and especially that you might prophesy.”
This is the sermon I shared with our seminary community here in Zambia at chapel this morning. Hopefully parts of it can speak beyond this context.
Our passage for today is 2 Corinthians 4:5-12. Remember, our theme for this term is the pastor’s calling. 2 Corinthians focuses on Paul’s experience of ministry. 2 Corinthins 4 is a difficult passage, but it’s also deep, and practical. And it includes such relevant topics as suffering, power, perseverance, witness, true prosperity, and avoiding discouragement. Focusing on the whole chapter would take more time than we have; verses 5 to 12 give us a chance to get an in-depth look at our calling to ministry. The passage gives us an inside look at the light and treasure we have received, the life of ministry we live, and the light and message we have to share.
Let’s focus first on verses 5-6. In verse 5 Paul mentions what we preachers don’t do and what we do: We don’t preach ourselves, and we do preach Jesus Christ. But then he backs up and gives a basis in verse 6 for what he has said in verse 5. God has shown light into our hearts. This is a picture of conversion, but it’s also a picture of a call. In the book of Acts, Paul tells the story of seeing a light (Acts 9, 12, 26). Jesus spoke to him. And then he was told what he was to do. I think the book of Isaiah played a huge role in Paul’s mind, in how he interpreted his experience of this light. Paul saw a light, and then, in the words of Isaiah, he saw himself as called to be a light to the nations (see Is 42:6; 49: 6; Acts 9:3; 13:47). We’re not that different from Paul: God has shown a light in our hearts – we’ve experienced that ourselves – and ever since, and from now on, we have light to share.
Let’s look at the end of verse 6. God has made his light shine in our hearts, but then the NIV says, “to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ”. The words “to give us” are not there in the Greek text, and other translations are closer to the original when they say, “to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (NRSV, ESV). No mention there of us as the object of the light. In other words: We’re illuminated, not just for our sake, but to become illuminators: we’re illuminated in order to go forth and illuminate others. God has shown forth in our hearts, so that we can go forth and reveal, Paul says, the face of Christ.
What a high calling we have. What dignity God has given you and me, that not only would he shine his light into our lives but also give us the task of illuminating others with the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
And so that’s the basis of what Paul says in verse 5: “We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants on account of Jesus.” We don’t preach ourselves, because the message is not about us. We preach to help others encounter the face of Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, we who are called to reveal the light sometimes get confused and lose our way. We begin to get the idea that the ministry is actually about us and our own success. We look around at who seems to be doing well in ministry. We see the nice car. Maybe we see preachers on TV. And something in our hearts says, “That’s where it’s at. You need to think big. You need a big voice, a big personality, a big house, big buildings. You need to see your picture on a big sign. You need a big name.” So our ambition grows. And before we know it what we really want is that others will encounter not the face of Jesus, but our own face. We preach ourselves, not Jesus Christ. And the light that came to our hearts falls dim.
But our passage presents a different picture. “We do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” Servants for Jesus’ sake. We’re not trying to become masters here on earth; the only master is the Lord Jesus Christ.
As servant-preachers, the picture we want to leave with people is the face of Jesus. “We do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord.” And this happens best if the image of ourselves is a picture of serving. We serve the church for Jesus’ sake.
Next, let’s look at verses 7-9. “We have this treasure in jars of clay.” Paul sometimes used common objects as symbols. In chapter 5, he will say our bodies are like tents. Here in 4:7, we believers are like clay jars, earthen vessels, with a treasure inside. Now a clay jar is a practical thing to have. It’s fragile, but it’s useful because things can be put inside it. One could even put a treasure inside, like precious gems or gold.
Paul is using a symbol to say important things about our calling. We are jars of clay. But not just any clay jars. We are distinguished because of what we carry. Based on verse 6, the treasure we carry is the illumination, the making known, of God in Christ. Verse 5 is also clarifying: the message we carry is not how special we are, but Jesus Christ. The treasure is the message of Jesus Christ.
Let’s think more about this treasure we have. Here in Africa, there’s a lot of talk among believers these days about prosperity. I don’t think we can really get to the bottom of how the Bible speaks to that topic without looking at the whole canon of Scripture. But this passage does speak to it: 2 Corinthians says, we who carry Jesus Christ inside us have treasure.
I wonder, who in our lives gets to define what success and prosperity mean? Do we let the billboards along the highway tell us what success is? Do we let what’s on television tell us what prosperity and success are? Do we swallow those messages? That we won’t be a success, and we won’t be content, until we have every last object on those billboards? If we swallow this message ourselves, how much more might the people in our congregations swallow it!
Maybe we need to listen to 2 Corinthians: We have prosperity already, because we have a treasure already, because we have Christ and the light of the gospel inside us. Paul knew he had a treasure; he had genuine prosperity, and it was something that no circumstance and no person could take away. He still worked with his hands to meet his needs, but he already had contentment that no one could take away. He says in Philippians 4:12-13 “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
These things may seem easy for me to say, since I grew up in a rich country. But when we allow what’s on TV and what’s on the big signs to define success for us, we can miss the real contentment that is freely ours to enjoy through the treasure of Jesus Christ already living inside us. Let’s be careful about who gets to define true prosperity and success in our life of ministry.
We are common clay, but we carry something very special inside, something extraordinary. Our calling is not about us; it’s about the treasure inside, the message we carry and have to share. We are here for something larger, more beautiful, more precious, and more important than ourselves and our own success. Christ is the message, the light, and the treasure. Our calling is to something bigger than what the world calls success and prosperity.
Verse 8 says, “We are hard pressed on every side.” What happens when a clay jar is hard pressed on every side? It’s crushed. But the jars of clay in our passage are different. Despite being hard pressed on every side, they are not crushed. This says something about perseverance. We’re exposed to risk, because we’re made of common clay. But we’re also resilient, uncommonly resilient. “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
Verses 8-9 raise the question: What keeps us from being crushed and destroyed? There is something about the light that has shown in our hearts, and there is something about the treasure inside us, that make us tough, resilient, and durable. Christian leaders take heat sometimes. We may take heat, and sometimes in our minds we may fantasize about hiding, and running away from the ministry.
But our passage says: we can take heat. We can be hard pressed, and we can handle it. Verse 1 says that even as we have received mercy (even as we have received the light), we do not lose heart. And later verse 16 will say, “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” Inwardly – that’s where the treasure is. There’s something about having that light and treasure inside us that gives us power to persevere. And verse 7 even speaks of “surpassing power”. It’s not from us – we’re clay jars – but it is inside us. It’s from God, yet we derive a benefit. So even though we are clay, clay that gets hard pressed on every side, we are not crushed or destroyed. We have access to surpassing power.
In Paul’s mind, having Christ in our lives simultaneously subjects us to vulnerability AND makes us strong to withstand vulnerability. Since we’re not living first for ourselves, since we realize there’s something larger at stake than our own success, we do put ourselves at risk. We risk what is good for us for the sake of a larger good. That’s why we often say yes when we get the call to some task or some place that looks difficult. Maybe it’s not the village you would have chosen for yourself. Maybe it doesn’t look like a place for personal advance. But if we’re there, then the light, and the treasure, will also be there, because it goes with us.
We get exposed to hardship because our purpose is to live not for our own welfare but for proclamation. We live to illuminate, to help people see the face of Jesus. That’s what leads to God’s glory, as verse 15 will say. But living for something larger than ourselves also makes us vulnerable. God gets glorified. But that can also get us into situations where we’re at risk. Yet let’s take courage: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
Let’s move on to 4:10-12. These verses build on what Paul has been saying about suffering, and about revealing Jesus Christ, but they take it further.
The first half of each of these three verses use symbolic language to speak of hardship we go through in a life of ministry. All three verses use the word death to describe the life of ministry. Paul is using symbolic language to try and describe how difficult true ministry is. Each one of these statements doesn’t necessarily mean a literal death but rather the suffering that we keep going through as we minister.
The symbolism of the first half of each verse is a little difficult: For all of us who carry the treasure of Christ, we have a strong relationship with the death and life of Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul says our relationship with Christ’s death is so strong that his sufferings flow over into our lives. And here in 4:10-12, Paul says the hardships which we go through in a life of ministry are actually a carrying around of his death in our bodies. When Paul uses the word “body”, he’s emphasizing that these hardships affect our whole being. It’s not just a spiritual thing but something that involves the whole of our lives.
The second half of each of these three verses, 10 to 12, is a little easier to understand. Each second half states the result of these hardships we go through, and each speaks about the larger purpose of a life of ministry. Namely, the life of Jesus is revealed, and that life (the life of Jesus) is at work in those to whom we minister. No matter how difficult the things are that we walk through, we can take courage because the life of Jesus gets revealed to others through these hardships.
Just to explain it again: Paul says, we who minister always go through hardship. And these difficulties are a result of us being in a special relationship to Jesus and his death. But the result of the hardship we go through is that the very life of Jesus gets revealed. The ministry brings difficulties, no doubt. But through these things, we become revealers of the life of Jesus.
It’s like what Paul said earlier: We are illuminated, and we become illuminators, except here it’s clarified that the suffering we go through plays a big role in our becoming people who illuminate others.
Verse 12 states the message differently, but it’s the same message. For those called to a life of ministry, death is at work in us (that is, we go through adversity), but for those we minister to – they receive life (Christ’s life).
I’m sure we’ve known people who have both walked through difficult things and yet have also revealed Christ to us. And the difficulties we know about in their lives, the hard things they’ve walked through, just make their witness shine brighter. That’s what verses 10 to 12 are about. The things that make our lives difficult also bring out the light and life of Christ.
If we’re preaching not ourselves but Jesus Christ, if we’re doing genuine ministry, we encounter hardship. But our difficulties serve a higher purpose. They help people realize we’re not the message — Christ is. Our difficulties transform us to become people who reveal the life and power of Christ.
To conclude: God has shown us mercy by shining forth in our hearts. He has illuminated us, and he’s called us to be illuminators. We’ve given ourselves to something larger and more precious than our personal welfare and success. And so we don’t preach ourselves; we preach so people will encounter the face of Jesus. We are like clay jars carrying a treasure. And we don’t just preach with words. We preach by who we are. Even our hardships preach Jesus. People see that the power in our life comes not from us but from God. We’re knocked down, but we get up. We’re hard pressed, but we’re not crushed. All these things point to a greater reality: Jesus becomes manifest. The face of Jesus becomes visible through our words, and through our lives, to the glory of God. Amen.
Our theological college’s faculty and staff had a good discussion using this Bible study. Feel free to adapt it to your particular situation.
1 Thessalonians 2:1-12
JMTUC Staff Bible Study
As people who are involved in the training of pastors and leaders for the church, it’s important that we turn to Scripture for perspective on our work. Let’s study 1 Thess. 2:1-12 for insight into being a pastor and Christian leader. In these verses, the apostle Paul recalls the time in which he was in Thessalonica doing ministry. He speaks of what his ministry required of him. He speaks of his aim, motivation, and practices. Let’s study the passage to see what we can learn from Paul’s example.
Let’s use these questions to open up the passage of Scripture and guide our discussion:
1. In verses 1-2, what does Paul say that his ministry required of him? What experiences did it make him pass through? (For background, see Acts 16:19-24 and Phil 1:29-30.) What character trait did it take?
2. In verses 3-8, what does Paul say were his aims and motivation? What does he say was not his aim or motivation? Why might Paul have emphasized whom he sought to please?
3. Does ministry today require the same character traits, aim, and motivation as did Paul’s ministry, or does it require something different? What tends to happen when these traits and aims are present, and what tends to happen when they are absent? Why does one’s motivation for ministry matter?
4. What does Paul say were and weren’t his practices and techniques in ministry? What similes (symbolic language) does Paul use to describe his manner of ministry, and what can we learn from these? Which of these practices might help us as people who train pastors?
5. Finally, in light of today’s passage and discussion, how can we pray for one another, for our students, and the church in Africa?
NOTE: If you want to go into much deeper detail in the study of 1 Thessalonians, I recommend the writings of Abraham Malherbe.
As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Bring them here to me,” he said.
– Matthew 14:15-18
Last week I discussed this passage with our first-year seminary students. I asked them how the disciples might have felt when Jesus said, “You give them something to eat.” I expected my students to say that the disciples felt confused, mystified, overwhelmed, challenged. But one Zambian student responded, “They were probably afraid they’d lose the little bit they had.”
That spoke to me. It spoke to me because it seems true, and it spoke to me because I realized my students’ own experiences (in this case, of hunger) help them to see things in Scripture that I overlook. It helped me see yet again that when I study Scripture with them, I see more than I would on my own.
My student’s comment also spoke to me because I have often felt something similar in my own experience of ministry. When God has put new opportunities and responsibilities before me, I haven’t only felt challenged and mystified (how will I measure up?). I’ve been fearful of losing something precious, something I already feel short on. Unlike my students, it’s never been food that I feel short on. Opportunities to minister frighten me because I think I might lose other things that are precious to me – like the little bit of time and energy that I have, and which I hold dear, or my sense of control in life, which I hold very dear. I fear that if I say yes to certain opportunities in ministry, as Jesus called his disciples to do in this passage, I will lose control of my time, my energy, my relationships, and my personal space. This was as true when I was an associate pastor in California as it has been during my ministry in Africa.
Jesus must have known his words would frighten his disciples, yet he spoke them anyway. By speaking those words, he opened an opportunity that otherwise wouldn’t have existed. Over five thousand hungry people experienced the abundance of God, and the disciples learned something about trusting Jesus when the temptation was to fear losing the little they had.
Jesus’ command, “You give them something to eat,” can take on a lot of different shapes, depending on who we are, our situation in life, and how the Holy Spirit is nudging us. Hearing Jesus might make us afraid of losing the little that we have. On the other hand, following through on his command might also open the chance to see more of Jesus than we’ve ever seen before. And it might allow us, as it did the original disciples, to be part of something that’s truly amazing.
Our faculty had a good discussion about this Bible study I wrote, so I thought I would share it.
Justo Mwale Theological University College
Faculty Bible Study
READING: 2 Cor 10:1; 10:10; 11:2-6; 11:20; 12:7-10; 12:19; 13:4-5
INTRODUCTION
When I was getting started in ministry, I watched the Christian leaders around me very closely. I was trying to learn from their example and figure out my ideal image of a Christian leader.
It’s likely that many of our students are doing the same, searching with their eyes and hearts for an image to follow, an image of what kind of pastor, preacher, and leader they will become. Naturally they look at the leaders and pastors around them and ones that appear on TV and the radio. A problem is that the media only allows us to see a public image, which tends to promote the preacher as a successful, larger-than-life personality. We don’t get a view of the pastor as a real human being, weaknesses included.
As people who train pastors, it’s important that we faculty members be aware of our own image and expectations of a pastor. Does our image only allow for strength and success?
OUR TEXT AND ITS CONTEXT
In our passage, Paul faces an attack. His opponents say his appearance is “lowly” and “weak” when he’s among the Corinthians, even if he comes across as strong in his letters. The Corinthian church isn’t sure Paul measures up to their preferred image of a teacher and leader. It is curious that Paul does not respond by saying, “Appearances don’t matter.” Instead, he spends most of 2 Corinthians 10-13 explaining his manner of ministry. Instead of denying that he has weaknesses, he rejects the idea that his weak personal presence does not suit his position and authority. In fact, he gives his weakness a basis in his own experience with the Lord (12:7-10) and in the weakness (crucifixion) of Christ (13:4).
Most scholars who interpret these chapters say that Paul is preoccupied with defending himself and fighting his opponents, but he gives us clues that he is also trying to teach the Corinthians something about the gospel and the Christian life. Paul himself says: “Do you think that all this time we have been defending ourselves to you? Before God we speak in Christ. Everything, beloved, is for building you up” (12:19). Paul speaks about himself for the sake of his pastoral task, to build up the Corinthians.
Paul thinks that the Corinthian church has a problem with misplaced confidence in human strength (10:7, 10, 12). The Corinthians reject weakness, including Paul’s unimpressive appearance. Paul is concerned about where his opponents place their confidence and about the effect this has on the Corinthian church. He sees a different Jesus, Spirit, and gospel behind their actions. Paul takes his cue to boast from his opponents, but he turns boasting on its head by concentrating on weakness, thus challenging the Corinthians’ ideals. Paul is saying of his critics’ standards: “I can boast in those ways, too, but I do not.” He states: “I will boast of things that demonstrate my weakness” (11:30). As he talks about himself, he emphasizes his vulnerability as he carries out his ministry.
In 12:7-10, Paul tells the story of the thorn. Instead of removing the thorn of weakness in response to Paul’s repeated prayer (12:8), the Lord replies that his grace is sufficient for him (12:9). In Paul’s narration of the Lord’s answer, and his own reaction to it, we can identify numerous clues indicating that Paul wishes to teach the Corinthians an approach to power and weakness.
1) Even before the account of Christ’s words, the reality that it is Christ the Lord speaking (very rare in Paul’s letters) sets these words apart for the Corinthians’ reflection.
2) Paul uses the term “he said” in the perfect tense, the only time he uses this word in the Greek tense that indicates a completed action with continuing significance. The result of Christ’s words is of lasting significance.
3) When Paul presents Christ’s words, the first half of the saying, “My grace is sufficient for you,” is made on the basis of a broad, general principle: “For power is perfected in weakness.”
4) Paul does not identify the nature of the thorn, leaving it to remain general in its application. Perhaps Paul does not name the thorn so that more of the believers can appropriate its message in their own lives.
5) Similarly, Paul keeps the list of afflictions in 12:10 general: he is content in weaknesses, hardships, and calamities. Such experiences are not unique to apostles. We see a similar list of sufferings in 1 Cor 4:10-13, where the call to imitate Paul follows the list.
6) Finally, Paul’s use of the phrase “for the sake of Christ” in 12:10 explains why he is glad to endure hardships. Hardships provide points of entry to Christ’s power. His use of the phrase reminds us of Phil 3:8, 10, where suffering is a means toward the knowledge of Christ and the experience of fellowship with him.
In 12:7-10, by presenting a personal illustration instead of only defending himself, Paul is able both to answer his opposition and teach the Corinthians. Christ’s reply to Paul, and the apostle’s response, establishes an example for holding weakness and power together in Christian life and ministry. Situations of weakness open believers’ lives to the power of Christ. Such circumstances are times when Christ’s power may enter and become manifest: “When I am weak, then I am strong.” The Corinthians can learn through Paul’s situation to anticipate God’s presence and power in the midst of weakness. Therefore they don’t need to be ashamed of weakness or hide its reality.
Paul is concerned that his opponents are distorting the Christian life and its connection with Christ crucified and raised. His adversaries’ boasting has led the Corinthians to put confidence in human strength and in the absence of weakness. Paul models for the Corinthians the way to true strength: by the path of the cross, through weakness. 2 Cor. 13:4 states: “For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we are weak in him…” Paul presents a model of participation in the crucified and risen Christ. Just as the cross and resurrection go together, Paul maintains that power and weakness must go together, even though this brings him into conflict with the cultural ideal that says a strong public presence is a fundamental precondition for a leader and teacher.
Paul’s personal example illustrates that Christian life and leadership are not matters of moving beyond weakness. Experiences of vulnerability are not aberrations from an ideal; they grant access to the grace and power of Christ. If Paul can win the Corinthians to this truth, the recognition of it will authenticate Paul’s authority, undermine the boasts of his opponents, and secure the congregation’s relationship with Christ and the gospel.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What images of pastors and leaders do we see in Christian media? What images do our students have of a successful pastor? Do these images allow a pastor to experience weaknesses like sickness, opposition, and financial hardship?
2. Do the images mentioned above serve what we are attempting to do at this college? Do they detract from what we are trying to accomplish?
3. Can 2 Corinthians 10-13, especially 12:7-10, offer guidance for how we define what a pastor should be like?
4. What images and ideals are we placing before our students? What are our hopes for them? And what do we expect of and for ourselves?
Dustin W. Ellington
Scripture and Life 