Have you got What it Takes? (2 Corinthians 3:1-11)

09/26/18 • -1 min

I have often wondered how the Apostle Paul would rate in ecclesiastical circles, whether he would be considered a success or not, if he were carrying on his ministry today. It is hard to believe that a man who spent most of his ministry in jail, who never made enough salary to buy a home of his own, who never built a church building, who never spoke on television, or even had a radio broadcast, who ran around so much that he had no permanent residence of his own, who frequently had to get a job to support himself, who admitted that he was a poor speaker and had a very unimpressive appearance, could be a successful pastor or minister. He just does not fit the accepted scheme of what makes for success in the ministry today. No wonder they had trouble with him in Corinth, and had difficulty believing that he was a real apostle. That is what they were thinking when Paul wrote this letter, and that, perhaps, explains why Chapter 3 begins with these words:

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Who is that Masked Man? (2 Corinthians 3:12-18)

We are nearing the season of mask-wearing, Halloween, and some of our children, at least, will be putting them on. In the radio program, The Lone Ranger (who was known as "The Masked Man"), some of us who are older remember how thrilled we were when we heard that call of, "Hi-ho, Silver!" to the beat of the William Tell Overture, and the invariable question, "Who was that Masked Man anyway?" And, we were distressed a couple of weeks ago to learn that the Supreme Court has ordered that The Masked Man has to take his mask off. The Lone Ranger cannot wear it anymore! But in Verse 12 of Second Corinthians, Chapter 3, Paul tells us who "The Masked Man" of the Bible is. It is Moses.

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Who is Sufficient (2 Corinthians 2:12-17)

Today we begin what I think is one of the greatest passages in the New Testament. It is found in Second Corinthians, beginning in Chapter 2. Here is the clearest explanation in all the Word of God of the secret of the Apostle Paul's phenomenal ministry. It runs from Chapter 2, Verse 12, through Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6, and ends with Verse 2 of Chapter 7. I have treated this in my book, Authentic Christianity, because it has meant so much in my own life, and I have seen its impact in the lives of many others. It is such a splendid example of what genuine, true, authentic Christianity is. Yet, strangely enough, this great passage is a parenthesis in this Second Corinthian epistle; it is a digression on the apostle's part.