2 Corinthians 10:12-14

¹²We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. ¹³We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you. ¹⁴We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. 

Job Description

One day, an employee overslept, and he was late coming to work. The manager asked, “You’re 30 minutes late, why?” The employee said, “Sir, I worked overtime last night to finish our project, and I over slept.” The manager ignored him and said, “Your annual bonus will be deducted for being late!” “Please consider sir. I even worked overtime for free yesterday, and I am only late for 30 minutes today.” he pleaded. But the manager insisted, “Your job description states the time you should come to work. And you are late. Your overtime work is your own choice, not mine!”

There’ll always be authorities who’re not fair, but the Lord observes how we trust him even during difficult situations. Now, you work hard and even work more than the time required in your job description. But your boss simply disregard your extra effort. How do you react or behave?

Reflect on what it narrated in 1 Samuel 18:14-17, ¹⁴In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him. ¹⁵When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. ¹⁶But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns. ¹⁷Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage; only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the Lord.” For Saul said to himself, “I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!”

The Israelites loved David, and King Saul was scared they may revolt against him and make David king of Israel. And so, King Saul schemed to destroy David. But the Lord kept David safe from King Saul and also from his enemies. God anointed David as the greatest king of Israel.

If you do better than others, envious people cannot accept that. Like King Saul, they won’t be happy if you achieve much better than them. Envy is sinful nature related to strife, faction and hatred. Envious troublemakers in the church of Corinth spread gossips against Apostle Paul. They tried to malign his reputation. Paul did not need anyone’s commendation. He did not dare to commend themselves or compare themselves with themselves.

1. Compare

   ¹²We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.

Did Apostle Paul preach that we should not compare ourselves at all? No! He said that he did not dare to compare themselves with certain people like those who commend themselves or those who praise themselves. It is not very smart at all to compare ourselves with our own standard. Why?

Personal effort is personal standard. If we do just a little, our standard is just a little. If we do so much our standard is so much. We can commend ourselves for just a little. We praise ourselves for much effort. How should we measure our behavior? We measure our behavior with the word of God.

Why should we behave according to the word of God? We are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ. The Lord took and crucified all our sins with Christ. By faith we believe that. If Christ has transformed us or not yet, we can practically evaluate our behavior by comparing it with his law. We observe the law of God to evaluate if we behave like children of God.

It declares in Romans 3:31, ³¹So do we destroy the law by following the way of faith? No! Faith causes us to be what the law truly wants.

The Law pertains to the Old Testament Law. By faith we gladly uphold and follow God’s Law. If we hesitate to obey the Old Testament Laws, does it mean that we also have hesitation in our faith in Christ? How should we personalize the warning of Christ in Matthew 5:17-20? ¹⁷Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

¹⁹Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

The Law or the Prophets in the Old Testament pertains to the word of God that prophets preached. Christ fulfilled them. Our sinful nature resists the Law and the Prophets. But when faith in Christ energizes us, we obey his word gladly. Obeying his word cultivates our spiritual growth. To know if we commit sin or not, we compare our behavior with the word of God. And it declares in Romans 3:20 (NIRV), ²⁰No one will be considered right with God by obeying the law. Instead, the law makes us more aware of our sin.

We read and obey God’s Law but we can never obey him perfectly.

Obeying God’s laws cannot make us perfect, but we behave as Christians.

No ZERO

Imagine a teacher who walked out of her classroom for the last time. How would it feel if she knows that she would never come back to teach? If she decided to retire, it could be gloriously emotional. Surely, she will miss teaching time with her students, if she loves her work as teacher.

But what if she was newly hired teacher, then the school fired her for disobeying the school policy. Won’t she feel terrible? Somewhere, a newly hired teacher was fired three weeks into her new teaching job. Why? She gave zero grade to students who never submitted school assignments. The school policy states that: Teachers should not give “zero” credit to students.

If students never submitted any homework, what score can they get? What is the basis for grades to be given if students did nothing? If students did nothing but still grade but not zero, will it not cultivates corruption in the mind of students. Schools should teach students to be responsible citizens.

Similarly, what’s required to be responsible citizens of heaven? Christ requires us to surpass the righteousness of Pharisees. The Lord wants us to rely upon his grace and be disciplined in righteousness. Reflect on what it declares in Hebrews 12:5-6, ⁵Do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, ⁶because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.

The Lord uses the Scripture to teach, rebuke, correct and train us to behave righteously. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law behaved according to their interpretation of righteousness. So, Christ wants us to surpass their righteousness. By God’s grace with inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we surpass Pharisaical righteousness and not confined with it.

2. Confine

¹³We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you.

God called Paul as apostle to the Gentiles. Paul confined himself to preach the gospel of Christ in a sphere of service he can boast about. God assigns a sphere of service or field of ministry for excellence. God rejects services beyond proper limits of sphere or field of service he assigns.

We serve God within the sphere of service he assigned for efficiency.  God prepared adventurous life in Christ in the field of service he designed for us. Apostle Paul and his team set examples not to beyond proper limits.

They limited their mission ministry in a sphere or field of service that God wanted them to excel. They confined their activities within the limits of responsibility that the Lord assigned for them including the Corinthians.

How can we discover a sphere of service or limit of ministry activity that we could participate into? God gave all of us spiritual gift very uniquely. All believers may have similar ministry leaning but God prepared different sphere of service or different dominion where we can be effective.

Have you observed it when you wanted so bad to excel in a situation but it seems like things were going the wrong way and no positive result? You did your best to impress others but even relatives can’t appreciate you.

Shepherd

Why do God let them ignore our effort? Let’s learn from the testimony of young David in 1 Samuel 17:34-37. ³⁴David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, ³⁵I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. ³⁶Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Expectedly, David credited the Lord for his safety. He acknowledged that the Lord rescued him from the lion and bear. David gambled with his life and safety when he rescued the sheep from the mouth of a lion and bear. But sadly, all sacrifices and hard works of David for taking care of his father’s sheep were not highly regarded by his father at all. His father saw him only as shepherd boy. It narrated in 1 Samuel 16:10-11, ¹⁰Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” ¹¹So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”

Jesse brought along with him the older sons except David to meet Prophet Samuel. Jesse may have assumed that since David was simply a shepherd boy he was not appropriate to attend a special occasion with the Prophet Samuel. Why do parents like Jesse favor one child from others?

Others may not recognize your dedication and hard work, but God is aware of it. Certainly, the Lord will reward you when Christ comes again.

3. Come

¹⁴We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ.

Apostle Paul came again to the Corinthian church to take the offering they promised to be given to the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. He returned to Corinth to expose the pretension of troublemakers in the church. Believers contributed to the offering for the Lord’s people in the Judean churches, but the troublemakers avoided giving away their hard earned money for free.

Apostle Paul boasted about the generosity of the Corinthians and the Macedonia churches were encouraged to participate in the collection of offering that Paul carried to the churches Judea that were affected by famine. May all of us be inspired by 2 Corinthians 8:1-5, ¹We want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. ²In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. ³For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, ⁴they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. ⁵And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.

Was this written for the Corinthians only? All believers of all time are encouraged to be generous like the Macedonian churches. Additionally, the second letter to the Corinthians inspired churches around the world, then and now to help needy churches. The Lord provided us the Scripture for us to know his laws that we should follow. It announces in Galatians 3:23-25: ²³Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. ²⁴So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

When did you start walking on your own effort? When you took your first step, who helped you? When you fall down, who helped us stand up?

Adults guide children when they start walking until they walk on their own feet independently. Likewise, the Scripture guides us walk spiritually with the Lord. The Holy Spirit inspires us to gladly serve God and explore life by faith but not beyond proper limits of sphere of service he assigned us.

><))’> ><))”> tmec\ltsii\2026 <‘((>< <‘((><