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(upbeat music) - Welcome to our last day of looking together at 2 Corinthians
chapter 10, day five. We're going to look at verses 15 to 18 today. And these
verses, this chapter is so important for facing criticism, which we all face in
our lives, and which just gets to us.

It just hits our hearts in such strong ways that I just want to review once again
these truths that we've walked through. How does God help us with this? Three
things we've talked about.

We're going to talk about a fourth today. First thing you do is you choose your
weapons wisely. The critics' weapons are deceit and conceit, lies about others,
lies about yourself.

Don't choose the weapons of the world, choose the weapons of Christ, the
meekness and gentleness of Christ, the divine power to demolish strongholds.
That's how I'm going to fight. Second truth is you look past the surface of things.

You look past the appearances and you look for God's authority in your life.
What's God asking me to do? And how do I do that?

Don't run from the situation. Don't attack in the situation. Live out God's
authority in the situation.

And then the third thing you do is you handle your accomplishments well. You
learn how to think about your accomplishments, not comparing yourself with
others, but looking to Christ. And you learn how to talk about your
accomplishments, not with pride, but with praise in what God has done.

Today we're looking at a fourth principle for dealing with criticism. The fourth
principle is you focus in faith upon your hope for the future. You focus in
faith upon your hope for the future.

You don't just get stuck in the argument and the relationship, you also focus on
what God's doing in your life. Listen to the last half of verse 15 and verse 16.
Our hope is that as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you
will greatly expand so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you.

For we do not want to boast about work already done in another man's territory.
Now just very quickly, look at what Paul hopes in these few verses. He says,
first, I hope that your faith would continue to grow.

We hope that as your faith continues to grow. Then he says, we hope that our
activity among you would greatly expand. And then he says, we hope that we
preach the gospel in regions beyond you.

That's his hope. So he's pointing them to the work of what God is doing. You
see, the most important thing about our life is relationships, our relationship
with God and our relationship with each other.

But if we get stuck on just trying to solve our relationships without realizing
God's given us a task to do, a job to do, and we get in this quagmire of
relationships and we can never seem to get out. So you have to also focus on
what does God want me to do next? Where is my hope leading me?

What does God have in the future? So he says, I'm hoping-- I'm expecting-- that
your faith's going to keep growing. That's what I'm looking forward to.

Paul says, I'm hoping that out of that, I'm expecting that your church is going
to keep growing. Our activity is going to greatly expand. The church in Corinth
is going to get bigger and bigger.

More and more people are going to be reached. That's what I'm looking forward to
happening. And then he says, out of that, I'm hoping that we'll have a base, a
launching off place, where we can go past where you are to preach where nobody's
heard the gospel before.

This was Paul's goal. He says here, we don't want to boast about work done in
another man's territory. That doesn't mean you can't do that.

That just was Paul's goal. God had told him to go where no one else had been
before. That was his goal.

That was his command. That was his authority given by God. Other people had to
come behind him and become somebody who preached there and followed up and built
that church.

So Paul says, here's my hope. I'm going to focus and faith upon that hope for
the future. That's one of the ways that you defeat criticism in your life.

You see, the temptation of criticism, what Satan wants you to get caught up in
is the past. Solving the past, talking about the past. And I'm not saying you
don't need to go to the past sometimes and deal with an issue and get a
forgiveness and get understanding.

Yes, we need to do that. But you don't get stuck there. You don't live there.

That's Satan's temptation. He wants you to get stuck there. No, you look past
that now, and you look to the future of what God wants us to do.

Now, as we end this chapter, we have some verses where Paul talks about what it
means to boast and how you boast in the Lord. We've talked about this several
times in 2 Corinthians. In many ways, we're going through a theology of boasting
in 2 Corinthians.

And I know for many of you, every time I say the word boast, you just cringe a
little. Because the word boast to you means pride. But there is a different kind
of boasting.

I understand there is a prideful boasting. There's no doubt about that. But
there's a different kind of boasting, a godly boasting, that Paul is leading us
to understand as we walk through the book of 2 Corinthians.

And I would say that the most important verses for understanding this godly kind
of boasting are really the next two verses, these last two verses in chapter 10.
Here's what Paul has to say about boasting in these verses. But, verse 17, "But
let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.

For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the
Lord commends. " Now, let me just remind you of where we've been and of what
Paul is teaching us here when we talk about boasting. Back in chapter 1, verse
14, Paul taught us that boasting isn't done out of pride, it's done out of love.

The reason I talk about what God's doing is because I love the people that God's
doing it amongst. I love the Lord for doing it. So it's done out of love.

It's an expression of love. In chapter 7, verse 14, and also in chapter 9, verse
1, he reminds us that boasting is lifting up the Christ-like qualities in
another person's life or lifting up the Christ-like qualities in a church's
life. So you look at somebody and say, "You're a very generous person.

I love it that Jesus is doing that in you. You're a very thankful person. I love
what the Lord's doing in your life.

" Or you look at a church and you say, "This church serves its community like no
other church. Thank God for what this church is doing. " That is a boasting that
lifts up the Christ-like qualities in another person or in a church's life.

In chapter 10, verse 8, Paul reminds us that boasting is recognizing the field
of responsibility the Lord has given you. He says, "I don't mind saying, 'This
is what God's given me to do. '" Now, some people might think of that as
boasting.

How could you say that? "God told me to do this. God's given me this
responsibility.

" Well, he gave it to you, so you better be able to say it. You better be able
to say it. If he's given you a ministry, you better be able to clearly say, "God
has given me this ministry for this purpose.

" If he's made you a parent, if he's made you a teacher, if he's put you in a
job, "God's given me this for this purpose. " It's recognizing the field of
responsibility that God's given you. And then here, here Paul reminds us that
boasting is focusing on what God can do through us, not on what we do apart from
him.

And this most important word about boasting, let him who boasts, boast in the
Lord. So the boasting that's done out of love, you're focusing on the Lord. The
boasting that's lifting up the Christ-like qualities in another person's life,
you're boasting in the Lord.

When you recognize the field of responsibility the Lord has given you, you're
boasting in the Lord. When it gets too focused on me, it becomes pride. When it
becomes focused on the Lord, it's godly boasting.

I want to invite you, do this in your mind right now. Boast in the Lord. Let him
who boasts, boast in the Lord.

So right now in your mind, boast, think in positive, strong terms about the
power of God's presence in your life. Boast in your mind about the working of
God's spirit in your life. Just in your mind right now, just take a few minutes
to think about this with me.

Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. So you've seen some changes in your life
since the day you became a believer in Christ. Boast in the Lord right now.

Lord, thank you for those changes. It might be in the way that you speak, it
might be in the way that you treat others, and it might be in the things that
you're concerned about. Boast in the Lord right now.

God, thank you that you did that in me. It might be that there are new habits in
your life, reading God's word, talking to God, fasting, spending time in
focusing on who God is, his character. Boast in the Lord right now.

Lord, thank you that you brought these new habits into my life, these new
directions into my life. And then think about the gifts that God has given you.
And they may be gifts of administration and organizing, they may be gifts of
teaching, they may be gifts of helping and caring for other people.

Right now, boast in the Lord. Since you've become a believer, how have other
people's lives been changed by your teaching or by your organizing or by your
helping and caring? How has God used you in that hospital room?

How has God used you in that meeting? How has God used you when the church got
together? How has God used you in that small group?

How has God used you in that personal conversation? How has God used you when
you chose to serve? God used you.

So right now in your mind, boast in the Lord. Let him who boasts, boast in the
Lord. That's a healthy thing to do, why?

Because it reminds you, it's not me, it's him. But it reminds you, it's him.
He's doing something, he is working in your life.

When we're too reticent to boast in the Lord, we forget the great things the
Lord is doing. Right now, Jesus, in our minds, we boast in you. You boast in
your goodness, your greatness, your glory.

And also in how those things are reflected in our lives. In the good things
you're doing in us. In the great ways you're using us.

In the fact that you're bringing your glory into our lives and we look forward
to your glory forever. Lord, it's hard for us to boast because we see all of our
faults and all of our failings. But help us to be unafraid to boast in who you
are and what you're doing in our lives because we see all of your goodness, all
your grace, all your greatness.

So right now, we boast in the Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Next week, 2
Corinthians 11.

2 Corinthians 11 is about the kind of love that can turn a relationship right.