Marks of Authentic Ministry
Tom Shrader works through 2 Corinthians 10, addressing the false apostles who undermined Paul's authority in Corinth by examining what genuine ministry looks like. He calls the church to discernment, pointing to Matthew 7 and the test of fruit as tools for identifying false teachers in any era. The sermon closes with a pastoral application: every believer has a God-given sphere of ministry, and authentic ministry is marked by Christ-likeness, consistency between word and deed, and boasting only in the Lord's strength rather than one's own.
“God gave you a gift. You don't have any control over what that is. He gave it to you. And he gave you a sphere of influence, he puts you in a ministry, whatever that is, and it seems to be a principle that when you're faithful in those things, he broadens that.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: 2 Corinthians
Recorded: 2003 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 39 min
Themes: discernment, false teachers, authenticity, boasting, authority, fruit, consistency, ministry, pastor, elder, new believer, questioning church leaders, navigating conflict, mentor, feeling called to ministry, doubting a teacher
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 10:7-17, 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, 2 Corinthians 12:14, Matthew 7:13-23, Acts 20:9, 1 Corinthians 4:15, 1 Corinthians 1:31, 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, Acts 14, Romans 15:17-18, Romans 15:24, Jeremiah 9:23-24, Ephesians 6, John 14:6
Theological Themes: apostleship, biblical authority, ecclesiology, false apostles, christlikeness, spiritual discernment, pastoral integrity, sola scriptura
Full Transcript
these false apostles. "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ." Verse 14: "No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." Verse 15: "Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds." So Paul is saying these guys that are accusing me, they're not the real deal. We are the real deal. We belong to Christ. They're charlatans. They're phonies.
The Challenge of Defending Authentic Ministry
Now back in chapter 10, verse 8, Paul writes: "For even if I boast somewhat further about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame." Here's what's interesting about what Paul says. He says the authority that he has was given to him for a purpose, and that purpose is to build you up. Notice that carefully, because that's what authentic ministry looks like. It is aimed at building people up in the faith, not tearing them down, not manipulating them, not controlling them, not advancing a personal agenda.
Then in verse 9, Paul writes: "I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters." Verse 10: "For they say, 'His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.'" So here's one of the charges. The charge is that when Paul writes, he sounds impressive, but when you actually see him in person he doesn't look like much, and when he speaks he's not a great orator. Now think about that for a moment. In the Greek culture, rhetoric was everything. A man's ability to speak and to present himself publicly was the measure of his credibility. So these accusers are going after Paul right at the point where the culture said it mattered most.
Verse 11: "Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such we are also in deed when present." Paul's point is simple. There is no gap between what I write and who I am. There is no inconsistency. What you read is what you get. That's the mark of an authentic minister of the gospel.
Comparing and Competing
Verse 12: "For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding." Paul is identifying one of the great traps in ministry, and frankly in life. When you make yourself the standard, when you compare yourself only to yourself or to others around you, you lose the only measurement that matters, which is God's standard revealed in Scripture. These accusers were commending themselves. They were their own reference point. That's a dangerous place to be.
Verses 13 through 15: "But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you. For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ; not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men's labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we will be enlarged even more by you, according to our sphere." Paul is careful here to say, I am not taking credit for work that someone else did. I am not planting a flag in someone else's field. God gave me a sphere of ministry, and Corinth is in it, because I was the one who first brought the gospel to you.
Verse 16: "So as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another." Paul's ambition was always to go further, to preach where Christ had not yet been named, to push the frontier of the gospel outward. He had no interest in building his reputation on the foundation another man had laid.
Boasting in the Lord
Verse 17: "But he who boasts is to boast in the Lord." This is a quotation from Jeremiah 9:24. Paul reaches back into the Old Testament to make his point. Whatever has been accomplished, whatever fruit has come from the ministry, whatever doors have opened, whatever lives have been changed, the credit belongs to God. The minister is an instrument. The glory is the Lord's.
Verse 18: "For it is not the one who commends himself that is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends." This is the bottom line of the entire passage and, in many ways, the bottom line of authentic ministry. The question is never what other people think of you, and it is certainly never what you think of yourself. The question is what does God say? Is God pleased? Has He commissioned this work? Is He the one commending it?
That is a very different standard than the one the world applies, and it is a very different standard than the one these false apostles were applying to themselves. They commended themselves. They measured themselves by themselves. And Paul says that kind of self-referential approval means nothing. What matters is the Lord's verdict. What matters is whether the work was done in His authority, for His purposes, by His grace, and to His glory. That is the mark of authentic ministry.
The Danger of Spiritual Counterfeits
"For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness." That is a pretty strong allegation. Paul is saying, listen, Satan comes as an angel of light. He comes clothed in spiritual vocabulary and conversation.
I go to a lot of different bookstores, and I love to just go and sit and look. If you go down to the Borders bookstore at 24th and Camelback, you have New Age, you have Christian, and you have all sorts of sections — there is even one titled Speculation. You have all of these different spiritual ideas. You live in a time like that, don't you? People come, and they often come very quietly, very peacefully, very gently, and they want to talk to you about love. "I'm here to talk about love. Love one another, care for one another." Well, put me down for a yes on that. I am for all of that.
But what is the difference? The difference is Christ. As long as you are willing to talk about God with no definition — just "God" — everybody is fine with that, aren't they? Ninety-four, ninety-five, ninety-six percent of the American public believe in God. Now, do they believe in the God of the Bible? No. But as long as you talk about God, you are acceptable. As long as you talk about spiritual things.
Two Worlds, One Vocabulary Problem
I have two great lives. I have the life here at Valley Bible Church — it is a great life. But I also have the Priority Living life that puts me out in the marketplace. Out there you have a lot of good, honest church people, then a lot of church people who are not really believers, and then just a broad range of people who make no profession of faith at all. It is a great place to be.
When you meet and talk with those people, the dialogue and vocabulary are very different from what we use here. They will say, "I'm spiritual. I'm on a spiritual journey. I find myself thinking in these last few months about spirituality." I am not even sure what that means. What does it mean? As long as you keep it broad in scope — no definition, just words like "God," "power," "being" — everybody is comfortable. But the moment you narrow it down and define it, things change.
Ask them whether they believe in the God of the Old Testament, and you will hear it immediately: "I don't believe in the God of the Old Testament, but I do believe in the God of the New Testament." Well, let me help with that. There is only one God. And then when you get down to the person of Christ, that is where it truly separates.
A Conversation with Two Baha'i Visitors
I taught this week on John 14:6 — "I am the way, the truth, the life, no one comes to the Father but through Me" — and afterwards a couple of people hung around and introduced themselves. They said it was their first time there, and I told them I was glad they had come. Then they told me they were of the Baha'i faith.
I told them I did not know much about it — that I understood it to be something like believing in everything, that everybody is fine and life is good. They said it was more than that. Their view was that Moses was a prophet, Jeremiah was a prophet, Jesus was a prophet, and as man evolves, God gives us more to understand because our capacity to absorb truth grows deeper. So I asked them, "What do you think about Jesus?" They said, "Great prophet." I asked whether they believed Jesus died on the cross. Absolutely, they said. Did He rise from the dead? Yes. Did He die for your sin? That is where things got complicated.
They brought up Muhammad, and they asked whether I had ever read the Koran. I told them no. They asked whether, if they gave me some material, I would read it. I told them absolutely not — I cannot get through the material I already know is good. I do not have time for that. But I asked them whether they would read what I gave them, and they said absolutely. So I asked them what they thought of man. They said man is good, and they claimed the Bible teaches that. I told them I had one right there and I was ready to find that verse. They said they did not know the specific verse at that moment, and I told them to get back to me on that one, because I wanted to see it.
We went through the whole discussion — sin, human nature, all of it — and they could not accept that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. It was telling that as they arrived they were quiet and gentle, but as they were leaving they were a little louder. As they walked out I called after them: "Make sure you email me that verse about man being good. I do not want that to get away." Jesus is the thing that separates us, isn't He?
What Made Whitefield Great
I have about eighteen books I am afraid I am in the middle of, and one I will likely never finish is called *The Christian Leaders of the Last Century* by J.C. Ryle. Ryle wrote it around 1868 or 1869, and he is writing about the powerful personalities of the century that preceded him. One of them is George Whitefield.
We do not know a great deal about Whitefield in the sense that not many of his sermons have survived. Yet Ryle goes so far as to call him the greatest preacher alive or dead — the greatest preacher who ever lived. That is a remarkable claim, especially since Ryle was writing at the same time Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, was teaching. So they were trying to determine what made Whitefield so extraordinarily effective. It is difficult to assess, of course, in part because he was thrown out of the church and left to preach in the open air.
The Authority Behind Authentic Ministry
At one point, the crowd grows to 30,000 people. Here is what Ryle writes: "He was perpetually telling you about your sins, your heart, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the absolute need of repentance and faith and holiness in the way that the Bible presents these mighty subjects." Whitefield used to say, "Oh, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I must be excused if I mention it in almost all my sermons." There is the key — Christ. We are Christians. What is the root word? Christ.
That is what Paul is saying. If you are going to listen to these teachers, make sure they are Christians. Verse 8 says, "For even if I should boast somewhat further about our authority, which the Lord gave." Paul is clear: this is not some self-appointed authority, not something he chose. God gave him this ministry.
Why does God give a ministry to Paul? Let me expand this: why does God give a ministry to you? Does that shock you? You have a ministry. You are a minister. The word simply means servant — you are a servant, a minister. And everybody's ministry is going to be different.
When you look around and see people wearing name tags here, have you looked at them? They do not say "greeter" or "usher." They say "servant, staff." That is you and me. We are all servants, ministers. You have a ministry.
Why would God give you a ministry? There is the answer: to build up, not to destroy. These false teachers were coming in and tearing down what God had done. Paul said God gave us this ministry to build things up.
How to Identify False Teachers
How do we know if something is real? How do we know if what a teacher says is true? We check it against the Scriptures, and we examine the fruit. Turn to Matthew chapter 7, because Jesus is speaking here as He begins to close the section we identify as the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 7:13 — "Enter by the narrow gate." Jesus contrasts two gates. There is a narrow gate and there is a wide gate. "The way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter by it. The gate is small — narrow — that leads to life, and there are few that find it." You hear that observation all the time: seven billion people in this world, and just a fraction would be born-again evangelical Christians. Does that bother you? It bothers me that people are going to hell, certainly. But does it surprise you? No, because that is what Jesus says. There are not going to be many who are believers.
"Beware of false prophets. They come in sheep's clothing." This is the very group Paul is dealing with in 2 Corinthians. You see them around. They come in as pastors, teachers, or prophetesses. They step into pulpits and take a position of authority, but they are false prophets. How do you identify them? Jesus tells us in verse 20: "You will know them by their fruit."
Do Not Be Deceived by Size and Popularity
What kind of fruit do we look for? Do not be deceived by size and popularity. It would be very interesting — and there is no way of knowing it now — but 25 years from now, we will have a sense of where we are at this moment in the history of East Valley Bible Church. I was watching a program that was tracking a stock, and the host was explaining how markets move up and down, with long flat periods that often precede a drop. His point was that you do not know where you are until you are further along and can look back.
Are we at the pinnacle? Is this as good as it will ever get at East Valley Bible Church? Or are we somewhere on an upswing? Who knows? It is certainly a good time — things are growing, things are happening. But that does not necessarily mean God is in it. The fastest growing religion in the country is Islam. Look at the Mormons — there are hundreds of thousands, millions of them. Would we say, "Look at all these Mormons, it must be right"? No. We would say: what does the Word say? What is the truth? What is the fruit?
Here is what Jesus says in verse 21: "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of God." Then look at verse 22 — verse 22 ought to scare you. "Many will say to me on that day" — that final day, that judgment day — "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and cast out demons in Your name and perform many miracles in Your name?"
Does verse 22 not describe Christian television? They are prophesying in the name of Jesus. They are casting out demons — "In Jesus' name, we cast the demons of obesity out of your life." They are performing miracles, telling people to dance, run, shake. Jesus says, do not be deceived by this. Here is His verdict in verse 23: "Depart from me, I never knew you." That is a terrifying thought.
The Demand for Discernment
There has to be discernment. You live in a world that demands this discernment. How do I know what is true? How do I know what is real? I must have this Word. I must hold to this truth — what God says is the way to salvation. I cannot be deceived by thinking, "Oh, they are gentle. Oh, they are sweet. Oh, they are sincere." It does not matter. The question is whether they are right or wrong.
Paul said he would not be ashamed when they examined his ministry. Verse 9 addresses the accusation directly: "We do not wish to seem as if we would terrify you by our letters." Paul says all he wants to do, out of love, is call them to repentance.
The Charge Against Paul
They say that his letters are weighty, but his personal presence is unimpressive. The Greeks put a premium on eloquence, persuasive speech, and intellectual, powerful thought. Apparently, Paul was not that. His physical appearance was not very impressive, although some are certainly taken aback by what he says.
Here is a story that Luke records in Acts chapter 20, verse 9. There was a certain young man — that language would indicate he is somewhere between 7 and 14 — sitting in a windowsill while Paul is teaching. He sinks into a deep sleep, is overcome by sleep, falls out of the third floor, and was picked up dead. That is the broader context for the charge against Paul: that he is one thing in his letters when absent and another thing in person.
What We Are in Word, We Are in Person
In verse 11, Paul says, "Let that person consider this." What we are in word by letter when we are absent is what we are when we are there in person. And if you look ahead to chapter 12, verse 14, Paul tells these people he is coming to see them again — it will be his third trip.
Paul's point is clear: do not mistake graciousness for timidity. He is not afraid. He is trying to be gracious, trying to give God and the Holy Spirit time to work in their lives. What he does and what he says are the same.
The Danger of Self-Comparison
There is a little irony when Paul gets to verse 12. They are saying he is not bold, and he is saying he is bold — but then he says he is not so bold as to class or compare himself with some of those who commend themselves. He is almost certainly talking about this particular group of people. They are commending themselves, boasting about themselves, bragging about themselves, and they have a very high view of themselves. The reason is right there in verse 12: they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves.
This is a fairly comfortable arrangement. Consider the example of Annika, who came out to play on the PGA Tour. Is Annika a good golfer? Compared to the average person, she is extraordinary. Compared to Wendy Ward and others on the women's tour, she is the best female golfer in the world. But after Friday's round, here is what she said: "I am in way over my head. I need to go back where I belong." She could not beat Rory Sabatini and finished 96th in a weak field.
The question "Is she a good golfer?" depends entirely on the standard of comparison. Put her against the best players in the world, and she falls far down the rankings. The whole moral of that story is this: if you want to appear extraordinary, simply surround yourself with people who are not at your level. That is exactly what Paul is exposing these opponents of his doing.
A Personal Illustration on Comparison
There is a song called "Unchained Melody" — the old Righteous Brothers song. There is a reason that song is difficult to hear. Back in eighth grade, there were dances, and whenever "Unchained Melody" played, a group of four or five people of the same gender would form a circle around a dancing couple, and that couple would have to choose one person from the group to dance with. There is perhaps no more emotionally and socially exposed situation for a junior high boy.
The solution was to develop two sets of friends — those to spend time with ordinarily, and a particular group to find the moment "Unchained Melody" began. The strategy was to locate the least impressive group available, hoping the contrast would help. It never worked. To this day, that song produces an immediate physical reaction.
The point, though, is real. Are you tall? Compared to children, yes. Compared to most adults, perhaps not. It all depends on your standard. That is precisely what Paul is confronting. These opponents are proud of themselves because they have chosen their own measuring stick. And Paul says that kind of thinking reflects a lack of understanding — in other words, it is foolishness.
Boasting Only Within God's Measure
In verse 13, Paul paints a contrast. "But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God has apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you." Paul's position is that he will not boast about anything beyond what God has actually given him. That gives us a glimpse into the foundation of authentic ministry — not self-appointed authority or self-generated credentials, but a sphere of service defined and assigned by God Himself.
Boasting Beyond Measure
The accusation Paul would lob back against these men was that they were claiming responsibility for things they really did not do. They were rushing in, building on other ministries, and saying, "Look at me, look at what I've done, look at what has taken place." Paul says, "We are not overextending ourselves as if we did not reach you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ." In 1 Corinthians 4:15, Paul says, "For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel." Paul is saying: we came to you. We are not exaggerating here. We are the ones God used to bring the gospel to you, to open your eyes and ears to this truth.
He continues in verse 15: "not boasting beyond our measure." That phrase, "beyond our measure," Paul has now used twice — in verse 13 and again in verse 15. What he seems to be saying is that God gives each of us a ministry, a sphere of influence. How do you know what that sphere is? Look at where there is fruit, and there is your ministry. There are hundreds of people at East Valley Bible Church who have extraordinarily effective ministries, and you would not even know who they are. Those who labor day in and day out are undervalued, and what happens up front is way overvalued. One is not better than the other.
God gave you a gift, and you have no control over what that gift is. He gave it to you. He also gives you a sphere of influence and places you in a ministry, and it seems to be a principle that when you are faithful in those things, He broadens them. Paul says He broadened this ministry. In verse 16, Paul writes, "so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, not to boast about what has been accomplished in one sphere or another." Paul is concerned with the ministry God has given him. In Acts, Luke describes Paul as someone who wants to get to Rome with the message. When Paul writes to the church at Rome, in Romans 15:24, he says that when he is done there, he intends to head on to Spain.
Paul understands that we work in this together. He wrote as much in 1 Corinthians 3:6: "I planted, Apollos watered." He has no problem with believers working together. But it appears that these opponents were not building on what Paul had done — they were trying to destroy it.
Boast in the Lord
His conclusion comes in verse 17: "let him who boasts boast in the Lord." This is a direct quotation from Jeremiah 9:23–24. Let me read it: "Thus says the Lord, 'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in these things.'" This is the same verse quoted in 1 Corinthians 1:31: "let him who boasts boast in the Lord."
Returning to 1 Corinthians 3:6–7, Paul writes, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but it is God who causes the growth." Luke tells us in Acts 14 that when Paul and his associates arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all the things that God had done with them. God did this. Romans 15:17–18 says, "Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason to boast in things pertaining to God, for I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me."
A man said just a couple of weeks ago, "I've led three people to Christ in the last month." No. You cannot lead somebody to Christ. You can present the gospel — that is accurate. You can be a tool that God uses. But who leads someone to Christ? The Holy Spirit does that work. It is the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes, removes our cold, dead, God-hating heart, and puts in a new heart. That is all His work, from beginning to end. Why would we boast about what we do, when we can do nothing apart from Him?
He does everything. We do nothing. That is Paul's point. We boast in our weakness. We have no strength of our own, but through Him mighty things happen in us, to us, and through us — and it is all about Him. Not you, not me, not East Valley Bible Church. It is about God's grace and mercy, Jesus' death, and the Spirit's work in our lives. That is what you boast about. That is what Paul is saying.
Marks of Authentic Ministry
Paul is in a very difficult position. He does not want to answer each charge with a counter-charge, yet he has to deliver some information. So he does. As we close, here are the marks of authentic ministry — and since you have a ministry yourself, it is worth examining whether these marks are present in your own life.
From 2 Corinthians 10:1, the first question is: is there meekness and gentleness — the kind found in the life of Christ? From verse 2, the second question is: are you battling with spiritual weapons? We looked at that last week — the weaponry and the arsenal God has given us.
Fighting the Right Battles
We are destroying speculation and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5). How do you know what battles to fight? How do you know what hills to die on? Anything that is contrary to God — it is pretty simple. At East Valley Bible Church, we will stand firm on the doctrines of grace without flinching, and it really does not matter who is on the other side, because an attack on those doctrines attacks the very character of God.
To take a man-centered gospel view, to take an Arminian view, is to say that man is better than he really is — that man has a capacity the Bible says he does not have. That exalts man and minimizes God. We will die on that hill.
Eschatology, on the other hand, is not a hill to die on. Jesus is coming again, and the details will work themselves out and become more crystallized over time. But when someone says there are many ways to God — through Muhammad, or Buddha, or Confucius, or simply being a good person — we will die on that hill. You have to attack and lovingly confront that teaching.
Marks of an Authentic Ministry
Authentic ministry flows from a person who is in Christ, and their ministry builds up the body. How do you know whether a ministry is a godly ministry? Apply the test of the fruit of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit — not just to a person, but to the ministry itself. The deeds of the flesh are immorality, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, and factions. If those things are a hallmark of a ministry, something is wrong and that ministry is not of God.
The fruit of the Spirit, by contrast, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. What is true of Spirit-filled individuals should also be true of the corporate body. These qualities should mark the ministry as a whole.
Beyond fruit, authentic ministry requires consistency between word and deed. What a person says and what they do must be the same thing. And a genuine minister is not self-promoting. There is a difference between simply providing information and producing material that is dripping with self-promotion — boasting in anything other than what God has given.
The authentic minister boasts in the Lord's strength and His might and acknowledges his own weakness. He is, at his core, a servant. These are the characteristics we should see in a ministry that is truly from God.
Closing Prayer
Father, help us see this truth, and as we leave this place, let it change the way we live, the way we think, and the way we respond. God, let us measure ourselves not by one another but by Your standard and Your Word, and let us see how far we fall short of that standard. God, we boast not one ounce in ourselves, but entirely and completely in You.
We pray for those in our world today who are false teachers sharing a false gospel and leading people from the truth. We pray that You would convert them, bring them to repentance, and let them declare that truth. God, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.