Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction: Review previous lessons

Earning trust

Taking initiative

Using good judgment

Being courageous

Taking Charge

We are now going to shift away from Luke’s narrative about Paul to the writings of Paul himself.

We will consider some passages in Corinthians is Paul’s most personal and passionate letter.

His relationship with the Corinthians began about ten years before his shipwreck on Malta.

Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians specifically to defend his apostleship and to answer some major allegations that had been made against him and his leadership in the Corinthian church.

It is in this context that Paul opens up very personally concerning the matter of leadership.

Show map of Corinth’s location

The city of Corinth was a busy trading center boasting the best harbor in the Corinthian Gulf.

In Paul’s day, Corinth was completely Roman in culture.

Due to it’s wealth as one of the major trading centers it also became a resort town.

Corinth was always crowded, busy, and full of travelers.

It had also developed a reputation for debauchery.

It was kind of like the Las Vegas of Paul’s day.

The chief attractions in Corinth were the pagan temples.

In the pagan religions of the Greek and Roman world immoral relationships had become a sort of religious sacrament offered to the false gods.

So, in Corinth, these illicit relationships were carried out by temple prostitutes and Corinth had become the central location for this kind of worship.

The entire city was permeated with perversions.

Immorality was so much a part of Corinthian life that “to Corinthianize” became a synonym for immorality and a woman with loose morals would be referred to as a “Corinthian girl.”

If Corinth were an American city we might say things like, “What happens in Corinth stays in Corinth.”

tell us the story of the founding of the church in Corinth.

It was at Corinth that Paul met Priscilla and Aquila.

Being skilled in the same craft as Paul, Priscilla and Aquila invited Paul to stay in their home and he would go with them to the synagogue every Sabbath and preach the gospel.

As usually happened the Jews rejected the gospel message.

Paul then moved in with a Gentile named Justus who lived next to the temple.

At this point Paul’s focus shifted from preaching the gospel to the Jews in the synagogue to preaching the gospel to the Gentiles in the marketplace.

Some Jews did receive the message of the gospel, however, the Corinthian church ended up being mostly made up of Gentiles from the pagan background of Corinth.

Luke says in Acts that Paul remained in Corinth “a good while.”

Paul spent more time in Corinth serving as the pastor of the Corinthian church than he did in any other city with the exception of Ephesus.

The Corinthian church then was personally indebted to Paul for his leadership and sacrifice.

The Corinthians knew him very well and had every reason to trust him and be loyal to him.

However, when Paul left the church of Corinth some serious problems began to arise.

Paul then wrote to the church in Corinth in order to provide leadership in his absence.

The first letter makes it clear that in Paul’s absence the church had begun to split into factions where some claimed to be followers of Paul and some of Apollos and some of Cephas (Peter) and some of Christ Himself ().

This splitting of the church was not because any of these men had failed to provide leadership.

Though they had different leadership styles Paul makes clear that they all shared the same opinion.

The problem was the carnality of the church

The problems that then arose in the church were due to the fact that the church in Corinth lacked capable leadership.

Some issue that had arisen in the church were that they were tolerating immorality, they were suing each other in the courts of law, some were flirting with going back to the old temples, some were mistreating the Lord’s table, and some were abusing their spiritual gifts to gain power and influence.

To top it all off there was someone who was beginning to raise questions about whether or not Paul actually was an apostle and whether he had the right to lead them in the first place.

1 Corinthians addressed and took care of most of these issues.

Here’s where things get interesting.

According to the context of 2 Corinthians, this is what apparently happened in the time between the writing of 1 and 2 Corinthians.

In the time between the writing of 1 and 2 Corinthians Paul heard about the threat of false teachers in Corinth.

As a result, Paul leaves Ephesus (where he was ministering at the time) and travels to Corinth in an attempt to resolve the issues there.

He had promised them in 1 Corinthians that he would visit, and so he decides that now is the time to make good on his promise.

The visit did not go well.

While Paul was there someone in the church, under the influence of false teachers, sinned against Paul in some public and humiliating way.

After that visit to Corinth Paul had originally planned to visit Corinth two more times.

However, something happened that made the first visit impossible.

Paul admits in that this did bring him some relief since it was easier to write a strongly worded letter than to risk another disastrous and humiliating trip to Corinth.

Here then was another problem.

The church in Corinth had been made aware of Paul’s intention to make two visits and when he was unable to make the first one his critics took advantage of the opportunity as another reason to accuse Paul.

They said that Paul was indecisive and untrustworthy.

However, there was good news in all of this.

After some time had passed since Titus had delivered Paul’s strongly worded letter, Paul, being anxious to hear from the Corinthians, began his third journey to them.

Paul eventually met up with Titus on his way to the Corinthians and Titus delivered the good news that the Corinthians had responded positively to his letter.

Paul makes mention of this

It was immediately after Paul heard of this good news that he began to write to the Corinthian church.

Paul knew that there was still a lot of work to be done in order to solve the issues in Corinth, but he was relieved that the church in Corinth remained loyal to him.

Leaders Cultivate Loyalty

Paul’s desire for the church in Corinth to remain loyal was not a desire for selfish exaltation

Instead he simply desired that they be loyal to him in regards to what he had taught them.

Example: I would also be greatly disturbed if I found out one of you had completely abandoned the gospel.

Loyalty then emerges as one of the themes of 2 Corinthians.

Paul modeled his loyalty in faithfully loving the Corinthians in spite of their issues, and Paul expected loyalty from the Corinthians since he had taught them in truth according to the Word of God that was given to him as part of his being an apostle.

The Bible exalts loyalty as a virtue.

Yet loyalty is fragile.

David prayed for the heart of Solomon to remain loyal.

And in spite of his great opportunity in life Solomon was not loyal like David was.

We also know that disloyalty is one of the most hated evils.

We despise Judas because he was a traitor and had no loyalty to Christ and instead had given his heart over to money.

What is loyalty?

Loyalty is not blind devotion to a person or cause.

Loyalty has its first allegiance to truth.

Loyalty is a godly virtue.

And loyalty is essential to leadership.

How de we cultivate loyalty?

Loyalty is cultivated when a leader is first loyal to the Lord and His truth and then when he is loyal to the people he leads.

Example: You can make fun of your younger brother but no one else can.

The instinct of a leader is to defend the ones he leads.

This was the loyalty of Paul.

2 Corinthians

Like we have mentioned before a leader’s effectiveness hinges on his ability to influence people and influence is given when a leader is loyal to those he leads.

Conclusion: Paul was loyal to the Corinthians even in spite of their troublesome behavior.

Those that hope to be leaders must also be loyal to those they lead in order to earn a position of influence.