Parkway Baptist Church McKinney

2 Corinthians 5:11-15

"Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others." (5:11a)

Paul’s anticipation of the judgment seat of Christ motivated him to persuade others. The phrase “knowing the fear of the Lord” (verse 11a) follows “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ”(verse 10) and colors the phrase, “we persuade others” (11b). Paul wanted the Corinthian believers to be ready for the judgment seat of Christ, but he also considered his personal influence a genuine stewardship for which he would someday give an account.

A few weeks ago I visited three copy centers in McKinney getting prices on business cards. While waiting for help, their book displays, presenting best sellers on “success” and “leadership,” grabbed my attention. These paperbacks sell like hotcakes because so many people are hungry to develop the art of persuasion.

The natural desire to influence others presents itself throughout our lives, with varying degrees of sophistication and intensity. We feel either rejected or affirmed based on our success in persuading others. For those in sales, the pain of rejection causes a phenomenon referred to as “call reluctance,” which threatens their source of revenue. For those in the church, it can lead to withdrawal from service, which threatens the strength of the fellowship.

It was the fear of the Lord that motivated Paul to persuade others, and his ministry of persuasion had nothing to do with personal enrichment, advancement or recognition. Knowing the fear of the Lord he persuaded others to be reconciled to God. And if we know the fear of the Lord in light of the judgment seat of Christ, we will focus our attention on Paul’s goal of persuasion. God not only gave him the ministry of reconciliation (5:18) and entrusted to him the message of reconciliation (5:19); but it was God Himself who was making the appeal through Paul (5:20).

Thinking about the ways we seek to persuade others, and considering the dejection we feel when they don’t respond, we should evaluate our motives. We should ask these questions: 1) “What is known of me?” 2) “What is in me?” and 3) “What controls me?”

 I. What is known of me? (5:11b)

 But what we are is known to God and I hope it is known also to your conscience. (5:11b)

When we are insecure, and our insecurity compels us to control others, we often explain our behavior as motivated by love, . . . but God knows. He knows if we are desperate for attention and affirmation. He knows if we are afraid of rejection. God knows us perfectly; God knows us exhaustively.

“What we are is known to God,” says Paul, but our sin nature hides that reality from us. So we must ask ourselves the question, “What does God know of me?”

We don’t have to exonerate ourselves when God is the motivating force behind our passion to persuade others. When God drives us to persuade others we won’t take their non-response as a personal insult, because love for God and neighbor will be the dynamic of our behavior.

 II. What is in me? (5:12-13)

We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. (5:12)

 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. (5:13)

Paul felt very uncomfortable defending his apostleship and integrity to the Corinthian church. But there were some in the congregation who challenged the authority and integrity of his leadership. They criticized him as if they knew exactly what he should or should not be doing. They boasted about outward appearance, not about what is in the heart. When they accused Paul of fanaticism because he made himself personally vulnerable for the sake of the gospel, he responded, “If we are beside ourselves, it is for God.” Paul did not defend himself, but he did fight valiantly to protect the flock, saying, “. . . if we are in our right mind, it is for you.”

When we try to influence or persuade others for the purpose of commending ourselves, we sound a little bit crazy, especially when we depict ourselves as victims of cruel rejection. It happens all the time in the church. That’s why we must ask the question, “What is in me?”

I encourage you to read the story of Naboth’s Vineyard (1 Kings 21). Consider how dejected King Ahab felt when he couldn’t persuade Naboth to make a deal. Think about the great harm and the great evil that came out of his failed attempt to persuade a fellow Israelite.

Passion to control others can become a psychosis; it can be a true obsession. The sin problem that we inherited from Adam is the know-it-all attitude. It’s the mindset that we have become “like God” knowing good and evil (what is advantageous or detrimental). Operating out of the flesh we think we know what everyone around us should be doing, and we become angry or depressed if they don’t let us control them. It’s how we measure the effectiveness our persuasion. It’s how we feel important.

      III. What controls me? (5:14-15)

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all therefore all have died; (5:14)

and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. (5:15)

When we feel melancholy because other believers have not responded to our persuasion, we must ask ourselves the question, “What is controlling me?” Why do I have this great desire; what is the source of this intense compulsion? Why do I passionately want others to do my will? Is it the Spirit or the flesh reigning in my body?

Paul’s solution for this struggle appears in verses 14 and 15. If the love of Christ is to control me, I must experience His death and His resurrection. Jesus died (and we died with Him) that we might no longer live for ourselves. When we live for ourselves we feel terribly insecure and tragically unappreciated. These feelings indicate that we are being controlled by the flesh, not by the Spirit.

 So the next time you feel compelled to persuade others, let God search your heart with these questions:

  • What does God know about me?

  • Am I concerned about outward appearance or inward reality?

  • What is controlling me, the flesh or the Spirit?

- Is God making the appeal through me?

- Does my passion to persuade relate to the ministry and message of reconciliation?

God has recreated us to be His ambassadors, His agents of reconciliation. Knowing the fear of the Lord we persuade men to be reconciled to God. And it is God Himself who makes the appeal for reconciliation through us. We should be passionately motivated to persuade others – but for God’s purposes and by God’s Spirit. Upon this truth depends the unity of Christ’s body.