Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20011014.htm

2 CORINTHIANS: OVERCOMING WHEN GOD'S SERVANT FACES RESISTANCE
Part XIX: Neutralizing The Venom Of Godless Criticism
(2 Corinthians 13:5-14)
  1. Introduction
    1. It is one thing to face an unjust critic in a single EVENT and to do so graciously at the time. However, it is much harder to diffuse his painful influence when the victim must either hear his taunts on a regular basis, or struggle with false guilt that his oppressive words produce as they play upon the memory.
    2. The secular world suggests handling such a party by verbally abusing him in return, in giving him some of his own medicine (cf. Patricia Evans, The Verbally Abusive Relationship), but that is sin, Eph. 4:29-31. The believer is not permitted by God's will to abuse another party verbally!
    3. Well, under the Holy Spirit's lead, Paul practiced neutralizing the venom of unjust criticism so the criticism would not only have no ruinous effect on himself, but even work to neutralize the tendency of his critics to continue their abuse in 2 Corinthians 13:5-14. We can learn from his example for our own experiences as follows:
  2. Neutralizing The Venom Of Godless Criticism, 2 Corinthians 13:5-14.
    1. Paul challenged his critics to test themselves to see if THEY passed GOD'S test for spiritual vitality!
      1. Paul challenged his critics to see if they were themselves even saved, if they were "in the faith," 13:5a.
      2. He challenged them to test the quality of their Christian walk, to "prove" if they were or were not "reprobrates" (this latter word meaning "approved or disapproved"), 2 Corinthians 13:5b-6, 7.
    2. In making this challenge, Paul did not pretend himself to be above God's examination: he only asked his critics to subject themselves to God's tests to make sure they were as approved as was he of God, 13:9!
    3. Paul noted such testing was in his critics' own interests: if they were not approved of God, God would discipline them, making such a self-examination necessary for their own welfare, 2 Cor. 13:10.
    4. Were these critics to test themselves and make the necessary adjustments, they would then be assured of the following blessings from God:
      1. They could then be "perfect," or "restored, complete", 2 Cor. 13:11a; Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Testament, p. 585.
      2. They would then be able to relax, be unified and live in peace in their relationships, 2 Cor. 13:11b,c,d.
      3. God would also then minister to the whole Corinthian congregation in love and peace, 2 Cor. 13:11e.
    5. Having made these points to his critics, Paul was able to give a benediction in their behalf from a vantage point of relaxed assurance regarding his own freedom from false guilt influence by his critics' words, cf. 2 Corinthians 13:11-14. Indeed, showing how relaxed he was, we note high theology in verse 14: it contains clear evidence that the Early Church was Trinitarian in belief as Paul claimed the grace of the Son, the love of the Father and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit was to be with these believers!
Lesson: Once we have faced the critic well, we NEUTRALIZE the VENOM of his criticism by (1) realizing ONLY GOD'S evaluations of us REALLY MATTER, and so (2) we TEST OURSELVES and our CRITICS' words in view of SCRIPTURE'S standards! (3) If we fail GOD'S test, we can confess our sin unto Him (1 John 1:9) and adjust in the Holy Spirit's power (Gal. 5:16-23). (4) If we PASS the test but our CRITICS do NOT, we can RELAX and DISCOUNT their hurtful WORDS as words of an ERRANT evaluation process. (5) IF God gives us the opportunity, in a KIND way, we can NEUTRALIZE our harmful critics' words by urging them to test THEMSELVES against GOD'S evaluations, and show them it is in THEIR best interests to adjust to God to avoid His discipline and gain HIS rewarding approval.

Application: (1) Abusive speech retains its venom to HURT the victim if the VICTIM fails to adopt GOD'S righteous standard of what is right and wrong, and must then pit his own thinking against the cunning ideology of his critic. That is usually a mind-numbing, painful and deceptive losing game! (2) Thus, ADJUSTING our OWN minds to GOD'S standard of evaluation salvages us from all unnecessary pain, and equips us to ANSWER critics for possible discipling advances with THEM!