Transcript

Charles Spurgeon, the world-renowned pastor in London, England, during the 1800s, often faced severe criticism. The newspapers mocked him; other pastors avoided him. Even though he was considered the prince of expositors and thousands of people packed into the church sanctuary to hear him preach, folks in his own congregation sometimes criticized him. Every Monday Spurgeon received an anonymous letter from the same church member, critiquing his sermon from the previous Sunday. I cannot imagine Spurgeon’s weekly dose of criticism.

I am no Charles Spurgeon, but I often receive criticism from listeners and parishioners alike. One man wrote me a letter some time ago, telling me how many times I said “um” during my sermon on Sunday; I had to admit that I said it way too many times. He even counted how many times I put my hand in my pocket, which, evidently, you are not supposed to do.

Nobody likes being criticized, but it is a part of life. God uses it in your life, to keep you teachable, because criticism is often justified—there is at least a kernel of truth wrapped inside it. We need to be willing to make corrections when the critics are right.

Now a lot of criticism is simply unkind or even malicious slander. For some people, it seems like criticizing others is their favorite indoor sport. The only exercise they enjoy is running down other people and jumping to the wrong conclusions.

I don’t think anybody had a crowd of critics like the apostle Paul. They followed him around like a swarm of mosquitoes. But I want you to notice how Paul responds to criticism. He models for us the way we ought to deal with our own critics.

Here in 2 Corinthians 10, Paul gives us three keys to handling criticism. He writes in verse 1, “I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.”

That might sound backward to us. We would rather answer our critics loudly and forcefully. I mean, if we show them meekness, aren’t they just going to keep at it?

Let us remember that Paul is talking here about modeling the meekness of Christ. Meekness is not weakness; in fact, the Greek word means “power under control.” And we can be sure that Jesus Christ, in His meekness, is infinitely more powerful than the strongest critic—even Satan himself.

Beloved, your critics might not admit it, but they cannot fail to observe how you respond to them when you keep your power—and your emotions—under control with a gentle demeanor. You have God’s power within you, but you do not show it off by answering the world’s angry rhetoric with an angry response. I am afraid the church today is trying to yell louder than the world. Sinners have become our enemies, rather than our mission field.

Paul reminds us in verses 3-4 that we are in a different kind of battle:

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

Our warfare is not an earthly one, and we are not fighting against people. Our weapons are not physical weapons—swords, guns, or a bigger microphone. Our weapons are spiritual weapons, like the sword of the Spirit—that is, the Word of God—and prayer (see Ephesians 6:13-18).

Paul is suggesting that we engage the world with the truth. Our weapons are spiritual, but they are still weapons, and God wants us to use them well. In fact, Paul says here that we have “divine power to destroy strongholds.”

“Strongholds” refers to the false arguments unbelievers hide behind to avoid facing up to God’s holiness and their sinfulness. Paul calls them elsewhere “teachings of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1).

We use the truth, and the Spirit of God effectively tears down their arguments and defenses and captures their hearts with the gospel. That is the real battle, which Paul describes here in verse 5:

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

Paul is not claiming that everyone we preach the gospel to is going to become a Christian. But the gospel we proclaim carries the power of God, which can overcome a hardened heart and bring about joyful obedience to Christ. And how wonderful it is when an angry critic of Christ becomes a faithful Christian.

So, the first key to handling the criticism of the world around you is this: Make sure you model the attitude and demeanor of Christ.

Here is the second key: Make sure you do not measure your life or ministry against another person. In verses 7-11, Paul deals with criticism he has faced from Christians about his ministry. Basically, some were accusing him of being bold in his letters but cowardly in person. Paul writes that they have misunderstood his approach to them.

But Paul also faced wider criticism, evidently. He was not doing things the way others in ministry were doing things—he was not living up to other people’s expectations.

Paul deals with this criticism head-on in verse 12:

Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.

Some of the critics who opposed Paul were telling people, “Look at the amazing things we are accomplishing for the Lord. Paul cannot keep up with our success!”

What does Paul say in response? When you measure yourself, and your ministry, and your gifting to someone else, you are without understanding. In other words, you are not wise when comparing yourselves to others.

God is the only one you need to be concerned about pleasing. Only God can accurately measure your service for Him. And God never told you to go out there and gather a huge following; He told you to go make disciples. Jesus is not building a crowd today; He is building His church. And there is a big difference between a crowd and a church.

So, make sure you do not measure your life or ministry against another person.

Now here is the third key to handling critics: Make sure you magnify the Lord’s grace, rather than your own gifts.

Paul expands on this topic of boasting—commending oneself—in verses 13-18. Some of the Corinthians might have thought Paul was boasting when he answered the accusations of his critics. In a way, he was. But he confined his “boasting” to the sphere that God had given him responsibility in—his outreach to the Corinthians and the other churches he planted by God’s grace.

And Paul was not bragging about himself. He writes, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (verse 17).

What does it mean to boast in the Lord? It means we give Him full credit for everything and anything He accomplishes in our lives—because we realize we can never do anything apart from His power. We truly believe what Jesus said, and He did not say, “Apart from me, you can do some things” but “Apart from me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Paul reinforces this truth one more time in verse 18: “For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.” That is another way of saying, your mission in life is not to commend yourself, not to vindicate yourself to all those critics out there. Leave that to God.

Just make sure you grasp these three keys to handling criticism in your life.

• Make sure you model the attitude and demeanor of Christ.
• Make sure you do not measure your life or ministry against another person.
• Make sure you magnify the Lord’s grace, rather than your own gifts.