2 Corinthians 12:1–6:
“It is necessary to go on boasting, though it is not profitable, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—was caught up to the third heaven. And I know that this man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know, God knows, was caught up into Paradise and heard things too sacred to be put into words, things that a person is not permitted to speak. On behalf of such an individual I will boast. But on my own behalf I will not boast, except about my weaknesses. For even if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be telling the truth. But I refrain from this, so that no one may regard me beyond what he sees in me or what he hears from me.”
Praise God. This is powerful stuff here. Remember this is part of my series, and I’m going through 2 Corinthians 12:1–6 verse by verse, and I’m now in verse 6.
Paul is saying, “I refrain from boasting, even if it is the truth. I’m refraining from regaling you with stories.” He said in another place, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). “I’m so laser‑focused. I’m not going to gather testimonies of people that are healed so that I will now put it in a document, then spread it about and say, ‘This is how much God is working in our midst.’ And we’ve convinced ourselves that we are just ‘giving glory to God.’”
Paul said, “I refrain from such kind of boasting,” because he already said, “I’m going to boast in my weakness” (2 Corinthians 11:30). “I’m going to focus on my disadvantages. I’m going to focus on things that will make you think less of me so that you will think more of Christ.”
People now go back and say, “I made this prophecy and it has come to pass—see, see.” Why? So that I will be elevated in your eyes. And what Paul wrote here would not happen to you. We will regard you beyond what we see in you or hear from you. Because of those stories, we will begin to elevate you in our minds more than the facts on the ground.
That is what is going to happen. We will be mesmerised by your storytelling, by your articulation, by the visions and revelations you have “seen,” by the stories of, “Oya, come up here and tell people how you didn’t have children before, and you have a child now because you’ve encountered the ‘God of this ministry’”—and that becomes the MO.
That becomes the way the ministry is sold. That becomes the frame in which the ministry expands. People tell this person’s story, and everybody now joins the ministry so that we can have that story also happen in our lives.
“For even if I wish to boast…” Now some people say, “Oh, that’s Paul. This is 21st century. Some things are different now. We have social media. We have people who are doing this thing now. You don’t want to follow the trend? You want to have a ministry that is just where two or three are gathered?”
So what? Is it not the kingdom of God?
“There’s no foundation,” Paul wrote, “that can be laid except that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). And he said, “Everybody must be careful how you are building on this foundation, because the Day will reveal it, what sort the building is” (1 Corinthians 3:10–15).
He mentioned gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, straw. “Be careful how you build.” And he said, “Even though the person may be saved in the end, their work will be burned up and they will suffer loss.” They will not be able to gain the reward they were supposed to gain.
That means they’ve run a race of decades long and ended with nothing to show for it. That just is not good.
Paul doesn’t want that to be his situation. Paul doesn’t want that to be his case. He said, “There is in store for me the crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:8).
And if you want to say, “How will I be the kind of person that has a crown of righteousness laid up for me?”—maybe we should listen to Paul, right? Maybe we should say, “Even if I wish to boast, I would not be a fool; I would be telling the truth, but I refrain.” “I want to characterise myself differently.”
The idea may not even be coming from the pastor; it may be the people who say, “We’re not sharing testimony? We’re not sharing the testimony?” Why? Because it feeds the carnal mind. And Paul is saying, “If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).
The “man of God” is sitting down and there is a line of people, and they are just saying how great the man of God is, how great the man of God is, how great the man of God is. And you are saying, “No, no, no, I fast a lot, so it’s not touching me. I’m not proud.” Ah. Paul is not saying that about himself. He said, “I am not going to boast. I am going to refrain from having an arrangement of boasting. I’m not going to do it.”
And he has his reasoning here: “So that no one may regard me beyond what he sees in me or what he hears from me.” It is about people regarding you.
How are they regarding you? We have this need to be regarded. May God deliver us from that need to be regarded as something before people. May God deliver us from that need and help us so that we will be like Paul here, who said, “I refrain from this so that no one may regard me beyond what he sees in me or what he hears from me.”
Even Jesus, when He healed people, said, “Don’t tell anyone” (for example, Mark 1:43–44; Mark 7:36). But no, we will not hear that one. We will block our ears and say, “We must say it.” One tiny thing happens, and we want to put it in a document and send it abroad.
I hope you have learnt a few things.
God bless you. See you later.