Imagine a guy named Smalls is your leader. Smalls has caused you pain, and he admits it. Smalls says, “I’ve made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. Because if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? And I don’t want to suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. For I’ve led you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.” Really imagine that you are on the receiving end of this! Of course, you’re in pain; and yet Smalls is claiming that (a) the pain that he has caused wasn’t a harmful pain, but rather it was a surgical/necessary kind of pain (for Smalls says, “For even if I made you grieve, I do not regret it, but rather I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, and godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret!), and (b) his leadership should’ve been joyfully embraced by us, and thereby we should’ve made him rejoice …because his joy and gladness is an important part of this whole leader/follower dynamic!

If you were on the receiving end of Smalls’ leadership – you would most certainly feel like he was doing a BAD JOB! And his communication with you would most certainly be viewed as DEFENSIVE (at best), and ABUSIVE (at worst)! Even Smalls himself acknowledges your misgivings about him… he says, “We are treated as impostors, and yet we are true! …You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections.”

And Smalls seems to be micro-managing us… Smalls says, “It is superfluous for me to talk to y’all about being generous, for I know you’re generous (of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia). That said, I am sending some supervisors to make sure that our boasting about you may not prove empty, and to ensure that you’ll be ready to give generously when the time comes – as I have told others you would be. Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.” WOWZA! It sure doesn’t feel like Smalls is being sincere when he says, “It is superfluous for me to remind y’all to be generous, because you’re so reliably generous!” It really doesn’t seem like Smalls trusts us! It seems like he’s suspicious that we aren’t actually reliably charitable! How are we supposed to NOT be offended by Smalls when he talks like this!?

Maybe Smalls isn’t being nefarious, maybe he’s just being foolish? But even if that’s the case, Smalls says, “I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” Smalls is afraid WE’VE BEEN DECEIVED!? Again, how are we supposed to NOT be offended by Smalls when he talks like this!?

And Smalls doesn’t let up… Smalls says, “I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would but as a fool. Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves! For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face. To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!” WOWZA!!! Do we actually trust Smalls enough to let him talk to us like this?! Maybe it’s time for us to find another leader to follow!? …Smalls even blames us for the way he’s talking to us! He says, “I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you.”

What are we supposed to do with this communication from Smalls? What will be choose to do with this communication from Smalls?