CORINTH - Authenticity in Ministry (Page 2)
One of the great struggles for people in their spiritual journey is trying to understand why so many bad things happen in the world today. The prevailing thought is that if God is a god of love, then all these bad things should not be happening. But since they are happening, people often conclude one of two things: either (A) God doesn’t exist, or (B) God doesn’t love. Both of these conclusions are wrong because they ignore the foundational teachings from the Word of God. Evil exists in the world today because the first man and woman chose to disobey God. The consequences of their disobedience brought about not only physical and spiritual death, but also pain, suffering and difficulties in life. Without the consequences of sin, we would never look to Him for salvation and reconciliation—we would keep on sinning. Because of the gospel of reconciliation which brings salvation, we can experience joy in the midst of pain, suffering and difficulties. In our text today, the Apostle Paul wrote about some of these difficulties, but not in a negative or complaining manner—he wrote for our comfort and encouragement!
Every follower of Christ is called to pursue holiness–to leave behind their sinful lifestyle and pursue a life of Christ-likeness. But how does this purpose work itself out in our daily lives? What hinders us from successfully pursuing holiness? And if it is so costly, why should we even pursue holiness in the first place? In today’s message, Paul addresses these questions and reminds us what it looks to pursue holiness.
We are all ministers of the gospel of reconciliation. Each of us is responsible to do the work of the ministry. So, as we serve as His ministers, it is important that we demonstrate the love and character of Christ as we serve Him. This serves as proof of our relationship with the Lord. It is validation of our calling to the ministry of reconciliation. Our text today focuses on four ways that we are able to validate our call to ministry. We validate our call to ministry by removing barriers to the Gospel, by suffering for the Gospel, through spiritual growth and maturity, and by responding to situations in life with contentment.
As Paul begins this next section of Scripture, calling us to be responsible for the ministry of reconciliation, he does so by reminding us to “fear the Lord.” We should not look at this responsibility flippantly—rather, we should be serious about it and about living a life of obedience to God’s commands. It is in this framework that he sets out to motivate his readers to do this ministry. Our goal today is to look at six factors that should be present in our lives when it comes to our motivation for this ministry of reconciliation.
Just a little over two months ago, I had the honor of preaching my father’s funeral service, and our text today was the same text I used for that message. My dad was a faithful follower of Jesus Christ and his memorial service was an amazing celebration of faith and family. It was a wonderful time of worship together. Of course, it was difficult emotionally, but we do not grieve as those who have no hope! My dad has now experienced the culmination of God’s promises of eternal life. What an amazing thing to think about!
In our message this morning, we’re going to explore the fourth chapter of Second Corinthians. In this chapter, Paul encourages believers to be the couriers of God’s promises to everyone who will receive this message of grace. In the first section, he shows himself and his companions as an example of how to do this work of ministry; and then, in the second section, he encourages us to keep on working for the Lord—even in the midst of difficult circumstances.
When it comes to our Christian walk, we want instant spiritual maturity. We want all our sinful desires to just magically disappear. We don’t understand why the war between the flesh and the spirit continues to rage inside of us. We struggle to see God’s plan at work in our lives as we flounder in mediocrity—mediocrity in our prayers, mediocrity in our Bible reading and study, mediocrity in witnessing and mediocrity in ridding ourselves of all the sin that weighs us down and trips us up. The problem is that there is nothing about spiritual growth and maturity that comes quickly. We need to think about discipleship more like a crock pot, not a microwave!
In our text today, we’re going to be introduced to the concept of the New Covenant—God’s promise to all mankind that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. This new covenant can be summarized in the message of the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). We will pick up where we left off last week in 2 Corinthians 2. Paul is still referring to the “stern letter” that he had written to the Corinthian believers. We learn from other passages that it was Paul’s disciple, Titus, who delivered the letter to them. Remember, Paul didn’t want to go there himself because he did not want his visit with them to be filled with conflict and difficulties. Titus was to go to Corinth, deal with the issue and then meet Paul in Troas, but as we’re about to discover, Titus never showed up in Troas and this worried Paul.
Every human relationship is dependent on communication. If communication between two people is good, then there is mutual confidence and trust. When that trust is broken, there is conflict and suspicion. In our text today, we discover that Paul is addressing a situation of broken trust between himself and the believers in Corinth. When dealing with this kind of situation, it is important to remember that we cannot control other people’s actions, only our reactions! We see in this passage, some of the ways that Paul responded to the situation happening in Corinth.
The power of the Holy Spirit of God brings us hope in the midst of suffering! What a glorious blessing it is to know that there is Someone who is in control of all things and that someone is Jesus! All the events and situations of our lives–the good, the bad, and the ugly–are being used by God to make us into the people that He wants us to be.