Sunday Morning Service

II Corinthians 4

“The Character Of God's Servants” • 3.3.13 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service

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Intro.

- The Church of God at Corinth was founded by the Apostle Paul over an 18 month period of time. Over the next few years after his departure, the church was visited by others claiming authority.

- In essence, these power preachers came onto the scene with everything that Paul did not possess. They were eloquent speakers, well referenced, super Apostles.

- The gist of their argument was that the Corinthians needed to begin to obey the law after having received salvation by grace to really move into a fully realized Christianity.

- As that message gained acceptance, things began to spiral out of control. You get the sense that there is a danger of seeing all that was established come to nothing.

- But Paul is in a difficult position. If he says nothing, he is not doing his job as God's Apostle. If he speaks out directly, there will be an accusation of jealousy.

- What is of the utmost importance is that the Corinthians continue to be the representative of God's grace in Corinth, so Paul, at some level must answer, which is what chapter 4 is about.

- If chapter 3 outlined the difference between their covenants, chapter 4 details the difference between their character.

- Paul will attack by simply speaking the truth regarding the Apostle's ministry, which gives us a great outline to use when considering the veracity of any person's ministry.

- At the end of the chapter, we'll take inventory of what Paul has said, giving us a goal for personal ministry, as well as a standard for corporate ministry.

Text

• II Corinthians 4:1,2 : "Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God." : Therefore, because God was transforming them into the image of Christ daily and they had the administration of this new covenant promise, the Apostles did not lose heart.

- The idea behind this phrase comes from the concept of shrinking back in cowardice.

- Lines were being drawn and with the enemy encroaching upon their position, it might have been easy to retreat. Certainly lesser men might have.

- No matter the difficulty with the Corinthians or the fight with the Judaizers that was burgeoning as he wrote, the Apostles had walked forward in the mercy that was given them.

- It wasn't them. It was God's mercy upon them, strengthening them to continue moving forward, faithfully dispensing the gospel message.

- When you face resistance, praying for more of His mercy is a pertinent request!

- The Apostles could have made it easier upon themselves, but made a firm decision to renounce, to reject the hidden things of shame, literally the crypt of disgrace.

- This referred to their methods. They had no secret method. They had no scheme to motivate the hearts of those that listened.

- They did not walk in craftiness or false wisdom. They were not pretentious, putting on airs about themselves. Not did they handle the word of God deceitfully.

- We've encountered this word before. It was used of merchants who polluted or diluted their merchandise. This would have been the trend of the false teachers of their day.

- Mix in a little legalism or law keeping. Perhaps you would like to craft your message using a few verses out of context, making it say whatever you and the people at large want!

- This is something that we must take special note of, as our day is filled with "One Verse Wonders" and "Series-Al Killers!"

- The Apostles dedicated themselves to the revealing of the whole truth! They gave their audience the whole counsel of God and commended themselves to every person's conscience.

- That is the Apostolic method: Lay out the truth and let every man consciously engage themselves in the truth or conscientiously object. It's ours to present and theirs to decide!

• II Corinthians 4:3,4 : "But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them." : One can hear the pragmatic objection: If your gospel is the truth, why is that some don't receive it?" Haven't you wondered that?

- Why is it so clear to you, but so unclear to them? Paul tells them that if the gospel is veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing. It's not the fault of the gospel, as if it were tainted.

- Sure, the gospel of self-help, self-esteem, and self-interest is loved and received. But the true gospel of self-denial and Christ exaltation is offensive!

- Therefore, those that are perishing reject it out of hand, not simply because they hate it, but because the enemy, the god of this age, blinds them.

- The intimation is that they have made a decision to stiffen their necks against the truth and the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ will not penetrate! It won't shine on them!

- Some wonder why this is, but we cannot have it both ways. We argue and fight for the will of our human friends.

- We want to extol choice and response. What we often cannot stomach however, is that response is only temporarily possible. There is only a window of time in any person's life.

- Scripture indicates that there comes a time when the response is so adversely strong, that it becomes a fixed belief. The darkness, a metaphor for godlessness, is permanent.

- We do not know when that occurs, so ours is never to lose hope. We are always to share the gospel with our loved ones.

- But if they persist in their hardness of heart, some day that position will be permanent. The enemy works hard to make it permanent.

• II Corinthians 4:5,6 : "For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." : The Apostles, any true Pastor for that matter, refuses to tailor the gospel after themselves.

- Who would do such a thing? Nobody would propose to preach themselves would they? Paul's point is that this was exactly what the false teachers were doing. I'll explain in a moment.

- The Apostles refused to be the center of attention. Rather, they sought to preach Jesus Christ and present themselves simply as their audience's bondservants.

- Paul wanted only to serve the people of Corinth with the word of the Lord. He wanted to get out of the way in order to present the message of the Lord.

- We received an apt illustration of this from Deuteronomy 27 this last week. God ordered an altar to be placed on Mt. Ebal, which was to be assembled, not constructed.

- Once it was plastered, the words of the law were to be inscribed upon it so that they could be read very plainly. The emphasis for God is the message, not the medium!

- This is a primary reason for submitting ourselves to a book by book study of the Bible. We are listening to God's voice in the way that He intended it to be heard.

- As for me and any that follow me here, we are simply your servants. Why? Because it's not the Apostles or Pastors that brought light out of darkness. It was the Lord who did this!

- Paul refers both to the creation account, as well as the allusion to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the gospel message, that is akin to a light shining out of darkness.

- That darkness, which has come from sin, has enveloped the human heart. But through the gospel, illumination of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ has come!

- How sad is it then when a person decides to pick and choose passages that he likes, tailoring his messages to fit his particular biases or agendas. Such a person is preaching themself!

• II Corinthians 4:7 : "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." : Not so with the Apostles! We have this treasure of the ministry of the new covenant.

- Do you see the message in that light? Do you see it as a treasure? I pray that you would value it more and more in your days.

- Where does God keep or store this treasure? In plain, ordinary, clay vessels. He puts the greatest message in the world in a bunch of ordinary men and women.

- He stores it in and dispenses it through human vessels. Angels could do a better job and leave a greater impression than us.

- But that would take away from the message, which is the power of God for salvation. God wants the message to get all of the attention, which is why you are such a great host!

- He gets the glory when we obediently speak, stammering through the gospel message, as nervous as we have ever been, inviting people that we love to believe what we have believed.

- Then, that person comes alive with the understanding that Christ is real. They realize His offer of forgiveness and life is real. Forget the messenger. They have found the treasure!

- God wants His superior power to be seen, not the power of personality or presentation. This is yet another jab at the false apostles who had invaded Corinth.

 - Many seek the attention with hopes that they will be given the credit. That was not the way that Paul subscribed to. For him, the message was of uttmost importance.

• II Corinthians 4:8-12 : "We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you." : For an authentic minister of the gospel, life is not about abundance and opulence.

- Many of the Judaizers lived for their own celebrity as well as the respect that comes with that territory. Their lives were quite different from the Apostles.

- The Apostles walked under great constriction, being compressed on every side. From the people of the church in Corinth, they were misunderstood and disrespected.

- From the outside world, they were mocked and persecuted! Every where they looked, there was pressure. They were "hard pressed," a word that speaks of being hunted!

- Whatever they faced, it was never enough to crash down on them to stop them permanently!

- They lived a life in perplexity, not knowing exactly which way to turn, but never to the point of despair or losing all hope.

- They were persecuted by people but never left behind by God, whose presence they knew in the most harrowing of moments.

- They were struck down, laid low, thrown to the ground, but not to the point of death. They carried the scourge of Christ's death in their bodies.

- This refers to the stigma from outside and the internal suffering from the inside. They died to themselves and carried an announcement of death to the listening world.

- The good news is that their lives were marked with Christ's death so that His life could mark their inner man! All of us want resurrection, but that means death you know!

- They shared in the sentence of His death, so it follows that they would also reap the reward of the resurrection power that Christ rose to give!

- As we look at this last phrase, I wonder what Paul means. Does he mean that the trouble that the Apostles went through gave the Corinthians a life that they did not have before?

- That would certainly be a truth. We all grow at the expense of another. Those who have sown into my life have sown while living a life that has been difficult in one way or another.

- Their sacrifice leads to my growth in the Lord and I am very grateful today.

- Conversely, he might be noting a significant contrast between what he was experiencing for the sake of the gospel and what they were experiencing for the sake of the gospel.

- What did that say about them? They were comfortable, in control, celebrated and set up! Where's the sacrifice? Where is the conflict? Both ways of looking at this are true!

• II Corinthians 4:13-15 : "And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, 'I believed and therefore I spoke,' we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God." : Here is an excellent test of authenticity: Does your life bear any resemblance to scripture?

- Paul is quoting from Psalm 116, which attests to the same type of life that Paul has been talking about.

- The author of the Psalm speaks of the struggle to live a godly life and that it was his belief that caused or forced him to speak. Paul says that he is that same line!

- It amazes me that the teachers of the prosperity movement don't recognize that Jesus did not name and claim the world when He could have! Sadly, Jesus wouldn't fit in to their paradigm!

- Paul believed and therefore he spoke in spite of affliction and difficulty. Why? Because of the belief that life is not simply here on Earth.

- Some day, the one who raised Jesus, God, will also raise up His servants. God's faithful hand to resurrect His Son, will also be faithful to resurrect HIs Son's bride, the Church!

- The picture here is one who attends to a person coming into royal presence. God will present the Apostles and the Corinthians to their Savior Jesus.

- For whatever misconceptions and prejudiced moments that the Corinthians had about Paul, they would one day stand together before the Lord as the bride of Christ!

- Everything had been done for them in order that God's grace would spread to them and their thanksgiving offering would be added toward an abounding praise offering to God!

- That was always the goal. That should be your goal in life. Everything that you deal with, every struggle and every trial, should be redeemable for this purpose!

- How can I employ my trial for His glory, so that others can bring their praise to the Lord? I want my life and all that I've gone through to bring about a great stirring of thanksgiving to God!

• II Corinthians 4:16 :  "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day." : We don't lose heart! He ends the chapter as he began it!

- In fact, as he has been taking inventory of his experience, he is even more entrenched in his original statement!

- That is the way that a Christian should live! You should with every passing year be farther and farther away from a coward's predisposition to retreat!

- Why? Because they had the right perspective on their own being. They recognized what many of the false teachers taught about, but did not live for.

- The outer self, the shell, the body is wasting away. It's being changed for the worse on a daily basis. As a matter of contrast, for the Christian, the inner man, the spirit, the real you is renewed!

- Our inner self is getting stronger, becoming more vibrant on a daily basis.

• II Corinthians 4:17,18 : "For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." : Listen to how Paul talks about his troubles. They are a light momentary affliction. Is that how you would describe Paul's trouble?

- They are light because they are momentary. No matter how difficult it is, by it's temporal nature, the pain passes.

- They are light when you compare them to the sufferings of other people. Maybe you lost your home, but someone lost a family member.

- There is always another person who is suffering in a more significant way than you are.

- But more than anything, this light momentary affliction is nothing compared with the eternal weight of glory, literally the weight of weight!

- When you consider eternity in heaven, there is not a suffering on Earth that is comparable!

- They have come to that conclusion as they have looked not on the things that are seen, but on the things are not seen. How does that make sense?

- Let me offer a free translation: My focus isn't on what is passing before my eyes. My focus is on what my eyes cannot see!

- The word for "look" is the key. It's the word that gives us the term "scope" as in microscope. The scope gives us the ability to look at details and consider deep truths below the surface.

- What are you focusing on today? Where is your scope pointed?

- There are things that are seen and they are transient. They are here today and they are gone tomorrow. They are loved today and forgotten tomorrow.

- They are important and drama worthy today, but are not worth mentioning tomorrow! However, the things that are unseen, the things that are done for God, motivated by love are eternal!

- Most of the false teachers have one view in mind. They were building their fame now. They wanted the attention now, which is why they are willing to risk the Lord's displeasure!

- Not the Apostles! They lived before the Lord and sought only His favor!

Conclusion
- Let's take an inventory: The Apostles were honest men, giving the whole truth of God's Word to the people they encountered, entrusting the message to their audience's conscience.

- They were humble men, understanding that they were simply bondservants of men, clay pots in which the treasure of the new covenant was deposited.

- They were historically accurate men, living in a way that was in line with other men who had served the Lord in the past, suffering, but compelled to speak.

- They were hopeful men, not looking for a Kingdom here on Earth, or a better chance to make over their own life. They resigned themselves to value their inner man, unseen, but eternal.

- This is the type of person I want to be and the type of person I want to follow!