Second
Corinthians 6:1
The Bible says in Second Corinthians 6:1, We then as workers together with him,
beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain. Paul is still making the point to believers
to be concerned about what they accomplish after they are saved. That is
probably what Paul meant when he said, that you receive not the grace of God in vain. You would receive the grace of God in
vain if you get saved but then never accomplish anything for the Lord.
If you want to accomplish something for Christ, there are some
things that you need to keep in mind. One of those things is similar
to a principle that applies to the salvation of the soul. That principle
has to do with taking advantage of your opportunities. Second Corinthians 6:2
says, For he saith, I have
heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee; behold, now is the accepted time; behold,
now is the day of salvation.
In other words, if you procrastinate concerning spiritual things you can be in
big trouble. One of the most important spiritual principles that God has
established is that you must take advantage of an opportunity that God gives
you or you will lose that opportunity. Opportunities are limited in nature. Do not
forget that, or you may miss a great opportunity that comes your way. That same
principle can be seen at work in the material world. Benjamin Franklin saw it
and he wrote,
This principle of limited opportunity applies to salvation. The
Bible says, Now is the
accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. Some people do not get saved because
they keep putting it off, and then eventually it is too late. Some people do
not get saved because when God touches their heart, they do not answer. God
will give you a chance to be saved, and He might give you many chances, but he
will not give you a chance forever. There is a limited time. Grab a hold of it
if you have it. Proverbs
Suppose that you do respond to the call of the Lord and come to
Him for salvation. What must you then do in order to be somewhat like the
Apostle Paul and bear fruit for Christ? One thing is that you must still be
willing to respond to the call of the Lord, and when He gives you an opportunity
you must take hold of it and not let it pass you by. If you do that, you will
be given a ministry, a work to do for Gods glory. I wonder how many Christians
have lost a ministry because they did not take hold of an opportunity when God
gave it to them? Once you are given a ministry, then remember the importance of
what Second Corinthians 6:3 says, Giving no offense in any thing, that
the ministry be not blamed.
Every Christian should probably pray this prayer every day. O Lord, may I not
do anything to give an offence, so that the ministry be not blamed. Those who
refuse to believe are going to refuse to believe no matter what you say or do,
but you do not want your failures to be their excuse.
In the next seven verses Paul is going to explain the things that
he did in order to make every effort that his ministry was not to be blamed, at
least not justifiably blamed. If only more believers did these things and made
these efforts for the sake of a testimony before a lost and dying world. Some
people hold on to ideas and actions that really have come from the traditions
of their denomination and not from God, and their inability to let go of some
of those things have hurt their testimony and their ministry in the world. In
Second Corinthians 6:4 Paul wrote, But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God,
in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses. Notice that in the first part of this
verse that Paul said, In
all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God. Until you are judged by Christ, you are
the judge of how well you are doing in this matter. You will always be
condemned and accused by someone, so for now you must answer to your own
conscience before God to the best of your ability. What does God think of what
you are saying and doing: not what does man think.
Even so, in order to have a ministry that could not be blamed Paul
listed the things that he made sure were a part of his ministry. As we go over
these things, lets ask ourselves the question of how our ministries compare to
his, and what are we doing to make sure that we have a testimony and that our
ministry cannot be blamed? Are these things on our list of how we conduct our
ministries? The first thing on Pauls list was patience. If we are going to
have a ministry for Christ, we certainly must have patience.
Not only did Paul say that he had patience, but he said that he
had much patience. No wonder he needed patience. Look at
the next six things that Paul said happened to him in his ministry. Patience
was one of the key things that got him through these things: the afflictions,
the necessities, the distresses, the stripes, the imprisonments, and the
tumults. The afflictions speak of the tribulations, and the trials of difficult
and opposing circumstances; such as bad weather or shipwrecks that perhaps
slowed Paul down and made Pauls journey much more difficult than it otherwise
would have been. When Paul spoke of necessities,
he was talking about basic human needs, of food, water, clothing, and shelter.
There were times when was lacking these things, and he did it for the sake of the
ministry that God had called him to. Afflictions and necessities were things
that came against Paul from an external and a physical standpoint. Distresses
were things that came against Paul from a psychological and spiritual
standpoint. They can be even worse and harder to fight than the external
afflictions. Christianity to a great degree is a mental contest. If you think
the things that you ought to think when the attacks come against you, then you
will do what you ought to do in response. If you think about the promises of
God, and if you think about duty and honor and dedication, then you will not
waver from the ministry that God has given to you no matter what are the
obstacles that come against you.
The reason that Paul had these afflictions and necessities and
distresses against his ministry was because of the spiritual forces of darkness
that were against him. If the devil can stop you or sidetrack you, then he can
make inroads to limit the spread of the gospel. If the devil can bring blame
against your ministry in the community, then Satan will be on his way to
getting done what he is after: to stop your part in spreading the gospel. We
are not ignorant of his devices, but this we also know: greater is he that is
in us (Jesus) than he that is in the world.
If the evil spiritual forces could not stop him with afflictions,
necessities, and distresses, then they had other things at their disposal to
bring against someone like the Apostle Paul. These were physical attacks of
violence against the body and the person of Paul. Paul described what happened
to him in this regard in Second Corinthians 6:5 when he said, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults. Stripes and imprisonments refer to
things that were done against Paul by the governmental authorities. That is why
the devil tries to get the government of every nation to make laws against true
Christianity and against the freedom to preach the gospel of Christ. It can be
a very effective means of reducing the spread of the truth. It is what is going
on in
Thank God that the beatings and the imprisonments did not stop the
Apostle Paul. Neither did the tumults. The stripes and the imprisonments were
organized violence created by the government authorities. Often it is the
police force that delivers the stripes in countries that have permitted that
kind of opposition to the freedom of speech. And it is the judicial system that
delivers and orders the imprisonments. The judicial system at this time in
America has been greatly corrupted and infiltrated by many individuals that are
in darkness and who are against the free preaching of the gospel of Christ. They
use their power as judges to deny the freedom that our constitution guarantees,
and the real reason is the opposition of the devil to the freedom to spread the
gospel. If the devil cannot succeed with organized governmental violence
against the gospel, then he will attempt to do it with rioting and mob violence,
directing the anger of the mob against believers. This method has been used
many times against Christians in certain communities.
Paul had all of these against him and against his ministry:
afflictions, necessities, distresses, stripes, imprisonments, and tumults. In
addition to patience Paul had many other things at his disposal to make sure
that his ministry continued no matter what was the opposition. Paul listed six
things that were done against him, but in the verses that follow, he listed more
than twenty things that he could do to make sure that his ministry continued no
matter what was happening against him.
In addition to patience in Second Corinthians 6:5 Paul listed
labors, watchings, and fastings.
The word that is used here for labor implies
the greatness of the effort that was put forth. Paul had all of these
oppositions against him, and what did he do? He kept doing his work. He just
plain and simply kept doing the work that God wanted him to do no matter what
was going wrong around him and no matter what afflictions, necessities, or
distresses came against him. If Paul was on the way to the market place to bear
witness of Christ, and was arrested and thrown in jail, that did not keep him
from doing the work of witnessing for Christ. It just meant that he would
witness to a different set of people. Now he would witness to the soldiers and
to the jailers and to the other prisoners. That is how God takes adversity and
changes it into opportunity, and that is how God turns the tables on the
workers of iniquity.
Paul said that he had labors and that he had watchings. He did the practical things, and he
also did the spiritual things. Watchings refers to
prayer and to being spiritually vigilant. With all of the pressures, and all of
the distresses, and all of the afflictions that came against him, Paul needed
to make sure that he was relying upon the power of God. In such times of stress
and anguish of soul it would be easy to react with impatience and selfishness
without faith. That would be a big mistake and would hurt his ministry and his
testimony. Paul did not make that mistake because he had the proper amount of watchings. Jesus said to his disciples, Watch and pray that you enter not into
temptation.
Paul had labors and watchings, and he
also had fastings. Some people in this New Testament age
in which we live think that fasting is some process by which you make yourself
closer to God, and that somehow by fasting you are more holy than you would be
had you not fasted. This is not true. Paul was talking about the difficult
situations of privation and need in which he found himself in order to fulfill
the missionary ministry that God had given to him. Paul fasted when there was
no choice but to fast, if that was Gods will. He was willing to be deprived of
even the basic requirements of life for a time if that is what it took to keep
his ministry going. He did not lose sight of the goal or the importance of what
he was doing for Christ. Too bad that there are not more believers with this
kind of dedication to the cause of Christ. It will be even more regretful at
the judgment seat of Christ when believers are judged for the things done in
their bodies: whether they be good or whether they be bad as it says in Second
Corinthians 5:10.
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Copyright; 2003 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved