I Feel Myself Coming Out Of This

When I investigate the ministry as a whole I see that it demands faithfulness, fidelity, and dependability. The bible teaches us that the ministry demands that one never faint, fade out, or become hazy. The words "faint not" in the Greek means not to give up, not to lose heart, not to become discouraged, spiritless, fainthearted, despondent, or discouraged. The Word says don’t become faint because if the devil ever finds us categorized by any of these adjectives, then the devil he knows that we are candidates for failure and depression.  

As we look at the text the minister, Paul, did not quit or give up for any reason, not even because of persecution or weariness and exhaustion. When I say quit I mean he didn’t quit doing was God had commissioned him to do.

Now there are two reasons why he did not quit:

1st of all the preacher didn’t quit because of the greatness of his ministry: the statement "We have this ministry." "This ministry" refers to the great task God had given him; the task of proclaiming the new covenant, the message that man can now have a glorious relationship with God through the Spirit of God.

This ministry is the ministry of the glorious gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ, that men can now be saved and forgiven of their sins and be redeemed into live forever in the glory of God, because no greater task could be given to a person than to proclaim the cure for death to men.

That cure is the new covenant, the glorious news about Jesus Christ, so because of this great task, Paul did not faint; he did not quit, no matter how demanding the demands or circumstances were. I can hear him saying, it does not matter how they talk about me I’m going to stand for God, it’s ok if they laugh at me and call me a fool for being a witness, I’m going to stand for God. I don’t care if they scandalize my name you can look for me to be standing on the promises of God. And I believe that we have other Paul’s in the house this morning, you’ve been through the storm and the rain, hard aches and pain, abused and ill-treated but like Paul you have made up in your mind that you are going to keep on with the commission that God  given you.

The preacher does not quit because he has received mercy. You see Paul had personally received the mercy of God. God's mercy had forgiven him of his sins and given him life forever with Christ, and because of that we faint not. We don’t lay down on the job. We don’t give up on God, we don’t bow down to the devil, and we don’t wither in the process.

And I must stop here and park parenthetically and say I believe that some of the churches have fainted alone the way. We have gotten too relaxed in our position as followers of Christ. We are too complacent, too content and too satisfied in the way we do church. We don’t care what we say, or do in or on the church ground anymore. Some people will cuss right in church these days, preachers will smoke and drink right in their office, people will fight, argue, and fuss right in the church house, and it’s all because we have fainted. But the bible teaches us in Luke 18:1 that man ought to always pray and not faint.

Verse 3 says “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them”.

The Gospel will be hid to those who are blinded by the bling, bling of this world. It will be hid from those who are lost by the gossipers of this world. Those that can get more excited about a sporting event then they can about a worship service. It’s hid from those who are lost. Those that would rather try a scratch off then try tithing. The Gospel will be hid from those that are lost, they come to church but they don’t come to worship. In other words they are sitting in the building but nothing is penetrating their hearts. It’s because they are lost.

Paul say here in 2nd Corinthians 4, Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.