‘The Significance Of A New Creation’--XVIII—2Corinthians 5:9--6:10...
14. The PRACTICAL REALITIES Of MINISTRY-B—2Corinthians 6:3-10...
Part B of point 14 in the series.
No matter what we do for a living or how we worship together corporately, much more is required to bring about the actuality than may be considered/grasped by the receivers of such.
A true Christian receives a new nature.
Need:
*The key to our verses is 2Cor. 5:17—“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
Paul clarified the significance of being a new creation in Christ to the Corinthian church.
There is great significance to being a new creation in Christ.
14 significations/signifiers of being a new creation in Christ.
Previously we have found that A new creation is significant in its New...
1. PLEASUREs(5:9)
2. RECEPTION(5:10)
3. PERSUASION(5:11)
4. OPPORTUNITY(5:12)
5. SOUND INSANITY(5:13)Risk
6. LOVE(5:14-15)
7. CONSIDERATIONS(5:16)
8. NEWNESS/Creativeness(5:17)
9. RELATIONSHIP--Reconciliation(5:18-19)
10. INSTRUMENTATION/Mediation(5:20)
11. RIGHTEOUSNESS(5:21)
12. VIEW Of VANITY(6:1)
13. URGENCY(6:2)
We will see that Paul & Timothy commended apostolic ministry to the Corinthian church thru a list of Practical Realities within which they operated.
The significance of how being a new creation in Christ is played out in the Practical Realities of Ministry.
We are going to examine the significance of these Practical Realities one-by-one in their manifestation as Commendors of God-ordained Ministry.
14—A new creation is significant in the...
PRACTICAL REALITIES Of MINISTRY-B(6:3-10)
So far we have looked at the role of...
A. OFFENSE & BLAME(6:3)...as well as...
B. MINISTRY COMMENDATIONS(6:4ff.)(CONT...)
i. Patience(6:4)—cheerful endurance & constancy
ii. Tribulations—pressures
iii. Needs—forced subsistence
iv. Distresses—narrowed circumstances
v. Stripes(6:5)—officially sanctioned punishment
vi. Imprisonments—officially sanctioned removal from society
vii. Tumults—chaotic/unstable lifestyle
viii. Labors—physically/mentally taxing work
ix. Sleeplessness
x. Fastings—prayer & fasting
xi. Purity(6:6)—living uprightly
xii. Knowledge—personal, of God & His way
xiii. Longsuffering—refrain from wrath/revenge/vengeance
Continuing our look at MINISTRY COMMENDATIONS we find a 14th commendation...
14—A new creation is significant in the...
PRACTICAL REALITIES Of MINISTRY--B(6:3-10)
B. MINISTRY COMMENDATIONS(6:4ff.)(CONT...)
A 14th Commendation as ministers of God...
“by kindness”
Comes in/“by” “kindness.” i.e., A Commendable Ministry is delivered in/by the package of “kindness.”
It is the benign usefulness of a morality(right vs. wrong) which comes from surrender to God in Christ. Considers a person’s unique circumstances & thus mindset before acting or making a determination.
Gill—“gentleness, sweetness of temper & manners, affability[friendly, good-natured, or easy to talk to] & courteousness.”
Barnes—“By gentleness of manner, of temper, & of spirit. By endeavoring to evince this spirit to all, whatever may be their treatment of us, & whatever may be our provocations. Paul felt that if a minister would do good, he must be kind & gentle to all.”
Henry—“...being not easily provoked, but bearing with the hardness of men's hearts, & hard treatment from their hands, to whom he kindly endeavored to do good.”
*Such is the minister who will ‘kill-‘em with kindness.’ But his remains on the ‘kindness’ & not on ‘killing them’!
Prov. 15:1-2—“A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, But the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness.”
Prov. 25:21-22—“If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For so you will heap coals of fire on his head, And the LORD will reward you.”
Rom. 12:16-21—“Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Gal. 5:22-23—“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness[crhstothv], goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”
Eph. 2:4-9—“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), & raised us up together, & made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness[crhstothv] toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, & that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
Titus 3:3-7—“For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts & pleasures, living in malice & envy, hateful & hating one another. But when the kindness[crhstothv] & the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration & renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Col. 3:12-14—“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy & beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness[crhstothv], humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, & forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”
The ‘good’ which overcomes evil(Rom. 12:21) can be feigned/pretended! It can be merely an openly exhibited behavior, but which is presented from a vengeful, score-settling heart. Such is not what commends any minister or their ministry in Christ!
*Thus false/forced/ or pretended “kindness” is limited to a ‘natural’ or temporal work of the flesh.
*And thereby, true “kindness” is & must be a supernatural work of the Spirit of God!
Php. 2:1-5—“Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,”
?Does your KINDNESS commend your ministry as born/borne of God...
...OR does it negate it?
“Kindness”—crhstothv—Noun Fem.—1) Moral goodness, integrity; 2) Benignity, kindness. Strong—Usefulness, i.e. Moral excellence(in character or demeanor). Used 10X.
From—crhstov—Employed, i.e. by implication--Useful(in manner or morals).
Illustration:
Tweeting, Posting to Facebook, Snapchatting, Blogging, etc.—putting in print(permanency/publicity)—your disappointments, hurts, frustrations, hatreds, emotional baggage, or somebody else’s mistreatment or stupidity or other gossip-ridden print is All un-kind!/KINDNESS
14—A new creation is significant in the...
PRACTICAL REALITIES Of MINISTRY--B(6:3-10)
B. MINISTRY COMMENDATIONS(6:4ff.)(CONT...)
A 15th Commendation as ministers of God...
“by the Holy Spirit”
Comes in/“by” “the Holy Spirit.” i.e., A Commendable Ministry is delivered in/by the package of “the Holy Spirit.”
Everything done & offered to the church & individuals comes by the compulsion of the Holy Spirit of the living, loving God. Thereby all that is entered into by the apostle(sent out one) of God is done for the sake of the growth of the body of Christ. All such instruction is in line with ultimately taking the church & every ministry to its fullness of maturity in Christ.
2Cor. 13:9—“For we are glad when we are weak & you are strong. And this also we pray, that you may be made complete.”
**Jn. 14:12, 15-18—“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; & greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, & He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you & will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
If any “work” you do is NOT done in the Holy Spirit of God, then it is done in the flesh without the Spirit of God! Sobering thought!
**Eph. 4:11-16—“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, & some pastors & teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith & of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to & fro & carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ-- from whom the whole body, joined & knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
**1Cor. 2:12-16—“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”
**2Cor. 11:2-4—“For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted--you may well put up with it!”
**Gal. 5:19-25—“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, & the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions & desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
**2Cor. 3:2-3—“You are our epistle written in our hearts, known & read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.”
1Thess. 5:19—“Do not quench the Spirit.
?Does God’s HOLY SPIRIT commend your ministry as born/borne of God...
...OR does He negate it?
“Holy/Holiness”—agiov—Adj. Dative Sing. Neuter—1) Most holy thing, a saint. Agiov has probably as its fundamental meaning separation, i.e., from the world to God's service. If not the original meaning, this at any rate is a meaning early in use. This separation, however, is not chiefly external, it is rather a separation from evil & defilement. The moral signification of the word is therefore the prominent one. Strong—Sacred(physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated).
“Spirit”—pneuma—Noun Dative Sing. Neuter—1) The third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit, coequal, coeternal with the Father & the Son; 2) The spirit, i.e. The vital principal by which the body is animated—2a) The rational spirit, the power by which the human being feels, thinks, decides, 2b) The soul; 3) A spirit, i.e. A simple essence, devoid of all or at least all grosser matter, & possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, & acting—3a) A life giving spirit, 3b) A human soul that has left the body, 3c) A spirit higher than man but lower than God, i.e. An angel—3c1) used of demons, or evil spirits, who were conceived as inhabiting the bodies of men, 3c2) The spiritual nature of Christ, higher than the highest angels & equal to God, the divine nature of Christ; 4) The disposition or influence which fills & governs the soul of any one—4a) the efficient source of any power, affection, emotion, desire, etc.; 5) A movement of air(a gentle blast). Strong—A current of air, i.e. Breath(blast) or a breeze; by analogy or figuratively--A spirit, i.e. (human)--The rational soul, by implication--Vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman)--An angel, demon, or (divine)--God, Christ's spirit, the Holy Spirit.
14—A new creation is significant in the...
PRACTICAL REALITIES Of MINISTRY--B(6:3-10)
B. MINISTRY COMMENDATIONS(CONT...)
A 16th Commendation as ministers of God...
“by sincere love”
Comes in/“by” “sincere love.” i.e., A Commendable Ministry is delivered in/by the package of “sincere love.”
Such “love” is unfeigned/unpretentious & has no agenda other than to “love” as God loves. Such “love” constrains the minister of God as His ambassador, bringing others to reconciliation & working relationship with the Creator & Savior God(5:18-20). Without “sincere love” all of the other aspects, negative or positive, are vain. Henry—“He[Paul] acted...from the noble principle of unfeigned love.”
In such unhypocritical love here is never a personal agenda or a point one is trying to hit someone with...other than the fact that God loves & loves thru the minister!
cf.—1Cor. 13:1-13
**1Cor. 13:1-13—“Though I speak with the tongues of men & of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, & understand all mysteries & all knowledge, & though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, & though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long & is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part & we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
**1Pet. 1:22-23—“Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives & abides forever,”
**Rom. 12:9—“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.”
**1Jn. 3:16-21—“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, & sees his brother in need, & shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed & in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, & shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, & knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.”
?Does your LOVE commend your ministry as born/borne of God...
...OR does it negate it?
“Sincere/Unfeigned”—anupokritov—Adj. Dative Sing. Fem.—1) Unfeigned, undisguised, sincere. Strong—Undissembled, i.e. Sincere. Used 6X.
English=‘Unhypocritical’
From—A(as a negative particle)—&— a presumed derivative of upokrinomai—1) To take up another's statements in reference to what one has decided for one's self—1a) To reply, answer; 2) To make answer(speak) on the stage—2a) To impersonate anyone, play a part; 3) To simulate, feign, pretend. Strong—To decide(speak or act) under a false part, i.e. figuratively--Dissemble(pretend).
“Love”—agaph—Noun Dative Sing. Fem.—1) Brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence; 2) Love feasts. Strong—Love, i.e. Affection or benevolence; specially(plural)--A love-feast.
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
*Obviously some ministries are more fraught with difficulty than others, but they are all tied to spiritual relationships with other people & the physical hardships of sharing the Good News.
Action:
14. A new creation is significant in the...
PRACTICAL REALITIES Of MINISTRY-B(6:3-10)
B. MINISTRY COMMENDATIONS(6:4ff.)(CONT...)
xiv. Kindness—Useful moral goodness
xv. the Holy Spirit—
xvi. Sincere Love—Unhypocritical
i. Patience(6:4)
ii. Tribulations
iii. Needs
iv. Distresses
v. Stripes(6:5)
vi. Imprisonments
vii. Tumults
viii. Labors
ix. Sleeplessness
x. Fastings—prayer & fasting
xi. Purity—living uprightly
xii. Knowledge—personal, of God & His way
xiii. Longsuffering—refrain from wrath/revenge/vengeance
Part ‘B’- subpoints xiv-xvi of point 14 presented 08/14/2016pm to:
FBC Cbelle
206 Storrs Ave. SE
Carrabelle, FL 32322
