Transcript

One Bible teacher wrote the following about the Apostle Paul: Peer into the prison and see him for yourself: bent and frail, shackled to the arm of a Roman guard. Behold the apostle of God. Who knows when his back last felt a bed or his mouth knew a good meal?

Three decades of travel and trouble, and what’s he got to show for it? There’s squabbling in Philippi, competition in Corinth, the legalists are swarming in Galatia. Crete is plagued by money-grabbers.

Even some of Paul’s own friends have turned against him. Dead broke. No family. No property. Nearsighted and worn out.

Oh, he had his moments. Spoke to an emperor once, but couldn’t convert him. Gave a lecture at Mars’ Hill men’s club, but wasn’t asked to speak there again.

Then Paul hit the road. And never got off. Ephesus, Thessalonica, Athens, Syracuse, Malta. The only list longer than his itinerary was his misfortune.

Got stoned in one city and stranded in another. Nearly drowned as many times as he nearly starved. If he spent more than one week in the same place, it was probably a prison. He never received a salary. Had to pay his own travel expenses. Kept a part-time job on the side to make ends meet. Doesn’t look like a hero.

Doesn’t sound like one either. He was a Christian-killer before he was a Christian leader. At times his heart was so heavy, Paul’s pen drug itself across the page…

One minute he’s in charge; the next he’s in doubt. One day he’s preaching, the next he’s in prison. And that’s where I’d like you to look at him. Look at him in the prison.

Pretend you don’t know him. You’re a guard or a cook or a friend of the executioner, and you’ve come to get one last look at the guy while they sharpen the blade.

What you see shuffling around in his cell isn’t too much. But what I lean over and tell you is: “That man will shape the course of history.”

We see the ministry of Paul in 2 Corinthians 6:3-10. We see the hardships and suffering he endured for Christ and in his ministry as the Apostle of the Gentiles.

It’s true that through Paul’s life and ministry that he shaped the course of history. If more would note the significance of Paul and the importance of his unique apostleship and message, the Church would be the witness and light that God intended it to be.

2 Corinthians 6:3,4a reads, “Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience…”

When Paul says “Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed,” Paul was concerned about doing something that would discredit himself in the ministry of reconciliation.

He was protective of the integrity of his mission, the integrity of the gospel, the integrity of the God he represented. He did not want the ministry to be blamed or discredited because of his life. Paul avoided doing anything that would cause someone to reject the gospel on his account. It’s a good concern for all of us to have.

Because people look for excuses to justify their rejection of Christ. They are looking for excuses to justify their sin. And the most common excuse and the favorite one that they like to find is that Christians are just a bunch of…hypocrites.

Like Paul, we must be sensitive to our lives providing no excuse for unbelievers to resist the truth.

When Paul says “giving no offence in any thing,” he wanted people to be able to look at his life as close as they could possibly look with as much scrutiny as they could possibly muster, and find nothing that would give “offence” or be a stumblingblock to someone trusting Christ, or cause the ministry of the gospel to be “blamed,” discredited.

This doesn’t mean we have to be perfect. None of us are perfect in life. Paul wasn’t perfect either. We all fail. It’s about being faithful and genuine with our faith.

It’s about living close to the Lord and by His Word which keeps us from the things that might discredit the gospel. It’s about thinking of things that would be a stumbling block to someone trusting the gospel and avoiding those things.

In v. 3, Paul talked about what he didn’t do. In v. 4 Paul talks about what he did do: “In all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God.”

Paul understood that he needed his character to be approved and commendable, and consistent with what he taught and preached. He wanted to behave as a “minister” or servant of God in all things.

He endeavored to live in a way that was appropriate to one who belonged to God. He sought to carry out his ministry in a manner that was above reproach. In doing so, this made the gospel and the truth of God that he shared believable.

And Paul lived as a minister of God “in much patience” or endurance. He was faithful in living for the Lord as his minister, and did it over the long run.

Living a consistent and faithful life for the Lord by the believer shows a selfless concern for the souls of the unbelieving around us. Paul did this with much endurance, so that he wasn’t an obstacle but rather a conduit for people trusting Christ as their Savior.

Paul also had been a man of “much patience” or endurance, and had not quit when the going got tough in the ministry. We see in the verses following that the going did get tough for Paul. But out of his concern for the souls of people, he never quit.

2 Corinthians 6:4b,5: “…in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings.”

Paul doesn’t paint the gospel ministry with pastels, and rainbows, flowers and butterflies. He paints with dark colors and dark stormy clouds and presents a realistic picture of the life of one who fully gave himself to the Lord and to His service.

This is not the description of ministry that you would expect to find in a seminary brochure or would expect to hear from someone recruiting people for ministry.

What this passage teaches us is that in our service to the Lord we should prepare ourselves for both pleasant and unpleasant times. It shows that ministry is a mixed bag, characterized by ups and downs, brighter times and dark times.

It also reminds us that while we may not face beatings, imprisonments and riots in the United States for being believers, people around the world do today. And it reminds us that one day maybe we will as this dispensation progresses and the Rapture approaches.

Paul had much patience and endurance “in afflictions.” “Afflictions” means anything that exerts pressure, physical, emotional, spiritual pressure, crushing experiences. It speaks of pressures or circumstances that press in on you and weigh you down.

“In necessities” is doing without things that make life comfortable and secure, being deprived of basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter. It denotes the distress which comes from being in need.

“In distresses” means to be pushed into tight spots, feeling cornered or trapped or confined, being in an unrelenting place where there seems to be no escape.

Paul had things burdening his heart, circumstances which crushed and weighed him down, he experienced the stress of being without the basic needs of life, and being in places where he didn’t know where to turn and felt trapped.

“In stripes” speaks of Paul’s beatings and whippings. We can only imagine the physical pain from this. Later in this book, recalling his persecutions, Paul said, “in stripes above measure…of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one” (2 Cor. 11:23,24). The Jews according to the Law of Moses did not give more than 40 stripes.

The Romans had no such law. When he was beaten by Gentiles, they went as long as they wanted, and gave him many stripes.

In Philippi, after Paul was unjustly beaten it says in Acts 16:23, “And when they had laid MANY STRIPES upon them, they cast them into prison.”

“In imprisonments.” Paul was imprisoned many times. Again in 2 Corinthians 11:23, Paul says, “in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent.” So he was beaten above measure, but in prisons more frequently than that.

“In tumults” speak of tumultuous situations or riots which put Paul in the middle of mob violence, civil disorders, and public outcries.

Paul faced mobs in Damascus, Jerusalem, Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Thessalonica, Berea, Corinth, Ephesus already when he wrote this.

These tumults and uproars often followed Paul’s preaching of the gospel of grace and the Jews stirring up the Gentiles against Paul.

Paul’s message and experience was not health, wealth, and prosperity. It was the opposite. He was beaten, poor, and in need.

Paul experienced these things because he was serving the Lord and making Christ and the message of reconciliation known. This was the world’s reaction to the truth: to beat Paul, throw him in jail, and riot against him.

Paul goes on: “In labors, in watchings, in fastings.” Paul endured the private disciplines of commitment to the cause of Christ: labor, sleeplessness and hunger.

“In labors” means to work to the point of exhaustion and weariness. It is the toil that takes everything you have and you’ve got nothing left. Paul worked hard in the ministry in evangelizing and planting and organizing and caring for the churches.

He also worked hard in his tentmaking, working with his hands to provide a living for himself, so he wasn’t a financial burden on the churches he planted.

“Watchings” means to lay in bed with your eyes wide open watching. It speaks of sleeplessness and sleepless nights. It’s been said that “Insomnia” should be called “resisting a rest.” Paul was resisting a rest at night. Paul was kept awake by his because of the mental stresses and responsibilities of ministry.

“Fastings” speaks of Paul willingly going without food. It’s not because he was trying to do it for spiritual reasons or to be closer to the Lord. He was just busy.

He was working hard. This was voluntary abstinence from food because he had things to get done for the Lord. He’d eat later. He fasted because he was serving the Lord.

2 Corinthians 6:6,7: “By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,

“By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.”

In Verses 6 and 7, Paul refers to the spiritual graces which enabled him to carry on in his ministry. These are the spiritual tools needed for ministry.

“By pureness” speaks of cleanness and blamelessness. Paul kept himself morally clean. He had purity of life, purity of motive. It’s at the top of this list of spiritual graces because it is important in the gospel ministry to live a pure life, above reproach before the lost.

“By knowledge.” Paul’s ministry was conducted by an understanding of divine knowledge. This is easily shown by the breadth of truth revealed in Paul’s Epistles. “By knowledge” Paul knew sound doctrine and was committed to it, he grasped God’s redeeming love and purpose; he understood God’s eternal purposes for both the earth and the heavens.

Later in this book, in 2 Corinthians 11:6, Paul said, “But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge…”

“By longsuffering” refers to patience with difficult people. The Corinthians should not have needed any proof of this! They were difficult, but the patient way in which he had dealt with them and their failings was proof of longsuffering in his ministry.

People can test your patience. But people never exasperated Paul to the degree where he set the truth aside, threw his hands up, and walked away from ministry. He was longsuffering for the gospel’s sake, for the sake of the lost.

“Kindness” is goodness is action. The word means he did good to people. A lot of people did bad things to Paul, but it didn’t change him from being kind. Paul’s kindness was shown by how he faithfully spread the gospel, which is the ultimate kindness.

“By the Holy Ghost.” This is really the heart of it all. The reason all the rest was true was because of the working of the Holy Spirit in Paul’s life.

Because Paul walked in the Spirit, and served by the power of the Sprit, and didn’t quench the Holy Spirit, he manifested these fruits of the Spirit in his life. That’s why he lived with a view toward being no stumblingblock to the lost, how he manifested pureness, knowledge, longsuffering and kindness in his life.

“By love unfeigned” speaks of genuine love. This also was a product of the working of the Holy Spirit in Paul’s life. Galatians 5:22 says, “For the fruit of the Spirit is love…” Romans 5:5: “…the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.”

The love which was so obvious in the life of the Apostle Paul toward others was not faked or hypocritical, it was no sham or pretense, but genuine.

His love was sincere for the unbelieving, in truly wanting what was best for them, and that they would saved from hell and be reconciled to God by faith in Christ.

A. T. Robertson writes, “In these climactic sentences, Paul lets his imagination loose and it plays like lightning on the clouds.” You can feel it in verse 7.

“By the Word of truth.” The Word of truth in this context of the ministry of reconciliation is the gospel. Ephesians 1:13: “In Whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.”

The word of truth is the gospel, the good news that God is reconciling sinners through the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ as he described it in chapter 5. The word of truth Paul shared and that we share is “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (5:21).

“By the power of God” speaks to the power of the gospel and the Cross. Romans 1:16 says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.”

The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Paul preached it in the power of God by the Holy Spirit and he saw it reveal the power of God in saving souls.

“By the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.” The word “armor” is not the same word used for “armor” when speaking of the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6. It is the same Greek word translated “weapons” later in this book, when Paul speaks of “the weapons of our warfare are…mighty through God” in 2 Cor. 10:4.

It’s speaking of the instruments or weapons of righteousness. He’s saying I’m armed and ready in both hands, the right and the left, to fight on all sides and my weapons, are the weapons of righteousness.

The weapons of righteousness I believe are the Word of God and prayer. That’s how we fight on the right hand and the left. That’s how we rescue sinners.

We use the weapons of God’s Word and prayer to bring sinners the truth of the gospel, to expose error, so that what unbelievers think is the truth might crumble before the power of the gospel, so they might trust it and humbly bow the knee to Christ in faith.

2 Corinthians 6:8-10: “By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.”

Here in these verses, Paul describes some of the sharp contrasts and opposite responses that are found in the ministry of reconciliation. They show how it really is in this world.

“By honor and dishonor.” In sharing the gospel, you are praised by some and despised by others. Paul was treated as a man of honor and respected and he was treated with contempt and disrespected.

It all goes with the ministry. It all goes with the witness for Christ. Light and dark, sun and shadow filled Paul’s life. He received glory and praise from some and received nothing but dishonor and hate from others.

“By evil report and good report.” In the gospel ministry, we should not expect all people to speak well of us as we’re faithful to God and the truth of His Word.

Some people gave a good report of the Apostle Paul and some gave an evil report, some happily celebrated the impact of his life on them as he brought the truth of God to them, while others assaulted his character and slandered him.

This is the life of one who is a force for the truth, someone who makes an impact, one who is a confronter of truth and error. It is their legacy to have this polarized and opposite kind of response.

“As deceivers, and yet true.” This was said of our Lord in John 7:12: “And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but He deceiveth the people.”

Satan wants to destroy the reputation of those who speak the truth of God’s Word. Paul was called a liar and deceiver by those who hated the truth, and yet was “true,” a true servant of God who spoke the truth.

“As unknown, and yet well-known.” A grace pastor from years ago, Pastor Harland Shriver, once described himself in the pulpit as “Unknown from coast to coast.”

Paul was ignored, unappreciated, and unknown by many in the world, yet for others he was well-known and the most important person that ever lived because he brought them the truth of the gospel.

For some Paul was an obscure nobody. For others he was everything. And that’s how it is. There is a world out there that doesn’t know who the faithful are, but we know and God knows. And they’re unknown and yet they’re known.

“As dying, and, behold we live.” Paul was always living on the brink of death. In 1:9, Paul said “we had the sentence of death in ourselves.”

Paul’s enemies were always dogging him trying to destroy him. Death was a constant stalker in his ministry, yet he was absolutely alive, living a passionate life for Christ.

“As chastened, and not killed.” He was beaten and imprisoned, persecuted and punished relentlessly, yet he was not killed, and not put to death.

“As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” He was sorrowful over rejection of the gospel, over his unbelieving Jewish countrymen (Rom. 9:2), over false teachers, over sin and disobedience in the churches. Paul got down and discouraged sometimes in his ministry.

And yet he was always rejoicing. He never lost his joy. He had a deep abiding unfailing joy because of God’s grace and because of Christ and all we have in Him.

“As poor, yet making many rich.” Paul had very little of this world’s possessions and wealth. We know he was often in need of the most basic necessities of life: food, clothing, shelter.

Paul was poor, and yet he made people eternally rich. By his ministry, lives were enriched by faith in Christ. By Paul sharing the gospel and God’s Word, people found true riches of heaven, hope, life, the eternal, spiritual blessings we have in Christ.

“As having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” Though Paul possessed nothing in this world, yet he had all things that really counted.

By God’s Word, we learn that in Christ, we possess all things, we possess true riches, true blessing, lasting treasure, what is of true and everlasting worth.

The paradox of ministry is expected. It happened to Paul, it’s happened to all those who faithfully preach the ministry of reconciliation.

There is a cost to the gospel ministry, but it’s worth it. It’s worth it to save just one soul from an eternity of conscious suffering in hell.

In the frontlines of the spiritual warfare and in spite of the hardship of his ministry, Paul can be seen as weary but undaunted, beaten but not broken, bruised but never giving up. May the same be true of us in our ministries for Christ.