12 | 2 Corinthians 6:3-13

SERMON OUTLINE

WE PUT NO OBSTACLE

WE COMMEND OURSELVES

BY GREAT ENDURANCE

HARDSHIPS

VIRTUES - RIGHTEOUS MEANS

A LIFE FILLED WITH CONTRADICTIONS

OPENING THE HEART

COMMUNITY GROUP QUESTIONS

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WE PUT NO OBSTACLE

Read v3

To be clear, when he says, “our ministry”, he means the gospel.

The gospel is the ministry.

He wants to make sure the way they go about that ministry does not become an obstacle to the ministry itself.

v3 - We put no obstacle = “We are trying to put no obstacle”

Verbs are hard to translate.

Not because we don’t know the meaning of the Greek word, but because verbs mean so much.

It’s hard to capture what they are driving at.

Paul is not just saying some way he behaved once.

He’s expressing his ongoing, conviction compelled labor.

Humble submission and love in the face of hardship drives him because he wants no pride to stand in the way of the glory and grace of the gospel he proclaims.

Sacrificial humility is the necessary means of gospel proclamation …

… because any other manner is a contradiction, and obstacle,

… to the sacrificial, condescending grace of the incarnation and the cross at the center of our good news.

In order to bear witness to the gospel …

… we must labor to be about God’s work, yes

… but we must labor to be about God’s work, God’s way.

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WE COMMEND OURSELVES

Before we move on consider the hardships of gospel ministry, let’s see why Paul is doing all this.

Sam Storms Paul’s preeminent concern is with the “ministry” God has entrusted to him, not his own reputation or position or influence. The only self-commendation he cares for is as a “servant/minister” of God. He is more than willing to be slandered and ridiculed, beaten and imprisoned, just so long as the glorious good news of Christ crucified suffers no reproach.

What is Paul commending here?

He is commending the ministry, which is the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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BY GREAT ENDURANCE

Romans 15:3–4 (quoting Psalm 69:9) For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Here is Paul’s hope, which gives him great endurance.

Not just that Jesus has set a good example of sacrifice.

It is that Jesus has taken upon himself all the guilt and shame of our rebellion against God.

Paul remembers this, so whatever hardship he may suffer in this life …

… his greatest enemy has been dealt with already.

Though he suffers and is slandered in this life.

He will suffer for his sin no more.

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v4b - HARDSHIPS

afflictions, hardships, calamities

Sufferings often brought on by the sin of others

It is when you step into the lives of others to walk with them and share in their suffering …

… by the afflictions they endure spill over into your own suffering.

beatings, imprisonments, riots

Sufferings brought on by persecution, as Paul remains steadfast

labors, sleepless nights, hunger

I am so thankful for this short list.

I know some of afflictions, hardship and calamity.

But I know nothing of beatings, imprisonments and riots.

But labors, sleepless nights and hunger?

YES! As a ministry of the gospel, yes.

And with you, who labor with me as partners in the gospel, Yes!

The personal turmoil of the body and soul as we are deprived and exhausted in our flesh.

It is the sort of suffering endured on behalf of others, pressing on with endurance, in word and prayer, that they might believe in the gospel, and walk in Christ.

v6 - VIRTUES - RIGHTEOUS MEANS

purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, the power of God

Humble faithfulness.

This is the love of 1 Corinthians 13

love that is patient and kind.

Why is it patient and kind?

Because there is some trial, or person, or slander, that puts us in a place where patience and kindness is needed.

Love sounds so nice, so sweet, until we see it in the context that it is needed most.

This humble faithfulness is the sort of love that hurts to love with.

And so, this love, this purity, this patience and kindness …

… must be undertaken with great endurance.

v7b - Virtues (righteous means) are the weapons of righteousness.

Both hands are occupied.

He has no hands left for other tools of unrighteousness.

He is too busy suffering in patient endurance.

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How do we minister by the power of God?

By not leverage the power of the world, but prioritizing the ways of God with endurance in the face of suffering.

We don’t labor while searching for some way to make gospel ministry easier.

The bottom line is that, as we cling to the righteous means, there is no easy way.

But there is the way in the Spirit by the power of God.

The Lord will work here …

… and we will be first hand witness of the power of God in our weakness.

v8b - A Life Filled with Contradictions

There is life according to the flesh and the world.

There is life in light of the approval of men.

And then there is life in light not only of eternity …

… (as if we need to wait until this powerful world gets out of the way).

There is life in light of the present reality of the power of God, which alone is eternal, enduring, sure.

This is the life that Francis Schaeffer called true Truth.

It is reality in light of transcendent reality.

It is what the eye sees in light of what the eye of the Lord sees.

It is the dark night of the soul in the brilliant light of the gospel.

as treated as imposters | yet are true

as unknown | yet well known

as dying | behold, we live

as punished | yet, not killed

as sorrowful | yet always rejoicing

as poor | yet making many rich

as having nothing | yet possessing everything

Here’s the thing about these contradictions.

They are real!

They are, in their own right, true!

It’s not that its almost like he is dying.

It’s that he is dying.

Paul died for the Corinthians, and the other churches he served, right up to the point that he was dead!

Literally, murdered by the government authorities after being handed over by the religious authorities.

But Paul was the one who was not only sustained, but had true, abundant, irrevocably eternal life.

Sam Storms The value system that accounts for Paul’s point of view is one shaped by a belief in the reality of eternity, a life everlasting in which never-ending good prevails over evil, an existence in which the beauty and splendor of Jesus Christ provide ceaseless and ever-increasing satisfaction that transcends anything this current life can afford.

Having nothing?

1 Corinthians 4:11–13 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. 

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v11-13 - OPENING THE HEART

Paul is bearing the true Truth to the Corinthians.

He is doing what the Gospel alone does.

Of all worldviews or philosophy of life …

… it is the most realistic.

It looks at what is actually real and true.

It is hard: afflictions, hardships and calamities.

This is true.

But the light of the countenance of our Lord shines on this truth

The real and true Lord, enters the reality of our hardship for his sake …

… and gives us the whole and complete of his Spirit and kingdom.

Paul opens this heart to them.

Wide open.

If they cannot be together, as fellow participants in the reality of hardship, …

… then they simply cannot be together.

But it is not Paul who has withheld his affection from them.

The call is to widen your hearts also.

The invitation is not only to accept the ministry of the apostle, but to identify and participate with him in this life as well.

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CONCLUSION

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 

What’s up with hardships?

They are hard!

My God, they are hard!!!

Here’s the thing Paul gets.

He doesn’t wait for hardship not to be hard.

He doesn’t wait until the mystery of suffering is revealed and he can learn some life lesson, …

… and say in his relief, “Your power was made perfect in my weakness.

Right there, in afflictions, hardships and calamities, when Paul is weak and life is hard, …

… when Paul “has nothing”, in the power of Christ he “possesses everything.”

This is the way of gospel ministry.

Years ago, I could have declared this truth from the word.

This morning, after 22 years of deep engagement in gospel ministry, I can preach this sermon

Hardship means hard!

I agree with Paul, not only in my mind, but in my memory and soul.

Some of you just laughed a little.

22 years! Really!

Wait until you’ve labored for 30 years, for 40 years, for more.

I am hopeful for that day.

Because today I can preach the sermon, that when Paul writes the word hardship, he means hard.

When he says, sleepless nights, he means, nights when he did not sleep.

But I want to grow with you, church.

I want to be the servant of the Lord for 40 years and preach an even deeper sermon.

I want to learn with you, that taking up your cross is the easy yoke and the light burden, …

… because it is right there that we come to the end of our every earthly hope

… and learn to cling to the power that has secured for us kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Sam Storms Nothing could be more obvious than this: if Christ is not himself a treasure of incomparable worth, a prize of incalculable value, a source of ineffable satisfaction, material hardship will only serve to embitter and harden your heart.

Will you go and learn this with me?

You do know that churches learn together, right?

For we have a Savior who has gone before us, right through deep suffering, in the Holy Spirit, by the power of God …

… to take up the crown of life for us.

He endured far more than we ever will …

… for he bore the suffering of our sin in our place.

This is why we can follow after him.

This is why his yoke is easy and burden is light, …

… for the eternal suffering has been removed when he crushed death to death.

So, all that remains for us is this great endurance in the Holy Spirit by the power of God.

Let us go to Christ and his gospel and learn this together.

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