2 Corinthians 6:3-10

2 Corinthians 6:3–10 ESV

We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

In these next 7 verses Paul again is going to remind the Corinthians of the character of his ministry. He is exhorting them to remember not only the manner in which he served God in gospel ministry, but the trials and afflictions he has served God through. Throughout all of this Paul remained above reproach.

Consider what he wrote to Timothy in,

1 Timothy 3:1–8 ESV

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.

Paul not only wrote these qualifications for an elder, he met them, he lived them out, and in this letter to the Corinthians specifically in chapter 6 he puts his on qualifications or commendations for ministry in front of the church.

Notice how what Paul writes in verse 3 and the beginning of verse .

I. Paul Served God Blamelessly

2 Corinthians 6:3-4a We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way:

Before Paul unpack the integrity and fidelity of his ministry he makes a declaration:

We put no obstacle in anyone’s way,

What is Paul saying here, what his is point?

There is nothing that we have said or done that should keep you from believing our message and following our ministry. He is painting a picture, of a path in which there are not stumbling blocks put in their way to keep them from freely walking behind and alongside the apostle. He has kept his way and his path clean.

Paul wanted to ensure that his conduct kept this ministry clear of any sin that may keep believers from believing the gospel, following Christ, and by extension following him as he was following Christ. He understood what these slanderous and false accusations being made about him could do to his ministry if not corrected.

Now, there are times when Paul calls out those who are slandering him, but what we see him doing is primarily defending his own ministry not returning slander for slander. He writes, look at what I have done. Most importantly, look at what God has done through me. Look at the way I have remained steadfast and faithful in the ministry. I have not turned from the right or the left, but continued blameless and above reproach in the ministry.

He follows this declaration with a purpose statement.

so that no fault may be found with our ministry,

He is again calling them to quit listening to those who questions his ministry. Stop being distracted by those who are seeking to discredit his work and preaching. He is telling the Corinthians to stop listening to his enemies and to look at the path he has left in his ministry!

Consider, what we know about Paul from the Scriptures. After his conversion we really don’t see him stumble. The Bible is not above revealing mens struggles either.

But other than Peter saying some of Paul’s writings are hard to understand we really don’t see a misstep in Paul’s ministry. Now we see him confessing his own wretchedness, the fact that his flesh was at war within him. But when it comes to his public ministry he says, we served in a way that was free from obstacles, and free from fault.

How can we serve God blamelessly that there be no fault in our ministry?

No, we not only see Paul serving blamelessly, we also see,

II. Paul Served God Faithfully (4-7)

What Paul does in the next 3 verses is explain through what circumstances and by what power he served God faithfully.

2 Corinthians 4-5 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance,

He says we commend ourselves and our service to you as those who are slaves to God. Our lives and work are completely under the sovereign rule of God. He has called us to this service and controls everything we do in service to him!

David Garland writes, “Paul’s service for God brings much hardship. A ministry of reconciliation requires that one must go to those who are unreconciled and impenitent, to claim those claimed by Satan, to march boldly into the dens of vice ignorance, and deviltry. It is dangerous work, as Christ’s crucifixion reveals. The demonic power do not lie down weakly in submission when the gospel is preached. But they rise up and lash out viciously in a desperate attempt to prevent it from taking hold.” (pg. 307)

How many of us consider this our calling as gospel ministers?

How should we prepare our minds and hearts to fulfill this calling?

Since this is Paul’s service as a minister of reconciliation he commends himself to the Corinthians saying,

We serve by great endurance.

I love the definition of endurance from BDAG,

Endurance - hupomonē is the capacity to hold out or bear up int he face of difficulty, patience, endurance, fortitude, steadfastness, perseverance.

Paul commend their endurance or bearing up under difficulty in a list of 9 circumstances, which can be grouped in groups of threes.

1. Gospel Suffering - in afflictions, hardships, calamities

Can you think of any of the circumstances in Paul’s life that brought about general suffering for the gospel?

2. Gospel Persecution - 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots,

Do you remember incidents in Paul’s ministry where he experienced gospel persecution?

2 Corinthians: Crossway Classic Commentaries The Apostle’s Faithfulness and Love (Verses 1–18)

“Ministers of the Gospel,” says Calvin, “are often required, while striving for peace, to pass unbroken through riots, and never waver from the right course though heaven and earth should be mixed.”

Haiti - illustration.

3. Gospel Work -labors, sleepless nights, hunger;

Do we see Paul enduring the hardships in gospel work in service to God?

This brings us to the next question, how can a gospel minister serve God faithfully bearing under these types of troubles?

Paul is about to tell us how he did it. By what power he bore up under suffering, persecution, and exhausting labor!

Paul not only served faithfully by endurance, his service was marked by integrity.

2 Corinthians 6-7a by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech and the power of God;

As you read this list what does this list remind you of?

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

I know the list in Galatians is longer and does not match perfectly, but here in Corinthians Paul says he endures by.....the Holy Spirit.....and the power of God. he tells the church at Galatia that they are to live out the fruits of the Spirit.

Paul says, here he is enduring by these moral, ethical, and Spirit empowered character qualities. He is serving God in the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within him, therefore he can serve consistently by,

purity - Paul’s ministry was marked by a life free of immorality, and unstained by unrepentant sin. His ministry and his motives were pure and unstained.

He endured by:

knowledge - he had a knowledge of God, the gospel of Jesus and the Scriptures that fueled his ministry. He labor was than a passing on of information his knowledge was lived out wisdom. His knowledge resulted in a life lived out as a servant of God and the church.

Paul also affirmed endurance doesn’t not happen apart from,

patience - he was longsuffering through persecution, and also problems within churches he planted and pastored. A faithful minister will be patient when slandered, he will also be patient with the people of God. This does not mean ignoring issues, but addressing them with a pastoral tone and heart.

Which is revealed in,

kindness

How would you describe kindness?

It is defined as the quality of being helpful or beneficial, goodness, kindness, generosity. Consider all that Paul went through, and that through all of the afflictions he face, we endured them while being kind to those around him.

How did he do this?

By,

the Holy Spirit - Paul live and served by the power of the holy Spirit. A God called minister understands his own weaknesses and recognizes any that any good that comes from or though him or her is a Spirit generated good. Any ability, any strength, any sanctification in our lives is produced by the Holy Spirit and this is what Paul is communicating here.

Paul’s ministry, was a Spirit filled ministry. He walked by the Spirit, was led by the Spirit, was taught by the Spirit and was filled with the Spirit.

The holy Spirit also generated a,

genuine love in the heart of Paul. He experienced,

Romans 5:5 ESV

and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Why else would Paul serve to the point of exhaustion? Why else would Paul be willing to be imprisoned for his preaching? Why else would Paul put his life on the line in pastoral ministry?

Because he loved God’s church and was following Christ’s example of dying for her. He laid down his own life out of his love for God and his people.

Charles Hodge writes,

2 Corinthians: Crossway Classic Commentaries The Apostle’s Faithfulness and Love (Verses 1–18)

here love must be the restricted sense of Christian love—not that affection that is exercised toward the just and the unjust, but that which springs from the special relationship of the believer to God and to his brothers. It is brotherly love, or the love of the brothers as such.

This brotherly love ought to be a mark of every one of our lives and ministries. Remember the words of Peter.

1 Peter 1:22 ESV

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

And the words of Jesus,

John 13:35 ESV

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

How can we examine our own hearts to evaluate our love for one another?

Another characteristic of Paul’s ministry was,

truthful speech

Although Paul was frequently attacked and falsely accused of all kinds of deceitfulness, he could confidently say, none of this can be proven. He was a man of truth and no claims of him tampering with, abusing, or altering the word of truth could be validated.

However in all of this he ultimately served by,

the power of God

Paul understood the primary power which preserved him in ministry was the power of God himself. He experienced it in his conversion, in his calling, in his preparation for ministry and ultimately in his preservation for ministry.

Garland states, in summary, Paul assumes that the gospel is discredited by those ministers who are lustful, impure, ignorant, overbearing, indignant, rude, unkind, and hypocritical in their love, cultivating those whom they think can benefit them in some way. Such ministers have neither the Holy Spirit or the power of God. (pg. 310)

III. Paul Served God Courageously

With

2 Corinthians 6:7b with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left;

A faithful Spirit filled minister of the gospel has a courageous confidence, not in his strength within, but with the weapons with which God has provided him. Paul was willing to go to battle not because of his own wisdom, but because of the weapons of righteousness, the Word of God.

Paul is going to tell the Corinthians later in,

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 ESV

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

Paul fought courageously with weapons of righteousness because he recognized who he was at war with!

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Here is the lesson for us. If we are going to fight against forces of darkness we need to know how to work our weapon.

If the enemy comes and your weapon is not ready, and you don’t know how to handle the Sword of the Spirit the chance of you winning the war are slim to none.

For example; our old CFO got in my truck one time and saw my pistol and asked me if it was loaded?

I asked him what good was an unloaded pistol. Many people view their Bible the same way the view their earthly weapons. I get it ready when I need it. That is too late. Just like you don’t need to wait until the intruder comes to locate and load your weapon, you don’t need to leave your Bible laying around until the spiritual war shows up.

I love what Paul said, he had weapons of righteousness in both hands, ready to battle with confidence and without fear!

We have seen Paul served God faithfully, Paul served God courageously and finally,

IV. Paul Served God Consistently

Through

2 Corinthians 8 through honor and dishonor,

There were times when Paul was honored and times when Paul was dishonored, but he did not let the level of praise he received determine his message or methods of ministry. He was not moved from his God honoring, Christ exalting ministry because of the way men treated him.

He served consistently through,

through slander and praise.

It is always amazing to me to hear the fickleness of men and women who hear the same preaching, sit under the same ministry and yet have to different responses to the same message and messenger.

For example within days I have heard (this is a while back),

We never use our hymnals from one church member,

while another members says,

This other churches music is “rocking.”

I have heard,

I don’t want to hear so many quotes in a sermon,

I say, give me more quotes of men who have endured faithfully through church history.

Do you see the paradox of ministry? Men, are tossed to and fro, ministers of the gospel cannot be! They must be consistent ministers of the gospel calling people to repent and believe in Christ, consistently reforming the churches worship of God to align with the Words of God not the words and wants of men!

Notice how Paul closes out this section in verse 8b-10.

We are treated

as impostors, and yet are true;

as unknown, and yet well known;

as dying, and behold we live;

as punished, and yet not killed;

as sorrowful, and yet always rejoicing,

as poor, yet making many rich;

as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

Do you see the highs and lows which Paul ministered through?

What does this do to the Joel Osteen model of ministry?

Paul explained to the Corinthians,

There are times when people receive the message of reconciliation and respond to us as ministers of truth, but there are times when we preach this message and are treated as minister of the father of lies.

There are times in gospel ministry when we are well known wherever we go, and at other times we are treated as those who have never been heard of.

At times we labor to the point of death and at time was are spiritually renewed to continue working for the Lord for the good of his church.

There are days, when we are being beaten, whipped, stoned for serving God, but even then he spares us that we might continue to be his ministers!

It is during these times of renewal and restoration that we rejoice. After the sorrow comes a spiritual joy because of the faithfulness of God.

Even during the days we feel like we are flat broke, God reminds of the spiritual riches we have in Christ. He reminds us we have been born again,

1 Peter 1:4–5 ESV

to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

He reminds us of the,

of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every Spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Even though we have nothing now, we no we possess everything in Christ!

How should we respond in light of the paradoxes in ministry?

How should Paul’s blamelessness, faithfulness, courageousness, and consistency in ministry effect us?