Working For And With God (Part 5)

Turn with me in your Bible to the Book of 2 Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 6:1-10

Let’s pray.

Those who proclaim the gospel, regardless of whether you are a pastor, teacher, or layperson, are both loved and despised. This can obviously be said of most people without proclaiming the gospel, but there is more readily a greater intensity in the love/hate dichotomy when the gospel is always on your lips. Those who work for and with God, as the Apostle Paul opens with in verse 1, should accept, expect, and even embrace that there will be sharp differences in how others will respond to you as a person, solely based on your relationship with Christ.

Over the last four weeks together, we have studied some of what is to be expected when you embrace your calling as a minister of reconciliation and ambassador for Christ – and it is a calling that is on the life of every born-again believer. If God has saved you by His grace, you are a minister of reconciliation and an ambassador for Jesus Christ, the only question is if you an active and obedient minister and ambassador, or if you are an inactive and disobedient minister and ambassador.

The same goes for being a disciple of Jesus Christ. It is your identity if you have truly been saved. You don’t grow into becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ, it is instead who you are at the very moment of salvation. And again, it is a matter of obedience or disobedience as to whether you are an effective disciple or ineffective disciple.

It has been revealed to us through this study, that everything that is expected of us and everything that we are faced with as believers, are gifts of grace and our response to these gifts, whether we perceive them as blessings or trials, are dependent upon our relationship with the Holy Spirit and how much we have surrendered our lives to His control.

Paul has also given us the tremendous truth that everything that comes into our lives as believers, is for the essential purpose of building godly endurance into our lives; endurance that is vital to our fruitfulness and effectiveness as ministers and ambassadors.

Paul started several representative lists of things to expect with afflictions, hardships, and distresses, listing some examples from his life and ministry. He then moved onto several examples of blessing that have also played a role in building godly endurance into his life. Paul’s final list, which we will unpack today, is a series of contrasts that is again, representative of being ministers of reconciliation and ambassadors for Christ.

2 Corinthians 6:8a – “by glory and dishonor…”

Paul introduced the following contrasts in the final verse that we considered last week. I did not elaborate on the final aspect of “the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left”. I did speak to the weapons of righteousness, but that final phrase, “for the right hand and the left” introduces the contrasts that follow.

As I begin to help us better understand these terms, please keep in mind that Paul does not teach or even suggest that one is better than the other in equipping the believer with the necessary endurance for accomplishing our responsibility and duty as ministers and ambassadors. The implication is that both sides of the contrasts that we will look at this morning are equally adept at instilling godly endurance into our lives. Each pairing contains needful experiences for us to continue the process of growing in sanctification, and we must welcome them into our lives as tools to assist us and help us and equip us for the cause of Christ.

The first pairing is glory and dishonor. The first word translated here as “glory” carries the sense of honor, positive acknowledgement, recognition, and esteem of one’s character, nature, and attributes. So, on the right hand if you will, the minister and ambassador who actively proclaims the gospel will be recognized by some and held in high esteem for the work that they are doing in the kingdom. There is a certain respect that is given by some, even if not verbally spoken.

Again, this is attributable to all believers, but a good example could be how pastors were once respected and esteemed even in their communities, let alone their churches. The position of a pastor was something that even unbelievers showed a certain measure of honor towards. This is not as common in our current culture. The characteristics of Romans 1 pertaining to those that refuse to acknowledge God is growing by the moment, and as God continues to turn these apostates over to their sin, their blatant disrespect for God and all who are called by His name continues to grow – they are becoming more emboldened in their sinfulness. Which leads us to the other side of this frit pairing.

Dishonor, as translated here, is a state of shame, disgrace, and even disgust that will be aimed at you by some – primarily by those I just mentioned. Let’s refresh our memories instead of me just referring to it.

Holding your place in 2 Corinthians, turn with me in your Bible to the Book of Romans. I want us to read a lengthy passage to get the sense of the kinds of people who will react to you in a negative manner as you are obedient in your calling as ministers and ambassadors.

Romans 1:18-32

This passage would solve a lot of the perplexities that you face if you would keep these truths at the forefront of your mind. The multitudes that have and continue to exchange the truth of God for the lies of Satan will grow in their hostility to truth and to those who stand for God’s truth. So, it should be no wonder that Paul has experienced and that we experience dishonor among unbelievers.

If you remember the account in Acts 14:8-19 when Paul and Barnabas were in Lycaonia. One minute they were being worshiped as gods and the next they were being stoned, all because of their stand for God’s truth.

2 Corinthians 6:8b – “by evil report and good report…”

The Greek word translated here as evil report relates to being slandered – it means abusive words falsely spoken to cause damage to one’s reputation. Do not be shocked or even surprised when people lie about you and spread false rumors about you to discredit you and harm you. This kind of behavior is to be expected when you proclaim the gospel, when you attempt to spread the message of God’s grace. Satan wants nothing more than to destroy God’s true children, and God sometimes allows slanderous words to be spoken and spread about you as a tool to build endurance into your life for greater effectiveness and usefulness for His divine purposes.

Good report is similar to what we have already studied in the word glory. This is being held in high esteem and honor in the words that people speak about you. And again, even though we obviously would much rather be spoken of in good terms rather than evil terms, God uses both for His glory and for our personal growth and sanctification. We must not be puffed up and proud when good things are said about us, and we must not be discouraged and upset when evil things are said about us. Both are used by God in the lives of His ministers and ambassadors.

2 Corinthians 6:8c – “regarded as deceivers and yet true…”

This third pairing of contrasting aspects of the believer’s life builds on being slandered. You may be attacked so harshly and persistently that your reputation will be irreparably damaged in the eyes of some, where you will be regarded or thought about as someone who deliberately deceives people. There are still people in this community that think such thoughts about Connie and me, but it is more so a badge of honor when this mindset that people have been deceived with is because of your stand for the truth.

And Paul adds the “and yet true” to set the record straight. You cannot control what other people think or say about you, especially when they are under the influence of Satan and his demons. Stop trying! If someone desires to sit down with you and get your side of the story to form a better opinion about what is going on, fine – answer their questions. But there is no value in going on a campaign to clear your name other than to stroke your own pride. “‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay’, says Yahweh” (Romans 12:19). Let God handle it. He will do an infinitely better job than you could possibly accomplish on your own. Not to mention that God uses such to build endurance into your life, and you are resisting this opportunity to grow in godliness by uselessly fighting for your name in the physical sense when it’s a spiritual battle.

2 Corinthians 6:9a – “as unknown yet well-known…”

This is more than just being unknown, but rather it means being disregarded or dismissed because of the message that you proclaim. This has nothing to do with popularity and the community at large knowing who you are, this is being dismissed because of your message or people paying attention and taking note of what you have to say – which is an indication of the difference between those who are hardened in their unbelief or being drawn to belief by the Holy Spirit; those who have been turned over to their sin as opposed to those who have not crossed that line with God.

2 Corinthians 6:9b – “as dying yet behold, we live…”

At the conference that Brad and I attended last week, Steve Lawson mentioned a quote from the late Adrian Rogers: “The problem with pastors today is that nobody wants to kill them anymore.” Meaning that most pastor’s stand for the gospel and the truth is so weak that Satan no longer even pays attention to them – they do enough damage to biblical Christianity on their own without Satan’s involvement. It is only those who are bold in their witness and straightforward in proclaiming the truth who are threatened and, in today’s culture, censored. Yet God sustains us, and we continue to endure.

2 Corinthians 6:9c – “as punished yet not put to death…”

These terms are clear and need no further explanation from additional nuances that often come from the Greek. The sense is simply that the punishment implied here is the ill-treatment already outlined in the previous characteristics, but this treatment never reaches the level of being put to death. This is not necessarily because the intentions are not there, but that God is sovereign over the length of your time on earth.

Your life cannot be cut short by any human or even any demon. You will be here for as long as God wants you to be here. You will not die an early death – there is no such thing as an early death. You will also not live one second longer than God has ordained for you. We obviously take precautions when facing dangerous situations, but we should never fear death. You can take all the precautions possible and live in a bubble isolated from the rest of humanity and your appointment with death will not change. You can eat nothing but healthy food, get the precise amount of exercise that is required for optimum health, but your appointment with death will not be altered by even one second.

This does not mean that you should thrown caution to the wind, eat terrible food all the time and shun exercise, because we have no such promises in the bible as to the quality of your life, you just have no control over the quantity of days that you have.

2 Corinthians 6:10a– “as sorrowful yet always rejoicing…”

Physical and emotional pain are inevitable in our lives. The curse of sin that has comprehensively permeated our world and the sin nature that we were infected with at conception, ensures physical and emotional pain that nobody can escape in this life. Much of this pain is sorrowful, meaning that it pierces our hearts and weighs heavy on our emotions. If I have had the opportunity to even begin to get to know you who are here this morning, as I have with most, I could list a thing or two off the top of my head that has brought this kind of sorrow to your life.

Yet the context here probably leans to the sorrows that we face for being minsters and ambassadors, sorrows that are solely because we are blood-bought believers and thus enemies of Satan and the forces of darkness.

But regardless of the cause of sorrow, as those who have been saved by grace alone through faith alone and in Christ alone, we are, or should be, always rejoicing. The pain of this life are but for a moment in comparison to the eternity of joy and eternal energy that awaits us when this temporary existence is over.

2 Corinthians 6:10b – “as poor yet making many rich…”

Whether you have little of this world’s treasures or you have much, Paul is implying that whatever we possess in the material realm is poverty compared to the spiritual riches that we are to be sharing and distributing as ministers and ambassadors. We possess the true treasure in the message of the gospel, in the grace that we have been given. And thus, as we persevere in being His witnesses, we instantly make those who respond to the gospel call, spiritually rich beyond their wildest dreams.

This life is but a vapor and is full of trouble. We are all paupers no matter what your bank account and investment accounts say, because nothing you accumulate in the physical realm will be traveling with you when life here is complete. Nothing in the physical, material, or financial realm is transferrable to your spiritual life in heaven or in hell and the lake of fire. Nothing that you accumulate here will offer you any comfort in hell or gain you any additional favor in heaven. The only real and true riches are reserved for the spiritual aspects of life.

2 Corinthians 6:10c – “as having nothing yet possessing all things.”

As believers the unbelieving world may think that we appear to have nothing, yet we possess all things that truly matter.

The calling to be ministers of reconciliation and ambassadors for Christ offers us nothing in what the world considers to be of value and worthy of pursuit. When you surrender to and embrace this calling, it will not make you famous, will not bring you material riches, and will not even cause your life to be easier and more comfortable. You can expect afflictions and hardships and distresses to be your almost constant companions.

Despite what the prosperity false teachers continue to promote on TV and in their books, your best life is not now, you are not promised divine physical health, and you are not guaranteed a fat bank account while having this physical experience on earth. We are instead promised tribulation and trials, but they are only temporary, they refine us, they sanctify us, the mold us into being like Jesus Christ, and they prepare us for the unending joy of the reward of heaven.

Beloved, for those of you who have already repented of your sins, confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believed in your heart that God the Father has raised Jesus from the dead, stop obsessing over all of your troubles, stop fighting against the refining work of these troubles, and stop expecting a care-free life. Embrace everything that God allows into your life and revel in how all things are growing you and sanctifying you and molding you into Christlikeness.

For those here this morning that have not yet believed in Jesus Christ with saving faith, turn your life over to Christ right now. The opening of this passage that we have spent the last five weeks absorbing says, “Behold, now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation”.

Let’s pray.