Highly Recommended, Part 2

to 2 Corinthians. Once again,
2 Corinthians. Paul is taking some heat. He’s talking about his ministry
which essentially is characterized by a ministry taking heat. And often ministries do. I shared
with you last week, kind of a tongue-in-cheek, Criticism of pastors. I found
another one this week. It kind of comes with the territory,
as you will find. This one was entitled a chain
letter to a perfect pastor. I don’t know why they sent it
to me. It says the results of a computerized
survey of the expectations of church members now indicate the
following characteristics of the perfect pastor. He preaches
exactly 15 minutes and includes all the Bible has to say on the
subject. He condemns everybody else’s
sin except yours. He never says anything anyone
might disagree with. He works from 6 a.m. to midnight,
yet gets eight hours of sleep so that he can stay healthy.
He’s also the church janitor after every service. He prepares
a sermon every week for 40 years and never repeats an idea, an
illustration or a joke. He’s 28 years old, but he’s been
in the ministry for 30 years. Half of his hair is youthful
blonde and the other half is gray to give him that distinguished
look. Of all the things on the list, that’s the only one that’s
stuck. He has a burning desire to work
with teenagers, but nobly spends all of his time with senior citizens.
He is a close personal friend to every member in the church.
And on and on it goes. Bring that up just to illustrate
that that criticism that Paul was facing so venomously is really
part and parcel of the ministry. That’s what led Charles Bridges
to admonish those under his care and his great book, The Christian
Ministry. He said, you are now to be placed
in the forefront of the battle. and to stand, as it were, for
His mark. So far as He can prevail against
you now, not yourself only, but many others will be affected.”
And he speaks of the devil plying out, looking for ways that he
can expose your error. He goes on and says, “…many
eyes will be upon you, and if you take a wrong step, or are
ensnared into a wrong spirit, you will open the mouths of the
adversaries wider and grieve the hearts of believers more
sensibly than before you were a servant of Christ.” To be in
the ministry is to sign up for that kind of scrutiny. As Bridges
said elsewhere, a minister is indeed a city set upon a hill
for all to see. And in Paul’s case, for all to
criticize. We began looking last week at
this more lengthy portion of 2 Corinthians, that if you would,
I want to go all the way back to chapter 6, verse 1. In chapter 6, verse 1, Paul began
what we entitled a call to the proper use of grace. They’re
taken right from the very first verse. a call to the proper use
or employment of grace. Read along with me, if you would,
and we’ll read the passage in its entirety because by now we
have pressed full on into the latter verses of this portion.
In verse one, Paul says, and working together with him, we
urge you not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says,
at the acceptable time I listened to you and on the day of salvation
I helped you. Behold, now is the acceptable
time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Giving no cause for offense in
anything so that the ministry will not be discredited. But
in everything, commending ourselves as servants of God in much endurance,
in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in
imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in
hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in
the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the
power of God, by the weapons of righteousness for the right
hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and
good report, Regarded as deceivers and yet true, as unknown, yet
well known, as dying, yet behold, we live as punished, yet not
put to death, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet
making many rich, as having nothing, yet possessing all things. The
main thrust, the simple sentence of this entire 10 verse section,
is that we urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. It
was that that determined the course of this passage. A call
to the proper use of grace. But we saw in there what I suggested
were four undergirding pillars in this appeal for reconciliation
to God. Four undergirding pillars. Look
at the first. That this work is done in cooperation
with God. We are partners with God. Rather,
he has made us partners with him. Look at verse one again,
working together with him. It’s an astounding thought. And
when we looked at it, when you consider it, it’s almost unthinkable
that God would condescend not only to save us, but to take
us in and to put us to use in the ministry of the gospel. It’s
a it’s a grand thought. It’s an overwhelming thought.
Not only is this sweet summons to grace, as I entitled it, made
in cooperation with God. Secondly, it is the declared
moment of opportunity. We never know when we are standing
face to face with one who will only hear the gospel this time. And it is with that kind of passion,
it’s with that kind of desire behind all of that, that we appeal. Just as Paul did. We beg you
on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God. No wonder Paul says we
urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain because he goes
on to say at the acceptable time on the day of salvation. Behold,
now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation. We never know whether we stand
face to face with one who will be soon in eternity. We never
know. Thirdly, this sweet summons to
grace is not only made in cooperation with God, not only is it the
declared moment of opportunity as God has stated it, but thirdly,
it is from a devotion to honor our calling. It is born out of
a devotion to honor our calling. Look at verse three, where Paul
says, we urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain, giving
no cause for offense in anything. so that the ministry will not
be discredited. There are critics and there will
always be people that will find something to criticize. Yet our
goal, our great desire as servants of God is to live an unblemished
life, to live a life that is pleasing to God, to live a life
that honors Christ, to live a life that in and of itself declares
and proclaims the greatness of our God and Savior. But there’s a fourth undergirding
pillar to this ministry of reconciliation. This sweet summons to grace is
made in cooperation with God. It is the declared moment of
opportunity. It is made from a devotion to
honor our calling. And fourth, it is attended with
our commitment to serve. It is attended with our commitment
to serve, look at verse four. where Paul says, we urge you
not to receive the grace of God in vain, but in everything, commending
ourselves as servants of God. And it is there we had to pause.
We had to pause and say, you mean to say that I am to stand
myself up before unbelievers with believers at my side? I’m
to stand myself up as an example of a Christian? That’s what it
says. And I don’t believe that it says
it just to pastors of churches. I believe that this is the great
call of all of us. Just as Peter said, to be holy
as I am holy. There is a purpose for God’s
calling in our life. Now, I shared with you that as
Paul begins to get into this great section, As he begins to
look at each of these various points that he brings up, I said
that there was a structure and I outlined it last week. And
I just want to go back and briefly share with you why I did what
I did, why I believe that it outlines this way. First and
foremost, Paul says we are to be commending ourselves. Look
at verse four, as servants of God in everything. Very comprehensive. And so that’s
why I said everything else beginning in verse 4, halfway through verse
4, all the rest of it through verse 10 hangs on that statement. We are commending ourselves as
servants of God in everything. Everything is subordinate to
that. But the first thing that Paul says, he says, in much endurance. And then he lists for us a great
deal of difficulties that we so often face in ministry, certainly
that Paul did. And everything down through verse
five hangs underneath that in much endurance, in afflictions
and hardships and distresses and so on. And then Paul picks
up his list in verse six as those things under the umbrella of
everything. Those things along the lines
of in much endurance that he wants to add to impurity and
knowledge and patience and so on. He wraps up with that great
list by Saying that we commend ourselves as servants of God
in everything in the power of God. And it is that. That leads Paul to change his
preposition, as I said last week, to D.F. For those of you in the
Greek. And we’re in 7b, he says that this power of God manifests
itself. It shows itself through three
arenas by the weapons of righteousness, by glory and dishonor, by evil
report and good report. And when he mentions those good
reports and bad reports, it is that that Paul will use to close
down this great discussion begun back in chapter 2, verse 17 on
the Christian ministry. All of those various reports Regarded as deceivers and yet
true, as unknown, yet well known, dying, yet behold, we live all
of those. And that is the structure that
we’ll take up this morning. We began last week. We began
last week where Paul had said that we are to be commending
ourselves as servants of God in everything. The point is so
crucial. The ministry is so crucial. What
hangs in the balance is so important, so valuable in God’s eyes that
it’s not enough for Paul to say it in the negative, that we are
to give no cause for offense in anything, but also to state
it in the positive, in everything, commending ourselves. It’s one
thing to sequester yourself in your house and You could do that
and give no cause for offense in anything except being neighborly
and friendly. But it’s quite another thing
to actually get out there, isn’t it? It’s another thing to get
out there and to live like God would have you to live. There
was so much at stake, that Paul couldn’t do one without urging
the other as well. Paul wasn’t commended by his
learning. He wasn’t commended by the fact that he was a Pharisee.
He wasn’t commended by his heritage. We are not commended by our seminary
degrees or whatever particular doctrinal position we hold or
whatever society we’re a part of, by our personality, our success,
whatever. And as I said, when we first
heard this, this thought seems to our ears so arrogant, doesn’t
it? We have to almost stand back and apologize for Paul. It’s as if Paul is saying, hey,
look at me, I’m a Christian, right? And that sounds very strange
to us, but it’s very biblical. It isn’t human ego that’s at
work. It isn’t man’s arrogance that’s run away from him. God
had so worked in Paul’s life And he had so much enjoyed this
great measure of God’s transforming grace that the only thing he
could do would be to stand before others younger in the faith and
say, watch and do. Do as I do. The New Testament, I suggested,
but did not quote in any kind of lengthy fashion the great
number of places where this shows itself to be true. In Paul’s
life particularly, Philippians 3.17, Paul said, join in following
my example. In Philippians 4.9, the things
you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice
these things. Why didn’t he just point them
to Christ? Because Paul was an earthly example. 1 Corinthians
4.16, be imitators of me. 1 Corinthians 11.1, be imitators
of me, just as I also am of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4.2, we have renounced
the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness
or adulterating the word, but by the manifestation of truth,
commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight
of God. Paul wasn’t afraid. Second Thessalonians 3 7 offering
ourselves as a model for you. We need to get over it. We need
to get over this idea that any kind of setting up of himself
as a model, as an example, was arrogant. It simply wasn’t. Paul
was testifying by his life of the grace of God, and he calls
us to do so just as he did to Timothy. Commending ourselves as servants
of God. And he says just to raise the
bar a little bit on us in everything. And this is where we began. He
starts that great list with much endurance. We saw that it was
a patient endurance and that it is judged to be chief among
Christian virtues. That the word is so rich that
no one English word really expresses its deep meaning. It is a steadfastness
in the face of death. It is a foundation, as one said,
of all right action. 2 Corinthians 1.6, where Paul opened
this letter, he spoke of this kind of endurance. If we are
afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted,
it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring
of the same sufferings, which also we suffer. It is a patient
endurance. It is an endurance that looks
beyond the earthly and sees what is in view. The great end of
pleasing and glorifying God. The great end of heaven itself.
Colossians 1.11 Paul said that we are strengthened with all
power according to His glorious might for the attaining of all
steadfastness and patience. Paul says we can endure anything
in Christ. We have enough of the grace of
God to endure anything as Christians. Romans 5, 3, to wrap up Paul’s
thinking on it. Not only this, we exult in our
tribulations. Try that one on your friend the
next time they’re in trouble. We exult in our tribulations,
knowing that tribulation brings about patience. That’s what produces
this endurance in us. That’s what gets us through.
And it was a thought that Jesus, as we saw, began with the one
who endures to the end should be saved. No wonder saints throughout
history have put a premium on endurance. One Puritan said it this way
regarding the ministry There is a danger. Lest the powerful
energy of the word should be weakened by its application to
ourselves, lest we should gradually lose our relish for our work
or excuse ourselves from self-denying exercises and sink into heartless
despondency. There is the tendency, he says,
to have a little pity party. To be saddened when these criticisms
arise and to take it out, in a sense, on the ministry itself.
He goes on and says, a course of opposition to our message
may stir up a selfish, unhumbled spirit. Popularity is yet more
dangerous. The few who escape its influence
unheard have been exercised in painful conflicts. such as have
shown their deliverances from this fiery trial to have been
nearly miraculous. Symptoms of success, unless tempered
with personal abasement and habitual watchfulness, excite to self-confidence.”
What he says is the whole purpose of trials is to make us humble,
keep us humble, and make us usable and serviceable to God. What
a glorious mercy this is when the saint is faced with trial. And when we endure, it is by
God’s grace. And when we endure, it isn’t
this grim, stoic, tough-it-out mentality. It is as one characterized
it, triumphant patience. I shared with one saint this
week the great verse from Job 23, when he has tried me. I shall come forth as gold. It’s not if, it’s when. In much endurance, we began by
looking at this list at the circumstantial difficulties that we face. Circumstances through which we
must persevere for the sake of the gospel. Hardships Paul speaks
of in very generous, general terms, troubles that are really
independent of human agency. Look at the list. Commending
ourselves as servants of God in afflictions, just general
pressure from without. And it just speaks of pressure
or oppression or some kind of affliction pressing in on us. Jesus said those who follow Christ
must expect To follow Christ in this experience of afflictions
in the world, you will have tribulation. But take courage, I have overcome
the world, Paul said just verses ago in second Corinthians four,
eight, we are afflicted in every way. And the saint knows these
afflictions, the Christian knows the great diversity of troubles
and difficulty that can come to him. You recall from last
week, Paul, having been stoned, dragged out of the city as a
dead man, laid in a heap, suddenly, by God’s grace, rose to his feet
with this conclusion. Through many tribulations, we
must enter the kingdom of God. Not only tribulations, but Paul
says hardships, just a word that speaks of general difficulties
and distresses. Trials and difficulties that
there is no easy escape. If there is one at all, it is
literally to be between a rock and a hard place. Not only did we see that there
are circumstantial difficulties, but there is also difficulties
from men, difficulties from persecution. And Paul goes into that beginning
in verse five, where he says that we are to be commending
ourselves as servants of God in beatings. That is in how we
receive the beatings, how we respond when we are mistreated,
even physically, because our natural tendency is to respond
in kind, isn’t it? beatings, all kinds of different
beatings, beatings with rods, beatings with whips, beatings
with blows from the fist, a punch in the face. Paul said he was
beaten times without number. He couldn’t even count anymore. Ultimately, it says that he was
beaten five times from the Jews with thirty nine lashes that
taken from Deuteronomy Chapter 25, which says, if the wicked
man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make him lie down
and be beaten in his presence with a number of strikes. According
to his guilt, he may beat him 40 times, but no more. And so
the Jews in their graciousness, not wanting to miscount and transgress
God’s law, counted out 39. The problem was Paul wasn’t guilty
of anything. Jesus warns us to expect that
kind of treatment. Beware of men, they will hand
you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues. And
not only that, they will imprison you. Look at the next. We don’t
even know how many times Paul was imprisoned. The book of Acts
mentions only one, but we know that he was a prisoner in Philippi.
We know that he was a prisoner in Jerusalem, Caesarea in Rome. Look again at the list, not only
beatings and imprisonments, but tumults we saw. There were some
that wanted to take two malts just to mean kind of upset living,
being tossed to and fro, having to move constantly from city
to city to city. It’s an interesting thought.
But everywhere Paul went, there were two malts. It’s not just
that Paul’s life was tumultuous. It’s that everywhere Paul went,
there were riots and difficulties and disturbances. It was that
kind of thing that’s in mind. The hatred of the Jews against
Paul led them to constantly persecute him and chase him and beat him.
Let me take you on a tour just briefly. Turn, if you would,
to Acts chapter 13. We’ll try and do this with great adeptness. Very quickly,
Acts chapter 13. And look at verse 50 if you would.
And we’re going to go quickly. It says, But the Jews incited
the devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city
and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and
drove them out of their district. Look at chapter 14, verse 5. And when an attempt was made
by both Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers to mistreat
and stone them.” Look at verse 19 of that same chapter. “…Jews
came from Antioch and Iconium. Having won over the crowds, they
stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city.” Turn to chapter
16. In chapter 16, verse 19, you don’t
get any bonus points for sword drills on this because you’re
all in the same book, right? 16, verse 19. But when her masters saw that
their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and
dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. Skip
down to verse 22. The crowd rose up together against
them and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and
proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. Chapter 17,
if you would. In chapter 17, look at verse
5, the Jews becoming jealous and taking along some wicked
men from the marketplace formed a mob and set the city in an
uproar and attacking the house of Jason. They were seeking to
bring them out to the people. Skip over to chapter 18, verse
12. But while Galileo was proconsul
of Achaia, the Jews, with one accord, rose up against Paul
and brought him before the judgment seat.” Skip to chapter 21 of
Acts. And for the sake of time, I’ll
read you but one verse. Verse 30 of Acts chapter 21,
where it says, “…then all the city…” I mean, imagine this.
You get some kind of an award because it’s one thing to stir
up an entire small group, but it’s quite another to stir up
the entire city. Then all the city was provoked
and the people rushed together and taking hold of Paul. They
dragged him out of the temple and immediately the doors were
shut, kicked right out of church. Acts chapter 19 records another
great disturbance. We’ll wrap it up there only to
say. that as one other great man of
God put it, the innate opposition that exists between the substance
and the objects of our ministry offers a material impediment
to our success. In other words, the very nature
of the people that we go to minister to and the very nature of the
gospel means that it is going to be a mighty clash. It is two
fronts converging. the warm and the cold front.
And there is going to be lightning. He goes on to say, we speak to
those whose attention is already preoccupied, whose affections
have been pre-engaged and whose hearts are hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin. The truth, therefore, never comes
into contact with a sincere and an honest heart. Enmity is the
concentrated essence of man’s depravity. And what do you think
we’re going to draw out when we begin to address them with
the gospel? It is at once the cause and effect of that moral
or spiritual darkness which shuts out the entrance of light and
offers difficulties to the process of enlightening the eyes. And
it is unconquerable by any force short of heaven’s influence.
Don’t take it personally. When you are rejected, don’t
take it personally when the gospel is not received. If it were not
for the grace of God, it would never be received. We want to turn to a third source
of difficulties that Paul was facing. We want to turn to the
difficulties that are born out of dedication. Dedication difficulties,
if you will, We’re looking at circumstances
through which we must persevere. As servants of God, for the sake
of the gospel, not only circumstantial difficulties and difficulties
from persecution, but dedication, difficulties, troubles that are
voluntarily endured, troubles which we literally take upon
ourselves. You might even call it self-inflicted
trouble. Paul says that we are to be commending
ourselves. Look down in verse five. We are
to be commending ourselves in labors, in labors. And I take that to mean that
it wasn’t just a job. We’re all called to toil with
our hands. We’re all called to labor. But
I take this to mean not only work, but the work of ministry. Not only the toils by which Paul
supported himself and others, but even his labors in the gospel
ministry. Paul worked literally to the
point of exhaustion, to great fatigue. His ministry was hard
work, arduous work. And in addition to that, he worked
with his hands many times in order to support himself and
his ministry and those with him. In Acts 20, verse 34, Paul just
brings up this thought when he says, You yourselves know that
these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who
were with me. Paul wasn’t afraid to roll up
his sleeves and to find work and toil and to work for the
simply for the privilege of proclaiming Christ, to add to his opportunities
in the gospel ministry. In First Corinthians 4.12, Paul
said it again to the Corinthians, he said, we toil. working with
our own hands. And he’s not talking about the
ministry anymore. Working with our own hands. When
we are reviled, we blessed. When we are persecuted, we endure.
Paul wasn’t afraid of hard work. To the Thessalonians, he wrote,
do you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working
night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaim
to you the gospel of God. Second Thessalonians three, eight.
He wrote back to the Thessalonians, and because of that, I’ve often
wondered if there was a criticism, a subtle criticism of Paul for
constantly asking the Thessalonians and all the other churches for
financial support, not so much for himself. Paul testified to them, nor did
we eat anyone’s bread. without paying for it, but with
labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would
not be a burden to any of you.” That toilsomeness just was a
feature, a prominent feature of Paul’s life. In 2 Corinthians 11.23, Which starts that great section,
remember, of all the difficulties that basically Paul considered
momentary light affliction. He starts that list by saying
in far more labors. He worked harder than anybody
else that anybody knew. To the Corinthians later on in this
same epistle, 2nd Corinthians 11, he said, I have been in labor
and hardship. It was just part and parcel of
his life. Here’s how it happened. It’s
recorded in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 18. It says that
after these things, he left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found
a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come
from Italy, and his wife Priscilla. Because Claudius had commanded
all the Jews to leave Rome, he came to them. And because he
was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working. For by trade, they were tent
makers. This is where we get the phrase. Tent making ministry. Sometimes that’s the only way
that missionaries now are allowed into countries is if they come
in a tent making capacity. For Paul, it was just an absolute
necessity. No wonder Paul said to the Thessalonians,
labor and hardship, working night and day. And what we know is
that during the day he was likely going about from place to place,
preaching the gospel at every opportunity, but at night was
painstakingly sewing heavy canvas tents. Not only labors, Paul says, and
if any of us think that ministry comes without labors. It’s not
ministry at all. Because look what else it produces.
Paul calls not only labors, but sleeplessness. And I take this
to mean not just, you know, that he had a case of insomnia. There
are many things that will keep the servant of God awake. The
troubles of the saints, the difficulties that come, The fact that those
things are just weighty upon us, not to mention the criticisms
and harsh treatment that often we receive as servants of God.
Those things will keep us awake, but I don’t think that’s what’s
in view here. I think it’s the manual labor that he’s talking
about that literally prevented him from bowing his head in sleep,
teaching, traveling, all of that, praying and meditating. Paul
was too busy to sleep. I love the website of my faithful
friend that is entitled Sleep When We’re Dead. That was Paul’s opinion, wasn’t
it? That was Paul’s approach. Paul was tireless in his effort
and in his desire to minister to churches, to those who were
under his care. It was more important to him
that he ministered to them with great faithfulness, even then
he sleep. To the Corinthians in that great
list in 2nd Corinthians 11, he said, I’ve been in labor and
hardships through many sleepless nights. Anyone who’s ever served
Christ, you know it. There have been times where you
just simply you’re tied up, you’re at the hospital. You’re with
someone going through difficulty. You know it’s way past your bedtime.
Or maybe you had to get up way before your bedtime is due. The word covers a lot more than
just insomnia. It’s everything that prevents
a person from sleeping. And Paul, so often taught and
traveled, worked with his hands and it literally prevented him
from bowing in sleep. It is all the occasions when
Paul voluntarily went without sleep. These are the things that
we take up. And not only that, but he says
hunger. And I don’t take this to mean that Paul was so poor
that he couldn’t buy a crust of bread. I take this to mean
that it was a voluntary foregoing. This isn’t fasting. This is a
voluntary foregoing of food. It’s a forgetfulness about the
food because you’re so engaged in the labors. You’re so engaged
in the work of God that you simply forgot it was dinner. And there are a few of us that
know that kind of energetic labor, some on occasion, there have
been some of us that are so caught up, so tied in to whatever it
is we’re doing that we’ve forgotten the meal. But Paul said for him,
it was frequent, it was so frequent, it was characteristic of his
ministry. Could we say with him? Could
we say with Job that I’ve treasured the words of your mouth more
than my necessary food? Paul could. Paul could. But it wasn’t all negative aspects
of the ministry. It’s all of these things that
accompany the gospel ministry that Paul wants to address, not
just the manifold trials that we’ve been looking at. But he
says there’s also much that comes that is so good and glorious,
the graces of the ministry, as it were. And it is that that
we’ll begin to turn to this morning. Look at verse six. Where Paul
begins referring to the virtues of the ministry, that the manifestations
to us by way of the divine presence, said one. The apostle turns from
all of those outward things impinging and affecting his ministry to
the inward signs. of legitimacy and sincerity.
These are the spiritual qualities. These are the graces of God,
the means by which we as servants of God are enabled. Look at this
brief list. In purity, in knowledge, in patience,
in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word
of truth, in the power of God. Consider the first. that we are
commending ourselves, we are to be commending ourselves as
servants of God in purity. And that means not only purity
of life, but purity of motive as well. It is not only holiness,
but it is integrity. As one said, the delicacy of
mind which makes a man careful to keep a clean heart and clean
hands. It’s purity of heart, purity
of life, purity of words and deeds. And that includes not
only the freedom from those immoral acts, but the freedom from suspect
motives as well. It’s a comprehensive word. Paul was above reproach as believers
are expected to be, especially those that lead the church. It
isn’t perfect. We’re not called to be perfect. We won’t be perfect until glory,
but we are called to have a life that is not indictable. As we
will see to the Philippians, Paul wrote that they were to
prove themselves to be blameless and innocent. Not perfect, but
not having this blemish, not having this scar, this curse
of sinfulness that undermined every word that came out of their
mouth. Prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children
of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse
generation among whom you appear as lights in the world. Isn’t
that our goal? Isn’t that the very cause that
Paul has taken up here? The ministry of reconciliation,
giving no cause for offense in anything. That we may call those
to Christ, that others may not be clouded with the way that
we live our lives so that they can actually hear the words that
we say as we plead them and urge them Christward. I said it was a quality that
was expected also of the elders of the church. But it’s not just
the elders of the church. Nevertheless, in First Timothy
3, 2, Paul says an overseer then must be above reproach. You’ve
got to have a testimony of life before people want to hear the
testimony of your lips. You’ve got to be who you say
you are. With regards to your wife, with regards to your family,
your prudence, your hospitality, which goes far beyond inviting
someone to dinner. Titus, he takes it up again,
if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife having
children who believe not accused of dissipation or rebellion.
If we’re going to have a ministry, If we’re going to reach out to
others and testify of the grace of God and call others to repentance,
ought we not have a testimony? Ought we not to have a testimony
that undergirds that call? Paul did, and we should. We’re not only to commend ourselves
in purity, we’re to commend ourselves in knowledge. This doesn’t mean
degrees. This doesn’t mean that we’re
supposed to be know-it-alls about all the various things, all the
disciplines in which someone could engage. To be a man of,
as it used to be called, letters. The more letters behind your
name, the better. It isn’t just practical wisdom that’s
in view here. It isn’t just knowledge and understanding
or a way of dealing with people and circumstances. But it’s a
comprehensive knowledge. It’s doctrine. It’s a knowledge
of the way Scripture works and what Scripture outlines as a
way of salvation. I said, one, Paul had no doubts
about the validity of the knowledge that he possessed. It was a knowledge
of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. It was a way of looking
at the big picture of life. and to see that God was in control,
and that God had provided a Savior, that God had worked out this
plan of redemption, and that God in the end wins. It is knowledge. It is ultimate knowledge, he
goes on to say. It is available in Christ to every believer,
however humble, without respect to innate ability or social status. It is saving knowledge freely
offered to sinners. to the Corinthians, Paul wrote
this very thing. He said, just as you abound in
everything, in their magnanimity, in their love for one another,
just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge,
in all earnestness and in the love in which we inspired you,
see that you abound in this gracious work also. They knew the plan
of God. They knew biblical doctrine. Paul says that in that we are
to commend ourselves. We’re to know what we’re talking
about. We’re to have an answer. We’re to have an answer for the
hope that is within us. Just not come talk to my pastor
sometime. Have an answer. Know where you’re
taking them when you engage in the conversation. Not only that, we are to commend
ourselves in patience. Endurance, as you remember, is
the overarching, that’s the umbrella quality in this great list, isn’t
it? Christian fortitude. But here, this patience, this little word
patience is a different word, has a different purpose. It’s
not just enduring by the grace of God all the difficulties that
come our way. This patience is different. And
in some sense, this patience is harder to exercise. Because
this patience is the patience that deals with people, deals
with people directly, deals with people’s injuries and evil deeds
without being provoked to anger. It is the opposite of a nasty
or hasty temper. James 119 says it this way, you
this, you know, my beloved brethren, let everyone be quick to hear,
slow to speak and slow to anger. We should be patient. And I take
this to mean in the assembly among believers, we ought to
be the most patient with anyone. Proverbs puts a premium on patience,
doesn’t it? Proverbs 14, 17 says a quick
tempered man acts foolishly. A man of evil devices is hated.
1429, he who is slow to anger has great
understanding. He who is quick tempered exalts
folly. A hot tempered man, Proverbs
15, 18 stirs up strife, but the slow to anger calms a dispute. Isn’t that a precious gift in
the church? Proverbs 16, 32, he who is slow to anger is better
than the mighty. He who rules his spirit than
he who captures a city. The Book of Proverbs puts a premium
on this patience that deals generously and magnanimously and exercises
long suffering towards the brethren. Proverbs 17, 27, he who restrains
his words has knowledge and he who has a cool spirit is a man
of understanding. The church needs people like
that. If the church is going to have a testimony, the church
is going to need, since we are necessarily filled with people,
it’s going to need people that show patience toward one another. When we’re offended, we bite
our tongue. We watch for occasion to graciously
bring up issues with our brothers. We forgive far more than we ever
address. It’s interesting in the Old Testament,
this characteristic mainly had reference to God’s character,
but in the New Testament, it is used of both God and men.
And it is a favorite word of Paul used ten times by him. It
is very much akin to the Old Testament translation of long
suffering, the long suffering of God. But here it’s a virtue
that is displayed between Christians. It’s the redeemed community that’s
in view here. As one said, a deficiency in
the long suffering of the church leads to jealousies, backbitings,
divisions among the very persons who ought to be displaying to
the world their brotherly unity and forbearance in Christ. Shouldn’t
we? Shouldn’t we be proclaiming and
living out by our lives the love of God by showing the love that
we have for one another? In closing for this portion,
one said that this has reference particularly to a tolerance for
people. There were many, not the least
of which were the Corinthians themselves, who sorely tested
Paul’s endurance. He constantly faced wicked, ignorant,
sinful, weak, unruly, judgmental, critical, even mutinous people. But whether they caused him physical
or emotional suffering, the apostle patiently loved, rebuked, instructed,
encouraged and comforted. Paul says, that we are to be
commending ourselves in everything, not just in our afflictions and
hardships, not just in beatings and imprisonments and tumults,
not even in labors and sleeplessness, but in purity, in knowledge,
in patience. And we’ll take it up next week
with kindness. Let’s bow in prayer. Our Father
and our God, We humble ourselves before You, pleading with You
to continue Your work of grace within us. Not a one of us is
perfect. Not a one of us has closed the
gap on purity and knowledge and patience, genuine love. In this great list, Father, that
it gives us a clear goal for which to examine our lives and
to call out to You for the grace to be changed. Lord, we pray,
having changed us, do a work. Begin it in us and take it beyond
to those who watch and wait for a godly example with a clear
testimony of the Gospel. Grant us that grace as we go
out, Father. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray,
Amen. Good morning. Morning, buddy.