Highly Recommended, Part 4

the last time for a while, because
by God’s grace, I will wrap up this great section that we’ve
been considering on the Christian ministry, which began back in
September in chapter 2, verse 12, looking at the great facets
and the thorough view at the Christian ministry in all of
its glory. And I told some people, you know,
in various ways that you all have been very gracious because
I know deep down if this is for no one else, it’s for me. And
it has been for me an enriching study of God’s Word. And I can
only hope that perhaps you or at least some of you have come
away with a more glorious perspective of the great privilege that we
have to serve Christ. Go back, if you would, to chapter
6 and verse 10, where Paul really began here with a call, a summons
to the proper use of grace. That’s where we looked at that
first sentence, which is essentially the umbrella over the entire
passage all the way down through verse 10. where Paul says, we
urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. But having said
that, Paul adds to that structure, if you
will, with four undergirding pillars, as we’ve looked at in
weeks past. Four undergirding pillars that
really support this appeal to reconciliation. We saw that that
sweet summons to grace, first of all, is made in cooperation
with God. Working together with Him. What a great honor is ours as
Christians. God didn’t need us. God could
have done the whole Gospel thing, the whole ministry thing without
us. And it would have been a much
more streamlined version, wouldn’t it? Much fewer problems. Much fewer church splits. Much
fewer troubles. And yet, for God’s own purpose,
he included us in this great ministry of the gospel. This
sweet summons to grace is not only made in cooperation with
God, we saw, but it is the declared moment of opportunity. Today
is the day of salvation. We never know with whom we share,
but we see in verse four, rather in verse two, the urgency of
the moment. not only impelling us to take
more opportunities with those we come across, but also placing
in our mind the seriousness of the moment that we never know
those with whom we share if we are sharing the only time or
perhaps the last time that they will ever hear the Gospel outlined
to them. The sweet summons to grace is
not only made in cooperation with God, the declared moment
of opportunity, but it is it is oriented or comes from a devotion
to honor our calling. Look at verse three, where Paul
said, giving no cause for offense in anything. This is a huge statement. This is a desire, an expressed
desire to live a thoroughly God honoring life. And once you say
that, Then the need that you have to look into your life and
to root out every sin and to live a life by God’s grace that
is honoring to Him. Once you say that, you set yourself up. You set
yourself up for an absolute need of a constant feast on God’s
grace. Paul didn’t want the ministry,
his ministry. The ministry of the gospel, he
did not want that to be discredited. The sweet summons to grace is
oriented from a place of desiring to honor. This calling that we’ve
been given. And then finally, and as I said,
as we get into this fourth point, everything falls underneath everything
that remains versus for and following everything falls under this last
point. We were kidding around in our
preaching class. What I’ve introduced them to
the plural noun proposition. They will be able to tell you
what it is. Even ladies, as they’re napping this afternoon, what
a plural noun proposition is. Plural noun proposition in this
case is this the four undergirding pillars. And I could have mapped
out that there are nine graces. that God blesses us with in verses
four and following. I could have suggested to you
that there are nine trials or troubles that come to us there
in verses four and a half and all the way through five. Endurance,
afflictions, hardships, distresses. I could have pointed out to you
that there are three particular means that the power of God is
manifest in our lives there at the end of verse seven and the
beginning of verse eight. And it could have pointed out
to you that there’s seven. Seven contrasts in the messages
reported about a servant of God, but the main structure of this
passage and what we’re going to close with this morning. is
one last look at the fact that this sweet summons to grace is
also attended by our commitment to serve. If you would please
go back to verse one and let’s take a running start. And working
together with him, we also urge you not to receive the grace
of God in vain. For he says that 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 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 and distresses, in beatings and imprisonments,
in tumults and labors, in sleeplessness and 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.” Paul, as I said, begins, believe it
or not, to wrap up this great section. And he does so, we will
do so, by looking at the last grace, the last in this great
list of graces that Paul and servants of the Gospel are bestowed
with positive aspects, graces and gifts that we receive in
Christ. And the list begins, as I suggested
before, the positive elements of this list in purity, in knowledge,
in verse 6, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine
love, in the Word of Truth. And we spent no little time on
that list. looking at all the things that
God equips the servant of God with by His good grace. But we want to look at the last.
And we want to close with this rich element of God’s grace,
which will carry us all the way down through verse 10. Paul says
that we commend ourselves Not only in all these other things,
but we commend ourselves as servants of God in the power of God. Now,
immediately the question comes, if you’re gluing this message
together with last week’s, you are reminded immediately that
last week we looked at that little phrase in the Holy Spirit. that
caused some people concern why we would sandwich the Holy Spirit
deep down in the midst of this great list of graces. Why not
first or why not last? And you would say that in a sense,
this phrase in the power of God is kind of redundant, isn’t it? Because if it’s the Holy Spirit
that is empowering us, gracing us, as it were, and strengthening
us for ministry, that isn’t In the power of God, isn’t that
a bit redundant? And because of that, there were
those that said, is it really the power of God that’s resident
and operative within us? Is that what Paul is talking
about? Because that would essentially be the same point made above
when Paul said in the Holy Spirit. Is there another option when
we stand back and look at this phrase in the power of God? I
think there is. It is the power of God working
on our behalf. And if I can bring you back to
the Greek lesson that we first introduced, go back to verse
4. Beginning in verse 4, Paul talks
about how in everything we are to commend ourselves as servants
of God. And the Greek lesson there was
the preposition introduced there is en, e-n in essence. the Greek word for in, in the
sphere of. And that preposition is used
all the way down through verse 7, in the power of God. And then suddenly, almost inexplicably,
Paul changes prepositions to the little word dia, by, by way
of, by means of. And in verse 7, he introduces
three quick things by this same preposition. by the weapons of
righteousness, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report. And that leads me to believe
that what Paul is introducing here is these means, these great
means that God uses to show his glory by the exhibition of his
great power on our behalf. And certainly on Paul’s behalf,
as we’ll see, It brings up the great thought of Scripture that
if God is for us, who can be against us? If God is waging
our battle and the battle is the Lord’s, then what do we have
to worry about? What do we have to fret about?
It’s the power of God not operating in and through us. That part
was already expressed by the phrase in the Holy Spirit. What
he’s talking about here is God has already gone in front of
us. God is already clearing paths, opening doors, as Paul already
announced. God is exhibiting his mighty
power. It’s a common expression in the
New Testament, but especially for the Apostle Paul. And that
power was absolutely essential to Paul’s ministry. In fact,
it’s absolutely essential to the success of any ministry.
Look at Romans 116, Paul said there, I’m not ashamed. Don’t
go. I’m not ashamed of the gospel,
for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. This isn’t the power operative
within Paul as he’s preaching. It is the power that attends
the gospel of God as it goes forth. By the mouth of the preacher,
1 Corinthians 1 18 says essentially the same thing. I am not the
word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. Not
much we all know as we share the gospel with friends and family,
they consider it just trivial and silly. Myths. But to us who are being saved,
it is the power of God. And Paul commended the Thessalonians
for having received the gospel because they appropriated this
great power by God’s grace and received it for what it was.
1 Corinthians 4, the kingdom of God does not consist in words,
but in power. It’s God’s power. And God is
working already through his servants, but it’s also the fact that God
is working on behalf of his servants. And what a great encouragement
that is to us, isn’t it? Paul was enamored, you could
almost say, with the reality of the power of Almighty God.
He was just absolutely enamored with it. And you might even understand
that as Paul, no doubt, read through the Old Testament accounts
and I think fully believed in the Old Testament accounts of
all the miracles, the pillars of fire and all of the plagues
and all those things that God had done in the Old Testament.
Paul believed those as a Jew. But he hadn’t really seen the
power of God until he began to persecute the church and until
God met him on a dirt pathway, until God laid him low. Then
he saw the power of God. And it was no longer so many
Old Testament stories. But it was power that was witnessed
in bold detail. Second Corinthians 13, four says
it like this. Indeed, he was crucified because
of our weakness. Yet he lives because of the power
of God. And Paul had seen the risen Christ. To Paul, the power of God was
everything. In a thought that must be considered
an echo of Paul’s thoughts here in this very passage, Second
Timothy one, eight. Therefore, do not be ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord or of me, His prisoner, but join
with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power
of God. God will strengthen you. God
will work through you. God will have His way with the
proclaimed Word. The very fact The divine power was at work
on Paul’s behalf was so plainly evidenced because of so many
of Paul’s admitted personal weaknesses. Sin in Romans 7, all the struggles
of ministry that he admits all the way through this section
and beyond. One said it this way, this power
of God. by which the genuineness of Paul’s
ministry was confirmed may most appropriately be associated with
the divine power manifested in his preaching of the truth experienced
by his Corinthian converts. You remember what he said? You
are our letter. You are our proof. You are my
resume, he says to the Corinthians. Listen to first Corinthians two.
1 Corinthians 2, 1-5, he said, When I came to you, brethren,
I did not come with superiority of speech or wisdom, proclaiming
to you the testimony of God, for I determined to know nothing
among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with
you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And you say,
where is the power of God? It’s coming. And my message and
my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom. But in part
of me, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power so that
your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the
power of God. That’s what we need to know.
That’s what we need to know. We need to know that God is working
on our behalf, that it’s God’s ministry to begin with, that
he’s graciously included us in it. That he has gifted us for ministry
and strengthened us by his spirit and will open doors for us by
his power. Paul’s preaching of the gospel.
Our opportunities for ministry. Are attended with the almighty
power of God. Paul points out here by way of
the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 2 that really God’s whole purpose here
in spreading of the Gospel was that the power would be recognized
as His. Not of us. Not because of our
creativeness. Not because of our glibness of
speech. Not because we’re able to alliterate
the plural noun proposition, but that we might be recognized
as mere humble servants of His who couldn’t possibly produce
anything, much less a church and a body of Christians, the
very body of Christ. As John Gill said many years
ago, so that the excellency of the power may be of God and not
of us. Paul shows that it was not because
of their natural abilities, nor any diligence and industry and
acquirements of their own, nor to any instructions that they
had received from others, but to the grace of God and the effectual
working of His power. and that whatever success which
attended their ministry in the conversion of sinners, in the
building up of saints, could only be ascribed to the exceeding
greatness of the divine power.” That’s what Paul says. Paul says,
I want everybody to know that it’s not Paul. It’s God. It’s God and it’s only God. And
he says, God is at work. God is a powerful God. And as
I suggested, He says that there are three particular spheres
where that power is manifest in His ministry. Look again at
verse 7. We are commending ourselves as servants of God, 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. And you
say, how on earth? How on earth Is God’s power seen
in dishonor? How on earth is God’s power seen
in the midst of an evil report about us? Let’s see. First of all, let’s look. Let’s
look at this phrase, commending ourselves as servants of God
in the power of God by the weapons of righteousness. We already
know that Paul loves those military metaphors. And they occur so
frequently in his epistles. Armor and shields and swords
and all that kind of thing. No doubt, because they were so
appropriately suited to the Christian life. The fact that we are engaged
in war. We are in battle. You don’t have
to sign up. You don’t have to enlist. There
are terms. As soon as you become a Christian,
you have a target on your back and you have dedicated Declared
enemies. You don’t have to sign up. You’re
already in. But these weapons, these weapons
are those which righteousness supplies by God’s grace coursing
through us, the gracious tongue, the careful mind, The cautious
words, those are all the weapons of righteousness. Those are the
means by which we reach out to a society that is desperately
wicked and desperately needs the gospel of Christ. Those are
the weapons. But note that Paul says. There
are weapons for the right hand and the left. We begin to get
a note of what he’s talking about when he constantly brings up
this weaponry in the scriptures. First Thessalonians 5.8 says,
Since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the
breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet, the hope of
salvation. Military armor, protection for
the battle, and we need it. And we desperately need it. Romans
13.12 talks about putting on the armor of light. It’s the
same metaphor in each section with a little bit of a different
tilt. The armor of righteousness, the hope of salvation, the armor
of light. This armor of righteousness is
that equipment that God gives furnished by God by His grace
for the prosecution of this battle, this war. And it is to that end that writing
to the Ephesians, while likely chained to a guard, witnessing
the Roman soldiers don their equipment day after day after
day that Paul wrote to the Ephesians these words, take up the full
armor of God. He’s mentioned pieces and parts
in various letters, this passage included. But now he says in
Ephesians, take up the full armor of God and he begins to outline
it for us. By the way, isn’t it frustrating
sometimes you read through a hymn of Scripture or a hymn that speaks
of something grand and glorious, and yet it uses a word that You
never really take the time to go look up. I’m going to give
you a free one this morning. When the great hymn talks about
the panoply of God, remember that hymn? It’s the closet where
all the weapons are kept. And it says, go to the closet
and take up the full armor of God. That’s the panoply. Therefore, take up the full armor
of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day. And
having done everything to stand firm, stand firm. Therefore,
having girded your loins with truth, take them out of the closet
and put them on. Having put on the breastplate
of righteousness, having shod your feet with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. And in addition to all, taking
up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish
all the flaming arrows of the evil one. and take the helmet
of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word
of God.” And Paul finally here points
to the weapons for the right and for the left, the offensive
and defensive weapons. Not only the shield, but the
sword, if you’re a righty. The weapons for the right hand
and the left. They’re defensive and they’re offensive. We go
out not only with protection, but we go out armed for battle.
There are some Christians who would choose one or the other.
And Paul says neither one by themselves will stand. We must
be prepared for battle. We must know that there are enemies
out there and we must come armed with the sword. But we must also
come prepared with the shield to deflect the fiery arrows of
the evil one. But Paul said there is another
abundant area where I’ve seen the power of God and our behalf. He says in verse 8, commending
ourselves as servants of God in the power of God, not only
by weapons of righteousness, but also by glory and dishonor. The God can somehow use dishonor,
dishonoring situations, humbling, heart-wrenching situations, being
arrested, being carted around as a common criminal. being housed in a jail in this
inglorious situation that Paul constantly found himself. He
knew that that dishonor that he experienced every day, he
told the Philippian believers that it was for the greater cause
of Christ. More and more people were coming to know Christ simply
because he was locked up. One person said of this word
dishonor, the general force of the word, is typically conveyed
by rendering it popularity. That’s what’s in mind here, the
glory of what Paul was enduring. The servant of Christ is not
immune from the fluctuating fashions and fickle judgments of the world. He will have bitter enemies as
well as devoted friends. Some will hold him in high esteem,
while others will heap insult and dishonor upon him. And in
all of that, God’s power is manifest. That we are seen as servants
of God and that God is for us. And if God is for us, who can
be against us? Not only the honor that we receive
from friends, but even the dishonor that we receive at the hands
of our hated enemies. Pardon me, rather the enemies
who hate us. But there’s a third sphere where
God’s mighty power is seen. They’re also in verse eight,
commending ourselves as servants of God and the power of God by
evil report and good report. And this is talking about those
who talk behind our back and what they say. Paul says, look,
you’re going to have people like that. You’re going to have those
who desire to run you down and desire to tear down your church
and your family and your ministry. You’re going to have it. It’s
just part of the territory. It is dangerous, this desire
to be well spoken of by everybody, because it has us living a life
and walking a line that we cannot possibly walk. We can’t please
everybody. One saintly pastor said it like
this, the servant’s task is to steer
a straight and undeviating course. giving heed only to the word
of his one master, regardless of what men may say about him.
So long as he is doing that, no evil report, however false,
can harm him. And no good report, however true,
can distract him. And I take that to mean by pride.
Are we serving Christ? Are we serving him? Then listen
to the report that he gives and not to the report of the world.
And with that, Paul launches into the final words that he
will say in this section. These seven reports. These seven
contrasts where the world was saying one thing and God was
whispering in his ear quite another. Look at the end of verse eight.
These are the evil reports and the good reports regarded as
deceivers and yet true as unknown, yet well-known, dying, yet we
live punished, yet not put to death, as sorrowful, yet always
rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing,
yet possessing all things. I have exactly 13 minutes to
get to seven points. Look at verse eight at the end,
regarded as deceivers. One of the reports that was being
disseminated about Paul was that he was a false apostle, an imposter,
a deceiver, a deceitful man bringing this false gospel and false hope
to people. And if you think back, that has
always been a favorite tactic of the devil to heap falsehoods
upon servants, To overthrow God, to attempt to overthrow God by
calling legitimate work falsehood or to malign those who do God’s
work by suggesting that they seek to present truth as error
and error as truth. Even Jesus was slandered as being
a deceiver in the passage, even that we read this morning. This
word deceiver is a harsh, harsh word, and this must have cut
Paul when he heard it right to the heart. Regarded as deceivers,
I’ve been sent out by God himself with the message of truth itself. And they call me false, they
call me a liar. What could you do? What else
could you do but entrust yourself, as Peter said, to a faithful
creator in doing what was right. Just keep on doing what you’re
doing. Don’t listen to the false reports of others, the evil reports,
as he calls them, and listen only to God’s Word. And what
did God say? True. That’s it. Not this is the greatest apostle
that the world’s ever known. You’ve got to listen to him.
You’re true, Paul. Keep doing what I’ve asked you
to do. You’re true. Isn’t that what we want? That’s what we
want to be. We want to be true. We want to
be true to God. We want to be true to His Word.
That’s what Paul was. Regarded as a deceiver and yet
true. Paul knew that he wasn’t a deceiver.
Paul knew that he came with the truth of God. He was the message
of everlasting truth. 2 Corinthians 4-2, we have renounced
the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness
or adulterating the Word of God, but by the manifestation of truth,
commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight
of God. We know that God’s watching.
And what is the quiet whisper that Paul heard? True. Keep going. Keep doing what I’ve
asked you to do, Paul. The second in this list. Commending
ourselves as servants of God in the power of God by evil report
and good report as unknown, yet well known. Considered by so
many as this unknown nobody, a non-entity in the world of
spiritual greatness. Saul of Tarsus, one time a great
man, brilliant, ambitious, young Pharisee. Now he’d cashed it
all in and was following this cult and now considered by most
to be an absolute nobody. A strange man with a strange
doctrine, despised and hated by the world, ignored by most,
even completely unnoticed. What is the echo from God? Well
known. Not just known. Even that word
would express deep intimacy that God knew Paul. But God didn’t
just know Paul and God doesn’t just know us. We are well known. Paul said, I am well known by
God. I am thoroughly acquainted with
him as he is exceedingly thoroughly acquainted with me. There would be a tendency to
take this as the fact that Paul was well known in circles. I
don’t believe that’s what it means. Paul was well known to
the Corinthians, well known to the Philippians, well, well known
in Macedonia, certainly well known in Jerusalem. I don’t think
it’s talking about earthly fame at all. I think it’s talking
about the intimate relationship that he had with Almighty God.
He was known. Even though the world treated
him like a nobody, God knew him. God knows us. God is intimately
acquainted with all of our needs, all of our situations, our weaknesses
and our strengths. Hear the echo of Paul from this
same section on ministry, chapter three, verse one, where Paul
said, are we beginning to commend ourselves again or do we need
as some letters of commendation To you or from you, you are our
letter written in our hearts, known and read by all men. They
knew Paul, but they knew Paul was known by God. He was his. There’s a third false
report, evil report that was running about. Paul said, we
are to be commending ourselves as servants of God and the power
of God by evil reported and good report as dying. Yet, behold,
we live. I mean, how many times in this
section alone did Paul say, you know, we’re being we’re dying
daily. Second Corinthians 411. We are constantly being delivered
over to death for Jesus’ sake. Constantly. At the end of this
great book in 1123, are they servants of Christ? They speak
as if insane. I far more so and far more labors
and far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in
danger of death. Perhaps there was even a report
that Paul was dead or if not dead, dying. that he’s really nobody. God
isn’t powerful on his behalf. God isn’t watching out for him.
He will be extinguished like a simple flame on a candle. Because of all the things that
Paul was going through, even he seemed to have succumbed to
that argument that he was constantly living in fear of death. And
yet, behold, he says, We live. There’s the whisper in God’s
from God in his ear. Yet behold, you live. I’m a powerful
God. When he says, yet behold, it
calls attention to the marvel, the amazing truth. That while
we’re walking through this world, we can be living all the while
we’re dying. That’s what Paul said in first
and second Corinthians four. Remember his argument there.
This earthly tent is being folded down. And even as it’s being
folded down, God’s glory is being built up in us. Romans 8 echoes the same thought
just as it is written. For your sake, we are being put
to death all the day long. We were considered as sheep to
be slaughtered. But in all these things, we overwhelmingly
conquer through Him who loved us. Fourth, we would be condemning
ourselves as servants of God and the power of God by evil
report as in pardon me, by evil report and good report as punished,
yet not put to death. Not unlike the previous point,
because in Scripture, chastening has to do with the discipline
that God uses on our lives for good. Never for evil purposes. Always to make us more Christlike.
Always to make us greater and better servants for Him. And
it is unpleasant to go through. It is difficult. But we’re able
to do that. We’re able to go through that
because of the grace and goodness of God, because of the purpose
that we know it serves. And all the while, he says, not
put to death. An echo of Psalm 118, I will not die, but live
and tell of the works of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined
me severely, severely, but he has not given me over to death.
Discipline is not unto death. Discipline is unto Christ likeness.
And Paul embraced that willingly. Fifth, by evil reporting, good
report. The fifth one was as sorrowful,
yet always rejoicing. It’s a difficulty to Christians
to say that we cannot be sorrowful. It’s a hardship. That’s where
we really empathize with Job is when his friends kept coming
and kept coming. Why are you so glum, Job? And
maybe you should repent. Paul told to the Thessalonian
believers, we don’t mourn. But he didn’t stop there. He
didn’t tell Christians, don’t be glum. It’s sinful to be sorrowful. He didn’t say that. He said we
don’t mourn as those who have no hope. We can be sorrowful
and we often are. Sometimes we have great sorrow.
But in the midst of even the greatest sorrow, there is joy.
And only the Christian knows that. Only the Christian. No wonder Paul buffets this testimony
of others, this sorrowful testimony that it goes around glum by saying
yet always rejoicing. They refused to see the grace
of God in this. They refused to see Paul’s rejoicing. One said it this way, no sorrow,
no disappointment, however severe could ever interrupt, let alone
extinguish the joy of his salvation. This joy was founded upon the
sovereign supremacy of God who overrules all things and causes
them to work together for good to those who are called.” That’s
one of the great paradoxes in Christian living, isn’t it? That we can have joy in the midst
of sorrow more than the world will ever, ever know. As one said it, the sense of the love of God,
the assurance of His support, the confidence in future blessedness,
the persuasion that His present light afflictions shall work
out an eternal weight of glory, mingle with our sorrows and give
the suffering child of God a peace which passes all understanding. Number six, Commending ourselves
as servants of God and the power of God by evil report and good
report. This report said that Paul was
poor. And yet God whispered in his
ear, yet making many rich. Riches with the gospel. Peter,
in one of the first opportunities to preach and proclaim, came
across a man born lame from his birth. And he was begging. And Peter
looked to him and said, silver and gold have I none. But such
as I have, I give to you stand and walk. And we have a greater
message than that. We likely will never cause anyone
to walk in our lifetime, but we have the privilege of sharing
the gospel of life. It will help them to live for
eternity. Lastly, number seven and Paul’s
closing words on this great section on the Christian Christian ministry.
Paul said, we are to be commending ourselves as servants of God
in the power of God by evil report and good report as having nothing,
yet possessing all things. Not only poor, but not being
an owner of anything, not a donkey, not a second tunic, not a home,
certainly not a boat, as having nothing. Paul said, you know
what? That’s an easy one for me to
embrace. Because I am not my own. I have been bought with
a price. Not even my body. Not even who
I am. My life. I am a slave to Christ. That one’s not a hard one for
me to adopt. And God whispered in his ear,
yet possessing all things. And as we look at it, we’re overwhelmed
by the truth of that statement, by the by the immensity of that
simple statement, yet possessing all things. Because it’s in Christ. In Christ
alone that our wealth is found. Romans 8.32, Paul echoed this
when he said, he who did not spare his own son, but delivered
him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give
us all things? As one said, the logic of this
statement has unfolded always and only for the believer in
his position in Christ. To have Christ is to have all,
for Christ is all. 1 Corinthians 3 said it this
way, So let no one boast in men, for all things belong to you,
whether Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or
things present or things to come. All things belong to you. And you belong to Christ. And Christ belongs to God. Everything that we have In Christ,
we possess forever. It is treasure that is laid up
in eternity forever. And with this great opportunity
for the Christian ministry, will we serve? With this great confidence that
we have God working on our behalf, will we serve Christ? With this
great grace that Paul has outlined As he’s coursed through this
passage, adequate fully for the task that he calls us to, will
we serve for this great God that Paul constantly testifies of? Will we serve this great power
that courses not only through us by way of the Holy Spirit,
but all about us during the course of our ministry, will we serve? Because of the great and glaring
need in our desperate world for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, will
we serve? Because of this great Savior that served you and I long before
we were ever asked to serve, will we serve? Let’s pray. Merciful God, We humble ourselves
at Your feet, thankful for the privilege to walk through this
rich and glorious garden, this testimony of the Christian
ministry. We thank You and praise You for Your grace in allowing
us and in encouraging us through it. And I pray, Father, that
we would take from here the grand call to come and to serve Christ It’s in Jesus name that we pray.
Amen.