“Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.” 2 Corinthians 4:1
In a world of sunsets and so many sorrows, who can count the miseries, all the disappointments and regrets? Yes, God’s kindness and forbearance are meant to lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4) but just as well, His anger at sin is revealed from heaven (Romans 1:18). We’re to count our blessings in light of our fears and failures; we’re to remember that we’re delivered by grace, not by works and this makes all the difference in the world. Keeping the main thing the main thing is literally the main thing…remember in the face of your trials that you are redeemed by God.
“But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:2
Paul’s opponents in Corinth were backbiters and gossipers. Solomon wrote of such deceivers: “Who winks with his eyes (in mockery), who shuffles his feet (to signal), who points with his fingers (to give subversive instruction); who perversely in his heart plots trouble and evil continually; who spreads discord and strife. Therefore (the crushing weight of disaster will come suddenly upon him; instantly he will be broken, and there will be no healing or remedy (because he has no heart for God. (Proverbs 6:13-15).
Surely, Paul understood this and knew Scripture’s promises to those who spread discord and rumors among brothers, speaking lies – even half truths (Proverbs 6:19).
We must understand this pattern. Satan is the God of this world and is the father of lies (John 8:44). Those that will try and disturb God’s church from the inside, planted by Satan, will use the razor sharp arrows of lies, slander, and gossip. And they will also seek to adulterate the word of God, removing its simplicity. The Beast (government persecution) will work from the outside, using persecution and perversion of moral law so that government and all society try to press down the church.
To this, Paul answers by living openly – preaching the repentance of sin and the righteousness of God through faith alone. He isn’t ashamed of the gospel (Romans 1:16) as so many are (due to our humanistic pride and self-reliance) and doesn’t seek to “improve it” to the ears of the world. Always beware of those who are experts at telling us what we need to do to reach the world. Surely, they’re experts at telling us that God’s plain and clear word isn’t sufficient. God doesn’t need marketing help.
“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:3-4
Pride veils the mind from the pure truth that God is holy.
No preacher, teacher, evangelist or worker for the gospel can ever save a person. Only God can remove the veil.
The logic of it is that sinful man isn’t neutral toward God, but at enmity. Behind the social customs and niceties, he hates God’s sovereignty and refuses to acknowledge Him or give thanks (Romans 1:18-21). He insists that God doesn’t exist. He proudly and ignorantly states that there isn’t enough evidence for God but this is a tragically illogical thing to say. Why? Because God has been clearly perceived by all through nature and the created things (Romans 1:20). His divine nature and eternal power are known by EVERYONE and no one has an excuse for unbelief. The very act of it is due to moral insanity (Ephesians 4:18).
The greatest lie is that we’re neutral…that we’re “not perfect” yet certainly not dead in our sin. This plainly calls God a liar, for He says, “So they are without excuse (Romans 1:20).”
The whole business about needing a Savior is nonsense to those who insist upon their own moral value. Today, even within our churches, we become blinded to our fallen nature and perilous condition before the thrice holy God by lying to ourselves about the righteousness of God and seek to establish our own (Romans 10:1-4).
It’s possible to memorize whole books of the Bible, be a Bible study teacher, do all the right things, and be thought by all to be the standard of a good Christian and yet not know Christ.
It’s the repentant sinner who will see God. The wretched man that knows in his wretchedness he has nothing to offer the Almighty One who will be saved by faith alone and declared to be righteous. But the one who dares to consider himself in light of others, who grew up in the church, who always thinks of how much he does for the church, is lost. For who has given Him a gift that he needs to be repaid?!
Let’s beware lest the god of this world blind us to our utter brokenness.
“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:5-6
When at last we come to realize that no one is talented of his/her own accord and that all gifts come from the Father of lights, and we know how indebted we are to Him who frees us from sin’s ghastly toll, and calls us, not slave, but even friend, we are compelled to serve others in His name. That’s the gorgeous logic of the gospel. For Christ came to serve. He washed even His betrayer’s feet knowing full well what dreadful price He was to pay within hours.
His blood shed.
His flesh pierced.
His perfect life a ransom for our depraved lives.
This makes a man or woman a servant to others in His name. This light shines in us and we, in turn, never again feeling superior to others but, standing in awe (Romans 11:20), we seek to tell others about Him.
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7
The Greek here is “baked clay” and refers to the cheap and easily breakable clay pots in use at the time. They were sometimes used to hold money, jewelry or important household papers. But they were often used to hold garments and even human waste. Tellingly, it’s this latter use that Paul has in mind for himself. In light of the majesty of Christ, Paul sees himself as lowly and common.
It’s in Christ that he sees himself…and so should we.
This treasure is the truth. Jesus Christ is Himself the Truth (John 14:6).
It’s been delivered to us – this great mystery of the righteousness of God through faith in Christ to all who believe. We’re unable to arrive at this by the power of our own reasoning, lest any should boast. But this treasure we boast of is that we now know Jesus Christ as Savior and that it’s the beginning of wisdom…of making sense of all things. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, right (Proverbs 1:7)…but this was a mystery of the Old Testament. Today we know Christ who is the wisdom of God and we follow Him with fear and trembling.
This treasure is the message of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). It’s as though Christ makes His appeal to sinners through us (2 Corinthians 5:20). What greater work can anyone do than to serve the Lord and witness to the world that He is God?
“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-12
The world worships power and success, not Christ. Any doubts about that are foolish. A quick glance at social media will dispense with that nonsense. Paul’s critics used his sufferings as evidence that he was a false apostle or that his message was incorrect. But as he does previously, Paul points to his sufferings as evidence, not of failure, but of fidelity to and identity with Christ.
The thing is, all who work for Christ will be attacked. Those who hate the Lord will take out their hostility upon His servants. It’s that simple. All who live Godly and faithful lives will face persecution, false accusations and the like (2 Timothy 3:12).
“Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak,” 2 Corinthians 4:13
Paul quotes Psalm 116:10, “I believed even when I spoke: ‘I am greatly afflicted…”
John MacArthur says, “Faith in God and His ability to deliver preceded the psalmist’s prayer for deliverance. This verse is quoted by the Apostle Paul in 2 Co 4:13. It rehearses the principle of walking by faith, not by sight.”
Oh, how we can be deceived that first, God won’t have us walk through the valley of the shadow of death – through heartbreak, through trials. And oh how this leads to the deceit that’s no purpose in our struggles. Confusion on this central Biblical truth – that Christians are called to suffer and will suffer – causes tremendous trouble. Just as we’re called to repent of our sin and trust in the Lord, we’re told to walk in faith through the sufferings that will surely come in this lifetime.
But, alas, God can and will deliver His people.
His glory is the goal, not our worldly success.
And that’s why this short little verse is so critical to Christian living.
One of the great blessings of painful prayers – that is, those prayers lifted up from the midst of trouble – is knowing absolutely that they are heard by the great and sovereign God who loves us.
“knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:14-15
Our confidence isn’t in the flesh or in anything we can do. More and more in life the Christian grows to understand that friendship with the world is a vain and dangerous thing. And that it’s enmity with God (James 4:4). On the contrary, our confidence is the empty tomb. Jesus is declared to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4). Our hope isn’t in a fairy tale as some would like us to believe as they prance about saying vapid things like, “We believe in science.” This is the “science” of the secular mind that believes, against all logic, that everything came from nothing and that boys can be girls and girls can be boys. “Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (1 Corinthians 1:20)”
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV
Who is it that says our afflictions are light and momentary? Can you imagine telling someone who just lost a loved one, or is sick and dying, or has suffered some other tragedy, that his suffering is light and momentary? But the Lord who suffered for our sins, who was whipped, mocked, beaten and crucified so that we might be saved, withstood such ghastly treatment so that we might be with Him. His is the life that we look toward then. His is the approval we seek – and not that of other men and women.
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