Day By Day - 2 Corinthians 6
By Darryl Flaherty
Opening Thoughts:
Chapter 6 has 18 verses. The first 10 verses speak about the hardships of being a Christian and the way we should live if we are servants of God. My focus is on 7 verses.
Three Main Ideas:
1. By Great endurance
Verse 3 - Paul says that our goal is to not put a stumbling block or obstacle in anyone’s way of coming to the Gospel, so that no fault would be found with our ministry. We are to live and speak in such a way that people would not disregard the Gospel message. Rather, “as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way.”
Verses 4-5, “We commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger.”
Do you hear what Paul is saying? This is how servants of God commend themselves to the world. It is not by making a name for themselves. It is not by drawing attention to themselves. It is not by being flashy or elevating oneself. We commend ourselves by great endurance. We need to have a mentality as a servant of God for having great endurance.
An example of this is what Paul endured for Jesus: afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, and hunger. The response of a servant of God in such circumstances is great endurance.
The Corinthian Christians discredited Paul and his companions because they were suffering and experiencing hardship. We have not simply been saved from sin, but we have been saved to be servants of God who possess great endurance.
Receiving the grace of God in vain, means that we would not have endurance but rather shrink back and be destroyed in the time of difficulty. The grace of God gives us greater endurance because we know what we have:
I cannot give up now! We reveal ourselves to be servants of God when we show great endurance through the greatest of life’s difficulties.
2. By Godly Character
Verses 6-7, Another way the servant of God is commended to the world is by maintaining a Godly character. Our great endurance is seen by maintaining these attributes during difficulties. This is how we are the light of the world and the salt of the earth.
We show purity during times when it is not advantageous for us to be pure. A lack of purity is a defining mark in our culture right now. We need to behave with purity when others are being rude, filthy, or evil.
As believers, we show an understanding and knowledge of God’s word to those around us and they can recognise that we know Him. This is because our words and our actions display an understanding and knowledge of God, His word and His will.
We are to show patience in an impatient world and kindness to an unkind world. In a world where there is hatred and intolerance of others, we need to show patience and kindness. Even when our buttons are pushed and even under great stress, the servant of God shows patience and kindness.
The servant of God is commended by the Holy Spirit. We are to show genuine love and truthful speech in hardship and difficulty. By this, we show that our lives rest on the power of God, and not on ourselves.
We should continue to handle ourselves and display Godly character as Christians, no matter how difficult the situation. It is so sad to see how often this is a short coming among Christians. When there is a disagreement or even a serious division among people, we must display these Christian characteristics.
3. By Integrity
Verses 8-10, Being servants of God is not straightforward or easy. We endure and show Christian integrity through honour and dishonour, and when we are slandered or when we are praised. The servant of God does not receive all honour and praise.
People may slander us and count us as dishonourable. Paul certainly experienced this even from those who claimed to be Christians. We may be treated as imposters. Paul was treated as a false apostle. We may be treated as fake Christians even though we know that we are behaving faithfully. We can be unknown, and we can be nothing, but we are known by God and that is all that matters to God’s servant.
Even in our pain and sorrows we can have joy and rejoice in Christ for the salvation and reconciliation we enjoy. We may have nothing, but we are making people rich by sharing the gospel with others.
Final Thoughts:
This is how the servant of God looks at life:
This is the concept Paul was teaching earlier to these Christians.
As servants of God, we are showing that knowing Christ and being known by Christ is better than all the earthly wealth, prosperity, and comfort. Christ is more desired than anything else in this life. We can display joy in Christ in the face of suffering and loss. We can display great endurance and great faithfulness in life.
We have been saved to something - we have been saved with a purpose: to be servants of God, displaying the wonders of God to the world. The world needs to see our joy in Christ even in the face of suffering and pain.
The world needs to see our hope as we faithfully live for God. We need wide-open hearts as we express our joy to the world.
Do not receive the grace of God in vain by giving up under affliction, turning back to a life of sin, or being shaken when the Christian life moves like a roller coaster with its ups and downs.
Hold fast to the Lord!
Opening Thoughts:
Chapter 6 has 18 verses. The first 10 verses speak about the hardships of being a Christian and the way we should live if we are servants of God. My focus is on 7 verses.
Three Main Ideas:
1. By Great endurance
Verse 3 - Paul says that our goal is to not put a stumbling block or obstacle in anyone’s way of coming to the Gospel, so that no fault would be found with our ministry. We are to live and speak in such a way that people would not disregard the Gospel message. Rather, “as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way.”
Verses 4-5, “We commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger.”
Do you hear what Paul is saying? This is how servants of God commend themselves to the world. It is not by making a name for themselves. It is not by drawing attention to themselves. It is not by being flashy or elevating oneself. We commend ourselves by great endurance. We need to have a mentality as a servant of God for having great endurance.
An example of this is what Paul endured for Jesus: afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, and hunger. The response of a servant of God in such circumstances is great endurance.
The Corinthian Christians discredited Paul and his companions because they were suffering and experiencing hardship. We have not simply been saved from sin, but we have been saved to be servants of God who possess great endurance.
Receiving the grace of God in vain, means that we would not have endurance but rather shrink back and be destroyed in the time of difficulty. The grace of God gives us greater endurance because we know what we have:
- We have been reconciled to God.
- Our sins are not counted against us.
- God made Christ the sin sacrifice for us so that we can be pronounced righteous by God.
I cannot give up now! We reveal ourselves to be servants of God when we show great endurance through the greatest of life’s difficulties.
2. By Godly Character
Verses 6-7, Another way the servant of God is commended to the world is by maintaining a Godly character. Our great endurance is seen by maintaining these attributes during difficulties. This is how we are the light of the world and the salt of the earth.
We show purity during times when it is not advantageous for us to be pure. A lack of purity is a defining mark in our culture right now. We need to behave with purity when others are being rude, filthy, or evil.
As believers, we show an understanding and knowledge of God’s word to those around us and they can recognise that we know Him. This is because our words and our actions display an understanding and knowledge of God, His word and His will.
We are to show patience in an impatient world and kindness to an unkind world. In a world where there is hatred and intolerance of others, we need to show patience and kindness. Even when our buttons are pushed and even under great stress, the servant of God shows patience and kindness.
The servant of God is commended by the Holy Spirit. We are to show genuine love and truthful speech in hardship and difficulty. By this, we show that our lives rest on the power of God, and not on ourselves.
We should continue to handle ourselves and display Godly character as Christians, no matter how difficult the situation. It is so sad to see how often this is a short coming among Christians. When there is a disagreement or even a serious division among people, we must display these Christian characteristics.
3. By Integrity
Verses 8-10, Being servants of God is not straightforward or easy. We endure and show Christian integrity through honour and dishonour, and when we are slandered or when we are praised. The servant of God does not receive all honour and praise.
People may slander us and count us as dishonourable. Paul certainly experienced this even from those who claimed to be Christians. We may be treated as imposters. Paul was treated as a false apostle. We may be treated as fake Christians even though we know that we are behaving faithfully. We can be unknown, and we can be nothing, but we are known by God and that is all that matters to God’s servant.
Even in our pain and sorrows we can have joy and rejoice in Christ for the salvation and reconciliation we enjoy. We may have nothing, but we are making people rich by sharing the gospel with others.
Final Thoughts:
This is how the servant of God looks at life:
- We are rich in Christ.
- We possess everything we need because we have given our lives fully to Jesus.
- We can lose all there is in this life and even have our lives taken from us. Yet, we rejoice because we know that we possess everything.
This is the concept Paul was teaching earlier to these Christians.
As servants of God, we are showing that knowing Christ and being known by Christ is better than all the earthly wealth, prosperity, and comfort. Christ is more desired than anything else in this life. We can display joy in Christ in the face of suffering and loss. We can display great endurance and great faithfulness in life.
We have been saved to something - we have been saved with a purpose: to be servants of God, displaying the wonders of God to the world. The world needs to see our joy in Christ even in the face of suffering and pain.
The world needs to see our hope as we faithfully live for God. We need wide-open hearts as we express our joy to the world.
Do not receive the grace of God in vain by giving up under affliction, turning back to a life of sin, or being shaken when the Christian life moves like a roller coaster with its ups and downs.
Hold fast to the Lord!
Posted in 2 Corinthians