2 CORINTHIANS 6

2 CORINTHIANS 6

10/3/2012

A. The seriousness and character of Paul’s ministry.  1. (1-2) The responsibility of God’s great offer.

6 As God’s fellow workers we urge (plead, beseech) you not to receive God’s grace in vain.

1Corinthians 3:9  ⁹ For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

2Corinthians 5:20  20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

What an amazing job: workers together with Him! It isn’t that God needed Paul, or any of us. Instead, it is that God wants us to be workers together with Him for our good.

The gospel is a word of grace sounding in our ears; but it will be in vain for us to hear it, unless we believe it, and comply with the end and design of it. And as it is the duty of the ministers of the gospel to exhort and persuade their hearers to accept of grace and mercy which are offered to them, so they are honoured with this high title of co-workers with God.  Matthew Henry

Not to receive the grace of God in vain: The Corinthian Christians had obviously received the grace of God. They would not be Christians at all had they not received the grace of God. Yet, having received it, they were potentially guilty of receiving the grace of God in vain, so Paul pleads with them to not do this.  What does it mean to receive the grace of God in vain? It means to receive the goodness and favor of God, yet to hinder the work of grace in one’s life. It means to receive the favor of God, and to fail in what Paul spoke of in 1 Corinthians 15:10: But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

² For he says,

“In the time of my favor I heard you,
    and in the day of salvation I helped you.”^[a]

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

Isaiah 49:8  ⁸ This is what the Lord says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances,

The present time is the only proper season to accept of the grace that is offered, and improve that grace which is afforded: NOW is the accepted time, NOW is the day of salvation, MH

By quoting and applying Isaiah 49:8, Paul wants to give the Corinthian Christians as sense of urgency. God has an acceptable time for all of us to work with His grace. God has a day of salvation that will not last forever. This is no time for Christian lives all about ease and comfort and self-focus. It is time to get busy for the Lord, and to be workers together with Him! “No man has a contract with tomorrow!”

Paul’s Hardships

³ We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited.

1Corinthians 9:12  ¹² If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more?

But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.

⁴ Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; ⁵ in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger;

2Corinthians 11:23-25  ²³ Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. ²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,

⁶ in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; ⁷ in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;

2Corinthians 10:4  ⁴ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

Ephesians 6:10-18  The Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

The figure of on the right hand and on the left, is that of holding both offensive and defensive weapons. It probably has in mind “both advancing and being attacked.” “Particularly, the shield and the sword; the former on the left arm, the latter on the right hand. We have the doctrine of truth, and the power of God, as an armour to protect us on all sides, every where, and on all occasions.” (Clarke)

 ⁸ through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; ⁹ known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed;

2Corinthians 1:8-10  ⁸ We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. ⁹ Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,

2Corinthians 4:10-11   ¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.  Paul here reminds us that though we may think we are at the end of the rope, we are never at the end of hope.  Our perishable bodies are subject to sin and suffering, but God never abandons us.  Because Christ has won the victory over death, we have eternal life.  All our risks, humiliations, and trials are opportunities for Christ to demonstrate his power and presence in and through us.

¹⁰ sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.  ¹¹ We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you.

2Corinthians 7:3   ³ I do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you.

¹² We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. ¹³ As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.

Do Not Be Yoked With Unbelievers

¹⁴ Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

The idea of do not be unequally yoked together is based on Deuteronomy 22:10;  ¹⁰ Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.  It speaks of joining two things that should not be joined.

There is an old Greek saying: "The dice of the gods are loaded." That is, you cannot go against God and win. You cannot go against the word of God and win.

Now, this does not and is not limited to just marriage. It really applies to any environment where we let the world influence our thinking. When we are being conformed to this world and are not being transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2), we are joining together with unbelievers in an ungodly way.

This goes to many different types of yokes where you are brought together with an unbeliever, and you are always in an unequal situation. Watch it. You're always in an unequal situation if you're yoked with an unbeliever. You see, they don't follow the same rules that you follow. They don't live by the same ethic that you live by. And to lie won't bother them. To cheat won't bother them. To fudge won't bother them; but it will you.

Ephesians 5:7, 11   ⁷ Therefore do not be partners with them.  ¹¹ Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

And this unequal yoke, or ungodly influence, may come through a book, a movie, a television show, a magazine, or even through worldly Christian friends. Most Christians are far too indiscriminate about the things they allow to influence their minds and lives.  We all like to believe that we can be around ungodly things as much as we want, and that we are strong enough to ward off the influence. But we must take seriously the words of Scripture: Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits” (1 Corinthians 15:33). It needs to come back to the simple question from Romans 12:2: are we being conformed to this world or are we being transformed by the renewing of your mind?

¹⁵ What harmony is there between Christ and Belial^[b]?

Belial is a word borrowed from Hebrew, meaning worthlessness or wickedness. Here it is used as another word for Satan. “The term is used only in this place in the New Testament, but very often in the Old Testament, to express men notoriously wicked and scandalous.”

What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”^[c]

¹⁷ “Therefore come out from them
    and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
    and I will receive you.”^[d]
18 “I will be a Father to you,
    and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”^[e]

Says the Lord Almighty: The title Almighty uses the Greek word pantokrater, which means, “the one who has his hand on everything.” In the whole New Testament, the word is used only here and in the book of Revelation. Paul wants us to understand that it is the sovereign God of heaven who offers us adoption as His children as we separate unto Him.

"If you only love those that love you, what do ye more than others? Even the publicans do the same. But love those that hate you, do good unto those that despitefully use you, pray for those that persecute you; And so shall ye be the children of the Father" (Matthew 5:44-46).

Jesus is declaring, "You're to be different. You're a new creation." "The old things have passed away; everything is become new" (II Corinthians 5:17). And God now lays claim to you as His son.

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For he that hath the love of the world in his heart hath not the love of the Father" (I John 2:15).

TABLE TALK

1.     As a child of God, do you live different than a person who is not a child of God? You're expected to live differently. Living by different standards, living for different purposes.

2.     So what was/is your evidence you’re a new creation?

3.     Ever find you tried to “roll the dice with the gods?”