The Ministry of Reconciliation
Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 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. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says,
“In the time of my favor I heard you,
and in the day of salvation I helped you.”
I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
Paul’s Hardships
We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.
My Understanding: Paul began this section of his letter to the Corinthian church by speaking on the subject of our earthly dwelling versus our heavenly dwelling. He said that while we are in these earthly bodies we groan for our heavenly bodies. And, we have the hope, as believers in Jesus Christ, that one day we will be in those heavenly bodies when we die or when Jesus Christ returns for his bride, the church. The Holy Spirit was given to us by God the Father as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Thus, we live by faith, not by sight, Paul said. And, while we are in these earthly bodies, he said that we make it our goal to please God, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. So, when I read this, the first thing that stood out to me about being the Lord’s servant is that we make it our goal to please him, which means we need to find out what pleases or displeases him, and we need to then do what we know pleases him, and avoid what displeases him.
The second characteristic of a servant of the Lord that stood out to me in this passage is that a servant of the Lord fears the Lord and tries to persuade men to also fear the Lord. This is not speaking of fear as in being afraid of God, but it is speaking of awe, respect, honor, submission, worship, obedience and reverence of God, in humility before him. When we truly come to know who God is and we experience him in all his fullness and majesty within our lives and our hearts and we grow to love and adore him, we can’t help but want to tell others about him, too, so that they may also know him and fear him with this kind of awe, honor and respect accompanied by love, affection and fellowship with our Lord Jesus. Christ’s love for us in dying for us on the cross for our sins and being raised victoriously from the grave in conquering death, hell, Satan and sin compels and inspires us to want to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others so that they will come to know him, too, no longer living to please themselves, but to live for him who gave himself up for them/us.
The third characteristic I saw here of a servant of the Lord is that he or she is an ambassador for Jesus Christ, as though God were making his appeal through us. When Jesus Christ left this earth, he sent his Holy Spirit to dwell and to work in and through the lives of the followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus told his disciples that they would be witnesses throughout the earth when the Holy Spirit came upon them. And, he commissioned them before he left this earth to go and to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe (or obey) all that the Lord commanded us. So, in essence, we are now not only carrying within us Jesus Christ in the form of the Holy Spirit so that God’s temple dwells within us, but we are the body of Christ and are thus commissioned to carry on in the Spirit’s power the work that Jesus began when he was on the earth. So, when we speak to folks about faith in Jesus Christ and we share with them the gospel and we tell them of their need to repent of sin and to turn to God in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ, we are serving as God’s messengers, as though he were speaking through us and as though he were making his appeal to the people of this world to forsake sin and to turn to Christ.
The fourth characteristic I saw of a servant of the Lord, and this takes us into chapter 6, is that a servant of the Lord puts no “stumbling block” in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Basically, this means that we daily go before the Lord and we ask him to search our hearts and to reveal within us any unconfessed sin, any wrong attitudes, and words we misspoke, etc. so that we can repent, make things right where necessary, and we can have our hearts cleansed and purified, made ready for the Lord to speak to us and through us. We cannot afford to have even a hint of anything impure in our lives or a hint of loss of integrity, etc. If God points out something in our lives, we need to make it right with God so that our ministry is not discredited because our actions do not match our words. We need to be willing to go through whatever the Lord decides to take us through and to come through it with our faith tested, tried and proved genuine. We, basically, need the grace of God and the working and power of the Holy Spirit within us to give us what we need, so we have correct responses to our circumstances; and so that our witness for him is not harmed.
Lastly, the characteristic I noted of a servant of the Lord is not only endurance through suffering, mistreatment, false accusations, etc., but a servant of the Lord loves others even when love is not returned. Paul said that they opened their hearts wide to the Corinthian church and that the apostles were not withholding their love from the Corinthian church, but that the church was withholding their love from the apostles. So, Paul was encouraging them to open wide their hearts, too, and to receive Paul and the other apostles as servants of the Lord and as ministers of the new covenant and as ambassadors for Jesus Christ. There is much rejection of the Lord’s servants going on within the church today as we live in a culture that excludes and rejects people by the world’s standards, even in the church. How very sad this is that many of the Lord’s servants today are still experiencing what Paul and his fellow workers experienced at the onset of the church. Yet, even when rejected, we must love in return and must open wide our hearts to others, even if it hurts.
In Summary
A servant of the Lord:
• Makes it his or her goal to please God
• Fears God and tries to persuade men and women to fear God
• Is an ambassador for Jesus Christ – Christ making his appeal through him or her
• Puts no stumbling block in anyone’s path so that his or her ministry is not discredited
• Loves others and opens wide his or her heart to others even when love is not returned
This is a servant prayer the Lord Jesus gave me in song, asking the Lord to help me to be his obedient and loving servant. I pray this would be your heart’s prayer, too:
Your Servant / An Original Work / September 21, 2011
Lord, I love to have You near me
As I go throughout my day,
Walking daily in Your footsteps,
As I humbly pray.
List’ning to You, hear You teaching
Me to live and work for You,
Lord, I pray You lead and guide me
Daily in Your truth.
Lord, I want to be Your witness,
Telling others of Your grace;
Telling how they can be set free
Of their sins today;
Share with them the love of Jesus,
He died on a cruel tree,
So that we’d be forgiven
For all eternity.
Lord, I want to serve You only,
As I bow on bended knee,
Making You my Lord and master,
And Your servant be.
Humbly walking in obedience,
Doing what You say to me,
Lord, may I be an example
Of one who’s set free.
Song lyrics @ Public Domain
Audio, song lyrics and sheet music:
https://sites.google.com/site/psalmshymnssongs2/home/songs/your-servant
Song on video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io7ncxAL15Q
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