Second Corinthians
6:1
The Bible says in Second Corinthians 6:1, “We then as workers together with him,
beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain.” Paul is still making the point to
believers to be concerned about what they accomplish after they are saved. That
is probably what Paul meant when he said, “that you receive not the grace of God in vain.” You would receive the grace of God in
vain if you get saved but then never accomplish anything.
If you want to accomplish something for Christ, there are some
things that you need to keep in mind. One of those things is similar to a
principle that applies to the salvation of the soul. That principle has to do
with taking advantage of your opportunities. Second Corinthians 6:2 says, “For he saith, I have heard thee in a
time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee; behold, now
is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” In other words if you procrastinate
concerning spiritual things you can be in big trouble. One of the most
important spiritual principles that God has established is that you must take
advantage of an opportunity that God gives you or you will lose that
opportunity. Opportunities are limited in nature. Don’t forget that, or you may
miss an opportunity that comes your way. That same principle can be seen at
work in the material world. Benjamin Franklin saw it and he wrote, “
This principle of limited opportunity applies to salvation. The
Bible says, “Now is the
accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Some people do not get saved because
they keep putting it off, and then it is too late. Some people do not get saved
because when God touches their heart, they do not answer. God will give you a
chance to be saved, but he will not give you a chance forever. There is a
limited time. Grab a hold of it if you have it. Proverbs
Suppose that you do respond to the call of the Lord and come to
Him for salvation. What must you then do in order to be somewhat like the
Apostle Paul and bear fruit for Christ? One thing is that you must still be
willing to respond to the call of the Lord, and when He gives you an
opportunity you must take hold of it and not let it pass you by. If you do
that, you will be given a ministry, a work to do for God’s glory. I wonder how
many Christians have lost a ministry because they did not take hold of an
opportunity when God gave it to them? Once you are given a ministry, then
remember the importance of what Second Corinthians 6:3 says, “Giving no offense in any thing, that the
ministry be not blamed.”
Every Christian should probably pray this prayer every day. “O Lord, may I not
do anything give an offence, so that the ministry be not blamed.” Those who
refuse to believe are going to refuse to believe no matter what you say or do,
but you do not want your failures to be their excuse.
In the next seven verses Paul is going to explain the things that
he did in order to make every effort that his ministry was not blame, at least
not justifiably blamed. If only more believers did these things and made these
efforts for the sake of a testimony before a lost and dying world. Some people
hold on to ideas and actions that really have come from the traditions of their
denomination and not from God, and their inability to let go of some of those
things have hurt their testimony and their ministry in the world. In Second
Corinthians 6:4 Paul wrote, “But
in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in
afflictions, in necessities, in distresses.” Notice that in the first part of this verse that Paul said, “In all things approving ourselves
as the ministers of God.”
Until you are judged by Christ, you are the judge of how well you are doing in
this matter. You will always be condemned and accused by someone, so for now
you must answer to your own conscience before God to the best of your ability.
What does God think of what you are saying and doing: not what does man think.
Even so, in order to have a ministry that could not be blamed Paul
listed the things that he made sure were a part of his ministry. As we go over
these things, let’s ask ourselves the question of how our ministries compare to
his, and what are we doing to make sure that we have a testimony and that our
ministry cannot be blamed? Are these things on our list of how we conduct our
ministries? The first thing on Paul’s list was patience. If we are going to
have a ministry for Christ, we certainly must have patience.
Not only did Paul say that he had patience, but he said that he
had “much patience.” No wonder he needed patience. Look at
the next six things that Paul said happened to him in his ministry. Patience
was one of the key things that got him through these things: the afflictions,
the necessities, the distresses, the stripes, the imprisonments, and the
tumults. The afflictions speak of the tribulations, and the trials of difficult
and opposing circumstances; such as bad weather or shipwrecks that perhaps
slowed Paul down and made Paul’s journey much more difficult than it otherwise
would have been. When Paul spoke of “necessities,”
he was talking about basic human needs, of food, water, clothing, and shelter.
There were times when was lacking these things, and he did it for the sake of
the ministry that God had called him to. Afflictions and necessities were
things that came against Paul from an external and a physical standpoint.
Distresses were things that came against Paul from a psychological and spiritual
standpoint. They can be even worse and harder to fight than the external
afflictions. Christianity to a great degree is a mental contest. If you think
the things that you ought to think when the attacks come against you, then you
will do what you ought to do in response. If you think about the promises of
God, and if you think about duty and honor and dedication, then you will not
waver from the ministry that God has given to you no matter what are the
obstacles that come against you.
The reason that Paul had these afflictions and necessities and
distresses against his ministry was because of the spiritual forces of darkness
that were against him succeeding. If the devil can stop you or sidetrack you,
then he can make inroads to limiting the spread of the gospel. If the devil can
bring blame against your ministry in the community, then Satan will be on his
way to getting done what he is after: to stop your part in spreading the
gospel. We are not ignorant of his devices, but this we also know: greater is
he that is in us than he that is in the world.
If the evil spiritual forces cannot stop you with afflictions,
necessities, and distresses, then they have other things at their disposal to
bring against someone like the Apostle Paul. These were physical attacks of
violence against the body and the person of Paul. Paul described what happened
to him in this regard in Second Corinthians 6:5 when he said, “In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults.” Stripes and imprisonments refer to
things that were done against Paul by the governmental authorities. That is why
the devil tries to get the government of every nation to make laws against true
Christianity and against the freedom to preach the gospel of Christ. It can be
a very effective means of reducing the spread of the truth. It’s what is going
on in
Thank God that the beatings and the imprisonments did not stop the
Apostle Paul. Neither did the tumults. The stripes and the imprisonments were
organized violence created by the government authorities. Often it is the
police force that delivers the stripes in countries that have permitted that
kind of opposition to the freedom. And it’s the judicial system that delivers
and orders the imprisonments. The judicial system at this time in America has
been greatly corrupted and infiltrated by many individuals that are in darkness
and who are against the free preaching of the gospel of Christ. The use their
power as judges to deny the freedom that our constitution guarantees, and the
real reason is the opposition of the devil to the freedom to spread the gospel.
If the devil cannot succeed with organized governmental violence against the
gospel, then he will attempt to do it with rioting and mob violence, directing
the anger of the mob against believers. This method has been used many times
against Christians in certain communities.
Paul had all of these against him and against his ministry:
afflictions, necessities, distresses, stripes, imprisonments, and tumults. In
addition to patience Paul had many other things at his disposal to make sure
that his ministry continued no matter what was the opposition. Paul listed six
things that were done against him, but in the verses that follow, he listed
more than twenty things that he could do to make sure that his ministry
continued no matter what was happening against him.
In addition to patience in Second Corinthians 6:5 Paul listed
labors, watchings, and fastings. The word that is used here for “labor” implies the greatness of the effort that was put forth. Paul had
all of these oppositions against him, and what did he do? He kept doing his
work. He just plain and simply kept doing the work that God wanted him to do no
matter what was going wrong around him and no matter what afflictions,
necessities, or distresses came against him. If Paul was on the way to the
market place to bear witness of Christ, and was arrested and thrown in jail,
that did not keep him from doing the work of witnessing for Christ. It just
meant that he would witness to a different set of people. Now he would witness
to the soldiers and to the jailers and to the other prisoners. That’s how God
takes adversity and changes it into opportunity, and that’s how God turns the
tables on the workers of iniquity.
Paul said that he had labors and that he had “watchings.” He did the practical things, and he also did the
spiritual things. “Watchings” refers to prayer and to being spiritually
vigilant. With all of the pressures, and all of the distresses, and all of the
afflictions that came against him, Paul needed to make sure that he was relying
upon the power of God. In such times of stress and anguish of soul it would be
easy to react with impatience and selfishness without faith. That would be a
big mistake and would hurt his ministry and his testimony. Paul did not make
that mistake because he had the proper amount of “watchings.” Jesus said to his disciples, “Watch and pray that you enter not into
temptation.”
Paul had labors and watchings, and he also had “fastings.” Some people in this New Testament age in which we live
think that fasting is some process by which you make yourself closer to God,
and that somehow by fasting you are more holy than you would be had you not
fasted. This is not true. Paul was talking about the difficult situations of
privation and need in which he found himself in order to fulfill the missionary
ministry that God had given to him. Paul fasted when there was no choice but to
fast, if that was God’s will. He was willing to be deprived of even the basic
requirements of life for a time if that is what it took to keep his ministry
going. He did not lose sight of the goal or the importance of what he was doing
for Christ. Too bad that there are not more believers with this kind of
dedication to the cause of Christ. It will be even more regretful at the
judgment seat of Christ when believers are judged for the things done in their
bodies: whether they be good or whether they be bad as it says in Second
Corinthians 5:10.
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Copyright; 2003 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved