Dying for Sinners (2Cor 6:3-10)
Intro: Context of Conflict
See 2Cor 10:10.
Exposition
1. Charges against true ambassadors of Christ (v4-5, 8-10)
Vs 4-5, 8-10: "dishonor, evil report, deceivers, unknown, dying, chastened, sorrowful, poor, having nothing."
2. Things that commend true ambassadors of Christ (v4)
Things to which they were pointing as evidences that they were not true ministers, he says, are the very things which commend true ministers of God.
See 6:4, also Jn 12
3. Things that reassure true ambassadors of Christ (v6-10)
Vs 6-7, 8-10: "Honor; good report; true; well-known; behold, we live; not killed; always rejoicing; making many rich; possessing all things."
While in this world, we appear as our master, without form or comeliness; & when they see us, there is no beauty that they should desire us" (Is 53:2). But in reality, we posses true greatness and nobility.
See Dan 10:19, 2Tim 1:8.
Application
1. Error of defeatism
We really can become the miserable people we're accused of being.
2. Desire for influence
Wells: "It is possible for us to gain the whole religious world while losing our own souls."
Conclusion
"I can boast of no high attainments, my lord; I am as mean and insignificant a creature as your lordship can well conceive me to be: but I dare profess that I cannot be an unconcerned spectator of the ruin of my dear fellow mortals" (Samuel Davies to Philip Doddridge, 1752). |
