2 Corinthians 6:1-2
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
In this passage we see the great paradox of pastoral ministry and for that matter gospel ministry. Paul lays out in detail the contrast in which he serves God as an ambassador of Christ. He is honored, love, and respected my many he served, while at the same time he was hate, loathed, and rejected by those how refused to receive his message.
There was times of greatest joys and blessing in Paul’s ministry while at the same time there were times of great sorrows and great poverty as he labored in gospel ministry.
Does this sound like someone else we learn of in the Scriptures?
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
Jesus himself experienced the same thing. Many loved him and many hated him. Those who hated him should have loved him instead they crucified him. Those that loved him by all rights should have been the ones who rejected him. But again in this paradox we see the great love, wisdom, and grace of God.
John Newton said it best, “How wonderful is the love of God in giving his Son to die for us wretches.”
Despite our sinfulness and rejection of God, he sent Christ to die for our sins. Not only did he die for his who hated him, also called them to serve him and suffer for him. To take up their cross and follow him. This is what Paul explains in verses 1-10.
But before we get into what Paul experienced in pastoral ministry, this morning we are going to consider verses 6:1-2. This is a section where a chapter break can be a little confusing. The better break would have probably been at verse 3. Because what we see in verses 1 and 2 seems to tie back to verse 21. Here in the first two verses we see Paul making a passionate,
I. Appeal to Receive the Grace of God
I. Appeal to Receive the Grace of God
Paul makes this appeal based on what he has just written in chapter 5:20-21. Verses 1 and 2 then are an extension of the Paul proclaiming his ministry as an ambassador of reconciliation at the end of chapter 5. What we see in is before Paul makes this appeal as an ambassador of reconciliation he affirms once again,
A. Reconciliation is a God Given Ministry
A. Reconciliation is a God Given Ministry
Notice the flow of the text,
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
6:1a Working together with him,
Paul here is again asserting his divine commission and authority as a minister of the gospel. As an apostle, a messenger of God. He continues his argument in Chapter 5 by reminding the Corinthians he is a fellow worker with God,
Remember,
For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
Paul wants the church to remember that he is not a self proclaimed preacher, pastor, and church planter. He has been called by God, confirmed and commissioned by the people of God.
Once again he is pointing to the truth that he has been given this ministry by the mercy of God.
John Gill rightly explains, they are workers together with him; meaning either God or Christ, not as co-ordinate with him, but as subordinate to him: he is the chief shepherd, they under ones; he is the chief master-builder, they under workers; but inasmuch as he is with them, and they with him, he is over them, and stands by them, great honour is done them; they have encouragement to work; and hence it is that their work is successful.
Gill, J. (1809). An Exposition of the New Testament (Vol. 2, p. 793). London: Mathews and Leigh.
And looking back at verse 20, 21 we see he labors with God as his fellow worker, His minister, God’s co laborer,
As God’s ambassadors for Christ,
He is working with God, to make Christ known. To help people hear the message of the cross. The things fo first importance. That Christ has died according to the Scriptures, that Christ was buried according to the Scriptures, that Christ was raised according to the Scriptures. He is making Christ known as the one whom God made to be sin that knew no sin. God crushed his own Son, putting our sin on Him that we might become the righteousness of God.
God was working through them,
By making his appeal through them,
God was calling people to believe this gospel message through Paul and his partners. He was appealing through the apostles that those who God has called would be adopted as sons.
They were making this appeal from God,
By imploring on behalf of Christ,
The gospel ambassadors, were pleading with the people to trust in the gospel on the behalf of Christ. Paul specifically had been saved, and sent out by Christ to the gentiles to deliver the good news of the gospel. As a co-laborer with God, Paul was commissioned by Christ and fulfilling this ministry of reconciliation,
By calling the church to be reconciled to God.
Do you see how Paul was working with God?
Do we recognize that as ministers of reconciliation and ambassadors for Christ we are working with God?
Should that change our mindset of gospel ministry?
Working together with him, then,
B. Receive the Grace of God
B. Receive the Grace of God
Notice what Paul does in light of his God given ministry,
we appeal to you,
This means Paul was,
Strongly urging, exhorting, and encouraging the Corinthians to do something. In verse 5:20 He is urging them to be reconciled to God! To be made right with God through Christ!
However, in verse 1 he is actually exhorting them not to do something, what is it?
not to receive the grace of God in vain.
Here is where the interpretation gets a little challenging. What is Paul’s point to pleading with the church not to receive God’s grace in vain. What is causing him to appeal to him to remember the grace of God they had experienced?
First and foremost consider the context. Paul had just unpacked the their ministry of reconciliation. He has just called them to be reconciled to God. Then Paul reminded them of the work Christ did to reconcile them to God by being made sin, so that we might be made righteous. This is the grace and favor of God. This favor God showed is for the purpose of making right our relationship with him and with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Charles Hodge writes,
2 Corinthians: Crossway Classic Commentaries The Apostle’s Faithfulness and Love (Verses 1–18)
It means the favor of God, and in this context the great favor of redemption. The Lord Jesus Christ having died for our sins and procured eternal redemption for us, the apostle was most earnest in exhorting people not to allow this great favor to be in vain as far as they were concerned. It is all the more evident that this is the meaning of the passage because it is not so much a direct exhortation to the Corinthians as a declaration of the method in which the apostle preached. He announced the fact that God had made Christ who knew no sin to be sin for us, and he exhorted everyone not to receive the grace of God in vain—that is, not to reject this great salvation.
Now that is helpful, in understanding what specifically Paul means by by grace.
But how is Paul seeking for them to apply this grace of God in Christ?
Remember, Paul is writing to them to call them to remember this love he had for them and the faithfulness of his gospel ministry to them. The church has had these enemies of Paul coming in to get them to reject his ministry and he is calling them to remember what God has done in them through the Christ-centered, gospel-centered ministry of the apostle.
He is pleading with them to remember they had been reconciled to God through Paul’s preaching. They had received the favor of God and to now reject Paul would have been to receive this favor, this grace in vain.
John MacArthur writes, Paul was urging the Corinthians not to receive the grace of God in vain; to hear the forgiveness he has so faithfully preached to them....But events in Corinth caused the apostle to fear his intense labor had been for nothing. (pg. 223)
But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
Paul did not want to see the Corinthians be drawn away from the message of the cross, by those who were attacking him and his ministry. If the church who once received the gospel and is founded on the grace of God alone turns to another gospel and finds that the pure and simple gospel is not enough, then they are revealing the emptiness or foolishness with which they recieved the at first.
Paul says, don’t do that! Receive God’s reconciliation through Christ, remember his forgiveness is complete, his work of reconciliation is done, therefore we should show that same grace and forgiveness to others, including those of us who brought you this message of grace.
Now, what are some additional ways we must be careful not to receive the grace of God in vain?
Our relationships within the body, reveal how we have recieved the grace of God.
Our sanctification demonstrated the depth of which we have recieved the grace of God.
Our service also shows how seriously we understand the grace we have been shown.
Is there another passage of Scripture that warns of receiving the grace of God in vain?
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
Paul has reminded them to remember, Reconciliation is a God given ministry, to Receive the Grace of God Fully, and finally he calls them to,
C. Rush to Repent and Believe
C. Rush to Repent and Believe
In verse 2 Paul points the Corinthians to the Scriptures,
2 For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”
This is a quotation from Isaiah 49:8
Let’s turn there and read;
Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.” And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength— he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” Thus says the Lord: “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages, saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’ They shall feed along the ways; on all bare heights shall be their pasture; they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. And I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up. Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene.” Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.
By pointing to God’s promise in Isaiah. Paul is reminding them that there is a greater day of salvation that has come. There is a Savior that has come that is the greater Prophet, the greater Priest, the greater King. This Savior has come and has provided a greater covenant.
He is the promised salvation of his people. What is the reason, the Corinthians should not receive the grace of God in vain?
Because God has promised that at the right time, he would hear the repentance of his people, and hear them cry out for mercy trusting in Christ alone for their salvation.
Christ has already completed this work, the day of salvation was accomplished on Calvary. God has completed the necessary work through Christ. He has also sent the messenger to the people to preach Christ to help them see their need for salvation, to help them see that the cross of Christ is there only hope. He has sent his Helper, the Holy Spirit, to open the eyes, ears, and heart of all who would believe that they might receive this gospel Paul preached!
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Paul says, as God has said, the day of salvation has come.
David Garland explains, “It refers to something greater than return from exile in Babylon. The “now” refers to the eschatological change of the ages inaugurated by Christ’s death.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Do you see, the progression. Do you see the help God has sent in the day of salvation?
Paul then proclaims,
Behold,
Look, see, don’t miss it,
now is the favorable time;
The time is here don’t delay, don’t linger, don’t procrastinate.
But remember now, what God has done.
Repent now for the sin that cheapening the grace you have recieved.
Return now to the simple gospel message I have preached to you.
Reject now those who would draw you away from trusting in God’s grace, in Christ’s work, and in God’s servants.
behold,
Look and see,
now is the day of salvation.
But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Now is the day to receive this grace.
Now is the day to encourage one another to repent and believe.
Now is the day to confess Christ as Lord and believe in our heart that God has raised him from the dead.
Now is the day to call out on the name of the Lord, that you may be saved.
Charles Spurgeon said, “The great mischief of the lost is that they procrastinate. It is not that they resolve to be damned but that they resolve to be saved tomorrow. It is not that they reject Christ forever, but they reject Christ today.”
Spurgeon continues, “Still others claim they do not feel prepared to make a decision at this time, as if living another month in sin would make them more prepared to believe.”
Paul here drive the point home that God has given him this ministry of the gospel. God has accomplished the necessary work through Christ on the day of salvation. Therefore, the church is to constantly remember that this work has been done on their behalf. Being reconciled to Christ we must remember that we have been saved, and live lives of repentance and trust. Constantly looking to Christ, see his perfect work of redemption and reconciliation accomplished on our behalf. Then examining our own hearts to see what sin we need to turn from to continue to grow in Christlikeness. See what sin his hindering our relationship with Him and his people.
As we repent, we are to trust in his forgiveness being refreshed and renewed by His Spirit. Then we seek to lay down our lives and serve Him that those who have not recieved this salvation may come to believe in Christ alone!
Here are a few points of application from Scott Hafemann.
We should take “time to focus on Christ as the means and model of our new life in Christ. The way to avoid “receiving God’s grace in vain” is to get to know Christ better, that is, both his role within redemptive history and the teaching and example of his life”
Hafemann, S. J. (2000). 2 Corinthians (p. 264). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
Secondly, Paul’s call to the Corinthians reminds us that perseverance is the sign of genuine conversion. Confessions of Christ in the past mean nothing if not matched by a continuing pursuit to live for Christ in the present. Those who begin with Christ but then turn away show themselves not to have “died” and been raised a “new creation” in Christ. Their earlier reception of God’s grace is therefore “in vain” (6:1)
Hafemann, S. J. (2000). 2 Corinthians (p. 265). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
Third, Paul’s call for reconciliation to a wayward people is God’s means of rescuing his people from judgment. Paul’s confidence is that those who have not accepted God’s grace in vain will respond, repent, and return to the Lord.
Hafemann, S. J. (2000). 2 Corinthians (p. 265). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
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