James 1:17-27 The Goodness of God

In the passage from James 1:17-27, James talks about the goodness of God. God doesn’t tempt us to do evil things, but he often uses life’s challenges to strengthen and perfect us. In the process we become more like God.

Instead of tempting us to do evil things, God gives us good gifts. The phrase “Father of lights” reminds us of God’s unchanging nature. The God who put the stars, sun and moon in their places faithfully presides over our lives and provides everything good, and we must thank him for these gifts. As the old hymn which we often sing on Thanksgiving Sunday says, “All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above…”

In order to receive every good gift from God, we must prepare ourselves to hear God’s Word, especially in times of trial. When we prepare ourselves to hear God’s Word, it will give us a fresh start in life. We prepare ourselves by concentrating our attention, controlling our tongues, containing our anger and cleansing our lives of sin. Wrath doesn’t promote the work of God of God’s righteousness. In fact, wrath violates God’s standard on conduct for believers.

Sin is not compatible with receiving God’s Word. It prevents God’s Word from reaching a person’s heart. God’s Word should be welcomed in the heart, received with anticipation like a love letter, and read with a desire to put its words and commands into practice. James warns his readers about the dangers of sin and deception. An unbridled tongue makes a person’s testimony useless. God will help us control our tongues and our anger. Our words reveal our true personality. Are we a person of God or a person of evil?

A good example of someone who could not control his tongue is the apostle Peter. He had no problem telling anyone what was on his mind or how he felt. That got him into trouble on more than one occasion. For example , In Matthew 16:17-23, he first spoke for God when he said that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God, but moments later he spoke for Satan and Jesus had to rebuke him by saying, Get behind me, Satan!”  

The world can easily deceive us. Many times when something is presented to us by sources that we believe to be reliable, we will believe it without asking any questions. This is especially true for the lies of Satan, and these lies often lead us into false beliefs. We must not be fooled by what the world says is true. We must focus on what God says is true and trust in him. We must actively study the Scriptures regularly to find God’s truths and then apply these truths to transform our daily lives, especially if we are called on to preach and teach God’s Word. God knows what we need, so when we study the Scriptures he will give us encouragement when we are struggling, rebuke us when we are rebelling, challenge us when we need to step forward in faith and warn us when we are heading down the wrong path.

Simply listening to God’s Word has no lasting value. When we open the Bible, we must plan to do what it says. The Bible is more than a book to carry to church. It gives its readers a way to follow the heart of God and the footsteps of Jesus. God wants us to go beyond merely hearing the word to obeying the word. Casual hearers simply glance at the highlights of God’s Word and continue on their way like tourists. Careful believers mine God’s Word and find new, life-changing treasures. The Bible must have a continuing effect on the life of a believer.

Many Christians within the church today have the same problem as casual hearers of God’s Word. They are spectators who enjoy hearing the Word of God preached and taught every Sunday. Their heads are filled with biblical knowledge and facts, but they fail to put that knowledge into godly living. Their spiritual heads get fatter and father while their spiritual bodies waste away because they are not being used, just like a human body gets flabby or wastes away when it’s not used. These people are spiritual freaks who are of little value to themselves, the church or the world. James refers to them as being deceived. They have deceived themselves by hearing the word but not applying it in their daily lives.  

Pure and faultless religion is marked by personal ministry. We must respond to the needs of others as Christ did. Pure and faultless religion is also marked by personal purity. We must not be corrupted by the world. Pure and faultless religion is a delicate balance between the positive and the negative. Genuine faith denies the self, takes risks, loves others and always seeks to please God. Believers are enabled by the Holy Spirit to obey God’s law. They are freed from the bondage of sin and enabled to obey God. They can give thanks to God.

Jesus equates the treatment of people in distress with how people treat him. This is the true test of faith. We must conduct our earthly lives in such a way as to not be ashamed to face the Lord. We must be compassionately involved with the problems of the world while remaining holy at the same time. The world is the ordered system that is under Satan’s control. It is opposed to God’s purposes.

We as Christians must show our love to everyone--- not just to those who can benefit us but also to those who can’t help anyone. We will be known for our love to those who have been hurt or who have had their hopes and dreams shattered. Christ’s love should encourage us to love God and love people. Our actions must be motivated by Christ himself and not by what we do, say, think or want. Our attitude towards others shows our true attitude toward God. Our actions speak louder than our words, and a relationship with a living God calls for us to do something. We need to get our hands dirty and get into the filth of human pain and sadness while at the same time not allowing that same filth to contaminate us. Failure to help those who need our help means that we risk becoming defiled and impure. Everyone God sends our way is really seeking his listening, compassionate heart at work through us.

If we want to be help others, we can start by being good listeners. Quick solutions seldom make people feel better. They need solutions that can only come by listening carefully with an open mind and an open heart. We must listen to others in the same way that God listens to us. When we are generous to others, our gifts are not based on the person’s actions. We reflect the love of a God who delights in giving to those he loves.

If we want to know if we are putting God first in our lives, we must ask ourselves where we turn when we have a decision to make, a problem to resolve or we need guidance. Do we turn to other people or our desires first, or do we turn to God, his word and his principles? God speaks of the riches of his mercy as shown through Jesus Christ. God broadcasts his forgiveness and his love. He proclaims the wonder of redemption and calls on us to repent and come near to him. He is available at all times to hear our prayers, to listen to our concerns and to be touched by the nonverbal communication of our feelings. In return, we must be increasingly acquainted with the voice of God. We must follow God each and every day. We are called on to live out God’s love for us and share that love with the world.

Bibliography

1.      Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013)

2.      ESV Study Bible. Part of Wordsearch 10 Bible software package.

3.      Cedar, P.A. & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 34: James/1&2 Peter/Jude (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1984)

4.      MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible, NASV (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)

5.      Pastor Ken Klaus, “Draw Us to Thee.” Retrieved from lh_min@lhm.org

6.      Billy Graham, “Can God Help My Depressed Sister?” Retrieved from www.arcamax.com\

7.      Pastor Rick Warren, “How to Get Better Reception of God’s Word.” Retrieved from connect@newsletter.purposedriven.com

8.      Dr. Gary Chapman, “Good Gifts.” Retrieved from Oneplace@crosswalkmail.com

9.      Dr. Neil Anderson, “Indiscriminate Expression of Emotions.” Retrieved from Crosswalk@crosswalkmail.com

10.  Michael Youssef, Ph.D.,” Dead Faith or Living Faith?” Retrieved from mydevotional@leadingtheway.org

11.  Michael Youssef, Ph.D., “Becoming Doers of the Word.” Retrieved from mydevotional@leadingtheway.org

12.  Dr. Neil Anderson, “Modeling Growth.” Retrieved from Crosswalk@crosswalkmail.com

13.  David Jeremiah, “Angry Birds.” Retrieved from turningpoint@davidjeremiah.org

14.  Bills Graham, “What Would You Tell a Foreigner About Thanksgiving?” Retrieved from www.arcamax.com

15.  Mike Pohlman, “Being Quick to Listen in a World of Talk.” Retrieved from Crosswalk@crosswalkmail.com

16.  Richard Inness, “Ask Not What God Can Do for You.” Retrieved from acts@actsweb.org

17.  Mary Southerland, “Do Wrinkles Make You Die?” Retrieved from Crosswalk@crosswalkmail.com

 

1 Kings 8:22-30,41-43 God is All Around Us

How would you like to be remembered?

Some of us want to be remembered with just a simple tombstone, while others want to be remembered for who they were and what they did in life. King Solomon wanted to be remembered as the person who built the temple. The reading we heard from 1 Kings 8:22-30, 41-43 earlier in today’s service is part of the prayer of dedication of the temple.

There had been talk of building a temple to the glory of God for quite some time. The Israelites believed that the Lord God dwelled in a tent. When the Israelites were wandering through the desert and living in tents themselves, it only made sense for the people to regard God as also dwelling in a tent. By living in a tent, God was able to travel everywhere that the people did. Wherever the people wandered God could travel with them. The people no longer lived in tents out in the desert. Instead they lived in houses in villages and towns. It just did not seem right for God to dwell in a tent when the people enjoyed all the comforts of living in houses. It was only appropriate for God to have a permanent dwelling place as well. It was Solomon's goal to build a temple.

In his prayer of dedication, Solomon referred to the promise God made to his father David, a promise David revealed to Solomon on his deathbed. That promise was expressed in conditional terms in Psalm 132, where God promised that if David’s descendants kept his covenant and the testimony that he would teach them, they would sit on David’s throne forever. Unfortunately, by the time the temple was dedicated, Solomon had already broken God’s requirements. Solomon married one of Pharaoh’s daughters and made sacrifices and burned incense in places where pagans worshiped and people were unfaithful to God.

Solomon was not perfect, and neither was his father David. Both of them represent all of us because we are not perfect. Like Solomon and David, we have a sin-filled nature. We do things that do not please God, but God can still use us to do his work as long as we allow God to live in us through the Holy Spirit.  

God’s name represents all that he is, but he can’t be confined by the temple because he is everywhere. He transcends places and things. For example, one of the reasons why God didn’t allow David to build the temple was because David’s desire was to confine God to a physical building. Solomon built the temple knowing that God is present everywhere. Also, Jesus was limited by his physical body in that he could only be in one place at a time, but the Holy Spirit can be everywhere and with everyone at the same time. God Iives in the hearts of all believers. He wants the whole world to know, love, worship and serve him. We are to make intimacy with God our #1 priority.

Solomon’s famous wisdom was reflected in his prayers at the dedication of the temple. He wants God’s name (and hence God’s presence) to be present in the temple so he would hear the prayers of the people and respond by acting with justice. The building of Solomon’s temple reminded the people that obedience-wholehearted devotion to God-is required to experience the blessing of God’s presence.

Solomon knew that the splendour of the temple was small compared to the size of God. Solomon had a vision that included all the peoples of the earth. He realized that God’s house wasn’t only for the covenant people, but for the seekers of the whole world as well. Nothing can contain God. He is big enough to handle all of our problems, regardless of their size. 

The temple was built for both the Jews and the Gentiles. Foreigners were welcome in the Court of the Gentiles. The temple became a house of prayer for all nations. Foreigners, or people who are different from us, reveal who we are as a community. They measure the spiritual maturity of a person and community. They carry potential evangelism to Israel and the world. They are a warning in a too-settled community that sometimes forgets about a partner on a spiritual journey.

David had the desire to build the temple, but the work was actually done by Solomon. Was David frustrated when God blocked his plans? Yes he was, but he did not let that stop him.  David prayed, sacrificed, toiled and kept the vision of the temple before the people. He trusted in God to bring something good out of his frustration. Without David’s determination, the temple would never have been built.

In many churches today people are discussing the style and content of their worship. The leadership of our own parish had a similar discussion earlier this year when the decision was made to use the different liturgies that are in use throughout the worldwide Anglican Communion. We must remember that the intended audience for our worship is God and not any particular group. God is the host, and we are there to worship him. He makes us at home in his presence through his grace, mercy and peace. God welcomes us and our neighbours regardless of whether or not they are church members. 

Solomon’s petition in this reading teaches us some valuable lessons about prayer. First, God answers our prayers in his own time and in his own way. Second, when we think our prayers have not been heard or our prayers have been rejected, God answers them in far better ways than we can imagine. God is honoured and blessed when we acknowledge that God keeps his promises and answers our prayers. Prayer places our faith in a God who loves us and cares about us.

Communal prayer necessarily and desirably communicates something to both God and to those who pray. It awakens our spirits to new needs and hopes, but we must not allow our prayers to become community announcements that we merely allow God to overhear. God wants to communicate with us. God reaches out to all of us in different ways, and people feel God’s presence in their lives in different ways. Similarly, the gospel spreads when we volunteer to go, and even when we go involuntarily.

The cloud that descended on the temple was a sign of God’s presence. It was the same cloud that accompanied the Israelites when they left Egypt. It was the same cloud that descended on Mount Sinai when God made his covenant and gave Moses and the Israelites the Ten Commandments. That covenant was still in force at the dedication of the temple, but Solomon also spoke of the covenant God made with his father David to establish a line of David forever-a line that included Jesus. Even after the temple was destroyed, it lived on in the hearts of the people, just like God’s presence lived on with them and lives on with us today. God has remained faithful to his people through the centuries. Nothing can control God, and nothing can contain God.

Solomon’s prayer teaches us many things that have practical value. First, it reminds us that the prayer we offer has much to do with the future that is before us. Prayer can insist that our future must include God. Second, it gives us advice, especially when we don’t know how to pray or when prayer seems to be a dead language or an embarrassment in a world that relies on technique. Finally, it encourages us to dedicate ourselves to the work God has given us to do. We must commit deeply to our own dedication to God so that people may come to hear God’s great name because of the way we live our lives.

Bibliography

1.      Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing;2013)

2.      ESV Study Bible. Part of Wordsearch 10 Bible software package.

3.      Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible, NKJV (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 2005)

4.      Dr. Randy White, “God’s Bigness.” Retrieved from Christianity.com@crosswalkmail.com

5.      Dr. Jim Kok, “Always Listening.” Retrieved from hourofpower@hourofpower.org

6.      Dilday, R. & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 9: 1,2 Kings (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1987)

7.      Cameron B.R. Howard, “Commentary on 1 Kings 8: (1, 6, 10-11) 22-30, 41-43.” Retrieved from http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1403

8.      Katherine Schifferdecker, “Commentary on 1 Kings 8: (1, 6, 10-11) 22-30, 41-43.” Retrieved from http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=364

9.      Timothy J. Smith, “A Homecoming to Remember.” Retrieved from www.esermons.com

10.  Stephen M. Croutts, “How Good News Spreads.” Retrieved from www.esermons.com

11.  Robert L. Allen, “How to Deal with Frustration.” Retrieved from www.esermons.com

12.  Exegesis for 1 Kings 8:1, 6, 10-11, 22-30, 41-43. Retrieved from www.lectionary.org.

13.  Lacey Broemel, “Bible Study: 13 Pentecost, Proper 16(B)-Aug. 26, 2012”. Retrieved from http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/stw/2012/08/01/bible-study-13-pentecost-proper-16-b

Ephesians 5:15-20 Paul’s Guide to the Christian Life

Years ago, a prominent minister once had a very eccentric man in his congregation who was trying to be a zealous Christian. Unfortunately, the man usually did the wrong thing. The man was a barber. One day he was lathering up a customer for a shave. He came at the man with a razor in his hand and said, “Sir, are you prepared to meet your God?” The customer was scared out of his senses, jumped up and fled the barbershop with lather on his face!  

In Ephesians 5:15-20, Paul gives general instructions about how Christians are to live holy lives. He calls on Christians in Ephesus to imitate the life of Christ, and he calls on us to do the same thing today. For example, we must take advantage of every opportunity to do good works. Just as Christ emptied himself of his deity to come to earth to minister to us, we are to empty ourselves of our worldly lives and habits to serve others.

As believers we must live our lives very carefully. We must put each step of our lives exactly where it belongs. The path of Christian living and holiness isn’t always clear until we study God’s Word. Our lives must be seen as constant conversations with God.  In order to discern his holy will, we need wisdom, especially in our sin-filled world. The only way to gain that wisdom is to study God’s Word all of the time. When we understand what God wants us to do we can go out into the world and share both the Good News of the Gospel and Christ’s love to a hurting world that desperately needs to hear words of hope and see those words put into action.

As children of God, we are to imitate God. We are to do what God would do, including loving our enemies. We are to be active participants in worship, and not merely spectators. We want to move in and out of God’s plan for redemption, but it can’t be so. We must expose the darkness of our sin-filled world to the light of Christ’s love. We must use the wisdom of God’s Word to make our conduct consistent with our faith.

Sometimes it’s easy for us to allow our eagerness to get in the way of common sense. Sometimes we are in a situation where emotions are high, such as after the death of a loved one. It’s at times like this when we feel the need to say something about Jesus, but that would be a mistake.  The best way to minister in that situation is simply to be there and love the person who is experiencing loss.

That does not mean that we are to curb our enthusiasm for spreading the Good News. We have much to do and not enough time to do it. God has numbered our days. Because our lifetimes are limited, we need to view each day as a precious gift to be lived wisely and according to God’s will, which is laid out in the Bible.  

Wine is a short-lived ecstasy that is destructive but the Holy Spirit is a genuine ecstasy that is creative and uplifting. It’s no secret that bars and taverns draw more people than the church. In fact, most sinful, earthly pleasures draw more people than the church. These earthly pleasures give short-term pleasure and long-term pain. The vitality of the Holy Spirit brings permanent pleasure and meaning. It truly lifts people out of themselves into a higher mood in which they can commune with God and understand his will. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We have to depend on him every minute of every day. We are to make the most of our time on earth fulfilling God’s purposes. We must take up every possible opportunity for worship and service. In other words, we must continually live under the Holy Spirit’s influence by letting God’s Word control our lives.

Just like a person drunk with wine gives control of his/her life to inebriation, the Christian who is filled with the Holy Spirit gives over control of his/her life to the Holy Spirit. The command is in the present tense, which indicates that being filled with the Holy Spirit is not a once-for-all experience but a continuous one. Spirit-filled Christians exhibit the characteristic of speaking, singing, making melody with instruments, giving thanks and submitting.

To be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with joy and gratitude. The only way to be filled with the Spirit is to eat what wisdom and the bread of life (aka Jesus) have set before us. Once we are filled with the Holy Spirit we have to pay attention to how we spend our time. We must spend our time on eternal things instead of spending time on worldly things. We are to spend our time imitating God by doing God’s work in our world.

 

We must do God’s work with a sense of urgency. We are living in a time between the start of God’s reign and its completion when Jesus returns. We must have a sense of urgency because Jesus could return at any time. During this time, our duties to God must include singing and thanksgiving.

 
Our Christian faith is not to be used to escape the world. It is a sanctuary for strength and renewal, but it is also a staging ground for the battle against the forces of evil. We can’t relax our witness or lower ourselves to the moral standards of our world. We must never take our eyes off of Jesus. We need to tread carefully in our sin-filled world so that we won’t stumble and fall. We need to take each step cautiously, and we need to take each step with Jesus by our side.

In order to discern God’s will, we must not neglect prayer, Scripture reading or worship. Through these we listen to the Word, and we talk with the Lord and with others who are talking and walking with God. As we go through this process, we clarify God’s will.

Life is short. In fact, it could end at any time. It is so short that when we get to heaven we might be amazed that our lives went by so quickly. There are timeless moments that must be lived right now. These moments can be as small and precious as smiling at your waiter or waitress in a restaurant or saying “God bless you” to the grocery store cashier. We must make the most of every moment of every day, and the best way to do that is to love and serve God in each and every way each and every day.

Everything we do in our lives is a chance to bring the mind of Christ to bear on the reality of our world. The only way to do this is to think ahead to what’s happening next in our lives and stay in a prayerful frame of mind. We must learn to understand the mind of Christ so we can let his thoughts, words and teachings guide and direct our decisions and actions. He can even use our problems as opportunities for us to trust him more.

Before we can be filled with the Holy Spirit, we must want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We must remove anything that hinders us from being filled with the Holy Spirit. Being with the Holy Spirit is to be under his control moment-by-moment.

If we want our lives to count for something, we must make God’s will a main priority in our lives. Our world needs to know what God wants us to do. God wants us to live our lives with purpose. When the Holy Spirit lives in us, our lives will reflect the love of Christ. Faith begins when we know God’s will. Without understanding God’s will, we can’t have faith in what he wants us to do in our lives. When we understand his will, we are wise. The way of wisdom involves a life filled with the Holy Spirit. It involves adopting the attitudes of joy, gratitude, humility and respect. It’s a way of life defined by showing God’s grace and mercy to others.  Just think of how much better our world would be if everyone loved God and loved people. As the old song goes, what a wonderful world it would be.

Bibliography

1.      Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013)

2.      ESV Study Bible. Part of Wordsearch 10 Bible software package.

3.      Dunnam, M.D. & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 31 Galatians/Ephesians/Philippians/Colossians/Philemon (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982)

4.      Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible, NKJV (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)

5.      MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible, NASV (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)

6.      Joni Eareckson Tada, “Timeless Moments.” Retrieved from communications@joniandfriends.org

7.      Dr. Ray Pritchard, “How Can I Be Filled With the Holy Spirit?” Retrieved from www.keepbelieving.org

8.      David Branon, “The Careful Walk.” Retrieved from noreply@rbc.org

9.      Anne Graham Lotz, “Filled With the Spirit.” Retrieved from info@angelministries.org

10.  Joel Osteen, “Understand His Will.” Retrieved from no-reply@joelosteen.com

11.  Melinda Quivik, “Commentary on Ephesians 5:15-20.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1379

12.  Susan Hayden, “Commentary on Ephesians 5:15-20.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=376

13.  Preaching Magazine, May/June 2015 (Nashville, TN: Salem Publishing; pp. 55-56

14.  Exegesis for Ephesians 5:15-20. Retrieved from www.lectionary.org

 

 

 

 

2 Corinthians 4:1-6 Evangelism 101

Did you know that you are a minister?

That’s right. Each and every one of you is a minister, because if you have faith in God, he wants you to use that faith to reach out to a lost and hurting world. We have a ministry, even if we don’t work for a church. We must proclaim the truth of God’s love in thought, word and deed, as if we are a dying man or woman of God ministering to dying people.

As Christians, we focus on Christ and his love, but this love is just a vague concept to most people unless that love is reborn in each and every one of us each and every day and we learn to love others as Christ loves us. After all, Christ said that the two greatest commandments are to love God and love people.

As ministers, we are to show that love by shining a light on the Gospel. The Gospel has been hidden to those who are lost, in the dark and who follow Satan. The human heart is wicked and blind. For example, Paul’s opponents didn’t understand his ministry because they didn’t know the meaning of the Gospel. Satan has been defeated, but he is still powerful. He is still a dominant force in our world. If he can trick people into thinking he is equal to God (as he did to Eve in the Garden of Eden), he can blind people to the truth of the Gospel. Truth that can be trusted is truth that changes and also testifies to others. We have been entrusted as ministers of the Gospel.

In the past century, the church has been divided among those whose focus was evangelism (the proclamation of Christ crucified) and those who were focused on social welfare or social justice. Which should we be doing? The answer is that we should be doing both. However, the proclamation of Christ crucified should be our central focus, and efforts to achieve social welfare or social justice should be an outgrowth of that focus––and not the other way around.

Jesus’ name must be on the lips of those who believe in him. Their service in his name should confirm the integrity of their message, especially if the message comes from those who have been called to preach the Gospel. God does not shine his light on anyone’s heart for his/her sake alone. Every believer’s knowledge of Christ must shine on a world that desperately needs Christ’s love. The light of the Holy Spirit shines on the world. It allows our lives to be touched and our faith to be kindled. Paul’s preaching was open and sincere, but the Gospel is hidden from many people. The only way it can be revealed is by witnessing to others. This witnessing involves spiritual warfare because Satan is actively opposed to Christian witness. Nevertheless, we need to be lights in our dark, sin-filled world.

Paul was not motivated by money or the need for human approval. Consequently, he refused to water down or change God’s word to suit what people wanted to hear. Paul is a good example for us to follow. We must not be motivated by earthly desires. We must be motivated by a deep and sincere desire to spread the Good News of the Gospel. We must not alter or change God’s Word to conform to what people want to hear. We must not “tickle their ears.” We must pierce their hearts, minds and souls. Honesty is beautiful and refreshingly simple, just like servants of God-no hidden meanings, no hypocrisy, no duplicity, and no political games.

When we do God’s work, we must not tamper with the Gospel, no matter how much we are tempted. If we tamper with the Gospel, it loses power and our witness and ministry are negatively affected. The things of this world must not become more important than our devotion to Christ. He is the utmost authority we must obey. We must stay true to the Gospel and the teachings of Jesus. Everything we do must point people to Jesus. That is what evangelism is in its purest form.

Paul’s ministry is an example of servanthood. Servanthood implies diligence, faithfulness, loyalty and humility. Servants don’t compete, grandstand, polish their image or grab the limelight. They know their job, they admit their limitations, and they do what they do quietly and consistently.  

We must not be discouraged when we face rejection or persecution. The evil in our world can easily discourage us, but we must remember that throughout history the evil nature of our world has rejected and persecuted those who preach the truth of what is written in the Bible. We must not lose heart, faith or hope. We have been given a specific ministry-something we can do and that God wants us to do. When we do what God tells us to do, we find encouragement about ourselves and about life.

We must constantly remind ourselves that God does the work in our ministry. We need to be faithful to what he has asked us to do and depend on him for everything. We have to count the cost and responsibilities for what we do, but God takes the responsibility to get us through. God said in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never, not ever, not ever, leave you or forsake you.”

We must do everything we can to minister to the needs of those around us. These people can be in our family, our neighbourhood, our circle of friends, our church. We must be a daily witness and servant to everyone we meet.

Bibliography

1.      Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013)

2.      ESV Study Bible. Part of Wordsearch 10 Bible software package.

3.      Chafin, K.L & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 31: 1,2 Corinthians (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1985)

4.      James MacDonald, “Eyes Open.” Retrieved from Christianity.com@crosswalkmail.com

5.      Charles Swindoll, “Absolute Honesty.” Retrieved from eministries@insightforliving.ca

6.      Richard Inness, “Never Give Up.” Retrieved from acts@actsweb.org

7.      Charles Swindoll, “Servant-Hearted.” Retrieved from eministries@insightforliving.ca.

8.      David McCasland, “Filtered Light.” Retrieved from donotreply@email.rbc.org

9.      “Ministry.” Retrieved from info@dailydisicples.org

10.  Exegesis for 2 Corinthians 4:3-6. Retrieved from www.lectionary.org