I have been challenged lately by the life and heart of the apostle Paul, and specifically in 2 Corinthians. What a minister (servant) He was!<\/p>\n
In 2 Cor. 5, we read that he was a minister of the New Covenant, and an ambassador for Christ.<\/p>\n
Note 2Cor. 6:3-11 NASB<\/p>\n
giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, <\/em>but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, <\/em>in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, <\/em>in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, <\/em>in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, <\/em>by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; <\/em>as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, <\/em> What an example Paul was for us.\u00a0He relates even more hardships that he endured as Christ’s servant in 2Cor. 11:23-30.<\/p>\n Surely he imitated the greatest Servant of Jehovah, our Lord Jesus Christ (Isaiah 42:1). Christ, the Man of Sorrows<\/em>, was the one who said “that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves” (John 17:13). None other went from such riches to such deep poverty, selling all that He had to purchase our redemption (2 Cor 8:9, Matt 13:46). Dying upon that tree, He owned nothing in this world naturally, but was the possessor of heaven and earth.<\/p>\n He told the Corinthians,\u00a0\u00a0“you are in our hearts to die together and to live together” (2Cor 7:3 NASB).<\/p>\n Paul was willing to go through so much for the Corinthians, “though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved” (2 Cor 12:15).<\/p>\n His aim was the Lord’s glory, and his goal, the Lord’s commendation (2 Cor. 10:17-18).<\/p>\n After all, why glory in men, and why strive for the menial things of this life? For all things are yours<\/em>\u00a0(1 Cor 3:21-23). What a hope we have to look forward to as heirs with Christ! (Rom 8:17)<\/p>\n Paul gives us a high standard when he writes in Colossians 3:17, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus…” \u00a0Albert Barnes sums this up by saying,<\/p>\n His authority should be the warrant; His glory the aim of all our actions and words.<\/em><\/p>\n May each of us strive to be “a good minister of Jesus Christ” (2Tim. 4:6).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have been challenged lately by the life and heart of the apostle Paul, and specifically in 2 Corinthians. What a minister (servant) He was! In 2 Cor. 5, we read that he was a minister of the New Covenant,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-practical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=935"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":946,"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935\/revisions\/946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nas sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things. <\/em><\/strong>
\nOur mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n