SUSTAINED IN MINISTRY 

II CORINTHIANS 4:1-18 

          The fact that Paul starts this chapter by saying that we have received “this” ministry lets us know that he had in somewhere else in the book discussed the ministry that we Christians have been given.  In II Cor 3:6 he tells us that we have been made ministers of the New Testament.  He continues to give description of our ministry in II Cor. 4:3-6 where he explains

1.     That if we hide that which has been entrusted to us then it is hidden from those who are lost.  This means that we withhold the opportunity for life from those who are dead.

2.     Our ministry is to preach not ourselves but rather is to preach the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

3.     Our ministry is that of a servant of Christ to mankind.

Having such a great ministry Paul says we

1.     We are not faint hearted.

2.     We should have renounced hidden or secret dishonesty, or hidden or secret shameful actions.

3.     We should not walk in unholy ways even when seeking to do holy deeds.

4.     Nor should we adulterate, counterfeit or disguise the Word of God.

5.     But rather we should live in a way that the truth is manifested or shown forth in our actions and no man can in good conscience find fault with us.

Just as the ministry that we have been given is great so is the trials that we must face.  The Christian seeking to do the will of God experiences fatigue and weariness, strain and pressure, trouble and doubt, criticism and opposition, conflict and persecution, and the list goes on and on.  Those who will serve God as ministers of the Gospel must have a strong spirit of endurance and the power of God to sustain him.  Thus the title of this morning’s message is Sustained in Ministry.   

     In this passage of scripture, Paul gives hint of 8 things that help to sustain us as we seek to fulfill the ministry given to us.

Verse 7

     Paul says that we have “this treasure”.  What treasure is Paul speaking of?  The treasure that Paul is speaking of here is the indwelling presence of God that now shines in our hearts.  The indwelling presence of God is the first thing that sustains us in ministry.  God himself by the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in the frail, easily marred bodies of man.  These bodies that are weak, corruptible and perishable are afforded the opportunity to become the dwelling place of God.  Why would God choose to dwell in such frail bodies?  Well choosing such a dwelling place affords God the opportunity to show off his power.  The indwelling presence of God shows God’s power to convert and transform us into new creatures.  2 Cor. 5:17 says, “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.”

EPHESIANS 4:22-24

     The indwelling presence of God transforms us into the new man.  The presence of God causes us to put off that which is not like God and then to take on the character and behavior of God.  Col. 3:10 says that we have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him (the new man).  In other words as we come to understand more and more about the God who now indwells us, we take on more and more of his character.  As we take on and display more and more of his character we become more effective ministers for Him.  Whatever we accomplish for God is not because of who we are, but rather because of the new creatures he has caused us to become.  The indwelling presence of God sustains us in ministry.

2.  The power of God sustains us in ministry.  (2 Cor.4:8-9)

          Believers are faced with all kinds of trouble and difficulty situations in life.  However the believer has a great resource in the power and presence of God.  God saves and delivers us through every situation and trial no matter how difficult.  When we submit our will to God and follow closely as we are led by his Spirit we will find that though we be troubled (which means to be pressed, squeezed, oppressed, hedged in, or pressured) in every imaginable way, place and occasion, we will not be distressed (which means trapped and kept in a narrow, cramped place; or to be crushed.)  As servants of God and ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we may sometimes feel as though we are being pressured and troubled beyond that which we are able to bear. But I Cor. 10:13 says “ There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

          The believer may be perplexed which means to be at a loss, to be doubting, not knowing, questioning, wondering which way to go, what to do or what to say.  But the believer who seeks guidance from God will never be in despair meaning hopeless, without confidence or assurance, to be without any sense of security.  You see the believer finds his confidence not in himself, but rather in God.

I JOHN 5:14-15

          The believer who always seeks to know and do the will of God can have confidence that God always hears him and will come to his rescue in such a way as to bring glory to God.

     The Christian seeking to fulfill the ministry of God maybe persecuted, ridiculed, isolated, criticized, slandered, imprisoned, abused, overlooked and mistreated.  But no matter what man does he can be assured that God will never forsake, abandon or desert him.

GENESIS 28:15

          Here God told Jacob He would not leave him until he had done all that he said he would do.  He told the Children of Israel in Isaiah 55:11 “ So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”.  And Jesus in Matt. 28:20 assures the believers of his abiding presence by saying “lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world”.

The believer may be cast down, struck or knocked down, but he will not be destroyed.  We may be struck down, but we will never strike out.  We maybe knocked down, but we will not be knocked out.  One commentator says “The supreme characteristic of the Christian is not that he does not fall, but that every time he falls he rises again. It is not that he is never beaten, but he is never ultimately defeated. He may lose a battle, but he knows that in the end he can never lose the campaign”.  The believer who continues to rely completely on the power of God will be encouraged and sustained throughout the ministry God has appointed for him.

3.  The commitment to dieing daily will sustain you (II Cor. 4:10-12)

          Here Paul reminds us that it is important to always keep in mind and heart the great sacrifice of Christ.  Christians must be just as committed to dieing daily as was Christ.  In order to secure a perfect righteousness for us, Jesus had to live a sinless life.  He had to struggle against sin, die to self, deny his own desires and live for God every day of his life.  Jesus set a perfect example and then says to us in Luke 9:23, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

Even as Christ was committed to dieing to self so that God could be glorified, we must be committed to dieing daily to self so that Christ may be seen in us and he thus will be glorified in us.  Paul said that his death to self worked life for others.  When a believer dies to self, really denies himself so that Christ can live through him, conquering the flesh and trials of life, others will see the power of Christ in him and they too will be led to turn to Christ to receive life conquering power.  A commitment to self denial will sustain us in ministry, glorify God and draw others to Christ.    

4.  Our faith sustains us in ministry (II Cor. 4:13)

     Sometimes as we face the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of our enemy we feel like giving up.  It is at those times that our faith in God must sustain us.  Our faith in him must be so strong that we refuse to give the enemy the victory of seeing us give up on God.

PSALMS 116:1-4, 8 - David said he was greatly afflicted; the sorrows of death had surrounded him and the pains of hell had grabbed hold of him.  But David said he did not despair.  He called on the Lord and he helped him.  He delivered his soul from death, his eyes from tears and his feet from falling.  When all else was failing him, David’s faith in God sustained him.  I John 5:4 encourages us by saying, “For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith”.

5.  The hope of being resurrected sustains us (II Cor. 4:14)

          Above all else, the believer must desire to be with Jesus, keeping that glorious day of resurrection, the day of full redemption, ever before his eyes.  We must remember that in order to be glorified together with Jesus we must choose to suffer in this life as he did.  We must remember that resurrection day is coming. (I Thess. 4:16-18 says, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  Wherefore comfort one another with these words”).

JOHN 5:28-29

          All of the dead will be resurrected, but not all will be resurrected to live forever with Christ.  We who are saved by the power of God want to continue to live in such away that we are assured and confident that we have pleased God and thus look forward to the resurrection to life eternal.  Keeping heaven in our view will encourage us to submit in obedience to God so that we might be found in Christ at his return.

6.        The needs of others will sustain you (II Cor. 4:15)

When Paul says here that all things were for their sakes, he is referring to the struggles he had endured and the sacrifices he had made.  When we really come to understand that our actions affect the salvation of others, especially those we love, it will encourage us to live a life that will be pleasing to God and will draw others to him.  I can clearly remember a time in my life where I wanted to give up on the promise of God for me and I went to Shelton and told him I wanted to quit.  He turned me around so that I could look at all the young, baby Christians standing behind me.  Then he said, “you can’t quit.  There salvation depends on you.”  You see the strong must bear the infirmities of the weak and if those who are perceived of as being strong fall along the way side, where then will the weak end up.  Even in hard times, we must choose to endure trouble and distress, so that those who come along behind us will not be discouraged and give up.  Our concern for others will sustain us during troubled times.

7.     The renewing of the inner man sustains us (II Cor. 4:16)

          As we go all out to work for the Lord, our physical bodies become tired and worn.  However, we cannot faint, give up, lose heart, become discouraged, or give in to circumstances, exhaustion, persecution or opposition.  To help ourselves remain in the fight even when the battle is tough, we must daily renew our inner man.  Our inner man is our born again spirit man.  As we feed our spirit man from the word of God and bath him in the Spirit of God we are renewed and refreshed for the journey that lies ahead of us.  God told the psalmist in Ps. 50:15, “Call upon me in the day of trouble:  I will deliver thee and thou shall glorify me.” And we know that Isaiah 40:31 says, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint”.  If we are going to have the energy that we need to sustain us in ministry then we must stay connected to our power source.  God is our power source and we plug into him through the Holy Spirit who abides in our spirit.  Paul encourages us in Eph. 5:18  to be filled with the spirit.

8.        Keeping an eternal view sustains us. (II Cor. 4:17-18)

If we are going to be sustained in ministry and fulfill the call of God on our lives we must have an eternal view.  We cannot afford to focus on the light afflictions we must endure.  We must recognize that the light troubles we encounter here are working in us a greater reward in the end.  However, if we burn our energy focusing on the troubles of this world we will find ourselves not fulfilling the ministry that God has given each of us and thus run the risk of forfeiting our eternal rewards.  Though the world encourages almost demands that we focus on the temporal, we who know Christ as savior and Lord must develop and maintain an eternal outlook.  Though we must live on this earth, we must never forget that we are visitors here, this is not our home.  We are on a journey, traveling to a far better life.  As we endeavor to fulfill the ministry that God has put forth for each of us, we must let the knowledge that our time here is short sustain us and encourage us to work diligently while we have the time. 

          We have all been called to be ministers of reconciliation.  Seeing that we have this ministry, let us be sustained in ministry by the indwelling presence of God, the power of God, by the commitment to dieing daily, by our faith, by the hope of resurrection, by the needs of others, by renewing our inner man and by the hope eternal glory with Christ.