This exposition of 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, May 6, 2018.
Intro:
I went to a lunch meeting this week. It was at the Tulsa Metro Baptist Network building. One of the two announced candidates for the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention was in town and a question and answer time was set up for him to meet with pastors and church leaders.
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He is a good man. I’ve known about him for years. He has been a faithful servant to the denomination for 20-30 years. He’s been a pastor, a college professor, president of one of our seminaries, a vice president of the Home Mission Board (now known as the North American Mission Board), and for a time worked for Lifeway in church revitalization. I know of the other candidate. I’ve heard him preach. He pastors a mega church in North Carolina. He’s a good man. Either man would serve us well. What concerns me is the nature and tone of things anymore. The man in town this week has been announced as a candidate. He gave out the website he has set up that outlines his plan and there are position papers, and videos for laying out his vision. He worked the room like a seasoned political pro. Shaking hands and making small talk. He is currently working across the state in what must be described as a “whistle stop” campaign leading up to the vote in Dallas in June. Our convention has been shaking in recent days with the Chief Executive Officer of the Executive Committee stepping down for having had and “in appropriate relationship in the recent past.” The president of the International Mission Board has announced he is stepping down to go back into the pastorate. A campaign in social media is calling for the resignation of the president of one of our seminaries who is the architect of the conservative resurgence for a series of incidents that range from enrolling a muslim as a student at the seminary in violation of the school’s charter, to questionable spending practices, to being accused of covering up sexual abuse, to plummeting enrollment numbers at his seminary to advice given to a woman who was the victim of abuse. In the meeting this week we were reminded that baptisms are the lowest they’re been since the 1940s. Cooperative Program giving is down, church attendance is down, Sunday School is disappearing and therefore the ship must be righted.
Yes, that’s all true. The SBC has some really challenging issues. The church, as a whole, is struggling. Unless you’ve been asleep for the last 20 years, you know the world has changed. Culture has shifted. We live in a post-Christian world. I’m sure you are aware of the case of Alfie Evans, the child born in England that the state took control of his care and refused treatment against the wishes of his parents. The judge ruling over the court battle said, “Stop telling me this child is a human being. He isn’t.” The court ruled there was not sufficient brain activity so there was no life and all treatment, including food and water, was terminated. The child died 5 days later. Another court, this time in Germany, ruled that religious organizations did not have the right to determine that religious commitment to their faith was a necessary condition for employment by that organization. We live in a different world. What does gospel ministry look like in this kind of world? How do we remain faithful to the Scripture and relevant to the culture in this context? Is that even possible?
We have 2 strategic teams working right now to help us answer some of these questions. We know we must preach the gospel. We know that we must remain faithful to the faith once and for all delivered to the saints. We must be the church. We must reach the lost. But what if they won’t listen? What if they won’t even give us the chance to be heard? We turn again this evening to the book of 2 Corinthians.
Text: 2 Corinthians 4:7-12
Paul is writing to a church he dearly loves.
He gave a year and a half of his life to these folks.
Now, some are questioning his credentials.
They are questioning his integrity, even the validity of his message.
As he responds, he gives us some insight into what ministry should look like.
As we consider ministry in a “foreign” culture we must understand that…
Thesis: Powerful, God-honoring ministry demands a mindset at odds with the culture and counter-intuitive to our own sinful hearts.
We have to think in biblical terms and not in the terms of the culture. Right and wrong, truth and error, success and failure are defined biblically not culturally. Culture may define success as “nickels and noses” but biblically success is defined by faithfulness and truth. Hear me. I’m not saying that increase in numbers and dollars do not matter, I’m saying they do not determine success. God’s not impressed by big crowds and record offerings. He is not opposed to them but He is impressed by faithful obedience and truth.
With that I want to consider three things in our text.
- Powerful, God-honoring ministry begins with a proper understanding of our place and our role. (4:7)
- Powerful, God-honoring ministry demands that we embrace our weakness and trust in the power of God. (4:8-9)
- Powerful, God-honoring ministry finds its fulfillment in being the instrument through which God’s glory is revealed. (4:10-12)
Conclusion:
It is the will of God that His frail jars of clay be used to show that the surpassing power belongs to God. The power of the gospel comes in our weakness, not in our strength, not in our greatness, but in the fact that we are dispensable, cheap clay pots.
That is why I say, Powerful, God-honoring ministry demands a mindset at odds with the culture and counter-intuitive to our own sinful hearts.
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