Consider these questions as you dwell in 2 Corinthians 6:1-13:

1. The apostle Paul vividly describes a series of contrasting experiences—honored and dishonored, praised and slandered, sorrowful yet rejoicing. How does this passage emphasize the paradoxical nature of the Christian life, where believers experience hardship and joy simultaneously? How does this portrayal encourage believers in navigating life's challenges while maintaining a sense of spiritual joy?

2. Paul highlights the resilience of believers in the face of hardships, persecution, and opposition. How does this passage reflect the unwavering commitment of early Christians to their faith, despite facing adversities like beatings, imprisonment, and societal rejection? What lessons can modern-day Christians derive from their perseverance in proclaiming the gospel?

3. The passage presents a poignant message about possessing everything despite having nothing—a notion rooted in the understanding of salvation and the reconciliation brought through Christ. How does this concept challenge our conventional understanding of material possessions and worldly success? In what ways can believers find contentment and abundance in Christ, even when faced with scarcity or challenges in life?

Transcript:

 So, I want to start off today by reminding you how chapter five. Ended up. Remember, he was talking about being reconciled to God. And then we saw the gospel in the words of verse 21. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin. So, then him, we might become the righteousness of God. This is the idea that we're continuing into chapter six with.

And so, Paul says, Hey, yeah.  I'm making this appeal to you. Don't receive this grace, this message as you've heard of the gospel in vain, he says, you know, do something about it. And so, what is Paul say? And we see it here in verse two. Behold, now is the favorable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Do something with this gospel that you have heard and then Paul goes back to sort of defending He and his companions, right?

Remember they're saying that they're not as good as Some of these other people because they have hardships. So, Paul is talking about how he is doing this ministry. He's proclaiming this gospel Despite whatever happens. He's trusting that it's all from God. God is able to use all of this and really this is a beautiful passage because look at what it says.

I'm going to, I'm going to read from verse four, um, on through probably through verse 10 again. I know it's a lot to read again, but it's a beautiful passage. But as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way by great endurance and affliction, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labor, sleepless nights, hunger.

Okay, all those things we saw those in the book of Acts when we were working our way through the book of Acts Right, we saw that they had all this stuff going on and yet what happened God was able to use it was not a sign that that God was against them. It was not a sign that their message was wrong.

Instead, God was able to use those hardships to allow them to proclaim the gospel, to take the gospel out into the world. And you've probably heard me say before, one of the most amazing things about the gospel and the early church is how far it went. Within just a generation, right? There's some evidence out there that that the gospel went to the modern-day United Kingdom before the year 70. Imagine the gospel going out that well. Why? Because of the perseverance!

Of the people who are doing the proclamation of the gospel. They believed it to be true and they went out So even in the midst of afflictions hardships calamities Uh, they, they kept on keeping on, right? Well then, we see in verse 6, by purity, knowledge, paces, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love by truthful speech, the power of God, uh, with the weapons of righteousness for the right, right hand and the left.

Again, he's saying we're doing these things. We are, we are striving after God to be pure, to have knowledge, to be patient. Notice that many of these things are from the fruit of the spirit, right? These are Christian virtues and they're striving to have these things. And then what I think is probably the most beautiful part of the passage is the way he uses positive and negatives together.

All of this is happening verse 8 through honor and dishonor through slander and praise. We're treated as imposters and yet true as unknown and yet well known as dying and behold We live as punished yet not killed as sorrowful yet always rejoicing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing yet possessing Everything what an excellent use of words.

I I don't know Uh, I don't remember enough about Greek to be able to tell, uh, how this looks there, but in English, this is just a beautiful passages of work, beautiful working through these ideas. So, I think in any language it is going to be beautiful.  We see this, that God is working through when they are honored, when people find them and like them, but God is able to use them through dishonor, even when they're slandered.

God's able to use it even as when they're praised. Um, when people think they're fake, God uses it. Uh, when people, when they're true, considered to be true, God uses it. Uh, when they're nobodies out there and they proclaim the gospel, God is using it. When they come into town and everybody knows who they are, God is using it.

When they are, um, on the verge of death, they're still alive. God is keeping them going. Uh, even when they're punished, they're not killed. Uh, even when they're in sorrow.  They're rejoicing. You get the idea. And then it ends up with us having nothing yet possessing everything.  That says it all, right? Even if we do not possess anything, we possess everything because we have Christ.

Because we know we have salvation in Him. Because we know the love of God in Christ Jesus has reconciled us to God. That is the big story here. That is why Paul is proclaiming the gospel because of this idea of reconciliation that comes to the people of God through the work of Christ. And so may we find our value, may we find what we, what we value in the fact that even if we have nothing, we can possess everything in Christ.

May we look to that, that joy of our salvation to give us hope, to give us peace, even in the midst of all these things that Paul is talking about here. May we be a people who reflects the love of God that has been shown to us in Christ Jesus.