2nd Corinthians 6:6-7 | The Demands of the Ministry
Last time we were in 2nd Corinthians, we saw that the Apostle Paul gave us these lists. Let’s do a little bit of review. 2nd Corinthians 6:4 “4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God,…”. You’ll notice that he gives us the first list in verses 4 & 5. He talks about how we have to prove ourselves as ministers of God. The way we do that is found in verse 4 where he says “…in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;”. 10 things are listed there as things that we will have to endure in ministry if we are going to serve and love and help people. I call that list the difficulty of ministry. We talked about that the last time we were in 2nd Corinthians.
Then in verses 6 & 7, we have a different list. He says “6 By pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, 7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,”. I call this list the demands of ministry. The first list is the difficulty of ministry. This is the demands of ministry. Why do I say that? Because this is what the ministry is going to demand of you if you’re going to be in ministry. Of course this is applied to a position of spiritual leadership but honestly all of us should be in ministry. Every single one of us should be dealing with people and working with people and reaching people with the gospel and dealing with your own family. If you’re going to do ministry, this is how you are going to do it.
Verse 6 “6 By pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, 7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,”. Then in verses 8 through 10 he gives us a 3rd list. This is a list of 9 things as well. This list is set apart by the contrast represented in each phrase. I call this list the dichotomy of ministry. In verse 8 he says “8 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; 9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; 10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
We can see that he gives us 3 different lists. I talked about this last time that we were in 2nd Corinthians that it would be easy to just quickly walk through these lists. However, every word is in the Bible for a reason. I think that there’s some value in being able to slow down a little bit and study these things. Last week we looked at 10 things in verses 4 & 5 on the difficulty of the ministry. Tonight we will slow down and look at verses 6 & 7. We will look at the demands of ministry. Next week we will deal with the dichotomy of ministry.
Once again I call this list the demand of ministry because Paul gives us a list of things that ministry will demand of you if you’re going to deal with people and help people and minister to them. You’re going to have to produce these and have these in your life if you’re going to make an impact in the life of others and minister to them. You’re going to have to do these nine things. The first thing he says in verse 6 is “by pureness”. We begin with this idea that to minister to others we must possess pureness. If you will be counted as someone in the ministry, you must do this by pureness. What does pureness have to do with ministering to people? I would submit to you tonight that pureness doesn’t have a lot to do with ministering to people but it does have something to do with ministering to God or having a relationship with God.
Matthew 5:8 “8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”. This is part of the famous passage called the beatitudes. The Bible teaches that when we are pure in heart or clean or without corruptness, we shall see God. Here’s what you need to understand. Our closeness and our relationship to God has to do with our pureness or our holiness. So if pureness has to do with our relationship with God then what does that have to do with ministry? Well here is the thing. If we are going to minister to other then we better make sure that we are right with God. Sometimes in the ministry, you get so busy with all of these various activities and you can forget God. Many of those activities are good activities such as Bible reading or prayer or soulwinning. I’m not preaching against those things but our end goal as a Christian should be to be close to God. We should desire to have a walk with God. What about all of the other things I mentioned? Well, I believe if you are close to God then you will read the Bible and pray and live a separated life. Paul is reminding us that if we are going to be in ministry then we need to be pure and not forget about God.
1st Peter 1:14 “14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:”. He says “former lust”. You have an old man. You have a past life. 1st Peter 1:15 “15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;”. The word “conversation” in our King James Bible means conduct or lifestyle. He is saying that they used to have a former conduct or did things in the past a certain way. He says that if you’re going to be obedient children to God the Father, you can’t do it by fashioning yourself according to the former list. The end of verse 14 he says “in your ignorance”. Isn’t it true that things in your past you are embarrassed or ashamed about. They were in your ignorance.
1st Peter 1:16 “16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”. I’m here to tell you tonight that God is looking for a people that are pure in heart and that are holy. He wants people that will minister by pureness. Why by pureness? Because pureness will draw us close to God. Let’s not forget God in the midst of ministry. I’m reminded of the story of Mary and Martha. One was busy serving, cumbered about with much service. Jesus said that the other had chosen the right thing when she had chosen to sit at the feet of Jesus and commune with Jesus. Again, I’m not against working hard and staying busy. I think we ought to be busy. I think we ought to be soul winners. I think we ought to be active for the work of God. However, if we’re going to be in ministry, we must start by pureness.
James 4:8 “8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”. That ought to encourage you that you and I have the ability and the possibility to draw nigh or close to God. We can draw close to the creator of the universe God. We can draw close to the one who created you, who gave you a plan and purpose. What is even more encouraging than that we can draw nigh to God is that God will draw nigh to you. God is interested in getting close to you. The Bible says that when we take a step towards God, he takes a step toward us. When we draw nigh to God, he will draw nigh to us. Notice the connection to the pureness. He tells us to cleans our hands.
Often we look at this verse in a negative way such as “You need to cleanse your hands if you are going to draw close to God”. However, there is a positive aspect. The positive aspect is that you don’t have to be perfect or sinless to draw nigh to God. You might say “Well if you knew the things I have done in the past…”. However, you can cleanse your hands, you can purify your heart, you can stop being double-minded. You can be blessed as the Bible tells us that the pure in heart shall see God. Why do we start with pureness? Because the goal is God. Don’t ever forget that the goal in our life is to be pleasing to God. Paul starts with talking about pureness.
2nd Corinthians 6:6 “6 By pureness, by knowledge,…”. He says that if you are going to minister unto other then it is not just by pureness but also by knowledge. Go to 2nd Peter 3:18. “18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”. The Bible says that we are to grow in knowledge, that we are to grow in our knowledge of God. We will do this by pureness. We will do this by knowledge.
Knowledge is important. We’ve actually kind of had a theme lately at our Church regarding knowledge. We’ve been talking about it in Hosea where it says “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”. Jesus often told the Pharisees in the gospels, “ye do er not knowing the scriptures”. Knowledge is needed. We’ve had this theme over the last several weeks. I preached the sermon that you’re aware of on building our lives on the Bible. We talked about how to build your life on the Bible. The first step is to know the Bible. That’s why we read it. That’s why we’re reading nine chapters a day in the month of January. Why do we do that? We need to know the Bible so we can trust and apply the Bible. If we are going to minister unto others, we need to know what the Bible says.
Romans 15:14 “14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.”. Notice how he says they are filled with all knowledge. What does knowledge have to do with ministering to others and helping others? Notice how he also says able to admonish one another. The word admonish means to caution, to advise, to give counsel. Here Paul is telling us that you need to be filled with all knowledge. Why? Not just so that you can know the Bible but also apply the Bible. I hope you will build your life on the Bible.
Another reason why you need knowledge in ministry is so that you are able to admonish one another. You need knowledge to caution, advise, counsel, minister and influence others. It won’t just be advising on them what seems right in your heart but being able to clearly show what the Bible says. When people ask you what you think of a specific situation, you show them what the Bible teaches about marriage or finance or health or whatever the topic is. I’m often encouraged by people who come to our church and also those who listen online. We get emails even testimony from our own Church people saying that they want to a different Church for a while but they learn a lot more here with us. We don’t have the flashy lights or smoke machines but we do teach what the Bible says. The Bible says we need to grow in grace and knowledge.
Then in 2nd Corinthians 6:6 he says “by longsuffering”. This is the list that Paul says you are going to minister to people. You might think “I’m don’t minister to people. I just go to Church.”. The Bible tells us that when we assemble together, we are to exhort one another. “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.”. Just your presence here is an encouragement to somebody else. Just you being here is admonishing and encouraging somebody else. However, if you are going to be a member of Verity Baptist Church, if you’re going to be part of the body of believers that is trying to reach people with the gospel, you will have to be longsuffering. The word long-suffering means having or showing patience in spite of trouble especially those caused by other people.
Go to Ephesians 4:1. Ephesians 4:1 “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,”. By the way, we’ve all been called into ministry. How are you going to do that? Verse 2 “2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;”. If you struggle with losing your temper with people then you need to realize that God tells us we need to be longsuffering. How do we do that? “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;”. The word “forbearing” means to endure or to stick with it.
Look, any sort of relationship, whether it’s a marriage relationship, a parenting relationship or a church relationship, you’re going to have to realize that sometimes people are going to rub you the wrong way. Sometimes they’re going to upset you. Sometimes they’re going to disappoint you. Sometimes they’re going to hurt you. If we’re going to deal with people and minister to them, we must have longsuffering. How do we do that? Forbearing one another in love. You need to actually choose that you’re going to love people. Maybe you don’t think you need this because you aren’t in ministry but are you married? You’re going to need pureness and knowledge and longsuffering. You’re going to need all of it. If you have kids or friends or coworkers then you’ll need longsuffering. You’re going to need forbearing of one another.
I’m shocked in the society that we live in today where people are just willing to cut and walk away from relationships just at the drop of a dime. Now I do realize there are times where you need to cut people out of your life but I’m not talking about that. It’s just interesting to me that you can have a friend or a family member or a loved one that you have had a relationship with for a long time and then just within a matter of second completely cut them up. The Bible says that we’re to be long-suffering with people forbearing one another in love.
Let me give you the next thing on the list in 2nd Corinthians 6. He said by pureness – drawing nigh to God and cleansing your hands from sin. By knowledge – We need to learn and apply the Bible to minister. By longsuffering – We’re going to have to sometimes have forbearance toward one another. He also says “by kindness”. If we’re going to deal with people, we’re going to need some kindness. The word kindness is defined as the quality of being friendly, generous and considerate.
Go to Colossians 3:12. The Bible says “12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;”. The term put on there is meant to be taken as the same way that someone would put on clothes. I realize it is easier said than done. However, if you want to have good people skills and love people and be kind to people then you need to wake up in the morning and have this attitude that you will put it on. Some people think they can’t do this because they have so much anger about something. It is as simple as getting up in the morning and saying “I’m naturally angry but I’m going to stop and I’m going to put on kindness. I’m going to put on bows of mercy.”. What does that mean? It means compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm. However, you decide not to punish or inflict pain but show mercy.
It also says “humbleness of mind”. What does that mean? It means not to be proud or haughty or arrogant. It means to have the proper perspective of self. You have no problem with humility if you wake up every day with the realization that you are a sinner saved by grace and that you were forgiven. Therefore, you can have bows of mercy and show kindness and meekness. Then notice our word “longsuffering” in Colossians 3:12. These words are all connected. You’ll see them all connected throughout the New Testament. He says if we’re going to minister to people, we need to do it by kindness.
Ephesians 4:31 “31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:”. I love Paul’s counseling here. I definitely believe in Christian counseling and we practice Christian counseling. He’s looking at somebody who says they are so bitter and he tells them to stop it and put it away from you with all malice. Notice verse 32 “32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”. He mentions being tenderhearted. This really is the key of all relationships that last. You will need to be tenderhearted and forgive one another. In marriage, you need to learn to forgive one another. In parenting, you need to learn to forgive your kids. Sometimes kids need to learn to forgive their parents. Why should we forgive? Verse 32 says “even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you”. If you’re saved, you’ve been forgiven. We all deserve the lake of fire. For that reason alone, we can put off bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking. We can be kind one to another.
I want to show you the 5th thing on the list in 2nd Corinthians 6. I also want to show you the 8th thing on this list at the same time. They’re just connected and it’s hard to disconnect them. We looked at 4 things so far: By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness. Then we have the 5th thing on the list in verse 6. “by the Holy Ghost,” is the 5th thing. “by the power of God” is the 8th thing. I want to do these 2 together because they are the same thing. He says if we’re going to do ministry, we’re going to need the Holy Ghost and we’re going to need the power of God. Let me just give you some references here. Let me show you how the Bible connects this idea of power in the Holy Spirit, power in the Holy Ghost.
1st Thessalonians 1:5 “5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.”. Notice how it connects power with the Holy Ghost. The point is that in the ministry, you and I need the Holy Ghost. Obviously we’re sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise but we’re talking about the baptism of the Holy Ghost or the empowering or power of the Holy Ghost. We can’t do without the Holy Ghost. I can’t preach to a group of 160 people on a Wednesday night and have 30 to 40 people tell me that the Lord spoke to them that night without the help of the Holy Ghost. People sometimes tell me that they really needed to hear the message. How do you pick the right sermon and explain things the right way? It’s the power of the Holy Ghost. It’s the 3rd member of the Godhead. The Holy Spirit applies it in the hearts and in the lives as needed.
Acts 1:6 “6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”. You might think “I don’t need the Holy Ghost. I’m not in the ministry”. Well here the Bible says that you will need the Holy Ghost. You need the power of the Holy Ghost to be a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible calls soulwinning being a witness here in Acts 1. People sometimes think they can’t be a soulwinner. However, a witness is just someone who gives a testimony as to what they have seen or experienced. If you are the witness of a crime, you have the ability to testify of that crime. I’m not trying to over simplify soulwinning. We have a whole soulwinning seminar where we teach how to do it. We want to train you and you can join us and be a silent partner and learn from others doing the talking. Soulwinning is as simple as telling people that you were a sinner on your way to hell and somebody told you that Jesus died and paid for your sin and all you have to do is put your faith in Jesus Christ to be saved. Also explaining that the salvation is secure and can never be lost. All I’m doing is witnessing about my experience, witnessing about my testimony. You need the power of the Holy Spirit to do that. Let me say this, I need the Holy Spirit to go out soulwinning. You need the power of the Holy Ghost to do anything. Praise the Lord for all of the cleaners and volunteers that we have around here. I am thankful that you come to help but clean with the power of the Holy Ghost. Whatever you are going to do in life, do it with the power of the Holy Ghost upon your life.
Let’s look at number 6 in 2nd Corinthians 6. We have by pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost. Here is number 6. By love unfeigned. That means genuine or sincere. The opposite of simulated or pretend or insincere. When you feign something, you are pretending. If you are going to do ministry, you need to do it by love unfeigned. Sometimes in ministry you can be frustrated with people. You have to remind yourself that these are not your people but they are God’s people. God has called us to love these people and it needs to be love unfeigned.
1st Peter 1:22 “22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:”. The Bible says that we are to have unfeigned love. Here’s all I’m saying. You can show up at Church and say “Hey brother, how are you doing?”. Then you can go to your car and say “That guy is an idiot. I can’t stand them.”. The Bible says we have to have love unfeigned. If you struggle with these things then why don’t you work on them? Ask God to give you a tender heart. I’m convinced that if you start praying for people then you will have a tender heart toward them. If you start praying for the people on our prayer list then you will realize that they are a sinner just like you and me.
The 7th thing list is “by the word of truth”. The only way that we can help people and minister to people is through the word of God, the word of truth. I just want you to notice how all of these things are connected. Go to 1st Peter 1:22. “22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:”. Purified your souls is the same as “by pureness”. Obeying the truth is the same as “the word of truth”. “through the Spirit” is the same as “by the Holy Ghost”. “unfeigned love of the brethren” is the same as “love unfeigned”. If you are going to love one another with a pure heart fervently and be right with God, we’re going to need the word of truth. “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word”. “Sanctify them through thy truth.”. “Thy word is true”. So we need the word of truth. The question for you is how’s your relationship with the word of truth? How much time do you spend with the word of truth? How much time do you spend studying the word of truth? The Bible says “thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee.”.
Let’s go back to 2nd Corinthians 6. If we’re going to minister to people, we need pureness, knowledge, longsuffering, kindness, the power of the Holy Ghost, the power of God, love unfeigned, the word of truth. There is 1 other thing mentioned. “The armor of righteousness.”. This idea of armor in the Christian life is found throughout the New Testament. The main time is in Ephesians but it’s not the only place. He said that if you are going to minister to people then you need the armor of righteousness. You will have to put on some armor. Why is that? When you start preaching the truth and getting people saved and baptizing converts, you are putting a target on your back for the enemy. You better have some armor.
Romans 13:12 “12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.”. You may not realize this and you may not understand this but you are in a battle. There is an enemy and he wants to destroy you. Just because you don’t want to fight doesn’t mean that he won’t fight. The Devil is coming to destroy you. The Bible says “Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the Devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour.”. He’s walking about like a lion prowling and seeing who he can destroy. Jesus looked at Peter and said “Satan hath desired to have thee that he might sift you as wheat.”. Whether you like it or not, he’s coming for you. Ephesians 6 talks about putting on the whole armour of God. We need armour for 1 reason. There is going to be an attack upon us.
Why does he emphasize this idea of putting on the whole armor of God? Why does he say that? Because we’re in an attack. We’re in a battle. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Because the devil your adversary, the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he made devour. Ephesians 6:11 “11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”.
When we talk about the armor of God, the emphasis is that you put on the whole armor of God. Why? Because there are several different aspects of the armor of God. There is a helmet of salvation. That makes sense because you would think of a helmet as being one of the most important aspects of safety. That’s not it. There’s a breastplate of righteousness. There’s a shield of faith. There’s the sword of the Holy Spirit which is the word of God. You have your feet shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace. See, it’s not enough to have the helmet of salvation. How comfortable would you feel going to war without a shield of breastplate or sword? You need the whole armor of God. There’s this idea that you need the whole armor of God because when the Devil attacks, he attacks hard.
Why do you need armor in ministering unto other people? Because when you reach people and help them, the Devil attacks. My wife and I were just having a conversation about this today. Here’s what I’ve learned. If our church was reaching a handful of people and nobody was hearing the truth preached through the internet or whatever means that we use, there’d be a lot less attacks. The reason for the persecution, the reason for all the things that we deal with around here is because we’re reaching people. When you’re reaching people by knowledge, when you’re reaching people by long suffering, when you’re reaching people by kindness, by the power of the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, just realize you better put on the armor of righteousness. The Devil’s coming and the emphasis about the armor is you better put it all on.
Notice what he says in 2nd Corinthians 6:7 “7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,”. He says on the right hand and on the left. What he is saying is that if you are going to put on the armor, put it all on. Get the shield, the sword, everything. When it rains, it pours. I’m here to tell you that when the Devil attacks, it’s not just a little attack.
Ephesians 6:16 “16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”. He’s using this illustration that would have made sense to them in the ancient world. The Devil is like this enemy shooting these flaming darts. If you’ve ever studied history or watched a documentary or movie on ancient warfare, they would dip an arrow in oil and set the tip of it on fire and shoot it at them. They wouldn’t just shoot 1 arrow but a bunch of archers would shoot at the same time. When 1 fiery dart comes, you look up and 100 more are coming. That is how the Devil attacks also. When it rains, it pours. It’s not just one thing. When you put on the armour, make sure you put on all of it. The Devil wants to stop those accomplishing something for God.
When you’re ministering to people, you need pureness. You need to get rid of your sin. You need knowledge. How else can you minister without the knowledge of how to help people. You need longsuffering or a tender heart forbearing one another in love. You need kindness or forgiving one another. You need the Holy Ghost or the power of God. You need love unfeigned. You need the word of God. Don’t forget to put on that armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.
Let’s pray.