2nd Corinthians 6:8-10 | The Dichotomy of the Ministry
We are in 2nd Corinthians Chapter 6. We’ve been making our way through the book of 2nd Corinthians, verse by verse, chapter by chapter. As we study this book of the Bible, we’ve spent quite a bit of time in this section in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6. We’ve been just taking the time to kind of dissect it. I want to remind you what we’ve learned as we’ve been going through 2nd Corinthians.
2nd Corinthians has a theme with ministry. The Apostle Paul keeps bringing up things about the ministry and being a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s not the only thing he’s talking about but that’s something that he’s been talking about throughout this book. If you look at verse 4, he says “4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God,…”. We’ve been spending time on that and then he launches into 3 different lists in verses 4 through 10. In verses four and five, we see a list of ten things. We know that these lists are separate lists because of the way that they are set apart. In verses four through five, the things in this list are set apart by the word. We spend 1 week going through those 10 things. I call it “the difficulty of ministry” because he talks about the things that you will deal with in ministry that are difficult.
Verse 4 “4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;”. We have that list of 10 things there that have to do with the difficulty of ministry. Then in verses 6 and 7 we see another list. This is a list of nine things. This list is set apart by the word. I call this “the demands of ministry”. Those are the things that you’re going to endure in ministry. 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,”. We spent 1 week on each of those lists and we’re going to spend 1 week on this list.
We’ve been preaching on ministry a lot. I’m not sure if it has been helpful for you but it has been helpful for me. Sometimes preaching about the ministry when you are in ministry can be helpful. I know that there are Pastors and Pastors wives who listen to the sermons and they’re a blessing to them. In verses 8, 9 and 10 we find the last list. In this list we find 9 things and these things are set apart by the words “by and as”. This is a list of things that he contrasts in 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.”.
I call this list “the dichotomy of ministry”. The word dichotomy is defined as a division or contrast between two things that are presented as being opposed or entirely different yet existing at the same time. When you’ve got two things that exist at the same time and they are opposed to each other that is a dichotomy. What the Apostle Paul gives us here in this list of nine things is a list of the dichotomy of ministry. Things that are opposed to each other yet exist all at the same time in ministry. So I’m going to walk you through this list of nine things and make applications. You might not be a Pastor or Deacon or married to someone in the ministry but all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. For those that aren’t in ministry that don’t think this applies, I will make an application at the end of the sermon for those of you that aren’t in ministry.
2nd Corinthians 6:8 “8 By honour and dishonour,…”. What the Apostle Paul is saying is that when you are a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, when you are a genuine real Christian that is working for God that loves the Lord, you’re going to experience in the ministry both honor and dishonor. The truth is this, when you genuinely work for God and when you are genuinely getting up every day using your life to minister to people, to help people and to counsel people and teach them, you will experience some people appreciating and respecting you and others who don’t. What you will find is that when you genuinely work for God and are doing a great work for God, at the very same time that there are people who appreciate you and respect you and speak well of you and admire you and honor you, you will find that there are others who at the very same time will criticize you and will find fault with you and will lie about you and gossip and pot your destruction. They will hurt you and do you dishonour. These are opposites yet both exist at the same time.
If you are in a ministry where everybody speaks well of that ministry, everyone speaks well of that minister, everyone speaks well of that Pastor, everyone speaks well of that Church, what you have is a false Church. In real ministry, in real Christianity, you will get some people saved. You will get some people baptized. You will help some people grow. You will help some people be discipled. You will help some people get their lives put together. You will help some people get off of drugs. You will help some people get a victory over alcohol. You will have marriages restored. You will see children raised for the glory of God. In those areas and in those times, you will find people who will write you thank you cards. People will give you gifts and respect and appreciate you. They’ll give you honor.
However, in a real ministry when you stand up and actually preach the word of God, the whole council of God, preaching in season and out of season, the result is stepping on people’s toes. When you say things that offend some people and people don’t like to hear and rebuke and admonish them, some people will resent you. Some will appreciate you but others will criticize you and find fault with you. Some will recommend your ministry and others will plot the destruction of your ministry. Why? Because in ministry it is by honor and by dishonor. If you can’t deal with being dishonored, don’t get in the ministry. If you don’t have enough thick skin to deal with people talking negatively about you, don’t get into the ministry. Even just serving God will cause people to criticize you.
Matthew 5:11 “11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”. Every true man of God has been reviled and has had people speak all manner of evil against them. They did it to the Prophets, they did it to the Apostles, they did it to the Lord Jesus Christ, they will do it to Christians today. In the ministry you have the dichotomy of honor and dishonor.
In 2nd Corinthians 6:8, notice the second dichotomy in this list. He says “by evil report and good report”. These things are connected. He said some will honor you and some will dishonor you. As a result of that, some will have an evil report and some will have a good report. Every week here at Verity Baptist Church we receive letters and emails from people writing from all over the world, all over this country, and all over the world. People write to say thank you and tell us that we helped get them saved or encourage them to go soulwinning or read the Bible and go to a good Bible believing Church. Every week we get someone emailing or texting us thanking us for the work we are doing. I’m thankful for it. Praise the Lord for the good report.
However, every week here at Verity Baptist Church, we not only get letters and emails thanking us but also we get letters and emails criticizing us. People tell us that we are the Devil, hate mongerers, apostates, modern day Jim Jones, a cult leader. Sometimes I get an email thanking me and encouraging me and then 20 minutes later I’ll get an email stating that they hope I die. It is good report and evil report. It’s just part of the game. It’s the way Christianity works. That’s the ministry. Let me tell you something, some people at work will tell you that they are not believers but they appreciate and respect how we live out our Christianity. Yet other people will say that we are brainwashed and part of a cult.
2nd Corinthians 6:8 “8 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;”. The 3rd dichotomy is “as deceivers, and yet true”. The name of our Church, Verity Baptist Church, means truth. Truth comes from the same root word that we get “verily”. Verily means truthfully. We started this Church as a place that would preach the truth of God’s word, that would not water down the truth of God’s word. As a result, there are people in this room who used to be Catholic and used to believe in the Eucharist until they heard preaching from this pulpit. Or somebody walked up to them after the service and explained the gospel and about salvation in Jesus Christ. They explained that it is by grace through faith and not of works. They explained that you don’t have to earn it and you can’t lose it. They got saved and not only did they get saved but they got baptized and they came back and they started learning and they started growing.
There are people here who used to be tongue speaking Pentecostals and they got saved and began to walk with God and had their lives transformed. There are people that were raised with a repentance of sins salvation message and they got saved and biblically baptized and began to walk with God. They began to read the Bible. There are people who stopped doing drugs and stopped drinking as a result of this Church. You hear these testimonies and you think Praise the Lord.
Despite all of the changes they made and the excitement we have about it, their family didn’t feel the same way. Their family said they were part of a cult. Their family said that they were deceived. Their family said that I am brainwashing you. I always respond the same way “Their brains needed to be washed.”. They needed to be renewed in their mind. I’m just here to tell you that in the ministry they’ll say of us “as deceivers and yet true”. We preach the truth but they’ll say that there’s a deceiver, they’re brainwashing you, they’re deceiving you. Why? Because we brought you out of false religion. Your family will say that we are deceivers and yet you would say that we are preaching the truth.
The fourth thing on this list he says “as unknown and yet well known”. You know there are people all over this country who have never stepped foot in Verity Baptist Church but it doesn’t stop them from making all sorts of absurd and outlandish claims about our Church. People make videos about us and write blogs and articles. Well writing this sermon, out of curiousity I typed my name on Google. I don’t recommend you do that. Let me just tell you what is said about me. Supposedly I teach it is okay to beat children because I teach biblical spankings. That’s not abuse to children. People say I am raising an army to kill homosexuals. All of these lies are spread. Why is that? Because we are unknown yet well known. There are people all over Sacramento who don’t know who I am, they don’t recognize me. However, they would say all kinds of terrible things about me if they knew who I was. It’s not like people are stopping me at restaurants or airports because they recognize me. Why? Because I am unknown and yet I am well known.
1st Corinthians 4:13 “13 Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.”. Defamed means to attempt to damage the reputation of someone. This is new testament Christianity. The Apostle Paul in the first century said about himself “13 Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.”. The word offscouring means someone that is rejected from society. See, we like to think of the Apostles and we look back at the Apostles and we try to romanticize them as they were some sort of great heroes of the faith. Of course they were great heroes. However, they weren’t like Billy Graham or Joel Osteen. They weren’t just walking around having everybody love them and love on them. No, they were defamed. They were made as the filth of the world. They were made as the offscouring of all things unto this day. Why does that surprise you? They crucified our Savior. I’m just here to tell you that in ministry, we will be as unknown and yet well known. We will be defamed. We will be made as the filth of the world and as the offscouring of all things.
Let me show you the fifth thing. 2nd Corinthians 6:9 “as dying, and, behold, we live;…”. I don’t believe he is talking about physically. I think he’s talking about spiritually. In the Bible you’ll find that the term dying is often used about spiritual things that are on the decline, that are not growing, that are not doing well. Let me give you an example. Revelation 3:1 “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”. Now Jesus is talking about a Church that is dying, it’s on the decline. He says they have a name that they are living and yet dead. Verse 2 “2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
Here Jesus is using that terminology in a proper way. He is warning them that they better strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. He said you better start trying to work at this thing and trying to revive this Church. What Paul is saying is that people would look at him and at his ministry and would say he’s dying. Newspaper articles that have written about us have claimed that we are a Church with around 40 people. Other people that preach against us will say we have 40 on a high day with attendance. Yet we have 213 people here on Sunday morning today. They will say we are dying but in reality our Church is thriving. People say the New IFB is dying and yet there are 16 Churches across this country who are holding services this weekend. People say we have no influence. Here is my question. If we have no influence then why do keep writing articles about us? If we have no influence then why do you keep being so worried about us? If we have no influence then why do you keep trying to plot the destruction of our ministry? If we’re not accomplishing anything what are you so worried about?
Let us see the 6th thing in 2nd Corinthians 6:9. “as chastened, and not killed;”. I believe this is a reference that the Apostle Paul is making to salvation and us being the children of God and eternal security. God chastens his children but he doesn’t kill his children. God chastens his children but he doesn’t send them to hell. People criticize eternal security and don’t understand how we can believe that. Here is the thing, to not believe in eternal security would mean that God sends his children to hell. We don’t believe that people can just live however they want with no consequences though. The Bible says that we reap what we sow and that God chastens his children.
Hebrews 12:6 “6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.”. What does this mean? It means the children of God are as chastened and not killed. God chastens his children but he doesn’t kill them.
Let’s look at the 7th thing in 2nd Corinthians 6. 2nd Corinthians 6:10 “10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing;…”. Go to 1st Corinthians 12. This was probably one of the toughest lessons that my wife and I had in ministry. There is no such thing as a good day in ministry. There’s no such thing as a bad day in ministry. People think there are good days and bad days but that isn’t really true at least in ministry. Let me tell you about Sunday. Sunday was a good day. We had the spouse of an individual who’s been coming to Church for a while get saved. We had 3 baptisms Sunday. We had a full house on Sunday morning. We had a full house on Sunday night. We had a group of 30+ people go soulwinning on Sunday and 80 to 90 go soulwinning on Saturday. It was a good weekend. However, it was also a bad weekend. We had one of our founding members, Ms. Denise Anderson, in the hospital waiting for an emergency operation. We had a full house but we had people who should have been here and who weren’t here because they’re backslidden. We had people actively attacking our ministry.
I’m just here to tell you in the ministry there’s no such thing as good days and bad days. Every day is a good day and every day is a bad day. These things exist all at the same time. We will literally have meetings with people where one meeting we are rejoicing with someone and another meeting the same day we’re weeping with someone. Here’s why. A Church is made up of people and sometimes people are doing well and sometimes they’re not doing well. Sometimes they’re getting right with God and sometimes they’re getting backslidden. Sometimes they’re having great victories and sometimes they’re having great defeats. 1st Corinthians 12:26 “26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.”. See, the ministry has this dichotomy which is “as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing;”. I can tell you that my wife and I are always rejoicing about something going on at our Church. However, we are always sorrowful about something going on at Verity Baptist Church. It’s the dichotomy of ministry.
Let me tell you a story. We started this Church around 11 years ago. At the time we were still meeting in our house. We were about 8 weeks old at the time as a Church and knocked on a door and got this lady and her sister saved. This lady, her 3 daughters and her sister all came to Church. They got baptized. They started learning and growing and being discipled. When a Church is young, you reach a lot of odd people. We used to go and wonder whether or not anyone normal would come to Church. The joke is that we have to make them normal. These ladies would come to Church in their pajamas. They were new Christians and learning and growing. One Sunday they came up to my wife and told her that they threw away all of their pants and they were going to be skirts and dresses only now. I had preached in Deuteronomy about how women should not wear that which pertaineth unto the man neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment for all that do so are an abomination unto the Lord thy God. When I preached it, to be honest I was a little concerned because I wondered how they would receive it. They received it well and they came the next week and said they were learning and growing. They told us they were memorizing verses and are preparing to start soulwinning and preach the gospel. We were excited because these were converts of ours. There was a young man also at our Church who had gotten saved and baptized and we had seen some growth and potential in him. He told us the same day that these other ladies decided to make some changes that he was quitting the Church. It was this odd feeling of sorrowful and yet always rejoicing. It’s a dichotomy of ministry. Paul says “as sorrowful yet always rejoicing”. I hope you realize that I am not complaining tonight because there is always something to rejoice about. There is always somebody growing and learning and taking steps and getting right with God. Unfortunately, there is always someone getting backslidden also. We get excited when we see someone show up for Sunday night Church but then there is also people missing Sunday night who used to come.
Let me give you number 8. He says “as poor and yet making many rich”. When the blind man asked Peter for money, Peter said “silver and gold have I none but such as I have I give unto thee”. I think every preacher who gets up and preaches the word of God says “Silver and gold have I none.”. What we can give you is the word of God. I believe that there’s a spiritual application here. 2nd Corinthians 8:9 “9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”. Jesus who was rich took upon him the form of a servant. We are called to follow in his footsteps. Paul says “as poor yet making many rich”. I do believe that this is a spiritual application.
Go to 1st Corinthians 9:11. Here we have the Apostle Paul teaching about taking care of the Pastor’s physical needs. “11 If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?”. Here’s what he’s saying. When you have a Pastor or Deacon or staff that are investing in you spiritually then you should provide for their physical needs. By the way, that’s the terminology I like to use. I’m not against saying that you get paid to preach but here is the thing about that. The first 3.5 years of this ministry, I worked a full-time job and preached three times a week. Nobody ever paid me. You provide for the physical needs so that he can be free to do a spiritual work. So there’s a spiritual aspect. “as poor yet making many rich”. He’s talking about making people spiritually rich.
Let me say this. I think there is a physical aspect as well. We’ve been able to help counsel people through the years and help them with their finances. People have concerns about providing for their families or they have put themselves in a bad position and we’ve been able to use our counseling or influence to help them financially. There are people who are actually physically debt-free now or flourishing as a result of the counseling we gave them. People have told me how much they appreciated the financial series I’ve done called “Money Matters”. As a result of doing well financially, some of them have put in big tithes and donations out of appreciation to our Church.
Luke 12:19 “19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”. Here is what the Bible is saying. If you are like this rich fool that worked all of his life to gather goods and died and left it all behind, what a waste”. I am content with not being rich. How is that possible? The Bible says “having food and raiment let us be therewith content.”. The Bible says “we brought nothing into this world and it is apparent that we can carry nothing out.”. You can’t take anything with you. The only think you can take are spiritual things. Bible believing Baptist preachers can say “as having nothing and yet possessing all things.”. I’d rather be broke by this world standards and rich towards God then be rich by this world standards and be a fool before God.
Paul says we have nothing and yet possess all thing. He says we are poor yet making many rich. We are as sorrowful yet always rejoicing. As chastened and not killed. As dying and behold we live. As deceivers and yet true. By evil report and good report. By honor and dishonor. This is the dichotomy of ministry. These are opposites that exist all at the same time. Why would you go through this? Why would you put yourself through this? Why would you give us those things about the difficulty of ministry and then the demands of mystery and now the dichotomy of ministry? Why would anybody do this? Paul tells us why.
2nd Corinthians 6:11 “11 O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.”. Paul tells us that he puts up with being defamed, attacked, dying, sorrowful. Why would he put up with those things? Because of his love for them. 2nd Corinthians 6:12 “12 Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.”. Here is the sad thing. He says you’re not straightened. The word straightened means to be narrow. He says you’re not narrowed in us. He says you are narrowed in your own vows. What does that mean? Paul is saying that we love you and yet the love in unreciprocated. Paul said it this way in another passage “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you though the more abundantly I love you the less I be loved.”. He said it this way in another passage “Am I therefore because your enemy because I tell you the truth.”.
Verse 13 “13 Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.”. He is saying that if we love you this much then maybe you can recompense us in the same. He is not talking to strangers. He is talking to people that they had love and invested in and prayed for. Late night hospital visits, funerals, weddings. He says why don’t you learn to love? See, people read about the affliction, the persecution, the trouble and think that they can’t do ministry. They don’t want to minister to people due to all of the problems. Even if you are never in ministry, someone took the time to give you the gospel. If someone could do that for you though then can you at least do that for other people?
When you invest in people and are patient and invest your heart and soul into them, sometimes they disappoint you. Sometimes you invest in them and then they stab you in the back. You invest yourself in people and sometimes they don’t give you the benefit of the doubt. You invest yourself in people and then they get mad and cut you out and quit Church. This is what my wife and I have gone through in years of the ministry. If we can do it through the power of the Holy Ghost then you can also. 2nd Corinthians 6:13 “13 Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.”. Here is what I am saying. Your Pastor and Pastor’s wife have loved you and been loyal to you and been patient with you and forgiven you. You should do that for other people also. That’s the ministry the ministry of reconciliation that God has given not just to ordained leadership but to all of us. “Be ye also enlarged.”.
Let’s pray.