Resurrection Life Ministries (Daily Reflections from the Word)

Sunday, December 29, 2013

The Truth comes to Corinth Part 2 Volume 25

Paul’s Plea to the Corinthian Believers for their Affection and to be Holy

2 Corinthians 6:11-18 Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. Now in a like exchange--I speak as to children--open wide to us also. Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty.” NKJV

Paul completes his dialogue documenting all the obstacles of reproach and condemnation he has received from men who do not know our Lord Jesus Christ, which was the motivation for their inflicting pain upon him. Paul after describing how he conducted himself under suffering for the sake of the gospel as well as the perception of him verses what and who he really and truly is because he constantly lived his life for eternity with Christ Jesus our Lord, he now pleads with the Corinthian believers to be of the same mind set. Paul wanted them to open up more to him because he had enlarged or platuno his heart to them meaning he always welcomed them and embraced them openly with sincere love that never wavered. Paul said something similar to the Philippian believers expressing his loving desire to be with them and worship our Lord Jesus Christ together in spirit and truth when he said, “For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:7-8).

Paul is confronting these Corinthian believers inability to fully and completely open up to him in the same manner that he has done and continues to do with them. Paul declares to them that they are straitened or stenochoreo meaning to hem in closely or figuratively to cramp; it has the idea of someone being sorely in difficulties and painfully to a great degree distressed in spirit. This was the condition of the heart or inner man/woman of many of these Corinthian believers toward Paul minus pity, sympathy, inward affection, and tender mercy and Paul declares his disposition he has for them and exhibits to them in loving tenderness because he wants their affections to him as well as he wants them to live in holiness before God the Father. Paul speaks to them as a loving father would his children desiring a closer relationship with them and wanting to protect them from the lies of the enemy masquerading in the person of the false apostles that came to them trying to turn their hearts away from Paul to themselves.

So Paul now makes his plea for them to “not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers” and this English phrase “unequally yoked together” is translated by the Greek word heterozugeo which means to have fellowship with one who is not a Christian in marriage, where the apostle is forbidding Christians to have intercourse with idolaters. Paul takes his idea here from the Miscellaneous Laws given to the Israelites from the LORD’s command recorded for us by Moses with these words, “You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together” (Deuteronomy 22:10) meaning just as it was unprofitable for the Israelites to yoke two different animals together to a plow, it is even more unprofitable spiritually for a Christian to have an intimate relationship with a non-believer. Paul makes the contrasting comparison by using the example of our Lord Jesus Christ (the way, the truth, and the life) having anything in common with the devil (the father of lies). Paul declares the Christian to belong to Christ and the non-Christian belongs to the devil, therefore, in that spiritual condition there is no common ground.

Paul surely is not requiring these Corinthian believers to never commune with or participate with non-believers in the world, but he wants them not to enter into a marriage union with a non-believer thinking they could change them because that is not possible, for only the Holy Spirit can change the hearts of non-believers and bring them to Jesus Christ. The true believer in Christ Jesus has Him dwelling in their body through the Holy Spirit and the non-believer does not. Paul concludes his plea to them for holy living by quoting the LORD’s words spoken through the Prophet Ezekiel when he said this to the Israelites, “My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people” (Ezekiel 37:27). The logical conclusion that the Corinthian believers and us today should draw from God’s redemption of us from our old life making us partakers of His Holy Life (2 Peter 1:4) is for us to remove our hearts from the lure of the world and its ways (Isaiah 52:11) and then our Heavenly Father can be freed up to treat us lovingly like the sons and daughters that we are just as any good earthly father and mother would treat or care for their children with love unconditional, corrective discipline, and unending sacrifice.

“Paul’s love failed to be appreciated by his converts because the channel of receptiveness, that is, of their faith and love, was so straitened. How often is this the case between Christ and us! Let us dredge the channel. Be ye enlarged! Open your mouth wide and He will fill it. The best method of doing this is to be only, always, and all for Him. We must not offer Him a share of our heart and devotion. There must be no division between Him and others. Whenever iniquity, darkness, Belial, and unbelievers seek to share our nature with the Holy Spirit, and we permit the partnership, He withdraws. No idols must be permitted in any hidden shrine of the heart. The whole nature-spirit (that is, the Holy of Holies) soul (that is, the seat of our individuality), and body-must be the temple of the Eternal, who rules it from the Shekinah, which is enthroned on the Ark of the Covenant. God still walks the world in those who love Him and are wholly yielded to His indwelling. The loneliest spirit finds Him to be father, mother, brother, sister, all. What an incentive to cleanliness not only of flesh but of spirit! Hebrews 10:22.” F. B. Meyer

“God the Father is ever and always wanting to lavish us with all of his loving care and provision but it is likewise always our sinful disobedience and rebellion that blocks our reception of His Love to us. God the Father’s Love to us never ever ceases, it is just like the sun shining every day and it is only blocked by clouds which is figurative of our unwillingness to let go of some besetting sin that blocks the Father’s Love to us. The Apostle Jude reminded us with these words, “Keep yourselves in the Love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life” (Jude 1:21).” Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…

Saturday, December 28, 2013

The Truth comes to Corinth Part 2 Volume 24

Paul Testifies to the Marks of the Ministry Part 4

2 Corinthians 6:7-10 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. KJV

Paul declares his life and ministry to be governed and regulated by the “word of truth” and of course he is referring to the incorruptible Word of God that lives, remains, and continues forever (1 Peter 1:23). Our Lord Jesus prayed for us to the Father with these words, “I have given them Your Word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth” (John 17:14-17). Paul likewise continually gave thanks to God for the Colossian believers for His indescribable gift of Jesus Christ when he wrote this, “We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth” (Colossians 1:3-6).

Paul declares that his ministry is all of God’s Power working miraculously in him and through him. Paul declares his weapons of warfare to be God’s amour or hoplon meaning an implement, instrument, utensil, or tool he was able to use at any time and at all times as he faced attacks from the enemy in the spiritual realm, in his soul where the realm of his mind and thoughts dwelt, and in his physical body. Paul spoke of this amour or God to the Ephesian believers in this manner, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:10-17).

Paul’s imagery was that of observing the Roman soldiers carrying the sword in their strong or dominant hand for attack and placing their shields in their weaker hand to defend against the enemies attack, Paul became very familiar with these soldiers and their weapons being in their captivity for so long. Paul now begins to contrast what was said about him from the reality of who he truly was in the sight of God the Father and he first declares how many people defamed his character by calling him an evil man as he declared when he wrote these words to the believers in Rome, “But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.) May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), ‘Let us do evil that good may come?’ Their condemnation is just” (Romans 3:5-8). Paul was counted by many as a deceiver or planos and especially many Jews who knew him before his conversion to Christ meaning an imposter or misleader or an evil seducer leading people or souls into error; it is the idea of a wanderer, a tramp, or a vagabond looked upon by the world as useless and good for nothing. This is exactly how many of the Jews felt concerning the Apostle Paul.

Paul and all that he did as a Pharisee had been purposely forgotten by the Jews, for they considered him a traitor and turn coat and one to be perpetually spurned by every so-called respectable Jew, yet Paul was well-known to God and to every true regenerated born again man, woman, boy, and girl. What Paul sorrowed over was his own sin and weaknesses and those of his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ but not even persecutions, his thorn in his flesh, his sin and failure, rejection from his own Jewish people, attacks from satan and his minions, nor any other thing could drain away the joy given to him by our Lord Jesus Christ Personally as He declared by these words recorded for us by the Apostle John, “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full” (John 15:9-11). Paul was even considered by many of the false apostles to not be a true Apostle of Christ because he did not live an outwardly lavish or prosperous lifestyle in this world, but often went without living poorly but his proclamation of the gospel and the souls that were being born again of the Holy Spirit was the way he made many people rich forever and though he had little of this worlds goodies, he “in Christ” was heir to all things as he wrote to these same Corinthian believers with these words in his first letter to them, “So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God” (1 Corinthians 2:21-23).

“We must expect to meet with many alterations of our circumstances and conditions in this world; and it will be a great evidence of our integrity if we preserve a right temper of mind, and duly behave ourselves, under them all. The apostles met with honour and dishonour, good report and evil report: good men in this world must expect to meet with some dishonour and reproaches, to balance their honour and esteem; and we stand in need of the grace of God to arm us against the temptations of honour on the one hand, so as to bear good report without pride, and of dishonour on the other hand, so as to bear reproaches without impatience or recrimination.” Matthew Henry

“Paul was often spoken evil of by Jewish men and Gentile men, but he never let that blur or make hazy or fuzzy his focus on pressing forward for the high call of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Philippians 3:14) and continued to run his race of faith knowing who he was “in Christ” and what he had “in Christ” no matter all the critics, agitators, and naysayers.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Friday, December 27, 2013

The Truth comes to Corinth Part 2 Volume 23

Paul Testifies to the Marks of the Ministry Part 3

2 Corinthians 6:6 “By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned” KJV

Paul now shifts gears (so to speak) and begins to testify to the life he lived personally and in his ministry before these Corinthian believers during the times he was physically in their presence. Paul recites his behavior or manner of life he lived under such harsh, bitter, and cruel persecutions. Paul declares his life to be lived in pureness or hagnotes meaning clean, modest, and innocent; in chastity or celibacy abstaining from sexual immorality in the exact manner as he (Paul) wrote to the Thessalonian believers urging, exhorting, and encouraging them to continue to walk or live a sexually pure life before our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, for this was and is His Will for all of His children, Paul wrote, “For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you” (1 Thessalonians 4:2-8).

Paul next describes his ministry of reconciliation by knowledge or gnosis meaning absolute knowledge or understanding, perception, to be made aware of or to be sure of the deeper more perfect and enlarged knowledge of the Christian faith, especially of things lawful and unlawful for Christians; it is knowledge taught by the Holy Spirit bringing moral wisdom that leads to and is seen in right living in this world. Paul declares that longsuffering or makrothumia to be a mark of his life and ministry meaning patience, endurance, constancy, steadfastness, perseverance, and forbearance; it conveys the image or picture of the embers of wood fragments or coals burning slowly and taking a long time to extinguish or go out which pictures a person who is slow in getting angry or avenging wrongs perpetrated against him or her. Paul in writing to Brother Timothy warning him of difficult times that would come reminded him of the life he (Paul) had lived before Timothy with these words, “But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:10-12).

Paul also describes for us how God the Father has done and is exhibiting this longsuffering or makrothumia for many millenniums with sinners who will never come to Him in repentance and faith, but yet He still allows them to live upon His Earth enjoying all the pleasures of its beauty and substance, likewise of the gift of human life itself as Paul declares with these words, “What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His Power known , endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction” (Romans 9:22). Paul’s life and ministry was always marked by kindness or chrestotes despite the very cruel, callous, and cold treatment he received from unregenerate men as he described to Brother Timothy above in 2 Timothy 3:11 meaning usefulness, that is, moral excellence in character or demeanor; it means exhibiting gentleness, goodness, and graciousness to others despite the treatment you receive from them. This kindness or chrestotes is exactly what God the Father has shown and is showing to us by sanctifying us, setting us apart for Him, and making us acceptable to Him through the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:7) and it is how Paul exhorted the Colossian believers to live with one another when he wrote, “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12).

Paul had nothing in him that enabled him to live his life and conduct his ministry of reconciliation in such a manner, but instead it was God the Holy Spirit giving him strength to walk this way in repentance and faith (Colossians 2:6) and the good fruit in Paul’s life and ministry was produced by God the Holy Spirit as Paul described such fruit in this manner, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). Paul lastly here describes his life and ministry by love or agape meaning brotherly love, affection, good will, and benevolence resulting in a love feast with the object of such love, but Paul also describes this love as unfeigned or anupokritos meaning love that is real and true without deceit or deception; love that is not hypocritical or insincere and love that is undisguised having alternative motives, but love exactly as the Apostle Peter declares with these words, “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” (1 Peter 1:22). Note: Paul uses the little English word by or the Greek word en before each one of these nouns he describes his life and ministry with and this little word is a primary preposition denoting or announcing as a sign or indicating a fixed position in place, time, state, and condition.

“Beloved, have you ever thought that someday you will not have anything to try you, or anyone to vex you again? There will be no opportunity in heaven to learn or to show the spirit of patience, forbearance, and longsuffering. If you are to practice these things, it must be now.” A. B. Simpson

“Paul’s life, doctrine, and ministry was always lived with this one aim in mind and that is what he declared when he wrote this, “And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men” (Acts 24:16), meaning that when he was made aware in his inner man by God the Holy Spirit of sinning against the Father or offending any man, he was quick to listen and make things right through prayer and repentance.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

The Truth comes to Corinth Part 2 Volume 22

Paul Testifies to the Marks of the Ministry Part 2

2 Corinthians 6:5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings. KJV

Paul continues down his list of things that he and many of his fellow workers for Christ endured and thus their ministry was validated or authenticated by these things and the next on his list was stripes or plege meaning the blows he received from the Jews as he declared with these words later on in this epistle or letter, “Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes” (2 Corinthians 11:24) and this was done with a leather whip that contained bones, metal pieces, and other sharp objects designed to rip away the flesh from the backs of the one beaten and these stripes or plege caused severe lacerations to the subjects body, this prompted Paul to write these words to the Galatian believers, “From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the marks of the Lord Jesus” (Galatians 6:17).

Paul was put into prison on numerous occasions but the one occasion that stands out the most to me is when our Lord Jesus Christ through Paul cast out of the slave girl a demon of divination or witchcraft and it infuriated the slave girls owners who profited from the predictions made by the demon “in her” and this was the actions they then took as recorded for us by Dr. Luke, “But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities, and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, ‘These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.’ The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks” (Acts 16:19-24).

Paul and Silas had not broken any laws but it was due to their ministry of reconciliation that they faced this harsh treatment and this was another mark of the genuineness of Paul’s commission from our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul met with much tumults or akatastasia meaning a state of disorder and disturbances and one clear example of this was when Paul went to the city of Iconium and many of the people there were stirred up against his preaching and wanted to stone Paul but he fled to Lystra but the stirring of the people was so great that the following took place as recorded for us again by Dr. Luke, “But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead” (Acts 14:19).

In labors or kopos meaning intense work united with trouble and toil as Paul described in writing to Brother Timothy, “But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of those that believe” (1 Timothy 4:7-10). Paul was often relegated to watchings or agrupnia meaning sleeplessness or keeping himself awake and this was no doubt in large part due the fact that he was all the time in danger of being caught, captured, or seized because of his faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The occasions we have earlier listed above testify to all the often times Paul was forced to stay awake and go without sleep to keep himself from being imprisoned or even killed.

The fact that Paul was often in danger for his very freedom and life itself, then it is easy to see why he surely spent many a days and nights in need and want of food. Although Paul surely surrendered his consumption of food by way of fasting before our Lord Jesus of his own free will in order to draw nearer to our Lord Jesus Christ, but his use of the word fastings or nesteia here has the meaning of abstinence or refraining from food involuntarily and this was something that Paul often experienced during his walk of faith in Christ as he sojourned through this life. The gospel of prosperity eluded this Apostle and he never conveyed to any sinner through his preaching, teaching, or writing that idea, but instead he conveyed these facts about his own personal journey to these very same Corinthian believers with these words in his first letter written to them, “To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless” (1 Corinthians 4:11).

“So long as we are occupied with any other object than God Himself, there will be neither rest for the heart nor peace for the mind. But when we receive all that enters our lives as from His hand, then, no matter what may be our circumstances or surroundings--whether in a hovel or prison-dungeon, or at a martyr’s stake--we shall be enabled to say, ‘The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places’ (Psalms 16:6). But that is the language of faith, not of sight, nor of sense.” A. W. Pink

“The walk of faith and the ministry of this Christian (Paul) was not marked by designer clothes, million dollar properties or businesses, popularity or fame, private modes of transportation, or any other comforts that was quite evident with the rulers in the Roman Empire during that time, but Paul suffered much in his tent or his physical body all because he was a follower of Jesus Christ and loved Him supremely above all else.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

The Truth comes to Corinth Part 2 Volume 21

Paul Testifies to the Marks of the Ministry Part 1

2 Corinthians 6:1-4 “We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) Giving no offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed: But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses” KJV

Paul now after declaring such a lofty truth to these Corinthian believers and to us immediately warns them and us of the peril and extreme danger in taking lightly the grace of God offered through the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul uses the English word beseech which is translated by the Greek word parakaleo which is a verb used here with meaning to beg, plead, entreat, implore, and to pray for them. Paul wanted to drive home his deep and passionate concern he must have had for some of their souls, not wanting to see any of them neglect or overlook or disregard this one and only method and manner of being made right with Almighty God by virtue of what Christ had become for sinful men (2 Corinthians 5:21). Paul did not want to see the plan of God through Christ work on the Cross and his plea as Christ Ambassador be all for nothing by virtue of them receiving or accepting God’s Grace in vain or kenos meaning one who boasts of his faith as a transcendent possession, yet is without the fruits of faith; faith which results in nothing, faith that is fruitless, faith without effect, faith of no purpose, and faith that is empty.

Paul quotes the message that God the Father spoke through the Prophet Isaiah to these Corinthian believers to emphasize the importance of this message or ministry of reconciliation he has been given for their sakes as Isaiah said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘In a favorable time I have answered You, And in a day of salvation I have helped You; And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people, To restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages’” (Isaiah 49:8). The point being made here in the words spoken by Isaiah and revisited here by the Apostle Paul is that God the Father has opened up a door (John 10:9) as the only way that sinful men and women can enter in and be made right or righteous in His Sight, therefore, it is extremely urgent that His Offer be accepted and received genuinely now or else it will pass many by. Paul declares that it is his one and great desire to be true to God the Father through what our Lord Jesus Christ has done as he is enabled by the Holy Spirit to carry out this ministry of reconciliation he has been employed in giving no offence or proskope meaning to cause others to stumble or to lead others into error or sin and thereby bring disgrace, disrepute, and discrediting to the ministry damaging its reputation in the world. Paul instead wants his life to be approved or to exhibit in everything he does being a true minister of God in much patience or hupomone meaning steadfastness, constancy, and endurance; exemplifying himself as a man with the characteristic of one who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings.

Paul also wanted his life and the ministry of reconciliation he put such a high value on (because it was given to him by God) to hold up under afflictions or thlipsis meaning distress, pressure, and oppression which Paul had more than his share of throughout the years. Paul also learned from our Lord Jesus Christ how to hold up under necessities or anagke meaning hardships imposed by virtue of circumstances, as he declared with these words he wrote to the Philippian believers when he said, “But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction” (Philippians 4:10-14).

Paul also navigated his way in his ministry through many distresses or stenochoria meaning a more heightened state of extreme afflictions and dire calamities, disasters, tragedies, and great losses not always that of a material form as meant by the previous word anagke but distresses or stenchoria Paul uses here surely was brought on by such examples in his life as when he declared, “But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need; because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow” (Philippians 2:25-27) or also when Paul declared this truth and fact in writing to Brother Timothy while languishing in a cold dungeon in Rome, “Make every effort to come to me soon; for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service. But Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. When you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching. At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them” (2 Timothy 4:9-16).

“The gospel is a word of grace sounding in our ears; but it will be in vain for us to hear it, unless we believe it, and comply with the end and design of it. And as it is the duty of the ministers of the gospel to exhort and persuade their hearers to accept of grace and mercy which are offered to them, so they are honoured with this high title of co-workers with God. They must work; and must work for God and His glory, for souls and their good: and they are workers with God, yet under Him, as instruments only; however, if they be faithful, they may hope to find God working with them, and their labour will be effectual.” Matthew Henry

“The Christian life for the Apostle Paul was one filled with joy and full of glory, but at the same time it was one of excruciating physical pain, emotional pain, grief, and sadness that filled him up always because many men and women he knew and loved did receive God’s Grace ‘in vain’ and that was more distressing, afflicting, and heartbreaking to him than all the beatings he endured put together.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

The Truth comes to Corinth Part 2 Volume 20

Paul declares our Ministry of Reconciliation

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. NKJV

Paul’s declaration to these Corinthian believers and to us of being “new creations” leads him now to instruct these Corinthian believers and us that since we are reconciled or katallasso meaning we are changed and brought into favor with God the Father by what Christ Jesus our Lord did by dying and taking our sins into Himself (1 Peter 2:24), then we are now given, committed with, appointed to the office of, and commissioned to the ministry or service of reconciliation or katallage meaning we serve as instruments used by God the Father through God the Holy Spirit as He restores sinners who repent and put their trust in the atoning or compensatory and making amends for wrongdoing/sins of man by virtue of the death of God the Son on the Cross. Paul spoke of this transaction done for sinners in this manner in his letter to the Romans when he said, “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled (katallasso) to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled (katallasso), we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement (katallage)” (Romans 5:10-11).

Paul wanted the Corinthian believers and us to be made aware of how great this sacrifice of God the Father was for us and how un-describable or unexplainable His Love to us (sinful rebellious enemies of His) was in sending the Lord Jesus and is by receiving us (the unholy, unclean, and impure) to Himself (the Holy, Clean, and Pure) as adopted sons and daughters. Here is what the American Bible Scholar Archibald Thomas Robertson (1863-1934) said about this ministry or service of reconciliation that every born again Christian has been given, “It is a ministry marked by reconciliation, that consists in reconciliation. God has made possible through Christ our reconciliation to Him, but in each case it has to be made effective by the attitude of each individual. The task of winning the unreconciled to God is committed to us. It is a high and holy one, but supremely difficult, because the offending party (the guilty) is the hardest to win over. We must be loyal to God and yet win sinful men to Him.” Indeed it is a very lofty undertaking every son and daughter of the King of Kings has been employed with, but when we constantly remind ourselves of the eternal consequences of some soul being un-reconciled to God as the Apostle John makes perfectly and abundantly clear with the penning of these words, “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15), then the job does not seem as un-daunting in the clear view of eternity without Jesus Christ.

Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 5:19 leave no doubt as to whom Jesus Christ is or what His purpose for coming to the earth as the God-Man was. Paul with no reservation or hesitation in his writing declares “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself” and this is another one of the many verses in Scripture that testify to the Deity of Jesus Christ. It was God in Christ and this is why sinful man can be forgiven because the Blood Shed by Christ was not human blood only (though it was real human blood), but it was Holy, Clean, Sinless, Pure, and Supernatural Blood (Acts 20:28) that is the only means by which sins can be atoned for and reconciliation made possible. We recall from the very beginning when sin entered the world through the one man Adam, God killed an animal (shedding blood) and covered Adam and Eve with the animal skins (Genesis 3:21) removing the sown fig leaves they made trying to cover up their nakedness (this is equivalent to what people do today with doing good deeds trying to cover up the guilt and shame of their sin). However, the writer of Hebrews declared and confirmed what God the Father did in the beginning when he wrote, “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). In Christ Jesus’ first coming to die and shed His Blood for sin, He is now not taking an inventory or making an account of or keeping a record of the sins of those who repent and turn to Him in complete faith and trust becoming sons and daughters (Hebrews 10:15-18), but instead now as sons and daughters we are treated as any good earthly father would treat his sons and daughters, loving them unconditionally but at the same time raising them to be obedient to him and disciplining them when they are disobedient, as our Lord Jesus declared in the same manner when He said, “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever” (John 8:35), meaning that only the sinner who has been reconciled and made a son has the privileges of the family and being in God’s Family carries with it all that God is (His Nature and Essence) and all He has in heaven and all of His Universes.

With all of this being said, then we are God’s ambassadors or His representatives throughout this world imploring, invoking, and inviting other sinful men and women to be reconciled to Him. Paul has already not too long ago in this very same letter and this very same chapter given the most important reason why we should take our role and responsibility as ambassadors so serious when he wrote, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore, knowing the fear or terror of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences” (2 Corinthians 5:10-11). Finally, there are no appropriate words that I can use to expound or attempt to explain this last statement Paul makes in this chapter of his second letter, but simply I stand in awe and wonder and utter amazement of how deep and rich these words are as Paul writes, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). God the Father would send God the Son who was with Him from the beginning (John 1:2) fashion a human body for Him to put on (Hebrews 10:5-7) Perfect, Sinless, and Holy and suffer the death and punishment due to our sins and give us His Righteousness which we do not deserve.

“When Paul preached ‘the cross he preached a message which explained that this instrument of rejection had been used by God as His instrument of reconciliation. Man’s means of bringing death to Jesus was God’s means to bring life to the world. Man’s symbol of rejecting Christ was God’s symbol of forgiveness for man. This is why Paul boasted about the cross!” Sinclair B. Ferguson

“Christ took our sins and the sins of the whole world as well as the Father’s wrath on His shoulders, and He has drowned them both in Himself so that we are thereby reconciled to God and become completely righteous.” Martin Luther

“Gratitude to our Lord Jesus Christ should be more precious to each one of us (His reconciled children) than the very oxygen that our lungs require to sustain our earthly life every time we read, ponder, or meditate on 2 Corinthians 5:21.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Monday, December 23, 2013

The Truth comes to Corinth Part 2 Volume 19

Paul declares all “in Christ” New Creations

2 Corinthians 5:16-17 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. KJV

Paul declares to these Corinthian believers and to us the most glorious truth Christ death and resurrection from the dead has done for everyone who has truly believed and does truly believe “from the heart” (Romans 10:9-10) and that is we are made “new creations” by this supernatural birth from above. When Paul writes “from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh” (2 Corinthians 5:16), what he means is that what a person has achieved in this life before Christ such as education, wealth, prominence, influence, and any other thing that humanity measures a man by is absolutely worthless and meaningless because now that man is made new in his “inner man” and given a completely new perspective and outlook on this current world with all of its stuff. God the Father sees all of mankind as sinners before Him (even every Jew) as Paul declares in this manner as he wrote to the believers in Rome, “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin; as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.’” (Romans 3:9-12). This theological truth is the premise by which Paul writes this to these Corinthian believers and to us, so that we would understand how the Father sees all humanity, therefore, He now sees every person “in Christ” as His “new creation” having their dead spirits made alive by Christ Jesus our Lord.

Before Christ death on the Cross, and burial, and subsequent resurrection from the dead, God the Father saw humanity as Jew or Gentile and since Christ death on the Cross, and burial, and resurrection from the dead, God the Father now sees humanity as saved (new creations) or lost (dead in trespasses and sins). There is no third category of human beings with Him. Listen to this excerpt from my Book entitled “Silent Assassins of the Soul”, “God designed the first man Adam to be a completely spiritual being (who lives in a physical body) connected to Him for all eternity. When Adam sinned against God by disobeying God’s instruction, God removed Himself from Adam, and thus Adam’s nature instantly became corrupted. His corrupt nature was passed down to all of us who have come after him” (Romans 5:12). Every man and woman who has ever lived after Adam are all born corrupt in their “inner man/woman” and consequently every one of us must be “born again” as our Lord Jesus Christ told a very religious Jew named Nicodemus when He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). The heart or inner man of all humanity was so corrupted by Adam’s sin that it was no longer capable of doing anything that would or could please God the Father as Paul wrote in this manner when he said, “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8).

This is why Paul declares that we no longer regard anyone as being “in the flesh” any longer because this old nature “in man” has not been improved by God the Father, but instead a “new nature” has been implanted in each one of us “in Christ” as Paul goes on to declare with this next verse in Romans chapter 8 when he says, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Romans 8:9). It is the “indwelling Holy Spirit” that makes us “new creations” and it is He who gives us power to put to death the deeds or sins of our “old nature” that remains “in us” (Romans 8:13-14). Paul wrote also these words to the Galatian believers declaring this disregard for man “in the flesh” when he said, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28).

The idea Paul conveys behind saying, “old things pass away and behold all things are become new” can be understood in a clearer light when we examine the Greek verb parerchomai. This Greek verb parerchomai translated for the English phrase “are passed away” means to pass by or to ward off or to fend off; it has the idea of moving forward. Paul uses parerchomai in the second aorist tense signifying or expressing a past action without indicating its completion or continuation, meaning although the old things in our sinful hearts have been changed by virtue of us becoming “new creations” “in Christ”, there is still a war that must be fought daily by us in the power of the Holy Spirit energizing our spirits against sin in our hearts and lives as Paul declared to the Galatian believers this way when he said, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please” (Galatians 5:16-17). The Greek verb ginomai for the English phrase “are become” means to become or to come into existence or the idea of something being made fresh. There are but two races of human beings living on the earth right now and they are those who have been made fresh by way of new birth becoming “new creatures” and those who have not been made fresh and are still “old creatures” and the difference in the new and old is the disposition that is in the “inner man/woman” by virtue of having the Holy Spirit or not having Him dwelling in the heart or inner man/woman.

“Therefore if anyone be in Christ - A true believer in Him. There is a new creation - Only the power that makes a world can make a Christian. And when he is so created, the old things are passed away - Of their own accord, even as snow in spring. Behold - The present, visible, undeniable change! All things are become new - He has new life, new senses, new faculties, new affections, new appetites, new ideas and conceptions. His whole tenor of action and conversation is new, and he lives, as it were, in a new world. God, men, the whole creation, heaven, earth, and all therein, appear in a new light, and stand related to him in a new manner, since he was created anew in Christ Jesus.” John Wesley

“The Apostle had arrived at the deliberate conclusion and judgment that the “all” who realized what Christ had done for them (and he among them) must live with as much devotion toward Him as others toward themselves. A new world had been opened by Christ’s Resurrection. All things had become new. Let us live in daily touch with that world of faith and glory, refusing to be judged by the old standards.” F. B. Meyer

“To be ‘in Christ’ means far more than an intellectual belief in Him, it means to be made entirely new internally by His constant presence dwelling in the heart of His redeemed sons and daughters, and this is the sole and only reason why a true Christian does not and cannot love sin any longer, despite the reality that he or she still sins.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr.