Slices
Prepare
Take a moment to thank God for those with whom you share real community. What can you add to those relationships today? And who might you need to include?
Bible passage
Paul’s hardships
3 We put no stumbling-block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. 4 Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5 in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6 in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7 in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8 through glory and dishonour, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9 known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. 12 We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. 13 As a fair exchange – I speak as to my children – open wide your hearts also.
Warning against idolatry
14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
‘I will live with them
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.’
17 Therefore,
‘Come out from them
and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you.’
18 And,
‘I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.’
Explore
Aiming to prevent both his ministry and the gospel from being discredited, Paul strives to put no obstacle in anyone’s way (v 3). How can we ensure there are no obstacles to following Jesus in our context?
Paul then spells out his qualifications for that ministry. His willingness to suffer in the cause of being an apostle shows godly endurance in nine different hardships undergone for the gospel (vs 4,5). Again, it shows the balance between suffering for the gospel and experiencing God’s resurrection power that Paul viewed as authentically Christian. His ministry clearly manifests the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit in eight different ways (vs 6,7a). Three challenges come next, all introduced by ‘through’ in the Greek, which Paul faces down (vs 7b,8a). The final qualifications are enduring despite being misunderstood and judged, where the outward appearance and the inner reality don’t match up (vs 8b–10). How does Paul’s experience encourage you in your own?
Paul has laid himself bare before them. Given all these qualifications – his character, anointing and endurance – Paul asks the Corinthians not to withhold their hearts from him, something for us to imitate.
Respond
Reflect on a Christian leader you know. What most commends their ministry to you? And what, if anything, undermines it? Pray that they can become, inside and out, as Paul describes in verses 4–10.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Nehemiah 5,6; Luke 7
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray that the work being done in partnership with Grace Foundation to develop the Schoolswork Foundations course will result in many churches being trained and resourced to minister effectively in secondary schools. The project, which launches this autumn, brings together practical experience, an understanding of the current context and proven resources.
Because a strong start begins with smart preparation
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