2 Corinthians 4:1

Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. But we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God... For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:1–6)

Given a ministry we cannot possibly fulfill on our own, how do we keep from fainting? By standing in mercies that are new every morning.

What the "Therefore" Points Back To

It has become somewhat cliché, having been said a million times, that whenever you come to a therefore in the Bible, you need to look back and see what it's there for. Here in 2 Corinthians 4:1 the very first word is therefore, and it points us back to the second half of chapter 3, where Paul speaks of the ministry of the new covenant and its superiority over the old.

Because of the great work of Christ on our behalf, we have been given a ministry Paul calls a ministry of righteousness. Look back at 2 Corinthians 3:9: "For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory." There is a contrast between the ministry of condemnation under the law and the ministry of righteousness under the gospel.

The Law: A Ministry of Condemnation

The law is a ministry of condemnation because it requires that completely unrighteous individuals like us obey perfectly its demands—which is impossible. As we seek to obey, we are quickly confronted with the reality that we just don't do it. There is no flaw in God's law; it is holy, just, and good. The greatness of the law lies in its ability to reveal our inadequacy. It makes very clear that every one of us is insufficient.

It would be as if I took you to the Oceanside pier and said, "I command you to jump to Catalina Island. You can take as big a running start as you want, but you must make it or you're dead." It wouldn't take long to look at me with disbelief and say, "That's just not possible." That is exactly what happens under the law. God sets a standard—His holiness, His righteousness—so far above anything we could ever keep, and the whole point is not to make us try harder. The point is to show us we cannot do it. As Paul says in Galatians 3:24, the law is our schoolmaster, bringing us to Christ that we might put our faith in Him.

The Gospel: A Ministry of Righteousness

The gospel, however, is a glorious ministry of righteousness because it graciously grants to unrighteous sinners a righteousness that is not their own. It gives us the righteousness of Christ, imparted by His grace. Seven hundred years before Jesus came, Isaiah said God would clothe us with His righteousness. The law exposes our unrighteousness; the gospel reveals Christ's righteousness imparted to us.

Paul says in Galatians 5:5, "For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of the righteousness by faith." In Philippians 3:9 he longed to be found in Christ, "not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ." When Paul was a Pharisee he trusted in his own keeping of the law, but after Christ revealed Himself, Paul recognized his total insufficiency. His own works were the most minimum payment that could be made on so great a debt.

In Romans 1:17 he writes that in the gospel "is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, The just shall live by faith"—pointing back to Habakkuk 2:4, the declarative statement upon which the Reformation was built. And in Romans 3:21 he says, "But now the righteousness of God without the law is made manifest... even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe." One of my favorite verses, 2 Corinthians 5:21, sums it up: "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Jesus, who lived without sin, took upon Himself all the sin of humanity and received the righteous wrath of God so that we could have His righteousness given to us.

Called to Be Servants of Righteousness

Therefore—because of this glorious difference and because we have been moved from the old covenant to the new—seeing that we have been given this ministry of righteousness, we are literally called to be servants of righteousness. In Romans 6, Paul says four times that we are servants of righteousness, no longer servants of sin. This means that in Christ we are called to live in a righteous manner before God in this world for His glory.

In Matthew 5, Jesus says our righteousness must exceed an external righteousness of merely keeping laws; it must go deeply into our hearts. This may be the greatest blessing to you, or it may weigh heavily upon you, because when I say you are called to walk in righteousness, our minds immediately go back to the law and we say, "I can't do that. I've failed at that." How many of you recognize you fail at being righteous? I'll put two hands up.

As We Have Received Mercy, We Faint Not

If the verse simply said, "Now that Jesus has saved you, live righteously," every one of us would faint at it. But notice what Paul says: "as we have received mercy we faint not." You may not have realized when you put your confidence in Jesus for salvation that you were being commissioned to live righteously in this world. You say, "I can't do this," and God says that's perfectly fine—He wants us to come to that honest confession.

Look again at 2 Corinthians 3:5: "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit." We come quickly to the place where we say, "I can't do that," and God says, "You're right—but your sufficiency is of Me." If it were not for the Lord's mercy, we would fail every time.

Jeremiah said it in Lamentations 3:22: "It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." Remember the context—Jeremiah said this while looking over the ruins of Jerusalem, destroyed by Babylon, the people carried away as captives for seventy years because of their rebellion. He sees the punishment of sin, and yet he sees God's mercy. The people of Judah deserved the complete destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, yet because of His mercies they were not consumed. There is never a time when we come to God and He says, "I'm sorry, the last person took the last of the mercy." His compassions—His mercies, His steadfast love—never cease. They are new every morning.

Guaranteed Success in Two Ministries

So we have received salvation by grace through faith, and we have been given a glorious ministry of righteousness. In a couple of weeks we will see we have also been given the ministry of reconciliation—we who have been brought out of darkness are to go back into darkness to shine the light to those estranged from God. As we rely upon His unfailing mercies, we are guaranteed success in the ministry of righteousness and the ministry of reconciliation, so that we do not faint.

That is a phenomenal statement. Paul says in Galatians 6:9, "Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." If we faint, it indicates one of two things: either God's Word is not true, or we are not relying upon His mercy and strength but our own. Which do you think is true? Absolutely—God's Word is true. The issue is never His power or ability, but whether we will put our complete dependence in Him.

When Israel returned from Babylon, Zerubbabel looked at the shambles of Jerusalem and was discouraged. God's word to him through Zechariah was, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD" (Zechariah 4:6). We can look at the ruins in our own lives and say, "I cannot do this," and God's word to us is the same.

Isaiah 40:28–31 reminds us, "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?... He giveth power to the faint... Even the youths shall faint and be weary... But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." As we wait upon Him, we will have good success.

The First Obstacle: The Flesh

Most of us who have walked with the Lord for any length of time recognize there are obstacles that hinder our success. In the remaining verses of chapter 4, Paul addresses three problems—and gives us the solution to each.

The first is the problem of the flesh, our own hidden failings and sinfulness. Verse 2 says, "But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." Everyone who has sought to walk rightly before God has been confronted with this. There is not one of us who is perfect on a day-to-day basis.

Paul gives four things to help us succeed against the flesh. First, renounce all hidden dishonesty. The word renounce means to expose, to bring into the open, to confess. We don't drum up strength to overcome these inward things; we bring them to God and say, "Lord, this wickedness keeps Your righteousness from being evident in my life—forgive me and cleanse me." First John 1:9 says God is faithful and just to forgive us, and James 5 says to confess our sins one to another.

Second, determine to walk uprightly and not deceitfully—something we only do by God's power and grace. Apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15), but by His strength we can do all things (Philippians 4:13). Third, handle the Word of God rightly, both in our own lives and in applying it to others: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God... rightly dividing the word of truth." Fourth, live openly and honestly before men and God—"by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God."

The Second Obstacle: The Devil

The second problem is given in verses 3–6: "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." The first enemy is the flesh; the second is the devil. There is a spiritual battle going on for souls, and the overwhelming majority of human souls are blinded by unbelief through the craftiness of the enemy.

How do we bring light to those whom the devil has blinded? The answer is very simple—preach the gospel. The gospel of Jesus exposes darkness to light. John 1 says, "In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not... That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John 3 says men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil, but God has brought light to enlighten those in darkness, and that light dispels darkness.

Paul told Timothy that Jesus "abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." In Acts 26 he says he was sent "to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." First Peter 2:9 says, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light."

This is the ministry of every Christian, not just evangelists. Each of you has a testimony—your story of how the gospel has affected your life. But as good as a testimony is, it is not the gospel; it is only a record of the gospel's power in us. So share your testimony, but never neglect to share the gospel itself. Paul charged Timothy, "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine" (2 Timothy 4).

The Third Obstacle: The World's Affliction

The third problem is the world—trial, tribulation, and persecution. Verse 7 begins, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed."

Every person faces trials, but Christians have the added pressure of affliction for the name of Christ. If anyone evidenced this, it was Paul. These things can shake us to where we want to throw in the towel. The key to facing them is in verse 7: our temporal life and earthly existence is not the treasure we hold dear.

If we treasure this existence, then when trouble comes we will be distressed, when perplexed we will despair, when persecuted we will feel forsaken, and when cast down we will fear destruction. But if we recognize this world is not to be treasured—that the treasure is the indwelling Spirit who directs us to His eternal presence—then we are troubled but not distressed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed.

Glory Displayed Through Suffering

Paul continues, "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body" (v. 10). Why doesn't God keep us from all difficulty? Why is the health, wealth, and prosperity doctrine not true? Because God allows us to go through the sufferings of Christ so that His glory is displayed in these earthen vessels. It breaks forth when we experience suffering. "For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh" (v. 11). "So then death worketh in us, but life in you" (v. 12).

Though our nation has largely been exempt from persecution, I don't believe it will always stay that way. There is coming a day when there will be clear trouble for naming the name of Christ. But in the midst of suffering, God brings life to other people, for "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).

Jesus said where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If your heart is bound up with this world, when distress comes your whole world falls apart and you faint. But if your focus is on the unseen and eternal, you will have this mind: "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (v. 17). This is the man beaten with rods, whipped, shipwrecked, imprisoned, and ultimately beheaded—and he calls it light affliction. As he said in Romans 8:18, "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

Believing, Therefore Speaking

Because his focus was on the unseen, Paul fainted not. At the end of his life he wrote, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course... henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." In verse 13 he says, "We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak," quoting Psalm 116:10. We believe we will be with the Lord for eternity, and therefore we speak boldly. Nothing—persecution, distress, temptation, tribulation—can separate us from the love of God, so we speak all the more boldly, "Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus" (v. 14).

"For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day" (v. 16). How many of you are thankful for that with each passing day? Every human being begins to die from the moment of birth; the second law of thermodynamics, the law of entropy, is true—everything moves from order to disorder. We don't function quite as well, see quite as far, or hear quite as well; we're falling apart. But only the Christian experiences the inner man renewed day by day.

"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (v. 18). Some people spend a great deal of money trying to upgrade the things that are seen. They need to come to terms with this verse—the seen is temporal. Work on the inner man; it is eternal. As Paul says in 1 Timothy 4, "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."

Conclusion

Church, listen: we have a ministry of righteousness. We are called to live righteously before God and men—an impossible task in our own strength, but possible under the new covenant by the abiding power of the Holy Spirit. We have a ministry of reconciliation, carrying the glorious light of Christ's gospel to those in darkness, a gospel that overcomes the enemy's work of blinding unbelievers. And although we may suffer trial and tribulation for the sake of Christ, it only presses us on all the more to look forward to our home in heaven and to speak the gospel all the more boldly. Amen.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank You for Your great word. I pray that You would work these things out in our lives. Help us to be successful, to not faint when confronted with the disheartening reality that we are not perfect and that we fail. Help us to bring our failings to You, to confess them, and to find in You all that is needed for forgiveness and cleansing.

God, when we're confronted with people so hard-hearted and blinded to the gospel that we fear they'll never come to the knowledge of the truth, encourage us to speak boldly the gospel of peace. And when we face trial, tribulation, distress, and persecution for Your sake, remind us that You are working through it to bring about Your glory in this world, and that ultimately You have a glorious plan in the end.

I recognize that some of you have been following the Lord but feel you constantly fail and find yourself insufficient. God wants you to recognize that and cast yourself upon Him and His grace, for He sustains and graciously maintains us. And there may be some who have not yet yielded to the Lord—still trying to live a good life, trying to jump to Catalina on your own, recognizing today it is impossible, and wanting to put your confidence in Christ for salvation. Step out and come down; the pastors and elders want to pray with you, that you would know the grace of Christ that overcomes our sin.

Father, we thank You for Your grace. Work in us to will and to do those things that are pleasing to You this day and this week. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.