Content for Christ

“For the sake of Christ, then,  I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak then I am strong”. 2 Corinthians 12:10 (ESV)

The familiarity of the last phrase can make us forget the first phrase, the foundation of this strength. It is a contentment for the sake of Christ. The apostle tells us that is the root of his ability in the face of human weakness to face natural and supernatural hardship. We are all familiar with the former and indeed he gives us a list here including persecutions and calamities. But let us not forget that there was a supernatural element to these difficulties. I use supernatural here in a negative way. Often we associate supernatural with the miracle working power of God. But supernatural is also that dimension that is beyond the natural and the background of these hardships that the apostle is facing is a personal ‘messenger of Satan’!

The devil had the apostle in the crosshairs of his hardship scope and he shot bullet after bullet of pain, hardship and suffering. But Paul remained strong bolstered by the fact that in his weakness the strength of God would flow as he learned the secret of being content in and for Christ.

My personal agitation in difficulties, hardships and (God forbid!) persecutions shows my personal lack of contentment in and for Christ. My agitation shows a lack of understanding the power of contentment for when I know the sovereignty of God, the providential care of my Heavenly Father and learn to rest in His care in every circumstance I will be strong, even though I am essentially weak.

May I with Paul take time to learn the secret of being content as he said elsewhere, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or want” Philippians 4:12 (NIV)

Proclaimers not Peddlers

For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:17 (ESV)

As a young boy I remember the knife sharpening man who’d come peddling his service in our locality. He had this flintstone attached to a cycle wheel which as he peddled, the flintstone would rotate and he’d sharpen our knives. It was a fascinating sight that I never missed as it was a show with lots of sparks and the dexterity with which he handled the grand process of knife sharpening. In this verse when Paul speaks about peddlers of the gospel and then contrasts it with himself he doesn’t have a positive picture in mind. He seems them as adulterators, as insincere and as those who are doing more harm than good. Using his own example he calls us to note four grand aspects of our call to proclaim the glorious gospel Jesus:

1. We are to be sincere in our proclamation.
2. We are to carry the responsibility of the Great Commission we’ve received; God Himself has personally commissioned us to be proclaimers.
3. We are to be ever aware that we live and serve before God to whom all things are known and to whom we must give account.
4. We are to proclaim ‘in Christ’ by the strength and power He supplies.

“Paul appeals to the sincerity of his motives and the purity of the message as shown by his divine commission (“like men sent from God”; cf. Gal 1:1, 12, 15- 16), his sense of divine dependence and responsibility (“we speak before God”), and his divine authority and power (“in Christ”). The principle is clear: As those who dispense the life- giving remedy for sin, preachers must avoid diluting or adulterating the medicine of life, the word of God.” (Expositors Bible Commentary: Abridged Edition, Barker, Kenneth and Kohlenberger III John R)

May I be a proclaimer who has this ‘divine dependence, responsibility, authority and power’ in Christ.

Planning & Permission

For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 1 Corinthians 16:7 (ESV)

Many of us are making plans for 2014, some for Christmas and others for a great bash at the end of the year. After all every year deserves a good welcome.

Planning is encouraged in the bible but every plan needs a disclaimer, a provision for veto if you like. This plan is subject to change! For every plan must be made as the apostle here with the provisio ‘if the Lord permits’. A bible believing Christ follower must ever live with this tension of faith. I hear, I sense God’s leadership and I plan accordingly but then I must also add, ‘if God wills’ not as a disclaimer of faith but instead as an expression of faith. Faith in an all knowing, completely wise God who sees the end from the beginning and as a loving Father leads and guides and guards us from error and who in all things works together for my good (see Romans 8:28).

So as I make plans let me do so remembering:
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Proverbs 19:21 (ESV)

and

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15