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*The Ministry of God’s Spirit: Parts I & II*
*2Corinthians 2:12-3:6 September 7 & 14, 2003*
* *
*Scripture Reading: *# 644, Hymnal
*Introduction:*
Children, born of parents, have a deep desire to please them in order to be accepted and approved.
Children will observe everything a parent does as a model for their own development.
It is as if your very spirit will be molded into them and they will be dependent upon you at least for your affirmation for years to come.
Essentially, they need your help, at levels they will determine, to find direction in life.
ILLUS: /Parenting you college freshman/, CTT, Sept. 03, p. 7.
The need for approval and direction is no different on your job.
None of us can say that we wouldn’t relish the thought of our employer coming up to us to say that we had done such and such very well and pleased them immensely.
We would continually seek the approval of such an employer and seek them for advice on how to continue doing the job well.
But even if we don’t get affirmation from our employer, we still seek approval from the Lord.
“23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.
It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
(Colossians 3:23-24 NIVUS)
We can also look at the relationship between husbands and wives.
They both live, to a certain degree, for the affirmation of the other.
“32 I would like you to be free from concern.
An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs— how he can please the Lord.
33 But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world— how he can please his wife— 34 and his interests are divided.
An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit.
But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world— how she can please her husband.”
(1 Corinthians 7:32-34 NIVUS)
Whether between parent and child, employer and employee, or husband and wife we can say that we seek the ministry of the other and that the other ministers to us.
We need each other.
It doesn’t always work well, but that is the way it should work.
This ministry relationship helps us to know how to please in order to be affirmed.
Let’s bring this home to our most important relationship.
Mankind, inherently spiritual because he is created by God, has a deep desire to have God think highly of him.
The world’s religions are all ways, constructed by mankind, to find that way to God’s acceptance and approval.
All major world religions contain various degrees of truth, but only one has the truth about the way to please God.
“4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you.
No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.
Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 "I am the vine; you are the branches.
If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
(John 15:4-5 NIVUS)
So through Christ we have the only means to serve God, to please God, acceptably.
In fact, in John 14:6, Christ indeed says he is the only way.
But later on in this same passage, in John 16, we read that Christ was telling his disciples that he would be leaving this earth.
How then, through him, could they please God in service?
That is why, also in this same passage, even as we read this morning, Christ promises the blessed Holy Spirit.
“16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth.
The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.
But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”
(John 14:16-17 NIVUS)
“But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away.
Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7 NIVUS)
“13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” (John 16:13-14 NIVUS)
The Spirit then is God’s channel of ministry, through our faith in Christ, as his means of ministry to us, telling us how we can please him and how he is pleased with us.
The ministry of the Spirit, through Christ, enables us to serve God.
So we ask the question this morning ---
*Big Question:*
/How does the Spirit help us in serving God?/
-The Spirit gives us direction in the midst of confusing circumstances.
-The Spirit leads us in praise as we submit to God’s direction in Christ.
-The Spirit affirms us as Christ’s messengers whether or not we are affirmed by others.
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-The Spirit buys us credibility far surpassing the power of money.
-The Spirit proves us in ministry through the miracle of changed hearts.
-The Spirit enables our competence through a new covenant of life with God in Christ.
Paul has some answers for us in our message text this morning from 2Corinthians 2:12-3:6, found on page 1796 if you are using the pew Bible.
You know from the last two messages that he is presenting a defense of his ministry before the Corinthian church because of personal attacks from some who have infiltrated the ranks.
He has already addressed the accusation that he is being judged by God because of the persecutions and suffering he has endured on behalf of the Corinthians.
Then he addressed the accusation that he certainly could not know the will of God because he changed his mind several times on when he would come to see them in Corinth.
In today’s text, Paul will briefly address another accusation, but the main thrust will be how he and his ministry is affirmed in and through the Holy Spirit’s ministry to him.
We will draw applications on how we ourselves are helped by the Spirit in serving God.
*I.
Cycle One*
* A.
Narrative *(vv.
2:12-13)
* B.
Implication*
The Spirit gives us direction in the midst of confusing circumstances.
Through the Spirit we trust God’s sovereignty.
How are you trusting God’s sovereignty in your life?
* C.
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