Wednesday, March 22, 2017

SACRIFICIAL SERVICE


Life springs from death. Like a rose blooms from earth scorched by fire, spiritual life blossoms in souls fertilized by sacrifice. Paul wrote, For we are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you (2 Cor. 4:11-12).

The verb translated "being delivered over" (παραδιδόμεθα) frequently occurs in the passion accounts (TDNT, 2:169). It means to hand over, deliver or give up someone. Judas handed over Jesus to the Chief Priests (Mark 14:10) and the Council handed over Jesus to Pilate (Mark 15:1). Pilate, in turn, handed over Jesus to the mob of people (Luke 23:25) by handing him over to the soldiers for crucifixion (Mark 15:15). Paul uses a passive voice to indicate that God hands over the living ones (οἱ ζῶντες) to death. The present tense of the verb tells us that this handing over to death is a constant and continual process, not a one-time event. The constancy of God delivering us to die throughout life is stressed by the opening particle "always" (ἀεὶ) placed first in the sentence for emphasis.

Serving Christ in our lives is a constant death struggle. Our death struggle has a God-ordained purpose (ἵνα καὶ). The particle translated "also" or "and" should be understood as intensive and better translated with words like "really" or "certainly." We are being delivered over to death so that the life of Jesus may really or certainly be demonstrated in our dying lives (Dana & Mantey, Grammar, p.251). The "life of Jesus" (ἡ ζωὴ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is a partitive genitive meaning that the life we each have is part of all that Jesus is (MHT, Grammar, 3:217).

The life of a servant of Christ is a life of death. God constantly hands us over to die so that Christ's life can be revealed in our mortal flesh (θνητῇ σαρκὶ). Our flesh (σάρξ) is subject to death (θνητός). Here Paul uses the flesh in its literal sense of the material that covers our bones (BAGD, p.743). The phrase is parallel to "in the body" (ἐν τῷ σώματι) in verse 10. Our physical bodies are decaying as we live. God designs our dying process to reveal His living power, so our physical death demonstrates His spiritual life. Our willingness to die and the way we die is God's most powerful witness to the world of the power of the living Christ because the world has no answer to the dilemma of death.

Death "works" (ἐνεργεῖται) in us. We get our word energy from this Greek word. It comes from the root meaning to work and refers to action or activity. The word group was often used in the Greco-Roman world to refer to activity by cosmic or even demonic forces (TDNT, 2:652-653). In the New Testament, it is rarely used for human activity but often used of satanic miracles (2 Thess. 2:9) although even this activity functions under the authority of God (2 Thess. 2:11). The word is used elsewhere for the work of God in our lives.

Death operates in us within the parameters of God's purpose. God's purpose is to bring life to others through death operating in us. The same verb should be understood in the second half of the verse. The prepositional phrases are parallel to one another. Death works in us (ἐν ἡμῖν), but life works in you (ἐν ὑμῖν). Some think that Paul is ironic here implying that some Christians wanted a life without hardship, unlike Paul. However, Paul is emphasizing the life of Jesus here not life without hardship. Paul is telling them that the life of Jesus being lived in them came through Paul's willingness to die sacrificially to bring them the gospel. (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.145).

Sacrificial love drives our missional calling. The gospel brings life to others through our willingness to die to self. Servant leadership involves nothing less than sacrificial service.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

A DYING LIFE


We should not fear death because we are dying to life on earth from the moment we start life in Christ. God houses the treasure of Christ's light in the Tupperware of our lives. We are crushed and twisted by the forces of this world but never despairing or destroyed. We are always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body (2 Cor. 4:10).

The noun translated "dying" (νέκρωσιν) is not the word Paul normally uses for death (θάνατος, see vs. 11-12) in the New Testament (Witherington, Conflict & Community, p. 387). The word (νέκρωσις) means the "process of dying or the state of being dead" (NIDNTT, 1:443). The dying of Jesus (τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) marks anyone living for Jesus. The cross is the perfect symbol for Christians because His dying shapes our living. We live dying lives.

We are carrying about (περιφέροντες) the dying of Jesus in our bodies. The verb means to carry the sick around in our arms or to carry someone we love in our hearts (BAGD, p. 653). The present tense indicates that we carry the dying of Jesus continuously throughout life. Paul places the adverb "always" (πάντοτε) first in the clause to stress the constancy of the carrying - no exceptions and no vacations!

We are constantly dying to life on earth in order to display the life of Christ in everything we do. The purpose clause (ἵνα) connects the dying to the living. The dying of Jesus (τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) parallels the life of Jesus (ἡ ζωὴ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ). God's purpose for the dying life is to reveal the life of Christ to the world. The verb translated "manifested" (φανεφωθῇ) means, in the passive voice, to be revealed (BAGD, p. 852) in this case, by God. The only way for God to make known the life of Christ in us is for us to experience the death of Christ in our lives.

The death and life of Christ are displayed in our bodies, a phrase which is repeated for emphasis (ἐν τῷ σώματι). The sense is that all this dying and living takes place in our physical lives, in our bodily beings. The word "body" (σῶμα) is uniquely suited to carry this idea since it can refer either to a corpse or a living person (NIDNTT, 1:233). My bodily person is the place where I demonstrate my allegiance to his death, and the instrument God uses to display His life (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p. 87). Paul eliminates any possibility of Gnostic ideas separating the corporeal from the spiritual aspects of life. Christ's life is displayed in our physical lives.

The call to come to Christ is the call to die - to sacrifice my life for His life as He sacrificed His life for mine. The dying of Jesus in my personal life demonstrates the life of Jesus in my death to self. It is only as I die for Him that His life is revealed in me.

Friday, March 3, 2017

THE REPHIDIM PROJECT


Announcing the launch of a new website devoted to Bible exposition! We launched our website for The Rephidim Project this week. The site is full of resources including teaching videos, articles, sermon collections, books, expository preaching tools, and posts from this blog. I invite you to browse the site and use the resources for your personal refreshment and your ministry responsibilities. I would love to hear from you if you have any suggestions to make this site more useful to you in your kingdom work. Here is the link to the website.

www.rephidimproject.org

The purpose of The Rephidim Project is to minister to the ministers - to lift up those who are serving on the frontlines of Christ's global mission by providing resources to be refreshed through the exposition of Scripture. We all can become weary in the work, and we may feel isolated and discouraged. The Rephidim Project seeks to encourage the exhausted and strengthen the weak (Isaiah 35:3) through developing and distributing resources for Bible exposition. We know that feeding deeply on God's Word refreshes the soul. We need to feast at the banquet table and not settle for the fast food that fills but does not nourish the soul for battle.

The "Digging Deeper" teaching videos on the website offer spiritual nourishment in bite-sized pieces. Each video runs about 5 minutes in length but helps us feed deeper on the fruit and vegetables of God's Word. Articles explore a biblical topic in more depth, and my prayer is that you experience encouragement as you read. Expository preaching resources help us put nutritional food on the plates of others so they can be nourished for His kingdom work. Sermon collections apply God's Word to our lives, and my prayer is that you are strengthened by Him as you listen to these sermons.

Next week I return to my regularly scheduled blog! Enjoy the website and feel free to share your thoughts with me. I would love to get your feedback.