2 Corinthians Teaching - God Who Raises the Dead

Ah, here we are once again with Book by Book. It's a thrill for us to come and join you in this study, study number five, as we're doing the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians. Paul Blackham here, myself Richard Buse, and then K.P. Yohannan, who is from Asia, and he's looking after about 10 different countries in any one year, travelling all over the place, and here at the moment he's with us in central London, England, and it's a privilege to have you here with us once again.

Let's look at 2 Corinthians then if we may, and study number five, which we could call God's fellow workers, something along those lines, and verses, chapter 5, verse 11, really through to chapter 6, verse 10, not that we can do it all, but maybe the study guide, if you're able to get a hold of a copy of that, that could supplement the studies that we're doing right here with you. I'm going to read from verse 11. Paul writing, Since then we know what it is to fear the Lord.

We try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen, rather than in what is in the heart.

That's basically it. We're talking about the character once again of Christian ministry, and I think what I'd like to ask straight away, KP, is on that verse 11, the fear of the Lord, how can the Christian ministry be motivated by, it says really in the King James Version, the terror of the Lord, which I think is probably more accurate. So I would ask, where's the love in that? Let's just think around that verse.

Well, Paul was motivated by, as we read here, the terror of the Lord, to live the way he lived and did what he did, was a radical, all our commitment to Christ and his Lordship, but also was motivated by the love of Christ, verse 14, for Christ's love compels us or constrains us. Applying that today, you know, one of the difficulty I'm seeing as I travel quite a lot, speaking to God's people, is that the gospel of grace was preached to the Jewish people who understood the fear of God. Today, grace is preached to people who says, God is my little friend in my pocket.

I can command him to give me my best pal, and the lack of reverence and honor and fear of God. And it's not the fear, I'm scared of God, no. It is, I remember when my son was seven years old, he did something, something naughty, and I remember in the living room, I said, Danny, come here.

The first sentence I said, I'm disappointed in you, and he just ran back to the hallway to his bedroom, and just crying out loud, sobbing, and my wife came out of the kitchen and said, what did you do to him? I said, I didn't do anything. She said, what do you mean? He's screaming. So I went back to the room and sat beside him and said, Danny, what happened? He just kept sobbing.

In the end, he said, I wished you just beat me all you want, but never said what you said. I never realized it. The words I told him that I was disappointed in him was much more heavier than anything else he could deal with in his little mind.

In Psalms, we read this statement. He says, Lord, search my heart and see if there's anything wicked in me, and lead me, Lord, in the path of righteousness. The living Bible says, Lord, if there's anything in me that makes you sad, and Lord, help me to walk away from it.

And I think Christians at large don't realize the awesomeness of God and how great and almighty He is, yet He made us as children that I do not want to do anything to hurt Him. I love Him. But at the same time, I realize a day is going to come.

I'm going to stand before Him, not my wife and children, nobody, but give an account for everything I have thought about and I have done and what I was all about. And that kind of puts that reverence in me to be responsible for my life, not what somebody else thinks about me. And I think Paul lived his life with that kind of motivation that not only he loved God dearly, and he was so afraid of hurting the Lord, but also he realized who God was.

Yes. That's a word to any minister, any leader, any Bible study group leader, any pastor, anything like a Sunday school teacher, we want to be able not to be in a position not to disappoint the Lord.