WEEKLY SUNDAY
SCHOOL LESSON
An international
Sunday school lesson commentary
For
Sunday August 24, 2014
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readers worldwide
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ADDRESSING
TENSIONS
(Working
out our differences with open hearts and GOD’s grace)
(2
Corinthians 6:1-13)
Second Corinthians
6, verses 1 and 2, should actually be read with chapter 5. Here Paul finishes
his thoughts on “reconciliation”, and, on how Christians must view themselves
as being “GOD’s Ambassadors” to the world. It is by GOD’s grace that “true
believers” are transformed into “new creatures” and again given the potential
to live a truly righteous existence.
It is in this day that
every human being can experience salvation because of what CHRIST JESUS did
sacrificially, culminating on the cross, if they choose to. Through CHRIST
JESUS, GOD allows us to partake in an “imputed righteousness” that we could not
have possibly achieved on our own. It is an utter tragedy whenever one of GOD’s
greatest creation (mankind), allows his or her hard-heartedness, to reduce the
meaning of GOD’s grace in their lives, to being of “non-effect”, or, as having
no transforming value at all.
Taking up at verse 3,
Paul shifts his thoughts back (2 Corinthians 4:8-12) so that he might elaborate
further on some of the many hardships that serious Christians must suffer, if
they are to earnestly follow in the path, or footsteps of CHRIST JESUS, our
LORD. Here Paul says that we must live in such a way that no one can be
hindered from finding the LORD, due to the fact that we may have publicly, or
privately, exhibited ungodly behavior to the world we’re seeking to convert (Vs.3-4).
As Christians, we take
on a given responsibility to prove to the world that Christianity really does
produce the best men and women. And oftentimes that must be done while under
duress from the very same worldly people that we are trying to convert. Here in
verses 4b-5 Paul shares with us some of the ways he, himself had suffered for
the sake of ministering the Gospel to the world.
Paul says that he, and
those who traveled with him, had been beaten, been put in jail, faced angry
mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. In
short, perhaps Paul is cautioning us that, a Christian’s faith has to be proven
and confirmed by the way they react to, and endure through their sufferings and
persecutions, just as JESUS proved the genuineness of HIS faith under HIS
FATHER GOD, during HIS earthly assignment.
In verse 6 Paul
mentions six ways by which a Christian can prove himself, or herself of great
value under GOD, and at the same time, relieve any tensions that may exist in
the community of GOD. Here Paul says that we can achieve this by our;
·
Purity
·
Understanding
·
Patience
·
Kindness
·
Sincere
love
·
And,
by the power of the HOLY SPIRIT
Christians must learn
to faithfully and correctly preach and teach the Gospel so that GOD’s power
will continue to work in us. We must operate using the righteousness of CHRIST
as a weapon to, both, defend ourselves against, and to attack, the unseen
demons who may influence people all around us. We have to serve GOD whether
people honor us or despise us, slander us or praise us. We have to remain
honest, even when people call us impostors, simply because they do not want to live
by the message of GOD that we peach and deliver (Vs.7-8).
Even though Paul was
well-known he was sometimes treated as an unknown by his opponents in the
Church. Oftentimes they dismissed him as being poor, sorrowful, and useless.
However, in the opinion of GOD (the only opinion that counts), Paul’s
servant-hood was proven genuine by his willingness to suffer hardships that
sometimes brought him to within an inch of his life. He was able to joyfully
withstand heartache, and even though he was poor financially, he was able to
give much spiritual riches to those who accepted it. And while he may not have
owned anything, with GOD, he had all that he needed in life, and more. He was
successful under GOD because he was willing to open up his heart to the people
he was called to minister to, and as a result of his open-heartedness, and
GOD’s grace, he was ultimately able to remove tension and strife from the
assembly of GOD at Corinth, at least, for a time (Vs.9-13).
A Sunday school lesson
by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website
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