Will you please turn to 2 Corinthians 4? Second Corinthians, chapter 4. Will you read the full chapter?
Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we faint not:
but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish:
in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, Who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves;
we are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair;
pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed;
always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.
For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, I believed, and therefore did I speak; we also believe, and therefore also we speak;
knowing that He that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also with Jesus, and shall present us with you.
For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of God.
Wherefore we faint not; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.
For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory;
while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, as we continue together in Thy presence, our hearts are full of gratitude. Who are we, that Thou shouldst give Thyself so totally to us—to deliver us not only out of sin and death, but even to become children of God? Oh, dear Lord, how can we thank Thee for all that Thou hast done for us?
Indeed, Thy love has constrained us, that we cannot live any longer for ourselves. We live for Thee and live because of Thee. So, Lord, as we study Thy Word together, we pray that Thou wilt, by Thy Spirit, open Thy Word to our hearts, open our understanding, and bring us into the reality of what Thy Word is.
We do want to serve Thee in a way that will really please Thee and satisfy Thy heart. So, Lord, we commit ourselves to Thee and pray that Thou wilt do the work in each and every one of us, and bring us into all that Thou hast accomplished for us. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters, every time we come to the Lord’s table, it is to remind us that we are no longer under the old covenant of law, but we are under the new covenant of grace.
Because our Lord Jesus says, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood.” In other words, it is an unbroken, everlasting covenant. This is the relationship we are now in with our Lord Jesus, and this is His relationship now with each and every one of us.
So I think it is clear: if we are under that kind of relationship, then only if we live the new covenant life will our living be pleasing to God. If we still live for ourselves and by ourselves, so far as God is concerned, we have wasted our life.
The Apostle Paul says very clearly, “For me to live is Christ.” I believe this is the way the Lord wants each and every one of us to live. It is only this kind of living that is worthwhile to live.
And in the same manner, He has called us to serve Him. But what kind of service will be acceptable to Him? Not every service is acceptable.
You remember in the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord Jesus said very clearly that one day people will come to Him and say, “Lord, we preached in Your name. We cast out demons in Your name. We performed miracles in Your name.” What a service, do you think? They have served the Lord.
But strangely—and truly—the Lord said, “I do not know you. I do not approve of you, because you are not doing My will. You are doing what you would like to do.”
So, brothers and sisters, when we come to this matter of service and ministry—and we all are supposed to serve—there is only one kind of service, one kind of ministry, that is acceptable to God. It is new covenant ministry.
We have already mentioned last time the difference between the old covenant ministry and the new covenant ministry. The old covenant ministry is written with ink. That is to say, it is the result of our own research, our own study, our own mind. It is out of ourselves.
But the new covenant ministry is written with the Spirit of God. We allow the Spirit of God to work in our lives, to transform us, that Christ may be formed in us. And out of Christ comes true ministry.
The old covenant ministry is written on stones. That is to say, there is no feeling, there is no experience; everything is just outside. But new covenant ministry is written on the heart. With feeling, we experience.
The old covenant ministry is something in which we are competent in ourselves. We boast of our ministry. But new covenant ministry gives us a sense that we are always incompetent, because our competency is only of God.
While the old covenant ministry is letter, and the letter kills, the new covenant ministry is Spirit, and the Spirit quickens. One condemns us, but the other gives us life. One begins with glory, but fades; the other is from glory to glory.
So, brothers and sisters, thank God. The service that God has called us to, the ministry that God has given to each and every one of us, is not of the old covenant kind. It is of the new covenant kind. This is the ministry that we are all involved in.
But if we are true to ourselves, if we are faced with such glorious ministry—that it is not ourselves, that it is of Christ—I believe every one of us will feel, “How can we fulfill it?” It is so high, too sacred, too holy, too far above our ability. We will faint under it.
If I may say, if we think we are competent, that shows that we do not know what new covenant ministry is. If we really understand what new covenant ministry is, naturally speaking, we will faint under it.
But thank God, we need not faint. Why? Because mercy has been shown to us. In other words, there is mercy there. There is grace there. There is all that our Lord Jesus has provided for us there. If we only look up unto Jesus, it is all there.
So here we find in chapter 4: “Having this ministry, as we have had mercy shown us, we faint not.” To put it another way, if there were no mercy shown to us, we would all faint under it.
Now, if we do not faint, something is very, very wrong. But thank God there is mercy shown to us, so therefore we do not need to faint. He has all the provision for us, and all we need to do is to allow Him to work it out in us.
But that does not mean that we can be passive. Sometimes we feel, “Well, we can do nothing, and He is doing everything. Should we do nothing? Should we just wait passively?” That is not the way God works.
In other words, it is very true that everything is from God, nothing from ourselves; and yet, He does expect us to prepare ourselves for His grace.
So here you find, in verse 2, that before we receive grace there is a preparation which we must make. And what is that? It says, “We have rejected the hidden things of shame.”
Now, what are the hidden things of shame? Simply put, it is something that we hide within ourselves and will not allow people to know about, because we know that it is something shameful.
If in our life we have such things hidden within us, then you find the grace of God will not be able to come upon us. So first of all, we must reject the hidden things of darkness.
If there is something we know is wrong in our lives, and we have not repented, we have not confessed it before the Lord, and we have not come under the cleansing of the precious blood of our Lord Jesus, do it. That is rejecting the sinful hidden things of shame.
“Not walking in deceit, nor falsifying the Word of God.” Now, what does that mean?
It means that sometimes we try to use the Word of God for our own benefit, or sometimes we twist the Word of God to fit our situation. We do not, as the Bible says, rightly divide the Word of God in a straight line—that is, according to what it is, not according to what will suit us.
You know, oftentimes it is the temptation of those especially who serve the Word of God. When the Word of God speaks in such an absolute way, we know that we are not so. So we try to twist it to make it fit our situation, or to use it to show forth our ability.
Now, all these are falsifying the Word of God. This is something in which we have to be honest. When we come to the Word of God, what it says, that is what we believe, and that is what we should be.
“But by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every conscience of man in the sight of God.” Brothers and sisters, when we are serving our brothers and sisters, we are commending our conscience before them.
Just like the Apostle Paul testified that he maintained a conscience void of offence before God and man. He was clear and transparent before God and man. So everyone who received his ministry, his service, knew that it was true, it was real, and it was not something falsified or pretended.
So, brothers and sisters, before we minister according to new covenant ministry, these are things that we ourselves have to examine before the Lord: to examine ourselves whether we are real, whether we are true, whether there is nothing hidden, and whether we are not trying to use the Word of God for our own benefit. It is only for the glory of God.
This is our preparation. But that does not mean that our preparation is enough. For, strictly speaking, to minister in new covenant ministry, only God can prepare us. We cannot do it ourselves. We are open before Him and let Him do what He will do with us.
So following this, we find: how will God prepare us for new covenant ministry?
The Bible uses an illustration. It says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels.” We all know that we are earthen vessels. Why? Because we are made of dust.
So far as our body is concerned, that is the element that constitutes our body. An earthen vessel is cheap, common, nothing glorious. It is opaque, dark. That is what we are.
But unfortunately, we do not look upon ourselves as earthen vessels. Instead, we look upon ourselves as alabaster flasks. We think highly of ourselves. That is according to human nature.
But if we are all touched by the Spirit of God, then we will realize what we are. Mary was able to break that alabaster flask because she realized she was but an earthen vessel.
Now, if an alabaster flask is broken, how do you feel about it? I believe once, when Brother Nee was young, a good flask was broken in the family, and his mother thought it must have been that boy. So he was beaten for it. But finally it was found out that it was not him, and for this he hated his mother.
But thank God, Mary understood that she was but an earthen vessel, and she was willing to break it, that a pound of precious nard might flow upon our Lord Jesus and glorify Him.
But you know, that is the strangest thing in the world. You never put a treasure in an earthen vessel, because they are not worthy. You put a treasure perhaps in a golden box or something.
This is the wonder of God. He is the only One Who will put treasure in earthen vessels. And we all know what this treasure is. There is only one treasure in the sight of God: His beloved Son.
So, dear brothers and sisters, God has done something wonderful and marvelous in our lives. We are but earthen vessels—cheap, common, nothing, opaque, dark—but God is willing to put His Son in each and every one of us.
Do you know that you carry within you the treasure of God? If you know you carry the treasure of God in you, I think you need to be very careful. You cannot be careless about it.
But the problem is that the treasure is full of radiance, full of light. Yet the light, the radiance, is hidden by the earthen vessel. Thank God, we have Christ in us. He is light, full of radiance. But we are earthen vessels.
We, in a sense, prevent His radiance from shining forth. That is our situation. Who are we? We are earthen vessels. But thank God, we have a treasure in that earthen vessel.
But we cause God a problem, because the radiance of the gospel of our Lord Jesus cannot shine forth. It is shut within us.
So how can that radiance be released? How can Christ be released from each and every one of us? There is only one way: that vessel has to be broken.
If there is a crack, if there is an opening, then the light will automatically come forth. So, dear brothers and sisters, for the life of Christ to be released from each and every one of us, there is one thing needed. You cannot avoid it. You cannot escape it.
One thing God must do is that He must break that earthen vessel. To put it another way, He must break us.
We do not know how strong we are until the process of brokenness begins. And how will He break us?
Here in chapter 4, you find He breaks us through the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Now, you do not find this term in the Bible, but we use this term to express the process that God is carrying out with each and every one of us.
The discipline of the Holy Spirit simply means that the Holy Spirit arranges our circumstances, our daily life, the people we encounter, the things that happen to us, and the situations that arise. All these circumstances, remember, are arranged by the Holy Spirit.
I would not say that to an unbeliever, but so far as a believer is concerned, nothing in our life is accidental. Why? Because God loves us so much. He cares for us, and His care is so complete.
You remember Matthew 10. It says that even the hairs of your head have been numbered. Now, can you imagine that? We do not even know how many hairs we have. When you were combing your hair this morning, how many hairs fell off?
But God even knows what number of your hairs have fallen off. He has numbered every hair on your head. Can you imagine such care? So complete.
And the Bible also tells us that even the sparrow, which is very cheap—you can get two sparrows for a penny, and for two pennies you can get five sparrows—and the spare sparrow is worthless; yet it is not apart from the Father’s will that it falls to the ground.
So He cares for the worthless. How much more are we worth than the sparrows? Now, with such care from God, can you believe that He will commit you to anyone else except Himself?
The whole idea of discipleship today is wrong, because we are discipled to people, not to Christ. God has committed each and every one of us only to Himself. He Himself will take care of us, and the Holy Spirit is there to do the work.
So, dear brothers and sisters, do not think that certain things happening to you are incidental. They just happen? Nothing like that. The Lord’s care is so complete. Everything that happens each day is measured by His love.
The Holy Spirit, in His wisdom, is taking care of every one of us. He will arrange all our environment. Even this morning, when we are here, it is arranged by Him. Nothing is incidental.
And when He arranges all this environment, why? He is using these things to break us.
Sometimes, if your life is very hard, it may even surprise you, because we think that having believed in the Lord Jesus, we will have a rosy life to live. Now we are God’s children, and He will so take care of us that He will bring us all safely to heaven.
But strangely, you find the Christian life is very difficult. It is more difficult than the life of the unbeliever. The unbeliever goes with the world, with the current. There is no resistance—smooth, but going down to death.
But Christians, with life in them—the life of God in them—are living. We are swimming against the current. That is the reason why you find the Christian life is very difficult.
But thank God for all these difficulties. God has arranged them. He measures them by His wisdom. He will not allow us to be tempted more than we can bear. He will always open a way out for us.
But through the process, He is breaking the earthen vessel.
So here you find these famous words: “Every way afflicted, but not straitened.” To put it very simply: shut in, but not shut out.
Sometimes we feel we are shut in, surrounded, every way surrounded, afflicted, with no way out. But thank God, there is a way upward. We are not shut out yet.
“Perplexed, but not unto despair.” Phillips translates it, “At our wit’s end, but not at our life’s end.” Yes, our wit is at an end. We do not know what to do, but our life is still there. It is not life’s end.
“Persecuted, but not forsaken.” God has not abandoned us.
“Cast down, but not destroyed.” Knocked down, but not knocked out. Now that is a Christian. How many times have we been knocked down? But you are not counted out. Why? Because there is resurrection life for you. You will come up even more glorious.
So, brothers and sisters, you find that the Holy Spirit uses all kinds of circumstances that we consider natural, but actually they are arranged by the Holy Spirit. The people you are with, the people you meet, the workplace you are in, the school you attend, friends, enemies—all these are arranged by God in order to break us.
So the Apostle Paul said, “Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus.” Now notice: the word here is dying, not death.
Why? Because death is a noun. It tells us something that has already been done. At the death of our Lord Jesus, salvation was completed. He had done all things. “It is finished.” It is all done. That is death.
And what He has done is eternal. What He has done is never temporary. Even though He died two thousand years ago, the effect of His death is still fresh and living today. That is death.
But dying is verbal. In other words, it is putting the death of our Lord Jesus into a dying process. It is an application.
In other words, the Holy Spirit will apply the dying of Jesus in our life. He will bring all that the death of our Lord Jesus has accomplished and apply that to us, that we may die daily.
Our old man, our flesh, our self, our pride—all these things will die daily by the dying of Jesus. There is a power in the death of Jesus that puts to death everything that needs to die.
Brothers and sisters, we are supposed to bear the dying of Jesus in our life every day. He is continually bringing us through the death process to put our flesh, ourselves, our self-life, and our pride to death.
The Apostle Paul said, “I die daily.”
And when this process of dying is going on, remember, this is not negative. For when this dying process is going on in our lives, the life process is also going on.
Having the dying of Jesus in our life, then the life of Jesus is increased in our life. As the life of Jesus increases in our life, then as we serve and minister Christ to others, life will appear in the people whom we serve.
This is the mystery of ministry. How can we minister life to people?
If we minister ourselves to people, we bring death to them. But thank God, we can bring Christ to people and give life to people. This is the secret of new covenant ministry.
Brothers and sisters, if we really realize what this process is for, will we withdraw from it? Should we faint under it? No. We have the boldness to allow the Spirit of God to complete His work.
New covenant ministry is not cheap, just as the grace of God is not cheap. The grace of God cost God everything, even His beloved Son.
So the ministry of the new covenant is not cheap at all. It costs us completely. The more we receive the process of the dying of Jesus, the more the life of Jesus will be manifested.
So the Apostle Paul concludes in verse 16: “Wherefore we faint not.” When you see what God is after, when you see what God is doing in your life, then you will not faint.
Because you know that even though your outward man is decaying, your inward man is growing. Now, the outward man here speaks of our soul. Our soul is the outward man, and the inward speaks of the spirit.
So when our soul is broken, then the spirit is released. We are not looking at something temporary; we are looking at something eternal.
Dear brothers and sisters, now the secret of new covenant ministry is out. What will be our response?
Are we fleeing from the discipline of the Lord? Are we bypassing the cross?
That makes us understand what our Lord Jesus said: “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
Brothers and sisters, it is all before us. What do you choose?
Do you choose a life lived for yourself, ending in death? Or do you choose a life lived for Christ and by Christ, bringing forth glory and life?
In the same way, do you choose an old kind of ministry—temporary, bringing death—or do you choose a new covenant ministry? Even though it is costly, it is worth it.
So may the Lord encourage us that, as we all continue in serving the Lord, our service will gradually be more and more of the new covenant kind instead of the old covenant kind.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, Thy Word is out. Now we trust Thy Holy Spirit to work it in each and every one of our hearts, that what Thou art expecting will come forth, that there will be plenty of Thy life being given and being received.
Lord, we want to satisfy Thee. Give us grace. We ask in Thine name. Amen.