Courageous Spirituality (part 2): "Announce God’s Unchanging Word"

“But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:2, 5)

The apostle Paul was accused of being self-serving, sneaky but his defense is an appeal to conscience and false accusations are betrayed. Living in truth means one is not bound to explain and defend every statement, every action; rather, it is to live openly before the Lord. When we live in obedience to His Word, we expose what is right, what is wrong and conscience will agree. This is where God does the fighting.

When it comes to the way we use our words, we preach Christ Jesus the Lord. Paul defines his ministry in 3:6 as being “of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit” in other words, he is responsible to obey God’s Spirit in delivering the message of forgiveness of sins in Christ in order for people to become the spiritual men and women God intends them to be: called out of the world into a living body of which Christ is the head. By preaching, there is a public announcement with authority. Preaching means God keeps no secrets, requires no secret knowledge, no hidden wisdom. It is the open proclamation of heavenly matters, the beginning of legislating the matters of heaven here on earth.

Again the subject of our conversation (if you will) is God’s anointed Savior of Man’s Sins. He is the one to whom all bow the knee. If anyone accuses you of having an agenda, it is must be Christ. This is why we follow our words with service to Christ (4:5). Put words and work together to amplify the Lord in the sight of others.

The bondservant of Christ serves the body of Christ for the sake of Christ. Christ makes our service to you possible; otherwise, it would never have happened. Go back to the previous chapters and think about that imagery of Moses veiling his face. Paul and team were not preaching themselves as if their faces were glowing, nor were they covering their faces so no one could see the glory faded. Instead, they proclaimed the eternal glory of Christ.