Sharing the happiness of God, part 23, maintaining God’s happiness in suffering; John 15:11.Title: Sharing the happiness of God, part 23, maintaining God’s happiness in suffering; John 15:11.
5. God’s happiness does not diminish in times of underserved suffering.
Heb 10:34 For you showed sympathy to the prisoners, and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one.
2 Cor 6:1And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain —
“grace of God in vain” – Grace has been revealed but rejected and so it has not become a part of the soul.
2 Cor 6:2 for He says, "At the acceptable time I listened to you, And on the day of salvation I helped you";
behold, now is "the acceptable time," behold, now is "the day of salvation" —
2 Cor 6:3 giving no cause for offense in anything, in order that the ministry be not discredited [living in your virtue before the unbeliever],
And now we have a list of various pressures that God allows that we may be tested. You can only overcome pressure with the Oval Office – the command center where Jesus Christ and God the Father use the doctrine that is built up within your human spirit, which is what we call the edification structure of the soul.
People cannot look inside you and see your soul. Your soul is hidden from view.
In order to reveal to the worlds, both men and angels, the beauty and power of BD within, God turns the believer inside out by allowing pressure.
Naturally, God will not give more than you are able to bear, but:
When you have capacity, pressure becomes a wonderful thing in which you express the doctrine you have been learning, and therefore pressure becomes a source of happiness.
2 Cor 6:4 but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses,
“commending ourselves as servants of God” – to stand with God as ministers; to demonstrate ourselves as ministers of God’s reflected glory.
A minister in this context is every believer. Every believer is in full time Christian service as a servant to God. A believer can be a good servant or minister, or a bad one, but as one placed in union with Christ he is a full time minister, whether he recognizes it or not. This phrase means to stand with God with common principles and thoughts and to project them to the worlds as ambassadors of the same. In the hope of this there is suffering that results in pressure.
2 Cor 6:4 but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God [demonstrating ourselves as ministers of God’s reflected glory], in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses,
2 Cor 6:5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger,
Suffering is designed by God to be a great blessing to the believer. God wouldn’t let us suffer in time if it was not His plan and it didn’t have a good purpose – searching for Him.
In this passage endurance or faith rest comes in nine areas. All of these nine areas have the same structure.
All nine areas of testing are put in prepositional phrases; en plus the locative case, which means “in the sphere of…”
In the sphere of means that it wraps itself around you. Don’t fear it, and don’t run away from it, in these things your happiness that you share with God will come to fruition.
a. “In the sphere of afflictions” — qliyij[[thlipsis] means the closing in of the walls until they crush you. This is a word which means pressure, mental pressure, from distressing circumstances of life. Mental pressure reveals the ECS, the beauty of the new man in the soul.
b. “In the sphere of hardships” — avnagkh [anagke] which means to compress, it means compulsion, it means to use torture, to be bullied, to have people intrude upon your own volition, your privacy.
The noun is actually used for some form of compulsion which can be threefold: loss of freedom, being bullied, being bullied.
These are gradations of loss of freedom. Loss of freedom simply means sticking their nose in your business. Being bullied means they are trying to force you into a false system. Being tortured, of course, is obvious. This should be translated ‘in the sphere of compulsions.’
c. “In the sphere of distresses” — stenokwria[stenokoria] which means excruciating pain of soul or body. It means anguish, distress or troubles.
This is a general term for trouble, the other two were specifics; “and in general troubles of life.” God has so designed something whereby you can reflect His glory.
d. “In the sphere of beatings” — plhgh[plege] means wounds, blows, bruises. In other words, it refers to violence. The believer priest is going to be subjected to various types of violence.
e. “In the sphere of imprisonments” — fulakh,[phulake] means here unfair incarceration, being deprived unjustly of your normal functions and freedoms in life.
f. “In the sphere of tumults” — avkatastasia[akatastosia] means revolutions, riots, mobs. In other words, the suffering of political persecution. Even in riots, if you are the victim you can reflect the glory of God.
g. “In the sphere of labors” — kopoj[kopos] is used especially for being pestered. It also means to be exhausted. Generally if you are pestered long enough you are exhausted. [like mothers at the end of the summer!]
h. “In the sphere of sleeplessness” — avgnupviaj[agnupias] means to suffer from lack of sleep. This is suffering from being deprived of sleep.
i. “In the sphere of hunger” — nhsteia[nesteia] means suffering from being deprived of food. This phrase means suffering by not having basic necessities in life.
All of these are adversities which are designed by God to show, to demonstrate, the edification structure of the soul, what you are wearing in the soul. By the way, if you are wearing rags in the soul that, too, shows up.
In verses 4-5 we see the positive believer’s pressure. In verses 6-7 we see the positive believer’s stability.
2 Cor 6:6 in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love,
purity – ultimately, the rebound technique; knowledge – perception of doctrine; patience – grace orientation; kindness – reflection of grace within; in the HS – power of FHS; genuine love – inner happiness from RMA [agape love].
2 Cor 6:7 in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left,
word of truth – truth behind every matter; power of God – PSD’s under FHS; weapons – shield and sword (defensive and offensive soldiers in the AC).
In verses 8-10 we see the positive believer’s adaptability.
The language changes from prepositional phrases to antithetical situations in which the believer must adapt the doctrine he has been inhaling but not exhaling, i.e. not applying.
This lack of application is not in error, but rather the building up of residual doctrine that is building a structure in the human spirit that is gaining strength for the times of pressure when circumstances rapidly change. If you saw the pressure coming then you wouldn’t have hope, which is faith in future deliverance, but God delivers by means of His word.
The buildup of inhaled doctrine in the soul gives the believer an ability to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances of pressure, without being destroyed.
2 Cor 6:8 by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true;
glory and dishonor – prosperity in a situation to suffering in a rapid fashion. Great wealth to the poor house; wonderful relationship to being rejected; etc.
evil report and good report – in one moment you’re condemned and in the next you’re commended.
With either one the soul structure does not waver from thinking to highly about yourself to thinking too lowly. It’s what God thinks and what doctrine says that matters.
deceivers and yet true – misunderstood by those around you but you are true and genuine. “Deceivers” is a poor translation here. The word means to be misunderstood. You will be misunderstood by other Christians and unbelievers. The suffering comes from the realization that you can’t stand around explaining yourself all the time. People are going to misunderstand grace thinking especially, as well as strong faith in a system, especially in the modern world that is under the heavy deception that there is no real truth and that people are just imagining it all. [faith gene]
2 Cor 6:9 as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death,
unknown yet well-known – obscure as an invisible hero or well known when successful. The believer with a soul structure doesn’t seek fame or approbation.
dying yet we live – you are actually dying and you might live. “live” is in the subjunctive – maybe you will live and maybe you won’t for death is in the hands of God.
This part of the verse is different than the others. Starting in verse 8 we have a contrast of participles. In this contrast we start with a present active participle and then we have our first present active subjunctive. This clearly means that you are going through a situation of death and you do not know if you’re going to live or die. The beauty of going through this situation with a completed edification complex in the soul is that you trust God for the result and so maintain your happiness.
If God delivers then there is no way I’m going to die, in other words my plan in time is not over and therefore I have more fruit to bear. If it is God’s will that I go home to Him then nothing in the world can stop that from happening. It is truly out of my hands.
Doctrine that produces a RMA carries the believer through the entire dying experience. This is supreme happiness.
If a believer enters the dying phase and has rejected doctrine up to that point, he will not experience this happiness but rather great fear and regret. God is not a respecter of persons. God is a respecter of doctrine. You prepare for death by abiding in Christ during life.
Inner happiness gives the mature believer wonderful stimulation in the soul in the midst of a dying situation.
punished yet not put to death – the believer under divine discipline who adapts to it rapidly by rebounding and recovering.
Divine discipline bring momentary sorrow under the believer rebounds and recovers and then the curse is turned into a blessing and his happiness is restored. All of us experience punitive suffering and it is very important that we adapt to it quickly by making the proper changes in our mental attitude.
If the suffering continues after rebound and recovery then it has a purpose in blessing you as you apply doctrine to that suffering. Remember that all suffering is momentary by nature and never permanent for the child of God.
2 Cor 6:10 as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.
sorrowful yet always rejoicing – receiving sorrowpaingrief yet always possessing inner happiness.
In this the believer reflects God’s glory to the maximum. In the midst of great difficulties that cause sorrow, pain, and grief (passive voice means that you receive them and you are not the cause) the super-grace believer maintains his happiness. This is God’s ultimate power displayed in His child.
Sorrow, pain, grief all become a source of expressed happiness in the mature believer. These circumstances will be written in the New Jerusalem Museum forever.
poor yet making many rich – to lose it all and become completely impoverished yet maintaining happiness and others see what makes you tick and they are enriched. |