2 Corinthians 4:5 “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but
Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.”
As the apostle Paul continues his writing of the book of Corinthians
he is facing several challenges in his ministry so he urges the church to be “unified”
with him in his ministry because the opponents of the gospel were undermining
his work claiming that his suffering proved he was not a true apostle. They didn’t
understand that his suffering was a reflection of the gospel being glorified
because every time Paul was persecuted he looked to Jesus Christ as his only
help admitting, confessing and leaning on Him for total dependency.
Paul dedicates and emphasizes chapter four with a theme of
unity throughout the sentences. He wants the church to understand basic Christian
principles when it comes to ministry because he does not want people to get
distracted by foolishness, pride, control or selfish behavior because he knows
that pride comes before the fall and that anytime anyone takes credit for
something done rather than giving Jesus all the glory then slowly the life will
be sucked out of that ministry until the strong hands of wickedness choke and
kill the dream that best proclaims the gospel.
“For what we proclaim is not ourselves”- in this statement
here alone we need to note that all people are equal when it comes to ministry
because everyone now knows that the work has nothing to do with them personally
but everything to do with Jesus Christ alone and that nothing: no credit, no
positions, no roles, ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING has to do with anyone but Jesus Christ.
This is the vision statement so people are not confused on what the goal is
because the only goal in any ministry that is biblical is to preach and
proclaim Jesus Christ thus allowing the people to die to themselves and their
ideas and to focus all the glory on Jesus Christ.
“With ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake”- as slaves
and bondservants to the master, king, ruler and CEO of sovereignty we now
confess and make it a part of our makeup as a person and put the foundation of
our convictions and self-constitution as willing, obedient and joyous slaves to
Christ in serving in ministry. We understand that we owe God everything and
that without him we are nothing and in that we are satisfied with whatever and
however he decides to focus his ministry. We lean on him for total control and
we refuse to get caught up in the confusion and works of the devil through disobediences,
pride, selfishness, slander and malice because all of that will lead to an end
in the blessing of the ministry of the Church that he has called all sanctified
believers to follow.
The
bottom line is this once you get past the theological unfolding of terms,
phrases and meanings the apostle wants the church to come fully together and be
totally unified on every level because he knows that it is so easy to get
distracted because every people is totally depraved and the depravity of each person’s
life has the chance to show up and fall in line with the wickedness of the
devil and take focus off of giving Jesus Christ the glory. So from the beginning
he says get over yourselves, its not about you, its all about Christ and His
glory. So if your going to sign up to be a billboard for Jesus understand that
your imperfections may cause you the war if you allow them to while fighting
the battle so understand the depth of your depravity and when you see your ego
rising up bleed the blood of Jesus over yourself so you don’t allow yourself to
get in the way of bringing all the glory to Jesus Christ alone.
#BeGoodToYourself 
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