The masterIng mission

2 Corinthians 5:11, 14

The obligation of master persuasion

(2 Corinthians 5:11)

Whenever Paul talks about his call to preach the gospel, it is a woe is unto me, if i preach not the gospel! It is not a calm, quiet choice, but a necessity laid upon him, an overmastering sense of call. The great note of pauls life is that he is mastered by his mission, he cannot get away from it.

First Corinthians 9:2223 is the exposition of pauls sense of unrelieved obligationto the weak became i as weak, that i might gain the weak: i am made all things to all men, that i might by all means save some. And this i do for the gospels sake. Pauls persuading was by no means always successful (see acts 17:32) but he never allowed that to deter him (see acts 28:2324). Pauls very earnestness for Jesus was made the subtle ground of accusing him of mad- ness, and the strange thing is that among a section of the more fanatical they called him too sober (see 2 Corinthians 5:13).

A worker for god must be prepared to endure hardness; he must learn how to sop up all the bad and turn it into good, and nothing but the super- natural grace of god and his sense of obligation will enable him to do it. As workers we will be brought into relationship with people for whom we have no affinity; we have to stand for one thing only, that i might by all means save some. The one mastering obligation of our life as a worker is to persuade men for Jesus Christ, and to do that we have to learn to live amongst facts: the fact of human stuff as it is, not as it ought to be; and the fact of bible revelation, whether it agrees with our doctrines or not.

The overruling majesty of personal power

(2 Corinthians 5:14)

Paul says he is overruled, overmastered, held as in a vice, by the love of christ. The majority of us are held only by the constraint of our experience. Very few of us know what it is to be held as in a grip by the sense of the love of god. For the love of Christ constraineth us. Once that note is heard, you can never mistake it; you know that the holy spirit is having unhindered way in that man or womans life. Abandon to the love of Christ is the one thing that bears fruit. Personal holiness may easily step over into sanctified pharisa- ism, but abandon to the love of god will always leave the impression of the holiness and the power of god. When we are born again of the spirit the note of our testimony is what god has done for us, and rightly so; but the baptism of the holy ghost obliter- ates that for ever. God will never answer our prayer to be baptised by the holy ghost for any other reason than to be a witness for Jesus. Ye shall receive power, after that the holy ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me (RV ). Not witnesses of what Jesus can do, that is an elementary witness, but witnesses unto me; you will be instead of me, you will take everything that happens, praise or blame, persecution or commendation, as happening to me. No one can stand that unless he is constrained by the majesty of the personal power of Jesus. Paul says, i am constrained by the love of Christ, held as in a fever, gripped as by a disease, that is why i act as i do; you may call me mad or sober, i do not care; i am after only one thing to persuade men of the judgement seat of Christ and of the love of god. The great passion in much of the preaching of to- day is to secure an audience. As workers for god our object is never to secure our audience, but to secure that the gospel is presented to men. Never presume to preach unless you are mastered by the motive born of the holy ghost: for i determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.