Serving in the Spiritual Domain: III. Living Christ unto the ministry

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ไธญๆ–‡

๐‘…๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก 1 โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’. ๐‘…๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก 2 โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’.

Those who are faithful, loyal, sensitive serving ones in the church life not only serve the church in a physical way, but also serve through a deeper, spiritual sense. Such servants of the Lord are ones with an extra sense, who are able to carry that entrance to the heavenly realm. Such ones are able to serve beyond the outward and physical problems, chaos, and complications.

Our church life requires more than physical senses. This deeper seeing, however, requires training and discipline for us to be brought into the essence of the servingโ€”the perfection. Paul gave us a perfect example: he himself was disciplined and well trained, but he also had a strong, tangible humanity. Because of this, amidst very severe dealing with the church in Corinth, Paul could be an entrance to the very personโ€”even into the indexโ€”of Christ. Second Corinthians chapter two depicts Paul carrying his serving in this way. This is a perfect instance of serving for whosoever desires to serve the reality of the church within the spiritual domain.

2 ๐ถ๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ. 2:8 ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐ผ ๐‘’๐‘ฅโ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘“๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘š ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘š. 2:9 ๐น๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘ ๐‘œ ๐ผ ๐‘ค๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ก๐‘’, ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐ผ ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘ก ๐‘˜๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ , ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘ . 2:10 ๐ต๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘”๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ฆ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”, ๐ผ ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘ ๐‘œ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘”๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’; ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘ ๐‘œ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐ผ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘”๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘›, ๐‘–๐‘“ ๐ผ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘”๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ฆ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”, ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘˜๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐ถโ„Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ก…

Here, after rebuking the Corinthian believers in the first epistle, Paul talks with the tenderness of a parent, but his training is still there. The thought and the language is clear and sharp. Paul uses a specific word in this section of chapter twoโ€”the ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘› of Christ. This Greek word, ๐’‘๐’“๐’๐’”๐’ฬ๐’‘๐’๐’, literally means โ€œfaceโ€; it is โ€œ[t]he part around the eyes; the look as the index of the inward thoughts and feelings, which shows forth and manifests the whole person. This indicates that the apostle was one who lived and acted in the presence of Christ, according to the index of His whole person, expressed in His eyesโ€ฆโ€ (2 Cor. 2:10, ft. 3 โ€œpersonโ€).*

What a specific, beautiful, and carefully chosen word for the condition of the Corinthians. Paul, having gone through training in literature and law, was able to use that language to express something beyond the physicalโ€”something subjective and intimate. We know this because the Greek word ๐’‘๐’“๐’๐’”๐’ฬ๐’‘๐’๐’ is very descriptive and very specific. The โ€œpersonโ€ here is not a general reference to an individual; the Greek refers to ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐จ๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ž๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐š ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง, ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ข๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐š๐œ๐ž. And this word is so true to our experience: what is a person without a face? Yet thereโ€™s more we can see from the Greek. Although there are many parts of a human face, here the word refers to the part surrounding the eyes: โ€œthe look as the index of the inward thoughts and feelings, which shows forth and manifests the whole person.โ€

In one word, Paul is able to express such an experiential and specific Christ; this choice of word indicates that the apostle was one who lived and carried very tangible, very inward feelings and experiences before God. Although many people might find โ€œliving in the index of Christโ€ too theoretical or impractical amidst a chaotic situation, to Paul this was not a religious or abstract teaching. In the middle of writing this epistle to the disorderly saints in Corinth, Paul was one who served according to the index of the whole person of Christ. He was able to tame an uncontrollable situation because he was living out a very tangible, very powerful inward sense of life.

Paul didnโ€™t discipline the Corinthian believers randomly, but rather with a lot of experience and careโ€”while sitting before the person of Christ, before the face of Christ, before the index of Christ. What is inside of Christ has been experienced by Paul as heโ€™s dealing with the believers. Those experiences become the serving onesโ€™ being, content, and power. Because of this, Paul could serve not in his own thoughts and feelings, but in Christโ€™s. He could usher the saints into the enjoyment and index of Christ. His serving was not random or light. Rather, Paulโ€”and any serving oneโ€”has been terminated to release, think about, nurture, and act only in the person of Christ.

This was the way our brother was able to serve such an immature and worldly group of saints in Corinth. From his enjoyment and his encouragement to the way he debated for his harsh rebuking and exposing of the believers in Corinth, to how he was comforted and encouraged, he used a very personal, tender and affectionate way to calm a turbulent churchlife. How could he have done this if he were not in the person of Christ? How could he uplift the saints from the physical and immoral failures in the church without the โ€œclosest and most intimate contactโ€ with the Lord? The same footnote shows us that Paul was โ€œa person who lived Christ.โ€ This is why this epistle is considered Paulโ€™s own autobiography of how he lived. ๐‡๐ž ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ ๐‚๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ ๐š๐œ๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐‚๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ; ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ. Thatโ€™s the example he set before the church in Corinth in the midst of their failure-filled situation. For those ones in the most intimate contact with Him, living in Christโ€™s index, His very person becomes the saturating solution in serving all the outward problems.

What do we mean by the โ€œsaturating solutionโ€? This utterance is very important. This saturating happens within the ministry. This saturating is for the constitution of the minister in the ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘œฬ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘› of Christ. Included in this saturating is His humanity, His divinity, His death, and the experience of the powerful resurrection life from the cross. Regarding the cross, Brother Lee points out in a critical footnote that Paul was โ€œsaturated with Christ; a person who was broken and even terminated in his natural life.โ€ ๐‡๐ž๐ซ๐ž, ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐‹๐ž๐ž ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž โ€œ๐œ๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฌโ€ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ž๐š๐ง๐ฌ. Paulโ€™s serving shows us that the experience of cross is not just to solve problems, but to saturate us with Christโ€”to empower the minister’s life. We all need this. No one can force you; it has to be a fruit of something that you love, are consecrated to, are enjoying, are being built up by in the index and face of the Lord.

How can you terminate your natural flesh, your natural life, to be soft and flexible in His will? At the same time, how can you not lose your soul either, and stay affectionate yet restricted? Actually, we can be perfectly balanced in between the soul and the spirit; this is Paul. On one hand, Paul is seemingly very emotional in this letter, but on the other hand, he is in control. There is a total spiritual balance. Paul was both โ€œconsiderate and sober in his mind.โ€ He was also โ€œpure and genuine in his spirit toward the believers for their benefit,โ€ which refers to Paulโ€™s serving with a very willful, very powerful, tenacious and disciplined heart of a parent. Paul is an open demonstration of his body, soul, and spirit, including his emotion, his mind, and his will. He was not afraid to let you see his personality as an apostle. The church life is also full of personalities. You see all the fathers, the mothers, the parents and the servants of the Lord. They have a personality, will, and view. They may be very powerful and present, yet they may also be very affectionate and intimate. Why? Because they are wholly saturated with Christ. Paul was someone completely terminated and consecrated in Christ, so he can say, โ€œFor to me, to live is Christ.โ€ (Phil. 1:21). This is what makes himโ€”and any true servant of the Lordโ€”rich and full in both soul and spirit.

This condition is why Paul can use such specific and meaningful language when addressing the Corinthians; Paul chose to use this profound Greek word, ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘œฬ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›. Like Paul to the Corinthians, we donโ€™t just go to the Lord in a general way; we donโ€™t live before His face only. When two lovers communicate through their eyes, thereโ€™s more than just the physical gaze; there are also the thoughts and inward feelingsโ€”a transfusing very specific to the index of our eyes that goes beyond language. We can live inside of Christ, inside the index of Christ. And whatโ€™s more, this transfusing changes us. It constitutes us. It conforms us. It regulates us. It makes us sensitive, it makes us ministers. Isnโ€™t this book wonderful? Second Corinthians has become such a romantic book to us.

This same Greek word ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘œฬ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘› is used again in chapter four, verse six, translated into the English word โ€œfaceโ€:

4:6 ๐ต๐‘’๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐บ๐‘œ๐‘‘ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘œ ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘‘, ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘˜๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘  ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘ก ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’, ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘‚๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘œ ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™๐‘ข๐‘š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘˜๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘™๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘”๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘”๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐บ๐‘œ๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐ฝ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘  ๐ถโ„Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ก.

Here, Paul has developed more from chapter two. When you come to this chapter, prosรณpon expresses more of an inward senseโ€”that is, knowing Godโ€™s inward being in our inward being. This verse gives us more understanding on how the light, the glory, and the constitution of the New Testament ministry are from this very indexโ€”Godโ€™s inward being; all the attributes of God are shining through those eyes. The only way we can be rescued from all the distractions, especially from the corruption and destruction of the world, is by engaging that inward sense of life. This generation has blindfolded us and darkened the glory of the gospel, even taking away the image of God himself. Because of all the confusion and distractions, Paul vindicated for himself that he did not preach anything but this very Christ who will call you โ€œout of darknessโ€ into the shekinah glory. This is a very deep understanding of the faith. The footnote for โ€œbutโ€ in 4:7** gives us more understanding about the end result of this shining: Brother Lee gives five meaningful metaphors relating to how a minister is constituted by the ministry, which comes out of the engagement with and shining from His inward being. These five perspectives are crucial to the characteristics, life and action of Godโ€™s ministers: being the captives of Christ, incense bearers spreading the fragrance of Christ, letters written with Christ as content, mirrors beholding and reflecting the glory of Christ, and earthen vessels containing Christ the treasure. We are a part of the New Testament ministry, and the inward index of Christ is what constitutes, trains and regulates the minister to carry out the ministry in spirit and reality.

Second Corinthians is timely for the church life today. Today, we are receiving the apostleโ€™s words in the person of Christ. We know we want to have a new breakthrough. We also know there is a need to overcome our limitations, failures and sinful life. But even more, every one of us has come to a stage to be uplifted and to be constituted as ministers of Christโ€”to build up the Body in reality with a view of Godโ€™s eternal purpose. Because of this, Paulโ€™s words become so timely to us. Second Corinthians gives us a very romantic look at our dear brotherโ€™s life. He was wide open; there was no hiding. He was so genuine and straightforward that we can touch his being, even today. Although Paul lived 2,000 years ago, he is not that far away from us; itโ€™s only 15 to 20 generations away from today that Paul happened in our lives. Generation after generation, we feel these saints are not far from us at all. They are very close to us.

Living in the index of Christ, Paul becomes our perfect role model and example for how to live and to serve the church. Itโ€™s absolutely not by improving or having some skill or talent; Paulโ€™s secret is to live in the ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘œฬ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘› of Christ. This part around the eyes, the indexโ€”or inward beingโ€”of Christ, is very powerful to whosoever is serving the church according to something inward, close, and intimate; they live in the inward feeling and the inward sense of that index. In this kind of living and sensitivity, Paul could be nurturing, precise, and firm in his care for the saints. He wasnโ€™t distracted or discouraged; rather, he was even more flexible, more gracious, and more enlarged in his serving. ๐ˆ๐ง ๐š ๐œ๐ก๐ฎ๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐š๐ง ๐Ÿ๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐’‘๐’“๐’๐’”๐’ฬ๐’‘๐’๐’ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐‚๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ. ๐“๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐›๐ž๐ข๐ง๐ , ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐›๐ฅ๐ž๐ฆ๐ฌ, ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‹๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐‡๐ข๐ฆ ๐ญ๐จ ๐›๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ฌ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ž๐.

*Read the full footnote for 2:10 โ€œpersonโ€ (3) here: https://bibleread.online/…/the-second-epistle-of…/2/…**Read the full footnotes for chapter 4 here: https://bibleread.online/…/the-second-epistle-of…/4/

(๐ด๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก 3 ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Ž ๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘๐‘–๐‘™๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘“๐‘’๐‘™๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘Ž ๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘œ๐‘› 06/14/2020, ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘Ÿ.)

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