II Corinthians 6:11 O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.
12 Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.
13 Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.
The apostle Paul was not restricted in speaking with the Corinthians. God’s Word is not bound. Hitler tried to ban the truth. The Communists tried to ban the truth. The Catholics and the Muslims want to ban the truth. The New Evangelical crowd wants to ban the truth.
However, the truth is not bound. The devil and his crowd will never silence the truth. Even in the Tribulation, when all the true Christians will be removed at the Rapture, the truth will still be available. God will raise up one hundred and forty four thousand Jewish virgin men to proclaim the Gospel during that seven year period. The antichrist will hate them. He will do his best to stop the proclamation of the truth in that time. God will also have His two witnesses prophesying in Jerusalem. The antichrist will hate them and he will have them killed. However, after three days lying in the street of Jerusalem, they will rise up and ascend out of this world.
Man continues to try to silence the truth, but it is a futile effort. Paul was not going to stop proclaiming the truth. He loved them with the love of God. That love motivates the true child of God to speak the truth. Paul’s heart was enlarged toward them. He cared about them. That is something the false teachers cannot say. They do not love the people. They love the praise of men. They love the prestige and they love the perks, including the money. They love sin themselves and thus they welcome it among the people they are leading.
Paul’s preaching was not a restriction to the blessings God wanted the Corinthians to know. The devil is a liar. He told Eve that God was restricting her ability to be fulfilled. Eve was deceived. Adam knew better and took of the forbidden fruit and he and Eve found out just how restricted they became as sinners.
The Gospel of Christ is liberating. It sets the captive free from the curse of sin. It brings a peace that the world does not know. It is a blessing that nourishes the repentant soul.
Paul reminded the Corinthians that they were straitened in their own bowels. It was their schisms and their fornication that was straitening them. When a Christian sins, they put a leash about themselves. They cannot enjoy the blessing and fellowship of the Lord. They cannot know His peace in their heart. The joy of the Lord is not there. Rock music, CCM, booze, cigarettes, other drugs cannot replace the joy of the Lord.
In verse 13 Paul needed to address these adults as his children. Children need to have things explained to them many times over. They need constant reminders because they have not developed the discipline needed to live honest lives. Adults are supposed to think things through. Of course that applies to saved adults. Lost adults are just big children. They never grow up. They are obsessed with worldliness and cannot find pleasure in the things of God.
Saved adults are supposed to be more controlled by the Holy Spirit. They should be able to discern truth better. Paul was a testament to this. He had been an abuser of Christians. He had a hatred for truth. He was broken and he was saved. After he was saved, he spent three years being trained by Jesus. After that, he got busy preaching the truth. It took a while for the saints to accept him. He had a violent reputation. The saints had a problem believing that a violent man like him could be broken and changed into someone who loved the Lord and thus loved God’s people and the lost.
Paul proved himself to be different. He gained the trust of the people because he was genuine. He was not a snake-oil salesman. He was real. The change in his life was real. He had been born again. He wanted the saints to be enlarged. He wanted them to grow.
There is no room for jealousy in the Christian life. If God saves a man and calls that man into the ministry, other saints rejoice and pray for that man. If God calls a young woman to salvation and she marries a man who loves her and they have a family and God is blessing them, others rejoice to see the goodness of God.
If a single individual gets saved and serves the Lord as a mechanic or welder, or doctor or nurse, etc. others rejoice to see a true child of God serving in these necessary fields where they can be a testimony to the love of God.
That is what the Christian life is all about. It is life changing and those changed by it want to see others come to know the truth and grow in the Lord. Too often people push God away because they would rather have their itching ears scratched. They do not want the truth. They just want someone to stroke their ego. They have deceived themselves into thinking that is important.
A few will come to true repentance and see that life is really about glorifying God. I trust this is true for each one reading these devotionals.
Pastor Bartel