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Good morning friends, it’s Friday June 28, the weekend is almost here.
We’re reading today 2 Corinthians 4, and while only 18 verses long it’s power packed.
This chapter begins with one of Paul’s favorite words…“Therefore”. That word is like a hinge and a trampoline. It connects two important thoughts, and it often propels us from one big thought to another. Sometimes Paul writes like he’s a lawyer making his case, and he likes using that word “therefore“ to make an important concluding point.
Here’s something I’ve learned about this word, ‘therefore‘: Whenever you see it, stop and ask this question…what is it there for?
The “therefore“ in 4:1, hinges a concluding statement…“we do not loose heart“… to what Paul has written since chapter 3:14. And then do you see the word “Rather” starting verse 2? That’s like a trampoline which propels us onward to new discoveries.
Paul, like all of us, battled with discouragement, especially as people refused to hear him, or worse, rejected him, and even got violent with him, as he shared with them the wonderful truths of Jesus Christ. So in this chapter we’re going to discover some of Paul’s secrets. Secrets about how he kept himself from being overwhelmed with discouragement or worse, just plain giving up, as he faced opposition, from those he was trying to help. Are you ready for the adventure of discovering secrets? Here we go…
I find the first in vs. 2 of our chapter today, chapter 4. Rather than trying to manipulate the Gospel, or twist God’s Word to make it palatable or enjoyable to his listeners, Paul says “we have renounced shameful ways; we do not use deceptions, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” It’s simple really. Tell the truth all the time, and you’ll never have to worry about keeping your story straight. Paul is saying…when speaking about Jesus, and God’s truth, to people who don’t believe or don’t care… just tell it simply and truthfully, and let their conscience wrestle with God’s truth. Their response to God’s truth is between them and God.
Here’s a second secret… vs. 3-6. “…if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel [good news] of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Who is ‘the god of this age’? That’s the word ‘god’ with a little ‘g’? Hmmm. That’s Satan. 1 John 5:19 says “…the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” Now, how could that be?
Please understand this my friends: Almighty God is totally Sovereign. That means He has full authority to do anything He wants, at anytime, anywhere, in the whole Universe, which He has created. In God’s Sovereignty, when He created mankind, He gave to Adam responsibility here on earth, to care for all He had created here. Gen. 2:15 says “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden, to work it and take care of it.” God also gave mankind authority over this world. Gen. 1:26 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth…”.
And what did Adam and Eve do with that responsibility and authority? They disbelieved God, and believed the serpent, Satan, as we see in Genesis 3. And so they invited Satan into God’s wonderful Eden, and trusted Satan’s lies rather than God’s truth. In that moment they, who had received their authority from Sovereign God, exercised their authority, and invited Satan to have authority here on earth. That’s how 1 John 5:19 became our reality. Do you see that?
God in His sovereignty could have over-ruled them, could have thrown Satan out, could even have destroyed Satan, and Adam and Eve, and started all over again. But God allowed mankind to exercise their God given free-will, and to this day Satan rules here on earth, and is the ‘god of this age’. And every human being born since Adam and Eve, has the very same free will choice, every day, with this question: who will rule in my life?
The phrase “god of this age“ means his rule will not last forever, friends. There will come a day when this “age of God’s grace” comes to an end, and Satan and all evil, will be thrown into the lake of fire forever. But until then, Paul wants us to understand a very important truth. Satan himself confuses, blinds the minds, of people who do not believe in Jesus, that is why they cannot comprehend the Gospel. Do you see that?
So for Paul, another secret for defeating discouragement, is that he remembers there is a spiritual battle raging for the minds and hearts of every person. Paul realized, his role and ours, is to live God honoring lives, speak the truths of Jesus clearly and honestly, and leave the spiritual battle, for minds blinded by Satan, in God’s hands. Only God is powerful enough to defeat the ‘god of this age’.
That’s why in vs. 6 Paul says “God…made His light shine in our hearts, to gives us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God…”, and so Paul entrusts to God, the privilege, the responsibility, and the authority, to turn on the light of truth, in the minds and hearts of Satan blinded unbelievers. It is God who gives unbelievers the capacity to understand God’s truth and reject the deceit that has blinded them. Do we understand that friends. It’s not our responsibility to convince someone how wrong they are. We don’t have that ability. Only Almighty, Holy God can do that deep heart work.
Now in vs. 7-14, I find another secret for Paul.
Do you see he writes “we have this treasure, in jars of clay, to show that this all-surpassing power, is from God, and not from us.” He is comparing our human bodies to jars of clay, easily broken, and yet beautiful crafted by the potter. In our case the power of God is seen in His creation of us (Ps. 139), but is even more significantly seen in His salvation work in us. Vs. 7 says, “…the all surpassing power is from God, not from us.”. We didn’t create ourselves, we don’t save ourselves, and we certainly don’t do the ongoing sanctifying work in transforming us into the likeness of Jesus. All of that is God’s work!
But that sanctifying work God is accomplishing, happens most often in adversity, like pottery, in the fire of the kiln, right? So there’s another secret Paul gives us. God’s power, unleashed in us as we suffer, strengthens us, sustains us, and accomplishes a beautiful, refining work in us, helping us become even more the person God designed us to be…and more and more like Jesus. Can you see that friends. Our God honoring beauty is achieved in the fire, the pressure cooker of life.
Do you see Paul describing the challenges he often faced in the pressure cooker of his life? “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed.” Wow! So how do you face the hard challenges of your life? While it is true that on several occasions Paul was hurried out of a city before they killed him, or was bandaged up and cared for after a beating, we never see Paul giving in to emotional despair. How is that possible considering all he faced? Truth is, the refiner’s fire is painful isn’t it my friends?
I see another secret in vs. 10 “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” What does it mean? The death of Jesus is what paid our ransom price from our sin condemnation, right? So, as we live each day, forgiven of our sin by Holy God, we are carrying the death of Jesus with us. It’s like God stamped on us a spiritual tattoo, “forgiven by the cross of Jesus”! Remember that concept of a seal we discussed in 1:22? And the entire spiritual world sees that tattoo, often, especially when we stumble and are forgiven, again…right?
And here’s yet another secret: The other thing we carry with us each day is our ‘new life in Christ’. That means, while we are living forgiven, we’re also living with the Holy Spirit in us, and the assurance that at the moment we die, Jesus will bring us into heaven with Him. And that’s because of Jesus victorious resurrection! So may I suggest God has stamped two powerful statements on us… “forgiven by the cross of Jesus” and “awaiting heaven by the resurrection of Jesus”. Do I hear an amen from all across America?
I can just see Paul, so excited as he’s dictating this to his scribe, can’t you? Perhaps he’s pacing back and forth as he speaks these powerful truths. And I see him stop, dead in his tracks, take hold of his chin, perhaps stroke his beard, if he had one, and then say with great emphasis… ‘now scribe, I want you to write this in bold letters, may be even italics, to make sure the Christians in Corinth don’t miss it’… “because we know, that the One who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus, and present us with you, in His presence.”! And I see Paul clapping and raising up his arms and saying, “Yes, Yes, Yes”!!
This my friends, is the greatest secret of all for Paul. This is what kept him going when despair was lurking all around him. The absolute certainty he had, and he wrote about often, that because Jesus was resurrected from the dead, we too will experience a similar resurrection, and will spend all eternity with Jesus, and God the Father, and all the holy angels, and all the saints of all time… in His presence forever!
And that is why Paul perhaps slammed his fist down on the table and shouted “THEREFORE, we do not lose heart.” Hey, haven’t we heard that before? Yes, my friends, good memory… we’ve heard Paul say that twice in this chapter 4, vs. 1 & vs. 16. He’s pretty passionate about this, would you agree?
Finally, please notice the last three verses of chapter 4, oh they are precious and powerful. You’ve probably heard them at funerals or read at the bedside of one nearing their departure for heaven? They are truth for all of us, and especially those who may be nearing the end of their earthly journey. Let’s read it outloud…together: “Therefore, we do not loose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal.” Amen and Amen!
We’ve just discovered another secret for Paul. I’ve lost track, how many secrets we’ve found in these 18 verses? What’s the secret here? It’s Paul’s eyesight focus. He keeps looking up and beyond. Do you see it? He’s looking up in anticipation of the day he’ll go up to heaven. He’s looking beyond the stuff that troubles him here, to Jesus and things eternal, when all this ‘stuff’ that weighs us down will be ancient history.
Oh my, I’m almost out of breath… how about you? So as you read this chapter, identify each of the secrets Paul gives you, of how to stay encouraged, in the midst of very discouraging stuff all around you! And I’m going to listen…because I might hear some of you who live near me shouting with joy as these discoveries really take root in your heart.
Oh my friends, I’m loving this journey in God’s Word with you… Lord Jesus, we thank you for Paul and all you did in his life, and how you led him to write such great truth that 2000 years later is as fresh for us as if it was written this morning. . .
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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