Tucker Presbyterian Church Sermons

Living as New Creations in and through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:11-17) Please turn to 2 Corinthians 5:11-17 in your Bibles. That can be found on page 1147 of the pew Bible. In these verses, the apostle Paul transitions from the resurrection hope that Christ gives us in our suffering…. to now focusing in on the heart transformation that we are given in him. The connection between verses 1-10 and 11-17 is the Gospel. It's the death and resurrection of Christ. This good news is both the hope for eternity in suffering and it's the transforming power for godly living. As I read, listen for two things. Listen for a description of Jesus' ministry. And listen for a comparison between the old life and the new life in Christ. Reading of 2 Corinthians 5:11-17 Prayer There are about 18,000 species of butterflies – 18,000 different species. That translates into billions and billions of butterflies around the world today – it's hard to even estimate how many. And this is the time of year when they just start coming out. Kids, maybe you've tried to catch one with a butterfly net. Maybe you've seen a beautiful Monarch… or one of the different kinds of Swallowtails. As you know, they truly are exquisite –different colors like blues and yellows and cool patterns and shimmery reflections. But the thing is, they didn't start that way. No, all butterflies began life as a caterpillar. And some of them are not that appealing. Like the Monarch – it begins life as a worm like caterpillar with pale and dirty looking bands on it. Other caterpillars look like green slugs. One kind of caterpillar apparently looks like bird droppings. Others have spikes or bumpy skin. But then something amazing happens to each one of them. They go through a metamorphosis… a transformation. Literally inside their cocoons, their bodies melt away into a soupy kind of ooze which is then metamorphosed into a beautiful butterfly. When they emerge, they are… new creations, in a way. The old has passed away, behold the new has come. You probably saw that one coming. But the parallel is true. The metamorphosis that a caterpillar goes through in becoming a butterfly is like the metamorphosis that someone goes through in becoming a Christian. The transformation is an internal transformation. Our insides, our hearts, are changed… they're melted and we become and are becoming reflections of God in Christ. Now, the word “transformation” is not used in this passage, but the ideas are all here. In fact, in the Greek, the word transformation is the word “metamorphose”. Like in Romans chapter 12 verse 2. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.” Be metamorphosed. Here in 2 Corinthians 5 11-17, Paul, in part, describes the difference between someone who still has their old nature and someone who has been transformed into a new creation in Christ. And as I mentioned earlier, at the center of this transformation is what Jesus has accomplished for you in his death and resurrection. On the sermon notes page, you can see those two lists (the old and the new). We're going to work through those in just a minute. But first, let's begin by looking at two things… Let's begin by (1) considering what it means to be a new creation, and (2) why Paul was writing this section of the letter. It will be helpful to know those things before looking at the old and new contrast. Let's look at the very first verse and the very last verse in our text. Beginning in verse 11. Right in the middle, it says “But what we ARE is known to God.” The word “are” is important. The apostle Paul is referring to their state of being – their identity. God knows if we are still in our old nature or if we are a new creation Now, keep that in mind and jump down to verse 17. It says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” An important word here is the word “is.” “If anyone IS in Christ, he IS a new creation.” Do you see the connection between 11 and 17? Each of us has a state of being in relation to Christ. We are either “in Christ” or “not in Christ.” And God obviously knows that. To be a new creation in Christ is to believe in and live for Jesus because of what he has done. Verse 15 captures that. It says, “and he [that is, Jesus] died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” So, to be a new creation in Christ is to… have your old self die with him (your sin, your shame), and to be given a new nature in him, raised with him. A new life.  You become a new creation by faith in Christ, who, as it says “for [your] sake died and was raised.” I wanted to start there because it is that very heart change which is at the center of these verses. The apostle Paul works out what that means for himself and for the Corinthians. So, keep that Gospel emphasis in mind as we consider what being a new creation in Christ looks like. The second important thing to know is the context. Remember, the apostle Paul was dealing with nay-sayers in Corinth. There was a group undermining his ministry. We've come across several things so far about what they were saying and doing. They were saying that because Paul suffered so much he could therefore not be an apostle. Remember that? They also critiqued Paul's change of plans. The irony is that he changed his plans for their sakw. And then, these detractors were, as Paul put it, peddling God's word and also tampering with it. That's not good. And now in these verses, we learn something else about this group. They cared about outward appearances and not about the heart. Look at verse 12. Let me take a moment to unpack this verse. Paul begins by saying, “We are not commending ourselves to you again” Now, earlier in the letter Paul had established his own authenticity as a true minister of the Gospel. He included Timothy and Titus as well. Paul is not doing that again here. He's not “commending ourselves to you again.” Rather, Paul wants them to see the true Gospel transformation in his and his fellow worker's hearts. He uses the word “boast.” He doesn't want them to boast about what's on the outside, but the inside. It's not about outward appearances, like what the false teachers were saying, but rather what is truly in one's heart. Let me read the whole of verse 12 again, and I think you'll hear that context. “We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart.” The whole reason that Paul wrote these verses was to tell the Corinthians to look for that true Gospel transformation in someone. Look for a changed heart and mind worked out in someone's life. That is how you discern a true believer in Christ. That is how you differentiate between a faithful teacher and a false teacher. The old has passed away, the new has come. Ok, I wanted to begin with those two things. (1) that someone who is a new creation in Christ has been transformed by Christ. And (2) Paul was writing to the Corinthians so that they could evaluate whether someone has undergone that transformation. With that said, let's spend the rest of our time seeing how that works out in someone's life – including your life and my life. That brings us back to the two points in the outline. 1. The old has passed away 2. The new has come Now, really, the old and new comparison goes back and forth in these verses. But I thought it would be helpful to first consider what the old nature looks like. And then we can compare that with the new nature in Christ. 1. The old has passed away (5:17) So first, the old. It is incredibly difficult today to not boast about outward appearances. We are constantly bombarded with the message of appearance. Who you know, how you dress, the things you have, what car you drive. Those are all status symbols today. Social media influencers make billions influencing you to buy certain things and to achieve a certain look. You see, our culture is very consumeristic and individualistic. Marketing algorithms target you based on your age and interest. And everything out there is so visual and sensual… and your phone makes the problem worse. It's overwhelming. Now, I'm not saying that the Roman and Greek culture back in the first century didn't have that temptation. It just wasn't as intense. And one of identifying sins of the old self is boasting in outward appearances. That word boast in the Greek is to brag or rejoice in. So, in this case, it's making something that is external part of your identity. In the case of Paul's detractors, that could have been eloquence or wealth or cultural status or even health. Their outward boasting indicated that they had not been transformed into new creations in Christ. So that's one thing, a focus on external things. A second identifying sin is there in verse 15. Those who are new creations in Christ “no longer live for themselves.” You see, our old nature is especially a selfish nature. At the heart of the old self is self. In fact, the heart of all sin is the sin of self-idolatry. It's doing things for your own glory and reputation… and often that happens at the expense of others. Let's go back to those who were undermining the apostles. Their agenda was a self-centered agenda. Once we get to chapters 10 and 11, we will get a clear picture of their self-promotion and how they were using the Corinthians for their own gain. And that certainly happens today. You know this… there are so-called pastors out there today who use their people for their own gain. They are still “living for themselves.” Every single one of us lives for something. And most often, those who still have an old nature, live for themselves. Ok, the third thing mentioned here is in verse 16. Paul writes, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.” That word flesh is used in several different ways throughout the New Testament. Sometimes it's about our sin nature, sometimes it is about our weakness in the body, and sometimes like here, it is about a worldly perspective rather than a godly one. One translation says, “we should regard no one according to a worldly point of view.” That's helpful. Our old nature judges based on the world's philosophy – you know, the latest cultural value system about what's good and bad or right or wrong. Paul even makes that point in verse 16 that he used to regard Christ according to the flesh. Before Paul was transformed into a new creation in Christ, he viewed Jesus as weak. Jesus was just a man to Paul and to the other Pharisees. To them, Jesus' words were blasphemous. And Jesus' actions definitely didn't align with their worldly understanding of power and status. You see, our old self judges according to the flesh and not according to God's perspective. All three of these identifying sin patterns are indicative of the old self. A focus on outward appearance, a self-centered nature, and judging others through the eyes of the world. You see, many in Corinth needed a transformation. They needed a metamorphosis from their old nature to become a new creation in Christ. 2. The new has come (5:17) Some of you attended our Pray for Tucker event last month. Our speaker was Lowell Ivey. Lowell is the director of Metanoia Prison ministry. If you didn't meet Lowell, you definitely met Jeremy Prather – Jeremy has joined us on a couple of occasions. He's also with Metanoia. Jeremy works for Lowell. And just like Jeremy, Lowell spent years in prison. You see, Lowell had been convicted of multiple counts of armed robbery. Before that, he had been a drug dealer while in the military, which led him down that path. The prison he was sent to was intensely segregated… it was self-segregated on racial lines. Prison gangs were based on race, and these gangs would riot. Prisoners were stabbed because of the color of their skin. So Lowell joined a white supremacist gang and found himself deeply hating his non-white fellow inmates. At one point, he somehow acquired a knife and soon thereafter attacked a black inmate. He tried to kill him. Thankfully a guard intervened. However, Lowell was sent to solitary confinement. He spent 10 years in solitary confinement. It's hard to even imagine that. But it was during that time that God changed him. Lowell was scanning the radio channels one night and came across a Christian station. The Gospel was clearly presented… and the Holy Spirit brought a deep conviction of his racism and his need for repentance. Lowell fell on his knees and pleaded with the Lord to change his heart. At that moment he became a new creation in Christ. And he describes the sudden change within. God took away the sin of racism in his heart. No longer did he regard others according to the flesh. The old has passed, the new has come. In fact, he said that the only group in prison who did not segregate by race were the Christians. To be sure, Lowell explained he still had other sin struggles in his life. Over time, God continued to conform him more and more to the image of Christ. But that particular sin was no more. Our new nature in Christ should look vastly different from our old nature. Now, we may not go through as radical a change as Lowell experienced but nonetheless when God changes our heart, he turns us into a new creation. Let me highlight three characteristics of our new nature. The first is back up in verse 11. Fear. Not fear of man, rather fear of the Lord. In verse 10, which we considered last week, we were reminded that we must all sit before the judgment seat of Christ. Well, the truth of God's judgment should drive us to a godly fear of him. That idea is reinforced in what we already considered in verse 11. “What we are is known by God.” Because God knows our heart, we should have a reverent fear of him. That does not mean cowering in front of him, but it does mean recognizing his justice and seeking to worship him in all areas of our lives. Let me put it this way: our new nature should include a reverent and deep recognition of God in his sovereignty and holiness. And that recognition should continue to transform our lives. So that's the first aspect of being a new creation in Christ – a reverent and awe filled fear of the Lord. The second and third aspects are a contrast to the old nature. The false teachers in Corinth boasted about their own outward appearances… and “not,” as it says in verse 12, “about the heart.” We often shy away from talking about ourselves. And that's generally a good thing. Someone who is always talking about themselves and what they have done and who they know is off-putting. It may be an indication that they still have the old nature. However, we should testify to what God is doing in us and in others. I'm not saying all the time. But when we give glory to God for his transforming work in us, we are directing others to the new creation that God has made. You see, that kind of “boasting” is not in ourselves or in outward appearance but it is boasting in God for his Gospel transforming work. And at times we should be passionate about it. I think that is what verse 13 is about. It's a strange verse. It says, “For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.” Being “beside ourselves” means passionately expressing something. You know, animated. John Piper, the well known pastor, comes to mind. He gets very animated because he's so passionate about God's work and his word. One time Piper was waving his hands… and his Apple Watch started calling 911. It thought he had fallen… he was just being very dramatic. Now, we don't know what the apostle Paul was like when he was preaching or teaching. But Festus, one of the Roman governors said to Paul that he “was out of his mind.” Paul had been zealously appealing to Festus that he believe. But we also know that the apostle Paul was very thoughtful and measured at times. He was very rational and composed in much of his writing. So, when he says, “if we are in our right mind, it is for you,” it's likely referring to his thoughtful and calm arguments for Christ. Anyway, what I'm saying is that to be a new creation in Christ, is first of all, to look to God – to fear him. Second, it's to testify and boast about the things of the heart – at times fervently, at other times, in a measured way. And then third, it is living for Christ. Similarly, this is a contrast to the old nature. When we become new creations in Christ, we turn our attention away from self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness. This takes us to verse 14. “For the love of Christ controls us.” God's love for us in Christ compels us. It motivates us. It directs us. It encourages us. God's love for us in Christ transforms us. And then immediately we're given the reason. And the reason is the death and resurrection of Jesus. By the way, let me make a clarifying comment about verse 15. The word “all” means that the atonement of Christ is for all peoples – all tribes, all tongues, all nations. As the apostle Paul has said elsewhere… Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female. Christ died and was raised for all those categories. And this takes us back to where we started. The death and resurrection of Jesus is the basis for being a new creation in Christ. When you are transformed, you will no longer live for yourself, but you will be compelled to live for Christ. As verse 15 says, “that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” I remember a few years ago talking to a camper who had gone to Camp Westminster for the first time. Some of you have been there. And she said to me, “the counsellors just kept talking about Jesus' death and resurrection.” Well, that warmed my heart. Yes, there are other important matters of faith and practice, but at the heart of it all is the cross and resurrection. It's what makes us new creations in Christ. Now, you may be asking a very important question “How does that actually work? How does Jesus' death and resurrection actually make me a new creation in Christ.” Well, that is answered in next week's verses. Conclusion In summary, to be a new creation in Christ is to be transformed. It is to be changed, metamorphosed. Like from a prickly, bumpy, slimy caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly. May God change us from self-centered, outward-focused, and hard-hearted creatures of the world to God-fearing, Christ-centered, heart-focused new creations in Christ.

Walking by Faith: Longing for Heaven and Living on Earth 2 Cor 5:1-10 Our sermon text is 2 Corinthians 5:1-10. You can find that on page 1147. The theme of suffering continues here in chapter 5. Last week, we were encouraged to not lose heart in our affliction. That is because of three things. (1) God is working his Gospel in us – he is renewing us day by day. (2) our suffering, though difficult, pales in comparison to the eternal weight of glory. And (3) God enables us to look to the eternal things in heaven, which we cannot see but are promised. The beginning of chapter 5, here is a continuation of point 3 from last week. God enables us to look to the things in eternity even though we cannot see them. And in these verses, we're given a picture of heaven and what it will be like to dwell there. These verses put meat on the bones, so to speak. They tell us what the future reality will be like in comparison to our present reality. So, as I read, listen for that comparison. Our present reality on earth compared with our future reality in heaven. Reading of 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 Prayer There's one medical statistic that has remained consistent for all of history… going all the way back to Adam and Eve. The percentage of this medical occurrence has not changed in that long. Thousands and thousands of years of human history. I'm talking about the mortality rate. It has remained at 100%. By the way, the word “mortality” literally means “subject to death.” 100% in the history of humanity. Now, I know what couple of you are thinking… “yeah but what about Enoch? God took him but he didn't experience death? Or what about Elijah? He was taken up to heaven on the whirlwind.” Ok, fine. But you get my point. Everyone in history minus 2 There is only one event that will change that. There is only one event that will end mortality. And that is when Christ returns. We don't know when that will happen. But when he returns, those who are alive will not experience death. Wouldn't that be great if it happened in our lifetime. At that time, the Scriptures say that Jesus will return as judge of the living and the dead. Verse 10 references Jesus' “judgment seat.” We'll come back to that later. But look at verse 1, do you see that word “if?” “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed”   It's talking about our mortal bodies. That word “if” is the same word in the Greek for the word “when.” And here it is an “if or when.” It's an “if” for you if Christ returns before you experience death. It's a “when” if Christ returns after you pass from this life. In the meantime, all of us will experience the groaning of our bodies, as these verses describe. And possibly all of us will experience the pains of death as we pass from this life. And it's difficult. Our “groaning” is difficult to different degrees now and it will likely become more difficult. We don't want to struggle with sleep issues or weight issues or chronic issues or disease or mental heath issues… or the general wearing down of our bodies. No, we all have an internal longing to be whole. And what 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 reveals to us is that one day we will be whole. These verses reveal the amazing reality of what is to come. It helps us to live with the groaning now with confidence in the reality of what is to come for us in heaven. And it's a beautiful promise. As you heard, these verse constantly go back and forth between earth and heaven. Our current reality and our future promise. The pains of our current bodies, and being clothed in perfected ones. How in this life we are away from the Lord –we're not in his physical presence, but in the life to come, we will be with him forever. And the big question here is this: How do we live in adversity and long for eternity? How can we turn our groaning into longing? The answer centers on one thing. There's one thing that is critical. Really, it's the key to the answer. And it's right there in the middle of these verses. Verse 7. “We walk by faith and not by sight.” You see, the Bible gives us many promises. And we are called to believe in them by faith. Faith is the key to it all. It's the key to living on earth while longing for hope for heaven. Now, these verses do not give us a definition of faith. In fact, faith is only mentioned a few times in the whole book. But remember, Paul is writing to the church in Corinth. This is not the first letter he's written to them. No, it's actually the fourth letter. We don't have two of them. And also, don't forget, Paul planted the church in Corinth. He's also visited them. So, he is not defining the word “faith” because he knows that his readers understand its meaning. Now, for us, the word faith culturally has a shallow meaning. Mostly. People often use the word “faith” today in a generalized sense like a blind trust – a blind faith. Like, I'm not really sure about something, but I'm just going to go with it. You know, that kind of faith. But the word faith in the Greek and its use in the Scriptures is much deeper. Much richer. Its not a blind faith without reason… but a belief and trust in something because of the confidence in and reliance on what is believed. In fact, the same word “faith” in the Greek is sometimes translated “assurance” depending on the context. In other words, faith includes trusting in something because of real, rational, and true reasons. Let me take a moment and speak those of you here who are still evaluating Christianity. When you hear that Christianity requires faith, that's very true. At the heart of what it means to be a Christian is to have faith in Christ. It's faith in who he is as God and what he has done. But faith does not mean setting aside your mind or reason. No faith includes engaging your mind. ·       It's believing in God as he has revealed himself in creation all around you and in the Scriptures. ·       It's seeing how consistent and clear the Bible is and its validity. We have almost 6000 New Testament manuscripts going back to the second century and they are amazingly consistent. ·       Having faith also includes understanding your own heart. It's recognizing your need for honor instead of your shame, for forgiveness from your sin, and for redemption because of your debt to God. ·       Faith is believing that Jesus has overcome those things for you. ·       You see, faith is both a heart and mind belief. Now, for all of us, faith in Christ does include things that we cannot see. Absolutely. We cannot see heaven. We cannot see God. But that does not mean it's a blind faith. No, it's trusting in the riches which have been revealed to us. So, when verse 7 says, “we walk by faith and not by sight” it's saying that as we journey through life, we trust in the future promises that God has given us, because of all the things he has done for us. Ok, with that foundation of faith, let's look at two things. You'll see those on the notes page. First, Longing for heaven by faith. And second, living on earth by faith. So, longing for heaven while living on earth, by faith 1. Longing for heaven by faith Some people think that heaven will be like we are in the clouds, and we'll be floating around like angels. But that is not how the Bible describes heaven. When Christ returns, we will be given new bodies and there will be a new heavens and a new earth – a new creation that is not groaning. These verses give us a picture of some of that. Look at the contrast. Our earthly bodies are described as tents. Our heavenly bodies are buildings. One is flimsy and it doesn't take much to tear down. The other is firm and immoveable. In fact, the end of verse 1 says our heavenly dwelling will be “eternal in the heavens.” Indestructible. You ask, what will that be like? I'm not totally sure, but we are given a glimpse of that in Jesus' resurrected body. Ours will be like his in some way. When he appeared with his disciples, he ate with them. Thomas, his disciple, felt the scar on Jesus' side. There will be a physical nature to our bodies.  But they will be imperishable. Immortal. Look at the end of verse 4 – “we will be further clothed so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.” No longer will our bodies be subject to death, but rather life forever. Let me put it this way, the mortality rate in heaven will be 0%. Death will be no more. So that is one promise here – resurrected imperishable bodies. Ok, there's a second future promise in these verses. Those in Christ are promised to be present with the Lord. Physically present with him. Verses 6 and 8 describe how in our bodies now, we are away from the Lord. To be sure, the apostle Paul is not talking about the spiritual presence of Christ. No, Jesus is spiritually present with us, now, through his Spirit by faith. But when our earthly bodies are destroyed, we will be with the resurrected Lord in heaven. In his presence. Let also me clarify something. These verses do not focus on the timing of when we'll be given eternal bodies. But these verses do tell us when we will be present with the Lord. We will be present with the Lord as soon as we are away from the tent of our earthly bodies. Think of the thief on the cross. Jesus said to him that “today” he would be with him in paradise. By the way, elsewhere in the New Testament, it's very clear that our heavenly dwelling, our resurrected bodies, will be given to us when Christ returns, in the future. Here's what I am saying. If you are a believer in Christ by faith, when you die, your soul will immediately be with the Lord. But in the future, when Jesus returns your soul will be united to a new resurrected body. When you pass from this life, it will be amazing to be in the Lord's full presence. But when Christ returns and you are found in him, it will be even more amazing. It's hard to even imagine being in the presence of the resurrected and ascended Jesus, with a new heavenly body like his. We can't see exactly what that will be like, but we walk by faith in that promise. Let me summarize point one like this. Turn your groanings into longings. Long to be present with the Lord. And long for that imperishable, eternal, immortal body that you are promised in Christ. 2. Living on earth by faith (5:5-10) Which brings us to #2. Living on earth by faith. 8 years ago, I took a paper lawn trash bag, which I had cut open. And I got out some old spray paint… And wrote in big letters, “Alaska or Bust.” I wanted to tape the sign to the back of our RV, but the kids thought that was weird. We then set off on a 7,000 mile journey. I wasn't sure if we would make it. At one point, we were driving toward the Canadian boarder, and all of a sudden the engine made a bad noise… and smoke started billowing everywhere behind us. My heart sank. I thought the engine just blew up. I thought Alaska or bust was a bust. Thankfully it was just a coolant line. Got that fixed and continued on. Made it into Canada, but then the next day, boom. Blew a tire. The next day, we almost lost another tire. Then the next day, black diesel smoke started pouring out of the tailpipe every time we tried to accelerate. We were in the middle of nowhere. By this time, I was quite sure we weren't going to make it. Isn't that how you feel while on the journey of life? Do you feel like your travel sign says “heaven or bust.” Do you think that there's a possibility you're not going to make it. Or that you'll lose your faith or that God will forget you? We lose hope, don't we? Do you know what your travel sign really says. It just says, “heaven!” there is no “or bust.” Look at verse 5. “He who has prepared this very thing is God, who has given us his Spirit as a guarantee.” God's promise is sure. There are no “maybes” about it. It is not a hollow hope. It is the sure hope founded on what God has accomplished in Christ - his death and resurrection. You see, God will accomplish his promise. If you have believed by faith in what Christ has done for you, God has given you his Spirit as a guarantee. Jesus, himself, reinforces this. In the Gospel of John chapter 6, he said, “I should lose nothing of all that he [the Father] has given me, but raise it up on the last day.” And he said, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” Jesus promised that he will raise you up. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians 5… Immediately after Paul reminds us of this guarantee, he writes, “So we are of good courage.” That is verse 6. Then he repeats the same phrase in verse 8. “Yes, we are of good courage.” Do you know when you need courage the most? In battles, in trials, in affliction and suffering. So, in this life here on earth, no matter what happens to you -blown tires, engine failures, accidents, you can live with courage and confidence because God will carry you to your destination. I'll never forget it. In the distance I could see something big on the side of the road. As we got closer, it turned out to be a big sign. Pretty soon we could read it. It said, “welcome to Alaska.” For this special occasion, I brought a big sharpie. I crossed out the word “bust” on our sign… and underlined the word “Alaska.” We made it. By the way, that sign hangs in our basement. Beloved in Christ, just cross out the phrase “or bust” right now in your imaginary travel sign. There's no chance that you will not arrive. No, you are assured of that. And you can live on earth now with confidence and courage. Ok, so that is one way you are called to live knowing of your future promise. Confidence and courage. There's also a second response here. Look at verse 9. It says, “So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.” In other words, whether we are on earth or in heaven, we aim to please God. Let me mention the obvious. If you are in heaven, away from the body, you will be pleasing the Lord. That's because you will be worshipping him for eternity. You will be so overwhelmed being in his presence that you will be giving him the glory forever. And you will be unable to sin, so everything you do in eternity will be pleasing to the Lord. But the other part of verse 9 is that we make it our aim to please the Lord now. Think of everything that the Lord has done for you. Just in these verses alone there are abundant reasons to please the Lord. He's promised to clothe you in a new heavenly dwelling. He's promised that you will be in his presence when you pass from this life. He's given you assurance. He's given you faith. Each one of those is reason enough to seek his pleasure. By the way, what does pleasing him mean? It means honoring him in your life. It means pursuing his commands. It means, loving your neighbor. It means participating in Jesus' Great Commission, like Paul was doing. Have you heard this description of some people. “They are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.”  That is why main point #2 is important. Yes, we should be heavenly minded, main point #1. But that should work its way out in our lives. Our courage, our ministry to others, our life… pleasing the Lord in those things. That phrase definitely does not describe the apostle Paul. No. He was both heavenly minded and earthly good. His faith in Christ gave him hope. Yes, he longed to be present with the Lord and clothed in Christ in his heavenly dwelling, but he also pressed on in ministry and courage and confidence… with an unending desire to please the Lord in this life. And that brings us to verse 10. It gives us yet another reason we should seek to please the Lord. It says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” Now, it's tempting to misunderstand this verse. It is not saying that if you do good things, your reward will be heaven. This is not a verse that says we merit heaven through our good works. However, it is a reminder that Christ is the divine judge. Our lives will testify to our faith. As one commentator put it, “everyone who is mindful of their mortality must therefore be mindful of their morality.” That's a helpful way to think about it. And notice that it says “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” Remember that there were some in Corinth leading the church astray. They were teaching a false Gospel and peddling God's Word, undermining it. They also must appear before Christ. And they will be gravely accountable for their evil works…  because their life and actions and false teaching demonstrate a lack of true faith in Christ. But let me also say, if you have faith in Christ for salvation, having repented of those things that do not please the Lord…God will reward you for your good works. Because your works are not your works but Christ's work in you. God will get the glory because we have sought to please him. And we will receive the great rewards of heaven. The point is that we should aim to please the Lord in this life. Why? Because he's given us assurance. He is the divine judge. And (back to verse 5), God is the one who will cloth us with an imperishable dwelling forever. Conclusion So may we live by faith here and now, with courage and confidence, pleasing him, and anticipating his coming judgment. May our groanings turn to longings because the mortality rate in heaven is exactly 0%.   And may the Lord give us faith in Christ or strengthen our faith in him on the journey. 

The Eternal Weight of Glory 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 This morning, we are going to finish chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians. Verses 16-18. You can find that on page 1147. In the leadup to our verses this morning, we have been encouraged in our suffering. Even though we are like jars of clay, breakable and fragile, yet we have the surpassing treasure of the Gospel of Jesus within us. As we are given over to death… as our bodies deteriorate… as we suffer, yet, the life of Jesus is at work in us. And we are promised a resurrection hope through Christ. That was the promise of last week's verses. A resurrection hope through Jesus Christ. And that brings us to verse 16. Reading of 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Prayer If you've been following the news in Montana, you'll know that there's a battle over suffering and death. Legislation has been proposed that would make it legal for someone with a terminal disease to end his or her life with the help of a physician. And it's very personal. Those who argue in favor tell stories of difficult suffering of loved ones. Those who argue against it tell stories of difficult suffering of loved ones. To some extent, I think we can each understand the motivation for such a thing. Physical suffering is difficult and it's likewise difficult to watch a loved one endure such a trial, especially when the diagnosis is grave. But life is precious… no matter our age or situation. God is the one who is to numbers our days. Not us. And it may be in those last days or moment that God draws someone to himself – like the thief on the cross next to Jesus. And not only that, but we have been learning in 2 Corinthians that suffering unto death is part of life. It's part of the fallen condition that we live in and the fallen nature that we have. And for the Christian, through our suffering we share in Christ's suffering and because of that, we also share in his comfort. We learned that back in chapter 1. You see, God often fulfills his purposes through suffering. And when we suffer affliction, he will strengthen and give us hope when we look to him. As we come now to verses 16-18… whey do is apply verse 14 to us. Verse 14 is about the resurrection. Since God raised the Lord Jesus, he will raise us and bring us into his presence. Look again at the end of verse 14. Paul writes to the Corinthian church that Jesus will bring “us with you into his presence.” You, believers in Corinth, will join us, Paul and those with him, in that resurrection. That is a great hope. And verses 16-18 then explain how to experience that resurrection hope in our lives… especially in our suffering. Even in despair. The question is, in our present suffering, how can we not lose heart? How can we live through the trials of this life with the hope of heaven? How do you actually do that? How do you actually have hope in suffering? Verses 16-18 tell us how. Look at 16. It begins with those encouraging words. “So, we do not lose heart!” And then Paul goes on to tell us why and how. By the way, this is the second time in this chapter that Paul has used the phrase “do not lose heart.” The first time was up in verse 2. Paul was talking about not losing heart in ministry and focus. Even though some will not respond, “do not lose heart.” God is at work. Remember that? Well, this time, the “do not lose heart” is about suffering and affliction. On the sermon notes page, you'll see the question, How do I not lose heart in my suffering? Three answers listed there: 1. Renew the Gospel hope of Christ in you 2. Compare your affliction to the weight of glory 3. Fix your eyes on the eternal not the temporal Those correlate with the verses, 16, 17, and 18 respectively. 1. Renew the Gospel hope of Christ in you So, again, number 1. Renew the Gospel hope of Christ in you Paul writes, “we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” He's talking, first, about the impact of the fall, of sin and the curse on our bodies and minds. They are wasting away. Some of us feel it more than others. And Paul is comparing that to the new hearts that we have been given in Christ. Remember earlier in chapter 4 verse 6. “God… has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” That new heart is the treasure that we have in our jars of clay on the outside. So, our outer nature is wasting away. And our new nature, the new creation we have in Christ, is being renewed day by day. It's like one big decrescendo and another big crescendo happening at the same time. If you're musical that will make sense. A decrescendo goes from louder to softer. A crescendo goes from softer to louder. Our minds and bodies are decrescendo-ing. We are always fighting against the effects of the fall. It's not just aging but sickness and disease and accidents. It may, like Paul, include the scars of persecution – or it may include a “thorn in the flesh.”  In chapter 12, Paul describes a thorn in his flesh - some condition that he has endured his whole life. All of it is leading us down a decline in various ways. But there is also a crescendo for Christians. It says here that our “inner self is being renewed day by day.” That is talking about the hope of Christ in us. It's the new creation in us where God through his Holy Spirit has shone his light on us. We've been transformed. We've turned from our sin and shame to Christ for forgiveness and redemption. And as we walk through the trials of this life we are enabled to grow in the hope and grace of Christ. I'm being very intentional using that word “enabled.” We are enabled to be renewed day by day. God has enabled you through his Spirit to mine the depths of the riches of God in Christ. If you are a believer in him, he's given you the opportunity through his Spirit to be renewed day by day. If you are not a believer, he's offered that renewal and crescendo. However, when you are not immersing yourself in his Word. Or not repenting of sin and renewing your faith. Or when you are not weekly participating in worship. Or not communing with the God of the universe through prayer. When you are not engaged in those things, that renewal will not be happening. That lack of daily renewal will have lots of implications in your life. When it comes to suffering, your spiritual stagnation will result in discouragement, in despair, and in disappointment. You will wonder where God is. You will be asking why you are suffering. But, on the other hand, when you are renewing that Gospel hope in you (through all the ways I mentioned), God will strengthen you. Your life in Christ will crescendo. And that will help sustain you through whatever trials and afflictions and grief that you are enduring. You see, that is part of the answer of how not to lose hope in suffering. Engage in all the ways that God has given to be renewed in him. That hope and renewal sustained Paul, and it will help sustain you. So, answer 1: Renew the Gospel hope of Christ in you. 2. Compare your affliction to the weight of glory And now, answer number 2. How do we not lose heart in our suffering? We compare our affliction to the weight of glory. Verse 17. “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” By the way, this is my favorite verse in the whole book. God is saying that your affliction is “light”… meaning it doesn't weigh much… and it's “momentary” meaning it does last long. Does that make you mad? Because, God, it doesn't feel like my affliction is light and momentary. No, it weighs me down. I can't sleep. The pain doesn't go away. The fear sometimes overwhelms. It's heavy. It doesn't feel light, no, it feels like a ton of bricks. Actually, I brought a brick. This is just a regular clay brick. But we used to have a lead brick in our old house. It was actually there when we moved in… and I think we left it there. It was about this size. Now, this brick weighs like 3-4 pounds. But the lead brick was like 25 pounds. 5-6 times heavier. If we still had it, I would have brought it in. Now I want you to imagine a big pile of lead bricks – a pallet of bricks - maybe 500. That would be very very heavy. Thousands of pounds. In this verse 17 comparison, that pallet of lead bricks represents your suffering. You probably thought I was going to say that the pallet represented the eternal weight of glory. No, that is way beyond what I can describe. The key is in the phrase “beyond all comparison.” The greek phrase is literally “exceedingly exceeded.” Our afflictions are “exceedingly exceeded” by the eternal weight of glory. This verse is not minimizing the weight of our suffering. In fact, that same exact word was used back in chapter 1 verse 8. Paul and those with him had endured intense affliction in Asia. It says they were so “utterly burdened beyond their strength, that they despaired of life.” The same exact Greek word is in there. Their suffering was so “exceedingly exceeded” that they despaired of life itself. They even thought they had the sentence of death. God is not saying, here, that your suffering is not significant or heavy. Not at all! Rather, he's saying that the eternal weight of glory “exceedingly exceeds” the suffering that you are enduring here and now. There are 2 comparisons. First, something that is light and something that is heavy. And second, something that is momentary compared with something that is eternal. The weight of glory exceedingly exceeds the weight of our suffering. By the way, that word “glory” is shorthand for heaven. When you who are in Christ pass from this life, you will be with Christ in glory – you will be in his radience and his presence. In glory we will experience a fulness of joy and peace. We will share the honor of Christ as his redeemed and glorified people. Our worship will be beyond anything in this life. As Revelation 21 puts it, there will be no death, no dying, no pain, no sorrow, no mourning, no crying. There will be no night, there, because of the light of Christ. You see, even though the weight of our suffering on us is great…. it is no comparison to the weight of glory. Not because our suffering is small… but because glory will be so much greater. And think about the second comparison. It will last forever. It will be eternal. Even if your suffering lasts your entire life, it is momentary compared to the eternal weight of glory. Beloved in Christ, the weight of your suffering and trials is heavy. It may feel like a ton of lead bricks. And it may feel like it is never going to end – but it will end one day… and it is nothing compared to the eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. So, the second answer to the question, how do I not lose heart in my suffering? Is this: Compare your affliction to the weight of glory. Don't minimize your suffering. But consider the glory of heaven to come. Get a perspective on what it will be like when God raises you with Christ to heaven. Your affliction will be nothing compared to the eternal weight of glory. Ok, before we get to the third answer, I want to take a tangent. I have been thinking about 2 little words in verse 17 all week. It's right there in the middle of 17. The words, “for us.”  Do you see them there? “This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” I think I've been missing out on something about this my whole life. In my mind, I thought it was saying “preparing us.” You know, “preparing us for the eternal weight of glory.” In other words, I thought this verse was saying that through our suffering, God is preparing us for heaven where there will be no more suffering. That when we finally experience glory, we will be even more amazed because of the suffering we endured in this life. That's what I thought this verse was saying. And by the way, it is a true statement. Our suffering is preparing us for glory. However, the focus of verse 17 is a little different. The word “preparing” is not focused on “us.” We are not being prepared. Rather our suffering is preparing glory and we are the recipient of that preparation. Let me read it again for you, it says “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory.” Somehow our suffering is participating in the preparation of heaven to come. That could mean a couple of different things. That could mean that when we give glory to God while we are suffering, God in Christ is even more glorified. We will experience more of his glory in heaven because of our suffering. It could also mean that because we share in the sufferings of Christ (chapter 1), we are therefore participating in God's preparation of glory in heaven. In other words, because we share in Jesus' suffering unto death and his resurrection, our suffering is in part preparing the glory that is to come for us. As you can tell, I am not fully sure of how Paul's affliction or our affliction is preparing the weight of glory for us. But nonetheless, what is clear is that God has a purpose and meaning for our suffering beyond what we can even understand. Again, that's just a brief side note. 3. Fix your eyes on the eternal not the temporal Back to the question. How do you not lose heart in your suffering? #1 - Renew the Gospel hope of Christ in you. Meditate on what Christ has done for you OR believe in what Chrit offers you… if you don't know him. Be in God's word and in worship and in prayer. Through those things, God will help you to not lose heart. That was answer #1. #2. Compare your affliction to the weight of glory. Consider the amazing eternal weight of glory. Glory infinitely exceeds the burden of our suffering now. And our suffering is, in fact, preparing heaven for us. And now, answer #3. Fix your eyes on the eternal not the temporal. That is verse 18. “look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” Really, this is an extension of #2. We're not just to compare our suffering to that which is eternal, but we are to look up. We are to gaze at that which is promised. We're to look beyond the joys and sorrows of this life. We are to look heavenward. My favorite Psalms are the Psalms of ascent. Psalm 120 to 134. These Psalms were sung by God's people on their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem. They are called Psalms of ascent because the people were ascending up to Jerusalem. It didn't mater if you were come from north, south, east, or west, you were ascending to mount Zion, to Jerusalem – you were going up. And as they ascended, they sang. We read Psalm 121 earlier. It begins, “I lift my eyes to the hills!” It was not an easy journey, but as they travelled, they looked up toward Jerusalem. They couldn't yet see Jerusalem, but they knew it was there. The Psalms of ascent are a metaphor for life for us. We are journeying through this life to the new Jerusalem. We are bound for the promised land. As we just sang. On Jordan's stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye to Cannan's fair and happy land where my possessions lie. I'm bound for the promised land. And the rest of the hymn, as we sang, is about the glory of heaven to come. It is so easy to be caught up in our immediate situation. That's because it's hard. It's hard to lift our head up beyond our pain and struggles and grief. It's easy to just focus on what we are going through and either feel that God doesn't care or even think that suffering in and of itself is virtuous. It's easy to be an Eeyore, isn't it? You know, Eeyore from Winne the Poo. “Woe is me.” Just to be sure, I'm not minimizing our suffering. I'm just cautioning against that first part of verse 18. “look not to the things which are seen… for they are transient.”  Besides not dwelling on our suffering, we should not hope in the things of this world. They will pass. Rather, there is something far greater. We should direct our attention to that which we cannot see, which is eternal. It is that great promise of life beyond this life. The Puritans used to use the phrase “Die before you die.” What they meant by it was, prepare yourself for death before you get to the point of death. Prepare your heart and mind now for future suffering unto death and the glory that is to come. Let me slightly change that. “Live in heaven now before you get to heaven.” I know, it doesn't have quite the same ring to it. But how about “glory in the glory to come.” Look to heaven. Anticipate your presence with Christ in eternity. Consider all the joys of glory. That is what verse 18 means “look to the things that are unseen… because the things that are unseen are eternal” Our physical eyes cannot see it. But we are given the vision and promise in God's word. Conclusion So how do we not lose heart in our suffering? Answer 1. We renew the Gospel hope of Christ in us. We press in, every day, to what Jesus has done for us and in his word and prayer. Answer 2. We compare our affliction to the weight of glory. Eternity in heaven exceedingly exceeds our suffering. And in fact, our affliction is preparing heaven for us. And answer 3. We fix our eyes, our gaze, on that which is eternal and not temporal. We cannot see heaven, but for those who know and believe in Jesus, you are promised to receive it. Suffering is not something that we should search out. But neither is suffering something that we can escape in this life. No, suffering is part of our fallen condition. But God uses our suffering for his glory and for our good AND for his purposes in eternity. So may God enlarge our vision for his purposes in suffering. May we not lose heart when we do suffer. But instead, may we be renewed in the Gospel of grace, may we consider the eternal weight of glory in heaven, and may we fix our eyes on that which God is preparing for us. Amen.

2 Corinthians 4:1-6 Please remain standing for the reading of God's Word. By the way, a couple of you have recently asked why we stand for the sermon text and not the Old and New Testament readings. I would definitely like us to stand for all of them, just like the people did in Nehemiah 8 when the Word was read. However, we already stand and sit a lot in our service, as you know. So, consider our standing for the sermon text as a representative standing for all our readings. We stand in reverence to God's Word. Hear now God's Word, 2 Corinthians 4:1-6. Reading Prayer “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.” Maybe you've heard that phrase before. It dates back to 1871. David Livingstone had left Scotland 30 years earlier to travel to Africa. He went there with the London Mission Society and he travelled all over central and southern Africa. But in the late-1860s Livingstone had gone missing. Many presumed he had died. So, a man named Henry Morgan Stanly was sent out to find him. Stanley searched for months. And on November 10, 1871, in modern-day Tanzania, he finally found the missionary. Stanly simply said, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.” It's hard to overestimate the impact that Livingstone had on Africa. Not only was he a Christian missionary but also a doctor and an explorer. He desired to put an end to slavery. He opened doors of trade in many places and emphasized education. As a doctor, he helped promote helpful practices to treat and prevent diseases.  But most importantly, Livingstone brought the Gospel to central and southern Africa. As he travelled, he would learn the different languages of the people he met. He would translate portions of the Bible for them. He would teach the 10 commandments and the love of God in Christ. However, despite all his work and ministry, Livingstone did not experience fruit from his labors. No, in fact, by some accounts, he only witnessed one convert to Christ. One. In 1871, when Stanly urged Livingstone to return to England, he responded, "Oh, when will Christ's holy Gospel enter into this dark region?” Livingstone yearned to see the light of Christ in Africa. Now, if you were in Livingstone's situation, how would you feel and what would you do? If you had dedicated 30 years of your life testifying to Jesus' life and the cross and his resurrection but God had not seen fit to turn hearts to him, how would it affect you? I'm sure, like Livingstone, it would weigh on you. And of course, it is not a theoretical question. Every one of us has family and friends who don't believe. Who maybe are even cynical or hostile to the message. Maybe that is you? Maybe you're here today because of family or friends, but your heart is very skeptical. If that is you, as you listen today, be thinking about two things. ·      First, yes, your family or friends who believe in Jesus do want you to know and believe in him. But think about this. If you believed in something that you thought truly answered life's deepest questions, would you not want your friends and family to know and believe? Questions of existence, meaning, morality, life, and death. Yes, I think you would. If you truly believed something that important, you would want to share it out of love. It's something to think about. ·      Second, be thinking about what is preventing you from believing. Is there a deep-down reason that you are skeptical? If so, try to listen anew to the message of Christ. Maybe there something new to hear. I mention that to be sensitive. These verses are written to believers in Christ. And in part, they speak about people who do not believe. I don't want you to feel ignored or dismissed. Going back to Livingstone. I have no idea if he ever compared his situation to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't. But if you were to pick a chapter in the Bible that describes Livingstone's situation best, it would be 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Really, the whole chapter. But in particular verses 1-6. What I mean is that 2 Corinthians 4:1-6 is about faithfulness to ministry and mission. It's about remaining true to Christ even when the message is rejected. Livingstone faithfully continued in his ministry even though the hearts of those to whom he was ministering to were closed. In fact, Livingstone was a Scottish Presbyterian… that means he believed in God's sovereignty in salvation. And with that confidence, he persevered. Livingstone knew that God is the one who changes hearts and minds. It is God who shines his light of knowledge and glory. Despite the burden of seeing little response, yet he pressed on in faithfulness. As we work through these verses, I think you will see the parallels to Livingstone's ministry. We have three main points this morning. You'll see those on the sermon notes page. Point 1. Do not lose heart - that is verses 1-2 and 5. Point 2. Because of veiled and deceived hearts (verses 3-4) Point 3. For it is God who shines his Gospel light on hearts (verse 6) Let me put that together. (1) Do not lose heart (2) because of veiled and deceived hearts (3) for it is God who shines his Gospel light on hearts 1. Do not lose heart (4:1-2, 5) As we get into this, let me first remind you of a couple of related things that the apostle Paul has already written. Back in chapter 2 he wrote that we are the aroma of Christ. That aroma is one that will lead to life for those being saved. But it is also the aroma of death to those who do not believe. Some will believe and some will reject. That same theme is continued in chapter 3. Remember from last week, the old covenant has been fulfilled in the new. The glory of the old is gone, because the new covenant in Christ has come. However, many hearts are still veiled. And that veil, as Paul says, is only lifted by Christ through his Spirit. When Paul begins chapter 4 with the word “therefore” he is referring to the fact that many will hear but not hear. Many hearts will be veiled. The aroma will not be pleasing but the opposite. He says in verse 1, “Therefore having this ministry by the mercy of God.” That ministry, as a reminder, is the ministry of the new covenant. It's proclaiming Christ. And in that ministry, Paul continues, “we do not lose heart.” As I mentioned, when you believe something deeply, you, of course, desire others, especially those you love, to also believe.  You want them to know the love of God in Christ. You want them to see the hope and forgiveness and mercy of God. But often, they do not. Paul is not saying we shouldn't continue to long and desire others to believe. Rather Paul is saying that we should not lose our motivation and our focus in our ministry. “Do not lose heart.” And essentially the next 5 verses explain why and give a word of warning. L me ask. What temptations do you experience when your words seem to have no impact? A couple come to my mind. Sometimes I feel like a failure. Sometimes I'm tempted to want to stop. But what about this temptation: are you tempted to change the message? If the message doesn't appear to have any effect, are you tempted to want to change it so that it will? That is what was happening in Corinth. We get a clear sense of that in verse 2. Paul says, “we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word.” Paul's opponents were changing the message. They were tampering with God's word. The message was no longer the message. They reverted to whatever methods and messages would work. Do you remember that phrase “peddler” at the end of chapter 2? That is what was happening. They were saying whatever they thought the people wanted to hear so that people would respond. They wanted to get a sale, so to speak, and they were using disgraceful ways. Now, we're not told exactly what their distorted message was, but based on what Paul says elsewhere in 2 Corinthians, it undermined truth faith. For example, in chapter 11 verse 4, Paul warned, “For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.” To some extent the church was putting up with a different Jesus, a different Spirit, or a different gospel. It's a great temptation. There are difficult things in the message of Christ. Because of that, we are tempted to change part of the message, or even more common, leave things out. Like leaving out God's wrath or the need for repentance. But when you leave out the reality of our sin and God's hatred of it because of his holiness and justice, you are undermining the Gospel message. You are removing the cross from Christianity. Let me also add, when you remove the wrath of God against sin and the sinner, you also remove the love of God. The amazing depth of God's love offered in Jesus comes because of the real gravity of God's condemnation. If you remove God's wrath, you remove God's love. I was reminded of a well-known quote from Richard Niebuhr, which I think I've quoted before. “A God without wrath brings men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through a ministry of a Christ without a cross.” It's no longer the message of Christ. Now, we do other things today to pervert the message of the Gospel. We turn Christianity into social reform and not salvation. Or Christianity becomes an agenda-based message of liberation or justice. To be sure, justice is critically important. God loves justice and hates oppression. But, as we learned last year in our Proverbs study those things need to be understood through the lens of what God has defined as good and right and true. So then, what is the central message of Jesus Christ? It is this: the need for all humanity to be reconciled to God. All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. All are condemned. But God, because of the great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in our sin, God made us alive together with Christ. And he accomplished that through the perfect and ultimate sacrifice for sin on the cross and through the hope of the resurrection. The only way to receive that reconciliation is by faith when we see our sin, when we grieve because of it, and give our life to him. The word “gospel” there in verse 3 means good news. That is the Gospel message. In verse 2, Paul says that instead of tampering with God's word, they proclaim it, as he puts it, “the open statement of the truth.” Paul and those with him were not not hiding or manipulating anything in the message. And look at verse 5, Paul affirms that they are proclaiming the central message. He says, “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.” Unlike his opponents who were exalting themselves, Paul and Timothy and the others were humbly exalting Jesus. The word “Lord” implies that Jesus Christ is the sovereign one. He's the risen king. He is to be the Lord of our lives. So do not lose heart. And do not practice underhanded ways or distort the message. Rather, be faithful to God's Word. 2. Because of veiled and deceived hearts (4:3-4) That brings us to Point #2. Do not lose heart… because of veiled and deceived hearts. Listen again to verse 3 and the first part of 4. Paul writes, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world [in other words, the devil] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers.” We get the sense from verses 3 and 4 that Paul's detractors questioned his legitimacy because of a lack of effectiveness. In other words, they were saying “Paul's message was not working and the proof is that people weren't responding.” To be sure, there were many who did respond. But there were also many who didn't. To go back to David Livingstone for a moment. He also was critiqued because of a perceived ineffectiveness. In fact, there was a group in Britan who critiqued him because his message was outdated. He needed, as they said, a “new” message and he needed an expanded message. His problem was his approach. That's similar to the critiques against Paul. Paul's response here is very important. The message is not being responded to… not because there's a problem with the message. No, rather, the message is not being responded to because of veiled hearts. And that veiling is because the god of this world (lowercase “g” god) has deceived. It's very tempting to think that we are responsible to remove the veil… That we are the responsible ones when the veil is not removed. But to say it again, our responsibility is to be faithful to the message. And, just to be sure, we need to listen well. We need to be thoughtful and loving in our response. But we should not compromise the truth of Christ. Again, I want to be sensitive if you are here and you put yourself in the category of unbelief. Let me ask, why is your heart hard to this message? What is the reason, the veil that lies over it? Would you be willing to ask the Lord to remove that veil? Would you be willing to reexamine your heart and reconsider the message? Every single one of us was blind at one point – I'm using that word blind from verse 4. We were blind for many reasons. It all goes back to our unbelief and selfishness. Back when God created man, it was Satan who deceived. The devil questioned God's authority. He questioned God's moral command. And Adam and Eve in their sin, they replaced God who had been the center of their lives, with themselves. And from that point on, all of mankind was blinded. And what are we blinded from in our unbelief? We are blinded from seeing God's remedy to restoring our relationship with him. We are blinded from seeing Christ. That is exactly how Paul describes the blindness brought on by Satan. Second half of verse 4. Satan has, it says, “keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Satan is called the great deceiver. But there is one who is greater than him. 3. For it is God who shines his Gospel light on hearts (4:6) And that brings us to point #3. So, do not lose heart because of veiled and deceived hearts. Why? For it is God who shines his Gospel light on hearts. Verse 6 is the climax in these verses. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Did you notice the shift in the object of the sentence? It shifts from third person plural to first person plural. Paul had been talking about the veiled hearts of others. He now talks about his own heart and Timothy's heart. God “has shown in our hearts.” He has shown his light. The reference to shining light in darkness refers all the way back to the creation account. We read it earlier from Genesis 1. The very God who created all things, who created all things ex nihilo - out of nothing – created light. In fact, his very first act of creation was to create light in darkness… because he is the God of light. He illuminates all things. He sees all and nothing is hidden from his sight. He is the one who has shone his light in our hearts. Do you see what this is saying? Because God is the all-powerful creator God, there is no heart whom he cannot penetrate with his light. And the testimony of that truth is his work in us. The one true God who in creation shone the light of his truth in the whole of the universe is the same one doing a work of re-creation in our hearts. He is illuminating the light of the knowledge of his glory in us. And that light which illuminates hearts is the light of Christ. By the way, the idea of light is found all throughout the Scriptures. Light symbolizes God's glory (which is referenced here). Light refers to God's truth like the reference here to the knowledge of God. Light also refers to God's presence and his holiness and his guidance. All those references are fulfilled in the light of Christ. That's how verse 6 ends… “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” …the presence and fullness of the revealed son of God. For Paul, this is not something theoretical. No, for him, it was deeply personal. His heart had been veiled. So much so that not only did he reject Jesus, but Paul hated him and hated those who loved Jesus. But Paul was confronted by the light of Christ. For him, it was a literal light. Paul was physically blinded, but the veil over his heart was removed… and Paul could truly see. He fell to his knees. Jesus asked, why Paul are you persecuting me? And Paul then acknowledged him as Lord. God is the one who did it. Paul's spiritual blindness was removed by God. He is the one who shines his light on hearts. Perhaps the transformation in your heart didn't seem as radical. Perhaps over time the Lord lifted it. Perhaps you remember the very day and hour that the veil was removed. Or perhaps God is removing it even now. God is the only one who can shine the light of his knowledge and his glory on our hearts. We don't lose heart because we know that God is at work in hearts. We just don't know how and when and on whom he will shine his Gospel light. Conclusion David Livingstone died on May 1, 1873 while still in Africa – it was only two years after meeting Stanley. His body was found next to his bed in a position of prayer. And do you know what they did? They buried Livingstone's heart in Africa. He loved the people there. And they brought his body back to England where he was buried in Westminster Abby. In his lifetime, Livingstone saw very little response to his efforts. Despite the veil over so many hearts, yet he was faithful to shine the light of Christ. Little did he know at the time, but God was at work in Africa. After Livingstone died, God saw fit to use Livingstone's labors in a tremendous ways. Even in the decade after his death, the veil was lifted on thousands and thousands who turned to Christ. Even more, through Livingstone's work and expeditions, the door was opened to more missions work. Today, hundreds of millions of Christians can trace their spiritual legacy back to Livingstone. In our lifetime, we may or may not see what God is doing, but we can have hope because he is the God of light. May we not lose heart. May we not tamper with the message. Instead, may we trust in the God of light, to shine the light of Christ.

The Surpassing Glory of God's Promises in Christ 2 Corinthians 3:7-18 Our sermon text is from 2 Corinthians 3 verses 7-18. We learned in the beginning of chapter 3 that the apostle Paul was a minister of a New Covenant. That new covenant is received through the Spirit and resulted in life. That is contrasted with the letter of the law, which, as Paul put it, kills. The rest of chapter 3 unpacks the old and new covenants. As I read, listen for the similarities and differences between the two. Reading of 2 Corinthians 3:7-18 Prayer I don't know if you have been following it, but later this week, 7 planets will be visible in the night sky at the same time. That is a rare event. In fact, it's been quite the season of interesting astrological occurrences. Maybe you experienced the partial solar eclipse last year. Or 5 years ago, you saw the great conjunction. That was when Jupiter and Saturn overlapped in the sky. Apparently, that only happens once every 400 years. And coming up in just 3 weeks, there will be a total lunar eclipse. You are probably wondering, how does this relate to 2 Corinthians 3? Well, 2 Corinthians 3 is considered by some to be the most difficult chapter to understand in all of Paul's letters. That's debatable, of course, but it certainly contains some lofty concepts. At this chapter's core is the theological intersection between the Old and New Testaments. That's significant. And obviously important. And that brings us to the moon and sun and planets. You see, the central point is that the glory of the old covenant was a fading reflection of the glory of the new to come. The new covenant has come and it has eclipsed the glory of the old. It's like the way the moon and planets reflect the light of the sun at night. But when the sun rises, its light is so bright that it completely outshines the moon and planets. The old covenant reflected the new before the new came, but the new has come, and the old has now passed away. By the way, this is one of two main passages of Scripture that compare the old covenant with the new. Hebrews chapter 8-10 is the other. We read part of chapter 10 earlier. The difference between Hebrews 8-10 and 2 Corinthians 3 is that Hebrews works through how God accomplished his promises in the new covenant. He's done that through Jesus perfect sacrifice for sin. In 2 Corinthians 3, we learn about the permanent nature of the new covenant and that we receive its benefits through the Spirit. So both teach about the old and new covenant but with different emphases. Earlier this week I spent some time analyzing how 2 Corinthians 3 compares the old and the new. I put a little chart together as I went. You can see that on page 4 of the bulletin. Really, it was for my benefit as I tried to get my mind around the contrast. But I included it in case it may be helpful to you. You can see that Paul's primary purpose here is a comparison of the two. ·       He gives us the nature of the covenants. The old carved on stone and the new written by the Spirit on our hearts. ·       He speaks of the fading glory of the one and the eternal glory of the other. ·       The old primarily focused on Israel, but the new expands that to God's people from all nations. ·       Even more, those who live by the old live with a veil over their hearts. But for those who have been freed by Christ, that veil is lifted and they are being transformed. ·       But the most weighty of all the comparisons is the eternal outcome. Those who put their trust in the old and reject the new are condemned. But those whose hearts have been transformed by the Spirit and who trust in Christ receive righteousness and life through the Spirit. It's really amazing how much is here in just a couple of paragraphs. Alright. We are going to focus in, first, on understanding the comparison, verses 7-11. And then we'll look at implications of that, today, in verses 12-18. You can see a few summary bullets there. Now, you may be wondering, why does it take such work to unlock the differences between the two? That is a great question. I wondered the same. Because it does seem that Paul jumps around and repeats himself. Why didn't he just spell it out in a clear linear way? The answer is, to his readers, he did. Paul spelled it out in a way they would understand. He used a Greco-Roman rhetorical argument called “a fortiori.” Lesser to greater. That will be on the test after the service. Just kidding. I had no idea that such a thing existed before this week. The argument goes that if something lesser is true, how much more sure and true is the thing that is greater. Its purpose is to elevate the greater reality. To do that there's a comparison and an elevation. And another comparison and another elevation. And then a further elaboration on a comparison and a further elevation. We can see that in these verses. One thing that clearly comes out is the amazing, surpassing, never ending glory of the new covenant. Look at verse 10 for example. “For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.” You see, these verses are not just a technical explanation. Rather, Paul was elevating the hearts of the Corinthians. He wanted them not only to know that the new is greater and eclipses the old, but he wanted their hearts to see and rejoice in what God has done. How he has fulfilled all the promises of the old in the new. Going back to the moon and sun… you know, when it comes to light and energy, there's no comparison. The moon can only reflect the light of the sun. Yes, in the middle of the night, when a full moon is out it really lights up the surroundings. You can even see shadows. You can see where you are going. If you wanted to, you could even turn off your car's headlights. Don't do that, though… but you would be able to see. But where does that light from the moon and planets come from? It comes from the sun. The light of the sun reflects off of them. The old covenant reflected the glory of the new which, in the Old Testament times, had yet to come. But also, let me ask, what is the lunar surface of the old covenant? Meaning what is the light from the new reflecting off of? Well, it reflects off of (1) the moral law, you know, the letters carved on stone – the 10 commandments, and it reflects off of (2) other laws that God gave through Moses like the ceremonial laws including sacrifices… and also (3) festivals and (4) the temple itself. All of it, in different ways, reflected the glory of what was to come in the new covenant. And they all tie together the Old Testament with the New Testament in profound ways. Ways that help us better understand the new. In the past, I've shared a little of my journey to seeing the Bible as one unified book. I remember when I was, I think, 22 years old. I could not wrap my mind around the purpose of God's law nor even the purpose of the Old Testament. It was a burning question in my mind. I couldn't let those questions go. Well, my Bible had cross references in the margins. And so, I set out to read through the New Testament and cross reference every single Old Testament cross reference. I worked on it a little bit every day. It took me about 3-4 months. It blew my mind. By the way, I still have that Bible in my office with a bunch of underlines and notes. Light bulbs kept going off as I saw more and more connections between God promises and laws in the Old and their fulfillment in Christ in the new. Before then, I used to think that the Old Testament had so many strange practices and peculiar events that had no relevance. But then their beauty came alive to me. I realized how in different ways they revealed God in his glory, they revealed his plan for redemption, and they revealed the need for atonement and the Messiah. All of those old covenant things were driving at what was to come. You see, for God's people in the Old Testament, the whole purpose of the different laws and ceremonies was to direct their attention to the promise of what was to come. Let me say something that is really really important. It was never about offering the sacrifices and obeying the law as a means for salvation. Never. Rather it was so that they could trust in God for what he would do. Their salvation was received by faith in Christ who was to come just as ours is received by faith in Christ who has come. This is illustrated for us in what happened at Mount Sinai. These verses in 2 Corinthians 3, refer to Moses veiling his face. You see, when the Israelites were freed from their slavery in Egypt, God brought them across the Red Sea and he brought them to the base of Mount Sinai. And God then called Moses to ascend the mountain to receive the law. And so Moses went. But in the meantime, the people began worshipping a golden calf instead of the one true God. And God's anger burned against the people. But… Moses pleaded with the Lord for mercy. And God relented. Moses was a mediator between God and his people. After that, God commanded Moses to go up the mountain again. Actually, he needed a new copy of the law because he had thrown down the first. But also, this time, God revealed his glory to Moses. Moses was only given a glimpse of God in his glory, but it caused Moses face to shine with the glory of God. When Moses descended, the people were afraid because of the reflected glory. And so Moses would veil his face to protect the people. Look at 2 Corinthians 3 verse 7. It says, “the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory.” Even the reflected glory was unbearable because of their sin. Again, Moses acted as a mediator of God's mercy by veiling his face. We learn a couple things from that. We learn there is glory in the law. As I mentioned last week, God's moral law is good and right and perfect. It reveals God's nature and his goodness. But it is only a reflected glory. We also learn that God's law requires a mediator, just as Moses mediated for the people. So, the law both directs us to God and it directs us to our need for Christ because of our failure to meet its standard. That explains verse 9. Look at it. “For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.” The law is glorious but without a mediator, it brings condemnation. But the mediator of the new covenant has come. Christ has come. And he's accomplished and has fulfilled all that the law required. We are no longer condemned by the law. Through Jesus' righteousness, we are given life. That phrase in verse 9, “ministry of righteousness” is referring to the righteousness we have in Christ. You see, the sunrise has come. The sun is up. Yes, in the daytime we can faintly see the moon and we can occasionally see a planet. But the moon and plants no longer light anything up. Because the day has come. There's no more need for the reflected glory of the old because of the surpassing and permanent glory of the new covenant. Alright, let's now turn our attention to the implications for us -  verses 12-18. There are two implications - one negative and one positive. The first is when you only see the old and you reject the new. Look at verse 14. Paul, talking about unbelieving Israel, says, “For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.” Now, I don't think that there are any Jewish people here today who reject Christ. But that is who Paul is speaking about. They read the Old Testament. Some may think that by obeying the laws and celebrating the festivals that they are therefore justified in God's sight. They may even believe in a coming Messiah. But their hearts and minds are hardened and veiled. It would be like believing that the moon is shining with its own source of energy and light. And maybe even believing that sun does not exist. It would be like covering your eyes during the day so that you don't see the sun. Or sleeping when the sun is up and only being awake at night. They do not believe the new. They are trusting in the old for salvation. And because of that unbelief, to use Paul's earlier words, they will receive “the ministry of condemnation.” Let me expand this a little. I think there are some parallels here to the Roman Catholic church. In our church history Sunday school class this morning, we talked a little bit about the counter reformation. That was the church in Rome's response to the Protestant Reformation. And while yes, much of the immorality in the church was addressed, yet, the church doubled-down on many of its beliefs. Now, I know there are some faithful believers in the Catholic church, but over the centuries, the church has added unbiblical layers that veil Christ. Like the veneration of Mary, or like praying to the saints, or believing in an intermediate state to work off your sins, or going to a priest for intercession. Those are all merit-based or works-based righteousness things. They are in essence veiling the glory of God in Christ. It's kind of like a partial solar eclipse. The fulness of the glory of God in Christ cannot be fully seen. And because of it, many in the Catholic church, trust in these things and not the ministry of God in Christ. There are other parallel as well… like any rejection of the new covenant in Christ. That would include the “I'm a good person” theology. The belief that God will evaluate our good works and because of them consider us good in his sight. That is just a version of the old covenant which cannot save. It denies the sin and idolatry of our hearts and rejects the new covenant. Let me ask, how should we respond? How should we, who believe in the new covenant, respond to those groups? Well, we should seek to be ministers of the New Covenant, like Paul. What does that mean? That means praying for the work of the Holy Spirit to remove the veil over their hearts. It means revealing the failure of the old or the law to redeem. It means doing what Paul does here. Showing the glory of God in the ministry of the new covenant! Its exalting the person and work of Christ through his Spirit! It's showing what unveiled worship is as we behold God. Remember, it's not peddling God's Word, but rather it's exalting God for the exceeding glory of the new. Ok, there's another implication here. A positive one. And it relates to my favorite verse in this chapter. Look at verse 18. “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” I love that verse. Paul is speaking about those transformed by the ministry of the new covenant. Those whose hearts are not hardened nor veiled but who, through Christ, can behold the glory of God without condemnation! Those who have the ministry of his righteousness because our hearts have been transformed by his Spirit. And when we behold the wonder and glory of God in what he has accomplished, he does something in us. Or rather he is doing something in us. He is transforming us. He is conforming us to the image of Christ. More and more we will reflect his glory… in our countenance, in our thoughts, in our words, in our actions – in our hearts. Now, we can certainly inhibit that transformation. Our sin can block the light of the sun. As you know, this last week has been a little cold. But if you were outside during the day when it was sunny, you really got warmed by the sun. Inhibiting that transformation is like blocking the sun in some way. We do that when the comforts of this world become idolatrous. Or when our lust or anger or some other sin goes unchecked and unrepented of. Or when we forget to pray or engage in God's Word. All those things cause us to become cold.  They all inhibit the light of the sun reaching us… by our own doing. They all inhibits the transformation of God within us. But, as verse 18, says, when we behold God with unveiled face. When we come to him laying our sin before him, letting his Word wash over us. When glorying in the ministry of the new covenant becomes our life and righteousness, then God will be transforming us! He'll be transforming us from one degree of glory to another. These verses are not saying that we will become perfectly glorified. That will only happen when we pass from this life to the next. But more and more we will reflect the glory of God in Christ. And we will radiate that glory like the face of Moses. By the way, did you notice that the Lord is equated with the Spirit… multiple times, here. That word Lord, used here, is in reference to Jesus. What Paul is doing here is he is affirming God's oneness in the Trinity. It's not overlapping the roles of the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit applies the work of Christ in us. In fact, multiple times in the New Testament he is called the Spirit of Jesus. Christ works in us through his Spirit, to transform us from one degree of glory to another. It is his work. And that ties back to the new covenant. The ministry of the new covenant is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in us, not the ministry of the law. So, God has fulfilled all the promises of the old in the new. The glory of the old has faded away, and the surpassing glory of the new has come in Christ. The moon has set and the sun has risen. So may we all with unveiled hearts, behold the glory of God through the Spirit of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

2 Cor 2:16b – 3:6 Letters from Christ, Written by the Holy Spirit Please remain standing for the reading of God's Word. Our sermon text this morning is 2 Corinthians 2:16 to chapter 3:6. You can find that on page 1146 in the pew Bible. We are going to start with the second half of verse 16. You may notice that we read the last 2 verses of chapter 2 last week. I decided to include them again because of the question asked. The question is “who is sufficient for these things?” The apostle Paul is asking, who is sufficient to be the aroma of Christ? More specifically, he's asking about his ministry as an apostle. Who is sufficient to be an apostle and to spread the aroma of Christ? As I read, listen for the answer. Reading of 2 Corinthians 2:16b to 3:6 In 1948, a professor from Carnegie Mellon wrote one the most famous reference letter ever. This professor, Richard Duffin, was asked by 19-year-old John Nash Jr, to recommend him to Princeton. You see, Nash was hoping to pursue a PhD in mathematics.  You may or may not recognize or remember the name John Nash Jr, but the movie Beautiful Mind highlighted his life. In fact, over his lifetime, Nash received many accolades for his work, including a Nobel Prize. Well, on February 11, 1948, Duffin wrote a letter to Princeton in support of the young Nash. The reference simply had 5 words. “He is a mathematical genius.” That's quite the reference. Wouldn't we each want something like that said of us. “She's a brilliant lawyer. He is a renowned chef. She's a musical virtuoso. He's a master mechanic.” And what about the apostle Paul? Couldn't it be said of him, “There's none like him.” or “His ministry skills are unparalleled.” Or “he's the greatest of greats.” And it would be true. Even among the apostles, Paul stands out because of his tremendous ministry. Many things could be said of him. But when it comes to the question, who is sufficient? Or who is qualified? Paul actually rejects the need for a reference letter. Rather, there's something better. There's something more important. To be sure, Paul is not saying that letters of recommendation are bad. No. The whole book of Philemon is a reference letter. Paul wrote it to commend Onesimus. But when it comes to ministry qualifications… When it comes to evaluating Paul's sufficiency as a minister, there is something far greater. The greatest testimony of Paul's ministry is the testimony of the Holy Spirit's work in those to whom he ministers. That is what these verses are about. They testify to God's work through his Spirit in Paul's life and in the life of the Corinthians. These verses really center on God. They center on God's work in us, as his Spirit transforms our hearts. And in doing so, they teach us the means through which God ministers. To boil it down, Paul is making two parallel arguments. First, he is defending his ministry by testifying to the work of the Spirit. And second, while Paul is defending his ministry, he is also revealing the way that God fulfills his promises in us. He changes us through his Spirit and not his law. By the way, I don't know if you saw it, but I was able to get a sermon outline in the bulletin this week. You'll see it on page 4. Those two points are the two things that Paul is emphasizing. ·      #1 - His ministry credentials. I'm calling that first point Living Letters from Christ ·      And #2, God's covenant ministry with us and in us. I'm calling that point, Written by the Spirit of the Living Lord. Those ideas are parallel, because if Paul is a true minister, then the focus of his ministry will be God's ministry. And the results of Paul's ministry will prove that God himself is the one at work through the Holy Spirit. So, that is where we are headed. And let me make one more introductory point. These truths are very important. If we think that God transforms people through his law and not his Spirit, then our ministry to others may actually lead them to death. I don't think I'm overstating that. In verse 6, Paul said,  “the letter kills (meaning the letter of the law) but the Spirit gives life.” 1. Living Letters from Christ (Paul and the apostle's ministry credentials) Ok, let's begin with Paul's credentials. #1 - Living Letters from Christ. We've talked about the situation in Corinth a lot. The reason is, it helps us understand why Paul says what he says. Remember, some people were trying to undermine Paul. That has come out a couple times so far. They questioned the legitimacy of Paul's ministry because of his suffering and because of his changing plans. These people, which Paul later calls “super apostles,” were trying to elevate themselves by critiquing Paul. He alludes to them in chapter 2 verse 17.  Look at how he puts it: “For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word.” Do you hear his underlying critique of them? Some people were out there treating God's word like a business to make profit. And back in the first century this idea of peddling had very negative connotations. Peddling involved aggressively pushing a product with often deceitful tactics. And Paul's response is that he and the other ministers of the Gospel are not like these peddlers. No, instead, they speak with “sincerity,” he says. They speak with the truth of Christ. God is the one who “commissioned” them in their ministry. Do you see how Paul is elevating God and not himself in his defense? If you jump down to chapter 3 verse 5, Paul makes a similar point. Their own ministry does not come from themselves. Rather, it comes from God. It's God's work and it's the truth of his Word. Really, all of this relates to the opening question. Who is sufficient for these things (for this ministry)? And the answer is, nobody. Nobody is sufficient in and of themselves. Listen for the word sufficient in verses 5 into 6. “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers.” He's saying, it's about God and not about us, unlike the peddlers. Now, you and I, we are not apostles, capital A. But each one of us here ministers in some way to other people. You may be a witness at work. Maybe you are a light of hope and of God's grace in your neighborhood or your school or your family. Maybe you are teaching God's Word or participating in another form of discipleship. In whatever ways you are ministering, your sufficiency should be in God and not yourself. Why? Well, it is not your work, rather it is God's work through you. You and I are merely instruments in God's hands. Let me ask, if someone said to you, “thank you for ministering God's word to me. It really really help”  How should you respond? Well, you should say something like, “Praise the Lord. God is at work.” In doing so, you would be affirming that it's not you, but God who is at work. Paul is essentially responding in that way. He says up in verses 1 and 2, we are not commending ourselves. We don't need, as some do, letters of recommendation. Apparently, some of these “super apostles” had letters that somehow qualified them. “Here's my letter. Corinthians, you must therefore listen to me.” But Paul's response is totally different. It's like he is saying, “Do you know where to find the highest credentials for our ministry? It's not a piece of paper written with ink. No, instead, look in the mirror. Corinthians, you are our letter of recommendation! God has changed your heart through his Spirit. We were merely agents of God's work in Corinth. Look at the amazing thing that God has done in transforming you, a people for himself. It is not our work. No. It is God's work through us and in you by his Spirit.” Suppose you were applying for a job. And you wanted to work for some kind of discipleship ministry organization. Like maybe our denomination's discipleship agency. Of course, that organization is going to ask you for letters of recommendation. Well, there's someone in your church that you have discipled for years. In fact, let's say, God used you in his life to share the hope and forgiveness of Christ. He responded to that by professing faith in Christ. And since then, you've been walking alongside of him in his journey of faith. And so, you ask him to write a letter of reference for you. Of course, he agrees. He would be honored to do so. But instead of writing a letter, he gets in his car; he drives over to the ministry, and he meets with the director. He explains that his own life is a testimony of God's work through you. He didn't want to write a letter. No, instead, he wanted to be a living letter because God through his Spirit had changed his heart. And with tears, he explains how God used you to bring the message of salvation in Christ to him. And how since then, you have walked with him to further disciple him in Christ. Wouldn't that be a powerful living letter of recommendation? Paul is saying that the Corinthians themselves are living letters of recommendation. And the credentials are not in Paul's work. No, the greatest credentials come through the work of God in Christ, through his Spirit, who has transformed them. Look again at what he says in verse 3. “And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God...” You see, Paul and Titus and Timothy… and the others who were ministering to the Corinthians were the true ministers of God. And it was not because of anything that Paul or Titus or Timothy were doing in and of themselves. They were being faithful to ministry God's Word. The true testimony of their ministry was that the Spirit of God was working in them and through them. The Corinthian's hearts had been transformed. The Corinthians were their letters of recommendation from Christ. These living letters were not written with ink but instead, the Spirit wrote God's truth and grace on their hearts. So, to summarize point 1. God is the one who commissioned Paul and the others. God is therefore the one through whom they find their sufficiency. It is God's work. And the proof is found as God ministers through his Spirit. As we minister to one another, it is not our work. Rather it is the Holy Spirit's work. He transforms us and we then become living letters of recommendation 2. Written by the Spirit of the Living Lord (God's new covenant promise with us) Ok, Number 2 – main point number 2. Written by the Spirit of the Living Lord. Let me put 1 and 2 together. We are living letters written by the Spirit of the living Lord. I've essentially already said that. That's because these two points overlap. You see, the reason that Paul can stake his credentials on God's work through his Spirit is simple. It's how God works. In other words, if the way God works is through his Spirit and not the law, then that reality ought to be reflected in Paul's ministry. Before we get into the details, briefly look at verse 6. Paul states that God made them sufficient “to be ministers of a new covenant.” If they are ministers of a new covenant, then of course, their ministry will reflect that new covenant. There are a couple things to unpack here. But the first thing I want you to notice is that Paul takes his analogy of a letter, and he extends it to speak of the law. He had just used the example of a letter of recommendation, which would be written in ink. But then he applies the analogy to the letter of the law. You can see that at the end of verse 3. The Holy Spirit is writing and it says this: “not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.” What were the tablets of stone? The law. The 10 commandments. God engraved the 10 commandments on two tablets of stone. So, in other words, at the heart of the distinction between letters written with ink and letters written on hearts, is the difference between the law and the Spirit. The law (meaning God's law) does not and cannot change hearts. It can merely reveal someone's heart. In fact, the law often does the opposite. It often hardens hearts. In his own life, before coming to faith in Christ, the apostle Paul exemplified this. You see, before God changed Paul's heart, everything was about the law. Paul was a pharisee. Pharisees even made laws on top of laws to help keep the law. And none of it worked. That is because, the law cannot change hearts. I've used the analogy of a mirror before. But I think it's very helpful, so I want to share it again. God's moral law, in one sense, is like a mirror. Kids, let's say you were outside playing. It had just rained like last night, and so you got pretty dirty. When you came inside, your mom told you to get cleaned up. So, you went in the bathroom. You looked in the mirror. And you noticed that you were pretty dirty. What would happen if you tried to clean your face by rubbing it on the mirror? Well it's not going to work. In fact, it's just going to make a mess. Why? Because the mirror cannot clean you. It can only show you that you are dirty. Rather, what you need is soap and water. In a similar way, God's law cannot cleanse you. Rather, you need the cleansing work of Christ which God applies to you through the Holy Spirit. That is what the end of verse 6 means. Paul mentions they are ministers of a new covenant, and then says, “not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills but the Spirit gives life.” The letter kills. He's talking about the letter of the law. If you are trying to justify yourself by keeping the letter of the law, you will fall short. It cannot save you. I want to make something clear. Paul is not saying that the law is evil! He's not saying that the law is bad and the Spirit is good. No. God's law is good. It's perfect. It' right and true. It reveals the very nature of God in his holiness and goodness. It points us to Christ in the sense that is shows us our need for him just like a mirror. And furthermore, once we know Christ and trust in him, God's law directs us how to honor him in our lives. It's not bad versus good. Rather, death is what happens if we are seeking to be justified by the law. The letter of the law kills, but the Spirit brings life. I think Ezekiel's prophecy in chapter 36 is helpful as we consider this. We read it earlier the service. God said through Ezekiel. “I will give you a new heart…. I will take your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues.” What a powerful image. Your heart and my heart are like stone. We were all spiritually dead. And the only way we can come alive is if God, through his Spirit, bring us to new life by giving us a new heart. Do you see how this ties to Paul's credentials? Paul's ministry was not to tell people that if they kept the law, they would be saved. No, Paul's ministry was quite the opposite. His ministry was to show them that they could not fulfill the law. Instead, they needed a new heart. They needed faith in the one who could keep the law for them. Faith in Christ. In verse 6, Paul calls this ministry the ministry of the “new covenant.” Implied, of course, is that there is also an old covenant. Let me say, the rest of chapter 3 compares these two covenants. Both are connected and they both are about God's promises to his people… and how he fulfills them. Just to give you a brief summary, central to the old covenant was the ministry of the law. The old covenant revealed sin and it pointed forward to Christ in different ways. The new covenant is the fulfillment of what was promised in the old. Jesus Christ perfectly obeyed the law and fulfilled all the promises in the old. The new covenant is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, because he applies the ministry of Christ to us by faith. There's a lot there and we'll work through it next week. But I wanted to at least give you an introduction since Paul mentionmed the new covenant. Well, let's end by going back to the opening question. Who is sufficient for these things?  Paul's sufficiency as a minister comes from God alone. It is God's work, through his Spirit, in the lives of the Corinthians. That is why they are living letters of recommendation. And why is this important? Because if God's purposes are fulfilled through the work of God's Spirit, then Paul's ministry absolutely needs to reflect God's purposes. In a similar way, our ministry to one another should reflect the work of God's Spirit in Christ. We should not be hammers trying to chisel God's moral law onto each other. Rather, we should be conduits of God's grace. We should be ministering the grace of God in Christ to one another. As we see sin in each other, yes, we should go to our brothers and sisters. That is part of our ministry to one another.  We should direct each other to pursue God and his commands because of what Jesus has done for us. We do that knowing that God transforms our hearts through his Spirit. He is the one who applies the work of God in Christ to each of us. Because the letter kills, but Spirit gives life. May we each be living letters of recommendation for one another… as we see the Spirit of the Living God at work in each of us. Amen

2 Corinthians 1:8-11 Delivered by God, Sustained by Prayer Please remain standing for the reading of our sermon text – 2 Corinthians 1:8-11. That is on page 1145 in the pew Bibles These verses continue the theme from last week. The apostle Paul was expressing the comfort of God to the Corinthians. He wanted them to be comforted by the comfort of Christ in their suffering and also share that comfort. These verses, 8-11, continue that theme. Paul now gives them an example - a life threating affliction that he experienced. Reading of 2 Corinthians 1:8-11. Prayer There is strong evidence that most of the apostles were killed for their faith… for their gospel ministry. We call that being martyred. For example, James, the brother of the apostle John, was executed by king Agrippa. We know that for sure from the book of Acts chapter 12. That is the only one recorded in the Bible, but we have other historical testimonies from the early church fathers. They wrote about how Peter was crucified upside down in Rome. How Thomas was killed in India. How Andrew was crucified in Greece on an X shaped cross. And how Paul was beheaded under the persecution of Nero. Other accounts exist as well. And while we can't absolutely verify the details, the evidence supports those accounts. Some of you will know this, but before the apostle Paul's radical conversion, he was the one persecuting and even killing Christians. Yet God transformed his life. He was confronted by Jesus himself on the road to Damascus. Even though he was temporarily blinded, God opened the eyes of his heart, he could now see the truth clearly. Instead of being a persecutor he became one of the persecuted. In fact, at the time of his conversion, God revealed to Paul, what he must suffer. God told a man named Annanias to find Paul. Annanias was hesitant because he knew Paul's history. But listen to these words spoken by the Lord to Annanias.  “Go, for he [that is, Paul] is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” And suffer, Paul would. In the book of Acts we have account after account of Paul's imprisonments, beatings, and other persecution. And we don't even know the half of it! Later in 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, Paul lists many more than we have recorded elsewhere. Five times he received what was known as 40 lashes minus 1. That is whips on his back. Three times he was beaten with rods. One time he was stoned. He had been left for dead. You see, Paul and the other apostles endured intense persecution because of their Gospel ministry. And eventually would be martyred, I'm telling you all this because when we read 2 Corinthians, it's important to understand and apply this book correctly. And we can do that on three levels. ·       First and foremost, Paul is defending his apostleship. The apostle's ministry was patterned after Christ's ministry of persecution unto death. The affliction and martyrdom that Paul and the others endured testified to God's special call for them. So, the first layer of application is to affirm their apostleship and this word from God and to therefore reject false teachers and false apostles. ·       Second, the call to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth still applies today. And while there are no more apostles, capital A, yet God still calls many to bring the love of God in Christ to places that have never received the good news of Jesus Christ. And it is a sacrifice. There are those, today, who give their lives for that great cause. Martyrs, who in their frontier mission work, testify in their life and death to the risen Christ and hope in him. That is the second level of application. Those being persecuted for their faith receive a special comfort from these verses. You with me, so far? The first level application, again, is the apostle's persecution and affliction which testifies to their apostleship. The second level of application is in the affliction and comfort of those who are afflicted because of their faith. Now, some people draw the line there. They say that those are the only two levels of application here. In other words, they say we should not extend the application to the other kind of suffering… like sickness, hardships, emotional or relational pain, or grief. But I disagree with that. ·       I want to make the case (like many others have)  for a third layer of application in 2 Corinthians. If you have your Bible open to 2 Corinthians 1, look at verse 3 from last week. God is to be worshiped because he is the God of “all” comfort. That is pretty broad... “all.” And if you look at verse 4, the word “all” is used again. Then Paul says that they want to comfort others who are in “any” affliction. Again, it's a very broad application of comfort in affliction… “any.” Here's what I am saying… the giving and receiving of comfort in suffering also applies beyond those in dangerous missions work. I mentioned last week that we are not talking about worldly comfort, but rather the comfort of assurance and peace and being encouraged and strengthened in Christ to endure. As the theme of suffering and comfort comes back around over and over, we'll apply it on those three levels. I wanted to say that up-front because it relates to today's verses… Ok, before we get into verses 8-11, I want to share one more thing. Amy told me this after last week's sermon. The verses from last week are very meaningful to her family. 30 years ago, Amy's brother died in a small plane accident. He was 23 years old at the time. A dear friend of the family shared these verses of comfort with Amy's dad. That friend who shared those verses had himself been comforted by those very words. Years earlier his daughter had died in an accident. He was sharing with Amy's family the comfort of Christ with which he himself had been comforted in his suffering. It's a beautiful picture of sharing Gospel comfort with one another. Now look at verse 8. It begins with the word “for.” It's a connecting word. “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia.” The apostle Paul directly connects this new paragraph to what he has just written to them. He is saying, let me now give you an example of our affliction through which you can be comforted. The big question, of course, is what exactly happened in Asia? That would be helpful information. And the answer is, we don't know exactly. However, I do want to give you a couple of possibilities. Look at how Paul describes the event in the second half of verse 8. “We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.” It was very difficult. Verse 9 makes the event even more intense. “Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.” Whatever the situation they found themselves in, they thought they were going to die. Earlier in the service, we read from Acts 19. One possibility is that Paul was referring to the riots in Ephesus. Ephesus was, after all, the capital of Asia at that time - Asia minor. You see, in Ephesus, Christianity had been spreading and transforming it in a good way. But it was bad for business. What I mean is that the church had been preaching against idols and idolatry. Well, that meant that all the merchants who were selling little “g” god idols were losing money. And so, Demetrius, the silversmith stirred up a riot. As you know, when a crowd gets stirred up, it can easily turn into an angry mob. When that happens, people lose any sense of peace or moderation… if they even had any to start with. Well, this mob in Ephesus dragged off two of the believers, Gaius and Aristarchus. They were, in fact, two of Paul's travelling companions. It's amazing that these men and others were not killed. God delivered them… he used the Roman authority to calm the crown down. You can see, it is possible that Paul was referring to this event – After all, they thought they had received the sentence of death, broadly speaking. The only thing is that Paul was not in the midst of it. He was not at the theater where the riot occurred. The other believers wouldn't let him go out of fear for his life. So, we do not know for sure if this was the event. Another possibility is in 1 Corinthians 15. There Paul mentioned that they fought with “wild beasts” in Ephesus. Those were the words he used. Now, to be sure, he was not talking about literal beasts, but rather men so evil it's as if they were wild beasts. So, there was a second event where they had been attacked. They could have felt the same sentence of death that he describes. Maybe it was some other event. We ultimately don't know. But whatever it was, Paul and the other with him were overwhelmed. They feared for their life, and despaired of what was going to happen. Paul described what they felt as “burdened beyond our strength.” Let me ask, have you been there? Have you experienced something so intense and so difficult that you could not see any path out of the burden? That is what they experienced. In the garden of Gethsemane the night before he was crucified, Jesus prayed, “Father, take this cup from me… yet not my will but yours be done.” I think it is safe to presume that Paul and those with him prayed a similar prayer. And what happened? God delivered them. So, while we don't know exactly what happened, we certainly know how it affected them and we know that God delivered them. And furthermore, we know two more things. ·       We know what God taught them. ·       And we also know how the church was to help them. So, let's turn our attention to those two things. Again, what did they learn and how can the church help. 1. What they Learned Number 1: what did they learn in their suffering? You know what? We don't have to guess. No, actually, Paul tells us right there in verse 9 – the second half. “But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” In the middle of our affliction, suffering, trials, God desires that we rely on him. And I want you to notice something very important here - the order of what happened. Paul first says that they learned to rely on God and not themselves… THEN in verse 10 he says that God delivered them. That's important. It was not after God delivered them that he taught them to rely on him. No, it was in the middle of feeling the sentence of death. That is when they learned to rely on him. That's hard to do, isn't it. Because in the moment, we often feel so overwhelmed. Yet it is in that very moment that we need to rely on God the most. And why we can rely on him and trust in him in those very moments? Well, it is for this reason: God raises the dead. That is what he did. God raised Jesus Christ from the grave. And that is what he will do. He will raise the dead. At the very height of the intense burden… feeling the sentence of death, what did God teach them? He taught them to not rely on their own strength but to turn their hearts to the one who raises the dead. It is the greatest promise that we can rely on in our affliction. Some of you may recognize the name Donald Barnhouse. He pastored 10th Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia back in the mid 20th century. Sadly, when his children were young, his wife passed away. As you can imagine, he struggled to have the words to comfort his children. Well, on the way to the funeral, one of his children asked, “Daddy, why did mommy have to die?” At that moment, God gave him words of comfort for his children. You see, right then, a large truck drove past them and cast its shadow over them. And he asked his children, “would you rather be run over by the truck or by its shadow? His youngest child responded first, “the shadow. It couldn't hurt anybody.” Barnhouse replied “Remember, children, Jesus let the truck of death strike him, so that it could never destroy us. Mother lives with Jesus now—only the shadow of death passed over her.” She lives. He was telling his kids… death is not the end. And while we grieve, we grieve knowing that God raises the dead. We each will experience the death of our bodies, yet we have that sure hope in our resurrection because of his. Those in Christ will be raised with him forever Let's go back to the apostle Paul and those with him. God did deliver them in that moment. God still had more work for them to accomplish in this life. More suffering to endure. More people to share the hope of Christ. More letters to write, like this one. More churches to plant. God delivered them. I want you to notice something in verse 10. The word deliver is used three times. The first use is past tense. “[God] delivered us from such a deadly peril.” Then twice, future tense. “God will deliver us.” That future deliverance involved first, hoping and praying that the Lord would deliver them again in their earthly circumstances. But second, the future deliverance meant that whatever happened, God would deliver them forever. Death in this life will only be a shadow because God raises the dead. Paul and those with him learned to rely on God who will deliver them. They “set their hope” on it (that is the phrase used)…. They “set their hope” that God would deliver them from the next sentence of death in this life. But they knew that their ultimate deliverance would be beyond the grave. And as I mentioned, at God's appointed time, Paul suffered a martyrs death. But he lives. Lets bring this together… what was God teaching them? He was teaching them… to rely on him. His strength, his purposes, his means, and not on themselves. God reminded them that he raises the dead. That is the most profound truth for those in Christ… especially in our suffering and affliction. God will deliver you. We pray for and set our hope on deliverance in this life from whatever affliction we are enduring… but ultimately, we rest on Christ and his eternal promise. We will be delivered because God raises the dead. 2. How they should help OK, that brings us to the other thing we learn in these verses. We learn the primary thing the church can and should do for those suffering. And that is, pray! Now, there are a lot of things that we can do to support one another as we go through affliction. Last week, we learned we can share the comfort of Christ with each other. Obviously, Paul had that in mind – he had just written that. And of course, we can come alongside each other in several other tangible ways. But the most important thing that we can do for anyone in any trial or affliction is pray. Pray with them and for them. Now, remember, Paul was not there with the church in Corinth. That is why he wrote to them. So, the church in Corinth could not help him and support him in the middle of this affliction. But they could pray. Look at verse 11. “You also must help us by prayer.” That is pretty strong. Paul petitioned them to pray. They needed prayers from the church in Corinth. As we think about how that applies to us today. Number one, we need to be praying for those on the front lines of mission work around the world. We do that. We know and support several that are on those front lines of Gospel ministry. And we need to continue that and maybe increase our prayers. Praying for their ministry… praying for protection… praying for them to rely on God who raises the dead. Praying that through their ministry, that God would change hearts and minds and increase his kingdom. All those things. We also need to be praying for the persecuted church. Last week, Open Doors published their annual report of persecution. They are a ministry which focuses on information and prayer for the persecuted church. They estimate that last year 380 million Christians across the world faced persecution… and about 4,500 Christians were killed for their faith. We need to pray. God will work through our prayers to bring deliverance or endurance just as he did for Paul. Let me ask this: What does Paul assume by telling them they must pray? Well, he believes prayer is powerful and effective. God hears our prayers. Look how he describes the importance of prayer in verse 11. He says, “many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.” You see that? The Apostles will be blessed because of the prayers of the church. Our prayers will build up those in Gospel ministry. Though our prayers, God will give them confidence and reliance on him. So, we need to press on in our prayers for those experiencing persecution. Let's take this down to that third layer of application. We need to pray for those in any kind of suffering…. Like what I mentioned earlier: sickness, hardships, emotional pain, or grief. To say it again, there are other ways we can and should support one another. But the most important is prayer. And we absolutely can pray for deliverance. If it's sickness, we can and should pray for healing. God heals. If it's emotional or spiritual, we can pray for the Holy Spirit to intercede. If it's relational we can pray for reconciliation. We can pray boldly for comfort and peace, and healing. The same confidence that the apostle Paul had in prayer should be the same confidence that we have in prayer. May we pray for these things. Conclusion So, God raises the dead. If your only hope in life and death is in the Lord Jesus Christ, then this great promise is one you can rely on in your affliction. God will ultimately deliver you forever. But God also can deliver you from affliction in this life. We trust in his providence, but we pray and hope that God will intercede. We boldly pray, knowing that our prayers for one another are powerful and effective. In our suffering, may God direct us to rely on him and the power of his resurrection. And may we pray for one another and especially those enduring affliction because of their faith in Christ.  

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 The Comfort of Christ in Our Affliction Please remain standing for the reading of our sermon text. We are continuing in 2 Corinthians chapter 1. This morning, 2 Corinthians 1:3-7. That is on page 1145 in the provided pew Bibles. As a reminder, last week, Paul emphasized his apostleship. He was writing to them, to the church of God in Corinth, as an apostle of God. Paul had been appointed by God in this special role. The reason he emphasized that point is because some in Corinth had been questioning Paul's legitimacy. As we read, we are reading the Word of God given to us through the apostle of God. As you hear this Word, know that it is the very Word of God. Reading of 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 Prayer Why has God allowed this suffering in my life or my loved one? What are his purposes in it? Does my trial mean that God is displeased with me? Will it ever end? Every one of us, in some way or to some extent, struggles through these questions. And we generally struggle through them on two levels. On the one hand, the intellectual questions... Why does God allow suffering and affliction? What do the Scriptures teach about it? And then on the other hand are the questions of the heart. Why am I or why is someone I love enduring this? God, where are you? Questions of the mind and questions of the heart. In 1940, well-known British author and Christian philosopher, CS Lewis, wrote the book, the Problem of Pain. It's a philosophical analysis of why a loving and omnipotent God allows pain and suffering – questions of the mind. Lewis seeks to answer by working through questions of God's nature, his justice, the fallen state of the world, heaven and hell, and the purposes of pain. But 20 years later, in 1961, Lewis wrote a very very different book on suffering. A Grief Observed. You see, in 1957 Lewis married Joy Davidman. They had developed a deep friendship with one another over the years through letters and visits. Joy was from the States. Eventually that friendship turned into a deep love for one another. But Joy developed breast cancer and it metastasized into her bones. Nonetheless, they loved one another, so they had a small wedding ceremony in a hospital room in Oxford, England. Joy lived for three more years. They endured the ups and downs of her cancer. They grieved and cried together. Lewis significantly reduced his writing and speaking engagements to be by her side. Joy passed away in the summer of 1960 at the age of 45.   In the months after her death, Lewis wrote A Grief Observed. In it he shared his sorrows, his confusion, and doubts. He wrote about the struggles of maintaining his faith in God through it. But he shared how he came to find deep meaning and healing in the grief and sorrow and suffering. Through it, he experienced the love of God in Christ in a way he had never before. In short, Lewis experienced in his heart what his mind knew. What we find in 2 Corinthians is that very thing. It was one of the apostle Paul's goals in writing to the church. He wanted them to understand the intellectual side of affliction and suffering, but also for them to apply it to their hearts. Let me explain. You see, the theme of suffering and comfort runs throughout 2 Corinthians. It's not the only theme, but the apostle Paul comes back to it many times and in different ways. And the reason Paul addressed affliction and suffering over and over was to correct them - to first, correct their thinking. I mentioned last week that there was a group trying to infiltrate the church. Paul called them “super-apostles.” And one of the ways that they were attempting to sway the church, was by undermining Paul. Do you know what their main critique of Paul was? It was the suffering that he was going through. They were saying something like, “Hey, church in Corinth, look at that guy, Paul. You know, the one who calls himself an apostle. Look at all the suffering that he has and is going through. He's been persecuted. He has this physical ailment and God hasn't healed him. His speaking ability is weak. He's suffered many things. You see, there is no way that this guy Paul is a true apostle. No, God would not allow someone with such an important role to go through all of that.” That's what they were saying. We're going to get into those details in chapters 10-12. But it's important to understand why Paul writes these opening words here. He wants them to understand clearly that suffering and affliction are part of the Christian life. But that's not the only thing. In fact, there's something greater that Paul explains. You see, in the Christian life, God gives comfort and joy and hope in our trials and afflictions. Let me put it this way. A big part of Paul's letter teaches us a foundational theology of suffering. It's a theology that we can understand in our minds and apply in our hearts. And when we do, not only will we understand the problem of pain, to use CS Lewis's language, but in the grief and suffering that we observe and experience, God will overwhelm us with his comfort… the comfort of his grace in whatever we go through. As we go through 2 Corinthians, it will be critical for each of us, you and me, to re-evaluate our theology of suffering. Because in the trials you are experiencing or will experience, your understanding of suffering will greatly affect your heart response to suffering. It's that important. We see that right here in these opening words. So let's consider them. And to start with, I have a theory about these 5 verses. I don't know how to prove it. But I think that these 5 verses may have the most intense use of word repetition in the whole Bible. ·       That word “comfort” is used 10 times in the 5 verses. I'm including the verbs and the nouns, by the way. ·       The word “affliction” and “suffering” are used seven times, total between them. ·       The words “share” 4 times. That is a lot packed into just 5 verses. Maybe Psalm 150 rivals it. The word “praise” in Psalm 150 is used 13 times in just 6 verses. But still, in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7, multiple words are repeated – comfort, suffering, affliction, and share. It is intense – intensely comforting. Before we get into Paul's message, let me first define the word “comfort.”  Because we may be tempted to think about our current use of the word. When we think about comfort today, it is most often about how we feel in our senses. We say, “are you comfortable?” ...meaning are we at ease. “Are those chairs comfortable to sit on?” In healthcare... comfort is how well our pain is medicated. Now, there's nothing wrong with those uses. But the word “comfort” here is spiritual and relational. It's about being encouraged and consoled in the midst of a trial. In other words, it's not about removing the affliction or being physically comfortable in it. Rather it is being strengthened in your soul while enduring the suffering, whatever trial it is. Ok, with all of that said… (1) the false teaching being addressed, (2) the mind and heart application, and (3) the repetition and the word comfort, let's now get into the message. Let's look at three things this morning. 1. Worship the God who comforts. 2. Know the comfort of God in Christ. 3. Share the comfort of God with others. Let me say it again if you are taking notes… (repeat) 1. Worship the God who comforts So first, worship! Look at verse 3. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.” In the very opening words (in the body of this letter), Paul emphasizes God as the God of comfort. God of ALL comfort. And these words direct our praise to him. The very first thing that Paul wants the church in Corinth to do… is to worship and acknowledge God as the God of comfort. And when it says that God is the “God of all comfort, who comforts us in our affliction” it is saying that God brings hope and resolve in suffering. He is present with us in our suffering. Back to the definition of comfort. God consoles us. He ministers to us. He strengthens us to endure. Furthermore, gives us assurances that his promises are eternal. In all of that, God provides a measure of peace in unsettled times and in pain. Comforting his people is part of his nature. He is the God of all comfort. God is not some detached supernatural being that cares not about the suffering of his people. No, he loves us and ministers to us in our suffering. So, in our suffering, we're to direct our attention to him in worship … because he is the God of all comfort who comforts us in those ways. In fact, let me add this point. Worshipping God is one of the ways through which God ministers to us in our suffering. When we praise him for all the ways that he cares for and loves us and gives us hope, he increases our comfort. Through it, he strengthens us to endure the trials and suffering in this life. Now, when I say “worship” I am talking about both what we are doing here in our worship service, and in all of life when we direct our attention to God. So, worship the God of all comfort. 2. Know the comfort of God in Christ. #2 – know the comfort of Christ. Let's go back to the so-called super apostles one more time. They claimed that Paul's suffering disqualified him for apostleship. They are very much like today's health-wealth preachers. If you are not familiar with that term, it's referring to pastors who say “that suffering is not God's will for you.” One thing they believe is that sickness or affliction indicates that you do not have enough faith. There are a lot of problems with that. The main problem is that it's not the pattern of Jesus' own life and ministry. Verse 5 speaks of the suffering that we share in Christ. Suffering is a part of the Christian life. And it was especially so for the true apostles. They endured much affliction and persecution because of their ministry. But through their suffering, they brought the comfort of Christ and his salvation to them. You see, Paul is saying the opposite. He's saying something like this “The reason that I am suffering is because I am sharing in the ministry of Christ. It is actually for your comfort and salvation. My affliction does not disqualify me. No, actually, my suffering is instead a qualification of my apostleship.” Part of Paul's message here is a defense of his ministry. But he also wants them to know the amazing comfort of Christ in their own affliction. Now, there are lots of ways through which God comforts us in suffering. But the main way is through the comfort we have in Jesus Christ. Look at verse 5, “For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” The greatest comfort that we can receive in our affliction comes from sharing the comfort of Christ. It says we “abundantly share” in Christ sufferings and comfort. I think that's hard to get our minds around. Afterall, Jesus lived 2000 years ago. How do we share in his sufferings and comfort? It happens this way… when God calls believers to him and gives them faith in Christ, he unites them to him. So, if you believe in the saving grace of God, he does this amazing thing. You are ingrafted into Christ… Jesus describes it like a vine being grafted into his root… like a branch grafted into a healthy tree. Jesus said that when we abide in him, he will abide in us. That is what Paul is referring to when he says we share abundantly in Christ. He is ours and we are his. The afflictions that he endured, he endured for us… and through those afflictions, we receive the abundance of his comfort. We have a Savior who endured the suffering and miseries of this life. He shed tears of sadness and was grieved at Jerusalem's lack of belief. He was tempted in the desert. He was insulted and persecuted. He endured the shame of the cross where he suffered unto death. And in our union with him, he ministers to us through what he endured… and he is therefore able to comfort us through his victory over the persecution and suffering and death. I like how one commentary I read put it: “The key experiences of Christ, especially his suffering, death, and resurrection, are the pattern by which Christians can understand their own suffering and final triumph.” Because we share in his suffering, we share in his great comfort. It's not emphasized here, but part of that comfort comes through knowing that Jesus sympathizes in our weakness and our suffering. You see, because we are united to him by faith, he is present in us. He is with us in our trials. He can therefore can minister his comfort to us. I like to refer to it as Gospel comfort. Sometimes you'll hear me use that phrase “gospel comfort” when I pray. We have the Gospel comfort of Christ through what he endured and accomplished for us. I'm talking about all those things I mentioned earlier. Strength to endure, hope and resolve. Consolation and peace. Heart encouragement. We share all those comforting things through him. Now, there is more to say about this, especially as we consider Jesus' resurrection. We'll get to that next week. All experience affliction and suffering. But we worship a God who comforts us in our affliction. And he does that through Christ. 3. Share the Comfort of God So, #1, Worship the God who comforts. #2. Know the comfort of God in Christ. And number 3, share the comfort of God. One of God's purposes in your suffering, is so that you can comfort others by the comfort you've been given in in Christ. That is actually the main emphasis in these 5 verses. It's woven throughout. In verse 3, right after it says that God comforts us in all our affliction… Paul writes this, “so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” And then again in verses 6 and 7, Paul goes right back to comforting others with the comfort that we are given. Verses 6 and 7 are like an example. Notice he says, “if we.” “if we are afflicted it is for your comfort and salvation.” He's talking about himself and Timothy. If they are afflicted, God will use it to comfort the Corinthian church. Verse 7 reinforces that. Next week when we get to verses 8-11, he is going to give a real example – their persecution in Asia. Here is the point for them and for us. We are called to comfort one another. You and I are to both give and receive the comfort of God. That means relaying the comfort we receive in our affliction. That means directing one another to worship the God of all comfort. It means sharing the comfort of God in Christ. It means blessings each other with the promises of God in his Word. It means being with one another in our suffering… and caring for one another through trials. It means praying with and for each other through those difficult times. Beloved in Christ, look around you in this room. These are your brothers and sisters in Christ. In the pain and suffering that we each share... we also need to share the comfort of God. You see, one way that God ministers this grace to his people is through his people. Now, two things come to mind that are necessary: ·       First, in order to minister God's comfort to one another, we need to intentionally grow in our relationships with one another. I'm very encouraged by how that is happening here in different ways. But we should continue to strive towards that.   ·       Second, we need to know when we are each suffering. Someone can't share the comfort of Christ with you without knowing the suffering that you are enduring. You know, sometimes we bottle things up. We don't want people to know. I get it. To be sure, I'm not saying that everyone needs to know your trials and pain, but I encourage you to reach out to someone. Or reach out to me so that I can connect you with others here who can come alongside of you… and comfort you in Christ. In order for us to minister this Gospel comfort to one another, we need to share our burdens with one another. In summary, part of the comfort we receive in our suffering comes through sharing the comfort we have in Christ. Conclusion So, worship the God who comforts. Know the comfort of God in Christ and share the comfort of God. If you know the grace of God in Christ. If you have faith in the living Lord... then today, in the midst of the burdens you bear, as you feel the pains of this world weighing on you... be reminded in your mind and heart that God is the God of all comfort. Worship him. Be strengthened and nourished and assured of all that Christ has done for you. Know of the comfort that he gives because you share in his affliction and his comfort. And may we comfort one another in that great eternal comfort. If you are suffering today but you do not know the great comfort of Christ... come to him with your burdens. Lay your life and your suffering before him and come and worship him… for God is merciful as it says in verse 3. He will give you that everlasting comfort, the only true comfort in this life.

Join us on Christmas Eve for traditional lessons and carols.