2 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 4:8-18,
“Momentary, Light Affliction Produces An Eternal Weight Of Glory Far Beyond
Comparison”
By
1.
INTRO
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at how Paul continued to defend himself against the ‘super-apostles’ who had
come in amongst the Corinthians, however he did so indirectly by showing what
his true heart motives were for the ministry which the Lord had given to him. Primarily, the apostle Paul was trying to show the
Corinthians in this section of scripture that we are looking at that he and
those with him did not point people to themselves as their resource, for they
did not consider themselves as being adequate for ministry, but rather they
pointed people to Christ as their resource and adequacy
1.1.1. Paul said that they did not
lose heart in their ministry because of the mercy they had receive from the
Lord
1.1.2. They had renounced the
things hidden because of shame in their lives, and now they were trying to live
their lives in such a way that they were commending themselves to every man’s
conscience
1.1.3. They were trying to teach
the full counsel of God, and they were not adulterating or corrupting the word
of God in any way
1.1.4. They were not preaching
themselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord
1.1.5. They had come to serve the
Corinthians, but the ‘super-apostles’ had come to be served by the Corinthians
1.1.6. Paul said that he and those
with him were just common earthen vessels, but the Lord had placed a
tremendously valuable treasure within them, the very life of Jesus Himself
dwelt in them through the gospel
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to see Paul defending himself again,
this time again for the trials and sufferings that he experienced. We’ll see that as he is defending Himself in
this way that he reveals to us the eternal perspective that all of us as
Christians should have towards the sufferings and difficulties that we go
through in this life
1.2.1. Paul shows us how that even
though he had humongous trials and sufferings that because of his faith and the
mercy and grace of God that in reality he was an overwhelming conqueror in each
of them
1.2.2. Paul reveals how that
constantly living the crucified life caused him to be able to impart life to
the Corinthians
1.2.3. Paul begins to share about
the eternal perspectives that he had of the trials and sufferings in his
life. He considered them to be
‘momentary’ and ‘light affliction’
2.
VS 4:8-9 - “8 we are
afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;9
persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;” - Paul tells the Corinthians about how their
trials and difficulties of he and those with him did not deter them from
walking by faith and finishing the ministry which the Lord had called them to
2.1.
We saw in our study earlier that as Paul was constantly throughout this
letter seeking to defend himself, his decisions, and his authority as an
apostle of Jesus Christ, that some within the church in Corinth had begun to
doubt the authenticity of his apostleship because of the fact that he was
always being beat up doing the Lord’s work.
Probably these ‘super-apostles,’ whom we have shown were actually
Judaisers, were stirring up dissension amongst the people in Corinth saying
about Paul things like, “If Paul were really a capital ‘A’ apostle like
the rest of Jesus’ twelve, then how come he is constantly running into
calamity? Doesn’t this show that perhaps
God isn’t always with him and leading him?”
2.2.
We saw in chapter one of this letter that Paul had already demonstrated
to the Corinthians that his suffering was a connecting pointing point between
he and them because if he would suffer because of doing God’s will then God
would comfort him and then when the Corinthians happened to go through similar
sufferings and trials that Paul would be able to comfort them with the same
comfort which he had received from the Lord.
Therefore, in a sense each of Paul’s sufferings and trials were working
for the Corinthian’s good.
2.2.1. So then, the Lord was
allowing Paul to suffer and experience various difficulties and hardships so
that he could use Paul in a great way in others’ lives.
2.3.
We saw previously in this study also how that Paul realized that what
he had to share with others to minister to them came about as a result of
pouring out his heart to them and being transparent with them, showing them
both the degree of the difficulties that he had experienced as well as the
victories that the Lord had brought about in his life through ministering to
him in and through those difficulties.
2.3.1. We saw at that time that in
attempting to minister to the Corinthians, Paul seemed to even reveal raw
emotions that he experienced to the Corinthians and a shocking degree of
honesty with them that we would not expect, such as telling them of how he had
been so depressed in
2.4.
In this letter to the Corinthians, a few different times the apostle
Paul enumerates to them many of the difficulties that he had experienced as a
result of stepping out and trying to fulfill the missionary calling that God
had given to him of being the missionary to the Gentiles, as Peter was the
missionary to the Jews. Here in this
summary listing of his sufferings, Paul reveals afflictions, perplexity, persecutions,
and being struck down which he experienced as a result of his being faithful to
the Lord in his calling.
2.5.
In our country today, there are many Christian leaders in churches and
ministries who are teaching their people that if you are truly spiritual that
you will always have “prosperity.” You
won’t have trials, sufferings, and difficulties, but rather you will become
wealthy and prosperity financially, prosper in your health, etc., etc. However those Christians who believe that way
are in a minority when it comes to God’s heroes of the faith all through the
scriptures. God’s prophets were always
persecuted and experienced difficulties.
Jesus lived a life of poverty and did not even have a roof over His head
or a place to lay His head. All of the
apostles also lived lives of poverty, and we see all throughout the book of
Acts and in all of his epistles that the apostle Paul lived a hand-to-mouth
existence as far as the world’s goods were concerned, plus he also experienced
persecutions, trials, and difficulties in the greatest degree.
2.5.1. In Luke 6:20-26,
Jesus taught us in His “Sermon On The Mount” what the kingdom man was to be
like, the one who would truly be blessed and inherit His kingdom, and it was
the opposite of the man the prosperity teachers of today teach us to be, “20
And turning His gaze on His disciples, He began to say, “Blessed are you who
are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.21 “Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall
laugh.22 “Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and cast
insults at you, and spurn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.23
“Be glad in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in
heaven; for in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets.24 “But
woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.25 “Woe to
you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now,
for you shall mourn and weep.26 “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for
in the same way their fathers used to treat the false prophets.”
2.5.1.1.Notice that Jesus sadly
pronounces a ‘woe’ upon those who are prospering in the here and now instead of
in eternity!
2.6.
Paul teaches us in these verses how the true man of faith, when he
experiences all of the sufferings, trials, and difficulties in this life, will
draw upon the Lord as his resource and adequacy to get through them and he will
not allow his difficulties to deter him from being where God wants him to be
and being used by God in the ministry that God has called him to. He writes that in regard to difficulties, he
and those with him were:
2.6.1. ‘afflicted in every way, but
not crushed.’
2.6.1.1.This is a summary grouping
of many of the various and manifold difficulties which Paul suffered as a
result of living his life for the Lord and being faithful to the ministry that
the Lord had given him, and which he will list in more detail later in the
letter.
2.6.1.2.These afflictions which Paul
suffered do in fact have a crushing effect in a believer’s life.
2.6.1.2.1.Strong’s Greek Dictionary has the following entry for
this Greek word that is translated as ‘afflicted’ here: 2346 thlibo { thlee’-bo} akin to the
base of 5147; TDNT - 3:139,334; v
2.6.1.2.1.1.The AV translates it variously according to
context as “trouble 4, afflict 3, narrow 1, throng
1, suffer tribulation 1; 10”
2.6.1.2.1.2.The word means:
2.6.1.2.1.2.1.to press (as grapes), press
hard upon
2.6.1.2.1.2.2.a compressed way
2.6.1.2.1.2.2.1.narrow straitened,
contracted
2.6.1.2.1.2.3.metaph. to trouble, afflict,
distress
2.6.1.2.2.Strong’s Greek Dictionary has the following entry for
this Greek word that is translated as ‘crushed’ here: 4729 stenochoreo { sten-okh-o-reh’-o}
from the same as 4730; TDNT - 7:604,1077; v
2.6.1.2.2.1.The AV translates it variously according to
context as “straiten 2, distress 1; 3”
2.6.1.2.2.1.1.The word means:
2.6.1.2.2.1.2.to be in a narrow place
2.6.1.2.2.1.3.to straiten, compress,
cramp, reduce to straits
2.6.1.2.2.1.3.1.to be sorely straitened in
spirit
2.6.1.2.3.In John 16:33, Jesus
told His disciples that in this world they would have ‘tribulation,’
which is a form of this same Greek word translated ‘afflicted.’ In other words, we His true disciples in this
world would because of our commitment to believing in and following Him
experience a horrible crushing pressure, however He then said that we were also
to, ‘be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.’
2.6.1.2.4.So, Paul is saying that
though he and those with him experienced the horrible crushing pressure of
afflictions in this world as a result of following Jesus, that they were not
crushed flat. That horrible crushing pressure
was rebuffed from completing what it was trying to do in smashing them flat as
a pancake, and this happened because of
their faith, and the mercy and grace of the Lord which they needed to overcome
and which came to them whenever they came before the “throne of grace for help
in time of need,’ (Heb. 4:16).
2.6.1.2.4.1.The picture that I get in my
mind is that of a grape that is being crushed in a wine vat. In Paul’s day, when grapes were made into
wine, people would stomp upon them with bear feet in a vat causing the juice to
come out of them. This crushing of the
grape was in Jesus’ day said to have been ‘thlibo,’ the same Greek word used
here for ‘affliction.’ However, in
Paul’s case the pressure was great upon him (this grape), so much so perhaps,
that some of the precious juice was being squeezed out of it, yet, it was not
being squeezed so much that it was crushed flat releasing all of its
juice. Trials do bring precious fruit
juice out of our lives, don’t they? This
is why James, in James 1:2, told us to count it all joy when we encounter
various trials, for the result that God produces in our lives as a result of
going through them is precious. That
testing of our faith in the trial produces precious endurance and purification
of our character.
2.6.2. ‘perplexed, but not
despairing.’
2.6.2.1.Life was extremely
perplexing to the apostle Paul and those with him as they were fulfilling their
calling by God and trying to see churches planted and souls won to Christ.
2.6.2.1.1.According to Strong’s
Greek Dictiontionary this Greek word ‘aporeo’ which is translated ‘perplexed’
here means:
2.6.2.1.1.1.to be without resources, to be in straits, to be left
wanting, to be embarrassed, to be in doubt, not to know which way to turn.
2.6.2.1.1.2.to be at a loss with one’s self, be in doubt.
2.6.2.1.1.3.not to know how to decide or what to do, to be
perplexed.
2.6.2.1.2.According to Strong’s Greek Dictionary this
Greek word ‘exaporeomai’ which is translated ‘despairing’ here
means:
2.6.2.1.2.1.to be utterly at loss, be utterly destitute of
measures or resources, to renounce all hope, be in despair.
2.6.2.1.3.In spite of how utterly exasperated Paul and those
with him became because of the many dire straits that they found themselves in
while traveling around the Gentile world fulfilling their calling as church
planters, Paul tells us that because of their faith and the mercy and grace of
God they received that they did not give up ministering nor get to the point of
which they had renounced all hope in the Lord.
2.6.3. ‘persecuted, but not
forsaken.’
2.6.3.1.Wherever they went as
missionaries, Paul and those with him were constantly being tracked down by
Jews with a death warrant for their lives, and if the Jews were not trying to
track them down, the Gentiles would attempt to kill them.
2.6.3.1.1.According to Strong’s
Greek Dictionary this Greek word ‘deeoko’ which is translated ‘persecuted’
means:
2.6.3.1.1.1.to make to run or flee, put to flight, drive away
2.6.3.1.1.2.to run swiftly in order to catch a person or thing, to
run after
2.6.3.1.1.2.1.to press on: figuratively of one who in a race runs
swiftly to reach the goal
2.6.3.1.1.2.2.to pursue (in a hostile manner)
2.6.3.1.1.3.in any way whatever to harass, trouble, molest one
2.6.3.1.1.3.1.to persecute
2.6.3.1.1.3.2.to be mistreated, suffer persecution on account of
something
2.6.3.1.1.4.without the idea of hostility, to run after, follow
after: someone
2.6.3.1.1.5.metaph., to pursue
2.6.3.1.1.5.1.to seek after eagerly, earnestly endeavour to acquire
2.6.3.1.2.In spite of Paul’s being constantly chased down and
hunted as an animal because of fulfilling his calling as an apostle, Paul tells
us that the Lord did not forsake him.
God would always be there for Paul and give him the help, healing, or
grace that he needed to keep on faithfully serving Christ:
2.6.3.1.2.1.Many times Paul was simply delivered before he could
be injured as in Acts chapter 9 when the brethren in
2.6.3.1.2.2.Other times, Paul would be healed from his injuries as
in Acts 14 when Jews came from
2.6.3.1.2.3.Other times, Paul was given the grace to bear up under
his suffering of persecution so he could simply keep going. This was just as important and vital in
Paul’s life as being protected from going through a persecution or being healed
from one.
2.6.3.1.2.3.1.We will see later in this letter Paul talk with us
about how the Lord had told him in regard to his requests to be healed of a
thorn in his side that the Lord had told him that His grace is sufficient for
him, for God’s power is made perfect not in our strength, but in our
weakness.
2.6.4. ‘struck down, but not
destroyed.’
2.6.4.1.Paul and those with him had
been knocked down by their enemies on the earthly as well as the spiritual
plane, however like a boxer who refused to give up, they continued to go on and
fight the good fight of faith winning souls to Christ across the Gentile world.
2.6.4.1.1.There definitely were
difficulties in Paul’s life which could be described as being knocked down by
his enemies.
2.6.4.1.1.1.Strong’s Greek Dictionary gives the following
definition for the Greek word ‘kataballo’ which is translated here as ‘struck
down’:
2.6.4.1.1.1.1.to cast down
2.6.4.1.1.1.1.1.1to throw to the ground, prostate
2.6.4.1.1.1.2.to put in a lower place
2.6.4.1.1.1.2.1.to lay (down) a foundation
2.6.4.1.1.2.Strong’s Greek Dictionary gives the following
definition for the Greek word ‘apollumi’ which is translated here as ‘destroyed’:
2.6.4.1.1.2.1.to destroy
2.6.4.1.1.2.1.1.to put out of the way entirely, abolish, put an end to
ruin
2.6.4.1.1.2.1.2.render useless
2.6.4.1.1.2.1.3.to kill
2.6.4.1.1.2.1.4.to declare that one must be put to death
2.6.4.1.1.2.1.5.metaph. to devote or give over to eternal misery in
hell
2.6.4.1.1.2.1.6.to perish, to be lost, ruined, destroyed
2.6.4.1.1.2.2.to destroy
2.6.4.1.1.2.2.1.to lose
2.6.4.1.1.3.The stones heaved at Lystra by the Jews trying to kill
Paul knocked him down, and possibly even caused his skull to be fractured and
his brain to be damaged, however the Lord gave him the grace to get up as He
healed him and raised him up in front of the disciples.
2.6.4.1.2.Paul and those with him had been kicked and knocked to
the ground many times in the course of their ministries, however, they weren’t
destroyed and rendered totally useless to this point in time by the enemy. The enemy’s attempts to thwart their work had
been unsuccessful, for because of their faith and because of the grace and
mercy of God they were still continuing on in ministry and being effective for
the gospel.
3.
VS 4:10-12 - “10 always carrying about in the body the
dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.11
For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake,
that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.12 So death
works in us, but life in you.” - Paul tells
the Corinthians that he and those with him were always carrying about in the
body the dying of Jesus that the life of Jesus might be manifest through them
3.1.
There is a key
spiritual principle that is really the point of what Paul is saying in these
verses. I think that he is really trying
to explain that he and those with him were dying to sin and to self, and were
living in the resurrection power of Christ.
It was as a result of living this crucified life that they were able to
minister to others.
3.1.1. There is no real experience of the life of Jesus in us
until we have first died to self. That
is, both self and Christ cannot share the throne of a person’s life and provide
the heartbeat and focus for one’s life.
Jesus taught in Matt. 16:24-25 that a person must deny, or die
to, as intimated by the reference to the cross, himself if he was to be His
follower, “24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come
after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.25 “For
whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for
My sake shall find it.”
3.1.2. In the scriptures, we read
about the believer’s identification with Christ in His death upon the cross as
well as in His resurrection. For
instance:
3.1.2.1.In Rom. 6:3-6,11, Paul
wrote about the believer’s identification with Christ, how when Christ died
upon the cross that each of us as believers died to self and sin with Him, and
that when He was raised up from the dead that each of us were likewise raised
up to walk in newness of life with Christ, “3 Or do you not know that all
of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His
death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in
order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,
so we too might walk in newness of life.5 For if we have become united with Him
in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His
resurrection,6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our
body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to
sin;…11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in
Christ Jesus.”
3.1.2.1.1.It is what is called a
“positional truth” for every believer that as soon as we received Christ as
our Lord and Savior that our old sin nature died with Him and we were raised up
to walk in new life in Him, through the Holy Spirit who has come to indwell us.
3.1.2.1.2.Spurgeon, the great English preacher
of the last century, once preached about these verses and the believer’s
identification with Jesus in His death and resurrection, saying, “Baptism sets forth, as in a picture, the union of the
believer with the Lord Jesus in his baptism of suffering, and in his death,
burial, and resurrection. By submitting to that sacred ordinance, we declare
that we believe ourselves to be dead with him, because of his endurance of the
death penalty, and dead to the world and to the dominion of sin by his Spirit;
at the same time, we also profess our faith in our Lord’s resurrection, and
that we ourselves are raised up in union with him, and have come forth through
faith into newness of life. It is a very impressive and vivid symbol, but it is
without meaning unless we rise to purity of life. The basis of this confession
lies in the union of every believer with Christ Jesus. We are dead with him,
because we are one with him. We are risen with him, because we are one with
him. Every believer is, in the purpose of divine grace, identified with Jesus.”
3.1.2.1.3.Note that for application of
this truth in our lives that we are to continually ‘reckon’ it to be so, that
is, we are to believe that our old man and nature was crucified and
rendered powerless when Christ died upon the cross, and that we have been
raised up with Him and are now walking as a new creation in the resurrection
power of Jesus!
3.1.2.1.3.1.When we came to salvation
through Christ we died to self and began to walk in the resurrection life of
Christ, and at that time everything in our life began to change. We began to think differently and talk
differently because we began to look at life in a different way, and, we began
to react to things in our life in such a different kind of way. Whereas before our lives were characterized
by selfishness and self-centeredness, at this point we began to look at life
from God’s perspective and to live our life from the perspective of having Him
at the very center or hub of our existence.
3.1.2.2.Paul also mentioned this in 2
Tim. 2:11, “11 It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we shall also live
with Him;”
3.1.3. Paul wrote in Gal. 2:20 about how he had been
crucified with Christ, never the less he lived, yet not he but Christ lived in
him, “20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who
live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live
by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.”
3.2.
Now, you may
think that it is out of place for Paul to be talking about all of his
sufferings and difficulties and his having been more than a conqueror in them,
and then to suddenly begin talking about the fact that he was dead to self and
Christ was living through him. However,
the reason that he does this is because this explains how that he was able to
be an overwhelming conqueror through all of these things. He could overcome all of these difficulties
only because he was dead to self and the very life of Jesus was living and
working through his life.
3.3.
It is definitely
true that when a believer undergoes great suffering, especially if it is
suffering in the Name of Christ, that God does a work in his life that causes
him to be able to minister to others in a way that he never could have
before. Great suffering properly borne
for the Lord brings about a great work in the character and faith of a
believer.
3.3.1. Many years ago now I met a man and his wife at a
church that I visited one Sunday. The
man’s wife had been suffering horribly with arthritis in her hands to such an
extent that every joint of every finger in both hands was bright red and
twisted out of shape. Her eyes were
sunken because of continually experiencing great pain, however there was also
the bright glow of the love of Jesus in her eyes. This couple so ministered to me that to this
day I still see the glow of Jesus’ love in their eyes when I think of them.
3.3.2. I think also of our friend Dottie Fabragas and the
suffering that she underwent after she was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and
then had to undergo the crippling effects of receiving chemotherapy plus
gasping for every breath through the oxygen tubes in her nose. After this experience, she went from being a
new wet-behind-the-ears baby Christian to being a powerhouse for God with a
focus and perspective in her life that I’ve not seen since. She lived a little over two years after going
into remission for a period of time, and all during that time she was
profoundly used by the Lord.
3.4.
Paul says here
that death works in them, that is, they are dying to self and living the
crucified life, and that as a result that life was working in the Corinthians,
or in other words, the life of Jesus was living through them as a result of
Paul and those with him living that crucified life with Christ.
3.4.1. I have heard the crucified life called the ‘exchanged
life’ because we die to self so that Christ lives through us.
3.5.
Notice here that
by Paul saying, ‘for we who live,’ that he is summarily pronouncing that the
‘super-apostles’ who were living their lives as Judaisers believing that a
person had to have faith in Christ plus works to be saved, were cut off from
the life of God. The ‘super-apostles’
did not live the crucified or exchanged life, for in their minds they didn’t
need to do this because after all they considered themselves adequate for
ministry and being pleasing to God because of their law and rule-keeping.
4.
VS 4:13 - “13 But having the same spirit of faith,
according to what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore also we speak;” - Paul tells the Corinthians that he and those
with him live and speak by faith
4.1.
Paul apparently quotes Psalm 116:10 here, a Psalm in which the
Psalmist was saying that though he was living by faith, he also confessed that
he was suffering great affliction, “10 I believed when I said, “I am
greatly afflicted.”” It appears
then that Paul is defending the fact that living by faith does not preclude one
from suffering great afflictions in this life.
4.2.
Similar to the “prosperity” teachers mentioned earlier in this chapter,
there are many other Christian leaders in our present day which are teaching
that there is a sort of a law at work that whatever we as Christians confess
with our mouth, that the act of confessing it will cause it to come true. God Himself is bound by this law. They teach what is called, “positive
confession.” These ones teach that in
order to be healed, for instance, you have to say with your mouth that you are
healed, but however if you happen to say that you feel sick that this will
cause you to be sick. Those who teach
this doctrine are also in a minority when it comes to the great men and women
of faith in the scriptures. For instance,
Jesus taught His disciples that if He had been persecuted that they would be
persecuted, etc, and, Paul here is just being honest with the Corinthians about
the sufferings and difficulties that he experienced as part of his normal life
that he was living as a missionary to the Gentiles.
4.2.1. The whole notion that there are
spiritual laws that if followed will cause us to get the things that we want is
not Christianity at all, it is metaphysics, more like Scientology than
Christianity. A person wouldn’t need
Christ in their life at all if there were merely these laws that a person could
use to manipulate reality and God at will.
God is in control of the universe, not you or me, and He is not subject
to any of these so-called laws.
Moreover, it is the Christians responsibility to seek and pray for the
Lord’s will, and what the Lord would want in any situation, not try to
manipulate the Lord to do our will.
5.
VS 4:14 - “14 knowing that He who raised the Lord
Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.” - Paul tells the Corinthians that he and those
with him have another connecting point, Jesus will raise all of them together
from the dead
5.1.
As we have seen throughout this book, the apostle Paul is trying to
identify as many connecting points as he can with the Corinthians so that he
can restore the relationship with them which had been sorely damaged due in
large part to the undermining of his authority and credibility by the
‘super-apostles’ who had come in among the Corinthians.
5.2.
This verse is an encouragement to us as Christians that we will be
restored one day to our departed loved ones of the faith, and that we will even
recognize them on that day.
6.
VS 4:15 - “15 For all things are for your sakes,
that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving
of thanks to abound to the glory of God.” - Paul tells the Corinthians that all that he
and those with him are doing is really for the sake of the Corinthians
6.1.
Paul was living
his life for others, seeking to win as many to Christ in this life as he
could. Therefore, he could write to the
Romans, for instance, that he became all things to all men in order to win the
most. He was always trying to live his
life so that he would be able to have the best influence in people’s lives for
eternity as he could. Thus, he writes to
the Corinthians here that all things that he did were for their sakes.
6.2.
Paul writes
however about his over-reaching motive in the things that he did even regarding
winning souls to Christ: When a person
came to Christ, this would bring glory to God and cause many to give thanks to
God.
7.
VS 4:16-18 - “16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but
though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by
day.17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of
glory far beyond all comparison,18 while we look not at the things which are
seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are
temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” - Paul shares with the Corinthians the eternal
perspectives he sought to keep regarding all of the sufferings and difficulties
which he experienced as a result of serving Christ
7.1.
Paul says first
of all that he and those with him did ‘not lose heart’ in the ministry that
they were called to, something which he said already in verse 1 of this
chapter. The reason that they did not
lose heart was because though their ‘outer man’ was ‘decaying,’ their ‘inner
man’ was being ‘renewed day by day.’ In
other words, Paul’s hope was increased by the fact that he was daily growing
closer to the Lord and growing closer to becoming like the Lord. He was experiencing what he wrote about in Romans
12:1-2 where he said that he was being transformed into the image of Christ
by the daily, or continual, renewing of his mind, “1 I urge you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and
holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and
acceptable and perfect.”
7.1.1. It is such a key to our growth as Christians that we
are always having our minds renewed by Christ as we spend those quiet times
alone with God and read and study His word as He speaks to our hearts. This produces the ‘cleansing through the
word’ which scripture talks about. God’s
word cleans out our minds of all of the gross sinful stuff, builds us in our
faith, and gives us an eternal perspective about the things we face in our
life.
7.2.
It is interesting that how we view any trial or difficulty that we
go through has an incredible effect upon how we react to it. For instance, a huge and horrible trial to
one person is an exciting challenge to see how the Lord is going to work and
answer prayer to someone else. We
choose, you see, how we will view the trials and difficulties that we are in,
and thus the effect they will have on us.
7.2.1. An Old Testament example of
this truth is the story of Jacob working for his love Rachael in the book of
Genesis. Jacob fled from his brother
Esau after he had stolen his blessing, and he went to live with his
brother-in-law Laban. He fell in love
with Laban’s daughter Rachael. Finally,
he asked Laban for Rachael’s hand, and Laban said that if he worked for him for
seven years that he would give Rachael to him to be his wife. It said that those seven years went by as one
day for Jacob because he so loved Rachael.
Jacob viewed his seven years of hard labor for a crooked and unfair
brother-in-law as being as a day because he had such love for Rachael.
7.3.
Paul’s next
eternal perspective which he shares here has to do with how he viewed his
sufferings and afflictions which he was experiencing, in light of eternity:
7.3.1. He considers his sufferings and difficulties to be
‘momentary.’
7.3.1.1.That is, Paul knew that whatever he had to suffer in
this life as a result of serving Christ and fulfilling his ministry would only
last for a short duration in the light of eternity. A snap of a finger is all that his sufferings
could be compared to the blessings that he would one day experience for
eternity in the very presence of the Lord.
7.3.2. He considers his sufferings ‘light affliction.’
7.3.2.1.As you and I look at Paul’s long list of the
incredible sufferings, trials, and difficulties which he had experienced as a
result of fulfilling the calling that he had before the Lord, we probably would
be honest to admit that in our lifetime that we have not even scratched the
surface of the extent of sufferings which Paul had experienced. If anyone’s sufferings and difficulties might
be considered heavy, it would be Paul’s.
Yet, we see here that he had chosen to view all of those things that he
had suffered as being ‘light affliction.’
This greatly influenced then how he bore up under those things.
7.3.3. He considers his sufferings as producing an eternal
weight of glory far beyond all comparison with what he had suffered.
7.3.3.1.With the eyes of faith, Paul knew that every single
one of his sufferings and difficulties was producing incredibly great eternal
consequences, if he simply faced them in the right way.
7.3.3.2.Someone once said that, “trials will either make us
bitter or they will make us better,” and we get to choose which one it will
be for us. By deciding that we want to
view those trials and sufferings that we go through as producing great good in
our lives and the lives for others, a good that will produce eternal
consequences beyond comparison, we will be made “better” by them, not
‘bitter.’
7.3.3.3.Every single thing that we Christians do in this life
in living in obedience to Christ will produce eternal consequences:
7.3.3.3.1.The scriptures teach us that there will be crowns
earned by faithful obedience to Christ in this life.
7.3.3.3.2.The lives of people whom our influence has helped
bring them to salvation will be eternal rewards in themselves to our
account.
7.3.3.3.3.Jesus in the parable of the talents also taught about
being given responsibilities and privileges equivalent to our faithfulness, the
responsibilities and privileges of ruling over cities and peoples in His kingdom.
7.3.4. He tells us that he looked not at the things that were
seen by him but at the things that were not seen by him, that is the things
that were seen only by faith
7.3.4.1.Paul and those with him held onto promises guaranteed
by the Lord in His word, even when by their eyesight the things perceived in
this word world seem to indicate otherwise.
Because God in His word had promised anything, that fact in and of
itself, was sufficient cause for Paul to believe that God would in fact do what
He had said.
7.3.4.2.The type of faith that Paul is referring to here is
really not what is called “blind faith,” rather it is faith that is based upon
the veracity and integrity of the Lord who cannot lie or change what He has
promised that He will in fact accomplish.
8.
CONCLUSION:
8.1.
We have seen the eternal perspective that Paul had in the midst of all
of his trials, considering them merely ‘momentary’ and ‘light’ in the face of
eternity, and the fact that our trials will become to us what we allow them to
be. As we saw, we can view our
sufferings and difficulties as challenges to see what the Lord is going to do
or we can view them as horrible trials.
But, how are you view yours?
8.1.1. Do you have an eternal
perspective about the difficulties and trials you are facing and will face? Do you realize that in light of eternity that
they are just ‘momentary’ and ‘light affliction’?
8.1.2. Are you willing to just
surrender all of your burdens to the Lord and let Him carry them, and rescue
you out of the midst of them?
8.1.3. Are you willing to reckon yourself
dead to sin and alive to God in the midst of your sufferings and trials instead
of trying to manipulate your way out of them yourself?
8.2.
I don’t know what difficulties you have faced the past days and weeks,
however my question to you is will you be sure to not allow the enemy to get
victory that he has designed when he brought them into your life?
8.2.1. In your afflictions will you
by faith refuse to be crushed?
8.2.2. When you find yourself in
utter perplexity will you by faith refuse to allow yourself to despair?
8.2.3. If you are struck down
because of your walk in the Lord will you refuse to allow the enemy to totally
destroy and disable your walk and effectiveness for Christ?
8.3.
The Lord is wanting to showing you that He can be strong on your behalf
if you will just trust Him in the midst of all your trials and difficulties.