Transformative Love: Bread Crumbs of Hope
Transformative Love • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
We focus on the defense (apologetics) so much that we forget the defense is to be focused on our accounting for the hope that is in us.
H.O.P.E.
Holding
On to
Promises of
Eternal Things
In us
to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Today we’re going to talk about The Breadcrumb of the Hope
Courage In The Valley
Hope of Glory
Remember The Process
Remember It’s Passing
Remember The Product
Remember The Perpetuity
Read 2 Corinthians 4:7-9; 16-18
Sometimes the breadcrumbs of transformative love lead us into the valley.
Crumbs Of Courage
Crumbs Of Courage
Therefore
The life of Jesus is working in you.
All things are for your sakes (grace given)
All things will bring glory to God through the good done for you and through you.
We Do Not Lose Heart (vs 16)
Don’t become fainthearted and have a despondent view of trials and difficulties.
Courage is moving forward in spite of the fear and danger.
Courage is the ability to face fear, pain, or danger despite the presence of those fears. A courageous person, after consideration and calculation, is able to move forward because of their trust in God that outweighs their fear of the situation.
we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
3 Ways To Keep Up Our Courage
3 Ways To Keep Up Our Courage
The Hope of Glory
Remember The Process: Transformative Love (vs 16)
Outer man vs. inner man.
Could it mean God is killing our flesh through the trial, so that our spiritual self can grow?
And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Mortify the flesh
It is a purification process of burning away the dross out of our lives, so that we can by holy.
God is producing the image of Jesus in you.
As we are purified we are better able to be Jesus to others.
In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
Decaying vs renewal
corruption vs qualitative newness - to be renewed completely by God. Used only in the passive
to perish vs. the redemptive activity of God corresponding to the creation of man, which by putting an end to man’s existing corrupt state, establishes a new beginning.
Renewed day by day
Bit by bit - a process
Daily bread crumbs of glory and love.
Michelangelo said - the more the marble wastes, the more the statue grows.
Remember The Briefness: Temporary (vs 17)
Momentary - immediately, at this present time, transient, brief, for the moment
Light - light, easy to bear. interesting it is the same word used by Jesus in Matt 11:30
“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
So we bear the burdens (afflictions) of Christ. Ponder this one.
Why are these burdens light? Because is there to bear us up. We are yoked to Him. He is bearing the brunt of it and showing us to bear it. We follow and lean into Him.
Remember The End Product
Far Beyond All Comparison.
The Degree of Comparison.
huperbole - an extravagant exaggeration in English. Abundance of excellence.
This is not an A = A equation. When it comes to what God is doing, our A on this earth produces a A to the nth degree in heaven. to the highest possible degree.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Each hit against his flesh reminded him of his mortality, but God rejuvenated his spirit to continue on.
but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
a play on words. The burdens of trouble in this life are producing burdens of glory in the next.
The Degree of Production.
In other words, affliction will produce the end result faster than any other means.
And that to the nth degree as well.
So you want to get to the end game quicker? Pray for affliction and let it do it’s work.
And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Let endurance have its perfect result...complete - maturity.
Also pray that God helps you learn what you need to learn through it, so you don’t have to keep going through it again.
Affliction produces perseverance and endurance, proven character and maturity, and hope with contentment.
Weight of Glory
Glory: OT Kabod - weighty - heavy - precious often applied to things like gold and silver.
Weight - baros - burden
Weight of Glory would be redundant normally. The weight of weightiness.
But Paul is taking this and flipping it on its head for an application.
This thing being produced is a burden of greatness, abundance, and fullness of that which is worth more than its weight in gold.
Affliction - thlipsis - to crush, press, squeeze so as to break. Also translated tribulation.
Clarify, this is affliction based on service to Christ.
Anything we are doing for Jesus.
Any kind of suffering for being a Christian.
Not just because I got sick, or lack funds, and especially not tribulation because I sinned.
But these afflictions do come in all kinds of ways,
For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;
interesting - his hardships were far beyond (burdened excessively - huperbole) beyond (huper) our strength.
So we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raised the dead...
For even when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side: conflicts without, fears within. But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus;
conflicts without, fears within.
Depressed - made low.
Affliction being pressed - what kind of pressure does it take to make a diamond?
725,000 pounds per square inch.
2,200 degrees F.
Carbon atoms bond together and form diamonds.
I Peter - our faith is tested by fire.
After Oxygen, Carbon is the most abundant element in our bodies. We are carbon based life forms.
So metaphorically, God is applying pressure and heat, affliction and trials in order to make diamonds out of us.
Weight of Glory
Remember The Eternal: Things Yet To Be Seen (vs 18)
The Degree of Longevity: This weight of glory has no end. (eternal) It will never be exhausted. No matter how much we use in heaven, it will always give more.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
imperishable
undefiled
will not fade away
Things which are not being seen.
They will be seen, just not now.
Future - Hope
We can’t look at the things which are seen.
We have to see things through the eyes of faith.
We must live by faith and not by sight.
These things are temporal. Transient, temporary,
The unseen is eternal.
The eye of faith produces a new perspective.
fixing our gaze
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
The Glory Of The Valley
The Glory Of The Valley
This is The Hope of Glory
Christ in you, the hope of things to come.
Hope shines brighter in the darkness.
Hope is wetter in the drought.
Hope guides the way through the valley.
Affliction generates glory.
Glory, here, is not presented as a reward for suffering, it is rather the God-ordained outcome of affliction.
You could say that endurance, character, maturity, completeness, hope, and contentedness are all done for our good and for God’s glory.
Besides receiving God’s grace through salvation, or God’s grace through spiritual renewal, how else have we experienced God’s grace?
Often through others being the bread crumb of God’s glory and love to us when we are in the valley
Through their presence walking with us through our hard times, we feel the presence of God.
Through their assistance in our time of need, we find God’s provision of grace.
Through our seeking their help, we find God’s guiding hand.
Through their listening ear and wise counsel we find the comfort of God.
Since we have taken of the manna of God’s grace through someone else, we should return the favor by being that crumb of glory and love to others in a similar valley.
But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;
It’s what the Bible also calls bearing one another’s burdens.
Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
In the end, one reason God leads us through the valley:
So we can comfort others and help bear their burdens.
For Paul:
Tribulation results in increased energy and blessedness of the spiritual life.
Matching the progressive weakening of Paul’s physical powers was the daily renewal of his spiritual powers.
This constant rejuvenation of the “inward person” is part of the progressive transformation of the believer into the image of Christ.
The more Paul expended himself for the gospel’s sake, the greater his spiritual resilience.
Always keeping his eyes heavenward on the prize of the glory to be revealed.
For Us:
Trials bring the purification of our souls so that we die to self and are able to better minister to others.
The building of character through tribulation and the growing of faith under fire enables us to better serve others.
The development of perseverance through affliction helps us so we can go the extra mile with others.
This is that transformative love: becoming God’s love for His glory to serve those around us.
Finally, remembering that all of these difficulties that we face for Jesus will result in exponential degree of glory that will never perish, be defiled, or fade away.
Communion Prep:
What bread crumb of glory do you need this morning?
Love. Are you feeling unloved or unlovable? Jesus loves you so much that He died for you. Take your bread crumb of love this morning. Let Jesus embrace you afresh right here, right now. I say it again, Jesus loves you. Accept it, receive it. Say, “Jesus, I accept your love for me.”
Grace. Are you feeling guilty or full of shame for your sin. Do you feel defeated like you have no victory over your sin? God freely bestows His grace through Jesus’ blood and covers your shame and your sin. And then He imparts the Holy Spirit into us to give us power to live a holy life. Take your breadcrumb of forgiveness and grace and be filled with the Holy Spirit this morning. Say, “Jesus, I accept your forgiveness and receive your grace.”
Hope. Are you feeling like you have lost your way? Do you feel discouraged in the valley and like there is no light at the end of the tunnel? Take your bread crumb of hope today. Let the light of Jesus shine into your darkness and let the life of Jesus raise you from your depression. Say, “Jesus, flood my darkness with your light and give me hope.”
Courage. Are you afraid. Not even going to list anything. Is there lingering fear in your heart? Remember, Jesus did not want to drink the cup of the wrath of God. But He submitted to the Father’s will and found strength and courage to face the trial through submission. Take your bread crumb of courage this morning. Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee. Say, “Jesus, I cast my anxieties upon you because you care for me. I accept your spirit of power, love, and a sound mind.”
Communion: Pass both, hold on to both until I instruct.
Sing while elements are passed: Rest For Your Soul
Closing Song: My Jesus
