Day by Day

2 Corinthians 4:13–5:1 NIV

It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

Faith

Paul is continuing in this passage his point about living in the body and keeping our focus on eternal things. He knows people are influenced by many different ideas and cultural influences. Most people don’t take the time to examine where they are being influenced. Paul makes it clear where he’s coming from here in the middle of his flow. He quotes Psalm 116:10 here when he says basically I spoke out of my faith. These things about life in the body and the grace of God in us being a treasure he’s not just blowing smoke. This is a clue to us. In hard times and times of trial we sometimes reach for anything and everything. That can be like a grab bag approach. You might hit on something good or you might get a bag of circus peanuts. Who invented those anyway? Remember when Tupperware made those foam toys? Yeah, I’m pretty sure eating one of those would be a lot like eating a circus peanut. I mean they don’t sell them at the circus and they are nothing at all like a peanut. Ok anyway...

You COULD take the grab bag approach and get some fluffy advice from a book. Or, you could respond to life’s biggest questions and concerns from the perspective of informed faith. Paul is not talking about generic faith here. There are a lot of books pedaled around that take advantage of people not being very biblically informed. They pedal a lot of ideas in the name of faith, some of which give false hope. Paul is not pretending you can or should want to live to be 140 years old if you add this one food to your diet.

Paul is talking about facing the reality of pain, suffering and death and that nothing is a magic cure for the strange reality of living in an imperfect body. When I woke up yesterday there was a news article on my phone about 9 gross things your body may do that are actually a sign you are healthy. I’m going to spare you the details but suffice it to say that we share a lot in common that is fairly unpleasant about life in the body. That’s why it’s not worth worshipping our bodies, but we also have to care for them.

In the midst of that undeniable reality Paul boldly declares that faith gives us the most important details to focus on. I believed therefore I spoke. When you are suffering do you speak out loud faith affirming things? Or do you only complain? Paul’s not saying it’s easy. He’s just saying it makes all the difference. Folks this is where our faith truly functions. There are moments in life where there are just two kinds of people. People who have allowed faith to primarily shape how they face reality and people who have not. If faith is primarily how you escape from reality it becomes exposed in times of trial.

Paul says: I believed, therefore I spoke. Faith informed the thoughts I allowed to form in me on this difficult subject. I set aside vanity. I set aside fantasy. I set aside wishful thinking. I set aside deep doubt. I embraced the mystery of the moment. I admit what I don’t know. I cling to what I know by faith to be true.

2 Corinthians 4:13–14 NIV

It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.

And all this is a response to Grace. Paul doesn’t come up with it on his own. Remember God is pouring more treasure into his jar of clay. He’s staring at the reality of Jesus and therefore seeing the glory of God revealed. This happens in prayer, reading Scripture and being present with other believers regularly and in worship.

Response to Grace

This reminds us of two things. First of all, any holiness in us is there because God pours it in. It is a response to Grace. God offers the grace and we take it in. Grace to rise above our doubts and fears. Grace to respond in love to others. Grace to reach out to others even in the midst of our suffering. In other words: Sanctifying grace.

2 Corinthians 4:15 NIV

All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

Are you with me so far? This is the foundation. Faith. We are able to have faith because of God’s grace.

Now listen to this one: Sometimes what lifts us up is what God is doing in other lives. It can get our focus off of our suffering. It also reminds us of how beautiful it was when we turned to faith. And that is a reminder of why we believe and that makes it a little easier then to see how God is helping us even while we may be suffering in the body. Where would we be without Jesus in times of suffering and loss?

We Do Not Lose Heart

Paul may be referencing Psalm 18:45 here where it talks about others losing heart who don’t have faith in God. So it’s by faith that we find our way of making sense of the trials of life. Don’t lose that heart connection to the flow of life. Don’t start to check out. Don’t let yourself turn sour on it all. Remember God. Remember where it’s all headed. God is making all things new. The fullness of God’s kingdom is coming!

Outwardly Wasting Away

Outwardly we are wasting away. This is true for everyone. You were as cute as you were ever going to be when you were a baby! Now of course everyone here today is still young and free and beautiful to the core. But there are other people who struggle a bit with aging bodies. And for some, the cancer or diabetes or other disease makes every day difficult at least behind the scenes. You may literally feel that your body is wasting away. If you only relish the things of the body then this is more than just suffering its your very life being taken away. But we don’t give in to that kind of thinking. By grace through faith we rise above it and remember a higher truth.

Inwardly Being Renewed

That is that though we are outwardly wasting away, inwardly we are being made new. God’s mercies are new every morning. God’s grace is sufficient for you as it was for Paul. You have been forgiven. You have been loved in every way possible. God is restoring you from spiritual death to spiritual life. It’s happening every day if you let it. Where we keep clinging to the things that are passing away we will be disappointed. Where we cling to the cross and the grace of God we are being made new… That’s where can always choose to focus. It’s true. God’s Word declares it. We can stand on it in faith. So many saints have testified down across the years. You hopefully have people in your family tree who have testified to it. Many of you have experienced it yourselves. The Apostle Paul had even experienced it. He called it his thorn in the flesh that helped keep him humble. But he learned that God’s grace was sufficient for him.

What we want is like 50 years worth of grace in the bank so we never have to be concerned. But it doesn’t quite work out that way. It’s abundant grace, that’s for sure. But we get it as we need it...

Day by Day

Jesus said:

The New Revised Standard Version Do Not Worry

34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

So just as the troubles come day by day. The grace also comes day by day.

Light and Momentary Troubles

There’s no comparison really between the grace and the troubles. He’s been talking about serious stuff here. Not hang nails. But the trials are described as light and momentary. This is from the perspective of eternity.

Paul for Everyone: 2 Corinthians The God of All Comfort (2 Corinthians 4:13–18)

He is talking not about ‘physical’ and ‘non-physical’ things, but about the present world as contrasted with the future world. The point about ‘things you can see’ is that they last for only a short while. But God’s true reality, which will one day be brought to birth in his new world, is more richly physical in ways we can hardly imagine, though at present out of sight.

We are on a journey. We are headed somewhere in life. If you’re following Jesus you’re off to see an amazing kingdom where all will eventually be as God intended. It’s still in the future but we will arrive there either when Jesus returns or we are raised to new life as He was.

The Best is Yet to Come

The bottom line is that the Best is Yet to Come!

2 Corinthians 4:18–5:1 NIV

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

There’s a lot going on here and you have to read the whole passage and all that Paul writes elsewhere and all that Jesus and other passages make clear to really pull it all together. But I think Paul is mainly referring to our earthly bodies as compared to the bodies that await us when Jesus comes back. Eternal and heaven don’t have to mean far away. It means not yet visible and better than anything we have experienced so far...

The Best is Yet to Come, but Grace is already here

But I do want to pause here to make a point. God is not contained in any building built by human hands. Just as we shouldn’t be tied too closely to pleasures or sufferings in the body, we should not be too focused on a church building either. This is a beautiful building. It’s paid for. We should take care of it. But we should not worship it. Right now it seems very useful to God’s priorities in connecting with our community. But that could change. We don’t worship a building. We worship God and we keep moving forward and we are ready to follow Jesus into the future wherever that leads, amen? God is forming us into a people who can make disciples where we live, work and play. That’s what matters the most. Remember that.

Also remember this:

We live in the body. There’s nothing wrong with that: it’s good and functional and useful. But this body will wear out, so we need to focus on the grace of God that will carry us through whether we are an olympic athlete or cancer survivor. And one day we will have a new body. I can’t wait.

But even until then we are being renewed inwardly day by day. The troubles don’t compare to the glory. Fix your eyes on what is unseen. The physical earthly suffering won’t last. The glory of God will. The grace is more true than the trouble because it’s ALWAYS true. Remind yourself of what is most true. Only a person of true faith can do that. You can with God’s help today.