AN ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 NASB95

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 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.

In a Chicago Tribune profile about the creator of the syndicated comic strip “Dilbert,” Jane Meredith Adams writes:

In an office just slightly bigger than a cubicle, Scott Adams transforms tales of idiotic bosses and meaningless empowerment teams into Dilbert, the chinless comic-strip hero to millions of cubicle-confined workers.

Since Adams published his Internet address (scottadams@aol.com), he has been deluged with questions from readers who wonder how he knows the exact level of ineptitude with which their company operates. It’s because he has been there. Adams endured 17 years of cubicle employment—most recently as an applications engineer with Pacific Bell, a job he left last year after six years of “Dilbert” syndication.

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget what it feels like to sit in a cubicle,” says the cartoonist, “and realize you’ve been there for eight hours … and everything you did today will become unimportant in the next reorganization.”

Scott Adams expresses a feeling we’re all familiar with. We want what we do to last. Our work (and even our life) doesn’t seem important if it is only temporary. The sure hope we have in God is that all we do for him has eternal significance.

Eternal Things, Futility, Future, Kingdom of God, Ministry, Obedience, Significance, Will of God, Work, World

; ; ;

1Cor. 3:10–15; 15:58; 2-Cor. 4:18; 1-John 2:17

Ecclesiastes 1:2–11 NASB95

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, But the earth remains forever. Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hastening to its place it rises there again. Blowing toward the south, Then turning toward the north, The wind continues swirling along; And on its circular courses the wind returns. All the rivers flow into the sea, Yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, There they flow again. All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one might say, “See this, it is new”? Already it has existed for ages Which were before us. There is no remembrance of earlier things; And also of the later things which will occur, There will be for them no remembrance Among those who will come later still.

Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 NASB95

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

Matthew 7:24–27 NASB95

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

Matthew 7:1 NASB95

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged.

Date used __________ Place ____________________

The text begins with word “therefore”. It indicates the conclusion of his discourse on the resurrection and it also links that discussion with what follows in 5:1–10 about our living either in our earthly body or with the Lord [NTC]. It resumes the sentiment of 4:1 and extends the argument 4:1–15 to what follows [NIC1, NIC2]. It sums up everything he has said in 4:7–15 and returns to the idea of 4:1 [AB]. It looks back to the faith that Paul expresses in 4:13–14 [ICC2]. It looks back to 4:1 and to 4:14–15 and gives Paul’s reasons for not giving up, which are his commission to be a minister of a superior covenant, the hope of the resurrection, and his concern for the welfare of the Corinthians [EBC]. Paul is saying that he is not discouraged because of the hope of the resurrection mentioned in 4:14 [EGT, HNTC, ICC1, Lns, My, WBC]. Paul is confident because he knows that God raised Jesus and will raise him, and because of the renewal that happens day by day [SP]. Paul is confident because of the hope of the resurrection and because he knows that his suffering and labor will advance God’s glory [Ho]. It links 4:16 with what was just said in 4:15, which is that they don’t lose heart because God’s grace is spread to more people [TH]. Paul is saying that he does not lose heart because of the renewal of the inner man [TNTC; NAB].

Abernathy, D. (2008). An Exegetical Summary of 2 Corinthians (2nd ed., pp. 171–172). Dallas, TX: SIL International.

Paul has been arguing that the Christian Ministry is not easy, but, it is worth fighting for. Why? Because it has eternal significance. The fact that he brings up the issue of quitting, suggests the seriousness of the matter. He says twice in this chapter “we do not lose heart” (v.1, 16); in this sense, it means to not be or become discouraged or disheartened, to lose enthusiasm, to become tired or weary and to neglect one’s duty.

Has there ever been a time, in ministry, where you were just ready to give up? Can anybody testify that “I almost let go”.

What is it that threatens to make the people of God to lose heart and give up?

This text is tailored to teach us that focusing on temporary things causes us to lose sight on eternal things. In order to keep from losing heart we need an eternal perspective.

Perspective: a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view

What does Paul mean by ‘outer man’?

It is the outwardly visible, mortal frame [SP], the physical part of human existence [Ho, TG, TH], the visible bodily nature with its phenomenal existence [My], the physical aspect as opposed to the higher, spiritual life [ICC2]. It is the body and the physical powers with the emotions and appetites [ICC1]. It is that aspect of man’s mortal physical nature which experiences hardships [AB], it is the outward, physical self of this age which is subject to decay and death [HNTC]. It is his life as a mere man, that which is mortal [WBC]. It is the self in its mortal creatureliness, and which is of this age [EBC], that ‘clay jar’ which experiences the ‘dying of Jesus’ and which belongs to this physical world that is passing away [NIC2]. It is the natural life as it exists in the outer world [Lns]. It refers to the body as an entity and is that which is exposed to temptation, danger and decay [NTC].

is decaying - this serves as a reminder that “we ain’t got long to stay here”. To decay is to decompose (v.) — to undergo the physical process of breaking down and wearing out; whether by becoming older and less healthy or rotting after death. With this knowledge, we should seriously consider the amount of attention we give to him.

Mark Twain, became morose and weary of life. Shortly before his death, he wrote, "A myriad of men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle;...they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble for little mean advantages over each other; age creeps upon them; infirmities follow; ...those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. It (the release) comes at last--the only unpoisoned gift earth ever had for them--and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence,...a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever."

Abernathy, D. (2008). An Exegetical Summary of 2 Corinthians (2nd ed., p. 172). Dallas, TX: SIL International..

What does Paul mean by “inner man”?

It is the heart, the new person [WBC]. It is the new person of the age to come [EBC, HNTC]. It is the higher spiritual life [ICC2]. It is the believer’s regenerate spiritual existence [Lns], the spiritual part of his being [TG]. It is the heart, the source of will, emotion, thought and affection [TNTC]. It is the moral personality which is self-aware, thinking, and willing and the life-principle of spirit [My]. It is the spiritual nature, the higher nature, the soul as the subject of the divine life [Ho]. It is the new creation spoken of in 5:17 [AB, NCBC, TH]. It is that part of us that communes with God and is strengthened by the Holy Spirit [NTC]. It is the part of our immaterial being that is opposed to worldliness and is rooted in God, and which can be the home of the Holy Spirit and ruled by him [ICC1].

is being renewed: What is the renewal?

An Exegetical Summary of 2 Corinthians 4:16

What is the renewal?

It is growth in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness [NTC]. It is gaining new strength [Ho, My, TG, TH]. It is a daily act of faith that receives and appropriates the life of Jesus [AB]. It is the renewal of Christian existence which requires continual contact with Christ [HNTC]. It is a continual and ever-increasing re-creation in prospect of the coming age of glory [NIC2]. It is the increase in strength by divine grace that continues until death [ICC1, Lns]. It is the gradual transformation in Christian character into the divine likeness, of which he spoke in 3:18 [ICC2]. The renewal occurs because of the hope of the resurrection [WBC].

Tony Evans Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More Than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking Inner Beauty

WHEN most people think of Thanksgiving, they think of a turkey. But my first love isn’t the turkey. My first love is the stuffing inside the turkey. The dressing gets jam-packed inside the turkey. It is filled with its own herbs- and, spices and so takes on a flavor all its own. The dressing gets stuffed inside the turkey and put inside the oven. While both the turkey and the stuffing cook, the flavor of the stuffing slowly permeates the turkey, making it more flavorful than what it would have been on its own. The turkey becomes tastier because of the effect of what is on the inside.

While most of us are interested in the turkey, God is interested in the stuffing. He is interested in making the inside tasty and letting the internal flavor affect the outside.510

[Character, Importance of; Spiritual Maturity]

1 Sam. 16:7

See

1 Samuel 16:7 NASB95

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Abernathy, D. (2008). An Exegetical Summary of 2 Corinthians (2nd ed., p. 173). Dallas, TX: SIL International.

Momentary

Light

as producing for us an eternal weight of glory (far beyond all comparison)

Tony Evans Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More Than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking Trials, Purpose Of

MOST ladies have, at some point and time, purchased cutlery. The finest cutlery, and the most expensive, are those that have taken the most time and patience to produce. The process of producing this expensive cutlery is called tempering. It is where steel is heated to red-hot and then hammered into shape. Sparks fly everywhere when they start hammering it. Then the knives are put into water to cool it down. This process of heating and cooling is repeated over and over again. The finest cutlery is the steel that has been tempered the most.

This is what God does for us. He puts us in the furnace of a trial, hammers on you, and then He cools you off. Then just when you’re getting comfortable being cooled, He lifts you out, puts you in the fire, hammers you some more, then He cools you off. That’s why you’ll always notice in the midst of a trial, God will periodically give you good days.

We get frustrated because the good days don’t last long. We wonder why our trials can’t be over. It is because we are not fully tempered. God wants us to be fine cutlery, not cheap knives. He wants us to be finely tuned

to look to v. — to turn one’s interests or expectations towards something and respond accordingly.

Stop looking at Temporary things (temporary adj. — not permanent; not lasting)

Starting looking at Eternal things (everlasting adjs. — continuing forever or indefinitely; sempiternal)

Jennie Wilson published 83 hymns in her life; She would be an awesome witness to help me close this sermon today with this well known and beloved hymn…it says it all!

1 Time is filled with swift transition. Naught of earth unmoved can stand. Build your hopes on things eternal. Hold to God’s unchanging hand.

2 Trust in Him who will not leave you. Whatsoever years may bring. If by earthly friends forsaken, Still more closely to Him cling. [Refrain]

Starting looking at Eternal things

2 Trust in Him who will not leave you. Whatsoever years may bring. If by earthly friends forsaken, Still more closely to Him cling. [Refrain]

3 Covet not this world’s vain riches That so rapidly decay. Seek to gain the heav’nly treasures. They will never pass away. [Refrain]

4 When your journey is completed, If to God you have been true, Fair and bright the home in Glory Your enraptured soul will view.

Refrain: Hold to His hand, God's unchanging hand. Hold to His hand, God's unchanging hand. Build your hopes on things eternal. Hold to God’s unchanging hand.

A quaint preacher of the olden days in our country, the Rev. Dan Baker, puts the danger of delay in the way of a story. He tells of a man who was crossing the ocean. He was leaning over the side of the vessel; it was a bright sunny day, and not a wave broke the surface of the water, just a little ripple here and there kissed by the rays of the sun. And the man, as he leaned over the rail of the vessel, was tossing something in the air, something which, when it fell through the sunlight, sparkled with singular radiance and glory; and he watched it so eagerly as he tossed it up and caught it as it fell. He tossed it up again and again and again; and it threw out its marvellous light as it fell through the sunlight. At last an onlooker came and said, “May I ask what that is that you are tossing up so carelessly?” “Certainly,” he replied, “look at it, it is a diamond.” “Is it of much value?” asked the onlooker. “Yes, of very great value. See the color of it, see the size of it. In fact, all I have in the world is in that diamond. I am going to a new country to seek my fortune, and I have sold everything I have, and have put it into that diamond, so as to get it into a portable shape.” “Then if it is so valuable, is it not an awful risk you are running in tossing it up so carelessly?” “No risk at all. I have been doing this for the last half-hour,” said the man. “But there might come a last time,” said the onlooker; but the man laughed and threw it up again, and caught it as it fell, and again and again, and once more, and it flashed and blazed with glory as it fell through the sunlight, and he watches it so eagerly as it falls. Ah! but this time it is too far out. He reaches as far as he can over the rail of the vessel, but he cannot reach far enough. There is a little plash in the ocean. He leans far over the rail and tries to penetrate with his eager gaze the unfathomable depths of deep blue ocean. Then cries, “Lost! lost! lost! All I have in the world is lost!”

You say, “No man would be so great a fool as that; that story is not true.” That story is true, and the man is here to-night. Thou art the man! That ocean is eternity; that vessel, life; that diamond, your soul, that soul of such priceless value that Christ died to save it. And you have been trifling with it! I come to you to-night and say, “My friend, what is that in your hand which you are playing with so carelessly?” You say, “It is my soul.” “Is it worth much?” “Worth much? More than the whole round earth, ‘for what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?’ ” “But don’t you think you are taking an awful risk?” “Oh, no,” you say, “I have been doing this for the last five years, for the last ten, fifteen, twenty years.” “Yes, but you might do it once too often.” “Oh, no,” you say, and to-night once more you throw it up. But you may throw it up once too often; it will fall too far out, beyond your reach; there will be a plash, and you will try to look after it; not into the impenetrable depths of the blue ocean, but into the unfathomable depths of the bottomless pit as it sinks and sinks and sinks, and you will cry, “Lost! lost! lost! my soul is lost!” That may be your cry some day. Come to-night, before it is too late, and put your soul where it will be everlastingly safe, in the keeping of the Son of God.

A Lost Diamond

A quaint preacher of the olden days in our country, the Rev. Dan Baker, puts the danger of delay in the way of a story. He tells of a man who was crossing the ocean. He was leaning over the side of the vessel; it was a bright sunny day, and not a wave broke the surface of the water, just a little ripple here and there kissed by the rays of the sun. And the man, as he leaned over the rail of the vessel, was tossing something in the air, something which, when it fell through the sunlight, sparkled with singular radiance and glory; and he watched it so eagerly as he tossed it up and caught it as it fell. He tossed it up again and again and again; and it threw out its marvellous light as it fell through the sunlight. At last an onlooker came and said, “May I ask what that is that you are tossing up so carelessly?” “Certainly,” he replied, “look at it, it is a diamond.” “Is it of much value?” asked the onlooker. “Yes, of very great value. See the color of it, see the size of it. In fact, all I have in the world is in that diamond. I am going to a new country to seek my fortune, and I have sold everything I have, and have put it into that diamond, so as to get it into a portable shape.” “Then if it is so valuable, is it not an awful risk you are running in tossing it up so carelessly?” “No risk at all. I have been doing this for the last half-hour,” said the man. “But there might come a last time,” said the onlooker; but the man laughed and threw it up again, and caught it as it fell, and again and again, and once more, and it flashed and blazed with glory as it fell through the sunlight, and he watches it so eagerly as it falls. Ah! but this time it is too far out. He reaches as far as he can over the rail of the vessel, but he cannot reach far enough. There is a little plash in the ocean. He leans far over the rail and tries to penetrate with his eager gaze the unfathomable depths of deep blue ocean. Then cries, “Lost! lost! lost! All I have in the world is lost!”

You say, “No man would be so great a fool as that; that story is not true.” That story is true, and the man is here to-night. Thou art the man! That ocean is eternity; that vessel, life; that diamond, your soul, that soul of such priceless value that Christ died to save it. And you have been trifling with it! I come to you to-night and say, “My friend, what is that in your hand which you are playing with so carelessly?” You say, “It is my soul.” “Is it worth much?” “Worth much? More than the whole round earth, ‘for what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?’ ” “But don’t you think you are taking an awful risk?” “Oh, no,” you say, “I have been doing this for the last five years, for the last ten, fifteen, twenty years.” “Yes, but you might do it once too often.” “Oh, no,” you say, and to-night once more you throw it up. But you may throw it up once too often; it will fall too far out, beyond your reach; there will be a plash, and you will try to look after it; not into the impenetrable depths of the blue ocean, but into the unfathomable depths of the bottomless pit as it sinks and sinks and sinks, and you will cry, “Lost! lost! lost! my soul is lost!” That may be your cry some day. Come to-night, before it is too late, and put your soul where it will be everlastingly safe, in the keeping of the Son of God.

AN ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE

OPEN TEXT TO

Introduction

DILBERT

DILBERT

Context of the Text

THE SERMONIC CLAIM

ON HOW WE VIEW OUR OUTER MAN

ON HOW WE VIEW OUR INNER MAN

ON HOW WE VIEW OUR AFFLICTION

)

ON HOW WE VIEW OUR AFFLICTION

CONCLUSION

INVITATION