SNBS Trials
Notes
Transcript
God’s design in the trial
Ch.3 Paul says the old covenant was a ministry of condemnation and death but the new covenant is a ministry of righteousness and life. And we are made ministers of that new covenant by the work of God in our lives.
A pastor friend of mine told his congregation last week “sometimes God calms the storm, sometimes he calms the one facing the storm”.
1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.
2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6 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.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.
13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak,
14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.
15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
18 as we 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.
1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.
2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6 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.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
Why “we do not lose heart”? Because its hard. Ministry is hard. Being conformed to the likeness of Christ so we can minister is hard. Have you ever recognized God preparing you? Maybe at the end of a difficult time in your life...
Some of you have been under severe pressure in life SO THAT you may use what He made in you to minister to someone who will follow after the same path.
Take scripture for what it says to v7
Treasures in Jars of Clay
Clay pots- earthen vessels in other versions. What a clay pot holds is what gives it value. The hands of the potter putting pressure on the clay as it is on the wheel. The firing of the pot in the oven to make it strong. To be a jar of clay is hard. But that is what we are. Do we see the idea of pressure changing something in nature?
The treasures are the manifold truths of the Gospel message in us. Lived out and proclaimed as we go about the Father’s business on this earth.
Afflicted (pressed)but not crushed - To be in a crowd of people where there is no room to move. Then to have that crowd turn on you, like at a stoning - thus, not crushed.
The afflictions are a by-product of living a life counter to the world’s standard. But God does not allow that to crush us. Of course the emotional, spiritual…not necessarily the physical. To live is Christ and to die is gain.
<For second time through> So the trials James refers to. Where do they come from? What is their source?
What do they look like?
The old saint, used to activity, vitality and usefulness may bemoan the sickness at the end of life. But is not the inactivity of the sickbed the trial as well? Count it all joy. Jose Leal.
Perplexed but not in despair - Not knowing what to do, which way to take. But faith keeps us. We dont despair. Stressed, but not stressed out!
We have experienced ‘perplexed’ in the current time. Figuring out church in a time of ‘social isolation’ has had dead ends, roadblocks and then victories.
Persecuted but not abandonded-
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
Not if, but when. The persecution must come. We are at odds with the system of this world.
Go back to pressed but not crushed...
The affliction (pressing) is for a moment. The weight of glory it produces is forever!