Hope in Suffering
Notes
Transcript
Intro - We’ve discussed that our Heavenly Father is a fortress and refuge for us during times of suffering, that suffering has various purposes outlined in scripture, and that we are to count it all joy during times of suffering because it is growing us in endurance and maturity. Now all of that is good but will it ever end? Is there hope in suffering? Paul addresses that here in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 by pointing out that which is perpetual, preparatory, and permanent.
TR: First Paul discusses that which is perpetual...
Perpetual
Perpetual
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
Paul, though having endured great afflication, would not faint or grow weary.
That’s the nature of suffering, it isn’t the initial onslaught that usually gets you, no not the strong. Instead, the strong it wears down over time, little by little.
Every endurance athlete knows not to gas yourself out at the beginning of a long race.
Suffering takes you into the championship rounds…takes you into deep water. When all else is lost, your body, mind, soul is weary…all of the motivational speeches wear off.
Starting in BJJ and how the wisdom of my opponent let me gas out. I was throwing everything at him, exerting so much energy to get around him, trying to get him and he just laid back and only attacked just enough to keep me invested. Once I wore out is when he easily overtook me. He literally sat on my chest like I was his personal stool and gave me a nuggy. I tapped out purely because I couldn’t breath.
That’s what suffering does to you, especially when you attempt to persevere in your own strength.
I said from the very outset, 3 sermons ago, that you need to abide in the shadow of the Almighty and there you will find rest.
Because no matter how hard you fight, the energy, strength and stamina of this outer self is wasting away.
Paul says we are “jars of clay”, “afflicted”, “perplexed”, “forsaken”, “knocked down”, “persecuted”....is that you?
Paul is able to not grow weary because he had something going on that was unseen. He was being renewed day by day. How?
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Paul was keenly aware of the strength that is only found in weakness.
Lecrae said it well…”being broke made me rich”
There are moments that will come when you have lost it all. You come to the realization that all that you held secure is vulnerable and under attack.
The veil is pulled back and you realize that you’re…not…God. Even your very flesh decays before your eyes as you are immersed in the cold truth.
In that moment what do you do?....nothing! You simply TRUST!!!
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
What does that look like? It looks like you sitting down somewhere and watch as the Lord renews you. As you sit down things start to happen...
He brings to your mind His glory, His promises, your testimony. As He reminds you of His power, His presence, His love, His grace…that He ain’t ever left you and ain’t gonna leave you!!!
He ain’t gonna motivate you…HE’S GONNA RENOVATE YOU!!! You about to be the same shell but have all new interior.
People may see a dilapidated structure but internally there’s something else going on! You are being RENEWED…OVER AND OVER again.
Most people walk buy you and say you ain’t worth the investment…I can’t use them for my benefit…I can’t profit from them!!! but the Father paid the highest price for you and you ain’t ever going back on the market!!!
With each successive wave of suffering…it only serves to DEEPEN your resolve and clarify your focus on the Lord…PERPETUAL RENEWAL...
TR: When the renewal is perpetual…than the suffering only serves as preparation...
Preparatory
Preparatory
The suffering of this world will either prepare or pulverize you
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
Suffering pulverizes those that belong to this world…there’s nothing that they can do about it.
Even those who seem to not suffer…they can’t enjoy their comfort as they should because they have to be concerned with keeping it.
Imagine the pressure of having success that was only created by the strength of your own hands and now you have to keep it up…and even if you do…you know the finality of all your work still leads you to a day of reckoning with a Holy God.
But Paul describes the suffering of this world for the believer as “light” and “momentary”
It is something that is able to be carried and even that, it is not something that has to be carried for too long.
How is that? That’s a little presumptuous don’t you think?
That only depends on what you’re comparing it to…
Here Paul is setting a scale up for us
Scale example: On the one side is our sufferings in this world…all of the pain, sorrow, heartache…what do you put on the other side? See the answer to that question makes all the world of difference.
Paul here does a play on words…there’s the “light” and “momentary” vs. the “heavy” and “eternal”. The term “glory” from a Hebrew mind in the OT had the idea of weight. “Glory” was weighty or heavy.
So if you find yourself over burdened by the sufferings of this world…weighed down by the trials you face…PUT SOME GLORY ON THE OTHER SIDE!!!
Paul didn’t grow weary, didn’t lose heart, because the suffering that he was carrying around was just temporary ankle weights PREPARING him for eternal WEIGHT…THE WEIGHT OF GOD’S GLORIOUS REWARD THAT’LL BE BESTOWED!!!
That is the pattern of the Most High…glory in proportion to faithful endurance in suffering
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
Jesus suffering the greatest of all, by taking the punishment for sin, and therefore received the greatest reward…a name above all others!!
But everyone wants the EXALTATION but not the HUMILIATION!
But if you could just realize that the reason why you can run and not grow weary is because the suffering is preparation for something incomprehensibly glorious…it’d change everything.
The Greek word Paul uses here for “comparison” is where we get the word “hyperbole” from or “exaggeration”.
Literally he’s saying the glory is so over the top it don’t make no sense to even try to match it up.
And the suffering is preparing you for that glory
TR: The preparation is pointing you toward that which is permanent...
Permanent
Permanent
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.
Paul fixed his gaze upon something beyond this world…if you want to have hope in suffering so too do you.
The pains of this world weren’t able to overwhelm him because of that reality. He was pressed in but not crushed.
He was out of sorts but never out of his mind. He grieved but never despaired, knocked down plenty of times but unable to be destroyed.
And it wasn’t mental fortitude guys…let’s be clear. This isn’t simply a resolution of the mind.
This isn’t a “just grind” mentality. Miss me with that fake hustler mentality that takes your life into your own feeble hands and believes you can create greatness.
This “all gas, no brakes” mindset is how you get into a crash fool!
Instead, there is the quiet strength of an unyielding gaze fixed on the eternal hope, mixed with a greater affection for others than for self.
The slow, strong growth, that comes from self-deprivation.
Quote from Zack Eswine
God seems to seriously imply that seeing God’s glory, hearing his voice, receiving his good news, and beholding his love was never meant to deliver us from ordinary life and love in a place—it was meant instead to provide the means to preserve us there
See even sermons like these can hype you up to FACE THE GIANT so to speak but here’s the real deal…what are you looking at in your life?
If I behold my kids, my wife, my job, my finances, my health, etc. than hope is lost. Not because I don’t love my family or am in poverty.
It’s because those things…ALL OF THEM…are temporary. I can’t face suffering, perservere and trust in God if I’m focused primarily those things.
LAND IT LOUD
What happens if I lose them, lose my health, lose my family, my job…then what? I’M CRUSHED…IN DESPAIR…FORSAKEN…DESTROYED!!!
The very things Paul says HE’S NOT!!!
See the beauty of this day is we celebrate not just the resurrection…but the permanence of it!
Jesus is not only RISEN but PERMANENTLY SO!!! HE AIN’T EVER DYING AGAIN!!! HE’S ETERNAL!!!
His kingdom is ETERNAL!!! HIS PROMISES ARE ETERNAL!!! AND HE RENEWS ME DAY BY DAY
ONE DAY MY ETERNAL INSIDE WILL BE MATCHED WITH AN ETERNAL OUTSIDE AND I’LL ETERNALLY ABIDE WITH HIM!!!
I can have HOPE in suffering because I behold the ETERNAL…the ETERNAL FATHER…who gives an ETERNAL GLORY…why trifle and fret over the petty weights of this world when I have a HEAVENLY WEIGHT TO BE BESTOWED ON ME???
FIX your gaze FAMILY!!! LOOK AT HIM!! FIND HOPE IN HIM!!! He is RISEN…PERMANENTLY…therefore there is ALWAYS HOPE…IN....SUFFERING!
PRAYER
REMIND ABOUT COMMUNION VIDEO TO FOLLOW