How To Hang In There

Hang In There! Is a popular slogan used among bull riders.  You know, as much as the people watching may want a bull rider to "hang in there," and as much as the bull rider himself would like to "hang in there" The fact of the matter is, it takes more than desire and good wishes from the spectators to stay on the bull! You got to have some determination. And it doesn't hurt to have some people rooting for you. But successful bull riders "hang in there" because they have learned how to hang in there.

I want to use that to illustrate the fact, that staying in your ministry, keeping on doing what God has called you to do, continuing on for the Lord despite the trials can't be accomplished by will power alone. You can't just determine to do it and succeed! Even though it’s nice to have people encouraging you to live for God, they can't keep you doing it! You have to "know how."

I don't suppose there is anyone more qualified to teach us how to "hang in there" for the Lord than, Paul. Here is a man who endured some of the greatest hardships possible for Christ. He was hated by both Jews and Gentiles. He was misunderstood and attacked even by other Christians. He was eventually executed for preaching Jesus Christ. And yet, at the eve of his life, he was able to record, “…I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.”

I believe 2 Corinthians 4 tells us how he did it.

I.                   PAUL ACCEPTED THE MINISTRY GOD GAVE HIM. 2 Cor 4:1

A.     Paul's was not an easy ministry.

The other Apostles did not accept him for several years. He was constantly challenged and questioned even by them throughout his ministry. He suffered shipwrecks, beatings, stonings and jailings, on a regular basis. But he accepted the ministry God gave him.

B.     The context of this verse is in view of the trials he faced because of his ministry.

In chapter 3, Paul answers the question as to whether or not he needed to have a letter of approval from the other Apostles. Some within the Corinthian church were attacking Paul’s ministry.  He was being challenged and tested.  Yet, despite all of that, he simply writes, seeing we have this ministry... we faint not.

C.     We would do well to learn from this to accept whatever ministry we have!

Sometimes all of us get to looking around and wishing we had it like somebody else has it! We wish we could be the pastor. We wish we could be the Youth leader. We wish we could sing as well as others. We wish we could be the top deacon in the church.  Why not just be the best you? If we want to continue for the Lord, the first step has to be, to accept the position that God has given us in His work! We need to come to the place where we accept whatever ministry God chooses to give or not to give us personally

*****He gives us a hint in verse 1 how to do that: "... as we have received mercy of the Lord, we faint not." The truth of it is, whatever position we have in the plan of God for the church and for His ministry, IS A MERCIFUL POSITION!  Cause we could be the ones who are outside. We could be the ones facing hell. The next thing I see in this chapter is that…

II.                PAUL HAD A PROPER PERSPECTIVE OF HIS PROBLEMS verses 8-9

These are serious and thought provoking examples from Paul. Paul makes four contrasts here:

A.     Troubled - not distressed, the word troubled means to be crowded, pressured. The word distressed means to be in calamity. If I can, He is saying that he is squeezed, but not squished!

B.     Perplexed - not in Despair The word perplexed means "at a loss" The word despair means "completely lost

C.     Persecuted - not forsaken the word persecuted means "hunted" The word forsaken means "deserted."

D.    Cast down - not destroyed

What Paul is saying is, "Sure, I got problems, but I am not defeated!" "I have fallen a few times, but I have always been able to get back up!" "I have had some times when I wasn't sure which way to turn for a while, but I have never been so lost that I couldn't eventually get out of it!" I was thinking Troubled, but not distressed. That looks to me to be in the soul. Perplexed, but not in despair appears to me to be in the mind. Persecuted, but not forsaken is in the body. Cast down, but not destroyed is in your very life. In every aspect, of humanity, while there were trials, Paul recognized that the trials had not completely overwhelmed him. If we are going to hang in there, we too, must come to the place where we recognize that the trials we face are not totally devastating! They may hurt. We may not enjoy them. We might have wished we hadn't had to go through them. But there isn't a one of them that has to destroy us! In fact, for the Believer, even the ultimate trial, that of losing our life isn't really a defeat, but a victory!

Now, we face trials from many different angles.

Physical trials. When our bodies suffer. Medically or whatever.
Social trials. When we suffer maybe at work or with our relationships outside of church And Spiritual trials. When we suffer because of our faith, and for our faith, and in the service of our faith.

But we need to keep them in perspective and remember, THEY COULD BE WORSE!

Paul comforted the Hebrews, and challenged them to go on for the Lord despite their problems by saying to them, "Ye have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin." (Heb 12:4) Paul kept on going for God, and finished his course, because he kept his problems in perspective and didn't allow them to overwhelm him.

The third thing I saw in 2 Corinthians was

III.             PAUL HAD HIS EYES FIXED ON THE RIGHT THINGS.

Verses 10-18 there are three things I want to point out to you in these verses, in reverse order from how they are listed in the chapter: Paul says, we need to…

A.     Look at the Eternal, not the Temporal.

Verse 18, so many of our troubles could be resolved if we had our eyes on heaven, not earth.

I understand how difficult that is. I struggle with it every single moment of my life. Paul said in Romans "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us." And all he was saying was that we ought to look for the heavenly/eternal things, not the earthly/temporal things! Jesus said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal.” What he was saying was that we ought to look for the heavenly/eternal things, not the earthly/temporal things.

Much of the reason we struggle with the Christian life, and one of the reasons some give up on their course, is that they get their eyes fixed on how things are today. Right now.

If that was how Paul looked at things,

***He wouldn't have been willing to give up his career in the Pharisee's religion, for Christ. ***And he wouldn't have been willing to give up his associate pastor's position in Antioch to be a missionary church planter.
***And he wouldn't have been willing to give up his freedom to be a blessing to the poor saints in Jerusalem
***And he wouldn't have been willing to give up his life, to keep his testimony for Jesus Christ!

Paul could hang in there because his eyes were fixed on heavenly/eternal things, not earthly/temporal things! He was content to suffer some losses here in order to have more rewards waiting in heaven!  We need to

B.     Look at others, not self

Verse 12 Paul was willing to go through the trials that he did, and hang in their for the Lord, because, he was concerned more for others than he was for himself. Paul was the one who went so far as to say that he could wish himself accursed from Christ that his kinsmen, the Jews would be saved. Paul said he became all things to all men that he might by all means save some. Paul's concern in life was not for himself and how he faired physically, but for others and how they faired spiritually! He was willing to suffer any trial any hardship any difficulty so long as he was still seeing souls being saved and given eternal; life in Jesus Christ!

A few days ago, I remember reading an acrostic for the word joy.

J Jesus first
O Others second
Y Yourself last

I understand that is the opposite of what every thing in this society tells you. But joy comes from putting Jesus first, others next, and ourselves last! That helps us keep our problems in perspective too, when we see how others are doing!

THERE IS ALWAYS SOMEONE WHO HAS IT TOUGHER THAN YOU DO! Find them, and help them, AND YOU WILL FIND NOT ONLY JOY, but the strength to hang in there and finish the course God gave you.

And finally tonight, we need to

C.     Look at Christ's Living, not dying.

Vs. 11 one of the differences you'll find between the Catholics and us is that they use a cross with Christ still hanging there. We use a cross with Christ come off it. While we do not want to minimize what Christ did when He died on the Cross we also don't want to get stuck there. Christ not only died and was buried... HE ROSE AGAIN HE ROSE TRIUMPHANT HE ROSE VICTORIOUS, and HE ROSE GLORIFIED And His triumph translates to our triumph today His victory translates to our victory today, And his glory works for our glory too!

If all we picture, when we picture Christ, is Him hanging on the cross... We will have a dead and defeated religion. But if, whenever we see Christ, we see him as Stephen did, IN HEAVEN AND STANDING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD!

Now, we have a faith that is alive powerful, and filled with promise and hope! And that, my beloved, is the number one tool to keep you, Hanging in there!