Never Give Up (2 Cor. 4:1-6)

Introduction

· Please turn with me to the letter of 2 Corinthians.

· Review: being transformed into the image of Christ from one degree of glory to another, and we do this as we fix our eyes on Christ. This process is slow, painful, and there are many obstacles.

· Read 2 Cor. 4:1-6

· Paul makes a profound statement in verse 1. “We do not lose heart” (1). Cf. also 4:16. – Gk. engkakeo. > κακόs, bad, cowardly. Lit., “to do the bad.” A. “to lose one’s motivation in continuing a desirable pattern or conduct or activity, lose enthusiasm, be discouraged.” B. To be afraid or “lose heart” in the face of great difficulty (BDAG). Failing to hold out successfully; to give up, become discouraged, lose heart (ANLEX). A fairly clinical definition, but something that probably every one of us have faced.

· 2 Thess. 3:13 As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.

· Gal. 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season, we will reap, if we do not give up.

· (Both of these passages contain a play on words between “grow weary – to act badly or give into evil – and doing good, καλός).

· I shared last night a couple statistics on Twitter/Facebook - 20% of teens struggle with depression. More than 16 million adults had a major depressive episode in the past year.

· THREE SOURCES OF ENCOURAGEMENT:

1. The Mercy of God (1-2)

· Paul has been assigned a special ministry (2:17; 3:6; 5:18).

· This assignment came as a result of the “mercy” of God. To show pity or great concern, to help out of a sense of sympathy and compassion.

· 1 Pet. 1:3 According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope.

· Luke 1:50 Mary’s Magnificat. And his mercy is for those who fear him, from generation to generation.

· Paul could have easily grown discouraged.

o Spiritual Attack. Paul has been physically beaten, and is being constantly slandered. Accused of being afflicted by God out of discipline, flaky, manipulative, uncaring, and greedy. And we’re only starting chapter 4! The Corinthians have been listening to these lies, and now they’re starting to believe them.

o Spiritual Malpractice. “Disgraceful, underhanded ways” (4:2)

o Spiritual Blindness. (see v. 4)

· And yet, Paul recognizes that God sought him out, took interest in him, and treated him far better than he deserved. God could have sent him to heaven, but chose instead to crown him with eternal life. He could have made a spectacle of Paul, but instead God gave Paul the great privilege of becoming a minister of the gospel.

· The mercy of God is on Paul’s mind when he writes in 1 Timothy 1:12–15 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

· What causes discouragement in your life? A wayward child. The moral decay of our society. That you are not progressing more quickly as a Christian. That you keep stumbling into sinful habits. Financial setbacks. Chronic pain.

· God’s mercy puts everything back into perspective. We shift from “what did I do to deserve this?” to “I’m so thankful God doesn’t treat me the way I really deserve.”

· Stuart Scott – “Anything better than hell is a blessing.”

2. The Glory of Christ (3-4)

· Christ is the light

· 1 John 2:8–10 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.

· Our greatest source of light is the sun. Gen. 1 even calls it the “greater light.” Pouring into our windows is light from the sun. The sun is a star measuring 364,000 miles in diameter. The earth, by comparison, is 7,917 miles across. You could line up 108 earths side-by-side. If you could hop in your mini-van and take a road trip from one edge to the other, traveling at a steady pace of 70mph, day and night, it would take you almost a year and a half (509 days). The Sun is powered by a process called nuclear fusion. It is almost an endless supply of renewable energy. “there is an estimated loss of about 8 billion tons of matter every second, nonstop. In fact, the sun gives off more energy in one second than mankind has produced since the Creation…only about 2 billionths of the sun’s total energy output actually hits the earth. The great majority streams off into space in other directions. Consider the alternative: If the earth’s solar energy amount [simply] doubled – to four billionths of total ouput, our water would evaporate and the planet would become too hot to sustain life. There is incredible precision and design in this world.

· Putting on sunglasses. Does not dim the glory of the sun. You have just put personally

· A blind person cannot see the sun, not because of the impotence of the sun, but the limitation of the person.

· The god of this world.

· John 14:30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me,

· Ephesians 2:2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—

· The parable of the sower. Four different kinds of soils – hard, stony, thorny, and good. The seed represents the word of God.

· John 6:63–68 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,

· 3. The Miracle of Creation (5-6)

· We proclaim Christ.

· A direct reference to Genesis 1:2–5 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep... And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

· Darker than the darkest cave.

· Suddenly, light flooded into this universe.

· The same God has shone in our hearts. Another kind of “creation” has occurred!

· Cf. 2 Cor. 5:17 therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Conclusion

· The Mercy of God, the Glory of Christ, the Miracle of Creation.

· Crossing the Finish Line. Runners World: For Devon Bieling, a 30-year-old registered nurse, 26.2 miles was not an outlandish dream. She’s been running since 2009 and completed her first Ironman in 2013 (while in nursing school, mind you). Since then, she has completed six half-Ironmans, along with sprint and olympic triathlons. But even experienced runners can have unexpected race days…On Sunday, August 20, Bieling ran the Tunnel Vision Marathon in North Bend, Washington, hoping to achieve a Boston Marathon qualifying time…She had a great race until mile 18, where she took a nasty fall…Bieling picked herself up and moved on, struggling through the last eight miles. She said the final five kilometers of the race felt unending, as if she would never make it to the finish…She still can’t really explain what happened, or what was wrong with her body, other than her legs “were toast” and maybe she should have consumed more calories on the course. With the finish line in sight, her legs finally gave way…Bieling tried pushing herself up into a squat position, but was unsuccessful. Knowing any outside assistance would disqualify her from a BQ, she started to crawl. The path was gravel, so it didn’t take long before her hands and knees began to bleed from the sharp rocks. With the clock ticking, she knew there was no time to waste. She just had to cross the line. So, she rolled…Philip King, one of the Tunnel Vision participants, witnessed Bieling’s epic finish and recorded the whole thing. Before she knew it, the video went viral. Suddenly thousands of people had seen her barely hanging on, all fours on the ground. But once she saw the positive comments and reactions from total strangers and read stories of how her finish inspired others, she became grateful. -- https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a20861726/this-woman-literally-rolled-her-way-to-a-bq-time-after-collapsing/