Speaking of Faith

Hello everyone. As many of you know we hold weekly prayer meetings using Zoom technology. During these meetings we share updates on the lives of those closest to us. We hear heart-wrenching stories of the tough situations facing friends and neighbours. The litany of problems includes terminal cancer and a wayward son who was incarcerated but now released and turning to alcohol and drugs as self-administered treatment for his mental pain. We learned of one woman who was hit by a truck while bicycling over a year ago and is still experiencing mind numbing pain. Recently we heard about a senior couple who were hospitalised for a Covid-19 infection. For those of us who lead the prayer meetings it can be a very heavy experience. Sometimes there is a strange ache in our chest as the prayer warriors beseech God for healing, comfort and peace on the loved ones who are caught up in their misery. You may not be part of our Tuesday night prayer group, but do you ever feel pressed on every side, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down? If so, you are in good company with the author of the passage for today's message. The apostle Paul's life certainly doesn't make him a poster boy for any "health and wealth" gospel. Paul was no stranger to pain and misery. Throughout his second letter to the Corinthians, we find accounts of Paul experiencing all kinds of afflictions from beatings, shipwrecks, and other near-death situations. But Paul seems to take all of this as par for the course in a life of faith. That's why he can identify with being pressed on every side, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. In fact, this is the list he makes just prior to our text for today. Only he doesn't list these afflictions alone. He adds to each one a "but not" statement: 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (NIV) 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. The eyes of faith do not blind us to suffering but enlighten us to see that suffering doesn't get the last word. For Paul, and for us who live a life of faith, all afflictions can be acknowledged with a similar "but not" attitude. With this "but not" attitude Paul begins our section of 2 Corinthians with, "It is written." 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 (NIV) 13 It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." Since we have that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 5 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Please take note that Paul does not attempt to speak about suffering and affliction apart from what is written in the Scriptures. We will do well to follow suit. Our sufferings can often speak so loudly that we get confused and lost in the noise. When we are struggling with being "pressed on every side," we must read what is written in God's word to help us not be crushed. If we are "perplexed," God's word speaks a wisdom that keeps us from falling into despair. Are you being persecuted? God's word speaks to us personally with the reminder that we are not abandoned. And if you are struck down, there are plenty of accounts of renewal and resurrection to remind you that you will not be destroyed. Now let's look at what Paul wants us to hear from what "is written": 2 Corinthians 4:13 "I believed; therefore I have spoken." This is a quote from Psalm 116:10. Psalm 116:10 (KJV 1900) 10 I believed, therefore have I spoken; I am greatly afflicted. The rest of verse ten adds, "I am greatly afflicted." Psalm 116 is part of a section of psalms known as the Hallel psalms. These psalms depict the righteous who suffer but who rely on God as they cry out to him in their affliction. Faith, even during times of great affliction, enables us to speak to God and to speak to others about God. Look at how Paul earlier in this letter elaborates on this idea. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (NIV) 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. Have you experienced great trouble in your life and been comforted by God through it all? Are you a graduate of the school of hard knocks? Then you are an excellent person to extend comfort to others. After all, your personal testimony carries far more weight than some dusty theological tome. Paul had to defend his calling and authenticity as an apostle and therefore his calling to proclaim the gospel. In the culture of Corinth-as well as in our culture today-suffering and affliction would not be considered as evidence of someone worth following or listening to. Paul is referring to this psalm to establish that his speaking the gospel flows out of the same faith these writers of the psalms were speaking from. In other words, it is not "success" and culturally approved status that enables one to preach the gospel. It is faith in the one who is faithful and has called us to speak. In fact, speaking about the goodness of God and his faithfulness to us while we are in a trial is a huge testimony that God can be trusted. It's one thing to praise God when things are good, but quite another to praise him when pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. When I think of Paul showing incredible courage and resiliency in the face of his trials, I am reminded of one of the ladies in our GriefShare meetings. She is a nurse as was her late husband who succumbed to pancreatic cancer. One season of GriefShare spans 13 weeks. During that time we use a combination of workbook, videos, and small group discussion to help the attendees cope with the grief that they feel after losing a loved one. GriefShare is non-denominational but clearly faith based. We strongly encourage participants to look to God for help. These sessions can be quite emotional. This nurse was obviously experiencing deep mental anguish at the death of her husband. Every week she attended and wept profusely as she gave words to the pain she was experiencing. As facilitators we listened, prayed, and hoped but did not see her improve. However, like some other alumni, she returned for a second term of GriefShare. What a dramatic change! Now she was smiling and actually happy again. She regularly interjected her grief narrative with what became her favorite expression, "God is good." After several minutes later we would hear her say, "Did I forget to tell you? God is good!" She knew how grief had caused her to be hard pressed, crushed, perplexed but not destroyed. But she also knew that God had been good to her in her pain. Paul continues: 2 Corinthians 4:13-14 (NIV) Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. Paul here finds solidarity with the psalmist as having the "same spirit of faith." Notice he is not pointing to his own faith as qualifying him to speak. Faith itself is from the Spirit just as it was for the psalmists. Paul, the psalmists, you, and I are participants in that same faith. We may ask, then, whose faith are we talking about? Whose faith are we participating in? This is the faith of Christ. Only Jesus had perfect faith in the Father, trusting him completely even as he suffered death on a Roman cross. This is the "same spirit of faith" given to the psalmist, to Paul and to you and me to participate in. We do not, indeed cannot, produce our own faith. It is a gift of the Spirit. And notice the connection of belief with speaking. Speaking the gospel is possible only because of this belief that comes as a gift from God in Jesus Christ. So, proclaiming the gospel is grounded in the faith of Christ, not in one's own success or superiority. This kind of "faithful" proclamation does not point to one's own faith or an attempt to work up faith. Rather, it speaks of the one who is faithful, Jesus. In this faith, Paul also finds solidarity with the Lord Jesus and with other believers. Notice how his language is very communal. He uses "we" instead of just "I" as he writes. The solidarity he finds with Jesus, that includes others, is in the resurrection. Because we know that the Father will raise us up in Jesus' own resurrection, our tongues are loosed to speak, even when life looks like it is on the brink of death. Paul mentions how this will benefit us, namely that grace will spread, resulting in thanksgiving to God. Thanksgiving is a form of speaking; faith and speaking are connected. 2 Corinthians 4:15 (NIV) All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. The benefit Paul is speaking of here is our access to the Father through the faith of Jesus. It's a reversal of the fall of humanity found in Genesis 3. Jesus' gift of forgiveness through his death, and his gift of life through the resurrection, enables us to be in a personal and intimate relationship with the Father. This is something glorious to be thankful for. This is not simply good news for some future time when we will talk with God face to face, but it is good news for us right now in the present day. That is true even when we find ourselves pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. Even during our times of great sorrow and suffering we can still speak to the Father in faith, knowing that he hears us and will answer. We can also speak to others about this God in whom we trust. Our circumstances do not deceive us into thinking the Father is not trustworthy. I mentioned earlier that our prayer meetings can be very heavy so on one occasion I reminded the group of the apostle Paul's exhortation: Philippians 4:4-7 (NIV) 4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. There was no question that prayer and petition were a part of our meetings but in the midst of our lament it is easy to overlook Paul's exhortation to include thanksgiving in our requests to God. So I asked our participants to thank God. And some of the women rose to the challenge and took a few minutes to thank the Lord for his beautiful creation, for past healings, for good friends and for his never-failing grace in the midst of difficult circumstances. What about you? Do you balance your petitions to God with words of thanksgiving? I have it on good authority that we should. Back to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV) 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Paul boldly states, "Therefore we do not lose heart." For Paul, that is not just trying to put a spin on a bad situation. He's not saying just grin and bear it or offering some trite, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps comment. He has a real and solid reason to not lose heart-the reality of what God has done in Jesus Christ for the sake of the world. Because of this Paul wants us to know that we will look at our sufferings very differently. He uses comparative language to make his point. Paul is not making some Manichaean or dualistic statement here that discards our bodily existence in favor of some ethereal "spiritual" existence. Paul knows and teaches the real hope of a bodily resurrection. What Paul is doing is contrasting that which is temporary with that which is permanent. This is clear with our last verse for the day: 2 Corinthians 5:1 (NIV) For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. The faithfulness of God frees us from putting our faith in things that do not last. They are only "earthly tents" made for temporary purposes. This is a word of encouragement where we do not lose heart as we experience suffering. Compared to the eternal and weighty reality God is building in us, we can see our troubles as "light and momentary." Frankly, I don't know how often our troubles feel "light and momentary" when we are in them, but that is indeed what they are, especially compared to what God will complete in us. When we "fix our eyes" on this reality then we will be free to speak in a way that brings glory to God in our troubles. Imagine how little weight we will place on things and circumstances that would normally weigh us down. Whether it be our bodies and health, our homes and finances, our cities and our nations, the pandemic or anything else that is temporary, we can hold onto them lightly. When they become hardships of the kind Paul is listing, they cease to have any power over us that can keep us from speaking to God or about God. We will still be free to call out to God knowing he is faithful and good to us, and we will be free to speak to others about the gospel that has set us free. As we near the end of our time together let me personalize Paul's message into a prayer of affirmation to our Father in heaven. Lord, I may be hard pressed on every side, but I am not crushed. I may be perplexed but I am not in despair. I may be persecuted but not abandoned. I am struck down but not destroyed. I know what is written in your word. I take comfort from the same spirit of faith that guided Paul and other faithful servants of yours. I know that you who raised Jesus from the dead will give me eternal life. I may be wasting away as advancing years slowly rob me of the strength that I had in my youth, but you are renewing me inwardly day by day. Yes, there are troubles in this life, but they are light and momentary and are achieving an eternal glory that outweighs them all. I do not fix my eyes on what is unseen since what I see around me is temporary. What is unseen is in your realm and is eternal. I know, Lord, that this earthly tent that I live in will eventually be destroyed but I also know that there is a building from you that is an eternal home not built by human hands. I thank you, Father, for the faith that I have because of the faithful one, your son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Messiah. To him be honor and glory forevermore! In His blessed name. Amen. Word count: 2855 Estimated time: 24 minutes. Sermon Speaking of Faith0Page 1 of 1 Keith M. Roberts0New Life Christian Fellowship0June 6, 2021