|
|
|
WHERE IS GOD WHEN IT HURTS? LIFE THROUGH DEATH INTRODUCTION What is it that most clearly shows the existence of God, the love of
Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit? In short, I want to know what
is the most powerful evidence in the world that the gospel of Jesus Christ
is true? I’m not just wondering about the big picture, but in
your own life, what shows the reliability and value of Jesus most? Most
people say that the truthfulness of the gospel, the power and love of
God is revealed best in the successful and miraculous lives that Christians
live. Successful marriages, successful children, successful churches,
successful jobs, successful investments, successful minds and bodies all
give evidence to God’s love and power. Regular, verifiable miracles are
what prove that Jesus is real and powerful. It has been a tactic of the
church in One of the principal confirmations that this is how we have presented
the gospel is to look at whom we put forward as the main spokespersons
for the gospel. Who shares their testimonies at Billy Graham crusades?
What kind of people do we get to “market” the faith? Professional athletes,
entertainers, politicians, successful businessmen are the usual choices
to talk about Christ. People who have experienced really big miracles
are the ones who write the books that sell in the Christian market. Whether
they mean to communicate it or not, the message is simply this, “Trust
in Jesus and you can be cool and successful like this too. Follow Christ
and miracles will happen in your life.” This has led many, if not most,
professing Christians in This is the exact opposite argument that the Bible uses to prove the authenticity of the gospel of Christ as humanity’s only and best hope, as your only and best hope. In 2 Cor. 4: 7-15 Paul states 4 times that something results in the life, power and glory of Christ being made evident. In this passage Paul is seeking to describe the kind of life that reveals the greatness of Christ. It is not the kind of life that most of us would imagine. He says, MAIN POINT The genuineness of Jesus is most obvious in people who…I. Live a dying life (vv. 7-11) (NOTE: this first point is the longest. I changed the outline. There are only three points now.) In verse six Paul attempts, in a few words, to sum up the magnificence of being a Christian. He compares the glory of becoming a Christian to the glory of creation. The conversion of a sinner by God’s word of command is on the same level as what happened when God spoke into the darkness of nothingness and made light. The creation of a single Christian is as great a miracle as the creation of galaxies and supernovas out of nothing. Just as a universe came into existence when God spoke into the dark and light came into existence, so, when God speaks into the darkness of a human heart we become the recipients of “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” There is in every Christian, light, which is the knowledge of the glory that belongs to God alone that we behold and love in the person of Jesus. In v. 7, when Paul says, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay…”; the treasure is this knowledge of God’s glory in Christ. Notice that Paul begins v. 7 with a word of contrast. He says, while this amazing miracle has taken place in the life of every Christian we need to remember that the treasure is contained in a clay pot. Why does Paul want us to know this? First, he wants us to understand that the reason we are filled with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God is not because we’re such valuable containers. God didn’t look through the 6 billion human vessels and then picked out all the gold ones to put in the treasure of Christ. Knowing God in Christ is not given to any individual because we are worthy receptacles of this knowledge. Second, he wants us to know that even though we have this amazing treasure in us, we are still clay pots. So many Christians believe, because they’ve been told it’s true, that the power of God is so much upon them that their experience is pretty close to what it will be in heaven. You won’t struggle much with sin. You’ll be able to win thousands of people to Christ. You’ll be able to stay healthy and others will get healthy because you pray for them. Life will go better with Christ. In short, the way that many describe the Christian life you’d think we were elegant golden vases, not clay pots. But clay pots is what we remain even though we contain such a valuable treasure. The reason God leaves us as clay pots is so that it will be clear that it is the treasure within us that is valuable, not us. Christians aren’t interested in being noticed, they are interested in Jesus being noticed. We know we are clay pots and we expect to be treated as such. However, we are clay pots with this difference, the light of Christ is in us, the power of God himself dwells within and so when power is seen in us, it is plain that it doesn’t come from us, because we’re clay pots. I love how Eugene Peterson paraphrases this verse in his paraphrase of the NT, “The Message”; “If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at.” How does this work? How can people look at us and see the power of God in Christ “in the unadorned clay pots of our lives”? Well, that’s what Paul describes in vv. 8-11. The way a clay pot shows forth the glory of the treasure within is to be smashed with the hammer of suffering, but not be destroyed. In vv. 8-9 Paul talks about four different hammers that come against clay pot Christians. First, he says we are afflicted in every way but not crushed. The word that Paul uses here is the general word for suffering of all varieties. Every way that trouble comes to human beings, it comes to the Christian. The power of God, the glory of the gospel is seen in that it doesn’t crush us. When we lose our job we are not paralyzed by fear or overcome with rage. We don’t stop going to church or complain that God doesn’t love us. We don’t take it out on our family or bury the pain with alcohol. We persist in faith and keep loving our family and neighbors and work hard to get another job. We don’t lose our joy or hope because God is our treasure, not money. The second hammer is the hammer of perplexity, uncertainty. We often, as Christians, don’t know what to do. We don’t know what would be the best course of action. We don’t know how to help others or how to resolve thorny disputes. We don’t understand why things are happening as they do or what purposes God has for us. We don’t know how to our help our child who overeats or deal with an angry spouse. Being a Christian in this world of sin is often a confusing and perplexing business. Nevertheless, Paul says, the power of God shines through our lives because even though we are perplexed we are never in despair. Why do Christians not despair in the midst of perplexity? Paul doesn’t say here but I think he gives the answer in 1:8-9. There he says that he was under so much pressure that he was despairing of life. But he says we know this happened for a reason and that reason is so that we will not depend on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. We don’t despair because while we may not understand what is happening we know that God does and that he is in control and is using this for good purposes. I can’t tell you how many times people have confronted me with complex difficulties in there lives and I have no idea how to help them or what they should do. But I don’t panic because I am able to say with conviction, “Let’s think about God’s purposes in this trouble.” There is never any need for despair because God is sovereignly working in even the most complicated difficulties for good. The third hammer is the hammer of persecution. Paul felt more than anyone except Jesus the blows of this hammer and so when he says that in the midst of persecution he knew the presence of God, you can be sure that no matter how you might be harmed for being a Christian, you will never be forsaken. When you are being attacked by others, with no one on your side, that’s when you are most prone to feel forsaken. But Paul says, in the midst of persecution we are not forsaken and so we bear it and live through it and keep going in spite of it. This causes the glory of Christ to shine through us. Humans don’t keep loving others when those they love treat them like dirt unless the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ dwells within. The fourth hammer Paul mentions is the hammer of being struck down. This is a very vivid and strong word. It’s the kind of word you would use to describe what happened to the World Trade Towers, they were thrown down by violence. It is the word that you would use to describe the worst possible thing that you can imagine happening to you. Paul says, that even when the worst possible thing happens, we are not destroyed. The word he uses for destroy is the same one he used 6 verses earlier in v. 3. It is the same word as “perishing”. When the worst possible thing happens to you, even though it is terrible, it is not hell. In fact, no matter how bad it is, you will never be destroyed forever in hell and that is a great thing. In the security of this knowledge the power of the gospel shows forth. The Christian realizes that he or she deserves to go to hell and so while we endure great suffering here, we know we will never experience the wrath of God in hell and so we hold fast and rejoice in the fact that we are never going to perish. In vv. 10-11 Paul universalizes his experience to the entire Christian community. He twice says that the Christian life is always a dying life. Please don’t miss that little word, “always.” It is the regular, ongoing experience of Christians to carry around the dying of Jesus in their bodies; to constantly be handed over to death for Jesus’ sake. If you think that when you become a Christian you are guaranteed a trouble free life of health, wealth and success of every kind, you are sadly mistaken. If you are under the impression that being loved by God means that God guarantees you a comfortable middle class lifestyle, think again. Paul says the Christian life follows the pattern of our Lord in that it is a suffering life. Our sufferings are not identical. Some of us are martyrs but most of us are not. Some of us lose our children, some of us lose our jobs and some of us lose our minds. All of us give up our demand to be happy in this life. All of us, like Jesus, die to our rights in order to love others. All of us are delivered over to various kinds of suffering by our loving Father for the sake of Jesus. This happens so that the life of Jesus might be revealed in our bodies, in our mortal flesh. Ultimately this is talking about the life of Jesus being made evident in us on the great day of resurrection. However, it also is referring to his ability to fill us with joy and hope in the midst of the most severe trials. In the movie, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, a professor of archaeology, Indiana Jones, seeks to find the lost Ark of the Covenant. He is in a race to find it before his arch nemesis finds the ark and turns it over to the Nazis. The value of the Ark is seen in the energy expended and the pain endured in order to obtain it. Armies are mobilized, millions of dollars are spent, hundreds of men suffer (Indiana Jones the most.) and scores die in order to find the ark. It is the cost of obtaining the ark that shows its value. Obtaining the ark is what motivates Indiana Jones to undergo such enormous suffering. In the romantic comedy, “Kate and Leopold”, Meg Ryan, who plays Kate, leaves behind the presidency of the company she has worked for, a long coveted position, in order to marry Leopold. The depth of her love and the value of Leopold to her are clearly revealed in her joyful renunciation of what she had long lived for. She dies to herself for the sake of Leopold and she does it because she believes that to be married to Leopold is better than being the president of a company. It is a fact that the value of an object or person is most clearly seen, not when we are enjoying the thing or person but in the costs we are willing to pay in order to obtain what we love. The more people who are willing to expend their resources and endure hardship to obtain it, the more obvious is the value of the object. In the same way as these two movies portray, Christians forsake pleasure here and endure suffering here for the sake of knowing Jesus. The value of Christ is seen when we gather and sing songs of praise and offer prayers of thanks with full stomachs, having come from air-conditioned homes and now sitting in air conditioning. It does honor Christ to give thanks for our health, comfortable homes, beautiful children. However, is it not clear that the greatness of Christ is revealed in more profound ways when Sudanese Christians gather in secret, not having eaten for two days and after having their homes burned down and some of their children taken into slavery and yet worship Christ and persist in loving one another? Does it not show forth the honor of Christ in great ways when you are dying of cancer and yet cook a meal for your neighbor whose husband just died? The joy we have in the midst of the suffering and the perseverance we exhibit point to and prove the greatness of the life of Jesus. It is our being hammered on by suffering and yet not being crushed that reveals the life of Jesus most clearly. The genuineness of Jesus is most obvious in people who… · Live a dying life · And who… II. Give life by dying (vv. 12 & 15a) In v. 12 Paul makes the point that his experience of always carrying around in his body the dying of Jesus results in the life of Jesus in them. That is also what he says in the beginning of v. 15. The “all this” refers to all his suffering that he endures to bring them the gospel. Do you see Paul’s logic? He suffers, a lot, because he is a follower of Christ. This suffering reveals the glory of Christ who motivates and enables the suffering. As others see Christ in Paul’s suffering, they also embrace Christ. Being willing to die for a cause does not prove that the cause is worthy of respect and trust. The Sept. 11 terrorists were willing to die for Allah by killing their enemies. They showed their love for Allah by hating their enemies. However, Christians reveal the greatness of Christ by loving and dying for their enemies. This is the great difference between the life of Jesus in us and the life of Allah in the suicide bombers. We love Jesus and so we love to give our lives away for our enemies in love, not in killing our enemies in hatred. I’m not sure how familiar you are with the story of Mark Burnham the missionary that was captured by extremist Moslems a year ago and who died in June during a rescue attempt. His wife has told how he often would help the other hostages and his captors. He would cheerfully carry extra baggage to lighten the load of his persecutors. When they would chain him up each night he would thank the guard who chained him and wish him a good night. It is when we deny our rights and love our enemies that the life of Jesus shines through us. But it is not only missionaries and martyrs who do this. Every ordinary Christian lives this way. Let me share with you a way that I failed to give life by dying this past week so you can see by my negative example what Paul is saying here. I came home late one night this week from seeing Jared to find the counter top above the dishwasher piled high with dishes. The dishwasher was half full with the dirty dishes I had loaded that morning before I left for work. Immediately I began to fume. My mind was full of thoughts condemning my children and congratulating myself for my virtuous hard work that deserved a break at the end of a long day. I sternly commanded one of my children to come and load the dishes. Mercifully God helped me to not let out the full venom that I felt within but I still made a couple of harsh judgments about her character. I continued in my pity party until I went to bed and so had little interaction with any member of my family. Here is what I failed to do. I failed to die with Jesus to my right to come home to a clean kitchen. I failed to die to my right to be appreciated and loved by my family for all my hard work. So I was angry and did nothing that evening to love my family. Death was not at work in me so that life could be at work in them. If I were living as a clay pot with a treasure in it, I would have seen the messy kitchen and not been enraged by this lack of cooperation and appreciation for how hard my day was. I could have either cheerfully cleaned it myself or politely requested one of my children do it; minus the slams on the character. I would have then been able to interact with my family and perhaps even been able to get us to pray together before we went to bed, something we had not done together that day. We die to ourselves and endure the suffering of love so that the life of Jesus will be revealed in us, so that others will embrace and love Christ through us. The genuineness of Jesus is most obvious in people who… · Live a dying life · Give life by dying · And who… III. Are amazed at grace, not dying (vv. 13-15) In v. 13 Paul says that he possesses the same spirit of faith that the author of Psalm 116 possessed when he said, “I believed, therefore I spoke.” What Paul is doing is giving us the key to being a person who lives a dying life and yet through whom the life of Christ shines. He says the key is to believe and speak the same way the psalmist in psalm 116 spoke. I want you to turn back there with me to see what Paul is talking about. First we should note that the psalmist was in great despair prior to writing this psalm. Verse 3, “The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.” This is a description of not just some earthly trouble but also of a man who knows the weight of his sin and the condemnation that he faces because of it. Feeling the certainty of God’s wrath against him he cries out to the Lord and he is delivered. Notice v. 8, “For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living.” Here is the gospel of Christ. We are delivered from death and hell so that we might walk with the Lord in the land of life, that is heaven. Now, in v. 10 the psalmist tells us that it was his faith that caused him to speak when he was being afflicted. He would not have cried out to God if he would not have believed the promise of God. He would not have escaped the affliction without faith and the prayers of faith. The psalmist says that faith is the key that unlocked the door of his affliction. The Lord delivered him from his affliction by means of his faith. What the psalmist says in v. 8 Paul says in v. 14. Paul sees his situation parallel to the psalmists. He believes the promise of God in Christ and has called out to Christ and so he speaks of Christ’s deliverance. In v. 14 he says that the reason he is able to continue to believe and speak of the promises of God in the midst of his trials is because he is absolutely convinced that he is going to be raised from the dead with Jesus and presented with them in the presence of Jesus. Paul is dying every day both to the pleasures of this life for the sake of loving others and by enduring all manner of trouble for the sake of Jesus. How does he do this joyfully and still loving others? He knows he will be resurrected and will join these men and women for whose sake he has suffered in the presence of Jesus. It is the certainty of the resurrection that keeps him going. However, it’s not just that he is going to live forever in an immortal body that gets him excited. There are two things in vv. 14-15 that make the resurrection the focus of Paul’s life. First, he is going to be resurrected with Jesus. What makes heaven, heaven, is that Jesus is there. I heard John Piper ask this question in a sermon several months ago and I would like to ask it of you. If being in heaven meant that you would get to spend time with all your favorite friends and family; that you would get to enjoy all your favorite foods and spend time pursuing your favorite hobbies. If being in heaven meant that you were able to do all this in perfect health, with no fear of financial calamity or natural disaster or being harmed by violent men, but Jesus wasn’t there, would you want to go to heaven? I can tell you without hesitation what the apostle Paul would say, “Absolutely not.” Heaven is only heaven because Jesus is there. If he’s not there, then I don’t want to go. I really want to encourage you to confront yourself with this question today. What this question forces upon us is to consider if we are simply an American or a Christian. If heaven is the ultimate American dream with all your friends and without any risk but Jesus isn’t there, do you still want to go? But then notice the second reason Paul is looking forward to the resurrection. He points out that he will not be there alone but that they, the Corinthians, will join him in the presence of Jesus. Now why is he excited about them being present? Look at v. 15. Paul tells them that he has suffered all he has suffered so that they will be able to join him in the presence of Jesus. Why? So that this experience of God’s amazing grace will cause them and many others to give thanks to the glory of God revealed in their salvation. Do you see what Paul is saying? His ultimate goal isn’t their salvation but the glory of God in their salvation. He wants them to be eternally happy in Christ so that God is seen to be a great and gracious Savior of sinners. Ultimately, Paul’s life and suffering isn’t about him or those who come to Christ through him but about God being honored in the salvation of sinners. Paul is amazed at the grace of God now in saving him and that is what makes it possible for him to live a dying life in order to give life to others. This is what occupies Paul’s mind and heart. The vision of the great and final day when he and the countless millions of the redeemed will gather around the throne of God and of his Christ and pour forth with loudest praise the worth and value and power of this great God and Savior who has saved us and made us his own by his own suffering and death is what fills his mind and heart. I did not fully appreciate how important it was to fill our minds and hearts with this vision of the final day until Jared had his accident. Almost every day when I think of who Jared was and of who he has become I am overcome with sadness and begin to cry. But it is only moments before my mind and heart are filled with this thought; the day is coming when Jared and I and those I love will be resurrected and so live with and worship Jesus forever. I can honestly say that it isn’t simply the fact that Jared will be whole that fills me with joy. Rather it is the thought of us being in the presence of Jesus, rejoicing in his saving work. We will rejoice in the many ways that he has brought us through this and brought salvation to the lives of others through this. This trouble that we are facing is not forever, it will soon be over. All this sadness will be swallowed up by joy forever and ever as we live in the presence of Christ and worship him for the ways he has multiplied his salvation in our lives and the lives of many others. My dear friends, knowing that you are going to be resurrected and so trusting in the Christ who has gone before us and who guarantees that resurrection is the only way you will ever risk anything for love and endure the ways you are going to be handed over to death so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in your body. Having a mind and heart that believes that what Jesus promises to give us is better than the whole world and is overcome with amazement and gratitude for the glorious future that awaits us is the only way to endure a dying life that gives life to others. The genuineness of Jesus is most obvious in people who… · Live a dying life · Give life by dying · Are amazed at grace, not dying ©
Copyright 2002 John Swanson.
|