DON’T LOSE HEART
2 Corinthians 4:13-18
Pastor Jeremy Mattek – May 28, 2017
John Litchford is a Deputy Chief of the Milwaukee Fire Department. A little over a month ago, he was driving over the Hoan Bridge on his way home when he noticed a car pulled over on the side of the bridge and a young lady standing next to it. He slowed down when he saw her, thought she was acting kind of strange, and noticed she was crying. So he pulled over to the side of his road, got out of his car, and pretty quickly figured out that this woman was planning to jump. He got on his radio and called for help and then stepped toward the woman and started engaging her in conversation. He asked what was bothering her and then asked her to tell him about her family, her life, and her children. And she did; for long enough that eventually a professional FBI negotiator showed up and was able to talk her away from the edge of the bridge. It was a safe ending to a stressful situation, and one that this particular woman, at the beginning of the day, probably didn’t see coming. After all, she was there ready to give up of life because she had given up holding on to any hope that anything good could ever happen again.
Situations like that on a bridge aren’t common to everyone, but I do believe that the feeling of discouragement in that woman’s heart is. I don’t know what it was that was bothering her, but I know there are all sorts of reasons someone might have a hard time moving forward in life.
Maybe a relationship has gotten beyond frustrating. Maybe you invested time or money in something that didn’t turn out how you were expecting. Maybe the doctor had news you weren’t anticipating. Maybe the treatment’s been difficult and has gone on for just one day too long. Maybe it’s painfully obvious that your body just can’t do the same things you did when you were young. Maybe your child has a health challenge you weren’t ready for, or you see them going through life pretty well convinced their faith is entirely gone. Maybe you got some unexpected, but deserved, criticism. Or maybe life is just really hard at the moment. The feeling of wanting to give up can come from anything and hit anyone. If you’ve ever felt it, you’re not alone. And Jesus knows that.
His Word for us this morning is both an acknowledgement that life can be pretty discouraging sometimes, but also a reminder of why the troubles of life don’t have to stop you from moving forward with confidence.
13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With 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 in his presence.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. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
There’s an important word right at the beginning of verse 16, and that is the word “therefore.” We’ve mentioned this before, but anytime you see a “therefore” on the pages of Scripture, you have to ask yourself an important question. You have to ask yourself what it’s there for.
The Apostle Paul makes a very important statement in that verse. He says that “we do not lose heart.” In other words, Paul believes we have a reason to move forward in life no matter where you are, no matter what has happened, no matter what kind of challenging situations you’re facing. But that belief is based on something. “Therefore we do not lose heart.” What’s that “therefore” there for? Why does Paul believe we don’t have to lose heart? A lot of reasons, actually. Some that deal with the future, some that deal with the present, and some that deal with the past. Let’s start with the future.
When our family first received the call to serve the church in Florida, we gave our kids an assignment. For our family devotions in the Word of God each of the kids were given the task of picking a bible verse or a bible story that they thought would have good advice for anyone holding a call or considering a career change. They all did a really great job, and I’ll probably find a way to work in all their bible stories and applications into future sermons, but I want to tell you about the verse Kaylee chose. She took us to the book of Revelation, chapter 7, verses 9-10.
9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.10 And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
And her point was this: We already know how this turns out. We already know that the great multitude of Christians from Milwaukee and Florida and every other place on the planet, both those we know, as well as those we will not meet until we get to heaven, will one day be together again. If any member of this church ever has to say goodbye, it’s goodbye just for a little while. And if there are Christians in other places you get excited to meet, one day you will, even if you never see them on earth.
This is one of the points that Paul’s “therefore” is based on. In verse 15 he says, “we know that the one who raised Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus.” In other words, we already know our future. And we already know who it’s with. The end of that verse says all believers will be in heaven in the presence of Jesus. Literally, it says, “Jesus will stand with you.”
Donald Driver was a member of the Packers a number of years ago. A nice guy. One year when Kaylee was very young, we dressed Kaylee in a little Packers cheerleader outfit and took her to Packers Training Camp in Green Bay. And after practice for the team was done, we were walking along a fence toward the stadium when we noticed Donald Driver walking along the other side. We wanted a picture of Kaylee with Donald Driver, so we stopped him and asked if we could hand our daughter over the fence. Now how would you smile if you were getting your picture taken with Donald Driver? Kaylee screamed her head off. Donald Driver standing next to her didn’t make her feel much better.
But how big would you smile if you knew that Jesus himself, the compassionate, merciful, forgiving, powerful Savior, were standing right next to you? Paul says that one day you’ll see that with your eyes. So do not lose heart. We know what’s coming in the future. Remember the future so that you do not lose heart as you go through your troubles and afflictions.
Speaking of those, did you notice what Paul called your troubles and afflictions? He called them “light and momentary.” Is that how you look at your troubles? Is that what you would consider Paul’s? If you go back one chapter in 2 Corinthians, Paul goes into detail about the troubles in his life.
23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
That doesn’t sound easy. And yet Paul says it is – but only in comparison with something. They are light and easy in comparison to one big promise we get to live with in the present; that God is using our troubles to “achieve for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
My grandfather could build anything. He could also take anything apart. And if you went into his workshop you saw something about him. He kept every piece from everything he took apart. He had jars and jars filled with random pieces of everything. He saved them all; not because he knew exactly what he was going to use every piece for, but because he thought it might become useful later for something. Every piece had a purpose. Either one on the present, or one down the road yet. There’s an alarm clock that has been by the side of my bed since long before Karen and I met. My grandpa put this together – with pieces from many different things.
Every piece has a purpose. And God believes the same thing about your pain. God doesn’t allow any piece of your life to go to waste. Paul says he’s going to use your pain in one of two ways – to reveal the glory of God to others (like he does so well with the life of Job), or he’s going to remind you of the glory in heaven that is coming by reminding your heart that earth is not it. Sometimes our hearts get a bit too attracted to the comfort and pleasures and treasures of this earth. And so sometimes God takes those things away to keep our lives in perspective, so that we will remember that heaven is our home and that earth isn’t. God uses the pain in the present for the same reason he did with Job, and Joseph, and David, and Israel at the Red Sea - to direct our attention to him – so that we can see again the future he promises us, the fact that he never left them in the present, and also to see something very significant about his past.
I want to share a story with you that happened in the past; not very long ago in the past, just a little over a week ago. It’s graduation time all over the country. Bryce Swartz graduated this year from Norton High School in Akron, Ohio. Bryce is 20-years-old and was born with sever spina bifida, paralyzed from the chest down. He’s suffered a lot. He’s had over a dozen surgeries. But he’s come a long way. Doctors didn’t think he’d make it past 18 months. And in addition to graduating, he was voted this year’s Homecoming King. But he had never walked. And he wanted to. For graduation, he wanted to walk across the stage on his own feet.
So a year ago, he started training and practicing many hours a day. He had to be fitted with special braces and work with quad canes, which require an unreal amount of endurance, mental focus, and upper body strength. Finally, it was the day of his graduation. His father was waiting on the opposite side of the stage holding his diploma. When his name was called, Bryce’s physical therapist let go of him and watched as Bryce took his first step, and then another, and then another, eventually walking all the way to his dad who was holding his diploma for him. Bryce had been through a lot. But he kept going.
And you can too. Not because you have a diploma waiting for you. But because the God who is holding your future, and using your pain for a purpose in the present, did something really significant in the past. He kept going – through the pain of the nails, the rip of the whip, the piercing sting of the twisted thorns, and even the rejection of those who should have loved him the most. He kept going. Not because it was easy. Not because the pain was light or momentary. But because he wanted everyone who has ever felt weak, fragile, vulnerable, guilty, or broken, could know that they will one day wear a crown of glory.
And that’s where Paul tells us to focus our attention when life is not smooth or light or easy. “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.” In other words, we live by faith, which is exactly what Paul means in verse 13: “I believe, therefore I have spoken.” We believe in a God whose care for our lives is perfect in the past, present, and future. And so we now have something to say to ourselves or to anyone else whenever we are tempted to lose heart about anything.
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