Incentives For Continuing On With Ministry

Transcript

GR 1801
3/22/2015
Incentives for Continuing on with Ministry
2 Corinthians 4:13-18
Gil Rugh

We're studying 2 Corinthians together, but before you turn to 2 Corinthians turn to John 15. This is a reminder for us of what Paul is talking about when he writes to the Corinthians. In John 15 this is Jesus' last evening with His disciples before His crucifixion and in John 15:12, “This is My commandment that you love one another just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slave, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; I have called you friends for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would remain so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another.”

Then we move from love to hate. “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” That's foundational to understanding the conflict between the believer and the unbeliever. It is rooted in the fact that Jesus Christ in sovereign love has chosen us, we belong to Him. Because of this the world hates you.

“Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake because they do not know the one who sent Me.” Then He assures them in verse 26, “When the Helper comes whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me and you will testify about Me.”

Now with that as a background come over to 2 Corinthians 4 where we have been focusing our study. And what Paul has been talking to the Corinthians about in this letter, particularly from 2 Corinthians 2:14 and it will run over to 2 Corinthians 7, is the ministry that God has given to him as an apostle. But not to him only but he is an example for those who belong to Christ and what they should expect in their ministry as well. It is a ministry of glory. The new covenant has been established with the coming of Christ, His death on the cross. He has been raised in victory. The ministry of the new covenant is a ministry of glory, we saw that in 2 Corinthians 3, particularly in verses 7-11. We noted the word glory used numerous times in those verses. But it's a ministry of glory in the context of suffering, trial and difficulty. Don't get confused and think the ministry of glory is a ministry of comfort and ease, that a ministry of glory is a ministry of popularity.

So Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:1, “Therefore since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy we do not lose heart.” That warns us, when he is talking about we don't lose heart, we have a great ministry, a ministry of glory, a ministry of greater glory than Moses had with the old covenant. It's a ministry of proclaiming of Christ, but it's a ministry of difficulty. It's a ministry that has to confront hearts hardened by sin, as he talked about at the end of 2 Corinthians 3. It's a ministry opposed by the work of the god of this world in 2 Corinthians 4:4. His goal is to prevent the glorious light of the Gospel from shining into the hearts of those who are lost in their sin.

So as we carry that ministry of the light and life of God in Christ to a lost and dying world, there will be opposition, there will be conflict, there will be suffering. And if we look at ourselves we might say we are not up to the task. God has chosen to work in a strange way. We might think when the God of heaven has His Son die on the cross to pay the penalty for sin, He wouldn't entrust the glory of that message to frail, weak, relatively worthless human beings. But that's what Paul says He has done.

In 2 Corinthians 4:7, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels,” clay pots. A treasure of incomparable value that can bring eternal life to a lost soul, can rescue a person from the destiny of hell to a destiny of heaven. And we have this treasure in clay pots—frail, weak, human vessels. “So that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.” God has a purpose in this.

When you share the Gospel with someone and God in His mercy and grace is pleased to open their eyes and they respond and believe, all the credit for the power that brought about the transformation of that life goes to God. People can see that you are nothing, I am nothing; this is God's plan in the world today. That means in light of what we read in John, the world hates us because it hates our Savior, it hates us when we bring the message of our Savior. The god of this world marshals the forces of this world to oppose us because our Savior has chosen us out of the world. As His children, as His followers, the goal of our lives is not to fit into the world but stand apart from the world, be identified with the One who loved us and died for us.

So Paul can say, “We are afflicted,” verse 8, as we have looked at these verses, “we are persecuted, we are crushed, we are struck down.” But to balance those things we are not crushed, we are not despairing, we are not destroyed, we are not forsaken. And all the opposition that comes, all the trials and difficulties and sufferings that come in our service for Him, God sustains us and cares for us. He doesn't protect us and keep us from the trials, but His grace sustains us and carries us through the trials.

Paul says, “We are always carrying about in our bodies the dying of Christ.” In other words we live, he said, in the face of death. Everywhere Paul went carrying the Gospel it had the potential it would be his last time. When he carried it to the northern Greek city of Philippi, what happened? They stoned him and left him for dead. He knew what it was to suffer but he says I am following in the path of the Savior who suffered and died for me. So I live every day in carrying the Gospel with the suffering that goes with that. In facing the reality I could die for my testimony for Him. But that enables the life of Christ to shine more clearly through me, to be seen more clearly.

So he summarized in verse 12, “Death works in us but life in you.” You know there is a problem in the Corinthian church, it's a problem that continues to today—false teachers had infiltrated among the church and they look a lot more appealing than Paul. Paul didn't have the personal presence, personal magnitude, that power of speaking in such a way that people are just drawn. These false teachers come and they seem to be everything Paul is not and they say, if he were really being used of God, would he have so much trouble? You realize everywhere Paul goes it's the same story—trouble, suffering, persecution. When you see him he is not much to look at, his personal appearance doesn't attract you. He's a pretty weak looking individual and he's not the best speaker you have heard. But Paul says death works in us. All the suffering, all the readiness to confront our own martyrdom has brought life to you, that's the testimony. That's right, I'm not much, but the message I bring to you is of incomparable value.

The church is always battling with this. I was reading a book recently and the man is writing from an evangelical perspective in the particular group he is part of. Terribly concerned. He says we have moved the focus from the simplicity and beauty of God's Word to the personalities of our superstars, men who have large ministries and dynamic personalities, and they conduct their meetings. And we look more like the world in the way we are putting the celebrities forward that we do about the ministry of God's truth. Remember His purpose is to use clay pots so He gets the glory.

So Paul is going to tell them how he ministers, what keeps him going. He's going to talk about two things in verses 13-18. (1) He really believes what God has said, so he continues to tell people in spite of the consequences that he experiences; and (2) he keeps his attention focused on eternal things, not physical things.

So he picks up in verse 13, “But having the same Spirit of faith according to what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke.” Paul basically says I have the same Spirit of faith, trusting in my heart and mind in the Word of God that the psalmist had when he wrote in Psalm 116:10, “I believe, therefore I spoke. We also believe, therefore we also speak.” Paul, what keeps you going? I really believe what God has said. We won't go back to Psalm 116, but you could do that maybe later today. And you read the context of that. Let me read you just one verse out of Psalm 116 and you see the context of what the psalmist is writing in when he says, I believe, therefore I spoke. “The cords of death encompassed me and the terrors of Sheol came upon me. I found distress and sorrow.” His experience was similar to Paul's when he said in 2 Corinthians 4:8, “we are afflicted in every way, we are perplexed, we are persecuted, we are struck down.” The psalmist, “the cords of death encompassed me.” Paul says, always carrying about the dying of Christ. I found the stress and sorrow, Paul did, too. But I am like the psalmist—I believe the promises of God, and the psalmist goes on to say that in the context of that psalm, and he found the promises of God, the Word of God true, sufficient. For Paul this is the natural, if I can say that, spiritual outworking of truly believing. I believe what God says, I believe the Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes; I believe apart from the power of the Gospel there is no salvation. I believe that, therefore I speak.

There is something incongruous, we say, I believe it but I keep it to myself. Paul was like Jeremiah who when persecution and suffering came, he says I determined the Word of God causes me so much trouble, I'll paraphrase for you, I determined I was not going to speak about Him anymore. He said His Word was in my heart like a burning fire, I couldn't contain it. That's what Paul is saying. I believe it, I can't not speak about it, it's real, it's true. You stop and think, do I really believe that the Gospel is the power of God for salvation? Do I really believe there is no other way of salvation but by hearing and believing the Gospel.

Back up to Romans 10. Paul lays out very clearly in this unfolding of the truth of the Gospel. He says in verse 8, “What does the Scripture say? The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we are preaching.” You don't need to go search heaven, you don't need to go search hell. If we could only know what God requires for our salvation. We know, it's the message of faith in the finished work of Christ that brings salvation. The end of verse 8, “This is the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness; with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” It's the natural outworking, if you will, when you believed in your heart and God has changed your life. The power of the Gospel has brought salvation. You speak, you tell people. Been around a new believer? What in the world? Tone it down. I want to tell everybody. Go and tell their parents, you were wrong, we can't be saved by baptism and going to church. Then everybody is upset. Then after a while we say, they will settle down.

Paul never settled down. I can't not tell you, I believe it. Sometimes you have to wonder, people who profess to be believers, do they really believe it? I believe it, I just don't speak it. That's not the way it works. I really believe it, I'm like the psalmist. Many centuries separate Paul from the psalmist but it's the same word, the same God, and I believe it and therefore I speak. So do you know the secret to what Paul is willing to go through suffering, willing to go through trial, willing to be perplexed. Paul, what keeps you going? I really believe it. I believe people are lost who don't hear it.

Come down to Romans 10:14. It's “whoever will call upon the name of the Lord,” verse 13. “How will they then call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher?” Without a proclaimer? Without a herald? Someone to come tell them. “How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things.” Nothing has changed. We talked about the psalmist, let's go back and talk about Isaiah. Same thing. How beautiful it is to go tell someone the Gospel. You bring them the good news. Not everyone is going to believe. That was true with the prophet also, verse 16. But you need to understand, here is the pattern— “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ.” That's it, that's the pattern. Just that simple.

People are going to be saved, they must hear the Gospel. Hearing the Gospel won't save them, but they can't believe in that which they have not heard. No one is ever saved who does not hear the truth that God has given. They must be told the Gospel. That's what Paul is talking about. I really believe that, you really believe that. Your closest family members are lost, those you work with are lost and on their way to hell. Someone has to tell them the Gospel. They may not respond and believe it, they may turn against you for telling them, but you understand they will never have opportunity to believe what they don't hear. That's what Paul says, that's what keeps me going. And every trial, every persecution, every time I share the Gospel and they react negatively and mobs turns against me and I'm beaten, stoned, I'm reminded, I really believe this. I must keep telling.

So come back to 2 Corinthians 4. Paul continues in verse 14, “Knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us with Jesus also and will present us with you.” You know we talk about as he did in verse 10, “always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord.” And then verse 11, “We who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake.” Paul just thought it was the natural situation, normal. Since Christ has chosen us, as we read in John 15, and the world hates us because Christ has chosen us, we're just going to live with constant reality. This may be our last day, the opposition may be intense enough. We are privileged to live in a country where it has not come to that degree, but for Paul it was that. And it will culminate in that. He writes his last letter, where is he? In a Roman prison, awaiting beheading. But what kept him going? He hasn't lost heart there, he still has his focus. “I've fought a good fight, I've kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord will give” to me and me only. No. “To me and all those who love His appearing.” They live in light of that truth.

So “I know that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.” I believe in the resurrection of the dead, I believe because I placed my faith in Christ He will some day and raise me from the dead. Paul lived in light of the imminent return of Christ, but he had not guarantee Christ would return before he died. Whichever way, that's fine.

Back up to 1 Corinthians 15. We come into a time of year when we focus attention on the resurrection of Christ. It is crucial. The resurrection of Christ guarantees the resurrection of all believers to life. Verse 14, “If Christ hasn't been raised, our preaching is worthless, vain. Your faith is vain.” Verse 17, “If Christ has not been raised your faith is worthless, you are still in your sins.” Verse 20, “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.” In other words His resurrection guarantees our resurrection. I am identified with Christ. I belong to Him. I've placed my faith in Him. I was identified with Him in His death, burial and resurrection; I have new life in Him and someday this frail, death-destined physical body will be transformed into conformity to the body of His resurrected glory. That's what is going to happen. We will be made alive in Christ. Paul talks further about that in 1 Corinthians 15.

Come back to 2 Corinthians 4. We believe that. We live in a world that is consumed with physical health. You can't even turn on TV, every commercial is about some kind of health thing. You either eat too much, or you don't eat enough, or you don't eat the right stuff, or you don't get this. I'm not against taking care of our bodies, fine. But this is not what it is. If the Lord doesn't come in a hundred years, none of you are going to be here. It's just the reality. But heaven will be there, that's what Paul says. And He will present us with you. This is where we are going. When I talk about the resurrection of Christ, the ultimate purpose of God is presenting us with you, Paul says. Presenting, we're going to be brought before the One, sometimes used in the book of Acts for being brought before a judge or a magistrate.

Come over to Colossians 1. I love this because the book of Colossians is written during one of Paul's imprisonments in Rome, what we call his first imprisonment. But you know he is not deterred, he is not discouraged. Why? What is his focus? In Colossians 1, it says in verse 19, “It was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness of deity to dwell in Christ.” It's all the fullness of deity in chapter 2 verse 9. But we go on. “And through Him,” through Christ, “to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” That's what Paul says I believe. Reconciliation has been provided in the death of Jesus Christ.

Verse 21, “Although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds” for all of sin. There is none righteous. We weren't saved because we were better, we were saved because God is gracious. “Yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death.” Why? “In order to present you,” there is our word, to present you “before Him holy, blameless, beyond reproach.” Look forward to the time when we are resurrected and brought before the throne of the triune God and there found to be holy, blameless, without spot, we who were formerly alienated, hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds. What a transformation. Paul says, I believe it, therefore I speak. How can we contain such a wonderful message? Well, I don't think they'd be interested; I don't know, they are pretty vile, I don't even like to be around them. It just makes me feel dirty. I'm glad God didn't deal with me that way. That's what I was, that's what you were. But He has reconciled us now to present us before Him holy, blameless, beyond reproach. That's why Paul can ask the question in Romans 8—who can bring a charge against God's elect? He declares us righteous, nobody can overrule Him. Paul said this is his ministry, the focus of his ministry.

Down in Colossians 1:28, “We proclaim Him,” Christ, “the hope of glory. We proclaim Him, admonishing every man, teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may,” here is our word, “present every man complete in Christ.” Why? Christ is the head of the body of which we are a part. We are instruments, slaves carrying out His will. Same purpose that God has to be presented holy, blameless, without spot. So we want to present you complete in Christ. We've done our part as His servants. “For this purpose I also labor, striving according to His power which works mightily within me.” Seems like a contradiction in terms—I labor, striving according to His power which works mightily. This clay pot, this frail and weak human vessel pouring every ounce of his strength into the work God called him to and God's power works mightily. It's all part of preparing the people to be presented before the throne of God as holy, blameless. How can we keep that to ourselves? Do we really believe it, that the vilest sinner you know, the most repulsive person you work with, God could transform his life? You don't know whether God will, but you know it won't happen if that person does not hear the Gospel because faith comes by hearing and they must hear the message of Christ. That's what keeps Paul going. I believe it, therefore I speak. But I know some of these people, the majority of these people are going to reject it and they are going to be hostile toward me for telling them. Makes no sense. We have the cure for the greatest disease, sin, and people hate us when we tell them. That's because it is a spiritual issue.

There are other passages we won't turn to. Ephesians 5:27, Christ is going to present His bride to Himself in all their completion and perfection. Paul will tell the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11:2 that he betrothed us to Christ and he wants to present us as a pure virgin. That's the constant goal, keep that, what our ministry . . . I believe it, I believe God's power is at work. It's not my faith that does it, but when I really believe it I can't keep it to myself. And when I give out the Gospel, that's the power of God. God then can work in lives.

Come back to 2 Corinthians 4:15, “For all these things are for your sakes so that the grace of God which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.” Paul is talking about all these trials, his afflictions, his living day by day in the face of impending death. All these things are for your sakes. I did it for you, Paul tells the Corinthians. It's not a sign of weakness, it's not a sign of inability. Death is working in us, verse 12, but life is working in you. Stop and think. How did you come to life in Christ? That weak, unimpressive little Jew told me the Gospel. Don't trade him in for a dynamic orator who corrupts the truth.

“All these things are for your sakes so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.” All Paul's trials and afflictions were for the benefit of others who needed to hear this Gospel. And God's grace is expanding, it's growing. More and more people are getting saved. Paul, just a small number. How many people in Greece? Add up all the people in Macedonia and Achaia together who have believed. And then what's the population of Greece? Paul is looking at it, it's amazing. Sinners are being saved. This is a message of God's grace, you can't earn salvation. God has done what has to be done but for you to benefit you must believe. God's grace is spreading to more and more people.

What's the result? The result is that more people are giving thanks which abounds to the glory of God. That's what it is all about, is it not? Back in 2 Corinthians 4:7, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels so the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not of ourselves.” Don't be amazed. The goal is not to exalt Paul, the goal is to have more people giving thanks to God for His grace, bringing honor and glory to Him. So it shouldn't surprise you that I am, yes, a person unimpressive, as he'll get to later in the letter, when you see me in person. Maybe I'm not the best speaker because the goal was not God's intention to exalt Paul. It's God's intention to exalt Himself, His grace, His power. Paul is simply an earthen vessel. Look around at the large ministries that aren't faithful to the Gospel. I'm not saying there aren't times God raises up special men, but it's not to bring honor to them. But the world flocks after the person. Wow, he's dynamic, he's appealing, he's attractive, he's successful.

There was an article in the paper some of us were talking about, one of these false teachers. He just appealed to his followers for $65 million so he could get a new jet. I mean, I'm an important person. The world needs me and I ought to get to the world in style. And then, don't you think there is something about it? Think what he is doing. Don't look at him at all. I think if we had Paul speak on Sunday morning, probably a lot of us wouldn't be back on Sunday night. How was he? He could hardly see over the pulpit, and then he looked like it was all he could do to get up the steps. And then I had to turn up my hearing aid because he didn't really project well. I'm sure his theology was good, but . . . But what?

Paul is not done. The goal, I believe it therefore I say it, I speak. And it's all to bring God glory. Verse 16, “Therefore we do not lose heart.” That's where we started back in verse 1, “Therefore since we have this ministry as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.” Same expression, we do not lose heart. Why does he have to keep saying this? Because the natural human response is not to want to keep going, is to lose heart, get discouraged. John Mark joined the first missionary journey, he didn't get very far and he thought, there is no future in this. I'm going home. Between the opposition, Paul's physical problems. John Mark came around, God wasn't done with him, but it tells you what it is like.

“We don't lose heart, though our outer man is decaying, our inner man is being renewed day by day.” Where Paul is going here, I not only speak because I believe it, I believe God's Word so I have to tell others. But I don't lose heart because I keep my focus on eternal things. We used to have the gospel song we would sing, with eternity’s values in view. That's what Paul is going to talk about.

“Therefore we do not lose heart, though our outer man is decaying,” present tense. He doesn't deny the fact that his physical body is deteriorating. Do you think the multiple beatings, the stoning, other things he had to go through didn't take their toll on his physical body? Plus he had the messenger of Satan that buffeted him and made it all the more difficult and seemed to magnify his physical weakness. “Though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” Two present tense verbs, these two things are going on consistently, simultaneously—his physical body is decaying and his inner man is being renewed. Paul doesn't see them in opposition. If I were only stronger, if I only didn't have this affliction. And he did think that would help. When we get to chapter 12, he prayed three times the Lord would remove some of that affliction brought by the messenger of Satan. God said, no, My grace is sufficient. Paul says, I glory in my weakness. God in effect tells me I can use you in greater ways in weakness than I can in strength. Sometimes we just get confused on this. If my body were stronger, had better health, if my finances were better, if I, if . . . Well, who put you where you are as you are? Do you believe in the sovereignty of God? Do you believe He is sovereign in your life? We've been studying Daniel in the evening and did Daniel say, if only I hadn't been removed from my homeland, how greatly I could be used of the Lord? Who put him in Babylon? If I didn't have this physical affliction, I could be used of the Lord. Do you think that physical affliction is contrary to the will of God for you? On it goes.

“Our outer man is decaying,” Paul says. And I don't deny the impact of all these trials, but “our inner man is being renewed” and it is day by day. It is constant and it is ongoing, the decaying. So don't think I get through that time of opposition, that time of difficulty, then we are home free. It's the way we like to think. To be used of the Lord means I have something to deal with every day…. every day. Is that discouraging? No, because that's not what I am focused on.

Verse 17, “For momentary light affliction,” three important words here. It is momentary, it is light, it is affliction. It is producing for us, three words, “eternal, weight, glory.” And you just can't compare the two. I'm going through momentary, it's for the moment, it's temporary; it's light; it's affliction. Wait a minute, being stoned and left for dead, being beaten multiple times so your back is lacerated and all the other things. Do you call that light? I don't. It is certainly affliction, we can agree on that. But Paul weighs it. We are getting the eternal compared to the momentary, something of weight compared to something that's light affliction compared to glory. How do you compare that? Do you think Paul is sitting on a golden chair beside the streets of gold in glory, talking with people and saying, I overdid it. If I were doing it again, I would spend six months on the Mediterranean getting my strength back, taking in the sun, as the travel commercial says, take time and smell the roses. That Paul is saying, if I had only done that, wouldn't that probably have been better? That I overdid it, I overexerted myself? I don't think so. I think when we get to glory we're going to say, I wish I had applied myself more diligently, I wish I had been more fearless. Why was I so intimidated, embarrassed, reluctant to tell the lost I came in contact with about Christ? Why would I do that? It just makes no sense. Why would I keep that to myself?

That's where Paul's focus is. It's momentary light affliction. It's part of God's plan. Understand we are always working it like the Corinthians down to our day. I want a balance, I don't want my life to get out of balance. I can't balance the world and my life in that sense. Paul says I live with eternity's values in view, I live in light of the eternal weight of glory. That's why I don't lose heart. Physical suffering, physical trials, the problems of this world, they are momentary, they are light, there are afflictions but they don't last. But the glory is eternal, I just can't compare the two. We get absorbed in the now in our suffering, in the difficulty, in the trial. Paul is absorbed in the future.

So verse 18, “While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal,” they are temporary, “the things which are not seen are eternal.” You know the unbeliever and the believer live in two different worlds, so to speak. My focus is on what God has promised, their focus is on what they have—my bank account, my enjoyment, my comforts. And the world keeps throwing it out, that's what is important, that's what you need, that's what you deserve. That's all the world has, they live for the momentary light benefits. I saw a program the other day where they were showing some of the great houses of the world. They are empty or they are museums. The people who lived in them are long gone. The question is what do they have now? The question is not whether you are worth billions now, the question is what will you be worth in eternity? What will you have then? Not what do you have now? I'll have a glorified body. Do you think Paul's broken down body is a problem for him today? No, I don't think so. And he is promised a glorified body. We look at things not seen.

I want to take you to a few verses as we close. Come over to Colossians. We go back to prison with Paul, Colossians 3. And he has warned them at the end of Colossians 2 about the false teachers constantly coming in and promising something better. Colossians 3 opens up, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died, your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” It doesn't get any better than that. We live with sight on things the world cannot see. We live knowing things the world cannot know. How tragic that I would stoop to try to live like the world for things that are momentary, that are temporary, ones that will not endure.

Come over to 1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world, neither the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world. The world is passing away,” its lust and the things it desires, “but the one who does the will of God lives forever.” That does not mean that we live in a prosperous country, we have many good things, doesn't mean we have to give them all away, we have to try to live in difficult circumstances and situations. No, but we do have to be very careful we don't begin to love the things of the world and orient our lives around the good things that God has brought into our lives.

I've shared with you when I was in China years ago, still can't forget the believers there, some had been in prison 20-25 years. Now they were out, living for Christ. Yes, they took our home, they took the church. They take your kids and make them wards of the state. Still testifying for Christ. Aren't you afraid? Of what? That they'll put me back in prison? I've been there, I eat their food. Don't love the things of the world. We don't want our blessings to become obstacles to faithfulness, that what will it cost me if I get too open with my testimony? Don't love the world, the world is passing away.

Come down to 1 John 3. “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God. And we are. For this reason the world does not know us because it does not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God. It has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as He is pure.” That controls our life, I live for Him, I have my attention focused on things of eternal value, not the things which are temporal, which are seen.

Peter writes about this, all these things will be burned up, you ought to concentrate on holy living. Paul writes to the Romans and talks about the same thing. It's a permeating theme. We live in the world but we are not of the world, we are not living for the things of the world. We have one burning passion during our brief time here, to be faithful in serving the One who loved us and died for us. Do we really believe this truth, the message of Christ? Do we evidence that faith by speaking it? Are out sights fixed on things which are eternal? What occupies your thoughts, your attention, your desires? Be consumed, whatever comes, whatever happens, I'm living in light of what God has promised me and the inheritance I have in glory.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your Word, the riches of the salvation we have in Christ. Lord, incomparable, almost incomprehensible glory that is promised for those who love You. Thank You for Your love for us, for Your Son who loved us and died for us. Lord, may we have as the consuming passion of our lives to be faithful, that this truth that we hold dear and we believe, that we are bold to speak, that we don't allow our eyes to be turned to the allurements of the world, but we keep our attention focused on the goal of the glory in Your presence. Thank You for every blessing. Use us to honor You in every situation. We pray in Christ's name, amen.