2 Corinthians 4
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How few there are who die so hard. Those were some of the very last words of Adoniram Judson, the renowned missionary to Burma. He had just boarded a boat 10 days earlier, bound for the Isle of France, which is modern-day Mauritius, in the last-ditch effort to be cured of what was a life-threatening illness. Judson would soon die. It was 37 years after he first stepped foot in Burma, and his life was full of suffering.
Even though he suffered much physical and emotional distress, it didn't come as a surprise to Judson. In fact, in a letter that he wrote to Anne Haseltine, in which he would ask for permission, it was actually to her father, in which he would ask for permission to marry her, he wrote this. I have now to ask whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world, whether you can consent to her departure and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of missionary life, whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean, to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India, to every kind of want and distress, to degradation insult persecution and perhaps a violent death can you consent to all this for the sake of him who left his heavenly home and died for her and for you for the sake of
perishing immortal souls for the sake of zion and the glory of god can you consent to all this in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory with the crown of righteousness brightened with the acclamations of praise which shall resound to her savior from heathens saved through her means from eternal woe and despair judson knew that a life committed to taking the gospel to the people of burma would be full of hardship and toil and he wanted ann's family to be aware of the life that they would be living her and adoniram and her father consented to this Adoniram's life would be absolutely full of suffering for the sake of the gospel there was sickness cholera malaria a variety of other illnesses that would thrive in the humid climate of Burma eventually Anne would succumb to illness and then a second wife Sarah and seven of
their 13 children. There was also slow progress in ministry. It would be six years before the very first Burmese convert. There was imprisonment. In 1824, Judson was imprisoned and accused of being a spy by the Burmese government. And every night he would be hung upside down by his shackled feet with just his shoulders and head laying on the floor. And his wife, Anne, would travel every day, multiple miles, through the humidity to tend to Adoniram's physical ailments in prison.
She would argue for his innocence and request his release. And eventually, her health would eventually fall months after his release. There was also depression. Overcome with sadness and discouragement, Judson would actually order a grave dug beside his home, and he would sit beside it every day and contemplate the own mortality of his own life. He would eventually seclude himself in the jungle, the tiger-infested jungle, for 40 days to be alone, wondering why God was allowing him to suffer so much and where God was in the midst of all of this suffering.
He knew suffering was coming, and yet in the midst of that suffering, he struggled. There was doubt. When Anne died, Adoniram asked whether he had pursued ministry overseas for the right purposes, for the right reasons. Was he motivated by self-glory instead of God's glory and love for himself and for others? Eventually, the depression would clear, and the doubts would be silenced, but Judson would continue to suffer throughout his life in various ways.
Again, I mentioned he lost a second spouse. He lost additional children. And his health would eventually fail. But he left behind a growing number of churches in Burma, and he left behind a translation of the scriptures. He poured out his life for the glory of God and the good of the church in Burma. Our passage today, friends, is 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Turn with me there. I'm going to start reading in verse 1.
Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word. And by the open statement of the word, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord. With ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not driven to despair.
Persecuted, but not forsaken. struck down but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, I believed, and so I spoke.
We also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen for the things that are seen are transient but the things that are unseen are eternal i think the main point of this passage is that our confidence is in god and not ourselves our confidence is in god and not ourselves as we work through this passage, I think I see three tangible things that Christians can have confidence in. Those will be
our three main points today. We can have confidence in the gospel, point number one. We can have confidence in the gospel. Point number two, we can have confidence in God's sustaining power. We can have confidence in God's sustaining power. And our third point will be this, we can have confidence in our eternity. We can have confidence in our eternity. All right, point number one, we can have confidence in the gospel. Throughout the letter this far, Paul has described a number of things that are naturally discouraging to him. There's the affliction that he alludes to in chapter one. Affliction so severe that it has drained his strength and made him despair of his very life, believing that he was on the precipice of death. There was also the disappointment that we read of at the end of chapter one. Paul wanted to visit the Corinthians on his way to Macedonia and on his way back from Macedonia. He wanted to minister to them, but that visit wouldn't take
place. Paul states, in fact, that it would have been too painful to visit them. His love and his affection for the Corinthians had caused him to write a letter full of affliction and anguish. He's writing this letter with emotion. He's also anguished by the individual that's mentioned in chapter 2, seeking to discredit Paul's ministry. The gospel had compelled Paul to share the gospel in hostile places, often facing persecution, sometimes on the run for his life.
His health was failing, but his ministry of the gospel had given him a great love for the local church, and specifically in this letter, we see his love for the church in Corinth, a love that brought affliction and tears and pain. Paul's ministry had contended with Satan, who had designed to dissuade and discourage Paul all throughout his ministry. He's also afflicted by the spiritual blindness of those to whom he's sharing the gospel, both Jew and Gentile.
They've got hardened hearts and veils over their eyes. They're unable to see the truth of the gospel. This is all affecting Paul. Deaths, detours, discouragement, despair, every Christian faces these things ultimately. So what do we do when we're discouraged in our evangelism and in our discipleship? How do we deal with the anguish and the anxiety that can flood our hearts and our minds as we're toiling and straining for the faith of somebody that we're sharing the gospel for?
Well, there's two ways that I want to talk about that we can respond with. There's a pragmatic way to respond to discouragement in evangelism. And there's a biblical way to respond to discouragement in our evangelism. Paul alludes towards the temptation towards pragmatism in verse 2 when he states, we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways, refusing to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word. There's just a number of ways to mess with the gospel.
We see them all around us today. They're all pragmatic, which means that they are practical attempts to make the gospel easier to believe. There's the temptation to soften the gospel by not speaking out against sin. We avoid talking about sin and repentance and the resurrection. That's a temptation. There's the temptation to alter the Bible's teaching on specific sin. Sins that the culture around us are increasingly accepting of.
There's the temptation to add works to the gospel. This lie embraces the fact that, or the lie, that someone can do certain things to earn God's favor. That's an absolute lie. It makes man's salvation somewhat dependent on their own works. That's a temptation. There's the temptation to promote the false health and wealth gospel, which teaches that if you do certain things, you'll receive material blessing in the form of more money and more health, because who doesn't want more money and more health?
So let's make the gospel a little bit more palatable and give people what they want in the here and the now. There's the temptation towards syncretism, which takes the Christian gospel and tries to make it palatable to those who hold different beliefs. Whether they're Buddhist or Muslim or Hindu or adherence to animistic practices, hey, the gospel can sync up with any of these world religions. That's a lie. There's the lie of universalism, which teaches that all roads ultimately lead to heaven.
That's a lie. Christian, there are a number of ways that you might be tempted to mess with the gospel. Do not do it. You might be tempted to be disgraceful and underhanded or cunning or to even tamper with God's word. Again, don't do it. Instead, respond biblically. But how do you respond biblically to discouragement in evangelism? Well, first, continue to proclaim the gospel, the true gospel, that our sin has separated us from a holy and just creator.
that the consequences of sin weren't just temporal separation, but eternal separation and damnation. The Bible is clear that the wages of sin is death. But God, because of his love towards us while we were sinners, sent his one and only son to die on a cross, to rescue and to redeem us, to be raised three days later. And if you repent of your sin, if you turn from your sin, then you put your faith in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you can be saved.
You can be forgiven of those sins. No good deed will ever save you. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through him. Non-Christian here today, would you trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins? Christian today, don't ever, ever, ever shrink from the truth of the gospel. We believe that the Bible is God's word, and every word of it is true.
It's without error. We're not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. So when you're discouraged in your evangelism, don't lose heart. Have confidence in this gospel. It is good. Another way we can biblically respond to discouragement is to recognize that we are absolutely unable on our own to bring anybody into faith in Jesus Christ.
We can't bring anybody to a saving understanding of the gospel. Our job is simply to proclaim the gospel and to live in a way that commends the gospel. The gospel is veiled. We see that in this passage. That means that it cannot truly be understood without a supernatural work of the Lord in a person's heart. Where God gives them spiritual eyes to see. That needs to happen. Look at me with several different verses that clearly teach of the spiritual blindness of the unbeliever.
Just above our passage today in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 15. We'll read, yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another.
For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. You see, our eyes are veiled, and the veil is removed. And now with an unveiled face, we understand the gospel. We're transformed by the gospel. And all of this comes from the Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit. We're blind. And then by a supernatural work of the Spirit, we see. So even in our discouragement, friends, in our evangelism, just recognize that you are incapable of removing the veil from the person's eyes that is keeping them from being able to see the truth of the gospel.
That should give us an encouragement that we are not failing in our gospel telling. 2 Corinthians 4, starting in verse 3. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. And then in verse six, for God who said, let light shine out of darkness, that's an allusion to God's creative act in which he declared, let there be light. The very same God who created the world has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. How do we respond to that? Well, we keep proclaiming the gospel truthfully, not tampering with it and we pray steadfastly we do that Sunday nights at this church together on our evening gathering where we pray for evangelistic prayer requests and what we're doing is is not that we
would somehow figure out how to unlock the keys of the gospel so that people understand them we pray that God would remove the veil over people's eyes so that they would believe the gospel friend someone's probably weighing on your heart right now and in your doubt and your despair and in your discouraged you might be thinking oh if only i could be a better articulator of the gospel then they would understand it that's not true keep the gospel clear speak it confidently speak it with clarity and then commend it with your lives and let the holy spirit do the rest we don't lift the veil, we proclaim, verse 5, God shines the light of understanding and lifts the veil, verse 6. If you're at all tempted to be discouraged by the fruit of your evangelism, examine whether or not you're proclaiming the true gospel. Now, I want to be really clear at
this moment. There might be a true reason for you to be discouraged in your evangelism. you might not be evangelizing. You might need to check yourself and say, am I not taking the opportunity to point people to the gospel? And then you have to address that. You have to ask God for faith to boldly proclaim the gospel. And so there might be just real reasons that you're discouraged, but you can address those, faithfully proclaim the gospel.
But don't be discouraged by the fruit of that witness. It leads me to our second point. Have confidence in God's power. Even though we now behold the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, even then, we still reside in a fallen world and we possess fallen bodies. Paul writes that we have this treasure, this gospel knowledge in jars of clay.
simple earthen vessels, worthless. These were baked clay pots used in a variety of different ways, sometimes for refuse, sometimes they would hold things of great value, but the pot itself had no value. They were easily broken, easily replaced. And God, in his infinite wisdom, chose us, you and me, with our limited intelligence and ailing bodies to commend the gospel to others, to hold this treasure of the gospel.
Wait a second, you might be saying, who are you to tell me that I'm a jar of clay? Well, again, it's in the text. Don't think that I'm trying to go out of my way to insult your intelligence because Paul himself in 1 Corinthians 1 writes, for consider your calling, brothers, Do you see the beauty of God's plan in that?
we rightly rejoice when some of the highest intellects in society put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. But friends, that's not the normal means that God uses to convert the lost. He uses weak, earthen vessels of limited intelligence. And remind yourself, the glory of the gospels that we say yes and amen to, that we see so clearly, we did not have the intellect to bring us to that knowledge.
God, by his spirit, brought us to that knowledge. God chooses ordinary human beings like you and like me with ordinary failing bodies and unexceptional intellect to be vessels of the gospel so that all of the glory goes to God and not man. We don't have these high intellects that the world is astounded with saying, oh my goodness, they just make the gospel so clear, I must understand it, and let's give glory to that person who speaks the gospel so clearly that we understand it.
That's not the way that it works. God uses fallen human beings who are unimpressive to the world to proclaim the words of truth, and people give their life to Jesus. And it's also that the glory goes to God and not to us. And if you need any reminder of your fallenness, think about your bodies. Most of us are weaker today than we were a year ago. And if you're in that small season of life where you're getting stronger, I'm here to tell you that season will end.
Friends, you might be discouraged in your evangelism. You might be discouraged even with the fact that you're getting older. and even as you're being pressed in by discouragement do not give up hope why because we know that our suffering has a purpose we see it in verses 7 and 11 look with me at verse 7 2nd corinthians 4 to show that the surpassing power belongs to god and not to us verse 11 for For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also might be manifested in our mortal flesh.
Our suffering, physical and otherwise, shows that the glory belongs to God. But we aren't left to suffer on our own. We are sustained by the very same God who saves us. He holds us. We are afflicted, but not crushed. See how Paul says that? You know who was crushed? Jesus. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. You know who was driven to despair?
Think about the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was driven to despair. We are persecuted, but not forsaken. Who was forsaken by the Father? Jesus. We are struck down, but not destroyed. Whose physical life was destroyed on the cross? Jesus. Friends, Jesus embraced every hard part of death so that his people did not have to.
We are only afflicted. We are only perplexed. We are only persecuted. We are only struck down. But death does not have its final say over the Christian's life because Jesus swallowed all of death on our behalf. You might be struggling today, but friends, you are not alone. You might be tempted to see your suffering as a sign of your unfaithfulness to God. But friend, God is sustaining you.
You have breath in your lungs. And when he has decided that his work in you and through you is done, he will take you home to be with him. The reality is that you are not the only one that has ever suffered. You are not the only one in this room who is suffering. Paul, arguably the most fruitful Christian who's ever lived, recognizes that his mortality and his afflictions are a reminder of God's faithfulness to him.
Not faithlessness, faithfulness. Paul's life was one of consistent suffering. And see, he saw his suffering as a testimony of God's sustaining power. That he might further declare the glory wherever he went. Friends, our world is full of suffering. Christians are not the only ones that suffer. We live in a fallen world. But the unique thing that we can do as Christians is we can glorify God in the midst of our suffering. Whether it's a cancer diagnosis or a death of a loved one.
Whether it's discouragement and depression. Those are things that are common to man. Let's use those opportunities to declare the gospel in God's glory. Think about the false teachers discouraging the Corinthians. They were questioning the authenticity of Paul's ministry. he didn't have written credentials he didn't follow through and visit the Corinthians what a liar his very suffering they accused was a testimony of his unfaithfulness to the gospel but Paul disagrees his suffering isn't a testimony of his unfaithfulness it's a testimony of his faithfulness he's humbled by his infirmities because they remind him of God's power and his glory. When is the last time that you have looked at the suffering in your life and thought, wow, what a good reminder of God's glory in my life. But that's its design. From Paul's frail body,
the power of the gospel showed to be that much more glorious. He embraces his suffering and acknowledges that his pouring out of his energy and strength is for the good of those to whom he ministered. So Paul sees his suffering for his own good, and then he sees the purpose in those that he's ministering to. That's what he means in verse 12. Death is at work in us, but life in you. He's not discouraged by his suffering. It's for the good of the church, so he embraces it.
That's Paul's vision for ministry. It's the pouring out of oneself for the good of those whom they serve many of you in this room are contemplating going into full-time ministry take note of what paul is saying here don't go into ministry for fame don't go into ministry for fortune don't go into ministry so that others will elevate you because the truth of the matter is ministry is hard it's uncomfortable it takes a toil you're going to grow more and more tired in ministry but it's worth it because it's not about you it's about God's glory and the good of those whom you serve that's why you go into ministry it's to glorify God and to make much of those to whom you minister members of Third Avenue Baptist Church the last few years have been very hard ones
in the life of this congregation. We've had hard members meetings. We've had hard conversations. Some of us have lost friends and home group leaders and ministry partners. And if we're not careful, we'll make the hard times all about us. I'm so tempted to do that when things are hard in my life. Woe is me, woe is me, woe is me. this is so hard, what am I going to do?
I'm so tired, I wish I didn't have to do this. Even my grumbling, oh God, aren't you satisfied that I'm suffering? And then I look for ways to escape, physically, emotionally, spiritually exhausted. And then I'm reminded, by God's grace, it's not about me. It's about Jesus and his church. And friends, we need to remind ourselves of that as a congregation.
When we're tired, and we're worn, and we're hurt, we don't have the energy for one more difficult conversation, let's remind ourselves that it's not about us. It's about the glory of God and the beauty of his bride. See, every time that we strain to have a difficult conversation and confront a brother or sister in love. We're glorifying God. Death is at work in us, in you and me, so that life is at work in us as a congregation.
Every one of us is praying and pleading to the Lord to save friends and family. And sometimes God answers our prayer, doesn't he? And we rejoice. But sometimes the veil isn't lifted. And it's hard. And it's anguishing. Sometimes we're hurt by the very people that we're evangelizing to. And we suffer the anguish and the torment of our loved ones not turning to Christ.
And it hurts. But friends, that's suffering. Even that rejection of us, we're suffering for God's glory and their good. We pray that God would use our difficulties and our response to those difficulties to illuminate their eyes to the glory of God. So that death works in us, life will work in those whom we love. So have confidence in the surpassing power of God to sustain you and to save others.
And let the life of Jesus be made manifest in your flesh. Leads me to our third and final point this morning. We can have confidence in God's promise of eternity. Friend, unless Jesus returns, we will all die. That's a fact. Our lives will end. And whatever is ailing us in that moment will cease. i have a friend greg who was one of my pastors at my former church not this greg but another greg and one day we were sitting at his desk talking about the busyness of ministry we had had a couple friends just quit on ministry and leave and we were discouraged the strain of caring for our congregation was was raging we were toiling we were laboring hard for the lord and he looked at me and he said ryan my prayer for us is that we will live our whole lives working hard for the lord and that we'll die exhausted falling into our graves and i thought what a weird thing to say
but i get it i get it especially in light of second corinthians 4 if we live for today we're guaranteed discouragement guaranteed but friends we don't live for today look look with me at verse 16 so we do not lose heart Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. And then get this promise. For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
As we look not at the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. The fact is that our outer self is wasting away. As we get older, we feel the effects of that more and more. I turned 40 last year, and I'm feeling it. And I know everybody here who's 50 and older is thinking, just wait till you hit 50, and then 60, and then 70.
Friends, we get it. I get it. We just don't have the energy that we had a few years ago. I have aches and pains that I didn't used to have. Even before I was coming up here this morning, I got a new pain in my back as I got up out of the pew and I said, Lord, what a reminder of my mortality. I have had hard ministry experiences that were only hypothetical a few years ago. As I look forward in life, the reality is I don't think it's going to get easier.
In fact, all of my older friends are telling me it's not going to get easier. If you're honest with yourself, as you get older, you feel the same way. But do we get discouraged by that? No, we don't. How is that possible? How do we look at our aging bodies and all of the aches and pains and the discouragement that comes as the years add on and on? And how do we avoid discouragement?
Well, it's because we have confidence in our eternity. We will be raised by the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. And we will be brought into his presence. Are you tired or weary or worn out? You feel like it's getting harder and harder? Don't lose heart. Our affliction today is light and it's momentary. compared to the eternal weight of glory.
Look at those words. Light contrasted with weight. Momentary contrasted with eternal. Our affliction will last for a moment compared to what? Eternity. With glory that is weighty and eternal. It's so weighty that there's nothing that it could be compared to.
Paul doesn't even try and attempt to define it here. He's just like weighty glory. As the world looks to what is seen, friends, recognize that what is seen has value that is fleeting and momentary. Instead, look to what is unseen, because those things are eternal. Friend, don't be discouraged in your evangelism. Don't be discouraged in your suffering through difficult times.
Don't be discouraged by the myriad of hurts from both Christians and non-Christians. Take heart. Read these words of 2 Corinthians 4 and take confidence in the gospel. Take confidence in God's sustaining power and take confidence in your eternity. I started with words spoken by Adoniram Judson on a ship facing his own death. And our last song today was also written on a boat by Horatius Spafford, a businessman from Chicago who was facing the death of his four daughters.
Having already lost a young son to pneumonia, the family's business was devastated by the fire in Chicago of 1871. And two years later, Spafford sent his wife and their four daughters on a French ship for Europe. And the ship sunk after colliding at sea with another vessel. And Anna survived, but their four daughters drowned. And when Anna arrived in Europe, she telegraphed Horatius the words, saved alone, what shall I do? Even as tornado alarms are going off on our phone.
Horatius would pen the words to our hymn, it is well with my soul on his journey to meet up with his wife. When sorrows like sea billows roll or tornadoes, it is well with my soul. When Satan should buffet, though trials should come, it is well with my soul. My sin nailed to the cross, it is well with my soul. And finally, faith shall turn to sight, and I shall be in the presence of God. It is well with my soul. Whatever you're discouraged with today as you sing this final song, I pray that you are stirred up by way of reminder, Christian, that because you are in Christ, you can have confidence. It is well with your soul. Let's pray. I'll make it short.
God, even in the midst of storms swirling around us physically, Lord, and discouragement emotionally, whether it's through our evangelism or the loss of loved ones or the frailty of our own lives, God, I pray that you by your spirit would encourage us, help us to hold fast to you as you hold fast to us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.