2 Corinthians 4:16

0:00 When was a time that you gave up on something? It could be recently, it could have been a long time ago, but when was a time that you just decided to give up on something? I remember a time when I was in high school. I was standing at the door of my football coach's office, and I was a nervous wreck, and my whole body was numb, and I was waiting there, awkwardly, to inform him that I was quitting the football team. And so after staying there awkwardly for a good solid 60 seconds or so, I finally lifted up my hand.

0:38 I started knocking very lightly in case he didn't hear me for some reason. But he opened the door almost immediately and he said, hey, what's up, Aaron? And I said, and then I began to tell him in broken sentences that I wasn't going to be at practice that afternoon because I was quitting the team. A terrible feeling for a 16-year-old boy. You know, we usually give up on things because we've lost the motivation to continue on or we've decided that it's not worth it.

1:12 Whether it's quitting a sports team like I did or if it's dropping out of school or quitting a job. I mean, there's lots of things that's necessary to give up sometimes, but you get the idea, right? we usually give up on things because we lose the motivation to to continue on well our verse tonight answers the question how do i stay motivated as a christian how do we as a church stay motivated in treasuring the gospel of jesus christ because i think if we're as honest as the bible and as honest as our text tonight there there's gonna be times where we might just want of throwing the towel to this whole thing because we've lost the motivation to keep going and and i think god has something very specific he wants to teach us tonight from our verse which is in second corinthians chapter 4 verse 16 if you have a bible turn to second corinthians

2:14 chapter 4 verse 16 if you're using a red pew bible you can find that on page 966 2 Corinthians 4 16. Let me read it real quick. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. The main point of this text and the main point of this sermon is don't give up and trust God's renewal process. Don't give up and trust God's renewal process.

3:00 We're just going to look at those two statements in two points. Point one, don't give up in the face of hardship. And point two, trust the renewal process. So point one, don't give up in the face of hardship. Paul's main emphasis in this chapter is that he does not lose heart in the face of brutal suffering. Twice, he says this twice. He says we don't lose heart. He says it first in verse 1 and then again here in verse 16. And this phrase to lose heart, it's a word that means to lose enthusiasm or to lose motivation and fall into fear in the face of hardship.

3:44 So Paul, he refuses to get discouraged. He refuses to give up despite the absolute pounding of affliction he's taken as an apostle. And he refuses to give up in obeying the Lord Jesus despite the suffering as an apostle he's incurred. But why? Why does Paul need to feel the need? Why does he feel the need to say this? Why does he need to express and exhort really himself and us tonight to not lose heart?

4:22 Well, it's ultimately because he's aware of the power of God in his own human weakness. This ministry he has of the new covenant, it's incurred on him just a relentless beating of affliction. Yet he refuses to give up because the power of God is made known through his own weakness. And Paul is specifically, he's directing this partly at his opponents in Corinth.

4:56 And these were these just rebellious troublemakers who were still hanging out in Corinth. And they likely accused Paul of lacking any spiritual power or credibility because of his suffering. They like to think that an afflicted outward appearance was somehow a sign of failure and unfaithfulness. And so they tried to discredit him. And so Paul takes this accusation head on. He emphasizes the power of God at work in his own mortality precisely because his afflictions are working to prepare his own immortality.

5:34 We see that specifically in verses 17 and 18. And at the end of the day, Paul didn't let his circumstances drive him to despair. His measure of success as an apostle didn't show itself in outward appearance. Quite the contrary. His ministry is rather validated by what's happening in his inner being. He says we don't lose heart because spiritual power lies not in how we look on the outside, but in how we're being changed on the inside.

6:10 We don't quit because of visible weakness. He says we don't tamper with God's message to try to preserve some kind of outward appearance. But we press on because of spiritual realities, realities going on behind the scenes of the suffering you see. That's his point, and that is really some great instruction for us to remember as a church, right? As members of Third Avenue, we absolutely need to remember that we're not a people who give up when things get hard in the life of our church.

6:49 We've made promises to one another to not forsake the gathering, to renounce worldliness, and to pursue godliness so are you this evening are you feeling like giving up are you struggling to stay motivated in the christian life and there's probably a multiple multitude of reasons why we might want to feel like giving up many of us have suffered great loss and are enduring really hard things and it feels like the strength to go on just escapes you but brother sister don't quit don't quit remember jesus has promised to you you're going to have trouble in this world but take heart he has overcome the world Jesus has overcome your fears, your suffering, your sin struggles, yet we still feel their

7:53 effects in many ways, but Christ is with you. He was clearly with Paul in his affliction, and he's with you by the power of his spirit. Paul says this. He says in 2 Thessalonians 3.13, don't grow weary in doing good. Same word, don't lose heart. Don't give up in doing good to one another as a church in the face of suffering.

8:27 That's what this text exhorts us to do, to not lose heart in the face of suffering. We don't lose motivation in our fight against sin we're not ones to become overwhelmed with discouragement but then the next question is well well how how do we how do we not lose heart how do we what exactly is the method of not giving up when we're face to face with such hard hardship How are we to not lose heart even when we're on the brink of despair?

9:06 Well, that's our second point. Trust the renewal process. We are being renewed in the inner being. That's what Paul says here in the second part of our verse. He says, he tells us how he stays motivated as an apostle. He tells us how he doesn't let what's happening to him ultimately discourage him, which is by trusting God's renewal process in his life. Look again at our verse, verse 16.

9:37 So we don't lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. Paul doesn't lose heart because eternity is at work in the midst of his suffering. And we know that this process of renewal, this inner self, We know that it is a process because it takes place, did you see, day by day. A slow and steady process of renewed strength only seen with the eyes of faith.

10:12 And Paul stays motivated to press on because he's come to learn firsthand of this, right? He's come to learn firsthand of the process of the Christian life. You might remember all the way back in chapter 1 of 2 Corinthians, back in chapter 1, verse 8, Paul expressed himself, he had this unbearable affliction that led him to despair of going on even living. But now, though he's still afflicted, he's not crushed. Though he's still perplexed, he's not driven to despair. He's learned from experience how to not lose heart and how to not get overwhelmingly discouraged in the face of affliction. And what exactly is that process?

11:00 What is that process that Paul knew? That Paul knew how godliness was working itself out in his life? Well, it's the simultaneous working of our outward decline and our inward transformation. You see that? Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed. day by day. This verse, this verse has caused some folks to think that Paul is somehow opposing body and soul, seeing the body as evil and the soul as pure. But Paul's hope in the bodily resurrection, the verses right before that, completely reject that interpretation. But rather the outer self is the whole person, right? It's the whole human experience that is touched by sin and suffering.

11:48 And our lives, as they exist in this fallen world, our lives are wasting away. And that word, wasting away, it means for something to rust over time. It's like something that's been corroded. Kind of like, you know, I was going through, the family and I were about to move into a new house. I was going through the home inspection. And it was looking great until I came across this water supply pipe that was completely corroded. It was just rusting out.

12:20 And I was like, oh, great. There's lots of moisture over time has just completely corroded this pipe. Well, that's like the outer man. The outer self is wasting away. It's wasting away like a rusty old pipe. But we're not just wasting away, right? We're not just wasting away like a corroded piece of metal. Our inner self is being renewed at the same time. The inner self, in contrast with the outer self, is the whole person again that is being renewed as the new creation in Christ.

12:57 It's our Christian experience of being renewed into the image of Christ. Colossians 3.10 says, We've put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Our renewal process as believers is the daily restoration to the image of God. The very purpose for which we were created. And this happens by beholding the glory of the face of Jesus Christ in the gospel.

13:34 Christ, who died and bled for our sins by his spirit, is renewing us day by day. So do you see what Paul is contrasting here? He's contrasting our human experience in this fallen world with our experience as believers being renewed to the purpose that we were created for. And he's saying that we as Christians, we don't have any good reason to give up and throw in the towel because we are being made new.

14:10 Eternity is at work in our hearts. We're being renewed into what it truly means to be human. Being made more like Christ, who is the image of God. Being made more godly. And that's the Christian life. It's to press on in the face of suffering because our inner being is being renewed into godliness at the same exact time. So, brothers and sisters, we can stay motivated. We can go on with courage and not lose heart in the promises of God because we are simultaneously being renewed inwardly, even as we're declining outwardly.

14:51 In verses 17, right after this, they go even further to explain that our temporary afflictions in this life are producing a ridiculously massive weight of glory for us in eternity. Isn't that an amazing thing to think about? I think we often think or believe that the only thing happening to us when we're going through really hard things is the wasting away of the outer man. We can tend to believe that eternity is not working for us when we go through trials.

15:25 But brother or sister, this text promises us that the Christian life is a simultaneous process of outward suffering and inward growth and godliness. So do you have this kind of trust in God's renewal process in your life? The simultaneous enduring of suffering and growing in holiness is one of the clearest marks of God's power in your life. Paul didn't let his afflictions discourage him.

15:58 He let them change him. So when trials come into your life, come into our lives, it's good to just let them do their thing, right? To let them shift your perspective from the transient to the eternal. from the seen to the unseen. And this is the Christian life. The trials have a way of recalibrating our minds from focusing on what's resting away in this world to what's going to endure forever.

16:30 This is the renewal process we're to trust in, even as we toil, fight, fight sin, endure hardship. And it's all by God's design. All by his design in this process to renew us. So don't lose that trust. Don't lose that trust in God's renewal process. Because really, if we do, we'll no doubt get quickly discouraged and lose motivation to press on.

17:00 Both individually and as a church. So don't lose heart. Don't give up. And trust God's process and purpose for your life. If you're not a Christian here tonight, I think this is something really worth considering for you. You know, we're not naive to think that you don't experience suffering. We're not naive to think that we're the only ones to go through hard things as Christians. But consider this. Without Jesus Christ, there is no hope for change as God would have it for you.

17:36 There's no hope for being eternally renewed without Christ. And without him, this life is all you get. And it's rusting out like an old metal pipe. Without Christ, suffering really further dehumanizes us. Whereas with Christ, they're instruments to fully humanize us because we are being renewed as Christians. into the image of God.

18:08 But if you're not a Christian, that's something really to think about. There's no spiritual process taking place in you where there's this transformation into God's design. So friend, don't you want to be renewed? Don't you want to be renewed into the image of your creator? You need a new inner self. You need to become a new creation to get this process of inner transformation started.

18:40 You need to put your faith in Jesus Christ to save you from your sins. That means turning away from your way of doing things and turning to God's way of doing things. Which is Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life. So put your trust in him. And then watch him start the renewal process. So how are you staying motivated in a Christian life?

19:13 As Christians, we don't give up in the fight, right, for holiness. We don't give up in gathering together and encouraging one another. We don't give up in holding fast to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even though our outer self is wasting away, even though it's being destroyed, Even though we're hard-pressed, perplexed, and afflicted, we don't lose heart. We don't give up because God's process of renewal and inner transformation.

19:43 So press on in faith. Let's pray. Father, thank you that you are so kind to us and merciful that you would use our hardships to make us more like your son. Help us to see that and trust that. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.