Sermon for Saturday, June 8, 2024

“We Do Not Lose Heart”

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)

The text for our meditation is the Epistle lesson from 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1, and you are welcome to look at that reading with me.

In fact, last week, right before today’s text, Paul had described the many difficulties of his ministry and said, “We are afflicted in every way… perplexed… persecuted… (and) struck down.” And yet Paul says, in our text, today, “We do not lose heart… we are not driven to despair.” How could Paul keep going in the midst of so many troubles? His words give us much help and encouragement as we go through many of the same challenges, at least at times, in our own lives, too.

The first thing Paul points out, as our text begins, is that he keeps listening to and reading and studying “what has been written” - the Words of Scripture God has given to us for our “instruction” and “encouragement,” that “we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).

Paul had been reading Psalm 116, where the Psalmist had cried out, “I am greatly afflicted” (almost exactly what Paul was saying and feeling) - and yet he still believed that the Lord was gracious and merciful and would deliver his soul and save him. And so the Psalmist kept speaking and writing God’s Word and his psalms, no matter what the circumstances were.

Paul then quotes from Psalm 116, for he knows that he has learned from this part of God’s Word (as we can) and says the same thing as the Psalmist. “I also believe in the Lord God and I also will keep speaking God’s Word,” no matter what. For Paul has the same Spirit of the faith - the same Holy Spirit who has brought him to faith and will keep him in that faith, especially now in Jesus as his Savior.

Paul moves right away then to speak of the Lord Jesus, at the center of the faith, who died for Paul’s sins and the sins of the whole world, and then was raised from the dead, conquering the power of death, in victory over it. It is through the Risen Lord Jesus that Paul had confidence of his eternal future. He had seen the Risen Lord Jesus and talked with Him and had received revelations from Him and knew his future was secure in Christ.

God the Father and God the Holy Spirit were involved in all this, too. And through the one True Triune God, all believers have the same secure future in eternal life through faith in Christ.

Paul wrote, on another occasion: “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you” (and He does, through our baptism and His gift of faith), then “He who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).

And again Paul says in our text, “I know that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also and bring us with you into His presence.” Notice the words “with you.” All of us will be with Jesus and with Paul in heaven. And notice the words “brought into His presence.” We will definitely be brought into the presence of the Lord, with Paul and other believers. And it is not our own doing. We are raised and brought there by our Lord and His grace, not by anything we have done.

That’s why Paul goes on immediately to speak more about the grace, the undeserved and unmerited favor and gift of God, given by His love. Paul says, first, “It is all for your sake.” He wants everyone listening or reading to know that this is Good News for them. “Christ died for all.” “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” That Good News also includes you, and it includes me. God wants all to hear and to be brought to believe this Good News. Paul believes it. He knows it is true. And so He has to speak, as hard as it is at times, so that “the grace of God extends to more and more people.”

And then there is increased joy and thanksgiving for all those who are brought to faith in God and who find peace with God and others through the forgiveness of their sins, and they are able then to forgive others in a better way through God’s love. And God is glorified in it all, and we give thanks and praise to God ourselves.

“So,” Paul says, “we do not lose heart.” But he also knows that sometimes our problems, both physical and spiritual, can seem pretty overwhelming. He mentions first our physical well-being. He says, “Our outer self is wasting away.”

We can obviously have physical problems, whether we are young or older, and problems for the young can be so unexpected and difficult to deal with. But here, Paul seems to be referring to what happens as we get older, especially with more aches and pains and ills that need more medication and other treatments and surgeries, and trouble getting around, and the dangers of falling and on and on. All that can be pretty discouraging.

That’s why Paul says, at the end of our text, that our earthly home, our earthly body, is like a tent. If you have ever been tent camping, you know that there can be plenty of problems. Downpours come, and tents leak. The ground can be very hard, and it can become cold at night. Bugs get in easily, and skunks and other critters can wander through. And on and on. Our human bodies are an amazing gift from God, but they don’t always work so well and won’t last forever. That is the reality of living in a sinful, fallen world ever since the original sin of Adam and Eve that we heard about in our first lesson today.

Yet our Lord is with us and gives us spiritual help to carry on with our lives. Paul says, “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed.” That’s what makes our worship together so important, as we hear God’s Word and promises and remember our own Baptism, and receive God’s forgiveness and strength with one another. That’s how God works renewal in us, to help us through troubled times. As Paul wrote on another occasion, “According to the riches of His glory, He grants you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit, in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Ephesians 3:16-17).

And notice that Paul also says in our text that “our inner self is being renewed day by day.” Even at home we can pray, day by day, for ourselves and others. We can read God’s Word and devotions like Portals of Prayer. We can read or listen to many things on the internet that teach us of our Lord. And we can count our blessings and remember all the good gifts we are thankful for, far beyond our troubles. And again, the Lord renews our inner self, day by day.

And the Lord helps us keep the right perspective in two ways. Paul writes, "This light, momentary affliction (in the troubles we go through now) is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison when we are in the presence of our Lord in heaven." Our afflictions often don’t seem light or momentary, but they are, compared with the eternity we will spend in everlasting joy in heaven.

Paul uses another picture image in the last verse of our text also. We live in a tent right now, in this life. But when with the Lord, Paul says, we will have a building from God, a house not made with imperfect human hands, eternal in the heavens. Even if we are still in our homes right now and have a nice home, there is still so much to do, and things go wrong and have to be fixed, and it gets harder and harder to get everything done as time goes on. Not so in heaven! I don’t know what all we will do, but it will be in pure peace and joy with our Lord, with none of the troubling burdens we now have.

And to keep the right perspective, finally, Paul also says, “Look not to things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen - the things of God Himself and His Word and works, in Christ our Savior and in the Holy Spirit.

There are many good and beautiful things still in this world that God created for us and in the gifts He gives us. But what do we often see and hear as we look to our phones and our iPads and other devices and on what we watch on television and other media and read in books? There is so much evil that we see all around, too, that can drag us down. And as Paul says, many of the things we see are “transient.” They come and go and will eventually pass away. It is the unseen things of our Lord that will be a blessing to us forever in Christ. There is our hope so that we do not lose heart.

Let us pray: Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord and in our hope in His promises. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)