What is seen is temporary. What is unseen is eternal.

 

Read 2 Corinthians 4

I will touch on a little at the end of the chapter.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

How many can identify with outwardly, we are wasting away, and I don’t mean my waistline. That sucker doesn’t give an inch.

Our aches and pains,  our signs of age, our weather predicting parts of our body tell us we ain’t what we used to be.

It’s not just the old people's pains. This world takes plenty of shots at us. We have jobs, and then we don’t. Our money goes a long way, and then it doesn’t. Family relationships are good, and then they are not.I got my body in top shape, and then I pulled a muscle.

I read a fair amount about self-improvement and discipline. There is a quote about what you want now (immediate gratification) and what you want most (goals and objectives). It’s about how our daily decisions impact our comfort and achievement.

We reward our comfort zone demands, or we feed our goals. It’s a trade-off, sometimes a significant one.

That’s sort of what Paul is saying. We are suffering now because we won’t back off from the truth, but this course of action that we are set upon will pay eternal dividends.

Speaking the truth can cause you to suffer. We are to speak the truth in a spirit of love, which is a sign of Christian maturity, but the truth may alienate us from being comfortable in the moment.

But how will my friends react if I’m always talking about God’s goodness and glory and redemption, and…

We have been told that we are in good company—the company of the prophets—when we are persecuted for following Jesus. Maybe we should be more concerned about how God will feel if we opt for comfort instead of sharing the truth.

We have heard this from Paul before. I consider this present suffering…

Eye has not seen and ear has not heard what the Lord, God has in store for those who love him.

We sing, when we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing it will be.

The prophet Isaiah tells us that even the young get worn out, but those who wait upon, hope in the Lord will be renewed.

We are repeatedly told that God’s got this. Trust him in your present suffering and see if what is to come isn’t better, even if you have to wait for what is to come after life in these bodies.

So how do we endure our daily trials, aches and pains, hurt over loss, broken relationships, and stuff that just stinks?

Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Keep your focus—your thought life—set on things unseen

Think on, meditate on, and be fixed on what is eternal as you go through what seems unbearable. It might seem like a cop-out if anyone still uses that term. But do we believe what we say we believe? Is our life in our circumstances or in the Lord? Is our joy in the world or in the Lord?

We can be stoic and persevere as if the things of this life don’t affect us. You can for a while, but eventually, you must have some release.  You can’t press on relying on your own fortitude to get you through forever. We all have that point where we finally realize that we can’t do it all.

We all need something more. That something more are often the promises of God. We must look beyond what we can see, be they blessings or burdens, to what is promised.

Jesus said that we would have trouble in the world, but to take heart—take courage—for he had overcome the world. We will have trouble, but much of the time, the answers are not in what we see, touch, or feel but in what is promised.

Sometimes we tough out the tough times not because we are tough, but because we trust.

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight.

It may look like we are wasting away, and in many ways, we are, but we are not diminished. We grow in our trials when we trust in the Lord.

·       Share the truth.

·       Speak the truth in love.

·       Put his words into practice.

·       Share the gospel.

If that brings us trouble, then so be it. God tells us that it is all worth the trouble and that in comparison to what’s coming, that trouble is not as big as you think it is.

Amen.

 

Still have doubts? Take his yoke!

 Read Hebrews 6

What’s going on here? Have we abandoned once saved, always saved?  That’s for the next service. Stick around to find out where you will be spending eternity. I have an advanced copy of the list.

We talk now about moving forward.  We talk about building upon a foundation. We talk about not being lazy in our discipleship.

Most scriptures have messages for the lost: Repent and Believe. They also have messages for the disciple:  Put your talents to work at once. Grow in God’s grace. Wake up! Pay attention!

Take his yoke Learn from him. Put his words into practice.

We are not just pouring the foundation. We are building the house. We only need to build the foundation one time. Now it’s time for uprights and crossbeams and the eternal search for a good two-by-four.

Now is the time for discipleship. OK, but what about this falling away business? I will jump ahead a few chapters. Listen to God’s word.

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For,

“In just a little while,

    he who is coming will come

    and will not delay.”

 And,

“But my righteous one will live by faith.

    And I take no pleasure

    in the one who shrinks back.”

But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

We are not those who shrink back. Yes, we sin, but sin is not our objective.

We are not those who shrink back. Yes, we miss the mark on a recurring basis, but only the enemy tells us that our salvation is forfeit.

Jesus says confess and get back in your race.

If you have tasted God’s goodness in salvation, how can you desire anything else? The sinful person that you once were wants his old job back, but Jesus will not let you go.

He has saved you and you have not been lost to the enemy. So, what now?

How I rejoice when I get to use this word in a message.  What now?

DISCIPLESHIP

We take his yoke.

We learn from him.

We put his words into practice.

We who have received the good news and embraced the gift of salvation take the message of life and hope to our neighbors and to the world.

These words are to come. They are in the chapter just before an extensive discussion on faith. Here they are.

But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

We have faith and we are saved.  So why then do these words test me and my faith and make me wonder about my salvation?

If they do, we have not taken his yoke, learned from him, or put his words into practice.

For when we take his yoke, learn from him, and put his words into practice, doubt is eviscerated.

We no longer doubt. We are not the wave tossed about on the sea.  We are the faithful.

Want to get rid of doubt? Put his words into practice.