Hanging in There
aug0497
Sermon Series
II Corinthians 4:7-10
I want to tell you a true story. At least it has truth in it. Well, if it’s not a true story it ought to be.
A young man had been in the army a little over a week. He wrote home and said,
"Folks, I’ve just been here a week. I’m already in trouble, and I don’t even know what I did. You can’t imagine what this basic training has been like. They’ve been getting us up at 5:30 every morning by beating on cans, blowing whistles, rattling our beds, and jerking us up.
Then they make us do calisthenics for a long time. Then we work all day long, and after a late night, we get to a late bed. Then it seems like in fifteen minutes, they’re blowing the whistles and getting us up again at 5:30.
They just de-personalize us terribly. I don’t have a name anymore. I am No. 143. I answer roll call to No. 143. Every time they want me to respond to something, they say, ’No. 143,’ and I’m supposed to answer.
I kept thinking, if I can just make it till Sunday, I can sleep on Sunday. If I can just make it till Sunday, I thought, I’ll be able to rest.
But on Sunday, they didn’t come in and get us up at 5:30, they came in and got us up at 5:00 and marched us five miles to church. We never go to church. I didn’t know what they did in church. We were sitting in there, and a man got up with a book and said, ’No. 143, Art Thou Weary, Art Thou Languid?’ So I stood up and said, ‘I sure am mister. And you’re the first one who’s been kind enough to ask about it since I’ve been here.’"
READ II Corinthians 4:7-10
Did you catch the key verses, 8 & 9. How did he do that? What was the secret of that? We casually say how are you doing. Sometimes I’m up.
Sometimes I’m down. Sometimes I’m almost up to the ground. We are not just automatically to be up all the time. How do we hang in there?
I want to give you the Four Spiritual Flaws from Chuck Swindoll’s book, Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back. It is a take-off of the Four Spiritual Laws.
Flaw No. 1: Because You are a Christian, all your problems are solved.
Sometimes you get a whole new set of problems when you become a Christian. We do a great disservice to an unbeliever when we bait him by saying, "Come to Christ and all your problems will be over." The Bible never says that. It promises that we will be new creatures; it assures us that we will have a new destiny that is secure; but it does not guarantee a downhill slide once Christ comes into a person’s life.
Flaw No. 2: All the problems you will ever have are addressed in the Bible.
They’re not. It is very unwise for us to make broad, sweeping statements in areas where the Scriptures do not speak. There are many times when we don’t find an explicit answer in Scripture for our specific problem. At such times we are forced to walk by faith, trusting the Lord to show us the next step as it is needed. The Bible simply does not offer a specific answer to every problem in life.
Flaw No. 3: If you are having problems, you are unspiritual.
Isn’t it a shame that this idea is conveyed in so many places today? Having a problem simply proves you are human! We all have problems, and you are not unspiritual because you are wrestling with a dilemma. As a matter of fact, some of the most spiritual men and women I have ever known have wrestled with some of the deepest problems life offers.
Think of Job and his suffering. He did not have an answer. He did not understand why. His counselors, with there severe and heady statements, were grossly deceptive; they didn’t know the answers either. Although Job was spiritual, he had enormous problems.
Flaw No. 4: Being exposed to sound Bible teaching automatically solves problems. There are people all over the world with the most gifted pastors and teachers who are having problems. Also, just because you hear doesn’t mean you are going to apply what you hear.
How is it possible then to “hang in there.” We want to learn the secret of how we can “hang in there.”
I want to share a word with you. It is a Greek word. The word is hupomone. Most of the time in Scripture it is translated patience. But it means more than just taking what comes to you and waiting for it to pass. This word is used some 30 times as a noun and 15 times as a verb in the New Testament. It is taking what comes to us and actually transforming it and making it an opportunity for God to bless in our lives and make our lives a blessing to others.
Let me give you some examples from Scripture of what I’m talking about.
"But the good seed on good soil stands for those with a noble heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop (Luke 8:15).
The word is persevering.
“All men will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm you will gain life" (Luke 21:17-19).
The word is standing firm.
Another look is Romans 5:3-4: “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."
Romans 8:25 "But if we hope for that which we do not have we wait for it patiently." We wait for it patiently - hupomone.
2 Corinthians 6:4: "Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way; in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger..." Endurance - hupomone.
Hebrews 10:36: "You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." Persevere - hupomone.
Hebrews 12:1-2: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross." Perseverance/endured - hupomone.
James 1:2-4: "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." Perseverance - hupomone.
2 Timothy 2:11: "Here is a trustworthy saying; If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself."
The key word is endure. To endure means to master. It is not just patiently waiting with our hands folded, we master the temptation and we turn it into good as we master the situation.
We see this exhibited in the Apostle Paul as he prayed for the thorn in his flesh to be removed. We don’t know what that thorn in the flesh was and I am grateful that we don’t. Because we can identify with him in whatever infirmity or difficulty we may experience.
My strength is made full in my weakness. Paul stops praying for the thorn to be removed and starts to thank God for it. It is through the thorn in his flesh that God can work and move and do the marvelous things He wants to do. It has been transformed, it has been changed into the special kind of friend that brings the power of God to his life. And to discover that is to discover one of the great secrets.
Consider the life of Joseph. You know, there is no mention of sin regarding the life of Joseph.
Joseph, on the orders of his father, went to take some food to his brothers. Because of their jealousy of him, they put him in a well. Some slave traders come by and his brothers sell him. Here is Joseph, having done the instructions of his father, on his way to Egypt as a slave. Now can you imagine what he might have thought? "God, is this the way you treat your friends? All I was doing was what my dad asked me to do."
He is sold to Potiphar and his wife tries to tempt him. When he withstands she lies about him and has him thrown into prison.
He started out just doing what his dad wanted him to do and first he is made a slave and now he is in a foreign prison. He hasn’t done anything wrong. He doesn’t feel responsible for anything that has happened to him. Next he befriends two guys by interpreting their dreams. One of them assures him he will remember him when he gets out but he doesn’t until later. Then he is plucked up out of prison and made prime minister. Now as prime minister he is going to be a blessing ... not only to the people of Egypt ... but to his own people as well.
Here is a boy who started out to do what his father told him to do, he is sold as a slave, thrown into prison, and eventually made prime minister. Has it dawned on you that if he had not been made a slave, if he had not been lied about and thrown into prison, he would never have been made prime minister. In each instance, he allowed God to work and to use him.
That is what hupomone is all about. It is the patience and endurance to see something through and to allow God to use that tempering, that molding for His glory. It is not that we just wait out the difficulty of the moment. It is that we master the difficulty, we allow God to use it to bless us and to use us to bless others.
Now when Joseph’s brothers came to beg for food they recognized him and began to apologize for what they had done. He told his brothers not to worry. You intended to harm me, but God meant it for good.
That is the essence of what we are talking about. There are going to be some times when thou art weary and thou art languid in this life. No matter what happens to you, God in His grace and glory stands by you to transform that for which you will praise God. That is hupomone.
It is being more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
I would like to close with a bit of verse from my favorite poet: Anonymous.
God Knows What He’s About
When God wants to drill a man
And thrill a man
And skill a man.
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part;
When he yearns with all His heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways!
How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects!
How He hammers him and hurts him
And with mighty blows converts him,
Into trial shapes of clay which
Only God understands;
While his tortured heart is crying
And he lifts beseeching hands!
How he bends but never breaks
When his good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses
And with every purpose fuses him;
By every act induces him
To try His splendor out –
God knows what He’s about!
– Anonymous
Are you hanging in there?
