WHMBC VBS 2007 – Treasure #4 – Surrendering
2 Corinthians 4:1-7
Things don’t always go our way. Some things don’t turn out the way we expect them to.
Sometimes our friends let us down – even when they tell us that they’ll always be there for us. Sometimes people at school laugh at us, make fun of us – and because of this there are times when we feel like quitting.
We wonder what the point is of being a Christian, what is the point in coming to church, what is the point of praying?????
Sometimes our situation in life seems hopeless; we’ve dropped the ball and don’t feel like picking it up again. We’ve been knocked down so many times we just want to quit the game because our get up and go has got up and gone.
Twice Paul says, “Faint not!” Faint here is from the Greek “ek-kak-eh’-o” and means to be weak or weary, to fail in heart. So in other words Paul is telling us not to loose heart. What do you do when your get up and go has got up and gone?
I. REMEMBER YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
Verses 1 & 2
This is a glorious ministry. God has given us a message which no man could have come up with. It would be impossible for a man to work out such a plan as the gospel. Since it is by His mercy, we faint not. We rejoice in it!
• We have the responsibility to take the Gospel to the lost.
Jesus tells us in Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. The world is dying and on its way to hell, we have to take the gospel to the lost. We have to take every opportunity that the Lord gives us, to witness to people.
The Apostle Paul also tells us not to handle the Word of God deceitfully in verse 2 – false religions, cults.
Do you know the difference between Christianity and the religions of the world? It can be summed up with one word. All the religions of the world say, “Do.” The gospel says, “Done.” The gospel tells me that God has done something for me; I am to believe it; I am to trust Him. The only way I can come to Him is by faith. “But without faith it is impossible to please him …” (Heb. 11:6).
Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again, according to the Scriptures. That is the difference. In His finished work we must put our trust. It is done.
Do not handle the word of God deceitfully. Don’t add to or to take away from God’s Word, we just need to preach the truth, preach His precious word. God loved us. God in His mercy provided a Savior for us, and now He saves us by His grace. We have a responsibility to take the Gospel to the lost.
• We have the responsibility to live our lives a certain way.
We are saved by the grace of God through faith in Christ Jesus. However, after we have been saved, that gospel must live in us. Don’t just talk the talk – Walk it!!! Our behavior should not be different to what we are saying. A person can preach the gospel and say things that are absolutely true, but at the same time his life can be speaking another message.
Romans 12:1 I beseech ye therefore, bretheren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. We may be the only Bibles a lost person will ever read.
• We have the responsibility to do what God has asked us to do.
Unfortunately life is not always fun, the real test is our ability to keep going when the fun is over and we go ahead and do what we have to do anyway. Can we still live for the Lord when VBS is finished? Can we still come to church on a Sunday & Wednesday etc…
Paul tells us to “Faint not” Don’t loose heart. Paul had a job to do and I’m sure there were times when he didn’t feel like preaching. We just have to look at Paul’s life to see his ups and downs, but through it all he preached the word.
When he was in jail, he preached the word. (Phillipian Jailer)
When he was going through trials, he preached the word.
When he was being persecuted, he preached the word. (Before Felix)
II. REMEMBER TO FIGHT THE ENEMY
Verse 4
Many people in this world are messed up or mixed up because they are listening to the wrong person. They’ve been listening to the devil. Paul tells us in Verse 4 that “…the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not.” The devil wants to get people as far away from God as he possibly can, he does this by blinding the people to the truth.
• Money has made them blind.
• Alcohol and drugs has made them blind.
• Gambling has made them blind.
• Possessions have made them blind
• Positions (job, status etc… ) have made them blind.
• What the world has to offer people today has made them blind.
The god of this world has blinded them and to accept Christ as their personal Saviour means that they will have too much to give up, unfortunately there is a cost to this blindness, and that cost is an eternity in hell.
Hitler was a master of propaganda. The rubbish that people believe today is absurd. (evolution, cults etc….)
Not only has the god of this world made people blind, but he wants to trip us up, make us fall and take us out.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
If we are going to make it in life we must be alert to what is going on and be aware of our enemy.
There was a boxer who went back to his corner after being knocked down in the first round. His trainer patted him on the back and said, “Go back out there and get him. He hasn’t laid a glove on you.” In the second round he was knocked down twice and saved by the bell on the count of 9. He barely made it back to his corner. His trainer patted him on the back and said to him, “Go back out there and get him. He hasn’t laid a glove on you.”
Then the boxer turned to his trainer and said, “I’m going back out there and get him this round. But keep your eyes on the referee because somebody out there is beating the living daylights out of me.”
Many times in life we have the living daylights beaten out of us and we need to realise who it is! The devil is there to deceive us, trip us up, make us fall, and make us fail. The devil is our enemy and we need to combat him, fight against him, Peter said, “Resist him, stand firm in the faith.” When we are fighting against some big guns we need even bigger guns to win the battle. Our bigger guns are the Lord Himself. Without the Lord, we won’t win against satan! Satan is bigger and stronger than we are by ourselves. BUT - Phi 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Verses 5 & 6
To combat satan we must preach Christ. Jesus – wilderness – tempt- IT IS WRITTEN
To combat the enemy and to keep from loosing heart in life we need the big guns of Bible study, prayer, Christian friends, Christian fellowship, these are how we receive Christ’s strength for life.
Not only do we need to remember our responsibility and fight the enemy but we also need to:
III. REMEMBER TO BOUNCE
Verse 7 - 9
Paul knew about heartaches and headaches. He knew about stress, but he didn’t let these things get him down. He may have been down temporarily, but he didn’t stay down, he always bounced back.
True victory is not the absence of problems but the ability to deal with them. Paul knew how to deal with his problems, and he knew how to bounce back.
He describes us in verse 7 as an earthen vessel like a pot of clay, you examine a pot or jar of clay closely and you begin to see the cracks, weaknesses and flaws, some will have imperfections and you realise just how fragile they are.
The child of God is merely a vessel into whom God has placed this powerful Gospel by which men can be saved. The power is not in the vessel, but the Gospel placed in the vessel. So why would God put such a treasure in this pot? Don’t forget that the pot is always in the hands of the potter.
We should keep going even when we feel like quitting because God gave us the grace to bounce back from difficult situations, Verses 8 & 9
Galatians 6:2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Don’t lose heart learn to bounce back! In 1852 many Californian vineyard owners were going bankrupt because of a drought. All the grapes just shrivelled up on the vines. One vineyard owner picked them anyway, took them to the market, and advertised them as Peruvian delicacies, and we’ve been eating raisins ever since.
Everybody is going to experience trouble in life, but what we do with that trouble is another matter. Some people hide, some people run, and some people go to the Lord. The only way you can turn the defeats into victories is when you focus on the Lord.
Proverbs 3: 5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Christ never said it would be easy, He just said it would be worth it, He’ll never leave us nor forsake us, He said, “Lo I am wit thee always.”
Conclusion
Romans 8:31 says, What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? With a loving God in our corner, how can we lose?
