TRIUMPH OVER TRIALS: “IT WILL BE WORTH IT ALL WHEN WE SEE JESUS”
Please place your left hand on the Bible, raise your right hand, and answer this question: Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Now that you have been duly sworn in, it is your task to bear witness to the truth of what you know factually, and have experienced personally, relative to the case before us.
From the birth of Jesus, to his dedication in the temple, to his baptism, to his years of ministry in Galilee and beyond, to his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, to his crucifixion, to his resurrection, to his ascension, to the telling of his story, to the founding of his church, to the proclamation of his gospel story through the centuries, to the day in which we live, Christianity has been on trial in the court of public opinion.
The task of mature Christians is the same today as it was in the first century: to tell the truth about God’s love for a world lost in sin . . . about the Good News of Jesus Christ by which repentant sinners can be saved and spend eternity with Christ in the visible presence of God in the place which our Lord promised to prepare for his family – the family of God.
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, the apostle found himself under scrutiny with regard to his apostleship as well as the genuineness of his profession of faith – even though Christians in Gentile Corinth had not been subjected to persecution as they had been in provinces dominated by Jewish tradition.
Apparently the first impression some Corinthians had had of Paul was unfavorable due to his infirmities!
Think about it: Suppose you were on a pastor search committee, and wanted to secure the best possible person to fill that position --- and you asked a candidate, “How has God been at work in your ministry”?
And suppose the response you heard went something like this: “At this very moment I suffer from hunger and thirst, I have nothing but rags to wear, I have been brutally treated in every community I have served, I was run off from my last church, and I am currently homeless for the sake of Jesus” (I Corinthians 4:11). Now tell the truth: Would you not do a double take?
To complicate matters, there were impostors who had joined the Church at Corinth to try to sabotage Paul’s insistence on strict adherence to the doctrine of one God, one way, one Lord and one high standard of moral and ethical behavior in order to accommodate those who advocated twisting or tweaking God’s Word to suit worldly morals and lifestyles.
Thus, Paul found himself between the proverbial rock and hard place - but he handled it in such a way that, when they who adhere to the teachings of God’s Word are put to the test, they would do well to model their response after Paul’s:
Regardless of what scoffers thought of Paul, he considered his God-given task to be: Speak the truth . . . Share the treasure . . . Endure the trials. To do so would be to share in the Lord’s triumph over trials!
Paul made it clear to his skeptics that their dislike of him and their disdain for the truth did not cause him to lose heart – 2 Corinthians 4:1-6 . . . for two reasons:
(1) His task was assigned to him by the LORD! By God’s mercy he was saved and by the commission God’s Son gave him, he was set apart to speak the truth - an approach that differentiated him from impostors who stooped to “shameful methods” to find favor with the crowd. “We do not adulterate the Word - try to get folks to believe that the Bible teaches what it does not teach”. And by the way:
Folks who refuse to believe in Christ . . . to accept truths of the Gospel . . . to live according to Godly standards -- have given themselves over to the evils of this world to such an extent that they no longer “hear” unadulterated “truth” as set forth in God’s Word . . . Furthermore:
God’s invitation to them to turn from their misguided ways falls on deaf ears – and it’s not that God has shut them out or abandoned them, but that they, by their behavior, have shut themselves off from God and cut ties with basic teachings of the Christian Church.
(2) “It is not ourselves that we proclaim, but rather Christ Jesus as Lord”! Therefore, this is a task we must get done because the God who said “Let there be light in the darkness” has turned on the light in us, so that we now see Jesus as a reflection of God Himself! Indeed! “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself”!
So, folks, we speak truth about Jesus – who he is, what he has done for us, what he can and will do for you!
Let me now share with you what it is that we really have in our possession - 2 Corinthians 4:7-11 . . . Folks:
If you don’t appreciate Paul comparing you to common clay – fragile and dispensable – try to see how Paul turned a negative into a positive by pointing out that, even tho we mortal human beings are weak and frail, God chose to use us as vessels for building his kingdom. So, instead of complaining, pray: “Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way, Thou art the potter, I am the clay, mold me and make me after Thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still.”
Important: God has entrusted the treasure of the gospel, the glorious good news about Jesus Christ, to vessels such as Paul was and we are . . . to us as instruments of God’s salvation . . . to us, with all our flaws, to show that the awesome power of the gospel is from God and not from the one who shares it. After all:
The gospel is not merely a message that confronts a sinner, but a power so dynamic that it turns a person’s life upside down! Only God can do that! So, it is essential that people see the contents and not just the container - glorify not the messenger but God who gave the message!
Our task (assigned by Father and commissioned by the Son): Speak the truth . . . Share the treasure . . . Endure the trials . . . Do not give up . . . Keep on keeping on . . . Share the triumph! To stay on task is to honor God!
As you stay on task, be aware of the occurrence of paradoxes experienced by some Christians who “keeping on keeping on” despite having to deal with adversity:
To paraphrase Paul: Sometimes enormous pressures back us into a corner, but eventually help comes - and a way out of our predicament is provided . . .
Sometimes we feel pressure from enemies who want to silence us, but God never abandons us . . . we find ourselves at the “end of our rope” but never at the end of our hope . . . we get knocked down, but never knocked out. For, you see:
A unique characteristics of Christians who wholeheartedly serve the Lord is not that we do not fall but that, when we do fall, we get up again and keep going.
Paul kept going despite suffering. After describing trials that Christians go through because of their devotion to the Lord, Paul goes on to give the secret of how he was able to bear the load and endure as he did – 2 Corinthians 4:12-18 . . .
Q: What motivated the old apostle to speak out as he did, to tell the truth, to share that treasure of the gospel despite all the trials he endured? Paul explained his endurance by quoting the psalmist: “I believed and therefore I have spoken” (116:10).
Q: What did Paul believe that kept him going? Exactly what we believe that keeps us enduring with excitement: “He who raised Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and bring us all to stand together before God” (4:14)!
It’s as if Paul shouts (4:15): “The more the merrier”! Which is why we never give up the task of sharing the treasure: to encourage others to “Come, then, and join this holy band and on to glory go”!
Until then even though our physical bodies are slowly wasting, our spiritual selves are being renewed day by day - so that we gradually mature to the point at which we are able to see our troubles in perspective - as momentary and lightweight compared to the glory to come! Folks:
It is worth noting that, in all of the gospel, Jesus never foretold His death without foretelling His resurrection! Christians who suffer for the sake of Christ . . . whose hope remains steadfast despite suffering, will triumph over trials! For that very reason, we do not gaze all the time on what we see right now – all the troubles around us – but we look ahead to the joys in Heaven which we have not yet seen. Troubles will soon be over, but joys to come will last forever!
“It will be worth it all when we see Jesus!
Life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ. One glimpse of his dear face, all sorrow will erase. So, bravely run the race till we see Christ.” Amen!
