We witness all kinds of troubled news and events today, wars and rumours of wars, floods and storms, sickness and health issues, poverty and uncertainty are foreseeable, evil increasing every day… its easy to get distracted on those things today and get drifted far away from God and lose hope… that is why I'm going to talk about our blessed and sure hope… church, over there (heaven) started to look way better than over here….started to look better than here!
There are some passages of Scripture I just build a house in that passage, I just dwell there because it speaks to my soul in a way that is personal and powerful!
This particular passage of Scripture is one of those passages that I just live in, I just delight in this passage of Scripture… because Paul says so much in this 4th chapter that is powerful, loaded, expectant, and significant for the serious believer!
He says in Verse1: this ministry that we have, we received it because of God's mercy (the ministry referred to is the ministry of the new covenant, 2Corinthians 3:6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life… and of righteousness, of glory verses 8-9) … and because of God's mercy, we don’t lose heart…we faint not! he
says in 2Corinthians 4:7 we have this treasure in an earthen vessel… we have a treasure but it's in a clay pot … and the pot may be cracked but the treasure is untouched!
He goes on to say in Verse 8 & 9: we are troubled on every side yet not distressed, we are perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed … another way to put is that we are squeezed but not squashed, we are bewildered but not befuddled, we are pursued but not abandoned, knocked down but not knocked out, we always bear in our bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ… for we which are alive, we are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake… we have the same spirit of faith he says… we are raised with the Lord Jesus and for all of this… we give God thanks!
But in verse 16 he says for which cause we faint not!
Brothers and sisters, that's an incredible statement…
In spite of the heaviness that comes with being in this world today, we faint not!” that word faint not” is in the present tense, and active voice … it means: we never give up no matter how hard it gets, no matter how lonely we get we never give up, no matter how squeezed we are in our circumstances we still have hope, no matter how difficult our trials get, no matter how heavy our burdens get, no matter how violent the storms get, or how bloody the war gets… nothing's going to keep us from coming to church, nothing's going to keep us from praying and giving God praise, nothing's going to keep us from lifting our hands and raising our voice in shouting Holy is the Lord, I will never stop giving God praise even if I am the last one left here on earth…
When things get hard, and tears comes down…we will sing… I've seen the lightning flashing, I've heard the thunder roll, I’ve felt sins breakers dashing… trying to conquer my soul, but I heard the voice of Jesus telling me still fight on, He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone!
Now Paul said: I've learned in whatsoever state I find myself in to be contend, no matter what my circumstance, no matter what my situation, no matter what my difficulty, no matter how my heart is breaking, I will never, never, never give up!
Brothers and sisters, after a while your faith ought to be so strong that people don't know when you're broke… you just walk like you got money… that they don't know when you're burdened because you just praise God like you don't have a care in the world… somebody here might have lost a house, or business, or job but you still coming to church, because if God gave you that house… you are sure he can give you another house!
Troubled but not distress, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroy… for this cause we faint not!
Proverb 24:10 says: if you faint in the day of adversity it's because your strength is small!
Jeremiah 12:5 said if you run with the footmen and they have wearied you, how can you contend with horses? if you can't stand up in the land where peace and prosperity abide, what are you going to do at the swelling of the Jordan?
Jesus said: in this world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer because I have overcome the world!
Paul said we are more than conquerors…
Verse number 16 is an incredible statement, for this cause we faint not!
But there's a common struggle in the same verse… but though our outward man perish (decaying), yet the inward man is renewed day by day!
Now this thought in the mind of the Corinthians comes from one of their philosophers named Plato … which has come into the Western thought and invaded it … is that Plato theorised in his thinking that there is a dichotomy… a division, a duality between the flesh and the spirit.
Plato has separated in his philosophy … the human being into two parts… flesh and spirit, body and soul… but Paul modifies, reorganises, reforms their thinking… to make the Corinthians and the believers in this day to recognize that we are not body and soul only… because when I am Resurrected, my body will be Reconstructed… so I will not be leaving my body in the grave, my body will be reconstructed, and I will have a resurrection body because my body is not evil of itself… this matter of flesh and spirit that was in the Corinthian thinking, was that the mortal flesh was evil and so had to be destroyed… and that's why the word perishing is in the text…
But a better word would be the word decaying… more accurate translation is… our physical bodies are decaying… in Adam we were deconstructed… but in Christ we are reconstructed!
Let me see if I can make this point, we are spiritual beings experiencing a natural experience… so there is no separation between my soul and my body, both of them will be present before God… that’s why both my soul and my body are now redeemed in Jesus Christ ...so that's why Paul says in chapter 15 of first Corinthians this mortal must put on immortality, this corruptible must put on in-corruption… I'm not going to leave my body in the grave, I'm just going to have a resurrected body, reconstructed, different body from the one I had when I was in my sinful flesh… so Paul is not talking about moral failure, but mortal failure …because Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement…but he is a rebel who must lay down his arms and surrender to God in repentance!
Let me simplify it to you…this world sometimes causes us to get lonesome for another place, the older I get the looser I hold on to things! I'm loosening my grip on many things in this world…I told you that I built my house in this passage, I live in this passage of Scripture… and you can't talk like this until you've had some things taken away from you… I have decided to lose my grips on many things here on earth simply because I have better things over there!.
As a spiritual father and as a Parent… let me advice you parents too…you have to come to the place where you talk and prepare your children for what’s coming, sit your son or your daughter down and say: now I've done all the raising I'm going to do, I can’t do anymore for you, all I can do now is pray for you… I taught you God’s word the best I can, I put my values in you, I brought you to church, I've tried to teach you right from wrong, you're on your own now… and the decisions you make from here on are your decisions, I've done all pastors, and all parents can do… I love you, I’m here for you, I'm praying for you every day and every night, I'm on my knees calling your name but I'm turning you lose!
At a certain point in your life… you got to start turning things loose… This car that you drive, and the cloths that you wear, and that bed you sleep on, and that house you live in because it's not that important, you can't take it with you…
If you can see it… It's temporary… If you can put your hand on it, it has temporary written all over it… so start wearing it, start driving it, start sleeping on it, start living in it with a loose grip! Money, clothes, car, friends, education, work hold them with a loose grip because they'll be with today and you won't be able to find them tomorrow!
One day you will realise that this world is not as attractive
as it used to be, because you can't talk to the people that you used to talk to like you once did… because they are gone, and you will be saying: heaven is starting to look better than the world that I'm living in right now!
Church, it is true… over there is much better than over here because this world is not mine, I'm a pilgrim, and a stranger, I’m just passing by…
Let me be human here for a moment and speak my heart out…once your mum and dad are gone (specially mum because truly she is the glue of the family) …. home is not the same!
I love seafood, Italian, Greek food and and BBQ, I love so many other dishes, but nobody can make it like my mum… I hardly eat cakes anymore, I don't eat many of my favorited food anymore because my mom is not around to make it.
Somethings are just not as attractive to me as it used to be because the people I used to celebrated with are not around, or have gone to the other side…
I loved Christmas celebration with my mom and dad, but Christmas don't smell right because my mom isn’t around…we do Christmas at home to the best of our ability to gather together with families, but it is not the same…
I cook some good food; my wife cooks amazing food…it's almost like my mom's… but it's just not the same anymore! I started to realize that over there started to look way better to me then over here!
Some mornings I wake up and got to sit on the side of the bed because my head doesn’t want to act right… now I’m in my 50’s I get tired quickly, I get tired of people who supposed to be praying for you…but they lying on you, always putting me down, in front of me they are all smiles but criticize me for trying to do the right thing, and always negative…. over there (heaven) is starting to look better to me then over here!
Today… politicians lie so much that you can't trust the government, you can't trust your local MP’s, you can't trust anybody in government for they are all corrupt, and corruption has sneaked into the church that you can’t even trust some Christians, leaders, and pastors…heaven is starting to look much better to me than over here!
There's a leak in this building (my body), one day is dizziness, another day is the blood pressure… if it’s not my shoulder, it is the backache, if it’s not my vision, it is my teeth… Is it only me? I wish I had two or three more witnesses!
Pretty soon our soul is going to have to move… I don't care how much you dye your hair; I don't care how much you exercise; I don't care how much you eat right, and take care of your body… your eyesight is going to grow dem, you won't be able to hear as well as you used to hear, you won't be able to walk as fast as you used to walk, you will be able to remember like you used to… after a while, heaven will start to look better than over here! And I’m not trying to be negative here…I’m just reminding you and comforting you with our blessed hop!
I remember the time when all I had to do was tell myself what I wanted to remember, and I could remember it!
But now, if I want to remember I have to write it down… and then I have to try to remember what I wrote it on… and then I have to remember where I put it… and then I have to remember… now what did I write this for? That is a sign that heaven is starting to look better than over here!
My hair is turning grey, my bones are getting brittle, everything that used to be precious to me it's getting further and further in the distance… because I'm getting closer to where I'm on my way to! I’m getting closer to be united with Jesus, so I’m preparing myself for heaven and reminding myself of my blessed hope where Jesus and I will be together forever… now that could be 30-40-50 years from now but that is a few seconds in God’s economy!
It's an incredible statement that we faint not, it's a common struggle that all of us have to go through, but then there is a wonderful secret in the text… that if you get a hold to it … you'll shout for the rest of this service and the rest of your life!
It is right here in the text, if you get a hold to it, if it makes sense to you… whatever comes your way, you'll shout in the midst of your adversity! if you can ever wrap your mind around verse 17 & 18… you will smile in the midst of the darkest day of your life…
Paul says: 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment… I am so glad trouble doesn’t last always… it's
just for moment… yes when you weigh what you go through against eternity… it's just for a moment!
So, for you here who are computer literate, you come back to church on Sunday to reboot or restart… the world took it out of your Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, but Sunday morning you get a chance to reboot…Restart the program over again! When life turns on you, you’ve got to remember it's only for a moment!
When reading the bible, you've got to pay close attention to word contrasts… if you're going to be biblically sound in your study, in your teaching, and preaching… you’ve got to pay close attention to word contrast!
The entire 4th chapter of 2 Corinthians is a word contrast… treasure, earthen vessel that's a word contrast, one is lesser, and the other is greater! treasure greater, vessel lesser! troubled on every side, yet not distressed… that's a contrast!
Perplexed but not in despair, that's a contrast!
Cast down but not destroyed, that's a word contrast!
Light affliction, heavy weight of glory… that's a word contrast!
The stuff that you go through right now is light in comparison to the far greater weight of glory… you can handle it, if you know you are not going to be in it long!
That's the only way I make sense of my trials, that's the only way I come to church and preach, and you don't know that my heart is about to break…because I know whatever I'm going through… God's not going to let it last too long! and if I stay in it, he will not waste my pain!
God will make sure that you are better on the other side of your struggles because you had to go through it… and there are some things in life you just got to go through to be able to know how to shout on Sunday morning!
• Those of us who have been through some troubling situation, when we came out on the other side… we were not in distress!
• Those of us who've been through some perplexing situations, when we came out on the other side… we were not in despair!
• Those of us who have been persecuted when we came out… we were not forsaken!
• Those of us who have been cast down, or knocked down, when we came out… we discovered that we were not knocked out! because there is something to be said for going through your trial…. don't miss that word “through” your trial!
Through your heart break! through your disappointment! through your sickness! through your distress because to go through means to come out on the other side!
Yea, though I walk not in the valley of the shadow of despair, but through the valley of the shadow of death!
Brothers and sisters, this word in the text “our light affliction” which is but for a moment… is doing something for me.
It's working for me a far more exceeding, now far more is enough for me… but so that I get the point… he says far more exceeding!
God is going to only bring me out, but he is going to do more than just bring me out… he is going to bring me through…and then when he brings me through… he is going to set me up…and then when he sets me up, he's going to take care of me… and then when he takes care of me, he'll do it in the presence of my enemies so that they can watch me being blessed and can't do nothing about!
Ephesians 3:20 is another passage of scripture that has that same ring to it, he's able to do exceeding abundantly above all that I even ask or think, according to the power that works in us! And what I asked for that I didn't think that I needed… he gave it to me… exceeding abundantly!
What I didn't even think I was going to need, he provided it for me… and then the stuff I thought I had to have, he took it away to make me better!
You must praise God not just for what he brought in your life, but what he took out of your life… there was a man that God
took out of your life, there was a dream that God took out of your life… and you are better because you didn't get what you thought you had to have!
This light affliction, this momentary affliction, it's just going to pass as a moment… stop tearing your hair out, stop wanting to end it all, it's not going to last that long!
Honestly, the only way I can go through what I go through… is that I know I'm going to come out of it! and you know why I know I'm going to come out of it? because I came out of the last stuff I was in! and I know who brought me….
It wasn't the doctor, it wasn't a lawyer, it wasn't the college degree, it wasn't money in the bank, it wasn’t politicians, it wasn’t my ability or strength, it wasn’t good luck… it was nobody but Jesus!
18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen... we're looking at the wrong stuff, come on help me preach a minute!
We're looking at career success, we’re looking for survival, we're looking at financial stability and that's good… you ought to have that, but those things are temporary… we're looking for the ideal relationship and no relationship is ideal because the minute you get in it … you messed it up because you are not ideal yourself!
• If you're looking for the perfect man or woman stop looking… because you are not what you're looking for… so how you going to be in a perfect relationship when you bring you to the relationship?
• If you're looking for a perfect Church, the minute you joined… it just got messed up because you're not a perfect member!
• If you're looking for a perfect pastor you sure better get out of here and find another pastor because you are looking at one imperfect, messed up, lowdown, good for
Nothing, wretch, undone but thank God I’ve got a treasure in an earthen vessel…that the power may be of God and not of us!
You've got your eyes on the wrong thing, the things of this world are fading… the things of this world are momentary, but we are Pilgrims and strangers… we are passing through this barren land, this world is not my home… I'm on my way somewhere!
Abraham said in Hebrews 11:10 I'm looking for a city whose builder and maker is God…Abraham desired a better country…
Paul says: we know that when this earthly House of this Tabernacle is dissolved, we have another building… a house not made with hand but eternal in the heaven!
Paul says: we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and to those who are the called according to his purpose!
Paul says: I know in whom I have believed, and I have committed somethings to him… and he's holding them until that day!
Is there anybody here know that heaven looks way better than over here? Is there anybody here getting tired of all the mess that's in this world? All the backstabbing, accusation, hurt, pain, evil, and discomfort that you get from people and Christians that you love or trust? all the crazy people on the highway? people shooting people in the shopping centres and schools, we can’t even take our children to a crowded park because people are getting funny in this world…. heaven is starting to look better then over here!
And then your body is starting to play, you don't feel good as you used to feel because this body is crumbling!
Is there anybody here know that when you get your other body, your heavenly body over there will look better than this body over here?
I've got a home on the other side somewhere where the wicked will cease from troubling, and the weary can be at rest… as soon as my feet strike Zion… I’m going to lay down my heavy burden, I’m going to leave all my trials and disappointments, tears, pain, struggles, and I'm going home to live with Jesus!
Is there anybody here glad this world is not your home?
One day you are going to look for me… and I'm going to be gone, gone up to heaven… where I'll sing and shout, nobody there will be able to put me out, or tell me off, or be offended of how I praise my Jesus! Because I know that my redeemer lives, I know who my Saviour is, I know he was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, baptized in the Jordan, I know he died one Friday but Sunday morning he got up from the grave with all power in his hand….
I know who Jesus is… do you know who Jesus is?
He's Adams Redeemer, he's Abel's vindicator, he’s Abraham sacrifice, he’s Noah's ark, he’s Moses’ bush on fire, Joshua’s battle axe…
He's God's only Son, he's Mary's baby boy, he's Matthew's King, Mark’s suffering servant, Luke's Great Physician, John's Word made flesh, he’s distinctive in supernatural capacity, unparalleled in sovereign majesty, exclusive in spiritual beauty, radiant in eternal splendour, matchless in supernal deity, he's the God of Gods, he's the prince of princes, he's the fairest of ten thousand, he is the bright and the Morning Star, he's the
Rose of Sharon, he's the lily of the valley, he is the Ancient of Days, he's the Dayspring of Israel, he's the root of Jesse, he's the son of David, he's the king of Israel!
This light affliction this light affliction is just momentary, it's only going to last for a moment… I’m just going to be away from my mom or dad or brothers and sisters and loved ones for a moment… but as my feet strike Zion… they all have to wait…because there is somebody I want to see before them…
I love my grandfather, I love my grandmother, and my friends, but they didn't die for me, they didn't go in the grave for me, they didn't get up with all power in their hand… I've got to see Jesus first and for most! when I see him, and he will give me my crown… I'm going to give it right back to him… and then we're going to crown him king of kings and Lord of lords!
For this light affliction is but for a moment but it's not to be compared with the far more exceeding weight of glory! because the things that are seen are temporary but the things that are not seen are eternal!
