The New Normal 2 Corinthians 4:5-12
1. The New Normal is the present reality of one’s life. It’s a mental transition just about anyone must go through to survive a protracted period of suffering or difficulty.
• Paul’s former life he was highly educated man, learned under the famous prominent Pharisee and rabbi, Gamaliel.
• Pauls normal was that of persecution of Christians, seeking out believers in their homes and synagogues, imprisoning and punishing them for their faith (Acts 8:3; 9:1-2).
• The Book of Acts describes the terror that Paul instilled in the Christian community, as they feared for their lives and the future of their faith (Acts 9:13-14). As one of the most zealous persecutors of Christianity, Saul posed a significant threat to the survival of the early church.
• Paul’s new normal began on the road to Damascus
• The religion he once persecuted became the religion he would be willing to die for
2. In the text Paul’s New Normal Paul was the hunter now he is the hunted
• “We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. For we who are living are always being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal flesh.”
• Paul tells it like it really is He’s not like those prosperity preachers you see on TV, who promise that if you just give your heart to Jesus, every good thing will come drifting down to you like manna from heaven; that you’ll never have any pain, difficulty or heartache, ever again. If you sew a seed of $1000. Right now God will give you a 100 fold back .
• I tell you church today if you tithe you may get nothing back but you may get a spiritual blessing the Bible says Abraham tithed 1/10 of everything
• Jacob said, 22andH this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth."
• Malachi states 8"Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, `How do we rob you?'
• "In tithes and offerings. 9You are under a curse--the whole nation of you--because you are robbing me. 10Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
3. Paul claims his New Normal is “affliction, being perplexed, being persecuted, struck down.”
• No hint of a prosperity gospel here, just a frank acknowledgment that life — for Christians — is hard, and sometimes very hard.
• But there’s some good news. Such affliction is not forever. Eventually, we can grow to accept the new normal.
• Paul learned to cope by faith afflicted but not crushed, persecuted but not forsaken, for me to live is Christ to die is gain
• Paul was knocked down but he kept getting up 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
• We can learn, in time, how to cope. And we can come to realize that, while life may knock us down sometimes, it can never?keep?us down —
4. How to survive a New Normal, Where ever you go “Be Where You Are” Keep God in Mind
• Kate Bowler, a professor at Duke Divinity School, was diagnosed with colon cancer at age 35 and given just a few months to live. But is still living and thriving
• Kate got inspired by Monk Anthony of the Desert, a monk from Egypt and the most famous of all early monastics( living alone solitary seeking God in the desert living by a strict rule sometime known as Benedictine rule ) ,
• Anthony of the Dessert once said. Someone once asked Brother Anthony what we ought to do to please God. The monk replied with a very simple piece of advice:
• “Wherever you go, keep God in mind. Whatever you do, follow the example of Holy Scripture.
5. How are we going to cope with our new normal?
• God does not protect Christians from pain and struggle —
• Paul learned the Lord gives us what we need to get through difficult times.
• Yes, there are losses in life. Yes there are strokes, there is dementia, there is diabetes, there are liver diseases, and there is cancer and other illness. But there is faith to.
• God help us to have faith that when afflicted I am not crushed
• Give me Faith when I am perplexed I’m not in despair
• God give me Faith when I am persecuted I am not forsaken
• God give me Faith when I am struck down I am not Destroyed
• God give me faith that where ever I go, keep God in mind, whatever I do follow the example of the Holy scripture
