Mrs. Shank from Olathe, Kansas, talks about a hot summer day when she was sitting near an open window sewing and keeping an eye on her three grandsons playing outside.
“Let's play cops and robbers,” said Mike. “I'll be a robber!” Terry and Melvin wanted the same role, so they needed another person to play.
“What about Grandma?” Terry suggested.
“Nah,” Mike replied, “she can't run fast enough.”
“What can we do to make her mad?” asked Melvin. “Old people can run real fast when they get mad!” (G. Shank, Olathe, Kans. "Kids of the Kingdom," Christian Reader; www.PreachingToday.com).
As we get older, we tend to slow down unless there is some internal motivation to speed us up temporarily. The Apostle Paul put it this way: “Our outer self is wasting away.” But that doesn’t mean you have to give up or be discouraged. For Paul goes on to say, “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).
So, how do you renew your inner self when the outer self wants to slow down or even give up? How do you keep discouragement at bay? How do you keep from losing heart? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians 4, 2 Corinthians 4, where the Apostle Paul shows us how.
2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart (ESV).
Skip down to verse 16.
2 Corinthians 4:16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day (ESV).
As you can see, this chapter is about preventing heart loss. So how do you do that even as “the outer self is wasting away?”
2 Corinthians 4:2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God (ESV).
Paul refuses to deceive or distort God’s Word. Instead, He proclaims it openly and without adulteration. Now, that’s what kept Paul going even in the hard times. So, to keep from losing heart…
DECLARE CHRIST PLAINLY AND OPENLY.
Speak the whole truth without distorting or manipulating the facts. Proclaim the gospel, the good news about Jesus, in a straightforward and honest way.
Now, people may not accept the truth, but that is not your fault. So don’t be discouraged when people refuse to believe.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (ESV).
Satan blinds the minds of those who refuse to believe. He covers their eyes, so to speak, so they cannot see the truth.
Saint Ignatius put it this way: “The devil cannot take from the soul the light of faith: he, however, removes the light of consideration; so that the soul may not reflect on what it believes. And as it is of no avail to open the eyes in the dark, so says St. Augustine, ‘it is of no advantage to be near the light if the eyes are closed.’ The eternal maxims, considered in the light of faith, are most clear; yet if we do not open the eyes of the mind by meditating on them, we live as if we were perfectly blind; and so precipitate ourselves into every vice (Ignatius, Leadership, Vol. 5, no. 1; www.PreachingToday.com).
That is to say, people refuse to believe the gospel not because they cannot see, but because they WILL not see. They willfully choose to close their eyes.
The 20th-century ethics philosopher Mortimer Adler (who was baptized quietly at age 81) confessed to rejecting religious commitment for most of his life because, as he said, “It would require a radical change in my way of life, a basic alteration in the direction of my day-to-day choices as well as in the ultimate objectives to be sought or hoped for… The simple truth of the matter is that I did not wish to live up to being a genuinely religious person” (Jim Spiegel, “Unreasonable Doubt,” Christianity Today, 2-10-11; www.PreachingToday.com).
Your responsibility is to tell the truth. It is the Holy Spirit’s responsibility to touch the hearts of people so they want to see the truth (1 Corinthians 2:12-13). When you see it as your responsibility to persuade people, it is easy to get discouraged when people refuse to be persuaded. But when you see it as your responsibility just to proclaim Christ, He encourages you by shining His light in your own heart.
2 Corinthians 4:5-6 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (ESV).
The God who said, “Let there be light” in the darkness of Genesis 1 also shines in dark and discouraged hearts today.
“My heart is sunk. It seemed to me I should never have any success among the Indians. My soul was weary of my life; I longed for death, beyond measure.”
So wrote David Brainerd, describing his early weeks as a missionary to Native Americans at the beginning of the 1700s. Things didn't improve much for the first two years. In fact, he felt his prospects of winning converts “as dark as midnight.”
Three years into the work, though, he finally witnessed a revival among the Indians of Crossweesung in New England. Then, after another year and a half, the number of converts numbered 150. It was not a lot by today’s standards, but profoundly significant in his day. Unfortunately, Brainerd died after only five years on the mission field, at age 29.
After Brainerd's death, Jonathan Edwards—whom some consider America's greatest theologian—published Brainerd's journals. Christians all over America and Europe read those journals, including Willaim Carey, the “father of modern missions.” Carey was the man who ignited the modern Protestant missionary movement, which has led to millions upon millions of conversions worldwide. He pointed to Brainerd's journals as a key source of his inspiration to take up the missionary life (Ruth Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions, Zondervan, 1983, pp. 90-93; www.PreachingToday.com).
Don’t judge the success of your work by the immediate results. That can lead to a lot of discouragement. No! Judge the success of your work by your faithfulness to God’s Word and let Him work out the results in His time. To keep from losing heart, just faithfully and openly declare Christ. Then…
DEMONSTRATE CHRIST
Show Christlike character even in your times of affliction, and let Christ shine through the broken places in your own life.
2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us (ESV).
I love the picture here—treasure in a common, fragile vessel. On the outside, Paul feels fragile and weak, but on the inside, He has the treasure of Christ within. For example…
2 Corinthians 4:8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair (ESV).
Literally, we are crowded or pressed in on all sides but not contained or hemmed in. And furthermore, we are at our wits’ end but never at our hope’s end (Barclay).
2 Corinthians 4:9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed (ESV).
Literally, people try to run us down, but there is Someone who runs with us. Furthermore, we are knocked down but not knocked out (Barclay).
2 Corinthians 4:10-12 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you (ESV).
On the outside, we are dying, but on the inside, Christ is very much alive, using us to bring eternal life to others.
When I was preaching through 1st Corinthians a couple of years ago, I quoted Christian counselor, Julie Smith Lowe, who contrasted the image of two different vases—a beautifully painted vase and a cracked, broken vase.
“Imagine the first vase is beautiful, and it sits perched on a shelf. Its main purpose is to look attractive. In the same way, we also want to look attractive and impressive. We want people to be drawn to our external appearance. We want the world to look at us and say, ‘Look how successful, beautiful, strong, or smart you are!’
“But the Bible paints a different picture. Instead of being a beautiful vase, let's consider a very different vase—a dirty, cracked, ordinary vase. Just like us, this vase also has flaws—struggles, weaknesses, and imperfections. In many ways, this vase doesn't impress us with its appearance. As a matter of fact, it might even seem ‘weak,’ broken, and flawed. But there's good news! Imagine there's a treasure in this vase, and the only way you can see the treasure is when it shines through the cracks and the flaws. In the same way, there's a treasure in those who follow Christ—Christ himself is the treasure that resides in us, the cracked vessel…
Unfortunately, we often want to hide our weaknesses. We want to rely on our external appearance and performance. So any time we find a crack or hole, we desperately grab for something to try and hide our weaknesses and shortcomings. But of course, our external adorning won't last. Eventually it will always fade and then break. Our only hope is to focus on the treasure within us—the presence of Jesus himself (Julie Smith Lowe, “Body Language,” CCEF NOW, 2012; www.PreachingToday.com).
That’s the way to prevent heart loss—focus on the treasure within, not the troubles without. Stop trying to hide your cracks and imperfections. No! Just let the light of Christ shine through those cracks.
In his spiritual autobiography, William Barclay, the venerable Scottish scholar, describes the tragedy of losing his 21-year-old daughter and her fiancée, who were drowned in a boating accident. He writes, “God did not stop that accident at sea, but he did still the storm in my own heart so that somehow my wife and I came through that terrible time still on our own two feet.”
Then, as if to add insult to injury, Barclay tells of receiving an anonymous letter about his daughter's death. It read, “I know why God killed your daughter. It was to save her from corruption by your heresies.”
Barclay says, “If I had known the writer's address, I would have written back in pity, not anger, saying, as John Wesley once said, ‘Your God is my devil’” (Marlin Vis, “The Blame Game,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 114; www.PrachingToday.com).
In the midst of his pain, Barclay allowed the light of Christ to shine even towards his accuser. You do the same! To prevent heart loss, declare Christ and demonstrate Christ. But that is possible only if you…
DEPEND ON CHRIST.
Rely on the Lord. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak (ESV).
The only way Paul can declare and demonstrate Christ is because he believes in Christ. He is depending on Christ.
Paul quotes Psalm 116 here, which is a psalm about God delivering those who call on His name. The psalmist declares, “The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!” (Psalm 116:3-4).
Then the psalmist testifies, “When I was brought low, he saved me” (Psalm 116:6), because “I believed even when I spoke: ‘I am greatly afflicted’” (Psalm 116:10).
In the midst of his affliction, he believed and found deliverance. That was the psalmist’s testimony. That was Paul’s testimony, and that can be your testimony, as well. Just believe in the Lord. Trust Christ with your life and look forward to eternal life in Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:14-15 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God (ESV).
Christ assures those who believe in Him of a glorious future with Him.
2 Corinthians 4:16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day (ESV).
As you depend on Christ, He not only promises to raise your body someday. He also renews your spirit every day. He keeps you from losing heart!
When you rely on Christ, God does for you what he does for the Bristlecone pine trees. They are the oldest living things on our planet, with approximately eighteen living examples that are over 4,000 years old. The oldest of these were germinating as the Egyptian pyramids were being built. During ancient Israel’s heyday under King David, they were already 1,500 years old—and they are still growing today.
Surprisingly, this species lives under the harshest conditions imaginable. They are located at an altitude of more than 9,000 feet above sea level on the east side of the Sierra Nevada in the White Hills of California, one of the driest regions on earth. They grow in a most adverse climate, with hardly any rain, facing strong, extremely cold winds. The oldest have an annual growth of just a few tenths of a millimeter and reach only about sixty feet tall. However, they continue to grow and produce seeds from which seedlings spring up, their quiet strength preparing them for thousands of years to come.
The oldest living bristlecone pine, named Methuselah, is 4,850 years old. Its exact location is kept secret by the US Forest Service due to the danger of vandalism. These life giants continue to grow even into the fifth millennium of their lives (Martin Schleske, The Sound of Life’s Unspeakable Beauty, Eerdmans 2020, pp. 22-23; www.PreachingToday.com).
No matter how old you are or what adversity you face, you can continue to grow and produce fruit as long as you depend on Jesus. In fact, Jesus promises, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit” (John 15:5). So, whoever you are (old or young) and whatever you’re going through, Stay connected to Jesus. Continue to rely on Him, and experience that inner renewal, which keeps you growing and going every day until the day you see Him face to face.
To prevent heart loss, declare Christ and demonstrate Christ as you depend on Him.
In his sermon on overcoming discouragement, Pastor John Yates shared a letter from a missionary who had gone into the jungles of New Guinea.
“Man,” he said, “it's great to be in the thick of the fight, to draw the old Devil's heaviest guns, to have him at you with depression and discouragement, slander, disease! He doesn't waste time. He hits good and hard when a fellow is hitting him. You can always measure the weight of your blow by the one you get back. When you're on your back with fever and at your last ounce of strength, when some of your converts backslide, when you learn that your most promising inquirers are only fooling, when your mail gets held up and some don't bother to answer your letters, is that the time to put on your mourning suit?
“No Sir! That's the time to pull out the stops and shout hallelujah! The old fellow's getting it in the neck and he's giving it back. And all of heaven is watching over the battlements: ‘Will he stick it out?’ And as they see who is with us, as they see around us the unlimited reserves, the boundless resources, as they see the impossibility of failure with God, how disgusted and sad they must be when we run away. Glory to God! We're not going to run away. We're going to stand” (John W Yates II, “Overcoming Discouragement,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 42; www.PreachingToay.com).
Please, don’t run away in times of adversity. Just continue to stand in the strength of His might (Eph. 6:10-11).
