Note: put a $20-bill up your sleeve for later use.
In The Polar Express, a boy, who has his doubts, boards a magical train on Christmas Eve, which is headed for the North Pole. As the train ascends a particularly steep hill, the boy, a girl, and the conductor are climbing from the top of the engine down into the coal car. Take a look (show video: The Polar Express Seeing Is Believing).
The conductor is telling them to watch for ice when the boy slips. The conductor grabs him just in time and swings him back on board, which reminds the conductor of his first trip on the Polar Express. As they make their way back in the train, they talk about what it really means to believe.
Conductor: Years ago, on my first Christmas Eve run, I was up on the roof making my rounds when I slipped on the ice myself. I reached out for a hand iron, but it broke off. I slid and fell. And yet, I did not fall off this train.
Girl: Someone saved you?
Conductor: Or something…
Girl: An angel.
Conductor: Maybe! (but said with the conviction of a Yes!)
Boy: Wait, wait! What did he look like? Did you see him?
Conductor: No sir. Sometimes seeing is believing. And sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see (The Polar Express, Warner Brothers, 200), written by Chris Van Allsberg and Robert Zemeckis, directed by Robert Zemeckis, 41:30 – 42:39; www.PreachingToday.com).
Sometimes, the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see. When your life is out of control and you don’t see a way out, you need to depend on the things you cannot see. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians 4, 2 Corinthians 4, where the Apostle Paul describes the unseen things on which He depends in times of trouble.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (ESV).
In 2 Corinthians 1:8, Paul wrote about his afflictions, that he was “so utterly burdened beyond [his] strength that [he] despaired of life itself.” His afflictions were beyond his ability to bear. Literally, they were extreme, far more than he could stand. But here, he says those afflictions are “light” and “momentary” compared to the glory that is coming, which is “beyond all comparison.” Literally that glory is “extreme to the extreme” (It’s the same word Paul used about his afflictions in chapter 1). Though his afflictions were “beyond” his ability to bear, the glory to come is way beyond any of those afflictions in comparison.
How can Paul say that? He can say it, because his focus is not on the afflictions he can see. His focus is on the glory he cannot see. In the same way, if you want the confidence to move forward in your times of trouble, learn to…
SEE THE UNSEEN.
Look to the invisible realities. Fix your attention not on your temporary troubles, but on the eternal glory beyond your troubles.
Researchers call it the “quiet eye.” It’s the focus that elite athletes have, an enhanced visual perception that allows the athlete to eliminate any distractions. Curiously, “quiet eye” appears to be particularly important at times of stress, preventing the athlete from “choking” at moments of high pressure.
Kinesiologist Dr. Joan Vickers began to suspect the secret of extraordinary performance lay in the way that elite athletes see the world. She hooked a group of professional golfers up to a device that precisely monitored their eye movements as they putted. She found an intriguing correlation: the better the player, the longer and steadier their gaze on the ball just before, and then during, their strike. Novices, by contrast, tended to shift their focus between different areas of the scene for shorter periods of time.
Most people have heard the advice to “keep your eye on the ball.” But Vickers’ research suggested something more intricate—The precise duration of the gaze correlates with an objective measure of sporting success (David Robson, “Why Athletes Need a ‘Quiet Eye,’” BBC.com, June 24, 2020; www.PreachingToday.com).
Now, that’s the kind of focus you need especially in times of stress. Don’t focus on the trouble. Focus on the triumph ahead. Fix your attention on the eternal glory beyond your temporary troubles.
Tracy is one of the worship leaders at her church, and one Sunday, as she sat at the piano, she talked about the difficult week she'd just been through. It was chaotic, she said—a mess of petty crises on top of a rash of minor accidents, all mixed up in a soup can of crazy busyness. It had left her weary and cranky. She got up one Sunday to lead worship and felt spent, with nothing more to give.
Then she had walked into the living room and saw the big picture window covered with scrawl. Using a crayon, her 8-year-old daughter, Brenna, had scribbled something across the picture window, top to bottom and side to side.
At first, it seemed like one more mess for Tracy to clean up. Then she saw what Brenna had written: love, joy, peace, patience, kindnece, goodnece, faithfulnece, gentlnece and selfcantrol (in Brenna's delightful spelling).
Tracy stopped, drank it in. Her heart flooded with light. It was exactly the reminder she needed: the gift of the fruit of the Spirit that arises, not by our circumstances, but by Christ within us.
Then Tracy noticed one more thing. Brenna had written at the edge of the window: Love one another. Only Brenna, in her creative spelling, had written: Love won another (Mark Buchanan, Hidden in Plain Sight: The Secret of More, Thomas Nelson, 2007; www.PreachingToday.com).
When you’ve had a week like Tracy, don’t see the mess. See the message. See the message of God’s love, which wins the day in the end. If you want the confidence to move forward in times of trouble, see the unseen. Specifically…
SEE YOUR FUTURE BODY.
As your present body ages and decays, look forward to your glorious, resurrection body. Anticipate the building that will replace the tent in which you now live.
2 Corinthians 5:1-5 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee (ESV).
God has given every believer His Holy Spirit as the down payment (or first installment) of our new bodies to come. He guarantees that every believer will be raised from the dead. The tent of their old bodies will be exchanged for the building of their new bodies.
I love the contrast here. The old body is like a tent. The new body is like a building. We groan in this flimsy, old body, which is easily torn by the winds of adversity, but we will glory in the new body God will give us, which will last forever.
If you’ve ever gone tent camping in a storm, you get the picture. You can’t wait to get out of the mud, tear down that old tent, and find permanent shelter somewhere.
Well, that’s the way it will be for every believer, for YOU if you have trusted Christ with your life. After you have weathered the storms of this life, God will tear down the flimsy tent of your old body and replace it with an eternal, beautiful building of your new body, which will never show any signs of weakness or decay.
In Philippians 3, Paul wrote, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21).
Then in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul gives a fuller description of our resurrection bodies. There, he asks the question, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” (1 Corinthians 15:35).
His answer: “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel… So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown (or buried) is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:36-37, 42-44).
That is to say, “It is raised a supernatural body, which comes from the Spirit of God.” We will not be disembodied spirits in heaven. Or as Paul puts it here in 2 Corinthians 5, we will not be naked. Rather, we will be clothed in glory, with powerful, perfect new bodies. As the old body wastes away, dear believer, look forward to your new body.
On September 17, 2002, a U.S. Navy warship plucked Richard Van Pham, a 62-year-old Vietnamese immigrant, from the waters off Costa Rica. He was 2,500 miles from his home in Long Beach, California, where he began what he thought would be a 25-mile trek to Catalina Island.
Van Pham had drifted in his disabled 26-foot sailboat "Sea Breeze" for nearly four months before being spotted by a U.S. Navy plane doing drug traffic reconnaissance.
Limited to a diet of fish, sea turtle, seagulls and rainwater, Van Pham lost forty pounds in the ordeal but was in relatively good health when the USS McClusky plucked him from the blue waters of the Pacific.
Pham, a refugee from Vietnam who came to the United States in 1976, was never reported missing because he told his rescuers that he had no family and had been living aboard his boat at Long Beach harbor.
Each day he drifted at sea, Van Pham said, he looked for any sign of life, any sign of land. “I see nothing,” he said. “Then one day, I see a plane. I know I'm close to people. They tip their wings to say hello. Two hours later, a ship comes to my boat. I am very, very happy.”
But leaving the "Sea Breeze" was bittersweet for Van Pham. When Navy officials determined they were unable to fix the sailboat, Van Pham reluctantly approved crewmembers setting fire to the 26-foot boat that had carried him so many miles and been his earthly home. It sank in 8,700 feet of water.
“He waved goodbye to his sailboat,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Joseph Slaight of the McClusky. “He was upset and said he was going to miss it” (Associated Press, 9-25-02; www.PreachingToday.com).
That’s a little what its going to be like when we die and Jesus comes to rescue us. It will be a bittersweet experience as we say goodbye to the flimsy, earthly vessel we have grown to love. At the same time, we will celebrate Jesus transferring us to a strong, battleship where we will be safe forever in our heavenly harbor. Look forward to that day when you weather the storms of this life.
If you want the confidence to move forward in times of trouble, 0see the unseen. Specifically, see your future body. Then…
SEE YOUR FUTURE HOME.
Focus on heaven where Jesus lives. Anticipate being with Him forever.
2 Corinthians 5:6-8 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord (ESV).
Despite his troubles, Paul finds courage by looking to the unseen realities of his future body and his future home. That is to say, he gains confidence and firmness of purpose in the face of danger or testing (Louw & Nida).
Now, he cannot see those realities with his physical eyes, no. He sees his future with eyes of faith. And that’s what you must do if you want the confidence to move forward in times of trouble. Walk towards your future with the eyes of faith. Even though you don’t see it now, look forward to your heavenly home where you will be with Jesus forever!
I have a 20-dollar bill up my sleeve. How many of you believe me? Now, I’m going to destroy your faith (Pull 20-dollar bill out of sleeve and show it). I have destroyed your faith, because now you see the 20-dollar bill. When you did not see it, you had to trust me. Now, that you see it, there is no longer any need for faith (John Ortberg, Faith & Doubt, Zondervan, 2008, pp. 139-140; www.PreachingToday.com).
My dear friends, that’s the only way to live your life especially in times of turmoil and trouble. You have to trust the Lord, that what He says is true, until the day you see it with your own eyes. Until then, you may have some doubts, and that’s okay. Just keep on walking by faith until God shows you your heavenly home.
In a Bible study entitled It Had to Be a Monday, Jill Briscoe writes about the death of a Christian friend. During the funeral visitation, the deceased man's wife and sister stood by the casket, greeting people. The sister kept motioning to her brother's body, saying to each person who came to greet her, “There he is. There he is.” After some time, when the wife could stand it no longer, she turned to her sister-in-law and, in love, said, “If I believed, ‘there he is,’ I would be miserable.” Then she added, “Do you know what enables me to get through this day? What gets me through is that I know the truth: ‘There he isn't.’” (Dave Stone, in a sermon “Death Is Life,” www.PreachingToday.com).
He is at home with the Lord, and that’s what kept her going. It will keep you going, as well. It’s what keeps the Ukrainian Christians going these days.
According to Christianity Today, New York City has the largest Ukrainian population in the United States, a community of about 150,000. Thousands have come to the United States as Christian refugees, most of them Baptist or Pentecostal, under a special asylum for those fleeing Soviet religious persecution.
As President Vladimir Putin put his nuclear forces on high alert, some took to the streets to join the protests against Putin’s aggression. Followers of Jesus gathered in their churches to pray, weep, lament, and sing to God. They called their praise songs “weapons of war.”
As the nuclear threat escalated tensions, Ukrainian believers were in disbelief about how quickly the situation had spiraled out of control. One church leader told Christianity Today, “Our minds fail to understand: How is this possible in this day and age? God allowed this to happen, and we do not know why. But we know God is sovereign, and he is on his throne.”
A worship leader said, “Our hope is in the Lord, the one who holds things together. No matter how things fall apart, the Lord created this world, and he holds things in his hands.” He played music and led worship in tears. But he also told his church family, “Even if a nuclear attack happens, the hope we have is we go home. And we will be together with Jesus, the one we know will help us” (Emily Belz, “Ukrainian American Churches Deploy Praise as a Weapon,” Christianity Today, 2-28-22; www.Preaching Today.com).
That same hope will keep you going, as well. So, if you want the confidence to move forward in times of trouble, wee the unseen. Specifically, see your future body. See your future home, and…
SEE YOUR FUTURE REWARD.
Anticipate Jesus telling you, “Well done!” Look forward to His praise and approval when you stand before Him in heaven.
2 Corinthians 5:9-10 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil (ESV)—better, whether good or worthless.
This is NOT the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15), which determines your entrance into heaven, no! God has already guaranteed your entrance into heaven as a believer (verse 5). This is “the judgment seat of Christ,” literally, the bema seat, to determine the level of reward for every believer.
The bema seat was on a raised platform, upon which rulers sat to pronounce judgments and decrees. Commentators say Corinth had a “magnificent judgment seat” (Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary). Well, imagine the “judgment seat” upon which Jesus, the ruler of the universe will sit!
At His Second Coming, when He gathers all the believers to Himself, He will sit on that seat, where the Bible says every believer “will receive his commendation from God (1 Corinthians 4:1-5). To be sure, some believers will be saved “but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15) if all their works are burned up us useless wood, hay, and straw. Even so, all believers will be saved with many receiving a reward for their labor (1 Corinthians 3:11-15).
So, if you want the confidence to move forward in times of trouble, look forward to that reward, and live your life to please the Lord. Like Paul, “make it your aim to please Him” (verse.9).
Marshall Shelley, director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Denver Seminary, talks about giving his wife a “terrific anniversary gift” early in their marriage—a rain gage. At least HE thought it was “terrific.” Susan, after all, is a farmer's daughter and keeps close watch on the weather. Marshall envisioned her delight and nostalgia while tracking their back yard precipitation and congratulated himself on his creativity.
Well, Susan was not impressed: “A rain gauge—for our anniversary?!” she exclaimed. The rain gauge is now a family joke, a classic example of a gift enjoyed by the giver but not the receiver (Marshall Shelley, Leadership, Spring 1999, p.3; www. PreachingToday.com).
Sometimes, believers give God something that makes them feel good—for example, the results of an effective ministry. Now, there is nothing wrong with the results of an effective ministry. but if your focus is only those results, you may be giving God a “rain gage.”
Instead, focus on what pleases Him, on what He enjoys. And the Bible is very clear about that—“It is required of stewards that they be found FAITHFUL” (1 Corinthians 4:2). Jesus Himself will say to such stewards, “Well done, good and FAITHFUL servant” (Matthew 25:21, 23). Just be faithful to what Jesus tells you to do and leave the results up to Him, for that’s what pleases Him the most.
If you want the confidence to move forward in times of trouble, see the unseen. Specifically, see your future body, see your future home, and see your future reward as you live your life to please the Lord.
Shepherds say that sheep that have spent the summer in the high country and are on their way back to the shepherd's fold anticipate their homecoming. Even though they have to go through difficult terrain and sudden storms that make them cold and wet, you can sense in the flock an excitement and enthusiasm as they come nearer and nearer to the shepherd's fold.
The same goes for Christians who know that they will dwell forever in the house of the Lord (Leith Anderson “Next Life in the House of the Lord,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 157; www.PreachingToday.com).
Look forward to that future and it will help you get through today with some excitement and enthusiasm, no matter what storms you may have to weather.
