WE BELIEVE AND THEREFORE SPEAK
2 Corinthians 4:13-18 - June 9, 2002
13It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
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Dear Christian Friends and Fellow-Redeemed:
What do you know for sure? Maybe we have asked someone that or someone has asked us that question. When we answer or when they answer, sometimes the answer is quite limited, isn?t it? What do we know for sure? We know what kind of weather there is--whether it is hot or cold or wet or dry or calm or windy. But that is not that important, is it? We do know the things for sure that we tell others about. We might know the price of wheat or cattle for the day, and we know those things for sure.
This morning, the Lord reminds us that we know even more than these earthly things. We also know about the divine things, the eternal things, because of our Christian faith. It is because of faith that we are sure of our salvation. So when someone might ask us "What do you know for sure," we can always tell him or her we know for sure we are going to be in heaven someday. We know for sure that Christ has died for our sins and the list goes on and on, all because of faith, all because we are able to hear what God wants us to hear by His grace. Paul describes faith in this way, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ" (ROMANS 10:17).
So we gather together today that we might be knowledgeable for sure about eternity. It is just like Paul said in our text: "We believe; therefore we speak." We want to use his words as inspired by the Holy Spirit as our theme for today--We believe and therefore we speak. We speak I. that Christ has been raised from the dead; and we speak II. realizing that our burdens are lifted.
To refresh our memory, the Second Letter to the Corinthians, Paul is defending the gospel ministry; because it was under attack by those who didn?t want to believe in God?s abundant grace. It was under attack by those who didn?t want to believe that Christ was the Messiah and that He had come back to life. Last week we heard how God had poured out His divine treasure into believers, into jars of clay.
Our text continues on: "It is written: ?I believed, therefore I have spoken.?" Paul is quoting the Psalms, and the Psalm writers of the Old Testament knew of their salvation. They believed so they could speak. They believed so they could write down the Word of God that God wanted them to write down. Paul is saying that same spirit of knowledge and understanding also extends to this New Testament church, over hundreds of years from the Old Testament to the New Testament. We are going to see this in the New Testament church today even after thousands of years. He says that with that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak. Paul reminded these believers of the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out and the church grew by leaps and bounds because of God?s work. Paul says it is that same Spirit that united him, who was an enemy of the cross, to become a proclaimer of Christianity. Now it is in that same Spirit that united these believers with him and all the believers throughout the world, the Spirit of faith that they believe in the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He says, "Now we believe that and therefore we speak."
Paul talks about God?s benefit for believers in our text. In verse 15, he says, "All of this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God." He says this so that they may grow in their faith. As they grew in their faith, this caused it to increase and flow to other people and thanksgiving overflowed to the glory of God. Why would there be any thanksgiving at all? There would be thanksgiving because of the simple fact that Christ did come back to life. He says, "because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence." He says that is what we know and therefore speak -- Christ came back to life. God raised Him to life. As God raised his Son to life, Jesus came out of the tomb, He lived for a while again with His disciples; and after forty days He was raised into heaven itself. In that same way God is going to raise believers from their tomb. Their soul will go to heaven, and they will be in the presence of God. That fills us with thanksgiving that overflows to the glory of God so much so that others are able to see the joyful life of these believers.
It might seem strange for us to have to hear about the resurrection of Christ over and over again. Yet, sometimes and in some places it is only mentioned at Easter. It is often forgotten about; and yet, we cannot forget Easter. We cannot forget the fact that Christ came back to life, not just as a spirit; but He came back to life body and soul. His tomb is empty, and there is no body there anymore even though the critics might say, "If we opened up the tomb and looked hard enough, we might find the bones of Jesus." We, as believers, know that is not true at all. Christ did, indeed, come back to life; because He was God?s Son. He came back to life because Scripture tells us that. From the Book of Acts we read: "But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him"(ACTS 2:24). Death did not hold Jesus in the grave. Death cannot hold us in the grave.
Oh sure, our mortal bodies are laid to rest; but our souls live in eternity with Christ forever. That?s what we believe and therefore we speak. That is what we know because of God?s grace for us. He tells us that over and over again. That was the message of salvation that Jesus Himself preached. Listen from John: "For my Father?s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day"(JOHN 6:40). Imagine that! Eternal life! And to be raised up on the last day when He returns! Those who will be in the grave will be raised up joining Him body and soul in heaven simply because He came back from the dead. This is what we know and therefore we speak.
Because of that, our lives are changed. We are changed tremendously even though we might not notice it, because most of us or all of us have grown up with our Christian faith. We are used to living in God?s abundant grace, and His blessings upon blessings are in our lives. It makes us look at life with a different attitude, one that finds joy when there really isn?t much joy to be seen at least for others around us. It gives us a sense of purpose in our life rather than just living and making a living, a purpose in life to know what we believe and therefore speak. It gives us understanding that God has paid the price for all of our sins for our entrance into heaven, and our lives are changed. Paul says in Titus: "Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good"(TITUS 2:14). In other parts of Scripture we are told once we were not a people, and now we are the people of God; once we were not receiving mercy, and now we have received God?s mercy. That makes us eager to do what is good, eager to live our lives as those who understand it is better to walk in the steps of God rather than in the wicked ways of the world. All around us, people look out for only themselves; but the Lord says to us that we are His people eager to do what is good because of what He has done for us. This we know. This we believe and therefore we speak.
We know that Christ has been raised from the dead, and we can speak that same message. As we understand that, then we see that, indeed, He has lifted up also our burdens.
Paul continues with that though. We understand and know as we look at the history of the church, God?s church was put to the test time and time again. They were pushed almost to the end of their faith we might say, because Christianity was not well received by the government or those Jews and the church that wanted to still teach the Law and throw out the Gospel. Paul writes in this last verse, an encouragement, "Therefore we do not lose heart." He says we don?t become filled with despair. Oh, there are those things in life that would cause one to be frightened or scared, one to maybe almost lose heart; but Paul says we don?t lose heart, because God is on our side.
He says even though we are becoming frailer; and he describes it in this way, "Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." Paul is growing older. Everybody grows older until finally the body does wear out, but inwardly the believer will grow day by day. Certainly, the early church did that. As we look back at the Acts of the Apostles, we find that they met day after day in the temple to read God?s Word and to enjoy the fellowship of one another and to pray together. So, no matter what happened on the outside and no matter that they were becoming frailer as the years went by, inwardly they were being renewed. This is because they were partaking of God?s grace, His Word, His Sacraments.
He goes on to tell them what this means: "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." He describes the troubles and afflictions that they would face as being light and momentary. When they would face those things that Paul said would be light and momentary troubles, the church was already persecuted so badly in Jerusalem that the people left that place. They found new places to live that were far away from their family. They could not contact them like we can today, but they took with them the Word of God. In that way by the persecution of the church, the Word of God spread. Paul says, "Those troubles are light and momentary." Even though they might have seemed burdensome and heavy and long, yet in eternity they are just an instant. Listen how he describes it: "An eternal glory that far outweighs them all." God?s glory will last forever and weighs down on the people God?s glory rather than the burdens. He wanted them to remind themselves of God?s blessings rather than the burdens.
Paul says in our last verse: "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." The believers knew that and we know that. (Next week we are going to continue with chapter 5 where we will look at how we live by faith and not by sight.) But the Lord wants us to remember to look at our lives and put things in perspective, not just in our perspective, not just in our neighbor?s perspective, not in the world?s perspective; because those perspectives are all tainted by sin. They are all skewed. They are all looking only in one direction, but to we need to look at God?s perspective for our lives. To look at the troubles and afflictions that we face may seem burdensome or almost more than what we can bear. We just wonder how we are going to get through one day to the next, one month to the next, one year to the next. Yet, the Lord says they are only light and momentary. The Lord reminds us that our troubles and afflictions, our trials and temptations come that our faith might be strengthened, come that we might not look so much into ourselves or others but God Himself. In Matthew 11 Jesus, our Savior, gives us those familiar words: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls"(MATTHEW 11:29). He says, "My burden is light. Take that yoke." We picture the yoke over the neck of the oxen and how much better they work as a team rather than separately. That is what the Lord is saying. He says, "Be united to me." He will take our burdens on His shoulders. We know that He can carry a lot more weight than we ever hope to. When we look at our life in that perspective realizing that it is God in whom we are united and binds us together with the yoke so that He might bear the burden of our afflictions, that He might take all of our cares and worries upon Himself, then our lives are changed. Then we realize God?s eternal glory and His eternal blessings are showered upon us more than troubles and afflictions aren?t they?
If we honestly looked at all of our lives, we have more blessings to be thankful for than troubles to complain about. Isaiah describes it this way when we look at the Lord for His help and strength: "But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint"(ISAIAH 40:31). I know when we live in the present, sometimes it is hard to look at God?s perspective and realize that He looks at us, not just with one year in mind or five years or a decade but a lifetime. He looks at us with eternity in mind. Sometimes we might ask ourselves whether it is worth it year after year to struggle with dry weather, struggle with adverse conditions; and yet, the Lord looks at a whole lifetime. He looks at us with eternity in mind. As we look beyond the present, we realize that the Lord takes care of us. He says, "Fix our eyes on that which is unseen."
He says, "The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever"(1 JOHN 2:17). We are reminded that this world and all of these things will pass away, but our souls will live forever. That is what we believe and therefore we speak.
So we might ask ourselves what do we know for sure? We know lots of things for sure, don?t we? We know that whatever happens in this life, eternity and heaven is our home. We know what ever happens in this life or how sorry we might feel for ourselves, God still loves us with an everlasting love. We know that however much we might grumble and complain or turn against God, He still forgives our sins as we turn to Him. We know that He has died for all of our sins, so that we might live with Him forever. Just knowing that, as Paul continues, relieves our burdens, doesn?t it? No matter what we face, when our sins are forgiven and because they are forgiven, there is a joy and peace and contentment that is a blessing to the believers such as you and I that the world does not have. Our burdens are much lighter. They are lifted.
So, what do we know for sure? The Prophet Jeremiah says that sometimes people ask us that, and we tell them about our prosperity, tell them about our family, we tell them about all kinds of things. Then as he gets to the end, he says, "?But let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,? declares the LORD"(JEREMIAH 9:24). So, what do we know for sure? We know the Lord our God who has shown us His justice, His mercy, His righteousness and who delights in showing us those blessings. He sent His Son to die for our sins. Because of that, our burdens are much lighter. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
