SCRIPTURE READING: "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."
OPENING ILLUS.> It stands 105 feet tall and is 3,880 feet long, reaching a top speed of 57 miles per hour. One ride lasts a duration of 2 minutes. Six Flags America held a contest to see who could ride their wooden roller coaster The Great American Scream Machine the longest, 24 eager contestants showed up in line. The competitors, who had taken time off of work to participate in the contest, rode the roller coaster 14 hours a day, taking a five minute break every hour and two 45 minute breaks for lunch and dinner. The contestants slept for only 7 hours a night, in the roller coaster’s boarding area. One by one, the contestants dropped out, until just three were left. The judges finally declared all three of the contestants winners. Each took about 13,000 rides on the coaster. The contestants rode the coaster for 61 days, beating the old Guinness record of just 23 days. Each contestant won a Jeep Wrangler.
Anyone here interested in developing that kind of endurance? I doubt it! But whether it is roller coaster riding, head standing, flagpole sitting, or running, any time there is a record for endurance, someone -- SOMEWHERE -- will try to break it. A quick glance inside the Guinness Book of World records will show that some people place a premium on physical endurance that seems almost insane.
A new trend has begun developing in marathon running. A group of runners who call themselves "ultrarunners" don’t just run marathons…they see how many marathons they can run in a month.
At 6:05 a.m. one morning, five of these ultrarunners stepped up to the starting line on the sidewalk in Jamaica, to run a course just over a half mile long-- but they were going to do it 5,649 times, a distance of 3100 miles.
Suprabha Beckjord ran the 3100 miles in 50 days, two hours. She averaged 61.9 miles per day. Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite good enough to earn her the distinction of world’s greatest ultrarunner.
Edward Kelley reached 3000 miles in a time of 46 days 6 hours, the first man to pass this milestone in a certified race. Despite temperatures over 90 at times and oppressive humidity, Edward just ran on. He ran on with a fever, his internal temperature at times reaching over 102 degrees. He became the first man to reach 3100 miles in 47 days 15 hours. Forty minutes after reaching 3100, he returned to the course to record 13 more laps, just so he could pass the magical 5000 km distance in 47 days 19 hours. He averaged 65+ miles per day for 47 days.
Are you interested in developing ultrarunner endurance? Not me! What about roller coasters or flagpole sitting endurance? No, afraid not. I promise I am not making these categories up! Marathon kissing? I’m not going to tell you what the record for that one is. . . I have to say "No, thank you!" to that one as well.
I think most of us would agree. We just aren’t interested in learning their secrets to enduring that kind of stress. Not that there’s anything wrong with having that kind of endurance, but it’s just not what we place our premiums on in life, is it?
But now let’s look at the words of my text in verse 16: "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." Now there’s something I am interested in!
Well, maybe I’m just different. Maybe I’m strange and abnormal, and no one else has ever faced the same things I face. But I do have to fight for endurance.
Sure, there are those days when it’s easy. It’s that way with all of us. Revival time at church or school comes, and all of a sudden, the spiritual side of everyone comes alive. Not too many kids backslide during revival. Most of the kids who fail spiritually do so in those stretches between revivals and camp meetings. Why? A lack of spiritual endurance.
We must learn be spiritual ultrarunners, not sprinters. It’s been said before, but the road from here to our prize at the end of life is not a hundred-yard dash! It’s not even a one-mile run. Sticking with it spiritually is a day by day marathon.
The Spiritual race is the…
- daily drag of a young married couple both working a forty hour week for a living. THOSE PEOPLE NEED SPIRITUAL ENDURANCE!
- high school student going through all those major changes. . .saving for that first car, wondering if they’ll ever get married, and if they should go to Bible college. A PERSON LIKE THAT NEEDS SPIRITUAL ENDURANCE!
- college senior, seeking to be entirely sanctified while taking eighteen hours, working thirty hours, and trying to plan a wedding coming up in the summer. THAT PERSON NEEDS SPIRITUAL ENDURANCE!
- forty-year-old, traveling the same road to the same job in the same town for the last twenty years. . .
NONE of us can afford to lose focus on the race! The need for endurance is universal!
That’s why I’m interested when a man like the Apostle Paul says he has the answer! Let’s look for a few minutes at what he has to say. . .
I. We Faint Not Paul begins here by making this statement, "For which cause we faint not;" or as another translation puts it, "for this reason, we do not lose heart." then he makes sure that we know that he’s not talking about physical endurance, for he says:
A. The Outward Man Perishes (v. 16)
I’m sure no one wants to argue with this one! It’s pretty self-evident. Everyone, even the great Apostle Paul felt the effects of the outward man perishing. I’m not to the age yet where I begin to notice those slowing steps or graying hairs. My dad tells me that whenever we play basketball that he notices he’s not in his twenties any more! He’s lost that first "explosive" step that’s so critical to getting past the defender. I can’t relate that yet… But if Jesus delays his coming a few more years, I will begin to realize exactly what he means! We all will, because the outward man perishes!
B. The Inward Man Renews
He says, "I may feel like an old man on the outside…the outward man can be perishing, but I can still be a twenty-year old on the inside!"
Now I’m interested in that! Sounds great to me! When I get to Paul’s age, I’d like to have the same level of spiritual energy that a 20-year-old has in physical energy! Forget roller coasters and flagpole sitting, give me some of Paul’s kind of endurance!
But how? What makes the difference between the outward and inward man?
ILLUS.> I read a story recently about a woman who was never positive. Anything that she said was negative. One day her neighbor decided that he had just about had it with her negative attitudes. So he went out and bought a dog. Now this wasn’t just any dog…this dog could do incredible tricks, and perform feats that were just beyond belief!
When he got home, he called the lady outside, and said, "Watch what my new dog can do!" He threw a stick out onto the lake in his back yard, and said, "Fetch!" The dog immediately ran to the lake, walked on the water and retrieved the stick!
"What do you think of that?" the man asked his negative neighbor.
"Hmm." The old lady frowned. "Can’t swim, can he?"
All she had to say was four words, but you immediately knew how she viewed all of life!
Obviously that lady had a very negative outlook! Paul, in just a few words, gives us a glimpse here of HIS focus…it’s just a phrase, but it shows us a focus exactly the opposite of the lady in that story. Let’s look at it in v. 17.
II. We Look Not (v. 17) "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment…"
LIGHT AFFLICTION?? Paul…You’ve been persecuted everywhere you’ve gone! You’ve been beaten with many stripes, God had to bail you out of jail, you’ve been rejected by most people everywhere you’ve been…you’ve had to change missionary partners because of disagreements, your advice has been ignored by many of the people at Corinth… and you still say that your affliction is LIGHT!? Paul, what you’ve gone through would’ve killed many a pastor! How can you possibly say that your affliction is light? WHAT’S YOUR BIG SECRET?
But read on a little further in the verse: "…For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;"
There it is! All of a sudden things begin to come into perspective. It’s not that Paul is denying that there are afflictions. It’s simply that HE’S NOT FOCUSED ON THEM!!
Have you ever noticed -- if you focus on one thing…everything else becomes blurry. If I hold up my hand, and focus on my fingertip, I cannot see anything else in this room clearly!
If our focus is on the moment -- on our troubles and trials RIGHT NOW, then the goal will seem fuzzy and far away.
If our focus in life is on the goal, then our troubles right now don’t seem so overwhelming. All of a sudden they are blurry and unimportant.
I’M CONVINCED THAT THIS IS PAUL’S BIG SECRET!!!
Two phrases leap out at me in this passage: We faint not and We look not. I don’t think we do any injustice to the idea of the passage to add the word because between them. We faint not because we look not.
We don’t focus on our temptations…we look at the goal!
We don’t focus on our aches and pains…we look at the goal!
We don’t focus on the state of our nation…we look at the goal!
That idea of PROPER FOCUS is what the writer to the Hebrews is talking about in Hebrews 12:1-2. "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith."
YOU SAY:
- But I’m discouraged! Looking unto Jesus!
- But I’m fighting temptation! Looking unto Jesus!
- But I’m swamped in schoolwork! Looking unto Jesus!
- But I don’t feel good spiritually! Looking unto Jesus!
- But I feel like my ministry is not going to be effective! Focus on the things which are unseen!
- But I can never find quiet time with God! Focus on the things which are eternal!
I think it’s too bad that the chapter division fell right here, because so many times we get to the end of a chapter and stop -- we don’t connect the thoughts from one chapter to another. So I’m going to close with the next verse, in chapter 5:1: "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
That’s what we’re heading for! It’s not a nice fairy tale, it’s a reality!! And THAT MEANS that you, SIR and YOU ma’am, if you will raise your eyes and focus on that eternal hope, can rise above that discouragement and those troubles!!! That was the Apostle Paul’s BIG SECRET, and I’m convinced it works just as well today as it did nearly 2000 years ago! Until God says it’s time, let’s get our eyes above our troubles, and refocus our sights on the goal -- the eternal hope that God promises us! If we will, we will suddenly find the secret to being more than just a spiritual sprinter -- we can learn to be spiritual ultrarunners!!
"For which cause we faint not, for though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day!"
