Dare to Persevere
2 Corinthians 4:7-18
October 22, 2006
Morning Service
Introduction
Lt. Col. Terence Otway, commander of the 9th Parachute Battalion of the British 6th Airborne Division, has an assignment to destroy the four powerful guns of a coastal battery in Merville, overlooking Sword Beach. If the 9th could not complete the task on time, naval gunfire would try. The bombardment was to begin at 5:30 a.m.
Otway had an elaborate strategy to overrun the guns, but the plan misfired. An initial air attack was a total failure, and then his battalion was dropped across almost 50 miles of the countryside. Of his 700-man battalion, Otway could find only 150 soldiers. Nevertheless, the men improvised brilliantly. They cut gaps through the outer barricade of the gun battery with wire cutters. One group cleared a path through the minefields, crawling on hands and knees while feeling for tripwires and prodding the ground ahead with bayonets. Now they waited for the order to attack. Otway knew casualties would be high, but the guns had to be silenced. "Everybody in!" he yelled. "We’re going to take this bloody battery!" And in they went.
Red flares burst over their heads, and machine-gun fire poured out to meet them. Through the deadly barrage, the paratroopers crawled, ran, dropped and ran some more. Mines exploded. There were yells and screams and the flash of grenades as paratroopers piled into the trenches and fought hand to hand with the enemy.
Germans began surrendering. Lt. Michael Dowling and his men knocked out the four guns. Then Dowling found Otway. He stood before his colonel, his right hand holding the left side of his chest. "Battery taken as ordered, sir," Dowling declared. The battle had lasted just 15 minutes. Otway fired a yellow flare -- the success signal -- a quarter of an hour before the naval bombardment was to start. Moments later Otway found Dowling’s lifeless body. He had been dying at the time he made his report.
Reader’s Digest, June, 1994, pp. 196-197.
We have been called to be disciples of Jesus. This means that we are called to a life of perseverance, a steadfast determination to follow Jesus no matter the cost.
How faithful is God to you? We often extol the grandure of God’s faithfulness and rightfully so. We place a great deal of our focus on His faithfulness and ignore the gaps in our own. How faithful are you to God? Faithfulness is byproduct of perseverance.
I love what Winston Churchill said about the perseverance: “God gave the bulldog a bent nose, so that it could still breathe while it hangs on.” The same should be said of us, that we hang on.
This morning as we continue our look at discipleship. I want to open to Paul’s message to hang tough and hang on. If you have your Bibles with you open them to 2 Corinthians 4:7-18
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. 13 It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14 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. 15 All 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. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So 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. 2 Corinthians 4:7-18
I. We can persevere because of our Savior (v. 7-11)
There is a massive paradox in discipleship. The limitless power of the gospelis entrusted to limited, frail human beings. When we compare our ability to God’s there is indeed a sharp contrast. We are much like jars of clay because we are vulnerable, frail and faulty.
What is the treasure that Paul is talking about here? The treasure is jesus Himself. It is the treasure of the Savior of the world. It is the treasure of Christ’s sacrifice. It is the treasure of our salvation. This treasure cannot ever be fully comprehended. Our treasure lies in the fact that Jesus Himself dwells in the hearts of those who believe. We hold the great treasure of Christ within us.
We may be troubled but Christ helps us in our distress
We are hard pressed which is to be squeezed, oppressed, hedged in and pressured. Paul says we are not crushed which is to be distressed on every side, in every place in every way. We might find ourselves in troubled times but we are never beyond the assistance that God can give. God never leaves us without hope
We may be perplexed but Christ’s power keeps us from despair
Perplexed – to be at a loss, to be doubting, not knowing or questioning. It is wondering which way to go, what to do, what to say.
Despair – to be hopeless, to have no confidence, no sense of security
We may be persecuted but Christ never forsakes us
Persecution comes in many forms
a.) Isolation b.) Slander c.) Criticism
d.) Imprisonment e.) Threats f.) Martyrdom
Never forsaken – God never leaves us alone. He is with us always and is there when we need Him. Christ is there to give us His presence and power.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
Isaiah 43:2
We may be knocked down but we are never destroyed
During a Monday night football game between the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants, one of the announcers observed that Walter Payton, the Bears’ running back, had accumulated over nine miles in career rushing yardage. The other announcer remarked, "Yeah, and that’s with somebody knocking him down every 4.6 yards!" Walter Payton, the most successful running back ever, knows that everyone --even the very best-- gets knocked down. The key to success is to get up and run again just as hard.
Struck down – to be smitten or knocked down
Destroyed – to perish, to die
Anything that doesn’t kill can make you stronger
II. We can persevere because of our suffering (v. 16-18)
If there was any person in the New Testament who had reason to give up it was Paul.
Paul’s reasons to give up Adapted from 2 Corinthians 11
* Five times he was given 49 lashes
* Three times he was beaten with rods
* He was stoned
* Three different shipwrecks with one time leaving him in the open sea an entire day and night
Paul was literally fortunate to be alive from even one of these things but over and over again he faced death and bodily harm for the gospel. He never gave in and never gave up.
We persevere not in spite of suffering but because of it. This may sound a bit strange but it is true. Each and every time that we suffer it brings us one step closer to heaven. It gives us one more reason to desire a deeper relationship with Christ. Each time that we suffer is another opportunity to grow in our walk with God. Suffering is one of the realities of this life but Jesus uses that suffering to develop us.
C.S. Lewis said this about suffering: Pain plants the flag of reality in the fortress of the rebel heart. God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deafworld.
God uses the pain in our lives to develop perseverance and perseverance builds up faithfulness.
Conclusion
Wilma didn’t get much of a head start in life. A bout with polio left her left leg crooked and her foot twisted inward so she had to wear leg braces. After seven years of painful therapy, she could walk without her braces. At age 12 Wilma tried out for a girls basketball team, but didn’t make it. Determined, she practiced with a girlfriend and two boys every day. The next year she made the team. When a college track coach saw her during a game, he talked her into letting him train her as a runner. By age 14 she had outrun the fastest sprinters in the U.S. In 1956 Wilma made the U.S. Olympic team, but showed poorly. That bitter disappointment motivated her to work harder for the 1960 Olympics in Rome--and there Wilma Rudolph won three gold medals, the most a woman had ever won.
If you get knocked down always remember you are never knocked out
