The Christian Life Is Too Hard

“For My Yoke is easy and My burden is light”  Matthew 11:30

Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. Proverbs 13:17

Good understanding wins favour, but the way of the unfaithful is hard. Proverbs 13:15

“I’m afraid of ridicule”

Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but who ever trusts in The Lord is kept safe.  Proverbs 29:25

“If anyone is ashamed of Me and My Words in this adulterous and sinful generation, The Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Mark 8:38

“I will lose my friends and companions.”

He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.  Proverbs 13:20

The destruction of sinners is unavoidable, for God’s wrath pursues them, and whom God pursues is sure to be overtaken. The happiness of the saints is indefeatable, for God has promised that they shall be abundantly recompensed for all the good they have done and the ill they have suffered.

He can also put his thoughts into your mind.

Today's Reading: Deuteronomy 30; Mark 15:1-25

The Spiritual Battleground is in the Mind!

Today's Thoughts: Crush, Kill and Destroy

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8

Satan is alive and well. His mission has been the same since the Garden of Eden: to crush, kill and destroy (just like the android on Lost in Space). He is good at twisting concepts and manipulating ideas into truths that are not real. Satan’s battlefield is in your mind and starts within your circumstances. He frustrates your plans, trying to crush that peace within your heart. When your attitudes don’t match, you have just become a hypocrite and Satan loves to make hypocrites out of Christians. Once you are aware of this scheme (which for some of us is a lifetime), you learn to pray and resist him by drawing near to God. You do this by learning how to discipline your behavior and choosing not to allow the fruits of the Spirit to be crushed. Praying, submitting to God and meditating on scripture are the next steps. But then Satan’s next plan of attack hits your mind. Now, Satan cannot read your mind but he can discern what you are thinking by your words and behaviors. He can also put his thoughts into your mind. I have found that many times I don’t need the devil to put bad thoughts into my mind because I can do that all by myself. I am capable of taking my own self out of the ministry or walking away from the Lord, with very little effort or attack from him.

So “be on guard” for Satan is seeking someone, like you, to devour. If you look weak, think weak, act weak, and your words express a weakness in your faith, then you will surely become his next target. Peter warns us to be sober and vigilant. Both words have similar Greek meanings: to watch and keep awake. Obviously this is more difficult for us because we don’t see into the spiritual realm to understand what’s going on. If we disregard the work of the enemy, we allow him to have the advantage over us.

After we pray, the Lord opens our eyes and gives us discernment to know what’s really going on. Too many Christians are apathetic and complacent. The enemy doesn’t have to bother with an apathetic and complacent Christian. That is just where he wants us to be, but God has so much more for us. 

The Lord has won the battle; we just have to “put the armour of God on “ and “pray, “ “Lead us not into temptation.” But when we are tempted, remember 1 John 4:4, “Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world.” The Lord wants to give us an abundant life on this earth so why not start living it today! 

Are you free from sin through repentance in Jesus Christ and the cares of the world?

Daily Disciples Ministries, Inc. 

Resurrection Victory for Effective Christian Living

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1Co 15:57-58)

The resurrection of Jesus Christ brings spiritual victory over sin and death to all who believe in Him. "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." As we allow the Lord to be our guide through each day, He "leads us in triumph in Christ" (2Co 2:14). When this process is unfolding, an effective Christian life is developing, by the grace of God at work in us.

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast." It is the will of God that our lives be marked by steadfastness (constancy and stability). Paul rejoiced concerning fellow believers who manifested such attributes: "rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ" (Col 2:5). He later added that they were to be "rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith" (Col 2:7).

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be . . . immovable." Our heavenly Father also wants us to be "immovable" (firmly persistent, unable to be swayed). Paul was a good example of this. Although he faced many threatening difficulties, he professed "But none of these things move me" (Act 20:24). When Paul wrote to the saints at Ephesus, he warned of another threat to spiritual persistency: "that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine" (Eph 4:14).

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be . . . always abounding in the work of the Lord." Our Lord wants us to be abundantly laboring with Him. This is one of the purposes of Jesus' redemptive work for us: "Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works" (Tit 2:14). Yes, living by grace will produce abounding good works. The glorious fact is that such labors are actually the Lord at work in and through us: "always abounding in the work of the Lord." As the Lord sustains His work with us, we can grow in a certainty that this kind of laboring will be effective: "knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

Note the key word that indicates the basis for all of these desirable traits: "Therefore." This refers back to the resurrection victory provided by the Lord Jesus. In light of this victorious work of Christ on our behalf, anyone trusting in this reality will find these spiritual virtues developing in their lives, by the grace of God at work.

Dear Lord, I long to walk in spiritual stability. I yearn for a life that cannot be swayed. I want to abundantly labor with You. Therefore, Lord, I place my confidence in the reality of Your resurrection victory. Work in me by Your grace, I pray, Amen.

Jesus Came to Destroy The Works of the devil

The people who will experience the fullest meaning of Christmas on Tuesday are the people who know and feel that there is something in them that needs to be destroyed. It is true, as John said (John 3:17), that “God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.” But he saves by destroying. Like a doctor who amputates a foot full of gangrene or cuts out a cancerous lung.

Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous but sinners” (Mark 2:17). The only people who understand Christmas and embrace Christmas for what it is are people who feel sick, and who desperately want their sickness destroyed. Unless you welcome Jesus as a destroyer in your life, you can’t have him as a Savior.

The point of this morning’s message is taken from 1 John 3:8, 

“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” Christmas is the celebration of the appearing on earth of God’s eternal Son. And the reason he appeared is to destroy the works of the devil. So the reason there is a Christmas is because God aims to destroy something. Or if you like the imagery of contemporary space odysseys, picture Christmas as God’s infiltration of rebel planet earth on a search and destroy mission. Or if you come from the Dr. Kildare and Ben Casey era, picture Christmas as the arrival of a single brilliant doctor in an isolated Appalachian village ravaged by a deadly virus. Or, if you antedate all that, picture Christmas as the arrival of John Joseph Pershing as full commander of the U.S. 1st Army on the Western Front of the Argonne Forest in the fall of 1918.

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. The spaceship has landed, the doctor has arrived, the general has taken command—mission: search and destroy the works of the devil.

There are three questions I want to try to answer in relation to this Christmas mission.

1 John 3:8 says he came to destroy “the works of the devil.” What are the works of the devil? Let’s work out in concentric circles from the term “works of the devil” in 1 John 3:8. The closest concentric circle is the sentence before in verse 8a and the sentence after in 1 John 3:9. Verse 8a: 

“He who commits sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning.” Then comes our text that the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:9: “No one born of God commits sin; for God’s nature abides in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God.”

The “Works of the Devil” Are Sins

First, John says the devil sins and those who sin are his. Then he says Christ came to destroy Satan’s works. And then, he says, so no one born of God commits sin. Wouldn’t you agree then that the “works of the devil” which the Son of God came to destroy are sins? Surely we should put the word “therefore” at the beginning of 1 John 3:9. “The Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil. Therefore no one born of God commits sin.” When people commit sin, it is a work of the devil. The work of the devil is to tempt people to sin. When they sin, his work is accomplished. So what the Son of God came to destroy is not just the guilt of sin (which might enable us to stay like we are and go right on sinning into heaven) but actually sinning. The Son of God came to destroy sinning. The enemy on the rebel planet is sin. The deadly virus in the Appalachian village is sin. The force to be conquered on the Western Front is sin. Christmas is God’s invasion of enemy territory to rescue a people from the devil and destroy the sin in their lives.

Now let’s take in another concentric circle of our text and try to define the “works of the devil” more precisely. What is sin? 1 John 3:4: “Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness.” The law in John’s mind here is not the U.S. Constitution. It is God’s law. It’s the expression of God’s revealed will for his creatures.

Lawlessness is living as though your own ideas are superior to God’s. Lawlessness says, “God may demand it, but I don’t prefer it.” Lawlessness says, “God may promise it, but I don’t want it.” Lawlessness replaces God’s law with my contrary desires. I become a law to myself. Lawlessness is rebellion against the right of God to make laws and govern his creatures.

So now we can see better what the Son of God came to destroy. The “works of the devil” are sin. Sin is lawlessness. And lawlessness is rebellion against the right of God to rule over us. The work of Satan is to tempt us to reject the authority of God and become like God ourselves. Satan works to nurture and cultivate the pride that puts its own desires above the law of God. This is lawlessness; this is the essence of sin; and this is what the Son of God came to destroy in you and me.

The text gives two answers and we need to ask how these two are related to each other.

Two Answers—His Appearing and the New Birth

First, 1 John 3:8 says the Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil. In other words, the way Christ destroys sin is by appearing—that is, by coming from heaven and being born in the form of man. Probably John has in mind here not just the presence of the Son of God but all that he did by living and dying and rising from the dead. So the first answer to how Christ destroys the works of the devil is that he appears: he comes to live and die and rise again, and somehow that destroys sin.

The second answer is in 1 John 3:9. “No one born of God commits sin.” Sin is conquered, the work of the devil is destroyed, when a person is born of God.

So there are two ways the works of the devil are destroyed in this text. One is by the appearing of the Son of God and the other is by new birth. Now how are these two related? Why are both necessary and not just one? It’s not enough for Jesus to come and die and rise again. People must be born of God. Otherwise the works of the devil are not destroyed. Sin goes on reigning. Nor is it possible that God should just cause people to be born anew without the appearance of the Son of God. Both are necessary. So we ask, how are these two related?

What It Means to Be Born of God

To answer this we need to see what it means to be born of God. 1 John 3:9 tells us: “No one born of God commits sin; for God’s nature (literally: God’s seed) abides in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God.” Now anybody can sin who wants to sin. So when John says that a person born of God cannot sin, he must mean that a person born of God has new wants, new desires. It’s like a birth; something new has come into existence. Paul calls it a new creation (Ephesians 2:10; Ephesians 4:24). Jeremiah calls it a new heart (Jeremiah 24:7). Ezekiel calls it a new spirit (Ezekiel 36:26). Being born of God is being changed by God so that the dominion of sin is broken.

How is it broken? 1 John 3:9 says that when a person is born of God, God’s seed abides in him. That’s why he cannot sin. The image is taken from ordinary human birth. When a father begets a child, the father’s seed abides in the child. Something of the father is in the child and it makes him like his father. God’s character is the very opposite of sin, therefore the child of God will be like his Father—he will not be able to sin.

Why John Isn’t Teaching Sinless Perfection

I know this sounds like John is teaching sinless perfection. But there are several reasons we know he isn’t. One is that the Greek verb “commit sin” or “sin” in 1 John 3:9 implies continuous action. It would be well translated, 

“No one born of God is content to keep sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot be content to keep on sinning because he is born of God.”

The most obvious reason (even if you don’t know Greek) we know John isn’t teaching sinless perfection is what he says in 1 John 1:8 and 1 John 1:10,

 “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us . . . if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” So John goes so far as to tell Christians that it is a sin to say you are sinless.

The Christian Life Is Walking in the Light

Well, if a person who is born of God does not become sinlessly perfect in this life (1 John 3:2) and yet (as 1 John 3:9 says) cannot be content to go on sinning, what is the Christian life? How should we describe it?

1 John 1:7 gives a lot of help here. “If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” The blood of Jesus will cleanse you from all your sin, if you walk in the light. So walking in the light is very different from walking in the dark, but it does not mean sinless perfection. 1 John 3:7 teaches that if you walk in the light, the sins that you commit are cleansed—forgiven, swept away, blotted out—by the blood of Jesus.

Walking in the light doesn’t mean that you are sinless; it means you see your sins now in God’s light and respond to them the way God does. 1 John 3:9 is a clear parallel to 1 John 3:7 and teaches this. “If we confess our sins (that corresponds to ‘if we walk in the light’), he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (that corresponds to ‘the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin’).” A person who walks in the light “confesses sin.” That means he sees sin the way God does and agrees with God. He hates sin, he is sorry for sin, he turns and flees from known sin. When sin is pointed out in his 

When the lights are off in a room, you might be there with a horrid black monster called sin, ready to devour you, and with a great knight in shining armor called Christ, ready to save you, but you can’t see because you are in the dark. And in the dark the monster might have a warm, furry coat that feels attractive, and the armor of the knight might feel cold and forbidding.

But when the light goes on, you can see sin and Christ for what they really are: sin is a horrible destroyer and Christ is a glorious Savior. When the light goes on, sin doesn’t drop dead. The battle begins in earnest. You see it the way God sees it and you hate it and you confess it and you fight it.

Summarizing the Argument

Now let’s step back and see if we can gather up the loose ends of the argument. We’re on the second question of the message. The first was: What did the Son of God come to destroy? Answer: the works of the devil, namely, sin or lawlessness or rebellion. He came to give us victory over sin in our lives. The second question was: How did Christ destroy the works of the devil? We saw two answers. First, he did it by appearing at Christmas as the Son of God, living, dying for our sins, and rising again. Second, he did it through the new birth. 1 John 3:9 says that when we are born of God, we cannot sin. But we saw that this does not mean sinless perfection in this life; it means that God works a change in us so that we can’t be content to go on sinning.

Then we asked, How do these two ways of destroying the works of the devil relate to each other? How does the work of Christ in Palestine relate to the work of God in my heart? Or you might ask it like this: How does the blood of Christ work together with the new birth to destroy the works of the devil in my life?

And we saw the answer in 1 John 1:7. “If we walk in the light as he is in the light . . . the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” Here the two answers for how the works of the devil are destroyed come together. Coming into the light of God is what happens when you are born again. The new birth is the sovereign work of God in which he turns the light on in our heart so that we see things the way he does. We see God as awesome in holiness, sin as horrible in ugliness, and Christ as a beautiful Savior. We bow before God in worship, we confess and turn from sin, and we embrace Christ as our hope. And while we walk in that frame of mind (in the light), the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. The works of the devil are destroyed in our life. And Christmas is fulfilled.

The Answer to Question 2

So what is the answer to question two? How are the works of the devil destroyed? Two stages: 1) The Son of God appeared and died for our sins so that they can be washed away and the devil can no longer accuse us or discourage us with them. 2) But in order to experience this salvation from sin we have to be born of God. We have to have the eyes of our hearts opened so that we come into the light and see things the way God does and agree with God about the beauty of his holiness and the ugliness of our sin and the surpassing value of Christ. When that happens, the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin and the works of the devil are destroyed.

I promised a third question but I’ve really already answered it.

Let me refer to one more verse and close with an illustration. 1 John 5:4 says, “Whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.” The way to participate personally in Christ’s victory over the world and the works of the devil is by trusting him—believing he is the very Son of God, with all that implies about his power to work for your good.

A Personal Illustration

Advent is a hard time for me spiritually. When I was a student and taught school, it was a time of relief and rest. But now it is very pressured. I tend to get discouraged and have to fight against the works of the devil in my life. The way I fight is by focusing on a promise of God. Sometimes it happens in strange ways.

Last week I woke up discouraged one morning and could barely drag myself out of bed. Then the thought entered my head, “Today my printer may come.” I had ordered a little dot-matrix printer to print out my sermons at home from the word processor. The thought that the printer might come today all of a sudden made me happy. The day seemed hopeful. I suppose it was like a kid feels the day before vacation. One possible bright spot conquered the gloom.

Then I went to my room to pray, and I read in Psalms 139, “Thy eyes beheld my unformed substance, in thy book was written every one of them, the days that were formed for me when as yet there was none of them.” The truth hit me that God has made all my days. And he has promised to work everything together for my good. In his mercy every day brings experiences that are one hundred times more valuable than a printer. He designs all my days for my strengthening and joy. The battle is to believe him—to get up in the morning and meditate on the truth that God has planned a day full of unexpected printers, even if they are veiled in affliction or tragedy.

Encouragement 

So my encouragement to you is that the Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil—our sins and lawlessness and rebellion. The way he did it was by dying for sin and through the new birth. The way we participate in this victory is by trusting in the promises of God to work all things together for our good.

May the Lord open our eyes to his glory and give us this faith.

By John Piper. ©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org

Enjoin and teach these things.

1 Timothy 4:9-11

Faithful is the Word and worthy of all acceptance;  FOR to this we also labor and are reproached, because we hope on the living God, who is Savior of all men, especially of believers.

The truth stated in verse 8, Paul earmarks with the statement, "This is a trustworthy word and worthy of every acceptance." The word "for" introduces a statement in support of his previous declaration in the latter verse. The words "labor" and "suffer reproach" are kopiaō, "to labor to the point of exhaustion," and agōnizomai, a Greek athletic term speaking of the participation of the athlete in the Greek games. We get our word "agony" from the latter. Both words denote strenuous and painful effort. The word "and" is ascensive, "we labor, yea struggle."

The word "hope" is elpizō, and is in the perfect tense. Literally, "we have set our hope upon with the present result that it is a settled hope."

Paul says that the Christian God is the Saviour of all men. This might appear to teach universalism, and hence needs careful exegesis. The word "Saviour" (sōtēr) means "saviour, deliverer, preserver." The name was given by the ancients to deities, to princes, kings, and in general, to men who had conferred signal benefits upon their country, and in the more degenerate days, by way of flattery, to personages of influence (Thayer). In the Cult of the Caesar, the state religion of the Roman Empire, the reigning emperor was called "saviour of the world," in the sense that he was the preserver of mankind by reason of his beneficent reign.

One could find in this statement the idea that God is the Preserver of the entire human race in the sense of His providential care. But the context, which brings in the idea of faith, seems to indicate that the idea of salvation from sin and the impartation of eternal life is the function here of God as Saviour. He is Saviour of all men in the sense that our Lord is "the Saviour of the world" (Joh 4:42). He is the actual Saviour of those who believe, and the potential Saviour of the unbeliever in the sense that He has provided a salvation at the Cross for the sinner, and stands ready to save that sinner when the latter places his faith in the Lord Jesus.

Translation: This is a trustworthy word and worthy of every acceptance, for with a view to this we are laboring to the point of exhaustion; yes, we are putting forth great efforts against opposition, because we have set our hope permanently upon the living God who is the Saviour of all men, especially of believers. These things be constantly commanding and teaching.

Being A Good Servant Of Jesus Christ

1 Timothy 4:12

Let no man despise thy youth - That is, do not act in such a manner that any shall despise you on account of your youth. Act as becomes a minister of the gospel in all things, and in such a way that people will respect you as such, though you are young. It is clear from this that Timothy was then a young man, but his exact age there is no means of determining. It is implied here:

(1) That there was danger that, by the levity and indiscretion to which youth are so much exposed, the ministry might be regarded with contempt; and,

(2) That it was possible that his deportment should be so grave, serious, and every way appropriate, that the ministry would not be blamed, but honored. The “way” in which Timothy was to live so that the ministry would not be despised on account of his youth, the apostle proceeds immediately to specify.

But be thou an example of the believers - One of the constant duties of a minister of the gospel, no matter what his age. A minister should so live, that if all his people should closely follow his example, their salvation would be secure, and they would make the highest possible attainments in piety. On the meaning of the word rendered “example,” see the notes on Php 3:17; 1Th 1:7.

In word - In “speech,” that is, your manner of conversation. This does not refer to his “public teaching” - in which he could not probably be an “example” to them - but to his usual and familiar conversation.

In conversation - In general deportment. See this word explained in the notes on Php 1:27.

In charity - Love to the brethren, and to all; see notes on 1 Cor. 13.

In spirit - In the government of your passions, and in a mild, meek, forgiving disposition.

In faith - At all times, and in all trials show to believers by your example, how they ought to maintain unshaken confidence in God.

In purity - In chasteness of life; see 1Ti 5:2. There should be nothing in your contact with the other sex that would give rise to scandal. The papists, with great impropriety, understand this as enjoining celibacy - as if there could be no “purity” in that holy relation which God appointed in Eden, and which he has declared to “be honorable in all” Heb 13:4, and which he has made so essential to the wellbeing of mankind. If the apostle had wished to produce the highest possible degree of corruption in the church, he would have enjoined the celibacy of the clergy and the celibacy of an indefinite number of nuns and monks. There are no other institutions on the earth which have done so much to corrupt the chastity of the race, as those which have grown out of the doctrine that celibacy is more honorable than marriage.

Treasure in Jars of Clay

2Co 4:7 However, we possess this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves.

2 Corinthians 4:7-18

G. An Earthen Vessel with a Heavenly Destiny (4:7-18)

4:7 Having spoken of the obligation to make the message plain, the Apostle Paul now thinks of the human instrument to which the wonderful gospel treasure had been committed. The treasure is the glorious message of the gospel. The earthen vessel, on the other hand, is the frail human body. The contrast between the two is tremendous. The gospel is like a precious diamond that scintillates brilliantly every way in which it is turned. To think that such a precious diamond has been entrusted to such a frail, fragile earthenware vessel!

Earthen vessels, marred, unsightly,

Bearing Wealth no thought can know;

Heav'nly Treasure, gleaming brightly—

Christ revealed in saints below!

Vessels, broken, frail, yet bearing

Through the hungry ages on,

Riches giv'n with hand unsparing,

God's great Gift, His precious Son!

O to be but emptier, lowlier,

Mean, unnoticed and unknown,

And to God a vessel holier,

Filled with Christ, and Christ alone!

Naught of earth to cloud the Glory!

Naught of self the light to dim!

Telling forth Christ's wondrous story,

Broken, empty—filled with Him!

—Tr. Frances Bevan

Why has God ordained that this treasure should be in earthen vessels? The answer is so that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. God does not want men to be occupied with the human instrument, but rather with His own power and greatness. And so He deliberately commits the gospel message to weak, often uncomely human beings. All the praise and glory must go to the Creator and not the creature.

It is a secret joy to find

The task assigned beyond our powers;

For thus, if ought of good be wrought,

Clearly the praise is His, not ours.

—Houghton

Jowett says:

There is something wrong when the vessel robs the treasure of its glory, when the casket attracts more attention than the jewel which it bears. There is a very perverse emphasis when the picture takes second place to the frame, and when the ware which is used at the feast becomes a substitute for the meal. There is something deadly in Christian service when “the excellency of the power” is of us and not of God. Such excellency is of a very fleeting kind, and it will speedily wither as the green herb and pass into oblivion.

As Paul penned verse 7, it is almost certain he was thinking of an incident in Judges 7. There it is recorded that Gideon equipped his army with trumpets, empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. At the appointed signal, his men were to blow their trumpets and break the pitchers. When the pitchers were broken, the lamps shone out in brilliance. This terrified the enemy. They thought there was a vast host after them, instead of just three hundred men. The lesson is that, just as in Gideon's case the light only shone forth when the pitchers were broken, so it is in connection with the gospel. Only when human instruments are broken and yielded to the Lord can the gospel shine forth through us in all its magnificence.

4:8 The apostle now goes on to explain that because the treasure has been committed to earthen vessels, there is seeming defeat on the one hand, yet perpetual victory on the other. There is weakness to all outward appearance, but in reality incomparable strength. When he says, We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed, he means that he is constantly pressed by adversaries and difficulties, yet not completely hindered from uttering the message freely.

Perplexed, but not in despair. From the human standpoint, Paul often did not know there could possibly be a solution to his difficulties, and yet the Lord never allowed him to reach the place of despair. He was never brought into a narrow place from which there was no escape.

4:9 Persecuted, but not forsaken. At times, he could feel the hot breath of the enemy on the back of his neck, yet the Lord never abandoned him to his foes. Struck down, but not destroyed means that Paul was many times seriously “wounded in action,” yet the Lord raised him up again to go with the glorious news of the gospel.

The New Bible Commentary paraphrases verses 8 and 9: “Hemmed in, but not hamstrung; not knowing what to do, but never bereft of all hope; hunted by men, but never abandoned by God; often felled, but never finished.”

We may wonder why the Lord allowed His servant to go through such testings and trials. We would think that he could have served the Lord more efficiently if He had allowed his pathway to be free from troubles. But this Scripture teaches the very opposite. God, in His marvelous wisdom, sees fit to allow His servants to be touched by sickness, sorrow, affliction, persecution, difficulties, and distresses. All are designed to break the earthen pitchers so that the light of the gospel might shine out more clearly.

4:10 The life of the servant of God is one of constant dying. Just as the Lord Jesus Himself, in His lifetime, was constantly exposed to violence and persecution, so those who follow in His steps will meet the same treatment. But it does not mean defeat. This is the way of victory. Blessing comes to others as we thus die daily.

It is only in this way that the life of Jesus can be apparent in our bodies. The life of Jesus does not here mean primarily His life as a Man on earth, but His present life as the exalted Son of God in heaven. How can the world see the life of Christ when He is not personally or physically present in the world today? The answer is that as we Christians suffer in the service of the Lord, His life is manifested in our body.

4:11 This thought of life from death is continued in verse 11. It is one of the deepest principles of our existence. The meat we eat and by which we live comes through the death of animals. It is so in the spiritual realm. “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” The more the church is persecuted and afflicted and hunted and pursued, the more Christianity spreads.

And yet it is difficult for us to accept this truth. When violence comes to a servant of the Lord, we normally think of it as a tragedy. Actually, this is God's normal way of dealing. It is not the exception. Constant exposure to death for Jesus' sake is the divine manner in which the life of Jesus is manifested in our mortal bodies.

4:12 Here the apostle sums up all that he has said by reminding the Corinthians that it was through his constant suffering that life came to them. In order for Paul ever to go to Corinth with the gospel, he had to suffer untold hardships. But it was worth it all, because they had trusted in the Lord Jesus and now had eternal life. Paul's physical suffering and loss meant spiritual gain to others. Robertson says, “His dying was working out for the good of those who were benefited by his ministry.”

Oftentimes we have the tendency to cry out to the Lord in sickness, asking Him to deliver us from it, so that we might serve Him better. Perhaps we should sometimes thank God for such afflictions in our lives, and glory in our infirmities that the power of Christ might rest upon us.

4:13 The apostle has been speaking of the constant frailty and weakness of the human vessel to which the gospel is entrusted. What then is his attitude toward all this? Is he defeated and discouraged and dismayed? The answer is no. Faith enables him to go on preaching the gospel, because he knows that beyond the sufferings of this life lie unspeakable glories.

In Psa 116:10 the psalmist says, “I believed and therefore I spoke.” He trusted in the Lord, and therefore what he said was the result of that deep-seated faith. Paul is here saying that the same is true in his case. He had the same spirit of faith which the Psalmist had when he uttered those words. Paul says, “We also believe and therefore speak.”

The afflictions and persecutions of Paul's life did not seal his lips. Wherever there is true faith, there must be the expression of it. It cannot be silent.

If on Jesus Christ you trust,

Speak for Him you surely must;

Though it humble to the dust,

If you love Him, say so.

If on Jesus you believe

And the Saviour you receive

Lest you should the Spirit grieve,

Don't delay, but say so.

4:14 If it seems strange to us that Paul was not shaken by the constant danger of death, we find the answer in verse 14. This is the secret of his fearlessness in uttering the Christian message. He knew that this life was not all. He knew that for the believer there was the certainty of resurrection. The same God who raised up the Lord Jesus would also raise up the Apostle Paul with Jesus and would present him with the Corinthians.

4:15 With the certain and sure hope of resurrection before him, the apostle was willing to undergo terrible hardships. He knew that all such sufferings had a twofold result. They abounded in blessing for the Corinthians, and thus caused thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. These two motives actuated Paul in all he said and did. He was concerned with the glory of God and the blessing of his fellow men.

Paul realized that the more he suffered, the more the grace of God was made available to others. The more people who were saved, the more thanksgiving ascended to God. And the more thanksgiving ascended to God, the more God was glorified.

The Living Bible seems to capture the spirit of the verse in this paraphrase:

These sufferings of ours are for your benefit. And the more of you who are won to Christ, the more there are to thank him for his great kindness, and the more the Lord is glorified.

4:16 Paul had been explaining his willingness to undergo all kinds of suffering and danger because he had before him the certain hope of resurrection. Therefore he did not lose heart. Although on the one hand, the process of physical decay was going on constantly, yet on the other hand there was a spiritual renewal which enabled him to go on in spite of every adverse circumstance.

The fact that the outward man is perishing needs little explanation or comment. It is all too evident in our bodies! But Paul is here rejoicing in the fact that God sends daily supplies of power for Christian service. Thus it is true, as Michelangelo said, “The more the marble wastes, the more the statue grows.”

Ironside comments:

We are told that our material bodies are completely changed every seven years. . . Yet we have a consciousness of being the same persons. Our personality is unchanged from year to year, and so with regard to the greater change as yet to come. The same life is in the butterfly that was in the grub.

4:17 After reading the terrible afflictions which the Apostle Paul endured, it may seem hard for us to understand how he could speak of them as light affliction. In one sense, they were not at all light. They were bitter and cruel.

But the explanation lies in the comparison which Paul makes. The afflictions viewed by themselves might be ever so heavy, but when compared with the eternal weight of glory that lies ahead, then they are light. Also the light affliction is but for a moment, whereas the glory is eternal. The lessons we learn through afflictions in this world will yield richest fruit for us in the world to come.

Moorehead observes: “A little joy enters into us while we are in the world; we shall enter into joy when there. A few drops here; a whole ocean there.”

There is a pyramid in this verse which, as F. E. Marsh has pointed out, does not tire the weary climber but brings unspeakable rest and comfort to his soul.

Glory

Weight of glory

Eternal weight of glory

Exceeding and eternal weight of glory

More exceeding and eternal weight of glory

Far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory

4:18 In this verse look does not merely describe human vision; rather it conveys the idea of regarding a thing as important. As far as the things which are seen are concerned, they are not the goal of one's existence. Here they refer primarily to the hardships, trials, and sufferings which Paul endured. These were incidental to his ministry; the great object of his ministry was what is not seen. This might include the glory of Christ, the blessing of one's fellow men, and the reward that awaits the faithful servant of Christ at the Judgment Seat.

Jowett comments:

To be able to see the first is sight; to be able to see the second is insight. The first mode of vision is natural, the second mode is spiritual. The primary organ in the first discernment is intellect; the primary organ in the second discernment is faith. ... All through the Scriptures this contrast between sight and insight is being continually presented to us, and everywhere we are taught to measure the meagerness and stinginess of the one, and set it over the fulness and expansiveness of the other.