Oakbrook Evangelical Free Church

Jars of Clay
How To Not Be Overwhelmed by Overwhelming Circumstances – 2 Corinthians 4:8-18
Pastor Ed, April 5, 2009

2 Corinthians 4:8-18 “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 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. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 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. 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.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 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.” NIV

Introduction:

Story of Chippy the Parakeet He never saw it coming.
One minute he is peacefully perched in his cage and the next he is sucked in
Washed over and blown up! Chippy’s owner decided to clean the bottom of the bird cage.
She stuck the end of the hose into the cage and the phone rings.
Turning she dropped the hose to answer the phone.
Slup! Chippy is sucked in.
When the lady turned…Chippy was gone. The lady gasped.
Frantically she turned off the vacuum and opened the bag.
There was chippy turning into a blue bird because he couldn’t breath.
Still alive but stunned. The lady gently picked Chippy up and brushed him off. Catching his breath, Chippy sneezed as only a Parakeet can.
The lady rushed into the kitchen, placed the stopper into the drain
And began washing him off…when the phone rang.
Dropping him into the water to answer the phone
Chippy found himself under the sprinkler head of rushing water and a rising tide.
Once again, the lady turned to see chippy trying to
paddle without the feet of a duck.
She gently picked Chippy up and dried him off.
But thinking that he might catch a cold or bird pneumonia she decided to use her salon strength hair dryer to finish the job. With the first gust of fiery wind Chippy knew this day had not been a chipper day.

I. Hardships, 4:8-12

First, hard pressed on every side, but not crushed.
Second, perplexed but not in despair.
Third, persecuted but not abandoned.
Finally, struck down by the enemy but not destroyed.

In short: “we always carry around in our body the death (dying) of Jesus.

Always = The normal life; the common place of a Christian.  This is not exceptional.
Carry around = the life of an itinerant preacher / missionary but also we are pilgrims on a journey.
The death = the dying of Jesus = the process, not only the cross.
The hardships, troubles, frustrations
The loneliness…disappointments…exhaustion…harassment.
Continuous demands and time pressure.
The rejection of his brothers
The abandonment of his friends
The mocking of the crowds and the hours on the cross.

1 Corinthians 15:31-32 “I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.””

Jesus taught us saying: Luke 9:23 “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” NIV

Paul teaches us saying…2 Corinthians 4:11-12 “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.”

Why put up with this?  “So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” NIV

2 Corinthians 4:12 “hōste ho thanatos (death) en hēmin (us) energeitai,(energizing) hē de zōē (life) en hymin (you)..”

Important theological lesson here:
The Corinthians were like some Christians today. Adversity was inconsistent with what they felt was the Spirit-filled life. The issue is how does God manifest His life to us/in us?

Paul’s opponents taught that the way you could tell if the life of God was at work in you was through signs, wonders and miracles.  Paul taught that God’s power was most clearly worked in us in the midst of adversity and suffering.

2 Corinthians 6:4-10 “Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” NIV

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

II. How to not be overwhelmed by overwhelming circumstances, 4:13-18

A. 4:13-14 Exercise personal faith in God’s promises!

John 14:1-3 ““Do not let your hearts be troubled. You trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” NIV

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.” NIV
Let me remind you about this day in history:

Daniel 9:24-27

Daniel 9:25-26 ““Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (3.5.444 BC) until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ (3.30.33 AD) It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler (Titus – the Roman general) who will come (anti-Christ) will destroy the city and the sanctuary (70 AD). The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.” NIV

Not till his birth!  But until his official presentation: 173,880 days until Messiah!

Do you know what He has promised you? Are you learning his promises?

Mary as an older teenager: Luke 1:46-55 (the Magnificat) there are 15 discernable quotations of the OT.

Do you know what He has promised you? Are you learning his promises?
2 Peter 1:3-4 “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” NIV

Are you learning his promises?  Are you USING his promises in your life?

1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” NASB95

Here’s the question:  Are you overcoming overwhelming circumstances?

How can you overcome overwhelming circumstances?
EXERCISE PERSONAL FAITH IN THE PROMISES OF GOD!

B. Allow God’s grace to fill you and flow out of you!

Get excited about what is worth getting excited about!
Grace is spreading to more and more people

God’s grace is reaching more and more people so that the cup of thanksgiving will overflow so that God’s glory will be clearly seen.

Here’s the point: The only way to become an overcomer is through the grace of God!
Luke 9:32 “Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep” NASB95

2 Peter 2:19-20 “by what a person is overcome, by this he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.” NASB95

1 John 2:13-14 “I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.” NASB95

1 John 5:4 “For whoever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” NASB95

C. Perspective! What has captured your attention?, 4:16-18

Don’t fix your attention on your aches and pains!  Fix your eyes on the unseen.

Romans 8:18-28
Present sufferings…eternal glory.
Bondage of decay…will be brought to glorious freedom

We eagerly await the redemption of our body!
Hope that is seen isn’t hope!

The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We don’t know how to pray.

Perspective:
Keep your eyes on Jesus
Be reassured that He works all things together for our good.

Concluding: video clip of father and son Hoyt

The father symbolizes our Heavenly Father / Savior Jesus
The son symbolizes us who are being led from victory to victory!