We Do Not Lose Heart

Our theme this morning is 'We do not lose heart' which are the key words of 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Paul writes 'therefore we do not lose heart' twice in this chapter of 2 Corinthians even though there were plenty of reasons for discouragement in his situation. He had suffered hardships in the province of Asia (1:8) and he was still hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted and struck down for the sake of the gospel (4:8). His converts in Corinth were troubling him and stabbing him in the back and so distracting him from evangelistic opportunities in Troas (2:13). He was facing opposition from false teachers who had infiltrated the church in Corinth, who were peddling the word of God for profit (2:17) and yet challenging both Paul's personal integrity and his authority as an apostle.

Why be a Christian missionary? It had cost Paul his career and his health. Why be a preacher? Many reject the gospel message (4:4) and then some of those that do repent and believe cause you pain and sleepless nights. Why be involved in Christian ministry? Why be a Scout or a Pathfinder leader? Those thoughts and questions must have gone through Paul's mind and probably go through ours from time to time. Are we tempted to lose heart sometimes?

I know my heart sank at the prospect of the clocks going forward this weekend and losing an hours sleep, especially as I had to drive back from our Home Group weekend away last night! I know a number are struggling with the length of this term with Easter being so late. Will we lose heart going parish visiting these next two weeks when we find no-one in or some not wanting to know or will we persevere?

And maybe we are hard pressed in other ways as we go on in the Christian life and in Christian ministry which tempt us to lose heart: opposition, persecution, exams, unemployment, ill health, bringing up children. Paul also mentions at the end of chapter 4 and the start of chapter 5 our outlook on growing older, bereavement and death. But Paul says we do not lose heart in verses 1 & 16. Why does Paul not lose heart? Why are we not to lose heart in our Christian ministry? Well that brings us to my three headings, the first of which is:


First, SINCE…WE HAVE THIS MINISTRY (vv 1-6)

Look at v.1:

Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.

Paul doesn't lose heart because of some inborn true grit that he has - its not that he's a John Wayne type - rather it is because he has 'this ministry' from God which imparts forgiveness, the Spirit and the glory of God. The privilege of having this ministry and the life changing effects of this ministry are enough to keep Paul going through thick and thin. This ministry then is a glorious ministry. To go back to 2 Cor. 3:6-9, Paul writes that

God has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant - not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory…will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!

This ministry is a ministry of the new covenant in Christ. It is a glorious ministry, a ministry of righteousness, of reconciliation and of the Spirit. It brings people life, salvation and righteousness in Christ. It is a ministry that is able to transform men's lives.

But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (3:16-18)

How could Paul lose heart?

Now we may not be an apostle and many of us may not be upfront preachers or gifted evangelists but, if we're believers, we have all been given gifts by God to use in ministry (1 Cor. 12:7; Eph. 4:7) to build up the church, to help in gospel ministry. And we are all commanded by Jesus to go and make disciples of all nations. We too therefore share in this glorious ministry whether in background or upfront ways. Now times of discouragement come to all of us engaged in ministry and sometimes we might even be tempted to give up. So whatever our particular ministry is we do well to say with Paul: "Since...we have this ministry, we do not lose heart".

I was struck by this attitude when reading about the recent violent attacks on Christians in Kaduna, Nigeria. Thousands have been brutally murdered by Muslim gangs. One family was attacked and the husband killed in front of his wife and four children. The wife was then asked to choose which two of her children should die. She refused, so the Muslim rioters seized her two sons and slit their throats. In one evangelical church, 10 women and children were forced into a room, doused with petrol and set on fire. All died, one of the women with her little child in her arms. The church in Northern Nigeria is certainly under pressure but Bishop Benjamin Kwashi has called for Christians to behave as believers, saying:

"The Christians are certainly being provoked and pushed to behave like unbelievers. We resist this and will continue to resist this temptation because if we give in we will have no gospel to preach: we will have no light to shine and we will have lost the opportunity of the evangelisation of Africa, which I feel should be a Nigerian project."

Since...we have this ministry we do not lose heart.

Paul was also very aware that he had this ministry only through God's mercy. Through his letters we know that he never forgot that he had been a persecutor of the church (1 Tim. 1:12-17). His awareness of the great privilege of this ministry also caused him not to lose heart despite all the difficulties and sufferings involved. This ministry is a gift - we receive it from God. It is given to us because of God's mercy, not because of anything we are or we have done. It is a privilege.

Since...we have this ministry we do not lose heart.

And when God through his mercy calls and commissions us, he also supplies the strength necessary for us to persevere in the face of hardships and persecutions. Do we believe that?

Many Christians in Southern Sudan know that even as the government in the North continues to bomb Christian mission stations and hospitals including one run by Samaritan's Purse - the Operation Shoebox agency - at the beginning of March.

Jesus promised that as we go and make disciples of all nations he will be with us until the end of the age.

Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.

No instead we are to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of our calling and handle the word of God correctly. Paul goes on in v.2,

Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways, we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

Unlike the false teachers who accused Paul of deception and distortion he had nothing to hide, either in his personal life or in his preaching of the Word. In the carrying out of this ministry we must refuse to use deception or to distort the word of God whether in parish visting or in some other context. No we simply need to set forth the truth plainly. Yes we need to apply it and help people understand it but we don't need to manipulate it to make it effective. Presented in a straightforward way, with reliance upon the Holy Spirit, the word of God will achieve the results for which God sends it forth (Isaiah 55:10-11). Some won't understand or respond but we are not to lose heart in the sense of giving up when that happens. Look at vv.3&4:

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Unbelievers minds have been blinded by the god of this age, by Satan, and they fail to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. And if the gospel is all about the glory of Christ - his death to pay the price for our sin and the resurrection then, like Paul, we are not to preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord: crucified, risen and ascended and in our ministry we are to humbly regard ourselves as servants of those to whom we preach and teach. Vv.5&6:

For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness', made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

It is God's work. We are to preach Jesus Christ as Lord. The Holy Spirit does the rest.

We do not lose heart because...


Secondly,WE HAVE THIS TREASURE IN JARS OF CLAY (vv 7-12)

Look at v.7:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us.

Jars of clay were inexpensive and fragile, easily broken. Here those who bear the glorious light of the gospel - namely all Christians - are compared to jars of clay to show that the power released through the preaching of the gospelis from God and not from us. This principle is illustrated in vv.8-12, verses which show that the power of God not only sustained Paul and sustains us but also worked through him and works through us to bring life to others. Look at vv. 8-12:

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.

Paul was continually exposed to danger and death and yet at the same time he experienced the power of Christ's life at work in him and through him. We do not lose heart...


Thirdly, SINCE WE HAVE THE SAME SPIRIT OF FAITH (vv 13-18)

Look at v.13:

It is written: 'I believed; therefore I have spoken.' With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak.

Paul is here quoting the writer of Psalm 116:10 who maintained his faith in the midst of suffering and said, "I believed therefore I have spoken". Since we have the same spirit of faith, Paul says, we also believe and therefore speak about the faith. Paul had a confidence in God, a God who raises the dead, which enabled him to keep on preaching, knowing that it would benefit his hearers and bring thanksgiving to God. Look at vv.14&15:

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.

Do we have that confidence in God? V.16:

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 acheiving 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.

Paul was outwardly wasting away through trials and growing older. I don't know how you feel about getting older. Paul says, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. If we've been born again inwardly and spiritually by the Spirit of God then inwardly we are being renewed day by day. However weak we feel then, as one commentator puts it, "the resurrection life of Jesus is glowing inside you like an atomic pile, radiating the energy of the world to come."

If you are a Christian do not fret about getting old rather fix your gaze on the invisible things of the next world. Outwardly we may be getting nearer to death, but inwardly we are getting nearer to glory. So do not lose heart. The best is yet to be. We have a sure and certain future hope. And those of us who have lost loved ones who have died in the Lord - we do not mourn without hope (cf. 2 Cor. 5:1-8). As Paul states the outward troubles are but light and momentary compared with the weight of eternal glory we are to experience as a result. How did Paul endure and persevere? By keeping before him the glories of the yet unseen world. Verse 18:

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.