This is the commissioning service for Brother D and Sister S, who will be leaving as missionaries to China tomorrow. I’ve known D since he was a student in college when he had the email address, [email protected]. I don’t think I have to explain what kind of person D was because that email address says it all. During our undergrad days, we lived under the same roof, a house with 20+ Christian brothers, but I don’t remember ever seeing D. He was off somewhere thinking about the meaning of life under some tree. It’s amazing to witness the transformation in his life and the impact that he has had on so many of us here. Sister S, some of us have known since her undergrad days. I’m not sure what her email address was in college. [email protected], perhaps? So we go way back with this couple. Esp. in the last 2 years, this couple has become so dear to Jackie and me. Their presence gave me a lot of courage and peace as a young pastor because I could always count on their prayers. Thank you for your preaching and teaching, thank you for your thoughtfulness in helping shoulder the burdens of life and ministry, thank you for your love and just being here for us. Words fail me because I cannot express my gratitude adequately for what you have meant to me and to our church.
When I became the pastor of this church less than 2 years ago, I didn’t know how we would get there, but the Lord laid it on my heart that we would be a church planting church. Meaning, we would release some of our best people into the harvest fields–church planters, missionaries, and members who want to follow God’s call to make disciples of all nations.
Could I get a show of hands for anyone who has spent more than 6 months on overseas missions? What about 1 year? 3 years or more?
Jackie and I served as missionaries in Tokyo for 3.5 years. As you can tell, we have very missional roots. Missions is in our blood. May we never lose that. May we never lose sight of the harvest fields that are ripe, so ripe in fact that they are bright white, and God is waiting for workers to answer the call to go and reap souls for the glory of God among the nations.
From the beginning, believing that God would fulfill His vision for this church, I knew my days with D and S were numbered. I’m not just saying this. That’s the honest truth. Because I believed God would send them out eventually. I just didn’t think it was going to be this soon.
Missions is hard. Christian life is hard enough. Just to care for your own soul is already a lot on one person’s plate. On top of that, if you are going out as a missionary, it will be doubly hard. Satan is not happy with this decision. He will be fighting against you. D/S, you will be tempted to lose heart. To give up. To throw in the towel.
I’ve been thinking about what to share for this commissioning service for a few weeks and a passage came to mind and I found out later that it was one of D’s favorite chapters so I thought, this is it! 2 Cor 4, starting from v7.
2 Cor 4:7-9
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.
2 Cor 4:16-18
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.
This is a predictable temptation for all pastors, missionaries, Christians. The temptation to lose heart. We all start out strong. We all jump out of the gates in a hard sprint. But Christian life is a marathon. And gradually, imperceptibly, over a period of time, you and I may lose heart.
Earlier in this letter in chapter 1, Paul almost lost heart. In fact, Paul said, he suffered so much that he despaired even of life. This is the great Apostle Paul talking. He was tempted to call it quits.
And yet, remarkably, Paul urges the Corinthians to not lose heart. He was resolved to not lose heart. This resolve frames Paul’s argument in this chapter.
v1 – Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.
and
v16 – Therefore we do not lose heart.
What informed his resolve? What allowed Paul to keep going in the face of incredible difficulty?
Paul DID NOT lose heart because of the gospel. Verses 3-6 are all about the gospel.
v3 – And even if our GOSPEL is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
v4 – 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.
v5 – For we do not preach ourselves, but JESUS CHRIST AS LORD, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
v6 – 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.
We do not lose heart because we have this ministry, this message that gives light, gives glory, this message that transforms lives.
We are not innovators. We are proclaimers. We don’t proclaim ourselves. We proclaim Christ, the glory of God in the face of Christ. Why would anyone captivated by this this glorious gospel, why on earth would we want to draw attention to ourselves?
We are called to this ministry all because of the mercy of God. When the gospel is preached, sight is given to the blind. They didn’t see it before, but by the grace of God, they see the GLORY OF GOD IN THE FACE OF CHRIST. They see that face. They perceive his sacrifice on the cross as for them. They see him as the one God raised from the dead. They see the Lamb slain seated on the throne. Sinners see all that and turn from their sin and trust in the Savior for the forgiveness of their sins and their lives are transformed by this ministry that we have the privilege to proclaim.
We need to keep the gospel in view in order to keep our hearts fresh for the work ahead. Why? Because the work is going to be hard. Paul was under no illusions that this ministry was going to be easy.
v7-9 outline the realities of preaching the gospel in a fallen world filled with hardened hearts and blind eyes. We will be hard pressed. Squeezed from all sides. As you press out into the world for Christ, things will press in on you.
We will be perplexed. Bewildered. Things will happen that will perplex you. Things that make you wonder, why on earth did that happen?
We will be persecuted. For the two of you in China, persecution will hit closer to home because there you will lack the freedom to share your faith openly.
We will be struck down. Things that knock the wind out of you, that knock you down, that put you on your back. This is the reality of preaching the gospel to a world that opposes our message.
4 categories–hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, struck down. To make matters worse, these don’t come in phases. They can happen all at once to varying degrees, over a weekend.
Paul kept going in the midst of these hardships and difficulties because of what Jesus did for him on the cross. And in the process, Paul learned an important lesson. He learned that these harsh realities have a divine purpose. Every form of weakness and suffering is an opportunity for God to glorify himself through our lives.
v7 – But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
We are just ordinary, earthen vessels, jars of clay, but inside of us, there is a radiant treasure. We are nothing, but for the believer, we have Christ, who is everything, a treasure of surpassing worth. What does this reveal about the nature of the Christian life? It shows that this all-surpassing power to save us is from God and not from us. We were weak, helpless, hopeless and God in his mercy reached down and saved us. God receives all the glory when we are at our weakest. This is how we were converted.
Eph 2:8-9
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
A treasure in a jar of clay. The grace of God coming to a spiritual corpse and making us alive in Christ. A spiritual power to save that is 100% from God and not from us. God did it this way, why? So that no one can boast. This is how we are saved. It was a gift we had to receive.
And Paul lived out his Christian life keeping this starting point in mind always. He knew, it’ all grace. It’s all grace. In the midst of being hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, we discover that God is wonderfully at work. And the gospel that saved us also continually sustains us and makes all the difference in our lives.
For Paul, the accent is not on the harsh realities. The accent is on the grace of God. But NOT.
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.
Not crushed, not in despair, not abandoned, not destroyed. Paul is acknowledging the harsh realities, he wants to equip us for these harsh realities, but more than anything, he is celebrating the grace of God in the midst of these realities. It’s not about Paul’s resolve. Paul was not someone unusually strong in his constitution. Left to himself, left to myself, I would be crushed, I would be despairing, I would feel abandoned, I would be destroyed. But NOT.
As Christians, we have “But Not” written all over our lives. It is the grace of God that saves us. And it is the same grace of God that sustains us so that we can say, life can throw whatever it wants at me, but not… but I will overcome by the grace of God.
Paul did not lose heart because he understood the nature of the gospel. That he was saved by grace by the power of God. And also, that he was sustained by the very same grace and power of God through life’s difficulties. And lastly, Paul did not lose heart because he had an eternal perspective.
2 Cor 4
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.
In the eleventh chapter of this book, we read about Paul’s suffering. Paul, the man who was imprisoned, flogged, 39 lashes to his back, he was beaten with rods, people were after him and wanted him dead, he was attacked by bandits, stones were thrown at him, he was shipwrecked 3 times, he was constantly on the move, he often went without sleep, without food and water, he knew cold and nakedness, and his greatest suffering was the daily pressure of his concern for all the churches. And Paul refers to all of that as… light… momentary.
In Paul’s presence, there is no whining allowed. You might have had a bad week, but his story tops yours. When he says, he was struck down, you can see the scars on his body.
D/S, if you look to yourselves, or you look to one another, and you rely on your own strength, you will lose heart. Guaranteed.
But even in the midst of being hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, you and I can have fresh hope. How? By meditating daily on the gospel, the LIGHT OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE FACE OF CHRIST. And when things get hard, fix your eyes on the unseen glory to come. And if you do these 2 things, you won’t lose heart. That’s my prayer for the both of you.
Let’s pray for D/S as a congregation. Please stand.