by Jason Hamilton
Here’s another verse that we have read that needs re-read in light of a pandemic. This verse will help to strengthen our faith in God by putting our trials in the proper perspective. Certainly that is needed at this time. The verse is in 2 Corinthians 4. We are going to specifically pick it up in verse 16:
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
We do not lose heart. A phrase that slips off of the tongue easily enough. In American culture it’s very easy to lose heart. We do that because we are thin-skinned. In other words, everything hurts our feelings and if it doesn’t we read into a situation until our feelings are hurt. It seems that practically anything causes us to question everything. It’s sick to say this but we’re comfortable with bitterness and oftentimes it’s the rut we ride in.
Paul is saying that losing heart is possible. It’s not good or right but it is possible. This is why perspective is needed as believers in Christ. We don’t want to succumb to the attitude of broad-road (hell-bound) travelers. It’s cliché but it’s vital for us to “go against the flow” when it comes to how we respond to any and everything. It’s vital for us to replace broad-road thinking that belongs to our old self and put on Christ and His perspective.
To help us combat not losing heart we need a dose of reality. Once again, context is going to help us interpret this passage. 2 Corinthians 4 sits in this midst of a letter commending weakness and hardship as badges of approval in the Christian life. In Paul’s defense against super apostles (guys who could make big bucks because of intelligent communication) who used their intellectual skills and verbal prowess as their badges of Christian approval, he highlights the need for suffering. Far in front of 2 Corinthians 4 is 1:3-10:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.
He tees this letter off by talking about the necessity of suffering for two reasons: the first is for the church. If I suffer I’m going to gain because I will be comforted. That comfort that comes to us is not intended to remain with us alone. Its purpose is to be passed on. The second reason for suffering is refinement. Because we are worshipers by design and sinners (a bad combination) it is very easy to forget who is truly worthy of trust and it’s definitely not us! According to Paul we suffer in order to help fix our trust in the resurrecting God.
The Christianity of the super apostles lived on the recommendation of others. Paul combats this mindset throughout the letter. His argument is that Christianity is actually built on the reputation and life of Jesus. Therefore, the recommendation of others is really rather trivial. Imagine conducting two interviews and the first guy hands you a polished resume where they are recommended by others. The second guy comes in and proclaims his love for Jesus and rather than showing you a resume he shows you the scars on his back. Anyone can find someone who affirms them. What’s the proof that we love Jesus? Would it not be Jesus Himself?
On the other side of 2 Corinthians 4 is a passage we hinted at in the last article. This passage is what Paul would put on his resume (if he were to ever have one). Notice 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 :
Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
Not only are making comparisons futile but Paul’s resume was not the churches, it wasn’t Barnabas, Timothy, Silas or Titus, it was his back. Not what we would consider resume material. In fact, in chapter 12, after receiving a thorn in the flesh (a weakness in Paul) he declares:
Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (vv. 810)
His weakness was his strength because for Paul and for every believer it’s more about Christ and His message than about the person who bears that message. Which is why we do not lose heart. We must keep this in mind as we consider chapter four. In the Greek the same word/phrase “do not lose” is used in Matthew 5:18:
For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Our not losing heart in our Christian faith is as fixed as the Word of God itself. He’s not giving us Americans an out. Well, COVID-19 is here so hit the panic button and rush the toilet paper aisle like everyone else! No way! We do not lose heart. Remember that as long as the Bible exists so can my hope in the Gospel.
Though our outer self is wasting away. . . Is this true? Not according to anti-aging creams and Botox commercials. We have entire aisles at the store dedicated to masking the aging process. Do we fold to our culture? Was Paul just unaware of hyaluronic acid? If he had known there were chemicals that could make wrinkles disappear would he have said that? Absolutely! Because of the fall our physical bodies will not last. In fact, take a minute and look back at Matthew 5:17. The only thing that lasts is the Word of God. In fact, the smallest pen stroke will not disappear. The beauty of failing bodies is that God inserts the Gospel in that failing body in order to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. (2 Cor. 4:7) In fact, in that same verse he refers to us as jars of clay. Believers may be crackpots but the greatness of the message given is airtight.
Because we house an eternal message in the Gospel he ends this verse by saying our inner self is being renewed day by day. Because faith is fixed on the death and resurrection of Christ, though outwardly I waste away, inwardly I’m finding newer and deeper levels in my need for Jesus and His pardoning grace, and the closer I get to the end of this life the more excited I feel about being in His presence.
Tens of thousands around the world have died from this pandemic. When the dust settles and the pandemic is behind us what did you find you longed for more? The heavenly presence of Jesus after we’ve died, or momentary health/security? During this pandemic have we hoped in something other than Jesus?