*below are pre-sermon manuscript notes, not sermon transcript

 

When Things Get Worse | 2 Corinthians 4:15-16

 

So, have you ever heard something that didn’t make sense?

I came across an interesting list from Kassandra Metz of comments that might make you scratch your head a bit.

Like when someone says:

“It’s always the last place you look.”

True, because why would you keep looking in the next place if you found what you were looking for?

Or what about this one:

“Needless to say…”

If it is needless, then why say it?

Or this one:

“Can I ask you a question?”

Just once, I would like to smile and say “no” and just walk away.

Or what about this one:

“Same difference…”

That’s technically not possible.

When it comes to “same difference” I refer to the words of philosopher Inigo Montoya:

Inigo Montoya

I do not think it means what you think it means.

Sparky Anderson was a major league baseball player and coach and manager.

J.D. Brannon tells the story of how Sparky was once trying to convince his all-star shortstop Alan Trammell that he could play even though he had a very sore shoulder and this is what he said to Trammell:

Sparky Anderson

Pain don’t hurt.

His shoulder hurt for sure, but what was Sparky trying to do?

He was trying to mentally convince his player that he could play through the pain.

It’s one thing to convince a professional athlete to push through his pain for a 3-hour baseball game.

But what about the person who is suffering through physical, emotional, spiritual, mental, medical, financial, relational, chronic, or terminal pain that lasts more than 3 hours?

• A sick child
• A devastated parent
• A heartbroken teenager
• A wounded spouse
• A depressed grandparent
• A stressed-out friend
• A helpless stranger

It would make absolutely no sense to tell them or text them or post a fancy Instagram meme that says:

“Pain don’t hurt.”

Why?

Because pain does hurt.

• And it might hurt longer than 3 hours
• And it might hurt longer than 3 days
• And it might hurt longer than 3 years
• And it might hurt longer than 3 decades

You might be thinking:

“Glad I came to Miserable Avenue Baptist Church today!”

So, is there any encouragement?

Is there a shred of hope?

Is there anything that does make sense?

Is there a way to not completely lose heart?

Yes.

How?

Let’s see if we can find out.

The Apostle Paul was writing a letter to his friends in a place called Corinth – the ancient city of central Greece.

Listen to 2 Corinthians 4, beginning with verse 15.

15 For all things are for your sakes,

What did Paul mean by “all things”?

All the things that were happening in his life every single day all day long that kept creating one steady thing in his life.

And what was that one steady thing?

Pain – Paul experienced a tremendous amount of steady, awful, pain in his life.

• He was brutally whipped by soldiers at least 195 times
• He was beaten with rods
• He was shipwrecked three times (not emotionally but at sea)
• He was robbed
• He was thrown in jail a lot
• He was screamed at
• He was hated by strangers
• He was up all night and couldn’t sleep many nights
• He was sick a lot
• He was tortured with rocks and left for dead more than once

Paul didn’t really have an HGTV kind of life.

And what was the main instigator of all of that pain and torture in his life?

The gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul’s pain was primarily caused by his faith in Jesus.

He could have avoided most of the pain in his life if he would have just quit making Jesus first and most in his life and if he would have just quit telling other people about Jesus.

By the time he was 21 years old it has been estimated that Paul had the equivalent of two Ph.D.’s and was a rising star in the world of religion and politics.

He could have easily been the new, young, charismatic senior pastor at First Baptist Jerusalem.

Or he could have been the youngest department head over at Jerusalem A&M University.

Or he could have opened his own law office or consulting firm and made a ton of money.

But instead Paul woke up every day and faced the danger of being mugged or shipwrecked or beaten to death.

Why?

For you.

But Paul never even knew you.

That’s true.

But he was shipwrecked for you.

And he was whipped more than 195 times for you.

What does that mean?

He tells us.

Listen to the next part of verse 15:

15 For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

Paul was tortured so that the gospel would spread.

The gospel is the good and great news that Jesus died for the penalty of my sin and your sin.

And the gospel is the good and great news that he rose again to verify and guarantee that his death fully satisfied the payment for sin.

And Paul was tortured so that the great news of the gospel, would make it to you.

Paul did not want you to die in your sin.

So, he endured unimaginable pain over and over again because he wanted you to be more than just a human on earth – he wanted you to be a citizen of heaven.

His pain was for your gain.

How?

This is what Paul said to the folks at the church in Rome:

Romans 10:13

“Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Whoever comes to their senses and with their whole heart and their whole soul desperately cries out to God in the light of a sanctuary, “Save me! Give me Christ or else I die!” – that person will be saved.

Whoever comes to their senses and with their whole heart and their whole soul desperately whispers to God in the dark corner of their earthly misery, “Save me! Give me Christ or else I die!” – that person will be saved.

Whoever comes to their senses and with their whole heart and their whole soul desperately calls to the one, true God wherever they are, “Save me! Give me Christ or else I die!” – that person will be saved.

But what would make a person come to their senses like that?

And how would they know that the needed to call out to God?

Listen to what Paul said next:

Romans 10:14

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?

Paul preached through pain so that people like me and you:

• Would hear the gospel
• Would believe the gospel
• Would be saved through the gospel

But interestingly Paul notes his goal is not just that people would be saved.

Listen again to what he says:

15 so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

Paul was not hoping that he would be able to send out an e-mail report to all his church members or ministry contributors and give them some new numbers of how many people were being saved in his church services and crusades.

He was most passionate that God would be glorified.

John MacArthur

…Paul’s goal was never his own comfort, reputation, or popularity. Nor was it ultimately the salvation of others.

John MacArthur

The final goal of Paul’s selfless, sacrificial service was that more voices would be added to the hallelujah chorus of praise and worship to God.

His pain was for our gain.

And his pain was for the glory of God.

As we gather here on Palm Sunday, I think it is helpful and maybe even urgently important to ask a simple question:

What is the purpose of the church?

Is it to help people find Jesus?

Yes.

It is to help believers who have already found Jesus?

Yes.

But are those the primary purpose of the church?

No.

What is the purpose of the church?

Charles Bridges put it in this really cool way:

Charles Bridges

The Church is the mirror, that reflects the whole effulgence of the Divine character. It is the grand scene, in which the perfections of Jehovah are displayed to the universe.

Now, since “effulgence” isn’t a word you use ordering your chalupa every day at the drive-thru let’s simplify that a little bit.

The purpose of the church is to bring glory and fame and attention to God.

How do we know that?

1 Corinthians 10:31

Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

So, if our very purpose in life is to bring glory and fame and attention to God, we would not put that purpose in a spare grocery tote bag in the trunk of the car when we get to church or we would not ask the usher to stick that purpose in the umbrella rack at the door when we walked in.

No, since we individually as believers exist to bring glory to God, the church as gathered believers exists to bring glory to God.

Paul is saying that the purpose of his life and his ministry and especially his pain is to bring glory and fame and attention to God.

But what if Paul was just a religious zealot and drank too much olive oil and was over-obsessed with the glory of God?

How do we know for sure that our purpose is to glorify God?

John recorded the amazing scene of Palm Sunday in chapter 12 of his gospel account and down in verse 28 he notes these words from Jesus:

John 12:28

“Father, glorify Your name.”

Days away from facing the vicious pain of death by being nailed to wooden beams suspended up from the ground and hung there to die even though he was perfect and completely innocent of all charges, Jesus does not cower or shy away from or shrink back from the cross.

Instead, he looked at the horrible pain he would face and said:

“Father, glorify your name through my pain.”

Someone might say:

• “That doesn’t sound right.”
• “Does Jesus have some daddy issues?”
• “Is this some radical way to try and gain his father’s approval?”

No.

The gruesome yet grand scene of the cross is possibly the most perfect way the glory of God has ever been displayed.

And on the original Palm Sunday Jesus knew that the truth about the cross would be foolishness to most of those people in Jerusalem and he knew that the truth about the cross would be foolishness to most of the people in the world in April of 2019 and he knew the truth about the cross would be foolishness to some of you who are listening to my voice right now.

But he also knew that the glory of God was the ultimate of all ultimates in the universe.

And he knew that people needed and actually were longing to see the glory of God and the cross was going to show them.

So, what is the glory of God?

There is no way to answer that question in one sermon or in one million sermons.

In fact, the glory of God is so grand and so beyond description that it has no beginning and no end and believers will spend an infinite eternity and never for a millisecond grow tired of both worshipping and enjoying the glory of God.

John Piper says describing the glory of God is like the difference between describing a basketball and describing beauty.

If someone doesn’t know what a basketball is, Piper says you can say something like this:

John Piper

Well, it is like a round thing made out of leather or rubber and about ten or nine inches in diameter and you blow it up. You inflate it so it is pretty hard. And then you can bounce it like this and you can throw it to people and you can run while you are bouncing it. And then there is this hoop at the end. It used to be a basket. And you try to throw the ball through the hoop, and that is why it is called a basketball. They would have a really good idea of what it is. They would be able to spot one, and tell it from a soccer ball or a football.

But then he goes on to say that you can’t really do that with beauty because words don’t always work.

But if you see beauty you know it.

Glory is kind of like that.

You can’t necessarily put it into words, but if we can see the Son of God suspended in the air in full pain on his way to full death for the glory of God and the full salvation of your soul, we get a stunning, amazing display of the glory of God.

And the glory of God is not some fancy theological phrase for majestic hymns or cool praise songs.

The glory of God provides the most real and most amazing hope for the most real and most agonizing pain in your life.

How?

Theology professor and author Michael Reeves wrote this:

Michael Reeves

…imagine for a moment a single-person god. Having been alone for eternity, would it want fellowship with us? It seems most unlikely.

Michael Reeves

Would it even know what fellowship was? Almost certainly not.

Such a god might allow us to live under its rule and protection, but little more.

Michael Reeves

Think of the uncertain hope of the Muslim or the Jehovah’s Witness: they may finally attain paradise, but even there they will have no real fellowship with their god. Their god would not want it.

Michael Reeves

But if God is a Father, whose very life has been about loving and delighting in His precious Son, then you begin to see a God who would have far more intimate and marvelous aims,

Michael Reeves

aims to draw us into His life and joy, to embrace us with the very love He has for His dear Son.

Michael Reeves

the God who is infinitely more beautiful than all the gods of human religion offers an infinitely more beautiful salvation.

Michael Reeves

Here is a God who can win back wandering hearts by the mere opening of eyes to who He is, who can give the deepest hope and comfort to the stumbling saint.

The glory of God gave deep hope and comfort to Paul in the middle of all of his suffering and pain.

And it was the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ that helped Paul do something that all of us long to be able to do.

Listen to verse 16:

16 Therefore we do not lose heart,

Don’t you want to not lose heart?

I do.

I do not want my stress and discouragement to crush me.

I do not want to lose heart.

But doesn’t this statement sound a little crazy?

How in the world could Paul not lose heart?

When I take an honest look at Paul’s life and an honest look at my life, I’m a little embarrassed.

I’m stunned at how easily I can lose heart and get perplexed and discouraged and stressed and depressed with my first world problems.

First-world problems meaning often the hardest thing we face is:

• Having some kid at school make fun of us
• Having the Wifi go out at home
• Having our spouse ignore what we asked them to do
• Having our kids do the opposite of what we tell them to do
• Having to pay higher gas prices
• Having to redo the shrubs or flowers in our yard
• Having pickles we didn’t order put on our hamburger

That’s first world stuff.

We rarely face third-world stuff like:

• Having to live everyday with no electricity
• Having to live everyday with no hope of clean water to drink
• Having to live with sickness and disease and no medicine
• Having to live where children die every minute from hunger
• Having to live with bombs outside your house every hour

Paul rarely if ever experienced the benefits of first-world living.

His everyday life experiences were the kinds of things that would make us lose heart in about 47 seconds.

And yet he did not lose heart.

Through all of the pain and all of the hurt he did not lose heart.

Why?

Listen to what he says next:

16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

Paul was experiencing physical pain and physical suffering and emotional pain and emotional exhaustion.

Ever felt any of those things?

Geoff Thomas describes Paul in light of Paul’s own words:

Geoff Thomas

His body is getting older. He doesn’t bounce back so quickly when he has been laid low. His brain cells die and are not being renewed. He is more forgetful.

Geoff Thomas

His eyesight is not what it once was. He cannot walk as far in one day as he could. His body has been damaged by all the sufferings he has endured for the sake of the gospel.

Geoff Thomas

Paul could see that the work of the gospel was killing him. He was old long before his time. He made no attempt to hide that from himself or others. He was a broken man at an age when others were fighting fit.

• Been there?
• Are you there this morning?

And it wasn’t just the impact of the wears and tears of pain and suffering and age.

There was something else he was having to deal with.

Geoff Thomas

…his outer man was also exposed to fierce temptations.

Geoff Thomas

He finds within himself the seeds of every sin – anger, jealousy, lust, greed, retaliation, bitterness, self-pity, reluctance to pray, cowardice to speak and a spirit of self-righteousness,

Geoff Thomas

so the evil that he would not do he finds himself doing.

In other words, in many ways, things seemed to always be getting worse in Paul’s life.

• More persecution
• More sin
• More pain

Geoff Thomas

But that is only half the story…Paul appeared to be a fading sick old man, but inwardly he was being effectually transformed day by day. His youth was being renewed like the eagle.

Geoff Thomas

Paul could remember clearly certain men and incidents from thirty years earlier as if they had happened yesterday. He had memorized entire sections of the Scriptures and could repeat them to old age.

Geoff Thomas

He could shrug his shoulders at disease, decay and death and get on with the work of God. When everyone else left him, he knew the Lord was standing by him. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” he would say.

• He could do shipwrecks
• He could do beatings
• He could do torture
• He could do prison
• He could do persecution
• He could do pain

He could do all of them through Christ.

How?

Jon Bloom

There’s only one solution to anxiety: the assurance everything is going to be okay.

Paul had hope and comfort and power in the midst of all of his pain because he knew without a shadow of a doubt that everything was going to be okay.

How?

Because Paul knew that Palm Sunday was not the end of the story.

Easter was coming!

Easter was coming!

Dow Welsh | April 14, 2019 © Holland Avenue Baptist Church

 

more |

Above are pre-sermon manuscript notes, not sermon transcript

Sermon scriptures NASB unless otherwise noted

Lots of help from many pastors and theologians

Weekly help from Bruce Hurt at www.preceptaustin.org

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/delighting-trinity/

https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-is-gods-glory--2

http://www.alfredplacechurch.org.uk/index.php/sermons/2-corinthians/416-18-the-foundations-for-christian-encouragement/

 

 

So have you ever heard something that didn't make sense? Something that just just didn't make sense? I came across an interesting list from Cassandra Mets of comments that may make you scratch your head a little bit. Just things that don't make sense like this one. It's always the last place you look, of course, because why would you look to the next place if you've already found what you have, So yeah, it's always going to be the last place you look about this one. Needless to say, if it's needless, why would you say it? You know, just just don't just keep it to yourself. It's fine. No big deal. We'Ll survive bout this one. Can I ask you a question? We're going, Teo, Just once in my life, I would like to go no and just walk off, you know, just just just disappeared. Yeah, sometimes would be nice about this one. Same difference. Same difference. That's that's not even technically possible, right? It can't be the same difference, right? If you're listening and you can't see the picture that's a real leg and a Cadbury egg, it's not the same. Alright, it's different ones got chocolate. I tend to think of same difference. In the words of philosopher Inigo Montoya. I do not think it means what you think. It means the same difference. It just it just doesn't work. Sparky Anderson was a major league baseball player and coach and manager for years and years with the Detroit Tigers. JD Brandon tells the story of how Sparky was once trying to get his All Star shortstop Alan Trammell, to play, even though he had a really, really sore shoulder. And this is what he said to Trammel. Pain don't hurt. This sounds like a coach line, right? Paint her but been hurt. You know his his shoulder hurt, but But what was he trying to do? He was trying to convince his player that he could play through the pain. You know, it's one thing to ask a professional athlete to play through the pain for a three to four hour baseball game. But what about the person that has paying that last longer than three hours? What about the person that's going through mental or emotional or physical or medical or financial? Chronic terminal pain? That doesn't just go away? Pain that you can't just tough it out for a few hours. The sick child, the devastated parents, the heartbroken teenager, the depressed grand parents, the stressed out friend, the helpless stranger Are you Are you goingto look at those people and say, Hey, paint on her? Are you going toe? Text them or send them an instagram name that says, you know, pain, pain Don't hurt now you're not. Why? Because pain does hurt. And sometimes that pain will last more than three hours. And sometimes that pain will last more than three days. And sometimes that pain will at last more than three years. Sometimes that pain will last more than three decades. Maybe thinking, man, I'm so glad I came to a miserable Avenue Baptist church this morning. Great. I love it. Is there any encouragement? I mean, is there a shred of hope and any of this? Is there something that does make sense? Is there something that can help you from completely losing heart? Yes, there is. What is it? We'LL see if we can find out together. Paul's writing to his friends in a place called Corrine Central City in Greece, Ancient Greece. And he says this beginning in second Corinthians four, verse fifteen for all things are for your sakes, was palming about all things Well, he means that everything that's happening to him in his life, all the things that are happening to him and his ministry team the things that were happening every day, the things that were happening all day long and those all things that were happening all day long, every day for him. They were all creating one steady thing in his life. And that one steady thing was pain, pain. Paul experienced high levels of steady, awful pain. He was beaten at least one hundred ninety five times with a whip. He was beaten with with rods. He was shipwrecked three times, Not not emotionally shipwrecked. He was actually shipwrecked three times. Left out at sea, he was robbed. He was thrown in jail a lot. He was sick a lot. He was screamed out a lot. He was hated by strangers a lot. He had stones hurled at him. He was left for dead alive. Paul didn't really have an HDTV kind of life. His wrath of stuff. He experienced pain and suffering over and over again. And what was the main instigator off his pain? What was it that created all of this pain in his life? What was the gospel of Jesus Christ? It was his faith in Jesus. Paul could have avoided most of the pain in his life if he would've just quit making Jesus first. And most Pocket have avoided most of the pain in his life. If he would've just quit talking about Jesus, quit bringing Jesus up in conversation at meals and quit preaching about Jesus. By the time he was twenty one years old has been estimated that Paul had the equivalent of two PhDs. He was a rising star in the world of religion and politics. He could've very easily going to be the the new young, charismatic pastor of the First Baptist Jerusalem. He could have very easily been the youngest department head over Jerusalem and M University. He could open his own consulting firm, his own law office, and and he could have made a ton of money. But he didn't. Every morning Paul got up and he faced the danger of being beaten. He faced the danger of being thrown in prison. He faced the danger of being shipwrecked. He faced the danger of being left for dead. Why? Why did he face that kind of danger every day? Well, he did it for your sake. He did it for your sake that you might be thinking. I don't know. Paul parted that way. What do you mean, That's true. You didn't know Paula. Paul didn't know you, but but he was shipwrecked For your sake. He received one hundred ninety five lashes with the whip. For your sake, does that mean well, Paul tells us. Listen, the next part of verse fifteen for all things are for your sakes so that the grace which is spreading to Mohr and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. Paul was tortured so that the gospel would spread the gospel is the good and great news that Jesus died to absorb the penalty to pay the penalty of sin. The gospel is the good and great news that Jesus rose from the grave to verify and guarantee that his death was the real thing. And Paul faced death and torture every single day to make sure that the gospel made it to you. Paul did not want you to die in your sins. He did it for your sake. He endured unimaginable pain over and over again because he wanted you to be more than just a human on Earth. He wanted you to know the thrill of what it means to be a citizen of heaven. His pain was for your game. How? How did this happen? This is what Paul wrote the folks at the church in Rome. Romans ten, Verse thirteen. Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. So whoever comes to their senses, so to speak. Whoever gathers their wits about them, whoever is quickened by the spirit of God and with their whole heart and their whole soul, they cry out to God in the sanctuary. They whisper to God in a dark corner of room, wherever they are. That person with their whole heart and their whole soul. When they cry out to God, God save me, Give me Christ or else I die. That person process is saved. What makes a person come to their senses like that? And why would they even know that? They need to call out to God, Ball tells us First fourteen, of Romans ten. How then will they call on him and whom they've not believed? How will they believe in him and whom they have not heard? See, Paul was preaching through the pain so that people like me and people like you would hear the gospel would believe the Gospel and would be saved through the Gospel. Paul wanted to be sure that we heard about Jesus. Interesting, though Paul wasn't just concerned with the salvation of people that that wasn't his actual primary goal. That's what he says next, Same burst so that the grace, which is spreading to more and more people, may cause the giving of thanks to a bound to the glory of God. Paul is not hoping that he could send out an email to his church members or an email to his ministry contributors telling them the new numbers of people that got saved in his church services and his crusades. No, Paul had a passion and a purpose that centered on the glory of God, John MacArthur said. This Paul's goal was never his own comfort, reputation or popularity, nor was it ultimately the salvation of others. The final goal of Paul Selfless sacrificial service was that Mohr voices would be added to the holiday you course of praise and worship to God. His pain was for our game. But his pain was also for the glory of God and ultimately for the glory of God. And as we gathers as a church here on Palm Sunday, it might be good and helpful and needful and maybe even urgently important to ask a simple question. What is the purpose of the church? What is the purpose of Holland Avenue Baptist Church on What is the purpose of the church in general? Is it that people might be saved? It might come to know Jesus. Yes. Is it that believers who already know Jesus might be encouraged? Yes, but is that the primary purpose of the church? No, it's not. That sounds a little weird, but think of it this way. Charles Bridge is Put it in this really cool. The church is the mirror that reflects the whole of Fulgence. Or if allegiance you, Khun Sadie. The way I looked it up, the whole of Fulgence of the divine character. It is the grand scene in which the perfections of Jehovah are displayed to the universe. Grand. Same. So you thought you'd just come in church, You thought was just Palm Sunday. This is a grand see that displays Jehovah to the universe. You see, one of the reasons that pettiness doesn't work in the life of the church is because this is not a petty place. If you are petty, you will not fit in because God has called the church to be a grand see, not a petty scene, but a grand seen a grand place that displays Jehovah to the universe. Not a petty place where people fight over things that don't matter. I realize there are things to all of us that are very important. Tow us, and sometimes those things are important to everybody else. But if we don't listen to what you think is important, like if the whole church, If all the believers don't listen to something that you think is important, it might be because it's not important. So we haven't been called to be petty. We've been called to be a part of a grand See, I'm just loving that. I love that. That's what God is is calling us to be as part of his church. Now I know you don't use the word a Fulgence When your order in a Chiluba the drafter every day So you know we'Ll we'll we'LL walk away from that word and try to make it a little more simple. Okay. What What is this? If all chintz What? What is this grand scene? How can we put it in and normal terms? The purpose of the church is too glorify God the purpose of the churches to bring glory and fame and attention to God. That's the purpose of the church the hand of this truth. First Corinthians Chapter ten, Verse thirty one Whether than you eat or drink or go to church or Bacha lupus or whatever you do whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. If you are not a believer the purpose of your life is the glory of God. If you're not a Christian, the purpose of your life is the glory of God. And you are not living in your purpose right now Because you're not a believer. Your heart and your mind will always be not satisfied because you were designed. You were created to bring glory to God, to enjoy the glory of God. And if you're a believer than your purpose is the glory of God and so individually is believers. If that's our purpose, then all the more when we gather as God's people in the church, our purposes church is the glory of God. I mean, you don't pull up in the Parker like, Oh, well, you know, I suppose glorify God this week. But I'm a church now. I'm just going to put that purpose in my green public's tote bag in the trunk and I'll come back and get it after church. Or, you know, I'm just going to check that with the usher at the door because I'm going in church. I don't need you know that glory of God stuff now. But don't Don't forget, the opposite is also true. If the on ly time that you glorify God is in this room, you are not functioning as a Christian. If the only time that you bring glory to God is in this room, you're not functioning, has a Christian because we're supposed to do all to the glory of God. Paul is saying that the purpose of his life, the purpose of his ministry and don't miss this the purpose of his pain, the purpose of his suffering, the purpose of the difficulties of his life is the glory of God and just a little math for us, his believers. It's not different for us. Our purpose in life is the glory of God. And so when things are comfortable and good, our purpose is the glory of God. And when things were terrible, our purposes the glory of God. And if we try to function outside of that, we will not be satisfied. Our pain will overwhelm us. Our pain will overtake us. Our pain is going to hurt no matter what. But if we will function with our pain as we have been created and really as we have been saved, we will not be crushed. That's a promise from God. But what if Paul is just a religious zealot? I mean, what if he's just drinking a bunch of Allah vel and you don't know what he's talking about? You know, he's just he's out of his mind and he's just decided that you know, the glory of God. I was just going to be his obsession and he's out to lunch. How do we know that that we really are supposed to do all for the glory of God? Will John and John, Chapter twelve, His gospel. He's writing about Palm Sunday. He's writing about Jesus coming into the city, tow all the shouts and the cheers, and he talks about that at the very beginning of John Chapter twelve and then down in Verse twenty eight. He gives this quote from Jesus, Father, glorify your name, days away from from facing the vicious pain of death, being being nailed to a wooden beams and then being suspended up in the air and just just hanging there to die. And even though he was perfect and completely innocent of all the charges that were brought against him, Jesus does not cower. Jesus does not shrink back. Jesus does not shy away from the cross. No, he presses so much so that he says, God, I want your name to be glorified in and through my pain, this brutal execution that I'm about to undergo this this crucifixion. I want your name to be glorified someone might say that I just don't sound right. Sounds like Jesus. He has some daddy issues. It sounds like this is some radical attempt to try to win the favor of his father. That's not it at all. See, the gruesome yet grand scene of the cross is possibly the most perfect and amazing display of the glory of God. You see, Jesus knew that most people in Jerusalem we're going to think that the truth of the cross was a bunch of foolishness. And Jesus knew that most people in the world in April of two thousand nineteen on Palm Sunday they were going to think the truth of the cross was a bunch of foolishness, and Jesus knew that may be even some of you listening to my voice. Deep down, we're going to think that the truth of the cross was this foolishness. But Jesus, also in here that it was the glory of God in the cross that the world needed the most. In fact, Jesus actually knew that it was the glory of God in and through the cross that people were actually longing for. They were longing for the pain be removed. They were longing for something bigger. Then they were. So if that's the glory of God and if it's that big of a deal, what is it? What is the glory of God? Well, there's There's no way I can answer that question in one sermon or in one million sermons. Fact, it's it's kind of impossible, really, to describe the glory of God. I can't say this. The glory of God is so amazing and so awesome that it has no beginning and it has no end. And that the whole message of the Bible is that for believers we will spend an infinite eternity, never growing tired, never Bean board of enjoying and worshipping the glory of God They'LL Never Stop will never stop and join the glory of God. That's something that's hard to put into words Jump, Piper says. It's like the difference of trying to describe a basketball to somebody and describing beauty to somebody right, he says. A basketball you you can kind of describe. He puts it this way. Well, it's a round thing that out of leather rubber, it's about ten or nine inches in diameter and you blow it up, you inflate it so it's pretty hard, and then you can bounce it like this and you can show it to people and you can run while you're bouncing it. And then there's this. Who put the? And it used to be a basket and you try to throw the ball through the hoop. And that's what's called basketball. This is this. They would have a really good idea of what it is, and they'd be able to spot one and tell it from a soccer ball or football you can. You know, you could describe a basketball and people configure a hope. That's that's basketball. It's football. It's soccer. Okay, I got it, I got it, But But you can't do that with with beauty. You can try, but But it's just it's not as easy. But here's the thing. When you see beauty, you know it like, you know that that's that's beautiful. Here's that old phrase. Beauties in the out beholder a little bit, but sometimes something is beautiful and every beholder noses see glory is kind of like that. It's this thing that we can't really put into words. It's it's kind of too amazing. It's too awesome. But When you see it, you kind of know it. And when you see the son of God the lamb of God suspended in the air, paying the full price of Meyssan and your sin displaying the glory of God in this radically full way so that you and I might have full salvation, you get just a glimpse. A pretty powerful glimpse of how amazing and how awesome the glory of God really is. And the length that the glory of God will go to pursue yeah, may not be able to put it into words. But when you see it, you know, see, the glory of God is this amazing thing because the cross, as a display of the glory of God, shows us something that we really long for, and that's a relationship. Michael Reeves is a theology professor and author. He he describes thiss this scene a little bit like this. Imagine for a moment a single person God having been alone for eternity, would it won't fellowship with us. It seems most unlikely wouldn't even know what fellowship wass Almost certainly not such a Godmight allow us to live under its rule of protection, but little more. Then he goes on. Think of the uncertain hope of the Muslim or the Jehovah's Witness. They may finally attain paradise, but even there they will have no real fellowship with their God. Their God would not want it. But if God is a father whose very life has been about loving and delighting in his precious son, then you begin to see a God who would have far more intimate and marvelous Ames. What kind of a aims to draw us into his life and his joy to embrace us with the very love that he has for his dear son? And he goes on The God who is infinitely more beautiful than all the gods of human religion, offers an infinitely more beautiful salvation. Here is a God who can win back wandering hearts by the mere opening of eyes to who he is, who can give the deepest hope and comfort to the stumbling same. Paul had some days we used stumbling saint he he was stumbling through his pain, so to speak. But his God gave him deep hope and deep comfort in the middle of all of that suffering in the middle of all of that pain because that's who God is. It was the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ that helped Paul do something that every single one of us long to do. What is that? Listen to second Corinthians for verse sixteen. Therefore, we do not lose part. Don't you want to not lose heart? But I mean I do. I don't lose heart. I don't want my stress and my discouragement, non moments of depression to crush. May I want to be crushed? I don't want to lose heart, but But doesn't this statement sound a little crazy coming from Paul? But how could Paul not lose heart? I mean, really, When I look at my life and I look at Paul's life, I'm a little bit of bears. I mean, you know, Paul, experience Third World problems and and I only experience first world problems. Does that mean this was First World and and Third World? Well, it just means that we're very easily perplexed and we're very easily stressed, and we're very easily depressed and were very easily prone. Tto lose heart. In a world where we have lots and lots of comfort, like like some weeks. The worst thing we faced is some kid making fun of a one of us in school. You know, some weeks, the worst thing we face is that the WiFi goes out at our house at work, right some weeks that the worst thing that we face is that our spouse ignores what we asked them to do some weeks. The worst thing that we face is that our kids do the opposite of what we asked them to do. Some weeks, the worst thing we face is high gas prices. The worst thing that we faced is having to re plant shrubs and flowers in our yard. The worst thing that we face is ordering a hamburger with no pickles and they put pickles on right. But those were those air. Sometimes the worst things we face. Sometimes we're first world people. We live in a lot of comfort. We hardly ever have to face Third World issues like never having electricity at all, like never having access to any clean water to drink like never having access to medicine. Even though we are sick and full of disease. Sometimes we forget that in Third World countries. Every hour they face the danger of bombing at their home. And I read a statistic that said, There is a certain area where they now estimate that a child dies every five seconds from hunger. We don't face those things. Paul's life was all third world. If we spent thirty minutes on an average day with Paul, we would lose heart and like forty seven seconds. And yet Paul doesn't lose heart like he doesn't lose heart. And only that because you have none of us do his little band of merry men going around with the gospel. They they didn't lose heart. They're all their pain and their all their suffering. They didn't lose heart. How, Who? He tells us. I think the rest of her sixteen. Therefore, we do not lose heart. But though our outer man is Dechaine, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. Paul experience physical pain. He experienced physical suffering. Paul experience emotional pain and he experienced emotional suffering. I would say most of us have been there to some degree this week, some of us more than others. I love how Jeff Thomas describes Paul in the light of Paul's own words, he writes. His body is getting older. He doesn't bounce back so quickly when he's been laid low, his brain cells die and are not being renewed. He is more forgetful. His outside is not what it once was. It cannot walk us far in one day as he could. His body has been damaged ball, the sufferings he has endured. For the sake of the gospel, Paul could see that the work of the gospel was killing him. He was old long before his time. He made no attempt to hide that from himself or others. He was a broken man at an age when others were fighting ***. Some days we feel like that, right, and some of us know somebody right now. That's that's in the middle of that. But it wasn't just the impact of the wares and the tears of pain and suffering and aging. There was something else Paul is having to deal with. Constantly. Thomas go zone. His outer man was also exposed to fierce temptations. He finds himself with the seeds of every sin. Anger, jealousy, lust, greed, retaliation, bitterness, self pity, reluctance to pray, cowardice to speak and a spirit of self righteousness. So much so that the evil that he would not do, he finds himself doing. In other words, most days for Paul, it seemed like things were getting worse. Seems like there was more pain. There was more suffering. There was more difficulty. There is more persecution. There was more discouragement. There were more opportunities to lose heart, Jeff Thomas continues, but that is only half the story. Paul appeared to be a fading, sick old man, but inwardly he was being effectually transformed. Day by day, his youth was being renewed. Like the eagle, Paul could remember clearly certain men and instance, incidents from thirty years earlier, as if they happened yesterday. He had memorized entire sections of the scriptures and Khun repeat them toe old age. He could shrug his shoulders at disease, decay and death and get on with the work of God. When everyone else left him, he knew the Lord was standing by him. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. He would say he could do shipwrecks. He could do beatings. He could do torture. He could do prison. He could do persecution. He could do pain. He could do all of those things through Christ. What does that mean? I was reading something this week on anxiety, and there was a fantastic quote and they're from John Bloom. This is what John said. There's on ly one solution to anxiety the assurance everything is going to be okay. That's one to tattoo on your brain. That's very true. There's only one solution to anxiety the assurance everything is going to be okay. See, Paul had hope he had comfort. He had power in the midst of his pain in the midst of his suffering. He had all of these because he knew without a shadow of a doubt that everything was going to be okay. How do you know that? You see, Paul knew in this moment that he's writing these folks, that Corrine about his pain and about how his body's decaying and about how eventually death is coming. He's writing with joy and confidence that everything's going to be okay because Paul knew the Palm Sunday was not the end of the story. Hey, new Easter was coming. Hey, New Easter!