Hard pressed but not crushed - Part 3

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

So I believe, therefore I spoke. I'm just telling you the plain truth of the matter.

And you know what? Sometimes I suffer because of that. Again, if you are vocal, you say,

I've never experienced any troubles, trials. No one has ever disliked me because of my faith.

It's never happened to me. You're not talking about your faith. You're like the person who says, my faith is very, very important to me, but it's private.

Like these politicians, my faith is very important, but it's very private. Well, I don't know what kind of faith that is.

It's not the Christian faith, I'm pretty sure. But Paul says, I'm telling you the truth and I suffer because of it.

Because the false teachers and his enemies, what did they do?

They attacked him because he boldly proclaimed the truth of the gospel. So you have

Paul who's speaking the truth. Compare that to the false teachers who were speaking the truth.

No, they were speaking the truth mixed with error. The false teachers would alter the message.

Their motivation was selfish. Just like the false teachers today, what do they do?

They put their finger to the wind, find out which way the wind's blowing and move in that direction.

Tell people what's popular, what they want to hear. You're never going to be persecuted for that. No one ever dislikes you because you tell them what they want to hear.

The false teachers were in it for themselves. Their motivation was power, prestige, and prosperity.

And they elevated themselves above the apostle Paul. And that's how it works. Okay, Paul's the apostle, let's knock him down a few pegs, that'll lift me up.

And just think about that. Here the false teachers are elevating themselves while Paul is over here suffering for Christ's sake.

It's kind of disgusting when you think about it. So the false teachers, they made accusations.

They were the ones accusing Paul of being what? Paul is the fraud.

So they turn everything around. They're guilty, but they accuse the man who's innocent.

And they said Paul's just in it for himself. How could that be true? Again, think about all the things that Paul went through, and then they call him a fraud and he's just in it for himself.

What's he benefiting? How is he benefiting in any way? And then once they acknowledged his suffering, what do they do?

There must be some sin in his life. God is punishing him. He can't win.

It's like Job. Job was suffering for righteousness' sake. He was a righteous man, and yet his friends come along and, well,

Job, you know, you must have some, it must be your fault somehow. Listen, don't do that. When you see somebody who is suffering, you know what?

Don't kick them when they're down. There are some Christians who like to do that. They see somebody, they went through something, they're down, and they want to kick them.

It must be your fault. There must be some sin. You know what? Maybe that is the case. Maybe there is some sin, and that's why they're suffering.

Do you really have to point it out? I mean, is that necessary? Maybe there are occasions where it is.

But generally speaking, I don't think we should be doing that, especially if you're wrong.

Then you're the jerk. Paul, but this is what Paul said.

Paul, you must be doing something wrong. There must be some sin in your life. All of this adversity coming upon you wasn't true.

Paul was simply a partaker of the sufferings of Christ, and it all helped him to become more like Christ.

Paul had more spirituality in his little finger than the false teachers did in their whole body.

And Paul is the one who says in 2 Timothy 3, verse 12, Yea, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

You know, it's one thing to suffer at the hands of the heathen. It's another thing to suffer at the hands of your supposed friends.

Paul's afflictions were coming at him. The accusations were coming at him from within the church, from within the church that he founded.

The false teachers and those who were influenced by them, they were the ones trying to make his life miserable.

But what did Paul do? You know what? Hard pressed on every side, but I'm okay. I'm not going to let these people drag me down.

And nobody wants to have to defend themselves, but Paul is in a situation. This is the book of 2

Corinthians. This is Paul defending himself. He's glad that the church has turned things around.

It's an intimate letter, a positive letter in many ways, but Paul is defending himself.

And it has to be a little frustrating. And when we get to chapter 11 we're going to see

Paul is going to take the gloves off, and he's going to come out swinging against his opponents.

I'm looking forward to chapter 11. I don't know about you. But at the same time he's saying, but I want you to remember all the things

I'm going through, it's all for your sake. I'm doing this for you. I'm doing it for Christ's sake and for the sake of the flock of God.

But even through all of this, Paul remains positive. Paul is encouraged.

And he wants you to be positive. He wants you to be encouraged.

Look at what he says in verse 16. Therefore we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

Paul's earthen vessel at this point in his life, he wasn't an old man. He was middle -aged, maybe on the other side of things.

But his body, all the things that he went through, the sufferings, his earthen vessel, his jar of clay, so to speak, was probably starting to wear out.

And yet he can still say, not losing heart. His body had been through so much, and on top of that, just in general, it's our flesh that literally weighs us down.

But the real question is, how's your spirit? You know how your body's doing.

You can feel that. How's your spirit? Obviously our physical body matters.

We're not saying that it doesn't matter at all. A lot of the early Christian sects that were actually not

Christian at all, they downplayed the body. Well, the Christian faith, the body is important.

The body, your body is going to be resurrected. So our physical body does matter.

The better we take care of ourselves, the better we're going to feel. And that kind of thing can have an effect on our spirit, certainly.

But ultimately, it's about the inward man, the spiritual man.

Are you, as a man or woman, are you being renewed day by day?

Is your mind being renewed? Is your soul feeling refreshed?

In the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shining in your heart, you should feel that way.

Why not? Well, because I look around, and because of this and that and all of these other things, well, what's in here?

You can't control what's out there. You can control what's in here. So with the

Lord as our strength, yep, we're an earthen vessel, we're frail, but with the Lord as our strength, learning to trust in him in all things, we can feel blessed no matter what our situation is.

We need that. We need that now. So even in the midst of our affliction, no matter what we're going through, look at verse 17.

What does Paul say? For our light affliction. Well, wait a minute.

Paul's affliction was not light. You can't tell me his affliction was light, and yet he refers to it as light.

We read about all the trials he went through, yet in light of eternity, it's just light affliction.

It's not gonna last. In light of eternity, in light of the glory of God within, look at what he says.

For our light affliction is what? But for a moment.

It is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

So you have the light affliction, very light, right? First, the eternal weight of glory.

You know, that's one of the ways that the word glory, what's glory mean? What does that mean? I don't know what comes to your mind when you hear the word glory, but one of the ways glory can be defined is weightiness, heaviness.

Scripture places a high value on the glory of God, and that's an understatement.

But some people, what are they focused on? The weightiness of the glory? No, they're focused on their own afflictions, and they wanna make sure you know that their afflictions are not light.

Now listen, of course, I would never want to downplay things that people are going through.

When people suffer, we would never downplay that, but we need to at least view our own affliction in light of eternity, in light of the things that are truly important, in light of the eternal, and ask yourself, whatever you're going through, whether it's light or you don't think it's light, what's

God doing in all of this? What's he trying to teach me? The late pastor and theologian,

Dr. R .C. Sproul said this about 2 Corinthians 4, 17. He asks the question, how much worth do you ascribe to the

Lord? He says, we are apt to spend a great deal of time thinking about and working for that which we value highly.

So the amount of time we dedicate to thinking about God's glory and talking to others about it can be an indicator of how worthy we find him.

Let us seek to give glory to God and to help others understand his infinite worth.

In light of eternity, Paul says our afflictions light, just for a moment, just for a moment.

Again, this is how Paul can say back in verses 8 and 9, we are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed.

We are perplexed. I'm perplexed right now. I'll admit it. I'm perplexed, but I'm not in despair.

Persecuted? Not really. But if I am, I'm not forsaken. Struck down?

Maybe, but not destroyed. This is the positive mindset that every believer should have.

And you know me, I'm not one of these power of positive thinking or positive only preachers.

You know that. But we need to have a positive attitude when we know, and when we fight the spiritual battle, we endure it.

We have a positive attitude because we know it's for a moment and the war has already been won.

And now he closes chapter 4 with these words in verse 18. He says,

While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

So it's all about perspective. The way we live, the way we view things.

And before we close, I had mentioned a moment ago, the second great commandment in the law, right?

Love your neighbor as yourself. And of course, the great commandment, the first commandment is, you shall love the

Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. Why are these two things at the utmost importance?

Why? Because everything else is passing away. Everything you see, everything the world views as important, it's nothing but dust.

It's all passing away. What is eternal? The weightiness of his glory, the glory within.

All the redeemed shall never pass away. Focus on the Lord and on people, on souls.

That's what really matters. Everything else is just dust. Thanks for listening.

I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscornickchurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.