I hope you still have your Bibles open because I didn’t tell anybody, but I’m going to go ahead and read the rest of the chapter because I deal with the rest of the chapter, so here we go. Let’s read 2 Corinthians 4:13–18:

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Persevering in Gospel Ministry

My goal for us in the next few minutes is that you would not lose heart in ministry, and that this message would be a means for you not to lose heart. I’m going to be focusing on 2 Corinthians 4:16 as the center, which says, “We do not lose heart.” You heard it back in 2 Corinthians 4:1, where it says:

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.

I think 2 Corinthians 4:16 and 2 Corinthians 4:1 are the top of the argument. By main point in a text, I mean that point that is supported by everything else and supports nothing. That’s what I mean by the main point, and I think 2 Corinthians 4:16 is the main point in this text. Everything is supporting this.

My aim is that that verse would come true for you now as we’re together and then that you would have resources for daily renewal. That’s the end of the verse. It says, “Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.” The negative side is, “don’t lose heart,” and the positive side is, “be renewed every day.” Get up every morning and be able to be new for the work, new for the family, and new for the city. That’s the goal of that verse and this chapter and probably the whole book.

The Danger of Discouragement

Moral failure is a big reason why ministries collapse; discouragement is a much bigger issue. It doesn’t get any press. Things just die and they never get in the paper, so I want to address that issue mainly. I was asked a couple of days ago with Richard when we were doing this little five-minute video, “What’s personally very thrilling to you about Jesus right now?” I said without any hesitation, “He keeps me.” I’m 69. I finished 33 years of pastoring at Bethlehem. I work for Desiring God. I teach a course in seminary, but a huge part of my life is over. A huge part of my life is over, and I look back with absolute amazement that I made it.

I brought along an excerpt from my journal dated November 6, 1986. I was 40 years old then. Raise your hand if you’re 40, give or take a year. This is a dangerous time, very dangerous. People write books on men in midlife crisis. It’s real. It starts at 41 and a half. That’s what one book said. I have no idea, but I was 40. I’ll just read it. I had been at the church for six years when I wrote this and, after it’s over, I will stay another 27 years. It won’t sound that way. I won’t give you the context, but you can ask me later.

Does this mean my time at Bethlehem is over? Does it mean that there is a radical alternative unforeseen? Does it mean that I am simply in the pits today and unable to feel the beauty and the power and the joy and fruitfulness of an expanded facility or ministry? Oh, Lord, have mercy on me. I am so discouraged. I am so blank. I feel like there are opponents on every hand even when I know that most of my people are for me. I am so blind to the future of the church.

Oh, Father, I am blind. Am I blind because there is no future for me at the church? Perhaps, I shall not even live out the year, and you are sparing the church the added burden of a future I had made and could not complete. I do not doubt for a moment your goodness and power or omnipotence in my life or in the life of the church. I confess that the problem is mine. The weakness is mine. The blindness is in my eyes. The sin — h, reveal to me my hidden faults — is mine. Mine is the blame. Have mercy upon me, Father. Have mercy on me. I must preach on Sunday and I can scarcely lift my head.

That is probably not a rare journal entry. You’re dealing with a real emotional basket case up here. I don’t know if you might have seen it online. John MacArthur came to one of our pastors’ conferences a few years ago and we did a panel. John MacArthur has never had a bad day in his life. Somebody addressed the question to us, “Well, tell us about a down day, John MacArthur. Tell us about a down day,” and he said, “I can’t think of one.” I just looked at him and said, “You’re from another planet. You are weird.” And then, I told him about when Noël and I were at Ben Patterson’s house in California. He planted the church in Irvine, California years ago, and it was right around the same time. Noël found me on the steps of this house that we were getting for vacation and I was crying. She said, “What’s wrong?” and I said, “I don’t have any idea.” And MacArthur looked at me like I was from another planet — “Irrational tears? Why would you have that? You’re a Christian.” That’s who is talking to you.

Exhortations to Not Lose Heart

Second Corinthians 4:16 is really, really important and beautiful, so I hope you get it. The first thing I want to do is linger on the word “lose heart” because I found that in just tracking down the uses of the word in Paul it helped to know what we are talking about and in what kind of situations Paul would possibly either lose heart or think of others losing heart, from which he’s trying to rescue them. Let me give you all the instances of the word enkakéō in the New Testament.

Number one, here’s one from Jesus:

Always pray and do not lose heart” (Luke 18:1).

What is the danger there? You’re not getting what you asked for. That’s why Jesus says that, right? Always keep praying and don’t lose heart. Then he tells the story about the widow who’s knocking on the door of the judge. Jesus envisions people losing heart because he is not responding fast enough. That’s why he said it. So there’s event number one — unanswered longings and prayers that you’ve sent up to God for 20 years like one of your children or whatever you’ve been aching for and hasn’t happened.

Number two, Ephesians 3:13 says:

Do not lose heart over what I am suffering for you . . .

Now, what’s that? What would that be in your experience? It could be that this movement is so embattled and leaders are so opposed, what use is it for me? He says, “Do not lose heart over what I am suffering for you.” The difficulty would be to see one of your champions suffering or to see the movement so resisted that you lose heart.

Number three, there are two texts that are almost the same. Galatians 6:9 says:

And let us not grow weary (same word, lose heart) of doing good . . .

Second Thessalonians 3:13 says:

Do not grow weary (same word, do not lose heart) in doing good.

You do so much good and nothing is happening, so you’re tired of doing good and you think, “I’m going to stop doing good.” I know missionaries who have lasted nine fruitful years on the field and quit resisting their lusts. He went and shacked up with 18 prostitutes and left his wife. He said, “I’m just tired of fighting the fight after nine fruitful years in ministry. I’m not going to do good anymore. I’m just going to do what I want to do.” Don’t grow weary. Don’t lose heart in doing good.

Lastly, right here in our text is 2 Corinthians 4:1. I’m going to do a little translation alteration here. I’m working out of the ESV, which says:

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.

Here’s a literal translation, and the reason this means a lot to me is that when I was a graduate student in Germany in 1973 or 1974, I was coming to the end of my studies and I didn’t know what I was going to do. I had a wife and a baby, no job, and I wanted to minister the Word, and I wrote to Dan Fuller, my beloved mentor at seminary, and he wrote back this verse with a literal translation, and the kathōs was in Greek right across the top of his letter. The word kathōs means just as. It goes like this:

Therefore, having this ministry just as we received mercy . . .

He argued that means, just as the mercy came to you freely that saved you, ministry is given to you just as freely, just as mercifully. And he said, “God will give it to you. Trust him. He’ll give it to you. You don’t know where it’s going to be, but he’ll give it to you.” One door opened and it changed the rest of my life. I had never been to Minnesota and never heard of Bethel College. That’s the door that opened. I took it. I had a wife and I had a kid, so I went through an open door. You support your family. You get a job. We lived there for 40 years. Do you think you plan your life? You don’t. God plans your life, and that’s really good. That’s okay. Just keep the room clean where you are. Walk through the next door when it opens, and he’ll make it clear. That’s the word. All I wanted to do was just set up the word don’t lose heart. Those are the ways that Jesus and Paul use enkakéō.

The Logic of Encouragement

Now, what I want to do is show you the structure of this passage and eight reasons not to lose heart because that’s the way I think the text is built. Look at the verse. Look at 2 Corinthians 4:16. If these words or something like them are not in your text, change versions. The first word is “so”, or it might be “therefore” — one of those two. Maybe there’s another English equivalent, but we need a “therefore” at the front. “So” is in the ESV, and it says, “So we do not lose heart,” and 2 Corinthians 4:17 starts with “for”. Now, that’s really significant. That totally controls how I handle this text.

Here’s what I see. Second Corinthians 4:16 is like a table and on it is this luscious exhortation and hope that we will not lose heart and that we will be renewed every day, and at the front of it is a “therefore” and at the back of it is a “because”. Now, how would you draw that? Well, the “therefore” means something has been said back here that supports what is in front of it. I’m hungry, therefore, I eat. It supports the table like this, and “I eat because I’m hungry” is another support. Here’s the table and here are the supports. And I know, though you don’t know it yet, that those supports are four legs each. There are four “becauses” and there are four words leading to the “therefore”, which means that the way Paul thinks is that there are grounds, there are truth grounds for not losing heart and that if the Holy Spirit would come to you as you hear the grounds opened — either in personal devotions or listening to me — winds of hope would blow into your life and you would be able to keep on going.

Second Corinthians 4:16 is the main point. It’s the table on which we are going to feast on the promise of not losing heart and the promise of being renewed, and I want to back up to 2 Corinthians 4:7 and start there and get the four legs that are supporting it on this side and then start with 2 Corinthians 4:17 and go to the end of the chapter and get the four legs that are supporting it on the other side.

The Gradual Decay of Our Outer Nature

Before we do that, notice one other thing in 2 Corinthians 4:16. It says, “So we do not lose heart,” we haven’t said anything about this little phrase, “though our outer nature is wasting away.” The promise of not losing heart, or Paul’s statement of his own experience of not losing heart, which he wants to share with us, and being renewed every day, the reality of those two wonderful things are accompanied by dying. His body is dying. Isn’t that what he means by “though our outer nature is decaying, wasting away, being destroyed, dying”?

We’ll see more evidence for this, but I think that doesn’t just mean he’s aging. Aging is something everybody will go through. You know, from 50, 60, and next year for me, 70, you’re dying. You are. Your days are getting shorter and shorter on the earth and you’re getting closer and closer to Jesus, face to face. When he says, “Don’t lose heart,” when he says, “Be renewed,” he means in the midst of loss.

There will be no alternative. You will not have a season of life with no loss. It will always be with loss. It will always be embattled. He’s not naive, whatsoever. Even in the verse where he’s promising, “don’t lose heart”, and, “be renewed,” he’s saying this is why we’re decaying. That’s what’s going to be supported, and he will never lose sight of that middle phrase, ever. Every one of these eight arguments takes that into account.

Reasons to Not Lose Heart

We start at 2 Corinthians 4:7. I could go back earlier, but just to make it manageable, I’m going to do 2 Corinthians 4:7–18 for these eight arguments.

1. Treasure in Jars of Clay

Here’s the table and here are the four legs at each end. These four legs come from 2 Corinthians 4:7–15, followed by “therefore”. Number one is 2 Corinthians 4:7, which says, “We have this treasure in jars of clay (earthen vessels, clay pots),” which means decaying, aging, embattled sickness, and everything else that depletes us.

We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

Therefore, do not lose heart. I’m going to say that after every one of these because I think that’s where this text is going. It’s going to that big “therefore” in 2 Corinthians 4:16.

You have the gospel glory. If we wanted to go back to 2 Corinthians 4:4–6, we would see the phrase “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.” That’s the glory that you have. That’s the treasure that you have in this clay pot of your personality and your body, and he says the reason it’s in your kind of ordinariness, your kind of weakness, your kind of clay, is so that the surpassing power will be manifestly of God if anything good comes from your ministry. Paul says that’s a ground for not losing heart. Why is that a ground for not losing heart?

There’s a missing premise in the argument. The missing premise is that Paul loves the display of the glory of God more than he loves life. That makes the argument work. Without it, the argument doesn’t work. I mean, if you tell me, “I’m weak. Jesus looks great when I’m weak, but I don’t particularly like him looking great at my expense,” I’ll tell you, “That does not help me not lose heart. I lose heart when I am used like that.” Oh, how many people feel that way? When you elevate the glory of Christ, the glory of God above their welfare on this earth, they don’t like it. I mean, just think of it. After Jesus says, “My power is made perfect in weakness,” Paul says, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Well, what kind of weird person are you? You get happy when you’re broken. You’re hurt, you’re embattled, you go down, and he goes up, and you get happy? That’s right. If you don’t share that priority, this message will not help you. So you have to come to terms with whether or not you share Paul’s heart for Jesus. He said, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). He is saying, “I count everything as loss if I can see him go up and me go down. I don’t like going down, but if Jesus goes up when I go down in this community, I’m encouraged.” That’s number one.

There are two other verses where this is said. I’m going to read those. Second Corinthians 4:10 is the same point, so there are three verses for the first point. Second Corinthians 4:10 says:

Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus (another way of saying our body is wasting away), so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

That’s the same point as 2 Corinthians 4:11, which says:

For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

It’s the same point. You can’t miss it. It’s in 2 Corinthians 4:7, 2 Corinthians 4:10, and 2 Corinthians 4:11. It’s the same point. We are dying. We are wasting away. We are clay pots. Why? It’s for the sake of his life, his glory, and his fame, which means, if you don’t love his fame above everything, you will not survive in Christ-exalting ministry. If you do, then you will have a way to see your weaknesses.

2. Life at Work in Believers

This is the second support in these four legs on the “therefore” side. Number two, 2 Corinthians 4:12 says:

So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Therefore, do not lose heart. Now, this is a different argument, isn’t it? The first argument was, “Christ looks great when I am weak for his sake.” This one says, “You get life when I am dying.” He says, “So death is at work in us, but life in you.” This runs all through 2 Corinthians. In chapter one, he says, “We are suffering for your sake so that you might be encouraged with the same encouragement we have from God” (2 Corinthians 1:4).

There is a profound principle here that you all know. Jesus saves sinners by dying for them, and so do his ministers. It’s not in the same way. We don’t atone for anybody’s sins, but he has ordained that this life-through-death pattern not end with his own death. That’s what this chapter is saying. Second Corinthians 4:15 makes the same point, only 2 Corinthians 4:15 now puts the two legs of support, one and two, together. He is saying, “All my sufferings, all my experiences, are for your sake that the grace which is spreading to more and more people, through my suffering for you, may cause the giving of thanks to abound and give glory to God.” You have horizontal and vertical here. Grace is coming through his suffering. Through all these things Paul is talking about, grace is spreading to more and more people. That’s the same as saying “life in you” in verse 2 Corinthians 4:12. And God is getting more and more glory.

Argument number one is that you won’t lose heart in ministry if, in your weakness, Christ is made to look great. And argument number two is that you won’t lose heart in ministry if, in your weakness and your dying, people are being given life through your ministry. If your whole orientation is on how to avoid dying, how to avoid suffering, and how to avoid looking weak, Paul doesn’t have much to say to you because that’s not the path of Christ or the path of ministry.

3. Afflicted, but Not Crushed

Number three, 2 Corinthins 4:8–9 says:

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed . . .

Therefore, do not lose heart. Those are four amazing pairs. They’re worth you spending a lot of time thinking about. It’s a pretty bleak description of ministry — afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, struck down. And then, he doesn’t say, “But in a few days, it goes away.” He just says, “We are not all the way afflicted; that is, we are not crushed to death,” and then he says, “I’m not despairing in my perplexity, though my perplexity may remain.” He doesn’t say, “Persecuted, but that’s over after a little while.” He says, “No, we’re just not forsaken in it.” And he says, “We’re struck down, and it’s not that we won’t be struck down tomorrow. Maybe you will be, but we won’t be destroyed.” The word for “afflicted” is the word thlibō, which means “pressed”, but not crushed. Well, how much can you be pressed and not crushed? You haven’t seen how much you can be pressed and not crushed.

Then he says he is perplexed. That’s so encouraging to me. This is an apostle. He gets special revelation, and he’s confused. I just listened to Richard talk about wisdom for church planting. I sat there thinking, “I don’t know any of this stuff. I’m done. I don’t know any of this stuff.” I’ve been confused all my ministry on how to do church. I just preached and tried to figure things out for 33 years and ended and handed off the problems to somebody else, and now he’s, I hope, preaching and trying to figure things out.

I never met a pastor, except cocky ones who fall, who know what they’re doing — I mean, seriously — who have pastoral care figured out, who have evangelism figured out, who have world missions figured out, who have marriage counseling figured out, who have preaching figured out, and it’s all fitting together, and they’re totally satisfied with their church. I’ve never met one. Everybody is perplexed, and some people are perplexed to the point of despair.

Burdened Beyond Our Strength

Paul says, “It isn’t going to happen.” Isn’t that what it says? “Perplexed, but not despairing.” He says, “We are aporéō but not exaporéō. It means, “We’re perplexed, but not perplexed out of our mind.” That’s the meaning, but there’s a problem with that. In 2 Corinthians 1:8–9, do you remember that one? He says:

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.

That’s the same word (exaporéō) that he’s experiencing, which he says here he doesn’t experience, so what do you make of that? Paul is not stupid. I’m always the stupid one on when I read the Bible. You don’t judge the Bible. You humble yourself under here and you try to figure out, what was he doing? What’s he doing by saying, “We don’t get to the point of being exaporéō. We just get to the point of being aporéō. We get perplexed, but we don’t get perplexed out of our mind.” Well, what he said there was that he felt like he had received the sentence of death, but that was to make him not rely on himself. In other words, he’s saying, “Even if you die, you are not exaporéō. Even if you die, you are not despairing. I was despairing, and God taught me why I don’t need to be despairing at the point where I’m almost dead.” He said, “Look, I’m just showing you life isn’t over when it’s over. You will live five seconds beyond death. You have nothing to fear here. Don’t be perplexed out of your mind.”

He says he was “persecuted, but not forsaken.” I love the phrase “not forsaken”. That’s where I started. Second Timothy 4:16 says, “Everybody forsook me.” That’s an amazing statement — “Everybody at my first trial forsook me.” But the next verse says, “The Lord Jesus stood by me” (2 Timothy 4:17). I preached on that text my first anniversary at Bethlehem, 1981. The Lord stood by me. I had finished one year in the ministry. Amazing. I was just stunned that I made it. I was so green. I just came to this church knowing nothing. I skipped all the practical courses in seminary. I had preached 15 sermons in my life in total, maybe. I had married one person, buried nobody, and I never dedicated a kid, let alone baptized one for goodness sake. And he kept me, and then he did it again, and then he did it again. He did it 33 times, so you can feel why that truth is precious to me. Therefore, in light of 2 Corinthians 4:8–9, do not lose heart. That’s number three.

4. Raised with Christ

Number four, 2 Corinthians 4:14 says:

We know that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.

In other words, “We don’t lose heart because it’s just going to be all right when we die.” I wrote this little book called Risk Is Right. I used to say to our deacons — and it took 10 years before they learned that they were elders — when they were nervous about some plan, “Let’s just try this.” They were all nervous, but I said, “Well, what’s your worst fear?” Then they kind of stammered, and I said, “Death. That’s your worst fear, right?” And they said, “Yeah, that’s the worst that could happen.” And I said, “Not a problem. I mean, that one’s been solved.” I mean, seriously, take this to your leaders. If they really believe that the death problem is solved, everything else is gravy. It’s just a piece of cake. What’s the big deal? You can only die. I mean, Jesus said that. He said, “Do not fear him who can only kill the body and, after that, they have nothing they can do” (Matthew 10:28).

Well, how do you paraphrase that? “Fear not; you can only die.” I preached on that one on Thanksgiving, and one of the wives of the pastors came up to me just shaking and she said, “That’s really scary.” I said, “Yes it is, but it’s okay. It’s safe.” Let’s hear it again:

We know that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence (2 Corinthians 4:14).

He gets both his wishes. He loves the glory of Jesus and he loves the church, and they’re both going to be there. This is as good as it gets. Paul is thinking, “I rise from the dead with a new body, and you are there and he is there.” What a life. Those are the four standing at this end. Therefore, do not lose heart.

More Reasons Not to Lose Heart

Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For (2 Corinthians 4:16–17).

Now we’re on the other side at the “because” level, and there are four on this side as well.

1. A Momentary Affliction

Number one, I’m not sure why the ESV switches the order here. I’m going to do it the way it is in the Greek. Second Corinthians 4:17 says, “This momentary, light affliction.” Stop and camp on the word “momentary”. What does that mean, “momentary”? It doesn’t mean one day and it doesn’t mean one week and it doesn’t mean one year. It means a lifetime. That’s what “momentary” means.

Romans 8:18 says:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

First Peter 5:10 says:

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

James 4:14 says:

What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Paul did not mean, in his own case, that he suffered in November. He meant, “I always suffer, and it is so short compared to eternity,” which is the comparison that he’s going to draw. This momentary affliction is working an eternal weight of glory. “Eternal” corresponds with “momentary”, and “weight of glory” corresponds with “light”, but we’re only working on “momentary” right now.

In America, the effort of advertisers and all manner of commercial interests is that they desperately want people like me to stop working and play. It’s called retirement. They want me to feel, “You have earned 20 years of play,” to which I say, “To hell with that lie. I hate that message.” This little three score in 10, and if by reason of strength for me it lasts another 10 years, is my moment to suffer, and that’s almost silly for me to say. Look at this. I’m dressed, healthy, and talking; my arms are working, I have eyes, glasses, my ears work with no hearing aid yet, and I jogged the other morning. So what am I talking about with suffering? Well, I won’t go into details, but you will all suffer to the end, and you will suffer the more people you love and the more people you care about. This word “momentary” here doesn’t mean any particular part of Paul’s life. It means he has suffered and will to the end.

The reason it’s good news is that this lifetime is momentary. That’s the point of the word. The word “momentary” there is supposed to lift your burden, but it only lifts your burden if you have a perspective on eternity. If you feel, with the advertisers, “This is it, man. You get your heaven in the last 20 years of your life and there is nothing after that, so get your heaven now.” That’s why it’s such a heresy. They think, “Come on. You’ve done your hell. Get your heaven.” What a way to view work and what a way to view old age. It’s really pathetic to see 75-year-old women trying to get a tan and wearing shorts on a golf course in Phoenix. It is pathetic. It is absolutely pathetic. I mean, the men look ridiculous, too. It’s really sad. You want to cry your eyes out and say, “Come on, you were made for something, and it wasn’t sun. You don’t like the skin color he gave you? Come on. There is life to be had after 70.”

2. A Light Affliction

Number two, 2 Corinthians 4:17 says, “this momentary, light afflciton.” What does he mean by “light” or “slight”? A lifetime of suffering is called momentary and a lifetime of suffering is called light. Well, here’s what he does not mean. I’ll just read 2 Corinthians 11:23–27. It says:

With far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.

Let this sink in. He cannot remember how many times he was beaten. If I was beaten, I would remember. I would keep a record. I would put it in my journal and write articles about it. That’s how vain I am. Paul can’t even remember. He continues:

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.

I cannot imagine that — five times 39. On number two or three or four, the typical British Christian or American Christian would say, “I’m out of here if that’s the way you treat your children. I am done.” Oh, if you don’t have a theology that can handle God’s ordaining five times 39 lashes opening your back just when they were getting healed until you cannot get up in the morning because of the pain and the stiffness, I don’t know what you’ll do with the life of Paul or texts like these. He says:

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 (2 Corinthians 11:25–27).

What’s the name he puts on that? Light. You have to have a worldview and a view of Christ, a view of heaven, that makes London and all of its difficulties light. Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matthew 11:30). I don’t care how many people are against you. I don’t care how many of your kids go bad. I don’t care how many people in church have cancer. I don’t care how many people leave and go to another church. It is light, compared to what?

3. Eternal Glory in Proportion to Suffering

Number three, 2 Corinthians 4:17 says:

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison . . .

No eye has seen nor ear heard what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9). Have you come to terms with the word katergazetai there, which means producing? This light and momentary affliction, this life of suffering that lasts a lifetime, is producing, preparing, effecting, and bringing about an eternal weight of glory. What does that mean? I’ve heard this dealt with in ways where the hope is held out just encouraged, with the thought, “Your life of suffering will be followed by a life of glory that will make it pale in significance.” That’s absolutely true. But that’s not what this text says. This text does not say glory that is weighty and eternal comes after suffering. It says it comes because of suffering. In other words, there is a causal connection to the degree of your enjoyment.

This is a little bit of interpretation here, so you have to come to terms with this your way. The degree of your enjoyment of the glory rises and falls with the way you have handled suffering in this life.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven . . . (Matthew 5:11–12).

Even though Jesus doesn’t make it explicit as Paul does here, I think the idea is that there is a correlation between that pain and that glory. I believe in degrees of reward, in other words. I think a lot of texts teach that.

I have not suffered much compared to some of you and to people I’ve read in history and biographies. I’ve never been tortured. If I get to heaven and those people are not exalted above me, I will have some words with Jesus. Now, he’ll have words with me and may set me straight on my theology here, but I will say to the Lord, “If Paul is not way above me in his capacities to enjoy you fully, he suffered in vain.” And Jesus may smack me around a little bit, though I don’t know what he’s going to say, but that’s what I’m going to feel because that’s what I think this text teaches. If you are among the number who are graced with suffering — as Peter counted it joy that he was counted worthy to be shamed for the name (Acts 5:41) — if you’re among that number where it feels like you’re getting a bigger dose than others, you could get a bigger dose beyond I believe.

4. Looking with the Eyes of Faith

Lastly, number four. Paul does not lose heart because:

We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.

Now, that’s a different argument than all the other seven. That’s not a promise of a new blessing; that’s Paul’s strategy for benefiting from the blessings. That’s where we’re going to end. You’ve basically heard seven encouragements and promises not to lose heart, but to be renewed every day, and I’ll review them as we close. But here, he is focused on how you make use of those. Maybe you’re thinking, “I just said them but nothing is happening right now in my heart. I’m still discouraged.” I hope not. I hope the Holy Spirit is already doing some lifting, but what Paul says is that we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are unseen. I’m offering you this counsel. Take this chapter and look at it.

I’ve tried to paint it with words, but now you’ve got your Bibles. There are seven things to look at in 2 Corinthians 4:7–18, and there’s more. And then there’s the whole New Testament, and there’s gold everywhere. There’s beauty everywhere. There’s glory everywhere to be looked at, and Paul says that’s the key for him. He says, “I look. I look until I see glory and that it’s eternal and that it’s heavy and that it outweighs everything I can go through in this life.”

Here’s the summary:

1. Look, the power of God and the life of the Son of God is manifested through your weakness.
2. Look, the life of Jesus is flowing through your suffering into the lives of other people.
3. Look, God sustains you in your afflictions and you will not be destroyed.
4. Look, your afflictions will not have the last word because you will rise from the dead with Jesus and with the people you love.
5. Look, your afflictions are momentary — they are only for now, not the age to come.
6. Look, your afflictions are light compared to the pleasures of what is coming, which are off-the-charts, unimaginably great.
7. Look, these afflictions are producing for you an eternal weight of glory beyond comparison — they’re increasing.

The suffering this afternoon that you taste has eternal benefits if you embrace it in faith. So look, focus, and meditate.