Plus Ultra

Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,

a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.

This fall we're studying the book of Second Corinthians.

Second Corinthians is a heartfelt and practical

book calling us back to the life of the cross.

We, like the Corinthians, so often pursue glory,

admire eloquence, shun suffering, hide hurt,

and hoard our goods. And yet the gospel of Jesus

tells us that resurrection comes after a cross.

comfort comes after being crushed, that the way

up is the way down, that the way to glory is

through suffering, that his strength is made

perfect in our weakness. We'd love to meet you

and we hope you'll consider coming and joining

with us each Sunday morning at 10 a .m. in the

heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find us

online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Facebook,

Instagram, and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this

sermon. God bless. We pray again for us. Lord,

now may the words of my mouth and meditations

of our hearts be pleasing in your sight. I pray

that we would heed these blessings, these benedictions

you give over your disciples there in Matthew.

It seems so foreign to us that we might See that

it is often that we draw closest to You when

we are poor in spirit and when we are persecuted

and when we are afflicted, when we mourn. For

it is in You where we find comfort and joy and

hope and peace and life abundantly. Teach us

these things this morning, Lord. Amen. All right,

so this fall we have been in the book of second

Corinthians and what we've been doing is we've

been going through it chapter by chapter and

I felt a few times now that that has Has caused

me to gloss over a few things. So while I think

it actually does largely work I'm going to take

just part of second Corinthians five this morning

and the end of chapter four. Here's part of what

happens, you know, Paul's giving you this book

and it's all bleeding together so often. You

kind of have to decide where to start from again.

And so we're going to actually begin with part

of what we looked at last week and then we're

going to go into the first half of chapter five.

With that, let me pose to you one of the great

questions of religion. Is God good? I'm not going

to answer that question entirely, not fully.

But my guess is that even if you didn't come

into this space this morning asking that question,

which probably many of you didn't, no doubt it's

a question that you've thought of, and particularly

you've thought of it in the midst of your suffering

or the suffering of a loved one who you hold

dear. And no doubt, it's a question that many

of your neighbors ask when they're confronted

with the idea or the reality of God, His goodness.

Think with me of a story of Jesus that's told

for us in John chapter 11, okay? So there's these

John 11 · chapter mention

two friends of Jesus, they're sisters. Their

names are, yeah, which one goes first? Martha

and Mary, Mary and Martha. And they send word

to Jesus saying, Lord, he whom you love is ill.

He whom you love is ill. Jesus knew they were

talking of their brother, another of Jesus' dear

friends, Lazarus. And when Jesus heard this,

he said, this illness does not lead to death,

but it's the glory of God might be revealed.

And then verse five of that chapter, it says

this, now Jesus loved Martha and her sister,

Mary, and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus

was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place

where he was. What? Two days longer? Doesn't

he love them? Doesn't he love him? Doesn't he

know that he's ill? Is he good? Is he allowing

Lazarus to go through more pain? His sisters

whom he loves to suffer anguish? And he waits

two days to leave? Then when he does finally

go through the long journey if you know the story

what we're told is That when he arrived his friend

whom he loved had been in the tomb for four days

Think of another story from Luke chapter 8 there.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

There is a ruler of the synagogue His name is

Jairus and he falls at the feet of Jesus, which

is the most understandable thing and it says

that he implores him He doesn't ask him. He's

begging Because what it tells us is that his

little daughter, his 12 -year -old daughter is

dying. I have a nearly 12 -year -old daughter.

I would have been falling on my face begging.

And then as he begins to go to Jairus' house,

this woman just touches the hem of his garment

and he stops. Like, just let her touch your hem,

be healed, go quickly. He calls out to her and

he heals her. And then while he's talking to

her, a messenger from Jairus' house comes and

he tells him, your daughter is dead. Imagine

hearing those words, right? If there are any

words which I fear most to hear, those may be

them. Daughter's dead. Imagine the weeping. You

know those two stories, you know that in the

first story we're told that Jesus wept also.

Shortest verse in the Bible, right? Jesus wept.

And if you know both those stories, what you

also know is that Lazarus and the young woman

were both raised to new life. Is God good? Isn't

that question most often and actually really

understandably asked in the context of the suffering

that we experience. And think about this, right?

Lazarus and this little girl, this 12 year old,

while raised, no doubt still lived in these bodies.

With our constant move towards corruption and

decay, with minds that don't work often as we

desire them to, with ailment after ailment seemingly

coming one after the other, no doubt their bodies

continued along the path of suffering. They were

likely afflicted and perplexed and persecuted

and struck down. They likely went from one experience

of weeping on to the next. Because often this

is how it works, right? You go from being afflicted

to perplexed to struck down. There are tastes

of goodness and grace in the afflictions of this

life as they experienced. And yet the afflictions

seem to keep coming. They seem to come one right

after the other. The sorrowful father, I mean,

think about just this little story, right, that

we have in Luke chapter eight. The sorrowful

father who's imploring Jesus is followed on then

by the woman who's had 12 years of a discharge

of blood who's been ostracized from the community,

afflicted, then perplexed, then struck down and

persecuted. And then it goes on and the girl's

dead and she's raised a new life. But no doubt

the story continues, the story of affliction.

I'm in Paul's life and very likely in your life

affliction is followed by mental anguish Paul

says perplexed, but we know this is a meant I

Mean the dynamic of being put yet again in prison

The dynamic of going to yet another community

and being riots breaking out mental anguish followed

by persecution followed by being struck down

And yet Paul has told us at the end of chapter

4 that this light light and momentary affliction

is preparing for us a weight of glory beyond

all comparison. And I imagine that the Corinthians

were honestly a lot like you and me. They were

very, very likely a lot like Martha probably.

You know, when Jesus comes to Bethany, the town

where they lived and in their house. This is

what she says first. We'll say what she says

later. But first she says, Lord, if you'd been

here, if God had been present, if you had actually

seen what was taking place, my brother would

not have died. Lord, if you're real, then certainly

he wouldn't have experienced this affliction.

or if you knew, if you had just a sense of how

bad and how sad the situation is, or if you're

really good. As we see the suffering of the world,

and we see of those we love, we see the death

of those we love, we see our own experiences,

and we wonder. The Corinthians, as I've said,

were inclined towards the good life. Last week,

I talked a little bit about what a prosperous

city Corinth was, just partly just where it's

located and the trade route from the north to

the south of Greece and the Aegean Sea and all

of that. And then the great plain that was fertile

and the springs of the spring water that flowed

up in the area. It's very prosperous place. And

it seems as though between... the letters, some

leaders had come in, Paul talks about them quite

a bit in this book, who had come in and basically

said, it's the good life that's on offer. The

eloquence is what's most compelling. Your well

-being is what shows the goodness of God, going

for strength, prosperity, and speaking against

weakness and suffering. Certainly what we can

piece together is they questioned a teacher like

Paul who had experienced all of this affliction,

all this imprisonment and shipwreck, mental anguish,

all that. And they dismissed him as not being

truly from God because how could God allow that?

But Paul doesn't just say to them as he did last

week, That he's this fragile jar of clay and

because he's this fragile jar of clay we actually

see the the strength power of God made perfect

in his weakness, but He actually goes on and

this this section that I want to look at this

morning He says that our affliction in this life

is actually preparing us for something far greater

than we would ever imagine and part of what we're

inclined to do is Hold on tight to this life.

And he wants to invite us to say, no, there is

more. There's more. How you get the more is you've

got to learn to hold on loose now. Suffering

and death in a way can even be God's grace. His

preparatory grace for what's ahead. And why this

is the case is because suffering and death so

often focus us. You know, they cause the things

that don't matter to recede into the periphery.

And here at least he says they focus our inner

selves, our inner world and the unseen world.

The first they focus our inner selves. If you

have your Bible to that passage still, open it

up. And chapter four, verse 16 says, so we do

not lose heart though. Our outer self is wasting

away. Our inner self is being renewed day by

day. And I think, I think a lot of, you know,

this dynamic, you know, that it can happen, um,

that we're more focused on the deep things that

matter when we are, not when we're experiencing

the blessings of this life, but actually it's

almost, it's really the opposite. So often we

actually focus on the deep things that matter

when we are going through the trials and afflictions

and we come close to death. Death and suffering

often actually do work in us for the transformation

of our lives. We know that death is an outer

transformation, right? The Ceasing of breathing

and the stopping of our heart and those kinds

of things but it's so much an inner transformation

And it's not just for those who are experiencing

it but for those who witness it too. It's an

inner transformation So many of you know That

it is when you're brought low When you walk through

suffering and trial that you're transformed You

find new loves, new affections, and it happens

often in this context of suffering and death.

Some of you are familiar with David Brooks. He's

written a number of books that I would recommend

to you. He's written and he's spoken a number

of times on what he calls eulogy virtues and

resume virtues. Maybe some of you have heard

him or read him talk about this. He says, eulogy

virtues are the quality of character that are

mentioned at your funeral. Things that people

say when you aren't around to hear what they're

saying. People say when you aren't there to listen.

On the other hand, resume virtues are the list

of skills that we bring to the marketplace, the

list of achievements you have to promote yourself,

the accomplishments in education, the career

that you've had, the stuff you've acquired. You've

probably heard it said. Maybe you've seen the

bumper sticker. He who dies with the most toys

wins But we actually know if you if you've been

to a funeral you have never Heard a eulogy that

says man. You should see the dirt bike that he

rode. He had the coolest mountain bike ever No

No, we and we know that it's actually just silly

to even think of it No one at your funeral is

talking about what car you drove No one at your

funeral is talking about that suit that once

just fit you so well. It's good you brought it

to the tailor. Eulogies are not spent talking

about how much money you acquired in this life.

They are not. Instead, eulogy virtues are the

virtues that speak to our inner selves. Were

you kind? full of compassion, faithful in your

relationships, honest in your dealings with others.

Were you courageous and brave? Were you a person

capable of deep, committed love? And let's be

honest, much of our life, which makes sense because

this is much of the world that we live in, and

this is our education system, and it's just kind

of the air we breathe. Much of our life is spent

on our resumes, listing out our accomplishments.

We know. We can do. The suffering and death have

a way of stripping that aside and focusing us

on what matters. Think about this. If you look

down again at verse 16, it starts, for we do

not lose heart. If you go down, actually to chapter

five, verse six, it says, so we are always of

good courage. Verse eight, yes, we are of good

courage. There's something even in the context

of Paul's suffering here that is producing in

him these eulogy virtues. This strength that

is an inner strength, that the resume virtues

have little to say about. And we know this, this

is not just a Christian experience, this in many

ways is just a human experience. Suffering and

death focuses you. Suffering and death focus

our inner selves on the things that matter. Which

is to say, as a side note and sort of an application,

If you want to grow in faithfulness, if you want

to grow in kindness, if you want to put on these

deeper character traits that actually last, attend

funerals, sit with the suffering, go to the hospital,

Sit beside someone of older age who has walked

the road long You will find that you hold on

to your possessions and to your resume much more

lightly I was actually sitting with Nevin in

the hospital a couple weeks ago, and he's nearly

100 I'm 43 very tempted to pursue the resume

virtues, believe me. It is a gift to sit with

a 99 year old who wants you to pray for them

and read scripture to them. It is. Sit with one

another in one another's pain, in your suffering.

Each time you engage with death, whether the

small deaths that we continue on in this life

or ultimately death itself, the world becomes

the world about us, the physical world about

us becomes a little less real and the eternal

world a little more real. Which leads to the

second thing here that's going on. Suffering

and death don't just focus our inner selves.

They do that on the things that matter most,

but they actually focus us on what we can't see,

the unseen. Verse 18 of chapter four, it says,

as we look not to the things that are seen, 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

our eternal. Paul says, look, focus your attention

on the unseen. If we keep going on though, in

the beginning there of chapter five, in that

first paragraph, we see a word repeated. And

I think this is a helpful word that invites us

into these two images that Paul then kind of

talks about. And the word is grown. Verse two

says, for in this tent, We groan. Verse four

says, for while we are still in this tent, we

groan being burdened. And that word there, the

word in the Greek is strainatso. Think of the

word to strain, strain. And it communicates this

sigh of deep distress, right? This groaning.

But in the Old Testament, it's also used, it's

not just a groaning, it's not just a sigh in

itself. It's often used as a sigh that leads

to prayer, which is to say it's this groaning

that then expresses itself in a hope, a desire

for something to come about, something to be

changed. Some of you will know in Romans chapter

eight, it says that creation itself is groaning.

root word, it has a little suffix on it in, in

Romans chapter eight. Um, but these are anticipatory

groans. Creation is groaning for the sons of

God to be revealed, it says, right? The children

of God to be who they are made to be. So this

is a groaning that is experiencing this, this

suffering and this reality of this life. But

what it's saying is God brings something else

about, show us what you're going to do. Bring

about your goodness. What's it groaning for?

What's it desiring? First, first thing is that

it's desiring our true home, okay? So verse two

again, for in this tent we groan, longing to

put on our heavenly dwelling. We're in this tent,

which is a dwelling, right? From this tent we

grown, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling.

I read this week in one of the commentaries I

was using to study this, that a pastor received

a letter from a nine -year -old girl in his church

and it read, Dear Pastor, I hope to go to heaven

someday, but later than sooner. Love, Ellen.

And Ellen, Ellen speaks for most of us. We want

things to be right. We want things to be good.

We have a deep sense that we were made for more.

We have a desire for things to be as they should.

And yet we've often made actually this tent,

which almost has this like flimsiness about it,

our home. And yet Paul says it is often in suffering

and in death that we are focused not on the scene

tent, which can call out to us, this is where

you belong. But on the more permanent structure,

the more real thing further up and further in

reality of God's home for us. Keep in mind here

that Paul is not talking about a a home that

doesn't have physicality to it or a bodiless

home. And we were made by God as physical beings.

Verse one says, for we know that if the tent

that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have

a building from God, a house not made with hands,

eternal in the heavens. You think it's more,

it's even more solid than you would think. It's

more permanent, it's more lasting. So this groaning

for the unseen that suffering and death help

us focus on is for our true homes. For the place

where you were made to be. Say here, the things

that you can see, they're transient. They're

passing. Things you want to grab onto now will

one day be no more and they will be surpassed

by something far, far greater. Verse four tells

us For while we are still in this tent we groan

being burdened Not that we would be unclothed

But that we would be further clothed So that

what is mortal may be swallowed up by life He's

saying what's in store for you is actually a

deeper life a greater a greater clothing verse

three, he had said that we don't want to be found

naked. And he says that because you don't want

to be exposed to shame and the judgment of sin,

but he doesn't want to be, he doesn't want to

clothe himself. He doesn't want to put himself

forward and say, hey, look, this is what I've

done. He says, I want to be clothed with a more

eternal thing that is life itself with God himself.

Say he's getting this image back to the garden.

He's getting to the idea. One of the things that

suffering does is it exposes our need. It exposes

our need for God himself to clothe us. The righteousness

of Jesus focuses us on putting on the imperishable

rather than the perishable on focuses on putting

on the immortal rather than the mortal, the things

that are unseen rather than the things that are

seen. Paul is not only longing for a resurrection

home where all things will be right, but a resurrected

body where he will be right. And this is what

suffering and death do for us. Transform us.

They give us a new vision, a new focus. Which

if we get back to the beginning of my sermon.

It is often exactly at the place where we most

doubt the goodness of God that God in His grace

focuses us on that which is ultimately good.

That so often We start to say, how can he be

good if he allows this? How could he be good

if it allows his friend to go through such suffering?

How could he be good? Oh, 12 year old Jairus's

daughter to Terry when this child is dying. He

could be good if it's true that this Light and

momentary affliction is just preparing for us,

something that is so much better. To grace, because

so often, as we experience this, we lay aside

the things that don't matter. And when we do

that, we actually can sit before, stand before

the judgment seat of God. Because we have put

aside the allure of this world and we have clung

to our resurrected Lord, Christ himself. Suffering

and death, they cause us to walk by faith and

not by sight. Suffering and death often strip

us. They take away the things that we've built

our identity on, you know? Think of the teacher

here their eloquence their letters of recommendation

Think suffering and death often strip us of the

places of our identity our work What do we what

do we answer what do you do we answer with our

work They strip of strip us of sometimes of our

voice Place our identity upon how we can speak

to others, how we can speak in front of others,

how we can sing. They strip us sometimes of our

play, often something that people put their identity

in. Sometimes suffering and death strip us of

our relationships, which is so often where we

find our primary identity. What they do is they

strip these things away, where we must focus

on the ultimate thing. how we engage with God

Himself. Often what happens is the things that

matter most come into focus and we see when they

come into focus that they are far greater than

we ever expected. I'm hesitant to say this because

it's overused, but in a very real sense, we let

go and we let God. We hold loosely to the things

of this world and we grab onto the resurrection

that is our only hope in this world and the next

that we belong to our Lord Jesus. Let me end

with a illustration that I read. When Spain had

extended its conquest to the end of the known

world at the time, which is to say they controlled

both sides of the strait of Gibraltar. Those

fabled pillars of Hercules, right? on their Spanish

coins were those pillars and then and then there

was a scroll in inscribed with the Latin words

ne plus ultra Which is to say no more beyond

Say we've found the known world and Sailing out

of this straight. There is nothing outside of

it Nothing beyond. It's the gates to the ends

of the earth. But of course, now we know that

was kind of myopic. Rather nearsighted, isn't

it? I like how we live our lives. Nothing beyond

what I can grab onto right now. There's nothing

beyond what I am experiencing in my body right

now. course, we know how silly that coin is and

To their credit they did too after the discovery

of the new world They wisely changed that phrase

on those coins It was just plus ultra More beyond

there is more beyond what we know and what we

see And it is far greater than you imagine. It

is God preparing for us an eternal weight of

glory. Think back with me to Martha, okay? Lord,

if you'd been here, my brother would not have

died. And I wonder how much suffering she had

already experienced in her life because then

she followed it up. But even now, Even now, I

know that whatever you ask from God, He will

give you. God gave her her brother back. And

I bet her faith grew like wildflowers that day.

But then Christ himself rose from the dead. And

he said, what is true of me will be true of you.

He's the ultimate plus extra ultra rather more

beyond But he says that's true for you There

is so much more beyond there's so much more beyond

this life Is God good One of the reasons we doubt

this is because of our suffering because the

reality of death Brothers and sisters, Christ

conquers that for you. His resurrection is promised

to you, and we are told he is preparing something

for you that is so far beyond your imagining.

That is the hope you have in Christ, brothers

and sisters. Beyond all comparison, let me pray.

Lord, you know Lord, you know better than any

of us, you know better than myself how inclined

I am toward the things of this world, towards

the things that are seen and how my own ups and

downs shape my life so much. God, I thank you

for this Do Not Lose Heart, this call to courage

in the midst of this section here on suffering.

I thank you for my own heart. Lord, I pray that

we as a church But see that with you, we may

be afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed,

but not driven to despair, persecuted, but not

forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed because

you, the resurrected Christ, are with us. That

we may We may say to live as Christ, but to die,

that's gain. Because our minds and our hearts

and our eyes and our whole being has been focused

not on the things that are seen, but on the things

that are unseen. We walk by faith and not by

sight. God, I pray that we would be a church

that welcomes the opportunity to sit with one

another in our affliction and our suffering and

our pain. We know we often don't know what to

say or what to do. I pray that we would learn

to sit with one another, to be, and in that,

Lord, that you would bless us. God, I pray for

all of us here in this space, this time, that

we would hold lightly to the things of this world

and cling to the empty tomb of Jesus. God, that

we would have a deep and abiding faith That what

Paul says is this light and momentary affliction

which doesn't remotely seem light or momentary

Would in the grand scheme of what you are doing

Be truly light and momentary Because you are

preparing for us an eternal weight of glory behind

beyond all comparison God move in us in these

ways May we be found holding fast to the things

that never age. While so often we are invited

to grab, to hoard, to hold. May we hold fast

to the cross and to the empty tomb. In Jesus

name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to

Second City Sermons podcast. We hope this sermon

has encouraged you to worship God and to celebrate

the gospel of Jesus. Please consider subscribing

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bless.