II Corinthians 4:6-12 - "This Moment Is Real ..."

the opportunity to open God's Word with you this morning. Before I do that, before I read God's

Word, I want to paint two pictures. I want to take you across the street to the lodge. February 2009,

it was the very first meeting of Providence Presbytery, and I was the very first transfer

exam. So I was coming already a pastor, coming from Norfolk, Virginia, and was examined by the

Presbyterian, was received to be the pastor of North Hills Presbyterian Church in Meridianville,

just north of Huntsville. Now let me take you to North Hills. You may not have been there, but if

you go north on the parkway, there's a fishing pond on the left, right past Bob Wade Lane, and there's

a church behind that. That's North Hills. And in February 2016, we had a Presbytery meeting there,

and at that meeting, Will Spink was approved by the Presbytery to be the new senior pastor here,

after y'all had voted overwhelmingly for him to be so. And let me tell you, after we did the business,

and we can be all about the business as Presbyterians, we stopped, and we had a lengthy

time of prayer. It was one of the sweetest moments in my seven years of being in Providence Presbytery,

rubbing shoulders and doing business and praying together for our Presbytery, as we rejoiced in the

way that God is leading this congregation at this time. So I'm thankful for Will. I'm thankful for his

friendship and his partnership. I'm thankful that he's preaching at North Hills this morning, so that I can

come and preach to you here. My passage this morning is 2 Corinthians 4, 6 through 12. And as I read it,

I want you to know that my connection with this passage is very personal. And you'll, I think, get a

sense of that personal connection as I preach through it. In 2013, at the age of 36, I was diagnosed with

colon cancer. And it ended up being stage 2, which I'm very thankful for. But in the midst of it, we were

very fearful of a stage 3 or 4 diagnosis. Had major surgery, went through chemotherapy and radiation,

and it was a most difficult and continues to be difficult season in our lives and for our family.

But God has been good in the midst of our suffering. And so hear God's Word this morning. And again, I thank you

for listening as I preach this morning.

For God, who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give light

light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in

jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted

in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted, but not forsaken,

struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of

Jesus may be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake,

so that the life of Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

So death is at work in us, but life in you. Would you join me in prayer?

Father, we praise you for your Word. We praise you for how it interprets the things that we experience

in this fallen and painful world. Father, we pray that by your Word and your Spirit, you would open

our hearts and minds to receive from you what you are giving to us this morning. It is a good and

precious gift, and we thank you for it. And I pray for myself, a simple man, a simple servant,

that where there is encouragement and edification, those would be your words and would remain with us.

Where there's confusion or uncertainty, Lord, I pray that those would be my words and they would

quickly pass. We pray all of this in Jesus' matchless name. Amen. Trauma happens. Other things happen,

but in a fallen world, trauma happens. Pain happens. Suffering happens. And then there's what I read a

couple years ago in a New York Times op-ed piece by David Brooks. Many of you may know his name. He wrote

in this op-ed piece called The Art of Presence, he wrote about the Woodowice family and what they have

faced. In 2008, the Anna Woodowice, who was 27 at the time, was working with a service organization in

Afghanistan. And on April 1st, she went horseback riding and was thrown and died from her injuries.

In 2013, her younger sister, Catherine, then 26, was biking to work from her home in Washington.

She was hit by a car. Her face was severely smashed up and she's endured and has continued to endure

a series of difficult operations. For a time, she breathed and ate through a tube, unable to speak.

And you can imagine that the recovery from such injuries would be painfully slow.

Catherine Woodowice wrote this. She wrote about this. She said,

there will be days when you feel like a quivering, cowardly shell of yourself. When despair yawns as a

terrible chasm. When fear paralyzes any chance for pleasure. This is just a fight that has to be won

over and over and over again. It is a fight that has to be won over and over and over again.

There will be a time, or there has already been a time in your life, in your family, personally or

otherwise, where you have to enter that sort of fight. The fight with trauma and pain and suffering and

all the rest. What is that fight from a Christian perspective? It is to fight for a greater reality,

an understanding that even in the midst of those experiences, as real and as harsh as they are,

that God is at work, that there is something greater going on. Is God at work in this fallen world? Yes.

Is He at work within your life, where you are? Yes, He is. And so my theme for this sermon is very simple.

Two points. We're just going to break it down in half. We're going to say, this moment is real.

But it is not the only reality. This moment is real. Whatever it is you're going through,

whatever you're experiencing, it is real. But it is not the only reality. So I'm going to take two

passes at this text. If you have the Bible open or you want to follow along as we look through,

we're going to pull on the thread of pain and suffering. Then we'll pull on the thread of God's

transcending work of grace. So this moment is real. In the midst of what we face in this fallen world,

we experience frailty, suffering, death. So I want to talk about our frailty, our suffering, our death.

This passage starts very positively. I know we're just jumping into sort of the middle of a chapter.

Paul has been talking about the ministry of proclamation. And in verse 6, he is focusing on

the work, that transcending work of God's grace. It starts very positively in verse 6.

For God who said, let light shy down of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the

knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Well, thank you, Paul. That makes that very

clear. It's a very Pauline-type statement. There's a lot there. But the very next place that he goes

is to talk about our frailty in verse 7. We have this treasure that God's given us, this grace,

this work of God, is where? Within us, jars of clay. We are very common, everyday, ordinary clay pots.

And maybe some of us are a little broken, or will become broken, or have been broken.

We understand frailty within our own bodies. As we get older, we might say in the South,

I'm about to give out. We don't have a lot left. So in 2013, I'm going through chemotherapy,

therapy, and I decide that it's a good idea to play tag on a scooter with my son. I'm getting

worn out and tired, but we're riding these little Razor scooters. And I'm not very coordinated to

begin with, but that's okay. And I'm going to tag my son just one last time. And as I'm going down,

I make it down the driveway just fine. Hit the pavement, reach out, and then all of a sudden,

I'm on my backside. And I'm thinking, my backside should be hurting, but it's my knee that's hurting.

So in the midst of the health issues that I was already enduring, going through the,

recovering from surgery, going through the chemotherapy, I partially tore the MCL in my knee.

And now they're saying, well, you can't have surgery right now, though that might be needed,

because of your depressed immune system. You need to do physical therapy. So now I'm doing physical

therapy in the midst of chemotherapy. Let me tell you, I felt like a broken jar of clay. I understood

my frailty in a very real way. I imagine that you understand that, or you will come to understand that.

Even those athletes that seem to transcend

sport. I think of Kobe Bryant, one of the best

basketball players in the National Basketball Association, NBA, has ever had.

He's not quite the same anymore, and it's probably a good thing he's retiring.

Even those who transcend physically,

they themselves, you yourselves, are a jar of clay.

There's our frailty. There's also our suffering.

And look at the radical honesty within this

passage.

It's rare

that we often speak so forthrightly

about what we're going through. People ask us how we're doing.

We give the fine.

I found as I was going through treatment that I didn't know how to answer that question anymore.

How are you doing?

Do you have time?

Because I'm not feeling so good.

And so,

Paul speaks. He begins to say,

okay, so we have this treasure,

but it's in a jar of clay.

And also, verse 8 and 9,

we are afflicted

in every way.

Ever felt that way?

That's what life in a fallen world can

look like. Afflicted in every way.

Or perplexed,

he says.

Have you ever asked out loud

or in your prayers

or in your heart,

God, I don't know

what you're doing.

I don't understand.

Perplexed.

Persecuted.

We may not feel that as much here

in our American context,

but we certainly,

as we think about brothers and sisters around the world,

they understand this

when Paul says persecuted.

And we may come to a point

where we understand it more intimately.

And then finally,

he says,

struck down there

in verse 9

at the end of it.

Have you ever felt like

you're just crawling

through the day

trying to fight

for the next moment?

Oh, this moment is real.

The affliction,

the perplexion,

the persecution,

the being struck down,

all of that is real,

and we must acknowledge it

if we are to understand

the greater work

that God is doing.

We must be honest

and say,

I am suffering.

suffering.

And then,

Paul talks about death.

You see,

it's not getting any better.

We go from frailty

to suffering to death.

Verses 10, 11, and 12,

Paul makes remarks about death.

Verse 10,

he says,

we are always

carrying around in our body

the death of Jesus.

Here,

the death of Jesus

could be translated

as the dying of Jesus.

That is meaning

that it is encompassing

all of Christ's

passion,

the mocking,

the betrayal,

the spitting,

the lashes,

the cross,

all of it.

The dying of Jesus.

That's what we carry

with us as believers,

this work of Christ.

And then verse 11,

the beginning of it,

he says,

for we who are alive

are always being given over

to death

for Jesus' sake.

Did anybody tell you

that part

when they shared

the gospel with you?

Did they say,

this is going to be

a part of the Christian life?

A lot of times we just say,

hey,

everything's going to be better.

It's not always better,

is it?

Because we still live

in this fallen world.

And so,

death is at work

within us,

this verb

here,

being given over.

It's the same verb

that's used in Romans 8,

32,

where we read

of God,

he who did not spare

his own son,

but gave him up

for us all.

The difference

is that in Romans,

it's active,

and here in Corinthians,

it's a passive verb.

What does that mean?

Well,

that means that you don't

sign up for this.

Nobody's going to go out

into the lobby

or onto the website

here at Southwood

and sign up for the class

of suffering

and dying to self.

We don't want that.

Our sin doesn't want that.

Our human nature

doesn't want that.

We don't want to go

through that,

so God takes us

through it.

And so,

that's why I say

that cancer

is a sanctifying grace.

I didn't ask for it.

I didn't want it.

I certainly was shocked

that I would be diagnosed

at that age of 36

with it,

but it's a sanctifying grace

because my inclination,

my desire

as just a person

walking through life,

even a believer,

is I want the Staples

easy button.

You know what I'm talking about?

You just push the button

and the little guy says,

hey, that was easy.

I want life to be like that.

I want,

when things get hard,

to be able to just,

boop.

And maybe I wish God

was a little bit like that

sometimes.

Let's be honest.

Sometimes we want to just

be able to kind of

say a prayer

and have God

make everything easy

for us.

God doesn't work that way.

He's not a genie

in a bottle.

He's not our servant.

He's the Lord of lords

and kings and kings,

and He's doing something

in our lives,

even if we're not

comfortable with it,

and we didn't sign up

for it because it is

hard to die to self.

Are you with me?

It is hard to die to self.

So God takes us there,

even if we hadn't

signed up for it.

Finally, verse 12 says,

death is at work in us.

So three times,

verse 10, 11, 12,

Paul talks about

our dying,

our death,

our being given over

to that.

I read a book

during treatment,

I don't know why,

I ended up in tears

several times.

It's called

The Little Way

of Ruthie Lemming.

I recommend it.

It's written by Rob Dreher,

who I believe

writes for

the American Conservative.

But this book's

about his sister.

And they grew up

in St. Francisville,

Louisiana.

It's a little tiny town

in Louisiana.

It's a poor community,

but Ruthie Lemming

loved her community.

She loved the people.

She was a teacher.

And she was well regarded.

She was a Christian.

And in her mid-30s,

she was diagnosed

with single cell lung cancer,

stage four.

One percent who received

that diagnosis

live past five years.

Ruthie Lemming was not

in that one percent.

And so as I'm reading

about her life,

her story,

and all,

I'm hearing

these same themes

again and again.

Frailty,

suffering,

death.

Ultimately,

certainly,

literally,

she does end up,

and she did,

die.

The moments

that she faced,

the moments I faced,

the moments you face,

the moments

that we face

of frailty,

of suffering,

of dying to self,

they are very real.

No sugarcoating,

no ignoring them,

no pretending

that it doesn't exist

will make them go away.

right?

You have to

live there

whether you

want to or not.

And there are no

easy answers

in the midst

of such a situation.

And we who are not

suffering at a particular

time should be

very careful

to not simply

give easy,

trite answers.

I hope that's not

what you hear me doing

this morning either

as I preach.

We have to acknowledge

the hard parts

of living

in this world.

the consequences

of our sin,

the consequences

of the fallenness

of this world.

We live with

these realities.

And we must

acknowledge them

to being real

if we are also

going to be able

to see

what God is doing.

And here's the fight.

And here's my main point.

If this moment

is real,

you have to fight

to see,

to understand

the greater reality

of God's work

in our lives.

So,

point one was

this moment is real.

Frailty,

death,

suffering,

that's all real.

Second point,

the second part of this

is,

but this is not

the only reality.

For every real moment,

there is something

that God is doing

in our lives.

And this is actually

the main thrust

of what Paul is doing

in these verses.

There's our frailty,

but God's power.

There's our suffering,

but God's but.

There's our death,

but God's life.

So,

let's consider now

our frailty

in light of

God's power.

So,

we go back

to verse 6.

Remember,

I said we're going

two times

through this passage.

So,

here's the second pass.

Go back to verse 6.

This is

the greatest reality.

If you are a believer

in Jesus Christ,

there is no greater reality

than what God has done

in giving you

your salvation.

There is no greater reality

than that,

and we have to keep

coming back to that

again and again,

thanking God

and reflecting

on the grace

that we receive.

We don't deserve

God's mercy.

We don't deserve

God

doing this work

of recreation.

in our lives.

From fallen creatures,

God takes us

to a new creature.

So,

He says,

for God who said,

let light shine

out of darkness,

that's picturing

God's initial creation.

Here,

has shown

in our hearts

to give the light

of the knowledge

of the glory

of God

in the face

of Jesus Christ.

that is,

God is giving us

this great work

of salvation

in our hearts,

our lives.

He takes us

from the darkness

of our sin

to the light

of His grace.

And so then,

when He comes

into verse 7,

He indeed says,

we have this treasure

in jars of clay

to show

that the surpassing

power

belongs

to God

and not to us.

who does the power

belong to?

God.

That's right.

It belongs to God

and not to us.

And we need to remember

that again and again

because the reality is,

whether you're a mom

or whether you're in business,

whether you're retired,

whether you're in school,

we want to be

kind of lords

of our own domains.

We want to be in charge.

We want to be in control.

We want to have

the world at our hand.

And God's saying,

no,

that power

belongs to me

and this is how

I demonstrate it.

I give it to you

in frail vessels

so that you look to me

when you're broken,

when you understand

your brokenness,

when you see your suffering,

you look to me.

Jeremy put it so well

when we came to that time

of confession

of how we run

to insufficient

structures.

Paul is directing us back

to that great refuge

of God

and that is

His power

and the work

that He is doing

in our lives.

So,

great weakness

but great treasure.

And it's not about you.

It's not about you.

It's not about me.

It's about God.

So, that's our frailty

but God's power.

Now, consider

our suffering

but God's butt.

Now, I'm not trying

to be crass here

or cavalier,

but I've always thought

of these buts here

in verses 8 and 9

as holy buts.

If it helps you remember it,

great.

Alright?

So, listen again.

Verses 8 and 9.

We are afflicted

in every way

but not crushed,

perplexed,

but not driven

to despair,

persecuted,

but not forsaken,

struck down,

but not destroyed.

Do you see it?

God is telling you

in His Word now

that these things

are real

but He is doing

something greater

in your life.

Alone,

apart from Christ,

then indeed

you could say

crushed,

and driven

to despair

and forsaken

and destroyed.

But in Christ,

you have the power

of God's work

and you have

His butt.

Again, Jeremy

referenced it earlier.

You see this

throughout Scripture,

God doing amazing things

in the midst

of great trials.

So, Genesis 50, 20.

As for you,

you meant it for evil

but God meant it

for good

to bring about

that many people

should be kept alive

as they are today.

Or you hear this

but or but not

over and over again

in Scripture,

Psalm 73, 26.

My flesh

and my heart

may fail

but God

is the strength

of my heart

and my portion

forever.

Ephesians 2,

you hear it there,

a great section,

verses 2 through 10,

especially speaking

of that work

of mercy and grace

in granting us salvation.

You were dead

in your trespasses

and sins,

verse 1.

But then you jump

down to verse 5

and what do you hear?

But God,

who is rich

in mercy

because of the great love

with which He loved us

even when we were dead

in our trespasses,

made us alive

together with Christ.

By grace,

you have been saved.

This is true.

You are a sinner

and you are dead

in that sin,

but God does this work

of mercy and grace.

So we hear these

but nots here

as Paul is acknowledging

very difficult circumstances.

Here's the problem

as I see it,

as I've experienced it.

We live

in the commas.

We live

in the in-between,

between the pain

and the grace.

It's what

theologians

sometimes refer to

as the already

but not yet.

We're already saved

but we're not yet

fully there.

We're still living

in this fallen world.

We still live

with the difficulty.

Life is lived

in the commas.

But that is where

you fight

for the reality

of these but nots.

So as you go

through trial,

whatever it may be,

as you go

through suffering,

you're looking

not just

for that reality

because you know it,

but you're also

fighting for this

greater reality

of what God is doing.

Finally,

there's our death

but God's life.

And I just want

to point you

in verses 10,

11, and 12,

every point where

Paul speaks

of our death

and our dying

to self

and our being

connected with

the cross of Christ

and all that

he does in that.

He says there's

purpose here

in all of this.

So always carrying

in the body

the death of Jesus.

Why?

Here's the purpose.

So that life

may be also,

the life of Jesus

may also be manifested

in our bodies.

Verse 11,

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.

So death is at work

in us

but life in you.

Verse 12.

See,

God has purposes

that he's working out

in the midst

of what he's doing

and what does that do?

When you fight

for that greater reality

and you're living

that life

that God has given

to you,

it makes you

attractive

to the world

around you.

When you can suffer

in light

of what God

is doing,

when you can

acknowledge

that work

that God

is doing,

it makes you

attractive

to the world

around you

because it makes

people say,

what treasure

do you possess

that I can't buy

and I can't earn?

What treasure

do you have

that allows you

to suffer

with this greater

perspective

of looking

for what God

is doing?

It makes us

attractive.

Ruthie Lemming

was very much

that way.

She had a friend

and his name

was Big Show.

I don't know

if that was

his given name

but that's

what people

called him,

Big Show.

And he was

mad at God

for what was

going on.

He was furious

that God

was allowing

Ruthie Lemming

to suffer.

And Ruthie

said to him,

you can't be.

I'm not giving

up hope.

He has a plan

for me.

In the post office

a few days

after she had

died,

a woman

was wondering

why there

were so many

cars around

because it was

actually her

funeral.

And she says,

sure are a lot

of cars around

today.

What's going on?

Post office

worker tells her

that Ruthie

Lemming has

died and she

says,

oh,

that woman

died?

I just saw

her in here

last week

and I said,

baby,

you don't look

like you feel

too good.

And Ruthie

said in reply,

no ma'am,

I don't.

But I'm going

to real soon.

That is what

fighting for a

greater reality

looks like

in the midst

of what you're

going through.

I want to tell you

four things real

quick as I'm

wrapping up

of what it

looks like for

us together

to fight for

a greater

reality.

One,

you've got to

go to

scripture.

You've got to

allow scripture

to interpret

what you're

going through

to help you

understand the

but-nots.

By the way,

this is not

pop psychology

and this is

nothing that

a pastor

wouldn't tell

you or hasn't

told you

a hundred times

but I'm going

to tell you

again.

Go to

scripture,

number one.

Number two,

pray.

Pray your

heart out.

Pray your

eyeballs out.

Pray your

tears out.

Pray.

And pray again.

Number three,

sing.

Love the songs

that we sang

this morning

because they

take us through

those experiences

of difficulty

but also

pointing us

to that

greater reality

so you sing.

And then finally

four,

do life in

community.

Don't suffer

alone.

One of the

great blessings

of going through

cancer treatments

was to know

that I wasn't

suffering alone

even though I

felt horribly

alone a lot

of times.

To know that

the elders

at Southwood

Presbyterian Church

were praying

for me.

To have

Vineet Mahesh,

one of the elders

here,

call me regularly

to find out

how I'm doing.

For other

churches,

other people

in the community,

other believers,

my own church

to surround us,

my family,

don't suffer

alone.

Do life

in community

and be there

for people

when they are

suffering.

That's what

it looks like

for us

to fight

for this

greater reality.

Last thing

I'll tell you,

a friend of mine,

my best friend

growing up,

was hit

in a head-on

collision.

He was driving

to a race

with his family

to run

a 5K

of some sorts

in the Atlanta

area where we

had grown up

and a car

crosses over

the line,

hits this

minivan head-on,

they flip

and Glenn

suffers traumatic

brain injury

as does his wife.

Thankfully,

his children

were okay

in their seats.

They were able

to be safe.

It's amazing.

Two kids.

But Glenn

and Sandra

were not unscathed.

Sandra had to

go through

much time

of physical therapy,

relearning to walk.

Glenn,

my best friend,

when we were kids,

died.

He was declared

brain dead

and he passed.

We went to the funeral

and at the end

of the funeral,

a song is being sung.

higher than the mountains

that I face,

stronger than the power

of the grave,

constant through the trial

and the change,

one thing remains.

Your love never fails,

never gives up,

never runs out on me.

On and on

and on it goes.

Your love never fails.

And so,

here was Sandra

walking up the aisle,

going out of the church

with her walker.

And she stopped

as the song

was being sung

and she was in tears

there,

praying and singing

and shouting

to God.

Fighting for the

greater reality

at her husband's funeral.

Brothers and sisters

and friends

that are here today,

I submit to you

that that's what

it looks like.

Even in the hardest times,

to acknowledge

God's love

never fails.

It is the greater

reality in your life.

And my prayer

for this congregation

is that wherever you are,

individually and corporately,

you will fight for that.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you

for your great love

for us.

Thank you that

it never fails.

No matter what

we're going through,

no matter what

you're taking us through,

no matter how much

we suffer

and experience

frailty in this life,

Lord, we praise you

and thank you

that you are at work

in doing something

much greater.

Help us to fight

for that and to see that.

Help this congregation,

these people,

to fight for that.

Father, we praise you

and thank you

for your work

and we pray

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Will you stand?

I'm not sure

what your practice is,

but I want to give you

the benediction,

God's blessing

upon you

as you go.

The Lord bless you

and keep you.

The Lord make His face

to shine upon you

and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up

His countenance upon you

and give you peace.

And God's people say,

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.