Transcript

Separation From Self-Part Two

2 Corinthians 11:8-11
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Pastor Randy Smith

Though rewarded with all the treasures in Egypt, he knew something was wrong. Day in and day out he witnessed his Hebrew people being mistreated by the cruel Egyptian taskmasters. Though adopted into Pharaoh's family as a baby, the Bible says when he grew up, "[Moses] refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter"(Heb. 11:24). At the cost of losing the very best that this world could offer, Moses reached the point where he could take it no longer.

In the Bible we read, "Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds" (Ac. 7:22). He had all the skills and talents to make a difference. Yet when Moses acted, he acted without God. His actions were thus unproductive. He brought more heartache to his people and eventually was forced to flee to the desert for his life (Ex. 1:15). For forty years Moses was humbled in Midian. He was taken to the point where he had no confidence in his natural abilities.

One day God appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush (Ex. 3:2). The Lord said He heard the cries of His people and would send Moses to rescue them from Egypt. Interestingly, the man who once attempted to rescue the Israelites singlehandedly then replied to the Lord, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?" (Ex. 3:11). Moses came to the point where he realized his human strengths alone could not accomplish divine objectives. He was learning the need to fully depend on God working through him. And as we know, God then surely did mighty things through this now humble servant.

Last week we also learned how God worked mightily through a man named Paul. Paul was called as an apostle. He would also function as a mouthpiece of Jesus Christ. He would write thirteen books in the New Testament and take the Gospel all over the ancient world. Yet before and while God was using Paul, God also taught Paul that despite his natural abilities and extraordinary revelations and high calling, all his success from God's perspective would come as he depended on God to work His power through him. And the way God taught this lesson to Paul is the way he taught it to Moses and is still the way He teaches it to all of us today - through trials.

In chapter 1 of 2 Corinthians, verses 8-9, Paul said, "For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength [that's the trial - here now is the purpose], so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead."

Last week we discussed that although we are not aware of this specific trial, it was one that no doubt brought Paul tremendous emotional and possibly physical grief. I mean, listen to his comments in verses 8 and 9: "burdened excessively, beyond our strength," "despaired even of life," "the sentence of death within ourselves." If you've ever been brought this low or have come even close, how can you not have pity on the man? Yet as we read the text, the primary response Paul sought amongst his readers was not pity for himself, but praise for God. In verse 3 he said, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

You see, Paul was not a masochist that for some perverted reason took pleasure in pain. Nor was Paul some super-saint that was immune to the pain, either shielded from its effects or casting it all away through miracles. He suffered just like the rest of us. Suffering and pain is bad in and of itself, yet Paul was able to see the results of what God can produce through it.

Paul knew that God, verse 3, is "the Father of mercies and God of all comfort." He knew that the comfort that he received from God always outdistanced the agony he received from the trial. Verse 4, "comforts us in all our affliction. Verse 5, "Our comfort is abundant through Christ." Paul also new that the comfort he received and the wisdom he learned as a result of the trial made him more effective to care for others. Verse 4, "we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction." Verse 6, "If we are afflicted it is for your comfort and salvation." And Paul also learned that trials, as we have been discussing already, have the ability to wean us off ourselves, break us of self-dependence and self-reliance so that we my trust fully in the strength that God supplies. Verse 9, "so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead." Only when we are emptied of self, which often requires trials, can we be a vessel filled with God and useful to Him. The pride must be burned away in the Refiner's fire.

Many have expressed their derogatory comments about Seattle Seahawk's cornerback Richard Sherman's post game rant last week, but he simply said what so many of us believe. Sure our tone is less abrasive and much of what we think often is kept hidden from others, but deep down inside each of us think to some degree that we are the greatest. We are all hardwired as a result of the fall to be driven by pride. So if we humans were turned off to Sherman's arrogance, how much more must God be turned off to ours? The man makes a great play and he gloats. I promise you that if the man would have flopped on that final play, his comments would have been more humble.

My point, Paul's point, trials are used by God to bring us humility. Then through the recognition of our weaknesses, we are weaned from self to depend on God which glorifies Him and brings into our life true strength. We are then found praising Him and not ourselves! Paul concluded this letter in chapter 12 by affirming this: "Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor. 12:9-10).

The unknown Confederate soldier prayed:

• I asked God for strength that I might achieve.
• I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.
• I asked for health that I might do greater things.
• I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
• I asked for riches that I might be happy.
• I was given poverty that I might be wise.
• I asked for power that I might have the praise of men.
• I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.
• I asked for all things that I might enjoy life.
• I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
• I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I hoped for.
• Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
• I am, among all men, most richly blessed.

Are you running to God during your trials? If not, you are short-cutting the process. You see, when most people, even most Christians have problems, they immediately run to all the sources they have available to bring relief. Some are good, others are bad. The problem is none of them are ultimately effective. We expect people to be our personal Messiahs and they can't. We use entertainment to numb our troubles and the trouble, though camouflaged, is still there. We abuse substances to turn off the pain and it doesn't. We try food and sex to fight the pain with pleasure and it's ineffective. These things bring a shallow refuge and temporary reprieve in the little matters, but in the long haul they are proven unsuccessful. That is why God in His love for us wants us to run to Him.

So sometimes He teaches us this lesson when He permits a trial so big we've got no other place to turn. We get the feeling based on Paul's description in verse 8 that this is what Paul went through. There was no place to turn, but God. Verse 9, "Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead." When Paul turned to God he found a Savior that delights in helping His children with His infinite resources and one of those resources, as noted at the end of verse 9, is resurrection power.

The problem often is that we want the power. We simply don't want resurrection power. You see, in order to have a resurrection there first must be death. As C.S. Lewis once said, "Nothing that has not died will be resurrected." Jesus first had to die physically before He was resurrected. In this case, we too need to die to self before we will experience resurrection power. So the progression Paul learned was: trial, death to self, trust in God, resurrection power.

One of the older theologians commented, "Notwithstanding that the resurrection is a future event, [Paul] shows that it happens every day; for when God raises up a man whose life is despaired of, and who has been brought to the very gates of hell, He shows nothing other than a resurrection, snatching from the very jaws of death the one who had fallen into them" (John Chrysostom).

So here's the situation: Trials will come, but do you want to get the most out of them? Do you want to be strengthened as you persevere through them? Life will bring pain, but do you want to have a purpose in your pain? Do you want to go through life depending on your own feeble resources or do you want God's resurrection power running through your veins? Is He getting all of your heart?

When we were at our recent men's retreat last October we had the pleasant surprise of being allowed to try the zip-line. The thought of doing it was great and zipping across the lake once you got going was great as well. The only difficult part was getting started, jumping off the tower. There is a wondering if the cable will really support you. There is also a moment of freefalling in-between your jump and the harness line becoming taunt. You want to do it, but the trust factor when you are playing with your life starts to really settle in.

Likewise, there's a fear in letting go and casting yourself fully into the arms of God. If I surrender all, will His arms be big enough and strong enough to catch me during this momentary freefall? That's where the faith factor kicks in, my friends.

You see, once I can muster faith on the little zip-line, repeated trips on that line become much easier. The fear is removed once I realize I am safe because the equipment can be trusted, the freefall is brief and the landing is always secure. Even larger zip-lines can be attempted, knowing that regardless of the height, the equipment that I have come to trust does not change. And the more my equipment proves reliable and the journey attests to be fruitful, faith increases and success is achieved without the fear of failure.

So we trust God in the little things. God proves to be found faithful. We trust God in the bigger things. We learn that God's grace always exceeds the trial. He's faithful in the small trials. He's faithful with the big trials. He's been faithful in the past trials and therefore I know that He will be faithful in whatever trial I am presently experiencing. This is the growth of faith in a God who always delivers.

I believe this is what Paul is getting at in verse 10. "Who delivered us from so great a peril of death [that's the past], and will deliver us [that's the present], He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us [that's the future]." Have you surrendered to the Lord? Is your trust fully in Him? Can you say with Paul that based upon Scripture and experience that your hope is fully set on Him?

John MacArthur said, "We are so often terrified by our predicaments while all the time there's the scaffold of God's care beneath us. Our ignorance doesn't change the certainty but it does destroy the peace, doesn't it? We need to remember that underneath are the everlasting arms and you don't know that until your fingers slip and you drop" (2 Cor. 1:8-10, sermon).

Surrendering to God!

So, Christian, if you think God could care less about your puny life, lose that thought! If you think God is limited in His treasure chest of resources, lose that thought! If you think God is more glorified by you, instead of Him, solving your own problems, lose that thought!

Psalm 33 teaches this: "Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope for His lovingkindness, to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart rejoices in Him, because we trust in His holy name. Let Your lovingkindness, O LORD, be upon us, according as we have hoped in You" (Psm. 33:18-22).

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Christian who took on Hitler, suffered his share of affliction and eventual death at the hands of the Nazis, said, "I believe that God can and will bring good out of evil, even out of the greatest evil. For that purpose He needs men who make the best use of everything. I believe that God will give us the strength we need to help us to resist in all time of distress. But He never gives it in advance, lest we should rely on ourselves and not on Him alone. A faith such as this should allay all our fears for the future. I believe that even our mistakes and shortcomings are turned to good account, and that is no harder for God to deal with them than with our supposedly good deeds. I believe that God is no timeless fate, but that He waits for and answers sincere prayers and responsible actions" (Letters and Papers from Prison, p.11).

Though our suffering probably pales to that of Bonhoeffer and Paul, I trust you've experienced persecution for being a Christian. I have to imagine you've experienced your own share of suffering in this life too. What's your testimony that you can share with others of God's faithfulness? How have you surrendered to the Lord and how has He proven Himself faithful? What would you say based upon your own life experiences about the faithfulness of God when in trials based upon your own experience of personal surrender and His subsequent deliverance of you?

Lastly in verse 11, as Paul concludes this thought, he wraps things up with an unusual comment. Please look there with me. "You also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many."

I say unusual because everything we have covered thus far, regarding the comfort God supplies, has been based on His sovereign power to triumph over suffering and evil. Yet here in verse 11, Paul adds to this equation a unique element - the responsibility of humans through their prayers.

There is definitely a mystery here how God does not need the prayers of humans to accomplish His purposes, but yet He uses them in the release and experience of His power. One commentator said, "In prayer, human impotence casts itself at the feet of divine omnipotence" (P. Hughes, p. 22). God delivers His people when experiencing affliction. That's His responsibility, but our responsibility is to pray for those who are enduring the affliction.

Some Bible lessons along these lines: First, so what we see here is still a total trust in God. Paul sought the help of humans, but the help that he ultimately sought from them was asking them to pray to God on his behalf. Lesson 1 - Ask others for help primarily through asking them for prayer. Second, the prayer requested from humans (in verse 11) only came after Paul expressed his great hope in God's deliverance (in verse 10). Lesson 2 - Faith precedes prayer. Third, though God will always accomplish His will, there is no doubt that Paul believed prayer would make a difference in helping him. Lesson 3 - Believe prayer changes things. Fourth, the goal of Paul's prayers is seen at the end of verse 11 where he says many people will respond by thanking God. In other words, Paul asked for prayer from many. Paul was confident God would answer his prayer. And then Paul knew that those who prayed for him would praise God in thanksgiving. Therefore prayer resulted in deliverance for Paul and glory to God. Lesson 4 - There is a value to corporate prayer as opposed only to personal prayer because it results in more people praising God.

Do you see what Paul did in verses 3-11? In verses 4-10 we read how God works in our lives through suffering to deliver us and bring about good purposes. And then acting as bookends to this section are verses 3 and 11 with begin and close this section in praise to God. In verse 3 Paul praises God himself and in verse 11 Paul expands to speak of the many others that will praise God.

This week I read the following prayer request on the back of one of your friendship cards: "That God would be glorified in all our trials." That is the purpose of 2 Corinthians 1:3-11! It is the clear teaching of Scripture: Life is filled with suffering. For the Christian the suffering is often intensified with persecution. Is the pain breaking us of our pride and drawing us to God with humble hearts? Are we being filled with His strength so our miseries result in praise to God from both ourselves and others?