Month: January 2019

1. 148. Things Not Seen

2 Corinthians 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Everything that we see with our physical eyes is temporal; that is, it only lasts for a time and they will come to an end. The things that are not seen are seen with the eyes of faith; these are eternal; that is, it lasts forever, it is permanent and solid. We have in sight and in possession the invisible things of the spiritual world. This is the promise. I believe, therefore I see.

“To look at” means to trust; it means to look to something for help. We look at what can’t be seen; we trust in the invisible and immaterial. We look to God for all good. All good things come from God, whom we cannot see. We do not see God or the things of God, all the spiritual gifts and blessings that He gives by grace. Some of these invisible, eternal things are: forgiveness, salvation, life, love, joy, peace, goodness, mercy, kindness, and such. Whatever God gives is eternal and spiritual. God does give material things as well, but they are not to be trusted in and they do not last. When God does give material and physical things, which don’t last, along with it He gives us His love and grace, which does last.

We need the Word of God to reveal to us all the spiritual blessings that we cannot see.When we hear the Word and the message of Good News the Holy Spirit creates the faith to see the unseen. Faith looks; faith sees; faith holds on to. Thank God for His Word, which opens up for us a whole spiritual world.

1. 147. Glory

2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

Glory is the outer manifestation of an inner character. The righteous character of God dwells within us, but it is presently covered with sin and self. When sin and self is dead the glory will shine brightly. The glory that will be seen is an exceeding and eternal weight. The Hebrew word for “glory” is heavy. There is a spiritual heaviness to the presence of God. His glory is like a person with gravitas, only a million times more so. This kind of glory is shared with us.

The glory in us that will be revealed One Day is directly connected to “affliction.” The connection is this: every affliction, whether a light irritation or a heavy tragedy, works glory. Every affliction, and all of them together, works a greater glory in us throughout life. God uses every event, every problem, every burden, every care and every affliction to work something positive in our character. This is a comforting promise we need to remember in time of need; the more and the greater the affliction we experience the more and the greater glory is worked in us. Therefore, the Christian can thank God in every circumstance, for God is using it to build something good. It will not feel good at the time, but we believe it anyway.

The affliction is but for a moment. In the midst of affliction it feels like it will be forever, but the Word says it is for a moment: this too shall pass. The passing, momentary affliction is working something eternal, which will never pass. God is working an eternal character and personality in each believer; He is developing him into what He designed him to be. God will not waste any temporary experience, but He will use it to create something that lasts forever.

The affliction is also light; light contrasts to the exceeding  weight  of eternal glory that God is working in us. Every affliction, no matter how heavy it feels, is described as light. Believe what God says about it: not only is the affliction short in duration compared to eternity but it is also a light burden compared to the weight of glory. Sometimes an affliction really is light even to us, and we think it so light that we can handle it ourselves; it’s no big deal; it’s not a problem. However, the Lord will use even the slightest irritation to work a heavy glory. This promise encourages us to give every issue of daily life to the Lord, no matter how light the load or how impossible the problem. When God has access to our issues and struggles He can work wonders. We can’t wait to see what God has worked by turning all our afflictions into glory. Be patient with faith in the promise. Wait and see how good is our God.

1. 146. Inward man Renewed

2 Corinthians 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

The promise given to believers is that the inward man, the soul, is being renewed every day.Not a day will go by in the life of Christians that something positive and growth producing will happen. Something is always happening inside, and that something is renewal.Growth is incremental and gradual, maybe so little that we do not even see the difference from day to day, but we can be assured by this promise that the Holy Spirit is work on the soul to make a daily difference. The new man living within is growing stronger and healthier day by day.

Renewal means something old and useless is taken away and being replaced with something new and useful. This is recreating the image of God inwardly; this image of God originally created in every man has been lost because of original sin.. The image is being restored gradually. New Life enters in immediately upon faith being granted, whether by Baptism or Conversion; but the new life is like a newborn baby that needs to grow and develop to maturity. This renewal and growth will continue all our life long and will never be completely finished until we are changed by death and resurrection when we shall be whole in soul and body.

The promise encourages us to “faint not,” that is, don’t give up because you don’t see the growth; there will be trials and tribulations, setbacks and sins, weakness and struggles. But don’t give up for God is working; He is renewing. The outward man is perishing, weakening, getting sick and injured regularly; the body is getting older and getting closer to death every day. Do not become discouraged by the aches and pains and setbacks of “perishing;” instead, look at what God is doing to the inward man.Take heart and believe the promise of renewal and daily new life. God is faithful and He will do what He says. The Holy Spirit teaches something through every experience when we are attuned to the Word of God.

1. 145. Raise us Up

2 Corinthians 4:14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.

The promise of the resurrection of the body is as certain and sure as the fact that God the Father resurrected the body of the Lord Jesus. He will definitely raise up us by Jesus and present us all together with God in a resurrected and eternal state. “God raised up Jesus.” This eternal truth is the foundation of our life and hope and eternal joy. The raising up of Jesus’ body is the first resurrection. All who believe in Christ share in the first resurrection and so there is no doubt that we shall be included in the second resurrection at the last day.

We who are still alive in the body of this death have not yet been resurrected since we haven’t yet died. However, by faith we live presently in the resurrected life of Christ since we are united with Him. Therefore, New Life surrounds us and lives within us in the midst of our physical life in a physical world. Our future bodily resurrection pervades and permeates our present existence with the certain hope and an unshakable joy and a settled peace; and nothing in the spiritual or the physical world can separate us from The Resurrected Life of Jesus Christ.

The Hope and Promise of our resurrection is as real today as the physical resurrection will be actualized on That Day. This present reality is more solid and real than anything we empirically experience in life. When this life passes That Life will be seen and experienced in eternal fullness. “He will raise up us” also means that He has raised up us to be with Him now, today, and forever. We live and enjoy the resurrected life every time we hear the Gospel: God loves me; God forgives me; God gives me life; God is with me. This Gospel Truth is mine because God raised up the Lord Jesus.

1. 144. Life Works

2 Corinthians 4:11-12 For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

Life works in you. This is the promise. Eternal Life, the life of God, is working in us when the old self dies. Our mortal flesh, the sinful old man subject to Death because of Sin, houses the life of Jesusas jars of clay hold a beautiful treasure. This treasure is the life of Jesus. He lives in us and He is life for us. His life is manifest through us.

This new life is working: the Life works a new life in us continually in place of the old sinful self; the Life is working out of in actual daily life and behavior; the Life is working an eternal hope and a permanent joy; the Life is working to gradually transformthe soul with a New Life, a life that does good works and avoids sin. We need to believe that the promise is being fulfilled because often we do not see the improvement and change that is occurring in the inward man; and we do not see the outward evidence.

Since we are dissatisfied with a lack of growth we attempt by human efforts at self-improvement; we are deceiving into thinking that I can stop sinning and do better if I just try harder, work harder, and employ the proper steps to improvement. But I cannot improve the mortal flesh. Nothing I do will effect any real change; frustration leads to guilt and shame and giving up on God. But the frustration should lead me to repentance and faith in the gospel. Doing just this will lead to the death of the self. This kind of repentance and faith is never-ending; it is never finished. Thus I am delivered unto death, unto the death of Christ as my only hope and to my own death for Jesus’ sake. I do not want to die; I do not want to die to self, but this promise that life works in me gives me faith to be changed by faith from the inside. Then my death and Jesus’ life brings the positive change I always wanted.Continually hearing the Gospel also gives me the patience to wait for the Holy Spirit to do His work. I take hold of the promise: the life of Jesus in me really works.

1. Life of Jesus Manifest

2 Corinthians 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

Believers in Jesus Christ have the promise that the life of Jesus is showing in our their bodies. It is manifest in our bodies, meaning that it is clearly shining for all to see; but all do not by any means see it. We ourselves do not even see it. So how is it manifest? Love, good works, and various kindnesses are visible in life and in action even though many kind acts and good works are under the radar.

The problem with our sight is that humans tend to attribute good works and a good life to the wrong source. We attribute good works to the person who does them: we see the person but we do not see the inner source of love and a good life, which is Jesus Christ in us, the hope of glory. That is why we need the Word to show us what we don’t see: it is the life of Jesus that is coming out of believers, and it is He that is doing the good works. Therefore, when we see good works and acts of kindness we should glorify God and give Him praise. 

Our tendency is to say, “He is a good man. She is a nice person.” This is false. Jesus says, “No one is good except God alone [Luke 18:19].” Inner vision needs the truth of God’s Word in order to see what is really going on. Anything good comes from God; anything bad comes from Sin. Our pride and our natural vision do not want to see this. But it is actually sinful and unbelieving to take the glory that is God’s and give it to another. God’s Word is true whether we believe it or not. God’s glory is His alone whether we glorify God or not. God’s goodness is His alone, but He gives it to us. God shares His Life with us and lets it be manifest in our body.

The obverse of this promise is also true: we bear the dying of Jesus in the bodyas well. This is true because the dying of Jesus forgives our Sin, removes our Death, and grants us the Life of God. To show the life of Jesus we must also bear the dying of Jesus in the body.The Death and Resurrection and the effects of both are always present and ongoing in our lives. Along with that truth, I personally and daily die and rise with Christwhen I remember my Baptism through repentance and faith in the Gospel. The daily result is the death of self and the life of Jesus in my body. And that’s a good thing.

1. 142. Excellency of the power

2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

God shining in our hearts is a treasure; this treasure resides in our frail human bodies, compared here to “jars of clay, earthen vessels.” Our bodies, even our very selves, are weak and very easily broken. But hidden inside these “cracked vessels” is a treasure; the treasure is a surpassing power. Making the comparison between clay jars and treasure allows us to clearly see to whom the surpassing power belongs.

The power hidden within our weakness is the power of God, the Creator of the universe. It should be obvious that we have absolutely no power. Without the Holy Spirit we do not even have the power to make the right choices; we could not even say, “Jesus is Lord” without the Holy Spirit. It should be clear to us that we can take no credit for thinking, deciding or doing anything good. That hurts our pride, but that’s a good thing because pride needs to be cut down. It is hard to admit that we can do no good thing, and hard to admit that God gets the credit for any good work that is done by us. I do not like to admit that I can add nothing to my salvation or good works, but it is true.

Jesus gets the credit for every good work done, but by His amazing grace He applies His credit to us. Now we are accounted righteous and now, with Jesus in us, we have to ability (surpassing power) to do good works. We are glad to admit that it is of God and not of us. In everything, He will do a much better job than we ever will.Trust the excellency of His power. Life is much easier when we trust God, but simple trust does not come so easily. But this is the power of the Gospel: the Gospel gives us ability to trust God. The simple message of the crucified Christ is stronger and wiser than anything in the world or in us.

It is a good thing to admit weakness, for then He is strong. Since I can’t do what God can do for me and in me I will take up my cross and follow Him. I happily shout, “The excellency of the power is of God, and not of me.”

1. Light of the Knowledge of God

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

We have the promise of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. God gave this to us; God is shining in our hearts; the very light of God is shining in our hearts in the face of Jesus Christ. The face of Christ is the presence of Jesus (God). This is where we are; this is who we are. We are in the very presence of God and of His Glory. We are the light-bearers of the glory of God on the dark earth.Each of us is one of billions of points of light shining like stars in a dark world.

God created all things by His Word: He said something, and it came into existence. The first thing God created (or commanded) was light. In the midst of darkness and chaos God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, pushing back all the darkness. Then, in the awesome power of light, God created a bright and beautiful universe, placed an earth in it, and specially created humans to live on it. 

The humans were plunged into darkness by Sin, but God commanded again and the Light of the World shined out of the darkness of Sin and Death. The Light entered the darkness and pushed it away, forgiving Sin and granting Life. The Light was the Life of men, forgiven and righteous men. The darkness could not overcome the light; death cannot overcome life; sin cannot overcome grace; evil cannot overcome good. This promise, which we cannot see, is visible to our minds when we picture how light shines in the darkness; this we can understand. It is precisely this that happens in our own spirits when the light of Christ shines into the darkness of our souls. Faith in the Gospel has that kind of power. When we believe the gospel the Light shines in the darkness of the Sin and Death that is in us. The darkness loses; the light wins.It shines with the knowledge of the glory of God. All we can say is: “I’m gonna let it shine!”

1. Ministration of Righteousness

2 Corinthians 3:8, 9, 11 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory…For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

The ministry of the spirit is the ministry of righteousness. This ministry is the dispensing, or the giving, or the serving of the Gospel of the New Testament. The promise is that it is exceeding in glory and it is permanent. This promise is fulfilled in the New Testament of Jesus Christ. It is fulfilled in us who believe in Christ. We who have received the Gospel have received a permanent and exceeding glory.Every time we hear the gospel we are standing in awesome glory and reflecting shining glory, the same glory that Jesus showed in the Transfiguration.

The ministry of righteousness is served up to you when you hear the Gospel or read the Word and the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. This ministry of the Spirit through the Gospel plants in you an exceeding bright glory, which you cannot ever see, although on rare occasions you may catch a slight tingling feeling. Therefore, we see by faith what Paul is talking about here when we receive this ministry of the gospel. And faith is enough, for by the power of the Spirit we are able to walk by faith. The promise we have received is that walking by faith is living in the exceeding bright shining glory of the Gospel of God. This promise of glory is permanent (“that which remaineth”), that is, it is eternal; it is more real and substantial than anything else.

Moses brought to us a ministry of death, or a ministry of condemnation, when He received and transmitted the awesome Law of God, the Ten Commandments written on stone by the finger of God. The glory of God was so powerful that the reflected and fading glory that was left on Moses’ face was too much for the people to bear that he had to wear a veil over his face. How much more is the ministry of Life!

The ministry of the Law is Deathbecause it exposes our sin and guilt and condemnation; it is glorious. Much more, the ministry of the Gospel is Lifebecause it exposes the forgiveness of sin and the righteousness of God granted freely on account of Christ. Imagine! We bask in that glory every day.

1. Sufficiency

2 Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God!

Self-sufficiency is a noble goal for individuals to strive for according to human standards. But before God self-sufficiency just will not suffice. Human sinners cannot sufficiently direct their lives for success or for acceptance with God. The more we try with our own efforts the more we will continue to fail. And we do get any credit for effort. The more we try the more frustrated we become. God never says, “Try! And I will give you an A for effort.” God says, “Do! Be perfect and righteous in all your ways.” In the words of Yoda, “Try not; Do.” Do not “think any thing of ourselves,” because your works and efforts will always be insufficient. Stop deluding yourself into thinking you can be “good;” face the fact and the verdict: You are not good;you can’t do it; give up trying; you are dead; you will ever be insufficient. Our only hope is to throw ourselves onto the mercy of God. If God is not merciful all hope is lost.

But the good news is that God is merciful, because of Jesus Christ. By grace Jesus Christ earns God’s favor. For Jesus’ sake God will be sufficient for us. Our sufficiency is of God. The sufficiency of God should be enough for us, and it is. We give up on ourselves; now we can confidently say, “My sufficiency is of God. I am completely sufficient. God is all I have and He is all I need.” 

God is all-sufficient. I give up on myself; I give up on my own efforts; I cease striving and stressing. I can totally trust God. He gives me everything I need to be wholly righteous, perfect, holy and acceptable to live in God’s Presence. In Him I deserve life eternally and abundantly. With the Lord as my Shepherd I lack nothing. He is sufficient for all that I need, spiritually, physically, emotionally, mentally, relationally, and financially.I only end up with insufficiency when I trust myself instead of God, when I try by myself before turning to God, when I think, “I can handle this” and forget to let God be God. My sufficiency is of God.