|
Two athletes of equal ability accept scholarships to play football at an NCAA university. One goes on to a great career in the NFL while the other player flounders and eventually drops out of school. Two entrepreneurs with equal assets develop businesses. One makes millions while the other one goes bank-rupt. Two couples begin their marriages with similar cultural and spiritual backgrounds. Thirty years later the one couple is happily married with grand-children, the other is divorced and barely speaking to each other. Why is it that some people succeed and others don’t? Is it just plain old luck?
Obviously there are a number of contributing factors that determine what happens in people’s lives, but one of the most critical elements is persistence. People who really achieve stay with it longer. They don’t quit easily. Obstacles do not intimidate them. Instead they see them as opportunities. Bouncing back from failure makes them less apprehensive and more confident.
In his stimulating book, Adversity Quotient—Turning Obstacles Into Opportunities, Paul Stoltz points out that for years the predominant measure of potential in industry and educational circles was I.Q. But there are all kinds of examples of people—like Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber—who have brilliant I.Q.’s, but are total failures. He contends that there is something more important than I.Q. and that’s A.Q. or “Adversity Quotient.” In other words, successful people refuse to quit. They persevere. They have a high A.Q.
According to Paul Stoltz, while you can’t do much to improve your IQ, you can dramatically improve you’re A.Q. I like even better what another man named Paul wrote about persistence. In 2 Corinthians 4:8-18, the Apostle Paul dis-cusses the importance of perseverance in the Christian life. Verse 16 is our theme, “Therefore we don’t lose heart.”
Please pay careful attention to Paul’s four familiar encouragements that should enhance our endurance and confidence for uncertain times.
I. Get Back Up When You Get Knocked Down
Paul’s first encouragement is simply: Get back up when you get knocked down. He writes in verse 9, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed.” The Living Bible paraphrases it this way, “We get knocked down, but we get up again and get going.”
The Apostle Paul was amazingly resilient. He bounced back from a number of hard knocks. Threaten him in Jerusalem, and he flees to an Arabian desert where he spends a decade studying and preparing in obscurity. Then he resur-faces in Antioch ready to do ministry. Stone him and leave him for dead outside Lystra, and he gets back up and goes to Derbe and wins a large number of dis-ciples. Throw him into prison in Philippi, and he converts the jailer. Drag him into the courtroom in Caesarea and he turns the witness stand into a pulpit. Shipwreck him and strand him on the island of Malta, and he helps lead the isl-and’s chief politician to the Lord. Throw him into a Roman jail, and he emerges months later with much of the New Testament in his hand. Paul always got back up when he was knocked down.
History is full of examples like the Apostle Paul. Zell Miller, Senator from Georgia, tells about a high school senior who applied to three colleges only to be rejected by all three. Finally when a fourth rejected him, he wrote to the admissions office: “Dear Sir, I am in receipt of your rejection and quite frankly that is over my limit. So, I am rejecting your rejection and will report for college on September 18th!” I’m not sure how that all worked out.
Teddy Roosevelt was rejected when he tried to join the army after the Spanish-American war broke out. They told him he was too old and too nearsighted. But he rejected the rejection. Roosevelt went out and organized a civilian militia that he named the “Rough Riders.” He went to Cuba and led his followers in the famous charge up San Juan Hill. The rest of President Teddy Roosevelt’s story is history.
When Albert Einstein was a graduate student, his doctoral dissertation was re-jected by the University of Bern as “too fanciful and irrelevant.” Fortunately he rejected the rejection and didn’t throw his theory of relativity into the waste-basket.
Michael Jordan got cut from his Jr. High basketball team. Colonel Saunders was broke at age 65 before he marketed his Kentucky Fried Chicken? recipe. It’s imperative that Christians have that same spirit of persistence. Proverbs 24:16 reads, “For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.”
Some of you have stumbled and fallen in the Christian life. You’ve fallen into old sinful habits, failed in marriage, failed as parents, or failed in church leader-ship. You’re tempted to throw in the towel and wallow in self-pity and quit. The Bible encourages you to get back up and go on to the bright future God has in store for you.
Sherri Rose Shepherd entered a beauty pageant, walked off the end of the run-way, and fell face down onto a table where the judges were seated. She told herself, “I’ve got to get up!” So, she brushed herself off and quipped, “I just wanted you to remember me!” They did—and she won! She later became Miss USA and wrote about that most embarrassing incident in her Christian book, Life is not a Dress Rehearsal.
Frank Peretti was living in a trailer with no inside plumbing, making less than $15,000 a year, when he wrote his Christian novel, This Present Darkness. His novel had been rejected by twelve publishing companies. Finally Good News Publishers reluctantly agreed to sign him explaining there was little market for Christian fiction but maybe this book could sell between 10,000 and 15,000 copies. It has now sold over three and a half million copies! Frank Peretti was “struck down but not destroyed.”
Francie Swartz, in the book, Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work, tells about a Christian guy named Jerry who was always in a positive mood. If you asked, “How are you, Jerry?” He’d say, “If I were any better, I’d be twins!”
One day Swartz said to Jerry, “I don’t get it. You can’t possibly be a positive, upbeat person all the time. How do you do it?” Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, ‘Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.’ I choose to be in a good mood.” “It’s not that easy,” Swartz protested. “Yes it is,” Jerry said. “Life is all about choices. When you cut through all the junk, every situation is a choice.”
About a decade ago, the restaurant Jerry owns was robbed. The thieves pa-nicked and shot him. Jerry recalled that day: “The paramedics were great. They kept saying I was going to be fine. But, when they wheeled me into the emergency room, I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses; then I started to get really scared. In their eyes I read, ‘He’s a dead man.’ I knew I needed to take action.”
Jerry recalled a big burly nurse shouting questions at him. She asked, “Are you allergic to anything?” “Yes,” he replied. The doctors and nurses stopped work-ing as they waited for his reply. “Bullets!” he said. Over their laughter he told them, “I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.”
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry lived, thanks to God’s grace. Swartz said, “I saw Jerry six months after the accident and asked, ‘How are you doing?’ He said, ‘If I were any better, I’d be twins!’”
Jerry was “struck down but not destroyed.” We normally use the little word “but” to introduce a negative thought. For example, it’s a nice day, but it’s probably going to rain. I like the church service, but the music was too loud. I believe in God, but I don’t understand how He could let this happen. I like Pastor Bestian, but _____________ (I’ll let you fill in the blank!).
The New Testament writers often used the word but to introduce a positive reality. Jesus said, “In the world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” The church was persecuted, but those who were scattered abroad preached the Word. Paul writes in verses 8-9, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; perse-cuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” . . . “Therefore we don’t lose heart.”
II. Love the Lord More Than Life Itself
Secondly, Paul encourages us to love the Lord more than life itself. In verse 10 we read, “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” In other words, our physical sufferings remind us that Jesus suffered & died for us. “For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that His life may be revealed in our mortal body.”
The Apostle Paul considered himself expendable so that others could come to know Christ. For example, Acts 19 relates that Paul’s preaching created such a revival in Ephesus that those who manufactured and sold souvenirs of the god-dess Diana felt threatened. They stirred up a riot against the Christians, and the people rushed as one person into the theater. Acts 19:30 says, “Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him.”
The theater in Ephesus was an outdoor amphitheater, cut into the mountainside at the edge of town. It seated 25,000 people. Picture the scene. This bloodthirsty mob runs into the theater and begins chanting, “Great is Artemas of the Ephesians! Great is Artemas of the Ephesians!” When the Apostle Paul saw the crowd, do you know what he said? “Wow! What a chance to preach! I’m going in there to tell them about Jesus!” Acts 19:31 says, “Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.”
Paul was willing to face that hostile crowd because he loved the Lord more than his own life. If he could just convince one person that Jesus was the Messiah, it would be worth whatever the cost—shipwreck, beatings, imprisonment, even death. That’s why Paul persevered and never quit. He loved the Lord and His kingdom more than life itself.
Does Jesus Christ matter more to you than life itself? The movie, First Knight, is a retelling of the legend of Camelot. There is a scene in the movie where Lancelot, played by Richard Gere, is asked to train a man in the art of being a skilled swordsman. Lancelot says, “First, you must study the way your opponent moves until you know what he’s going to do before he does it.” The student responds, “I can do that.” “Next, you must know that moment in every fight when you can win or lose,” Lancelot instructs him. “I can do that too” he says, “if you’ll show me.” “And finally,” Lancelot says, “you must not care, my friend, whether you live or die.”
That’s what Jesus asks of us, “If anyone would come after Me, they must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). If the government reported a terrorist threat this week against churches would you still show up next Sunday? Most of us aren’t called upon to be martyrs, but the relevant question is: “Is your devotion to Christ greater than your devotion to any other single thing in life?”
If you’re involved in a romantic relationship that you know is not right spiritually, will you sacrifice it for Him? Do you love the Lord more than the pleasures of this life? Do you put His church ahead of ball games, horse races, school activities, or golf matches? Is Jesus an all-consuming passion in your daily life or just a weekend distraction? Annie Dillard said, “How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.”
III. Believe What You Say You Believe
Verses 13-15 reveal our third encouragement to persistence: Believe what you say you believe. “It is written: ‘I believed; therefore I have spoken.’” Real belief can’t keep silent. “Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to Himself.”
The Apostle Paul believed with all his heart that Jesus was the Christ, the promised Messiah of God. He believed that Jesus died an atoning death for our sins and was raised from the dead as proof that He was the Son of God. That was not a religious myth to Paul. He met the Risen Christ on the Damascus road. The resurrection of Christ was a historical event.
Paul believed that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead would also resurrect us from the grave and reunite us with fellow believers. Paul also be-lieved that his life had an eternal purpose. Verse 15 reads, “All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.” That belief motivated him to keep going.
That same belief keeps a lot of people going today. A schoolteacher may say, “My patience is gone. I’m at the end of my rope. But I must keep going because I believe these children need what I can give.” A faithful wife may say, “I’ve had it with my husband’s neglect and indifference, but I’m going to stick it out for the sake of my children, my family, and my witness for Christ Jesus. I believe it’s the right thing to do.”
We are to know what we believe and why we believe it. One of my great con-cerns is that people just come to church because it makes them feel good. If that’s all it is, you’re going to fade when the pressure is on. Christianity begins with facts to be believed; then there is faith to be expressed followed by feelings to be experienced. But it needs to be in that order.
Do you believe what you say you believe? Do you believe it strongly enough to persevere in your faith when life falls apart? Job lost all his possessions; all ten of his children were killed. His health broke. His wife ridiculed his faith. But even though Job didn’t understand the ways of God, even though he didn’t feel good, he reaffirmed his belief in a merciful and gracious God. Job said stub-bornly, “Even though He slay me, still will I trust in Him” (Job 13:15).
Do you believe what you say you believe? A couple gives birth to their second stillborn child. A forty-year-old husband learns his wife’s leukemia is back. A wife discovers her husband is cheating on her. When life gets that uncertain you better know what you believe, because you’re not going to feel very good. Do you still hold on to your convictions? Do you say, “Even though He slay me, still will I trust in Him”?
IV. Keep Your Eye On the Goal
And finally, our last encouragement: Keep your eye on the goal. Paul writes, “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (vv. 16-18).
The reason Paul persevered is because he focused on his eternal goal. Every-thing we see and touch is temporary—it’s all going to pass away. Like Paul, we have to be persistent and stay focused on our eternal goal. When an opposing player of an NBA team is shooting a crucial free throw at the Pepsi Center, Nugget fans behind the basket do everything possible to distract him. They scream and wave their arms or some other object. The only way a player can make a free throw is to block that out and focus on the goal.
Our goal is to enter heaven when we die and take as many people as we can with us, but Satan will do everything possible to distract our attention. He’ll taunt us into losing heart because of our own physical problems. Paul admits, “Outwardly we’re wasting away.” Isn’t that the truth? Strange things happen to our bodies as we age—wrinkles, aches and pains, loss of firmness, hair growing out of our ears and noses, dim eyesight, plumbing that doesn’t function as well, and a fading memory. We try to camouflage it with hair transplants, make up, looser fitting clothes, even surgery if necessary. But it still happens, and it’s discouraging, isn’t it?!
Paul urges us to keep our eyes on the eternal goal. One day we’re going to have new bodies, where there will be no more death, aging, aches, pains, or hair loss! “Outwardly we’re wasting away, but inwardly we’re being renewed day by day.”
Satan will attempt to divert our attention with personal problems—family stress, business demands, financial pressure. We cry out, “I can’t take it anymore!” I love how the Message paraphrases verse 16, “These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times—the lavish celebration prepared for us.”
Paul says these troubles that seem so huge now are going to seem so miniscule and so momentary when we look back at them 10,000 years from now. So keep focused on the ultimate goal—fix your eyes on what is unseen. Keep everything in perspective. Remember, “We can endure all things through Christ who strengthens us.”
We’re not promised that this life is going to turnout as we want. But this world isn’t our home. I like the phrase in the hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” that reads, “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.” That’s what Jesus Christ brings to our lives—not exemption from life’s hurts, but, “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.” “Therefore, we don’t lose heart.” Amen.
|
