Called to Suffer and Rejoice - Part 3

Continuing In II Corinthians 4, verses 17-18



Lord, sometimes I almost feel like giving up the "fight for life",… but…by Your grace, I FAINT NOT"! Which cause? Piper, in his sermon series, "Called to Suffer and Rejoice" says there are four reasons given in the previous verses why we should NOT LOSE HOPE if we are "walking with God."

1) The power of God will be revealed in our weakness, and God will be magnified! (verses 7, 10, 11)

2) The life of Jesus will flow through us to others. The church will be "strengthened" and "satisfied" in God by our "dying", and God will be glorified! (Verse 15)

3) God sustains us and won't let us be overcome! (Verses 8-9)

4) Our afflictions are not the last word. We will rise from the dead and love again! (Verse 14)

Lord, here is yet another reason why I should not lose heart!

5) Even though my body seems to be "falling apart" – yes, it is
slowly wearing away…

YET the inner me is being renewed and refreshed day by day through Your Word. Hallelujah!

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

For…for! Piper says there are yet more reasons why we should not lose heart –

6) Our afflictions are momentary – only for a brief lifetime.

Piper says, "Now `momentary' does not mean it lasts sixty seconds. It means it only lasts a lifetime, and that's all…It's only a lifetime you have to suffer – only a little teeny-weeny infinitisimal lifetime. The word in Greek means "present". The sufferings are designed for this age and never again.,..never again – for a million, million, million milleniums of centuries of ages. Momentary…momentary..just a lifetime."

This is awesome to think about! Thank-You, Lord, for this wonderful truth!

7) Our afflictions by comparison to what we are about to receive after the momentary suffering are LIGHT. They are "light" even though he said in II Cor. 11:23-28:

23…in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

Piper adds, "And that he calls `light'? Why? Why? It's because he knows about weight. He knows about weight that's coming . Only one way can we call such sufferings `light', and only one way – if we see a weight of glory that is going to be so heavy in the scales that SUFFERINGS GO UP LIKE FEATHERS."

8) Every moment of suffering is producing, affecting, and working an eternal weight of glory.

Piper says, "These afflictions that we endure are not merely a kind of disconnected prelude to glory. They EFFECT glory; they PRODUCE glory; they WORK glory – which means there is not one lost moment of patient pain in your life. Each moment of patiently endured pain in
Your life WORKS something in the age to come – PRODUCES something in the age to come – EFFECTS a change in what you experience in the age to come."

Rom. 8:16, 17b-18 says, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God…IF so be that WE SUFFER WITH HIM, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the GLORY which shall be revealed in us."

Lord, let me not miss the value of my suffering. Suffering is the means to glory. Let me look to Jesus and EMBRACE my sufferings!

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.

Lord, we also faint not WHILE (as Piper says)

9) Our minds are set on the UNSEEN GLORY TO COME – the glory of eternal things!

It is true, Lord! When I AM LOOKING to You and to the eternal things which I only see with my spiritual eyes – things that I cannot see with my physical eyes, I have much HOPE. This reminds me of this song -

O soul, are you weary and troubled?

No light in the darkness you see.

There's a light for a look at the Saviour,

And love more abundant and free.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus.

Look full in His wonderful face.

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim.

In the light of His glory and grace.

Lord, as Piper says, if "I LOOK, focus, meditate, and think" on these reasons – "if I believe them, I will not lose heart! I will be renewed day by day!"

Thank-You, Lord, for these wonderful promises of HOPE! In Jesus' name. Amen!



*Quotes by Piper -Used with permission