With Joy In All Our Affliction

Good morning. Yeah, when Craig and Crystal pulled up and I saw Craig's foot up on the dashboard, I said, that's not quite the usual way of traveling. Something appeared to be wrong. I'm glad that Hassan was available. I'm sure he didn't travel all the way from Uganda just to carry Craig down the hill, but it worked out well that way. And so anyway, the Lord has provided. What was interesting is the Lord also provided because it was probably better than a mile, somewhere close to two is what I understand that he had to be carried. And so while Hassan's certainly a very strong and durable fellow, a large attorney and a large doctor also helped carry Craig down the hill. So anyway, the Lord provides. Let's see.

This is a letter of the heart. I'm kind of doing a summary of the whole book of 2 Corinthians here. This is a letter of the heart, most certainly, no question about it. Paul is writing not just this passage, although certainly that, but really the whole book continues to come from Paul's heart. It's a letter that kind of reaches out and hugs. It's a letter that seeks from start to finish to be close and to care dearly for the saints there in Corinth. And so 2 Corinthians is certainly that kind of letter.

Earlier, when we studied chapter 2, he wrote this verse, for out of much affliction and anguish, and he's not letting loose of that theme, Out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you." Aren't those tender words? What a guy. He truly has opened his heart to these people and is wanting them to know that he loves them dearly, that he is seeking intimacy, in fact, with them.

Second Corinthians, in all these passages listed here, basically at least once, sometimes three times, in a chapter for the first nine chapters, heart or hearts, is mentioned in this letter. One chapter after the next. It's certainly a letter of the heart, no question about it. Each of the first nine chapters has some mention of heart or hearts, and at least one, sometimes three.

Why would that be? Why would Paul write in such a way? Why would he write like that? Why doesn't he just lay down some dry doctrine, right? No, that's not what he's doing, is it? What he's doing here is he is opening up his heart and he is appealing to their heart. The heart is a place that needs to be touched. He doesn't want them to just go through the motions. He doesn't want them to just outwardly comply.

The heart is where we think and believe. And I'm not just talking about the gray matter and the neurons and synapses working. But it's where we do our perspective. It is where we look at things. What's life about? Where am I headed? Who am I? Those kinds of things. It's where our deepest passions and longings come from. It's where our joys and hopes spring from. It is, in fact, the place of intimacy. And so that's why Paul opens his heart and appeals for them to do the same and appeals for them to respond.

At times, Paul does, in his letters, address things that are just logistics and staffing. You know, this needs to go there. Oh, by the way, Timothy, please bring my cloak. Oh yeah, and bring those books, too. At times, he addresses those kinds of things.

But that's not really what the core of this letter is about, is it? This letter is certainly, from start to finish, a letter of the heart, a letter where Paul's heart is laid out. That one verse I quoted you about him having a special love for them, that's in chapter 2. We're on now to chapter 7.

And he's been continuing to lay his heart before them and appeal for them to open their hearts to him. The heart of the letter is that it is a letter of the heart for intimacy with Christ and with each other. Isn't it interesting that Paul continues to appeal for this intimacy with the believers there and openness on their part? And he has said, and I am open on my part. My heart is open to you. I have you in my heart. He spells that out again, even in this very passage that Wayne read for us.

This is the place, the heart, where God has done great spiritual work in the believer through Christ. The heart is that very place where God has done his work, where he has made us to be the people that we are. The heart is where we have been placed in Christ. The heart is where Christ has been placed in us. You in Christ and Christ in you is the core definition of who we are, who you are.

It's where the Holy Spirit carries out his ministry of pointing us to Christ and all the other almost two dozen ministries that the Holy Spirit has in the life of the believer. The heart is indeed the place where Paul wants to have an open heart before these believers and they before him. As we saw in last week's passage, at heart, we are a temple and a family. Why does he say a temple? A temple? Because the Lord dwells in us, just as the Lord dwelt in that temple that was there in Jerusalem.

And we're also a family. We have a family relationship with the Lord. The Lord has not just simply said, here, I'm going to do this and that to you, and that's what's going to happen. But there is to be a family relationship. There is a family relationship the Lord has established.

He wants it to be reality. In the verses right before this passage, Paul told the believers there that you are indeed a temple, and that they have to have a family relationship with God himself. So moving on from that passage there, One of the things that's clear, the relationship that God intends with all of us, every believer here in this room, with all of us is both important and it's intimate. It's important and it's intimate. It's not incidental. It's not just one of the relationships out there. It's pivotal. It's central. All the relationships that he intends between us here in the church body are important and intended to be intimate.

The problem with sin and the reason that he talks about sin at all is that it inhibits intimacy. The intimacy is there in who we are in Christ and who Christ is in us. It's already there. But in our daily fellowship, in our daily experience, the problem with sin is that it gets in the way. In one sense, and please don't misunderstand me, in one sense, God doesn't care about sin. What I mean by that is that's not really what His focus is. His focus is He wants relationship and fellowship with us.

And sin gets in the way. Sin also breaks the fellowship between us. If you think about the various relationships that the Lord has put in place, in marriages, in families, in the church, in our own relationship with the Lord, in each one, sin gets in the way of intimacy. Sin gets in the way of intimacy.

It blocks it. It's the elephant in the living room. The living room can only hold an elephant, right? Sin gets in the way. One way to look at it is sin creates a chasm where there should be none. It creates this great big massive opening, this big space where there shouldn't be one.

Anything that is contrary to our being a temple, and we are a temple because the Lord dwells in us, Anything that's contrary to that temple character, anything contrary to the intimacy that is a part of being the family of God, creates these chasms in our heart, this space, this vast emptiness between ourselves and the Lord.

That's what he's talking about. Our relationship with God I'm using a distinction between the word relationship and fellowship. Our relationship with God and with each other are not ended. They cannot be. What do I mean by that? We have a relationship with God that is eternally established. It cannot be changed.

In John 10.28, Jesus and in the whole chapter Jesus refers to those who who follow him as being his sheep And he says and I give them eternal life that basically says I keep giving it to him That's the way the original language is put I keep on giving them eternal life What's interesting is the Lord keeps on giving us eternal life every minute.

Okay all the time and And they will never perish, which is really concise. Let me break it down a little bit. And that word, never, is from a pair of small Greek words. Looks like ao-me, only it's pronounced oo-me. That pair of Greek words right in there that's translated never means not the slightest chance.

No way. Not even remotely is it going to happen. And not remotely will they ever perish. And that word perish is in the middle voice. What does that mean? It means they cannot even remotely lose their salvation of their own doing. It's not even possible. Can't happen. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. Our relationship with the Lord can't be ruined or changed. We can't mess it up. And that's great. I'm glad I can't mess it up, right?

That's relationship. To use an example, if I did something to offend Randy, oh boy, he would still be my son, I would still be his dad. He might not want to claim it, okay, but I would still be his dad, he would be my son. I could damage the fellowship, but the relationship still remains a fact. That's the position we have.

Our fellowship with God and with each other can be filled with a barren hollowness. Relationship with the Lord? Never going to change. Never going to change. If you're a believer here this morning, you are in Christ. Christ is in you. Fixed fact. Untouchable. But sin damages fellowship. Fellowship with the Lord, fellowship with each other. It's the moment-by-moment fellowship that's at issue here. The relationship, can't touch it.

So what's he referring to here when he talks promises in verse 1? He's referring back to the prior place where God says, I will, I will, I will, and I will. I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God. my people. I will welcome you and I will be a father to you. You shall be sons and daughters to me." Intimacy, temple, family, closeness.

That's what he's aiming at. That's the promises he's talking about. God made promise there would be fellowship and an intimacy with the believers who live distinctly as believers. The relationship? Untouchable. I can't mess it up. Fellowship? That's a different matter. On God's part, He has done everything to make that fellowship available. He's not doing anything to mess it up, but I can, on my end, right?

So these are the promises that Paul talks to in 2 Corinthians 7. That's the basis of Paul's appeal here in this chapter for an open heart to the believers at Corinth. The basis of the promises. Here's the poetic pattern. You have it on a slide on page one there, in the first two verses there. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, and by the way, he keeps saying that, beloved. The ones that he says, and I love especially you.

Beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit. Things that are external in this physical realm. Things that are matters purely of the heart. Things that other people don't see. He says, deal with both. Perfecting holiness in the fear of God. The holiness in our eternal position is already there. The holiness in who we are in Christ and who Christ is in us, it's already there. It's the living out of it that he's talking about here.

Make room for us. And as a matter of fact, the words in your hearts is not in the original text, but it's implied. Make room for us in your hearts. He's been talking about hearts all along. He's going to bring up that heart issue there in the very next verse anyway. So he goes on with a kind of a trio of statements.

We wronged no one. We corrupted no one. We took advantage of no one. He says, from our side, we have done everything possible to have an open-hearted relationship with you. Okay? Flesh and spirit, whether it's external, whether it's something this body does or gets involved in, spirit, our thoughts, our attitudes, our perspectives, our deepest longings. And he says we've done nothing. We've done nothing on our side to create a problem in our relationship with you.

Paul appeals to the heart here He appeals to the hearts of the believers to rid their hearts and lives that all that brings on that empty chasm experience, that separation. It is possible for us believers to think we can substitute other things for intimacy.

Oh, they may be good things even. It's quite possible. And we're not making a list of things here for the standpoint of, you know, here's a bunch of rules and laws. So this is really a hard issue. What can we substitute for that relationship with the Lord being lived out in fellowship? We could substitute accomplishment.

Oh, I've got stuff I've got to do. Or look at what I've done. Boy, we've got stuff to do, right? Entertainment. We can entertain ourselves to death. The remote sits in our hands so long it's got cobwebs growing on it, right? Activity or leisure? Either things that we're off doing, things that we're actively doing, or I'm just taking a break. Jesus, I am resting, resting, resting, resting, resting.

Acquiring and managing of our possessions. Am I saying that we should let everything just fall apart? No. Matter of fact, not too long ago we went through and cleaned things up here, and we need to do that in other areas. I'm not saying that. But it certainly can occupy us, right? trying to make heaven on earth with all the management and acquiring of our possessions.

There is no substitute for the intimacy of heart that God has in mind. And are we to accomplish things? Is it okay to have entertainment? Activity and leisure? Are those good things? Yeah. Acquiring, managing possessions? Not basically a problem, but it is not a substitute for that intimacy.

Intimacy of heart is something that God intends. He wants. He considers it important. Verse one talks about a fear of the Lord. So what kind of fear are we talking about? Oh, no, it's God. Is that what he's talking about? Oh, heaven's what I forgot to do. You may have seen the bumper sticker, Jesus is coming back and boy is he mad. Right? It's not that kind of fear. The end of verse one speaks of believers having a fear of God. What does he mean by that? What kind of fear does Paul have in mind? He didn't have in mind a fear of God's wrath.

Romans 5.9, as we quote here, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him.

1 Thessalonians 1.10, Jesus who rescues us from the wrath to come.

Later on that same book in verse 5.9, 1 Thessalonians 5.9, for God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have multiple promises that that's not what's coming. So the fear of God, that's not what he's talking about, at least not for us who believe.

I think what he is communicating, though, is ultimate respect. All of us know, in some degree or another, what respect means. But we're talking ultimate respect. That's, I think, what he's talking about when he says, fear of the Lord. It's not some dread fear, oh no, God's coming. You know, oh no, I don't know what God's going to do. But it's ultimate regard for what God has done and who He is and who He has made us to be. And the fact is, we'll stand before him one day. If you're a believer here this morning, you will stand before the Lord one day.

No, he's not sitting there thinking, boy, I just can't wait till I get Vern in front of me. He's going to get it, right? That's not what his attitude is. The Lord's view, last chapter of Revelation, one of the last things the Lord says in Revelation 22, I am coming and my reward is with me. He is eager to reward us. That's his perspective.

His fellowship and his intimacy with each of us and us with one another are that important. He wants to draw our attention to it. So Paul appeals for the believers to have room in their hearts for Paul and the other ministry companions that he brings up even in this very book. There wasn't any real basis for the actions or inactions of Paul, at least in those inactions or actions, for the believers not to make room in their hearts. He says, we haven't done this, we haven't done that, we haven't done anything on our side that should cause you not to open your hearts. The one thing, and Paul was putting his finger on it, the one thing that could stand in the way of intimacy between yourself and the Lord and between yourself and us is sin. Sin takes up all the room. Sin presses its way and squeezes everything out.

Revelation 3.20 is a passage that's often looked at as a salvation passage.

Have you seen that? Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and he with me." Now, it's interesting. In the New Testament culture, it's something that's often missed. As a matter of fact, the person who put this picture together, the artist, failed the note.

In New Testament times, what one would do is go up to the door and knock and announce who you were and who you were looking for. And so you would knock and talk at the same time. And so that's why it says, I stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice. Because of the knocking and talking simultaneously.

But what's this verse really about? This verse is out of a passage from chapter 2 to chapter 3 of the book of Revelation. It's out of a passage talking to believers. Here he is writing to a church and the Lord is standing on the outside, knocking. Now, the Lord Jesus was actually in the hearts of these people. But in terms of their fellowship, in terms of their daily experience, the Lord was standing on the outside and saying, I may be in your hearts in terms of your eternal standing, But in your daily walk, in your daily experience, in your daily life, you're still holding me on the outside.

Will you listen? Will you hear me knocking? Will you hear me talking? Will you hear me asking? I'm Jesus. I'm calling out your name. Will you let me in? Paul was saying much the same thing. He's saying, here I am. I am coming in the name of the Lord. I'm coming with an open heart to you. I've done nothing. to cause you to turn me out.

He says we ought to have intimacy, a mutual open heart. As Paul steps into verses three and four, the poetic pattern looks like this. I do not speak to condemn you, but I have said before that you are in our hearts. Here's this second expression here of, you're in our hearts. And what for? To die together and to live together. Whatever is involved in life, you're in our hearts. If we die, you're in our hearts. If we live, you're in our hearts.

Great is my confidence in you, great is my boasting on your behalf, not in a selfish way, But I am confident in the Lord, in everything that He has promised that He'll follow through. I'm not here to undermine who you are and what you're doing. But He says, I am filled with comfort. I am overflowing with joy. In what? In all our affliction. Let's take a look at that.

The first part here is a living sacrifice. He was very close to these believers even though there's a great physical distance. At least on his part he was close. He was appealing for them to be close on their part. These believers were in Paul's heart whether it meant life or death and it could well have meant either one.

As he had said in 2nd Corinthians 2.4 Out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you." Paul lived a life of sacrifice for their sakes, even if it meant death. And sometimes it came awfully close. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, he said it three times, on Paul's side of the relationship that stood in the way of intimacy with them. But then he talks about some things very interesting. Let me ask you these questions. What does it take to fill you with comfort? Something out of the refrigerator? Something out of the heater or the air conditioner? Something out of the furniture store? What does it take to fill you with comfort?

What are the right circumstances to be overflowing with joy? A knock on the door and a great big giant check from Publishers Clearinghouse, right? Is that what it is? Maybe not. What are the right circumstances to be overflowing with joy? Would you say, oh boy, this will be very interesting to get your thoughts on this, would you say that affliction helps to bring about either one of these things, comfort and joy? I'm sure Craig was thinking, oh joy, I just broke my foot, you know? Oh, this is comfortable, right? Probably not.

But very interesting, Paul, joy in all of our afflictions. and filled, overflowing with these things, joy and comfort. Paul is saying here, he's talking about a kind of comfort that he's filled with and a kind of joy that he's overflowing with that are independent of the circumstances. You wouldn't look at the circumstances of affliction, and in fact, pretty soon he's going to number them and list them. You would not look at those and say, boy, those would be real comfortable, joyous circumstances. But he says, we have these in spite of the circumstances. The circumstances don't seem to add up. Circumstances don't bring the kind of comfort and joy that he's talking about.

The kind of comfort and joy he's talking about. So if that's the case, what's the source here? The comfort and joy that he's talking about are from intimacy with the Lord himself. The Lord himself has done everything to bring about the intimacy between us and him. Everything. He doesn't have anything left to do on his to-do list. The only thing that might possibly be standing in the way of the intimacy with God is on our side of the relationship. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Adversity is not the reason for the chasm.

I'd feel a lot closer to God if I just didn't have all these hassles. I'd feel a lot closer to God if the hospital bill was not so large. I'd feel a lot closer to God if all the political decisions were in my favor. Is that the way it works? I'd feel a lot closer to God if all the pains in my body would quit yelling.

Right? Adversity, whatever the form, isn't the reason for the chasm. If there is one. It's sin that makes the gap and the chasm in the space. Hebrews 12, 1 and 2, I think, puts some of these same truths in another context. Actually, Hebrews 12, 1 and 2 is about two different kinds of races. Our race and the Lord's race. Let's read about them.

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, and this is following the witnesses out of the Old Testament, Let us also lay aside every encumbrance in the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

I ran track for a few years in high school, and I found it was a lot easier to run in track than it was in football. In football, all these people are trying to grab you and they're jumping at you and hitting you from the side and really making it difficult. And all you're trying to do is get down to the goal line. You'd wish they'd just get out of the way, right? And quit trying to grab you and knock you over and all that stuff.

Well, this is looking at things like the track meet. All that stuff that entangles us. Don't try to run track and play football at the same time. It's a really bad mix. But he's saying, everything that entangles us, everything that hinders, set it aside and run the race before us.

Fixing our eyes on Jesus what the runners would be told to do is to fit fix their eyes on on this goal line, and they'd actually have goal markers there and It's the word Scopus to look at the goal line. It's where we get a word scope, okay? Fix your eyes on that goal like Jesus.

That's where I'm headed What's going on in life lots of things? I? What's going on with my body? Lots of things. What's not going on? Lots of things, right? Everything that's happening here, he's saying, fix your eyes on Jesus. That's where you're headed.

You know, when it's all said and done, when we're all through here, when we breathe our last, however soon or late that happens to be, when it's all said and done here, it's fixing your eyes on Jesus that's going to matter. All the different things we wanted and hoped didn't happen and everything else, it's all going to fade and it's fixing our eyes on Jesus that's going to make a difference.

That's what's going to matter in the end. The author and perfecter of, and I've added a word here that's not in some of your translations because the definite article is there, the author and perfecter of the faith. The author, he's the source. The perfecter, he's the finisher. The start and the finish. Jesus, the author and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross.

Did he say, oh good, those nails feel so great? The whippings are just wonderful. I love being thirsty up here. Is that what he was doing? No. It wasn't because the cross was any way pleasant. It was not, most definitely. What was the joy he was looking forward to?

Relationship. Fellowship. Intimacy. Intimacy with the Father. Intimacy with you. Who for the joy set before him that included relationship with you, he endured the cross. Oh, for that believer at Holly Hills, that believer sitting here this morning, I'll gladly die for that one. I'll take the nails. Get started. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross. Despising the shame means he didn't care.

They oftentimes, when they crucified, did it in such a way that they intended to shame to the max and be painful to the max. It was not designed to be a quick, painless death. They would oftentimes take as much as all clothing off, and all you saw was the ripped flesh. All you saw was the pain and the agony.

And has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. You know, that's the first and the last items. The first and the last items in the five ways in which you've been identified with Christ. You've been identified with him in his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seating. This is the first and the last item.

You know who you are? You know what your history is? It's his. It's his history. He's worth fixing our eyes on. It's that important. Intimacy with him? There's not a reason in the world not to have it. Intimacy with one another? There's not a reason in the world not to have it. Open hearts?

That's exactly what God has in mind. Let's pray. Lord, we come to you and ask indeed that our hearts would be open to you and open to one another as a result. We thank you for all that you have done to define us as being in you and you in us. We thank you for that intimacy that we already have on into eternity. And we pray for the living out of that. We pray for the experience of it in our daily lives, even today, even this very moment. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.