And I invite the rest of you to turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. When Joe asked me a few days ago if I would be willing to speak this morning, I told him that I was open to it, but that I didn't know if I loved the idea of people showing up expecting to hear from Tim Kazee And then they get me. And I know that most of you know who Tim Kazee is. If you're here and you don't really know who Tim Kazee is, the guy that we keep talking about all morning, the easiest way to explain to you who Tim Kazee is, is he's basically Indiana Jones. The guy has traveled to over 90 countries. We've supported him in his role as a church now, in his role at Frontline Missions for about 12 years now. He's been to over 90 countries. He's poured out his life in the hardest, most dangerous places in the world, places like war-torn Bosnia. Iraq, Afghanistan, Albania, Vietnam, Cambodia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Pakistan, South Sudan, Russia, Somalia, Kosovo, Turkey, and so on. I'm not going to list all 90 countries. I just want to be super clear this morning. In his study, down in his home in South Carolina, he has collections of swords, historical artifacts. I just want to be super clear this morning. I am not that guy. So I just wanted to set expectations accordingly. But that said, we are gonna study the words of a man who lived a life arguably of greater risk and greater danger. In fact, the words we're gonna study come from a man who described his own life as filled with danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, dangers in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers. This is a man who endured, he says, toil and hardship, who suffered many sleepless nights, a man who frequently felt hunger and thirst, who suffered cold and misery. He was shipwrecked three times. He was stranded at sea for an entire night and day. He endured countless beatings. He was frequently imprisoned. He was stoned with large rocks once. He was brutally whipped on five separate occasions. He was a man who throughout his ministry was, as he puts it, often near death. This is not a man who had an easy life, and yet he could say at the end of his life with integrity, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. The man that I'm talking about right now is the Apostle Paul. That resume of suffering that I just read is found in a letter he wrote, a letter to the church in Corinth that's been preserved for us in the Bible, 2 Corinthians 11. And this morning, we're gonna be studying an earlier portion of that letter. I wanna take just a moment though to clarify that our church is not made up of Indiana Joneses or of Tim Kazeeses or of Apostle Pauls. In fact, our church is comprised of very, very ordinary, normal people, men and women who have normal jobs, normal families, and fairly normal lives. Our lives, by comparison, are ordinary and maybe a little bit boring. And yet, I wanna say that our lives are exactly like the people to whom the Apostle Paul is writing. We might not have as much in common with the author of the letter, but we have much in common with the recipients of the letter, the ordinary men and women to whom Paul was writing. And I wanna say that we need what they needed. I should also clarify, though, that even though the Apostle Paul did live an epic life of adventure, danger, and world travel, the church in Corinth, The people that he wrote this letter to, they didn't think of him as Indiana Jones. That thought actually would have never crossed their mind for three reasons. Number one, they lived about 2,000 years before Indiana Jones. Number two, Indiana Jones is not real. He is a fictional movie character from the 80s. The third reason why it would never have crossed their minds is because the people in the church at Corinth thought that the Apostle Paul was a loser. There were these celebrity preachers who had arrived on the scene. And they were becoming really, really popular. And one of the ways that they would increase their popularity was by undermining Paul's influence. They started saying all sorts of things to make themselves look good, to make Paul look bad. In fact, they would actually point to all the horrible things that happened to Paul as a way of discrediting him. They're basically saying, like, are we sure that this guy is doing things the right way? Because it seems like anywhere he goes, he ends up getting beaten to a pulp or thrown in jail. And like, really? And so there was this turning and this twisting of the very things that Paul said, this is what gives credibility to my ministry. There was this turning and this undermining of his influence. And so Paul writes this letter to explain to believers what real, authentic gospel ministry is. He wants normal Christians to know what authentic, real gospel ministry looks like, what it does, what it longs for, and what it produces. And today, on our church's 26th anniversary, I want to remind us as well what real, authentic, meaningful, lasting, fruitful, bold, God-glorifying gospel ministry looks like. We've already rehearsed this a few different ways this morning, but our church is growing. It has been growing over the past few years. About five years ago, there was a spike, a change from slow, steady growth to all of a sudden there was a spike and now we've had much faster growth. It's thrilling. We're far from a perfect church, but many of us heard in the last hour specific concrete examples in testimony after testimony of ways in which God is at work here. We've crammed as many seats in this room as we can. We've expanded our parking lots. Our classrooms are packed. Our children's ministries are teaming with kids. Our church is growing and it's wonderful. And so the right response that we've been doing all morning is to say, praise God. We don't want any of the credit. All the credit goes to God. So truly, praise God. But as Joe prayed just a minute ago, what if it doesn't continue? What if our church stops growing? What if we kind of just plateau? What if for any one of a million reasons our church begins to shrink? What then? My burden this morning is that I want to see our church, whether we triple in size or if we dwindle down to next to nothing, no matter how big we are or how small we are, no matter whether we see lots of fruit or whether we see a long drought of nothing happening, I want to see us as a church stay true to the course, stay true to the faith, and stay true to Christ, no matter what. And so I'm convinced that we need what the Apostle Paul says in this passage, to ordinary believers about what is real, authentic, meaningful, lasting, fruitful, bold, God-glorifying gospel ministry. May we rally all of us to this war cry this morning. May we never stray. I'm gonna pray and we're gonna dive in. God, we are seeking you this morning. We want to hear from you. We believe that you have spoken in your word through the words and the message of the Apostle Paul that we're studying today. And so I pray, God, that you would send your word to us this morning with great power so that we are moved by it, so that we are changed by it. We want you to bring us as individuals and as our church as a whole into complete engagement with the mission to which you've called us. May we be faithful. We ask for the Holy Spirit's help now, in Jesus' name, amen. We're going to be working through this morning a big chunk of 2 Corinthians. Just so you know, a good portion of my sermon is actually just reading the passage. We're going to be tackling all of chapter 4, all of chapter 5, and the first 10 verses of chapter 6. this section of scripture, it's so rich. Again, Paul is writing to tell believers what real, authentic gospel ministry looks like. He's writing as an apostle, which means that there are some ways in which the things he says about himself are unique to him, but there's a lot of ways in which what he's saying, he's serving as an example to us. In fact, in his first letter to the Corinthians, he said, be imitators of me as I am a follower of Christ. So I'm gonna read the passage. After I read the passage, I'm gonna give the main points and I'm gonna try to apply it in two simple ways. 2 Corinthians chapter four, starting in verse one, Paul says, therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word. But by the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. pause there for a second. We're going to be working through a lot of texts. I just want to kind of summarize making sure that we're getting a handle of what we're reading. Paul is saying that the reason why some people don't believe the gospel is because Satan is literally blinding them and causing spiritual deception. But just like in the beginning of time in Genesis 1-3, when God said, let there be light, God is again doing a new work of creation in the hearts of unbelievers so that they can and they do see Christ as glorious. That's why Paul says that faithful gospel ministry doesn't change the message. It doesn't rely on emotional manipulation. It relies on openly stating the truth of the gospel and trusting that God in his sovereign power and grace will open blind eyes to the light of Christ's glory. He goes on, verse 7, he says, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not driven to despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, I believed and so I spoke. We also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God. Paul is saying that we are nothing more than cheap clay pots. We're weak. Our suffering is real. And yet God has designed gospel ministry to show his surpassing power against the backdrop of profound human weakness. Paul says that gospel ministry should look something like the gospel itself, that just as Jesus sacrificed himself physically to bring spiritual life to others, so we do the same. We pour out our lives for the spiritual good of those around us. The verse that Paul is quoting here is Psalm 116.10, in which he likens himself to the psalmist, probably David. and says that even in spite of all of his sufferings, he's still trusting God. Our suffering isn't a reason to stop trusting God. In fact, Paul is confident that God is doing something good for others through his pain and suffering. And he says that as grace extends to more and more people, increases thanksgiving all to the glory of God. So verse 16, he says again, this is repeating what he said in verse one. So we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. Look at verse 17. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, they're temporary, but the things that are unseen, they're eternal, they'll last forever. Now the tent that he's talking about here is our physical bodies. He says, Notice the difference between a tent and a building. Tent, temporary, building, permanent. We have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. He's saying that God has prepared new heavenly bodies for us. Verse two, for in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. If indeed, by putting it on, we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now, Paul's writing in Greek, so I think it's okay, but he's mixing metaphors here a little bit. He's talking about tents and clothes, and his point is that our bodies are temporary lodgings for our souls, sort of like a tent is a temporary building, a temporary dwelling, and yet God has prepared, in contrast, a building that's eternal in the heavens. In other words, the new bodies will not be temporary, they'll be forever, and they'll be perfect. He says, verse five, he who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the spirit as a guarantee. He goes on, verse six, repeating a similar idea. He said, verse one, we do not lose heart. He says it again in verse 16, we do not lose heart. Now he says something similar in chapter five, verse six. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Paul again is saying that his suffering is nothing compared to the glory that awaits him. He walks by faith, not by sight. His focus is set on eternal realities that right now are invisible to the eye, but which will come to pass. His ultimate desire is to be with the Lord Jesus, but whether he's with Jesus or not, his aim is to please him. He knows that he and all believers will one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Look at verse 11. He says, But what we are is known to God. I hope it is known also to your conscience. Again, he's appealing to them. They've been swayed by these, he calls them in chapter 11, these super apostles. It doesn't mean that they were like wearing capes or anything. It just means they thought they were awesome and they've been tearing down everything that he's built in terms of his influence and his investment in them. So he's appealing to them. He's like, I hope you know what's sincere about us. He says, verse 12, we're not commending ourselves to you again or giving you cause to boast about us. So you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not what about is in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it's for God. If we're in our right mind, it's for you. Verse 14, for the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died. And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Paul is saying that the fear of the Lord, this holy, reverent awe of God and that the love that God has shown him in Christ, the fear of the Lord and the love of Christ, these things are having a controlling effect on him. His life is moved by these things. He has this sense of the fear of the Lord, this holy, reverent awe of the mighty God, and this profound sense that his love has been poured out on him in Christ, and he's saying, these realities move me. Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. The love of Christ controls me. I've made this conclusion. He died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them. He goes on, he says, He's compelled both by his view of God, the love he's been shown to give his life in making Christ known to others. When Christ saves you, it changes everything. It changes how you see everything. We see Jesus completely differently than we did before we were saved. Depending on our different backgrounds, there's kind of two options in terms of how we generally view Jesus prior to coming to saving faith and being changed by him. We either see him as nothing. He's not a big deal. He's just a name in history. He's insignificant. Maybe he taught some nice things, but it doesn't really affect my life. He's either nothing or he's an abomination. Something about him, something about his message threatens something in my worldview, and I want nothing to do with him. That's how the Apostle Paul was before his conversion. He did not see Jesus as Lord. He was devoting his life to try to stamp out everyone who named Jesus as Lord. And yet, that's what he means there when he says, verse 16, we used to regard Christ according to flesh. He's thinking back. He's like, we were so blind. We couldn't see, we didn't see Jesus as he actually is, but now we do. We didn't used to see him as king of kings, lord of lords, sovereign ruler of the entire universe over everything and everyone. Do you see Jesus like this? Have your eyes been set ablaze with the glory of Jesus? Or are you still in darkness and blindness? Paul speaks of this radical transformation in verse 17. He says, That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against him, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Chapter six, verse one, working together with him then we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, in a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the favorable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Paul's quoting Isaiah 49.8, saying that the day of salvation has arrived. The day has come, it's here. There is no reason not to turn to Jesus. He, the innocent one, died in place of the guilty ones. He didn't just bear our sin on the cross, He became it. And the wrath of God that was meant for me, that I deserved, that all of us deserved, was poured out on Jesus in our place. So that we would not just get the righteousness of God, that we would become the righteousness of God. It's our new status, it's our new identity. This is amazingly good news. He goes on, verse three, he says, we put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry. Again, he's defending what real, authentic gospel ministry looks like. He says, verse four, as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way, by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger. by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, by truthful speech and the power of God, with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left. Through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise, we are treated as impostors and yet are true. as unknown and yet well known, as dying and behold we live, as punished and yet not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing everything. Paul wants believers to know what is real, authentic, meaningful, fruitful, lasting, bold, God-glorifying gospel ministry. It looks like this. It looks like hardship and suffering. It looks like being patient and kind. It looks like pursuing purity and genuine love. It looks like speaking the truth and relying desperately on the power of God to save. It looks like sorrow and joy, poverty and riches. It looks like having nothing yet actually possessing everything. It's courage and proclamation. Tri-County Bible Church, this right here, this is what we are called to, all of us. I think the main point of the passage is this, real, authentic gospel ministry courageously and compassionately persuades others to be reconciled to God. Real, authentic. Gospel ministry courageously and compassionately persuades others to be reconciled to God. I'm going to apply this passage in two parts. Part one is be courageous. On the basis of all of this, all these realities that Paul has outlined, Christian, be courageous. Don't lose heart. Be of good courage. And part two, be persuasive. Chapter five, verse 11, therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. These are the two parts. I'm gonna go through them and try to help us understand what fueled these things within the Apostle Paul that we can imitate. What was it that gave Paul courage? He didn't have an easy life. He was constantly facing danger. What kept him going? He gave his life to this proclamation. What were the truths that he realized he could not keep to himself? He had to get them out. What drove him? That's what I'm going to try to do in the rest of our time, is give us a little bit of a window. If you didn't notice, the entire section that I'm preaching today is just ginormous. There's so much there. And so I'm not giving you everything. What I'm going to try to do is I'm going to try to highlight five things from each of the two sections that contributed to his being courageous, not giving up, not losing heart, and to his giving his life for proclamation, seeking to persuade others to be reconciled to God. So part one, be courageous for the sake of the gospel. I think the first half of this section is clearly summed up with the charge to be courageous for the sake of the gospel. Again, I tried to point it out as we went through, but chapter four, first verse, said, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. Verse 16 says, we do not lose heart. Chapter five, verse six, we are always of good courage. He repeats again, verse eight, yes, we are of good courage. Paul makes it crystal clear that real, authentic gospel ministry is hard and overwhelming. It has to be. Why would he say all these things if it's not? Why else would Paul be making such a big deal out of persevering? He's basically saying, don't worry, guys, I'm not being tempted to give up. Why would he say that unless he's facing things that would make any reasonable person think about giving up? Set your expectations accordingly. It's supposed to be hard. God put us here to do hard things, hard things that are impossible for us, which is why they feel hard, but things worth doing that he gives us grace to accomplish. And I just wanna pause for a moment because I recognize that you might be here as a Christian, like you're saved, you understand the gospel, you died, you're headed to heaven. And yet, if you are not actively engaged in this sort of ministry, much of this passage really has a chance of just seeming really irrelevant to your life. I was talking to Joe yesterday, I appreciate the illustration he used, this idea of these concentric circles, where if you're at the very, very heart of activity for Christ, trying to make him known, investing in people's lives, getting in where relationships are messy, but you're doing it for Christ, if you're there, you're gonna relate a lot to what Paul's talking about. But if you're kind of just coasting through life, trying to maximize comforts, trying to minimize inconveniences, a lot of this, like, there's not going to be an inspiring verse for you to take home today. Does it apply to you? He's describing when you're in the trenches, when you're laboring, when you're literally warring spiritually for the souls of people, the closer you get to that center, the hotter it gets. And if you're like, honestly, I don't really think I'm in that. And I want to be super clear. I'm close enough to feel the heat, but I read a lot of things in Paul's description of riots and beatings and imprisonments. I've never been that close to it. Part of it is where I live geographically. I've never been there. There are brothers and sisters around the world who know so much more about this than we do here in Northeastern Ohio. But I just wanna say, if you're like, you know what, Greg, like, I'm a Christian, but like, I'm not really doing this. That I've been praying for you all night, most of the morning, that God would use this for good in your life. This is what we're made for. This is what we're called to. We're called to this sort of ministry. This is the work to which God calls all of us. And it's a work that's necessary, vital, and in the end, wonderfully worth it. Wonderfully rewarding in the end. I also want to speak to those here, like you are in the thick of it. You're doing it. You're reading these verses. You probably like, if you're in it, you probably already found these verses before today. And like you already really know them really, really well. whether it's from family or coworkers or neighbors or classmates, you get what he's talking about. You get that it's hard. You're feeling it because you're trying and you keep bouncing up with the fact that God is literally calling you to do something that in your own strength is impossible. Again, that's why it feels hard. It is, it's impossible unless he helps and as he helps. And it's not like it's hard, hard, hard, and then boom, he does it, and it's like, oh wow, God worked, and now it's easy. No, it's normally like it's hard, it's hard, God, help, and God helps a little bit. And it's still hard, hard, hard, hard, God, help, and he helps a little bit. And that's like the Christian life. And then we see Jesus, and the struggle is over. Again, set your expectations accordingly. God has not placed us here for our lives to be easy. He has other things that are in his plan that he is inviting us to participate in. But if you're in it, you're trying. You're like, Greg, I'm in it, I'm trying. But like honestly, I feel like I'm hitting more into that hard wall of this is impossible. And I don't know where Paul is getting this courage from. Where is he getting it from? What fuels his courage? And I think very, very simply, it's because Paul knows certain things. Not knows as in like intellectually knows them. If you've been taught the Bible, if you've been discipled at any level, a lot of the most basic things, very early on as a Christian, you're going to reach a proficiency in which if you get a multiple choice question quiz, you're going to get most of the questions about the things that matter most, you're going to get them right. But I'm not talking about just intellectual knowledge, the ability to say that's right, that's wrong. I'm saying to the place where I know that's right and I've taken hold of it, or more importantly, that truth has taken hold of me and I'm gripped by it and I'm moved by it. It's more than just knowledge up here. It's more than intellectual knowledge. It's convictional knowledge. And so that's what I want to do this morning, is I wanna show you what are some of the things that in his heart, Paul knew these things and they gripped him, and that's what fueled his courage. I'm gonna suggest five things. Number one, these are critical, vital, world-changing things that Paul knows and believes, and I'm gonna highlight five of them. Know with conviction, number one, that your ministry is a gift of God's mercy. This one might be really easy to skip over because it's really in the first couple words. He doesn't really expand on this. He just kind of drops it there. He says, therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. Paul sees this connection between the mercies that he's been shown and then the opportunity he has to serve the king. Think about it. He was a rebel against God. In his case, he was literally trying to kill and persecute followers of Jesus before God saved him. In another letter to a guy named Timothy, he said, this is a faithful saying, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm the worst of them. and yet God forgave him of everything. That would have been enough. If it just stopped there, like guilty rebel, deserving of eternal judgment, slate wiped clean, he'd be full of joy. But it doesn't stop there because God then invites him to then participate in the work of redemption for everyone else who hasn't tasted that forgiveness yet. And Paul sees that as mercy. What mercy I've been shown that he would allow me to participate in this work. And so when the going gets hard, go back to this thing that Paul just knew it. He felt it. He knew this, I don't deserve this. Now you can take that the wrong way. I had to be careful with my tone of voice there. I don't deserve this. He's saying, I don't deserve this. To be able to serve my king like this, I don't deserve this chance. So number one, know with conviction that the ministry that you have, it's a gift of God's mercy. Number two, know with conviction that Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers, but God sovereignly pierces the darkness and sets eyes ablaze with the glory of Christ. I love this passage. Some of you know how much I love this passage and how much it has shaped me and my ministry. But again, if you look back at chapter four, Paul says, chapter four, verse three, Paul says, when we preach the gospel, if it's going and it's landing on people and they just seem unaffected, he says the reason why that happens is because Satan, the god of this world, has blinded the minds of unbelievers. And the picture he has there is fascinating. It's like Satan's hands are over people's eyes to keep them. He's trying. Satan's not very good at this, but he's trying to keep people from seeing Jesus as he really is. And Paul says, but in the very beginning, when God said, let there be light, and poof, there was light instantly everywhere. God is redoing that same creative work in our hearts. Satan's trying to keep us in blindness and darkness, keep us from seeing Jesus as he really is, and God reaches behind Satan's hands and flips on the light switch, and we see. And once you see the glory of Christ, you can never unsee that. You're changed by it. That's what Paul was saying, it changes you forever. And so it's helpful when you're engaged in this ministry and you're not seeing progress, you're not seeing fruit, to just understand why, what's happening, and realize there is spiritual forces at work that are keeping my community and my neighborhood and people in my family in spiritual darkness and deception. And I rely desperately on God by His sovereign grace and power to defeat the enemy and turn the light switch on. And we pray to that end, we labor to that end. To connect the dots a little bit more in scripture, Paul says, how will they believe unless they hear? Faith comes by hearing, hearing through the word of God. So we, as messengers, we give the word of God. It goes into people's ears and it opens their eyes. as the spirit applies it in people's hearts. So know with conviction that Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers, but God sovereignly pierces the darkness and sets eyes ablaze with the glory of Christ. Number three, know with conviction that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to you. Chapter four, verse seven, he says, we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. I wish I could get into verses eight to 10 more when he's talking about Opposition, persecution is coming at us and yet there's this God-empowered resiliency underneath it that nothing's going to stamp out my faith, nothing's going to ultimately, like I might die, but nothing's going to stop the work that God is doing. Paul knows that despite the very real efforts of God's enemies, both human and demonic, nothing is going to crush his faith. Nothing is going to stop the saving work that God is doing. Yes, he is weak. He's pathetically weak. That's what his opponents are always saying, and Paul would shout back, more than you know. Yes, I am. That's the point. We aren't that impressive, but God works through us. Their surpassing power belongs to God, not to us. We are just cheap dirt pots entrusted with carrying the priceless treasure inside of us. And that treasure that we're carrying in our weak, failing bodies is gospel light. And when opposition comes and when the pot cracks, the light shines through. The light shines out all the clear. So know with conviction that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to you. Number four, know with conviction that the glory to come infinitely outweighs all your suffering. Chapter four, verse 16, he says, we don't lose heart. Our outer self is wasting away, but our inner self is being renewed day by day. This, you have to laugh if you're actually tracking with what he's saying. This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. I've already relayed numerous times this morning the sufferings of Paul, and yet Paul's vision of eternity so transforms his view of the present. to the place where he can sum up the worst things that he's gone through and he can label them as light and momentary. This light momentary affliction is nothing compared to the glory that awaits us. It's like the song we sing, for behold, I tell a mystery at the trumpet sound will wake. Death is swallowed up in victory when we meet our King of grace. Every year we thought was wasted. Every night we cried, how long? All will be a passing moment in our Savior's victory song. So know with conviction that the glory to come infinitely outweighs all your suffering. Number five, know with conviction that you will soon be home with your King. Chapter 5, verse 6, he says, again, we are always of good courage. These are things he knows. We know these things. We know that while we're at home in the body, we're away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we're of good courage. We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Whether we're at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Again, Paul says he is of good courage. Why? Because he knows it's just a matter of time before he stands before his king. And that day is shaping everything he does. He's recognizing that the things we do in the present, they do matter for eternity. He knows that even though his body is wasting away and will eventually breathe its last breath, that he will then awake in eternity and be with Jesus forever. And he knows that that is a glorious thing to look forward to. So both the recognition that I'm going to stand before God and I'm going to give an account for how I live my life and the fact that once I'm with God, because I'm secure in Christ, the Psalm 1611 says, at his right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. It is Rest. Again, right now, struggle, struggle, struggle, struggle, struggle. And then rest and joy forever. That understanding, that end is coming. That's what enables us to be courageous and not give up right now. Because we have our hopes set on that coming day. That's part one. Be courageous. Number two, be persuasive. As we engage in gospel ministry, be courageous and be persuasive. It's clearly Paul's point in the second half. Again, verse 11 of chapter 5, chapter 5-11, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. Verse 18, he says, God has given to us the ministry and the message of reconciliation. Verse 20, he says, we are ambassadors for Christ. Christian, do you think of that as your identity? Do you think of that as the job God has given you? When you say, yes, I'm a father of Jesus, so yes, that means God wants me to be an ambassador for him. And if you would agree yes to both of those things, which if you're a Christian, you should, the question for you to reflect on is how are you doing with that? Are you serving him as an ambassador? You go to a foreign place and you represent the king. You say what he wants you to say in the way he wants you to say it, focusing on the things that he cares about. Tri-County Bible Church, we are a church that's full of ambassadors, which means our church is like a little bit of an embassy or an outpost of a different kingdom. There's something about the way we live and the way we talk should resemble the king that sent us. And it should certainly resemble the work that we give ourselves to. We are called to this work. We are called to persuade others. Verse 20, he says, we implore. That's the language of persuasion. trying to think of like, there's like 10 words that like, none of them quite get it, but they kind of get it. Like we're begging people, we're imploring them, we're beseeching them. We're appealing to people. Now that can look like different things depending on the relationship and the conversation. Sometimes it's a more laid back tone of voice, sometimes it's urgent. But the point is we're trying to persuade people that there is a God who made us. We as people are in rebellion against that God. We deserve his judgment and his wrath, and yet this God, in his love, has made a way for guilty sinners like us to be completely forgiven. And the only way that comes is if we submit to his king, that he sent to save us. He saved us by dying on the cross in our place, rising, conquering death forever. And if we will turn from our rebellion and submit ourselves and rely entirely on Jesus, he will forgive us. That's the idea of reconciliation. We're at odds with God and that's our message to the world. We can't just say like, oh, we're all God's children and mean by that, we're all saved and safe. That is misleading. We are all made in the image of God. Every life has value and dignity, and we must honor that and protect it. But we must be clear, there is conflict between the creator God and the human race, and the only way for that conflict to be reconciled is through Jesus. That's our message. We don't get to change the message. We are simply faithful ambassadors if we say the message in the way that the king wants it to be said. Just to clarify just a little teeny bit further, and I'm gonna give you five things. There's no emotional manipulation here. Again, back in chapter four, he says, we've renounced disgraceful and unhanded ways, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word. We just present the truth, the open statement of the truth. And we trust that God alone opens the eyes. We speak the words, but we're waiting for God to turn the light switch on. With that said, we open our mouths and we speak. What motivates us to engage in this work? What motivated Paul? Again, it was things he knew. Five things. Number one, know with conviction that God is worthy of holy, reverent awe. God does not stop being terrifyingly great the moment all of our sins are forgiven. There is still a sense in which believers have this sense of this is the God of the universe. He is big, mighty, awesome, transcendent, and a right view of myself and a right view of God means that I will carry that weightiness with me into every conversation, every job he's given me, because it's all about him. The idea that one day I'm gonna stand before God and give an account for my life, that is motivating. That motivates me as I go talk to people, and I seek to persuade them. There is a God, and one day you will answer to this God. Let me tell you how you can be ready. Number two, know with conviction that the love of Christ ought to compel you to live not for yourself, but for the one who conquered death for you. Paul actually gives this gospel logic. He says, it just makes sense. It just makes sense that if Jesus lived and died for all of us, that we would no longer live for ourselves, but we would live for him. He conquered death for us. He brought me out of it. He transferred me from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. It only makes sense. And this is what's so beautiful and so misunderstood. is that what motivates me as a Christian is not fear of judgment. Jesus took judgment in my place. I'm not scared that he's gonna get me. I'm securing Christ. And I'm not doing it just because it's my duty. It is my duty, but that's not my ultimate motivation. I'm doing it because of love. I'm free to do this because I see the love that God has done for me. And so that's why I engage in this work. So know with conviction. that the love of Christ means this gospel logic. We live for the one who conquered death for us. Number three, know with conviction that you're not who you used to be, but that God has made you a new creation. It's chapter five, verse 17. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old has passed away, behold, the new has come. This radical transformation. It's God turning our lives upside down, or to repeat language we've used recently, it's turning our lives right side up. I see everything differently. I see my life, my future, my family, my friends. I see Jesus differently. I'm different now. And that's part of what we bring into conversation, is God has changed me. Let this move you to persuade others that God does this work and it's real. It's transformational. Number four, know with conviction that you are Christ's ambassador and trusted with the message of reconciliation. I've already dipped into this a little bit, but again, he says God makes his appeal through us. God didn't have to do it this way. He chose to. He blesses us by letting us participate in this work. He speaks through us. We give the message, but we're just the mouthpiece. We're the spokesperson. He's the voice, ultimately. He's the one that's calling on people, giving them a chance to be forgiven, giving them a chance to turn and be reconciled to the God who made them. If you're here and you're not a Christian, you couldn't have come on a better Sunday, because I've got like a thousand places in this passage to give you the gospel from, and I've been doing it, and you just didn't even realize it. If you're not a Christian, hear this message loud and clear. One day you will stand before God and give an account for your life. And all of your works and deeds, thoughts, motivations, it's all gonna be weighed and judged. And the conclusion that's made clear in scripture, so we don't have to be left wondering, is that it's not gonna be good enough. None of us are good enough, but God has made a way. It's verse 21 right there. Who's gonna pay for your sin? Somebody's got to. It's either gonna be you, or you've gotta find a substitute, and there's only one substitute that will get the job done, and it was Jesus. So you pay for your sin, or you trust in Jesus. It's the only way that you have any hope of forgiveness. Know with conviction that you are Christ's ambassador and trusted with this message. And number five, know with conviction that your enduring perseverance through suffering increases the credibility of your faith. This is especially seen in chapter 6, verses 3 to 10. where Paul is just laying out all these details of the things that give his ministry credibility. He's saying both in terms of his endurance through suffering, but also through his Christ-like character, these things together. It's actually, it's showing his faith through his suffering. And I just wanna apply this, because I know we have a lot of hurting people in this room. And one of the biggest lies you're tempted to believe when you're suffering is that This doesn't mean anything. It's meaningless, it's arbitrary, and it's not true. There's so many places in scripture from different angles that you can see this, but God is sovereign over your suffering, and this right here is showing us that one of the reasons God allows us through hard things is so that we can show this is real, my faith in God is real. and it's going to transform how I suffer through this. That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. It does. If it looks like it hurts, but it doesn't actually hurt, that's just kind of deception. It really hurts. And yet, in our pain, we have a chance to show, demonstrate, my faith is real. God has changed me. I have this certain hope. And in our pain, we can speak out to others who are on the outside looking in and say, this is what's carrying me through this. You need this too. It lends credibility. That's Paul's defense of his ministry. He's saying, these things, these are not reasons to discount me. He's saying, this is demonstration. This is the real deal. This is what it really looks like. If you're not in it for the real deal, you duck out when this stuff starts happening. but you demonstrate the credibility. I said earlier that I want to see our church, whether we trip one size or dwindle down to nothing, stay true to the course, stay true to the mission, stay true to Christ, no matter what, because normal, healthy Christianity is outward focus. For everything that we want to happen in our church in terms of Christians building each other up in love, we want that. If we are only focused inward on ourselves, it will be the death of us. The heartbeat of the church is evangelism, discipleship, evangelism, discipleship. May we always keep this at the center of our church. I want to end with this quote from a pastor named John Piper. He says, It's evangelistic. It's persuasive and expansive and missionary. It's not coercive, which means we don't force people to become Christians. It doesn't use a sword, manipulation, or brainwashing, but it does proclaim and persuade and plead and pray. And where this is not believed and practiced, Christianity ceases to be Christianity and starts to become another religion with another king who no longer says, I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply. When we lose a passion to see people won over to Jesus, we lose Jesus. He says Christianity is a soul-winning, outreaching, mind-persuading, heart-entreating, rescuing missionary faith where it's not true Christianity. We need to be reminded of this because it's almost incredible how listless we can become while calling ourselves Christians. Little by little, our whole orientation can become inward. We can go for months and years and not think about those who perish. We become so dull and spiritually callous that we don't even ask if we believe in hell, or lostness, or the preciousness of Christ, and the power of the cross, and the freeness of the gospel, and the command of Jesus. We just go about in our in-house religious business like a medical clinic that sees fewer and fewer patients and has more and more staff meetings until there's nothing left but a smooth running program for the doctors and nurses and their families. That's what happens to many churches. So may we today, on our 26th anniversary, hear clearly the war cry to rise up with courage and conviction and answer the call that God has placed on all of our lives to engage earnestly and sacrificially in real, authentic, meaningful, lasting, fruitful, bold, God-glorifying gospel ministry. And may we all, by God's grace, be courageous and persuasive for the sake of the gospel. God, I pray that you would change us with these truths, that we would internalize them, grip them, and let them grip us. And I pray, God, that you would use us as those who do not lose heart when things get hard and who are committed to the critical message of reconciliation, calling sinners to be reconciled to God. I pray, God, that you would help us to do this with compassion, with genuine love, as Paul describes, with humility, with boldness, urgency, and that as we do this, God, that you will do the work. The power belongs to you, not to us. Turn the light switch on. Shine the glory of Jesus bright past the blinders of our adversary. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.