Pastor Obie continues: The Apostle Paul spoke from real-life experience when he talked about trials and tribulations, yet amid all the affliction he was able to persevere through. How can we persevere through ours? Persevere through life’s problems by having an eternal perspective. The Apostle has able to live effectively in the present because he was able to view his problems in light of eternity, able to say: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed”. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” We know in our hearts that there is life after death; death is not the end; there is an ever-lasting afterlife ... immortality of the soul. We are made for eternity, but most people do not an eternal perspective. If they did, it would change everything.
The Apostle Paul life of hardship, suffering, persecution, and martyred seemed like a failure to the world. But, the world only sees the outward temporal things, not the unseen eternal things. Paul lived with eternity in mind, so persevered through life because of his eternal perspective. He said in Philippians 1:21-24, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.” In his lifetime, the Apostle Paul, personally called by the Lord Jesus Christ, founded fourteen or more churches throughout the Mediterranean area and wrote thirteen books or Epistles, equating to 28% of the Bible’s New Testament. What does it mean to have this eternal perspective ourselves? Why worry because God has everything under control and when we die we go the Heaven to spend eternity with the Lord.
Pastor Obie listed four ways to keep an eternal perspective. (1) Shine the light of the Gospel by being a Servant for the sake of Jesus. 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 shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. This is what a Christian disciple is called to do. Jesus commanded in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” This Great Commission was Jesus’ last marching order to His followers then and now. This is a mission that Christians are commanded and assigned to do, which has an eternal outcome.
John 3:16-18, 36 explains, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. You are meant to help people find everlasting eternal life through Christ. The Christian on mission with the Great Commission will have the eternal perspective at the forefront of their mind.
The Apostle states, “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” He equates us to jars of clay, which are fragile and easily damaged, but cheap and widely used in daily life. What give jars of clay value is what has been put inside of it. The light of the glory of God is the Gospel of Jesus Christ input into every Believer.
The Christian is not supposed to keep the treasure in us, but to let it out and shine that Gospel light out for all to see. Today, ceramic Piggy banks are a cheap container for saving coins, which grows in value as more is deposited into it. We are “earthly vessels” but our value is because God breathed His life into us: making us in His image. Like the Piggy bank, the treasure within it is not supposed to stay inside of it. Sometimes, some shaking and breaking needs to be done in our lives in order that the treasure that is within us can shine its true value. In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:14-16 declares: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Treasure that is kept within and unused is useless. Light is useful when it is shined out into the darkness.
God also uses rough and tough times in our lives to refine us, because it’s the problem in life that we face which God uses to perfect us. Sometimes, it is through the difficulties that God uses to redeem people to Him. "There are no atheists in foxholes" is an old saying that means, roughly, that when things are bad, people tend to turn to God. In light of eternity, going through suffering and witnessing to the light of the Gospel in the face of our problems, it is worth persevering through it because you have that eternal perspective.
Let's continue Pastor Obie's message on the proper perspective in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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