the opportunity to open God's Word with you this morning. Before I do that, before I read God's
Word, I want to paint two pictures. I want to take you across the street to the lodge. February 2009,
it was the very first meeting of Providence Presbytery, and I was the very first transfer
exam. So I was coming already a pastor, coming from Norfolk, Virginia, and was examined by the
Presbyterian, was received to be the pastor of North Hills Presbyterian Church in Meridianville,
just north of Huntsville. Now let me take you to North Hills. You may not have been there, but if
you go north on the parkway, there's a fishing pond on the left, right past Bob Wade Lane, and there's
a church behind that. That's North Hills. And in February 2016, we had a Presbytery meeting there,
and at that meeting, Will Spink was approved by the Presbytery to be the new senior pastor here,
after y'all had voted overwhelmingly for him to be so. And let me tell you, after we did the business,
and we can be all about the business as Presbyterians, we stopped, and we had a lengthy
time of prayer. It was one of the sweetest moments in my seven years of being in Providence Presbytery,
rubbing shoulders and doing business and praying together for our Presbytery, as we rejoiced in the
way that God is leading this congregation at this time. So I'm thankful for Will. I'm thankful for his
friendship and his partnership. I'm thankful that he's preaching at North Hills this morning, so that I can
come and preach to you here. My passage this morning is 2 Corinthians 4, 6 through 12. And as I read it,
I want you to know that my connection with this passage is very personal. And you'll, I think, get a
sense of that personal connection as I preach through it. In 2013, at the age of 36, I was diagnosed with
colon cancer. And it ended up being stage 2, which I'm very thankful for. But in the midst of it, we were
very fearful of a stage 3 or 4 diagnosis. Had major surgery, went through chemotherapy and radiation,
and it was a most difficult and continues to be difficult season in our lives and for our family.
But God has been good in the midst of our suffering. And so hear God's Word this morning. And again, I thank you
for listening as I preach this morning.
For God, who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give light
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. 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 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' 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. Would you join me in prayer?
Father, we praise you for your Word. We praise you for how it interprets the things that we experience
in this fallen and painful world. Father, we pray that by your Word and your Spirit, you would open
our hearts and minds to receive from you what you are giving to us this morning. It is a good and
precious gift, and we thank you for it. And I pray for myself, a simple man, a simple servant,
that where there is encouragement and edification, those would be your words and would remain with us.
Where there's confusion or uncertainty, Lord, I pray that those would be my words and they would
quickly pass. We pray all of this in Jesus' matchless name. Amen. Trauma happens. Other things happen,
but in a fallen world, trauma happens. Pain happens. Suffering happens. And then there's what I read a
couple years ago in a New York Times op-ed piece by David Brooks. Many of you may know his name. He wrote
in this op-ed piece called The Art of Presence, he wrote about the Woodowice family and what they have
faced. In 2008, the Anna Woodowice, who was 27 at the time, was working with a service organization in
Afghanistan. And on April 1st, she went horseback riding and was thrown and died from her injuries.
In 2013, her younger sister, Catherine, then 26, was biking to work from her home in Washington.
She was hit by a car. Her face was severely smashed up and she's endured and has continued to endure
a series of difficult operations. For a time, she breathed and ate through a tube, unable to speak.
And you can imagine that the recovery from such injuries would be painfully slow.
Catherine Woodowice wrote this. She wrote about this. She said,
there will be days when you feel like a quivering, cowardly shell of yourself. When despair yawns as a
terrible chasm. When fear paralyzes any chance for pleasure. This is just a fight that has to be won
over and over and over again. It is a fight that has to be won over and over and over again.
There will be a time, or there has already been a time in your life, in your family, personally or
otherwise, where you have to enter that sort of fight. The fight with trauma and pain and suffering and
all the rest. What is that fight from a Christian perspective? It is to fight for a greater reality,
an understanding that even in the midst of those experiences, as real and as harsh as they are,
that God is at work, that there is something greater going on. Is God at work in this fallen world? Yes.
Is He at work within your life, where you are? Yes, He is. And so my theme for this sermon is very simple.
Two points. We're just going to break it down in half. We're going to say, this moment is real.
But it is not the only reality. This moment is real. Whatever it is you're going through,
whatever you're experiencing, it is real. But it is not the only reality. So I'm going to take two
passes at this text. If you have the Bible open or you want to follow along as we look through,
we're going to pull on the thread of pain and suffering. Then we'll pull on the thread of God's
transcending work of grace. So this moment is real. In the midst of what we face in this fallen world,
we experience frailty, suffering, death. So I want to talk about our frailty, our suffering, our death.
This passage starts very positively. I know we're just jumping into sort of the middle of a chapter.
Paul has been talking about the ministry of proclamation. And in verse 6, he is focusing on
the work, that transcending work of God's grace. It starts very positively in verse 6.
For God who said, let light shy down 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. Well, thank you, Paul. That makes that very
clear. It's a very Pauline-type statement. There's a lot there. But the very next place that he goes
is to talk about our frailty in verse 7. We have this treasure that God's given us, this grace,
this work of God, is where? Within us, jars of clay. We are very common, everyday, ordinary clay pots.
And maybe some of us are a little broken, or will become broken, or have been broken.
We understand frailty within our own bodies. As we get older, we might say in the South,
I'm about to give out. We don't have a lot left. So in 2013, I'm going through chemotherapy,
therapy, and I decide that it's a good idea to play tag on a scooter with my son. I'm getting
worn out and tired, but we're riding these little Razor scooters. And I'm not very coordinated to
begin with, but that's okay. And I'm going to tag my son just one last time. And as I'm going down,
I make it down the driveway just fine. Hit the pavement, reach out, and then all of a sudden,
I'm on my backside. And I'm thinking, my backside should be hurting, but it's my knee that's hurting.
So in the midst of the health issues that I was already enduring, going through the,
recovering from surgery, going through the chemotherapy, I partially tore the MCL in my knee.
And now they're saying, well, you can't have surgery right now, though that might be needed,
because of your depressed immune system. You need to do physical therapy. So now I'm doing physical
therapy in the midst of chemotherapy. Let me tell you, I felt like a broken jar of clay. I understood
my frailty in a very real way. I imagine that you understand that, or you will come to understand that.
Even those athletes that seem to transcend
sport. I think of Kobe Bryant, one of the best
basketball players in the National Basketball Association, NBA, has ever had.
He's not quite the same anymore, and it's probably a good thing he's retiring.
Even those who transcend physically,
they themselves, you yourselves, are a jar of clay.
There's our frailty. There's also our suffering.
And look at the radical honesty within this
passage.
It's rare
that we often speak so forthrightly
about what we're going through. People ask us how we're doing.
We give the fine.
I found as I was going through treatment that I didn't know how to answer that question anymore.
How are you doing?
Do you have time?
Because I'm not feeling so good.
And so,
Paul speaks. He begins to say,
okay, so we have this treasure,
but it's in a jar of clay.
And also, verse 8 and 9,
we are afflicted
in every way.
Ever felt that way?
That's what life in a fallen world can
look like. Afflicted in every way.
Or perplexed,
he says.
Have you ever asked out loud
or in your prayers
or in your heart,
God, I don't know
what you're doing.
I don't understand.
Perplexed.
Persecuted.
We may not feel that as much here
in our American context,
but we certainly,
as we think about brothers and sisters around the world,
they understand this
when Paul says persecuted.
And we may come to a point
where we understand it more intimately.
And then finally,
he says,
struck down there
in verse 9
at the end of it.
Have you ever felt like
you're just crawling
through the day
trying to fight
for the next moment?
Oh, this moment is real.
The affliction,
the perplexion,
the persecution,
the being struck down,
all of that is real,
and we must acknowledge it
if we are to understand
the greater work
that God is doing.
We must be honest
and say,
I am suffering.
suffering.
And then,
Paul talks about death.
You see,
it's not getting any better.
We go from frailty
to suffering to death.
Verses 10, 11, and 12,
Paul makes remarks about death.
Verse 10,
he says,
we are always
carrying around in our body
the death of Jesus.
Here,
the death of Jesus
could be translated
as the dying of Jesus.
That is meaning
that it is encompassing
all of Christ's
passion,
the mocking,
the betrayal,
the spitting,
the lashes,
the cross,
all of it.
The dying of Jesus.
That's what we carry
with us as believers,
this work of Christ.
And then verse 11,
the beginning of it,
he says,
for we who are alive
are always being given over
to death
for Jesus' sake.
Did anybody tell you
that part
when they shared
the gospel with you?
Did they say,
this is going to be
a part of the Christian life?
A lot of times we just say,
hey,
everything's going to be better.
It's not always better,
is it?
Because we still live
in this fallen world.
And so,
death is at work
within us,
this verb
here,
being given over.
It's the same verb
that's used in Romans 8,
32,
where we read
of God,
he who did not spare
his own son,
but gave him up
for us all.
The difference
is that in Romans,
it's active,
and here in Corinthians,
it's a passive verb.
What does that mean?
Well,
that means that you don't
sign up for this.
Nobody's going to go out
into the lobby
or onto the website
here at Southwood
and sign up for the class
of suffering
and dying to self.
We don't want that.
Our sin doesn't want that.
Our human nature
doesn't want that.
We don't want to go
through that,
so God takes us
through it.
And so,
that's why I say
that cancer
is a sanctifying grace.
I didn't ask for it.
I didn't want it.
I certainly was shocked
that I would be diagnosed
at that age of 36
with it,
but it's a sanctifying grace
because my inclination,
my desire
as just a person
walking through life,
even a believer,
is I want the Staples
easy button.
You know what I'm talking about?
You just push the button
and the little guy says,
hey, that was easy.
I want life to be like that.
I want,
when things get hard,
to be able to just,
boop.
And maybe I wish God
was a little bit like that
sometimes.
Let's be honest.
Sometimes we want to just
be able to kind of
say a prayer
and have God
make everything easy
for us.
God doesn't work that way.
He's not a genie
in a bottle.
He's not our servant.
He's the Lord of lords
and kings and kings,
and He's doing something
in our lives,
even if we're not
comfortable with it,
and we didn't sign up
for it because it is
hard to die to self.
Are you with me?
It is hard to die to self.
So God takes us there,
even if we hadn't
signed up for it.
Finally, verse 12 says,
death is at work in us.
So three times,
verse 10, 11, 12,
Paul talks about
our dying,
our death,
our being given over
to that.
I read a book
during treatment,
I don't know why,
I ended up in tears
several times.
It's called
The Little Way
of Ruthie Lemming.
I recommend it.
It's written by Rob Dreher,
who I believe
writes for
the American Conservative.
But this book's
about his sister.
And they grew up
in St. Francisville,
Louisiana.
It's a little tiny town
in Louisiana.
It's a poor community,
but Ruthie Lemming
loved her community.
She loved the people.
She was a teacher.
And she was well regarded.
She was a Christian.
And in her mid-30s,
she was diagnosed
with single cell lung cancer,
stage four.
One percent who received
that diagnosis
live past five years.
Ruthie Lemming was not
in that one percent.
And so as I'm reading
about her life,
her story,
and all,
I'm hearing
these same themes
again and again.
Frailty,
suffering,
death.
Ultimately,
certainly,
literally,
she does end up,
and she did,
die.
The moments
that she faced,
the moments I faced,
the moments you face,
the moments
that we face
of frailty,
of suffering,
of dying to self,
they are very real.
No sugarcoating,
no ignoring them,
no pretending
that it doesn't exist
will make them go away.
right?
You have to
live there
whether you
want to or not.
And there are no
easy answers
in the midst
of such a situation.
And we who are not
suffering at a particular
time should be
very careful
to not simply
give easy,
trite answers.
I hope that's not
what you hear me doing
this morning either
as I preach.
We have to acknowledge
the hard parts
of living
in this world.
the consequences
of our sin,
the consequences
of the fallenness
of this world.
We live with
these realities.
And we must
acknowledge them
to being real
if we are also
going to be able
to see
what God is doing.
And here's the fight.
And here's my main point.
If this moment
is real,
you have to fight
to see,
to understand
the greater reality
of God's work
in our lives.
So,
point one was
this moment is real.
Frailty,
death,
suffering,
that's all real.
Second point,
the second part of this
is,
but this is not
the only reality.
For every real moment,
there is something
that God is doing
in our lives.
And this is actually
the main thrust
of what Paul is doing
in these verses.
There's our frailty,
but God's power.
There's our suffering,
but God's but.
There's our death,
but God's life.
So,
let's consider now
our frailty
in light of
God's power.
So,
we go back
to verse 6.
Remember,
I said we're going
two times
through this passage.
So,
here's the second pass.
Go back to verse 6.
This is
the greatest reality.
If you are a believer
in Jesus Christ,
there is no greater reality
than what God has done
in giving you
your salvation.
There is no greater reality
than that,
and we have to keep
coming back to that
again and again,
thanking God
and reflecting
on the grace
that we receive.
We don't deserve
God's mercy.
We don't deserve
God
doing this work
of recreation.
in our lives.
From fallen creatures,
God takes us
to a new creature.
So,
He says,
for God who said,
let light shine
out of darkness,
that's picturing
God's initial creation.
Here,
has shown
in our hearts
to give the light
of the knowledge
of the glory
of God
in the face
of Jesus Christ.
that is,
God is giving us
this great work
of salvation
in our hearts,
our lives.
He takes us
from the darkness
of our sin
to the light
of His grace.
And so then,
when He comes
into verse 7,
He indeed says,
we have this treasure
in jars of clay
to show
that the surpassing
power
belongs
to God
and not to us.
who does the power
belong to?
God.
That's right.
It belongs to God
and not to us.
And we need to remember
that again and again
because the reality is,
whether you're a mom
or whether you're in business,
whether you're retired,
whether you're in school,
we want to be
kind of lords
of our own domains.
We want to be in charge.
We want to be in control.
We want to have
the world at our hand.
And God's saying,
no,
that power
belongs to me
and this is how
I demonstrate it.
I give it to you
in frail vessels
so that you look to me
when you're broken,
when you understand
your brokenness,
when you see your suffering,
you look to me.
Jeremy put it so well
when we came to that time
of confession
of how we run
to insufficient
structures.
Paul is directing us back
to that great refuge
of God
and that is
His power
and the work
that He is doing
in our lives.
So,
great weakness
but great treasure.
And it's not about you.
It's not about you.
It's not about me.
It's about God.
So, that's our frailty
but God's power.
Now, consider
our suffering
but God's butt.
Now, I'm not trying
to be crass here
or cavalier,
but I've always thought
of these buts here
in verses 8 and 9
as holy buts.
If it helps you remember it,
great.
Alright?
So, listen again.
Verses 8 and 9.
We are afflicted
in every way
but not crushed,
perplexed,
but not driven
to despair,
persecuted,
but not forsaken,
struck down,
but not destroyed.
Do you see it?
God is telling you
in His Word now
that these things
are real
but He is doing
something greater
in your life.
Alone,
apart from Christ,
then indeed
you could say
crushed,
and driven
to despair
and forsaken
and destroyed.
But in Christ,
you have the power
of God's work
and you have
His butt.
Again, Jeremy
referenced it earlier.
You see this
throughout Scripture,
God doing amazing things
in the midst
of great trials.
So, Genesis 50, 20.
As for you,
you meant it for evil
but God meant it
for good
to bring about
that many people
should be kept alive
as they are today.
Or you hear this
but or but not
over and over again
in Scripture,
Psalm 73, 26.
My flesh
and my heart
may fail
but God
is the strength
of my heart
and my portion
forever.
Ephesians 2,
you hear it there,
a great section,
verses 2 through 10,
especially speaking
of that work
of mercy and grace
in granting us salvation.
You were dead
in your trespasses
and sins,
verse 1.
But then you jump
down to verse 5
and what do you hear?
But God,
who is rich
in mercy
because of the great love
with which He loved us
even when we were dead
in our trespasses,
made us alive
together with Christ.
By grace,
you have been saved.
This is true.
You are a sinner
and you are dead
in that sin,
but God does this work
of mercy and grace.
So we hear these
but nots here
as Paul is acknowledging
very difficult circumstances.
Here's the problem
as I see it,
as I've experienced it.
We live
in the commas.
We live
in the in-between,
between the pain
and the grace.
It's what
theologians
sometimes refer to
as the already
but not yet.
We're already saved
but we're not yet
fully there.
We're still living
in this fallen world.
We still live
with the difficulty.
Life is lived
in the commas.
But that is where
you fight
for the reality
of these but nots.
So as you go
through trial,
whatever it may be,
as you go
through suffering,
you're looking
not just
for that reality
because you know it,
but you're also
fighting for this
greater reality
of what God is doing.
Finally,
there's our death
but God's life.
And I just want
to point you
in verses 10,
11, and 12,
every point where
Paul speaks
of our death
and our dying
to self
and our being
connected with
the cross of Christ
and all that
he does in that.
He says there's
purpose here
in all of this.
So always carrying
in the body
the death of Jesus.
Why?
Here's the purpose.
So that life
may be also,
the life of Jesus
may also be manifested
in our bodies.
Verse 11,
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.
Verse 12.
See,
God has purposes
that he's working out
in the midst
of what he's doing
and what does that do?
When you fight
for that greater reality
and you're living
that life
that God has given
to you,
it makes you
attractive
to the world
around you.
When you can suffer
in light
of what God
is doing,
when you can
acknowledge
that work
that God
is doing,
it makes you
attractive
to the world
around you
because it makes
people say,
what treasure
do you possess
that I can't buy
and I can't earn?
What treasure
do you have
that allows you
to suffer
with this greater
perspective
of looking
for what God
is doing?
It makes us
attractive.
Ruthie Lemming
was very much
that way.
She had a friend
and his name
was Big Show.
I don't know
if that was
his given name
but that's
what people
called him,
Big Show.
And he was
mad at God
for what was
going on.
He was furious
that God
was allowing
Ruthie Lemming
to suffer.
And Ruthie
said to him,
you can't be.
I'm not giving
up hope.
He has a plan
for me.
In the post office
a few days
after she had
died,
a woman
was wondering
why there
were so many
cars around
because it was
actually her
funeral.
And she says,
sure are a lot
of cars around
today.
What's going on?
Post office
worker tells her
that Ruthie
Lemming has
died and she
says,
oh,
that woman
died?
I just saw
her in here
last week
and I said,
baby,
you don't look
like you feel
too good.
And Ruthie
said in reply,
no ma'am,
I don't.
But I'm going
to real soon.
That is what
fighting for a
greater reality
looks like
in the midst
of what you're
going through.
I want to tell you
four things real
quick as I'm
wrapping up
of what it
looks like for
us together
to fight for
a greater
reality.
One,
you've got to
go to
scripture.
You've got to
allow scripture
to interpret
what you're
going through
to help you
understand the
but-nots.
By the way,
this is not
pop psychology
and this is
nothing that
a pastor
wouldn't tell
you or hasn't
told you
a hundred times
but I'm going
to tell you
again.
Go to
scripture,
number one.
Number two,
pray.
Pray your
heart out.
Pray your
eyeballs out.
Pray your
tears out.
Pray.
And pray again.
Number three,
sing.
Love the songs
that we sang
this morning
because they
take us through
those experiences
of difficulty
but also
pointing us
to that
greater reality
so you sing.
And then finally
four,
do life in
community.
Don't suffer
alone.
One of the
great blessings
of going through
cancer treatments
was to know
that I wasn't
suffering alone
even though I
felt horribly
alone a lot
of times.
To know that
the elders
at Southwood
Presbyterian Church
were praying
for me.
To have
Vineet Mahesh,
one of the elders
here,
call me regularly
to find out
how I'm doing.
For other
churches,
other people
in the community,
other believers,
my own church
to surround us,
my family,
don't suffer
alone.
Do life
in community
and be there
for people
when they are
suffering.
That's what
it looks like
for us
to fight
for this
greater reality.
Last thing
I'll tell you,
a friend of mine,
my best friend
growing up,
was hit
in a head-on
collision.
He was driving
to a race
with his family
to run
a 5K
of some sorts
in the Atlanta
area where we
had grown up
and a car
crosses over
the line,
hits this
minivan head-on,
they flip
and Glenn
suffers traumatic
brain injury
as does his wife.
Thankfully,
his children
were okay
in their seats.
They were able
to be safe.
It's amazing.
Two kids.
But Glenn
and Sandra
were not unscathed.
Sandra had to
go through
much time
of physical therapy,
relearning to walk.
Glenn,
my best friend,
when we were kids,
died.
He was declared
brain dead
and he passed.
We went to the funeral
and at the end
of the funeral,
a song is being sung.
higher than the mountains
that I face,
stronger than the power
of the grave,
constant through the trial
and the change,
one thing remains.
Your love never fails,
never gives up,
never runs out on me.
On and on
and on it goes.
Your love never fails.
And so,
here was Sandra
walking up the aisle,
going out of the church
with her walker.
And she stopped
as the song
was being sung
and she was in tears
there,
praying and singing
and shouting
to God.
Fighting for the
greater reality
at her husband's funeral.
Brothers and sisters
and friends
that are here today,
I submit to you
that that's what
it looks like.
Even in the hardest times,
to acknowledge
God's love
never fails.
It is the greater
reality in your life.
And my prayer
for this congregation
is that wherever you are,
individually and corporately,
you will fight for that.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you
for your great love
for us.
Thank you that
it never fails.
No matter what
we're going through,
no matter what
you're taking us through,
no matter how much
we suffer
and experience
frailty in this life,
Lord, we praise you
and thank you
that you are at work
in doing something
much greater.
Help us to fight
for that and to see that.
Help this congregation,
these people,
to fight for that.
Father, we praise you
and thank you
for your work
and we pray
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Will you stand?
I'm not sure
what your practice is,
but I want to give you
the benediction,
God's blessing
upon you
as you go.
The Lord bless you
and keep you.
The Lord make His face
to shine upon you
and be gracious to you.
The Lord lift up
His countenance upon you
and give you peace.
And God's people say,
Amen.
Thank you.
Amen.