Therefore We Do Not Lose Heart

In one paragraph

This message came from 2 Corinthians 4:8-18, with Pastor Blake working back over verses 8-10 in more depth before building toward the chapter's summit in verse 16. The governing idea was simple: because God is renewing us inwardly every day, we do not have to lose heart, no matter what is pressing in from every side. He used grammar, Doris Platts's death, Paul's own list of hardships, and a long...

Read together

1. 1 Chronicles 16:34 opening verse: 'give thanks to the Lord for he is good'
2. Romans 11:33-36 read before singing, on the greatness of God's riches, wisdom and knowledge, and all things existing for his glory
3. Romans 5:8 read before singing, on God showing his love by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners
4. 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 main passage: hard pressed but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed
5. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 theme verse: therefore we do not lose heart, outward man perishing but inward man renewed day by day, light affliction working eternal weight of glory
6. 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 Paul recounting being burdened beyond measure in Asia, despairing even of life, so as to trust God who raises the dead
7. 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 Paul's list of hardships: stripes, prisons, deaths, shipwrecks, perils of all kinds, sleeplessness, hunger, concern for the churches
8. Proverbs 3:5 cited in connection with being perplexed, trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding
9. Psalm 116:10 quoted by Paul: 'I believed and therefore I spoke', used to explain why believers must speak what they believe
10. Isaiah 64:4 quoted via 1 Corinthians 2:9, eye has not seen nor ear heard the things God has prepared for those who love him
11. 1 Corinthians 2:9 Paul quoting Isaiah on what God has prepared for those who love him, used to point toward heaven
12. 1 Corinthians 15:57-58 closing benediction: thanks be to God who gives victory through Christ, be steadfast, your labor is not in vain

Talk about it

1. Pastor Blake described Doris Platts as someone whose outward person was visibly diminishing in her final weeks, yet she was being renewed inwardly day by day right up to the end. Have you seen that kind of inward renewal in someone you know, and what did it look like from the outside?
2. Pastor Blake pointed out that the word 'perplexed' in verse 8 carries the sense of having no way out that you can recognize, and that the middle voice suggests we are often perplexing ourselves by leaning on our own understanding rather than trusting God. When have you caught yourself doing that, and what helped you stop?
3. Paul wrote that he despaired even of life in Asia, and Pastor Blake said that experience was 'so that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.' Has a situation ever pushed you to a point where you had nothing left to lean on but God, and what did you learn from it?
4. Pastor Blake said Paul's willingness to be 'delivered to death for Jesus' sake' was what brought life to the Corinthians, and he connected that to the idea that death is working in us but life in you. What does it look like practically for someone in this church to absorb that kind of cost so that others can receive life?
5. Pastor Blake challenged the idea that Christians should back away from talking about heaven, saying Paul never did and that the eternal weight of glory is what kept Paul going through the list of hardships in 2 Corinthians 11. How much does the hope of heaven actually factor into the way you live and make decisions day to day?