Overcoming Discouragement - 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10

Live by faith. Look at the invisible and lay hold of the things that are eternal, and God will encourage your heart. 

Outlook determines outcome. The kind of outlook you have on life is going to determine how life is going to work out for you. If we walk by faith, then we can overcome obstacles, we can glorify God, we can accomplish His will. Now if we walk by sight, before long we’re going to get discouraged and we’re going to faint. And this is why Paul instructs us in 2 Corinthians 4:16, "For which cause we faint not." That word faint means to lose heart. We do not lose heart. 

Now if anybody had reason to be discouraged, it was Paul. His friends had—some of them—deserted him, the enemy was attacking him, and yet Paul was not discouraged. Paul said, "I am not going to faint, I’m not going to lose heart." I’m going to read with you and study with you today 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:5. This paragraph deals with three of the major causes of discouragement. And Paul outlines and discusses these three causes of discouragement, and he tells us how to overcome them.

2 Corinthians 4:16, here’s the first cause of discouragement: ourselves. Ourselves. Have you ever caused yourself to be discouraged? "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish," or it's present—"is perishing, though the outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." Now if you look at the outward man, you’ll get discouraged. I don't care how old you are or how young you are, the outward man is perishing. There’s just something about life that makes us get older. God has ordained that parents are older than their children and grandparents are older than their grandchildren, and we’re all going to get older. And as we get older, the outward man perishes. This is just a part of everyday life. 

Now this doesn't mean we shouldn't take care of ourselves. Our body is God’s temple, and we ought to take good care of our bodies. But even apart from all of the exercise and the good food and the vitamins and all that we do to maintain strong, healthy bodies, whether we like it or not, the outward man is perishing. It’s a part of life that the outward man perishes. But more than that, Paul had been through some difficult circumstances. Later on in 2nd Corinthians, he tells us about some of these. He had spent a night and a day in the deep, he had been beaten, he had been in prison, he had gone without food, he’d had many sleepless nights, he was persecuted and troubled and exposed to death. Is it any wonder the outward man was perishing? Paul put into one lifetime three lifetimes of service. 

And so we look at ourselves and we see the outward man perishing, and we can get discouraged. We can't do the things we used to be able to do. We can't run as fast as we used to be able to run. But you know, the other side of the coin is the inward man is being renewed day by day. Now that’s the focus. The focus is on the inward man. We must take care of the outward man. You can't divide these two, you can't separate them. But the inward man experiences renewal. And even though the outward man may be subject to decay and deterioration and weakness, no matter what we do, the inward man can go from glory to glory through the ministry of the Spirit of God.

We read that in 2 Corinthians 3:18: "But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transfigured, transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." And so when you spend time in the Word of God, when you pray, when you worship, when you meditate, the Spirit of God takes the Word of God and makes you like the Son of God. And that’s that inward renewal. And those three words at the end of 2 Corinthians 4:16 are so important: day by day.

Now 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, Paul says there’s a second cause of discouragement, and that’s our circumstances. "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look"—that’s our part now, God will do His part if we’ll do our part—"while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen," the invisible, the imperishable. "For the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." 

When you walk by faith, then you can overcome circumstances. Now he gives us a list of contrasts here. We have affliction contrasted with glory. Light affliction contrasted with a weight of glory. Momentary light affliction contrasted with eternal weight of glory. Light affliction which is working against us in the outward man, working for us in the inward man because we are not looking at the visible, we’re looking at the invisible. Now the world doesn't understand this because they walk by sight. The world says, "Well, seeing is believing." That’s foolish. Believing is seeing. Because we believe the Word of God, we are able to see what other people cannot see. 

Joseph discovered that in Egypt. Thirteen years he had to wait before he was delivered, but all of that trouble was working for him. Calvary’s the greatest illustration of this. If anything looked like defeat, it was Calvary. And yet look what happened three days later: glory! Our Lord Jesus arose from the dead and accomplished the great miracle of redemption. So don't look at yourself—the outward man. Take care of the inward man. And when you look at your circumstances, don't look at God through your circumstances. Look at your circumstances through God. Walk by faith and not by sight.

Now 2 Corinthians 5:1-5, he gives us a third cause of discouragement: death. He deals very, very courageously with death. You know death is going to come. The last enemy is death. Whatever problems you may face, if you can't solve the problem of death, you won't solve anything. Death is the big question. Every philosopher’s had to wrestle with the matter of death. "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were taken down"—Paul compares your body to a tent; Paul was a tentmaker, you’ll remember—"we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." This is not our heavenly mansion of John 14; this is the glorified body.

Paul is saying right now I’m living in a tent, and the real me is not this tent. You can take down the tent and I’ll still survive because that’s the inner man. And I’m going to have a glorified body, an eternal home—not a tent, but a house—a permanent dwelling in the heavens. The one we have now is rather temporary. It’s a tent, and it’s kind of falling apart, isn't it? "For in this we groan"—well what are we groaning about?—"earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven."

What he’s saying is this: I am waiting for Jesus to come. Because then my tent won't be taken down—that’s death. Rather I will receive a new body—we shall all be changed. And this old body of mine shall be transformed, I’ll receive a new body, I shall be clothed upon with my house from heaven. "If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle"—this tent, this earthly house now that we live in—"do groan, being burdened." 

Now what’s he burdened about? "Not that we would be unclothed." Not that I would die. You see, he compares dying to taking down a tent, and he compares dying to taking off clothing. He says, "When I—if I should die, my spirit will leave this body and my spirit will go to be with the Lord. But I’m not looking for death, I’m looking for the Lord Jesus to come back. We’re burdened, not that we would be unclothed." Christians, because they know they’re going to heaven, don't go around seeking death. They aren't morbid about it. He said we don't want to be unclothed, "but clothed upon, that mortality"—that’s our present body given to death—"might be swallowed up of life." It’s a beautiful picture. Paul says when Jesus Christ returns, my present situation will change dramatically. We shall see Him, we shall be like Him, and my mortality will be swallowed up with life, and this old tent will be replaced with a wonderful new body. Paul is saying here that God’s people have a wonderful future ahead of them because they know where they’re going; they’re going to heaven. 

How do you know this? "Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God." God’s purpose is to give us a new body. Salvation doesn't just involve saving your soul, or redeeming your soul, or sanctifying your soul. Your salvation also includes the whole person: body, soul, and spirit. And one of these days you’re going to have a wonderful new body. Now if we should die—take down the tent, take off this garment of flesh and go on to be with Him in heaven—one day we shall share with Him marvelous, eternal glory. That should encourage us today.

How do you know it’s true? Well, God "has given unto us the earnest of the Spirit." The deposit, the guarantee. That word earnest is the Greek word for engagement ring. Did you know that? The Holy Spirit is God’s engagement ring. God’s deposit, God’s down payment saying heaven is on the way. The Holy Spirit lives in your body, and He experiences with you the groanings of your body, and He’s promising you that one day you are going to have a new body. Well, don't quit. Jesus Christ has overcome. Live by faith. Look at the invisible and lay hold of the things that are eternal, and God will encourage your heart.

Let's talk about living confidently, living optimistically, living joyfully—not because of our feelings or our circumstances, but really in spite of them. 2 Corinthians 5:6-10: "Therefore we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord (for we walk by faith, not by sight). We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."

Twice he says here, "we are confident." In verse 6, he says, "we are always confident." Our English word confident means "with faith." The Greek word means to be bold, to be courageous. Facing life courageously. One of the first cousins of this word in the Greek language is a word that Jesus used often: "Be of good cheer." Be of good cheer. He said to the paralytic, "Be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you." He said to the woman who had been sick for those twelve years, "Be of good cheer," and of course He healed her. When the disciples were frightened in the storm, our Lord said, "Be of good cheer, it is I, don't be afraid." To the blind man at Jericho, He said, "Now be of good cheer," and He healed them. When the disciples were so discouraged there in the upper room, Jesus said, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." In Acts 23, when Paul was in prison, the Lord Jesus came to him and said, "Be of good cheer, Paul. Don't give up. You have witnessed for me at Jerusalem and you’re going to bear witness for me at Rome." Now that’s the kind of a life God wants us to live. He doesn't want us to be walking around discouraged, defeated, fearful, timid, afraid to see the day dawn. He wants us to face life with cheerful, bold, courageous confidence. And Paul gives to us three reasons why we can do this. 

Reason number one: heaven is our destiny. You know, my friend, when you know where you’re going and you know you’re going to get there, whatever happens in between, you can accept it, and you can thank God for it. And the longer we live on this earth, we have more and more friends and loved ones up there in heaven, don't we? Heaven is our destiny. And Paul says that we are walking by faith. Now how do we know that we’re going to go to heaven? In verse 5, Paul has told us we have "the earnest of the Spirit," the deposit of the Spirit, the guarantee, the down payment, the engagement ring. And we know we’re going to heaven. And so we can face life with cheerful confidence because heaven is our destiny. And the thing that worries you and perplexes you and burdens you today, a hundred years from now you’ll never think about it again. 

There’s reason number one: heaven is our destiny. Now verse 9 of 2 Corinthians 5, here’s the second reason why we can face life cheerfully, confident, with the kind of optimism that enables us to overcome: pleasing Jesus Christ is our motivation. Oh, what life does to you depends upon what life finds in you. Why are you living? Why are you doing what you’re doing? Well, let's read Paul. Verse 9: "Wherefore we labor," wherefore we are ambitious, wherefore we make it our aim, "wherefore we labor that whether present or absent," whether up in heaven or on earth, "we may be accepted of Him." 

Now that word accepted means well-pleasing. It’s a good word. Well-pleasing. There are only three ways you can live. You can live to please yourself—that’s the lowest way to live. You get bored, you get selfish, you get all wrapped up in yourself. It’s a boring kind of a life. You can live to please others—that could be slavery. Now there is a kind of pleasing others that is spiritual. Paul talks about it in Romans 15: "Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification." There is the—an attitude of service that is good. But if you live just to please others, you’ll end up in slavery and bondage. Paul said we make it our ambition to please Christ, to be well-pleasing to Him. This is a good little word, well-pleasing. It’s used a number of times in the New Testament. 

How are we well-pleasing to Christ? Well, Romans 12:1-2 tells us that when we surrender to Him, give Him our bodies, it’s well-pleasing. "That ye may prove what is that good and acceptable"—that word acceptable is this word well-pleasing—"and perfect will of God." So surrender is well-pleasing to Him. In Ephesians 5:10, Paul warns the Ephesian Christians about separation. He says you’d better get out of the things of sin, "proving what is acceptable unto the Lord." So separation pleases the Lord. That word acceptable means well-pleasing. And then there’s that great benediction over in Hebrews, in Hebrews 13, where he tells us that the God of peace, verse 20, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, "make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ." So service, sanctity and service are well-pleasing to God. Now if you live to please the Lord Jesus Christ, I guarantee you will be courageous and confident and optimistic. If you live to please yourself, you’ll be miserable. You live to please others, you’ll be in bondage. But if you live to please Jesus, then you can serve others and He’ll care for you, and life will be a marvelously exciting thing.

We can face life with cheerful confidence because heaven is our destiny and pleasing Christ is our motivation. Now verse 10 of 2 Corinthians 5: Christ’s reward is our anticipation. Now the Judgment Seat of Christ is not the Great White Throne Judgment. At the White Throne, sinners are going to be judged and cast into hell. The Judgment Seat of Christ is that experience when believers will face the Lord Jesus, give an account of their ministry. We’re not going to face our sins—they are taken care of. They’re removed from you as far as the east is from the west. They’re buried in the depths of the sea, they’re blotted out, they’re carried away, they’re forgotten. But you know, your works—your works, my works—are going to be judged by the Lord. The Judgment Seat of Christ is going to be a place of revelation. We must all appear—that word means "be revealed." You see, we don't see each other today. We don't really know each other. We don't know the thoughts and the intents of the heart. We don't know the motivations of the heart. But character and motives are going to be revealed at the Judgment Seat of Christ. 

So it’s a place of revelation. It’s a place of reckoning, where God is going to look at our works, our service, to see whether or not we’ve been faithful. Paul says that we should be faithful. 1 Corinthians 4:2: "Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful." And so it’s a place of reckoning where God is going to decide how faithful we have been. It’s a place of recognition. We’re going to be recognized for the work we have done to the glory of God. Many of God’s servants have never been recognized adequately. This is why Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4:5: "Therefore judge nothing before the time." Don't evaluate a person’s life or ministry too soon. Why? "Until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God." Now that encourages me. He says every man is going to have some praise from God. No matter how much we have stumbled, no matter how much we have failed, there’s going to be recognition for everyone. Every believer will have some kind of recognition from Jesus. 

It’s a place of revelation—we must all be revealed there. It’s a place of reckoning—the deeds done in the body. A place of recognition. A place of reward. "Every one may be receive the things done in his body, whether they be good or worthless." He’s not dealing here with sin; he’s dealing with service. Whether or not we have served the Lord and done it in His power for His glory. So it’s going to be a place of reward. And I believe everyone will get some kind of reward. This is what Paul says: "Then shall every man have praise of God," 1 Corinthians 4:5. Well, the Judgment Seat of Christ is a great anticipation if you’re walking to please the Lord and to live for Him. So my friend, you and I can face life cheerfully confident because heaven is our destiny, and pleasing Christ is our motivation, and Christ’s reward is our anticipation. So be of good cheer, you’re going to heaven. Be of good cheer, you’re living to please the Lord. Be of good cheer, one day He will give you your reward.