Abounding Grace

Guest (Male): When you're suffering, you might be tempted to think something is wrong, or it's because you've done wrong. Pastor Ed Taylor shares this encouragement: We serve and minister in a real world where good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people and vice versa. We serve and minister to real people with real needs and real suffering and real sorrows and real difficulties who have even real people that have a real genuine relationship with Jesus. That's the reality.

The reality is not what is portrayed on television. Suffering will lie to us and tell us that somehow we're substandard or we're not important or we've done something wrong when in reality suffering comes to us all and it's not strange that you're suffering today. It's not strange.

Guest (Male): There is an old fable that says the gold objected to the heat of the furnace and asked how long it should be expected to endure such heat. The answer was, "As soon as the refiner's purpose is accomplished." "And when will that be?" asked the gold. The answer was, "When the refiner can see his own face in you."

Welcome to Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed Taylor and our study of Second Corinthians. Today, we'll take a look at what the Apostle Paul referred to as his thorn in the flesh. Still today, God gives his children thorns, and as we'll see, it's for good reason. Here's Pastor Ed in Second Corinthians 12.

Pastor Ed Taylor: You recall that Second Corinthians is written to a church where Paul's apostolic authority and credentials are being questioned and undermined. If you want to find the book in the Bible that gives you the heart of Paul the Apostle, it's Second Corinthians. It reveals him as a pastor. I would add it into the Pastoral Epistles. If you ask any Bible student what the Pastoral Epistles are, they'll tell you right away: First Timothy, Second Timothy, and Titus. I would add Second Corinthians because it shows a pastor from the heart of the matter from his own lips.

Facing false teachers and Judaizers and those that wanted to receive praise and honor from men, they took advantage of Paul's absence to undermine his authority, to lie about him, and to take advantage of people. Here's the thing: this is what makes this so insidious, and it's something you want to stay away from as a follower of Jesus. In order to build yourself up, you'll have to tear someone down. That's why the Bible says to build others up and humble yourself. But the worldly way is I'm going to build myself up, and if you do, the worldly way of building yourself up means you have to tear someone else down.

That's what they're doing here. The more that they can tear down Paul, the more that they can look more important, the more that they can seem more important. Paul gets wind of this and he writes a letter and says, "No, no, no. Not only am I writing this letter, but I'm coming. It's going to require my presence. So I'd rather have it all fixed before I get there. But if it's not fixed by the time I get there, when I get there, I'll take care of it myself."

Those of you that have studied with us through the entirety of the book know all kinds of things were said about him. They even made fun of his appearance, his physical appearance. They made fun of his manner of speaking. They undermined him, ridiculed him, slandered him, and he is standing strong in the grace of God. He tells them of the honorable hand of God upon his life and how God honored Paul by calling him and using him, how God honored Paul by giving him incredible visions as we saw last time, and how God honored Paul by revealing a heavenly glimpse as a sneak peek, allowing him to hear unspeakable words.

The false teachers couldn't make those kinds of claims, and they certainly couldn't back them up if they did. When you look at human history, if you look at the biblical history of man, even Moses, who was close and intimate with God, met the Lord on the mountaintop. What a grand and glorious experience Moses got to receive the law from God on the mountaintop and get a glimpse of His glory. But Paul? He met God in Paradise. He got that heavenly glimpse.

It's been 14 years that Paul exercised great restraint, and yet he found that time where he had to give just a little bit. That was the first nine verses, or really the first six verses, of our study last time where this vision and experience was one of the sustaining powers. I think that God will give you a word and he'll give you a scripture. A lot of times when I'm ministering to young men or men in families in general that have a desire to plant a church and move to a new community, I encourage them that you've got to understand your calling. You've got to know that you know that you know you're called of God to do such a work.

They say, "Well, yeah, I am." And I say, "No, it's more than just 'yeah, I am.' You've got to know it. You've got to recognize it. You've got to have a scripture to stand on." You might ask, "Ed, why are you emphasizing this so much?" Well, because the spiritual warfare will cause you to doubt it over and over and over again. I think it's true in any calling of God where you need to know that you can't just take spiritual leadership upon yourself. You can't just say, "Well, you know, I'm good with people and so that makes me a spiritual leader."

Good with people can be used in a variety of different ways in the body of Christ, not necessarily as a spiritual leader or in a person of eldership or a pastoral position or even a long-term missionary. Being good with people doesn't necessarily mean that the calling of God is on your life in that place of spiritual leadership. You want to know your calling, and I would just say that God is reminding you because right now the enemy would like to undermine your calling. He would like to undermine your willingness to follow. He would like to make you doubt.

When you do doubt, it's not like you'll never doubt. You will. That's part of humanity. You'll second-guess, or maybe you'll call it wondering. Whatever you call it, your calling will be in question and you want to be able to fall back on, "No, no, no, I was doing my devos on this day and the Lord gave me this scripture and he told me to do this and I'm obeying him." I don't know how it's going to be and I know it was going to be hard, I know it was going to be difficult, but I'm obeying him and I'm going to stay the course no matter what comes my way.

Prayerfully, we never have to face what Paul the Apostle did. I haven't met anyone that's faced as much as Paul did in my life. I've had my fair share of trials and difficulties and I'm in the midst of a couple right now in my life, but nothing like Paul the Apostle. But I'll tell you, when we get to the section of scripture that we're in where Paul describes this thorn in the flesh, that I can understand. That I can relate to. That I'm like, "Okay, I see, Lord. I understand." My heart goes out to a guy like Paul and to the many that have these thorns in their life that you're pleading with God to remove.

Tough times. Paul knew of which he spoke, just like Jesus warned him in Acts chapter nine. "Go," he told Ananias. "Go find that guy Paul, that guy Saul. Go find him and tell him because I'm going to show him how many things he must suffer." That has to be like putting together the new believer packet. I don't think we should put "Welcome to the family of God" on the front. What we should put on the front of that is, "I'm going to show you how many things you're going to suffer for Jesus' sake."

Because following Jesus isn't easy. It's not a trip to your best life. "Come to Jesus and everything's going to be fine." You know what I find? Many people that come and surrender their life to Jesus, things get worse because now they have to deal with the issues that they've pushed away and now they have to come to terms with the reality of all the things they're bringing in. They have to repent of their sins. Some people go through detox and some people go through, "Man, you know, I've handled problems this way my whole life."

I know it's been the wrong way your whole life, and now in Christ, following Him, I could hear the echoes of heaven saying, "Yeah, you know, you get eternal life, but I want you to know it's going to be many, many things you're going to suffer." That's not unusual to hear. Those of you that have committed your life to Jesus, those of you that have raised your hand and said "I want to follow Jesus" or stood up or walked an aisle, those of you that have picked up a new believer packet or listened on the radio and you pulled your car over and in tears you asked God to forgive you, I want you to know if you had a true born-again experience, it's a true born-again experience of pain and suffering.

If you haven't experienced it yet, it's only a matter of time. It's only a matter of time. The grace of God is upon you right now that what you're experiencing is less. Even folks that are not connected to God suffer. It's not just a Christian thing. But following Jesus, well, Jesus said "In this world, you'll have tribulation." I believe Jesus. I believe him when he says that, and I also believe him when he says "But be of good cheer because I've overcome the world." There's more than this world and there's more to life than this world.

So Paul's walking through. He just talked about this great and grand revelation. Can you imagine getting a glimpse of heaven? Wow. Suffering is a part of life. Turn over to an earlier section, chapter four of Second Corinthians with me. Suffering is a part of the believer's life. Under the power and sovereignty of our God, he allows the consequences of sin and the consequences of our own decisions. Pick up with me in verse 15 of Second Corinthians chapter four: "Therefore we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing." You're there with me now, perishing. What is your outward man doing? Perishing. Your outward man? Perishing.

Pinch yourself. Yeah, it hurts. It's perishing. Listen carefully when you wake up in the morning and come down the stairs. That's not the wood. It's you. It's not the wood. You've been blaming it on the wood, but it's you. You're like, "What is that?" It's your outward man perishing. There's a Greek word for that. It's something that's hard to describe. Let me tell you what it means: to defile, to decay, to destroy, or to corrupt. Paul says this as a matter of fact. This is what's happening to our outward body. But he's not just referring to the body physically, but to the world, the outward man is perishing. The world, the visible world, everything in the world is wearing away and wearing down, steadily, irreversibly falling apart.

You're like, "Thanks, Pastor. That's so encouraging, so uplifting." Well, as you grasp this foundational truth, church, you'll get the perspective that you've been looking for your entire life. You'll get the explanation for many of the questions on your heart. Why does it seem why do things seem to be getting harder and what's happening to my body and why are my friends and my loved ones dying and what what what? It's because your outward body is perishing and the reality is that we're all going to die. And the question is where will you go after your last breath?

The Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord for followers of Jesus. That's not just a broad promise to anyone that hears the Bible. It's to those that have a relationship with God their creator, have turned away, repented from their sins, and surrendered their life to Jesus. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. But for those that continue to live a life that is clinging onto this that which is perishing, well, then the rest of verse 16 cannot be yours. You see, even though the outward man is perishing, the inward man is being renewed day by day.

Our body is wearing away. Our possessions are wearing out. Our relationships are wearing away. You get a group of friends around you and time and circumstances, they begin to fall away, pull apart. People will move away from you and relationships change. Our families, they wear away. The kids grow up, they move out, some go home to be with the Lord. Your athletic skills, your athletic skills—did you know that you're not the same athlete you were in high school? You're not the same, so be careful.

All of you that are plotting and planning to go after me on laser tag, you're not the same athlete you were. Take it easy, take it easy on me. We're not the same. That's how people get hurt. Knees bust out because we think in our minds that our bodies are not perishing. They are. Yes, the inward man—oh, we're becoming more Christ-like while our bodies are wearing away. In other words, Paul's telling us that everything your heart desires, everything that is all, everything that you are wanting in the physical realm is like air and it just goes. It's gone.

That's why Jesus would say it a different way. He would speak of the perishing of things and he would use it in a different way. He would say, "Listen, follower. Listen, my disciple." I can almost hear him, I can see him with that holy imagination of what it would be like for Jesus to say, "Look, you need to learn something, Ed, if you're going to follow me. You need to lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. That's where it's at. You know, moth and rust, they don't destroy in heaven." He's telling me that things don't perish in heaven. That not only is the inward being renewed, but the outward has been completely restored.

He says to not do that. Instead, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, not on earth, where moth and rust can destroy, where thieves will break in and steal. Those things that you have, the minute that you get it, it starts to fade away. The very minute it's in your hand, it starts to, in more technical frame, it starts to depreciate and lose value. It starts to wear out. You can't hold onto it. You can't keep things. You can't preserve them. Take heart.

In our modern culture, looking at following Jesus, we may begin to believe that it's all about the visions and it's all about revelations and it's all about heavenly visitations and it's all about being comfortable. But he says again in chapter four, "For our light affliction," verse 17. That's how the weight of living in this world, what Paul says is it's my light affliction. It's just for a moment, and it's working in us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we don't look at the things that are seen, and that's how we can picture the glory and the beauty of our bodies wearing out but our minds being renewed and the hope of heaven and the promise of God is we need to be careful to not look at things that are seen but the things that aren't seen by faith. To have eyes of faith, because the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal.

Part of the things that are here, part of the things that we endure, are afflictions and difficulties. So many things that Paul went through. This is just like the devil. The devil's a rat, man. He plays everything against us. He doesn't play by rules. He's dirty, conniving, and we make a bad decision when we cooperate with the things of the devil and the dark things and the demonic realm. We make a big error when we do that because he already has these schemes that he uses against us.

What's happening with Paul is he's going through what's normal for the believer. The things that he went through—all the things that we looked at in a previous study of shipwreck and being beaten and all those things—those were not because he was a bad follower but because he was a good follower of Jesus. Because he was right where he needed to be. Because he was getting it from his countrymen and his friends were betraying him and people were going after him. The fruit of his life, all he did was plant churches and God, just like his savior and mine, the reward for everything that Jesus did was what? Crucifixion.

What did Jesus ever do that was wrong or bad? Jesus asked, "What do you accuse me of? What sin do you accuse me of? What did I do?" And nobody could say anything. Instead, they just crucified him. The things that Paul was going through, here's what the devil does: he uses the things that Paul was going through in obedience against him. They were telling the church in Corinth, "Paul's going through what he's going through because he's not walking with the Lord." They become like Job's friends. If you're not careful, you'll do the same thing. You'll look at someone's circumstances and immediately you'll jump to the wrong conclusion.

Of course, you may not get as bad as these guys and try to destroy a man from it, but it's possible. You and I, we don't want to become Job's friends except in the first seven days. That was the best friendship they could have ever offered in the first seven days. You know why? They didn't say a word. They just sat with him and comforted him with what we learned, especially during the time of the Aurora theater shootings. We learned of the ministry of presence. Just your physical presence. To be available to be used by the Lord.

Because it's awkward. You're like, "What am I supposed to say?" "Don't worry about what you're going to say," Jesus said. Just be in a position to say something when my Holy Spirit gives you the words. "Don't worry about what you're going to say," he tells his disciples when they go before these authorities. By way of application, we go, "Okay, all right, Lord."

What did Peter say? Peter said it this way: "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you." And what do we do every time a trial comes our way? We think it's strange. You're like, "What's this all about? I've lived my life to please Jesus. I do my devotions, I pray, I give faithfully tithes and offerings, I help my neighbor, I put in extra time at work." And then when a trial comes our way, we start to think this is crazy. But it's not. It's normal. It's not strange.

It's not strange that you're facing what you're facing right now, follower, disciple of Jesus. It's not strange what you're going to face tomorrow or around the corner. It's hard and it's difficult, but not strange. It does seem strange, if we're honest, that the righteous suffer while the ungodly seem to have it all. It seems strange to us that after all that we've done, our time would be rewarded with pain. It seems strange that we're living for God while others that hate God seem to have no problems at all. Yeah, it seems strange for the man that we follow to be rewarded with a flogging that most men didn't survive and then to be hung on a Roman cross, which was just torturous death.

Like the psalmist said—you can jot it down in Psalm 73:12—look at these arrogant people enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply. "Was it for nothing that I kept my heart pure and kept myself from doing wrong?" the psalmist says. "All I get is trouble all day long and every morning brings me pain." That's Psalm 73:12 from the New Living Translation. But that's the real world, isn't it? We serve and minister in a real world where good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people and vice versa. We serve and minister to real people with real needs and real suffering and real sorrows and real difficulties who have even real people that have a real genuine relationship with Jesus. That's the reality. The reality is not what is portrayed on television.

Guest (Male): Well, thanks for studying alongside us on Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed Taylor. Simply go online to hear it again at aboundinggraceradio.com. Again, we're at aboundinggraceradio.com.

Here at the beginning of a new year, we'd like to recommend a helpful 100-day devotional from Jim Cymbala. This daily devotional called "Jesus Every Day" will inspire you to experience Jesus anew each and every day. Find strength in the promises of the Lord, place your trust in Christ alone, and discover hope, encouragement, and fulfilling purpose on a daily basis. Learn how to live by God's unshakable promises in "Jesus Every Day."

When you give a donation of $25 or more to Abounding Grace, ask for a copy. Give us a call at 877-30-GRACE. That number again is 877-30-GRACE. You can also order online at calvaryco.store. And even if you're not in a position to be able to give to the ministry, we'd still like to hear from you. Pastor Ed loves to read listener emails and letters. It's easy to connect with us through our website at aboundinggraceradio.com when you click on contact and leave a prayer request or send Pastor Ed a question. That's aboundinggraceradio.com.

Glad you've taken time out for our study in Second Corinthians. We'll pick up where we left off next time we get together on Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed Taylor.

Guest (Male): Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church, Colorado, here in Aurora.